Day: November 18, 2017

Financial specialist from World Bank discusses how to keep your crypto assets and where to expect the boom for cryptocurrencies (you’re wrong if you guessed Wall Street!)

Cryptocurrency companies are often looking for new ways to attract even more investment. Although not everyone is necessarily pleased with the service provided by Coinbase, the company is taking a big step toward attracting institutional investors. Its new Custody service will focus solely on institutions and won’t be accessible to mainstream consumers. This new form of digital asset custody is sure to create a lot of new opportunities over the coming years.

Coinbase Custody is a Major Development

It is good to see exchanges such as Coinbase acknowledge the need for services appealing to institutional investors. Right now, few institutions are even focusing on cryptocurrency in a significant manner, mainly because there is little reason to do so. Without proper solutions on their level, it is doubtful that situation will change. Coinbase Custody may very well make a positive impact in this regard, although it remains to be seen if there is a genuine demand for this service.

At its core, Coinbase Custody will serve as a digital asset custody service. The service will adhere to strict financial controls and secure storage tailored to institutional investors of all stripes. Institutions possessing an interest in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other currencies will see the benefit of this service almost right away. Safeguarding digital assets is of great interest to a lot of institutions.

Moreover, Coinbase Custody will provide phone support to all users. Support staff will help with confirming transfers of funds and making account changes if needed. It is good to see the company deploy dedicated account representatives for this venture, as these are not regular clients the company will be dealing with. Coinbase doesn’t have the greatest reputation when it comes to customer support, but it remains to be seen how this effort will play out.

Moreover, the Coinbase Custody service will revolve around multi-user accounts with separate permissions. It is similar to the concept of multisignature wallets, but with more customization when it comes to giving certain people limited responsibilities related to managing funds. Different levels of permissions include viewing accounts, performing internal transfers, and making withdrawals.

The multi-asset support aspect is also significant. More specifically, Coinbase Custody will support Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, ERC20 tokens, and others which are yet to be announced. It will be interesting to see what users of the new service will pay the most attention to. It is evident that Bitcoin and Ethereum are on most people’s minds these days, but there is some good money to be made with other assets as well. We won’t know which “other” currencies will be supported for a while yet, but there is a good chance Bitcoin Cash will be among them.

As one would expect, the Coinbase Custody service doesn’t come cheap. There is a sign-up fee of US$100,000, and users will need to adhere to a minimum balance of US$10 million. That is quite a steep amount, but it also confirms the company has no plans to deal with anyone but institutional investors when it comes to the Custody service. That being said, this is an early access product and those numbers may change over time. Whether or not there is sufficient demand for this service remains to be seen.

The second stage of Boosteroid token sale starts on October 27th, 2017. Boosteroid is one of the most expected projects and has a number of significant advantages comparing with other ICOs held so far.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Project founder Ivan Shvaichenko told about the project, who will benefit from it and which problems it solves.

– Could you explain, what is Boosteroid?

– Boosteroid – is a cloud services platform providing convenient access to computing power, storages and different software products. Cloud computer will help users fulfill a number of tasks.

It will be possible to process video, create 3D-graphics, play games that require high computer performance, carry out machine learning and many other things. Users will be able to connect to the service even from the most low-performance PC.

Even a child will be able to launch a cloud computer.

– So your plan is actually to compete with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud. How are you going to share the market with such giants and what are your advantages?

– Exactly. We are going to compete with them. First of all, nowadays market leaders provide very high rent of computing power.  Secondly, users should learn many instructions and watch a number of tutorial videos to rent computing power. This requires much time and efforts. The idea of our project is to create a service that will provide access to computing resources just in two mouse clicks. Moreover we will develop user-friendly interface that will allow to select the needed amount of power and it will be easy even for users, who have purchased their first PC a couple of days ago.

– How many people are there in your team now?

There are around 40 people working on the project.

– You’ve issued your own cryptocurrency BTR before the ICO. What is its value for investors and what profit will token holders get?

– Unlike in many other projects, our BTR corresponds to a real service – 1 token equals to 1 hour computing power rent*. So, it’s not just ineffective promises.

Investors will be able to rent computing power for BTR tokens or exchange them for other digital currencies or fiat money on exchanges and gain profit.

We will create a demand for BTR. After our service is launched we’ll start purchasing tokens for fiat money paid by users who rent our computing facilities. Considering a large number of users and a limited number of released tokens, BTR exchange rate will increase and investors will get maximum profit. All unsold and undistributed  tokens will be destroyed and tokens accepted as a payment for the service will expire so there won’t be too much tokens on the market.

*1 BTR = the cost of one hour computing power rent on the basis of eight NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphic cards; two Intel Xeon E5 2680v4 processors; RAM 256Gb; SSD 960Gb.

– Why does your ICO includes three stages?

– This is because we don’t need the total amount of investments at once. The funds raised after the first ICO stage will be used to set up electricity connection, get the premises ready for the setup of equipment and to begin the operation of our computing facilities. We will also use these investments to continue development of software to create convenient access to computing power. The money we get after the second ICO stage will help purchase and set up the equipment and launch computing facilities. Finally, the funds attracted during the third ICO stage will be used to further expand our computing power.

– You plan to launch a cloud computer in May, 2018. Is there any project demo?

– Yet in the end of November, 2017 everyone will be able to test Boosteroid computing power on our website. Despite the fact that we launch our service with limited functionality, the users will still be able to enjoy all Boosteroid advantages mentioned above.

– What can negatively affect implementation of your project?

– We are already building our computing facilities and we will expand them regardless of the ICO results. So there are actually no risks in project implementation.

– Did you calculate the profitability of Boosteroid?

– The maximum payback time of our project is 3-3,5 years.

– What’s the team doing right now?

– Now we mainly focus on getting ready for the second ICO stage, that starts on November 27th and will continue until December 11th, 2017. There will be 300 million BTR tokens available for sale. Right after the 2nd stage there will be the 3rd, final stage that will take place from January 15th to February 15th, 2018.

You can find out more about the project here: https://boosteroid.com/

According to several Turkish news sources, law enforcement have detained a criminal ring in Merter, Istanbul. The gang reportedly extorted cryptocurrency from a wealthy business who had been flashing his cash on social media websites.

In total, they were able to steal 450 BTC, worth over $3.5 million at today’s market price. According to local newspapers, the criminals posed as police, followed the victim to his car before bundling him into the back of a van. There, they threatened him at gunpoint to transfer the Bitcoin, as well as to surrender his online banking log in details. The whole incident is said to have lasted eight hours before the businessman was released.

The gang were less effective at covering their movements than they were at extorting the funds, however. Following a report being filed with law enforcement by the victim, police were able to quickly identify the members of the criminal network using CCTV surveillance cameras in the area. An intelligence gathering operation followed in which the authorities studied the movements of the members. Meanwhile, the stolen funds were tracked via the blockchain. However, it’s unclear at present whether the Bitcoin were returned to their rightful owner.

Having gathered sufficient evidence, the police moved in as the gang were preparing a second extortion job. During their investigation, the authorities also discovered that mining devices had been stolen from three other victims in the district of Esenler.

Following the arrest of the members of the gang, HaberTurk, a Turkish news source reported that the ringleader has been sentenced to 30 years behind bars. The incident and ensuing legal action is the first prosecution for a cryptocurrency-related extortion in the country of Turkey to date.

It’s believed that the gang had targeted the businessman after he had posted various pictures of him living a flamboyant, decadent lifestyle on social media platforms. This further highlights the need for discretion with cryptocurrency holdings. Announcing that you just bought 20 BTC for 100 bucks to the general public on an online forum back in May 2011 might not have seemed like a big deal at the time. Today, however, you’d be considered a more than worthy target for a similar extortion to that detailed above.

The post Turkish Gang Extort 450 Bitcoin appeared first on NEWSBTC.

The Next Frontier in Blockchain Technology: Scaling and Commercial Optimization.

Giving everyone in the world access to Ethereum as a way to issue new tokens is a decision that may backfire at times. More specifically, this technology has been getting a lot of attention from Neo-Nazis. White supremacists have created their own Ethereum-based digital tokens over the past few months. The Daily Stormer, one of the online bastions of Neo-Nazism, didn’t take too kindly to some recent comments of Ethereum pioneer Vinay Gupta.

Neo-Nazis and Ethereum Don’t Mix Well

Making innovative technology accessible to the whole world is a dangerous venture, as there will always be people who make use of this technology for the wrong reasons. In the case of white supremacists, they have created tokens on top of the Ethereum blockchain as a way to fund their operations. While the majority of activity still takes place with Bitcoin, the rise in the popularity of ERC20 tokens should not be underestimated whatsoever. Not everyone thinks these individuals should be able to access this technology, though.

More specifically, recent comments made by Ethereum pioneer Vinay Gupta received criticism from The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi and white supremacist news website. Gupta has made some interesting comments on Twitter related to race including his opposition to ideas such as white pride. One would expect the Ethereum technology to be censorship resistant, but we also know touchy subjects such as this one are often the cause of contentious debate. It is highly unlikely the Ethereum developers will cut off white supremacists from the network, though.

Unfortunately, the Internet and cryptocurrency have a well-documented history of racist viewpoints. For instance, The Daily Stormer CTO Andrew Auernheimer has claimed that Jews have “too much influence over the blockchain industry.” Additionally, every Bitcoin-related forum has some sort of anti-Semitic conspiracy theory to read up on. It is evident that prejudice will always remain a problem in our society, and with platforms to create dedicated digital currencies and tokens, that divide will only become more apparent.

Social justice issues have become so talked about, they are now affecting the cryptocurrency industry as well. MyEtherWallet recently tweeted a statistic indicating that 18% of its users are female, which generated concern from social justice-related groups. At the same time, a portion of the male population was eager to point out that this tweet was too feminist. We would all do well to keep track of the real issues affecting cryptocurrency, rather than go off on social justice crusades for no good reason.

How all of this will play out remains to be seen. There is a general feeling that supremacists deserve to exist on the Ethereum platform, even if one disagrees with their opinions. None of the projects in question have attracted sufficient attention to make them worth paying attention to, but a dangerous precedent has been set regardless. Neo-Nazis are eager to point out flaws in cryptocurrency, but that is partially the reason why so many people appreciate this new form of money.

It is doubtful that the involvement of Neo-Nazis and other supremacist groups will have a negative impact on Ethereum technology in general. Everyone is free to use this code to suit their needs, legitimate or otherwise. The technology isn’t politically-oriented whatsoever, nor does it judge people for their behavior. It is evident that ERC20 tokens of all kinds will be created in the future, although some will be far more controversial than others.

Through Coinplug mobile app, South Korean users can now easily withdraw and deposit cash to sell or obtain Bitcoin.

Hong Kong – November 14, 2017 –  Pre-Sale ICO of Galaxy eSolutions a global e-commerce marketplace specifically for refurbished consumer electronics will begin on 17th November 2017 at 12:00 UTC.

About Galaxy eSolutions (GES)

Galaxy eSolutions is based in Hong Kong, with global e-commerce marketplaces for refurbished, pre-owned consumer electronics. The range of products are from pre-owned consumer smartphones to other consumer handheld electronics. The whole process is managed by GES from procuring the electronics, refurbishing them, to re-selling and distributing them globally. The process provides high-quality products with affordable prices for consumers.

(Video) – https://youtu.be/fYuXpIJRNJ0

“The GES ICO is a chance for funders to get their hands into a multi-billion dollar market. We will reward our funders with a generous profit sharing model and all our tokens are backed by real products.” Yuen Wong, Co-Founder & CEO Galaxy eSolutions.

As an existing business, is set to generate $20 million revenue sales in 9 months of operation towards the end of 2017, from its active marketplaces. GES has the aim and the potential to grow and become the market leader.

The market of refurbished consumer electronics is valued as a multi-billion dollar market and one of the fastest growing markets with a double digital growth rate per year; but this is not common knowledge. Becoming the market leader will enable Galaxy eSolutions to introduce other branded products, provide optimal customer experience, penetrate other developing markets, and open a gateway to environmentally aware consumers.

The GES team of ‘leaders’ and advisors consist of Founders and Entrepreneurs of leading online international businesses, and experts in the technology field specifically blockchain.

The GES Tokens

The tokens can be used as a utility where the holders of GES tokens will be able to use them on the marketplaces owned by Galaxy eSolutions. It will operate as an open source ecosystem on the decentralized Ethereum blockchain platform. A one-stop solution for fast, simple and secure transactions.

There will be 3,000,000 GES tokens made available in the token sale. The rate of the tokens will be 100 = 1 ETH, with 3 bonus periods in the Pre-Sale.

1. Pre-Sale 1: From 17th November to 23th November: Secure a 30% boost.
2. Pre-Sale 2: From 24th November to 30th November: Secure a 20% boost
3. Pre-Sale 3: From 1st December to 7th December: Secure a 10% boost

Public ICO will then commence on 8th December 2017 at 12:00 UTC, following the end of Pre-Sale on 7th December 2017 at 11:59 UTC, till 15th January 2018 11:59 UTC.

The target and hard cap of 25000 ETH will be used for the developments and launches of other e-commerce marketplaces under Galaxy eSolutions. The funds raised will also go towards the growth plan and strategy in place.

Read the whitepaper for more information on the allocation of funds raised: http://whitepaper.galaxy-esolutions.com/

For more information about the allocation of tokens go to the website: https://galaxy-esolutions.com/.

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.

There are many different ways to make cryptocurrencies scale these days. A direct block size increase, SegWit, and Raiden are just some of the names that come to mind. Mimblewimble is another solution which was initially developed to solve Bitcoin’s scalability problem once and for all. Not much has been heard from this project over the past few months, but the team is now ready to put their code through its paces on a testnet.

Mimblewimble Development is Still Ongoing

It is always good to see new scaling solutions getting a testnet. Mimblewimble has been an interesting project, especially considering that it was announced well over a year ago. Until earlier this week, there was no indication that this project would ever get off the ground. As it happens, the first testnet for Mimblewimble has finally launched. While it is still experimental at best, some big progress has been made by the developers.

One of the main reasons Mimblewimble has received so much attention is its focus on scalability and privacy. All of this is achieved with “cutting-edge cryptography”, although few people know the specifics of this project right now. The new testnet will allow developers to see what the code does and build applications taking advantage of this scaling protocol.

It is very likely Mimblewimble’s developers will run into a fair few issues along the way, given that their code is still experimental first and foremost. That was the main reason for launching this testnet, as it will help the Mimblewimble developers identify issues and resolve them in a future version of the software. 

The code for the Mimblewimble testnet – as well as associated instructions – can be found on GitHub. Given the unique and complex nature of this project, it is good to have some written instructions on hand. Indeed, accessibility is always an issue affecting software in the early stages of development, though this first testnet was designed for developers rather than anyone else.

The native currency of Mimblewimble will not be Bitcoin, surprisingly enough. Rather, the testnet coins are known as “grin”, and the testnet itself is called “Grin”. It will, however, be possible for the Bitcoin developers to integrate this functionality once it becomes more stable. There will be quite a few different testnets along the way, though, and no one should expect to see this implementation go live within the next few months.

It is certainly possible that future versions of Mimblewimble will include support for Lightning Networks of some capacity. It is evident that this proposal has a lot of promise, assuming the developers can ensure that the code works. There is a lot of promise out there when it comes to scalability solutions and privacy-oriented features in the cryptocurrency world, and an interesting future lies ahead for Mimblewimble.

News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on the San Francisco–based digital library, the Internet Archive, ‘hodling’ its bitcoin donations and making some nice gains in the nonprofit’s yearly earnings reports. This week the Internet Archive has announced it will be accepting two more cryptocurrencies — bitcoin cash and zcash.  

Also read: Internet Archive and Overstock to ‘Hodl’ More Bitcoin Revenue and Donations

The Internet Archive Now Allows Bitcoin Cash and Zcash Donations

On November 16, the Internet Archive revealed it will now accept bitcoin cash (BCH) and zcash (ZEC), alongside the bitcoin (BTC) donations it’s been accepting since 2012. The nonprofit explains the team has always been a fan of the cryptocurrency movement just as they believe in providing a free and secure internet backup for the public.

“We’ve been accepting Bitcoin donations since 2012, and starting this week, we are now accepting donations of Bitcoin Cash and Zcash,” explains the Internet Archive’s recent blog post.    

It all started when ‘UKcryptocurrency’ tweeted us asking the Internet Archive to start accepting bitcoin cash — We love a good challenge and got that link up within hours.

Accessible Knowledge Forever and for Free

Founded by Brewster Kahle in 1996, the Archive has been a popular 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in the U.S. The platform allows individuals to upload and download a vast cache of digital data while also managing a web archive called the Wayback Machine. According to Wikipedia, the Archive hosts the largest book digitization cache in the world.

Kahle has explained that cryptocurrency donations have been a big part of the charitable organization’s funding, and he’s even paid Archive employees in bitcoin over the years. The disruption bitcoin brings to the world of finance is very much tied to the evolution of the information age, and Kahle aims to keep the archive going for generations to come.          

“We are a non-profit organization with a huge mission: to give everyone access to all knowledge — the books, web pages, audio, television and software of our shared humanity — Forever — For Free,” the Archive’s blog post concludes.

What do you think about the Internet Archive accepting bitcoin cash and zcash? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via the Internet Archive. 

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The post Internet Archive Adds Bitcoin Cash and Zcash for Donations appeared first on Bitcoin News.

How to structure token sales that comply with securities laws open participation to a diverse range of purchasers and enhance value for all involved.

Bitcoin cash’s big ups and downs have had market impacts far and wide, while showcasing the nascent nature of the crypto sector as a whole.