Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

Just as Wall Street is paying more attention to bitcoin, a rival is increasingly threatening to become the top dog among cryptocurrencies.

Ethereums market capitalization is nearing bitcoins, as shown in the chart below from CoinMarketCap.

As of Wednesday, bitcoin BTCUSD, -4.43% (shown in orange on the chart) accounted for 39% of the combined market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies, down sharply from 87% on Feb. 25.

Blame the erosion on ethereum (shown in purple), which now makes up 31% of the total market cap, up from just 5% less than four months ago.

If ethereums market cap overtakes that of bitcoin, then The Flippening will have happened. That is the term that many people are using to refer to that shift, according to a post at the Flippening Watch blog.

Bitcoins market cap on Wednesday was around $45 billion and its price was just below $2,800, according to data from CoinDesk and CoinMarketCap. Ethereums market cap recently stood at $36 billion and its price at around $390.

Read more: Cryptocurrencies top $100 billion in market capitalization

Dont miss: 3 reasons why bitcoins surge may not be a bubble

By some metrics, ethereum already has eaten bitcoins lunch.

It has almost five times as many nodes in its network as bitcoin, meaning more people are using their computers to support it, a Motherboard report notes. Ethereum also has more transactions per day, the report adds.

Check out: Ethereum has soared but is it ready for prime time?

But some traders remain skeptical of ethereum:

In the screenshot in the above tweet, ICO refers to an initial coin offering, a new way to raise money. One startup reportedly raised nearly $150 million this week via an ICO.

As their prices have soared, cryptocurrencies increasingly have attracted the attention of Wall Streets analysts.

A Goldman Sachs technical analyst issued a bearish take on bitcoin earlier this week, leading the Zero Hedge financial blog to quip that probably means that bitcoin is set to make new all-time highs shortly.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley analysts have predicted that cryptocurrencies will not rally that much more unless they get governmental acceptance, including more regulations.

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How cryptocurrency ethereum looks set to overtake bitcoin in one chart - MarketWatch

Dennis Rodman is back in North Korea, the former NBA star announced this week, with help from a marijuana cryptocurrency startup. Rodman, who has made several controversial visits to North Korea, tweeted a photo of himself holding an airline ticket for the state-owned Air Koryo on Tuesday. In a subsequent tweet, he thanked PotCoin, a digital currency for buying and selling weed, for sponsoring my mission.

The purpose of Rodmans visit remains unclear, though it comes amid heightened tensions between the US and North Korea over Pyongyangs nuclear program. Four Americans are also currently detained in North Korea.

In a press release announcing the visit, PotCoin said Rodman will provide more details about his historic trip upon returning to the US. The weed startup also described him as having long-time friendships with both President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, the autocratic leader of North Korea. Rodman has previously appeared on the Trump-hosted reality show The Apprentice, and endorsed Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. He also described Kim as a friend for life after visiting North Korea in 2013, and has drawn criticism for his public appearances alongside the dictator.

Speaking to CNN before boarding his flight, Rodman said hopes to do something that's pretty positive during his trip, though he said he did not intend to bring up the detained Americans during any discussions with North Korean leaders. Well that's not my purpose right now... My purpose is to go over there and try to see if I can keep bringing sports to North Korea," the former Chicago Bulls forward told CNN.

Rodman, wearing a PotCoin-branded t-shirt and baseball cap, said in a short video released Tuesday that the trip is all about peace. One of Rodmans previous trips to North Korea was sponsored by an Irish betting company. The value of PotCoin surged following Rodmans announcement early Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Under Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said that the US was aware of Rodmans visit, and that he is traveling as a private citizen. We are aware of his visit. We wish him well, Shannon said, as reported by Reuters. But we have issued travel warnings to Americans and suggested they not travel to North Korea for their own safety.

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A cryptocurrency for weed is sending Dennis Rodman back to North Korea - The Verge

Some interesting things are happening in the world of cryptocurrency faucets. Up until a few weeks ago, anyone running a faucet could earn a lot of money by showing Google Adsense advertisements on the website. If the traffic is high enough, this could have been quite a lucrative business. However, it appears Google has made some drastic changes, which makes faucet owners earn a lot less money.

Over the past few years, many people have opted to run a Bitcoin faucet website in the hopes of making some good money for displaying banner advertisements. Since faucets are visited by thousands of people every day, there is a good chance to make decent money from a faucet website. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case, as Googles Adsense program has undergone some big changes regarding what types of sites can display advertisements in the first place.

To be more specific, the Google Adsense program now prevents faucet websites and other platforms not focusing on unique content from showing advertisements. Even if people do so, they will earn a lot less money from doing so. In a way, this chance was only a matter of time. Faucet sites present nothing unique in the world, as they all revolve around letting users click a few buttons to collect small amounts of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

Any website displaying advertisements without providing quality content should not make as much money from Google Adsense as people who work hard to make their site stand out. That is only the normal way of doing business. Faucets get a lot of visitors, but the traffic itself is quantity-oriented, rather than focusing on quality. Anyone clicking ads on faucet websites has no real interest in the advertisement itself but mainly do so due to a misclick.

It is only normal faucet operators will see their Google Adsense earnings go down dramatically. Google Adsense is a tool designed for content creators and not people who copy-paste an existing faucet script linked to a cheap domain name. Making money with online advertisements requires time, dedication, and effort. None of those traits can be associated with cryptocurrency faucets, even though some operators put a fair amount of work into designing a unique layout.

The bigger question is whether or not there is any intrinsic value to cryptocurrency faucets these days. These platforms used to be quite valuable in the early days of Bitcoin, but their success has tapered off in recent years. Moreover, faucet operators will only pay out small amounts of Bitcoin due to their site earnings being even lower. It is evident something will need to change, and faucet operators will need to start looking for alternative solutions to make money. Adding a news section with unique content to a faucet, for example, could do wonders.

It appears to be only a matter of time until faucet operators will be put out of business entirely. That is, unless their business models evolve accordingly. There are no easy ways to make money these days, and cryptocurrency faucets are slowly losing their appeal. It is good to see Google take such an aggressive measure where their Adsense program is concerned, that much is certain. Rest assured a lot of faucet operators will not be too happy about this decision.

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Google Adsense Drops Cryptocurrency Faucet Operators - The Merkle

CreditBit goes live on Bittrex crypto-exchange, trading volumes expected to reach new heights soon, positively affecting the price. Read more...

The emerging cryptocurrency, CreditBit has managed yet another breakthrough. The cryptocurrency fueling the Credit 2.0 platform is now listed on Bittrex, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchange platforms. The new development was announced by Credit 2.0 on its social media channels.

Richie Lai, one of the founders of Bittrex also announced the opening of CreditBit Bitcoin pair on the exchange a few hours ago. Lai, took to Twitter, as he always does and declared the successful launch of the cryptocurrency on the platform.

With the latest listing on Bittrex, the CreditBit tokens (CRB) are now trading on four different exchanges including Livecoin, DABTC, and Crypto Dao. An increase in the number of trading platforms also translates to a much wider reach, which will, in turn, bear a direct impact on the demand for CRB in the coming days.

Since the platforms upgrade from earlier CreditBit to Credit 2.0, the cryptocurrency has seen a considerable increase in demand. The trading volumes of CRB recently shot up by 200% within a week indicating growing interest among cryptocurrency community members, resulting in the further strengthening of its value.

Listing of CreditBit on Bittrex is one milestone that was long due in coming. The team behind the cryptocurrency platform are an active lot. They have been working relentlessly for a long time to ensure constant cumulative improvements to the platform. The Credit 2.0 upgrade has turned the platform from being just another cryptocurrency to a valuable blockchain platform with lots of potential applications.

Many community members welcome the introduction of CRB/BTC pair on Bittrex, and the order books on the exchange have already started filling in, within minutes after the new pair went live. Bittrex features among one of the few multi-cryptocurrency trading and exchange platforms with high volumes of overall trades from across the world. With CRB now onboard Bittrex, it is just a matter of time before the cryptocurrency gained the attention of other big names in the market.

CreditBit has always maintained transparency regarding the platform with its community members, helping it earn their confidence, which combined with easy access to trading on Bittrex and other exchanges will most definitely spell out good news for CreditBit. Those planning to add CRB to their portfolio can now do so without second thoughts and see its value grow in the coming days.

Originally posted here:
CreditBit Goes Live on Bittrex, Opens up New Opportunities to Traders - newsBTC

News business and finance

For the first time, Europeans will have the option to trade in a diversified index fund based on cryptocurrencies.

On June 12, 2017, from Zug, Switzerland, Crypto Fund AG announced it is launching the Cryptocurrency Fund, based on the Cryptocurrency Index, to be registered with FINMA (Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority), and will be first investment vehicle of its kind to manifest in the European market.

The Cryptocurrency Index is calculated by an index provider known for investing in virtual currencies with significant market caps, including Ether, bitcoin, Ripple, and other cryptocurrencies. The index's diversification reduces volatility for investors reacting to the surge of emergent currencies in the marketplace, and its growth rate easily outpaces that of traditional equities and securities markets.

Jan Brzezek, CEO of Crypto Fund AG and former president of UBS Asset Management and UBS Group EMEA, spoke of the differences between the new fund and predecessors, which failed to gain approval from regulators:

"We recognized the growing demand of qualified investors for a regulated and transparent gateway to cryptocurrencies and realized that we need a proven and recognized legal framework allowing qualified investors to invest in cryptocurrencies. Unlike the Winkelvoss-ETF, which was rejected by the SEC, we use the regulated and proven Swiss fund structure according to KAG [Swiss Collective Investment Schemes Act], where the asset manager, the fund management company and the custodian bank are legally separate from each other. The Fund will be highly diversified and will not list on an exchange and exclusively target qualified investors.

In March 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected an application by the Gemini Exchange founders, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, to launch the first ever bitcoin exchange traded fund (ETF). However, since then, the SEC reopened the matter for public commentary and continues to deliberate on the fate of the fund. The SEC is also currently considering a similar application of an Ether-based ETF proposed by EtherIndexEtherTrust.

For this endeavor, Brzezek has teamed up with Dr. Tobias Reichmuth, who acts as chairman of the board for Crypto Fund AG and is the founding investor. In addition, FinTech expert Marc P. Bernegger joins the board, providing his expertise.

Reichmuth expressed that desires to invest in cryptocurrency come from across the board. He said:

"Private and institutional investors alike show a keen interest for cryptocurrencies as a deflationary value storage medium independent of central banks. Access via a regulated vehicle, to execution and safe storage were so far missing. The Cryptocurrency Fund will be the first regulated fund globally which provides a safe and easy access to the rapidly growing cryptocurrency world.

Bernegger noted that it is no coincidence Zug Valley was chosen as a base, citing regulatory clemency and overall regional stability.

"The term Crypto Valley has quickly gained acceptance and demonstrates the concentration and growth of Cryptocurrency companies and foundations in the region of Zug and Zurich. It is also important to mention that Switzerland with its good reputation in asset management and stable regulation has already accepted virtual currencies as an asset class. In addition, the Swiss mountains offer safe and tested warehouses for digital assets.

Crypto Fund AG is advised by the law firm MME Legal, which specializes in blockchain technology and token offerings. The fund is slated to launch in Q4 2017 and an initial dialogue with FINMA has been established.

Jeremy Nation is a writer living in Los Angeles with interests in technology, human rights, and cuisine. He is a full time staff writer for ETHNews and holds value in Ether.

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Europe's First Cryptocurrency Fund Launching From Zug Valley - ETHNews

Ethereum founder Vitalik Vuterin speaks at TechCrunch in December of 2015.

By John Phillips/Getty Images.

After catching the eye of both the Singapore government and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ethereumthe second-biggest cryptocurrency in the world, after Bitcoincontinues to skyrocket. On Monday morning, the cryptocurrency was trading at a record-high level of $407.10, more than a 5,000 percent rise since the beginning of 2017, when it was trading at $7.98.

Ethereums founder, Vitalik Buterin, recently met with Putin during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a signal that the country may be interested in using digital currency to move its economy beyond gas and oil. The digital economy isnt a separate industry, its essentially the foundation for creating brand-new business models, Putin said at the forum. (Russian entities, like the state development bank VEB, have agreed to use Ethereum to help implement blockchain technology in the country). As investors look for a place to put their assets amid mounting geopolitical instability, some are turning to cryptocurrency. Singapores government has released a report saying it has carried out a test using ethereum blockchain technology to create a national digital currency. Regulators in Japan are issuing new rules that make cryptocurrencies like Ethereum a valid form of payment. And companies such as Toyota and Microsoft, which are members of an organization called the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, are throwing their weight behind the cryptocurrency, too.

Ethereum, which has a total valuation of $36 billion, trails only Bitcoin (valued at $49 billion) in terms of market capitalization. Bitcoin has been rallying all year, reaching a high of above $3,000 for the first time on Sunday as a growing number of people turn to virtual currencies as a safer, faster way to exchange money. But Ethereums rally may still have a ways to go: Pavel Matveev, the co-founder of banking start-up Wirex, tells CNBC that Ethereums price could reach $600 by the end of the year.

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A Mysterious New Cryptocurrency Is Surging After Being Endorsed by Putin - Vanity Fair

Unknown attackers are using a recently patched vulnerability in Samba to spread a resource-intensive cryptocurrency mining utility. To date, the operation has netted the attackers just under $6,000 USD, but the number of compromised computers is growing, meaning that a significant number of Samba deployments on *NIX servers remain unpatched.

The attack also demonstrates that the vulnerability in Samba, CVE-2017-7494, can extend EternalBlue-like attacks into Linux and UNIX environments. Samba is a software package that runs on Linux and UNIX servers and sets up file and print services over the SMB networking protocol, integrating those services into a Windows environment.

The Samba vulnerability is similar to the SMB bug exploited on May 12 by attackers using the NSAs EternalBlue exploit to spread WannaCry ransomware. Experts warned that EternalBlue can be fitted with any measure of attack, and they have a similar message about this flaw, which has been nicknamed SambaCry.

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab said that one of their honeypots snagged on May 30 some of the first exploits targeting the Samba vulnerability. The payload was a two-headed threat: a Linux backdoor and a mining utility called Cpuminer that is leveraging the processing power of its victims to create Monero cryptocurrency.

The attacked machine turns into a workhorse on a large farm, mining crypto-currency for the attackers, Kaspersky Lab said in a report published on Securelist.com.

The researchers said the attackers Monero wallet and pool address are hardcoded in the attack.

According to the log of the transactions, the attackers received their first crypto-coins on the very next day, on April 30th, Kaspersky Lab said. During the first day they gained about 1 XMR (about $55 according to the currency exchange rate for 08.06.2017), but during the last week they gained about 5 XMR per day. This means that the botnet of devices working for the profit of the attackers is growing.

As of Friday, the attackers had mined about $6,000 USD, and Kaspersky Lab said it was unsure about the scale of the attack. Upon disclosure of the Samba vulnerability almost three weeks ago, Rapid7 said an internet scan using its ProjectSonarsoftware found more than 104,000 endpoints running vulnerable versions of Samba over port 445, the SMB port. More than 92,000 are running versions of Samba that have no patches available. The vulnerability was introduced into Samba in 2010 in version 3.5.0; admins should upgrade to patched versions: 4.6.4, 4.5.10 and 4.4.14.

Kaspersky Lab said the exploit is assembled as a Samba plugin, below. After running a checka file containing random symbolsto see whether the server has write permissions for the network, the attack must then brute-force the full path to dropped file. The most obvious paths are laid out in Samba instruction manuals, Kaspersky Lab said. Once it finds the path, the exploit is loaded and executed in the context of the Samba server process using the vulnerability; it runs only in virtual memory.

Kaspersky Lab said the attacks captured by its honeypot contained two files, a Linux backdoor and the miner. INAebsGB.soandcblRWuoCc.so respectively. INAebsGB.sois a reverse shell that connects to the port of the IP address specified by the owner giving it remote access to the shell.

As a result, the attackers have an ability to execute remotely any shell-commands. They can literally do anything they want, from downloading and running any programs from the Internet, to deleting all the data from the victims computer, Kaspersky Lab said, adding that this is similar to the SambaCry exploit in Metasploit.

The other file, cblRWuoCc.so, downloads and executes Cpuminer from a domain registered on April 29.

Coincidentally, another set of attackers used EternalBlue to spread a cryptocurrency miner called Adylkuzz for Monero on Windows machines. Monero is marketed as a privacy conscious cryptocurrency, and goes to great lengths to obfuscate its blockchain making it a challenge to trace any activity.

The Adylkuzz attacks pre-date WannaCry with the first samples going back to April 24, researchers at Proofpoint said. More than 20 virtual private servers were scanning the internet for targets running port 445 exposed, the same port used by SMB traffic when connected to the internet, and the same port abused by EternalBlue and DoublePulsar.

Continued here:
Attackers Mining Cryptocurrency Using Exploits for Samba ... - Threatpost

Europe's first diversified Cryptocurrency Fund Crypto Fund AG is launching the Cryptocurrency Fund, which will be based on the Cryptocurrency Index, investing in the most important cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple, and other well-established cryptocurrencies.

The Cryptocurrency Index is calculated by a well-known index provider, and invests in the largest virtual currencies by market capitalization and liquidity. This ensures a high level of diversification which leads to a reduced volatility of the fund, while at the same time ensuring the ability to benefit from the emergence and high growth rate of new cryptocurrencies.

Jan Brzezek, CEO of Crypto Fund AG, explains: "We recognized the growing demand of qualified investors for a regulated and transparent gateway to cryptocurrencies and realized that we need a proven and recognized legal framework allowing qualified investors to invest in cryptocurrencies. Unlike the Winkelvoss-ETF, which was rejected by the SEC, we use the regulated and proven Swiss fund structure according to KAG, where the asset manager, the fund management company and the custodian bank are legally separate from each other. The Fund will be highly diversified and will not list on an exchange and exclusively target qualified investors.

The team headed by cryptocurrency expert Mr. Brzezek, who until recently worked for the President of UBS Asset Management and UBS Group EMEA and was also nominated as Group Innovation Expert by UBS, is complemented by experienced other finance professionals and is supported by well-known Swiss entrepreneurs: Dr. Tobias Reichmuth, CEO and Founder of the successful infrastructure fund manager SUSI Partners AG, has joined Crypto Fund AG both as founding investor and Chairman of the Board. Together with Fintech expert and investor Marc P. Bernegger (Board Member) and further soon to be announced senior banking industry professionals, they support the fast growth of Crypto Fund AG.

Mr. Reichmuth says: "Private and institutional investors alike show a keen interest for cryptocurrencies as a deflationary value storage medium independent of central banks. Access via a regulated vehicle, to execution and safe storage were so far missing. The Cryptocurrency Fund will be the first regulated fund globally which provides a safe and easy access to the rapidly growing cryptocurrency world.

The fact that Switzerland was chosen as a fund domicile is not a coincidence. Mr. Bernegger adds: The term "Crypto Valley" has quickly gained acceptance and demonstrates the concentration and growth of Cryptocurrency companies and foundations in the region of Zug and Zurich. It is also important to mention that Switzerland with its good reputation in asset management and stable regulation has already accepted virtual currencies as an asset class. In addition, the Swiss mountains offer safe and tested warehouses for digital assets.

The law firm MME Legal, which is specialized in blockchain and ICOs, advises Crypto Fund AG on legal matters. The launch of the Fund is expected for Q4 2017. Initial discussions with FINMA have already taken place.

Original post:
Former UBS innovation lead establishes cryptocurrency fund - Finextra - Finextra

Even though the Israeli exchange is fully compliant with all regulations, that does not appear to be sufficient.

Banks around the world have always had an uneasy relationship with Bitcoin companies. Banks do not like Bitcoin and vice versa. A financial institution was never able to legally deny service to a cryptocurrency company before, though. That has now come to change in Israel, thanks to a recent court ruling. It is quite troublesome to know banks are legally allowed to prevent the Bitcoin ecosystem from growing on a global basis.

According to a new Tel Aviv district court ruling, Israeli banks can now refuse services to Bitcoin companies. This ruling is a result due to a dispute between Bits of gold and Bank Leumi. The financial institution dropped the Bitcoin exchange as a client, which did not sit well with Bits of Gold. There does not appear to be a solid reasoning behind this decision either. The Bitcoin exchange complies with all AML and KYC requirements. On paper, this was an unlawful action, which eventually resulted in a court case.

Unfortunately, the Tel Aviv district court ruled the bank is legally allowed to refuse service to Bitcoin companies. Bank Leumi feels their proprietary cybersecurity issues are the reason for denying service to the exchange. More specifically, the bank claims hackers broke into accounts to send funds from the bank to buy bitcoins. Even though Bits of Gold aided in this matter, there was never a link between the hackers and the exchange itself. It seems quite odd to judge the company for something they are not even involved in, to say the least.

Even though the Israeli exchange is fully compliant with all regulations, that does not appear to be sufficient. This is quite problematic, to say the least. Bank Leumi is concerned over how anyone can transfer Bitcoin through the exchange of potentially malicious addresses. This would still grant criminals easy access to cryptocurrency, even if they do not sue the platform themselves. It is a valid concern, albeit one that is blown out of proportion quite a bit.

This is a very interesting precedent for other banks in Israel. The Bitcoin ecosystem has been growing in the country for quite some time now. However, it is very likely no bank will want to work with Bitcoin companies moving forward. It will be interesting to see how the Bitcoin ecosystem evolves in Israel over the coming years. Israeli cryptocurrency companies may find themselves in a bit of a pickle if more banks legally deny them services, though.

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Israeli Banks Can Legally Refuse Service to Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Companies - newsBTC

What the hell is happening to cryptocurrency valuations? The total market cap for all cryptocurrencies just surpassed $100 billion. The vast majority of these gains have come in just the last few months on April 1st the total market cap was just over $25 billion representing a 300 percent increase in value in just over 60 days. While some of these gains are from bitcoin itself (BTC is up ~160 percent in the same two-month time frame), other digital currencies like Ethereum are also responsible for the increase, which on its own has increased ~439 percent over the last two months. TechCrunch (also, 3 reasons the cryptocurrency exchange market is maturing & Cryptoeconomics 101)

My experience using hackintosh low-end PC for 3 years Almost 3 years ago I installed Mac OS X mavericks for the first time on my personal computer, before this I used a lot of distributions of gnu linux. but sometimes I had heard about Mac OS X and hackintosh, in that moment it seemed something Impossible to do. After spending hours reading guides in forums, reddit, tonymac86. I decided to try installing mavericks. The first thing I did was to download a torrent of niresh. For that moment there was no support for Yosemite. Jhonny Arana

Pirate Bay founder: Weve lost the internet, its all about damage control now At its inception, the internet was a beautifully idealistic and equal place. But the world sucks and weve continuously made it more and more centralized, taking power away from users and handing it over to big companies. And the worst thing is that we cant fix it we can only make it slightly less awful. The Next Web

An open letter to Microsoft: A 64-bit OS is better than a 32-bit OS There are a few absolutes in life death, taxes, and that a 64-bit OS is better than a 32-bit OS. Moving over to a 64-bit OS allows your laptop to run BOTH the old compatible 32-bit processes and also the new 64-bit processes. In other words, there is zero downside (and there are gigantic upsides). Backblaze

Following the money hobbled vDOS attack-for-hire service A new report proves the value of following the money in the fight against dodgy cybercrime services known as booters or stressers virtual hired muscle that can be rented to knock nearly any website offline. Last fall, two 18-year-old Israeli men were arrested for allegedly running vDOS, perhaps the most successful booter service of all time. Krebs on Security

Automate the freight: maritime drone deliveries Ships at sea are literally islands unto themselves. If what you need isnt on board, good luck getting it in the middle of the Pacific. As such, most ships are really well equipped with spare parts and even with raw materials and the tools needed to fabricate most of what they cant store, and mariners are famed for their ability to make do with what theyve got. Hackaday (also, Japan to launch self-navigating cargo ships 'by 2025')

Its been so windy in Europe that electricity prices have turned negative It's been very windy across Europe this week. So much so, in fact, that the high wind load on onshore and offshore wind turbines across much of the continent has helped set new wind power records. For starters, renewables generated more than half of Britain's energy demand on Wednesdayfor the first time ever. Vice

Amazon lent $1 billion to merchants to boost sales on its marketplace Amazon.com Inc has stepped up lending to third-party sellers on its site who are looking to grow their business, a company executive said in an interview on Wednesday. The e-commerce giant has doled out more than $1 billion in small loans to sellers in the past 12 months, compared with more than $1.5 billion it lent from 2011 through 2015, said Peeyush Nahar, vice president for Amazon Marketplace. Reuters

DARPA funds development of new type of processor A completely new kind of non-von-Neumann processor called a HIVE Hierarchical Identify Verify Exploit is being funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) to the tune of $80 million over four-and-a-half years. Chipmakers Intel and Qualcomm are participating in the project, along with a national laboratory, a university and a defense contractor North Grumman. EE Times

Xbox Unleashed: Our deep-dive study of how millions use Xbox Live For three years now, Ars Steam Gauge project and the public sampling projects it has inspired (such as Steam Spy) have provided an important behind-the-scenes look at what kinds of games are popular on PC gamings most popular marketplace. Today, after years of work, were ready to unveil a new effort that similarly uncovers whats popular among Xbox Live users on the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Ars Technica

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Weekend tech reading: Cryptocurrency valuations still rising, 3 years on a Hackintosh - TechSpot