Day: May 7, 2018

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The brand-new work “It Used To Be Wired” was made for Consensus 2018. The essential idea was to capture the crypto crossroads New York is currently facing. It also honors the tradition of the avant-garde in art there. This mixed-media canvas print with oils on top is now the most valuable one-off piece in my Art For Crypto portfolio at 3.9 BTC.

The New Frontier. Again?

When conceptualizing this piece I first thought about the lasting frontier spirit of New York, the artists who have lived there and pioneering moves in Bitcoin really starting from a humble transatlantic pizza transaction. No matter what you think about 9/11 a part of its ghost is inescapably linked to the 2008 financial meltdown and the birth of digital currency. Outside perhaps London, one struggles to think of a city more relevant to the global finances than the ‘City That Never Sleeps’. In truth, the inner city of London does not come to mind before Wall Street to most. How long will it keep that status though? It will be a balancing act.

In this art piece the iconic island skyline is transformed by blockchain code but this time Philippe Petit is not walking in between the WTC buildings as the man on a wire. He is walking from the Freedom Tower to the digital unknown. There are many blockchain ventures there but many are moving out of NY and the United States due to a lack of entrepreneurial support. The question remains: “Will New York keep its pioneering spirit or drive out the future of finance?”

The proceeds from “It Used To Be Wired” will all go towards producing two shows and an art exhibit at the World Crypto Con, the world’s largest crypto conference in Las Vegas. It includes a main stage performance, an opening ceremony show, and a 20 volume art piece exhibit during the three-day conference. It will feature here as well as on multiple crypto media with supporters well displayed from big screens and pull up banners to documentary features.

For a sake of a price reference, should you think this piece is pricey, remember that this #699606 Krypto Kitty here goes for a cool 0.8 BTC.

The Wire to Vegas

Another art piece just released on my platform is “Beyond Moon” that is a full-on tribute to the coming conference and the impact crypto is having on the famous playground. The same goes for this piece that all proceeds go towards making the WCC shows a phenomenal experience.

The research of this piece took me to some very interesting places. Vegas is known as the default adult playground where you get to leave your responsibilities behind you. As we know from Pinocchio this is not, of course, the whole story even if the fun and glamour are real too. The whole place was born due to the Hoover dam having been built close to it to produce energy. The synergy with crypto was a joy to dig into as there was an abundance of material there.

The Flamingo hotel is a big part of the birth story as well as falling in love so the central birds are a tribute to that. Nuclear weapons used to be tested about 40 miles off the strip for a long time so this time the explosion is crypto becoming a part of casino operations as well as funding for art performances and strip clubs.

The Elvis legs and my personal BTC support QR code on the ballet dancers point shoe is an encouragement to support the arts more than the strippers. The mother coin is raining all the main crypto logos in the form of chips on the epic code made skyline of Las Vegas. WCC, of course, has a special chip of its own as they are crafting a whole new paradigm in the world of creative conferences. Not everyone goes to Vegas to lose their minds but to work, make deals and perhaps secure multi-generational wealth.

The name of the piece is a synergy between the Area 51 legends and the myth that U.F.O’s charge themselves off the pyramids in Giza. This time it is the Ether pyramid of the Luxor hotel that is charging crypto to go “Beyond Moon”. The text is written on the Star Trek font of course – for us nerds who might get off on such a thing.

As a final note, almost a side note, we see Cupid shooting an arrow, perhaps through Bitcoin or the birds or both, through the heart of the operation. The symbol actually means an ego death as romance is there, for a large part, to produce children who shoot an arrow through your heart. It is about taking responsibility for life to carry on in the best possible manner. This is true for us individually as well as with our enterprises.

Let’s Do This!

Should you wish to support this venture with less than the full required minimum amount of 6 BTC here is how. I got approximately six months to produce something no one has ever seen before in the crypto space. Them dancing boys and girls don’t do this stuff for free. Producing a show is always a challenge but this time I’m doing it across an ocean too.

Cool if you can be part of making it a reality.

Bitcoin: 12MFdHBSqbKakPZeqWXZXUYgY7cxpkNRnj
Ethereum: 0xbE2dB7c5C99e30eC68fFBaE487C5f9553eee1923
Litecoin: LXrFde89B4Bmw2m47fcD7JavpJFzg36cDV

V E S A
Visual Artist
London / Helsinki

The post The Crypto Wire From New York To Las Vegas appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bill Gates “would short Bitcoin if there was an easy way to do it,” he told CNBC this week

Over $35 bln dollars were wiped off the crypto markets this weekend, as BTC failed to break the $10k psychological threshold

The cryptocurrency industry has been plagued by scams for quite some time now, especially when it comes to paid advertisements on popular search engines. The NEX ICO, for example, is subject to a lot of fake advertisements, which makes it very difficult for novice users to distinguish between reality and fiction.

Cryptocurrency Scams Rise in Number

People who have been invested in cryptocurrency for quite some time will acknowledge that there is a growing number of scams to contend with. Ranging from social engineering attempts to phishing and even misleading advertisements, this industry has seen it all. It appears the fake advertisement business model is still quite popular, according to some recently surfaced information.

More specifically, it seems initial coin offerings are still prone to fake advertisements on Google. Considering that such projects raise millions of dollars with relative ease, it is only normal that criminals want to get in on the action through less than legitimate means. The NEX ICO is a great example, as it has at least three fake advertisements on Google as of right now.

Unsurprisingly, criminals are using a very common tactic to make their ads look more legitimate. By copying text directly from the message in the search engine description, a smart approach is taken. One of the three results is a bit different in this regard, but that doesn’t mean people will be less likely to click on it.

Anyone with a clear mind can easily see which of these sites are fake. Although the obvious answer is “all three of them”, there are a few giveaways. First of all, the titles of these Google advertisements leave a lot to be desired. They are all focused on hype, and some are even in broken English. Secondly, the domain names themselves clearly show the actual domain name, with the domain extension making it easy to spot the fake ones. A com.de domain, as well as a .at domain name, are simply not the real thing.

It is not the first time such ICO scams have showed up in Google’s paid advertisements either. This has been an ongoing trend for quite some time now, and it seems the search engine giant has not been able to make a big dent in preventing such malicious advertisements to this point. 

For users who are interested in initial coin offerings and other cryptocurrency projects, doing their own research is an absolute must. Not doing so will always result in financial losses of some sort, which is something users need to avoid at all costs. Criminals will continue to target this growing industry, especially as the price of Bitcoin and altcoins continues to go up.

Central banks all over the world are – for the most part – convinced that issuing their own versions of Bitcoin serves no real purpose as of right now. The Federal Reserve, on the other hand, may have different ideas. One of its former officials is still convinced that the concept of FedCoin holds a lot of merit. One can only hope common sense prevails in the long run.

The FedCoin Concept Isn’t Dead

For quite some time now, there have been rumors regarding the Federal Reserve issuing its very own digital currency. Such a concept makes sense on paper, as the central bank doesn’t want competitors such as Bitcoin to succeed without opposition. In the real world, however, a bank-issued digital currency will always be scrutinized first and foremost.

Whereas most people assumed the FedCoin concept had been put on ice indefinitely, that is not necessarily the case. No real development progress has been made, but former Fed governor Kevin Warsh is convinced this currency will come to market. Whether or not it would have a chance of succeeding is a different matter altogether.

In a recent interview, Warsh made it clear that the concept of FedCoin needs to be seriously considered. In his opinion, existing crypto assets are cleverly designed and have tremendous potential. However, they all lack the “fundamental backing” of a government or central bank. That is also what makes such currencies incredibly popular, as a lot of people are fed up with the interference of banks and governments.

According to Warsh, FedCoin would be implemented if he were ever to be reinstated. He stated that a team should be put in place to contemplate the creation and issuance of FedCoin, and that the main reason for creating such a currency would be to “bring legal activities into a digital coin.” However, FedCoin would not replace traditional cash, but be more of a tool to implement a monetary policy during the next financial crisis.

That comment is pretty interesting for many reasons. It confirms that Warsh is a firm believer in monetary policy, which is often considered to have been the catalyst for the 2008 financial crisis. It also shows he worries about a new financial crisis looming on the horizon. Most consumers don’t give such a prospect a second thought, but it is important to keep an eye on the bigger picture at all times.

Central bank digital currencies will bring nothing of value to the table. Since these currencies will not replace cash, it is an extra “avenue” for more helicopter money to be brought into circulation. This is not something the world needs at this stage. It is certainly true that Bitcoin and other currencies are not perfect by any means, though their volatility is both a problem and their strong suit. Contrary to what some people might wish, though, they will not be going away.

Combined with other emerging tech, blockchain could enable a new paradigm of decentralized, on-demand production and realign global economic power.

Bitcoin Press Release: In what can be called a major milestone for VeriME – a Singaporean FinTech offering Blockchain based digital identity verification platform, has partnered with Maritime Bank – one of the largest Banks in Vietnam.

1st May  2018, Singapore – This move, which came shortly after VeriME’s Token Generation Event [TGE], was announced by VeriME company officials to the media this weekend. Leveraging VeriME’s D-KYC (KYC) & D-SECURE (Payment Authentication) services, the Bank aims to enhance its digital Banking and checkout experience for customers utilizing their Credit Cards, Retail Banking and Loan services.

Interestingly Maritime Bank is the 3rd Banking/Financial Institution in Vietnam to partner with VeriME. The Company has existing partnerships with Military Bank and CFC, with total of more than 5 million addressable customer opportunity for its Verification As a Service [VaaS] platform.

Maritime Bank’s Deputy General Director, Ms. Dang Tuyet Dung, said,

“We are excited to partner with VeriME and leverage their blockchain based VaaS platform for performing KYC and Payment Authentication for our customers. We believe in their product, and most importantly their compliance with Data Sovereignty and local PDPA laws. We are looking forward to VeriME revolutionizing the traditional customer onboarding and payment authentication processes.”

KYC continues to weigh heavily on financial institutions. According to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters, the challenges faced by companies due to complex and tedious manual KYC processes are many. It estimates a financial firm typically spends an average of $60 million USD annually on KYC and Compliance!

Sanjeev Kumar, co-founder, VeriME, commented;

“The rising KYC challenges and its costs, which companies as well as customers were facing made us think of a better solution. A solution which will not only automate the whole process but will also make the complete KYC and due diligence process faster, seamless and efficient, and that’s when the idea of VeriME was conceptualised.”

VeriME, launched in early 2017, is a Singaporean FinTech startup specializing in blockchain based Verification-as-a-Service solution to facilitate easy and fast user authentication for Banks, Financial Institutions, Marketplaces and large merchants. VeriME is partnered with 30+ partners globally encompassing more than 300,000 online merchants and their consumers. VeriME mission is to Digitize KYC and Authentication processes, increase transparency using the Blockchain, provide access anytime anywhere via personal mobile device and minimize time and cost for partners while maximizing customer experience. VeriMe’s vision is to become the leading unified decentralized VaaS platform in the Blockchain space and beyond.

To learn more visit the Website : https://www.verime.mobi/home
Chat on Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/Gizz-A7awH81i3pEGgB1dw
Connect on Twitter – https://twitter.com/VeriME_mobi
Like on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/VeriMEDigital/

Media Contact
Contact Name: Sara Elanko
Contact Email: [email protected]

VeriME is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. Cryptocurrencies and tokens are extremely volatile. There is no guarantee of a stable value, or of any value at all. Token sales are only suitable for individuals with a high risk tolerance. Only participate in a token event with what you can afford to lose.This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.

The post PR: Maritime Bank Chooses VeriME as its Verification Partner appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.