Wall Street Journal (subscription) | Test How Much You Know About Bitcoin - WSJ Wall Street Journal (subscription) Here's a Wall Street Journal quiz to test your knowledge of the cryptocurrency. |
Go here to see the original:
Test How Much You Know About Bitcoin - WSJ - Wall Street Journal (subscription)
Bitcoin is everywhere! Bitcoin continues to take the world by storm. The mainstream media simply does not understand.
Now, Bitcoin is threatening to take over the online gambling business. It is not a surprise, more industries are accepting Bitcoins every week or so. Here is what you need to know about Bitcoin in the gambling business.
When you want to play Blackjack, Poker or Bingo, you put your money down on the table. With online gambling, you deposit your digital funds with the casino. Bitcoin gambling does the very same thing.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency. What is that? It is a long word, but all it means is that Bitcoin is a digital currency. Bitcoin is money.
Money is basically anything, which is exchanged for goods and services and fulfills the primary characteristics of money. Some of these features are Store of Value, Medium of Exchange and Fungibility. Bitcoin is money because it has each of these attributes.
Thus, when you want to gamble and need some money, you can use Bitcoin. If you made some Bitcoins, when you painted a fence, then use them to gamble. Everyone needs to vent, from time to time.
Bitcoin is also an amazing store of value. Did you hear that the value of Bitcoin just surpassed gold? Bitcoin is rising in value. How many other forms of money can say the same thing?
You can choose any number of ways to pay for your gambling opportunity credit cards, online payment systems or Bitcoin. Bitcoin has some key advantages because it is an electronic currency. In many ways, Bitcoin mirrors the versatility, speed and beauty of the World Wide Web.
Bitcoin is open. It is created by a community of Web developers who mine the Bitcoins. It has a very relaxed control structure. No nation has a monopoly over Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is rather new. It is a baby of the Internet. As such, it has only been around since 2008. Right now, it is still primarily being promoted by the first adopters. In fact, Bitcoins are still being mined.
Bitcoin is unencumbered. Do you know how many credit card laws, there are? The reason why credit cards take so long to process is because there are so many regulations and companies involved. You dont have that with Bitcoin.
Do you want to gamble quickly? Of course you do. Can you gamble quickly with Bitcoin? Yes.
You can generally deposit and withdraw your funds, faster with Bitcoin. You dont need to wait for the banks to check up on all your financial records. This is a cryptocurrency, meaning that its Blockchain is encrypted to keep you secure.
You can get Bitcoins from your friends, miners or any of the following firms: Kraken.com, BTC-E.com or Localbitcoins.com. Once you own Bitcoins, a whole new world, opens up for you.
Finally, you want to make sure that you find an authentic Bitcoin Casino. You know that there are a vast range of types of websites online. The legitimate Bitcoin Gambling website offers Provably Fair Gambling. What is that?
Provably Fair Gambling is a way to verify the websites authenticity using cryptographic hash functions. This is how the Bitcoin Gambling community is establishing its credibility. So, if you love online gambling, now you can have more fun, by using the efficient electronic currency: Bitcoin.
Originally posted here:
Bitcoin in Gambling Business, What You Need to Know - newsBTC
Remember that Internet of Things botnet? The one known for temporarily shutting down a numberof the world's largest websites last autumn?
Well, anewer version has beendetected, but as well asbeing able to issue DDoS attacks and the like, it's equippedtominebitcoin.
In the digital age, it's possible for hackers to infect and take control of insecure Internet of Things (IoT) devices, say, toasters, cameras or other web-connected devices. They can then bundle them together into a botnet, using their combined capacity to shoot spam at websites or internet structures, slowing them down or sending them offline.
That's what happened in a series of attacks in the fall, using the malware dubbed Mirai.
The softwarewas open-sourced soon after much to the dismay of security engineers and, since then, different strains iterating on the first version of the botnet have cropped up with addedabilities.
One strain, known as ELF Linux/Mirai, has now beendetected mining bitcoin for a few days, according to research from IBM X-Force, the Big Blue's cybersecurity research wing. It seemssome unknown hacker (or hackers) is experimenting with using the power accumulated from IoTdevices to mine the digital currency and possibly make some cash.
This could be an omen for future IoT botnet use cases, argued Dave McMillen, IBM Managed Security Services senior threat researcher and author of the report.
McMillen told CoinDesk:
"This ELF/Mirai variant could be appealing to others in the future due to the potentially large volume of devices that could be involved."
The researchernoted, however, that, the botnet didn't appear to successfully mine any bitcoin. The security teamsee it more like a peek at a down-the-road possibility.
So, what happened, and how did IBM spot themining component of the botnet?
McMillen explained, saying:
"We detected a spike in command injection activity in our IBM X-Force monitored client environment data that prompted deeper investigation."
The security teamsaw traffic related to an ELF 64-bit binary file., which the reportdescribes as beginning as a "blip", which grew in volume by 50%, buthad fizzled out by day eight.
The team "dissected" the binary to discoverthat the Linux version of the malware is similar to the more typical Windows version.
"It was detected as a slave miner by multiple tools, however we are still investigating other properties of the variant," McMillen added.
Whilethere are now many variants of the botnet, ELF Linux/Miraihas extra abilities in that it can execute 'SQL injection'(a notorious way to take control of databases) and execute so called 'brute force' attacks.
But, the Linux version has an extra add-on the bitcoin miner component (which you can see online here).
IBM speculates in the report that the botnet creators may belooking for away to make bitcoin mining with compromised IoT devices a lucrative venture.
"Realizing the power of Mirai to infect thousands of machines at a time, there is a possibility that the bitcoin miners could work together in tandem as one large miner consortium. We haven't yet determined that capability, but found it to be an interesting yet concerning possibility," ablog post explains, adding:
"One scenario could be that while the Mirai bots are idle and awaiting further instructions, they could be leveraged to go into mining mode."
Although this idea is admittedly speculative, the report points to the factthat bitcoin has beenused for other cybercrimes such withransomware, which encrypts all of a user's computer data with a demand for payment because it's decentralized and isperceived as a more privacy-enhancingcurrency.
The tech can havemore beneficial uses cases, though. For example,one company recently revealed aimsto build a bitcoin botnet to helpsecure IoT devices, combining the cryptocurrency with technology also has the potential for less beneficial onlineactivities.
So, how canusers protect their internet-connected toasters from being enlisted as a bitcoin mining slave?
The Mirai malware exploits a surprisingly simple attack vector.
The problem is that many IoTdevices come with pre-installed passwords. And, since many users never change them, all an attacker needs to do is find the default password to 'hack' into the devices.
McMillens advice is for users tochange those passwords. Though, he said that he hopes that IoTcompanies are beginning to tackle the problem, too.
He concluded:
"Manufacturers could be looking for ways to manage these credentials more securely, perhaps by prompting a forced change or randomizing the default logins."
Army computer via Shutterstock
Bitcoin MiningBotnetsHackingIBMInternet of ThingsSecurity
Read more from the original source:
Mirai, The Infamous Internet of Things Army, Can Now Mine Bitcoin - CoinDesk
In 2014, a BitPay executive went on CNBC to talk about replacing Visa and MasterCard with bitcoin, a virtual currency.
But Visa was the piece of the payments puzzle that was irreplaceable.
Last spring, BitPay rolled out a Visa-branded card that lets consumers add bitcoin online and then spend it at stores or withdraw dollars from ATMs, just like a regular debit card.
Why are digital currency revolutionaries changing their tune and partnering with established payments players? It turns out that BitPay needed Visas help because most merchants still prefer Visa over a digital currency.
While were constantly working to make bitcoin every merchants favorite form of payment, sometimes our favorite stores and restaurants arent ready to accept it, Corey Glaze, a senior sales engineer for BitPay, wrote in a blog post.
Its far from alone: BitPlastic and Wirex offer MasterCard-branded bitcoin debit cards, while Shift, Xapo and CryptoPay also rely on Visa to give the digital currency real-world spending power.
Its a tacit admission that, despite bitcoins hype, Visa and its counterparts still rule the business of moving money. About 40 million outlets around the world accept Visa cards, according to RBR, a research and consulting firm. By contrast, research site Coindesk estimates that about 100,000 merchants accept bitcoin. Its not clear how many people deposit or withdraw cash at bitcoin ATMs, but on a recent Sunday, a Coinsource ATM at Mission Grocery observed by The Chronicle went unused for hours.
Bitcoin, though, is still having an enormous impact on Visa. Youd just have to dive into the guts of the business to see it. Executives at the San Francisco company see the currency not as a threat but as a wellspring of technical innovation.
Were constantly learning, constantly evaluating anything that impacts electronic payments, said Rajat Taneja, Visas executive vice president of technology.
Bart Stephens, managing partner of Blockchain Capital, stands next to a bitcoin ATM.
Bart Stephens, managing partner of Blockchain Capital, stands next...
Visa is now heavily investing in blockchain, the clever system that underpins bitcoin and similar digital currencies. Blockchain was supposed to cut out middlemen like Visa and MasterCard. But in fact, it may empower them to do business cheaper and faster.
In October, the company began testing a service called Visa B2B Connect that borrows principles from blockchain to allow businesses to more quickly process payments across borders. While consumers may look to choose between paper and plastic at the cashier, businesses are stuck with costly options like wire transfers, particularly for international transactions.
Bitcoin isnt a good option, because businesses still need to pay employees and suppliers in old-fashioned national currencies. But transferring money digitally, with something like the speed and security of bitcoins blockchain, has considerable appeal.
Companies dont want to use bitcoin as unit of value but rather as a way to understand the underlying ledger technology behind it, said Tom Brown, a partner with the banking and global payment systems practice of Paul Hastings law firm in San Francisco.
Blockchain technology relies on something called a distributed ledger, which parcels out the work of tracking and verifying transactions to a network of synchronized computers. Anyone on the network can see that an exchange occurred; that view allows for trust and prevents hackers from stealthily altering transactions.
Its a shift in mind-set from the old days when Visa was a consortium of banks that moved money on a private exchange.
When we look at blockchain, we can see a lot of interesting possibilities, Taneja said.
In some ways, its a throwback to the earliest days of Visa, which founder Dee Hock saw as a chaordic organization a synthesis of chaos and order, with peer-to-peer aspects that might one day create a universal currency. While Hock left in 1984 and Visa changed in the ensuing decades from a cooperative of competing banks to a regular, for-profit corporation, its still got glints of his vision.
The fact that Visa might one day discard the money-moving networks it helped build in favor of an upstart technology born from the Internet could only please Hock.
Only fools worship their tools, he once wrote.
Thomas Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: tlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByTomLee
Read the original:
Visa dodged bitcoin, embraces blockchain - San Francisco Chronicle
OKCoin, one of Chinas so-called Big Three bitcoin exchanges, has published new guidelines to adhere to AML requirements by regulators and authorities.
The announcement, published on its China-based and international websites, comes amid the ongoing withdrawal freeze of bitcoin and Litecoin enforced by Chinese exchanges due to regulatory pressure from the Peoples Bank of China, the countrys central bank.
The guidelines read nearly identical for Chinese and international users.
Roughly translated, the Chinese announcement begins:
Considering from the perspectives of national Anti-Money Laundering regulations and risk control, we have established a few suggestions and guidelines for you. These are purely for the purpose of boosting your trading experience and account security. They will not affect your funds and trades.
More specifically, the bitcoin exchange informs users that they could be subject to enhanced due diligence once they reach a certain level of account balance. For international users, this stands at $10,000 over a lifetime USD deposit while no specifications are revealed for Chinese users.
OKCoin underlines video verification as an example of enhanced due diligence methods.
Level 2 verification will require a copy of your passport, a copy of your ID /driving license, and additionally, a copy of your proof of residential address (e.g. bank statement, utility bill) issued within 3 months when needed, reads an excerpt from the new KYC procedures, asking customers to be prepared with the above-mentioned paperwork in front of a camera.
Video verification will require a device that has video recording function and access to the internet (e.g. cellphone, laptop, tablet). You will be required to show your legal documents in front of the camera, the notice added.
The other notable guideline informs users that single-signature wallet addresses created before today, starting with 1 and L for Bitcoin and Litecoin respectively, will stop functioning on April 23, 2017. Multi-signature addresses will not be affected.
Nearly 2 months ago to the day, OKCoin paused bitcoin and litecoin withdrawals to comply with relevant national AML, payment and settlement of foreign exchange management and other financial laws and regulations. The withdrawal freeze, initially estimated to last a month, sent bitcoin prices crashing. The announcement followed January reports from China that pointed to a PBOC-led investigation into bitcoin exchanges finding irregularities.
While withdrawals were expected to resume in March, Chinese exchanges confirmed their postponement, only to be resumed after regulatory approval. After todays announcement, Chinese users extended wait to retrieve their bitcoin and litecoinbalances could be nearing its end.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
See the article here:
Bitcoin Exchange OKCoin Publishes Heightened AML Guidelines - CryptoCoinsNews
NEW YORK, April 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BlockchainOS has engaged EYC3, EY's Asia-Pacific data and analytics capability, to support development of the BOScoin cryptocurrency.
EY's footprint across 150 countries, their global experience in blockchain and cryptocurrency coupled with their leading data and analytics capabilities are critical to the strategy behind the platform.
"EY is very excited to support the BOScoin Platform and sees a very strong potential in blockchain technology for both consumers and businesses," Gwang Rim Yi, Partner for EYC3 Seoul office.
EY will utilise their expertise in the governance realm, drawing from their wide range of experience it has from working with global enterprises and applying it to the BOScoin platform's self-evolving governance system.
"Having the support from such a renowned firm provides us with the global reach and will help provide direction to the design of the platform," CK Park, Chairman of BOScoin.
Most recently BlockchainOS presented the BOScoin platform concept at meetups in Berlin and London, answering questions from the wider community on various interest areas including technical, architecture and design; to applications, operations and governance.
BOScoin is a self-evolving cryptocurrency platform for Trust Contracts. Trust Contracts are self-executing programs on the blockchain similar to smart contracts. BOScoin Trust Contracts provide the foundations for a secure, self-evolving system where non-technical users can also create immutable and shareable contracts on the blockchain.
With US$3 million raised from pre-ICO funding, the official ICO scheduled to commence in a month's time invites the public to participate in the international cryptocurrency platform.
Website - https://boscoin.io Email - contact@boscoin.io
Related Links
BOScoin Website
BOScoin Facebook
Related Video
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ey-supporting-global-cryptocurrency-boscoin-300436961.html
Read more:
EY Supporting Global Cryptocurrency BOScoin - Yahoo Finance
Monday, April 10, 2017 6:42 AM UTC
Leading cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex has announced that it will be suspending its operations in the state of Washington for an indefinite period.
In a letter to its users, the exchange wrote:
After careful consideration of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions' interpretation of its financial services regulations, we regret to inform you that Poloniex will be suspending operations for our customers residing in Washington until further notice. As a verified Washington resident, you have two weeks to close any open orders and withdraw your funds from Poloniex.
It added that after April 21, 2017, user accounts will be placed in a suspended state and access will be restricted. In case users still have funds on balance after the said date, they will need to file a support ticket to withdraw their funds.
Also, user data will remain on file and will be accessible even when the accounts are placed in the suspended state. If in the future Poloniex resumes its operations in Washington, users will be able to resume trading with the same account with all their historical data intact.
If you happen to move out of Washington and to state where our services are available, please contact support. You will be given instructions on how to verify your new state of residence, Poloniex added. We look forward to welcoming Washington residents at a future date. Until then, we will do everything we can to help you wind down your account.
Human Life Could Be Extended Indefinitely, Study Suggests
Goosebumps, tears and tenderness: what it means to be moved
Are over-the-counter painkillers a waste of money?
Does an anomaly in the Earth's magnetic field portend a coming pole reversal?
Immunotherapy: Training the body to fight cancer
Do vegetarians live longer? Probably, but not because they're vegetarian
Could a contraceptive app be as good as the pill?
Some scientific explanations for alien abduction that aren't so out of this world
Society actually does want policies that benefit future generations
Six cosmic catastrophes that could wipe out life on Earth
Big Pharma Starts Using Cannabis For Making Drugs In Earnest
Do you need to worry if your baby has a flat head?
Read this article:
Cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex to suspend operations in Washington state - EconoTimes
Vendor revenue from sales of infrastructure products for cloud IT, including server, storage and Ethernet switch, grew to $32.6 billion in 2016 at a 9.2% year on year climb, according to the latest note from IDC.
The missive, which appears in the companys latest quarterly cloud IT infrastructure tracker, found that cloud IT infrastructure sales, as a share of overall global IT spending, was at 37.2% in Q416, up from 33.4% this time last year.
Private cloud infrastructure growth was led by Ethernet switch at 52.7% year on year, ahead of server (9.3% growth) and storage (3.6%). For public cloud, it was a similar story; Ethernet switch (30%) and server (2.4%) grew, while storage declined by 2.1%. Revenue in traditional IT infrastructure in other words, not cloud decreased 9% year over year in the fourth quarter.
Looking at the leading vendors, Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Cisco remain top, albeit with the former two losing market share and revenue year over year, finishing at 17.3% and 14.6% share respectively. Cisco grew 23.1% in revenue and 1.5% market share to 11.3%, while the biggest climbers were Huawei, moving ahead of IBM with a 61.4% revenue growth year on year. IBM, Lenovo and NetApp were tied for fifth.
iCharts
Growth slowed to single digits in 2016 in the cloud infrastructure market as hyperscale cloud data centre growth continued its pause, said Kuba Stolarski, IDC research director for computing platforms in a statement. Network upgrades continue to be the focus of public cloud deployments, as network bandwidth has become by far the largest bottleneck in cloud data centres.
After some delays for a few hyperscalers, data centre buildouts and refresh are expected to accelerate throughout 2017, built on newer generation hardware, primarily using Intels Skylake architecture, Stolarski added.
Read the original here:
IDC: Global cloud IT infrastructure spend hit $32.6 billion in 2016 - Cloud Tech
Forbes | Can Google Challenge Microsoft And Amazon For Cloud Supremacy? Forbes Market research firm Gartner projects that by 2020, cloud computing will be a $383 billion market. This year, it is expected to grow by 18 percent and it is no wonder cloud players are aggressively making their moves to claim bigger slices of the ... How IBM plans to be the "undisputed leader" of the next cloud phase Beer, bots and broadcasts: Companies start using AI in the Cloud |
Read more:
Can Google Challenge Microsoft And Amazon For Cloud Supremacy? - Forbes
Private Cloud Server Market is suitable to businesses with unpredictable or dynamic computing requirements that need direct control over their environment. Companies that have a data-center and developed IT infrastructure will fuel the industry demand over the future. Technological advancements pertaining to firewalls, threat monitoring, and space availability are expected to offer ample opportunities.
Data security and protection is a prime concern restraining the growth of the private cloud server market. Third party attacks, for instance, viruses can threaten the reliability of these solutions. Stringent government rules and regulations tightly protecting the collection of private customer information can provide obstacles to industry growth. Installation, maintenance, and hardware costs of the technology are very high and can discourage businesses from integrating them into their businesses.
Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/1286
Private Cloud Server Market size will be fueled by the rising awareness of the benefits of private cloud server demand among enterprises. These solutions maximize resource flexibility and usability and elevate the business performance. The risk of organizational data theft and privacy breach by public cloud usage is extensively reduced as the enterprise is responsible for the management. These solutions allow access to authorized members and business units of the organization by implementation of a virtualized environment that ensures the optimal management of available computer resources. As loss of data can have a major impact on an organization, private cloud server market software allows data recovery, which is vital in times of system failures.
The transition of businesses from profit-focus to customer-focus has given rise to big data. Big data can provide business insights based on historical and real-time data. This requires large storage capabilities and access to information databases across various business units of the organization. Big data platforms hosted by these servers can offer better scalability, lower costs and better resource utilization as compared to traditional big data deployments driving the private cloud server market demand. The growth of hybrid cloud technology is predicted to create lucrative market opportunities. Hybrid platforms combine the private and public clouds to enable effective workload movement between them. It is particularly useful in dynamic or highly changeable work environments and in businesses which require high access to big data.
Private cloud server market segmentation by application includes storage, disaster recovery, development and testing. Storage segment is expected to lead the industry owing to the high availability of customer and organizational data. The data recovery segment is predicted to gain prominence during the forecast timeframe. Critical information requires a back-up in case of system failure, theft or external attack.
Segmentation of the private cloud server market based on organization size comprise of SMBs and large businesses. SMBs are predicted to grow significantly owing to rising awareness about the benefits of the technology.
By industry verticals the private cloud server market consists of BFSI, defense, entertainment and infotainment, retail and consumer goods, aerospace, travel and hospitality, government, healthcare and life sciences, IT and telecommunication, logistics, and others. Managed private services are estimated to experience substantial growth in the retail vertical segment. The requirement of resources at high speed access is essential for the smooth functioning of businesses operating in this sector. Private cloud server market solutions are useful in accumulating and managing of real-time data which can be used in capacity planning of the organization. Although public cloud server market offer economies of scale, higher ROI and cost benefits, private technology offers better reliability and security and ensures data is not lost or misplaced.
The private cloud server market can by integrated by platform types comprising on-premise and external private clouds. On-premise private technology is primarily used by businesses that have already invested in data-center capabilities, infrastructure and have hardware available that can be repurposed for this these solutions. Moreover, on-premise private cloud server market provide higher security as compared to external servers. External service providers offer off-site solutions to data storage to multiple tenants. They provide resources to multiple users, for instance physical hardware. The compromise on security is met with lower costs due to hardware reusability. These benefits are factors promoting the increasing adoption of external solutions segment in the private cloud server market.
Make an inquiry for buying this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/1286
The U.S. private cloud server market is anticipated to lead the private cloud server market due to escalating demand for secure severs and rapid industrialization. APAC is estimated to witness high growth rate during the forecast period. This is attributed to increasing awareness of the advantages and rising demand for big data storage in emerging economies, for instance China and India.
Players operating in the private cloud server market need to employ business strategies such as collaborations, mergers and acquisitions to sustain growth in the global marketplace. Vendors providing these solutions include Amazon, Microsoft Corp, D-Link Corporation, Cisco Systems, Accenture PLC, Rackspace, BitCloud, Seagate, Google, Just Cloud, MEGA Ltd, ElephantDrive, Hewlett-Packard Development, Hivelocity Ventures, International Business Machine, and Cisco systems. On February 2016, Rackspace announced the release of Rackspace private cloud powered by Red Hat. This strategy will deliver the most easy-to-use and reliable Open stack private and hybrid clouds across the world.
Browse Related Reports:
https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/healthcare-cloud-computing-market
About Global Market Insights
Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.
Contact Us:Arun Hegde Corporate Sales, USA Global Market Insights, Inc. Phone:1-302-846-7766 Toll Free:1-888-689-0688 Email:sales@gminsights.comWeb:https://www.gminsights.comBlog:https://gminsights.wordpress.comConnect with us:Facebook|Google+|LinkedIn|Twitter
Original post:
Private Cloud Server Market Global Industry Analysis, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 2024 - MilTech