Day: June 28, 2018

Line, popular Asia-based messaging app, has confirmed the upcoming launch of its own cryptocurrency exchange, named BitBox.

BitBox Exchange to Open in July 2018

Line, a social media app with over 200 million users, has confirmed that it plans to open up a Singapore-based exchange, BitBox, during July.

For the time being, the exchange will offer the trading of thirty cryptocurrencies at a 0.1% fee, with the press release only mentioning the largest cryptocurrencies offered. These being Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin, which should go without saying.

It is highly speculated that Line chose Singapore as its base of operations due to the crypto-friendly sentiment held in the Asian city-state. Despite friendly regulatory sentiment, the press release mentioned that the exchange will not support fiat to cryptocurrency trading, and will only support crypto to crypto exchanges.

Due to the fact that BitBox will not support a fiat on-ramp, the exchange will be open globally, offering its services to consumers in all countries but Japan and the U.S.

The social media company was unable to secure the proper licensing to offer exchange services in Japan, as the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) has been imposing harsher regulations on cryptocurrency exchanges. After the $550 million hack of the now notorious Coincheck exchange, the FSA reasoned that it would be logical to impose stricter rules, ensuring that a hack wouldn’t occur again.  

By excluding Japan from BitBox’s area of operation, Line misses out on a large percentage of its customer base, as Line has become the messaging app of choice in Japan. 

Growing Need for Cryptocurrency Infrastructure, Does Line Fill the Gap?

The introduction of a cryptocurrency exchange to Line’s lineup of services was welcomed by many, as the technology company wishes to expand to new sectors. The opening of BitBox will also allow for Line to stand out in the crowd of messaging platforms, offering a unique service for its 200 million users.

The release noted:

“With the need to trade cryptocurrencies rising around the world, LINE has been preparing to provide opportunities for users to do so securely, and as the secure system is in place now, the company will be offering the service.”

There is currently a large gap in the industry for mobile cryptocurrency trading, as Binance has slowed development on its mobile app. The press materials, including a picture of the proposed exchange platform, has shown a minimalistic cryptocurrency trading app that sports many features that a fully-fledged exchange should offer. Hopefully, BitBox will be able to fill the growing need for on the go cryptocurrency trading.

However, some users were disappointed to see that BitBox would not be supporting a fiat on-ramp, as regulators have been increasing regulatory requirements for exchanges all across the world. Line probably does not have access to proper licensing and financial services that would allow it to accept and transact government-issued currencies for cryptocurrencies.

Despite this setback, the social media company still hopes to make an impact in the growing cryptocurrency industry, with the aforementioned release stating:

“LINE will continue to transform all users’ financial experience by providing friendly and innovative financial services to close the distance between people and money. As the society heads toward cashless and wallet-less future, LINE will be actively involved in undertaking initiatives and creating systems to accelerate the development of its businesses and reinforce its services as it strives to become a leader in the FinTech business.”

The world has its eyes fixed upon Line, as many await the arrival of the BitBox cryptocurrency exchange.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

The post Line Messaging App Announces Crypto Exchange for Worldwide Consumers appeared first on NewsBTC.

Akon is creating a new cryptocurrency founded to empower youth all over the African continent which has some hopeful and others skeptical.

Blockchain gaming dapp Cell Evolution has raised $750,000 at a $4.5 million valuation. Cell Evolution is the first decentralized strategy and sandbox game application built on the blockchain. It was also the first Monthly Champion, and second Weekly Champion, of the Nebulas Incentive Program. The game’s success demonstrates the potential of gaming apps in the blockchain sector, and the importance of blockchain decentralized app (dapp) platforms to foster a supporting environment for quality developers.

The blockchain gaming space has received a significant show of Cell Evolution, a blockchain-based game and the first Monthly Champion of the Nebulas Incentive Program, has raised a 5 million RMB round led by the Nebulas Foundation. Joining the investment were the gaming platform Cocos Blockchain Expedition and Byte Capital, with DappReview serving as a financial advisor during the funding round.

The work of developers, especially game developers, on the Nebulas blockchain has not gone unnoticed. Cell Evolution’s funding round values it 30 million RMB. This reflects the quality of this game, but also the potential of the blockchain space, and in particular blockchain gaming. Moreover, it demonstrates the importance of developer-friendly blockchain ecosystems and their role in incubating quality blockchain dapps like Cell Evolution.

The mind behind Cell Evolution, a young man named Ling, is in his own words an “iron-headed developer,” alluding to a Chinese proverb about one’s fearlessness, stubbornness, and ingenuity the overcome obstacles. It only took Ling 10 days to complete the development of Cell Evolution, a sandbox strategy game based on biological science, on the Nebulas blockchain.

Since first deploying his game on Nebulas, Ling has continued to refine Cell Evolution. The Nebulas Foundation, meanwhile, has continued support Ling’s efforts even after awarding him with 1.1 million RMB because of his performance in the Nebulas Incentive Program.

Ling is young, but has rich game development experience. In elementary and middle school, he wrote RPG games in Lava, a programming language, on Wenquxing e-dictionary software. In  university, he continued to pursue his passion and created a game, along with four teammates, that made it into Apple’s Top 100 in the App Store.

More recently, Ling has moved into blockchain amp development. His efforts here began with Cryptopokemon, which he developed on the Ethereum blockchain, but this wasn’t an ideal developer environment for him. Smart contract development costs were too high, and there was a lack of developer support in Solidity and Web3. These problems were especially acute for developers in China.

Ling’s blockchain game development ambitions were jumpstarted after he discovered the Nebulas blockchain. Strong draws were the Nebulas Incentive Program, which rewards developers who built quality dapps on the blockchain, as well as the blockchain’s for smart contracts and dapps written in Javascript, which has fostered a budding blockchain developer community around the world’s most popular programming language.

Unlike traditional online and mobile games, Ling believe blockchain games need to be built around decentralized community, rather than a single centralized gameplay experience. In Cell Evolution, each player is a biological cell, which must balance adaptability, survivability and fertility to grow and survive. The cell’s growth and data is dependent on the surrounding environment, including the evolution of other cells in the game, and is  uploaded to the Nebulas blockchain accordingly. The destiny of the entire cell world is determined by the data of all players. If the balance of the cell population is disturbed, the entire ecosystem will be affected and fail to evolve.

Cell Evolution quickly caught the attention of the game and blockchain industries. DappReview commented that the game had “separated itself from the old routines of pet-collectible games by typical in blockchain.” Instead, Cell Evolution is a sandbox-strategy game based on solving puzzles, which allows any player to thrive according to the intelligence, creativity and originality of their ideas.

Blockchain’s potential as the future of gaming becomes increasingly more clear. Encryption and decentralization on blockchain not only makes games more secure, but more importantly opens new possibilities around enabling players to re-use, trade and develop gaming assets and features in ways previously not possible.

Gaming, after financial solutions, is widely seen as the most likely area for blockchain’s killer app. the early signs here are promising. Nebulas is already home to a number of promising blockchain games, including Dinosaur Paradise, the Genesis of Dinosaur Planet, and Hidden World OL. Among these, Hidden World OL has received strong attention from other public blockchains. NEO, QTUM, and EOS, who have expressed their interest in bringing the game’s developers to their platforms, after it won the Weekly Champion award in the fourth week of the Nebulas Incentive Program.

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.

Mr. Jorge Sebastiao is one of the world’s leading experts in ICT, Cyber Security & Blockchain and he serves as CTO for the Partner Eco-System at Huawei Technologies.”We are delighted that Jorge accepted the invitation and became part of our advisory team. With his arrival, our project acquired an international expert of renowned class; a recognized authority in IT architecture and cyber security. Considering how much attention is paid to security in Blockchain projects, we can state that Enecuum will have the opportunity to utilize his best advice to evolve the technology to meet modern world challenges. Jorge’s advice, experience and knowledge will make our Blockchain platform more robust even safer for all…”, said Mikhail Sayfullin, CEO and co-founder of Enecuum.

As Mikhail Sayfullin, CEO and co-founder of Enecuum, said:

“We want to share useful information with the world and show that Blockchain technology can become a part of everyday life for each of the 7 billion inhabitants of our planet. We want to talk about new opportunities for Blockchain technologies, which in the near future will improve the quality of all our lives”

Jorge Sebastiao, CTO Eco-System in Huawei Technologies, views on the project are as follows: “As the Blockchain gains popularity and visibility, so do expectations grow. Today’s most Blockchain technologies don’t have the necessary consensus algorithms, and resources to allow for both a scalable and secure solution. Applications such as IoT, IIoT and Smart cities require a new Blockchain paradigm to be practical and pragmatic at delivering an effective and practical solutions. Enecuum new approach and multi consensus algorithms deliver on the Blockchain 3.0 expectations. I am honored to be part of the advisory team to shape the right direction and maturity of the Enecuum innovative Blockchain solution”

Enthusiasts can look at the GitHub company:

https://github.com/Enecuum

More details about the technology can be found in our White Paper:

http://enecuum.io

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.

Between investment portfolios, asset management, and regular conversations about HODLing, there isn’t much talk of charitable deeds. Cryptocurrency has been tarnished with many brushes, from criminal use to tax evasion and selfish personal gain. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Cryptocurrency can have a strong philanthropic impact as well. At the very least, donors giving in Bitcoin can slate it as a tax write-off.

In today’s competitive climate, charities don’t have it easy. With 1.5 million registered nonprofits in the United States alone, they have to fight tooth and nail to be heard. They come up against donor apathy, marketing and operational costs, and each other, in the battle for people’s hearts – and wallets. For a charity to survive in this cutthroat world, they need as many ways to appeal to donors as possible.

Online donations are rising in popularity, particularly among millennial donors. And since millennials also make up the majority of crypto users, it makes sense for charities to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency donations. This will help them appeal to a modern, tech-savvy donor for which social responsibility is a native trait.

There are several blockchain companies making strides in this space to bridge the gap between nonprofits and donors, allowing users to offset some of their investment gains by contributing to philanthropic ventures. And with so much potential wealth to go around, this number will hopefully rise. For now, here are the top three blockchain companies for those who want to give something back.

3. BitGive

BitGive was founded in 2013 and is the first Bitcoin nonprofit to appear in the space. The idea behind BitGive is to give charities of all sizes an easier way to receive Bitcoin donations. Already establishing key partnerships with well-known charities and nonprofits, including Save the Children and The Water Project, BitGive is also working to allow the smaller players to get attention.

Through their donation platform, nonprofits can receive the funds they need to finance their work. And BitGive can supply donors with a highly-demanded ingredient – accountability.

Millennials often hold back from giving because they are skeptical of charities and how their money is spent. BitGive allows charities to share financial information and updates on project results and funds spent in real time.

2. AidCoin

New to the blockchain space, AidCoin is taking a different approach by launching their own cryptocurrency. The premise is the same: allowing donors to unite with charities through the blockchain, and to do so with transparency and accountability. However, there are a few notable differences.

AidCoin is based on the Ethereum blockchain, and donors must purchase the AidCoin token in order to give. Beyond the established names in the space, AidCoin is aimed at uniting small and niche causes with potential donors to help them raise awareness. It makes simple, anonymous online donations easy with every cent traced and accounted for.

The startup is currently building a payment gateway which will enable charities and nonprofits to accept donations in the form of various cryptocurrencies through their own websites. They will then be instantly converted into AidCoin so that charities can administer all donations from one single wallet.

1. Commit Good

Commit Good is a reward-based, charitable marketplace, fundraising platform, and philanthropic ecosystem built on blockchain technology. This project recently announced its “Currency of Good” campaign, which will award a $10,000 grant each month to the charitable organization that receives the most votes from Commit Good platform users.

In partnership with Financial Trading Group (FTG), the Currency of Good Campaign allows a charitable organization to post projects that are currently underway on the Commit Good Platform. Once on the platform, charitable organizations can request items that are needed to complete their projects. As projects are completed, the Commit Good user base votes on the most impactful project in a given month. The project with the most votes is awarded the grant.

Some of the listed charities include Habitat for Humanity, Catholic Charities, Ronald McDonald House, and Feed the Children. But the database is large and global, aiming to shine a light on smaller charities that often struggle to stay afloat.

With more than 3 billion people living in poverty, there’s a lot of work to be done. Through transparent platforms using blockchain tech and allowing for cryptocurrency donations, we can start to make an impact.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Ride-sharing has become a lot more popular over the past few years. While not all of these ventures are well-received, there is still plenty of room for competition. ABEE aims to get in on this action, as it is a peer-to-peer ride-sharing service which involves the use of smart contracts.

The Concept of ABEE

Ride-sharing and blockchain technology can make for an interesting combination. The ABEE team certainly seems to believe there is a lot of merit to that, as they are looking to merge smart contracts with ride-sharing. All of this will be achieved using the Qtum blockchain infrastructure and the issuance of a native token.

How Does it Work?

On paper, ABEE is designed to make ride-sharing an activity conducted among “the common people”. Drivers will be able to keep more of their earnings and create their own rideshare networks as well. Additionally, passengers will benefit from this platform, as there are many different ways to entice people to give this concept a try.

First of all, there will be incentives to ride with ABEE drivers. Unlike Uber and some of its competitors, rewarding users for staying loyal to this brand may turn ABEE into a semi-success in the long run. Passengers will also be able to select how they want to ride, when they wish to do so, and which vehicles they prefer for transportation. Flexibility is not an unnecessary luxury in the ride-sharing business by any means.

As one would expect from such a project, ABEE will also develop its own mobile application. A prototype of this app is currently available for both iOS and Android, although it will remain in development for the foreseeable future. Combined with in-vehicle advertisements, driver bonuses, and user voting, ABEE is certainly a project that has potential, assuming the developers can deliver on their promises.

The Native Token

It is only natural that every new blockchain or cryptocurrency project issues its own currency in this day and age. ABEE will be no different in this regard, as the team will conduct a pre-ICO and an official ICO to sell its tokens over the coming months. For now, the use cases of these tokens remain a bit unclear, although it seems safe to assume they will power all payments in the ABEE ecosystem.

The Road Ahead

There is still plenty of work to be done prior to taking ABEE to the mainstream. With network testing underway as of right now, it is expected that the first rides powered by this platform will take place in Q3 of 2018. The company is also looking to expand to other cities, and the process of obtaining insurance is ongoing. Whether or not this company will run into any licensing issues down the road remains to be seen, as governments are actively cracking down on ride-sharing solutions these days.

One of the largest names in the Bitcoin space, Blockchain, has announced a platform to help institutional investors get exposure to cryptocurrency. Blockchain Principal Strategies can be accessed from today and there are plans to launch additional products and services throughout the summers months.

Blockchain Becomes Latest Company Trying to Lure Institutional Money into Crypto

In a blog post published earlier today, Blockchain announced the launch of Blockchain Principal Strategies (BPS). The statement read:

“BPS provides institutions, family offices, and individual investors unparalleled and tailored access to markets, research, and services on the most trusted digital asset platform worldwide.”

The platform will provide access to an over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk which will allow large buy and sell orders to be performed without affecting the wider market. The team behind the desk will be comprised of professional money managers from a range of traditional financial institutions. These include Cooley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and UBS. Together, the team will provide the kind of ‘white-glove’ service that institutions are accustomed to when making sizeable investments.

In addition to the actual buying and selling of crypto assets, the BPS will give exclusive market insights to its clients. These will be provided by leading digital currency economist, Garrick Hileman. Hileman, an economic historian from the London School of Economics and long-time proponent of cryptocurrency, recently spoke of the virtues of Bitcoin when buying expensive items such as art, real estate, and vehicles.

The blog post published earlier today also mentions that users will have early access to initial coin offerings (ICOs), as well as direct investments into various companies associated with the ever-growing digital currency space.

The CEO and co-founder of Blockchain, Peter Smith, stated the following about the launch of the BPS:

“We are thrilled to debut Blockchain Principal Strategies, an institutional grade platform customised for institutions, family offices, and individual investors… BPS provides clients the opportunity to invest in digital assets with the same peace of mind and security that has become synonymous with the Blockchain name.”

The platform was originally launched in 2011 by Nicolas Cary and Peter Smith. The Luxembourg-based company provides information about the Bitcoin blockchain and wider economy, along with resources for developers. The firm’s original website, blockchain.info was the most visited cryptocurrency-related website in 2013. However, the company has recently changed domains. They can now be found at Blockchain.com.

This move to appeal to institutional investors is the latest such effort from players within the cryptocurrency industry. Earlier this year, NewsBTC reported on Coinbase launching their own platform tailored to the much lauded investor class. Circle have also created a service known as ‘CircleTrade’ that is designed to provide a secure and simple entry point for institutions wishing to gain exposure to cryptocurrency.

It is believed by some analysts that the lack of suitable infrastructure is one of the largest obstacles stopping institutions taking up positions in cryptocurrency at present. Such moves by Blockchain and others are a clear effort to change this.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

The post Blockchain Launches Institutional Platform to Give Investors Crypto Exposure appeared first on NewsBTC.

When it rains, it pours. This old saying has been quite appropriate in many cases, especially when looking at cryptocurrency prices. Although no major downtrend is happening right now, it is evident things are not going according to plan. That is, except for the Binance Coin price, which still notes a solid 4% increase.

Binance Coin Price is Moving up

It has been quite an interesting year for the Binance exchange Not only has the company become the largest crypto trading platform in the world, but they also set up shop in Malta. Additionally, some humanitarian efforts are taking place in Uganda. All of this has a positive impact on the Binance Coin price, which continues to soar despite the negative momentum.

Over the past 24 hours, the Binance Coin price has increased by just over 4%. That in itself is rather surprising, especially when noting how most of the major coins either lost some value or are stuck in sideways trading momentum. Even so, the BB price continues to impress holders over the past few months, and it seems reaching $15 is not entirely out of the question at this stage.

As one would come to expect, these gains are also the result of increases over Bitcoin and Ethereum. For the Binance Coin price, a 4.31% increase over Bitcoin and a 3.35% gain over Ethereum is very impressive at this stage. This is perhaps one of the very few currencies effectively decoupling its momentum from those top two coins, although that may only be temporary.

Similar to most other cryptocurrencies, Binance Coin doesn’t generate an impressive amount of volume whatsoever. Although $64m in trades is not all that bad, it is also far from impressive at this stage. Whether or not this volume can increase as more time progresses, remains to be determined.

Unsurprisingly, the same trading pairs will continue to generate the most trading volume, for the time being. USDT, BTC, and ETH trading are all very popular right now. They are also the only pairs which effectively generate over $1m in 24-hour volume, further confirming how lackluster cryptocurrency trading has become in Q2 2018.

Given this current momentum, it is very likely the Binance Coin price reaches $15 in the coming hours. Maintaining that price level is virtually impossible, though, as there is so much bearish pressure on the markets, it seems highly unlikely anything good will come of it. At the same time, this may be the moment during which it all turns around for cryptocurrency.

Germany’s solarisBank launches new service to conduct business with blockchain and crypto companies in the European Economic Area

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.