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Bitcoin  Chinese e-commerce company  JD.com , a member of the Fortune Global 500 headquartered in Beijing, is launching AI Catapult Accelerator (AICA), an accelerator program designed to unlock the transformative potential of startups demonstrating cutting-edge talent in the blockchain space. JD.com is one of the two largest business-to-consumer (B2C) online retailers in China by transaction volume and revenue, and a major competitor to Alibaba-run Tmall. As of September 2017, JD.com’s platform, often referred to as the “eBay of China,” had more than 266 million active users, with a revenue of close to $50 billion. JD considers blockchain technology and its integration into mainstream use as the key to a new age of cost effectiveness and customer satisfaction. "Whole-process traceability is not a new concept but blockchain makes it really possible,” Yongli Yu, president of JD's supply chain research unit, said in conversation with  Bitcoin Magazine . "Throughout th

Bitcoin  Tokyo-based  bitFlyer  has become the fourth digital currency exchange to receive approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) for a  “BitLicense”  to operate as a virtual currency exchange in New York. This brings the total number of states in which bitFlyer is licensed up to  40 . The bitFlyer platform has over 30 percent of the worldwide bitcoin exchange volume and more than $100 million in virtual currency traded in 2017, all without access to the U.S. market. This latest expansion is providing access and technology to institutional investors in the United States, a largely untapped market. “Our expansion and upcoming cross-border trading addresses a huge unmet need in the U.S. by institutional traders looking to access large amounts of liquidity across multiple virtual currency markets,” said bitFlyer USA’s chief operating officer, Bartek Ringwelski, in a statement. “Through our web interface or API, approved professional traders can be up

Cryptocurrency  Tether, a cryptocurrency pegged 1-to-1 to the U.S. dollar, was allegedly hacked this week to the tune of $31 million. Tether functions to convert U.S. dollars to a type of cryptocurrency. The project’s token (USDT) is pegged to the dollar and is used in exchange trading. The idea behind Tether is that instead of having to sell your bitcoin or other token for a fiat currency, you can convert it to USDT, and either hold it in USDT or else transfer your USDT to another exchange and use it to purchase tokens there. As for the exchanges, USDT allows them to trade in something akin to dollars, without requiring them to have a bank account. Tether operates on the “Omni Layer Protocol,” which itself operates on top of the Bitcoin network, and uses Bitcoin addresses. According to a  blog post  on the project’s website, $31 million worth of USDT was sent to an unauthorized Bitcoin address on November 19, 2017. In the blog post, Tether also noted it released a new version of

Blockstream  Blockstream is  introducing Simplicity , a new programming language for blockchain-based smart contracts, intended for inclusion in Blockstream’s sidechains and eventually in Bitcoin. The new language was presented by its creator, Russell O'Connor, Infrastructure Tech Developer at Blockstream, at the ACM SIGSAC Workshop on Programming Languages and Analysis for Security ( PLAS 2017 ). "Simplicity is a blockchain programming language that is so simple, it fits on a t-shirt,” O'Connor told  Bitcoin Magazine . “It is critical that smart contracts behave in ways that all participants expect, and applying formal verification to Simplicity allows us to achieve that.” Simplicity is still a Blockstream Research & Development project, but there’s potential for its use in Blockstream products in the future, according to the company’s announcement. “Simplicity is flexible enough that I anticipate many new, domain-specific, languages will generate Simplicity, and

So you want in on bitcoin? Guide for Noobs Simple and Not A Lot of Money setup an account on coinbase.com, buy your coins, walk away until next year or later, fees are ~1.5% which is $1.5 USD for a $100 USD of coinnote coinbase does have an option to buy via credit card instead of a bank account, fees are ~4% when you do that, your credit card company may charge more if it considers it a cash transfer Guide for Not Noobs Less Simple -setup an account on coinbase.com, move dollars into your account, setup an account on gdax.com (same company, same login), move your cash from coinbase to gdax, buy your coins on GDAX at Market, fees are cheaper 0.25% versus 1.5% -consider buying alternative coins supported by coinbase No Fees -all of the above but use GDAX's Limit/Buy, zero fees, but you have to wait for the market to dip below your buy price More Money Available -setup several Limit/Buy orders at different price points to capture dips when you are away More Control but M

Bitcoin  In October 2017, LendEDU, a marketplace for financing loans, credit cards and other financial products, polled 1,000 Americans asking a series of questions related to Ethereum, Ripple and initial coin offerings (ICOs). They did this to gain insight into the average American’s perception of cryptocurrency.  The poll  was conducted by online polling company OnePoll, which acted as a third party and was able to provide an age and gender breakdown of respondents. The poll was answered by 1,000 Americans ages 18 and up over two days, from October 27 to 30. Ethereum : At the time of writing, with a market capitalization of $28.49 billion, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency, about one-fourth the market capitalization of Bitcoin. Since the start of 2017, the price of ether has grown from $7.98 to $298. 31.60 percent of Americans have heard of Ethereum and 18.20 percent of Americans are planning to invest in ether (ETH) The survey showed that American awareness of Ethe

Bitcoin  According to a  Reuters  report, Sergei Shvetsov – first deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has stated today that Russia will block access to websites belonging to exchanges and trading platforms offering cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. The central bank official was speaking at a financial markets conference today when he pointed to the “dubious” nature of bitcoin – as an investment instrument for retail investors. He stated: We cannot stand apart. We cannot give direct and easy access to such dubious instruments for retail (investors). The central bank deputy governor’s comments are in contrast to those offered by Russia’s finance minister Anton Siluanov last month. Speaking at a financial forum in Moscow at the time, Siluanov called for the Russian government to accept the reality cryptocurrencies permeating into society. “There is no sense in banning them, there is a need to regulate them,” stated Russia’s finance minister less than a month ago. Ho

Bitcoin  Here's what you can do with your BCH now that the first blocks are being mined. Please note: Everything in this article is just advice, based on our best understanding of the current situation. Everything is still very uncertain and subject to change: Be extremely careful! Bitcoin Cash (sometimes referred to as Bcash, and mostly using the tickers BCH or BCC) launched today. Anyone who held bitcoin at 12:20 p.m. UTC should have an equivalent amount of BCH attributed to their Bitcoin private keys. In our  beginner’s guide to surviving the BIP 148 split , which was subsequently updated to also cover the Bitcoin Cash launch, we explained how to secure your private keys so you could be sure to access your BCH. At the time of writing that article, much was still uncertain about how this event would play out. Much is still uncertain, but to the extent that the situation can be understood at present, this article explains how you can claim — and potentially use — your BCH.

Bitcoin  The way we consume media content has been on a continual overhaul for the past two decades. Every aspect of media distribution has become more streamlined from the razor-thin devices we use to consume media to the manner in which we purchase and store our coveted content. Books, music and movies have all seen their physical bodies and storage locations dissolve, to be replaced with on-demand downloads and digital copies. The digital content revolution has done a lot for increasing access and visibility for artists and authors, but the current publishing giants have failed to adequately adjust to the times in a few crucial areas. While it's true that platforms such as YouTube and Medium have granted publishing access to the greater public and eliminated gatekeeping middlemen like talent agents and PR people, the current digital content sharing platforms have built their empires on the skeletons of the publishing giants’ templates that existed before and, unfortunately,

Cryptocurrency-related cyber attacks are on the rise . As cryptocurrency continues to explode in value and public awareness, we can only expect this trend to continue. I was recently the target of such an attack. I also personally know of multiple other cases of the same attack being successfully carried out. Even worse, this type of attack is becoming ever more common and is likely to see an even bigger boost thanks to the  professional excellence of firms like Equifax , making it an urgent topic as almost everyone is at immediate risk. This article describes this increasingly common attack vector and provides immediate steps you can take to protect yourself. I will also provide additional tools and best practices to further safeguard yourself and your funds more generally. As a computer programmer active in the crypto ecosystem since early 2013, I’ve always been too aware of the constant threat of cybersecurity attacks and the possibility that I could be targeted at any time. Cryp

Bitcon China is clamping down on cryptocurrency, that much is clear. But while the developing story dominates headlines, a notable trend is the lack of official information. Chinese officials seem to systematically decline requests for comments, local sources are willing to provide information on condition of anonymity only, while leaked documents remain unverified. Despite this lack of clarity, here’s what’s known so far. Effects on Trading The most important thing we know for sure is that Chinese bitcoin exchanges will be closing down, or at least exiting China. BTCC — the oldest bitcoin exchange in the world — was the first exchange to announce they’d be closing shop within the Asian country, by the end of this month. The exchange  cited  guidelines  published by the Chinese central bank (the People’s Bank of China; PBOC), which initially appeared to only affect ICOs, as its reason for closing down. Other exchanges quickly followed BTCC's lead.  ViaBTC  and  Yunbi  both a

Bitcon China is clamping down on cryptocurrency, that much is clear. But while the developing story dominates headlines, a notable trend is the lack of official information. Chinese officials seem to systematically decline requests for comments, local sources are willing to provide information on condition of anonymity only, while leaked documents remain unverified. Despite this lack of clarity, here’s what’s known so far. Effects on Trading The most important thing we know for sure is that Chinese bitcoin exchanges will be closing down, or at least exiting China. BTCC — the oldest bitcoin exchange in the world — was the first exchange to announce they’d be closing shop within the Asian country, by the end of this month. The exchange  cited  guidelines  published by the Chinese central bank (the People’s Bank of China; PBOC), which initially appeared to only affect ICOs, as its reason for closing down. Other exchanges quickly followed BTCC's lead.  ViaBTC  and  Yunbi  both a

BTC A brand new technical conference is hitting the Bitcoin space this week. Loosely inspired by the well-known  Scaling Bitcoin  workshops, the French Bitcoin community will host the  Breaking Bitcoin conference in Paris, on September 9 and 10. The conference has an explicit focus on security and is targeted at an audience with an understanding of the technical aspects of Bitcoin. “All of the talks and panels will have different angles that tie in to this theme,” co-organizer Elizabeth Stark told  Bitcoin Magazine. The Breaking Bitcoin conference was born out of discussions on the   CryptoFR Slack , a discussion platform for the growing developer community in France. A group of volunteers, including French Bitcoin community member Pierre Lorcery, Chainsmiths  managing director Kevin Loaec  and Ledger  CTO Nicolas Bacca, as well as California-based  Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark, decided to organize the technical event. “The idea was simple,” said Stark, who has previously