Day: April 4, 2018

Alibaba sues a Dubai ICO that “intentionally misleading[ly]” used the e-commerce giant’s brand #NEWS

International Business Machines Corporation, aka IBM, is developing ‘permissioned but public’ blockchain networks in response to high demand for digital asset issuance, according to Jesse Lund, the newly appointed head of blockchain technology.

IBM To Converge Public and Private Blockchains

IBM has been heavily invested in the blockchain space for some time now as it offers a commercial platform for companies and developers wanting to experiment and work with the technology. The technology giant believes blockchain can disrupt governance and business, supply chain, healthcare, and many more industries. IBM is working in over 400 distributed ledger projects.

While the company firmly advocates for blockchain, the technology is still maturing and many are still figuring out how to approach it in the way it gets mainstream adoption. This volatile and unregulated asset class has raised many doubts with security flaws, scams, and hacks, still prospering to this day. Blockchain as a technology is getting very positive feedback from experts and capital markets, despite some concerns regarding the energy consumption. Cryptocurrency as … currency, is not as consensual.

IBM may be exploring a middle ground, where cryptocurrencies can really change the financial paradigm as we know it. Jesse Lund, the new Head of Blockchain Development at IBM, has said in an interview that the company is seeing “tons of demand for digital asset issuance across the board” and this has caused the “emergence of a new segment that could actually be one of the biggest segments, that is a ‘permissioned’ but public blockchain network typology.”

The demand comes from executives from commodities trading platforms, central banks, and large corporations. This wide variety of institutions is mainly looking for securities tokens, utility tokens, and commodities tokens that represent physical assets.

“We’re going to see a lot more convergence between those two ends of the spectrum. The bitcoin and cryptocurrency space that has been hands-off for enterprises and the private, country club blockchain space that is on the other side”, Lund added.

‘Permissioned but public’ is a concept that attempts to bring together the public vs permissioned (private) discord. The company has already worked on a trial project that used digital currency to make transactions in near real-time throughout the South Pacific across a 12-country banking network. The digital currency was called Lumen, which traded on a non-profit Stellar blockchain. It was the start of a “permissioned but public” network.

Lund believes this could become a significant pathway to the widespread adoption of crypto-currencies in the future.

Image from Shutterstock

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Planning to invest in Bitcoins? Well, it should indeed be a great option. The cryptocurrencies have ceased to be looked down upon as something illegal and risky. Even then, it may not be as easy as it would appear. That is precisely why we have compiled all the information on how to invest in Bitcoins and the benefits associated with it. We will also share the way through which you should be able to invest in Bitcoin.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

What Is Bitcoin?

If you are looking for the investment in the alternative assets, cryptocurrency should be the best option you would go with. The strength of cryptocurrency lies in the fact that it is not fragile like the fiat assets. If you have really made up your mind about investing in cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is what you should opt for.

In fact, many of the economists compare investment in Bitcoins being equivalent to that in gold. The virtual currency that works on the decentralized system of finances that has been rampant as of now, Bitcoin would offer you a unique system of digital currency that moves with you. There is no owner of the bitcoin network and you should be able to trade them without any sort of intervention from the third party.

Why Should You Invest In Bitcoin?

What would make Bitcoin a viable and the best investment is the fact that it is completely decentralized. It does not come with any control over the network by a single unit. The Bitcoin ecosystem belongs to the community as a whole. In fact, you are the owner of the currency that you have. It is a financial arrangement where every individual is equal.

Bitcoin investment should indeed be a great option. A few countries around the world have already made Bitcoin a legal tender and that in itself should be an indication to prove the efficiency of the cryptocurrency ecosystem in general and Bitcoin in particular. Major investment banks have been investing in Bitcoins recently. The Blockchain technology on which Bitcoin works has been regarded as the most secure option. A good deal of companies and investors prefer the Bitcoin blockchain as the backbone for their operations.

Bitcoin makes the fund transfers simple, easy and faster. The Bitcoins fees are quite minimal and that should be one of the reasons to prompt you to opt for it. If currency speculation is your forte, then investment in Bitcoin should be your best option out.

How To Invest in Bitcoins Netherlands?

Buying Bitcoin in the Netherlands  should not be a tough task. There has been a considerably good number of bitcoin exchanges and traders in the Netherlands.

iDeal is one of the prominent option for buying Bitcoins in the Netherlands. There are a few trade fairs where exchanges like Bitvavo and LiteBit which offer you support for Bitcoin wallet. If you are a beginner, opting for these fairs should be a good option. You need not have your own wallets. You may also consider other options like Bitrush and BTCDirect. You can either send the coins after purchase to your Bitcoin wallet or if you do not have a wallet, you can buy Bitcoins from iDeal through the tech fairs we mentioned before.

In fact, buying Bitcoins in the Netherlands was not much easy in the Netherlands prior to 2012. Bitonic was the first exchange to make it easy for the Dutch to buy the Bitcoins through iDeal. After that, there was no looking back and exchanges like Litebit and BTC Direct jumped into the fray. Today, the Netherlands has over 10 different bitcoin exchanges to choose from and has been the golden era for the Bitcoin investors in the Netherlands.

Be Conversant With the Concept of Bitcoin

Yes, that is what would indeed make you a learned investor in terms of Bitcoins. Improve the horizons of your knowledge about the Bitcoin and the implications that it has on your financial well-being. You can read literature and websites so as to understand the concepts and updates on the latest trends in Bitcoin investments.

Bestebank.org can be your best pal in this direction if you are in the Netherlands. It offers you detailed information in the arena of Bitcoins and crypto financing. In fact, the knowledge base shared here tends to be of a higher quality and well researched. Apart from Crypto assets, the site also provides complete information on banking and fintech as well.

You may also check out any other similar kinds of literature or websites that can provide you an unbiased input into the basics Bitcoin investments and the care you would need to take about in this new investment scenario.

Before We Conclude

Cryptocurrency in general and Bitcoin, in particular, has been capable of releasing you from the shackles of the centralized financial ecosystem. In fact, the centralized financial system that we have been used to is indeed the root cause for many of the issues in the sector. So much so that even the slowdowns in the economy have been attributed to the greediness and fraudulent transactions in the centralized mode of transactions.

The current trend has been decentralization and Bitcoin is what pioneered this concept. If you are planning to invest in Bitcoins, we would consider it to be a good step ahead. If you are in the Netherlands and want to invest in Bitcoins, you would definitely find the above information quite useful in the long run.

Crypto markets continue to experience their slow upticks, while traditional markets report worst start of 2nd quarter since the Great Depression #NEWS

Pessimistic forecasts prove wrong as the hype keeps growing

In 2016, investments in ICOs started out at $95 million spread across 43 projects. Last year saw 210 ICO projects raise $3.88 billion (all data provided by coinschedule.com), leading to a huge upsurge in interest for this new instrument for financing high-tech startups.

The majority of publications, beginning from last autumn, maintained their air of skepticism towards this developing market by pointing at the rapidly growing number of unsuccessful ICOs (where the startup fails to reach its softcap, the funding threshold that must be reached to declare the ICO a minimum success). According to various estimates, in 2017 the number of ICOs like this increased from 10% to 90%. Numerous commentators pointed to the imminent collapse of the market, and the disenchantment in ICOs from both investors and projects.

But if we look at what’s actually happened, it’s clear that the pessimists were shown to be completely in the wrong. December 2017 ended with a new record of $1.1 billion raised, and the first quarter of 2018 with its $5 billion raised already exceeded the whole of last year.

According to my own estimates, the overall volume of ICO projects in 2018 could reach a breathtaking $12-15 billion and even more. And if besides Telegram, other large players such as Viber turn to this market for financing, then the figures will be even greater. Even the continual negative signals coming from market regulators and a significant current fall in the exchange rate of cryptocurrencies (most ICO projects raise the majority of their funds in Ethereum, which has dropped against the USD by 3-4-times since it reached a peak in January 2018) hasn’t damaged the popularity of ICOs.

There are a growing number of projects that confirm this pattern. One of the most popular sites amongst investors is icobench.com, where projects are given a rating by numerous independent experts. Currently, this site has 1,500 ongoing ICOs listed. The new trend is for projects to demonstrate the integration of blockchain into another booming technology, for example, big data, machine learning, fog computing, gaming, AR/VR and so on. Blockchain is spreading furiously and seeking new areas to expand into.

So who are the players investing more and more into ICOs? From my experience, the bulk of the investments are in the $100 to $1,000 range, with the average being about $300. These investors take their lead from well-known experts at ranking websites and through each project’s own Telegram channel. Larger investors, usually ready to spend between $20,000 to $150,000, will ask for additional material and often speak directly with the project’s managers before making an investment decision.

Cryptofunds, which already number about 300 according to various sources, select projects based on their own subjective criteria. A powerful and growing trend in ICO financing is the involvement of family offices, which are increasingly succumbing to the hype and investing in various projects that they learn about at blockchain conferences and numerous regional trade shows.

Igor Karavaev -- Blockchain Projects Advisor, CBDO at Sharpay.io is the author of this post. Igor is the
Ex-Executive Director at the Skolkovo Foundation, the leading global accelerator of high-tech startups.

The post The Current State of the ICO Market (Initial Coin Offering or Token Sale) appeared first on NewsBTC.

Ripple was the best-performing cryptocurrency in 2017, having seen an extraordinary rise of over 30,000% in the price of its native digital asset, XRP. The year also saw Ripple make great progress in signing up banks and financial institutions to the platform. According to the San Francisco-based company’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, it’s now signing up an average of one bank per week. Some of the more renowned members of RippleNet include MoneyGram, American Express, Western Union, Standard Chartered, Santander, Unicredit, MUFG and BBVA.

RIPPLE vs. SWIFT

In its mission to save the world from financial exploitation by the big banks and payment gateways, Ripple has made an enemy and fierce rival in SWIFT. SWIFT is the network that has been in existence for the past four and a half decades and which has been facilitating the sharing of financial information between banks globally in a secure environment. Headquartered in Belgium, SWIFT has enjoyed a relative monopoly in the international money transfer industry for quite a long time. Well, until Ripple burst onto the scene, that is.

Ripple offers great advantages over SWIFT, and this has been reflected in the great number of financial institutions that have started testing out Ripple’s payment solutions. With a suite of products that include xVia, xRapid and xCurrent, Ripple came prepared to dethrone SWIFT.

The SWIFT-facilitated transfer corridors are notoriously slow. A cross-border funds transfer generally takes 3-5 days, an unbelievable amount of time given that we are in the age of information. To top it off, these transfers are quite expensive and have an error rate of 5%.

Ripple has changed the game with its very swift (yes, the pun was fully intended) payment network that has reduced the time needed to settle a transaction from 5 days to just 4 seconds! In addition, the Ripple network is extremely affordable, charging 0.00001 XRP, which at the current market price amounts to $0.0000053, a negligible amount.

THE POWER EQUATION UNKNOWN TO MANY

The advantages of Ripple are ridiculously great, and any bank would be a fool not to abandon SWIFT and shift to RippleNet, right? However, the reality on the ground is different. SWIFT is much more than just a payment network; it’s a centralized system that has a huge bearing on regional and international power and domination, and one that huge banks, industry influencers and governments are not willing to let go of just yet.

In the year 2012, lobbyists started a campaign meant to pressure SWIFT into banning Iran from using its network. They accused Iran of inhumane acts and dictatorial leadership. The U.S. Senate was in full agreement with the lobbyists’ request and further piled pressure on SWIFT to yield to the lobbyists. The final nudge came from the European Union, and on March 17, 2012, several banks from Iran were disconnected from SWIFT.

The effects of the ban on the oil-rich country were far-reaching. Denied its source of foreign remittances, many industries in Iran faced extremely hard times. The ban was lifted in 2016, and Iranian banks can now access the SWIFT network.

But such is the political significance of SWIFT. World powers use it to control regional and international trade, and those who are deemed renegades are just as easily starved from international funds transfers. In a few months, their economies are crumbling and they beg to be taken back.

This exertion of power by a central authority is being threatened by Ripple’s network which relies on nodes as opposed to a central channel. The benefits to users are immense, but they pose a danger of taking power away from banking conglomerates and governments which have held the strings for decades.

Thus is the conundrum in which Ripple finds itself: the same banks it needs to use its network are the banks that control SWIFT, its rival.

Will the banks relinquish their stronghold on international remittances – and subsequently their political capital – and switch to the blockchain-powered RippleNet, or will RippleNet be slowly taken down and replaced by a centralized blockchain-powered network controlled by the banks? Only time will tell.

Mark Karpeles has again apologized for his role in the firm’s 2014 collapse and said he doesn’t want any of the remaining Mt. Gox funds.

Finding new use cases for blockchain technology will always remain a challenge. For CryptoAnime, it seems the options are rather clear. Their latest venture brings Zunda Horizon anime collectibles to the blockchain through a new partnership with Zunda World Partners. A remarkable venture, and one that also has a charity angle to it.

A New Type of Zunda Horizon Collectibles

Fans of the Zunda Horizon anime will be quite pleased with this new development. This series is Japan’s 4th most popular showing at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival. As is the case with any popular anime, merchandise will show up eventually. For the CryptoAnime team, this introduces a golden opportunity to highlight the potential of blockchain technology.

A collaboration between the two firms will result in a remarkable product. More specifically, Zunda Horizon-inspired artworks will be coming to the blockchain. Fans can purchase these digital collectibles, with every piece being unique and one-of-a-kind. Every collectible sold through the CryptoAnime platform will help fund the Tohoku Tsunami relief effort. A noble gesture by all parties involved, all of which is made possible thanks to blockchain.

The unique Zunda Horizon digital artworks recorded on the blockchain can be traded and sold like physical goods. Every creation has its own stamp of authenticity and record of ownership. Buyers can list their names on the Zunda Horizon studio’s website if they prefer that option. For fans, this is a way to invest in unique Zunda Horizon collectibles and support a good cause at the same time.

The Rise of Blockchain-based Collectibles

For CryptoAnime, this is a big breakthrough. Although the company has focused on the popular anime industry for a while now, this is by far their biggest partnership. The company looks to offer the benefit of decentralization to content creators around the world. Dedicated digital collectibles are a great way to start in this regard. Zunda Horizon Executive Producer Hiroaki Takeuchi adds:

“Zunda Horizon is a combination of Tohoku culture, the finest Japanese animation craft, and innovative technology. When we learned about Blockchain from CryptoAnime there was complete alignment on this ground-breaking concept. We are very excited to bring a new global audience to Tohoku Zunko!”

Over the past few months, there have been numerous projects offering unique collectibles through blockchain technology. While they are not linked to anime or any existing product, they are still successful. CryptoKitties is one recent example. The project revolves around buying unique blockchain-based cats and make them breed to create offspring. These assets can also be traded and sold accordingly or kept as an investment.

Image from Shutterstock

The post Zunda Horizon Anime Collectibles Come to the Blockchain appeared first on NewsBTC.

During the last couple of years, the gaming industry has continued to evolve, with billions of dollars being poured into the development and purchase of games. FREED represents an interesting project that aims to make online games free for players, while also offering developers an innovative method of monetization.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

To put things better into perspective, FREED represents a publicly-shared economic platform that allows the efficient use of computing resources by developers, in exchange for offering gamers free access to games. Its goal is to transform gamers’ computers into a global computing network, used for purposes such as cryptocurrency mining, 3D rendering, machine learning, big data analysis, alongside with other heavy computing tasks in the research, medicinal and biology markets. By doing so, game developers will be able to monetize their work in a different manner which no longer requires players to pay for access, or purchase in-game items.

FREED works by enabling both players and developers to integrate their games onto the distributed computing system. Therefore, when computers are used for tasks, developers are paid in FREEDcoin tokens. On the other hand, game publishers can also reward players with in-game items, thus incentivising them further.

With these aspects in mind, the platform is bound to benefit three demographics: players, developers, and those who require computing power, and do not wish to invest large sums of money into purchasing supercomputers.

The FREED platform has been designed with ease-of-use in mind, therefore it allows all parts involved to easily coordinate their tasks, computing pools, billing, while also being able to evenly distribute the workload across multiple computers. Gamers will be able to choose when and how their computing power is used.

Following FREED’s initial announcement, the platform has piqued the interest of several companies, these being the IBM Corporation, Alawar, Penta Games, and The Red Machine, all of which have become partners of the platform.

Those who are interested in learning more about FREED, should know that the platform is planning to hold their PRE-ICO and ICO in the first quarter of 2018, followed by its release shortly after.

For more information on FREED, feel free to check out their website, white paper and presentation video.

At a conference in South Korea Wednesday, ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin sought to raise awareness of the platform’s technical limitations.

Abra’s commitment to using Litecoin smart contracts gave the altcoin a short-lived boost this week #NEWS

As was to be expected, things are not looking all that great for cryptocurrency markets right now. Earlier this morning, it became apparent there would be some more volatility in the near future, and it seems that trend is materializing as we speak. With the Bitcoin price dropping below $7,100 again, things are not looking too great.

The Bitcoin Price is Under Pressure Again

It is not entirely surprising to see the Bitcoin price drop below $7m100 again. Even though yesterday was a rather positive day for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole, such momentum usually doesn’t last all that long. In this particular case, it lasted for about 24 hours until reality started kicking in once again. With the current downtrend in place again, the market faces even more pressure.

Although a 4.07% dip in Bitcoin price may not seem like something people should be overly concerned about, it is a big problem as of right now. Given how the cryptocurrency markets have faced a lot of pressure all year long, many people had high hopes yesterday was the beginning of a recovery period. Sadly, that does not appear to be the case, as most of the gains can be erased fairly quickly at this rate.

For the time being, the Bitcoin price seems to hold its own above $7,000. Albeit that may only be a matter of time. With a price increase from $6,500 to $7,400 in the 36 hours prior to today, it is only normal a new correction sets in at this time. Whether or not this trend continues for a few hours, days, or weeks, is anybody’s guess at this point. There hasn’t been much rational trading in cryptocurrency all year long, after all.

One shining beacon of light is how the Bitcoin trading volume has not seen much of a change since this dip began. With a daily volume between $4bn and $5bn, things look pretty solid in this regard, even though there’s still a lot of time or improvements in this regard. These past 24 hours result in a $4.998bn volume, which is still pretty impressive, given the current market conditions.

When taking a closer look at the Bitcoin trading volume, it becomes apparent Bitfinex is still the market leader as of right now. Its lead over Binance and OKEx has been bigger in the past, but right now, it seems sufficient to maintain this position for some time to come. A few trading pairs have already pushed the value per BTC below $7,000, but that is only because they are linked to the Verge altcoin.

How the Bitcoin price will evolve in the coming hours and days, is difficult to predict. If the previous few months are any indication, things will not improve from here on out. Then again, this is the cryptocurrency industry, where anything and everything can and will happen at some point. For the Bitcoin price to return to $7,500, one would almost need a miracle.