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Change.org Petition Urges Authorities to Give BTC-E Users Their Money Back

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As was widely reported in cryptocurrency news, a 38-year-old Russian man was recently arrested in Greece. The man, Alexander Vinnik, is accused of laundering $4 billion worth of ill-gotten bitcoins, and was allegedly running “one of the most important websites of electronic crime in the world.”

Alexander Vinnik was also found to be a suspect in the Mt Gox hack, as even independent security team WizSec revealed through an announcement he was their prime suspect for the involvement in the theft and subsequent money laundering.

It was also revealed that the website was the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e. The exchange went down before news of the arrest started spreading, and justified its downtime with “unplanned maintenance”, and later on stated it would take 5-10 days for it to come back up.

Most users now believe that BTC-e is gone for good as visiting its website shows us that the domain has been seized by authorities. When trying to access the website, this is what we get:

Various users questioned whether the U.S. have any jurisdiction over the BTC-e exchange to seize it. Alexander Vinnik was a Russian man who was arrested in Greece, and BTC-e was registered in New Zealand.

What Will Happen to User Funds Left on BTC-e?

CCN recently covered that Alexander has been indicted by a U.S. grand jury, and that he may soon be extradited to the U.S. Amid all of this, however, it remains unclear what will happen to customer funds – after all, innocent users shouldn’t pay for someone else’s actions.

A recent Change.org petition urges the Department of Justice (DOJ) to give users their money back from the exchange or to allow them to access them again, so they won’t lose everything they had in there. Some even stated how they earned their coins to further prove their innocence.

At press time, the petition has 731 supporters, and the number keeps on increasing as its shared through social media. The petition’s text reads:

Hi, a few days ago a crypto currency exchange has been shutdown by the U.S. government and a lot of innocent people lost a lot of money in the process.
We need our money back!

Various users have pointed out that authorities managed to seize BTC-e’s domain and, as such, presumably also seized user’s funds. Others pointed to suspicious transactions, as someone may be getting away with a fortune worth of bitcoin while most look at Alexander Vinnik’s case.

So far, what will happen to the cryptocurrencies users had at BTC-e remains a mystery. Likely, the DOJ may ask users to prove their money was acquired legally so they can have it back, and later on auction off the rest.

Some users have stated that BTC-e.nz, the platform’s New Zealand portal, works from time to time and allows users to access their funds.

Ripple Price Analysis: July 22 – 30

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water ripples - turquoise concentric circles

The price of Ripple has reached its long-term correction peak. Will the growth start or the rate decrease further?

Long-term correction is coming to an end

The Ripple network is expanding and 25 exchanges have placed the XRP tokens this year making 30 exchanges in total where Ripple is available for trading. Despite its active development though, the price is in a long-term correction. After a sharp price hike in May, it has formed a downward reversal and there’s been a pullback during all growth since the end of March, 2017. After the fall in May, the price went up to $0.15, making it the key level. We observed a similar reaction on July 15 – 16,  only confirming the importance of $0.15 level. This level can be considered the point where new long-term growth will start, going up to at least $ 0.40, or where there’ll be a reversal  and a deeper fall to the $0.03-$ 0.06 zone

Fall in demand

The picture is different with the demand volume. It seems to have been falling, compared to the level in May. Technically, the price is at the long-term correction peak and it has two options: to turn to a long-term wave up or to fall even deeper. For both options, there should be a reversal wave with vivid advantage. Therefore, the $0.15 – $0.20  flat may start, because of the demand insufficiency. For more significant growth, a reversal at $ 0.20 needs to take place. The same goes for a deeper fall. If Ripple settles at the $ 0.15 zone and forms a downward turn, it will mean that the demand volume has fallen even more.

Most likely scenarios

The $ 0.15 level is essential for a long-term trend. If the price does not settle there and it does not form a reversal down, then there’ll be growth with a pullback to the entire downward trend from $ 0.43.

Startups Brace for Bitcoin Cash Fork in Wave of Policy Updates

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What should we do about Bitcoin Cash?

That’s the question facing industry startups, as it seems likely that a group of developers and miners might actually fork from the main bitcoin network next week, forming a brand new cryptocurrency.

Due to differences in opinion about how bitcoin should be governed and what technical features should be added to the cryptocurrency network, the idea of a split has been raised several times over the last few years. But this time, the developers behind Bitcoin Cash claim they plan to go through with it – and on a short timeline.

The cryptocurrency is breaking off from the “main” bitcoin blockchain on August 1, with the specific goal of creating a competing cryptocurrency. Everyone who owns bitcoin will have an equal amount of Bitcoin Cash – if and when users and miners split off.

While users are wondering how it will affect them (i.e. how to access Bitcoin Cash and whether they should buy, sell, or “hodl” this new type of bitcoin) the ecosystem’s third-party companies are grappling with this question as well – especially those that retain custody of funds in some capacity.

Unsure if the new cryptocurrency will rally users – or if it will just fade away – wallet providers, exchanges and mining pools are all issuing statements about how they will deal with the split and how users can respond.

But for most, it’s more than a question of politics.

For the CEO of the bitcoin app Coins.ph, Ron Hose, the bitcoin scaling debate has been an economic drain, not only in the mental effort he’s put into wrapping his head around the changes, but also in the actions he might need to take to now secure potentially vulnerable customers funds.

Hose told CoinDesk:

“The biggest cost is time and distraction from executing on what we see as core to our mission of providing financial services to the unbanked.”

Still, he called the features that Bitcoin Cash offers (not necessarily the project itself) “necessary for bitcoin to continue to evolve as a financial railway,” adding that a block size increase could become a “welcome improvement” despite the short-term headaches.

Tech bottleneck

Often companies pick and choose which cryptocurrencies they support, usually based on how profitable they think it will be for them.

One key takeaway from recently released statements by startups – such as Hong Kong-based exchange ANXPro and mobile wallets Electrum and GreenAddress – though, is that they simply don’t have the time or technical resources to support a new cryptocurrency.

Bitstamp, one of the world’s largest bitcoin exchanges, stated in vaguer terms that it will “not be in a position” to support the “altcoin,” while Circle emailed customers to state “we may never support the new version and any value on it could potentially be lost to you.”

It might be hard to fault the companies that simply don’t have the money to commit to making Bitcoin Cash easily redeemable for users.

Still, some see this as a form of fraud, arguing that, since third-party companies that control users’ private keys will end up with all the Bitcoin Cash, they’re effectively stealing the coins from bitcoin users.

Prepaid phone startup Bitrefill has developed a creative way of dealing with this problem. Like other small firms with limited resources, it does not plan to support the competing cryptocurrency. Instead, it plans to sell all of the Bitcoin Cash it accumulates in exchange for bitcoin – later dividing these funds between users, proportional to the amount of bitcoin each holds with the company.

Some startups are uncertain of the best path, though.

Cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift plans to “turn off trading” on August 1 for an unspecified amount of time, but didn’t say whether the firm will list Bitcoin Cash.

Meanwhile, in what seems to be a minority opinion, bitcoin payments provider BitPay said it believes “there should be no chain split and no disruption in service on the bitcoin network.”

As such, it does not plan to suspend its services.

Bitcoin Cash support

It’s worth noting that Bitcoin Cash has its supporters.

Some want to try out the bitcoin alternative because they support its vision for scaling bitcoin to more users by way of a block size parameter increase, while others anticipate gains in selling their free new coins.

(Others note that developers, by way of Segregated Witness, have made the block size irrelevant through technical breakthroughs that enable other forms of capacity increases.)

Either way, if users want to receive Bitcoin Cash on August 1, they need to move their bitcoin to a wallet where they control their private keys – or, at least, to a wallet that will support Bitcoin Cash.

Some wallets do indeed support Bitcoin Cash. Among these are hardware wallets Trezor and Ledger and mobile wallet Airbitz.

Users will also be able to trade the new coin for bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies on one of the few exchanges that will support it.

Mining pool ViaBTC has already launched futures trading for the tokens, which at time of writing is trading for 12.5 percent of what “normal” bitcoin are worth, at 2,203 Chinese yuan, or $327.

One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Bitfinex, will list it under the ticker symbol BCH to “avoid confusion with bitcoin” (it has also been given the symbol BCC elsewhere). Chinese exchange Huobi indicated it will reveal more details about trading come August 1.

‘Stay rational’?

It doesn’t seem like many mining pools or miners support Bitcoin Cash so far, so one of the remaining questions is how diverse and decentralized its computing power – which works in part to add new transactions blocks to the blockchain – will be.

Slush Pool, the first-ever mining pool, said it won’t support it, arguing “we do not see any real demand from miners.” Mining pool Bixin, with about 5% of the hashrate, also stated that it will keep its hashrate dedicated to the main bitcoin chain and urged other miners to “stay rational.”

Mining pools Bitmain and Bitcoin.com both plan to uphold the Segwit2x agreement, including the block size parameter increase hard fork, scheduled to activate in three months. They are, though, open to supporting Bitcoin Cash in the future.

ViaBTC, one of the pioneers of the project, remains the only mining pool committed to the cause so far. Yet, it says it isn’t putting any of its own mining power toward the effort, instead giving users the option to direct their hardware toward Bitcoin Cash in support.

All these pieces of the ecosystem considered, the bigger question might be, what’s the future of Bitcoin Cash?

Although companies are deciding whether or not to make it easy for users to access and use the cryptocurrency, there’s still little evidence that more than a few companies, developers, users, and mining pools plan to actually move over to it and use it long-term.

Still, some users cite ethereum classic as an example of a cryptocurrency that exceeded expectations in the long run, due support from enthusiastic and ideologically driven supporters.

As usual, we will just have to wait and see.

Rothschild Inv. Corp Invests in BTC Per SEC

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In a move that shouldn’t stun most BTC and cryptocurrency followers, Rothschild has purchased Bitcoin via the GBTC (Bitcoin Investment Trust) investment vehicle.

SEC articles signed on Friday indicate that Rothschild has diversified into cryptocurrencies, now owning $210,000 worth of GBTC.

The disclosure was published via Twitter:

BREAKING: Rothschild Buy  Bitcoin via  Bitcoin Investment Trust 539 SH

The move should not come as a surprise given the widespread and increasing support of Bitcoin among institutional investors and hedge funds.

The market had reacted with strong negativity after the fears of a potential breakdown in support of the BIP 91 and SegWit by miners. However, the market has since responded rapidly, increasing the prices of Bitcoin to close the week nearly 40 percent up from the lows of last weekend.

The price of Bitcoin is a point of contention, with some saying that the bubble has come and a collapse is imminent, while others are suggesting that the price may skyrocket into the $5,000 range.

Regardless of where the price goes, the fact that investors like Rothschild are beginning to diversify into BTC and other cryptocurrencies should bolster support for valuations.

Droplex Offers a Solution to the ‘Quantum Revolution’ by Using a Bulletproof Blockchain

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As previously covered by CCN, quantum computers are moving closer to realityand along with them, the possibility of those behind them breaking bitcoin’s encryption systems. Various organizations, including Google, the CIA, NSA, and IBM are currently working on this type of technology, which may be closer than we think.

U.K. cybersecurity firm Post Quantum co-founder Andersen Cheng has in the past stated that bitcoin will end the day the first quantum computer arrives, as it will undermine the cryptography surrounding bitcoin and calculating a private key in “a minute or two”.

Moreover, last year the European Commission announced a whopping $1.1 billion project that was to bring the ‘quantum revolution’ one step closer to reality. Bitcoin’s scaling debate has proven that whenever consensus is required, the cryptocurrency struggles and, to solve the encryption’s problems and add quantum-proof technology to the network, community consensus will be required.

For cryptocurrency enthusiasts the solution is Droplex, a highly secure cryptocurrency blockchain providing users protection against quantum computing attacks.

Don’t Let Anyone Access Your Bitcoins

Given the belief that organizations behind quantum computers will in the future be able to access anyone’s bitcoins, Droplex developed a solution to keep our money ours, away from the government.

It’s highly secure blockchain doesn’t utilize traditional encryption methods, but what is known as hash-based signatures, known to resist quantum computer attacks. The project’s lead developer stated:

Our goal is to create a secured decentralized cryptocurrency that is prepared for the future advances in technology and will remain stable and unbreachable in the long-term.

Moreover, Droplex keeps user privacy in mind and features a tumbling service that ensures every transaction is automatically tumbled, making it untraceable, despite being on a public blockchain. The project’s developer stated:

Bitcoin transactions today are too easy to track down, so you’re not really hidden even when paying with bitcoin.

Transactions are confirmed in no time after they’re sent, meaning long waiting periods aren’t a problem. Finally, Droplex’s team tirelessly works on the project and guarantees it keeps on evolving, to keep up with technology that could potentially undermine it.

Join the Project

Droplex’s early access token sale is already undergoing. It will last until July 28 and in it users will be able to purchase 1,000 DROP tokens for 1 Ether. Users who join the project now will be able to benefit from a 15% bonus on their orders and pay using bitcoin. The minimum amount a user can purchase is of 100 DROP, equivalent to 0.1 Eth or about 0.01 BTC. During the presale a total of 10,000,000 tokens are being distributed, out of a total of 30,000,000, with the rest being distributed during the ICO.

According to the project’s roadmap, a private testnet is going to be released next month, and in November this year, a quantum attack is going to be simulated, following the ICO in September. You can keep up with the project’s developments via TwitterFacebook, or Github. Users are advised to thoroughly read the project’s whitepaper.

Euroclear and Paxos End Blockchain Gold Settlement Partnership

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The partnership between blockchain startup Paxos and Europe’s largest settlement service has ended.

Euroclear and Paxos, as previously reported, were developing a blockchain-based platform for settling gold trades. The collaboration aimed at putting in place new infrastructure for London’s gold market. It’s a use case that other institutions, including the UK’s Royal Mint, is also moving toward.

Yet according to Reuters, that partnership has come to an end, though the exact reasons aren’t immediately clear. A spokesperson for Paxos confirmed the end of the tie-up when reached by CoinDesk.

“Euroclear and Paxos have agreed to stop discussions on forming a joint-venture,” a representative for Euroclear said in an email.

At the same time, both Paxos and Euroclear intend to move forward with bullion trading solutions based on the tech.

The Paxos rep said that the startup plans to debut the solution by 2018. In an interview with Reuters, a representative for Euroclear said that the service “remains committed to offering a solution to the London bullion market.”

The project was first unveiled more than a year ago. Months after its reveal, the prototype platform was put to the test by a group of banks and financial institutions, with hundreds of trades being conducted between participating parties.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Paxos.

Bitcoin Finally Breaks 50% in Dominance Index, Price Nears $2,800

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On July 28, Bitcoin analyst and researcher Tuur Demeester revealed that Bitcoin dominance index recovered beyond its 50 percent mark for the first time since May.

Although the market cap of the entire cryptocurrency market fell from around $115 bln to $89 bln, the dominance of Bitcoin over the market has increased, as Bitcoin moved closer to a market cap of $46 bln.

As a result, Bitcoin price has moved closer to the $2,800 mark, mostly due to the optimism surrounding the activation of the Bitcoin Core development team’s transaction malleability fix and scaling solution Segregated Witness (SegWit).

 price nears $2,800 as bitcoin market cap breaks 50% dominance index. Factors: SegWit, demand from inst. investors & traders.

Some of the Bitcoin industry’s largest Bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms including Coinbase, Bitfinex and Bitstamp have already clarified their stance on Bitcoin Cash, the hard fork proposal being developed by ViaBTC.

Initially, Bitmain developed Bitcoin ABC as a contingency plan towards BIP 148, user-activated soft fork. But, as the mining community came to a consensus to activate SegWit via BIP 141, the original SegWit proposal, the probability of the activation of Bitcoin ABC or Bitcoin Cash, significantly decreased.

Still, ViaBTC officially announced earlier this week that it plans on pursuing the Bitcoin Cash hard fork, to create a separate version of the original Bitcoin Blockchain. The abrupt announcement of ViaBTC came as a surprise to Bitmain as well, which led the company to release yet another announcement clarifying that Bitcoin ABC was merely a contingency plan against BIP 148.

Despite the rejection of Bitcoin Cash by exchanges, mining pools and businesses, its creation and introduction to the market will mean a chain split. Prior to the finalization of SegWit activation, the market remained unstable due to the possibility of a hard fork execution and now, the market is more confident in Bitcoin than ever before.

For the most part, that is because Bitcoin has proven its ability to scale through the finalization of SegWit and the vast majority of the industry has announced that they don’t intend to acknowledge Bitcoin Cash as a legitimate fork of Bitcoin. Rather, leading businesses such as Coinbase and GDAX will consider Bitcoin Cash as an alternative cryptocurrency or altcoin.

Hence, due to the finalization of SegWit and the clarification of the Bitcoin industry on the Bitcoin Cash hard fork, the market and investors have regained confidence in Bitcoin. Additionally, according to analysts from Goldman Sachs and other leading financial institutions, Bitcoin’s upward momentum will likely be sustained.

Ethereum, Bitcoin Prices Decline amid Wavy Crypto Markets

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The ethereum and bitcoin prices declined for the second straight day amid wavy crypto markets. Consequently, the total crypto market cap was unable to climb back to $90 billion, despite rising as high as $89.5 billion early Wednesday morning.

bitcoin price

Chart from CoinMarketCap

At present, the total crypto market cap is $86 billion.

bitcoin price

Chart from CoinMarketCap

Bitcoin Price Peters Below $2,500

The bitcoin price briefly crossed the $2,600 threshold on Wednesday morning, but it could not sustain that level and quickly began to decline. It continued to slide throughout the day, reaching $2,490 at the time of writing for a 24-hour decline of 3.4%. The bitcoin market cap is now just a hair over $41 billion.

bitcoin price

Bitcoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

The wavy bitcoin price likely stems from investor hesitance over the impending Bitcoin Cash fork. Bitcoin Cash proponents argue the hard fork is a continuation of Satoshi’s original vision for Bitcoin, while critics claim it is really just an altcoin fork designed to cash in on the Bitcoin brand. Since Bitcoin Cash is cloning the main bitcoin blockchain, bitcoin holders will own coins on both platforms, as long as they control their private keys or move their coins to exchanges pledging support for Bitcoin Cash, such as ViaBTC. Bitcoin Cash futures have already traded as high as $400 on ViaBTC under symbol BCC (this is controversial since BitConnect Coin already claims the BCC symbol).

Ethereum Price Ebbs to $200 As SEC Moves to Regulate ICOs

The ethereum price followed the pattern of the market as a whole on Tuesday and Wednesday, traversing moderate peaks and valleys to post a 2.7% decline. At several points, the ethereum price dipped into the $190s, but it ultimately fought back to its present value of $200. Ethereum now has a market cap of $18.8 billion, which is roughly 46% the size of bitcoin’s.

 

ethereum price

Ethereum Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

It will be interesting to see how the markets respond to a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report that states Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) are subject to regulation. The report, which specifically analyzes DAO tokens, found that they were a “security” under U.S. law and thus subject to regulations governing those financial assets. It’s important to note that the SEC did not explicitly state that all ICO tokens are securities, just that they could be, but the inference is that the SEC is going to begin taking an active role in ICO regulation. Many in the digital currency community fear that over-regulation will inhibit innovation, but others, such as attorney and Blockchain Policy Counsel Marco Santori, believe it is a “first step in a critical maturation process.”

IOTA Stands out from the Altcoin Pack

Most major altcoins saw little movement on Wednesday. Ripple, Litecoin, Dash, Monero, and Stratis all fluctuated less than 1%. The NEM price dropped 2.6% to reduce its market cap below $1.4 billion. The ethereum classic price fell 1.8% to $14.51, rendering it unable to climb back into the top 5. Eleventh-ranked BitConnect declined 1.5% to $62.

ethereum price

The IOTA Price Was the Only Top 10 Coin to See Significant Gains on Wednesday.

EOS, the 12th-ranked cryptocurrency, was the worst hit among the top 10 altcoins. The EOS price fell 5.4% to $1.56. EOS does, however, have a trading volume almost as large as that of 5th-ranked Dash.

EOS price

EOS Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

The only real standout among the top 10 altcoins was IOTA. The IOTA price rose 12% to $0.274, an impressive gain considering no other top-tier coin rose more than 1%.

IOTA price

IOTA Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Market Share Remains Stable

Cryptocurrency market share did not change much on Wednesday. Bitcoin continues to boast a share more than double the size of ethereum’s. It retains a 48% plurality, while ethereum accounts for 22% of the total crypto market cap. Ripple and Dash saw modest gains to 7.7% and 1.7%, respectively.

bitcoin price

Bitcoin Dominance Remained Mostly Stagnant on Wednesday.

Boxing Champ Floyd Mayweather Just Promoted an ICO on Instagram

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He’s one of the world’s greatest boxers by most standards – and he just took to social media to promote an upcoming initial coin offering (ICO).

Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who earned a number of boxing records in his years on the professional circuit, is set to fight boxer Conor McGregor in a highly-billed match on August 26. In a photo shared on Instagram just over an hour ago, Mayweather predicted that he would “make a $hit t$n of money” as a result of that fight – a comment made while seated in front of what appears to be a significant pile of money on a private jet.

Yet, in the same message, he also predicts that he will also strike it big during the ICO for Stox, a prediction market project that is launching its sale on August 2.

Here’s the full Instagram post:

It’s an notable statement given that, just days prior, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that ICOs are subject to its rules and that, in some cases, tokens could be deemed securities.

The question that remains is – is it real? And if so, how involved is Mayweather in the project? While surprising, it’s not unheard of for a major boxer to be involved in cryptocurrency, with Mike Tyson even once backing a bitcoin ATM.

A representative for Mayweather wasn’t immediately available for comment when reached.

Why New Decentralized Internet Can Be Formed With Ethereum

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More people are aware of Bitcoin, but not all of them notice that there is another cryptocurrency that is significantly raising its value since the beginning of the year, Ether.

With its reign over the world of digital currency, many believe that a new decentralized Internet can be formed with Ethereum.

The spread of Ethereum nodes globally

Since Ethereum’s launch on July 30, 2015, the cryptocurrency’s value has been escalating dramatically.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin seems only to have the better attention since it only tripled its value this year. Because of this development, the probability of creating a new decentralized Internet is really high.

In a tweet posted by Peter Szilagyi, team leader of Ethereum development, Google Earth images showed the wide spread of Ethereum nodes all over the world.

Countless location icons prove that there are countless computers linked to the Ethereum Blockchain.

View image on TwitterView image on Twitter

Oh my, we’ve been growing!  nodes on @googleearth(green = @golang geth, orange = @rustlang parity, white = everything else).

While the Google images may have missed some nodes and may not be accurate, that is the best data that they can rely on for now.

Szilagyi was the one who created this, converting the ethernodes.org’s Internet Protocol addresses into geographic locations. Then, he plotted them on Google Earth.

Ether is more popular in developed regions

The photos also showed where Ether is more popular in the world. Following the nodes, one can easily notice that there are more Ethereum nodes in US and EU regions than Asia and South America.

Thus, Ether is more prevalent in wealthier regions.

Peter Szilagyi adds:

“Node density seems to go hand in hand with connectivity, industrialization, and wealth. My best bet as to why the discrepancy is that running a full Ethereum node is resource intensive.”

Between the US and the EU, Central Europe is more saturated by Ethereum. That is something to be expected since the development team of Ethereum and other firms are based in Europe.