Monthly Archives: March 2020

WhatsApp Is at the Center of Coronavirus Response – WIRED

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The Covid-19 pandemic is impacting communities around the world. For the 2 billion of those people who also use the encrypted communication service WhatsApp, now more than ever is a time for calling, messaging, and seeking trustworthy information. So the World Health Organization is going where the people are, launching a new tool called WHO Health Alert on WhatsApp today.

When you text "hi" to +41 79 893 1892 over WhatsApp, you'll receive back a text from the WHO that includes a variety of menu items for the latest information, like novel coronavirus infection rates around the world, travel advisories, and misinformation that should be debunked. Think of it like a hotline: Text 1 for the latest statistics, 4 for mythbusters, that type of thing. The WHO can also send out proactive alerts as needed to everyone who's signed up.

Read all of our coronavirus coverage here.

The WHO isn't the first to enlist WhatsApp in this manner. The Facebook-owned app's ubiquity and experience handling disinformation has made an obvious choice for governments and international organizations, placing it squarely at the center of the novel coronavirus responsewith all the responsibility and controversy that entails.

"We already have over one million people signed up even though we havent even announced it yet," says Will Cathcart, who runs WhatsApp, of WHO Health Alert. "It's great. There seems to be a lot of appetite from people for ways to get good, accurate information and were happy to do what we can there to help."

Helplines are preferable in many ways to landing pages, social media profiles, or massive open channels, because they allow governments to use WhatsApp like regular users, having one-to-one interactions with constituents. The only difference is that the responses are automated.

Organizations can find out their options for setting up similar chatbot mechanisms at this landing page for WhatsApp's Coronavirus resources. The bots run through WhatsApp's business application programming interface, which maintains WhatsApp's encryption and allows entities to manage their services

All the new institutional uses combined with widespread social isolation means that more people than ever are using WhatsApp for messagingand an especially large volume of phone calls and video chats. To keep up with demand, Cathcart says that WhatsApp has nearly doubled its server capacity in the last few weeks.

"We dont know whats coming, and we view WhatsApp as a lifeline for people to communicate when they need it. And the core thing we offer is that itll be there and work," he says. "Were hearing all these amazing anecdotes especially out of places on the front lines of things like health care workers using WhatsApp to communicate with patients, to communicate with each other. Schools using it to try to do remote education, people using it to keep in touch with their friends and family, either through messaging, but actually exceptionally through video calling and voice calling. And were seeing that in the data with a ton of extra usage."

On a platform that has struggled for years to curb misinformation, all of that extra usage has also bred pandemic-related rumors and myths. WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption means that only the devices at either end of a communication hold data unencrypted. WhatsApp itself is totally boxed out of being able to access user communications other than metadata like which accounts are interacting. This means the company can't moderate content on the service like social networks can. Users can communicate on WhatsApp without being surveilled by oppressive governments, but those same protections can also make it easier for misinformation to spread. Meanwhile, law enforcement in the US and around the world have increasingly lobbied to undermine end-to-end encryption.

Cathcart says WhatsApp's priority, even more so during the pandemic, is to elevate accurate information and support fact-checking organizations around the world. The company announced a $1 million donation on Wednesday to the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network. The goal is to help buoy the #CoronaVirusFacts Alliance, which is bringing together 100 local organizations in more than 45 countries to fight Covid-19-related disinformation.

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WhatsApp Is at the Center of Coronavirus Response - WIRED

Bored during lockdown? Why not try out these data-spilling Krk Wi-Fi bug exploits against your nearby devices – The Register

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Proof-of-concept exploit code has emerged for last month's data-leaking Krk vulnerability present in a billion-plus Wi-Fi-connected devices and computers.

The team at infosec outfit Hexway told The Register on Friday it has crafted a working exploit for the flaw which is present in equipment that uses Broadcom's communications chipsets. This design blunder can be abused by nearby miscreants to snatch snapshots of private data, such as web requests, messages, and passwords, over the air from devices as they are transmitted, if said data is not securely encrypted using an encapsulating protocol, such as HTTPS, DNS-over-HTTPS, a VPN, and SSH.

Crucially, to pull this off, a hacker does not need to be on the same Wi-Fi network as the victim: just within radio range of a vulnerable phone, gateway, laptop, or whatever is being probed.

"Among the devices vulnerable to this attack are the ones from Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi and other popular brands," Hexway told The Register. "To perform the Krk attack, a hacker just needs his or her victim to be connected to the Wi-Fi."

Designated CVE-2019-15126, the Krk bug revolves around the transmission data buffers in Broadcom chips. Researchers at ESET found that, in specific circumstances, an attacker can force a nearby device to disconnect from its Wi-Fi point, causing it to emit any data still in its transmit buffer with an encryption key value of zero. Thus a nearby snooper can decrypt this transmitted information flushed from the buffer. If the data isn't wrapped up in additional encryption, such as HTTPS, it can be read as plain text.

Hexway has managed to weaponize the design error in Broadcom's hardware by using a Raspberry Pi 3 with a Python script. This setup was able to yield keys and private data from a Sony Xperia Z3 Compact and Huawei Honor 4X, because they use the vulnerable chipset.

It is also believed that certain models of Amazon Echo and Kindle, Google Nexus smartphones, and both the iPad and iPhone are vulnerable to the flaw.

"After testing this PoC on different devices, we found out that the data of the clients that generated plenty of UDP traffic was the easiest to intercept," Hexway said in an advisory accompanying its code.

"Among those clients, for example, there are various streaming apps because this kind of traffic (unlike small TCP packets) will always be kept in the buffer of a Wi-Fi chip."

Those so inclined can get the script from Hexway via GitHub. Meanwhile, security outfit Thice has cooked up its own exploit proof-of-concept as well.

The Thice report includes further details on the flaw, which may not be as bad as feared.

"So, yeah, Krk is real and not that hard to exploit when a vulnerable router is involved," says the Thice recap. "However, the amount of data that you can steal this way is limited since it is only a couple of packets per disconnect."

If you haven't already done so, and if you're able to, and if it's necessary, check for and install software patches from your devices' manufacturers to address the Krk vulnerability.

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Bored during lockdown? Why not try out these data-spilling Krk Wi-Fi bug exploits against your nearby devices - The Register

Quantum computing is right around the corner, but cooling is a problem. What are the options? – Diginomica

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(Shutterstock.com)

Why would you be thinking about quantum computing? Yes, it may be two years or more before quantum computing will be widely available, but there are already quite a few organizations that are pressing ahead. I'll get into those use cases, but first - Lets start with the basics:

Classical computers require built-in fans and other ways to dissipate heat, and quantum computers are no different. Instead of working with bits of information that can be either 0 or 1, as in a classical machine, a quantum computer relies on "qubits," which can be in both states simultaneously called a superposition thanks to the quirks of quantum mechanics. Those qubits must be shielded from all external noise, since the slightest interference will destroy the superposition, resulting in calculation errors. Well-isolated qubits heat up quickly, so keeping them cool is a challenge.

The current operating temperature of quantum computers is 0.015 Kelvin or -273C or -460F. That is the only way to slow down the movement of atoms, so a "qubit" can hold a value.

There have been some creative solutions proposed for this problem, such as the nanofridge," which builds a circuit with an energy gap dividing two channels: a superconducting fast lane, where electrons can zip along with zero resistance, and a slow resistive (non-superconducting) lane. Only electrons with sufficient energy to jump across that gap can get to the superconductor highway; the rest are stuck in the slow lane. This has a cooling effect.

Just one problem though: The inventor, MikkoMttnen, is confident enough in the eventual success that he has applied for a patent for the device. However, "Maybe in 10 to 15 years, this might be commercially useful, he said. Its going to take some time, but Im pretty sure well get there."

Ten to fifteen years? It may be two years or more before quantum computing will be widely available, but there are already quite a few organizations that are pressing ahead in the following sectors:

An excellent, detailed report on the quantum computing ecosystem is: The Next Decade in Quantum Computingand How to Play.

But the cooling problem must get sorted. It may be diamonds that finally solve some of the commercial and operational/cost issues in quantum computing: synthetic, also known as lab-grown diamonds.

The first synthetic diamond was grown by GE in 1954. It was an ugly little brown thing. By the '70s, GE and others were growing up to 1-carat off-color diamonds for industrial use. By the '90s, a company called Gemesis (renamed Pure Grown Diamonds) successfully created one-carat flawless diamonds graded ILA, meaning perfect. Today designer diamonds come in all sizes and colors: adding Boron to make them pink or nitrogen to make them yellow.

Diamonds have unique properties. They have high thermal conductivity (meaning they don't melt like silicon). The thermal conductivity of a pure diamond is the highest of any known solid. They are also an excellent electrical insulator. In its center, it has an impurity called an N-V center, where a carbon atom is replaced by a nitrogen atom leaving a gap where an unpaired electron circles the nitrogen gap and can be excited or polarized by a laser. When excited, the electron gives off a single photon leaving it in a reduced energy state. Somehow, and I admit I dont completely understand this, the particle is placed into a quantum superposition. In quantum-speak, that means it can be two things, two values, two places at once, where it has both spin up and spin down. That is the essence of quantum computing, the creation of a "qubit," something that can be both 0 and 1 at the same time.

If that isnt weird enough, there is the issue of entanglement. A microwave pulse can be directed at a pair of qubits, placing them both in the same state. But you can "entangle" them so that they are always in the same state. In other words, if you change the state of one of them, the other also changes, even if great distances separate them, a phenomenon Einstein dubbed, spooky action at a distance. Entangled photons don't need bulky equipment to keep them in their quantum state, and they can transmit quantum information across long distances.

At least in the theory of the predictive nature of entanglement, adding qubits explodes a quantum computer's computing power. In telecommunications, for example, entangled photons that span the traditional telecommunications spectrum have enormous potential for multi-channel quantum communication.

News Flash: Physicists have just demonstrated a 3-particle entanglement. This increases the capacity of quantum computing geometrically.

The cooling of qubits is the stumbling block. Diamonds seem to offer a solution, one that could quantum computing into the mainstream. The impurities in synthetic diamonds can be manipulated, and the state of od qubit can held at room temperature, unlike other potential quantum computing systems, and NV-center qubits (described above) are long-lived. There are still many issues to unravel to make quantum computers feasible, but today, unless you have a refrigerator at home that can operate at near absolute-zero, hang on to that laptop.

But doesnt diamonds in computers sound expensive, flagrant, excessive? It begs the question, What is anything worth? Synthetic diamonds for jewelry are not as expensive as mined gems, but the price one pays at retail s burdened by the effect of monopoly, and so many intermediaries, distributors, jewelry companies, and retailers.

A recent book explored the value of fine things and explains the perceived value which only has a psychological basis.In the 1930s, De Beers, which had a monopoly on the world diamond market and too many for the weak demand, engaged the N. W. Ayers advertising agency realizing that diamonds were only sold to the very rich, while everyone else was buying cars and appliances. They created a market for diamond engagement rings and introduced the idea that a man should spend at least three months salary on a diamond for his betrothed.

And in classic selling of an idea, not a brand, they used their earworm taglines like diamonds are forever. These four iconic words have appeared in every single De Beers advertisement since 1948, and AdAge named it the #1 slogan of the century in 1999. Incidentally, diamonds arent forever. That diamond on your finger is slowly evaporating.

The worldwide outrage over the Blood Diamond scandal is increasing supply and demand for fine jewelry applications of synthetic diamonds. If quantum computers take off, and a diamond-based architecture becomes a standard, it will spawn a synthetic diamond production boom, increasing supply and drastically lowering the cost, making it feasible.

Many thanks to my daughter, Aja Raden, an author, jeweler, and behavioral economist for her insights about the diamond trade.

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Quantum computing is right around the corner, but cooling is a problem. What are the options? - Diginomica

Extra! Extra!: Chelsea Manning Will Be Free, and More News Amid This Strange Week – Autostraddle

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So many things feel like theyve come to a standstill because of the Coronavirus, but, in the words of Anais Mitchell, the sun just goes on rising. This weeks Extra! Extra! Covers US election interference, two articles from opposite sides of the world sharing the challenges facing immigrants and refugees and Chelsea Mannings recent release from jail.

A reminder that for right now, were putting news about COVID-19 in its own roundup that can be found here!

Justice Department Drops Plans for Trial over Russian Interference in 2016 U.S. Election

Natalie: Its been amazing to see what Republicans across the country are doing while our collective attentions are monopolized by coronavirus.

In Kentucky, the legislature continues to meet (so much for social distancing!) and just passed a voter ID law thatll govern this falls election. In Idaho, where one county has been forced to shelter in place due to a community outbreak of coronavirus, legislators are focused instead on anti-trans legislation..

And in DC, theres this: while Congress is consumed with finding a suitable relief package, the Attorney General of the United States is trying to eliminate the possibility that there will be any accountability for the attack on American democracy in 2016. Once again, the Trump presidency will be shielded from being exposed for the fraud that he is.

Its all just a reminder we need to be vigilant about staying engaged on issues beyond coronavirusbecause, as the saying goes, the Devil never sleeps.

Anchor Babies: The Ludicrous Immigration Myth That Treats People as Pawns

Somewhere Like Home: Uighur Kids Find A Haven At Boarding School In Turkey

Himani: Around the world, people continue to be dehumanized for being different, for being other. America has long positioned itself as the country of immigrants, the melting pot, the place where people from around the world could go to find solace. Of course, that was always a lie.

In America, Republicans and the Trump administration keep spreading dangerous myths about immigrants. This isnt new: the notion of anchor babies has been around for at least two decades and the 1996 immigration law arguably created the inhumane situation that exists in the US today. Now were at a point where the US has resettled the lowest numbers of refugees in the last three decades, people in situations like the Uighars in China who face violence and persecution.

What these two articles reminds us is that the vast majority of immigrants face countless challenges when they make the difficult decision to uproot their lives. Thats true whether were talking about Latinx people seeking a better life for their family in the US or Uighars trying to find safety and security for their children in Turkey. People dont make decisions like this out of malice. They dont just have children because that will somehow give them security. (In fact, they sometimes have children because the hUS has made contraceptive care so difficult to access.) And those children even if they are more fortunate than the ones who were left behind dont, by any means, have it easy.

But the other thing that connects these two stories, for me, is the hope these communities create for each other and their dedication to the fight to improve the lives of others in situations like their own.

Immigrant rights group and Microsoft workers blast ICE raids amid coronavirus crisis: The way ICE is operating is reckless

Thousands of ICE detainees at high risk amid coronavirus pandemic

Yudith is a wife and mother of six children whose husband has been detained by ICE.

Rachel: Given the context that only essential jobs and orgs are supposed to be operating normally right now, its become even more glaringly clear that this administration views ICE raids, family separation and deportation as essential raids have continued, including on quarantined homes and in hospitals where people are seeking treatment. In at least one (anecdotal) case, its reported that ICE agents posed as doctors to gain access to a home where they wanted to arrest someone. While of course ICEs actions are always harmful and violent on a personal and structural level, right now its incredibly clear that theyre also willfully contributing to the spread of a pandemic and potentially condemning those who they detain to infection ICE detention centers are crowded and have always been severely lacking in hygiene and sanitation resources, even before they became in short supply. In addition to demanding our elected officials work to release and distribute the necessary resources to healthcare workers and to individuals, we need to demand that they stop expending state resources on an institution that now more than ever serves only to harm.

Rachel: As many of us know and have been following, whistleblower Chelsea Manning has been detained indefinitely in solitary confinement essentially as punishment and coercion for refusing to testify before a grand jury against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. She was initially jailed for her cooperation with WikiLeaks, and had her sentence commuted in 2017 by Obama; she was then subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury and once again jailed when she refused to testify. In addition to her incarceration, Chelsea was fined exorbitant amounts, $1000 per day, as a repercussion for her refusal to cooperate. Incarceration is always harmful, and hers has been no different; this week, news broke that Chelsea had attempted suicide while in prison, her third attempt over the long course of her multiple incarcerations. She survived, and was treated in the hospital.

The good news is that shortly after her hospitalization, a federal judge actually ordered Chelseas release he announced that her testimony was no longer needed before the grand jury, and so coercive measures werent necessary any longer. Its unclear whether this was a genuine announcement Judge Trenga was already scheduled to issue a ruling or whether the court was motivated to wrap up the issue and Chelseas incarceration by her suicide attempt.

While Chelsea will be freed, her fines remain, totaling over $250,000 obviously Chelsea hasnt been able to earn income while incarcerated. A friend has organized a GoFundMe for supporters to help contribute toward paying the cost.

+ Chelsea Manning attempted suicide while in jail for refusing to testify against WikiLeaks

+ Chelsea Manning Is Ordered Released From Jail

New Challenge to Transgender Military Ban Filed by Naval Officer

Dousing the Glim: Reflections on Shutting Down Canada

Tribunal Orders Canada to Compensate Parents Who Lost Children in Care

A Sneaky Attempt to End Encryption Is Worming Its Way through Congress

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Extra! Extra!: Chelsea Manning Will Be Free, and More News Amid This Strange Week - Autostraddle

Are machine-learning-based automation tools good enough for storage management and other areas of IT? Let us know – The Register

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Reader survey We hear a lot these days about IT automation. Yet whether it's labelled intelligent infrastructure, AIOps, self-driving IT, or even private cloud, the aim is the same.

And that aim is: to use the likes of machine learning, workflow automation, and infrastructure-as-code to automatically make changes in real-time, eliminating as much as possible of the manual drudgery associated with routine IT administration.

Are the latest AI/ML-powered intelligent automation solutions trustworthy and ready for mainstream deployment, particularly in areas such as storage management?

Should we go ahead and implement the technology now on offer?

This controversial topic is the subject of our latest reader survey, and we are eager to hear your views.

Please complete our short survey, here.

As always, your responses will be anonymous and your privacy assured.

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Are machine-learning-based automation tools good enough for storage management and other areas of IT? Let us know - The Register

Bitcoin Sees 9% Gain as Turmoil Hits the Forex Markets – CoinDesk – CoinDesk

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Bitcoin is on the rise Thursday morning (UTC), showing resilience in the face of a global dash for dollars seen in the foreign exchange markets.

At time of writing, the cryptocurrency is trading near $5,670, representing a 9.4 percent gain on a 24-hour basis. Bitcoin found bids near $5,260 during the Asian trading hours and has been climbing since, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index.

While bitcoin is flashing green against the U.S. dollar, most fiat currencies are currently trading in the red. For example, the British pound-to-dollar exchange rate is hovering near 1.1555, the lowest level since 1980. The currency pair has dropped by nearly 8 percent this week.

The Australian dollar fell to a 20-year low of 55 U.S. cents early on Thursday and is currently reporting a 0.6 percent drop on the day.

The greenback has gained in the past six trading days against all major currencies, as noted by macro analyst Holger Zschaepitz.

The surge indicates many investors are selling everything, even safe havens like Japan's yen and Swiss francs, to move their money into dollars over fears of a coronavirus-led recession in the global economy. If cash is king, then dollar cash is currently being world president," according to ING's head of global markets.

Bitcoin, however, isn't bowing down to the new cash overlord, and could see bigger gains if the U.S, equity markets put in a good performance in line with rising European stocks. At press time, the Euro Stoxx 50 the eurozone's benchmark index has added 1.3 percent to its value.

A risk reset on Wall Street cannot be ruled out, as central banks from Australia to Canada have launched easing programs to inject massive amounts of liquidity into the system.

Bitcoin's technical charts, too, are suggesting scope for a stronger recovery rally.

Daily chart

Bitcoin defended the psychological support of $5,000 on Wednesday and ended up producing a small hammer candle, validating seller exhaustion signaled on Monday.

A hammer candle occurs when sellers fail to keep prices at the lowest point of the day and is widely considered an early sign of a trend reversal.

The MACD histogram is printing higher lows below the zero line, indicating a drop in bearish momentum.

Hourly chart

Bitcoin produced a green marubozu candle in the 60 minutes to 10:00 UTC, which comprises a big body and small or no wicks. The bullish indicator shows buyers were in control from the session's open to its close.

The odds appear stacked in favor of a rise to the top of the ascending triangle at $5,926. A high-volume break above that level could cause more bargain hunters to join the market, producing a stronger rise to the next resistance at $6,425 (December low).

Conversely, a triangle breakdown would open the doors for a re-test of the March 16 low of $4,446.

Disclosure:The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing.

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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Bitcoin Sees 9% Gain as Turmoil Hits the Forex Markets - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Heres What Caused Bitcoins Extreme Price Plunge – Forbes

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Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets were shocked last week when the bitcoin price briefly plunged to under $4,000 per bitcoin, sparking fears of a crypto wipeout.

The sudden fall was led by Seychelles-based bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, with the bitcoin price dropping to a low of $3,600 on the exchange before it was closed for "maintenance."

The bitcoin price recovery to back over $5,000 per bitcoin was led by U.S.-based exchange Coinbase with BitMEX lagging far behind the other major exchanges and now crypto analysts have warned so-called leveraged trades, where investors can open positions much larger than their own capital and are popular on BitMEX, can lead to "extreme corrections."

The bitcoin price crashed last week, losing about half its value and causing panic among the bitcoin ... [+] and cryptocurrency community.

"On March 12th, bitcoin fell below $4,000. At one point, due to a backlog of liquidations, the price of bitcoin on BitMEX was over $300 below the price on other exchanges," said Geoff Watts, senior data scientist at U.S.-based Digital Assets Data, which has analysed last week's bitcoin sell-off.

"We're seeing a lot of leveraged trades in the crypto markets and that leverage can lead to extreme corrections during periods of high volatility."

On BitMEX users can borrow against their deposits up to a ratio of 100:1, providing traders the opportunity to amplify their gains, as well as potential losses.

During last week's crash, BitMEX users saw $750 million in bitcoin liquidated in a matter of minutes.

BitMEX has claimed its outage was caused by a planned DDoS attack against the exchange.

"At 02:16 UTC a botnet began a DDoS attack against the BitMEX platform," BitMEX chief executive Arthur Hayes wrote in a blog post this week.

"We discovered shortly afterward that this botnet had been responsible for a similar, yet unsuccessful, attack a month ago on 15 February."

Deribit, a smaller bitcoin and crypto exchange in the Netherlands, also experienced outages during bitcoin's flash crash last week, one during the sell-off and another after the recovery began.

BitMEX and Deribit, acting as two of the largest liquidity providers, experienced technical issues which may have likely contributed to the extreme volatility, Digital Assets Data researchers found.

Last year, the chief executive of the world's largest bitcoin and crypto exchange by volume, Binance, Changpeng Zhao warned the bitcoin price was potentially being inflated by the increased use of leveraged trades.

The bitcoin price continued to fall on Bitmex after it stabilized on other exchanges.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets have fallen sharply over the last few weeks, plummeting along with traditional markets in the face of coronavirus chaos.

Bitcoin and and other major cryptocurrencies saw some $100 billion worth of value erased in just a week, with some senior figures in the crypto community warning confidence in digital assets has "evaporated"potentially leaving bitcoin and crypto vulnerable.

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Heres What Caused Bitcoins Extreme Price Plunge - Forbes

Coronavirus is forcing fans of Bitcoin to realize its not a safe haven after all – MIT Technology Review

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All hell seems to be breaking loose in the financial markets in light of the coronavirus pandemic. But if youve spent any time talking with a Bitcoin enthusiast, youve probably been told (perhaps many times) that moments like this are what the cryptocurrency was made for. Some of its most ardent fans have contended that since the digital asset is uncorrelated with traditional assets like stocks, it is a safe haven against market crashes like those we are seeing right now.

You can read all ourcoverage of the coronavirus/Covid-19 outbreakfor free, and also sign up for ourcoronavirus newsletter. But pleaseconsider subscribingto support our nonprofit journalism.

Sign up for the Chain Letter blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and why they matter

Much to the disappointment of true believers, however, Bitcoinin fact, the whole cryptocurrency markethas cratered right along with the stock market. Though the price has jumped today, at publication time it was still down roughly 40% from a month ago. So is Bitcoin not actually a safe haven after all? Though it appears to have failed the biggest test of the idea yet, the debate will probably rage on, serving as a reminder that we are still figuring out exactly what Bitcoin is and is not.

Its also not clear that Bitcoin is supposed to be anything in particular. But Satoshi Nakamoto, its pseudonymous, still-unknown creator, did leave some clues. The title of Nakamotos Bitcoin white paper, which introduced the concept to the world, refers to peer-to-peer electronic cash. In the introduction, Nakamoto called for an alternative to the traditional system of online commerce, which relies too heavily on trusted third parties.

Then there is the mysterious message Bitcoins creator left in the very first record of transactions in the blockchain, known as the genesis block: The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on the brink of a second bailout for banks. Nakamoto never explained what this message meant. Still, its hard not to see Bitcoin as a reaction to the last global financial meltdown, which began in September of 2008. The Bitcoin white paper hit a popular cryptography email list on Halloween of that year, and the system was running by January.

In practice, Bitcoin is too slow and inefficient to act like electronic cash. Instead, many enthusiasts today view it as a form of digital gold. Real gold has long been considered a reliable store of value, and investors tend to see it as a form of insurance against an economic downturn.

Gold is also famously seen as a safe haven asset, which Investopedia defines as an investment that is expected to retain or increase in value during times of market turbulence. Other commodities like silver, corn, and livestock can also be safe havens. So are US Treasury bonds and cash. Many Bitcoin advocates have claimed that the digital asset belongs in this league too. Then last week happened.

Surprised were seeing the Bitcoin price fall in this environment, would have expected the opposite, Brian Armstrong, CEO of the popular US exchange Coinbase, tweeted on March 9, likely expressing what many Bitcoin fans were feeling. And that was before the carnage of March 12, when Bitcoin lost more than 40% of its value.

So what happened? One part of the explanation is somewhat ironic. In its earlier days, most of the people who invested in Bitcoin were committed to building an alternative financial system. They saw it as a long-term investment. Bitcoin used to be the asset of the future, writes Noelle Acheson, director of research at CoinDesk. It really was separate from the traditional financial system.

But as an industry has emerged around the currency in more recent years, it has made a major effort to foster adoption by institutional investors like hedge funds and other professional trading desks. The recent selloff is evidence that the effort has worked. Professional traders have been desperate to raise cash, writes Acheson: Bitcoin was just another financial asset getting trampled as investors headed for the exit.

So in its short life, Bitcoin has gone from an extremely obscure asset held mostly by true believers to just another financial asset. In light of the latest global financial crisis, it looks nothing like a safe haven. But in other contextssuch as in countries with high inflation, like Venezuelait has become a safe haven of sorts, at least compared with the national currency. And though it did crash alongside the stock market this time, Bitcoin can still be considered an alternative asset, in that like gold it doesnt depend on the cash flows of other institutions for its value, writes Acheson: The greater range of alternative assets, the better for investors, especially in troubling times like these.

A decade from now, how different will Bitcoin look as an asset? Will it still look more like digital gold than digital cash? Who will be investing in it, and why? What Bitcoin is is bound to keep changing along with those factors. So are ideas about the role it can play for investors and in society, safe haven or not.

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Coronavirus is forcing fans of Bitcoin to realize its not a safe haven after all - MIT Technology Review

Here is the real reason behind Bitcoin price drop – Cryptopolitan

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Bitcoin price drop witnessed recently is one of the worst beatings in months while the cryptocurrency sphere as a whole sits tight. Well not just the cryptocurrency sphere, but the world is sitting tight as the Bitcoin price chart movement has correlated with the stock market in a weird movement.

Bitcoins recent massive selloff has made the analyst wrap their heads around the question that is this third sell-off a sign that Bitcoin has fewer chances to survive.

Among others, the crypto research firm Coin Metrics tried to decode the whole episode and have come up with this conclusion that those holders that held the currency for a short period are the reason that contributed to this.

CoinMetricsin its latestState of the Network reportstated that the long-term holders remained chose to stay on sidelines in this whole episode. The coins that were held for twelve months or less than that were responsible for driving out the thirty-eight price route.

This tends to explain the reason for Bitcoins one-year revived supply not having any major spike in the month of March.

The short-term holders were reportedly selling their coins at a loss.

The report also highlights the fact that the market value of Bitcoin to realized value (MVRV) slipped under 1.0. On 12th March, MVRV experienced its biggest drop since the year 2013. The Coin Metrics report explains:

an MVRV above one can signal that speculators have a higher average market valuation than holders. An MVRV below one, on the other hand, can signal that holders have (or had) a higher market valuation than current speculators.

Speculators now do not value Bitcoin more than the holders, and this could be the potential indicator that the leading cryptocurrency is moving closer to bottoming out.

Coronavirus is affecting everyone and everything and not just causing Bitcoin price drop. But this is an indirect effect of the market that is killing the coin at the moment. Truth be told, investors are also putting away their money in stable coin and other assets on account of extreme volatility.

Coronavirus effect on Bitcoin price drop has been observed on the market already in the correlation study with the stock market, where the two markets almost shadowed each other. The world is on lockdown and that means less retail trading, less of buying and less of business everywhere and not just in the cryptocurrency sphere.

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Here is the real reason behind Bitcoin price drop - Cryptopolitan

What Bitcoin Price Would Be If Every American Invested $1K – Bitcoinist

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When Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang proposed a Universal Base Income (UBI) of $1k per month for all Americans, he was scoffed at by most of his rivals. Now, just a month after the numbers guy pulls out of the race, the Trump administration is sending checks to all U.S. citizens. What would happen if they all used them to buy bitcoin?

Its uncanny just how much your life can change in a short period of time. For most of us in the crypto space, were used to being flung into rapidly shifting panoramas from one day to the next.

But now thats extending to the real world theres a distinct feeling that the apocalypse is near. All we need is for the four men to come charging in on horseback and well pretty much have it confirmed.

Tell the U.S. public even two weeks ago that the Trump administration would start sending checks to every American and they would have spat out their Starbucks.

But now the Republican president is effectively following Andrew Yangs UBI policy (under another name). To be sure, they arent saying UBI, just as they arent calling it COVID-19 but the Chinese virus but it certainly looks a lot like it. Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Steven Mnuchin said:

You can think of this as something like business interruption payments Were looking at sending checks to Americans immediately Americans need cash now.

These are unprecedented times indeed. And the money printer is getting overheated. As Europac CEO Peter Schiff commented, it looks as if Yang didnt lose the idealogy fight after all:

OK, so this is a bit of a reach, but we all need something joyful to think about during these dark times. Just for laughs, lets take a look at what one bitcoin trader posted to Twitter. He said:

If every American gets $1000 and buys $tc, they can send it to $23k

That would be extremely cool indeed. Although, according to one follower Ash Ketchum, his numbers are a little off. In fact, based on the fact that there are 300 million Americans and they all spent $1k on BTC, that would give Bitcoin a final price of $21.9k.

$21.9k would push bitcoin past its all-time high just shy of $20k. So Trumps business interruption payments could give cryptocurrency a boost like never before. And maybe aliens will descend on the planet and pigs will fly past the window.

Yet, who knows? Were living in a different world than we were before. One in which helicopter money (UBI) can be triggered just from printing paper and BTC could go to zeroor spectacularly moon instead.

Do you think this free money scheme will boost bitcoin price? Add your thoughts below!

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @KetchumAlts @TrustlessState @Peterschiff

See the article here:
What Bitcoin Price Would Be If Every American Invested $1K - Bitcoinist