PowerGhost cryptojacking malware poses a new threat which jeopardizes legitimate cryptocurrency mining

Colleagues, crypto mining remains one of the weakest links in the cryptocurrency ecosystem and in turn a high priority target for cyber criminals. Although not as numerous as personal computers and laptops, corporate servers and workstations typically far more computing power which makes them such attractive targets to cryptojackers. PowerGhost, recently reported by Kaspersky Lab’s is a fileless malware which injects a one-line PowerShell script is run that downloads the miner’s body and immediately launches it without writing it to the hard drive. This malware has been detected in third world countries including Tukey, India, Brazil and Columbia. Malware like PowerGhost is especially a threat to cloud-based computing environments.  Now that the prevalence of the problem has been observed and noted, service providers may wish to extend capabilities they already have to find and flag this content. Bottom line: Cyber criminals relentlessly exploit the weakest point in any ecosystem. Given the meteoric growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem all participants needs to be equally relentless in keeping their OS and application software up-to-date and installing patches as soon as they are released. Send us your comments today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)  

Will a central bank cryptocurrency enable Iran to evade US economic sanctions?

Colleagues, with US economic sanctions to take effect in August 2018 Iran’s government is renewing its quest to establish its own cryptocurrency backed by the country’s fiat currency – the “Rial”.  This plan is being led by the government’s Science and Technology Department in coordination with the Central Bank of Iran. This move is not unexpected as Iran’s economy struggles and the pressure from US sanctions mounts. Two broader questions emerge. First, will other rogue nation-states such as North Korea, Syria, Sudan, and Venezuela seek to implement their own cryptocurrencies … and with what backing? We do know that Venezuela intends to back their cryptocurrency with the price of crude oil. And second, are we seeing the bifurcation of the global cryptocurrency ecosystem into legitimate first world and underground thirdworld currencies … each with their distinct exchanges and protocols? The Cryptocurrency Academy believes this assume is valid and that the next 24-36 months will in fact witness two parallel crypto ecosystems develop. Send us your comments today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

What impact will BitGo’s Predictive UTXO Management have on crypto transaction fees?

Colleagues, transaction fees have been a major stumbling block for cryptocurrency traders and investors alike during the past 2-3 years. As trading volumes increase historical data suggest that transaction fees rise accordingly. BitcoinCharts Transaction Fee Historical chart clearly shows that fees reached about $58 in late December 2017, however, fees have fallen back to around $1 as of July 2018. With the launch of BitGo’s predictive UTXO (unspent transaction output) management solution the open issue is whether lowering transaction fees – especially during peaks in trading volumes – will lead to increased transaction levels? Yes, UTXO early adopters like Civic and Bitstamp fully expect that the answer will be a resounding “yes”. The bigger challenge will come from the largest Bitcoin exchanges Binance, OKEx, Huobi, UpBit, BitFinex and BitHumb? The bottom line: In the near-term (12-24 months) the Cryptocurrency Academy predicts that crypto traders with high transaction volumes of low-medium BTC value (e.g. under 100 BTC) are the likely beneficiaries. By contrast, institutional crypto investors will lower transaction volumes of over 1000 BTC will see far less benefit. Send us your comments today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)  

Does AMD’s Q2 Revenue Drop in GPUs Portend a Decline in Industry-wide Crypto Mining?

Colleagues, although AMD’s primary competitors are Intel and NVidia, its 3% decline in sales of GPUs for crypto miners is cause for concern. Yes, crypto mining sales account for only 6% of AMD’s total revenue. Nonetheless, the question remains: Is this revenue miss a one quarter aberration, is AMD losing market share to other crypto ASIC miners or is the crypto mining segment as a whole facing a slowdown? And what is the overall health of Bitmain, DragonMint, Titan V (NVidia) and Avalon? We do know that crypto mining in aggregate is highly correlated to price fluctuations in Bitcoin which reached an all-time high of $19,009 on December 18, 2017 and now has struggled to reach $8405 today. Other key factors in crypto ASIC mining demand include the price of Altcoins such as Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin, along with the cost of electricity in China and Central Asia. Ultimately we need to examine the supply-demand ratio for ASIC mining rigs. Bottom line: While overall demand for cryptocurrency continues to expand at what point does the supply of available crypto tokens become limited? Send us your comments today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/) 

How exposed are traders and investors to Crypto Exchange Fraud?

Colleagues, while cryptocurrency fraud is nothing new, the vast proliferation of exchanges, ICOs and investment funds should send a strong signal to traders and investors alike: Exercise extreme caution and perform 360 degree due diligence before you invest. Yes, many exchanges, ICOs and funds are legitimate. Nonetheless, the recent arrest of Jon Montroll by U.S. authorities in connection with crypto exchange site WeExchange and securities investment platform BitFunder and crypto exchange site WeExchange raise even more red flags. Some of the most common fraudulent tactics taken by crypto criminals include ICOs with no real coins (e.g. HoweyCoins), pump and dump strategies, pyramid and Ponzi schemes and crypto exchanges with questionable track records … at best. The Cryptocurrency Academy offers two baseline recommendations. First, for traders do not deposit personal funds that you are not prepared to loose. Stay with the established top-tier exchanges like CEX.io, Kraken, Coinbase, CoinMama, GDAX (CoinBase Pro) and Paxful. For institutional investors, use trusted investment firms and banks who will perform the due diligence for you – at a cost – however, also provide a much higher level of security and confidence. The growing list of players here include JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs as well as professionally managed crypto funds from the likes of Fidelity, Vanguard and Charles Schwab. Send us your comments today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)  

How effective will the Honeyminer App pool allow the masses to earn Bitcoin through their laptops?

Colleagues, yes many cryptocurrency mining pools tap into end-users’ servers, desktops and laptops allowing them to earn currency when their GPUs are not in use. Enter the Honeyminer App pool. This app concentrates on GPU-intensive currencies such as Zcash, Monero, Ethereum Classic and Ethereum. The Honeyminer App value proposition is simple for those with little investment capital: Earn Bitcoin by outsourcing your GPU as a means of generating incremental income (aka “crypto mining for the common man”). And Honeyminer Pro (currently on wait list status only) will allow owners of professional mining systems to participate as well. Based upon block size thee app rotates its mining activity between different currencies every 10 minutes. So how does Honeyminer compare to the top rated crypto mining pool including EasyMiner, MultiMiner, BFGMiner, CGMner and BitMiner? The Cryptocurrency Academy believes the answer lies in the array of cryptos being mined and the number of cryptos that can be earned. Send us your comments today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)

Is the Future of Crypto Exchanges in the Cloud? Consider the Huobi Cloud

Colleagues, according CryptoCoinCharts Huobi is the world’s fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange. Known as the “Huobi Blockchain Plus Industry Alliance" over the past few months the cryptocurrency exchange giant has been making efforts to build stronger networks for the Blockchain industry. The Huobi Cloud comprises of four approaches, including exchange, operational, OTC, and eco-system solutions. Bottom line: Will Binance, Bitfinex and HitBTC follow in Huobi’s path? Our view at the Cryptocurrency Academy is only after the Huobi Cloud exchange is stress-tested for transaction speed, the integrity of smart contracts and especially security will the crypto “Big Three” adopt cloud-based exchange solutions. Share a comment visit us today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)