Coinbase is offering blockchain tracking software to US federal agencies. Public records revealed that Coinbase wants to sell its blockchain tracking service to the Internal Revenue Service as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration. This software will link blockchain addresses to real identities of US and non-US citizens based on publicly-available data.
Bitcoin mining company Bitmain’s co-founder Micree Zhan, who was kicked out of the company last year, hired a dozen security guards to take back control of Bitmain’s China office. Zhan recovered his status as legal representative of Beijing Bitmain last month. The news marks the latest twist in Bitmain’s bitter internal fight just days after they have released the newest Antminer T19 to its top ASIC lineup.
The well-known hip hop artist Akon has awarded a $6 billion contract to a firm to build his futuristic Akon Crypto City by 2029 in Senegal. If successful, the city will run entirely on renewable energy and will use its very own cryptocurrency called Akoin.
The Block revealed that 3.08 million Bitcoins are currently stored across the various exchanges. Coinbase is the largest store of client coins, with nearly 1 million BTC with Huobi, Binance, and OKEX together holding another 1 million coins. The total count of “exchange coins” is down roughly 10% since February. We recommend against storing your coins on exchanges, as a personal hardware wallet is much safer.
Before we conclude, this week’s “Bitcoin quick question” is what is double-spending?
Double-spending means the same funds, whether Bitcoin or a different type of digital currency, could be spent twice by the same holder.
When we transact using a bank wire or a credit card, we rely on centralized middlemen to ensure no double-spending occurs. With physical coins and banknotes, double spending is not possible as well, as the transaction occurs physically.
Cryptocurrencies however are registries in a digital, public accounting ledger, which is secured by achieving consensus between the network participants and without using a centralized entity in the process. Therefore, when each transaction is made, it must comply with the ledger’s rules or else it won’t be processed.
Double spending can still happen though. It could be due to a bug in the network’s code, an attack on the network’s consensus – also known as a 51% attack, or by tricking the other, uninformed party involved in the transaction. If you want to learn more about double-spending, visit the link in the description.
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That’s what’s happened this week in Bitcoin. See you next week.
https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-news-summary-june-8-2020/
