Tag: Cryptocurrency

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Crypto News Tech

Samsung Galaxy S10 Wallet Supports Ethereum (ETH) Cryptocurrency, But Not Bitcoin (BTC)

The latest flagship offered by Samsung arrives with a variety of useful features. Among them, one of the most interesting ones is the decision to include the Samsung Galaxy S10 wallet for the cryptocurrency, including Ethereum (ETH), ERC-20 tokens, and dApps. However, Bitcoin (BTC) is not supported.

The new Samsung S10 range is now on sale, and some users are looking forward to the dedicated wallet. The feature is limited to the standard S10 model for now, but the situation could change in the future as Samsung has announced that it plans to add support for cryptocurrency on its other devices, too.

Newcomers will enjoy the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S10 wallet uses Samsung’s Blockchain Keystore, a decision which makes the process of saving and using cryptocurrencies very approachable. The standard is also compatible with CoinDuck, which means that users will be able to complete payments by scanning a QR code.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Wallet Works With Ethereum (ETH), dApps, and ERC-20 Tokens, But Not Bitcoin (BTC)

As cryptocurrencies started to become popular companies began to work hard on the perfect app that could be able to replace other popular dApps. The race becomes even stronger after TRON acquired BitTorrent. The wallet offered by Samsung is compatible with four popular dApps: the well-known gaming platform Enjin, the Cosmee beauty community, the crypto collectibles platform named CryptoKitties, and the previously mentioned payments service CoinDuck. So, Samsung Galaxy S10 wallet support Ethereum (ETH), dApps, and ERC-20 tokens.

Some sources which ran in-depth reports on the Blockchain Keystore note a specific phrase which appears in terms and conditions of the service. It is mentioned that Samsung’s Payments Service Group will accept and deal with any inquiries about payments completed with the Blockchain Keystore. Since the same division is responsible with payments made with the help of the Samsung Pay dedicated service, hinting that the two services could collaborate in the future.

According to some estimation Samsung sold 70 million smartphones by Q4 2018. While most of the devices aren’t a part of the Galaxy range, it is clear the Samsung could play a huge role in the adoption of cryptocurrencies at a global level via Samsung Galaxy S10 wallet. It is clear that Samsung is serious when it comes to cryptos, even though the company does not support Bitcoin (BTC) in its e-wallet, at the moment.

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Crypto News Tech

Update WinRar Not To Lose Cryptocurrency, As A Vulnerability Allows Hackers To Steal Your Digital Coins

Even though almost nobody runs archives or .exe files from unknown sources, there are some of you who might do that. In that case, you are doing nothing besides installing malware. At least, that’s the typical downside of downloading and running or extracting weird programs. Now, WinRar has a security flaw which allows hackers to intrude and steal your cryptocurrency.

Therefore, you should update WinRar as soon as possible to address that vulnerability that might steal your digital coins. Reportedly, the security flaw already made victims, so you should immediately upgrade your WinRar installment to the newest version. I know, WinRar is kinda old-school app especially since other programs such as 7Zip, for instance, took over and became more popular.

However, it might surprise you, but there are millions of users worldwide, who are still using WinRar. Those of you who do that are exposed to a vulnerability that would eventually steal your digital coins if you’re cryptocurrency enthusiasts who keep their wallets on the hard disk.

Update WinRar not to lose cryptocurrency – An WinRar vulnerability allows hackers to steal your digital coins

“Here is how it works. You open the wrong .rar file with an unpatched version of WinRar, and a payload is dropped into your windows startup folder. Which means on reboot you will load up a .exe. And nobody ever updates their WinRar. And .rar files are used intensively on usenet and also in torrents. So there are probably at least 100 million computers with an unpatched version of WinRar on it. So this is going to steal a shitload of coins. I can guarantee it,” said Kain_niaK on Reddit, the Redditor who observed the vulnerability.

“The .dll file that contains the actual bug is unacev2.dll because the bug is in ACE, not in WinRar. Winrar has just dropped support for ACE in 5.7 and removed the .dll file from their install. All software with ACE support is vulnerable which is not just WinRar but also software like Total Commander among others,” the same Redditor added.

In short, a vulnerability in the current WinRar version permits hackers to steal your digital coins. Accordingly, update WinRar not to lose cryptocurrency.

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Crypto News Tech

Facebook Cryptocurrency Might Launch By Mid-Summer 2019

With billions of active users each month Facebook is shaping up to be a powerhouse that is here to stay. The empire continues to grow, and according to specific sources, the company is looking forward to launching new services which could make its products even more popular. According to some sources Facebook is currently working on a “Facebook cryptocurrency” which should be released by the end of the first semester of the year.

The information has been offered by Facebook employees who asked to remain anonymous to avoid any potential issues that should appear due to the breach of a non-disclosure agreement.

During the first stage of the project, WhatsApp users will be able to send that Facebook cryptocurrency to any contact. WhatsApp has over 1.5 billion active users each month, so the number of potential users for the upcoming crypto is quite large. Other sources claim that Facebook is confident enough to offer its coin to cryptocurrency exchanges which will then sell it to third-party users. Telegram, another popular messaging app, will also release a digital currency shortly, which will likely serve as a direct competitor to the potential Facebook cryptocurrency.

The Facebook cryptocurrency might make the social network more appealing for crypto enthusiasts

The market opportunities are sizeable since Facebook has the reputation and the resources needed to promote its new cryptocurrency at an international level. If the initiative is successful, the usage of cryptocurrencies across the world could grow exponentially since many users may opt to use WhatsApp to quickly send some cash without the need to use traditional services like wire transfers or Western Union.

The company led by Mark Zuckerberg has declined to answer any questions regarding the alleged Facebook cryptocurrency. It is thought that the popular decentralized protocol could be used to make the service more attractive to people who already use digital currencies in a period when Facebook is losing members.

Some already fear that the cryptocurrency could be used for nefarious purposes by third-party entities. The private nature of cryptocurrencies makes them very popular among scammers and criminals, and it is likely that the new platform could be seen as a new gold mine by some.

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Crypto

A Simplified Guide to Understanding Cryptocurrency Trading Pairs

Cryptocurrencies are inherently difficult to understand; you’ll need to first understand the complexities of the underlying blockchain technology, and then, you’ll need to learn the basics of technical and fundamental analysis. The worst part is that you’ll still need to deal with the incredibly volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market because of its high degree of speculation.

Thankfully, tons of resources, online and offline, have been devoted to demystifying the cryptocurrency trading process. However, of the core tenets of cryptocurrency trading; the cryptocurrency trading pair has not received much attention. This piece provides a simplified overview of cryptocurrency trading pairs for people who don’t have prior experience in trading stocks, forex, or other financial instruments.

Fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies

Fiat currencies are the common government-minted currencies such as the USD, GBP, Euro, and Yen. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized currencies that are not subject to the monetary policies of governments or their agents. To start trading cryptocurrencies, you’ll need to first convert your fiat currency into a cryptocurrency. There are more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies in the market but only a handful of them can be bought directly with a fiat currency.

The “conversion” of fiat currencies to cryptocurrencies is typically done on cryptocurrency exchanges. You should be able to convert fiat to crypto if you start trading on eToro, or other exchanges. In most instance, you’ll only be able to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash with your fiat currency.

Base cryptocurrencies and altcoins

A base cryptocurrency is the cryptocurrency against which all other altcoins are quoted on an exchange. The most popular base cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC). Most of the exchanges where you can buy altcoins typically won’t allow you to buy them directly with fiat currencies. After you must have bought BTC or ETH with fiat, you can use the BTC or ETH to buy the other altcoins that you may want to trade.

The price of base cryptocurrencies is usually quoted against the price of your home/domestic currency.  In the chart below, the price of Bitcoin is quoted against the USD, and this is true for other base cryptocurrencies on other exchanges.

In contrast, the price of other altcoins is usually quoted against BTC, ETH, or other base cryptocurrencies as seen in the chart below. The price of Ripple (XRP) is 0.00008895BTC, the price of Stellar (XLM) is 0.00002996BTC, and the price of EOS is 0.00059530BTC.

The simplest way to understand the price of altcoins when quoted in a base cryptocurrency is to think of the quoted price as a ratio. The USD value of BTC is about $3,280 and the USD price of Ripple is about $0.29, which gives us a ratio of about 1: 0.00008895. In the chart above, it will cost 0.00008895BTC to buy 1 XRP.

Calculating the value of your cryptocurrency gains/losses

The first way to calculate the value of your cryptocurrency gains/losses is to use a tool that shows you the relative value of the coins in USD or your native currency. Coin Market Cap shows the price of all listed cryptocurrencies, their 24-hour volume, their market cap, and their price charts, and their ranking among other cryptocurrencies.

The second way to calculate the value of your cryptocurrency gains or losses is watch the movement in value of your altcoins relative to the value of the base currency. When for instance, if you bought 1 BCH at 0.025TC, if 1BCH now becomes 0.050BTC, it means that the value of your BCH has jumped 50% against Bitcoin and selling your BCH now will net you 0.050BTC as opposed to the 0.025BTC you had when you originally spent to buy 1 BCH.

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Crypto News

Crypto Exchanges With No Gas Limit Set On Ethereum (ETH) Transactions Are Vulnerable To Cyber Attacks

On November 21st, researchers revealed a vulnerability in crypto exchange platforms with no gas limit established for outgoing transactions related to Ethereum (ETH) smart contracts. According to a Level K publication, since November 9th, several crypto exchanges have been alerted about this security flaw that could empty their hot wallets by the permanent collection of commissions or gas in Ethereum network.

Level K explained that this is because, in smart contracts (from tokens ERC20, tokens ERC721 like CryptoKitties and others), the receiving addresses are the ones that arbitrarily set the gas limit to carry out a transaction, which is paid by its initiators, in this case, the crypto exchange platforms.

When cryptocurrency exchanges have not established a well-defined gas limit for Ethereum (ETH) smart contracts, malicious users can set high gas costs to process their transactions and withdraw more funds than necessary from the hot wallet used by the exchange platforms. This scenario could be even worse if a crypto trading platform does not have KYC standards.

Crypto Exchange Platforms With No Gas Limit Set On Ethereum (ETH) Transactions Are Vulnerable ToCyber Attacks

Many cryptocurrency exchanges allow the withdrawal of Ethereum (ETH) to arbitrary addresses with no gas limit. Since sending ETH to a contract address performs its backup function, attackers can make these crypto exchange platforms pay for commissions. That allows cyberattackers to force exchange platforms to burn their own Ethereum (ETH) at high transaction costs. Hackers can even benefit economically by using GasTokens.

Keep in mind that GasToken is a smart contract that could be used to further exploit this vulnerability by conducting a “profitable attack.” GasToken functions as a gas bank, the fundamental resource for transactions in the Ethereum network. So, users can buy representative GasToken and store them when this resource is at low prices.

Also, through GasToken, users can benefit from Ethereum (ETH) storage rebate. This rebate only applies to contract transactions, when these remove storage elements that otherwise must be housed in the blockchain. The advantage of this type of reimbursement is that it can represent up to half of the gas in a contract transaction.

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