Day: June 18, 2018

The Freedom of the Press Foundation has expanded its donation methods to include five cryptocurrencies, calling the move a “natural fit.”

The state of Kerala, in India’s extreme south, is adopting blockchain in order to update and streamline its food supply chain to customers.

The blockchain is increasingly aiding food production and the flow of food from growth to table around the world, with new concepts appearing almost weekly. Raja Ramachandran, CEO for ripe.io, a company currently developing blockchain for the food industry, says that blockchain’s recent popularity is because it is trustworthy and verifiable.

“The blockchain is really this fabric and code automation that binds all that together, and more importantly asks each of the participants to effectively provide a consensus that the claim or assertion is true… If someone certifies something, you typically rely on a third party. Now, the entire supply chain can self-certify because it’s looking to agree with each other.”

Kerala’s latest project wants to offer customers this level of stability to its food supply chain. The Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-DISC) will now be ensuring that goods now include RFID tags and the use of IoT devices to monitor transportation and delivery, primarily of milk vegetables and fish.

Kerala will now be monitoring milk being delivered to millions across the state on a daily basis in fully refrigerated trucks using RFID tags and IoT equipment. All components of the milk supply chain will be strictly monitored and recorded on the blockchain.

Fish will now be receiving similar attention with farms linked to geo-coded imaging, enabling real-time monitoring following catch-to-table verification systems on the blockchain.

The Kerala government is looking to extend the success of these projects and says it is considering to branch into farming crop insurance, in order to enable faster, smart claims of farming crop losses. Kerala also has its own educational program run from regional capital Thiruvananthapuram, where students can learn about how to utilize blockchain in the health and banking sectors.

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Even during extended downtrends – such as much of 2018 – savvy traders continue to utilize unique methods to make profits. If you’ve spent much time on Twitter and other mediums where traders often communicate, you’ve probably heard about IDEX gems. 

The term “IDEX gem” refers to a cryptocurrency that is primarily traded on IDEX and appears to be heavily undervalued. IDEX gems have assumed the role of the 2018 alternative to last year’s Cryptopia gems. Before Cryptopia, the highly sought after cryptos were Yobit gems. Among the most recent successful IDEX gems are Pundi X (NPXS), which saw BTC gains of over 20x since early April of this year.

Why IDEX?

There are hundreds of active cryptocurrency exchanges currently in operation. However, a number of key features of this exchange make IDEX a unique trading destination and the most poised for birthing moonshots and cryptos that experience massive gains.

IDEX deals solely with ERC20 tokens. While this limits the scope of coins eligible for trading on IDEX, it makes the creation of new markets relatively simple. Because each new project listed on IDEX can get implemented into the same cookie-cutter model, IDEX is the first to list a number of projects. As the majority of ICOs and new cryptocurrencies fall into the ERC20 category, there is rather little downside to limiting operations to just the ERC20s.

The decentralized nature of IDEX also makes it vastly more secure than centralized alternatives. When trading on IDEX, users never need to move ETH out of their holdings into a hot potato exchange wallet. In addition, hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor are capable of communicating with the exchange. As a result, users need not fear that their funds may be insecure or mishandled. In contrast to the small, centralized alternative exchanges that also race to list projects first, the security advantages of IDEX are invaluable.

In a somewhat self-fulfilling prophecy, IDEX also maintains its place as a hotspot for traders simply because the general trading community deems it as such. When ICOs distribute tokens and apply for initial listings, they first go to IDEX because not only does the exchange list projects quickly, but it offers a trading environment in which traders are active and comfortable.

As a result, IDEX represents an environment that harbors new and little-known projects before they gain exposure to larger audiences and move onto larger exchanges. Traders that can pick promising listings among the more than 400 pairs offered through IDEX are rewarded handsomely. Those who are able to find the gems hidden in the dirt often see exponential gains once the projects are listed on top exchanges. A Binance listing after IDEX is almost a surefire way for previous holders to earn 5-10x profits, or more.

When searching for IDEX gems, it’s important to weigh the current market versus the ICO setting that many of these coins only recently exited. How small of a market cap does the coin represent? Is it trading below its ICO price, as many are? Most importantly, does this project have what it takes to earn the notice of a wider audience and transition to a much larger exchange? The IDEX gems that have good answers to these questions are the most opportunity-filled for the committed trader.

CEO of the Blackmore Group and Wealthchain Group, Phillip Nunn, predicted in January 2018 when Bitcoin’s price was near USD 10,000 that Bitcoin would drop to USD 6,000 and then rally to USD 60,000 before the year was over. The first half of his prediction has already come true, with Bitcoin’s price sitting near USD 6,400 as of this writing and dropping as low as USD 6,100 in the past week. Nunn has reaffirmed that he believes the second half of his prediction will come true too.

This prediction is based on the high volatility levels of the cryptocurrency markets. The markets are so small and lack liquidity relative to global stock markets, so news has major effects on cryptocurrency prices. According to Nunn, this is especially true since all the money in the cryptocurrency market is from the public, so the biggest factor in price movements is public sentiment towards the news. This is unlike global stock markets where institutional investor’s decisions control the market.

Nunn believes that blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt every industry and that we’re moving away from an internet of information towards an internet of value. He says blockchain technology is a safer way of working because it is decentralized.

He claims to be talking to banks and investment firms every day and they are all interested in getting into cryptocurrency, but market volatility is a major barrier for institutional money flowing into the market. In an example he gave, even if a fund manager wanted to put 5% of their assets into cryptocurrency, it would upset investors because the cryptocurrency markets are risky.

Currently, Bitcoin has a market cap near USD 110 billion. For Phillip Nunn’s USD 60,000 prediction to come true, the market cap would have to rise to about USD 1 trillion. Back in 2015 Deutsche Bank estimated that the world had USD 294 trillion of financial assets, so many believe Nunn’s figure not to be unrealistic. Whether that will happen within the next six months remains to be seen.

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Trading needs to be objective to make money. When we fall in love with our holdings, it is when we start losing money. Buying and selling, should be sentiment free and should be undertaken only for the sole purpose of profit maximization. It is thus good to minimize the human element in trading at times and let a machine do its thing. What is more it also frees a trader from the screen and allows them to continue the pursuit of earning profit 24 hours a day.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

It makes sense then to use smart tools to do away with the uncertainty caused by the human element. 3Commas, which launched back in September 2017 has automated tools that allow crypto traders to free themselves from their trading terminals.

The long and short of it

Traders whether big or small like some control over their trades but in a 24 hour crypto market, if you are not trading all the time, you are losing out. The automated trading bot from 3Commas solves a lot of problems. The trading bot can help carry out trades on exchanges like  and users can create a new automated bot and fix parameters of trading at the time of bot creation. After which, the bot will offer cryptocurrency for sale on the chosen market. In case the price rise, the profit goal is achieved, in case of a decline in prices, safety orders are placed below the purchase every X%. This is akin to dollar cost averaging. This allows traders to exit positions on bounce back because the TakeProfit target is moved lower. Conversely it is also possible to use the Long algorithm in which case the Bot can sell higher and buy lower.

How to try out the automated trading bot

The working of automated trading bot is really simple. At the minimum, investors need an exchange account that is connected to 3Commas. This account must have BNB and BNB fee turned on. An instructional video that takes investors through the process is available and it just takes a few minutes to understand how the system works. Users have the option to either create a Simple bot or a Composite bot. If you are just beginning, it may be advisable to experiment with a Simple bot. If while filling in the form to create a bot, a user does not understand the terminologies used, they can always reference a handy mini glossary that is available for reference. 3Commas recommend strongly that users experiment with minimum possible volumes and percent of profits in the first trades that they carry out so that they gain a better understanding of how the bot actually works.

A comprehensive trade solution for everyone

3Commas membership starts at US$ 25 and there is pro membership for US$ 84 available for free trial. Since the time of the launch the platform has gained 22,000 active traders and there is a daily trade volume of US$ 6 mln. Profitability is the main attraction for most traders as bitcoinist.com described in a recent article, “The reason for the platform’s growing popularity, of course, is the wealth of tools and features it offers that has resulted in active traders making an average monthly profit of more than 15%.” They also followed the daily returns from the trading bot and wrote, “Results may vary, of course, but on average the trading bot generates a daily profit of around 1.5%.” Interestingly 3Commas are also offering a more traditional trading terminal with stop loss feature but also a trailing stop loss option, which allows for a more dynamic stop loss setting. There is also a take profit and trailing profit option available. A number of other smart trade options such as Bid price follow, ask price follow and true price follow (under development) are available for 3Commas users.

In a market as volatile as cryptocurrencies, it is important that investors and traders both big and small be able to access quality tools to maximize their profitability. 3Commas seems to have solved the problem of accessibility and usability especially for new users and this is highly commendable. On the other hand they also have pro tools that the more advanced users have always desired.

Another day has dawned upon the cryptocurrency markets, and it has become apparent there isn’t any real reason for excitement. Most of the top markets are in the red once again, and the IOTA price is currently getting clobbered. No real surprise, as all markets suffer from a dwindling BTC price.

IOTA Price Keeps Declining

With another 5.57% decline for the IOTA price, the current market momentum is not looking all that appealing. Even though the weekend seemingly offered a reprieve for all currencies, all of that positive momentum has been wiped out earlier today. Finding stable ground remains impossible in the world of cryptocurrency.

With the Bitcoin price going down once again, it is only normal alternative cryptocurrencies see their fair share of bearish pressure. In the case of the IOTA price, it has become apparent that bearish pressure is growing quite steep in quick succession With a current value of $1.12, the situation looks pretty worrisome.

These issues for the IOTA price are only compounded by the losses in the MIOTA/BTC ratio. With a sharp 4.6% decline over the past 24 hours, it is evident IOTA will not have much success in scoring any short-term gains. From a long-term perspective, things are not looking all that appealing either.

As has become apparent across all cryptocurrency markets, the ongoing trading volume decline is quickly getting rather worrisome. For IOTA, there has been a volume of $58.1m in the past 24 hours, which is not terrible. However, it seems unlikely the volume will pick up in the coming hours unless it is because people effectively begin to panic sell.

Interestingly enough, Bitfinex generates the most trading volume as of right now. More specifically, its USD pair is the largest, but Binance’s BTC and USDT pairs, as well as OKEx’s USDT and BTC pairs generate more volume overall. An interesting situation well worth keeping an eye on moving forward.

Whether or not the ITOA price will maintain a value of $1,1 for much longer, remains to be determined. Given the current momentum, it seems only normal to expect further losses, but the cryptocurrency markets can turn around at any given moment. For the time being, it is best to take the current trend in stride and not worry about short-term changes all that much/

Bancor, the world’s largest decentralized crypto exchange, is launching a network of blockchain-based community currencies in Kenya aimed at combating poverty

In the latest crypto mansion sell-off, Hilton and Hyland, the real estate firm chaired by Rick Hilton, the father of reality TV celebrity Paris Hilton, has announced that the sale of a 16th century Roman mansion will be conducted on the blockchain.

Roman Mansion to be Auctioned off on Blockchain

The historic property set in the center of Rome was originally designed by the architect Giacomo Della Porta who was a contemporary of and collaborator with Michelangelo. Known as The Palazzetto, the landmark home with 11 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms will be listed by California based Propy.com, a global property store, and decentralized title registry.

There were reportedly twenty home sold for cryptocurrency in 2017 and already more than that this year. Most notably a seven-bedroom Miami estate purchased with 455 bitcoins, an equivalent value of $US6 million. Rick Hilton commented on the planned sale saying “The auction shows real estate’s growing trust in blockchain and provides crypto investors an opportunity to diversify and solidify their portfolio with a trophy asset,”

The estimated sale price for The Palazzetto is $35 million which will make it by far and away the most expensive property to be sold for cryptocurrency and the most valuable listing ever handled by Propy which completed the first ever real estate sale for crypto in Ukraine in 2017. The company which calls itself the first international real estate market allows clients to purchase property online and uses blockchain technology to eliminate many of the hurdles encountered in cross-border transactions.

Blockchain used to Secure Land Titles for the Rich and Poor

In March Propy became the first ever company to execute a US government sanctioned use of blockchain for a public service when it facilitated the sale and deed transfer of a home in Burlington, Vermont via the Ethereum network.  CTO Alex Voloshyn was quoted at the time as saying,

“We’re ready to help US counties and other countries set up the blockchain registry for free. The developer program helps us accelerate the platform’s growth and ultimately give more governments the chance to integrate their land registry on Blockchain”

Blockchain technology isn’t only being used in the luxury real estate market though as developing countries look to the benefits of an immutable registry to record disputed land titles. Countries in Africa, Asia and South America where up to 90% of rural lands may be unregistered are working with blockchain startups to solidify records. There are currently projects in Honduras, Ghana, Cameroon, Libya and Indonesia to solve land disputes by having deeds registered on the blockchain making them transparent and impervious to corruption.

The post Paris Hilton’s Father to Sell 16th Century Roman Mansion Via Blockchain Auction appeared first on NewsBTC.

Decentralization as a concept has only taken off since blockchain technology started to become part of the global mainstream. Even though the technology has the potential to disrupt existing commercial and economic models, it has been severely underutilized and is limited to certain niche industries.

Cryptaur is an all-new blockchain-based platform that can be used to implement a wide array of dApps in a fast and efficient manner. It makes use of a shared economic framework that aims to improve P2P interactions between users as well as leverage the power of decentralization so that blockchain technology can reach a larger audience.

Additionally, one can also view Cryptaur as a foundational structure upon which dApps can be constructed, expanded and housed. The end goal is to provide customers with a host of unique products and services that are directly delivered to them without the involvement of any middlemen.

The platform intends to be inclusive of all mainstream users and includes features such as:

• Cryptaur Pay: A module designed to facilitate fiat and crypto payments seamlessly.
• Cryptaur Consumer Protection: A service protocol that is aimed at governing consumer disputes in a systematic fashion.

Lastly, all native interactions are handled through the use of a currency called Cryptaur token (CPT). It is an ERC20-compliant coin which is used to pay all platform fees and transaction surcharges. Not only that, CPT also helps drive the company’s reward system by incentivizing the community to contribute to the development and growth of the platform.

Overview of the Platform

• Cryptaur enables the creation of a shared economy wherein dApps can be built upon a secure foundational framework.
• The digital base of this platform is the Ethereum blockchain.
• Cryptaur’s infrastructure is comprised of two essential components: a native crypto wallet and Cryptaur Pay.
• Through the use of blockchain technology, this service aims to help foster dApps that are grounded in the concept of complete decentralization.
• It can be implemented within a host of industrial sectors including ride sharing, food delivery, and package delivery.

Key Features

One of the primary aspects of Cryptaur that make it stand out is the fact that it helps bridge the gap that currently exists between traditional and decentralized economies. It does so by allowing anyone with a computer or a smartphone to transact on the blockchain without having to change their payment habits.

Core offerings of the cryptaur ecosystem

In addition, Cryptaur leverages the power of community interactions so as to help curate products and services that are in line with the demands of the cryptoverse at large. Not only that, it makes use of certain transparency protocols which ensure that all submitted reviews come from trusted sources, rather than advertising and paid product placements.

From a usability perspective, the platform fosters an ideal environment for promoting commercial activity since it contains service modules that can be used for:

• Peer-to-peer commerce
• Business-consumer exchanges
• Sharing economy applications

Another important facet of Cryptaur is its use of customers’ social and behavioral data in order to provide them with pertinent incentives as well as support the overall growth of the ecosystem.

How it Works

As mentioned earlier, Cryptaur allows consumers to purchase products from various dApps with the help of fiat assets as well as cryptocurrencies.

For example, when a person makes a purchase with fiat money — cash, credit, or debit — Cryptaur automatically uses the hosted Ethereum wallet to purchase a corresponding amount of cryptocurrency on behalf of the user.

However, should the user have linked wallets and decide to pay directly in cryptocurrency, he or she simply transfers the sales price amount to the Cryptaur hosted wallet. The ETH in question is immediately sent to execute the relevant smart contracts, thereby protecting the receiving provider against price volatility.

About the Team

Dmitry Buriak is the CEO and founder of this venture. According to his LinkedIn bio, Buriak is a longtime businessman who possesses vast entrepreneurial experience in a number of industries ranging from ferrous metallurgy to wellness.

Yaroslav Kompan is the CFO of Cryptaur. He possesses over ten years of solid professional experience, including seven years working as a strategic and operational management consultant. In addition, Kompan has also worked for a host of international consulting companies such as:

• Roland Berger
• KPMG
• Goetzpartners
• Deloitte
• PWC

Lastly, Ilya Svirin is the CTO of Cryptaur. According to his online bio, Svirin is a tech entrepreneur who in the past founded many reputable blockchain ventures including Nordavind and Prover. In addition, he is also a smart contract developer and has worked for established projects such as:

• OpenLongevity.io
• Bremtoken.io
• NeuroDAO.com

Token Performance Details

Released into the cryptoverse a couple weeks back, CPT tokens have been relatively stable in value since their inception.

CPT token lifetime performance data (courtesy of Coincodex)

While initially trading at $0.0039, the currency quickly gathered momentum and scaled up to an impressive $0.005 on June 12. At press time, the token is valued at $0.00398.

As of June 15, CPT possessed a market cap of $27.39 million along with a total token supply of 6.87 billion, of which 6.8 billion tokens are currently in circulation.

Final Thoughts

With Cryptaur looking to reinvent the shared economy through the use of blockchain technology, it will be interesting to see where this platform goes from here.

If you would like to start investing in Cryptaur, CPT trading pairs are currently available on HitBTC and LAToken.

Decentralized marketplace startup Origin Protocol is looking to raise $6.6 million via a token sale with help from CoinList.

Despite Bitcoin’s current downturn, universities are increasingly opening up educational projects for blockchain technology reports Econotimes, with the number of universities and educational facilities running blockchain and cryptocurrency courses growing as financial markets expand and absorb more blockchain-related products.

There are now many opportunities for blockchain developers but clearly not enough skilled technicians to fill these gaps. Toptal, a marketplace for hiring tech talent, has recorded a 700% increase in demand for blockchain developers since January 2017. These positions can be well paid. According to Jerry Cuomo, VP of IBM’s blockchain technologies division, the best blockchain developers can command a salary above USD 250,000.

There are have been some early starters; institutions offering courses in digital information systems, the blockchain, and cryptocurrency. In the US, the Northeastern University College of Engineering in Boston and George Mason University in Virginia run courses in blockchain technology as part of other advanced educational postgraduate Science programs.  The University of Cape Town now offers a cryptocurrency and fintech elective module as part of its wider Data Science Masters program.

In Scotland, the University of Sterling – as part of its Financial Technology Masters program, offers participants a primer to blockchain technology, which includes cryptocurrencies, decentralized applications, smart contracts, and applications and case studies.

What is changing now is the way in which blockchain hard forks and other cryptocurrency specifics are taking the technology in directions which also require new specialized skills.

Professor David Yermack from NYC Stern School of Business was an early teacher of blockchain and crypto tech on the university’s MBA program suggests business schools will have to update their curricula due to the rapid rate in which the markets are moving. His current class has doubled over the past year and lessons are conducted at a larger auditorium because of the recent surge of student applications.

In the UK, Garrick Hileman, a research associate and lecturer at the University of Cambridge and the first to develop a blockchain graduate course, said other departments including finance and law are now jumping on the blockchain educational bandwagon. “It wouldn’t surprise me to see some turf wars break out over who owns the blockchain curriculum at business schools,” comments Hileman.

Blockchain training and education is needed in many sectors now and is not simply limited to IT and finance. Even cattle farming has branched into the new tech. Take Bonita Carlson of Persson cattle Ranch in Wyoming who’s trying to create a worldwide-link-of-cattle supply chain, so that electronically tagged cattle can be on an immutable ledger verifying their free-range farming credentials.

From farming to health, the need for more blockchain specialists is clearly on the rise., and it appears that universities are now catching up with the market’s surge of new uses for the burgeoning tech across all sectors.

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