Wallet hacking debate heats up, Bitcoin-based Patreon alternative emerges – the daily tip Bitcoin News

To kick off the weekend, we’ve put together a handful of short but compelling stories from across the cryptosphere. First, we will deal again with the consequences of demonstrating Wallet Fail for cracking hardware wallets. We’ll then move on to a Patreon alternative based on cryptocurrency and a viral tweetstorm about anything supposedly wrong with Ethereum.

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Other manufacturers of hardware wallets respond to hacking claims

As we reported yesterday, a team called Wallet Fail, has attracted attention after demonstrating how multiple hardware wallets can be cracked with cryptocurrency. Ledger and Trezor, the manufacturers whose devices were exploited at the 35C3 conference, were quick to offer counter-arguments and assurances, stressing the impracticability of an attacker who implements one of the Wallet Fail methods in the wild. Since we covered the story, a number of other hardware wallet companies have responded to the presentation as well.

The coldcard hardware wallet

“Keepkey was not previously aware of this vulnerability through our responsible disclosure program.” tweeted However, the wallet maker stated, “The Keepkey development team is working on a solution.” They then stressed that “all users should ensure that their physical device is in a safe location, as the attacker must have physical access to be successful.” Coldcard meanwhile pointed out that his own device was not mentioned in Wallet Fail’s presentation, and took the opportunity to boast that unlike the competition, his own wallet doesn’t fail. For its part, the Wallet Fail team has denied the allegations that it did not disclose the vulnerabilities found to the manufacturers prior to its presentation:

To clarify, we notified @LedgerHQ about this “non-security vulnerability” 161 days ago. https://t.co/5TqTPeGVfU

– WALLET.FAIL (@walletfail) December 28, 2018

Bitcoin-based Patreon alternative Tallycoin is taking off

With the widespread controversy that Patreon lavishly prohibits content creation, a Bitcoin-based alternative has become increasingly important. Tallycoin takes the model popular by Patreon and Gofundme and adapts it for P2P cash in the form of BTC. In contrast to Patreon, which is charged 5 percent, there are no fees for Tallycoin. All funds go straight to the creator’s Bitcoin wallet. Regular payments for BTC and Lightning Network are accepted. Although the user interface is simple, the platform shows the potential of a censorship-resistant Patreon alternative.

Tuur Demeester’s anti-Ethereum rant goes viral

On Friday, the well-known Bitcoiner Tuur Demeester started a 50-strong Scold Twitter about anything he thought was wrong with Ethereum. From scaling to decentralization and from use cases to money supply, he left no stone unturned and described the project as “at best a scientific experiment”. “I agree with Ethereum developer Vlad Zamfir that it is not money, not safe, and not scalable,” he continued.

1 / People often ask me why I am so “against” Ethereum. Why do I try to point out shortcomings or draw analogies that cast them in a bad light?

– Tuur Demeester (@TuurDemeester) December 28, 2018

Bryant Eisenbach shows that every tweetstorm has two sides problematic a point-by-point rebuttal of Demeester’s protracted indictment against Ethereum. While Adamant Capital founder Tuur Demeester’s rant got a lot of flak from proponents of Ethereum, Bitcoin maximalists like Jimmy Song were quick to support his criticism. The thread also led to intense discussions about Ethereum subreddit where a few feathers rustled.

Kraken launches BCH and XRP margin trading

Eventually, margin trading for bitcoin cash and ripple was enabled on Kraken. The US cryptocurrency exchange now allows retail and institutional customers to leverage both coins, with the credit limit depending on the size of the account in question. Bitcoin cash can be traded with up to 3x leverage and 5x ripple.

We have activated margin trading for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ripple (XRP)! The addition expands our margin offer to 8 assets. Read more on our blog: https://t.co/DSBaMBdOR7

– Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) December 29, 2018

What do you think of today’s news on The Daily? Let us know in the comments below.

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