Day: February 2, 2018

Mauritius, February 2nd, 2018: Crypto N’ Kafe successfully completed its Pre-ICO stage and raised a sum of USD 7.1 Million in the course. The Pre-ICO started from January 18th and concluded on January 29th, 2018. The ICO of Crypto N’ Kafe will begin from the upcoming February 4th and will continue till March 25th, 2018. This ecosystem aims at regenerating the African Coffee Industry using the power of Blockchain.

With an aim to facilitate a win-win supply chain for coffee farmers, traders, importers, roasters and end-consumers, the Mauritian company created the Crypto N’ Kafe Ecosystem. The Pre-ICO of Crypto N’ Kafe witnessed a huge success, as in a matter of 12 days; the funds were raised to an amount of 7.14 million USD. This success of Pre-ICO reflects the belief of the community towards the success of the ecosystem. The company will begin the ICO by February 4th, with 4 different phases. Each phase of this ICO will offer different bonus percentage, basis the contribution amount.

Mr. Tashish Rai Singhani, Smart Contract Advisor, Crypto N’ Kafe, said “After a long research, our team designed this much needed platform. By using this, the farmers can directly deal with the roasters, importers or traders to sell their coffee beans without any dependency on intermediaries. Traders can grab new opportunities and roasters can get the coffee beans of good quality. All these things will ultimately provide the consumers good coffee at a cheaper price while improving the livelihood of the farmers.”

With an aim to end the troubles of the African Coffee Industry, Crypto N’ Kafe looks forward to generate better revenue for the coffee farmers, traders, importers and roasters. The ecosystem shall also enable better payment approaches, elimination of banking ordeals and facilitate a direct connect of roasters with farmers and traders.

If you have missed to avail the Pre-ICO opportunity, the ICO begins from February 4th, with different bonus slots to avail.

Company name: Crypto N’ Kafe

Company site: https://www.cryptokafe.io/

Token Sales: https://tokensale.cryptokafe.io/

Company Contact: Stella Letoile, International Markerting Manager

Email: [email protected]

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.

FOMO Moments

The carnage on the crypto markets has continued this morning. Asian trading is bleak and everyone is selling, it looks like the mass media is winning the battle and reveling in a falling cryptocurrencies. Or it could be a prelude to Chinese New Year, markets fall every year during these months though this time around it is a harder fall from a higher height. Looking through the charts for a winning altcoin is not easy when everything is red.

One of the few altcoins enjoying some upward motion today is Dentacoin. DCN has had a little revival over the past 24 hours and is trading 23% higher than the same time yesterday. The dentistry based token is extremely undervalued at the moment, it shot to an all-time high of $0.0082 on January 8 which admittedly doesn’t sound that great. DCN has since pulled back over 80% to $0.0011 where it trades today however the movement over the past 24 hours has been upwards when all other coins have plummeted. The seven day picture isn’t as pretty, DCN has lost 30% since this time last week.

The inherent problem with Dentacoin is that there are 2 trillion of them in circulation so prices are never going to be higher than fractions of a cent. Continued partnership announcements have caused the recent uptake in interest for this toothy contender.

Following yesterday’s pattern DigixDAO is still performing well, up 24% on the day. The gold based token is ascending yet again today trading at over $400 from $350 yesterday. Stable coins are likely to do well during times of panic as gold does well when stock markets fall. DGD reached an all time high of $451 a couple of hours ago and the momentum is still strong with this token.

As Bitcoin barrels towards the crucial $8,000 mark it is pulling nearly all of its siblings down with it. For those that are still in panic mode, zoom the charts out to six months and smile!

More on Dentacoin can be found here: https://dentacoin.com/

FOMO Moments is a new section that takes a daily look at the top 25 altcoins during the Asian trading session and analyses the best performing one, looking for trends and fundamentals. 

The post Morning Asian trading roundup: the leading altcoin is Dentacoin appeared first on NewsBTC.

Despite their phenomenal rise, it is nonetheless arguable that today’s ICOs are greatly underperforming. Not because they are not effective in raising capital for startups and projects, but because their true potential is only fractionally used and their inherent power is only very partially harvested

Bitcoin was created in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. With financial systems in turmoil and trust in banks and regulators at an all-time low, many were drawn to the promise of an internationally viable currency free from centralized regulation. And while the global financial system has regained some stability, those features have only drawn increasingly more people to cryptocurrencies.

Right after the bitcoin network has cleared up its massive backlog of transactions, we’ve been hit by a huge price correction. However, there is still much to be hopeful about; the development and testing of the Lightning Network is coming along quite nicely.

What is the Lightning Network?

The LN, put simply, will allow for instantaneous, near fee-less transactions of Bitcoin utilizing an off-chain network. If you’re familiar with the cryptocurrency’s transaction times and fees, you can see why the cryptosphere is excited. Through the innovation, many users and companies hope that Bitcoin will become a safe and accepted currency for merchants worldwide. 

Going into more detail, the LN it is a decentralized network of payment channels that are based on the Bitcoin blockchain. Users who install the Lightning software and establish a connection with the network have the option of opening up payment channels with other users. The network is considered an in-development solution to the Bitcoin scalability issue, allowing users to make micro-payments between two parties without the necessity to broadcast directly to the blockchain. This reduces transaction fees, increases the speed of the transaction, and also enhances privacy.

Implementation Underway

An Austrian cryptocurrency startup Coinfinity has completed the first Bitcoin ATMtransaction using the Lightning Network (LN). Coinfinity is already known for having made a number of innovative moves like deploying the first Bitcoin ATM, allowing a person to exchange Bitcoin and cash, as well as introducing a web-based cryptocurrency trading platform in Austria. The implementation of the Lightning Network on Bitcoin ATMs would allow users to easily purchase bitcoins at light

In late-January, the first transaction of the Lightning Network took place in the form of a Reddit user (btc_throwaway1337) who purchased a router from TorGuard through a Lightening Network payment. The post was entitled “The future just arrived at my doorstep!” The user, who brands himself as “your average Bitcoin investor,” goes on to provide further details about the purchase: “I saw TorGuard’s tweet, so I decided to contact them. I enquired as to purchasing more than just a monthly subscription, their staff gave me LN peering information, I opened a channel, received an invoice, and here we are!”

Although the Lightning Protocol 1.0 was just released in December, 2017, it has already garnered a lot of attention on the side of developers. And although it is still in alpha-stage testing the network is gaining momentum, already having 417 nodes and over 1,000 open payment channels. By comparison, the Bitcoin Cash network operates with 1,187 nodes.

It’s important to remember that the development and implementation of the Lightning Network is still in progress, with many companies testing the technology. However, one should remain aware of the fact that the using such software before a production release may mean it contains bugs or errors that could potentially result in LN funds losses. Aforementioned Reddit user btc_throwaway1337 had the following to say: “Mainnet is still caveat emptor! I went down the rabbit hole fully willing to lose my BTC. I got lucky, others may not!”

The post In This Storm, Be Hopeful; Lightning is on the Horizon appeared first on NewsBTC.

Banco Santander has set a Q1 2018 launch date for the introduction of same-day, mobile, international payments for customers, which will operate using blockchain technology on Ripple’s distributed ledger. For banks, the benefit of using Ripple is that it can enable the transfer of data and value in a more accurate and much faster way — as little as four seconds, compared to three days with the current model SWIFT.

Santander plans to introduce the service in four countries simultaneously and promises full transparency on fees and FX upfront. “We expect to be one of the first global banks to roll out a distributed ledger, technology-based payments for individuals,” the bank told analysts. In November, the UK arm of the bank also announced plans to work with American Express to use Ripple’s technology for cross-border, business-to-business payments.

The process began 18 months ago when the company began an assessment, running a proof of concept with Ripple which it rolled out to staff in app form as a way of emulating the customer experience. The app was tested with Apple Pay for payments of between £10 and £10,000 using Touch ID for secure sign-in. According to the company, security and regulatory compliance are central to all activity, therefore the app has undergone the same rigorous testing that all new technology goes through ahead of the roll out.

The choice to go with Ripple, according to an interview (here) with Ed Metzger, Head of Technology Innovation at Santander UK, revolved around the uncertainty and transparency associated with SWIFT. According to Metzger: “We chose Ripple because of its speed, transparency, and certainty. [Because] these three characteristics provide relief to the pain points of international payments.”

Chris Larsen, Chief Executive Officer at Ripple had the following to say: “Ripple is redefining the way that value moves around the world, and today we’re already enabling real-time, affordable, international settlement between banks who have adopted our solutions. He continued: “As an early adopter and pioneer in the banking industry, Santander is the first bank in the world to transfer real funds externally. In doing so, they are creating a new, exemplary standard of service.”

The post Banco Santander to Debut International Payment System on Ripple appeared first on NewsBTC.

Two of Wall Street’s biggest banks are reportedly taking steps to bar customers from using credit cards to purchase cryptocurrencies.

Regulators have approved Canada’s first blockchain exchange-traded fund (ETF) – Harvest Portfolios’ ‘Blockchain Technologies ETF’ .

Two more providers file plans with regulators to join the blockchain sector, while Harvest Portfolios gets the go-ahead to launch Canada’s first blockchain ETF.

Last month, Harvest Portfolios filed with regulators to introduce an ETF that tracks blockchain technologies. Yesterday, February 1st, the firm received approval by the Ontario Securities Commission to launch the country’s first blockchain fund: Blockchain Technologies ETF. The fund has a management fee of 0.65% and seeks to replicate the performance of the Harvest Blockchain Technologies Index — an in-house index used to track the performance of issuers. It will begin trading next week on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker HBLK.

Meanwhile, two other notable providers are also looking to access blockchain technology: This week both First Trust Portfolios Canada and Evolve Funds Group Inc. have filed with regulators for blockchain funds.

First Trust is looking to launch the First Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction & Process ETF, which will aim to replicate the performance of an index called the Indxx blockchain Index. With the ticker BLCK, it is the second fund provider to file an index fund with regulators in Canada. If approved, it will have a management fee of 0.80%. In the U.S, First Trust already has a Blockchain ETF trading under the ticker LEGR, which the Canadian fund will closely imitate, says Karl Cheong, head of ETFs for the company.

“Every conversation we are having with clients — regardless if we are talking about a Canadian equities product or a U.S. equity product — inevitability leads to [a discussion about] blockchain or Bitcoin,” says Cheong.

Already known for its niche lineup of ETFs, Evolve Funds also filed its plans to launch the Evolve blockchain ETF February 1st. If approved, it could become the country’s first actively-managed blockchain fund. With the ticker LINK, the fund will aim to actively invest in equity securities of issuers that are involved in the research, development, or utilization of blockchain technologies. It will have a management fee of 0.75%.

The concept of blockchain is very attractive to investors right now, and while the idea is still relatively new, research shows that this is a technology that could potentially save billions of dollars in cost. “Blockchain technology is poised to disrupt virtually every business and industry, including financial services, real estate, healthcare, and government,” said Raj Lala, president and chief executive officer of Evolve in a statement.

The post Harvest Portfolios to Launch Canada’s First Blockchain ETF appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin will cost $50,000 by the end of 2018, CNBC’s Ran Neuner claimed on Twitter this Thursday. #NEWS

Don’t panic, it’ll settle. #PRICE_ANALYSIS