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Why Bitcoin’s ‘Death Cross’ May Become a Bear Trap – CoinDesk


CoinDesk

Why Bitcoin’s ‘Death Cross’ May Become a Bear Trap
CoinDesk
Bitcoin risks entering a technical “death cross” soon, but the bearish signal will likely not be as severe as has been made out in reports. A death cross occurs when the 50-day moving average (MA) cuts the 200-day MA from above (bearish crossover

and more »


CoinDesk

Why Bitcoin's 'Death Cross' May Become a Bear Trap
CoinDesk
Bitcoin risks entering a technical "death cross" soon, but the bearish signal will likely not be as severe as has been made out in reports. A death cross occurs when the 50-day moving average (MA) cuts the 200-day MA from above (bearish crossover ...

and more »

Why Bitcoin’s Likely ‘Death Cross’ May Be a Damp Squib – CoinDesk


CoinDesk

Why Bitcoin’s Likely ‘Death Cross’ May Be a Damp Squib
CoinDesk
Bitcoin risks entering a technical “death cross” soon, but the bearish signal will likely not be as severe as has been made out in reports. A death cross occurs when the 50-day moving average (MA) cuts the 200-day MA from above (bearish crossover

and more »


CoinDesk

Why Bitcoin's Likely 'Death Cross' May Be a Damp Squib
CoinDesk
Bitcoin risks entering a technical "death cross" soon, but the bearish signal will likely not be as severe as has been made out in reports. A death cross occurs when the 50-day moving average (MA) cuts the 200-day MA from above (bearish crossover ...

and more »

G20 Call for Examination of Cryptocurrencies

Following last week’s G20 meeting of member states in Buenos Aires and the declaration that cryptocurrencies need to be “examined”, this revelation was greeted with some media skepticism. Marc Hochstein, the managing editor of Coindesk, clearly views such statements as simply demonstrating the protracted nature of any decisions proposed by the member states, suggesting their actions …

The post G20 Call for Examination of Cryptocurrencies appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Following last week’s G20 meeting of member states in Buenos Aires and the declaration that cryptocurrencies need to be “examined”, this revelation was greeted with some media skepticism.

Marc Hochstein, the managing editor of Coindesk, clearly views such statements as simply demonstrating the protracted nature of any decisions proposed by the member states, suggesting their actions amounted to yet another delaying tactic. “Let’s form a committee to explore the formation of an exploratory committee,” he mused.

The G20 did agree that an examination was needed but before this could happen more information about digital currencies and their place in the world was needed before any regulations could be proposed. Notable is the fact that members cannot set policy for sovereign nations, being limited only to making recommendations. A further hurdle to any serious discussions regarding cryptocurrencies is the fact that some of the more outspoken proponents of blockchain technology are not members of the G20 alliance itself.

If a successful global policy to accept blockchain technologies through international cooperation were possible it isn’t helped by the current threat of resurgent nationalism around the globe, argues Hochstein.

John Collins, former head of policy for cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, suggests that another hurdle to overcome is the fact that cryptocurrency is inconsistent with nationalistic ideas as it is clearly a system which is not bound by national borders. He cites the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as at least one system which is actually working towards international cooperation. The body, which is responsible for blacklisting non-cooperative counties involved in sanctioning money-laundering, has been cited by the G20 as a possible way of implementing standards as they might apply to cryptocurrency, but at this time FATF standards do not apply to digital currency.

Collins suggests that there are strong business models around the globe such as the USA and Japan, countries which have boosted user confidence in using cryptocurrencies through developing systems which offer “regulatory clarity”.

It remains to see what developments arise after the G20’s deadline for July of this year where leaders propose to examine recommendations on what data is needed.

 

The post G20 Call for Examination of Cryptocurrencies appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Danske Bank Advises Investors to Refrain From Crypto

Danske Bank has released a statement on their website setting out its policy of “a negative position towards cryptocurrencies”. It is advising its customers to refrain from such investments. The global Nordic bank, which serves over five million customers in northern Europe, is the biggest bank in Denmark. It made headlines earlier this week by banning …

The post Danske Bank Advises Investors to Refrain From Crypto appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Danske Bank has released a statement on their website setting out its policy of “a negative position towards cryptocurrencies”. It is advising its customers to refrain from such investments.

The global Nordic bank, which serves over five million customers in northern Europe, is the biggest bank in Denmark. It made headlines earlier this week by banning cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin across all its platforms. The bank is currently phasing out all existing financial instruments, including derivatives, which previously gave clients access to cryptocurrency.

The ban is not absolute, however. Customers are still permitted to deposit funds from cryptocurrency, provided they comply with anti-money laundering regulations. Credit card holders can also continue trading cryptocurrency.

Lack of traditional financial features

In its statement, Danske Bank lists out several reasons for the policy, noting that cryptocurrencies are not backed by any central bank. This means that investors and consumers do not benefit from the protection typically offered by traditional investments.

The bank also expressed concern with the extreme volatility of cryptocurrency and their “non-transparent” price formation. It believes this limits the insight to market development and pricing factors.

Danske Bank criticized the “the lack of transparency and regulatory control have made cryptocurrencies a target for criminal purposes”, referring to past occasions of cryptocurrency involvement in facilitating “criminal transactions like money laundering or extortion”.

Hardline Nordic stance

The statement reflects the current hostility of several prominent Nordic and Scandinavian banks towards cryptocurrency. Nordea Bank banned employees from trading in Bitcoin assets last month, prompting the European Banking Federation – which has not clarified its policy on the issue – to say that “This could very well be a first” time it had heard of a bank banning Bitcoin investments.

Banks operating in northern Europe currently view external and decentralized fintech innovations as a threat to their current model of financial services. A consortium of Nordic banks, including Danske Bank, is currently exploring the idea of a “pan-Nordic” payment system that would create a global territory for domestic and international payments in multiple currencies.

 

The post Danske Bank Advises Investors to Refrain From Crypto appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Blockchain Tops 2017 Fintech Enquiries, Says Swiss Finance Regulator

Enquiries around blockchain, cryptocurrency and ICOs in Switzerland have increased significantly, according the country’s financial regulator, FINMA.

Enquiries around blockchain, cryptocurrency and ICOs in Switzerland have increased significantly, according the country’s financial regulator, FINMA.

New Ford Innovation Proposes Blockchain Technology

In a document released last week, it was revealed that the US motor giant Ford was awarded a patent to alleviate traffic congestion on American roads. The patent, Vehicle-to-Vehicle Cooperation to Marshal Traffic is designed to evaluate driver behavior to improve coordination by drivers on the road by communicating with each other en route aided …

The post New Ford Innovation Proposes Blockchain Technology appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

In a document released last week, it was revealed that the US motor giant Ford was awarded a patent to alleviate traffic congestion on American roads. The patent, Vehicle-to-Vehicle Cooperation to Marshal Traffic is designed to evaluate driver behavior to improve coordination by drivers on the road by communicating with each other en route aided by blockchain technology.

The proposed concept, the Cooperatively Managed Merge and Pass System (CMMP) will allow participating monitors to monitor and record other driver behaviors along with their own in order to improve traffic flow and ease congestion. The patent suggests that traffic congestion occurs when one or more lanes of a multilane road are blocked, for example, because of a construction or an accident. The blocked lanes impede traffic flow which is further exacerbated by the psychological traits of other drivers.

The system would allow for participating vehicles to drive at higher speeds in less occupied lanes. Other drivers (merchants) then voluntarily drive in the slower lanes in order for faster drivers to merge into their lane and pass, thus maintaining traffic flow.

CMMP tokens

The CMMP system will operate with individual token-based transactions, where the merchant vehicles and the consumers’ vehicles agree to trade units of cryptocurrency (CMMP tokens). The tokens validate a transaction in which a ‘consumer’ has requested that a ‘merchant’ occupy the slower lane.

Time allotted to each request will be based on the number of CMMP tokens to spent at that time. The patent explains:

“For example, a driver of a consumer vehicle which is running late for an appointment may request to pass any participating merchant vehicles for a duration of 10 minutes on a particular road or highway for 60 CMMP tokens, at a rate of 10 seconds preferential access per token.”

Ford states that is looking to further develop the idea by seeking blockchain research expertise in order to deliver the best user experiences for its customers.

Blockchain technology is being utilized increasingly in innovated projects around the globe that are designed to improve the conditions of everyday users in daily life.

 

The post New Ford Innovation Proposes Blockchain Technology appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

ICO Scam Alert: “ZeroEdge” Is All Fake

TheMerkle HashRev Scam“Revolutionary Casino Where Everyone Wins!” announces a tempting description of “ZeroEdge” casino. A casino that doesn‘t work and probably never will. Because the casino and the “Zerocoins” they are launching on March 27 are all fake. How to recognize a wolf in sheep’s clothing when the herd is that big? Well, it’s not that easy. “Confido”, “Karbon”, “Hong Coin”, “ToTheMoon” and many others have managed to raise hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars of investments during their ICO and the only thing their creators have done successfully was disappearing, sometimes even leaving the last message. The sole purpose

TheMerkle HashRev Scam

“Revolutionary Casino Where Everyone Wins!” announces a tempting description of “ZeroEdge” casino. A casino that doesn‘t work and probably never will. Because the casino and the “Zerocoins” they are launching on March 27 are all fake.

How to recognize a wolf in sheep’s clothing when the herd is that big? Well, it’s not that easy. “Confido”, “Karbon”, “Hong Coin”, “ToTheMoon” and many others have managed to raise hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars of investments during their ICO and the only thing their creators have done successfully was disappearing, sometimes even leaving the last message. The sole purpose of those projects was to take your money away from you.

The ICO hocus-pocus list will soon have one more entry: “Zerocoin” and a platform their creators are bragging to launch, “ZeroEdge”. This project has all the indications of an ICO scam. The good thing is that the fraudsters have made one decisive mistake earlier than their ICO has even started.

Let’s look at what “ZeroEdge” and their creators really are.

Team

The ‘About Us’ section on the website is empty and An erroneous “Coming soon” message also appears when visiting ‘News’ and ‘Investors’ pages.

Source zeroedge.bet

“Zerocoin” website is far more comprehensive. It has all the team members listed and on the very top of that list is the CEO, Adrian Casey.

Source zerocoin.bet

A person, that came into existence only this year. A person, who will cease to exist as soon as the ICO is finished. The only thing you might find about him on the whole internet is a profile on “LinkedIn” with dubious information and some press releases related to “ZeroEdge” and “Zerocoin”.

Adrian Casey claims to have worked at well known gambling companies, “William Hill” and “CentreBet”. However, both of those companies verify that such a person had never worked for them.

There’s also a fresh “Facebook” profile created last year, with one photo and a few dozen random friends.

Source Facebook

There are several “Youtube” videos (e.g. Keith Wareing channel and ICO HUB) interviewing Casey about this project. The weird thing is that a person presenting himself as ‘native UK citizen’ speaks with distinct East-European accent.

Source Youtube

Employees of “ZeroEdge” are also fake. “Facebook” account and profile names of Zoe Golan, company’s CFO, and Web Analyst Marissa Pearce are different (the account name can be seen in URL), they have a few dozen friends and you won’t find anything about them on “Google” either.

Source Facebook

Source Facebook

Sham page

“ZeroEdge” also has a bunch of respected advisors. Some of them might be real, some fake, but the fact is that there were more of them and they simply disappeared from the website a few days ago. Because they never had anything to do with the project and the only advice they gave for “ZeroEdge” was to remove their photos and names from the list, as soon as they found out about it.

Source LinkedIn.com

In order to conceal the evidence the address for “Zerocoin” ICO was recently changed from Tokensale.zeroedge.bet to Zerocoin.bet, but you can always search for an old version of the website (e.g. on Archive.org) and compare it to the current one. The link you need is here.

Source web.archive.org

Source web.archive.org

Now, let’s get back to “ZeroEdge”. A message on the top of the website announces: “ZeroEdge” platform will be live after all “Zercoins” gets distributed through an Initial Coin Offering”.

Source zeroedge.bet

Confusingly, they already have some games, and all of them are taken from free platforms. Their “Poker” is simply a free game of “Jacks or better” from casinotop10.net,

Source zeroedge.bet

Source casinotop10.net/free-jacks-or-better

“Classic Slots” is from codecanyon.net

Source zeroedge.bet

Source.codecanyon.net

and the “Roulette 3D” is taken from “Microsoft Store”.

Source zeroedge.bet

Source microsoft.com

Moreover, “ZeroEdge” used to brag to have a Curacao casino license. Instead, the license they used to refer to belongs to one of their competitors, an actual smart-contract based casino. After a compliance letter from Curacao authorities the claim was removed. See here and here.

Source zeroedge.bet

By the way, it was not a mistake, it was THE mistake. The aggressive mimicking of existing ICO projects has drawn attention from gambling regulation authorities and other cryptocurrency projects. It didn’t take long to detect suspicious activities.

Bad news is that during the pre-ICO “Zerocoin” managed to attract 1500 ETH of investments with their aggressive marketing campaign. Good news is that their pre-ICO 2 is set to start only on Tuesday, March 27, so there is still time to stop it. Or at least spread the news, and catch the scammers red-handed.

Originally appeared on Medium

South Korea’s Kakao Announces Blockchain Platform, Dismisses ICO Rumors

The co-CEOs of the most prominent internet company in South Korea Kakao announced on Monday its latest blockchain subsidiary project ‘Ground X’ while shooting down rumors of an ICO attached to it. Blockchain and Kakao 3.0 Kakao is pursuing the release of a blockchain platform this year, one that is capable of having other services …

The post South Korea’s Kakao Announces Blockchain Platform, Dismisses ICO Rumors appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

The co-CEOs of the most prominent internet company in South Korea Kakao announced on Monday its latest blockchain subsidiary project ‘Ground X’ while shooting down rumors of an ICO attached to it.

Blockchain and Kakao 3.0

Kakao is pursuing the release of a blockchain platform this year, one that is capable of having other services and applications built on to it, much like Ethereum.

In a business strategy called ‘Kakao 3.0’, the company is entering a new phase of practice by creating synergies across all facets of its available and future services.

The ‘Ground X’ subsidiary was set up Japan two weeks ago; the project specializes in blockchain technologies and is working toward being the leading global blockchain industry, giving focus to bringing in Asian developers and entrepreneurs seeking to enter the blockchain markets. In a recent press release the company stated:

“Ground X, Kakao’s newly established subsidiary specializing in blockchain, will explore the technology with the goal of taking the technological leadership in Asia,” the company said. “To do so, Ground X will open its blockchain platform to the public, explore ways to leverage R&D and investment to ensure further growth, and offer new blockchain-based services combined with Kakao’s existing services.”

No ICO

Rumors earlier this month speculated that Kakao could be making plans to host an initial coin offering (ICO). They surfaced after TechCrunch reported that they were creating a blockchain subsidiary.

The newly appointed co-CEOs addressed the topic at a press conference recently held in Seoul, with Joh Su-yong saying: “We are not thinking of pursuing an ICO at this moment. We will focus resources on developing a meaningful blockchain platform which many partners in Asia can effectively use and share, with aims to debut it within the year.”.

Positive influence

But it is not to suggest that Kakao is ruling out the possibility of further blockchain-related business as they are currently one of the largest conglomerates in North Korea, worth USD 9.3 billion and currently own South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, UpBit.

As recently reported, Kakao is part of a significant shift being made by multi-billion conglomerates in South Korea, after a period in which the world was convinced that the South Korean government was supposedly about to shut down its cryptocurrency exchanges and entirely ban ICOs.

South Korea is a vital territory for cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies to claim; as conversations move positively on, perhaps these giants of industry and governments can continue to cooperatively elevate the status of the tech to one of compliant, well-integrated validity.

 

 

The post South Korea’s Kakao Announces Blockchain Platform, Dismisses ICO Rumors appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

EOS Price Continues to Surge as $7 is in Sight

It is evident the cryptocurrency markets are still suffering from a lot of bearish pressure right now. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are still struggling for momentum, yet there are a few other currencies making a positive impact. It is evident the EOS price is trying to make some major moves, although it remains to be seen how all of this will play out in the long run. The EOS Price Surpasses $6 Again With all of the volatility in the cryptocurrency markets as of right now, it is evident there are not too many expectations by the overall community. Even

It is evident the cryptocurrency markets are still suffering from a lot of bearish pressure right now. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are still struggling for momentum, yet there are a few other currencies making a positive impact. It is evident the EOS price is trying to make some major moves, although it remains to be seen how all of this will play out in the long run.

The EOS Price Surpasses $6 Again

With all of the volatility in the cryptocurrency markets as of right now, it is evident there are not too many expectations by the overall community. Even so, that doesn’t mean there will be no positive trends to take note of. Looking at the EOS price right now, it is evident there is some positive momentum behind the scenes as of right now, as the price has risen to $6.35 once again.

This is made possible thanks to a 12.89% increase in the past 24 hours. Considering how the Bitcoin price is still struggling for traction, it is only normal any gain made by altcoins will be taken in stride. After all, so many people are looking for ways to make money in cryptocurrency right now, yet doing so is not all that easy when the negative pressure continues to mount

It is also worth noting the EOS price is on the rise thanks to solid gains over both Bitcoin and Ethereum. More specifically, EOS gained 13.21% over Bitcoin and 14.64% over Ethereum. It is not the first time we see such solid gains for EOS, even though the altcoin has struggled to hold onto these gains for a lengthy period If this trend keeps up, the EOS price may effectively hit $7 later today.

With $885.31m in 24-hour trading volume, things are certainly looking up for EOS as of right now. More specifically, this volume is rather impressive, especially when considering how most altcoins don’t even come close to generating a quarter of this volume.  It is interesting to see the demand for EOS spike all of a sudden, although it remains to be seen if this is part of a massive pump-and-dump cycle.

Speaking of the EOS trading volume, most of it is generated in South Korea. Bithumb and Upbit combine for over 53% of the overall EOS trading volume, whereas Bitfinex – in third place – represents just over 10.5%. While three fiat currency EOS pairs in the top three is pretty impressive, it remains to be seen how high he EOS price will effectively go.

As of right now, the momentum is clearly in favor of the EOS price, although this trend will eventually run out of steam. Then again, if both Bitcoin and Ethereum can recover in value, things may get very interesting for all altcoins on the market right now. Until that happens, all small gains should be taken in stride and cashing out profits will remain a priority for most speculators as of right now.

Ethereum Markets React to Rumored ASIC Miners

Rumors surrounding a new Ethereum mining rig from leading mining hardware provider Bitmain have resulted inEthereum prices dropping below a one-week high of USD 585. Ethereum isn’t the only blockchain network wary of new Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) mining tech, with Monero already set to resist ASIC mining earlier this week. Rumors with substance The …

The post Ethereum Markets React to Rumored ASIC Miners appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Rumors surrounding a new Ethereum mining rig from leading mining hardware provider Bitmain have resulted inEthereum prices dropping below a one-week high of USD 585. Ethereum isn’t the only blockchain network wary of new Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) mining tech, with Monero already set to resist ASIC mining earlier this week.

Rumors with substance

The stories sparked up when CNBC reported a statement Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland had written to clients:

“During our travels through Asia last week, we confirmed that Bitmain has already developed an ASIC [application-specific integrated circuit] for mining Ethereum, and is readying the supply chain for shipments in 2Q18. While Bitmain is likely to be the largest ASIC vendor (currently 70-80% of Bitcoin mining ASICs) and the first to market with this product, we have learned of at least three other companies working on Ethereum ASICs, all at various stages of development.”

Traditionally, Ethereum has been mined using GPUs, but the new ASIC from Bitmain would result in even higher entry barriers for the casual miner. The most devoted of crypto enthusiasts see this as an antithesis to the blockchain ideology; ASIC mining rigs are often at the centre of controversies and are far more expensive than the GPUs used primarily by gamers, outclassing them in mining power.

Cause for controversy

While ASIC chips have been Bitmain’s powerhouses for mining Bitcoin and Bitmain’s mining pools account for significant portions of all the processing power on the global Bitcoin network, they are still finding themselves coming up against a great deal of resistance.

The shakeup comes down to the technology creating such high barriers that lead down a road of centralization. On top of that, GPU mining competition could be threatened by the new hardware, potentially causing GPUs to become obsolete, forcing miners to move to other newer cryptocurrencies despite the fact that GPU mining has proven profitable for Ethereum miners so far.

Even Monero appears to be taking on Bitmain. Earlier in the month, Bitmain announced the latest rollout of purpose-built Monero mining rigs, the Antminer X3. This, according to a post made by Monero, opens plenty of issues for the network and does not fit with its network ethos.

It is not clear what the ASIC boom will bring to the competition of the global mining arena, but the contentious tech could spell an end for GPU cryptocurrency mining and perhaps the majority Ethereum GPU mining.

 

 

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Blockchain Driving the Future of Autonomous Cars

Autonomous cars are no longer a thing of science fiction and will be arriving sooner than you think as they approach “level 2″ technology. The technology is in its infancy and has many future problems to overcome. Cars will boast deep learning supercomputers, in the form of Nvidia’s flagship architecture Volta. This hardware platform is …

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Autonomous cars are no longer a thing of science fiction and will be arriving sooner than you think as they approach “level 2″ technology. The technology is in its infancy and has many future problems to overcome. Cars will boast deep learning supercomputers, in the form of Nvidia’s flagship architecture Volta. This hardware platform is the perfect foundation for a decentralized travel service. Blockchain’s security and peer-to-peer structure will provide a safe and secure system for self-driving cars to advance to their level 5 autonomous stage.

How will blockchain speed up the transition to level 5 autonomous cars?

Blockchains timestamp feature combined with GPS and statistics from the cars onboard computer will be encoded into the ledger for later analysis. Manufacturers, consumers and application developers will be able to use this data to increase road safety as well as provide updated or new services. The more data manufacturers can collect on traffic patterns and risk assessment, the faster the technology will advance. A decentralized solution offers easier accessibility to trusted data that can be publicly accessible to all autonomous AI developers.

Blockchain will help automate and reshape user services

Oaken has been working on a system for short-term leasing of vehicles. This could drastically change use and ownership of cars. Smart contracts encoded with journey distance and time taken statistics will be used to calculate fees. The cost of travel would then be exchanged in crypto rather than fiat. With customers no longer necessarily requiring standard 12-month insurance plans, we could see usage-based plans emerging. Augmented reality (AR) systems built on blockchain displaying information to the driver will alert them of potential hazards or relay diagnostics, directions and points of interest. Smart contracts will remove the need for interactions to purchase fuel or pay for maintenance, with the receipt of sale cryptographically encoded, saving time and money on transaction fees.

Knock on effects to society

With autonomous cars on the horizon, this will affect society financially and environmentally, while providing a better standard of living and improve infrastructure. Leasing vehicles will cost less, making cars more available to lower earners and provide increased transport in rural areas. Car sharing will reduce pollution, use of raw resources and ease congestion and parking limitations. Your car could earn its own crypto for fuel when stationary. Making use of the Nvidia GPUs to contribute power to mining pools would also increase transaction times on the network.

Car crime will become a thing of the past. Vehicles will opened via a privacy key which associated with owner details in smart contracts. GPS tracking time-stamped into the blockchain with other statistics will make speeding and evading car crime difficult. Driving penalties will be instantly charged to your wallet.

Current development

Toyota Research Institute has already instigated startups to explore future application layers of blockchain technology. Enthusiasts are already racing to develop these systems for a not-so-distant future. Hopefull,y blockchain will be able to provide the infrastructure in the coming years to develop a safe, secure and economical solution.

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Litecoin Dark Web Adoption Rises as Monero Privacy Flaw is Exposed

The dark web has been pretty beneficial to different cryptocurrencies. It is how Bitcoin suddenly began gaining traction years ago. In the past twelve months, a few competing currencies have also begun gaining traction on the dark web. It seems this competition is heating up as we speak. Monero and the Dark Web In recent … Continue reading Litecoin Dark Web Adoption Rises as Monero Privacy Flaw is Exposed

The post Litecoin Dark Web Adoption Rises as Monero Privacy Flaw is Exposed appeared first on NewsBTC.

The dark web has been pretty beneficial to different cryptocurrencies. It is how Bitcoin suddenly began gaining traction years ago. In the past twelve months, a few competing currencies have also begun gaining traction on the dark web. It seems this competition is heating up as we speak.

Monero and the Dark Web

In recent months, various dark web marketplaces have shifted away from Bitcoin. Its growing fees and lack of transparency are a big problem. As such, vendors and buyers are looking for new ways to effectively deal with payments. It seems Monero is gaining a lot of traction as of right now. It is a slow shift to this new currency, but things are seemingly falling into place.

Even so, there are some concerns over Monero’s privacy and anonymity as well. Two flaws have been discovered which may make dark web users look for a different cryptocurrency altogether. More specifically, a recent paper shows how the mixing aspect of Monero is flawed. Observes can identify some of the decoys and figure out the amount of coins being spent. This is a big problem, although its widespread repercussions have yet to be determined.

Secondly, we see the timing of transaction being addressed as another flaw. Although this flaw has been seemingly addressed, it was still a worrisome aspect. Previous timing analysis successfully identified the real coin transaction in 90% of the cases. Even so, there’s still a 45% of distinguishing the real coins from the mixins, which is far too high. Identifying transaction recipients is impossible, but it can highlight the initial sender.

The Rise of Litecoin

Rest assured the dark web community is too aware of all of these issues as well. As such, we may very well see a new currency emerges as the go-to solution. It seems Litecoin is making some inroads in this regard, which is rather surprising. Litecoin fundamentally lacks privacy and anonymity as well, similar to Bitcoin.

Even so, a lot of dark web users are convinced Litecoin can make a meaningful impact. 15.15% Of polled users seem to indicate LTC has a proper solution in this regard. This is far more overwhelming than Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash, albeit still behind Ethereum, Dash, and Monero. Surprisingly, it seems Litecoin represents 30% of transactions right now. This is a lot higher than any other non-Bitcoin currency being used on the dark web right now.

The big question is how all of this will play out. While Litecoin is gaining popularity, it remains to be seen how long this momentum lasts. Bitcoin is slowly on the way out on the dark web, that much is rather evident. This battle between Dash, Monero, and Litecoin is certainly worth keeping an eye on.

The post Litecoin Dark Web Adoption Rises as Monero Privacy Flaw is Exposed appeared first on NewsBTC.

Hyperledger Tech Heats Up Ahead of Blockchain Software Debuts

2018 is shaping up to be a watershed year for enterprise-grade blockchain, with the upcoming launch of four Hyperledger solutions into version 1.0.

2018 is shaping up to be a watershed year for enterprise-grade blockchain, with the upcoming launch of four Hyperledger solutions into version 1.0.