Thursday, August 2, 2018

Square / Bitcoin Mining / Bill Clinton / Long Island Blockchain

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Here are today's ten most important Bitcoin stories, efficiently ranked & summarized by smart humans, not algorithms:

$BTC (12:39 p.m. EST): $7,591.47 (-0.20%) // 90-day high: $9,927.71 // 90-day low: $5,755.25/ / More…

$BCH (12:40 p.m. EST): $747.19 (-1.52%) // 90-day high: $1,786.80// 90-day low: $608.37 // More…

$ETH (12:40 p.m. EST): $414.69 (-1.80%) // 90-day high: $831.65 // 90-day low: $365.43 // More…

$LTC (12:41 p.m. EST): $76.72 (-1.23%) // 90-day high: $251.03 // 90-day low: $73.12 // More…

$XRP (12:41 p.m. EST): $0.43 (-3.07%) // 90-day high: $1.20 // 90-day low: $0.43 // More…

Here are the 10 most important stories about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies today

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1. Square has seen its quarterly bitcoin revenue increase. The company revealed in a report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it generated $37 million in revenue from cryptocurrency during the second quarter. This is up from $34 million in the first quarter. While it makes up just a portion of the company's $814 million quarterly revenue, CEO Jack Dorsey believes it is an area ripe for growth. –COIN TELEGRAPH

Square sees bitcoin revenue increase
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2. Bitcoin mining poses a threat to the Paris climate-change accord, a new study claims. John Truby, a researcher at Qatar University, said the energy used to mine bitcoin outweigh the financial benefits. "The design of bitcoin's mining and trading system requires such a vast consumption of electricity that it is equivalent to powering Denmark," Truby wrote. "This threatens the planet to the extent that intervention is necessary to prevent similar models emerging." The electricity needed to mine bitcoin has increased 400 percent over the past 12 months. –MARKET WATCH

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3. President Bill Clinton has been booked to speak at Ripple's Swell conference in October. Ripple has been known to bring celebrities to its events. Last year, Snoop Dogg appeared at a Ripple charity event. Twitter, though, was not impressed. A photoshop battle ensued after the announcement with some, say, less than desirable speakers listed to attend. –THE NEXT WEB

Bill Clinton to speak at Ripple conference
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4. Bitcoin is being used less and less as a currency. After peaking at $411 million in September, only $60 million was spent on goods and services in May. These numbers come from the 17 largest crypto merchant-processing services. The number rebounded a bit in June – to $69 million – but it is a far drop from the same time last year when $270 million was spent. -BLOOMBERG

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5. There is an arms race between countries to become the world capital of cryptocurrency technologies. Bermuda, Gibraltar, and Malta have all passed crypto-friendly laws in an effort to encourage companies to move there. They are competing with some larger companies, like France, for these businesses. The hope is that these companies set up operations, bring in some tax revenue, and create supporting jobs and businesses as a result. –THE NEW YORK TIMES

Countries racing for crypto companies
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6. The company once known as Long Island Iced Tea has rebranded again. The drink company famously changed its name to Long Blockchain earlier this year to take advantage of the crypto market. The company then said it would mine bitcoin. However, the company has changed paths once again. It will now focus on loyalty schemes, using distributed ledger technology in its new format. –COIN TELEGRAPH

7. Forbes takes on a big topic: The future of blockchain and its impact on the world. The author takes a pragmatic approach, saying blockchain has potential but it hasn't been fully shown. -FORBES

8. Coinsquare, a top exchange in Canada, will now support XRP. The launch is in beta so customers can buy and trade XRP but cannot withdraw it to a third-party wallet. –ETHEREUM WORLD NEWS

9. Here is a look at CoinFund, a cryptoasset investment fund. The company helps other startups conduct regulation-compliant ICOs. -FORBES

10. Thomas Costanzo, a former bitcoin trader, was sentenced to 41 months in jail for laundering drug money with bitcoin. Authorities said Costanzo laundered $164,700 in bitcoin over two years. –COINDESK

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From the Forums

There is no reason not to allow a bitcoin ETF.

Looking at bitcoin transaction fees.

Be skeptical of bitcoin.com.

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Written and curated by David Stegon. David's children have watched "Cars 3" more than 4,000 times. He has been a reporter for 15 years, the past 10 focused on technology. Follow him @davidstegon.

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Thieves Steal Over $5 Million Bitcoin by Hijacking SIM Cards

August 2, 2018 Read in Browser
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MARKET
COIN PRICE 24H

BTC $7,549.016755 -0.89%

ETH $413.637124 -2.72%

XRP $0.43269 -3.75%

BCH $748.707002 -2.04%

EOS $6.974265 -4.75%

*Information as of 9:30 AM EST


NEWS

Thieves Steal Over $5 Million Bitcoin by Hijacking SIM Cards

SIM HIJACKING

  • SIM card hijacking is a technique used by thieves in which the thief reroutes a victims phone number to a new SIM card controlled by the hijacker
  • Once the phone number is rerouted, the thief has access to all of your text messages and calls, and is able to reset passwords to your accounts

HIJACKERS CAUGHT

  • Joel Ortiz, a 20 year old college student from Boston, and his accomplices were arrested for stealing over $5 million in Bitcoin by using SIM card hijacking
  • The gang is thought to have hijacked around 40 SIM cards
  • Ortiz had his biggest theft during Consensus 2018, where he was able to pilfer $1.5 million in crypto from a single blockchain entrepreneur
  • With help from AT&T, investigators were able to trace phone numbers used by Ortiz and figure out his identity

PROTECT YOURSELF

  • This sort of attack can happen to anyone, your two best strategies to prevent it are:
    • Don’t use SMS 2FA, rather use Google Authenticator or something similar
    • Call your cell service provider and tell them you do not plan on porting your number and ask if there are any security measures they can put in place to prevent this sort of attack from happening

NEWS

Wikipedia Denies Any Interest in ICO

WIKI FUNDRAISING

  • Wikipedia is a non-profit and generates no revenue, so it must find a way to raise funds to stay alive
  • To raise funds, Wikipedia turns to asking for donations from users who visit the site
  • Surprisingly this method is actually effective, in 2016, Wikipedia received more than $80 million in donations

NO ICO

  • In the midst of the ICO craze, people recommend Wikipedia simply raise capital via an ICO

At a recent blockchain event, Wikipedia’s founder Jimmy Wales, was asked if his company would ever ICO, his answer was:

"We are absolutely never going to do that. Zero interest."

WALES & CRYPTO

  • Wales has not been an advocate to crypto in any form
  • In the past he has ripped ICOs for being “nothing of value” and “absolute scams”
  • He did say that blockchain is an interesting technology but there is too much hype around it and it is clearly a bubble

RESEARCH

Report Shows Bitcoin Use in Commerce Hit a Low in May After Peaking at $411 Million Last Year

VOLUME DECLINE

  • According to research conducted by Chainalysis, the value of Bitcoin transacted using the 17 largest crypto payment processing services has declined significantly
  • After transacting over $411 million in September 2017, popular crypto payment processing services transacted a low of $60 million in May 2018
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CRITIC SPEAKS OUT

  • After reading this report, Nicholas Weaver, a senior researcher at the International Computer Science Institute, commented that "Bitcoin is not actually usable"
  • Weaver continued to argue that Bitcoin's fees are often more expensive than that of a credit card transaction
  • Lastly, Weaver added that Bitcoin transactions cannot be reversed and that is concerning if merchant or consumer commits fraud

COUNTER ARGUMENT

  • On the contrary, many Bitcoin supporters say that real world use and adoption will take time, it is no surprise we are not in a mature market quite yet
  • In addition, fees for Bitcoin have fallen significantly since October 2017 and will likely continue to fall once the lightning network is fully adopted
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EXCHANGE

Coinbase Rolls Out British Pound Deposits for UK Users

IMMEDIATE TRANSFERS

  • Announced yesterday, Coinbase will now offer investors in the United Kingdom the ability to invest immediately with the British Pound
  • This is fantastic news for UK users since previously, to transact on the platform, users had to convert British Pounds into Euros to then purchase their desired cryptocurrencies

Coinbase chief executive Zeeshan Feroz commented on the new system's efficiency and cost savings:

"Customers will not only benefit from increased speed, but reduced cost as well. By no longer having to convert funds from GBP to euros and vice versa to add and remove funds, there will be no more exchange rates."

WORKING WITH REGULATORS

  • To break into new markets, Coinbase has to jump through different legal hoops for different countries
  • Coinbase has shown its strength as a leading cryptocurrency exchange by working closely with regulators and financial institutions to make its services universal

Feroz prided Coinbase for continuing to push the frontier of exploring new markets:

"UK banks have been conservative in terms of working with crypto businesses and we’re proud to be one of the first companies to get access to domestic banking"


SPONSORED


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MORE BREWING
  • Square Sees Profits From Bitcoin Sales Double in Q2
  • Bitcoin Cash Celebrates Its First Birthday: From a Hard Fork to Easy Going
  • Hester Peirce Hits Again says, SEC Focus Misplaced over Bitcoin ETF

TODAY IN CRYPTO
Qtum (QTUM)
"At this meetup, you're free to learn what innovations Qtum has done to build the bridge between blockchain and real business use cases."

Today in Crypto is powered by coinmarketcal.com


COIN OF THE DAY
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