Canadian Woman Scammed By Purported Cop Using Bitcoin ATMs

According to Canadian news sources, there is a new type of Bitcoin-related scam making the rounds. A story on the CBC website mentions how a woman was asked to make several cash deposits to cryptocurrency ATMs over several days. It is estimated around C$17,000 was obtained from just this one victim. The criminal's choice to use Bitcoin raises a lot of questions, especially considering that the largest cryptocurrency is anything but an anonymous payment method. Police officials claim they cannot track the relevant transactions, though.

Criminals are getting craftier when it comes to scamming people out of their money. Locking computer files and encrypting them has proven to be a very lucrative business model over the past few years. However, there are plenty of other options waiting to be explored as well. According to the CBC, one such method involves scammers having victims deposit cash using Bitcoin ATMs.

One worrisome aspect of this story is how a bystander observing an older person putting cash into a Bitcoin ATM automatically assumed a connection to criminal activity. This goes to show how the public image of Bitcoin and all its related services are extremely skewed. The woman in question was also holding a CRA legal notice, which made things even more suspicious. It turns out she had allegedly been contacted by a person falsely claiming to work for the local police department. This seemingly hints at quite a complicated scam, although specifics are impossible to come by right now.

Once the police showed up and confronted the woman, her phone rang. During the call, the criminal identified herself as Mary Jones with the police department. The criminal also successfully spoofed the phone number to resemble the non-emergency line of the Hamilton police. For the time being, it remains anybody's guess if this was a cop gone rogue or someone with some advanced skills successfully pulling off one of the biggest Bitcoin cons in years. After all, there is a history of law enforcement agents going rogue when Bitcoin is involved.

Further information revealed that the victim made several cash deposits to other Bitcoin ATMs in the same area. Canada has seen a rapid growth in the number of Bitcoin ATMs, although no one expected they would be used for nefarious purposes so soon. Around C$17,000 worth of Bitcoin has been purchased from the various machines, although no one knows for sure where the money was sent to. Hamilton, Ontario police officials claimed that transferring money into Bitcoin made it very hard to track. That is not exactly the case, as all Bitcoin transactions are recorded publicly in real time.

There are various blockchain analysis companies who will gladly help out any police team looking into suspicious Bitcoin transfers. There is some work to do for sure, but it goes to show there are many ways to find out who is behind this scam. The biggest concern is how this perpetrator can successfully imitate police officials – at least over the phone – and trick people into using Bitcoin ATMs to transmit significant sums of money in mere days. The letter in question must have appeared pretty legitimate to the victim, although no further specifics have been provided at this time.

The general public needs to be properly educated on how official government or administrative officials will never call or text people to force them to make payments, especially not with Bitcoin. It appears the Hamilton police have a major scammer on their hands who is more than willing to put them in a bad light right now. This sort of thing is what gives Bitcoin a bad reputation. It remains strange that criminals would opt for the one cryptocurrency which has no privacy or anonymity traits whatsoever.

Genesis Mining Customer: Company Is Now Ponzi Scheme

Pleasing cryptocurrency customers is virtually impossible, as every individual has different expectations and desires. Accommodating all of them is not feasible any longer, especially for cloud mining businesses. Genesis Mining is a solid company, and I know its CEO personally. There is no reason for this company to start scamming its users or pay them out less than expected.

The most often heard complaint about Genesis Mining is how its cryptocurrency cloud mining service is not necessarily profitable. That may certainly be the case, as customers buy into a one-year contract — or longer — without knowing what the future holds. The company provides its rates of return and fees upfront, which allow for some basic calculations to be made. In most cases those calculations turn out positive, but they do not necessarily take fluctuations into account.

There are other factors to take into account when it comes to cloud mining. First of all, there is the value of the cryptocurrency in question. Bitcoin and Ethereum fluctuate wildly in value, virtually every single day. A cloud mining company cannot control those prices, and if a major dump occurs, it is not at fault if customers earn less than expected. That is par for the course with any investment, but even more common in the cryptocurrency world. Signing up with a cloud mining service is a gamble with some calculations to back it up, but absolutely no guarantees.

Secondly, mining difficulty adjustments play an integral role in the process as well. Depending on how much mining power is present on the network at any given time, earnings from Genesis Mining may be higher or lower than previously expected. Once again, that is part of the gamble you take by signing up for cloud mining, and not something the company can control. Though it can be frustrating for customers to deal with, that goes on with every legitimate cloud mining company.

A recent Reddit post proclaimed that Genesis Mining had turned into a Ponzi scheme. The poster claimed this had occurred unwittingly, mainly due to the recent backlog in payments. Those payments were effectively delayed due to a hack that had emptied the company's hot wallet a few weeks ago. Ever since then, Genesis Mining has been reimbursing clients, which is a painstaking process. Its daily payouts are not fully back just yet, but the team is working on it. Claiming that the company had pooled together money and built a mining farm to raise more money and buy more hardware is not necessarily false. However, that does not make them a Ponzi scheme, notwithstanding claims by this Redditor of having "no reserves".

Indeed, there are a lot of wild — and often baseless —  theories floating around on the internet about Genesis Mining. It is also true the company may be dealing with a host of issues for which they were unprepared. However, there is no clear evidence of Genesis Mining having willfully defrauded its users. Not everything in the world goes as we would like it to, but that should not surprise anyone. Cryptocurrency cloud mining is a difficult business even when coin prices are on the rise. Everyone wants their ROI in six months or less, but they do not always take external factors into account.

Take your markets back with Delphi

For the reason that ventures like Gnosis are in reality concentrated and NOT decentralized, it is not an question if governement shut it down, but when? For a prediction market to be decentralized means there are factors mandatory so it can sustain decentralized. Alas no entity in the world be it intelligence agency's or governements can shut it down. That's why Delphi is adopting the tactic of being a mysterious crew. The availability is settled and dispersed within the ICO. For the reason that ventures like Gnosis are in actuality concentrated, it is not an prolong determined govt may shut the industry sectors down. So Delphi is adopting the tactic of being a mysterious crew. The availability is settled and dispersed within the ICO.

So what is unusual about Delphi? The primary is the style wherein this marketplace will play out on this provide truth. Duties which can be ideologically made up our minds will most certainly be triumphant since their motivating forces don't seem to be to take the money and run, being pushed no longer all that a lot by way of the money the undertaking raises. To the outdated observe, this should not be excessively of a fear. The Del tokens are circulated in a transparent ICO to all individuals, with a 75% of the availability going out thusly.

In the end, the Delphi crew considered their dispersed prophet construction known as Pythia that may assist assemble the framework out. Have a look at the undertaking right here. At the off probability that you simply cling the generator token, you're ensured to get a particular stage of the bills for the gadget throughout the rate paying token. The availability price is based upon how a lot the passion for Delphi's expectation markets is.

That is like Gnosis, but with a noteworthy distinction - the dispersion is direct with out the over-muddled Dutch Public sale mechanics and shenanigans arranged by way of the Gnosis crew, which simply resembles a money get to any one gazing. Obviously this raises worries, since if the teams are mysterious, at that time there's considerably much less duty. This is not the placement with the newest downpour of ICOs on Ethereum, on the other hand crypto when all is claimed in performed has an expansive historical past of actually fruitful actions created by way of pseudonymous elements, the space from Bitcoin to ventures like NXT/Ardor. That is as a result of a lot of legislatures, maximum prominently america, do not glance too beneficiant upon expectation markets. The price of Phi token is pegged to $1, like bitUSD. The Delphi crew trusts that the overall inhabitants in the back of a forecast market it crew will have to be mysterious or pseudonymous. We do not know whether or not the gang will put across. Delphi's crew has a spot with this magnificence.

So far as how Delphi will plan the undertaking, it's going to be basically the similar as what Gnosis has performed. This means there's a generator token and a rate paying token. Believe a situation the place they by no means put across the thing. This is definitely a danger that speculators wish to take at the off probability that they position money into Delphi's ICO. The present money clutch ICOs on Ethereum don't seem to be in reality a yr outdated. Delphi is some other crypto prolong that intends to make a decentralized expectation business heart. The rate paying token is extra 'marketplace pegged' useful resource, like bitUSD at the Bitshares prepare.

The Delphi Abbreviation

Del - that is the generator token. The availability of Phi is boundless, and you'll get Phi tokens by way of locking up your Del tokens. Within the tournament that there's an in depth estimation of exchanges happening on those industry sectors, at that time the originators could be caught in an unlucky scenario. You'll be able to purchase Del at the ICO website online. Be that as it should, here is a put up from the gang so you'll examine what they assert they continue to be for.

Phi - that is the rate token. Sounds herbal? All issues regarded as, it will have to, since there are as of now two other actions on Ethereum with a equivalent incentive - Augur and Gnosis.

In the end, the Delphi crew considered their dispersed prophet construction known as Pythia that may assist assemble the framework out.

Buy Delphi

ICO: https://delphi.markets/
Bitcoin: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2003548.0

Kazakhstan Seeks to Become Regional Hub for Cryptocurrency Industry

The Kazakhstan government has announced its intentions to make the country host to "the most favourable business climate" for cryptocurrency and fintech companies. The announcement comes from Kazakhstan's Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), which plans to operate in collaboration between Deloitte, Waves, Kesarev Consulting, and Ukrainian law firm Justcutum in order to develop a "highly progressive regulatory framework" for blockchain and cryptocurrency companies.

Kazakhstan has announced that the AIFC will work in partnership with Deloitte and Waves to develop a permissive regulatory apparatus for cryptocurrency, blockchain, and fintech businesses. CEO of the AIFC Authority, Nurlan Kussainov, stated that the "AIFC aims to become a most favorable fintech jurisdiction with an open ecosystem and the most progressive regulating framework. We thank our partners for the support given to our blockchain regulatory development initiative. In the next phase of the project, our working team will be looking at widening the participation to include other industry stakeholders".

The news comes less than a month after the national bank of Kazakhstan unveiled its plan to issue bonds backed by the development of "a mobile application for the population to conduct transactions for the purchase and sale of securities on the basis of blockchain." The app is intended to facilitate the sale of bonds directly to investors and without commission, with officials hoping that low transaction costs and fast settlement times will attract scores of retail investors.

Kazakhstan Seeks to Become Regional Hub for Cryptocurrency Industry

Artem Tolkachev, Director of Legal Services for Technology Projects at Deloitte CIS, described the development of permissive regulatory frameworks for blockchain and cryptocurrency as necessary in order to empower innovation within the industry. Tolkachev stated that the "creation of an enabling regulatory environment for blockchain projects is currently crucial and is included to the agenda of the most innovative economies around the world. [Deloitte] are glad to be a part of the created consortium and to participate in a regulatory development process." Deloitte has also recently partnered with the Singaporean government to trial issuing Singaporean dollars via distributed ledger technology.

Kazakhstani officials recognize that the virtual currencies pose unique challenges to classical law, emphasizing that lawmakers should not develop a juridical framework that will undermine the dynamism and innovation of the cryptocurrency industries. Head of Juscutum, Artem Afyan, described the ICO industry as "new, dynamic, and extremely difficult for classical law", and as "as a perfect opportunity to create a new jurisdiction, which would be most favorable for crypto projects in the world".

This apparent enthusiasm for cryptocurrency on the part of the Kazakstani government appears to be matched by the domestic trading population, with Kazakh Localbitcoins' listings showing record-breaking volume in recent wee

Ether Prices Fall Below $190 Amid Broader Crypto Price Decline

Ether prices fell below $190 today amid a wider drop in cryptocurrency markets.

The price slipped to about $183 as of press time, per CoinDesk data, a decline of roughly 13% since it opened the day at $210.81.

According to WorldCoinIndex, ether (the cryptocurrency of the ethereum network) is trading at $183.41 on South Korea-based Bithumb, the world's most voluminous exchange for the token.

The move comes just three days after ether fell below $200 to hit a 40-day low, representing a more than 50% decline from the $400-odd prices seen in early June. According to CoinDesk data, prices were still well above $300 on June 14, after crossing the $100 mark for the first time in May.

The drop in the price of ether comes during a broader decline in cryptocurrency markets in recent days. Data from CoinMarketCap.com reveals that the collective market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has fallen below $80bn, after climbing as high as $115bn last month.

Bitcoin prices are down about 6.5% at press time, sliding to $2,209.41 after opening the day at $2,364.52.

What's all the fuss about DENT ICO?

You may have heard how a Dovecot founder is participating in the DENT ICO. Their ICO is all about creating history. Not with an another crowdsale, now they got some great in mind. The DENT will help us, the common man, to get rid of our mobile data problems. No more expensive packages or paying for words that don't exist. DENT will allow you to sell your mobile data if you don't need it. Exciting huh? Read along for more information

Scratch is a great deal easy to-use for apprentices but professionally multi functional for knowledgeable agents. Gouge will make knowledge estimating simple, and thru robotized providing expands skillability of procurement, a lot the similar as spot markets and flexible publicizing as of late. Our basic purpose is to offer a easy, fast and protected get right of entry to to digital currencies for every particular person with a internet get to and a elementary Mastercard. May you need to buy cryptographic sorts of cash out of your DENT? To look all tools, information and appropriate information in a single interface? To replace crypto and fiat on a identical degree?

One week from now, we plan to dispatch our web page. We can likewise distribute sights on our well timed risers alpha trying out program. At the off probability that you just need to take an hobby, take after this weblog. The possibility of buying and selling a package deal to a extra suitable one, specifically within the coming of eSIMs will allow the usage of a lot of directors on a solitary phone will power Telcos to contend.

Scratch is the brand new scaffold between the normal budgetary framework and the virtual cash market it. On DENT, you're going to uncover:
– a flexible and usable UI;
– gifted tools and information for agents;
– second exchanges;
– showed safety calculations;
– lawful get right of entry to to cryptographic cash exchanging for agents, corporations and organizations;
– different thriller possible choices that we can discover later.

We're a degree that joins the universes of customary budget and cryptographic sorts of cash. Scratch Tokens would be the international cash for the buying and selling of moveable knowledge bundles. Mark would be the international industry for flexible knowledge the place — within the final scale — the arena's moveable knowledge is bought, bought or given, a lot the similar as other merchandise, as an example, financial paperwork are exchanged as of late.

Video introduction:

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openANX a Promising DEX on the Ethereum Blockchain

The introduce of huge parts of those actions is that the use of prepared contracts, contributors can stay up possession of tokens and by way of having the capability to execute by the use of the savvy contracts, counterparty credit score likelihood is eradicated — and that is legitimate for the exchanging of crypto units. Beginning in 2016 and quickening thru 2017, there were a spread within the amount of actions to dispatch "decentralized trades" with the very important and in lots of circumstances sole purpose of dishing out with the counterparty credit score danger presentation contributors be expecting with a unified business. Those shops are simple and patrons can learn and assess the monetary soundness of Gateways in view of this information. But, the revel in of the decentralized trades which have been propelled to this point is that there's a noteworthy absence of motion and liquidity on those phases as now not each and every particular person is covetous, or is succesful, to replace simply crypto pairs–those trades do not paintings for the all inclusive neighborhood.

Within the idealistic adventure of getting rid of counterparty credit score likelihood, what has been overpassed and shunted apart is the elemental and helpful administrations given by way of integrated trades which are required for a running business framework.

In lieu of a concentrated authority(executive or controller) one of the simplest ways to enforce straightforwardness is to compose it into the blockchain itself.The task will be offering entryway administrations and crossing over to auxiliary, decentralized markets(change administrations) for Ethereum ERC20 tokens. In case of query, an unprejudiced accumulating may just assess the declare and will in all probability discharge a work of the insurance coverage to hide hurt or misfortune. Moreover, by way of being publicly launched , the mission shall be simple and topic to exam and contribution from purchasers and the extra intensive staff. As machine externalities are fundamental for all programs to be sensible and of esteem, decentralized business actions that time of confinement or overlook the non-exchanging functionalities and subordinate administrations most often given by way of concentrated trades are destined for sadness.

Open supply, decentralized, straightforwardly represented trades will after all crush the virtual forex put it up for sale. Those adjustments intend to altogether diminish likelihood for all purchasers, and are a sign that the cryptographic cash put it up for sale is beginning to broaden. It'll likewise give an off-chain,dispute decision framework to reinforce actually vital buyer safety. It'll co-select the qualities of the present type to improve the existent decentralized business endeavors by way of connecting present business phases ("Asset Gateways") to the openANX level and enforcing a collateralize retailer framework that can give purchasers an option to quantify danger. Those Ethereum tokens may also be as native Ethereum tokens(reminiscent of tokens for various DAOs), or tokenized portrayals of off — blockchain sources.

OAX
The level will likewise protected purchasers by way of having each and every Asset Gateway put up insurance coverage right into a savvy contract. A running business framework is a microcosm of an economic system, and as all economies are programs the estimation of that machine is an exponential capability of the volume of related purchasers .

By means of the use of the latest cutting edge advances and an affiliate explored and actualized open supply code, the openANX level will incorporate the qualities of the present CEM exhibit with the most efficient usefulness and parts of the decentralized type whilst going round or relieving the deficiencies of the 2 frameworks. With the increasing building of the Ethereum Community, Raiden and management programs, for instance, boardroom.to, that imaginative and prescient is steadily appropriate. openANX, expects to make a really open supply and decentralized level that makes use of a crossover type to include the important thing qualities of the present CEM with key enhancements, for instance, credit score danger appraisal, arranged query decision and a collateralized retailer framework to interact purchasers, providers and outsiders to legitimately assess the vulnerability that has for a while been a work of the economic heart.

The openANX level will exploit specialised developments at the Ethereum blockchain, for instance, installment channels (Raiden, 0x, Switch, ERC20) and use them to overcome the difficulties faced by way of the present CEM.


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Bitquence - Value Management & Wallet and more

Bitquence staff has been doing their analysis for rather a very long time to make a difference on an expansive scale. Their goal is to create a user friendly wallet which give sthem the oppertunity to reach the masses.

The opposition of the blockchain international assists in keeping on increasing expand to Wall Side road and actual banks are beginning to see the colossal doable for brand new blockchains and crypocurrencies to re-rise.

Empower individuals to without problems purchase Cryptocurrency in an expanded truck, take an passion in high quality settlement and danger analysis, and in all probability put across esteem any place unexpectedly and successfully, Bitquence makes some other Financial system easy to do, sheltered and protected and open to everyone . That's the reason Bitquence expects to make the ones answerable for crypto-curent Carrier for blockchain.

That's the reason Bitquence expects to make a people-controlled cryptographic cash administrations group for the blockchain. Bitquence's Challenge is to make the virtual cash put it up for sale to be had and dependable to the standard shopper, quickening appropriation of blockchain innovation and democratizing duty for. It is a key piece of the philosophical undertaking arrange via Satoshi Nakamoto. International Cryptocurrencies lately stay on experiencing an exceptionally massive increment, unexpectedly attaining super valuations. The have an effect on at the present financial system modified the brains of people to take after enhancements within the time of Cryptoccurency.

Virtual types of cash and blockchain innovation are these days clearing a trail for the "Internet of Worth" and Fintech. The Common Bitquence pockets permits one to successfully purchase, ship and retailer pre-expanded kriptocurrency vans unexpectedly and securely.

The middle of Imaginative and prescient is a token bitquence, which is able to permit automated advantages and allow new liquidity, the gadget could make it secure, easy and allowed to replace esteem anyplace discovered. The group made able for a decentralized and unhampered cash similar long term.

Bitquence fills the opening between the previous and the cash similar long term...

Information:

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South Korea Prepares Bill to Provide Legal Framework for Cryptocurrencies

A South Korean politician, Rep. Park Yong-jin of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, is working to create revisions to a bill that will provide Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital currencies with a legal framework. The lawmaker commented about this on Monday. According to the Korea Herald, this has been a long awaited move for the purposes of protecting the Korean people. 

This new bill will revise the Electronic South Korea Prepares Bill to Provide Legal Framework for CryptocurrenciesFinancial Transactions Act. This means that traders, dealers, brokerage firms, and others in the ecosystem will now have to register with the Financial Services Commission in Korea. One of the registration requirements is that each company retains capital worth $436,300. The new bill will also create a strong regulatory environment, which will allow authorities to better grapple with tax evasion and other financial crimes in the cryptocurrency space.

No Legal Framework in South Korea for Bitcoin Trading; Political Skepticism about Cryptocurrency

Currently, South Korea has little to no framework that regulates institutions and businesses. The Korea Herald references the politician's fears about this issue:

In the proposal, Park cited the need to address 'the void of a state-led protection that guarantees digital currency's value,' 'digital currency's nonexchangablilty to other existing currencies' and 'the possibility of wreaking havoc on national economy from digital currency bubble burst.'

The article mentions that several of the country's exchanges, including Bithumb, Korbit and Coinone, are absorbing a large amount of market value. Bithumb is taking up %75.7 by itself. According to lawmaker Park, this is a problem, because there is no oversight or legal structure that informs a business on what action to take.

Legislators in South Korea have been skeptical about cryptocurrencies to date. Officials have considered these assets to be merely speculative opportunities. Officials have been particularly critical of ICO's, because they seem to be a vehicle for "unreasonable profits."

Previous Cryptocurrency Legal Considerations in South Korea

The current legal action taken by politicians in South Korea were heralded in June when attorney Kim Kyung Hwan pointed out multiple legal issues surrounding cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin.com provided coverage:

"In an article published in Chosun on June South Korean Politician Prepares Bill to Make Bitcoin Legal23, Kim noted how the rise in bitcoin's price prompted more people in South Korea to get involved. However, the country does not have regulations for the cryptocurrency. This causes uncertainty and "a lot of trouble" for anyone making bitcoin transactions, he said, adding that: It is expected that the regulations will be introduced [in South Korea] like Japan in the near future."

The article noted that regulations would be enacted this year, but the government and the Financial Services Commission were having difficulty determining if bitcoin was money, a security, or an asset. It is still not clear how South Korean officials resolved this issue.

UAHF: A contingency plan against UASF (BIP148)

UASF: User Activated Soft Fork. Developers add a mandatory rule set to change the node' software, invalidating certain kinds of previously valid blocks after a flag day. This method requires no mining majority to support or activate a chain-split. The UASF proposal intends to make a 51% attack against the blockchain that has the majority of economic activity, and this attack is called a "Wipe Out".

UAHF: User Activated Hard Fork. Developers add a mandatory rule set to change the node software. These changes make previously invalid blocks become valid after a flag day, which do not require a majority of hash power to be enforced. Nodes with the rule set changes will follow this chain irrespective of its hash rate. The UAHF proposal is a peaceful and voluntary departure of different community members who have different opinions or visions, and it is not intended to make an attack against other blockchain(s), even if the UAHF chain has the higher hash rate.

BIP148 node: a Bitcoin node that has implemented BIP148 consensus rule changes.

BIP148 chain: a blockchain that is valid according to the BIP148 consensus rule changes. BIP148 is a kind of UASF.

Original chain: The blockchain that uses the same consensus rules in use today. (May 26th, 2017)

Wipe Out: If the UASF chain is activated and if the UASF chain gains the majority hash rate, then the nodes following the original chain will reorganize and begin to follow the UASF chain. In such an event, a significant number of financial transaction records will disappear. This is a risk that UASF nodes impose on nodes intending to follow the original chain. In contrast, a UAHF does not threaten the nodes following a different rule set with this same risk.

Bit 1: The BIP9 version bit in a block header used to signal for SegWit activation.

Stagnation risk: A blockchain without mining support may suddenly stop being extended, because the economic incentive for miners is low. A minority fork like UASF is under serious risk of permanent stagnation.

 

Background

On May 24th, 2017, a significant economic majority, more than 80% of the entire hashing power and 80% of transactions' source software or service, of the Bitcoin industry came to an agreement in New York (New York Agreement) on tangible steps to scale Bitcoin in the near future. Representatives of Bitcoin Core declined the invite to attend this meeting. This agreement is the hard work of those who sincerely believe in Bitcoin and those entrepreneurs or investors who have strong financial interest in scaling Bitcoin quickly and unitedly. Bitmain is a supporter of the agreement. We support the agreement and we want to make it happen as soon as possible.

A software project, btc1, which is addressing the New York Agreement, has been under active development and will likely deliver a consensus rule change plan called SegWit2x. The testnet5 for SegWit2x is already alive. Alpha version of the software will be released on June 16th and everything is still on time.

Follow the github here:

https://github.com/btc1

Read a reddit discussion about it here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/6h1wpr/segwit2x_a_summary/

Subscribe the mailing list:

https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-ng

Despite this agreement, the UASF (BIP148) astroturfing movement continues to get lots of airtime on censored forums, many of which are controlled by single anonymous individuals. Many of the software developers who work in a software project called "Bitcoin Core" are also supporting it. BIP148 poses a significant risk for the Bitcoin ecosystem, so we are preparing a contingency plan to protect the economic activity on the Bitcoin blockchain from this threat.

The New York agreement is also continuously and intentionally sabotaged by a group of software developers working on Bitcoin Core.

We must also be prepared for the disruptive risk that UASF activation will bring to the Bitcoin network. The New York agreement is very conservative and aimed at bringing peace within the Bitcoin community on a simple but artificially escalated scaling issue. If somehow the New York agreement cannot prevent a chain split, we will have to be prepared.

The purpose of this blog post is to announce our UAHF contingency plan for UASF/BIP148.

 

Why we need a contingency plan against BIP148

According to BIP148, when the chain MTP is at or beyond Tuesday August 1st, 2017 12:00:00 AM GMT (epoch time 1501545600), BIP148 nodes will begin to orphan Bitcoin blocks not signaling Bit 1 at its UASF forking point. This consensus rule change makes the rule set smaller than original chain before BIP148 activation. BIP148 nodes will follow the new BIP148 chain if there is any more than zero hashing power supporting it; if the hash rate backing the chain is 0, BIP148 nodes will find their chain unable to be extended.

If there is hash power supporting the BIP148 chain, it does not need to be a hash rate majority to allow the chain to be extended. Even if there is only one person solving hashes by hands, given enough time the BIP148 chain can be extended by another block. According to the existing hash rate distribution, some well known mining pool operators have stated that they will support the UASF by allowing miners choice, although their total hash rate is not enough to secure a majority. A company hiring many crucial Bitcoin protocol developers controls some of its own small hash rate now according to its CEO. So the Bitcoin network is at a high risk of being split on Aug 1st, 2017.

BIP148 is very dangerous for exchanges and other business. There is no sign of significant economic support behind BIP148 and when it is alive as a blockchain, the economic support would most likely be based on speculation. The mining activity behind a UASF chain may stop without notice, and investors who buy in the BIP148 propaganda may lose all their investment. Any exchanges that decide to support a UASF token after the forking point need to consider the stagnation risk attached to it.

There is no replay protection on a BIP148 chain. Transactions will be broadcast on both chains and users cannot prevent them from being confirmed on both. Exchanges must stop withdrawals and deposits at the forking point for some time, and deploy their own coin splitting methods. If you want to learn more, please read from the References section of this post: Mitigating Bitcoin Forking Risk during Network Upgrade.

The UASF chain presents a risk of the original chain being wiped out. If there is no contingency plan, all economic activity that occurs on the original chain after the UASF forking point will face the risk of being wiped out. This has disastrous consequences for the entire Bitcoin ecosystem. UASF is an attack against users and enterprises who disagree with activating SegWit right now without a block size increase, which is a very important clause in the Hong Kong agreement made by the global Bitcoin community in February, 2016. The chain reorg risk is more significant than imaged, as analyzed by Peter R. in BUIP055,

Rationale for Reorg Protection

The probability (P) that the big-block chain reorgs back to the small-block chain is given by

P = (q/p)^2

where p is the fraction of the hash power mining the big-block chain and q is the fraction of the hash power remaining on the small block chain [2]. With 75% of the hash power supporting larger blocks, the probability of a reorg is 11%.

 

Protection Plan

This plan is for a User Activated Hard Fork, or UAHF. You can find technical specs here:

https://github.com/bitcoin-UAHF/spec/

The activation time is configurable. We will do the hard fork at 12 hours and 20 mins later than UASF. The epoch time stamp will be 1501590000.

There is "must be big" rule at the fork block. The block size of the fork block must be larger than 1,000,000 Byte. Fork block means the first block which adopt the consensus rule change.

It will accept block of which the size is less than 8MB and we, miners, will soft-limit the block size to less than 2MB.

There will be a soft fork rule added into the protocol to limit the sigops per transaction within 20K.

The block size will not be a part of hard-coded consensus rule for us in the future after the fork block. Miners who generate large blocks will be punished by economic incentives, but not limiting the block size.

There will be replay attack protection that is available for exchanges and wallet developers. You can find the spec here:

https://github.com/Bitcoin-UAHF/spec/blob/master/replay-protected-sighash.md

Bitmain will use some of its own hash rate and work with the developer community to have a contingency plan based on UAHF. We will develop options for miners to voluntarily join us.

Bitmain will mine the chain for a minimum of 72 hours after the BIP148 forking point with a certain percentage of hash rate supplied by our own mining operations.

Bitmain will likely not release immediately the mined blocks to the public network unless circumstances call for it, which means that Bitmain will mine such chain privately first. We intend in the following situations to release the mined blocks to the public (non-exhaustive list):

1. The BIP148 chain is activated and subsequently gains significant support from the mining industry, i.e. after BIP148 has already successfully split the chain;
2. Market sentiment for a big block hard fork is strong, and economic rationale drives us to mine it, for example, the exchange rate is in favor of big-block Bitcoin;
3. If there is already a significant amount of other miners mining a big-block chain publicly and we decide that it is rational for us to mine on top of that chain. In such a case, we will also consider joining that chain and give up our privately mined chain so that the public UAHF chain will not be under the risk of being reorganized.

Once Bitmain starts to mine a UAHF chain publicly, we will mine it persistently and ignore short-term economic incentives. We believe a roadmap including the option to adjust block size will serve users better so we expect it to attract a higher market price in the long term. The economic network will expand faster, and the winning odds will be higher in a highly competitive cryptocurrency market.

We share the same belief with some very early Bitcoiners, that decentralization means that more than 1 billion people in 200 countries are using Bitcoin as a saving currency and payment network, and that it comprises of hundreds of thousands of Bitcoin services, traders, exchanges and software. We do not believe that decentralization means a 1MB block size limit or a responsibility to constrain the block size so that a Raspberry Pi can run a full node while the fee per Bitcoin transaction is higher than the daily income in most developing countries. We believe Bitcoin needs to offer people an alternative to flourish without depending on powerful authorities that charge fees that can be as high as 100$/transaction.

 

Software Development

Currently, there are at least 3 client development teams working on the code of the spec. All of them want to stay quiet and away from the propaganda and troll army of certain companies. They will announce themselves when they feel ready for it. Users will be able to install the software and decide whether to join the UAHF.

The softwares are expected to be ready before July 1st, and it will be live on testnet by then.

 

Future Roadmap

If New York agreement activates

We wish that New York agreement will be developed and carried out well. It is the last hope for Bitcoin to scale unitedly in face of the BIP148 threat. We will try our best to deploy and activate it as soon as possible.

If BIP148 activates

Then UAHF will be alive on the same day. The UAHF chain will protect the economic transactions that are under risk of reorganization because of UASF.

Later, we will support the activation of SegWit on the UAHF chain if there is no patent risk associated with SegWit and if the arbitrary discount rate of witness data segment is removed. The weight parameter, which is designed for artificial rates, may need to be deleted and we need to be frank and straightforward in the software code about different limitations on different kind of blocks and other parameters. A SegWit without the artificial discount rate will treat legacy transaction type fairly and it will not give SegWit transactions an unfair advantage. It will also help the capacity increasing effect of SegWit more significantly than with the discounted rate. We will also push for and encourage changes in code, in main block or in extension block, that will make Lightning Network run more safely and reliably than Core's present version of SegWit does.

Extension blocks will be developed as a framework to encourage multiple protocol development teams to bring innovations and capacities into the Bitcoin protocol. Some important but aggressive innovations can be introduced without affecting all Bitcoin users or companies around the world. This will accelerate the innovation of Bitcoin protocol. Sidechains will also be encouraged after the associated security issues have been reviewed by the technical community. Miners are genuinely driven by the hope that Bitcoin will be a success.

We will encourage and help various multi-layer solutions come into production. As a very early investor of RootStock, we identified the potential of another important competing cryptocurrency. We are already working closely with authors of other multilayer solutions.

A new SPV security service by full nodes should be promoted, and further research and libraries that are compatible with the SPV model should also be promoted among wallet developers.

If Bitcoin can combine Bitcoin NG by Emin and Lumino by Sergio together, then a throughput increase of the current Bitcoin network to up to 100x can be easier to achieve with a block size of around 100KB but of a higher block generation frequency. The original Bitcoin NG is a hard fork proposal, but we can soft fork it into the protocol with the extension block framework. At the same time, RootStock, co-founded by the inventor of Lumino, is also trying to implement Lumino on RootStock. Lumino will work perfectly with Lightning Network. It will be interesting to see which implementation will bring Lumino into production first, and in what ways.

Schnorr Signature is also under last stage review.

The diversification of client development shall be promoted. Defensive Consensus concept is under development and will help in the mining industry. Defensive Consensus will help the Bitcoin network work safely while multiple implementations work together.

There are and will be other good innovations in the Bitcoin community that have not been well promoted because of various reasons. We seek to actively work with those innovations.

BUIP056 will be developed to manage the block size issue before a fully automatic and mathematical block size governance model is widely accepted. As evidenced in the past years of debate, miners have proved to be very conservative and willing to work with the wider economic community. The rough roadmap of the block size increase for the next few years is below.

 

Time	Block size, Byte
Now	1,000,000
2017 Aug	2,000,000
2017 Sept	4,194,304
2018 April	5,931,641
2018 Aug	8,388,608
2019 April	11,863,283
2019 Aug	16,777,216
After 2019 Aug	Depends on further research

Weak blocks will have to be developed and deployed, before the block size increase reaches 8MB.

 

References

For other parties in the ecosystem, we recommend detailed research on effects of the UASF. All Bitcoin businesses must be prepared on that day to mitigate or eliminate the risks that UASF carries.

Mitigating Bitcoin Forking Risk during Network Upgrade,https://github.com/digitsu/splitting-bitcoin

If you want to learn more about minority forks, please see Meni Rosenfeld's presentation:

How I learned to stop worrying and love the fork https://fieryspinningsword.com/2015/08/25/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-fork/

A Fork in the Road: Must we Choose a Path?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkJHOpuvQo0&feature=youtu.be

Here is a letter to help you understand the history and full picture of the great debate on Bitcoin scaling, even you are not miners:

An Open Letter to Miners

https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/6befxw/an_open_letter_to_bitcoin_miners_jonald_fyookball/

Here is another blog help you to understand what will happen on the BIP148 fork:

https://medium.com/@jimmysong/uasf-bip148-scenarios-and-game-theory-9530336d953e

The latest advancement of I/O Digital Currency: DIONS

IOC can be recognized as a digital currency. Even though it is a digital currency, it is still a real world value. The value is based on the most latest trades on digital exchanges. IOC is always looking for new advancements for their system. DIONS is currently the latest advancement to help with the IOC coin. This stands for decentralized input output name system. This system can be seen as an specific advancement to Bitcoin. This new software permits identity storage, avatar formation, and encrypted document storage capabilities that are interchangeable between users. DIONS allows the users to store the delicate identity credentials. This can secure a way for users to take over their reputation and manage their data. 

DIONS also empowers the formation of arbitrary values. These appearances are hard coded into a user friendly wallet system. With DIONS, stage names are effortless to remember and also fully interchangeable between users. DIONS added a new system of messaging that they fully support. Builders will also be able to innovate by API by constructing decentralized applications. 

DIONS can also take any arbitrary form and be interchangeable between users. DIONS can allow confidential creation of aliases and identity form. When you decide to create an alias, you will be provided with with an added layer of privacy at the time. Even if you have a public or private name, you can make transactions either way. Connecting an exclusive ID with their brand name, the coin payments will be highly profitable to individuals. Businesses can now use ID's to serve as their customer's reference or invoice numbers. This also can help the businesses benefit from enormous fees. It will also be an easy auditability distributed database. Lastly, DIONS will come along with a Skype-like end to end decentralized chat with an encryption.

Resources

Website 

Blackcoin Announces Imminent Launch of 'Blackcoin Lore'

Blackcoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency or digital currency which has a distributed and decentralised public ledger, which unlike traditional banks can be viewed and audited easily by anyone. In Blackcoin anyone can open an account just by downloading the software and this bank cannot be shutdown and has no owners. It is the first coin to have working smart contracts. Accounts can't be frozen in Blackcoin and it's completely anonymous, free of cost and a lot more secure than what traditional banking is. Blackcoin is the first coin to go fully proof of stake and is the future of what is called banking. 

Blackcoin Lore

Blackcoin Lore is the new update which has incorporated Blackcoin's own open source code development with the technology of Bitcoin core version 0.12 which has made Blackcoin Lore to be the first proof of stake (POS) cryptocurrency to have had implemented technology as such as that. One of the crucial historic reasons for the use of Blackcoin is it's fast verification speed and transfer speeds, but these speeds have seen an improvisation with the advent of Lore which has led to the reduction of the verification time by about 50 percent and is upto a maximum of five times faster than the version previously present under certain conditions. Lately the wallet synchronization time had puffed from several hours to upto a day or more but this update has now addressed the inconvenience by greatly improving user adoption. Advancements in the grounds of security, stability and also in the removal of things such as the bugs are present in theupdate. POS 2.0, which was previously present at the core of Blackcoin's technology has completely been reconstructed and renovated and has been replaced by Blackcoin POS. Blackcoin Lore has made Blackcoin the first POS Cryptocurrency to adopt Bitcoin core 0.12. 

Blackcoin, the KING of POS

Projects like Stratis en QTUM which are an open source community which has the aim to develop a system of blockchain have collected a lot of funds. The decentralised platform has raised $12.25 billion during the initial eighteen hours of it's initial funding round or ICO. It is an open source project which has been based on a blockchain platform which allows execution of smart contracts. One of it's foundational goal is to promote and to facilitate access through mobile to the blockchain technology which is known as the "Go Mobile" strategy. This developmental project has decided to depend or rely upon Blackcoin for it's development, core formation and operation. It is made upon the Bitcoin 0.13 and plans to have Blackcoin's POS 3.0 consensus model incorporated. Post testing multiple POS consensus model, decision to take up Blackcoin POS 3.0 for integration into the Bitcoin Core 0.12 is taken because Blackcoin's POS 3.0 is sophisticated and clear explanations aren't present in the code which describes the sections which associate with the others. The code has been distributed into many numbers of files and the challenge is to identify markers which allowed qtum developers to have tagged the portions which could be ported. This has attracted it to base itself on the platform of Blackcoin.

Resources:

www.blackcoin.io

www.reddit.com/r/blackcoin/