Daily Archives: August 8, 2017

The Bitcoin Cash Fork Was a Dangerous Trick – Fortune

Posted: August 8, 2017 at 3:49 am

Bitcoin Hard ForkNurPhoto via Getty Images

The newly created Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a rushed spinoff of Bitcoin (BTC), a clonecoin of which there have been many in Bitcoins past. Because the name is confusing, many have taken to calling it Bcash to avoid buyer confusion.

There have been myriad clonecoins of various types since Bitcoin's inception. Bitcoin Cash is a style of clone that copies Bitcoins codebase along with its blockchain up until a certain point. Normally when new alternative cryptocurrencies are created, developers just clone the code and not the blockchain. But Bitcoin Cash copied Bitcoins blockchain as well, which created a situation in which everyone that had one bitcoin suddenly also had one bitcoin cash.

The creation of Bitcoin Cash was an orchestrated scheme, rushed to the point of engendering significant safety risks. Digital currencies just dont spontaneously appear out of nowhere. The Bitcoin Cash fork was created by a developer that wanted to increase block sizes, with the hypothetical result being more transactions being processed on the blockchain.

This might sound like a good idea, but clonecoins can be incredibly disruptive to risk management and operational demands on digital currency infrastructure companies. The cost to launch a clonecoin is minimal, but the overhead for the ecosystem to actually support it is high. As Bitcoin Cash duplicated Bitcoin, at the time of the fork every bitcoin holder now had coins on another blockchain, and therefore skin in the game. This was a type of psychological experiment to see if people as a group could be tricked into ascribing value to something created from nothing, if they were given it as a gift. This experiment seemed to work, and it put a great deal of pressure on exchanges and wallet providers to support Bitcoin Cash, whereas a new altcoin would largely just be ignored.

Some exchanges such as Coinbase simply said they would not support Bitcoin Cash and urged their users to who felt otherwise to withdraw their coins prior to August 1, when the cryptocurrency forked. I can identify with these exchanges. Having run an exchange myself, I can tell you that supporting a new coin isnt something you rush into. Customer support teams need to be aware of the complexities and nuances so they can explain them to customers. Systems for processing deposits and withdrawals must be updated. Additional servers need to be spun up and integrated with existing systems. Security auditing and quality assurance testing must run their course. Compliance guidelines and terms of service need to be updated and reviewed by legal teams.

We have always taken a security-first approach to technology here at Blockstream, and commend exchanges for doing likewise. Exchanges are the operational end of Bitcoin infrastructure, with billions of dollars under technical management. In Bitcoin Cash, keys controlling ownership of coins are shared with real Bitcoin investments totaling $50 billion. Sharing those Bitcoin keys with untested software in order to claim a Bitcoin Cash gift is highly riskymaybe too risky.

The Bitcoin Cash chain may survive, but its value will likely dip below $100. Its currently trading anywhere from $200 to $300 on various exchanges, but this price is artificially inflated due to many exchanges refusing to accept deposits, as well as the Bitcoin Cash blockchain not functioning properly. Bitcoins blockchain processes a block of transactions roughly every 10 minutes, but Bitcoin Cash average block times are an hour (sometimes with no blocks for 13 hours). This means that users are having issues with even sending their bitcoin cash to exchanges to sell off.

We can already see a correlation between when Bitcoin Cash transactions are processed and when massive selloffs take place on exchanges. Compound that with the fact that 76% of all bitcoin cash that will ever exist is already mined and waiting to be sold , that there is absolutely no Bitcoin Cash integration or support in the real world, that its codebase is being maintained by a single developer, the long-term prospects of the new cryptocurrency are unclear.

Whatever happens though, Bitcoin Cashs birth has shown that markets can be manipulated with just a bit of computing power, a participating exchange, and a healthy dose of greed. If youre running a digital currency exchange or wallet, beware the attack of the clonecoins.

Samson Mow is the chief strategy officer at Blockstream .

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The Bitcoin Cash Fork Was a Dangerous Trick - Fortune

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Bitcoin extends record climb, as digital currencies on the rise – MarketWatch

Posted: at 3:49 am

Bitcoin on Monday extended its ascent into rare air, with the digital currency adding to a recent record run-up about a week since the currency split into two distinct cyber units: bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

A single bitcoin BTCUSD, +2.39% was up 3.5% at $3,369.82, after enjoying a weekend ascent that has taken the cryptocurrency to its highest level since being created back in 2009. The total market value of bitcoin was nearly $55 billion, its highest on record, according to Coinmarketcap.com.

Some market participants theorized that this current rally in bitcoin is due to deceptive trading tactics employed by at least one deep-pocketed investor intended to create the illusion that a potential buyer is willing to, for example, buy bitcoin at a lofty price, which drives its value higher and potentially allows the bidder to then cancel the trade and sell at an inflated level, according to digital-money news site The Cointelegraph.

Bitcoin Cash, meanwhile, was up 52% on the session, but down 57% since its Aug. 2 peak when it hit $727.

Read: Bitcoin rallies to record, market cap hits $50 billion for first time

Prices of the original bitcoin have surged in the past week, after bitcoin launched last Tuesday a new version of its currency with a different configuration, known as Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Cash is an attempt to solve processing issues by allowing blocks to be processed in 8-megabyte units, rather than the 1-megabyte block the older version of bitcoin uses.

Prices appear to be mostly rising across much of the digital-currency network, with Ethereums ether token ticking 0.4% higher. An ether token was at $266.61 in recent trade, with a total value of $25 billion for the currency network.

Total market value across the top cryptocurrencies put them at $116.9 billion, with Bitcoin Cash coming in as the fourth-largest cybercurrency at $5.2 billion, ahead of Litecoin tokens at $2.4 billion.

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Why is bitcoin surging? Ask ‘Spoofy,’ the trader who’s reportedly manipulating prices – MarketWatch

Posted: at 3:49 am

Bitcoin BTCUSD, +2.39% caught fire this weekend, taking out yet another record high and pushing above $50 billion in market capitalization for the first time ever. This after selling off in the wake of the split last week.

So whats triggering the latest push?

Apparently, a deep-pocketed trader (or group of traders), nicknamed Spoofy, is rumored to be manipulating the bitcoin market by employing his namesake tactic on the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange, according to Cointelegraph.

Read: 10 things you need to know about bitcoin.

Spoofing is when a trader makes a deceptive bid or offer with the intent of canceling it before execution, thus giving the illusion that somebody is getting ready to buy or sell and potentially triggering a notable move in price.

For example, if Spoofy places a large buy order that entices smaller traders to hop aboard, he can turn around and instead use the uptick to execute a sell order.

Weve seen it before in other markets, like when Navinder Sarao, the British trader accused of contributing to the 2010 stock market flash crash, pleaded guilty to using the shady tactic.

So yes, spoofing is illegal, but since bitcoin markets are mostly unregulated, its quite common, Cointelegraph reports. The difference in Spoofys case is that hes got a massive bankroll that allows him to regular place orders upward of $60 million.

The BitCryptoed blog described the impact hes had on bitcoin.

Spoofy makes the price go up when he wants it to go up, and Spoofy makes the price go down when he wants it to go down, the blogger wrote. And hes got the coin both USD, and bitcoin, of course, to pull it off, and with impunity on Bitfinex.

Read: It could get ugly soon for bitcoin if this chart is right.

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Hackers Demand Millions in Bitcoin for Stolen HBO Files – New York Times

Posted: at 3:49 am

Photo Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister in an episode of Game of Thrones, which was targeted in a recent hack of HBO. Credit Macall B. Polay/HBO, via Associated Press

Hackers using the name Mr. Smith posted a fresh cache on Monday of stolen HBO files online, and demanded that the network pay a ransom of several million dollars to prevent further such releases.

The data dump included what appear to be scripts from five Game of Thrones episodes, including one coming episode, and a months worth of email from the account of Leslie Cohen, HBOs vice president for film programming. There were also internal documents, including a report of legal claims against the network and job offer letters to top executives.

HBO, which previously acknowledged the theft of proprietary information, said it was continuing to investigate and was working with the police and security experts. The network said on Monday that it still did not believe that its email system as a whole had been compromised.

This is the second data release from the hack. So far, the leaks at HBO have been limited, falling well short of the chaos inflicted on Sony in 2014. In that attack, hackers unearthed thousands of embarrassing emails and released personal information, including salaries and Social Security numbers, of nearly 50,000 current and former Sony employees. In the aftermath of the attack, the Sony Pictures chief, Amy Pascal, was ousted.

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OSTK to HODL: Overstock to Keep 50% of All Bitcoin Payments as Investments – CoinDesk

Posted: at 3:49 am

Online retailer Overstock.com is shifting its cryptocurrency investment strategy keepinghalf of the bitcoin it takes in as payment, the company's CEOhas said.

Overstock reported itssecond-quarter earnings last week, revealingthat its Medici blockchain business lost $3.3 million before taxes during that period. At the time, the company explained the loss as necessary as it continues to ramp up development around it t0 crypto-securities trading platform.

In an accompanying earnings call, CEO Patrick Byrne was asked about the recent price increases in bitcoin markets and whether Overstock which has traditionally kept 10 percent of its bitcoin earnings and converted the rest to dollars had "changed its strategy" in light of the developments.

According to Byrne, Overstock's board of directors approved a plan to keep 50 percent instead. Notably, he indicated that the firm may move to hold other "crypto-securities", but did not elaborate further on what that might constitute.

He said on the earnings call:

"I mean we can keep it either in Bitcoin or in some assortment of cryptosecurities. So you'll see a portfolio emerge there. We've had there -- had some good luck with some of our -- we've been storing some coins from counterparties for a couple of years and they've turned out -- they've grown up nicely. Anyway, we have some nice gains in the coin department."

In response to the question, Byrne said that the company did at one point see a bump-up in overall bitcoin spending.

"We have seen a material change, in part because of everything in the news it spiked and then it settled back down to about $50,000 per week," Byrne explained.

Image via Shuttesrtock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Bitcoin Is Now Worth Nearly 3 Times More Than an Ounce of Gold … – CoinDesk

Posted: at 3:49 am

More than five months after bitcoin and gold prices hit parity, bitcoin is now worth nearly three times as much as the more traditional store of value.

The price of bitcoin reached a new high above $3,400 during today's session, a figure that was more than $2,000 above the price of gold.At press time, the precious metalwas trading for $1,257 according to a spot exchange rate provided by Bloomberg.

Overall,it's the latest sign that the cryptocurrency asset class may be maturing in the eyes of an increasingly professional set of investors earlier today, the total value of all publicly traded cryptocurrencies set a new all-time high,rising above $117 billionfor the first time.

But while largely symbolic, the finding is notable given that bitcoin enthusiasts have long compared the digital asset to gold, arguing that it is a more effective store of value due to its digital and provably finite nature.

Still, it remains difficult to determine whether the two assets have any relationship in the market, with past attempts to draw a correlation largely coming up empty.

A CoinDesk report from July of last year found that, despite the fact they are both considered safe havens, there is hardly any similarity inmarket movements.

Gold bars image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Out of this world: Working on the International Space Station project … – The Hub at Johns Hopkins

Posted: at 3:49 am

By Sophia Porter

I stepped into the D.C. Metro station with a handful of people from the International Space Station Conference. Our conversation paused as we approached a mother struggling to balance a two-seat stroller on the escalator, her toddler son trailing behind. A man from my group offered his hand to the toddler and they rode down the escalator together. As I watched the mother ferry her children into the train car, it struck me that the boy would never know he'd been helped down an escalator by a man who had piloted a spacecraft.

Image caption: Sophia Porter meets astronaut Chris Cassidy in the foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building

Image credit: Sophia Porter

Interning in the International Space Station Division at NASA HQ, I frequently find myself wondering how such accomplished people can remain so humble. I shook hands with a man named Robert who turned out to be the billionaire founder of Bigelow Aerospace, and I sat in the back seat of the NASA director of astrophysics' car as we drove to a lab at the University of Maryland. Once, scanning the crowd at a conference, I noticed Buzz Aldrin had quietly taken a seat at the table next to mine.

As an intern, I have spent my time piecing together a report to Congress on the future of the Space Station. Part of my job is to summarize NASA Inspector General audits of the Space Station programa task, my coworkers joked, that was bound to send me running from the field of space exploration.

Certainly, the hundreds of pages of reports were notHarry Potter, but they tossed me neck-deep into the fascinating minutiae of the Station program. And, more than budgets, contracts, and operations, I began to see the grander story that it takes a villagetruly, thousands upon thousands of the sorts of people who sit at Mission Control in silence at 3:26 a.m. while the crew sleep 400 miles overheadto build the parts, design the experiments, and write the reports that keep Station thriving.

There is an unspoken acknowledgment here that space is a powerful motivator.

It's one of only a handful of bipartisan endeavors and one of the best-faring agencies amid heavy proposed federal budget cuts for 2018, and the air is thick with genuine camaraderie. No individual soaks up the limelight because space is not an individual pursuit.

Regardless of what's happening on the ground, on Station, 15 nations including the U.S., Russia, and Japan will forget their differences for the sake of joint exploration. Because of its modest air, the industry has a feeling of inclusivity. Its achievements are worldwide triumphs. Every contribution matters.

What a place to be an intern.

Sophia Porter is a member of the Johns Hopkins University Class of 2019. She is a physics and applied mathematics and statistics double major who is interning this summer for the International Space Station Division of NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Have a story to share as part of the Hub's Summer Gigs series? Email Taylor Jade Powell to contribute.

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International Space Station for August – Santa Barbara Edhat

Posted: at 3:49 am

Source:Chuck McPartlin, ISS

The International Space Station is back for some early August Santa Barbara appearances. To get the latest predictions, visit Heavens Above.

On Monday, August 7, the ISS will rise in the NNW at9:54 PM, and pass low over our mountain horizon to disappear in the NNE at9:56 PM, entering Earths shadow just as it reaches the bent W of Cassiopeia.

The first passon Tuesdaywill rise in the N at9:02 PM, and cruise low across the mountains to set in the ENE at9:05 PM. It will pop up briefly again at10:37 PMin the NW, vanishing at10:38 PMafter a short climb.

On Wednesdaywe will get a bright pass that begins at9:45 PMin the NW, passes the bowl of the Big Dipper and crosses the handle of the Little Dipper to fade away just above the North Star, Polaris, at9:47 PM. Notice that Polaris isnt all that bright, but it shows you true North, and its altitude gives you your latitude.

Thursdaywill have a bright pass rising at8:53 PMin the NNW, and vanishing in the ENE at8:57 PM, just as it reaches the chest of Pegasus. It will pop up again at10:29 PMin the WNW, and disappear at10:30 PMin the W, just below the bright orange star Arcturus.

OnFriday, August 11, the ISS will rise at9:37 PMin the WNW, sail brightly past Arcturus, and fade away in the WSW as it reaches Serpens Caput at9:40 PM.

The best and brightest pass of this series will coincide with the monthly Star Party at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, rising at8:44 PMin the NW, going by the bowl of the Big Dipper, along the length of Draco, across the Summer Triangle, and disappearing in the ESE at8:49 PM, just above the dim triangle of Capricornus, the Big Bikini Bottom of autumn.

Sundays pass will rise at9:29 PMin the W, pass low above Jupiter, and fade away in the head of Scorpius in the SW at9:32 PM.

The station will rise in the WNW at8:36 PMon Monday, and pass higher, between Scorpius and Saturn, to disappear in the SSE in Sagittarius at8:42 PM.

No pass will be visibleon Tuesday, and the final pass of this series will happen onWednesday, August 16, appearing at8:28 PMin the W, cruising low through Leo, below Jupiter and Spica, and setting beneath the stinger of Scorpius in the S at8:32 PM.

Hasta nebula!

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Elon Musk is focused on the colonization of Mars – Blasting News

Posted: at 3:48 am

The Mars Mission is uppermost in the mind of #Elon Musk, and he plans to launch his SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket hopefully by November. It can carry a load of around 140,000 lb to low-earth orbit and is intended to lift huge loads of cargo and transport human beings to the Moon and Mars to establish colonies on distant planets.

The purpose of this exercise would be to gain confidence because it will have to, finally, take human beings to other planets as a part of #colonization plans. The rocket will take off with four million lbs (1.8 million kg) of thrust from NASAs Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Daily Mail UK reports that Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has said the Falcon Heavy rocket would provide a means to lift large amounts of cargo into space at a relatively low cost.

Initial estimates are $85 million for each flight of the rocket whereas the corresponding cost with Space Launch System of NASA, which is more powerful, will come to around $500 million per launch.

To demonstrate the workings of the reusable rocket from launch to return to Earth, he has released a video. He is proud of it and has described it as 'the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two.' He has his eyes on Mars and its colonization plans and is promoting the concept.

The short video clip shows the craft as it covers the stages from lift off to landing back to Earth and ready for reuse. The landing could be in the ocean because it may not be feasible to land it back on the ground. The landing site is immaterial but, it is a plus point for him because he has tested and proved that the rockets need not be of the one-time-use types but can be reused.

That helps in reducing the cost and is a major positive for him.

Elon Musk knows that to transport humans to the Moon or Mars as a part of the colonization plans; the rocket must have the capacity to lift a large enough load that will house the crew, the spacecraft, and cargo. The rocket will be equipped with engines that can generate nearly 2.32 million kg of thrust at liftoff and be able to carry more than 140,000 pounds of payload to low-Earth orbit.

The flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket has already been delayed. The original plan was to fly it in 2013, but teething problems led to delays. However, Elon Musk is a visionary, and The Telegraph reports that he is confident that a vast Martian city could be established this century it would not just be an outpost, but a fully functioning society with iron foundries and pizza joints. #Spacex Falcon Heavy

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When genetic engineering is the environmentally friendly choice – Genetic Literacy Project

Posted: at 3:48 am

Thisarticleoriginally appeared at Ensia and has been republished here with permission.

Which is more disruptive to a plant: genetic engineering or conventional breeding?

It often surprises people to learn that GE commonly causes less disruption to plants than conventional techniques of breeding. But equally profound is the realization that the latest GE techniques, coupled with a rapidly expanding ability to analyze massive amounts of genetic material, allow us to make super-modest changes in crop plant genes that will enable farmers to produce more food with fewer adverse environmental impacts. Such super-modest changes are possible with CRISPR-based genome editing, a powerful set of new genetic tools that is leading a revolution in biology.

My interest in GE crops stems from my desire to provide more effective and sustainable plant disease control for farmers worldwide. Diseases often destroy 10 to 15 percent of potential crop production, resulting in global losses of billions of dollars annually. The risk of disease-related losses provides an incentive to farmers to use disease-control products such as pesticides. One of my strongest areas of expertise is in the use of pesticides for disease control. Pesticides certainly can be useful in farming systems worldwide, but they have significant downsides from a sustainability perspective. Used improperly, they can contaminate foods. They can pose a risk to farm workers. And they must be manufactured, shipped and applied all processes with a measurable environmental footprint. Therefore, I am always seeking to reduce pesticide use by offering farmers more sustainable approaches to disease management.

What follows are examples of how minimal GE changes can be applied to make farming more environmentally friendly by protecting crops from disease. They represent just a small sampling of the broad landscape of opportunities for enhancing food security and agricultural sustainability that innovations in molecular biology offer today.

Genetically altering crops the way these examples demonstrate creates no cause for concern for plants or people. Mutations occur naturally every time a plant makes a seed; in fact, they are the very foundation of evolution. All of the food we eat has all kinds of mutations, and eating plants with mutations does not cause mutations in us.

Knocking Out Susceptibility

A striking example of how a tiny genetic change can make a big difference to plant health is the strategy of knocking out a plant gene that microorganisms can benefit from. Invading microorganisms sometimes hijack certain plant molecules to help themselves infect the plant. A gene that produces such a plant molecule is known as a susceptibility gene.

We can use CRISPR-based genome editing to create a targeted mutation in a susceptibility gene. A change of as little as a single nucleotide in the plants genetic material the smallest genetic change possible can confer disease resistance in a way that is absolutely indistinguishable from natural mutations that can happen spontaneously. Yet if the target gene and mutation site are carefully selected, a one-nucleotide mutation may be enough to achieve an important outcome.

There is a substantial body of research showing proof-of-concept that a knockout of a susceptibility gene can increase resistance in plants to a very wide variety of disease-causing microorganisms. An example that caught my attention pertained to powdery mildew of wheat, because fungicides (pesticides that control fungi) are commonly used against this disease. While this particular genetic knockout is not yet commercialized, I personally would rather eat wheat products from varieties that control disease through genetics than from crops treated with fungicides.

The Power of Viral Snippets

Plant viruses are often difficult to control in susceptible crop varieties. Conventional breeding can help make plants resistant to viruses, but sometimes it is not successful.

Early approaches to engineering virus resistance in plants involved inserting a gene from the virus into the plants genetic material. For example, plant-infecting viruses are surrounded by a protective layer of protein, called the coat protein. The gene for the coat protein of a virus called papaya ring spot virus was inserted into papaya. Through a process called RNAi, this empowers the plant to inactivate the virus when it invades. GE papaya has been a spectacular success, in large part saving the Hawaiian papaya industry.

Through time, researchers discovered that even just a very small fragment from one viral gene can stimulate RNAi-based resistance if precisely placed within a specific location in the plants DNA. Even better, they found we can stack resistance genes engineered with extremely modest changes in order to create a plant highly resistant to multiple viruses. This is important because, in the field, crops are often exposed to infection by several viruses.

Does eating this tiny bit of a viral gene sequence concern me? Absolutely not, for many reasons, including:

Tweaking Sentry Molecules

Microorganisms can often overcome plants biochemical defenses by producing molecules called effectors that interfere with those defenses. Plants respond by evolving proteins to recognize and disable these effector molecules. These recognition proteins are called R proteins (R standing for resistance). Their job is to recognize the invading effector molecule and trigger additional defenses. A third interesting approach, then, to help plants resist an invading microorganism is to engineer an R protein so that it recognizes effector molecules other than the one it evolved to detect. We can then use CRISPR to supply a plant with the very small amount of DNA needed to empower it to make this protein.

This approach, like susceptibility knockouts, is quite feasible, based on published research. Commercial implementation will require some willing private- or public-sector entity to do the development work and to face the very substantial and costly challenges of the regulatory process.

Engineered for Sustainability

The three examples here show that extremely modest engineered changes in plant genetics can result in very important benefits. All three examples involve engineered changes that trigger the natural defenses of the plant. No novel defense mechanisms were introduced in these research projects, a fact that may appeal to some consumers. The wise use of the advanced GE methods illustrated here, as well as others described elsewhere, has the potential to increase the sustainability of our food production systems, particularly given the well-established safety of GE crops and their products for consumption.

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