Day: April 25, 2018

The VTOS team has announced a token generation event (TGE), which will be launched on May 28th with the intention of making the platform’s native token publicly available for purchase.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Over 2.5 billion people around the world are now involved with social networking in some way, shape, or form. This constitutes around 33% of the entire global population, and is therefore a huge market that the startup thinks it can take advantage of by providing an alternative to the current industry giants in this space.

VTOS itself is the product of an emerging trend among blockchain startups to leverage the tech for content sharing and social media applications. Some other examples include Steemit (Think crypto-fueled version of Reddit) Yours (similar to Steemit, with BCH as a native currency), and Synereo.

Masternodes key distinction for VTOS

One way VTOS distinguishes itself from the platforms above, however, is their employment of master nodes. Like normal nodes, master nodes are servers that help host a decentralized network, but unlike normal nodes, they get paid for doing so.

They are also called “economically incentivized full nodes,” which is what they are because they are just computers that have downloaded the entire blockchain and have been incentivized through monetization of their computing resources the same way miners are.

According to the platform’s team, VTOS aims to deliver low-cost storage, allowing users master-node hosting in exchange for rewards, creating a virtuous circle within the user community. They also believe that, by leveraging master-nodes, video streaming and content sharing will be more efficient than otherwise, supporting the ecosystem in a more user-friendly way.

Other features, token sale details, and roadmap

Some other features of the VTOS platform include native browser support, ANTI ISP, live streaming encryption, mobile support, client-side encryption, Smart P2P upload control and CROSS platform P2P, IOS and Android SDK.

The token sale will have a soft cap of $4 million and a hard cap $40 million. 55% of the tokens will be sold during the ICO, an additional 20% goes towards master-node rewards, 10% going to both the team and angel investors, and the last 5% being allocated to bounty programs.

Additionally, the supply will be capped at 330 million VTOS tokens, with funds raised being used for a variety of different purposes. This includes platform development (60%), marketing (20%), legal compliance (5%), returns on investment (5%), and other operational costs (10%).

The team has also laid out a roadmap for platform development that spans from Q2 of 2018 until some unspecified point in 2020.

Q2 of 2018 will bring the beta of the VTOS platform, moderation, and content reporting features, master-nodes, and like and dislike functions for videos and blogs. Q4 of 2018 brings other important features such as the ability to monetize content.

Some other important benchmarks include the ad marketplace, the app market, and p2p messages, all of which will be implemented in Q2 of 2019. Finally, in Q3 of 2019, the team will release the final version of VTOS as well as live streaming and live chat functions.

Visit the official VTOS website here: https://vtos.io/

The company has worked on token distribution and fundraising so far, but its latest product focuses on giving away tokens to spur user adoption.

The bearish momentum across all cryptocurrency markets is intensifying as we speak. This takes a lot of people by surprise, even though it seems there are a lot of flesh wounds first and foremost. While some currencies are down in the dirt, the Bitcoin price has remained above $9,000 in surprising fashion. Maintaining this price point will not be easy, even though the overall trading volume is spiking quite hard.

Bitcoin Price Might Stay Above $9,000

Looking at the cryptocurrency charts right now, it is evident the altcoins are taking a massive beating for no apparent reason. Surprisingly, Bitcoin is not following this quick downtrend, even though the Bitcoin price is still going down. With a 2.29% drop compared to 10% or more for all other cryptocurrencies, things are not looking all that bad for the world’s leading cryptocurrency either. That is, assuming the rate at which the Bitcoin price declines does not accelerate out of the blue.

Over the past 24 hours, we have seen the Bitcoin price come pretty close to reaching $9,700. After a full week of upward momentum, a temporary retrace seems more than warranted. It is only normal the Bitcoin price would go through a temporary correction at some point, and a dip of under 5% is still considered to be rather “normal behavior” in this volatile industry.

The big question is whether or not the Bitcoin price can remain above $9,000 while this onslaught is taking place. Right now, it seems plausible such a scenario will unfold in the coming hours, although there are never any certainties in the world of cryptocurrency either. Considering how the Bitcoin price was stuck at $6,600 for some time this year, any price above $7,500 is still a short-term victory.

What is rather peculiar is how the Bitcoin trading volume has increased quite a bit over the past few hours. With $11.7bn in 24-hour trading volume, things are looking quite impressive for Bitcoin  This volume also catapults the overall cryptocurrency trading volume back to nearly $40bn, a number we haven’t seen in quite some time. More volume also means more volatility, and it seems things are holding up in this regard.

Binance is in the lead in terms of trading volume, which is a development we have not witnessed before. Bitfinex is just behind them, and OKEx leads the race for third place. It would appear there is more demand for USDT trading compared to fiat currencies, although that situation may come to change later today. Regardless of how things evolve, this current trend is pretty spectacular, as the demand for Bitcoin is not slowing down by any means.

It is evident all markets need a healthy correction after a week and a half of solid upward momentum. This current dip is nothing to be overly concerned about either right now, although some people will undoubtedly panic sell regardless. If the Bitcoin price can remain above $9,000 all day long, things will get pretty interesting moving forward.

Chinese police have seized 600 computers used to mine Bitcoin in Tianjin, after the local grid operator reported irregular electricity usage. #NEWS

Having rallied more than 50 percent this month, bitcoin is today witnessing pullback.

ERC20 token deposits suspended at OKEX after “new” smart contract bug. #NEWS

Chinese crypto exchange Huobi Pro announced plans yesterday to become a block producer on the EOS blockchain. Currently the world’s fourth largest crypto exchange with $2.3 billion in daily volume, Singapore headquartered Huobi becomes the latest to embrace the EOS ecosystem.

Supernode Candidacy for Huobi Pro

In a live stream event dubbed the ‘EOS Supernode Party’, and on Twitter the team revealed their application for candidacy to become the next EOS supernode.

Who will be the next Supernode? Hear from the 6 candidates for EOS Supernode, streaming LIVE NOW from World Blockchain Conference Summit.

Tune in here at https://t.co/R39Q7plmIV @EOS_io @eosdac #huobi #supernode #nodes #blockchain #mining pic.twitter.com/zqgMgCwakk

— Huobi Pro (@Huobi_Pro) April 24, 2018

EOS is similar to Ethereum in that it provides an ecosystem for dApp development and deployment however, unlike Ethereum, it runs on a delegated proof of stake consensus model. This differs to traditional proof of work mining in that the hash power is defined by the number of tokens held or staked by each user or node.

The pros are that it prevents mining monopolies controlling the network but the downside is that it does lead to centralization. Delegated PoS differs slightly in that blocks are produced by elected supernodes which change every 21 blocks in a continual approval voting system. This maintains honesty across the network and prevents one entity controlling too much of it. Those that want to be considered for election must announce their intentions to become a supernode, and Huobi has done just that.

EOS will be migrating away from the Ethereum network on June 2, 2018. The 21 supernodes supporting the mainnet must be in place by then so applications have been coming in thick and fast. Huobi is the largest exchange so far to lodge an application but it has also been joined by others organizations including ViaBTC, and AntPool.

Other exchanges are also making moves to become EOS block producer candidates. Bitfinex who already has an EOS powered exchange, EOSfinex, also announced candidacy on April 23^rd. EOS has been having a good run lately with positive developments boosting price. Trading giant eToro announced that it would be adding the token to its listings expanding the total number of cryptocurrencies it offers to ten.

Boosted by the news EOS has continued to grow and is currently trading at just over $15, up 18% on the day. The altcoin recently surpassed Litecoin in the top 25 by market cap and it is currently fifth with $12.3 billion. Over the past month EOS has skyrocketed almost 125% from around $6.7 this time last month.

Image from Shutterstock

The post Huobi Announces Plans to Become EOS Block Producer appeared first on NewsBTC.

Amazon has entered the emerging Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) sector with its blockchain templates for Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric for Amazon Web Services (AWS). This follows suit of tech giants IBM and Oracle who have launched their own Hyperledger blockchain services. 

Investor Tom Lee champions Bitcoin investment over Bitcoin Cash as altcoin hits big volatility. #NEWS