1. Professor Long Chengmin of Shanghai Jiaotong University: There are too many blockchain experts.
On June 6th, the 2018 China (Shanghai) 2nd Blockchain New Financial Summit Forum co-sponsored by “Shared Finance” and “China Times” was held in Shanghai. The round table featured on the theme of “How the Blockchain Institutions Conduct Project R&D”. On the forum, Professor Long Cheng-nian, a professor of electronic information and electrical engineering at Shanghai Jiaotong University, put forward that there are too many blockchain experts and too few talents.
'Whether it is the application of Internet technology research and development to enterprises, it will actually experience many technical difficulties and network problems.' Long Chengnian believes that a technology is recognized by everyone, there is a long time behind the R & D that requires a combination of many aspects. ' At the time, I was very excited about the blockchain technology. This is an overseas community. They are very interesting.
In Long Chengnian's view, the blockchain is now gradually being recognized by the public. This is a very good phenomenon. In addition, there are more people in different industry fields to participate in. Imagine that the application of the blockchain technology is feasible. This is very good. .
'One thing is that the problem is increasingly developing towards a centralized trend.' Long Cheng-nian pointed out that the early first generation and the second generation of Ethereum intelligence and covenant, they are all driven by technology, especially Bitcoin, we can see It is basically decentralized.
'The future figures will be grounded. It is also necessary to explore the link between blockchain technology and entities. They create such a public chain or project. They basically use technology to attract everyone's attention to building a community. But our community today includes The now very hot EOS is basically driven by people's interests, so it is unreasonable in terms of the extensibility of blockchain technology. This is my worry. ' Long Chengnian said that the blockchain is now There are too many experts, too few talents.
For the future application scenario, Long Chengnian believes that the IoT system is basically a relatively specific need to build its software operation and maintenance. Therefore, there are three pain points. First, all IoT systems face data privacy and systems. The second problem is the issue of data silos. The third is the cost of network construction and the relatively high operating costs. These three actually hindered us from forming a standard for emerging industries. This standard is not caused by traditional industries. , but new companies, new technologies, we are still missing in this area. So from this perspective, technological productivity has improved, blockchain is very critical.
Blockchain is actually not just a technology, it is a change in the production relationship of the entire society. Long Chengnian believes that for blockchain companies, the concept of community operations is very important. Not only to build a good talent and community channels , More people who want the community to attract more information and the same vision based on their core technologies are joining in.
China Times
2. Ant Financial Services: The $14 billion that has just been raised is ready to take part in the blockchain;
According to CNBC Beijing Times on June 9, Ant Financial, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba, has completed the largest fundraising event in history and plans to use some of the $14 billion in investment. Blockchain. The company was separated from Alibaba Group seven years ago and owns and operates the largest online and mobile payment network in China, Alipay. It reportedly has a market value of 150 billion yuan and has become one of the world's most valuable private companies. Ant Financial said in a statement: The company will continue to invest in developing its blockchain, artificial intelligence, security, Internet of Things and computing capabilities to upgrade its next-generation global technology platform.
The funds in Series C financing will be used to accelerate the globalization of Alipay and invest in technology development to further 'enhance the company's ability to provide comprehensive financial services'. Among them, part of the plan includes investment blockchains.
While most financial institutions choose to avoid Bitcoin and other unstable cryptocurrencies, CEOs of various industries have switched to large-scale blockchains. The Cowen report on May 24 showed that Blockchain solution spending is expected to more than double to $2.1 billion.
For example, Jamie Dimon claimed Bitcoin as 'fraud' in September and later stated that those who are 'stupid enough to buy it' will one day pay for it. Instead, he calls the blockchain a 'good technology'. Two years ago, JP Morgan developed a blockchain technology called Quorum for clearing and settlement of derivative products and cross-border payments.
Blockchain is actually a so-called 'decentralized' technology that is viewed by advocates as tamper-proof, cheaper, and more efficient. Illegal people want to tamper with information that needs to enter multiple systems. Complex mechanisms make data almost impossible to crack. It can also speed up transaction efficiency and get rid of reliance on third party intermediaries such as banks.
The technology is being applied to the healthcare industry, the automotive industry, and even the legal tobacco industry. But skeptics like the nominated economist Nouriel Roubini call it one of the most overstated technologies ever. .
3. Baidu goes online to 'degree universe' to speed up the layout of the blockchain business;
On June 8th, Baidu's on-line blockchain was originally applied to 'University of the Universe' and will be launched on the 13th as an independent APP. This is the 'Letts Dog' pet chain game in the blockchain, blockchain original picture management platform 'totem' After the blockchain network operating system 'Super Chain', Baidu launched another important blockchain project.
'Decent Universe' official website shows that it is Baidu's first blockchain product. The official website introduced that 'degree Universe' is a mystical world made up of various rare elements. Users can acquire degrees of universe 'elements' through various system behaviors, and To create and expand its own planet, many new features will gradually start in the process of increasing the quality of the user's planet.
Baidu Public Relations told the Economic Observer Online reporter that they do not understand the specific functions of 'degree of the universe' internally. The details need to be further solved by the engineers. On June 13th, the 'University of the Cosmos' APP will be online. The official website of 'Cosmos' shows that On the first day of its release, it will receive a 100-element airdrop and will start to decrement after the next day.
This year, Baidu speeds up the blockchain project. Public information shows that in January 2018, Baidu launched the blockchain open platform 'BaaS', which is mainly based on Baidu's financial platform, and applied to asset securitization, asset exchanges and other services. In February, Baidu launched a blockchain-based encrypted pet 'Letts'. Each user can receive one free pet. In April, Baidu's blockchain original picture service platform 'Totem' went online. The blockchain copyright registration network generates copyright DNA for each original picture and opens up the picture industry value chain.
In June, Baidu moved more frequently in the blockchain field. On June 3rd, Baidu's new generation of blockchain network operating system 'Super Chain' was released. On June 6th, Lei FengNet reported that the new version of 'Totem' is coming online. On June 8th, 'Destroi' was formally launched. On June 13th, 'Destroy' or the introduction of independent APP. It can be seen that Baidu's layout speed in the blockchain is significantly speeding up. Economic Observer
4. The United States FTC began accepting cases of mining and kidnapping complaints;
The types of complaints accepted by the FTC include identity theft, fraud, spam, mobile devices, network services/shopping/computers, education and work, credit/debit cards, etc. The victims of mining abductions can choose to complain in the computer category.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on Thursday (6/7) that it will accept complaints concerning mining and kidnapping cases and welcomes public prosecutions.
According to the FTC, hackers regard the user’s computer as their own virtual cash machine and use the processor resources of the user’s device to mine. The increasingly advanced mining and kidnapping technology does not require users to install any software, as long as it induces users to visit malicious websites or Ads can infect devices, and users will help hackers mine without knowing it.
The FTC advises users to install anti-virus software and update it regularly. Also try not to visit suspicious websites. Pay attention to whether the device's performance or battery life is significantly changed. Use browser's extension program to prevent the mining process.
At present, the FTC complaint categories cover identity theft, fraud, spam, mobile devices, network services/shopping/computers, education and work, credit/debit cards and others. Users who are harassed by mining abduction can choose computer types to perform. Complaints.
The security experts believe that the significance of the FTC's move lies in announcing that mining and kidnapping is an illegal act and has already received the attention of the authorities.
5. Bitcoin Gold was first attacked by '51%', which may shake the foundation of the digital currency world
As Bitcoin Gold said: 'We will not be the last currency to be attacked'.
"Financial" reporter Wu Yang Yinghui / Wen Song Yi / Editor
The nightmare of digital currency finally came true. In May of 2018, the '51% attack' broke out in the blockchain world. Bitcoin's bifurcation currency BTG (Bitcoin Gold) unfortunately became a victim.
The entire blockchain world is facing an unprecedented crisis. If the '51% attack' can successfully tamper with the blockchain, it may even shake the foundation of the entire digital currency world.
Terrible '51% attack'
During this attack, the Bitcoin Gold Development Team announcement showed that the attackers took control of the large proportion of BTG network's computing power, thereby launching a '51% attack' against the exchanges and successfully implementing the 'Double Flower Exchange'. The attackers sent themselves over. 380 thousand BTG. If all funds were stolen, the attacker would gain more than $18 million in losses from the exchange.
The attack was launched more than once by the attacker. It spanned several days. The first attack occurred at 10 p.m. on May 16, and the last attack ended at 5 p.m. on May 19.
The principle of the '51% attack' is the distributed billing mechanism adopted for digital currency. Bitcoin is used as an example. The Bitcoin network is a decentralized distributed ledger. Each bill must be confirmed by a 'national referendum'. When you have mastered more than 50% of the total network power, you have the power to manipulate and tamper with the Bitcoin network.
The damage that the '51% attack' can do is enormous. Once you have successfully attacked, you can modify your transaction history to perform double payments. Or block the block from confirming some or all of the transactions, or prevent some or all of the miners from mining to any effect. Block.
However, this kind of attack is not a panacea; it also has something to do. It can neither generate Bitcoin out of thin air, send bitcoins not belonging to itself to itself or other people; nor can it change the amount of Bitcoins produced by each block, Or modify other people's transaction records.
Therefore, one of the easiest ways for attackers to take advantage of the '51% attack' is to use dual payments, which means using the same money twice. In this attack on bitcoin gold, the attacker took this approach.
The attacker first sent a BTG to his account and used the private block chain A to charge the transaction. At the same time, the attacker sent the same BTG to the exchange, waiting for the public block chain B to be billed. After the exchange confirmed the transaction, the attacker quickly sold the BTG and withdrew it.
Note that the most critical step has come – the attacker has disclosed the previous private blockchain to the entire network at this time. A. Because he has mastered more than 51% of the computational power, Blockchain A is longer than Public Blockchain B. The block chain A was forced to be authorized, and the block chain B was set aside. This meant that the entire network accepted the transaction as the attacker sent the BTG to himself instead of the exchange. The exchange's money completely disappeared.
Is the attacker a giant player?
Despite the destructive nature of the '51% attack', launching an attack also requires a huge price.
Attackers who are capable and confident in launching attacks need to meet the following three key conditions: sufficient financial resources, huge computing power, and mine pool technology.
First talk about financial resources. Attackers need to invest in mining to ensure 51% attack. If you want to reverse n blocks, the cost needs at least (n+1)*12.5BTG. If the attack fails, the exchange will also freeze the attacker in the transaction. All the money in the office. These will become the money the attacker may pay.
In this attack, the amount of a double transaction is about 10,000 BTGs, and the largest reversal block is 21. It can be deduced that if an attack fails, the attacker's loss will be as high as 10262.5 BTG, and the contract will be 430,000 U.S. dollars (about 2.75 million yuan.)
Computational force is a higher threshold. BTG and ZEC share a mining algorithm called Equihash. BTG has a total network computing power of 25M sol/s. Although theoretically, as long as the computational power occupies more than 51% of the entire network, this can be launched. A round of attacks, but this magnitude of power is just passing the passing line, which takes a long time and is risky. After I discussed with some people in the industry, it is generally believed that the attacker needs to master more than 1-3 times the computing power of the entire network. Otherwise, you don't feel relieved to launch an attack.
Mastering 200% of the computing power of the entire network is more safe for the attacker, that is, it requires about 50Msol/s of power. In the past, the miners all used video card mining machines to dig BTG. The power of a graphics card mining machine GTX 1080 is about 700sol/s, this means that you need 70,000 GTX 1080 graphics cards to attack.
In the hands of individual players, there is rarely a situation where there is a monopoly of 70,000 video card mining machines. One of the possible targets for having such a large amount of computational power and the ability to concentrate the deployment of power is the mining pool and the people who own large-scale mining machines. Or organization.
BTG and ZEC adopt the same algorithm. BTG has a full network power of 25M, a ZEC power of 514M, and a BTG of about 20 times. It also means that you can use ZEC's mining machine to dig BTG. A large ZEC miner can It is easy to reverse BTG.
At present, among the major mining pools of ZEC, Flypool ranks first, with a total network of up to 52% of the computing power, which is approximately 267M. The second-ranked Nanopool has a 19% computing power of the entire network, which is approximately 98M. If 50M is used, Force, flypool need to mobilize the force is only 19% of the total mining pool power, and Nanopool will need to mobilize 51% of the total pool power.
The mine pool arbitrarily mobilizes the calculation power. To avoid being discovered by others, it cannot occupy its own mine pool. The proportion of calculation power is too large. Since the output of the mine pond itself fluctuates naturally every day, less than one-fifth of the computational power disappears, and the production declines by 20%. Also said the past. But more than half of the power disappeared is too obvious, so it is more difficult to hide from the outside world.
The above reasoning is based on the existing network-wide computing power. Another clue that can't be ignored is the addition of computing power.
Both Bitland and Wuhan Core Technology will launch new ASIC mining machines for the Equihash algorithm in the near future. If we want to achieve 50M computing power, we need 5,000-bit-bit mainland ant mine machine Z9 and 700 core technology mining machines. Home Miner has not officially released their products yet. This also means that a large amount of power is currently being mastered by miner companies.
In summary, the attacker needs to be able to withstand losses of at least 2.75 million yuan after an attack failure, and can mobilize up to 50 M of computing power under the Equihash algorithm in a very short time, and is not discovered by the outside world. Bitcoin gold founder Liao Xiang responded to the media It is said that there are only a few large companies in the market that are capable of doing these things. The company has collected evidence and is ready to report to the FBI.
Will there be the next victim?
To answer this question, we must first ask why Bitcoin Gold suffers a 51% attack.
First of all, because the Bitcoin gold market is not high enough, it has not become the most mainstream currency of the same algorithm. When a digital currency becomes the most mainstream currency of some kind of algorithm (for example, Bitcoin is SHA256), the probability of suffering 51% of attacks will be very high. Reduce.
According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitcoin's gold circulation ranks 27th in the global digital currency and ZEC ranks 23. As mentioned before, with the same currency as the Equihash algorithm, ZEC's computing power is approximately 20 times that of BTG. Obviously, As long as a small part of the mainstream currency is used to attack non-mainstream currencies with the same algorithm, it will be very easy to achieve 51% attack.
Second, because the Bitcoin gold market is not low enough. If the market is weak, the liquidity on the exchange is very small, then even if the attacker steals the digital currency from the Exchange using a double spend transaction, it is difficult to be short. Sell the currency for profit during the time.
Bitcoin Gold’s 24-hour liquidity at the end of May is approximately $10 million according to CoinMarketCap data. Bitcoin gold is a Bitcoin bifurcation coin, and Bitcoin Private uses the same algorithm. 24-hour liquidity is only about 28 Million US Dollars. If the attacker is targeting Bitcoin Private, even if he steals the $10 million digital currency, it will be difficult to sell.
Thus, as long as a digital currency is a non-mainstream currency in the same algorithm and has a good liquidity in the exchange, it is very likely to become the next victim of the '51% attack'. Meanwhile, if the number With the recent introduction of the ASIC mining machine in the currency, there will be a wave of new waves in computing power. It is also likely to become the target of attack.
The attack on Bitcoin's gold this time is the first '51% attack' that causes real damage in the digital currency world. As Bitcoin Gold stated in the announcement: 'We will not be the last currency to be attacked. '.
When 51% of the attacks come true, the entire digital currency's security base is at stake. It is worrying that a thorough solution has not yet emerged.