Day: May 13, 2018

According to the latest update from CoinTouch, the promising P2P cryptocurrency trading platform has been shut down following the notorious GDPR legislation enacted by European legislators. The move sees a swift demise of a promising coin startup that allowed P2P cryptocurrency exchange with little or no fees.

While CoinTouch cannot objectively claim that it was the only startup in the space, the strict GDPR enactment is likely to affect similar startups in the coin economy before long. Most of the exciting new companies are based in Europe and the new legislation could become a serious headache for many website owners who are looking to challenge the dominion of well-established exchanges and big platforms that charge a lot in transaction fees.

The GDPR or the General Data Protection Regulation is the latest in the series of regulations passed in Europe to enact what the governments believe necessary checks and balances in the fintech space, mostly targeted at the coin economy.

The legislation was enacted after four years of extensive preparation and debate from the European powers and was finally approved by the European parliament on 14 April 2018. A May 25 deadline was given to all organizations that were in non-compliance with these latest rules and heavy fines are to be imposed if a lack of implementation is observed after the deadline. These could amount to hefty amounts like 4% of the actual revenue of a company or 20 million EUR.

The most important features of the new ruling included strict compliance of the Know-your-customer (KYC) protocols for all companies. While in essence, the KYC seems like a reasonable ask, companies like P2P trading platforms cannot simply implement them without destroying the fundamental aspects of their operations. So, the regulation is starting to take its toll on them and CoinTouch is the first one to go out because of these latest measures.

CoinTouch’s owner was of the opinion:

“This new EU law hurts small website[s] like mine but helps reinforce the dominance of Facebook, Google, and Twitter, who are able to prepare and defend themselves using established legal teams and cash reserves, and who now face less competition from startups. The EU Cookie Law, EU VAT regulation and now the EU GDPR are all examples of poorly-implemented laws that add complexity and unintended side-effects for businesses within the EU”

The same person is also reportedly operating the StreetLend platform and it may be forced to shut down on the same grounds. While GDPR is seen as a positive step to ensure transparency and accountability of platforms, the wide-ranging effects of the initiative might make grounds for redefining the whole procedure for a nascent industry like P2P cointrading.

Centralized exchanges are more popular with the crypto community due to the ease of use and other features but their high trading fees and centralization of assets may prove to be a vital hindrance for the future of the coin economy as it was originally meant to be decentralized and P2P.

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Various technology firms have made it clear that they aim to issue their own cryptocurrency or digital token. Telegram has done so, LINE will be doing so, and now Facebook is apparently getting “very serious” about their own cryptocurrency. Although this idea has been proposed in the past, it remains to be seen whether or not such a plan will bring any added value to the company.

Does Facebook Need its own Currency?

Even though Facebook still remains a social network leader, the company has seen a fair few setbacks over the past few weeks and months. The current situation is not all that promising, especially in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Recovering from such a massive problem is not impossible, but the company has a lot of explaining to do.

For its part, Facebook recently shuffled around some of its personnel. While internal restructuring is not all that exciting by any means, the firm has made it clear it plans to forge ahead with its blockchain division. Ever since that news broke, enthusiasts have been speculating as to what Facebook wants with blockchain technology and how it could incorporate it into its existing products and services.

Although we are none the wiser in that regard, a new report by Cheddar shows that incorporating a cryptocurrency into Facebook is one of the options actively being explored right now. Such rumors have existed for some time now, as Facebook has always made it clear that it could benefit from a native currency. With a proper blockchain division being set up, creating such a venture becomes far less difficult than most people might expect.

Leveraging the power of blockchain technology can be done in many different ways. No one is really surprised to find out Facebook – as well as other technology giants – would tap into blockchain’s financial aspect before looking into other areas. Despite the current speculation, it seems highly unlikely such a currency will materialize in the near future.

Up to this point, Facebook has not actively explored blockchain technology. As such, the company still has a lot of work to do, especially when it comes to developing, testing, and rolling out its own currency. That is, assuming there is any truth to these plans in the first place, which seems rather unlikely at this point. After all, the firm already has enough headaches to deal with, and developing a coin is not necessarily a priority at this time.

For the time being, the world will have to wait and see how the social media giant plans to handle blockchain technology. Although issuing its own currency is certainly possible, it is not a short-term goal by any means. Facebook first has to get back into people’s good graces prior to working on such a project. How it aims to do so remains to be determined.

Bahrain’s General Directorate of Traffic has a plan to develop a blockchain-based vehicle registry system.

May 13, 2018:  If you’ve ever wished that you could gain more from your idling cryptocurrency portfolio without having to sell it off and miss out on any upside potential, then Kambo is the answer to your problems. 

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Launched this week, the Kambo platform provides loans for users that are secured using Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as collateral, similar to how a mortgage is collateralized by the home itself. The best part is, signing up is as easy as filling out an application and providing the necessary onboarding documentation. Once you’re signed up, simply transfer your cryptocurrencies into a Kambo wallet (where they will be placed into an escrow account at exchanges that Kambo has partnered with) – after that, you’re ready to apply for a loan! Kambo does not require cumbersome background or credit checks.

Interest charges start at the early-bird rate of 14%; interest payments are due monthly and can be repaid with either cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies. There are no hidden fees associated with Kambo loans (like the 1% origination fees that are typically associated with financial services firms), and there are also no prepayment penalties, which means that borrowers are free to repay loans at any time without incurring any pesky fees. Minimum loan amounts are $1,000 USD, and maximum loan amounts are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and can go up to $500,000 USD per borrower.  

The Kambo platform is ideally suited for long-term cryptocurrency investors looking to diversify their portfolio and monetize their assets (gathering virtual dust!), speculators interested in leveraging their portfolio, to short-term investors seeking to minimize their capital-gains taxes. Kambo is also a perfect option for start-up companies with ICO’s who are in need of fiat currencies to fund their operational expenses.

Unlike most blockchain startups, Kambo has a working product (along with an iOS app), and is a spin-off of its established and regulated parent firm GK Group, which owns the FCA-regulated MyKredit and GKFX entities. The GK Group has achieved tremendous success since its founding in 2010, and has grown into a global financial-technology firm with offices in over 18 countries and a workforce of over 1000 employees. The GK Group is well versed in lending, and has issued over 29,000 loans since 2015. Kambo intends to leverage its management team’s technical knowledge and expertise in lending in enhancing its operations. Because Kambo is part of an already established financial technology group, it will not require external funding or fundraising in the future, and will not plan on making an ICO.  

What are you waiting for? Join Kambo, and allow your assets to start helping you today.  

Warren Buffett has come under fire from Elon Musk after an exchange that led to Musk appearing to challenge his rival with a light-hearted ICO dubbed Cryptocandy. The two had been trading opinions via public shareholder meetings in the days prior. The reference to cryptocurrencies played on Buffett’s rigid ideas on bitcoin and his investment in See’s Candy.

Elon Musk hasn’t taken a strong stance on cryptocurrencies but represents a newer generation of success believing that “what matters is the pace of innovation, that is the fundamental determinant of competitiveness”. Although Musk has had little to say, he did share that he had been gifted 0.25 bitcoin by a friend years ago and has been noted to have a copy of Cryptocurrencies simply explained. His company Tesla also began accepting bitcoin as a payment method for their electric cars back in 2016. The use of cryptocurrencies played on Buffett’s rigid ideas on bitcoin.

Musk is well established in the technology sector and is familiar with online payment systems having co-founded X.com which was acquired by Paypal. After standing as CEO for Paypal he went onto make USD 165 million when the company was bought by eBay. With blockchain expanding into several fields that Musk has invested in alongside his knowledge of payment systems, it would be interesting to hear more of what he has to say.

Elon Musk isn’t the only person to challenge Buffett

Buffett — a fellow multi-billionaire, on the other hand, has profited largely from his  Berkshire’s holdings, which are in food and beverage companies, clothing, materials, insurance, banking, and media. Buffet has continued with his militant stance against cryptocurrencies in particular bitcoin which he recently referred to as “rat poison”.

With his view on technology stocks only having recently changed alongside his inability to keep up with the times as pointed out by his use of a flip-phone, by CNBC. Buffet continues with comments such as cryptocurrencies are headed for a “bad ending.”

Musk’s exchange isn’t the first time Buffet has come under fire, with Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng questioning the grounds of his statements. In an interview in January discussing Binance’s growth and customer demographic Changpeng responded with “Warren Buffett is a guy I truly respect from an investment point of view, but I do not think he understands cryptocurrencies at all,” which is confirmed by Buffett who previously said “Why in the world should I take a long or short position of something I don’t know anything about?”

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Wall Street is losing a lot of talented individuals in rather quick succession. Steve Hunt is the latest individual to join this growing list. He is the former CTO of Jump Trading and has been acquired by Kraken, the popular cryptocurrency exchange. It is not the first time talent is poached from Wall Street, nor will it be the last.

Jump Trading CTO Jumps Ship

Trading firms are rather common in Wall Street. While these companies pay a lot of attention to new payment technologies, cryptocurrency is still not making too many inroads. Or so it would appear, as a lot of executives active on Wall Street are looking into this nascent market. Over the past eighteen months, several people have left the financial world in search of success in the Bitcoin world.

Steve Hunt is the latest individual to do exactly that. He is best known for his stint at Jump Trading. This secretive trading firm has been active in the Bitcoin trading industry for quite some time now. As such, it seems a bit odd Hunt would decide to leave this growing company in search of a completely different venture. Jump Trading uses high-speed trading strategies. Steve Hunt oversaw the technical side of this company, as he was their chief technology officer.

Big was people’s surprise when Hunt left Jump Trading back in November of 2017. The departure was rather unexpected, but it seems a bigger plan was set in motion behind the scenes. Popular cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has been looking to hire additional staff since that same period. One of the open positions is a vice president of engineering. That role has now been filled by none other than Steve Hunt himself.

A Smart Move by the Kraken Exchange

This hiring spree by Kraken was direly needed. The company received a lot of negative attention because of its partially degraded performance. The company has undergone a major transformation ever since. Its trading engine, frontend, and backend are all running a lot smoother. To ensure this system remains operation, Steven Hunt will be tasked with keeping an eye on things. Company CEO Jesse Powell commented on Kraken’s plans in 2017 as follows:

“Where a Wall Street vet may not have the most relevant experience (i.e., cryptocurrency gateways), they could certainly help us with trading system technologies. In addition to developers, which we were always actively hiring, we are looking to bring on a VP of engineering, regulatory affairs counsel, trader, compliance manager, product manager, recruiter, and treasurer, just to name a few.”

It is not the first time a cryptocurrency firm attracts talent from Wall Street. Coinbase, Circle, and other companies are all going through the same motions these days. This seems to confirm all of these exchanges will pay more attention to high-speed trading in the near future. It is a positive development for this booming industry a swell. Bitcoin is slowly maturing, and the service providers are evolving alongside it.

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Blockchain gaming is the hottest trend in the cryptocurrency space that is rapidly changing the way we game. Each day, new projects and further developments push the envelope on the capabilities and potential of this new paradigm of gaming. Among blockchain game pioneers is Ether Online, a decentralized, massively multiplayer online role-playing game built on top of Ethereum.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Ether Online is a fresh take on Ethereum gaming. On April 27, the fantasy MMORPG was broadcast to the public through the commencement of the public Alpha phase. Since then, players have been opening chest, crafting gear, and most importantly, earning ETH. Payments made to purchase unique pets and open chests gets sent to a global jackpot. Each day, 10% of the jackpot is split equally between four players: the two players with the most battle points, as well as two lucky gamers. Currently, close to 2 ETH is awarded each day.

Big Updates on May 17th

On May 17th, Ether Online is set to enter the public Beta stage. With public Beta, a new set of features will be made available to players. Most importantly, PvP arena battles, the core component of gameplay, will be integrated to the game. In PvP, players are matched up against one another, with the victorious party earning an associated number of points. Success in battle is largely determined by the gear of a player- the better gear one has (and therefore higher number of battle points), the stronger they are in the arena.

Like the battle points leaderboard, the introduction of PvP is accompanied by a new leaderboard that ranks top players based on their accumulated victory points from battle. Similarly to the battle points leaderboard, top PvP players will be rewarded daily in Ethereum from the global jackpot. By the time of Beta launch, it is expected that the jackpot will eclipse 40 ETH. At 10% payouts each day, that’s 4 ETH, or more than US$3,000, won by participants every single day.

On top of these additions, the May 17th Beta also introduces the marketplace features of the game. With the marketplace, players can buy, sell, and trade their virtual pets and gear. This functionality acts as another source of earning- as now players are similarly rewarded for crafting and looting as they are for battle points and PvP victories.

Surpass Kitties

On May 10th, Ether Online actually just passed cryptokitties for the top spot for 24h volume for all game dapps.

Marketplace Dividends

Ether Online is holding its Marketplace Dividends.

1. During Marketplace event, players are given the opportunity to purchase market shares (1 ETH equals to 1% and each person can purchase up to 10 shares).
2. After the Marketplace goes live, we will take a commission of 10% of each trade, whose 6% will be redistributed to the share owners according to the shares they individually own, once a day. The higher the total daily commission, the more market shares you own, the more you will earn!
3. By acquiring market shares, you assure yourself to get a substantial long-term income! In a future update, you will also be able to sell your shares to other players!

Play Now!

Beyond PC, Ether Online is available for play on mobile devices. In partnership with the Trust mobile wallet and Toshi Ethereum web browser, individuals worldwide can play Ether Online from the convenience of their mobile devices exactly the same as is possible on any laptop or desktop.

If you’re interested in Ether Online, spread the word! Ether Online is currently offering a bountiful referral program. Every time you refer a new user, you will receive a 10% dividend on all payments made by the referee, forever. The more you and your friends play, the more you earn. Find out more on the website. (use hyperlink https://ether.online/?s=10018 )

Join Discord: https://discord.gg/mYJ2kKc

A recent study in India by HR company Belong has revealed that over 5000 Indian software developers have the necessary skills to work on blockchain and cryptocurrency projects, reports Inside Bitcoins.

The study claims that out of an estimated two million software developers, 0.25% of them have the skills required for blockchain development and cryptocurrencies, such as data science, algorithms, and cryptography.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently mandated any financial institutions and banks that fall within its regulatory jurisdiction to terminate any association with individuals or businesses dealing with virtual currencies. Although the mandate will dissuade many crypto investors, there are still channels open for traders and investors to circumvent the system.

Despite this, there are still a number of companies looking to move into the cryptocurrency space. Belong co-founder Rishabh Kaul suggests that India does have the potential to train another 10,000 developers with prior fintech experience, although he suggests another 30,000 would still need extensive training or refining of current skills. The local cryptocurrency market has been rapidly growing, with investor numbers reaching 5m and bitcoin investments in India approaching $2bn.

Adversely, Market Mogul reported recently the difficulties that new and existing cryptocurrency companies may face, apart from lacking qualified staff, due to the government’s recent tough stance on virtual currency. Investors in India will no longer be able to go through established financial institutions to transfer money from their bank to a crypto wallet. This is seen by some as part of a move by the government to eliminate cryptocurrencies from the investment space altogether.

Cryptocurrency in India has had to endure government criticism from very early on. The country’s finance minister has warned that it can never become legal tender, and India’s Central Bank has continued to caution users, suggesting cryptocurrency’s price volatility can cause financial instability.

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Cryptocurrency exchanges list new currencies on a regular basis. In a lot of cases, those currencies add additional trading volume, which results in bigger profits for the exchange operators. Cryptopia is currently in the process of going through all new and existing listings to ensure that the exchange is fully compliant with current regulations. It’s an interesting situation, although the outcome of this process remains to be determined.

A Positive Decision by Cryptopia

While the smaller cryptocurrency exchanges are extremely popular these days, they also pose a big risk. More specifically, there are growing concerns over how these exchanges list coins and tokens randomly without properly vetting the code. Although that is usually not what is really happening, these concerns will not go away anytime soon. As such, exchanges will need to take things up a notch sooner rather than later.

Binance set an interesting precedent in this regard recently by conducting a proper independent audit of all its listed ERC20 tokens. Although no other exchange has followed the company’s lead, it seems to only be a matter of time until one does. No trading platform wants to risk dealing with badly coded currencies, tokens or otherwise.

Cryptopia is taking a very interesting approach to addressing these challenges. Rumor has it the company is actively reviewing all of the currencies and tokens listed on the exchange, as well as its existing trading markets. By taking a closer look at what is being traded on the exchange, Cryptopia can hopefully weed out the bad elements, assuming there are any to begin with.

More specifically, it appears Cryptopia has its lawyers going over all of its currencies to see if there are any security compliance issues concerning specific tokens or coins. Given the growing number of ICO tokens listed on Cryptopia these days, it is only normal that such concerns are taken into account. For the time being, there is no indication as to how long this process will take, as it will heavily depend on whether or not discrepancies are discovered.

This development has delayed the listing of a few currencies on Cryptopia, including the latest iteration of DNotes. Although DNotes has been listed on this exchange for some time now, there will be a swap to DNotes 2.0. That is now part of the Cryptopia review queue, and it should be listed in a few days from now. It is evident that cryptocurrencies will need to adhere to certain laws as long as centralized exchanges are still a thing.

Although one has to commend Cryptopia for taking this approach, it also highlights the growing need for decentralized exchanges. Unlike their centralized counterparts, decentralized offerings do not entail any intermediaries, KYC rules, or AML guidelines. They let anyone trade freely regardless of location, identity, or currency. Unfortunately, it will take some time until such creations gain mainstream traction, mainly because all decentralized offerings suffer from a lack of liquidity first and foremost.

At 33 years young, Masamitsu Hirai is part of a new crop of idiosyncratic fintech leaders branching out from the Land of the Rising Sun. His minimalist approach to investment banking has created new spaces for private investors to participate in the global exchange of value. Now he is sure he can bring transparency and expertise to the budding cryptocurrency market via his investment firm Blackstar Group.  

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Early Career

Hirai was born in the northern island of Hokkaido, Japan in 1984 and relocated to Tokyo at a young age to study business. Despite having competitive skills in baseball, he went straight into investment banking after completing his degree at the renowned Hosei University.

Later on, his experiences as a young fund manager at Funai Soken Holdings and director at BS Investments Ltd. gave him the necessary acumen to start his own ventures.

Minimalism

A brief hospitalization in his twenties led Hirai to adopt the traditional Japanese credo of minimalism into his work ethic. For him, minimalism is a path to efficiency in both his professional and personal life.

In a recent interview with GQ he remembers a time when working overtime for 200 hours a month was commonplace for him, placing a toll on his health. Now, Hirai reflects on the resulting medical intervention as a turning point. It made him realize the importance of matching hard work with efficiency, a goal that Hirai sets onto all of his ventures.

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks at Bullion Japan

In February 2015 Hirai became CEO of Bullion Japan, where he brought fresh ideas to traditional finance. Under his leadership, the firm became a pioneer in gold trading for individuals thanks to a collaboration with British internet services. Bullion helped lower the barriers for private investors to participate in the conservative asset class, opening a field which was once closed.

His contributions to the old space made him realize there were similar opportunities for efficiency using new technologies. Hirai saw the potential in blockchain for greater transparency in gold trading and other assets. According to his vision, the next step for Bullion was “to establish a gold trading system using blockchains, which is the basic technology used for virtual currency, at the beginning of the year of 2018.”

Cryptocurrencies and Blackstar Group

More recently, Hirai founded Blackstar Group to delve deeper into the new financial instruments created by blockchain technology. His innovative work at Bullion gave him the appropriate insights to connect the new with the old. Now at Blackstar, Hirai and the team believe cryptocurrencies are a way to provide individuals with greater financial freedom and add transparency to their investments.

The firm consists of a team of experts in banking, law, and engineering who are dedicated to building better spaces within the new field. With their respective knowledge and know-how, they aim to build the necessary tools to make cryptocurrencies more accessible to private investors.

Spindle

The first of these tools developed by Blackstar Group is Spindle. A project that consists of a matchmaking platform, ZETA, that connects private investors with cryptocurrency hedge funds through the use of its Spindle token (SPD).

Spindle reflects Hirai’s own insights into minimalism and efficiency by providing individuals with a channel into cryptocurrencies that is both safe and easy. The ZETA platform is designed to be completely transparent, in a way that was impossible before the integration of blockchain technology into asset management.

Users of the new platform will have access to investment information that is guaranteed by smart contracts before deciding where their funds are placed. These tamper-proof records will allow any user to buy “investment ideas” and examine the history, plans, and performance of a whole cadre of cryptocurrency hedge funds on the ZETA platform. Private investors will only need to purchase SPD tokens and their funds will be allocated by the best performing asset managers of their choosing.

With Spindle, Hirai and Blackstar Group are making transparency and expertise available to any individual who is interested in cryptocurrency investment. The platform creates a space for anyone to do smart investments, regardless of their background.