At the moment, as an active user of cryptocurrency and any other digital monetary systems, you put your hands (and your investments) on the network; you are instantly at risk of losing all, or at least a big part of your business or investment. There is a bunch of chances of having your money stolen. A lot of these methods and lies are subject of a serious investigation, and data analysis by a diverse group of companies, and experts. Digital robbery exists and it can inflict a lot of damage to finances at present.

Scams are everywhere online and cryptocurrency exchanges are likely to be vulnerable. As you consider investing in different startups and exchange platforms, be aware of a lot of possible ways of losing your cryptocurrency investments and business.

Criminal Events Still Remains Well Below 1%.

 A recent analysis in data showed that crypto scams have become a very usual cybercrime since 2019. The current 2020 drop in the value of crypto scams is related to the general absence of scams on a big scale like the Plustoken Ponzi.

The loss of cryptocurrency investments is a subject of discussion worldwide. Data also shows that the share of cryptocurrency-related crimes to overall crypto-activity even after a chain of recent criminal events remains well below 1%.

Still, the blockchain analytics states that those figures are just a fine layer covering something denser. Some experts say that the final numbers are eager to grow due to unreported and uncovered scams that have previously happened, and are still happening right now.

 Scams and other Cryptocurrency-Related Crimes are Not New

For the time being, it is important to say that scams and other cryptocurrency-related crimes are not new; it has been happening a lot during all these years. The most notable method to scam users is the impersonation of important persons or companies. Even social media accounts are being produced massively with the sole purpose to camouflage the crime.

 Begging for sending cryptocurrency with the promise of more in return is the typical argument these kinds of hackers, scammers, and other criminal organizations use to “fish” innocents and non-prepared users. This method is old and has turned into a supernatural force these days; this is mainly possible by the high connectivity and effectiveness that the Internet possesses.

Another source shows that this type of scam, trust trading, or secure trading has a high percentage of activity since 2018. There are a lot of confirmed reports that support this figure.

This data reveals that the most common social network used by hackers is twitter which has reportedly shown 13.14 BTC worth approximately $120,000.The analytics firm has identified three main addresses used by scammers but it also notes most of the stolen coins and funds were (in fact) consolidated in the bitcoin wallet address.

Whale Alert also saw several large BTC transfers on Monday afternoon but these bitcoins were sent to unknown wallets. The investigation is still ongoing, so there will be more information in the days to come.

By Jenson Nuñez.

A lighter weight Bitcoin full node is being designed by Lightning creator Tadge Dryja. The whole new full mode was set to be created since 2019 and the news came to light last week when Dryja and a team of coders unleashed the first look to the Utreexo software as a part of MIT Digital Currency Initiative (DCI). The phenomenal idea of putting lighter nodes into working codes was well received by the community.

Full Bitcoin nodes play the role of financial security systems; they are fully capable of validating blockchain transactions.  In the same vein, full bitcoin nodes protect the users from any external attack to trick with false transactions and ghost funding.

The advantage of these lighter nodes is simple; they are easy to deal with. Developers have been working hard during this time to make them more secure and build a most trustable environment for these nodes to accomplish their mission.

Utreexo’s main goal is to intercept the size of the state of a full node, whose mission is to give birth to data about how much bitcoin is around and who owns it. Utreexo brings a new dawn of scalability technology for a currency like Bitcoin, making bitcoin nodes smaller, and easier to work with.

 “A Still Unveiled Project”

The process has not been fully unleashed yet but the first version has received praises and some criticism based on skepticism. There is still a long path to walk by regarding this amazing project; users are currently able to use the nodes to settle up their finances.

Bitcoin full nodes hold every transaction ever made, clocking in at about 200 GB today. Full nodes can reduce the size of the transaction history to half a gigabyte, that’s incredibly low, Utreexo states that with this new cryptography is possible to create a replacement and set up a tiny cryptographic operation which takes much less storage and is easier to manage.

Looking Forward

Utreexo developers showed the total functionality of this wonderful idea; it can be possible, it can be a real product to be achieved sooner than later, but there are still some obstacles, such as bugs, to overcome. This will make nodes properly suitable for real funds.

The software is still on testnet (the bitcoin testing network) and it is not yet recommended to use it with real funds. There are still inefficiencies, lots of bugs, delays, updates that need to be arranged and fixed, but Dryja and the team are working fast. Therefore, progress and success are inevitable.

Utreexo soon will have to create compatibility with the already existent nodes on the network. There is a way to do this by creating modifications in the Bitcoin core, and this is a risk they have to face to succeeds, but this could be dangerous. Utreexo is “a significant re-thinking of how Bitcoin works, changing consensus-critical code,” Dryja writes.

By: Jenson Nuñez.

In recent days, the price of the precious metal exceeded USD 1,940 per ounce. Its previous all-time high was at USD 1,921, which it achieved in 2011.

Investors’ eyes are on the all-time high that gold recently reached since it exceeds USD 1,900 per ounce. At the time of writing this article, the price of the precious metal was at USD 1,943, well above the all-time high of USD 1,921 that it achieved on August 22^nd, 2011.

There has been an upsurge in the number of COVID-19 infections in the USA, along with the expected agreements in Congress regarding a new stimulus package for the economy. This situation seems to have led investors to seek refuge in assets such as gold, given the instability of the US fiat currency.

Besides, users’ search for securities that they perceive as safe-haven assets have influenced the rebound of the first cryptocurrency, which exceeds the USD 10,000 mark.

Effects of New Stimulus Package on Price of Gold

In recent days, the US Government is delivering the last checks contemplated in the first federal aid package in March, which exceeded an expenditure of USD 2 trillion. There have already been discussions about the details of a new phase of aid to the economy.

However, Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, recently officially announced a new issuance of checks to help the population. He stated that the government wants another round of direct payments to help American families continue to move toward the recovery of the country’s economy.

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) predicts a 40% contraction in the US gross territorial product for the second quarter. If the official results were worse than expected, there could be a further appreciation of gold, which would shoot its price above USD 2,000 per ounce.

At the beginning of July, the price of gold had approached the levels that it had reached in 2011. The reason for this is a growing interest from European and American investors and the decrease in imports from China and India.

Bitcoin Is the Alternative

The price of Bitcoin, together with that of gold, soared dramatically on July 27^th. Without any doubt, both assets are investors’ preferred stores of value.

At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin is trading at USD 11,200, with a 12% gain in the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Both Bitcoin and gold have great medium and long-term potential, making them very secure assets. For that reason, users come to them to safeguard value in times of turmoil like the current one.

Until now this year, gold has achieved a yield of 28.8%, while that of Bitcoin has been 55.4%.

In a few words, investors can be confident that these assets are the best options in the market, in particular the pioneering cryptocurrency. The ability of Bitcoin to recover from all-time lows has confirmed this on many occasions.

By Alexander Salazar

The Valladolid City Council aims to support entrepreneurs and create more jobs. Its strategy focuses on Industry 4.0 to improve the quality of life of citizens.

The Valladolid City Council signed an agreement with the Alastria and Data Economy Spain consortium to activate a protocol based on blockchain to boost its digital economy.

The agreement that the City Council signed on July 24^th focuses on the digital transformation of both public and private management. The strategy focuses on how smart cities can improve the quality of life of citizens, unite, support talent, and create an industrial network.

President of Alastria María Parga said that the signing of the protocol will allow the promotion of new business models. Besides, she said that this would promote blockchain-based use cases to drive economic development and sustainability, in line with the Digital Spain initiative and European projects for digital transformation.

The agreement will also promote partnerships between the private sector, the public sector, and the University to support entrepreneurs. In this way, the City Council seeks to encourage the creation of jobs, according to a post on its official website.

In the university environment, the protocol will encourage the creation of business chairs or classes to conduct academic, cultural, research, or knowledge transfer activities around the data world, as the statement specifies.

The Mayor of Valladolid, Oscar Puente, stated that the protocol considers the promotion of the digital economy through technological enablers linked to data, such as Big Data, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology.

Data Economy Spain is a platform aimed at the development of projects related to the data economy at a multisectoral level. The other ally of Valladolid is Alastria, which fosters the digital economy through the development of decentralized technologies and collaboratively encourages new digital economy models, promoting the collaboration of the private and public sectors.

Emilio del Prado, president of the association Data Economy, said that they are working jointly with the University of Valladolid on the creation of a national research center, and the development of a chair of ethics in the use of data, as part of the agreement.

Valladolid in a Digital Transformation

The city also has the “Valladolid Lab-City Demonstration Stage”, a space in which they promote projects that are still in the trial period and require the go-ahead before leaping into the market.

City mayor Oscar Puente explained that the Valladolid Lab program aspires to join the European Network of Living Labs. Their objective is to promote the role of public agencies in the development of innovation.

The development of blockchain projects is increasingly gaining momentum in Spain. From Valencia to Madrid, passing through Barcelona, the projects of this country are among the most visible and recognized on the continent. Europe, through the European Commission and its Horizon 2020 acceleration program, granted financing to 19 of its initiatives.

By Willmen Blanco

The pioneering cryptocurrency recorded a rebound of more than 12% last July 27^th. The rest of the cryptocurrencies accompany the movement of Bitcoin (BTC).

The price of Bitcoin price has continued to rise, officially breaking the USD 11,000 mark last July 27^th. It was around that level for the last time last June of 2019.

After several announcements from companies such as PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard, in which they claimed to be working with cryptocurrencies, the price of Bitcoin has been rising steadily since last July 21^st, after having reached USD 9,400.

According to data from CoinMarketcap, the Bitcoin unit is trading at around USD 11,100 at the time of writing this article. Its price has increased by 12.39% in 24 hours, recording its best performance in one day after several months of relative stability in the market.

The movement of the market has brought the capitalization of the pioneering cryptocurrency to about USD 205 billion. However, the recent statement by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which allows US banks to offer cryptocurrency custody services, could also be influencing this situation.

The interest that this news has aroused seems to be complicit in the general rise in the market, which currently totals USD 327 billion, of which Bitcoin dominates 63%. However, the current momentum in the market seems to lack strength, given the low volume that accompanies it. Users have traded USD 35 billion in 24 hours, compared to volumes exceeding USD 100 billion at other times in 2020.

The rest of the cryptocurrencies accompany the movement of Bitcoin. In the top 20 of the CoinMarketCap ranking, it is possible to observe that only five tokens are in the red. For example, Ethereum has risen by 4.91% in the past 24 hours and the unit is now worth USD 325. Meanwhile, Ripple (XRP) went up by 5.26% and Litecoin (LTC) recorded a 12.48% rebound.

Bitcoin is also reemerging at a time when gold is trading at all-time highs against the US dollar. Instability in financial markets appears to be pushing investors into safe-haven assets, of which many prefer gold. Of course, Bitcoin is the “new kid on the block” with a revaluation that has been around 60% so far this year.

Gold Also Reaches New All-Time High

In anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s announcements of new measures to boost the economy, gold continued its bullish momentum, closing above USD 1,900 per ounce. At the time of writing this article, the price of gold is at USD 1,943, well above the all-time high of USD 1,921 that it achieved on August 22^nd, 2011.

The upsurge of COVID-19 infections in the USA, and the expected agreements in Congress regarding a new stimulus package for the economy, seem to have pushed investors to seek coverage in an asset such as gold, given the volatility of the US dollar. Similarly, the search for values perceived as safe-haven assets influenced the rebound of Bitcoin.

By Alexander Salazar

A growing number of companies and organizations are determined to integrate the cryptocurrency into their services. Bitcoin is prominent because its creation emerged as a solution to the damage that the printing of money was causing.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause deaths worldwide while people take shelter in their homes trying to stop the chaos. Suddenly, a new “normality” is taking over the world, where Bitcoin is increasingly relevant.

People observe the utopian reality of the outside world from their homes. News reports cause shock and concern in the population. What once enjoyed stability is now collapsing.

Big companies have gone bankrupt, unemployment rates are skyrocketing and citizens are protesting on the streets. Large economies are reeling and governments are trying to contain the crisis by issuing inorganic money.

Amid so much chaos, the news on the pioneering cryptocurrency is truly positive. Beyond the scams and money laundering that constantly insist on tainting the ecosystem, Bitcoin is opening doors that had remained closed in the past.

Recent announcements demonstrate that more companies and organizations are determined to integrate Bitcoin into their services. PayPal, Visa, and US banks are preparing to join the driver of the adoption of Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention.

Bitcoin as a Safe Haven

Experts and analysts have already predicted the current situation that the economy is facing. Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin as a solution to the damage that money printing was causing when the UK was seeking to respond to the 2008 crisis.

What makes this cryptocurrency unique is that it is the first scarce digital asset that no centralized agency or entity can control. Due to its decentralized nature, no entity can issue or dilute its value over time.

The creation of Bitcoin emerged to be finite (it will only be possible to mine 21 million units). Therefore, without the possibility of issuing surplus coins, the threat of hyperinflation is reduced to zero.

Mathematics can help determine how Bitcoin has appreciated over the years. Users can view its profitability calculations on the 99bitcoins website. There, the analyses indicate that the pioneering cryptocurrency has been profitable for 4,054 days of its entire existence (4,221 days).

Based on the above calculations, Bitcoin’s profitability is above 96%. An example allows users to better observe the behavior of the cryptocurrency during all these years.

In that sense, if a person invested USD 10 in Bitcoin on January 1^st, 2011, he or she would now have in their possession a profit of USD 331,272,807. The same is not true with the US dollar, which has been losing value for 107 years.

In addition to acting as a safe-haven asset, Bitcoin allows users to maintain custody of their funds. All they need is a 12-36 word phrase to access their wallet. As long as they do not share their private phrase or key, no one will be able to confiscate their funds.

As there is no third-party participation, no one can freeze, tax, or claim their coins. No one can steal them and the government cannot confiscate them under any circumstances.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Bitcoin is gaining prominence in one of the most difficult situations that humanity has faced.

By Alexander Salazar