Two meme cryptocurrencies, both inspired by shiba inu dogs, are now within the top 10 by market value.

As of Monday afternoon, dogecoin, which launched in 2013 as a joke, ranks No. 10 with a market value of over $35 billion, according to CoinGecko. It’s currently trading at around 27 cents. A token called shiba inu, which launched in 2020 to poke fun at dogecoin, ranks No. 9 with a market value of over $38 billion. Shiba inu hit an all-time high of $0.00008616 on Thursday.

Since Wednesday, both dogecoin and shiba inu have frequently swapped places in the rankings, competing in somewhat of a rivalry. In fact, the shiba inu community refers to the token as the “dogecoin killer.”

But although their supporters may not want to admit it, dogecoin and shiba inu have a key characteristic in common, Caitlin Cook, head of community at crypto asset management tech company Onramp Invest, tells CNBC Make It.

Both are largely driven by the communities behind them, Cook says. “The dogecoin community and the shiba inu community are both very, very vocal and committed,” she explains.

The strength of community

“Altcoins like [shiba inu] are primarily community-based, meaning their success is largely dependent on the success and growth of its community, instead of its utility,” Douglas Boneparth, certified financial planner and president of Bone Fide Wealth, previously told CNBC Make It. (The term “altcoins” refers to the multitude of cryptocurrencies aside from bitcoin.)

The shiba inu token creator even calls it an “experiment in decentralized spontaneous community building” in its white paper.

Both shiba inu and dogecoin’s growth can be largely attributed to supporters hyping up them up, Cook says. “It’s the power of the people who are amplifying it that kind of drives the performance a lot of the time,” she says.

That includes celebrity supporters like billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. Musk often tweets about different cryptocurrencies, and in doing so, has seemingly impacted their prices.

A few times throughout 2021, shiba inu appeared to jump after Musk repeatedly posted images of his shiba inu puppy on Twitter. But on Oct. 24, Musk clarified that he doesn’t own any shiba inu tokens and that he only owns bitcoin, ether and dogecoin.

But overall, the current surge is “so much community-driven, and any token or coin out there has the opportunity to run up like this if someone with a big microphone is amplifying it,” Cook says.

The risk factor

However, the fact that these tokens are so susceptible to price swings based on who’s talking about them is a big part of what makes investing in them risky.

Both dogecoin and shiba inu are “speculative bets,” Cook says. “They’re not long-term investments for most people, and most people probably wouldn’t have a long-term thesis behind why they would hold them for a long period either.”

That’s because they’re considered to be bets on a community rather than a technology, she says. “There’s not a viable product.”

Experts warn that any cryptocurrency investment can result in the loss of your entire investment. They generally recommend that you only invest what you can afford to lose, regardless of which cryptocurrency you choose. And altcoins may require additional caution due to their differences from something like bitcoin, including their structure, supply and utility.

Bitcoin launched in 2009 with the intent to be a peer-to-peer financial system. Its blockchain was carefully created with a well-thought-out ecosystem. Bitcoin also has a limited supply, which allows for built-in scarcity by design. Because of that, it’s seen as a store of value by its holders, who also hope it becomes a prominent decentralized digital currency.

Most altcoins lack these characteristics. Though their communities are a strength, it’s something they’re very dependent on, since many lack technological development and don’t have a supply cap.

Due to volatility and risk, “I always say that crypto isn’t a suitable investment for a lot of people,” Cook says. “When you get into more volatile altcoins, it’s an even less viable investment for a lot of people that don’t have the stomach for it.”

Of course, it’s impossible to know how things will unfold for dogecoin and shiba inu. “Who knows? Maybe one day grandma will give her grandkids some SHIB for their birthday,” Boneparth says. “The future of either depends on wide-scale adoption and use in our current financial system.”

The post Dogecoin passed by Shiba inu in the top 10 cryptocurrencies—here's what drives the growth appeared first on Crypto Insider.

After launching via a Discord channel on Oct. 28, AnubisDAO went on to raise roughly 13,256.4 Ether (ETH) using AlchemistCoin’s liquidity bootstrapping protocol (LBP), Copper. However, the funds were unexpectedly sent to a different address roughly 20 hours into the LBP.

CNBC spoke to one investor who claims to have lost almost $470,000 to AnubisDAO. The investor, Brian Nguyen, conceded to subscribing to a “buy first, do research later mentality,” describing the loss as “pretty painful.”

Nguyen noted that he was attracted to AnubisDAO because of its canine-themed branding amid the meteoric gains recently reaped by some dog-token investors after seeing Anubis promoted on Twitter by prominent pseudonymous decentralized finance advocate Sisyphus.

Anubis is the Greek name for the Egyptian god of death and the underworld, with Egyptian imagery depicting the god as donning the body of a human and the head of a dog.

Investors appear to have lost roughly $57 million worth of Ether in what many are describing as a rug-pull executed by the upstart canine-themed OlympusDAO fork, AnubisDAO.

Sisyphus has published a detailed timeline outlining AnubisDAO’s formation and launch and claims to have engaged law enforcement in both the United States and Hong Kong. Sisyphus has also offered to cease the civil proceedings should the perpetrator return the stolen finds minus a 1,000-ETH bounty.

In lieu of a case number which can be released to the public (hopefully this is available tomorrow), please see below for confirmation I am actually in touch with authorities https://t.co/jCgOwaq129

Inside job?

According to Sisyphus, the idea for an OlympusDAO fork inspired by Shiba Inu’s branding arose from discussions among members of the PebbleDAO project during Tuesday and Wednesday.

A Telegram channel for the project was created on the same Wednesday, with its six original members all hailing from PebbleDAO. The following day, it is decided that the pseudonymous founding member “Beerus” would be tasked with deploying the LBP — a decision that Sisyphus now describes as a “critical mistake”:

“This was the critical mistake. This should have been done from the original multisig wallet.”
With just hours left until the LBP was scheduled to close on Friday, Beerus claimed “to have opened a malicious link from a PDF” and exposed the private keys used for the LBP launch. 13,556 ETH was then pulled from the LBP shortly after. However, Beerus’ personal wallet funds appear to remain “intact and under his control.”

Sisyphus also notes that “security researchers provided the PDFs from phishing emails” distributed during the day Beerus claimed to have clicked the malicious link, noting tha “at this point, none have found any malicious content contained in the PDFs.”

Beerus’ real-world information is also collated and partially published on Twitter, and Hong Kong authorities were contacted on Friday. Beerus filed a report and turned one computer over to Hong Kong police the following day.

Sisyphus also notes that wallets associated with the incident have since sent ETH to Coinbase, adding that the exchange has been notified of the transactions.

By Samuel Haig

The post Why Investors rug-pulled after pouring $57M into dog-themed OlympusDAO fork appeared first on Crypto Insider.

• Digital Currency Group Raises $700M in Investment Round Led by SoftBank, Attains $10B Valuation

• The round included contributions from GIC Capital, Ribbit Capital and CapitalG, the private equity arm of Google’s holding company, Alphabet.

Digital Currency Group (DCG), the crypto venture capital company whose holdings include asset manager Grayscale and CoinDesk, raised $700 million in an investment round led by SoftBank.

The round valued the firm at $10 billion and included contributions from GIC Capital, Ribbit Capital and CapitalG, the private equity arm of Google’s holding company, Alphabet, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Marcelo Claure, chief executive of SoftBank, described DCG as the “single-best asset that gives us the diversity of exposure to crypto, A-Z.”

As well as being the parent company of CoinDesk, DCG counts digital asset management firm Grayscale and crypto lender Genesis Trading among its subsidiaries.

SoftBank’s previous forays into crypto include blockchain analytics firm Elliptic and Block.one’s new subsidiary crypto exchange, Bullish.

By Jamie Crawley

The post How DCG raised $700 million in an investment round appeared first on Crypto Insider.

Two cryptocurrency lending platforms were asked to cease activities in New York by the state’s attorney general on Monday and three other platforms were directed to provide information about their business.

The move comes weeks after New York Attorney General Letitia James won a court order forcing the closure of cryptocurrency exchange Coinseed.

In a redacted version of a letter dated Monday, James said the Office of the Attorney General “was in possession of evidence of unlawfully selling or offering for sale securities and/or commodities”.

Regulators in the U.S. have been ratcheting up scrutiny of a world that has so far existed in a regulatory gray area, against the backdrop of rising tension between the crypto industry and regulators worldwide.

James filed a lawsuit in February to shut down Coinseed for allegedly defrauding thousands of investors, including by charging hidden trading fees and selling “worthless” digital tokens.

The state’s attorney general warned investors about “extreme risk” when investing in cryptocurrency and issued warnings to those facilitating in the trading of virtual currencies.

“Cryptocurrency platforms must follow the law, just like everyone else, which is why we are now directing two crypto companies to shut down and forcing three more to answer questions immediately,” James said on Monday.

Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta @ Reuters

The post New York directs two cryptocurrency lending platforms to cease activity appeared first on Crypto Insider.

With Bitcoin at $60,000 it’s likely Coinbase’s IPO this week will stimulate more institutional buying of crypto than ever before.

Revenue climbed more than nine-fold from a year earlier to an estimated $1.8 billion, spurred by a surge in the price of bitcoin. Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and Bakkt are certainly beneficiaries of Bitcoin’s rise due to a huge cash savings for those that surfed the Fed stimulated markets in 2020.

That wealth this expands even more in crypto. Forget DeFi, Coinbase thus centralizes crypto wealth in the hands of mega whales. Meanwhile younger investors who have retreated from the stock market may put their winnings back into crypto.

The listing of Coinbase could cause a gold-rush in Crypto investing in the Spring of 2021 as the next major movement of pent-up liquidity.

Coinbase said it has 56 million verified users and that could increase a lot in 2021. Celebrities like Elon Musk and Cathie Wood have boosted Bitcoin in 2020 as have companies that profit from it such as Square, PayPal and others who have put their a portion of their corporate cash in Bitcoin like MicroStrategy and Tesla.

Coinbase is poised to become the latest tech company to hit the market with a massive valuation, capitalizing on continued growth in the sector despite broader economic struggles caused by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s valuation is also likely to be completely ridiculous as compared with its size and future competition. Basically another distortion in the market brought on by endless Fed QE and debt-based stimulus.

This gives “crypto” a surge, but a rather unsustainable surge in user activity. Bitcoin above $80,000 will certainly be in a speculative bubble. Kraken and others are likely to follow in Coinbase’s footsteps to use the liquidity to grow even faster. These exchanges could also be acquired, for instance by the likes of Facebook, ByteDance or other companies.

Trading on the private market has valued the company at $68 billion, a number that swells to about $100 billion when factoring in a fully-diluted share count. In P/E terms this is all very far-fetched. Coinbase is unique because its valuation increase mirrors the trajectory of the top cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin is up about 700% in the past year, while ethereum has soared by more than 1,300%. This creates a FOMO environment for crypto in the immediate future.

The company offers an exchange to make it easy for the average investor to buy cryptocurrency, as well as a digital wallet to store it in. It doesn’t stop there. For more-advanced users, Coinbase Pro offers advanced charts and more-complicated trading options. However Coinbase has notoriously high fees and there are better options for crypto enthusiasts with much more innovative companies that have no plans to go IPO like Binance. Coinbase is essentially a crypto company dressed in Silicon Valley clothes, even with the usual controversies.

While bitcoin ETFs exist in the U.S., they do not directly own bitcoin. They own portfolios of stocks deemed to have exposure to blockchain technology. With the arrival of Bitcoin ETFs in Canada, the U.S. is a bit behind in crypto regulation. Meanwhile China’s digital Yuan based on blockchain technology will create a new paradigm in finance. China has also been accused of using Bitcoin (which is possible to manipulate) to de-stabilize the U.S. dollar at a time where it’s vulnerable with inflation.

At the Last Futurist we think the anticipation of Coinbase’s IPO creates a better on-ramp for Bakkt’s stock, which is more likely to become a convenient digital wallet for crypto with real-world interactions. Square is another company with huge Bitcoin exposure via its Cash app. Buying Bitcoin above $50,000 is likely not such a wise idea and the same could be said for Ether above $1,000. Coinbase’s asking price will also be way too steep compared to its resting place in the future ecosystem of crypto.

A bitcoin ETF that owns bitcoin is a long-awaited dream of crypto investors because it will greatly expand the class of potential owners. However the crypto investors have already increased due to Bitcoin’s exceptional rise in 2020, along with Millennials and GenZ further investing part of their inheritances in it.

Kraken is considering going public via direct listing in 2022 after bitcoin’s rally led to record trading volumes. Coinbase will register nearly 115 million shares of Class A common stock, which will trade under ticker symbol COIN. While Coinbase is heavily reliant today on attracting users who store and trade the two major cryptocurrencies, the company is betting on the development of a larger ecosystem of crypto-related assets in the coming years. But is Coinbase worth $100 Billion? That’s just Silicon Valley scamming its way to more access to liquidity like usual.

Coinbase is nothing more than a brokerage and an exchange with a shiny interface and high fees for crypto noobs. The potential $100 billion valuation of Coinbase Global ahead of the cryptocurrency exchange’s trading debut is “ridiculously high,” said New Constructs CEO David Trainer and many other analysts. Coinbase is the not the Unicorn of anything remotely that represents decentralization of the spirit of Bitcoin, in any way. Given the behavior of Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, Cathie Wood and others, it’s hard to see how Bitcoin is not being manipulated by Billionaires (and likely China) in its incredible rise.

The Bitcoin pump is likely a worse manipulation than the EV Bubble and Tesla’s rise in 2020. None of it is based on fundamentals and that’s a problem and an easy way to rob the inheritance money of Millennials. Coinbase is set for a direct listing on the Nasdaq exchange on April 14. Happy crypto hunting!

The post What does Coinbase's IPO mean? appeared first on Crypto Insider.

Đối với những người mới đến với tiền điện tử, hai thuật ngữ trên có thể khá khó hiểu và thậm chí gây hiểu nhầm.

Một số người đề cập đến Bitcoin khi nói về công nghệ blockchain, trong khi những người khác sẽ đề cập đến blockchain khi nói về tiền điện tử nói chung.

Tuy nhiên, các thuật ngữ này không thực sự hoán đổi cho nhau: chúng là các khái niệm riêng biệt nhưng có sự kết nối với nhau. Vì vậy, điều quan trọng là phải hiểu sự khác biệt giữa chúng. Trong bài này, chúng tôi sẽ giới thiệu cho bạn những kiến thức cơ bản về công nghệ blockchain, tiền điện tử và Bitcoin.

Cơ bản là giống nhau?

Hãy xem xét ví dụ sau:

• Website là một công nghệ dùng để chia sẻ thông tin.
• Công cụ tìm kiếm là một trong những cách phổ biến và được biết đến nhiều nhất để sử dụng công nghệ website.
• Google là một trong những ví dụ phổ biến và nổi tiếng nhất về công cụ tìm kiếm.

Tương tự như vậy:

• Blockchain là một công nghệ dùng để ghi chép thông tin (các khối dữ liệu).
• Tiền điện tử là một trong những cách phổ biến và được biết đến nhiều nhất để sử dụng blockchain.

Bitcoin là ví dụ đầu tiên và phổ biến nhất về tiền điện tử.

Blockchain: Khái niệm của nó là gì?

Hầu hết các blockchain được thiết kế như một sổ cái kỹ thuật số phân tán và phi tập trung. Nói một cách đơn giản, blockchain là một sổ cái kỹ thuật số, hay về cơ bản là phiên bản điện tử của sổ cái trên giấy có vai trò ghi lại danh sách các giao dịch.

Cụ thể hơn, một blockchain là một chuỗi tuyến tính gồm nhiều khối được kết nối và được bảo đảm bằng các bằng chứng mật mã. Công nghệ Blockchain cũng có thể được áp dụng trong các lĩnh vực khác không nhất thiết phải có các hoạt động tài chính. Trong bối cảnh tiền điện tử, blockchain có vai trò lưu giữ hồ sơ vĩnh viễn của tất cả các giao dịch đã được xác nhận.

‘Phân tán’ và ‘phi tập trung’ đề cập đến cách thức tổ chức và duy trì của sổ cái. Để hiểu sự khác biệt, hãy nghĩ về các hình thức sổ cái tập trung phổ biến như hồ sơ công khai về mua bán nhà, hồ sơ rút tiền ATM của ngân hàng hoặc danh sách các mặt hàng đã bán của eBay. Trong mỗi trường hợp ví dụ đưa ra, chỉ có một tổ chức kiểm soát sổ cái: một cơ quan chính phủ, ngân hàng hoặc eBay. Một yếu tố phổ biến khác là chỉ có một bản chính của sổ cái và bất cứ bản nào khác chỉ đơn giản là bản sao lưu chứ không phải là bản chính thức. Do đó, sổ cái truyền thống mang tính tập trung bởi vì chúng được duy trì bởi một tổ chức duy nhất và thường dựa vào một cơ sở dữ liệu duy nhất.

Ngược lại, một blockchain thường được xây dựng như một hệ thống phân tán có chức năng như một sổ cái phi tập trung. Điều này có nghĩa là có nhiều bản sổ cái (phân tán) và không có tổ chức nào nắm quyền kiểm soát duy nhất (phi tập trung). Nói một cách đơn giản, mỗi người dùng tham gia vào mạng blockchain sẽ giữ một bản sao điện tử của dữ liệu blockchain. Dữ liệu blockchain được cập nhật thường xuyên tất cả các giao dịch mới nhất và đồng bộ với bản sao của người dùng.

Nói cách khác, một hệ thống phân tán được duy trì bởi công việc tập thể của nhiều người dùng trên khắp thế giới. Những người dùng này còn được gọi là các node mạng, và tất cả các node này đều tham gia vào quá trình xác minh và xác thực giao dịch theo các quy tắc của hệ thống. Do đó, quyền lực là phi tập trung (không có cơ quan trung ương).

Blockchain: Thực tiễn ra sao?

Blockchain (chuỗi khối) có cái tên này là do cách thức tổ chức các hồ sơ: một chuỗi các khối liên kết. Về cơ bản, một khối chính là một loại dữ liệu, trong số các loại hình khác, chứa danh sách các giao dịch gần đây (giống như một trang in gồm các mục nhập). Các khối, cũng như các giao dịch, được công khai và có thể nhìn thấy, nhưng chúng không thể bị thay đổi (giống như việc cất mỗi trang in vào một hộp kính kín). Khi các khối mới được thêm vào blockchain, một bản ghi liên tục gồm các khối liên kết sẽ được hình thành (giống như một sổ cái vật lý có nhiều trang). Đây là một ví dụ đơn giản để dễ hình dung, nhưng thực tế thì quá trình này diễn ra phức tạp hơn nhiều.

Một trong những lý do chính tại sao blockchain có khả năng chống sửa đổi là do các khối được liên kết và bảo đảm bằng các bằng chứng mật mã. Để tạo ra các khối mới, những người trong mạng cần tham gia vào một hoạt động tính toán tốn kém và có cường độ lớn được gọi là đào. Về cơ bản, các thợ mỏ chịu trách nhiệm xác minh các giao dịch và nhóm chúng thành các khối mới được tạo rồi sau đó đưa thêm vào blockchain (nếu đáp ứng được các điều kiện nhất định). Họ cũng có trách nhiệm đưa các coin mới vào hệ thống, được phát hành như một phần thưởng cho công việc của họ.

Mỗi khối mới được xác nhận sẽ liên kết với khối ngay trước nó. Điểm hay của thiết lập này là không thể thay đổi dữ liệu trong một khối một khi khối được thêm vào blockchain vì được bảo đảm bằng bằng chứng mật mã. Quá trình tạo ra một khối mới rất tốn kém và việc hoàn tác là cực kỳ khó.

Tóm lại, một blockchain là một chuỗi liên kết gồm các khối dữ liệu được sắp xếp theo thứ tự thời gian và được bảo đảm bằng các bằng chứng mật mã.

Tiền điện tử, hiểu thế nào cho đúng?

Nói một cách đơn giản, tiền điện tử là một dạng tiền kỹ thuật số được sử dụng như một phương tiện trao đổi trong một mạng lưới người dùng phân tán. Không giống như các hệ thống ngân hàng truyền thống, các giao dịch này được theo dõi thông qua một sổ cái kỹ thuật số công cộng (blockchain) và có thể được thực hiện trực tiếp giữa những người tham gia (ngang hàng) mà không cần trung gian.

‘Crypto’ dùng để chỉ các kỹ thuật mã hóa được sử dụng để bảo mật hệ thống kinh tế và để đảm bảo rằng việc tạo ra các đơn vị tiền điện tử mới và việc xác thực giao dịch diễn ra suôn sẻ.

Mặc dù không phải tất cả các đồng tiền điện tử đều có thể đào được, nhưng rất nhiều đồng tiền, giống như Bitcoin, phụ thuộc vào quá trình đào, có sự tăng trưởng chậm và được kiểm soát về nguồn cung lưu hành. Vì vậy, đào là cách duy nhất để tạo ra các đơn vị mới của các đồng coin và giúp tránh được rủi ro lạm phát vốn là mối đe dọa của các loại tiền tệ fiat truyền thống, nơi mà chính phủ có thể kiểm soát nguồn cung tiền.

Túm lại, Bitcoin là cái gì?

Bitcoin là đồng tiền điện tử đầu tiên được tạo ra, và theo lẽ tự nhiên, là một trong những đồng tiền điện tử nổi tiếng nhất. Bitcoin được giới thiệu vào năm 2009 bởi nhà phát triển với danh xưng Satoshi Nakamoto. Ý tưởng chính là tạo ra một hệ thống thanh toán điện tử độc lập và phi tập trung dựa trên các bằng chứng toán học và mật mã học.

Mặc dù là đồng tiền điện tử nổi tiếng nhất nhưng Bitcoin không phải là duy nhất. Có nhiều đồng tiền điện tử khác, mỗi loại có các tính năng và cơ chế riêng. Hơn nữa, không phải tất cả các đồng tiền điện tử đều có blockchain riêng của mình. Một số được tạo ra trên nền của một blockchain đã tồn tại, trong khi những đồng tiền khác được tạo ra hoàn toàn từ đầu.

Giống như hầu hết các đồng tiền điện tử, Bitcoin có một nguồn cung hạn chế, điều đó có nghĩa là sẽ không có thêm Bitcoin nào được tạo ra bởi hệ thống sau khi đạt được nguồn cung tối đa. Mặc dù điều này là khác nhau giữa các dự án, nguồn cung Bitcoin tối đa được đặt là 21 triệu coin. Thông thường, tổng cung là một thông tin công khai được xác định khi tiền điện tử được tạo ra.

Giao thức Bitcoin là mã nguồn mở và bất kỳ ai cũng có thể xem hoặc sao chép mã. Sự phát triển của dự án nhận được sự đóng góp của nhiều nhà phát triển trên khắp thế giới.

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Brazilian retail giant Via Varejo has partnered with blockchain payment service Airfox, according to a September 12 press release.

Via Varejo, which owns home appliance and furniture chain Casa Bahia, is integrating Airfox’s digital banking platform on its e-commerce platforms, as well as in nearly 1,000 of its offline shops.

As the press release notes, customers will be able to purchase goods in Casa Bahia by paying directly via Airfox, or will be able to use microloans provided by the retail group. Customers can also reportedly use the app for personal finance, such as depositing and withdrawing cash, at the chain’s location.  

Airfox is a mobile financial service launched in February 2018 that includes fiat and blockchain payments via its AirToken (AIR) coin, an ERC-20 based token.

The press release outlines the importance of the collaboration for mass adoption of blockchain-powered payment services, letting the Airfox “extend its mobile digital wallet to Via Varejo’s national customer base and drive mainstream adoption.”

Via Varejo is one of the largest consumer electronics and home appliance retailers in Brazil, reaching 60 million customers in Brazil via its brands Casas Bahia and Pontofrio. The company owns over 900 stores in 350 Brazilian cities, reportedly making as much as 1 million deliveries per month.

According to the recent press-release, Via Varejo handled approximately $6.3 billion sales in 2017.

Last week, U.S. luxury automobile retailer Post Oak Motor Cars became reportedly the first Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Bugatti dealership in the country to accept Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as payment.

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The Google Cloud team has officially made the Ethereum (ETH) dataset available in BigQuery, the company’s big data warehouse for analytics, according to a post published on Google’s official blog August 29.

The Ethereum blockchain data is posted in the dataset and updated on a daily basis. As the team explains, the tool was created to help make business decisions, prioritize improvements to the Ethereum architecture itself (for example, to prepare updates), and balance sheet adjustments, e.g. how quickly a wallet can be rebalanced.

As Google explains, the Ethereum blockchain contains APIs for random functions such as checking transaction status, looking up wallet-transaction associations, and checking wallet balances. Still, the API endpoints cannot be easily reached. For that reason, BigQuery’s OLAP features help aggregate such types of data and and visualize it.

Furthermore, the software based on Google Cloud synchronizes the Ethereum blockchain to computers running Parity — a UK-based provider of infrastructure software for interacting with the Ethereum network, which performs a daily extraction of data from the Ethereum blockchain ledger and stores date-partitioned data to BigQuery for exploration.

Google also shows some examples of the uses of the new tool. One of them relates to CryptoKitties — a game based on the Ethereum blockchain that is the most popular ERC-721 smart contract by transaction count. BigQuery collects data on accounts that own at least 10 CryptoKitties (a color on the graphics indicates owner) and their mascots’ reproductive fitness (size).

Google has already expanded into blockchain-based tools and services this year. In February, the company created a similar tool for the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain to visualize transactions, detect anomalies, and extract necessary data from the blockchain ledger.

As Cointelegraph wrote in July, Google also partnered with two blockchain-focused firms, Digital Asset and BlockApps, to offer new distributed ledger technology (DLT) solutions on Google’s Cloud Platform.

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Bitcoin (BTC) was made possible by the people who believed in it, and its future is heavily dependent on the torchbearers of this legacy — the general public.

While Bitcoin’s rise from an online blog post into mainstream finance is worthy of a novel in itself, the constant support from the ecosystem of traders, miners and users has helped Bitcoin beat all odds and grow into one of the most profitable assets in humanity’s financial history.

Living the dream in cryptoland would ideally translate to buying a cup of coffee from a local store with Bitcoin. And the good news is that many businesses across the globe have started accepting the truly borderless currency. Given the increase in Bitcoin’s acceptance and considering the possibility of a great return on investment, the new generation of business owners wants to accept Bitcoin as payment for their services. But how? 

The Bitcoin ecosystem currently hosts a plethora of players offering a safe place to store Bitcoin among other cryptocurrencies. However, the risk of storing the asset with an unsafe provider is very real, which can ultimately lead to losing your Bitcoin forever.

Here are various options available to get going with Bitcoin acceptance in a few clicks. 

The essentials to accept Bitcoin

Bitcoin wallet — This is like your leather wallet where you store cash. The only difference is that it’s digital and that it stores Bitcoin. As someone running a business, always remember that a Bitcoin wallet can only accept BTC and no other form of cryptocurrencies. 

Many wallet services allow users to store multiple types of cryptocurrencies using different addresses. Bitcoin wallets are protected by passwords and private keys and are the only possible options to gain access to the funds.

Bitcoin address — Every Bitcoin wallet comes with an address. This address will be unique to your wallet and can be shared with others to receive payments. Wallets also have the option to convert the Bitcoin address into a scannable QR code, which can be displayed at the store.

However, if you make a transaction to a wrong address or with an unsupported currency, the underlying technology will not allow users to reverse or cancel it. Since the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, did not hire a customer service agent before disappearing for good, it is impossible to request a refund on your Bitcoin transactions.

Private key — The private key acts as a mathematical gateway to your Bitcoin reserve. Without this key, you instantly lose access to your BTC wallet. While all Bitcoin wallets have a unique private key, digital wallets often have options to log in through passwords. In either case, it is recommended to store a copy of this information on other devices such as USB sticks as a backup.

All you need to accept Bitcoin

After getting familiar with the basic requirements to hold and store Bitcoin, there are a few more steps that need to be taken to set up a business for accepting BTC payments. One of the best practices is to do your own research and identify the platforms and services that best meet your business and regulatory needs.

Look out for local regulations — Before you put up a sign that says “Bitcoin accepted here,” it would be wise to check for regulations in your jurisdiction. Accepting Bitcoin in disputable geographies may incur serious legal charges ranging from hefty fines to jail time.

Wallet options — Setting up a new Bitcoin wallet is as easy as signing up for a new email address. Some of the most common platforms for a Bitcoin wallet include cryptocurrency exchanges, and online (websites) and app-based wallets. Businesses also have the option to procure point-of-sale machines for collecting payments in Bitcoin through cards. 

Recommending wallet options is risky because the wallets are only as safe as the intent of the private companies hosting your BTC reserves. To help you get first-hand information on the latest and greatest in Bitcoin innovation, take a look at our beginner’s guide for you to find the best places to discuss Bitcoin and how to subsequently choose the best BTC wallet.

Online businesses can also make use of third-party payment processors, such as Coinbase and BitPay, to set up website payments gateways for BTC transactions. To see how a store that processes BTC payments operates, check out the Cointelegraph Store.

What to be aware of

Considering the massive price volatility, businesses are advised to maintain invoice copies with Bitcoin’s price based on the time of the transaction. This will help you keep track of your “true” income. 

Taxes calculated on Bitcoin transactions are heavily dependent on local jurisdiction. For example, the United States considers Bitcoin as property and will tax it differently compared to a jurisdiction that accepts it as a currency. Portugal currently leads this space, allowing citizens to trade cryptocurrencies tax-free since 2018.

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A teenager who traded 157 BTC in the past three months has been arrested for alleged theft of Bitcoin from consumer devices.

A teenager who traded 157 BTC in the past three months has been arrested for alleged theft of Bitcoin from consumer devices.

Police in California have arrested an alleged hacker who stole Bitcoin (BTC) totalling more than $1 million by hijacking cellphones, investigative cybercrime blog Krebs on Security reported Wednesday, August 22.

Citing a police report, the publication reveals Xzavyer Narvaez, 19, used “SIM swapping,” a technique also known as a “port out scam,” to reportedly steal cryptocurrency from victims’ devices. Over a period of several years, Narvaez and another suspect already under arrest used the funds to buy items such as luxury sports cars.

From March to June 2018 alone, Narvaez’s account on cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex processed 157 BTC (around $1,009,000). The police report also confirms that crypto payment processor BitPay was used in Narvaez’s purchase of a 2018 McLaren from a car dealership in Southern California.

According to the report reproduced by Krebs On Security, Narvaez had used the same device to commit the crimes multiple times, which the publication summarizes “ultimately gave him away,” as “approximately 28 SIM swaps were conducted using the same employee ID number over an approximately two-week time period in November 2017.”

Further investigations by Vice revealed that the SIM swapping underworld regarded the 19-year-old as “one of the best SIM swappers out there.”

Nonetheless, Narvaez was unsubtle about his reportedly illegitimate cryptocurrency gains, posting photographs of cars he purchased on Instagram, Vice reports.

Earlier in August, a U.S. investor filed a $224 million lawsuit against telecoms giant AT&T over alleged negligence, claiming that $24 million in cryptocurrency was stolen via a “digital identity theft” of his cell phone account.

The episodes come as attitudes among U.S. law enforcement have become more nuanced regarding the use of cryptocurrency by malicious parties.

In an interview with Bloomberg earlier this month, Lilia Infante, an agent working on the Cyber Investigative Task Force at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said she hoped cryptocurrencies remained in favor in criminal circles, noting:

“The blockchain actually gives us a lot of tools to be able to identify people. I actually want them to keep using [cryptocurrencies].’’

The police report notes that the investigators had used the Bitcoin blockchain in order to “trace the flow of the bitcoins used to purchase the McLaren back to an address attributed to the cryptocurrency exchanger Bittrex,” also noting that “BitPay provided records that identified the Bitcoin transactions in which the vehicles were purchased.”

At the same time, the DEA reported the percentage of crimes involving Bitcoin had dropped dramatically since 2013.

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