The Daily: Proxy Bitcoin, Simjacking, Zencash Becomes Horizen

In today’s Bitcoin in Brief, we’ve got details of a new interoperability alliance to create proxy tokens such as bitcoin that can be represented on a single blockchain. There’s also news of UAE’s first Shariah-compliant exchange, more simjacking shenanigans, and Zencash has a makeover. We’ve got a lot to chew over, so let’s tuck in.

Also read: Hiding Bitcoin Cash in Pictures With the New Pixel Wallet App

Simjacking for Sports Cars

Simjacking, in which a fraudster ports a victim’s cellphone account to a new handset, with the intention of stealing their crypto, is on the rise. Last month we reported on Joel Ortiz, who’s accused of stealing $5 million in bitcoin in this manner. Motherboard has now revealed details of his 19-year-old co-accused, who, according to the indictment, has been living the dream while enacting all the crypto memes. Xzavyer Narvaez is believed to have invested some of his ill-gotten simjacking gains in a McLaren sports car, and was pictured alongside it in a now deleted Instagram post with the caption “Live fast, die young”. Narvaez has been released on bail but his alleged partner in crime Joel Ortiz remains in detention.

Zencash is Now Horizen

After enlisting the services of a branding company and performing extensive community consultation, Zencash has pulled a Raiblocks/Nano and claimed a new name. As of August 22, the cryptocurrency is known as Horizen. The project’s co-founder Robert Viglione said: “The Zencash project has greatly evolved since its inception more than a year ago, and it’s now time to expand our brand to more accurately reflect our mission to promote the fundamental human right of privacy worldwide.”

“What initially launched as a privacy-focused cryptocurrency has transformed into a much broader and deeply capable platform that will host a variety of privacy-focused applications, including secure messaging and publishing.” One bonus of the rebrand is that the cryptocurrency will get to retain its ZEN ticker.

UAE Launches First Sharia Compliant Exchange

Earlier this year, a research paper claimed bitcoin to be compliant with Shariah law. That theory has now been put into practice with the establishment of the UAE’s first Shariah-compliant exchange. The platform, which is being created by Adab Solutions, will service Muslims in the Emirate states who wish to purchase cryptocurrency whilst adhering to Islamic teachings on finance. Just to ensure it’s compliant with all things Shariah, the exchange plans to set up an in-house Shariah Advisory Board.

Crypto Matchup Enables Social Trading

From the UAE to the Dominican Republic now, the home of Crypto Matchup, a new app to encourage social cryptocurrency trading. One of the biggest successes of the bitcoin cash community has been humanizing the act of sending and receiving crypto through a range of fun mini-projects such such as Pixel Wallet. Crypto Matchup can be added to that list. It aims to help cryptocurrency fans around the world arrange informal meet-ups to make trades in-person. In addition to BCH, it supports coins such as BTC, LTC, and DASH. A desktop portal and beta Android app are available to try now.

Proxy Bitcoin, Anyone?

Uphold, Cred, Blockchain at Berkeley, and Brave have teamed up to create a coalition that will oversee the Universal Protocol Platform. It will enable proxy tokens of all kinds to be created and managed, overcoming the interoperability problem that obliges coins such as ethereum and bitcoin to exist on separate chains. Proxy tokens will serve as a representation of the underlying asset.

“The early days of the internet were very similar to the world of blockchain today, with many different technology platforms fragmented and incapable of communicating with one other,” said JP Thieriot, co-founder of Uphold. “We believe that the Universal Protocol Platform is a technology that has the potential to connect blockchain technologies, much like the breakthrough of the TCP and IP protocols that drove the internet towards mass adoption.”

What stories from today’s roundup caught your attention? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Motherboard, and Crypto Meetup.

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