Day: May 10, 2018

GIBRALTAR, GIB. MAY 10, 2018 –  The leading ICO advisory firm TokenMarket is pleased to announce its inaugural blockchain event ‘TokenMarket 2018: Insights into the Token Economy’. The conference will be held on the five-star Sunborn Yacht Hotel in Gibraltar, taking place from the 28th to the 29th of June 2018.

TokenMarket has confirmed a range of industry experts within the blockchain space including, William Mougayar, Simon Dixon, Jon Matonis, David Drake, and Ransu Salovaara. 

“We are excited to host our very own conference which combined with a great line-up of partners and speakers, will share our knowledge together of the fast moving ICO market,” states TokenMarket CEO, Ransu Salovaara.

“Token sales have evolved enormously over the past year with regulations coming in place and institutional investors participating. Having now advised on over 30 token sales, managing technical, marketing and compliance aspects of these projects, we are looking forward to sharing our insights with conference participants.”

A variety of high profile blockchain speakers and panelists are set to share their knowledge regarding the token economy throughout the event, including; William Mougayar, Author of “The Business Blockchain”; David Drake, Chairman at LDJ Capital; Olga Feldmeier, CEO at Smart Valor; Ransu Salovaara, CEO and Founder of TokenMarket; Jonathan Smith, Co-Founder and CTO at Civic; Vinay Gupta, Founder at Mattereum; Eric Jackson, CEO at CapLinked and Author of ‘PayPal Wars’; Mikko Ohtamaa, Founder and CTO at TokenMarket plus many more.

“We will dive into the future of app tokens, tokenised securities and exchanges that trade in these different kinds of tokens,” says Salovaara. 

All panels, keynotes and guest speakers will be featured in the luxurious Aurora Ballroom within the Sunborn Hotel. Following the informative day sessions, TokenMarket invites all attendees to enjoy a variety of cuisines and after hours events. This includes a weekend golf tournament and kite surfing, all in the midst of the Mediterranean summer. 

For more information on TokenMarket 2018: ‘Insights Into The Token Economy’ please visit https://tokenmarket.net/conference-2018/

About TokenMarket

TokenMarket is a premier ICO information portal and advisory firm. It combines its market experience, resources and data assets to create a professionally tailored solution to execute ICO’s safely and securely, providing an end-to-end service for token creation, presale and public sale. TokenMarket’s ICO advisory service has partnered over 30 token sales including Storj, Populous, Monaco, Civic and Dent, raising over $300 million in total.

Media Contact:

Lawrence Chiu // TokenMarket Ltd.

Marketing and Campaign Manager

E: [email protected]

For all conference enquiries, please contact [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.

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.

Germany

TokenPay acquires German bank: TokenPay, a decentralized self-verifying payment platform has recently announced that it has acquired a sizeable stake in the Berlin-based German Bank WEG. In the beginning, it was established that Litecoin and TokenPay were partnering up for this move and Derek Capo, the founder of TokenPay had said to Charlie Lee, the founder of Litecoin:

“We are buying 9.9% of a bank in Munich with option to buy 90%. They have a whole ecosystem and plan in place.”

The move isn’t a surprise since acquiring banks was listed as an eventual end in the official whitepaper of the platform.

France

Conflicting tax policies cause confusion: France is continuing its love-hate relationship with cryptocurrencies with the latest move seeing cryptocurrencies being reclassified as “moveable property” rather than currency and thus the tax rate has come down from 45% to 19%.

The defence lawyer of the tax department argued that “Bitcoin has no other purpose than that of means of payment” but the ruling came in the favor of cryptocurrencies. Due to the rapid change in government dealing with crypto profits, there is a considerable confusion in the market and government circles regarding what rule should be followed.

Sweden

Company takes Bitcoin mining to the stratosphere: Swedish company Miner One has taken cryptocurrency mining literally a notch above as it launched a Bitcoin mining rig into the atmosphere over 100,000 feet (35,000 meters) above the Earth according to a blog post from the company.

The mining rig uses a hydrogen balloon with capsule assembly underneath containing an ASIC and a Raspberry Pi microcomputer capable of processing data at 35 km above land. The capsule also contains instruments for navigation, tracking and other necessary material to protect the rig from extreme temperatures. It mines at a rate of 330 megahashes per second.

The project is a brainchild of Swedish CEO Pranas Slusnys. He said:

“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.”

United Kingdom

Richard Branson says Bitcoin scams in his name a worrying trend: Latest Bitcoin scams include using the name and image of popular British billionaire and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson in fake schemes and they are becoming quite successful according to a recent blog post from the Virgin Group’s website.

Branson wrote:

“Some of the most regular and worrying fake stories currently spreading online are false endorsements of Bitcoin trading schemes. While I have often commented on the potential benefits of genuine Bitcoin developments, I absolutely do not endorse these fake Bitcoin stories.”

The scams usually involve Richard Branson endorsing a cryptocurrency or a product.

UK financial think tank calls Bitcoin a fad: UK’s financial think tank Evidence-based Management’s director Martin Walker has called Bitcoin a “fad” in an address to the British Parliament. The words were in stark contrast to the other representatives called for testimony including blockchain companies EverLedger and Ripple, researchers from local universities and other professionals, most of whom spoke at length about the potential benefits of the industry including saving the banks millions of dollars per annum.

Walker continued and said to a room full of British MPs that the world-renowned tech behind cryptocurrencies was nothing but “magic wand, pixie dust things” and the blockchain was nothing but a distraction from getting the basics of banking right.

Telegram cancels ICO amid ever-increasing restrictions: What was potentially the biggest ICO in history is now history as Telegram has officially closed its much-publicized ICO, according to a report by The Independent. The tightening of ICO regulation around the world including the US and the UK resulted in this move and will see potentially billions of dollars return to the investors.

Investors were frustrated with this move and called it a blow for the future of cryptocurrencies.

Portugal

Crypto regulations planned: The Portuguese government is meeting to debate cryptocurrency regulations in the coming weeks according to a local news outlet Jornal de Negocios. The government is all set to discuss possible sanctions in addition to supply and distribution of cryptocurrencies in the market.

But, there could be good news as the government officials were quoted saying that they would “accommodate the innovation to the benefit of consumers, and to even promote competition“.

Switzerland

Switzerland aiming to become the top blockchain nation: Switzerland is increasingly becoming the destination of choice for all cryptocurrencies and ICOs in the world. Out of six of the world’s largest ICOs last year alone, four took place in Switzerland according to a report by the Swiss Financial watchdog Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).

Most of the world’s ICOs are moving to Gibraltar, Malta and Switzerland. Small towns with just a few thousand people living are becoming famous as centres of this new revolution. Zug, a small town of 120,000 people has seen the entry of over 200 blockchain companies on its own. It was one of the first towns to install Bitcoin ATMs in 2016.

Switzerland’s openness to new ideas and innovations is a key factor in the country becoming the number one destination for ICOs and blockchain companies.

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The post Europe: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 4th to 10th May 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

DALLAS, TX – Organizers of the second Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Super Conference (which is being held in September at Dallas) are running a special promotion. Every attendee who buys their ticket before 9:59pm each day will be put into a complimentary raffle, where one lucky winner will receive $300 of Ethereum transferred to their wallet immediately. (Considering that, on a typical day, ticket sales range from four to ten, the odds of winning stand at between 10% and 25%.)

“I am stoked about Ethereum’s rally this past month”, said Mr. Jacobs. “Ethereum is up more than 700% year-on-year, and some insiders believe this number two crypto will blow right on past Bitcoin, straight into number one cryptocurrency status. As always, it pays to get in while the gettin’s good, so I’ve decide to run this special promotion. Every day, until Sunday, we’re giving away $300 of Ethereum at 10pm. Every person who bought a ticket will be put in a hat, and we’re going to draw ONE name. If you win, we’ll transfer $300 of Ethereum into your wallet right away.”

This second conference – which follows on from the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Super Conference that took place in February – is being held in Dallas on September 14th, 15th, and 16th.

Headline speakers include:

• Tim Draper – the billionaire venture capitalist whose firm successfully bet on Skype, Twitter, Tesla, and Space X before they got big, who predicts that Bitcoin will hit $250k by 2022.
• Randi Zuckerberg – Founder & CEO of Zuckerberg Media & early Facebook executive, who is now leading several future-tech initiatives, and is one of the most well-connected future-tech professionals in Silicon Valley.
• Mark Yusko – the Wall Street money man who not only runs a $4.5 billion hedge fund, but is also betting $500 million of “smart money” into cryptocurrency and blockchain assets.
• Nick Spanos – the founder of Blockchain Technologies Corp and an early member of the Bitcoin scene who was featured on Netflix’s Banking on Bitcoin movie.
• David Hirsch – an enforcement attorney from the SEC, who’s going to talk about how the world’s most important financial regulator is softening its stance towards blockchain.
• Lyn Ulbricht – the mother of Ross Ulbricht, who was unjustly imprisoned for his role in creating the Silk Road marketplace and democratizing commerce.
• And many others.

The overarching theme of all their talks, and the entire conference, will be the next crypto and blockchain market cycle. All signals indicate that crypto is heading back into bull territory, and when the new market cycle begins, it’s going to make a new wave of blockchain investors seriously rich. This conference is about discovering how “smart money” is already getting in before the next rush.

Tickets to the Super Conference usually cost $897 but are available a special Summer price of $597:

https://www.thefuturetechexpo.com/register/

###

Press contact:

Richard Jacobs

[email protected]

(888) 448-4590

About the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Super Conference II:

This three-day conference will be held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas from Friday September 14th to Sunday September 16th, 2018. We are expecting more than 1,000 attendees, at least 50 headline speakers, and upward of 50 exhibitors – with talks from founders, developers, and early-stage investors of cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups, including many that are planning ICOs throughout the last quarter of 2018 and 2019. The focus will be on the next crypto market cycle.

More information is available at:

https://www.thefuturetechexpo.com/register/

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.

Singapore — AI Crypto announced they will start their first presale on May 9 for Artificial Intelligence Blockchain ‘AI Crypto’.

It is noticeable that this project combined AI and blockchain, the two most attention received technologies lately. With these two technologies combined, a huge synergetic effect could be expected. According to AI Crypto, ‘AI Crypto Society’ is an alliance of AI researchers, developers and start-up companies to share the capabilities in the AI field so that fair rewards can be given to those that deserve it.

AI Crypto has the best development team for the project including Masters and PhD AI professionals from Seoul National University and KAIST and from top universities in US and Europe. Jaeho Seol who has Ph.D and researched for over 10 years in cognitive science is the Co-CEO and he is leading the core research as a Chief Scientist. He said with confidence that “We will lead the AI and blockchain technologies that are expected to grow explosively”.

AI Crypto also has great advisors including Tiago Costa Alves who is CEO of AppCoins, Ismail Malik who is Editor-in-Chief of ICO CROWD and Changki Park who is Founder & Chairman of BOScoin who has a big influence in the blockchain industry.

AI Crypto is gaining explosive interest from investors which was shown with more than 70000 potential investors on their website and more than 20000 users on their telegram channel within 3 weeks. AI Crypto is recognized globally getting the highest industry professionals rating of 9.6 out of 10 on ICOmarks, 5 out of 5 on wiserICO, 4.6 out of 5 on ICObench and so on.

You can participate in their 1st presale from May 9 using cryptocurrency ethereum(ETH), and you have to complete KYC(Know Your Customer) procedure in advance. If you join their official website and complete KYC procedure, you will receive a confirmation to your e-mail you registered. If you participate during the 1st presale you get 20% additional bonus. Presale hard cap is 50000ETH and Total AIC issue is 10 Billion AIC.

AI Crypto’s public sale is scheduled for May 30. AI Crypto Ecosystem Beta Release is scheduled for April 2019 and Official Release is scheduled for June 2019.

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

◇AI Crypto(AIC)

AI Crypto is currently developing blockchain based AI ecosystem. Main goal is to reduce the cost for AI research and make it easier to collect data needed for AI research. Exchanges between AI researchers and data providers will be active internationally through reward system using token. Furthermore, they are trying to achieve a big AI innovation in the near future.

‘AI Crypto Society’ is an alliance of AI researchers, developers and start-up companies. The goal is to share the capabilities in the AI field developing and using various AI models together, so that fair rewards can be given to those that deserve it. AI should be the property of all mankind, not private property of few big companies.

Please refer the links for details about AIC.

AI Crypto summary

AI Crypto is trying to make decentralized blockchain based AI ecosystem. AI Crypto ecosystem will provide AI technology that anyone can participate.

• Website: aicrypto.ai
• Whitepaper: https://aicrypto.ai/AIC_WhitePaper_Eng.pdf
• Medium: http://medium.com/aicrypto
• Official telegram channel: http://t.me/aicryptoai

Promotional video: 

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.

• Bonus sale, rewarding loyal Nauticus supporters, will run until July 18

• New purchasers receive bonuses of up to 10 percent

• Strategic alliance with Chinese blockchain eCommerce platform Jufuchain/Badou Mall

• In-principle agreement with Hong Kong eCommerce platform Galaxy eSolutions

• Nauticus Exchange will open in August

Nauticus Exchange is excited to announce a ‘bonus sale’ offering new users bonuses of up to 10 percent, and rewarding our most loyal supporters with bonuses of up to 35 percent.

CEO Bryan Ng and COO Jonathan Chang have been on a world tour over the past fortnight, meeting new backers and setting up strategic partnerships in Hong Kong, China and Italy.

Ng said the sheer volume of interest, and the potential expansion of the project’s scope, means that raising additional capital will benefit the entire community.

The Nauticus ICO has been a big success and has raised $14.8 million USD during one of the biggest crypto market crashes in years. The ICO has almost doubled the softcap and equalled the funds raised in the Binance ICO last year.

But Nauticus has much grander ambitions—including offering 100 crypto and seven fiat currencies, the construction of a green blockchain mine, and expanding to encompass eCommerce, a merchant payment system, KYC service, and an ICO gateway.

“We have raised more than $4 million during our whirlwind world tour but, more importantly, we have forged new partnerships that could advance the project by an entire year,” said Ng, from Rome, Italy. “We are offering the bonus sale to give the project the best possible chance of success and capitalise on the incredible opportunities that emerged during our trip.”

New developments:

• Nauticus has signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic alliance with Jufuchain/Badou Mall, a blockchain-based Chinese eCommerce platform. Nauticus will assist with the platform’s technological development and efforts to expand globally.
  
• Nauticus has reached an in-principle agreement to collaborate with Galaxy eSolutions, an eCommerce platform in Hong Kong that trades refurbished consumer technology. Galaxy is projected to turnover $120 million USD in sales this year and recently hit its ICO hardcap of 20,000 ETH. Nauticus will assist the blockchain platform to reach new international markets.
• Nauticus has engaged a large Chinese manufacturer to conduct research and development to improve the efficiency of energy intensive blockchain mining machines. “Even a five percent improvement will dramatically cut the power required and help the environment,” Ng explained.
• Development work on the exchange is expected to be complete by July 31. After extensive system and security testing Nauticus Exchange will open in August. “We can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on,” said Ng.

Bonus Sale May 19 to July 18

The bonus sale has been structured to reward loyal members of the Nauticus Community, while also providing an incentive for new supporters to buy Nauticus Coins.

Early supporters will receive the same bonus they got for their initial purchase of NTS, until July 18.

So if you bought NTS in the ICO presale, you’ll receive a 30 percent bonus for any new purchase during the entire bonus sale period.

If you bought during stage one, you’ll get 25 percent, and so on.

New buyers receive a 5 percent bonus, and can access an extra 5 percent for bulk purchases.

If you originally bought NTS during:

Pre-sale March 18-30 you will receive a 30 percent bonus throughout the bonus sale

Stage 1 March 31 to April 7 you will receive a 20 percent bonus throughout the bonus sale

Stage 2 April 8 to April 14 you will receive a 15 percent bonus throughout the bonus sale

Stage 3 April 15 to April 21 you will receive a 10 percent bonus throughout the bonus sale

Stage 4 April 22 to July 18 you will receive a 5 percent bonus throughout the bonus sale

New purchasers will receive a 5 percent bonus during the bonus sale

Remember:

Purchases greater than 100,000 NTS receive a 2 percent additional bonus

Purchases greater than 250,000 NTS receive a 5 percent additional bonus

Buy Nauticus Coins now at nauticus.io

Download the Nauticus pitch deck

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.

Decentralized comedy content platform,ComedyPlay, is leveraging the Ethereum blockchain to keep the art of comedy free from stifling centralized powers and allow upcoming creators to monetize their work in a revolutionary way.

May 10th, 2018, Port Louis, Mauritius – Due to the majority of internet content being ‘free’, web-surfers are often passive consumers of digital content, supporting content creators with clicks and views which convert themselves into poorly-paid advertising revenue dollars is the industry norm.

Comedy is one of the genres of web content that is treasured by societies all over the world, and it is also one of the hardest to monetize. Social media platforms are the number one way to distribute comedy content, but the majority of revenue earned tends to go toward maintaining those platforms as part of the overhead costs, and whatever is left for the content creators is disproportionate to what viral and financial draw they generated.

It’s about time consumers were empowered enough to back their favourite comedians directly and, it’s about time content creators are fairly rewarded for their hard efforts. Thanks to the Ethereum blockchain, this is now possible.

ComedyPlay is an Ethereum-based platform that is free, open and designed to monetize comedy content with its proprietary crypto-token called Comedycoin (CCP). Users of the platform can search, stream free or paid content, as well as post their own original content; pay-per-view content will also be available from comedy industry partners (films or series).

ComedyPlay Platform Features

Content sharing

Users have the freedom to post their content, and are encouraged greatly by the platform to engage their audiences, build a strong relationship with followers and create trending content. Users can also mark pieces of content as favourites for re-viewing at a later date.

Freemium Access and the Upvote System

Unless the content is provided from external sources, access to all the content is entirely free and can be upvoted by members if the ComedyPlay platform, the highest ranked comedy posts are instantly rewarded with CCP tokens. Users can also subscribe to pre-paid comedy channels such as Audio/FM comedy channels, podcasts, films and TV series.

Community Reviews

Users can flag ‘not comedy’ content and aid the wider community to filter out unrelated content. Upon review, flagged content may be removed should it be found to be inappropriate. The most active and accurate of ‘flaggers’ will also be rewarded with CCP tokens for their positive contribution to the community.

Format Filter, Search & Other Features

There are multiple filters available for users to apply to aid them in their quest for comedy content, be it photos, GIFs, memes, videos, text-based and so on. Content is also searchable, and the platforms API will also allow for seamless integration of social media accounts.

The platform will engage users through two types of user feed: MyComedyPlay Personal and MyComedyPlay Social. Firstly, the personal feed will display content posts from user contacts in their network; these posts serve as traditional ‘statuses’. Secondly, the Social upgrades user content feeds with access to a global comedy feed while retaining the essential features of the personal feed.

Visit the ComedyPlay Official Site – https://mycomedyplay.com/

Check out the Whitepaper – https://mycomedyplay.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Comedy-Play-Whitepaper-version-1-finalized-31-03-18.pdf

Chat on Telegram – t.me/comedyplay

Follow on Twitter – https://twitter.com/mycomedyplay

Connect on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/company/28148080

Like on Facebook – https://m.facebook.com/Comedyplaycoin-179849509409884/?tsid=0.22838457647627086&source=result

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mycomedyplay/

Media Contact

Contact Name: Elliot Adu-Brobbey, CEO of comedyplay

Contact Email: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliot-adu-brobbey-596a2295/

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.

The Federal Reserve of San Francisco in its report published on Tuesday argues bitcoin’s price peak and crash coinciding with the introduction of bitcoin futures is no coincidence, and parallels it with the rise and collapse of the home financing market in the 2000s.

Cybercrime is a fast-growing market that offers huge profits and minimal risks. According to the report published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the annual damage inflicted by cybercrime to the economy is within the range of 375–575 billion USD, exceeding the GDP of many countries around the world. The  advent of new tech has enabled even more sophisticated ways to commit cybercrime. Jim Lewis, a senior vice president of CSIS, said in a statement, that Cybercrime is a tax on innovation and slows the pace of global innovation by reducing the rate of return to innovators and investors.

Internet fraud is constantly adapting, acting as a virus that attacks the community and stealthily infects everything around it. As a result, everybody loses: online users lose money, top-notch projects miss investment and the industry overall loses reputation.

The most important thing being destroyed is the trust that people extend to each other. That’s exactly why CryptoPolice platform was created. As Arturs Rasnacis, CEO at CryptoPolice states: “We are building a system, which is based on ideas, pioneered by Peer-to-Patent, and set to deliver on the main values promised by blockchains: transparency and immutability. Bringing together advanced tech and the wisdom of the crowd, CryptoPolice empowers the community to get hands on with the fight against scam.” While the platform is non-governmental, it is open for collaboration with enterprises that wish to societal issues through correct implementation of modern technology.

The importance of blockchain technology

The main tool of CrytoPolice is the blockchain technology. It ensures the highest rate of safety, scam prevention and corruption elimination in the field, and its dedication to further improvements pictures a bright future for all involved. Blockchain also ensures the validity of the information given and processed. The platform focuses on taking swift action against scam by developing and improving safe tools for their clients. Its focus on interaction with society is aimed specifically to decrease any potential damage. Its decentralised algorithm of multi-level verification allows for objective scam identification and quick decision-making. The algorithm itself is designed to verify the information by going through a complex verification process of three CryptoPolice approved Officers. Such process not only eliminates the potential for corruption within the verification itself, but also provides a high-level of fairness from the Officers of the assigned task. To make CryptoPolice more accessible, all users have access to the results of the finished work.

Community

“The power of CryptoPolice lies in the community, that is given the opportunity to participate in the global fight against scams. The community is a decentralized force that will make objective and independent decisions.” Juan Otero, CryptoPolice adviser. One of the main goals of CryptoPolice is to ensure an active community by offering a chance to not only participate in the process of creating a safe environment, but also earn rewards based on performance of users. The rewards are designed to encourage the users not only to participate in the community, but also to submit information regarding activities of sensitive nature. The community itself is divided into two parts — one consists of users that provide information, while the other consists of users that verify provided information.

Importance of CryptoPolice

The emergence of CryptoPolice is evaluated not just by the necessity of solving topical issues related to frauds, but also to the blockchain technology that motivates implementation of different projects in the way it can be as useful to the society as possible. CryptoPolice implements its own independent internal economics, which creates conditions for efficient implementation of the CryptoPolice business model and for conducting business aimed at gaining profit.

Join CryptoPolice in the global fight against scam! The Whitelisting for upcoming CryptoPolice Token Sale is open. The whitelisted participants will receive the opportunity to register as future buyers and allow them to become the first owners of the OfficerCoin and join the Closed Pre-Sale at a special price! On May 15, 2018, CryptoPolice will start its Public Pre-Sale and from that day on, anyone will be able to buy the OfficerCoin. More info you can find here.

Join CryptoPolice Whitelist – https://tokensale.cryptopolice.com/invite.html

Learn more about CryptoPolice https://www.cryptopolice.com/

CryptoPolice whitepaper — https://www.cryptopolice.com/CryptoPolice_whitepaper.pdf

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.

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.

Thailand

Government levies taxes on crypto despite opposition: Thailand is the latest country to levy taxes on cryptocurrencies despite opposition at home. Thai blockchain associations were against the aggressive tax policy and the move follows the regional trend of crypto taxes after Australia and other nations levied taxes on crypto gains.

The ministry of finance had already released plans to introduce taxes for cryptocurrency trading and investment.  Thai digital currency associations voiced their concerns regarding the move and the minister responded but the move eventually took place.

The proposed 15% tax is considered stifling for the growth of cryptocurrencies and blockchain space. In addition to this basic levy, a 7% value-added tax is also levied on all cryptocurrency trades. The legislation is still in its infancy and the government has no infrastructure in place to audit the crypto taxes.

Stock exchange launches crowdfunding blockchain: The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has announced the launch of a decentralized crowdfunding platform based on blockchain to facilitate small businesses and enterprises in the country.

The platform is named LiVE and has plans to provide a complete startup ecosystem which will also provide the necessary education for new businesses to get easier access to institutional investors as well. More than 50 companies are targeted to join the program.

China

Police announce blockchain-based evidence storage: The Chinese ministry of public security has announced the development of a blockchain application that stores evidence from police investigations safely and securely for long-term. The tech was patented at China’s Intellectual property office back in November 2017 and it automatically takes police data and stores it in cloud storage.

This will help solve the problem of falsified records and fake evidence, according to Chinese authorities since blockchain technology can help data become tamper-proof. Criminals will no longer be able to easily hack into the government databases and wipe out the records.

600 Bitcoin mining rigs believed to be from Iceland seized in China: Police in the city of Tianjin, China have seized a record 600 Bitcoin mining rigs in a raid, which is the same number of machines that were reportedly stolen in Iceland heists back in December and January.

The mining operation had caused a short circuit due to stealing power from the national grid after authorities found out that there was a sudden 28% increase in power consumption on one line alone.

India

Crypto exchanges challenge banking restrictions in top court: Indian cryptocurrency exchanges have challenged the central bank’s decision to stop facilitating the transactions of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

This is the third challenge to cryptocurrencies in the market and the most severe as all banking services have been blocked off to the crypto exchanges and they include big local names like Coindelta exchange, Koinex exchange, Throughbit Exchange and CoinDCX.

The petitions will likely be heard in India’s top court on 11 May 2018.

Taiwan

Binance CEO sees ICOs as future of VC: The CEO of popular cryptocurrency trading platform Binance has stated that he believes initial coin offerings (ICOs) are the future of venture capital investments. Changpen Zhao, the CEO believes that the digital crowdfunding method is not just a “good-to-have” option but a genuine future for the system.

Binance is currently based in Taiwan after previous operations in China and Japan.

South Korea

Regulators positive about crypto: The new head of the Korean State’s financial watchdog Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Yoon Suk-heun has made some encouraging comments regarding the future legislation around cryptocurrencies.

He at least admitted that cryptocurrencies have “some positive aspects” and could have a part in the future. This seems that the confrontational situation has so far dialed down below the 38th parallel since last September’s ban when regulators had “serious doubts” about cryptocurrencies.

The top regulator also said, “there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed and reviewed. We can figure them out but gradually.”

Japan

FSA crackdown on anonymous exchanges and crypto businesses on the cards: Japan continues its love-hate relationship with cryptocurrencies with the Financial Security Agency (FSA) mulling actions against anonymous cryptocurrency exchanges and startups in the country.

It is also trying to see the exchanges delist currencies like ZCash, Monero and Dash, something that goes far beyond the normal crypto regulations that we have gotten used to in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Indonesia

Private and public sectors encouraged to apply blockchain technology: The South East Asian country is encouraging both the private and public sectors to invest in blockchain technology to solve complex problems that are plaguing the country including storage and application of data according to latest reports from Reuters.

The country is a challenge to administer as 250 million inhabitants are spread over a total of 17,000 islands. The Financial Services Authority has assembled a team and they are investigating the applications of the technology for the future.

Singapore

Physical Bitcoin smart banknotes launched: Singaporean Bitcoin startup Tangem has announced a physical Bitcoin banknote at a popular shopping center in the island state. The banknotes are available in denominations starting from BTC 0.01 btc onwards. Each note has a chip that cost the company USD 2 to make and it stores the private keys.

It is the first hardware solution in the form of banknotes with certification for its entire hardware and electronics according to EAL6+ and EMVCo standards. The company is committed to “radically improve the simplicity and security of acquiring, owning, and circulating cryptocurrencies for both sophisticated and incoming users”.

Tangem has a presence in South Korea and Southern China, Taiwan, Russia, and Israel.

Australia

Government earmarks $700 million for blockchain research: The Australian budget has recently unveiled an allocation of USD 700,000 for the blockchain Space to “to investigate areas where blockchain technology could offer the most value for government service”.

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The post Asia and Australia: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 4th to 10th May 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Ripple’s xRapid pilot program results found that customers saved both money and time when compared to traditional cross-border transactions.

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.

African Union

Solar power could push blockchain forward in Africa: Africa receives the most sunlight in all of the large land masses and in the 2018 Blockchain convention in South Africa, the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in the continent was heavily discussed. Africa is seen by many as an emerging blockchain center, with rapidly developing markets in DLT in Nigeria, Sudan, Algeria and Kenya.

South Africa

How much money have South Africans made or lost in crypto? According to a recent survey by MyBroadband 2018, Bitcoin was the currency of choice for making the biggest profits and incurring the biggest losses in South Africa. The survey included 1244 broadband readers in April and shows the inclination of the South African tech-savvy community towards cryptocurrencies.

The survey found that 78% of respondents have owned cryptocurrency at one point or are owning them right now. 57% have made a profit for themselves but a large percentage made SAR 50,000 or less, so none were big profiteers from the market, although individual losses were not more than SAR 50,000 either.

Bitcoin was the most popular cryptocurrency and had a 50% share in the market with Ethereum taking the second place.

Rwanda

Bitcoin founder backs unified African crypto: One of Bitcoin’s original founders, Australian computer scientist Dr Craig Wright, once rumored to be Satoshi Nakamoto himself, addressed a Bitcoin conference called Transform Africa in Kigali, Rwanda this week.

He presented a simple Powerpoint presentation titled ‘Bitcoin Cash: The Crypotocurrency and Blockchain for Africa‘ and discussed the future of the continent in the Blockchain economy.

The idea of a unified African cryptocurrency has been in the pipeline for some time. Wright believes that blockchain and P2P trade is the answer to Africa’s issues with the economy as there is not even a need to use the internet as even SMS can be used effectively for the purpose.

Nigeria

Country’s first blockchain tech incubator: P2P cryptocurrency trading company Paxful has announced that it is opening a major incubator in Lagos, Nigeria to help streamline operations.

The company chose Nigeria because of demographics. The country has the highest numbers of Paxful users in the region.

Kenya

Blockchain to settle real estate sale/purchase: Land ownership is one of the biggest problems in Kenya today despite the technology and computerization. The country still suffers from double ownership of land issues due to governmental corruption. To fight this problem, the Kenyan minister of information Joseph Mucheru has formed a team to investigate how blockchain technology can be used to put an end to the land theft cases.

Mucheru said in a BBC interview:

“We missed the internet wave, caught up with mobile technology… blockchain is the next wave – and we must be part of it.”

Ethiopia

Ethereum co-founder launches coffee project: Ethereum co-founder and Cardano chief Charles Hoskinson has recently launched a new decentralized coffee project in Ethiopia in a partnership with the country’s ministry of science and technology.

Coffee is an integral part of the economy of the country with 60% foreign income coming from the sale of the brown caffeinated drink.

Israel

Bitcoin mining company sues bank for closing account: Israeli Bitcoin mining company Israminers has registered a lawsuit against Union Bank of Israel, the country’s sixth largest fiat bank for a unilateral decision of not accepting funds from Bitcoin exchanges after months of operations.

According to the mining group’s lawyer Guy Penn:

“Banks in Israel are currently refusing services to companies that operate in the crypto field, without even checking or understanding their business activity. The banks’ overwhelming refusal leaves us with no choice but to take our case to the courts of law, otherwise the entire Israeli crypto field will have to relocate its business model abroad.”

Palestine

Palestine mulling over crypto launch: In order to be economically independent, Palestinian authorities are considering launching their own cryptocurrency to break away from the fiscal control of Israel.

According to a recent report in Reuters, the Palestinian Monetary Authority may call the new currency Palestinian pound and it will have the currency in use in the next five years.

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The post Africa and the Middle East: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 4th to 10th May 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.