Day: June 16, 2018

OSA DC has penned a partnership with DalongPay, a payment platform that bridges the gap between crypto and traditional currencies.

Founded in December 2016 with the goal of delivering convenient payment instruments to the emerging crypto community, DalongPay is a crypto-to-fiat payment system. It acts as an easily accessible bridge between fiat currencies and crypto currencies. The system allows its users to buy crypto online with bank cards, as it allows them to sell and swap crypto and fiat freely using the bank card and transfer between the two types of currencies using DalongPay’s system. DalongPay currently supports Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Dash, and Zcash.

Approximately 15%-20% of ICOs use fiat for contributions, while more than half of 2017s most successful ICOs accepted fiat during their token sales. The team believes that the service will be greatly beneficial to the OSA DC community, it’ll make purchasing OSA tokens easier and more convenient than ever before. It’s the first step OSA token sale participants can take towards become smart consumer’s on the OSA DC platform, as they’ll have easy access to liquidity and a sure-fire way to participate in the ecosystem even if they have no prior experience with cryptocurrencies.

“At OSA DC, we cater to the smart consumer, so it’s only natural that we’d want to provide every avenue possible for them to participate in the token sale,” Alex Isaiev, co-founder of OSA DC stated regarding the developments. “Now it’ll be easier for our community members to get involved with the project, opening up avenues for even more smart consumers to join us in our pursuit of a perfected retail experience.”

Building on its predecessor the OSA Hybrid Platform, OSA DC combines blockchain technology and cutting edger artificial intelligence to help retailers and manufacturers better manage their inventories. With OSA DC’s blockchain, producers and sellers can track their products with pinpoint accuracy, while its AI digital assistant will allow them to devise more precise business strategies and help retailers to manage stock-outs and inventory issues in real-time. Consumers will benefit from the platform, as well, utilizing its AI assistant to tailor shopping choices and to commit data to the network in exchange for OSA tokens.

At the moment, DalongPay applications for iOS and Android are already available for users. For companies wishing to conduct an ICO using DalongPay, the organization has developed an API for acquiring and instantly converting fiat currencies into cryptocurrencies.

You can learn more about OSA DC here and more about DalongPay here.

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of NullTX. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

NordCoin, a mobile cryptocurrency mining solution, officially announced today an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to raise funds for an additional 28 – 30 Mobile Mining Container units (MMCs) to replicate the success of the 4 operational units.  NordCoin is based in Estonia and was founded in 2014 by blockchain enthusiasts and entrepreneurs in fin-tech, and is now ready to scale across the Nordics thanks to its successful MMC technology.

Mobile Mining Container Units

The MMC technology, developed by NordCoin, allows units to be self-contained and  controlled remotely, which helps the company overcome the three most important variables affecting the profitability of crypto-mining:

• Effective hash rate
• Cost of energy
• Cost of space

NordCoin’s 40ft freight containers can be transported anywhere in the world to take advantage of optimal mining conditions such as low-cost and surplus energy.
NordCoin’s MMCs remove the burden of the  complexities of provisioning and managing individual crypto-mining units and instead relies on the experienced NordCoin team to manage the success of the units.

The Mobile Mining Container is a tightly packed data centre built within the enclosure of a refurbished, 40-ft freight container. The container is modified to include modular racks for housing and powering crypto-mining units (ASICS or GPUs), a climate control system to ensure optimal mining performance, a sophisticated set of sensors and surveillance hardware, and a safe internet connection.

NordCoin started creating MMCs in mid-2017 thanks to the support of a group of like-minded private investors willing to validate the theory. The prototype Mobile Mining Container (MMC-1) was built with an initial investment of $430,000, delivering a hash rate of approximately 53 GH/s (Scrypt).

To date, NordCoin has successfully fabricated and deployed  four MMCs (MMC-1 in November 2017, MMC-2 in March 2018, MMC-3 in April 2018 and MMC-4 in June 2018) backed by the private equity investment of the founders. Having proven the MMCs economic viability and high productivity, NordCoin is now seeking to raise capital through an ICO for an additional 28 – 30 Mobile Mining Container units. In order to guarantee enough power, NordCoin has signed a contract with Viru Keemia Group (VKG), an Estonian electricity supplier who will provide the power to the Mobile Mining Containers.

“Our vision at NordCoin is to create a solution that will drastically improve the profitability of the crypto-mining current model” said Hermes Brambat, Board Member at NordCoin and a founding member of the Estonian Cryptocurrency Foundation. “With today’s launch, we are taking a major step in that direction. The Mobile Mining Container technology is set to profoundly change the cryptocurrencies economy as we know it, by facilitating the transport of hundreds of miners at once.”

NordCoin ICO

To fund this project, the company plans to launch an ICO on July 16 at 12:00am GMT, which will run until August 16, 2018 at 11:59pm GMT. Alternatively, the ICO will end immediately upon reaching the maximum issue volume. Early first round token holders will enjoy an additional 10% bonus when participating within the first 5 days of the ICO. Up to 12,900,000 tokens will be issued, of which 85% are available for purchase.

To participate in the NordCoin Mining ICO, participants are asked to create an account on the NordCoin Mining ICO Token Sale Platform. NordCoin is developing a real-time tracking system to provide transparent and accurate information about mining performance, which will be accessible to the ICO participants.

To get involved and find out more, visit the NordCoin website.

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of NullTX. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

The Satoshi Revolution: A Revolution of Rising Expectations
Section 3: Decentralization
Chapter 8, Part 6
Crypto Can Create a “Perfect” Political System

The anarchists…work not for a perfect social state, but for a perfect political system. A perfect social state is…totally free from sin or crime or folly; a perfect political system is merely a system in which justice is observed, in which nothing is punished but crime and nobody coerced but the invader.

-Victor Yarros, American anarchist, lawyer, and author

The perfect society is embodied by the institutions that individuals create and through which they function. The same is true of a dystopian society. That’s why institutional analysis is essential to understand how freedom and totalitarianism work. One institution is cryptocurrency, which profoundly affects other institutions of society, and reaches far beyond the financial ones.

What is an Institution?

The Random House dictionary defines an institution as “a well-established and structured pattern of behavior or of relationships that is accepted as a fundamental part of a culture, such as marriage,” voting, or bankruptcy. An institution is any stable and widely-accepted mechanism for achieving goals within society. The term applies to wide-ranging and complex concepts, such as “family,” “the free market,” “common law,” “religion,” and “the state.”

Not all institutions are compatible, however, because some pursue antithetical ends; free-market crypto and the central banking system are a stark example. Crypto is a spontaneous and decentralized empowerment of individuals; the banking system is a centrally-planned and unified expression of government control. As a practical matter, a society often contains the two institutions in uneasy parallel, but their antagonistic goals lead to inevitable conflict. Government will attempt to regulate or ban free-market crypto because, otherwise, the free market will do what it does when left unfettered: prevail.

Modern society is a political war zone: the culture war, a race war, weaponized media, class warfare against the 1%, the drug war, a war for democracy, militarized police, the new Cold War, a war on terrorism… One battle provides a common theme for them all. It is a warfare over the structure and goals of competing institutions. Every social conflict involves a clash of institutions that express different ideologies, including cryptocurrency. Created by anarchists using break through technology, it is at war with governments’ desire to regulate and to own it. Technology versus government. Freedom versus control.

Generally speaking, there are two types of institutions: spontaneous, and designed. An example of a spontaneous institution is the family. In Western culture, at least, no one predetermines who will marry and produce children; those decisions are left to the individuals involved. All spontaneous and non-violent institutions express freedom in how they function. By contrast, an example of a designed institution is the public-school system, which is created by authorities and experts who impose their vision upon children at tax-payer expense.

Not all designed systems are equal, however, and some can also be vehicles of freedom. These are voluntarily-designed free-market systems, such as a car factory or a tuna fish cannery. Factories may impose rigid rules, because producing a specific product requires them, but everyone who “obeys” does so willingly and from self-interest, which usually comes in the form of a paycheck. The pivotal question for a designed institution is whether it is coerced or voluntary. All coercive institutions express government or violence in how they function. Everyone who “obeys” does so without the option of saying “no.”

Free-market cryptocurrency is highly-designed and entirely voluntary. Central banks may offer a veneer of being voluntary–for example, people are not compelled to become customers—but the entire economy is regulated so as to prohibit alternatives that refuse to act as an arm of government. The same arguments are deployed against them as against crypto. Free-market financial institutions are said to be scams for tax evaders and other so-called criminals, such as drug dealers. They defraud honest people, who foolishly trust them with money. The true motivation of suppression is unspoken: alternative financial institutions threat the government’s monopoly on money and commerce. And, so, Institutionalized violence—that is, law enforcement—is used against the competition; it is justified as protection against occasional crime and against the poor judgment of individuals left to decide for themselves. 

What is Institutional Analysis?

Institutional analysis examines the dynamics by which institutions of society express and define laws, customs, and culture. It asks: What is an institution’s purpose, the rules by which it functions, its impact?

Parallel institutions that purport to serve the same purpose are often compared through a process called “comparative institutional analysis.” An example is to compare how the Federal Reserve creates currency with how an alternative system, such as cryptocurrency, does so. A good starting point of analysis is the competing assumptions upon which a centrally-designed institution and a free-market one rest. The first system uses mathematical representations, historical precedent, and market manipulations to produce currency, because it believes an economy can be scientifically engineered by authorities and experts. The second system realizes that human beings are fallible, driven by fluid preferences, by self-interest, and other factors that cannot be predicted, only analyzed in retrospect. Central banking grounds itself in mathematical models, which can be jiggered or false, and in central authority, which can lie or be badly mistaken. Free-market alternatives ground themselves in human behavior that faces the quick feedback of consequences, and which may be unwise, but not false.

Comparative analysis looks at the structures and procedures of competing institutions, which will determine what they produce. It does not consider motivations. In other words, as long as specific procedures are followed, the motivations are irrelevant. A worker in a hat factory may intend to produce wedding gowns. As long as he follows the workplace rules, however, the result will be a hat. A police officer may believe in Murray Rothbard’s free-market-anarchist model of justice, but as long as he follows police procedure, he will enforce laws that punish peaceful behavior. Only by breaking the rules can the hat maker and honest officer achieve their personal goals.

Comparative analysis also considers the differing impact of parallel institutions. For example, what can appear to be the ‘chaotic’ nature of spontaneous institutions provides a huge benefit to society—innovation, which cannot be centrally designed. Its powerhouse is the ability of creative people to adapt to changing circumstances. The adaptation can be lightning-fast, as with crypto, and successful adapters are richly rewarded by fortune that favors the first to arrive. Late arrivers are also rewarded, however, because an innovation will survive only if it provides value.

In 300 BD, the Chinese Taoist philosopher Chuang-tzu wrote, “there has been such a thing as letting mankind alone; there has never been such a thing as governing mankind with success. Good order results spontaneously when things are let alone.”

By contrast, centrally-engineered institutions stifle innovation because their structures and procedures resist all feedback, their flaws are embedded and protected. The institutions serve the interests of an elite class, not of individuals or society.

The Institutional Ripple-On Effect of Free-Market Crypto

The effect of crypto on authorized financial institutions is well-known. But such a massive door to freedom does not merely crack open; it bursts all its hinges, and shakes up other institutions of society. To touch upon several, in passing:

Foreign Policy. Food is frequently used as a weapon of foreign policy. A recent article in Free Thought Project describes how blockchain is bypassing the weaponization of food: “Revolutionary Blockchain Tech is Helping Disaster Victims & Feeding the Hungry Without Government.” Crypto allows needy nations and individuals to skirt economic sanctions imposed upon them by the powerful. It makes it more difficult to starve people for political advantage.

Domestic Policy. When Venezuela’s government devalued the Bolivar by removing three zeros from the currency, citizens flocked to the free-market alternative of bitcoin, with which they were already familiar. Crypto rescues businesses; it saves lives; it can topple governments.

The Social Control of ‘Vice’. “Operation Chokepoint” was an Obama-era banking policy that attacked allegedly undesirable but legal businesses, such as selling medical marijuana. The banking system closed accounts, canceled credit cards, and refused all services to miscreant customers. The practice is being revived. Banks are targeting marijuana outlets, sex workers (legal or not), and gun businesses. Increasingly, these sellers are turning to crypto to sustain their livelihoods.

Protection of Free Speech. After circulating documents that embarrassed governments, Wikileaks faced a banking blockade that killed its access to donations, which were its life-blood. Wikileaks opened donations to bitcoin, and wealth poured in. Censorship was sidestepped.

The Free Flow of Information. Intellectual property (IP) prosecutions are usually based on following the money and uncovering the individual at the other end. Since crypto can be close to anonymous, that strategy is gutted. For those who reject the validity of IP, as I do, this is an amazing ‘good’ for the global flow of information.

Immigration Policy. Immigration and temporary migration are often based on the possibility of sending money back home. But migrants are often “unbanked” or pay huge fees to do so, with their families waiting days for the transfers. Trump has threatened to cut off this incentive for migration by closing down channels of transmission. Fast, cheap transfers of crypto will be incredibly difficult to control.

The Strangle-Hold of Lawyers and Courts. Smart contracts are legally binding agreements that use software to execute themselves. Smart contracts are on the path to becoming ubiquitous, from real estate deals to insurance claims, which dramatically reduces the need for lawyers.

The Autonomy of the Family. Inheritance taxes are heinous because they are double taxation; family wealth that has already been taxed is relooted by governments. Crypto can invisibly divide assets among loved ones.

Conclusion

The preceding is a passing taste of how profoundly cryptocurrencies are redefining the institutions of society.

To grasp the scope of the institutional revolution, however, it is necessary to focus contrast more intensely on the two fundamental human institutions. In his classic work, the German sociologist Franz Oppenheimer identified one of them in his book The State (1914). The other is Society.

[To be continued next week.]

Reprints of this article should credit bitcoin.com and include a link back to the original links to all previous chapters

Wendy McElroy has agreed to ”live-publish” her new book The Satoshi Revolution exclusively with Bitcoin.com. Every Saturday you’ll find another installment in a series of posts planned to conclude after about 18 months. Altogether they’ll make up her new book ”The Satoshi Revolution”. Read it here first.

The post Wendy McElroy: Crypto Can Create a “Perfect” Political System appeared first on Bitcoin News.

The financial industry has been one that has embraced blockchain technology, with many leading global banks investing in their own private blockchains as well as industry collaborations. The degree to which such ventures have succeeded has varied among banks, with some like Santander stating that their blockchain initiatives have been very successful. Others have been very cautious and have only conducted pilots in partnership with blockchain startups and participated in collaborations such as the Linux-hosted Hyperledger Fabric.

One blockchain startup has been the shining light in the financial services industry and currently has 100+ banks using its platforms. However, according to Ripple’s chief cryptographer and one of the most prominent faces at the San Francisco-based startup, David Schwartz, blockchain tech has a long way to go before it gains mainstream adoption in the banking industry.

Scalability and Privacy Among the Key Challenges

The banking industry is one that’s under strict regulation and oversight so as to protect the trillions of dollars these institutions hold. With this, privacy is among the key considerations for banks as they seek to employ blockchains. Being a decentralized ledger, a blockchain is ideally transparent in that all participants can access the transactions recorded. Banks therefore prefer private blockchains, as is the case with Ripple’s enterprise software solution, xCurrent.

Scalability is another demand that blockchain technology is struggling to satisfy. In an interview with Reuters on June 13, Schwartz said:

What we hear from many of our customers is that it’s imperative to keep their transactions private, process thousands every second, and accommodate every type of currency and asset imaginable.

Major banks and payment services providers have expressed their satisfaction with Ripple’s products for cross-border money transfer. One of them is Santander, a bank that has supported Ripple since its early days, having been one of the early investors in the company. Santander’s One Pay FX is hailed as “the first mobile application for international payments powered by blockchain technology.”

Western Union Apprehensive About Blockchain

Schwartz’s sentiments came as the world’s biggest money transfer company expressed apprehension over the use of cryptos for transfers. As originally reported by MarketWatch on June 13, Western Union’s CEO currently views cryptos as being impractical and unlikely to replace fiat currencies. Further, he stated that despite having conducted trials for three months, Western Union has yet to see the efficiency for which blockchains have been highly praised.

Speaking in New York, Hikmet Ersek views the slow adoption of cryptos as a big stumbling block in their quest to replace fiat currencies. Additionally, cryptos face an uphill battle in becoming the payment method of choice for many, as most central banks remain in tight control of the monetary system. These regulators are unlikely to shift to digital currencies, as their hold would be greatly threatened as a result.

Western Union has been among the high-profile names Ripple has proudly announced as partners, with the Colorado-based multinational having started trials of Ripple’s platforms three months ago. MoneyGram, another leading money transfer company, has also been trialing Ripple’s xVia since January. The company also trialed Ripple’s digital asset, XRP, via the xRapid solution. China’s Lian Lian and New York-based American Express are some of the other high-profile financial services companies with which Ripple has partnered.

Arbitao is a fully automated solution for arbitrage trading in cryptocurrency markets aimed at overcoming the age-old problems associated with conventional arbitrage trading methods, the result of which most people have no chance of profiting from arbitrage.

Arbitao’s unique technology assists the users by finding price differences in different crypto exchanges and automatically executing profitable arbitrage trades for the community members.

According to Karel Mirrin, “A lot of ICO projects don’t have a working product and probably never will have. With Arbitao, it’s different. Our goal was to deliver a working and tested product before the ICO starts. And we succeeded in it.”

While the advent of cryptocurrency has provided numerous opportunities for individuals and investors alike, issues such as lack of liquidity for certain pairs, price manipulations and the high number of non-professional traders lead to inefficiencies, where prices are highly varying between the exchanges. Although several technical solutions have been implemented to resolve the inefficiencies and benefit from the potential arbitrage possibilities, the complexity of the whole setup makes it unfeasible for everyone to deal with. This is where Arbitao and its unique ATAO blockchain technology comes into play, by using the data provided by multiple exchanges to make profitable trades for the members.

All the community members on the ATAO blockchain will be rewarded in two ways. The first is the staking reward which can be obtained by installing the ATAO wallet, staking some of the coins and validating the transactions on the blockchain. As a reward for securing the network in that way, the user can earn more coins. The second way is by contributing computational power to the network so that the Arbitao algorithms can run even faster. This results in higher profits, which are shared among the network.

The Arbitao system has been online since November 2017 and is successfully tried and tested by a group of trusted crypto enthusiasts and traders. At present, the automated arbitrage trading system of Arbitao can identify viable arbitrage opportunities from 19 major exchanges, taking into consideration transaction time, transaction fees, volume, order books and other factors.

Once implemented fully, Arbitao will offer fully decentralized arbitrage trading to its users where they can set up their ATAO wallet with API credentials for their accounts on exchanges.

Arbitao is on a mission to implement a decentralized network of nodes utilizing its highly functional computational resources. This would overcome the problem of identifying the most viable arbitrage opportunities between different exchanges and executing risk-free arbitrage trades before they disappear.

In the long term, Arbitao aims to fully decentralize the existing arbitrage trading and empower both small and big investors alike. In the beginning, Arbitao lays the foundation for this eco-system by opening their fully operational, automated trading pools to the public.

You can find more information and a press kit on the official website www.arbitao.com

Press Contact [email protected]

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/atao.arbitao

Twitter https://twitter.com/arbitao

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/arbitao/

Arbitao Telegram Channel https://t.me/arbitao

Arbitao Telegram Group https://t.me/arbitaochat

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of NullTX. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

You don’t need to be a professional bettor to make easy money on the World Cup matches with this promotion from 1xBit!

The 2018 FIFA World Cup that will take place in Russia later this month is the perfect occasion for everyone to celebrate, meet with friends and just enjoy the quality time and thrills provided by this international event.

What if you could do more than just watch the games on a big screen when you’re going out with your friends? What if you could be part of the game and make things a lot more interesting? If the answer  is yes then you’re in luck, because 1xBit has prepared a promotion just for you.

Earning money and having fun at the same time? With 1xBit it’s possible! . Creating an account takes only a few seconds, and that’s not just a figure of speech. Afterwards, every bet of 2 mBTC that you place on any World Cup match starting  June 13th gets you with a ticket and automatically qualifies you for the lottery where you can win 100 mBTC daily.

It’s as simple as that, no other requirements or complicated Terms and Conditions, simply create an account and you’re good to go. Chances are that you’re already rooting for your favorite team so why not take advantage of that and multiply your winning chances with the lottery organized by 1xBit that has a total of 116 winners daily?

The more tickets you have, the greater your chances of winning are.1xBit makes it easy for you to collect tickets because all bets during the day are taken into consideration and accumulated towards the final ticket count. So, if you bet a total of 2 mBTC you get one ticket, 4 mBTC gives you 3 tickets, 8 mBTC gets you 5 tickets and so on. The maximum  you can get is 100 tickets t if you bet a total of 50 mBTC in a day.

Remember, this promotion is only available for 1xBit registered players, so you should create an account right now in order to be eligible for it. Have unlimited fun this summer with 1xBit and the FIFA World Cup.

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of NullTX. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

Stephen Bannon believes that cryptocurrencies can disrupt the financial industry in the same way that Donald Trump disrupted American politics. He also revealed that he owns a “good stake” in Bitcoin and that he has invested in a number of crypto startups through his investment company, Bannon & Company. In an interview with The New York Times published on June 14, the former White House chief strategist revealed that he has been attracted to cryptos for a long time, as “they break old rules, they exist on the periphery, and they pose a challenge to the powerful figures and institutions that have long called the shots.”

Disruptive Populism

Bannon is especially excited about the prospect of a national coin, and assisting nations that want to establish one. As reported by the Times, he has previously suggested launching a new virtual currency known as the ‘deplorables coin’, in reference to a term that was coined by Hillary Clinton for some Trump supporters. The man who has held various positions during his long career including vice president at Goldman Sachs says he is fascinated by the prospect of nations creating digital currencies that are tied to natural resources found in their jurisdictions.

Bannon is involved in a number of crypto startups, he revealed. However, he didn’t mention any names, saying that he feared the controversy associated with his name might have a negative impact on the projects. The former CEO of alt-right news site Breitbart News believes that the person or entity that controls the monetary system has ultimate power. He also referred to cryptos as revolutionary.

It’s disruptive populism. It takes control back from central authorities. It’s revolutionary.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic about Bannon’s interest in cryptos, however. Colin Platt, a crypto researcher and trader, views this as the last kick of a dying horse. Moreover, characters like Bannon detract from the industry’s credibility at a time when it’s striving to increase its mainstream appeal, Platt told the newspaper.

It almost seems like a natural progression for a man who gained prominence by shoveling out unfounded conspiracies to now shilling complex technology and financial instruments to an unsophisticated investing public.

Indeed, the credibility of blockchain as a revolutionary technology that can solve some of the biggest challenges facing the world has been greatly compromised by frivolous things for which it has been used. One of these is the infamous crypto cult, Zero Ex Omega. Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the ‘religion’ is the brainchild of former Augur CEO Matt Liston. The platform tackles the decentralization of religion and the creation of a new religion in which everyone’s views count as much as anyone else’s.

Liston has come under heavy criticism from the crypto community, with many viewing this as a cancerous growth which, if not attended to soon, could greatly undermine the industry’s credibility. Others remain supportive of Liston’s efforts, stating that the blockchain’s uses are infinite and that this is just one of the many.

Managing financial data can be a huge challenge for organizations in almost any industry. Legacy systems, physical paperwork, and manual processes are some of the main culprits that contribute to lack of transparency, efficiency, and organization of large amounts of financial data. The good news is that emerging technologies, namely the Blockchain, are stepping forward to remedy these issues for large companies and businesses.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Enterprise-scale businesses of all shapes and sizes are beginning to recognize much broader financial applications of the decentralized, transparent public network and ledger that blockchain provides. Take JP Morgan, for instance, who recently announced their partnership with Zcash to improve the security of their customer’s financial data.Global fintech payments provider FLEERCOR is also using the Ripple blockchain to provide better data security and organization.

JP Morgan and FLEETCOR are just two examples of why blockchain is promising to be the future for managing (and improving) financial data for companies across the board. Gary Markham, CEO of aXpire, a blockchain based spend management solution, explains why companies are turning to blockchain providers, “There is an increasing demand for real-time data. A recent study from MIT Sloan suggests that on average, companies lose 15-25% of revenue due to issues related to data quality. We are looking to tackle these issues, and the entire data ecosystem with it.”

1. Public vs. Private

One of the most important distinctions that have to be made when examining how the blockchain is used to improve financial data is public blockchains versus private enterprise blockchains. A public blockchain is characterized by many anonymous users, who all have open read and write privileges, where proof of work and transactions is reached by consensus.

In contrast, private enterprise blockchains are managed internally by a single company or organization. Participants are typically only the relevant individuals, departments, or business units. The benefit is more internal transparency on data management. Markham explains, “In data management, and spend management specifically; data silos have been a significant issue. The synergies of combining different data sources and presenting it to the end user in a way that allows for proactive decision making will ultimately result in customer success.” When it comes to managing financial data, most companies will choose a private blockchain for security and internal efficiency reasons.

2. Spend Management

One of the biggest areas in financial data management that businesses utilize the blockchain to tackle is Spend Management. Typically, the spend management process is often bogged down (especially in financial services) because appointments and other issues simply aren’t capable of being addressed by existing, legacy software. Markham detailed how his company tackled this issue, “We developed a cloud-based spend management solution that handles invoice approval and allocation using machine learning, a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Businesses are able to receive invoices through the billing platform and then assign them around the mid and back-office electronically prior to approval.”

The spend management process in many organizations also tends to be burdened with paper processes, making it difficult to track and organize financial data. That’s why many companies are turning to the blockchain for spend management processes like procurement, for example, to digitize their workflows and make financial data more accessible and transparent to the key internal stakeholders.

3. Error Reduction

Because transactions conducted on the blockchain must be verified by both parties and is open to public inspection to the right parties even on a private blockchain, the chances of manual human error are greatly reduced. Especially when it comes to financial companies and data, small errors can cost a fortune to fix, and even those that don’t can add up over time to a rather significant sum of money. With the blockchain, these costly alterations and mistakes are prevented via several means. Primarily, all financial data workflows can be pre-configured for approvals, so that the right parties verify the most critical information before transactions are finalized. The distributed, internal ledger also means that more parties have visibility to key financial data so that more people can audit and verify its accuracy.

4. Activity Ledgers

Finally, the blockchain can help organizations create better ledgers and records of their activities. The ledger aspect of the blockchain is one that speaks directly to the financial reporting community because any and all financial transactions are recorded, validated, and stored for auditing purposes. Each transaction, whether it be a vendor payment, the sale of merchandise, or fulfillment of invoice is stored on the blockchain with a unique token, which is easily trackable, traceable, and verifiable.

This makes the jobs of CEOs, CFOs, and CTOs immensely easier, as transactions and activities across departments are easily visible. In the end, individuals across the C-suite can then better align their strategies to meet business objectives, reduce costs, and improve overall financial efficiency.

While some companies are still hesitant on adopting blockchain technology, the competitive landscape with soon make it a necessity. Markham argues, “While these changes won’t always immediately impact the front-end of enterprise applications, the back end benefits of a secure, immutable network will be tangible…and as we saw with cloud technology, those that are late to adopt rarely catch up.”

In the end, companies that adopt blockchain solutions will be able own, control, and view their own data privately and securely, in a more effective way. The result will be a reduction in losses associated with bad data, and increased competitive advantage stemming from more reliable data insights.

Southern Italian city launches a working group to develop blockchain initiatives, exclusive interview with Naples Mayor

As is usually the case on Saturday, it is rather difficult to make sense of the cryptocurrency markets. The entire top 10 is in the red, with the exception of Ethereum, For some unknown reason, the Ethereum price is still up by 1,16%. Even so, maintaining a value of $500 will remain a massive challenge moving forward.

The Ethereum Price Stays in the Green

It is evident the market pressure which kept cryptocurrency in its grip since January of 2018 has not relented at this time. Nor will that situation necessarily change, as there are quite a few more weeks, if not months, of negative pressure still ahead. This will also impact the Ethereum price in one way or another, even though it seems to be holding its own for now.

Even so, the past 24 hours have resulted in a net gain of 1.16% for the Ethereum price. Albeit it will not shock anyone per se, it is rather intriguing to see this is the only currency in the entire top 10 to note some positive momentum. While it is currently insufficient to keep the Ethereum price above $500, there will be an interesting battle to keep an eye on.

This Ethereum price increased is facilitated by a medium increase in the ETH/BTC ratio over the past 24 hours. It is a rather surprising turn of events, as Ether has successfully gained 2.11% on Bitcoin. In most cases, all altcoins – including Ethereum – tend to lose value when Bitcoin goes in the red. Right now, that is not exactly the case.

Unlike most other alternative cryptocurrencies, Ethereum doesn’t suffer from a major decline in trading volume. It seems to hold its own with $1.47bn in volume. Again, not the most impressive number for this particular altcoin, but given how all other currencies are performing, one has to take every small positive trend at face value.

Looking over the exchanges ranked by trading volume OKEx is still in the lead, which won’t surprise anyone. Binance and Bitfinex complete the top three, with Huobi and another Binance pair in the top five. An interesting collection of markets, albeit only one fiat currency pair in the top five can be quite worrisome in the long run.

Whether or not the Ethereum price can find stability at $500, remain to be determined. If the altcoin maintains a gain over Bitcoin, no real declines should be expected. That is, assuming the Bitcoin value itself doesn’t plummet in the coming hours. All things considered, the Etheruemprice looks rather healthy, but there’s always room for improvements.

For as long as we’ve known him, Brad Garlinghouse has not been one to mince words when talking about the world’s biggest cryptocurrency. He has continuously branded it as the Napster of cryptos, a pioneering platform whose technology and approach made it impossible to achieve success in the face of new and better technologies such as Spotify and Pandora. In his latest attack, the Ripple CEO claimed that Bitcoin will never become the primary cryptocurrency and that no major economy would allow that to happen. He further claimed that Bitcoin is controlled by China, making it even more unsuitable as a primary crypto for the future.

An Underreported Story

Garlinghouse was speaking at the 2018 Stifel Cross Sector Insight Conference and talked about various issues regarding the crypto industry’s current state and what the future holds. However, what stood out were his strong views on Bitcoin. He was adamant that Bitcoin can’t be the primary global currency, stating that no major economy would allow that to happen.

I’ll tell you another story that is underreported, but worth paying attention to. Bitcoin is really controlled by China. There are four miners in China that control over 50 percent of Bitcoin. How do we know that China won’t intervene? How many countries want to use a Chinese-controlled currency? It’s just not going to happen.

Garlinghouse revealed he owns Bitcoin but was quick to urge the audience not to take his opinions as investment advice. Unsurprisingly, he expressed his confidence in Ripple’s native asset, XRP, which he described as superior to Bitcoin. While Bitcoin can take up to 45 minutes to settle a transaction, XRP transactions are settled in 2-4 seconds.

Banks will use what is efficient and cheaper. And if you deliver a better product at a better price… they will use it.

Garlinghouse doesn’t value Ripple and XRP through the usual metric of market price. Rather, the value that Ripple unlocks is what’s most important to him. Ripple is changing the lives of the many unbanked or underbanked people across the world by giving them access to finance.

 When I think about the transformation, it is fundamentally changing the way millions participate in banking. We can fundamentally change the way this works, to bring an entire population up a step in the system.

Ripple has come under scrutiny, with allegations that its XRP currency should be classified as a security. The company’s chief strategist, Cory Johnson, has refuted those claims, as have other senior executives at the San Francisco-based company. This has done little to quell the rumors that the SEC will ultimately categorize it as a security. This would force most of the crypto exchanges that currently list it to delist it or apply for additional licenses.

Bitcoin and Ether, in contrast, have both been deemed to not be securities by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC chairman was the first to clear Bitcoin before the regulator’s Director of Corporate Finance later came forward to clear Ether. XRP is still not cleared, and the XRP community is eagerly awaiting word from the regulator.

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