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Showing posts from October, 2020

Lightning Network Exploits Continue to Hinder the Bitcoin Scaling Solution

While bitcoin has run-up to all new price highs in 2020, a great number of crypto supporters have been complaining about the mempool backlog and the high fees needed to send a transaction. Meanwhile, the Lightning Network is far from seeing widespread adoption, and a number of attack vectors have been revealed this year. At the time of publication, the Bitcoin ( BTC ) mempool (backlog of transactions) shows 113,000+ unconfirmed transactions and the backlog hasn’t been this high since 2017. When the bull run took place three years ago, transaction fees and unconfirmed transactions shot through the roof. Currently, according to bitcoinfees.cash data on October 31, the next BTC block fee is $10.77 and the current median fee is $6.43. Even with the high fees and the mempool clog , the greater bitcoin community is still transacting mostly onchain. The Layer 2 protocol built on top of Bitcoin called the Lightning Network (LN) was supposed to ease the problems, and it was assumed people...
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Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin White Paper: A 12-Year Old Summary of Robust Unstructured Simplicity

Cryptocurrency supporters all around the world are celebrating the fact that today is the 12th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper, a summary of the invention created by the pseudonymous inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin’s inventor published the paper on metzdowd.com’s Cryptography Mailing list and ever since then, the financial world hasn’t been the same. 12 years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto decided to let the world in on Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer electronic cash system that took the world by storm. The very first time Nakamoto published the paper was at 2:10 p.m. Eastern Standard, on metzdowd.com. There’s a lot we don’t know about Bitcoin’s inventor and to this day the anonymous creator’s identity is still unknown. However, we do know that Nakamoto was a legendary genius and could have been a single person or even a group of people. Bitcoin’s inventor specifically chose to publish the “ Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper ” paper on metzdowd.com mainly because of the Cryptography Mailing lis...
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John McAfee Pumps Crypto From Prison, Denies Tax Fraud and Murder Charges

John McAfee has shared many details about his life in Spanish prison and chances of extradition to the U.S. He additionally claims to have regained control of his ghost cryptocurrency project. Prison Life ‘Is an Adventure’ Former U.S. presidential candidate and antivirus software tycoon John McAfee is in Spanish prison awaiting his extradition trial after he was arrested in Spain. McAfee has been tweeting regularly from prison. “You want to know what prison is like. It’s like a Motel 6 run by Hitler’s SS,” he tweeted, elaborating: I am content in here. I have friends. The food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine … Prison is an adventure to say the least. “Spanish prisons are like the Hilton hotel compared to the abject surreality and dehumanization of American prisons,” he described in another tweet. “In Spanish prisons, you are treated as a human being instead of a number. I am treated well.” Admitting that he is “surrou...
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$1.1 Billion Crypto Ponzi: Masterminds of Wotoken Head to Prison in China

A Chinese court has confirmed the sentencing of the masterminds behind the 7.7 billion yuan Chinese Ponzi scheme Wotoken, which had over 715,000 investors. Wotoken Scammers Sentenced to Prison The Intermediate People’s Court of Yancheng city, Jiangsu province, denied an appeal by four convicts involved in the billion-dollar Ponzi scheme Wotoken on Tuesday, several local media reported. The court upheld the original sentences for Gao Yudong, Li Qibing, Wang Xiaoying and Tian Bo who were dissatisfied with their original sentencing and filed an appeal. They believe they had minor roles in the scheme. The four were sentenced to prison for 8 years and six months, seven years, seven years, and two years and six months respectively, IT Times reported. They were also fined 2 million yuan, 1.5 million yuan, 1.5 million yuan, and 1 million yuan respectively. In addition, two other defendants were sentenced for their roles in the Wotoken scam. Li Guomin was sentenced to 3 years in prison and...
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OCC’s Brian Brooks Against Government Issued Digital Dollar – Supports Regulation of Privately Issued Stablecoins

The acting director of the U.S. Office Comptroller of Currency (OCC) Brian Brooks says the creation of the U.S. digital dollar is a terrible one because the government is not good at building things. Instead, Brooks believes tech companies, which already possess the know-how, to be in a better position to issue stable digital currencies. He says the U.S. government needs to focus on doing what it does best-regulation. Growing Stablecoin Supply The acting comptroller of currency’s comments come as reports suggest the US is currently working on a digital dollar. However, the U.S. digital dollar can only be issued in four years’ time. Speaking in an interview , Brooks, who uses analogies to support his stance on stablecoins, believes the United States can only flourish when the government allows the private sector to innovate. Expounding on this belief, Brooks says U.S. government regulatory agencies should instead be concerned with the protection of investors. To support his theory,...
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Yield Trust DeFi Protocol with Anti-Manipulation and Unique Trust Score Feature – Presale Now Live

PRESS RELEASE. Yield Trust Team from Stockholm, Sweden is ready to launch their new DeFi protocol for public access, providing users exciting and unique technologies to finally beat market manipulation and reduce market affection by the whales. The protocol is going to grow all around starting it’s move to Polkadot after releasing all significant features and might become one of the biggest multichain DeFi projects in the industry. What makes Yield Trust so unique? Yield Trust is part of the large Yield Trust protocol which will include way more features in future to build around the main governance which will control the whole ecosystem of dApps. It is built for people not users implying a trust score system to treat everyone as a person. Main Yield Trust advantage is that it is not another compilation project from the others or copycat or fork. It brings absolutely new features to decentralized finance scope. Upcoming Features of Yield Trust Protocol ► Trust score (Monetary p...
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Bitcoin.com Exchange Reveals Role in the Cryptopia Rescue Group

The world-class trading platform, Bitcoin.com Exchange announced it’s participating in the Cryptopia Exchange rescue consortium in order to help redistribute coins to customers. Bitcoin.com’s trading platform will provide an exchange environment in order to bolster the Cryptopia Rescue redistribution plan. Back in January 2019, the New Zealand cryptocurrency trading platform Cryptopia Exchange suffered a major breach and it affected 2.3 million account holders from all around the world. Estimates note that roughly $860 million worth of cryptocurrency was held on the exchange before the hack. Bitcoin.com is pleased to announce that our exchange will assist a rescue program dedicated to helping Cryptopia account holders. Bitcoin.com Exchange has joined a consortium called the “Cryptopia Rescue” program, and it will produce a platform to distribute coins to Cryptopia Exchange Account Holders. The group formed in order to create a class action against the Liquidator, Grant Thornton. ...
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FTX Increases Trump Futures Margins Before the Election, Biden Futures Lead by 64%

At the beginning of the year, the trading platform FTX Exchange launched a futures market so people can bet on the U.S. election and created a futures contract token called TRUMP. On Friday, FTX revealed that the exchange is lifting the initial margin requirements to $0.50 for its TRUMP token contracts. Individuals who don’t live in the United States can participate in betting on the U.S. 2020 presidential election by leveraging the trading platform FTX. News.Bitcoin.com reported on FTX launching its TRUMP token futures contracts back in February, as our newsdesk disclosed a number of other betting portals that use digital currencies to bet on the upcoming election. At the time, gambling sites and FTX’s TRUMP futures had shown Donald Trump was expected to win the 2020 election. However, on September 30, our newsdesk’s latest report had shown Joe Biden was leading across gambling portals by at least 60% . On Friday, FTX announced some changes to the original TRUMP token futures ma...
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Crypto Startup Avanti Receives License To Operate as National Bank in Wyoming

Crypto startup Avanti Financial Group has been granted a license to offer banking services by the Wyoming State Banking Board. The license, or bank charter, means Avanti can now operate as a conventional bank – but one with a twist, capable of holding both crypto and dollars. It plans to launch in 2021. According to a statement published Oct. 28, the firm will also now be able to take custody of crypto assets like bitcoin while its plan for the creation of Avit, a tokenized US dollar, has been given the go ahead. The company’s application for a bank charter was accepted in July, reports The Block. Avanti is the second crypto firm to become a bank after Kraken Financial, a unit of U.S. crypto exchange Kraken. Avanti founder and chief executive officer, Caitlin Long, said “currently the only type of U.S. financial institution that can provide final and simultaneous settlement of trades between digital assets and the U.S. dollar is a Wyoming special purpose depository institution li...
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Advising the Advisers: ‘On Purpose’ Podcast Live Taping Party

As a financial adviser, you might feel pressured to know every answer to your clients’ portfolio needs. But you’ve got some burning questions about digital assets like bitcoin. Now’s your chance to ask: On Purpose podcast host and Onramp Invest CEO Tyrone Ross invites the public to CoinDesk’s first podcast live taping party and AMA […] from CoinDesk https://ift.tt/31XURiL
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MoAfrika – Africa’s Biggest Online Tour Operator now Accepts Bitcoin

PRESS RELEASE. With relaxed restrictions on lockdown measures in numerous countries around the world, Africa has opened her doors to tourists on both national and international levels yet again – albeit with strict health regulations to ensure the safety of all personnel and visitors. Africa’s largest online tour operators, MoAfrika , offers tourists from around the world the opportunity to travel the length and width of the gorgeous African continent by making use of its unique tour offering, now with an added advantage. Mo Afrika now supports payment in Bitcoin so tourists, regardless from where they are or where they wish to go, have the advantage of putting their Bitcoin to use in paying for their holiday while having assurance that they will get the best service possible. MoAfrika has more than 15 years of combined experience in South African tourism and offers tourists with staff consisting of a young and ambitious team in ensuring that tourists have an unforgettable experi...
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Advising the Advisers: ‘On Purpose’ Podcast Live Taping Party

As a financial adviser, you might feel pressured to know every answer to your clients’ portfolio needs. But you’ve got some burning questions about digital assets like bitcoin. Now’s your chance to ask: On Purpose podcast host and Onramp Invest CEO Tyrone Ross invites the public to CoinDesk’s first podcast live taping party and AMA […] from CoinDesk https://ift.tt/31XURiL
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Report: Bitcoin Set for its Biggest Breakout Yet

A recent Coinmetrics report says on-chain fundamentals are hinting at bitcoin experiencing its biggest breakout yet. The report notes that bitcoin is already showing signs of this following its rise by about $1,000 in one day on October 21. The digital asset has subsequently set a new all-time high for the year. A New Precedent While acknowledging the difficulty in predicting bitcoin’s future value due to its notorious volatility, authors of the report insist there is a difference between previous bull runs with the current one. According to their report, “ BTC has been growing in ways that we have not seen in previous bull runs.” Explaining their stance, the authors point to bitcoin’s growing correlation with gold as one of the reasons for their bullishness. In the report, the authors say bitcoin, which has had a low correlation with both gold and the U.S. dollar throughout most of its history, changed after March 12. The authors say: As panic over Covid-19 rapidly set in, eq...
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Fidelity Investments’ Digital Asset Custody Services Arm Expands to Asia

Fidelity Digital Asset Services has revealed the company is expanding into Asia and plans to help high-net-worth investors and family offices in the region with custodial crypto products. Fidelity is working with the Singaporean startup Stack Funds, a fully-insured custody operation servicing traditional financial institutions. Fidelity Investments Inc., is an American multinational financial services corporation that operates a subsidiary called Fidelity Digital Asset Services (FDAS). As of June 2020, the Boston-based Fidelity is one of the largest asset managers worldwide with $3.3 trillion in assets under management (AUM). Back in August, filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had shown Fidelity filed with the SEC to invoke a bitcoin index fund. Fidelity’s FDAS unit also expanded to Europe as well and set up shop in the UK. Speaking with Bloomberg, Christopher Tyrer, head of Fidelity Digital Assets Europe spoke about the company’s latest Asian expansion....
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Dutch Police Seize $33 Million in Bitcoin from Couple Accused of Money Laundering

Prosecutors from the Netherlands have seized 2,532 bitcoins worth $33 million after a couple was convicted of money laundering by the Rotterdam District Court. The man and his wife were sentenced to two years for illegal money transmission and the court claims the couple’s bitcoin stash was used on the deep web. Dutch officials recently arrested and charged a man and his wife for illegal money transmission and money laundering. According to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service from the Rotterdam District Court, the two suspects laundered close to $19 million using bitcoin during the last two years. Most of the couple’s illegal earnings were stored in bitcoin and the Rotterdam police confiscated the stash. The man and woman were residents of North Holland’s Hilversum and the couple will face two and a half years in prison for their crimes. Dutch prosecutors noted during the trial that the traders did not leverage proper KYC/AML guidelines while operating the business. “Traders did n...
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Yearn Finance Founder Andre Cronje’s New Defi Token KP3R Soars 3,600% 24 Hours After Launch

Yearn Finance founder Andre Cronje’s new defi token called KP3R has soared more than 3,600% in just over 24 hours after official launch, as yield farmers pour in millions of dollars into the project. The token opened at just $10 on Uniswap on Oct. 28, but is currently trading at $373.58, as of press time. According to Coingecko data , over $402 million in volume has been traded in the past 24 hours, with investors providing a total $7.6 million in liquidity. The digital asset’s market capitalization exploded similarly, reaching $73.6 million – a level equalling number 109 in global market cap rankings. KP3R is the token for Cronje’s newest project called Keep3r Network, a decentralised smart contract for technical jobs. The concept involves what it calls “keepers” – outside persons or teams responsible for the upkeep of crypto projects on the network. It says: Projects wishing Keepers to perform duties simply need to submit their contract to Keep3r Network, once reviewed and a...
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Fidelity Digital Assets Expands Crypto Custody Service to Asia

The cryptocurrency-focused arm of financial services giant Fidelity Investments is teaming up with Singapore-based Stack Funds to cater to the growing demand for cryptocurrencies in Asia. A new partnership will bring Stack’s regional clients access to the secure custody services provided by Fidelity Digital Assets, according to a Bloomberg report Thursday. All assets secured through […] from CoinDesk https://ift.tt/31R8QXA
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Atari Has Launched Their IEO Public Sale Today

PRESS RELEASE. NEW YORK/PARIS – October 29, 2020 – Bitcoin.com Exchange , one of the leading authorities in cryptocurrency exchanges announces the launch of the Atari Token (ATRI) public sale today at 12:00 UTC. Public sale of the ERC-20 Atari Token (ATRI) is now available on Bitcoin.com Exchange: https://exchange.bitcoin.com/ieo/ Price listed at USD0.25 in Contribution Currencies: BTC , BCH , LTC , ETH and USDT . The entertainment industry is at a point where to remain competitive, one must start thinking on future developments in payments and community management. Atari’s mission is to conquer the crypto space, and by creating this token, they are attempting to enable access to as many platforms and users in the videogame industry as possible via atarichain.com, the Atari wallet and generally the creation of a blockchain-based ecosystem around the Atari brand. Atari Token has been in steady development, already establishing multiple use cases and partnerships with industry l...
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