Day: May 5, 2018

Developer Preethi Kasireddy believes what the ethereum community decides to do in terms of fund recovery will be the network’s “defining moment.”

It has been a rather remarkable few years for cryptocurrencies. With the launch of ICO tokens, the industry has taken an important, albeit worrisome step. Despite the global crackdown on initial coin offerings, it seems the industry is still in a good place. With over $23 billion having been raised to date, it is evident there is still a lot of potential on the horizon.

The Evolution of Token Sales

Although it is evident there is a lot of positive momentum in the ICO industry as of right now, regulators are also actively cracking down on this particular business model. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as the hype and speculation associated with these digital tokens need to be weeded out pretty quickly. Additionally, any company or team issuing securities without regulatory approval remains a systemic risk first and foremost.

New research by Elementus paints a very interesting future for token sales. With over $23 billion in sales to date, it is safe to say the token industry has generated a global buzz. Although this includes some massive projects such as Telegram’s private sale and the creation of Venezuela’s Petro, the business model has a lot of merit, for obvious reasons.

During the first three months of 2018, the cryptocurrency industry saw its fair share of setbacks. Although that was only to be expected after such a crazy run throughout late 2017, one would have expected this to affect token sales as well. That’s not been the case, as $14.2 billion was raised through token sales in Q1 of this year. Compared to $9 billion throughout all of 2017, the demand for such tokens has not dropped by any means.

One reason for this increase in token sale revenue is the mounting number of token sales in general. Whereas December 2017 was a terrible month for token sales – relatively speaking – things picked up again in March 2018. This further confirms that the ongoing regulatory battle isn’t dissuading people from using the token sale model, although that situation may come to change.

Another unsurprising development in the token sale industry is that the bigger token sales are simply getting bigger. More specifically, Telegram raised $1.7 billion, and the Petro generated a total of $5 billion in short order. Even EOS, a crowdsale which has been going on for almost a year now, has seen over $2.5 billion raised. Although many people still question the necessity of a year-long initial coin offering, it seems to be well-appreciated by the masses as of right now.

Looking at the list of countries ranked by fundraising numbers, things are a bit different from what enthusiasts might expect. The US and Venezuela are currently #1 and #2, although in the case of Venezuela, it’s primarily due to the Petro. China is still important, though far less so than Switzerland and Singapore. It is a pretty interesting world we live in; that much is rather evident.

Cryptocurrencies are stealing all the headlines these days, performing extremely well in 2017 and attracting more investors in 2018. At the moment, there are over 4500 crypto-coins going around, each designed to serve a specific purpose and to contribute to the financial and economic growth world-wide.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Outcomes of Blockchain technology

Even if the crypto market has gained in popularity since 2013, the first digital coin to be invented was Bitcoin in 2009, being the first decentralized crypto, that  paved the way for the revolutionary blockchain technology.

“The size of Blockchain technology market is projected to grow to over 2 billion U.S. dollars by 2021.”

Consequently, along with blockchain innovations, virtual trading has increased drastically as people are switching from fiat-based financial system to a blockchain-based one. Furthermore, crypto trading volume surpassed stock trading volume by August 2017.

Taking advantage of the many benefits blockchain has introduced, Cobinhood, the first zero trading fee exchange platform, has upgraded to handle modern demands in the market. In fact, its creator, Popo Chen, pointed out that before launching this platform, he looked into the real issues affecting the current online exchange system.

Issues in the Cryptocurrency Market

Like any novel movement, digital currencies have their inconveniences, aspects that should not be neglected by investors or users. The most frequent are:

1. Inefficient Real-Time trading –  A cryptocurrency exchange is a marketplace for buying, selling, or shorting digital assets. To trade, the exchange uses a sophisticated trade matching software, which links the buyer and seller, and facilitates the trade between them. Unfortunately, since the immense growth of digital coins, issues such as: delayed orders or limiting trading APIs arose.
2. Asset Security Problems – Many trading platforms have been the target of hackers. For instance, Bitfinex, was hacked recently, and it lost 120k Bitcoin, which today are valued at more than $1bil.
3. Unexpected Shutdown – Although it is a common aspect of trading platforms, it can have serious effects on coins, leading to other worrying results. A popular trading platform like Coinbase, had three shutdowns in one day resulting to a decrease in value for bitcoin.

4.Limited FIAT currencies supported – Since there is a great range of different crypto-coins, many websites support only one fiat currency, whilst others do not provide fiat deposit or withdrawal at all.

5. Slow Customer Service – customer services are slow, especially when there could be thousands of users that demand identity verification at once. In some situations, there is no one to even respond to inquiries.

How Coinbase Solves These Problems

Cobinhood’s features were specifically designed to overcome pressing obstacles that stand in the way of traders and investors worldwide. The main ones are:

1. Zero Trading Fee – There are no trading fees for spot and margin exchanges, in order to maximize profits globally.
2. Offline Multisig Wallet Security System – All crypto assets deposited on their platform will be stored in an offline multisig wallet – considered to be the safest strategy to protect your income.
3. 100% Reserve Guarantee – To ensure no embezzlement of traders’ funds, the reserve guarantee was introduced. Plus, it makes public all online and offline wallet addresses for public audit.
4. Assets Backed by Insurance – In order to fully recover any assets, all users’ online wallets are backed by insurance.
5. Wide Range of FIAT currency supported – Users are able to choose their desired fiat currencies for withdrawals or to make funds deposits. Examples of FIAT currencies include: USD/EUR/JPY/KRW/CNY/GBP/CAD, and others.
6. Full-time Responsive Customer Service – Cobinhood provides 24/7 online customer service to ensure consistency on the website and to keep all users satisfied and guided professionally. In case customers need assistance, success specialists can be reached via the COBINHOOD website or mobile app.

Apart from the previously mentioned features, Cobinhood also introduced their token symbol – COB, that has many utilities and brings a lot of advantages for token holders. In case you are interested in finding more details regarding this flourishing crypto, check out their website and white paper.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

In the past few weeks, there has been a lot of talk of existing cryptocurrencies potentially being labeled securities. Two currencies are of particular concern in this regard, as that status could easily apply to both XRP and Ethereum. It now seems a lawsuit has been filed against Ripple for violating securities laws in issuing XRP tokens.

The XRP Lawsuit is Disconcerting

There is a good chance that both Ethereum and XRP can be considered securities because of the way they were issued initially. Although Ethereum set up a Swiss foundation to bypass most of those concerns, the same does not necessarily apply to Ripple and XRP. With a formal lawsuit having been filed against Ripple for violating securities laws, it has become apparent that these concerns are more than legitimate.

The lawsuit, filed by Taylor-Copeland Law, is a class-action suit against Ripple Labs which also mentions Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. It seems a bunch of investors have gotten together and filed this lawsuit over their losses associated with holding XRP. For those unaware, Ripple has sold off XRP tokens over the past few months, although the team has always been transparent about doing so.

While the Ripple team has locked up over half of the XRP supply in time-locked contracts, they continue to offer these tokens to institutional investors and financial service providers. Any tokens not sold during the month they were made available will be put in a new contract at the end of the queue. It is a business model that seemingly works quite well, even though some people genuinely take offense to any fluctuations in the cryptocurrency world.

According to this lawsuit, Ripple Labs and the company’s CEO have made “major profits” by violating state and federal securities laws. The sale of XRP is the main reason for these gains, according to the filing. Moreover, the lawsuit claims XRP is part of a never-ending initial coin offering. It will be pretty difficult to make that charge stick, but it does set a very interesting precedent for future class action lawsuits like this one.

It was to be expected that the news regarding Ripple paying Coinbase to get XRP listed – and having that request denied – would be used against the company in one way or another. The lawsuit mentions this behavior as if it is a bad thing for a cryptocurrency or digital asset to try and get listed on bigger trading platforms. The plaintiffs also take offense to the fact that Ripple Labs locked up over half of the coin supply, even though this has seemingly had a minimal impact on the XRP price so far.

For the time being, it is unclear what we can expect from this lawsuit. While the information is out in the open as of right now, there is no indication that this lawsuit will have any major long-term consequences. It will be difficult to prove that Ripple Labs actually violated securities laws, although there are some factors which could eventually disrupt the project in one way or another.

As Hada DBank, the first digital global Islamic bank prepares for its main funding event, it has announced its token sale structure ahead of time.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Token structure details

The token structure shows that a price increase occurs as more tokens are sold. The first 1,000,000 HADACoins are priced at a rate of 3,000 HADA per ETH, with a minimum contribution of .15 per transaction.

Following the success of this presale, Hada DBank looks to reach its soft cap of 5,000 ETH and a hard cap of 30,000 ETH. This will allow the TGE to progress further at a desirable pace, giving HADA Dbank much-needed funds for development, marketing, and other various platform operations.

Fund allocation details

Majority of funds are being earmarked for R&D, with 35% allocated for this purpose. More specifically, the funds will be used to hire a minimum of 50 programmers and other personnel for various aspects of development such as platform, product, or services.

It also includes the construction of 7 labs in 5 years, with the 1st one to be in Switzerland and the second in Estonia.

30% is set aside for operation expenditures, which includes the hiring of management executives, funding the marketing initiative, as well as merchant partnerships and organization affiliations.

20% will be used for capital expenditures, such as acquiring offices, hardware investments, business assets, precious metals, and gems.

The remaining 15% will be set aside as a reserve, that is to not be used unless absolutely necessary. A decision by top management collectively and unanimously must be made in order to spend it. This buffer will double to 30% at a later date in accordance with Islamic Financial Law.

The main TGE commenced May 1st, with 50 million HADACoins available for participants to purchase. This is an excellent opportunity for supporters of this revolutionary project to get behind this platform and turn it into a reality.

In the meantime before the ICO, Hada Dbank is hard at work on developing its MVP (minimum viable product) with plans to announce its availability before the TGE commences. This should further encourage interested users to participate as people are more likely to invest when there is a tangible product as opposed to just an idea.  

After the TGE

Once the TGE ends, Hada DBank also has the official e-money functions release and final development and testing for banking services scheduled in the 2nd quarter of 2018.

The third quarter will see the launch of the banking services, as well as IT labs being set up in EU and MENA.

The last leg of 2018 brings with it the unsecured loan services launch, as well as a development of a new open-source blockchain for SME.

2019 will focus on the launch of Hada DBank in South East Asia, the launch of three additional services, and set up of labs in South East Asia as well.

2020, the last year on Hada Dbanks current roadmap, sees further expansion, both in terms of locations served as well as services. The exact market locations not been decided yet, but Hada Dbank will begin to offer investment banking, as well as Islamic Insurance and SME solutions in 2020.

To chat with Hada Dbank on their various channels, visit them on Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, Bitcointalk, and Instagram. Check out their website, read up on their whitepaper, or blog posts on Medium.

Peer-to-peer trading of cryptocurrencies has become a lot more popular over the past few months. While centralized exchanges are still the dominant market leaders, OTC trading platforms such as LocalBitcoins and Paxful are gaining popularity. Unfortunately, the success story doesn’t extend to all OTC trading platforms, as CoinTouch was forced to shut down due to new regulation in Europe.

CoinTouch Shuts Down, Effective Immediately

Although CoinTouch is not necessarily the most popular peer-to-peer trading platform in the world, it was still a valuable addition to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Giving users more ways to trade Bitcoin in a peer-to-peer fashion without dealing with centralized entities is always an option well worth exploring. Unfortunately, the service is no more, thanks to the recent GDPR guidelines in Europe.

To put this into perspective, CoinTouch has always been free of fees. The platform allowed for completely free peer-to-peer trading of Bitcoin. There was also a social aspect, as the platform banked heavily on social connections to get more people excited about cryptocurrencies. This feature used both Facebook and Google accounts to share information regarding one’s cryptocurrency trading.

Additionally, users could set up a direct peer-to-peer trading channel through either Facebook or Google. This ensured that verifying the identity of the other party wouldn’t require any involvement by CoinTouch itself. It is a business model that worked quite well, but it also poses some big problems thanks to the new GDPR regulation introduced in Europe. It is a very unfortunate side effect and one that might impact other trading platforms as well.

For those unaware, the new GDPR requirements could become a major headache for website owners. It is expected that penalties will be levied of up to 4% of turnover – or 20 million EUR – if no KYC procedures are introduced. Since CoinTouch did no user verification of their own, it is safe to say the platform would have been at major risk of being fined for violating these new guidelines. Taking such a risk serves no long-term purpose whatsoever.

CoinTouch’s owner explained the decision to shut down as follows:

This new EU law hurts small website[s] like mine, but helps reinforce the dominance of Facebook, Google and Twitter, who are able to prepare and defend themselves using established legal teams and cash reserves, and who now face less competition from startups. The EU Cookie Law, EU VAT regulation and now the EU GDPR are all examples of poorly-implemented laws that add complexity and unintended side-effects for businesses within the EU.

It seems the same individual is also operating the StreetLend platform as of right now. That service will be shut down for the same reason. While one can commend the EU regulators for trying to eliminate all criminal activity across the continent, GDPR may not necessarily be a solution with which most people are comfortable. For now, the real impact of this new measure remains somewhat limited, but that may not be the case for much longer.

BINEX.TRADE, a cryptocurrency exchange that shares the commissions it receives from trades with its token holders, just announced the release of a new UI (user interface) design.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

The Singapore based exchange said the interface was made to incorporate trading and knowledge in a way that appealed to both advanced traders and new users of BINEX.TRADE.

Two UI variants to appeal to all types of traders

There are two versions of the UI, called Basic and Advanced. Depending on which UI is selected, the trader will see a different set of features. The basic user interface will, of course, appeal to newer traders or those that trade casually, while the advanced interface looks to give every tool to the trader looking to maximize profits.

For example, casual traders will be more interested in spot trading, allowing for the immediate buying and selling of cryptocurrency at market rates. Advanced traders will be more inclined to use limit orders, and exercise a little patience to take advantage of market volatility.

News sections to keep up to date on developing updates

The platform’s new section, for example, will capture the user’s attention, allowing the user to have interactive communication with the exchange through numerous social media platforms, which will help capture the market’s perception of cryptocurrencies being traded.

While many traders trade using charts and technical analysis, people’s perceptions of cryptocurrency itself may be more important. Cryptocurrency users still follow a herd mentality when it comes to trading.

All it takes is one Twitter post of good or bad news to send a market soaring or crashing. Having a news section connected to social media platforms while you trade will soon become an invaluable asset to the trader aware of their surroundings.

Trade view allows users to see everything at once

BINEX.TRADE’s new user interface cleanly shows all important trade information such as summary, market news and value, currency trending value, buy-sell history, order types, and balance and trades.

Having one location to see all vital trading information saves times for traders holding many positions across different pairs, or who simply want to glance at their account overall. Either way, increasing ease of use and saving time at the same time is always a good thing.

BEX’s TGE began almost 2 months ago, on March 9th. Currently, in its pre-registration phase, this is an excellent way for participants to receive BEX tokens, as all those that pre-register receive 5 BEX tokens.

Users are able to purchase BINEX.TRADE’s native BEX token with ETH, with 70% of trading commission delivered to tokens holders daily, based on the number of tokens each holder has in their possession.

A new user interface, especially one that caters to different types of traders and makes trading easier, will attract more traders to the platform as well as encourage existing users to trade more often. This means more trade orders, which translates to more volume and trade commission.

More trade commission may also make BEX token more valuable, which BINEX hopes will lead to a positive cycle of growth.

To get started trading, visit the website. To read the whitepaper, click here. The Telegram channel can be visited here. BINEX.TRADE has a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, while blog posts and videos are posted on Medium and YouTube respectively.

Bitmain is clearly intent on introducing a lot more ASIC miners in quick succession. Their latest unit is the Antminer Z9 mini, which is primarily designed to mine cryptocurrencies relying on the Equihash algorithm. Although none of those currencies are even remotely popular, it seems there may still be some interest in this mining unit.

The Purpose of the Antminer Z9 Mini

One has to commend Bitmain from suddenly releasing so many different ASIC miners. It seems the company has been working on ASIC chips for specific mining algorithms, including CryptoNight, Equihash, and a few others. This begs the question as to how long the Chinese firm has been “secretly” mining these cryptocurrencies and driving up the prices accordingly.

Even so, the release of the Antminer Z9 mini comes at a rather interesting time. For those unaware, there are a few cryptocurrencies which make use of this particular algorithm, although none of them will be on most speculators’ short lists right now. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for such currencies, but releasing a dedicated ASIC miner for them seems a bit odd. That is, unless Bitmain acknowledges that mining those coins with their own hardware is no longer profitable enough to keep going.

It remains to be seen how many people will actually order this mining unit, which is priced at $1,999. In exchange for their hard-earned money, customers will get a machine capable of hashing away at 10,000 solutions per second. The unit consumes 300 Watts of electricity, which is more than acceptable compared to some of the other goodies sold by the company. As with most other ASIC miners, customers should not expect a refund for any orders of this unit.

Among the currencies using the Equihash algorithm are Bitcoin Gold, Zcash, Komodo, ZClassic, ZenCash, and a few others. Other than Zcash, it may not even be worth buying such an ASIC miner, although that decision should be made by users individually. We do know the Bitcoin Gold team is already preparing to fork away from this mining algorithm to avoid the ASIC threat altogether. Whether or not that’s a smart decision is something else entirely.

Unsurprisingly, Bitmain has no plans of accepting payments through Equihash currencies for this mining unit. Instead, they’ll stick with the same traditional options, such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. Whether or not anyone will even purchase this unit remains to be seen, as none of the Equihash coins have gained much traction. It is another somewhat odd decision by Bitmain, although we will have to wait and see how things play out.

It is evident a lot of things are changing in the world of cryptocurrency right now. Bitmain seemingly has a finger in every pie, which means the company may be responsible for controlling most hashrates of individual currencies on the market today. Anything that is not an ERC20 token or non-mineable asset is potentially subject to Bitmain’s interference in one way or another. That is not a positive thought by any means.

While many agree that cryptocurrency is the way of the future and would like to see the majority, if not all, of transactions to be done via one blockchain or another, it’s going to take some time to get there.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

INGOT has experience in the global financial market since 1993 and has provided various financial products and services before IC which include ETFs, international shares, as well as commodities and metals.

The Ingot Coin IC ecosystem

Ingot Coin looks to be the bridge between cryptocurrency and traditional financial markets through its platform, banking services, and IC brokerage. Estonia stationed, Ethereum blockchain based ecosystem aims to revive lost unity and demand to both markets through the establishment of 6 components that work together, all under one umbrella.

This ecosystem will take advantage of Ingot Coin’s native token IC, and will consist of an IC wallet, IC exchange, IC brokerage, IC Digital Bank, IC certifier, and IC ICO Accelerator.

Main usage for the IC ecosystem

The primary function of the IC ecosystem, however, is to enable custodial and brokerage operations, encompassing all financial instrument functions that are needed.  For example, the linking of multi-sig cold storage IC wallets with the fully featured IC exchange, in addition to utilizing the IC Brokerage for both sides will allow clients to safety trade in crypto and switch over to the traditional market if they wish, where they can then easily expand or liquidate their investment through the IC bank.

Holistic services enables quick growth

This system makes it quite easy for Ingot Coin to grow quickly. If clients use one service, they are inclined to use the other related services, due to the seamless integration between the six of them. This also leads to increased usage of the IC token, which should drive demand for the token upwards in the long term.

The bank and IC wallet can be used to transfer cryptocurrencies to be used in more traditional ways, allowing users to access fiat payment methods if need be. Additional services are provided to stakeholders within the IC community, with certified experts assisting the development of the ecosystem.

Director of INGOT Group and founder of INGOT Coin Iman Mutlaq stated;

“INGOT Coin will create a complete solution by integrating 6 core ecosystem components and providing a one-stop-shop for the digital asset, traditional asset, and currency markets”

The IC Ecosystem will also provide around the clock support, with services that link both markets. Ingot Coin wants to have the industry fastest and safest entry and exit mechanisms on both the cryptocurrency and fiat side, which will make reallocation of assets and trading techniques as frictionless and efficient as possible.

Ingot Coin looks to make this possible by using distributed technologies to get rid of third-party intermediaries to solve issues that have plagued the traditional banking system like high fees, unavailability of service, and long waiting periods.

To learn more about INGOT, visit their website and read their whitepaper. INGOT has a Telegram channel for those looking to chat. Interested users can follow INGOT on both Facebook and Twitter. For professional inquiries, visit their LinkedIn.  

The internet has certainly changed how people interact with each other now. Social media platforms have truly made connecting with people, just a click away. Yet, out of this ease of connection, problems have surfaced that were not ever thought of when the technology first emerged.

People, especially the younger generation, are spending more and more time online, preferring a disconnected interaction, rather than go outside and physically meet people. This is leading to a greater social isolation and a lack of physical exercise.

Connecting The Online and Offline, Kuende

Kuende is a social media platform like none other. Founded in 2015, the social media platform’s unique approach towards giving the youth a platform to connect with like minded people and at the same time, adding a layer of gamifying the experience by actually physically meeting up for interactions and gameplay, has garnered a lot of attention. The platform was established with a private investment of $2,600,000 and now boasts in excess of 54,000 active users and nearly 20,000 different kinds of applications installed. All this without the need of any external marketing strategy or campaign.

Pavel Antohe, the CEO and founder of Kuende explains the concept and creation of the platform by saying “There’s something wrong in today’s social media landscape and users are looking for a better alternative. A social media that shifts the focus from heavily filtered posts that highlight a false glamorous reality to real, genuine projections of our real lives.”

Kuende Takes Up Blockchain

The platform is shifting towards the blockchain technology, allowing for increased security and protection of data. The platform already has a policy of giving complete control to users over their data. With blockchain, they make this even more open and transparent.

With the recent news of social media platforms and other big corporations collecting information about their users and selling it off, user privacy is now a major concern. Today, most of social media platform users are the youth and with them uploading and sharing everything online, this has become and alarming situation for them.

Kuende tackles both issues of social isolation and privacy protection.

KUE and Token Distribution

The Kuende platform, with its adoption of blockchain, allows for users to use app services by paying through their native tokens, the KUE. Currently, the KUE is running its private distribution event. Users and investors must fulfill a KYC and sign a SAFT agreement before being eligible to participate. The event will end on 31st May, 2018. The Kuende platform has not announced a rate for the tokens in the private sale and will inform users after the end of the event.

There is also a 30% bonus in the private event. The bonus tokens will be released after the main event is over (dates to be announced later on). Of the 356,000,000,000 KUE tokens ever to be made, half of them will be available for backers in the two sales. 15% of the tokens will be reserved for a Community Pool, which will be used for future programmes for sustaining the economy of the platform.

For more information, visit the Kuende website: https://kuende.com/

The post Kuende, A Social Network That Connects The Offline World With The Online, Adopts Blockchain appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Crypto markets are rocketing: BTC is brushing $10k, ETH is over $821, and total market cap at $470 bln