Category Archives: Bitcoin

Bitcoins [BTC] almost 5% recovery on 14 October might not be the icing on the cake needed for a bullish revival. According to BaroVirtual, a CryptoQuant analyst, such events occurring in a full-blown bear market indicateda catastrophic outcome.

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Heres AMBCryptosPrice Prediction for Bitcoinfor 2022-2023

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In his latest analysis, BaroVirtual pointed out that the BTC close/low ratio signaled that the rebound would eventually result in a price correction.

Interestingly, the analysts projection seemed quick to come to life. This was because it did not take long before Bitcoin succumbed to the bidding of bears. At the time of this writing, BTC was trading at $19,177 a 2.74% decrease in the last 24 hours. However, it did not look like the decline would end at 2% to 3%.

Based on the four-hour chart, BTC sellers had more edge over the strength of the buyers. The Directional Movement Index (DMI) showed that the positive part (green), which reflected the buyer edge was 16.77.

In contrast, the negative DMI (red) favored the sellers above the positive at 27.54. While bulls may have hoped that the directional strength was not strong enough, the Average Directional Index (ADX) proved otherwise. With the ADX (yellow) at 32.23, it was almost inevitable that BTCs bearish momentum might last for a while before any bullish signs revealed themselves.

Hence, thedefending zonefrom which BTC bulls may have expected a run might not be in the short term.

More so, BTC traders also seemed to have reduced centralized trading activities recently. According to on-chain data intelligence platform, Glassnode, the number of exchange deposits had reached new lows, with the latest a 1.836.483 within two years.

Because of this, it was less likely that investors would have taken profits. For others, it could mean it was time to evaluate their BTC portfolio.

Per on-chain metrics, BTC traders were not following the reduced exchange activities as Glassnoderevealedthat futures open interest was in excellent momentum. As of 14 October, BTC futures open interest across all exchanges was about $12.15 billion.

The current level was similar to what it has been since 15 September. The implication was that traders were looking to profit from the futures market since the BTC spot was less likely to produce significant gains.

Furthermore, the exchange inflow and outflow indications showed no clear sign that bulls wouldrejoicethis October. According toSantiment, the exchange inflow and outflow was a close call at 5189 and 6579, respectively.

So, while there has been some selling pressure, there has also been a buying momentum to match. Hence, it was unclear who would win the Bitcoin momentum battle.

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Bitcoins latest prediction-turned-reality can be an investors nightmare because - AMBCrypto News

This is an opinion editorial by Robert Hall, a content creator and small business owner.

What is the most likely path to hyperbitcoinization? This is a question that has come up in my mind time and time again. Will it be a top-down implementation like we saw in El Salvador last year? Regarding world leaders, Nayib Bukele is the rare exception to the rule. Most world leaders think within a predefined box of fiat options.

Will adoption look more people-powered like in Nigeria, where Bitcoin was integral to funding the youth-led protest against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in October 2020, after protesters' bank accounts were frozen?

Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria has continued to grow despite their central bank banning legacy financial institutions in Nigeria from interacting with Bitcoin at all. Bitcoin P2P trading in Nigeria is up 27 percent despite the ban.

Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria and El Salvador are two examples of opposite sides of the adoption spectrum. Both are working despite legal hurdles and educating more people about Bitcoin.

What will widespread adoption look like in developed countries such as the United States, Europe and developed countries? The dynamics in the West differ significantly from that of developing countries. Western countries have the rule of law, regulated markets, a population that has access to bank accounts and a currency that doesn't debase as rapidly as other currencies.

Bitcoin adoption in the West is going to take a fundamentally different path than the path other parts of the world are going to take. This should be acknowledged and inform how Bitcoiners talk about adoption in the western world.

If you live in the West, you live in an economic and political panopticon. Your government knows who you are, where you live and how much money you earn. They also can gather your phone records, transaction history and online activity with impunity via third-party providers.

If you have money in a bank account, Western governments can call your bank, tell them you are a terrorist, and seize your bank account. Don't think it can happen to you? It happened in Canada to regular everyday citizens protesting against government policies they disagreed with and were agitating for change. The Canadian truckers were not violent thugs with weapons; they used well-established protest tactics to have their voices heard.

What did the Canadian government do in response? They Froze their assets and used violence against them.

Think this is an isolated incident? Authorities in the Netherlands opened fire on a farmer protesting against government plans that would have them cut nitrogen oxide and ammonia emissions by 70 percent in seven years. The state could give two sh*ts about your life if it gets in the way of their plan, plain and simple. You know it, and I know it. There is no need to sugarcoat anything here.

The idea that we are free is folly. Bitcoin is our best hope to change our current circumstances, but it starts with people purchasing and owning Bitcoin.

For a large majority of people new to Bitcoin, their first interaction with bitcoin will be through exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken, Binance and OkCoin. Not ideal, but these are the facts.

When someone new to Bitcoin searches "how to buy bitcoin," the first page results will show you where you can buy bitcoin from exchanges.

Source: Google

According to a recent article, 46.5 million Americans have never owned cryptocurrency and plan on buying it next year. 32 percent believe that cryptocurrency will replace fiat currency over time. Presumably, a large portion of these new buyers will be looking at buying bitcoin. They will be buying their bitcoin on exchanges.

These entities comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations set forth by their jurisdictions.

The people new to Bitcoin will have no problem handing over their personal information to these companies because they see it as normal and is something they have done their whole lives. This is a fact of life that isn't going away anytime soon.

This is an unpopular opinion, but I will say it anyway. Mass adoption of Bitcoin in the Western world will be with KYC'd Bitcoin. I wish it weren't the case, but I don't see how it won't be. There is even an implicit realization of this fact on Bitcoin Twitter.

The new people coming into Bitcoin won't be your anarcho-capitalist types that want nothing to do with the state. The next wave of people coming into the space will be the mom-and-pop shop owners down the street, your truck driver, mailman or a teacher looking to save their hard-earned money in money that the government can't debase.

Many people see the government and the laws and regulations they promulgate as a form of safety. They might see KYC as a good thing. Currently, KYC is a fact of life, and this creates honeypots of information for hackers to target. We've dealt with this problem in the fiat world; we'll also have to deal with it on a bitcoin standard. I didn't make rules; I'm just looking at the facts as they are now. That doesn't mean any of this can't change.

Still, I believe advising newcomers about different privacy methods is the way to go. There are many great articles here on how to make your Bitcoin more private.

How CoinJoin, CoinSwap Enable Basic Bitcoin Privacy

A Comprehensive Bitcoin CoinJoin Guide

Track Me If You Can How Bitcoin Forward-Looking Anonymity Sets Work

How To Whirlpool On Desktop With RoninDojo

How To Maintain Privacy When Spending Mixed Bitcoin

Federated Chaumian Mints: The Future Of Bitcoin Privacy?

In addition to teaching newcomers about privacy methods, we should all work on creating a bitcoin-powered parallel economy where we don't need fiat offramps. This is the ultimate goal.

El Zonte in El Salvador and other communities have shown us how we can follow in their footsteps.

On The Coast Of El Salvador, Bitcoin Is Becoming The Standard

Bitcoin Ekasi: The Township One Year Later

Bitcoin Beach Brazil: Inspired By El Salvador

Bitcoin Valley Hub Launches In Honduras

The future of bitcoin is bright if we can get enough people on the bitcoin lifeboat. We shouldn't quarrel about what path they took to get there, but educate them on the most private ways to do so.

Stay focused on the mission. Educate others. Stack sats.

This is a guest post by Robert Hall. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

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Unless Something Changes, Bitcoin Adoption In The West Will Be KYCd - Bitcoin Magazine

Quant rose to its highest point since the start of the year on Saturday, as prices climbed for a third straight session. In addition to this, tron was also higher, as the token attempted to break out of a key resistance point. Overall, cryptocurrency markets were down 1.95% as of writing.

Quant (QNT) was one of the notable movers to start the weekend, as the token surged to a ten-month high.

Following a low of $162.00 on Friday, QNT/USD surged to an intraday peak of $184.98 earlier in todays session.

This move saw the token climb to its highest point since January 8, and comes following three days of gains.

As of writing, the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) is now deep in overbought territory, and is tracking at 80.19.

This is marginally above a ceiling of 79.00, and this could mean that bears could be looming, looking for any slips, before reentering.

Should bullish momentum remain high, we could see traders target an exit around the $190 level.

Tron (TRX) was another big gainer to start the weekend, as prices attempted to break out of a key resistance level.

TRX/USD raced to a peak of $0.06501 earlier in todays session, which comes less than a day after hitting a low of $0.06174.

As mentioned earlier, the move saw tron collide with a ceiling of $0.0650, which hasnt been broken since late-August.

Since hitting this peak, TRX has since slipped, and as of writing, is trading at $0.06264.

The 14-day RSI is now back below a ceiling of 57.00, and is tracking at a mark of 53.92, and seems to be headed to a support point of 50.50.

Should this target be reached, it is likely that prices of tron will be trading close to $0.06100.

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Do you expect any further rallies from tron this weekend? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Eliman brings an eclectic point of view to market analysis, he was previously a brokerage director and retail trading educator. Currently, he acts as a commentator across various asset classes, including Crypto, Stocks and FX.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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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Biggest Movers: QNT Hits 10-Month High on Saturday Market Updates Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

Hunter Horsley CEO of the technology solutions provider Bitwise believes bear markets are a great period when investors could increase their exposure to bitcoin.

He estimated that the next bull run will begin next year, outlining that his firms clients have already increased their interest in the asset.

In an interview for Bloomberg, Horsley outlined the historical pattern of bitcoins price movement. During its existence, the primary cryptocurrency has passed periodically through four-year cycles, while bull runs with growing momentum have always followed bear markets. Relying on that data, he assumed that the asset will begin a new price rally in 2023:

So in 2014, the market was down almost 60%. 2018 market down north of 70%. And this year, obviously, 2022, the market is down around 60%. The expectation, if the market continues its historical trend, would be that we begin a new cycle next year.

Despite the current market crash, the executive said an increasing number of Bitwise customers had renewed their interest in the crypto industry. In his view, those who hop on the bandwagon now (when prices are much lower compared to last year) have a better chance to generate significant profits in the future:

So the story of this year is definitely a bear market. Nevertheless, weve seen increased interest from our client base. And I think the backdrop for many crypto investors is that there have historically been four-year cycles, and while there are opportunities to make money in many crypto market moments, bear markets are the moments when fortunes can be made.

Investing during a time of crisis is a strategy that numerous financial experts have adopted. The narrative comes from the fact that prices crash prompted by panic in the space but when the situation calms down they surpass previous valuations. For example, when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, bitcoin tumbled below $5,000. However, it recovered its losses a year later, skyrocketing to an all-time high of nearly $70K.

Robert Kiyosaki (the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad) also believes people should allocate some of their wealth to bitcoin during a severe monetary crisis. Not long ago, he claimed that the galloping inflation, the diminishing power of the US dollar, and the upcoming recession, among other reasons, are the leading factors why investors should increase their BTC exposure.

Unsurprisingly, MicroStrategys Executive Chairman Michael Saylor is also part of that club. In June this year, he described bitcoins crash to $20K as a great buying opportunity.

On another note, he advised the residents of economically distressed countries (such as Turks) to turn to BTC to preserve their wealth during the turmoil.

PrimeXBT Special Offer: Use this link to register & enter POTATO50 code to receive up to $7,000 on your deposits.

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Bitcoins Next Bull Run Will Start in 2023 According to Bitwise CEO - CryptoPotato

Nonfungible token (NFT) trading volumes may have dropped nearly 98% since January, but several industry executives tell Cointelegraph that its nothing to fear as the technology continues to develop and mature.

Jonathon Miller, managing director of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken in Australia, said despite NFT market activity and sales volume having slowed down in September, we are still seeing positive adoption signals at an institutional level and continued growth in use cases.

He told Cointelegraph that the company remains bullish on the NFT space and believes it will be just as disruptive and innovative as Bitcoin was 10 years ago. Moreover, he said he was particularly intrigued by JPMorgan signing a lease using the technology as well as hearing the news that the Vatican has opened an NFT gallery.

He, however, acknowledged that the NFT industry is still in its infancy and that the biggest barrier to mass adoption is nightmare user experiences, saying that it is very hard to say to someone who wants digital art, that you have to install a wallet and you have to onboard with that exchange.

The Kraken executive said it has been a priority for them to make that process smoother.

John Stefanidis, CEO and founder of NFT gaming platform Balthazar DAO, told Cointelegraph that the trading downfall is not significant in the grand scheme of NFTs as people need to understand that NFTs are more than just photos.

Stefanidis said its natural for this decline to happen after something has experienced extreme growth under one application.

He believes this has the potential to stabilize the market more, saying that whenever there is horizontal growth, people diversify and pull back, and were going to see a more gradual growth in NFTs.

Related Reading: Web3 gaming still a long way from mainstream adoption: Survey

Mason Edwards, chief commercial officer of Tezos Foundation an organization focused on promoting and developing the Tezos blockchain and related technologies told Cointelegraph that its beneficial the market has shaken out a bit, people will buy things they care about, rather than speculation, noting:

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NFTs will be as disruptive as Bitcoin was 10 years ago Kraken exec - Cointelegraph

Oct 11 (Reuters) - It's not easy being a crypto investor.

They've seen the value of their holdings drop like a brick this year, and now many are stewing over the safety of their crypto cash after a series of heists that's seen around $2 billion spirited away by hackers.

Enter the ghost of technology's past.

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Hardware wallets - old-school physical devices similar to USB drives that stash crypto holdings offline - might seem a throwback to a more innocent digital age, but they're proving to be a popular response to a cutting-edge conundrum.

The global hardware wallet market, valued at $245 million in 2021, is expected to swell to over $1.7 billion by 2030, according to market research firm Straits Research.

It's being fueled by a steady stream of cyber robberies that, according to researcher Chainalysis, has seen thieves steal $1.9 billion in crypto in the first seven months of the year, an increase of 60% from a year earlier. Much of this was stolen directly from blockchains or "hot" online wallets.

It's not only hacks making investors edgy. Others lost access to their crypto when major lenders such as Celsius Network and Voyager Digital collapsed in July.

"We have definitely seen increased interest in hardware wallets, and in general self-custody, post-several issues," said Adam Lowe, chief product and innovation officer at U.S.-based CompoSecure (CMPO.O), one of several hardware wallet makers seeking to capitalize on a rush for safety.

"The day of or day after those events, we would see very significant (sales) lifts."

There's no such thing as a free crypto lunch, though: While hot wallets are convenient and allow for quick trading, hardware wallets typically don't appeal to first-time investors, who often buy cryptocurrencies on big exchanges and might choose to keep their assets on those platforms, where they can simply log in with a username and password.

Although hot wallets are usually free and offer quick access to crypto, they can be vulnerable to hacks. In August, nearly 8,000 crypto wallets on the Solana blockchain were hit by hackers who made off with more than $5 million in crypto.

"Users are strongly encouraged to use hardware wallets," Solana said at the time.

France's Ledger, another hardware wallet maker, said it saw a spike in sales after the Solana wallets heist.

"We do see significant uptick in user-based interest in some of these situations of stress in the markets," aid Alex Zinder, global head of Ledger Enterprise.

Most hardware wallets connect to a mobile app, where the owners of the digital keys needed to access their crypto keys can control their funds. Some use "Secure Enclave" technology, a security feature used to store sensitive data.

Josef Ttek, bitcoin analyst at Czech-based hardware wallet company Trezor, says he expects better phone interaction with cold storage wallets in the future, to serve investors in places like South America and Africa, where it's more common for users to have mobile phones than personal computers.

Yet companies in this ballooning market might be advised to make hay while the sun shines.

One long-term question is whether phone makers will want to get in on the action, said Stan Miroshnik, co-founder and partner at 10T Holdings, which led Ledger's $380 million Series C funding round last year.

"One question, I think, for the industry and where it's going and in part what will drive consumer adoption, is what if every iPhone has a built-in Secure Enclave hardware wallet?"

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Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by Tom Wilson and Pravin Char

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

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Cryptoverse: Hack jitters push bitcoin investors back to the future - Reuters

Sharing a statistically significant positive correlation with the leading coin Bitcoin [BTC], Bitcoin Cash [BCH] logged a decline in its price in the last week. According to data from the cryptocurrency analytics platform CoinMarketCap, the price per BCH coin fell by 8% in the past seven days.

Data from Santiment showed that the consistent decline in the price of the asset pointed to BCH distribution by investors.

Also, the surge in BCHs trading volume and the lack of a corresponding price rally during intraday trading hours on 13 October hinted at buyers exhaustion. As per CoinMarketCap, BCHs trading volume had rallied by 65% in the last 24 hours.

With the last seven days marked by a decline in BCHs price, buying pressure dropped in the last week on a daily chart. As a result, on 5 October, the assets Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Money Flow Index (MFI) fell below their respective neutral lines to pursue new lows.

At press time, the MFI inched toward the oversold region at 33.41. Following a similar progression, BCHs RSI rested at 41.79 at press time.

As sellers gradually overran the BCH market, a new bear cycle was initiated on 10 October. At press time, the Moving average convergence divergence (MACD) was made of red histogram bars with an intersection of the MACD line (blue) with the trend line (red) in a downtrend.

In addition, a look at the assets On-balance volume (OBV) confirmed that investors have heavily distributed BCH since 9 September. The indicator has since been on a downtrend, and the price has fallen by 15%.

While these key indicators have shown a decline in BCHs accumulation in the last week, a look at the assets Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) revealed a divergence with its price.

In the face of its falling price, BCHs CMF rested above the center line to post a positive value of 0.08. This typically represents a surge in buying pressure which usually precipitates a rally in the price of an asset.

However, as in the current market, a CMF/price divergence occurs when the price of a crypto asset trades at the oversold zone while its CMF continues to rise. This is usually taken as a buy signal, so traders looking to move against the market need to take note of this.

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Bitcoin Cash [BCH]: All you need to know before you write off this alt - AMBCrypto News

Hold Bitcoin till the very end or sell a little bit to start a family? For one Bitcoiner in northwest London, it was a no-brainer.

Noodle (a nickname), a Brit who first heard about Bitcoin around 2012, took profits on his Bitcoin buys to pay for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment for his wife. He told Cointelegraph he has no regrets, about his decision to start a family using fiat-denominated profits from buying, holding, a then selling Bitcoin.

Noodle first found out about Bitcoin at the tail end of 2012, when 1 BTC was worth roughly $13.

The now-defunct marketplace Silk Roadwas a place where early Bitcoin users could buy and sell pretty much anything using Bitcoin as the in-house currency. At the time, Noodle didnt necessarily dismiss Bitcoin despite his gym buddy's recommendation, but it passed him by until a close friend explained how to buy cannabis with Bitcoin on the Silk Road.

Once his close mate had explained that they might be able to use the Bitcoin to buy real-world items, Noodle was convinced:

The price of Bitcoin has since risen almost 400x higher, to a $20,000 bear market value in 2022. For Noodle in 2013, he explained it was actually quite difficult to obtain Bitcoin it was a really convoluted process. However, he persevered and managed to obtain Bitcoin to buy goods. Unknowingly, Noodle had alsotripped down the rabbit holeand his Bitcoin journey had just begun.

For Noodle, Bitcoin opened his eyes to finance, education and a whole world of new information. From fractional reserve banking tothe Federal Reservetocurrency debasement and how money works, Noodle was hooked. Naturally, Noodles wife with whom hed been since 2008, was exposed to Noodles newfound passion.

The passion eventually rubbed off as in 2014, Noodles wife took some of the newly married couples wedding money to buy Bitcoin. Noodle jokes, And who would know [...] that that Bitcoin would then go on to effectively fund IVF which is not fuking cheap!

The Noodle family had always planned to have kids. Sadly, due to the medical condition of his wide, conceiving was a challenge. They sought medical advice and soon realized that they may have to undergo fertility treatment:

IVF is a fertility technique in which an egg is removed from the woman's ovaries and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. The fertilized egg is returned to the woman's womb to grow and develop.

The process is time-consuming, expensive and has a success rate of 4% to 38% depending on various factors. Plus, as Noodle alluded to, there is still a stigma attached to IVF treatment, despite being a regular occurrence in Noodles home country, the United Kingdom.Noodle continued:

So Noodle sold some Bitcoin. In sum, Noodle converted north of $70,000 in Bitcoin into government-issued poundsover the course of a few years. The fiat-denominated profits paid for several rounds of IVF treatment for both of his children leading to two healthy babies.

Without Bitcoin, Noodle explained he would have likely taken out a loan to pay for the treatment: Family is important to me, and I would have thrown anything and everything at it in order to try and make it work. But we were very fortunate that we had some Bitcoin, and I didn't sell it for a long time.

Related: The UK 'Bitcoin Adventure' shows BTC is a family affair

With Bitcoin, Noodle and his wife were able to live their dream of starting a family, but debt free. As for whether or not there might be any more Bitcoin baby Noodles running around northwest London soon, Noodle joked, I think we're done with two kids unless the price goes super crazy!

Noodles story is part of an upcoming crypto story on Cointelegraphs YouTube channel. Subscribe here.

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To HODL or have kids? The IVF Bitcoin Babies paid for with BTC profits - Cointelegraph

This is an opinion editorial by Ariel Deschapell, co-founder of multi-cloud hosting platform Hydra Host, senior fellow at Lincoln Network and a team member at BIPBounty.org.

The idea that Bitcoin lacks innovation compared to other cryptocurrencies is pervasive, but is it true?

The Bitcoin protocol undergoes significant changes much more slowly than other cryptocurrencies, the latest, of course, being the implementation and activation of Taproot. But this is a feature, not a bug.

As the foundation of a massive open-source ecosystem, changes should be well thought out and should consistently demonstrate widespread consensus that the benefits of the change outweigh costs. While true and generally accepted, this line of thinking can also be a cop out. Its important to recognize the necessity of consensus, but we must think deeply about what consensus means, how it is achieved and how we could potentially improve upon how it happens.

Overall, the idea that slow development is a better pattern is simply an awful heuristic and a false dichotomy. The options available to the Bitcoin communitys protocol development are infinitely more varied and nuanced than simply slow or fast. Careful, comprehensive, deliberate, inclusive; all of these adjectives do a much better job of describing what the Bitcoin community should actually aim to facilitate. This explicit wording is important, for whatever values we subscribe to will be used to judge initiatives and efforts, and the only aspiring ideal worse than slow is likely fast.

The simple passage of time does nothing on its own to ensure a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) receives more eyeballs, reviews, serious consideration or engagement. It also does nothing to ensure that the developer community is focusing its finite efforts and attention on the right areas.

If we seek to defend innovation in the Bitcoin community, the easiest way to do so would be to point at the truly expansive body of continuous research and development in the bitcoin-dev mailing group and other forums of technical information exchange. It is undeniable that Bitcoin boasts a huge mindshare of world-class programmers, cryptographers, mathematicians, economists and more. These individuals continue to wrestle with pivotal problems, such as implementing greater degrees of privacy, and scaling the greater Bitcoin network to global throughput without losing the very characteristics that make it Bitcoin.

This community is delightfully and intentionally unstructured and informal. There exists no standardized process by which any idea or proposal graduates to becoming included in Bitcoin. The only way for a proposal to reach eventual inclusion is to receive the extensive attention, support and subsequent work from the community required to do so. From the research and analysis required to convince the community that the benefits significantly outweigh the costs, to the breakdowns and communication necessary to motivate the wider ecosystem to upgrade software and prepare use cases, to the actual work of finalizing and implementing the code itself.

Maintaining and supercharging this process is essential, and while it will always be slower than a standardized and formalized system in a relative sense, there is always room for improvement to make it happen more effectively on its own terms.

The knee-jerk impulse to fight against any assertion that the Bitcoin development process is not ideal, or that it can benefit from improvement, is usually based on the implicit assumption that any effort to improve it necessarily means adding more centralization and control. However, this is far from true. Just as the Lightning Network debunked the claim that increasing transacting scalability necessitated increasing the block size.

Similarly, BIP bounties are an attempt at improving the incentives driving Bitcoin development and consensus building. Administered by the Lincoln Network, a nonprofit organization focused on fostering technologies that support human liberty, BIPBounty.org collects donations to fund standardized bounties earmarked for specific BIPs. Although it only lists one bounty at the moment, this structure is designed to accomplish the following:

BIPBounty.org sprang out as a concept from the BIP119 controversy. In December 2021, the BIPs author, Jeremy Rubin, placed a bug bounty on his own BIP via Twitter.

Very quickly, other supporters of the BIP threw in their hats and offered their own complimentary bounties. The total bounty amount quickly snowballed. That this happened completely spontaneously and organically was a tremendous sign of pent-up community willingness and demand to dedicate financial resources to move the ball forward on discourse and consensus.

Naturally, BIPBounty.org has begun with the BIP119 bounties, but as a project it has no aims in regards to any specific BIP. Its goal is to encompass all BIPs and allow the Bitcoin community itself to decide which proposals are of greater interest and worthy of their tax deductible contributions.

BIPBounty.org is new and is attempting to tackle an ambitious problem. The hypothesis by which we will evaluate our efforts is that there is community interest for such an endeavor beyond a one-time interest in the context of a single BIP. By enabling that, we can sustainably accelerate research and development deliverables and discourse across BIPs.

All of this requires community buy-in and engagement. And most crucial at this early stage is feedback. To that end, we at Lincoln Network hope that the best and brightest of the Bitcoin community will continue to engage with us and help us in our efforts to drive effective, collaborative and sustainable Bitcoin development.

This is a guest post by Ariel Deschapell. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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How BIP Bounties Will Supercharge The Bitcoin Network - Bitcoin Magazine

This week's news is action-packed, with police tricking ransomware into releasing keys to victims calling ransomware operations liars.

The most interesting news this week is about the Dutch Police and Responders.NU working some trickery on the DeadBolt Ransomware operation that caused them to fork over 155 decryption keys for victims.

Other interesting research includes fake adult sites pushing data wipers, TTPs on Black Basta, info on a new Prestige Ransomware targeting Ukraine and Poland, and Magniber ransomware being installed via JavaScript files.

We also learned some information about some attacks that were made public recently.

Healthcare org CommonSpirit admitted this week that they suffered a ransomware attack. However, ADATA denies they suffered a recent attack by RansomHouse and says the data is being recirculated from a 2021 breach by RagnarLocker.

Contributors and those who provided new ransomware information and stories this week include: @struppigel, @VK_Intel, @serghei, @BleepinComputer, @billtoulas, @LawrenceAbrams, @malwareforme, @demonslay335, @FourOctets, @jorntvdw, @PolarToffee, @Ionut_Ilascu, @Seifreed, @fwosar, @malwrhunterteam, @DanielGallagher, @AuCyble, @UID_, @linuxct,@MsftSecIntel, @ahnlab, @Amermelsad, @TrendMicro, and @pcrisk.

Taiwanese chip maker ADATA denies claims of a RansomHouse cyberattack after the threat actors began posting stolen files on their data leak site.

Malicious adult websites push fake ransomware which, in reality, acts as a wiper that quietly tries to delete almost all of the data on your device.

PCrisk found a VoidCrypt variant that appends the .solo extension and drops a ransom note named unlock-info.txt.

PCrisk found a new Dharma variant that appends the .dkey extension to encrypted files.

Microsoft is investigating reports of a new zero-day bug abused to hack Exchange servers which were later used to launch Lockbit ransomware attacks.

For years, Bittrexs AML program and SAR reporting failures unnecessarily exposed the U.S. financial system to threat actors, said FinCEN Acting Director Himamauli Das. Bittrexs failures created exposure to high-risk counterparties including sanctioned jurisdictions, darknet markets, and ransomware attackers. Virtual asset service providers are on notice that they must implement robust risk-based compliance programs and meet their BSA reporting requirements. FinCEN will not hesitate to act when it identifies willful violations of the BSA.

As previously shared, upon discovering the ransomware attack, we took immediate steps to protect our systems, contain the incident, begin an investigation, and ensure continuity of care. Our facilities are following existing protocols for system outages, which includes taking certain systems offline, such as electronic health records. In addition, we are taking steps to mitigate the disruption and maintain continuity of care. To further assist and support our team in the investigation and response process, we engaged leading cybersecurity specialists and notified law enforcement.

We analyzed a QAKBOT-related case leading to a Brute Ratel C4 and Cobalt Strike payload that can be attributed to the threat actors behind the Black Basta ransomware.

PCrisk found new STOP ransomware variants that append the .powz and .pohj extensions.

A recent malicious campaign delivering Magniber ransomware has been targeting Windows home users with fake security updates.

PCrisk found a new Dharma variant that appends the .CYBER extension to encrypted files and drops a ransom note named CYBER.txt.

Microsoft says new Prestige ransomware is being used to target transportation and logistics organizations in Ukraine and Poland in ongoing attacks.

The Dutch National Police, in collaboration with cybersecurity firm Responders.NU, obtained 155 decryption keys from the DeadBolt ransomware gang by faking ransom payments.

In this report, we will provide our analysis of Ransom Cartel ransomware, as well as our assessment of the possible connections between REvil and Ransom Cartel ransomware.

For example, after the RCMP seized cryptocurency held by Canadian Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins, an affiliate of the Netwalker ransomware gang, it tried returning the funds to Canadian victims. Some organizations refused to acknowledge being hit, she said.

Originally posted here:
The Week in Ransomware - October 14th 2022 - Bitcoin Trickery - BleepingComputer