Day: October 7, 2017

Most cryptocurrency enthusiasts are well aware that the Bitcoin situation in Russia is very complicated at best. That is anything but surprising, given the wide spectrum of actions and opinions on cryptocurrency in the country right now. In the latest effort, Russia’s central bank effectively prevented one of the country’s main clearinghouses from settling OTC contracts based on cryptocurrencies. That’s not a good sign by any means.

Another Poor Decision by the Russian Central Bank?

The number of people currently opposing Bitcoin is almost as great as the number of proponents. Right now, this situation could easily move in either direction, although there are no guarantees whatsoever. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation continues to oppose cryptocurrency growth at every possible turn, and it is highly doubtful it will stop doing so anytime soon. Bitcoin threatens its business model in every possible way, which means it will do everything it can to prevent the ecosystem from growing too big.

To that end, the central bank has sent a letter to one of the biggest national clearinghouses, MFB Clearing Center, in which it advises the company not to process OTC cryptocurrency settlements. It’s a very unusual change of events, although it is not entirely illogical either. The clearinghouse in question has been involved with multiple initial coin offerings to date. This does seem to indicate that Russia has not taken kindly to ICOs specifically, not that the country is trying to hinder cryptocurrency itself right now.

The Russian central bank leaves very little to the imagination with its letter. According to the directive, MFB Clearing Center should have no further dealings with cryptocurrencies, although it can choose to ignore this warning if it prefers. Doing so would not necessarily be a smart decision by any means, though. The company is best known for its clearing services related to securities and commodity exchange markets across Russia. The company’s involvement in initial coin offerings may come to haunt it in the long term.

One thing to keep in mind is that MFB Clearing Center is a major player in the Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange, Russia’s third-largest stock exchange ranked by trading volume. It is also the only platform of its kind outside Moscow to make any significant impact on the Russian financial sector right now. Moreover, the institution has posted some new rules regarding OTC cryptocurrency-based contracts. Apparently, the Russian central bank took exception to these rules and promptly filed a response.

While it is understandable that a lot of clearinghouses would want to get involved with initial coin offerings, doing so can prove to be a big problem in the long run. The Russian government isn’t a big fan of initial coin offerings right now, and a crackdown appears to be imminent. While there has been no decision to ban ICOs in Russia, it is evident this new method of raising money is causing a lot of friction among government officials as we speak.

All of this goes to show the lack of regulation related to cryptocurrencies and ICOs is causing a hindrance right now. Regulation isn’t a guaranteed problem solver in this regard, mind you, but considering the many risks associated with ICOs as a whole, they need to be addressed sooner rather than later. This stark warning issued by the central bank confirms that ICOs will be scrutinized in Russia moving forward. Whether or not this particular clearinghouse will comply is a different matter completely.

When it comes to finding the most forward-thinking countries in all of cryptocurrency, Japan will be on most people’s shortlists. It was one of the first countries to have legalized Bitcoin, which has resulted in some interesting economic changes. It now appears the Japanese financial sector wants to get involved in Bitcoin mining as well. This echoes similar plans proposed by Russian authorities not long ago.

Japan’s Cryptocurrency Mining Venture

According to Asia Nikkei, the Japanese financial sector is considering a very surprising plan of action as of right now. More specifically, it is looking into setting up its own cryptocurrency mining operation in the near term. This initiative was apparently fueled by sudden decisions made by GMO Internet and SBI Holdings. No one can deny Japan has become a regional hub for Bitcoin-related activity, as the country successfully took over from China in this regard.

Setting up a mining venture is not all that easy, mind you. There are a lot of requirements which must be met in order to do so, let alone do so profitably. Without access to proper mining hardware and cheap electricity, not much will happen. Thankfully, it is possible there are some solutions in this regard, even though we may not see a Japanese ASIC manufacturer pop up all of a sudden either. It would be rather promising to see some more competition in the ASIC space, though.

With the value of Bitcoin rising to several new all-time highs throughout 2017, it is evident Japanese financial institutions are paying close attention. While not everyone can become a Bitcoin miner overnight, there are abundant opportunities waiting to be explored in the coming months and years. Considering that a lot of Bitcoin miners feel they effectively make the rules, it is only expected that Japanese financial institutions would want to try their hand at this venture as well.

For the time being, it is a bit unclear what we can expect from Japanese Bitcoin mining operations moving forward. There are plenty of opportunities out there, even if it means having to buy ASIC hardware from Chinese manufacturers. Their main objective is to decentralize the mining scene itself, which is primarily dominated by Chinese mining pools. In fact, over 60% of all Bitcoin mining hashpower currently flows through Chinese mining pools.

Given the recent crackdown by Chinese government officials on ICOs and cryptocurrencies, it is evident something needs to change. A power vacuum of sorts has been created in the mining world, although there is no one slated to fill it right now. Japan could certainly become a big player in this regard, especially when considering the country has already overtaken China when it comes to buying and selling Bitcoin. Right now, Japan and South Korea are the leading Bitcoin trading markets by volume.

SBI Holdings appears particularly interested in shaking up the Bitcoin ecosystem as we speak. Its president, Yoshitaka Kitao, recently commented that “a way will be found to correct the situation where Chinese operators have much say.” That’s an interesting train of thought, to say the least. With a few companies already planning to enter the mining sector, things will get pretty interesting moving forward. Their goals can only be achieved if access to cheap electricity is provided, which may prove more complicated than is currently assumed.

Another large bitcoin exchange in the industry, Coinbase, has announced an update concerning the upcoming Segwit2x hard fork. The San Francisco-based trading platform and wallet provider follows the recent Bitfinex announcement detailing plans for a possible bitcoin split.

Also read: An Inside Look at Genesis Block — Hong Kong’s New Cryptocurrency Working-Space

Coinbase Reveals Customers Will Have Access to Bitcoin on Both Blockchains

This week the exchange Coinbase which provides over 36M wallets to bitcoin users revealed some parts of its plan for the upcoming Segwit2x fork. Coinbase states that they want to let customers know the company’s business mission is to ensure trust and safety within the cryptocurrency environment. Further, Coinbase emphasizes that there is no action required from users and “bitcoin can be securely stored on Coinbase before, during, and after the fork.”     

“Customers with bitcoin balances stored on Coinbase at the time of the fork will have access to bitcoin on both blockchains,” explains the exchange.

After the fork, we will enable access when we have determined each blockchain is secure and stable. We expect this to happen within a few days after the fork, but it may take longer if additional risks emerge.

The San Francisco Exchange Will Reveal Distinct Names of the Two Bitcoin Blockchains Soon

The company executive, Dan Romero, explains they are still in the process of working on bitcoin cash withdrawals. The firm is also presently researching “engineering and security requirements for each bitcoin blockchain.”

Of course, the announcement did not give away what everyone wanted to hear — Which is an answer to the question on how Coinbase will name each fork (due to the online debates around which fork has “the right to be called Bitcoin”). The announcement is also different than when the exchange revealed its initial plans to not support the previous hard fork, bitcoin cash. This time around, the company is saying they will allow access to the new chain, and customers do not have to withdraw their coins by a certain date.

Community members are curious about the decisions made by companies like Coinbase and Blockchain.info as these firms have a lot of users within the bitcoin ecosystem. Coinbase does intend to tell the public how it will deal with the naming the two forks, as the company reveals it will be releasing this information in the near future.

In the coming weeks — nearer to the date of the fork — we will provide a more detailed plan for how Coinbase will approach naming the two Bitcoin blockchains.

What do you think about the announcement from Coinbase concerning the Segwit2x fork? Which protocol do you think they will call ‘Bitcoin?’ Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, and Coinbase. 

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Blockchain technology has always been thought to be capable of making a big impact in the financial sector. There’s still a lot of work to be done in that regard, but the Monetary Authority of Singapore is on the right track. Its Project Ubin has gotten a lot of attention in the country already. With three different blockchain-based payment prototypes in development right now, the future looks rather bright for this particular venture.

MAS Embraces Blockchain for Project Ubin

It is always interesting to see financial authorities embrace blockchain technology for specific purposes. The Monetary Authority of Singapore is currently in the process of building three different blockchain-based payment solutions. That in itself is pretty intriguing, especially considering there was no indication of such a venture until relatively recently. Then again, things are evolving quickly in the world of blockchain these days.

It seems Project Ubin has undergone an initial testing phase already. The main focus of that trial revolved around interbank transfers on a private Ethereum blockchain. While private ledgers are often considered controversial, it is only logical that financial institutions would not embrace a public blockchain anytime soon. In this case, it does appear interbank transfers were successful in the end.

Moreover, the second phase of Project Ubin has begun as of yesterday. As part of this second phase, three different software models have been developed to introduce transaction privacy and a decentralized queue. The scope of this project has also expanded, as the goal is now to settle both payments and securities moving forward. With around a dozen financial institutions contributing to this project to date, there is already major interest in this project.

By the looks of things, Project Ubin aims to become a foundation of a new unified approach to new payment systems of the future. That is a rather ambitious and bold plan, but the current work shows there is some good progress being made already. Experimenting with DLT is of the utmost importance to banks in Singapore, and this joint effort goes to show there are plenty of willing hands right now.

MAS’s Chief Fintech Officer Swapnendu Mhanty commented:

“A key outcome of the consortium’s effort is the ability to perform netting while protecting the privacy of transactions. This helps to open up opportunity for a wider adoption of DLT-based settlement systems. We are sharing our learnings and knowledge from Project Ubin to encourage greater experimentation amongst central banks and financial institutions. We look forward to working with other central banks on the use of DLT for cross-border applications.”

There are clearly many benefits to embracing this decentralized technology. Blockchain-based systems allow for faster and cheaper transactions between different financial institutions. Moreover, the fact that so many banks are already collaborating confirms the Singaporean financial ecosystem stands to gain a lot from this venture. This is bound to eventually inspire further innovation as well.

Although a lot of people readily dismiss altcoins these days, there are some interesting projects out there. The Aragon project is currently working on AragonOS, which introduces some major changes to smart contracts as we know them today. More specifically, smart contracts’ underlying architecture is in dire need of some upgrades. Introducing more flexibility and making it easier to extend the functionality of these contracts is well worth looking into.

AragonOS can be a Powerful Project

It is evident the concept of smart contracts has attracted a lot of attention. Most people were introduced to this form of technology as part of the Ethereum ecosystem. It is thanks to Ethereum that a lot of altcoins incorporate smart contracts, as they all aim to focus on innovative technologies in one way or another. Aragon is one of the many altcoins focusing on smart contracts as well, and its developers are looking for new ways to improve upon the technology moving forward.

A new infrastructure for Aragon smart contracts has been introduced thanks to the AragonOS initiative. It employs the concept of an organization as the “aggregate of multiple applications”, combined with a Kernel. With this combination, the Kernel can govern applications, which are also capable of talking to one another. Moreover, the Kernel also ensures third parties can interact with these applications for whatever purpose they see fit.

Contrary to what some people may expect, there is often a problem when it comes to upgrading smart contracts. Especially when embracing such organization-like models for smart contracts, there are a lot of challenges to take into account. In this case, every organization running Aragon needs to be forward compatible as early as possible. That is rather difficult to achieve, yet it appears the team has come up with a viable strategy in this regard.

As a result, the Kernel can upgrade itself and any other app relying on it. This is achieved through delegate proxies, which are “thin” smart contracts of their own. They do not contain business logic, but rather delegate their own logic on to other contracts. It is a rather surprising take on things, although it is not necessarily an implementation that will be second-nature for Aragon moving forward. Instead, it is possible this functionality will be ported to various other cryptocurrencies supporting smart contracts moving forward.

Considering that every Aragon-based application is a smart contract which can be added to any organization, the possibilities are virtually endless. Being able to upgrade said applications without much friction is well worth taking note of, as this could usher in a new era for smart contract technology in general. A set of default applications has been built by the team already. Once third-party developers start building new projects, things will get very interesting, to say the least.

For the time being, the foundation has been laid for AragonOS. Moreover, the code has been made open source, which means interested parties can get a hands-on experience pretty quickly. There is still some tweaking to do by the developers, but external audits are scheduled to take place in the coming weeks. This is definitely a concept worth keeping an eye on moving forward. Full documentation is in the works as well.

Google’s recently-announced Pixel 2 smartphone boasts many impressive features. However, the company has chosen to do something that many people scrutinized Apple for doing with its most recent phones; the Pixel 2 also abandons the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Google’s Pixel 2 Moves Away from the Headphone Jack

Many lamented the iPhone 7’s lack of a headphone jack; I was one of them. While I was not really considering buying an iPhone anyway, its decision not to include a headphone jack solidified my choice of the Google Pixel. I have only good things to say about the Pixel, and was even considering upgrading to the Pixel 2, but the lack of a headphone jack has caused me to hesitate.

What Benefits Are There?

I really want to give this a chance. If two of the largest tech giants in the world have made the decision to eliminate the headphone jack, there must be some logic behind it. One of the primary reasons they may have chosen to do this is the Pixel’s reported underwhelming headphone sound quality. While I had not really noticed any deficiency in the sound department – though I am no audiophile – other have.

This change also frees up the display to move closer to the edges of the phone, since there now is no hardware getting in the way. Many other phone makers have chosen to push their screens closer and closer to the edge, and it makes sense that Google – having just entered the phone manufacturing market – would want to keep up with its competition in that regard. It also may be trying to address a design feature that some users have criticized. The original Pixel has a rather large unused area at the top and bottom of its screen. Removing the headphone jack allowed the team to reduce the size of this bezel.

There is also something to be said for not having to be tangled in wires constantly. When out in public, sometimes wires can tangle. Or worse, these wires can get caught on something, ripping earbuds out or headsets off with a loud “THWHOP!” Not only is this unpleasant to hear, it also can induce mild heart attacks out of fear that one’s headset or earbuds are now broken.

Still, the Hesitation Lingers

While I may sound like I have convinced myself of the necessity of this decision, a part of me is still deeply opposed to giving up the headphone jack altogether. While I realize the technology’s age and its flaws, there is something about it that I do not want to let go of. Is it the physical sensation of plugging it in, knowing there will be no issue with hearing what I want to? Is it the memories I have from my teenage years, listening to music on school trips with friends by sharing the same pair of headphones? Or is it something far closer to home: my wallet? I also have nice earbuds and a nice headset, and the idea of having to discard those and buy something new pains me.

Regardless, it does appear that the 3.5mm headphone jack is going to finally be a thing of the past. It had a good run, and if it actually dies, I for one am going to miss it.

Weekends have always been notoriously horrible when it comes to cryptocurrency momentum. Albeit there have been some exceptions in recent weeks, things aren’t looking impressive by any means right now. The Bitcoin price is getting stuck in sideways momentum once again, with the value moving down toward $4,300 again.

Bitcoin Price Momentum Runs out of Steam

Most cryptocurrency users will agree the Bitcoin price has seen some positive momentum throughout the past week. More specifically, we started the week with a Bitcoin price of $4,285 and saw a high of $4,462 shortly after. Unfortunately, this positive momentum ran out pretty quickly, resulting in a fierce battle for control at the $4,300 mark. This is where we still are today, one week later.

It has to be said, things weren’t always looking great for the Bitcoin price this week either. At one point, the BTC value dipped all the way to $4,173.59. Although this is not the largest Bitcoin price dip we have seen in recent history, a did make some people wonder whether or not the $4,300 level could even be considered to be some form of support. Thankfully, the Bitcoin price leapfrogged back to that exact value less than 24 hours later.

Not much has happened to the Bitcoin price ever since that time, though. There have been a few attempts to establish a higher price point, but nothing materialized in the end. Breaching $4,400 was done successfully, but the price quickly went below this level again as people are seemingly purposefully keeping the BTC value down. It is unclear why $4,400 is such a major level, though, as it is still $600 removed from the current Bitcoin price all-time high.

At the time of writing, one Bitcoin is valued at $4.328.42, which represents a 1.72% decline over the past 24 hours. This is nothing to be concerned about, but traders also have to face the fact there will be a lot of sideways momentum moving forward. There is no indication of Bitcoin going up or down in any significant manner right now. It is certainly possible we will maintain a price of $4,150 to $4,350, but not much will happen outside of those “barriers”, so to speak.

Moreover, the Bitcoin trading volume is pretty abysmal right now as well. Granted, Saturdays and Sundays are never positive for cryptocurrency trading volume in general,  but it is still odd to see the Bitcoin trading volume below $1bn all of a sudden. This volume has been dwindling slightly all week, though, as Bitcoin has been unable to generate its “usual” $2bn in 24-hour volume for several days in a row now. Whether or not that situation will change, remains to be determined, though.

Bitfinex still remains the largest exchange by trading volume, followed by bitFlyer and HitBTC. Not seeing Bithumb back in the top three by now is somewhat of a surprise, although the Korean volume has been drying up slowly for Bitcoin all week. Whether or not things will pick up again, remains unknown, but for now, things aren’t looking all that great. Sideways Bitcoin price action is incredibly boring to look at, that much is certain.

San Jose, Costa Rica, October 5, 2017, Cryptonetix.com has made a decision to move its blockchain analytics, funding and educational platform from WAVES to the Ethereum platform which offers more flexibility around the funding area of the Cryptonetix application. Ethereum has been widely adopted by ICO’s and the cryptocurrency community. Ethereum is one of the … Continue reading Cryptonetix Set For Pre-ICO – Moves To Ethereum Platform For More Flexibility – Features Blockchain Assets Management, Analytics, Funding and Educational Platform

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What will happen to my bitcoin and other assets when I die? This is a question most of us want to avoid, because we don’t know, because we don’t like to think about death, because we can think of 100 other more fun things to contemplate – like all the drama surrounding 2X and who said what on twitter or reddit. But with self-controlled assets, ignoring our own mortality comes at a cost to our descendants, dependents, community groups, and political causes because our keys, and therefore access to the assets, could die with us. But it doesn’t have to be that way, there are simple, easy things you can do yourself to prevent this from happening and that’s what you’ll learn if you continue reading.