Digital Currency, Akoin and Blockchain Voting: Bad Crypto News of the Week

Published at: Aug. 22, 2020

It’s back to stability for Bitcoin this week as the currency continues to knock at the $12,000 ceiling. Where will it go next? One analyst sees a Battle Royale as whales try to push towards $14,000. Other investors are more optimistic. They see Berkshire Hathaway’s recent sale of bank stocks and purchase of stock in a gold mining company pushing the price to $50,000. If Warren Buffett is souring on the banking system though, he’s late to the party. Kim Dotcom got there two years ago — and has reminded his followers that he advised them to buy Bitcoin.

The Federal Reserve might be catching up though. Governor Lael Brainard has revealed that the Fed is conducting research into a digital dollar. One partner to that research is MIT, which will develop, test, and research a digital currency over two to three years.

The Fed isn’t the only one waking up to the power of the blockchain. The United States Postal Service has applied for a patent for a secure voting system. The system uses the blockchain to secure mail-in voting. A start-up in Bulgaria is offering cryptocurrency to travelers whose flights are delayed for at least an hour. In South Korea, a million drivers have already swapped a physical license for a blockchain-backed version used with a smartphone app. The program only launched in May.

Senegal, though, might make South Korea look small. Akon, the Senegalese-American star and philanthropist, says his $6 billion Akon City will run on the Stellar-based Akoin cryptocurrency. His real-life Wakanda is already 85 percent complete, he says. Ripple is aiming even bigger. Under new CEO Brad Garlinhouse, the company is trying to become the Amazon of the cryptocurrency world. It’s looking to move beyond cross-border payments and promote the creation of new applications on the Ripple network.

Both of those projects lie in the future but at least some of the much-hyped blockchain-based smartphones and smartwatches are already out. Samsung’s Galaxy S10 has support for more than 30 cryptocurrencies in its wallet and the company’s KlaytnPhone rewards users with 2,000 Klay tokens. Blockchain company Sirin Labs’s Finney has built-in cold storage, as well as a DApp ecosystem. Cold storage is also a feature of watchmaker Franck Muller’s Encrypto watch. The dial also has a QR code for receiving Bitcoin payments. And in the world of social media, Ignite, a blockchain-based microblogging platform is trying to offer an alternative to state-censored social media platforms.

The development of blockchain usage isn’t all super-cities, smartwatches, and social media though. Asia is looking to the blockchain for protection against online crime during the pandemic. It looks like they’re on the right track. Binance has recently helped Ukraine’s cyber police to identify and arrest criminals involved in a $42 million ransomware and money laundering operation.

And finally, while the cryptoworld is generally full of smart people with big brains, someone just paid 40 ETH, around $17,000, for a digital picture of a cat drawn by Paris Hilton. The money will go to charity, so maybe we can just say that the cryptoworld is full of people with big hearts.

 Check out the audio version here:

Joel Comm is an internet pioneer, New York Times best-selling author, futurist speaker and co-host of The Bad Crypto Podcast. That’s a fancy way of saying he writes words, says things and loves to play with cryptos.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Tags
Tor
Related Posts
The Great Reset and accredited investors: Bad crypto news of the week
Bitcoin was down a bit this week, stopping just above $11,000. That increase in volatility is only to be expected, say some experts, as we approach the end of some BTC futures and options contracts. Other contributors to increased volatility include Bitcoin’s long period of consolidation and a key resistance level. But what happens next? World leaders have been discussing the role of cryptocurrencies during The Great Reset, the time that will follow the end of the pandemic and the reopening of world economies. As some leaders look for a new kind of capitalism, the cryptocurrency industry is hoping for …
Bitcoin / Aug. 29, 2020
Bull Runs, Mining, and Tor Attacks: Bad Crypto News of the Week
Last week, the Bitcoin news was all about lift-off. This week, it’s all about the leveling off. Bitcoin ends the week around $11,400, a fall of about 2.7% over the last seven days. That drop included a correction of $700 in one day so the question now is whether the bullish moment has gone or will Bitcoin push on to $15,000? Its first mission will be to break the resistance at $12,000. Bitcoin failed to do that twice in ten days but consolidated after each failure, which some experts believe is evidence of a continued bull run. MicroStrategy, a publicly-traded …
Bitcoin / Aug. 15, 2020
FCoin Blames Poor Auditing for Shutdown, but Others Suspect Exit Scam
Less than two years after bursting onto the scene, Chinese crypto exchange FCoin has shut down its operations. The platform, founded by Zhang Jian, also says it may be unable to pay the 7,000 to 13,000 Bitcoin (BTC) — about $67 million to $125 million — that is owed to its customers. Jian, the former chief technology officer of Huobi, tried to explain the reasons for the platform’s insolvency, identifying poor auditing practices. Crypto pundits, however, say there is a more sinister aspect to FCoin’s demise — one that involves a cleverly orchestrated exit scam by the platform’s hierarchy. An …
Bitcoin / Feb. 22, 2020
Crypto hacks are set to hit all-time highs in 2022, analyst explains
Reducing the amount of hacking by improving cybersecurity should be considered a top priority for the crypto industry, said Kim Grauer, director of research of blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis. As pointed out by the firm, this year could outpace 2021 in terms of crypto stolen through hacks. The vast majority of these exploits have been targeting the field of decentralized finance. “This can't go on in the industry because people are going to lose faith in investing in DeFi platforms”, Grauer said in an interview with Cointelegraph. Unlike centralized exchanges, which have improved their resiliency to crypto hacks, decentralized protocols …
Blockchain / Oct. 19, 2022
Here's how to quickly spot a deepfake crypto scam — cybersecurity execs
Crypto investors have been urged to keep their eyes peeled for "deepfake" crypto scams to come, with the digital-doppelganger technology continuing to advance, making it harder for viewers to separate fact from fiction. David Schwed, the COO of blockchain security firm Halborn told Cointelegraph that the crypto industry is more “susceptible” to deepfakes than ever because “time is of the essence in making decisions” which results in less time to verify the veracity of a video. Deepfakes use deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) to create highly realistic digital content by manipulating and altering original media, such as swapping faces in …
Blockchain / Jan. 13, 2023