Day: September 3, 2017

Due to the issues related copyright infringements and censorship that it has to solve in the upcoming years, the Internet might need Blockchain more than any other industry.

Not too long ago, we touched upon the concept of Ethfinex, an exchange platform which is scheduled to launch soon. It turns out there is a lot more to this platform than most people would assume. A platform designed specifically for the Ethereum community needs to be pretty versatile. With the roadmap finally unveiled, things are getting quite interesting. Below are some of the upcoming developments which caught our attention.

3. Hybrid Decentralized Exchange

This particular business model is not something one will find anytime soon in other Ethereum-oriented exchanges. The Hybrid Decentralized Exchange Model will be a game changer when it comes to the future of decentralized exchanges as a whole. With new exchange protocols maturing, capitalizing on the momentum becomes the name of the game. Ethfinex wants to be a place for experimentation and innovation.

The project will focus on the distribution of APIs and open source smart contract tools. The latter aspect is especially intriguing, considering how accessing smart contracts has been a big challenge for most developers. This will also allow integrating and interfacing with other projects and exchange protocols moving forward. For now, planned integration includes Melonport, 0x, Blocknet, and a few others.

2. Grenache

The Ethfinex platform will combine some tools from Bitfinex with some new technological developments. One of those developments is known as Grenache, which serves as a micro service architecture. It is a high-performance micro service framework, focused on decentralization and optimized for large-scale performance. The goal is to build a network between peers allowing all users to send RPC commands to one another. This intriguing approach could play out quite well.

According to the Grenache GitHub page, this particular framework should be capable of indefinite scalability. That is a pretty bold claim, although the launch of Ethfinex will show us whether or not this is actually feasible. Grenache will also play a role in the community-driven platform for research, discussion, and the crowdsourcing of information provided by Ethfinex. It will be very interesting to see how this particular venture plays out.

1. Ethfinex Nectar Token

Ethfinex will create its own custom token and distribute it to platform users accordingly. The Ethfinex Nectar Token will initially be owned by the exchange itself, but will serve as a reward in the long run. Distribution of this token will depend heavily on how the issuance and governance mechanisms evolve over time. It is unclear how much value will be attributed to ENT at the initial stage, considering that they will be created out of thin air.

There is also no indication as to whether these tokens will yield any dividends on other financial value over time. This is not an IOU such as the token issued after Bitfinex got hacked. We are looking forward to finding out more about the Ethfinex Nectar Token in the near future, as there is a lot of information that needs to be filled in. It still sounds pretty exciting, as multiple exchanges have issued their own native tokens as of late.

Bitcoin Core developer, Alex Morcos has been working for years to make sure bitcoin transaction fee estimation tools are smarter.

One of the most exciting things about the blockchain is its ability to irrevocably change how we do business. However, there is also a sort of stigma surrounding the blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Many people see the rise of cryptocurrencies as a sort of cash grab, void of human empathy and emotion. The truth is that most business is viewed this way. However, Grace Token is challenging that stigma. The organization feels people can do well for themselves by doing social good.

Empowering the Nonprofit Sector

Grace Token is aiming to change the way we think about donations to charity with its platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. Donating to charity is something that many of us are familiar with, and there are many charities worldwide which receive massive amounts of donations to help the needy. Grace Token wants to provide incentives to individuals for promoting charities, benefiting both the charity and the individual. After all, there is no reason not to personally benefit from doing a job, even if it is for a charity.

The way that Grace Token plans to do this is by having a certain percentage of a donation go to an advocate for the charity itself. These advocates could be influential people with large followings, professional promoters, or just supporters of the project. The more networks the campaign touches, the more money the charity will receive, and the more money will go to advocates as well. There are some great advantages to decentralizing a campaign in this way. It keeps marketing and overhead costs lower, while also raising greater awareness and having donations be immutable on the blockchain.

How Does It Work?

There are quite a few differences between traditional donations and Grace Token’s method of fundraising. While conventional donations are often a one-and-done type situation, donations made using Grace Token can – with the donor’s consent – give a small portion of the donation to advocates who will further solicit future donations. The fact that Grace Token uses smart contracts to make sure that funds are going to the correct people for the right reasons means that donors do not have to worry about their funds ending up in the wrong hands or being wasted if the project fails. Even if donors do get worried, their donations’ immutable status on the blockchain means that they are able to audit the status of their donation.

Essentially, charities can incur zero to minimal upfront costs and risks with Grace Token’s Advocate Incentive Mechanism. This means they can save the resources they do have for areas in greater need than their marketing. Advocates are able to donate their time – if they are unable to donate money – to a cause and receive compensation for it, while supporting their charity. Since it resides on the blockchain, donors can rest peacefully knowing that their gift ended up in the right hands. It seems to be a great idea in which all parties benefit.

Grace Token’s Presale

Currently, individuals interested in the project and wishing to back it are able to purchase the GRCE token. Individuals who participate during the pre-sale will also receive an extra 20% in GRCE. The supply will be fixed at 120,000,000 GRCE.

Check out the Grace Token website here: https://www.gracetoken.org/

Here is their Whitepaper.

This is a sponsored post and does not necessarily reflect the views of any The Merkle employees, nor is it investing or trading advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

Hong Kong is one of those regions which remains pretty quiet on the cryptocurrency front. Although there is some interest in Bitcoin, no radical decisions are made by the government so far. It seems local officials are somewhat content to ignore this trend for the time being. Instead, they are looking forward to embracing blockchain … Continue reading Hong Kong Regulators Need to Focus on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency

The post Hong Kong Regulators Need to Focus on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Most people look at robots as an invasive form of technology. After all, surely they are out to take our jobs sooner or later and will only cause more problems as time moves along. MIT has come up with a new robot that politely nudges crowds when necessary to move along. That is quite an unusual form of technology, although it also makes a lot of sense. Especially when robots are used as tour guides or delivery vehicles, a little politeness can go a very long way.

A Polite Pedestrian Robot

The use cases for robotics are virtually limitless. The automation of particular tasks and jobs will make the world look very different a few years from now. Surprisingly enough, tour guides and delivery robots will become a lot more common than one may think. When that happens, however, a bit of politeness and courtesy will go a long way.

The image most people have in their heads when it comes to robotics is one of lifeless machines. Additionally, they are pretty crude and even rude at times. MIT is showing the future does not have to be so black-and-white. In fact, a new robot developed at the institute is designed in such a way that it can navigate crowds in a polite manner. This will be extremely useful when navigating through busy pedestrian environments.

This droid knows the social norms of pedestrians’ movements. It can pass pedestrians on their left or right side, or take one side of a corridor. It seems this project has been in development for quite some time, as it had to be trained to adhere to cultural differences. All of this is achieved thanks to multiple cameras and laser sensors attached to the top of the robot.

Being able to recognize humans and stay out of their way is the best approach for pedestrian robots right now. Even though they should not fear humans generally speaking, there will always be individuals who will try to make fun of the droids or poke them to test their reactions. Socially aware navigation is one area of research which deserves further exploration. Frequent interactions with pedestrians will eventually become the norm for delivery robots and similar robot-like services.

The MIT team mainly wanted to build a navigation algorithm capable of prioritizing humans. Navigating obstacles is one thing, but navigating among moving humans is something else entirely. It requires the robot to adapt to ever-changing conditions on the sidewalk and avoid foot traffic. Leaving a wide berth when passing someone is natural to humans, but it isn’t as straightforward for robots. It will be interesting to see how this technology can navigate during rush hour, for instance.

To work, this robot uses some form of machine learning. That is not the traditional solution, as reinforcement learning works rather differently. Systems are trained through trial and error as well as interaction with their environment. As such, it makes a lot of sense to be used for this particular purpose. The next goal is to improve on the robot’s capability to handle busier crowds in urban environments. Still, this is a major development which deserves more recognition.

Google has analyzed cryptocurrency-related search queries of Russian residents for the first half of this year. Searches for bitcoin, ethereum, cryptocurrency, as well as cryptocurrency mining, have all increased substantially. Google has also pinpointed the regions in Russia with the most search growth.

Also read: Moscow Stock Exchange Prepares to Trade Cryptocurrency

Google’s Analysis

Google has performed an analysis on search queries of Russian residents for the first half of 2017 for information related to cryptocurrency, according to local publications. The company revealed its findings on Thursday, stating that:

Despite the fact that the first cryptocurrency was launched in 2009, the greatest surge of interest of Russian users to this industry came in the first half of 2017. Just imagine, from January to June the number of requests for the industry as a whole increased by more than 250%.

Google revealed that the highest growth recorded in searches was Ethereum-related, which increased more than 760%. Bitcoin-related searches were up more than 220%.

In addition, users also searched for cryptocurrency mining information more frequently, resulting in the total number of mining-related searches increasing by 560%. “Cryptocurrencies and mining also fell into the top 100 queries with the words ‘how’ and ‘what is’,” Rusbase detailed, adding that the number of requests for specific cryptocurrencies also increased by the same percentage.

Furthermore, Google noted that in the first six months of the year, the number of requests for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) “significantly increased,” but did not name specific figures.

Highest Growth Regions

“There is an opinion that the trends are spreading from the center of Russia to the regions, but not in this case,” Vestifinance quoted Google, adding that:

The biggest increase in interest in the industry was seen in the Khabarovsk Territory (+ 309% of requests). At the same time, the increase in the number of requests for individual cryptocurrencies – Ethereum (+ 1114%) and Bitcoin (+ 317%) – also turned out to be above the national average in this region.

Meanwhile, Kaliningrad residents were entering mining-related search requests over 674% more in the first half of 2017, the news outlet detailed.

Last week, the head of Kaliningrad Region Development Corporation, Vladimir Zarudny, talked about attracting cryptocurrency mining operations to Kaliningrad. He believes that by 2018 cryptocurrency will be legal in Russia, and its production will become a new type of business, according to a post on the corporation’s website.

In February, Klops.ru reported that Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneurs’ Rights Boris Titov suggested that Kaliningrad should be chosen as the pilot site for bitcoin to be used as a currency. “For example, you can pay for gasoline with bitcoins,” the publication quoted him saying.

What do you think of Google’s findings? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Google Says Russia’s Interest in Bitcoin up 220%, Mining 560%, Ethereum 760% appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts will have noticed all of the markets are struggling as we speak. That is not surprising, as the bearish Bitcoin price momentum drags all other currencies down in value as well. Right now, there are only two currencies in the top 10 by market cap who note no losses over the past 24 hours. Both NEM and IOTA note such small gains it’s not even worth paying attention to. After all, these gains can be wiped out in mere seconds if needed.

More Bitcoin Price Declines on the Horizon?

It is evident the Bitcoin price is not evolving in the direction most people would like at this time. With a 2.12% loss over the past 24 hours, things aren’t looking all that great. It is certainly possible we will see some gains in the next few days, though, but for today, it appears very little will happen. Moreover, if something were to happen, it will probably result in even more Bitcoin price losses moving forward, which is the last thing most people would hope to see at this stage.

As is usually the case where Bitcoin price movement is concerned, no one has any idea why the value is going down right now. There was no real reason for the recent Bitcoin price increase either, though. People who rely on technical analysis will have reasons as to why these things are happening at these specific times, but one has to keep in mind TA only works if enough people can be convincing things need to evolve in said direction. Patterns don’t occur out the blue, but they are carefully manufactured by specific individuals and groups.

That being said, the Bitcoin trading volume is still intact above the $2bn mark. For a weekend, that is quite a significant number, although the overall cryptocurrency markets see over $6.2bn in 24-hour trading volume right now. Ethereum is also showing a lot of volume, followed by Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash. All of these currencies are currently in the red, though, which shouldn’t come as any major surprise at this stage.

Nothing has changed in the trading markets ranked by volume either. Bitfinex, bitFlyer, and Bithumb make up the top three. In fact, the entire top 5 is filled with fiat currency trading pairs against Bitcoin. This is pretty significant, as that is highly uncommon, to say the least.  Then again, it shows people aren’t necessarily diversifying their Bitcoin holdings through altcoins, which would explain why all major alternative currencies are down in value as well. It seems the entire cryptocurrency market is in a bearish phase for the time being. No one knows for sure when things will improve again.

Judging by the momentum in the market right now, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Bitcoin price drop even further. Although the $4,550 level can be maintained for now, a further decline toward sub-4200 is not entirely out of the question. This has nothing to do with technical analysis mind you, but it is evident a lot of people are on the brink of selling their assets if things do not pick up soon. Moreover, Bitcoin has seen some major gains over the past few weeks, which are often followed by large corrections as well. That is just a fact which doesn’t require any analysis whatsoever.

In the end, everyone hopes to see the Bitcoin price return to $5,000 and beyond sooner rather than later. However, the unprecedented growth of this popular cryptocurrency will be met with a lot of resistance at critical points. The $5,000 mark is a psychological barrier for many investors and speculators, thus this pullback was to be expected. Despite its growing market cap, Bitcoin can be easily manipulated by large investors, that much is evident.

The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers on the Financial Stability Board conducted a meeting in late August 2017 to tackle the legal status of virtual currencies like Bitcoin in the country.

Almost no week goes by without a cryptocurrency ICO suffering from a hack of some sorts. Tens of millions of Dollars have been lost through these types of incidents. The latest company to join this growing list goes by the name of Aventus. Someone successfully spoofed an email coming from them to make users deposit … Continue reading Aventus ICO Investors Get Scammed Through Compromised Slack and Spoofed Emails

The post Aventus ICO Investors Get Scammed Through Compromised Slack and Spoofed Emails appeared first on NEWSBTC.