AMDAQ Corp
Our equity holding in AMDAQ Corp involves an investment in a newer industry focusing on blockchain technology.
AMDAQ Corp is subject to general business regulations and laws as well as Federal and state regulations and laws specifically governing securities and digital assets. Existing and future laws and regulations may impede the growth of the Internet, e-commerce or other online services, and increase the cost of providing online services. These regulations and laws may cover taxation, tariffs, user privacy, data protection, pricing, content, copyrights, distribution, electronic contracts and other communications, consumer protection, broadband residential Internet access and the characteristics and quality of services. It is not clear how existing laws governing issues such as property ownership, sales, use and other taxes, libel and personal privacy apply to the Internet and e-commerce. Unfavorable resolution of these issues may harm its business and results of operations.
We are subject to general business regulations and laws as well as Federal and state regulations and laws specifically governing securities and digital assets. Existing and future laws and regulations may impede the growth of the Internet, e-commerce or other online services, and increase the cost of providing online services. These regulations and laws may cover taxation, tariffs, user privacy, data protection, pricing, content, copyrights, distribution, electronic contracts and other communications, consumer protection, broadband residential Internet access and the characteristics and quality of services. It is not clear how existing laws governing issues such as property ownership, sales, use and other taxes, libel and personal privacy apply to the Internet and e-commerce. Unfavorable resolution of these issues may harm our business and results of operations.
Exploitation of Flaws in the Ethereum Network’s Source Code
As with any other computer code, the Ethereum Network source code may contain certain flaws. Several errors and defects have been found and corrected, including those that disabled some functionality for users, exposed users’ information, or allowed users to create multiple views of the Ethereum Network. Such flaws have been discovered and quickly corrected by the Core Developers or the Ethereum community, thus demonstrating one of the advantages of open source codes that are available to the public: open source codes rely on transparency to promote community-sourced identification and solution of problems within the code.
Greater than Fifty Percent of Network Computational Power
Malicious actors can structure an attack whereby such actor gains control of more than half of the Ethereum Network’s processing power or “hashrate.” Computer scientists and cryptographers believe that the immense collective processing power of the Ethereum Network makes it impracticable for an actor to gain control of computers representing a majority of the processing power on the Ethereum Network.
If a malicious actor acquired sufficient computational power necessary to control the Ethereum Network (which amount would be well in excess of fifty percent), it would be able to engage in double-spending, or prevent some or all transactions from being confirmed, and prevent some or all other miners from mining any valid new blocks. The malicious actor or group of actors, however, would not be able to reverse other people’s transactions, change the fixed number of Ethers generated per new block, or transfer previously existing Ether that belong to other users.
Cancer Nodes
This form of attack involves a malicious actor propagating “cancer nodes” to isolate certain users from the legitimate Ethereum Network. A target user functionally surrounded by cancer nodes would be put on a separate “network,” allowing the malicious actor to relay only blocks created by the separate network and thus opening the target user to double-spending attacks. By using cancer nodes, a malicious actor also can disconnect the target user from the Ethereum economy entirely by refusing to relay any blocks or transactions. Ethereum software programs make these attacks more difficult by limiting the number of outbound connections through which users are connected to the Ethereum Network.
Manipulating Blockchain Formation
A malicious actor may attempt to double-spend Ether by manipulating the formation of the Blockchain rather than through control of the Ethereum Network. In this type of attack, a miner creates a valid new block containing a double-spend transaction and schedules the release of such attack block so that it is added to the Blockchain before a target user’s legitimate transaction can be included in a block. All double-spend attacks require that the miner sequence and execute the steps of its attack with sufficient speed and accuracy. Users and merchants can dramatically reduce the risk of a double-spend attack by waiting for multiple confirmations from the Ethereum Network before settling a transaction. The Ethereum Network still may be used to execute instantaneous, low-value transactions without confirmation to the extent the recipient of Ether determines that a malicious miner would be unwilling to carry out a double-spend attack for low-value transactions because the reward from mining would be higher than the small profit gained from double-spending. Users and merchants can take additional precautions by adjusting their Ethereum Network software programs to connect only to other well-connected nodes and to disable incoming connections. These precautions reduce the risk of double-spend attacks involving manipulation of a tar
"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."
