Key Facts Of The Day 24.05.2018

US Authorities To Study Potential Cryptocurrency Price Manipulations

The U.S. Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation to identify the illegal actions of traders and investors and their works in conjunction with the CFTC. The US Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation to determine how traders and investors affect the value of cryptocurrency, Bloomberg reports citing four anonymous sources. The DOJ should identify any illegal practices that are being used by cybercriminals to manipulate the digital currency market. An unnamed source said users with the help of special illegal practices can deceive traders and convince them to purchase a given cryptocurrency.

Blockchain-Based Hiring Ecosystem LaborX to Launch in Australia

Platform Labor X offers employees to earn money in real time without intermediaries. The founder of the company, Sergei Sergienko, believes that the labor market is in stagnation for the last 150 years and the blockchain can bring a “revolution.” “The way for people to be remunerated is based on pre-Industrial Revolution kind of wages – you spend the time in the factory, and you get paid,” he said. “If you look around, everything else has changed. And it’s really, really weird that the way people get paid for their services, for their time, for their work, has not gone through any revolution of sorts.” Workers can receive tokens as a form of reputation points. Also there is crypto-exchange where tokens can be spent or cashed as fiat money.

Malware Mining For Monero Was Found on Macs

The antivirus software developer revealed this in a blog post Tuesday. According to his statement, Mac’s users saw “the process named “mshelper” gobbling up their CPU time like Cookie Monster.” After searching they found that the malware is mining for Monero cryptocurrency. The developer added that the malware is not very sophisticated and is easy to remove.

Hut 8 Mining Group Mined More Than 800 Bitcoins in First Quarter

The mining company reported on this in a summary of its quarterly financial results. Andrew Kiguel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hut 8, said: "We are pleased with the progress Hut 8 has made in a very short period of time. (…) Despite the ramp-up period, in Q1 2018 Hut 8 was able to mine a total of 828 Bitcoin. As of May 24, 2018, Hut 8 has been mined in excess of 1,300 Bitcoin which we continue to hold."

The Marshall Islands Refuses to Use the US Dollar And Issues Their Own National Cryptocurrency

The Marshall Islands has refused to use the US Dollar, the national currency used since 1982, and has issued its own Sovereign (SOV) cryptocurrency. Digital money will be used for internal settlements between individuals and legal entities, which follows the relevant bill. According to The Verge, the decision was made back in March, but the published document appeared on the government's website only now.

UNOPS To Increase Efficiency Using IOTA Tech

UNOPS, the United Nations Office for Project Services, announced its plan to use IOTA distributed ledger tech for higher efficiency on Tuesday. IOTA is a different distributed ledger system that uses trademark Tangle technology as opposed to blockchain. UNOPS and IOTA signed a Memorandum of Understanding in New York and Berlin on the 22nd of May, laying the groundwork for further cooperation. The aim of this partnership is to explore the possibilities of increasing UNOPS’ operational efficiency with IOTA’s technology.

One of the most discussed topics of the day on Reddit was a memo dedicated to the fall of bitcoin: "When you see the big dip in Bitcoin, but have no money left to buy more."

Total cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $ 333.4 billion

Market Dynamics

The trading volume of cryptocurrencies for 24 hours reached to $ 22.4 billion (+4 billion per day)

Mining Profitability

By Ekaterina Ulyanova