Your Crypto News on Steemit January 9, 2018

• US Government can sell seized Coins!
• Telegram ICO: With over 3 Billion the biggest ICO ever?
• Meltdown, Specter, Electrum: What Bitcoin Users should know about the new Bugs!
• Green mining with Cointed and Nvidia!
• Dash sponsors the Sci-Fi Thriller Series HardFork!
• Chinese Authorities regulate mining!

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The US government may sell the seized coins (513 Bitcoin and 512 Bitcoin Cash) found during the investigation against Aaron Michael Shamo, a merchant on the so-called Dark Web.

513 Bitcoin and 512 Bitcoin Cash

The US government is expected to sell the coins that were found after the arrest of Aaron Michael Shamo in the coming weeks.

Already on May 31, 2017, Shamo was convicted along with other Dark Web merchants such as Drew Wilson Crandall, Mario Anthony Noble, and Sean Michael Gygi for a variety of crimes related to drug trafficking and money laundering.

After the defendants were convicted, the coins previously held by the criminals were confiscated and transferred to the United States Marshals Service (USMS). The US government said it was worried about the price volatility of selling the coins. It was also costly to keep the coins safe, it said in an official document, which was approved by Judge Dale A. Kimball.

The document states:

How the government lost $ 2.36 billion

Already last October there was a similar case. In the investigation against Silk Road, the FBI confiscated Bitcoins, which were later sold by the US government. At that time, the 144,336 bitcoins were sold for $ 336 each. The sale totaled $ 48.5 million. If the government had waited until now, the Bitcoin would now have a value of over $ 2.3 billion.

The government is expected to begin selling the 513 BTC and 512 BCH in the coming weeks. They are to be sold for the current market price of 9.4 million US dollars.

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The Telegram private news service app is considering the largest pre-ICO in history to finance its new blockchain platform and cryptocurrency.

Can the Telegram ICO become the greatest of all times?

As TechCrunch cites "multiple sources," Telegram plans to raise up to $ 500 million through private investors. His upcoming Telegram Open Network (TON) would use the tokens for internal user payments. I reported about TON in December, but the scale of the effort is only now becoming apparent.

According to sources, a series of private pre-sales alone would yield "up to $ 500 million." Then, a subsequent public distribution phase is planned to push the value of the token to $ 3 to $ 5 billion. This would make the Telegram ICO the largest presale ever to hit the market. That could even eclipse Block.One's ICO last month with a bid of $ 700 million.

Investors "outside the inner circle" of CEO Pavel Durov face a buy-in of at least $ 20 million. TechCrunch explains that one has to confine itself to buying TON tokens with Fiat instead of Bitcoin or Ethereum, as was the case with previous ICOs.

"Institutional top investment companies have expressed interest, but Durov is shying away from accepting its cash," the paper said. Russia continues its uncertain regulatory stance towards public ICOs.

Especially in Russia Telegram has been discussed controversially in recent months, after it had refused to hand over user data according to the data protection laws to authorities. A potential launch for the telegram ICO and its wallet has been set for Q4 this year, including all services due to follow in 2019.

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First Meltdown and Specter, then another bug in the popular Wallet Electrum: Those who do not care about their software now run the risk of losing their coins. I explain what the bugs mean to Bitcoin users - and how, maybe, you can protect yourself a bit.

Meltdown and Specter
Heise called Meltdown and Specter a "security core melt accident", and Bitcoin (Unlimited) developer Andrea Suisani said it was "the biggest bastard I've ever encountered in IT / computer security." It seems to be serious.

What's behind the bug is hard to explain. Heise and Wikipedia (Specter, Meltdown) can do that better than me. The short version is that virtually all processors manufactured by Intel and presumably by AMD in the last 20 years have an "out of order execution" that allows the processor speculatively to read and process memory contents - without the processor having to do so or has been authorized. This allows operating systems to clock better, which greatly increases processor speed.

The problem now is that this "out of order execution" can be exploited. The two attacks "Meltdown" and "Specter" are in principle two variations of attacks on this property of the processors. It allows a hacker to gain access to memory content - and, in principle, read out the private keys and passwords that are loaded into memory when you make a transaction using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. Your computer is potentially an open book.

What can you do to protect yourself? First, you should import updates if they are available. Windows has an auto-update, Debian has a regular update, and Ubuntu users still need to manually update the kernel. When in doubt, and if possible, keep your Bitcoin software closed until you have run an update. But even after that, you have no definitive security, as there are numerous known and unknown attacks on out-of-order execution, and it is not clear whether the updates will eliminate them all.

The attacks over the gap can be carried out mainly via the browser. For example, using a JavaScript that runs in the background of a page and reads your memory, while you think that they are surfing in peaceful terrain. Therefore, you should definitely update your browser. At least Firefox has already released an update that protects against the attacks. Chrome wants to catch up on January 23, but recommends using the site isolation option.

Nevertheless, you should consider your browser, at least temporarily, no longer as a friend, but as an enemy. Turn off JavaScript or allow it only for pages you trust. Use an adblocker or ghostery to reduce activity below the page surface.

But above all: Leave the browser closed if you do not need it. Try to avoid entering passwords or loading the private key into memory while a browser is open. Even if you have closed the browser, it may be that something is still running in the background. Therefore, you should click away all tabs before closing the browser, and then, for security, open it again, this time only with the Start tab.

Actual security can not give you that either. Larger amounts should therefore be stored on a cold wallet, for which one has generated the key on a computer that is not connected to the Internet.

Electrum

A few days ago, a bad security hole was closed in the popular Bitcoin wallet Electrum. You should definitely download an update, even before you open Electrum for the next time. This also applies if you use the Electrum-Fork Electron for Bitcoin Cash.

For those who want to know more, Electrum has an unprotected JSONRPC interface that opens a "local host" on the system. For normal users this is probably not necessary, but you need it to control the wallet via a web interface or to accept payments. Although Electrum chooses a random port for the local server, there are scripts to scan the ports.

The horror scenario is now: you have Electrum open and surf a website. On this website is a script that gets access to Electrum via the local RPC port. If the wallet is not password protected, the malicious webpage can simply transfer the saved bitcoins. Even if your password is weak, say, less than 8, maybe 10 characters, you should feel threatened. Because the script that accesses your Electrum via the RPC port may also contain code that makes a brute force attack on your password, which means that it works through the probability space to guess the password. Ironically, JavaScript also uses the power of your own computer.

But even with good password protection, an attacker can change options in Electrum via the local server. Whether this makes it possible to steal credits, for example by manipulating the entropy of the key generation, is not clear to me. But it's definitely an unpleasant scenario.

You can protect yourself by downloading an update. You should definitely do that. But basically, you should be aware that other similar attacks can lurk somewhere in the code. Protect yourself against them by using a strong password and being careful when choosing the websites you open. Do not let any website run JavaScript, and make sure that no website stays open all day.

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Digital currency mining is certainly an interesting source of income. However, Bitcoin mining alone accounts for 0.14% of global energy demand. Covering this need with something other than renewable energy would have a fatal impact on our environment.

Fortunately, more and more mining companies are switching to hydro and wind power plants, as confirmed in the current Bitcoin News.

Europe's larger Bitcoin ATM provider and crypto exchange Cointed is shaking up the 'green' mining industry. In order to be able to offer customers the best possible service, only custom-made hardware and software are used.

Cooperation with Nvidia

The company has pre-ordered 125,000 custom-made GPUs. In cooperation with Nvidia and Zotac these were adjusted particularly to Cointeds needs. 18,000 of them are already assembled in 2,000 rigs of 9 cards each and are fully operational in a Swedish warehouse.

Optimized mining rig

The rigs and GPU cases are tuned for optimal performance. To avoid overheating of the GPUs, the conventional fans were replaced by heat sinks. Adding fans to the chassis for better circulation improves cooling and simplifies maintenance. The motherboards have also been redesigned to work optimally with the other components.

In-house built software

One of the biggest advantages, however, is the software developed in-house. The team programs its own operating system and BIOS to increase performance and make the most of the components.

The customer owns the rigs

The best thing about mining with Cointed is that you own the own rig. The majority of Cointeds mining rigs are owned by the customers themselves. The company takes care of service and maintenance, and only charges a small fee. Whatever the GPUs earn, less this fee is the customer.

CTD token

Cointed is currently holding an ICO campaign to expand the company. The CTD tokens are the only way to use the deals on Cointed. Some of the advantages are:

Discounts on ATM fees, software licenses and exchanges
Mining: 15% discount on rigs and 5% on hosting fees
Access to GPUs with 25% more power and in-house BIOS
Discounts on crypto cards
PayCo Discounts: 15% POS and 20% lower fees
5% lower hosting fee
15% discount on mining equipment
For more information go to cointedtoken.com or read the white paper.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this post is not a recommendation for purchase or sale. It is only an opinion of me the author. They serve merely to describe the project and are not to be understood as an investment analysis.

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HardFork, a thriller series that focuses on blockchain technology, is sponsored by the Dash network.

The producers describe HardFork as a "crypto-noir thriller in which decentralized fractions of the near future are working to overthrow the centralized government." One of the series' goals is to publicize blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in a popular way by presenting a featured entertainment show in a popular manner. The proof-of-concept teaser trailer had been produced for the Dash community before the proposal was launched.

According to director Doug Karr, the team's interest in the Dash Proposal System led to a deeper exploration of the possibilities offered by Dash, and then a proposal was launched:

The Dash DAO is one of the few ways to get paid directly by a blockchain

In addition to mining or operating remunerated nodes, such as Masternodes or Nodes in proof-of-stake coins, Dash's Treasury System is one of the few ways to get paid directly through a blockchain, rather than working for an organization that owns cryptocurrencies. to pay employees and contractors. Karr was already familiar with projects such as Steem, which allow for a degree of self-financing, but was impressed with Dash's ability to maintain a decentralized Autonomous Organization and the opportunities that this brings with it:

HardFork producer and actress Naomi Brockwell already had similar experience with blockchain-based financing models, and was also impressed with the Dash community:

The Dashs proposal process provides an intensive learning experience

While sponsorship is an opportunity for both Dash and the HardFork team, the proposal process was not a smooth one. Until the last minute it seemed like the proposal would not be accepted. Karr described the overall experience from start to finish:

For more information and updates go to @hardfork-series!

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Following the banning of cryptocurrency trading and Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) issuance in China, the miners are now also being targeted, Bloomberg reports. Several companies have already announced plans to expand their business to other countries. The business for miners is becoming increasingly difficult in China as they will have to submit a status report to the local authorities on a monthly basis. In the long term, they should be moved to the complete exit from the mining business with the new order.

The local authorities of Xinjiang Province have recently issued an order to limit power consumption by mining cryptocurrencies. The schedule should be based on media reports on a decision by the Chinese central bank last Wednesday. According to this, the miners must in the future submit a status report on their activities every four weeks. The province of Xinjiang in northwestern China wants to act against "highly speculative and energy-intensive" companies that specialize in the digging of digital currencies. According to the order, this is intended to limit financial risks and induce companies to turn to other business areas. The ultimate objective of the measures ordered is to persuade companies to opt out of mining in the long term. All affected companies must notify each month by no later than the 5th, what is their business or when the exit should be carried out. Chinese miners play a major role in maintaining bitcoin, for example, in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, electricity is very cheap. The action against high power consumption should now be coordinated. This could be the pricing of electricity, the amount of taxes to be paid or other environmental measures, for example, in order to induce entrepreneurs to abandon them sooner or later.

The news agency Bloomberg reports the expansion of mining company Bitmain to Singapore, the US and Canada. Competitor BTC.Top, however, wants to establish branches in Canada. The decision was made for Canada on the basis of relatively low energy prices and the stability of political and economic conditions, BTC.Top founder Jiang Zhuoer told Bloomberg. ViaBTC, however, announced new offices in Iceland and the US.

Even though the price of electricity in some Chinese provinces is unrivaled, all mining companies will sooner or later have to relocate their headquarters completely abroad. The government in Beijing has been very anxious for months to regain full control of all cash flows. Unless the current measure should bring the desired success, the next logical step would be the complete ban on all Chinese miners. That would be a bitter setback for the community as well as for the cryptocurrencies themselves.

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@danyelk