Items tagged with bitcoin
Believe it or not, Bitcoin at the time of this writing is trading at $19,330.80, and will be probably be even higher by the time I finish writing this article. Why is that? Good question, and nobody seems to have a definitive answer. Perhaps there is no single explanation, and this is just how it goes with the volatile cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin is the digital currency that put cryptocurrency on the map. It also contributed to the GPU shortage that is not unlike the one we have now (just for different reasons), because everyone and their uncle was snatching them up to mine. And when mining largely switched to specialized ASIC hardware, Ethereum stepped in, which people mined and trade for...
Read more...
When cryptocurrency is stolen, it tends to vanish into thin air without no obvious means for recourse. It would typically involve moving the currency across many accounts and disbursing it, so it is slowly spread out. It seems that the hackers that stole over $1 billion in Bitcoin from Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht were not wise enough, however. The U.S. Justice Department recently announced that they had seized the cryptocurrency from the unnamed hacker. Before 2013, the Silk Road was the underground market on the dark web. Illegal drugs, weapons, and other illicit things were sold using Bitcoin as the main currency. It was optimal as it was hard to track due to its decentralized design....
Read more...
Remember when you could not find a mid-range or high-end graphics card to save your life, because the cryptocurrency miners were hogging them all? Things changed when mining in large part shifted from GPUs to specialized ASIC hardware, the cryptocurrency boom came to an end. Well, sort of. Bitcoin has held strong, and it also just got a boost from PayPay, which announced it will be accepting cryptocurrency payments in the near future. Wild times, folks. It is an interesting move, in part because cryptocurrency mining and trading has not exactly been a mainstream topic this past year. PayPal seems to be showing up late to the party, but is evidently confident that the crypto scene has legs, particularly...
Read more...
Sometimes, news reports regarding free money can sound a bit too good to be true – especially anytime cryptocurrency is involved. That was most definitely the case when we first heard about Satoshi’s Treasure, which is an online scavenger hunt that will net the winner a sweet prize worth $1 million in Bitcoin. The $1 million scavenger hunt first kicked off back in April, but along the way, there have been side quests with additional payouts in Bitcoin. Today, a fourteenth clue that will lead to the jackpot prize has been released, and it is worth an additional $70,000 in Bitcoin. The key to unlock this side quest is found in the image below: (Click to Enlarge) The clue provided...
Read more...
The cryptocurrency market is full of peaks and valleys but at the moment, it appears that Bitcoin has hit a peak. Bitcoin surged past $11,000 USD for the first time in a year. The value of Bitcoin has jumped by 13% in the last 24 hours. Although the cyrptocurrency’s value dropped slightly once the heat of the excitement wore off, it is currently sitting pretty at roughly $10,600. Other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum have also hit a ten-month high. Bitcoin reached an all-time high in December 2017 at nearly $20,000. Its value dipped by 74% at the beginning of 2018, thanks to a slew of cryptocurrency regulations. A Bitcoin was only worth roughly $3,100 at the end of December 2018, but...
Read more...
A hacker is making the rounds and attacking Git hosting services like GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab. The attacks reportedly started on May 3, and as of now, it is unclear how the hacker is gaining access to these repositories. What is known, however, is that the hacker is removing all source code and recent commits from the victim Git repository. In the place of the code that was located in the repositories, the hacker leaves a note that asks for a payment of 0.1 Bitcoin, which is worth about $570 right now. The hacker claims that all of the source code is downloaded and stored on their own personal server. The note gives the victim ten days to pay the ransom and if it isn't paid, the code is...
Read more...
The cryptocurrency market has taken a beating over the past year, but if there is a Rocky Balboa among the bunch, it is undoubtedly Bitcoin, the virtual currency that just will not stay down. In fact, Bitcoin saw a sudden increase in value on Tuesday, rising 15 percent to $4,800. That is the highest value Bitcoin has seen since November. At least one cryptocurrency exchange had Bitcoin trading even higher, at $5,000. As it stands at the time of this writing, Coinbase has it going for $4,745.62, which is up 14.73 percent (+$609.06) in the past 24 hours. If nothing else, this further underscores how volatile the cryptocurrency market has always been since it swung onto the mainstream radar. So,...
Read more...
The Bitcoin boom has generally gone bust, and as a result, we just don't hear as much about cryptocurrency as a major market mover as we used to. The value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies crashed last summer, leaving many investors hurting and lots of crypto mining rigs with expensive GPUs running idle and unused. The good news for gamers is that the crash of crypto meant graphics cards were finally available at reasonable prices. Further, a new report has been published today that throws more shade on the legitimacy of Bitcoin trading as a currency itself. The analysis was published by Bitwise this week and found that unregulated currency exchanges actually fake 95% of Bitcoin...
Read more...
Hold onto your wallet. Researchers at ESET have discovered the first known instance of a relatively new strain of cryptocurrency-stealing malware, called a "clipper", on the Google Play Store. They reported their findings to the Play Store's security team on February 1st, who quickly took down the offending application. The attack uses a remarkably simple trick to part users with their digital funds. Cryptocurrency values are assigned to a long, unique string of characters known as a wallet. In order to make a transaction, a sender typically needs to enter the recipient's wallet address in their app. This is similar to how you would put a real-world address on an envelope in order for it to be...
Read more...
If you've invested heavily in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum over the past year, you probably need a stiff drink right about now. The cryptocurrency "boom" is no more, and values are heading south, much to the chagrin of crypto miners that thought mining with off-the-shelf [and custom] hardware would bring them digital fortunes. Take Bitcoin, for example; the cryptocurrency fell to as little as $5,900 in the past 24 hours before rebounding to just over 6,000 as of this writing. As recently as May, Bitcoin was trading at around $10,000 and in late 2017, it was topping $19,000. In total, Bitcoin is down 68 percent from its meteoric high. Things are looking worse over in Ethereum...
Read more...
It's been a tough year for gamers who needed to upgrade their GPU, but were stopped dead in their tracks by inflated price tags and a general shortage on most mid-range and high-end graphics cards. Thankfully, that is mostly in the rear view mirror. One of the reasons why is because Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have become less profitable to mine, and subsequently plummeted in value. Consider that Bitcoin was trading for nearly $10,000 in parts of April and May. Before that, it had approached $20,000 and had investors talking about an eventual $50,000 or even $100,000 value on the horizon. Instead, it came crashing down and is fast approaching a less-than-$5000 trading price (it's currently...
Read more...
It was only a few months ago when there was talk of Bitcoin being on a trajectory to perhaps hit $50,000 or even $100,000, which could make late adopters wealthy and early adopters obscenely rich (more so than they have already become). Fast forward to today, however, and the future is as murky as ever. Not that it was ever crystal clear. However, the virtual currency dipped below $6,000 today, it's lowest value since November. The recent drop further underscores the volatility of cryptocurrency, and the overall uncertainty over its future. Proponents of cryptocurrency will say they have heard this a million times before, and that analysts are once again overreacting to a drop in value. And they...
Read more...
Things aren't exactly rosy in the cryptocurrency world; particularly when it comes to Bitcoin. Over the weekend, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail confirmed that it had been hacked. The site says that it was the victim of a "cyber intrusion" and that roughly 30 percent of the coins trades on the exchange were stolen. Coinrail said the remaining 70 percent of coins were safeguarded and have been moved to a "cold wallet". At this moment, it is believed that hackers got away with 40 billion won in Bitcoin, which amounts to $37.2 million. Not surprisingly, this latest hack sent the price of Bitcoin tumbling, even though such hacks have become commonplace in the cryptocurrency realm....
Read more...
One of the biggest criticisms of cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin in particular, is the highly volatile nature of digital coins. However, that's for investors and miners to worry about. A larger concern that is starting to draw increased attention is the power usage that comes from mining cryptocurrencies on a large scale. Over in Washington, where power is relatively cheap compared to other parts of the country, there's a twofold concern—that power bills will go, and that electric utilities will not be able to keep up with demand. These are not new concerns. It was reported earlier this month that Plattsburgh, New York placed an 18-month ban on new commercial cryptocurrency mining operations...
Read more...
It's no secret that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have their loyal followers along with scathing detractors. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has never been a fan of cryptocurrencies, but he ratcheted up the rhetoric this week by calling Bitcoin "rat poison squared". Buffett helms Berkshire Hathaway and made the comments at the company's 2018 annual shareholder meeting. He went on to further explain his comments to CNBC, stating, “It does create a rising price, creates more buyers ... If you don’t understand it, you get much more excited. People like to speculate, they like to gamble.” Lots of excitement swirled around Bitcoin in the closing months of 2017....
Read more...
When it comes to cryptocurrency mining, many small- and large-scale outfits have cornered the GPU market, buying up large quantities of current generation AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. Gamers have especially been hit hard by miners, as even mainstream graphics cards that should be heading towards the bargain bin at this stage in their lifecycle are priced above MSRP. However, it looks as though Intel might have come up with a solution for a way to more efficiently mine for cryptocurrency instead of using hardware that was originally designed for an unrelated task. Intel's patent was filed on September 23, 2016 and was published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office yesterday. The patent...
Read more...
Plattsburgh, New York is city that has just over 30,000 residents, and those citizens recently saw their power bills unexpectedly increase due to a problem that is starting to affect more people in the United States. We're talking about cryptocurrency mining, of course. Plattsburgh has placed an 18-month ban on new commercial cryptocurrency mining operations after the city was forced to buy additional power to keep up with demand, in turn causing everyone's rates to go up. For gamers, the rise in cryptocurrency mining means that the hot graphics cards that we'd like to get our hands are hard to find and often priced through the roof. However, not everyone needs a graphics card. But electricity...
Read more...
Google is taking a stand against advertisements on the internet that promote cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency exchanges/wallets/trading advice and/or initial coin offerings (ICO). The tech giant says that it will no longer serve ads through its platforms for these products and services starting in June 2018. "We don't have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we've seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it's an area that we want to approach with extreme caution," said Scott Spencer, Google's Director of Sustainable Ads, in an interview with CNBC. In addition, Google will add the following to its "restricted" list with respect...
Read more...
There are plenty of uncertainties and grey areas currently lurking around the cryptocurrency market. From wild fluctuations in valuations, to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin being used on the black market, to government institutions that are looking to get in on a piece of the action, we're still in the "Wild Wild West" days and far from mainstream penetration. Image Source: Flickr via Sebastian Vital With that in mind, Bill Gates gave his thoughts on cryptocurrencies when asked in a reddit "Ask Me Anything" session that was held on Tuesday. To put it bluntly, he is not a fan... at all. Gates stated: The main feature of crypto currencies is their anonymity. I don't think this is a good thing. The...
Read more...
Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak recently revealed that he had seven bitcoins stolen from him in an old school scam that has been around as long as credit cards. Those coins are now valued at roughly $70,000 and change. He wasn't duped by one of the many cryptocurrency scams out there, like those that pretend to be from a tech celebrity such as Elon Musk. The scam Wozniak fell prey to was a simple credit card hustle. Woz says that someone online bought the seven bitcoins from him using a credit card, but the card was canceled after the bitcoin was transferred, so the payment failed to process. To make matters worse Woz says that the card number was also stolen so there was no way to get...
Read more...
Bitcoin is on the upward swing of its current rollercoaster ride, rebounding above $11,000 -- a price that it hasn't seen since January. After soaring to nearly $20,000 in December, the cryptocurrency has crashed hard in the past two months. At one point earlier this month, Bitcoin was trading below $7,000. However, it has since made a rally to its current valuation of around $11,200 according to CoinDesk. It appears that fears of stiffer regulations and an overinflated valuation are starting to subside, which is breathing some new life into Bitcoin. However, Vitalik Buterin, the mastermind behind Ethereum, warns that investors could still stand to lose bigtime with cryptocurrencies. "Cryptocurrencies...
Read more...
Atari has just announced something that will surprise all the gamers out there who grew up on its consoles and games. The company made a big unveil today and while it's not a new console or game, Atari will actually be minting its own new type of cryptocurrency. The new altcoin type will be called "Atari Token" and no, it isn’t trying to take on Bitcoin. Atari Token won't be worth real money apparently, however, it will be used on a new digital entertainment platform to buy content like video games, music, and movies. The deal was inked by Atari SA, the French firm now holding all Atari properties and Infinity Networks. Technically Atari isn’t implementing the new cryptocurrency,...
Read more...
