Day: May 7, 2018

There is a lot of excitement regarding the Bitcoin price. Unsurprisingly, this also triggers a lot of warnings to remain cautious. DataTrek Research co-founder Nick Colas isn’t too convinced cryptocurrency is here to stay. Even though he is Wall Street’s first Bitcoin analyst, his outlook is rather grim.

The Chicken and Egg Question

One of the most heard questions is whether or not Bitcoin is a good investment. There is seemingly no right or wrong answer to this question of right now. Some people think it is the future of money, whereas others remain cautious. Nick Colas, Wall Street’s first analyst to cover Bitcoin, falls into this latter category. He is very concerned things will not need well where the Bitcoin price is concerned.

Even the recent Bitcoin price surge cannot convince Colas. It is still a long way removed from the all-time high recorded in late 2017. Colas is quick to point out 2017 was a clear bubble which has burst. Due to the recent setback, there are now fewer people interest in buying Bitcoin. This is based on Google Trends, which are not necessarily the most reliable metric to gauge such sentiment.

A decline in Google searches for Bitcoin can mean many different things. Users all over the world read up on cryptocurrency in the past few years. It is only normal this will heavily impact the Google Trends. Even so, it is an interesting trend to keep an eye on. Perhaps the most worrisome sign is the lack of wallet growth. Colas is convinced Bitcoin adoption is slowing down and thus makes for a bad investment.

Is Nick Colas Wrong?

True Bitcoin believers won’t pay much attention to Nick Colas. While his outlook raises interesting points, it’s not exactly new information either. All of these “problem points” have been discussed dozens of times before. So far, Bitcoin has overcome all odds and adversity, and will likely continue to do so.

For investors, it is important to keep an eye on the big picture. Nick Colas only touches upon the short-term changes related to the Bitcoin price. These past six months are a brief snapshot of the history of cryptocurrency. He does not mention how the Bitcoin price is still up quite a bit compared to May 2017. Keeping the long-term picture in mind is mandatory in the cryptocurrency industry.

Despite this information, Nick Colas may not be entirely wrong either. Bitcoin is always a risky investment, but that doesn’t make it less worthwhile. It all depends on what plan individual users have when it comes to the future value of Bitcoin. A lot of things can and will happen to Bitcoin in the years to come. Discussing its price is just a small facet of what cryptocurrency is really all about.

The post Wall Street Analyst Concerned About Bitcoin Price, Not Convinced appeared first on NewsBTC.

The incoming head of a South Korean financial regulator has noted the “positive aspects” of cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin is reporting losses today but only a break below $8,650 would signal a bull-to-bear trend change.

On April 26, 2018, the Bitcoin ABC development team were notified of a critical issue that applies to Bitcoin Cash miners who were utilizing the Bitcoin-ABC 0.17.0 client. After analyzing the vulnerability ABC developers created a patch and distributed the new ABC client 0.17.1 and released the software to BCH mining pools.    

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Bitcoin ABC Developers Address a Vulnerability Found in the Client Version 0.17.0

Just recently the Bitcoin ABC development team were notified of a vulnerability in the ABC 0.17.0 client by an unknown person(s). According to developers, the flaw could have caused an unintended split in the Bitcoin Cash network. Reports detail that an attacker could construct a malicious transaction that would be accepted by Bitcoin-ABC 0.17.0 miners. However, the block would be rejected by the rest of the compatible versions of Bitcoin Cash-compatible mining applications like the Bitcoin Unlimited client.

“BUCash and versions of Bitcoin-ABC prior to 0.17.0 could be split from the majority Bitcoin Cash blockchain — Only Bitcoin ABC and BUCash nodes were included in the analysis of this vulnerability,” the development team details.

After some testing and analysis of the vulnerability, the Bitcoin ABC development team crafted a patch for the issue immediately. “Bitcoin ABC 0.17.1 fixes this problem,” explains the ABC teams incident report and the new software was forwarded to verified BCH miners. The Lead Developer of the Bitcoin.com’s Mining Pool, Shaun Chong, explained that after the vulnerability report was released the ABC development team was very quick to assess and fix the problem.   

“Bitcoin ABC dealt with the situation professionally and responsibly — They were quick to patch the bug and distribute it privately to miners, hence reducing the risk of a chain split”, Shaun Chong said.

Bitcoin.com Pool mines blocks with Bitcoin Unlimited, and encourages the development of multiple Bitcoin Cash full node implementations, to keep the Bitcoin cash network resistant to bugs from a single implementation. – Shaun Chong, Bitcoin.com Pool.

All BCH 0.17.0 Clients Need to Upgrade ASAP

The Bitcoin ABC programmers are asking all 0.17.0 users to upgrade to the latest 0.17.1 client as soon as possible. The team reveals that it will be taking “several actions” in the future to prevent events like this from occurring again and mitigate response times even faster.  “Bitcoin ABC is in discussions with industry participants to establish a formal bug bounty system,” the team emphasizes.

ABC developers say they would like to thank the anonymous person(s) who responsibly disclosed the issue to the development team. The report provided was “clear and professional” according to the developers. “We also want to thank the miners for their cooperation, understanding and for the fast and professional way in which they took action to protect the Bitcoin Cash network and its users,” the Bitcoin ABC developers conclude.

Download the latest Bitcoin ABC 0.17.1 version here.

Images via Shutterstock and Bitcoin ABC.

Do you think this is the last vulnerability that will be found in Bitcoin ABC:s implementation? How do you feel about open-source software? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

The post Bitcoin ABC Developers Address a Vulnerability Found appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Ethereum co-founder and Cardano chief Charles Hoskinson has launched a new project working with Ethiopia’s ministry of science and technology, according to CCN.

The project, according to the memorandum of understanding, is to study how blockchain technology can be applied to solving the problems attached to the coffee industry, such as land registry and supply chain fraud.

Coffee is important to the economy of Ethiopia; around 60% of foreign income comes from coffee, with an estimated 15 million of the population relying on some aspect of coffee production for their livelihood. In 2006, coffee exports brought in USD 350 million, equivalent to 34% of that year’s total exports. Ethiopia is currently responsible for about 3% of global production.

John O’Connor, director of African Operations, sees education as a major focus for the company as it moves into such projects commenting, “The arrangement tasks Cardano with exploring ways that the African nation can apply the startup’s blockchain technology to its agri-tech sector.”

Hoskinson plans not only to share his ideas but also teach developers how to use Cardano’s blockchain technology on their own. Recently at a speech to the London School of Economics, he spoke of more broader DLT development across Africa. Current problems such as landowners being cleared from their land due to supposed poor record keeping could be addressed by the new technology. Countries such as Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda are all currently involved in programmes of their own.

Bitcoin Africa.io reports that companies Moyee and Bext360 have partnered with a washing station in the Jimma region of Oromia where farmers gather to sell their crop. Now as the coffee cherries go through the supply chain, farmers are assigned crypto tokens that show the complete value added, from bean to barista. The blockchain-based platform, FairChain, will record everything from payments to roasting to freighting to pricing. Moyee will pay farmers a 20% premium which is meant to be a good start towards giving them a better wage.

According to the Agricultural Growth Program, Ethiopia has announced the launch of a national traceability system known as eATTS, enabled by IBM. The system will start by piloting coffee in the current harvest season and will be expected to increase Ethiopian coffee sales worldwide

*Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter at @BitcoinNewsCom*
*Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com at https://t.me/bconews*

The post Ethereum Co-Founder Launches Blockchain Coffee Project in Ethiopia appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.