Daily Archives: March 1, 2017

Rosenberg: Airbnb law amounts to a first Amendment violation – Long Island Business News (subscription)

Posted: March 1, 2017 at 8:53 pm

Traditionally, I avoid using this column to discuss issues that directly relate to my role as an attorney, as I find such practice self-serving and of dubious value for you, dear reader.

Yet, for every rule there is an exception, and the issue soon to be debated in a New York City court has such profound implications for businesses throughout the state that it is worth the time to examine the matter.

Simply distilled, a state law applicable only to NYC currently makes it unlawful to advertise occupancy or use of dwelling units where that occupancy would violate the Multiple Dwelling Law. This improper gag law is so broadly written that it covers literally any form of communication. If a similar statute is adopted with state wide application it would threaten literally any company or individual that seeks to contract for goods or services, whether through traditional mediums or the Internet. This was a law the state legislature granted to the city with the power to enforce, so the potential for this legislation to spread like a toxic weed throughout New York is real (although how it was enacted may be fatally flawed).

Originally designed to constrain Airbnbs widely successful business model of allowing apartment owners and tenants to briefly rent out their dwellings, the city capitulated in enforcing the law against the multibillion dollar Airbnb corporation and even stipulated in Federal Court that City Hall will permanently refrain from taking any action to enforce it against Airbnb.

What New York City forgot is that, irrespective of whether you are up against Airbnb or the lonely apartment owner or tenant, you cant violate the First Amendment. By prohibiting rental advertisements, the city imposes a content-based speech restriction subject to what the law calls heightened judicial scrutiny. It attempts to create, in essence, a legal house of mirrors that the city hopes defendants wont possibly navigate in their attempt to defend themselves.

More threatening for the rest of us who arent looking to offer short term rentals, the city law chills protected commercial speech. The threat of fines and liability would likely impose a form of self-censorship in the marketplace as the interpretation of what is permitted and what is prohibited becomes vague, blurred and problematic. If I ran a magazine, newspaper, broadcast operation or advertising agency, I would be extremely concerned about this laws draconian reach.

The city law also violates the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it seeks to impose strict civil and criminal liability against alleged violators. Specifically, there is no requirement in the statute that an alleged violator know that an advertisement is unlawful. Fortunately, there is precedent here. The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected such efforts to impose strict liability for the dissemination of information, even where, unlike here, the content itself lacks First Amendment protection.

Of course, the City could simply go after those who actually rent units unlawfully, rather than those that merely advertise such rentals, but they seem to have decided there is far easier to pick up a lot of money by just spotting the ads than by actually knocking on the doors of alleged violators to see if a violation has in fact occurred. In fact, the city has recently allocated several million dollars to fund inspectors whose task is to identify and fine apartment owners and tenants who post illegal listings. It is a fair bet they expect to make back that investment quickly by tabulating illegal ads and then sending notices costing $1,000 per first violation, $5,000 per second violation and $7500 per third violation gotcha.

Prohibition taught America that flawed laws and ill-conceived enforcement breeds nothing but contempt for government, for trying to make criminals out of all of us. The City of New York, and by extension the New York State Legislature, would better serve the public if they would promptly review their illegal assault on freedom of commercial speech and strike this improper unconstitutional statute from the books before the courts do it for them.

Rosenberg, a graduate of St. Johns University Law School and resident of Old Westbury, is senior founding with Rosenberg, Calica & Birney LLP, a Garden City law firm.

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Onionshare: secure file transfers using Tor – Ghacks Technology News

Posted: at 8:52 pm

Onionshare is a free open source program for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux that enables you to transfer files security using Tor.

File sharing has not changed all that much in the past ten or so years. You can send files to other users in various ways: using email, (s)ftp, file sharing services, or online storage services. There are a couple of other options such as sharing files using USB storage devices and face to face exchanges.

It is difficult to transfer files securely. You could encrypt files before you send or upload them, but someone listening in could dump the data and try to break the encryption.

Face to face may work best, but only if you are not crossing any borders.

Onionshare was designed as a direct response to a passage in Glenn Greenwalds new book in which he described the issues that he was facing getting Snowden file copies from a fellow journalist.

The open source program Onionshare uses the Tor network for anonymity. What happens in the background is the following:

When you want to share files, Onionshare creates a temporary password protected website that is hosted on the Tor network.

Anyone with knowledge of the URL and the password can access the data, and download it to a computer system. Onionshare does not take care of that part of the communication though, so it is up to the user who set up the file transfer to use a secure channel to inform recipients about the availability of the data.

The recipient opens the URL in the Tor browser, and downloads files hosted on it to the local system. All that is left to do afterwards is to close down the site. This happens automatically by default after the first download.

You may stop this from being the case though if multiple users need to download the file, or if you want to keep it available in case it needs to be downloaded again.

The program -- we have tested the Windows version -- is easy to use. You need to install it on your system, and may launch it right after installation.

Note: You need to run Tor Browser on your system. If you don't have it, download it from the official Tor Project website.

The interface supports drag and drop operations, but you may also hit the add files or add folder button instead to use the file browser. Hit the "start sharing" button afterwards, and wait for the program to create the site in the background. If things go well, you get a custom URL the files or folders you selected are made available on.

Anyone with the url may download those then using Tor.

Passwords are not set up by default. To set up one, click on File > Settings. There you need to switch either to connect using control port, or connect using socket file. The password authentication option becomes available immediately afterwards.

Onionshare is an easy to use, yet anonymous cross-platform file transfer program. You can increase the protection beyond just requiring a password to download the files by encrypting the files.

Now You: Which programs do you use when you need to transfer files over the Internet?

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ExtremeTech explains: All about the dark web, and how to use it – ExtremeTech

Posted: at 8:52 pm

If youve paid any attention to online marketplaces for illegal goods like the now-defunct Silk Road or the FBIs investigations into criminal in cyberspace, chances are youve heard the term dark web. Curious about what it means? Youve come to the right place.

The dark web is sometimes called onionland because of its content accessible only using services like Tor. The rest of the internet is simply referred to as the clearweb, since it isnt generally encrypted.

The dark web works just about the same as the regular internet: it uses the same TCP/IP framework to transmit HTTP and FTP traffic within and between networks, over the same phone, cable or FiOS lines that carry regular internet traffic. Content on the dark web consists of HTML webpages and their assets, just like it does on the rest of the web. In fact, under the hood, the dark web is the same as the regular web, with two important exceptions that also distinguish the dark web from the deep web.

First: the dark web isnt indexed by search engines. Second, content on the dark web cant be accessed with regular web browsing software alone; additional software is required to make the networks talk to one another.

This is because content on the dark web is hosted on overlay networks, which are physically connected to the internet but arent accessible to web crawlers. That relative inaccessibility is because the dark web uses a complete, but fundamentally different, network addressing system than the web addresses most of us know and use. Browsers like Chrome and Firefox are programmed to access website files using the DNS index, which turns a files unique address on its unique server into a string of text that you can type into your address bar. Sites indexed by the DNS registry are accessible via top-level domains like .com and .org, among others. After ICANN opened up the suffixing system to other strings of text, we started to see web addresses that look like home.cern and bit.ly but you can still type those into your address bar and get to a website, because theyre in the official DNS registry. Dark websites dont participate in the DNS system, and web crawlers dont have the software to get onto the dark web, so the dark web and the clearweb dont really cross-pollinate.

Content obscured in this way can still be accessed, but you need the right software. Its a bit like a Wi-Fi network that doesnt broadcast its SSID: you can only get access if you already know exactly how to find it. Some content accessible only through Tor is hosted at a .onion pseudo-top-level domain, which means that in the right software, you might type in foobar.onion and get to the Foobar dark website.

Such software, including the Tor browser bundle, is capable of bridging the differences in network behavior between the dark web and the clearweb. But that only works when youre using a compatible browser and have the right encryption. Tor, Freenet and I2P are the most commonly cited examples of software capable of accessing the dark web. Typing a .onion address into your Chrome address bar wont get you anywhere. Furthermore, many if not most .onion sites are generated sixteen-character non-mnemonic alphanumeric strings, rather than being composed of words like most clearweb URLs.

There also exists a difference in the path web traffic takes on the clearnet versus the dark web. Tor is valuable because it sends your own web traffic through multiple different network nodes, masking its origin and destination. Theres significant overlap between VPNs and the dark web; both services use encryption and multiple network nodes to anonymize traffic. But VPNs deal with clearweb sites that participate in the DNS system, while dark web browsers deal with domains not recognized by ICANN.

The structure of the dark web makes it anonymizing, which means that first and foremost, its used for anonymous communication and web browsing. This accounts for the vast majority of network traffic through Tor. Why seek out anonymity? To read and write about things that might get you in trouble, like political dissent or whistleblowing. The same technology that enables Tor is capable of tunneling out from behind the Great Firewall of China, and the US government contributes to the development of such software.

Anonymity also brings out those who wish to do illegal things. A 2014 study found that of the different kinds of sites on the dark net, there are more markets devoted to drugs and guns than any other kind of dark site, including forums, bitcoin laundering, hacking, fraud, whistleblowing and even regular old porn.

To paraphrase Jim Jeffries, if you want to murder someone, you cant just walk up to Pier 31 and shout GUNS, WHO WANTS TO SELL ME SOME GUNS!? But with a website like an evil eBay that lists weapons and other contraband for sale, all of a sudden you dont have to know someone with black market connections. You just have to be able to install some software.

Tor hidden services are the other thing the dark web does, and theyre what gives the dark web its shady reputation. Hidden services refers to dark sites where both the host and the visitor are anonymous to one another. That technology enables dark web sites that host illegal content to persist. Hidden services account for only 1.5% of the Tor network volume. But the overwhelming majority of resources requested over Tor hidden services fully 80% of that traffic were requests from child abuse sites. Outgoing traffic from the dark web flowed mainly between botnets and their hidden control servers. More detail on Tors traffic patterns and how much of its total bandwidth is used for illegal activities is available in a blog post by the Tor project.

The dark web is notoriously dodgy territory for both buyers and sellers. Law enforcement has been chipping away at the nominal anonymity afforded by software like Tor, and anything of interest on the dark web is as likely to be a scam as it is to be a honeypot. Between social engineering and software vulnerabilities, it is a realm best accessed while wielding some trustworthy anti-malware.

For a long time, the Silk Road was the biggest game in darknet commerce. It allowed users to sell a great many illegal things, and inspired a number of similarly designed copycat markets. Transactions there were conducted in bitcoins and other virtual currency, and then goods were shipped through the mail. But a high-profile bust and ensuing court case put several Silk Road admins in jail. The media spotlight has impinged on the Silk Roads relative obscurity, reducing its value as a black marketplace.

From Tumblr.

While Uncle Sam contributes to the development of Tor and similar anonymity resources, the government is also known to take more of a proprietary approach, considering even the dark web to be within American jurisdiction when site hosting is in question. The FBI paid Carnegie Mellon to crack Tor in pursuit of a criminal case. They even waded into the muck and ran a huge sting operation on Playpen, a darknet child porn site by taking over control of the site and running it for weeks as a poisoned well to catch its users.

The dark net is an excellent example of how difficult it is to preventcriminals from using anonymizing services designed to protect honest dissenters. Tors anonymizing functions are critically important to people who rely on it to discuss sensitive topics without fear of reprisal. The debate over how much light should be shone into the dark web is an ongoing topic of discussion. How much illegal activity should be allowed to maintain Tors positive benefits, and is there a way to unmask child molesters and other illicit activity without compromising the security that makes the dark web work?

Now read: 19 ways to stay anonymous and protect your privacy online

Check out our ExtremeTech Explains series for more in-depth coverage of todays hottest tech topics.

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The best free privacy software 2017 – TechRadar

Posted: at 8:52 pm

Free privacy software

Online privacy is a hot topic, with even world leaders weighing in on the subject. Many of the big-name websites and companies will track your activities to deliver targeted advertising, and can build up an astonishingly detailed profile including your interests, spending habits, age, location and more.

If you would prefer to keep your personal details private, a VPN or proxy tool will help. See our guide to setting up and maintaining a VPN.

As well as preventing third parties building up a profile of you, the best free privacy software can open up the web, granting you access to sites blocked in your country, to access region-locked content when you're travelling away from home, and to add a layer of protection when you use a public Wi-Fi network.

A whole browser dedicated to your privacy, Tor Browser is the cornerstone of any privacy toolkit

Tor Browser is probably the best-known anonymous browsing tool out there, and it is described as a 'censorship circumvention tool'.

Tor Browser has a vast following in the online privacy and security communities. It works by bouncing your communication through numerous encrypted node on the internet, making it impossible to determine your location or other identifying information.

Tor Browser employs complex technology, but is refreshingly accessible. It's based on the same code as Firefox, and guides you through the process of getting online one step at a time.

It uses different connection methods depending on what you're trying to achieve, but there's no need to understand the details because it's all taken care of for you. This combination of effective protection and ease of use makes Tor Browser the best free privacy software you can download today.

Download here: Tor Browser

Privoxy gives you total control over your privacy, but the options might be overwhelming

Privoxy is a web proxy tool that's available not only for Mac, Windows and Linux, but also Android and iOS. It is a tremendously powerful tool, but you'll need to invest a little time and effort to get it up and running.

Privoxy can be used in conjunction with just about any web browser, which is a big bonus; simply set the browser to run its traffic through the tool.

However, one of Privoxy's key features could also be a drawback for new users: it gives you very granular control over privacy settings, and configuring them is very much a manual process. There's a helpful quick start guide available, but it has the potential to be off-putting.

That said, if you're happy to persevere, this free privacy software lets you set up advanced filters that will not only ensure you remain anonymous online, but also protect you against unwanted ads.

Download here: Privoxy

Free privacy software that protects your identity by hiding your IP address from prying eyes

Hotspot Shield VPN is available in two flavors: a free, ad-supported one, and a paid-for version that offer unlimited bandwidth. Hotspot Shield hides your IP address and provides encrypted traffic tunnelling (ideal for use on public Wi-Fi networks) to improve security and ensure privacy.

You may not want to use Hotspot Shield at all time. For instance, you may only be interested in using it to access certain sites that are blocked in your country. In this case you can create shortcuts to individual sites in the Hotspot Shield window which will enable protection before launching the sites. Protection can also be toggled on an off with a single click.

The paid-for version, Hotspot Elite, only costs a few pounds or dollars a month, but it's worth trying the free edition first before opening your wallet. Its additional features, including ad-free browsing and dedicated customer support, make it a tempting proposition.

Download here: Hotspot Shield VPN

Free and user-friendly, TunnelBear is VPN made easy but keep an eye on the data limit

In addition to anonymous browsing, free VPN tool TunnelBear can also be used to bypass traffic-shaping and throttling put in place by ISPs.

The free version of TunnelBear gives you up to 500MB of data each month, but if this isn't enough, unlimited data is available for a subscription fee, with prices starting at US$4.16 per month (about 3, AU$6).

Whether you go premium or stick with the free version, you can share a single account between up to five phones, tablets, Windows PCs or Macs.

Configuration is incredibly simple, and TunnelBear's free privacy software can be used with any browser. It's probably the most accessible VPN tool there is, and is just about impossible not to recommend.

Download here: TunnelBear

A great VPN tool for protecting your privacy online, but free users have to wait their turn

Another multi-platform VPN tool, CyberGhost VPN is available as a free ad-supported app, as well as a paid-for edition offering better performance and more features.

For day-to-day or occasional use, the free version should be perfectly adequate. Configuration is very simple, with the only potential stumbling block being the installation of a virtual network adaptor.

With a single click, CyberGhost VPN will activate, giving the impression that you're browsing from another country. The free privacy software also lets you keep an eye on how much traffic you've transferred through the service using a handy graph.

The downside of using the free version is that there's a limited numbers of spaces on the servers, so you may have to wait to gain access (although you're unlikely to be kept hanging for long).

Download here: CyberGhost VPN

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Kraken Acquires Yet Another Cryptocurrency Firm, Cryptowatch – Finance Magnates

Posted: at 8:52 pm

Kraken, one of the largest cryptocurrency trading venues in the world, has acquired the charting and trading platform Cryptowatch.Used by thousands totrade up to 22 digital assets, Cryptowatch has seen rapid growth in the past two years increasing its active user-base by 700%.

The financial details of the acquisition have not been made, but it is revealed thatCryptowatch founder,Artur Sapek is joining Kraken to lead the development ofits interface as part of the deal while continuing to develop Cryptowatch.Kraken has also already leveraged Cryptowatch to release an upgraded trading interface based on the platform.

In just 2 years Cryptowatch grew into one of the pillars of the digital asset trading community, Sapek said. Teaming up with an exchange was the natural next step, and Kraken was my first choice. The Kraken team has built a very mature and reliable exchange, and I look forward to working with them to deliver the best trading software in the industry.

Im thrilled to welcome the Cryptowatch trading platform and its founder into the Kraken family, said Kraken CEO Jesse Powell. As the industrys leading charting tool for traders, we plan to devote more resources and talent to further enhance its offering. And weve purposed the technology to provide a great new charting and trading platform to Kraken clients as the first step in improving our own interface. Its a great start to 2017 and I cant wait to share what else weve got in the pipeline.

In 2016 Kraken acquired threemajor bitcoin exchanges(Coinsetter, Cavirtex and CleverCoin) as well as the bitcoin wallet funding service Glidera soon to be rebranded as Kraken Direct.

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Botnets mining cryptocurrency – Enterprise Times

Posted: at 8:52 pm

You Are Here: Home 2017 March 1 Botnets mining cryptocurrency

Security vendor Forcepoint has identified a new mining botnet targeting the Monero cryptocurrency. Using bots to mine cryptocurrencies is nothing new and there have been several claims that botnets are targeting Monero over the last 15 months. This blog by Luke Somerville and Abel Toro goes further. It provides the evidence for an active botnet exploiting SMEs and local government systems in the Haut-Rhin region of France.

Using a botnet to mine for cryptocurrencies today makes sense. The complexity of the problems to be solved require an ever increasing amount of compute power. This has created a number of cooperatives where members join a mining consortium to share compute power and make money. What is happening here is that cybercriminals are looking for a more profitable route than being part of a mining consortium.

Somerville and Toro reference a Malwarebytes report from January. In that report, researchers looked at the use of the Sundown exploit kit to deploy a cryptocurrency miner. That mining tool was focused on Monero and was being actively updated. It appears from the Somerville and Toro blog that other campaigns to infect machines have been successful. Surprisingly both blogs call out the lack of obfuscation of the code used in the attacks. This has made it easy for the researchers to identify and examine the attacks.

The command and control servers are mainly hosted on legitimate websites. Interestingly the majority of those websites are hosted on OVH. This might be the attackers using sites based in France to get around security controls on the machines. The theory being that security software would expect users to access sites based in France rather than in Vietnam, Russia or China.

It is a surprise that we havent seen more campaigns aimed at botnet mining of cryptocurrency over the last few years. The increasing price of most cryptocurrencies is enough to make it attractive. Given the size of some botnets and their cost, it is certain cost effective. What is interesting is that this is targeted at cryptocurrency that is relatively unknown outside the DarkNet.

Ian has been a journalist, editor and analyst for over 30 years. While technology remains the core focus of Ian's writings he also covers science fiction, children toys, field hockey and progressive rock. As an analyst, Ian is the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Practice Leader for Creative Intellect Consulting Ltd. A keen hockey goalkeeper, Ian coaches and plays for a number of clubs including Guildford Hockey Club, Alton Hockey Club, Royal Navy, Combined Services, UK Armed Forces and several touring sides. His ambition is to one day represent England. Ian has also been selected to be the goalkeeping coach for Hockey for Heroes, a UK charity supporting the UK Armed Forces.

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What Are Bitcoin And Gold Saying About Paper Money – Seeking Alpha

Posted: at 8:52 pm

This week, gold rose to a new short-term high and Bitcoin to a new all-time price peak. Gold is traditionally a safe-haven asset. In times of uncertainty and fear, gold tends to outperform other assets. Gold is also a traditional hedge against inflation that eats away at the value of many assets. Gold metal has a long history as a commodity and a means of exchange, a currency.

Over the course of history, gold has been around a lot longer than all of the currencies now traded in the foreign exchange market around the world. Gold is a commodity, and in the United States the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates the largest and most respected gold futures market in the world, the COMEX division of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that is new on the financial scene. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission has defined Bitcoin as a commodity but it is much more than that. Bitcoin is a pan-global currency. Central banks, monetary authorities, or supranational financial institutions around the world do not control Bitcoin in any way, shape, or form.

So far in 2017, the prices of both gold and Bitcoin are moving higher. The bullish price action in these two assets could be telling us a lot about the value of paper money these days as well as the future for the status quo of foreign exchange markets.

Gold takes off in December, again

After a sharp and painful correction that took gold from over $1345 on November 9 to lows of $1127.20 on the active month COMEX April futures contract on December 15, the yellow metal shifted back into bullish mode.

Source: CQG

As the daily chart highlights, gold took off to the upside again after making lows in the middle of December and traded to a high of $1264.90 on Monday, February 27. The next level of technical resistance for the yellow metal is above $1300 per ounce. Gold has moved higher as fear and uncertainty in markets has caused a flight to quality assets and gold has a long history as a safe haven for investors.

The all-time nominal high for the price of gold came back in September 2011 when it traded to $1920.70. Gold has been making a statement about the faith in paper currencies since it initially rallied from the $1046.20 level in December 2015 and the trajectory of price is, in many ways, a commentary on faith in currencies and other asset prices these days. While gold has been shinning, another alternative currency has blown the roof off and traded to a new all-time high this week.

Bitcoin moves to a new all-time high

The price action in Bitcoin has been more bullish than in gold.

Source: CoinDesk

On March 1, the cryptocurrency traded to its highest level in history when the price hit over $1225 against the U.S. dollar, and by the time you read this piece, it is possible that Bitcoin is even higher.

The price action in both gold and Bitcoin has been bullish in 2017, which I interpret as an important event for the future value of world foreign exchange markets.

Paper currencies are losing value - backed by nothing but goodwill

Paper currencies around the world have the backing of the full faith and credit of the governments that print the dollars, euros, yen, Swiss francs, pound sterling, RMB, and many other world foreign exchange instruments. Gold and Bitcoin have appreciated against all of these currencies so far in 2017.

There are virtually no countries in the world today that back their monetary units with gold, silver or any other hard asset. While central banks, monetary authorities, and supranational financial institutions continue to hold gold as part of their foreign exchange reserves, the days of a gold standard ended decades ago.

The global financial crisis of 2008 and slowdown in Chinese economic growth over recent years has caused a tremendous amount of volatility in markets across all asset classes. Central banks have used monetary tools such as low short-term interest rates and quantitative easing to stimulate economic conditions. While many of these tools have avoided financial disaster by encouraging spending and borrowing and inhibiting savings, the trend in monetary policy and effects of massive liquidity has diluted the value of currencies to a point where faith in central banks and governments has been on the decline.

The value of a currency is a reflection of both economic and political conditions within the nation that prints legal tender. In China, a devaluation of the RMB has led many within the nation who have seen their wealth grow over recent years to seek more stable vehicles to preserve the value of their savings.

In Europe, Japan, and many other nations around the world, economic conditions remain lethargic. Only in the United States has the economy seen a turn of events with unemployment declining and GDP starting to show signs of growth. However, the new administration in the U.S. does not wish to see a runaway dollar when it comes to value against other currencies.

The administration wants the dollar lower

In 2014, the U.S. central bank began tapering off its quantitative easing program, and in late 2015, the short-term Fed Funds rate rose above zero for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008.

Source: CQG

As the monthly chart of the U.S. dollar index illustrates, the greenback took off against other world currencies in 2014 and rose from 79.83 to 100.38 in only ten short months. The over 27% appreciation of the dollar caused hardship for multinational U.S. companies, which found their products less competitive on world markets as a result of the rally in the dollar.

The dollar index stabilized and traded in a range from 92-100.60 during a twenty-month consolidation period that following the ten-month rally. However, after the election of Donald Trump as the forty-fifth President of the United States, the U.S. currency broke above technical resistance on the upside and rallied to the highest level since 2002 when it traded at 103.815 at the beginning of January 2017.

In the past, administrations in the United States followed a strong dollar policy. However, there are signs that the Trump Administration under Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin will not be advocates for a strong dollar at this time. Additionally, when the U.S. Federal Reserve released their monthly minutes of the latest FOMC meeting last week, one of the biggest concerns voiced by members of the body that determines short-term interest rates was that a strong dollar could weigh on economic growth.

The bottom line is that the dollar is strong against virtually all other currency instruments but the administration and central bank do not want to see the dollar continue to rise to new heights versus the world's other major currency instruments. Therefore, it is probable that the rallies in gold and Bitcoin are a reflection of a world where all paper currencies are losing value.

So many issues on the horizon favor both Bitcoin and gold

Currencies are a reflection of politics and economics. It was the financial crisis of 2008, an economic event that caused central banks to add liquidity to markets to avoid recessions or worse around the globe. However, today it seems that political forces have taken over and weigh on the value of monies printed by the governments of the world.

In China, the devaluation of the yuan and the non-convertibility of the currency for many Chinese, has led to an increase in the demand for pan-global monetary instruments like gold and Bitcoin. The rest of Asia depends on China, the world's second richest nation, for economic growth and stability. Therefore, the Chinese economic slowdown and currency devaluation could be leading other Asian citizens to safe haven and pan-global monetary instruments. In Japan, short-term interest rates at negative forty basis points make the yen a less than attractive currency to hold.

In Europe, the Brexit vote last June was likely the first shoe to drop on the political front. With the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, the economic might of Europe suffered a blow. In 2017, three other major E.U. member nations will go to the polls to elect leaders for the coming years. In the U.K., many voted to exit the E.U. because of immigration policies made in Brussels. These policies are not popular with many in other member nations and it is possible that the other member nations will also go rogue and decide to elect candidates that are not supportive of E.U. policy.

The first election will take place in March when citizens of the Netherlands go to the polls to elect a Prime Minister. A populist candidate is currently close to the top of the polls. In April, France will elect their next leader and Marine Le Pen, a far-right, anti-immigration, and anti-E.U. candidate is also receiving a lot of support in the polls leading up to the election. Later in this year, Germans will go to the voting booth to either give Chancellor Andrea Merkel another term or replace her with another candidate.

Germany is the largest and most influential economy in Europe. The Brexit vote in the United Kingdom started a nationalistic trend in Europe and if these three nations decide to reject the status quo in the months ahead, it will have dire ramifications for the future of the European Union and the euro currency.

Source: CQG

As the monthly chart of the euro currency highlights, the currency has declined from around the $1.40 level against the dollar in May 2014 to under $1.06, the lowest level since 2003. A rejection of the current leadership and those who favor the Union over a nationalistic solution will likely cause the euro currency to weaken further in the months ahead. Like in Japan, the short-term yield on the euro is at negative forty basis points and the European Central Bank continues to follow a course of quantitative easing making the euro currency a less than attractive instrument to hold.

The election of Donald Trump as the forty-fifth President of the U.S. was yet another blow to the trend towards globalism in the world. President Trump has pledged to "put America first" when it comes to relations with the rest of the world. The new administration ran on a platform that was against many multilateral trade agreements negotiated by former administrations. President Trump has told the world that trade agreements will be on a bilateral basis going forward.

He also told the rest of the world that protection comes at a price and that other allied nations around the world will need to start contributing their fair share as America has been shouldering the financial burden of keeping the world safe causing the nation's deficit to grow to over $20 trillion. A dramatic change in U.S. relations with the rest of the world is yet another reason for uncertainty and fear when it comes to the future of financial markets.

Gold and Bitcoin are moving higher so far in 2017 and the value of paper currencies are in question as citizens across many nations are going to the polls and expressing dissatisfaction with the status quo. It is interesting that a move away from globalism towards nationalistic candidates in the political world is causing gold and Bitcoin to appreciate. After all, in many ways, gold and Bitcoin are pan-global currency instruments that attract safe haven buying.

For centuries, gold has been not only a store of value, it has been an instrument used when the political climate creates the need for flight capital. When it comes to Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency is a means for people all over the world to avoid the manipulation and restrictions placed on money by central banks and governments so they can money wealth and savings around the globe. Many around the world are rejecting the politics of globalism in exchange for nationalism.

The world has become a smaller place because of advances in technology. The strength in gold and Bitcoin is telling us that many embrace a global view towards economics and that their money and wealth should not be under control of the governments and central banks in power. It will be interesting to see if global wealth and free flowing money that travels under the radar of governments can coexist with nationalistic political policies around the world and if the governments can do anything about the increasing popularity of these assets.

The Chinese have a saying that goes something like this, "May you live in interesting times." It will be interesting to see if the trend that started in 2016 with the Brexit vote and Presidential election in the United States continues in Europe and around the globe in 2017. Right now, both gold and Bitcoin are saying that the trend is firmly in place.

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Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Bitcoin site CoinDesk poaches Bloomberg exec as new CEO – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 8:51 pm

CoinDesk, the leading trade publication covering bitcoin and blockchain news, has a new CEO, its first: Kevin Worth, former CFO of Bloomberg Digital Media.

While digital currency may be a non-traditional coverage area, the jobotherwise looks like an obviousfit withWorths background in managing digital content businesses.

In the late 90s, Worth worked in corporate strategic planning at the New York Times. Then he was founding CEO of The Deal, the financial data and news site funded by investment banker Bruce Wasserstein. Worth stayed on for a year after The Deal sold to The Street. He spent the pastcouple of years as CFO of Bloombergs digital and television businesses.

Just over 12 months ago, in January 2016, CoinDesk sold to Digital Currency Group, the biggest investment firm in bitcoin and blockchainstartups (withinvestments in over 90), led by Barry Silbert, the founder of SecondMarket. DCG placed its own Ryan Selkis in charge of CoinDesk on the business side, but pledged that Selkis and DCG would have no involvement in editorial decisions at the site.

Selkis was never CoinDesks CEO; Worth is its first. He will run business and editorial, the way that a typical magazine publisher would; the sites editor is Pete Rizzo.

Kevin Worth, new CEO of CoinDesk

CoinDesk has 13 full-time employees.Last month, the sitemade its first acquisition: the bitcoin data app Lawnmower. Lawnmowers historical price data and charts, as well as its staff, got folded into CoinDesks in-house research arm(which produces reports such asa new one on blockchains for insurance), a sign it is serious about the information-selling side of its business.

DCGs main interest in CoinDesk was always for Consensus, its live bitcoin conference in May, first held in 2015. Last year, the event attracted 1,5000 attendees. Worth, from his time at Bloomberg, has seen the growth of live events as a money-maker for publishers. These days, live programming is a vital arm of the business for news organizations like Time Inc, Business Insider, and Re/code.

Under Worth, expect CoinDesk to place further emphasis on two pillars: live events like Consensus, and research reports for a fee. To me, if you look at where the value in the content marketplace is being created, Worth says, its live events and business information products. I see an opportunity for CoinDesk to gain a pole position in becoming the must-have, go-to resource for the industry.

Worth sounds more fired up about events and information than the news side, which is what CoinDesk is for many of its readers: a vital news outlet. He confirms that Consensus, for now, is his main focus.

So, moving forward, will CoinDesk look more like a data resource, or a news blog?

I think its a little all-of-the-above, Worth says. I can tell you that the playbooks I have had in the past think about having many different audiences, and how to serve all of them. What got me so excited about coming is that its pretty much a whiteboard.

A look at CoinDesks homepage on Feb. 28, 2017

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In terms of news coverage, it sounds like CoinDesk may soon see itself less as a mainstream news site covering bitcoin and blockchain news for the masses. When asked if other business news outlets that cover bitcoin news are competitors, Worth says, If they are serving a broad, general interest community, then no. We are keeping our eye on serving industry professionals.

Just a few months ago, Worth knew very little about the digital currency bitcoin, and the blockchain technology that underpins it. (What exactly is blockchain? Watch this video.) After Barry Silbert called, I did a lot of research and started to learn a lot more, and I drank the kool-aid, if you will, says Worth.

He hasnt bought any bitcoin as an investment just yet.

Digital currency, Worth says, feels a little bit to me like when the first Internet hype came. There is a tremendous need to understand all the potential implications, people trying to understand it and make sense of it. From my time at Bloomberg Im close to the world of institutional finance, and thats an industry that hasnt really had the amount of transformation that has gone on in, say, the media business. So, lets see where the opportunity is for those businesses to transform, which are much more fundamental to the global economy.

As the interest in blockchain technology (especially from banks) has grown, CoinDesk has grown and expanded its purview from bitcoin, to additional digital assets like Litecoin, Ripple, and Ethereum, to blockchain news. In the near future, Worth sees the challenge and competition coming from data providers, not necessarily media outlets.

I see this as a wide open field, he says. What Im focused on, to be honest with you, its not other media or content companies that are the competition, but other information providers who might move into the space, whether thats consulting firms or other information providers. But we ought to be smarter than them, because they may just have two or three people looking at it and we have a whole team.

Other information providers that might move into the bitcoin and blockchain space? That sounds like it could include Bloomberg, his old employer. And thats fine for Worth, who says he learned a great deal while there. I understand what their business model is about. Its really the only company I can think of where they have scale but its still dominated by the owner, who is still the CEO and its his capital and you follow his lead, Worth says. After his years there, hes ready for something entrepreneurial.

And thats why Silbert tapped Worth, he says: corporate experience that can help turn a modest-sized blog into a full-scale information seller.

I believe digital currency is a transformational asset class that will attract meaningful amounts of capital over time, Silbert says. (Its a sound bite he likes to repeat.) And then theres a lot of interest in blockchain, and distributed ledger technology, to make processes more efficient Were obviously super bullish on bitcoin, blockchain technology, and all the applications that are going to come. All we needed was an experienced operator like Kevin to come in and help scale the business.

CoinDesk expects to become profitable this year.

Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering technology and media. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.

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Development Completed on MGT Bitcoin Mining Pool – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 8:51 pm

DURHAM, N.C., March 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (MGTI) today announced that its Bitcoin Mining Pool is scheduled to be fully available to the Bitcoin network early in the second quarter of 2017. Code development has been completed and security testing is underway. Upon launch, MGT plans to offer the world's most secure mining pool, branded MacPool, using the Company's proprietary cybersecurity utilities, and hosted exclusively on U.S. based servers.

Bitcoin mining pools are a mechanism for Bitcoin mining nodes to combine resources, share hashing power and split rewards on a pro-rata basis. With Bitcoin valued at all-time highs, and consumer adoption reaching an inflection point, transaction numbers are expected to grow significantly. The growth in daily commerce using Bitcoin will increase the importance of aggregated mining pools to verify and report transactions to the Blockchain.

John McAfee, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of MGT stated, "Our mining pool is a natural outgrowth of our investment in Blockchain technology as a foundation for future cybersecurity products. Large and respected Bitcoin mining operators will rapidly take over the enormous transaction processing requirements necessary for all companies to secure themselves in the near future. As a publicly-traded company, MGT leverages our unique opportunity to provide investors with a suitable proxy to participate in the profitable bitcoin mining space."

About MGT Capital Investments, Inc.MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (MGTI) is in the process of acquiring and developing a diverse portfolio of cybersecurity technologies. With industry pioneer John McAfee at its helm, MGT is positioned to address various cyber threats through advanced protection technologies for mobile and personal tech devices, as well as corporate networks.

Also as part of its corporate efforts in secure technologies, MGT is growing its capacity in mining Bitcoin. Currently at 5.0 PH/s, the Company's facility in Washington state produces about 100 Bitcoins per month, ranking it as one of the largest U.S.-based Bitcoin miners. Further, MGT is in active discussions with financial partners to grow Bitcoin output materially.

Lastly, MGT stockholders have voted to change the corporate name of MGT to "John McAfee Global Technologies, Inc." Following a dispute over ownership and permitted usage of the name McAfee, The Company and Intel have agreed to a mediation process to avoid unnecessary legal costs.

For more information on the Company, please visit:http://ir.stockpr.com/mgtci.

Forwardlooking StatementsThis press release contains forwardlooking statements. The words or phrases "would be," "will allow," "intends to," "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimate," "project," or similar expressions are intended to identify "forwardlooking statements." All information set forth in this news release, except historical and factual information, represents forwardlooking statements. This includes all statements about the Company's plans, beliefs, estimates and expectations. These statements are based on current estimates and projections, which involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include issues related to: rapidly changing technology and evolving standards in the industries in which the Company and its subsidiaries operate; the ability to obtain sufficient funding to continue operations, maintain adequate cash flow, profitably exploit new business, license and sign new agreements; the unpredictable nature of consumer preferences; and other factors set forth in the Company's most recently filed annual report and registration statement. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forwardlooking statements, which reflect management's analysis only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forwardlooking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof. Readers should carefully review the risks and uncertainties described in other documents that the Company files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Opinion: Should you invest in a bitcoin ETF? – MarketWatch

Posted: at 8:51 pm

Digital cryptocurrency bitcoin hit a record above $1,200 last week. Thats in large part because of speculation about the potential launch of the first-ever U.S. bitcoin ETF, but it also may be because of the uncertainty around all manner of investments in 2017.

After all, bitcoins advocates claim that it is a safe haven asset akin to gold. And according to a recent CNBC analysis, the digital currency has performed better than any other currency in every year since 2010 apart from 2014.

In an age where central banks in Europe and Japan continue to keep rates in negative territory and accusations of currency manipulation are a fixture of the Trump administration, you can understand why a digital currency like bitcoin has some appeal.

But its worth noting that bitcoin US:BTCUSD is notoriously volatile, and that its underperformance in 2014 was highlighted by a tremendous flop of about 70% from roughly $950 in January to under $300 at the end of that year. And since the currency has digital roots and was launched less than a decade ago, its also a popular target for internet crooks from small-scale phishing scams targeting would-be investors to hackers making off with a cool $65 million in bitcoin from Hong Kong exchange Bitfinex.

So whats the future of bitcoin? Will an ETF launch legitimize the digital currency and create a new option for investors looking to diversify into alternative assets? Or will the ups and downs of bitcoin continue, with a lucky few winning on their gamble even as volatility and outright criminal activity bankrupt others?

Here are some pros and cons of investing in this digital currency:

Long-term staying power: Bitcoin has reached roughly $19 billion in market value about 60% more than the total value of the digital currency during its previous peak in the 2014 bitcoin bubble. That rise hasnt been without serious volatility, of course, but the long-term gains in the last few years are dramatic as the currency has soared from roughly $15 as the start of 2013 to roughly $1,200 at present.

Playing nice with regulators: Despite a bitcoin user base that is sometimes generalized as libertarian or even anarchistic in their politics, there are many digital currency advocates who are quite comfortable playing by the rules of Washington and Wall Street going forward. A representative of the Bitcoin Foundation, for instance, told policy makers in 2013 that the organization wishes to craft a sane regulatory environment, and that it is comfortable with oversight so long as rulemaking is open and transparent. And outside the U.S., digital currency advocates in Australia and India are pushing self-regulation as a first step toward a shared set of rules in these marketplaces. This is all very good for the future of bitcoin as a legitimate alternative asset.

Former U.S. Chief Information Security Officer Brig. Gen. Gregory Touhill and Former Central Intelligence Director James Woolsey rank about the actors that pose the greatest threat to U.S. security. They speak with WSJ's Gerald Seib at the CIO Network in San Francisco.

Bitcoin isnt the problem bureaucracy is: There is a very real risk that the SEC will continue to drag its feet and we may not see a bitcoin ETF in the near future. But that could be a commentary on market bureaucracy rather than the future of bitcoin. As the former head of ETF listings at the New York Stock Exchange recently told MarketWatch, Bitcoin is new and different, and theres no incentive for regulators to be innovative. Even if there are setbacks, the rapid adoption of bitcoin is encouraging and like many technologies, it simply needs to wait for everyone else to catch up. Being an early adopter has been highly lucrative for bold investors in recent years, and things may only improve as the market and merchants catch up.

Crazy volatility: Bitcoin is hardly the only volatile investment out there. Take three-times leveraged gold miner investments Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF NUGT, +1.79% and Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X ETF DUST, -2.19% as the poster children of aggressive, short-term instruments that can make a lucky few rich or bankrupt the unprepared.

In a typical retirement portfolio, there is no real place for bitcoin or leveraged ETFs or naked short selling or other risky strategies.

Former U.S. Chief Information Security Officer Brig. Gen. Gregory Touhill talks about some of the motivations of the hackers attacking U.S. companies. He speaks with WSJ's Gerald Seib at the CIO Network in San Francisco.

Hackers and scandals: The 2015 Silk Road scandal and the 2016 Bitfinex theft are pretty dramatic examples of the risks that come with an asset that isnt tangible. And even if you just isolated incidents, you have to acknowledge what such events do to investor sentiment. Just as the Wells Fargo WFC, +3.20% fraud scandal of 2016 had real consequences for the stock, further data breaches or bitcoin thefts could create huge headwinds for bitcoin investors and the adoption of the cryptocurrency. Throw in continued chatter about how bitcoin is the preferred currency for drug lords and sex traffickers, and even the most enthusiastic supporter must admit the risk of real tarnish to the bitcoin brand if these headlines continue.

Bitcoins big risk is its big reach: A 2016 report from a group of regulators that includes the Treasury, the SEC and the Federal Reserve warned that risks of bitcoin may not become apparent until they are deployed at scale and specifically highlighted potential problems arising simply because of the speed and volume of transactions.

There are plenty of other honest reasons to be concerned but when bitcoins biggest systemic challenge is simply executing transactions and reliably integrating into the financial system, that is a big red flag. It doesnt mean bitcoin doesnt have staying power, but it should warn investors of just how risky this currency remains despite talk of a mainstream ETF.

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