Coin News

The BIP66 update was meant to align miners on stricter cryptographic signatures through a form of block chain Democracy. As part of the BIP rules, once 950 of the past 1,000 blocks upgraded to the newer version all miners would older version blocks. This morning the network met that goal and a small, non-upgraded miner mined an older version block. Instead of rejecting the block roughly half the network accepted it and the Bitcoin block chain forked between software versions. The bogus chain began when the BTCNuggets mining pool mined an out of date block. Though the main chain orphaned […]

The post Bitcoin Block Chain Forking appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

Switching back to the drachma would be chaotic if Greece has to ditch euros.

The country will hold a crucial referendum on Sunday. Millions of citizens will vote "Yes" or "No" on whether their government should accept a set of conditions that would unlock a fresh bailout program from euro-area creditors, and inject cash into the economy.

A "No" vote would leave Greece without emergency funding, the inability to continue to pay pensions, and could lead to further defaults down the road.

It could also mean ditching the euro as a currency and going back to the drachma.

A Bloomberg report on Saturday notes that recent instances where countries adopted new currencies (like the launch of physical euros in 2002) took several years of planning, and the support of the majority of citizens.

These two things aren't guaranteed for Greece.

The government has said it would retain the euro in the event of a "No" vote. But as Bloomberg notes, Greece's banking system relies on support from the European Central Bank that could be removed if the country votes "No."

And so, if Greece votes to reject creditors' proposals, it may be forced to revert to its old currency.

In an interview on Australian public radio Thursday, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said the country "smashed the printing presses" when it joined the euro.

This was to demonstrate that the newly formed monetary union was permanent and not an experiment.

Bloomberg reports that the government still has a press in Athens that prints euros. But switching to a new currency could take anywhere between six months and two years.

Apart from the logistical challenges, the drachma would likely start out very weak against the euro and other major currencies.

A report by Greece's Kathimerini newspaper on Saturday indicates that interest in Bitcoin has surged to hedge against a weak drachma in the event of a switch.

And so, while the government is advocating a "No" vote with Greece remaining in the euro, the economic realities of that decision may mean the drachma makes a painful comeback.

Head over to Bloomberg for the full story »

SEE ALSO: Yanis Varoufakis: Europe can't afford to let Athens go under

AND DON'T MISS: Here are the markets most exposed to the crisis in Greece

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 13 'all-American' foods that foreigners find completely gross

The current Bitcoin price correction, since the 30 June high around $265 and 1665 CNY, has been tracing a path similar to the previous 17-25 June correction. Should the market take this pattern to its logical conclusion, we can expect another advancing wave and for trade to take price to a new high. However, alternate scenarios may be introduced by developments in Greece, this weekend, and technical analysis looks for the pivotal price levels traders should look out for. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3 hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now […]

The post Bitcoin Price Looking To Greece This Weekend appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

Travis Patron argues that bitcoin is an intrinsically valuable form of money because it is regulated through time-bound algorithms.

Many were not surprised when NSA-contracted analyst Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the government organization, revealing massive, likely illegal domestic spying programs.

The post Metadata Doesn't Always Mean Metadata: New Snowden Revelations Reveal Government Spying Went Much Deeper appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

The premise behind tech start-up Blocktech's Alexandria project is pretty simple: the Library of Alexandria wouldn't have been destroyed had there been a back-up unless the back-ups had been destroyed too. As many readers are surely aware, the Library of Alexandria was an Egyptian wonder that was destroyed during a war which Rome (who at the time ruled Egypt) was losing. Obviously there is no footage from the event, but historical accounts contend that it was Caesar himself who inadvertently started the fire by burning his own ships. Mankind will never know how much we really lost from the Library […]

The post Alexandria Uses Block Chain to Preserve World's Knowledge appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

This episode is all about Bitcoin finances, from receiving part of your wages in Bitcoin to investing it. We spoke to the CEO of Bitbond, the peer-to-peer Bitcoin lending site about how their platform works. We spoke to Jonathan Chester, COO of Bitwage, the company that will let you receive part of your regular paycheck in Bitcoin with no hassle. We also had our own Venzen Khaosan that manages the bitcoin trading community xbt.social on for a discussion about the mechanics and mindset of trading bitcoins This episode also features the song "Give me a Sign" by the Canadian band […]

The post Podcast 11: The Bitcoin Finance Episode appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

Site-wide protests rippled through much of the popular message board on Friday