BitBay, the cryptocurrency software suite offering unbreakable smart contracts was keeping a low profile for some time but has now resurfaced; stronger than ever. The creator and soul developer of BitHalo/BlackHalo David Zimbeck has worked effortlessly the past two years to create the most advanced and secure wallet in cryptocurrency space. The software suite is capable of supporting an entire smart contracting interface with decentralized markets and other features.

A BitBay community member comments,

"How is it that a single developer can deliver such an incredible suite when entire teams of coders have a hard time even delivering a functional wallet? How on earth has this project gone unnoticed, and why is it not in the top 10 coins in the world?"

Unbreakable Smart Contracts

Unlike many other platforms, BitBay is not vaporware. It is a feature rich platform that offers unbreakable smart contracts for important real world applications. The BitBay contracts are far superior to other smart contracts as they are secured by collateral deposits from both parties, which makes it unbreakable. In the event of a default by one of the parties, their collateral funds will be burnt, making it illogical for them to cheat or exit the contract with the intention of defrauding the other.

The smart contracts system on BitBay eliminates arbitrators, biased third parties, escrow and even fees. Without any middlemen, it can create coins for cash contracts like a decentralized "LocalBitcoins", where cash payments are completely trustless. It can also be used to create "employment contracts", "decentralized eBay-like delivery contracts" (to ensure prompt delivery of working products), and even "barter contracts" that allows people to create a "wish list" and trade any item off that list.

The user-friendly templates on BitBay enable users to create smart contracts by just entering few details. The platform currently has a handful of templates in place, with more to be added shortly. In David Zimbeck's words, all one has to do is use their imagination to create a custom template for any deal they want. The platform's "Cash for Coins" template has already been successfully used by many to automate buying process and complete cash deals without needing escrow or middlemen. The platform will soon release a "buy/sell anything" contract template with reverse and regular auctions support. It will also include a variety of shipping choices.

Decentralized Marketplace

BitBay had a decentralized marketplace almost a year before "Open Bazaar". BitBay's completely anonymous market is built right into the client, and it allows users to create their own public and private markets. Or they can just check different contracts already available in the main market. The BitBay software allows communication between users by supporting email with end to end encryption like Thunderbird and it also supports Bitmessage for a more decentralized option.

Other features on BitBay include "Pay to Email" which uses steganography to hide payments within photos sent to recipient's email. The feature, originally created for tipping purposes has various other applications as well. Even the wallets' two encrypted keys can be hidden within images using David's steganography based feature. These keys can then be used on two different computers to sign transactions – a feature that lays the foundation for "Cold Staking", which will be utilized in both BitBay and BlackHalo. The Cold Staking feature will be almost impossible to crack because the computers used to sign your transactions can be in completely separate locations. BitBay will also make allowance for "exotic spending" such as "locktimes". In addition to the "dead man's switch", "parking of coins", "burn" and other spending types, it also supports automated joint accounts for business partners and spouses. The BitBay platform can also translate to 92 different languages.

About BitBay

BitBay has so far created a whole cryptocurrency ecosystem with its own functional market economy. All these things have turned BitBay into a powerful cryptocurrency software suite that can take on other cryptocurrencies. The platform enjoys a vibrant community that is regularly attracting and training new users. The "contract faucet" created by one of the team members is currently giving away coins using a unilateral "Guarantor" contract to whoever accepts it.

Bitcoin traders are finally moving past the collapse of Tokyo-based digital-currency exchange Mt. Gox.

The price of a single bitcoin US:BTCUSD touched $777 on Friday, its strongest level since February 2014, when reports that hackers had stolen millions of dollars’ worth of customers’ bitcoins from Mt. Gox, formerly one of the world’s largest bitcoin exchanges, sent prices plunging.

Charles Hayter, founder and chief executive officer of Cryptocompare, which provides data and analytics about the digital-currency market, said this most recent price run-up is likely due to a combination of factors: President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, China’s continuing devaluation of the yuan and worries that Italians might vote “no” in Sunday’s referendum.

Finally, elevated trading volumes in India suggest that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to scrap the country’s 500- and 1,000-rupee notes have also contributed to the increase, Hayter said.

The Mt. Gox hack, which forced the exchange into bankruptcy, raised concerns about lax security in the unregulated digital-currency space, effectively ending an era of exuberance that had sent the price of a single coin to an all-time high near $1,200 just months before.

Bitcoin prices have been steadily rising all year, with investors pointing to the softening Chinese yuan USDCNY, -0.0044%  as the primary culprit.

European leaders are planning to crack down on the use of bitcoin, prepaid credit cards and other methods of anonymous payment in response to the Paris attacks last week, Reuters reported Thursday. It's part of a crisis plan that aims to dismantle suspected terrorist financing networks after the massacre, claimed by the Islamic State group, killed 129 people and wounded hundreds.

Interior and justice ministers from throughout the European Union are scheduled to meet in Brussels Friday, where they will encourage the leaders to “strengthen controls of nonbanking payment methods such as electronic/anonymous payments and virtual currencies and transfers of gold, precious metals, by prepaid credit cards,” according to a draft obtained by Reuters.

Bitcoin is the most popular form of digital cryptocurrency, with users able to transact in relative anonymity with fees lower than those generally imposed by credit card processors. It's frequently used as part of criminal dealings, though it's not clear to what extent ISIS is doing so. The terrorist group also survives thanks to criminal activity, oil sales and donations from officials and wealthy individuals in Arab countries allied with the U.S.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also set up a commission to fight terrorist financing Wednesday. Putin issued a notice to Russia's central bank, prosecutor's office and regional authorities instructing them to immediately report any suspicious financial activity that could be linked to terrorism. Among those encouraged by Putin's stance was President Barack Obama, who, after years of frosty relations over a number of issues, deemed the Russian leader a “constructive partner” in the global fight against ISIS.

The concept of buying Bitcoin at retail stores is quite an appealing one, as it removes most of the friction associated with obtaining digital currency in the first place. While these services are limited to particular regions for the time being, buying Bitcoin for cash does not mean people will remain completely anonymous. LibertyX lets users buy BTC from over 19,000 stores in the US, but users will need to go through an identity verification process, removing any form of anonymity.

Purchasing Bitcoin with cash is one of the faster ways to obtain digital currency these days, although very few countries actively offer such a service. The only exception to that rule is LocalBitcoins, a peer-to-peer trading platform connecting buyers and sellers directly, allowing them to set up their own payment methods.

Unlike LocalBitcoins, LibertyX is not trying to target the entire world, but just the United States for now. Their business model is rather elegant: walk into any of the 19,000+ supported stores and purchase Bitcoin over the counter. The only requirement is for users to sign up to the LibertyX service ,a  process that should not take all that long.

However it is important to note that, during the LibertyX purchasing process, users will need to verify their identity. An ID scan will have to be made at some point, to comply with the KYC and AML regulatory framework in the United States. Additionally, users will need to link their mobile phone number to the account as well, which will be used to deliver PIN codes to pick up Bitcoin purchases.

Regardless of how one wants to use the purchased digital currency, this verification process will always remain in place. For those people looking to buy bitcoin and spend it on the darkweb, it is important to note you have zero anonymity when purchasing Bitcoin from LibertyX, as they have a complete record with personal information, the date of purchase, and the transaction detailing where the funds came from and which wallet it was sent to.

Most people might argue there is no need for real anonymity in the Bitcoin world at this stage, but some people prefer to remain as anonymous as possible. It is possible to use coin mixing services to receive “clean” bitcoins after your LibertyX purchase, but those platforms should only be used at one’s own risk.

LibertyX provides a very convenient service for people to get their hands on Bitcoin without going to an exchange or ATM. But for those who want to preserve some shred of anonymity = for whatever reason – it is not the perfect solution. Not that there is anything wrong with that, mind you, as anonymity is not natural to the Bitcoin ecosystem. 

The city of Memphis will now have a Bitcoin ATM as the firm Coinsource installs three new machines in the state of Tennessee. The company is the largest Bitcoin ATM provider in the U.S. and has averaged over one installation per week in 2016.

Memphis Bitcoin ATM One of Three in Tennessee

logo2-id-fa176b8a-9aee-44f6-9ad5-4672e628e52e-300x300Memphis, in Tennessee's southwest, will get its first Bitcoin automated teller machine. Additionally, the company Coinsource installed two Bitcoin ATMs in the city of Nashville. Coinsource has established 60 Genesis Coin brand cryptocurrency ATM across the U.S. since its inception.

"The demand for bitcoin ATMs has never been higher than it is today. The most rewarding part of our job is to answer the call when requests come in for new locations, so it is exciting to make history in Tennessee," said Coinsource CEO and co-founder Sheffield Clark. "Our reach in the South is growing. So far, we have 60 machines across eight states, and look forward to gaining a foothold in even more new cities around the country."

Bitcoin ATMs in Tennessee via Coin ATM Radar

U.S.-Based Coinsource Will Soon Focus on International Expansion

Coinsource CEO and Co-Founder Sheffield Clark According to Coin ATM Radar, there are 482 installed Bitcoin ATMs throughout the United States. Coinsource, which Clark founded in February 2015, owns a large share of these devices. Bitcoin ATMs have provided people with easier access to cryptocurrency using cash. Additionally, with an automated teller machine that dispenses bitcoin all users need is a wallet to store the funds.

Coinsource says its mission is to make "buying and selling bitcoin as immediate and natural as withdrawing or depositing fiat from a traditional ATM." The company claims it has first-class customer support and some of the lowest transaction fees in the market.

Only weeks after the execution of a hard fork to mitigate various DoS (denial-of-service) attacks, the Ethereum network and its developers are struggling to deal with yet another major flaw. This time, major issues in regards to smart contracts have emerged, which have rendered the efforts of decentralized applications in the Ethereum network purposeless.

On November 1, the Ethereum development team and the founder of Solidity warned users and developers against a bug that allowed variables to be overwritten in storage.

Variables in a smart contract are agreements made between two or more parties. Thus, if an attacker can gain access to the storage and alters the variables, crucial agreements in decentralized applications can be affected and funds may be extracted, which may pressure developers to discard previous smart contract-based projects to recompile contracts.

Ethereum developers including Ansel Lindner stated that the development of an Ethereum application is failing to operate because of this bug.

"Imagine spending a year building an app for eth, just to find out the thing doesn't work," wrote Lindner.

He further noted that much like the memory bugs in Geth that continued to negatively affect the network for weeks, the recent smart contract bug will most likely lead to a series of other potentially fatal bugs.

"I could agree that it's a molehill on the side of a big mountain of other similar potentially fatal bugs," Lindner added.

Reitwiessner explains that luckily, Ethereum multi-signature wallet contracts are not affected. However, contracts containing two or more contracts will high likely be affected.

"The following contracts may be affected: Contracts containing two or more contiguous state variables where the sum of their sizes is less than 256 bits and the first state variable is not a signed integer and not of bytesNN type," Reitwiessner wrote.

Reitwiesnner recommended developers to deactivate and remove funds from already deployed smart contracts and compile new agreements using the Solidity release 0.4.4. Failure to do so may result in the loss of funds and may hugely impact decentralized applications that rely on these contracts.

To date, the Ethereum development team have discovered 10 vulnerable Ethereum smart contracts, 7 of which were exploitable.

At its core, bitcoin is about giving users better control of their money.

Often called "programmable money", bitcoin has scripts that limit how future bitcoin transactions can be spent (and that control variables like who can spend them). One such script ensures the correct person is spending the bitcoin by checking if the correct signature was used before unlocking and sending the funds.  This week, Blockstream core tech developer Russell O'Connor revealed he's been testing a couple of new scripts on an Elements Alpha sidechain (which is pegged to the bitcoin testnet) that could add new functionality.

Called "covenants", the new style of scripts potentially opens up possibilities for how bitcoin users can control, or restrict, spending of their money — possibly for their protection. (This is an idea that was previously explored by researchers Malte Möser, Ittay Eyal, and Emin Gun Sirer). One use case for these scripts is to help users rein in their coins in the case of a hack (an all too common occurrence in bitcoin).

When asked what he thinks of the new covenant work, Eyal said it was potentially a boon to bitcoin users who may be worried about losing their bitcoins or otherwise having them compromised or stolen.

Extending bitcoin's scripts

The idea is notable as a script that can limit how bitcoins can be spent hasn't been implemented in bitcoin before, a fact noted by Eyal.

In particular, there are two new covenant scripts that Blockstream explored, each of which take parameters and outputs whether the script is valid, or whether or not the transaction is currently spendable based on its restrictions.

It's worth noting that bitcoin's scripting system is currently quite simple for security's sake. There aren't limitless rules in bitcoin right now because new additions can be potentially dangerous and developers note that they take time to test.

This is where sidechains may come in handy, although they are not yet pinned to the main blockchain.

Bitcoin startup Blockstream has been working on these interoperable blockchains for experimenting with new features that could potentially be added to bitcoin since June of last year, and this is an example of how these new chains can be used to test new features.

These new proposed opcodes may work as the foundations for new functionalities, ones that could even come to help stop bitcoin exchanges and users from losing stolen funds.