Day: May 18, 2018

Often we hear about the blockchain technologies disrupting industries such as investment, finance, data security or healthcare. However, for many people living in developing countries and unfamiliar with bitcoin and latest IT trends, the concepts of “blockchain” “or” digital currencies ” seem to be not just ‘terra incognita’ but also an impractical innovation. How can blockchain be applied in their real life and solve vital problems?

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Dollars wrapped with love

Migration is one of the main demographic trends of the last decades. According to the UN statistics, as of 2018, there are 258 million migrants in the world. The reasons for this demographic phenomenon can vary from political instability and natural disasters to the search for a better life and, of course, work.

Labor migration is typical for developing regions such as Africa and Asia. Residents leave their homeland to earn money and help financially their families left at home.

As stated in the UN report, in 2017 the total amount of money transfers exceeded    $ 596 billion, of which $450 billion was sent to developing countries. In such regions remittance payments quite often make up the bulk of the budget on which the families live. This money is used to meet basic needs, including food, clothes, education, transportation or medical services. In other words, for millions of people in Asia or Africa the adequate standard of living almost entirely depends on remittance transfers received from relatives working abroad. Moreover, even the economy of these states is based on them. For example, in the Philippines over 10% of its GDP comes from remittances.  

Today’s world remittance market can serve as a vivid example of the imperfection of the existing financial system.

The transfer of funds usually looks like this: a person sends a payment in his local currency through a bank, the bank converts money into an international currency (like dollar), then transfers it to the correspondent bank of the recipient’s country, which converts the funds from dollar into another local currency – and allocates them to the recipient’s account. Evidently, this process undergoes multiple stages and involves a chain of participants. As a result, the transfer takes several days and banks charge commission fees at each stage of the transaction. According to a World Bank study, sending remittances costs an average of 7.13 % of the amount sent. In some countries this indicator is significantly higher –  9. 82 % in Japan, 17.13 % in South Africa.

Banks remain the most expensive way of making cross-border money transfers, with an average cost of 10.57%. The cheapest is Mobile Money that charges a commission fee of 4.21%, which still is pretty big. Another problem is that not all the money transferred reaches the destination. Analysts assume that over $32 million fail to be received.

Despite the actions of the World Bank aimed at reducing the remittance costs, this process is not moving fast enough. Facing the acute problem such as multiple intermediaries, high commission rates and risks related to overseas payments, people start to search for the new and more efficient ways of money transfers. That’s when disruptive technology comes to show its real usefulness and help migrants and their families.

Remittance goes decentralized

Digital transactions via blockchain can become the innovative way to make the remittance industry more fair and people-friendly. Cryptocurrency payments don’t require third parties and can be processed easily and instantly – within several minutes.

As the blockchain technology eliminates banks as monopoly intermediaries, the transfers will cost much lower as no additional fees or overheads are involved.

Moreover, virtual money payments are transparent and thus reliable. The nature of blockchain lies in decentralization. It means that all the information about the transaction is stored not on one server or a computer, but on millions of them. Therefore, both a sender and a recipient would be able to track the money flow and know exactly whether the funds have reached their destination or not. With this technology, there is no risk of losing money somewhere between the parties and their wallets.

In traditional finance, including the remittance industry, fraud and hacking make the huge problems for institutions and users. Unlike centralized banks, the distributed ledger network is almost impossible to compromise and hack.

The pioneers head their way

The concept of blockchain remittance systems is still new to the market, but the most forward-thinking ventures have started to explore and implement it. Several countries have already got access to such option of sending money. For instance, in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania people can take advantage of BitPesa – a platform that allows instant virtual payments and money transfers.

The Noah Project started in 2016, the project focuses on implementing several blockchain-powered products. All of them are designed to bring innovative technologies closer to people and thus enhance their lives. One of the sectors developed by the Noah Project involves the web-based application for remittance transfers.

To enable the process the company has created NoahCoin serving as a digital token in the Noah ecosystem. The application users will be able to send money (cryptocurrencies or Noah Coins)  to their homes taking full advantage of fast, cheap, and easy remits. With the product developed by the Noah Project, the cost of money transfers can be cut down to 2-3%, which is by 3 times less than via traditional bank transactions.

The Noah Project team believes that for millions of migrants in Asia and in the whole world the blockchain opens new opportunities to deliver financial support to their families. Thanks to the decentralized digital nature, the technology facilitates rapid and guaranteed cross-border transfers. More importantly, blockchain puts a user in the driver’s seat – he becomes the one in control of his finances.

While blockchain is on its way to transforming many industries in the future, it has all the chances to provide real value to many people worldwide today. Companies like the Noah Project not only develop an exciting alternative to traditional ways of payment but sustain economic growth through new technologies. They create the borderless world where a person can support his loved ones regardless of his location.

More info about the Noah Project in telegram chat. Join the discussion!

Malta’s Transport Ministry and UK blockchain startup to develop a transport and logistics blockchain platform for the country

A committee of the European Parliament believes that small businesses could benefit from integrating blockchain technology.

Cryptocurrency-related platforms often struggle to gain any sort of traction. Even when they do so, sustaining long-term growth has proven to be nearly impossible. In that respect, Steem is most certainly doing something right. With the one millionth account having been registered on this blockchain, its associated Steemit platform is also making significant progress.

Steem is Trucking Along Nicely

For those unaware of what Steemit is, it is the native platform of the Steem cryptocurrency project. For content creators, Steemit offers an interesting solution, as it allows users to earn money by offering contributions. It is a very community-driven project which relies on the Steem technology to be successful. As such, Steemit and Steem will be entwined for the foreseeable future, and one will not succeed without the other.

In a recent blog post, the Steem team confirmed that things were going according to plan. Over 1 million unique accounts exist on the Steem blockchain at this stage, which is rather impressive. A lot of new users continue to join the Steem project every single day, and it seems the rate of growth is only increasing. That makes it very different from most other cryptocurrency-related projects, which eventually faced a steep dropoff in popularity after the initial hype died down.

For Steem, things are firing on all cylinders right now. The company has confirmed that there are over 1 million transactions per day on the Steem blockchain. That is a rather steep number, especially when compared with other cryptocurrency blockchains. Furthermore, it appears no other project even comes close. In fact, the Steem blockchain is processing more transactions than all other chains combined. Additionally, the team claims close to 60,000 unique accounts transact on this blockchain every single day.

All of this is also great news for the Steemit platform, as it sees hundreds of thousands of unique visitors each day. Considering that a lot of DApps work in tandem with the Steem blockchain, these numbers are only expected to rise in the near future. Of these DApps, it seems Esteem is the most popular offering. Busy and Zappl are also gaining some traction, and a fair few smaller DApps are in the mix right now. Steemit is still the main source of Steem-related activity, but it is good to see some competition in this regard. Growth is key in the world of cryptocurrency, and it seems this project is doing a lot of things right.

While all of these statistics seem promising, there is no time to rest on one’s laurels. There is still plenty of work to be done before the mainstream embraces Steem or any of its DApps. Indeed, most of its users are existing cryptocurrency enthusiasts, rather than people who have never ventured into this industry before. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Steem in this regard, but so far, the numbers look promising.

At the 2018 Consensus conference in New York, the world’s first decentralized blockchain-based state – Decenturion – will be unveiled. Unlike other states, the state of Decenturion does not support its existence through taxation, but was created to help its citizens prosper in the blockchain era.

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The residents of this new blockchain-based state will form two separate but complimentary categories: The individual citizen who will exist as a physical resident, and the startup as a legal resident. The founding 100 citizens of Decenturion will come from the most important visionaries in the blockchain sector and from prominent tech journalists.

As in fiat-based societies, in Decenturion citizens will be assigned roles in the makeup of the civic structure. The number of Decenturion tokens that an individual owns will determine their specific role in the new society. But this will not create a hierarchical structure of elites and servants of social structures as in the past. Decenturion is a state which values its citizens, and will reward them in the form of tokens from startups who are admitted to Decenturion.

The first physical passports will be issued at the Consensus Conference in New York, and these passports along with future passports issued will provide the citizen with the following rights: The right to receive startup tokens proportional to the number of Decenturion tokens that the citizen owns; the right to sell startup and Decenturion tokens in a free decentralized marketplace; and the right to bring in new citizens to the blockchain state of Decenturion.

Decenturion will be an attractive destination for startups to become legal residents. By joining the state, they will be able to distribute tokens to the citizens – bringing them into direct interaction with the populace of Decenturion, who consist of blockchain journalists, enthusiasts, token distributors and other important figures in the sector. Thus, startups will be able to establish a much wider and diverse range of clientele than possible via a traditional ICO. Through this free distribution of tokens, the startup will immediately become an integrated part of the economy and marketplace of Decenturion – and flourish alongside with fellow residents of Decenturion. Here startups whose tokens are backed by an active service or product will see their tokens take priority and play an active role in the economy. As the community grows, the potential reach for the startup will expand vastly as other resellers, promoters, and professionals familiarize themselves with the resident startup.

As for the Decenturion state token, it will serve as the platform currency and can be used to gain citizenship. These tokens will be free upon their issue, and based on current projections the blockchain state plans to issue 30 million tokens. One token is sufficient to purchase a passport as a new citizen. The social agreement between Decenturion and the citizen will be regulated through a smart contract. In order to become a citizen, the user must activate their Decenturion passport. After activation, the new citizen will receive a hard-copy passport, a landing page in the community, and a guidebook for engaging in economic activity.

The marketplace will continue to grow as new Decenturion citizens and resident startups enter the population. The citizens may elect to accept or decline the new pro-rata amount of startup tokens upon their initial distribution. Those who accept the tokens may post them for sale on their landing pages. The tokens may be offered for sale at the recommended price or at a price of the citizens’ own choosing. The sold tokens will bring liquid cryptocurrency and generate profit for the citizenry – one subject to no taxes or commissions whatsoever. Based on conservative estimates, citizens can expect to be making upwards of $15,000/year.

Decenturion is a peer-to-peer tax-free democracy, one where the citizens of Decenturion will be at liberty to decide the political, social, and economic scope and direction of the world’s first blockchain-based state. It will be an ecosystem where new startups will no longer have to launch expensive marketing campaigns, but rather become a direct part of the new decentralized state economy – a truly revolutionary idea.

Banco Santander has completed a blockchain pilot that it says improves the process of proxy voting during annual general meetings.

Finding real-world use cases for blockchain technology has proven to be far more difficult than originally anticipated. Without the necessary infrastructure, it is difficult to make a big impact in this regard. Blockparty is on the right track, as they will offer a blockchain solution to combat ticket fraud.

What is Blockparty all About?

With an aptly chosen name, Blockparty can bring blockchain technology to the ‘party industry’. More specifically, they aim to prevent ticket fraud, engage fans, and establish fair pricing through a blockchain-based business model. Ticket fraud is growing all over the world, and countering it is very difficult. With blockchain technology, however, the tide can be turned in favor of the proverbial good guys.

How Does it Work?

To make Blockparty a successful venture, scalability will need to be addressed. The team prides itself on offering a highly scalable protocol which combines transferable digital identity solutions with multivariate smart contracts. Revolutionizing the ticketing industry will not be easy, but it is evident something will need to change sooner rather than later.

Blockparty will offer a mobile application to address issues including fraudulent tickets and unfair secondary market pricing. Those users who share events and bring friends with them will also be rewarded, which should help get more people excited about the project. Blockparty’s Two Factor Ticketing links tickets to one’s digital identity. Users can enter the venue’s gate by unlocking their ticket via the application.

Keeping user privacy in mind is also important to the team. The app fully encrypts and anonymizes one’s digital identity. It also utilizes phones’ built-in biometric authentication methods, including facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. As one would expect, the app can also be used to launch and promote events. The web dashboard makes it easy to set up an event, set ticket prices, manage VIP entry, and so forth.

The BLOX Token

No one will be surprised to learn Blockparty has its own native token, known as BLOX. This will be used to reward promoters and people who are active in the ecosystem in general. These tokens can be used to obtain ticket discounts, merchandise, and special perks when attending events. It is an interesting addition, although it remains a bit unclear how consumers will be able to pay for the tickets themselves.

What Comes Next?

Although the Blockparty ecosystem is still under development, interested parties can sign up to receive future information. There is no real roadmap in place, although setting up the necessary infrastructure for this venture will take a fair bit of time. Additionally, the aforementioned mobile application is still under development, with no official release date listed on the website.

The token sale that will transform the traveling and napping industry is launching soon.

The state-of-the-art ICO project by AirPod is taking off after the platform announced May 29, 2018, as the day when APOD tokens are going to become available for purchase. The token sale is set to start after the AirPod presentation at CryptoKonf in Belgrade on the same day and it will drive the project, enabling a blockchain based franchise distribution model for sleeping pods. The AirPod project is designed to be a self-expanding business with utmost levels of transparency, provided with the help of an internal fast-growing crypto-economy.

The AirPod token sale provides an opportunity for any cryptocurrency investor to create a profitable and stable channel to earn passive income.

AirPod: The Solution

The travel industry is one of the fastest growing sectors with an annual global passenger volume of over 667 million. Among them, at least 10% of the passengers frequently go through transits and transfers, creating a need for comfortable private spaces in public spots like airports, hotels, malls etc. The AirPod project caters to this need by offering travel and napping solution in the form of privacy-centric resting pods with amenities. As a part of its expansion strategy, the project has a Partnership Program for community members who can own or enter into a revenue share program by staking their APOD tokens.

AirPods will be placed at hotels, railway and bus stations, shopping centers, offices, and city centers. In the beginning, AirPods will be placed at the major airports worldwide. It will become an affordable “couple o’hours” home or office when waiting for the next flight, train, bus or a scheduled meeting.

AirPod Sleeping Pod will give the user a unique, luxury, state-of-art place to relax without stress. The private, “capsule style” units will also offer security and safety to the user. It can accommodate both overnight and short-term stays, with integrated anti-stress technology to help the user relax and revitalize.

The unit offers comfort and entertainment to the traveler, featuring free access to high-speed Wi-Fi, Amazon Fire TV, air conditioning among others.

Sponsorship Program

AirPod will not be just a place to relax. It will be also one of the most profitable and stable businesses with passive crypto-income potential. In the Sponsorship Program, a participant will become the sponsor of a particular unit and earn up to 80% of the profits generated by the AirPod unit every month. AirPod will enable ICO contributors to exchange APOD tokens for the right to gain “in profits”.

As a contributor, participants can choose any AirPod unit in the world and exchange APOD tokens for profits for an indefinite amount of time.

So, if you bought APOD tokens during the crowdsale, you will be offered a deal to exchange a specific number of tokens, at the prevailing market price, for up to 80% profits from the AirPod token. Your return on the investment will pay off on a year. After that period, you will then enjoy the profits from your chosen AirPod unit for an indefinite amount of time.

Global distributor already confirmed.

With a global distributor already confirmed, 1000 AirPods will be placed in up to 284 global airports over the first three phases. Meaning, 1000 or more passive crypto-income generating possibilities.

Grega Mrgole, CEO states,

“AirPod’s vision is to improve your travel experience and on the other hand to give you the possibility to earn stable passive income for your safer financial future.”

Token Details.

The core business of the AirPod project will be to install the pods across international airports and renting them out. At the same time, the company will be implementing their own utility token, APOD which will be used to build and boost their crypto economy.

APOD tokens are influenced by the AirPod business, not by the crypto market. As the number of distributed AirPods and users grow, the frequency of tokens that AirPod will be buying from the exchanges will grow too. It will result in the value of APOD token growing over time.

Learn more about AirPod and the token sale at – https://air-pod.io/

The post AirPod’s Pre-Sale is Now on Track, Dates Announced appeared first on NewsBTC.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

In adult life, one way or another, no one escapes the suit. If you have but contempt for what it stands for, it might end up owning your day completely. It does not matter if it is above or beneath you. On the other hand, wearing one with the wrong outlook can be a severe detriment to the soul. The point is, should you choose to wear one, that it does not mean you don’t get to f**k with it and make it your own. Same applies to keynotes.

Every new undertaking of value is a mixture of nerves about the unknown and excitement over potential. I’d been planning my first crypto talk for a long time and rehearsed it plenty to be able to deliver a mostly sensible and ‘different to the norm’ perspective on it. #ETHLDN at Blockchain Global was a class act yet it did not come about without winning some challenges before Peter Gabriel’s version of ‘Heroes’ started playing.

The booked and carefully selected dancer Sophia Bebyck had to, for a good reason, drop off just a couple of days before the show. With her help, the gracefully energetic Rachel Piearcey stepped in to replace her. The afternoon was sweaty as it was the first scorching day of spring. People were getting restless as it was the last slot after a long day. Just before us starting, some glass got broken by accident on the podium, but Rachel said she was good to go – so one of my favorite songs began to fill up the room.

Link to the performance and keynote

“According to the Japanese tradition of Kintsukuroi, a previously broken object, if mended with gold and silver lacquer, is more beautiful than the original as it has a history. I believe this applies to humans and systems like money too.” – V E S A

Crypto Documentary

As you can see from the image above and below, a few days ago I also participated in an interview and live painting session for a four-part crypto documentary. I had the privilege of being their first they interviewed before they head off to Tokyo to talk with Roger Ver.

I can only say it is for an Asian TV channel to be released towards the end of the year at this point. Much love for everyone who helped it become a reality. You know who you are.

Bad Crypto Podcast

I also just heard back from Mr. Joel Comm that our Bad Crypto Podcast will be recorded on the 22nd and I’m good to tell you fine people about it here on News BTC. I had some time earlier today to prepare some talking points and soon was drowning in paper. Screw it. I’m going to do it “Trust the force Luke” – style and enjoy spending some time with these gentlemen. I’ve listened to the show since late last year and respect the vibe they bring to space. I have a feeling it will be bad in a good way.

Blockchained Finland

Right after the podcast early morning on the next day I’ll be flying over to my home city Helsinki to participate in Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Finland. Good to see my roots turf get its conference finally and what a great excuse to see some friends again. There will be an art stand and a table set up for Art For Crypto so say hi if you are around.

More coming soon involving nuclear explosions, crypto strippers, and rare digital collectibles. I’ve recently learned atomic blasts were at one time available to watch from hotel rooftops early in the morning someplace special.

I’m not kidding. Stay tuned.

V E S A
Visual Artist
London / Helsinki

To receive a 100$ off from your World Crypto Con ticker purchase it via this link and write ‘$100 Off: WCC100’

The post Golden Suits, Doc Filming And Bad Crypto appeared first on NewsBTC.

LAPO is looking to override the negative perception associated with decentralized exchanges by addressing the common challenges facing them and offering a revolutionized crypto trading experience.

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Crypto exchange platforms are in every practical sense the backbone of the crypto economy. Tradable assets require markets to facilitate their movement and that is essentially the role that exchanges carry out. They breathe life into crypto commerce thanks to their conversion services between crypto pairs and crypto to fiat (and vice versa). In keeping with the decentralization philosophy, decentralized exchanges have no central authority in control. Unfortunately, in spite of their obvious merits, such exchanges are often difficult to use and limited in features.

Fortunately, LAPO has set up a crypto exchange platform with a difference in a bid to encourage more trading in the sector and demystify the crypto space for the general public.

LAPO Trading Platform

The LAPO trading platform will be a decentralized exchange offering users the opportunity to trade LAPO Tokens, LAX and a wide variety of altcoins. Unlike most extant sites, the platform will make it possible to execute instant conversions between currencies, both fiat and crypto. Traders will enjoy the opportunity to carry out LAX to altcoin trades, trading between tokenized assets and LAX to fiat trades.

For security purposes, platform users will store their assets in a local wallet, as opposed to storing them on the exchange where they are known to be prone to hacking and theft. This secure storage in a local wallet ensures ease of accessibility when trading and safety at all other times.

While decentralized exchanges have for a long time been faulted on their complexity, even for tech savvy crypto traders, LAPO offers a welcome break from the convention. Placing a heavy focus on user experience, the exchange will offer a flat learning curve for its end users to ensure that even newbies to crypto trading will easily find their way on the exchange. Outstanding highlights of this platform that serve to facilitate quick deals include a high channel capacity and centralized matcher.

Convenient Trading on the LAPO Classic Wallet

Trading will be conveniently accessible on the LAPO Classic Wallet between tokens. What makes it particularly appealing to trade on this wallet is its user-friendly design. Instead of the usual wallet architecture which requires massive blockchain downloads for installation, this lightweight wallet will be easy to install and operate even on mobile devices. An optional fingerprint login enhances security while simple backup and restore features safeguard users in case of device loss.

In the early stages, an easy mining setup will allow network users to mine with ease from their home PCs. And in the future, similar convenience will be accessible on mobile phones.

LAPO Bank

One of the most notable ambitions of the network is to be the first platform to launch an integrated payment ecosystem which is based on a digital currency. In order to make that a reality, the network is hoping to launch LAPO Bank in the final quarter of 2019 whose key offering will be the LAPO Trading Platform.

So as to make it possible to carry out real-time conversions between different currencies, the bank will need to maintain adequate reserves of all currencies offered on the platform. To this end, it will implement daily and monthly limits for its merchants as well as for overall operations.

LAPO bank will impose fees for all currency conversions to sustain its operations and increase the platform’s revenue stream, comprising a flat rate and a percentage. However, it will be keen to keep this figure lower than the prevailing rates offered by other service providers such as banks, exchanges and credit card companies.

A Stable Blockchain Ecosystem to Back the Platform

Since the LAPO ecosystem revolves around its LAX token, the platform is keen on ensuring stability by protecting this coin against volatility. A Stability Fund powered by Artificial Intelligence has thus been established to manage the effect of artificial market moves like pump and dump schemes. This guarantee of stability inspires confidence in the project as it is a great way to protect investor interest.

Token Sale Details

The LAPO project has a total supply of 100 billion LAX tokens, of which 10 billion have been pre-mined to set up the blockchain. The rest of the tokens will be mined for rewards over a couple of years. From the total number of pre-mined tokens, 3 billion have been made available for a public presale the 3 Stages of ICO. The 1 Stage was run from April to May, the 2 Stage and is scheduled to run until June 1st, 2018 and the 3 Stage will run from June to finish the entire ecosystem.

Further details on the ongoing token sale and the LAPO project are available on the platform’s official website.