Day: February 12, 2018

With all the new cryptocurrencies that were developed and released this past year, it can be easy to lose sight of some of the lesser-known and older ones. They should not be so quickly overlooked, however, as some of them have extremely interesting ideas worth exploring. One that I’ve been looking into recently is called GridCoin (GRC).

What is GridCoin?

Gridcoin is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that was launched in October of 2013. It is currently ranked 313th on Coinmarketcap and is worth about US$0.06. Like many coins that followed Bitcoin in the first few years, GRC has had a strong focus on the environmental impact of mining. Gridcoin attempts to distribute new coins in a fairly unique way, Proof-of-Research. Rather than miners competing to discover a nonce, network contributors are rewarded for contributing their computational power to solving scientific computations on the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BIONC). It also uses a proof-of-stake scheme.

Gridcoin’s supply schedule is a bit more complex than that of most other cryptocurrencies because of the former’s unique, hybrid consensus algorithm. The overall 6.5% inflation rate is the sum of 5% from research payments for contributing computational effort and 1.5% for staking and securing the network.

The project’s creator is Rob Halförd, and it uses the familiar MIT License for open-source projects. It has a fair amount of commits on its GitHub repository, which is something I always like to see from a project, and 33 contributors.

Its website and logo have also undergone a bit of a revamp since I first heard of this project a few years ago. The site is helpful in getting everything set up to get started, and also links to its community presences.

What I love about Gridcoin is that it is focused on working toward the common good through cryptocurrency and cryptography. Too often we see individuals and actors in this space acting entirely selfishly. However, contributing to Gridcoin often means contributing to BIONC, which means contributing to a whole slew of worthwhile projects. Incentivizing pooled resources for the greater good is something I can really get behind, for obvious reasons. I think that this is the direction a lot of research institutions will be going in, augmenting their centralized computational resources with decentralized networks. It would not only add power to their networks, but also further secure their research in the event of a central failure. It just makes sense.

Many of my regular readers will know that I am a huge fan of outer space. I am inspired by it and believe it is ultimately the destiny of humans to be an interplanetary species. We’ve already been to the Moon, but most of our manned missions have been to the International Space Station and back for a while now. Recent documents have suggested that the Trump administration is considering making the International Space Station (ISS) a private entity.

The International Space Station was not meant to be a private endeavor

An internal NASA document acquired by The Washington Post suggests that the Trump administration hopes to end public funding of the ISS after 2024. However, the document goes further, explaining that the intention is not to let the ISS deorbit (read: re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in a spectacular fireball) like other space stations (such as SkyLab) have in the past. Instead, the laboratory in low Earth orbit may become privately held after the United States stops public funding.

I take a few issues with this:

We have sunk truly massive amounts of money – over $100 billion in US tax dollars – into the International Space Station. This does not even account for the contributions made by the other nations that share the burden of the ISS’ operation and maintenance. It is not dilapidated and has potentially decades of future service ahead of it beyond 2024, and no company will pay $100 billion for it. A net loss for the US government is a net loss for every taxpayer.

As mentioned in passing above, this plan does not seem to appreciate the other nations that also maintain, contribute to, and occupy the International Space Station. Currently, three nations have astronauts (or cosmonauts) on board. It is far from a solely US held entity.

Another problem I have is that if the ISS were turned over to solely private entities, the science done there would become for profit, not for the common good. Furthermore, it could potentially become proprietary. While I am in favor of market based solutions and the market itself, some things are better left public and for the good of humanity as a whole.

I would not mind privatization if it meant we were creating a better and more modern station. I realize it is older and could use an update, but the current plan has no solid roadmap regarding what the public will get next. It seems like this plan sinks already sunken costs and then adds insult to injury by not providing any indication as to what the future holds.

The United States and the world deserve to have part of their science and research done without profits in mind.

Hut 8, two months after announcing its partnership with Bitfury, is preparing to be listed on the TSX Venture Exchange prior to expanding mining ops.

Even though most people would assume Zencash is just another cryptocurrency trying to gain traction, there is a lot more to this platform than that. Zencash aims to become the go-to secure platform for money, messages, and media in general. It is a rather bold venture, but the combination of features may actually pay dividends.

What is Zencash Exactly?

There are several aspects of Zencash to keep in mind. First of all, it is a public blockchain which offers transaction privacy and a degree of anonymity to its users. There is also a very strong focus on research and development towards creating a decentralized future. To that end, the team is working with IOHK and studying the idea of introducing DAO technology in the future. Additionally, Zencash has a strong focus on scalability, as that is a major problem in the blockchain world today.

The Technical Side of Zencash

Under the hood, Zencash aims to provide the best privacy technology available to cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiasts right now. Zencash uses zk-SNARKS to facilitate private transactions and employs domain fronting to hide internet connection endpoints. Furthermore, the project relies on the IPFS system to publish and access data anonymously. It is a rather intriguing stack of technologies, to say the least.

As mentioned before, Zencash is also looking into the concept of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations. While this technology was made popular by Ethereum, there are other projects which can benefit from this technology as well. A Treasury model is being drafted to couple the project’s privacy technology with the DAO business model in the future.

Zencash also prides itself on having the most resilient blockchain system to date. With nearly 7,000 secure nodes protecting the network at all times, it has become evident there is great initial interest in Zencash in its current form. Moreover, this is the first project to offer full node-to-node encryption, which gives it a leg up over competing platforms.

Using the Zencash Currency

Even though the Zencash currency has attracted a lot of technology enthusiasts, users remain confused as to what they can do with it. For now, the developers are still working on the services and products which will use ZEN as a base currency. Once completed, those projects will focus on media, messaging, and a few other ventures. Until that time, ZEN will be a speculative vehicle first and foremost.

The Road Ahead for Zencash

Throughout 2018, the Zencash team will deliver a wide range of features and services to its users. An iOS wallet and OpenBazaar integration are two of the top priorities right now. Improvements to the Secure Node system will be introduced as well. Domain Fronting will be implemented at some point, although additional research is still needed at this stage. In 2019, we will see a proper scalability solution, as well as more progress on the DAO front.

Crowdholding is a cryptocurrency co-creation platform that allows entrepreneurs and community members to collaborate and grow a startup together.  New companies can use the platform to raise funds, and co-creators (those who offer advice and feedback to these startups) can give their two cents on decisions that contribute to a project’s maturation.  And these two cents could potentially be worth a nice payday, as entrepreneurs can pay co-creators for their input with the platform’s native token as well their own ERC20 token.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Crowdholding Completes its ICO

The Crowdholding ICO saw a successful finish to its initial coin offering, raising a total of 2044 ETH combined in the pre-sale and ICO.  This puts Crowdholding’s market cap at around $2mln.  

Speaking of exchanges, if you missed out on the ICO and want a piece of the action, keep an eye out for Yupie token (YUP) on major exchanges this February.  Additionally, you can earn YUP by participating in discussions for any business that co-creates and raises funds on the Crowdholding platform.

Crowdholding Fundraising Model

Any business, whether tokenized or not, can build itself on Crowdholding’s platform, and any individual wishing to contribute to a startup they believe in can use the platform to generate ideas that will earn them YUP and ERC-20 tokens.

Startups can use the platform to gain feedback on anything related to their project, whether that be roadmap direction, logo design, business model, or anything under the sun.  This also includes bounties for project goals, meaning that startups can seek out the help of crowdholders (co-creators) on the platform and commission their help to create necessary product components (e.g., graphics, APIs,  whitepapers, manuals, etc.).

Crowdholders obviously play a pivotal role for fundraising.  Unlike traditional startup platforms, their contributions are not limited to mere monetary contributions.  They can actually offer feedback, services, criticism, and ideas for startups to take into consideration, thus building a project alongside its entrepreneurs with their own creative energy.  It’s like if Kickstarter and Quora had a child that was raised by a forum-run community like Reddit.

Crowdholding Going Forward

The Crowdholding team has already launched their BETA that is being used by a dozen of crypto businesses. Within the coming weeks, Crowdholding’s team will collect feedback from the startups and users to develop the official version of the platform.

2018 is shaping up to be a busy year for this platform.  The team has already launched its bounty program for development, marketing, and general support to get the project underway, and they hope to have a working platform for crowdfunding/sourcing this July.  By December, they hope to have their own marketplace for services and tokens launched, as well.

As you would venture to guess, the Yupie token will be used on the platform for fundraising, bounties, and rewarding co-creator contributions.  The value of this token, then, is inherent to the platform’s crowdfunding and contribution models.  If you want to invest in a startup on Crowdholding, you’ll have to use Yupie, and businesses who wish to award contributions will do so in this token, as well.  As such, as the platform grows and more startups/contributors use it, expect the value of Yupie to increase, as well.

If you’d like more information, you can visit Crowdholding’s website or its Medium page.  If you want to get involved in the community, head on over to the project’s Telegram.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have shown clear signs of a pricing bubble and consumers could lose all of their money, the European Union’s banking, securities, and insurance watchdogs said today, February 12th.

The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) for securities, banking, and insurance and pensions said in a joint statement that they were “concerned” about an increasing number of people buying virtual currencies without being aware of the risks involved.

The warning was requested by European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, who said last month that the agencies must prevent cryptocurrencies from becoming a “token for unlawful behavior.” There will be a meeting of key authorities and the private sector soon to assess the longer-term situation for cryptocurrencies beyond current market swings, he said.

“The ESAs warn consumers that VCs (virtual currencies) are highly risky and unregulated products and are unsuitable as investment, savings, or retirement planning products,” the group of watch dogs said. The agency went further, arguing that cryptocurrencies can be volatile and show “clear signs of a pricing bubble.” They added that people investing in them should be conscious of the high risk that they could “lose a large amount, or even all, of the money invested.”

Markus Ferber, Vice Chair of the European Parliament’s Economic Affairs Committee, said the warning was overdue and “Wild West” virtual currencies should be regulated like other financial instruments. “I expect the Commission to take the warnings by the three supervisory authorities seriously and issue a legislative proposal in this regard as soon as possible,” Ferber said.

As virtual currencies and the exchanges used to trade them are not regulated under EU law, the regulators warned that cryptocurrency investors are not protected in the event of an exchange going out of business or a cyber-attack.

The EU joins a number of government authorities in raising concern over cryptocurrencies. Last week Germany and France asked the Group of 20 Economies (G20) to discuss possible regulation for cryptocurrencies at its next meeting. South Korea recently introduced measures to tackle speculation in the sector, banning the use of anonymous bank accounts in cryptocurrency trading. And Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said recently that his government will take measures to “eliminate” the use of cryptocurrencies in “illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system.”

Looking outside these recent announcements from governmental bodies and agencies, it’s not all doom and gloom. Across Europe smaller banks are looking forward to giving investors access to cryptocurrencies without any major hurdles, and some are even offering advice on initial coin offerings as well. Two stand-outs are Falcon Bank and Vontobel, you can read more about them here.

The post European Supervisory Authorities “Concerned” About Cryptocurrencies appeared first on NewsBTC.

Mark Edge, host of Free Talk Live radio, back in 2011 talked about a new digital asset on his show. The asset became Bitcoin we all now know about, and among the audience of the show there happened to be Roger Ver. #INTERVIEW

August is when GMO Internet says it could formally kick off its cloud mining service.

Even though SuperNET sounds like the next superhero show coming to Netflix, it is actually a blockchain-based cryptocurrency project which aims to make a big impact. More specifically, it is a means of connecting some of the more reliable blockchain technologies in existence today. Bridging the gap between currencies and blockchains is a more than valid course of action right now.

What is SuperNET Exactly?

With so many different cryptocurrencies in existence, it is pretty much impossible to combine the best of all worlds. Unless you want to use different currencies for different purposes, there is no unified solution in place right now. SuperNET wants to provide anonymity, instant transfers, and non-centralized exchange methods for various cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, it protects traders from government surveillance and hacking. With one wallet to control one’s favorite coins, SuperNET is definitely on to something.

The Technical Side of SuperNET

The main selling point of SuperNET is its multicoin wallet which supports many of today’s cryptocurrencies. The wallet lets users enjoy these currencies’ best features through one simple and convenient user interface. There is also the non-centralized SuperNET exchange which can be used to store funds, although it remains best to use a desktop client.

This non-centralized exchange technology deserves some further explanation. The feature is known as Multigateway, and it stores currencies on a multisignature server cluster. Every server can only access one of the various keys needed for withdrawals to occur. By letting the servers form a consensus, optimal security is guaranteed. The Multigateway clusters are found all over the world, and servers are controlled by individual coins’ development teams to ensure there is no centralization. Multigateway is a clearinghouse service first and foremost, and it offers quite a few interesting features.

With its InstantDEX exchange, SuperNET also provides proper decentralized cryptocurrency trading to its users. Transfers are completed in near real-time without relying on a centralized authority. An added bonus is that SuperNET provides anonymous trading thanks to the integration of BitcoinDark. It is evident there is a lot more to SuperNET than most people know about, and we can only hope more functionality is added over time.

The UNITY Token

Even though SuperNET has its own native currency – known as UNITY – it seemingly has no current use cases other than sending and receiving money across the native blockchain. In the future, it’s hoped that UNITY will foster collaboration between various cryptocurrencies, reward innovation, and bring value to long-term SuperNET participants.

What’s on the SuperNET Roadmap?

There are still plenty of things to look forward to when it comes to SuperNET. The InstantDEX platform will integrate more functionality and allow for the trading of more currencies. The Jumblr Bitcoin anonymizer will continue to attract a lot of attention, for obvious reasons. More liquidity providers will need to be found as well, as it is evident they will help the InstantDEX platform as a whole. It seems the smartchains platform, which introduces smart contract technology for every blockchain created on top of SuperNET, will also be explored further.

The European Supervisory Authorities warn customers against investing in cryptocurrencies without understanding the risks and to only spend the money they can afford to lose. #NEWS

Last week’s T3 conference saw huge Blockchain love from financial advisors. #NEWS

Slate Magazine

Oh Great, a Hacking Group Linked to North Korea Is Getting Very Good at Targeting Bitcoin Owners Slate Magazine McAfee analysts released research on Monday indicating that Lazarus, a cybercrime group known for its association with North Korea as well for its involvement in the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack and the 2014 Sony hack, is now using never-before-seen ... and more »

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Forbes

Microsoft To Embrace Decentralized Identity Systems Built On Bitcoin And Other Blockchains Forbes In a new post today, Microsoft announced their embrace of public blockchains, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, for use in decentralized identity systems. Initially, the longtime tech giant will support blockchain-based decentralized IDs (DIDs) through the ... and more »

The financial regulator of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) announced that it is preparing a set of regulations for cryptocurrencies, ICOs and crypto exchanges. #NEWS