Day: July 20, 2017

Major consulting firms are reporting that interest in blockchain is fast expanding beyond distributed ledgers to include more experimental ICOs.

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Cryptocurrency mining is a very popular right now. It even leads to GPU shortages in a lot of countries. Consumers are buying up graphics cards to mine popular currencies such as Ethereum, Dash, ZCash, and a few others. Bitmain apparently wants to capitalize on the Dash hype train by releasing a new Antminer D3. Let’s look at what this device has to offer and why miners should be interested.

The Antminer D3 Will Mine Dash Faster

Bitmain has built up a solid reputation when it comes to cryptocurrency mining equipment. Not everyone wants to put together a small computer with multiple graphics cards to mine their favorite cryptocurrency. This is why the company sometimes releases powerful ASIC miners for different altcoins, including Litecoin and Dash. In fact, the company’s newest miner is designed to mine Dash at a rate of 15 GH/s.

The Antminer D3 will come at a price tag of $2,699, which is rather steep for most people. Keep in mind this is the pre-order price for the time being, and there are still shopping costs to take into account as well. The Antminer D3 hashes away at 15 GH/s, which is incredibly fast for Dash. According to Coinwarz, Dash currently has over 11.25 TH/s of hashing power. Even 15 GH/s will not make that much difference, but it is much more than what most people can squeeze out of a set of graphics cards these days.

Additionally, the Antminer D3 will consume around 1,200 Watts, which makes it a rather power-hungry device. However, when comparing the hashrate one gets in return for this power consumption, it is still a fairly efficient device.  Unfortunately, it can only mine X11 coins, of which there are not too many around these days. The number of profitable X11 coins in high demand is pretty much limited to Dash right now, although that situation may change over time.

Bitmain will accept both Bitcoin and Litecoin payments for this product. One would expect them to accept Dash as a payment method for a Dash ASIC miner, but that does not appear to be the case. Customers can also make a purchase in US Dollars, although paying with cryptocurrency will probably be the more popular solution. Every USD transaction can be completed through an international wire transfer, which requires high fees for sending money to China.

There will be an 180-day warranty for every Antminer D3, which goes into effect on the shipping date. Even if a customer only receives their hardware four weeks after the shipping date, they will have lost 28 warranty days already. This small warranty period is not entirely uncommon for ASIC miners since users are expected to take great care of their machines. Even if the miner is under warranty, returning the device to Bitmain must be done at the user’s own expense.

Given the recent popularity of Dash, it will be quite interesting to see how much demand there will be for the Antminer D3. For the time being, there is no official shipment ETA yet, other than how a “new batch will be available soon.” At the current Dash price and the costs involved for purchasing this miner and having it shipped to your home, it would take under three weeks to break even, according to Coinwarz. Keep in mind that when these miners ship those numbers will have changed quite a bit.

A US man has admitted to stealing $40 mln worth of Bitcoin after he was arrested for selling stolen laptops and a gold necklace.

Lush, a popular vegan cosmetic company, has announced that it will be accepting Bitcoin in its UK online store.

The monetary ecosystem is changing drastically in India. The country is bracing for demonetization of their local currency. To aid with this process, Malaysian company Belfrics just launched a new exchange/trading platform for Indian customers and others. India may soon be a cashless society as a result of this trajectory. 

Also read: Counterparty Experiences Millionth Transaction

The Hindu Business Line provided details, “Malaysia-based Belfrics, a provider of Bitcoin technology has launched its India-based Bitcoin exchange which would enable people to sell or buy Bitcoins using Indian currency. This development comes on the back of the recent demonetisation efforts taken by the Indian governments push to move India towards a digital-based cashless economy.”

Belfrics Core Values and Indian Demonetization Efforts

The core values of Belfrics seem to jibe with the changing Indian economy. Their site said the economic landscape is changing regularly, and it must adapt to customer needs. The company mentioned the financial industry has been in rough shape, and not much has been done to address problems of transparency and efficiency. Belfrics has made it a point to address this problem by leveraging decentralized, blockchain technology, especially as the Indian economy transitions into a cashless society.

Indian demonetization efforts began in November 2016. The government declared all bills in denominations of 500 and 1,000 rupees would cease to be legal tender. The alleged goal was to weed out people who were evading taxes by hiding “black money” or harboring fake Indian currency notes. It appears the Indian government believes a digital, cashless society is easier to maintain control over. Indian regulators are currently deciding how to properly regulate the currency within the country via private meetings.

Regulatory Agencies Begin to Eye the Cryptocurrency Boom

No telling how regulations will effect new company’s like Belfrics as they position themselves in this newly emerging digital economy. They will likely have to keep their eyes peeled, because regulatory agencies worldwide have begun to eye the evolving cryptocurrency boom as Bitcoin adoption and usage soars. The Hindu Business Line expressed a similar consideration:

Cryptocurrency is under the scanner of almost all regulatory bodies in the world as it is emerging as an alternative to fiat currencies. China is in the forefront of Bitcoin adoption and while the regulations in India do not outlaw the use of Bitcoin, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said that the central bank was “watching the evolution” of such currencies.

What do you think about India moving into a cashless society? What do you think about the Belfrics company? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Belfrics, and The University of Chicago 

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The post Belfrics Launches Bitcoin Exchange in the Face of Indian Demonetization appeared first on Bitcoin News.

There is a problem converting sign language into speech and text, and vice versa. Students at the University of Washington have found a way to potentially solve this issue. Their SignAloud gloves convert American Sign language into speech or text in a rather accurate manner.

SignAloud Gloves are a Game Changer

We struggle to communicate with people more than ever before. This problem only grows worse if one person in the conversation has to rely on American Sign language (ASL) while the other does not know it. Few people who do not need to use ASL regularly understand or know it. Some signs have multiple interpretations -usually based on country or geographic region- as well.

The new gloves developed by two University of Washington students may finally solve these problems. The team has also won a $10,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for their invention, which demonstrates the gloves’ potential and value. The SignAloud gloves are capable of translating American Sign language into speech or text most people can easily interpret. Having such a tool at one’s disposal will bridge the gap between native American Sign language speakers and the rest of the world.

Communication is a fundamental part of our society and species. However, it is difficult to communicate in American Sign language if only one party knows the correct gestures to illustrate a point. While these gloves will not turn everyone into an expert in American Sign Language, they can certainly help make conversations a bit easier. Additionally, it can be a great aid for people to learn American Sign language.

Both of the SignAloud gloves are equipped with sensors to record the hand gestures made by the wearer. This information is transmitted to a central computer through a wireless communication protocol. Once the computer looks at the data and evaluates it, matching gestures will be turned into words or phrases transmitted through a speaker. It sounds like a rather complex setup, but it seems to work just fine.

Improving the overall functionality of the SignAloud gloves will be rather difficult. There are many dialects, situational context, and grammar in sign language. Ensuring one pair of gloves is compatible with all of these different permutations of sign language will be virtually impossible to achieve anytime soon. That does not mean we will not see such a solution in the future, though, but for now, these gloves are limited to American Sign language only.

It is good to see such a practical solution to interpret and communicate through American Sign language. Other translation devices are very unwieldy to use, as they may have different requirements to record gestures. These gloves are very lightweight, compact, and still ergonomic enough to not look like you have a bionic arm straight out of a science fiction movie. It is unclear if the SignAloud gloves will ever become available to consumers, and if so, how much they would cost.

It is the season for interesting Bitcoin predictions, that much is evident. Earlier this week, John McAfee made a ludicrous price prediction for Bitcoin. While he feels confident US$500,000 per BTC is not impossible, the rest of the world has a different opinion. Goldman Sachs takes a more modest approach right now. More specifically, the … Continue reading Goldman Sachs Feels Bitcoin Will Test the US$3,000 Mark Very Soon

The post Goldman Sachs Feels Bitcoin Will Test the US$3,000 Mark Very Soon appeared first on NEWSBTC.

A now-famous bitcoin supporter known for his promotional stunt during a US congressional hearing has landed an internship.

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Bitcoin is not the only major cryptocurrency to note a price increase right now. Dash, one of the more popular altcoins, is also going through a significant uptrend. More specifically, the value per coin is heading back toward US$200 thanks to a 13% value increase over the past 24 hours. A growing trading volume on Bithumb, combined with other bits of news, is the main reason for this price increase.

Dash is Having a Very Good Week so far

In some cases, we will see an influx of positive news influence the price for particular cryptocurrencies. This uphill battle is a bit more difficult for alternative cryptocurrencies unless they can bring something interesting to the table. Dash, one of the more privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies in existence, has seen its fair share of good news this week. Moreover, it seems the currency is now listed on the Korean Bithumb exchange, resulting in close to US$30m in 24-hour trading volume of that exchange alone.

Considering how Korean exchanges aren’t exactly keen on adding new currencies, the fact Dash is listed is a major validation on its own. Bithumb is mainly known for trading Bitcoin and Ethereum, and it doesn’t appear Dash is effectively listed on their main page. However, Coinmarketcap shows the Dash/KRW trading pair from Bithumb is generating an unusually high amount of volume, which is nice to see. The company recently added Litecoin as well, indicating Bithumb is keeping a close eye on the markets as we speak.

The Bithumb trading volume is only one facet of the story behind this recent Dash price increase, though. In fact, the big news comes in the form of Apple finally approved Dash-related applications. As most enthusiasts may recall, Apple has always had a difficult relationship with cryptocurrencies and related applications. This is especially true when said cryptocurrency offers privacy or even anonymity traits. In the case of Dash, the cryptocurrency offers both, which has always been a thorn in the side for Apple.

Big news to share today. pic.twitter.com/LVEWJskUuT

— Ryan Taylor (@RTaylor05) July 19, 2017

However, these problems are a thing of the past, as there is now an official iPhone Dash wallet app in the Apple App Store. This wallet also features the InstantSend functionality, which is what most people seem to like about Dash as a currency. Multiple years of debating with Apple to get this application approved are finally paying off, by the look of things. It is good to see this wallet finally appear in the App Store, as it has been long overdue.

Moreover, it appears the list of merchants accepting Dash payments is on the rise as well. According to a recent Reddit post, this number has grown to just over 200, which is quite a significant milestone for this altcoin. The news also comes at a time during which the number of major retailers accepting Bitcoin payments is on the decline. Whether or not there is any correlation between these two developments, remains to be determined, though.

It is good to see the cryptocurrency ecosystem thrive as we speak. More importantly, it’s nice seeing currencies other than Bitcoin and Ethereum make some positive headlines these days. While Bitcoin will remain the top cryptocurrency for quite some time to come, Dash is certainly trying to climb the ranks once again. More competition can be a very positive trend in the world ocryptocurrency. .

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Today could be a good day for Bitcoin holders after all. Earlier this morning, it appeared that the Bitcoin price was on the brink of going below US$2,200 again, but things are turning around in the right direction. More specifically, the Bitcoin price is pushing toward US$2,500 once more, as the market notes a 4% price increase out of the blue. Additionally, the Bitcoin market cap is above US$40B once again. Things are looking quite good for Bitcoin right now, but can its momentum be maintained?

Are We Witnessing a Bitcoin Price Reversal?

For some time now, speculators have wondered when the Bitcoin price would start to make a move toward US$3,000 again. So far, that has proven to be rather difficult, as the Bitcoin price showed plenty of bearish signals these past few days. The effect of last weekend’s price crash is still visible on the charts, yet it seems that things may finally be turning around in favor of the popular cryptocurrency.

Indeed, the Bitcoin price is making some upward moves as we speak. Earlier today, one BTC was worth close to US$2,250. At that time, the overall trading volume was rather small, which may have explained why prices were slowly slipping. It now appears that the volume is picking up, and we can see multiple green candles appearing on the charts. With one Bitcoin being valued at US$2,460 and still climbing, it is safe to say that Bitcoin is on the mend. This is good news for anyone who believes in this particular cryptocurrency, to say the least.

Even though the Bitcoin price has gone up by around US$200, it only represents a 4.12% price increase, according to Coinmarketcap. That is only normal, as the platform gathers price information from many different exchanges all over the globe. In Korea and China, Bitcoin prices are always higher compared to the rest of the world. Consequently, a US$200 price increase in the West is a mere blip on the radar for Korea, China, and Japan. The bigger question is whether or not this momentum can be maintained for more than a few hours.

Speaking of the Bitcoin price across multiple exchanges, Poloniex is leading the charts volume-wise with its ETH/BTC market. Bitfinex is in the lead with fiat currency exchange, with a very solid BTC/USD volume right now. bitFlyer is the next exchange dealing with crypto-to-fiat trading, followed by GDAX, Bithumb, Gemini, Bitstamp, and OKCoin. This could turn out to be a very good day for fiat-to-Bitcoin trading. Just yesterday, these fiat currency markets looked a lot bleaker than they do right now.

With a 24-hour trading volume of over US$1.2B, Bitcoin is slowly getting back on track. However, there is still a lot of work to be done before it can overtake Ethereum again. For some reason, Ethereum trading is double the volume of Bitcoin right now. It is possible this has something to do with the recent Parity hack and people selling ETH across exchanges as quickly as they can. Only time will tell the real story behind these numbers, but we do know that Ethereum is suffering from a value decline whereas Bitcoin is on the rise. Then again, this is only a momentary snapshot of the cryptocurrency markets, and things may change by the time you read this article.

In the end, it is good to see that Bitcoin still has some life left after a few days of very mixed market signals. While the road to US$2,500 – and perhaps even to US$3,000 – is still long and hard, we are seeing positive signs right now. It is certainly possible that Bitcoin maintains this bullish momentum for some time to come, although things can switch into reverse in a heartbeat as well. Now is a good time to make some decent money through margin trading and even exploring arbitrage opportunities.

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Non-profits are fast waking up to the possibilities offered by blockchain, but implementing real-world solutions will be anything but easy.

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