CryptoCurrency News: CSD Blockchain Consortium Advances Work on Proxy Voting System

A blockchain consortium backed by a group of CSDs is pushing ahead with plans to develop a distributed ledger-based proxy voting system.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: EU Officials Reveal €5 Million 'Blockchains for Social Good' Contest

The European Commission launched its "Blockchain for Social Good" contest Thursday, announcing a €5 million prize for the winner.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: Comcast's Blockchain Patent Filing Highlights Customer Data Use Case

Telecom giant Comcast filed for a patent outlining a blockchain-based database meant to store customer viewing habits and identifying data.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: More Charges Filed Against Trader Who Used Bitcoin to Conceal Fraud Profits

A Philadelphia day trader was formally indicted for money laundering using bitcoin, among other crimes.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: GE Patent Filings Hint at Blockchain Role in Aircraft Management

New patent filings from General Electric suggest that it is looking at blockchain as part of a wider aircraft monitoring and maintenance system.

via CoinDesk

Bitcoin Gold Set To Go Live This Weekend

In a new blog post, the developers behind the fork of the bitcoin blockchain said that they would release a formal software client for download at 7:00 PM UTC on Nov. 12. Originally set for a public launch on Nov. 1, the project is backed by LightningASIC, a seller of mining hardware based in Hong Kong, as well as a community of relatively unknown developers. Their official site bitcoingold.org is where the software can be downloaded.

As reported by CoinDesk, the idea behind bitcoin gold is to keep most properties of the protocol, but restrict the use of specialized chips for mining, or the process by which new transactions are added to a blockchain (while also creating new tokens as a reward).

It's also the latest example of a "airdropped" cryptocurrency that will distribute new coins to anyone who owned bitcoin at the time of the split, or up until the date the ledger of transactions started to differ.

Yet in a move criticized by some observers, the team behind bitcoin gold has been mining blocks in insolation since the new network was formally created last month, with a certain amount of coins being set aside to support development.

In comments, the team behind the effort sought to send a signal of confidence to the market, perhaps owing to concerns circulating around the effort.

"We are extremely grateful for the community around the world who have been contributing hash power to our testnets; besides patiently testing their own mining process, they allow exchanges, pools, wallet developers, and all other service operators to implement and test their support of BTG so that the bitcoin gold community can have a full suite of services at launch time," the project's backers said in a statement.

In the days ahead, exchanges will no doubt be watching the launch. Soon after its August release, bitcoin cash, another cryptocurrency that forked the bitcoin network, amassed a nearly $4 billion market value.

Exchanges and traders will no doubt be watching to see if history repeats.

Source: CoinDesk and Bitcoin Gold blog post

CryptoCurrency News: Germany's Securities Regulator Warns ICOs Pose 'Numerous Risks'

Germany's top finance regulator has issued an investor warning on initial coin offerings (ICOs).

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: 'Plenty of Time': Parity Rep Says Startup Won't Push for Emergency Fork

Communications lead at Parity said the team will not push for an emergency hard fork to recover some $150 million in locked-up ether funds.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: Quantum Computers Could Jack Your Crypto Private Key in 10 Years, Researchers Say

Bitcoin wallets might be in trouble if quantum computers advance as quickly as some researchers have projected.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: VR Firm YDreams Global Joins Hyperledger Blockchain Consortium

Virtual reality firm YDreams Global has become the latest member of the Linux Foundation-backed blockchain consortium Hyperledger.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: Ether Shrugs Off Parity Concerns As Price Climbs to Three-Week High

Despite a serious vulnerability being discovered in ethereum wallet Parity, ether prices have climbed today.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: ICO Funds Among Millions Frozen In Parity Wallets

Several high-profile ICO issuers have been affected by the Parity exploit, which has left more than $150 million in ether frozen.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: 'Segwit2x Rally' Unwinds? Bitcoin Looks Heavy As Fork Boost Fades

Following the suspension of the Segwit2x hard fork, bitcoin prices rose to new record highs yesterday, before falling to a low of $7,058 today.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: Make Big Money on Bitcoin Cash? The IRS Might Be Watching

Hard forks of bitcoin are creating new wealth that the U.S. tax agency will want to tax, but it's still unclear just how to report these new assets.

via CoinDesk

[FOREX NEWS] EUR/USD: When nothing happens, the pair moves up

EUR/USD is trading at 1.1637, up some 50 pips from the lows of the day at 1.1585 and some 80 pips from the lows of 1.1555 seen earlier in the week. There is no sole driver that pushes the pair to the upside, but data has been positive. The European Commission upgraded economic forecasts for [...]

The post EUR/USD: When nothing happens, the pair moves up appeared first on Forex Crunch.

via Forex Crunch

CryptoCurrency News: Citigroup CEO: Bitcoin Threat Will Give Rise to State Cryptocurrencies

Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat has predicted that state-sponsored digital currencies will arise from the threat posed by bitcoin.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: Canadian Police Issue Warning Over Bitcoin Tax Scam

Police in York, Canada, have warned of a tax scam after over 40 people were convinced to send money via bitcoin ATMs.

via CoinDesk

CryptoCurrency News: SITA Investigates Use of Smart Contracts in Air Transport Industry

Air transport IT firm SITA has released a white paper detailing how airlines and airports could use smart contracts for shared control of data.

via CoinDesk