Ripple has launched a new portal designed to give cryptocurrency investors a way to report malicious activity connected to the XRP Ledger.

People can now fill out a request form asking Ripple to explore a long list of unusual activity, including theft, phishing attempts, giveaway scams, suspicious exchanges, money laundering, unauthorized transactions and other financial crimes.

Although it will investigate matters connected to the XRP Ledger, Ripple says it will not make victims whole and cannot reverse transactions.

Ledger and the users of the XRP Ledger are not customers of Ripple therefore Ripple does not have the power to reverse transactions, even in the case of a reported financial loss (ex: theft).

By submitting a request to Ripple, the company says consumers are effectively giving the company permission to report the matter to US lawmakers on the federal, state, or local level.

Ripple may also report the issue to international law enforcement or regulatory agencies.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Dmitriy Rybin

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Ripple Battles XRP Scams, Launches Initiative to Combat Cryptocurrency Theft, Fake Giveaways and Financial Crimes - The Daily Hodl

We have listed the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap and price as an aggregate from top cryptocurrency exchanges. We also have the cryptocurrency price change from the past 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days. Bitcoin is currently the top cryptocurrency so we compare each of the cryptocurrencies on the list to Bitcoin. We also have the cryptocurrency trade volume that have been traded at exchanges (Coinbase, Binance, etc.) over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin (BTC)Bitcoin was the very first cryptocurrency. Invented by an anonymous person(s) in 2009, it kick-started a revolution of new digital money and decentralized information networks. Bitcoin is likened to digital gold because it has a limited supply and can act as a store of value. It is censorship-resistant, pseudonymous, and an effective means of cross-border payments.

Ripple (XRP)Ripple is a real-time gross settlement network and payment network meant for regulated financial institutions to use. It is meant to streamline the onerous process for banks and eliminate third-parties like clearinghouses. Ripples native currency is called XRP.

Ethereum (ETH)Ethereum is meant to be a decentralized world computer. It works as a general programming platform upon which other blockchain apps can be built. It uses its native currency ether as a way to exchange value and pay for computing power.

EOS (EOS)EOS is also meant to function as a decentralized computing platform. It allows for other decentralized applications of all type to use it to power themselves. It is a competitor to Ethereum and other similar blockchains, much like how Windows OS and Mac OS compete.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH)Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash differs in certain technical elements that allow for more transactions per second on chain. Proponents think it is more important to function as payments system rather than as a store of value.

Litecoin (LTC)Litecoin is one of the earliest cryptocurrencies, as well. It is a non-malicious fork of Bitcoin that gave it high transactions per second and a different mining algorithm. Litecoin is sometimes likened to silver in comparison to Bitcoin as gold. In history, silver was used more frequently for smaller transactions and gold was used less for larger sums.

Binance Coin (BNB)Binance Coin is a utility coin that is integrated in the Binance crypto exchange platform. Investors and traders on Binance can use BNB for discounts on trading fees. It is a major trading pair and is featured on its new decentralized exchange.

Tether (USDT)Tether is a stablecoin. This means that it is pegged to the US dollar and rarely fluctuates beyond a 1:1 ratio. Tether is often used by traders to escape the massive volatility in crypto prices. One USDT is redeemable for 1 USD on select exchanges.

Stellar (XLM)Stellar is an open-source payment network that relies on distributed ledger technology. Stellar is tackling the problem of making cross-border payments faster, cheaper and easier. It connects financial institutions and small businesses in different countries through its software, utilizing its native token Lumen, or XLM, as an intermediary to exchange between different currencies.

Cardano (ADA)Cardano is a protocol-layer blockchain platform that will support decentralized applications and the use of smart contracts. Cardano is aiming to add unique features, such as side chains and atomic swaps, for interoperability with other blockchains. It is also looking to add optional features like KYC/AML for financial institutions to help with regulations.

Tron (TRX)Tron is a blockchain-based platform that is looking to become a place for peer-to-peer sharing of digital entertainment content. It will allow developers to build applications on top of its protocol to introduce a more decentralized way to consume and share media.

Huobi Token (HT)Huobi Token is the native cryptocurrency within the Huobi exchange trading platform. It is modeled after the Binance Coin with a few extra perks. Investors and traders on Huobi get discounts on fees, airdrops of various coins, and can vote on certain decision within the exchange, such as new coin listings.

Monero (XLR)Monero is a privacy-centric cryptocurrency aiming to allow all transactions to be completely anonymous and untraceable. Monero uses highly technical cryptography, such as ring signatures and stealth address, to make it virtually impossible for third-parties to track. By obscuring all addresses and transactions, proponents say it makes for a more useful and fungible currency.

Dash (DASH)Dash is an open-source privacy-centric cryptocurrency that was started in early 2014. Dash is short for digital cash. Its two priorities are privacy and scalability. It uses a coin-mixing process to make transactions harder to trace and uses proof-of-stake to allow for a higher transaction throughput.

Bitcoin SV (BSV)Bitcoin SV stands for Bitcoin Satoshis Vision. It was created after a fork of Bitcoin Cash (which was originally a fork of Bitcoin). Similarly, the Bitcoin SV team wanted to make technical upgrades that allowed the network the capacity to handle an even larger volume of transactions.

IOTA (IOT)The IOTA project is focused on creating a decentralized network for connecting the Internet of Things, like smart devices and vehicles. It is aiming to make nanopayments between machines efficient and automated. It uses a different form of distributed ledger technology called Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG).

Ontology (ONT)Ontology is an open-source blockchain project that focuses on tackling issues of identity, data storage and data exchange for enterprise use cases. Ontology aims to solve problems that arise around proprietary data for large companies. It was launched in late 2017 by a Chinese company called OnChain.

NEO (NEO)NEO is meant to be a base-layer protocol that acts a platform for other decentralized applications to be built on. NEO is based in China and is sometimes referred to as the Chinese Ethereum. It aims to have better scalability and implement an identity system for all users.

Basic Attention Token (BAT)Basic Attention Token is a utility coin used in an internet browser called Brave that exchanges value between advertisers, web-sites and users in a peer-to-peer fashion. Users can earn money paid directly from advertisers for not blocking ads and websites can earn money directly from users activity on their pages.

Ethereum Classic (ETC)Ethereum Classic is the original version of the Ethereum blockchain. It only appeared following the events of the 2016 DAO Hack. Ethereum Classic was the version that decided not to fork following a dramatic debate within the community. Additionally, unlike its similarly named counterpart, Ethereum Classic has instituted a supply hard cap and remains using a proof-of-work system.

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Cryptocurrency Price List - Top 20 Cryptocurrency Prices Today

XRP saw some intense bullishness over the past week, with the cryptocurrency clocking some major gains in the early part of the week while Bitcoin and the aggregated crypto market faced some bearish turbulence.

This bearishness in the aggregated market proved to be fleeting, however, and the quick turnaround allowed XRP to climb even further until it reached critical resistance between $0.28 and $0.29.

Analysts are now noting that the crypto could be just a matter of weeks away from its next major upwards push, which could be fueled by serious fomo from retail investors.

At the time of writing, XRP is trading down just over 1% at its current price of $0.277, which marks a slight decline from its daily highs of $0.285 that were set yesterday.

It is important to note that overnight the cryptocurrency did face some downwards pressure, which came about in tandem with the drops seen by Bitcoin and most other major altcoins.

This sharp yet fleeting selloff led the token to drop to as low as $0.268, but buyers quickly absorbed the intense selling pressure and led the crypto back into the $0.27 region.

It is important to note that XRP is currently nearing the spring phase of a bullish Wyckoff accumulation pattern, which means that the next several months could lead the crypto to see some intense upwards momentum.

TraderXO, a popular cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, spoke about this pattern in a recent tweet, explaining that he is waiting for XRP to push away from its yearly open before increasing his position size.

XRP Patiently waiting for XRP to retest the yearly open and push away before adding further size. So far going to plan! he explained.

One near-term possibility is that the cryptocurrency will rally up towards $0.33 before finding itself caught within an intense fomo-fueled rally that leads the token significantly higher.

The Cryptomist, a prominent crypto analyst on Twitter, spoke about this in a recent tweet, telling her followers that she believes that XRP will see some intense momentum in the coming few weeks and months.

XRP: Target of 33 cents remains the latest resistance region. Personally, I do feel in the next few weeks/months we see some serious fomo into this coin, she noted.

How the crypto trends in the coming few days could offer insight into just how likely this type of massive rally is.

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XRP Could Be Weeks Away from a Major Breakout Despite Overnight Rejection - newsBTC

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Ugandan Legislators Address the Role of Cryptocurrency in Pyramid Schemes

ugandan-legislators-address-the-role-of-cryptocurrency-in-pyramid-schemes

Ugandan politicians are targeting the role of cryptocurrencies in pyramid schemes that have plagued the country in recent months.

According to a report by local newspaper PML Daily on Feb. 4, legislators are advancing a proposal to criminalize Ponzi schemes which will include coverage for the role of cryptocurrencies.

State Minister of Finance David Bahati told members of parliament the government has established a task force to explore the impact of cryptocurrencies on Uganda, in addition to global trends.

Bahati also addressed the prevalence of Ponzi schemes in the country and pushed a government initiative that would educate citizens on recognizing financial scams.

He said,

We are also discussing with the Internal Affairs Ministry to ban such schemes. The challenge is that operators of such schemes register as financial institutions but when they get on the ground, their operations are different.

Bahati also recommended against investing in cryptocurrencies due to their lack of regulation.

He continued,

We have continued to advise the public to desist from investing in cryptocurrencies since they are yet to be supervised and regulated in Uganda. We have, therefore, strongly encouraged the members of the public to do their business transactions with only licensed financial institutions.

Featured Image Credit: Photo via Pixabay.com

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Ugandan Legislators Address the Role of Cryptocurrency in Pyramid Schemes - CryptoGlobe

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say theyve developed a new routing scheme that can boost the speed of cryptocurrency transactions by four times.

The Spider routing solution packetizes transfers and increases the throughput of cryptocurrencies by using a multi-path transport protocol in payment channel networks (PCNs). Through packetization, Spider can complete large transfers on low-capacity payment channels. In addition, the researchers claim that the multi-path congestion control protocol ensures balanced utilization of channels and fairness across flows.

The new technology is similar to the packet switching techniques commonly used in internet communications. The solution also uses queue management to alleviate network congestion issues.

In addition, Spider needs less than a quarter of the funds that other solutions, such as the Lightning Network and Raiden Network, require to initiate the transfer.

MIT researchers conclude,

Through extensive simulations, we show that Spider requires less than 25% of the funds needed by state-of-the-art approaches to successfully route over 95% of the transactions on balanced traffic demands, and requires only one on-chain transaction for every 10K transactions routed to achieve full throughput on imbalanced demands.

While cryptocurrency adoption has grown over the years, the delivery of fast payments at scale remains a huge obstacle. Bitcoin can handle 4.6 transactions per second (TPS) while Ethereum can process up to 15 transactions per second. These numbers pale in comparison to Visas 1,700 TPS.

Developers are working to circumvent the issue of scalability by introducing layer-two payment channel networks (PCNs) such as the Lightning Network and Raiden Network. These solutions increase the networks ability to process payments by settling transactions off-chain. However, PCNs come with their own set of challenges.

For instance, they require users to deposit funds in escrow accounts. In the current scheme, the funds of some escrow accounts are exhausted more quickly than others.

According to Rob Matheson of MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab,

Traditional schemes send transactions along the shortest path possible, without being aware of any given users balance or the rate of sending on that account.

This can cause one of the users in the joint account to handle too many transactions and drop to a zero balance, making it unable to route further transactions.

In addition, current PCNs can only send payments in full. If a whale wants to transfer 100 BTC, the PCN will try to find the shortest route to process the payment. If the path cannot support all 100 BTC, it will try to find the next route and so on. The result? The transfer freezes or fails.

The Spider deals with these issues by dividing the transaction into bite-size packets that are dispatched across multiple channels at various rates.

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Will MIT Transform Bitcoin (BTC)? New Tech Promises to Dramatically Boost Speed of Cryptocurrency - The Daily Hodl