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Day: August 24, 2017

REVAIN Crowdsale Reaches $4,000,000 in 20 Hours

REVAIN started crowdsale less than 24 hours ago and are already boasting impressive numbers. They have raised 883 Bitcoin during the first 6 hours with the total of 1052 Bitcoin over last 20 hours. REVAIN’s Popularity Induced Technical Issue REVAIN had an unexpected server overload that resulted in technical issues which preventing some of their investors from contributing. They acted on their feet and got through that situation. The system is working properly now and all the transactions are running smoothly. Their crowdsale page had received over 500,000 requests. Real Time Crowdsale Updates REVAIN’s crowdsale provides real time updates on

REVAIN started crowdsale less than 24 hours ago and are already boasting impressive numbers. They have raised 883 Bitcoin during the first 6 hours with the total of 1052 Bitcoin over last 20 hours.

REVAIN’s Popularity Induced Technical Issue

REVAIN had an unexpected server overload that resulted in technical issues which preventing some of their investors from contributing. They acted on their feet and got through that situation. The system is working properly now and all the transactions are running smoothly. Their crowdsale page had received over 500,000 requests.

Real Time Crowdsale Updates

REVAIN’s crowdsale provides real time updates on the progress of the sale. On their crowdsale page a transaction table that displays all the transactions in real time and shows which currencies are being used. The most popular crypto their investors are using so far are Bitcoin, Ethereum, DASH, and ZCASH. These are not the only cryptos they accept, so if you prefer to use a different cryptocurrency check out their crowdsale link for the full currency list and real time transactions table.

Blockchain Based Review Platform

The overwhelmingly positive response to REVAIN’s crowdsale suggests that many people agree with the project’s vision and goals. One of the most appealing features is their use of the blockchain to keep information encrypted in a distributed database making it impossible to be modified later. REVAIN uses the blockchain to create the platform for user reviews to guarantee tamper-proof reviews. They will also encourage users to produce quality reviews by rewarding them with a their native token. It is a partially-decentralized token platform for building reputation.

Since REVAIN is a blockchain economy, it makes sense that the first reviews will be dedicated to ICO and cryptocurrency exchanges. Reviews about ICOs from investors and experts can be used by external rating systems which may garner new interest by even more industry professionals. The platform will expand beyond rating ICOs to cafés, hotels, and other consumer industries.

Reviews and Reputation

Users write and read independent reviews database built on the Ethereum blockchain. The economic model uses two token types: an R-token for crowdsale and an RVN-token for transactions within the platform. R-tokens will be sold on exchanges, while RVN-token will act as a stable coin to level token’s volatile exchange rate. RVN-token will reward users for quality reviews and withdrawn from companies’ balance for those reviews. Platform abuses will result in RVNs being taken from the accounts of those users as a punishment system.

Reviewing businesses and building reputation of reviews is a proven model that works for many different industries. Booking.com, tripadvisor, and foursquare emphasizes reviews as core to their businesses, but REVAIN sees this as the business. Instead of just incentivizing active users, REVAIN is giving back direct motivation to the users within the platform by giving consumers back the control with 100% tamper-proof reviews. .

REVAIN crowdsale is scheduled to last till September 6, 2017.

Check out their site here: https://revain.org

To take part follow these instructions: https://medium.com/revain/revain-crowdsale-instructions-507ca0079f43

Join their Telegram live chat for real time update: https://t.me/joinchat/CzZcC0PCgpJcbBCb3JfNeQ

Check out their whitepaper: https://crowdsale.revain.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Revain-Reinventing- Reviews-on- Blockchain-657353151128295/?ref=br_rs

Twitter: @revain_org

Telegram: https://t.me/revain.org

Medium: https://medium.com/revain

This is not investment or trading advice, always do your own independent research.

 

Latest Linux Mining Malware Uses Minergate’s Monero Pool

TheMerkle Linux Mining Malware MoneroIt has been a while since we last saw a new malware threat in the form of a cryptocurrency miner. Do not be mistaken in thinking cybercriminals have given up on the idea, though. A new cryptocurrency mining malware referred to as Linux.BTCMine.26 is actively distributed to Linux computers using default Telnet credentials. Unlike what the name suggests, it does not mine Bitcoin but is more interested in Monero. Additionally, it only targets X86-64 and ARM hardware-based devices. Yet Another BTCMine Malware Variant People who have kept tabs on the cryptocurrency mining malware scene may recognize the BTCMine name. It is neither the

TheMerkle Linux Mining Malware Monero

It has been a while since we last saw a new malware threat in the form of a cryptocurrency miner. Do not be mistaken in thinking cybercriminals have given up on the idea, though. A new cryptocurrency mining malware referred to as Linux.BTCMine.26 is actively distributed to Linux computers using default Telnet credentials. Unlike what the name suggests, it does not mine Bitcoin but is more interested in Monero. Additionally, it only targets X86-64 and ARM hardware-based devices.

Yet Another BTCMine Malware Variant

People who have kept tabs on the cryptocurrency mining malware scene may recognize the BTCMine name. It is neither the first nor the last time this name will be associated with nefarious tools designed to use other people’s device resources and mine cryptocurrency. With Bitcoin mining becoming extremely unprofitable without the use of specific hardware, there are other currencies which can still be mined with relative ease. One of those currencies is Monero, an altcoin which recently surged in value after weeks of sideways trading action.

The new mining malware was discovered earlier this week. It appears to be mainly targeting Linux servers and computers, which is not entirely unusual. While the Linux operating system has been pretty safe from cybercriminal activity the past few years, things are very different when it comes to cryptocurrency mining malware. Several types have targeted Linux users over the past few months and it looks like things will not be changing anytime soon. Linux.BTCMine.26 searches for Linux devices which use default or blank Telnet credentials to establish a connection.

One would be surprised by how many Linux device users do not take Telnet security seriously. Operators often fail to make changes to the default settings, which is never a good course of action. The malware has a built-in Telnet scanner similar to the one found in the Mirai malware. For now, this scanner will only seek out IPv4 addresses, although IPv6 support may be added in the future. Once it finds a susceptible IP address, it will attempt to log in through a Telnet connection. Assuming this connection is made successfully, the malware will execute commands to download the BTCMine binary in question.

This malware’s source code has many references to Brian Krebs, one of the industry leaders when it comes to infosec. There is a war going on between infosec journalists and cybercriminals, and calling out one another has become somewhat of the norm over the years. The code also reveals that the malware uses the Minergate XMR pool to successfully mine the cryptocurrency using the username “[email protected].” It is doubtful the pool could do anything about this, as the criminals would easily create a new username within seconds.

Sadly, this is yet another example of how cybercriminals are targeting cryptocurrency in one way or another. Some efforts focus on stealing wallets and phishing scams, whereas others just use computer resources to mine currencies such as Monero and ZCash. We will assuredly see other mining malware types emerge over the coming months, not all of which will only be native to the Linux operating system.

Cybercriminals still have a lot of love for cryptocurrencies in general. Monero is a far more anonymous solution compared to Bitcoin. This does not mean Monero is a perfect tool for criminals by any means, even though it is not hard to see why they would prefer to mine it than Bitcoin. It will be interesting to see how this situation evolves in the coming months and years. Until users start taking device security more seriously, malware types such as this one will always be somewhat successful.

Viberate Launches Second Phase of Their Product

Viberate is a project that is wholly disrupting the music industry. Ever since Bitcoin brought cryptocurrencies onto the scene in 2009, many have seen the opportunity for blockchain technology to change almost every aspect of our lives and businesses. The latest popular trend is using ICOs to crowdfund projects to challenge the norms in industries. Viberate is not just another project with an ICO and a whitepaper, they actually have a working product. In fact, they just launched the second stage of their product line. Viberate Launches Stage Two of their Product Earlier this summer, Viberate has launched the first part

Viberate is a project that is wholly disrupting the music industry. Ever since Bitcoin brought cryptocurrencies onto the scene in 2009, many have seen the opportunity for blockchain technology to change almost every aspect of our lives and businesses. The latest popular trend is using ICOs to crowdfund projects to challenge the norms in industries. Viberate is not just another project with an ICO and a whitepaper, they actually have a working product. In fact, they just launched the second stage of their product line.

Viberate Launches Stage Two of their Product

Earlier this summer, Viberate has launched the first part of their product and showed how they could shake up the music industry. They set up a musician database where users, booking agents, and musicians could browse through and add profiles. This also allowed musicians to track and analyze their music careers based on a plethora of data that Viberate provided.

In addition to the huge database of over 120,000 musician profiles, Viberate has just launched their venue and events database. The developers met their deadline of launching this prior to their crowdsale beginning. They have added over 60,000 venues that users can browse through. In addition, they added 50 k venues and over 200k event profiles. Users can also look for events and buy tickets for events in their area. Venues can also claim and make profiles, users can resell tickets on a secondary market, and users can create and promote their own events.

5 Reasons to Contribute to Viberate’s Crowdsale

Firstly, their team is an outstanding group of music industry professionals who have worked together closely for many years. This gives them a shorthand that many investors have noted is dire to the success of their project.

Secondly, the team says they like to solve their own problems. This bleeds into the first reason a bit, but it is important enough to make a distinction. When people have to solve their own problems and deal with their own growing pains, they try that much harder to make it work.

The third reason is that they want to keep their project realistic. They have done this by setting a cap on their crowdsale goal. They need about $6 Million for development purposes and then plan to court another $6 Million for advertising purposes. Too often we see uncapped ICOs with an insatiable appetite for money and no real plan for how to spend it.

Fourthly, they actually exist. I cannot stress enough how refreshing it is to see projects running crowdsales that have working prototypes or full products. Viberate is a working platform right now. That is more than a lot of these ICOs can say about their projects.

Finally, music is a part of being human. It is a market that will never go away, and one that is in need of some invigoration. This is especially true for live music events. People will always go to these to experience the music outside of the the sterility of recorded music.

For those who wish to participate in the crowdsale, it begins on September 5th and information can be found here.

Check out the platform here: https://www.viberate.com

Here is a video explanation of Viberate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG1MvZr3XqA

Viberate / Interview with Founders and Advisors, Including Charlie Shrem

This is not investment or trading advice, always do your own independent research.

Central Bank of Papua New Guinea Adopts Blockchain Technology

Central Bank of Papua New Guinea Adopts Blockchain Technology

The number of countries with banks experimenting with blockchain technology is growing rapidly. The Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG), north of Australia, has joined the movement with its own central Bank of Papua New Guinea running blockchain trials.

Central Bank Governor Loi Bakani, known as a champion of new technologies as a way to enable financial inclusion, recently hosted a conference to showcase his country’s commitment to blockchain technology, with participants from at home and around the world, including Abt Associates, Paycase, Othera, IDbox, Pacific Markets, UCash, Seso and ADCCA.

At the conference, Bakani described the blockchain trials underway at the Bank of PNG and introduced the PNG Digital Commerce and Cryptocurrency Association for the growing number of Papua New Guinea tech entrepreneurs and businesses interested in blockchain technology.

Bakani said, “This will allow PNG to join the Global Blockchain Forum, which gets PNG a cutting edge in discussions about Blockchain at a global level, along with Australia, Canada, U.S.A., Dubai, UK and Japan. There is no reason why PNG can’t be a leader for emerging markets.”

There are already central banks experimenting with blockchain technology around the world, including Bank of America, HSBC, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Bank of England, People’s Bank of China, Bank of Canada, the National Bank of Cambodia, and the Central Bank of India.

Elizabeth Genia, Assistant Governor of the central Bank of PNG said, “It is the new innovations that can change people’s lives — almost 85 percent of our people live outside the banking system.”

According to Abt Associates’ Jane Thomason, who helped manage the conference, 85 percent of PNG has little or no access to banking services and accounts, and the island is among the most expensive remittance corridors in the world, with nearly 10 percent of all funds transferred going to fees alone.

Thomason told the conference that blockchain-based technologies offer developing nations a way to leapfrog conventional technological advancements, similar to the adoption of cell phones in much of the world.

She noted, “In 30 years working in PNG, I have never had so much optimism that we are working with something that really will change the lives of poor Papua New Guineans.”

PNG’s IT Minister Francis Maneke told the conference, “Papua New Guinea is an ideal proving ground for these applications. In fact, there is a possibility that we will leapfrog many developed nations in our use of this sort of smart technology, giving us a competitive edge as early adopters.”

Conference speaker and Paycase CEO Joseph Weinberg told Bitcoin Magazine that the conference looked at ways that blockchain technology could be used in all sectors of PNG’s economy.

“The conference included the creation of frameworks, roadmaps and deployment strategies. In order to make anything of this magnitude work, you need proper planning between the government, regulators, commercial partners and the Central Bank. Corporations in particular need to be engaged as they will enable much of the infrastructure needed to make it happen. This is where PNG is headed.”

Bakani also expressed the hope that blockchain technologies could be deployed in many sectors of PNG’s economy.

“When looking at large-scale deployments of this magnitude,” said Bakani, “we truly value our international panelists and partners and look forward to further discussions as the Bank establishes the next stages of its blockchain implementation.

“The government, along with the necessary stakeholders here in PNG not only recognize the challenges they face, but now see the clear opportunities that blockchain-based systems can enable for their country and people.”

In closing the conference, Maneke said, “We in the O’Neill government are determined to bridge the digital divide to ensure our people can participate in the global economy, and not be excluded from it.”

Funding for the conference was provided by the Australian Government and was managed by Abt Associates.

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The post Central Bank of Papua New Guinea Adopts Blockchain Technology appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Central Bank of Papua New Guinea Adopts Blockchain Technology

The number of countries with banks experimenting with blockchain technology is growing rapidly. The Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG), north of Australia, has joined the movement with its own central Bank of Papua New Guinea running blockchain trials.

Central Bank Governor Loi Bakani, known as a champion of new technologies as a way to enable financial inclusion, recently hosted a conference to showcase his country’s commitment to blockchain technology, with participants from at home and around the world, including Abt Associates, Paycase, Othera, IDbox, Pacific Markets, UCash, Seso and ADCCA.

At the conference, Bakani described the blockchain trials underway at the Bank of PNG and introduced the PNG Digital Commerce and Cryptocurrency Association for the growing number of Papua New Guinea tech entrepreneurs and businesses interested in blockchain technology.

Bakani said, “This will allow PNG to join the Global Blockchain Forum, which gets PNG a cutting edge in discussions about Blockchain at a global level, along with Australia, Canada, U.S.A., Dubai, UK and Japan. There is no reason why PNG can’t be a leader for emerging markets.”

There are already central banks experimenting with blockchain technology around the world, including Bank of America, HSBC, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Bank of England, People’s Bank of China, Bank of Canada, the National Bank of Cambodia, and the Central Bank of India.

Elizabeth Genia, Assistant Governor of the central Bank of PNG said, “It is the new innovations that can change people’s lives — almost 85 percent of our people live outside the banking system.”

According to Abt Associates’ Jane Thomason, who helped manage the conference, 85 percent of PNG has little or no access to banking services and accounts, and the island is among the most expensive remittance corridors in the world, with nearly 10 percent of all funds transferred going to fees alone.

Thomason told the conference that blockchain-based technologies offer developing nations a way to leapfrog conventional technological advancements, similar to the adoption of cell phones in much of the world.

She noted, “In 30 years working in PNG, I have never had so much optimism that we are working with something that really will change the lives of poor Papua New Guineans.”

PNG’s IT Minister Francis Maneke told the conference, “Papua New Guinea is an ideal proving ground for these applications. In fact, there is a possibility that we will leapfrog many developed nations in our use of this sort of smart technology, giving us a competitive edge as early adopters.”

Conference speaker and Paycase CEO Joseph Weinberg told Bitcoin Magazine that the conference looked at ways that blockchain technology could be used in all sectors of PNG’s economy.

“The conference included the creation of frameworks, roadmaps and deployment strategies. In order to make anything of this magnitude work, you need proper planning between the government, regulators, commercial partners and the Central Bank. Corporations in particular need to be engaged as they will enable much of the infrastructure needed to make it happen. This is where PNG is headed.”

Bakani also expressed the hope that blockchain technologies could be deployed in many sectors of PNG’s economy.

“When looking at large-scale deployments of this magnitude,” said Bakani, “we truly value our international panelists and partners and look forward to further discussions as the Bank establishes the next stages of its blockchain implementation.

“The government, along with the necessary stakeholders here in PNG not only recognize the challenges they face, but now see the clear opportunities that blockchain-based systems can enable for their country and people.”

In closing the conference, Maneke said, “We in the O’Neill government are determined to bridge the digital divide to ensure our people can participate in the global economy, and not be excluded from it.”

Funding for the conference was provided by the Australian Government and was managed by Abt Associates.

\

The post Central Bank of Papua New Guinea Adopts Blockchain Technology appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

NEO’s GAS vs Ethereum’s Gas

TheMerkle NEO GAS Ethereum GasIt appears there is a fair bit of confusion regarding both Ethereum and NEO right now. People know the Ethereum network requires gas to complete transactions. This gas is similar to mining fees in the Bitcoin world. However, the NEO ecosystem – which aims to rival Ethereum – has its own native asset called GAS. It was formerly known as Antcoin, but the rebrand to GAS is not necessarily the greatest idea. Let’s take a look at what makes NEO’s GAS so appealing. GAS and gas are not the Same Thing Back when NEO was still known as Antshares, the

TheMerkle NEO GAS Ethereum Gas

It appears there is a fair bit of confusion regarding both Ethereum and NEO right now. People know the Ethereum network requires gas to complete transactions. This gas is similar to mining fees in the Bitcoin world. However, the NEO ecosystem – which aims to rival Ethereum – has its own native asset called GAS. It was formerly known as Antcoin, but the rebrand to GAS is not necessarily the greatest idea. Let’s take a look at what makes NEO’s GAS so appealing.

GAS and gas are not the Same Thing

Back when NEO was still known as Antshares, the project made slightly more sense for novice users. On the one hand, there are the Antshares themselves, which allowed holders to collect Antcoin or ANC. The value of this ANC was expected to increase as the AntShares platform becomes more popular. It is also used to collect transaction fees through both ANC and fiat currency. Having ANC gives users voting rights to change the fees in the future, if ever necessary. It is a way to introduce charges for “extra services” rendered by ANS holders.

Having two built-in assets on Antshares is quite significant, but it was one of the main reasons so many people start paying attention to this project in the first places. Every Antshare is a representation of ownership and are used for future elections, bookkeeping, and generating AntCoins as dividends for holders. The Antcoins themselves are considered to be the value required to use the Antshares blockchain and paying systemic fees. A systemic fee is paid every time someone wants to write data into the blockchain, including transaction. It still makes sense, and the distinction between the two assets is easy enough for people to understand.

The Antshares blockchain provides some extra features. These features have to be paid in Antcoin, which means users can enhance AntShares-related actions by sacrificing some of their freely received ANC assets. There is no limit as to how high this extra service can be in value or what it can be used for. All Antshares holders control the blockchain and how it is being used. This is an intriguing concept that is certainly different from anything else we have seen to date.

So far, everything is perfectly clear, but things get a bit hairy when AntShares decided to rebrand to NEO. All of the coins known as AntShares – or ANS – are now known as NEO. However, the Antcoins created in the past are also rebranded to GAS. It is not hard to see why would work confusing, although it is also a  brilliant marketing strategy. The Ethereum network uses gas for transactions, but NEO has its own GAS asset which has a separate value from the main native currency.

Ethereum, on the other hand, uses gas as a transaction fee, which is still denominated in Ether. One could argue people spend ETH to transact in Ether, which is similar to how Bitcoin works. With NEO, however, one uses the GAS asset to complete NEO transactions. Capitalization of the asset is of the utmost importance in this regard, although it will still make things pretty complicated for a lot of people. Especially those who have never shown an interest in cryptocurrency before NEO launched will have some homework to do to keep up.

While most people keep an eye on the NEO price, the value of GAS is almost as high as NEO’s right now. There is only 8.240.123 GAS in circulation on the network, each of which has a price tag of $23.29. NEO itself is valued at $36.76 per token, with a supply of 50 million. It is a very intriguing project which has a lot more value attached to it than most people realize. It is of the utmost importance to distinguish between Ethereum’s gas and NEO’s GAS. They are completely different things.

How the Blockstream Satellite Will Drive Bitcoin Adoption: An Interview with Adam Back and Chris Cook

How the Blockstream Satellite Will Drive Bitcoin Adoption: An Interview With Adam Back and Chris Cook

Last week Bitcoin Magazine covered the announcement of Blockstream Satellite, a new service that broadcasts real-time Bitcoin blockchain data from satellites in space to almost everyone on the planet. Currently Blockstream Satellite covers across two-thirds of the Earth, and service expansions are in the works.

“Today’s launch of Blockstream Satellite gives even more people on the planet the choice to participate in Bitcoin,” said Blockstream co-founder and CEO Adam Back, when the announcement was made. “With more users accessing the Bitcoin blockchain with the free broadcast from Blockstream Satellite, we expect the global reach to drive more adoption and use cases for Bitcoin, while strengthening the overall robustness of the network.”

The idea of streaming the Bitcoin blockchain to the whole planet from satellites in space had previously been proposed by Jeff Garzik, but Blockstream’s implementation introduces some interesting tweaks: It relies on existing commercial satellites already in orbit and leverages open-source software, namely GNU Radio and FIBRE, to reduce costs.

The announcement of the Blockstream Satellite has been received with considerable interest from both the blockchain and space communities, but also with doubts and lingering questions. Bitcoin Magazine reached out to Adam Back and Chris Cook, Head of Satellite at Blockstream, to find out more.

You are essentially using existing commercial satellites as relays. Why is this approach better than building, launching and operating your own satellites, now that cubesats and cheaper cubesat launch systems permit doing so cost effectively?

Chris Cook: While there have been many recent reductions in the cost of cubesats and other low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, it is still a considerably more expensive venture than using existing satellites. As cubesats are not geosynchronous, they are always moving overhead. This means that you need many of them for complete global coverage.

Additionally, many cubesats have a lifetime of only a few months before they fall out of orbit. Either you need to continuously replenish them or you have to boost them into higher orbit, both of which increase costs.

Finally, we have not entirely dismissed the idea of launching our own satellites. However, deploying a global satellite network with existing satellites seemed like a good first step. It allows us to deliver this service to people throughout the world quickly and cost effectively.

What could you do with dedicated custom satellites that you can’t do with the current system?

Chris Cook: A dedicated satellite would potentially enable us to operate a node on a satellite itself rather than [have it be] supported from a ground station.  

What if political pressures force your commercial satellite service providers to cancel your contracts?

Adam Back: Because Bitcoin is already widely used and made available via other means in many countries around the world, the threat of the satellite broadcast of Bitcoin being canceled is not likely. The satellite network is providing redundant, low-cost availability for data that is already publicly available and downloadable by anyone over the internet. There are multiple satellites from different providers in the Blockstream Satellite network.

Related to that, does Blockstream Satellite (or a conceivable extension) permit improving on the privacy and anonymity of bitcoin transactions?

Adam Back: Blockstream Satellite allows passive receipt so there is basically no footprint of internet traffic allowing your ISP or monitoring companies analyzing the Bitcoin network to track your node. This may make it attractive even for users with fast home internet to use Blockstream Satellite, where they can then connect and pin their wallet to their home node via Tor.

For geographies where high-speed internet is expensive or not available, they can connect smartphone wallets over WiFi or meshnet to satellite nodes, and broadcast transactions via SMS gateways such as SMSPushTX, by Pavol Rusnak, or bi-directional Ku or L-band internet services (available commercially and unrelated to Blockstream Satellite) which can be expensive, but even the most expensive at $10/MB works out to less than one US penny per transaction, as Bitcoin transactions are small.

So, I have set up my Blockstream Satellite receiving station. I am not connected to the internet. How do I send a bitcoin payment?

Adam Back: See above via SMS, or often people do have 2.5G or 3G data but at expensive data rates. Because Bitcoin transactions are small, the cost of sending a transaction is small, even if receiving the blockchain would be expensive.

For shared equipment, perhaps for a village or business area, a bi-directional satellite internet is also cost-effective, again because of small Bitcoin transactions. L-band BGAN is mobile, and Ku band [Hughes receivers] are fixed satellite dishes.

Your FAQ says that transactions can be sent using other communication channels such as SMS. Do you operate your own SMS relays for bitcoin transactions or do you recommend using external services? If so, which ones?

Adam Back: We do not at this time operate an SMS gateway but Pavol does (see above). We are working with and encouraging Bitcoin enthusiasts and entrepreneurs to build out custom infrastructure configurations and share setup tips online.

What are some of the innovative “killer apps” that you hope Blockstream Satellite could enable?

Adam Back: We see the Blockstream Satellite service as one stepping stone to decentralizing Bitcoin by radically reducing node cost and therefore scaling the ability for people to run nodes.

The Blockstream Satellite provides many advantages for different kinds of network configurations:

  • No internet or expensive internet: Connect a smart phone wallet to a satellite node via WiFi or meshnet;

  • Partition protection: Use a satellite as a cheaper source of blocks, and cross check with other peers. In the event of an internet partition, the satellite will automatically bridge the network outage;

  • Privacy: Use Blockstream Satellite to receive the Bitcoin blockchain with zero or low network footprint. You can verify the satellite data via other peers, and in low bandwidth conditions, with as little data as an 80 byte SMS with the most recent blockheader;

  • Financial sovereignty and security: Blockstream Satellite reduces the cost of running a full node to nearly zero. By running a full node and connecting your smartphone wallet and other wallets to it, you no longer need to trust third parties: As the saying goes, “Don’t Trust. Verify!”

  • Decentralization: One of the most interesting properties of Bitcoin is that it is a permissionless and digital gold-like bearer asset. To ensure Bitcoin stays permissionless, it is important that many people across many countries, [including] individuals and small businesses, run full nodes. By radically reducing the cost of running a full node, we hope many more people will, guaranteeing Bitcoin’s permissionlessness and reinforcing its bearer status.

In terms of innovative applications, we intend to provide a developer API to send application data via the satellite paid in mBTC/KByte so that the developer community, startups and local entrepreneurs can bring new applications to market.

We launched phase 1 satellite coverage across two-thirds of the world’s landmass, and we have plans for worldwide coverage by the end of the year. [As] Blockstream Satellite provides complete Bitcoin coverage globally, it becomes possible to access Bitcoin from a village without high speed internet and without grid power. Or with the right equipment, you could even access Bitcoin on the move from an RV or boat with motorized dishes.

The post How the Blockstream Satellite Will Drive Bitcoin Adoption: An Interview with Adam Back and Chris Cook appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

How the Blockstream Satellite Will Drive Bitcoin Adoption: An Interview With Adam Back and Chris Cook

Last week Bitcoin Magazine covered the announcement of Blockstream Satellite, a new service that broadcasts real-time Bitcoin blockchain data from satellites in space to almost everyone on the planet. Currently Blockstream Satellite covers across two-thirds of the Earth, and service expansions are in the works.

“Today’s launch of Blockstream Satellite gives even more people on the planet the choice to participate in Bitcoin,” said Blockstream co-founder and CEO Adam Back, when the announcement was made. “With more users accessing the Bitcoin blockchain with the free broadcast from Blockstream Satellite, we expect the global reach to drive more adoption and use cases for Bitcoin, while strengthening the overall robustness of the network.”

The idea of streaming the Bitcoin blockchain to the whole planet from satellites in space had previously been proposed by Jeff Garzik, but Blockstream’s implementation introduces some interesting tweaks: It relies on existing commercial satellites already in orbit and leverages open-source software, namely GNU Radio and FIBRE, to reduce costs.

The announcement of the Blockstream Satellite has been received with considerable interest from both the blockchain and space communities, but also with doubts and lingering questions. Bitcoin Magazine reached out to Adam Back and Chris Cook, Head of Satellite at Blockstream, to find out more.

You are essentially using existing commercial satellites as relays. Why is this approach better than building, launching and operating your own satellites, now that cubesats and cheaper cubesat launch systems permit doing so cost effectively?

Chris Cook: While there have been many recent reductions in the cost of cubesats and other low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, it is still a considerably more expensive venture than using existing satellites. As cubesats are not geosynchronous, they are always moving overhead. This means that you need many of them for complete global coverage.

Additionally, many cubesats have a lifetime of only a few months before they fall out of orbit. Either you need to continuously replenish them or you have to boost them into higher orbit, both of which increase costs.

Finally, we have not entirely dismissed the idea of launching our own satellites. However, deploying a global satellite network with existing satellites seemed like a good first step. It allows us to deliver this service to people throughout the world quickly and cost effectively.

What could you do with dedicated custom satellites that you can’t do with the current system?

Chris Cook: A dedicated satellite would potentially enable us to operate a node on a satellite itself rather than [have it be] supported from a ground station.  

What if political pressures force your commercial satellite service providers to cancel your contracts?

Adam Back: Because Bitcoin is already widely used and made available via other means in many countries around the world, the threat of the satellite broadcast of Bitcoin being canceled is not likely. The satellite network is providing redundant, low-cost availability for data that is already publicly available and downloadable by anyone over the internet. There are multiple satellites from different providers in the Blockstream Satellite network.

Related to that, does Blockstream Satellite (or a conceivable extension) permit improving on the privacy and anonymity of bitcoin transactions?

Adam Back: Blockstream Satellite allows passive receipt so there is basically no footprint of internet traffic allowing your ISP or monitoring companies analyzing the Bitcoin network to track your node. This may make it attractive even for users with fast home internet to use Blockstream Satellite, where they can then connect and pin their wallet to their home node via Tor.

For geographies where high-speed internet is expensive or not available, they can connect smartphone wallets over WiFi or meshnet to satellite nodes, and broadcast transactions via SMS gateways such as SMSPushTX, by Pavol Rusnak, or bi-directional Ku or L-band internet services (available commercially and unrelated to Blockstream Satellite) which can be expensive, but even the most expensive at $10/MB works out to less than one US penny per transaction, as Bitcoin transactions are small.

So, I have set up my Blockstream Satellite receiving station. I am not connected to the internet. How do I send a bitcoin payment?

Adam Back: See above via SMS, or often people do have 2.5G or 3G data but at expensive data rates. Because Bitcoin transactions are small, the cost of sending a transaction is small, even if receiving the blockchain would be expensive.

For shared equipment, perhaps for a village or business area, a bi-directional satellite internet is also cost-effective, again because of small Bitcoin transactions. L-band BGAN is mobile, and Ku band [Hughes receivers] are fixed satellite dishes.

Your FAQ says that transactions can be sent using other communication channels such as SMS. Do you operate your own SMS relays for bitcoin transactions or do you recommend using external services? If so, which ones?

Adam Back: We do not at this time operate an SMS gateway but Pavol does (see above). We are working with and encouraging Bitcoin enthusiasts and entrepreneurs to build out custom infrastructure configurations and share setup tips online.

What are some of the innovative “killer apps” that you hope Blockstream Satellite could enable?

Adam Back: We see the Blockstream Satellite service as one stepping stone to decentralizing Bitcoin by radically reducing node cost and therefore scaling the ability for people to run nodes.

The Blockstream Satellite provides many advantages for different kinds of network configurations:

  • No internet or expensive internet: Connect a smart phone wallet to a satellite node via WiFi or meshnet;

  • Partition protection: Use a satellite as a cheaper source of blocks, and cross check with other peers. In the event of an internet partition, the satellite will automatically bridge the network outage;

  • Privacy: Use Blockstream Satellite to receive the Bitcoin blockchain with zero or low network footprint. You can verify the satellite data via other peers, and in low bandwidth conditions, with as little data as an 80 byte SMS with the most recent blockheader;

  • Financial sovereignty and security: Blockstream Satellite reduces the cost of running a full node to nearly zero. By running a full node and connecting your smartphone wallet and other wallets to it, you no longer need to trust third parties: As the saying goes, “Don’t Trust. Verify!”

  • Decentralization: One of the most interesting properties of Bitcoin is that it is a permissionless and digital gold-like bearer asset. To ensure Bitcoin stays permissionless, it is important that many people across many countries, [including] individuals and small businesses, run full nodes. By radically reducing the cost of running a full node, we hope many more people will, guaranteeing Bitcoin’s permissionlessness and reinforcing its bearer status.

In terms of innovative applications, we intend to provide a developer API to send application data via the satellite paid in mBTC/KByte so that the developer community, startups and local entrepreneurs can bring new applications to market.

We launched phase 1 satellite coverage across two-thirds of the world’s landmass, and we have plans for worldwide coverage by the end of the year. [As] Blockstream Satellite provides complete Bitcoin coverage globally, it becomes possible to access Bitcoin from a village without high speed internet and without grid power. Or with the right equipment, you could even access Bitcoin on the move from an RV or boat with motorized dishes.

The post How the Blockstream Satellite Will Drive Bitcoin Adoption: An Interview with Adam Back and Chris Cook appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin Price Watch; Riding The Upside Wave

The European session is coming to a close and it’s time to take the second of our twice-daily looks at what’s happening on the narrow timeframe charts in the bitcoin price. Action throughout the session today fell pretty much in line with our expectations as outlined in this morning’s coverage. Specifically, we noted that we … Continue reading Bitcoin Price Watch; Riding The Upside Wave

The post Bitcoin Price Watch; Riding The Upside Wave appeared first on NEWSBTC.

The European session is coming to a close and it’s time to take the second of our twice-daily looks at what’s happening on the narrow timeframe charts in the bitcoin price. Action throughout the session today fell pretty much in line with our expectations as outlined in this morning’s coverage. Specifically, we noted that we … Continue reading Bitcoin Price Watch; Riding The Upside Wave

The post Bitcoin Price Watch; Riding The Upside Wave appeared first on NEWSBTC.

We just might be in a bitcoin bubble when… – MarketWatch


MarketWatch

We just might be in a bitcoin bubble when…
MarketWatch
These kinds of stories tend to surface during nosebleed rallies like the one we’re seeing in bitcoin. At last check, the digital currency was up 2.3% to $4,287.64, advancing for a third straight day. Despite taking some hits recently, bitcoin BTCUSD …

MarketWatch
We just might be in a bitcoin bubble when...
MarketWatch
These kinds of stories tend to surface during nosebleed rallies like the one we're seeing in bitcoin. At last check, the digital currency was up 2.3% to $4,287.64, advancing for a third straight day. Despite taking some hits recently, bitcoin BTCUSD ...

Canadian Regulators: ‘Many’ ICO Tokens Meet Securities Definition

Securities regulators in Canada have released a wide-ranging statement on initial coin offerings or ICOs. The staff notice on “Cryptocurrency Offerings” from the Canada Securities Administrators (CSA) – an umbrella group composed of the country’s regional and local securities watchdogs – provides the clearest indication yet as to how regulatory bodies plan to oversee the emerging funding […]

Securities regulators in Canada have released a wide-ranging statement on initial coin offerings or ICOs. The staff notice on “Cryptocurrency Offerings” from the Canada Securities Administrators (CSA) – an umbrella group composed of the country’s regional and local securities watchdogs – provides the clearest indication yet as to how regulatory bodies plan to oversee the emerging funding […]

Ethereum’s Metropolis Hard Fork Will Activate at the End of September

TheMerkle Ethereum Metropolis Hard ForkIt looks like we have some important updates regarding the Ethereum Metropolis hard fork. It was previously unclear when this upgrade would go into effect, but a tentative date has now been provided by the developers. According to the information we received, Metropolis will go into effect at the end of next month and will introduce some interesting changes. The strong focus on anonymity will certainly make things interesting. Other changes detailed below should be taken into account as well. Metropolis is Coming to the Ethereum Blockchain Ethereum users have looked forward to the Metropolis hard fork for some time now. This hard

TheMerkle Ethereum Metropolis Hard Fork

It looks like we have some important updates regarding the Ethereum Metropolis hard fork. It was previously unclear when this upgrade would go into effect, but a tentative date has now been provided by the developers. According to the information we received, Metropolis will go into effect at the end of next month and will introduce some interesting changes. The strong focus on anonymity will certainly make things interesting. Other changes detailed below should be taken into account as well.

Metropolis is Coming to the Ethereum Blockchain

Ethereum users have looked forward to the Metropolis hard fork for some time now. This hard fork was announced several months ago, but there was never an official release date. Coding these changes could very well have resulted in issues which needed to be worked out, further pushing back an official timeline. The proposed changes made to Ethereum are quite thorough and embody the result of weeks of hard work on the part of various coders. One could argue Ethereum will never be the same after the Metropolis hard fork, which does not have to be a bad thing.

The most major change coming to Ethereum is the implementation of zk-SNARKS. For anyone who has kept tabs on privacy and anonymity features in the cryptographic industry, zk-SNARKS will sound pretty familiar. The technology has been employed by various alternative currencies in the past, although it does not provide anonymity all by itself. Instead, zk-SNARKS will be incorporated in the Metropolis hard fork, which will not make Ethereum an anonymous currency right away. Though it will pave the way for anonymous transactions in the future, it remains unclear when this will occur exactly.

Coders and developers will be pleased to hear some big changes are coming to the coding structure as well. Programming with Ethereum and its smart contract technology should become a lot easier come September. That is a big development which will undoubtedly lead to the creation of more Dapps in the future. It is also a welcome change, considering that a lot of people seemingly struggle with the Solidity coding language. Competition in the smart contract industry will be heating up as well.

Another big change a lot of people will enjoy is the change in gas calculation. Users currently have to set gas limits themselves. Some current wallets also overcharge users for network fees unless individuals change the value themselves. All of that will now change, as gas costs will be adjusted automatically at the time of transactions. As a result, we should see lower transaction fees whenever the Ethereum network is not congested. We can only hope wallet providers will implement these changes as well, as there is no reason to let users pay too much for transactions.

We also recently reported on the Ethereum mining difficulty bomb and how a delay could be in order. The release of Metropolis in a few weeks’ time seemingly confirms that the difficulty bomb has been pushed back by another few months. This matter will be resolved through a future hard fork for which there is no effective release date just yet. This is great news for miners who only recently invested in GPUs to mine Ethereum and other currencies. Switching over to proof-of-stake will not happen overnight, but it is still on the agenda.

All things considered, big things are bound to happen for Ethereum. Whether or not the markets will respond positively to these changes remains to be determined. There are plenty of reasons to be excited about the upcoming hard fork, though the market may not respond in kind. Only time will tell how things evolve for Ethereum, but the upcoming changes promise to introduce some big improvements overall. An exciting future lies ahead for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency.