Al Zibluk: Just Keeping It Real

Linux Malware Mines for Cryptocurrency Using Raspberry Pi Devices

Linux Malware Mines for Cryptocurrency Using Raspberry Pi Devices

A Linux trojan detected under the generic name of
Linux.MulDrop.14 is infecting Raspberry Pi

devices with the purpose of mining cryptocurrency. According to Russian antivirus maker Dr.Web, the malware was first spotted online in the second half of May in the form of a script that contains a compressed and encrypted application. Experts say the initial infection takes place when Raspberry Pi operators leave their devices' SSH ports open to external connections. Once a Raspberry Pi device is infected, the malware changes the password for the "pi" account to:

$6$U1Nu9qCp$FhPuo8s5PsQlH6lwUdTwFcAUPNzmr0pWCdNJj.p6l4Mzi8S867YLmc7BspmEH95POvxPQ3PzP029yT1L3yi6K1

Malware targets only Raspberry Pi devices

After this, Linux.MulDrop.14 shuts down several processes and installs libraries required for its operation, including ZMap and sshpass. The malware then launches its cryptocurrency mining process and uses ZMap to continuously scan the Internet for other devices with an open SSH port. Once it finds one, the malware uses sshpass to attempt to log in using the username "pi" and the password "raspberry." Only this user/password combo is used, meaning the malware only targets Raspberry Pi single-board computers. This is somewhat out of the ordinary since most malware tries to target as many platforms as it can. Nonetheless, this version of the malware may be still under development, and other username & password combos may be added at a later date.

Still better than Mirai

Most users would dismiss the idea of using Raspberry Pi devices to mine for cryptocurrency, which is a very computational-heavy operation. While Raspberry Pi single-board computers do have some hardware resources at their disposal for the task the malware is attempting to perform, they are not as powerful as classic desktop or laptop computers, and nowhere near the efficiency of dedicated mining equipment. Nevertheless, people have used Raspberry Pi devices to mine for cryptocurrency in the past, with moderate success.

Either way, Linux.MulDrop.14 is certainly more equipped for the task at hand compared to a version of the Mirai IoT malware spotted in mid-April, which also tried to mine for cryptocurrency for a short period of time. At the time, Errata Security researcher Robert Graham estimated that if a Mirai botnet of 2.5 million bots mined for cryptocurrency, it would be earning only $0.25 per day because of the low computational power of the devices Mirai is capable of infecting (usually security cameras, DVRs, routers, and other IoT equipment).

Linux malware used to create a proxy network

Last but not least, Dr.Web researchers also said they discovered a second Linux malware strain, which they named Linux.ProxyM. As this malware's name implies, this Linux trojan is used to start a SOCKS proxy server on infected devices, which the trojan's author then uses to relay malicious traffic, disguising his real identity and location. No other details are available at this time about Linux.ProxyM, but researchers said the number of devices infected with this strain has grown to 10,000 systems after being first spotted in February 2017.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – TCC-Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

What is happening to cryptocurrency valuations?

What is happening to cryptocurrency valuations?

The total market cap for all cryptocurrencies just surpassed $100 billion.

The vast majority of these gains have come in just the last few months — on April 1st the total market cap was just over $25 billion — representing a 300 percent increase in value in just over 60 days. While some of these gains are from bitcoin itself (BTC is up ~160 percent in the same two-month time frame), other digital currencies like Ethereum are also responsible for the increase, which on its own has increased ~439 percent over the last two months. There’s perhaps no better way to show this diversity in gains than by looking at a chart of bitcoin’s “dominance” — i.e. what percent of the entire cryptocurrency market cap is represented by bitcoin. For years this had always hovered around 80 percent, but in the last few months has fallen to below 50 percent — with currencies like Ethereum and Ripple taking its place.

Bubble talk?

It’s hard to be an experienced investor, or even an at-home part-time trader, and not think of a massive bubble when you see that some asset has increased more than 400 percent in just a few months. It’s just how history works — when an asset rises that fast it’s a near certainty that it will come back down. Markets are irrational, after all. So don’t be surprised if there’s at least some type of correction. There already was, a few weeks ago — bitcoin pulled back from a high of $2,700 to around $2,000, but, as of today, has slowly climbed back up to a new all-time high of ~$2,850.

Latest Crunch Report

That being said, we may look back in 12 months and realize that this two-month period of insane growth was less of a bubble and more of a rebirth of cryptocurrencies as a whole. The fact that these gains have come from currencies other than bitcoin are a good sign that this is less of a bubble and more of a resurgence of interest in crypto. It makes sense that Ethereum is on a tear — the cryptocurrency has technological improvements over bitcoin, including the ability to code smart contracts directly into the blockchain, which in turn allow for things like the ability to build totally new tokens and even host ICOs

(initial coin offerings).

The public has never been able to put their money directly into a technology that has so much potential but is still developing.

And similarly, Ripple, a cryptocurrency based on inter-bank settlements, has signed up more than 100 banks worldwide. Even if this takes a while to implement (which anyone who works in the old-school banking industry will confirm), it’s still tangible news and a reason for people to get excited about the currency. These recent developments certainly don’t justify increases of 400 percent in 60 days. Both Ethereum and Ripple have been around for a lot longer than a few months. So if these were publicly traded companies, there would be (almost) no reason for drastic rise in value. But cryptocurrencies are new — most of the world has no idea what bitcoin is, let alone Ethereum and Ripple and other currencies. The public has never been able to put their money directly into a technology that has so much potential but is still developing.

For example, a technology enthusiast in the 1990s may have foreseen the rise of the internet, but had no way to directly take a stake in the technology. The idea of applying cryptography to the storage and transmission of data is still very new. And the fact that anyone can directly buy the currency that powers these cryptographically secured blockchains is much like the public actually getting a chance to invest in the internet during its infancy.

Impossible to value?

There is one rational explanation that, if true, would totally justify this rapid increase in price across some of the major cryptocurrencies. And that is, maybe these currencies are actually worth these high prices, and maybe even worth many times more than that at which they are currently trading. But the problem is we have no way to figure out their value. Cryptocurrencies aren’t public companies with earnings and expenses and EPS. For example, we can look at Apple’s financials and determine its book value — what the company’s assets would be worth if hypothetically liquidated today. Of course, stocks trade at a premium to this, because people are enthusiastic that Apple will continue to perform well and this book value will continue to rise.

But we can’t do this with cryptocurrencies. We could guess — and compare it to things like the total money or gold supply in the U.S. For example, if you’re someone who thinks of cryptocurrencies as a store of value, the total estimated value of all gold in the world is more than $8 trillion dollars… meaning if bitcoin would ever replace or supplant gold, its current value is pennies on the dollar. If you’re someone who thinks of cryptocurrencies as a genuine currency, you could compare the market cap to M2, which is the total money supply in the U.S. — cash and checking accounts, as well as “near-money” accounts like savings, mutual funds and money-market securities. The total value of M2 is about $13.5 trillion, also meaning cryptocurrencies are just a small fraction of that.

Be an informed “investor”

I’ve long cautioned readers (and friends) from buying cryptocurrencies because they have seen it rise and just want to make a quick buck. The past two months have led to a tremendous surge in public interest, with mainstream news like CNBC and CNN explaining how to “invest” in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Just make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Buy cryptocurrency to learn about it and transact with it. Or buy it because you are betting that this new technology will change the world by:

Supplanting gold as the main store of value in the world
Transforming inter-bank settlements
Making international remittance affordable
Revolutionizing the fundraising and IPO process

These are just a few options, and if you’re in tune with the cryptocurrency world, you’ll know the opportunities are endless. So if you’re going to buy cryptocurrency, do it because you see the long-term vision (and sure, ostensibly the financial gains that may come from them), not because you think it will blindly appreciate and give you a good return on your “investment.”

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – TCC-Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Crypto Asset Fund looks to raise $400 million to buy into blockchain frenzy

Crypto Asset Fund looks to raise $400 million to buy into blockchain frenzy

Timothy Enneking started a cryptocurrency fund in 2014, when the market was almost exclusively bitcoin. That's no longer the case.

The 58-year-old money manager is now aiming to raise up to $400 million for the Crypto Asset Fund, a diversified pool of digital currencies and assets that he expects to be in the tens of millions of dollars by the end of this year. Enneking filed with the SEC on Monday.

With the soaring value of ethereum, Ripple XRP and NEM, the top 100 cryptocurrencies combined are now worth more than $98 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin accounts for 46 percent of the total. Enneking said just six to eight months ago, the total value was in the low teens and 85 to 95 percent was bitcoin.

"We can actually now apply much more sophisticated tools to a portfolio of investments," said Enneking, who started managing money in Russia in 2002 and is now based in San Diego. "I don't think the world has seen but the pointy end of the spear in terms of what's going to happen in cryptocurrencies."

Crypto Asset is a trading fund, so it's not for the buy-and-hold investor. Enneking said that the minimum investment for the fund is $25,000 and that most of the institutions that are approaching him have between $100 million and $2 billion under management.

What Is Blockchain

The craze around cryptocurrencies stems from growing adoption of blockchain, a distributed electronic ledger that makes all transactions trackable. Banks are using it for payments and back-office functions, while companies in digital music, ride-sharing and cybersecurity are starting to use blockchain for tracking, sharing or protecting assets.

It's still very early and speculators abound. Start-ups built on blockchain are creating their own crypto-tokens and selling them to investors and prospective customers in initial coin offerings (ICOs). Buyers can hold the tokens in the hopes of price appreciation or, in some cases, use them as currency in the company's ecosystem. For example, a cloud storage company called Storj sold tokens that customers can use to buy digital storage space.

Enneking said he participated in an ICO for INTCoin, which calls itself "a next-generation decentralized currency that takes advantage of blockchain capabilities for instant transactions with a minimum fee."

'Less regulation'

As for the Crypto Asset Fund's strategy, Enneking said he's broken the market up into six pieces, ranging from the "blue chips" valued at above $2 billion all the way down to the currencies with so little value that they don't trade. There are currently four cryptocurrencies that fall into the blue chips category — bitcoin, ethereum, XRP and NEM — and another 22 in his large-cap group with coins outstanding valued at $200 million or more, according to CoinMarketCap.

Enneking spends much of his time educating investors about the market and trying to get them comfortable with the idea that crypto is just like any other asset, except it's moving much more quickly and the regulators have yet to become a presence.

That's a big part of the risk.

"It's not nearly as different as the average fiat investor thinks it is," Enneking said. "It's better, faster and with less regulation, which isn't always good."

Ari Levy

Senior Tech Reporter CNBC

If you do not have $25,000 to invest, you could go to Trade Coin Club where minimum starting investment is 0.35 Bitcoin

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Cryptocurrency Investment Manager Seeks $400 Million for New Fund

Cryptocurrency investment manager Tim Enneking is seeking to raise as much as $400m for a new fund.

cryptocurrency new fund for investment

New filings from the US Securities and Exchange Commission reveal that Enneking is launching the "Crypto Asset Fund", registered in the state of Delaware. CNBC first reported the news. According to that filing, no equity sales in the fund have been made. The minimum amount required by outside investors to gain a stake is $5,000, the filing notes.

Enneking told CNBC that the fund will be aimed at investing in a broader subset of digital currencies and blockchain assets. He also said that, as it stands, he has been fielding interest from institutional investors looking to gain a stake in the market.

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Stephen Hodgkiss
Chief Engineer at MarketHive
markethive.com

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Surcharge VS Cash Discount Merchant Program Offered By Zero Fee Solutions

www.visa.com/merchantsurcharging.

Understanding Cash Discounts, Credit Surcharges and Free Speech

Hello my name is Chris Corey and I work for Zero Fee Solutions. I have been in the Merchant Solutions industry now for 9 years. I would like to clear up some confusion about these two topics, Surcharge and Cash Discount.

Let’s first understand that these are two very different programs, though on the surface they appear to be the same. If you ever wonder if you are being charged under the Surcharge Program Just look on your receipt in the line item separate portion it will say “surcharge” under the surcharge rules and the way the file is built into the credit card machine it must state [SURCHARGE].

The next thing to look at is the signage on the door.

This is the sign that is approved by Visa/MasterCard under surcharge rules.

This is the sign approved by Visa/MasterCard for our Cash Discount program. (Please notice that the fee is added to ALL store sales)NOT JUST ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS. Please notice the three Patent numbers on the bottom of the sign.

You can feel free to search these patent numbers.

Surcharge is banned in 10 states

Surcharge: • Disclose the surcharge as a merchant fee and clearly alert consumers to the practice at

the point of sale — both in store and online — and on every receipt. Merchants should

also consider whether they comply with all applicable state or federal laws. Currently,

10 U.S. states have surcharging restrictions including California, Colorado,

Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas.

More information on rules and requirements related to surcharging can be found at

Cash Discount is protected under the US Constitution First Amendment Freedom of Speech and is legal in all 50 states

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-01-10/cash-discounts-credit-surcharges-and-free-speech

Judge Jed Rakoff, who through his writings and opinions has become arguably the most outspoken and influential district judge in the federal system, struck down the law as violating the First Amendment. To give you a sense of his attitude, the first line of his opinion read, “Alice in Wonderland has nothing on section 518 of the New York General Business Law.”

Rakoff’s argument was, essentially, that it violates free speech to prohibit a merchant from calling spade a spade. If the discount and the surcharge are basically the same in economic terms, the state can’t bar the merchant from truthfully describing the transactions.

Again the transaction with Zero Fee Solution is as such that there is a 3.99% added to all store prices, as an incentive to pay with cash the 3.99% is removed. Pay cash and save.

Chris Corey

National Sales Trainer

Zero Fee Solutions

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Why Buy This Expensive Bitcoin ETF Instead of Actual Bitcoin?

Why Buy This Expensive Bitcoin ETF Instead of Actual Bitcoin?

If you're interested in getting invested in the digital currency world,

now seems to be as good a time as ever. Bitcoin has seen repeated record-setting price levels, and a host of other digital currencies are becoming increasingly popular around the globe. And yet, there are some reasons why even seasoned investors may be reluctant to get involved in direct investments relating to cryptocurrencies. Fortunately for those people, there is an exchange-traded fund focusing on Bitcoin in particular that can simplify the process. It is called the Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) and it is provided by Grayscale Investments. Here are some of the basic details about the new ETF and its relationship to the digital currency itself.

Significant Returns Possible, But Are They Likely?

The Bitcoin Investment Trust sported a tremendous 248% increase in the month of May. This far surpasses the gains of 72% overall for the Bitcoin-U.S. dollar currency cross. With that figure in mind, investors may be jumping to get access to GBTC shares. However, there are other factors to consider as well. First, May's performance seems to be a relative anomaly for the ETF. For the three months prior to May, Bitcoin performance superseded ETF performance two months. This suggests that the two are actually more neck-and-neck than May's figure would suggest. Second, investors looking to buy into GBTC should keep in mind that the shares of the ETF are currently trading at more than double the cost of Bitcoin itself, according to a report by Business Insider.

Why the Huge Premium for GBTC?

Potential investors are likely wondering why GBTC shares can be found at such a high premium over Bitcoin. The issue seems to lie in supply and demand. While Bitcoin demand has skyrocketed, GBTC has kept its shares outstanding close to 1.7 million in the two years that it has existed. In fact, the ETF seems unlikely to change the number of total outstanding shares in the future, according to the company's head of research, Ihor Dusaniwsky. He explains that "with the operational risk of buying and holding actual Bitcoins to support ETF creation very high, and difficult and expensive to insure, it is unlikely that GBTC's outstanding share amount will climb above 1.7 million anytime soon."

It is useful to note that GBTC didn't always seem this expensive in comparison with Bitcoin. Before Bitcoin's price spiked in the past several weeks, the ETF traded on an average premium of just 10% above the cryptocurrency in 2017. The issue seems to have come about when Bitcoin's demand blew up and GBTC's supply did not change. As Bitcoin continues to spread further into the financial world, it will be interesting to see where GBTC's share prices go as well.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – TCC-Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

How to Buy Bitcoin

How to Buy Bitcoin

When it comes to some exotic investments like bitcoins, investors not only need to consider the worthiness of the investment, but how to even buy the digital currency in the first place.

Bitcoin is a digital cryptocurrency with no intermediaries or banks necessary

to conduct transactions. It was designed as open-source software in 2009 by an individual or group known only as Satoshi Nakamoto with the intention to minimize transaction costs and deregulate currency. The cost of a bitcoin has skyrocketed this year. When the calendar rolled over to 2017, a price of one bitcoin was just a shade under $1,000. As I write, the price of bitcoin has more than doubled to slightly more than $2,500.

This huge increase in price has led some investors to not only some to wonder if they should invest in bitcoin, but even how to invest in bitcoin in the first place. After all, it's not like they can purchase a bitcoin at their brokerage or bank. Heck, one can't even buy a bitcoin at Amazon.com, and Amazon sells everything! With this question in mind, let's look at some different ways investors can buy bitcoins or otherwise gain exposure to this unique asset class. (If you're still a little confused about what exactly a bitcoin is, here is an excellent primer on the unregulated virtual currency by fellow Fool Matthew Frankel).

What's in your (bitcoin) wallet?

The most popular way to buy bitcoins is through bitcoin wallets, digital wallets for the exclusive use of bitcoins. There are many different types of bitcoin-based wallets and you need to be very careful to choose something that will best meet your needs. Some bitcoin wallets are device-specific, while others are web-based.

Coinbase is one of the most popular digital wallets used to purchase bitcoins. As with almost any of these wallets, customers must sign up for an account online and then link a bank account. If they just want to buy, a valid credit card number will do. Coinbase accepts Mastercard and Visa. Before any bitcoin transaction, Coinbase shows users the current value of the digital currency in U.S. dollars. When making a withdrawal from a Coinbase account, account holders can choose to have the funds go to either a linked bank or PayPal account.

Since third-party cryptocurrency wallets have been famously known to be hacked resulting in a permanent loss of funds, investors must be careful to properly secure their bitcoin wallets. Remember, bitcoins are not stored in FDIC-insured accounts and most third parties do not offer insurance in case of theft or fraud. How bad is this problem? Last August, Reuters reported that a full third of bitcoin exchanges had been breached.

Security is vitally important in keeping bitcoin accounts safe. Back-ups are critical in cases of computer crashes or stolen wallets. Wallets must be encrypted so anyone withdrawing bitcoins from your account must know a password. Many wallets offer two-factor authentication, where a unique code is texted or emailed to you before withdrawals can be made. Bitcoin passwords are also critical as, unlike bank accounts, there is no customer service line to reset your password. Bitcoin.org recommends either memorizing the password or writing it down and storing it in a safe place.

Alternative ways to purchase bitcoins

There are other ways to purchase bitcoins; some more exotic than others. Bitcoin Depot, in conjunction with the bitcoin wallet Airbitz, allows users to buy bitcoins with cash at dozens of special ATM locations spread across six states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Texas. After setting up an account, all customers need to do is deposit cash in the ATM and scan a QR code with a special scanner attached to the ATM and, within minutes, the purchased bitcoins will be available in the Airbitz account.

The bitcoin-based ETF

The most convenient way to gain exposure to bitcoins is through the Bitcoin Investment Trust (NASDAQOTH:GBTC). This fund was created so that buying bitcoins could be as easy as buying any stock or ETF share. All people have to do is buy shares through their regular broker using the ticker symbol. Each share represents about one-tenth of a bitcoin. But, as fellow Fool Jordan Wathen recently pointed out, this convenience comes at a steep cost. According to his calculations, a share costs about 105% more than the value of the underlying bitcoin. Yikes! As with any security, one should do their due diligence before buying bitcoins. Not only on its worthiness as an investment, but on the right exchange platform that best meets your security and convenience needs.

Mark Cuban predicts this will make someone a trillion dollars

Shark Tank's Mark Cuban recently predicted that an emerging tech trend would make someone $1 trillion. That lucky future trillionaire is just the beginning — and the trend itself could be worth as much as $19.9 trillion. Fortunately, this hasn’t yet gone mainstream — most people haven’t recognized the scale of opportunity here. We believe that one market expert has the right answer for investors looking to get in early — and potentially win big.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – TCC-Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

AMD shares are surging with bitcoin because digital currency ‘miners’ need its graphics cards

AMD shares are surging with bitcoin because digital currency 'miners' need its graphics cards

AMD told CNBC on Monday the "newly resurgent cryptocurrency mining markets" are driving demand for its graphics cards.
Computer hardware retailers are sold out of most AMD RX 570 and RX 580 graphics card models, according to NowInStock.

AMD shares rose as much as 7 percent

Tuesday after the company revealed the dramatic jump in digital currency prices is driving demand for its graphics cards. The stock was the top performer in the S&P 500 on the day. "The gaming market remains our priority. We are seeing solid demand for our Polaris-based offerings in the gaming and newly resurgent cryptocurrency mining markets based on the strong performance we are delivering," an AMD spokesperson wrote in an email to CNBC late Monday.

Ethereum cryptocurrency is up over 2,900 percent year-to-date through Tuesday morning, while bitcoin is up nearly 200 percent this year, according to data from industry website CoinDesk. The digital currency jumped more than 8 percent at one point Tuesday to a record nearing $3,000. AMD is one of the market's best performing stocks in the past year with its shares up nearly 170 percent in the past 12 months through Tuesday morning compared with the S&P 500's 15 percent return.

Cryptocurrency miners use graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia to "mine" new coins, which can then be sold or held for future appreciation. AMD traditionally has a better reputation for mining cryptocurrencies. Computer hardware retailers are sold out of most AMD RX 570 and RX 580 graphics card models, according to NowInStock. AMD launched the RX 500 series of graphics cards on April 18. The strong demand is spreading to older graphics cards as well. Used AMD RX 470 graphics cards are selling for well over $100 list price on eBay.

Chuck Reynolds
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about – TCC-Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

BitCart Ditches Bitcoin For Dash, User Uptake âSoarsâ