Litecoin Foundation Apologizes for Not Doing Enough Due Diligence on Litepa



Failure of a project is a natural and common thing when investing in startup ventures, especially when it comes to cutting edge technologies such as cryptocurrency applications. Doing due diligence won't prevent failed investments made in good faith, but it can make sure to weed out projects that will raise obvious red flags if vetted thoroughly. In the case of Litepay, this has evidently not been done, and a lot of the community is now angry.

Oops
Litecoin Foundation Apologizes for Not Doing Enough Due Diligence on LitepayThe Litecoin Foundation has issued an announcement to the LTC community on Monday, informing them that Litepay has ceased all operations and that the CEO claims to be preparing to sell the company. This happened after the foundation questioned him about a lack of transparency and in return he asked for more funds to continue operations. The foundation refused any further funding as the CEO was "unable to provide a satisfactory picture of where the money had been spent and refused to go into exact details about the company and show objective evidence to back up his statements."

The organization took responsibility for the incident, stating: "We are greatly disheartened that this saga has ended in this way and we apologize for not doing enough due diligence that could have uncovered some of these issues earlier. We are currently working hard to tighten our due diligence practices and ensure that this does not happen again."

Litecoin creator Charlie Lee also twitted out a personal mea culpa on his part, saying: "Like everyone else, we got too excited about something that was too good to be true and we optimistically overlooked many of the warning signs. I am sorry for having hyped up this company and vow to do better due diligence in the future." Despite this honest message, a large part of the LTC community is apparently not quick to forgive him, with top ranked social media posts questioning Charlie's leadership and status in the wake of this debacle.

Crowd-Sourced Due Diligence
Litecoin Foundation Apologizes for Not Doing Enough Due Diligence on LitepayLitepay was supposed to be a LTC merchant payment processor and debit card that will greatly enhance the ease of spending for the cryptocurrency's holders. What triggered the foundation to question the project was a disastrous Reddit AMA (ask me anything) by the CEO Kenneth Asare.

Asare got grilled during the AMA session, as he tried to evade questions and wasn't able to provide satisfying answers to many concerns. He was accused of trying to run a one man show for a project that would require a whole team to complete. The project's website also didn't pass a simple inspection as many details were missing, raising allegations of being a scam. By doing this, the community was actually crowd-sourcing part the due diligence process of Litepay that needed to be done by the foundation beforehand.

Bitcoin Mining Training Coming to 30 Cities in India




An Indian chamber of commerce is launching a bitcoin mining training program in 30 cities across India. The goal is to teach young people about bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology, crypto mining, and entrepreneurship to empower the rural population for self-employment.

Bitcoin Mining Training Program
Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) is collaborating with social entrepreneur and the treasurer for Democrats Abroad India, Dr. Tausif Malik, to launch a training program for bitcoin mining in 30 cities across India, local media reported.

Milind Kamble (left), Dr. Tausif Malik (right). Photo courtesy of Dr. Tausif Malik
Bitcoin Mining Training Coming to 30 Cities in IndiaEstablished in 2005, DICCI is an industry association that promotes business enterprises for Dalits, a specific minority caste in India sometimes referred to as a depressed class. In some states, Dalits number up to 32 percent of the population, according to 2011 Indian census data.

Bitcoin Mining Training Coming to 30 Cities in IndiaMalik founded Mahabfic, a platform promoting investments in the State of Maharashtra for blockchain, fintech, initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency. "We are not promoting the technology, we are promoting the State of Maharashtra as the ideal destination for investing for development of technology & promotion," the website states.

DICCI and Mahabfic will create the "World's 1st & largest Bitcoin Mining Training Program (BMTP) for self-employment," according to the announcement posted on the Policy Times. This program seeks to "empower the rural population especially the youth from the farming community to earn income from their hometown or villages, this would create new economic development in these areas." DICCI founder and chairman, Shri Milind Kamble, commented:

The new blockchain technology is the future of technology development and taking the world by storm and bitcoin/cryptocurrency mining is a must for blockchain platform to operate. Hence, we felt the need to offer bitcoin/cryptocurrency mining training program (BMTP) to our youth on a nationwide scale for self-employment.

30 Cities in India
Bitcoin Mining Training Coming to 30 Cities in IndiaThe nationwide BMTP will span over 30 cities to empower young people for self-employment, the announcement details. The cities are Pune, Mumbai, Junnar, Aurangabad, Latur, Nashik, Nagpur, Osmanabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pondicherry, Cochin, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Jamshedpur, Bodh Gaya, Patna, Lucknow, Delhi, Jaipur, Varanasi, Bhopal, Indore, Raipur, Ranchi, Guwahati, Jammu, and Chandigarh.

Bitcoin Cash Ecosystem Sees a Tidal Wave of Merchant Acceptance



Just recently news.Bitcoin.com reported on Bitpay launching bitcoin cash (BCH) integration for the firm's loadable Visa debit cards. Since then the company has implemented BCH invoice support for all of the firm's vendors, and now bitcoin cash can be spent with thousands of merchants worldwide.

Thousands of Merchants and Nonprofits Now Accept Bitcoin Cash
Merchant adoption has been increasing lately for the BCH ecosystem, but in one day that metric spiked considerably. Bitpay has fully integrated bitcoin cash payments for all of its vendors and merchants that utilize the company's payment processing services. Since the 'cryptocurrency fever' swept the globe in 2017, Bitpay's merchant list has grown considerably last year. This includes significant merchant growth in the U.S., South America, Asia, and Europe.

Bitcoin cash can be used with well-known merchants like Microsoft.
Bitcoin cash supporters have been extremely pleased to see some of their favorite merchants accepting BCH as a form of payment and network fees are considerably less. The list of Bitpay vendors who now accept BCH, includes Newegg, Apmex, Vultr, Namecheap, eGifter, Gyft, Zeek, Wefunder, Heifer International, Vodi, JM Bullion, and many more. This also includes a wide variety of nonprofits and charities like Save the Children, the Internet Archive, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Wikipedia.

Bitcoin cash can be used to donate to hundreds of charities and nonprofit organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
BIP 70 Wallet Support for Bitcoin Cash and BCH Being Used for South Korean Cross-Border Payments
In addition to the full range of merchants and non-profits now available to the BCH ecosystem. Bitcoin cash payments are also now compatible with the Payment-Protocol (BIP70) used in Bitpay invoices. Further, there are currently more supporting wallets utilizing this feature, and the Electron Cash client was added yesterday. Wallets that are compatible with the BCH Payment-Protocol include BRD Wallet, Bitcoin Core, Edge (formally Airbitz), Electrum, Mycelium, Copay, Bitpay, and the Bitcoin.com Wallet. Bitcoin cash users who have these types of wallets can utilize any Bitpay merchant.

The BCH wallet Electron Cash can now be used with the Payment-Protocol for those who wish to pay Bitpay merchant invoices.
Another announcement from Bitpay that will also please BCH proponents is the company's recent partnership with the South Korean exchange Bithumb. The two companies are launching a cross-border payment solution which will utilize BTC and BCH to help cheapen the costs of international payments for South Korean businesses. Bitpay executive Sonny Singh says that South Korean companies are sometimes paying or receiving $100,000 – $5 million USD per invoice. "A 1 -2% savings on each invoice can lead to dramatic cost savings," explains Singh.

Overall the announcement of Bitpay integrating bitcoin cash has pleased BCH proponents quite a bit as the number of merchants added to the ecosystem, and the new South Korean cross-border payment platform will increase BCH usage greatly. In addition to Bitpay, since the San Francisco company Coinbase integrated bitcoin cash support, BCH payments can be used with its new merchant plugin.

Typing Errors in Ethereum Transaction Addresses Caused Losses of Over 12,600 Ether



There is nothing worse than losing funds stored in your crypto wallet. It is pretty obvious that this situation has been a big problem for most users at some point in their lives. A new study shows that over 12,000 ether has been lost due to typing errors that sent money to non-existent addresses.

There are a lot of things that can go wrong when completing cryptocurrency transactions. For instance, one could enter a completely wrong address due to copying it incorrectly, a QR code could give an error when trying to send money, or one could simply type an address incorrectly. In the latter case, one's money will be lost forever, as the transaction is often broadcast to an address that doesn't even exist. Recovering such a transfer is pretty much impossible these days.

Research by Alethio Analytics paints a very worrisome outlook in this regard. More specifically, the company claims a lot of ether has been lost due to sending money to nonexistent addresses. It is evident a lot of users have sent money to wrong addresses over the years, and it is possible that up to 12,622 ether has been lost because of typing errors.

This is not a figure most people will feel comfortable with whatsoever. Although the exact amount of money lost is subject to interpretation, Alethio Analytics can make some sort of assumption in this regard. After thoroughly analyzing Ethereum's external and contract accounts, it's clear there have been quite a few wrong transactions up to network block 5 million.

Although it is difficult to determine which addresses are perfectly fine and which are not, the team used an interesting technique to do so. Since no similar-looking Ethereum addresses can exist, they looked at Ethereum addresses which are almost identical. Assuming such addresses exist, the funds stored in one of two addresses were probably sent erroneously. It is not a foolproof technique by any means, but it is certainly one way to go about things.

So far, the company's research seems to indicate that over 2,600 erroneous addresses have been used as part of Ethereum transactions over the years. This means just over 12,622 ether are potentially lost forever, although this number is not exact. Considering that the value of ether has risen over the years, it is safe to say this money adds up to a nice chunk of change. Who this money belongs to exactly remains to be determined at this stage.

The bigger question is whether or not more of these typos will occur in the future. Since there is no foolproof way to send cryptocurrency transactions in this day and age, we can only hope people become a lot more careful when it comes to moving funds. Otherwise, this may only be the tip of the iceberg in terms of money lost forever due to human error.

Massive Drop After Google Announces It Will Ban Crypto Ads



Bitcoin is struggling. Following yesterday's unimpressive but steady balance at $9,130, bitcoin has fallen by nearly $1,000 and is now trading for less than $8,300.

The news likely stems from an announcement by Google, as the popular Internet search engine has sworn to ban cryptocurrency and ICO-related ads in the coming months and to crack down on digital currency scams.

Similar sentiment was witnessed amongst Facebook executives earlier this year. The social media platform made a similar decision to ban cryptocurrency advertisements, which sent the price of bitcoin spiraling downward by approximately ten percent. While the fall is not as large this time around, bitcoin's price has sunk nearly eight percent, which puts the damage on a similar scale.


Google and Facebook are arguably two of the most powerful Internet companies in modern times, and if they say bitcoin and digital currencies aren't all they're cracked up to be, people are likely to listen, although CEO of Coinbase's UK branch Zeeshan Feroz feels differently. He says Google's crackdown will not "dampen" consumer demand anytime soon, but he did criticize the ban for being "too widespread."

Google has divisions all over the globe, which means bitcoin and altcoin coverage is going to be cut significantly, and it may take time for a respective bull run to occur again.

The ban will not take place until mid-June, which leaves many speculating as to why bitcoin would experience such a drastic fall at press time. The answer may be simple: that not all the kinks surrounding bitcoin have been worked out yet. Despite ten years of availability, bitcoin is still a fluctuating, changing, and ultimately "birthing" market, thus leaving it vulnerable to several factors. Announcements like these can have drastic effects on the price, and it is possible users may see another fall in June when Google fully implements the ban.

Managing Partner and CEO of $APEX Token Fund Chris Keshian is asking Google to "keep an open mind," and to not "tar all cryptocurrencies with the same brush." For the most part, he sees the move as somewhat progressive, as the ban is simply a "pause" in bitcoin's present run. He feels the move is likely to give bitcoin more time to mature and adapt to newer regulations, as they will undoubtedly come along.

One source suggests bitcoin could stay "in the red" until late September this year, when Mt. Gox – the infamous exchange that lost nearly half-a-billion in bitcoins in February 2014 – is slated to sell off its remaining crypto stash.

The company still holds approximately $1.5 billion USD in cryptocurrency assets, and the sell-off may happen once it obtains final permission from a Japanese court. The initial hearing will take place on September 18, suggesting that bitcoin may be "food for the bears" over the next six months. While some are still suggesting leaps can occur in the bitcoin price arena, we cannot ignore the fact that Mt. Gox was, is, and probably always will be a major influence on the father of all digital currencies.

Bitcoin Futures Launch in the UK



Coinfloor have announced their group of cryptocurrency exchanges will now include Coinfloorex, a bitcoin futures exchange. Offering "institutional grade risk management and governance," traders, hedge funds, and miners will get bitcoin futures "at scale" through "specifically designed cryptocurrency contracts and operational controls."

"Our mission is to build a bridge between Fiat currency and cryptocurrency," Obi Nwosu, CEO of Coinfloor stressed, "to drive the stability and sustainability of cryptocurrency. Numerous market participants are calling on existing cryptocurrency exchanges that provide futures contracts to switch from cash to physical settlement. However, making that transition will be very difficult for them to achieve. We understood this requirement from the start, and have worked for over two years to bring this functionality to market. Now, institutional investors and traders can capitalise on market dynamics, within their own risk parameters and in line with their individual trading strategies."

As such, Coinfloor claims to have launched the "first physically delivered cryptocurrency futures contract" through its newly created crypto exchange, Coinfloorex. The contracts were "created to protect investors and traders against price slippage on positions at time of settlement, as well as concerns of market manipulation."

The company is well-known in the ecosystem, having been around since early 2013, using a peer-to-peer crypto exchange model. Bitcoin vetted brokers are connected to investors in bitcoin. Using a local bank, buyers are able to send money directly to sellers. They were also an early adopter of solving the normal two-step conversion between fiat and bitcoin. Coinfloor was one of the first to try a no-fee trading model, but later reinstated fees at the end of last year. It also continues to play an active role in courting regulators to take crypto seriously.

The innovation this time around seems to be the "physical delivery" aspect of bitcoin futures. "Settlement is based on physical delivery rather than an index price from across other exchanges, which provides maximum pricing transparency. Access to Coinfloor's spot exchange enables investors to easily convert Bitcoin to Fiat currency post-physical delivery, creating opportunities for longer-term currency appreciation or through meeting Bitcoin-denominated obligations," the company explained.

Bitcoin Futures Launch in the UK
For any crypto exchange, hacking is an issue. Anticipating such worries, "Security of the exchange is underscored by 100% multi-signature cold storage cryptocurrency custody
facility, safeguarding client portfolios from theft, loss or other security issues associated with partially online or online only storage of assets. Coinfloor also provides monthly solvency audits of Bitcoin balances, which gives institutional investors assurance that Coinfloorex has sufficient Bitcoin liquidity to manage market fluctuation," the announcement explained.

Ultimately the product is aimed at more savvy "sophisticated investors." April of this year is the date physical delivery of the bitcoin futures contract (XBT) is to be made

Top Cryptocurrency Online Casino On the Internet Top Cryptocurrency Online Casino On the Internet



BitcoinCasino.us has long been respected among cryptocurrency gaming enthusiasts. Their dedicated customer service team has them being called, among many in the crypto gaming community, one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences on the web. Of course there is no physical bitcoincasino.us casino. All of their games and weekly tournaments are on the internet. Regardless, this online gaming magnate has continued to gain trust with cryptocurrency casino gamers.

There are many reasons for bitcoincasino.us being called the top bitcoin casino around. Their industry leading customer service has been long respected as responding to customers questions and concerns quickly, most of the time immediately after the query is placed. This is important to many crypto gamers seeing as there are, most of the time, large sums of money being won and lost on bitcoincasino.us, and other similar platforms. Another reason that bitcoincasino.us is being called a top notch gaming website is it's standing with popular gaming portals and casino review sites.

Bitcoincasino.us has proven through tested reviews that it's services are second to none in crypto gaming.

The website has a very high conversion rate. This means that when players use bitcoincasino.us to satisfy their crypto gaming needs, they return more often than they do to other websites which offer similar services. This brand popularity has contributed greatly to the growing reputation bitcoincasino.us has earned. This reputation for many of it's customers, and those familiar with cryptocurrency gaming, is that bitcoincasino.us is veritably a premium gaming institution with high end customer service. It's professional player retention team works hard to keep their customers happy. It appears that customer service is the most important aspect of bitcoincasino.us's business model.

Another reason that bitcoincasino.us has been called the best bitcoin casino around is it's payments never being late. On time payments are a guarantee at bitcoincasino.us. Their customers rest assured that they will be payed in bitcoin or in their cryptocurrency of choice on the first of each month, without delay. Bitcoincasino.us accepts payments in many different cryptocurrencies, these include: bitcoin, bitcoincash, litecoin, and dodgecoin. Withdraws are also available in a variety of cryptocurrencies, including: bitcoin, bitcoincash, litecoin, and dogecoin. While everyone is probably familiar with bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, and dogecoin are slightly lesser known cryptos. Bitcoin cash was intruduced in August 2017 after concerns were raised about the scalability of bitcoin. It's current market cap is 19.7 billion USD. 

Litecoin is a cryptocurrency similar to bitcoin. It was introduced in 2011 and has a current market cap of 12.7 billion USD. It's original author is Charlie Lee. Dogecoin was originally developed as a "joke" currency but gained popularity due to it having the logo of the doge dog internet meme. It surprisingly quickly gained a market capitalization of 60 million USD within a month. Dogecoin's currenct market cap is 500 million USD.

With bitcoincasino.us making all of these currencies available for deposits or withdrawals it is easy to see why it is chosen by most crypto gamers as their online cryptocurrency casino of choice. Not only can you deposit and withdraw in a variety of crypto curriencies, but your earnings in all of these currencies are unlimited. This is not common with online crypto currency casinos. Not only are your earnings unlimited by they are also completely anonymous. All you need to sign up for bitcoincasino.us is an email address and a bitcoin address to process your payments.
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