Day: January 9, 2018

The post UBI Blockchain Is the Latest in Series of SEC Cryptocurrency Crackdown Targets appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The post UBI Bitcoin Is the Latest in Series of SEC Cryptocurrency Crackdown Targets appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Particl, billed as a decentralized marketplace, has announced that they will be adding known Bitcoin evangelist and early investor, Charlie Shrem, to their advisory team. The addition provides credibility to the start up as Shrem is a prominent figure within the Bitcoin community, having co-founded one the the first and largest Bitcoin companies, BitInstant, in 2011.

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Particl has claimed to be the first ever dapp built on top of the bitcoin codebase that includes confidential transactions as part of its functionality. The network uses a proof-of-stake protocol, which is an alternative to the typical proof-of-work algorithm used by many other cryptocurrencies that allows users to stake their coins and earn interest on them.

Furthermore, the platform is intended to be “crypto-friendly,” meaning that while it will have a native built-in token, it will not limit exchange to just its native token. Thus, allowing users to buy goods on their marketplace with a variety of different cryptocurrencies.

Charlie Shrem commented on becoming an advisor to the Particl project, saying that the privacy-centric nature of the peer-to-peer marketplace is exactly what he wants to see in a blockchain-based platform and in a cryptocurrency.

“I’m excited to be working with Particl,” says Charlie Shrem. “As I see privacy, fungibility and ease of use the main pillars for any crypto. What if there were no needles in the haystack?”

The addition of Shrem  would seem to mesh nicely with Particl’s decision to build off Bitcoin rather than Ethereum, a unique quirk in an age of Ethereum-based projects, considering Shrem’s early support of the currency that ultimately helped to bring about its current level of success.

Particl uses Bitcoin as its base, creating a more privacy-oriented variant of its blockchain-based design. It simply modifies the vetted protocol, including features intended to enhance its privacy compared to the original Bitcoin code The team claims that no other project has included privacy improvements on Bitcoin; adding confidential transactions and ring confidential transactions. 

The project is not, however, simply layered on top of Bitcoin’s blockchain. Instead, it has created its own blockchain platform that gives them ability to do a lot more with their native token (PART), offering voting rights, governance control, and income through interest via the the proof-of-stake consensus algorithm.

Particl project founder, Ryno Mathee, believes that with Shrem’s help they will be able to quickly grow their vision and potentially improve upon it with his added input.

“We are excited to get some input from an industry heavyweight, Charlie’s influence and experience will help us grow tremendously.”

Becoming the team’s Strategic Advisor, he will advance the implementation of their core beliefs that includes privacy and an agnostic take on cryptocurrencies in general.

The team plans on releasing the alpha version of their marketplace in the beginning of 2018 and will not be meant for just Particl users. The team believes that moving forward Shrem, as a trusted name in the cryptosphere, will be important in helping them establish relationships with other projects and organizations.

Visit the Particl Website: https://www.particl.io

No hacking or compromise of MyEtherWallet (MEW) has taken place, MEW staff refute social media rumors. #NEWS

Ripple’s XRP asset has been of great interest to financial institutions, traders, and speculators all over the world. Although it is pretty volatile due to the fact that it is traded against cryptocurrencies, things are still looking pretty solid for the time being. A new petition on Change.org aims to make XRP the base currency for all cryptocurrency exchanges. It’s a very interesting turn of events, although it remains to be seen how much impact such a petition can actually have.

Making XRP More Prominent Across Exchanges

In the world of cryptocurrency exchanges, there are very few base trading markets to be seen. If a given exchange supports fiat currencies, the number of trading markets is pretty significant. However, the crypto-only exchanges in existence usually offer the trading of altcoins only against Bitcoin itself. Some platforms offer Ethereum trading markets as well, but the choices pretty much end there these days. Poloniex is one exception, as it also has a few XMR markets, but none of them are overly popular right now.

That situation may soon come to change, assuming a new Change.org petition succeeds in making a major impact. More specifically, the petition aims to make XRP a new base currency on cryptocurrency exchanges. As a result, all supported currencies on a particular exchange could be traded against Ripple’s XRP. It is a very interesting approach, although it remains to be seen whether or not any service providers will even pay attention to this request.

While it is commendable to see the XRP community get behind this initiative, there are many reasons why exchanges will gladly ignore this particular petition. First of all, they may not have the infrastructure to sustain additional trading markets linked to XRP. Secondly, they may not see the benefit of creating such markets in the first place, as it makes little sense for platforms on which XRP isn’t a popular currency right now. Furthermore, it remains to be seen if it is worth the time to develop such markets. While XRP is pretty hot right now, the enthusiasm may cool off eventually.

At the same time, there are some interesting reasons as to why exchanges should pay more attention to XRP. The network is a lot faster than either Bitcoin or Ethereum and charges lower transaction fees to boot. To be more specific, its infrastructure is capable of processing over 15,000 transactions per second. All of these factors make XRP an appealing choice as a base trading currency on exchanges, but it is highly doubtful this asset will ever dethrone Bitcoin or even Ethereum in this regard.

If the petition gains sufficient support, it will be presented to around 10 cryptocurrency exchanges. The planned list includes Bittrex, Binance, Bitstamp, Korbit, and a few others. Considering that the number of petition supporters is still very limited, it seems highly unlikely this initiative will get off the ground anytime soon. Then again, it only needs 100 signatures to be represented, which is next to nothing.

In the end, it is important for cryptocurrency exchanges to keep evolving at all times. Adding additional base trading markets is always an option worth exploring, although XRP may be considered to be somewhat of a controversial choice. At the same time, there are few other currencies which would make more sense in this regard, with perhaps the exception of Bitcoin Cash. The current attention and hype surrounding XRP should not be underestimated, as this asset has a lot of future potential. Whether or not it deserves more attention in the cryptocurrency world will always be subject to debate.

A lawmaker in Nebraska has filed a trio of bills focused on blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

ZoZo Coin, a Moldova-based startup focusing on a blockchain tech, is announcing a partnership with the Digital Distributed Technology Moldova Association (DTMA). This news emerges as the project tries to support blockchain efforts in the country and innovate the real estate using the tech.

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Currently, ZoZo Coin is attempting to find real use cases for the blockchain as it relates to the real estate market. Their goal is not to just benefit investors, but to have their project benefit Moldovan locals, specifically in these following ways: Job Creation, Community economic development and supporting higher education.

A Quote from the DTMA reads:

“We are happy that ZoZo Coin has become a sponsor partner to the association and has shown the interest into Investment opportunities for blockchain technology, current discussions for local projects has been of key interest especially when this connects to job creation within Moldova and there interest in supporting the Digital Moldova 2020 Roadmap.”

As a means of supporting education in the country, DTMA is partnering with the ZoZo Coin team to create the ZoZo Lab, which will take on students to work as interns for the project and them them with things like marketing and PR, IT, and real estate projects.

The project is also experimenting with other organizations that could create more investment opportunities, something they believe could result in financing up to $10 million USD. In addition, they also believe it could grow tourism in Moldova — increasing the amount of people visiting the country by potentially tens of thousands per year.

DTMA’s initiative is helping to bring Moldova up to par with the rest of Europe economically , as Moldova is currently Europe’s poorest country, by leveraging blockchains to spark technological advancement in the country.

Blockchain experimentation could also bring investor money into the country, considering the amount of money being put into cryptos on a global scale — seeing well over half a trillion dollars being invested into the market in 2017.

ZoZo Coin’s first move in joining the DTMA initiative and becoming a sponsor was to add $100,000 USD to the project. Its token has also been added to Moldova’s first ever cryptocurrency exchange, which is launching in the beginning of January of 2018.

Additionally, the startup has been involved with philanthropic activities, with the organization having donated about $48,000 USD towards typhoon victims in Vietnam. According to ZoZo, they believe this effort demonstrates how blockchains can be used to improve the lives of the most needy.

Malaysia’s securities market watchdog has issued a cease-and-desist to a startup ahead of its planned initial coin offering (ICO).

Over the past few years, we’ve seen cybercriminals pay more attention to cryptocurrencies than ever before. This is anything but surprising, especially given the significant appreciation of most currencies in the year 2017. It now seems someone is running a malicious Google Adwords campaign disguised as Kucoin. Given the current appeal this exchange has, it is highly likely a lot of people will fall victim to this scam.

Beware of Fake Kucoin Ads

It is neither the first nor the last time we will see fake Google advertisements for cryptocurrency-related services. Such nefarious ads have affected various exchanges over the past few years, including Bittrex, Poloniex, and a few others. It now seems Kucoin is the go-to target, mainly because it is quickly becoming a popular trading platform among cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Its lack of KYC features is considered to be a major benefit, although such features will be implemented at a future point.

As Kucoin gains in popularity over time, it is only normal that the “wrong crowd” will show an interest in what this platform has to offer. Its trading markets generate substantial volume, as most supported currencies can be traded against both Bitcoin and Ethereum. The platform still seems to generate far less volume than some other exchanges, but given its lack of KYC requirements, that volume will likely pick up over time.

It is a bit unclear what people hope to achieve with these fake Google Ads, to be honest. One possible explanation is that they wish to obtain login credentials of specific users, which would give criminals access to their balances. At the same time, Kucoin always advises users to enable two-factor authentication. Those who do so will always remain safe from these phishing sites, as the criminals can’t get past the 2FA verification unless they put in a ton of effort.

By the look of things, the fake Kucoin Google ads will redirect users to Kucoin.net. This website looks very similar to the real Kucoin website, Kucoin.com. This once again highlights the need to bookmark the sites you use rather than rely on search engines to show the proper results. Advertisements on Google often promote phishing sites or other scammy websites, and cryptocurrency exchanges are a prone target right now.

Surprisingly, it appears it is not the first time these fake Kucoin ads have showed up on Google. Similar advertisements were displayed not too long ago, and Google eventually removed them. It is unclear whether the same person is running the ads once again or if someone else has taken over. It has become far too easy to create such fake advertisements and have them approved by Google. Unfortunately, this will remain one of the most pressing problems in the world of cryptocurrency for quite some time to come.

One could argue the Kucoin team should have purchased all top-level domain extensions for their platform to avoid issues like these. It is a more than valid argument, and for some reason, they decided against doing so. Even so, Google should do its research a lot better before allowing people to put up such malicious advertisements. We can only hope that not too many people are affected by this, yet only time will tell whether or not that is the case.

The DTMA (Digital & Distributed Technology Moldova Association) was founded and supported by both local and international advisories. These advisories run additional workshops and presentations, which bring several international representatives to Moldova to present variable use cases around blockchain technology. The DTMA community portal is now live and open to registrations.

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The DTMA aims to implement international projects within Moldova and leverage the valuable assets that the country has to offer, such as its untapped human resource market for national developers. This could help provide a suitable testing environment for developing projects that can be exported into the global market.

The DTMA have numerous projects set for release in 2018, which will be of economic consequence to the local economy and other outside areas. In January 2018, the DTMA launch of Moldova’s 1st exchange with 8 Fiat pairing currencies is expected.

Most recently, DTMA launched its own blockchain version of Dash for self-governance and the use of the treasury. The Dash version will be an option for students and academics to be eligible for small grants to explore blockchain images.

DTMA are also doing their due diligence for the creation of a ‘Tech Zone’ within the ‘Free Economic Zones’. These zones will include tax breaks for blockchain projects which are currently under discussion. This will aid the company in digitizing and developing commercial real estate for mining projects of up to 80 Hectares.

DTMA is also planning to organize training and workshops for international companies looking to enter to the Moldova market and for projects that would like to setup Labs for interns at various universities. This Travel Portal has been designed with additional functionalities and is set to be released later in the year, aiming to support the export of wine from Moldova and marketing opportunities via tokenization. Currently, the portal is active with 900 Airlines and 800,000 hotels globally.

DTMA is  currently conducting due diligence with local private companies in a bid to delve inside the potential of its own version of the famous hub ( Level 39, Canary Wharf, London). This proposal could potentially enable Moldova to be a hub between the CIS countries and EU.

DTMA intends to support the digital era in the long term and attract the international blockchain marketplace to Moldova as a national hub. At the same time, the company aims to improve and support higher education with the economic and digital roadmap of the government.

Digital Moldova 2020 has been set up to help encourage digital currency communities and blockchain projects to join DTMA to help aid and educate future applications that Moldova will look to grow from.

The success of Ethereum-based dapps could lead to a big year for the cryptocurrency, according to advisor Steven Nerayoff. #ADOPTION

The Swiss government has launched a new initiative to cement its regulatory framework surrounding blockchain startups and ICOs.

The concept of initial coin offerings has been put through the wringer several times over. More specifically, the SEC is cracking down on any company or project potentially violating securities laws. It is evident there is still a great future ahead for this business model, but only when teams take the necessary precautions. One particular user on Fiverr claims they will take care of all these issues on your behalf for a rather modest fee.

Utilizing Fiverr for ICO Needs

It is evident anyone in the world can easily host an initial coin offering without too many problems. All one needs is access to the Ethereum blockchain, a smart contract to handle the issuance of tokens, and potentially a fancy whitepaper to explain the details of your project. All of this can be achieved with enough time and money, and it is of the utmost importance to ensure that your behind is covered when it comes to the legal aspect of your ICO. Especially if your investors are based in the US, complying with existing regulations needs to be a top priority.

Unfortunately, it remains highly doubtful every single future ICO project will follow that course of action. There are plenty of shortcuts to be taken, and it’s often better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission to do something. In the case of some recent ICOs, they found out the hard way that they should have done their homework a bit better. Excluding US and Chinese investors seems to be the standard course of action right now, although it’s always difficult to properly guard against such mishaps.

For those users who just want to build an ICO and farm out everything else, there’s always the option of looking on Fiverr. A user by the name of Springexpert claims they can advise people on their particular blockchain project and build it accordingly. Moreover, they – and potentially their team – can build wallets, white papers, and proof of concept applications if needed. It is a more than appealing way to go, although the end results may vary.

In any case, creating an ICO in this manner will set you back around US$1,000. That is a very small price to pay if you’re hoping to raise millions of dollars. Springexpert will ensure it is delivered within 9 days for an additional fee of US$500, verify the Etherscan.io contract for an extra US$200, and build the crowdsale contract for US$500. All things considered, it is a very cheap package which checks all of the right boxes other than the legal side of things. It’s a more than compelling offer, assuming people are comfortable trusting a random stranger on the Internet not to run off with their funds after the ICO is completed.

All of this further confirms that anyone in the world can run their own ICO without any shred of coding knowledge. If you are willing to throw some money at it, your project will be taken care of within a few weeks. Surprisingly, this particular Fiverr user has gotten a lot of positive feedback. That in itself is somewhat worrisome, as it may indicate most people have no idea how an ICO should be conducted in the first place.

Whether or not offerings like these will bring more legitimacy to the concept of initial coin offerings is highly unlikely. Rather, it is more likely that offerings like these will only lead to even more ICO projects which will fall apart sooner or later. At the same time, it is evident there is sufficient genuine interest in the ICO business model to warrant hiring third parties to take care of things on one’s behalf. How all of this will play out in the long run has yet to be determined.