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Looking Beyond the Bitcoin Price Dip: Solid Technical Improvements Ahead – newsBTC

newsBTCLooking Beyond the Bitcoin Price Dip: Solid Technical Improvements AheadnewsBTCMore specifically, every Bitcoin price dip is a new buying opportunity. Lower prices will attract new speculators and investors alike. This is the way it has always b…


newsBTC

Looking Beyond the Bitcoin Price Dip: Solid Technical Improvements Ahead
newsBTC
More specifically, every Bitcoin price dip is a new buying opportunity. Lower prices will attract new speculators and investors alike. This is the way it has always been in the financial sector. Cryptocurrencies are no exception in this regard ...

and more »

Looking Beyond the Bitcoin Price Dip: Solid Technical Improvements Ahead

In the cryptocurrency world, negative trends tend to skew people’s perception. More specifically, everyone is focused on the current Bitcoin price dip. It makes them lose track of the bigger picture, which still paints a very promising future for the world’s leading cryptocurrency. A lot of positive things will happen in the next few years, … Continue reading Looking Beyond the Bitcoin Price Dip: Solid Technical Improvements Ahead

The post Looking Beyond the Bitcoin Price Dip: Solid Technical Improvements Ahead appeared first on NewsBTC.

In the cryptocurrency world, negative trends tend to skew people’s perception. More specifically, everyone is focused on the current Bitcoin price dip. It makes them lose track of the bigger picture, which still paints a very promising future for the world’s leading cryptocurrency. A lot of positive things will happen in the next few years, regardless of the current Bitcoin or future Bitcoin price.

The Bitcoin Price Dip is Temporary

If history has taught us one thing, it is how the Bitcoin price tends to bounce back strongly. We see big dips every single year and often end the year with an all-time high. This cycle has been present for some time and seems destined to repeat itself. Speculators may feel differently about that outlook right now, though. This recent Bitcoin price dip has a lot of people concerned, even though things will be just fine.

More specifically, every Bitcoin price dip is a new buying opportunity. Lower prices will attract new speculators and investors alike. This is the way it has always been in the financial sector. Cryptocurrencies are no exception in this regard. Everyone knows Bitcoin hit $19,000 last year. There is no reason to think we won’t see that price again in the future. It may not happen in 2018, but it will eventually happen again. Some people even predict a BTC value of $29,000 by the end of this year.

Fueling the future Bitcoin price growth will be some major technical developments. Most people already know SegWit adoption is increasing as we speak. This leads to lower fees, normal confirmation times, and transaction batching. All of these trends are incredibly positive for the world’s leading cryptocurrency when looking at it from a long-term perspective.

Other Major Developments on the Horizon

SegWit alone will not make Bitcoin great again, though. It does pave the way for the Lightning Network. This scaling solution seems to be closer to a main net release every single day. When it goes live, it will certainly shake things up for all Bitcoin users around the world. Even so, other technical developments are needed to improve the overall ecosystem.

In the near future, we will see more sidechains such as Rootstock. There’s also the likes of drivechain, Liquid, and a few other sidechain projects to keep in mind. All of these new features will unlock new possibilities for Bitcoin in the future. In time, they will also impact the Bitcoin price in a positive manner.

For those looking for more privacy, Bitcoin will have you covered as well. Tumeblebit and ZeroLink are two projects definitely worth keeping an eye on. Their integration may not necessarily happen in 2018, but the overall improvements will attract fresh capital regardless. The future is looking extremely bright for Bitcoin, assuming people are willing to see it. Looking past the current Bitcoin price dip is difficult, but this is only a temporary setback.

The post Looking Beyond the Bitcoin Price Dip: Solid Technical Improvements Ahead appeared first on NewsBTC.

The Future of Bitcoin – Barron’s

The Future of Bitcoin
Barron’s
… on Tuesday, then wobbled on Wednesday after White House economic advisor Gary Cohn’s resignation. On Friday, the addition of 313,000 jobs jolted markets higher. The volatility could not ruin the bull market’s ninth birthday, the second longest on

and more »


The Future of Bitcoin
Barron's
... on Tuesday, then wobbled on Wednesday after White House economic advisor Gary Cohn's resignation. On Friday, the addition of 313,000 jobs jolted markets higher. The volatility could not ruin the bull market's ninth birthday, the second longest on ...

and more »

Player Wins Big Again with 8.968 Bitcoin Jackpot at Bitcoincasino.us

A bitcoincasino.us user has hit it big again on the game Chunjie. Chunjie is a chinese themed slot game in high resolution offered to players by bitcoincasino.us. It has seen major winnings over the past few months with players like “JJ” (whose point total can be seen on the tournament/player points totals board on the bitcoincasino.us website). JJ has had multiple jackpot wins in Chunjie with his latest one being 8.968 BTC, or $110,000 USD. His huge win occured on the 30th of January 2017. Bitcoincasino.us has long had a history of huge winnings such as this one. The online

A bitcoincasino.us user has hit it big again on the game Chunjie. Chunjie is a chinese themed slot game in high resolution offered to players by bitcoincasino.us. It has seen major winnings over the past few months with players like “JJ” (whose point total can be seen on the tournament/player points totals board on the bitcoincasino.us website). JJ has had multiple jackpot wins in Chunjie with his latest one being 8.968 BTC, or $110,000 USD. His huge win occured on the 30th of January 2017.

Bitcoincasino.us has long had a history of huge winnings such as this one. The online cryptocurrency casino offers jackpot winnings of up to 4923,313 mBTC in total jackpots. Bitcoincasino.us has been voted the best bitcoin casino in the world multiple times. It has also been voted by customers as the best Dogecoin casino in the world, and the best Litecoin casino of 2018. Bitcoincasino.us has a long history of satisfying customers and huge jackpot wins such as this one. User “JJ’s” win on January 30th, 2017 was not the first huge jackpot win but only the latest in a long list of jackpot wins over $100,000 USD.

Bitcoincasino.us not only offers the high resolution slot game Chinjie. There are over 155 different, high resolution slot games available on bitcoincasino.us. All of these have been meticulously tested for functionality and player enjoyment by the testing team at bitcoincasino.us. The games go through a testing process that involves online gamers playing them for months before they are finally added to the game list for the long term. Any player complaint about the game or any other aspect of bitcoincasino.us is promptly answered by the award winning customer service team at bitcoincasino.us. The customer service team at bitcoincasino.us is an industry leading customer service department that offers the fastest response times out of any online cryptocurrency casino in the world. They offer responses immediately for any and all questions about the cryptocurrency casino website or even general questions such as of the price of any of the coins they accept.

When player JJ was asked what he would do with his earnings he said that he did not know. It is probable that he will reinvest it in playing more Chunjie because he has been winning huge in recent months. He is the top ranked player on the player points board with 13,334 points. He may also choose to reinvest the $100,000 dollars worth of bitcoin back into bitcoin, or just hold on to the coins in his bitcoin wallet, and watch the price of bitcoin rise back up to the $20,000 price. Recent months have seen a drastic decline in the price of bitcoin with it falling from $20,000 to the eighty-five hundred mark within a few short weeks. This devastating crash has hit the bitcoin wallets of many loyal investors. However, many experts at renown institutions like Morgan Stanley have stated that they are not worried about the price of bitcoin rebounding and that we should see it reach well over the $20,000 price point within the next few years. Crashes such as these are expected with stocks and in the Forex markets. When a stock or a forex pair rises too quickly investors pull out expecting a pullback, this triggers a chain reaction of pullouts and investor sentiment turns negative towards the stock.

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.

From Unicorns to the Moon: Mining, Posting, Hosting and Sharing Adult Content for Coins

If you think that you have seen it all, done it all, and enjoyed it all in the vast world of adult entertainment and believe that nothing is new, exciting, fresh or worth your time and attention, check this one: While there are plenty of ICOs that claim to be ‘revolutionizing adult entertainment’ and many adult tokens around, LEONS takes it all further from UNICORNIA to the “MOON”, live. It all starts with more than thirty different and unique sites with exclusive, original and mainly never before seen content on LEONS.WORLD, backed by a strong team and partners with a

If you think that you have seen it all, done it all, and enjoyed it all in the vast world of adult entertainment and believe that nothing is new, exciting, fresh or worth your time and attention, check this one:

While there are plenty of ICOs that claim to be ‘revolutionizing adult entertainment’ and many adult tokens around, LEONS takes it all further from UNICORNIA to the “MOON”, live.

It all starts with more than thirty different and unique sites with exclusive, original and mainly never before seen content on LEONS.WORLD, backed by a strong team and partners with a track record of producing, directing, filming and distributing top-of-the-class adult content for years across multiple sites in Europe and the US, which has its own unique platform, developing already more than 2 years to come to life: The ISLAND (www.theisland.live), a unique blockchain-based ecosystem, backed by its own community, software, apps and Decentralized Apps, on which creating, hosting, uploading and sharing legal and original content will be rewarded in coins, which has its own properties, resorts, dating-meeting points, Arenas, Shopping Centers, private houses and areas for your own pleasure, stable and trade center for your unicorns that are given to users automatically when they step on the island alongside a unique part of the Moon (yes, our moon, on which you will be able to see where is your part with the help of Augmented Reality, from your phone camera, your neighbors and use your own part to put your name, sell, trade or use it), marketplace for trading assets and items, black forest for more darker adventures and even its own “Iron Bank” for your coins and even a space center, where you can fulfil all your desires, dreams and fantasies anonymously with limitless possibilities like enjoying the private parties, adventures, games, contests, and everything else available while having the chance to earn more coins and convert them into fiat currency or other currencies already.

While Riding your Unicorn on an Island on the clouds, Use Your Unused Disk Space, Post or Mine Adult Content to earn Coins in return – This is how the future looks like in adult entertainment

From having your very own Unicorn, which is based on an ERC-721 token, a unique, non-destroyable, non-fungible, upgradeable, one of a kind, souvenir like unique feature that ties together the whole experience on the ISLAND,  from UNICORNIA, which acts both as means of transportation around it and lets you earn more LEONS to buying, renting and customizing a piece of the real moon on MOON.LIVE – these are just some of the innovations that users will find in LEONS Ecosystem.

The unique build and progress of the LEONS, being developed as a unique structure of affiliate partners and sites with exclusive content, and virtual worlds combined, reveals a digital world of adventure, fun and mischief that turns adult entertainment into a real quest of what’s possible and how far you can go.

And now: KISSES for your #blockchain

After last month´s merger with another unique and interesting project KISSES COIN, LEONS seems now doubled in size and in potential. KISSES TECHNOLOGY (Group) s.r.o. (LLC equal, based in Prague an established company: www.kissestech.com) started an ICO for their unique coin KISSES COIN (www.kissescoin.com) with a very promising team and platform, already partly developed with many great concepts and ideas.  Right after the beginning of their ICO, “Leon Lambert” acquired the company and hired the whole team to work for LEONS only. And it didn’t stop there –two more great partners in the face of FrontCamToken (www.frontcamtoken.com) with their PyGama Party app (www.pygamaparty.com) joined in to strengthen the new ecosystem of LEONS COIN.

Leon Lambert, Founder and CEO of Leon Lambert s.r.o. company, says about Leon´s Coin and LEONS Ecosystem that:

“..after all, LEONS is an electric roadster, a Lambo, a luxurious but affordable AI vehicle for your comfort in the coming years, when people will be taken by surprise by Horse Carriage Cars -today´s adult entertainment-, and think that is comfortable and nice as they move slowly while experiencing horse noises on rocky roads.”

LEONS sale starts on 12 March with many interesting offers, which has the potential to be the next big thing for many investors.

Check the website, www.leonscoin.com for more information about the whole ecosystem, UNICORNIA, MOON.LIVE, The ISLAND, software, LEONS DEBIT CARD and LEONS ICO, Bounty and Affiliate programs.

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.

Scandinavian Bitcoin Dealer Struggles to Find Banking Partners

One of Northern Europe’s largest Bitcoin dealers is finding the lack of regulation surrounding cryptocurrency a hindrance to their business model. Prasos Oy has systematically burned through all but one of their Finnish bank accounts. Last Chance Saloon The banks that have closed their doors to Prasos Oy because of fears that the company might … Continue reading Scandinavian Bitcoin Dealer Struggles to Find Banking Partners

The post Scandinavian Bitcoin Dealer Struggles to Find Banking Partners appeared first on NewsBTC.

One of Northern Europe’s largest Bitcoin dealers is finding the lack of regulation surrounding cryptocurrency a hindrance to their business model. Prasos Oy has systematically burned through all but one of their Finnish bank accounts.

Last Chance Saloon

The banks that have closed their doors to Prasos Oy because of fears that the company might be breaching money laundering rules. So far, the cooperative S-Bank, the Op Group, Saastopankki, and Nordea Bank AB have shut down the company’s accounts.

For now, Prasos Oy still has an active account with POP Bank. However, their CEO, Henry Brade, spoke to Bloomberg about the precarious situation they are currently in:

“The risk is that we’ll see our last bank account closed before we can get the next one opened. That would freeze our business.”

Whilst there is no specific law telling Scandinavian banks how to view cryptocurrency, there is anti-money laundering legislation already in place. These laws demand that those offering financial services must follow KYC (“know your customer”) practices.

However, the fact that the anonymous appeal of cryptocurrencies sits at odds with the money laundering legislation is a huge warning sign for the banks. What’s more, the dramatic growth of companies like Prasos Oy over the last twelve months is another factor causing suspicion for financial institutions. Brade continued, touching on how the growth of the industry, as well the lack of guidance the banks themselves are willing to provide, is affecting his company’s relationship with the banks:

“We’ve realised that the growth in international transaction volumes started to disturb the banks. Along the way, we’ve been given very little information by the banks on what we could do to solve the problem.”

At the end of last year, the European Union agreed to extend their money laundering legislation. Although yet to be enforced, the rules will now cover cryptocurrency under their remit.

In the meantime, neither the European Bank Authority or Finland’s Financial Supervisory Authority are offering any form of advice to companies like Prasos Oy. Hanna Heiskanen of the FSA dismissed the issue as one between the company and the banks:

“Cryptocurrency trading places are not currently under the regulatory mandate of the Finnish FSA.”

Meanwhile, the EBA stated today that they would not recommend banks provide their services for companies involved in cryptocurrency transactions.

Despite the hostility they are facing from the banks, Prasos Oy is still trying to continue with their business. Brade told Bloomberg how his company were trying to improve their KYC practices and work with banks to help them understand where funds came from:

“We’ve created identification practices, which we have taken into use in March, and they comply fully with anti-money laundering laws and regulations, even though authorities do not even require this from us as our business in not under regulatory obligations.”

Evidently, not all of the planet’s banks are as phased by money laundering regulation as those in Scandinavia appear to be. Just last month we reported on US Bancorp’s blatant violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. We’d never condone tax avoidance but even if some of Prasos Oy’s customers were wanting to “clean” dirty cash with cryptocurrency, we’re sure it wouldn’t be nearly to the tune of the $613 million that US Bancorp was fined.

 

The post Scandinavian Bitcoin Dealer Struggles to Find Banking Partners appeared first on NewsBTC.

First Nordic Shipping ICO Announced

Danish company Blockshipping, the creators of the Global Shared Container Platform, (GSCP), announces ICO (Initial Coin Offering). GSCP will allow the global container shipping industry to save USD 5.7bn annually through smarter handling of intermodal freight containers. Additionally, wide adoption of the platform will result in a substantial reduction of the global CO2 emissions of 4.6 million tons annually when fully utilized. Copenhagen, March 9, 2018 – The container shipping industry today accounts for around 60 percent of all the world’s seaborne trade, but this hugely valuable industry has been troubled for years by challenges such as overcapacity, low freight rates,

Danish company Blockshipping, the creators of the Global Shared Container Platform, (GSCP), announces ICO (Initial Coin Offering).

GSCP will allow the global container shipping industry to save USD 5.7bn annually through smarter handling of intermodal freight containers.

Additionally, wide adoption of the platform will result in a substantial reduction of the global CO2 emissions of 4.6 million tons annually when fully utilized.

Copenhagen, March 9, 2018 – The container shipping industry today accounts for around 60 percent of all the world’s seaborne trade, but this hugely valuable industry has been troubled for years by challenges such as overcapacity, low freight rates, security threats, and increasing environmental regulations.

The global shipping industry needs increased efficiency and a fundamental digital transformation to ensure profitability in the future and to comply with environmental regulations.

Digital Transformation

Blockshipping is creating the GSCP platform, which will be both the first real-time registry of the world’s approximately 27 million shipping containers and a joint platform for all players in the container shipping industry – allowing them to efficiently perform a wide range of transactions related to the handling of containers globally.

The GSCP platform will be based on blockchain and modern sensor technology, and it has the potential to reduce costs for the global shipping industry to the tune of USD 5.7bn annually and reduce the global CO2 emission by more than 4.6 million tons every year.

The Founder and CEO of Blockshipping, Peter Ludvigsen, who has been in the container industry for 39 years as a CIO for Maersk Line and a consultant for other leading shipping companies, explains:

“In 2017, the world’s huge fleet of containers was used for transporting of all kinds of goods of a total value of around USD 12 trillion. But the problem is that we have no central registry of the many millions of containers constantly shifting location, incurring payments, and changing ownership. And this lack of real-time tracking results in a huge number of empty containers being moved around unnecessarily.”

“The GSCP platform is the answer to the problem of the missing global real-time container registry. And in addition, the GSCP will be the preferred global trading platform for all kinds of services related to container handling between a wide range of shipping industry players.”

First Nordic shipping ICO

The GSCP ICO offers contributors a unique set of token features including the benefits of a Revenue Sharing Model as well as a Market Maker Fund that allows ICO contributors to sell their coins back to the platform at a floor price until Blockshipping has met certain fixed milestones in the development of the GSCP platform.

The ICO pre-sale by invitation has started now, and the public token sale opens on April 15, 2018.

The GSCP ICO announced today is the first shipping related ICO conducted in the Nordic region.

“The GSCP platform is already funded by private angels and The Danish Maritime Foundation. But to further accelerate the development and adoption of the platform we are now conducting an ICO,” says Peter Ludvigsen, who continues:

“It is important to emphasise that Blockshipping’s GSCP ICO is based on a real-life business case validated by key stakeholders in the shipping industry and based on real and well-defined savings and benefits for the shipping industry as well as for the environment.”

Unique Token Features

After studying numerous ICOs on the market, Blockshipping has created a token model that includes a unique set of features for the benefit of the ICO contributors.

The token model involves the issuance of two different tokens:

  • The internal utility token, Container Platform Token – CPT
  • The external Revenue Share Token, Container Crypto Coin – CCC

CPT will be used for clearing and settlement of transactions between the users of the platform. These transactions will cover the many different services and fees related to global container handling. A percentage of the revenue from these transactions goes to a Revenue Share Pool and is passed on to the owners of the CCC tokens once a month via a reverse Dutch auction on the Ethereum blockchain.

The GSCP token model also includes a unique ICO Market Maker Fund which allows everyone who acquires CCCs during the ICO to sell their coins back to GSCP at a floor price if they regret their contribution. Selling back CCCs is possible until Blockshipping has met certain fixed milestones in the development of the GSCP platform. Afterwards the money in the Market Maker Fund is released for further development of the GSCP platform.

First ICO based on The ICO 2.0 Framework

Blockshipping’s ICO is not only the first Nordic shipping-related ICO. It is also the first ICO to be based on a new Danish framework called The ICO 2.0 Framework, which will be launched in the next two months.

The purpose of the upcoming ICO 2.0 Framework is to increase the quality standards for ICOs making sure that future Danish ICOs:

    1. are 100% compliant with Danish law
    2. aim at the highest standards in terms of security and quality of coding
    3. promote openness, transparency and honesty
    4. follow a strict code of conduct when it comes to communications and relationship management with the ICO stakeholder groups.

The ICO 2.0 Framework is being created by the leading Danish law firm Kammeradvokaten/Poul Schmith in collaboration with the Nordic fintech advisory firm Norfico.

How to participate in the ICO?

The ICO pre-sale by invitation only starts today and the public token sale opens April 15. Potential contributors should register via the website www.blockshipping.io. Here, you can also read the white paper and sign up for Blockshipping’s newsletter. On the website you can also find the detailed white paper explains the project in great detail.

For more information, please contact:

Michael Juul Rugaard

E-mail: [email protected]

Telephone: +45 44 40 31 32

 

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.

Introducing BITRUST: the first crypto currency insurance platform

A story of BITRUST started with a problem which gathered a team of blockchain enthusiasts to solve it — to have an affordable tool for hedging cryptocurrency trading transactions. And it is true, with the altcoins market volatility we have faced these few months it is obvious that everything is ready for such product to come about. In this blog we will tell in more detail about what BITRUST offers and why it is needed.   The idea Altcoins are highly volatile — the total market cap hyped by 10,000% starting in 2013 and right up until its downturn this

A story of BITRUST started with a problem which gathered a team of blockchain enthusiasts to solve it — to have an affordable tool for hedging cryptocurrency trading transactions. And it is true, with the altcoins market volatility we have faced these few months it is obvious that everything is ready for such product to come about. In this blog we will tell in more detail about what BITRUST offers and why it is needed.  

The idea

Altcoins are highly volatile — the total market cap hyped by 10,000% starting in 2013 and right up until its downturn this January. Moreover, how extremely complex it is to forecast these market fluctuations! And this is exactly why market was calling out for something like BITRUST — to solve the real issue of altcoin volatility for small and medium investors and cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

“On one hand the market volatility is skyrocking, and on the other — the interest in cryptocurrencies and the value behind blockchain technology is really growing. More and more people talk about it everyday. It means that already this year a lot of people will want to join the movement, learn more about crypto world and also participate in its development. We are looking at the few year long market adjustment and growth period ahead of us and we believe that BITRUST is the type of project which will heavily contribute into such adjustment,” says company’s CEO Alex Duhamel.

Alex adds: “With BITRUST you don’t have to accept all the risk when trading altcoins. You can easily mitigate it, moreover — in a convenient fashion and at an affordable price. Imagine you could have such possibility to do this now?!”     

BITRUST product

BITRUST is a peer-to-peer Ethereum-based, decentralized cryptocurrency insurance platform. Each smart contract can involve two or more parties and it works like this:

For example, I’d like to ensure against ETH (with a value of $100) dropping in price by 30% against BTC for a period of 96 hours. I am willing to pay in digital currencies an equivalent of $5 as an insurance and claim an equivalent of $15 in case the price drops to $70 or below. My counterpart then has to agree to these proposed terms or make a counter offer proposing slightly amended terms.  

Then we lock our agreed sums in a BITRUST smart contract. I lock an equivalent of $5 (insurance cost) and my counterpart locks an equivalent of $15 (insurance body). The total BITRUST smart contract then will be equivalent to $20.

In 96 hours, if the ETH token drops by 30% against BTC, the BITRUST smart contract executes a pre-agreed deal and sends the equivalent of $20 to me: $5 of insurance fee plus $15 of the actual insurance body. In the opposite case the equivalent of $20 is sent to the other side.  

The buyer and the seller of insurance both lock their funds in BITRUST tokens (BTFs) or a certain set of other cryptocurrencies that will be permitted by BITRUST platform. However, there is a great motivation to use BTFs in particular.  

BITRUST business model

The company intends to provide real value for holders of BTFs on the secondary market and reward early investors. That is why they will charge a fee of only 0.1% against a total amount locked in a BTF smart contract (in case of our example above it would have been 2 cents) only when the entire deal is conducted in BTFs. This is a discount of 80% of the regular fee — isn’t it a strong incentive to use BTF tokens?!

Read more about the BTF value, token allocation and projected financials in BITRUST white paper.

BITRUST philosophy

BITRUST philosophy is simple — to be fast and flexible, open to feedback and making sure the company has the extraordinary team of professionals to design a product offering a flawless user experience.

Company’s Head of Operations Arthur Lots puts it in his own words: “For us these words really mean a lot. It’s not just about being flexible — it’s “be flexible or die”. It’s not just about being open — it’s knowing that feedback is priceless. When you build your company from ground up and you really invest into each and every inch of its growth, you don’t compromise. You just can’t.”  

BITRUST team

At its disposal BITRUST has it all — professionals in cryptocurrency, insurance operations and compliance, blockchain and peer-to-peer technologies, artificial intelligence, internet marketing and economics, politics and public relations. The management team has already achieved several milestones such as having all infrastructure in place to develop the BITRUST platform, including headquarters, IT support, and hiring a top team of software developers.

“I really would like to talk more about our people here. This is the team which has proven itself on developing other projects. As the leadership core of BITRUST is comprised from serial entrepreneurs from different sectors like finance and banking, trading and strategic business consulting, we were able to gather a team from the experts we have known and worked with before. They might not be the people who have immediate recognition on the internet, however they have more than that — ability to work with t he utmost focus and commitment on the product, which will change cryptocurrency trading as we know it,” Sergey Silin, the company’s CTO gives a vote of confidence to his team (we have introduced some key developers previously, you can also find information about the whole team here).   

BITRUST community

BITRUST is a vocal advocate of building a community around each blockchain product. They’d love to get your opinion and communicate with everyone willing to start a discussion. So, do not hesitate to join BITRUST Telegram channel and ask more questions if you have any.

To finance the development and launch of the BITRUST platform, a limited-supply sale of BITRUST tokens (BTFs) will be created by BTF Project Limited. The sale will start on 5th of March — see more information about the BITRUST ICO structure and the company here.

Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Medium to be the first to find out about BITRUST development news and everything else that’s important in crypto world!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC85RIHfrk5tnAwA5c8Sez3A

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.

Bitcoin prices fall below $9000 — a 24% decline for the week – USA TODAY

USA TODAYBitcoin prices fall below $9000 — a 24% decline for the weekUSA TODAYIn a court document filed Wednesday, Tokyo attorney and bankruptcy trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi announced that he had sold roughly $400 million in bitcoin and bitcoin cash and p…


USA TODAY

Bitcoin prices fall below $9000 — a 24% decline for the week
USA TODAY
In a court document filed Wednesday, Tokyo attorney and bankruptcy trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi announced that he had sold roughly $400 million in bitcoin and bitcoin cash and plans to consult with the court on "further sale" of those assets. The U.S ...

Fake ‘Telegram ICO’ Websites Just Won’t Go Away

CoinDesk has identified several websites claiming to sell Telegram’s gram token, but the sale is known to be a private placement effort.

CoinDesk has identified several websites claiming to sell Telegram’s gram token, but the sale is known to be a private placement effort.

Op Ed: Could an Amazon Token Become a Viable Worldwide Cryptocurrency?

Combining the benefits of a utility-based cryptocurrency and a company that exhibits the characteristics of a power law network creates the perfect opportunity for a globally adopted cryptocurrency –– the Amazon Token.Amazon’s Full-Circle EconomyIn …

Op Ed: Could an Amazon Token Become a Viable Worldwide Cryptocurrency?

Combining the benefits of a utility-based cryptocurrency and a company that exhibits the characteristics of a power law network creates the perfect opportunity for a globally adopted cryptocurrency –– the Amazon Token.

Amazon’s Full-Circle Economy

In this hypothetical futuristic scenario, Amazon extends on the suite of products and services it provides customers in 2018 including: online shopping, physical grocery, web services, artificial intelligence, internet of things, video and music streaming, healthcare (in development) and banking (small business loans).

For reference, Amazon ships to 100 countries and has separate retail websites for 15 countries. In the United States alone, 55 percent of online shoppers begin their searches on Amazon and over 80 million shoppers subscribe to Amazon Prime.

In the future, the customer-obsessed, low-priced “Amazon economy” could expand into all industries and become self-sufficient. In other words, Amazon will be selling everything to everybody in the “best” and cheapest way possible.

In this hypothetical scenario, instead of 15 individual Amazon marketplaces scattered across the world operating in country-specific currencies, imagine a global Amazon e-commerce store with a single sign-on, billions of unique ASINs, and the Amazon Token as a single payment method.

In a recent study by LendEDU, 52 percent of 1,000 Amazon customers surveyed responded that they would use an Amazon-created cryptocurrency to make purchases on the Amazon website. So, what might the Amazon token look like?

Amazon’s Past Attempt at Tokenization: Amazon Coin

In 2013, Amazon released the Amazon Coin, a virtual currency designed for U.S. customers to “purchase apps, games and in-app items on Kindle Fire” on the Amazon Appstore.

Each never-expiring Amazon Coin is worth a cent, meaning that 100 Amazon Coins are worth one dollar. Users are enticed to use Amazon Coins in the Amazon Appstore because they can earn up to a 24 percent discount on their purchases. For the curious reader, Amazon Coin can be purchased here.

Ultimately, the Amazon Coin hasn’t been a smashing success for a variety of reasons:

  1. Amazon Coin is exclusively useful for the niche market of the Amazon Appstore. The Amazon Coin is not an option to purchase any other goods or services offered by Amazon.
  2. There is no secondary market for users to resell unused Amazon Coins to one another.
  3. Many users feel that the Amazon Coin creates an unnecessary layer of friction in the payment process, asking questions such as, “Why would I need to convert my fiat currency into a virtual currency to purchase an item on the Amazon Appstore that can already be purchased with my fiat currency?”

Interestingly enough, Amazon is not the only company that has previously attempted (and failed) to create a long-lasting virtual currency for a niche in their ecosystem. In 2005, Microsoft created the Microsoft Points currency for content on the Xbox marketplace. In 2009, Facebook created Facebook Credits for game purchases and virtual gifts. Neither currency is widely used.

The Amazon Token (AMZN)

By focusing on their entire ecosystem instead of a niche, Amazon could create a cryptocurrency that creates a single portal for global commerce and delights customers. If implemented correctly, it’s possible to imagine that an Amazon Token (let’s call it AMZN) could become the world’s first global currency and trillion-dollar protocol.

Implementation

There are many ways that Amazon could implement the AMZN token and varying degrees by which that token could become embedded in the Amazon economy. In this example, keeping in mind that Amazon’s vision is to be accessible for everyone, let’s assume that all products and services offered by Amazon will be available to everyone in the world, but that they must be paid for in the AMZN token. In other words, the AMZN token unlocks the door to the Amazon platform.

Users will not be forced to use any of Amazon’s services, but rather, they will choose to use AMZN Tokens because Amazon offers the cheapest and “best” products and services.

For this example to work, we’ll also assume: Amazon will create a mobile application and web-version of their AMZN Token wallet, allowing users to store their AMZN token securely and send/receive it efficiently, and that Amazon will facilitate and maintain an underlying exchange so that users can purchase AMZN tokens on a secondary market.

Type of Token

Depending on Amazon’s interests (and on the way that the various regulatory issues with cryptocurrencies and utility tokens get resolved), there are various types of token that they could consider when architecting the AMZN Token.

A Utility-Based Token

The AMZN Token will serve as a medium of exchange on any Amazon platform, while also unlocking additional utility (benefits) that fiat currency cannot.

In this case, Amazon would set a date after which it would no longer accept fiat currency on any of their platforms. The company could leverage its behemoth network effect and immediately onboard their 80 million plus Prime users. Small quantities of AMZN tokens could be “air dropped” or placed in Prime users’ wallets for free, to speed up the onboarding process.

Once the change to the AMZN cryptocurrency is made, the only difference to Amazon platforms is that all transactions on all Amazon platforms are occurring in AMZN tokens, rather than in local fiat currencies. Amazon stock will continue to operate as usual.

A Hybrid Token

The AMZN Token will be a hybrid between a security and utility-based token, unlocking additional benefits that fiat currency cannot and entitling token holders to Amazon’s future cash flows, similar to a stock.

The hybrid token model requires a larger tolerance for risk but could potentially obviate the need for reliance on financial intermediaries in the future.

Using the AMZN Token to consume goods and services within the Amazon ecosystem is an audacious thought, but what about using the AMZN Token to replace the existing concept of shareholder value? If backed by Amazon’s Free Cash Flow, the Token begins to resemble the characteristics of a traditional equity security, enabling fractional ownership in the company.

Now, token holders are not just speculators, but actual consumers and owners of the Amazon ecosystem. Hoarding tokens and hoping to benefit from speculators driving up the price is no longer a viable strategy. Instead, spending the tokens actually drives tangible value to all participants — more sales should ultimately lead to more free cash flow.

Taken to its extreme, the usefulness of the traditional public market becomes questionable as Amazon has the ability to raise capital through token sales, manage the Amazon Token exchange, and directly link beneficial outcomes for both consumers and shareholders. Amazon could even pay employees –– anyone from a warehouse worker to CFO –– in their Amazon Token. Should other companies decide to follow suit, there will be major implications for financial markets.

Life With the AMZN Token in 2050

Now consider the case of Oscar, a 25-year-old Seattle resident who represents a regular first-world citizen in 2050.

His healthcare is covered by Amazon Health; he shops at Whole Foods; he streams Nicolas Cage on Amazon Video; he shops on Amazon.com; his personal savings are managed by the robo-advisors at Amazon Bank; he stores his data on Amazon Web Services; and Amazon Alexa manages his apartment while he’s at work.

Last week, Oscar travelled to Japan for work using tickets he purchased with AMZN tokens. While he was in Japan, he didn’t have to worry about any annoying foreign transaction fees or hassles with currency conversion –– his hotel, local merchants and restaurants all accepted AMZN tokens. Even the last-minute Prime delivery of snacks he ordered to his hotel were paid for in AMZN tokens.

Oscar rarely spends fiat currency –– he doesn’t have to. Even his favorite local shops and farmers’ markets accept Amazon tokens. Thankfully, the Amazon Bank program also helps him earn 3 percent interest on his savings every year by “staking” his unused tokens and paying back interest after projects are complete. For example, the robo-advisor algorithm allocated some of Oscar’s tokens to finance a 6-month process to build an Amazon warehouse in Jakarta, Indonesia. Once the warehouse was finished, Oscar’s “staked” tokens were returned to him with 3 percent interest. He is happy that his AMZN tokens helped contribute to the global marketplace and indirectly provided jobs for employees in Jakarta.

Nobody is forcing Oscar to use Amazon services, he chooses to utilize Amazon for everything because he loves it –– it is the “best” and cheapest option for every product and service he needs.

FAQ & Implications

This idealized vision for the AMZN Token is great, but there are many questions the company would have to answer before the AMZN Token can become a universal cryptocurrency and medium of exchange.

  • Token Velocity: How will Amazon make sure that users are actively spending the token? Otherwise, as price of the AMZN token appreciates, users might hoard the token, which will continue driving price upwards. If customers don’t spend the AMZN token, it will become a store of value, rather than a medium of exchange. However, this problem should be alleviated if all AMZN services are priced in AMZN tokens, as it would be the only way to access the network.
  • Dynamic Pricing: How will Amazon price their services across the world? One way could be to dynamically peg the price of AMZN services to local fiat prices. For example, a baguette from a Whole Foods in the United States could be priced at $1. If one AMZN token is worth $1, then the baguette would cost 1 AMZN token. If one AMZN token is worth $10, then the baguette would cost 0.1 AMZN Token.
  • Fiduciary Duty: Is the Amazon corporation responsible for ensuring that their token holder’s AMZN tokens appreciate in value? Does Amazon properly align incentives between consumers and the corporation?
  • Outside Speculation: If the AMZN token is tradeable on secondary markets, will the price become too volatile for consumers?
  • Token Economics: How many AMZN tokens should Amazon issue? Should they issue a fixed amount of tokens? How will Amazon enact monetary policy?
  • Macroeconomic Implications: The AMZN Token could cause inflation rates in local fiat currencies to rise. U.S Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently shared that he believes Amazon and e-commerce have helped keep prices and inflation lower in the past decade. Should Amazon decide to take its 44 percent share of all U.S. e-commerce, the dollar’s inflation rate could be affected.

Since its inception in 1994, Amazon has pioneered e-commerce, web services, digital content and artificial intelligence. In doing so, it has created one of the world’s most valuable networks. With the recent development of cryptocurrencies, Amazon has a unique opportunity to leverage its network to create a truly globally accepted currency –– as this hypothetical AMZN Token demonstrates. Perhaps Amazon’s pre-existing network, products and services could even give the company’s token a competitive advantage over Bitcoin to become a widespread, globally-accepted medium of exchange.

This is a guest post by Erik Kuebler. The opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Media or Bitcoin Magazine. The author does not have a relationship with Amazon.com.


This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Dutch Finance Minister Calls for ICO Regulations

The finance minister of the Netherlands has called for new regulations around cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings.

The finance minister of the Netherlands has called for new regulations around cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings.