If newly revealing reports from online publications Wired and Gizmodo are to be believed, a 44-year old Australian entrepreneur called Craig Wright may be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Following an investigation, WIRED claims that that it has “obtained the strongest evidence yet of Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity.” Unsurprisingly, the report that Craig Steven Wright, a 44-year old Australian entrepreneur may be Satoshi Nakamoto has garnered plenty of interest soon after publishing. WIRED, for its part, notes with a disclaimer about the report’s outcome with two possibilities. One, Wright really did invent bitcoin and is Satoshi Nakamoto or alternatively - “he’s a brilliant hoaxer who very badly wants us to believe he did,” the publication notes, somewhat as a disclaimer to the groundbreaking story. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/reports-an-australian-entrepreneur-might-be-satoshi-nakamoto/ |
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A representative survey covering a hundred CEOs and board members of financial companies in Germany has shown that financial executives aren’t enthused by bitcoin. In a survey conducted by the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media or Bitkom -- a German trade association and think tank – 95% of those surveyed see digital currencies including Bitcoin to remain in the niche over the next decade. Furthermore, 2% of the finance executives believe that the cryptocurrency will be an accepted mode of payment, in tandem with existing payment methods. The remaining 3% believe that bitcoin will be completely obsolete in ten years from now. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/german-finance-suits-dont-see-a-big-future-for-bitcoin/ |
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Indian software services giant Infosys is looking to double its existing staff in Ireland by adding 250 new jobs in areas such as blockchain and analytics. A new expansion plan by Infosys will include new jobs at the company’s first dedicated, product-centric research and development lab outside India in its endeavor to expand operations in Ireland. The company notes that 95 jobs will be added to the facility while a second Irish facility is expected to gain 155 new jobs. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/infosys-aims-for-new-blockchain-fintech-jobs-in-ireland/ |
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A reader wrote to CCN letting us know that he has had severe withdrawal problems with Cryptsy, the exchange which recently went offline, supposedly as a result of distributed denial of service attacks. The user said that the stalled withdrawal process began on November 29th, as confirmed in the screenshot below. He was trying to withdraw 0.2 bitcoins and nearly 240,000 reddcoins. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/cryptsys-bitcoin-withdrawal-troubles-continue/ |
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PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest bank by assets is now offering online retailers the ability to receive Bitcoin as a payment before directly converting it into fiat currency that is deposited into the merchant’s account, as reported by PSM7. Upon the completion of its testing, PrivatBank is now offering online retailers the means to obtain a settlement in Bitcoin. The announcement was made by Christina Karmazin, head of E-Commerce at PrivatBank at a conference in Kiev, Ukraine today. Ukrainian online publication Payspace Magazine, reported the news that was revealed at the “Cross-border E-Commerce: The Import to Ukraine,” conference. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/ukraines-largest-bank-helps-integrate-bitcoin-as-a-payment/ |
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Goldman Sachs is bullish about blockchain, the underlying distributed ledger technology that powers the cryptocurrency – Bitcoin. Leading investment banking firm Goldman Sachs has – in a research note sent to clients today – raved about the decentralized platform by stating that “the Blockchain, can change…well everything.” In a report by Business Insider, the bank sent its “Emerging Theme Radar” note to clients on Wednesday. The note, titled ‘Themes, Dreams and Flying Machines’ has deemed that the blockchain is “taking center stage” these days, noting that it is pulling the spotlight away from Bitcoin. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/goldman-sachs-has-big-predictions-for-the-blockchain/ |
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Goldman SachsGoldman Sachs image has filed a patent application for a cryptographic currency called SETL Coin to be used for securities settlement. The application, which signifies the New York-based global bank’s growing interest in cryptocurrency, has been filed with the U.S. Patent & Trade Mark office. Paul Walker and Phil J. Venables, both of New York, N.Y., are listed as the inventors. The technology provides a virtual, multi-asset wallet for a traditional cash and securities account for an investor or trader. The technology facilitates transactions between non-virtual wallets and a virtual wallet and vice versa on the same peer-to-peer network. A trader using the wallet no longer trades securities by meeting at an exchange and indicating cash for security and bearing the associated credit risk while settling the transaction, which can take seconds, hours or days. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/goldman-sachs-files-patent-securities-settlement-cryptocurrency/ |
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As mobile payments and cryptocurrency have made strides providing an alternative to traditional banking in Kenya, legal conflicts have emerged among mobile currency providers and Safaricom, the nation’s dominant telecom service. Kenyan legal authorities may need to clarify how anti-money laundering/know your customer (AML/KYC) and other regulations will be enforced and who will enforce them. BitPesa, a bitcoin payments and remittance service which uses the Safaricom telecom, and Lipisha, the payment gateway for both BitPesa and M-Pesa, are suing Safaricom in Kenya, according to International Business Times. Safaricom stopped Lipisha from processing M-Pesa transactions and later reinstated it as long as it terminated its relationship with BitPesa, which is Africa’s largest bitcoin trading platform. Lipisha and BitPesa claim Safaricom has no right to require this. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/telecombitpesa-legal-tangle-aml-threatens-mobile-payments-kenya/ |
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A new working paper titled “Should Cryptocurrencies Be Included in the Portfolio of International Reserves Held by the Central Bank of Barbados” suggests the Barbadian Central Bank to hold a small portion of Bitcoin as a part of its foreign currency reserves. The paper is authored by two economists – Winston Moore and Jeremy Stephen who previous worked at the Central Bank of Barbados and currently lecture at the University of West Indies. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/economists-suggest-central-bank-of-barbados-to-hold-bitcoin-reserve/ |
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Authorities in Greece have banded together a special team of cyber sleuths to safeguard Greek banks from cyber-attacks after a malicious hacker group demanded a bitcoin ransom with the threat of further DDoS attacks. In yet another instance of the infamous hacked group ‘Armada Collective’ targeting banks, the online operations of three Greek banks were rendered offline for a few hours last week, in a demonstration of their malicious hacking abilities. The group threated to attack again unless the banks paid a bitcoin ransom before Monday. The deadline is today, as reported by Greek publication Kathimereini. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/greek-banks-targeted-by-hackers-demanding-bitcoin-ransom/ |
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The Arlington – a pub in Glasgow will start accepting the digital currency Scotcoin. For now, the cryptocurrency can only be used as settlement for one particular lager. Starting today on St. Andrew’s Day, The Arlington – a Glasgowian pub will start accepting Scottish-based cryptocurrency Scotcoin. The pub is believed to be the first in all of Scotland to allow its customers to pay with the cryptocurrency. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/glasgow-pub-starts-to-accept-digital-currency-scotcoin/ |
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Both Bank of England and Europol are seeking interns with knowledge of Bitcoin and the blockchain. The announcements, which indicate an increasing awareness of the technologies among European government institutions, follow last month's ruling by the European Court of Justice that Bitcoin transactions are exempt from VAT. Bank of England will select their interns through an open competition in which university students are invited to submit proposals for new uses of the blockchain. Applicants are invited to work in groups of up to six people to identify new kinds of businesses or products that can be created with the blockchain and to outline the implementation details and impact of those businesses and products. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bank-england-europol-seek-interns-blockchain-experience/ |
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The former Group CEO of Barclays, Anthony Jenkins, predicts a future within the next ten years wherein financial technology or fintech will substantially disrupt traditional banking systems and the banking industry as a whole. He is convinced banking installations and those employed in banking institutions will be reduced by at least 20% in the coming ten years, if not up to as much as 50%. Anthony Jenkins, former CEO of one of Barclays, the UK’s second biggest bank in assets after HSBC has predicted an “Uber-like” disruption from the Fintech sector to come crashing down on the current banking industry. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/ex-barclays-chief-fintech-will-significantly-disrupt-banking-sector/ |
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An unknown malicious hacker has successfully breached a Sharjah, UAE-based bank of its customer statements and records. Over the past few days, the hacker has released the confidential data via social media after the bank refused to give in to the hacker’s extortion. A cybercriminal who goes by the alias ‘Hacker Buba’ (yes, really) has – for the past week – held a bank in Sharjah, UAE to ransom. The hacker blackmailed the bank to pay a ransom in Bitcoin and the failure to do so will lead to the public leak of the bank’s customers’ account statements. Customers include government entities, private companies and individuals. As it turned out, the bank refused to pay and the hacker kept his word to start doxing confidential bank statements via Twitter. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/malicious-hacker-tries-to-extort-bank-for-3-million-in-bitcoin/ |
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CryptoCoinsNews and sister-site Hacked have both been targeted in a DDoS attack by extortionists demanding a bitcoin payment. The extortionists also claimed further threats in exchange for a ransom. CryptoCoinsNews, a prominent resource and news outlet for readers looking into bitcoin-, alternative currencies-, block chain-, and fintech-related news was the target of a DDoS attack earlier this morning. One of the extortionists, going by the name ‘Jon’, sent in an email demanding 2 Bitcoins to reveal ‘fatal security vulnerabilities’ on the website while threatening to contact our advertisers to let them know the websites are down. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/extortionists-target-ccn-in-a-ddos-attack-5-bitcoins-bounty/ |
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R3, a bank consortium working to create industry standards for using block chain technology in banking, has released a paper claiming efforts to modify public block chains to secure off-chain assets using colored coins and metacoins do not provide secure, legal settlement finality of those assets.Titled “Watermarked Tokens and Pseudonymity on Public Block Chains,” the paper argues that a distributed public ledger that secures off-chain assets cannot be both legally authoritative and censorship-resistant. Written by R3 researcher Tim Swanson, the 78-page paper goes into a lot of detail on this very complex subject. To achieve the goal of issuing, tracking and transferring virtual representations of off-chain assets, several startups have emerged to provide watermarking services, commonly referred to as “Blockchain 2.0,” the paper notes. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/r3-group-paper-colored-coin-watermarking-wont-secure-off-chain-assets/#
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As quickly as bitcoin price had dropped below it, the $330 level has been reclaimed and is currently supporting an unsure sideways price pattern. The outlook turns cautiously optimistic, but we see from similar price action, during September, that at least one more drop lower could happen before any return to advance. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-price-holds-300/ |
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Align Commerce, a San Francisco, Calif.-based cross-border payments service provider that exchanges a payer’s fiat currency into bitcoin, then exchanges it into the Align commerce logo 2payee’s currency, has raised $12.5 million in Series A funding by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, according to today’s Wall Street Journal.Align Commerce’s money transfer model avoids the “cumbersome” bank wire process for payments, according to CEO Marwan Forzley, who started the company after serving as general manager at Western Union. The company can also offer features like tracking fund movement in real time and completing transactions faster and at less cost compared to banks. Align Commerce allows small businesses to conduct transactions without dealing directly with bitcoin. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/align-commerce-uses-bitcoin-facilitate-cross-border-payments-raises-12-5-million-series-funding/
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