Day: February 10, 2018

Arizona residents may soon be able to pay taxes in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. #NEWS

Key Highlights

• ETH price climbed higher this past week above the $880 level before facing sellers against the US Dollar.
• There is a major bearish trend line forming with resistance at $860 on the 4-hours chart of ETH/USD (data feed via SimpleFX).
• The pair is currently correcting higher and it may correct further towards the $740 and $720 levels.

Ethereum price started a decent upside move against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD is currently correcting lower since it struggling to break the $890-900 levels.

Ethereum Price Trend

This past week, there was a good start to a new upside wave in ETH price above the $700 level against the US Dollar. The price made good ground and it was able to move above the $750 and $800 levels. However, the price struggled to move above the $880-900 resistance levels. It faced a strong sell zone near the $895-900 levels, which ignited a downside correction.

More importantly, there is a major bearish trend line forming with resistance at $860 on the 4-hours chart of ETH/USD. The pair recently failed to move above the trend line and declined below $850. It has breached the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $553 low to $897 high. The current trend is a bit bearish with signs of sellers around the $850-860 levels. On the downside, there is a major support near the $740 level. Moreover, the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $553 low to $897 high is near $725.

Therefore, the $725-740 zone is a decent support and the price may find bids near the stated levels. Below the mentioned $725, the price may once again come under bearish pressure. On the upside, the price has to close above $860 and $890 to gain upside momentum.

4-hours MACD – The MACD is currently moving lower in the bullish zone.

4-hours RSI – The RSI has moved below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $725

Major Resistance Level – $860

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ethereum Price Weekly Analysis – ETH/USD to Correct Lower? appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Points

• Bitcoin cash price made a nice upside move this past week and traded above $1,100 against the US Dollar.
• At the moment, the BCH/USD pair is attempting to settle below a major bullish trend line with support at $1,200 on the 4-hours chart (data feed from SimpleFX).
• The pair may correct lower in the short term towards the $1,120 and $1,080 levels.

Bitcoin cash price surged higher before facing sellers near $1,375 against the US Dollar. BCH/USD is currently correcting lower and it could retest the $1,080 support.

Bitcoin Cash Price Upside Hurdle

This past week, there was a sharp upside move initiated in bitcoin cash price from the $980 swing low against the US Dollar. The price climbed above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last major decline from the $1,764 high to $748 low. The upside move was strong as the price was able to move above the $1,000 and $1,200 resistance levels.

There was even a break above the 50% Fib retracement level of the last major decline from the $1,764 high to $748 low. However, the upside move was protected by the $1,375-80 levels and the 100 simple moving average (4-hours). Furthermore, the price failed to move above the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last major decline from the $1,764 high to $748 low. At the moment, the price is correcting lower and is trading below the $1,250 level. More importantly, the BCH/USD pair is attempting to settle below a major bullish trend line with support at $1,200 on the 4-hours chart.

If the pair settles below the $1,180 level, it could decline further. The most important support and buy zone on the downside is around the $1,080 level.

Looking at the technical indicators:

4-hours MACD – The MACD for BCH/USD is currently reducing its bullish slope.

4-hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is just around the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $1,080

Major Resistance Level – $1,380

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Bitcoin Cash Price Weekly Analysis – BCH/USD Facing Crucial Resistance appeared first on NewsBTC.

As crypto becomes more popular the number of cyber criminals looking for some easy pickings will increase. Online scams are nothing new but the nature of cryptocurrencies means that those without the technical expertise will be additionally vulnerable. Banks and credit card issuers have acknowledged this which may be the reason behind their buying blockade.

Recently Bloomberg reported that the major players such as JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America declined crypto purchasing as company executives analyzed ways that customers could get scammed. Officially JP Morgan’s stance is that people may not pay back their credit card debts if the crypto markets fall and they lose out.

ICO Worry

Initial coin offerings, which made $3.7 billion last year, were at the top of the list of concerns. To raise money startups sell tokens at big discounts usually for Ether. A number of bogus ICOs have been reported recently and the fear is that clients will get burnt if they do not research them properly. It can often take days for tokens to be issued and cardholders can dispute the charges causing further problems.

Most major exchanges eschew the tokens but some ICOs still allow credit card purchases. Facebook, which has been a hotbed of scams, recently banned ICO advertising but this has not stopped individuals using the platform to peddle their fraudulent token sales.  Kodak warned potential investors last week that phony websites and Facebook accounts are promoting and even claiming to already be selling their planned digital token, Kodakcoin.

Card confidence

Another concern is that fraudsters can open a credit card account with a stolen identity. Using the new card the scammer would be able to accumulate a stash of cryptocurrency and tokens. Genuine credit card buyers are not worried as they’re not using their own funds, one user who bought Bitcoin at the top posted;

“Am I worried? No. I bought it on my credit card through Coinbase and had planned the repayments would be paid out of Bitcoin profits. First payment due in a couple of weeks and I believe we will start to rise up before then.”

Coinbase has recently introduced a ‘cash advance’ fee for credit card usage which effectively adds a 10% tariff to all crypto purchases. In a blog post the company said;

“Banks and credit card issuers may now add cash advance fees to purchases of digital currency. Customers will notice this listed as a separate line item on their credit card statement. These additional fees are not from Coinbase. Because these fees are charged directly by the bank or credit card issuer, unfortunately we don’t have a way of knowing when they might be charged or how much they might be.”

Preventing people borrowing to buy crypto is healthy for the market and less likely to cause the bubble effect we witnessed last month. With only genuine traders and investors funding purchases with their own fiat the ecosystem should start to stabilize somewhat.

The post Credit Card Companies Spooked by Crypto Scams appeared first on NewsBTC.

$150 million worth of Nano, formerly known as RaiBlocks, were stolen from BitGrail, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Italy, merely two weeks after Coincheck experienced the largest cryptocurrency hacking attack in history.

In an official statement, the Nano core team stated that Francesco “The Bomber” Firano, the owner and operator of BitGrail, notified the Nano team about the unauthorized movement of funds from the wallets of BitGrail to external wallets.

During a conversation with the Nano core team, Firano suggested the Nano team to alter the ledger, or essentially fork the Nano blockchain, to restore the funds stolen from the BitGrail exchange. The Nano core team firmly rejected the proposal, emphasizing that BitGrail is not associated with Nano in any way, and as an independent business, it is responsible for its funds and operations.

“An option suggested by Firano was to modify the ledger in order to cover his losses — which is not possible, nor is it a direction we would ever pursue. BitGrail is an independent business and Nano is not responsible for the way Firano or BitGrail conduct their business,” said the Nano core team.

The Merkle reached out to the Nano core team and Troy Retzer, Community & Public Relations at Nano. Retzer explained that the theft of 15 million XRB, the native cryptocurrency of the Nano blockchain, was not caused by an issue or a vulnerability of the Nano blockchain.

“From our own preliminary investigation, no double spending was detected on the ledger and we have no reason to believe the loss was due to an issue in the Nano protocol. The problems appear to be related to BitGrail’s software. We do not have an answer yet on if it was a hack, at this point, we only know the information that BitGrail has given us,” Retzer told The Merkle.

As an independent business, BitGrail cannot request a public blockchain network to fork itself to cover its losses. Coincheck, which lost $430 million worth of NEM last month, reimbursed all of its traders and investors with company funds, admitting that the theft was caused by the poor infrastructure of the exchange. Coincheck had not requested the NEM core team to fork the NEM blockchain to restore funds.

At the time, the NEM team also stated that it will not conduct a fork to recover the losses of an independent business. The NEM team said:

“To some, the only solution to return the stolen XEMs is to execute a hard fork. In simple terms, a hard fork is the splitting of a single cryptocurrency into two. The idea is that this will somehow modify or reset the system in order to avoid the hacking. In the case of Coincheck’s hacking, this is not an option. Why? Simply because it was not NEM’s fault.”

Apart from funds used in short-term trades, the secure way of handling funds stored in cryptocurrencies is to use non-custodial wallets that allow users to hold private keys. Funds stored on centralized platforms are always vulnerable to hacking attacks and security breaches.

Moscow, Russian Federation, 10 February 2018

Revain is delighted to announce that it’s token just got listed on one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges OKEx. We were working closely with the OKEx team in the past few weeks to finally make it happen.  For Revain, OKEx will represent the largest exchange by any metric including trading volume and audience size. As everywhere else, you can find Revain’s symbol on OKEx exchange as R. Trading has already started.

About Revain

Revain is aimed to revolutionize online reviews using blockchain technology. Its platform is designed for accumulating authentic user reviews on projects and startups that have concluded their crowdfunding / ICO stage. The platform is bringing to life the service that will finally allow businesses to receive detailed and genuine feedback about their projects, while users will get access to other people’s experience with ICOs and share their own insights as well. The platform will be aggregating information on token dynamics and major milestones in startup’s development.

Revain released version 0.4 of the platform in January 2018 with a target to deliver full release 1.0 as early as Q2 2018. Using blockchain technology, Revain creates an economic model that rewards users for creating honest reviews online through its token RVN. RVN remains as a stable internal token thanks to a nonlinear conversion mechanism based on R, the token that is tradable and available outside the platform. The entire system remains transparent, incorruptible and immutable thanks to its reliance on the Ethereum platform.

Revain platform is available on https://dashboard.revain.org/

Find out more about Revain: https://revain.org/

Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/CzZcC0PCgpJcbBCb3JfNeQ

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/revain.org/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Revain_org

Medium: https://medium.com/revain

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/revain_org/

Slack: https://revain-community.slack.com/

About OKEx

OKEx is one of the most popular digital asset trading platforms around the world. The core team of OKEx consists of people from world-recognized companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei. OKEx believes that the core principles of Bitcoin, the blockchain, the distributed ledger, and smart contracts can reshape the ways in which people trust each other. This transformation will eliminate barriers to transactions, increase the efficiency of transactions across society, and eventually have a significant impact on the global economy.

Darknet users are in the crosshairs of law enforcement agencies worldwide. That situation is no different in Thailand, where a lot of criminals tend to go on holiday. One of the biggest darknet kingpins has been arrested by a large team of police officers. Sergey Medvedev, the co-founder of Infraud, also had over 100,000 bitcoins seized in the process. It is another big blow to the darknet industry, yet a big victory for law enforcement.

For those unfamiliar with Infraud, it is one of the biggest online crime bazaars to date. Services and products offered range from stolen identities to credit cards and skimming devices. This particular service is operated by several individuals at this time. One of those “owners” goes by the name of Sergey Medvedev, who was arrested in Thailand this week. It is unclear if Medvedev is the actual main operator of Infraud at this time. Even so, he is one of the many wanted cybercriminals in the world today.

Infraud Operator Faces US Extradition

With his arrest taking place, it will be interesting to see what happens to Infraud. It seems local officials seized 29 electronic items from Medvedev in a raid on his home in Bangkok. Additionally, the darknet market’s servers have also been seized by the law enforcement agency. They now control all of the financial assets linked to this forum, including all Bitcoin balances. More specifically, the police have taken custody of just over 100,000 bitcoins in the process.

It is unclear what will happen with the seized money, though. This Bitcoin balance represents close to $850m worth of funds at current prices. It is evident selling off such a large quantity of currency will not be easy. In the past US-based law enforcement agencies held auctions to sell off seized cryptocurrency balances. It is possible, the Thailand law enforcement agents will have to take a similar course of action.

The arrest of Medvedev is the result of an international collaboration. More specifically, the local authorities worked together with their US counterparts. After an extensive surveillance period, the arrest was made without any problem. It is possible Medvedev will be extradited to the United States in the months to come. Another dozen Infraud suspects have been arrested in the past two weeks as well. The global crackdown on darknet activity is still in full effect, while Thailand reportedly plans on tightening regulation on cryptocurrency activities.

The post Caught Infraud: Thailand Police Seize 100,000 Bitcoins From Darknet Marketplace appeared first on NewsBTC.

As we all probably know by now, the Bitcoin blockchain has grabbed the attention of the masses due to its wide array of security features and functionalities. In recent months, we have seen the release of many new digital currencies that aim to make use of the BTC blockchain so as to benefit from its decentralized framework as well as its amazing safety features. With that being said, it is important to recognize the difficulty in writing code on this blockchain.

This is where Emercoin comes in. It is a completely unique blockchain that provides its users with the ability to code programs and develop app suites in a completely hassle-free, streamlined manner. It offers its users a wide array of functional services that can help novice as well as experienced developers alike.

It is also interesting to note that Emercoin’s technology is already being utilized by established players within the digital domain, who are using this blockchain to run their business operations in a decentralized, transparent way.

Also, what really makes Emercoin stand out from its peers is that it makes use of a native data organization system that has been designed to make use of value-based assets without taking up too much space or making use of complicated coding instructions.

EmerCoin overview

• All of the data stored on the Emercoin blockchain is secured through the use of a consensus mechanism that incorporates PoW and PoS mining.
• Owing to its unique design, this blockchain is highly accessible to all users and can be used remotely.
• The Emercoin blockchain is future-ready and can be scaled up as needed.
• This technology is market-established and currently used by companies such as Deloitte, Prover, and Russian Railways.

Key Features

When talking about new cryptos, we usually come across one or two standout features per currency. However, from one quick glance at Emercoin, we can see that this platform comes loaded with a plethora of unique services that can help organizations and individuals run their businesses in a much more effective manner.

Key features on offer (courtesy of the Emercoin website)

To start off with, we can see that Emercoin is not simply a payment platform, but also offers its customers a suite of services that address a host of issues related to privacy, security, micropayments, data exchange, and more.

It makes use of the EMCSSH module, which has been designed to offer a high level of shell protection to the core governance system. Every member of the management team has to go with this module in order to gain access to the blockchain. Similarly, Emercoin utilizes a technology called EMCDNS which provides users with an infrastructure that supports SSL certificates. EMCSTREAM is a micropayment library which has been designed to help streamline user access to digital media content.

How does Emercoin work as an advertising platform?

One of the core features of this blockchain is its use of EMCLNX, a peer-to-peer text-based advertisement link exchange network. It employs a per-click payment model, and thus allows users to generate a steady income on the side.

EMCLNX network revenue distribution flowchart

There are three components of this system:

(i) Buyers: these individuals advertise their websites through the EMCLNX network. To make use of this service, they have to pay a small fee for each visitor that has been referred to the site via the EMCLNX network.

(ii) Visitors: these are casual web users who simply click on an advertisement that is placed on the host’s website.

(iii) Host: this party displays an ad on their website using the EMCLNX network. When a visitor clicks on an ad, the host automatically navigates the individual to the buyer’s website and, in doing so, receives a commission.

When using the EMCLNX system, there are no middlemen taking any money from the referral transaction. As a result, hosts are able to maximize their gains and buyers are able to attract more visitors to their websites.

History of Emercoin

Emercoin first entered public consciousness all the way back in 2013. At the time of its release, it was compared to other cryptos such as Peercoin and Namecoin due to their structural similarities. However, since then, Emercoin has established itself as one of the more innovative technologies within the blockchain domain.

The project was founded by Eugene Shumilov, who also serves as the company’s CEO. Olay Khovayko is the company’s cryptography specialist. He has been in the blockchain domain since its inception and possesses strong knowledge of the financial and crypto sphere. Lastly, Stan Polozov is Emercoin’s blockchain implementation head. According to Stan’s LinkedIn profile, he possesses “good technical prowess, as well as has a strong industry background.”

Token Performance

Since its release in late 2013, the market performance of Emercoin has been quite stable, thereby leading many financial analysts to believe that this coin has a lot of future potential.

Emercoin three-year performance chart (courtesy of CoinMarketCap)

While the value of a single EMC token remained steady all throughout 2015 and 2016, its value started to rise quite substantially when other alt-currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum started to take off in 2017. While in June of last year, the price of a single EMC was US$1.69, it stood at an impressive US$4.39 on February 4, 2018.

Final Thoughts

With the sheer variety of services that the Emercoin platform makes available to its users, it would not be surprising to see this currency be viewed as a lucrative investment option by many novice as well as experienced investors in the near future.

With the currency’s value currently hitting new highs, it can be said that many people are now beginning to see the true power and potential of this emerging blockchain.

However, as is the case with all crypto assets, past performance should not be used to predict the future value of EMC.

If you would like to start investing in Emercoin, EMC trading pairs are currently being offered on Binance.

Many cryptocurrencies with top market caps rose to their positions after a massive surge – either due to a new development, an explosion of support and hype, or even an unexplained, spontaneous pump. Even more peculiar are coins of the opposite nature – those that appreciate to huge valuations without causing many waves.

What is Veritaseum?

Veritaseum provides its users and clients with several tools dedicated to trading and financial markets. The main component of Veritaseum is the VeADIR (Veritaseum Autonomous, Dynamic, Interactive Research) trading platform, which is an autonomous financial machine, or trading algorithm, that exposes VeADIR users to a number of trading opportunities, including strong buy positions and highlights of undervalued or under-reported assets.

The assets found on the VeADIR platform consist partially of the tokenized (“Veritized”) sub-assets. Essentially, stocks, commodities, and other investment vehicles can be pegged to Veritas (VERI) sub-tokens, to be traded on Veritaseum systems such as its in-house exchange, VeRent, or on independent markets that incorporate the Veritized tokens. VeRent also allows users to buy, sell, or rent VERI. Users may look to rent VERI tokens for temporary access or usage of components of VeADIR which require VERI fees, paid to the development team, to use. Additionally, license holders can rent or resell their access to VeADIR through VeRent. According to the website, while it is in beta, access to VeADIR requires a balance of at least 3,333 VERI, which is equivalent to roughly US$1 million. Beyond this, fees must still be paid to utilize the technology. Alternatively, accredited investors with at least US$5 million in assets or members of “family offices” can also receive access to the platform.

Behind VeADIR

VeADIR is an interactive, dynamic platform for trading and research that operates through the coordination of a number of smart contracts. VeADIR was inspired by Reggie Middleton, founder and CEO of Veritaseum, and built by the lead engineer, Patryk Dwórznik. Reggie Middleton is a widely renowned analyst, and his accomplishments include predicting and publicizing his opinions on the housing collapse in 2007 prior to the global recession that took place in 2008.

Veritaseum Autonomous, Dynamic, Interactive Research is advertised as a revolutionary trading and research platform that outperforms any existing application. Users can activate the smart contracts to research various assets, as well as execute automated trades. While there is little public access to the platform, it can be concluded that the price tag is at least somewhat justified if VeADIR is as extraordinary as it lets on.

Criticisms

Regardless of the worth of the technology offered by Veritaseum, there are a number of glaring issues that jeopardize Veritas’s viability as an investment. The most obvious point of discontent is the VERI supply. Of a total supply of 100 million tokens, only 2,036,645 tokens are currently in circulation. The other 97.9% are held in a single address, owned by Middleton, the CEO. At a market price of US$290, those almost-98 million VERI are valued at over US$28 billion. Of course, if the CEO decided to sell even a small portion of the non-circulating supply, prices would surely enter a free fall. To counter this possibility, Middleton offers over-the-counter, bulk purchases to private investors. Additionally, fees paid through the use of VeADIR go back to Reggie and the rest of the team.

Another point of criticism is this project’s team, which consists of just three individuals. For a coin valued as highly as VERI, this is certainly disturbing. Supporters may suggest that, unlike other projects, Veritaseum serves a niche purpose, and thus does not need such an expansive team. However, it is still worthwhile for any meaningful project to hire positions such as community managers and product managers. For a project that offers a specific service, it is similarly important to hire a position such as a marketing head to expose the project to its target market.

Lastly, critics may question the utility of VERI to its holders, and even the necessity of Veritaseum having any token whatsoever. The sub-token is simply an entity that automatically creates ETH tokens based on the specifications inputted by the user and the fee for the creation. This could be done using dollars or any other cryptocurrency. Moreover, the same can be said about access to the platform. Licenses could theoretically be bought, rented, and resold with any currency, as could the fees required to use VeADIR. The main utility of VERI is that of an investment that appreciates in value due to individuals forfeiting VERI to use the applications provided by Veritaseum. However, appreciation will realistically only take place if the amount of coins removed from the circulating supply via license purchases and fee payments is greater than the number of coins added to the supply through over-the-counter sales.

Price History

When VERI first hit exchanges in July of 2017, its price was about US$50. Days after trading began, the team announced that $8 million worth of tokens had been hacked and sold on EtherDelta, which momentarily dropped the price below US$5. However, supporters heavily bought the dump and the price corrected in just days. Since then, VERI has seen modest, continual gains. From July to today, the coin has appreciated almost six times against the dollar and has outperformed Bitcoin by about 80%. VERI achieved an all-time high of almost US$500 on January 9, and while the token has risen against Bitcoin since then, it has lost significant value due to Bitcoin’s rapid decline in the past month. VERI currently trades at US$290.

Conclusion

Despite the major criticisms leveled against Veritaseum, there is potentially future profit to be made, especially if VeADIR attracts more users and it is confirmed that the platform is as effective as it claims to be. However, there is huge risk associated with VERI, much greater than that of coins with similar market caps. The price of this coin can be manipulated heavily at the whim of the team. If they decide, at any point, to sell some portion of their coins, the price will tank. Additionally, low daily volume numbers (barely US$150,000) suggest there is not as much organic interest in the project as the market cap may imply. Potential investors should certainly be cognizant of the risks associated with this coin and do ample research before making any purchases.

The Internet can be a very hostile place first and foremost. Especially where social media is concerned, conversations can turn extremely vile in the blink of an eye. Reddit, the so-called frontage of the Internet, is also a cesspool in some regards. A female teenager got verbally abused over a Bitcoin application. No one believed she is the original developer of the Crypto Price Tracker application, simply because she is 16 years old. The truth is very different, as Harshita Arora earned a prestigious internship to build powerful applications.

It is not uncommon for teenagers to create cryptocurrency-related applications. Any effort made in this regard needs to be applauded first and foremost. This is especially true when females start to show an interest in Bitcoin and other similar currencies. In the case of Harshita Arora, her first experience with a Bitcoin application has not been overly positive. In fact, it seems all of Reddit decided to chew her out because of this particular application.

Reddit Turns Against Aspiring Female Bitcoin Coder

Cryptocurrency price tracking applications are rather popular these days. A lot of people want to keep close tabs on how the markets are evolving at all times. It is unclear why a portion of the Reddit community turned their negative attention to Harshita’s application. While her application works just fine, people simply didn’t buy her story in the slightest. No one believes a 16-year-old female can build a cryptocurrency price tracking application, for some reason.

Some comments even went as far as stating how she isn’t a 16-year-old girl at all. Instead, the app is perceived as a massive scam by an unidentified male to sell the application as much as possible. With so much attention for this app on Reddit, it is certainly possible a fair few sales have been generated in the process. Things did not end there either by any means. Harshita receives a lot of threats ranging from rape warnings to hateful emails and even the “plagiarization” comment. All of her hard work is not appreciated by Redditors, for some reason.

A self-taught app designer such as Harshita Arora deserves a lot of respect. Amateur coders are more than welcome in the world of cryptocurrency right now. This industry is not exactly popular among females, let alone female coders. Harshita Arora has a major internship at Salesforce on her resume. She also took part in an MIT summer program, which provides a valuable learning experience. Her Crypto Price Tracker all for iOS is available for iPhone users as of right now. It seems the original feedback on the App Store is very positive. On Reddit, however, there is still very little respect for this aspiring developer. Perhaps this could also be one of the reasons for which Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian decided to take a step back from this community to focus on Blockchain Investments.

The post Reddit Strikes Again: Female Bitcoin App Developer Gets Terrorized appeared first on NewsBTC.

The cannabis industry has cropped up at a rapid pace in US states that have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use. Over 2,000 marijuana dispensaries carrying over 300 different strains of cannabis now operate across the United States. Despite over $50 billion in annual sales, the market that functioned as an underground ‘pot’ economy until only recently operates more like a ‘chiefing’ stoner, inhaling all the good stuff and not passing it around.  

A highly fragmented legalized marijuana market has developed. Although all but a handful of states have legalized marijuana use for medical and recreational use, the patchwork of rules and regulations across states has created an inefficient market. The illegal status of marijuana on the federal level creates more supply chain blockages since the transport, sale, and distribution of marijuana is illegal.

Streamlining this fragmented business on the blockchain could be the best market high the marijuana industry has experienced. The blockchain digital ledger system could help the industry transcend borders by conducting the cannabis business on the more accountable, efficient and transparent digital ledger system.

From Seed to Sale

A more efficient blockchain supply chain would move sales away from the higher risk street market “where product quality and unknown ingredients are a risk,” to the dispensing market. Budbo, a cannabis data analytics provider, estimates over 121,000 dispensaries will be needed to supply the 11 million people making at least one cannabis purchase a month. To accommodate this growth, by developing the cannabis industry’s first blockchain supply chain solution, Budbo plans on streamlining the cannabis supply chain from the grower to the end user.

Budbo has helped streamline the rapidly growing cannabis industry by improving the buyer-seller interface. Its legacy product is a mobile app that allows buyers to identify cannabis products by their preferences, and then locate licensed cannabis suppliers in their area that carry those products. Growers, manufacturers, and dispensaries can leverage this market intelligence through a cloud-based intelligence platform.  Benefits include more accurate forecasting, and valuable data to inform which strains to cultivate, and which concentrates and edibles to manufacture. Cannabis consumers who use the app have noted the development of more strain variety and higher quality products nearby.

This ecosystem fills the legal and operational gaps across states with different rules and regulations. Cannabis growers also use the Budbo platform to manage logistics and track shipments via a GPS tracking system. Across this ecosystem, data can be readily shared, enabling Budbo to fulfill its vision of building the data backbone of the cannabis industry. This data will be used in forecasting and understanding preferences in cannabis drug research, regulation, quality control, and marketing.

Accelerating Cannabis Commerce Across Borders

The more efficient supply chain will help close the gap between street prices and dispensary prices. Questionable quality and ingredients pose risks for consumers purchasing marijuana on the black market. Currently, in California—the latest state to legalize weed—where the pricing gap is the largest, dispensary drugs sell for $81 an ounce more on average than street marijuana.

As more people use cannabis products to meet non-recreational needs, the data generated in the Budbo ecosystem will become more valuable in the customer-supply interface. Drug developers can fine-tune products to meet very specific health needs. Dispensaries can ensure cannabis products in demand in their region are in stock. Budbo’s GPS tracking system will ensure cannabis products are distributed in a trackable, timely and efficient manner throughout the supply chain.  

The Budbo Token Sale

The Budbo blockchain community is accessible with the Budbo token ($BUBO). The token sale began in January. Purchasing the Budbo token not only gives owners access to the Budbo supply chain but also a vote on the decentralized apps that will be used within the network.

The post Get Your Drugs on Time: Budbo Introduces the First Cannabis Blockchain Supply Chain appeared first on NewsBTC.

You may have already tested plenty of investment options: capital market, mutual funds, government investments etc. Investing time and money into business can be troubling, but what about moving entirely into the digital environment? Is it worth it to get a loan in order to invest money into bitcoin? Virtual currency has lately been extraordinarily popular, and it is being used in a lot of sectors as the main payment system. This article is meant to answer the most asked question related to this topic: is it worth to invest into bitcoin? Read the pieces of information below and all your uncertainties will be gone in minutes.

What is a bitcoin?

Bitcoin (BTC) is a type of electronic currency, also called cryptocurrency, which is developed by people and companies all around the world. What one needs to understand about cryptocurrency is the fact that it has no physical form. The bitcoin network is not controlled by anyone or anything, but the users who are buying or selling.

What benefits investing in bitcoin has?

• It can be a way of earning money – there are big chances to lose money at the same time, so it is all about your capability of understanding how the system works
• You can buy certain products and services using only bitcoins
• They are present in all parts of the world
• The system is transparent and neutral, so it cannot be changed by anyone
• The payments can be made 24/7 because bitcoins are not related to banks in any way

Can you lose money?

The answer is yes, you can lose money while investing into bitcoins. This is the reason why you will have to be very convinced of your winning rate, especially if you get a loan just for this purpose. You can lose money in a very short period of time, keeping in mind that the price of a bitcoin fluctuates terribly from one day to another. The system is not pyramidal, and it relies on your ability to analyze the fluctuations that occur with time. You will have to understand how it works and invest in bitcoin at the most appropriate time. If you are not doing so, you are going to risk a large amount of money. This happens especially when investors rush in making a certain decision.

Does its price fluctuate?

Yes, the price does fluctuate. Investing in bitcoin is risky. The cryptocurrency market is very volatile. One year the bitcoin can cost a few dollars, it can go up to $1000 the next month and drop back to its initial amount a while after. If you are an active type of investor, you can make monthly purchases and sale of bitcoins, which can result in great returns. Don’t forget that these investments are taxable, like all other investments out there and any earnings are going to be taxed according to your state affiliation. It depends on the income statement how the profit is going to be calculated.

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Enigma is a crypto platform that’s trying to solve the problem of privacy on the blockchain. Using an off-chain network layer, Enigma gives blockchains access to much-needed storage, privacy, and scalability. Additionally, it employs what it dubs secret contracts, a brand of smart contract that gives users an element of privacy that’s not intrinsic to current blockchain protocols.

How it Works

Enigma functions by taking data from the blockchain and, when appropriate, storing it in its off-chain network. As with other current blockchains, data on this blockchain is public, while the off-chain network is responsible for keeping data private.

“Code is executed both on the blockchain (public parts) and on Enigma (private or computationally intensive parts),” the Enigma whitepaper states. This gives Enigma the ability to store data privately while also providing public proof that a transaction was executed on the blockchain. Thus, “Enigma’s execution ensures both privacy and correctness, whereas a blockchain alone can only ensure the latter.”

Private (or secret) contracts are integral to this structure. These are like Ethereum’s smart contracts, except that their focus is, obviously, privacy. With Enigma’s secret contracts scripting language, developers will be able to build dApps for privacy functions. If, for example, a company wanted to issue a quarterly report on employee salaries, it could use Enigma to manage the individual salaries in secrecy while making the median salary public. Each employee could submit his or her salary to the private contract to be factored into the final tally, but only they would be able to see it. When the report was done, they’d then be able to see how they stacked up against their coworkers, as the report would only tally the company’s aggregate and median salaries, not each individual salary.

The Enigma Trifecta

Seeing as Enigma is an off-chain network that complements blockchain networks, it offers a few key benefits:

Storage: Enigma uses a decentralized, off-chain distributed hash-table (DHT) to store references to data without revealing said data. This off-chain storage can be used for general database purposes with information that lies outside the realm of financial transactions, something current blockchains don’t take aim at.

Privacy: We’ve already gone over this, but it’s important to ingrain this use case in your head, as it’s Enigma’s M.O. The off-chain network is managed via private/secret contracts to keep data secure and invisible to those not in control of its private keys. Additionally, “[data] is split between different nodes, and they compute functions together without leaking information to other nodes. Specifically, no single party ever has access to data in its entirety; instead, every party has a meaningless (i.e., seemingly random) piece of it.”

Scalability: By loading computations and data off-chain, Enigma has the potential to provide scaling solutions to the blockchain in the future in addition to its privacy functions.

Enigma Moving Forward

The Enigma team is made up of MIT grads/media lab members, and they’ve been working diligently to ensure Enigma’s success. In the future, they see a plethora of applications and use cases for their project, “including finance, health, identity, and credit.” Their primary focus for now, though, is refining Catalyst, Enigma’s flagship dApp. Catalyst makes use of Enigma’s data marketplace and allows its users to build strategies and tools to improve their crypto-asset investments and research. You can access Catalyst today and begin using its services, and if it’s any indication of the project’s trajectory, it paints a bright future for the versatility of Enigma’s platform.