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[dropcap size=small]A[/dropcap]s we’ve said before, bitcoin scams are a dime a dozen, but we’re doing our best to expose as many of them as quickly as we can before too many people get hurt. This week, we exposed Hong Kong’s new bitcoin exchange and ATM network – HKCEx. The exchange claimed to have raised over $20 million in funding from “private institutions,” as reported by HKCEx’s Marketing and PR Head Lavin Lam (who confusingly is a female on this LinkedIn account but says he/she is a man). HKCEx refuses to disclose the source of the millions of dollars in funding, and there is little to no information available about the company’s team. Furthermore, the exchange has been spreading (almost) perfect 3D renderings of this bitcoin ATM to make it look like HKCEx is operating a line of ATMs in Hong Kong.
HKCEx is officially registered with Hong Kong’s Customs and Excise Department, so hopefully Hong Kong authorities will catch these crooks soon.
Most cryptocurrency users know the threat of a 51% attack. If any entity has control of over half of the currency’s hashrate, then that entity can double spend coins, prevent some or all transactions from getting confirmed, and more. This week, Coinotron was dangerously close to controlling 51% of the Litecoin hashrate.
Fortunately, the Litecoin community has responded accordingly, and the threat appears to be gone.
In related Litecoin news, Zeusminer has started shipping its scrypt ASICs, further proving itself to be a legitimate mining company.
Great news for Darkcoin holders – DRK’s price has been skyrocketing over the past month and has passed Litecoin’s current price of $11.38. Many investors have faith in Darkcoin because they believe that it’ll be the number one choice for those needing completely anonymous transactions. Darkcoin transactions are pooled together in the blockchain, meaning that they can’t be easily traced the way bitcoin transactions can be. Will DRK continue to rise or is a dump coming soon? That remains to be seen.
Looks like the bitcoin price is also on the rise. At the time of this writing, 1 BTC = 570 USD. There could be various reasons for this rise. Some bitcoiners are reporting that China is buying hundreds of bitcoins a minute. What do you think?
Back in 2010, bitcoin user Laszlo Hanyecz decided he wanted to buy pizza with bitcoins. At the time, 1 BTC was worth a fraction of a penny, so buying two large Papa John’s pizzas cost 10,000 BTC (now worth almost $6 million). That day, 22 May, is now known as Bitcoin Pizza Day. eGifter decided to celebrate BPD this year by offering extra points rewards on pizza gift cards purchased with BTC, LTC, and DOGE. CryptoCoins News also celebrated Bitcoin Pizza Day, which you can see here.
Well, that concludes this Bitcoin News in Review. Be sure to check out our other articles on CCN and come back every Sunday to see our top articles of the week.