Day: April 11, 2018

In bitcoin’s earliest days, you could count the number of cryptocurrency exchanges on two hands: Mt Gox, Bitstamp, Btc-e, Vircurex and a handful of others, as well as P2P exchange Localbitcoins. Today, the landscape has changed dramatically. There are now over 500 exchanges to choose from – and that number is growing with every passing week.

Also read: Bittrex Exchange is Back! Annnnnnd It’s Gone Again

There Are Now More Than 500 Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Calculating the number of crypto exchanges in the world is a lot harder than it sounds. Coinmarketcap lists 208, and there are dozens more listed on other cryptocurrency tracking sites. In addition, there are hundreds of regional exchanges that are only accessible within certain countries and continents. Canada has Einstein Exchange. Africa has Golix. Australia has ACX and will soon have Nauticus, a multi-asset exchange that is launching this year. Blockbid has also just gained its Australian license.

None of these platforms features on exchange listing sites such as Coinmarketcap. Neither do major sites such as Coinbase, because it is technically a broker (although its volume is listed on sites like Bitcoinity.org), or P2P sites like Localbitcoins and Localethereum. And what about other forms of P2P exchange such as Radar Relay, Kyber Network, and platforms that operate on the deep web? It is extremely difficult to classify and quantify the number of global crypto exchanges. All that can be said for certain is it’s north of 500 and rising.

Choice Is Good – Up to a Point

Back when the bitcoin ecosystem was beholden to just one exchange – Mt Gox – there was a single point of failure that duly crashed the markets when Gox eventually broke. With hundreds of exchanges to choose from today, that shouldn’t be an issue, and yet a glance at where the bulk of the trading volume lies tells a different story. In the last 24 hours, more than half of all cryptocurrency trading volume came from just three exchanges, with Binance accounting for 18% alone. If the exchange were to be hacked or go offline, it wouldn’t cause a Mt Gox-level crash, but it would still inflict a sizeable dent.

It is the meteoric rise of Binance, which has gone from nothing to billion-dollar platform in the space of 12 months, that has inspired many of the next generation of token-backed exchanges like Coinlion and Legolas. Each of these new entrants has a slightly different slant, whether it’s knowledge-based trading, ICO launching or, in the case of Ezexchange, a focus on customer service that includes 24/7 support. It even offers the prospect of video tutorials and phone support for crypto investors who are still learning the ropes.

Oliver Isaacs is a cryptocurrency advisor and blockchain investor who’s worked with a number of new exchanges. He ventures: “Customer service/tech support is important [with new exchanges] and so is the speed with which cryptocurrency deposit and withdraw transactions are executed. Getting your coin onto and off of an exchange quickly is important, especially for an arbitrage trader.”

For so long as money keeps pouring into the crypto economy and the ICO sector remains vibrant, new exchanges will continue to proliferate. Should things go south, however, and a severe crypto winter set in, many exchanges could wind up as little more than ghost towns, with only the dominant players capable of maintaining liquidity and weathering the storm.

Do you welcome new exchanges or do you think there’s now enough to choose from? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Coinhills.com.

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The post The Number of Cryptocurrency Exchanges Has Exploded appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Unfortunately, as with any industry, scams of all shapes and sizes persist within the cryptocurrency sector. This past week has seen a Filipino couple arrested after amassing over $17 million USD through a bitcoin investment scam, and protests held outside the office of a Vietnamese company that swindled $660 through two multi-level marketing (MLM) initial coin offerings (ICOs). It appears that cryptocurrency scams are still being peddled via analog communications – with phone and snail mail-based scams being reported this week also. 

Also Read: Bittrex Exchange is Back! Annnnnnd It’s Gone Again

Filipino Couple Amasses Nearly $1 Billion Philippine Pesos Through Investment Scam

Earlier this week, the Philippine National Police (PNP) arrested Arnel and Leonay Ordania – a couple who are accused of amassing approximately P900 million through a bitcoin investment scam.

The couple is accused of luring roughly 50 investors in their company, Newg, for which they were promised 30% returns every 15 days. Rosanne Maglunog, a victim of the Ordania’s scam, invested P33 million into the scheme with her family and husband during November and December 2017, before discovering via social media that Newg would no longer be issuing payouts to investors.

The PNP chief, Ronald dela Rosa, has told media that the couple was arrested on April 4th in an entrapment operation executed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Vietnamese Company Protested for Promoting MLM ICO

Vietnamese media has reported that protests were held outside the office building of Ho Chi Minh City-based company, Modern Tech. Reports have indicated that the company is accused of swindling VND15 Trillion ($660 million USD) from roughly 32,000 investors through two multi-level marketing ICOs, Ifan, and Pincoin.

Ifan investors were promised gains “on a daily basis” as prominent Vietnamese musicians were to join the platform, and assured that the company abided by Singapore’s regulatory guidelines. Pincoin was described as a project based in Dubai. Investors were promised monthly returns of 48%, a full recuperation of all investments in fourth months, and an 8% commission on revenue generated by referred investors.

In reality, seven Vietnamese nationals are said to have been behind both projects, with Modern Tech serving as a means to promote what were no more than multi-level marketing schemes. Whilst investors were able to see the ‘paper’ value of their investments rise, none were able to realize their profits in any form.

Canadian Utilities Provider Issues Warning of Phone Scam

Epcor, an Alberta-based utility company proving natural gas, electricity, water, and wastewater treatment services, has warned its customers of a phone scam impersonating the company targeting businesses.

The company warned that businesses have been receiving telephone calls from an individual impersonating an Epcor representative, threatening to shut off electricity services within an hour should they fail to make a payment in bitcoin.

Tim le Riche, a spokesperson for Epcor, revealed that the company received seven calls reporting the scam, including two from businesses that had already made “substantial” payments to the scammers. Mr. Riche stated that “Epcor does not do business like this,” adding that “If there does happen to be any kind of billing issue with any customer, we always work with them […] We would never make a sudden phone call to a customer to say, ‘You’ve got to make a payment within an hour or we’re going to shut you down.’ We just don’t do that.”

Snail Mail Extortion Continues

On Friday, April 6th, two Belmont residents reported a suspicious letter threatening to release evidence of secrets should $8,750 worth of bitcoin not be received within ten days. The letter also contained an accompanying guide on how to use bitcoin.

In January, CNBC reported that many American men were receiving letters through the post threatening to divulge details pertaining to infidelities should $2,000 worth of BTC not be sent to the blackmailer.

Have you every fallen victim to a scam involving crypto? Share your experiences in the comments section below!

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Images courtesy of Shutterstock

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Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Scam Round-Up: Asian Investment Schemes and Snail Mail Extortion appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Earlier today, officials in Vietnam called for greater scrutiny against those investing or making transactions using cryptocurrencies. Statements from the Prime Minister follow what could be the largest case of fraud involving digital currencies in the nation.

Despite Illegality, Vietnamese Investors Fall Victim to Massive ICO Scams

The Prime Minister of Vietnam addressed various government and financial bodies in a directive on Wednesday in light of recent massive ICO scams. Nguyen Xuan Phuc instructed the State Bank of Vietnam, the Ministry of Public Securities amongst other institutions to ensure greater “management of activities related to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency”. According to Reuters, the official government website supported this by stating:

“Cryptocurrency investment and trading and raising money through initial coin offerings are evolving in a more complicated manner.”

Following this statement, the stability of the nation’s financial system was called into question in relation to the potential cryptocurrency could pose to existing structures. According to the government statement, digital currencies posed risks to not only finance but also the social order of the country.

The directives came in response to a report by the state’s news broadcasting department. According to government’s media wing, police in Ho Chi Minh City had been requested to investigate the illegal advertising of token sales by a company called Modern Tech JSC.

It was also reported that the two companies involved with Modern Tech JSC were Ifan – based in Singapore, and Pincoin – registered in Dubai. Between them, they raised around 15 trillion dong (around $660 million) from around 32,000 Vietnamese investors. Both of these companies have since emerged as being scams.

When the Vietnamese investors learned that they’d been duped out of money, a protest was staged on Sunday evening outside the Ho Chi Minh office of Modern Tech JSC bringing the issue to the attention of authorities.

The police chief in Ho Chi Minh city spoke to Reuters briefly:

“All cryptocurrencies and transactions in cryptocurrencies are illegal in Vietnam… We are gathering information about the case, but officially we haven’t launched an investigation until we receive accusations from any of the alleged victims.”

Reuters claim to have seen a copy of the directive to banking and state bodies. In it, the prime minister instructed the central bank to cease allowing financial services that relate to cryptocurrency transactions. Also in the directive was instructions to step up efforts to track money laundering and the financing of terrorism through cryptocurrency use. Nguyen Xuan Phuc also urged the nation’s Ministry of Justice to complete the necessary legislation needed to deal and manage digital currencies and assets.

The case in Vietnam highlights just how difficult it is to police cryptocurrencies in a conventional sense. It has long been argued that regulations and government bans will do little to stop the likes of Bitcoin and that decentralised currencies cannot be curtailed by legislation. This certainly seems to be the case in Vietnam.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

The post Vietnam Responds to Crypto Scam With Calls For a Harder Line on Digital Currencies appeared first on NewsBTC.

Forbes

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A partnership finds two India-based startups seeking to provide tools to crypto users who may need to report gains and losses on their 2018 taxes.

Someone has registered a company in the UK that has plagiarised the global instant messaging app Telegram’s ICO project name. According to reports in Quartz, the Telegram Open Network Limited was incorporated in late February.

UK Company Listing an Obvious Fraud

According to documents from Companies House, the UK company register, Telegram Open Network Limited was registered under the name of the real instant messaging application’s founder, Pavel Durov. He is listed as the UK Limited company’s sole shareholder, director, and secretary.

Several Twitter users speculated about whether the new company listing was anything to do with the real Telegram app. Their intrigue was eventually responded to by the official account of the messaging service:

This entry is fake (https://t.co/vs6ZKJyiCG). Most likely a prank or scam, no such company was registered by Pavel.

— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) April 6, 2018

However, even before the official response on the matter, doubt was raised over the legitimacy of the newly registered company for several reasons. Firstly, the listing states that Durov is a British citizen and that the company’s base is in the UK. In fact, the Telegram founder is actually a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis. The Russian-born entrepreneur was given citizenship there are donating a quarter of a million dollars to the nation’s sugar industry.

The second red flag is the paid-up capital listing the suspicious Limited company registered with Companies House. According to Quartz, a potential investor in the Telegram ICO stated that pouring the £800 million listed into a UK-based company would be foolish due to the enormous tax obligations they’d face. The unnamed investor stated:

“It’s a scam of some sort.” 

Confusingly, Telegram’s actual crypto project is called the Telegram Open Network too. It has raised over $1.7 billion in funding so far.

The real Telegram is a hugely popular instant messaging, chat application. It currently serves over 200 million active users every month. The platform recently launched an initial coin offering too. The funds generated by the token sale are to be used to for a number of developments. These include a file storage system.

Interestingly, it wouldn’t be at all difficult to create such a fraudulent listing at Companies House. The process involves a tiny administration fee of just £12 and is self-certified by the applicant themselves. In fact, back in 2012, there were a total of 528 fake companies reported to the authorities. More recent figures are not freely available.

As easy as it is to register a company in such a way, it remains unclear as to why someone would bother. There seems to be little to gain. One potential reason stated by a UK non-profit organisation called the Fraud Advisory Panel is that fraudulent listing might be made to give the impression of solid finances. However, with a company offering a product as popular as Telegram which is performing so well raising money via ICO, it still seems a curious move.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

The post Telegram Copycat Company Exposed as Fraud appeared first on NewsBTC.

Global payments network Ripple invests $25 mln in XRP into a Blockchain venture fund aiming to promote “development of the Blockchain space.” #NEWS

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

J.P. Morgan Chase is accused of charging its customers with extra fees for cryptocurrency purchases using their credit cards. #NEWS

The flash boys of the FX markets are starting to dip their toes into cryptocurrencies. High-frequency traders thrive on volatility and speed and maximize market data with alogrithmic trading strategies ideal for crypto markets. It’s not just electronic market makers getting in on the act, certain banks and asset managers are also in the mix.

A company owned by investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss has won a crypto-related patent.

Australia’s Hunter Energy has signed a deal with IOT Group that could help resolve the country’s electricity problem.

The agreement seeks to build a blockchain center inside the Redbank coal-fired power station. This blockchain center will provide cheap electricity for blockchain applications.

Details of the Deal

The deal will give Australia direct access to wholesale electricity prices. This will in turn reduce the additional costs from the retailer, transmission, and being connected to poles and wires. Overall, it could help reduce the cost of electricity in the country by up to 20 percent.

Currently, in Australia, the average consumer spends about 28 cents per kilowatt-hour. Thanks to the new deal, prices are expected to drop to a low of 8 cents per kilowatt-hour during the day and 5 cents at night.

Despite Australia’s favorable investment environment, many entrepreneurs and investors have had to pass on the market because of its high electricity prices.

The new blockchain center will offer transparency and accountability by keeping auditable records of all transactions and data movements.

Electric grids are not the only ones using blockchain technology to improve their operations. Oil companies have turned to blockchain applications to help with physical tracking, gas trading, and reducing operational risks.

In a statement, IOT Group Executive Director Sean Neylon said:

Blockchain processes used a lot of computing power and energy. The reasons why blockchain specialists are not in Australia is because power costs are too high, it’s not efficient. Power at wholesale cost would make blockchain related operations attractive in Australia.

According to Neylon, the purpose of the new blockchain center is to offer services so that clients from Australia and elsewhere can build data centers where they can get cheaper power.

In a statement, Jim Myatt, the chief executive of Hunter Energy, said that there are plans to reopen the Redbank coal-fired station that was closed in 2014. The reopening of the 150-megawatt power station is expected to start early next year. Myatt also announced plans to expand Redbank and have it operate using other sources of energy like solar power and batteries.

Pundits agree that the world is slowly waking up to the uses of blockchain technology. Salesforce, a global firm, is said to be looking at ways to set up its own cryptocurrency and blockchain.

Cryptocurrency miners are reportedly looking to move their operations to Norway and Sweden, with hydroelectricity and other renewables from more developed European countries allowing for cheaper electricity tariff’s beneficial to profits as electricity is the main overhead. Iceland has been a popular location due to the low temperatures which naturally dissipate the heat that is generated.

What is mining?

Cryptocurrency mining consists of two main processes. Verifying and adding transactions to a block in a blockchain, and solving highly complex cryptographic puzzles with a ‘Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm. In a typical PoW blockchain such as Bitcoin, the first of competing hardware to find the solution is rewarded with cryptocurrency. As more miners join the network, growing computational power results in an increasing solving difficulty, requiring more powerful, energy-intensive hardware to mine currencies.

Problems associated with large-scale IT solutions

As with any large IT solution, mining can be energy intensive and has large power requirements. The local power grid needs to be able to cope with the peaks and troughs of the total energy draw in the area. Local powerline infrastructure also needs to be able to cope with heavy loads of power on the lines.

Vast amounts of heat are generated due to resistance in current computer components as they are made of copper. In order to improve the shelf life of the components, cooling is required. Cooling will come in the form of fans or air conditioning, which again requires more power.

With general power needs growing for an expanding population, there is a need to continue to develop more efficient production and distribution methods. Bitcoin mining is an expanding area as well. As per Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, Bitcoin’s current estimated energy consumption is already at 60.24 TWh.

Green power solutions for miners

Currently, China contributes to around 70% of cryptocurrency mining due to its relatively cheap electricity. Growing pollution concerns from coal-fired power have resulted in legislation being introduced to restrict mining in cities such as Beijing. This has led to miners seeking out new locations to set up operations.

In Norway, hydropower contributes to more than 99% of electricity, while Sweden uses a combination of hydropower/nuclear at a 40/40 split.

Both Norway and Sweden have encouraged their countries to welcome cryptocurrency mining. It makes commercial sense, as energy providers will be attracted to the consistent power draw of mining operations that tend to run round the clock. Cheaper renewable power, cooler climates that aid cooling requirements and friendlier crypto legislation in these countries are proving enticing to mining companies.

Future power requirements

If the growth in cryptocurrency energy consumption continues at current rates, it will quickly become unsustainable. Credit Suisse estimates that if Bitcoin’s price were to reach USD 50,000, we would see an increase in the electricity consumption by ten times. With a wider adoption of blockchain among our other growing energy requirements, we will need to take steps towards greener energy solutions.

Rising mining power requirements could stimulate more growth in renewables as more portable variations are quicker to set up compared with nuclear alternatives. Localized renewable power solutions also require less infrastructure compared with nuclear, which often needs to be situated near a water source.

The power requirements of mining have the ability to have a knock-on effect on other markets. Higher demand for renewables will create more jobs and competitive markets lead to innovation.

 

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Alibaba’s Chinese subsidiary Taobao will ban stores on the platform from providing services related to ICOs starting April 17. #NEWS