Economist Brands Bitcoin a Scam and Ponzi Scheme on Yahoo Finance

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Economist Brands Bitcoin a “Scam” and “Ponzi Scheme” on Yahoo Finance

For the longest time, critics of Bitcoin have questioned if the cryptocurrency is a Ponzi-like/pyramid scheme.

Wikipedia defines a “Ponzi scheme”: A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors.

While this is rather ambiguous, critics say that this applies to Bitcoin, for the cryptocurrency, due to the inflationary pressures of block rewards and such, requires constant capital input for prices to maintain their current levels of growth. The idea the critics that believe Bitcoin is a Ponzi tout is that without fresh capital, this market would collapse, much like a pyramid scheme would if new investors stopped entering the pyramid.

Bitcoin Given “Ponzi” and “Scam” Treatment Again

Once again, Bitcoin has been given the “Ponzi scheme” and “scam” treatment. This time, it was on a Yahoo Finance segment covering the cryptocurrency market.

Tendayi Kapfidze – Lending Tree Chief Economist – recently sat down with the media outlet to talk Bitcoin. While the hosts branded the cryptocurrency an investment, or at least as a speculative investment, Kapfidze said that he thinks it’s a “Ponzi” and a “scam,” claiming that he believes you can only make money in the cryptocurrency space by taking what others put in. Kapfidze continued that he thinks this space has yielded no technological developments or applications with inherent value.

Peter Schiff, a prominent gold proponent and anti-government investor (someone that would like Bitcoin’s seeming premise in another reality), has echoed this sentiment in the past. Per previous reports from this very outlet, the Bitcoin hater quipped that BTC is only “popular as a speculative asset, not as a currency,” before going as far as to say that as Google Trends shows, BTC is “running out of new buyers to keep the Ponzi going.”

Whether or not you believe Bitcoin is a Ponzi or not, it’s been very lucrative as a speculative asset over the years, not to mention that it is functional as a medium of exchange and as a long-term store of value.

Over the past decade, the price of the leading cryptocurrency has surged by a jaw-dropping 9,000,000%, making it the best performing asset of all time, not to mention that it saw these gains within a ten-year time span, which is relatively irrelevant on a macro basis.

Even in the past year alone, Bitcoin has surged by 95%, outpacing the stock market by triple and other top asset classes by dozens of percent. This strong performance comes in spite of the 50% downturn that has taken place since the peak of $14,000 was established in June.

Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by Nick Chong.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Square May Soon Add These Bitcoin Investment Features

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Square May Soon Add These Bitcoin Investment Features

During the previous crypto bubble, Square, the fintech startup run by Twitter’s chief executive Jack Dorsey, delved into the Bitcoin game, offering its clients with the ability to buy and sell BTC via the Cash App, its flagship application. This marked the first time that a serious player in the fintech industry had formally embraced cryptocurrencies.

While this was positive news in and of itself, since the launch, some users have grown unsatisfied with the Bitcoin feature, which is relatively barebones when compared to traditional digital asset exchanges like Coinbase and BInance. The reason: there are a number of investment features that remain missing on the Cash App that may aid Bitcoin investors.

Square May Add Bitcoin Investment Features

According to a report from The Block, Square recently put out a job offer for a Crypto Investing Product Manager at Square’s Cash App division, which has held the #1 spot in finance on the Apple App Store for years at a time.

Per the job description published to LinkedIn, this future employee will be working to “push the boundaries in finance” as “Bitcoin sits at the very forefront of these efforts” — a statement that echoes the sentiment of Square’s chief executive, who has said on multiple occasions that Bitcoin is likely going to become the native currency of the Internet and that he “loves” the cryptocurrency.

As to what exactly Square has in mind, the job description mentioned that the employee will “own the Crypto Investing product,” meaning expanding the adoption of the product by including new functionality, such as limit orders and auto-investing, along with the creation of new features like “BTC gifting (P2P).”

The “auto-investing” feature, should it launch, is likely to do really well within the cryptocurrency community.

You see, for the past few months, Bitcoin investors, including Square’s chief executive, have been championing what is known as the “stacking sats” or “stacking satoshis” movement. This investment thesis and movement promotes for investors to buy a small portion of Bitcoin on a reoccurring basis and at any price to remove bias and feeling of “FOMO” or doubt in investing.

An auto-investment feature, which exists on a platform like Coinbase but not on Square’s Cash app, would allow for thousands, maybe millions of Americans, the chance to more easily participate in this investment strategy.

Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by Nick Chong.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Blockchain Startup Settles Charges With SEC For Running Unregistered ICO

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Blockchain Startup Settles Charges With SEC For Running Unregistered ICO

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 12/19/2019 9:29 AM ET

Blockchain startup Blockchain of Things Inc. or BCoT, reached a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for charges of conducting an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) of digital tokens, according to a statement released by the SEC.

The settlement requires New York-based BCoT to pay a penalty of $250,000 and also to stop violating any federal securities laws.

The SEC order also requires BCoT to return the funds raised from the investors who purchased tokens in the ICO and have requested a return of the funds. BCoT raised nearly $13 million to develop and implement its business plans, including developing its blockchain-based technology and platform.

The SEC settlement order states that BCoT claimed that its platform was intended to allow third-party developers to build applications for message transmission and logging, digital asset generation, and digital asset transfer.

The SEC found in its investigations that BCoT did not register its ICO pursuant to the federal securities laws, nor did it qualify for an exemption from the registration requirements. It conducted the ICO starting in December 2017.

The regulator also said BCoT sold its digital tokens to U.S. investors and engaged four "resellers" to serve as the exclusive sellers of BCoT's digital tokens in certain foreign countries without restrictions on resale of those tokens to U.S. investors.

The company has now also agreed with the SEC to register its tokens as securities pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and file required periodic reports with the SEC. BCoT consented to the order without admitting or denying the findings.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

YouTube Crypto Purge Appears to Be a Simple Error Rather Than an Evil Powerplay

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YouTube Crypto Purge Appears to Be a Simple Error Rather Than an Evil Powerplay

The crypto community has been gripped over the past several days with news of a potential anti-crypto crusade by video sharing platform YouTube, who has been removing hundreds of crypto-related videos from popular channels over the past week.

Now, an exclusive report from Decrypt elucidates that the recent purge of crypto related videos did not mark the start of a war against crypto and was simply a mistake that is in the process of being rectified.

No, YouTube is Not Out to Purge Crypto-Related Content

The recent content purge came about after multiple popular cryptocurrency YouTube channels saw a significant amount of their content removed from the platform.

For these YouTubers, the revenue they receive from these videos can comprise a large piece of their livelihood, so naturally it was a disturbing sight to see their videos being removed for violating the platform’s terms and services.

Interestingly, videos about blockchain and cryptocurrency from non-crypto centric channels – like CNBC and Business Insider – avoided the purge, with videos from cryptocurrency-focused channels being the only ones impacted.

This sparked a litany of theories from members of the cryptocurrency community as to why the platform may have taken such actions so suddenly, with some promoting the theory that it may signal that YouTube or their parent company – Google – are doing it in preparation of entering the blockchain industry themselves.

In spite of this, a recent exclusive report from Decrypt shows that the purge appears to simply be a mistake that the platform is currently in the process of rectifying.

“With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call… When it’s brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it,” a YouTube spokesperson told the outlet, further adding that they have not altered their policies and that all the removed videos have since been reinstated.

Although this imbroglio may have resulted in a positive outcome this time around, it does highlight the importance of bourgeoning decentralized platforms, as the centralization of platforms like YouTube can prove to be dangerous for content creators dealing in nascent technologies that are perceived by many as risky or scam-like.

Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by Cole Petersen.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Wins Patent For Transacting Bitcoin Via Email

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Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Wins Patent For Transacting Bitcoin Via Email

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 12/23/2019 9:46 AM ET

Brian Armstrong, CEO of US-based crypto exchange Coinbase, has been awarded the patent for a system and method for transacting Bitcoin or BTC via email to an email address owner.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or USPTO officially granted the patent for sending cryptographic currency to an email address to Armstrong on December 17, nearly five years after he applied for it in March 2015.

According to the patented process, a bitcoin exchange allows for users to set prices that they are willing to sell or buy bitcoin and execute such trades. The instant exchange allows for merchants and customers to lock in a local currency price. No miner's fee is paid by a host computer system.

The patent refers to a system for processing a request to perform a Bitcoin transaction using a bitcoin address.

A hot wallet functionality is provided that transfers values of some Bitcoin addresses to a vault for purposes of security. A private key of a Bitcoin address of the vault is split and distributed to keep the vault secure.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Merry Christmas? Youtube Continues Cruel Crypto Crackdown

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Merry Christmas? Youtube Continues Cruel Crypto Crackdown

If you’ve been on Crypto Twitter at all over the past 48 hours, you’ve likely heard the plight of many Youtubers covering the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency spaces. Countless influencers and content creators in the industry — of which many have tens of thousands of followers and subscribers apiece — have reported that a number of their videos covering developments in the cryptocurrency space have been taken down, with Youtube citing the existence of “harmful and dangerous” content.

Over the past few hours, more information about the context of Youtube’s sudden crackdown has been revealed. Apparently, a majority of the crypto-centric videos that have been taken down by Youtube were promoting “certain regulated goods and services” — a list that includes items like alcohol, explosives, human organs, nicotine, firearms, and much more.

This is notable as “cryptocurrency” is not mentioned on the list, though “counterfeit documents or currency” and “online gambling casinos” are. The latest strikes could imply that Google does not recognize digital assets as real money and that it sees exchanges and other Bitcoin services, many of which are promoted by the affected Youtubers, as “online gambling casinos” or sites that offer “regulated goods.”

What’s crazy about all this is that it comes on Christmas, when these content creators, some of which make a fair portion of their income off Youtube and other social platforms, should be out celebrating the holidays with their family and friends but are instead languishing about a potentially lost source of income on their go-to video platform.

Just look to this tweet from The Crypto Lark below, in which he wrote:

Nice Christmas present from Youtube, 37 videos pulled and a strike. Ouch.

All things considered, it should come as no surprise that the cryptocurrency community is outraged. Entirely outraged.

Mati Greenspan, the founder of QuantumEconomics, remarked that to protest “Google’s new, unexpected, and unexplained censorship of crypto content, I will be boycotting Youtube until further notice.” Others seem to be following Greenspan’s lead.

Ran NeuNer, a cryptocurrency and blockchain investor and host of CNBC’s “Crypto Trader” show, echoed the outrage, writing:

YouTube deleting all Crypto content is a MASSIVE blow to the industry. YouTube is the go to place for educational video and the first port of call for new people entering the eco system to learn the basics. As a community we should challenge this formally.

Youtube hasn’t commented on this recent debacle, nor can this writer find any content updates or guidelines that mention cryptocurrency or related technologies by name.

Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by Nick Chong.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Can Bitcoin BTC Price Rally 3400 in 36 Months? CNBC Analysts Break Down Prediction

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Can Bitcoin (BTC) Price Rally 3,400% in 36 Months? CNBC Analysts Break Down Prediction

For years now, prominent investors in and out of the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency community have been making predictions, predictions about the crypto market’s future — often deemed uncertainty by many skeptics.

One of the most prominent of these predictions has been one from Tim Draper, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capitalists, having made early investments in companies from Skype and SpaceX to Tesla. Draper, notably, bought his first Bitcoin over five years ago, buying millions of dollars worth of the leading digital asset in an auction held by the U.S. government.

Draper, for over a year now, has been saying that the price of BTC will easily hit $250,000 — over 3,400% higher than the current price of $7,200 — by the end of 2022 or by early 2023.

Per previous reports from this very outlet, the legendary investor backed this prediction in a recent yahoo finance interview by reasoning that using fiat monies, which he calls “poor” (referring to their quality), are illogical, citing their controllability, lack of transparency, and subjectivity to political and social whims on the day-to-day. And as the American investor argues that most of the brightest developers, engineers, and academics are working on digital assets, Draper opines that there could be a large capital flight from fiat to crypto over time. He elaborates:

“My belief is that over some period of time, the cryptocurrencies will eclipse the fiat currencies. That would be a 1,000 times higher than what we have now.”

But do others agree with his assessment?

CNBC Assesses $250,000 by 2022 Bitcoin Sentiment

CNBC’s “Fast Money” segment, which has long hosted crypto investors and discussion surrounding the industry, recently broke down Draper’s $250,000 calling, in a seeming attempt to determine whether or not what the long-time venture capitalist’s prediction is at all feasible.

Interestingly, the consensus was a tentative yes. More on that now.

Brian Kelly, an investor that focuses on crypto assets and blockchain investments, noted that if you look at BTC’s long-term logarithmic growth channel, the upper bound of that channel, which the asset has been trading in for eight years now, is somewhere in the $200,000 range by 2022-2023. Considering the importance of this channel and the fact that Bitcoin has interacted with it for years implies that technically speaking, the prediction has a fair likelihood of becoming reality.

As for the fundamentals and the historical trends, the CNBC analysts also argued that the case is there for a $250,000 Bitcoin by 2022, looking to the fact that the cryptocurrency is known for its outsized volatility.

Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by Nick Chong.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

UN Agency To Use Blockchain To Prevent Illegal Fees Charging

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UN Agency To Use Blockchain To Prevent Illegal Fees Charging

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 12/17/2019 9:31 AM ET

International Organization for Migration or IOM, the United Nations Migration Agency, decided to use blockchain technology to prevent the exploitation of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong SAR, China.

The agency developed and launched a blockchain-based tool called IRIS-SAFER in partnership with blockchain solutions company Diginex. IRIS-SAFER is an acronym for the International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS)- Self-Assessment for Ethical Recruitment (SAFER).

The tool is being initially designed for use by representatives from the about 1,500 Hong Kong-based migrant domestic worker recruitment agencies, as well as select associated agencies in worker-sending countries.

IOM will initially invite recruitment agencies to use the tool to assess the current level of adherence to global ethical recruitment principles as set forth by the IRIS Standard.

"Ethical recruitment practices are essential to improve protection of workers, employers and recruitment intermediaries," said Giuseppe Crocetti, Chief of Mission, IOM China.

The use of blockchain technology will strengthen data management and enforce data integrity, which allows for a higher level of transparency and visibility.

According to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, there are almost 390,000 migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, nearly 1 in 10 of all workers in the city, with almost 98 percent of these being women.

More than half or 56 percent of domestic migrant workers were charged illegal fees by recruitment agencies, a recent survey by the International Labor Organization (ILO) shows.

Hong Kong-based Diginex said the tool can help to eradicate these unethical practices of charging illegal fees . In Hong Kong, foreign domestic workers are forced to pay about HK$700,000,000 each year in placement/recruitment fees as they are some of the most economically vulnerable people.

Diginex and IOM plan to launch IRIS-SAFER to recruitment agencies in other jurisdictions globally after the successful roll-out of the tool in Hong Kong SAR and select countries of origin for migrant domestic workers.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Your Guide to Avoiding Bitcoin Fraud

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Your Guide to Avoiding Bitcoin Fraud

“Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement. The ability to create something which is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value. The Bitcoin architecture, literally the ability to having these ledgers that can’t be replicated is an amazing advancement.” – Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google,March 2014.

With Bitcoin price increasing over the years and reaching billions of dollars in market capitalization, all kinds of people see its value and appeal. This brings out both the good and bad in human nature.

Unfortunately, with the bad comes scammers. The bottom line is scammers also want to profit somehow from Bitcoin, but through nefarious means. This typically involves targeting unprepared victims, who end up losing their Bitcoin as a result.

In this guide we will walk you through the most common Bitcoin scams. We’ll show you how to spot them, and make sure you don’t become the next victim.

Fake Bitcoin Exchanges

Fake Bitcoin Exchange

Often on social media you’ll see a link saying something like “Buy bitcoin for 5% under market value. Save big!” This is a marketing trick to get you to visit and use their fake exchange.

If you visit any exchange site the very first thing you want to do is make sure it’s HTTPS secured and not HTTP. This means that the web traffic is encrypted and secured; if it’s just HTTP without the “S” that is a big red flag and means stay away.

Another red flag to look out for are fake exchanges that offer selling Bitcoin for PayPal. On these sites you’ll see a web form to enter your PayPal email and amount to sell. After submitting, you will be presented with a QR code to send your bitcoin to. But the money never arrives.

Most of these fake exchanges are here one day and gone the next. You will see them pop up but will quickly disappear, and then re-emerge with a different domain name later.

To be sure you are going to a real Bitcoin exchange, visit our exchange portal on Bitcoin.com to ensure you aren’t being scammed.

Fake Bitcoin Wallets

Spotting fake Bitcoin wallets is a bit tougher, because wallets primarily are about storing bitcoin and not buying or selling it. It has less to do with money than it does with the software you may use. Typically, fake Bitcoin wallets are just scams for malware to infect your machine in order to steal your passwords or private keys.

Just like with fake Bitcoin exchange sites, you should trust your instincts and look for red flags. Does the wallet site use HTTPS? Is the name of the wallet site trying to resemble another reputable Bitcoin wallet by impersonating it? Outside of the obvious, it may be hard to tell if a wallet is fake. A good practice is to ask your peers if someone has used the wallet before. You can do this on the Bitcoin Forum or Bitcoin Reddit.

If the wallet is a downloadable client, another good practice is to check the site for malware. Sites like VirusTotal are a great resource for checking executables to see if they contain viruses.

To be sure you are going to a real Bitcoin wallet, visit our wallet portal on Bitcoin.com to ensure you aren’t being scammed.

Phishing Scams

This is a very common scam. Phishing is when someone tries to trick you into thinking they are a trusted company or website by having you visit a fake site.

Typically, phishers contact you via email or through a fake web advertisement. The end result is you go to their website by mistake and either get malware, or lose your bitcoin through a fake sale.

With emails you have to be careful to not take the bait. You may receive an email from a wallet or exchange you already use, either by coincidence or through past database hacks. Maybe hackers obtained your email address on the black market; for example from a Yahoo! or other service hack.

Best practice is to not click on any hyperlinks in an email or open attachments. Go directly to the website if you have to do business there. A common tactic is to make a hyperlink look real, but if you hover over it you will see the fake website URL. Always check the sender email to see where it’s coming from (although this is not 100% reliable as emails can be spoofed).

With fake web advertisements, you have to be careful on the site you are visiting. This usually happens when searching on the web for things like “blockchain.” The top result could actually be an advert via Google for example, but may end up being a fake Bitcoin wallet. Best practice is to not visit sponsored ad content in search results, and just manually type the real website address directly into your browser.

To be sure you are going to a real Bitcoin wallet, visit our wallet portal on Bitcoin.com to ensure you aren’t being scammed.

Ponzi Scams

Bitcoin Ponzi Scams

Ponzi scams are promises from websites that you will “double your bitcoin” overnight, or some similar outlandish claim. Ponzi sites may be harder to spot, but they’re easy to figure out once you understand this: the only way to double your money is to first send it to them.

Ponzi sites also typically have referral programs, so if you get others to sign up for the site by visiting your affiliate link, you may make a few cents. This is another red flag, as many times you will see on social media shared links with referrals within the URL. Usually it will look something like this (referral link is in bold): domain.com/ponzi/?ref=12345

If you’re unsure whether this Bitcoin site is a scam, visit our Scam thread on the Bitcoin Forum to see if others have used it before.

Cloud Mining Scams

This can be a bit tricky because not all cloud mining operations are scams. Some are completely legitimate, however many are scams, so it’s best to warn people (especially newcomers) to be careful when looking into cloud mining.

Cloud mining is shared mining hashpower, where people pool their funds together to rent Bitcoin mining machines. For legitimate operations, this works and can be profitable. For scams, returns may be low or non-existent. As we’ve established above, it’s best to trust your instincts and look for red flags.

Does the site use HTTPS? Did you find the site from a referral link on social media? Does the cloud mining operation not give any insight into what pool they use to mine, or let you select the pool you want to direct your hashrate to? These are just a few things to look for; you can read some other tips here.

If you’re unsure whether a certain Bitcoin site is a scam or not, visit our Bitcoin Mining Forum and ask someone for help and/or their opinion to ensure you aren’t being scammed. 

Original article posted on the Bitcoin.com site.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Pennsylvania Man Charged With Stealing Cryptos Through SIM Swapping

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Pennsylvania Man Charged With Stealing Cryptos Through SIM Swapping

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 12/16/2019 8:28 AM ET

A Pennsylvania man was charged by a federal grand jury for conspiring to commit wire fraud and extortion, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ). He engaged in a "SIM swapping" scheme to obtain cryptocurrencies and other money and property by fraud and extortion.

23-year-old Anthony Francis Faulk was indicted with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of interstate communications with intent to extort. He was arrested and released on a $250,000 bond.

The indictment also alleges that Faulk used the proceeds of the SIM swapping scheme to obtain real and personal property for his own use and benefit, including a house, a Ferrari and three other cars, jewelry, a Rolex watch, and royalty rights in twenty songs.

The property obtained with the proceeds of the SIM swapping scheme is subject to criminal forfeiture.

Faulk is charged for targeting crypto-related company executives and others who possibly held or invested in significant amounts of cryptocurrency through a SIM swapping scheme. They also allegedly extorted victims of the SIM swapping scheme.

"SIM swapping" or "SIM hijacking" can be done with little more than a persuasive plea for assistance, a willing telecommunications carrier representative, and an electronic impersonation of the victim.

Faulk and others used "fraud, deception, and social engineering techniques" to persuade telecom representatives to transfer or port cellphone numbers from the victims SIM cards to the conspirators. They gained control of the victims' cellphone numbers and used deceptive techniques to access email, electronic storage, other accounts as well as cryptocurrency accounts of victims.

If convicted, Faulk faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge. For the extortion charge, Faulk faces a maximum sentence of 2 years in prison and a fine in the amount of $250,000.

According to a report on krebsonsecurity.com, the U.S. State of California is said to be the hub of unauthorized "SIM swaps." The report says kids aged particularly between 19 and 22 are found to be stealing millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies.

SIM swapping attacks primarily target individuals who are visibly active in the cryptocurrency space, such as people working at cryptocurrency-focused companies, speakers at public conferences on blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies, and those openly talk on their crypto investments on social media.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe