Bitcoin trading is "gambling," says Canada's Central Bank Governor

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January 29, 2018

Bitcoin trading is “gambling,” says Canada’s Central Bank Governor Stephen Poloz to CNBC on Thursday, though he doesn’t discard issuing Central Banked digital currencies
Bitcoin is a generalized phenomena so young right now that it is hard to deeply understand its behavior, even for big respected personalities such as Canada’s Central Bank Governor Stephen Poloz, who questioned the term “cryptocurrency” by stating that bitcoin and another altcoins “are crypto, but they are not currencies” on an interview with CNBC’s anchor Karen Tso
When questioned about “what are they”,he stated:

“I’m not really sure what they are … They are not really assets … I suppose they are securities technically … There is no intrinsic value for something like bitcoin so it’s not really an asset one can analyze, it’s just speculative or gambling. “

This is a problem for the big financial organisms that control the international economy, since they can not have a complete management of the big picture, which obviously bothers those who during the last century have managed international finance according to a perfectly studied and developed scheme.
Mr. Poloz said that there is no intrinsic value that one can analyze, which makes bitcoin and the rest of the altcoins not really behave like a real currency.
This comment motivated the interviewer to ask if she considered the bitcoin a bubble or a fraud, in order to clarify wether I have shared such points of view or not:
“Many words have been used, but we think that is, buyers should beware… It’s more closer to gambling than investing” he said, joining voices with other personalities from the world of traditional finance such as J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Mr Warren Buffet, Lars Rohde, head of Denmark’s Central Bank and Jim McCaughan, whose statements demonstrate their pessimism or at least distrust when asked about this new mechanism of exchange and storage of value
A step forward in the evolution of banking
But despite his personal insights, He also talked about CBDC, acronym for Central Banked Digital Currency, a project in which apparently a large number of central banks have joint forces. According to him, Central banks provide a “risk free medium of exchange or store of value, which we call bank notes or currency … Actual currency”.
He said that today’s fiat currency provide such security, and if people prefer it to a digital form some day, then that’s what they will do. The idea they have is providing a token backed by fiat money in order to make “small change” easier to transport using digital wallets. Something like a central banked “tether” cryptocurrency
When asked about an ETA for such a digital currency he said that there are many kinds of issues that need to be understood well before making big announcements, so there is no need to rush.
According to him, today’s cash is still doing the job it is supposed to be, so there will not be a substitution right now, even though he admitted such a event could happen “sooner than later”
“It’s only when cash loses its effectiveness, in that ultimate phase, where we might feel the need to replace it or add to it a digital form”
No need for blockchain
Despite his harsh statements, Mr Poloz stated that blockchain technology is a “true piece of genius” which could be applied in many areas of the economy, but not in the area of actual backing to currency. In this regard, he still believes that the trust and transparency provided by bitcoin and/or altcoin transactions are no better than the centralized control of central banks.

“If a central bank (as the Bank of Canada) were to issue a digital currency, you already believe in canadian dollar… You don´t need a distributed ledger in order to believe you recieved final payment”

By saying so he means there is no need to trust blockchain technology in order to issue digital curreny, so the undelrying technology can be separated from the concept, having a centralized digital currency not based on distributed ledgers.

FBI Issues warning about scams designed to blackmail investors

By

Rahul Nambiampurath

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January 29, 2018

FBI Issues warning about scams designed to blackmail investors

The FBI has issued a warning recently about an online scam fueled by cryptocurrency. The scam works by threatening people with death unless they transfer over all their Bitcoin to the address given in the email.
They also revealed that a person received such email which had traumatized her and there may be countless more instances of such emails received by other users in the vast online web.
One of the recipients of such an email was Christine. She said that she knew that the email was a lie designed to defraud her, but the way the email was written disturbed her deeply and the contents of the email never went away from her mind.
The email demanded $2800 in Bitcoin as ransom and threatened that the sender had got an order to kill the recipient of the email and was keeping a close watch.
Christine, who declined to provide her last name, knew she was not being tracked. But the contents of the email was clogging her mind space and she was very worried about her well-being when she was outside. She also looked around to notice any signs of danger which she did not find ultimately.
According to FBI agent Laura Emilier, the email is one of the new ways criminals have devised in order to extort innocent people of all their money. She further explained the vulnerabilities one is subjected to when online and reiterated that online bullies would leave no stone unturned to harass normal people on the internet.
Investigators said these emails are designed in such a way that even educated and aware people fall into these traps very often.
Concerned about her safety and well-being, Christine went on to FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre website to report her incident. The website gives safety information and tips to people facing harassment online and also tracks suspicious activities.
The FBI agent also said that they receive 800 such reports from citizens in the United States on a daily basis. But she said that these complaints are highly underreported and only make 15% of the total scams that take place on the internet daily.
She also said that even if one person sends money to these fraudsters, it is a win for them as they are, in a way, getting free money with zero effort.
The privacy and anonymity offered by cryptocurrencies have made it a medium of choice for transaction of funds for illegal activities. With no banks or governments to check their flow, the currencies are being used by an increasing number of criminals wanting to hide their deeds.
With Monero rising as the new cryptocurrency of choice for criminals replacing the ubiquitous Bitcoin, it remains to be seen how communities implement steps to clean their currencies of illegal holders.

When Major Corporations Launch ICOs to Stay Relevant

By

Christopher Gordon

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January 28, 2018

When Major Corporations Launch ICOs to Stay Relevant

On August 28th, 2017, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), posted a warning on its website regarding fraudulent ICOs and “pump and dump” schemes. This warning came at a time when the market was flooded by initial coin offerings and investors found themselves knee-deep in potential tokens.
But now, just a few months after the SEC’s grim announcement, with Kodak and Telegram offering tokens, the door is open wider this time for established businesses. In fact, if a business finds its flames sputtering out, forming an ICO may be the best way to rejuvenate as proven with Kodak.
Kodak was a beast over a decade ago. Huge. The go-to company for all things relating to photography. They had beaten Fuji and others in the highly competitive market. They formed fantastic sponsorship programs and were making a lot of money.
But as much as they tried to keep up with technology and digital innovation, Kodak fell hard. When they announced their ICO earlier this young year, their stock reached and went over $10 USD, something which hasn’t happened for them in a very long time.
Telegram is a very popular app/social platform for communication, networking and startup/crypto purposes. It’s user friendly and a wonderful way to keep on top of literally, everything. On Telegram, one can read posts from CEOs, developers, writers and so on.
It makes sense they too would offer an ICO as one would suspect their token would be an operational one—to be used on their platform, while concurrently, maintaining monetary value outside their realm.
But what’s to stop say, companies on the doormat of Chapter 11 (bankruptcy)? In fact, given the opportunities available to develop ICOs and the “ease” in receiving funds from various investors, globally, it seems a given companies faced with the risk of endangerment, would launch an ICO. Especially since Kodak, serving as the guinea pig, proved they can do it, can anyone do it?
Toys ‘R’ Us filed for Chapter 11 protection not long ago. Obviously, they like many others, have felt the pain of consumers’ online shopping. But, imagine if they were to launch the “Toyken”, an operational token for use online and in-person for toys? Or, OTB—Off Track Betting services from New York who filed for bankruptcy and closed their doors years ago.
People used to wander in, watch multiple television screens with horse races and go to the windows and bet. Had OTB made it to 2018, they could have launched the “OTBCoin” and allowed holders to use their currency to bet on horse races, broadcast live and streaming online.
While corporate ICOs may seem cool and potentially rewarding, there are still some issues such as security. Would users’ information remain protected or would the big corporation share what they know? Are consumers who become investors still “consumers” first? What if the company, despite efforts, folds? And of course, there could be a CEO who loses their mind and disappears with $2 million in Ethereum.
The SEC posted their warning as the ICO world started expanding and growing larger. ICOs can be exciting and rewarding. Research and full knowledge of the team behind the ICO is essential, no matter the company. There’s already speculation this year will see more ICOs than 2017.

Bit-Spiracies Heat Up: Who Actually Created Bitcoin?

By

Christopher Gordon

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January 28, 2018

Bit-Spiracies Heat Up_ Who Actually Created Bitcoin_

Many moons ago, back in August 2008, bitcoin.org was registered. And pretty much from that point on, Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious author of Bitcoin’s white paper, has been known as the currency’s creator and founder.
And when he mined the first blocks ever, embedded in the mine was the message: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”. It’s projected at its inception, Nakamoto mined roughly one million Bitcoins. After his early involvement and launch, Nakamoto disappeared and developer, Gavin Andresen took over.
But now, ten years later, people like Natalya Kaspersky, aren’t so sure Satoshi Nakamoto even exists. At a recent lecture at ITMO University in St. Petersburg, the CEO of InfoWatch and former CEO of Kaspersky Labs suggested the United States government created Bitcoin; and “Satoshi Nakamoto” is really a group of cryptographers in the U.S.
While there is no substantial evidence to support Natalya’s claims, being the government has been involved in its fair share of suspicious activities from the creation of TOR and Area 50 to the Lincoln and JFK assassinations, just by putting the Bitcoin conspiracy “out there”, it’s bound to be believed and researched by desktop detectives and others.
Kaspersky isn’t alone in questioning the creation of Bitcoin, ten years ago. Others have recently come out with various theories such as, Bitcoin was actually created by rogue artificial intelligence. The explanation for this theory being the BTC code is beyond anything a human could develop or produce.
At one time, there were rumors Tesla’s Elon Musk was Bitcoin’s creator. Then, even Litecoin’s Charlie Lee was gossiped to be “Satoshi Nakamoto”. Dorian Nakamoto. Hal Finney. Craig Wright—who came forward and claimed to be Satoshi, then said BTC was created by he and a friend who passed away.
In other words, we still don’t know who’s behind the creation of Bitcoin. Wright coming forward and accepting responsibility as Bitcoin’s creator was met with mixed reaction, with a majority of those in the cryptocurrency world skeptical; and to this day, still, many remain divided on knowing who is actually behind BTC’s creation.
Who do you think is behind the origination Of Bitcoin ?, Let us know below in the comment section.

Coincheck to Refund Those Hit by Hack

By

Christopher Gordon

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January 28, 2018

Coincheck, the Japanese crypto exchange recently hit by one of the largest and most lucrative hacks of all time, says they will refund 260,000 hacked victims. The hack was responsible for stealing 523 million NEM coins—valued at about $534 million.
It later came out Coincheck, rather haphazardly, maintained all NEM in one, single wallet. Not very secure to say the least. Authorities say, thanks to blockchain technology, they’re able to identify who performed it and where the hack itself came from. Digital authorities, globally, are certainly keeping busy these days.
Why the hack happened and if more than one person was behind it, remains to be seen. Coincheck will be refunding the 260,000 clients from their own money.
Just as those in psychology have said serial and mass killers try to one-up one another, “outdo” others; so it appears hackers try to one-up other hackers. And more often than not, hackers who are caught are usually invited to work for the government in some fashion. To share their tricks and such. But societies are a long way from being able to predict and pre-bust hackers or criminals for that matter.
What happened in Japan can happen anywhere and has. Once again, as expansive and financially rewarding cryptocurrency is and can be, it, like most things and markets, is susceptible to breaches of security.
Coincheck didn’t have to pay back its clients. That’s a grand gesture, and also a sign they’re doing something right over there. Will they improve their security systems? Are they vulnerable to back-to-back attacks?
It’s 2018. The hacker will be caught. Will the hacker be young? Old? Male? Female? Does the hacker know Coincheck is refunding their victims? Would that anger a hacker? There’s no question an event like this and others like it, cause good things to happen in that other exchanges asses their security. Hopefully.

Youtube Ads turned to be new place for Coin Hive Mining

By

Aman Pathak

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January 28, 2018

Youtube Ads turned to be new place for Coin Hive Mining

Youtube viewers are claiming that their computers are been used for mining cryptocurrency while displaying youtube ads.
Cryptocurrency prices are currently down than usual and thus it creates an opportunity for people to accumulate as much as crypto into pockets at cheaper rates. In fact, many individuals look for additional ways to enhance their cryptocurrency mining.
Since mining isn’t possible for everyone, it requires costly hardware which need huge capital investment. Thus to solve that problem, Mining Software such as Coin hive got introduced.
Last year we heard many cases such as pirate bay were using cryptocurrency mining software on their website, so the users visiting the site were targeted. Their cpu hash power is been used for mining, without notifying users.
Now the same scenario is been experience in Youtube ads. Whenever the youtube is displaying ads, the cpu usage gets rise to an extended mark.
Youtube and its policy
Youtube is a very delightful and extremely popular video streaming site. And in fact everyone uses it every single day, making it one of the most popular sites available on internet.
Youtube has a policy of displaying ads. They have least annoying ads and gets displayed either in the start of video or in between the video, while streaming. Things changed for when a number of YouTube ads were hijacked with the Coin Hive code.
Hijackers embedded JavaScript code of coin hive with ads. So whenever those ads will be displayed, script will run and eventully mining will start. The most affected ads were from Google’s DoubleClick program.
When an independent security researcher, Troy Mursch was asked over this incident.
He replied that youtube is targeted because it’s very popular and users spend lots of time on it.

“YouTube was likely targeted because users are typically on the site for an extended period of time. This is a prime target for cryptojacking malware, because the longer the users are mining for cryptocurrency the more money is made.”

Google Response on Incident
Google made a official statement saying that these ads were blocked from the platform within two hours and they were removed from system.

“Mining cryptocurrency through ads is a relatively new form of abuse that violates our policies and one that we’ve been monitoring actively. We enforce our policies through a multi-layered detection system across our platforms which we update as new threats emerge.
In this case, the ads were blocked in less than two hours and the malicious actors were quickly removed from our platforms.”

So malicious ads were stopped for now. Initially websites, now youtube ads, hijackers are coming up with innovative ways to earn money. This kinda makes it interesting. Let’s see what’s next !

Armed Robbers Attack Canadian Bitcoin Exchange

By

Osaemezu Emmanuel

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January 28, 2018

Armed Robbers Attack Canadian Bitcoin Exchange

Criminals no longer rob banks. They now prefer bitcoin exchanges instead.
Crypto Robbers
According to a police report, the bandits entered the office of Canadian Bitcoins, bound four of their workers and hit one of them on the head with the back a gun.
The fifth worker alerted the police from another office as soon as he noticed they were under an armed robbery attack. The thieves took to their heels without any bitcoin when they heard the police sirens from afar.
Ottawa Police Sergeant, Michael Haarbosch said:
“The suspects tried to coerce the employees of the business to complete a transaction.”
One suspect ran into a gully and police authorities searched the area with dogs and guns in hand. The police succeeded in arresting 19-year-old Jimmy St-Hilaire and are now in search of the two other suspects.
Although the officers-in-charge of the operation declined to mention the name of the particular bitcoin exchange, merely referring to it as a “Bitcoin-related financial institution” but a representative of Canadian Bitcoins confirmed that their office was attacked.

“Yesterday, there was an attempted robbery at our office in Ottawa, as police have mentioned, no one was seriously hurt during the incident, but one staff member did sustain minor injuries. Our focus is on supporting our staff at this time as well as working with the police in their investigation,” the spokesperson wrote.

The arrested Jimmy St-Hilaire is charged with:
Five counts of robbery with a firearm, five counts of pointing a firearm, five counts of forcible confinement, one count of wearing a disguise, one count of possessing a loaded, regulated gun amongst other charges.
Workers Shaken
The attack had many workers around the industrial park on edge. Dawen Zhang, a worker at a startup around the vicinity, said: “I probably won’t be able to actually work overnight.” Paul Holmes, a client of a firm on the same building as Canadian Bitcoin, said:

“It just speaks to how bold the suspects are.”

At press time, the other two suspects are still at large, and anyone with valuable information is asked to call the robbery unit at 613-236-1222, ext. 5116. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers toll free at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS)
There have been cases of hackers breaking into bitcoin exchanges and transferring millions of cryptocurrencies to their wallets; there have also been cryptocurrency kidnappers, whose area of expertise is in kidnapping bitcoin millionaires and now, digital currency robbers are trying to enter the crypto space at a time when authorities are fighting tooth and nail to regulate Bitcoin.

Ransomware SpriteCoin demands $US100 in Monero coin

By

Troy Watson

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January 27, 2018

Ransomware SpriteCoin demands $US100 in Monero coin

A cryptocurrency called SpriteCoin promises high returns and when its software is installed it infects the computer with Ransomware and Malware, with a ransom of around $US100 in Monero coin.
The SpriteCoin ransomware is advertised on forums as a legitimate cryptocurrency to invest in. When the SpriteCoin is installed on your computer, however, it installs ransomware software and encrypts files. Such a social engineering attack is taking advantage of the recent hype surrounding Bitcoin investments.
The ransomware demands 0.3 Monero coins which is equivalent to around $US100. The software, however, installs additional malware even if the user pays the ransom. One of the targets of the malware is access to the victim’s webcam. The software consists of an exe file and has been targeting Windows operating systems.
The ransom is quite small in comparison to other ransomware demands in the past. The attack could be a proof-of-concept or pilot attack to test the waters for a much larger scam.
Spritecoin asks for ransom in Monero which isn’t the first time the alternate coin was used as payment for an attack. The switch from Bitcoin to Monero may exist because the Bitcoin hype has caused the currency to be slower and more costly.
SpriteCoin uses an embedded SQL engine which may be connected to a larger database management system. The system may be collecting details, such as credentials and other information, from the victim’s computer.
The attack initially looks for Chrome credentials and if this fails will move on to search for Firefox ones. The attack then encrypts files and adds a .encrypted file extension to the end of the files.
SpriteCoin is unique in that it uses a cryptocurrency wallet to disguise a ransomware and malware package. Ransomware usually uses phishing attacks through web or email, making SpriteCoin stand out from previous attacks. The key component of SpriteCoin, however, remains the same with a core social engineering attack.

Russian Orthodox Church Calls on State to Help “Bitcoin Bonkers” Citizens

By

Christopher Gordon

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January 27, 2018

Patriarch Kirill is not only BFFs with Vladimir Putin, he serves as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. And during a recent holiday event, when he spoke, Kirill expressed many concerns over Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
But not with the market itself, rather, those who participate. According to God’s Russian Orthodox messenger, the Russian cryptocurrency market needs to get the government involved as too many people are losing everything they have.
Are people going, “Bitcoin Daffy”? Is Kirill right in his thinking? While in the United States, there have certainly been stories about major loss of crypto, scams and sadly, even suicide, according to Kirill, people are losing their homes, jobs and dignities. And similarly to the way some Islamic leaders view crypto, the Russian Orthodox Church encourages its followers to avoid risk taking and to not be “enslaved by your passions”.
Incredible as it may appear, most every form of government is, at present, trying its best to figure out what to do about Bitcoin. While the United States’ Internal Revenue Service has quickly, and in a rather sneaky fashion, determined how to tax one who owns BTC, others’ governments are still working on it.
Having a religious leader call out Bitcoin regarding its effect on one’s own mental health; and in the same breath ask the government, lead by his friend, to do something comes off as a bit melodramatic and easy.
With the U.S. dollar dropping, people everywhere are looking at cryptocurrency and licking their chops while systems of religion and government try and figure out the best ways to control and regulate it.
As issues such as Bitcoin and what to do with it arise, the line between church and state fade. Investors in the United States, Canada, Africa, China and more, have all experienced a case of “Bitcoin Mania”.
Yet, as of writing this, the religious institutions from the aforementioned places have remained rather quiet and not sought help from their states in controlling any kind of “mass Bitcoin hysteria”.
Perhaps Russia on the whole, experiences their “Bitcoin Mania” differently? Certainly enough to cause concern from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Whether or not Putin will view the “crypto-crazies” with the same worry as his pal, Kirill does remains to be seen.

Just one person caused the bloodbath of January 8th

By

Sheldon Alpha

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January 27, 2018

Just one person caused the bloodbath of January 8th

Anyone who has an iota of experience trading or investing in Bitcoin or other crypto assets will have you know that the first rule of the market is that its behaviour cannot be predicted with precision, particularly its volatility.
However, the plunge the market took on 8th of January -the one the market is still trying to climb out of, was, believe it or not, caused by a single person.
According to a report in the WSJ, the master of the 8th January bloodbath was Brandon Chez, the 31-year-old developer/owner of Coinmarket Cap (CMC). CMC is the most popular cryptocurrency data tracking site in the world, and it fetches data from currency exchanges from around the world.
CMC long back left its rivals such as Coinbase in a trail of dust. CMC itself does not indulge in trading. However, it makes a lot of money through ads given the amount traffic it receives on a daily basis.
So, how exactly did a price-tracking site cause the plunge? The crash may have been an unintended consequence of a seemingly innocuous change Chez made to the site. He removed the South Korean trading activity from the tracking algorithm, as the inclusion of these figures was bloating the average price of the cryptocurrencies that CMC shows on its homepage.
The higher average price was being displayed because the trading price of cryptoassets was noticeably higher in South Korea than in other parts of the world.
Chez may have had pure intentions that motivated his decision, but the fact that he did not publicly announce it caused the prices to drop and result in the ensuing butterfly effect instantly. Chez has not made an appearance in the media to offer an explanation.
The fact that the price of Bitcoin can react this violently to an event that should have absolutely no bearing on its price is worrying. Unless the cryptosphere finds a solution to events such as these, people will continue to lose money, and hope of mass adoption of cryptocurrencies will remain all but a pipe dream.

Coincheck Cryptocurrency Exchange Reportedly Got hacked, $534 Million Lost

By

Aman Pathak

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January 27, 2018

One of the major cryptocurrency exchange of Japan, based in Tokyo recently got hacked.
As per the Friday’s report of national broadcaster NHK, Coincheck lost 58 billion yen ($534 million approx) worth of cryptocurrencies , while it got hacked.

According to wikipedia, Coincheck started in August 2014 and is operated by Coincheck, inc. Which was previously called as ResuPress Inc. and was founded in 2012. As of August 2016, the exchange had over $160 million transactions per month.It is a member of Japan Blockchain Association (JBA) and was actively helping to build the Japanese bitcoin community’s usage standards with the government.

On 26th Jan 2018, Coincheck made an official announcement on their website stating they have suspended all the withdrawals of almost every cryptocurrencies.
Website said

“All withdrawals from the platform are currently restricted, including JPY. Thank you for your understanding. We are doing our utmost to resume normal operations as soon as possible.”

Hacking incident has become very common in crypto space nowadays. Almost every month, we hear some exchanges are looted by the digital robbers.
Last month South Korean exchange, Yobit got hacked and filed for bankruptcy and now Coincheck suffered the same. In Fact if we talk about Japan, being the one of the most safe place for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, It suffered lots of losses too in past.

Mt Gox incident is still considered to top the chart of hacking cases. Being One of the world’s first bitcoin exchanges, Mt. Gox eventually had a huge customer base and was handling around of 80% of all bitcoin transactions worldwide as the largest bitcoin intermediary and the world’s leading bitcoin exchange.But In February 2014, however, all trading was shutdown after vulnerability attack took place.

It resulted in an alleged loss of 850,000 bitcoins and also $28 million from their bank account. Which gave tremendous financial loss to exchange and customers from all over the world. It collapsed lots of faith in cryptocurrencies.

As per the NHK, Coincheck has already reported the incident to the police and to Japan’s Financial Services Agency.

In a press conference, Wakata Koichi Yoshihiro and Yusuke Otsuka , president and chief operating officer estimates that almost 500 millions NEM token were stolen and claims to suffer the biggest hack in the history of technology.

Jim McCaughan: Bitcoin's lack of fundamental value makes it lose the competition against Gold

By

Jose Antonio

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January 27, 2018

Bitcoin’s lack of fundamental value makes it lose the competition against Gold as a mechanism to store value, says Jim McCaughan, CEO of Principal Global Investors LTD
The speculation-based markets have always been an area of care, in which the possibility of benefit is proportional to the risk that investors are willing to take. Out of all these markets, there have always been some commodities whose stable value and upward trends have made them a global reference when it comes to storing goods that make holders to gain value.
Since the middle age, gold and silver have been internationally accepted references when it comes to exchanging value. Their scarcity, difficulty of obtaining and wide acceptance have turned them into symbols of wealth par excellence.
Nowadays bitcoin apparently reproduces these same characteristics, which could roughly explain the overall bullish behavior that has had its worth in USD and other currencies. But for experts like Jim McCaughan, the lack of fundamental value makes it unattractive to investors, being this the reason why it could also be very unlikely that it replaces gold in the short term.

“I am not sure any of you really understands it (bitcoin) because things will come through over the next few years” said Mr McCaughan when asked about what he thinks people don`t really understand about bitcoin.

Even though he acknowledged that it has been a phenomenon large enough to be considered important in the market, with Wall Street and other markets accepting bitcoin futures trading now, the lack of fundamental value makes it so unstable that it can hardly replace assets. with a more predictable behavior.
“It just could easily double as it could go to zero” an opinion that easily expresses the behavior of other alts such as LiteCoin or Ethereum in recent years. Therefore, despite having a higher value than gold today, it will not be able to replace it because it still does not provide that security that many investors are looking for.
Other opinions
However, the opinion of a person as important as Jim McCaughan is not unique or represents the only point of view out there.
Other great personalities think differently. Among them Steve Wozniak, Apple’s Co-founder who believes that bitcoin has many more advantages than gold and even US Dollar because it has a limited amount of 21 million coins (thus avoiding the inflationary behavior) and to generate transparency.
“No one knows how much gold there is in the world, nor how much can be mined.” Likewise according to his criteria, while gold is “kinda phony” Bitcoins is more “genuine and real” said in an interview by CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa at the Money 20/20 event in Las Vegas last weekend.
Other personalities with similar opinions are John McAfee, the Winklevoss twins, high English politicians and even presidents of some gold producing nations

Belgian Ph.D. student at the University of Antwerp decodes one bitcoin out of a DNA sample

By

Jose Antonio

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January 26, 2018

During the World Economic Forum in the city of Davos (2015), scientist and investigator Nick Goldman (@EBIgoldman on twitter) presented his latest discoveries about storage of digital data in DNA sequences. Thanks to his personal work Goldman managed to find a method to translate and encode the binary code of digital files and “store” them in DNA sequences.
On January 21, 2015 Goldman made his presentation to the scientific community. Such presentation alone was amazing, but something surprised the audience even more: The challenge he proposed after finishing his words.
Each of the members of the audience was given a test tuve keeping DNA samples, with the private key of a wallet storing 1 Bitcoin encrypted on such sequence. The person able to decipher the sequence and read it, would receive the coin as a reward.
But how is it possible to insert a bitcoin in a DNA chain?
While this process may seem innovative, it is not as recent as many might believe. Previously some scientists had managed to insert digital information such as movies or operating systems into the DNA sequences.
The information was divided into short strings of binary code. Using an algorithm, they randomly packaged and mapped data at the four nucleotide bases of DNA: Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine (A, T, G, C). Adenine only binds to Thymine, while Guanine binds only to Cytosine. Knowing these factors, the digital data was converted to biological data, getting to synthesize a DNA molecule with the encrypted message.
Sander Wuyts (@s_wuyts on twitter), a PhD student at the University of Antwerp, joined the challenge two years after Goldman presented the synthesized DNA and the information inside it; in fact he asked Mr Goldman to send him a test tube to start to work. He undertook a quest on Twitter looking for some test tubes and subsequently successfully resolved the DNA Storage Bitcoin challenge, days before the established deadline was met.
How was he able to decipher the code?
First, Wuyts was in charge of gathering a group of collaborators who would provide support in the decoding process, then they proceeded to perform the basics, ie decoding the message from a sample of DNA, something that Wuyts in particular had never done. Wuyts and his team used modern sequencing technology to read the DNA strands, followed by software to translate the genetic code into binary.

After that, the process of decoding was carried out, for this Wuyts asked for help to his colleague Stijn Wittouck, who knew how to take advantage of his knowledge in Python to achieve the file.
The final phase of the process lasted a month, and just when there was a week to close the contest, Wuyts managed to debug the code and decode the riddle. The message for the winner said:
“Congratulations on sequencing and decoding the retro Davos Bitcoin DNA! (…) If you are the first to decode the Bitcoin challenge, you can claim the prize. The Bitcoin has the address: 19vudYio7R61dSJpi1kEdAV6brjSFUzU7K and you can see it online at https://blockchain.info/address/19vudYio7R61dSJpi1kEdAV6brjSFUzU7K. To claim the bitcoin for you, you need to know the private key. Here it is in various formats “

But the adventure did not ended there: after that, Wuyts spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out how to “sweep” bitcoins to his wallet and review the link of the blockchain.info transaction.
Despite his well-deserved award, Wuyts doesn`t believe Bitcoin has a future (or maybe he doesn´t understand it), and said that he will most likely change it for fiat money, since he does not consider it an element capable of maintaining its long-term value.
In the end the most important thing for Wuyts was not the monetary gain, but participate in the challenge, since the scientist remained skeptical with regard to the roadworthiness of this type of storage in the DNA code, but after the experience he aspires to use the knowledge acquired in future research.
Following the blockchain we observed that the bitcoin was sold and the wallet is empty. Another smart move by a very intelligent Sander Wuyts given the bearish run bitcoin is facing right now.

Science and technology never cease to amaze us.

Cryptocurrency expert says now is the best time to invest in Bitcoin

By

Rahul Nambiampurath

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January 26, 2018

Brian Kelly :Cryptocurrency expert says now is the best time to invest in Bitcoin

Brian Kelly, one of the popular experts on the subject of cryptocurrency feels that the best time to invest in cryptocurrency including Bitcoin is now. According to him, the fall of Bitcoin in recent days makes it a ripe option to invest in and then reap profits in the near future.
Kelly, in an interview to American business focused channel CNBC, gave reasons for his claim. He says while everyone is saying that Bitcoin is dead and the boom is over, a smart investor should make use of this opportunity and start buying more of the currency.
Brian Kelly is a portfolio manager at BKCM Digital Asset Fund. While reiterating his point, he also adds that investors should, as always, be vigilant and cautious and avoid buying the currency when the prices are high.
Recent market activity has seen Bitcoin fall and lose value. The cryptocurrency had reached $20,000, its highest value, just before Christmas and in this week, it had decreased to sub-$11,000 value and is hovering around the $11,000 mark currently.
According to Kelly, this fall represents the perfect time for investors to purchase Bitcoin. Terming the fall as a healthy move for the cryptocurrency ecosystem, Kelly believes that this fall is weeding out the weaker investors and making the overall value of the currency stronger due to stronger backers behind Bitcoin.
Mr. Kelly also laid down the three golden rules for investors seeking to invest in Bitcoin. His first rule says that an investor should only invest 3-5% of his or her total assets as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are new and nascent technologies and need more time to stabilize and be mature.
According to his second rule, an investor should not sell the crypto he purchases in the short term, even it the valuation rises to 20% and 30%. He says that their rise is the start of the momentum, and one should hold on when there is momentum instead of selling. Lastly, he also implores investors not to panic if the currency sees a double-digit fall in a single day, and calls it a routine activity for these currencies to exhibit double-digit rise and fall every day.
Mr. Kelly also said to look at other currencies with strong foundations like Ripple and Stellar in addition to Bitcoin and conceded that Ethereum would be the preferred choice for people wanting to use a blockchain computing platform due to its innovative features.
Most cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum are decentralized with no power in the hands of a single person or entity.