How secure are cryptocurrency software wallets against cyber criminals injecting malicious code?

Colleagues, the on-going debate regarding which type of crypto wallet is more secure continues with no clear consensus – hardware, software, clod-based and paper wallets. This debate has returned to the spotlight given the recent security breach of BitPay’s Copay (software) Wallet. Copay claims its mobile The Copay app securely stores multiple, distinct bitcoin wallets, allowing both business and privacy-conscious users to keep funds carefully separated. GitHub issued a memo to users reporting an  ‘event-stream` dependency attack steals wallets from users of copay. For details take a look at the YCombinator news feed on this attack. The bottom line: For individual digital asset traders software wallets are immensely more convenient than hardware and paper wallets, however, they are far more prone to cyber-attacks – quantum password processing, malware and adware … just to name a few. If you do use a software wallet we highly recommend using any and all security features at both the application and OS levels. The Copay breach reminds us that the cryptocurrencies are no more secure than the weakest link in the crypto ecosystem. Share a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

What impact will ICE’s decision to delay the Bakkt platform launch on Bitcoin futures trading?

Colleagues, those of us in the technology or financial services sectors know that product delays are common. The Cryptocurrency Academy applauds ICE’s move to postpone Bakkt’s launch until late January 2019 for the primary purpose of due diligence and quality control. ICE fully acknowledges that Bitcoin futures are “commodities” (and not “securities”) which must be refreshing news to the US CFTC. Bakkt will set the price in a one-day physically settled Bitcoin futures contract. The billion-dollar question is what impact this delay will have on cryptocurrency futures trading in general and Bitcoin prices in particular. Bakkt is a strategic and high visibility launch for the global cryptocurrency ecosystem. ICE is determined to get it right. The implications of a faulty Bakkt platform launch would have major repercussions. We deem this delay to be for all the right reasons, however, if it is pushed into February or March institutional investor confidence will be heavily eroded. Share a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)  

What is the fate of cryptocurrency derivatives?

Colleagues, cryptocurrency ETFs, Exchange-Traded Notes (ETNs), Futures Contracts and Swaps have drawn the scrutiny and ire of regulatory bodies … particularly in England and the US. A key factor is whether cryptocurrencies are categorized as securities or commodities. Moreover, government entities are committed to protect the public interest of consumer or individual traders which may not have the resources nor expertise of institutional investors. This is true for the US CFTC and the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In the US the CFTC has approved TrueEx exchange for Designated Contract Marketplace (DCM) swaps. Brexit aside, the British FCA is seeking to enforce the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD). The Cryptocurrency Academy predicts that regulatory scrutiny for derivatives will not be resolved until the more fundamental issues (e.g. the legitimacy of crypto assets as securities or commodities are fully resolved in the coming 12-24 months. For now, we recommend the individual traders take a cautious approach to derivatives. Post a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

Is there a Crypto Ruble Central Bank Digital Currency in Russia’s future?

Colleagues, central bankers around the world have commented on the viability of a CDDC in their respective nations for the past 2-3 years. The US Federal Reserve, PBoC, Bank of England, EBC and the State Bank of the Russian Federation have each weighed-in on this critical matter. Although the Cryptocurrency Academy does not want to handicap the odds and timetable for each nation state this we do know: The central banks of many of the world’s largest economics are seriously considering a CBDC. We have previously published posts on the US Fed and the PBoC. More recently, we have seen Russia’s central bankers prediction of a CBDC within the next 24-36 months. This forecast is generally in line with the statements (and actions) of their peers in other nations. Nevertheless, the BoE would appear to be in the lead with the PBoC Closely behind. The US Fed is cautiously assessing the viability of a US CBDC; however, major concerns over security and transparency remain. Not so with the PBoC which is actively developing the infrastructure for a Chinese CBDC as is the BoE. Russian officials state that future Crypto Ruble might even have parity with the existing fiat Ruble. We hold fast to our own prognostication: Within 2-3 years, these nations – along with Japan – are highly likely to have launched or be in an advanced development and testing phase of CBDCs. Post a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)  

Will the enforcement of economic sanctions force crypto exchanges to purge Iranian traders?

Colleagues, Bittrex, BitMex and now Binance have banned Iranian cryptocurrency traders in an effort to avoid penalties in the wake of US economic sanctions. The exchanges issue a warning to users based in Iran to withdraw their funds or face the confiscation of their assets. There are surely legitimate crypto traders in the Persian state, however, the goal is to place an embargo on any state-sponsored entities from circumventing US trade sanctions. Binance has moved from China to Japan, while BitMex HQ is in Hong Kong and Bittrex is located in the US. Exchanges, whether with large or modest trading volumes, face penalties for aiding and abetting Iranian actors from participating – even on the margins – in the global economy. Will other crypto exchanges follow their lead? We believe the strategies of other crypto platforms will depend on the rigor of direct or indirect US penalties. Post a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)  

Cryptocurrency Triple Play - How common are pyramid schemes similar to those in China, South Korea and Japan?

Colleagues, East Asia has become a hotbed for multi-level marketing schemes which exploit the allure of and poor transparency of cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin. Whether this past May in China ($47m) or more recently in South Korea ($20m) and Japan ($68m), crypto fraud schemes are running rampant across the region. Bottom line: Despite many efforts by credible members of the global crypto ecosystem, digital such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and others, are wrought with the potential for scams and related cybercrimes. Government enforcement entities such as China’s Ministry of Public Security or the US SEC only have the bandwidth to track and prosecute a small minority of crypto fraud cases. We do not foresee a significant reduction in crypto cybercrimes until government agencies have both the cyber tools and manpower to launch a counter-offensive which is likely to be 2-3+ years in the future. Post a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

Is Venezuela’s Petro a Viable Option to Become OPEC’s Oil-backed Cryptocurrency?

Colleagues, most readers will know that Venezuela’s socialist government wants to circumvent US economic sanctions by launching its Petro (PDVSA) cryptocurrency. This move would provide the beleaguered government access to financial resources it so desperately needs. The broader issue is whether OPEC should adopt the Petro as its de facto digital currency for global crude oil transactions among both first and third world nations. Venezuela ranks a distant 6^th place behind Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, the UAE and Kuwait according to crude oil production data from Statista. The Cryptocurrency Academy predicts that OPEC will steer clear of “little Venice’s” Petro as reported by Prensa Latina and instead adopt an oil-back cryptocurrency sponsored by Saudi Arabia’s Aramco in mid-late 2019. We also predict that a Saudi sponsored currency is likely – by design – to be far more transparent than the Petro when it comes to tracking payments and transactions. Post a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)  

What is the impact of the malicious JavaScript code injection into StatCounter’s URI among cryptocurrency exchanges?

Colleagues, the world’s thirty-eight largest crypto exchange Gate.io was successfully hacked via the injection of code into StatCounter’s URI “myaccount/withdraw/BTC”. Reported by security firm ESET WeLiveSecurity indicated that although Gate.io is the only known crypto exchange effected, all of StatCounter’s some 2 million customer sites are at risk. For readers with a programming background the code was injected via the Dean Edwards JS packer in the middle of the script. We assume that economic gain is the chief motive although the ESET report did not provide corroborating details. This cyber-attack raises two questions. First, how susceptible are URIs (uniform resource identifiers) to injections via the Dean Edwards packer? And second, how many more web sites which use StatCounter – a competitor to Google Analytics – are effected? We will continue to research answers to both questions. Share a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

Is Bitfury in a position to challenge Bitmain for supremacy of crypto mining ASICs?

Colleagues, flush with $80m in new capital Bitfury intends to take on Bitmain, NVidia and other mining ASIC vendors with the introduction of its Clarke ASIC chip. Not to be outdone, industry-leader Bitmain is launching its Antminer S15 and T15 machines featuring a 7nm ASIC tomorrow. This battle comes in the wake of relatively flat demand for NVidia GPUs and a decline in sales by AMD. In aggregate, these developments raise a fundamental question: What is the true size (and duration) of the crypto mining market? Is the size of this market in correlation with the market cap and number of crypto tokens – mostly Bitcoins – in the global market? Alternatively, as some suggest, is crypto mining reaching a market saturation point? The Cryptocurrency Academy believes that the number of crypto tokens is far from being usurped, however, we do not see the growth rates experienced in 2016-2018 to continue … with Bitmain remain the ASIC market leader. Share your comments today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

Will the identification and prosecution of Japan’s Zaif hackers deter future crypto exchange cybercrime?

Colleagues, last month we reported on the $60m crypto heist carried out against Japan’s Zaif exchange. Japan Digital Design has apparently identified crypto transaction clues, which they believe will lead them to the hackers of some $60m. This is good news – any developments to help reduce crypto cybercrime only strengthen the common good of the global cryptosphere. However, Zaif with its roughly $7.4m trading volume according to CoinMarketCap is at best a third tier crypto exchange and the theft of $60m is a mere blip within the $212T global cryptocurrency arena. This leads us to the obvious question: Will the capture and prosecution of the Zaif hackers have a deterrent effect on other cyber-attacks against crypto exchanges around the globe? Answer: Highly unlikely. The dramatic growth in digital asset growth during the past year have made exchanges a “top priority” target for cyber criminals. We stand by our previous guidance. Professional traders and investors should stay with tier 1 exchanges such as Biance, Huobi, OKEx, etc.  – despite their own pitfalls – which tend to offer more stringent security measures.  Post a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

Can Atomic Swap Technology Ensure the Security of the M-DEX Crypto Custody Mobile Exchange?

Colleagues, atomic swaps (aka atomic cross-chain trading) is the exchange of one cryptocurrency to another cryptocurrency without the need for a trusted a third-party. Sovereign Wallet intends to release M-DEX I January 2019 which is a custody-free mobile exchange enabled by the MUI trading bot. Eliminating the trusted third party has the allure of faster and lower cost cryptocurrency transactions. In turn, the MUI Token is purportedly backed by the Algorithm central bank. However, the fundamental question arises: How secure will M-DEX transactions be without the involvement of a third party custodian? Security is tantamount to the integrity and success of the global crypto ecosystem for individual traders and institutional investors alike. We believe M-DEX offers great benefits, yet also comes with notable risk. Proceed with caution until M-DEX is fully tested in a real-world environment.

Post a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

How will BTC.com and AntPool’s actions impact SegWit transactions?

Colleagues, a titanic battle of cryptocurrency miners is forcing the issue a crucial Blockchain hardfork vs. softfork. In the hardfork camp, Bitmain affiliates BTC.com and AntPool. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin Core camp is defending a softfork. Caught in the middle is SegWit (“Segregated Witnesses”). Apparently, BTC.com and AntPool are refusing to confirm SegWit block transactions. Bitmain favors increasing the limit of block size. A brief history lesson in Blockchain programming shows that hardforks – if not fully supported by the crypto ecosystem – can lead to divisions of the broader crypto community. Such is the case of the 2017 hardfork, which led to the split of Bitcoin into Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. This issue is playing out in real-time and the Cryptocurrency Academy will provide an update once details are confirmed. Post a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

Investors Take Note – Intercontinental Exchange Will List its First Bitcoin Futures Contract in December

Colleagues, the advent of the ICE Bakkt physically settled daily Bitcoin futures contract would bring cryptocurrencies to the mainstream for institutional investors. The NYSE’s parent company, ICE, decided that a futures contract rather than a security was the most efficient route to market given the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s “self-certification” process when compared to the US SEC’s stringent process for approving ETFs.  Each futures contract will be valued at one (1) Bitcoin – currently trading at $6319.09 USD held in the Bakkt Digital Asset Warehouse. While most investor attention has been focused on have cryptocurrencies categorized as “securities” (under the auspices of the US SEC), the ICE Bakkt futures scenario opens-up a new vehicle for the trade of digital assets. We anticipate similar moves by the US CBOE and its counterparts in Europe and Asia over the next 12 months. Post a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)