Day: May 9, 2018

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s cofounder, is increasingly finding himself target of very public rumors about his role in the project’s supposed love of secrecy. Charges of lacking transparency are equivalent to mortal sins in the cryptocurrency space. Ethereum too is particularly sensitive about accusations along these lines, especially in the ongoing light of a possible US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) crackdown. Mr. Buterin and his supporters are fighting back.

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

Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Responds to Critics

And there it was, as Mr. Buterin, skeletal boy genius behind Ethereum, took to Twitter: “[…] it was organized without my permission or even involvement [….]” The turn of phrase, without my permission, might well haunt him in the days and months to come. It presupposes his benevolence, of course. What was it organized sans Mr. Buterin’s blessing or presense?

The “it” was a recent meeting in Toronto, Canada of Ethereum players, promptly blasted by Catallaxy co-founder and Satoshi Portal CEO (Bylls) Francis Pouliot. He described the event as a “Secret meeting of Ethereum management committee,” in a Tweetstorm for the ages, continuing about how “blockchain governance rules were decided by the stakeholders.”

The entire Ethereum project of late has come under ecosystem scrutiny due to SEC regulators in the United States set to determine its legal fate. Judged a security, and therefore subject to regulatory jurisdiction as a public company, could conceivably rock much of the crypto world. A healthy majority of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and smart contract platforms are dependent upon ERC20 tokenization.

The not even three-year-old tech is many a developer’s choice, allowing for ease of integration and largely trusted. It is unclear, as of this writing, exactly what implications are carried with an unfavorable SEC determination, but most analysts believe it to be negative at least in the short run. Indeed, most ICOs openly forbid US citizens’ participation in anticipation of odious regulations and subpoenas.

Ethereum as an Insane, Plutocratic Government

“This is insane,” Mr. Pouliot insisted. “They are establishing a plutocratic government. This has provably failed with Bitcoin (UASF/NO2X). Does anybody even care?” The evidence marshalled for the slam came from a lone news source, which described the event in worrying terms, according to Mr. Pouliot’s reading.

And it does appear discussions about decentralization, mining, scarcity, and the infamous cases of frozen funds were had in Toronto. However, the cryptosphere seemed unconvinced about a cabal, and took Mr. Pouliot to task. Principal Lane Rettig argued “The event was not secret, in fact we livestreamed a lot of it. We also did a public AMA. There is no ‘Ethereum management committee’ and no rules were made. Please get your facts right. Your message is intellectually dishonest.” Mr. Pouliot shot back paraphrasing attributed to Mr. Rettig, and the thread continued along those lines.

Vitalik Buterin was eventually compelled to address the issue as it gained traction among the other rumors and news surrounding Ethereum. “I was not at this meeting,” Mr. Buterin tweeted in response, “it was organized without my permission or even involvement, and I honestly don’t really know much about what happened there.”

In what might be considered a classic Twitter tangent, Mr. Buterin was sucked, then again, into another side argument about privacy coins and the phenomenon of maximalism. Asked his opinion of Monero, he insisted, “If I was doing anything seriously privacy-demanding I’d probably go for Zcash first.” This brought further rebuke from privacy coin guru Rhett Creighton, himself the subject of much derision lately, who snarkily wrote in response, “Says the paid Zcash advisor,” landing him in a strange bedfellows situation with polemicist Whale Panda. News of potential regulation and very public Twitter flames might have also contributed to an immediate dip of roughly a 5% price dip for ether, but it seems to have recovered at time of publication.

Is this much ado about nothing, or is Ethereum in real trouble? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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The post Ethereum Founder Responds to Charges of “Insane”, “Plutocratic” Governance appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Morgan Creek Blockchain has helped a tech company turn its paper shares into security tokens as part of a push to raise $40 million.

China’s second-largest Bitcoin miner is looking to raise $1 billion from their IPO launch in Hong Kong instead of the US.

Canaan Seeks a Billion Through IPO in Hong Kong

The South China Morning Post has reported that Canaan, a giant in the Bitcoin mining industry, has made plans to launch a 1 billion dollar IPO in Hong Kong according to unnamed sources close to the deal. If the IPO is successful it would make Canaan the first company from the blockchain industry to be listed on the Hong Kong bourse.

The rumors that Canaan Creative have been considering launching an IPO outside of China started in April, with most considering the US and Hong Kong as top candidates. Now the unnamed sources say the company has settled on Hong Kong and will be looking to reach the billion-dollar mark.

The Hanzou based company was founded in 2013 to design and sell the high-performance circuits specific to mining Bitcoin. In 2017 Canaan released unaudited figures that showed a net income of 410 Million Yuan ($64 million) which was a 600 percent increase over 2016 profits.

Canaan has previously made two attempts at raising funds through IPO’s in China. First in 2016 when the company tried to gain a listing in China’s A-share market by partnering with electric equipment maker Luyitong but the plan ended when regulators judged the deal to be overvalued. They failed again in 2017 when they applied for a listing in China’s “New Third Board”  market which requires less stringent requirements for undisclosed reasons.

Amid China’s crackdown on crypto trading and ICOs the majority of Canaan’s clients are still in the country which remains one of the top three Bitcoin mining nations. The company’s decision to launch an IPO out of the country may be linked to its future plans of creating home appliances that also passively mine cryptocurrency and its desired expansion to create chips for mining alt currencies.

Mining Conglomerates Could Choke Ethereum

Canaan seeking to raise a billion dollars in order to expand its already massive mining interest leads to concerns over the decentralization of cryptocurrency mining as Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain begins a shift towards mining Ether to increase profits.

Ethereum’s increase in popularity and price has attracted mining conglomerates to either change over from mining Bitcoin or add new hardware in order to mine its native token the Ether. Bitmain which builds and operates mining rigs that are much more powerful than the average GPU miner may endanger the decentralized nature of the network.

The dominance of mining conglomerates can push GPU miners out of the space leaving the network to be reliant on a few giant companies. Lucas Nuzzi an analyst at Digital Asset Research called this scenario a “nightmare for decentralization,”.

Image from Shutterstock

The post Chinese Bitcoin Mining Giant Chooses Hong Kong Over US for IPO appeared first on NewsBTC.

FOMO Moments

In a similar pattern to last week, crypto markets are gathering momentum as the week draws to a close. A slight recovery has been made from the profit taking and markets have climbed back over $430 billion. Bitcoin bears could not push the daddy of crypto below $9k and it has risen 3% on the day to $9,350. As a result most of the altcoins are trading in the green on Asian markets this morning. One shooting for the moon today is the same coin we featured yesterday, Zilliqa.

Boosted by a listing on OKEx yesterday, ZIL has continued its pump for the second day. According to Coinmarketcap it has surged 31% over the past 24 hours. Currently trading at $0.21 this altcoin has jumped from $0.15 this time yesterday. Weekly gains have been even more impressive rising 75% from $0.12 this time last Thursday. On the month ZIL has surged an astounding 450% from $0.038 this time last month. Gains against Bitcoin have been solid with 30% on the day to 2290 satoshis from 1700 sats this time yesterday and over the week ZIL has made 74% on BTC rising from 1320 satoshis last Thursday.

The surge in Zilliqa price has been driven by listings on another two major exchanges. This time it is South Korean Bithumb that has made ZIL available to its customers;

Zilliqa(ZIL) and Ethos(ETHOS) will be listed on Bithumb and Bithumb PRO.
Visit Bithumb website and trade new cryptocurrencies!@zilliqa @Ethos_io

PC : https://t.co/6MRxyQeeQV
MOBILE : https://t.co/pI2HiXVd9Q

— Bithumb (@BithumbOfficial) May 10, 2018

If that wasn’t a big enough boost for the altcoin Upbit has also announced a listing along with an airdrop of ZIL tokens:

Upon $ZIL exchange listing 2,000,000 ZIL will be distributed to wallets who deposit and hold a minimum of 20 ZIL. Reward will be divided by the number of #Upbit depositors equally. @zilliqa

Time of Listing: May 10th – 16th
Time of Event: May 30th

— UPbit Translator (@UPbitExchange) May 10, 2018

Currently the action is happening on Binance which has almost 70% of the total trade volume. That volume has risen over 200% from $120 million to $365 million over the past 24 hours. Zilliqa has surged into the top 25 by market cap with $1.5 billion which ranks it at 22^nd, above Lisk, Verge, and Nano.

Market capitalization for all cryptos combine has climbed by 4% over the past day and is currently at $436 billion. Trade volume has been steady at $22 billion combined. Other altcoins having a good morning during Asian trade include Bitcoin Cash, VeChain, Binance Coin, and Verge.

More on Zilliqa can be found here: https://www.zilliqa.com/

FOMO Moments is a section that takes a daily look at the top 25 altcoins during the Asian trading session and analyses the best performing one, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.

The post Asian Cryptocurrency Trading Roundup: Double Korean Exchange Listings Lift Zilliqa appeared first on NewsBTC.

A Colorado bill that would more clearly define whether certain digital assets qualify as securities, was voted down in the state Senate on the last day of the legislative session

Proof of Trevon James, or PoTJ is an ERC-20 token launched a little over a week ago. It’s named after Trevon James, a cryptocurrency youtube influencer. Most people know him from his youtube channel which has over 120k subscribers, he is also a defendant in the Bitconnect class action lawsuit, which is still underway.

The Proof of Trevon James Tewken

The project was created by a friend of Trevon who goes by the name SpydrZero. After finding out about PoTJ, Trevon himself decided to join the project and promote it on his channels.

The smart contract is essentially a game where earlier participants capitalize on other users who buy, sell, or transfer the tokens. Trevon explains:

“When someone buys or sells Proof of Trevon James tewken, 20% of the buy at 25% of the sell price is split by the total number of coins and given as locked-in-rewards (priced in Ether)”.

At its core, the contract reward system is based on that of a pyramid scheme. By definition, a pyramid scheme is a form of investment in which earlier paying participant recruit new participants, with return being given to early investors using money contributed by newer players.

The difference between PoTJ and other pyramid schemes, is the fact that the creators of the contract are transparent with the reward system. Since anybody can view the contract, those looking to invest in PoTJ should be 100% aware of how the game works.

Another way to think of PoTJ is a sort of POS model where you receive rewards based on how much of the supply you hold. Trevon James currently holds 7% of the total supply of PoTJ tokens, if someone were to buy 8% of the current supply he would end up receiving higher rewards than Trevon. Furthermore, the supply of the coin changes as the market moves up or down.

When a user sells their PoTJ for ETH the coins get burned and the supply diminishes, when somebody buys PoTJ the supply increases. When a user transfers coins to another address, 10% that transfer get split to all the holders.

This reward system might seem confusing, so let me give you an example. If you were to buy into the contract with 1Eth and immediately sell it, you would get around 0.55Eth back. The reason for that is you lose 20% on the buy in, and 25% on the sell, ending up with around 55% of your initial ethereum. In other words, in order to break even the token price has to go up roughly 40% before you decide to sell it.

Additionally, there is a masternode system in place, which only activates once a user owns at least 50 tokens. It’s a pretty interesting concept in general. Considering that the contract holds almost $277,000 worth of Ether right now, it seems people are definitely buying into it. Currently, there is no exchange that trades the token, all buy and sells are conducted via the smart contract.

You can actually keep track of all the users and their balances. Mr Fahrenheit from the project’s discord created a script that downloads every single address which has ever interacted with the contract, and then queries the token balance for each one and ranks them.

PoTJ isn’t the first smart contract to offer pyramid style rewards in a transparent ethereum smart contract, Proof of Weak Hands (POWH) and EthPhoenix come to mind. When we wrote about POWH in January of this year the smart contract had over 2000 transactions and worth over $800,000. Currently, the contract is worth a whopping $30. Whether PoTJ will suffer a similar fate is up for debate, but one must be aware of the risks before investing.

The PoTJ website clearly states that this is an entertainment venture rather than an actual investment opportunity. There are no guarantees that anyone will make money from this scheme.

Tron Price Key Highlights

• Tron is still in correction mode as it waits for bulls to return at nearby support zones.
• Applying the Fibonacci retracement tool on the latest swing low and high shows that the 61.8% level lines up with an area of interest.
• If bulls are eager to charge, the higher Fibs might be enough to keep losses in check.

Tron is in correction from its recent upside break and rally, with bulls waiting at the Fibonacci retracement levels.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA to signal that the path of least resistance is to the upside. This means that the uptrend is more likely to resume than to reverse. The gap between the moving averages is widening to signal strengthening bullish momentum.

Tron is currently testing the 100 SMA dynamic inflection point, which might be enough to keep losses in check and allow a move back to the swing high at 0.1000. A larger pullback could last until the 200 SMA dynamic support near the 50% Fib at 0.0600.

The line in the sand for a Tron correction might be the 61.8% Fib at the former resistance around 0.0500 to 0.0550. A break below this area could send Tron falling back to the swing low near 0.0300.

TRXUSD 4-hour Chart from TradingView

RSI seems to be treading sideways to signal consolidation, but it’s worth noting that the oscillator just made its way out of the overbought region to signal a return in buying pressure. Stochastic also seems to be pulling higher so Tron could follow suit.

Note that anticipation for the mainnet launch on May 31 is building up and could be enough to draw more investors in, provided all goes well of course. Tron has completed its airdrop of Ethereum to its network and market watchers are looking forward to seeing how it would fare on its own.

The post Tron (TRX/USD) Price Technical Analysis for 05/10/2018 – Where Buy Orders Are Waiting appeared first on NewsBTC.

Christine Moy, Amber Baldet’s successor at JPMorgan, shares her thoughts on the future of enterprise DLT and the role of public blockchain networks.

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

• Bitcoin price bounced off the bottom of its rising channel and looks ready for a move back to the top.
• The Fibonacci extension tool shows the next upside targets from here.
• However, technical indicators are suggesting that the selloff could still resume.

Bitcoin price found support at $9,000 once more and could set its sights higher, but technicals still reflect bearish pressure.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is crossing below the longer-term 200 SMA to signal that the path of least resistance is to the downside. In other words, the selloff is still likely to resume. In addition, the 100 SMA appears to be holding as dynamic resistance for the time being.

RSI is on the move up but seems ready to turn lower to indicate a return in selling momentum. Stochastic is heading south from the overbought zone, so bitcoin price might follow suit. A break below the $9,000 level could be enough to sustain a reversal from here.

BTC/USD 1-hour Chart by TradingView

But if bulls stay in control, bitcoin price could pull up to the next resistance at the 38.2% extension or the 50% level at the mid-channel area of interest at $9600. The 61.8% extension is located near $9700 then the 76.4% extension lines up with the swing high. The full extension is at $10,174 just past the channel top.

Market Factors

Bitcoin price seems to be resilient against the factors weighing on it these days, as investors are likely putting more focus on the earlier positive developments. It has been reported that ICE will be launching a bitcoin exchange, which could draw more liquidity and activity even for other altcoins.

For now, though riskier assets like bitcoin are being weighed down by risk aversion stemming from geopolitical risk. Recall that Trump announced that the US would pull out of the Iran deal, which could keep geopolitical tensions heightened for the time being. This scenario is usually more bullish for the dollar and other safe-haven assets.

The post Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 05/10/2018 – Bulls Defend $9,000 Again! appeared first on NewsBTC.

9 May 2018 — The Cayman Islands — Today Caviar announced that it is to be listed on the Nebula Exchange on May 8th. Caviar has created a winning combination of fast-appreciating crypto-assets with income-generating short-term loans, packaged into one token.

Nebula: “An Exchange Where Cryptocurrency Projects, Traders & Enthusiasts Reach for Stars”

Nebula is a cryptocurrency trading platform which offers industry-leading safety features and secure token trading. Nebula also offers exciting rating and regulation systems for tokens allowing members to share their opinions on the latest token offerings and earn points for community contributions. This unique rating system, along with other features, are highly anticipated to be successful and to progress worthy and legitimate projects.

“With multi-currency support and margin trading available, the Caviar team is excited to see our own CAV tokens listed on the Nebula exchange,” said Caviar partner Alex Shvayetsky.

Caviar Exchanges: Focus on High Compliance, Security Standards

Getting listed on various exchanges which are secure and compliant is essential to furthering the growth of Caviar in the blockchain ecosystem and will bring added value to our CAV token holders. Nebula is Caviar’s first confirmed exchange, and the team will provide updates on further exchanges in the future.

Nebula’s executive Nathan Collins recently shared this interview in which he explains what sets them apart from other exchanges. CAV tokens will be available following the official Nebula launch on the 8th of May onwards. CAV tokens are currently not available to residents of the United States and the Cayman Islands.

Disclaimer: Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. Future profits are not implied nor guaranteed, past performance does not guarantee future outcome. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. Caviar tokens are not, and will not, be registered with the SEC, and are not offered or sold to persons and entities from the USA and the Cayman Islands.

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

Soundeon reinforces its position as a technological maverick within the music and intellectual property industries as it files patent technology underlying its platform. 

TALLINN, Estonia – May 9, 2018

Blockchain-powered music platform Soundeon continues to accumulate traction, firmly establishing its position at the forefront of blockchain innovation as Soundeon developers have filed a nonprovisional utility patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on April 27 for the Creative Smart ContractTM technology underlying the platform.

The patent-pending Creative Smart ContractTM environment provides innovative systems and methods for intellectual property ownership rights management, funding and ticketing on the blockchain and peer-to-peer. Artists have full control of their creative output from the very inception to the copyright, distribution, royalty collection and distribution of the intellectual property works as well as event ticketing. Embedded automation reduces transaction frictions and operational costs for intellectual property management.

This is accomplished through the utilization of decentralized stores and a series of smart, self-executing contracts; collectively integrating a number of systems and methods into a single environment intended to vertically integrate the media rights management and ticketing industries. The use-case of this technology extends to all types of intellectual property.

Patent-pending status provides Soundeon and its users with intellectual property protection for its leading-edge approach to resolving media rights management. Users can now be assured that the Creative Smart ContractTM technology will remain protected by law in the interest of promoting transparency and fair play within the music industry.

“Our breakthrough technology encapsulates not only digital rights management but the entire life-cycle of an artist, including funding, IP marketplace, DRM, micro-payment channels and ticketing on the distributed ledger,” said Vladimir Avdeev, CVO of Soundeon.

He also points out that Soundeon’s holistic approach to utilizing blockchain technology and IPFS goes well beyond the patchy patents filed by the likes of Sony who are so far taking an outdated approach to blockchain technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_kYpuESDmU

Related Links
Soundeon Homepage
Soundeon on Telegram

To learn more, visit us at http://soundeon.com
Read the full Whitepaper: http://soundeon.com/Soundeon_WP_v0.1.pdf
Media Contact
Contact Name: Anna Tolstochenko
Contact Email: [email protected]

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

It’s amazing to think about the evolution of the casino game. People have always been playing games and betting on them from the street game of marble to the pub full of people playing blackjack or poker. For hundreds of years (or longer in some countries) these games have been part of the cornerstone of entertainment and enjoyment for people around the world.

The Start of Gaming

According to Wikipedia, as early as the 1630s, the Ridotto in Venice, Italy included gambling and a place for people to gather and have fun together. These locations were actually closed a hundred years later as they were thought to be impoverishing the people. The saloons in America were the earliest form of gaming and they were part of the creation of cities like New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago and San Francisco.  Gambling was outlawed for a time in the United states and then legalized in 1931 in Nevada and America’s first casinos that were legal and legit were started there.

Casino Sites

From this point, land based casinos started to gain popularity and have become incredibly popular, even to this day. People love the idea of having a location where they can go to rest, enjoy some fun, socialize, and often receive free drinks and cheap lodging. Around the world, there are facilities of this sort. But then technology advanced, and the online casino sites started to blossom. Whether it was the Australian online casino or the American online casino site, there was an opportunity for people around the world to enjoy this form of entertainment. First, they were able to play games from their computers. This completely changed the nature and attitude towards gaming. While it used to be that people needed to find transportation to get to a gaming site, book a hotel room (potentially) and make an entire trip out of being at the casino, they could now play in their pajamas from the comfort of their home.

Big Changes

This completely changed the nature of the gaming world. Sure, people still love to go to the land based casino and it has many advantages and fun aspects to it; but now they could also stay home or at their work or anywhere that there was a computer and play with a lot more privacy and convenience.

The Real Changes

The real boom and changes came about, however, with the advent of the smartphone and the ability to play from a mobile device. Now, people could literally play from anywhere. With a tablet or smartphone, they could gaming choices while in line at the grocery store, while at the barber, while waiting for their next client or while home relaxing. And they didn’t have to haul a computer out in order to play- they could play in the palm of their hand. So what are the advantages to being able to play with the mobile casino sites Australian online casino locations today?

Advantages to Mobile

There are many awesome things about the online sites, and the mobile sites are just that much more convenient. First of all is convenience, of course, since you can play from anywhere that you have internet access at any time of the day or night. This means you don’t have to travel to a land based casino to get your thrill and you don’t even have to wait until you get back to the house to enjoy those games. Most of the mobile casinos also offer amazing progressive jackpots and many of the same games and features offered by the online varieties. You’ll also see that the graphics have come a long way and you can enjoy gaming on the mobile device that feels just as visually satisfying as does gaming on the computer.

More Fun

In today’s energy driven marketplace of ideas, no one has a long attention span and no one wants to wait. And this is true with making money, working and with free time. The advantage of mobile gaming is that you don’t have to wait. There is no need to wait for the chance to get to the land based casino or the chance to get home to the computer. You can also interact with other people from your mobile, sharing in live game connections and in chances to pay against others. While it used to be that the mobile gaming choices were very limited, today they are comparable to the online choices and just as dynamic. This means that you don’t have to think that you’re missing out in any way when you play from your mobile; it’s quite the opposite since you can be making money and having fun during hours that others don’t necessarily have access to the online games where they want to play (and certainly to the land based location where they might want to go).

There is an expression about whether or not you can have your cake and eat it too. We often hear that you can’t have it all. But fortunately when it comes to mobile casino gaming, you can have it all. And it’s all available to you from the location where you most enjoy playing and being – the mobile device. From the beginning of the casino age to today, it’s amazing to look at all of the ways that the casino world has changed. One can only imagine what the future will bring from here.

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.