Day: October 29, 2017

The CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index set a new record on Sunday, rising nearly $500 to top $6,300 for the first time in history.

In the past several years, the online payment environment has consistently shifted towards new possibilities. In the present moment, payments can be made through simple forms in which you add some information, click a button, and poof, you’re done. However, every payment that we make bounds us to our bank accounts.

Most of the money that we earn, own, or spend is being tracked by the government. There are lots of taxes and lots of “rules” made by the big boys. Unfortunately, the present financial system is often disadvantaging us. Why? Because it often collects more than it provides.

Times are changing though, and the world as we have it right now, in 2017, is going to change a lot. Cryptocurrencies are changing the rules. This is not an explainer article, so if you don’t yet understand this concept, you should check the previous link and head back here once you’re done. However, as a simple explanation, cryptocurrency is an anonymous financial environment or system which allows people to hold and transfer their money in the most secure ways.

Cryptocurrencies are becoming the next hit. Nowadays, you can find “Bitcoin payment” on a lot of ecommerce stores, airline companies, and so on. This trend is progressive. It won’t stop here, so all the entrepreneurs who are looking for a bright future should aim their attention towards this amazing change in the financial sector.

In today’s post, we’re exploring 7 trends in the cryptocurrency sphere. Pay close attention and note some things down. The future is coming. As an entrepreneur, you must welcome it with open arms, so let’s see what it has to reserve to us:

Pay Attention to the New Players

Even though Bitcoin is the most significant player in the market, new coins like Ethereum, Litecoin, or Ripple are coming from behind. And it’s not just them. As of July 2017, there were over 900 active cryptocurrencies governing the anonymous financial market. Here’s Wikipedia list of the current, most popular and accepted cryptocurrencies. Pay attention to the new players, as you never know when their value is going to skyrocket, exactly how it happened to Bitcoin.

The Governments Are Getting Involved

As the new financial system of cryptocurrencies has taken the world by storm, the government has to do something in order to control what’s going on. However, the entire point of this system is to eliminate the government from the equation, permitting anonymous and secure trades, exchanges, and payments.While the governments cannot control the cryptocurrency owners through intrusive means, they’ll sure contribute to the shifting and modeling of certain currencies.

Cryptocurrencies Eliminate a Lot of Hassle

No more taxes, no more declarations, no more hassle. Cryptocurrencies have sophisticated systems that allow for a great exchange system that never gets compromised. The blockchain technology is evolving extremely fast, and along with it, the cryptocurrency sphere will grow significantly also.

Most of the people, if asked, would opt for Bitcoin payments; why? Simply because it’s more convenient. The only problem is that not everyone’s familiarized with this concept. Not everyone knows how blockchain technology works, not every person has a cryptocurrency wallet, so we still need time in order for the full implementation of these coins to occur.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Will Remain Popular

Bitcoin can hardly go down. As a matter of fact, right now, early November 2017, the Bitcoin’s price is averaging around 5000 EUROs. Ethereum is around $300. These cryptocurrencies have already gathered a lot of supporters and traders that are extremely interested in their specific blockchain technology. As the numbers and the present moment shows, these coins are showing a continuous, steady growth.

Exchanges are Replaced by Wallets

Cryptocurrency exchanges are not that safe as they might look. Certain leaks and errors have already caused thousands of people to lose their money. However, digital wallets are becoming more and more popular. By using a wallet, you can minimize the risk of a security breach because that wallet is personal. An exchange? Not so much.

The Traditional Banks Must Catch Up

The traditional banks cannot fall behind. And instead of rejecting the cryptocurrency trend (which would be useless), today’s big banks are investing their money into in-depth development and research which are all related to the cryptocurrency applications. Many banks are even partnering with different cryptocurrency organizations in order to better understand the blockchain technology.

Cryptocurrency Will Consistently Grow

Hannah Janson, CEO and Co-Founder at Essay Geeks, suggests:

“Cryptocurrencies represent the future; as you can see, they’ve made their first appearance a few years ago. Now? One bitcoin is worth $5800. That’s extremely impressive. With this growth, we can expect Bitcoin to grow over 8k by the end of the year. New coins are showing up in the marketplace, and the trends will constantly shift!”

Takeaways

Cryptocurrencies are here to play a huge factor of change in today’s economy. If you’re flexible enough to see it, money will take a different form in the next several years. Many entrepreneurs will become rich because they’ve invested in the right cryptocurrency at the right time. Be wise and do that too!

About the Author:

Chris Richardson is a journalist, editor, and a blogger. He loves to write, learn new things, and meet new outgoing people. Chris is also fond of traveling, sports, and playing the guitar. Follow him on Facebook and Google+.

Blockchain technology is one of the most rapidly expanding industries. The aim of the technology is to increase the efficiency of all industries, including music and energy all the way through to sections like finance. The technology also aims to reduce costs in these areas.

As the demand for this technology soars, so does the demand for students to learn about it, allowing them to match the supply to the demand. Companies will pay big money for trained and qualified blockchain students and, right now, it’s one of the best industries to get into.

To give you a helping hand to your first rung of the career ladder, here are ten universities that offer blockchain courses, giving you all the skills and the knowledge that you’re going to need!

ACornell University

Cornell is renowned for being one of the leading computer-centred universities and is well-worth considering when it comes to blockchain courses. The course is run by Emin Gun Sirer, a professional who has been the leader in the blockchain field for many years.

Cambridge University

Cambridge University is renowned for being one of the best universities in the entire world. There’s plenty of opportunities here, both on campus and future employment opportunities. Regarding the blockchain course, it’s heavily focused on the economical side of things.

Princeton University

One of the most prestigious universities in the States, Princeton offers its pioneer course entitled ‘Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies’ and is actually available online and asks many questions related to Bitcoin as well as foreseeing the future uses and implementations of the product.

Julia Woodson, a resume proofreader for Make My Assignment, continues;

“Princeton is one of the most acclaimed universities in the world. Be sure to check over your application to ensure it’s perfect before sending it off if you decide you want to attend here!”

Cyprus University of Nicosia

The largest university in all of Cyprus, the primary course is a Master’s of Science degree in which the primary degree is titled ‘Introduction to Digital Currencies’. The course is available online and can be obtained for free using the open enrolment program of MOOC.

Stanford University

Surprisingly, Stamford offers a unique course known as ‘Bitcoin Engineering’. The main purpose of the course is educating students in how to create their own Bitcoin-Enabled applications. This is a very computer-heavy course as well as a great introduction to the concept.

B9 Lab Academy – UK

Based in the financial and scientific hub of the UK, the B9 Lab Academy is all about understanding and developing the technology behind Bitcoin and blockchain technology as well as the social impacts that it has.

IT University of Copenhagen – Denmark

A leader when it comes to IT courses and technology, the Copenhagen IT university organised a Blockchain Summer School back in August 2017 but with plans to hold them for the foreseeable future.

Robin Baldwin, an educator for Academized, attending this university said:

“Denmark has always been a leader when it comes to technology and this university is one of the best; ideal for if you want to learn about the most up to date blockchain developments.”

New York University

It was back in 2014 when New York University started offering blockchain courses with the first course titled ‘The Law and Business of Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies’. This original course is still available today, among others, covering all the bases when it comes to blockchain technology.

Duke University

Of course, Duke University, one of the brightest university in the States, will offer a blockchain course. Its leading course is titled ‘Innovation, Disruption and Cryptoventures’ and goes into immense depth when it comes to Bitcoin and the future of the technology.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Of course, MIT would have to have a blockchain course as one of the leading universities when it comes to all things relating to technology. MIT was one of the first universities to adopt the course and is home to the current maintainer of bitcoin protocol.

About the author

Everyone needs to be aware of how initial coin offerings carry a lot of promise, but an equally large amount of risk. Just because you give money to complete strangers on the Internet doesn’t mean they will repay you, after all. The UTRUST ICO is getting a lot of negative criticism as of late. CryptoBriefing cited a “lack of transparency and experience”. This is a common development in the ICO world, unfortunately, as good ideas and lots of money don’t always make for a competent team.

UTRUST ICO Gets Downgraded

It is never good when people who perform independent reviews of cryptocurrency ICOs have to warn the public about certain investments. While we applaud the people brave enough to point out issues with initial coin offerings, their remarks are often lost in the overflowing sea of shilling, FUD, derogatory comments and even censorship. In the case of UTRUST, however, it seems there are some genuine reasons to be concerned over what this company aims to achieve.

One of the first things people always have to worry about with an ICO is who is behind the project. Although this information can be easily faked, there will be more projects who reveal the identities of the actual people in charge. Any project failing or refusing to do so needs to be avoided, as it will most certainly have something to hide. UTRUST is operated by a person known as Nuno Correia, although it is doubtful he has the necessary know-how to pull off a successful venture on this scale.

More specifically, his lack of legal expertise could come and byte UTRUST in the rear. We have seen increased scrutiny by governments when it comes to ICOs, most notably in the legal department. Without proper legal staff on hand, this project could eventually collapse due to a lack of preparation. It is understandable some people think they can handle everything, but running an ICO and the associated project is a far more demanding venture than most people assume.

On the UTRUST website, we see plenty of team members mentioned. One would assume they are more than sufficient to ensure a proper ICO and hopefully a profitable company in the future. Surprisingly, most of these individuals bring no real knowledge to the table, which suddenly makes this whole enterprise far more worrisome. Nearly all members of this team work for an unknown web design and development firm. They have none of the necessary skills to run a company per se, especially not one which aims to tackle the industry in which UTRUST will be active.

Secondly, there is the UTRUST whitepaper. Over the past few years, the appeal of a whitepaper has gone from “amazing work” to “a piece of paper with no value”. Anyone in the world can write whitepapers. The author of this article has been contacted multiple times to write whitepapers on behalf of ICOs but always refused. If people want to raise money for a project they think will change the world, the least they can do is explain it properly in words. The UTRUST whitepaper is quite complete, although it contains no real contact information. That’s a worrisome sign, according to CryptoBriefing.

In the end, it remains to be seen if any of these concerns are justified. While it is true things look anything but impressive for UTRUST right now, there is still plenty of time to turn things around. For a company aiming to raise just under US$50 million in an effort to compete with PayPal, the current course of action will not be sufficient whatsoever. Aspirations and money will almost never trump experience. There are some exceptions in this regard, but UTRUST may not necessarily become one of them.  

The consulting industry is a $470 billion-dollar industry and quickly growing, but despite our move into the digital world, consultations are still stuck in the prehistoric age. Why is it that every time there is a problem with your computer you have to drive down to the computer store just to know what’s wrong with … Continue reading Experty Decentralized Peer to Peer Platform for Consulting Aims to Disrupt the $500 Billion USD Consulting Industry

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Celebrities are always looking for ways to gain more exposure and put their existing clout to good use. That isn’t always easy, mind you, as opportunities aren’t necessarily a dime a dozen these days. This would certainly explain why so many celebrities have jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon as of late. Below are some of the most notorious names recently getting friendly with cryptocurrencies.

10. Jamie Foxx

When Jamie Foxx tweeted about a cryptocurrency ICO, the community was shocked and elated at the same time. Up to that point, after all, Foxx had shown zero interest in the concept of cryptocurrency. People will do some interesting things for money, and ICOs crave celebrity endorsements more than anything.

9. DJ Khaled

ICOs have attracted a lot of attention from celebrities these days. In most cases, famous people get paid pretty good money to endorse an initial coin offering of any kind. DJ Khaled jumped on this bandwagon quite some time ago by shilling the Centra ICO. It is one of the many cryptocurrency debit card projects currently in circulation.

8. Donald Glover

It was somewhat of a surprise to see Donald Glover jump on the cryptocurrency bandwagon. Then again, as a content creator, it makes a lot of sense to embrace new forms of money. During one of his interviews, he mentioned how Bitcoin could become a big success in due time. That’s a worthwhile endorsement that wasn’t linked to an ICO for a change.

7. Snoop Dogg

It is somewhat of an open secret that Snoop Dogg has been a fan of cryptocurrency for quite some time now. Although his initial plan to accept Bitcoin payments for a new album turned out to be a farce, Snoop Dogg never fully closed the door on the possibility. Still, his mention of the world’s leading cryptocurrency was appreciated by a lot of people.

6. Drew Carey

Everyone in the world knows Drew Carey, and he knows about Bitcoin. In his opinion, wider adoption of the world’s leading cryptocurrency is only a matter of time. Drew has been somewhat quiet on cryptocurrency over the past year or two, but his support appears to be intact for now.

5. Mel B

An often-heard complaint is how there aren’t enough women involved in cryptocurrency. Mel B is one of the few musical artists to accept Bitcoin payments for her music. It is unclear if she will accept BTC for her future albums as well, but the chance is very real that this partnership will continue for quite some time to come.

4. Floyd Mayweather Jr

It is quite interesting to see how many ICOs Floyd Mayweather Jr is planning to shill in the coming months. So far, he has been involved with at least two projects people know of, although it doesn’t appear as if this will be the end of it either. Celebrity endorsements may very well be the undoing of ICOs, although it remains to be seen if that will be the case.

3. Gwyneth Paltrow

More strong women in the cryptocurrency world can only be considered to be a good thing right now. Gwyneth Paltrow is a world-renowned actress as well as a cryptocurrency advisor. More specifically, Abra chose the actress as the startup’s advisor during a recent episode of Planet of the Apps on Apple TV. It’s an interesting venture which opens up a lot of exciting opportunities.

2. Ashton Kutcher

While most people know Kutcher as an actor who plays funny characters in movies and TV shows, he’s also a serious businessman. He is co-founder of BitPay investor A-Grade Investments. Moreover, he is a clear fan of decentralizing as many aspects of daily life as humanly possible. It will be interesting to see how these ventures play out moving forward.

1. Paris Hilton

Although Hilton’s involvement with cryptocurrency has been pretty limited so far, her endorsement of the Lydian ICO raised a lot of eyebrows. That wasn’t because of the project itself, but more so due to the association with the person behind it. Still, Hilton is a major media personality and perhaps the biggest public figure on this list right now.

A recent report from the UK Treasury’s National Crime Agency suggests that Bitcoin is a low risk for money laundering but high risk for cybercrime.

It’s not a secret that all businesses (NPOs aside) aim at increasing their profitability, in order to do so, companies often seek investments. The best investments are  fast, secure and result in good profits at the end. This natural goal is burdened by an immense amount.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

of transactions with various assets all around the world.  Faster transactions increase turnover, decrease operational costs and thus result in higher profits.

Today there’s a lot of hype around Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), a new form of crowdfunding that enables companies to issue their own cryptocurrency that can be sold and traded, and in turn help a project or company  raise the necessary capital to streamline their projects and scale faster. Moreover, investors are able to add to their portfolios and get into the market of financing new ventures very early in their lifecycle. It pays off. Without a shadow of a doubt, coins have earned their deserved fame among tech startups. The traditional, brick and mortar business sector is faced with the risk of falling behind.   

Here is how an Initial Smart Asset Offering works

Initial Smart Asset Offering (ISAO) is a new way to raise capital for the traditional brick and mortar business sector by tokenizing real assets (transforming them into digital form and placing them on the blockchain). PoA protocol, in turn, is a technology that unites Bank-as-a-Service, blockchain technologies and fintech.

In more detail, ISAO is the initial offering of a Smart Asset, an asset that is already tokenized. This tokenized asset is in turn made available for purchase to possible investors in the BANKEX ecosystem.

It is important to point out that neither tech startups nor RnDs can participate in ISAOs.

BANKEX provides technical support in deploying ISAOs at every stage, from the initiation of an assets tokenization by an originator to closing the deal with a supplier (investor). Decentralization of this process on the blockchain brings transparency, speed and reliability.

What the BANKEX Proof-of-Asset protocol is and what role does it play in Initial Smart Asset Offerings

Take a quick look at the BANKEX PoA protocol and we will immediately realize the benefits of this innovative financial instrument.

To be eligible for tokenization, an asset must have the capacity to generate cash flow, apart from this, there are no other limits that prevent a chosen asset from being tokenized. This is very appealing to investors.

The process goes through 4 stages.

Using PoA protocol, Bankex helps companies run their ISAOs successfully, bringing value into the real world and investors – to get into a business venture early on, track their portfolio profitability and multiply their income.

Moreover, BANKEX keeps its eyes open for the rapid changes within their environment. During a recent 36 hour hackathon “ETHWaterloo” – the world’s largest Ethereum hackathon, the BankEx team had the opportunity to work alongside Ethereum founders and was successful in developing a “Plasma”- like protocol which was mentioned by Vitalik Buterin Founder of Ethereum himself. BankEx has made an attempt to demonstrate implementation of Plasma protocol for a supervised blockchain where each transaction is not a money send/receive, but an indivisible asset ownership transfer.

BANKEX has successfully initiated dialogue amongst the members of the crypto community, and now their ICO date has been set – November 28th 2017, don’t miss out.

BankEx is available at:

Website

Telegram

Whitelist

Facebook

Mark Yusko, the founder & CEO of Morgan Creek Capital Management, the $3.7 billion North Carolina-based investment firm, has stated that the bitcoin price is expected to reach $400,000 in the long-term. Over the past 12 months, the price of bitcoin has increased from less than $900 to over $5,900. In a relatively short-term, the bitcoin … Continue reading Bitcoin Price Going From $4,000 to $400,000 is Easy: Hedge Fund Manager Mark Yusko

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Everyone knows by now that any existing cryptocurrency can be re-issued as a digital token on the Ethereum blockchain. We have seen multiple projects bring Bitcoin to the Ethereum blockchain in the form of ERC20 tokens. Although the usefulness of such tokens remains to be determined, countless competitors have emerged in this space. Bitcoinereum, for example, is another creation which few people will legitimately care about.

Bitcoinereum is Another Waste of Time

Although we are no big fans of Bitcoinereum for obvious reasons, there are some aspects to this new token which deserve some attention. For one thing, it is a minable ERC20 token, which is unlike anything we have seen in this industry so far. In most cases, ERC20 tokens are generated from day one since there is no mining involved whatsoever. Then again, it is rather difficult to mine such tokens to begin with.

According to the Bitcoinereum website, the Bitcoin “supply mechanism” has been turned into a smart contract. Anyone in the world is able to mine this new ERC20 token, as the reward per block is the same as that on the actual Bitcoin blockchain. Fifty coins are generated every 10 minutes at the start, with rewards going down over time. The mining itself occurs through the “mine” function of the smart contract in question.

This confirms there is no actual mining taking place on the network, even though this new function isn’t something we have seen similar ERC20 tokens embrace for some reason. Users can call the smart contract function and get 1 BTCM in return. A total of fifty calls is allowed per 10 minutes, although it is unclear if there is a limit on the number of coins to be earned per user as well. Users will need to pay the Ethereum network fees themselves for every call, though, which may be a downside for a lot of users right now.

With a maximum supply of 21 million tokens and rewards halving, an interesting situation is created. So far, there is a total supply of nearly 100,000 generated BTCM, distributed among 500 token holders. There have been over 97,900 transfers already, which is rather impressive. It is unclear what value people hope to see for BTCM, though, as the token literally serves no purpose whatsoever. It isn’t like one can spend this currency like they can Bitcoin – or Ethereum, for that matter – as there is no one who accepts this form of money right now.

While it is commendable that the creator has come up with a smart contract function to “mine” coins, there is no reason for most people to take this concept even remotely seriously right now. There is also no reason to waste Ether or gas on a project like this one, as it doesn’t reward users with a valuable token in the first place. It is certainly possible we will see a higher value assigned to BTCM in the future, as the weirdest tokens and altcoins have successfully gained traction these days.

In the end, we are seeing far too many Bitcoin clones issued as ERC20 tokens. No one has asked for this, and it remains highly doubtful such tokens should even exist in the first place. Then again, it is also doubtful people will stop creating useless tokens anytime soon. They are a booming market, after all. Only time will tell how Bitcoinereum will play out, but we don’t have high hopes for it.