Day: November 23, 2017

The price of ether, ethereum’s native token, has brushed all-time highs above $400 – falling just a dollar short of June’s record.

Interested in working on a cryptocurrency market? Make sure you pick a right crypto wallet to ensure your assets are safe.

By Akke Svensson, Rahakott CEO

A crypto wallet is a necessary instrument for all those using a cryptocurrency. To pick a right wallet one doesn’t need any special skills – just a general knowledge of how cryptocurrencies work will be quite enough. Here are a few important things to keep in mind.

1. Know how cryptocurrencies work

Today service providers do their best to make their platforms as user-friendly as possible to ensure that anyone could easily register, send and receive digital money. Therefore, one doesn’t need to have a previous experience in working with crypto wallets.

The only thing that one should understand is how cryptocurrencies work: what happens with the assets when they are transferred, how they are stored and how they get accessed. These are the general principles of how cryptocurrencies work and knowing them will help choose a correct crypto wallet, because there are many types of them catering to different needs of a client.

If you’ve never worked with a cryptocurrency before, study the topic first and talk with those who have experience on the market. This will help you pick a right wallet that will meet your requirements.

2. Study the service thoroughly

Be attentive when examining potential platforms for your assets. Assess the accessibility of the platform. As any other financial service, it has to work without any interruptions and problems.

Check reviews online. If there is a lot of negative feedback, don’t disregard it. Reviews regarding any problems or interruptions should raise suspicion. It would be incorrect to ignore such information or try to attribute such feedback to the work of the service’s competitors.

Study the information about the platform and check whether it has the latest safety control system. It should have two-factor authentication – sms authentication is no longer reliable.

Assess the work of the support service. In case any problems emerge, you should have a channel of communication with a technical support team that will respond in time.

Check the commission rates to understand what kind of sums would be pointless to transfer through the system.

Don’t ignore any of these steps. It’s better to examine how the system works before starting to work in it, rather than do it when you face real problems.

3. Be careful

Always be careful working on the crypto market. Of course, transparency is its significant advantage, but at the same time it’s also an opportunity for different scammers to make a profit on new users’ trust.  

Don’t forget to use every security option offered by the service. Save your mnemonic phrase in a safe place. Either print it out and delete from a computer or, if you save it on a computer, use special programs for password storage, like KeePass. The best option, however, would be to use a separate laptop operating on Linux for working with cryptocurrencies.

About the author: Akke Svenson, Rahakott.io cryptocurrency wallet founder

Entrepreneur, IT specialist, blockchain enthusiast. Graduated from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and Stanford University in the US. He began his career at Ericsson, then worked on developing services for financial companies in Europe. For a few years he served as CTO at a Silicon Valley fintech startup. After that, he returned to Sweden and founded his own company, specializing in IT consulting. He became interested in blockchain in 2013, believing that modern technology will help build new economic relationships in the world.

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.

“Deal with it,” Bitcoin Cash lead dev has said as Bitcoin allegedly dies again (but not really).

Hey, guys! We have a great new contest for the most attentive readers. Consider yourself a Special Agent. You’ve got nine days to collect the secret code. The fastest of you will win 0,05 BTC.

Recently, digital currency contracts for differences, also known as CFDs, have become more and more popular thanks to an increased marketing effort on the part of providers. Because of this, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has decided to issue a warning pertaining to the possible risks that investors expose themselves to when trading CFDs.

Understanding the CFD risks

Digital currency CFDs are complex financial instruments allowing investors to speculate on the possible changes in coin prices. Most of the time, CFDs are offered with leverage, which means that investors are only required to invest a portion of the total value of assets being traded. However, the existence of large leverage considerably increases the impact that a price change could have on both profits and losses. In other words, if traders don’t speculate well, they can quickly lose their money due to volatility.

According to the FCA, trading CFDs poses several risks, such as volatility, leverage, charges, funding costs and price transparency. Therefore, in the opinion of the FCA, digital currency CFDs are both high-risk and extremely speculative financial instruments.

CFD traders in the UK are protected by the FCA, as the financial regulator oversees the activity of firms offering these trading instruments. However, the FCA has once again pointed out that it cannot offer any compensation to individuals who lose money from trading these instruments.

Based on these points, do you consider CFDs to be high-risk investments? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Air New Zealand is partnering with decentralized travel platform Winding Tree to explore blockchain tech for ticket booking and baggage tracking.

Many startup companies are now embracing the idea of blockchain technology. They are now holding ICOs to be able to enhance their blockchain platform. Holding an ICO is not an easy task and requires a lot of time and money. Most of all the ICOs nowadays are using the Ethereum as their technology therefore offering ERC20 tokens. Government regulators like the SEC are attempting to standardize the process of   cryptocurrency based campaigns. To run a campaign, there are requirements one needs to have met like having a comprehensive whitepaper that shows about the company, the infrastructure, the ICO and the team.

Blockstarter Technology

Blockstarter is an Ethereum based platform that will enable companies to arrange their project and ICO by just a few clicks. It will allow you to list your campaign, create a smart contract, raise funds through the ICO or even be able to contribute to other businesses through the platform. It will reduce the time and cost used in creating your own campaign.

The Blockstarter has an engine where it is able to tackle a range of technical issues faced while holding an ICO. It allows the projects to receive contributions through different cryptocurrencies and transparent distribution of tokens. Using Blockstarter you may host your ICO on their website where you will be able to activate a contribution panel. Another option will be to launch your own website for the crowdsale and use the Blockstarter’s contribution panel as a white-labeled solution. Aside from Ether, Blockstarter allows Bitcoin, Dash, Litecoin, and Dogecoin as a means of transaction. The currencies received during the ICO process are stored in their respective accounts, awaiting further operation by those holding the ICO campaign.

ICO

Blockstarter is powered by its native ZBS tokens. The total amount of tokens is fixed at 100,000,000 ZBS and the price is set 1USD = 12.5 ZBS or 1 ETH = 3750 ZBS at the rate of 1ETH = 300 USD.

Startups that would like to advertise their companies in recent times have to hire experts in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Blockstarter seeks to reduce this by enabling less-skilled experts to create the campaign by offering a user-friendly interface to create the campaign and hold the ICO.

The post Blockstarter set to Create a better Infrastructure for ICO’ appeared first on NEWSBTC.

23rd November 2017, Mauritius – The EARTH Token and the blockchain based Natural Asset Exchange (NAE) are set to disrupt the multi-trillion dollar trade in natural assets and carbon mitigation products. The project is being launched by impactChoice, a company that has been providing the industry with digital carbon mitigation solutions since 2009.

The EARTH Token will be the native token on the NAE and will be used to tokenize the value of natural assets supplied to the exchange and to make them available for carbon mitigation and environmental sustainability trading.

The highly anticipated EARTH Token ICO Presale is currently underway offering 30% Bonus EARTH tokens until the main sale commences on the 24th of November, 2017 12:00 GMT.

The current market for natural assets is made up of demand-side buyers, predominantly corporations who buy natural assets or carbon credits to mitigate against their carbon footprint, and natural asset providers who supply the market with natural assets that are certified as providing a net positive towards environmental sustainability.

The current carbon mitigation market for both mandatory and voluntary offsets is in the tens of billions. Despite this, it is currently characterized as unsophisticated, as the trades happen across borders through a slew of middlemen resulting in only a fraction of the funds reaching their intended destination.

This market is ripe for disruption through modernization and the blockchain based Natural Asset Exchange is just the instrument that is needed to bring much-needed transparency, price discovery and accountability to the trade of natural assets. It is anticipated that the blockchain based NAE will rejuvenate a market which is hindered by high barriers to entry and open it up to new market participants both on the demand and supply side.  

New asset classes and environmental projects can be supported on the NAE, such as anti-poaching activities and broader environmentally sustainable activities. To better understand the impact the NAE can make in the market, learn about it first hand from one of the co-founders of impactChoice on his blog: https://medium.com/@leonard.harley

The NAE will result in a democratizing of the market for natural assets which mean it will no longer be the sole domain of large corporations. As new asset classes get loaded into the exchange, new buyers such as non-profits, communities, small businesses, and even individuals will be able to directly support remote environmental projects in a permissionless way and bypass middlemen, foreign exchange fees, and other current market inefficiencies.

EARTH token holders are set to see the value of their tokens appreciate as more economic activity takes place on the exchange as all trades will be settled in EARTH Token.

impactChoice is the parent company of the EARTH token and NAE. They have been providing software, hardware, and on-site fit-out solutions for the trade of carbon mitigation assets to the environmental sustainability industry since 2009. In April of 2017, impactChoice implemented a private permissioned blockchain solution which it offers to its clients and they will be tasked with building the Natural Asset Exchange which is scheduled to be operational in Q2 of 2018.

 “From 2009 it has been our mission to enable institutions and individuals alike, to minimize their impact on the environment – giving them the choice and the tools to act responsibly by providing them with simple solutions that allow them to achieve their environmental goals”, – Leonard Harley, Earth Token co-founder and Managing Director of impactChoice.

Kariba REDD+ and The Black Rhino Reserve Wildlife Trust will be inaugural natural asset partners at the launch of the Natural Asset Exchange with more partners anticipated to join the project at launch. Follow announcements here: Kariba Redd Updates

You can have your say in the future of the earth’s sustainability and be a part of the trade in natural assets that will help preserve our environment for future generations.

The EARTH Token (EARTH) Pre-Sale Bonus Token period is currently underway and is already receiving overwhelming support. The Main Sale commences on the 24th of November, 2017 12:00 GMT where the discounting of bonus tokens starts.  Currently EARTH Tokens can be purchased at a rate of 5,200 EARTH Tokens for 0.04 BTC or 1 ETH which includes a 30% Bonus (non-sale rate is 4,000 EARTH Tokens at 0.04 BTC or 1 ETH).

To find out more about EARTH token – contact them directly through the following channels:

Earth Token team at [email protected]

Website: http://earth-token.com

Whitepaper: https://earth-token.com/pdf/impactChoice-Earth-Token-Whitepaper.pdf

Where to buy: http://earth-token.com

Telegram: https://t.me/earthtokenofficial

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/earthtoken

Twitter: https://twitter.com/earthtokens

Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2198758.0

CEO Blog: https://medium.com/@leonard.harley

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.

Amid high trading volumes in South Korea, bitcoin cash is flying high today and could gain more altitude in the near-term.

Last month, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced its intention to issue diplomas to over 100 graduates through the use of blockchain technology. Now, it seems yet another university has decided to do the same thing. Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) recently announced its plan to offer students blockchain-based credentials after finishing their studies.

Secure and verifiable credentials for students

According to CNM, the digital credentials system will begin on the 15^th of December. Once it does, students who wish to have easily verifiable yet secure higher education diplomas can choose to have them issued via blockchain technology. The benefits are major: these credentials are easily verifiable by employers, securely stored, accessible anytime and from anywhere, and even free!

Apart from the official blockchain diplomas and grades, the system can also store details related to the skills that students have acquired during their college years.

This will also make it easier for companies to perform background checks, as students will no longer have to submit copies of their diplomas, which can be easily faked using image editing tools. Additionally, employers will no longer have to make phone calls to find out whether job applicants have studied where they say they did. Rather, diplomas can be verified via a simple link.

Said CNM’s president, Katherine Winograd:

We are very excited to begin adopting this technology that’s going to provide more value, independence and convenience to our students throughout their lives . . . Students put forth tremendous effort to earn their higher education credentials and we’re going to start empowering more students with ownership over their own educational achievements.

Additionally, CNM is developing a platform for other universities, colleges and K-12 schools meant to issue digital credentials to students with the help of blockchain technology.

A strategist from Deutsche Bank has reiterated a stale point that seems to still be emanating from many banks and lenders: Don’t invest in Bitcoin.