Bitcoin News

  Replica bitcoins are seen in this photo illustration on November 4, 2017. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Bitcoin adoption is about to take another step forward with the Lightning Network today getting a boost from payment processing startup CoinGate — which is adding all 4,000 of its merchants to the off-chain system. Those CoinGate merchants which will be able to accept payments via the Lightning Network include  Swiss watch manufacturers Chronoswiss and Louis Chevrolet, gaming store Mmoga.com, hosting service Bitlaunch, and adult websites Livejasmin and  Manyvids. The Lightning Network , first proposed by Thaddeus Dryja and Joseph Poon  in a 2015 white paper , creates a layer on top of the bitcoin blockchain, where transactions can be passed back and forth before being added to the underlying blockchain. This should mean transaction speed is greatly increased while costs are significantly reduced. When sending a Lightning payment, two parties de

With Bitcoin declining this year, you might expect mining activity to follow. That hasn’t happened. The combination of falling prices and a rising hash rate -- which measures computing power -- shows how complex the economics of cryptocurrency mining are. An increasing hash rate means Bitcoin mining is still profitable enough for many players to stay put, defying speculation that prices have fallen past break-even points. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-16/with-bitcoin-sinking-cryptocurrency-miners-just-dig-deeper That may be a reflection of how sophisticated Bitcoin mining has become after last year’s 1,400 percent price rally. While that drew a fair share of amateurs mining from their basements, the lucrative rewards also drove major miners to up their game by snatching up increasingly speedy chips and setting up shop in places with cheap power. That’s helped them squeeze out smaller players as prices fall to the $6,000 level. “There are still m

It appears that the cryptocurrency revolution is not all that welcome in Norway, with a  bitcoin mining facility  in a remote part of the country receiving a bomb threat. According to the Vakdalposten newspaper, the mining company, which is called Kryptovault and operates in the cities of Follum, Honefuss, and Dale, received the bomb threats on Saturday after a report on the company appeared in a local newspaper. Kryptovault’s managing director, Gjermund Hagesaeter, also spoke to the Ringerikes Blad newspaper, and he explained  that the police had been immediately informed  after the bomb threat was received. He also said that he had warned his employees to be extra vigilant about going on with their duties. “The threat has been reported to the police and these are also taking the whole issue very seriously indeed. We have also asked the police to assess whether any further action needs to be taken. The facility at Follum is located in a fenced area, so it would be difficult