Day: January 27, 2018

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck has confirmed their intention to refund the stolen funds to the 260,000 affected users, totalling 523 mln NEM. #NEWS

The CFTC has taken a very keen interest in cryptocurrency-related projects. The agency keeps a close eye on initial coin offerings, but they also target alleged scams. As a result of this aggressive stance, the CFTC filed federal court enforcement action against My Big Coin. The company raised over US$6 million from various investors, but the funds have allegedly been used for personal expenses and luxury goods.

My Big Coin Turns Into Another Scam

Cryptocurrency users all over the world are all too aware that there are numerous scams in this particular industry. It has become increasingly easy to defraud novice users, mainly through initial coin offerings and other types of investment opportunities. Even though a lot of these projects fail to provide working code or a comprehensive whitepaper, projects such as My Big Coin still successfully raise US$6 million in a matter of weeks. Without conducting due diligence, it is only normal that a wrong investment will be made at some point.

For the people who invested in this particular scam, it seems there may be light at the end of the tunnel. The CFTC has cracked down on this particular company and issued a federal court enforcement action under seal. Commodity fraud charges have been filed against the company as well as Randall Crater and Mark Gillespie. Both of these individuals are responsible for creating the My Big Coin Pay, Inc corporation and, by default, for defrauding the investors who spent their money on this particular project.

With US$6 million collected from various investors, supporters of My Big Coin had high expectations for this project. Unfortunately, it seems Crater and Gillespie have only used this money to pay for personal expenses and purchase luxury goods. It is not uncommon behavior in the world of cryptocurrency scams, although it remains unclear why both individuals assumed they would get away with this.

Over a week ago, the assets of both Crater and Gillespie were frozen by a Massachusetts district court judge. Additionally, the judge ordered the freezing of assets belonging to Kimberly Renee Benge, Barbara Crater Meeks, Erica Crater, and Greyshore LLC. The latter company had allegedly received customer funds without providing legitimate investment services to clients. It is evident that a proper investigation of this project and its link to Greyshore LLC is in order.

The CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, James McDonald, commented:

As this case shows, the CFTC is actively policing the virtual currency markets and will vigorously enforce the anti-fraud provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act. In addition to harming customers, fraud in connection with virtual currencies inhibits potentially market-enhancing developments in this area. We caution potential virtual currency customers, once again, that they should engage in appropriate diligence before purchasing virtual currencies.

It is good to see government agencies pay attention to cryptocurrency-related projects attempting to defraud investors. Although it remains to be seen if any of the victims will be refunded, there’s a good chance most people will get their money back in the long run. My Big Coin has always been a rather shady venture, mainly because the currency is not traded on any exchange. Nor is the currency backed by gold, as there are no gold assets to speak of. The alleged partnership with MasterCard also raised a lot of questions which could not be properly answered.

No one will deny that the conflicting opinions on how Bitcoin should evolve are quite amusing to follow. The course of action maintained by the Bitcoin Core developers raises a lot of questions and very few solutions to ongoing problems. We have seen hard forks pop up out of nowhere, although Bitcoin Cash is the only one with any sort of traction. According to some users, a hard fork of Bitcoin needs to remove proof of work. Whether or not such a concept is even viable has yet to be determined.

A Proof of Stake Version of Bitcoin?

We have seen a very interesting discussion on Twitter over the past 24 hours. It all began with Vinny Lingham promoting Bitcoin Cash, which immediately drew a response from Litecoin developer Charlie Lee. Lingham pointed out that BCH not having SegWit is the main reason why it is superior. At the same time, SegWit paves the way for the Lightning Network, which may finally make Bitcoin useful again. We also can’t forget that SegWit is a big reason why the Bitcoin community is so fractured right now.  

Moreover, it seems Lingham is clearly against a user-activated soft fork which changes the economic rules of the system. That in itself is interesting, considering that the UASF had zero impact on those rules whatsoever. Instead, it was the first time all Bitcoin users – not just miners – could flex their muscles and make decisions. Opinions on this particular matter will always remain divided, though.

The conversation took an interesting turn when someone proposed that a peer-to-peer network governance model could only be achieved through proof of stake. PoS removes the need for mining, which means that miners can no longer “make the rules”. At the same time, there is nothing which dictates that a P2P network consensus model doesn’t need miners or would be better off without miners. Both models will slowly push toward a more centralized consensus model.

To put this into perspective, the current Bitcoin mining hashpower is very centralized. So are the network nodes, as has been documented before. With proof of stake, the centralization would not necessarily end. People could set up multiple wallets on centralized networks, and those with the most coins could still “make the rules”. It’s evident there will need to be some sort of compromise between the two camps, but for now, that seems further away than ever before.

Uh .. if users want a voice they should choose a coin that isn't POW .. as I said, hard fork to proof of stake and it makes sense. Miners are nodes in a POW system .. a non-mining node is quite useless .. POW is completely broken if miners break the rules

— Joe Kunzler (@josephkunzler) January 26, 2018

If the above tweet is any indication, it seems there are at least some entities in favor of creating a future proof of stake-based Bitcoin hard fork. It would certainly be a very interesting development in the world of cryptocurrencies. Proof of stake for a currency such as Bitcoin wouldn’t necessarily work, mainly because of the issues associated with proof of stake as of right now. This technology is far from perfect and would not necessarily serve a purpose for Bitcoin. A hard fork of Bitcoin, on the other hand, could certainly take this route without too many problems.

It is unclear if such a project will ever come to market, though. We have seen a handful of Bitcoin hard forks already and none of them even considered using proof of stake, for obvious reasons. Whether or not any future Bitcoin hard fork will decide to take this route remains to be seen. It may not be until Ethereum’s Casper is released before proof of stake becomes a lot more popular. Only time will tell how this situation evolves, but it’s always interesting to hear different people’s opinions on these matters.

The global online gambling market will surpass $50 billion in 2018, creating a borderless economy the size of wealthy Luxembourg.  You can safely bet that many governments would like to be collecting taxes on this rapidly expanding market, which has doubled in size since 2011.

As long as corruption is high in the bookie-run gambling market, some governments will ban gambling, pushing gamblers into high-risk illegal gambling markets that often shut down overnight and keep players’ winnings, much to their disenchantment with the system. The self-regulating Blockchain is a promising technology to create safer, fairer gambling markets and rid the industry of the corruption that has kept gambling off the legal books.

Illegal Gambling

Fortunately, most jurisdictions do not punish players for gambling illegally, although some unlucky gamblers in strict states such as Singapore and Saudi Arabia have been rounded up by authorities. Nevertheless, the ‘illegal’ status of gambling keeps many from participating in games of chance, online and casino gambling.

The centralized gambling markets rely on third parties to take money, conduct fair play and return your winnings in a timely manner. These third parties known as ‘bookies’ have long been accused of match-fixing. Since the Chicago White Sox through the World Series in 1919, match-fixing has become more widespread and sophisticated.

In 2013, “Europol found over 380 European football matches that were fixed”. In the digital world, game algorithms can easily be tweaked and results falsified. If Lady Luck is on your side and you outsmart the house, a bookie is more likely to look for ways to limit or close your account.

Replacing the Bookie With a Smart Contract

Gambling on the Blockchain replaces the bookie with a smart contract. Players place bets directly with each other on a decentralised peer-to-peer betting system. The transparency and provability of transactions provide regulators with security in the system. Without a bookie to manipulate outcomes in his favour, the fairer system delivers a zero house edge. These innovations would favour the online gambling sector in June when the United States’ Supreme Court will rule on allowing states to legalise sports betting.  

The Blockchain is benefitting from favourable legal rulings in other areas. More gamers are winning and buying rewards and gaming assets. Typically, these assets have stayed within the game environment. Blockchain gaming worlds are allowing players to trade game assets outside of the game. A number of US court rulings have deemed these assets non-gaming winnings, and allowed players to legally keep them. In addition to swords and castles, increasingly rewards will be divvied out in crypto tokens, more analogous to cash winnings. The legalising of gambling will uncomplicate the status of these game assets.

LetBet

LetBet pioneers in Blockchain chooses to revolutionize online gambling. LetBet moves gameplay onto a trustless platform. Instead of giving a third party your money, escrow is staked directly from your digital wallet. All actions on the LetBet platform are performed using the “LBT Coin”. Besides its utilitarian value, the coin’s value should increase as the LetBet market grows.

When it comes to speed and data quality, LetBet seeks to distinguish itself among Blockchain gaming platforms. Data is streamed from leading brokers, including Bet365, William Hill and BetFair, to help you find the best odds. LetBet’s proprietary Blockchain processes transactions at a speed of xx versus one minute on average on the Ethereum Blockchain.

The LetBet developer team has put its veritable experience and expertise in creating a smart fork within the Ethereum blockchain which is suitable for not only online gambling but for many other activities as well. This blockchain is a zero chain, meaning that it does not require any transaction fees, which increases its appeal greatly. LetBet has endeavored to revolutionize the online gambling industry with its secure, trustless and fast platform. It invites gaming enthusiasts to get a share of the pie by participating in the ICO.

The LBT Presale has already started on 20th Jan at price from $0.4 and has sold 3 million tokens as of 25th Jan, while ICO begins on February 25th with price from $0.8. Come, be part of the revolution!

The post LetBet Pioneers in Blockchain to Make Online Gambling Safe and Legal in Your Neighbourhood appeared first on NewsBTC.

Cyber-Physical Chain (CPChain) is the first decentralized infrastructure of the next-generation Internet of Things (IoT), leading to the formation of a trusted and new distribution IoT systems. The platform has been given enhanced scalability and security, tackling real-time issues faced by blockchain, and providing comprehensive solutions for data collection, sharing and application in the IoT industry. The ecosystem is enabled for multi-party data transactions and IoT-big-data-based Artificial Intelligence decision-making applications.

The Industry Challenges

At present, the IoT is based on centralized technology and function mode in the fields of smart homes, medical care and intelligence transportation, and encounters the common issues in connection costs, data value, trust and business models. The current IoT solutions are expensive as the data centers developed for one single project have a number of IT systems with their own databases and management tools. This inefficient architecture doesn’t meet the demand of billions of connected devices worldwide. Moreover, the majority of IoT devices yield lower profit in proportion to their life cycles.

The CPChain Goals to Address the Industry Challenges

Being based on the blockchain’s distributed ledger and an open-source distributed database having multiple parties, CPChain is the comprehensive IoT data platform that solves the “isolated data island” problem. This is because the decentralized IoT system developed on the blockchain can handle data from tens of billions of connected devices.

Due to the use of blockchain technology, decentralization brings utmost privacy and security. No data is stored in a centralized data center, which decreases the risk of malicious disclosure and hacker attacks.

CPChain is the blockchain-based IoT system with a P2P decentralized network that allows participants to participate in data sharing process equally. Users are able to authorize their data access and its applications and can get a huge volume of valuable data from the service providers at much lower cost. This leads to the creation of smarter services and realization of the value transferred via real-time data flow.

Features of the Platform

CPChain’s parallel distrusted architecture of the distributed cloud storage system and decentralized blockchain system tackle the scalability problem of high-level data storage and sharing. The platform presents a new hybrid consensus protocol for complex public blockchain based on the collaborative optimization design of communication and computing. Also, the side chain consensus system having high security, concurrent and real-time machine transaction is developed by blending an edge computing and hardware safety methods in the industry chain.

 The homomorphic encryption allows computation of encrypted data without needing to decrypt it. The data marketplace lets traffic data to be integrated to optimize traffic routes and insurance rates. Lastly, the integration of sensor data of cars predicts the maintenance of automated vehicles.

About the Team

Dr. LONG Chengnian (Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering), the co-founder of the platform and principal scientist, is the professor at School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University; one of the most prestigious universities in China and within the top 150 universities in the world. Dr. LONG has written and published more than 50 papers in various international journals and conferences and was honored with the title of New Century Excellent Talents by Ministry of Education in 2011.

The Final Thought

CPChain’s decentralized system separates the data layer from the control layer, develops a parallel architecture to strengthen system scalability, offers open data sharing function and protects user privacy and accuracy.

To know more about the platform and explore its features in details, please visit http://www.cpchain.io/

The post CPChain – The Next Generation of Internet of Things to be Launched appeared first on NewsBTC.

Even though NEM was the targeted currency during the Coincheck hack, it seems the price isn’t budging all that much. Yesterday, it seemed the NEM price would see a massive drop, but the market has recovered quite nicely. As of right now, the NEM price is above $1 once again thanks to a strong 18.82% increase over the past 24 hours. It is a positive turn of events for this particular altcoin, Whether or not this momentum will continue, is a different matter altogether.

NEM Price Makes a Strong Comeback

Cryptocurrencies have always been prone to volatility and manipulation. Especially if a big exchange gets hacked, we often see prices plummet without recourse. In the case of the NEM price, the value certainly dropped quite a bit yesterday. With Coincheck facing a major heck, it became evident there was some concern over what the future would hold for the NEM price. If the stolen cons were dumped on the market, the price would have been a lot lower by now.

More specifically, we now have a NEM price above $1 again. A more than welcome change from the massive decline we saw yesterday, although it remains to be seen whether or not this is only a temporary uptrend. After all, the cryptocurrency markets still remain extremely volatile for the time being. It is not unlikely we will see a fierce battle for control at the $1 level in the coming hours. So far, things are looking pretty solid for the NEM price, but nothing lasts forever.

This 18.82% gain in USD value is accompanied by a 14.98% increase in the NEM/BTC ratio. As we had expected yesterday, the market dip created a new buying opportunity for the people interested in the NEM price. So far those willing to take the plunge yesterday have been able to get a decent profit. Even though the Coincheck hack isn’t positive news, it has certainly brought a lot of attention to NEM as a currency.

Thanks to $212.25m in 24-hour trading volume, the NEM price has been able to recover most of this loses fairly quickly. Even though this trading volume is far from impressive, it is more than sufficient to keep the current uptrend going. Today’s NEM price peak at $1.11 couldn’t be maintained for long, but there is no reason to despair at this time either. There is some room left for future profits, although it remains to be seen when they will materialize exactly.

Contrary to what most people expect, Coincheck isn’t exactly the big exchange for NEM, according to Coinmarketcap. Instead, Upbit, Zaif, and Bittrex are the top three platforms ranked by trading volume. Upbit is clearly in the lead, but they are irrelevant to non-Koreans right now. Zaif brings in a nice amount of JPY-based trading volume, which is good to see. Bittrex sees some good volume as well, although they only trade NEM against Bitcoin and Ethereum.

It is unclear what the future will hold for the NEM price. Although the current momentum looks solid, there is no reason to think there can’t be another retrace before the weekend is over. Anything and everything is possible in the cryptocurrency world right now, and we may see the NEM price dip below $1 very soon. At the same time, the momentum may continue and push the value to $1.1 once again. An interesting market to keep an eye on, that much is evident.

There is a global interest in mining cryptocurrencies right now. Buying ASIC machines is a bit of a problematic venture for a lot of consumers, though. Especially when it comes to paying for these items, most people are still wary of companies such as Bitmain. In Singapore, that is no longer much of a problem these days. The country’s shopping malls are putting Bitcoin mining equipment on the shelf. It’s an interesting development that might just make cryptocurrency mining more accessible.

Sim Lim Square Offers Mining Hardware

For people who are interested in mining cryptocurrencies, using regular computer parts makes a lot of sense. After all, it is easy enough to buy a motherboard, processor, GPU, coolers, and power supply from an electronics store. With this equipment, one can easily mine popular altcoins such as Ethereum, Siacoin, Monero, or others. When it comes to mining Bitcoin, however, there is a need for specialized ASIC equipment. Right now, there’s only one major manufacturer selling this equipment to consumers.

With Bitmain being the clear market leader in this regard, interested parties must put their faith in this particular company. For novice cryptocurrency enthusiasts, that may be a bridge too far. They will need to obtain cryptocurrency to pay for this mining hardware, which makes the whole process even more complicated. A better solution has to be found in this regard, but that is much easier said than done. A few people have made good money by buying this hardware and reselling it for traditional forms of payment at a premium price.

Over in Singapore, it seems a mall known as Sim Lim Square wants to do the same thing. More specifically, there are several stores selling cryptocurrency mining machines as of right now. There seems to be a genuine interest and demand for this type of machinery, with units selling rather quickly. It appears mining Ethereum is still popular for pre-built configurations, but there’s also a growing interest in Bitcoin ASICs. Additionally, there are plenty of people moving their mining rigs to data centers and co-hosting locations, mainly because in-home mining is no longer a feasible option.

Although this is a very interesting trend to keep an eye on, it seems consumers are still on the fence about cryptocurrency mining right now. Some stores are seeing more success than others, depending on the hardware they sell and how high the prices are. General inquiries regarding cryptocurrency mining are on the rise, which can only be considered a good thing. However, that doesn’t mean every person will buy the necessary hardware off the shelf.

There is some good money to be made for stores that choose to take the plunge into cryptocurrency mining. Selling pre-built rigs or even ASIC miners can certainly generate a fair few sales. The profit margins for such products may not be the largest, although some store owners in Singapore charge a 10% markup without too many complaints. Considering that such machines typically cost several thousand US dollars, the 10% profit is not insignificant.  

Whether or not we will see similar trends in other parts of the world has yet to be determined. Singapore’s Sim Lim Square has certainly set an intriguing precedent for the rest of the world. That doesn’t mean people will automatically show a greater interest in purchasing mining hardware. At the same time, more and more people want to get involved with cryptocurrencies in one way or another. Buying said currencies as an investment is usually the better approach, but it can also be the more “boring” option of the two.

Have ever been to a car onboard diagnostics knows unless you run it, some malfunctions are hidden, and any superficial fix is useless. One should see the problem, to address it. So for the human body. You need a dashboard of your health to keep track of what is going on, so you can make decisions based on given information: visit a doctor, alter the way you diet, and choose the set of exercises. Vinnd is an innovative at home blood diagnostics and intelligent database helping you to know more about your health, thus, about your body too.

A healthy diet is considered to be the as prevalent way of losing weight as exercising. But why some of those “fantastic” diets working well on Hollywood stars and your next-door neighbor Nancy, simply fail on you? Simple blood test opens up a hidden secret to your body to lose weight. The trick is that according to your blood test you may find out what should you eat more and what has to be eliminated. It seems like that ‘everything with broccoli’ diet ain’t your panacea, you better stay with banana and lemon smoothies in the mornings. There is no universal dieting for everyone around the world to be healthy. Remember those god blessed people eating tons of food and not gaining any weight, while you fight for each calorie you eat? Let your blood speak out if there any food that you can eat without eating up yourself for being indulged “foodie.”

Using Vinnd is as easy 4-5 steps. You just place an order for express blood test sample to your door, perform your test, get your results right away, enter them to your phone and, voilà, Vinnd Intelligent Database will evaluate your results. Vinnd does not leave you with tricky blood results, interpreting which you will be as successful as reading ancient Greek love letter. App displays overview on your blood test with comprehensive explanations and list is food items that fit you and those you should not include in your diet anymore. Moreover, Vinnd presents recipes combining food items contributing to your healthy lifestyle.

Professors at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health claim that while diets may be trendy, weight loss is a highly personal issue that requires more sophisticated approach. It isn’t about how much you eat, but how and what. Human metabolism ain’t about pop star’s fancy diet anymore; it is about your health. Dieting has never been more conscious and easy.

Powered by machine learning, blockchain technologies Vinnd Intelligent Database is designed to revolutionize people’s lifestyle. Using blockchain smart contracts, Vinnd plans on storing personal health data in an incorruptible cryptographic database. A project is under development and launched ICO this winter. The total amount of tokens equals to 888 million; Vinnd releases the remaining 534 million tokens for ICO. ICO has started in January 18th 2018. The Vinnd team is going to present express blood testing device prototype the ICO a lot ahead than mentioned on roadmap. Vinnd is collaborating with its advisory board members on design, prototype development, software development and business modelling. Visit vinnd.io and join a new revolutionary project in personal healthcare.

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.

Multiple Sia community members were concerned about Bitmain’s new ASIC miner. The company suddenly announced the A3, which is designed specifically for mining Siacoin. There were some brief discussions about possibly introducing a Sia fork which would disallow the ASIC hardware from impacting the network. It seems those plans have now been dismissed and nothing will happen to prevent the use of ASIC miners on the network.

No Sia Fork to Prevent ASIC Mining

It is evident the introduction of ASIC mining hardware specifically for Sia would have some interesting consequences. After all, these machines are a lot more powerful than most consumer hardware on the market as of right now. If a few dozen A3 miners hit the network at the same time, it would introduce some big changes to the Sia network as a whole. The overall hashpower would increase exponentially, resulting in a higher mining difficulty that would push smaller miners into a corner.

There was recently an open letter written by several long-term Sia community members expressing their concerns over this development. They proposed that the developers introduce a code fork to ensure ASIC mining would never be possible for Siacoin. The developers took all of these remarks into consideration and ultimately decided not to fork the code. It is an interesting decision, and one that will continue to spark debate moving forward.

In a recent Medium post, the team explained why they see no issues with Siacoin ASIC miners. In fact, the team has been in favor of seeing ASIC hardware for the Sia network. It seems both the hardware and increased hashrate are considered positive developments for this altcoin. With plenty of ASIC miners out there, there is a lower chance of suffering from a 51% attack, which is always a good thing. This doesn’t mean we won’t see centralized mining efforts related to Sia, though.

The fact that Bitmain introduced its Sia mining hardware without prior warning is also considered rather controversial. The company has a very strong track record when it comes to Bitcoin and even altcoin mining. At the same time, Bitmain has been a “bad actor” due to blocking Bitcoin network upgrades, supporting Bitcoin Cash, and the Antbleed debacle. It is evident that any involvement by this company will be criticized for many reasons. Its hardware itself is in high demand, though.

In the case of Sia, we now have two different ASIC devices competing with one another. There is the Obelisk SC1, which was created by the team itself, and the Bitmain Antminer A3. Although the developers could easily nullify the impact of the A3 through a soft fork, they have no intention of doing so as of right now. If the hardware turned out to be the catalyst for an attack against the Sia network, that situation could change. This indicates that the developers are somewhat concerned, but not in a preemptive fashion.

By taking this course of action, the Sia developers will need to come up with a way to keep Bitmain in check. That is much easier said than done, for obvious reasons. The option to fork the code and nullify Bitmain’s hardware is still an option. Additionally, the A3 miners will be pushed to pools such as Luxor and Siamining, rather than to pools affiliated with Bitmain. Moreover, there will be a push for other ASIC manufacturers to develop competitive mining equipment.

Plenty of cryptocurrencies claim to do a far better job than Bitcoin when it comes to providing value. In the case of Hcash, currently traded as Hshare on various exchanges, there seems to be a clear plan of action and plenty of ambition. The project certainly has a lot of appeal, even though there is still some confusion as to what sets Hcash apart from the rest.

Why is Hcash Trading as Hshare?

That is by far the most intriguing question most people seem to be asking right now. There’s a very simple explanation for this. Hshare is the pre-launch value token which will be converted to Hcash at a 1:1 ratio at a later time. In essence, the two tokens have the same value, but it is a bit unclear when this conversion will take place. It is a bit confusing for novice enthusiasts, but rest assured buying 1 Hshare will net you 1 Hcash when the conversion happens.

Is HCash Based on Solid Technology?

There are many aspects of Hcash which will be rather appealing to the masses. First of all, it seems the project is primarily designed to act as a sidechain for blockchain currencies. There will be two different networks, one which relies on blockchain technology, and one which uses directed acyclic graph cryptography similar to IOTA. Both networks are interoperable with other cryptocurrencies, which should open up a lot of exciting opportunities in the future.

Additionally, Hcash wants to provide privacy in the form of public and private addresses. So-called white addresses are public, like Bitcoin, whereas black addresses are similar to stealth addresses. This feature is built on zero-knowledge proofs, a technology borrowed from Zcash. Moreover, Hcash will be made quantum resistant in the future. Whether or not the team will be successful in providing this mix of features remains to be seen, though. 

Unlike what some people may think, there will be a role for proof of work as far as Hcash is concerned. It will be a hybrid PoW and PoS system to achieve proper DAO governance. By maximizing user engagement and computing power combined with an incentive for holders, the team may be on to something. By embracing the DAO governance model, users will also be able to vote on the future direction of this project.

What Comes Next for HCash?

With a lot of work ahead of the developers, it is evident there are high expectations which will need to be fulfilled. According to the roadmap, the PoW mining function should be completed very soon. The proof-of-stake technology is in place and will be combined with the hybrid approach later this month or in early February. The conversion from Hshare to Hcash is scheduled for February as well, although no specific date has been announced yet. Later this year, we will see encrypted communication between Hcash and Byteball, which is rather interesting. There are plenty of reasons to be excited, but only if the team can deliver on these promises.

Fans of the Role Playing Game (RPG) Imperatum now have the chance to play an all-new level in their favorite Sci-Fi simulator. Imperatum has added a “Crypto Update” to the Volantis City level which brings different difficulty options based on the real-time price of bitcoin.

Also read: Three Ukrainian Lawmakers Declare Bitcoin Holdings Worth $47 Million

Imperatum Creates Bitcoin Mode a Difficulty Adjustment Tethered to the Value of Bitcoin

Imperatum is a popular RPG that can be found on the Steam gaming network. Players become agents in the city of Volantis trying to find clues to the ongoing mystery of an evil force consuming the galaxy. The game offers lots of items, weapons, character customization, and “core ARPG ‘trinity’ mechanics.” The new Crypto Update comes with several new features for Imperatum players but ‘Bitcoin Mode’ will make things more or less challenging — depending on the value of bitcoin.

“‘Bitcoin Mode’ changes the fundamental elements of Imperatum based off of the changes in value to Bitcoin,” explains the latest update.  

For example, if the value of Bitcoin jumps up a fair amount, you’ll see more loot drops with higher chances of rare loot, along with more difficult enemies. On the other hand, if the value of Bitcoin drops substantially, so does the loot and enemies get weaker.

An Outside of the Box Idea That Fits the Futuristic Theme of the Game

Imperatum thinks players will like the new crypto-infused mode as it dynamically changes the difficulty of the game’s enemies and other elements. The game’s web page update hub shows an example of the Bitcoin Mode gameplay that can be seamlessly changed in the settings area. The developers of Imperatum believe tethering the difficulty of the game to the value of bitcoin is a unique idea.     

“We decided to add it in as a fun experimental difficulty level,” explains an Imperatum team member.  

We believe it’s an outside of the box idea that fits the theme of the game (Sci-fi, futuristic etc..).

Over the past few years, more games have been adding cryptocurrency themes and features to their software. One such game called Night Become Butterflies (NBB) allows players to collect items that are tethered to the bitcoin blockchain. Another well-known game for IOS and Android users is Spells of Genesis (SoG) created by a firm called Everdreamsoft SA. Spells of Genesis also uses a native cryptocurrency called Bitcrystals and blockchain-tethered cards for its gameplay.

What do you think about Imperatum creating a Bitcoin Mode in its gameplay? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, and Imperatum. 

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Role Playing Game Imperatum Adds Dynamic ‘Bitcoin Mode’ Difficulty appeared first on Bitcoin News.

DocCoin is worldwide medical system designed on blockchain and smart contract technologies. It’s digital alternative to modern healthcare world. DocCoin aim to gather patients, doctors, insurance companies, hospitals, rehabilitation centers and other parties of healthcare world into one ecosystem that will change the future of health industry.

DocCoin will help patients in receiving high-quality medical services, doctors will receive additional practice to improve their skills and will get additional money for services provided, insurance companies will decrease overall number of fraud cases.

Nikita Zykov, Founder & CEO of DocCoin said “We believe that DocCoin will make healthcare industry more transparent and efficient and users of DocCoin system will benefit from coming changes”

Pre-sale Information

The pre-sale will begin on January 25, 2018 and will end on February 2th 2018. There is a 50% discount available throughout the pre-sale.

The price per DocCoin Token (DOC) is 0.0001 ETH. During this period there will be a minimum purchase of 2,000 DOC tokens. In order to contribute, visit the website doc-coin.com.

The Crowdsale Information

The crowdsale will begin on February 9, 2018 and will end on March 11, 2018. There will be 80,000,000 Doc tokens available for purchase and tokens will be distributed shortly after the end of the crowdsale.

Day 1-7: 1 DOC – 0.00016  ETH

Day 7-30: 1 DOC – 0.0002  ETH

Token Distribution Information

There is a total of 200,000,000 DOC tokens outstanding, with 140,000,000 available throughout the pre-sale and crowdsale. Any tokens not sold during the pre-sale will be available for purchase during the crowdsale. Tokens will be distributed to contributors shortly after the crowdsale is completed.

Allocation:

70%: Presale and public crowdsale contributors

19%: Team

11%: Early investors

For more information about DocCoin, kindly visit:

Official Website: https://www.doc-coin.com

White Paper link: https://www.doc-coin.com/white-paper-eng

Telegram Community: https://t.me/joinchat/AAAAAEHmgwIjLMLc3F88mA

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/Doc_Coin/

GitHub: https://github.com/DocCoinICO

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doc.coin.ico/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Doc_Coin

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjVdrh_PMQ7fU7m8B3dXTlQ

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.