Watch the Crypto News video here.
Get live discussion & in-depth analysis daily at
51% Attacks on POW Algorithms: Have We Reached a Tipping Point?
Source: The Next Web
A cryptocurrency researcher at a Brazil university has become the latest to demonstrate the security vulnerabilities of cryptocurrencies. Husam Abboud’s research shows that with $1.5 million, a user could execute an attack on the Ethereum Classic network worth up to $2 billion. Other proof-of-work algorithms like those used by ETH, BTC Gold, and BTC Cash are similarly vulnerable to a “51% attack” by which the attacker(s) gain control of a majority of the network’s hashing power at a cost less than the profit made from the attack. Abboud’s research stipulates that these attacks will not stop until a) the networks deploy a fix, or b) the value of the cryptocurrency falls to a level at which a 51% attack is no longer profitable.
Verge Targeted Again
Source: Bitcoin Talk
Relevant Github commits: [1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5] | [6]
Verge (XVG) has been the target of another 51% attack, mirroring a previous attack launched in April 2018. According to the source thread linked above, the vulnerability stems from core logic which allows users to manipulate timestamps to produce blocks much more quickly than should be allowable, and therefore mint many more coins. As documented in the various Github commits above, XVG has implemented changes to the logic governing the time difference between which two blocks can be created, only to roll it back with a subsequent commit, implement it slightly differently, and then roll it back again. The ongoing issues with Verge may have lead to the souring of at least one professional relationship, as covered below.
PornHub Giving Away Vice Token
Source: Image | Read about Vice Token
PornHub has issued a casting call for the first annual PornHub Games, the lucky winner of which will take home the equivalent of $10,000 in Vice Token. Interested ladies can find sign-up details in the image linked above. Interested gentleman can find the schedule of events. And hey, if you need something to spend all that Vice on…
Stormy Daniels Now Accepting Vice Token
Source: CoinDesk
Stormy Daniels’s official website will accept Vice Token following a new partnership. Users will literally be paid to watch porn, receiving vice tokens for viewing videos, which can then be exchanged for premium content or spent on other sites which accept Vice.
Real Housewives of BTC Private
Source: Reddit
The r/BitcoinPrivate subreddit played host to some drama yesterday as the recently ousted leader of their development team apparently reclaimed the subreddit “with a vengeance.” Said ex-developer also published this Medium post, alleging that members of the team were incompetent and corrupt, citing in particular one incident in which a significant amount of development funding was inadvertently (or not so inadvertently, as the post alleges) sent to a programmer who then refused to return it. Don’t change that channel.
Vitalik Responds to Sustainability Concerns
Source: Medium
Responding to the article we covered yesterday, Vitalik addressed concerns about Ethereum’s scalability by countering that Ethereum does have a block size limit in the form of its gas limit, and that sharding the coin means that the network can theoretically survive without any of what StopAndDecrypt called “full nodes.”
Parity Launches Hybrid Casper Testnet
Source: TrustNodes
Parity, one of Etherum’s largest clients, has launched the Hybrid Casper Testnet. It is now awaiting code review and hopes to be on the mainnet by September of this year. Casper, a hard fork of the Ethereum network, is currently a hybrid of Proof-of-Stake and Proof-of-Work algorithms that aims to reduce the likelihood of centralization while also addressing the unsustainability of cryptocurrency mining. Note: The source article linked above contains a fair amount of copy issues… but if our editor can get through it, so can you.
Announcement: Nebulas Mobile Wallet
Source: Medium
Nebulas has launched NAS Nano, a digital asset wallet built for Android and iOS mobile devices .Currently, the wallet only supports Nebulas mainnet tokens. It does not support either the Nebulas ERC20 tokens or the currency swap between the two. Download links can be found in the source linked above.
Report: Cryptocurrency Increased Shipments of Graphics Cards by Two-Thirds
Source: PC Gamer
A report by Jon Peddie Research found that cryptocurrency miners increased demand for graphics cards by 66% last year, driving prices up and depleting supplies. Of the major graphics card producers, NVIDIA is reported to have benefitted the most from this trend. The report asserts, however, that “the influence is waning.”
Partnership: iExec and Nerdalize
Source: Medium
iExec, a decentralized cloud computing marketplace, has partnered with Nerdalize, a Dutch startup replacing traditional centralized data centers with in-home “CloudBoxes,” servers that recycle energy into the home’s heating sources. With the partnership, the official sale of Cloudboxes will take place on iExec’s platform. Nerdalize is the third partnership for iExec this year with a focus on energy efficiency.
Set Protocol: A Specification for Token Abstraction
Source: Set Protocol
Set, calling itself an “abstraction” token after the computer science concept, is a proposed solution to market with an ever-increasing number and variety of tokens. Set, an ERC20 token, holds various tokens as “collateral” in a smart contract and then acts as a representation of all those underlying tokens. It can be exchanged or traded like any other ERC20 token, and a user can redeem their original tokens from the Set at any time.
Augur Sued for $152 Million by Former Project Member
Source: CoinDesk
Augur, a predictive blockchain tool, has been sued for nearly a quarter of its net worth by former project member Matthew Liston. The lawsuit alleges that four founding members of the project engaged in fraud, breach of contract, and trade theft. Additionally, Liston claims that a post-termination refusal to identify him as a co-founder cost him professional recognition among industry peers. An advisor for Augur denied the validity of the claims, specifically citing the absence of Github commits to the project by Liston. A full transcript of the complaint can be found in the source linked above.
Announcement: BitGo Trust
Source: BitGo
BitGo, citing past financial crises which “demonstrate the need for… an independent custodian,” yesterday announced BitGo Trust, which aims to be the first custodian “built from the ground up for digital assets.” They are currently seeking a charter and will aim to make the product available for U.S. consumers.
China Uses Blockchain to Fight Tax Evasion
Source: CoinDesk
Shenzhen, a Chinese city with a significant “underground economy,” has partnered with tech company Tencent in an effort to combat tax evasion. The partnership will seek to leverage blockchain technologies, cloud computing, AI, and data science to establish preventative measures such as digital invoicing to thwart fraudulent paperwork used to evade tax and other financial liabilities.
McAfee Drafts ‘Declaration of Currency Independence’
Source: Currency Independence | Etherscan [1] [2]
Cryptocurrency enthusiast John McAfee posted his ‘Declaration of Currency Independence,’ another show of advocacy for moving away from traditional financial models. He announced today on Twitter that he has pre-paid $30,000 into an escrow account in order to cover all transaction fees for users who wish to sign the charter. Note: Signing this document will share your first name, last name, and email address in a way that will be crawled.
Eat Ice Cream… For The Environment!
Source: Cryptocoin Spy
Ben & Jerry’s has partnered with the Poseidon Foundation, a climate-focused blockchain project, in an effort to make retailers’ effects on the environment more transparent and thereby allow consumers to have more autonomy over their carbon footprint. For each ice cream sold, Ben & Jerry’s will use blockchain-issued carbon credits to support a Peruvian forest conservation group.