The Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Media, Nikolai Nikiforov, has expressed his belief that bitcoin will not be legally recognized as a means of payment in the Russian Federation. Despite the statements, Russia still appears poised to make a bid for global dominance in the cryptocurrency mining industry.
On November 20, Mr. Nikiforov told reporters “bitcoin is a foreign project for using blockchain technology, the Russian law will never consider bitcoin as a legal entity in the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. However, I think that it is quite possible to use blockchain technology and the use of various digital tokens.”

The announcement comes one month after Russia’s Communication Ministry submitted a “draft decree regulating the legal adoption of cryptocurrency.” Despite the draft decree, it was indicated that the Bank of Russia and the Finance Ministry would ultimately determine the country’s regulatory apparatus. Earlier this week, Russia’s deputy finance minister, Alexei Moiseev, announced his expectation that Russia’s new cryptocurrency bill “should be formulated by February 1 in the framework of the president’s mandate.”

Tether, the company behind a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency widely used in the market's exchange trade, is claiming that its systems have been hacked and that $30 million worth of its tokens have been stolen.

In a post on the project's website (which has since been removed), Tether blamed a "malicious action by an external attacker" for the theft of $30,950,010 USDT yesterday. Originally launched as Realcoin and later rebranded, Tether aims to serve as a proxy for the US dollar that can be sent between exchanges including Bitfinex, Poloniex and other markets.

In response, Tether said it would move swiftly to ensure these exchanges do not trade or otherwise introduce the stolen funds back into the cryptocurrency economy.

The company wrote:

    "$30,950,010 USDT was removed from the Tether Treasury wallet on Nov. 19, 2017 and sent to an unauthorized bitcoin address. As Tether is the issuer of the USDT managed asset, we will not redeem any of the stolen tokens, and we are in the process of attempting token recovery to prevent them from entering the broader ecosystem."

Notably, the company said that it is releasing a new version of the Omni Core software client (which Tether runs on top of) in a bid to effectively lock up the tokens it alleges were stolen. Should nodes in the network adopt the software, it would effectively blacklist the stolen address, enacting an emergency fork to contain the funds.

Representatives from the Omni Core software project said they would seek to release new software in the coming days that will allow Tether to retrieve the stolen tokens.

Observers online spotted the move earlier today, stoking speculation about the nature of the freeze.

"The tether.to back-end wallet service has been temporarily suspended. A thorough investigation on the cause of the attack is being undertaken to prevent similar actions in the future," Tether wrote.

The announcement comes amid a period of growing discussion – and controversy – around Tether.

Under scrutiny has been the unclear relationship between Tether and the troubled British Virgin Islands-based bitcoin exchange Bitfinex – and long-standing allegations the exchange has been using the asset to engage in fraud and market manipulation. Complicating matters is that the two companies are said to share a common ownership, though details remain murky as to the exact nature of the connection.

As such, today’s hack claims are likely to further drive the controversy, which began following Bifinex's hack last August, in which it lost more than $70 million in customer funds.

Following the news, other exchanges that offer order-book trading on Tether have taken steps to freeze trading, with China-based Huobi and OKCoin announcing the move shortly after the pos

Bitcoin adds $41 billion to market cap in 6 days as it hits all-time high of $7,998
Bitcoin hit a new record high Friday and was within touching distance of the $8,000 handle
Coinbase said that there was still a possibility of a planned Segwit2x upgrade happening that would cause bitcoin to split and create a new cryptocurrency
The possibility of the Segwit2x upgrade appeared to be the catalyst for the rally

To those who understand it, bitcoin is a blessing, but not everyone shares that sentiment. From scaremongering CEOs to entrenched central bankers, bitcoin’s list of detractors runs long and deep. Elected officials reserve particular ire for bitcoin however, with leaders across the globe weighing in. While most governments seek regulation, others have gone further, passing laws that ban the use of bitcoin altogether.
Haters Gonna Hate, Legislators Gonna Legislate
Be it due to fear, ignorance, or protectionism, governments have a tendency to legislate against perceived threats. The first prerogative of every government is to govern, after all, and any disruptive technology that erodes their power is liable to receive short shrift. Governments that ‘get’ bitcoin, such as Japan, have passed legislation that protects its citizens whilst facilitating the free trade of the digital currency.
adly not all countries are as progressive, not just when it comes to embracing new technology, but in respecting basic human rights that people in developed nations tend to take for granted. In the most egregious cases, citizens have had their assets seized, accounts frozen, and been locked up. Governments can’t stop the blockchain from propagating, but they can severely hamper their citizens’ attempts to access it.

One of the earliest references to hyperbitcoinization (H-theory) derives from the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute. It describes a world waiting for bitcoin in the borderless, peer-to-peer sense. Especially true for emerging economies prone to inflation, hyperbitcoinization is an adoption theory with radical implications. Until recently, it was only a theory. 
Hyperbitcoinization in Theory
Demonetization in its contemporary sense is yet another act of government minders, officials charged with a country’s monetary policy. Last year around the present time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to an impromptu television address. He announced to India, 1.3 billion people, its ₹500 and ₹1000 notes were toast as of a few hours from broadcast.

It would be something akin to the popular 10 or 20 USD bills zapped from the economy with almost no notice. And indeed, a century and a half ago, the United States demonetized silver, plunging the economy into depression.

But, again, the usual understanding of the term involves some kind of state-ordered action, the presumption of government-run monetary policy safely assumed.

"BITCOIN CASH IS BITCOIN NOW."

Issued by Li Ang, head of China-based bitcoin mining outfit Canoe Pool, the proclamation may not be distinguishable from typical cryptocurrency banter. However, the difference this time around is the context.

No idle statement, Ang's comment comes amid what can only be characterized as one of the biggest migrations of capital yet seen in the nascent asset class. Billions are on the move in the crypto markets, and it's plainly observable where the funds are headed.

After hitting a record high above $800 on Friday, the price of bitcoin cash, the alternative cryptocurrency forked from the bitcoin blockchain in August, has doubled within 24 hours, hitting a high of $1,856 according to figures from data firm CoinMarketCap. At that price, bitcoin cash is now valued at more than $30 billion, passing ethereum for second-place standing in the market.

The move follows the sudden decision this week by a group of businesses and mining pools to suspend an effort to change the rules of the bitcoin software. Called Segwit2x, or simply '2x' by some, the effort would have increased bitcoin's block size – one way by which its transaction capacity can be measured.

But while bitcoin's developers and technologists lauded the move, miners and entrepreneurs lamented what they described to CoinDesk as a decision that would inspire others to migrate to blockchains more accommodating to their ideas and ideals. And if it was unclear at the time which alternatives would benefit, bitcoin cash is already proving the primary beneficiary.

Early and active in migrating support appears to be bitcoin's miners.

According to data from Fork.lol, at roughly 4:30 UTC on Sunday the total amount of mining power backing the bitcoin cash blockchain surpassed that of the bitcoin blockchain.

Well, get your popcorn after all.

Earlier this week, a planned hard fork on the Bitcoin blockchain that threatened to create two new coins, causing disruptions on exchanges and potential losses for users on both sides -- but also possibly one of the most exciting chapters in Bitcoin's history -- was called off.

But in the last few days, a previous fork of Bitcoin (BTC) called Bitcoin Cash (BCH) that was launched in August and immediately dismissed by many Bitcoiners and the wider crypto world alike, has skyrocketed in value. After languishing in the $300 range for a while and jumping up to the $600 range in November, it has now nearly quadrupled to around $2,500 a coin as of press time -- it had traded as low as $650 on Friday.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin, which was trading at an all-time high of around $7,800 on Wednesday, is now down to around $6,000 as of press time but had dipped as low as about $5,500.

[Update: shortly after publishing, the Bitcoin price took back some ground and Bitcoin Cash lost some. For the latest, check Coinmarketcap.com.]


[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment. Disclosure: I own some Bitcoin and Ether.]

The long-awaited smart contract solution for Bitcoin’s blockchain that offers additional scaling improvements, RSK, is preparing to launch. News.Bitcoin.com spoke with Sergio Demián Lerner, RSK Labs’ chief scientist, about to what to expect from the RSK launch as well as the subsequent launch of the Lightning-style scaling upgrade Lumino.
Open-source smart contract platform RSK is a Bitcoin sidechain with a 2-way peg and merged mining to reward bitcoin miners for securing the RSK network. “RSK enables smart-contracts, near instant payments and higher-scalability,” its website describes. RSK Lab’s CEO and co-founder Diego Gutiérrez Zaldívar recently posted on the company’s Telegram channel, “On December 4th RSK Mainnet beta will be launched.”

Lerner shared with news.Bitcoin.com on Friday some details of the upcoming RSK launch.

News.Bitcoin.com (BC): Has Segwit2x’s cancellation affected the RSK launch timeframe?

Sergio Lerner (SL): Our timeframe hasn’t changed much because we had aimed to launch after the Segwit2x hard-fork.

The notoriously volatile cryptocurrency bitcoin has fallen to its lowest price this month after rallying in the first week of November and then crashing by more than $1,000 on Thursday and Friday.

The price of a single bitcoin is down 4.53 per cent at $6,272.24, according to Coindesk's aggregate index, a level it hasn't reached since the end of October.

Bitcoin surged to an all-time high of almost $7,900 on Wednesday, before dropping by more than $1,000 in 48 hours.

The surge was prompted by the suspension of a software upgrade that could have split bitcoin into what's called a "fork".

The most recent slump came as some traders dumped it for a clone called bitcoin cash, which has seen its value soar in the last few days: it's price is now up by 54 per cent to $1,247.

I Accidentally Killed It’: Parity Wallet Bug Locks $150 Million in Ether
The Ethereum ecosystem encountered another black swan event this week with the activation of a bug in the multi-signature wallet software released by Parity Technologies. The bug resulted in multi-sig wallet users permanently losing access to an estimated $150 million in funds. Leading some people to compare the significance of the event to the infamous collapse of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.

Parity’s $150 Million Wallet Bug

“I accidentally killed it.”

With those words and a link to an ethereum contract address on Etherscan, Github user “devops199” revealed that he or she had inadvertently exploited a bug in the Parity Wallet library contract. Apparently, the user had turned the library contract into an ordinary multi-sig wallet and had become the owner of that wallet.

Recognizing what had happened, the user attempted to delete the code that had transferred the wallet ownership. However, because the wallet contained library contract code — and all Parity multi-sig wallets rely on that code for their internal logic — the deletion of the code permanently froze the approximately $150 million in funds stored in Parity multi-sig wallets.

The initial coin offering for Latin American startup Ripio’s micro-lending network reached its $37 million hard cap.

The blockchain financial services firm, formerly known as Bitpagos, is developing the Ripio Credit Network with the stated goal of democratizing the lending process and removing the geographic and bureaucratic barriers that prevent borrowers in emerging markets from obtaining loans at reasonable rates from traditional lenders.

The Ripio Credit Network platform is governed by cosigned smart contracts and will be settled using RCN tokens. However, both lenders and borrowers can interact with the platform using local fiat currency, making the platform accessible to people who are not familiar with cryptocurrency or do not want to go through the extra step of currency exchange.

The startup raised $31 million during an October presale that was open to accredited investors and attracted investments from Blocktower Capital, Blockchain Investors Consortium, and other venture capital firms. Presale participants did not receive a discount off the public ICO price, but they were allowed to purchase tokens in larger quantities than ICO contributors. The public ICO had a $6 million limit, and Ripio achieved that mark to bring its fundraising total to $37 million.

First it was tulips. More recently it was tech stocks and then the housing market. Lately, it’s all about bitcoin.

All four share a common denominator: They suffered through financial bubbles, or bubble-like conditions. The first three ended badly. The jury is still out on what’s in store for bitcoin.