Articles about Bitcoin

When news broke that the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani had been killed in a drone strike ordered by Donald Trump, the value of Bitcoin jumped by 5 percent.

With tensions between Iran and the US now at an all-time high, the price surge is expected to continue. This is the belief of Nigel Green, the CEO and founder of deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial services and advisory organizations, who says that the cryptocurrency is increasingly seen as being as safe as gold.

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Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been struck by hackers who were able to make off with $40 million worth of Bitcoin.

The exchange suffered what it describes as a "large scale security breach" in which attackers were able to obtain "a large number of user API keys, 2FA codes, and potentially other info". CEO Zhao Changpeng says that 7,000 BTC were withdrawn in a single transaction and the attack which was perpetrated using a variety of methods.

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Over the last few weeks you may well have received an email that quotes an old password you once used. It tells you that your account has been hacked, that malware has been placed on your machine to capture data and that you’ve been recorded watching porn.

It then demands that you cough up some Bitcoin -- amounts vary -- to prevent this webcam video from being made public on your social networks.

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It's no surprise that the release of a new season of Fortnite has led to a rise in scammers keen to exploit gamers who are eager to sample the new software.

Among a rash of supposed free passes and free Android versions of the game that hide surveys and other nuisances, researchers at Malwarebytes have uncovered a malicious program seeking to steal data and Bitcoins.

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Anyone who has dabbled in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies knows that the wallet process for storing and using coins can be a bit of a pain.

Wallet users are often forced to use long private keys and mnemonic phrases to back up their crypto-assets, with most wallet apps asking users to print their private keys and mnemonic phrases onto a piece of paper, something which can easily be lost or stolen.

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Binance -- the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world -- temporarily halted all trading after it detected "irregular trading on some APIs".

As a precautionary measure, the exchange removed all existing API keys and asked users to re-create theirs from their accounts. The measure meant a suspension of trading, withdrawals and other account activity. The matter is related to the Bitcoin fork Syscoin which halted deposits and withdrawals, but Binance stressed that there had not been as hack and that its blockchain is safe.

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Cryptocurrency mining malware has become a serious problem recently, and it seems the latest people to fall victim to the threat are users of the Android emulator Andy OS -- also referred to as AndY and Andyroid.

The emulator makes it possible to run Android software within Windows or macOS, but it appears that the installation harbors a dark secret -- a GPU miner trojan that secretly mines for Bitcoin. Over on Reddit there are large numbers of upset users trying to find out what's going on.

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Apple has updated its developer guidelines, making it clear that apps that overtly or covertly mine for cryptocurrencies are simply not welcome in the App Store.

The clamp down covers iOS devices, and it has only recently been introduced. The ban means that iPhones and iPads cannot be used to mine for cryptocurrencies, unless the processing is carried out in the cloud. It's not clear how big a problem mining apps have been, and iOS hardware would seem rather underpowered for the task.

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Bitcoin has once again demonstrated its volatility, dropping in value by 10 percent following news of an attack and theft from the South Korean exchange Coinrail.

Coinrail has confirmed that it suffered a "cyber intrusion" and while it did not specify the value of the coins stolen, local news outlet Yonhap News estimated it to be $37.28 million based on a loss of about 30 percent of the coins traded on the exchange.

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The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has closed the account of the WikiLeaks Shop -- the official source of WikiLeaks merchandise -- citing violations of its terms of services.

WikiLeaks is not happy about this and is calling for a "global blockade" of Coinbase in protest, saying the exchange is an "unfit member of the crypto community". The WikiLeaks Shop has itself not been closed, and it is still able to accept Bitcoin payments -- just not via Coinbase.

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Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have experienced monumental rises -- and falls -- over the last year. In other words, it made some folks really rich, but others weren’t so lucky -- depending on the timing of the investment.

If you are still holding onto some Bitcoin, there are plenty of retailers that will accept it as a payment option. Popular computer and accessory seller Newegg even takes it, but only from those in the USA. Today this changes, as the company announces it will now accept Bitcoin from Canadian customers too using the BitPay platform.

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Just a few days ago, it was revealed that Google plans to ban ads for cryptocurrencies and related products and services later this year. Now it seems as though Twitter could be following suit.

The plans could see the social network implementing a ban on ads for ICOs and almost all cryptocurrencies. It is reported that Twitter's ban could come into force within a couple of weeks.

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Google has announced that advertisements for cryptocurrencies will be banned from its platform starting in June. The ban not only covers currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, but also related products such as initial coin offerings, cryptocurreny exchanges and digital wallets.

The announcement came as Google is relying on new technology to detect and remove ads that violate policies. The company says it removed over 3.2 billion ads in 2017, and while it does not give a precise reason for the cryptocurrency ad ban, it says it is part of "improving the ads experience across the web."

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Just after offering up a bounty to track down the hackers who attacked it, cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced the launch of a public blockchain.

Binance Chain, as it is known, is the exchange's vision of the future, and it will focus mainly on the transfer and trading of blockchain assets. Binance also announced that its own Binance Coin (BNB) will become a native coin, changing from the current Ethereum-based ERC20 token.

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Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has said that the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies could also be used to regulate them. She suggests that the IMF "fight fire with fire" in trying to address the "dark side of the crypto world."

While acknowledging the potential for the technology behind crypto-assets as being massively empowering -- particularly as a way to provide low-cost payment methods in poorer countries -- she says that cryptocurrencies also need regulation to avoid problems such as money laundering and funding terrorism.

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