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NEW YORK, NY, March 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EPIC announces further improvement of its technology, aiming to become the most decentralized cryptocurrency network. In the original Bitcoin design, Satoshi envisioned that each user would run their own node, however due to technological limitations that haven't been overcome since the 2009 release of Bitcoin, the ground-breaking grandfather of cryptocurrency, more than 99% of the world's 150 million coin owners prefer to let others do the heavy lifting.

And it is heavy. While Bitcoin started out as a phenomenon that could be operated on ordinary PCs, it has descended into an expensive endeavor best left to the technically-savvy. A recent survey in Nigeria determined that full node hardware on average costs $400-$800, which is far beyond the means of most users.

Why is it so expensive? It's bloated! A lot of data needs to be processed - 465 GB at the time of writing, and bloating rapidly due to ordinal NFT's, the latest fad.

Enter $EPIC. Epic Private Internet Cash is a challenger for the title of "Satoshi's Dream", fair-launched in 2019, that uses a novel blockchain compression design known as Mimblewimble.

Mimblewimble compresses unnecessary excess data after every block, which results in a lean, compact chain that is 90+% more space efficient than BTC. EPIC nodes occupy < 5 GB on disk and can be run on the types of hardware commonly found in emerging markets, such as low-end notebooks, obsolete PC's and tablets.

According to data provided by Bitnodes.io, Bitcoin nodes are found in 89 countries.

While the EPIC network has only been operational since September 5, 2019, with 100% uptime since April 2021, it is already running in 129 countries, with far greater coverage in economically-disadvantaged regions where the world's 1.7 billion unbanked are likely to live.

Why does this matter? Many reasons. Blockchain users who run their own nodes cannot be denied the service. People in certain unpopular countries may be blocked through location-based "geofencing", as is currently practiced in Ethereum with Metamask wallets and Infura nodes both refusing to serve those unpopular regions.

A user in Crimea can download free open source software from Github.com and be up and running, with the 5GB blockchain fully synchronized, in under an hour. Once they do, only the complete cut-off of internet access could prevent a user from executing a P2P transaction.

Contrast this with BTC: Bitcoin Core, whose nearly 500 GB blockchain currently takes 3+ weeks to synchronize.

Ethereum's 12+TB chain requires months to bootstrap, which is why 50+% of transactions run through a node hosting service such as Infura. Centralized commercial providers must observe appropriate regulations, with an eventual negative impact on the network's accessibility.

In addition to denial of service, relying on the node of another reintroduces trust into what was originally conceived as a trustless design. Locally validating the blockchain ensures that the data is correct, whereas connecting to someone else's node creates the possibility that they may be presenting an alternate view of the network's current status.

Decentralization is also fundamental to the delicate and nuanced game theory of cryptocurrency networks. The recent transition to Proof-of-Stake consensus in Ethereum has led to the unintended consequence of fully 61% of Ethereum blocks directly censoring transactions according to the diktats of the United States' OFAC SDN sanctions list, as well as founder Vitalik Buterin admitting that Circle effectively has the power to determine the course of future network forks.

EPIC Private Internet Cash, thanks to its revolutionary Mimblewimble blockchain compression, eliminates these concerns.

By seeking the "Spirit of Satoshi", following the original DNA of Bitcoin faithfully while making clever use of 2023 vs. 2009 technology, EPIC puts the bold cypherpunk dream of permissionless, private P2P payments within reach of everyone, everywhere.

"Bitcoin" is defined by its creator as a Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, one in which online payments may be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. Only by running a local node is it possible to avoid going through a financial institution or resorting to trust. In this way, epic.tech and its 129 countries, are arguably "More Bitcoin than BTC", which has only 89.

Epic Private Internet Cash is free software maintained by a community of 300+ volunteers in 100 countries. The GiverofEPIC.com crypto faucet offers free samples through the 5-star rated Epic Pay wallet. The Epic Cash Help Desk offers 24/7/365 support for new users, especially miners.

To buy Epic Cash, please visit BuyEpicCash.com

Media Contact

Company: EPIC

Email: ed@epic.tech

Website: https://epic.tech/

SOURCE: EPIC

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EPIC Strives to Be the Most Decentralized Cryptocurrency Network - GlobeNewswire

Algorand's ALGO/USD price has decreased 3.87% over the past 24 hours to $0.22. This is contrary to the coins performance over the past week where it has experienced an up-trend of 6.0%, moving from $0.21 to its current price.

The chart below compares the price movement and volatility for Algorand over the past 24 hours (left) to its price movement over the past week (right). The gray bands are Bollinger Bands, measuring the volatility for both the daily and weekly price movements. The wider the bands are, or the larger the gray area is at any given moment, the larger the volatility.

Algorand's trading volume has climbed 69.0% over the past week along with the circulating supply of the coin, which has increased 0.46%. This brings the circulating supply to 7.13 billion, which makes up an estimated 71.29% of its max supply of 10.00 billion. According to our data, the current market cap ranking for ALGO is #41 at $1.56 billion.

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Cryptocurrency Algorand Decreases More Than 3% Within 24 hours - Benzinga

Posted on: March 23, 2023, 08:03h.

Last updated on: March 23, 2023, 02:19h.

France is going after a new sector, as it deals with protestors rioting in the streets over unwanted pension reforms. A bill is in the works that would reduce influencers impact on gamblers and cryptocurrency investors.

Bill 790 is an attempt to address the promotion of unregulated or unlicensed activity in the country by influencers on social media. Since no crypto project is licensed in France, this essentially cuts off the segment for content creators.

The bill prohibits advertising in exchange for remuneration of games of skills and chance, video games that include loot boxes, pharmaceuticals, and cryptocurrency. Those who fail to comply with the law can receive up to two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 (US$32,730).

The legislative effort could also implicate social media platforms. While not completely outlined, the bills text indicates that law violations could also lead to repercussions against distribution platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and others.

The objective of this bill is to create and strengthen a legal system that can both empower and sanction, where appropriate, all influencers, their agencies, advertisers, and distribution platforms, in order to strengthen the protection of social network users and consumers, explains Frances Bill 790.

Bill 790 is already gathering support in Frances legislature. The National Assemblys Economic Affairs Committee approved it Wednesday, and it will now go before the full Assembly and Senate.

Theres no time frame for the final decision to be made.

Those influencers who break the law could also receive another penalty, although it is more difficult to enforce. They could be prohibited from working as an influencer either temporarily or permanently.

Influencers have been at the center of debate for several weeks in France. Three weeks ago, the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs, and Fraud Prevention revealed that of the 60 influencers and agencies it had targeted since 2021, 60% didnt respect advertising regulations and consumer rights policies.

The legislation results from several scams that have permeated Frances digital channels and gained momentum this year.

This past January, more than 100 people joined a class-action lawsuit against two people pushing cryptocurrency investments and trading. The investments turned out to be a scam. The influencers are now hiding out in Dubai to avoid persecution.

This is the same fraud that has also landed in the US Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC) office.

The SEC also has gone after influencer and MMA fighter Jake Paul, actress Lindsey Lohan, and Justin Sun for illegal promotions. Sun is the founder of the Tron crypto project, and the SEC accuses him of manipulating markets and offering unregistered securities.

Last year, French influencer and reality TV star Laurent Correira also found greater attention. He allegedly had a major role in the Billionaire Dogs Project, an NFT (non-fungible token) offering. It ended in a rug pull, but not after collecting just under $1 million.

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France Looks to Prohibit Influencers from Promoting Gambling ... - Casino.Org News

Toncoin's TON/USD price has decreased 5.62% over the past 24 hours to $2.29, continuing its downward trend over the past week of -7.0%, moving from $2.45 to its current price.

The chart below compares the price movement and volatility for Toncoin over the past 24 hours (left) to its price movement over the past week (right). The gray bands are Bollinger Bands, measuring the volatility for both the daily and weekly price movements. The wider the bands are, or the larger the gray area is at any given moment, the larger the volatility.

Toncoin's trading volume has climbed 66.0% over the past week along with the circulating supply of the coin, which has increased 1.17%. This brings the circulating supply to 1.47 billion. According to our data, the current market cap ranking for TON is #22 at $3.42 billion.

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Cryptocurrency Toncoin Falls More Than 5% In 24 hours - Benzinga

The law can be slow to adapt to emerging technologies such as cryptocurrency. However, with a thorough knowledge of existing legal avenues, adaptation is not always necessary. Macpherson Kelley recently acted in a case that demonstrates how trustees in bankruptcy can use existing tools at their disposal to investigate, and ultimately recover, cryptocurrency held by bankrupts.

Identifying and locating cryptocurrency

If a trustee becomes aware that a bankrupt has owned or traded in cryptocurrency assets, the trustee will normally:

Cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Australia are required to comply with Australias anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislation, which includes requirements to implement know your customer (KYC) identification procedures. Those procedures require trading platforms to ensure customers provide 100 points of identification to be registered as a user. Those KYC procedures enable trustees to identify the owner or controller of a cryptocurrency account.

A trustees inquiries can range from:

Tracing cryptocurrency to a specific wallet address can be a relatively straightforward process. However, while securing (and realising) the cryptocurrency can be another challenge altogether, though it is often not insurmountable.

Securing cryptocurrency

The steps necessary to secure any cryptocurrency will depend on a range of factors, most particularly the manner in which the cryptocurrency is held and whether the bankrupt is assisting the trustee in their inquiries.

If the cryptocurrency is held on a cryptocurrency trading exchange, the trustee may direct the bankrupt to hand over details of any account passwords or private keys. A trustee should also write to all trading platforms within Australia to enquire whether any accounts are held in the bankrupts name, instruct them to freeze all such accounts and deliver up details of any access codes and passwords under the powers granted to trustees under the Bankruptcy Act 1966.

Trustees face greater difficulties where cryptocurrency is held in a software (or soft) wallet (such as Metamask), or offline in a hardware (or hard) wallet (such as a Ledger or Trezor). A hard wallet is a device the size of a small USB stick that stores the users private access keys.

Where cryptocurrency is stored on a hard wallet, securing the cryptocurrency requires the trustee to physically obtain the hard wallet device itself as well as the access password or pin. Alternatively, locating the seed recovery phrase to the hard wallet (a 12 or 24 random word passphrase) can be used to recover the cryptocurrency in the event the wallet device is misplaced or destroyed.

Hard wallets can, therefore, be easily concealable, and the assets held on them can very quickly be moved to another location or account. If a trustee suspects a bankrupt is seeking to hide cryptocurrency, swift and decisive action may be required to prevent the dissipation of those assets, including via the courts where necessary.

Search Warrant

Under section 130 of the Bankruptcy Act 1966, a trustee may, in some circumstances, apply to a Court for a warrant to search a premises in which they suspect there is property of the bankrupt or property connected with a bankrupts examinable affairs and, if any relevant property (such as a hard wallet) is located, seize that property or secure it against interference.

In order to succeed in an application of that nature, the trustee must satisfy the Court that there are reasonable grounds to issue a warrant.

Broadly, the trustee must adduce evidence to satisfy the Court that the issuing and execution of the warrant will:

What does this look like in practice?

Macpherson Kelley recently acted for a trustee who successfully applied to obtain a warrant to search a premises and seize property connected with cryptocurrency that the trustee believed was being concealed by the bankrupt.

In order to obtain that warrant, the trustee provided the Court with evidence, gathered from their inquiries, that showed the bankrupt was likely concealing cryptocurrency. That evidence included wallet addresses and the results of a tracing exercise that revealed the bankrupts assets has been transferred through various cryptocurrency wallets and was held in various cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and Ripple.

The trustee also provided evidence regarding how cryptocurrency is held and transferred, and demonstrated how hard wallet devices can be concealed to substantiate how issuing the warrant would assist the trustees investigations.

The Court ultimately accepted the trustees evidence and issued the warrant. The warrant then had to be executed with the assistance of the police and Principal Lawyer Daniel Wignall, who had experience in identifying any cryptocurrency wallets at the premises or other property that may be related to the bankrupts cryptocurrency trading activity.

On execution of that warrant, the trustee located and seized several hard wallet devices and other IT equipment. The trustee also seized other evidence that led to discovery of significant but previously undisclosed cryptocurrency accounts.

Execution of the warrant, and the evidence obtained as a result, advanced the trustees efforts to recover assets for the benefit of creditors and enabled further investigation into the bankrupts cryptocurrency trading activity.

Key take aways

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Trading Halt: Capturing Cryptocurrency via the Courts - Lexology