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  Crypto lawyer: "We're seeing some academic institutions getting involved on a limited basis for strategic reasons."
• Universities around the world are increasingly interested in cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that underpins them.

LONDON - Some universities on the east coast of the US have begun making small investments into cryptocurrency hedge funds, according to a lawyer in the industry.John Lore, the founder of Capital Fund Law Group, told Business Insider:

"We're seeing some academic institutions getting involved on a limited basis for strategic reasons.

"I can't say the names of [the academic institutions] because that's attorney-client but we have people mostly on the East Coast that have begun doing investments in this space on a fairly modest basis."New York-based Capital Fund Law Group specialises in providing legal services to the hedge fund industry and has advised around 30 cryptocurrency hedge funds on setting up over the last year, according to Lore.

Lore said that the majority of investment in these new funds comes from "high net worth individuals and, on a very limited basis, family offices.""Yes there are investors but at this point, investors are putting in very small percentages of their net worth as we would expect and as I believe is appropriate," Lore said.

He said he doesn't expect to see institutional investors such as pension funds invest in crypto any time soon, due to regulatory uncertainty and the lack of a track record for many funds. One exception is university endowment funds, some of which have begun to invest in the space on a limited basis.

"We see academia as a tie between these somewhat young and enthusiastic fund managers and capital raising," Lore said.Universities have been growing increasingly interested in cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that underpins it. Blockchain is a shared, uneditable ledger of all transactions and is encoded with complex cryptography.

One of the developers of ethereum helped set up blockchain facilities at the universities of Edinburgh and Tokyo,and Ripple this week announced a $50 million research fund for blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Leading universities around the world are also introducing courses on the technology, including Cambridge and Oxford.

• Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC that bitcoin transactions are costly and too slow versus XRP, the token that can be used with Ripple's products.
• Garlinghouse also called a lawsuit that alleges Ripple violated security laws "outrageous."
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Arjun Kharpal | @ArjunKharpal
Bitcoin is not the "panacea" to solve the problems that people thought it would, Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of blockchain start-up Ripple, told CNBC in an interview that aired Tuesday.

Ripple is a San Francisco-based company that is developing a network for faster global financial payments. XRP is the digital token that financial institutions on the network can use to transact quickly.

The currency and the company were founded by the same people.XRP is traded on cryotocurrency exchanges and one is currently worth 65 cents. Garlinghouse, who emphasized that Ripple is independent of the XRP token, said bitcoin will have a role in the future, but not one that will see it solve major problems, such as becoming a global currency.


"I think it's (bitcoin) not going to be the panacea that people once thought it would be, where it would solve all of these different kind of problems... Instead, you're seeing specializations of different kind of ledgers, different kinds of blockchains," Garlinghouse told CNBC at the Money 20/20 fintech conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

He explained that the bitcoin blockchain, the technology that underpins the cryptocurrency, is "quite slow," whereas XRP transactions are "a thousand times faster.

"The average transaction time for bitcoin was 42 minutes as of Tuesday, according to data tracked by Blockchain.info. XRP has a transaction time of four seconds, according to Ripple's website.While many see XRP as a rival to bitcoin, Garlinghouse said it's not necessarily a case of one digital coin versus another."Well, I don't really think about it as one versus the other.

I mean, it's actually unfortunate, I think, that there's some people in this, the crypto space, the blockchain space — for them, it's almost a holy war of one versus the other. I don't look at that at all.""I think that what we're seeing is the overall growth of this space and there will be many winners," he added.

Bitcoin is the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. In another recent interview with CNBC, Garlinghouse said that cryptocurrency prices are influenced by bitcoin, but that could soon change as people realize the differences between different digital coins.

Lawsuit claims 'outrageous' 

Elsewhere, Ripple has been hit with a class action lawsuit by a person who allegedly lost money buying and selling XRP. Ryan Coffey claims that Ripple violated U.S. securities law.In 2013, Ripple Labs created 100 billion of the XRP coins in existence.

Ripple owns about 60 percent of those 100 billion XRP, some of which are owned by the blockchain's founders. The lawsuit alleges that the founders "earned massive profits by quietly selling off this XRP to the general public, in what is essentially a never-ending initial coin offering (ICO)."


Ripple CEO: It's very clear XRP is not a security  19 Hours Ago | 01:34


An ICO is a way for a company to issue a new digital token in exchange for money in order to raise funds. Garlinghouse called the lawsuit "outrageous."

"Here's somebody who held XRP for, I think, two weeks... and is making some claims," he said."Whether or not XRP is a security is not going to be dictated by one lawsuit... I think it's very clear that XRP is not a security, it does exist independently of Ripple the company.

If Ripple the company is shut down tomorrow the XRP ecosystem would continue to exist. It's an independent, open-sourced technology."From an ownership point of view, owning XRP doesn't give you any ownership of Ripple equity.

And also, as we just talked about, XRP has a lot of utility, so to me it's quite different than what a security you know looks like and I think ultimately we'll find that conclusion."


Arjun Kharpal

Google’s decision to ban all bitcoin and cryptocurrency adverts on its platforms is ill-thought-out and potentially even unethical, according to industry experts.

The new policy, which comes into effect this month, follows similar bans from Facebook and Twitter.Google announced the ban in a blogpost in March, stating: “Ads for the following will no longer be allowed to serve … Cryptocurrencies and related content (including but not limited to initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice.” 

Both Google and Facebook have recently revealed their interest in cryptocurrencies and their underlying blockchain technology, leading to speculation that the advert ban is not solely motivated by a desire to confront criminality.

“I understand that Facebook and Google are under a lot of pressure to regulate what their users are reading, but they are still advertising gambling websites and other unethical practices,” Phillip Nunn, CEO of Manchester-based investment firm Blackmore Group, told The Independent.

“I suspect the ban has been implemented to fit in with potential plans to introduce their own cryptocurrency to the market in the near future and therefore removing other crypto adverts allows them to do it on their own terms.

”In May, Google reportedly approached the founder of ethereum – the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalisation – in the hope of potentially securing his services. 

A Google spokesperson declined to comment on either the ban or speculation surrounding its cryptocurrency and blockchain ambitions, however a spokesperson told Business Insider in March that it was looking into the technology.

“Like many new technologies, we have individuals in various teams exploring potential use of blockchain, but it’s too early for us to speculate about any possible uses or plans,” the spokesperson said.

Facebook also hinted at its blockchain ambitions in May, as it announced the biggest management reshuffle in its history. 


Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has previously expressed interest in cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology that bitcoin popularised (AFP/Getty)David Marcus, the former head of Facebook Messenger, announced that he will lead an exploratory blockchain group that will report directly to the company’s CTO, Mike Schroepfer.

Facebook’s attempts to block adverts promoting anything related to cryptocurrencies faced difficulties when its new policy was introduced in January, with marketers using simple tricks to circumvent it.For example, words like “cryptocurrency” were abbreviated to “c-currency” and the letter “o” in the word “bitcoin” was switched to a zero.

READ MORE
Google courts ethereum founder for possible cryptocurrency project

The blanket ban by Google is self-imposed and follows a pattern of large tech platforms pre-empting regulatory bodies by policing their own platforms.As cryptocurrencies have become more popular, scammers are increasingly using Facebook and Google to promote shady cryptocurrencies and exchanges and defraud customers.

Recent research into initial coin offerings (ICO) – the process of selling units of a cryptocurrency ahead of its launch – found that as many as 80 per cent of ICOs were fraudulent.

Clamping down specifically on these types of adverts is seen as a positive thing, as the proliferation of these adverts hurts the perception of the space in general. However, the nature of the ban is seen as unfairly targeting this emerging industry.

Adverts for bitcoin, litecoin, ripple, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies will be banned on Google platforms from this month (Getty)“Unfortunately, the fact that this ban is a blanket ban will mean that legitimate cryptocurrency businesses which provide valuable services to users will be unfairly caught in the crossfire,” Ed Cooper, head of mobile at digital banking startup Revolut, told The Independent.

“A more targeted approach would definitely be preferable: it would seem heavy handed for example to put a blanket ban on all ads for job postings, anti-virus software or charities just because ads for these products and service are also sometimes used as an entry point by scammers to target consumers.

”​Gareth Malna, a fintech solicitor at the UK law firm Burges Salmon, goes as far as to suggest that Google’s ban contradicts the very purpose of the world’s largest search engine.

“The decision by Google to act as a quasi-regulator in this context is a potentially troubling development given its vast commercial power,” Mr Malna said. “​For Google to step in and block that market may sound like consumer protection, but is potentially overstepping its perceived role as gatekeeper to information.”

See more from the Independent here: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/google-bitcoin-ban-cryptocurrency...

The co-founder of the largest free-content reference website has slammed bitcoin and the digital currency industry, saying that it is in a bubble that will eventually pop.

Speaking at the Blockshow conference in Berlin — Europe’s version of New York’s blockchain-focused Consensus conference — Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales said the crypto industry is in for a rude awakening.

In fact, he said, the sector is in need of some “real journalism,” according to Cointelegraph, which is hosting Blockshow.

Read: 

Opinion: The bitcoin bubble is a bad omen for the U.S. economy

‘Right now, we are in a bubble. The crypto world is absolutely, definitely in a bubble. I don’t think there’s many people who would deny that.’—Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia.

It is not the first time Wales has piled on the industry. In an October interview, he warned investors of the risks around the popular, unregulated crowdfunding tools that raise money for cryptocurrencies.

“There are a lot of these initial coin offerings, which are in my opinion absolute scams and people should be very wary of things that are going on in that area,” Wales said in an October 4 interview with CNBC.


Read: 


The SEC created a fake ICO website to show just how easy it is to scam investors


The internet entrepreneur’s comments come as the No. 1 digital currency is in the midst of a dire stretch, coming off three consecutive weekly losses for the first time since September 2017, pushing bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.15%  to a six-week low.


Despite his negative outlook for the industry, there is a reason Wales may hope he is wrong — in 2014, Wikipedia announced it had started accepting bitcoin as a form of donation, which it still does today.

See more from Marketwatch here: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-is-definitely-a-bubble-says-wikipedia-founder-2018-05-29

A UK hospital is offering treatment for bitcoin addicts, aimed at helping people who have developed a compulsion to trade the cryptocurrency.

Castle Craig Hospital in Scotland, which runs rehabilitation courses for people with drug, alcohol and gambling addictions, has launched a programme after receiving requests to treat similar problems with cryptocurrency.


According to experts, the trading of digital currencies or assets such as bitcoin can become a behavioural addiction, similar to online gambling, with some users obsessively following minute-by-minute fluctuations in prices.

Around 13 million people trade bitcoin across the world.Cryptocurrency users can get hooked by the volatile fluctuation of prices online which creates a ‘high’ when they buy or trade a winning currency, Castle Craig said in a statement.

“This can be exciting but also addictive and, like gambling addiction, can be financially disastrous.

”Mark Griffiths, professor of behavioural addiction at Nottingham Trent University, said:  “Addiction to cryptocurrencies is a sub-type of online day-trading addiction.

I see these as akin to gambling addiction.”Chris Burn, a gambling therapist at Castle Craig, said:

“The high risk, fluctuating cryptocurrency market appeals to the problem gambler."It provides excitement and an escape from reality. Bitcoin, for example, has been heavily traded and huge gains and losses were made.

It's a classic bubble situation."Some treatments at the centre will be led by Tony Marini, a former gambling and cocaine addict, who said introducing a life structure is key for addicts.


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"Having been through it myself, my experience of addiction gives me insight and empathy towards others who have the same problem," Mr Marini said."I see cryptocurrency trading as a way for people to escape from themselves, into another world, because they don't like the world they're in.


"The first stage of treatment is to join other addicts in group therapy and share their life stories. This helps them identify with each other and realise that they're not alone."

Security researchers are finding loopholes in the security of cryptocurrencies and blockchains one after another. The latest in the series is the blockchain and smart contracts platform EOS.

Qihoo 360, a Chinese internet security company, has discovered a series of high-risk vulnerabilities in the EOS network.These vulnerabilities allow attackers to gain remote control over any EOS node, construct and publish malicious smart contracts, or become a ‘free miner’ and dig up digital currencies based on the EOS platform.

Since the attacker can gain complete control over an EOS node, they can literally do whatever they want. This includes stealing the key of the EOS super node, controlling the transactions of cryptocurrencies on the EOS network, or acquiring financial and privacy data about the users including their wallet private keys.

EOS was gearing up for the launch of its main network — commonly referred to as Mainnet — which was slated to happen on June 2, 2018. But, the launch might be postponed in light of this discovery.

As per the official statement from Qihoo 360, they have made the person in charge of EOS network aware of the vulnerabilities, who has promised to hold off the Mainnet launch until the bugs are fixed.

Qihoo 360 has stated that the security risks with the EOS network are unprecedented, and the entire blockchain industry and security experts need to pay extra attention towards enhancing the security of blockchain networks.

We have reached out to EOS for a comment. If they respond, we will update the story accordingly.

Update [May 30, 2018 — 8:55 AM GMT] EOS has stated that it’s working to resolve the vulnerabilities, and the Mainnet launch will take place on schedule.

Discover more insightful stories like this one on TNW here: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/05/29/eos-security-mainnet-launch/