Original author: Pete Rizzo
Coin News
Original author: Jon Southurst
The secp256k1 parameter elliptic curve used in bitcoin and for BitAuth. Source: WikipediaWith BitAuth, users would still authenticate with a conventional login and password combination. But, that information would only be stored locally, also known as client-side. The local login process would only be used to facilitate sending a private key to a remote server for access purposes.
To ensure that each authentication session is unique, every time a user releases a private key it is signed with a public key on a remote server and a nonce is generated.
Cryptographic nonces are randomized strings used only once for the purpose of a session identifier.
Security issues
Web breaches exposing identifiable information have been a problem for large companies as of late, as evidenced by major events affecting eBay, PF Changs, Target and Verizon. Though, such events could potential threaten the bitcoin industry.
Garzik says that using his SIN system with BitAuth can reduce the issues that many IT departments face in terms of digital identity. SINs can be attached to identities, or they could be obscured with non-identifiable information.
Garzik told CoinDesk:
“[BitAuth] is as anonymous, or not, as you choose. At a minimum, public keys are revealed to external parties.”
Further, Garzik says that BitAuth’s trustless properties can enable an improved experience for everyone.
“What makes the SIN proposal unique is that SINs are decentralized, as anonymous as you want them to be, digitally secure, capable replacements for website username/password, and most of all, extensible to any system that may be covered by hashes,” he said.
Not just a concept
The announcement is also notable given the recent criticisms levied by developers regarding the lack of improvements to bitcoin’s infrastructure. For example, experts like Mike Hearn have said that bitcoin as a software project is underfunded and needs attention to ensure for continued progress.
BitPay’s Stephen Pair recently told CNBC that Visa and MasterCard will eventually ‘leverage’ bitcoin, which might be why the company wants to establish secure technical tools such as BitAuth and Bitcore for developers at these larger financial companies.
Those wishing to engage with BitAuth can now do so. BitPay has a GitHub repo dedicated to the project, and there is also a BitAuth chat room hosted on Gitter.
Disclaimer: CoinDesk founder Shakil Khan is an investor in BitPay.
Login image via Shutterstock
authenticationbitcoreBitPayidentitysecurity
Original author: Daniel Cawrey
CEO Zamovskiy pitching HolyTransaction at Plug and Play to investors.HolyTransaction currently makes money by charging its users 1% each time coins are exchanged within its wallet, and it plans to grow revenue as the altcoin market expands.
Wallets help a coin thrive
According to Coinmarketcap, there are currently 37 cyrptocurrencies that have a market capitalization of more than $1m. To make decisions on what coins to include in its wallet, Holy Transactions relies on feedback from its userbase. The startup also monitors a site called CoinGecko, which measures market cap, social media shares, developer repository activity and other metrics to give coins a ranking score.
HolyTransaction thinks servicing top altcoins is important because many of them do not have sufficient wallet alternatives outside of a main client. Zamovskiy said:
“We are talking constantly with people in the community, and there are not enough wallet options.”
A lack of wallets can hurt an otherwise worthwhile coin, according to Zamovskiy. He pointed to namecoin and NXT in particular as alternative cryptocurrencies that struggle because of a lack of wallet choices. “NXT, for example, only has a client wallet. There’s no hosted wallet,” said Zamovskiy.
A wallet, not an exchange
Many altcoin investors use sites like Cryptsy to trade altcoins, and in theory, HolyTransaction is a potential competitor for those operating in this market. But when pressed, the company insisted it doesn’t want to be an exchange, but more like a traditional bank that offers a number of currency options. Zamovskiy explained:
“It’s like when you go to the bank and wish to convert a currency. Banks don’t ask for your ask price, bid price. They just provide you with a flat rate.”
HolyTransaction wants to be known as a trusted wallet partner within the cryptocurrency community.
The top ten cryptocurrencies together have an $8.2b market cap. Bitcoin alone is $7.7b. Data: CoinmarketcapInstead of having to trust a shifting market flooded with coin (and wallet) options, investors can use the HolyTransaction platform to maintain safe storage, moving value in and out as needed.
Swapping coins
The altcoin market is almost always wavering on the whims of a brand-new coin reaching some new, lofty status, which often pushes some older coin down the ladder. Auroracoin is a notable example – there was a lot of hype surrounding this Icelandic-originated coin earlier this year, only for its price and subsequent interest to drop significantly.
Because of this, HolyTransaction will have to remain vigilant about keeping the most relevant coins part of its wallet. Right now, the company has six coins in its hosted wallet – bitcoin, blackcoin, dogecoin, darkcoin, litecoin and peercoin, and four more are to be added at some point in the future.
The HolyTransaction altcoin wallet.But, what will happen when a coin needs to be moved out of the top 10, effectively removing it from the wallet? The company has a solution for that, said Zamovskiy:
“[We] can’t expect the same 10 to always be at the top. We can use several strategies, but we would probably just send the encrypted private key to the user.”
Western banking and altcoin investors
Through Zamovskiy’s knowledge of the intricacies of regulation, HolyTransaction has been able to land a partnership with Interac in compliance-friendly Canada, a feat also recently achieved by California-based expresscoin. The company has also completed its time at the Plug and Play incubator, and will set up its headquarters in the Bay Area with an engineering office in Ukraine.
From this new location, HolyTransaction will provide a service it believes people need because investors will continue to place faith (and money) behind alternative cryptocurrencies. Developers will keep making them, and money will flow into these coins.
“I believe that the majority of these [alternative] cryptocurrencies are by Russian developers,” said Zamovskiy. “[But] owners of theses currencies are usually based in the States, western countries.”
Coins image via Bitcoingarden
altcoin walletaltcoinsHolyTransactionplug and playUSA
Original author: Daniel Cawrey
Original author: Jon Southurst
Original author: Stan Higgins
Hardware wallet manufacturer SatoshiLabs says it is “on track” to start shipping the first Trezor ‘Classic’ wallets to customers by the end of July.
Initially, the company will fulfil early pre-orders, it adds, but, as soon as there is sufficient stock, SatoshiLabs will open its e-shop for regular sales.
Hardware wallets are dedicated devices aimed to more securely store bitcoins. Their advantage stems from the fact that, since they don’t connect to the Internet, they offer greatly reduced exposure to potential hackers or malware.
The Trezor Classics’ new plastic caseProduction delays
SatoshiLabs has faced a number of issues with the plastic Classic version of its wallet.
At the time, the company pinned the blame on a dispute with its original hardware partner, which has since been replaced by a “well known automotive and lighting industry supplier” with an annual revenue of $100m.
The SatoshiLabs team had a bit more luck with the pricier Trezor ‘Metallic’ wallet, and pre-ordered units started shipping a couple of months ago.
The company has not yet revealed what it plans to charge for the wallets once it starts taking orders. Metallics shipped so far will have been pre-ordered units paid for with bitcoin during a previous crowd funding campaign that was closed prematurely, along with the option to pre-order.
Prototype testing
According to the company blog, the first batch of plastic cases for Trezor Classic units (pictured above) was presented during a tour of the production facility earlier this week. The next step will be to integrate the hardware and test complete units.
“In following days, the first testing batch of 100 pieces will be produced and completed. Then we are going to put the devices through environmental chamber testing. They will be tortured with extreme temperatures, humidity and vibrations and, once they prove to sustain standards for high-quality electronics, we’ll give the green light to production,” the company said.
It sounds like the Classics are in for a fair amount of abuse over the coming weeks, but, if they meet the required standards, they could be storing bitcoin around the world within weeks.
hardware walletSatoshiLabstrezorwallets
The Trezor Classics’ new plastic caseProduction delays
SatoshiLabs has faced a number of issues with the plastic Classic version of its wallet.
At the time, the company pinned the blame on a dispute with its original hardware partner, which has since been replaced by a “well known automotive and lighting industry supplier” with an annual revenue of $100m.
The SatoshiLabs team had a bit more luck with the pricier Trezor ‘Metallic’ wallet, and pre-ordered units started shipping a couple of months ago.
The company has not yet revealed what it plans to charge for the wallets once it starts taking orders. Metallics shipped so far will have been pre-ordered units paid for with bitcoin during a previous crowd funding campaign that was closed prematurely, along with the option to pre-order.
Prototype testing
According to the company blog, the first batch of plastic cases for Trezor Classic units (pictured above) was presented during a tour of the production facility earlier this week. The next step will be to integrate the hardware and test complete units.
“In following days, the first testing batch of 100 pieces will be produced and completed. Then we are going to put the devices through environmental chamber testing. They will be tortured with extreme temperatures, humidity and vibrations and, once they prove to sustain standards for high-quality electronics, we’ll give the green light to production,” the company said.
It sounds like the Classics are in for a fair amount of abuse over the coming weeks, but, if they meet the required standards, they could be storing bitcoin around the world within weeks.
hardware walletSatoshiLabstrezorwallets
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic
The US Marshals Service (USMS) has begun to inform participating investors as to the official results of its 27th June auction of 30,000 confiscated Silk Road bitcoins, but major institutional investors are already calling the event an overall success.
The comments come amid a near 7% increase in bitcoin price on the CoinDesk USD Bitcoin Price Index that industry leaders are crediting to rising interest in bitcoin stemming from the event.
Alan Silbert, founder and CEO of online bitcoin luxury marketplace BitPremier, for example, took to Twitter to issue his belief that investors interested in the Silk Road auction may seek to buy bitcoin regardless of the outcome.
So basically at least USD$20MM of bitcoin buying demand went unsatisfied in the auction and will look elsewhere to buy bitcoins i.e. market
— Alan Silbert (@alansilbert) June 30, 2014
The news followed the USMS’ informational release earlier in the day, when it revealed to CoinDesk that 45 bidders had participated in the auction and that 63 total bids were received.
A USMS spokesperson has since told CoinDesk that it won’t be commenting further, adding:
“The award process is ongoing, and we will have no further announcements today.”
Pantera sees uptick in interest
Positive post-auction sentiment was confirmed by Dan Moorehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, who indicated the auction has so far succeeded at increasing awareness of its investment products.
Moorehead told CoinDesk:
“Says Law states that ‘Supply creates its own demand’. So true when it’s the US government auctioning bitcoins. The publicity created a tremendous amount of demand. We had several large new players bid.”
Pantera was one of a number of confirmed bidders in the auction including Binary Financial, Bitcoin Shop, Circle, Pantera Capital and SecondMarket.
Bitcoin price rises
At press time, the price of bitcoin had increased nearly $50 over the course of the day, rising from an opening price of $598.60 to a high of $643.29 before settling back below this level.
A look at recent price data shows bitcoin prices have been trending upwards, since hitting a low following the news that the USMS would sell the assets, then valued at roughly $18m.
A similar price increase was seen on the CoinDesk CNY Bitcoin Price Index, which rose 6% for the day’s trading.
SecondMarket shut out
As early as this afternoon, certain bidders began releasing statements regarding auction results on Twitter.
Perhaps most surprising was the initial tweet from SecondMarket and Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT) CEO Barry Silbert, indicated that his syndicate, which sought to open up the auction to smaller investors, did not receive any blocks from the auction.
Announcement: The SecondMarket / Bitcoin Investment Trust bidding syndicate for the US Marshals bitcoin auction was outbid on all blocks — Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) June 30, 2014
The development was seen as a boon for bitcoin by such publications as Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, both of which cited SecondMarket’s results as evidence of increased interest in bitcoin among investors.
Image via CoinDesk
auctioninvestorsSilk RoadUS Marshals Service
A similar price increase was seen on the CoinDesk CNY Bitcoin Price Index, which rose 6% for the day’s trading.
SecondMarket shut out
As early as this afternoon, certain bidders began releasing statements regarding auction results on Twitter.
Perhaps most surprising was the initial tweet from SecondMarket and Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT) CEO Barry Silbert, indicated that his syndicate, which sought to open up the auction to smaller investors, did not receive any blocks from the auction.
Announcement: The SecondMarket / Bitcoin Investment Trust bidding syndicate for the US Marshals bitcoin auction was outbid on all blocks — Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) June 30, 2014
The development was seen as a boon for bitcoin by such publications as Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, both of which cited SecondMarket’s results as evidence of increased interest in bitcoin among investors.
Image via CoinDesk
auctioninvestorsSilk RoadUS Marshals Service
Original author: Pete Rizzo