Day: June 20, 2018

Australian based peer to peer energy trading platform Power Ledger will collaborate with Silicon Valley Power to track the renewable energy use of electric vehicles.

First Carbon Credit Project

Perth startup Power Ledger has been pioneering blockchain based peer to peer renewable energy projects in countries around the world. Now the company has announced its first carbon credit project as it partners with Silicon Valley Power in Santa Clara, California and the Clean Energy Block Chain Network to create a digital record of Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) transactions. With its aim being to reduce both the processing time and cost of LCFS credits.

The project has two main goals, using Power Ledger’s cutting edge blockchain technology which tracks energy production, storage, and use in a transparent, auditable record. To be used in order to manage the consumption of low-carbon energy from Santa Clara solar and batteries at one of California’s largest public electric vehicle charging facilities. While also cutting the time and cost of processing LCFS credits by digitizing the management system that tracks low-carbon electricity as a fuel path.

The platform aims to cut out the need for additional software, hardware or engineers to connect the city-owned PV and SVP electric power grid by utilizing API data from pre-existing meters.

Power Ledger Managing Director and Co-Founder David Martin was quoted about the project,

“Silicon Valley Power is a leader when it comes to implementing innovative customer programs with cost-saving technology and digital accountability,” Adding later that, “We’re excited to demonstrate how the platform can assist with cutting both costs and carbon in a simple manner with a secure and clean energy source.”

Managing Projects World Wide

The project is one of a host of Power Ledger energy tracking trials taking place in the US and around the world but it is the startup’s first foray into dealing with carbon credits. Silicon Valley Power Chief Electric Utility Officer John Roukema spoke about the collaboration saying,

“We’re looking forward to using the Power Ledger platform to enable the tracking of carbon- free electricity from source to customer electric vehicles,”

Previous Power Ledger projects have included a partnership with Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO), Japan’s second-largest electricity utility, to trial P2P renewable energy sharing in the island nation. The aim of the trial is to allow electricity generating consumers to monetize on their investment of renewable energy while providing their community with cheaper energy via the blockchain based peer to peer platform.

Along with other projects in Southeast Asia and New Zealand, Power Ledger is currently conducting numerous micro-grid projects in its home country of Australia. The companies POWR coin is currently trading at $0.25 according to livecoinwatch.com, down from a high of $0.60 at the end of April.

Image from Shutterstock

The post Blockchain Startup Power Ledger Brings Electricity Sharing to Silicon Valley appeared first on NewsBTC.

Stock exchange operator Nasdaq has successfully tested a blockchain-based Proof-of-Concept that resolves “significant” difficulties in clearing securities collateral

The Freedom of the Press Foundation, an organization founded in 2012 to promote free speech and protect journalists and whistleblowers, recently began accepting cryptocurrency donations. Almost immediately, it received a donation of ETH 1,000 worth USD 536,000 as of this writing on 19 June 2018.

Executive Trevor Timm says the move to accept cryptocurrency donations is a natural fit for the organization, since cryptocurrencies mitigate the financial censorship that is common among centralized payment processors like banks.

A HUGE thank you to @Mainframe_HQ, who is helping kick off our cryptocurrency donation page with a donation of 1000 ETH! We are thrilled @Mainframe_HQ shares our goal of protecting journalists and whistleblowers in the digital age. https://t.co/P8q6aEZJ14

— Freedom of the Press (@FreedomofPress) June 18, 2018

The big Ether donation came from Mainframe, a company that has created a platform for decentralized blockchain-based encrypted messaging. Mainframe is compatible across blockchains via smart contract technology. This sort of technology protects freedom of speech, a similar motive to the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The foundation says it will look into using Mainframe’s encrypted messaging in the future.

The Freedom of The Press Foundation is accepting Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Zcash, and is willing to open new wallets to accept other forms of cryptocurrency upon request. Donations are non-refundable, but also tax deductible.

The foundation says decentralized technology like blockchain and cryptocurrency can protect people from censorship and surveillance, preserving freedom, and it looks forward to experimenting with and utilizing emerging blockchain technology like Mainframe to further its goal of increased freedom of speech worldwide, particularly with the increasingly dangerous situation for rogue journalists and whistleblowers.

Decentralized blockchain technology has the potential to preserve free speech like never before, since it can be used to immutably and permanently store information, without any possibility of getting deleted or manipulated by a government or corporation trying to cover up facts.

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Hours after an exchange breach that saw $31 million stolen from Bithumb, more details have surfaced, but some questions still remain unanswered.

Key Points

• Bitcoin price started a downside correction after trading as high as $6,849 against the US Dollar.
• There is a major bullish trend line formed with support near $6,560 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair should stay above the $6,550 support and the 100 hourly simple moving average to remain in an uptrend.

Bitcoin price declined after it failed to break the $6,850 level against the US Dollar. BTC/USD is currently trading near a major support area at $6,560/50.

Bitcoin Price Analysis

Yesterday, we saw a nice upward move above the $6,700 resistance in bitcoin price against the US Dollar. The BTC/USD pair even traded above the $7,800 resistance and settled above the 100 hourly simple moving average. However, the price failed to break the $7,850 level, resulting in a bearish reaction. The price started a downside correction and declined below the $6,700 support area.

There was a break below the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $6,359 low to $6,849 high. Later, BTC buyers appeared above the $6,600 level and protected more losses. More importantly, a major bullish trend line with support near $6,560 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair stopped declines. Lastly, the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the $6,359 low to $6,849 high also acted as a support along with the 100 hourly SMA. Therefore, the $6,660/50 support zone holds a lot if importance to the next move in the near term.

Looking at the chart, if the price succeeds in staying above the $6,650 support, it could bounce back. On the upside, resistances are seen near the $6,700 and $6,800 levels, followed by the $6,850 swing high.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BTC/USD has moved back in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI is now well below the 50 level with very few positive signs.

Major Support Level – $6,650

Major Resistance Level – $6,800

The post Bitcoin Price Watch: BTC/USD Testing Crucial Support appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Highlights

• ADA price failed to move above the $0.1700 level and declined sharply against the US Dollar (tethered).
• There is a major contracting triangle in place with support near $0.1560 on the hourly chart of the ADA/USD pair (data feed via Bittrex).
• The pair is at a risk of more losses below the $0.1560 and $0.1540 levels in the near term.

Cardano price is struggling to hold important supports against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. ADA/USD must stay above $0.1560 to recover above $0.1600.

Cardano Price Analysis

Recently, ADA price managed to move above the $0.1600 level against the US Dollar. The ADA/USD pair traded towards the $0.1700 level where it faced a strong selling interest. As a result, there was a downside reaction and the price declined back below the $0.1620 support. There was also a close below the 100 hourly simple moving average and the $0.1600 support.

The price almost tested the last swing low of $0.1560 and is currently struggling to hold the stated support. It seems like there is a major contracting triangle in place with support near $0.1560 on the hourly chart of the ADA/USD pair. Should the pair fails to hold the $0.1560 support, there could be a downside break towards $0.1540 and $0.1520. However, the most important support sits near the $0.1505 level. On the other hand, if the price recovers from the current levels and moves past $0.1600, it could face sellers near the 100 hourly SMA. Moreover, the 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $0.1705 high to $0.1569 low at $0.1640 is the next hurdle.

The chart indicates the price is at a risk of more losses if sellers push ADA below $0.1560. On the upside, $0.1600, $0.1620 and $0.1640 levels are important resistances.

Hourly MACD – The MACD for ADA/USD is gaining pace in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI for ADA/USD is now well below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $0.1560

Major Resistance Level – $0.1620

The post Cardano Price Analysis: ADA/USD Struggling Near Key Support appeared first on NewsBTC.

With former employees alleging financial trouble and an ongoing legal clash with crypto heavyweights Ripple, public scrutiny is turning up the heat on blockchain consortium R3

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has leased a chapter from its forthcoming annual report that delivers a critical appraisal of bitcoin and cryptocurrency. The report attacks virtual currencies from several main standpoints: claiming that cryptocurrencies do not effectively perform monetary functions due to price volatility, that the retail adoption of blockchain-based payment mechanisms would “bring the internet to a halt,” mass cryptocurrency adoption would reap a drastic environmental toll, and that the trust engendered by a decentralized network is too “fragile” to compete with that of centralized institutions.

Also Read: Medium Is the Latest Platform to Start Censoring Crypto Companies

BIS Annual Report Provides Critical Appraisal of Crypto

The chapter addressing cryptocurrencies in BIS’ upcoming report opens by stating that “Less than 10 years after their inception, cryptocurrencies have emerged from obscurity to attract intense interest on the part of businesses and consumers, as well as central banks and other authorities. They garner attention because they promise to replace trust in long-standing institutions, such as commercial and central banks, with trust in a new, fully decentralized system founded on the blockchain and related distributed ledger technology (DLT).”

Despite acknowledging that “Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin promise to deliver not only a convenient payment means based on digital technology, but also a novel mode of trust,” the BIS report seeks to highlight a number of “economic limitations” arising from “permissionless cryptocurrencies.”

Price Volatility

BIS first attacks the notion of cryptocurrencies comprising an effective form of money, arguing that stability in value is a requisite quality for the facilitation of exchange. Cryptocurrencies, the report claims, are unstable in value due to “the absence of a central issuer with a mandate to guarantee the currency’s stability.”

By contrast, BIS claims that central banks emerged as the product of a “quest for solid institutional underpinning trust in money” that arose “in direct response to poor experiences with decentralized money.”

“The independent central bank,” the report claims, is the “tried, trusted and resilient way to provide confidence in money in modern times.”

Scalability

BIS asserts that Scalability comprises another significant issue confronting cryptocurrencies.

The report poses “A thought experiment” as evidence of “the inadequacy of cryptocurrencies as an everyday means of payment,” claiming that “To process the number of digital retail transactions currently handled by selected national retail payment systems, the size of the ledger would swell well beyond the storage capacity of a typical smartphone in a matter of days, beyond that of a typical personal computer in a matter of weeks,” and “beyond that of servers in a matter of months” – adding that “only supercomputers could keep up with verification of the incoming transactions.”

“The associated communication volumes,” the article posits, “could bring the internet to a halt, as millions of users exchanges files on the order of magnitude of a terabyte.”

Efficiency

According to BIS, the rigid protocols, which are described as underpinning the confidence in a cryptocurrency, have the adverse side effect of manifesting limitations in the ‘efficiency’ of virtual currencies.

Firstly, BIS emphasizes the ecological strain caused by the mining process. The report claims that “the total electricity use of bitcoin mining” equates to that of “mid-sized economies such as Switzerland,” adding that “the quest for decentralized trust has quickly become an environmental disaster.”

The report also posits that cryptocurrencies are inefficient as a form of money, arguing that the rigidity of their underlying protocols prevent them from “being supplied elastically.”

Trust

BIS claims that there is a “fragile foundation [to] the trust in cryptocurrency” stemming from “uncertainty about the finality of individual payments, as well as trust in the value of individual cryptocurrencies.” Said “uncertainty,” the report claims, arises from concerns pertaining to forks and 51% attacks.

“Trust can evaporate at any time because of the fragility of the decentralized consensus through which transactions are recorded,” the report concludes.

What do you think of the Bank of International Settlement’s appraisal of cryptocurrency? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Wikipedia

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Cobra Bitcoin, the anonymous yet influential Bitcoin personality, has Tweeted his suspicions that giant mining firm Bitmain controls more than 80% of Bitcoin mining hash rate through mining pools that it owns, which means the network has become dangerously centralized. A co-owner of popular websites bitcoin.org and bitcointalk.org, Cobra is calling for a change of the proof-of-work mining protocol to save Bitcoin.

Bitcoin simply can't be censorship resistant long term if the hashing power is controlled almost entirely by one entity. You can't build 'digital gold' on something that can be shut down by one man, and needs rapid massive coordinated response amongst *everyone* to counter. pic.twitter.com/nQaBV5VHY4

— Cøbra (@CobraBitcoin) June 19, 2018

Cobra says a significant portion of the mining power from BTC.com, ViaBTC, and AntPool is from Bitmain, in addition to other pools. He says there needs to be a hashing power audit of these three large pools to verify how much is independently owned, in order to confirm if a problem really exists.

Anyone who controls 51% of the Bitcoin mining network’s hash rate could theoretically launch a 51% double spend attack. In this sort of attack, someone who controls most of the mining power on a blockchain network can send cryptocurrency to one address on the original blockchain, and then send the cryptocurrency to another address on a new blockchain that they start mining. Using this method the attacker gets their money back. 51% attacks have been successful on several smaller cryptocurrencies that have low network hash rates.

Some observers have said that the claims Cobra is making are perhaps a bit overdone. First off, there is no proof that Bitmain has a majority of network hash rate, aside from their claims of producing the most cost-effective mining technology. Additionally, Bitmain is deeply invested in Bitcoin – a successful 51% attack on Bitcoin would cause Bitcoin’s price to plummet and ruin the company’s reputation. Bitmain has been profitable for years and is unlikely to jeopardize its position in the industry.

Not only does Cobra want to get rid of the proof-of-work protocol, the online figure wants to get rid of miners completely. He says miners “are the root cause of all of Bitcoin’s problems” and “are no longer useful to the community”.

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Seven EOS accounts were frozen to prevent token theft. But does this seemingly moral decision spell havoc for the broader crypto market?