Category Archives: Bitcoin
Unplug the Bitcoin miner and do us all a favour: Antminer has remote shutdown flaw – The Register
A new branded bug (sigh) has landed, specific to an ASIC-based Bitcoin miner: dubbed Antbleed, it allows remote shutdown of hardware sold by a company called "Bitmain".
Bitmain's Antminer cryptocurrency-mining hardware performs a start-up with a remote server, handing over MAC address, serial number and IP address but as this site details, there's also a curious piece of code in the current firmware:
The upshot is described by the Antbleed site is that at each check-in (a random time between 1 minute and 11 minutes), the firmware expects a response true from Bitmain.
If the response is false, the device will stop mining Bitcoin and that could be applied to any device, which the Antbleed site claims could be up to 70 percent of the global hashrate.
Not to mention that the information Bitmain collects is personally-identifiable, and as Bitcoin Magazine says, mining is a small industry, so it shouldn't even be hard to connect the machine to specific pools, or blocks.
Since the device runs an unauthenticated API, MITM, DNS or domain hijack attacks make it possible that third parties could exploit the same problem.
The Antbleed site suggests users force the API to treat localhost as the unit's connection to the Bitmain server (auth.minerlink.com) to block the issue at least until the firmware is patched.
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Unplug the Bitcoin miner and do us all a favour: Antminer has remote shutdown flaw - The Register
Unocoin partners with PayU Biz for simple buying of bitcoins – Economic Times
MUMBAI: Bitcoin and blockchain company Unocoin has partnered with PayU Biz, a payment gateway, to facilitate Unocoin users to buy Bitcoins using the net banking feature. The company expects that this will allow a frictionless buying experience for bitcoin users who can buy bitcoins through netbanking feature by using the PayU payment gateway.
"With an increasing interest in Bitcoin, this integration will enable Unocoin customer to buy Bitcoin even on a weekend while the manual payment processing is not functional," said Sathvik Vishwananth, co-founder, Unocoin.
To buy Bitcoin using Net Banking, Unocoin users will have to head onto "Buy Bitcoin" tab and choose Netbanking as the mode of payment along with the required details and confirm the order. On successfully completing the transaction, the user will be credited with their Bitcoin immediately into their Unocoin Wallet. The entire transaction is facilitated by the PayUBiz payment gateway, which is PCI-DSS compliant, ensuring complete security of the transactions.
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Unocoin partners with PayU Biz for simple buying of bitcoins - Economic Times
Risk-Wary Banks Chill Bitcoin Market – Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Risk-Wary Banks Chill Bitcoin Market Wall Street Journal (subscription) At least three bitcoin exchanges have said in recent weeks that they can't process transactions in dollars, as global banks pull back from sectors they deem too risky. Hong Kong-based Bitfinex, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by market share, said ... |
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Risk-Wary Banks Chill Bitcoin Market - Wall Street Journal (subscription)
How To Spot A Bitcoin Scam – Forbes
Forbes | How To Spot A Bitcoin Scam Forbes Whenever something gets hot, the only guarantee is that scamsters will lock onto it like a heat-seeking missile. The virtual currency bitcoin is no exception. For those living off the grid, bitcoin is a digital currency. Its value, not backed by any ... |
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How To Spot A Bitcoin Scam - Forbes
Bitcoin carries digital-currency market capitalization past $30 billion – MarketWatch
The combined market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies late Monday surpassed $30 billion for the first time, according to digital currency tracking website Coin Market Cap.
That means the size of the nascent digital currency market is now worth more than twice the value of Twitter Inc TWTR, -0.34% and is equal to nearly half the market capitalization of Netflix Inc. NFLX, +5.79%
Bitcoin and most of its largest rivals have appreciated sharply since the beginning of the year as investors turn to cryptocurrencies as a hedge against traditional assets like stocks, said Charles Hayter, founder and chief executive of CryptoCompare, a provider of data and analytic on the cryptocurrency market.
Meanwhile, a surge of adoption in countries like India and Venezuela has helped offset falling trading volumes in China, formerly the worlds largest bitcoin market.
The price of a single bitcoin BTCUSD, +1.09% climbed 3.1% on Tuesday to trade at $1,262 on Tuesday as the Securities and Exchange Commission said it would review its rejection of a proposed rule change that wouldve allowed the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust to begin trading on the BATS BZX exchange. Bitcoin has risen more than 30% since the start of the year. The price more than doubled in 2016.
Read: This digital currency is about to succeed where bitcoin has failed
Read: Bitcoin traders are losing confidence in the rally
Read: Heres why bitcoin just hit an all-time high
The agency rejected two proposed bitcoin exchange-traded funds in March, citing concerns about the lack of regulation, and the ability of authorities to root out market manipulation.
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Bitcoin carries digital-currency market capitalization past $30 billion - MarketWatch
US Regulators to Review Decision Denying Bitcoin ETF Filing – Fortune
Photograph by Getty Images
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to review its decision last month to block the listing of the first U.S. exchange-traded fund tracking the digital currency bitcoin, a regulatory filing showed on Tuesday.
A more-than-three-year effort by investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss to convince the SEC to allow it to bring the Bitcoin ETF to market stalled when the agency's staff ruled against them in March.
Bitcoin is a virtual currency that can be used to move money around the world quickly and with relative anonymity, without the need for a central authority, such as a bank or government. A fund holding the currency could bring more professional investors to the asset and push its price higher.
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Yet bitcoin presents a new set of risks to investors given its limited adoption, a number of massive cybersecurity breaches affecting bitcoin owners and the lack of consistent treatment of the assets by governments.
Bitcoin traded up 1.7% at $1274.99 earlier on Tuesday. The digital currency has rebounded after initially plunging following the SEC's initial decision calling the digital currency market "unregulated."
CBOE Holdings's ( cboe ) Bats exchange had applied to list the ETF and appealed to the commission to review its staff's decision. The exchange did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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US Regulators to Review Decision Denying Bitcoin ETF Filing - Fortune
North Korea May Be Responsible for Recent Spate of Bitcoin Attacks … – Investopedia
North Korea May Be Responsible for Recent Spate of Bitcoin Attacks ... Investopedia Evidence is mounting to suggest that North Korea is behind a rash of Bitcoin account hacks. |
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North Korea May Be Responsible for Recent Spate of Bitcoin Attacks ... - Investopedia
Bitcoin traders are losing confidence in the rally – MarketWatch
As Bitcoins price is creeping back toward its all-time high, speculators are growing increasingly wary of the notion that its astonishing gains can be sustained.
The size of the total outstanding long positions on Bitfinex, one of a handful of large cryptocurrency exchanges that allows customers to buy and sell on margin, has shrunk to its lowest level since Sept. 15.
Meanwhile, the price of a single coin BTCUSD, +0.69% was hovering around $1,245 on Monday, leaving it within $40 of an all-time high reached in early March, when hopes that the Securities and Exchange Commission might soon approve the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund were still running high.
Since then, the agency has rejected two bitcoin ETF proposals. It is expected to issue a ruling on a third contender, the Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, early in the third quarter.
Bitcoin has been largely stable even as support for a controversial software update called bitcoin unlimited has receded dramatically as developers have identified another bug in its code. The update would, if passes a threshold of 95% of the networks hashing power, increased the amount of transaction data that can be stored in each block of the bitcoin blockchain.
Bitfinexs customers are now long nearly 12,967 coins, while 18,775 coins are being held short. Positioning data like these are widely viewed as a counter indicator; that is, when bets against the currency rise, it raises the likelihood that any gains could be amplified as vulnerable investors scramble to buy back coins held short.
Read: Bitcoin bears ramp up bets virtual currency will fall
Read: Bitcoin touches record high as investors await SEC decision
Read: Heres whats next for bitcoin after the SEC killed the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust
Shorts surpassed longs earlier this month for the first time since February. The last time this happened, it preceded a nearly $300 rally in the price.
The blockchain is the cryptographically secured digital ledger that records all bitcoin transactions. A copy of the blockchain is stored by each computer node running the bitcoin software, and each transaction must first be independently approved by every node in the network before it can be confirmed.
After spending two years in the doldrums, bitcoin came roaring back in 2016 as the price more than doubled. The currency is up more than 30% so far this year.
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Bitcoin traders are losing confidence in the rally - MarketWatch
Bitcoin Addrindex vs Bitcoin Knots – The Merkle
Most cryptocurrency enthusiasts are well aware of how there are multiple forks of Bitcoin Cores branch of development. In fact, we recently highlighted three of such concepts, all of which offer their own advantages. As it turns out, there are quite a few more Bitcoin Core forks, and we will highlight Bitcoin Knots and Bitcoin Addrindex in this article.
Prominent figures in the world of bitcoin development often create a fork of Bitcoin Core to tinker around with in their spare time. BTCDrak is one of the many Bitcoin developers in the world today, and he launched his own Bitcoin Core fork back in 2014. Under the name Bitcoin Addrindex, this copy of Bitcoin Core lets users look up bitcoin addresses to discover previous transactions, similar to how block explorers work.
Although this fork of Bitcoin Core may not have a big appeal to the average bitcoin user, it is an invaluable tool for building applications on top of the bitcoin blockchain. Rather than using an API or other third-party data providers to retrieve blockchain information, developers can implement Bitcoin Addrindex to obtain the information through the client directly. In fact, services such as Counterparty and the Blockscan block explorer have seen the value in Bitcoin Addrindex so far.
It is good to see Bitcoin Core forks that are not necessarily oriented towards consumers. Bitcoin Addrindex has no convenient user interface, yet provides a great deal of functionality that may end up replacing the need for third-party block explorers and APIs altogether. Everyone can run their own instance of Bitcoin Addrindex at any given time. Quite a valuable tool for coders who are venturing into the bitcoin world.
Another popular bitcoin Core fork goes by the name of Bitcoin Knots, which is a creation by Luke Dashjr. Bitcoin Knots has been around since 2011, yet still receives timely updates to keep up with Bitcoin Core development and features. The name Knots was not chosen randomly either, as it has a biblical reference. Moreover, it also refers to how code is merged, which is especially true in the world of bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin knots differentiates itself from Bitcoin Core in quite a few different ways. First of all, the solution provides more mempool policies. Second, node operators and miners can make use of advanced mining configuration tools. To be more specific, it is possible to enable first-seen opt-in replace-by-fee or just sticking with full replace-by-fee mempool policies. Unconfirmed transactions can also be accepted or rejected, plus miners can lower the block size of blocks mined by them.
Anti-spam measures are found within Bitcoin Knots as well, including determining how many low-fee transfers are included. It is evident Bitcoin knots can serve as a Bitcoin Core testbed, In fact, there are quite a few additional features listed on the website, even though not all of these additions have been tested by the public per se. It is an intriguing branch of bitcoin development to keep an eye on, that much is certain.
If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.
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Bitcoin Addrindex vs Bitcoin Knots - The Merkle
Local government using bitcoin to promote tourism in Japan – Brave New Coin
With the help of Bitcoin exchange and payment processor Coincheck, the festival and City of Hirosaki are officially accepting bitcoin donations as part of their Cherry Blossom Festival this week. "This will be the first attempt for both a Bitcoin company and a local government in Japan," Coincheck states.
Hirosaki is located in the southwestern area of Aomori Prefecture, a region with abundant nature found in Mt. Iwaki and the World Natural Heritage Shirakami Mountains. The citys main attraction is Hirosaki Castle, one of 12 surviving castles from the Edo period.
The area around Hirosaki Castle is well known as one of the best cherry blossom flower sites in Japan. Visitors to the site in late April can marvel at over 2,600 cherry blossom trees in full bloom.
2017 marks the 100th year of Hirosakis famous Festival. The local government that oversees the park and festival is expecting a record turnout for the anniversary event, which has been extended to mark the occasion.
The city council has said that it will be using donations to preserve the local cherry blossoms, and repair sweeping, iconic stone walls leading from a moat to the castle. A city official told Coincheck that they expect bitcoin donations to be a unique tourism promotion.
- HirosakiCherry Blossom Festival
Yen trading currently dominates bitcoin, contributing ~35% to the global market. Japan began recognizing Bitcoin as a method of payment at the start of this month, and several merchants in the country have been trying out the digital currency. Coincheck currently claims a 99 percent market share in payment services.
The countrys largest electronics chain, Bic Camera, became the first major retailer in the country to begin accepting bitcoin on April 5. Two of the largest branches of Bic Camera accept bitcoin, using Bitflyer's merchant processing system, and are currently offering discounts for customers using the cryptocurrency.
On the same day, Coincheck announced one of the worlds largest Bitcoin merchant payment processing deals. "Bitcoin will be accepted at 260,000 shops by this summer in Japan," the company states. Coincheck is providing the bitcoin payment gateway for Recruit Lifestyle, the retail arm of the human resource conglomerate Recruit Holdings.
The group's mobile payment service app called Mobile Payment for AirREGI is a tablet-based Point of Sale system primarily used in restaurants. The service enables customers to pay by scanning a QR code, and Coincheck converts the bitcoin payment to yen for the merchant.
- Coincheck
Governments accepting bitcoin for any type of service or activity are very rare. The Swiss Canton of Zug, better known in the community as Cryptovalley Zug, accepts bitcoin payments for fees and taxes. Although the Swiss municipality is only accepting Bitcoin on a trial basis, and only for fees and taxes up to 200 francs at a time.
The trial was recently been extended, and the payment option may have been added permanently. At a meeting on 13 December 2016, the City Council decided to continue accepting Bitcoins as a means of payment. The Zug city council states that while there were only a dozen customers who wanted to pay with Bitcoins, it was nevertheless worth it.
"It was an important experience for us to install and test the technology for bitcoin payments, Zug Mayor Dolfi Mller explained. We were able to put a sign against the Fin-Tech company in Zug and express that they are welcome here.
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Local government using bitcoin to promote tourism in Japan - Brave New Coin