cryptocurrency – Tech Today w/ Ken May

US regulators charge three bitcoin operators with fraud

Today the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that it has filed a federal civil enforcement action against three virtual currency operators. The details of one case remain sealed, but the other two companies facing charges are CabbageTech and Entrepreneurs Headquarters Ltd . The charges include fraud, misrepresentation, misappropriation and more, and are the first enforcement actions since the CFTC allowed trading bitcoin futures. Bitcoin has been on a rollercoaster recently. Its value has been in a freefall; two days ago, it tumbled below $10, 000, losing half of its peak value in less than one month . According to Coinbase , it’s risen a bit as of this writing. Bitcoin’s value is currently in the mid-$11, 000s. There are also fears that bitcoin and other cryptocurrency could threaten the security of the global economy; as a result, the US isn’t the only country taking action. China is moving toward an “orderly exit” from bitcoin mining because of its use of resources, as well as its affect on investors. Back in December, South Korea (which is the third largest market for cryptocurrency, after the US and Japan) banned all anonymous cryptocurrency accounts and enacted new regulations for monitoring exchanges. In a joint statement, the CTFC Enforcement Director and the Securities and Exchange Commision Enforcement Co-Directors made clear that the US government will be keeping a close eye on cryptocurrency action. “When market participants engage in fraud under the guise of offering digital instruments – whether characterized as virtual currencies, coins, tokens, or the like – the SEC and the CFTC will look beyond form, examine the substance of the activity and prosecute violations of the federal securities and commodities laws, ” they said in a joint statement. Via: Reuters Source: CFTC (1) , CFTC (2)

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US regulators charge three bitcoin operators with fraud

Steam no longer accepts bitcoin for game purchases

Have you been stockpiling bitcoin to go on a Steam shopping spree ? You’ll need to change your plans. Valve has stopped accepting bitcoin due to a combination of high transaction costs (up from 20 cents in the beginning to $20) and “volatility” in the cryptocurrency’s value. While the virtual cash has never been especially stable, its worth has taken a roller coaster ride over the past few months. Its value has been skyrocketing lately (one bitcoin is worth $13, 300 US as of this writing), but it has also crashed hard — Valve cited a 25 percent drop “over a period of days” as an example. That fluctuation creates a huge problem if you make a purchase and it doesn’t complete before the usual bitcoin price guarantee elapses, as you may have to pay an outstanding balance and a second transaction fee. Valve isn’t completely ruling out a return to bitcoin in the future, although it’s clear that won’t happen unless bitcoin settles down. There’s no mention of opening the door to Ethereum and other digital currencies, either. And no matter what, this underscores a very real problem for cryptocurrency no matter the format. Retailers need predictable costs and payments to run their businesses, and they may be loathe to support technology like bitcoin if it leads to unpaid debts and unhappy customers. Via: Polygon Source: Steam Blog

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Steam no longer accepts bitcoin for game purchases

A brief history of Bitcoin hacks and frauds

Enlarge (credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images ) There’s a lot of excitement about Bitcoin right now, with the value of the cryptocurrency recently soaring above $11,000—more than 10 times its value at the start of the year. This has caused many people to wonder if they should be getting involved in the Bitcoin craze. But it’s important to keep in mind that participating in the Bitcoin economy comes with big risks. Over the years, the Bitcoin world has been plagued by hacks, scams, and abusive practices. Users who don’t take appropriate precautions can lose everything. Here we present a short history of the Bitcoin world’s most significant scams and hacks. It’s worth noting that all of these attacks were against Bitcoin-related services, not the core Bitcoin software. As far as we know, the Bitcoin network itself is highly secure, though of course that’s little comfort if you entrust your bitcoins to a third party who gets hacked. Read 25 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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A brief history of Bitcoin hacks and frauds

Websites use your CPU to mine cryptocurrency even when you close your browser

Researchers have discovered a new technique that lets hackers and unscrupulous websites perform in-browser, drive-by cryptomining even after a user has closed the window for the offending site. Over the past month or two, drive-by cryptomining has emerged as a way to generate the cryptocurrency known as Monero. Hackers harness the electricity and CPU resources of millions of unsuspecting people as they visit hacked or deceitful websites. One researcher recently documented 2,500 sites actively running cryptomining code in visitors’ browsers , a figure that, over time, could generate significant revenue. Until now, however, the covert mining has come with a major disadvantage for the attacker or website operator: the mining stops as soon as the visitor leaves the page or closes the page window. Now, researchers from anti-malware provider Malwarebytes have identified a technique that allows the leaching to continue even after a user has closed the browser window. It works by opening a pop-under window that fits behind the Microsoft Windows taskbar and hides behind the clock. The window remains open indefinitely until a user takes special actions to close it. During that time, it continues to run code that generates Monero on behalf of the person controlling the Website. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Websites use your CPU to mine cryptocurrency even when you close your browser

Bitcoin feud splits the currency in two

This morning, bitcoin split into two currencies — the original and Bitcoin Cash. The hard forking, as it’s known, resulted from heated debate over the cryptocurrency’s future, since the aging tech behind blockchain has prevented easy scaling. While a new code upgrade called SegWit2x was introduced last week as a compromise, dissenters still decided to start backing Bitcoin Cash and fork off in their own direction. The community anxiously waited for financial fallout after the schism, but aside from a temporary 7 percent drop in bitcoin value this morning, the split seems to have avoided disaster. Whether Bitcoin Cash sticks around is another question. The spat is rooted in bitcoin’s success: A year ago, bitcoin’s value hovered around $500 and slowly climbed through the new year, but started shooting up in April to top out at $3, 000 in June. That led to a higher volume of transactions, which the blockchain technology — the cryptocurrency’s ledger that verifies and tracks transactions, recording the latest in unchangeable “blocks” — was struggling to keep up with. The bitcoin network can only support 1MB per minute or seven transactions per second, according to The Telegraph , which is paltry compared to the thousands per second run through financial webs supporting credit cards, for example. To keep bitcoin growing, this number would have to go up. But the cryptocurrency community was split on how to do it. Two competing strategies arose: Increase each block’s code limit, which would store more data per block but increase server loads processing transactions, or shift smaller transactions outside the blockchain. The SegWit2x tech includes a bit of both, pushing some data outside the main network and promising to double the block size to 2MB by November. It was enough of a compromise to avert a serious and widespread cleft in the community. That wasn’t enough for some, who started backing Bitcoin Cash, which chose the former route and increased its blocks to 8MB. Today’s hard fork, which essentially launched the cryptocurrency into being, boosted its value from $200 to $370. Some bitcoin exchanges, where users make transactions and store their coins, will recognize Bitcoin Cash, including Kraken and ViaBTC — but others like Coinbase and Poloniex said they wouldn’t as they’re uncertain it’ll stick around. If you’re still not sure what this means for your supply of cryptocurrency, there are plenty of resources online to help, including Coindesk’s guide for the transition. The future of the brand-new cryptocurrency depends on more users and investors supporting it, and it’s not clear whether it will survive into the future. For now, split from bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash must jockey with the other alternatives to the leading cryptocurrency like Ethereum and Litecoin. Source: The Telegraph

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Bitcoin feud splits the currency in two

Silk Road Reloaded Ditches Tor for a More Anonymous Network

Trying to shut down Silk Road, and any of its many-headed hydra reiterations, seems to be the ultimate lesson in futility. According to Motherboard , a new version of the online black market, called Silk Road Reloaded, launched today on the I2p anonymous network, dealing with several altcoin currencies. Read more…

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Silk Road Reloaded Ditches Tor for a More Anonymous Network

One of the Biggest Bitcoin Exchanges Just Went Dark After Getting Hacked

Just a few days after reports emerged that the infamous Mt. Gox meltdown was an inside job , one of the biggest , oldest, and most trusted bitcoin exchanges—Bitstamp—just went offline after a security breach. Bitcoin exchanges come and go all the time , but this is different. Bitstamp is supposed to be the reliable one . Read more…

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One of the Biggest Bitcoin Exchanges Just Went Dark After Getting Hacked

More Bad News From Mt.Gox: All Your Bitcoin Money Is Gone

The Mt.Gox saga just gets sadder and sadder. Not only did the company file for bankruptcy, but Mt.Gox CEO Mike Karpele went on Japanese TV a few minutes ago and admitted that everybody’s money is gone. Gone, gone, gone. Read more…

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More Bad News From Mt.Gox: All Your Bitcoin Money Is Gone

Some Fool Threw Away a Hard Drive with $7.5 Million of Bitcoin On It

Ever accidentally lose a dollar? Then you count what’s in your war chest, realize it’s a dollar short, and kick yourself for being careless? Well, a British IT worker knows what that feels like—except times 7.5 million . Read more…