Latest posts of: cybersofts

Bitcoin 'Battle'? Core Developers Apathetic as Segwit2x Fork Approaches

"The chain will fork, life will go on."

Pseudonymous Bitcoin Core contributor BTCDrak views bitcoin's upcoming Segwit2x hard fork – which has a chance of splitting bitcoin into two competing networks – with a bit of boredom.

And that blase tone seems to resonate with several of bitcoin's most active developers, even those who were vocally unhappy when the Segwit2x proposal was first unveiled in May. But just a couple weeks away from the fork itself, it appears this outrage has turned steadily into annoyed acceptance.

In short, the contributors to bitcoin's open-source code are optimistic for a simple reason: they don't think Segwit2x will succeed in its attempt to become the main bitcoin blockchain.

Against the backdrop over the past few months, in which two hard forks led bitcoin to split into new assets with different developer teams, bitcoin's long-time developers largely believe neither has come close to surpassing bitcoin by any significant metric.

And they don't expect differently from Segwit2x.

While the group behind the effort has secured the support of a number of startups and mining pools, they argue there's not much of a difference in the support as compared to previous forks. Though the next fork has yet to occur (it's expected in mid-November), they already see Segwit2x as a blip in bitcoin's history.

BTCDrak told CoinDesk:

"Miners will continue to mine bitcoin."

No more compromise

And other developers feel similarly.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back and Bitcoin Core contributor Eric Lombrozo claim they tried to be diplomatic when the proposal was first unveiled in June, arguing they wanted to work with those supporting Segwit2x to come to a scaling agreement.

Back explained that he sincerely wanted to "build on the proposal," although he advocated for a longer hard fork timeline and a specific hard fork mechanism.

Yet, both are less willing to compromise as the hard fork date inches closer.

Central to this sentiment is that, ultimately, developers think Segwit2x will fail because the way it's implemented goes against how bitcoin is intended to work – that, and because it tries to push through a change that doesn't have broad support.

As a result, developers contend that the group is using a centralized strategy to drive decision-making on a decentralized network.

"I was hopeful that the intent of this whole thing was to activate SegWit and then work together, as a community, on building consensus for further upgrades in the future," Lombrozo said. "Instead, it turned into a coup."

Back voiced similar concerns.

"It sets a very bad precedent that a small group of CEOs can get in a hotel room and make a pact that they then try to impose on bitcoin. That is no longer bitcoin."

And with that, both developers believe the proposal will die by its own hand.

Tale of two bitcoins

But before it dies – or launches – crypto investors are trading on the possibilities.

Future versions of bitcoin (should bitcoin remain whole after the fork) and a new Segwit2x bitcoin (should the hard fork create a new coin) are trading on a handful of exchanges. And it seems developers believe this sheds light on events to come.

According to Back, the price of the Segwit2x coins – trading at about 14 percent of the price of bitcoin currently – is a sign of just how successful the cryptocurrency will be.

Back continues, pointing out that this is just about the same percentage that bitcoin cash coins were trading at before it launched via a hard fork of bitcoin in August.

"Investors will sell Segwit2x [coins] in droves," Back claimed.

And he can say that because he's offered to sell his own bitcoin for the new Segwit2x coin at a series of different swap rates, starting with a 1-to-1 rate.

"When [investors] didn't buy that, I offered a 3-for-2 swap, and now I am offering a 2 -for-1 swap – a chance to double their [Segwit2x coin] holdings," he said. "None of them bought. So, clearly, they do not have commitment, nor belief in what they are saying."

Still, many Core developers believe the Segwit2x hard fork will result in another cryptocurrency.

And while many bitcoin users and investors see previous forks as a net positive (since they were effectively airdropped free money) Lombrozo hopes something else will come out of the process.

Summing up his feelings, Lombrozo displayed almost a sense of exhaustion.

He told CoinDesk:

"The whole thing is stupid, I just hope this serves as a good lesson for everyone on how not to do these things."

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-battle-developers-apathetic-segwit2x-fork-approaches/

Bitcoin Price Hits New High Above $6,500

Bitcoin prices have continued to climb today, passing $6,500 for the first time ever.

The gains come soon after the number world's largest cryptocurrency hit previous highs in recent days, passing $6,300 on Oct. 29, and then $6,400 yesterday.

At press time, the price of a bitcoin is at the fresh high of $6,522, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index – a 1.16 percent gain for the day so far. The digital currency started the session at $6,447.

According to CoinMarketCap data, bitcoin is up over 17 percent for the week, and its market capitalization has now peaked at $108.5 billion.

Elsewhere in the markets, rival asset bitcoin cash is also up today, trading at around $492, rising 9.34 percent over the last 24 hours.

The combined market cap for all cryptocurrencies is now $184 billion – also a new record high.

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-price-surges-to-new-high-of-over-6500/

Quote from: xFiber on October 27, 2017, 02:38:58 PM

Quote from: ivanpoldark on October 27, 2017, 01:34:45 PM

Maybe Warren is right, Bitcoin can be a bubble, but it helps to build new financial system for new generations. It already helps a lot of young entrepreneurs get rich, they are free from hard work 9 to 5, and are able to put their mind and ideas in something important projects for humanity, like Elon Musk did.

I don't feel like we've hit the real bubble yet. I agree on the fact that this year has been a crazy right but there's still a lot of ground to cover. Bitcoin will keep amazing people. That's for sure.

LOL! Warren Buffet is an old folk with the knowledge and understanding of old stock trading.
I think Mr. Buffet clearly don't understand how the cryptocurrency ecosystem works, today the market is up and tomorrow the market down.
Lots of very educated and highly experienced people with trading background called bitcoin a bubble, though! But bitcoin continue to prove them wrong because bitcoin is setting new all-time high record nearly every 2 months. I think whoever thinks bitcoin is a bubble - side himself with the old folks that doesn't believe in bitcoin, that is why they don't to embrace it. Bitcoin is a revolution created by the youth, so never mind what old people said about, they'll surely hate it because it's something they don't really understand and you know how people treated something they don't understand

Quote from: vokain on September 03, 2017, 07:06:30 PM

Selling most of my bitcoins when the value was about 150$ Angry

Failure to buy as many bitcoins as possible when I had the chance back in the days when bitcoin was awfully cheap Embarrassed

During the early days of bitcoin no one knows bitcoin is going to be valuable like the way it is nowadays. Even 2 years ago one can tell you that.

Quote from: Wicked17 on October 16, 2017, 04:04:12 PM

Quote from: gayan777 on October 16, 2017, 02:37:08 PM

2020 millionaires all over the world Grin

Those who have patience and long term goal group of people who are crypto coins holders will become millionaire by 2020 but not all because some people dont have patience to wait for the right timing to sell a coin. They just look for a short term by selling a coin when it temporary pump or dump immediately.

Indeed, not all of the current bitcoin investors will become millionaires in the future, but the ones that have the patience hold, and wait for years to come in the future. Investing in bitcoin need patience because without you might sell your bitcoin every time there is drop in bitcoin price caused market correction. If you want to make the huge profit with bitcoin you should hold your bitcoins for number of years from 2-10 years if you can.

Quote from: syamster on October 20, 2017, 06:21:51 PM

Quote from: rajuahmed763 on October 19, 2017, 02:26:17 PM

why some country banned bitcoin?
is there any problem? i know that bitcoin is international crypto currency. but why some country banned this cryto?

Well I think may the these countries want to use their people to work for them in order to get tax from them I think they are worry about it that when they let free bitcoin in their countries so all the people will move toward bitcoin and they will start to get their money from bitcoin so I think that can be a reason which is a wrong decision by them.

Some countries don't really understand bitcoin because they only hear about bitcoin on media. Media blackmailed bitcoin so many times because of that a lot of countries out there think bitcoin is a currency for criminal activities, SCAM or Ponzi Scheme. For people to understand what is bitcoin, how bitcoin operates, or how to use it - it requires certain knowledge. and you know most people are very lazy when it comes down to learning new stuff and latest technology as well.

Bitcoin surges to record above $6,400 after CME announces launch of futures for digital currency

CME announced Tuesday it plans to launch bitcoin futures in the fourth quarter, pending regulatory review.

Bitcoin rose to a record high above $6,400 Tuesday morning, according to CoinDesk, after the announcement by the world's largest futures exchange.

"Given increasing client interest in the evolving cryptocurrency markets, we have decided to introduce a bitcoin futures contract," Terry Duffy, CME Group chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

The leading global exchange for options and futures trading is the latest entrant into the business of offering derivatives for bitcoin, the volatile digital currency, which is not listed on a major exchange.

The bitcoin futures contract will be cash-settled and based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR), which CME launched in November 2016 with London-based digital trading platform Crypto Facilities. The reference rate is a daily settlement price published at 4 p.m. London time, currently noon ET.

The growth of bitcoin derivatives is also another step toward the development of the digital currency as a more established asset class. Fundstrat's Tom Lee said his call for bitcoin to top $20,000 by 2022 is based partly on expectations that bitcoin derivatives products will launch.

Some sellers of exchange-traded funds have also filed for bitcoin ETFs that track bitcoin futures.

In August, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the largest U.S. options exchange, said its CBOE Futures Exchange plans to offer cash-settled bitcoin futures by early 2018, pending review from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. CBOE is working with Gemini Trust, the digital currency exchange founded by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, on using Gemini's market data to create bitcoin derivatives and indexes.

The commission did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

New York-based digital currency-trading platform LedgerX received the agency's approval to clear derivatives in July, and began offering institutional clients the ability to trade bitcoin options two weeks ago. LedgerX CEO Paul Chou told CNBC in an email the company cleared $1 million in the first week and $2 million in the second week.

Despite the rapid increase, volume is still relatively tiny. Trade Alert, which tracks options data for CBOE, says the comparable figure at the exchange is $2.62 billion a day, including $1.7 billion for S&P 500 index options.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/31/cme-plans-to-launch-bitcoin-futures-by-year-end.html

CNLedger, a trusted news source within the Chinese cryptocurrency industry, has revealed that OKEX will soon launch peer-to-peer (P2P) over-the-counter (OTC) bitcoin-to-fiat trading platform.

“More OkEx (and likely, Huobi-Pro) will soon launch P2P bitcoin tradings with various fiat currency support,” CNLedger reported. “We believe they’ll support CNY and some others like USD, JPY. They are registered outside China, and are operating independent of OKCoin. They’re not as convenient as exchanges and are less safe (many scammers). But it’s still much better than nothing.”

Aren’t OKEX and Huobi-Pro Now Based in Hong Kong?

OKEX is headquartered in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, and so are companies including BTCC and Huobi-Pro, which previously operated bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading platforms in China. But, as CNLedger noted, these companies plan to launch P2P OTC markets in Hong Kong, which would allow investors to trade the Chinese yuan (CNY) for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Without approval from the Chinese government, it would be difficult to process CNY trades and serve Chinese clients, investors, and traders. Hence, if OKEX and Huobi-Pro launch cryptocurrency OTC markets in the upcoming weeks with CNY-to-bitcoin, it would likely be with permission from the Chinese government and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).

As of current, the majority of trades within the China are processed through unregulated OTC markets such as LocalBitcoins. For Chinese authorities, it would be more beneficial to have regulated Hong Kong companies like OKEX to process trades rather than platforms with no network administrators and intermediaries.

Earlier this month, several state-owned news publications including Xinhua revealed that the Chinese government is concerned with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies being used by underground economies. Xinhua specifically noted that the Chinese government will soon impose “record-keeping, licensing, and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) process,” which is, in essence, are regulatory frameworks for the cryptocurrency market.

“Xinhua News, official press agency of CN: Virtual currencies have become the top choices of underground economies. ‘We shall adopt zero-tolerance policies towards crimes hidden underneath’ and take measures such as record-keeping, licensing, AML processes, real-name, limiting large transactions,” reported CNLedger.

As Japan and South Korea have done in the past few months, it is likely that the Chinese government will introduce and enforce a more strict licensing program for cryptocurrency exchanges, and eventually, resume cryptocurrency trading.

Will Re-election of Chinese President Xi Jinping Fuel Cryptocurrency Trading Resumption

The re-election of Chinese President Xi Jinping, which is expected to fuel the resumption of cryptocurrency trading, is set to occur later this year. Analysts such as Jon Creasy, a bitcoin researcher, emphasized that the reelection of President Xi could very likely lead to the resumption of bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges.

Creasy wrote:

“My prediction is this: as soon as President Xi Jinping is reelected — and he will be — conservative, free(er)-trade legislation will be put in place, and Bitcoin exchanges will be reinstated. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Chinese government encouraging certain exchanges and cryptocurrencies, once this legislation hits. Historically speaking, President Xi Jinping has been one of the largest advocates of free markets China has seen in quite some time, and I expect this trend to continue.”

Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/china-planning-resume-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-trading-soon/

The price of bitcoin has hit an all-time high, crossing $6,400 for the first time.

According to data from the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI), the price reached an average of $6,415.28 across global exchanges at roughly 14:00 UTC today. On Oct. 29, the price of bitcoin rose to $6,306.58, a move that came just over a week after markets moved above $6,000 for the first time.

Data shows markets have consistently traded above this level since Oct. 29. Overall, the price is up more than 500 percent since the start of the year, having begun trading below $1,000.

Today's climb also represents a gain of more than $200 in 24-hour trading, per data from the BPI, bringing bitcoin's market capitalization to roughly $106 billion.

At press time, bitcoin is trading at $6,381.07, a gain of about 4.2 percent on the day.

Other top-10 cryptocurrencies (by market capitalization) have seen mixed results in terms of trading, including a notable decline in bitcoin cash. As reported by CoinDesk, the cryptocurrency's price has been trending down in the run-up to a planned technical change.

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-price-climbs-6300-hit-time-high/

The cryptocurrency markets were uncharacteristically calm on Tuesday, and no top-tier coin or token moved more than 3%. However, anchored by a stable bitcoin price, the total crypto market cap managed to make a minor advance. But will this market stability continue, or is the bitcoin price consolidating before a breakout?

Source: CoinMarketCap

After entering the day at $179.3 billion, the crypto market cap touched the $180 billion threshold but could not sustain an advance across it. Eventually, the crypto market settled back down to the $179.3 billion level, although it managed to add about $28 million — an amount so small it barely registers on the charts.

Source: CoinMarketCap

Bitcoin Price Holds Near $6,200

Tuesday marks the ninth anniversary since Satoshi Nakamoto published the bitcoin whitepaper, and it should serve as a reminder of the trials both the technology and community have had to overcome to reach 2017’s yearlong victory lap.

The day was also characterized by sideways trading, with the bitcoin price moving just a few dollars before reaching a present value of $6,168. This was a marked change from Sunday, when the bitcoin price surged to an all-time high of $6,345 on Bitfinex, the largest bitcoin exchange. This stability is reminiscent of an event that occurred two weeks ago when the bitcoin price consolidated before surging past $6,000 for the first time.

Bitcoin Price Chart | Source: CoinMarketCap

Will bitcoin see a similar breakout this week? It’s impossible to tell. However, Max Keiser predicts that the bitcoin price will reach $10,000 within the near future, and that milestone would likely be hastened if China eases restrictions on cryptocurrency trading, as some industry observers have speculated that it might.

Ethereum Price Tethered to $300

The ethereum price, like that of bitcoin, made virtually no movement on Tuesday. It entered the day at $309, and that is where it currently sits. Investors should take it as a positive sign that ethereum did not settle back down to $300 — as it has tended to do in October — but the ethereum price will need to see some momentum to finally break free of that threshold’s orbit.
ethereum price

Ethereum Price Chart | Source: CoinMarketCap

Altcoins Take a Day Off

With bitcoin as a market bellwether, top-tier altcoins made little movement leading into Tuesday. Three top 10 altcoins — ripple, NEO, and bitconnect — fluctuated less than 1%, while bitcoin cash’s 2.55% decline constituted the most dramatic shift at the top of the charts. The NEM price tapered by just over 1%, and litecoin, dash, and monero each saw declines of about 2%.

Altcoin Price Chart | Source: CoinMarketCap

Coins and tokens outside of the top 10 saw a bit more action, and double-digit gains from komodo, vertcoin, tron, and the basic attention token offset the minor declines exhibited by top-tier cryptocurrencies and enabled the crypto market cap to post a net increase.

Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/calm-before-the-storm-bitcoin-price-trades-sideways-after-march-to-ath/

Japan’s Biggest Bitcoin Exchange Reveal Bitcoin Gold Hard Fork Plans

Two of Japan’s leading bitcoin exchange have announced their plans for the upcoming bitcoin hard fork, scheduled to occur this week.

Tokyo-based bitFlyer, Japan’s largest and best-funded bitcoin exchange, has revealed its intention to distribute Bitcoin Gold (BTG) to users prior to the split of the bitcoin blockchain – expected to occur on October 25th. The exchange also revealed its intention to launch trading services in support of the new cryptocurrency, enabling users to sell, deposit and send BTG from their bitFlyer accounts.

A new altcoin that will emerge from a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain, Bitcoin Gold is led by Jack Liao of Hong Kong-based mining firm LightningASIC with the aim of improving the protocol. The new cryptocurrency is expected to form after the hard fork split on block 491,407.

bitFlyer wrote in its announcement [PDF]:

We will credit you with an amount of BTG corresponding to the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) in your bitFlyer account prior to the split. 2 If the BTG split is deemed by bitFlyer to be permanent and secure in regards to customer assets, you will be able to own both BTC and BTG in your bitFlyer account.

BTG withdrawals and deposits will be enabled by the exchange “after sufficient observation of the stability in the BTG chain after the split”, bitFlyer added.

Coincheck, another major Japanese exchange, also announced it is ‘planning to provide Bitcoin Gold’ in the event of a chain split.

In a public notice last week, the exchange revealed it hadn’t determined a specific date and time for distributing the new cryptocurrency, contingent on determining if the new token has sufficient replay attack protection, a stable miner hashpower and adequate protection from vulnerabilities. Still, the exchange added it may not provide Bitcoin Gold if “we decide listing of Bitcoin Gold is inappropriate.”

Coincheck also revealed its calculation for the amount of bitcoin gold to be distributed to users of its trading accounts.

Bitcoin Gold to be distributed = ( (Amount of Bitcoin you own) + (Amount of long position you hold) – (Amount of short position you hold) – (Amount of Bitcoin you’re borrowing) )

The equation differs for payouts toward users of payment and lending accounts at the exchange.

Unlike bitFlyer, Coincheck revealed it has not decided on any trading options for Bitcoin Gold just yet. There will be no suspension of services at both exchanges around the time of the split.

Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/japans-biggest-bitcoin-exchange-reveal-bitcoin-gold-hard-fork-plans/

Ross Ulbricht’s 144,336 Bitcoins

Ross Ulbricht attorney, Paul Grant, refers to stipulation of federal government seizure as a “sad day for justice” and a “boon for the federal government’s on-going war against privacy and civil rights.”

48 Million USD Released to Federal Law Enforcement

From Colorado, Paul Grant, criminal and civil defense attorney for Ross Ulbricht, sighed when reached by phone Monday afternoon, “It’s over. This part of Ross’ struggle, his fight, is over.”

Mr. Grant is referring to a United States District Court Southern District, New York, online publication of the civil asset and forfeiture stipulation and order agreed to by Mr. Ulbricht.

On it is Ross Ulbricht’s signature just below that of Assistant United States Attorney Christine Magno’s (Ms. Magno declined comment by phone, referring Bitcoin News to the division’s formal press office), and both rest below the heading “AGREED AND CONSENTED TO,” effectively ceding nearly 50 million USD to the federal government.

Questions to Acting United States Attorney Joon H. Kim’s press representative, Nicholas Biase, were unanswered as of publication time.

Mr. Kim’s press release, touting its windfall, clumsily recounted widely disseminated basics of the case while managing to spell Mr. Ulbricht’s last name incorrectly just prior to listing “statements made during other public proceedings, and other court documents.”

Curiously, there was no mention of the two undercover federal agents serving time for their crimes committed during the Ulbricht case.

“And there is no reason to believe that all of their illegally obtained assets have been recovered,” Mr. Grant incredulously laughed. “There is also no reason to think that all of the government corruption in this case has been revealed or that it will ever be known.”

No Goodwill Earned

Readers wondering why Mr. Ulbricht would cooperate in such a manner, especially considering the extremity of his sentence, his attorney stresses how “Ross needed to get this behind him. He has so many other battles at the moment, not least of which is appealing to lessen his time.”

“Ross agreeing to settle this case makes it go away,” Mr. Grant emphasized. “He has too many other battles to fight at this point, battles to find some way to recover his liberty.”

When asked if Mr. Ulbricht’s concession might gain him preferable consideration in higher courts, Mr. Grant answered, “Absolutely not. Not even in the slightest. What this does is free up resources and energy for the larger picture.”

“Ross’ family,” Mr. Grant continued, “is seeking all possible avenues” to get Mr. Ulbricht out from under a life term. He urged readers interested in supporting Ross Ulbricht’s appeal efforts to patronize a website run by the Ulbricht family, FREE ROSS.

Not Giving Up

“It’s a sad day. Sad day for justice anytime the federal government takes away private property under the color of law,” Mr. Grant said.

“Ross agreeing to settle this case makes it go away,” Mr. Grant emphasized. “He has too many other battles to fight at this point, battles to find some way to recover his liberty.”

From the initial prosecution to the sentencing and to now the civil order, every aspect of Ross Ulbricht’s case seems exaggerated, unusually large.

Asked where all that money would eventually end up, Mr. Grant explained it “will be used by various law enforcement agencies to further efforts to surveil citizens, enforce the drug laws, and provide agencies with the latest in technology.”

The Supreme Court appeal will be handled by another firm, as yet named.

“No one is giving up. Ross is not giving up. The Ulbricht family is not giving up,” Mr. Grant emphatically declared by phone.

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/ross-ulbrichts-144336-bitcoins/

With Bitcoin’s Price Above $6000 USD, Satoshi Nakamoto Should Be on Forbes’ Rich List

Bitcoin’s recent spike above $6000 USD has elevated the estimated value of Satoshi Nakamoto’s holdings to more than $6 billion USD, qualifying the anonymous creator of bitcoin for Forbes’ list of richest individuals. At current bitcoin prices, Satoshi Nakamoto’s estimated 1,000,000 bitcoins would place bitcoin’s founder at number 237 on Forbes’ list.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin Stash Is Worth Approximately $5.978 Billion USD

The value of Satoshi Nakamoto’s estimated 1,000,000 bitcoins would place the anonymous creator on Forbes’ list of wealthiest individuals. Based on the estimated value of Satoshi’s holdings, which at the time of writing is approximately $6.1 billion USD, Nakamoto would be ranked number 237 on Forbes’ list.

Satoshi would be tied for 237th with South African business tycoon Johann Rupert, and Swedish heir and businessman Jorn Rausing. Nakamoto would be ranked higher than Alibaba’s Joseph Tsai, Australian mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forest, and Walmart heiress Ann Walkton Kroenke.

Satoshi is estimated to own approximately 5.89% of the more than 16.6 million bitcoins that are currently in circulation. The largest single bitcoin wallet is Bitfinex’s cold storage wallet, which currently holds over 168,000 bitcoins, or 1% of the total supply. The largest bitcoin wallet was previously owned by the U.S. government, after the FBI seized 144,336 bitcoins from anonymous free market The Silk Road.
With Prices Above $6000 USD, the Total Market Capitalization of Bitcoin Has Surpassed $100 Billion USD

At the time of writing, Bitcoin boasts a market cap of approximately $102 billion USD. If bitcoin were a company, it would be the 73rd largest by market cap, ranking higher than Goldman Sachs, China Petroleum & Chemical, and Bayer.

With Bitcoin's Price Above $6000 USD, Satoshi Nakamoto Should Be on Forbes' Rich List

Whilst bitcoin’s total market capitalization has grown by more than 8% since October 15, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has contracted by approximately 1% – having fallen from $175.2 billion USD to $173.4 billion USD during the same period. This decline in the market capitalization of all cryptocurrency markets indicates that bitcoin is regaining its market dominance relative to altcoins, with bitcoin currently accounting for more than 59.1% of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization – compared to 54.4% on October 15. This regained market dominance may have been caused by traders shifting their capital into bitcoin following bitcoin’s establishment of new all-time highs above the preceding resistance of $5000 USD.

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/with-bitcoins-price-above-6000-usd-satoshi-nakamoto-should-be-on-forbes-rich-list/

One of the operators of the now-defunct bitcoin exchange Coin.mx has been sentenced to 16 months in prison.

According to a Reuters report, Florida-based software engineer Yuri Lebedev had been found guilty of helping run the unlicensed bitcoin exchange. His sentencing – handed down by U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan – came more than two years after he was initially arrested and charged with violating U.S. money laundering statutes.

Along with Lebedev, Pastor Trevon Gross was convicted in March, though in the case of Gross, he was charged with bribery in connection with a now-shuttered New Jersey credit union that was allegedly used to channel funds from Coin.mx overseas.

According to the prosecutors in the case, Lebedev helped arrange bribes to Gross, including $150,000 in donations to his church. Gross is expected to be sentenced later this month.

Bloomberg reports that Judge Nathan said Lebedev used his "impressive technology skills" in order to avoid detection. Lebedev's attorney, Eric Creizman, described him in court as an "unlikely criminal defendant."

The Florida-based bitcoin exchange Coin.mx was operated as a so-called "Collectibles Club" in order to obscure its exchange activities. Prosecutors had previously tied the exchange to a broader cybercrime enterprise, arguing that Coin.mx served as as a clearing house for funds derived from various criminal activities including a hack on JPMorgan Chase.

Another Coin.mx operator, Anthony Murgio, was arrested and charged, along with Lebedev, in 2015. Murgio pled guilty earlier this year on three charges, including one count of wilfull failure to file a suspicious activity report, and was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison in June.

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-exchange-operator-given-16-month-prison-sentence/

Bitcoin startup Abra has completed a $16 million Series B led by manufacturing giant Foxconn.

Announced today at the Money2020 conference in Las Vegas, the new capital brings Abra's total funding to more than $30 million. Other participants in the round include new investors Silver8 Capital and Ignia, as well as previous Abra backers Arbor Ventures, American Express, Jungle Ventures, Lehrer Hippeau and RRE.

However, just as notable is that the round marks Foxconn's first investment in a bitcoin-focused firm.

While, previously, Foxconn has tested blockchain technology for supply chain management, its investment in Abra shows a new willingness for the company – best known as the manufacturer of Apple's iPhone – to embrace other potential use cases. Since Abra is a purveyor of a bitcoin remittance app, the investment could be read as a business-to-consumer and financial inclusion play.

Still, Abra founder and CEO Bill Barhydt was quick to note that he envisions his company's technology as having broader implications, including those that might be of interest to large manufacturing firms.

Armed with a platform that enables bitcoin micropayments and smart contracts, Barhydt went so far as to project that Abra's technology can underpin a new type of consumer credit product. In this vision, makers of refrigerators, televisions and more could lease appliances to people who may not want to pay the full value upfront – with blockchain technology giving consumers an incentive to make installment payments.

Barhydt told CoinDesk:

   "We foresee a whole new market growing in this area of consumer asset finance."

To be sure, the idea of smart contract-connected IoT appliances has been talked about for years, with little to show for it so far. Further, Foxconn's investment is just that, and no manufacturer has yet committed to testing out Barhydt's idea.

But Foxconn finds it compelling. Jack Lee, a founder and managing partner at HCM International, the manufacturer's venture capital arm, said he believes that Abra could usher in what he called a "new era" of financial inclusion via solutions like credit services.

In an interview with CoinDesk, Lee added that, from a business perspective, "companies can make more money from delivering the [financial] service than just from making margins on the hardware."

Also boding well for the leasing concept is the fact that, in addition to its contract work for companies like Apple, Foxconn also owns Sharp, the consumer home appliance brand.

"I'd hope they'd be one of the first [to try it]," Barhydt said.

Broader horizons

But while ambitious, the plans are not without precedent.

Barhydt's new vision was inspired by his travels in Africa, where he saw how solar companies were integrating products into mobile money systems like Kenya's M-Pesa by embedding cellular modems in hardware. If the consumers made weekly payments, solar lanterns worked; if not, they would be remotely shut off.

This pay-as-you-go "jukebox model," as Barhydt calls it, has made solar more widely affordable.

Bitcoin, Barhydt contends, enables replication of that consumer financing model on a global scale, for a broader range of consumer asset purchases – particularly when used in the background the way Abra does. While consumers who use Abra's flagship payment app can hold balances in local fiat currencies (it's actually bitcoin, hedged with smart contracts), transfers between wallets ride on bitcoin's rails, which know no borders.

That global reach would enable manufacturers to offer this kind of digitized credit to consumers in more places, Barhydt said.

"If I want to ship a device anywhere in the world without having to modify the device or create limitations on where the device can be shipped, I need a guaranteed payment vehicle that would work in any country," he said, adding:

   "I believe Abra and the way we use bitcoin solves that problem. The alternative is to figure out a country-by-country payment model."

Tech uncertainty

Of course, this new consumer credit use case depends on bitcoin being able to resolve its longstanding scaling challenges and hold down network transaction fees so that regular, small payments become viable.

Barhydt readily acknowledged this big "if."

"Everything I’m saying assumes that bitcoin scales correctly," he said.

In the short term, this means Barhydt believes bitcoin needs the capacity benefits from a block size increase, and that he favors the contentious Segwit2x hard fork expected in mid-November.

Still, despite the uncertainties surrounding bitcoin, Barhydt said he considers the protocol "uniquely qualified" to execute the kind of smart contracts Abra already uses for payments and investment products and that it now hopes to pioneer for consumer asset finance.

Even though ethereum, unlike bitcoin, was designed specifically for smart contracts, "there's still a lot of security issues" with that protocol, he said.

Moreover, Abra's smart contracts basically boil down to moving value from A to B under certain conditions, which is simple enough for bitcoin to handle, Barhydt said.

"If I needed some Turing-complete smart contract to fill my vision, then bitcoin would probably be hard to do," he said. "The reason we trust bitcoin in the scenario I described is that it doesn’t require bitcoin to do a lot, it just requires it to do it really well."

Barhydt concluded:

   "Bitcoin is not hacked because it doesn't do much. And that's a good thing”

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/abra-bitcoin-16-million-series-b-foxconn/

Hard forks have earned a bit of a bad name.

Long portrayed as dangerous (or at least disruptive), the mechanism is also one of the more intuitive for upgrading blockchains. Quite simply, since blockchains are built on common rules, it can seem like the easiest way to improve them is to introduce new rules (or change existing ones) – and that's exactly what hard forks, one type of a wider variety of forks, seek to do.

But as developers have learned the hard way, executing them is a challenge.

So, while best practices have come a long way since a hard fork unexpectedly split ethereum's blockchain in two last summer, developers are still seeking a better understanding of the process, studying its nuances and testing how to execute safely.

That said, not all blockchains struggle with the transition. The anonymous cryptocurrency monero carries out hard forks on a regular schedule and even cryptocurrency developers who some view as more conservative agree the mechanism might have a place in the future.

Bitcoin cash, for example, successfully split off from bitcoin in August, with relatively few problems for the network's many users. Now, at least two bitcoin hard forks are on the way – both of which will take place in the next two months.

But while hard forks are growing more common, developers haven't stopped debating under what conditions they are safest to use – and how to mitigate their less-than-desirable side effects.

In ethereum's case last year, users and companies lost money because of the resulting "replay attacks" that exploited the sudden creation of two chains.

So, with demand for the mechanism increasing, developers from across the ecosystem are working to make hard forks smoother and safer, in an effort to ensure that users don't lose any funds or faith in the networks that protect them.

Protecting money

One issue is that the "right" way to execute a hard fork isn't so cut and dry.

The problem is that when a blockchain splits in two, users – and the software they use – can get confused about which cryptocurrency to follow. One example of this confusion is referred to as a "replay attack," where users can accidentally send cryptocurrencies on two blockchains when they only meant to send funds on one.

Bitcoin cash, bitcoin's first hard fork in August, made a change that protects against this problem and bitcoin gold, another upcoming hard fork with goals opposite to bitcoin cash, claims it will add replay protection also.

Still, different developers have different ideas of the best way to deal with these attacks. The developers behind Segwit2x, perhaps the best-known proposed hard fork (since it's garnered support from many bitcoin industry leaders), have flipped back and forth on the topic.

Developers behind the controversial proposal maintain that the hard fork will become the new bitcoin and that implementing protection would deter the project since users will have to take the extra step to upgrade their software.

Post-fork confusion

Meanwhile, others argue that adding protection against replay attacks will ensure users don't get confused and accidentally lose money.

BitGo engineer Mark Erhardt (aka Murch) explained that since bitcoin cash is a copy of bitcoin in many ways, it uses the same address format. Since the addresses are of the same type, it's possible to send bitcoin between the two networks, where they then get stuck.

Murch, who leads moderation of Bitcoin Stack Exchange, an active forum to ask technical questions about the protocol, mentioned that he's seen "numerous questions" about this issue from users who accidentally sent funds to the wrong network.

If users send bitcoin cash to a bitcoin address, it's possible to recover funds by importing the corresponding bitcoin private key into a bitcoin cash wallet. On the other hand, if a bitcoin cash user sends bitcoin cash to a bitcoin SegWit address, it might be "lost altogether," he said.

Murch said that he thinks this confusion with bitcoin cash is a sign of what could come in future hard forks, like the one in November.

"There will be numerous incidents of users sending funds accidentally on both chains or from addresses of one chain to the other," he told CoinDesk, adding that one way to get rid of this problem would be for future forks to use a different address format.

"I am expecting a significant increase in support requests," he added.

Governance questions

Still, what's been less discussed is that there might be a way of wiping this attack vector away entirely.

Bitcoin Core contributor Luke Dashjr recently reintroduced a proposal that would make bitcoin naturally resistant to replay attacks, "hopefully ending the whole argument," he wrote.

This sort of development takes time, though, and will require a couple of different changes to bitcoin.

Dashjr told CoinDesk that he thinks the change is "not likely" to be implemented in time for the Segwit2x fork in November, although it might be implemented some day in the future. At least, if the bitcoin hard forks continue.

Then there are also broader governance questions and concerns.

You could say that this makes up the bulk of the argument around Segwit2x, as each side frames the debate as a power struggle for control of the technical direction of bitcoin. And there is a broader worry that hard forks could make certain groups more influential in systems where no one is supposed to have power.

These questions came to light in recent discussions among developers of MimbleWimble, as its developers plan to finally put its novel cryptographic tricks into practice by launching a new blockchain next year.

In the early stages, the developers are still working out the code and cryptography, so they are mulling over the idea of allowing hard forks for a short grace period, as a safeguard against unexpected technical problems that might pop up soon after the launch.

"We're a young project and we may make mistakes both with technical and governance rules," MimbleWimble lead developer Igno Peverell told CoinDesk.

The developer suggested a novel approach, though: putting an end to the upgrading mechanism after two years.

Some were skeptical of the idea. Blockstream mathematician Andrew Poelstra, one of the earliest MimbleWimble advocates, argued that hard forks pose a "centralization" risk and there's "rarely a need" to use one.

After expressing those concerns, though, he hinted that the best approach might not be so black-and-white, seeming open to the idea of limiting developers' ability to execute the type of upgrade to a shorter time frame.

He wrote:

"I like the idea of being clear upfront that the 'early days' won't last forever."

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/blockchain-forks-rage-will-ever-safe/