One of China’s biggest bitcoin exchanges recently stopped trading after regulators ordered all digital currency exchanges to close — demonstrating traditional institutions’ nervousness about distributed trust technologies. In this 2013 photo, a staff member at Bitcoin mining company Landminers in southwestern China checks a computer used for that purpose. (Chinatopix via AP) Marc-David L. Seidel,Continue reading “Beyond Bitcoin: The power struggle over trust-based technology”
Author Archives: Schmitt Trading Ltd
By concealing identities, cryptocurrencies fuel cybercrime
Can criminals use cryptocurrency to hide their identities and activities? Elnur/Shutterstock.com Ari Juels, Cornell University; Iddo Bentov, Cornell University, and Ittay Eyal, Cornell University When hackers hold their victims’ data for ransom, as happened in the WannaCry and NotPetya ransomware attacks that spread across the globe in mid-2017, a key to the criminals’ success isContinue reading “By concealing identities, cryptocurrencies fuel cybercrime”
What’s holding up the blockchain?
Cryptocurrencies are still the only usecase for the blockchain. Shutterstock Philippa Ryan, University of Technology Sydney It’s not technology or regulation holding back the blockchain – software that stores and transfers value or data across the internet – we just haven’t figured out the next big use-case. Two reports released this week by the CSIRO’sContinue reading “What’s holding up the blockchain?”
How many satellites are orbiting Earth?
Thousands of the satellites orbiting Earth are small – like this cubical satellite seen here being released from the International Space Station. NASA, CC BY-NC Supriya Chakrabarti, University of Massachusetts Lowell CC BY-ND It seems like every week, another rocket is launched into space carrying rovers to Mars, tourists or, most commonly, satellites. The ideaContinue reading “How many satellites are orbiting Earth?”
Without smarter governance, blockchains will fall victim to more attacks
Once trust in blockchain is broken, it will be hard to get back. Image sourced from shutterstock.com Benjamin Dean, Columbia University Companies around the world are exploring blockchain, the technology underpinning digital currency bitcoin. In this Blockchain unleashed series, we investigate the many possible use cases for the blockchain, from the novel to the transformative.Continue reading “Without smarter governance, blockchains will fall victim to more attacks”
Price hikes in Ether and Bitcoin aren’t the signs of a bubble
Jason Potts, RMIT University and Ellie Rennie, RMIT University When there is a rapid growth in any of the crypto-currencies and assets such as Bitcoin, Ether, Zcash and others, many will call it out as a bubble. Indeed, on a relatively short time scale it clearly looks like a bubble. The entire crypto-currency market capitalisationContinue reading “Price hikes in Ether and Bitcoin aren’t the signs of a bubble”
Bitcoin’s central appeal could also be its biggest weakness
Shutterstock Corina Sas, Lancaster University Bitcoin reached a huge new peak in value in June 2017, when one unit of the virtual currency was worth US$2,851 (£2,208), up from around US$600 just a year earlier. More than 10m people worldwide are now thought to own bitcoin and more than 100,000 merchants accept it for goodsContinue reading “Bitcoin’s central appeal could also be its biggest weakness”
4 strategies for a UN breakthrough on energy and climate change
Reducing fossil use and increasing renewable energy worldwide are crucial to both sustainable development and fighting climate change. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images Morgan Bazilian, Colorado School of Mines and Dolf Gielen, Colorado School of Mines Two important events hosted by the United Nations are coming up that are widely hoped to help address what the U.N.Continue reading “4 strategies for a UN breakthrough on energy and climate change”
The blockchain could have better security than the banks
Voice authentication technology could be used to increase blockchain security. Merrill College of Journalism/flickr, CC BY-NC-SA Timothy McCallum, University of Southern Queensland and Luke van der Laan, University of Southern Queensland There are ways to improve the online ledger blockchain by taking some security notes from banks. If people could use both two-step verification andContinue reading “The blockchain could have better security than the banks”
The big business revolution: why the future is blockchain
Shutterstock Rob Gowers, Anglia Ruskin University and Jukka Aminoff, Anglia Ruskin University The value of one bitcoin recently hit a record high of US$3,025, a staggering rise of over 200% in value this year alone. Aswath Damodaran, professor of finance at the New York University, known as Wall Street’s “dean of valuation”, has said thatContinue reading “The big business revolution: why the future is blockchain”