Day: March 10, 2018

It seems a very important piece of news has flown under the radar of cryptocurrency enthusiasts and experts. In a letter from February, FinCEN makes it clear they do not take kindly to ICOs or any platforms supporting this business model. In fact, they would prefer if all ICOs registered as money services businesses. It’s an interesting approach that could easily destroy the ICO industry as we know it today.

FinCEN and ICOs Don’t Mix Well

The main objective of FinCEN is to boost innovation in the financial sector. As such, they are keeping a rather open mind toward cryptocurrencies, even though they do require all platforms and service providers to adhere to AML and KYC guidelines. At the same time, FinCEN also wants to protect the US from financial harm, risk, and fraud. Doing so is not all that easy, especially when creative financial business models are allowed to proliferate without regulation.

When it comes to initial coin offerings, it has become evident this new way of funding companies and projects raises a lot of questions. The SEC has already begun cracking down on all companies offering such tokens to US investors without officially registering. Additionally, the agency is going after any company issuing tokens or securities which can be considered misleading and potentially fraudulent. Various companies have been subpoenaed, and the trading of their tokens has been rendered impossible in the process.

It now seems FinCEN will introduce another layer of regulation for the ICO industry. Although nothing has been confirmed at this point, an open letter to Senator Ron Wyden shows that FinCEN has a clear vision in mind. If it were left up to them, all ICO projects and service providers would need to register with the government. They’d all be required to obtain a money services business license before any sale could be made.

It goes without saying that this is not an achievable goal for 99% of the ICO projects on the market now and in the future. The vast majority of these companies only organize a token sale because they can seemingly do so without any real regulation to adhere to as of right now. If this requirement were turned into law, we would see no ICO projects in the US except for those which were organized by major companies.

Additionally, FinCEN is working with the CFTC and the SEC to enforce AML and CFT obligations upon all businesses engaged in initial coin offerings. This does indicate there will be a further regulatory crackdown on ICOs, which would only be a positive thing. Regulation can bring more legitimacy to this industry, and it will help weed out fake or potentially malicious projects at the same time.

Whether or not ICO organizers will ever be required to register as money services businesses remains to be determined. These companies effectively create convertible virtual currencies in exchange for another type of value. It is a worrisome business model that certainly warrants more regulatory scrutiny as of right now. Exchanges dealing in ICO tokens will want to pay close attention to how things play out in this regard.

Major South Korean exchange Bithumb partners with kiosk brand to let customers pay for food in crypto in some cafes and restaurants #NEWS

Meet Dean Karakitsos– Digital Visionary, Futurist and Advisor to ZeroEdge Bet

ZeroEdge is right at the cutting edge of many new web-based technologies including cryptocurrency, Blockchain technology, digital marketing strategies, smart contracts and more. In order to stay on the sharp edge, ZeroEdge relies on the extraordinary input of several top advisors, all dynamic personalities as well as movers and shakers within their own specific spheres. Dean Karakitsos is the perfect example of the type of advisor that we mean. Dean has over two decades of experience in designing and launching innovative and industry-changing products. He is also the founder and the driving force behind Bloqchain Science, one of the leading authorities on Blockchain technology. We are proud to be associated with this visionary innovator, whose main passion lies in disruptive technology development as well as dynamic business management. With Dean on board as one of our top advisors, we feel fully confident that our industry-breaking vision will not only be realised very shortly, but is guaranteed to change the online gambling industry forever.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

ZeroEdge.Bet – Revolutionary online gambling platform with 0% house edge games

ZeroEdge is a unique concept set to revolutionize the way you gamble online. Currently, all online casino games come with a house edge, i.e. the advantage that the casino has over you, which varies between 1% to 10% or more, depending on the game. ZeroEdge’s solution – offer games with 0% house edge and give players a completely fair chance of winning. In other words, playing at ZeroEdge.Bet is literally free, you don’t have to pay anything to the casino like it’s with traditional online casino sites.

The most amazing part is that Zerocoin value increases as more people join the world first 0% edge gambling platform. It is all achieved by creating a closed-loop economy in which high demand for 0% games drives Zerocoin’s value up. This model is also known as Metcalfe’s law which was originally invented in 1993 and can be seen in the actual Bitcoin’s price growth. Zero Edge offers a unique gambling model which potentially could revolutionise the $70 Billion gambling industry. Players won’t be losing money, but instead earning from the increasing Zerocoin value.

We have made a survey & asked hundreds of people about their gambling preferences & experiencies.  The main finding was that 99 % of them stated that they would choose 0% house edge games to play if such games were available. High demand for the world’s first 0% house edge games will increase the Zerocoin value exponentially. An important task for us will be to educate the players and raise their attention on this beneficial concept.

Zerocoins (ZERO) will be available to investors during an upcoming ICO. Visit https://tokensale.zeroedge.bet to find out more.

Blockchain technology enables a few interesting business models worth looking into. In the case of Render Token, the project focuses on distributed GPU rendering on the blockchain. It is a bit similar to a few other projects, though there are some key differences. It will be interesting to see how this project fares in the future.

An Overview of Render Token

Render Token is one of the projects which wants to harness unutilized GPU power from all over the world and let people earn money by renting this computing power to others. As such, the project creates a decentralized economy of connected 3D assets. All of this will be done through the Ethereum blockchain, which has become the backbone for quite a few ICO projects over the past few months.

The Technology Powering Render Token

As one would expect, a project like this requires innovative technology first and foremost. Render Token utilizes the latest breakthroughs in cloud rendering technology to create a distributed global network of millions of peer GPU devices. This network will consist of a wide range of devices, ranging from smartphones to televisions and AR devices.

It is evident projects such as Render Token will also face a lot of challenges. Right now, authoring and publishing state-of-the-art graphics is not all that easy. Even though the business model is very solid and the industry is booming as of right now, coming up with creative solutions is more important than ever. Render Token filed a patent several years ago, which will come in handy for this particular project.

The Render Token ecosystem will consist of smart contracts, dApps, and even a marketplace. Anyone can contribute GPU power to this network. The native token will be used to help the marketplace find its niche in the future. This project has a lot of potential, assuming the developers can deliver on their promise.

The RNDR Token Explained

A new decentralized GPU rendering network cannot exist without its own proprietary token. In this case, that token is known as RNDR, which will be used to create a new marketplace to fund digital ideas, assets, and applications. RNDR will also be used to measure job costs alongside US dollars, which certainly opens up a lot of new opportunities.

The Road Ahead

So far, the developers have unveiled the phase 1 feature of this platform. In the near future, the tokens will be usable for OctaneBench jobs on the ORC platform. Several new types of jobs will be introduced in the coming months as well. Even Unity game developers may show an interest in Render Token, although it remains to be seen how all of this will play out.

Buterin reveals new scaling solution, Plasma Cash, that could be used to secure crypto on top of a root Blockchain. #NEWS

A years-long intellectual debate on bitcoin’s technological roadmap has spilled over into Twitter, resulting in a wave of suspicions and shadowbans.

Microsoft detected and blocked a wave of cryptojacking attacks this week that were using the “latest malware family” #NEWS

The early returns of the first ever presidential election tracked on a blockchain are in, but some problems not even distributed ledgers can solve.

This week the Wall Street analyst and Fundstrat executive, Tom Lee, has revealed a new index that helps cryptocurrency investors know the right time to buy BTC. The indicator is called the ‘Bitcoin Misery Index’ that calculates multiple market factors.

Also read: Ant Creek: Is Bitmain Quietly Developing a Mining Facility in the US?

The ‘Bitcoin Misery Index’

Fundstrat advisor Tom Lee is well known for being a big believer in cryptocurrencies and has made several correct BTC price predictions last year. Lee predicted that BTC/USD markets would rally past the $10K mark as well as outperform traditional assets by the end of the year. Even though crypto-markets have been suffering from a bearish town turn over the long run Lee is still bullish.

Lee has created a ‘Bitcoin Misery Index’ that is calculated on a scale of 0-100, and right now the index is at 18.8, the lowest it’s been since 2011 according to Lee in an interview with the broadcast Fast Money. A misery index is a method of using contrarian economic indicators and was created by the economist Arthur Okun. Lee’s misery index takes into account a variety of BTC market factors including winning trades and volatility.

“Think of this index as a way to measure how happy or sad you are owning bitcoin,” Lee explains.

When the Bitcoin Misery Index is at ‘misery’ (below 27), bitcoin sees the best 12-month performance.

$20,000 By Mid-Year 2018

According to Lee when the misery index is low, it’s a good time for investors to acquire more bitcoin investing in a more contrarian manner. “While short-term the low points are a signal of pain, long term it could be a great entry way into bitcoin,” Lee details. “The last four times this was below 27…there was not a single instance with bitcoin not up 12 months later.”

“It is really uncommon to be this miserable owning bitcoin, The last few times this happened was in November 2012, September 2016 and January 2015,” Lee emphasizes.

And bitcoin was higher a month later — The index is telling us, it’s really tough to own it for the next week or even two weeks, three weeks — But we’re getting through this. The BMI is telling us to keep the negative headlines in perspective. When the BMI is at a ‘misery’ level, future returns are very good.

The Fundstrat advisor still firmly believes his prediction made a few weeks prior that by the middle of the year bitcoin will be once again around $20K and possibly $25,000 by year-end.

What do you think about Tom Lee and his Bitcoin Misery Index? Do you think he is right or wrong? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, and CNBC’s Fast Money. 

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The post The Bitcoin Misery Index: Finding An Entry Way With Sadness appeared first on Bitcoin News.

ConnectJob Disrupts the Gig Economy with Blockchain tech

The gig economy is thriving and it has become the single largest sector in the ever-evolving freelance industry. Big platforms like Fiverr are reporting enormous growth and the $900 billion market is growing quicker than ever and it has the potential to adapt to new technology and practices. The need for hiring people on full-time jobs is becoming less and less pronounced as the gig economy provides a viable alternative with the smaller gigs possible from experienced freelancers anywhere around the world at affordable rates. The future is in the “job on the go” sector and that is why companies are working hard to get a slice of the pie for themselves.

Blockchain and decentralization bring a new perspective to the gig economy as they allow transparency and better enforcement of contracts than a traditional centralized model that the likes of Upwork and Fiverr promote. ConnectJob, a new decentralized platform for the gig economy is aiming to tap into the massive market by connecting people with various skill sets to potential gig employers. The platform has announced a main token generation event and have already raised over $7 million which was its soft cap in the initial stage.

The inner workings of ConnectJob Platform

The ConnectJob platform is based on the Ethereum blockchain and enables users from virtually limitless skill sets to look for work on the platform. The transparent working of the platform is enforceable through smart contracts,  probably the most distinguishing functionality of the Ethereum blockchain, and brings much needed decentralization into the mix. Clients can connect with jobbers directly with full satisfaction that they only have to pay once the job has been completed and verified by the system.

The ConnectJob protocol uses a tamper-proof escrow system that negates the need for involving a third party in between. This allows the platform to enforce direct relationships between clients and freelancers without having the need of any third party escrow. The most trustworthy of freelancers get the most out of the system with their approval ratings and job completion rate directly affecting their overall score. There is also no occurrence of mysterious account nullification and cancellation without following the due process. It is something that is a regular occurrence in the centralized platforms like Fiverr and a constant source of headaches and uncertainty for freelancers.

According to the ConnectJob CMO:

“This is the power of democracy. For any democratic institution to survive, it must not only listen to the people, but also agree to their demands — or reach a compromise. Without the voice of the people, there can be no democracy. Without democracy, our freedom and rights become the whim of a central authority to do as they will.”

ConnectJob Native Token and Token Generation Event (TGE)

The native token of ConnectJob is the CJT token and the gig platform is in the first stage of the main Token Generation Event that began February 12, 2018. The total hardcap is 300 million CJT tokens but in the TGE and pre-TGE, only 195 million will be available with the remaining tokens being left for the founders and ConnectJob community.

The current rate is set at 2400 CJT per ETH with various discounts available as of now.

Visit the Website: https://ico.connectjob.io

The post Moving the Gig Economy Forward with Blockchain: ConnectJob Announces Token Generation Event appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

If it wasn’t bad enough with hackers and dodgy websites trying to hijack your computer hardware to mine some crypto coins, ISPs have been discovered doing it also. Governments, or agencies closely linked to them, have been caught commandeering local internet connections in order to inject mining malware.

Turkey, Syria and Egypt Fingered

Fingers have been pointed at internet providers in Turkey and Syria which have been secretly injecting surveillance malware, while those in Egypt have been using the same technology to inject browser based mining malware.

According to reports ISPs in these three countries are using Deep Packet Inspection technology from Sandvine to intercept and manipulate web traffic and end users’ computers. The technology allows internet providers to prioritize, degrade, block, inject, and log various types of internet traffic on a packet by packet basis.

Turkey’s Telecom network has been using Sandvine PacketLogic devices to redirect hundreds of targeted users to malicious websites and spyware. Similar incidents were recorded in Syria whereby users have been redirected to spurious versions of antivirus software containing government malware.

In Egypt telecoms operators have taken a step further and are using the technology to secretly inject crypto mining scripts into every HTTP page that users accessed. Researchers at Citizen Lab found that providers were using a scheme called AdHose to covertly raise money by mining the anonymous altcoin Monero;

“We found similar middleboxes at a Telecom Egypt demarcation point. The middleboxes were being used to redirect users across dozens of ISPs to affiliate ads and browser cryptocurrency mining scripts.” 

Massive Mining Malware Outbreak Halted

In a related story cyber security experts at Microsoft were able to halt a huge outbreak of mining malware this week. Windows Defender researchers discovered the Trojans spreading rapidly across Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, affecting over half a million computers.

The malware dubbed ‘Dofoil’ carried a crypto mining payload which would hijack the hardware of the victim’s machine to mine for the cryptocurrency Electroneum.  Microsoft released a statement on the outbreak which stated;

“Dofoil is the latest malware family to incorporate coin miners in attacks. Because the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continues to grow, malware operators see the opportunity to include coin mining components in their attacks. For example, exploit kits are now delivering coin miners instead of ransomware. Scammers are adding coin mining scripts in tech support scam websites.”

Not only do we have to contend with hackers and cyber criminals jumping on the crypto train and looking for a quick buck. Those unfortunate enough to have to use Egyptian internet services will have their government trying to hijack their computers too.

The post Internet Providers Caught Deploying Crypto Mining Malware appeared first on NewsBTC.