BJP MP Kirit Somaiya hit out at the increasing use of bitcoin in India, raising the issue in the Parliament, terming the digital currency as "hypothetical" and a "pyramid ponzi scheme"."Theuse of bitcoin, a hypothetical currency, is increasing at a rapid speed in India as well as in the world.Experts have expressed concern that bitcoin is a pyramid ponzi type scheme," he said.He urged regulators RBI and SEBI, besides the Finance Ministry, to look into its regulation and take steps to "save people from another big ponzi fraud".Somaiya's concern over the digital currency is not surprising: the stellar rise of bitcoin as an instrument of speculation or investment, if not a currency, has given rise to plenty of hype, and even confusion, surrounding it.Over the last one year, bitcoin price has rallied 214 percent to all-time highs of USD 1,300.So while the currency itself does not offer any promises of return on investment, except for capital appreciation, the lack of regulation around it has given rise to a host of multi-level marketing (MLM) companies who are looking to cash in on the increasing popularity, and mystery, over the novel financial instrument."The

problem lies with MLM companies who have picked on its popularity and used it to sell unsustainable financial schemes to people," Vishal Gupta, CEO and founder of Searchtrade, told Moneycontrol.What is a ponzi scheme?"A Ponzi scheme is an investment scam that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors," alerting investors about the risks involved with virtual currencies the US SEC had said."Suchschemes have been going on for years.The most prominent one is the Saradha scam, that happened in West Bengal and there have been several other scams on a weekly or monthly basis, you'll see people doing these scams with traditional money," says Jaideep Reddy, Technology Lawyer at legal and tax consulting firm Nishith Desai."Whilethere may be a few bitcoin schemes that may resemble a ponzi scheme it is not something unique to bitcoin and can happen with traditional money as well," he added.Bitcoin is the world's first digital, decentralized currency and payment network.

Unlike fiat currencies, it is not regulated by any central bank and works on a peer-to-peer basis.That means that users can transact directly without an intermediary like a bank, a credit card company or a clearing house.It is an open source software which means that no person, company or country owns this network just like no one owns the Internet.Reddy says that bitcoin itself does not fit the legal definition of a fraudulent scheme."There are several legitimate uses of bitcoin and the underlying technology which powers it --blockchain.""Thetechnology itself is considered to be robust and it's only the particular implementation of the technology that can be considered fraudulent in certain cases," he added.Earlier this year the Reserve Bank of India’s research arm, IDRBT released a report which said that the time is ripe for blockchain technology adoption in India and it has tested the technology for core banking processes in the country and was also keen on the idea of a digital rupee.

(Read more)Speaking to Moneycontrol, Gupta said that in order to counter dubious schemes purportedly built around bitcoin, bitcoin-based startups and exchanges have launched Digital Asset and Blockchain Foundation of India (DABFI) to self regulate the virtual currency industry and spread awareness about bitcoin and other blockchain based digital assets.He further said that there are no promises made on returns over bitcoin exchanges who are part of DABFI and one can only buy and sell bitcoins at their own discretion.On the scrutiny faced by bitcoin, Gupta said that some ponzi schemes which got popular in cities like Delhi were able to dupe many people.Bitcoin represents the characteristics of both a currency and a commodity and is yet to be defined as one of them by the Indian regulatory authorities.If bitcoin is declared as currency, it will come under the purview of RBI and if it is declared as a commodity it will be under the ministry of finance, in both the instances there will be more clarity on how it should be taxed and regulated, Gupta said.bitcoins ohne gebühr

Alphaville is completely free.All you have to do is register.Ready to subscribe, View our subscription optionsSAN FRANCISCO — The first message to pop up on the computer screen let the victims know they had been hacked.The second message gave them a way out.The victim had a choice: Pay the hackers a ransom of one bitcoin, a digital currency worth roughly $2,365, in exchange for regaining access to the computer, or try to infect two new people on behalf of the attackers.ethereum cloud storageIf someone the victim knew fell for the bait and became infected, the attackers would consider the ransom paid and cede control of the infected computer.The attack late last year was, according to the cybersecurity researchers who discovered what they now call the Popcorn Time ransomware, the first Ponzi scheme for one of the internet’s oldest types of cyberattacks.Ransomware, a type of malicious software that infects a system and then holds it hostage, demanding a ransom for its release, is one of the most popular and lucrative ways to attack computers.litecoin estimated value 2014

Security companies estimate that criminals raked in roughly $1 billion from ransomware attacks in 2016.This year, the number is likely to be much higher, as ransomware schemes multiply.One strain, WannaCry, made global headlines last month by infecting hundreds of thousands of computers in 74 countries in about a day.bitcoin how to split walletThe scheme has become more successful as more of what we do goes online, from business client lists to family photos.bitcoin naikWith the click of a button, an entire system can be infected.litecoin price tickerWith another click, criminals can wipe information from a computer or expose it to the public.buy dogecoin paypalIt all depends on what commands a bigger ransom: losing information or exposing it.Security researchers warn that WannaCry, which exploited a wide-ranging vulnerability in Windows systems and then used a clever mechanism to to spread itself across new systems, is just the tip of the iceberg.bitcoin future in hindi

They are tracking new schemes dreamed up by criminals who have quickly realized that people are willing to pay hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in ransom.“This is a growing business because it works,” said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, a security firm based in Helsinki, Finland.bitcoin billionaire level 25“And the attacks are becoming more creative and effective.”Mr.Hypponen, whose team found and first reported on the Popcorn malware, said it was an outlier in the world of ransomware.It was the first attempt to combine a Ponzi, or pyramid scheme, in which one person entraps another, with malware that holds a computer hostage for payment.If it proved successful, he added, a number of criminal networks were likely to copy the model.Researchers are still monitoring the scheme to see if it works.“These networks all watch each other and learn.When a new model works, it quickly grows as others build on it,” Mr.

Hypponen said.Asaf Cidon, a vice president at the security company Barracuda Networks who studies ransomware, said that criminals had become more sophisticated in the last year, especially in how they choose their victims.“Attackers will go after a specific department at a company, for instance human resources, where they know emails and links are more likely to get opened,” Mr.Networks will choose a company to target and then comb LinkedIn to draw a map of people employed by that company, he said.They might then use that map to impersonate various people or leverage their way into the company’s social network, ultimately using whatever means necessary to make sure that the system becomes infected with the ransomware.“We’ve seen them impersonate people within the company, or impersonate airlines sending ticketing information or vendors and customers of the company sending files,” Mr.Cidon said, adding that all businesses, from mom-and-pop shops to giant Silicon Valley companies like Facebook and Google, were getting hit by ransomware attacks.

Other notable ransomware schemes discovered recently included a plot to infect internet-connected home devices, such as the LG Smart TV, by displaying a fake F.B.I.warning screen on the television and demanding $500 to unlock the it.Late last year, researchers carried out a proof-of-concept demonstration showing how internet-connected home thermostats, such as Nest, could be hacked and held hostage, leaving homeowners in the freezing cold (or blistering heat).“There is a lot of money at stake here, so criminals are always going to be interested,” said Mr.Hypponen, whose company is still tracking the fallout from last month’s WannaCry virus.Though the speed and effectiveness through which that particular attack spread caused it to make headlines, Mr.Hypponen said it was, in ransomware terms, unsuccessful.“WannaCry was a failure because it became too public, too visible and it made almost no money,” said Hypponen, citing the most recent figures that the ransomware netted just under $100,000 for the attackers, who have not yet been caught.