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Online identity company Lifelock has filed another lawsuit against bitcoin wallet startup Xapo founder Wences Casares.

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The biggest competition of its kind, Demo Day, hosted by ChainB during the International Blockchain Week, featured 17 ethereum based projects, out of 31, with the overall winner Uport, an Ethereum based blockchain identity project. Speaking to CCN, Uport’s co-founder Rouven Heck, stated: We are very excited about the great feedback for uPort over the […]

The post Uport, An Ethereum Based Identity Project Wins the Blockchain Competition appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Two brothers in Rotterdam in the Netherlands alleged to have stolen electricity to power a bitcoin mining operation in 2014 face months in prison, if prosecutors get their way. In the first case of its kind in the Netherlands, prosecutors are seeking prison time for two brothers who engaged in a bitcoin mining operation fueled […]

The post Bitcoin Mining Brothers Face Prison Time for Stealing Electricity appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

In the latest round of a long-standing feud, bitcoin investor Roger Ver is suing bitcoin exchange OkCoin for $570,000.

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Bitcoin price has shown no reaction to yesterday’s Fed rates announcement. Price holds above critical support. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now. Bitcoin Price Analysis Time of analysis: 12h00 UTC Thursday Bitstamp 1-Hour Candle Chart From the analysis pages of xbt.social, […]

The post Bitcoin Price Testing Critical Support appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Press Release: With over 16 cryptocurrencies in a highly competitive and volatile market, customers are looking for a way to exchange their cryptocurrencies in the fastest and most affordable manner. This is exactly what CoinVert.IO aims to be – a reliable and instant cryptocurrency exchange with the lowest rates. Cryptocurrencies are fast becoming a preferred […]

The post CoinVert.IO Is Disrupting the Cryptocurrencies Exchange Market appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Recent years have brought significant misunderstanding of the term decentralization as it pertains to Bitcoin. Literally, it means the...

The post Guest Post: What Is the True Meaning of "Decentralization" in Blockchain Technology? appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Press Release: San Francisco, Calif. — A new digital currency, called eQuid, offers a new way to pick up the tab that capitalism can’t afford for humanitarian services. Using the power of digital currency, eQuid will build a sustainable economy that answers for the shortcomings of capitalism. While capitalism rewards hard work and creativity, it […]

The post eQuid Uses Digital Currency to Mobilize a Sustainable Economy appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

There is going to be a big shift by 2021 such that the convergence of technological, economic, and demographic trends will transform the wealth industry and unlock immense global wealth across a diverse universe of investors. This is according to a study by Roubini ThoughtLab, an independent thought leadership consultancy, in a white paper produced […]

The post Asset Managers See Blockchain Adoption by 2021 appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

IBM announced that it has signed a contract with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) to apply blockchain technology to the design,...

The post IBM and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Develop Blockchain-Powered Contract Management System appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin investor and early evangelist Roger Ver is suing a Hong Kong website operator for 4.40 million HKD, approx. 567,000 USD, over an alleged breach of agreement from the operator’s part. Roger Ver, an early bitcoin adopter who is now a fervent proponent and investor in bitcoin and its industry is suing OKEX Fintech, a […]

The post Roger Ver is Suing a Hong Kong Firm Over ‘Bitcoin.com’ Revenues appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Two attempts to increase Bitcoin’s block size limit via hard forks — Bitcoin XT and Bitcoin Classic — have failed to gain much support in...

The post Roger Ver Is Still Determined to Increase the Bitcoin Block Size Limit via a Hard Fork appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

A group of banks is testing blockchain technology as a way to better manage reference data for the products they trade. Seven banks, including Citi, HSBC and Alliance Bernstein (AB), has joined R3, a bank consortium studying blockchain, and Axoni, a blockchain technology firm that uses blockchain in settling derivative transactions, to determine if the […]

The post Banks, R3, Explore Blockchain Tech For Managing Reference Data appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Seven years on, bitcoin still remains the largest digital currency by market capitalization. While bitcoin may have been the most volatile...

The post Op-Ed: Bitcoin’s Journey to Digital Reserve Currency Status appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

A new partnership between Indian bitcoin exchange Coinsecure and global money transfer platform OKLink – a spinoff of Chinese bitcoin exchange OKCoin – will see digital currency and fiat remittances to Indians using blockchain technology. Indian citizens will soon be able to send or receive funds in bitcoin and the local fiat Indian rupee from […]

The post India to see Bitcoin and Blockchain Remittance from New Partnership appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Many crimes can be solved by following the money, and that may hold true for the growth of ransomware attacks — though the money itself may be different.

Countering the increasing use of ransomware — malware that attacks computers and networks and encrypts files, which criminals then demand payment in order to decrypt — may require action against hard-to-trace cryptocurrencies like bitcoin that are often used to pay the criminals behind the attacks, according to David S. Kris, former assistant attorney general at the US Department of Justice's national-security division.

"I think the way to attack this — and I think the way you’re probably going to see some legal change over the next few years — is on the other end, with respect to the payments," Kris said during the question-and-answer session of a Center for Strategic and International Studies panel event.

"And as I understand it — again, without having studied it too extensively — is that, you know, fintech is what is enabling this, cryptocurrency," Kris added.

Reports of ransomware use have increased considerably in recent months.

"In the last six to 12 months, this has just gone so aggressively to the business environment," Marcin Kleczynski, CEO of cybersecurity company Malwarebytes, told Business Insider in August. "We see companies from 25 people all the way to 250,000 people getting hit with ransomware."

Tech firm Kaspersky Lab said this summer that the number of victims attacked was growing at an alarming rate — up from 131,000 in 2014-2015 to 718,000 in 2015-2016, according to AFP. Some researchers have seen a 3,500% increase in the web infrastructure needed to run ransomware campaigns.

According to Kleczynski, some banks have begun stockpiling bitcoin — which currently trades about about $600 to one — in case of a ransomware attack. "I talked to a couple of banks, and they say they have 50-100 bitcoin ready at all times in a wallet to deploy if a ransomware attack hits," he told Business Insider's James Cook.

A report this summer found that hackers employing ransomware could pull in as much as $7,500 a month. And while individual victims are usually only hit with demands for a few hundred dollars, the likelihood that they will pay has made ransomware an appealing venture for hackers.

And financial-services firms and individual people aren't the only potential targets.

A NASCAR team admitted to paying hackers after its computers where hit with a ransomware attack. In August, security researchers demonstrated a ransomware attack on a smart thermostat, raising the possibility that Internet of Things devices will come into the crosshairs.

The appeal of ransomware has no doubt been burnished by cryptocurrencies like bitcoin coming into the mainstream.

"I personally would not be surprised to see over the next few years increasing regulation that maybe makes it more challenging for these kinds of anonymous, substantially untraceable — I don’t want to say it’s completely untraceable — payments to be made," Kris said during the CSIS event.

"I think probably where you’re going to see legal change is in the area of the payment scheme. That may be wrong, but that’s sort of what I expect."

However authorities choose to counter the use of ransomware, it's unlikely the threat will go away any time soon.

"The extortion model is here to stay," a Kaspersky Lab expert said in a statement about rising ransomware attacks on Android users.

SEE ALSO: San Diego's largest cash seizure ever may shed light on an overlooked aspect of the drug trade

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NOW WATCH: Mac users are being attacked by malware that locks their computer and demands a $400 ransom — here’s how to protect yourself