Cryptopia Hacked Again / Litecoin Changes / Spongebob / Gambling

Subscribe | View in browser $BTC (1:08 p.m. EST): $3,489.15 (1.08%) // 90-day high: $6,860.85 // 90-day low: $3,286.14 / / More… $BCH ABC (1:08 p.m. EST): $118.82 (6.29%) // 90-day high: $632.22// 90-day low: $80.95 // More… $ETH (1:08 p.m. EST): $109.08 (2.83%) // 90-day high: $229.12 // 90-day low: $85.11 // More… $LTC (1:09 p.m. EST): $31.98 (2.58%) // 90-day high: $54.64 // 90-day low: $22.09 // More… $XRP (1:09 p.m. EST): $0.31 (10.35%) // 90-day high: $0.53 // 90-day low: $0.28 // More… Here are the 10 most important stories about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies today       1. Cryptopia was hacked … again, and by the same thief no less. For the second time in two weeks, hackers broke into the New Zealand-based exchange and stole about $180,000 of ethereum. Elementus, a next-generation blockchain analysis company, said hackers drained more than 17,000 user wallets. To make things worse, more than 5,000 of those wallets were hacked during the first attack on Cryptopia, which saw more than $16 million in cryptocurrency taken on January 15. –AMB CRYPTO       2. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee plans to make his coin more fungible by adding confidential transactions, according to his announcement on Twitter.​​​​​ He said that "fungibility is the only property of sound money that is missing from Bitcoin & Litecoin," adding that "the next battleground will be on fungibility and privacy." Lee said that confidential transactions could be added threat a soft fork in the cryptocurrency's code. Lee did not give an exact time frame for the changes, just saying it would happen "sometime in 2019." –COIN TELEGRAPH       Ad Intelligence is creating stronger connections. Today's world generates 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day. Sifting through that much available information is hard. Micron is helping analyze that data to create stronger connections between AI, organizations, and most importantly, people.​​ Learn More. 3. The Lightning Network has turned to Spongebob Squarepants for inspiration. Developers have named a new technology coming to the network "wumbo," which in the Spongebob universe is a real word, according to Patrick the starfish. Despite the odd name, wumbo will have real utility on the Lightning Network. It describes a change to the hard-coded limit on how much money can be locked up in a lightning channel at a given time. The term was first chosen at a summit in November held in Australia. "Please blame one of the persons attending the summit for this term. Unfortunately, due to rules imposed, non-attendees can only learn who to blame if that person admits this," wrote developer ZmnSCPxj. –COINDESK       4. Online gamblers have started to use the EOS and Tron networks, opposed to ethereum. A new report shows that 70 percent of the EOS network is used for gambling transactions, while more than 95 percent of Tron traffic is gambling-related. Gamers traditionally used the ethereum network for gaming, but have gradually moved to the other platforms in the past year. The report did not give a specific reason for this move, but noted that both EOS and Tron have seen an increase in decentralized gaming apps, although some have had come with security concerns. –THE NEXT WEB       Ad Build Proficiency with IoT while Exploring Azure IoT Tools and Technologies Developing applications for the Internet of Things is a balancing act. From avoiding business interruptions to factoring in security, there's a lot to consider. Find the resources you need to work through technical challenges in one, convenient place.   5. John McAfee, the notorious cryptocurrency investor and promotor, announced plans to run for President in 2020 with an unusual slogan: "Don't vote for me." –CCN 6. The school system in Kazakhstan has turned to blockchain to manage a complicated waitlist system for kindergartners. –COIN TELEGRAPH 7. Fidelity plans to launch its bitcoin custody service in March, according to reports. The service is aimed at helping institutional investors ease into the cryptocurrency space. –BLOOMBERG 8. Swift, the financial messaging service, has partnered with start-up R3 on a new payments standard framework that incorporates blockchain. –CNBC 9. Washington State lawmakers have introduced a bill that calls for the increased use of blockchain-related technologies, especially in the area of identity verification. –ETHEREUM WORLD NEWS 10. More than 49 percent of the entire bitcoin trading volume for the past 24 hours has been exchanged against the Japanese Yen, surpassing the USD, which typically dominates the market. –BITCOINIST       Written and curated by David Stegon. He has been a reporter for 15 years, the past 10 focused on technology. Follow him @davidstegon. Editing team: Lon Harris (editor-in-chief at Inside.com, game-master at Screen Junkies) and Susmita Baral (editor at Inside, recent bylines in NatGeo, Teen Vogue, and Quartz. Runs the biggest mac and cheese account on Instagram).       Ad Owl Labs is the creator of the Meeting Owl, the first 360-degree smart conference camera. Learn more.

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