Digital Currency

IRS to Pay $625K to Crack Monero, Crypto Proponents Scoff at Contract

11/09/2020 by Idelto Editor

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wants to pay a contractor $625,000 if they can crack layer-two privacy schemes and the privacy-centric crypto asset monero (XMR). The tax agency says that the entity has “limited investigative resources” for tracing these types of cryptocurrency transactions.

The United States tax agency wants to obtain a solution to trace the digital currency monero (XMR), alongside “Layer 2 network protocol transactions” like the Lightning Network. The IRS will distribute $625,000 to “one or more contractors” in two phases; $500k will be distributed after the first proof-of-concept, then another $125k following a full examination and launch.

“Currently, there are limited investigative resources for tracing transactions involving privacy cryptocurrency coins such as monero, Layer 2 network protocol transactions such as Lightning Labs, or other off-chain transactions that provide privacy to illicit actors,” the IRS contract offer notes.

The contractor will provide “weekly status reports of progress” and work with members of the CI Cyber Crimes unit, and Cyber Special Agents.

“All documentation, data, source code, and software developed shall be provided to IRS-CI.” Essentially there are three goals for the contractor to accomplish, which include:

Provide information and technical capabilities for CI Special Agents to trace transaction inputs and outputs to a specific user and differentiate them from mixins/multisig actors for Monero and/or Lightning Layer 2 cryptocurrency transactions with minimal involvement of external vendors
Provide technology which, given information about specific parties and/or transactions in the Monero and/or Lightning networks, allows Special Agents to predict statistical likelihoods of other transaction inputs, outputs, metadata, and public identifiers with minimal involvement of external vendors
Provide algorithms and source code to allow CI to further develop, modify, and integrate these capabilities with internal code and systems with minimal costs, licensing issues, or dependency on external vendors

Of course on social media and forums, the crypto community had something to say about the latest job offer from the IRS. Some people also complimented monero (XMR) for being so elusive to law enforcement’s special task forces.

“This is so funny, how desperate the IRS is [and how they] want their cut of your darknet drug money,” said one person on Twitter. “It really must irk ’em to think of all that moolah they could steal if only you didn’t secure your funds through encryption. Monero, keep up the good work,” he added.

Another person wrote: “The odds are better to land a craft on our Sun’s surface… It must be a prerequisite to be somewhat mentally retarded to work for the IRS,” he added. Meanwhile, others also criticized the U.S. tax agency for looking into monero, while they should really look into the felonious operations tethered to the U.S. dollar.

“No need for the IRS to try and figure out the criminal activity that is using USD cash currency in their crimes, (probably 1,000,000,000X that of monero),” one person said.

In fact, the IRS contract was more of a laughing stock to many privacy coin supporters on social media.

“If you can crack Monero why the hell would you settle for $625K, LMAO,” another tweeted.

What do you think about the IRS wanting to crack monero and layer-two privacy-centric transactions? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post IRS to Pay $625K to Crack Monero, Crypto Proponents Scoff at Contract appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Bitcoin Slips in Latest Crypto Ranking by Chinese Government-Backed Center

28/08/2020 by Idelto Editor

China’s Center for Information and Industry Development has revised its rankings of 37 crypto projects. Bitcoin has fallen from the previous ranking.

As the Chinese government focuses on launching its central bank digital currency, the Center for Information and Industry Development (CCID), under China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, continues to evaluate and rank crypto projects.

The center released its 19th ranking update on Wednesday. The ranking and evaluation work is carried out every two months. A total of 37 crypto projects were evaluated and ranked overall as well as in three separate categories: basic technology, applicability, and creativity.

There have been some changes in the top positions of the overall ranking. While EOS remains the center’s favorite, Tron dropped from the second spot to the fourth spot. Tron has been occupying the second spot for the past three updates — in June, April, and February. The current ranking places Ethereum second, followed by IOST, and then Tron. Bitcoin dropped two places from the 12th position to the 14th while Bitcoin Cash rose from the 34th position to the 30th.

The center explained that the evaluation model has remained unchanged from the previous evaluation. The basic technology subindex accounts for 65% of the total score, the applicability or innovation subindex 20%, and the creativity subindex 15%.

The crypto project rankings are compiled by the CCID (Qingdao) Blockchain Research Institute, an entity established by the CCID. Several organizations help with the evaluation work, including the CCID think tank and the China Software Evaluation Center. “The result of this assessment will allow the CCID group to provide better technical consulting services for government agencies, business enterprises, research institutes, and technology developers,” the center previously explained.

As for China’s digital currency backed by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced last week that its pilot run will be expanded to include “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and Yangtze River Delta region.” Furthermore, the digital yuan will also be tested during the 2022 Winter Olympics games in Beijing and expanded to other regions as appropriate. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency data analytics firm Chainalysis reported that about $50 billion in cryptocurrency was moved out of China in the past 12 months as the Chinese economy suffered from trade wars and yuan devaluation.

What do you think about this crypto project ranking? Let us know in the comments section below.

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China Testing Digital Currency in Major Cities, Including Beijing and Hong Kong

17/08/2020 by Idelto Editor

China’s Ministry of Commerce has announced the pilot run of the country’s central bank-backed digital currency in major cities, including Beijing, Hong Kong, and Macau. It will also be tested during the 2022 Winter Olympics games in Beijing, the ministry said.

China Announces Testing of Central Bank-Backed Digital Currency in Major Cities

China’s Ministry of Commerce announced Friday that a pilot run of the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) will begin in “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and Yangtze River Delta region.”

According to the ministry, the digital yuan is already under trial in four cities: Xiongan New Area in North China’s Hebei province, Shenzhen in South China’s Guangdong province, Suzhou in East China’s Jiangsu province, and Chengdu in Southwest China’s Sichuan province. It will also be tested during the 2022 Winter Olympics games in Beijing, and be expanded to other regions as appropriate, the ministry added.

“The rollout of central bank digital currency is conducive to efficiently satisfying people’s demands for legal tender under the digital economy, to improving the convenience, security and anti-counterfeiting level of retail payment, as well as accelerating the development of the country’s digital economy,” Yi Gang, governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), previously explained.

China’s four major state-run commercial banks have also started large-scale internal testing of a digital wallet app, the official electronic communication website of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China detailed on Friday. Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Agricultural Bank of China are piloting the digital renminbi with the central bank in major cities, including Shenzhen.

The announcement describes:

Users in the trial can use the digital wallet to top up accounts, withdraw money, make payments, and transfer money after registering with their mobile phone number. The banks are also testing a scenario where users can transfer money without internet.

As news.Bitcoin.com reported, companies that have reportedly been testing the PBOC-backed digital currency include Chinese vehicles for hire company Didi Chuxing, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Subway, JD Supermarkets, Tencent, and Ant Financial.

What do you think about China’s digital yuan? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post China Testing Digital Currency in Major Cities, Including Beijing and Hong Kong appeared first on Bitcoin News.

93% of Bitcoin’s Supply Profitable at $11K, ‘Realized Price’ Recovers from Black Thursday

29/07/2020 by Idelto Editor

Onchain data shows that bitcoin’s breakout above $11,000 puts 93% of the circulating supply in a state of profit. Additionally, seven-day metrics show that bitcoin’s “realized price” has recovered from the low that took place on March 12.

The research and analysis firm Glassnode revealed that when the price of bitcoin (BTC) is over the $11,000 range, 93% of bitcoin in circulation becomes profitable. At the time of publication, BTC has been struggling to hold that momentum as the price has shifted below the $11k range a couple of times on Tuesday.

The spike on Tuesday led to a decent jump in onchain profits Glassnode detailed on Twitter.

“BTC’s break above $11,000 has led to a sharp increase in the onchain supply in profit. Currently, almost 93% of the circulating bitcoin supply is in a state of profit – the highest level in over a year,” the analytics firm tweeted.

Moreover, BTC has recovered from the March 12 (Black Thursday) market rout. Data shows that the crypto asset’s “realized price” has turned Black Thursday’s trend upside down. Glassnode’s charts set for seven-day statistics also indicate that “realized price” has doubled.

To add to those stats, bitcoin (BTC) charts show that long term holding has touched a new high. “62% of Bitcoin supply (11,400,000 BTC) has not moved in at least a year,” the bitcoiner Kevin Rooke told his 11,000 Twitter followers on Monday.

Furthermore, BTC “profitible days” stats from the web portal Lookintobitcoin shows that the crypto asset has been profitable over 97% of its lifespan.

The current optimism in the world of cryptocurrencies has been quite different this time around as the world is dealing with the reaction to Covid-19 and the faltering economy.

During the last few days, the USD and U.S. bonds have weakened considerably and many economists think the central bank will suppress benchmark interest rates this week. Vijay Ayyar, head of business development at Luno believes that central banks will keep bolstering crypto assets like BTC.

“My view is that with the major governments declaring unprecedented stimulus packages … we will see continued bullish momentum across markets. So that includes equities and gold as well. And BTC and crypto will follow in this regard. Added to the fact that a vaccine seems within reach as well now, no reason to be bearish near term,” Ayyar said.

With a lifespan of 97% profitability and 93% when the price is over $11,000 is a good sign crypto proponents. However, bitcoin mining operations need another $1,500 more for miners to start prospering, as they did before the May 11 halving.

A report from the blockchain analytics provider Tradeblock shows that $12,525 per BTC would bring miners over the edge and $15,062 per coin would improve profits a great deal.

What do you think about BTC profitability after bitcoin’s recent runup? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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Veteran Analyst Peter Brandt Scorns ‘XRP’s Bag Holder,’ Compares Ripple to the Fed

24/07/2020 by Idelto Editor

Veteran trader Peter Brandt knocked the digital currency XRP on Thursday and compared the crypto token company Ripple to the U.S. Federal Reserve. Brandt said he believes the company behind the coin will double the token supply, and he doesn’t understand why “otherwise smart people” have drank the “XRP-Kool-aide.”

A number of digital currency investors believe in XRP, the fourth largest crypto asset by market capitalization, is going to be the bridge between banks and cryptocurrency. A number of other crypto enthusiasts despise XRP and think that the distributed ledger is extremely centralized.

Despite the technicals, XRP has a circulating supply of 44 billion tokens each worth $0.20. The token’s value is much higher than the first five years of its existence, when it traded for less than a U.S. penny during much of that period.

On July 23, the veteran trader Peter Brandt discussed XRP with a number of digital currency enthusiasts. Brandt is a well known trader who shares financial analysis and charts on Twitter regularly. He’s made a number of predictions and the analyst has over 364,000 Twitter followers today.

Many crypto enthusiasts follow Brandt because he’s bullish about ethereum (ETH) and bitcoin (BTC) and on July 8, the veteran trader said there was a “significant breakout in ETH-BTC.” Brandt further noted that “most alts should gain on bitcoin in [the] near future.” Even the founder of Adamant Capital, Tuur Demeester seemed to agree with Brandt’s assessment.

The discussion that took place Thursday on Twitter was in regard to the crypto asset XRP, as a person was conversing about the “XRP Army shills” and certain trading techniques. Brandt joined the conversation and his commentary about XRP likened the crypto-asset with the U.S. dollar, and compared the firm Ripple to the U.S. Federal Reserve.

“XRP can be compared to the USD,” Brandt tweeted. “The Fed is the USD’s bag holder — they can double the supply if they want.” The financial analyst further wrote:

Ripple is XRP’s bag holder — and it WILL double the supply. I cannot believe the number of otherwise smart ppl who have drank XRP Kool-aide.

Of course, members of the XRP Army didn’t care for Brandt’s commentary after he knocked the crypto asset and the company Ripple. One person claimed that Brandt’s lack of coding knowledge meant that his opinion should be dismissed.

“Do you know anything about code?” asked a Twitter account clearly upset about Brandt’s XRP commentary. “It’s simply not possible. Such a shame that a clueless person has so many followers.”

After being harassed by the XRP Army about his recent statements, Brandt further criticized the crypto coin’s followers. “Some things never change — I remember the wrath I received when I said beanie babies, hula hoops, and pet rocks would not become a global asset class. Some neighbors did not speak to me for years,” Brandt responded. The financial analyst continued by tweeting:

They get so riled up because deep down inside they know I am right. They are the most rabbis of all cultists.

At the time of writing, XRP is swapping for $0.203 per coin and it’s down 1.3% during the last 24 hours of trading. The last 30 days show XRP is up 11.42%, 90 days the token is up 8.6%, but for the year the coin is down 34%.

Not too long ago XRP was a strong crypto contender, but ever since tether (USDT) started to shine brightly, the token has lost significant momentum. Tether has surpassed XRP by the size of its market cap and it USDT sees a hell of a lot more settlement these days.

What do you think about Peter Brandt comparing XRP to the U.S. dollar and the Fed? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

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