Day: June 16, 2018

A luxurious mansion at 200 Panoramic Way in Berkeley, California named ‘Panoramic Sky’ is on sale for 3.388 million USD. The mansion was designed by Daniel Liebermann, who was the student of Frank Lloyd Wright.

According to listing agent Emma Prok of Climb Real Estate, the seller is considering Bitcoin or other forms of cryptocurrency as payment. Panoramic Sky is listed on Propy, which is a platform for securing cross-border real-estate transactions with blockchain technology.

Frank Lloyd Wright has been declared the greatest American architect of all time by the American Institute of Architects. He designed 1000 buildings, 552 of which were completed. His student Daniel Liebermann is one of the original San Francisco Bay Area ‘starchitects’ who propelled Northern California’s mid-century modernist movement.

If this property ends up being purchased with Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency it would be one of the largest real-estate purchases completed with cryptocurrency in history. In 2014, a 1.4 acre plot in North Lake Tahoe was purchased for 2,739 Bitcoins worth 1.4 million USD at the time. In December 2017, near Bitcoin’s peak price of 20,000 USD per coin, a condo in Miami was sold for about 18 Bitcoins worth 275,000 USD.

A caveat to this deal which is stated in the real-estate listing is the buyer must resolve any issues associated with purchasing the property with Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. The title company, insurance company, escrow holder, and lender must have no objections with cryptocurrency for the deal to go through. Further, the listing says the real-estate agent and seller are not responsible for any possible problems from using cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin is quite secure, and if the seller wants to truly sell the property for Bitcoin, like with the Miami condo that sold for 18 bitcoins without any conversion to cash, then it would be instant and easy. The transaction would be received instantly and confirmed within 10 minutes. If the seller wants to convert the Bitcoin or cryptocurrency to cash it requires a third party like BitPay or Coinbase, which would slow down the transaction from minutes to days and result in heavy fees due to the large size of the transaction.

Currently, the listing price for Panoramic Sky of 3.388 million USD is equivalent to roughly 520 Bitcoins, but Bitcoin markets are known to be quite volatile and this can change dramatically.

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Ted Rogers, president of the cryptocurrency giant, Xapo, believes that Bitcoin will become a global reserve asset, similar to the role the U.S. dollar plays today.

Ted Rogers, Unexpected Bitcoin Bull?

The recent bearish trends in the cryptocurrency market have not fazed Xapo’s president one bit, as he still holds bullish sentiment regarding Bitcoin’s value in today’s world.

.@tedmrogers, president of @xapo, the leading Bitcoin cold storage company holding an estimated $10 billion in $BTC in underground vaults, says it's not a question of if, but when Bitcoin becomes global reserve asset. #CryptoCraze #CheddarLIVE pic.twitter.com/MiNdsBujlr

— Cheddar (@cheddar) June 14, 2018

According to an interview done with a business publication, Cheddar, Ted believes that Bitcoin’s value will stabilize over the next few weeks due to a lack of price catalyst. Rogers said:

Over the next 7 to 14 days, I kind of expect it (Bitcoin’s price) to be not too far from where it is now.

News about cryptocurrencies has undoubtedly slowed, with pieces of breaking news being few and far in between. 

However, when queried about Bitcoin’s long-term performance, Rogers said that he believes BTC will be worth “hundreds of thousands of dollars” within the upcoming years. 

To give the value of this prediction a bit of context, a $200,000 Bitcoin would create a market cap of over 3 Trillion U.S dollars, a valuation higher than any publicly traded company that exists in our world today. Although this prediction may seem outlandish, some predict that prices that range in the hundreds of thousands will come in due time. 

‘Digital Gold’ Replacing Gold?

Rogers further stated that he has “very little doubt about that one (price prediction)… It’s a question of when not if Bitcoin is going to become the global reserve asset for individuals, institutions, and governments. It is going to replace gold and it may also become a ubiquitous global currency.”

Long has Bitcoin been called “digital gold” and the aforementioned quote made by Ted Rogers has given even more credence to Bitcoin actually fulfilling the role as an online store of value. However, Rogers took it one step further, by saying that Bitcoin will replace traditional gold, an advantageous, but hopeful statement to say the least.

Such sentiment coming from such a large player in the cryptocurrency industry has inspired many. Xapo is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency companies, as it now holds over $10 billion worth of Bitcoin for millions of customers worldwide.

Xapo’s wallet app also has millions of downloads across IOS and Google app stores, further cementing itself as a reliable way for users to store cryptocurrencies.

However, the president of Xapo did note that he believes that recent allegations of manipulation may be justified, due to the low liquidity in cryptocurrency markets. However, he did imply that this manipulation, if it exists, will only exist for a short period of time as the market eventually matures and regulators begin to crack down on manipulators. 

He also dismissed the act of short-term price speculation, saying: “I think Bitcoin is a long-term investment and I personally wouldn’t get into it for short-term trading”

The market has become increasingly harder to trade as prices jump around in a seemingly random and uncontrollable manner. But if you are in it for the long run, Roger’s statements made yesterday make it sound like low prices should be of no worry.

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President of Xapo: Bitcoin Will Become The Global Reserve Asset newsBTC To give the value of this prediction a bit of context, a $200,000 Bitcoin would create a market cap of over 3 Trillion U.S dollars, a valuation higher than any publicly traded company that exists in our world today. Although this prediction may seem ... and more »

Ukrainians are reaching out to cryptocurrency with a recently recorded 13% adoption, according to a new survey, writes Bitcoin.com.

Recent figures revealed by a survey shows the three main exchanges in Ukraine are now turning over $2 million a day.

Ukrainians have an adage which they regularly fall back on; “may you be forced to survive only on your official salary.” This really exemplifies the nature of the country’s black economy and its citizen’s readiness to tough it out when times are hard, writes Forbes.

This survivalist mentality is a significant reason why cryptocurrency has been popularised amongst the masses, offering opportunities for individuals previously unheard of in the country. This said, the country adopted Bitcoin with consummate ease from quite early on, with nearly 5000 payment terminals across Ukraine allowing customers to easily buy bitcoin for cash as far back as 2014.

In 2018, numbers of enthusiasts have significantly risen with a staggering 72% of citizens questioned, at least aware of cryptocurrency basics, with only 5% having not having heard the word cryptocurrency. The survey also showed, as in most countries, that men are the crypto enthusiasts with an 82% informed about coins. The poll, conducted by Kantar TS targetted about 1,000 residents between the ages of 18 and 55.

Bitcoin (BTC) is clearly the king, with 98% of web users familiar with it, followed by Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash with 29% and 27% respectively.

The crypto space is not simply limited to the masses, as cryptocurrency has long been utilized amongst the higher echelons of Ukrainian society with 50 high ranking officials and members of parliament declaring digital assets on their tax returns for a sustained period of a few years.

Along with up to 95,000 Ukrainians owning some kind of cryptocurrency, crypto mining has become another significant factor of cryptocurrency activity in Ukraine with a recorded $80 million invested in this area

When asked the question, did those surveyed think that cryptocurrencies be treated as fiat? the votes were totally split between those for and against, with about 30% saying they didn’t know. The majority of respondents (41%) said crypto should be supported by the government and allowed free circulation within the country’s financial system.

The Chairman of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine indicated in May that the regulator favors a decision to recognize cryptocurrencies as financial instruments.

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The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is reported to be channeling its attention on taxes owed by cryptocurrency investors this year, according to Cointelegraph.

The Australian Taxation Office is an Australian government statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian government.

The ATO will be enforcing its tax requirements this year by using 100 point checks, a security checking system long favored by the Australian government and other sectors, and also call on bilateral agreements with other countries to identify users for tax payment purposes. There are currently over 40 countries who have such agreements with Australia including the US and the UK.

The Tax Office have been described by Liz Russell, a senior tax agent at Etax.com.eu as being on the “warpath” with these new announcements designed to bring Australia’s crypto users in the mainstream taxation orbit in the country, suggesting the ATO will be “doubling down with its data-matching technology to ensure that Australians are paying any taxes owed through cryptocurrency trading.”

Until recently Australia employed an unpopular double taxation system. Regulation of cryptocurrency has been an issue over the past few years. The Australian government now maintains that transacting with Bitcoin is similar to a barter, being neither money nor foreign currency and as such, is not a financial supply for goods and services purposes. The unpopular tax on Bitcoin purchases will now be lifted in July of this year and Australians will no longer have to pay goods and services tax (GST) on cryptocurrency purchases.

Russell suggests that due to recent losses, possibly made through the Bitcoin downturn, investors can balance-sheet gains against losses deducting losses from profits made late in December of 2017 when bitcoin reached its high point. Gains also in include regular profit from non-crypto sources such as property and investments.

The ATO is on the alert regarding the movement of cryptocurrency particularly following a recent scam where fake ATO employees attempted to collect crypto tax payments posing as collectors.

Mark Chapman, director of tax communications H&R Block Australia, confirmed the crypto tax crackdown:

“The ATO is really looking at that [cryptocurrencies] as a big risk area because it’s new and people don’t understand the tax implications.”

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Key Points

• Bitcoin price is currently consolidating around the $6,500 level against the US Dollar.
• The BTC/USD pair is currently attempting an upside break above a declining channel with resistance at $6,500 on the 4-hours chart (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair may move a few points higher, but there are many hurdles on the upside near the $6,800 level.

Bitcoin price is stable above the $6,400 level against the US Dollar. BTC/USD must gain momentum above $6,600 and $6,800 to move into a bullish zone.

Bitcoin Price Resistance

This past week, bitcoin price started an upside correction after dropping to the $6,130 level against the US Dollar. The BTC/USD pair moved above the $6,200 and $6,400 resistance levels. There was also a break above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last downside move from the $7,785 high to $6,130 swing low. However, the price faced a lot of sellers around the $6,700 level.

There was a rejection from a declining channel with current resistance at $6,500 on the 4-hours chart of the BTC/USD pair. Moreover, the 38.2% Fib retracement level of the last downside move from the $7,785 high to $6,130 swing low acted as a hurdle. The price moved down below $6,600 but found support. It is currently moving higher once again and is attempting a break above the same channel and $6,500. Should the price succeed in moving past the channel resistance, it could move higher towards the $6,600 and $6,700 resistance levels. Above this last, the next hurdle sits around the $6,800 level.

Looking at the chart, the current price action suggests consolidation above the $6,400 level. A break above the $6,700 level may perhaps open the doors for an upside push towards $7,000.

Looking at the technical indicators:

4-hours MACD – The MACD for BTC/USD is currently flat in the bullish zone.

4-hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI is just around the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $6,400

Major Resistance Level – $6,700

The post Bitcoin Price Weekly Analysis: Can BTC/USD Gain Traction? appeared first on NewsBTC.

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Bitcoin Price Weekly Analysis: Can BTC/USD Gain Traction? newsBTC This past week, bitcoin price started an upside correction after dropping to the $6,130 level against the US Dollar. The BTC/USD pair moved above the $6,200 and $6,400 resistance levels. There was also a break above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of ... and more »

Director John Stalberg Jr. is producing a film titled ‘Crypto‘ that he says will explore cryptocurrency in a nuanced and exciting way. Several famous Hollywood actors will star in the film including Kurt Russell, famous for his roles in Guardians of the Galaxy, Stargate, and the Fast and the Furious.

Also starring in the film are Beau Knapp from Seven Seconds, Alexis Bledel from Gilmore Girls, Luke Hemsworth from Westworld, Jeremie Harris from Legion, and Vincent Kartheiser from Mad Men. The director says he is overjoyed to work with such an incredible cast since it will bring this thrilling story to life.

In the movie, an anti-money laundering agent (Beau Knapp) lives with his father (Kurt Russel) and brother (Luke Hemsworth) in a rural New York town. He is assigned to investigate fraud in the area and soon finds himself deeply involved in the underworld, where he meets a cryptocurrency enthusiast turned hacker (Jeremie Harris), an accountant who is laundering money (Vincent Kartheiser), and a shady art dealer (Alexis Bledel).

The cryptocurrency world is notorious for money laundering since it provides a relatively anonymous mechanism to send money anywhere in the world instantly. There are dark web markets where users can buy anything including drugs and weapons. Perhaps Crypto will explore this sort of illicit use of cryptocurrency.

Crypto isn’t the only movie about cryptocurrency that has been thought up by mainstream Hollywood. The Coen Brothers, behind the famous movies The Big Lebowski and No Country For Old Men, are supposedly creating a movie about the Silk Road which is a dark web marketplace that played a key role in the early days of Bitcoin. There is no sign when the Coen Brother’s Silk Road movie will be released, or how the production is progressing.

Crypto is already shooting in New York, and could possibly be the first movie in history about cryptocurrency that stars famous Hollywood Actors.

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The Venezuelan government has announced that it will start monitoring accounts of its nationals who conduct cryptocurrency transactions.

Vice President Tarek El Aissami explained that the government will start monitoring bank accounts for crypto-related transactions and will prosecute those trading them “at speculative prices,” according to Bitcoin.com.

The new drive to monitor Venezuelan citizens’ bank accounts follows a previous plan called “Operation Paper Hands”, said to be the largest anti-litigation procedure in the country’s history. Venezuela’s Prosecutor General, Tarek William Saab commented that the action was planned “to take action against individuals and companies that have incurred misappropriation, and dissemination of false information about the exchange rate.”

The operation has resulted in 1,382 bank accounts being frozen, equating to 711,967 million bolivars ($10.6 mln) being blocked.

The following phase of the crackdown launched last week is called “Operation Metal Hands” which is now turning its focus towards cryptocurrencies. The government claims that Venezuelans have purchased gold from small mining operations, sold it outside of the country and then by using cryptocurrency transactions the sales have “hit the Venezuelan monetary system.”

Since the launch of Operation Paper Hands, two crypto exchange operators were shut down by the government, but this did little curb elicit trading. In response Vice President Tareck El Aissami authorized just three exchanges, based in Caracas to perform transactions, although the president himself had certified 16 other exchanges in April with the purpose of listing the Petro. It appears however that three new exchanges show no indication of trading in cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin is now recognized as the only way of getting around the country’s currency controls, and bitcoin mining offers Venezuelans a chance to pay for good imported from overseas. Although the process is not sanctioned for individuals other than going through ‘official’ methods, residents are able to sidestep the government controls to buy foodstuffs from Florida and Miami by trading Bitcoin for bolivars, the local hyperinflated currency.

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Key Highlights

• ETH price is struggling to move higher above the $510 and $520 resistance levels against the US Dollar.
• There is a key bearish trend line in place with resistance near $505 on the 4-hours chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
• The pair remains at a risk of more losses if it fails to move above the $505 and $510 resistances.

Ethereum price is slowly moving lower versus the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ETH/USD could decline further if sellers remain in control below $500.

Ethereum Price Resistance

This past week, ETH price attempted an upside recovery from the $448 low against the US Dollar. The price traded above the $500 resistance level. It also climbed above the 23.6% fib retracement level of the last drop from the $609 high to $448 low. However, the price faced a lot of resistances above the $510 level, which protected more gains above the stated level.

There was a rejection from the $530 resistance zone. Moreover, the 50% fib retracement level of the last drop from the $609 high to $448 low acted as a strong resistance. More importantly, there is a key bearish trend line in place with resistance near $505 on the 4-hours chart of ETH/USD. The pair struggled to move above the trend line and $530. It is currently moving lower and is trading below the $510 and $500 levels. It remains at a risk of more losses if buyers fail to move the price above the trend line resistance and the $520 resistance.

The above chart indicates that the price is finding it hard to move higher above $510. On the downside, an initial support is around the $485 level. Below the stated level, the price might decline further towards the $450 level in the near term.

4-hours MACD – The MACD is slowly moving in the bullish zone.

4-hours RSI – The RSI is currently just below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $485

Major Resistance Level – $520

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George Friedman, a respected geopolitical forecaster, believes that blockchain technology will become ‘obsolete’ over time. 

Can Blockchain Encryption Be Broken Through Quantum Computing?

George Friedman’s negative attitude shown towards blockchain technology has proven to be rather unpopular. Most critics of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have yet to turn their skepticism to blockchain technology, as these critics believe that blockchain is still a revolutionary technology.

According to a CNBC account of a discussion with Friedman, he adamantly said:

“I’ve never known any encryption technology not to be broken.”

A common fear in the cryptocurrency community is that quantum computing will break blockchain once and for all.

However, some scientists have said that quantum computing is not as powerful and accessible as the media makes it out to be.

There are probably less quantum computers in our world today than the fingers on your hand. Current quantum computers require temperatures near absolute zero (-273 Celcius) to run effectively, destroying any possibility of consumer quantum chips anytime soon.

Additionally, scientists have been slow in the development of quantum technologies, with a lack of milestones and goals to show for it.

Bitcoin has a simple, yet effective system of consensus, that has not been broken in over eight years. Scientists also believe that some, if not most blockchains, will be able to hold their ground against hypothetically strong quantum computers, disregarding any fears of any blockchain ‘cracks.’

Friedman has long held opinions and beliefs that contradict those held by the masses. He is a revolutionary and radical thinker if you will, with the statements given to CNBC being no exception.

Even if Friedman’s statements hold some value, speculation regarding blockchain technology may be out of Friedman’s expertise as it is likely that his knowledge of blockchain technology is lackluster.

Bearish Sentiment Yet Positive News?

This unpopular opinion held by George Friedman has further contributed to a slew of negative sentiment thrown towards the cryptocurrency market recently. With last month’s ‘rat poison squared’ comment from Warren Buffett being a key example of this sentiment. 

Despite bearish trends, it is not like all news regarding the industry has been all that bad.

Earlier this week, the SEC clarified that they will not be treating popular cryptocurrency, Ethereum, as a security, minimizing fears about regulatory damage. This announcement caused the cryptocurrency market to jump by over 10% within an hour, allowing for prices to recover temporarily.

Additionally, Coinbase announced the launch of their index fund, mainly aimed at institutional investors. This index fund is yet another fiat onramp that allows traditional institutions and individuals to get involved in the cryptocurrency market.

Many analysts in the cryptocurrency space still hold high hopes for the industry. This belief is a direct contradiction to the downward price trends seen since the start of 2018. Tom Lee, Ted Rogers, and Robert Sluymer are just a few of the many key industry leaders who believe that prices are set to rise very shortly.

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Robinhood is by no means an ‘elder’ in the cryptocurrency industry, only opening up its cryptocurrency division in early January. Despite this, Robinhood’s co-CEO, Baiju Bhatt, believes that the cryptocurrency market has a strong future ahead of itself.

“Bitcoin Just Keeps on Coming Back”

During an interview with Yahoo Finance, Bhatt expressed his positive sentiments regarding the cryptocurrency market as a whole.

Bhatt pointed out that he believes that sovereign nations will adopt cryptocurrencies as a currency of choice. This statement is in line with what CFTC commissioner said earlier this week, also stating that he believes small nations ‘may become dependent on virtual assets for survival.’

With events like the recent Venezuelan hyperinflation becoming prevalent, smaller nations may begin to turn to cryptocurrencies as a decentralized and secure way to transfer value between individuals and entities.

When asked about his recent involvement in crypto, Bhatt stated:

“We have been thinking about it for a couple of years… We had been watching it (Bitcoin) over the years and we noticed one thing which we really looked at when considering when to offer it to our consumers, which is its resiliency. It has this tenacity to it where it just keeps on coming back.”

In January, Robinhood announced the creation of a cryptocurrency service which was well received by the public, with hundreds of thousands of consumers getting their names down on the early access mailing list.

However, once the official release of Robinhood Crypto occurred, it was met with mixed reviews. At the time, Robinhood Crypto was only open to a few U.S. states with support for only a few cryptocurrencies.

In fact, Robinhood only allows for users to trade cryptocurrencies and does allow for the deposit or withdrawal of cryptocurrencies, essentially making it just a price speculation platform.

However, the co-CEO also noted that he believes Bitcoin ‘is going to be something that is going to stick around for a while’ and has not given any regard to daily volatility in the market. 

It has also become apparent that Robinhood is working to expand their cryptocurrency service, successfully raising $363 million in May to help expand their product line.

Coinbase vs. RobinHood

If Robinhood, along with this capital influx, can offer cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals in more countries, its crypto service may begin to encroach on current market leaders. Drawing parallels between the Robinhood and Coinbase services, you can see that they are both aimed at retail consumers for mass adoption. Additionally, they are both fintech startups based in the heart of Silicon Valley, with similar goals and aspirations. 

Taking this into mind, Coinbase is evidently one of Robinhood’s largest competitors. Robinhood obviously has a step up against Coinbase’s fee structure, with the growing cryptocurrency service offering commission-free cryptocurrency trading, a welcome feature in a world of 3% fees.

Bhatt did acknowledge Coinbase’s fee structure during the aforementioned interview, despite commending Coinbase as a ‘great company.’

Bhatt said:

“We (Robinhood) think that we are good at building the best consumer products and making sure that we can offer them at the best prices. And while you may end up paying a fee of 4% perhaps more on Coinbase, on Robinhood it is free and we think our interface is easy to use as well.”

But, as of one week ago, Coinbase reached its six-year anniversary, becoming one of the most aged institutions in the cryptocurrency industry.

The team at this growing financial service may have a tough time taking the proper routes to ensure a successful transition to support high volume cryptocurrency trading, especially in such a volatile and unforgiving market. 

If Robinhood wants to take over Coinbase, its team will need to learn a lot and may need to offer a variety of other cryptocurrency related services to ensure that its foray into the cryptocurrency market is a resounding success. But many are rooting for Robinhood’s success because if this service succeeds, it will surely increase retail adoption through an easy to use fiat onramp.

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Cryptocurrencies have been playing an increasingly important role in the financial sector. Grayscale Investments is leading the charge in this regard. The crypto investment fund has launched several ventures over the years, and is now adding ZenCash to its portfolio.

ZenCash is a Rather Interesting Addition

While it is commendable to see entities such as Grayscale Investments introduce cryptocurrency investment to the masses, there is still a lot of work to be done. More specifically, the cryptocurrency industry remains relatively unappealing to the average user. Solutions provided by this investment firm may help shake things up a bit in the future.

The company has added a new instrument to its existing offerings. After focusing on Bitcoin, Ethereum Classic, and a few other currencies in the past, Grayscale Investments is now paying attention to ZenCash, of all currencies. Whether or not that will prove to be a smart decision remains to be seen.

ANNOUNCEMENT: We are excited to share that we will launch our 9th product, ZenCash Investment Trust, during Q3!

Learn more about $ZEN https://t.co/LRkn6hL7Gc

Stay tuned for more details!$BTC $BCH $ETC $ETH $LTC $XRP $ZEC $ZEN

— Grayscale (@GrayscaleInvest) June 14, 2018

Considering that this is the company’s ninth investment product, one has to wonder how it will shape up compared to the others. In the past few years, Grayscale Investments has begun bringing investment trust offerings to institutional investors all over the world. The choices of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash made a lot of sense. Zcash was added to the list not long ago as the first privacy-oriented cryptocurrency supported by this group.

With ZenCash now joining this list, it seems Grayscale Investments is preparing to give privacy-oriented currencies a fair shot. Regulators have not taken a similar approach, as these types of currencies are of great concern at this time. So much, even, that Japanese exchanges have been asked to remove all privacy and anonymity-oriented currencies from their platforms until further notice.

There is another aspect to this latest product launch which is worth noting. Although Grayscale Investments could easily stick to the major cryptocurrencies and hopefully reap the rewards of doing so, they are instead diversifying their portfolio. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts need to keep in mind that active diversification is key. That doesn’t mean all currencies are worth investing in, although there are plenty of projects with some potential.

It will be interesting to see how this addition pays off. ZenCash is a spin-off from Zcash at its core, although both currencies are working toward somewhat different goals. It is interesting to see Grayscale Investments give both projects a shot, even though neither of them has succeeded in gaining any major traction to date.

An interesting new project is expected to appear in the crypto industry in the near future: the Japanese DApps platform Module, which has every chance of becoming an alternative to such proven market players as Ethereum, EOS, and Stellar.

One of the main goals of the project is to simplify as much as possible the process of creating, launching and developing your own applications or services that store and transfer data on the blockchain using the Module platform for creating decentralized applications (DApps). To this end, the platform’s Japanese creators offer their smart contract technology, the possibility of honest cryptocurrency mining, and a set of high-speed, low-cost solutions that allow users to store their data reliably and confidentially while managing their data quickly and independently.

The entire data file will be located at a special address in the cloud on the blockchain, access to which is fully controlled by the user. In addition, for improved fraud protection, project clients will have the ability to use a secret sharing system for data access (author’s note – secret sharing is a means of distributing secret data for access to goods and services among a group of participants, each of which receives a part of the access key).

One of the main ways that Module differs from its competitors, among which are such market “dinosaurs” as Ethereum, Stellar, and EOS, lies in its use of other people’s mobile gadgets – smartphones, tablets, laptops – to store information.

Nick Evdokimov, a blockchain expert, consultant, and founder of ICOBox, explains: “Today we actually have a situation where people have a large amount of memory on their gadgets that go unused. Module’s concept will literally make it possible to store data on your neighbor’s cell phone. This will then provide the most rapid possible access to this information and give the gadget’s owner the opportunity to earn money renting out the idle memory. It’s a very interesting solution, one that no other DApps platform has used up to now.” 

Decentralized applications (DApps) are being called the new future of the blockchain industry. They are protected against any form of censorship on the part of centralized servers, and they ensure full confidentiality of the information being transmitted and complete security of transactions, all thanks to P2P communications based on the blockchain. In addition, DApps give people the ability not only to use the services they contain but also to themselves become active participants in the network: for example, to act as shareholders, developers, miners, bounty testers, and so on.

The presale of “coins” for the Module platform started on June 15, 2018. To carry out its ICO, the project has concluded an agreement with ICOBox, the world’s largest supplier of SaaS solutions for the launch and conduct of initial coin offerings.

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Embattled cryptocurrency exchange, Bitgrail, announced ongoing bankruptcy proceedings in Italy have turned full force, as the court seized the exchange’s bitcoin wallets. The ecosystem seems decidedly torn between addressing the fundamental cause, a hack that drained $170 million, and making victims whole.  

Also read: William Shatner Joins Bitcoin Mining Project, Admits He Doesn’t Quite Get It

Italian Court Seizes Bitgrail’s Bitcoin 

“On June 5, 2018, pursuant to the Tribunal of Florence orders,” Bitgrail posted Friday, a full eleven days after, “the Bitcoins contained in the company’s wallets were seized and brought under control of the judicial authorities pending further Court decisions in the pre-bankruptcy proceeding.”

Reaction was pretty fierce, if Twitter threads can be believed. @LucChase thundered, “Very bad news to see the court seized the remaining assets. Which idiot thought bringing the courts in could ever be a good move? We need Bitgrail to trade it’s way out of this mess. Now it is a guaranteed loss.” @Bitgrailed struck another note, claiming asset seizure was “Better than in your hands Firano.” @asael2 echoed a popular sentiment, asking, “Somebody know where this criminals live? Local authorities should be notified!” @LookItsLewis put a finer point on the affair, “Wow … and so everyone who predicted all of your funds would disappear and you’d shut down were correct. You should have let everyone withdraw their currency while there was still time. This is now (as if it wasn’t already) officially your fault.”

Indeed, the Italian court seized assets in what appears to be a foregone conclusion: bankruptcy, determination of findings, and eventual redistribution of what’s left to outstanding creditors and victims.

Nano Soldiers On

Bitgrail has had a tough go of early 2018, and was more or less shuttered as far back as February. At first it seemed to be the result of a Mt. Gox-like hack, totalling 17 million nano (XRB) worth something on the order of $170 million. Francisco Firano, founder of the exchange, announced its insolvency, attributing losses to the development team and their failure to secure the token. For its part, developers put the blame squarely on Bitgrail, arguing “all reliable evidence we have reviewed continues to point to a bug in Bitgrail’s exchange software as the reason for the loss of funds.”

The Nano Foundation, an advocacy group charging to recover funds, made the above statement in April. By May, Mr. Firano seemed to be attempting a relaunch of the platform, and some say it was in an effort to make victims whole by offering a new token scheme to fill in gaps of losses. The same day Bitgrail announced its return, it announced it would be unable to launch due to a court injunction.

While the exchange seems to be all but dead, the Nano project soldiers on, releasing three node updates, patches, in as many months.  

What do you think about going to courts for relief in such cases? Let us know in the comments. 

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Images via the Pixabay.

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