Day: June 20, 2018

There are very exciting times for the TRON community. With the token migration almost on the horizon, some important information needs to be highlighted. This switch from an ERC20-based token to the official mainnet TRX is expected to complete without any major issues. Even so, TRON holders need to take some basic guidelines into consideration at all times.

The Upcoming TRX Token Swap

Similar to how EOS fared in the past month, TRON is preparing to launch its mainnet shortly. Even though EOS ran into a fair few issues, it seems the TRX migration will be a bit smoother in this regard. As such, the first order of business is to convert all ERC20 tokens to the TRON20 standard. Any tokens not exchanges will become completely unusable and have no further value.

Whenever such an important change is happening, the tokens need to be converted through participating exchanges. Anyone who holds the ERC20 token will receive the same amount of TRON20 tokens. There will be no reduction of the available token supply, although it remains to be seen if everyone converts their tokens accordingly. As has happened with EOS, a minor fraction of tokens was not swapped in time, causing some minor issues.

The positive news is how swapping these tokens will not be much of a problem. According to a Medium post, several dozen exchanges will support the TRX token migration. This swap is expected to take place on June 24th, which means time is of the essence. Different platforms will maintain their own “cut off” data for swapping the tokens. Getting this process out of the way as soon as possible is always the best course of action.

The Future of TRON

Once users convert to the new token, their old tokens are no longer ERC20 compatible. As such, anyone relying on services such as MyEtherWallet to store TRX tokens will have to look for alternative solutions. Sending the new tokens to an ERC20 wallet may result in a loss of funds and needs to be avoided at all costs.

Several TRON20 compatible wallet solutions will be coming to market in the coming months. For the time being, the official TRON wallet is the best option to avoid any issues. It is a big milestone for this project, which has been hyped up quite a bit recently. Building a decentralized internet is still a tall order, but nothing is impossible in the cryptocurrency world.

It is evident a lot of things will change for TRON moving forward. Unshackling itself from the Ethereum network is an interesting choice. Building a new blockchain which doesn’t run into major issues is no easy feat as we have seen with the EOS fiasco. Even so, the project and its founder Justin Sun seem convinced the project is ready to stand on its own. Only time will tell if that is the right call.

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UK-based crypto futures exchange Crypto Facilities is launching Litecoin

Samsung SDS has presented Cello 3.0, a new logistics platform which utilizes blockchain and artificial intelligence

German cocktail bar Sausalitos is launching its own native cryptocurrency, Sausalitos Coin, with which it will reward customers for every purchase via the blockchain-based loyalty rewards platform ‘qiibee’ that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. Customers at Sausalitos can now build up their cryptocurrency portfolio just by consuming alcohol.

Having a loyalty rewards program use blockchain technology comes with the benefits of being cryptographically secure, so customers won’t lose their points from hacking, being easily traceable and verifiable since points will be recorded on an immutable blockchain. Since the points come in the form of real cryptocurrencies, they will never expire. In fact, given the long-term price rise on average across cryptocurrency markets, the tokens earned through a loyalty rewards programs could end up being worth a lot of money in the future. 

Approximately 4 million customers visit Sausolitos’ 41 restaurants every year, so this will be an excellent operational test for blockchain-based loyalty rewards programs, which is relatively uncharted territory. Sausalitos Coin will use the ERC-20 protocol, which is a popular and easy way to create new cryptocurrencies secured by the Ethereum blockchain. A single smart contract is all it takes to create an ERC-20 token.

Sausalitos Coin will be tied to the value of qiibee’s native cryptocurrency QBX, which is needed to trigger the smart contract which creates Sausalitos Coin. With the qiibee loyalty rewards app, customers just have to scan a QR code with their phone after every purchase and coins will instantly go into their wallet. Customers can then use qiibee

to convert the Sausalitos Coins into fiat and buy drinks or exchange Sausalitos Coins for tokens from other loyalty rewards programs. Basically, customers can get rewards from all other businesses hooked up to qiibee.. In the future, qiibee is planning on facilitating the trading of its loyalty rewards tokens for major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, but customers will be able to withdraw coins from the app even before this and trade them on compatible cryptocurrency exchanges.

The CEO of Sausalitos, Christopher Heidt, said he was looking for “something innovative” when choosing a proper loyalty rewards programs. He also said  qiibee “offers many options to us, including the option for our loyal customers to switch into using cryptocurrency, which is very exciting”.

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The Uruguayan chamber of fintech is forming a committee that will develop the country’s crypto regulation framework

There has been an obvious correlation between cryptocurrency and online crime. Nipping this trend in the bud has proven to be extremely challenging as of late. To counter this ongoing threat, Europol is sitting down with European cryptocurrency exchanges. The goal is to crack down on further illicit activity in a more aggressive manner.

Europol Flexes its Muscles

Even though currencies such as Bitcoin are ill-equipped to hide one’s tracks, it remains a favorite tool among criminals. For several years now, there have been online crime incidents involving Bitcoin. Over the past year, however, the attention has slowly shifted to more anonymous currencies such as Monero. Regardless of which currency is being used, the online crime involving cryptocurrencies needs to be brought to a halt.

Cracking down on this illegal activity proves to be extremely difficult. While blockchain analysis firms can help in some regards, it can only be done after the facts. Europol acknowledges these challenges and is trying a completely different tactic. This week, the agency will meet with over a dozen major cryptocurrency exchanges in Europe. The goal of this venture is to prevent the use of cryptocurrencies for money laundering. Additionally, the agency wants to find ways to enhance its capabilities in the world of Bitcoin and altcoins.

This three-day conference will solely revolve around digital currencies and cybercrime. With all of these exchange operators present, engaging in an open dialog seems to be the right idea. Ever since Europol warned about money laundering through cryptocurrency in Europe, the agency has been looking for ways to clamp down on such activity. It is evident they cannot do so alone, at this time.

Will it Impact Bitcoin Activity?

It is evident this conference can have some consequences for the cryptocurrency industry. Those who get involved in Bitcoin or altcoins for nefarious reasons will have plenty to worry about, by the look of things. Europol is especially interested in the “tracing and attribution” of digital coins. Moreover, the agency wants to erode the use of mixing services and other services which hide a cryptocurrency’s origins.

One thing that can prove to be a hindrance is how cryptocurrencies cannot be frozen. More specifically, they cannot be frozen on the blockchain directly. It seems this is where the help from the various exchanges comes into the picture. Those entities are custodians over users’ funds, and they can effectively freeze individual accounts or wallet addresses. Whether or not that option will be explored, remains a bit unclear at this time.

Another option to explore is building a centralized system to flag cryptocurrency wallets. Whether or not that is a viable option for Europol, remains to be determined. With the help of the various blockchain analysis firms, building such a tool would be relatively easy. All of these measures are designed to bring more legitimacy to the cryptocurrency industry. That in itself can only be considered to be a good thing.

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New blockchain remittance partnership between the two countries’ banks aims to woo Filipino workers in Japan

The South Korean Ministry of Science and Technology has launched a probe into the theft of $30 mln from the world’s sixth largest crypto exchange Bithumb

Bitcoin remains on the hunt for $7,000 despite news that the a South Korean crypto exchange has been hacked.

The president of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), Chris Concannon, says coming Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations for initial coin offerings (ICOs) will have catastrophic effects for investors and the market. He says “the reckoning will come in two waves” and “it should be keeping investors up at night”.

CBOE is the largest options exchange in the United States which facilitates the trading of over 1 billion contracts per year for 2,200 companies, 22 stock indices, and 140 exchange-traded funds. It was one of the first places to offer Bitcoin futures contract trading, so has expertise in the cryptocurrency world, while Chris Concannon is well known as a prominent cryptocurrency advocate on Wall Street.

Recent statements from the SEC indicate that most ICOs will be regulated as securities and must have proper clearance and licensing from the SEC in order to legally operate. Basically, any cryptocurrency that is created and sold for profit by an individual or organization, where investors expect a return on their investment, will be considered a security.

Concannon expects the SEC to take legal action against individuals and organizations conducting and investing in ICOs, and indeed this has already started with dozens of cryptocurrency firms subpoenaed this year. There will be severe consequences for anyone trading and propagating securities without a license. It is possible that the SEC could take retroactive legal action since security laws have been in place the entire time and, therefore, most of the ICOs in history have illegally raised funds by selling unregistered securities.

The result of this storm of lawsuits would be that ICOs considered unregistered securities could lose all of their value, which would cause investors to start suing each other and ICO teams for selling unregistered securities in an attempt to recover losses. A professor at Cornell University, Robert Hockett, said these lawsuits would have merit.

Between USD 5 billion and USD 7 billion has been raised by ICOs this year, and now the SEC will go through all these ICOs and decide which ones will be allowed to continue. This might be the beginning of the end for a lot of cryptocurrencies that were sold via ICO to United States citizens. As Concannon forecasts, there could be heavy legal consequences for many cryptocurrency investors, traders, and developers, as well as a significant negative impact on the overall diversity and market cap of the cryptocurrency market.

ICOs won’t be totally banned in the United States; perhaps some will successfully get SEC permission. This would require expenditure for fees and lawyers though, so ICOs will only be feasible for those with significant funding. Even worse, the SEC will be able to manipulate ICOs to change their platforms before granting permission, giving the government strong control over the evolution of blockchain platforms.

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Goldman Sachs CEO has reiterated his optimism about Bitcoin adoption, comparing it to the early days of fiat paper money

A month after listing ethereum-based futures for trading, U.K exchange Crypto Facilities is now launching a derivative product for litecoin.