Day: June 2, 2018

The fight between Hyperledger and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance seems destined to be an all-out battle that will determine which platform will rule the day. Just like the old days when the struggle between video machine formats led to the advancement of one over the other and the demise of the losing platform, so too could be the battle between Hyperledger and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) platforms.

In the famous video machine battle, the Sony platform, Betamax, was in a fight with the video cassette recorder, better known as the VCR. While many believed that Betamax was the better platform, it was the VCR that won the battle and took over the market. It was a sad story for the Sony Betamax, which was shortly thereafter relegated to the same place that eight-track players had found themselves just a few years earlier.

Are we now in for the same kind of fight for market share in the blockchain space, and will we soon see the demise of one once the market has determined which would make for a better investment, use of time, and energy? Maybe not. This battle could actually end up in a tie, and that might be the best result moving forward when it comes to blockchain technology.

The fundamental difference between the two platforms is their user bases. Ethereum targets applications that are easily distributed, while Hyperledger is targeting business applications where flexibility is key. Ethereum, for instance, is not able to shield its transactions from some while granting access to others, which is something that business applications will undoubtedly require. Hyperledger allows for this, while giving its user base a bit more flexibility.

The reason this could end in a tie is that there are some heavy hitters like BNY Mellon, JP Morgan, and others that have put their resources into both competing technologies, and could possibly push both ends toward the middle and get these two entities to work together toward a common goal.

Brian Behlendorf, the director of Hyperledger, has said that no one in his group believes that belonging to one excludes the other, and no one has canceled their membership. Monax will want to use Eris to link with EEA, and if the standards are compatible, it could mean cooperation between the two, which could make for some good news on both fronts.

Behlendorf was also quoted as saying, “There could be others in the future. Or someone could even create the right complements for the fabric to work with EEA standards. Beyond technical collaboration, we would look at whether there would be interest in working together.”

So, in the end, it is really a matter of whether or not the two groups want to work together or not, and that has yet to be determined. As for the technical aspects of merging the two, it will probably only be a matter of time before it is possible, as long as the will to collaborate is present and flowing.

The banks committee sect of the New York state legislature has voted in favor of progressing a bill that would authorize a digital currency task force.

The vote took place on May 30, with the committee confirming their backing for a task force that would study the effects of the implementation of cryptocurrencies on the state’s financial markets.

The Task Force

The banking committee is not the final hurdle for the bill, however, as it still must meet approval by the remaining legislators. Should this be successfully passed, the bill would commission a report that studies the impact of regulations on both the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries.

Specifically, the study would investigate how such regulations would affect the development of these industries, how the use of cryptocurrencies might affect local tax receipts, and what is needed to increase the transparency of the digital currency marketplace.

The inquiry would be required to provide the accurate number of cryptocurrency exchanges operating in New York state, as well as details of both large digital currency investors and energy consumption of mining operations. As reported by Coin Telegraph, the information gathered may be collected from any organization, government entity or person.

Notably, the bill states a requirement to review “laws and regulations on digital currency used by  other states, the federal government, foreign countries, and foreign political and economic unions to regulate the marketplace.”

The task force would be formed of nine members that would operate under the jurisdiction of the state governor, temporary president of the Senate, and the speaker of the assembly, with the final report expected for publication in December 2019.

US crypto crackdown

In an ongoing process of a US crackdown on cryptocurrency operations, last week the US Department of Justice (DOJ) opened a criminal investigation into whether traders are manipulating the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Earlier this year, the North American Securities Administrators Association issued a warning for investors about the potential risks carried without cryptocurrency and initial coin offering (ICO) investments.

It is important to note, however, that less than 1 percent of bitcoin transactions are associated with illicit activities. If the report is produced by the New York task force, this could be an important opportunity to dispell unreasonably negative perceptions of the cryptocurrency industry.

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Bitcoin Press Release: Bitpet, a blockchain-based crypto game dubbed the Asian CryptoKitties, has announced their platforms second round of their  Airdrop campaign is to commence on May 25, 2018.

May 25, 2018. Seoul, South Korea: Bitpet users will be able to receive Bitpet in the air drop and while playing the game. Bitpet, which is a digital asset recorded on the blockchain, for free at the time of subscription, and the received Bitpet can be traded for ETH through sale on an exchange. Additionally items that can be used in game are distributed free of charge at every login. The number of deployments is limited, and when the quantity is exhausted, the airdrop event will end.

Bitpet is the name for a lovely digital rabbit that can collect, breed and grow.

It is based on The Linux  Foundation’s HyperLedger and can not be lost or duplicated. Anyone can see its existence through a scan inside the HyperLedger blockchain. Unlike the existing Crypto games, the METAMASK and ETH Network are not used, so a smooth and pleasant game progress is possible.

Users can participate in the Bitpet airdrop by registering through the website free of charge.

The Bitpet Airdrop

The Bitpet platform is playing host to the second round of their Airdrop campaign, releasing 50,000 Bitpet to the community. Users simply have to go to the Bitpet website and sign up. The Airdrop will take place on May 25th, 2018 and will last until all the tokens are claimed.

The Bitpet platform has a lot in store for the community this year, having recently integrated a wallet into their platform and are currently working on the Mobile Bitpet open and three new games. The team are set on pushing the boundaries for the blockchain-based gaming community.

Visit the Website: https://Bitpet.co
View the Roadmap: https://Bitpet.co/roadmap
Follow on Facebook: https://fb.me/cryptoBitpet
Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitpetTeam
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Name: Michael Chung
Email: [email protected]
Location: SEOUL, KOREA

Bitpet is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.

About Bitcoin PR Buzz -Bitcoin PR Buzz has been proudly serving the PR and marketing needs of Bitcoin and digital currency tech start-ups for over 5 years. Get your own professional Bitcoin Press Release. Click here for more information about Bitcoin PR

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Altcoin Buzz

United States of Bitcoin, Live in a Shipping Container In The Middle of a Desert Altcoin Buzz Have you ever wanted to live in a society that only uses Bitcoin? Have you ever wanted to secede from the United States? Have you ever wanted to live in a shipping container in the middle of a desert? If you answered “Yes” to all the above questions ...

Despite the slowdown in overall cryptocurrency prices, investment in upcoming projects, in the form of initial coin offerings (ICOs), has not slowed down one bit. In fact, the amount of investment made into these projects has only skyrocketed.

ICOs Investment on the Rise

CoinSchedule reported that over $9.4 billion has been invested into ICOs in just the past 6 months, already topping last year’s numbers. CoinSchedule attributed this rise in funding to large projects such as Telegram and the Venezuelan Petro. The pre-sales of these two tokens raised over $2.43 billion collectively, accounting for 25% of total ICO sales.

In a Bloomberg report Alex Michaelis, co-founder of popular ICO tracker, CoinSchedule, said that he still holds his hopes for the ICO sub-industry. He stated in an email:

“The ICO market is still hot. EOS and Telegram have been big successful ICOs this year, albeit not a classic ICO in the sense that Telegram was closed to private investors only, and EOS has been trading in exchanges for a while, which influences the token price.”

Governmental bodies all across the world have begun scrutinizing cryptocurrency related projects more and more, with ICOs being no exception. Earlier this month, a group of U.S. and Canadian regulatory bodies started to look into fraudulent coin offerings along with other cryptocurrency-related operations that were deemed to be scams.

As of last week, this group of governmental organizations has 60 investigations into a variety of questionable projects, with 35 of these 60 facing legal action. This is just one case of negative governmental attitude towards the topic of these coin offerings.

In September, China banned the sale of ICOs outright, with no exceptions made. But many ICO investors seem to be unfazed by these rising regulatory fears, with 2018’s numbers easily surpassing the levels seen in 2017.

The Largest ICO: Block.one’s EOS platform

Some projects have tried to counter governmental pressure by moving its operations to governments that are more accepting of cryptocurrencies. Take the example of Block.one, the startup behind EOS, which is set to be the largest ICO ever, raising over $4 billion over the course of just one year.

Block.one is based in the Cayman Islands, a small British territory that is accepting of the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries. Many of the small island nations, often British territories, are often subject to a lack of regulation in certain industries.

However, some critics believe that regulation in an innovative, yet volatile, industry is still necessary.

Earlier this week, Chinese Internet firm, Qihoo 360, found security flaws on the beta version of the EOS blockchain. Due to the fact that this announcement came just a few days before the official release of the EOS blockchain, EOS developers quickly ran to patch the issue. According to a Block.one Twitter post, the team at EOS had the problem under control.

These aforementioned critics believe that there should be some regulation to what Block.one does with the $4 billion which was generated by the EOS token sale. In December of last year, Block.one tried to clear these worries by stating that $1 billion worth of funds would be invested in companies using the EOS blockchain.

But where does that leave the other $3 billion? For now, Block.one has kept this topic behind closed doors, but many hopeful for the success of the EOS platform believe that these funds will only be used to better the project.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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A masternode can be thought of as a server that has made its IP address publicly available to third-party actors. However, deploying and running a masternode requires users to possess a high level of technical know-how including a deep understanding of blockchains as well as the ability to launch and maintain a server. Moreover, setting up a masternode also requires considerable economic input from customers.

GINcoin can be described as a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that provides users with all of the features that Bitcoin has to offer as well as other advantages such as:

• Instant transactions (InstantSend)
• Private transactions (PrivateSend)
• Deployment of masternodes

The ecosystem has been built atop the Dash blockchain and makes use of a GUI-based masternode setup that allows investors to own their very own private masternode. Similar to the architectural framework used by Dash, GINcoin also employs a two-tiered network of miners and masternodes.

The first tier is comprised of the miners who are responsible for creating new blocks, whereas the second tier is made up of masternodes that govern the native PrivateSend, InstantSend and maintenance modules.

Lastly, it is also worth noting that each masternode requires 1,000 GIN as collateral to prevent ‘Sybil’ attacks wherein a peer-to-peer network’s reputation system is compromised by entities with forged identities. The deposited collateral can be spent at any time, but that will result in the deletion of the masternode from the GINcoin network.

Overview of the System

• GINcoin provides users with a masternode setup platform that employs its own native currency to facilitate all internal processes.
• It gives people with no prior experience in programming the ability to deploy a masternode.
• Since owning a masternode requires a substantial initial investment, the company’s developers are looking to extend the platform and accommodate shared masternodes in the near future.
• The UI is visually appealing and quite simple to use.

Key Features

First and foremost, GINcoin provides its users with a service called PrivateSend that allows customers to mix their crypto holdings with other coins before sending them to a wallet in a completely anonymous fashion. The technology is similar to that used by CoinJoin, wherein the platform is able to add multiple modifications to an ongoing transaction by relying on masternodes rather than a single website, as well as restricting the mixing to only accept certain denominations and passive modes of operation.

With that being said, the maximum PrivateSend transaction amount is 1,000 GIN – similar to Dash.

Key aspects of GINcoin

Secondly, owing to its use of a native masternode network, GINcoin provides users with a feature called InstantSend. This functional module helps facilitate near-instant transactions – even though inputs can be locked to specific processes and verified by consensus on the masternode network.

Any conflicting transactions within the ecosystem can be blocked or rejected. If a consensus cannot be reached, validation of the transaction is processed through standard block confirmation processes.

User interface employed by the platform

Lastly, InstantSend also helps alleviate the common issue of double-spending and minimizes long confirmation times to which users of currencies such as Bitcoin are accustomed.

Other important details worth noting about GINcoin include:

• The platform makes use of a mining algorithm called Neoscrypt (and it’s ASIC-resistant)
• The average blocktime for the service currently stands at the 2-minute mark.

How it Works

As mentioned earlier, the GINcoin ecosystem is self-sustaining, i.e., the native currency itself derives value from the platform that it maintains. Besides allowing for free trading on various exchanges, GIN tokens are also employed by community members to cover for and take care of other subsidiary charges including:

• Masternode hosting fees
• Masternode setup fees
• Shared masternode setup fees

Technical information related to the native blockchain

Also worth mentioning is the fact that GIN not only relies on the masternodes of other compatible coins but also helps them grow faster by enabling investors from all walks of life to create, maintain and invest in their own customized masternodes.

According to the official company roadmap, the native platform is already live and available for customers to use. In the next few months, company devs are hoping to modify their service so that it can support a shared masternode framework that will help facilitate increased customer participation.

Token Details

Having been on the market for just over a week, GIN tokens have remained relatively stable in value throughout the course of their short lifespan.

GIN token lifetime performance data (courtesy of CoinMarketCap)

Introduced into the cryptoverse at a price of $6.69 per token, the currency recently peaked at an impressive $9.04. However, since then the price has stabilized, and as of June 1, the value of a single token stands at $7.54.

GINcoin currently possesses a market cap of US$12,065,989. A total of 1,621,063 GIN have been minted, out of which 1,600,693 are currently in circulation.

Final Thoughts

GINcoin provides cryptocurrency investors with an easy way of creating and deploying their own masternode(s), irrespective of their technical prowess. This feature alone makes GINcoin unique, since there are no other projects in the market that fulfill this function.

If you would like to start investing in this venture, GIN trading pairs are currently available on Cryptobridge.

At press time, the father of cryptocurrencies has incurred a small bull run during the early morning hours of June 2, and is now trading for over $200 more than where it stood just 24 hours ago. While this behavior is nothing new (bitcoin has fallen some, then gained some over the past several days), the spike is certainly a welcome sign in the books of most investors, and the size of the price jump in question could signal the end of a long and arduous bear run as the bulls, once again, begin to take over the financial reins.

This weekend, bitcoin is trading for almost as much as the world’s most valuable banknote, according to one source. Despite being under half the price of its 2017 peak, bitcoin now stands close to the value of the largest banknote in circulation in Brunei. The note is worth approximately $10K; at the time of writing, bitcoin’s price sits at $7,644.

The banknote, which features a portrait of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, was issued in 2006, and can be used in both Singapore and Brunei.

Despite falling deep in the red since its December 2017 high, bitcoin is still attracting capital investors by the hundreds, and the amount of money being put into cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology by venture capitalists and initial coin offerings (ICOs) is growing every day.

Startups are often considered very risky, as they are new to the business world and are simply entering their early phases, making them more vulnerable to failure and operational issues. In 2017, venture capitalists poured $964 million (nearly $1 billion) into blockchain and cryptocurrency related startups. We’ve now barely reached the halfway point of 2018, and that number has already been exceeded, with $1.4 billion having been put into similar startups over the last five months alone.

Venture capitalists like David Pakman – a partner at Venrock – remain confident that cryptocurrencies are the way of the future, and that trading will rise in the long run.

“There is so much institutional money waiting for a properly regulated cryptocurrency exchange,” he says. “We’re not watching the price of the cryptocurrencies as a barometer of the health of the industry. We are wondering which projects will gain large market share, and what new problems they may solve.”

Venrock recently signed a deal with the New York-based firm CoinFund, which helps entrepreneurs build startups using blockchain technology.

In addition, fundraising from ICOs has risen extensively since last year, despite ongoing speculation and regulatory scrutiny in major countries like China, the U.S. and South Korea. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for example, has worked hard to crack down on the industry, while China is seeking to ban ICOs altogether…

And yet, the money keeps rolling in. Year-to-date, investors have poured over $9 billion into initial coin offerings, and the dollar amount for 2018 dwarfs that of 2017, which equaled about $3.9 billion.

Coinschedule CEO Alex Buelau explains that most ICOs have simply moved to countries with friendlier or less stringent regulations.

“Most ICOs now have a clause that you can’t be an American or Chinese investor,” he explains. “So, now ICOs are based out of Singapore, Estonia, Malta or Gibraltar.”

Estonia has abandoned its plan to introduce its own cryptocurrency following the President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi’s warning that no EU member can have its own currency apart from the Euro.

Local Estonian banking institutions had also been vocal, rejecting the idea, which was proposed by the managing director of the Estonian e-residency program, Kaspar Korjus.

The e-residency program, introduced in 2014, allows non-Estonians access to Estonian services such as company formation, banking, payment processing, and taxation. The program also allows anyone in the world to apply for a digital ID card and gain access to Estonian e-services when planning to start a company in the country.

Korjus had previously suggested that the country should develop and produce the proposed Estcoin national currency which could then evolve into the country’s national cryptocurrency as part of the e-residency program.

EU Bank president Draghi had already made it clear in September 2017 saying, “no member state can introduce its own currency; the currency of the eurozone is the euro.” His original position has been further supported by Governor of the Bank of Estonia, Ardo Hansson, who complained about “misleading reports” on Estcoin from government agencies.

Siim Sikkut an official in charge of Estonia’s IT strategy made it clear that Estcoins will now need a new plan as the national currency concept has been rejected, suggesting:

“We agreed in discussions with politicians that Estcoin will proceed as a means for transactions inside the e-resident community. Other options aren’t on the table. We’re not building a new currency.”

Kaspar Korjus, the author of the Estcoin plan, says that the “community Estcoin” is still being analyzed for potential benefits, but also confirmed that it wouldn’t become a national cryptocurrency.

Estonia a country of 1.3 million has a significant internet penetration and has seen a widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies and fintech over the past few years, becoming a breeding ground for new startups. The euro became its national currency in 2011.

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Payment technology has introduced a high degree of convenience for consumers globally. When that technology does not work as advertised, a very problematic scenario ensues. Visa suffered from major outages across Europe for most of the day on Friday. This highlights the need for alternative solutions, including cash and even cryptocurrency.

The Visa Outage in Europe

Consumers and corporations throughout Europe experienced major payment issues on Friday. Anyone trying to conduct transactions through a Visa payment card may have run into problems. Transactions were limited or impossible to complete. Financial institutions even advised consumers to use cash or other payment options. Mastercard was not affected by this issue.

Visa quickly pointed out how online transactions suffered less in this regard. Point-of-sale transactions remained hit-and-miss for most of the day. Using a contactless card for smaller transactions was doable in most cases. All of this shows how prone the financial system is to technical issues.

Events like these often cause unforeseen consequences. Various automated teller machines in the U.K. had their cash reserves depleted in the afternoon. While the issue has been solved, an official explanation has not been provided. The convenience of payment cards only applies when the complex infrastructure powering these payments is working properly. For Visa, that was anything but the case yesterday.

The Need for Cryptocurrency and Cash

Most consumers still keep cash on hand to deal with situations like this. While such outages are very rare, they can happen at any given moment. As such, it seems highly unlikely cash usage will ever be eroded completely. Judging by this latest mishap, that is probably for the best.

Additionally, the Visa issue shows the need for alternative forms of payment as well. Unlike payment cards and cash, cryptocurrencies can save the day during times like these. Despite their volatile nature, numerous payment processors exist to process cryptocurrency transactions regardless of temporary price swings.

Consumers and corporations need to pay attention to these alternatives. Having a steady cash supply on hand is a good measure, but it still requires a suitable payment card to withdraw it from an ATM. Cryptocurrency payments are an option, even though very few retailers accept them today. With issues like this one, that situation may come to change sooner rather than later.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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Bitcoin Press Release: CRYSTALS, the world’s first blockchain ecosystem for models, has announced that its pre-sale will go live on Tuesday, May 29th for a period of 10 days. The pre-sale is capped at US $3 million and follows a successful private sale round.

25 May, 2018. Russia: CRYSTALS is the first of its kind all-in-one solution for the modeling industry that will offer an innovative blockchain-based platform with advanced features for all parties in the modeling industry and the wider public. The platform will aim to resolve the burning issues of the industry that have hampered its development over the long term: territorial fragmentation, unhealthy competition, significant entry barriers, unjustified commissions, non-payment, fraud risk and several other matters.

The CRYSTALS Pre-sale participants will be awarded with a 25% token bonus as an early-bird discount. The bonus structure will gradually decrease over time to 10% (1st stage) and 0% (2nd stage) respectively.

The CRYSTALS Platform

With the launch of the user-friendly CRYSTALS platform and the CRS token, all of these issues will remain in the past.

CRYSTALS is aimed to create a single global ecosystem that will revitalize the modeling business and gather all modeling agencies and models from around the world in one place. Operating as an intermediary between models and customers, CRYSTALS doesn’t have direct competitors on the market. Modeling agency or model not opponents for the ecosystem, but partners. To bring all the advantages of Blockchain technology into the modeling industry with the goal of creating a fundamentally new ecosystem that will drive further growth – that’s what CRYSTALS intended for. More than that, CRYSTALS users can be assured of the reliability of money transactions and the safety of their personal data.

Nikita Yakubovskyi, Co-Founder and CEO of CRYSTALS Stated:

“We are excited to bring our groundbreaking platform into the world that can potentially re-shape parts of the modeling industry. After a long journey, we believe we’re at a good starting point to grow CRYSTALS into the premier global and decentralized platform that we envisioned it to be. We will offer modeling agencies and private models all over the world the possibility to build strong relationships with clients not only in a more transparent and risk-free way, but also be more profitable in the process”

The CRYSTALS Team

CRYSTALS has a team of young professionals who are incredibly loyal and passionate about their business. Nikita Yakubovskyi and Glib Yemelyanov, two Co-Founders, are experienced specialists within their areas.

Nikita is BSc in Computer Security and Networks faculty. He has been involved in several successful business projects including supply chains, logistics, transportations, and distribution channels industries. He is interested in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency technologies since 2012. He was one the first entrepreneurs in Ukraine who managed to fully transfer all money operations from original payments to the blockchain. Currently, after building an extensive automated trading platform between the US, Europe, Russia, and Ukraine, he is fully involved into CRYSTALS project.

Glib holds a BASc in Law and a BBA in Corporate and Real Estate Finance. He has a strong background at the intersection of law, business, and technology. He began his career path in the hospitality industry, first working in sales and marketing at Kempinski Dubai, and later taking up a position in revenue management at the Metropole, Monte-Carlo. He was then invited to manage a Subway opening in Croatia at a private consultancy firm based in Vienna. His experience combined with a keen interest in technology (especially the future of blockchain) drew him to join the CRYSTALS project as a Business and Legal consultant.

These guys have gathered talented people around the project, with a firm intention to achieve the goal – worldwide business creation.

Mentioned above are just a few key facts of the CRYSTALS. For more information about CRYSTALS, please visit website at www.crystals.io and refer to the whitepaper, which outlines the scope of works and roadmap for the CRYSTALS project.

Join the whitelist and follow social media: Telegram, Facebook and Twitter. Stay up-to-date with the latest news.

Visit the Website: https://www.crystals.io/
Read the Whitepaper: https://www.crystals.io/whitepaper.pdf
Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Crystalsio-223869261716130/
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Media Contact
Name: Roman Skrypnyk
Location: Russia
Email: [email protected]

Crystal is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. Cryptocurrencies and tokens are extremely volatile. There is no guarantee of a stable value, or of any value at all. Token sales are only suitable for individuals with a high risk tolerance. Only participate in a token event with what you can afford to lose.

This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. The Crystal token sale is closed to US participants and participants of all countries in which ICOs are illegal.

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It has been a pretty interesting first year for the Basic Attention Token project. Attempting to revitalize the way people use the internet and interact with advertisements is no easy task. Over the past 12 months, the project has successfully reached some important milestones, even though there is still a ton of work left to be done.

The BAT Year in Review

One of the main reasons so many people started paying attention to Basic Attention Token was its initial coin offering. More specifically, the project’s ICO took all but 30 seconds to sell out, raising $36 million worth of Ether in the process. Although there have been numerous quick ICOs in the past two years, BAT is still one of the few to have sold out so quickly.

One year later, and it seems this token is now being used in many different ways. Thanks to an avalanche of Facebook groups associated with the project, there is a lot of community-driven promotion taking place. Additionally, the BAT platform has successfully made its way to the Brave browser, YouTube, Twitch, and so forth. Using the token has become a lot more mainstream-friendly due to all of these integrations.

Even so, it still remains up to individual users to discover the potential of Basic Attention Token. It seems that situation is slowly improving as well, as the Brave browser now has over 2.4 million active users. Compared to other web browsers, it is still a very small project, but this major growth should not be overlooked by any means.

Moreover, the system of monthly payments to publishers and Brave users has seen some big changes. More improvements are coming in this regard, as the team plans to integrate additional options to support more creators and allow users to earn rewards for browsing with Brave. Getting paid to use the internet certainly sounds appealing, but it remains to be seen how that will play out exactly.

It is certainly true that publishers have taken a liking to Basic Attention Token. That’s especially the case among YouTube publishers, with over 11,000 creators signing up for the BAT platform. Combine that with 5,000 other verified publishers, and it seems BAT is off to a good start. Keeping this momentum in place will not be easy by any means, as the project still has a lot to prove to the masses.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for BAT. Initial interest seems high, but things are always subject to change in this industry. While publishers and users are showing great interest in this project, the Brave browser isn’t even close to rivaling Edge, Chrome, or Firefox. Even so, the future looks rather promising for this particular project in its current state.

An Argentinian vineyard has announced that its 2018 wine vintage is to become a wine backed crypto asset following its May 6^th OpenVino token sale, reports Decanter.com.

Costaflores Organic Vineyard in Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza has announced that each token represents one bottle of wine and will be sold at cost price.

This year’s vintage was calculated at 16,448 bottles at £3.55 ($4.74) per bottle after tax. It is visible on the published accounting ledger, using blockchain technology so that consumers can track the vintage from grape to bottle

The Costaflores Vineyard was started by an IT engineer Mike Barrow back in 2003, who has integrated the new technology into the business. He explained: “We’ll expose all of our practices in the vineyard, winery and even our accounting to the world.” Barrow collects data from sensors placed both in the vineyard and winery, then uploads data, work logs, and complete financial books on to a blockchain.

Wineries adapting to using blockchain for increased transparency of the product is not new within the industry. There are several wineries and wine retail sites now using the new tech, some including Bitcoin for wine purchases

However, Costaflores is unique in that it has created its own cryptocurrency token, which is soon to be traded on the open exchange from July 2018. Barrow comments:

“Creating a wine-backed crypto asset is not about driving the price up to absurd levels …It’s about qualifying value and honesty in wine.”

Blockchain technology is increasingly being recognized for its transparency benefits by wine fraud detection companies and has gathered interest from academics as a result. OpenVino has caught the attention of digital transformation experts at the University of Surrey and other international academia. The British university is now using the project as a case study.

Almost half of the bottles – a Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon blend, have already been snapped up, mostly by crypto purchasers.

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The Merkle

Economist Claims Bitcoin Bubble Is Still in the Early Profit-Taking Stages The Merkle It is only to be expected that economists and other financial experts remain wary of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at this stage. After the onslaught which traders have witnessed throughout most of 2018, the future price direction remains unclear.

It is only to be expected that economists and other financial experts remain wary of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at this stage. After the onslaught which traders have witnessed throughout most of 2018, the future price direction remains unclear. Economist Joost van der Burgt is confident Bitcoin will fall even further in value pretty soon.

Another Doom Scenario for Bitcoin

Anyone who has paid attention to Bitcoin price predictions over the past year may have noticed that financial ‘experts’ don’t expect a bright future for Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. That is not entirely surprising, especially considering that the year 2018 hasn’t been too positive so far. Even so, optimism remains in place overall, as bigger and better things seem on the horizon for this industry.

If economist Joost van der Burgt is to be believed, the future will not look all that bright. More specifically, he is confident that Bitcoin is still in a massive bubble as of right now. Assuming that is the case, this may only be the beginning of the profit-taking stage. This seems to indicate van der Burgt is confident the Bitcoin price will drop below $5,000 soon, although most market speculators envision an entirely different future.

Up to this point, there has been no evidence of Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency being in a bubble. While it is true that volatility has reigned supreme throughout most of 2018, this is no different from how the market has evolved in the past few years. Bitcoin’s price is still relatively easy to manipulate, but it seems new regulatory developments will make cryptocurrency a lot more attractive to the mainstream.

According to van der Burgt, the Bitcoin “bubble” is now entering a euphoric stage. He compares the current cryptocurrency price trend with the buildup to the 2008 financial crisis. It’s a very interesting comparison, even though the 2008 financial crisis was triggered by a culmination of multiple factors, rather than hype for a specific project or offering.

The economist noted:

The euphoria phase is also when people start to borrow extensively to finance their investments. According to a recent survey, 18% of active bitcoin investors have financed their investments by credit card, and 22% of this group indicated that they have not yet paid off their credit card balance.

At the same time, one has to acknowledge cryptocurrencies are very different from any investment vehicle the world has seen before. While it may not necessarily become the new breed of global currencies, there appear to be many use cases for Bitcoin and other worthwhile currencies. That doesn’t mean every altcoin will succeed, but the future isn’t looking as gloomy as van der Burght would like people to believe.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain has been accused of providing ”seriously inadequate” hardware reportedly caked with dust, leading to speculation that second-hand units are being sold as new.

The accusation

Cryptocurrency miners reached out to Zooko Wilcox, the founder, and CEO of Zerocoin Electric Coin Company, explaining the ongoing dispute with Bitmain over the hardware they received.

“Someone privately sent me these allegations [in Chinese]…along with Bitmain’s response,” Wilcox said. Adding, ”The communication gap between the West and China makes it hard to disentangle.”

As reported, one of the miners that shared their accusation with Wilcox wrote on the predominant Chinese social media platform QQ that the B3 Miner of Bitmain they had received provided “seriously inadequate” computing power compared to previous batches.

A photograph was also provided by the group, showing a B3 Miner coated in dust, leading them to believe the unit they received had been previously used.

Bitmain’s response

Bitmain responded by confirming that they had verified with their internal department that indeed, 100 ASIC mining units were found to have what was described as minor issues. In context, of 10,000 units per batch, only 1 percent of these were impacted.

The statement from Bitmain can be translated loosely from Chinese to: “Among the right defenders, some are refunded and after an investigation, it was revealed that some are still underpowered and some are repaired. Some media outlets claimed that a few hundred people have received mining equipment that is poorly functioning. This is not the case.”

The team from Bitmain noted that just as in every major manufacturing operation, it is not possible to guarantee every ASIC miner corresponds perfectly to its functionality brief.

Emphasizing that any inadequate hardware would be compensated, Bitmain stated: “Any product can be imperfect, and there will be shortcomings in the process of enterprise development. We have also compensated the miners who have received mining equipment with inadequate computing power and the mining equipment are now being run properly.”

The company clarified that should any further issues arise, any customer issues a sub-standard mining unit would receive full compensation.

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