Day: July 3, 2018

India’s central bank won a key victory in court this week.

Innovation is not hard to come by in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain. Smart contracts are of keen interest to developers all over the world. In the case of the Enigma project, there is a feature known as secret contracts. Adding privacy features to smart contracts makes sense on paper, but are they feasible in the real world?

Secret Contracts Are an Improvement

For all of the appeal associated with smart contracts, they lack a few specific features. No smart contract offers any form of privacy at this stage. For a lot of people, that is not necessarily a big problem, although it can be a valuable feature. Enigma is actively exploring this option in the form of secret contracts which introduce privacy and offer more powerful use cases.

New Features

Data stored in smart contracts is publicly visible to everyone and anyone. While that is not a big problem for a lot of companies, it does cause some concern for others. Enigma is looking to bridge the gap between privacy and smart contracts through secret contracts. They are virtually the same as smart contracts at their core, but secret contracts can hide data from all network nodes.

One could argue this makes it easier to hide malicious code in the smart contract, though it remains to be seen if that is a real concern. As for Enigma, it is convinced secret contracts can be used for sensitive data and real-world use cases regardless. This new business model could be quite appealing to various service providers as well. For instance, a firm focused on cryptocurrency lending may want to keep certain information safe from prying eyes.

Additionally, the introduction of secret contracts will change the DApp ecosystem. Rather than maintain a degree of centralization in these applications, secret contracts may facilitate fully autonomous projects. According to the team, the contracts will guarantee correctness and privacy at the same time. It is a very interesting idea, although translating it to a working technology for real-world use may be challenging.

Future Improvements Are Needed

Implementing secret contracts will require an overhaul of existing blockchain-oriented privacy solutions. Existing offerings usually pertain to masking transaction information only. Enigma acknowledges secure computation is needed to make this secret contract concept work. Research is still underway in this area, and the first network release will be code-named Discovery. Future iterations of secret contracts will include improvements and potentially different approaches to achieving total privacy.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

Financial institutions in India have only two more days to close off relationships with individuals and firms dealing in cryptocurrencies. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave a three-month window for activities to cease back in April which ends on July 5.

Crypto Users can Still Trade

In April, the RBI issued a statement to RBI-regulated entities that they must cease all activity related to cryptocurrencies. They provided a three-month window for activities to be stopped which ends on July 5. Crypto exchanges are still permitted but the RBI has made it much harder for individuals to get their money on and off exchanges.

Crypto-to-crypto trading will be unaffected by the ban which means traders that have their money on the exchanges can continue to trade and can store their money in stablecoins if needed. However, by closing the banking link between exchanges and individuals the RBI has made it hard for new customers to enter the market once the ban is in place. One effect of the ban will be that value tied up in crypto will likely stay in crypto once withdrawals are limited.

The ban has been challenged by crypto exchanges, individuals and industry bodies. Anirudh Rastogi, managing partner at TRA Law, has said that the ban is ‘unconstitutional at various levels.’ He also said that know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) verification should be enough to prevent illicit activity.

The co-founder of Indian crypto exchange Zebpay tweeted:

“Re RBI circular writ in Supreme Court: SC did not grant stay. SC has asked RBI to revert within 7 days. Next hearing on 20th July. We will attempt out of listing hearing on 5th July to get stay on RBI circular till next hearing on 20th July.”

The Ban Was ‘Thoughtless’

A lawyer based in New Delhi has also criticized the lack of due diligence done in the creation of the ban. After filing a Right To Information (RTI) application, Varun Sethi said that the answers given did not provide him with sufficient reason that the ban was well thought through. Sethi said:

“It seems as if the ban was arbitrary and it came into effect without any thought from the RBI. It has either answered in the negative or given conflicting answers to our questions asking what led to this ban.”

The window for the ban was put in place after BP Kanungo, the Deputy Governor for the RBI issued a statement to financial institutions. The move was criticized at the time for ‘stifling innovation’ which was likely to lead to a move away from India towards crypto-friendly countries such as Singapore. Kanungo, said in a statement:

“In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs [virtual currencies.] Regulated entities which already provide such services shall exit the relationship within a specified time.”

 

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Buglab Incentivizes Exchanges To Try Penetration Testing

The Ethereum based startup Buglab is giving $2,000,000 worth of BGL tokens to crypto exchanges and cybersecurity researchers for participation in penetration testing contests.

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A private beta version of buglab’s platform went online after the recent onslaught of exchange hacks, just 2 weeks after 2 of the largest South Korean exchanges were hacked with over $70,000,000 lost between the two exchanges.

Reward Details

Any exchange that offers a launchpad or promotes the token sale in any way will be eligible for penetration testing services. On top of this, participating exchanges have the chance to receive $20,000 as part of Buglab’s enterprise plan.

A $10,000 prize is given to the top three winners of the contest, and another $10,000 to be allocated as a special reward, undetermined at this time.

If no exploits are discovered, the cybersecurity startup will still offer 50% of the normal $20,000 to exchanges. This will incentive exchanges to try out the services regardless, making it a win-win proposition.

Penetration testing is conducted by either ethical (white hat) hackers or cyber security researchers, where they look for any vulnerabilities in an entity’s security by trying to hack the system themselves.

Any exploits used that prove to be successful are reported back to the entity, so they are able to patch holes in their security before malicious hackers take advantage of the same loopholes.

“Cryptocurrency exchanges should be concerned about securing the funds of their traders, as these funds equate to billions of dollars. With new exchanges launching every week and increasing danger of security breaches, we aim to provide the industry with a secure, cutting-edge service to help mitigate against these increasing risks.”

While exchanges are being heavily marketed to, Buglabs penetration testing services can be applicable to all internet connected entities, including websites, mobile apps, IoT devices, and smart contracts to name a few.

Token Sale Details

The token sale for Buglabs native token, BGL, will begin June 30th, and last for 4 weeks. Users can begin the process by whitelisting ahead of time, so they are able to purchase tokens faster when the sale is live.

In total, there will be 425,000,000 BGL tokens, and 40% (170,000,000) of them are being allocated for this event. The BGL tokens can be purchased at a fixed price of $0.15 per token throughout the entire duration of this event.

Users during the presale can take advantage of a 20% discount or an effective rate of $0.1125 per token.

This bonus rate is only effective for the first 24 hours of the sale and goes down to a 15% bonus for the first week. From there, the rate continues to drop 5% per week, until finally reaching base rate (0% bonus) from week 3 on.

To view the platform, visit Buglab’s website. For more in-depth information, read their whitepaper. For social media updates, visit their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. To talk with the community and team members to discuss all things Buglab, check out their official Reddit page. All blog posts will be made through their Medium.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

SBI Group CEO Yoshitaka Kitao, who also leads SBI Ripple Asia, has stated that he sees the XRP token becoming a global standard for cryptocurrencies and fiat money, writes CryptoGlobe.

Kitao’s company, the Strategic Business Innovator Group, is a financial services company group based in Tokyo, Japan and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

While speaking at the Japan Blockchain Conference recently, he praised blockchain technology, predicting that it would sustain its growth into the future but was less complimentary towards Bitcoin which he regarded as “too expensive”. He went on to suggest that the crypto giant had become simple a speculative asset which users hoped would increase in value.

Ripple, he maintained, was a “battle tested” product, efficient in processing cross-border transactions and capable of solving many of the existing problems related to international payment processing by using XRP.

Kitao sees distributed financial technology as transformational in terms of its place in the Asian financial infrastructure and cited Ripple’s cooperative programs currently in place with top banks in the Asia Pacific region.

SBI clearly has a bullish stance on XRP running an initiative called SBI Ripple Asia since 2016 which has the world’s third highest GDP of nearly USD 5 trillion. Its CEO calls for a utilitarian stance on cryptocurrency as he sees the opportunity to do so often is sacrificed to making purely making profits:

“We want to take blockchain beyond financial. There’s a lot of speculative demand around cryptocurrencies, which is why the price is going up so quickly, but people need to think about how these technologies are being used in real life and how they can improve people’’s businesses.”

Despite his vocal critique of Bitcoin at the conference, he lists the flagship digital currency on SBI’s newly-opened exchange, SBI Virtual Currencies, along with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and XRP.

 

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The post SBI Ripple Asia Wants XRP as World’s Standard Digital Currency appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Transaction costs are an integral part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. They are also one of the biggest concerns for most of the top currencies as of right now. Ethereum’s gas prices are seemingly on the rise again, which will make transactions a lot more expensive. This change is primarily caused by a new exchange focused on ERC20 tokens.

Ethereum’s Gas Price Problem

Most cryptocurrency enthusiasts are all too aware of how Bitcoin transaction fees have spiked on multiple occasions over the past few years. Every time something like that happens, there are concerns over how it will affect the mainstream appeal of cryptocurrencies in general. When it comes to Ethereum, similar issues have begun surfacing as well.

Over the past two years, there have been notable increases in the Ethereum transaction fees. Those costs are expressed as “gas” or “gwei”. While it is only natural for fees to spike every now and then, it is always rather worrisome when it happens. During 2017’s ICO craze, Ethereum’s network was crippled by high prices several times in rather quick succession.

It now appears another such incident is taking place. At the time of writing, the average Ethereum transaction price was $0.668. That is not overly expensive compared to the highest fees recorded for Bitcoin in the past twelve months, but it is not a positive development either. The vast majority of transactions are currently sent at a gas price of 50 gwei or more, whereas the “advised” gwei price for fast transactions is currently between 71 and 99 gwei.

It is evident these higher Ethereum transaction costs must have a cause. As of right now, there is a lot of speculation regarding a relatively new exchange spamming the Ethereum blockchain with transactions due to its voting process. It is possible that it’s indeed causing a hefty increase in the number of transactions, and it highlights the need for a scalable blockchain. If this situation continues, such high gas prices will become the new normal and cause a lot more issues down the line.  

Thankfully, Ethereum will get its own major scaling solution in the near future. Known as sharding, this new technology will make it easier to batch transactions and hopefully keep gas prices to a minimum at all times. It remains a bit unclear when sharding will go into effect, although it is possible the solution will be released later this year.

Additionally, once this exchange debacle is over with, it seems highly unlikely Ethereum’s transaction fees will remain this high. Considering how easy it is for one company to put pressure on the Ethereum network in this regard, it is painfully apparent how ill-equipped public blockchains are in the scaling department right now. One can only hope things return to normal fairly soon, as spending more money to move tokens and Ether across the network is not something to look forward to.

Trade.io has announced the employment of a world-class security officer alongside a trained team with the intention of enhancing their cybersecurity robustness.

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Strong security controls were in place for their token sale, allowing the system to fend off numerous cyber attacks and attempted hacks on both the website and user data. Moving forward, even intense measures have been taken.

This includes a multi-layered protection system, including user sign-in with several authentication methods. Only encrypted communication will be used throughout the entire platform, which will protect any sensitive information that users may have.

Another measure being implemented that really highlights Trade.io’s commitment to security is risk assessments, penetration tests, and other reviews of code and infrastructure by both internal and external security experts.

These acts will be conducted by the highest international standards and methods, to ensure only the best practices are being used for securing user information and funds.

trade.io’s Chief Technology Officer, Charles Voltron, also commented:

“Our security approach towards securing the exchange is holistic, other than protecting the exchange with a multi-layered defence tactics, we are enhancing our employees awareness for cyber events, we protect our business processes and our internal technologies.”

The aforementioned security team will work 24/7 in monitoring the upcoming exchange for any infiltrations, and proactively handling any exploits, vulnerabilities, or weaknesses that they may encounter.

trade.io’s Head of Security, Ari Propper, commented:

“We are using innovative industry-leading technologies to detect, protect and respond quickly to cyber events. We have a team of experts with vast knowledge and experience in the cybersecurity field as well as deep and strong connections in the industry that allows us to consult, review and test relevancy of cybersecurity technologies continuously. We are treating cyber defence as an ongoing process and integrating it in all of the development and business activities.”

“When it comes to security, the trade.io team is firm on not cutting any corners and is committed to having an exchange that clients feel safe using.”

Increased Hackings Makes Security More Relevant Than Before

Hackers have become increasingly bold with the rise of cryptocurrency, and subsequently, the losses have increased as well. Just recently, two of the largest South Korean exchanges were victim to over $70,000,000 in crypto being stolen.

Even if the exchange is able to reimburse losses, trust in that exchange and for cryptocurrency, in general, is shaken. Invaluable information like addresses, phone numbers, and other personal identifiable information is also at risk when an exchange is hacked.

This makes the actions Trade.io is taking with their upcoming exchange even more important. With KYC requiring consumers to submit a sizeable amount of personal info, more than crypto is just at risk now.

To check out the exchange visit the platform here. For more information about the company in general and to pre-register for early access to the platform, visit the website here. To talk with community members and team members regarding the platform, visit the official Telegram channel. Social media updates are made on their Twitter and Facebook accounts. Those curious about the team members can learn more by visiting Trade.io’s LinkedIn page.

New information points towards the FSA, Japan’s financial regulating body, changing the legal basis on which cryptocurrencies are overseen in the country.

FSA Considers Change to Regulatory Basis

As was reported in local Japanese media Sankei on July 3, the Financial Services Agency is considering changing the legal foundation on which cryptocurrency regulation is based, from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA). This move would require exchanges to manage private and institutional assets separately as stipulated by the FIEA. “The FIEA obliges securities companies to manage customer funds and securities, such as stocks, separately from corporate assets.”

As reported by Sankei this change would put exchanges in a position to provide stronger customer protections. A concern that has been prevalent in the Japanese crypto space following a series of attacks on exchanges in the island nation this year, including the Coincheck heist which netted thieves $530 million worth of NEM tokens.

Currently, cryptocurrencies are legally considered the same as electronic money but should the FSA change the regulatory basis to fall under the FEIA crypto will be treated as a financial product. A move that may open the door for trading cryptocurrency derivatives like futures and exchange-traded funds or ETFs.

Japan has been wrestling with creating a balance between regulation of the country’s booming cryptocurrency market and allowing it the freedom to grow and generate offshoot industries to benefit their struggling economy. Since the Coincheck hack, the FSA has launched investigations where it found numerous problems with exchanges both registered and pending. These investigations resulted in the shuttering and suspension of some exchanges and warnings to others to reappraise their security protocols.

Changes Coming as Head of FSA Names Successor

A self-regulating body put together in March has been working towards keeping exchanges in line with the FSA’s requirements for know your customer (KYC) and security rules.  The Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA), which is a voluntary organization, has also offered suggestions to the FSA about mandatory storage protocols as well as ways to keep all exchanges in line with the greater digital assets market.

This report of a possible change to the basis on which the FSA will regulate cryptocurrencies comes as the agency’s current minister, Nobuchika Mori, plans to name his successor and step down after two years of acting as the agency head during one most turbulent financial times in recent history. Mori took the position with a clear plan to support fintech growth in Japan as a way to rescue a faltering economy. He is expected to handpick his replacement in the coming weeks.

 

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Bitcoin Press Release: The Mazzuma platform enables instantaneous transactions using an application layer transaction processing protocol which solves the scalability issues that has plagued a lot of cryptocurrencies. Also, transactions on Mazzuma are free of transaction fees.

June 26th, 2018. Accra-Ghana.  Mazzuma sets out to enable underserved consumers to get access to world class payments services using a truly distributed payments infrastructure with a multi-channel approach through the mobile app, Mazzuma Keyboard, e-commerce plugins, developer APIs and Artificial Intelligence bots on Telegram and Facebook Messenger.

Mazzuma is commencing token sale activities to give early adopters and the general public the opportunity to join the ecosystem and enjoy true financial freedom. The first token sale takes place from 1st June 2018 at the price of $0.50 for 1 MAZ Token. First time buyers will receive a 20% bonus. The second token sale takes place from 1st July 2018 at the price of $0.75 for 1 MAZ Token. Buyers during this period will benefit from a 15% bonus.

The driving philosophy behind the Mazzuma ecosystem is to develop a strong and robust payment ecosystem which is available to the masses and provides the freedom for users to use their funds in a convenient and stress-free manner.

The Mazzuma App will be made available to the public on iOS and Android. This will enable users to send and receive MAZ on the platform. Visit https://mazzuma.com to find out more.

Visit the Website: https://mazzuma.com/
Read the Whitepaper: https://mazzuma.com/whitepaper.pdf
Chat on Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/GKpQjhBdayYadlhAHlxOgg
Connect on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OfficialMazzuma
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Media Contact
Name: Nii Osae Osae Dade
Email: [email protected]

Mazzuma is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. Cryptocurrencies and tokens are extremely volatile. There is no guarantee of a stable value, or of any value at all. Token sales are only suitable for individuals with a high risk tolerance. Only participate in a token event with what you can afford to lose.

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Even though the initial coin offering industry is under a lot of scrutiny, there is some positive momentum as well. Funding amounts have gone up spectacularly. Additionally, it appears the average ICO duration is also rising again, which is rather surprising at this stage.

The ICO Industry Undergoes Changes

Although most people have only known about the ICO concept since 2017, the business model has been around for a lot longer. Earlier ICOs were conducted back in 2013, when they were still known as token sales or crowd sales. Back in 2013, only two ‘real’ ICOs were conducted, which is very different from how things have evolved over the past few years. Those two projects raised a total of $800,000, which was still pretty impressive back then.

Over the past five years, the ICO industry has shifted into a higher gear. The year 2014 saw a total of 8 ICOs, which grew to ten projects in 2015 and 49 in 2016. Total funds raised increased to $252 million in 2016, which was only a sign of what was to come for initial coin offerings in the coming years.

Those numbers all appear pretty insignificant in hindsight, although it remains to be seen how successful the ICO business model will remain in the years to come. During the year 2017, the ICO craze began taking off. Many people compared it to a bubble waiting to burst, even though there is no sign of this industry slowing down in the slightest.

With a massive increase in the number of ICO projects – from 49 to 552 – it quickly became evident that anyone thinking about raising capital had to issue their own digital token. This also meant hundreds of new tokens were introduced to cryptocurrency users, although it is expected that 90% of them will fail in the long run.

Despite regulatory opposition to the ICO business model, this industry is still firing on all cylinders. The year 2018 will not see a decline in the number of ICO projects, by the look of things, although it remains to be seen how many projects will continue to attract a lot of money. A report by Crypto Valley indicates that 537 ICOs have launched in 2018 so far, raising $13.712 billion in the process. This is almost double the amount raised by all ICOs in 2017, and the year 2018 is barely halfway over.

Another interesting trend is that the average ICO duration is rising. In 2017, projects took an average of 29 days to hit their cap. This year, that duration has extended to 48 days and may continue to increase as time progresses. Although the average duration is on the rise, projects are also raising more money, as the average funding amount has doubled from $12.8 million in 2017 to $25.5 million in 2018. The bubble hasn’t burst yet, but this situation seems impossible to sustain for much longer.

The game that pays you back: a project reveals its new in-game currency for all ‘first-person shooter’ players #SPONSORED

Zug’s blockchain-based municipal vote trial was deemed a “success” by the city’s head of communication, despite low voter turnout

MinexSystems is now officially taking preorders for their crypto debit card, MinexPay debit card. While there are several crypto debit card solutions on the market, MInexPay differentiates itself from other offerings on the market through several advantages.

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The blockchain solutions company has previously developed the products Minexcoin and MinexBank, so connecting the crypto and traditional markets was the next logical development.

Card Advantages

The first is a massive amount of support for the card. Since the debit card is a VISA card, MinexPays debit card will be accepted anywhere and everywhere that that accepts VISA. VISA is currently supported in more than 200 countries, 40 million retail outlets, and 2.5 million ATMs. Users can even store their MNX in a brain wallet and with a MinexPay card be able to purchase things globally.

The other advantage is that transactions are processed in real time. Unlike other services that may require a waiting period for balances to reflect, deposits and withdrawals are handled in real time. This allows users to quickly check the balance in the card, which is constantly updated to the most current amount.

MinexPay Card Tiers

The card has several tiers, each offering more cashback and better perks. In order to access each tier, users must pay a higher price as well as have a higher balance of MNX. For example, the standard tier is only 2 MNX and requires no balance, while the INFINITE tier costs 100 MNX and requires users have at least 1000 MNX.

Continuing the differences, the standard tier has a 2% ATM withdrawal fee for converting MNX to fiat, and a 4% fee for other cryptos. There’s a 1% POS terminal fee for MNX, which is 2% for other cryptocurrencies.

Users can only withdraw $200 daily, and monthly $2,000 with an 80% overdraft limit.

As you climb the tiers, your MNX card is able to withdraw more, save on ATM and POS fees, as well as have a higher overdraft limit. Consistent across all tiers is the 0% replenishment fee.

The infinite tier charges no fees on ATM withdrawals for MNX, and only a 1% fee for other cryptos. There is no POS fee for any cryptocurrency used, and withdrawal limits are increased to $20,000 daily and $600,000 monthly. To top things off, infinite tier users have a 98% overdraft limit.

Platinum and Infinite tier cards have cash back, with the former offering 0.5% cashback and the latter offering 1%.

Ordering will begin June 30th, with MinexPay expecting a sizeable demand in the first days. A crypto debit card to beat all others has yet to prove itself, but MinexPay’s will be fighting to be the one.

For more information about Minexcoin, visit their website. To order your own Minex crypto debit card, purchase one here. To talk with the team members and community, chat on their Telegram channel. To discuss the project and all things crypto, visit their thread on BitcoinTalk. For updates regarding the source code, check out their repository on Github.