Developer James Hilliard, best known for his Bitcoin Improvement Proposal number 91 and the CGMiner program, discovered a vulnerability in Bitmain’s Antminer S15 firmware.
Hilliard said Twitter user 00whiterabbit wrote an attack code testing the vulnerability. They wanted to show how dangerous the attack might be—the exploit allowed them to do whatever they wanted. They could modify the payout address, shut down the mining altogether, or replace the firmware. While an attack like that would be rendered difficult by a firewall, the possibility of the exploit remains.
When exploited, the vulnerability gives users root access to the machine — which is supposed to be impossible. In theory, this can be done remotely using just the IP address of the miner, and means the machine can be reprogrammed to do just about anything. This includes mining to a different Bitcoin address or having it stop mining entirely. The firmware could also be replaced by different firmware altogether (such as Braiins OS or Dragonmint firmware).
Security vulnerabilities are one of the main arguments in favor of open source software. There is no code that doesn’t benefit from the public review of the very people who might otherwise attack it. Especially when users have an incentive to turn over findings, as in bug bounty programs, companies benefit far more than they “lose.”

Crypto currency cost decreased by 9.5% over several hours, many altcoins lost more than 10%.

Bitcoin exceeded $4200 on Sunday, and then it decreased sharply. The crypto currency cheapened by 9.5% to $3800. Then its rate started growing, now the coin is traded at the level of $3852. Many altcoins cheapened much more – Ethereum decreased 15% over the last 24 hours, to $140, XRP token – by 10%, to $0,304.

Among TOP-100 crypto currencies, Nexo token cheapened more than the others: it lost 22%. Ontology lost 16% over 24 hours. Bitcoin Cash, Holo, Ark and Aurora cheapened by 15%. Rates of most of altcoins decreased by more than 10%. Only two tokens managed to maintain in the green: THETA increased by 9,5%, S4FE — by 15%.

Bitcoin share in the market exceeded 52% again, it is 52,3% at the moment. digital money capitalization reduced by $14 billion, to $129 billion. Trading volume increased from $31 billion to record $38 billion, this indicator hasn’t been so high in 2019 yet.

On February, 25th, 2019, Bitcoin rate decreases, moving away from the key level of $4000.

The total crypto currency market capitalization dropped to the level of $130,790 billion. Bitcoin capitalization decreased to $68,068 billion.

On Sunday, February, 24th, BTC/USD rate is at the level of $3834. Bitcoin lost $100 in comparison with the previous day.

The crypto market sees correction, Bitcoin rate moved away to $3800 from $4000. The altcoins also dropped.
Meanwhile, there’s a race in stablecoin market. Japanese baking holding Mizuho Financial Group (MHFG) decided to launch its own token – J-Coin, together with a mobile all for payment making.

However, the analysts already have to solve the stablecoin problem: they need to understand whether such a number of stablecoins will hinder the market or not. It is expected that only some of them will survive through severe competition. The same happened to mobile OS.

According to Investing.com Index, on Sunday, February, 24thEOS dropped by 20%. It’s the first time since September, 5th, 2018.

The drop provoked reduction of EOS capitalization to $3,2698 billion or 2,55% of the total crypto market capitalization. Meanwhile, at its peak, EOS rate was $17,5290 billion.

EOS has been traded within the framework of $3,4191 – $4,4437 over the last 24 hours.

At the moment, EOS rate is still 84,60% lower than its peak – $22,98, which was reached on April, 29th, 2018.
Bitcoin is traded at the level of $3.755,7, according to Investing.com, it decreased by 9,69% over the last 24 hours.

Ethereum crypto currency has been traded at the level of $133,85, according to Investing.com, it dropped by 18,28%.
Bitcoin crypto currency capitalization is $67,0879 billion or 52,35% from the total crypto market capitalization. Ethereum capitalization is $14,3756 billion or 11,22% of the total crypto market capitalization.

Some users of the world’s largest crypto currency exchange Binance could face ui delays when the crypto currencies dropped sharply yesterday.

“We seen ATH for trading system load about an hour ago, some users experienced ui delays during system auto scaling. Still improving”, said The exchange’s CEO in his Twitter.

Twitter’s user Crypto Lover complained of losses. Responding to him, CryptoGringo said that it’s better to set orders before volume spikes.

Exchanges were loaded almost to the same extent in the second half of January, 2018, when the market capitalization hit its maximum and bitcoin rate was much higher than now.

It is interesting that Tether USD (USDT) trading volume exceeded Bitcoin’so one.

Yesterday, on February, 24th, Bitcoin was traded above $4100, but soon its price suddenly dropped to $3800 without any fundamental reason. The drop of the first crypto currency led to altcoins drop, many of them lost more than 10%.

On Sunday, February, 24th, the crypto market suddenly started dropping after an aggressive spike in Saturday.

To recap, as a result of a sudden spike on February, 23rd, Bitcoin exceeded $4000, and the second largest crypto currency Ethereum even reached $175. However, the bears dominate in the market again, and it made BTC and altcoins drop by more than 8%.

At press time, Bitcoin rate decreased by 8,43% to $3836, asset’s capitalization decreased to $67,361 billion. Ethereum and XRP cheapened by 14,72% and 9,72% to $140,37 and $0,304.

As for the TOP-10 Bitcoin Cash is the leader in terms of losses – it cheapened by 15,3% to $132,88, its capitalization decreased to $2,344 billion. Bitcoin domination index on February, 25th, increased to 52,2%, the total crypto currency capitalization lost more than $14 billion over the last 24 hours.

According to the expert, sudden drop of digital assets is a result of change of traders’ strategy: they switched to wait-it-out technique. The traders started locking in profit and reduced amount of investments in BTC and altcoins.

According to the February’s results, Ethereum is the largest in terms of capitalization growth, the coin was growing against the background of upcoming hardfork which will take place in the end of the current month.
It’s quite possible that Bitcoin and altcoins increased after it was announced that J. P. Morgan was going to launch its own token to make settlements with the contractors.

Users became more active because of the largest investment banks told about support of blockchain payments. This created conditions for digital currency rally.

The crypto currency market dropped yesterday, as a result, rates of most of crypto currencies dropped by 8-15%. Bitcoin rate decreased to $3850.

The analysts believe that the sudden change is a result of dissatisfaction: the traders tried to break through one more resistance level but failed. Upcoming Ethereum hardfork influences it, too. The bulls didn’t manage to maintain above $4200 after the long-expected increase in prices on Saturday. The total crypto market capitalization decreased by $14 billion, trading volume increased to $39 billion. However, the situation stabilized soon, and the experts believe that the market will keep recovering in the near future.

Bitcoin rate dropped 8.3% over the last 24 hours and at the moment it is $3840. The analysts note that drop of interest and weakening of bear market can provoke increase in prices in the future. First, it is needed to maintain above $4200, then it’s possible to try to reach $5000.

However, at the moment, the market is preparing to Ethereum Constantinople hardfork actively, it will reduce miners’ reward and change the protocol. Usually, the traders try to use such news for speculations and sell the assets right after the event, so most likely, the rate will change considerably this week. Ethereum rate decreased by 14.9% over the last 24 hours and reached $140.

Ripple (XRP) price reduced by 9,7% and at the moment it is $0,304. EOS dropped by 15,2% to $3,64, Litecoin (LTC) dropped by 13,9% to $45,15. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) lost 15,2% and is traded at the level of $133.
To recap, Eurex exchange is planning to launch Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple futures.

Trading platform lost $24 million because of an employee who is accused of wasteful spending. The company stopped providing funds to the users a week ago.

South Korean exchange Coinbin, previously called Youbit, declared itself bankrupt and announced $26 million of losses. The head of the company stopped providing funds to the clients on February, 20th and accused one of employees of wasteful spending, reports Business Korea.

The criminal claimed that he removes private keys of cold wallets where hundreds of BTC and more than 100 ETH were stored. The company’s head claims that the employee did it to lay hands on the funds. The users will get payments in the future according to the bankruptcy procedure common for this country.

In April, 2017, Youbit, initially named Yapizon, lost 4000 BTC because of hacker attack. The platform was hacked again in December, 17% of its assets were stolen, the amount wasn’t revealed.

At the moment, Nasdaq sends information about Bitcoin and Ethereum index to its Global Index Data ServiceSM (GIDS) service in the real time mode. On Monday, a week later after the announcement regarding new indexes (there’re already 4000 of them), Nasdaq released new Bitcoin (BLX) and Ethereum Liquid (ELX) liquidity indexes provided by Brave New Coin.

Nasdaq, leading benchmark for security trading and indexation in USA, listed BLX and ELX to increase crypto currency price transparency.

BLX is a complex of Bitcoin spot prices on six largest exchanges: Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini and itBit.

Brave New Coin CEO says that the crypto indexes will provide information about price benchmarks for crypto currencies because the market still sees considerable difference in prices on various exchanges and in different countries.

Also, BNC team says that it is at the final stage of RLX (Ripple Liquid Index) development for XRP which was listed on Coinbase Pro on Monday.

Ripple’s token rate and trading volume started increasing in 2.5 hours before official announcement made a major American exchange. The company is suspected of insider trading again.

Coinbase Pro platform announced XRP listing. The users will be able to trade the access in the near future, deposit is already available.

The citizens of USA, Great Britain, Canada, Singapore, Australia and some European countries already can access the token. It is planned to expand the list of jurisdictions in the future. It is not revealed when XRP will appear on the main platform – Coinbase.com, as a rule, it happens in several weeks after listing on Coinbase Pro.

Ripple startup’s crypto currency will be traded against USD, Euro and Bitcoin. Some of Twitter users suspect the exchange of insider trading because the asset price and trading volume started growing in 2,5 hours before publication of the official announcement.

Probably, new smartphone’s in-built crypto wallet will support Bitcoin, Ethereum and two little-known coins.

New Samsung Galaxy S10 will have an in-built wallet for cold storage of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Enjin Coin and Cosmo Coin, reports The Verge. Earlier, the same was reported by Bitcoin Exchange Guide with a reference to anonymous sources.

At the moment, the main Samsung’s decentralized app is Cosmee, its users can earn Cosmo tokens for reviews about cosmetics, report the journalists. They claim that a new smartphone has a contactless crypto payment feature. Udi Wertheimer, bitcoin developer, commented on this, posting a tweet: “In a bizarre turn of events, Samsung today announced its wallet app at MWC. Supported assets: BTC, ETH, ENJ (some tiny in-game currency thing) and COSM (absolute shitcoin from Korea for buying beauty products – WTF?!). Hardly any details. I’d wager this doesn’t ship on US models”.

Enjin Coin price increased 3x — from $0,034 to $0,099 over the last week. The coin’s price increased 136% over the last 24 hours, its trading volume is $100 million. The other altcoins who have similar capitalization have smaller trading volume, for example, Gemini Dollar stablecoin’s trading volume is at the level of $5 million, Status token’s trading volume is $12 million.

Cosmo Coin price increased 44% over the last 24 hours, its trading volume is $1,7 million At the same time, Bitcoin rate hasn’t changed, it still maintains at the level of $3843, Ethereum cheapened by 1,2%, to $138.

The owners of addresses where the largest amount of digital money is stored got new assets worth of $576 million.

Amount of crypto currencies stored in 120 largest wallets (without trading platforms’ wallets) increased by $576 million worth of crypto currencies. The owners of wallets who did not use them for several years started buying new assets since the previous year, reports Bitcoin.com.

According to BitInfoCharts portal, the first five largest crypto wallets belong to Bittrex, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Huobi and Binance. Their balance increased by 2879 NTC ($10.8 million at press time) since December, 17th, 2018 to February, 25th, 2019. Currently, they hold 573 958 BTC ($2,2 billion).

The other 102 crypto currency addresses with 10 000 – 100 000 BTC, were replenished by 150 000 BTC ($576 million). At the moment, their total balance is 2 290 000 BTC. The third group (accounts with 1000 BTC – 10 000 BTC) lost 130 000 BTC since last December – probably, they are owned by bigger investors now.

The trading platform increased leverage for margin trading for several pairs.

A major crypto currency exchange OKEx announced new trading rules. The platform increased leverage from х3 to х5 for BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT, ETH/BTC, BCH/USDT, BCH/BTC, LTC/USDT, LTC/BTC, ETC/USDT, ETC/BTC, EOS/USDT and EOS/BTC.

Users can withdraw fund overage with the help of ?Transfer fund? feature when the risk coefficient reaches 125%, or 150% in case of 3x leverage. In both cases, position liquidation is compulsory if the risk coefficient drops to 110%.

The platform announced removal of Bitcoin Gold futures in the end of January. Company’s representatives said that low liquidity of the financial tool was the reason.

Tron CEO Justin Sun claimed that the crypto market is almost over giving an interview to Mars Finance. As for forecasts for 2019, Justin Sun who is famous for his progressive strategies claimed that the crypto currencies hit the bottom and the bear trend will be over soon.

He believes that Bitcoin rate will vary from $3000 to $5000 this year.

In his opinion, the crypto market will get at least 3 growth drivers, including, crypto adoption by BitTorrent users, Dapps number increase, massive implementation of LN.

Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO, agrees with Justin Sun. He also believes in success of the crypto industry and blockhain solutions. Zhao claimed he couldn’t name even approximate cost of crypto currencies. But he is sure that Bitcoin technology will grow in leaps and bounds.

Fintech start-up Nivaura has raised 20 million dollars (￡15 million) in a funding round led by the London Stock Exchange Group to expand its headcount.

The company is currently working on automated issuance and administration of financial instruments, such as loans, bonds and structured notes. It has recently teamed up with UK-based platform Fineqia to issue tokenised bonds on a public Ethereum blockchain. According to Nivaura CEO, Dr Avtar Sehra, the company is aiming to launch “a series of high-profile, large-scale projects” in cooperation with its partners.

Nivaura closed the original seed round in October 2017 and the first extension round in January 2018. The firm did not provide a breakdown of the three rounds but said the one that just closed was “significantly larger than the preceding two,” meaning most of the $20 million is freshly raised. The proceeds will be used to increase headcount “significantly across all areas” (including hires in machine learning and natural language processing) expand into the U.S. and Asia, and invest in further R&D, Nivaura said.

London Stock Exchange chief executive Nikhil Rathi has been appointed as a Nivaura board member.

Allen & Overy senior debt capital markets lawyer Richard Cohen has joined the firm as general counsel and head of strategy, while former HSBC banking and markets division vice chairman Spencer Lake has joined as a board member.