In the past week, AmEx-backed Abra announced using the Litecoin smart contract system for use in its cryptocurrency payment application. The market reacted positively towards this news, but only for a few hours, following which () prices went into a nosedive. BTCManager tells you why.
“Partnership” with an Open-Source Network
Perhaps the simplest explanation lies in the aftermath of the fiasco, as well as Charlie Lee’s announcement that the has not partnered with and they are merely using its open source code.
Litecoin creator Charlie Lee about the LitePay closure:
“Like everyone else, we got too excited about something that was too good to be true and we optimistically overlooked many of the warning signs.”
Abra is using the Litecoin network for its smart contracts. No partnerships needed as Litecoin is an open network.
— Charlie Lee [LTC] (@SatoshiLite)
Litecoin’s Appeal Against BTC
Founded in 2011, the Litecoin Foundation created LTC with a clear focus on solving the many issues developers and users had with (), most importantly scalability and possible inflated network fees.
This fallacy, due to which LTC was created, proved to be correct in 2017 when bitcoin’s network fees famously reached $50 per transaction. During that time LTC remained a cheap and fast payment network.
Litecoin is also easier to mine: Despite the two networks sharing similar proof-of-work () concept, the algorithms that the two blockchain systems use are quite different.
Lee’s proposed mining algorithms are significantly simpler than those of Nakamoto’s, which, in turn, means LTC can be mined on computers which are less powerful and thus consume less .
Abra Chooses Litecoin Smart Contracts over Ethereum
Litecoin’s compatibility with bitcoin was a “major factor” while selecting the Litecoin network, said Abra C.E.O Bill Barhydt.
Explaining the move on a Reddit , Barhydt said that Litecoin offers “unsurpassed lightning support; it is scalable and compatible with the bitcoin blockchain.” Speaking about the comparison between Litecoin and bitcoin, Barhydt adds that the former offers low transaction fees which fit into Abra’s near future goals.
Barhydt further added that Litecoin would become the “primary asset class” for Abra in the next few weeks.
Answering a question Reddit users posted about the difference between Abra and other cryptocurrency exchanges, Barhydt said that Abra could not be compared with major exchanges like and . This difference is because Abra is an application designed to support any investor in the retail sector that is focused on extra exposure to digital assets.
He maintained a positive outlook on Litecoin’s price, saying:
“If Abra can attract a significant amount of users it will further drive demand for Litecoin which in turn could reduce the circulating amount of LTC, pushing the trading price up.”
Reddit Users Find Flaws
With the recent announcement of LitePay’s shutdown, investors and cryptocurrency enthusiasts maintained a calculated approach towards investing in LTC. A few users quickly discovered issues with the Abra app, and soon enough, voiced their concerns on the litecoin .
According to the post, users faced issues with their accounts, after several were blocked following deposits in American dollars.
Users also pointed out flaws in the registration process for Abra, namely the lack of Two Factor Authentication and requiring a social security number with the initial setup. Given the numerous regulations with regards to cryptocurrencies daily, it is evidently integral to have secure and legal applications to prevent any government or hacker intervention.
(Source: )
Adding to this, the user reviews on Abra’s App Store listing seemed to be dim, with many reporting account lock downs and dollar transfer issues.
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According to Chromium Blog, Google has decided to ban all crypto mining extensions from its chrome store on April 2, 2018.
Protecting Users: Google to Block Mining Extensions
While the Chrome Web Store previously permitted cryptocurrency mining on the condition that the user is “adequately informed” and “it is the extension’s single purpose,” Google soon discovered that most extensions with mining scripts failed to comply with these policies.
As such, the Chrome Web Store will new extensions that mine cryptocurrencies and Google will delist any cryptocurrency mining extensions in the store in late June 2018.
The technology giant decided to block mining extensions to allow their chrome users to benefit from browser extensions while minimizing any potential harm. Google will, however, permit any blockchain-related extensions that exclude cryptocurrency mining in the Web Store.
Although focus is on encouraging and empowering developers to build new chrome extensions, there has been an increasing number of extensions that initially appear useful and functional, are embedded with cryptocurrency mining scripts.
These scripts tend to run in the background without the user’s permission.
“The key to maintaining a healthy extension ecosystem is to keep the platform open and flexible,” said James Wagner, Google’s extensions platform product manager.
“We chose to defer banning extensions with crypto mining scripts until it became clear that the vast majority of mining extensions submitted for review failed to comply with our single purpose policy or were malicious.”
Unfortunately, the mining scripts tend to consume high levels of CPU resources and can impact the power consumption and computer’s performance over time. “This policy is another step forward in ensuring that Chrome users can enjoy the benefits of extensions without exposing themselves to hidden risks,” said Wagner.
The developers from , an open-source project created by Google to furnish source code for Chrome, also raised similar concerns about the increasing number of mining extensions. Google’s ban on crypto mining extensions is, therefore, one of many recent decisions Google has done to protect their users against a growing number of malicious software.
Google’s Cryptocurrency and ICO Adword Ban
In March 2018, also released an to their financial services policy to restrict any advertisements serving cryptocurrencies and any related content in June. To protect their users, Google banned these cryptocurrency ads because they are “frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.”
While Google’s crackdown appears strict, their concerns for users are very valid. According to a Microsoft on March 13, 2018, 644,000 computers on average are infected with cryptocurrency mining malware from September 2017 to January 2018.
While on the business end, software security firm Check Point issued a that shows around 55 percent of businesses worldwide remain affected by crypto jacking.
Regarding how much this costs for consumers, a recent report from estimated that the sheer energy costs for a computer could range from $2.90 to $5 per month. While this number doesn’t sound like much, it, however, does not include the costs of wear and tear on computer hardware.
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In der Kalenderwoche 14 sank das Marktkapital aller Kryptowährungen weiter, stieß allerdings auch auf soliden Support. BTC-ECHO wendet sich dem Hype ab und der Technologie zu. In der Reihe Goodbye FUD beleuchten wir die – oft vernachlässigten – technischen Neuerungen und ordnen die Preiskorrektur ins bigger picture ein. Ein solcher Fortschritt ist die offizielle Monero-Hard-Fork am 6. April mit einigen…Der Beitrag erschien zuerst auf .
