What are the privacy implications of syncing a watching-only wallet using a master public key?

I've always heard that Electrum had weak privacy due to the way it verifies transactions, but I never looked into the details. Does the wallet leak metadata that makes it easy to link addresses within the wallet? Is there any difference in this regard between using the desktop wallet normally and using a watching-only wallet?

You will get:

-Bittrex account with basic verification (US-based; 0.4 BTC/day withdrawal limit)
-2FA not yet activated
-Linked email account (used only with this Bittrex account)

The account has no funding/trading history. I opened it a couple months ago intending to trade and never got around to it. PM me an offer if you are interested. Serious offers only. I deal only through PMs on this forum. Payment in BTC or ETH.

I also have an unverified Bitfinex account (no trading history, UK-based) that I'm willing to part with.

Tavis Ormandy, security researcher at Google, pointed out a critical vulnerability to the Electrum team earlier today. They immediately pushed a security update. It's advisable to shut down immediately if you are running Electrum.

A vulnerability was found in the Electrum wallet software which potentially allows random websites to steal your wallet via JavaScript. The bug presumably also affects altcoin derivatives of Electrum such as Electron Cash. If you don't use Electrum or a derivative, then you are not affected and you can ignore this.

Action steps:

 1. If you are running Electrum, shut it down right this second.
 2. Upgrade to 3.0.4 (making sure to verify the PGP signature).

You don't necessarily need to rush to upgrade. In fact, in cases like this it can be prudent to wait a while just to make sure that everything is settled. The important thing is to not use the old versions.

It's a bit disappointing to see that the vulnerability was already an open issue from last year. I guess they didn't realize how severe it was.

There was a recent thread with a lot of good information about US taxes as they relate to fork coins (like Bitcoin Cash).

For tax purposes, is there any difference between the Bitcoin Cash "airdrop" and an airdrop of native coins? For example, BitSend has a weekly airdrop to forum posters of 10 BSD. Are we supposed to use the USD cost basis of that 10 BSD each week (last week = $13.50) and call it "other income" on our tax return? That means that even if we opt to hodl the coins long term, we have to pay taxes on receipt, right?

The forks feel more like "stock splits." This feels more like a giveaway or something. Is there any way that these could be deemed "gifts" under the tax code?

South Korea accounts for the #1, #10 and #14 cryptocurrency exchanges by volume. Yes, I know there could be wash volume involved, but as we all know from the Chinese exchanges' history, that doesn't necessarily matter. Korea seems to be approaching Japan with regard to market relevance, and Koreans are especially active in the altcoin markets.

So, the government called an emergency meeting yesterday. The topic: methods for curbing cryptocurrency speculation. Sources at the Bank of Korea say that the government will announce measures targeting cryptocurrency traders by the end of the week. They already banned ICOs in September. According to the article:

Top officials at the country's finance regulator have openly mulled a bitcoin trading ban and have compared trading in the cryptocurrency to a Ponzi scheme.

Could this be fuel for a price correction?

[Bitcoin Silver, Bitcoin Platinum, Bitcoin Diamond, Bitcoin Uranium, Bitcoin Cash Plus, and Super Bitcoin]

After Bitcoin Gold, I stopped paying attention to new Bitcoin forks. I figured that other people would lose interest just like I did. I read this article on Arstechnica earlier today. Apparently a bunch of other forks are scheduled or already happened, and the markets (including futures) indicate that they do carry some value.

According to the article, the following forks are in the works. I think in some cases, the snapshot already happened:

In recent weeks, a bunch of different people have announced plans to create new currencies. There's Bitcoin Silver, Bitcoin Platinum, Bitcoin Diamond, Bitcoin Uranium, Bitcoin Cash Plus, and Super Bitcoin.

Does anyone have any info on the above forks? Snapshot Block #, whether there are working (safe) wallets and a live network, what exchanges they are traded on? I'm hesitant to bother moving my coins and sacrificing privacy to claim fork coins when they aren't worth much. But both Bcash and Bgold were a boon to my portfolio, so I'm curious.

According to Lightning Labs, ACINQ and Blockstream, Lightning transactions are now being tested on the live Bitcoin network. Notably, this means that several different Lightning software implementations are now interoperable, which was a major development hurdle to overcome. The specifications for version 1 of the Lightning Network are now established standards.

We bought a Starblocks coffee and a http://yalls.org article.

It's definitely a major step in bringing the Lightning Network closer to reality, although there is still much work to be done. Before Bitcoin users can start using LN, the developers of the various LN implementations need to produce beta software for the mainnet. From the Coindesk article:

In conversation, Lightning developers stressed there are kinks left to work out with the user experience before they recommend businesses adopt it. Padiou argued that this cautious approach to development shows developers are making sure they get the technology just right, so as to eliminate the chance of users losing funds.

"It also demonstrates the approach has been very conservative. We're not going to rush anything," he told CoinDesk, adding: "We're almost there."

I have a simple tax question. My friend just bought into Bitcoin and Ethereum for the first time this month. He plans to sell everything for short term profits early next year (January or February, depending on the price action).

He asked me how to report taxes on the gains. Hopefully I'm correct (otherwise I've been doing my taxes wrong), but I thought I should confirm before giving him an answer:

1) He has no capital gains taxes due (on these investments) for the year 2017, since he won't realize any profits until early 2018. Taxes on these gains would be due in April 2019 for the tax year 2018.
2) Short-term capital gains are taxed at the same rate as ordinary income.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

Does anyone around here use the Square Cash App? If so, could you share your experience? I guess it's like Venmo/Paypal, except they recently started a pilot program to buy/sell bitcoins within their app:

Square announced it's piloting a program that would allow users to buy and sell bitcoin in its app. That could offer substantial revenue potential for Square, plus offer some much needed legitimacy for crypto assets.

https://www.thestreet.com/story/14396689/1/squares-bitcoin-play-could-offer-legitimacy-for-cryptocurrencies.html

Also, I'm curious if anyone knows the details regarding verification requirements?

It seems like originally, the service required users to set up a debit card / bank account. Since last year, you can keep a balance in your Cash App wallet instead of withdrawing directly to your bank.

Does anyone know if that means you don't need to set up any payment options (debit or credit card / bank account) at all? Can I just receive $$ to my Cash App wallet and pay it out to someone else? If so, I'm curious what the limits are before you need to verify identity. I can't find this information listed on their site like I can for Venmo...

Need $240 Venmo.

Dealing with trusted/reputable members only. Willing to send first to trusted members. (I'm aware of the reversibility of this payment method, hence only dealing with people who clearly aren't scamming for a couple hundred bucks)

I can pay a small mark-up over spot price. PM me.

Is there a way to check the security log going back further than one month? When I go to https://bitcointalk.org/seclog.php It only returns results going back to October 18th. Thanks!

Xapo has made an announcement regarding their Segwit2x policy: https://blog.xapo.com/about-the-bitcoin-segwit2x-update/

Basically, they will call the chain with most accumulated difficulty "bitcoin / BTC". The minority hashrate chain will be called  "BC1" if it has a 1MB consensus rule and "BC2" if it has a 2MB consensus rule. The minority chain will be available for withdrawal and conversion but they will not offer long term support for it.

So they are basically just following the miners here. Thoughts?

I'm looking for some general information on the tax implications for US citizens with regard to staking or running a masternode. They are pretty similar. In POS, blocks are minted rather than mined, and the creator of blocks is decided based on coin stake (the more coins you control, the more likely that you will mint any given block). With masternodes, you are paid a percentage of block rewards once you control enough coins (plus some additional conditions).

I know how to deal with the capital gains on the block reward payments. But I'm having trouble determining how the block reward payments themselves should be treated. Is each receipt of a block reward (or pro rata share) considered a taxable event? What kind of transaction is it exactly?

Thanks in advance for any info!

Literally two weeks after the Russian Finance Minister said there was "no point in prohibiting" cryptocurrencies, it seems that the Russian government has yet again reversed course.

The Deputy Finance Minister had this to say earlier in the week:

Alexey Moiseev, the deputy finance minister of Russia, said earlier this week that he expects pending legislation on cryptocurrencies will feature a ban on payments made in cryptocurrency.

According to the state-backed news source TASS, Moiseev – who previously said that bitcoin should be classified as a kind of asset in Russia and limited to qualified investors – told reporters on Monday that "no regulator doubts that payments will be banned."

For him, there is no doubt that Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrency) payments will be banned. Read the article here.

Thoughts? Russia is probably the most infamous government for flip-flopping on Bitcoin regulation. This seems like more of the same. The market doesn't seem to be reacting to the news.

I searched for a similar thread but couldn't find anything recent. I'm hoping you guys can provide some suggestions. I'm looking for exchanges where I can trade BTC, LTC and ETH, as well as other coins.

I'd like to be able to deposit/withdraw without hassle, and I don't trust these altcoin exchanges with my personal documents and information. I'm aware of Nova Exchange and Yobit -- I believe these don't require any sort of verification, correct? Does anyone use these exchanges...are they reputable?

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!