NiceHash founder apologizes for $ 70 million hack.
In the early hours of December 6th, crypto currency mining marketplace NiceHash was hacked for 4,700 Bitcoins, having an approx. value of $70m. The Slovak company, which was formed in 2014, allows customers to pool their mining powers.
Since the hack, the company founder, Marko Kobal, has appeared online on Facebook to explain more and apologize for the loss of the miner’s funds. He explained that it was a sophisticated breach of security through one of the employees’ computers. The broadcast was viewed by hundreds of thousands of viewers, with comments ranging from support, to requests to resume mining, to accusations of it being an insider job, to publishing the address alleged to have the stolen funds.
As of December 10th, the site and its operations are still down and offline.
Bitcoin runs out of Steam, is it still a working day to day currency?
Online games service Steam has announced it is no longer accepting Bitcoin for payments. When they starting offering the service in April a Bitcoin was worth $450 and since then the currency has rocketed and experienced massive swings in its value. The supplier said this had led to transactions not being completed sometimes customers being hit with an exchange fee twice.
This begs the question, is Bitcoin regarded by the users as a valid day to day payment currency or has it migrated to more of a digital asset similar to gold ?
Does God really exist and will he be forked on Christmas Day
Various sources have been reporting on announcements from Bytom Blockchain and Chinese Bitcoin investor Chandler Guo, that he will be launching a hard fork to BitCoin on December 25th called Bitcoin God or simply GOD, describing it “to be symbolic of me giving candy to all Bitcoin Holders.” When asked whether the idea was a joke, Guo confirmed it was “real.” “The total amount will be 21 mln. No pre-mine,” he added.
Many discussions are refusing to take it seriously yet, with comments on Reddit such as
“This looks to be simply an attention / marketing fork for Chandler Guo.”
“It’s so fake and he is doing everything to pump it and then will dump it.”
December is the month for Bitcoin hard forks with planned forks coming for
Super Bitcoin, Bitcoin Platinum and Bitcoin Cash Plus already.
Futures market opens and Bitcoin climbs yet again higher past $1,800
The first of the regulated Futures’ markets, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) opened access to its new product the XBT Bitcoin Futures on December 10th, which allows clients to trade on their view of the Bitcoin future price without having to actually purchase any currency, deal with a crypto exchange or hold a virtual wallet.
Following this the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has announced it will launch its own Bitcoin Futures trading on Monday December 18th.
There is much excitement and some trepidation at the prospect of mainstream investors entering the world of Bitcoin albeit in a slightly separate market. Across the week, Bitcoin’s price increased in major hikes from starting the week at just under $12,000 climbing over 4 days to break the $17,000 and then losing up to nearly $4,000 by Sunday morning before starting to hold a more steady path in the $14,000-$16,000 mark.
Much attention will be focusing on the short term to see the effect of the Futures market on Bitcoin whether by direct influence or just by adding publicity to the much hyped coverage across the world’s press.
