These are fraught times for the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector, so it isn’t surprising that industry proponents might seize upon any promising news to help charge flagging markets. A Reuters report out of Uganda last week about a massive gold ore discovery supplied just this kind of fuel. What does the state of gold mining in Africa have to do with the price of global Bitcoin (BTC)? Quite a bit, potentially. Bitcoin has periodically laid claim to being digital gold largely on the strength of its strict 21 million supply limit, which makes it non-inflationary and a good store of …

A long-forgotten Bitcoin (BTC) hard fork has surged almost 200% in a week — simply because traders are buying the wrong altcoin. Bitcoin Gold (BTG), a relic from the 2017 forking season, traded at $113 on Friday — the highest price since February 2018 — after 30% daily gains as trading volumes topped $250 million. Bitcoin Gold piggybacks to 173% weekly gains A curious contrast to an otherwise lackluster cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin Gold’s success appears to be not wholly genuine — but also not the fault of its holders or developers. As Cointelegraph reported on Tuesday, a new Bitcoin fund …

The wholesale embrace of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) mining for Bitcoin (BTC) could increase the cost of a 51% attack by a factor of up to 2,000. Rod Garratt University of California Santa Barbara presented the research he co-authored with Maarten van Oordt from the Bank of Canada at the Unitize conference on July 10. It examined the varying costs of a 51% attack on the Bitcoin network based on the type of equipment used to secure the network. The research suggests by simply switching the network 100% ASIC miners ongoing security can be enhanced greatly. The main reason is …

Goldman Sachs will host a conference call on May 27 titled US Economic Outlook & Implications of Current Policies for Inflation, Gold, and Bitcoin. On May 23, Mike Dundas, the founder of crypto media outlet The Block, posted a screenshot of the invitation for the call, revealing that the event will be hosted by Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, the CIO of Goldman’s Investment Strategy Group, alongside Harvard economics professor Jason Furman, and Goldman Sachs’ chief economist Jan Hatzius. Goldman Sachs appears to be warming to Bitcoin The news has been heralded as a milestone for the institutional adoption of crypto assets, appearing …

With the halvings for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) failing to drive a surge in demand, it appears that their block halvings may turn out to be non-events. Despite their halvings, BCH and BSV exhibited normal volume, and strong correlation with the crypto markets at large. Bitcoin forks fail to attract demand heading into halvings While at least six cryptocurrencies prepare to reduce their miner rewards in 2020, the market only appears interested in the forthcoming BTC halving. Within 48 hours of this writing, Bitcoin SV (BSV) will become the latest crypto asset to halve its block reward. …

Bitcoin Gold (BTG)’s price is being manipulated by a whale controlling close to half of the circulating supply. These are the findings of an analysis conducted by an independent trader and analyst, who preferred to remain anonymous. He published his findings in a blog post, where he explained why he believes a single group of people accumulated their way into a huge Bitcoin Gold position, and are now using that supply to control the market. Accumulation through Bitfinex The events started in August 2018, when Bitfinex margin long positions began its sharp ascent to include almost two million BTG. The …

The Bitcoin Gold (BTG) blockchain has suffered a 51% attack resulting in over $70,000 worth of BTG being double spent. According to a GitHub post by James Lovejoy, a researcher at MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative, the hard-fork of Bitcoin was hit by two deep reorganizations of over 10 blocks on Jan. 23 and 24. A 51% attack is a situation where a single entity or group controls over half of the hashpower securing a blockchain. This then allows control over confirmation of new transactions, and the power to reverse completed transactions, allowing the double spending of coins. Two 51% attacks …

California-based crypto wallet service Abra will restrict some services for American users starting from August. Abra will have to enforce some system modifications due to continued regulatory uncertainty in the United States, according to a blog post on July 25. Notably, American users will no longer be able to hold a number of cryptocurrencies, including EOS (EOS). U.S. users can’t hold certain altcoins Specifically, the platform will start migrating its smart contract-based synthetic assets to a native hosted wallet solution, adding that those assets are defined on Abra as anything other than Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin …

Twitter user and malware researcher Fumik0_ has discovered a new website that spreads cryptocurrency malware, according to a report by Bleeping Computer on June 5. According to the report, the host for transmitting these viruses is a website that imitates the website for Cryptohopper, a website where users can program tools to perform automatic cryptocurrency trading. When the scam site is visited, it reportedly automatically downloads a setup.exe installer, which will infect the computer once it runs. The setup panel will also display the logo of Cryptohopper in another attempt to trick the user. Running the installer is said to …

Crypto exchange Bittrex is set to delist Bitcoin Gold (BTG), a hard fork of Bitcoin (BTC), by Sept.14, after details of an $18 million hack of the BTG network in May emerged this week. How unexpected was this announcement coming from the exchange, and what are the chances for BTG now that it has found itself in the midst of yet another scandal? “One CPU one vote” ideology: How Bitcoin Gold was created Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is a hard fork of Bitcoin (BTC). It splintered off the original blockchain on Oct. 24 2017, at a block height 491,407. The project …

Crypto exchange Bittrex will delist Bitcoin Gold (BTG), a hard fork of Bitcoin (BTC), by September 14 following an $18 million hack of the BTG network in May, The Next Web reported September 3. Founded in 2017, the hard fork cryptocurrency Bitcoin Gold has suffered a “double-spending” hacking attack that reportedly allowed the unknown hijackers to take control of more than 51 percent of the BTG hashrate. The attack, which reportedly started on May 18, 2018, has managed to amass more than $18 million in Bitcoin Gold from various exchanges, including Bittrex. Following the hack, the Bitcoin Gold team explained …

Mining firm Argo Blockchain PLC has reportedly become the first crypto company to join the London Stock Exchange (LSE), raising around $32 million for a total valuation of about $61 million, The Telegraph reports August 3. London-based Argo offers customers to the ability to mine four cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), and Zcash — through their own computers or mobile devices for a monthly subscription fee. The service provides immediate access to the firm’s mining rigs and enables direct deposits of all mined coins to the users’ digital wallets. According to an initial admission document …