CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Hacking attacks occur at the least opportune times. Script.cc, a mining site, ran a server upgrade and later found its database had been breached. The company hopes to be up and running soon after moving to a new server following the attack that emptied its wallet. Script.cc recently posted a notice advising customers they are running audits on all accounts and once the accounts have been verified, account holders will be able to log in. ETA: June 30 “Our ETA stands at June 30th if everything runs smoothly, once we ‘relaunch’ all user balances will be available for withdraw,” the […] The post Hackers Attack Script.cc Following Server Upgrade; Mining Site Expects To Resume appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News. |
Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST And now we're laying it all out there. On Sunday, the European Commission published the latest offer made to Greece by its European creditors — the IMF, the ECB, and the EC — as both sides continue to lay bare their hands in the never-ending negotiations. On Friday night, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras announced that Greece would call a referendum for July 5 — after the June 30 expiration of Geese's latest bailout program — to vote on whether to accept the latest reforms. Earlier on Sunday, we highlighted a post from Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who published the complete text of his speech to Eurogroup finance ministers delivered on Saturday before the group went ahead and met without him. Right now, it basically looks like Greece is going to default on its IMF payment due Tuesday, which may or may not pave the way for Greece to exit the euro. In its release, the European Commission said: Discussions on this text were ongoing with the Greek authorities on Friday night in view of the Eurogroup of 27 June 2015. The understanding of all parties involved was that this Eurogroup meeting should achieve a comprehensive deal for Greece, one that would have included not just the measures to be jointly agreed, but would also have addressed future financing needs and the sustainability of the Greek debt... However, neither this latest version of the document, nor an outline of a comprehensive deal could be formally finalised and presented to the Eurogroup due to the unilateral decision of the Greek authorities to abandon the process on the evening of 26 June 2015. On the one hand, Tsipras and his government can argue they are simply utilizing the democratic process by having Greek citizens vote on whether to continue the austerity programs which have crippled its economy over the last several years. On the other hand, Tsipras could be seen as shirking responsibility by passing the buck on whether to agree to complex economic concessions — which have as-yet-unknown consequences, even for the most informed economists on the issue — to Greek citizens who, in fairness, are not going to be completely sure of what, exactly, they are voting on. Below is the entire text of the European Commission's proposals to Greece, or Fusion's Felix Salmon put it, "10 pages of incomprehensible Eurocratese."
SEE ALSO: What Yanis Varoufakis told the Eurogroup before they went ahead and met without him Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Take a tour of the $367 million jet that will soon be called Air Force One |
Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
For the tech industry, these are heady times. But economies and industries usually move in cycles. At some point the party has to end. We polled several tech industry insiders and investors to find out the biggest risks that they see out on the horizon. Here’s what they said: 1. Something happens that “breaks” the sharing economy business modelA ruling from a little-known California labor agency sent shockwaves through the tech sector earlier this month. The agency said a former Uber driver should have been classified as an employee, not an independent contractor and that Uber owes her $4,000 for expenses. The ruling applied only to one woman and Uber is appealing, but it underscored a potential vulnerability in the foundation of so-called “sharing economy” startups. Many of these companies are expected to overtake entire industries, premised on a business model that doesn’t involve the costs borne by incumbent players, such as hiring full-time employees and paying for worker’s compensation and social security. But if they're forced to treat their wokers as employees, their cost structure could totally change. That could potentially “break the model” for sharing economy startups, the thinking goes. “If you have to make these people employees, those businesses are less valuable than before,” says one hedge fund manager.
That said, regulatory changes often turn out not to be as severe as expected. In the early days of e-commerce many people worried that the Internet startups would be toast if they had to make consumers pay a sales tax, as their brick-and-mortar competitors did. But years after Amazon began making consumers pay a sales tax in many US states, people are still buying stuff on the web. Similarly, the benefits of some of the new sharing economy services are so great, consumer demand will continue to be high even if prices go up as these companies have to pass new costs along to customers. Of course, if a sharing economy service is banned outright, as French President Francois Hollande recently said Uber should be, that presents a bigger problem. 2. Public market investors get spookedThe proliferation of “unicorn” tech companies has to a large degree been fed by the money pouring in from new types of investors. These are not the venture capitalists that typically invest in tech startups in early stages. They are hedge funds and mutual funds hunting for big returns in a zero interest rate market. But those investors could easily get spooked by a major shock in the broader macroeconomic or geopolitical scene — say the eruption of a major conflict, or a sudden downturn in a major economy. Goodwater Capital co-founder Chi-Hua Chien lays out one possible scenario: “My guess is that some macro shock outside of our ecosystem will be the driver of a change -- geopolitical conflict, Greece, China, ISIS, something we can't even anticipate. When the public markets have a correction, the hedge funds and mutual funds will see their overall portfolios decline causing their illiquid investments in tech companies to instantly become a larger percentage of their overall portfolio than originally targeted. At that point, I expect to see many of them pull back from this market, focus on shoring up their public positions, and perhaps even seek liquidity for their illiquid private company investments.” The flight of public market investors would not only put an end to the big billion-dollar late stage funding rounds, but could also have a ripple effect on earlier funding rounds that are critical to smaller tech startups, says Jeff Clavier, the managing partner of VC firm SofTech VC. Those at greatest risk would be the “high burn companies that assume that there is a lot of cash available for top line focused high growth.” 3. Unicorns faceplant
And few companies have a higher profile right now than the tech-industry’s unicorns, particularly the companies with $10-billion-plus valuations like Uber, Palantir, AirBnb, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Dropbox. If one or two of these beasts stumble — say, a new competitor enters the market and undercuts them on price or they suffer a big regulatory change — the enthusiasm for similar companies could darken. A big IPO flop could also cause problems. Many tech IPOs are priced low to ensure that the stock pops on the first day of trading. But investor sentiment can be a fickle thing. If a high-profile tech company were to actually trade down on its Wall Street debut, whether because of a sudden change in investor sentiment on the company or a shifting IPO market, investors might rethink their other tech bets. The public markets have proven to be harsher judges of Web companies than private markets. Yelp, Twitter, and LinkedIn have all seen their stocks get punished in recent months as financial results and user growth metrics have not satisfied public market investors. So many of the current unicorns are thriving in a world where performance and valuations are determined and measured differently than they would be in the public markets. “Right now it seems like anything related to the sharing economy gets these huge valuations. But then you look at the real world of companies that have actually had to get valued by the market…and it gets rocky,” says the hedge fund manager. SEE ALSO: The tech industry is so insane, the comedy writers on 'Silicon Valley' can't keep up AND HERE'S ANOTHER ANGLE: The antitrust ruling against Microsoft was the top of the dot-com boom. History could repeat itself with Google Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's what happens when you drop an Apple Watch face down on cement |
CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Large corporations and government organisations are often targets for hackers, and as a result, rely on cybersecurity firms to provide security guidance. However, in an ironic twist, one cybersecurity firm may have actually hacked its own clients. Tiversa is a Pittsburgh-based security consultancy, and according to an ex-employee, Tiversa stages data breaches to extort clients. The post Cybersecurity Firm Tiversa Accused of Extortion appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News. |
CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Bitcoin price has reacted to the upside from the $240 level it has been trying all week. Our outlook was for decline once this level was breached, but today, following a surprise announcement by Greece that it will seek to exit the European Union defiantly and willfully default on its debts, Bitcoin started to advance. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3 hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now and receive a $29 discount using the code CCN29. Bitcoin Price Analysis Time of analysis: 16h59 UTC Bitstamp 1-Hour Chart From the analysis pages […] The post Bitcoin Price Advancing Strongly on Greek Defiance appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News. |
CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST In the below documentary, IamSatoshi Films explores the roots of Bitcoin. The film explores the aspect of Bitcoin that is often overlooked, how the political unrest of the early 2010s may have contributed to Bitcoin's success, as people were dissatisfied with the bailouts given to bankers earlier on. The allure of being one's own bank and having control of one's funds in the extreme would clearly attract those who were upset at the present system. The film presents original footage and interviews from 2012 to present day, painting a picture of Bitcoin which often is forgotten. The political roots of […] The post (Video) New Documentary Explores the Roots of Bitcoin appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News. |
CoinDesk, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Drinker Biddle & Reath's Charles Cowan looks at why insurance companies have so far hesitated to work with bitcoin companies. |