Multibit bitcoin client for mac
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Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that has gained popularity in the latest months due to the fact that the price has been increasing significantly, catching the mainstream public and media attention. Even though the value of a single currency unit has fallen back quite a bit, it is still a tempting option for many users and cybercriminals alike. Malware and crime, in general, follows the money trail and cryptocurrencies are the new hot topic in cyber town. By not being controlled by a central authority but rather by its contributors it has made some governments rather nervous, creating a heated debate about whether it should be regulated or not.
However, this is not something entirely feasible given the initial design of the Bitcoin currency and network by its creator Satoshi Nakamoto. After he disappeared from the project without leaving a trace behind, creating many stories around his mysterious invention and identity.
What we know for sure is that after many years Bitcoin is as strong as ever and continuing to grow every day. In addition, the nature of digital currencies has many advantages when we compare them to their real life counterparts. If we add the benefits decentralization, privacy and ubiquity we can begin to understand the temptation to invest our time and money in Bitcoins.
In the beginning the most common way to obtain a Bitcoin was through a process called mining in which the user would exchange CPU or GPU power for fractions of a Bitcoin depending on several factors.
Given that not many miners were present at the time it was a cost-effective solution and a simple way to invest in the new currency without too much hassle. Mining is a necessary part of the security scheme of Bitcoin since it verifies the transactions made on the network essentially preventing double-spending attacks one person sending the same Bitcoins to multiple people.
Since the miner who finds the solution to the network provided crypto problem the fastest is rewarded with Bitcoins a race for designing the best mining rig started. The cost of this tailor-made equipment would be quite pricey usually including several high end gaming video cards running in parallel but the return of investment at the time warranted such spending and a lot of people joined the Bitcoin wagon without further thought. After GPU mining was superseded by ASICs Application-specific integrated circuits some hobbyists and small companies began building their own mining farms basically leaving small players out the game.
Faster machines just get a larger share than slower machines. One of the most popular ways of obtaining a Bitcoin nowadays is via one of the many trading sites available online in which you can exchange your local currency for the crypto equivalent quickly and securely. Additionally many online merchants started accepting Bitcoins as a means to pay for goods validating the real world value of the currency.
One of the most known albeit illegal sites that depended on Bitcoin was the infamous Silk Road , a place of the dark web in which you could buy a wide array of forbidden drugs and services within the comfort of your own home. So, if everything is virtual, where do you keep your hard earned crypto-money? Well, as in real life a wallet is needed. Several online wallet services appeared as a response for the claims of numerous users wanting to safely store their Bitcoins.
Unfortunately, such services provide no guarantee that your money will be securely held and the latest robbery of a popular Bitcoin bank left several users in the dark losing approximately 1. This is considered an advantage by a small group of advocates but for Bitcoin to become a mature and stable choice it needs to guarantee the safety of its users by preventing online fraud and robbery.
Besides, given the high volatility of the cryptocurrency market one needs to spend the money rather quickly before it loses its value. So far, we have made a general introduction about the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, the characteristics of its market, advantages, flaws and many other peculiar traits but what about the relation of this new currency with cyber-crime? A particular gaming company was fined recently with a one million dollar amount because it had been stealthily including a mining application within their anti-cheat product.
Even though this software was deployed across only 14, PCs it was more than enough to lose the trust of their hard earned customers ending the story with the firing of an accused employee which was suspected of converting the before mentioned application into a money making Trojan. In addition, some peculiar scenarios started to emerge with Bitcoin in the spotlight. Interestingly, as the price for a single Bitcoin unit increased most malware started to adjust the ransom price in order for the victim to pay up without too much thought about the whole operation.
After all, if the currency is based on the subjective theory of value why not apply it also to the goods that can be purchased with it? How much would you pay to recover your files? As we have mentioned many times before, malware follows the money trail and Bitcoin is big news at the moment. But cybercriminal activity now goes beyond malware, offering illegal services and products on the deep web. Payment is mostly done through Bitcoin since it allows both ends to preserve their privacy while engaging in this type of illegal activities.
Silk Road might be down but with so many sites appearing each day the cryptocurrency is going to stay in high demand for criminals and consumers alike. After this brief overall view on the current Bitcoin currency and targeted malware state we can only infer that other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin will follow the trend in the near future. With Satoshi Nakamoto named the most impressive person of we can begin to gauge the importance of the cryptocurrency frenzy that has recently taken the Internet by surprise.
If you want to take part of this world always remember to follow the Bitcoin Safety Guide and apply the same security principles as you would with any online transaction.
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