Coin News

Bitcoin is gradually integrating with traditional currency, as two recent innovations demonstrate. Coinimal, a Vienna, Austria-based crypto broker, has launched a service to allow customers to use bitcoins for purchases on Amazon.de. Bitstamp, meanwhile, is making it easier to buy bitcoin with credit and debit cards. Coinimal users can now receive an Amazon.de voucher code via email by […]

The post Coinimal And Bitstamp Make Using And Buying Bitcoin Easier appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

BitGem Asset Management Ltd. (BAM) and its parent company, Precious Investments Inc., will launch a crowdsale for what they call the first diamond-backed cryptocurrency, PinkCoin, an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency backed by a pool of fixed-colored diamond assets. The crowd sale begins on Jan. 18, 2016 at 9 a.m. The escrowed diamonds are insured by Lloyds of London […]

The post Crowdsale Set Jan. 18 For PinkCoin, The First Diamond – Backed Cryptocurrency appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

CCN is looking for journalists and writers interested in writing about cryptocurrencies, crypto-technology, Fintech and all other relevant topics you have been accustomed to reading on CryptoCoinsNews. Applicants with a knack for unique content backed up by research and opinion will be given precedence. CryptoCoinsNews covers news, features and interviews about Bitcoin, alternative currencies, Fintech, […]

The post Write for CCN appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Using 3-D printers, Bitcoin and the Internet of Things are just a few ways to stay ahead of the digital game this year

'Mike Tyson's Digital Wallet' is a mainstream service that lets consumers buy and sell bitcoin at any bitcoin ATM

BitFury, the third-largest mining operation by total hashrate, announced in December that it will be mass-producing its custom 16nm ASIC chip and selling the chip directly to consumers.

“Each chip will achieve 40-55 GH/s at the highest possible efficiency of 0.055-0.07 J/GH. From 55 GH/s to 180 GH/s the chop follows nearly linear slop of efficiency from ~0.06 J/GH to 0.2 J/GH,” said Valery Vavilov, CEO of BitFury, in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine . Further, the 16nm chip is capable of running with a power supply voltage of 0.35 V.

The cooling mechanism used with these mining chips is an important factor in determining the maximum hashrate. According to the company’s announcement, for miners using a traditional air cooling setup, the ASIC will be able to reach hashing power of 140 GH/s. However, by using liquid immersion cooling, the chip can reach hashrates of up to 184 GH/s. In October, BitFury announced that it would be using 3M’s Novec 7100 Engineered Fluid for immersion cooling in its data centers.

BitFury partnered with GUC, a Taiwanese ASIC design service company, to design the custom 16nm chip. “We have worked closely with BitFury’s experienced IC designers and we are glad to assist BitFury to achieve this outstanding result. GUC is proud that the BitFury-GUC partnership resulted in the first 16nm full custom tape-out for both parties,” said Jim Lai, President of GUC, in a statement.

As the size of the chip gets smaller, it becomes increasingly difficult to mass-produce them.

“Needless to say, this technological advancement didn’t come easy and there were challenges to getting there but we are extremely pleased with the result,” said Vavilov.

While the chips are being produced, there are no miners incorporating the chip are yet being manufactured.

“We are working on several designs and will announce in near future,” said Vavilov. “We are planning to roll out the products starting from late Q1 2016. Price point will be determined by the total performance of the product and will be lower by $/GH than anything that is available on the market at this time.”

A Trend Toward Decentralization

Throughout 2015, there was a growing concern among the Bitcoin community that the mining space was centralizing, with the larger operations continuing to grow their share of the network and building new mining farms.

However, with the recent launch of the Antminer S7, the BW miner, the new Avalon ASIC, and now the BitFury, it appears that smaller miners are able to purchase the newest, most efficient, and cutting-edge chips developed by the large chip manufacturers.

“BitFury is fundamentally committed to being a responsible player in the Bitcoin community and we want to work with all integrated partners and resellers to make our unique technology widely available ensuring that the network remains decentralized and we move into the exhash era together,” Vavilov told Bitcoin Magazine.

Jacob Cohen Donnelly is a consultant and journalist in the Bitcoin space. He runs a weekly newsletter about bitcoin called Crypto Brief .

The post BitFury to Mass Produce New 16nm Chip and Sell to Public appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The bitcoin price chart is becoming ambiguous as it approaches its first large move for the new year. Traders have been actively accumulating bitcoin, yet, regardless a potential sell signal is developing at the larger 4-hour timeframe. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? […]

The post Bitcoin Price May Fall Through The Line appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Andreas Schildbach, one of the developers of the popular Bitcoin Wallet app for Android and maintainer of alternative Bitcoin implementation Bitcoinj , calls for a block-size increase to allow for more Bitcoin transactions. Rather than relying on additional layers built on top of the blockchain, Schildbach believes the network should be designed to scale “on-chain”, too.

“I personally will not invest my time in lightning networks, at least not for solving the Bitcoin scalability issue,” Schildbach told Bitcoin Magazine .

The block-size dispute – which represents a trade-off between thenumber of transactions the Bitcoin network can handle and its decentralization – has taken a bit of a turn since a large segment of Bitcoin's academic and engineering community discussed the issue at the upcoming Scaling Bitcoin workshop in Hong Kong on the 6th and 7th of this month. Core developer and Blockstream co-founder Pieter Wuille’s Segregated Witness , in particular, is embraced by many within Bitcoin’s development community. As part of a scalability roadmap that needs no hard fork, the proposal could help allow added scaling layers such as the Lightning Network to be rolled out.

Schildbach, who maintains Bitcoinj alongside Mike Hearn (who’s also lead developer of Bitcoin XT) believes raising the block-size limit through a hard fork needs to happen sooner rather than later, however.

“The Segregated Witness proposal is very interesting, and could provide a valuable addition to the Bitcoin protocol once finished,” Schildbach said. “But blocks are already full. If we want everyone to use Bitcoin, then we need to make room for them. I believe this matter is urgent, given the time it needs to properly prepare for a hard fork. Bitcoin XT and Bitcoin Core developer Gavin Andresen has doneextensive tests that show that Bitcoin scales linearly up to 20 MB blocks, and improved block compression solutions such as 'thin blocks ' will decrease redundancy in block propagation, limiting centralization risks.”

While most within the Bitcoin development community believe the block size needs to be increased at some point even with Segregated Witness on the table, opinions still differ on when and how to do this, exactly.

Andresen's proposed solution,BIP 101 , was implemented by Hearn into Bitcoin XT, and is programmed to increase the maximum block size to 8 megabytes if a threshold of 75 percent of mining power accepts the change. Once activated, this limit is set to double every two years for 20 years, ultimately leading to an 8-gigabyte block-size limit.

An alternative idea isBlockstream CEO and hashcash inventor Dr. Adam Back's “2-4-8” quick fix, which would incrementally increase to the limit 8 megabytes over four years.

Similarly, Bitcoin Core developer Jeff Garzik’s BIP 102 (or his similar “BIP 202”), proposes a bump to 2 megabytes. Combines with Segregated Witness, this could effectively provide for up to 4 to 8 megabyte blocks, too.

Schildbach, who maintains Bitcoinj alongside Hearn, indicates to be willing to accept almost any solution the Bitcoin community decides on.

“I support any proposal that increases the block size limit, as long as it doesn't introduce pitfalls like the ability to decrease it,” he said. “If the community agrees on a fixed limit of just 2 megabyte, then so be it. It would likely lead to the same discussion in one or two years, but hopefully then the community will have learned from the pains of the 1 megabyte limit.”

Schildbach is sceptical about any solution that does not involve a block-size increase, however. According to the developer, whose Bitcoin Wallet has been downloaded more than a million times, additional layers built on top of Bitcoin designed to scale the system would make things needlessly complicated – and take too long to develop.

“The Lightning Network and similar proposals will cause a complexity explosion on Bitcoin as a whole,” Schildbach said. “It will take quite a while to implement, test, fix and roll out the protocol. I'm talking of years, rather than months. I'm aware Blockstream is working on the core implementation. But work on necessary infrastructure, like wallets and the payment protocol hasn't even started, as far as I know.”

Photo John Fowler / Flickr(CC)

The post Bitcoin Wallet Developer Andreas Schildbach: I Will Not Invest My Time in Lightning Networks appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

HSBC just promised to waive all charges customers may be incurring as a result of a two-day online banking outage due to a technical glitch. 

John Hackett, HSBC's UK Chief Operating Officer, told Business Insider in an emailed statement (emphasis ours):

"Our customers continue to have issues with HSBC online and mobile banking. We profoundly apologise for any inconvenience this has caused. 

"We will ensure customers do not lose out as a result of this issue. Any fees customers incur as a result of this outage will be waived. 

"There is a complex technical issue with our internet banking systems, and our IT team has been working non-stop since yesterday morning to find a solution. This has involved many tests, diagnostics and trial runs. We are getting closer to solving the problem, but are not there yet. We can, however, confirm this is not a cyber-attack or any other malicious act. 

"We have mobilised all our available resources to cope with the increased customer demand in our call centres and branches, and they are doing their best; however, due to very heavy volumes we ask for your patience.   

"We will continue to provide regular updates." 

Since Monday, HSBC customers are unable to access their online banking accounts and many are reporting they are able to get to their accounts via mobile banking.

On top of that, customers going on social media to ask HSBC for help after incorrectly being charged fees for going into or over their overdrafts, even though they have the funds in their accounts:

Some can't even transfer cash because of the online and mobile banking outage:

Some people are even reporting being stuck abroad without access to their accounts:

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The infamous pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli has been arrested

Today, bitcoin is thriving like never before. Or hadn't you heard?

The post Thought Bitcoin Was Dead? 2016 Is the Year It Goes Big appeared first on WIRED.

For traders who work with binary options, there is a new investment opportunity available that many savvy investors are looking into. With the popularity of binary options on the rise paired with the popularity of bitcoins becoming a popular form of currency, it was really just a matter of time before the two paired up. Several […]

The post Binary Options: Intriguing Investment Opportunity for Bitcoin Users appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

A number of hearings in the Pennsylvania state legislature to look into virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and their feasibility to be included in the “money transmitters” section of state law, has been cancelled due to budgetary issues, state representative Adam Harris revealed. Republican and state representative Adam Harris has provided interesting insight into a section […]

The post Pennsylvania State Law’s Take on Bitcoin Delayed appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Just as the Internet tore down informational disparities, technologies like bitcoin tear down economic disparities, says John Biggs.

A new bitcoin wallet app with the theme and endorsement of former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson was launched in Las Vegas with some fanfare yesterday. It’s arguably a gimmick. Still, a popular celebrity’s endorsement is enough to get the cameras clicking and the mainstream press to take notice. In a partnership with BitPay, Bitcoin Direct […]

The post Bitcoin Wallet App Promoted by Mike Tyson Gets Coverage appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

By Pete Sweeney and Samuel Shen

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's six-month-old campaign to calm share markets will be put to the test when stocks reopen on Tuesday, a day after selling triggered an unprecedented trading halt and risked undermining state rescue efforts estimated to have cost around $140 billion.

China's major stock exchanges tanked on the first trading day of the year on Monday, triggering a "circuit-breaker" that halted equities trade nationwide for the first time and put at risk months of regulatory work to restore market stability.

The selloff saw the CSI300 index <.CSI300> of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen lose 7.0 percent before trading was suspended, its worst single-day performance since late August 2015, the depth of a summer stock market rout.

And more weakness may be in the cards on Tuesday if the behavior of a U.S. exchange-traded funds tracking mainland China shares is a guide. The Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF slumped nearly 10 percent in U.S. trading, hitting its lowest since October 2014, before ending the session down 8.5 percent.

Shares of several Chinese firms that trade primarily in U.S. markets, and are not subject to Chinese trading restrictions, slumped as well. Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd shed 5.6 percent and Baidu Inc. fell by 2.7 percent. The Bank of New York Mellon China ADR Index <.BKCN> lost 4.0 percent.

The collapse, which followed the release of weak economic data, raises fresh doubts about regulators' capacity to wind back trading restrictions implemented in the wake of a summer stock market crash in which major indexes lost as much as 40 percent before Beijing intervened.

Many analysts attributed the decline to the imminent end of a six-month lockup on share sales by big institutional investors.

Major Chinese brokerages and asset management firms spent vast sums to buy up shares during the crash in a state-coordinated rescue that Goldman Sachs estimated at the time to have cost around 900 billion yuan ($138 billion).

"This is quite unexpected," said Gu Yongtao, strategist at Cinda Securities, said of Monday's fresh sell-off.

"The slump apparently triggered intensified selling, while the trigger of the circuit breaker seems to have heightened panic, as liquidity was suddenly gone and this is something no one has experienced before. It was a stampede."

Haitong Securities analysts had earlier estimated that up to 1.24 trillion yuan worth of shares would be freed up for sale by next Monday, assuming the lockup period is not extended.

The collapse in Chinese shares sent ripples across global financial markets, causing other stock markets to reel and stoking demand for safe-haven assets such as government bonds. [MKTS/GLOB] Major U.S. equity indexes were all more than 2 percent lower around midday. [.N]

Early trading in Asia markets on Tuesday showed prices easing further.

China's yuan currency hit its lowest level in more than four years in both onshore and offshore trade on Monday, amid nervousness about weakness in Chinese manufacturing despite Beijing's surprise currency devaluation in August.

Concerns about yuan selling have prompted China to start policing its currency market in a way traders have rarely seen before, levying penalty payments for aggressive trading and prompting some banks to turn down business. The central bank has also temporarily suspended at least three foreign banks from conducting some currency business, sources say.

CONFIDENCE DASHED

China's response to the summer market crash was seen by many inside the industry as heavy handed, as it included suppression of futures and derivatives markets and instilled fear as regulators pulled in brokerage executives for questioning about insider trading and "malicious short-selling."

While that stabilized indexes, it also suppressed trading volume and poured cold water on foreign investors, who began moving out of Chinese shares.

However, authorities recently showed signs they believed indexes had stabilized, in particular by allowing initial public offerings (IPOs) to resume in November, a vote of confidence given it was a flood of IPOs that was blamed for setting off the crash in the first place.

The circuit breaker mechanism was triggered on the day it came into effect. It halts trade for 15 minutes if the CSI300 index falls or rises 5 percent in a day, then suspends trade for the day if it continues to fall or rise to 7 percent.

Chinese individual shares had already been subject to a 10 percent intraday trading range.

Some analysts doubted the efficacy of the new measure.

"Without the circuit breaker mechanism, the market wouldn't have dropped so much," said David Dai, Shanghai-based investor director at Nanhai Fund Management Co.

"The mechanism deepened investor panic, and limited trading."

Dai added that the circuit breaker would embolden market bears, as they did not have to worry about a late-session rebound. He suggested it should be scrapped or modified.

Market reforms put on hold by the crash could be delayed further if the circuit breaker fails to calm markets - which had recovered more than 25 percent from the pit of the crash prior to Monday's correction.

A sell-off could prompt regulators to re-freeze IPOs to preserve liquidity, extend the share lockup to prevent more selling, and keep the "national team" of brokerages and asset managers on the hook to keep buying and holding stocks at a loss.

It could also further dent confidence in the China Securities Regulatory Commission and in the wider financial regulatory framework to manage increasingly complex markets even as China's economy struggles against major headwinds. ($1=6.53 yuan)

(Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Additional reporting by Dan Burns in New York; Editing by Sam Holmes and Mark Bendeich)

Join the conversation about this story »