January 15, 2019

US Regulators’ Approach to Crypto Is Obstructing Innovation: Ex-Congressman

January 15, 2019 boss

Former Republican Representative George Nethercutt championed cryptocurrency, but took aim at United States regulators’ approach to it in an article for political news outlet The Hill Jan. 14. Nethercutt — who represented the U.S. state of Washington for ten years from 1995 — now serves as founder and chairman of Nethercutt Consulting LLC and of his nonprofit, the Nethercutt Civics Foundation. Reviewing U.S. policy at home and abroad in his recent op-ed, Nethercutt drew a stark contrast between actions of the State Department to protect U.S. intellectual property and those…

Why Facebook Should Not be Trusted With Cryptocurrency

January 15, 2019 boss

The race to launch the first crypto powered messenger app is heating up. Naturally the internet monopolies such as Facebook are scrambling to be first, but looking at its history it is one of the least suitable to handle decentralized currencies. New contenders are appearing on the scene with far better credentials than the world’s largest social media platform. Disruptive Technologies The Way Forward Crypto and Facebook have made it into a number of headlines over the past year. Many are clutching at digital straws in the hope that a…

Ethereum Core Devs Agree to ProgPoW Hard Fork. What Comes Next?

January 15, 2019 boss

Ethereum Core Devs Agree to ProgPoW Hard Fork. What Comes Next? January 15, 2019 by Tyson O’Ham On the latest Ethereum Core Dev call, an EIP to switch Proof of Work to ProgPoW was approved. The goal of forking to a different PoW algorithm is to avoid the ethash ASIC manufacture from centralizing mining efforts, but what other implications will the move have? Also read: Ahead of Ethereum Constantinople Update, Community Eyes ProgPoW Subscribe to the Bitsonline YouTube channel for great videos featuring industry insiders & experts Ethereum ASICs Present Unacceptable Risks Ethash,…

New Zealand Crypto Exchange Cryptopia Goes Offline Citing Major Hack

January 15, 2019 boss

New Zealand-based cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia has gone offline citing a major hack. The exchange announced the news on Twitter this morning, stating that it “suffered a security breach which resulted in significant losses.” No information has yet been provided on the amount of the losses, the tokens and currencies affected or any measures to refund users. The exchange’s website, including support and blog pages, is currently completely offline, with a notice stating: “Cryptopia is currently in unscheduled maintenance mode. We will be back soon.” Meanwhile, tweets from Whale Alert on Saturday…

New Zealand Crypto Exchange Cryptopia Goes Offline Citing Hack

January 15, 2019 boss

Bakkt Makes First Expansion Acquisition to Prepare Crypto Platform

January 15, 2019 boss

At the end of 2018 Bakkt announced the closure of its first round of financial funding as a huge success. It has just expanded on that success with the announcement of its first official acquisition, an independent futures commission merchant. Bakkt Buying Assets for Platform Launch On New Year’s Eve, New York Stock Exchange owner ICE’s Bakkt announced that it had raised $182.5 million from 12 partners and investors who ‘believe in the future of digital assets’. At the time though this was not enough to spur a recovery for…

Public Gets Chance to Earn Block Rewards by Donating Computing Power to Scientific Research

January 15, 2019 boss

A startup has unveiled bold plans to tackle the excessive levels of energy consumption seen in cryptocurrency mining, all while giving everyday computer users more of a chance to receive block rewards. Resistance argues that proof-of-work mining “has been hijacked by huge mining farms using tons of energy to take control of the market” — isolating normal consumers who cannot afford to get involved with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The company also says the levels of electricity being used is “wasted on mathematical equations” rather than making a positive impact on…

Breaking: Crypto Exchange Cryptopia Hacked, Police Starts Investigation

January 15, 2019 boss

Although 2019 is expected to be a turnaround year for the broader Bitcoin market, a crypto exchange recently divulged that it had fallen victim to a “security breach.” This is the exchange hack of 2019. First Crypto Hack Of 2019 On Tuesday morning, Cryptopia, a lesser-known crypto exchange centered around small cap assets, took to Twitter to release a harrowing piece of news. Company representatives claimed that on January 14th, Cryptopia, a platform that trades approximately $1 million of digital assets each and every day, “suffered a security breach.” pic.twitter.com/0ZwqFfwwHi…

Coinbase, Kraken Join Major Exchanges Supporting Ethereum Constantinople Hard Fork

January 15, 2019 boss

Major United States cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Kraken became the latest to confirm support for Ethereum’s (ETH) Constantinople hard fork, both announcing on Twitter, Jan. 14. The two major exchanges join Binance, Huobi and OKEx in pledging to monitor the event, which will trigger at Ethereum block height 7,080,000, expected this week. “Coinbase intends to fully support the Constantinople Ethereum (ETH) upgrade,” staff wrote in the post, adding: “Upon commencement of the upgrade, for security and technical purposes, we will temporarily pause sending and receiving ETH across all of our…

Windows Torrent File Malware Can Swap Out Crypto Addresses, Researcher Warns

January 15, 2019 boss

New malware posing as a movie file from torrent website The Pirate Bay (TPB) can manipulate web pages and replace Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) addresses, computing magazine Bleeping Computer reported Jan. 12. The malware — originally thought to inject advertising on Google and in search results — in fact performs multiple actions, some of which were discovered by the publication’s own researcher Lawrence Abrams. “What appeared to be an ad-injector into the main Google search page turned out to be only the tip of the iceberg,” the researchers warned.…