Report Says Egyptians May be Mining Cryptocurrency Without Their Knowledge (MarketWatch)
The Egyptian government has been secretly infiltrating its citizen’s computers and mining cryptocurrency, according to a report from The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Under a scheme called AdHose, the government was sending internet users to either advertising sites, or to obsolete websites where, unbeknown to them, their computer was being misused, often to mine the Monero cryptocurrency, the report said. “On a number of occasions, the middleboxes were apparently being used to hijack Egyptian internet users’ unencrypted web connections en masse, and redirect the users to revenue-generating content such as affiliate ads and browser cryptocurrency mining scripts,” the report said.
Ripple Hires Bloomberg Expert As Chief Marketing Strategist (Bitcoinist.com)
Ripple has already made waves with a flood of major partnerships and deals. Now, the third most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap has brought in a marketing strategist to help cement the company into mainstream consciousness. Major Marketing Push: Ripple is a complex beast, complete with a slew of major partnerships, a stack of newly-penned deals, a suite of in-house technologies, and a digital asset (XRP) which has seen some extreme volatility.
A worthy competitor: Qtum (QTUM) better than both Bitcoin and Ethereum (CryptoGlobalist.com)
This past week has seen the cryptocurrency world see red again. Bitcoin’s price dropped by over 14% in the previous week as Ethereum dipped below the $700 mark on Thursday. This is the lowest Ether has gone since mid-December 2017. QTUM returns are similar to ETH as the coin sees its price drop by over 17% to close Friday at $18.14. Even though the price is dipping at the moment, Qtum (QTUM) still offers its users a long term solution to the problems faced by both Bitcoin and Ethereum. A worthy competitor.
Stellar, Keybase Partner to Make Cryptocurrencies More User-Friendly: No More ‘Big Ugly Addresses’ (BlockExplorer.com)
“No more big ugly addresses” Blockchain project Stellar and cryptography startup Keybase have inked a partnership designed to fund the development of projects that will make cryptocurrencies more user-friendly. On Thursday, the Stellar Foundation announced that it had signed a deal with Keybase, whose aim is to simplify the user experience in end-to-end encrypted applications by improving public key infrastructure (PKI). The company, which was founded in 2014 by the co-founders of OKCupid, allows users to link their social media accounts to cryptographic keys, which can then be used for communication, code signing, or any number of other applications. Using the Keybase application, other users can then easily verify that a public key – or cryptocurrency address – belongs to a specific individual.
Former CFTC Chair: Cryptocurrency Bubble Is Nowhere Near Bursting (Bitcoinist.com)
Think cryptocurrency is a bubble ready to burst? Think again, says the ex-head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Too Deflated To Pop: According to ex-Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Jim Newsome, cryptocurrency is not a bubble on the verge of bursting. He believes this since the industry is still in its infancy and the vast majority of institutional money is still holding off on entering the market, primarily due to uncertainty regarding future regulatory measures.
