Author: Anna Galvez

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Crypto News

Fake Cryptocurrencies Giveaways On Twitter Are Conducted By 15,000 Bots

A survey released yesterday, August 6th, uncovered the notorious phenomenon of Twitter accounts which promote fake cryptocurrencies giveaways, disclosing a network of about 15,000 scam bots, reported the CoinTelegraph.

The Twitter bots analyze, which still cheat unknowing users, originates from computer security firm Duo Security.

The project entailed 88 million Twitter accounts, which were discovered and ranked using a software program designed by engineers based on machine learning.

With only the last 200 tweets from every account, this software has uncovered a network of 15,000 bots that promote fake contests by impersonating a few of the most well-known characters in the crypto-verse.

“Users tend to trust a tweet even based on how often it has been tweeted or appreciated. Anyone who manages this particular botnet knows this, and has designed it to take advantage of this trend,” states Duo Security data scientist Olabode Anise in the news release that comes with the research.

A network of 15,000 bots are offering fake cryptocurrencies giveaways on Twitter

A number of industry figures who have been embodied by bots have renamed themselves on Twitter to indicate that they are not offering cryptocurrencies or crypto tokens, including Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who is now known as Vitalik Non-giver of Ether on Twitter.

“It’s important to analyze an account almost holistically, even looking at the metadata of the content,” added Olabode Anise.

“For example, these accounts usually tweet in short bursts, so the average time between tweets is very low. Documentation of these patterns of behavior can also be used to identify other malicious botnets,” the security expert continued.

Anise and the associate Jordan Wright will showcase their achievements at the Black Hat USA 2018 IT security briefing in Las Vegas on Wednesday, August 8th.

In reply to the research, Twitter said it knew about the issues and that ‘spam’ accounts would be less than 5% of all current accounts on the social network. The company also indicated that, in most instances, the false cryptocurrencies giveaways are concealed by default.

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Crypto News Tech

Sirin Labs Opts For Ethereum (ETH) Blockchain Over IOTA’s Tangle For The Blockchain Smartphone

Sirin Labs, the developer of the enormous $16,000 Solarin Android smartphone, is developing a blockchain phone and has chosen to construct its new device line named “Finney,” a blockchain smartphone series, to support a private blockchain from Ethereum (ETH), instead of IOTA’s Tangle distributed ledger technology, as initially stated in its white paper.

Sirin Labs to work with Ethereum (ETH) blockchain instead of IOTA’s Tangle for the blockchain smartphone

“We are not working with IOTA. We considered the option and decided to go our separate ways. At launch, we’re going to use Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. The Finney Phone will work through complete nodes that are hosted at Sirin Labs.” said Marketing Director of Sirin Labs, Nimrod May.

“Our plan since the release of our report has always been to migrate the SRN token and the Sirin Labs ecosystem to a next-generation chain of blocks,” Nimrod May added.

The Finney devices, including a blockchain smartphone and PC, will run on Sirin Labs’ open source OS, the Sirin OS. The Sirin OS will be engineered to handle native blockchain applications such as a cryptocurrency wallet, secure exchange gateway access, secure communications, and an ecosystem of peer-to-peer resource for sharing applications and payments, all of which supported by the SRN token.

The Finney devices will make up a stand-alone blockchain network

The goal of Finney devices is to facilitate people’s use of cryptocurrencies and associated services. In April, a branch of Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s premier electronics manufacturer, decided to help manufacture the Finney smartphone.

Foxconn will build the Finney blockchain smartphone series in-house, spearheading the original design and manufacture of the phone, while Sirin Labs will be leading the cold wallet hardware design and operating system development for Sirin.

The Finney smartphone, which will be available for retail sale for $1,000, will launch in November, while the Sirin Labs is planning to sell the device via eight new shops in locations with the most actively involved crypto communities.

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Crypto Markets News

Goldman Sachs Considers Cryptocurrency Custody Funds

The investment bank Goldman Sachs is considering starting to hold funds in cryptocurrencies as part of a commercial strategy, even though it remains skeptical of the cryptos market.

Goldman Sachs considers providing cryptocurrencies investments

Goldman Sachs is deliberating on the possibility of becoming the first investment bank on Wall Street to grant custody of its clients’ crypto assets, according to related sources. This financial company, which does not have a favorable view regarding Bitcoin (BTC) futures on the short-term, seems to be taking a new direction in its strategy of incursion into the crypto-verse.

Bloomberg’s anonymous sources assured that the execution of the plan would imply the protection of his clients’ crypto coins against “dishonest attacks,” as an alternative to reduce the risks linked to the ecosystem, such as frequent hacking. At the moment, the strategy is not official, as Goldman Sachs spokespersons have not made a statement on it.

If it does occur, the support of cryptos funds by a regulated institution such as Goldman Sachs may symbolize legal support for the disruptive proposal of crypto-economy, making it an object of interest to other individual and institutional investors as well as to listed investment funds.

However, Goldman Sachs’ position on cryptos is not very clear

In the latest report published by the financial firm, Goldman Sachs’ chief investment officer said that Bitcoin (BTC) “craze” is “one of the six factors that will create unrest in the markets during the remainder of 2018”, as “Bitcoin (BTC) will not maintain its value”, in his opinion.

In contrast to the report, which also states that cryptos “do not fulfill any of the three traditional functions of a coin,” they appointed Justin Schmidt as vice president and leader of the Digital Asset Market area last April. The inclusion of Schmidt came along with the evaluation of the opening of a cryptocurrencies trading desk.

Goldman Sachs’ new possible incursion into crypto-economy has been an open door for many months and with different projects. However, these may not yet materialize.

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Crypto News

Turkey Established The Country’s First University Center For Blockchain And Cryptocurrencies Education

The Daily Sabah newspaper reported on August 3rd that Turkey had established the country’s first university center for blockchain research, with the objective of guaranteeing the widespread development of technology and filling the gap with other countries.

Turkey to establish the country’s first university center for blockchain research

The Istanbul Blockchain and Innovation Center, also known as BlockchainIST, was inaugurated at Bahcesehir University (BAU).

The BlockchainIST is destined to be “the most important research, development, and innovation center in Turkey where studies and publications on blockchain technologies are carried out,” says Director Bora Erdamar.

Erdamar said that Turkey might be the leading country in the blockchain technology that “will transform humanity.”

It emphasized the importance of collaborating with other educational institutions, businesses and government bodies in order to undertake appropriate research and examine all potential uses.

A few universities around the world already run blockchain educational programmes

A few universities in the world have already launched a number of courses on cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and smart contracts.

This year, Stanford University has established a blockchain research center, partially funded by the Ethereum Foundation, and Brazil’s renowned “Fundação Getúlio Vargas University” has started delivering the country’s first master’s degree in the crypto market.

Ripple has also given away $50 million to some universities worldwide to fund educational programmes related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

Turkish official’s position on cryptocurrencies is not yet clear

Even though the Director of BlockchainIST pointed out that Turkey is currently struggling to keep up with the world in digital transition, the stance of the Turkish authorities on the cryptocurrency industry is not entirely straightforward.

In November, the country’s government demonstrated its opposition to Bitcoin (BTC) when the State Department of Religious Affairs’ lawmakers stated that the BTC “is not compatible” with Islam.

But in February, the Vice-Chairman of the Nationalist Party of the Turkish movement not only suggested regulations for the cryptocurrencies market but also raised the problem of a theoretical Turkish government-owned cryptocurrency, the Turkcoin.

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Crypto News

Blockchain Technology Researched By Big Players In The Space Industry

Space is a historically researched field by a number of governments, as it is a challenging subject that demands comprehensive, high-quality investigation and therefore substantial financing. More recently, with the increasing popularity of private space companies like SpaceX, space has become a non-exclusive field. Now, however, it appears that the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies, the technology of the blockchain, is increasingly attracting the attention of the big players in the space industry.

Big space industry players explore blockchain technology

Space giants like NASA, the U.S. National Aeronautics, and Space Administration, and ESA, the European Space Agency, are exploring possibilities for exploiting the blockchain technology for their missions.

The results to date indicated that the technology might be useful both in the area of facilitation of data-related procedures and in other relevant areas, such as space exploration and deep space navigability.

NASA explores the use of blockchain technology

In 2017, NASA made a $330,000 donation to assist in the construction of a stand-alone spacecraft system based on the blockchain, the first step toward endorsing the blockchain technology.

The so-called Resilient Computing and Networking Paradigm (RNCP) system is powered by blockchain technology and is not a human-dependent technology, as depicted by Dr. Jin Wei Kocsis, an associate professor of engineering and computer science at the University of Akron.

As Kocsis points out, RNCP will look at the implementation of smart contracts on the Ethereum network in the context of developing a secure computer system for use in case of difficult spatial conditions.

ESA considers the application of the blockchain in its administrative processes

The European Space Agency (ESA) has also been looking into the blockchain technology implementation, even though they are most likely to employ the blockchain technology to simplify internal administrative procedures, not to release it into deep space exploration like the US space agency.

In September 2017, ESA presented a briefing report titled “Distributed Ledger Technology: Leveraging Blockchain for ESA Success.” The paper discusses the overall pros and cons of the blockchain with a few specific illustrations and then specifically addresses the potential gains that the technology may offer to ESA.

These would include the deployment of smart contracts in the logistics, faster and more efficient payments, real-time data access, built-in access rights upgrades, and a seamless voting environment.

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