Category Archives: Bitcoin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See original here:
Bitcoins Next Bull Run Will Start in 2023 According to Bitwise CEO - CryptoPotato

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enter the ghost of technology's past.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegister

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegister

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

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See the original post here:
To HODL or have kids? The IVF Bitcoin Babies paid for with BTC profits - Cointelegraph

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the original post:
How BIP Bounties Will Supercharge The Bitcoin Network - Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A new report from the Bank of Canada has unearthed some intriguing facts about the state of Bitcoin ownership across the country.

The report found that about 13% of Canadians owned Bitcoin in 2021 but that investors of average financial literacy are the least likely of all to buy in.

As the central banks survey showed, Bitcoin ownership figures in 2021 were more than double the 5% ownership present from 2018 to 2020. The increase was largely driven by the wider availability of products for purchasing Bitcoin, alongside widespread increases in Canadian savings during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, about 90% of Canadians are now aware of Bitcoins existence. This broad awareness mimics Grayscales survey results last year, which found that 99% of U.S. investors know of Bitcoin.

Knowledge of Bitcoin beyond the term itself was less common, however. 40% of survey respondents who owned Bitcoin (and 66% who did not) demonstrated a relatively low level of knowledge when verifying core statements such as Bitcoin is backed by a government (which is false). This figure was higher than in previous years, in which the share was typically under 30%.

The timing of when investors bought Bitcoin also had some bearing on their motivation for doing so. Post-2019 buyers were more likely to take an interest in Bitcoin as new technology, whereas long-term holders were more attracted to it due to a lack of government trust or as a payment method.

That said, both parties were overwhelmingly likely to see Bitcoin as an investment vehicle. Naturally, long-term holders benefitted more strongly from the Bitcoin price run-up in 2021 than recent holders.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, most Bitcoin holders were not whales. The median Bitcoin holder held $500 CDN worth of the asset, while 70% held under $5,000 CDN worth.

Financial literacy proved a strong predictor of whether someone bought Bitcoin but not as one might expect.

In 2021, Canadians with low financial literacy had a 15.6% chance of owning Bitcoin, according to the full report. However, a similar figure was found among highly literate investors, standing at 14.7%. The discrepancy was funda mong average literacy investors, of which only 8.8% owned Bitcoin.

In previous years, low-literacy investors were the most common holders. The figures for low, medium, and high literacy levels in 2020 were 8.4%, 5.3%, and 5.3%, respectively.

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

See the original post here:
Only the Smartest (and Most Foolish) Investors Own Bitcoin: Bank of Canada - CryptoPotato

Data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis shows that October is the biggest month in the biggest year ever for hacking activity. The firm added that crypto hackers have grossed over $3 billion across 125 hacks so far this year.

Chainalysis shared some crypto-related hacking statistics Wednesday. The blockchain data analytics firm explained that back in 2019, most hacks targeted centralized exchanges. However, a vast majority of targets are now decentralized finance (defi) protocols. Chainalysis wrote:

After four hacks yesterday, October is now the biggest month in the biggest year ever for hacking activity So far this month, $718 million has been stolen from defi protocols across 11 different hacks.

The four hacks that took place on Tuesday involved Rabby wallet, QANPlatform, Temple DAO, and Mango Markets. The biggest exploit of the four was the Solana-based defi protocol Mango Markets hack which saw about $115 million stolen.

Cross-chain bridges remain a major target for hackers, with 3 bridges breached this month and nearly $600 million stolen, accounting for 82% of losses this month and 64% of losses all year, Chainalysis detailed, elaborating:

At this rate, 2022 will likely surpass 2021 as the biggest year for hacking on record. So far, hackers have grossed over $3 billion dollars across 125 hacks.

What do you think about the findings by Chainalysis? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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

See the original post here:
Crypto Hackers Gross Over $3 Billion From 125 Hacks so Far This Year Featured Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has been pointing out the flaws affecting the Ethereum protocol following its latest upgrade.

A major issue, according to Hoskinson, is the locking mechanism that prevents investors from withdrawing their staked Ether (ETH) from the Beacon Chain until the completion of the next upgrade.

Ethereum is the Hotel California of cryptocurrencies. You can check in, but you cant check out, said Hoskinson in a recent Cointelegraph interview.

According to Hoskison, this mechanism heavily impacts ETHs liquidity and could eventually spark a liquidity crisis.

Youll have less and less Ether trading in the marketplace, he explained. And then what will ultimately happen is youll have a liquidity crisis where a lot of volatility comes in.

Cardanos founder is also critical of the proof-of-work mining system that powers Bitcoin (BTC), which he sees as wasteful and unnecessary in the long run.

While Hoskinson acknowledged the importance of proof-of-work in the process of creating new BTC, he doesnt believe its effective when BTC is used as a financial instrument.According to Hoskinson, once BTC is mined, it could be moved onto a different, less energy-consuming blockchain in the form of wrapped assets:

To learnabout Hoskinsons thesis on Bitcoin and Ethereum, watchthe full interview on our YouTube channel, and dont forget to subscribe!

See more here:
Cardano founder points out flaws in Ethereum and Bitcoin - Cointelegraph