JONES DAY TALKS: Hard Forks and Airdrops: The IRS Issues Cryptocurrency Tax Guidance – JD Supra

Updated: May 25, 2018:

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JONES DAY TALKS: Hard Forks and Airdrops: The IRS Issues Cryptocurrency Tax Guidance - JD Supra

Raccoon malware targets massive range of browsers to steal your data and cryptocurrency – ZDNet

Raccoon might not be the cheapest option on the market but the malware had gained popularity among cybercriminals for its ability to target at least 60 applications, many of which are browsers we use today.

The Raccoon infostealer, also known as Racealer, has attracted a following in underground forums thanks to the aggressive marketing of its wide range of capabilities, use of bulletproof hosting and an easy-to-use backend. The malware is offered at a price of $200 a month and was first spotted by researchers from cybersecurity firm Cybereason in 2019.

While more expensive than other standalone, bareboned offerings, Raccoon's subscription-based model -- which includes technical support, bug fixes, and updates at a relatively cheap Malware-As-A-Service (MaaS) price point -- as well as its overall capabilities have made it a worthwhile investment for cybercriminals seeking to steal data and cryptocurrency.

A new analysis of the malware from Cyberark notes that many infostealers aren't generally sophisticated and use the same variety of techniques to steal information. However, in Raccoon's case, the C++ malware is able to steal data from 35 browsers and 60 overall applications.

According to Cyberark, Raccoon is generally delivered through phishing campaigns and exploit kits. Fraudulent emails sent to would-be victims contain Microsoft Office document attachments with malicious macros, whereas the exploit kits are usually hosted on websites.

Victims are profiled for any potential browser-based vulnerabilities and based on this analysis, they are redirected to the appropriate exploit kit.

See also:This easy-to-use information-stealing trojan malware is quickly gaining popularity among cybercriminals

The command-and-control (C2) server, necessary for the transfer of stolen information as well as for remote malware configuration updates, has its address hidden via several layers of encryption.

Raccoon is able to steal financial information, online credentials, PC data -- such as operating system types and versions, the language in use, and installed application lists -- cryptocurrency wallets, and browser information including cookies, history logs, and autofill content.

The malware targets a wide variety of popular Mozilla and Chromium browsers: Google Chrome, Google Chrome (Chrome SxS), Chromium, Xpom, Comodo Dragon, Amigo, Orbitum, Bromium, Nichrome, RockMelt, 360Browser, Vivaldi, Opera, Sputnik, Kometa, Uran, QIP Surf, Epic Privacy, CocCoc, CentBrowser, 7Star, Elements, TorBro, Suhba, Safer Browser, Mustang, Superbird, Chedot, Torch, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, WaterFox, SeaMonkey, and PaleMoon.

In addition, Raccoon attempts to compromise ThunderBird, Outlook, and Foxmail email clients.

Cyberark says the same procedure is in play for each target application. The malware will grab the application files containing sensitive data and copy it to a temp folder, perform routines to extract and decrypt information, write this content to a separate text file, and then send it off to a C2.

CNET:How schools are using kids' phones to track and surveil them

"In order to extract and decrypt the credentials from the applications, Raccoon downloads the specific DLLs for the applications," the researchers say. "The config JSON contains a URL from where the malware will download those libraries."

Cryptocurrency, too, is at risk. Raccoon will seek out Electrum, Ethereum, Exodus, Jaxx, Monero, and Bither wallets by scanning for their default application folders, and will also attempt to grab their wallet credentials.

Once Raccoon has stolen the data it requires, this information is compiled into a .zip archive file and sent to the C2. It may also act as a dropper for additional malware payloads.

TechRepublic:RSA president: Hackers have broken into our brains and created the wrong security story

The malware continues to be supported by a team and development is ongoing. Recently, Raccoon was also given the ability to steal FTP server credentials from FileZilla, UI errors were resolved, and the authors also created an option to encrypt custom malware builds from the UI for download as a DLL.

"Even though Raccoon is not the most sophisticated tool available, it is still very popular among cybercriminals and will likely continue to be," the researchers say. "What used to be reserved for more sophisticated attackers is now possible even for novice players who can buy stealers like Raccoon and use them to get their hands on an organization's sensitive data."

Have a tip? Get in touch securely via WhatsApp | Signal at +447713 025 499, or over at Keybase: charlie0

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Raccoon malware targets massive range of browsers to steal your data and cryptocurrency - ZDNet

The Simpsons Just Gave Cryptocurrency Massive Mainstream Exposure – The Daily Hodl

The worlds longest-running television series is giving its viewers the low-down on cryptocurrency. In Frinkcoin, episode 13 of season 31 of The Simpsons, airing on Sunday, the animated show dedicates over 80 seconds to educate its viewers on the basics of virtual coins.

The scene begins with Professor Frink introducing cryptocurrency to Lisa Simpson by turning on the TV so that TVs most beloved scientist, Jim Parsons, can explain how digital tokens work.

Parsons discussion is reminiscent of educational shows for kids during the early 2000s. It comes with an animated book bursting into song to describe how a distributed ledger works.

Im a consensus of shared and synchronized digital data spread across multiple platforms from Shanghai to Grenada. Each day Im closer to being the cash of the future. Not in your wallet, Im in your computer.

While the book is belting it out, the show shifts into a scene where Parsons hits the jackpot and the slot machine pushes out Bitcoin. It also features a clip where the book is relaxing on a Caribbean island.

Parsons then takes over to point out the connection between the ledger and the blockchain.

When you use the currency, the transaction is recorded in the ledger. And when one ledger book gets filled up, we add to a chain of previous books. Thats the blockchain.

While cryptocurrency is a space thats chock-full of technical jargon, the show manages to deliver an explanation that appeals to the average Joe.

The Simpsons, which draws an average of over 4 million viewers, gives mass exposure to the one minute and twenty-second clip on cryptocurrencies. You can watch the entire scene below.

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Featured Image: Shutterstock/sirikorn thamniyom

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The Simpsons Just Gave Cryptocurrency Massive Mainstream Exposure - The Daily Hodl

Simpsons predicting the future again: Jim Parson of The Big Bang Theory explains what cryptocurrency actually is – The Independent

Ever wonder what cryptocurrency is actually all about? Jim Parsons might have the answer.

TheBig Bang Theorystar did a cameo inThe Simpsonsearlier this week, in the season 31 episode titled Frinkcoin.

In the episode, Lisa Simpson sets out to write a paper about Professor Frink, who tells her hes developing his own cryptocurrency.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

At one point, he introduces TVs most beloved scientist, Mr Jim Parsons.

Parsons, of course, isnt actually a career scientist, but rather played one for 12 years inThe Big Bang Theory, in which he portrayed theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper.

Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Zo Kravitz and Shailene Woodley combine to form TV gold in Big Little Lies. But the second season, despite the welcome addition of Meryl Streep to the cast, failed to recapture the allure of season one. Originally, the series was based on Liane Moriarty's 2014 novel of the same name and perhaps it should have ended where the book did.

Hulu

The first season of The Magicians was intriguing, whimsical, touching and deliberately kitschy all at the same time. While it's always nice to revisit the magical world of Fillory, the show's subsequent seasons never rose to the level of its initial installment.

Netflix

This writer disagrees, but Stranger Things was a popular pick in a recent Twitter discussion about TV shows that should have wrapped up after one season. It can be argued that seasons two and three didn't quite measure up to the excitement of the first one though without them, fans would never have got to witness Steve Harrington's transformation from annoying jock to amazing babysitter to our younger heroes. Something to ponder.

Netflix

Regardless of whether you liked or disliked the premise of 13 Reasons Why, from a purely televisual standpoint, the first season was good suspenseful, at times touching, and landing some strong sequences. It all unravelled with the lacklustre second and third seasons. Like Big Little Lies, 13 Reasons Why was based on a book (this one by Jay Asher) and should probably have stuck to the material it provided.

Netflix

Not to take away from Mahershala Ali's performance in season three but True Detective's second and third seasons didn't prove as entertaining as the first one, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

Hulu

Prison Break had a simple concept: Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) gets incarcerated on purpose because he has a master plan to escape along with his brother, who's been wrongfully convicted. And sure enough, the two escape at the end of season one along with six other inmates. This seemed like a natural conclusion for the show, but it continued for four more seasons.

Hulu

Westworld season one was clever, beautifully shot, and achingly suspenseful. After that things just got... complicated.

Hulu

Bloodline was a critics darling as a result of its first season, but seasons two and three only attracted mixed reviews. The show, led by Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini and Norbert Leo Butz, concluded in 2017.

Netflix

Heroes was the talk of the town at the time of its premiere in 2006. After an acclaimed first season, the second installment wasn't as well received and seasons three and four experienced a similar fate.

NBC

Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Zo Kravitz and Shailene Woodley combine to form TV gold in Big Little Lies. But the second season, despite the welcome addition of Meryl Streep to the cast, failed to recapture the allure of season one. Originally, the series was based on Liane Moriarty's 2014 novel of the same name and perhaps it should have ended where the book did.

Hulu

The first season of The Magicians was intriguing, whimsical, touching and deliberately kitschy all at the same time. While it's always nice to revisit the magical world of Fillory, the show's subsequent seasons never rose to the level of its initial installment.

Netflix

This writer disagrees, but Stranger Things was a popular pick in a recent Twitter discussion about TV shows that should have wrapped up after one season. It can be argued that seasons two and three didn't quite measure up to the excitement of the first one though without them, fans would never have got to witness Steve Harrington's transformation from annoying jock to amazing babysitter to our younger heroes. Something to ponder.

Netflix

Regardless of whether you liked or disliked the premise of 13 Reasons Why, from a purely televisual standpoint, the first season was good suspenseful, at times touching, and landing some strong sequences. It all unravelled with the lacklustre second and third seasons. Like Big Little Lies, 13 Reasons Why was based on a book (this one by Jay Asher) and should probably have stuck to the material it provided.

Netflix

Not to take away from Mahershala Ali's performance in season three but True Detective's second and third seasons didn't prove as entertaining as the first one, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson.

Hulu

Prison Break had a simple concept: Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) gets incarcerated on purpose because he has a master plan to escape along with his brother, who's been wrongfully convicted. And sure enough, the two escape at the end of season one along with six other inmates. This seemed like a natural conclusion for the show, but it continued for four more seasons.

Hulu

Westworld season one was clever, beautifully shot, and achingly suspenseful. After that things just got... complicated.

Hulu

Bloodline was a critics darling as a result of its first season, but seasons two and three only attracted mixed reviews. The show, led by Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini and Norbert Leo Butz, concluded in 2017.

Netflix

Heroes was the talk of the town at the time of its premiere in 2006. After an acclaimed first season, the second installment wasn't as well received and seasons three and four experienced a similar fate.

NBC

People think Im a nerd, but Im actually super cool, says Parsons. Thats why Im here to talk about the really cool subject of distributed consensus-based cryptocurrency.

He then launches into anexplanation of the inner workings of cryptocurrency supported by a song claiming cryptocurrency is the cash of the future.

This assertion prompted some to say thatThe Simpsonscould end up predicting the future in that way.

The series has a history of incorporating plotlines that later end up coming true.

Parsonss explanation is followed by a sardonic disclaimer that reads in part: Cryptocurrency is a system that does not rely on a non-cryptocurrency central authority, but instead relies on a non-centralised distributed consensus of cryptocurrency ownership.

Using the word cryptocurrency repeatedly when defining cryptocurrency makes it seem like we have a cryptocurrency novices understanding of cryptocurrency.

Well, that is a total pile of cryptocurrency.

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Simpsons predicting the future again: Jim Parson of The Big Bang Theory explains what cryptocurrency actually is - The Independent

Manipulation, Hacks And System Errors Lead To Losses For Cryptocurrency Users And Exchanges – Technology – United States – Mondaq News Alerts

25 February 2020

BakerHostetler

To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.

Since Friday, Feb. 14, 2020, decentralized lending protocol bZxwas twice exploited by attackers using a combination of methodsinvolving flash loans and price manipulations to profit oncryptocurrency swaps, resulting in total losses of approximately$954,000. The first attack took place on Feb. 14 and resulted inthe attacker pocketing 1,193 ETH (approximately $318,000) after abug in the bZx's smart contract code failed to run standardsafety checks that should have prevented a highly leveragedposition on ETH/BTC trading pairs. The second attack took placedays later, resulting in losses of 2,388 ETH (approximately$636,000), perpetrated, in part, via oracle manipulation on theprice of synthetic USD Coin stablecoins.

Last week, the IOTA Foundation shut down the entire IOTAcryptocurrency network after hackers exploited a vulnerability inTrinity, the mobile and desktop wallet app developed by the IOTAFoundation, and stole approximately $1.6 million from at least 10high-value IOTA accounts. IOTA announced this week that it hadreleased a "safe" version of Trinity in response.

Earlier this week, crypto exchange FCoin notified users that itwas unable to process withdrawal requests, as it revealed a nearly$130 million shortage of assets, a result of system problems and"decision errors" made by exchange leadership. Theexchange's novel yet controversial model, called"trans-fee mining," designed to incentivize trading byissuing exchange tokens, made FCoin one of the largest exchanges byvolume.

For more information, please refer to the following links:

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

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Manipulation, Hacks And System Errors Lead To Losses For Cryptocurrency Users And Exchanges - Technology - United States - Mondaq News Alerts

Analyst: Ripples XRP Could Fall by Another 25% Due to This Reason – newsBTC

XRP, the native token of the Ripple blockchain, has slipped by more than 23 percent from its year-to-date high of $0.34. And according to a popular analyst, the token is likely to fall further.

Full-time trader Bleeding Crypto highlighted XRPs bearish potential in a tweet published earlier Tuesday. He noted that the cryptocurrencys spot rate could move lower to fill gaps left open by its futures contracts, drawing comparisons from similar phenomena in bitcoin markets.

Bleeding Crypto exemplified his prediction in a chart that showed four unfilled futures gaps. The nearest blank area coincided with the $0.251 level whilst the deepest one was near $0.203. Considering XRP would continue declining to fill the last gap in the queue, its move downhill would take the crypto down by up to 25 percent.

Ripple (XRP) heading lower to fill futures gaps | Source: Bleeding Crypto

There are 4 more gaps lower to go. If you dont think it will get filled, please load up now. My Gap theory has a 90% success rate, said Bleeding Crypto.

The pessimistic statements joined a few bearish forecasts for XRP against an otherwise bullish scenario. The cryptocurrency lately surged by close to 99 percent from its bottom-out level of $0.201. Traders with upside sentiment, therefore, treated XRPs latest declines as natural price corrections, with one even forecasting a price swell towards $0.70.

On the other hand, the indicator of HODL2100K, the IchiEMA, whose flashing the last time had sent XRP 1,000 percent higher, moved into its bullish territory yet again. That allowed a few bulls to see XRP at a $3 valuation this year.

Among the bears included veteran trader Peter Brandt who expressed the possibility of XRP falling towards $0.207. The noted financial analyst cited a textbook technical indicator, dubbed as Head & Shoulder, for his downside sentiment. Last checked the XRP price was still trading in the range illustrated by Mr. Brandt.

The downside target set by Mr. Brandt coincided with the futures gap highlighted by Bleeding Crypto.

XRPs gains came in the wake of a macro-crypto price rally. The Ripple token jumped almost in tandem with bitcoin and rival altcoins and its price correction followed similar downside moves in other assets.

Mati Greenspan, the founder of Quantum Economics, said earlier this month that bitcoin and altcoin were rallying because of investors growing appetite for risk-on assets. The popular market analyst said that traders attempted to hedge into altcoins against the risks concerning the Coronavirus pandemic, adding that these assets offered better profits.

The evidence of that is the altcoin season, Mr. Greenspan told the BlockTV. Altcoins are outperforming bitcoin consistently on a day-to-day basis pretty much since the beginning of this year [] It means investors are looking to take risks, which is pretty much different from safe-haven trading.

Bitcoin lately snubbed its safe-haven tag as risks about the Coronavirus escalated, showing a doubtful correlation with the crisis. The cryptocurrency failed to sustain its climb above $10,000 that further impacted its rival assets, including XRP, to cross above their own crucial price ceilings.

That has left the crypto market in the hands of technical narratives.

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Analyst: Ripples XRP Could Fall by Another 25% Due to This Reason - newsBTC

Virgin Galactic CEO: Everyone Should Have 1% of their Assets in Bitcoin – Cointelegraph

Chamath Palihapitiya, the billionaire chairman of spaceflight company Virgin Galactic, has recommended that everyone hold Bitcoin (BTC) as a form of crisis insurance.

Speaking on CNBCs Squawk Box, Palihapitiya said he believes that everybody should probably have 1% of their assets in Bitcoin.

Palihapitiya said that Bitcoin comprises a fantastic hedge, as every other financial instrument is correlated [...] except Bitcoin, which is fundamentally uncorrelated.

When you see the amount of leverage the financial industry is running, and you think about all these dislocations and all these exogenous things that are happening that you can't predict, there's a lot of risk to the downside, and it will be great that an average individual citizen, of any country in the world, has an uncorrelated hedge.

However the billionaire former Facebook executive rejects the theory that economic woes resulting from the coronavirus outbreak will drive the crypto markets into a bull trend.

I dont think when [...] you wake up and see a coronavirus scare and the Dow down 2,000, you should not be going in and buying Bitcoin - that is an idiotic strategy, he said.

The Bitcoin is a safe haven narrative has certainly taken a battering this week with BTC tumbling up to 13% in 36 hours in tandem with the stock markets due to fears over the impact of the coronavirus. In contrast gold has performed well in its traditional role as a safe haven, gaining 0.5% in recent days to trade for $1,648.82 per ounce.

Palihapitiya suggests that a better approach than trying to profit off short term market trends is for investors to put a small percentage of their net worth into Bitcoin as insurance.

I think a reasonable strategy is to say 1% of my net worth should be in something completely uncorrelated to the world and how the world works. You quietly over some period of time accumulate a position and then just never look at it again and hope that that insurance under the mattress never has to come due. But, if it does, it will protect you.

Palihapitiya is a longtime Bitcoin supporter and his company, Virgin Galactic, began accepting Bitcoin for its $250,000 spaceflights duringNovember 2013, becoming one of most high-profile companies to accept BTC at the time. Palihapitiya told CNBC that it has received 7,957 registrations of interest since conducting the first flight in December 2018, which equates to to $2.39 billion in potential ticket sales.

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Virgin Galactic CEO: Everyone Should Have 1% of their Assets in Bitcoin - Cointelegraph

Finnish Authorities Have $15M in Seized Bitcoin But Don’t Want to Sell It – CoinDesk – Coindesk

Finland's customs agency has been struggling with what to do with a horde of bitcoin (BTC) it fears could end up back in the hands of criminals if sold off.

Finnish Customs, known locally as Tulli, has been trying to offload a total of 1,666 bitcoin for several years, even drawing up a plan in September 2018 for a public auction of the digital coins. But officials have concerns that a sale would attract the wrong kind of attention and could even put the agency's own security at risk.

Speaking to local media, Tulli Director Pekka Pylkkanen said: "From our point of view, the problems are specifically related to the risk of money laundering. The buyers of [cryptocurrency] rarely use them for normal endeavors."

Tulli confiscated the bitcoin trove following a successful bust of an online dark market in September 2016. At the time, bitcoin traded at around $570, meaning the 1,666 BTC was worth approximately $950,000. With prices now just under $9,200, it's worth closer to $15 million, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index.

At bitcoin's all-time peak near $20,000 in December 2017, the cache would have been worth almost $33 million.

Tulli isn't the only government authority having to decide what to do with confiscated bitcoin, usually with dollar-values many times greater than when they were first seized. The U.S. government, which has seized hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin over the years, has hosted multiple online auctions for confiscated bitcoin.

Bitcoin confiscated by the Belgian authorities was sold by an online auction house in early 2019. Later that year, U.K. police used the same auctioneer to sell more than $290,000 worth of cryptocurrency it had seized from a teenage hacker.

In 2018, the Finnish government barred customs officials from trying to sell seized bitcoin on exchanges or trading platforms, instead ordering the agency to hold any confiscated digital assets in a secure cold storage solution.

Pylkkanen's claim that most crypto holders use them for illicit purposes isn't supported by the numbers. A November report from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic suggested $829 million in bitcoin, just 0.5 percent of all transactions, were linked to the dark web.

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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Finnish Authorities Have $15M in Seized Bitcoin But Don't Want to Sell It - CoinDesk - Coindesk

Is Bitcoin a Safe Haven or ‘Schmuck Insurance’? – CoinDesk – Coindesk

Canada decides a CBDC is unnecessary while the Twitterati debate BTC as a safe haven and the six-year anniversary of Mt. Gox brings reflection.

Bitcoin (BTC) is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Many are using the dump - which from a timing perspective aligns with a broader market sell-off on coronavirus fears - as a way to diminish the bitcoin as a safe haven narrative.

In this episode, @nlw revisits that narrative and argues it is uncomfortably bunched up with the uncorrelated asset narrative, or, as Chamath Palihapitiya calls it, schmuck insurance.

This episode also covers:

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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Is Bitcoin a Safe Haven or 'Schmuck Insurance'? - CoinDesk - Coindesk

The Biggest Threat To Bitcoin Is Back On Track – Forbes

When social media giant Facebook revealed it would this year release its answer to bitcoin the cryptocurrency community was stunned.

The subsequent international backlash against Facebook's libra served as both vindication for bitcoin and a cause for concernhow would governments allow bitcoin to exist if Facebook's libra could not?

As early backers of the project abandoned it, many thought libra was dead in the water. But Facebook, and its headstrong leader Mark Zuckerberg, aren't ready to give up yet.

Facebook's co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was called before the U.S. House Financial Services ... [+] Committee last year ahead of Facebook's planned libra launch this year--something that boosted the bitcoin price earlier in the year.

Last week, Facebook's independent Libra Association revealed its newest recruit, adding a member for the first time since many of its biggest corporate backers jumped shipmost of which would see their core business undermined by libra, for what that's worth.

Vodafone, for example, pulled out of the Libra project last month to focus on its own digital payments system while the involvement of former Libra Association members Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal was always something of a mystery.

Facebook itself is not part of the Libra Association, a governing council for the cryptocurrency libra, though its subsidiary Calibra, effectively a digital wallet for the libra token, is.

Now, however, Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify, which boasts around 1 million businesses from 175 countries on its digital platform, will join other Libra Association members in contributing at least $10 million and operating a node that processes transactions for libra, a so-called stablecoin, meaning it will float against a basket of traditional currencies.

"As a member of the Libra Association, we will work collectively to build a payment network that makes money easier to access and supports merchants and consumers everywhere," Shopify said in a blog post.

The official reason many of the Libra Association's founding members bailed out of the project was due to the ferocious regulatory response to the projectU.S. president Donald Trump tweeted his opposition to it and broader cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin while his Treasury secretary branded bitcoin a "national security risk."

Meanwhile, in the months following libra's unveiling, central bankers around the world leaped into action, promising their own digital currency initiatives were well underway and the need for technology companies like Facebook to do what they had so far failed to was unnecessary.

The bitcoin price, which had been sent sharply higher in the first half of 2019 as rumors swirled that Facebook and other Silicon Valley giants were eyeing bitcoin, crypto, and blockchain, faultedlosing around half its value in just a few short months.

The Libra Association has not rested on its laurels, however. It's been working on addressing regulators concerns and has always said it plans to work closely with regulators ahead of libra's launch.

The bitcoin price soared last year ahead of Facebook's unveiling of its libra cryptocurrency project ... [+] but fell as the regulatory backlash grew.

Following the news Shopify would join the now 21 company-strong Libra Association, Libra's head of policy and communications Dante Disparte said the group was "proud" to welcome its newest member and talked up the troubled initiative.

"Shopify joins an active group of Libra Association members committed to achieving a safe, transparent, and consumer-friendly implementation of a global payment system that breaks down financial barriers for billions of people," Disparte said.

If libra, still slated to launch this coming June, is able to achieve these ambitious goals even bitcoin's biggest supporters will find it far harder to convince others that the world needs bitcoin.

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The Biggest Threat To Bitcoin Is Back On Track - Forbes