Lightning Network Exploits Continue to Hinder the Bitcoin Scaling Solution

While bitcoin has run-up to all new price highs in 2020, a great number of crypto supporters have been complaining about the mempool backlog and the high fees needed to send a transaction. Meanwhile, the Lightning Network is far from seeing widespread adoption, and a number of attack vectors have been revealed this year.

At the time of publication, the Bitcoin (BTC) mempool (backlog of transactions) shows 113,000+ unconfirmed transactions and the backlog hasn’t been this high since 2017. When the bull run took place three years ago, transaction fees and unconfirmed transactions shot through the roof. Currently, according to bitcoinfees.cash data on October 31, the next BTC block fee is $10.77 and the current median fee is $6.43.

Even with the high fees and the mempool clog, the greater bitcoin community is still transacting mostly onchain. The Layer 2 protocol built on top of Bitcoin called the Lightning Network (LN) was supposed to ease the problems, and it was assumed people would shift to the LN solution. However, this never came to fruition, as the LN software has been considered too difficult for the average user, many apps are custodial, and there have been numerous vulnerabilities disclosed this year.

Even though the LN total-value-locked (TVL) in 2020 has been at an all-time high ($14.3M), it hasn’t come close to the over $2 billion worth of bitcoin (BTC) held on Ethereum. The attack vectors have also been making crypto advocates leery of the Layer 2 protocol, as there’s been a number of vulnerabilities disclosed. For instance, Joost Jager, an independent Bitcoin and Lightning Network engineer tweeted about one on Sept. 22.

“Lightning is great, but can’t say it is battle-tested,” said Jager. “If script kids would be interested, they could take down those shiny new 5 BTC wumbo channels with negligible cost and no effort at all.” The fact that any script kiddie could leverage the ‘griefing attack’ to take down those 5 BTC channels, with very little effort, is quite discouraging.

The Bitcoin (BTC) mempool (backlog of transactions) shows 113,000+ unconfirmed transactions on October 31, 2020.

Moreover, the researchers Jona Harris and Aviv Zohar recently published a paper called: “Flood & Loot: A Systemic Attack On The Lightning Network,” which is similar to the griefing attack.

“One of the risks that were identified early on is that of a wide systemic attack on the protocol, in which an attacker triggers the closure of many Lightning channels at once,” explains the paper’s authors. “The resulting high volume of transactions in the blockchain will not allow for the proper settlement of all debts, and attackers may get away with stealing some funds. This paper explores the details of such an attack and evaluates its cost and overall impact on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network.”

Furthermore, on June 2, 2020, Antoine Riard and Gleb Naumenko published a paper on another Lightning Network vulnerability called the “time-dilation attack.” One scary fact that Naumenko and Riard disclose about the time-dilation attack, is that it is “currently possible to steal the total channel capacity by keeping a node eclipsed for as little as 2 hours.”

Not too long after that issue, Antoine Riard recently discussed another susceptible exploit called the “Pinning Attack.” Riard notes that to the best of his knowledge, “currently deployed LN peers aren’t secure against [certain Pinning Attack] scenarios.” One particular scenario “requires heavy, long-term work at the base layer,” Riard stressed.

The Lightning Network has been around for quite some time, but these vulnerabilities and exploits combined with how unfriendly the user experience is, it hard to imagine the second layer solution catching on.

Of course, some of the exploits are more costly than other attacks, and engineers are working on solutions to fix these issues. However, many Lightning Network skeptics don’t believe the LN protocol will ever be ready, as one individual noted on Twitter:

Even if that were a success (by 2051, with one-third of the buyers already dead of old age) Lightning Network would STILL be vulnerable to Flood and Loot attack, and trivial DDOS at the protocol level. Lightning Network is no solution whatsoever.

What do you think about the Lightning Network vulnerabilities disclosed this year? Do you think it’s a good scaling solution? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin White Paper: A 12-Year Old Summary of Robust Unstructured Simplicity

Cryptocurrency supporters all around the world are celebrating the fact that today is the 12th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper, a summary of the invention created by the pseudonymous inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin’s inventor published the paper on metzdowd.com’s Cryptography Mailing list and ever since then, the financial world hasn’t been the same.

12 years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto decided to let the world in on Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer electronic cash system that took the world by storm. The very first time Nakamoto published the paper was at 2:10 p.m. Eastern Standard, on metzdowd.com. There’s a lot we don’t know about Bitcoin’s inventor and to this day the anonymous creator’s identity is still unknown. However, we do know that Nakamoto was a legendary genius and could have been a single person or even a group of people.

Bitcoin’s inventor specifically chose to publish the “Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper” paper on metzdowd.com mainly because of the Cryptography Mailing list, a pipermail message service that was operated by a group of visionaries and cypherpunks.

The cypherpunks had been trying to create reliable digital money since the 1990s and several experiments like Wei Dai’s b money circulated on the message service. We also know that Satoshi wrote the codebase for Bitcoin before the famous white paper was published.

Then on October 31, 2008, on the eve of Halloween, Satoshi wrote:

I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.

The system Nakamoto created, has given birth to a massive counter-economy worth close to $400 billion, just in the market capitalization of all 7,000+ cryptocurrencies alone. Since the paper was first introduced, it has been cited 12,425 times to-date and mentioned in tens of thousands of articles during the last 12 years. Minus the paper’s citations, the Bitcoin white paper is 3,457 words in length and is composed of 16,686 characters excluding the arithmetic.

Excerpt from Satoshi’s Bitcoin white paper published on Oct. 31, 2008.

At the end of the paper, Nakamoto uses the term “we,” and stresses that the paper is a proposal that describes a system of electronic transactions “without relying on trust.”

Nakamoto added:

We started with the usual framework of coins made from digital signatures, which provides strong control of ownership, but is incomplete without a way to prevent double-spending. To solve this, we proposed a peer-to-peer network using proof-of-work to record a public history of transactions that quickly becomes computationally impractical for an attacker to change if honest nodes control a majority of CPU power.

Excerpt from Satoshi’s Bitcoin white paper published on Oct. 31, 2008.

Nakamoto then called the network “robust in its unstructured simplicity.” Of course, at that time when Satoshi published the white paper, nobody knew that the anonymous author literally developed the first working solution to the Byzantine Generals’ Problem.

Bitcoin’s creator knew that the infamous Byzantine Generals’ Problem, something that plagued computer scientists for decades, was officially solved and Nakamoto detailed this fact in some of the earliest messages to the community.

Of all the mysterious clues about Satoshi’s identity, the paper is one of the most succinct economic papers ever written. The white paper is so well crafted that many people think that it may have been written by another person, other than the online persona people communicated with until Dec. 2010.

Speculation aside, the paper gives a clear definition of the network and is considered a must-read for every cryptocurrency newb joining the counter-economy.

For some reason, on Halloween eve, Nakamoto felt the urge to tell the world there is a need for an electronic payment system “based on cryptographic proof instead of trust.” This in turn would allow “any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party.” With the central banks creating money out of thin air, the need has never been more clear.

What do you think about Satoshi Nakamoto publishing the Bitcoin white paper 12 years ago today? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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John McAfee Pumps Crypto From Prison, Denies Tax Fraud and Murder Charges

John McAfee has shared many details about his life in Spanish prison and chances of extradition to the U.S. He additionally claims to have regained control of his ghost cryptocurrency project.

Prison Life ‘Is an Adventure’

Former U.S. presidential candidate and antivirus software tycoon John McAfee is in Spanish prison awaiting his extradition trial after he was arrested in Spain.

McAfee has been tweeting regularly from prison. “You want to know what prison is like. It’s like a Motel 6 run by Hitler’s SS,” he tweeted, elaborating:

I am content in here. I have friends. The food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine … Prison is an adventure to say the least.

“Spanish prisons are like the Hilton hotel compared to the abject surreality and dehumanization of American prisons,” he described in another tweet. “In Spanish prisons, you are treated as a human being instead of a number. I am treated well.” Admitting that he is “surrounded by murderers, muggers, and thieves,” the antivirus software tycoon maintained that it is “Not as bad as our government of course. But still.”

McAfee Denies Charges Against Him

The former presidential candidate insists that the U.S. government is after him for speaking the truth, particularly against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). “I once publicly called the SEC a festering pustule on the face of America, and the IRS – a legalized criminal gang aspiring to be the equivalent of Hitler’s SS. These are the two agencies accusing me of hideous crimes. I can only assume that they took offense at my remarks.” Nonetheless, he affirmed: “I would not exchange my life in prison for a life of freedom in which I could not speak the truth.”

Regarding the $23 million dollar judgment against him, McAffee claimed: “It was a civil suit not a criminal issue. I never even responded to the suit. It was simply a default judgment.” He declared:

I am charged with tax fraud – which is lying on your tax return. I have filed no returns for many years and have made no secret of it. If I have said nothing how could I have lied. My real crime is speaking publicly about the insanity rampant within our system of government.

Responding to a question from the media about whether the U.S. justice system is just, he said: “If extradited, I face 35 years in prison for multiple counts of refusing to file tax returns. Had I chosen armed robbery, I would’ve received 5 years maximum. You tell me if it’s just.”

Furthermore, McAfee tweeted on Friday: “I’m in prison for refusing to file tax returns, while government bureaucrats use your taxes for private planes, lavish parties and all other benefits of their power.” Commenting on the upcoming U.S. presidential election, he said, “If you think this election, whatever its results, will change this system, you will be sadly disappointed.”

McAfee Still Pumping His Ghost Cryptocurrency

Although charged by the SEC for pumping tokens, McAfee is still pumping his ghost cryptocurrency. He confirmed from prison that Ghost is the only crypto project he is involved with at present. Recalling that he abandoned the project in August due to a fallout with the management, he clarified:

I have returned to controlling the Ghost development. My feud with management has ended. With the announcement that we will soon release a private stable coin, will mark a new era in transacting crypto business. Transaction fees will be shared amongst all Ghost holders.

“When our private stablecoin is released, it will revolutionize crypto transactions. I have capable managers and communicate frequently from prison,” he claimed. “My work with Ghost revolves entirely around our development of the world’s first private stablecoin. Version one will be a wrapped DAI. Later we will have a new stable, private blockchain. Holders of Ghost will share all transaction fee profits for the stablecoin.”

He also commented on Paypal’s announcement to begin supporting cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, on its platform. “Paypal’s acceptance of cryptocurrency signals, I believe, a new wave of cryptocurrency acceptance worldwide. Governments around the world will have to get used to cryptocurrencies.” He further tweeted: “Paypal to take crypto. The IRS must be pissing itself.”

What’s Next for McAfee

The U.S. government wants him extradited from Spain, which McAfee says he is 100% certain will not happen because the Spanish “courts will see the clear resentment of the American government toward my public condemnations of their increasing corruption. They also understand how simple it is for a corrupt system to manufacture evidence that can prove anything against anyone who is a public enemy. They will decline my extradition,” he wrote. As such, he said he will not need a lawyer in the U.S., emphasizing that “There is zero chance that Spain will extradite me.”

McAfee revealed that when he is released, he will do “The same as before,” which is to “continue speaking against the cancer that has invaded every organ of the U.S. government bureaucracy.” He added that he is not sorry for what he has done. “I have followed my heart and stood up for my beliefs. I will never regret that,” he said.

On the subject of him allegedly being wanted for murder in Belize, McAfee insisted:

This is false. I was not charged with murder nor was I a suspect. The Belizean authorities will confirm this. I was a person of interest like all of the murdered man’s neighbors. I chose not to be questioned. I was already at war with the Belizean government.

McAfee posted his prison address on Friday after he said many people have asked for it. “Letters only. No packages. No money, drugs or weapons please. Everything is opened,” he warned. Finally, the cybersecurity tycoon said he would not reveal where he had been hiding: “I will not say. I may need to hide again someday.”

What do you think about John McAfee’s story? Let us know in the comments section below.

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$1.1 Billion Crypto Ponzi: Masterminds of Wotoken Head to Prison in China

A Chinese court has confirmed the sentencing of the masterminds behind the 7.7 billion yuan Chinese Ponzi scheme Wotoken, which had over 715,000 investors.

Wotoken Scammers Sentenced to Prison

The Intermediate People’s Court of Yancheng city, Jiangsu province, denied an appeal by four convicts involved in the billion-dollar Ponzi scheme Wotoken on Tuesday, several local media reported.

The court upheld the original sentences for Gao Yudong, Li Qibing, Wang Xiaoying and Tian Bo who were dissatisfied with their original sentencing and filed an appeal. They believe they had minor roles in the scheme. The four were sentenced to prison for 8 years and six months, seven years, seven years, and two years and six months respectively, IT Times reported. They were also fined 2 million yuan, 1.5 million yuan, 1.5 million yuan, and 1 million yuan respectively.

In addition, two other defendants were sentenced for their roles in the Wotoken scam. Li Guomin was sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined 100,000 yuan while Tang Xiaohua was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment with one-year probation, the publication added. In May, 12 people allegedly behind the Wotoken Ponzi scheme were tried, including the six defendants mentioned above.

Chinese law enforcement has seized 425 million yuan ($64 million) of illegal proceeds from the Wotoken scheme, which were turned over to the state treasury. The illegal proceeds belonging to the four who appealed will also be recovered and turned over to the state treasury, the publication conveyed.

The scheme involves a number of cryptocurrencies, collectively worth about 7.7 billion yuan ($1.15 billion), according to blockchain data. They included 46,050 BTC, 286 million USDT, 2 million ETH, 292,590 LTC, 56,900 BCH, and 6,841,797 EOS.

The Wotoken (WOR) platform attracted 715,249 registered users between July 2018 and October 2019. The scheme has 501 MLM layers.

At least one person behind the Wotoken Ponzi scheme was also a key member of a larger Chinese Ponzi scheme called Plustoken, according to an investigative reporter. The Plustoken Ponzi swindled about $6 billion from more than 715,000 investors. Chinese police took down the scheme in July, arrested 109 people involved, and charged six members with fraud.

What do you think about the Wotoken Ponzi scheme? Let us know in the comments section below.

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OCC’s Brian Brooks Against Government Issued Digital Dollar – Supports Regulation of Privately Issued Stablecoins

The acting director of the U.S. Office Comptroller of Currency (OCC) Brian Brooks says the creation of the U.S. digital dollar is a terrible one because the government is not good at building things. Instead, Brooks believes tech companies, which already possess the know-how, to be in a better position to issue stable digital currencies. He says the U.S. government needs to focus on doing what it does best-regulation.

Growing Stablecoin Supply

The acting comptroller of currency’s comments come as reports suggest the US is currently working on a digital dollar. However, the U.S. digital dollar can only be issued in four years’ time.

Speaking in an interview, Brooks, who uses analogies to support his stance on stablecoins, believes the United States can only flourish when the government allows the private sector to innovate. Expounding on this belief, Brooks says U.S. government regulatory agencies should instead be concerned with the protection of investors.

To support his theory, Brooks points to the phenomenal growth of stablecoins in the past few months. He says:

If you look at the growth of the major stablecoin, the USDT, you see it has been doubling in market capitalisation every 60 days for the past four, five to six months. This kind of growth is astounding.

Therefore, instead of competing with private innovators, Brooks advises the US government to focus on “putting audit and consumer disclosure rules so that the market can have confidence that the money is there.”

The Envisioned Role for Central Banks

Still, Brooks makes it clear that allowing private companies to be the issuers of stablecoins does not diminish the effectiveness of the monetary policy since any such tokens issuance is backed by dollars that are in circulation.

“Just like Circle and Coinbase have issued a stablecoin and not the Federal Reserve…. still that stablecoin is issued with the promise that it is redeemable for a dollar.” All dollars in circulation are issued by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Brooks also clarifies that stablecoins issued by private tech companies cannot be more than the circulating supply because “you cannot sell the stablecoin unless someone gives you the dollar.”

When asked about the role of commercial banks in this setup, Brooks says he envisions the financial institutions “being nodes on these blockchains or themselves be issuers of stablecoins at some point.” This will be in addition to banks acting as depositories.

Contradictions

Meanwhile, the OCC acting chief appears to contradict the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as he laments how the U.S. has been slow to embrace digital currencies. Powell recently said that the U.S. not very concerned about being the first to issue a central bank digital currency. Instead, he says prefers getting it right the first time.

However, pointing to the EU’s release of a stablecoin framework as well as China’s distribution of the e-RMB, Brooks asks:

The question is where is the U.S. in all this? It is not an answer to just say we are worried about AML.

Brooks explains that other countries are seeing “crypto and stablecoins in particular as a strategic advantage” and the U.S. “has not figured that out yet.”

Do you agree that the US government must not issue a digital dollar? Tell us what you think in the comments section below

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Yield Trust DeFi Protocol with Anti-Manipulation and Unique Trust Score Feature – Presale Now Live

PRESS RELEASE. Yield Trust Team from Stockholm, Sweden is ready to launch their new DeFi protocol for public access, providing users exciting and unique technologies to finally beat market manipulation and reduce market affection by the whales. The protocol is going to grow all around starting it’s move to Polkadot after releasing all significant features and might become one of the biggest multichain DeFi projects in the industry.

What makes Yield Trust so unique?

Yield Trust is part of the large Yield Trust protocol which will include way more features in future to build around the main governance which will control the whole ecosystem of dApps.

It is built for people not users implying a trust score system to treat everyone as a person.

Main Yield Trust advantage is that it is not another compilation project from the others or copycat or fork. It brings absolutely new features to decentralized finance scope.

Upcoming Features of Yield Trust Protocol

► Trust score (Monetary proxy)

The system to reward holders and punish manipulators by restricting whales. Trust score is an internal smart contract variable which is applied to everyone, but restricts only the people who are manipulating token price. Smart contract as a monetary proxy will decide if a user is violating Trust score.

► Insured farming

Is the new yield farming approach where users get cover tokens instead of getting nothing by depositing liquidity or tokens into a pool. Cover tokens represent liquidity rate for the pair of the pool and served by separate smart contract and can be redeemed anytime.

► Early Referral program Airdrop

Instead of throwing away tokens there is a Referral program to reward the most active users of the community for spreading the word about Yield Trust. 1,000 Tokens are going to be distributed between everyone who joined it.

Token Metrics

• 48.3% – Dapps & Rewards
• 30% – Presale Allocation
• 15% – Initial Liquidity (forever locked)
• 3.3% – Team
• 3.3% – Referral program

Presale Info

Yield Trust is making Yield Trust ($YTRU) Governance Token accessible by joining an exclusive presale through bounce.finance from OCT 30th 3PM UTC – NOV 8th 3PM UTC.

At the end of the presale YTRU/ETH pair will be listed on Uniswap and initial liquidity added and locked forever. Repositories with source code of the protocol will be available on Github after deployment.

• 1 ETH = 15 YTRU
• Soft Cap: 400 ETH

• Hard Cap: 600 ETH
• Presale Allocation: 9,000 YTRU
• Max Supply: 30,000 YTRU

• Unsold Tokens: Proportional Burn

• Individual Cap: No Max
• Presale venue is bounce.finance

More information at https://yieldtrust.finance/presale

Social Media

Website: https://yieldtrust.finance

Telegram: https://t.me/ytru_finance

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ytru_finance

Medium: https://yield-trust.medium.com/

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This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not 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 the press release.

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Bitcoin.com Exchange Reveals Role in the Cryptopia Rescue Group

The world-class trading platform, Bitcoin.com Exchange announced it’s participating in the Cryptopia Exchange rescue consortium in order to help redistribute coins to customers. Bitcoin.com’s trading platform will provide an exchange environment in order to bolster the Cryptopia Rescue redistribution plan.

Back in January 2019, the New Zealand cryptocurrency trading platform Cryptopia Exchange suffered a major breach and it affected 2.3 million account holders from all around the world. Estimates note that roughly $860 million worth of cryptocurrency was held on the exchange before the hack. Bitcoin.com is pleased to announce that our exchange will assist a rescue program dedicated to helping Cryptopia account holders.

Bitcoin.com Exchange has joined a consortium called the “Cryptopia Rescue” program, and it will produce a platform to distribute coins to Cryptopia Exchange Account Holders. The group formed in order to create a class action against the Liquidator, Grant Thornton.

Victor Cattermole, a Cryptopia Rescue spokesperson said:

The liquidator was proposing to write off more than 50% of the coin holdings. In our alternative plan, we have established a relationship with Bitcoin.com to provide an exchange environment to emulate the Cryptopia model so that all coins can be redistributed.

Currently, the Cryptopia Rescue team is working to connect with as many account holders as possible. The plan is to do everything possible to provide the best resolution to Cryptopia’s former customers. Since launching on September 2, 2019, the premier Bitcoin.com Exchange has provided customers with a professional trading engine combined with top-of-the-line security practices.

Speaking about joining the Cryptopia Rescue effort, Danish Chaudhry, CEO of Bitcoin.com Exchange explained the exchange team looks forward to helping the crypto community.

“We take this role very seriously within the consortium,” Chaudhry stressed. “[Bitcoin.com Exchange] will do everything we can as a united group to provide the best-in-class platform to redistribute Cryptopia account holders their coins via our exchange,” he added.

There are five limitations Cryptopia Exchange Account Holders need to take into account.

• The Cryptopia trustee is independent of Bitcoin.com Exchange.
• Claim information is stored only on the trustee’s servers, not on Bitcoin.com Exchange’s servers.
• Claim information is private between clients and the trustee.
• Bitcoin.com Exchange is not involved in approving or denying claims.
• Bitcoin.com Exchange does not determine when claims are distributed.

When the Cryptopia Exchange trustee completes the claim approval process and selects a distribution date, a provided payout support plan for distribution may be added. Customers that have any questions or issues with the Cryptopia claim process will need to contact Cryptopia support.

What do you think about the Bitcoin.com Exchange providing support to Cryptopia account holders? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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FTX Increases Trump Futures Margins Before the Election, Biden Futures Lead by 64%

At the beginning of the year, the trading platform FTX Exchange launched a futures market so people can bet on the U.S. election and created a futures contract token called TRUMP. On Friday, FTX revealed that the exchange is lifting the initial margin requirements to $0.50 for its TRUMP token contracts.

Individuals who don’t live in the United States can participate in betting on the U.S. 2020 presidential election by leveraging the trading platform FTX. News.Bitcoin.com reported on FTX launching its TRUMP token futures contracts back in February, as our newsdesk disclosed a number of other betting portals that use digital currencies to bet on the upcoming election.

At the time, gambling sites and FTX’s TRUMP futures had shown Donald Trump was expected to win the 2020 election. However, on September 30, our newsdesk’s latest report had shown Joe Biden was leading across gambling portals by at least 60%.

On Friday, FTX announced some changes to the original TRUMP token futures market and the exchange is also offering a BIDEN futures market as well. FTX said:

[FTX Exchange will] increase [the] initial margin requirement to $0.50, so you need $0.50 to get short 1 TRUMP or $0.36 (the current price of TRUMP) to get long 1 TRUMP.

Screenshot of FTX Exchange’s TRUMP futures token on Friday, October 30, 2020.

Looking at both futures markets on FTX shows that traders are expecting Joe Biden to win the U.S. election and percentages are over 60% today. BIDEN futures tokens are swapping at prices between $0.62 to $0.64 (64% chance of winning) at the time of publication. Meanwhile, TRUMP tokens are swapping at prices between $0.34 to $0.38 (38% chance of winning) a unit, which means current support for a Donald Trump win is lagging.

As stated during the original FTX TRUMP futures announcement, “[TRUMP] is a futures contract on FTX, [The token] expires to $1 if Donald Trump wins the 2020 U.S. presidential general election, and $0 otherwise.” The latest announcement also notes that FTX is increasing the “maintenance margin requirement to $0.40 – $0.10” until the election as well.

On Friday, October 30, a great number of polls say that Joe Biden is leading the race. However, reports also show that Trump may actually be in the lead in the United States election polls.

“A handful of contrarian pollsters believe Trump’s support is underrepresented and that election analysts could be headed for another embarrassing miss on election day,” Jonathan Easley from The Hill wrote on Friday.

What do you think about FTX Exchange lifting the initial margin requirements to $0.50 for TRUMP contracts? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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Central Banks Dump Gold for the First Time Since 2010, Precious Metal Drops 9% Since August High

A few central banks have started selling tons of gold for the first time since 2010 in order to ease the financial suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic. At $1,875 per ounce, gold prices are down -9.63% since the commodity’s high of $2,075 on August 6.

Even though gold has dropped significantly in value in contrast to bitcoin (BTC), gold bug Peter Schiff decided to use the opportunity to rag on bitcoin on Twitter. “If you measure the size of asset bubbles based on the level of conviction buyers have in their trade, the Bitcoin bubble is the biggest I’ve seen,” Schiff tweeted on October 28. “Bitcoin hodlers are more confident they’re right and sure they can’t lose than were dotcom or house buyers during those bubbles.”

However, unlike bitcoin which has been on a tear lately, gold prices per ounce have floundered. The precious metal did reach a high of $2,075 on August 6 but dropped -9.63% to today’s current $1,875 per ounce low. According to a report from Bloomberg, a few central banks are starting to sell gold in order to offset the disastrous economy driven by central planners and bureaucrats. The World Gold Council notes that year-over-year gold demand has dropped 19%.

The report notes that among some of the countries, Russia sold gold reserves for the first time in 13 years. Other countries that saw central banks selling gold in the third quarter include Turkey and Uzbekistan. Net sales totaled 12.1 tons of bullion in the third quarter with more sales expected, and 2019’s third quarter saw 149 tons purchased. In fact, last year central banks worldwide purchased the most tonnage of gold in more than 50 years. During the first week of April, a few gold investors stressed they were terrified that central banks might dump bullion during the economic crisis.

Speaking on the recent central bank gold sales, a WGC senior analyst says the central banks that sold tonnage last quarter doesn’t surprise him.

“It’s not surprising that in the circumstances banks might look to their gold reserves,” Louise Street, the lead analyst at the WGC explained. “Virtually all of the selling is from banks who buy from domestic sources taking advantage of the high gold price at a time when they are fiscally stretched.”

The report written by WGC dubbed “Gold Demand Trends Q3 2020” further explains:

Demand for gold dropped to 892.3t in Q3 – its lowest quarterly total since Q3 2009 – as consumers and investors continued to battle the effects of the global pandemic. At 2,972.1t year-to-date (y-t-d) demand is 10% below the same period of 2019. The total supply of gold fell 3% y-o-y in Q3 to 1,223.6t, despite 6% growth in gold recycling, with mine production still feeling the effects of the H1 Covid-19 restrictions.

The WGC said that jewelry demand improved in Q2 but in the third quarter, thanks to government lockdowns, jewelry demand shrunk significantly.

However, in contrast to jewelry sales, “bar and coin demand strengthened, gaining 49% y-o-y to 222.1t.” The report concluded by adding gold used in certain technologies also “remained weak” and only a few emerging tech markets improved.

What do you think about the price of gold slumping and central banks dumping gold bullion last quarter? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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The New Bullrun Rushes Investors Towards Securypto

PRESS RELEASE. With Round 1 Fully Sold Out, Investors scramble to get on board of Securypto IEO. In a world where datahacks have become the norm rather than the exception, anonymity has become a necessity. Securypto project is making headlines across major news media for its remarkable innovative approach to encrypted messaging.

As the security expert and the Lead Dev of Securypto pointing out:

“It’s not just WhatsApp, almost everything connected to the internet is at risk of cyberattacks. That’s what easily can be concluded following continuation news about the messaging platforms been targeted by spywares and hacks. The unfortunate reality is that most messaging apps have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by sophisticated cyber spies, No messaging service is bulletproof”

The Securypto story – Rise of the underdog

Amid the hype of countless ICOs of projects without a product or even a use case in 2018, Securypto went against the grain and kept the focus on delivering a working product and released his own Android Encryption App DigiSafeGuard earlier this year without any founding.

The past two years has seen the Securypto team laboring over its blockchain platform and conducting innumerable tests and even offering a 10BTC reward to anyone that could break their encryption (which to this date no one has succeeded in doing so).

Consistent hard work has paid off and the securypto platform has been steadily rolling out update after update and with the listing on the exchange the next logical step is here for both the team and investors and the community. Having grown a strong following throughout its developing stages, last week, the Securypto project saw its IEO reach a level of fervour unheard of in today’s IEO narrative, as loyal supporters rallied behind the project’s token sale.

Securypto’s IEO success serves as a testament to good old-fashioned persistence and hard work. As Henry Ford put it, “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”

Keeping community at the forefront

As finally token holders will be able to start making deposits in preparation for trading. Available trading as SCU/ETH pairs are confirmed at Bilaxy and Uniswap exchange which will open for trading after IEO. In the meantime, Securypto remains committed to making listing partnerships with credible exchanges vetted to be safe for users, keeping the community always at the forefront of any listing decisions.

Exchange listings

“Bilaxy is a world-class digital asset trading platform and we are proud to be listed on such a reputable exchange. For the DEX supporters, we have selected UniSwap, the leading decentralized permissionless exchange.” stated earlier by Lead Dev of Securypto.

Bilaxy support has quite been unprecedented , “Bilaxy has always been the home of crypto hidden gems, and we are happy to support more promising blockchain projects with our various financial services like trading, staking and more. Anonymity is a scarce commodity in this day and age and we have seen Securypto’s potential to develop a model where you take back control of your data and send and receive truly anonymous encrypted data.

About SCU

SCU, which stands for Securypto Token, is a utility token that enables users send and receive encrypted messages and data with it’s app DigiSafeGuard. The app itself already allows you to do that but the utility token enables a anonymity layer on top of it which makes it a perfect instrument for everyone that cares about their privacy to send and receive data. Early feedback from early adapters shows that mostly people who live in restrictive countries make use of this application like North Korea and places where censorship is very high and freedom of speech is a luxury where Securypto has given them a voice. Whistleblowers have also commended it’s ease of use and high level of encryption and how it makes it easy to use as Whatsapp but the moment you send the message it looks like your message goes into a wormhole and the receiver gets the message and no one can discover the path it has taken from sender to receiver making it impossible for anyone to track the message or decrypt it. It comes then as no surprise why both the community and investors have been excited about the development and launch of IEO and listing SCU on Bilaxy and Uniswap. As Initial Coin Offering of Securypto Tokens has been started, this golden opportunity is getting massive attention from the cryptocommunity all over the world.

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This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not 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 the press release.

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Remittance Costs Lower in Q3 World Bank Study Shows – Only Cryptocurrencies Meeting UN Goal

The latest study by the World Bank shows that it costs 4.98% on average to remit funds to South Asia which makes it the least expensive region while sub-Sahara Africa is the most expensive with an average cost of 8.47%. The quarterly study also finds that it is costlier to remit funds when using service providers such as banks that charge an average of 10.89%.

Marginal decline

Mobile operators are the cheapest as their sending costs averaged 3% and below during the period under review. Still, the study, which predictably excludes cryptocurrencies, shows a marginal decrease in the Global Weighted Average (GWA) from 5.03% in Q2 to 5.0% in Q3 of 2020.

The World Bank’s aptly named Remittance Prices Worldwide (RPW) report monitors remittance costs across all regions. Data from the report shows that the Global Average remitting cost dropped from 9.67% seen Q1 of 2009 to the latest 6.75%. This represents a 2.92% decline during this period.

Meanwhile, the global financial institution says that in addition to tracking the Global Average, “another average total cost is introduced to track the average price of digital remittances in RPW database.” In following this cost metric, the study finds that:

In Q3 2020, the global average for digital remittances was recorded at 5.29 per cent while the global average for none- digital remittances was 7.24%.” Furthermore, the report data shows remitting costs gradually decreasing across all sending corridors since 2008.

Meanwhile, despite their absence in the World Bank’s RPW, cryptocurrencies seem to be cheaper and faster-remitting methods.

Cryptocurrencies a cheaper option

To illustrate, on the Bitcoin Network, transacting costs for coins like bitcoin cash and dash remain insignificant when compared to the cost of sending funds via Money Transfer Organisation (MTO). For instance, during Q3 of 2020, the average fee when sending or paying $100 with bitcoin cash was less than one cent. The same was true for Dash as well as for Ripple’s XRP token. Yet, on the other hand, it may cost 10% or more to send funds between two Southern African countries.

Remitting funds via bitcoin and ethereum is also faster and sometimes cheaper than traditional remitting corridors. As the data from Bitinfocharts shows, at the start of Q3 2020 on July 1, transaction fees on the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks averaged $1.51 and $0.70 respectively. Since then, fees on the two networks have fluctuated wildly but still went on to average $5 or below for much of Q3. An average fee of $5 per transaction translates to 5% if the amount being sent is $100.

Achieving UN SDG 10.c with cryptocurrencies

With transacting costs that are a tiny fraction of a per cent, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash and XRP, which the World Bank and others refuse to recognise, appear to have achieved one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) already.

Under the world body’s SDGs 10.c, the UN and others are committing to reducing to “less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and to eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent.”

The UN is targeting to achieve this goal by 2030 yet more migrants are already using cryptocurrencies because they are a much cheaper and more convenient option.

Do you agree that cryptocurrencies are cheaper for remitting than traditional methods? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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The SEC Votes to Modernize Regulatory Framework for Derivatives Use

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will enhance the regulatory framework for derivatives use by registered investment companies after passing a vote to either change or amend existing rules. As part of the new framework–which covers mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and closed-end funds–operators must undertake to implement a written derivatives risk management program.

A Modern Approach to Derivatives Regulation

The rule changes, which open the doors for more leveraged ETFs, will also permit a fund to enter into reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions, as well as ‘unfunded commitments’ to make certain loans or investments, subject to conditions tailored to these transactions.

The Commission says the “new rule and rule amendments will provide a modernized, comprehensive approach to the regulation of these funds’ derivatives use that addresses investor protection concerns and reflects developments over the past decades.”

Meanwhile, in his comments following the announcement of the vote passage, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton talks of the importance of derivatives to funds. He says:

“Derivatives have come to play an important role for many funds in portfolio strategy and risk management, but the regulatory approach for derivatives use has been inconsistent and outdated.”

Consequently, Clayton says the action taken by the SEC will not only help funds to achieve their objectives but it will also “provide both meaningful protections for investors and regulatory certainty for funds and their advisers.” The enhanced framework is expected to stop derivatives use that is inconsistent with set limits. Clayton explains:

“Importantly, the new comprehensive limits on risk will prohibit derivatives use that is inconsistent with the leverage limits imposed by the Investment Company Act, but will allow virtually all funds to continue to serve their investors using the most efficient instruments. I thank the staff for their impressive work.”

Investor Protection a Key Priority for the SEC

According to the SEC, the Investment Company Act (in its current form) limits the ability of registered funds and business development companies to engage in transactions that involve potential future payment obligations, including obligations under derivatives such as forwards, futures, swaps and written options.

The new rule permits funds to enter into these transactions if they comply with certain conditions designed to protect investors.

Meanwhile, the SEC says “a streamlined set of requirements will apply for funds that use derivatives in a limited way.”

The rule and related rule and form amendments will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. The Commission has provided for an eighteen-month transition period for funds to comply with the rule and related reporting requirements.

What are your thoughts about the SEC rule change? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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Crypto Startup Avanti Receives License To Operate as National Bank in Wyoming

Crypto startup Avanti Financial Group has been granted a license to offer banking services by the Wyoming State Banking Board.

The license, or bank charter, means Avanti can now operate as a conventional bank – but one with a twist, capable of holding both crypto and dollars. It plans to launch in 2021.

According to a statement published Oct. 28, the firm will also now be able to take custody of crypto assets like bitcoin while its plan for the creation of Avit, a tokenized US dollar, has been given the go ahead.

The company’s application for a bank charter was accepted in July, reports The Block. Avanti is the second crypto firm to become a bank after Kraken Financial, a unit of U.S. crypto exchange Kraken.

Avanti founder and chief executive officer, Caitlin Long, said “currently the only type of U.S. financial institution that can provide final and simultaneous settlement of trades between digital assets and the U.S. dollar is a Wyoming special purpose depository institution like Avanti.”

Avanti plans to issue Avit initially on both Liquid – a sidechain of the Bitcoin blockchain – and Ethereum. The company claims its tokenized U.S. dollar is “designed to solve the legal, accounting and tax issues of stablecoins.”

As a bank, Avanti will be required to fully comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering and OFAC-related laws, rules and regulations.

What do you think about Avanti gaining a bank charter? Let us know in the comments section below.

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MoAfrika – Africa’s Biggest Online Tour Operator now Accepts Bitcoin

PRESS RELEASE. With relaxed restrictions on lockdown measures in numerous countries around the world, Africa has opened her doors to tourists on both national and international levels yet again – albeit with strict health regulations to ensure the safety of all personnel and visitors.

Africa’s largest online tour operators, MoAfrika, offers tourists from around the world the opportunity to travel the length and width of the gorgeous African continent by making use of its unique tour offering, now with an added advantage.

MoAfrika now supports payment in Bitcoin so tourists, regardless from where they are or where they wish to go, have the advantage of putting their Bitcoin to use in paying for their holiday while having assurance that they will get the best service possible.

MoAfrika has more than 15 years of combined experience in South African tourism and offers tourists with staff consisting of a young and ambitious team in ensuring that tourists have an unforgettable experience when booking through this tour operator.

All tours are ecologically friendly and MoAfrika is accredited by the Southern African Tourism Services Association, or SATSA, which is a strict regulator in the tourism industry in ensuring that members provide the best quality of services in the industry.

When considering that the world is moving more towards digitalization, the acceptance of Bitcoin is merely one of many things that MoAfrika employs to ensure that tourists have comfort and convenience at their fingertips whenever they make a booking online.

The advantage of Bitcoin as a payment method

Bitcoin is the most popular and valued cryptocurrency which has seen substantial widespread acceptance around the globe. With more merchants now accepting Bitcoin in South Africa, it has made transactions so much easier and faster.

Bitcoin is a digital currency which is not limited in the same way that fiat currencies are, and in addition, it is free of inflation, corruption, and manipulation as it does not conform to the same monetary policies to which fiat currencies are subjected.

With the various ways in which Bitcoin can be bought, sold, exchanged, and traded, tourists who are in possession of Bitcoin, who would like to transact with it in funding their next adventure, can make use of the facilities that MoAfrika offers to do so.

In addition, the costs of paying with Bitcoin are much lower than conventional transaction costs when making payments and due to the encrypted nature and security features associated with crypto-wallets, tourists who pay in Bitcoin can be assured that payments are secured and that their details are protected at all times.

Press Contact Email Address
info@sashares.co.za

Supporting Link
https://moafrikatours.com/

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Report: Bitcoin Set for its Biggest Breakout Yet

A recent Coinmetrics report says on-chain fundamentals are hinting at bitcoin experiencing its biggest breakout yet. The report notes that bitcoin is already showing signs of this following its rise by about $1,000 in one day on October 21. The digital asset has subsequently set a new all-time high for the year.

A New Precedent

While acknowledging the difficulty in predicting bitcoin’s future value due to its notorious volatility, authors of the report insist there is a difference between previous bull runs with the current one. According to their report, “BTC has been growing in ways that we have not seen in previous bull runs.”

Explaining their stance, the authors point to bitcoin’s growing correlation with gold as one of the reasons for their bullishness. In the report, the authors say bitcoin, which has had a low correlation with both gold and the U.S. dollar throughout most of its history, changed after March 12. The authors say:

As panic over Covid-19 rapidly set in, equities around the world crashed. Crypto went down with the rest of the markets, with BTC and ETH price both dropping about 50%. Since then, BTC’s correlation with gold has been near all-time highs while it’s correlation with the dollar has been at all-time lows.

According to the data, the bitcoin and gold correlation has been positive (above 0) for much of 2020 while the digital asset’s correlation with the US dollar has stayed negative during the same period. It is this growing relationship with gold that has some touting bitcoin as a form of digital gold.

Companies like Microstrategy and Square Inc recently announced their acquisition and subsequent holding of bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset.

More Hodler Addresses

Meanwhile, the report also points to another important signal, “the percent of supply held for at least one year (or in other words, the percent of supply that has not been moved on-chain as part of a transaction).” According to Coinmetrics, “as of October 25th, about 62.5% of the total BTC supply had been held for at least 1 year, which is close to all-time highs.”

As precedent shows, “the percent of supply unmoved for at least 1 year has peaked during periods where price has been at local lows.”

The report adds:

BTC’s velocity is also at its lowest levels since 2011. Velocity measures the number of times an average unit of supply has been transferred in the last year. High velocity means a relatively high turnover. A decreasing velocity suggests BTC is trending towards being used as a store of value as opposed to a medium of exchange.

Another metric suggesting which suggests a pending bitcoin breakout is the “number of addresses holding at least $100 worth of BTC (which) hit a new all-time high of 9.74M on October 22nd.”

In conclusion, the report states that historically, “bitcoin price has hit a local peak within 1.5 years of each previous halving.” As holding activity increasing and the “halving less than six months in the rearview, all signs are signaling that BTC is poised for takeoff.”

Do you agree with Coinmetrics’ assessment that bitcoin is about to breakout? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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