Day: May 11, 2018

Getting more people excited about cryptocurrencies remains an ongoing struggle. A lot of everyday consumers do not see any merit in cryptocurrency, mainly because it is still a niche market. Developing applications which show people where they can spend cryptocurrency can certainly produce some interesting changes. CryptoFind is an interesting creation in this regard.

The Purpose of CryptoFind

As the name of this iOS app somewhat suggests, it is all about finding as many locations as possible which accept cryptocurrencies. So far, there is still no complete directory of such locations, even though wallets such as Edge make it a bit easier to spend cryptocurrency at businesses near you. It is somewhat surprising that there aren’t more efforts focusing on this particular aspect of crypto right now.

CryptoFind aims to change all that. The app, developed by GRAFT Payments, is meant to collect as many locations as possible for spending cryptocurrencies. With enough users submitting information, that shouldn’t be difficult. Users can mark places on a map within the app using their device’s GPS and include owner information.

Once the owner confirms that his or her location indeed accepts cryptocurrency payments, they will be listed in the CryptoFind app. Failing to do so will result in being delisted, although it is of the utmost importance for store owners to tap into this growing industry sooner rather than later. After all, there is no point in accepting Bitcoin or altcoins unless people know about it so that they can spend cryptocurrency.

When a listing is confirmed through the CryptoFind app, the user submitting the location will be awarded 100 GFRT tokens. Should the venue decide to accept this relatively unknown token, the person submitting the information will receive 500 GRFT tokens. It is an interesting way of incentivizing people to submit locations where cryptocurrency is already accepted. Additionally, it may lead to more locations eventually accepting Bitcoin and altcoin payments in the future. We all know that more of those locations are direly needed.

For those unfamiliar with the GRFT token, it is currently listed on CoinMarketCap.com as having a value of $0.017. This means that a successful submission will reward users with less than two bucks, but it’s an incentive regardless. More submissions will get users a lot more money, as there are bonuses for reaching a specific amount of submitted locations. Users can only submit a maximum of 100 locations per account, though, which is understandable.

Should any of the added locations stop dealing in crypto, they can be flagged by other CryptoFind users for removal. Moreover, the delisted venues will result in GRFT tokens being debited from the person who submitted the information. This is done to preserve honesty and maintain correct information at all times. Rest assured there will always be people looking to take advantage of such projects, as that is simply how the human mind operates.

A plot to murder a Russian national being detained in Greece whilst fighting extradition to the U.S. over money laundering charges has been uncovered. Greek law enforcement found evidence of inmates in the prison conspiring to poison Alexander Vinnik.

Former Crypto Exchange Worker in Murder Plot

We first reported on the case of Alexander Vinnik last year. Vinnik is a former operator of the now defunct BTC-e exchange. He’s wanted on 21 counts of money laundering in the U.S. and fraud charges in his native Russia. The charges he faces in the U.S. are between $4 billion and $9 billion. Meanwhile, those levied at him in his homeland are considerably smaller at around 10,000 euros. Vinnik has fought extradition to the U.S., but agreed to being sent back to Russia if that were possible.

In December 2017, Vinnik lost his appeal against his extradition to the U.S. in December 2017. He continues to fight against it however claiming to be taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

However, earlier this year Greek law enforcement uncovered the plot to murder Vinnik. An unnamed source familiar with the events told news source Sputnik that although the plan has been known about for some months now, authorities hadn’t gone public with it whilst they gathered further information. Sputnik also claimed yesterday that one of their correspondents has seen documentation that confirms the authenticity of the plot to kill Vinnik.

Special security measures have been taken to protect Vinnik whilst he remains detained in Greece. For example, he is not allowed to receive food or water from unknown people. He’s also had security stepped up around him and is being kept away from other inmates for his own safety.

The source familiar with the matter went on to state that no special services from any nation are involved with the plot. Instead, it is being linked to the criminal underworld. He’s also denied any link with the recent case in the U.K. involving Russian agent Sergei Skripal despite the similarities. The source told the news publication:

“It all began after Vinnik’s extradition to the United States was blocked. There people who are extremely interested in him not coming to Russia. The assassination was ordered by some unknown person from Russia.”

The publication also reached out to Vinnik’s lawyers. Unfortunately, they refused to comment on the plot. They told Sputnik:

“Such statement should be investigated via a proper procedure, rather than through public statements and discussions.”

Featured image from Shutterstock.

The post Russian Crypto Money Launderer the Target of Suspected Prison Murder Plot appeared first on NewsBTC.

MakerDAO, creators of the Dai stablecoin, and Blockshipping, creators of the Global Shared Container Platform, (GSCP), are working together to transform the global container shipping industry, enabling significant savings in cost and CO2 emissions.

The partnership is expected to accelerate development and availability of the Blockshipping GSCP by leveraging Maker DAO’s proven Dai Stablecoin System to power the GSCP platform.

MakerDAO and Blockshipping today announce a partnership to collaborate on transforming a critical part of the global supply chain industry – the container shipping industry.

Blockshipping is developing the blockchain based GSCP platform, which will be both the first global registry of the world’s approximately 27 million shipping containers and a joint platform for all players in the container shipping industry – allowing them to efficiently conduct a wide range of transactions related to the handling of shipping containers globally. Elements of the GSCP platform will utilise Maker’s proven Dai Stablecoin system.

The GSCP platform has the potential to reduce costs for the global shipping industry to the tune of USD 5.7bn annually and reduce the global CO2 emission by more than 4.6 million tons every year.

Accelerating the Platform Development

Blockshipping’s CEO, Peter Ludvigsen, is pleased with the prospect of accelerating the development of the GSCP platform through a collaboration with MakerDAO:

“We believe that there is huge potential value in what Dai the stablecoin will bring to the GSCP platform. Leveraging Maker’s Dai Stablecoin System will enable Blockshipping to increase the pace of development of the GSCP platform and reduce time to market.”

Rune Christensen, CEO of MakerDAO, sees a lot of possible benefits to Blockshipping by using the Dai Stability System to power the GSCP platform.

“We look forward to a partnership with Blockshipping in developing the best possible solution for transforming the container shipping space, where the Blockshipping solutions on the longer term can be “powered by Dai”. We are very eager to show that our stablecoin system is perfectly designed for supply chain projects like Blockshipping’s GSCP platform.”

Eliminating Volatility

The MakerDAO Stablecoin System has created a digital currency, Dai, which is soft-pegged to the US dollar, bringing stability to the blockchain economy and enabling transaction in cryptocurrencies. Unlike other stablecoin systems, the Maker platform is backed by collateral, using smart contracts to always ensure the right balance between the amount of Dai and the collateral backing issued Dai. It is a decentralized infrastructure without a central operator.

Launched in December 2017, the beta Dai Stablecoin System accepts Ether (ETH) as collateral but will introduce multi-collateral options this summer. As the platform evolves, there will be increased support for collateral types, including tokenized commodities and, in theory, even a batch of bicycles in a container or the shipping containers themselves could be tokenized and used as collateral for issuing Dai on MakerDAO’s platform. More information can be found at www.makerdao.com.

Common Scandinavian Origin

Both MakerDAO and Blockshipping offer global platforms and works internationally, yet both companies have a distinct Scandinavian origin and Danish founders and CEOs. This common cultural heritage makes for a shared focus on common values of trust and transparency.

Blockshipping is currently working out of Copenhagen, and MakerDAO, who already have five offices around the world, is exploring a possible relocation of its headquarters to Copenhagen within the next year.

For more information, please contact:

Michael Juul Rugaard
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: +45 44 40 31 32

Søren Peter Nielsen
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: +45 60 62 17 41

The post MakerDAO and Blockshipping Collaborate to Transform the Global Container Shipping Industry appeared first on NewsBTC.

Canada’s Central Bank and Toronto Stock Exchange operator conclude that blockchain is effective for automating securities settlements in real time

Iranians have sent more than USD 2.5 billion out of the country for the purchase of cryptocurrencies. The revelation was made by Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, Iran’s Chairman of the Economic Commission of the Parliament, moments after US president Trump announced America’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal yesterday, according to Nasdaq.

As Forbes reported, this demonstrates how, when nations are confronted with issues which could drastically impact the future of the economy, some of the population look for financial refuge overseas. On this occasion, Bitcoin appears to be the haven of choice.

Iran had already anticipated the effect of Trump taking the US out of the deal which is shared by P5+1, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States — plus Germany.

In 2017, Iran began developing a local cryptocurrency which was launched earlier in May, although many are skeptical about its success. Venezuela and more recently, Russia, have expressed the merits of state-owned cryptocurrency as a possible sanction breaker. It is one reason for Iran’s original interest although, with the latest developments, the government plan could regain real momentum.

An Iranian living in the US spoke anonymously to Forbes, saying that his parents had tried to send him Bitcoin. It has been banned under current Iranian legislation since April — although it still possible to purchase cryptocurrencies using discrete methods.

“With exchange offices closed, sanctions and the [Iranian] rial dropping like crazy it seems like a good idea to use Bitcoin. I know that there are a few people selling and buying Bitcoin in Iran with LocalBitcoins. For now, it seems like Bitcoin is literally the only way to get money out of the country, so I’m sure more people will be inclined to use it, but with the rampant inflation of the Iranian rial a lot of people won’t be able to afford it,” said Forbes’s source.

Nasdaq suggests that with recent developments and the potential emergence of a national cryptocurrency, as well as with Iranians trading abroad, cryptocurrency could become prominent in Iran. Bitcoin’s overnight bounce after Trump’s announcement yesterday demonstrates that alternative currency markets can have a profound impact in times of economic threat and could become a veritable safe haven.

 

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kamshots/464193132/ – Kamyar Adl

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ConsenSys’ Brooklyn Project introduced a framework for “consumer token” project standards at the Fluidity Summit on Thursday.

Companies like Ask.fm, Salesforce, Starbucks, and Kodak are turning their tech teams towards blockchain, acknowledging the potential impact of the technology across various industries.

Appealing To A ‘Tech-Savvy’ Demographic

By creating a self-sustaining ecosystem through the utilization of smart contracts, tokens, and other incentives, these brands are able to capitalize on a new market that appeals to a different demographic—those who are extremely tech-savvy and much younger.

By providing tokens to users, those users are able to contribute to the development and sophistication of the platform, all while utilizing goods and services. Blockchain tech allows consumers to once again take control of the goods and services they enjoy, while these platforms are able to grow based on user feedback and financial backing.

Ensuring Quality Across Social Media and Q&A Platforms

Arguably the most successful online Q&A platform since 2010, Ask.fm is opening its neurons to a token sale. Having tapped into a lucrative trend, Ask.fm is host to over 215 million users, providing them with the opportunity to ask and answer controversial questions, totally anonymously, similar to AskReddit.

With the large number of ICO failures this past year, it has been very difficult for some in the industry to accept the many benefits which ICOs bring to companies like Ask.fm. For this Q&A platform, a token sale could present a huge opportunity, as the raised funds will allow the platform to expand its reach, market, and security when it comes to user anonymity and transparency.

Reducing ‘Negative Nancies’

With the launch of Ask.fm 2.0, this service is the perfect fit with the blockchain space because it allows for the seamless flow of information on a P2P network, providing for an open and democratic discussion.

Whatever the forum, it’s almost inevitable that any question triggers some form of trolling, spamming, and/or interaction that contributes nothing to other users on the forum. With blockchain technology, these platforms become highly transparent, secure, and anonymous, minimizing the number of these low-contributing users.

Knowledge Is Power

For a platform full of questions, answers, suggestions, and other commentary, a blockchain could contribute by incentivizing users to present thoughtful, engaging questions and answer with useful and quality responses, with the potential reward of tokens or other forms of crypto.

This will also help curtail those who aim to troll or spam forums, diminishing the status and reputation of such platforms.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Roger Ver has come out with some surprising predictions for Ethereum. The early Bitcoin-turned-Bitcoin Cash advocate believes a ‘flippening’ will occur that will see the market capitalisation of Ethereum overtake that of BTC.

Is Ver Bullish on Everything but Bitcoin?

If you’re familiar with the cryptocurrency space at all, you’ve probably heard of Roger Ver. He was an early proponent of digital currencies who loudly espoused the virtues of Bitcoin back when each unit cost just a few dollars. His almost religious zeal for all things crypto even earned him the title of ‘Bitcoin Jesus.’

Ver has since turned his back on Bitcoin in favour of pumping up one of its forks. He’s now the loudest voice by far shouting about Bitcoin Cash. However, he spoke more about Ethereum in an interview today with the U.K.’s newspaper the Independent. For Ver, a ‘flippening’ (the overtaking of Bitcoin’s market cap by another cryptocurrency) is going to happen and it’s going to happen soon:

“I see it happening, and I believe it’s imminent… Ethereum could overtake bitcoin by the end of the year and Bitcoin Cash could do the same before 2020.”

Roger Ver turned his back on the original Bitcoin’s community back in 2017. For him, the only way to scale Bitcoin to the level that it could successfully serve the planet as a means of payment was to increase the size of the blocks comprising its blockchain. Many other developers disagreed, citing concerns over increased centralisation. The differences in opinion couldn’t be reconciled and Bitcoin was forked into Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash in August of last year.

Despite his views on Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash, Ver does concede that Bitcoin could remain the dominant digital currency. He stated to the British publication that he sees this as unlikely, however. For Ver, the innovative scaling methods proposed by those still developing on the original chain won’t be enough to see the kind of gains he predicts for Bitcoin Cash. These, he claimed could see BCH reaching a price point of ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ at some undisclosed point in the future. Ver continued:

“It’s not guaranteed but it is much more likely to happen than not… Bitcoin Cash has more than doubled in value in the last month and big investors coming in soon could see it double again by next week. People love to chase a rising star.”

Unfortunately, ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ didn’t disclose to the Independent exactly where his knowledge of these ‘big investors’ coming ‘soon’ had come from.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

The post Roger Ver Expects Ethereum to Outperform Bitcoin by the End of 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

Scalability is still one of the more pressing problems in the world of cryptocurrency. Addressing these issues has proven quite challenging, for obvious reasons. Tolar, the currency powering the HashNET project, may offer a solution. Leveraging distributed ledger technology combined with a consensus algorithm just might lead to some interesting developments.

What is HashNET?

Although the name wouldn’t suggest it, HashNET is a blockchain project focused on providing a throughput of over 200,000 transactions per second. While there are other projects which claim they will offer such solutions in the future, there is always room for more competition.

How Does it Work?

HashNET has multiple components. It uses distributed ledger technology and a consensus algorithm combined with masternodes and proof-of-stake. Masternodes are becoming increasingly important in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency these days, as such nodes provide important network services.

At the end of the day, its main focus is scalability. This buzzword is thrown around often, yet no project has solved the problem properly. HashNET claims that its throughput will surpass that of any existing cryptocurrency, although it will need sufficient network nodes to achieve that goal.

Furthermore, the project claims it is 100% secure and unhackable. With its distributed algorithm which reaches consensus within the nodes and its proof-of-stake features, that may in fact become possible, although things are never easy in the blockchain world. The project will also be mobile-compatible, which is an interesting feature.

The Tolar Token Explained

A few aspects of Tolar are worth highlighting. It offers interchain support, it’s compatible with DApps, and the currency uses a traditional programming language. Its governance system is known as Magnus Consilium and allows stakeholders and investors to vote on proposals. None of this is exactly unique, but the system can offer benefits in the long run.

What’s Next?

There is still lots to do before Tolar and HashNET can become contenders in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency. The current roadmap includes launching the initial mainnet chain with masternodes and PoS support. Later this year, an ICO will be conducted and mobile wallets will be released. The public release of HashNET and the switch to the HashNET protocol will not occur until early to mid-2019.

If one were to examine the evolution of Blockchain, it would follow three main phases. First, you have Bitcoin, which has served as the grandfather of all Blockchain companies. It may not be the most advanced technologically, but the innovations made by Satoshi Nakamoto have led to everything else in the industry.

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Then, you have Ethereum, which transcended Bitcoin by creating a platform that was capable of not just handling monetary assets, but also computation as a whole. The third phase, and the one that has the most interesting potential, are Dapps. Decentralized applications have the potential to disrupt much of what is going on in the world and its applications are nearly limitless.

Conventional Business Not Adapting Fast Enough

If one were to examine some of the biggest businesses and industries, they would see that their business models have stayed essentially the same for the last ten years. This is often what occurs when new technology surfaces — the incumbents don’t want to disrupt their own business model, so it is up to new entrants to put it to use.

Eventually this turns into a forced change to the industry, but not without blood being spilled. For example, e-commerce is due for a big change, and it seems like augmented reality might be the next best way to change it. In the past, we have only seen small examples like QR codes or keywords as a means to connect the physical world to online commerce. But now it seems like technology has advanced enough that we can reasonably expect augmented reality to change this.

Social Media and Commerce Combined with AR

Interoperability of certain industries in both an online and offline context would change how they are viewed and operated. For example, if social media were able to be managed with augmented reality software, it could reach the next level of its utility.

The same applies to physical stores, which are currently being left in the dust by e-commerce. What the world needs right now is an API of sorts that will connect the existing shopping malls with advertising platforms. There is no shortage of ways that the world could benefit from having a large ecosystem connect offline environments to the Blockchain using AR.

NEM Brings You Scanetchain

One company that is dabbling with different ways of combining augmented reality and Blockchain is Scanetchain. This augmented dapp creates an ecosystem that connects social media, content distribution, commerce, and advertising to create an extremely valuable platform.

Scanetchain has already solved a lot of the problems inherent in the system. They operate on a hybrid Blockchain, which gives them the best of both worlds. For example, with social media, the immediate worry is that things will be too permanent. But the off-chain capabilities allow users to delete posts.

With its built-in partnership with NEM and by using NEM Blockchain technology, Scanetchain is aiming to revolutionize four industries: advertising, social networks, content distribution, and commerce. They are in the midst of the ICO of their SWC tokens, and are putting new vigor into creating an ecosystem that will continue to build upon itself.

The Future of Scanetchain

The company was founded by David Ham, a Canadian who developed the company in the U.S. (corporate body is in Singapore). By using NEM, he has ensured the tokens will be able to use the NEM voting system to remain fully democratic, which enhances the value of the ecosystem by avoiding centralization.

In the end, the value of the token depends on the value of the ecosystem. By using a proof of activity consensus system, the system will give rewards to users that actively participate in the ecosystem. This means the incentives push users to keep the ecosystem active, but rewards users in a way that no company has up until this point.

Scanetchain’s pre-sale will open on April 30, and on May 15 the sale will go public. Technology naturally has to continue evolving, and this might be the most effective way to connect it with the rest of the world.

Facebook “exploring” the creation of its own crypto token, anonymous sources tell mainstream media

Forbes

The Bitcoin Reformation Forbes Bitcoin has so far proved incapable of scaling up to handle the transaction volumes of the mighty Visa. The Segwit extension implemented last year brought some relief to clogged mempools and astronomical transaction fees, but nowhere near enough to ... About the upcoming network upgrade: smart contracts on Bitcoin CashCoinGeek Bitcoin Voice Is Addressing Censorship in the CryptosphereCryptoSlate BITCOIN PRICE: Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash investors at WARExpress.co.uk all 13 news articles »