Day: November 12, 2017

Pryze, the automated sweepstakes protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain, plans to unveil its highly anticipated platform for companies to hold faster, cheaper, and more secure sweepstakes competitions. Pryze’s automated system will enable users to execute all the various processes involved in launching and managing sweepstakes using a single platform.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Holding digital sweepstake competitions is an increasingly popular marketing strategy for companies, and has been shown to be highly effective in driving both conversions and brand awareness. According to Jupiter Research, over 80% of all Internet users have participated in an online sweepstakes or contest in the past year, and an additional 50% enter them once a month. However, companies encounter significant problems and challenges launching and managing their digital sweepstakes competitions using the tools available in the market today.

For one, most contest runners are forced to rely on a hodge-podge of various services, agencies, and platforms to get their sweepstakes off the ground, which drives up costs and dramatically reduces efficiency. What’s more, contest runners must put sweepstakes prize money in ESCROW, an extra step that uses resources and introduces friction. It is the responsibility of contest runners to prove they picked winners fairly, and that winners are properly paid out. These are complicated and time-consuming tasks with today’s tools.

The Pryze platform leverages blockchain technology to solve these problems, offering a one-stop-shop solution for the entire sweepstakes process. Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the most advanced manifestation of the technology, Pryze takes advantage of the key features of the platform such as transparency, immutability, security, scalability, and automation using smart contracts.

For instance, instead of manually custodying funds in and out of an ESCROW, with Pryze, sweepstakes runners can utilize distributed smart contracts to manage funds. This may enable prizes to be disbursed directly and automatically to winners without intervention, complicated processes, or intermediaries. The transaction is secured through encryption, and the data lives on a decentralized network, drastically reducing its vulnerability to hacking and manipulation. Finally, since the blockchain-based system is transparent to contest runners, Pryze users can easily monitor competitions, demonstrate winners are chosen fairly, prove funds are committed to the contest, and have been sent when awarded.

Supported by ConsenSys’ Token Foundry, which provides the technical expertise to enable decentralized applications and platforms to launch highly secure and well-designed tokens, enabling buyers to make use of Ethereum software. ConsenSys employs over 400 of the world’s top experts in entrepreneurship, finance, enterprise delivery, cryptography, Ethereum development, and game theoretic token design. The blockchain venture studio was founded by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, and is one of the largest and fastest growing companies globally in the blockchain space.

The Pryze team is led by seasoned entrepreneurs and award-winning content producers. Founder and CEO Peter Franklin attended Duke in 2010 where he obtained a masters in computational economics for his studies in mechanism design. After years spent developing underlying technology as a lead engineer at Microsoft and Zynga for projects ranging from Azure and Clusters to Farmville, he went on to founding 3 highly successful companies with world-class teams. A chance meeting with top angel Gil Penchina at a non-profit event lead the two to found Pryze.

Peter Franklin is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for game theory. Pryze is co-founded and advised by Gil Penchina, a serial entrepreneur and prolific angel investor. He is the former founder of Flight.vc, co-founder of Fastly, CEO of Wikia, and was a member of the pre-IPO team at eBay. He is a partner at Ridge Ventures and an active investor in 70+ companies over the last 12 years, including: PayPal, Brave, Ripple, Filecoin, Civic, Dollar Shave Club, LinkedIn, Indiegogo, Wealthfront, AngelList, and more. Gil has a Bachelors in Engineering from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from Kellogg. Sherilynn Macale, Pryze’s Head of Marketing & PR, has a strong track record launching record-breaking campaigns, including the cult favorite Virgin Airlines safety dance video that won several Shorty awards. Macale also launched SKULLY, the fastest ever Indiegogo campaign to raise one million dollars, and is known for her work both in-house and in-agency creating viral multimedia content.

Also on the team is Jason McGuirk, CTO, who has shipped dozens of successful games, including managing the launch of Zynga’s largest titles. Jason rapidly rose to the role of distinguished engineer at Zynga and formerly started his own gaming company called JuiceBox Games. Senior Designer Kelly Battista has over 8 years of experience designing and shipping products, as well as leading product design for the last two years with Infuse, a development firm. Kelly has worked on a variety of consumer and b2b products, including founding Zenboxx. Juan Muñoz, Sr. Engineer, is a former Cisco veteran working on IEEE 802.1X features, Juan is an experienced Software Engineer with a tremendous amount of network and web apps experience. Annie Le, CX Manager at Pryze, is a customer-centric thinker who’s spent the last 6 years deeply immersed in consumer-facing technology and finance.

“The Pryze project is well positioned to take advantage of the features of the Ethereum platform, and promises to make the fast-growing sweepstakes business significantly more transparent, secure, and efficient. Identifying the best use cases and building high-quality products around them will ultimately drive adoption of decentralizing technologies, which is our mission at ConsenSys. For this reason, ConsenSys is proud to support Pryze and the strong team behind it,” said ConsenSys founder and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin.

###

Media Contact: Pace PR

Annie Scranton: [email protected]

Meghan Powers: [email protected]

About Pryze

Pryze is creating the first sweepstakes automation protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain. The application and website will make it easy for new and veteran sweepstakes creators to easily run and maintain sweepstakes by baking compliance, security, and scalability into the Pryze protocol, eliminating the need for costly administrative services and hosting platforms.

Follow Pryze

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

About ConsenSys

ConsenSys is a venture production studio and custom software development consultancy building decentralized applications (DApps), enterprise solutions and developer tools for blockchain ecosystems, focused primarily on Ethereum. Powered by smart contracts and secured through encryption, our applications provide the benefits of transparency, auditability, and immutability that are unique to blockchain-based solutions. For more information please go to www.consensys.net.

Follow ConsenSys

GitHub

Facebook

LinkedIn

Twitter

Some interesting changes are happening in the world of Bitcoin mining pools. With the hashrate dropping in favor of BCH, rankings of pools are shaken up as well. Slushpool is now the biggest Bitcoin mining operation open to the public. They generate over 20% of all blocks, which puts them ahead of AntPool, An interesting development, especially when considering what this means for the future.

For the past few years, Bitcoin mining was dominated by Chinese mining pools. This has always been a big problem in the eyes of many users. China has lost its dominant position in the Bitcoin world several months ago. It now appears they are no longer leading the mining scene either. Instead, Slushpool is now the biggest Bitcoin mining pool. That is a rather interesting development, to say the least. It is an interesting fact to keep in mind for the future.

Slushpool Scores Brownie Points With the Bitcoin Community

Although the mining focus is now on Bitcoin Cash, the bigger picture needs to be kept in mind at all times Bitcoin with SegWit isn’t going away whatsoever. In fact, it will probably remain the biggest cryptocurrency for some time to come. Slushpool rejected SegWit2x initially based on votes cast by its miners. They are not in favor of BCH either, as it is an altcoin. It is evident this particular pool firmly believes Bitcoin is fine the way it is and needs to be supported. Some people will gladly disagree on that front, though.

Overtaking Antpool as the biggest Bitcoin mining pool is a pretty big deal. It is the first time in a while a non-Chinese party leads the Bitcoin division in this regard. Slushpool also has also a far more solid reputation in the Bitcoin world. Back when the accidental fork occurred in 2013, the pool as the first to help out the network. Other pools decided to maintain their wait-and-see approach. It is evident they value the community first and foremost and couldn’t care less about quick profits. That hard work is now paying off, by the look of things.

It will be interesting to see how this affects Slushpool moving forward. They may attract a lot more hashpower in the near future. It is important to ensure the pool doesn’t grow too large either, otherwise, a new problem is created. It is very likely some miners will move over in the coming weeks. Especially with the Bitcoin Cash profitability adjustment coming soon, things will get very interesting. Moreover, their half-assed EDA will be gone tomorrow as well. An interesting future lies ahead for Bitcoin, that much is evident.

Header image courtesy of Shutterstock

The post Slushpool Overtakes AntPool to Become the Largest Bitcoin Mining Pool appeared first on NEWSBTC.

After all of the drama regarding Bitcoin Cash, it is time to go over important things. While making money is great and all, we should also pay attention to technical changes coming to Bitcoin. Rootstock, the platform which will bring smart contracts to Bitcoin, will launch very soon. This new 2-way pegged sidechan and merging mining will be an exciting development for the Bitcoin industry as a whole.

It is evident the Bitcoin blockchain needs more innovative features. Which chain that will become in the end, remains to be determined. Right now, it is still Bitcoin with SegWit activated, rather than Bitcoin Cash. One solution all enthusiasts can look forward to is the launch of Rootstock. This project has been in development for quite some time now. After many months of hard work, the platform will effectively launch later this year.

Rootstock and Lumino are Coming Soon

Do keep in mind the mainnet will still be in beta mode at that time. It is a major breakthrough for Bitcoin regardless. Smart contracts are of great importance to any blockchain-based industry. This also includes cryptocurrencies. Given the fiascos we have seen with Ethereum contracts, Bitcoin-based versions may provide a welcome relief. It is still a bit too early to tell how all of that will play. Smart contracts are not the only selling point of Rootstock either.

Other features include virtually instant payments and higher scalability. Given the current Bitcoin network fees and transaction delays, both changes are more than welcome. It will be a Bitcoin sidechain with a two-way peg and merged mining. Anyone mining Bitcoin – not BCH – will also be rewarded with RSK tokens. It creates an extra incentive for miners, that much is evident. For now, the date to note in your agendas is December 4th. Do keep in mind this dare is always subject to change and delays.

This is not the only major development for Bitcoin to come in the next few months. Lumino is similar to the Lightning Network and will be launched in Q2 2018. More specifically, the first layer of this protocol will be launched at that time. According to the team, this new solution will improve Bitcoin scalability by over 8 times. An ambitious goal, to say the very least. Combining Lumino with Rootstock will have some interesting consequences, to say the least.

Header image courtesy of Shutterstock

The post Bitcoin Scalability Will Improve Dramatically With Rootstock and Lumino appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Most cryptocurrency users will be all too aware of what blockchain analysis means. Several firms around the world specialize in tracking transactions on public blockchains to ensure there is no nefarious activity conducted on them. Chainalysis is one of the market leaders in this area. The company recently inked a new set of deals with the US government to continue providing this service. Any non-anonymous currency will be tracked and scrutinized pretty closely for years to come, by the look of things.

US Government Appreciates Chainalysis

Not too long ago, we reported that the IRS was working together with Chainalysis to ensure that Bitcoin users weren’t using cryptocurrency for money laundering or tax evasion purposes. The company’s blockchain analysis services link real-world identities to particular Bitcoin transactions. Everyone should know by now that Bitcoin possesses no privacy or anonymity traits, nor was it ever intended to.

That fact makes it a lot easier for firms such as Chainalysis to perform blockchain analysis services. Knowing that a company like this one works closely with the US government is both good and bad. It helps validate Bitcoin as a tool not suited for criminal activity, but it also means people may face a lot of unnecessary scrutiny in the process. There is a very fine line between privacy and preventing criminal activity, unfortunately.

Now that Chainalysis has inked a few new contracts with the US government, things will get very interesting. The company is still on the IRS payroll in both the Western and Midwest regions, which is to be expected. There is every reason for the IRS to pay attention to the use of Bitcoin, especially now that the currency has become somewhat easier to keep tabs on. However, the firm is making some inroads with other US government agencies as well, which will create a very interesting future, to say the very least.

To be more specific, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency has started using the services of Chainalysis as well. Additionally, the DEA is paying close attention to the “custom computer programming services” provided by the firm. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out in the next few months and years. Although few people use Bitcoin for the purposes of money laundering and evading taxes in the US as far as we know, there is no reason to think no one is doing it. Weeding out the bad elements is still the top priority.

Moreover, it remains to be seen how all this will impact the ongoing IRS-Coinbase legal battle. The Internal Revenue Service aims to obtain customer records from Coinbase over various time periods. The agency’s main objective is to ensure no one has effectively used the exchange to launder proceeds from illegal activity or to evade taxes with Bitcoin. It is unclear if the government’s request will ever be granted, although its improved partnership with Chainalysis should bring most information to light regardless.

All of this goes to show that the US government is all too aware of what Bitcoin is and how it works these days. Moreover, officials know that people can use this cryptocurrency for many different purposes, including evading taxes and laundering money. Chainalysis has an interesting future ahead, but it remains to be seen if any of this will have a significant impact on Bitcoin moving forward. Analyzing the blockchain has become somewhat of a trivial matter, by the look of things. In the long run, cryptocurrencies focusing on anonymity and privacy may pose a much bigger challenge to Bitcoin.

SwissBorg is a decentralised banking backbone founded in Lausanne, Switzerland. The DAO aims to reshape the Swiss Private Banking system, where Individuals will benefit from democratic, transparent and trustful investment services to manage their crypto-wealth. On the other side, Investment managers and Financial Advisors will get access to cryptocurrency asset class and best-of-breed technologies (blockchain & AI) to better serve their clients.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

The SwissBorg ICO hilights four key features of the vetnure; first and foremost is the DAO that will issue the CHSB Token, which will give token holder voting and economic rights over the Swiss Cooperative. Token holders are entitled to receive revenues generated by the DAO.

The Cryptallion, a multi-strategy Token Hedge fund giving participants exposure to advanced investment strategies in cryptocurrencies with a competitive fee structure. The Cryptallion (CSB) Token will be 100% distributed to the network.

The Smart Mandate, an Investment Mandate encoded in a Smart Contract. Each client has its own customizable, transparent Smart Mandate that allows collaborating with several Financial Advisors hands-down. The Client can configure their banking requirements and investment strategies.

And finally, the ‘Cyborg Advisor’, providing sophisticated investment strategies with the best technological tools based on Artificial Intelligence algorithms, helping holistically manage your assets with ease.

SwissBorg will be a Swiss Cooperative entity,  CHSB Token will give token holder voting and economic rights over the Swiss Cooperative. Token holders are entitled to receive revenues generated by the DAO; Having an ambition of being an ICO 2.0, we have put in Smart Contract a rigorous KYC/AML procedure to guarantee the compliance of SwissBorg’s future. The Second token, (CSB), represents Cryptalloin – A Token Hedge Fund, in which 50% of performances are distrbuted to token holders, 40% reinvested in the fund and 10% are distributed to SwissBorg DAO.

Investors have already committed 20 million USD to the project so far during the private pre-sale, with investors including Swiss private banks, family offices, VCs, angels and UHNWI, including key investors Warwyck Private Bank, Thierry Uldry, Roger Zannier and Claude Berda.

To find our more, research the technical White Paper here, and their investment portal here.

Bitcoin Cash has exploded over the last 24 hours, finally stabilizing at the $1,500 level, but many insiders say that either fork is ok because adoption is key.

There have been many attempts to successfully fork Bitcoin over the past few years. Most of these efforts have been in vain, which is to be expected. Bitcoin Classic was one of the earliest attempts in this regard. Unfortunately, that currency is no more, and users are being advised to switch over to Bitcoin Cash. That’s not surprising, considering most people supporting Classic are also on the BCH bandwagon.

Bitcoin Classic Bites the Dust

Most people will readily acknowledge that the concept of Bitcoin Classic had some merit at first. Bitcoin is anything but a perfect cryptocurrency, and a lot of its issues can be solved in different ways. Those differences of opinion often create unnecessary friction in the world of Bitcoin development, to say the least. Bitcoin Classic was one of several attempts to create a different form of Bitcoin, even though it never gained any major traction.

The project was supported by a group of individuals who have always disagreed with Bitcoin Core, by the look of things. At one point, Bitcoin Classic’s marketing team got so aggressive that they decided to mimic Coca-Cola’s advertising model and turn it into a Bitcoin meme of sorts. While most people got a good chuckle out of that, Bitcoin Classic never succeeded in gaining any major traction whatsoever.  

Even the massive number of Bitcoin Classic nodes launching on the network didn’t do all that much to help this project. As it happened, someone spun up hundreds of nodes on a cheap VPS to make it look as if Bitcoin Classic was suddenly getting a lot of support from cryptocurrency enthusiasts. A lot of these nodes eventually disappeared when it became clear that the project would not dethrone Bitcoin whatsoever. Political games in Bitcoin have been far too common over the years, and Classic was a clear example of such shenanigans.

All of this doesn’t mean Bitcoin Classic wasn’t a decent project, even though it never amounted to much either. After nearly two years of work, the team has finally decided to throw in the towel and focus on bigger and better things. According to the Classic website, users are now advised to check out Bitcoin Cash, as it is the closest iteration of Bitcoin “as Satoshi indicated as his goal”. Somehow, the team feels its mission has been achieved in the form of Bitcoin Cash. It remains to be seen if their assessment is correct in this regard.

Considering the number of familiar faces supporting Bitcoin Cash, it is evident a lot of original Classic supporters have simply hopped on the former’s bandwagon in an effort to be successful. Whether or not Bitcoin Cash ever threatens Bitcoin’s status as the king of cryptocurrencies, these political differences of opinion will remain entrenched for quite some time to come. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and preferences, of course. If BCH gets enough support, it may become the new Bitcoin for all we know.

In the end, it is somewhat sad to see Bitcoin Classic come to an end. Then again, a lot of people forgot this project was still around in 2017, mainly because it almost turned into an obscure project. Whether or not all its developers and supporters will flock to BCH in the coming weeks and months remains to be determined. It is an interesting development in the world of Bitcoin; that much is evident.

November 12, 2017: Bazista — international e-commerce marketplace is pleased to announce the pre-ICO and will kick-start by 16th November 2017 with a special discount up to 45% for early contributors. A move to generate the needed investment for the finalization of the platform’s code to announce beta version of marketplace and subsequent promotion, this initiative is to prelude the ICO launching slated for December later this year.

Bazista offers blockchain and digital asset benefits to its users. Platform allows participants to sell products and services and a great and mutual way to earn promoting ads of other users and profit from its success turnover.

Known for its reliability, it enables users to exchange goods and services for digital assets. Bazista unlike other platform in the industry, utilizes 0% fees on equality, which allows saving up to 13% cost of commission cost. Read the white paper or simply check out Vahtang Abuladze CEO of Bazista Medium to know more about this opportunity.

More over a platform known for offering quick add of goods using the phone’s camera, adding goods with photos via Telegram bot, built-in fiat/crypto exchange, intuitive categories selection according to photos of the added goods (Neural network, simple AI) coupled with users’ ability to gain access to analytical tools. This gives a clear definition on seasonal peaks of demand for given product categories, filtered according to geographic location and profiles of the target audience.

Over the years, this is one of the first of its kind in the category for an online trading platform to offer powerful marketing instruments, enabling to adjust strategy on the platform whatever products being looked for, either to buy or sell on a growing digital economy industry.

The total number of generated BZS tokens is 440 000 000 and proportionately distributed for the development and realization of the project:

• 73% of tokens (321 200 000) will be sold in the ICO to secure funds for further product development, operations and international expansion;
• 15% of tokens (66 000 000) will be held by project founders and the rest of the team that helped to bring the project to life with their hard work and dedication;
• 4% of tokens (17 600 000) will be reserved for advertising campaign inside the platform;
• 3% of tokens (13 200 000) will be sold in the Pre-ICO;
• 3% of tokens (13 200 00) will be given to early stage investors;
• 2% of tokens (8 800 000) will intended for the initial stocking of the bounty pool.

Become a part of another advancement in E-commerce industry. Pre-ICO stage that will start on November 16th at 12:00 (+3 UTC) and will last till the 21.11.17 at 12:00:00 (+3 UTC), making 5 days in total. Bazista will offer 45% bonuses reserved for pre-ICO that is perfectly design as an appreciation for the project’s early supporters.

For more information and how to participate in this opening visit www.bazista.io.

Follow bazista on https://twitter.com/bazista_io

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

The blockchain industry has seen major growth over the past few years. Virtually everyone and their dog has come up with a new use case for blockchain technology, even though most of these ideas are not viable whatsoever. It turns out just 8% of the 26,000 open-source blockchain projects created back in 2016 are still around today. That’s a worrisome statistic, albeit not entirely surprising either.

Blockchain is a Kill-or-be-Killed Industry

While it is commendable that so many open-source blockchain projects were created in 2016, it’s quickly become evident most of them will not survive in the years to come. With a survival rate of just 8% right now, it is pretty obvious this particular industry is highly competitive. Bright ideas and some money don’t necessarily make for successful business ventures in the long run; that much is certain. That doesn’t mean interest in this particular technology will dwindle anytime soon.

Research by Deloitte shows that a lot of people give up on creating blockchain projects once things get tough. Indeed, the technology itself has a ton of potential, but most projects will never utilize it to its fullest. It is a lot easier to say that a given project will use blockchain technology than to make it actually happen. Most projects are abandoned within months, which is a pretty disturbing trend right now.

It is unclear why this trend is so prevalent, though. A lot of projects require years of work before they can get anywhere close to reaching their potential. Anyone who gets involved in blockchain development needs to understand they can’t make good things happen in mere weeks or months. There will be many challenges followed by even more setbacks. Overcoming all those hurdles will eventually result in success, but it can be pretty difficult to see things through, for obvious reasons.

One thing Deloitte’s report doesn’t mention is what types of projects were abandoned the most. Nor do we know if any of the projects in question involved cryptocurrency, such as altcoins being abandoned by developers once they were listed on exchanges and the premines were cashed out. It seems highly likely some of these failed ventures involve altcoins, though. Otherwise, there is no way one could find 26,000 open-source blockchain projects on GitHub that were created in 2016 alone. Counting altcoins would certainly help explain these numbers, as most alternative cryptocurrencies are abandoned shortly after launching.

One other interesting statistic Deloitte points out is that the average lifespan of an open-source blockchain project is just one year. In fact, most projects shut down within their first six months. By that time, the original excitement among developers and supporters has started to dwindle as it becomes harder to provide meaningful updates on a regular basis. Plus, developing a blockchain-based project is very difficult, especially if one doesn’t get paid for doing so in any significant manner.

It will be interesting to see what all of this means for the future of blockchain technology. With so many banks, financial service providers, and cryptocurrency developers working on this technology, the mortality rate will not necessarily go down over time. A lot of projects will never make it past the proof of concept stage either, depending on their long-term viability. This competitive business should not be underestimated by any means.

Computers and artificial intelligence are advancing at an exponential rate. New applications and uses for these technologies are announced daily, and there does not seem to be an end in sight to their capabilities. Even in areas such as the arts, computers are making an impact. In fact, the next catchy tune you hear on the radio may not have been written fully by a human.

Computers might be able to write songs in the future

While we may be a long way away from computers or AI making what humans would call “art,” they have already made an entry into the field – somewhat. A YouTube musician by the name of Taryn Southern recently released a song that she says was made in collaboration with an AI algorithm, not a person. She wrote the lyrics and the melody to the song, but apparently the backing track was built by the computer.

It should be noted that the program that wrote the backing track took a lot of tweaking and work itself in order to produce an acceptable result. This is to be expected, since computers are tools that need calibration and cannot – at least yet – make artistic decisions on their own. Apparently, when left to its own devices, this program produces incredibly poor music. But with the help of musicians and innovators such as Southern, music built by computers may not be such a novel thing in the not-too-distant future.

No need for artists to worry yet

It is understandably jarring to see a machine start to make music. I’m not an artist, but I could see how this might be unsettling. Luckily, there does not seem to be much cause for concern yet. As Southern noted, the program requires an incredible amount of work to make it anywhere near acceptable to audiences. This is not a computer taking someone’s job; it is a computer augmenting someone’s job.

The difference is profound. It is unlikely that computers will ever get close to taking over some of the industries that require the human touch: patient care, the arts, academia, and the like. Humans are just better at those things; in fact, we’re better than computers at a lot of things. We would do well to remember that in the face of a world freaking out that computers are going to ruin humanity.

I’ve said before that computers, robots, and programs taking many of the low-skilled and outright dangerous jobs from humans may be a good thing. But it may also be a good thing to have the jobs for which humans are uniquely qualified be augmented by computers. At the end of the day, we have to remember that computers are tools. We made them to make us better at what we do.

To be fair, this is also not the first time that musicians have utilized tools – electronic or otherwise – to make their music better. Beat-keeping devices, drum machines, and looping devices are all examples of how we make tools to make us better.

We’ll get over this fear of “digitization” the very moment we realize that making these devices reveals just another aspect of that complex whole that is humanity.