Day: January 25, 2018

Darknet marketplaces are making some big changes behind the scenes. With some of the major trading hubs having been shut down by law enforcement agencies last year, there is a growing need for privacy and anonymity. This also means payment solutions such as Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash are no longer sufficient. Dream Market, currently the top darknet marketplace, is completing its integration of Monero. Vendors are being asked to set their preference to use Monero or not. It’s a big step forward for all parties involved.

Monero is Coming to Dream Market Soon

Most darknet marketplace operators tend to announce major developments well in advance. Even though they don’t want to hype their own platforms too much, it is evident the competition in this industry is not to be trifled with. Whenever one big darknet marketplace disappears or gets taken offline, three or four contenders will step in to take its place. A lot of money passes through these underground marketplaces, and most of the payments are still made in Bitcoin.

That is coming to change in the very near future. Not too long ago, we noticed that some darknet marketplaces were leaning toward integrating Bitcoin Cash. Although it’s no more (or less) private and anonymous than Bitcoin, it offers lower transaction fees and faster payment confirmations. Bitcoin is not the peer-to-peer currency everyone wants it to be, and darknet vendors are getting fed up with paying high fees and waiting hours for payments to be confirmed. Bitcoin Cash seems to be filling this void, but it’s still lacking in terms of privacy and anonymity.

When it comes to finding a fungible cryptocurrency which is also both private and anonymous, there is only one real contender to speak of right now. Even though a lot of altcoins claim to focus on privacy, most of them seemingly implement it in an optional manner. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but when it comes to hiding transaction amounts, senders, and recipients, Monero clearly has the better cards right now. It’s a project many people tend to overlook because it is not as convenient for novice enthusiasts to use as some others. At the same time, powerful technology is always rather unwieldy during the first few years.

In fact, Bitcoin wasn’t embraced by the darknet either until it became more convenient to use. Monero is going down a very similar path, with the added bonus of being a fungible cryptocurrency. Moreover, it has privacy and anonymity features built in at the protocol level, even though users can still make every aspect of their transactions public if they prefer to do so. Giving users the option to be transparent is better than giving them an option to obtain more privacy. In this day and age, privacy should be the default approach setting, rather than the exception.

As a result of this careful approach to anonymity and privacy, darknet markets are now starting to pay attention to this alternative currency. In fact, Dream Market is preparing to integrate Monero payments in the very near future. Vendors who access the platform will receive a notification asking them to accept XMR payments for future orders. It is unclear when the integration will be fully complete, but it seems to be merely a matter of days until that happens.

Consequently, users of Dream Market will soon have three payment options at their disposal. Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash will still be supported, even though they are clearly not cut out for darknet payments. Monero, on the other hand, seems to be suited for anyone in the world – regardless of their intentions or offerings – to accept and complete payments in a private manner. For darknet users, this may be the fungible anonymous payment method they have been waiting for. For everyone else, Monero is the closest one can get to fungible financial privacy as of right now.

Whether or not other darknet markets will also integrate Monero remains to be seen. Some Reddit users feel that any darknet market not using Monero doesn’t care about customer security or privacy, which is a very strong statement. An interesting paradigm shift is taking place across the darknet; that much is rather evident.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

(ASEAN – January 25, 2018) Dragon Inc. is now officially ready to launch its Casino & VIP rooms blockchain-based solution after successfully raising more than USD $6 million in Pre-Token Sale funding for their project in December 2017.

Together with the USD $265 million already raised from institutional investors, and the USD $48 million raised from a closed Pre-Sale, Dragon Inc has now raised USD $320 million in capital before the Public Token Sale opens – already making this the biggest crowdsale to-date.

“With the start of 2018 we must look back at 2017 and give heartfelt thanks to our supporters, both internal and externally. Dragon would not be where we are today without the on-going sharing of knowledge and amazing support they have received to create a truly remarkable Dragon community and allow Dragon to rise across the international stage.”  says Paul Moynan, Co-Founder of Dragon Inc.

With the momentum growing across the Blockchain and gaming industry related sectors alike we find the Dragon Blockchain ecosystem becoming the entertainment token of choice. Paul, Co-Founder of Dragon Inc. says,

“While mass adoption of our platform has seen both Chris and I clocking up some serious air miles across Asia, our success is due to the constant and diligent support of our team and our advisors.”

Dragon started 2018 in truly amazing fashion, from the success of their pre-sale and early supporters to seeing its market cap surpass 500,000,000 USD to its highest point to date of 2.4 Billion USD all within the first 10 days of January. This is a true testament to the Dragon Community and the team over at Ethereum for giving Dragon the platform to rise and realise our global potential.

Dragon’s journey so far has seen its founders fostering new relationships across Southeast Asia, honoured to meet industry leaders, innovators and key players within the Blockchain and entertainment industry.

“The greatest part of our journey so far has to be meeting with skeptics and winning them over to become ambassadors for Dragon, adding to the Dragons confidence along with the 15,000 plus in our growing community”, says Chris Ahmad, CEO and Co-Founder of Dragon Inc.

January has seen regional roll out with Dragon’s strategic partnerships with well established and new to market Exchanges, the development and soon to be released Dragon wallet, and several joint venture across Singapore, Philippines and Hong Kong. All of these are playing key roles towards the preparation of Dragon Public Token Sale which launches on the 15th of February in time to celebrate Chinese New year and usher in good fortune and prosperity across the world.

The Dragon family is working tirelessly across US, Russia, India, Japan and Asia. This week is the start of both the world economic forum and the Crypto HQ forum taking place at Davos.  Dragon ambassadors will be on hand to promote and answer questions for both events, and Dragon looks forward to supporting further growth and development of Blockchain at many more key events this year.

If you’d like to learn more about the company’s ecosystem, solution and intellectual property, please visit Dragon Inc’s website https://drgtoken.io and follow all the latest updates on Dragon’s Telegram channel.

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.

Scaling Bitcoin has been a topic of substantial debate for quite some time now. When Bitcoin Cash came around, it almost seemed as if these problems would be put to rest once and for all. With its on-chain scaling approach, BCH is the most functional version of Bitcoin right now. In fact, it seems we will see another major on-chain scaling upgrade for BCH in the very near future. If things go according to plan, 32-megabyte blocks will become the new normal very soon.

Bitcoin Cash Continues to Evolve

Even though the Bitcoin Cash network can comfortably support 8MB blocks right now, very few mining pools and service providers do so. In fact, Antpool only has started mining 4MB blocks, indicating there is still some room to breathe, so to speak. However, if the network’s current growth rate continues, reaching 8MB blocks is only a matter of time. Thinking ahead will become a necessity at that point.

To counter any future problems in this regard, the Bitcoin Cash developer community has put a roadmap on the table to increase the default block size to 32MB later this year. It is well known that such a plan has been discussed before. On-chain scaling of Bitcoin Cash seems to be the right way forward, as it is something the vast majority of its community will easily agree to.

The big question is whether or not major mining pools are confident they can support 32MB blocks. Especially when it comes to Chinese service providers, the existing infrastructure may not be able to deal with such a large block size right away. Given Antpool’s recent switch to 4MB blocks, it seems they are testing the waters to see how far they can push things. Going to 32MB is a major increase, though, and no one should underestimate how much pressure it will put on the company’s infrastructure in the coming months and years.

All developers in the Bitcoin Cash community have the same vision when it comes to future scalability. Becoming and remaining a fast and low-fee peer-to-peer electronic cash system will be a big challenge, but nothing is impossible. Seeing such a unified consensus among the developers is rather impressive, as it is something we don’t often see in the world of cryptocurrency right now. With the focus on increasing the block size further, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for BCH.

The deployment of a new client supporting the 32MB block size may occur as early as May 15 of this year, though the next upgrade wouldn’t happen until November 15 of 2019. It is evident that this new major block size increase will need a fair amount of testing and support from the BCH community as a whole. So far, things seem to be heading in the right direction, but there will undoubtedly be more debates regarding this choice. It is good to see such proposals arrive well ahead of time.

It is also interesting to note that the Bitcoin Unlimited team has confirmed that a 32MB block size increase was once possible for Bitcoin. This option was “deactivated”, although it is unclear why, how, and when this happened exactly. Bitcoin will not pursue any on-chain scaling solutions in the near future, by the look of things, which may turn out to be the wrong decision in the end. Only time will tell whether the BCH team is on the right track. So far, the efficiency advantage seems to confirm as much.

The governor of the Bank of Canada thinks Bitcoin is nothing more or less than gambling.

Stephen Poloz, 62, told CNBC he does not believe in the term cryptocurrencies, arguing that new payment technologies like Bitcoin are definitely “cryptos but not currencies.” He made further statements about how Bitcoin cannot be called either an asset or a security due to its zero intrinsic value. At last, the term he thought could suit the digital currency was gambling.

The statement arrives at a time when regulators around the world are struggling to create a definitive legal framework for cryptocurrency ecosystem. They are creating their own definitions for Bitcoin to bring it within any kind of legislative purview. Some are even banning it for imaginary reasons. But in reality, the digital currency has by far proven itself as a multifaceted technology that could assume the role of both a financial and a tangible asset.

Poloz’s statements are extremely important hints towards the nature of upcoming Bitcoin regulations in Canada. It is almost confirmed that Bitcoin ecosystem will be regulated just as gambling ecosystem. At the same time, Poloz confirms that there will be no roadblocks for young Bitcoin and Blockchain startups. Excerpt from the interview:

“I have no doubt that at least for the purposes of consumer protection … We will be developing regulations around this space in due course. But what we are being careful to do here is to not stifle innovation.”

Cryptocurrency Crash Won’t Affect Economy

Poloz also believes that a cryptocurrency crash event would not have any implication on the wider economy. Instead, it will be more like a tech wreck scenario, in which a segment of cryptocurrencies will fail.

“So I think if you take that experience to heart if something like that were to happen in the cryptocurrency space, it would probably be smaller today,” added Poloz. “I don’t want to minimize the risk that you raised because any mania has the scope to get much bigger.”

On being asked about launching a Canadian digital currency, Poloz felt that there is no rush to create national cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, he confirmed that if Canada ever has one, it would not be needed to be on a blockchain.

Author’s note: Despite not showing the good nature of a random stable fiat currency, Bitcoin and other altcoins can be found being used in exchange for goods and services. Renowned companies like Expedia, Microsoft, Dell, etc. already accept Bitcoin as a payment method. Freelancers around the globe accept it to settle payments online. The fact that cryptocurrencies are being generally accepted or in use makes it a currency; howbeit implausible it may seem.

The post Canadian Central Bank Chief: Bitcoin is Gambling not Investing appeared first on NewsBTC.

The creators of the Vestarin platform claim that the interface is developed according to the established schedule. For a successful and well-coordinated work, a team of professional programmers, web designers, marketers is carefully selected. A team of experts has been formed, currently based in the headquarters of Vestarin. Some project staff members work remotely from the US, Korea, Cyprus.

What will be the main features of the platform? Users will be able to:

• Pay for goods, services, entertainment with crypto-currencies.
• Form strong teams to launch personal projects.
• Freely communicate in an interactive chat with other crypto-enthusiasts.
• Exchange currencies in exchangers with the highest reputation.
• Learn about the emergence of new blockchain platforms in the world.
• Invest in ICO with minimal risks, relying on the reputation generated by users.

The platform will integrate:

− store or service, receiving a profit in the crypto currency;

− ICO and thus draw the attention of the whole community to the project;

− your exchanger, getting leads.

Previously it was known only that the Vestarin will be as simple and concise as possible. A clear menu, systematized information in sections – Vestarin promises to be convenient for each participant. The other day the developers presented the first screenshots of the design layout (access was limited before).

The general director of Vestarin shared hot news:

“The initial development phase was carried out in accordance with the schedule without any delays. We create a truly high-quality platform for investors and entrepreneurs, whose counterparts are not yet on the market. We believe that Vestarin will win leading positions in its segment in 1 year after introduction, being the trading platform # 1 in the market of crypto-currency.”

Want to learn more about the process of creating a platform? Join us at www.vestarin.io .

The expanded information is available in White Paper, where the advantages, perspectives and prospects of the project are revealed.

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.

Cryptocurrency community members can be rather creative when they put their mind to something. The Village Catalog project essentially serves as a sort of internet general store. Its main purpose is bringing more attention to cryptocurrency as a whole, although there is a strong focus on Bitcoin Cash first and foremost. It is not necessarily a decentralized marketplace in the same league as OpenBazaar, but it’s evident there is a growing demand for the ability to buy and sell goods online in exchange for cryptocurrencies.

The Village Catalog Project in a Nutshell

It is good to see community members come up with different ways to promote the use of cryptocurrencies. Most retailers are not too keen on providing this payment method right now, even though it could offer them multiple benefits in the long run. In fact, we’ve seen a fair few retailers end Bitcoin support once and for all, which is a rather worrisome trend. Something will need to change in this regard, and it may take some community effort to do so.

The Village Catalog project seems to be an interesting way of bringing this change to the world. It allows users to buy products in exchange for Bitcoin Cash and receive 1-3 day shipping. It is not exactly like Amazon, but there’s no reason to think that the comparison couldn’t be made in the future. Only time will tell how successful this project can be, though.

Looking at the list of available products, it is evident Village Catalog focuses on consumables first and foremost. There are multiple listings for food and beverages, as well as some basic kitchen utensils. There is no section for electronic goods or anything else that one would expect from such platforms. There are companies which specialize in selling electronics for Bitcoin or other currencies, yet it is evident this particular project has no intention of getting in on that action.

Interested parties need to be aware that Village Catalog will only ship to the United States right now. It is possible there will be an international expansion at some point, but that is not the plan right now. The top priorities are letting sellers list their products on the platform, integrating an affiliate program, and improving Bitcoin Cash integration, in addition to integrating a faster shipping option and better warehousing.

The big question is whether or not there will be big interest in projects like these. Given the current challenges in the world of cryptocurrency debit cards, spending Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash for smaller purchases such as food and drinks may certainly be an interesting opportunity to pursue in the future. After all, consumers won’t stop spending their BCH anytime soon, but finding new places to do so will always remain a bit of a problem. Village Catalog may fill that void a bit, although it is too early to draw any conclusions.

Cryptocurrency community members will need to get creative in order to promote their favorite cryptocurrencies in the future. That’s because traditional retailers will hold off on dealing with cryptocurrencies for quite some time to come, especially during periods of major price volatility. Community-driven projects may struggle for traction at first, but it seems things will eventually pick up. Cryptocurrencies can no longer be ignored, and the platforms embracing this new payment method will win out eventually.

World leaders have struck a cautionary tone on cryptocurrencies in statements made during the World Economic Forum event in Davos.

“Let’s take power away from the centralized agencies!” #INTERVIEW

Starting in February, no-cost stock trading app Robinhood will allow users to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum with no fees whatsoever. #NEWS

January 25, 2018: WELL is pleased to announce the launch of its WELL Web Platform for both patients and providers, delivering convenient healthcare anytime, anywhere.

WELL’s simple, easy to navigate telemedicine platform connects patients worldwide to a global network of doctors and other healthcare professionals 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Key benefits for patients include immediate appointments at up to 30% less than the cost of in-person visits, plus access to interpreters, pharmacies, labs, and medical equipment suppliers. Patients also benefit from WELL’s blockchain structure, which protects patients’ medical and financial data while providing easy, cross-border payments without high exchange rates, processing fees, or third-party fees.

WELL’s provider features include remote monitoring, connectivity with patient devices, video and conference capabilities, and the integration of various records systems.  

To sign up for WELL’s web platform as either a patient or provider, visit the link and register, or view a demo of the platform using the email addresses [email protected] or [email protected] along with the password: password.

About WELL

WELL founder and CEO Ildar Fazulyanov was inspired to create WELL in April 2015, following a snowboarding accident that left him frustrated with the inefficiencies of the healthcare system. Founded on the belief that quality care should be available anytime and anywhere, WELL is globalizing healthcare and eliminating country borders to directly connect doctors, therapists, psychologists, and other healthcare specialists with patients worldwide.

Today, WELL works with companies such as:

• Medicare,
• myMatrixx®
• Optum
• Century Pacific Medical, Inc.
• Medi-Cal,
• Veteran Affairs,
• Tricare,
• Medicare Advantage,

Several HMO/PPO plans, self-pay/private pay, dozens of hospitals, assisted living facilities,

hospices, over two hundred home healthcare agencies.

WELL’s global network of clinicians speaks English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Korean, Armenian, Vietnamese, Farsi, Japanese, Russian, Hebrew and many other languages.

To find out more about WELL, access the company’s white paper, or read about the token sale and how to participate, visit our official website. For media inquiries, please contact our PR team.

Links:

BitcoinTalk announcement link

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Youtube channel link  

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Contact Email Address

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.