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Cryptos Are a Ponzi Scheme and an Environmental Disaster: BIS General Manager

The Bank for International Settlements is not a fan of cryptocurrencies, and it hasn’t shied away from expressing its view. Having released a scathing report on why cryptos are a poor substitute for the institutional backing of money less than two weeks ago, the bank’s general manager was at it again, this time calling cryptos […]

The Bank for International Settlements is not a fan of cryptocurrencies, and it hasn’t shied away from expressing its view. Having released a scathing report on why cryptos are a poor substitute for the institutional backing of money less than two weeks ago, the bank’s general manager was at it again, this time calling cryptos a Ponzi scheme. In an interview with Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung, Agustin Carstens said that cryptos have failed in their intended purpose of replacing fiat currencies and urged young people to use their talents for innovation and not for something as futile as trying to reinvent money.

Cryptos Will Have a Bad Ending

Carstens has been in the finance industry for decades now, having served in his native Mexico as the Minister of Finance and later as the country’s central bank governor. He was around during the 2008 financial crisis when the financial system almost collapsed, but he remains adamant that cryptocurrencies are not the way forward.

He began by reiterating the BIS’s stand that cryptos are not money, but rather a form of investment. In his mind, cryptos don’t fulfill any of the three purposes of money, as they aren’t a good means of payment, they aren’t suitable as a store of value, nor are they a good unit of account. Cryptos only became popular because people could make a lot of money in a short period of time. The quick profits blinded people and kept them from realizing that cryptos were, in a nutshell, “a bubble, a Ponzi scheme and an environmental disaster.”

Cryptos are attempting to take over the electronic payments space, an area that has been well-served by central banks for decades, Carstens said. Citing the Swiss National Bank electronic payment system, he said that he is skeptical that anything could come along that would be more efficient and generate the same level of trust.

Cryptos are bad, but the blockchain technology that underpins them is good. This is a popular school of thought that has been propagated by many crypto skeptics, and Carstens is the latest one. According to the economist, blockchain technology has many useful applications, and research and development should be conducted. However, producing money is not among those applications. He also called on central banks to step in and protect investors and consumers from the many malicious parties in the industry. Central banks, he said, must also be keen on anti-money laundering policies and implement measures to prevent the financing of terrorist activities through cryptocurrencies.

The BIS has shied away from voicing concerns about cryptos over the years, as with their low market capitalization, it wasn’t a significant issue. The potential for harm from digital currencies increased as their prices soared in 2017, which prompted the Basel, Switzerland-based financial institution to step in and “put the phenomenon into proper perspective.”

Carstens had one final piece of advice for young crypto fans:

So my message to young people would be: Stop trying to create money!

Last month, the BIS released a scathing report that tore into cryptos, citing their power consumption, poor efficiency, inability to scale, and volatility as some of the reasons they could never replace fiat currencies. Cryptocurrencies could halt the internet if they attracted enough users, it said. The report was dismissed by some industry leaders who described it as shallow and in total disregard of the technological developments that are taking place in the industry.

Binance Coin Price: Solid Uptrend as Other Cryptocurrencies Face Slight Dips

A Saturday evening in the cryptocurrency world is always interesting for various reason. Although this Saturday has not seen any major bullish momentum, the Binance Coin price is still rising rapidly. Its value has surpassed $14 yet again, whereas all other cryptocurrencies are in the low red. Binance Coin Price Goes up In the financial […]

A Saturday evening in the cryptocurrency world is always interesting for various reason. Although this Saturday has not seen any major bullish momentum, the Binance Coin price is still rising rapidly. Its value has surpassed $14 yet again, whereas all other cryptocurrencies are in the low red.

Binance Coin Price Goes up

In the financial world, nothing can go up in value indefinitely. This is also true in the world of cryptocurrency, where volatility is the name of the game first and foremost. For the Binance Coin price, this volatility has not had too much of an impact just yet. Its value still remains near the $14 level despite some losses for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Over the past 24 hours, the Binance Coin price has risen by 4.3%. That in itself is rather significant, especially when considering it is nearly the only coin in the entire top 20 to not go in the red. Such strong momentum tends to materialize when the going gets tough for other currencies

These gains are facilitated by increases in the BNB/BTC and BNB/ETH ratio. During the past 24 hours, Binance Coin successfully gained 4.65% on Bitcoin and 5.22% on Ethereum. It is evident these developments negate any negative USD value momentum affecting the Binance Coin price.

Unfortunately, it also appears the overall cryptocurrency trading volume has begun to decline yet again. These developments tend to take place quite regularly, especially during the weekend. Even so, the Binance Coin volume remains in place, albeit $66.293m is not exactly impressive either. Whether or not it will be sufficient to keep the momentum going, remains unclear.

The markets responsible for this trading volume are what one would expect. USDT Leads the charge, followed closely by Bitcoin, Ethereum comes in third place and is also the final pair generating over $1m in 24-hour volume. NEO and EOS complete the top five, although they don’t even represent 1% of the total volume respectively.

For the time being, it remains unclear what the coming hours and days will hold for the Binance Coin price. Under the current circumstances, it seems possible to reach $14.25 or more, although its value can easily dip below $14 as well. Cryptocurrencies remain unpredictable first and foremost, especially where altcoins are concerned.

Major Israeli Exchange to Pass on Client Crypto Details to Tax Office

A local Israeli cryptocurrency exchange has agreed to pass on client information to tax authorities as part of a government drive to tighten cryptocurrency regulations, according to local Israeli news source Calcalist. Major Israeli crypto exchange Bits of Gold will pass on details relating to large cryptocurrency deposits over $50,000 total in the last 12 …

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A local Israeli cryptocurrency exchange has agreed to pass on client information to tax authorities as part of a government drive to tighten cryptocurrency regulations, according to local Israeli news source Calcalist.

Major Israeli crypto exchange Bits of Gold will pass on details relating to large cryptocurrency deposits over $50,000 total in the last 12 months. The move by the government is reported to be aimed at reducing money laundering through crypto exchanges.

Israel’s Prohibition on Money Laundering Law has required withdrawals and deposits over NIS 50,00 ($14,700 at time of press) be reported to the country’s Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority (IMPA) with verification required from investors regarding the legality of deposits made. Taxation on cryptocurrency trading profits has recently been set at 25% with exchanges paying 17% VAT.

Privacy laws are clearly being tightened as in the past courts have often backed citizen’s rights to privacy in financial matters concerning tax details. Bits of Gold had recently been audited although it’s been reported that the tax authorities were seeking information regarding large investors who had used the company.

Authorities still regard digital currencies with a degree of suspicion, despite better consumer protection and increasing global regulation of the space. Earlier this year Israel’s finance minister Moshe Kahlon signed a draft legislation which has been introduced to combat cryptocurrency money laundering in the country. The money laundering legislation, which is an addition to an existing law, will now include digital currency for the first time.

There have been frequent cases with many of Israel’s banks refusing to accept cryptocurrency-related money, and on two occasions banks were forced to accept the money after being taken to court. Earlier in the year Israel’s largest bank, Bank Hapoalim, was found to have unlawfully blocked a money transfer of USD 195,00 coming from a European cryptocurrency exchange platform, citing unsubstantiated claims of suspected money laundering and terrorist financing.

An IMPA draft bill from May of this year has stipulated that, if passed, financial entities will be required to keep 5 years-worth of trading records on each client including their IP addresses, according to ClavinAyre.com.

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Bitcoin Hype ‘Has Barely Even Begun,’ Says Blockbid COO – Bitcoinist


Bitcoinist

Bitcoin Hype ‘Has Barely Even Begun,’ Says Blockbid COO
Bitcoinist
The cryptocurrency exchange’s COO noted that even slight market changes trigger strong price movement in either direction for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — implying that future catalysts could once again inject high levels of hype into the market.


Bitcoinist

Bitcoin Hype 'Has Barely Even Begun,' Says Blockbid COO
Bitcoinist
The cryptocurrency exchange's COO noted that even slight market changes trigger strong price movement in either direction for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — implying that future catalysts could once again inject high levels of hype into the market.

New Ethereum Language Vyper Will Make ETH Blockchain More Secure

The new Ethereum language Vyper has been released and is so far getting enthusiastic reviews and comments on social media. The language which is an upgrade from the discarded Serpent offers developers an alternative to Solidity with some early converts calling it an improvement. Vyper Beta Ready for Testing Like Solidity, Vyper compiles down to Ethereum

The post New Ethereum Language Vyper Will Make ETH Blockchain More Secure appeared first on NewsBTC.

The new Ethereum language Vyper has been released and is so far getting enthusiastic reviews and comments on social media. The language which is an upgrade from the discarded Serpent offers developers an alternative to Solidity with some early converts calling it an improvement.

Vyper Beta Ready for Testing

Like Solidity, Vyper compiles down to Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) bytecode. Vyper though is designed to simplify that process, with an aim of creating easier to understand Smart Contracts with fewer points of attack and increased transparency.

For a code targeting the EVM it is essential for it to be hyper-efficient in order to execute smart contracts effectively as inefficient code will become prohibitively expensive in specific use cases like micro-transactions. Vyper, in this case, looks logically much like Solidity and syntactically similar to Python less many of the Object Oriented Programming paradigms.

This v0.1.0-beta.1 of Vyper has three key improvements over previous languages as reviewed by Blockgeeks. Firstly the review points out that many of the constructs familiar to programmers have been left out. Striving for simplicity Vyper has eliminated class inheritance, function overloading, operator overloading, and recursion as none of these are technically necessary to create a Turing-complete language.

Also eliminated as unnecessary are the less common constructs; modifiers, inline assembly and binary fixed point with technical reasons given by the review for each being removed.

Vyper Aims at Simplicity but Will Make Things Harder for Security

While the first improvements listed are all focused on simplifying the language the next is making it more complicated where needs be. In the words of the Vyper developers:

“…will deliberately forbid things or make things harder if it deems fit to do so for the goal of increasing security.”

Vyper was created to be as similar to Python as possible, but is not yet a start to finish replacement for either Python or Solidity, but rather a language to use when the need for the highest level of security is required. Smart Contracts holding patient health metadata for instance.

Those who have already begun experimenting with the language have taken to Reddit to spread mostly positive reactions. While some are questioning the need for another language to create smart contracts others are in agreement that security issues needed to be addressed.

As one user posted: “With all the crap security that’s being done in shit smart contracts, these days, I’m really glad that Ethereum is supporting a smaller language focused on readability and security.”

Vyper was not created to replace Solidity, but to be used alongside since it shares the same bytecode in order to boost security. As a recent study found, more than 3,000 vulnerable contracts contain security flaws. Vyper has the potential to play an important role in the future of Ethereum.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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Switzerland’s Stock Exchange Will Offer Cryptocurrency Services in Early 2019

Financial service providers have shown an increasing interest in cryptocurrency. Multiple banks are mulling the idea of setting up cryptocurrency trading desks. Doing so will take a lot of time and effort. In Switzerland, the domestic stock exchange and a digital exchange are set to offer cryptocurrency-related services. Switzerland Continues to Surprise It is evident […]

Financial service providers have shown an increasing interest in cryptocurrency. Multiple banks are mulling the idea of setting up cryptocurrency trading desks. Doing so will take a lot of time and effort. In Switzerland, the domestic stock exchange and a digital exchange are set to offer cryptocurrency-related services.

Switzerland Continues to Surprise

It is evident that various European countries are positioning themselves in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency. Earlier this week, it was Malta issuing a new regulatory ecosystem for blockchain technology. It now appears Switzerland is taking a similar approach, but in regards to cryptocurrencies, rather than their underpinning technology. A very exciting future lies ahead for both industries in Europe.

In Switzerland, the Swiss stock exchange is looking to expand its existing offerings. The firm is reportedly on the verge of introducing digital asset trading, with a strong focus on various cryptocurrencies. A new market infrastructure will need to be created to make this happen. When successful, Switzerland will have positioned itself as a crypto nation, which will be a positive development.

SIX Swiss Exchange has shown a willingness to embrace innovative technologies and new forms of money whenever the opportunity arises. In this case, the company will support Bitcoin, although support for additional cryptocurrencies will be added over time. Besides trading, SIX will also focus on post-transaction services including asset custody.

SIX’s chief executive, Jos Dijsselhof, is confident that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. He acknowledges that things are changing rapidly in the world of digital payments. Although cryptocurrency is still a largely unregulated industry in Europe, the potential offered by this new form of money should not be underestimated. It is a disruptive manner of conducting financial transactions, despite the “niche appeal” this industry has to contend with right now.

The bigger question is how Switzerland’s FINMA will respond to this development. Although the regulator has shown some leniency toward cryptocurrency and blockchain ventures, having the domestic stock exchange launch cryptocurrency services is something else entirely. SIX is convinced that they will receive the same standard of oversight and regulation found in traditional finance for this new venture.

All of this is another indication of how Swiss government officials perceive Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. There have been various efforts to remove most of the regulatory red tape associated with venturing into cryptocurrency. Any lingering obstacles will be removed from the equation in the near future. Due to these changes, banks will be able to offer services to cryptocurrency companies and vice versa.

Crypto Giant Huobi Australia-Bound for ‘Knowledgeable and Sophisticated’ Trading

Singapore crypto giant Huobi has announced it has begun trading from Sydney on its new Australian platform, reports the Asia Times. It has been a huge week for Huobi, the world’s third-largest crypto exchange by trade volume also announced that it has opened registration on its newly created U.S.-based “strategic partner” trading platform. The new …

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Singapore crypto giant Huobi has announced it has begun trading from Sydney on its new Australian platform, reports the Asia Times.

It has been a huge week for Huobi, the world’s third-largest crypto exchange by trade volume also announced that it has opened registration on its newly created U.S.-based “strategic partner” trading platform.

The new Australian venture has come about following Huobi’s comments that Australian traders are reputed to be well respected. The company will be trading 10 pairs including BTC, ETH, BCH, and LTC in Australian dollars.

The company suggests that Huobi’s billion dollars a day in trade volume can be further boosted with the addition of new trading pairs. Smaller pairs at present include Ethereum Classic (ETC), Power Ledger (POWR), Aelf (ELF), Cortex (CTXC), Data (DTA) and IOST with more “obscure” pairs to follow.

In another development, tech giant IBM has been expanding into Australasia and has signed a five-year deal security deal worth $740 million with the Australian government. The focus of the deal is to improve the company’s cybersecurity capabilities by employing blockchain related technologies.

IBM Australia and New Zealand managing director David la Rose says that the deal is a testament to their 40-year partnership with the Australian government, adding, “We look forward to helping the Australian government to re-define the digital experience for the benefit of all Australians.”

The new deal can be seen very much as a rebuilding of trust between IBM and the Australian Government which has recently been dented by the company’s 2016 national census survey receiving four “distributed denial of service” notices at the time, which temporarily shut down the service. IBM agreed to pay the Australian government more than A$30 million ($US20 million) in compensation.

Huobi’s latest US cryptocurrency marketplace comes via a San Francisco-based company called HBUS, which will support nine cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Tether (USDT), DASH, Civic (CVC) and TrueUSD (TUSD), according to Cointelegraph.

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Crypto Markets Hold Weekly Gains Amidst Little Action

With crypto markets seeing little action over the past 24 hours, all major coins have nevertheless managed to keep their weekly gains

With crypto markets seeing little action over the past 24 hours, all major coins have nevertheless managed to keep their weekly gains

Should Bitcoin Switch to the Proposed PoWx Solution?

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mining algorithm has sparked a few debates over the past few months. It is considered to be a huge waste of electricity and a borderline environmental disaster. A new proposal has been put forward under the PoWx banner. It is a very different take on cryptocurrency mining, albeit one that also makes sense. […]

Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mining algorithm has sparked a few debates over the past few months. It is considered to be a huge waste of electricity and a borderline environmental disaster. A new proposal has been put forward under the PoWx banner. It is a very different take on cryptocurrency mining, albeit one that also makes sense.

The PoWx Initiative Explained

Originally proposed by a nonprofit foundation of the same name, PoWx is a different take on mining Bitcoin. Currently, the system relies on proof-of-work, which requires powerful hardware and a lot of electricity to sustain. It is this latter part which has a lot of experts concerned, as the growing electricity use is rather worrisome when looking at the bigger picture. Those issues have been well-documented in the past.

The new PoWx proposal is designed to address those concerns and vastly improve upon the existing concept of mining Bitcoin. Bitcoin developers would have to implement this new algorithm to provide support for “optical” proof-of-work, which is a lot more energy-efficient. Although currencies change their mining algorithms quite regularly, this would be the first time such a change has affected Bitcoin directly.

One positive side effect of the PoWx proposal is that it would make Bitcoin mining a lot more appealing and approachable for regular consumers. Barriers to entry would be all but removed, as the need for ASIC hardware would be eradicated completely. This latter point is one of the primary reasons why this change was proposed in the first place.

Indeed, the PoWx foundation has noted that Bitmain’s dominance in the Bitcoin mining industry has become a problem. That issue isn’t unique to Bitcoin, as Bitmain’s ASIC hardware has made the rounds among alternative cryptocurrencies. Although the company has not shown any nefarious intent in this regard, the mounting concerns are more than valid.

Even so, it seems rather doubtful that Bitcoin’s developers will allow for a switch of the mining protocol to PoWx in the near future. Centralized mining has been an ongoing topic of debate in the world of cryptocurrency. One would expect the world’s leading cryptocurrency to set a positive example in this regard, which is why PoWx will continue to inspire discussion.

Controversial proposals never receive major community backing right away. Changing Bitcoin’s proof-of-work algorithm will not be easy by any means, as it would require a major overhaul of how the currency’s code looks and works. Such a drastic change should not be decided upon hastily either, even though it is also an option that can’t be dismissed easily. PoWx has already received support from two Bitcoin contributors, which is a positive start.

US Presidential Candidate Would Pardon Snowden, Ulbricht on First Day

US Presidential Candidate Would Pardon Snowden, Ulbricht on First DayFormer Vice Chair of the national Libertarian Party in the United States, Arvin Vohra, announced his candidacy for President. Among keys to his platform is his stated position: “On the first day of my presidency. I will pardon those in prison who have neither harmed anyone nor stolen anything. I will start with @Snowden and […]

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US Presidential Candidate Would Pardon Snowden, Ulbricht on First Day

Former Vice Chair of the national Libertarian Party in the United States, Arvin Vohra, announced his candidacy for President. Among keys to his platform is his stated position: “On the first day of my presidency. I will pardon those in prison who have neither harmed anyone nor stolen anything. I will start with @Snowden and @RossUlbricht,” he recently tweeted.

Also read: Troll Slayer: Derek Magill Defends Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash Against Defamation

US Presidential Candidate Urges Pardons of Edward Snowden and Ross Ulbricht

Education entrepreneur and principled libertarian firecracker, Arvin Vohra, 39, is adept at stirring things up. Though well-known, infamously, within more radical and mainstream libertarian circles, Mr. Vohra’s desire to seek the official Libertarian Party presidential nomination was less so. He took to Twitter recently to change that perception, announcing he would, upon entering Office, pardon the likes of Edward Snowden and Ross Ulbricht.

Mr. Snowden, 35, came to worldwide prominence during the Obama administration while employed as an analyst by National Security Agency (NSA) subcontractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Summer of 2013 he revealed massive spying on domestic and foreign citizens by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and NSA in conjunction with EU partners and giant private telecommunications companies.

US Presidential Candidate Would Pardon Snowden, Ulbricht on First Day
Arvin Vohra

His saga was chronicled by journalist Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, and documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras. Their collaboration to bring Mr. Snowden’s smuggled classified information to light became the 2015 Academy Award-winning Best Documentary Feature, Citizenfour. He remains in formal exile at an undisclosed location inside Russia.

Ross Ulbricht, 34, was arrested, charged, and convicted of operating Silk Road, an online site dedicated to bringing buyers and sellers together in a kind of underground Ebay model. The major difference being Silk Road enabled trading of substances and services deemed illegal by most governments, including the United States.

Arvin Vohra Actively Courts Crypto Community

Mr. Ulbricht was also prosecuted by the Obama administration around the same time as Mr. Snowden (eerily close). He was ultimately convicted of conspiracies to traffic in identification theft and narcotics, along with running afoul of computer hacking and money laundering laws. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Both a Circuit Court and the US Supreme Court have either upheld the conviction or denied further petition.

For his part, candidate Arvin Vohra is facing an uphill battle even before he potentially gets the chance to wield a presidential pardoning pen. It appears last go-round’s Libertarian Party nominee for Vice President, who ran with Gary Johnson in 2016, former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, 72, is the odds-on, projected favorite due to name recognition and his reputation for rather mainstream politics. Mr. Vohra will also campaign against movement libertarian internet celebrity Adam Kokesh.  

Snowden, Ross Ulbricht Pardoned on First Day: US Presidential Candidate

Mr. Vohra’s enthusiasm for post-conviction justice also includes “all nonviolent drug users, all nonviolent drug traffickers, all nonviolent drug kingpins…anyone that’s in jail for crypto-currency crime [and] gun possession where they didn’t actually hurt anybody.”

He told Reason, “My number one goal is to end the welfare state and abolish the income tax. I’m going to be using my campaign to spread that message on the policy level, but also to help people realize there are so many ways to reduce government without changing policy, including opting out of government schools, including using cryptocurrency, including using the power of jury nullification.” Mr. Vohra joins New York Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Larry Sharpe in the broader party’s courting of the crypto community.

Should the crypto community concern itself with politics? Let us know in the comments section below. 


Images via the Pixabay, Twitter.


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One Fifth of Bitcoin is Permanently Lost, Real Supply of BTC is Very Low – newsBTC

newsBTCOne Fifth of Bitcoin is Permanently Lost, Real Supply of BTC is Very LownewsBTCStories of lost Bitcoins, abandoned in old laptops, being dug out when cryptocurrency began to surge only to prove inaccessible have become part of crypto folklore. P…


newsBTC

One Fifth of Bitcoin is Permanently Lost, Real Supply of BTC is Very Low
newsBTC
Stories of lost Bitcoins, abandoned in old laptops, being dug out when cryptocurrency began to surge only to prove inaccessible have become part of crypto folklore. People obsessing over PIN numbers and passwords standing in the way of a new car, ...

One Fifth of Bitcoin is Permanently Lost, Real Supply of BTC is Very Low

Stories of lost Bitcoins, abandoned in old laptops, being dug out when cryptocurrency began to surge only to prove inaccessible have become part of crypto folklore. People obsessing over PIN numbers and passwords standing in the way of a new car, a luxury holiday or their kids university funds are common. One-Fifth of Bitcoin is Lost

The post One Fifth of Bitcoin is Permanently Lost, Real Supply of BTC is Very Low appeared first on NewsBTC.

Stories of lost Bitcoins, abandoned in old laptops, being dug out when cryptocurrency began to surge only to prove inaccessible have become part of crypto folklore. People obsessing over PIN numbers and passwords standing in the way of a new car, a luxury holiday or their kids university funds are common.

One-Fifth of Bitcoin is Lost

According to an article in the The Wall Street Journal 20% of all the Bitcoin in circulation is actually lost, existing in limbo, either forgotten about or inaccessible to its owner. Bitcoin is stored in a digital wallet which can only be accessed with the owner’s personal identification number. Unlike the PIN from a bank issued ATM card, a digital wallet PIN address is much longer and considered to be virtually unhackable.

As cases of Bitcoin loss have risen and been widely reported on they have given birth to a new kind of hunter. Individuals and small firms have emerged to try and help those who have thrown away their personal fortunes, for a fee of course.

One such company called Wallet Recovery Services employees four people, who remain anonymous to maintain the companies discretion, to use whatever information the owner can put together in order to employ a brute force decryption on Bitcoin wallets. The company charges 20% of any coins it recovers, but the process is slow and so far only around 30% successful.

Another option is New York-based We Recover Data. The company began as a resource to help corporations recover lost or damaged data and uses those same techniques to help those who have lost their cryptocurrency. They charge a variable rate depending on the amount of damage or complexity of the security system, but boast a 95% (overall) success rate.

In the same vein is Chainanylsis which works specifically with the FBI on crypto related crimes. They do not offer their services to individuals and when the WSJ contacted them for an estimate they were told: “more than you can afford.” Working with the FBI they use powerful software which checks throughout the blockchain to locate where thefts have taken place. Software which could be used to recover lost Bitcoin.

High Tech Applications and Old-School Methodology

Going low tech Jason Miller of South Carolina has tuned his skills as a hypnotist to manipulating his client’s memories in order to reveal the repressed information knocking around in their sub-conscious.

“Everybody has a photographic memory. With skilled hypnotic regression, you can access that photograph.” Miller says about his services, that have so far had a 50% success rate, he charges .5 Bitcoin up front and 5% fee of whatever is recovered.

Of course, all of this pain and suffering can be easily avoided by jotting down relevant passwords and PIN numbers on paper, which are then put in a safe place as many exchanges and wallet makers recommend.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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Tezos Token Price Gets Battered Despite Testnet Launch

The launch of the Tezos project and token trading is not off to a good start. Even though this launch had been anticipated for quite some time, it appears token holders are very intent on getting rid of their tokens. Thanks to steep daily declines, the value per XTZ has already plummeted to $1.33 and […]

The launch of the Tezos project and token trading is not off to a good start. Even though this launch had been anticipated for quite some time, it appears token holders are very intent on getting rid of their tokens. Thanks to steep daily declines, the value per XTZ has already plummeted to $1.33 and will seemingly head lower.

Tezos Token Woes Are Not Over

After the year-long struggle which Tezos has endured, the project finally made a breakthrough about a week ago. Now that all of the major issues have been settled internally, the team officially announced the launch of its beta net. That should have been a joyous occasion and had a positive impact on the XTZ token price.

Although the Tezos testnet seems to be trucking along nicely, token holders are not the most patient people in the financial world. Considering that so many people had to wait nearly a full year prior to receiving the tokens they had bought during the Tezos initial coin offering, it is not entirely surprising that token holders have been selling their holdings ever since exchanges officially enabled trading. In the past few days, the XTZ price has been plummeting at an accelerated pace.

The XTZ sell-off started taking shape four days ago, pushing the XTZ value from $4 down to $1.33. There has been no positive momentum for this token since that time, and it seems sellers are mainly interested in liquidating their holdings at any price they can get.

At the time of writing, the XTZ value had fallen by another 30.23% over the past 24 hours. Although volatility is nothing new in the cryptocurrency world, such steep declines will always raise a lot of questions. This seemingly confirms that very few people have any confidence in Tezos or the future of this project at this stage. That’s an unfortunate development, although the sentiment is understandable.

Whether or not the Tezos price will recover from this onslaught is very difficult to predict at this stage. It has become apparent that the project’s history of controversy, setbacks, and lawsuits have eroded a lot of the positive momentum associated with it during the initial coin offering. The project is far from dead in the water, as the testnet is officially live and open to everyone. Even so, those developments may have come a little too late, at least for the average ICO investor.

Current token prices are always a snapshot. They tell one part of the story, and most currencies on the market today have seen big setbacks at some point in their histories. Even Bitcoin faced a 99% retracement one year, and it survived. It remains to be seen if Tezos is equally resilient and whether or not there is any genuine interest in this project among existing and new investors alike.