Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Area 51 😵

January 8, 2019

POWERED BY

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."

- Steve Jobs

MARKET

COIN	PRICE	24H

BTC	$4,085.11	+ 1.18%

ETH	$152.79	- 0.52%

XRP	$0.367313	+ 0.06%

BCH	$164.26	+ 1.40%

EOS	$2.84	+ 2.08%

*Information as of 10:00 AM EST

NEWS

Ethereum Classic Appears to Have Fallen Victim to a 51% Attack

Rewriting history

It appears that Ethereum Classic fell victim to a 51% attack on Monday.

A 51% attack occurs when a single party gains control of more than 50% of a network's processing power. Once the attacker gains majority control, they gain the ability to essentially control the blockchain.

According to the Ethereum Classic Twitter, the attacker may have reorganized the blockchain or performed a double spend attack.

However, Ethereum Classic developers said that the 51% attack has terminated and the network is operating normally.

Market reacts

To no surprise, the Ethereum Classic traded downward upon news of the rumored attack.

At the time of this writing, Ethereum Classic is down roughly 7.5% over the last 24 hours, making it one of the biggest losers out of the top market capitalization cryptocurrencies for the day.

Coinbase even decided to suspend trading of ETC while the issue is being figured out.

Security threatened by bear market

Security of most blockchain networks is a function of the processing power backing it. Due to the bear market, incentives are now lower for users to use their processing power to mine crypto.

As a result of lost hash power, cryptocurrencies are now more vulnerable to 51% attacks.

ETF

Japanese Regulators Could Approve a Crypto ETF

According to a Bloomberg report, Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) is contemplating approving a cryptocurrency ETF.

The FSA has already decided to disallow cryptocurrency derivatives from trading on exchanges, but may be more willing to approve an ETF.

Japanese regulators have been busy trying to clean up the cryptocurrency industry within their borders. Now, they seem to be turning a corner to allowing more cryptocurrency adoption, just under a watchful eye.

Race with the US?

Cryptocurrency ETFs have long been seeking approval in the United States. However, the SEC has denied each and every application.

Some countries see blockchain and cryptocurrency as a race to adoption. They believe that if they permit adoption in their country that they will attract a flourishing new industry.

Japan may be trying to front-run the United States and approve an ETF before them. This would no doubt attract a significant amount of trading volume to their exchanges.

NEWS

Google Forces Wallet to Remove Privacy Features to Follow Transparency Policies

Adios anonymity

According to a new blog post, popular crypto wallet Samourai is being forced to take down three important privacy features:

Stealth Mode
Sim Switch Defense
Remote SMS Commands

To some users, these features were necessary to provide more security and anonymity to the app.

What's your problem Google?

Over the past year the Google Play Store has gradually made an effort to clean up its littered platform with a handful of new policies.

One of those policies is transparent code. Since Samourai Wallet did not align with this policy, it asked for an exemption and worked to prove that users need these features for security reasons.

Still, Google denied their application and now the app that has been around since 2015 is left with two choices:

Remove the core features
Get the boot from Google

They will be back

Already the wallet is promising the features will make a return in the near future through other platforms.

Sadly, for now, users will have to disable their beloved stealth mode before they update their wallets.

niTROn is Waiting for You

Did you hear about the new token (BTT) that BitTorrent is releasing? Come to niTROn Summit to learn how this token will be implemented into BitTorrent's 100+ million user base and bring mass adoption to blockchain.

Don't forget to claim your $100 flat rate ticket to niTROn Summit 2019 with the promo code UNBANKD100!

CLAIM YOUR OFFER 🎟

BITS

But wait, there's more...

📉 GMO reports continued losses but sees massive increase in mining rewards.
🏦 70% of Central Banks are researching digital currencies but only a handful are trialing them.
💸 Ethereum Foundation pledges $5 million grant to Parity Technologies.

MEME