Monthly Archives: July 2020

The most popular stablecoin tether (USDT) has officially been minted on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain via the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP). At press time theres only 1,010 SLP-based USDT in circulation, as the firm Tether Limited seems to be issuing small amounts and testing the SLP framework.

Tether (USDT) is the king of stablecoins in the crypto economy and according to the companys transparency page, there are more than $9.8 billion tethers in existence.

The stablecoin is a token that is also hosted on a number of blockchains including the Ethereum network, Omni Layer, Algorand, Tron, Liquid, and the EOS chain. Not too long ago, news.Bitcoin.com revealed that tether (USDT) was migrating some coins over to the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain via the Simple Ledger Protocol.

Tether Limiteds transparency page now shows that the company has been minting and testing the SLP framework. The data website simpleledger.info shows that the Tether team has officially minted 3,027 USDTs so far on the BCH chain.

However, 2,017 SLP-based USDT tokens have been burned, which only leaves 1,010 SLP-based USDT in circulation at the time of publication. A thousand dollars worth of stablecoins is not much, but Bitcoin Cash proponents believe that the company is simply trialing the SLP infrastructure.

Simpleledger.info also shows that the baton is alive, which means USDTs can be minted at any time. The genesis of the SLP-based USDT shows that the tokens were born on May 25, 2020. Searching the term tether in the simpleledger.info database also shows there is a number of phony tethers people have created since the SLP network came out.

The official USDT token ID is shown at Tether Limiteds official website, alongside the balances of tether on other blockchains. Theres been a total of 50 SLP-based USDT transactions so far on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain.

The SLP-based USDT rich list shows that this address has the most stablecoins with a balance of 874.14 USDT at the time of publication. The rest of the coins in circulation are spread out through a number of different addresses.

The largest amount of USDTs on any blockchain is held on ETH with $6 billion in ERC20-based tethers to-date. Of course, Bitcoin Cash fans were both pleased and skeptical about the appearance of USDTs on BCH.

On the subreddit r/btc, BCH fans discussed the recently issued SLP-based USDT on the forum. On July 7, Sideshift.ai announced that the Bitcoin Cash version of USDT is now live on the swapping platform.

BCH proponents also discussed holding USDTs on the Bitcoin.com Wallet thanks to the recently added asset breakdown and stablecoin features. On Twitter, the Sideshift team wrote: Be one of the first humans to shift USDT on SLP.

What do you think about tether (USDT) being minted on the Bitcoin Cash chain? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Tether, Simpleledger.info, Twitter, Sideshift.ai,

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Coinbase is selling its blockchain analytics software to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service. Following criticisms from the crypto community, CEO Brian Armstrong defended Coinbases position.

Public records on the U.S. governments websites reveal that the San Francisco-based crypto exchange Coinbase has signed a contract with the U.S. government for its blockchain analytics software. The records were first spotted by The Block.

The contract, awarded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was signed on May 9. It went into effect the next day with a tentative end date of May 11, 2024. The obligated amount is currently $49,000 and the potential award amount is $183,750. The contracting agency is the U.S. Secret Service, a federal agency that investigates monetary crimes such as fraud and counterfeiting; it was transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.

Following the news of Coinbase selling its analytics software to the U.S. Secret Service, many people took to Twitter to criticize the companys action, with some urging others to delete Coinbase, saying that the company is bad for bitcoin and crypto.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong quickly defended his companys decision. Blockchain analytics software is nothing new has been around a long time it uses publicly available data to try and track crypto transactions usually to catch bad actors, he tweeted.

Armstrong proceeded to explain that his company started off by using some of the existing blockchain analytics services out there. This worked out ok, but the issue with it was that we dont like sharing data with third parties when we can avoid it, and they didnt support all the features/chains we needed. So we realized at some point we would need to bring this capability in house, the CEO described, elaborating:

Its expensive to build this capability, and we want to recoup costs. There is an existing market for blockchain analytics software, so we sell it to a handful of folks as well. It also helps us build relationships with law enforcement which is important to growing crypto.

Last month, it was reported that Coinbase wanted to sell its analytics software to two other U.S. government agencies: the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Meanwhile, the company is reportedly planning an initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S.

What do you think about Coinbase selling its analytics software to the government? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, U.S. government

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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US Dept of Homeland Security Buys Analytics Software From Coinbase | News - Bitcoin News

The number of active Ethereum addresses has more than doubled since the start of 2020. Ethereum's active address count is growing at nearly twice the rate of Bitcoins.

Data from the blockchain analytics website Messari shows that Ethereums active address count has increased by 118% since the turn of the year. Bitcoins active address count, by comparison, increased by 49%.

Why are more people turning to Ethereum than Bitcoin? One obvious answerEthereum is home to the top decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.

The rise of DeFi apps on Ethereum drove the blockchains total number of unique addresses to over 100 million by early June. A July report from Dapp.com estimated that DeFi applications accounted for over 97% of all Dapp volume on Ethereum.

The 100 million figure accounts for every unique address used in a transaction on Ethereumboth senders and recipients. This, obviously, doesnt account for users who use multiple addresses, and so doesnt entirely reflect the growth of Ethereums user base.

However, data from Bitinfocharts tracks transactions that go either from or to unique Ethereum addresses. Seen below, unique active Ethereum addresses rose 160% since January 1, climbing from 208,392, to 542,458 at time of writing.

Meanwhile, Bitcoins unique active address count rose 42% in the same time, climbing from 585,047 on January 1 to 832,751 by July 10. This aligns closely with the data from Messari, and lends credence to the notion that Ethereum is currently experiencing a groundswell of renewed interest and activity.

But while the rise of DeFi has undoubtedly contributed to the rise in unique Ethereum addresses, another Ethereum-based Dapp could also be playing a major role.

As reported by Decrypt on July 5, Forsage, the most popular Dapp on activity by user count, was responsible for guzzling almost 13% of Ethereums gas. Gas is the fuel that runs Ethereum, and is used as a measurement of the price of performing computations on the network.

That means Forsagewhich the Philippines SEC has denounced as an unregistered securityis hogging 13% of the entire Ethereum blockchain. The presence of a Russian Ponzi scheme known as MMM Global has also contributed to the hoarding of Ethereums computational power in recent times. These operations usually see funds transferred from address to address, adding to Ethereums total unique address count.

Today, Forsage accounts for 12.5% of Ethereums gas usage, according to Dune Analytics, while ETH Gas Station places the figure at 15.8%.

Either way, the presence of what Ethereum researcher and developer Philippe Castonguay told Decrypt were inevitable and unstoppable Ponzi schemes should also be considered when accounting for Ethereums increased usage.

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Active Ethereum addresses growing twice as fast as Bitcoin - Decrypt

The growing number of ISA millionaires in the UK underlines the power of investing in shares to create wealth and get rich. Meanwhile, playing the National Lottery is hopeless as a wealth-generator for many, and dabbling with Bitcoin comes with massive risks.

Playing the National Lottery is a harmless bit of fun, but its no good as part of a plan to get rich. Why? Because the probability of winning a life-changing sum of money is vanishingly small.

According to the National Lottery website, the odds of getting six numbers right and winning the jackpot are one in 45,057,474. And the odds of getting five numbers plus the bonus ball are one in 7,509,579.

So maybe we should turn to Bitcoin and some of the other cryptocurrencies for our shot at making a million. I cant deny that some people have done extremely well from moves in the price of Bitcoin over the past few years.

Indeed, the first price ever recorded for Bitcoin was in October 2009 when a chap called Martti Malmi sold some for 0.09 US cents each. Peanuts, in other words. And the highest price ever recorded for a Bitcoin happened in December 2017 when it sold for $20,089. Thats loads of money when compared to the original price.

Today, the Bitcoin price is around $9,300, which is still many thousands of percent higher than its starting price. And, for me, thats one of the main problems. I see huge potential for the price to fall back down and limited opportunity for it to rise much from where it is now. Indeed, the spectacular rises of the past few years may never be repeated.

I reckon Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies are risky vehicles driven by nothing much other than speculation. So Id avoid them all and turn to shares and share-backed investments in a drive to create wealth. Indeed, over the long haul, studies have shown that shares on the stock market have outperformed all other major classes of asset. And I think thats a good starting point for any plan to get rich.

You can sidestep some of the risks involved with investing by avoiding speculative stocks and diversifying across several different shares. You could even invest using managed funds and trackers for a wider approach to diversification.

But if you focus on identifying good-quality underlying businesses and buy the shares at opportune moments when good value is on offer, you could do well over the long haul. Key to generating wealth is to compound your investments. So Id plough all my dividends and gains from selling shares back into more shares.

I reckon a carefully managed programme of investment in quality shares over a long period of time is a surer and better way to aim for wealth. So Id forget speculating on Bitcoin and playing the National Lottery.

The post Forget the National Lottery and Bitcoin! I reckon shares are a better way to get rich appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Kevin Godbold has no position in any share mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

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Forget the National Lottery and Bitcoin! I reckon shares are a better way to get rich - Yahoo Finance UK

Avoiding cheap UK shares in favour of gold and Bitcoin may seem to be a logical approach for any investor seeking to make a million. Gold and Bitcoin have risen significantly over recent months, while indexes such as the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 have lagged their performances.

However, the track record of the stock market suggests a long-term recovery is very likely. Therefore, buying undervalued stocks today and holding them over the coming years may substantially increase your chances of becoming an ISA millionaire.

With that in mind, here are two cheap UK shares that could be worth buying today due to their potential to produce high returns in the long run. They could increase your chances of building a 1m ISA.

While many UK shares have delivered disappointing performances of late, Imperial Brands (LSE: IMB) 57% share price fall over the past five years is relatively poor.

Despite this, the companys most recent results showed it continues to produce rising revenue. For example, its sales in the first half of the year increased by 2%, with a growing market share in tobacco products boosting its financial performance. Alongside cost reductions, this suggests the profit potential for the business could improve over the medium term.

Clearly, tobacco volumes are likely to come under further pressure as consumer trends change. Furthermore, asset impairments caused a severe decline in the companys profitability in its most recent update.

However, with Imperial having strong brands that offer pricing power, as well as scope to invest in next-generation products such as e-cigarettes, it could deliver a relatively robust financial performance in an uncertain economic period.

As with many UK shares, Imperial Brands has reduced its dividend. However, it continues to offer a relatively attractive dividend yield of 10%. As such, it may yet experience further challenges in the short run, but could deliver a relatively impressive total return in the long run.

The Morrisons (LSE: MRW) stock price has outperformed many UK shares over recent months. Its down 8% since the start of the year, which is ahead of the FTSE 100s 20% decline in 2020.

The companys most recent update highlighted the rise in demand since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. For example, in the first quarter, its like-for-like (LFL) sales increased by 5.7%. This trend may persist over the coming months especially with the popularity of online shopping likely to rise.

Morrisons has invested heavily in its online offering, which could position the business for long-term growth as the gradual shift from in-store to e-commerce continues. Its balance sheet strength suggests it has the financial position to maintain a high degree of investment in its online services. It should also help it overcome what could prove to be a period of higher costs as it adapts to a changing retail environment.

Therefore, now could be the right time to add the stock to a portfolio of UK shares. Over time, they could boost your chances of becoming an ISA millionaire.

The post Forget gold and Bitcoin. Id buy these 2 cheap UK shares today to become an ISA millionaire appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Peter Stephens owns shares of Imperial Brands and Morrisons. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Imperial Brands. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

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Forget gold and Bitcoin. I'd buy these 2 cheap UK shares today to become an ISA millionaire - Yahoo Finance UK

Tey Elrjula is a tech entrepreneur, a refugee and the author of The Invisible Son, now available for pre-sale.

Bitcoin is good for whatever you need. Ive used it to order pizza and to build a fulfilling career, despite all types of hardships.

Ive been using bitcoin for years because my family needs it, not because I enjoy speculative trading. In 2013 I was introduced to cryptocurrencies while working with software engineers in the Netherlands. My idea was that if we created money from code, then money would become a way of communication and its value would represent the community.

I used to send money from the Netherlands to my family in Lebanon twice a month, and the fees were killing me. Even worse, the long waiting lines at money transfer shops were torture. There are still a lot of insurmountable restrictions on money transactions, especially those that exclude large populations around the world.

For example, a sizable segment of people in Saudi Arabia doesnt have residence permits and are not able to transfer money to their families in countries such as India or Pakistan. Bitcoin doesnt have those restrictions or involve exorbitant transactional charges.

Later in 2013, I started a Facebook group on bitcoin. I moderated the page and had discussions with many of the 10,000 people who came there, most of whom were from Egypt. I met a lot of interesting people in that group, such as Abdullah Almoaiqel. Abdullah is now the co-founder and partner of Rain, which is the first regulated digital currency exchange in the Middle East. The company is based in Bahrain and operates from Bahrain and Egypt.

Then, in 2014, everything started going wrong. My European residency card expired at the end of that year and there was a war going on back home. People said Hezbollah, the local militia, was fighting to keep ISIS out of Lebanon.

Technology is helping us live in a world where we need to trust less and verify more.

Half of Syria was flooding into the Netherlands back then, and smugglers were active on the other side of Europe. I bought a small book to teach me how to pray in Islam, then started to practice my prayers and listen to the Koran. I also started listening to Sayed Hassan Nasrallahs speeches, his recitals and calls to fight alongside Hezbollah in Syria. I was surrendering to my fate of being deported to Syria or Lebanon.

Sleepless nights went by, with the Facebook pages continuously broadcasting images of the brutality of war in Syria. I did not want to be part of this.

On Sept. 11, 2014, 500 migrants lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea attempting to cross tosafe land. It was at that moment I realized how blessed I was to be in Europe, and I surrendered to the idea of becoming a refugee.

Meanwhile, I kept working on the Facebook page I ran with a top Egyptian software engineer and early adopter of bitcoin. The Egyptian bitcoin users kept me busy. I chatted with a lot of people and answered their questions on the mining process, price speculation, buying bitcoin and selling it. They knew I was moderating from Holland, but didnt know I was now partially undocumented.

I turned 30 in the camp and lied to my parents, telling them I was in my nice European apartment waiting for the immigration authorities to renew my residency. Nobody knew I was living alongside the other Arab refugees in a camp except me.

Refugees do not have IDs, so they cant have bank accounts. They dont know anyone in the Netherlands, not yet at least. Bitcoin became an even bigger part of my professional work. The constant exposure to crypto landed me translation jobs for reporters who were covering bitcoin stories.

On sunny days, I earned a few hundred euros as an escrow agent connecting buyers and sellers of bitcoin. In July 2015, I earned a technical expertise certificate from the University of Nicosia and registered on the bitcoin blockchain. Finally, I was credentialed, a professional and no longer a hobbyist.

Slowly my Bitcoin identity was overcoming my refugee identity.

The general public looks at the Bitcoin network as a gambling game in which you can lose all your money. Many meetups were starting to appear in the Netherlands. I started working as a speaker. One such event in the Netherlands was called Bitcoin Wednesday, held on the first Wednesday of every month. Slowly, my Bitcoin identity was overcoming my refugee identity.

For years to come and every time I come out onto a stage, I would ask people to put their hands in their pockets and take the coins out. In return I would give them bitcoin for the same amount. Why? Because the best way to understand bitcoin, especially after they hear the pizza story, is to use it.

Money and identity have been hand-in-hand for centuries, yet I used bitcoin without an identity. Besides my email, I did not need anything to use money and transact digitally. However, I do need an identity to present myself to the world and interact with services like education and diplomas, health care and vaccines, travel and airline tickets. Technology is helping us live in a world where we need to trust less and verify more.

I have travelled to more than 20 different European cities and a few in the Middle East delivering keynotes, public presentations and leading workshops showing organizations the digital future of education, money and business where it is built on principles ofdont trust, verify.

Bitcoin may not be useful for everything, but it sure as hell changed my entire life.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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I'm a Syrian Refugee. This Is How Bitcoin Changed My Life - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

On July 4, 2020, the Bitcoin Cash proponent Cain published an interview with the blockchain developer, Shammah Chancellor, about a new project called Stamp Chat. At its basic level, Stamp is a prototype of a layer-2 private messaging and payment system on Bitcoin Cash. It implements stealth [plus] confidential transactions on top of Bitcoin Cash using layer-2 protocol technologies.

This week Bitcoin Cash supporters were introduced to a new interview about a tool called Stamp, an encrypted message and payment system that leverages the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) chain. Stamp was highlighted about a month earlier via a Bchignite.com livestream. The project is being developed by the software programmer Shammah Chancellor, otherwise known as @micropresident.

The project was introduced on Saturday, July 4, 2020, by the Bitcoin Cash proponent Cain (@bchcain) via the read.cash blog. Cain gives a summary of how governments today have the ability to censor our speech online, and our financial lives as well through centralized parties. The BCH enthusiast highlights how our freedom of expression is censored and monitored by the powers that be.

The fact that we are being monitored limits our freedom of thought and our freedom of expression, Cains interview stressed. You might think twice about entering something into a search engine, or posting something on Facebook or Twitter. This limits our ability to communicate and explore ideas, and this is why I am so excited by Stamp, the new Bitcoin Cash project being developed by Shammah Chancellor, aka @micropresident.

Cains post further added:

Stamp is still in its early stages and only available on testnet, but the interface already looks polished and many features like group chats and nested messages have already been deployed. According to his Github page: Stamp is a prototype of a layer-2 private messaging and payment system on Bitcoin Cash. It implements stealth [plus] confidential transactions on top of Bitcoin Cash using layer-2 protocol technologies.

Individuals who are interested in Stamp can check out the Github repository and get more familiar with the project. The Github repos disclaimer is a touch different and states: Stamp is in early alpha development stage. There will be multiple breaking changes from now until a stable release. We default to the Bitcoin Cash testnet as to protect against lost funds.

Those who are interested in testing the Stamp protocol can do so by accessing the cashweb/stamp/releases section and grabbing test coins from faucet.fullstack.cash.

The Stamp developers who contribute to the project also have a Telegram chat channel as well for people who want to learn more about the project. Shammah Chancellor also describes the Stamp project in great detail during his interview with Cain.

Stamp is the name of the wallet that uses a number of backend protocols, the developer explained. These protocols are a suite called Cashweb, with the vision being that everything online is powered by Bitcoin Cash. Fundamentally, Cashweb is powered via standard web technologies: Websockets, JWT tokens, HTTP/2. The idea being to make it easy for non-cryptocurrency developers to integrate with.

Cashweb is a [three] tier network, Shammah Chancellor continued. The first tier being Bitcoin Cash. The second tier is a keyserver network, which is used to look up, in a cryptographically secure way, important information about a Bitcoin Cash address. The third tier is a messaging system (called relay servers) which allows wallets to pass, encrypted, structured messages between them. The developer concluded:

When you add a contact to a Stamp wallet, it reaches out to a keyserver and requests your contact information. This is then verified, and used to determine which relay server they accept messages on. Once your wallet has this information, it can start exchanging structured, encrypted, messages between itself and another user.

Cryptocurrency supporters who are interested in reading the rest of the interview between Cain and Shammah Chancellor can follow this link here that stems from the read.cash blog.

On the Reddit forum r/btc, BCH proponents seemed pleased with the announcement and some people contributed to the development funding. Looks promising, an individual wrote on Reddit. I sent a bit of funding. Good luck with it.

What do you think about the Stamp project built on the Bitcoin Cash network? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Stamp, Read.cash, Cain

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Developer Reveals Layer-Two Private Messaging and Payment System on Bitcoin Cash | Technology - Bitcoin News