cryptocurrency-blockchain

Co-founder of Facebook now wants it broken up

May 26, 2019 by Blockchain Consultants

Facebook's cryptocurrency might arrive as soon as next year.

Image: Facebook

Social networking giant Facebook is about to launch a cryptocurrency of its own in the first quarter of 2020, the BBC claims.

The cryptocurrency, internally called GlobalCoin, will launch in about a dozen countries, with testing commencing by the end of this year.

We’ve heard reports that Facebook is working on something crypto-related for about a year, ever since the company assigned its head of Messenger, David Marcus, to a blockchain-focused role in May 2018. But a recent report shed more light on the project (which, according to Facebook, boils down to a “small team” that’s exploring “many different applications” of the blockchain) — apparently, Facebook plans to launch a global, crypto-based payment, and e-commerce system.

The BBC’s report doesn’t reveal many additional details about the project — the most important bit is the timeline. According to the report, Facebook has already spoken to Bank of England governor Mark Carney about the project, as well as the U.S. Treasury. Official news about the project, BBC claims, might come as early as this summer.

We’ve contacted Facebook regarding the report and will update this article when we hear back.

The news of Facebook entering the space could be huge for cryptocurrencies in general, given Facebook’s user base of 2.38 billion monthly active users as of April 2019. However, numerous questions about the project remain. Will GlobalCoin be open source? Will it be based on an existing blockchain platform, such as Ethereum, or will it be based on a completely new blockchain? Will it be available for use outside of Facebook? Hopefully, we’ll get answers to at least some of these questions this summer.

WATCH: Co-founder of Facebook now wants it broken up

‘Game of Thrones’ actor’s next gig: Cryptocurrency advisor?

May 23, 2019 by Blockchain Consultants

Attempting to slay a dragon? Not a very animal-friendly move, Bronn!

Spoilers for the finale of Game of Thrones follow.

Westeros apparently has quite the financially forward-thinking Master of Coin on its new small council!

On Game of Thrones, actor Jerome Flynn played mercenary-turned-nobleman Ser Bronn of the Blackwater, whose only true north was gettin’ that money. It seems that the IRL Flynn is similarly interested in the value of a coin — even if it’s a do-goodery, digital one.

Flynn recently joined the advisory board of a new cryptocurrency called VeganCoin, according to CoinDesk. It’s the token of an Israeli project, VeganNation, that seeks to validate the origin of products and create a sustainable, vegan marketplace with its own currency.

Apparently, Flynn has been a vegetarian for the last 35 years, a vegan for 5, and serves on the board of the Vegetarian Society in the UK. That’s quite a contrast from the hedonistic swordsman-for-hire he plays on Thrones.

Flynn’s character Bronn made it to the end of ye olde Game of Thrones as best as any character could hope for, rising from poor, prostitute-loving mercenary to a definitely not poor, but still prostitute-loving, Lord of Highgarden and Master of Coin. It’s only fitting that the unlikely guy in charge of saving Westeros from financial ruin as it digs its way out of Dany’s destruction is a vegan crypto evangelist in our world.

So move over, Iron Bank — there’s a new decentralized financial ecosystem in town.

WATCH: ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 8 The Final Episode Recap — The Iron Throne

Major U.S. retailers are now accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency

May 19, 2019 by Blockchain Consultants

Coinbase has a new way for users to earn crypto.

Image: Coinbase

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase today launched its Earn product, which lets users earn cryptocurrency by solving tasks, trying out new decentralized protocols and answering quizzes, in more than 100 countries.

The list of countries where Earn is now available includes the United States, UK, most of EU, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan, the company has announced.

Additionally, users from countries that are not on the list can get verified and join a waitlist to become eligible for Earn.

As for eligibility criteria, besides being in the right geographical location, it also includes ID verification and a checkup for fraud from Coinbase.

Originally launched in 2018, Earn lets users earn crypto by performing tasks related to five crypto projects: Stellar Lumens, Zcash, Basic Attention Token and 0x, with “many more” coming soon.

“Coinbase Earn has allowed us to introduce more than 100,000 people to the vibrant ecosystem of 0x relayers and our vision for a tokenized world. It’s the single best channel for reaching shrewd crypto enthusiasts,” 0x co-founder Will Warren said in a statement.

The tasks one needs to perform include watching short videos and answering quizzes about a particular project, or inviting friends to join Earn. The rewards range from $1 to $40, depending on the project and the task, in each project’s respective currency.

Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.

WATCH: Major U.S. retailers are now accepting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency

Binance cryptocurrency exchange loses $40 million in hack

May 13, 2019 by Blockchain Consultants

Binance is calling the hack a "large scale security breach."

Image: LADISLAV KUBE / GETTY

The funds are decidedly not safe.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced a “large scale security breach” Tuesday afternoon, warning customers that unnamed hackers had managed to successfully steal 7,000 bitcoin. At current prices, this equals approximately $40 million.

But wait, it gets worse.

“Hackers were able to obtain a large number of user API keys, 2FA codes, and potentially other info,” Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (who goes by CZ) wrote in a press release. “The hackers used a variety of techniques, including phishing, viruses and other attacks. We are still concluding all possible methods used.”

While this sounds bad, and it definitely is, the loss of 7,000 bitcoin is just one of many potential problems affecting the exchange and its customers.

“There may also be additional affected accounts that have not been identified yet,” CZ helpfully warns.

nobody knows if anything that binance has said is true, considering they were decrying FUDsters for making assumptions about their “maintenance” right up until they admitted someone “hacked” them and ran off with the butts. https://t.co/W400NIRw2X

— Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) May 8, 2019

Notably, hackers were able to score the now-pilfered BTC in a single transaction. “The hackers had the patience to wait, and execute well-orchestrated actions through multiple seemingly independent accounts at the most opportune time,” explained CZ. “The transaction is structured in a way that passed our existing security checks.”

News of the hack comes only hours after CZ tweeted that “[Binance has] to perform some unscheduled server maintenance that will impact deposits and withdrawals for a couple hours.”

He added, using an acronym for “fear, uncertainty, doubt” that has become a byword for cryptocurrency critics, that there was “No need to FUD.”

Trading will not be impacted.

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) May 7, 2019

Welp, maybe there was after all.

CZ insists that all customer losses will be covered, although that news may only provide partial relief to those who are now unable to withdraw their funds. Because, you guessed it, Binance has suspended deposits and withdrawals for roughly one week while it investigates the theft.

It’s going to be a rocky week in bitcoin land.

WATCH: How much do you know about blockchain, cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin?

Facebook can’t find local news to share

May 7, 2019 by Blockchain Consultants

Facebook is building an ambitious crypto-based payment system, a new report claims.

Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images

Facebook is building something related to cryptocurrencies — that much we know.

But a new report by the Wall Street Journal claims the company is talking to financial giants in order to launch a crypto-based payment system that could turn the global payments space on its head.

According to the report, Facebook is talking to “dozens” of financial firms and online merchants about its upcoming crypto product, codenamed “Project Libra”.

The basic idea is still roughly the same one we’ve heard in reports from December 2018 and February this year — a crypto-based payment network and an accompanying stablecoin (a cryptocurrency tied to the value of a traditional asset, like the U.S. dollar), that would allow Facebook users to send and receive money.

But the WSJ claims, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Facebook is looking to expand its coin beyond Facebook, and have other e-commerce companies accept it. Furthermore, Facebook wants to turn its crypto offering into a digital identity of sorts, which would enable users to pay with Facebook coin on third party sites, similar to how you can now use Facebook to log into other sites. With a user base of 2.32 billion monthly active users, Facebook certainly has the leverage to make its offering attractive to online retailers.

One of the advantages of doing all this with cryptocurrency is the possibility to eliminate various fees associated with payment processing. Facebook is reportedly talking to Visa and Mastercard about the project, which is somewhat odd given that these companies are the ones who benefit from the fees mentioned above.

Facebook also may be using this product to tie online purchases to ads; for example, if a user clicks on an ad and buys a product using Facebook coins, the retailer could then use these tokens to pay for more ads (presumably at a discount), the report claims.

Facebook might also start rewarding users with crypto coins for viewing ads (web browser Brave was one of the first to implement this concept), or hand them over as loyalty points for interacting with content or shopping on its platform. If this idea goes through, that old rumor about Facebook starting to charge users for its service might turn out to be the opposite of the truth — perhaps, in the future, Facebook will actually start paying users to use (some of) its services.

Whenever anyone officially asks, Facebook reiterates its old mantra: It’s exploring many different applications of blockchain technology. But as more details about its crypto project emerge, it’s starting to look like one of Facebook’s most ambitious ideas to date — and one that could finally bring cryptocurrency into the mainstream.

Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.

WATCH: Facebook can’t find local news to share

Crypto exchange loses millions after CEO dies with the only password

May 4, 2019 by Blockchain Consultants

Mistakes were made.

Image: ALFSnaiper / getty

It’s hard out there for administrators of illegal dark web markets trying to steal their users’ cryptocurrency in peace.

Barely a week after Wallstreet Market — one of the largest remaining illegal online marketplaces in the vein of the Silk Road — went into a suspicious maintenance mode, German authorities have seized the site and arrested its alleged operators. Oh, and law enforcement says the three individuals now in custody not only ran the site, but were in the processes of exit-scamming when they were busted.

In other words, the accused allegedly weren’t content to simply take a commission off the sale of drugs and stolen data, but they straight up decided to steal all their customers’ cryptocurrency held in escrow for good measure.

A visit to the site, accessible via Tor, on May 3 shows a seizure notice from police.

An accompanying press release, translated from German by Google Translate, details the alleged fruits of the scheme.

“As part of a search of the homes of the suspects were cash amounts of over €550,000, as well as cryptocurrencies BITCOIN and MONERO in 6-digit amount, several high-quality motor vehicles and numerous other evidence, especially computers and data carriers, ensured.”

The release notes that the servers were confiscated on May 2.

While the German Bundeskriminalamt, the country’s federal police, appear to have led the takedown, authorities across the pond got in on the action as well.

“In the US, during the investigation by the Los Angeles Procuratorate, two of the highest volume suppliers of narcotics in the illegal online marketplace ‘WALL STREET MARKET ‘ were identified and arrested,” the press release (translated via Google Translate) explains. “While searching the homes of US suspects, a variety of illegal weapons and millions of dollars in cash can be found and secured in addition to drugs.”

The US Justice Department’s criminal complaint, dug up by Krebs On Security, provides additional details as to the scale of the now-shuttered marketplace. Namely, that it boasted roughly 5,400 vendors and 1,150,000 customers.

The takedown of Wallstreet Market is another incident in a now-familiar pattern of dark-web markets. Just like with AlphaBay before it, as Wallstreet Market grew in popularity, the target on its administrators’ back grew larger. The admins of Wallstreet Market may have felt that pressure and decided to exit scam their way to riches and freedom, but their plans decidedly fell apart.

If the past is any indication, expect to see a repeat of this entire mess with an entirely new marketplace n the near future. And the next time your favorite dark-web market starts experiencing “technical difficulties,” take that opportunity to burn your computer and run for the hills.