- Kaspersky: 1.6 million attacks by mining malware!
- A closer look: Bitcoin and the Bitcoin Market in the UK!
- Crypto Exchange BTCC stops trading in China!
- John McAfee and Alex Gurevich criticize JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon!
According to a report from the Russian IT security company Kaspersky, there were over 1.65 million attacks by mining malware in the first eight months of this year.
The number is based on computers that have installed Kaspersky Anti-Virus and blocked cyber attacks. If the virus protection had not been maintained, the malicious software could have taken control of the mining hardware. The owner would not have noticed anything at first.
The number of cyber attacks seems to be higher this year than in the previous year 2016. So there were a total of 1.8 million attacks, which were counted by Kaspersky a number, which should be cracked this year.
According to the report, several large botnets (group of automated malicious programs) were identified that were designed for mining activities. A quite worthwhile business, as crypto currencies can be mined into your own pocket with the computing power of other computers.
In principle, the numbers have to be taken into account, that these are only related to Kaspersky customers. The number of cyber attacks on miner world wide is unknown.
Bitwala, as Europe's leading payment processor for Bitcoin and Altcoins, has recorded how the adaption of crypto currencies in European countries is different. In this article, you can read how the Bitcoin market in the United Kingdom (UK), despite the historically grown financial focus of the country, lagged behind its neighboring countries.
While Bitcoin has already come a long way in terms of popularity and use in the rest of the world, the United Kingdom has been relatively slow when it comes to accepting the digital gold. The market capitalization of all crypto currencies, of which Bitcoin accounts for just 46%, is currently around 120 billion US dollars, roughly equal to the value of Goldman and RBS. The United Kingdom has not yet found its place in this field.
UK third in the ranking for Bitcoin transactions
The data collected over the past two years show that the United Kingdom is third in Europe, as measured by the number of Bitcoin transactions only Germany and the Netherlands surpass the UK in both trade volume and users.
Specifying the exact size of the British Bitcoin market is not as easy as Bitcoin is just for the privacy of its users. A report from the Bank of England from 2014 indicates that only about 1.2% of all Bitcoin trade sales were made with Pound Sterling.
Why is the trend in UK changing more in favor of Bitcoin?
The impact of the worsening economic indicators and the declining economy had had an obvious effect on the Pound Sterling and stock market. As a result of the effects of the breakthrough, the Bank of England has now revised down the projected growth for the second time this year. Accordingly, the probability of investors in Bitcoin seeing an alternative to the weakening Pound Sterling increases.
Around the world, citizens of countries with weakening currency are turning to crypto currencies to cushion the difficulties of the Fiat currencies. This includes countries whose currencies were particularly poor in 2017, such as Argentina, Belarus, Egypt, Venezuela and the United Kingdom.
Another reason is the high mistrust in conventional banking. In April 2017, the leaked documents of the Spanish bank Santander showed how the bank was able to make an income of 585 million euros (about 10% of its income) by international money transfer alone.
For Millennials, technology and online platforms play an important role in financial consulting, as they actively use technological advances. A Facebook study in 2016, however, revealed that 92% of all Millenials surveyed do not trust traditional financial institutions.
To break the standstill (or not?)
Bitcoin and other crypto currencies are known in the United Kingdom, but they still have an unclear legal status. Many classic banks regard growing awareness and the increasing number of users as a threat.
Despite the British government's pro blockchain attitude, UK commercial banks are supposed to prevent payment facilities for Bitcoin companies and close down the accounts of individual Bitcoin users.
While centrally organized organizations tend to be skeptical about decentralized crypto currencies, consumers have mixed feelings about bitcoin and peer-to-peer services as alternatives to British banks. In addition, older Britons have developed a deep confidence in their banks and are not interested in changing their habits.
China's second largest crypto exchange, BTCC, has announced that it will close its crypto exchanges in China as of September 30.
In a Tweet, the crypto exchange today said that the cause of the closure is due to the massive regulations of the Chinese authorities. Other business sectors such as the BTCC mining pool are not affected by the closure.
The uncertainty in the crypto markets is further reinforced by the announcement of BTCChina, as can be seen today in the sharp downturns. Within a week, the market capitalization of all crypto currencies has slipped from 160 to 120 billion US dollars.
It is still unclear at the moment how the regulation of the Chinese authorities will affect the crypto ecosystem in China. We have to wait further for other official statements, in the coming days in order to be able to assess the situation better.
Not only fundamental reasons have caused uncertainty in the week, but the comments of JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon that Bitcoin can be described as fraud and unsubstantiated have contributed to further consolidation in the markets.
John McAfee and Alex Gurevich have publicly criticized JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon for his statements on Bitcoin. He had previously declared Bitcoin as a fraud.
Jamie Dimon, the CEO of the investment bank JPMorgan, had called Bitcoin and all other blockchain based crypto currencies earlier this week as a "fraud". Thus, he had triggered a still ongoing collective price drop on the crypto exchanges and also attracted the anger of the global crypto community.
Now, several people in the industry have opposed him in the media. John McAfee, the founder of the computer security software and hardware manufacturer named after him, reported to the American TV channel CNBC. He addressed Jamie Dimon directly and told him that he respected him and did not consider him an idiot. However, he disagrees Dimon decisively and states that Bitcoin is actively created by the mining process, which costs more than 1,000 US dollars per Bitcoin. In contrast, a US dollar would only cost - negligible - printing and paper. This leaves him in doubt as to which of the two currencies is the true deception, since the Bitcoin, in contrast to the US dollar, is covered by the "proof-of-work".
Alex Gurevich, CIO at HonTe Investments, commented on Twitter. He also turned to Dimon personally and attested to him being a great boss and the "best banking CEO of all time". However, Dimon is neither a trader nor a tech entrepreneur and should be "STFU" in relation to BTC trading. So Gurevich chooses much tougher direct words than McAfee. It is particularly piquant that Gurevich had been a Head of Global Macro Trading at JPMorgan not so long ago.
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