Bitcoin Daily: IBM Develops ‘Permissioned’ Blockchain Networks, Hackers Put Mining Scripts In Ads

Bitcoin fell below the $7,000 level on Wednesday (April 4) – along with the market value of the world’s cryptocurrencies, CNBC reported. The drop wasn’t so much about concerns over a trade war as it was traders looking at their holdings as a whole, according to eToro senior market analyst Mati Greenspan.

“I think that there is a big connection in the way people are managing their portfolios and the cryptocurrencies that have been increasingly correlated with the stock markets, especially in the last few weeks,” Greenspan told CNBC. The price of bitcoin was $6,632.98 as of 10:24 p.m., according to CoinDesk.

And the former CEO of Mt. Gox expressed regret over his role in the collapse of the exchange, saying that he doesn’t want any of the billions that he could receive as a result of the company’s bankruptcy, CoinDesk reported. “I don’t want this,” Mark Karpelès wrote on an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit. “I don’t want this billion dollars. From day one I never expected to receive anything from this bankruptcy. The fact that today this is a possibility is an aberration and I believe it is my responsibility to make sure it doesn’t happen. “

In cybersecurity news, hackers have a new trick: They’re putting nefarious code into ad platforms to surreptitiously mine crypto, ZDNet reported. According to a post from Trend Micro, researchers have connected miner traffic with MSN.com. The site apparently had showed an ad from an AOL advertising network that instructed computers to mine crypto. After Trend Micro made AOL aware of the ad, it was pulled off the page.

And IBM is seeking to blend public and private blockchains with “permissioned but public” blockchain networks, NewsBTC reported. Big Blue has already worked on projects that used cryptocurrencies to make transactions through a network that spanned 12 countries in the South Pacific. Demand for the technology is coming from those that run central banks, large corporations and trading platforms for commodities.