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Top Bitcoin, Blockchain, And Cryptocurrency News Of March 2018 – Forbes


Forbes

Top Bitcoin, Blockchain, And Cryptocurrency News Of March 2018
Forbes
Jesse Damiani , Contributor I cover the human side of VR/AR, Blockchain, AI, Startups, & Media. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. PARIS, FRANCE – FEBRUARY 16: In this photo illustration, a visual representation of digital
Why Porn on the Blockchain Won’t Doom BitcoinWIRED
What You Need To Know About Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, and BlockchainETF Daily News (blog)

all 298 news articles »


Forbes

Top Bitcoin, Blockchain, And Cryptocurrency News Of March 2018
Forbes
Jesse Damiani , Contributor I cover the human side of VR/AR, Blockchain, AI, Startups, & Media. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. PARIS, FRANCE - FEBRUARY 16: In this photo illustration, a visual representation of digital ...
Why Porn on the Blockchain Won't Doom BitcoinWIRED
What You Need To Know About Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, and BlockchainETF Daily News (blog)

all 298 news articles »

OmiseGo and Ethereum Founder Donate $1M to GiveDirectly

Ethereum founder refugee donationsDespite several iterations, cryptocurrency is still severely criticized. In fact, the acceptability of these digital coins is always viewed with skepticism. Often, users of this currency are perceived as being selfish. People think that the crypto world is all about making and saving money. However, a recent happening has jolted the news world and the crypto haters. A popular charity, GiveDirectly, has received a US$1 million donation from Ethereum’s founder and OmiseGo. Such charitable donations are worth highlighting as using cryptocurrency for this noble purpose is indeed something notable. Maybe this initiative will compel the haters to rethink their beliefs about crypto. GiveDirectly received a US$1

Ethereum founder refugee donations

Despite several iterations, cryptocurrency is still severely criticized. In fact, the acceptability of these digital coins is always viewed with skepticism. Often, users of this currency are perceived as being selfish. People think that the crypto world is all about making and saving money. However, a recent happening has jolted the news world and the crypto haters. A popular charity, GiveDirectly, has received a US$1 million donation from Ethereum’s founder and OmiseGo.

Such charitable donations are worth highlighting as using cryptocurrency for this noble purpose is indeed something notable. Maybe this initiative will compel the haters to rethink their beliefs about crypto.

GiveDirectly received a US$1 million donation from the blockchain projects. GiveDirectly is a charity meant to aid the extreme poor via no-strings-attached grants.

In a recent blog post on its website, the charity revealed the details of the donation by Vitalik Buterin and OmiseGo. OmiseGo is a fintech startup that held an ICO last year, raising $25 million to develop a decentralized payment network.

GiveDirectly has received $1 million in OMG tokens, and will distribute it to refugees living below the poverty line.

Based in Uganda, GiveDirectly has helped 12,000 refugee households. Its campaign aims to provide funds to these refugees to help them grow businesses or take other steps requiring investment.

GiveDirectly Ventures are Supported By Tech Giants

Receiving donations from prominent sources is not something new for GiveDirectly. It is already backed by some tech giants, such as Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes (Facebook’s co-founders), Google, and Pierre Omidyar (eBay’s founder). Since launching its donation drive in 2013, the company has raised more than $200 million.

Donations Will be Distributed to Refugees Directly

GiveDirectly, as its name suggests, distributes donations directly to refugees. Receiving crypto donations will further aid in their work. Catherine Diao, Head of Communications for GiveDirectly, says:

This is a major new chapter for us, entering the humanitarian space with a service to give money directly to refugees. We are really excited to be working with the leaders in the crypto community to translate some of the recent boons to impact for some of the poorest people in the world.

This doesn’t mean that the refugees will be burdened by crypto in its actual form. Rather, the money will be handed over to them after being converted to local currency. The conversion will be done by bank transfer or mobile money services. In this way, the refugees may be served in a better way.

Says Diao:

While cash transfers have been used in humanitarian contexts before, this initiative is a significant departure from the status quo because we’re giving families transformative amounts of money versus small, subsistence amounts.

OmiseGo’s Support for GiveDirectly

OmiseGo seems to have been excited about this collaboration. It shows immense interest in leveraging crypto for charity. In an official OmiseGo blog post, Omise’s CEO, Jun Hasegawa, said:

The crypto economy has grown immensely over the last year, bringing a great deal of wealth to many people and organizations within the ecosystem. In part, we simply see an exciting opportunity to share that wealth. We hope the fortunes made in the crypto space will lead not to extravagant lifestyles, but to extravagant generosity.

The company is also making room for GiveDirectly on its decentralized payment network that is currently under development. It will help users make instant transactions without any fees.

Althea Allen, OmiseGo’s ecosystem growth lead, says:

We have a strong desire to support GiveDirectly’s unconditional cash transfers on the OMG Network in the future when it becomes possible.

Are you interested in making a crypto donation to this charity? If so, you can send your ETH or ERC-20 tokens to the GiveDirectly wallet: 0xc7464dbcA260A8faF033460622B23467Df5AEA42

Bitcoin Price Watch: Bitcoin Endures a Small Rise

Bitcoin’s price has incurred a small jump. After yesterday’s trading lows of $6,600 – $6,900, the current mark for bitcoin’s price is just under $7,100 – a small, but noticeable step forward after what can be labeled a very tumultuous week. For the most part, however, cryptocurrencies remain in the red, with major bitcoin competitors like ether trading at just under $400 and litecoin sitting at about $116. Other currencies, like Ripple’s XRP and bitcoin cash, are down approximately 20 to 30 percent from last week’s figures. Overall, the market has lost a total of nearly $114 billion, though today

Bitcoin’s price has incurred a small jump. After yesterday’s trading lows of $6,600 – $6,900, the current mark for bitcoin’s price is just under $7,100 – a small, but noticeable step forward after what can be labeled a very tumultuous week.

For the most part, however, cryptocurrencies remain in the red, with major bitcoin competitors like ether trading at just under $400 and litecoin sitting at about $116. Other currencies, like Ripple’s XRP and bitcoin cash, are down approximately 20 to 30 percent from last week’s figures. Overall, the market has lost a total of nearly $114 billion, though today marks a seven percent increase from March 30.

The primary sentiment was that Hong Kong-based exchange OKEX and the liquidation of its futures contracts may have led to the sudden drop. All futures trading has since resumed on the platform, though many contracts ultimately disappeared or traded for significantly smaller figures. Executives claim the move was part of a plan to prevent irregular sell-offs in the future, while others claim the exchange was legitimately trying to manipulate the bitcoin price.

In addition, several regulatory fears continue to emerge from Japan, a global bitcoin hub. Recently, two separate exchanges have taken back their applications with the Financial Services Agency (FSA), citing they were not interested in being monitored by financial and/or government authorities.

To an extent, this can be understood. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies would undoubtedly be compromised by consistent regulation, and the crypto-environment as we know it would probably take a tumble or change drastically.

However, one idea behind a recent string of banks working to prevent customers from purchasing digital currencies is that traditional financial institutions feel they cannot compete with the non-regulated atmosphere of crypto, and thus are working not necessarily to protect customers or their funds, but rather to stay relevant. If all finances became completely unregulated and there was no longer a need for government or authoritative eyes to examine financial dealings, modern-day banks would probably lose their footing.

Are banks primarily worried about their own futures? That’s certainly a question worth exploring.

The latest bank to take a hard stance against cryptocurrency is the National Bank of Kazakhstan. The organization’s chairman released a statement on Friday that the country is examining a full ban of every digital currency available in today’s market. State departments are concerned about the country’s national currency, the tenge, and whether it could lose stability if customers regularly choose to trade it in for crypto. Granted residents decide the power lies in digital currencies, the tenge could potentially become obsolete, which may lead to economic problems like inflation.

The chairman also explains that he’s concerned about illicit activities cryptocurrencies can allegedly birth – issues like tax evasion and money laundering. This is a common argument, especially among government figures or those seeking to bar cryptocurrency permanently.

At the end of the tunnel, however, is a faint light, as most analysts suggest the recent crypto-crash may finally be reaching its end, and a strong period of recovery is on the way. They suggest things could start as early as April during tax season, while also claiming that futures trading is likely to increase as well, thus pushing the price even further.

IRS Investigations into Cryptocurrency Holders, a Positive Sign

The Beneficial Impact of Regulatory Scrutiny on Cryptocurrencies. There has been a crypto gold rush going on and the authorities have taken note. The IRS considers crypto to be an asset and thus should be taxed. Accordingly, it has taken measures to track all crypto holders, which has got many people concerned. However, the IRS

The post IRS Investigations into Cryptocurrency Holders, a Positive Sign appeared first on NewsBTC.

The Beneficial Impact of Regulatory Scrutiny on Cryptocurrencies.

There has been a crypto gold rush going on and the authorities have taken note. The IRS considers crypto to be an asset and thus should be taxed. Accordingly, it has taken measures to track all crypto holders, which has got many people concerned. However, the IRS actions can actually have a positive effect on cryptocurrencies.

Recently, the IRS ordered Coinbase, one of the biggest exchanges in the US, to furnish it with data on all users trading $20,000 or more. These actions on the government organization’s part have brought Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies out of the shadows.

For a long time, there has been a misconception that digital currency is mainly used by thugs and rogue states, which has caused some people to shun crypto, out of fear of being entangled in a criminal enterprise.

However, the fact that the IRS is taking a closer look at crypto could help do away with this notion. The scrutiny from authorities will also make people think twice before they embark on using cryptocurrencies for illegal activities. These factors will, in turn, portray digital currencies in a new light and make dealing in cryptocurrencies a government-approved alternative.

For some time now, the IRS has been working with companies that deal with cryptocurrencies to keep an eye on transactions happening on the network. So far, they have been able to track 4% of all wallets to genuine holders. But with legitimate and compliant platforms, these issues would be a thing of the past. Platforms like Saifu are leading the wave to legitimize cryptocurrency usage by offering an easy-to-use solution that’s on par with any banking or mainstream financial platform available today.

About Saifu

Saifu provides customers with a platform that is welcoming to those who are used to the fiat currency system. In fact, the services Saifu offers are similar to those of traditional online banking platforms, and also include cryptocurrencies. However, there are also many other crypto-based companies that offer crypto trading services. So, what makes Saifu different?

Saifu stands out as a licensed payment institution that includes the full range of fiat and crypto services that any modern traditional bank only provides for fiat. This means that while other crypto companies can offer crypto transactions and storage, only Saifu connect to the traditional financial world on its own. Other companies rely on the financial licenses of partners and have little control over how the transactions are processed.

Saifu has developed its own accounting practices for cryptocurrencies and these have been approved by regulators. This means that when transactions are made with crypto or fiat, Saifu customers don’t have to wait or go through tedious approval processes to get their crypto to fiat or use it in everyday transactions.

As part of its integration with the traditional financial world, Saifu offers customers with the ability to make wire transfers, transfers to and from external wallets, provides customers with Saifu cards for PoS and ATMs, and allows transfers to and from external accounts through card transactions. All of this is offered alongside exchange services at the best market rates between fiat and cryptocurrencies. This integration may seem natural, but it’s more complicated than most think, which is the reason Saifu currently has no competitors that can offer all of those services for both fiat and crypto.

Additionally, Saifu provides market-leading security that was developed in partnership with Thales, the leader in fiat currency cybersecurity for banks. The technology developed by Saifu brings bank-grade security to the cryptocurrency world. The technology is superior to competitors in the cryptocurrency world because it’s designed to keep customers cryptocurrency safe even in the event of a hacking, which will happen to any crypto service once it gets big enough. The Saifu security system is also unique in that it also allows for full functionality of cryptocurrency use, which hot and cold vaults, an inferior security solution, are unable to do because they are not designed to keep customers keys separately.

Find out more about Saifu at – https://saifu.ai/

What do you think about the Saifu platform? Leave us your thoughts in the comments section below.

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China May Follow Global Cryptocurrency Regulations, Central Bank Report Suggests

China’s central bank states that the country is willing to support a global regulatory framework for cryptocurrency established by G20. China’s Central Bank Supports Global Regulatory Framework The Institute of International Finance, a part of The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), offered new insight to the country’s cryptocurrency policy on its “Global Banking Industry Outlook Report” released

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China’s central bank states that the country is willing to support a global regulatory framework for cryptocurrency established by G20.

China’s Central Bank Supports Global Regulatory Framework

The Institute of International Finance, a part of The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), offered new insight to the country’s cryptocurrency policy on its “Global Banking Industry Outlook Report” released this week. The central bank and government are already deeply invested in blockchain technology, but it may well expand R&D further, especially as it plans to launch its own national cryptocurrency.

According to the report, the PBoC maintains its view that massification of cryptocurrencies as a retail investment could produce systemic risks to the CNY, but the Institute of International Finance is in favor of establishing a global regulatory framework. Supporting a global regulation on cryptocurrencies means that China is willing to eventually legalize trading and usage of cryptocurrencies.

The potential for extreme price fluctuations as a risk for financial stability, anonymity as an encouragement for money laundering, and lack of security against hacking, are a few of the arguments against cryptocurrencies shared in the report.

The document states that lack of effective coordination between countries leads to a regulatory vacuum. As such, the institution proposes to strengthen regulatory supervision, cooperation, and coordination. Earlier in 2018, the German and French finance ministers called for a global regulatory framework for digital currencies. The FSC, South Korea’s financial watchdog, has proposed to cooperate with China and Japan.

According to the report, China’s central bank expects various governments to improve their supervision over digital currencies, and an increased use of cryptocurrencies as a means of exchange and payments. “China should actively participate in the global governance of digital currencies” in order to influence the formulation of the regulatory rules for digital currencies. 

While China recognizes the value of blockchain and cryptocurrencies despite the criminal use and lack of customer and investor protection, the country is worried by the threat over the Yuan. To tackle this, the PBoC aims to develop its own digital currency and control the unofficial ones.

The Asian superpower remains a top country in cryptocurrency mining as the government cracks down on the activity, as well as initial coin offerings (ICOs), exchanges, chats and digital trading websites. Opening up to a global regulatory framework established by the twenty most powerful nations in the world is a strategic move to exercise influence, but it is also a new hope for cryptocurrency traders and users in China.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

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Thai Finance Ministry Releases Final Version Of Cryptocurrency Tax Framework

Thailand releases long-expected crypto tax regulations, former Thai Finance Minister warns against “conservative instincts” leading to “draconian regulations” #NEWS

Thailand releases long-expected crypto tax regulations, former Thai Finance Minister warns against “conservative instincts” leading to “draconian regulations” #NEWS

Hacking in Crypto: Cutting-Edge Cybersecurity Measures

Cybersecurity has become one of the biggest threats of our time, with about 7% of the world’s economic output at risk of being stolen. Blockchain technology is one solution, which is why so many new blockchain startups have appeared on the scene to tackle the issue of cybersecurity, but is that enough? Which ones are actually effective? Looking at the most protected systems in the world – such as supercomputers employed by the U.S. military – we know that real solutions exist, but they’ve been neither affordable nor accessible to the general public. Blockchain startups have been bridging the gap, with one in particular catching the attention of

Cybersecurity has become one of the biggest threats of our time, with about 7% of the world’s economic output at risk of being stolen. Blockchain technology is one solution, which is why so many new blockchain startups have appeared on the scene to tackle the issue of cybersecurity, but is that enough? Which ones are actually effective?

Looking at the most protected systems in the world – such as supercomputers employed by the U.S. military – we know that real solutions exist, but they’ve been neither affordable nor accessible to the general public. Blockchain startups have been bridging the gap, with one in particular catching the attention of some of the world’s largest tech giants.

For companies putting sensitive information on blockchains, anything not on said blockchains are still at risk.

Cryptocurrency exchange markets and mining companies have proven to be at real risk of security breaches. According to a study by Tyler Moore, about a third of all cryptocurrency exchanges have been hacked since 2009, and the total stolen in cryptocurrency already amounts to over $15 billion.

Here is a timeline of some of the biggest attacks to date:

  • Japan’s Mt. Gox was hacked in 2014 and 650,000 bitcoins were stolen. Today, they are worth about $9.4 billion dollars.
  • Bitfinex, a Hong Kong-based exchange, was hacked in August 2016. About $70 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen, today worth $1.7 billion.
  • Cryptsy was hacked in July 2017 and 11,325 bitcoins were stolen, today worth over $100 million.
  • Kraken was also hacked in July 2017, leading to a loss of about $5 million.
  • Tether was hacked in November 2017 with cryptocurrency stolen worth over $31 million dollars.
  • Nicehash was hacked in December 2017 and about 4,700 bitcoins were stolen, worth about $68 million.
  • Coincheck, the self proclaimed “leading cryptocurrency exchange in Asia”, was hacked in January 2018 in the biggest heist to date, losing $530 million of users’ cryptocurrency.
  • BitGrail was hacked most recently in February 2018, with the stolen cryptocurrency valuing $170 million dollars.

This doesn’t just affect cryptocurrency exchanges. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, one in five small businesses fell victim to cybercrime in 2015. About 60% of such firms go out of business within six months of such attacks.

By 2021, cybersecurity breaches are estimated to have cost over US$6 trillion, up from $3 trillion in 2015.

The best place to look for working cybersecurity solutions is within the government and military. Federal supercomputers must be protected and functioning at all times, so it makes sense that they would fund extensive research and development. Previously, these technologies have not been available, but through crowdfunded token sales, that has begun to change.

The U.S. Navy, Homeland Security, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin all use MTD (moving target defense) technology developed by the world’s leading researchers and computer scientists at George Mason University. Those same researchers are now endeavoring to make MTD cybersecurity tech available to the public.

Knowing that attacks are inevitable, researchers created MTD technology to provide two major functions: limit the window of opportunity for cyber attacks, and limit the damage incurred when an attack does occur and the system must be able to repair itself almost instantaneously.

In the best example of MTD technology, different versions of servers rotate on a minute-by-minute basis. Instead of 3-4 months of access time, intruders get a single minute. With 5 servers online and 3 offline at all times, the servers rotated into the offline position are scanned for damage, allowing threats to be detected and cleansed. It’s a literal self-healing moving target.

In the blockchain community, the first step is making decentralized hosting more resilient. Hosting a file in a decentralized manner requires a ledger and data to be shared and encrypted. This data is then stored on millions of devices all over the world. The only thing that can bring the shards together is the ledger. In case the ledger is offline or corrupted, the data is not retrievable. MTD tech can keep this ledger constantly online and uncorrupted.

This also allows for the validation of certain processes and states. The core of this technology is the controller (which controls the rotation) and the pristine state of servers. Using blockchain technology, individuals validate the cleanness of these virtual machines by comparing the pristine state of the server to the actual and are rewarded with digital tokens for threats and damage located.

Currently, there are about five notable MTD cybersecurity startups, though to date, only R3sec has the distinction of working directly with the aforementioned federal agencies and has contracts in the works with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and HP.

While cyber threats will never cease to exist, MTD technology provides the most effective means of thwarting hackers.
That’s why investors are getting in on cybersecurity startups, particularly those few offering MTD solutions. Moving target defense technology may just be the paradigm shift in cybersecurity that enterprises need to stay afloat in the increasingly high-stakes field of cyberwarfare. It’s definitely an emerging technology worth looking into further.

Ethereum Price Needs Stability at $400 to Avoid Dipping to $350

TheMerkle Blockchain Wallet EthereumWith the cryptocurrency markets getting a temporary reprieve, it is evident interesting things can happen. Judging by the previous weeks, this upward momentum will not last that long. For the Ethereum price, the question is whether or not remaining above $400 is in the cards. Right now, it seems that is a successful venture, but it will not last all that long. Ethereum Price Momentum is Difficult to Come by This past week has not been overly exciting for Ethereum price watchers. Nor has the rest of the year been so far, as it is all pretty negative in general.

TheMerkle Blockchain Wallet Ethereum

With the cryptocurrency markets getting a temporary reprieve, it is evident interesting things can happen. Judging by the previous weeks, this upward momentum will not last that long. For the Ethereum price, the question is whether or not remaining above $400 is in the cards. Right now, it seems that is a successful venture, but it will not last all that long.

Ethereum Price Momentum is Difficult to Come by

This past week has not been overly exciting for Ethereum price watchers. Nor has the rest of the year been so far, as it is all pretty negative in general. This is not unique to the Ethereum price, mind you, but it is quite worrisome to see things deteriorate so quickly. Right now, an Ethereum price of over $400 is a joyous occasion.

Although this is indeed a small gain over the past 24 hours, it further confirms all cryptocurrencies are not in a good place. While a 5.83% gain over 24 hours is pretty decent for any financial asset, it barely pushes the Ethereum price over $400, One big sell order and the price crumble once again. Right now, it seems the bearish pressure is forming as we speak.

Ethereum isn’t successful in decoupling itself from Bitcoin as of right now. Although Ethereum gained 1.64% over Bitcoin it is evident this small gain will erode fairly quickly if Bitcoin drops again. The way things look right now, that appears to be only a matter of time It has been a terrible Q1 for cryptocurrencies in general, and the Ethereum price illustrates that point quite well.

One positive aspect is how Ethereum successfully maintains a trading volume of over $1.4bn. That in itself is pretty interesting to note, as it shows there is a clear demand to buy and sell ETH as of right now. Unfortunately, it seems most of the orders are from sellers, rather than buyers. It is possible this momentum will turn around at some point.

With Bitfinex leading the charge in terms of trading volume, things look rather interesting right now. Huobi and Binance are battling over second place, with GDAX looming over their shoulder. OKEx is the fifth and sixth market right now, which is rather normal. With two fiat currency pairs and three USDT markets in the top five, we may see some Ethereum price fireworks after all.

For the time being, it is evident none of the top cryptocurrencies will not long-term growth or stability. There is too much bearish pressure on all markets to make anything spectacular happen. For the Ethereum price, finding stability around $400 would be a major victory in its way. It seems that will not happen anytime soon, though.

West Virginia Becomes First State to Use Blockchain Technology in Election

West Virginia is writing history, as it will become the first state in the US to use blockchain technology in the voting process during the upcoming May 8 Senate election. This will be done through a mobile application and will only be available for deployed military officers from the counties of Harrison and Monongalia, their spouses, and their dependents. ANONYMITY AND TRANSPARENCY Military officers who are deployed in various parts of the world currently use archaic methods to participate in the voting process. These methods include casting ballots via mail, fax or email. The officers are thus denied the basic right of

West Virginia is writing history, as it will become the first state in the US to use blockchain technology in the voting process during the upcoming May 8 Senate election. This will be done through a mobile application and will only be available for deployed military officers from the counties of Harrison and Monongalia, their spouses, and their dependents.

ANONYMITY AND TRANSPARENCY

Military officers who are deployed in various parts of the world currently use archaic methods to participate in the voting process. These methods include casting ballots via mail, fax or email. The officers are thus denied the basic right of anonymity when casting their ballots and often wonder whether their ballots are received in time and if they are counted, according to a statement by West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner.

The blockchain-powered mobile app will bring anonymity and transparency to military officers from the two pilot counties and their dependents. Thanks to his 23-year service in the U.S. Army, Secretary Warner knows firsthand how cumbersome the process is and views the blockchain as a godsend.

“The primary goal of this project is to take advantage of technological advances and offer the most secure military mobile voting solution possible that is accessible, verifiable, transparent, and easy to use,” reads part of the statement.

The project is a partnership between the Office of the Secretary of State of West Virginia and other strategic partners. They include Tusk/Montgomery Philanthropies, Blockchain Trust Accelerator, New America, and Voatz, a Boston-based tech startup whose platform has been utilized by more than 70,000 voters in various elections.

THE VOTING PROCESS

To participate, an eligible voter must first submit a Federal Post Card Application to their county clerk. This can be done via email. Once the participant is confirmed by the county clerk, he or she is free to download the app and cast their vote.

The first user of the mobile app was Scott Warner, the son of Secretary Warner, who is currently deployed in Italy. He hailed the process as “slick”, appreciating the role it will play in making the servicemen feel that their voices count.

The blockchain’s use in voting takes off

While West Virginia is the first state to use a blockchain for a federal election, many organizations around the world have already implemented this technology in elections due to its transparency and immutability.

Blockchain-enabled voting (BEV) would restore faith in the process whose credibility has come under fire in the wake of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Blockchains are decentralized and thus have no central points of failure that can be exploited by malicious parties. With the ledger being available to everyone in the network, the process would be transparent and everyone would feel confident that their votes were counted.

BEV has also faced its fair share of opposition from government officials who feel that its complexity may exclude a sizable portion of the population. In some regions, the decentralized nature of blockchains has been in conflict with existing regulations. In Europe, for instance, the EU’s privacy laws have in some instances been applied against blockchain technology.

Stellar Price is Gaining Quickly but Bears Remain in Control

While it is quite positive to see a lot of green on the cryptocurrency charts right now, it remains to be seen how long the momentum will last.  Judging by the current Stellar price, things may effectively improve over the weekend. Then again, the day is not over just yet, as new bearish momentum is forming already. The Stellar Price Notes a Large Gain As is always the case in the world of cryptocurrency, any positive price momentum will usually be followed by more bearish pressure. Whether or not this weekend and upcoming week will prove to be different, remains

While it is quite positive to see a lot of green on the cryptocurrency charts right now, it remains to be seen how long the momentum will last.  Judging by the current Stellar price, things may effectively improve over the weekend. Then again, the day is not over just yet, as new bearish momentum is forming already.

The Stellar Price Notes a Large Gain

As is always the case in the world of cryptocurrency, any positive price momentum will usually be followed by more bearish pressure. Whether or not this weekend and upcoming week will prove to be different, remains to be seen. Judging by the Stellar price right now, the positive momentum is materializing in somewhat spectacular fashion.

With a solid 15.57% gain over the past 24 hours, Stellar Is the best-performing top cryptocurrency as of right now. While other currencies not some gains as well, the Stellar price will be on a lot of people’s radar as of right now. While the value of $0.21 is nothing to sneeze at, it is still quite a long way removed from the all-time high.

It is also interesting to see how the Stellar price has gained nearly 10% on Bitcoin. This is always peculiar, especially as the Bitcoin price is rising. It seems altcoins can only note gains in this regard when Bitcoin is doing well. Even so, it positively influences the Stellar price, for the time being. Maintaining this Stellar price momentum is a completely different ordeal, though.

With just under $80m in 24-hour trading volume, the demand for Stellar is not necessarily all that great. Whether or not that is a positive development, remains to be seen, as this trading volume is pretty low when looking at the big picture. Then again, the overall cryptocurrency trading volume is still pretty low.

The way things look right now, Binance generates the most XLM trading volume. Its lead over Upbit is not all that big as people may think, though, but it’s still clearly visible. Poloniex completes the top three, which means there is only one fiat currency pair in the entire top three. Unfortunately, that is a KRW market, which has zero impact turn the rest of the world.

Whether or not the Stellar price momentum can remain bullish, is very difficult to predict. Considering how all currencies already show a minor retrace over the past few hours, it seems safe to say there is no reason to be overly happy just yet. Until the cryptocurrency market cap goes back over $300bn and stays there for a long period of time, we will not see any major growth whatsoever.

ZeroEdge.Bet Casino Launched Its Pre-ICO Round 2 and Offers 58% Bonus for a Very Limited Time!

March 27th, a unique blockchain based gambling platform Zerocoin.Bet is launching the second part of its Pre-ICO. The presale event will last until April 27th, 2018 or until the hard cap is reached which is set at only 1500 ETH. During the presale, investors will be able to purchase ZERO tokens with a 58% bonus

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March 27th, a unique blockchain based gambling platform Zerocoin.Bet is launching the second part of its Pre-ICO. The presale event will last until April 27th, 2018 or until the hard cap is reached which is set at only 1500 ETH. During the presale, investors will be able to purchase ZERO tokens with a 58% bonus for a very limited time.

ZERO token owners will be able to use it on the ZeroEdge.Bet platform to play 0% house edge games such as Blackjack, Video Poker and many others. ZERO tokens will also be used to place bets on the platform’s decentralized sports betting exchange which is expected to be launched in Q4 2018. Project’s development roadmap also includes a poker room and an open-source platform for building and operating your own customized games for which ZERO tokens will be required.

One thing that really makes ZeroEdge.Bet stand out from other gambling-related ICO’s is their team which has a strong background in the gambling/gaming industries. To supplement the team and make ZeroEdge.Bet a huge success, the advisory board consists of numerous well-known & accomplished professionals with an extensive knowledge and experience in their respective fields.

“We can see why other blockchain-based gambling projects haven’t really penetrated the market, so we want to come in well-prepared to be among the first to do this. We believe the experienced team and accomplished advisors are the key here,” said Adrian Casey, CEO of  Zerocoin.Bet

“Zero Edge offers a unique gambling model which potentially could revolutionize the $70 Billion gambling industry. Players won’t be losing money but instead earning from the increasing Zerocoin value. Our ultimate goal is to become a leading gambling platform in the online gambling industry where thousands of different games are played each day using Zerocoin and where players have the best chance of winning,” – added Adrian.

ZeroEdge.Bet – Revolutionary Online Gambling Platform with 0% House Edge Games

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Zerocoin.Bet 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 revolutionize 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 & experiences.  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 to this beneficial concept.

Zerocoins (ZERO) will be available to investors during an upcoming ICO. Visit  Zerocoin.Bet

The post ZeroEdge.Bet Casino Launched Its Pre-ICO Round 2 and Offers 58% Bonus for a Very Limited Time! appeared first on NewsBTC.

Longfin Hopped on the Blockchain Hype Bandwagon and Will Soon Get Delisted

TheMerkle Longfin Blockchain HypeIt has become apparent that virtually every publicly traded company wants to get involved in blockchain technology. Doing so seems to give company share prices a healthy boost, although not all of these decisions work out well in the end. In the case of Longfin, its stock price is plummeting, and it will be removed from the Russell 2000 and 3000 indices very soon. Longfin Takes a Gamble and Loses Truth be told, various companies have tried to make their blockchain plans public as a way to artificially increase their stock prices. For some companies, the decision has worked out, whereas others are struggling

TheMerkle Longfin Blockchain Hype

It has become apparent that virtually every publicly traded company wants to get involved in blockchain technology. Doing so seems to give company share prices a healthy boost, although not all of these decisions work out well in the end. In the case of Longfin, its stock price is plummeting, and it will be removed from the Russell 2000 and 3000 indices very soon.

Longfin Takes a Gamble and Loses

Truth be told, various companies have tried to make their blockchain plans public as a way to artificially increase their stock prices. For some companies, the decision has worked out, whereas others are struggling right now. The SEC will continue to look into companies exploring this option, though, as very few firms actually touch blockchain technology after making their plans clear.

For Longfin, the decision to acquire Ziddu certainly gave its stock price a healthy boost at first. For those who are unaware, Ziddu is a company which offers a marketplace solution for smart contracts. It sounds like it has a lot of potential, even though there is no real reason why such a firm should be acquired by Longfin. After all, the latter company has no intention of working with blockchains or any technology which stems from them.

As such, it is only normal that the hype associated with this particular decision died down pretty quickly as more and more investors began to realize that Longfin was not necessarily going to do anything with the smart contracts. However, that is only one of the concerns as of right now, as the company will also be removed from the Russell 2000 and 3000 indices, albeit for a completely different reason.

More specifically, FTSE Russell doesn’t take kindly to Longfin making under 5% of the company shares available to the public. As of right now, just 2.5% of the company’s shares are in circulation, which is a very small amount, all things considered. Failing to meet this minimum requirement of FTSE Russell more than warrants the company’s shares being delisted, even though it remains to be seen how that will affect the firm as a whole.

What makes this story even more intriguing is that Longfin seemingly decided to pull a fast one. More specifically, its IPO concluded two days prior to announcing the acquisition of Ziddu, which quickly pushed the company’s stock price from $5 to $73. Since that time, however, the prices have dropped back down to $17 and may continue to fall for some time to come.

Whether or not Longfin will make good on its blockchain plans remains to be seen. It seems highly unlikely they will do so, even though they still own Ziddu as of right now. Rest assured the SEC may want to look into this matter, although it remains to be seen if anything will come of it moving forward. Companies throwing the term “blockchain” around willy-nilly are certainly in the crosshairs.

Major Russian Bank Looks To Pilot Crypto Transactions In Switzerland

Gazprombank will start crypto transactions pilot in Switzerland following on heels of January announcement by Sberbank of opening a crypto exchange in that same country #NEWS

Gazprombank will start crypto transactions pilot in Switzerland following on heels of January announcement by Sberbank of opening a crypto exchange in that same country #NEWS

Next Brave Browser Update Enables Support for Popular Chrome Extensions

TheMerkle_Brave BrowserThe Brave browser has been a great tool to put cryptocurrency on the map. By removing annoying ads from the browsing experience, the software solution is certainly impressive. It seems Brave will soon become more compatible with existing Chrome extensions, although not all of them will be supported right away. A Massive Brave Update is Coming It has become evident there is a growing need for different browser experiences. As of right now, browsing the internet involves viewing a lot of advertisements, pop-ups, pop-unders, and so forth. For the average user, it is almost an assault on the eyeballs, and things

TheMerkle_Brave Browser

The Brave browser has been a great tool to put cryptocurrency on the map. By removing annoying ads from the browsing experience, the software solution is certainly impressive. It seems Brave will soon become more compatible with existing Chrome extensions, although not all of them will be supported right away.

A Massive Brave Update is Coming

It has become evident there is a growing need for different browser experiences. As of right now, browsing the internet involves viewing a lot of advertisements, pop-ups, pop-unders, and so forth. For the average user, it is almost an assault on the eyeballs, and things will need to vastly improve in this regard.

This is where the Brave browser comes into the picture. It tackles the browsing experience in a completely different way. Users get paid to watch ads and have the option to disable all advertisements altogether. As such, users can achieve greater browsing speeds and simply access the information they are looking for in a convenient manner.

Considering that Brave is based on the Chromium framework, a lot of people have been quick to identify similarities between the new browser and a very basic version of Chrome. It seems that connection will only become more obvious as time progresses. It is expected that the next major Brave browser update will include support for various popular Chrome browser plugins including BetterTTV, Pinterest, Grammarly, and Evernote.

While this list of to-be-supported extensions is still pretty small, it does show there is an interesting future ahead for Brave users and those who are looking for a better browsing experience overall. If this new browser can support some of the more popular Chrome extensions and plugins without breaking the ad-free experience, things will get very interesting. After all, most people stick to Chrome simply because of these convenient plugins.

Additionally, the new Brave browser update should make it easier for the team to include the latest Google security fixes. They even plan to increase the browser’s overall speed even further, which is something a lot of people will certainly appreciate. Many interesting changes are coming in this regard, by the look of things. While the team will sacrifice the browser’s custom user interface, it seems to be a trade-off they are willing to make.

When this new update will be released exactly remains to be determined. As of right now, there is no official release date set, but it should be sometime in the next few months. Whether or not the average consumer will suddenly give this browser a try over Chrome, Firefox, or Edge also remains to be seen. More competition in this space can only be considered a good thing; that much is evident.

A Lower Bitcoin Transaction Volume is a Sign of Maturity – newsBTC


newsBTC

A Lower Bitcoin Transaction Volume is a Sign of Maturity
newsBTC
This means people will see “fewer” transactions, but it’s a positive development overall. Batching leads to lower fees and faster confirmation, which is all anyone can ask for. Even, we are currently at the Bitcoin transaction level of October 2015. It

and more »


newsBTC

A Lower Bitcoin Transaction Volume is a Sign of Maturity
newsBTC
This means people will see “fewer” transactions, but it's a positive development overall. Batching leads to lower fees and faster confirmation, which is all anyone can ask for. Even, we are currently at the Bitcoin transaction level of October 2015. It ...

and more »