Day: May 23, 2018

India could soon impose goods and services tax (GST) on many digital currency transactions, a report indicates.

India considers taxing cryptocurrency transactions despite the central bank ban remaining in place

Financial institutions are paying close attention to the blockchain. Various patent filings have been made public over the past few weeks and months. Bank of America was recently awarded a patent related to letting users access a certain blockchain network. A remarkable development which brings the financial sector closer to incorporating distributed ledgers in an official capacity.

The Bank of America Blockchain Patent

Various use cases for blockchain exist in the financial sector. Numerous options have to be explored in the future. Bank of America is working on managing security and access to resources using a distributed validating network. While a rather broad application of distributed ledger technology, it confirms BoA is serious about this particular implementation.

To put this into perspective, the patent will offer validated permission to certain users. With data being stored in blocks of data, the system can be completely automated. As such, the network in question will be responsible for granting access as well as tracking all user activity. Which type of data will be recorded on this ledger, remains unclear at this stage.

It is not the first time Bank of America has filed a blockchain patent. The financial firm has been working on such patents for quite some time now. No real-world use cases exist for any of their proprietary ledger technology at this stage. Even so, the company deals with sensitive information on a daily basis. Having an immutable record powered by decentralized technology can yield some positive developments in the long run.

Another Permissioned Ledger

It has become apparent the financial sector is mainly interested in permissioned blockchains. Bank of America is building an ecosystem where users need to request access first and foremost. Depending on the reason specified for this access, the request will be granted for a limited time. It is a positive development for the industry as a whole. Traditional data storage solutions are prone to hacking and exploiting due to their centralized nature.

Patents are always a controversial topic in the world of blockchain. Proprietary technology needs to be patented under any circumstance. However, the distributed nature of blockchain seemingly makes that idea somewhat counterproductive. For institutions like Bank of America, it is the normal order of business. As such, it is likely the bank will continue to file blockchain-related patents moving forward.

When this technology will be put to use in the real world, remains to be determined. The exact nature of this specific patent-related blockchain venture remains unclear. Bank of America is, along with other institutions, showing a keen interest in distributed ledgers as of late. Slowly but surely, the financial sector is warming up to this new infrastructure. Incorporating it into existing financial services and products still remains challenging.

Image from Shutterstock

The post Bank of America Secures Another Permissioned Blockchain Patent appeared first on NewsBTC.

The crypto markets tumble, with all top ten coins by market cap in the red, and BTC trading volumes in decline

Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has asked the country’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) to research blockchain, and how it could be used to improve government services, including welfare payments.

The Australian government has granted the agency a budget of AUD 700,000 (USD 530,000) in order to carry out an investigation into DLT, according to ITNews.

“The Prime Minister, in fact, wrote to our minister and asked us to have a look at blockchain, which evolved into this particular piece of work,” DTA chief digital officer Peter Alexander said.

The move is not entirely surprising given recent interest among financial instructions in the country, most significantly, the Australian Securities Exchange’s (ASX) recent plans to replace its current clearing and settlement system with a DLT model within the next two years.

“ASIC (the Australian Securities and Investments Commission) [was] looking at blockchain, immigration – now home affairs – was looking at blockchain and considering it, and more agencies were talking about it,” Alexander said, adding, “Lots of vendors were coming to government and talking about blockchain.”

The move is one of many focused on how the government can best leverage blockchain’s advantages, including another DTA announcement this week that the agency plans to look into how the technology can be used for making social security welfare payments to citizens.

The new plan is focused on payments by Centrelink, reports CCN. The DTA feels that there are significant advantages of delivering social security welfare to citizens over a blockchain. Centrelink, part of the Department of Health Services (DHS), is responsible for a range of payments, particularly those relating to unemployment, pensions, and health. DTA Chief executive Randall Brugeaud stated:

“Our plan is to look for use cases across the Commonwealth with an initial focus on the welfare payment delivery system, then working with our digital service standard, we’ll conduct user research a view of having a prototype by the end of the next financial years.”

Brugeaud added that the potential of blockchain to securely record transactions would be investigated, drawing on the experience of other public and private sector organizations.

As blockchain is increasingly being developed and employed in new sectors across the country, cryptocurrency is also increasing in popularity. While Australia may not be the largest market for Bitcoin and other digital currencies, it is one that is quickly growing. It is currently ranked the 13th in the world for Bitcoin trading volume.

Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bitcoinnewscom

Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com at https://t.me/bconews

The post Australian Government Considers Blockchain for Services, Welfare Payments appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Verge, a cryptocurrency that boasts security, anonymity, and privacy as it’s strong points has been hit by another so-called 51% hack.

Same Hack Different Day

Only a day after announcing a new partnership with the medical supplement company DIOXYME to allow customers to pay with its XVG cryptocurrency, Verge has lost an estimated 35 million coins worth $1.7 million in an attack that lasted just a few hours.

This latest attack was recognized and reported on Bitcointalk.org by the same user who goes by the online name ocminer that reported a previous attack in April which exploited the same vulnerability in Verge’s code to mine a large number of blocks and reap the rewards over a short period of time according to TNW.

The April attack dubbed by the company as a “small hash attack” on Twitter is what is known as a 51% attack which wiped out 22% of XVG’s value at the time. Though Verge switches between five different cryptographic algorithms for each new block mined, in both attacks, the hacker found a way to fake the timestamps allowing the majority of the network’s mining power to be captured using far less than normal computing power.

Verge hard forked in response to the last attack but apparently failed to remove the glitch which allowed this second identical hack to happen. For its part, the company has downplayed the hack as a ‘denial of services attack affecting some XVG mining pools’ on Twitter.

Verge has been busy since that first hack creating a crowd sale of tokens worth $3 million as it worked toward signing a partnership with Mindgeek which owns porn giants Pornhub and Brazzers. A move they tried to leverage in order to convince online music provider Spotify to include the privacy based cryptocurrency onto their platform and access to their 70 million subscribers.

Unlucky Streak for Privacy Coin

Still, Verge has traveled a bumpy road starting in March when their Twitter account was hacked and a would-be scammer sent out Tweets to its followers offering double back on any XVG they sent to a fraudulent wallet. The scam netted its perpetrator all of about $7 dollars but that and the two 51% attacks coupled with a persistent rumor that there is another vulnerability in their system which exposes users IP addresses does not bode well for a privacy coin.

A recent listing on Bitfinex hasn’t helped the XVG value much as it has been siding steadily over the month trading today at $.045 down 13.6% in the past 24 hours according to coinmarketcap.com.

Image from Shutterstock

The post Verge Loses $1.7 Million as Hackers Double Down on Vulnerabilities appeared first on NewsBTC.

China has prosecuted nearly 100 individuals said to be involved with locally operating the OneCoin cryptocurrency scheme.

A former Obama aide and Democratic congressional candidate has been targeted by an anti-crypto political ad for accepting BTC donations to his campaign

After a few years, only two blockchain applications have found momentum: Cryptokitties a kind of Pokemon on the blockchain and ICOs, or new token sales on the Ethereum network – not exactly the decentralized application revolution that we were promised.

Bitcoin has had an impressive sprint, and now ICOs are joining the list. Having been ready to provide the next best return on investment, but not all will make it through to the finish line, leave alone make it to the moon. The race to take the next big ICO to the moon is on!

Recently, four mountaineering enthusiasts embarked on a tremendous challenge to scale the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest. Standing at 8,848 meters, only 4,833 people have ever made it to the summit, while another 288 have succumbed in the attempt.

As part of the project and expedition, the team raised the ASKfm flag and two Ledgers, to which ASKfm tokens (ASKT) are credited. This act makes it possible to honestly state that the ASKT is literally the “highest token in the world”, the token “closest to the moon”, and ASKfm can conquer new peaks.’

Out of the four mountaineers in the 2018 expedition, two members: Ira Galai (an  honoree in the Ukraine Guinness Book of Records), and Taras Pozdnii (who was writing a diary on his FB page in Russian language) suffered from snow blindness and minor freeze burns at the peak, and have recovered since then.

The Highest Token in the World, Literally!

ASKfm has been working on creating a high-loaded blockchain-based Q&A platform. Once completed, the platform will work as an extension to ASKfm’s already existing network. To be successful at tokenizing social interactions, ASKfm will be introducing a new token out of conceptual necessity. These tokens will be made available to the public during the upcoming token sale. In addition, ASKfm is also launching a content at the beginning of the crowdsale wherein the early contributors stand to win the ASKT tokens hidden in the ledger up on the Mount Everest.

The most ambitious investors will be contesting for the first Ledger containing 500,000 ASKT (valued at approximately $50k), hidden on the Everest peak.

Slogan: Aiming for New Heights.

The mountaineering expedition and its message have a close correlation with ASKfm’s initiative. The platform, just like the highest point on Earth sets a new bar for cryptocurrencies. Armed with a strong identity and a use case, ASKfm has just proved to the crypto-market that they are worth investing in, even before they get listed on all major exchanges for public trading. They put their token at the top rather than relying on dubious tactics commonly used by a majority of the blockchain projects to raise funds.

ASKfm ICO is shooting for the moon. The ICO will oversee a transfer of 215 million registered users hailing from more than 168 countries, that’s 49 different languages, to the crypto market. This planned migration will make this ICO the single most substantial mass introduction to the future. Playing out a scenario for the well-known ‘To the Moon’ meme in the crypto community; What’s the closest starting point to reach the moon? That will be Mt. Everest, to be followed by a huge demand that could soon make ASKT’s value surge upwards.

Everest is the tallest mountain on Earth. ASKfm is technologically and ideologically superior to every other crypto. When it hits the market, it’ll take its rightful place at the very top. Higher than the world, they are already making a statement with a successfully tokenized  Mt. Everest.

Everest tokenized.

The term “tokenized Mt. Everest” is a clickbait, since everyone seemingly claims to tokenize anything. ASKfm, on the other hand, is doing something fun and original with their tokens. They are holding a massive giveaway of their token –ASKT- that have been on Mt. Everest’s summit. Well, this is not tokenizing Mt. Everest, but ‘Everesting’ tokens.

The ASKfm crowdsale is a promising ICO of 2018. The pace and outcome of this ICO will be rewarding to all its contributors. The pre-sale and main token sale dates remain unconfirmed, but in total, ASKfm plans to sell $100,000,000 worth of tokens. Its private sale is going on with a minimum investment amount of one million dollars.

The general cryptocurrency community can currently apply for the whitelist. 1,000,000,000 ASKfm tokens will be on offer during the ICO at an initial price of 0.1USD per 1 ASKT.

More information about the ASKfm token sale is available at – https://askfm.io/

The post ASKfm Conquers New Peaks: Next Stop, the Moon appeared first on NewsBTC.

It is evident things are quickly going from bad to worse for all of the major cryptocurrencies these days. All major markets are still down, a trend which began forming yesterday morning. Things have not improved in the past 24 hours by any means. The Bitcoin Cash price illustrates that problem perfectly, as it is slowly dropping to $1,000.

Bitcoin Cash Price Woes Worsen

There is very little to be excited about when it comes to cryptocurrency prices as of right now. With all markets down in the dirt, it is evident there is a fair amount of panic setting in. Traders and speculators are more than willing to part with their cryptocurrency holdings right now, which will only push the prices down even further.  This is quite visible when looking at the Bitcoin Cash price as of right now.

To be more specific, the Bitcoin Cash price has dropped from nearly $1,300 to $1,056 in the past few days. It is evident this is not the development most people are looking for these days, but there is very little to be done about it at this point in time. With the Bitcoin Cash price dropping 11.5% over the past 24 hours, the bigger question is whether or not the value can remain above $1,000 for much longer.

Additionally, the Bitcoin Cash price is also losing ground thanks to further declines in the BCH/BTC ratio. With another 6.61% decline in the past 24 hours, it is evident speculators are mainly interested in getting rid of BCH in favor of Bitcoin right now. This also applies to other cryptocurrencies as of right now, and it remains to be seen when the momentum turns in favor of the cryptocurrency industry.

With $696.16m in 24-hour trading volume, things are not looking all that bad for Bitcoin Cash. Although this volume isn’t the most impressive by any means, it is still pretty significant when looking at some of the other altcoins on the market. It also appears the total cryptocurrency trading volume is rising again, albeit this is mainly due to more people selling their holdings right now.

Looking over the exchanges ranked by trading volume, Bitcoin Cash is extremely popular on OKex, Bitfinex, and HitBTC. LBank is also in the top five, and OKEx’s BTC pair closes out the top five. It is interesting to see so many markets generate over $30m in trading volume these past 24 hours. Unfortunately, there are only two fiat currency pairs in the entire top 10, which means less fresh capital is entering the BCH ecosystem as of right now.

For the time being, it remains to be seen how things will unfold for the Bitcoin Cash price. It is evident the current momentum is not looking all that hot, but there is no reason to wallow in despair either. Cryptocurrencies are volatile by nature, and there are a lot of reasons as to why the Bitcoin Cash price is suffering from major setbacks right now. Whether or not it will remain above $1,000, is the big question for today, as that seems very difficult right now.