£0.00
December 23, 2020
33
The case
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil case against Ripple Labs Inc. It claimed that Ripple Labs violated investor protection laws. This happened when the company sold a cryptocurrency called XRP. This is one of the high profile actions taken by SEC against a cryptocurrency pioneer. Meanwhile, Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse is about to leave the company.
Ripple Labs and XRP
Ripple Labs Inc. is an American company. It is a technology-based company. It works on the technology of the development of Ripple payment protocol and exchange network. Originally, 
its name was Opencoin. XRP is a cryptocurrency currency created by Ripple Labs. It is a digital asset used for payments. Moreover, it doesn’t involve blockchain and mining. It has a fixed number of tokens – 100 billion. In addition, it is popular with banks and financial institutions. By market value, it is the third-largest cryptocurrency. It’s price increased more than twice its value this year.
its name was Opencoin. XRP is a cryptocurrency currency created by Ripple Labs. It is a digital asset used for payments. Moreover, it doesn’t involve blockchain and mining. It has a fixed number of tokens – 100 billion. In addition, it is popular with banks and financial institutions. By market value, it is the third-largest cryptocurrency. It’s price increased more than twice its value this year. The allegations
SEC charged Garlinghouse and Larsen for offering securities in an illegal way. Chris Larsen is the co-founder of the company. The commission told that they sold more than 14.6 billion XRP tokens. The sale was through an unregistered offering. This has been going on since 2013. The XRP tokens sold worth $1.38 billion. 
The commission added that Garlinghouse personally sold XRP worth $150 million. Larsen also sold XRP tokens worth $450 million. The officers in the company told that they are planning to fight the claims. Garlinghouse said that the commission is wrong in its matter of facts.
The commission added that Garlinghouse personally sold XRP worth $150 million. Larsen also sold XRP tokens worth $450 million. The officers in the company told that they are planning to fight the claims. Garlinghouse said that the commission is wrong in its matter of facts. The case is whether XRP, security that needs registration with SEC. It is because XRP is a digital asset. While registering with the SEC, the company provides certain information. They are the business model, risks involved, financial condition. The commission reviews the information and provides feedback. The commission mentioned the below findings. The company created an information vacuum. Only two members had full control over it. They are Larsen and Garlinghouse. They sold XRP in the market in such a way that they shared the information they wanted to share.
The SEC is asking the court to force the company to stop violating securities laws. They have to pay a small percentage of their profits as well as penalties. They should prohibit themselves from selling digital asset securities.
December 22, 2020
Ledger hardware wallet
A hardware wallet is a virtual wallet for cryptocurrency. This wallet stores the user’s private keys safely in a hardware device. The private key is a piece of important and critical information. After that, its usage is for verification of outgoing transactions. The major goal of these wallets is to provide complete security to its user. It aims that the private key information can’t get stolen from the computer or smartphone. Ledger is a company that manufactures these wallets. The company uses high-end technology to provide a high level of security to its users. In addition, they provide complete ownership and control of these wallets to their users.
Hacking of customer data
Recently, the hacking user’s personal information came into the picture. This information is from the Ledger hardware wallet. More than 1 million customer data got stolen. The data includes 
email addresses, first and last names. In addition, it also contains the customer’s phone numbers and postal addresses. After hacking, the information got published in RaidForums. RaidForums is a place where the customer’s sensitive information gets sold or shared. In addition, 1 million email addresses got published. 272,000 customer’s sensitive data also got published there.
The damage is much higher than the company expected. It happened on 25th June 2020. The company made a public announcement after it knew about the security breach. The company announced that the data shared was only 9500 customer’s information. However, it turned out that a huge amount of customer information is out in the open. The chances of misusing this data are very high. Hackers and fraudsters are mostly waiting for such opportunities. They have started to blackmail Ledger user’s to get their money. Already frauds and scams have begun to arise. Therefore, ledger users are at great risk as their sensitive information got compromised.
Scams followed
One of the Ledger users posted a message regarding this. He warned others that he is being targeted by fraudsters. 
They have his email address and phone number. In addition, they blackmailed him asking him to pay $500 for a wallet. Above all, they told that they are aware of his postal address. They also threatened him to show up when he least expects it. This incident is very serious. Also, this could cause serious damage to users. The users might lose their money. This could lead to some grievous consequences.
Next Step
Now, the situation is out of the company’s hands. The damage done can not reverse. The only advice Ledger can give is to check the phishing attacks. However, the fraudsters have the customer’s data and they will try to misuse it very easily.
To check this, Ledger came up with a website. This website provides an overview of phishing attacks that happened to date. This could help users so that they will not fall into the scamsters trap. As per Ledger, it has stopped 171 phishing websites that could use this data. This got implemented on the day of the breach. Only the future can tell how long the company will be able to protect its customer’s information.
December 21, 2020
Elon Reeve Musk is a renowned entrepreneur and innovator. He is a business magnate and industrial designer. He is the mind behind multiple innovations and the founder of multiple companies. After that, he started Zip2. It is a web software company. He co-founded this company. Later Compaq took over this company in 1999.
Then he founded X.com. It was an online bank. This company merged with Confinity in 2000. Afterward, in 2002, he founded SpaceX. This company is into aerospace manufacturing and 
space transportation services. The company is into manufacturing and launching advanced rockets and space crafts.
space transportation services. The company is into manufacturing and launching advanced rockets and space crafts. The major goal of this company is to reduce the cost of space travel. This company brought a major revolution in space technology. Musk is the CEO as well as the lead designer of the company. Then he got into Tesla Motors.
He became the product architect of the company. In 2008, he became the CEO of the company. Tesla is an electric vehicle manufacturing company. It is also into clean energy production. The company produces electric cars, solar panels, and related products and services.
In 2006, he got himself involved in the creation of SolarCity. It is a solar energy services company. Later the company became a subsidiary of Tesla. He co-founded OpenAI in 2015. It is a nonprofit research organization.
It basically promotes friendly artificial intelligence. In 2016, he co-founded Neuralink and The Boring Company. Neuralink is a neurotechnology company. It aims at developing brain-computer interfaces. The Boring Company is into infrastructure and tunnel construction. It is into the creation of tunnels, specially designed for electric vehicles.
Musk’s interest in Bitcoin
On Twitter, Musk inquired about converting Tesla’s large transactions into Bitcoins. In the last few days, Tesla’s share price rose exponentially. Tesla’s much-anticipated entry into the S&P 500 index created a stir in the market. Due to this, it is attracting more and more investors. In turn, the shares prices recorded 
an all-time high for the company. Meanwhile, Bitcoin also passed the $20,000 USD mark last week. The price is at $24,299.75 USD on Sunday. This is also a new record for a long time. So, Musk was thinking to convert his current fortune into Bitcoins.
an all-time high for the company. Meanwhile, Bitcoin also passed the $20,000 USD mark last week. The price is at $24,299.75 USD on Sunday. This is also a new record for a long time. So, Musk was thinking to convert his current fortune into Bitcoins. Saylor’s reply
Michael Saylor tweeted to invest in Bitcoin in reply to Musk. Saylor is the CEO of Microstrategy. He encouraged Musk to invest his US dollars into Bitcoins. He informed that Musk will do a $100 billion USD favor to his stakeholders in this way. After that, he also added that many firms will follow his lead. Bitcoin will attract more investors. This, in turn, makes Musk’s investment grow to $1 trillion USD. This will also be in favor of his stakeholders.
Conclusion
Musk also inquired if such large transactions are even possible. Saylor replied in the affirmative. He told that he has put $1.3 billion USD into Bitcoin. Saylor also offered to share his playbook offline. Many other investors also assured about its possibility. Due to the increasing value of Bitcoin, many firms are taking it into consideration.
December 19, 2020
There are three ways to procure Bitcoin. One can buy it from a cryptocurrency exchange. In addition, one can accept Bitcoins as payment for selling goods and services. One can obtain it through mining new Bitcoins. The mining of Bitcoins is a complex process of discovering new Bitcoins.
Process of mining Bitcoins
The process of mining is very tough. It is just like digging the ground for finding gold. First of all, the miner has to set up a network of high powered computers. This set up is for finding the verification key of Bitcoins transactions. The miner will try to verify a large number of transactions in one go. All these transactions will be in boxes. Then a Blockchain will keep all the transactions locked virtually. The miner will try to find the key for this box. To do this, he will be using the software.
The software will try to find the key. After finding the key, the box will open. This will also 
verify all the transactions. The miner has to solve a lot of puzzles to get the correct one. The process becomes tougher and tougher. If the miner manages to crack the puzzle, this leads to the creation of a Bitcoin block. After the creation of the Bitcoin block, the miner will get a reward. The reward will be 25 newly created Bitcoins.
verify all the transactions. The miner has to solve a lot of puzzles to get the correct one. The process becomes tougher and tougher. If the miner manages to crack the puzzle, this leads to the creation of a Bitcoin block. After the creation of the Bitcoin block, the miner will get a reward. The reward will be 25 newly created Bitcoins. How to do mining for free?
To do Bitcoin mining, a few things are essential. First, one needs to install a Bitcoin wallet. One has to set up the Bitcoin wallet. It will allow to send, receive, and store Bitcoins. One can store the smallest amount of Bitcoin (called a Santoshi) to thousands of Bitcoins. One needs to create an account with the Bitcoin wallet. One also needs an encrypted bank account to receive the money. Then a free mining software is a must. One has to link the Bitcoin wallet with the bank account.
Free Bitcoin Mining Software
The actual mining process involves mining hardware. But the Bitcoin mining software is also an important component. It will connect the Blockchain network and the mining pool. The miner will provide information to the software. The software will provide it to the Blockchain network and the mining pool.
The software can be present in any operating system like Windows, Linux. There is so many software available for the mining process. Here are a few of the free software listed below.
EasyMiner – It is a GUI based mining software. It can operate in Windows, Linux, and Android operating systems. It is very transparent in nature. This software provides a visual representation of the mining process.
BTCMiner – It is a miner having a USB interface. This reduces the additional hardware requirements. The process is fully automated.
MinePeon – It is an open-sourced Bitcoin miner. It has good stability and performance. The mining is completely automated.
CGMnatur – This is a simple and lightweight miner. It can operate on multiple platforms. Its performance is quite good.