{"id":2924,"date":"2017-12-06T18:41:32","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T18:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=2924"},"modified":"2018-01-16T19:36:10","modified_gmt":"2018-01-16T19:36:10","slug":"news-nicehash-hack-bitfinex-makes-the-news-steam-drops-bitcoin-sec-vs-ico-venezuela-book-news-i-have-to-mention-cryptokitties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/12\/06\/news-nicehash-hack-bitfinex-makes-the-news-steam-drops-bitcoin-sec-vs-ico-venezuela-book-news-i-have-to-mention-cryptokitties\/","title":{"rendered":"News: NiceHash hack, Bitfinex makes the news, Steam drops Bitcoin, SEC vs ICO, Venezuela, book news, I have to mention CryptoKitties"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>GPU mining broker NiceHash <a href=\"https:\/\/np.reddit.com\/r\/NiceHash\/comments\/7hy6tp\/looks_like_the_end_of_nicehash_how_much_did_you\/\">goes incommunicado and all the bitcoins disappear<\/a>, in what <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_MoOnTy\/status\/938402881509740546\">appears to be<\/a> a hack \u2014 &#8220;$60M in Bitcoin from users wallets transferred to a single wallet. With no communication whatsoever from NH we are left with the sobering reality they were hacked and $60M worth of users (both buyers and sellers) Bitcoin was stolen.&#8221; This would actually be one of the larger crypto hacks ever. First mainstream media coverage: Jimmy Wales&#8217; new paper, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wikitribune.com\/story\/2017\/12\/06\/technology\/cryptocurrency-site-nicehash-may-be-hacked\/26595\/\">WikiTribune<\/a>. <b>Update:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/NiceHash\/comments\/7i0s6o\/official_press_release_statement_by_nicehash\/\">NiceHash press release<\/a> confirming the hack.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Bitfinex&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/12\/05\/bitfinex-rattles-legal-sabres-at-critics-tether-fails-to-redeem-usdt-1m-for-dollars\/\">hard work<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/12\/01\/bitfinex-tether-and-5w-pr-mount-the-worst-public-relations-campaign-ive-seen-in-a-while\/\">control the message<\/a> is having the effect anyone who&#8217;d used the Internet for two minutes would have predicted \u2014 as well as the crypto press (<a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/articles\/bitfinex-critics-prepare-possible-legal-action-after-cryptocurrency-exchange-lawyers\/\">Bitcoin Magazine<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/worlds-largest-bitcoin-exchange-bitfinex-threatens-critics-with-legal-action\">CoinTelegraph<\/a>), it&#8217;s hit the mainstream, with new pieces in <a href=\"http:\/\/fortune.com\/2017\/12\/05\/bitcoin-btc-price-usd-tether-limited-bitfinex\/\">Fortune<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.afr.com\/opinion\/bitcoin-is-the-hottest-of-commodities-until-you-actually-try-to-spend-it-20171203-gzy0l8\">Australian Financial Review<\/a> and reprints of the Bloomberg article in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/business\/banking-and-finance\/mystery-shrouds-tether-and-its-links-to-biggest-bitcoin-exchange-20171205-p4yxg9.html\">Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/amp.afr.com\/markets\/currencies\/tether-the-1-billion-mystery-near-the-heart-of-the-biggest-bitcoin-exchange-20171205-gzzhmm\">Australian Financial Review<\/a>. Don&#8217;t worry if you have coins there: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/bitfinex\/comments\/7hx7zq\/deposits_withdrawals_may_be_slow_today_please\/\">&#8220;Deposits &amp; withdrawals may be slow today. Please don&#8217;t panic.&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>PC video game platform Steam (not Steem) is <a href=\"http:\/\/steamcommunity.com\/games\/593110\/announcements\/detail\/1464096684955433613\">no longer accepting Bitcoin<\/a>, because it&#8217;s so ridiculously volatile and users can&#8217;t predict the fees. Not noted: Bitcoin users on Steam have been <a href=\"https:\/\/coinjournal.net\/humble-bundle-bitcoin-payment-return-abuse-caused-absence\/\">pushing it for a while<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The SEC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/news\/press-release\/2017-219\">takes out an obvious scam ICO<\/a>. &#8220;but i invoked the magic words in the prospectus i scream as i shrink into a federal prisoner&#8221; \u2014 kw0134<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2017\/12\/03\/venezuela-is-launching-a-cryptocurrency-backed-by-oil-gas-gold-and-diamonds.html\">Venezuelacoin<\/a> has the key essential qualities of all the best cryptocurrency proposals ie. it&#8217;s ill-specified, made of words the proposer doesn&#8217;t understand, and it doesn&#8217;t exist&#8221; \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/937601398686044160\">@ButtCoin<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>We laugh at Bitcoin, but the laughs get hollow at times, <em>e.g.<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Bitcoin\/comments\/7hmjdw\/my_brother_killed_himself_because_of_btc\/\">My brother killed himself because of BTC<\/a>. &#8220;There are probably other factors that led to my brother&#8217;s suicide, but he had been beating himself up over Bitcoin for the past several years to the point where he seemed constantly depressed over it and gradually became a shadow of his former happy self.&#8221; Remember how, when Bitcoin dropped 25% in December 2013, Reddit \/r\/bitcoin <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/reddit-suicide-hotline-2013-12?IR=T\">stickied a suicide hotline at the top of the page<\/a>? <em>Please<\/em> don&#8217;t worry about the unrealised what-might-have-beens, particularly when this bubble bursts too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Explaining this blockchain rubbish to two different people yesterday, I had to get across that &#8220;On Monday 4th December, the public Ethereum blockchain was unusable because it was <a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/1145833\/cryptokitties-is-causing-ethereum-network-congestion\/\">full of cat pictures<\/a>&#8221; was a literally true sentence. (I was hoping to write a fun post yesterday about cat pictures, before Bitfinex&#8217;s foolishness.) Nobody believes the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2017-12-04\/cryptokitties-quickly-becomes-most-widely-used-ethereum-app\">$117,000 transaction<\/a> was a real sale. &#8220;We wanted to explore blockchain applications outside of ICOs and cryptocurrencies.&#8221; Fortunately, they&#8217;re <a href=\"https:\/\/coincenter.org\/link\/good-news-ethereum-s-cryptokitties-are-probably-not-securities\"><em>probably<\/em> not securities<\/a>. And to be fair, the internet is for cat pictures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/prestonjbyrne\/status\/938260824568860676<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain<\/em> is discounted this month on Kindle India \u2014 75% off, only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.in\/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-Contracts-ebook\/dp\/B073CPP581\/\">INR 103.50<\/a> instead of INR 414! Yeah, the discount&#8217;s finally up. Tell everyone you know!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Also, you still have time to get <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/11\/02\/book-news-stock-up-on-50-foot-blockchains-for-christmas-with-affiliate-links\/\">a copy of the paperback for Christmas<\/a> for your aged retired parents \u2014 who may not be good with computers, but you bet they&#8217;ll understand the scammers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Did I mention that I love photos of the book in the wild?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/12\/06\/news-nicehash-hack-bitfinex-makes-the-news-steam-drops-bitcoin-sec-vs-ico-venezuela-book-news-i-have-to-mention-cryptokitties\/jrt-book-2017-12-03\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4217\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jrt-book-2017-12-03.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"631\" height=\"876\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jrt-book-2017-12-03.png 631w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/jrt-book-2017-12-03-216x300.png 216w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 631px) 100vw, 631px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<br><br><div align=\"center\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\"><img src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/become_a_patron_button.svg\" alt=\"Become a Patron!\" title=\"Become a Patron!\" width=217 height=51><\/a><br><p style=\"align:center;\" class=\"patreon-badge\"><i>Your subscriptions keep this site going. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\">Sign up today!<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All the stuff I didn&#8217;t have time to post in the past few days, plus the fallout from the stuff I did have time to post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,38,297,9,6,40,33,295,296],"class_list":["post-2924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-attack-of-the-50-foot-blockchain","tag-bitfinex","tag-cryptokitties","tag-ico","tag-links","tag-nicehash","tag-sec","tag-steam","tag-venezuela"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2924"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4218,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924\/revisions\/4218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}