Day: April 2, 2018

Russia’s state-owned Gazprombank is reportedly looking into facilitating cryptocurrency transactions through a Swiss subsidiary.

In the world of cryptocurrency, regulation will always remain a contentious topic. To a lot of people, regulating this industry serves no purpose other than to prevent innovation from happening. Others see it as a way to pave a more legitimate ecosystem. In Kazakhstan, it appears the country’s national bank wants to ensure that all cryptocurrency activity is forbidden in the future.

Kazakhstan National Bank Refutes Bitcoin

Anyone who has paid close attention to the various countries trying to regulate Bitcoin and altcoins may have noticed that a negative attitude still reigns supreme. For some reason, a lot of officials have not taken too kindly to cryptocurrencies, and it seems that sentiment will eventually herald some regulatory changes with which most people will not be too pleased.

If the National Bank of Kazakhstan is to be believed, the country will prohibit all use of cryptocurrency. More specifically, the National Bank wants to ban the exchange, use, and trade of cryptocurrency in the near future. It is quite interesting to note that the concept of mining cryptocurrency is not mentioned, although it seems that activity will not be allowed either.

Kazakhstan’s national bank chairman Daniyar Akishev claims:

In Kazakhstan, the National Bank is taking very conservative approach toward the matter, and it welcomes nothing but extremely tough restrictions. Therefore, we want to ban the exchange of digital currencies for the national currency. We want to prohibit the stock exchange’s activities in this area.

Enforcing this new rule will not be easy by any means. It is certainly true the use of cryptocurrencies brings forth a whole new set of issues and risks. The unwillingness to do something constructive about these challenges speaks volumes. Other countries seemingly have no problems addressing cryptocurrency in a mature and professional manner.

Kazakhstan is setting a very troublesome precedent in this light, assuming its approach is turned into law eventually. For the time being, the National Bank seems to be alone in its extremely aggressive stance toward Bitcoin and similar currencies. Even central banks can’t control cryptocurrencies, for obvious reasons.

For the time being, we will have to wait and see how this situation evolves. It is understandable that Kazakhstan’s national bank doesn’t take kindly to exchanges between cryptocurrency and the national currency. China doesn’t either, and it suspended all CNY trading until further notice. A similar measure may very well be introduced in Kazakhstan in the future. Even so, consumers will quickly find a way to bypass these artificial walls.

Bitcoin Foundation co-founder Jon Matonis shared his views on central banks, the “post-legal-tender age”, regulators, and initial coin offerings.

We’re Entering a Post-Legal-Tender Age, Says Bitcoin Foundation Co-Founder Jon Matonis

Jon Matonis, a Founding Director of the Bitcoin Foundation, has argued that it is not the cryptocurrency market that is in a bubble. Instead, it is the bond and stock markets that are being artificially inflated by central banks worldwide.

“To the people who say bitcoin’s a bubble, I would say bitcoin is the pin that’s going to pop the bubble. The bubble is the insane bond markets and the fake equity markets that are propped up by the central banks. Those are the bubbles”, Matonis told Business Insider at the Innovate Finance conference in London.

Responding to critics who say that Bitcoin has more than halved its value in 2018 because the cryptocurrency bubble is now bursting, Jon Matonis countered that we are at the beginning of the end of the fiat era as we’re entering a “post-legal-tender age”. This new era, powered by decentralized cryptocurrencies, “isn’t driven by central banks.”

“Hard-coded into the original block zero, genesis block, of bitcoin was a headline from The Times of London saying, ‘Chancellor on the brink of second bailout for banks. All they’re doing is papering over the bulls’ infrastructure. That headline epitomizes what bitcoin is about — that’s why it was hard-coded in there”, Matonis added.

The monetary economist has held senior roles at major companies such as VISA International, VeriSign, Sumitomo Bank, and Hushmail. When it comes to big banks joining the cryptocurrency movement, such as Goldman Sachs, Matonis is cheerful because it brings in new liquidity, and it may help “mature the market” and reduce volatility: “They’re going to develop futures markets, options markets — I even think you’re going to start to see interest-rate markets around bitcoin. We’re used to hearing things about Libor, the index for bitcoin interest rates is Bibor.”

Matonis also told Business Insider that the cryptocurrency market should not be regulated: “I think we should operate in an environment of caveat emptor: Let the buyer do his research. This hopefully has forced a lot of investors to do more research. No one is forcing them to invest in ICOs. If you’re worried about the risk, just walk away.” In his view, regulators all over the world are confused as they are “used to fundraising models that involve selling debt or selling equity”.

As bitcoin becomes a “third model for a startup to raise funds”, Matonis explained that startups issue utility tokens that don’t represent equity nor debt. The entirely new model, that “doesn’t fit in any of the regulator’s boxes”, represents a “negotiable claim on the success of the token, which is in effect, hopefully, linked to the success of the company.”

The Bitcoin Foundation was founded in 2012 to help make the cryptocurrency a globally accepted method of exchanging and storing value without third parties. However, it has also been subject to controversy and a lack of coordination when trying to achieve its goals.

The post Bitcoin Will be the Pin That Pops Cryptocurrency Bubble, Says Bitcoin Foundation Co-Founder appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitpay has raised $40 million in a traditional funding round led by Aquiline Technology Growth.

Decentralized Virtual Reality (VR) content publishing platform, ImmVRse, has announced a strategic partnership with innovative sharing marketplace platform, Origin Protocol. The partnership will enable ImmVRse to synergize with Origin’s engineering team for the development of its autonomous platform. By building on Origin, ImmVRse will enable content creators to easily create and manage fractional usage of assets and services, and directly exchange values and services with the global community. Users and creators will also be able to secure their unique assets and will have total control over the monetization ability of their creations, offering benefits to a largely unbanked global population.

Speaking about the partnership, Coleman Maer of Origin Protocol, stated that the company is excited to support decentralized marketplaces offering a variety of goods and services. ImmVRse’s virtual reality content marketplace is an exciting proposition for Origin Protocol. The company are looking forward to seeing the different types of marketplaces and applications that will utilize Origin Protocol technology.

A Protocol for an Exciting, New Origin

San Francisco-based Origin Protocol harnesses the power of the blockchain to create a one-of-its-kind sharing economy without intermediaries. The platform empowers businesses and developers to connect to a decentralized ecosystem where they can exchange values and redistribute the control of information to their user base.

Origin Protocol aims to build the sharing economy of tomorrow based on Ethereum blockchain and Interplanetary File System (IPFS). The decentralized app (DApp) is a consumer-focused marketplace product enabling buyers and sellers on the network to engage each other, provided the users have verified their identities when required.

Sellers will be able to list and put up their offering, set availability, and instantaneously accept payment. Buyers search and connect to services through a fully indexed list of all marketplace offering through the robust and full-featured app, code, and protocols. Origin Protocol is backed by renowned capital investment company Pantera Capital.

Redefining Visual Content Interaction and Distribution

ImmVRse is developing the world’s largest decentralised creative platform for VR content. Backed by a World-Class team and leading advisory board, the platform is an inclusive environment for content creators all over the world to showcase their talents, offer their services, and connect with brands and advertisers. Every interaction on the platform is backed by smart contracts and every transaction is settled on the blockchain.

The distributed and cryptographically secure platform encrypts sensitive user data, and index information on decentralised nodes using Interplanetary File System (IPFS) gateway developed by Origin Protocol’s open-sourced platform.

ImmVRse’s partnership with Origin Protocol not only cuts down the development circle drastically but also enables them to maximise the potentials of the blockchain’s as expounded upon.

Farabi Shayor, Co-founder and CEO of ImmVRse believes that the partnership with Origin Protocol offers numerous opportunities to integrate the company’s vision of creating a content driven platform for the VR industry. Through collaboration, ImmVRse can enter the market sooner than forecasted and we look forward to creating a longstanding mutual strategic partnership.

The post ImmVRse Enters Strategic Partnership with Origin Protocol for Platform Development appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Various companies are taking a harsh stance against cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. This is not entirely surprising, as these new industries have attracted a lot of attention. They are also subject to a lot of speculation, hype and illicit behavior, unfortunately. All of these factors have forced MailChimp to make a difficult decision.

MailChimp Clamps Down on Cryptocurrencies

In a rather unsurprising turn of events, MailChimp has taken a very strong stand against cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Given the fact that Google, Facebook, and Twitter have taken a similar approach in recent weeks, it is evident things are not looking good for the crypto and blockchain industry as of right now. Add to that the declining prices, and we may be in for a very rough ride in the coming months.

According to MailChimp, the company no longer wants anything to do with blockchain technology and initial coin offerings. The latter point is anything but surprising, as a lot of malicious ICOs use services such as MailChimp to mask their identities and market their illicit offerings. It is evident something needs to be done in this regard, although this decision may very well backfire on MailChimp in the future. The company explained its decision as follows:

The promotion and exchange of cryptocurrencies is too frequently associated with scams, fraud, phishing, and potentially misleading business practices at this time. It’s important to note that this update to our policy does not prevent the discussion of related topics in messages sent through our platform. For example, journalists and publications may send cryptocurrency-related information as long as they’re not involved in the production, sale, exchange, storage, or marketing of cryptocurrencies.

One of the bigger concerns regarding this development is the way in which MailChimp will enforce this rule. As of right now, there is a major lack of transparency regarding the methods to be used by this email service provider. There is a big difference between emails related to blockchain and cryptocurrency news and scam ICO messages. An algorithm probably can’t distinguish between the two, and humans are prone to error and bias.

It is evident the company will need to make things a bit clearer in this regard. While this decision is extremely unfortunate, the tech sector continues to take a growing dislike toward cryptocurrency and blockchain tech. That situation may not change for quite some time, as both of these areas present major competition and hurdles for the technology industry as a whole. It also shows why ICOs remain a very treacherous business model.

The bigger question is whether or not other tech companies and service providers will follow the example set by MailChimp. This negative stance toward these new technologies can be considered a new form of censorship. That is something companies should avoid at all times, even though it seems most firms aren’t too concerned about any repercussions in this regard.

A U.S. map showing the most popular items bought by state during the 2017-2018 holiday season has taken people by surprise with Nevada’s favorite holiday product being the Ledger Nano, a cryptocurrency hardware wallet.

Ledger Nano Is Most Popular Holiday Gift in Nevada, U.S.

Earny, a personal assistant app who automatically “gets you money back on almost every item you buy”, published a post about holiday shopping season consumer spending across the U.S. and how online shopping is at all-time highs.

A recent Pew Study highlights an increase in online shopping and reveals that 79% of Americans shop online today – a huge increase from the 22% reported in 2000. Thankfully, brands such as Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Zappos and many more have made shopping online magical with just a click of a button.

Earny analyzed over 100 million purchases between November 1st, 2017 and February 1st, 2018, to identify the top-selling items in every state. Nevada was the biggest surprise and proved how mainstream cryptocurrencies and hardware wallets have become.

“Residents of Nevada were on the BitCoin bandwagon buying cryptocurrency wallets”, according to the post that used specific metrics to reach those results: “All 100 million purchases used for our holiday state insights were protected through Earny’s app”.

Cryptocurrency hardware wallets are in huge demand and usually have a waiting period of a month or two. Software and desktop wallets are enough for many investors storing their coins, but hardware wallets offer greater security and allow for day to day transactions. Long-term investors and ‘HODL’ usually find the hardware option interesting.

Cryptocurrency exchanges technically tend to be online bitcoin wallets, aka hot wallets, but they usually charge fees to discourage traders from using them as such. There are, however, bitcoin wallet websites that create unique cold wallets, which are offline, and provide customers with a private and public key.

Hardware wallets are easy to use and their security features are convincing for many, as they are not affected by malware, and the private keys are usually stored and used in a protected area of a microcontroller. This does not mean that it is impossible to hack. Recently, British teenager Saleem Rashid found a vulnerability that allows a hacker to drain a wallet of funds with code that gives backdoor access to the Ledger Nano S.

As the cryptocurrency industry continues to emerge and enjoy greater funding and mass media exposure, it will no longer be a surprise to see crypto-related items on the ‘Santa’s List’.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock

The post Ledger Nano: Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallet Was Nevada’s Most Popular Holiday Product appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin has gained back the $200 it lost yesterday. At press time, the currency is trading for just under $7,100. Nothing huge, but that’s still better than yesterday’s “high” of $6,900.

The major sentiment is that the alleged death cross has failed; bitcoin’s level of resistance has strengthened, and the low points are possibly over and done with. One source suggests that bitcoin’s ongoing slumps may finally be at an end, and recovery is on the way.

Additionally, while the price has shown major vulnerabilities to newfound market trends and news stories, trading and popularity amongst cryptocurrencies in major hubs like Japan and South Korea are remaining strong. Always a good sign, especially as Japan’s behavior has a way of making its way to other regions of the globe and influencing the monetary trends of neighboring countries.

Other analysts, however, are gloomy in their predictions. Tone Vays of “Bitcoin Morning Brief,” for example, explained that investors can expect bitcoin to potentially hit the $7,800 mark this week – not bad considering where it’s been hovering lately, though he later commented that enthusiasts are looking at the “real” $4,900 floor that bitcoin could hit soon after. He states that once bitcoin falls below $6,800, users can expect further declines into the $4,000 range before any recovery is witnessed.

He suggests the current rise bitcoin is exhibiting is something of a fluke, and only likely to last about four days. We’ll simply have to sit back and watch…

Vays isn’t alone in his sentiment, unfortunately. One figure, Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, believes bitcoin could fall as low as $100 within the next ten years, and that bitcoin will amount to nothing other than a failed asset.

Rogoff has always been particularly bearish when it comes to bitcoin, and for the most part, he seems to be basing his theory on the idea that bitcoin has been in a continual slump since January. He should know that this is not enough to boost any hypothesis, and that there’s more to look at for determining exactly what enthusiasts should expect within the following decade.

The author of the original source material suggests Rogoff is incorrect, and that the future of bitcoin is looking “pretty good.” For one thing, bitcoin and cryptocurrency demand has not fallen with the prices. It remains in high demand, and continues to stem growing interest and further technological ventures.

Furthermore, the “bitcoin dominance index” is also on the rise, along with the trading volume of bitcoin futures contracts. Sure, it’s likely we’ll see little snafus here and there (the customers of Hong Kong exchange OKEX are probably licking their wounds right about now), but that doesn’t mean the outcome will be bleak. All it suggests is that the technology is changing and adapting. Thus, things aren’t likely to always go according to plan, but over time, kinks are typically removed from the final chain, and investors can take some time to relax.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang also spoke highly of bitcoin’s progress in the last 24 hours, which means we can probably look forward to further price bursts before the currency is knocked down again.

Seoul Mayor, Park Won-Soon, has announced plans to continue to develop the use of blockchain technology in the South Korean capital.

This renewal of interest in the technology comes after South Korea’s official announcement earlier this year that there would be no ban on cryptocurrency in the East Asian country. The original declaration by the South Korean ministry of justice that it proposed to ban cryptocurrency caused a massive backlash against the government.  This caused the ministry of strategy and finance and other members of the cryptocurrency task force to refute the announcement.

Park indicated that he would work towards establishing an institutional framework for the creation of Seoul’s own digital currency which would be known as S Coin and said he was committed to addressing the current views of the South Korean government. He expressed his concerns over recent government activities regarding the use of cryptocurrency trading in his country, suggesting that with evidence of success further development would then follow:

“the people protested strongly over against the Ministry of Justices plan to ban cryptocurrency trading…The role of provincial and regional governments… is to apply technology first and demonstrate progress to the central government…”

Mayor Park stated that adopting blockchain technology would represent great prospects and economic benefits for the people of Seoul and envisaged savings on utilities such as electricity, water, and gas. He also suggested that this would also benefit the young unemployed.

Local South Korean news source Hani state that Seoul’s blockchain planning is scheduled for completion this month. At the end of last year, Hani reported that the Seoul metropolitan government would be collaborating with Samsung SDS regarding the development of a blockchain information strategy plan for the capital.

Park moves ahead with these plans with a positive outlook for the South Korean capital, suggesting that Blockchain technology represents a way of powering “most of Seoul’s government activities” in the future.

The post Seoul Mayor Pushes Ahead With Blockchain appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

The South Korean city of Seoul is developing the ‘S-Coin,’ a cryptocurrency that could be used in social benefits programs.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Even though any sort of cryptocurrency-related announcement made on April 1 needs to be taken with a grain of salt, not everything can be dismissed easily. According to GitHub, Vitalik Buterin is actively contemplating limiting the Ethereum coin supply at some point. That would be an intriguing development that a lot of community members have been asking for.

The Ethereum Supply Cap is in Question

As of right now, Ethereum still does not have a maximum supply of coins. While this has been somewhat of a problem in the past, it seems most people have stopped caring about it much. With the inevitable switch to proof-of-stake at some point in the near future, an inflationary Ethereum ecosystem may not necessarily be a bad thing, all things considered.

Even so, there is an interesting discussion taking place on GitHub right now. Surprisingly, it was started by Vitalik Buterin himself, who is seemingly interested in capping the maximum Ethereum supply in the near future. Doing so will certainly require some big changes in the code, although it remains to be seen if this change will ever go into effect.

According to the proposal, the supply may need to be capped at 120 million ETH, though this number may still be subject to change in the near future. It is a very interesting number regardless, and it would make it somewhat easier to plan.

With a current Ethereum supply of just over 98.5 million ETH, it seems such a hard cap will be met quite quickly. It would also mean the total supply would be capped at twice the number of tokens sold during the initial sale of Ether. It is uncanny how far this currency has come in the past few years, and how things may evolve in the near future. A hard cap for Ethereum would certainly introduce some big changes which have both advantages and drawbacks.

The big question is whether or not this proposal should be taken seriously. Given the rather strange timing of sharing this information, it is only normal that a lot of people think of it as an April Fool’s joke. Even so, the topic of introducing an Ethereum hard cap is something the developers may want to explore regardless. Especially with the upcoming switch to PoS, rewards will decrease significantly and initializing an “end point” seems more than warranted.

It will be quite interesting to see how this development plays out. Introducing an Ethereum hard supply cap seems to be counterproductive in light of what Buterin envisioned when Ethereum was first created. At the same time, a cap would become a sign of network maturity that the general public could understand.