Day: May 6, 2018

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office revealed this week JP Morgan Chase applied for a patent related to blockchain back in October of last year. It’s quite the turnaround for the bank, which has been on record as one of bitcoin’s and cryptocurrency’s biggest critics.

Also read: Venezuela’s President Launches Crypto Funded Youth Bank, Encourages Mining Farms

JP Morgan Swallows Hard, Attempts a Blockchain Patent

Titled Systems and Methods for the Application of Distributed Ledgers for Network Payments as Financial Exchange Settlement and Reconciliation, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published JP Morgan Chase Bank’s formal application to patent what amounts to a variation on blockchain technology.

JP Morgan Chase is the biggest bank in the United States, and it ranks as the world’s second largest by market cap. Its head, Jamie Dimon, has gone after the phenomenon of cryptocurrencies quite publicly over the years. His rhetoric seemed to ramp up in direct relation to the then skyrocketing price of bitcoin (BTC). Back in 2017, these pages noted, “JP Morgan executive Jamie Dimon is downplaying bitcoin again and this time calling the decentralized currency a ‘fraud.’ Dimon told a CNBC broadcast that bitcoin markets would “blow up” and he would fire anyone from his team if they traded bitcoin. ‘It’s worse than tulip bulbs — It won’t end well,’ explains Dimon to the news outlet.”

Not too much long after, Mr. Dimon would not “shut up about bitcoin as the bank executive called bitcoin investors ‘stupid’ and someday they will ‘pay the price,’’ we explained. If that wasn’t enough, the bank was rumored to be considering bitcoin futures. This year’s turn, however, began when Mr. Dimon walked back some of those statements. Indeed, its annual report openly feared crypto would be a hugely disruptive force going forward, and perhaps for good. Such recent statements appeared to signal a shift in JP Morgan attitudes.

The best evidence came this week, as the Patent Office detailed, “Systems and methods for the application of distributed ledgers for network payments as financial exchange settlement and reconciliation are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for processing network payments using a distributed ledger may include: (1) a payment originator initiating a payment instruction to a payment beneficiary; (2) a payment originator bank posting and committing the payment instruction to a distributed ledger on a peer-to-peer network; (3) the payment beneficiary bank posting and committing the payment instruction to the distributed ledger on a peer-to-peer network; and (4) the payment originator bank validating and processing the payment through a payment originator bank internal system and debiting an originator account,” are all what JP Morgan is after.

It might be the bank is attempting to cut in on the money wiring services industry across the globe. The market for remittances is many billions. Just how a blockchain, in the way commonly understood regarding the technology, would assist in cross-border transactions without a proprietary coin affiliated is not immediately clear as of this writing. What is clear is that JP Morgan and Mr. Dimon are sharing large slices of humble pie as news of the patent application spreads.

What do you think JP Morgan Chase is up to? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Pixabay.

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The post JP Morgan Chase Eats Humble Pie, Applies for Blockchain Patent appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Venezuela is a remarkable country when it comes to cryptocurrency. Despite the Petro currency continuing to be scrutinized left, right, and center, it seems there are big plans for this crypto. More specifically, the government now aims to create a digital cryptocurrency bank directly targeted at younger residents. The venture will receive $1.2 billion worth of funding in the form of 20 million Petro.

The Petro Gains More Traction

In a way, it is good to see the Petro currency gain a bit more traction. Despite the initial hype surrounding this project in Venezuela, there are still a lot of questions as to what the future holds for the currency itself. So far, there is no real reason to be interested in the Petro, although it seems that may change fairly soon. A new venture has been announced by the government which will certainly put this new form of money on the map.

More specifically, the Venezuelan government is launching a brand-new digital cryptocurrency bank. This particular venture is interesting for many reasons. Not only does it promote the use of the Petro cryptocurrency, but it also alleviates some of the financial concerns that have been plaguing the country for quite some time now. Venezuela is known for its financial instability, yet setting up a cryptocurrency bank could lead to some interesting developments down the line.

Moreover, this cryptocurrency bank is not necessarily designed for adults, as the government is mainly targeting youth and students. That is another interesting development, as it goes to show the Venezuelan government has high hopes for the future of the country. Introducing youth and students to the concept of cryptocurrency could make a positive impact, although it remains unclear if and when that will happen exactly.

Funding such a massive venture is not all that easy, although the government has a clear plan in place. More specifically, the cryptocurrency bank venture will be funded with 20 million Petro, currently valued at $1.2 billion. This further confirms that there is a real-life value for the Petro and actual use cases waiting to be unlocked. This is all part of an ongoing plan associated with cryptocurrency and Venezuela, by the look of things.

Moreover, President Nicolas Maduro made it clear he values all of Venezuela’s schools and universities. However, Maduro is convinced every single one of these institutions needs to have its own farm to mine cryptocurrencies. It is a bit unclear whether this applies to the Petro currency specifically, or any cryptocurrency which could rise in value over the coming years.

As one would expect, there are some concerns regarding this new venture. While one has to commend the president for focusing on cryptocurrency and banking in Venezuela, the value of the Petro itself is still up in the air. While the currency is backed by oil reserves, it remains to be seen how useful it will be in the real world. Funding a national effort for youth and young students portends an interesting future ahead, but there will be challenges to contend with as well.

In the world of bitcoin, there are a lot of conflicting opinions. This is especially true when it comes to the bitcoin price, which is always a subject of heavy debate. Warren Buffett recently claimed Bitcoin is worse than “rat poison squared.” Leave it up to the media to claim this is the main reason why the Bitcoin price is dropping slightly over the weekend.

The Opinion by Warren Buffett is Meaningless

While everyone in the world is entitled to their opinion, it doesn’t make them right by default. Warren Buffett illustrates that point rather clearly. More specifically, he called Bitcoin “rat poison squared.” This is not a surprising development, as Buffett has opposed Bitcoin for as long as most people remember. Whether this is due to misunderstanding or just an unfounded bias, remains to be determined.

It is interesting to see how Warren Buffett continues to oppose Bitcoin. Despite his strong opinion, the world’s leading cryptocurrency has done just fine. Any opinion he spouts to the media will not impact the BTC value by any means. Even so, leave it to the mainstream outlets to claim that is exactly the reason for Bitcoin’s temporary price dip.

#Bitcoin drops as Buffett compared bitcoin to rat poison at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting. 87-year-old investor said bitcoin would "definitely come to a bad ending." https://t.co/azMllgnd63 pic.twitter.com/5j2Y77oPu6

— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) May 6, 2018

Additionally, the Bitcoin price has risen strongly over the past two weeks. It is only normal there will be a slight correction to contend with after such strong momentum. It is peculiar how Warren Buffett spouts such nonsense when the Bitcoin value is going up and heads toward $10,000 again. For a “failed” currency, BTC is doing quite well.

The Media Fuels Bitcoin Speculation

Anyone who has kept an eye on the Bitcoin industry knows mainstream media outlets dislike cryptocurrency. They will often sue any remark or suggestion to whip up a negative Bitcoin price article. Every time some official, expert, or self-professed financial guru, the Bitcoin price is bound to go down if the media is to be believed.

#Bitcoin drops below <$10k as #India's FinMin Arun Jaitley says will eliminate use of Cryptocurrencies. pic.twitter.com/5WcBnq7Rv2

— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) February 1, 2018

Not that long ago, the above tweet surfaced regarding India’s regulatory developments. With the government looking closely at Bitcoin, there is a fair bit of speculation. Unfortunately, anti-Bitcoiners tend to mislabel and misinterpret the truth in an effort to make cryptocurrency look terrible. This strategy has been going on for some time now and will probably continue for years to come.

The Bitcoin price will eventually find its way back to the five-digit range. With solid technical advancements on the horizon, the future looks pretty bright. Additionally, it seems the overall interest in Bitcoin isn’t slowing down either. Cryptocurrency still remains a big threat to the financial industry in many different ways. This also means anyone with an opinion will effectively get their 15 minutes of fame courtesy of the media.

The post No, Bitcoin Price Didn’t Drop Because Warren Buffett Said it is Rat Poison appeared first on NewsBTC.

Sweden based company Miner One has launched a bitcoin mining rig into the stratosphere where it successfully mined the digital currency from over 100,000 feet (35,000 meters) above the earth, states the company in its blog post.

The rig called Space Miner One was launched using a hydrogen balloon with a capsule assembly attached containing an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and a Rasberry Pi3 microcomputer capable of processing the data at that height.

The Space Miner One capsule also contained instruments for navigation and tracking, along with the material necessary to protect the rig from extreme temperatures. It landed two and a half hours after take-off having mined at a hashrate of 330 megahashes per second.

The project is the brainchild of Swedish CEO Pranas Slušnys, who feels that mining in space will have far-reaching consequences for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole:

“The goal of Space Miner One is to symbolically express our belief that bitcoin and cryptocurrency, in general, is about the future and the revolutionary technology at its heart: so-called blockchain technology. And with this new technology, the sky’s the limit.”

Miner One is presently planning to build a mining farm in northern Sweden region, chosen for its favorable low temperatures. The company,  in a statement, mentioned that even NASA is researching the possibility of using blockchain in space for communications and navigation.

There are detractors though. BTCManager reported last year that a blog post by cryptography consultant Peter Todd suggested that bitcoin mining had a future in space, but primarily in using solar power. Todd argued that NASA’s probes near the sun indicate that it would be a good area to locate solar-powered miners, but felt it might be unprofitable due to its latency and the fact that most of the hash power is on earth.

The European Space Agency agreed that it would financially impracticable, reporting that, “due to the harsh space environment, the lifetime of current solar panels in space is significantly shorter compared to the Earth surface.”

However, Todd agrees that the implications of blockchain technology are far-reaching. Juan Benet, the inventor of Interplanetary File System (IPFS), plans to merge this technology with the blockchain, envisioning a future where:

“IPFS connects all these different blockchains in a way that’s similar to how the web connects all these websites together. The same way that you can drop a link on one page that links to another page, you can drop a link in ethereum [for example] that links to zcash and IPFS can resolve all of that.”

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Image source:  Pixabay ( Communication-76, CC0 License)

The post Bitcoin Mining Takes Off Above the Stratosphere appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

There have been a lot of discussions regarding which currency should call itself Bitcoin. Although one would assume Bitcoin itself would be the most obvious choice, that is not necessarily the case. Bitcoin Cash supporters are convinced there are better currencies out there, including BCH. A recent tweet by @Bitcoin is certainly sparking a lot of new debates.

The BTC-BCH Debate Continues

It seems there is no end to the debate over whether Bitcoin Cash is the real Bitcoin or not. Obvious evidence points to BCH being an altcoin, although the semantics are proving quite convoluted. There is a genuine cult mentality taking shape among people who consider Bitcoin Cash to be the Bitcoin originally envisioned in 2008, although it is evident that title still belongs to BTC itself.

Depending on how one portrays Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, both currencies can claim the title of Bitcoin. They are both offspring of the same idea, even though Bitcoin Cash simply did not exist as a currency back when Satoshi Nakamoto wrote the whitepaper and introduced the world to Bitcoin in its purest form. At that time, there was only BTC, and BCH only became relevant to this debate in 2017.

Over the years, one could argue BTC has departed from the path originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto. Depending on how one wants to interpret the original Bitcoin whitepaper, it is safe to say the BTC we know today is not necessarily in line with what Nakamoto had hoped for. At the same time, Bitcoin Cash may not necessarily fit that classification either, even though its developers are doing things very differently.

Bitcoin Cash is the oldest cryptocurrency. Its white paper was published in 2008 and the genesis block mined in January 2009.

Bitcoin Core (BTC) is an experimental currency that does not have a white paper and has only operated under its current model for two years. pic.twitter.com/YBeepJlwC5

— Bitcoin (@Bitcoin) May 4, 2018

The recent tweet by the @Bitcoin Twitter account – which was seemingly reinstated after its most recent ban – is causing a lot of confusion again. More specifically, the account claims Bitcoin Cash is the oldest cryptocurrency, with its whitepaper published in 2008 and the genesis block mined in 2009. That is factually incorrect, although it is something one could – politically speaking – justify up to a certain degree.

However, calling Bitcoin Core – or BTC – an experimental currency is clearly misrepresenting the truth. There is no such currency as Bitcoin Core, just like there isn’t BCash. This name-calling is getting a bit old by now and shows a lack of professionalism. BTC is Bitcoin, as it has been since its inception in 2008. While not everyone may agree with how the currency is being developed, it is still the world’s leading cryptocurrency despite all of the conflicting opinions.

As one would expect, the Bitcoin community isn’t too happy with @Bitcoin’s tweet. Some will even see this blatant misinformation as a valid reason to get the account suspended from Twitter again. Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen, but it is a very distinct possibility at this stage. While no one doubts the success of Bitcoin Cash, these backhanded tactics need to end on both sides. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely the childish behavior will be weeded out anytime soon.

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