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NORTH KOREA IS STEALING BITCOIN AND THE THREAT TO CRYPTOCURRENCY INVESTORS IS GROWING, EXPERTS WARN
North Korea is trying to steal bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from holders, and could soon start targeting people all over the world, researchers have warned.
Cyber security experts have discovered a recent malware campaign that targeted cryptocurrency users and exchanges in South Korea.
They expect similar attacks to be used to steal cryptocurrencies from people in other countries in the near future, especially if South Korea introduces a ban on trading, as its government has threatened to do.
“This late 2017 campaign is a continuation of North Korea’s interest in cryptocurrency, which we now know encompasses a broad range of activities including mining, ransomware, and outright theft,” said cyber security firm Recorded Future.
“Outside of the May WannaCry attack, the majority of North Korean cryptocurrency operations have targeted South Korean users and exchanges, but we expect this trend to change in 2018.”
The price of bitcoin and other digital currencies plummeted last week, after the South Korean government revealed that it was weighing up a complete ban on cryptocurrency trading.
If that was to happen, North Korean hackers would be forced to look further afield for targets.
“As South Korean exchanges harden their networks and the government imposes stricter regulatory controls on cryptocurrencies, exchanges and users in other countries should be aware of the increased threat level from North Korean actors,” Recorded Future added.
The company says that the malware campaign it spotted from late 2017 used several different lures, and targeted cryptocurrency users, the Coinlink exchange and cryptocurrency exchanges “at large”, which appear to be hiring.
One lure appeared to be designed to obtain the login details of Coinlink exchange users.
Two more appeared to be “resumes stolen from two actual South Korean computer scientists, both with work experience at South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges”, Recorded Future said.
Numerous recent reports have concluded that North Korean hackers are increasingly targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and investors, in order to raise funds under strict economic sanctions.
It’s believed that such attacks will not only continue, but also spread.
“We assess that as South Korea responds to these attempted thefts by increasing security (and possibly banning cryptocurrency trading) they will become harder targets, forcing North Korean actors to look to exchanges and users in other countries as well,” Recorded Future warned.
Bitcoin To Drop As Low As $1000 This Year, Wall Street CIO Predicts.
Peter Boockvar, the Chief Investment Officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, sees the potential for Bitcoin (BTC) to be around for a long time, but with a significant price drop coming when the Bitcoin bubble bursts, according to CNBC.
Boockvar sees a possible 70 to 90 percent price drop for Bitcoin this year, saying:
“Over the next year I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s [BTC] down to $1,000 to $3,000.”
When asked if the stock market would crash in the event of a significant fall in Bitcoin’s price, Boockvar said that any corresponding drop would just be psychological, because Bitcoin is “not something that really is that relevant in a 19 trillion dollar economy.”
However, he adds that people in South Korea, Japan, and the US who have been taking on credit card debt in order to invest in cryptocurrency will be hit hard.
Boockvar told CNBC that the boom in crypto markets can be attributed to easy-money policies of central banks and money printing. These moves make some cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, more attractive to investors, due to the fact that they are both finite and safe from debasement and inflation.
People have long questioned whether Bitcoin fits the mold of a traditional “bubble.” Yale economist Robert Shiller, who won a Nobel prize for his work on financial bubbles, used Bitcoin as an example of a bubble in September 2017. However, in January 2018, Shiller then said that he didn’t know what to make of Bitcoin, adding that it could be around for another 100 years.
BTC is trading at around $11,820 at press time, down about 1.52 percent over a 24 hour period.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-to-drop-as-low-as-1000-this-year-wall-street-cio-predicts
Indonesia reaffirms bitcoin ban among national financial service firms.
Indonesia's agency overseeing operation of financial service firms, OJK, banned those firms in adopting bitcoin, digital money or cryptocurrency in their transactions across the country, its Chairman Wimboh Santoso said here on Monday.
The ban from using cryptocurrency abides by Law No. 7/2011 of the country that stipulates national currency rupiah is the only authorized currency allowed for transactions in Indonesia.
"Financial service providers in Indonesia were strictly banned from taking bitcoin in their transactions. There were sanctions for those violating this rule," Santoso said.
Indonesian authorities were now intensifying investigation into the increasing use of bitcoin for transactions conducted in Indonesia's resort island of Bali, he added.
The investigation was carried out since late last year following the finding of online advertisements of several businesses on the island that accepting bitcoin for the payment of their services.
"We have learned several advertisements in the social media, we understand that Bali has now turned to be a haven for those using bitcoin in their transactions," Head of Indonesia central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI)'s Bali Chapter Causa Iman Karana said last week.
Payments with bitcoin in Bali were mostly conducted by foreign tourists, he added.
In coordination with provincial police, he said that BI would enforce the existing law in Bali by banning the use of bitcoin in every transaction.
BI already issued a ban against cryptocurrency transactions, saying that the bitcoin mechanism tends to be speculative, has high risk as there is neither underlying asset nor official regulator to manage its circulation.
Source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-01/22/c_136915469.htm
South Korea Reportedly Plans to Hit Bitcoin Exchanges With Massive Tax Bills
South Korea’s government is hitting the country’s cryptocurrency exchanges with massive tax demands, in its latest attempt to rein in the booming and volatile sector.
According to a finance ministry official, cited in a Yonhap report on Monday, South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges will this year need to pay 22% corporate and 2.2% local income taxes on last year’s earnings by the end of March and April respectively, if they had an annual income of over 20 billion won ($18.8 million) during 2016.
The report suggested that the Bithumb exchange, for example, would need to pay around 60 billion won for its earnings during last year.
On Sunday, Yonhap quoted another official as saying cryptocurrency exchanges would soon be required to share users’ transaction data with banks—another move that would help the authorities collect tax.
South Korea’s ongoing cryptocurrency crackdown has been one of the prime causes of bitcoin’s recent volatility. Last month, the government instituted real-name policies for virtual-currency traders and banned investors from opening new accounts.
The chair of the country’s Financial Services Commission told the parliament on Thursday that the government was still considering shutting down all local cryptocurrency exchanges, or at least those that have been breaking the law.
Nonetheless, the value of bitcoin has remained relatively stable in recent days, at around $11,500.
Source: http://fortune.com/2018/01/22/south-korea-bitcoin-exchange-tax/
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