Day: March 6, 2018

The controversial owner of the web portal Bitcoin.org and Bitcointalk, an anon named ‘Cobra Bitcoin’, has been a popular subject within the cryptocurrency community lately. It’s strange that a person who nobody really knows has so much control within the BTC community, and lately his messages have been very cryptic, even making some believe his accounts have been compromised.

Also Read: Japan’s SBI Holdings Claims 40% Stake in Hardware Wallet Company

Who Is This Cobra Character?

There are a few characters within the bitcoin space who are anonymous but have enormous amounts of control over certain aspects within the bitcoin space. For instance, there is Theymos, the co-owner of Bitcoin.org, and Bitcointalk who helps operate those sites with Cobra Bitcoin. (Theymos also controls r/bitcoin and the bitcoin wiki page). Cobra was first introduced in a Github update over three years ago as the co-owner of Bitcoin.org alongside Theymos. Since then his commentary and Bitcoin.org Github requests have been very contentious.

A few tendentious discussions Cobra has brought up over the years include kicking Coinbase off the website’s recommended business list when they said they would support an alternative software client other than Bitcoin Core. Cobra has asked the community and fellow Bitcoin.org team members to change certain statements Satoshi Nakamoto made in the Bitcoin white paper. He’s asked the community to change the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm as well, among many other controversial subjects. Cobra is not a software developer, but he is mentioned as a contributor to Core’s scaling roadmap. Moreover, there is very little information about Cobra, as Bitcoin.org’s Whois records are protected by Whoisguard, and the owner’s identity remains private.

Cobra’s Cryptic Statements

Recently, Cobra started a Twitter account and Medium blog that allow him to be a lot more vocal towards specific issues within the bitcoin community. He has written many times that bitcoin is centralized by mining entities, explicitly talking about Jihan Wu and Bitmain. The Bitcoin.org co-owner suggests an immediate change to the PoW algorithm as a solution. Back in November of 2017, he hated bitcoin cash and said it was centralized by one developer and two other men.

“Bitcoin cash is a cancer on bitcoin that we need to cure ourselves of,” Cobra said that month.        

However, in December he said that BTC and BCH communities should form some sort of “truce and peace”, even telling core supporters not to use the phrase ‘Bcash.’ In late January of 2018 Cobra said to his Twitter followers that he was upset that Bitcoin.org removed the “cheaper fees” description on the website because BTC fees were not cheap. Finally, on March 5, Cobra appears to have switched sides entirely by supporting bitcoin cash. He now says the digital asset has a much better chance of competing against the Lightning Network (LN) strategy.  

“Increased my holdings of Bitcoin Cash today,” Cobra explains to his Twitter followers.  

There was a long need for a blockchain good for payments, that makes certain tradeoffs to achieve that, and I think from a UX point of view, Bitcoin Cash has much better chances of winning the upcoming payments war than LN.

No Matter What Side You’re On, It’s Hard to Trust a Snake

Many Core supporters are very skeptical of Cobra’s words lately, as he doesn’t seem to be supporting their ideological battle as he did in the past. Some Core proponents believe that Cobra’s Twitter handle or identity, in general, has been compromised. Furthermore, bitcoin cash supporters also don’t know what to think of this anon character who used to hate BCH, but is now suddenly stocking up his BCH holdings. Whatever the case may be, Cobra has been a man of mystery for quite some time, with a lot of power at his fingertips.

What do you think about Cobra and his comments lately? Let us know what you think about this mysterious character in the comments below.

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Images via Twitter, Github, and Reddit. 

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The post The Curious Case of ‘Cobra Bitcoin’: The Peculiar Anon with a Lot of Power appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon speaks in Switzerland about the ability of cryptocurrency to fight the European establishment. #NEWS

Economist Kenneth Rogoff said Tuesday that he expects bitcoin’s price will decrease by 2028.

The popular website bitcoincasino.us announced recently that it now accepts ethereum and has reached over 650 games from which players around the world can choose. People who gamble at online casinos often feel as though they have limited payment and gaming options, but that is no longer the case. No matter where players are from or what type of game appeals to them, they will find it as soon as they navigate to BitcoinCasino. Members are amazed when they create accounts and take advantage of the fun and excitement, and getting started is easy.

Creating an Account

When a new player is ready to join BitcoinCasino to try a range of incredible games, the new player will navigate to the registration page. Many people are annoyed by long applications because they want to give their first game a try right away. Digital casinos that require too much personal information turn people away, but nobody will need to worry about that problem at BitcoinCasino. New players must only enter an email address, password and nickname to join the action. To get bonuses and free spins, members can enter a bonus code as they complete the registration process.

Games Players Can Expect

Those coming to the site for the first time are curious about the types of games they can expect to play after they sign up. Slot machines, poker and roulette are just a few of the games players can challenge to have a great time and win the payout of which they have been dreaming. The best part is that each section has many themes to prevent players from getting bored, and the site plans to add even more games and themes in the future. People who have a passion for online casinos can’t go wrong when they opt for this breathtaking website that has some of the best games on the planet.

Bonuses and Promotions

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During the week, players get a 30 percent bonus, but they enjoy a 50 percent bonus on weekends. Making deposits at the right time and using free spins enhances each player’s odds of winning. Players looking for the best possible results should keep their eyes open for new offers and discounts if they don’t want to miss an impressive deal to which they would otherwise not have access.

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.

The market is correcting, but there are bullish signs. #PRICE_ANALYSIS

In furthering its reach and application, KICKICO has announced that it will be expanding into two more major exchanges in the Asian market, KuCoin and Bibox. This brings their tally up to 10 exchanges where the ICO platform’s token can be found.

KICKICO have been making progress in updating and preparing their product, and this move to become more accessible to a wider market through these exchanges marks just one aspect of their growth.

KICKICO has now completed its ICO with 84,000 ETH being collected back in September 2017. This has laid the foundation for the platform to start building and developing, and of course now expanding its reach.

There have been more than 20 projects launched on its platform to date, but as a sign of things to come, they have stated that as many as 200 ICOs are already in the pipeline for future development.

These advancements in the platforms growth are indicative of the many plans that they are still currently holding to their chest, but the biggest one to date has to be the creation of the ‘Community Choice.’

As a platform to aid and grow strong and reliable ICOs, KICKICO’s Community Choice is an ambitious function that they hope can change the landscape of poorly formed ICOs. It gives the community the opportunity to vet, rate and filter the ICOs space and determine which they believe are worth launching in order to better the environment.

With already a 55,000 strong community, the KICKICO platform can help in choosing the ICOs which the public wants, or believes in, giving them a headstart in their launch. Now, active members of the community have the chance to have their say of what is good, but also what is bad and should be weeded out.

As KICKICO’s plan is to try and breach the entire ICO market, drawing legitimate ICOs to their platform to be tested by the rigours of a broad community, it is important that their coin is widely available.

By joining an exchange like KuCoin, an exchange that is well regarded for altcoins, KICKICO becomes available on a platform that is well suited to the needs of its investors.

It represents a step towards greater innovation and aids in the work that KICKICO has already done.

“Entering our next crypto exchanges – Bibox and KuCoin –  is an important step among many larger, innovative ones we are now taking,” says Anti Danilevski,  KICKICO’s CEO.

“Initiatives like Community Choice revolutionize things, giving a voice back to the crypto community. We worked hard to bring a higher level of transparency and fairness to the crypto world, and this is in line with our core values of trust, responsibility, transparency, and win-win solutions.

“We are all very excited about this and the many other initiatives that we are announcing and launching this spring. We have plans to enter other top exchanges in the very near future. Everyone will want to keep an eye out for our updates and news. The crypto community will be surprised and delighted.”

About KICKICO:

KICKICO is an online blockchain technology-based platform for fundraising in cryptocurrencies. It collected more than 84,000 ETH during its ICO, and was named “ICO of the Year” by BTC CIS AWARDS. Today, KICKICO has a community of 55,000 people, and the KICK Coin is traded on eight exchanges. The platform has launched more than 20 projects, successfully completing their ICOs and raising more than 250,000 ETH in total funds, among them: Micromoney, Hacken, Universa, Playkey, INS. KICKICO also organized Cryptospace Moscow – one of the leading global blockchain and crypto events of 2017, gathering more than 3000 people and 59 top international blockchain and crypto experts.

Telegram chat:

https://t.me/kickico

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.

On February 20th, representatives of Essentia One met with Dutch ministers at The Hague. The purpose for the meeting was to discuss possible solutions to border control issues that currently beset the Amsterdam to London Eurostar route. Amsterdam-based Essentia One specialise in blockchain technology, and are in the process of developing a framework for the decentralised web. The company’s co-founders, Mirco Mongiardino and Matteo Gianpietro Zago, were confident that distributed ledger technology could be adapted to solve a problem that border control agents have been grappling with for years.

Together with Head of Business Development Bedros Awanesian and Essentia Advisor Erik van der Staak, Mirco and Matteo made the trip to The Hague where they engaged in “productive” talks with officials from the Ministry of Justice & Security and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water (Transport). Matteo conceded that the problem the team were hoping to address was a complex one, but was optimistic that progress could be made, stating: “The fact that representatives of the Dutch government were willing to even countenance using blockchain technology showed they were open to left field ideas if these proved to be workable and cost-effective.”

The proposal put forward by Essentia One would alleviate much of the disruption that passengers currently endure as part of the extent border check process. Because the train passes through multiple countries and jurisdictions on its way from the Netherlands to England, travellers are obligated to disembark and then reboard the train as checks are carried out. Blockchain technology is prized for its transparency and auditability, and it was these characteristics that Essentia emphasised as to why it could prove its use on the Eurostar route.

The team’s solution would see passenger records securely stored on the blockchain in near-real time by Dutch officials and then made available to their counterparts in other countries. That way, passengers could be screened in advance, eliminating the need for multiple checks at stopping points along the way.

“The existing system puts an unnecessary strain on travellers and the transport system, and it severely prolongs journey time,” noted Essentia co-founder Mirco, speaking from personal experience. He also spoke of the “positive atmosphere” that pervaded the meeting with Dutch Ministry officials in The Hague, and was optimistic that tangible progress would be made. His fellow founder Matteo concurred, explaining: “Using Essentia, all four countries connected by the Eurostar service (the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom) have the opportunity to independently and remotely identify passengers and confirm whether they have been approved for boarding. This allows for rapid, remote control of which travellers are allowed to enter a target country, based on entry requirements.”

Due to the number of countries and border control agencies with a stake in the Eurostar Amsterdam to London route, any potential project would be subject to agreement from all parties. The Essentia team spoke warmly of the progress made at the initial meeting, not only in regards to the Eurostar route, but potentially elsewhere in the country too. The blockchain solution Essentia outlined would be equally suited to other border control points within the Netherlands, including airports, and the company is now in talks with Dutch officials with a view to potentially devising a pilot.

Whatever the outcome of future talks, Essentia emphasised their gratitude to officials from the Dutch government for taking the time to hear their proposal, and for considering innovative solutions to border control. Essentia is optimistic that a working model can be implemented in the future, demonstrating another real world use case for blockchain.

You can join their quickly growing community by clicking on the following link: https://t.me/essentia.one

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.

Robotina, a Slovenian company dedicated to the development of smart technologies for the energy industry, has recently started their ICO presale campaign with the goal of revolutionizing the traditional power network. The company has almost three decades of experience in the global market, and their new energy management solution is a state-of-the-art combination of three groundbreaking technologies viz. Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain.

Kozina, Slovenia (EU) March 6, 2018

In their relentless efforts to improve the efficiency, service quality, and user engagement of the traditional power network systems, Robotina has recently started an ICO presale campaign. With a track record of demonstrating excellence in the field of energy management for twenty-eight long years, the company is all set to implement a collaborative sharing economy business model that will bring numerous benefits to the participating users by utilizing artificial intelligence, machine learning, patented multi objective optimization and blockchain technology.

Indiscriminate use of electricity around the world has now reached a perilous stage that can only be overcome by substantial investments in new infrastructure and smarter use of the existing ones. This is exactly what Robotina is looking to achieve with their innovative platform.  It will be a vertical, high-tech all-inclusive enabling solution, consisting of connected Internet of Things (IoT) elements (things, processes, data, people) and the Power Platform (PP). The platform and connected IoT will be capable of executing thousands of calculations per second, each resulting in a small benefit and a small slice of revenue. Robotina’s vision is to create a community where members collaborate in order to save and earn money while consuming electrical energy.

Since the company’s inception in 1990, Robotina has carved a niche for itself in the industry, with own products, patents, international certifications, two R&D teams, one approved institute, and a high-calibre team comprising of fifty noted experts. They have already developed more than one hundred products that have been delivered to over thirty countries around the world.  The company has partnered with several reputable companies, including Microsoft, Hitachi, Panasonic, SHARP and others. Today, Robotina has direct or indirect presence in the markets of Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Turkey, India, China, Brazil and many others.

At a stage when the world of technology is going through dramatic changes, Robotina is focused on using technology to make this world a better place to live in. Unlike hundreds of ICOs released almost every day, Robotina has an extraordinary track record in the industry and has invested substantially to make their ICO a success. As a long term industry player, their goal is to provide financial benefits to investors and platform users and help contribute to a greener environment.

“After implementing 1000+ successful projects in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, South Africa and elsewhere, it was time to upgrade our game and give our clients a better, even safer decentralized solution,” says Devid Palcic, the CEO of Robotina. “This development is completely in line with our vision to become the leading provider of smart connected solutions, components and platforms which will contribute to a new model of connected society. We are looking forward to bringing the measurable benefits our ICO investors will be seeing.”

The Home Energy Management System or HEMS is an integral component of the Robotina ICO.  Priced at $299, this device will connect the homes of the users to Robotina’s IoT platform. During a period of ninety days after the end of the ICO, the first 2,000 backers to claim HEMS will get a 100% discount, and the next 198,000 backers to claim HEMS will get a 50% discount.

Robotina’s ICO presale started on February 21, offering investors an opportunity to buy the Robotina platform utility token (ROX) with a 10% bonus. The presale hard cap is $15.5 M and the ration ETH/ROX will be calculated for each phase (presale, crowdsale) separately. Though the platform payment with several other tokens, coins or fiat currencies, lucrative special discounts are available only on ROX transactions.

Robotina has always invested generously in product development and research. They have recently put together a lot of effort and funds into creating a community that will help increase the adoption of their platform. The company’s current focus is on making the ICO successful and paving the way for its implementation.

To find out more, please visit https://www.robotinaico.com/

About Robotina: Robotina is a Slovenian company, incorporated in 1990 and focused on innovation in automation and control technology. The company’s Internet of Things (IoT) enabled hardware (HW), cloud software (SW) and various solutions have demonstrated their excellence in the industry. Robotina has its own in house R&D and manufacturing facility for all its products. This manufacturing facility enables Robotina to deliver top quality at very competitive prices.

Contact: Tomaz Pavlica

Website: https://www.robotinaico.com/

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.

Having successfully integrated with over a hundred of point-of-sales in Ukraine, Paytomat will be holding a token sale to scale its blockchain-based solution to the global level

March 6th , 2018, Tallinn, Estonia and Kyiv, Ukraine – Paytomat, the decentralized system for cryptocurrency payments, announces its token sale, which will start on March 12th. The idea behind Paytomat is increasing the transactional usage of cryptocurrencies in everyday life, providing additional incentives for businesses, customers and crypto core teams. Launched from Ukraine in 2017, Paytomat is expanding its business globally and aims to develop its own unique blockchain-based loyalty program, fueled by PTM and PTX tokens.

Paytomat has already introduced an extension to receive payments in crypto on existing POS (point-of-sale) terminals using Poster, Profit Solutions and 1C. For the past year it has gained solid traction, having been successfully deployed across 150 merchants. Starting in 2018, Paytomat began their active expansion into CEE countries and already secured partnerships with various retailers in Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, as well as Georgia. Currently, the team is beta-testing customer mobile wallets and a standalone Paytomat Mobile POS for both payment processing and a blockchain-based loyalty program. In the long run, Paytomat plans to focus on the decentralized franchise for the local markets and on reaching out to various industries outside of HoReCa.

Yurii Olentir, Paytomat CEO, says: “There are over 1,500 coins and tokens in the world, but how many of them are actually used? Paytomat is designed to connect cryptocurrency core teams, consumers and businesses, so they all benefit from the new crypto economy. Our intention is to nurture the market, offering real life applications to various cryptocurrencies by enabling local stores and online merchants to accept payments in crypto. We are a liquidity network, a point of sale interface, a smart asset platform, and best of all, a loyalty program with incentives for both merchants and customers.”

The Paytomat Ecosystem will operate using three cryptos: PTI, a utility Waves-token issued for the purpose of the token sale; PTM, a coin based on its own blockchain; and PTX, a non-tradable token built on top of PTM and used to get loyalty rewards from merchants.

Whitelist registration opens March 2nd, followed by the pre-sale (March 12—17). The overall softcap for the PTI token sale is 4,555,000  PTI, the hardcap is 17,555,000 PTI. The initial price for 1 PTI is 0.1 mBTC or 10,000 satoshi. The following cryptocurrencies will be accepted: BTC, ETH, LTC, DASH, BCH , NEM, Waves. Paytomat will announce its referral and bounty programs later on in March.  

About Paytomat

Paytomat is a global blockchain-based payment processing system created to help merchants, consumers and crypto core teams to find each other and create real life traction for cryptocurrencies as emerging method of everyday payments. Built as a decentralized autonomous organization and decentralized franchise, Paytomat features a unique loyalty program based on the PTM coin, incentivizing merchants to accept payments in crypto, and PTX tokens, thereby incentivizing customers to pay with crypto. For more information visit https://tokensale.paytomat.com. Media contacts: [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.

What is the Internet of Things?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is comprised of a network of devices that are Wi-Fi enabled. These devices are used to manage home automation, chore-like tasks, or lifestyle activities. For instance, you can connect your coffee pot and program it to make coffee at the same time every morning, or you can setup your thermostat to learn your routine, so you never have to adjust it manually.

You can imagine how simple your life could be if you took all of the components of your smartphone and added them to other everyday objects. The Internet of Things makes this possible. You can design your automation around your normal routine to make life easier. There’s no limit to what IoT devices can accomplish.

What is IoT Chain?

There tend to be pervasive security problems when dealing with any smart devices on an IoT network. Smart devices haven’t been around for long, and we’re still vetting out the issues. What devices should you use? How do they communicate with each other and with you? What measures can you take to protect your home in the event one of your smart devices (and all the data contained within) is compromised?

IoT Chain (ITC) is intended to solve many of these problems. It takes extra measures of precaution to eliminate unauthorized access to any of your devices, protecting your home and your information from data breaches. ITC allows for devices to be checked only by authorized users by defending data safety and privacy security.

ITC Vision

Today, many different companies manufacture IoT devices. Some communicate with each other, and some don’t. There are ways to interconnect all smart devices over a common network, but the ease with which you can do that depends on whether they were originally designed to do so.

However, ITC aims to be the centralized platform on which all IoT devices connect and communicate. We’re quickly approaching the age where everything will be intellectualized, and ITC wants to be the primary OS for all smart property.

IoT Chain (ITC) Token

ITC is an operating system for IoT devices. It’s based on blockchain. With integrated blockchain technology, ITC resolves server security problems, meeting the demand for connectivity of all things. Not only is it safe, but it’s light, meaning it requires very little processing power and storage.

ITC Purpose

Traditional IoT architecture is centralized by design, allowing all of your devices to connect, operate, and communicate on a single network. Your data is stored on centralized servers controlled by merchants. This leaves your data in a highly vulnerable position.

Blockchain has already established decentralized technology, making it even easier for ITC to leverage that security and apply it to IoT networks. You control and maintain your own data on secure networks that aren’t accessible by anyone but you.

ITC Uses

ITC is intended primarily for the connection of smart devices over blockchain, for enhanced security, decentralization of data, and increased accessibility for appropriate users. It also generates a large amount of data that can be abstracted for analyzation purposes, improving upon the technology as the user base grows. The ultimate goal is increased functionality and security. Currently listed on Kucoin and Huobi, IoT Chain’s main net is scheduled to release

Website: https://iotchain.io/

Telegram: https://t.me/IoTChain

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.

Back in 2015, an Oregon man goaded the Federal Government to come and arrest him over a donation made to Edward Snowden’s Legal Defense Fund. Almost three years later, Kristopher Ives has finally got his wish.

People in Glass Houses…

Ives grabbed the attention of the media back in April 2015. He had taken to Reddit to protest Obama’s legislation targeting those supporting overseas cybercriminals. Edward Snowden, the infamous whistle-blower and general “thorn in the side” of the US authorities, had been accepting Bitcoin as part of his Legal Defense Fund. Ives, an anarchist, Bitcoin proponent, and self-proclaimed computer nerd, felt that this was a direct attack on Snowden’s fund.

To protest this, he sent Snowden 33 cents worth of Bitcoin before demanding that he be arrested for it. His post read:

“It’s not much but it’s the principle of the matter. Please come arrest me. I live in Oregon and my name is Kristopher Ives and you can reach me at 503-383-1047. This isn’t a release of personal information as these are my business credentials publicly listed on my Github page, which I consistently link to projects I work on. I ask moderators don’t remove my information.”

He also listed the proof of his 33 cent transaction taken from a popular Bitcoin blockchain explorer. In addition, Ives Tweeted directly to the then-President Obama to protest what he felt was an unconstitutional act by the premier:

@BarackObama Your executive order is unconstitutional. Here is my donation to #Snowden https://t.co/Y0MY5TWgq9 #BitcoinIsSpeech

— blank (@kristopherives) April 2, 2015

Despite several people following Ives’ lead in donating funds to Snowden and news sources picking up on the story, the Feds did not act on his goading.

However, seemingly emboldened by his flouting of the law, it has later emerged that the very next month after the Reddit incident, he attempted to blackmail an undisclosed victim of a hack attack. The Daily Beast reports that Ives threatened to “impair the confidentiality of information” obtained in the hack, demanding money “and other things of value” for said data to be kept secret.

In addition to the charges of blackmail, Ives’ has also been indicted for seventeen counts of credit card fraud. It’s thought that these were used to commit criminal acts some twelve months after the blackmail and Reddit event. More detailed information about the charges are not yet known and the prosecutor in the case was not available for comment. We do know that Ives’ five-day trial is scheduled for May 1st, however.

Of course, the current indictment has nothing at all to do with his earlier pleas for his own arrest. It does, however, feel somewhat amusing that Ives has finally been indicted. Thankfully, it is for crimes that sought his own personal enrichment, rather than his altruistic act of self-martyrdom for the cause of Snowden, a genuine freedom fighter.

 

Image: Flickr

 

The post Snowden Supporter Gets Wish Fulfilled and Arrested appeared first on NewsBTC.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

A lawmaking body in Venezuela is moving to denounce the country’s forthcoming petro cryptocurrency, spearheaded by President Nicholas Maduro.

If 2017 was the year of the ICO, 2018 will most likely become the year of cryptocurrency regulations. The first moves for a framework that will incorporate cryptocurrencies were made last year after financial regulators worldwide published statements on how they will treat initial coin offerings going forward.

The Bank of Lithuania announced today, March 6th, that it plans to issue the world’s first digital collector coin to mark this year’s centenary of the Baltic state’s independence from the Soviet Union. To design and develop the underlying blockchain technology, the Bank of Lithuania will be organizing a “hackathon,” bringing together tech companies and IT professionals from around the world. The R&D event is set to take place in May of this year.

Final decisions on the mintage, denomination, price, the date of issue of the coin, and the mode of distribution will be made after the hackathon comes to a close. According to the central bank, more information on the hackathon will be available in early-April.

“It should be some kind of visualisation on a smartphone or computer, but exact details should be clearer after the hackathon,” central bank spokesman Rimantas Pilibaitis told AFP.

According to Marius Jurgilas of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, the central bank has been making intensive preparations for the issuance of the digital coin: “Many challenges are upon us, yet we hope that, having overcome any hurdles that may come our way, we will make our plans a reality before the end of the year.”

“This would be the perfect way to mark the centenary of the restoration of Lithuania’s statehood, which we are celebrating this year, as well as show the world that it is a progressive and innovation-fostering country, always open to new ideas. Introducing a digital collector coin, Lithuania would be the first to break new ground in numismatics,” Jurgilas added.

Whatever eventual form the country’s collector coin takes, the Bank of Lithuania says it will be intended for collection and will not be issued with a view to be circulated. That said, the digital collector coins may be exchanged with the Bank of Lithuania at nominal value. This is in contrast to similar moves made by countries like Venezuela, who unveiled their cryptocurrency the “Petro” earlier this year. The Petro’s value is pegged to the price of a barrel of oil.

LBChain

The issuance of the digital collector coin is yet another step towards implementing one of the Bank of Lithuania’s strategic directions in the field of innovation and financial technology. At the start of the year the central bank announced its intention to create a blockchain platform called LBChain.

LBChain aims to help Lithuanian and international companies garner knowledge on cryptocurrencies and carry out blockchain research, with plans to adapt and test blockchain-based services in the country’s financial sector.

The project is expected to be launched in 2019, accelerating the development of FinTech businesses and reinforcing the country’s eagerness to become a northern European hub for financial technology firms and blockchain-based start-ups.

The post Lithuania Issues World’s First Digital Collector Coin in Hopes of Becoming European Blockchain Hub appeared first on NewsBTC.