Colleagues, the UAE is
considering a new law that would allow corporations to issue ICOs as an
additional method of raising capital. For most investors in the Western
hemisphere and the Pacific Rim this seems to be a radical move. Moreover, is
raises two fundamental questions: First, would you invest in the equity and/or
debt of a company that “needs” to raise funds via an ICO? Second, which
corporations are most likely to issue a successful ICO? One may argue that only
companies that have troubled balance sheets would turn to an ICO as a desperate
move to raise capital. However, in response to the second question, what if
that company was itself a successful global leader in the financial or
technology sectors – companies such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Apple, Amazon
or Google come to mind. To take this scenario one-step further, what if such
companies also offered crypto
custody services or as some have speculated, owned and managed
their own crypto
exchanges. (Note: Facebook has be rumored to fall into
this category). We at the Cryptocurrency
Academy prefer to focus on facts and not idle
speculation. Ii is not unfathomable that what we observe in Malta, the
UAE and the Philippines could
be precursors to a brave new crypto world in the next decade. Food for thought. Share a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency
Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)
Our mission is to provide Training and Certification programs to enable Cryptocurrency, Blockchain and FinTech traders and investors worldwide to achieve their career goals.
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Monday, October 8, 2018
Can “Forward Blocks” Propel Bitcoin Toward Mass Market Adoption in Lieu of Hard Forks?
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Security and buy-in from millennials cited as the two big drivers influencing the US Fed’s position on cryptocurrency
Colleagues, the US Fed’s Jim Cunha, Vice
President for Treasury and Financial Services, offered up a prediction that the
US government could adopt a Blockchain-based cryptocurrency within the next
five years. We have previously stated such a move could take place within three
years. Perhaps the reality of US Fed-backed cryptocurrency lies somewhere in
between. Cunha’s remarks at a recent conference in Boston (akin to an East
Coast version of South by Southwest) reveal some insight to the US Fed’s
thinking. The major reservation shared by Fed officials is security of a
central bank crypto and its underlying Blockchain. By contrast, the 30-year Fed
veteran recognizes that millennials in aggregate have concerns about the
old-school financial establishment – presumably government and private sectors
alike – which makes them much more open to a national cryptocurrency than their
gray haired “over 50” financial leaders of our current era. Share a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency
Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)
Friday, October 5, 2018
US DOJ Incites Russians Who Are Claimed to Have Used Cryptocurrencies to Fund Disinformation Campaign
Colleagues, by now it should come as no
surprise that the US government has filed charges in absentia against seven
Russian nationals suspected of engineering a disinformation effort to influence
(read the
indictment). The defendants are alleged employees of
Russia’s infamous GRU Main
Intelligence Directorate. In addition, it is no surprise that the
defendants purportedly used Bitcoin and
other un-named cryptocurrencies to fund
their illicit tactics. Bottom line: The goal of this campaign was to influence
and undermine the credibility of US-based sports “anti-doping” entities
including the US
Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which claims Russian illegally,
allows doping among its athletes to boost their performance and stature.
Cryptocurrencies, chief among them being Bitcoin, were the means used to fund
these illegal actions. Why use cryptocurrencies? Two reasons emerge. First, the
defendants are believed to have “mined” their own digital assets (akin to
printing their own money). Second, the lack of transparency when acquiring
computers and related infrastructure to implement their disinformation efforts
to move public opinion in their favor. Share a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency
Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Will a bug in Bitcoin’s software lead to double-spend exploits of Altcoins which use BTC’s public code?
Colleagues, a recent bug in Bitcoin’s
public code has led to the illicit printing of some 235
million Pigeoncoins.
Although Bitcoin has released a software
patch which altcoins, exchanges and mining pools can
install to mitigate this bug, the specter of crypto double-spend cyber-attacks
looms large. Double spending is a
problem unique to digital currencies because digital information can be
reproduced with relative ease. Bitcoin transactions take some time to verify
because the process involves intensive computational power and complex algorithms,
which can be measured in seconds or milliseconds. Two fundamental questions
emerge. First, just how many exchanges, pools and altcoins use BTC’s public
code? Given the size, complexity and global diversity of the crypto ecosystem this question is almost impossible to answer.
Second, how many of these crypto entities will expeditiously implement the
software patch before cyber criminals can perform double-spend transactions?
Sadly, this question is equally difficult to answer. When in doubt we once
again offer our baseline guidance: Stay with established (aka Tier 1) currencies,
exchanges and pools that typically have more comprehensive security measures in
place. Share a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency
Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Google Moves to Prevent Cryptojacking via Illicit Chrome Extensions
Colleagues, as we have previously reported
cyber security attacks, specifically cryptojacking via
Internet browsers, has risen some 400% YoY from 2017 through H1 2018. Google
Chrome commands almost 67% market share according to data from Statista. Earlier
this year Google banned cryptocurrency-related ads from AdWords and
placed major restrictions on apps and extensions on Google
Play and the Chrome
Web Store. Therefore, it comes as welcomed news for
individual and corporate Chrome users that Google has taken the next step of
adding more stringent rules for developers of Chrome extensions. Chrome,
Firefox and Safari have been the primary targets of cyber criminals seeking to
perform crypto mining by way of installing malicious code (aka illegal extensions)
to mobile and desktop browsers alike. The Chrome Web Store’s Developer
Program Policies clearly states “Do not create an extension
that requires users to accept bundles of unrelated functionality”. Nevertheless, written policies are no better than
the vendor’s enforcement practices and penalties. We will report back in Q1
2019 on the initial impact these stricter policies have on mitigating the
cryptojacking tsunami impacting Chrome users … and hopefully stemming the tide
of illicit crypto mining. Share a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency
Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
What impact will Siacoin’s bricking of Bitmain and Innosilicon hardware have on cryptocurrency mining?
Colleagues, Siacoin is indeed a third-tier
cryptocurrency when compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin. CoinMarketCap ranks Siancoin’s market
cap at 40th on its global list of digital currencies. ASIC mining
demand for Siacoin is dwarfed by comparison to its tier-1 competitors. So is
there any bona fide reason to fuss over Siacoin’s decision – derived from an
anonymous Reddit community vote – to implement a fork, which will obsolete
Bitmain and Innosilicon ASICs
from mining Siacoin.
Our assessment leads the Cryptocurrency Academy to a two-fold answer. First, users Obelisk hardware from Nebulous to mining
Siacoin are big winners – they will have a de facto monopoly on Siacoin mining.
Second, within the context of the global cryptocurrency ecosystem this decision
is nothing more than a blip on the radar screens of Bitmain and Innosilicon … business as usual. Share a comment today! Lawrence – Cryptocurrency
Academy (https://cryptocurrencyacademy.blogspot.com/)
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