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The Moment of Truth The wait is almost over; Lamden's mainnet launch is fast approaching. September 16th, 2020 will be an inflection point, marking the transition from a technology promised to a technology delivered. We at Lamden have been working nonstop to deliver on the unfulfilled promises of blockchain. Instead of modifying an existing technology, we decided to design and build a novel blockchain architecture from scratch. As a result, our Python-native modular blockchain delivers a revolutionary leap in performance, efficiency, and usability. The moment of truth and the reveal is drawing near. Blockchain of today is one of complexity, high congestion, and outrageous fees. Lamden's mission is to unleash a disruptive solution upon these challenges and make blockchain fast, user-friendly, and cost-effective. One day, we will look back and remember September 16th, 2020 as a pivotal moment for blockchain and its revival. The Road Traveled We at Lamden took the road less travel...

Mitiga, an incident readiness and response company, has discovered that a product available on Amazon Web Services Marketplace contained Monero mining malware. Mitiga published their findings, noting that they discovered the malware when conducting a security audit for a financial services company. "Mitiga's security research team has identified an AWS Community AMI containing malicious code running an unidentified Monero crypto miner," according to the Mitiga's blog post. "We have concerns this may be a phenomenon, rather than an isolated occurrence." Malware on AWS Marketplace Unfortunately, the AWS marketplace allows anyone to sell virtual services on its marketplace. Although the marketplace is full of verified vendors, it also contains offerings from unverified community members. Mitiga discovered that one community member was selling a Windows 2008 virtual server that secretly used the computing power of anyone who downloaded it to mine Monero in the b...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has sent another batch of its infamous "crypto letter" to individuals suspected of owning digital currency, urging them to correctly report the details of their transactions. The news emerged after users of digital currency tax service CoinTracker.io reported receiving letters from the IRS, one of which was subsequently published on the CoinTracker blog. In a blog post CoinTracker said "[i]t has come to our attention from CoinTracker users that the IRS has started sending out another wave of cryptocurrency tax warning letters to U.S. crypto users." The mailout was also reported in Bloomberg, which confirmed with the IRS that the letters had indeed been sent to more suspected digital currency holders. As first emerged in 2019 when the tax service began issuing digital currency letters, there are three different types of letters being published—each indicative of the degree to which the IRS thinks individuals are underreporting digit...

Goldman Sachs is seriously considering its own cryptocurrency, possibly a stablecoin, as it significantly expands its digital assets team and appoints a new head to spearhead efforts. Matthew McDermott, Goldman's new digital asset global head, confirmed the U.S. investment bank was exploring whether to launch its own digital asset, CNBC reported Thursday. "We are exploring the commercial viability of creating our own fiat digital token, but it's early days as we continue to work through the potential use cases," he said. Last month McDermott hired Oli Harris as head of strategy. Harris was instrumental in JPMorgan's blockchain, Quroum, as well as its settlement coin, JPMCoin. McDermott said he is already looking at how blockchain can make savings in the inefficient repurchase, or "repo", market used by banks to lend money to one another, as well as credit and mortgage markets. He also said Goldman might consider collaborating with its rival, JPM, as well...

SIC hardware manufacturer Bitmain has delayed the shipping of its block reward miners. An announcement posted on WeChat by the Antminer Sales Team—allegedly under the control of Jihan Wu—confirmed that the Chinese company has delayed all shipments by roughly three months due to "external interference over the company's management." To compensate for the shipping delays, Bitmain is offering its customers one of two compensation packages. Customers can send Bitmain a written request to expedite the delivery of their digital currency mining hardware. If the customer does not hear back within 60 days of submitting their written request, then they will be eligible to receive a refund on their purchase from Bitmain. Alternatively, they can also wait for their mining equipment to be delivered to them, however long that may take. In addition, the customer will receive a 'coupon equivalent' that is equal to the amount of revenue that they theoretically would have received ...

If Bitcoin succeeds in the way its developers and entrepreneurs hope, it will be the biggest change in technology infrastructure since the mass adoption of the Internet more than 20 years ago. But will ordinary users be open or resistant to that kind of change? Lee Rainie of the Pew Research Centre studies public attitudes to technology and has been responsible for more than 650 reports based on Pew surveys of people's online and Internet usage. So how does he see the prospects for Bitcoin and blockchain entering the mainstream? "We live in an environment where people's trust in each other and in institutions is declining, particularly in the developed world," Rainie says, "and so blockchain has been held out as a really interesting alternative way to rebuild trust, using technology as the centrepiece of mediating interactions between people …Some of the most interesting applications of blockchain are not about cryptocurrency, they're about trusted systems of...

The FBI is leading an investigation into the July 15 Twitter hack, in which 31 high-profile Twitter accounts were compromised by a hacker and used to promote a digital currency investment scam. According to Reuters, U.S. lawmakers that are concerned about future attacks on Twitter prompted the FBI's investigation. "While this scheme appears financially motivated…imagine if these bad actors had a different intent to use powerful voices to spread disinformation to potentially interfere with our elections, disrupt the stock market, or upset our international relations," said U.S. Senator Ed Markey. The hacker had the ability to take over any Twitter account, yet, used their power to promote a digital currency scam. The scam consisted of the hacker telling the millions of followers of the compromised accounts to send them digital currency, promising to send them double the amount that they were being sent. However, it was a scam—the attacker did not send double the amount of ...