Apple: Cryptocurrency-Mining Software QBIX Sneaks onto the Mac App Store (NewsWeek.com)
Cryptocurrency-mining software has been discovered on the Apple Mac Store, hiding in a Calendar application with hundreds of thousands of downloads. Users of the macOS software, developed by a company called Qbix, voiced frustration as their computer speeds tanked after using the program, dubbed “Calendar 2.” Analysts found the feature had slipped past Apple’s internal security procedures and was designed to mine a cryptocurrency known as Monero. The crypto-mining option does not appear to have been entirely malicious and was clearly advertised to users as a way to access premium content for no cost.
A New Start Up Wants To Pay You To Watch Porn – There’s Just One Tiny Catch (IFLScience.com)
Another day, another cryptocurrency – although this time, there’s a particularly interesting deal on the cards. Vice Industry Token (VIT) will effectively pay you for looking at online porn. Sound too good to be true? Well, there’s a catch, as you no doubt anticipated. The payoff is that you will be handing over more and more of your precious data. On top of that, you will be paid in a digital coin that you can only spend on more porn. Damn, the Internet is a weird place. Like most of those cryptocurrencies you have been hearing about recently, most notably Bitcoin, VIT uses a blockchain. Essentially, this is a way to ensure all transactions are verifiable and permanent by using a public ledger of transactions that is secured using cryptography.
Pixabay/Public Domain
Stellar (XLM) SDEX Project Will Help It Surpass Ethereum in the Nearby Future (News4C.com)
The SDEX Project: In case you didn’t know, Stellar (XLM) published its 2018 Roadmap which included two goals. The first goal was to officially launch the Stellar Decentralized Exchange platform and the second one was to improve the XLM token by making it faster and cheaper. The team that is in charge of these two goals is called SDEX. This team is filled with cryptocurrency veterans and they all working to build a “front-end for Stellar’s inherent decentralized exchange”. There are already 11 pairs of SDEX and the list is expected to expand during the upcoming months. Therefore, Stellar (XLM) will surely see a price spike once the SDEX project is finished.
Litecoin Price Prediction Today: Litecoin Might Soar Higher After Gaining 4000% / March 13, 2018 (Smartereum.com)
Irrespective of the positive noises, currently Litecoin is in a downtrend. It has fallen by approximately 13% in the last 7 days. According to the inventor of Litecoin, Charlie Lee, Litecoin needs to consolidate. Only when it consolidates at the present levels, it will be able to move ahead. He is trying to reduce the excitement around Litecoin. Litecoin has already rallied by approximately 4000%. This is the reason why he believes that it needs to consolidate.
Goldman Sachs Warns of Bitcoin Going Under $6000 (Bitcoinist.com)
Goldman Sachs analysts panicked Sunday, March 12 as Bitcoin’s volatility caused them to forecast a return to recent lows below $6000. Goldman Fears ‘Impulsive Decline’: In a note to clients, the global giant’s technical analysis team led by Sheba Jafari pointed the blame at market uncertainty thought to have begun from Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi’s recent sell-offs. Having broken below $9210 Sunday, ultimately reaching closer to $8400, Bitcoin faced a potential freefall to $5922, the team claimed, with little support in between. “The break is significant as implies potential for a more impulsive decline,” Jafari wrote quoted by Business Insider.
Ripple Gains A New Bank On A Weekly Basis (CryptoDaily.co.uk)
In some of the most important news surrounding Ripple this year, the firm’s Global Head of Banking has stated that Ripple is partnering with a new bank or payment service provider every week. Marjan Delatinne, who has previously worked at SWIFT, made the revelation at a recent cryptocurrency summit. She has previously outlined her vision for Ripple, praising its ability to instantly move money around the world and discussing her satisfaction with the so-called “internet of value” – the ability to move funds instantly around the world using the exchange of data.
Nvidia May Launch New Graphics Cards Designed for Cryptocurrency Miners (TechRadar.com)
Word from the GPU grapevine is that Nvidia will soon be launching new dedicated graphics cards aimed at cryptocurrency miners. This might lead you to hope that pressure could be eased when it comes to miners pushing prices up by purchasing gaming GPUs. But sadly, we’re inclined to believe that may prove to be a false hope… At any rate, the rumor from Crypto Mining Blog is that Nvidia is about to release new graphics cards based on the firm’s GP102 GPU (as used in the Titan X and Xp cards, and GeForce GTX 1080 Ti), with one specific board mentioned which is coming from Inno3D.
Tom Lee Predicts Bitcoin Will Hit $25,000 In 2018 (CryptoDaily.co.uk)
The price of Bitcoin is currently hovering at around $10,700, which is around 53% of the cryptocurrency’s value back in late 2017. Towards the end of last year, Bitcoin’s value hit $20,000 across some markets, with a widely accepted average high of $19,300. During early 2018, it suddenly began to drop in price, causing widespread panic for investors, and lending people to speculate wildly on the currency’s future. There are many people who feel that the Bitcoin bubble has well and truly burst, and that the cryptocurrency will never again reach the highs it enjoyed last December. However, many others think that Bitcoin is still getting started, and that the best is yet to come for the digital currency’s investors.
JP Morgan’s Amber Baldet On What Enterprise Wants from Ethereum (CoinDesk.com)
What do private blockchain builders really want? According to JP Morgan blockchain lead Amber Baldet, they’re faced with the same concerns as anyone building public blockchains today. “These problems really aren’t so far apart, it’s just that people are trying to solve the problems in different ways,” Baldet told the audience at EthCC, an ethereum conference in Paris on Friday. In a tightly packed lecture hall, Baldet laid out the mechanics of her company’s private blockchain network, Quorum, while seeking to put forth a broader message about how her bank, one of the largest globally, is looking to foster collaboration across blockchains.
Thai Bank Extending Ripple Remittances to Euro and Pound (CoinDesk.com)
Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) is adding two new currencies to its Ripple-based blockchain remittance platform. According to a report from the Bangkok Post on Tuesday, SCB, one of the largest commercial banks in the country, is now adding euros and British pounds to its cross-border remittance system powered by tech from Ripple, the San Francisco-based blockchain startup. According to the bank’s chief strategy officer, Arak Sutivong, in an interview with the Post, the decision to add the new currency options came after the SCB noticed significant euro and pound inflow to the country.
