Participate in The New Bounty Campaign by SegWit2X: Prize Fund is $120K

Dear supporters and followers of SegWit2X and B2X coin, we have amazing news for you. SegWit2X team is launching a number of bounty campaigns, which give Blockchain developers the opportunity to show how skillful they are and reward the best projects, ideas, solutions with big bucks.

We deeply believe in technologies and people acing them. The whole purpose of the SegWit2X Bitcoin fork is to develop the Blockchain technology in general. We are looking forward to meet outstanding Blockchain enthusiasts for further joint cooperation.

The 3 campaigns we are planning to run are the following:

 

• B2X App Contest (the total prize fund is 70.000 USD in B2X)

 

The goal of the bounty campaign is to motivate developers to create apps supporting B2X. This could be any kind of app representing various industries operating in B2C sector. The duration of the campaign is 3 months, the expected amount of winners varies from 1 to 5 and the total prize fund is $70.000. Your apps could be supporting any cryptocurrencies but the B2X implementation is compulsory.

The apps could fall into the following criteria:

• Off-the-shelf, working solution.
• Best concept, non-trivial solution.

It could be a mobile app (Android/IOS), a web application, or a browser app.

2. Bug Bounty B2X (the total prize fund is 30.000 USD in B2X)

This bounty campaign falls into two criteria:

• find web-service vulnerabilities (reward varies from $50 to $5K in B2X).
• find B2X code vulnerabilities (reward is $5K in B2X).

3. B2X Improve Bounty (the total prize fund is 20.000 USD in B2X)

The goal of this contest is to improve SegWit2X project. The best solutions with the detailed code description will be given substantial rewards in B2X: rewards vary from 1.000 to 5.000 USD in B2X.

All ideas and projects received will be evaluated by the community. The duration of the campaigns is 3 months. The total prize fund is 120.000 USD in B2X.

To get to know more about the bounty campaigns we are running and get the details of the technical side of the project, please, go to our official website and follow our latest news through the social channels.

https://t.me/Segwit2Xfork

https://twitter.com/Segwit_2X

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Here Are Some Cryptocurrency Expectations for 2018

It’s that time of the year again where the world wide web is to be filled with start of the year lists. Whether it is about new year resolutions or predicting the future events of the year, you will find your go-to information websites to have at least one of them for your reading pleasure.

We thought it would be fun to compile a short list of our own that predicts how 2018 would look like for the cryptocurrency world.

Here are the industry’s top 3 predictions relating to cryptocurrency:

First, Bitcoin could rise to $50,000.

According to Spencer Bogart, a Bitcoin expert, the premier cryptocurrency could see a rise to $50,000 in 2018. In his interview with the Daily Express, Bogart stated that “I can’t tell you exactly what’s going to happen with price and neither can anybody else. But when I look out over the next 12 months, what I see is a significant supply and demand imbalance at the current price levels.”

He further explained that due to these factors, he thinks that “we’ll need to force the price higher.” “The majority of Bitcoin is again locked down with long terms holders. So there’s not a lot of supply available,”

Bogart continued. “And meanwhile, we have this new uptick on the retail side.” While this might seem idealistic for now, we need to keep in mind that people had the same notion about expert opinions in early 2017 that attributed to Bitcoin surpassing $10,000 in value by the end of year (Bitcoin started 2017 at a value of $974). It would be prudent to mention that it surpassed the psychological value of $20,000 just before 2017 ended.

Second, regulators will be ready to act.

If the last few months of 2017 were any indication, 2018 will be the year that the regulators will be looking into cryptocurrencies thoroughly.

What with the European Union taking initial measures along with other nations starting to take notice of this new financial aspect, it seems that this year will be full of discussions on how one could regulate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies along with it.

Adding weight to that prediction: French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire revealed in December that he plans to bring the matter to the table during the G20 summit that is to be held in Argentina.

“I don’t like it; it can hide activities such as drug trafficking and terrorism,” Le Maire had stated. “There is an obvious speculative risk, we need to look at it, study it.”

In addition to that, an Italian official, who asked not to be named, stated that Italy would be backing the discussion put forth by Le Maire.

Third, major institutions will be ready to join the cryptocurrency world

Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) got to be the pioneer in shaking off the stigma associated with Bitcoin and became the first major financial institution to hold Bitcoin futures. CME Group immediately followed suit with their Bitcoin futures and having these two institutions associated with the brand of Bitcoin was such a positive move that it paved the way for cryptocurrency ETFs.

As per reports, such ETFs could be available during early 2018. If everything goes smoothly, they will undoubtedly help cryptocurrencies in further establishing their reputation and providing for further stability and growth.

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Here Are Some Cryptocurrency Tax Tips for 2018

Tax season is upon us. It begins from January 29 with the last date of filing set as April 17, 2018. To help cryptocurrency users comprehend where they stand with their dear digital tokens regarding taxes, the Internet Revenue Service of the United States (IRS), recently issued a notice clarifying that as of now, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are “treated as property”. “General tax principles applicable to property transactions apply to transactions using virtual currency,” The notice states further.

This means that anyone filing cryptocurrencies with a digital wallet having some cryptocurrency will now need to find relevant fields to ensure that they are recording their taxes correctly. Below are some tips that suggest how you can do your taxes the right way.

ON PRESENTS AND CHARITABLE DONATIONS

If you hold some cryptocurrency and if that’s common knowledge within your circle, then there’s a very high chance that you went through a slew of questions over holiday dinners. There’s also the possibility that someone in your family expected you to get into the holiday spirit and gift them some of your crypto, but was that a smart thing to do for taxes, or even gains for that matter?

To explain this, if you did gift cryptocurrency – or if you were generous enough to give the gift of Bitcoin – to someone in your family, then you might have just used your annual exclusion of $15,000 regarding gifts. It will certainly not get you any tax deduction, either.

That being said, if you went over the limit of $15,000, then you will need to file a gift tax return. But that’s where an additional exclusion comes in.

With the gift tax return of the amount over $15,000, you most likely would not have to pay any gift tax. Why you ask? Well, you will simply be using an amount from your lifetime exclusion of gift and estate tax. As of this year, the amount that a US citizen can transfer without any taxes during their lifetime was adjusted to be higher ($11.2 million).

Those conditions were for presents given to individuals. If you decide to donate your cryptocurrency to a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, you will get a charitable contribution deduction.

It would be calculated on the value of cryptocurrency at the time of donation. Let’s say that you bought a Bitcoin at $1000, but at the time of donation, it was worth $16,000. That would mean that you will get the deduction for $16,000.

Furthermore, you would not need to pay the capital tax gain on the inflated amount. Therefore, choose your gift-receivers and charitable organizations wisely.

LOANS AND HEDGE FUNDS

Loaning money is not subject to tax for the borrower or the lender, except for interest payments. While you can loan your cryptocurrency to people, it’s not clear whether that action will be met with the same treatment by the IRS as a loan of conventional currency does.

Since the IRS states that cryptocurrency is identified as “property,” you do not want the loan and the repayment – which most probably is in a different cryptocurrency – of different cryptocurrency to be met with the treatment for taxable assets.

However, a large part of that relies on the documents that you have and how much of a real loan constitutes that transaction.

That brings us to hedge funds, which are popular because they help keep your cryptocurrency stable. That being said, you need to ensure that you are not walking into having it termed as a “sale for tax purposes” without your knowledge.

SALES

If you were lucky enough to benefit from the substantial gains that the cryptocurrency markets offered last year, you might need to start thinking about how those gains would reflect in your tax returns for the next year.

Here, you might consider selling some of your cryptocurrency or even putting it into a hedge fund. That being said, it’s a calculated decision to make, and you should give it ample thought before acting upon it.

For instance, your tax year could have a significant capital loss in it already. Or, if you have gone through an event in the past that makes you carryover losses from previous years, then you can use that too.

Therefore, it is suggested that you take your gains into account and see if you have any losses to cover for them, but if you do not, then you might need to start considering selling some of the cryptocurrency.

RECORDS AND FORMS

If you have done your taxes in the past, then you must know how important it is for you to keep records for which you are filing the taxes.

Cryptocurrency is no exception. You need to ensure that you have proper records of it. Create a backup copy if there’s a need to do so.

And this brings us to Form 1099 which provides a record of income paid to you previously. You should remember that any income to employees in virtual currency is taxable. It also needs to be filed through a Form W-2 and would be subject to federal income tax withholding along with payroll taxes.

At the end of the day, you should remember that the IRS values those who do their taxes, even if they are done incorrectly after the individual’s best efforts. Just try and provide as accurate information as possible and don’t miss out on your taxes. Remember, the deadline is April 17.

Happy filing!

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Can Blockchain Be Adapted By The US Government For Voting?

According to statistics shared by the United States Election Project, the voter turnout for the 2016 Presidential Election was recorded at 59.7 percent of total eligible voters in the country, whereas it stood at 58.6 percent for the 2012 Presidential Election.

Depending upon your political activism, you might or might not be concerned about the above statistics. However, it might get your attention that the US population is one of the least active when it comes to casting votes, what is arguably the most crucial election in the country. To compare this in real time with other nations: Belgium saw a turnout of 84% of eligible voters during its 2014 election.

This raises many questions, with two of the most important being:

Maybe about half of our population has not been particularly fond of either candidate that was chosen by the contesting parties, but should that have been the case in every presidential election within the last few decades?

Some question the transparency of the voting system itself, but has that been going on for decades with no solution posed to address those concerns?

While no one can force the likability for the presidential candidates to those who supported their opponents in the primaries, there is a very tangible solution to address the point of transparency, and it is none other than blockchain technology.

Blockchain not new to the government

While the National Defense Authorization Act that was passed last month by President Donald Trump calls for studying blockchain technology for any possibly offensive threats against the nation by the use of foreign forces, it also calls for the technology’s usage in the government’s operations.

The Secretary of Defense was given six months to present his findings in a briefing to Congress.

Although those directions are prudent enough to study the technology from a defense point of view, the Congress already has its own Blockchain Caucus in place which also claims to be “first and foremost interested in how blockchain technology can improve government services.”

Therefore, it has since caused numerous discussions within the blockchain community on how the government has not yet considered implementing a blockchain-based voting system or at the very least, started looking into the possibility of doing so.

The idea of a blockchain based voting system is not far-fetched considering how blockchain voting has already been in practice in a few jurisdictions in and outside of the US.

Examples of operational blockchain voting systems

The city of Moscow has been running blockchain voting systems in a few of its municipal programs and has most recently deployed it for its Active Citizen program. The Active Citizen program has had active participation with over 1.9 million users in over 2800 polls since its launch in 2014. This shows the government’s faith in the system and its trust, indicating that they may believe it is reliable enough to be available for a program that holds millions of users.

Furthermore, a blockchain based voting institution has been the topic of blockchain voting news lately.

The platform in question is called Voatz, and it recently ran seed funding of $2.2 million with Overstock’s subsidiary leading the round for it. The system has won numerous awards over several locations and plans to reach out to multiple institutions with its capabilities soon.

How will blockchain voting help?

Blockchain-based voting systems can work in different ways, through one’s mobile device using its fingerprint sensor or through the system’s app on designated polling stations. However, regardless of the manner in which the system is used, it is bound to be extremely secure and transparent since the use of blockchain ensures that data is immediately processed and shared with multiple sources, leaving no room for manipulation.

That is why this particular method of voting could directly and effectively address the pressing issue of voter confidence and that in turn could help increase voter turnout, making the most critical elections within the country to be decided with not just half of the country’s eligible population.

At the pace that the things are currently moving within the country, it seems highly unlikely for blockchain to be adopted for voting anytime soon.

However, if transparency is required in the voting system then the general population needs to demand it, and that might cause the designated people to start looking into making the necessary changes.

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North Korea Might Be Secretly Mining Monero

Cybersecurity company, AlienVault has discovered an application which secretly installs Monero mining scripts on vulnerable machines, and then uses the affected computers to send the mined coins to a university in North Korea.

If that sounds like a sci-fi plot to you, then you are not to be blamed.

However, it is true and has been making the rounds through different news outlets, all of which conclude that this, in fact, might not be a prank by the creators of said application. It could actually have North Korea involved in it, due to similar instances before this, that have been just as odd, sneaky, and threatening.

Similar situations from the past

Two individual North Korean groups were previously linked to two different incidents in the past.

One of them, Bluenorroff, had mined Monero on compromised machines from a bank.

The second group, Andariel, had also mined Monero on a compromised network of a South Korean corporation (these instances were mentioned in AlienVault’s detailed report as well).

Why Monero and what does the currency do?

Monero, one of the top 15 cryptocurrencies, currently holds transactions that are not linkable. The transactions also use a randomly generated address each time. This makes Monero untraceable as compared to its other counterparts out there, and as a result, lucrative for hackers.

It is being reported that the application was created on December 24. 

The university that it sends the mined Monero to is named Kim Il Sung University, in Pyongyang, North Korea.

According to multiple news sources, no representatives from Kim Il Sung University were available to comment on the situation. However, it should be noted that the university does not only hold North Korean individuals but also opens its doors to international students.

As per AlienVault’s investigation into the application, the company does not rule out that the part about the university server was added deliberately by the applications’ creators to “trick” security teams into thinking that the attack came from North Korea.

That being said, AlienVault also does not hesitate from concluding how a country hit by sanctions could considerably benefit from cryptocurrency. The security firm also pointed out, how, students at a Pyongyang university were provided with a crash course on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, raising concerns on why the country needed to educate its university level students with crash courses on the topic.

South Korean exchange attacks come to mind

This is not the first time that a company like AlienVault has found evidence in cybercrimes linking back to North Korea.

Last year, another firm by the name of FireEye had shared its analysis of multiple South Korean exchanges being attacked from North Korea. It had further mentioned how the country aimed to use Bitcoin to avoid its currently imposed sanctions.

It should be noted that South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges have been under cyberattacks since the past few months. With the country being home to some of the most active exchanges in the world, this poses a significant cause of concern for all stakeholders.

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Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Regrets Calling Bitcoin a Fraud

You might remember the remarks of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon from last year, where he had called Bitcoin a “fraud” and had also eloquently stated that that the cryptocurrency’s rise was “worse than tulip bulbs.”

Well, in a recent with FOX Business, Dimon expressed his regret in using those words but added that he still does not want to do anything with the cryptocurrency.

Dimon said in his interview:

“The blockchain is real. You can have crypto yen and dollars and stuff like that. ICOs you have to look at individually.” 

He further mentioned that he was only sharing what he thought the governments will always think of Bitcoin.

“The bitcoin to me was always what the governments are gonna feel about bitcoin as it gets really big, and I just have a different opinion than other people. I’m not interested that much in the subject at all.” 

While the comments from Dimon in the past had been discouraging, this particular expression now seems to have been caused by the rising credibility of Bitcoin, such as its trading futures at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and the CME Group.

It only shows that the cryptocurrency market is here to stay and the community can hope that not just Bitcoin but other cryptocurrencies continue to bull against its vocal critics to show them that the industry – along with its cryptocurrencies and its blockchain networks – is genuine and is here to stay for a long time.

However, not everyone is still pleased with Dimon’s apology, not even Bitcoin critics. Gizmodo recently published a scathing profile of Dimon while commenting on the same piece, which goes into great detail about Dimon but with a perspective of its own.

What Dimon said in the past

In an interview with CNBC in September 2017, Dimon had been very vocal about his thoughts on Bitcoin, starting by saying that Bitcoin “is a fraud.”

“It’s just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed.” He said in his interview before adding. “I’m not saying ‘go short bitcoin and sell $100,000 of bitcoin before it goes down. This is not advice of what to do.”

He had also shared an incident jokingly about his daughter buying Bitcoin and thinking that she’s a genius because due to the rise in Bitcoin’s prices.

“My daughter bought bitcoin, it went up and now she thinks she’s a genius.”

Earlier in the same day, Dimon had shared how he thinks of Bitcoin as the tulip mania from the 17th century that caused the tulips to be sold for six times the amount of an average person’s annual income at the time.

Dimon said:

“It’s worse than tulip bulbs. It won’t end well. Someone is going to get killed. Currencies have legal support. It will blow up.”

He had further mentioned that he would fire any JPMorgan employee who bought or sold Bitcoin, and provided two reasons for it by stating that “it’s against our rules and they are stupid.”

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The Predictor of Last Year’s Bitcoin Rise Now Says It Will Rise to $100,000

Initial Predictions

Kay Van-Petersen, the same Saxo Bank analyst who had predicted the increase in Bitcoin’s price last year, now thinks that the cryptocurrency could very well hit $100,000 in 2018.

It was received as a far-fetched notion when Van-Petersen had shared his previous analysis on Bitcoin and suggested that it could quickly hit $2,000. That was a prediction of over a 100% increase in Bitcoin’s value since it had been trading around $900 in December 2016.

Many critics of the cryptocurrency had brushed away the idea since the concept of a digital currency trading at that high of a value had not been seen before. Even people from the cryptocurrency community, who while hoping it to be true could not stand behind the prediction as it seemed too optimistic.

Prediction Realization

Then, to almost everyone’s surprise, Bitcoin started its bullish pace through the start of 2017 and finally went past Van-Petersen’s predicted figure of $2,000 by May, cementing his reputation in the industry.

New Prediction 

Now that the very same Van-Petersen has predicted the increase in Bitcoin’s value again, the industry is taking the possibility very seriously. That ray of hope is significant especially because it is a tough time for cryptocurrencies at the moment, where all major digital currencies have seen a dip in their value across the board.

Some have attributed that noticeable fall in pricing to the proposed ban in South Korea whereas other have provided far-fetched theories about it being due to the Chinese New Year.

However, whatever the case may be, it remains a fact the cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin have been having a string of bad days lately.

Even then, Van-Petersen is confident about his latest prediction.

He says that the current trend is not surprising and is merely a step towards raising the value higher. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s something we are seeing,” said Van-Peterson.

“Its kind of building a foundation, then will re-rate a bit higher”

Supporting Statements

To support his claim, he points out the Bitcoin futures that had debuted at the Chicago Board Options Exchange in December 2017 and went on to establish their presence at the CME Group.

The trading of these futures has been met with mixed responses so far, but it is more positive than negative.

Due to this, Van-Petersen states that it will not take long to have more financial institutions and established investors on board, and once they do, it will contribute to the credibility and value of the cryptocurrencies.

Van-Petersen also says that other cryptocurrencies could join the race of increase in value, and praises Ethereum in particular due to its timely solutions to any issues faced by the network.

He stated:

“Ethereum came after Bitcoin, it has a more unified leadership than Bitcoin. They seem to be a bit further along the way in regards to forming the solution to scaling issues.  And you can see transactions on their side eclipses transactions across other cryptos.”

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Ripple Leads $25 Million Funding Round for a Startup

Ripple, the company behind the popular cryptocurrency of the same name, has established itself as a serious investor after leading the funding round of $25 million for a startup named Omni.

What makes the news of this investment even more interesting is that the funding from Ripple will not come in the form of cash but XRP, Ripple’s native cryptocurrency.

Omni

Founded in 2015, Omni provides storage services for individuals and families that want to preserve their excess belongings at a safe place. It recently launched the idea of letting users rent out those belongings to anyone who might be interested in them, and while unconventional, the idea was seemingly so interesting to Ripple that the company ended up being the most significant investor for Omni’s Series B round of funding.

Omni also plans to hold Series C and Series D rounds in the future to expand its functionalities. The other major investor in the funding round was Highland Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that led the funding round of Omni’s Series A in 2016 for $7 million. Unsurprisingly, the company invested using U. S. Dollars.

Omni seems to be more than a storage facility

Seemingly building on the idea of people renting designer clothing and accessories for special occasions, Omni evolves that notion further and aims to expand it from clothing to bikes to any excess item that someone has stored within the facility.

The company has an app for its users where they can list the items that they are willing to lend or rent to someone. Omni then allows any users searching for similar items to see the rental listings, and if the parties agree with the specific arrangement for the item, it is provided to the borrower or renter, accordingly, for the specified period.

The company also provides pickup and delivery for said items so the customers do not have to visit the storage facility physically and can send in or receive their items from the comfort of their home.

This business model seems far from what a company like Ripple has been associated with in the past – since it is a blockchain based financial service itself – which shows that Ripple too is interested in expanding its operations.

While Omni does not have any plans to accept payments on its lending/renting platform in the form of XRP, it did explain that it might use the cryptocurrency to pay fees to freelancers and to facilitate bonuses for its employees.

The timing is strategic yet risky

Reports suggest that the investment round had closed in December 2017.

However, that would allude to the possibility of the deal being made when Ripple was on the rise, whereas it is now being traded at around $0.90 after seeing a drop of 50 percent in the last week.

The decision makers at Omni must have been aware of the fluctuation that could come with cryptocurrencies, however.  It remains to be seen whether this innovative step of their acceptance of payment in XRP pays off in the long run or not.

Not the first time that Ripple has collaborated with a company

Ripple has previously partnered with over a hundred institutions on various capacities. One of the most recent and notable of those deals was made with global remittance facilitator MoneyGram, which allowed payments to be processed through XRP. This seems to be one of the first times that Ripple has invested in another company with XRP.

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Ripple Keeps Moving Forward, Bringing on Another Partner

Ripple continues to take actions that help it to get closer to their end goals of being a long-term profitable company focused on banks and the improvement of settlement. Many still have questions as to the viability of their cryptocurrency, XRP. The questions center around the idea of acceptance, will XRP merely be a speculative coin similar to that of penny stocks, with no other real value except for its change in price, or will it be a token that has utility and will grow in value over time?

Ripple addresses XRP concerns

Ripple seems to be striving to make sure that there is confidence in their company and their XRP currency with their latest partnerships. The most recent partnership of note would be Moneygram. Ripple has partnered with Moneygram to conduct cross-border payments. The money transfer giant intends to use XRP in its payments network. XRP will be used to bring efficiencies to their payments network by minimizing costs and maximizing speed.

Moneygram has clarified that they are conducting a test and it will not be used for consumer purposes as of yet.

The next partner in this regard, a partner that might be using XRP in the future, might be Santander. They have brought on board, Santander last year and they will be working with the banking giant to conduct cross-border payments as well. The reason that Santander might be one of the next banking partners to utilize Ripple is because they have worked with Ripple on several occasions and have found success and the success has made them look into using Ripple further.

Ripples in Paradise? 

Santander has stated they will not be moving away from traditional payment networks but will use emerging technology to meet the unique needs of their customers. Several customers, ranging from SMEs to financial institutions have mentioned that they are having issues with the uncertainty and lack of transparency in payment processing in the SWIFT system. Ripple offers the elements of speed, clarity, and certainty and Santander believes that Ripple can meet these unique needs of their consumers.

Overall

The team has clarified the blockchain technology will take a while to progress, as the world needs to grow to be able to realize the full potential of the blockchain. The team has also commented on established players like SWIFT. They stated that there’s a variety of technologies that are coming to play at the present moment. These technologies are going to be causing shifts across the board, in regulation and financial innovation, the world in general, is adjusting to these technologies slowly.

A fundamental question is the competition between SWIFT and Ripple, investors wonders, is that really a factor, or is that merely hype?

It seems that the team at Ripple believes they will be bringing disruption that would shake up existing players like SWIFT, if it executes well, it will be improving the world of payments networks for the better. An established player like SWIFT will have to adapt or focus on the governance aspect of their organization. SWIFT has been slowly increasing the quality of its technology over time; they’ve recently been signing up banks to implement their global payments innovation (gpi). The SWIFT GPI implementation is supposed to dramatically improve the customer experience in cross-border payments by increasing the speed, transparency and end-to-end tracking of cross-border payments.

The Ripple team believes that the SWIFT GPI technology is merely incremental and not fundamental.

Marcus, a representative from Ripple, compared the Ripple innovation versus the SWIFT gpi innovation.

“To analogise this, when it comes to improving payment technology, it’s not about putting faster trains on the existing rail infrastructure. It’s about building an airplane.”

Yes, there is a fight between Ripple and SWIFT, but the way that Ripple is phrasing their statements, it seems that SWIFT is not, at the present moment, putting up much of a fight. If SWIFT is only slightly improving their technology but Ripple is looking to shift the system fundamentally, that would mean that Ripple would be the winner if they can execute well.

That would mean that potential investors would have to look at the barriers that Ripple has in being able to execute well and making investment decisions from there.  Factors an investor may look into are the possibilities of regulation, marketing, competition, trust & confidence in the business as well as the sustainability of the business.

They believe there is a need for rapid change to keep up and provide customers with real value. If financial institutions are not able to keep up and give the consumers better options, they may not live long enough to reminisce about their what they could have done.

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Over 700,000 Lumens Were Stolen Through BlackWallet Hack

A web-based wallet service called BlackWallet was recently hacked, resulting in the loss of over 700,000 Stellar Lumens worth over $300,000.

According to an official statement released by BlackWallet’s creator, the site’s hosting provider account was hacked, and its DNS settings were changed by the hacker afterward.

The new settings redirected the original domain to a fraudulent website which was a copy of BlackWallet.

This action allowed the hacker to utilize those users’ details who had logged into their BlackWallet account after the hack.

The hacker then transferred these users’ Stellar Lumens to their own account.

According to the official statement, the hacker’s wallet was identified, and its address was shared by BlackWallet’s
creator publicly to increase awareness about it.

Bittrex

Furthermore, it was established that the hacker transferred the stolen Lumens to a Bittrex exchange account.

BlackWallet’s creator urged Bittrex to identify the account holder to recover the funds. The post also requested any BlackWallet users to move their funds to a new wallet using the Stellar Account Viewer. However, it was explained that since BlackWallet was only an account viewer, no keys had been stored on the server.

Due to this, another official post within the same Reddit thread, this time by a Stellar admin, warned users to not log in to their BlackWallet account,  as that was causing the hacker to steal the funds. It was reported that a script was running on the BlackWallet website which would send the user’s XLM to the hacker’s account as soon as they log in to it.

The post by Stellar reassured its users that the problem was with BlackWallet users, and if they do not use that wallet,  they would not need to worry.

However, it explained that since coins are stored on the blockchain network and not on the wallet itself, any Lumens in a BlackWallet user account can be easily transferred using the Stellar Account Viewer.

Similar Incidents have occurred in the past

Even though it is not as severe regarding the value of stolen coins as the Mt. Gox or YouBit hack, it just adds to the incidents of similar nature that have haunted the cryptocurrency industry as of late.

While these sites reportedly took all the security measures available to them, their downfall seemingly came to the fact of them being operated through a centralized mechanism and not with the added security of a blockchain network, even though they deal with digital assets that themselves could not have existed without blockchain technology.

This raises a question on the security of storing your cryptocurrency information with such wallets and exchanges. Even though they reportedly, employ the utmost functions regarding security, the fact remains that they are still operating through a centralized system which does not provide them with the level of security required in the midst of these increasing hacking attempts against the cryptocurrency industry.

While decentralized exchanges (DEX) are in the works and a few of them have also started operating along with decentralized apps (such as blockchain based wallets), it seems like it is high time for the cryptocurrency community to adopt blockchain as its core method of managing their digital assets to prevent such issues in the long run.

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Metropolitan Bank Refutes Claims of Cryptocurrency Policy Change

Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. recently responded to allegations of “halting” its international cryptocurrency wire transfers.

In a release shared on the Securities and Exchange Commission website, the financial institution clarified that the claims of it canceling the wire-transfers are false, as the bank has not had a change of policy but had merely sent a reminder to its customers about a pre-existing policy.

“As a matter of policy, the Bank does not accept cryptocurrency-related wire transfers from non-U.S. entities. This is a long-standing policy of the Bank and remains in effect today. Last week, the Bank sent out a reminder to customers of its policy against accepting cryptocurrency-related wire transfers from non-U.S. entities. This reminder to customers is not a new policy for the Bank and was not due to, nor did the Bank experience, any incident of international fraud.”

Where did the report start from?

The report in question originated from this article by Fortune, which was then cited through multiple websites and online publications around the world. The article spoke of an exclusive piece of finding that reflected upon the bank’s decision to stop performing any cryptocurrency related international wire transfers.

Among other things, the report spoke of a source that had confirmed about the notification that his investment firm had received regarding cryptocurrency related international wire transfers.

However, it now seems that it was the same notification which the bank had sent as a reminder, only to be confused with the bank’s implementation of a new policy.

The report had also stated that the bank’s notification was regarding “certain cryptocurrency-related wire transfers from non-U.S. entities that were sent to the Bank in error.”  The report further mentioned how this translated to the banking claiming that “it was not aware of the cryptocurrency-related international wires until last week.”

Whereas, the bank’s official statement explained that the policy of not accepting cryptocurrency related wire transfers from non-U. S. entities is a part of its risk management program and has been longstanding. It was explained that this is to comply with the rules and regulations for best banking practices.

This was a cause of concern about more regulations

This clears up the air of uncertainty that had surrounded the bank’s alleged and sudden stance on cryptocurrency transfers ever since the news from Fortune broke. The significant reaction of concern was not just due to Metropolitan Bank’s status as a prominent financial institution, but also because of how multiple cryptocurrency exchanges use its services and its subsidiaries as their primary banking solutions provider.

In the era of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, the bank has earned a reputation for being cryptocurrency friendly by facilitating these exchanges. Therefore, the clarification brings a sigh of relief to those who had incorrectly deduced that it was the start of a slew of regulations following the steps of South Korea and China, two countries that have recently been in the news for their suddenly stern treatment towards the cryptocurrency industry.

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Maersk and IBM Are Launching a Blockchain Platform

After months of collaboration, A. P. Moller-Maersk and IBM have announced the launch of a blockchain-based trading platform for the shipping industry.

Last year, shipping giant Maersk had announced its plans to partner with IBM – the leading blockchain platform provider – to develop blockchain solutions for efficient tracking and management of supply chain along with digitization of necessary data.

The new blockchain platform, which has been going through its initial development phase since a few months, will aim to facilitate the worldwide shipping industry.

The joint venture company will run its headquarters from New York.

What does the platform do?

The platform uses IBM Blockchain technology powered by Hyperledger Fabric 1.0.

It focuses on effective tracking of shipped goods to ensure that the supply-chain runs with best practices and without any issues. This will also allow all stakeholders to communicate with each other promptly in case they need to discuss or check on updates for a particular shipment.

It will also have digitization of pertinent data and processes as one of its core objectives. Through the platform, Maersk and IBM both aim to eliminate the need for unnecessary delays, such as having to run from organization to organization for the issuance of clearance for a particular supply chain. By having all verified information available through the blockchain, the concerned authorities can ensure that the data being provided is up to date while also being shared securely, and that would help cut the times for such processes by having them managed efficiently through smart contracts.

Maersk and IBM have already gotten quite a few prominent organizations to pilot the platform for them. These organizations include but are not limited to, Tetra Pak, Port Houston, the Customs Administration of the Netherlands, and U. S. Customs and Border Protection.

After successful deployment and rigorous testing, the two companies are now ready to offer the platform and the solutions that it offers to an array of global companies that are interested in having the new technology used within their day to day operations to maximize security and efficiency.

Notable names are already on the list

It is no surprise that with the involvement of Maersk and IBM, notable organizations already trust this venture and are very interested in utilizing its blockchain solutions. Some of such entities are mentioned below:

• General Motors
• Proctor and Gamble
• Agility Logistics
• Singapore Customs
• Peruvian Customs
• APM Terminals
• PSA International

The new venture will have a new CEO

Both organizations have chosen Michael J. White as their new blockchain company’s CEO. White is the former president of Maersk Line in North America.

In his statement to the press, White mentioned how unnecessary manual processes that are still in practice within the shipping industry could lead to a waste of resources. He stated that the blockchain platform will resolve these issues by providing efficient solutions for process management and that as a result could lead to developing a worldwide ecosystem for the shipping industry.

“Today, a vast amount of resources are wasted due to inefficient and error-prone manual processes. The pilots confirmed our expectations that, across the industry, there is considerable demand for efficiency gains and opportunities coming from streamlining and standardizing information flows using digital solutions. Our ambition is to apply these learnings to establish a fully open platform whereby all players in the global supply chain can participate and extract significant value. We look forward to further expanding our ecosystem of partners as we progress toward a global solution.”

Subject to clearance from regulatory authorities, Maersk and IBM can start deploying the platform all over the world within six months.

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Cypherium and IC3 Join Hands for Scalability Research

Cypherium and the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3) have shaken hands to collaborate on new blockchain scaling solutions.

Cypherium is a blockchain platform with a team of developers that have experience working with tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. Whereas, IC3 is an initiative by the faculty members of prestigious institutions such as Cornell University and UC Berkeley, among many others. IC3 focuses on further development of blockchain technology by employing various innovative methodologies.

Details about Cypherium

Cypherium’s main purpose is to provide a blockchain that is not only secure but has the true potential of being used in everyday commercial transactions. Due to this goal, Cypherium is highly focused on resolving scalability issues.

So far, Cypherium has been able to adopt various functionalities within its blockchain platform. As per the company, it has learned from both the benefits and shortcomings of two of the most notable platforms: Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Learning from their experience, Cypherium has developed its blockchain while ensuring that Bitcoin’s revolutionary capabilities coupled with Ethereum’s improvements to the smart contract platform could be improved upon.

At the same time, it makes sure to not repeat the same mistakes as Bitcoin regarding scalability issues that now make its transaction processing times range from a few hours to a few days. As per Cypherium, Ethereum is bound to face the same problems unless it does something about the function of its current Proof-of-Work method.

For its platform, Cypherium has adopted quite a few functions. Through its node election mechanism, elected nodes are only going to hold temporary positions to verify transactions, which in turn will ensure decentralization at all times.

The platform also eliminates the possibility of longer confirmation times by separating mining and transaction verification processes.

Cypherium is thus very confident that its current system is very much capable of overcoming scalability issues with the current blockchains, and this brings Cypherium to partner with IC3.

It could be a beneficial partnership

IC3 aims to make its researched technological innovations available for further adaptability by its industry partners. The members of this initiative include names such as IBM, Intel, Microsoft and J. P. Morgan.

The initiative revolves around improving blockchain technology, which has made it a logical partner for Cypherium, it now needs to ensure that its scalability resolution would stand through rigorous, real-world testing while also making sure that any remaining issues regarding scalability can be resolved with the expertise of both teams.

Together, these two organizations have joined forces to ensure that they can take scalability to an even higher efficiency than what Cypherium has been able to achieve so far.

What does this mean?

Simply put, it would be very beneficial for blockchain technology. With the likes of the R3 Consortium and IBM’s various ventures to collaborate with multiple organizations from all over the world, this particular partnership will only add to the collective minds of these powerful entities in the long run.

Like any other technology, blockchain will only evolve with continuous efforts and immense research. It is good to see that more and more organizations are coming together to share their findings and ideas with each other. Any positive development from here could go a long way in defining how the world uses blockchain a few years from now.

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