Bitcoin in the News : 2018-01 More++

Does bad news breed more bad news? Along with a particularly dismal month for the price of bitcoin (see last week's Bitcoin in the News : 2018-01 Price for an overview), there were many other negative stories about the cryptocurrency community. Take, for example, the stories about Monero. We saw these last year in Bitcoin in the News : 2017-09 More++ (October 2017), and they resurfaced in force in January, for example, in:-

• 2018-01-04: PyCryptoMiner enslaves your PC to mine Monero • 'Researchers have stumbled across a new botnet which has gone under the radar for a long time while quietly enslaving PCs in the quest for cryptocurrency.'

These were joined by another botnet/crypto hookup (Satori/Satoshi?) looking for miners:-

• 2018-01-17: New botnet infects cryptocurrency mining computers, replaces wallet address (arstechnica.com) • 'Satori -- the malware family that wrangles routers, security cameras, and other Internet-connected devices into potent botnets -- is crashing the cryptocurrency party with a new variant that surreptitiously infects computers dedicated to the mining of digital coins.'

Another recurring theme, which is not going to disappear, was energy use:-

• 2018-01-04: Bitcoin’s Cheap Energy Feast Won’t Last Much Longer (washingtonpost.com) • 'To understand why China is cracking down on power use by bitcoin miners, have a look at curtailment. The practice -- where producers of wind and solar power cease generation because the entire electricity system is oversupplied -- has been a major problem for the country in recent years.'
• 2018-01-10: Bitcoin Mining Wastes Energy? What If That's Good? (coindesk.com) • 'Then there’s the "compared to what?" question.'

I could have chosen negative stories by throwing a digital dart at Google news alerts. Here are ten more:-

• 2018-01-06: Breaking Bitcoin With a Quantum Computer (fortune.com) • 'A Toronto-based physicist and pension fund analyst is skeptical about Bitcoin but sees one useful purpose for the crypto-currency: It may detect when someone creates a working quantum computer.'
• 2018-01-09: Fund managers say bitcoin ETF proposals withdrawn due to SEC concern (cnbc.com) • 'Two U.S. companies shelved proposals to launch bitcoin exchange-traded funds, citing ongoing concerns by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), filings showed on Monday. Staff at the regulatory agency "expressed concerns regarding the liquidity and valuation" of futures contracts based on the digital asset, according to one of the filings.'
• 2018-01-11: South Korea considers Bitcoin trading ban (bbc.com) • 'South Korea is considering a law to ban cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin being traded on local exchanges. Justice Minister Park Sang-ki said virtual currencies were "great concerns" and that the ministry was preparing a bill to ban trading.'
• 2018-01-13: Bitcoin Investors Are Using Credit Cards in Disturbing Numbers (fortune.com) • 'A recent poll shows that nearly one-fifth of all Bitcoin buyers are using credit cards to fund their investments, likely paying hefty fees for the privilege. A large portion of those buyers then carry the balance instead of paying their cards off, implying that they’re highly leveraged – but confident that their investments will grow in value.'
• 2018-01-15: Researchers find that one person likely drove Bitcoin from $150 to $1,000 (techcrunch.com) • 'Researchers have written a fascinating paper on Bitcoin price manipulation. Entitled “Price Manipulation in the Bitcoin Ecosystem” and appearing in the recent issue of the Journal of Monetary Economics the paper describes to what degree the Bitcoin ecosystem is controlled by bad actors.'
• 2018-01-16: New Report: Bitcoin Drug Money Laundering Is Highly Centralized (cointelegraph.com) • 'The report’s authors indicate that much of illicit Bitcoin is laundered through mixers.' • Wikipedia: Cryptocurrency tumbler; 'Cryptocurrency tumbler or cryptocurrency mixing is a service offered to mix potentially identifiable or 'tainted' cryptocurrency funds with others, so as to obscure the trail back to the fund's original source'
• 2018-01-19: CFTC brings two more cases against bitcoin fraud schemes (marketwatch.com) • 'In both cases, fraudsters allegedly took investors money instead of trading and investing in virtual currencies.'
• 2018-01-26: Bitcoin criticized at [World Economic Forum] in Davos but cryptocurrency world fights back (cnbc.com) • 'While the potential of blockchain, the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies, was praised, bitcoin got slammed.'
• 2018-01-29: Bitcoin robbers 'alerted to fortune by prolific trading' (dailymail.co.uk) • 'Bitcoin robbers who held trader's family at gunpoint "knew about victim's fortune because of his prolific trading on the internet".'
• 2018-01-30: Facebook bans all ads for Bitcoin, ICOs, and other cryptocurrency (theverge.com) • 'Facebook is banning all advertisements for cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and initial coin offerings, as part of an “intentionally broad” policy against deceptive marketers.'

Enough already; when it rains, it pours. Let's hope February brings better news for everyone.