Day: May 4, 2018

Europe

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

European Union

European Commission to employ blockchain in fight against fake news: The European Commission (EC) has recently singled out the widespread issue of fake news on the internet as a major issue and is now looking to employ distributed ledger technology (DLT) to stop the spread of fake news on social media and on the web.

The first step from the EC will be to implement a ‘Code of Practice on Disinformation’, an EU program that is slated for publication by July 2018. The EC is saying that blockchain applications can help provide transparency and reliability of news on the internet. According to a press release announced on this subject:

“Innovative technologies, such as blockchain, can help preserve the integrity of content, validate the reliability of information and/or its sources, enable transparency and traceability, and promote trust in news displayed on the Internet.”

Italy

Lawyers file case against hacked crypto exchange BitGrail: BitGrail exchange’s troubles continue as a group of lawyers representing the victim traders whose digital currencies were lost during a recent hack on the BitGrail exchange filed a convincing case against the exchange.

The original hacking of the exchange was in February 2018 and saw a mammoth 17 million Nano tokens hacked worth around USD 187 million at the time. The exchange will probably have to file for bankruptcy if the verdict comes against it.

France

Authorities drop crypto tax after appeal by crypto community: The French government has eased gains taxes on cryptocurrencies after a Conseil d’Etat (Council of State) decision taken during this week. Previously, they could have been as much as 45% for larger users which, coupled with social security contributions, would see it swell to a whopping 62% but, the French government reduced it to 19% according to French Daily Le Monde.

Cryptocurrencies have also been placed in a category called “movable property” but crypto mining falls into a different category than trading. The move follows mixed reactions from the state machinery and government in France with the former proposing a ban and the latter easing restrictions to attract cryptocurrency investment in the country.

United Kingdom

Crypto union pushing UK government to regulate blockchain industry: While regulations are often seen as roadblocks, the British cryptocurrency union called CryptoUK is urging the government and the treasury to help regulate the industry in the country. The self-regulatory union is made up of eight members and they have been approaching influential MPs to use the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to regulate the industry.

The chair of CryptoUK and UK managing director of trading platform eToro, Iqbal Gandham, said:

“Introducing a requirement for the FCA to regulate the ‘on-off’ ramps between crypto and fiat currencies is well within the remit of HM Treasury. Based on our analysis, this could be achieved relatively easily, without the need for primary legislation, and would have a huge impact, both in reducing consumer risk and improving industry standards.”

The group is favoring regulating exchanges, brokers and platforms instead of currencies themselves.

Barclays refutes report of crypto trading desk: UK-based Barclays Bank has negated recent reports that it aims to set up a cryptocurrency trading desk like other financial players in the world such as Canada. Barclays UK has announced new ventures into blockchain technology but categorically denied setting up a trading desk for cryptocurrencies.

Barclays’ spokesman Andrew Smith said this in a statement:

“We constantly monitor developments in the digital currency space and will continue to have a dialogue with our clients on their needs and intentions in this market.”

Barclays CEO Jes Stately, however, has termed cryptocurrency a “real challenge”, suggesting the bank is still not ready to accept cryptocurrencies openly itself.

Russia

Putin plans to use crypto and blockchain to defy sanctions: Russia currently has been slapped with significant sanctions by the NATO bloc but according to Putin’s top economic advisor, the Russian government is looking to use cryptocurrencies and blockchain to avoid these sanctions.

Sergei Galzev, the advisor said, “We can settle accounts with our counterparties all over the world with no regard for sanctions.”

Putin is especially interested in cryptocurrencies since it was revealed that his opponent has been receiving campaign donations in Bitcoin and aims to use the anonymity and universal application of cryptocurrencies to strengthen the Russian government and its foreign influence around the world.

Siberian conditions appeal to crypto miners: Cheap electricity and cold climate in Siberia is found to be appealing to cryptocurrency miners around the world with many aiming to establish their mining set ups in this remote part of the world. The cold climate provides natural cooling to ASIC chips that produce a large amount of heat.

The post Europe: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 27th April to 3rd May 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

A new trend over the years has centered on the potential impact of artificial intelligence (A.I.) on work. According to CB Insights , in 2016 more than $5 billion of venture capital was raised by companies where A.I. is a core piece of their product, which is up from around $3B the year before, and $2.6B prior to that. And, it isn’t just new companies that are building AI solutions. Long-standing software companies, like Salesforce, are actively in progress on adding intelligence to their current offering. However, while A.I. technology and investments are advancing rapidly, system trust remains a commonly discussed concern for autonomous systems.

At the epicenter of this trend is BotChain, a product whose initial development was lead by Boston-based enterprise artificial intelligence company, Talla Inc. Talla, along with the consortium of other developers now working on BotChain together reach 400 million end users, and collectively saw the need for better infrastructure to deploy trustworthy, transparent AI-systems. BotChain is slowly gaining momentum among the crypto enthusiasts who see huge potential in it and has secured the backing of high ranking crypto investors like Galaxy. Let’s dig deeper and know more about this industry changer.

About BotChain

According to its whitepaper, BotChain blockchain platform is based on the premise that as A.I.-based systems continue to be widely adopted, both users and products will need a technical infrastructure in which identities and transactions are verifiable and auditable. For instance, when an A.I. bot acts on behalf of a human, such as booking travel, sharing meeting information, or compiling documentation, a digital certificate of those transactions is hashed to a ledger, so that if an audit of what was authorized is needed, it’s immutably stored on the blockchain for reference. The BotChain team believes this technology is the missing element for truly widespread A.I. adoption in business.

By driving developmental software standards and creating a marketplace of developers and users, BotChain incentivizes bot innovation and adoption through secure and powerful intelligent machine usage within a range of enterprise environments.

BotChain Benefits

The beauty of BotChain is that it delivers critical systems that benefit anyone utilizing A.I. products, as well as those developing them.

Another integral part of BotChain’s value is it maintains bot identities that are verified with certainty for its users as well as to other bots. By maintaining verifiable bot identities, the platform prevents bot spoofing and spamming.

In the business world BotChain will promote transparency as an auditable, decentralized trail of autonomous decisions while retaining machine learning models, something many current systems are missing.

Become a Part of BotChain and Join a Pool of High Ranking Crypto Investors

After raising the first tranche of $5 million from the likes of Galaxy, Alpine and other lead individuals at Circle, BotChain’s institutional allocation is now open at a 25% discount. The platform is seeking to raise an additional $35 million through the token sale.

The token pre-sale for BotChain ‘s BOT token is set to commence on May 8th. There is a total supply for 40,000,000 BOT tokens and the initial price for one BOT token will be $2.50 USD, though the company notes that those are subject to change.

More information about BotChain is available at – https://botchain.network/

The post Leading Artificial Intelligence Startup BotChain Raises $5 Million From Top Crypto Investors appeared first on NewsBTC.

Millennials are driving the change and shaping the future of money. By 2025, millennials (those born after 1980) will comprise three quarters of the global workforce and according to Pew Research, in the US, they will overtake the baby boomer generation by 2019.

Crypto market gains: BTC up over 40%, ETH over 100% on the month

Nearly half of the 26 publicly listed banks in China said they deployed blockchain applications in 2017.

As a working group of senior SEC and CFTC officials prepares a meeting to discuss the possibility of regulating cryptocurrencies on May 7, all eyes are on Ethereum as the market tries to figure out what will happen if Ether is officially regarded as a security in the United States. The market seems confident ahead of the event as the price of ETH jumps to the $800 area.

Ether Surges to $800 Ahead of SEC and CFTC Meeting

A recent WSJ report jittered the cryptocurrency ecosystem with the news that SEC and CFTC officials are about to decide whether Ethereum and Ripple are securities. Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin told TheStreet this week that the team creating the platform and technology was concerned about that scenario early on, which would keep unregistered investors away.

“We spent a tremendous amount of time with lawyers in the U.S. and in other countries, and are extremely comfortable that it is not a security; it never was a security”.

Gary Gensler, Chairman of regulatory body Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), disagrees with that view as he sees a strong case that both Ethereum and Ripple are noncompliant securities.

Ethereum’s Lubin goes a step further as he is against regulating Ethereum based on the current regulatory scheme, where securities laws govern securities. To be legally considered a security, the ‘thing’ must pass the Howey test and Ethereum doesn’t, according to Lubin. “We are comfortable that many regulators that matter understand what Ethereum is.”

“This is a way of accessing a shared compute resource, so I’m not sure Ether needs to be regulated in any way,” Lubin added.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has “dozens” of open investigations into initial coin offerings after having issued a report that found that tokens sold to raise capital were securities applicable to U.S. law.

As the scheduled meeting looms, many within the cryptocurrency ecosystem try to decide what is the best outcome for Ether. When it comes to institutional adoption of the cryptocurrency, legal certainty is an invaluable asset for large players. Whether regulators choose to consider it a security or not, a final official decision may provide much-needed confidence to boost the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the United States and drive prices higher.

A recent SEC and CFTC hearing in February had CFTC’s Giancarlo suggesting a “do no harm” registration process for blockchain and cryptocurrency companies. The news, reported on February 6, was followed by a consistent bullish movement from the 2018 lows below the $600 area that was only blocked by resistance near $1,000.

The post Ethereum Jumps to $800 Ahead of Regulators Position on Cryptocurrencies appeared first on NewsBTC.

Asia and Australia

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

The Korean Peninsula

Korea peace treaty inscribed in blockchain: The historic Korea peace declaration by North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in on 27 April 2018 was immutably recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. The move was done by Ryi Gi-Hyeok, a prominent South Korean game developer, after the two leaders met at the demilitarized zone on the border.

Rye coded the two Ether transactions, including the Panmunjom Declaration, one in English and the other in Korean. He explained:

“I just thought it took too long for the South and the North to give way to each other… After finding out what I could contribute to this historic achievement as a developer, I found the Panmunjom Declaration on the Blue House homepage and recorded it on Ethereum.”

He has further plans to launch a website to keep all important historic records in permanent, immutable storage on Ethereum.

Samsung posts record-breaking quarter thanks to crypto mining surge: South Korean tech giant Samsung’s investment into ASIC chips for Bitcoin mining seems to have paid off as the company posted a record operating income for the first quarter of 2018 and a profit of $14.5 billion.

Vice president, investor relations, Robert Yi was of the opinion:

“In the semiconductor business, earnings increased significantly year-over-year thanks to favorable memory market conditions driven by a strong demand for server and graphics memory as well as earnings improvements in both System LSI and foundry businesses led by increasing demand for chips used in flagship smartphones and cryptocurrency mining”.

Bank of Korea considering blockchain as part of cashless society concept: The South Korean cryptocurrency scene is exploding after Samsung announced record profits from ASIC chips sales and now the Bank of Korea is considering cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology as part of its “cashless society concept”.

The bank has announced the official launch of its cashless society project on its 2017 Payment Report, according to a post from TokenPost on 1 May 2018.

Japan

Crypto enquiries tripled in 2017: The Japanese Financial Security Agency (FSA) has released figures of cryptocurrency enquiries and they have gone up by more than three times since the same time last year. Over 3.5 million people have been trading in cryptocurrencies in Japan and the new figures confirm the massive spike in public interest in cryptocurrencies since the course of last year.

What is interesting is that most of the enquiries were from the 40s and 50s age groups and were regarding the legitimacy of ICOs and the security of the exchange platforms. It seems the older Japanese generation is also getting into cryptocurrencies.

Taiwan

Binance more profitable than Deutsche Bank: Binance, one of the biggest exchanges in the world, has outperformed the mighty Deutsche Bank in terms of profitability, according to latest figures from both of these organizations. Binance posted a profit of USD 200 million between January and March, while Deutsche Bank only recorded net gains of USD 146 million, significantly under a targeted USD 456 million amount.

Binance was originally founded in China but since then moved to Japan before eventually settling in Republic of China (Taiwan).

Singapore

Singapore fast tracks patents and crypto ride-hailing: The Singapore government has just announced its Fast Track Fintech initiative that is aimed at accelerating the patent approval process for fintech areas including cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based payments.

The development was announced by Low Ling, the senior parliamentary secretary for ministry of trade and industry. His office said:

“The incorporation of blockchain technology to improve the security and efficiency of clearing and settlement across borders for transaction and payment is deemed as a Fintech invention.”

Hong Kong

Government finds crypto not implicated in financial crime increase: The Hong Kong government’s investigation into criminal activity has revealed that criminals are still more likely to use conventional methods of money transfer rather than cryptocurrencies to move black money from one place to another.

Normally, cryptocurrencies are blamed for most of the money laundering efforts in criminal circles but this investigation proves that conventional systems are more likely to be used in this space than cryptocurrencies.

Australia

UNICEF announces mining project to help fund education: UNICEF Australia has announced a cryptocurrency mining initiative in which computing resources from donors will be used to mine cryptocurrency which in turn will be used to raise fiat money to invest in education.

The project is called the Hope Page and will be used to mine the cryptocurrency Monero using donors’ computer processing power that can be anything from powerful ASIC miners to a regular PC with GPU.

UNICEF launched a similar project back in February to help the Syrian civil war crisis.

Stock exchange okays plan for blockchain: The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has announced plans to replace its old clearance and settlement system with a blockchain-based alternative as early as 2020.

The idea had been in the pipeline for some time since 2015 but the decision arrived back in December last year when the stock exchange announced plans to become the world’s first stock exchange to employ blockchain technology.

The post Asia and Australia: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 27th April to 3rd May 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Banking and Financial institutions dealing in money are at a bottleneck when it comes to trading. They are the only form of setups that allow for trading at a national or international level. Individuals, firms and even countries are at the mercy of their operations. An outage of operations, whether accidental or deliberate cut off, leaves them stranded. In short, these financial firms hold the power to control the economy of peoples and governments.

Kvantor, Knight in Shining Armor

Kvantor is a decentralized platform that breaks the banking relationship between two parties intending to trade or transact funds. Based on blockchain, Kvantor gives a direct peer 2 peer connection, thereby making banks obsolete. As a decentralized platform, Kvantor has the following advantages over regular banking channels for trade:

• Fast: Blockchain transactions are done in a matter of seconds and minutes, no matter how large the fund. Compared to banks, this saves precious time, where traditional international trade takes sometimes up to days, and even weeks to complete.
• Secure: Another major advantage of blockchain technology is its military-level encryption and security. An ill intent attack on the system would require breaching into more than 51% of decentralized servers, making it a impossibility with current technology.
• Cost: By eliminating intermediaries such as banks, Kvantor gives an opportunity to its users to save tons of money. No more middleman charges with Kvantor means users don’t have to shell out cash to profit seeking banks. The only cost is the transaction of the fund itself- a minor cost.

Kvantor Services

Kvantor, as a bank and financial institution disruptor, offers the following financial services:

• Foreign Interbank Trade: Fiat and digital asset transfer between different banks through from different geological locations and political boundaries.
• Exchange Trade: Exchange of currencies, fiat and crypto, commodities, agricultural, raw material and even precious metals.
• Basic Banking: Simple services for trades such as bank transfers, funds clearance, guarantees, etc.

Tokenized Licenses

Kvantor has redefined the tokens in a blockchain system by making their a license to use for Results in Intellectual Activities (RIA). The licenses will determine a user’s share in the RIA. The license private distribution event is currently in progress, with it ending on 25th May, 2018. The exact value of licenses is equal to 1/1300th troy ounce of gold on the day of issuance. First 20% licenses issued carry a 40% discount.

The second phase of license distribution will start on 28th May, 2018 and will continue until 27th June, 2018. This phase will see an additional 40% of the licenses issued, but with a 20% discount this time. Target hardcap of event is 32,000,000 GBP.  Kvantor has the highest level of security by using blockchain, offering identity protection, automated smart contracts and transparency in all its activities, without limitations on physical and political locations. By breaking the hold of banks over traditional trading, it gives freedom to individuals, organizations and governments to trade without fear of funds held hostage.

For more information on the financial freedom fighter, visit their website: https://kvantor.com/

The post Breaking the Banking Monopoly: Kvantor to Unleash Freedom of Economic Trade appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

United Kingdom corporate research firm Gartner conducted a survey of nearly 300 Chief Information Officers (CIOs), in an attempt to separate hype from reality. The results are revealing, with a dismal 1% reporting “any kind of blockchain adoption within their organizations.”

Also read: Telegram Rakes in Over $1.5 Billion, Ditches ICO for an Open Network & Token

Survey of CIOs Reveals More Blockchain Hype Than Adoption

A rather revealing survey of 293 CIOs conducted by English research outfit Gartner is attempting to suss out marketing campaigns from actual fact on the subject of blockchain usage among businesses.

Gartner Vice President David Furlonger explained, “This year’s Gartner CIO Survey provides factual evidence about the massively hyped state of blockchain adoption and deployment. It is critical to understand what [it] is and what it is capable of today, compared to how it will transform companies, industries and society tomorrow.”

Among some of the standout numbers: a whopping 77% of CIOs admitted their companies exhibited exactly no interest in the tech, nor have they plans to in the future;  8 percent claimed to be looking at interim planning or experimentation with it; and only “1 percent of CIOs indicated any kind of […] adoption within their organizations,” the survey detailed.

Mr. Furlonger continued, “The challenge for CIOs is not just finding and retaining qualified engineers, but finding enough to accommodate growth in resources as blockchain developments grow. Qualified engineers may be cautious due to the historically libertarian and maverick nature of the [tech’s] developer community.”

Numbers Point to Slow Going for Blockchain Adoption

Cheekily, Mr. Furlonger waxed how “Blockchain continues its journey on the Gartner Hype Cycle at the Peak of Inflated Expectations. How quickly different industry players navigate the Trough of Disillusionment will be as much about the psychological acceptance of the innovations that [it] brings as the technology itself.”

Furthermore, of those companies dabbling in the tech, 13 percent believed a complete restructuring of an information technology department would be the only way to bring along blockchain; 14 percent worried it would mean a large change of company culture; 23 percent indicated a host of new skills are required to meaningfully use it; and 18 percent noted knowledge of the tech is nearly impossible to find among potential employees.

“Blockchain technology requires understanding of, at a fundamental level, aspects of security, law, value exchange, decentralized governance, process and commercial architectures,” Mr. Furlonger insisted. “It therefore implies that traditional lines of business and organization silos can no longer operate under their historical structures.”

Industries inclined toward blockchain include financial services, of course, insurance, and telecommunications. The survey notes even public utilities, government agencies, and transportation sectors are exploring it for logistics and efficiency. “While many industries indicate an initial interest in [such] initiatives, it remains to be seen whether they will accept decentralized, distributed, tokenized networks, or stall as they try to introduce blockchain into legacy value streams and systems,” Mr. Furlonger stressed.

Do you think blockchain is the inevitable future so many business leaders claim? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Pixabay, Gartner. 

Looking for a Bitcoin Cash Block Explorer? Check out Bitcoin.com’s BCH Block Explorer today to find transactions, blocks, and other important blockchain data. 

The post Only 1% of Business CIOs are Actually Using ”Blockchain” Technology appeared first on Bitcoin News.

The group threatening legal action against Bitcoin.com for alleged disinformation has cancelled its initiative, citing insufficient funds

Following a bull breakout last night, bitcoin (BTC) looks set to test $10,000 and could possibly move higher over the weekend.

Africa and the Middle East

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

South Africa

Tax imposed on Bitcoin and other crypto: In a recent move, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has announced that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be subject to tax in the country.

While the move wasn’t seen as a positive one in cryptocurrency circles, some experts believed that it may not ultimately be a bad thing in the long term. According to Christine Rodrigues, a partner at Hogan Lovells, jurisdictions do not necessarily mean a slow-down in the cryptocurrency space.

He said, “The United Kingdom, as an example, has set up several cryptocurrency organisations to bring more legitimacy to the industry… Legitimate regulation on cryptocurrency may increase confidence on existing users and possibly induce an investor appetite for potential users and thereby cause a rise in demand and, as mentioned above, the more demand for and confidence in the commodity, the more value it will earn.”

The move follows weeks of consideration by the South African government to allow crypto communities to self-regulate but instead, the tax was imposed and the recommendations from the cryptocurrency startups wasn’t followed. But, while monetary taxes have been promulgated, the overall regulation of the cryptocurrencies may still be handled indigenously.

Luno helping South Africans pay Bitcoin tax: Capitalizing on the promulgation of the so-called Bitcoin Tax, blockchain startup Luno is now offering citizens to make fair returns on their investments in a transparent manner. Calculating taxes on cryptocurrency profits can be as complicated as that of the stock market because losses and profits are fluid and may even balance each other out at the end of one day.

The gains tax imposed by the South African government will apply to traders’ cryptocurrency earnings and Luno will help traders download their transaction history in CSV format, thus making the process smoother.

Nigeria

House of Representatives intends to regulate crypto and blockchain apps: Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is gearing up for cryptocurrency regulation with the the lower house of parliament tasking the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to come up with a regulatory framework for the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the country.

The move came after the assembly adopted a bill called ‘Need to regulate Blockchain applications and Internet Technology’ authored by MP Solomon Adaelu.

Nigeria’s attitude towards regulating cryptocurrency exchanges is not clear at the moment.

Kenya

Authorities establish agency for monitoring crypto activities: Kenyan authorities have announced the establishment of an agency to monitor the cryptocurrency space in the country. While the Bitcoin and altcoin economy is seen as a big investment circle in the country, the Capital Markets Authority of the government is determined to bring these markets under its control.

The move follows similar decisions around the world including the establishment of a special task force in the UK for this exact purpose. It said in a statement this week:

“There is a need for regulators to devise a common approach towards handling issues revolving around cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). A joint workgroup by financial sector regulators could be put in place to tackle issues around cryptocurrencies and ICOs.”

Egypt

National bank joins 200 financial institutions’ R3 blockchain alliance: In a bid to promote the cryptocurrency scene in the country, the National Bank of Egypt has announced that it has recently joined the R3 Blockchain consortium with over 200 financial institutions around the world as its members.

The benefits of entering this collaboration include access to commercial applications of blockchain technology and using Corda, a custom Blockchain developed by the R3 initiative. According to Hisham Okasha, the NBE chairperson, it allows the bank to “better assess the value this technology can bring to the banking industry and the impact it can have on faster and more cost-effective services to our customers for future implementation.”

United Arab Emirates

Global crypto exchange for celebrities launched in Dubai: In a recent partnership aimed at expanding celebrity token footprint in the world, Global Crypto Offering Exchange (GCOX) has signed an MOU with Bin Zayed International in Dubai, UAE.

The celebrity exchange allows influencers to create, list and trade their own personal crypto tokens on a new blockchain called Acclaim.

The post Africa and the Middle East: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 27th April to 3rd May 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.