Day: July 27, 2017

Authorship.com has finally opened its doors for the public by announcing the date for initial coin offering (ICO): 15th August. The much awaited ICO to buy the crypto-currency is a golden opportunity for investors to benefit from the project that is a big step towards fulfilling the long-held dream of decentralizing the internet. During the initial … Continue reading ICO for Authorship Tokens Will Be Open for Investors from 15th August

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Bitcoin prices appear to be regrouping higher as commentators suggest news is less of an influence.

Google’s London-based DeepMind unit has created an artificial intelligence (AI) capable of doing some amazing things. As technology keeps evolving, so too does AI. Its new capabilities continue to surprise us. Now, according to a blog post on DeepMind’s website, AI can imagine its future and plan accordingly in order to achieve the best possible outcome.

AI That Can Imagine

Bots have been able to predict outcomes and plan ahead in the past, but only in controlled environments. Both AlphaGo and Deep Blue, for example, have managed to beat humans at board games — Go and chess, respectively — but only because these games have specific sets of rules to follow.

Google’s DeepMind team has created agents that can do something similar in the real world’s complex environment. They do this using an “imagination encoder,” described as a neural network that learns to extract information useful to an agent’s future decisions, while ignoring information that is not relevant. These were dubbed Imagination-Augmented Agents, or I2As.

The I2As were tasked with different puzzles which tested their abilities. One of them was the game Sokoban, in which the bots push boxes onto targets. The game’s rules are such that many moves are irreversible (for instance, a box cannot be pulled out of a corner), so the agents must be very careful not to mess up.

To further challenge the bots, researchers procedurally generated each level of the game and only gave AIs one chance to make it through. Each AI was forced to try different strategies “in their head” before actually making a move.

In the second task, the agents needed to stabilize a spaceship by activating its thrusters a certain number of times, while dealing with the gravitational pull of various planets. Agents had to imagine various possible trajectories and outcomes in order to stabilize the ship.

In these tasks, the I2As outperformed their counterparts that didn’t use an “imagination encoder.” They learned to successfully complete the puzzles without first needing to gain much in the way of experience, as they extracted information from simulations conducted “in their head.”

Nowhere Near Human Imagination

When we think about our imaginations, we think way beyond running video game scenarios in our heads. However, AIs are just now being given tasks that require them to imagine, rather than tasks with very specific guidelines to follow. Even though these AIs are nowhere near our imaginative capabilities, they are still in their early days.

Demis Hassabis, DeepMind’s founder, recently published a paper on the development of general-purpose AI and how it depends on the understanding of human abilities like imagination and curiosity. According to him, as The Next Web points out, creating AI agents that can match what we do is:

“(…)perhaps the hardest challenge for AI research: to build an agent that can plan hierarchically, is truly creative, and can generate solutions to challenges that currently elude even the human mind.”

New regulations that apply money transmitter laws to cryptocurrency exchanges have gone into effect in the U.S. state of Washington.

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The creation of Bitcoin Cash will be an interesting social experiment. More specifically, there seems to be a strong support for a token that doesn’t even exist yet. BCC Tokens will be created on August 1st and provide Bitcoin users with “free coins”, so to speak. For the time being, people can exchange their BTC … Continue reading Bitcoin Cash Hashpower and Exchange Volume Picks up Significantly

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A legal expert discusses the potential impact of a new SEC report on the use of blockchain-based tokens for fundraising.

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In a bid to improve user experience, True Flip has announced strategic partnership with DAO.Casino. True Flip, the provably fair international blockchain lottery, and DAO.Casino, the decentralized gambling protocol reported reaching on numerous agreements which resulted in the decision of getting into the partnership. Both projects are currently in ICO stage. The partnership was hinted … Continue reading True Flip Enters into a Strategic Partnership with DAO.Casino to Improve User Experience

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A survey released on Wednesday by a leading Indian trade and industry body found that 97% of respondents across multiple industries are aware of bitcoin. While the group calls for more regulations, the survey sheds light on the opportunities Bitcoin can offer the country.

Also read: Indian Bitcoin Hotspot Bangalore Sees 50+ Merchants Added This Month

The Roundtable and Survey

India’s leading trade and industry body called the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) on Wednesday hosted a “Roundtable on Industry Perspective on Bitcoins: A New World of Transactions and Payments.” PHD stands for Progress, Harmony, and Development.

Founded in 1905 and headquartered in New Delhi, the chamber is a non-government, non-profit industry-led and industry-managed organization which claims to work with the government. It has a direct membership of over 1,600 corporate entities and serves more than 45,000 indirect members in the business community.

At the event, the PHD Research Bureau released a survey-based report outlining the present status, mechanism, regulatory aspects, and future prospects of bitcoin in India. The survey asked 223 stakeholders, from industries such as garments, textiles, drugs and pharmaceutical, electronics, machine tools, auto components, and leather, according to Money Control. The publication wrote:

The study found that 97 percent of the respondents were aware of bitcoins.

However, none of the respondents have actually used bitcoin for their businesses, the survey revealed, adding that all of them “were unaware of the payment mechanism involved in bitcoins,” the publication noted.

Regulation Could Boost Bitcoin Adoption

Survey respondents cited “safety and security of the system as a major hindrance” to bitcoin adoption. During the roundtable, Chamber President Gopal Jiwarajka brought up the point that bitcoin has the potential to boost the digital economy, but warned that it is “fraught with risks and not backed by any tangible asset but by sheer demand.”

While describing bitcoin as a fascinating instrument, he believes it is “highly volatile and susceptible to high risk,” and said:

Bitcoins could act as a potential transaction and payment mechanism for businesses given proper monitoring and regulation of the currency…Proper vigilance and directives to regulate the cryptocurrency could boost the digital ecosystem in the country.

The chamber’s president argued that “it is essential to expand the regulatory framework for bitcoins to reinforce the safety and security aspects of bitcoins.” In addition, he suggested that this framework should be coupled with “awareness programmes about the pros and cons associated with bitcoins to bolster the digital campaign in India.”

Industry Chamber Sees Opportunities

“As an industry chamber, we see this technology/concept as an opportunity with proper regulation to create a great tool for promoting digital economy,” The Hindu Business Line quoted Jiwarajka explaining.

He also made a case for taking immediate action. “The RBI should now look deep into the concept of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoins, and take a view on it.” The sentiment echoes the chamber’s report:

Arguably, bitcoins can be a boon for the large population of the country which is still unbanked; it can provide them with a superior and simple peer to peer digital currency trading platform through desktops and mobile devices.

When do you think all these industries will start using bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and PHD Chamber

Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section.

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Special Counsel Roy Keidar of law firm Yigal Arnon & Co examines how Blockchain could provide the answer to the anti-money laundering issues that cryptocurrencies face.

Cryptocurrency markets are always good for some degree of speculation. Although there is a very strong focus on the top 5 cryptocurrencies right now, it seems the big surprise of the day is none other than Monero. For some unknown reason, the anonymity-oriented cryptocurrency has gained over 14% in value these past 24 hours. That is rather remarkable, although there can be many different reasons for this sudden price movement.

Monero Price Surpasses US$45 Once Again

There have always been a few cryptocurrencies which focus on the aspects Bitcoin can’t provide. Both privacy and anonymity are two traits often associated with Bitcoin, yet wrongfully so. The world’s leading cryptocurrency is pseudonymous, but offers no privacy or anonymity traits to speak of. While some people see this as a weakness, it is evident Bitcoin is designed with these “flaws” in mind.

Those people who want more privacy and anonymity need to look into different cryptocurrencies to achieve that goal.  Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple will not get you very far either. There are only two currencies in the top 10 which provide such features: Dash and Monero. However, Monero seems to have a leg up over Dash when it comes to anonymity, which is the aspect the vast majority of community members desire the most.  It is always worth your time to check out the Monero website to see how anonymity is achieved.

It is safe to say these are rather interesting times for anyone who values privacy and anonymity in the cryptocurrency world. Major darknet markets have been shut down, both of which used Bitcoin as their main currency. BitMixer is also on the way out, as the operator had a sudden change of heart and feels “other currencies” are better suited to use for anonymity reasons. Monero has a legitimate chance to overtake Bitcoin in this regard, as people will have a tough time finding a trustworthy mixing service.

Whether or not this has an effect on the Monero price, is anybody’s guess right now. No one can deny the alternative cryptocurrency is on the rise as we speak. With a 14% gain in 24 hours, things are looking quite promising for all XMR holders. Anyone who has been keeping an eye on the Monero price will certainly be happy with the way things are going right now. It is always interesting to see such sudden price increases out of the blue.

The bigger question is what is driving this sudden demand for Monero. One could argue a Monero price of US$45.88 compared to Dash’s value of US$198.18 is due for a massive correction sooner or later. After all, some people feel Monero has far better technology compared to Dash. Then again, the latter cryptocurrency saw its iOS wallet finally approved by Apple and is currently riding the momentum of that news. It will be quite interesting to keep a close eye on both currencies, that much is evident.

It appears the majority of XMR trading volume originates from Poloniex. With both Bitcoin and Ethereum showing signs of sideways momentum, other currencies can see some gains over the next few years. With a Monero price of US$46.09 at the time of writing, reaching the US$50 mark is not entirely impossible if the volume keeps up. Right now, there is just over US$30m in 24-hour volume, which is still pretty small. The Monero price will be on many people’s radar today if this trend keeps up.

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