Items tagged with bitcoin
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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:...
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....
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...
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...
Read more...
The effect that cryptocurrency mining has had on the graphics card market has been so extreme, very few people could have predicted it. GPUs that were as easy to purchase as a gallon of milk became as hard to find as the hottest deal at Best Buy on Black Friday. In addition to the rarity, inflated pricing has been a real issue as well, with many GPUs costing twice as much (or more) than their intended MSRP. A $649 GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, for example, can currently be had as "cheap" as $900, and that's a relative bargain compared to some of the other pricing we've seen. It's not hard to find the same...
Read more...
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered a resident in Brooklyn, New York to cease his Bitcoin mining operation after it was discovered that the hardware he was using to mine Bitcoin was causing interference with 4G LTE signals on T-Mobile's wireless network. If that is truly the case, this incident adds a new wrinkle to the already controversial world of cryptocurrency. In a letter to the person responsible, the FCC said it used "direction finding techniques" to locate the source of the offending hardware, in this case an Antminer s5 Bitcoin miner, a popular mining ASIC that is...
Read more...
In the span of a few short years, cryptocurrency mining went from being virtually unknown to making making waves in the tech community. While mining may not have caught on with mainstream audiences yet, the entire market has been affected by the new-age gold digging. GPU prices are particularly affected, with many models costing twice as much on the market as their SRPs would suggest. Fortunately, the same price hikes have avoided CPUs, even though they can prove pretty potent in mining. Clearly, many people want a piece of mining, including those who are in a position to take advantage of a really...
Read more...
If you're well-seasoned internet user, surely you have seen scams over the years that revolved around a Nigerian prince who needs your help to move money out of the country. We all know that it is a scam, yet for a long time, people have fallen for it. That Nigerian Prince scam is now back and has a new twist while spreading via Twitter. The scam sees nefarious users making Twitter handles that are very close to legitimate and well-known Twitter users. The scammer then responds to one of the real poster's tweets to give the appearance that they started the thread. The scammer then puts up...
Read more...
