Day: April 3, 2018

Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, which suffered a major hack early this year, may soon be under new management, reports say.

April 15 marks the end of the ICO of the Native Video Box project – a platform for promoting video clips based on modern deep machine learning and multi-tier blockchain technologies. Alexander Shishow, founder and CEO, tells us how to make money on video advertising without annoying the user, how NVB differs from YouTube and other traditional content hubs, and why video chosen to match the topic of the site rather than the specific user is now more effective.

Q: There are a huge number of projects on the video advertising market today, every one of which is trying to somehow be better than their competitors. Can you tell me in brief how you plan to conquer this market? What’s your platform all about?

A: Native Video Box is a service for situational video recommendations. We provide websites and mobile apps with a widget with several licensed videos, which are selected automatically to match the contents of the site, and which are perceived by users not as advertising but as the site’s own content. Our project also ensures the monetization of views of these clips thanks to the insertion of video ads in them.

Q: Can you give us an example of how this would work in practice?

A: Say someone has made a great video about how to bake a cake, or on travel, or on home renovations. Thanks to our platform, their content will automatically appear on sites related to the topic. In effect, we work as distributed media.

Q: How does the process of selecting clips for a specific site work, technically?

A: To start with, our block is installed on the site, which takes on the style of the website. Then our artificial intelligence algorithms go to work: they analyze the text content of the site, determine what its main topics and sub-topics are. Our platform then automatically selects clips from its own video content storage and offers them up when users view the page, first analyzing in a fraction of a second the user’s interests and the most popular queries.

Q: Why did you choose the video advertising market specifically? What is it that appealed to you?

A: I’ll just give you a few figures, and everything will be clear. Right now, video accounts for up to 80% of all Internet traffic. In 10 years the amount of video content on the Internet has grown by a factor of 42, and the capitalization of this market is more than $13 billion. Forecasts are this growth will continue.

Q: Those figures are impressive, sure, but there’s another side to the coin…

A: You mean competition?

Q: Exactly. A trend like that is bound to create serious competition that only the strongest and most high-tech companies can withstand. Is there a place here for startups like yours?

A: I have no doubt at all that there is. Why? Because we’re doing it in a way that our clips fit organically into the idea behind the site and don’t annoy people with intrusive advertising. Users will see ads only when they deliberately click on our videos. Thanks to our machine learning system and artificial intelligence, we select our videos to suit each specific site based on the site’s content, and not to suit the user. This is the main way we differ from traditional video hosting services.

Q: Is that a hint at YouTube?

A: Among others, yes.

Q: But YouTube is the largest video site on the planet, with a colossal audience. Anyone who wants to work with video goes there first. Isn’t that right? And if that’s the case, why does the market need you?

A: First of all, when placing video on Internet sites YouTube does not provide automatic selection of the right content for each site; you can only do that manually. Secondly, we allow both sites that are connected to us and content producers to make money, which ensures more monetization of content. YouTube and other sites like it are focused first and foremost on their own earnings.

Q: That’s all quite logical and understandable, but no one’s going to believe you if you say you’re working on the idea and not looking to earn money, are they?

A: Absolutely right, but we take a somewhat different approach.

Q: Which is?

A: We provide websites with high-quality, relevant video content, something they haven’t had before. Content like that makes a website more attractive to visitors, which extends the amount of time they spend on the site. Especially when they watch videos, users don’t go anywhere – our widgets are built into the site. In turn, the longer visit time on the site brings in an additional audience. In addition, the benefit to the site is that it pays nothing for the creation of high-quality video content, but at the same time, it earns money by having these videos on the site.

Q: Why is that?

A: By inserting hidden or not-so-hidden ads of another good or service in these videos. Everyone got used to product placement in television and in movies a long time ago. We do virtually the same thing, only on the Internet. In the end, all our clients come out ahead. They don’t get some lame ad whacking them across the head; instead, they get related materials on a completely different level. Plus, a greater number of views of the video, a bigger audience, and an acceptable price for services and high-quality click conversion.

Q: Your clients are completely different players in the video market: the websites that feature the videos, content producers, and advertisers. How do you distribute the profit from showing ads among them?

A: They are divided as 60% for the publisher, 25% platform fee and 15% goes to the content creator, respectively. All relations are governed using a smart contract.

Q: So, all the income from the advertising goes to your clients. In this case, how does your platform earn its money?

A: At the first stage, from the sale of video advertising using software platforms or RTB auctions (Real Time Bidding, an online advertising technology that works like an auction for advertising spots in real time – ed.). Later, we also plan to place native promo clips of various brands and to insert fragments in a sports video dedicated to the producers of sports equipment, in a video about travel – stories by travel bloggers about how to save on flights etc. In addition, with each showing of a video, we will receive a certain amount as a service fee.

Q: So how many sites have already signed on to your platform? What kind of figures are you planning on seeing in the near future?

A: In May 2018 about a thousand sites will be connected, which will provide about 120 million advertising views. Then in August sites in Europe and the UK will join us – that’s another 3,000 sites. In February 2019 there will be another 6,000 sites in Latin America. By 2019 we plan to hit 12,000 sites and 1 billion advertising views.

Q: And all these sites are ready to take your video right now?

A: Yes, they are.

Q: Can you explain what NVB needs blockchain for, and how you’ve integrated it into the project?

A: First of all, to work in a multi-currency environment and conduct internal settlements using tokens all over the world. This frees us from possible restrictions on financial transactions in various countries and cuts our transaction cost by a substantial amount – up to 30%.

Secondly, to reduce our financial and technical expenses. Thanks to blockchain the cost of settlements is dropping fast, and we don’t need to incur additional expenses on paperwork, which makes it possible to seriously cut our expenditures.

Thirdly, to put the cost of showing ads in writing, in smart contracts.

And, finally, blockchain gives our platform 100% transparency for the performance of various operations.

Q: How so?

A: For example, we are physically unable to unilaterally change the terms of distributing bonuses for video views. This means that the money of our advertisers, sites, and content owners will be completely secure.

Q: And this is written into smart contracts?

A: Yes. Our entire monetization system will be written into smart contracts, and the smart contracts, in turn, are available on GitHub (a major web service for hosting IT projects and their joint development – ed.). Their structure is open and transparent, and anyone who wants can take a look and see what’s written in them and how.

Q: Are you not planning to also write in the blockchain the number of times the video has been shown?

A: Yes, eventually we want to do so, in order to prevent once and for all any opportunities for fraud on the part of platform participants.

Q: What countries are you working with now, and what national markets are the project-oriented to in general?

A: First and foremost, we’re interested in the international English-speaking market – Europe, America, parts of Asia. Later, we plan to turn to countries that speak other European and Asian languages.

Q: How far along towards completion is your platform?

A: Its most important functions are all but fully implemented. Our site has six demo-versions of how it works with specific sites: there’s a preview of our projects on the Internet, demonstrating how video is shown using our widgets… In effect, it’s a full-fledged presentation of our work for potential clients.

Q: How long did it take you to create the NVB platform?

A: We began to develop the project in 2016, made the prototype, and in less than half a year it had already begun to earn its keep on the local market. We spent more than two years refining the platform – for example, over the past year we’ve worked to improve the machine learning algorithms, which are the core of the service.

Q: Your ICO finishes on April 15. Why do you need it? What do you plan to do with the money collected, and what are your current business objectives?

A: We have some very serious plans for the future. We need the money for marketing. We plan to develop the network itself, as well as technologies for targeting and delivering video and working with advertising. We’ll attract and promote new platforms with higher quality content, which are ready to host video clips. Our plans also include developing the network of video publishers and producers: we want to create a community for those who make video content. This will be our unique, distributed video hosting service. We’re also contributing to the development of algorithms for video selection and content recommendations, and to the development of technological infrastructure – in particular, a decentralized storage facility and multi-tier blockchain.

Q: How many people do you have on your team?

A: Right now, there’s a couple of dozen people working on the project.

Q: What kind of people are they?

A: They’re seasoned managers and specialists, with diverse, relevant experience in fintech and blockchain. For example, one of our team leaders is Andrey Smirnov, who has huge experience developing servers, external interfaces, and databases, and who also has knowledge of machine learning. Our business development manager, Paul Vasin, developed an advertising network and technology for Begun – the first contextual advertising service in Russia. Our senior developer Andrey Tsvetkov really knows his way around video advertising technologies VAST/VPAID, RTB open auctions, and advertising software like Weborama and Buzzoola. Dmitry Solodkiy is an expert in processing analytical data and is one of the pioneers of the blockchain, with an economics degree from the University of Bonn. Anton Noginov is a pro at constructing high-load systems, cryptographic algorithms, blockchain development, and the implementation of smart contracts. Peter Kozyakov and Alexander Vasilev are first-class specialists in fintech.

Q: You forgot to talk about yourself.

A: I’ve been working in ad tech for many years, and I’ve worked on projects using machine learning, including at companies like the Mirax Group and Creative Mob. I also launched the Botscanner project, an automated traffic quality control system.

Q: Who are your advisers?

A: We have several highly respected advisers: Gabriel Zanko, Andrew Playford, Mike Raitsyn, Julian Zegelman, and Yaacov Bitton. We are also being advised by Alexander Miheev, managing director of GOSU Data Lab and former CEO of MGID.

Q: You already mentioned that the video content market is extraordinarily promising and has a colossal growth potential. What place in this market is Native Video Box going to hold a few years from now? Are you making plans in this respect?

A: We plan on taking only a small part of it – a few percent, all in all. However, if you translate these percentages into money, that’s already hundreds of millions of dollars in profit.

Q: Could you be a bit more specific?

A: Our goal is to reach a turnover of $88 million in the first year, and to pay out up to $66 million to content owners and sites. We have deliberately decided not to put all our company’s income exclusively to paying out profits or to the growth of our own capitalization without any specific goals. The reason our project exists is to provide a convenient service to all interested parties and to direct income to its development and increase its ease of use.

The post Alexander Shishow: “We’ll Make Sure Our Clips Fit Organically into the Site and Won’t Annoy People with Intrusive Advertising” appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin’s recovery is gathering pace, but only an upside break of the falling channel would confirm a bullish trend reversal

The volatility of crypto markets is often exacerbated by social media and the nature of unregulated publishing on a grand scale. When cryptocurrencies started to explode in 2017 pumps and dumps were commonplace, occasionally initiated by a shill on a social platform. Altcoin markets have calmed down a little now and common trends seem to be affecting them all, however, marketing crypto is still big business for some.

The McAfee Effect

Self-styled crypto warlord John McAfee has revealed on his own website on a page called “The McAfee Effect” that he charges $105,000 for crypto tweets promoting an ICO or altcoin. Last week the new crypto team wrote a guide on how their promotional tweets work. McAfee went on to say;

“It’s self-aggrandizing and ego stroking for us, however, if you’re planning an ICO, trying to boost a coin or want to shine a light on your latest project, you should overlook our swollen egos and see,”

As reported by The Verge, tweets can sway price action on some cryptocurrencies and there were a number of noteworthy examples last year including Burst coin which reportedly jumped 350% on the shill.

Last month McAfee held an impromptu survey of the crypto community and his 800,000 plus followers on Twitter. Over 50,000 responses were given to a series of questions on cryptocurrencies and the team is now using this data to promote their new services with the additional claim that “John McAfee’s tweets are by far the most influential in the field of cryptocurrency.”

The site goes on to state that promotional material is created by their team of professional writers but over 90% of all companies wanting to buy these services are turned down;

“The reason is that only products and services that Mr. McAfee truly believes in will be promoted. These are products or services that Mr. McAfee has personally purchased or used and is pleased enough with to engage in promotions,”

Additionally the exorbitant price is further broken down to just $0.13 per “investor” when considering his own followers. Maybe another survey on how many people have invested into something from reading a tweet or social media post would produce an interesting set of results.

Either way, the crypto sphere certainly has some colourful characters, of which McAfee is one. New and unconventional methods of marketing seem to be appealing to those wanting to get on the blockchain train.

Image From Shutterstock

The post Crypto Pundit McAfee’s $100k Tweets are Big Business appeared first on NewsBTC.

It is rather strange to see all cryptocurrency markets in the green as of right now. Given the negative market sentiment throughout the past few weeks, it has become evident there may not be any major gains on the horizon. Even so, all markets are recovering slowly. With the Bitcoin price heading to $7.500 again, things will undoubtedly get very interesting.

The Bitcoin Price is Gaining

Everyone should be aware of how the Bitcoin value determines all prices in the world of cryptocurrency. If the Bitcoin price drops, all altcoins will suffer. When the Bitcoin value goes up, altcoins will benefit as well, albeit usually in less spectacular fashion. As such, the market needs a healthy Bitcoin price increase before all of the cryptocurrencies can effectively see a proper bullish trend.

Even so, the Bitcoin price is currently heading in the right direction. With a small push, one might even see a value of $7,500 again later today. This is in stark contrast to the Bitcoin price of nearly $6,400 just a few days ago. Industry experts know this bearish trend is only temporary and the market will reverse course eventually. Whether or not this is happening already, is difficult to predict at this point.

Thanks to this solid 4.99% gain over the past 24 hours, things are looking up for the Bitcoin price for the first time in a while. Albeit this may only be a temporary reprieve before the bears take control again, it may also herald a more positive trend for cryptocurrency in general. There is no specific reason as to why the Bitcoin price would remain below $7,00 other than through sheer market manipulation.

It appears the Bitcoin trading volume is also picking up once again. With $5bn worth of trades in the past 24 hours, the demand for Bitcoin has not diminished by any means. However, this is still a long way removed from the Bitcoin trading volume people saw in late 2017. It is possible such high trading volume materializes again at some point, but for now, it remains unknown how things will play out.

The market is dominated by Bitfinex, which still generates most of the trading volume. Its lead over OKEx has shrunk a tiny bit, though, and Binance is not all that far behind either. What is rather unusual is how there is only one South Korean exchange in the top five. Bithumb barely makes the top ten, which seems to indicate that market is still on the fence as far as BTC is concerned.

How all of this will play out in the near future, remains to be determined. It is evident people have grown tired of the ongoing Bitcoin price decline, but the market can negative this positive trend quick quickly. All gains need to be taken in stride, though, and speculators simply have to hope this is the positive development people have been waiting for throughout most of 2018.

Australia’s cryptocurrency exchanges must now follow new rules aimed to counter money laundering and terrorism financing.

Monex in Talks to Buy Hacked Exchange Coincheck

“It is true that we have been considering the acquisition of the cryptocurrency firm mentioned in the report today but have not made any decision yet,” the statement said.

Following the heist, Coincheck has been under pressure of Japan’s Financial Services Agency, who has ordered the exchange to enhance security and implement anti-money laundering (AML) measures. Coincheck promised to refund all the 523 million NEM tokens stolen from customers. There is evidence that up to $80 million of the stolen NEM tokens have been laundered through exchanges.

The deal worth several billion yen may confirm Coincheck’s need for capital ever since the January incident and the refunds. For the agreement to take place, Monex and Coincheck need approval from shareholders and Japan’s financial watchdog FSA. Once with the majority stake, Monex will appoint the new president and other executives for Coincheck. The founding president Koichiro Wada and chief operating officer Yusuke Otsuka are expected to step down.

It is known that Monex has been looking for an opportunity to enter the cryptocurrency exchange business for quite some time. The Coincheck heist, however, led to an even tighter situation with the regulatory authorities which may limit the entry of new players. By acquiring Coincheck, Monex Group would be able to enter the market directly and build on the exchange’s client base.

Monex Group confirmed it is in talks with Coincheck and analyzing the deal for the takeover, but decisions have been made yet.

The post Tokyo Trading Broker Monex Interested in Acquiring Coincheck appeared first on NewsBTC.

The lightning network is under attack. But it’s not money attackers are after, they say, but a robust, secure lightning network for the future.

Various countries around the world are contemplating issuing their own virtual currency. Most of these plans are put on ice, for the time being. Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, is taking a different approach. According to mayor Park Won-soon, the creation of the S-Coin is imminent.

The Concept of S-Coin

When a city decides to issue its own “native currency”, there are a lot of questions waiting to be answered. In the case of S-Coin, the currency will be used for various concepts throughout Seoul. First of all, the new coin will be used to pay for public transportation. It is also a payment method for city-funded programs and environmental improvements.

This draws some similarities to how Bitcoin is used in Zug. Even so, S-Coin will be controlled by the city council of Seoul, rather than being a decentralized cryptocurrency. Technical specifications of S-Coin remain difficult to come by as of right now. It remains unclear which blockchain will be used to issue this currency or how high the total supply will be.

Local sources report S-Coin will be introduced at some point in April of 2018. The upcoming launch of this currency will undoubtedly attract  a lot of attention. In conjunction with S-Coin, the city of Seoul also wants to set up a fund to support local blockchain projects. This increased focus on newer technologies appears to be of great interest to mayor Won-soon as well.

Is There an Impact on Bitcoin?

Given South Korea’s importance in the world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, the launch of S-Coin is rather intriguing. These currencies will not be competing with one another by the look of things. S-Coin is limited in functionality to Seoul, whereas Bitcoin use spans South Korea in its entirety. Both forms of value can easily co-exist in the capital city.

All of this further confirms South Korea is preparing for positive cryptocurrency and blockchain regulation. With the government leaning toward introducing a new taxation framework for these currencies, Bitcoin and altcoins continue to gain legitimacy. These new taxation guidelines will go into effect in June of 2018.

It is not the first time a city decides to issue its own native currency. In the UK, the city of Hull recently launched HullCoin. It seems this concepts is gaining more and more traction, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Initiatives like these help people get more acquainted with the concept of digital currencies. In the long run, it may very well pave the way for greater global cryptocurrency adoption.

Image From Shutterstock

The post Seoul Prepares Local Population for Digital Currencies by Launching S-Coin appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Highlights

• Ethereum classic price started a nice upside reaction after trading as low as $13.02 against the US dollar.
• There was a break above a key bearish trend line with resistance at $14.20 on the hourly chart of the ETC/USD pair (Data feed via Kraken).
• The pair is gaining momentum, but it is currently facing a major hurdle near $15.00.

Ethereum classic price started an upside correction against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETC/USD must clear the $15.00 resistance for more gains.

Ethereum Classic Price Resistance

There were further losses this past week from $16.00 in ETC price against the US dollar. The ETC/USD pair traded lower and even failed to hold the $15.00 support. It traded towards the $13.00 handle and formed a low at $13.02. Later, the price formed a support base and started an upside move from $13.02. It traded higher and broke the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $17.15 high to $13.02 low.

More importantly, there was a break above a key bearish trend line with resistance at $14.20 on the hourly chart of the ETC/USD pair. The pair is now placed nicely above the $14.00 level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. However, it is facing a major hurdle near the $15.00 level. The stated $15.00 level was a support earlier and now it is stopping upsides. It also coincides with the 50% Fib retracement level of the last drop from the $17.15 high to $13.02 low.

Therefore, a break and close above the $15.00 level is must for more gains in the near term. On the downside, the broken support near the $14.00 level may act as a support along with the 100 hourly SMA.

Hourly MACD – The MACD for ETC/USD is moving higher in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI for ETC/USD is currently well above the 60 level.

Major Support Level – $14.00

Major Resistance Level – $15.00

Charts courtesy – Trading View

The post Ethereum Classic Price Technical Analysis – Can ETC/USD Break $15? appeared first on NewsBTC.