Day: August 10, 2018

Peer-to-peer communication can be performed in various ways. A lot of people prefer end-to-end encrypted apps such as Telegram. Bettergram claims it is a very different version of Telegram while maintaining the latter’s core components. It also has some interesting cryptocurrency-related functions to keep an eye on.

The Bettergram Project Is Live

There is nothing wrong with taking a project’s existing code and trying to improve upon it. The Telegram code was open sourced quite some time ago, but it is evident the platform is not perfect. Despite being used by hundreds of millions of users, adding new features has been a slow-going process.

As such, the Bettergram team feels they can do a much better job in this regard. Their product is advertised as an “improved version of Telegram Messenger”, and it’s currently available for both Windows and Macintosh users. No Linux support is available at this time, and there is no indication that a mobile client will be released anytime soon either.

Some of the new features introduced by Bettergram include the ability to pin more chats and filter by category, while still benefiting from Telegram’s privacy and security. The biggest addition this project brings to the table is the ability to access live cryptocurrency price information. Rather than using CoinMarketCap, the company takes price information from LiveCoinWatch. It’s an interesting development, although it should yield very similar results in the end.

By using Telegram’s API and open source code, the overall look and feel of this application is virtually the same as what one would expect. The new platform is compatible with existing Telegram users, as a separate account is not required. Giving users the option to use the same core ecosystem but with different features is always a worthwhile strategy.

Whether or not Bettergram will gain any real traction in the near future remains to be determined. It is evident there is still plenty of room for competition, even within the Telegram ecosystem itself. As long as the main branch of development lacks key features requested by users, developers will be free to contribute code to their own projects.

Bettergram’s built-in cryptocurrency support shows how popular this industry has become. Although not everyone wants to access such information from the Telegram environment, giving users the option is never a bad idea. How all of this will play out exactly remains to be seen. Some of these features might make it to the main Telegram development branch in the long run, although nothing has been confirmed at this stage.

On August 8, the Bitcoin ABC development team published an announcement regarding the November hard fork changes with plans to finish the latest codebase by August 15. The proposal falls in line with the ABC developer’s upgrade timeline and contains about five different changes that will soon be ready for testing.

Also read: Bitcoin Cash Acceptance Grows — Dish Network and Flow Partner With Bitpay

Bitcoin ABC Publishes Plans and Consensus Changes for the Upcoming BCH November Upgrade

The Bitcoin Cash community has plans to upgrade the network once again with consensus changes this November. Just recently, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Bitcoin ABC developers announcing they will be releasing new code on August 15th for testing. On August 8, the ABC development team revealed the changes they plan to add to the 0.18.0 codebase that includes about five new features. The ABC developers say there’s only one week left before the official code-completion date and they want to remind and update the BCH community with the latest developments.

The new changes that have been completed and will undergo testing on August 15 include:

• Canonical transaction ordering (more info here)
• Enforcement of minimum transaction size of 100 bytes to prevent attacks on the Merkle tree (more info)
• Activation code and implementation for OP_CHECKDATASIG and OP_CHECKDATASIGVERIFY (more info)
• Make push-only mandatory for scriptsig (more info)

Another change that is currently still in progress, but expected to be ready by next week, is a modified fee structure which would allow a significant decrease in transaction fees. ABC programmers explain that a modified fee structure is not necessarily a strict consensus change, but nevertheless will be included in the 0.18.0 version. In addition to the announcement, the team also published two specifications for the overall hard fork, and for OP_CHECKDATASIG and OP_CHECKDATASIGVERIFY.

Craig Wright: ‘If a Certain Developer Wants This, Then We Will Fund Replacement Developers’

Of course, the announcement from Bitcoin ABC sparked a bunch of controversy due to certain additions within the code changes — most notably the activation of OP_CHECKDATASIGVERIFY (CDSV). Adding the change could allow developers to create binary contracts using the BCH chain, and Bitcoin Unlimited’s lead developer Andrew Stone has been researching and working on implementing the opcode in order to make bitcoin scripting applications more versatile.

One of the most vocal individuals against adding the CDSV opcode is Nchain’s chief scientist, Craig Wright, who spoke out in opposition against the opcode addition right away. Wright explains to his Twitter followers that the opcode is not going to happen, while tagging Coinngeek’s Calvin Ayre and Viabtc’s Haipo Yang in the post as well.

“OP_CHECKDATASIGVERIFY is not happening — If a certain ABC developer wants to push this, then we will just fund replacement developers — Trust me — There are others,” Wright explains after the Bitcoin ABC code announcement.

Miners vote — Think we are not serious. Watch the Axe fall.

There’s been some opposition to Wright’s objection as he already had been arguing with developers about ideas like pre-consensus. When Wright spoke out against pre-consensus, Coingeek’s Calvin Ayre took his side and announced a day later that Coingeek would not participate in any “risky” protocol changes. Coingeek’s mining pool commands a hashrate of around 21 percent of the network over the last seven days. On Thursday, Nchain’s Wright says to his Twitter followers that just like the Nchain team, his friend Calvin Ayre will not allow developers to treat Bitcoin like a toy.     

“And like us, Calvin Ayre will not settle for a devs plaything,” Wright emphasizes.  

The original base protocol — No experiments — Unlimited unbounded scale.   

Will Bitcoin Cash Miners Weigh in on the CDSV Opcode Subject?

Of course, many trolls from the core camp have been trying to use the infighting to cause disruption among the BCH community. Bitcoin XT’s lead developer Tom Harding notes this observation on Thursday saying, “Underway: obvious campaign to sow discord among BCH supporters — Sorry trolls, Bitcoin is Byzantine fault tolerant.” So far there’s been a lot of debate about this subject, but at least BCH supporters know that the subjects are being discussed, rather than one side of the discussion being purposely suppressed by so-called ‘thought leaders’ and forum administrators.  

So far there hasn’t been an official response from Coingeek like the one shared the other day concerning pre-consensus changes. Moreover, Calvin Ayre has not said anything yet in regard to the CDSV opcode subject on Twitter, so people will be waiting to hear him weigh in on the CDSV topic. Viabtc’s Haipo Yang made an interesting statement on Twitter following the heated debate on Friday and said: 

We need to stop the regular hard fork of Bitcoin Cash. We need stable Bitcoin protocol specification, we need multiple implementations — There should not be dev decide but miner vote.

However, other miners have not made any statements for or against the idea of implementing CDSV. Wright says he cares deeply about the project and people better not get in his way when it comes to protecting the original Bitcoin protocol.     

“I care about making bitcoin THE global currency,” Wright details this Friday.

The original Bitcoin protocol — Not a social experiment. If you get in my way… Watch the juggernaut roll!

What do you think about the consensus changes Bitcoin ABC has proposed? What do you think about Nchain’s Craig Wright weighing in on the subject? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comment section below.

Images via Shutterstock, Bitcoin ABC logo, and Pixabay.

At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even look up the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more.

The post The Opposition Towards Bitcoin ABC’s Proposed Upgrade Changes appeared first on Bitcoin News.

The Securities and Exchange Commission continues to crack down on illicit activity within the cryptocurrency industry. It is easier said than done, as a lot of dubious-looking projects exist today. Aaron Smith of San Francisco was recently charged with insider trading. That wouldn’t be entirely unusual, were it not for the fact that Smith is the son of a California bank board member.

Aaron R. Smith Is in the Hot Seat

According to new information shared by the SEC, they had charged a California bank board member’s son with insider trading. Aaron R. Smith, son of a director at Valley Commerce Bancorp, had used material nonpublic information to conduct stock trades. This information pertained to a north Californian bank being acquired by another local bank in a non-public manner.

Smith learned about the impending deal from his father. With this knowledge, Smith Jr. decided to use a large portion of his personal savings to open a brokerage account. With that account, he began trading Valley Commerce Bancorp stock. Once the acquisition was made public, the Bancorp stock price soared by 37%.

For Smith, this netted him close to $41,000 in profit. He still has not admitted or denied these charges, yet Smith agreed to settle with the SEC and put this matter to bed once and for all. He will cease and desist from further violations of federal antifraud provisions and pay a fee of $43,783.35. An additional penalty of $40,578.28 will be paid as well.

It is not the first time insider trading has affected the financial industry. It is a very common activity, mainly because informed sources tend to share information, either willingly or by accident. It is not unique to traditional finance either, as the cryptocurrency industry has witnessed insider trading incidents as well. This mainly pertains to exchanges listing new coins and some speculators reaping the early rewards.

It is important for family members to never divulge such information. A slip of the tongue can occur at any time, but it can have massive consequences for the industry as a whole. Smith will avoid jail time as a result of settling. It is unclear why he decided not to admit to these charges, since the evidence clearly outlines what happened behind the scenes in this case.

For the SEC, it is another small victory toward creating a safer and more robust financial ecosystem. All of these developments are designed to make both consumers and corporations feel safe and secure. Rest assured this will not be the final incident involving insider trading, either within or without the cryptocurrency industry.

David Marcus is stepping down from the board of directors at crypto exchange Coinbase, citing his new role at Facebook leading blockchain strategy.

Crypto markets are today attempting to hold gains as they stake their recovery, with Bitcoin circling the $6,500 support

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

DISH now accepts Bitcoin Cash, moving to BitPay for cryptocurrency payment processing

The Brave team is still working on ways to make their new browser more appealing. Combining the potential of cryptocurrency with online browsing will create many new use cases which would otherwise remain inaccessible. In a new effort, Brave now incentivizes users to tweet and use Reddit.

Another Step Forward for Brave

The Brave browser can fill a very big niche in the world of internet consumption. Although using a browser has become very commonplace, users are not always aware of the risks they take. Using a browser means one is sharing a lot of sensitive and personal information with third parties without being rewarded for doing so.

This is what the Brave browser aims to change. Not only is it disrupting the traditional advertisement model associated with the internet, it will also make an impact on how people share information and engage with social media. By incentivizing users to be active on both Twitter and Reddit, the Brave team is heading down an interesting path.

This will only work once users can convince others to tip them using either of these platforms. The Brave browser supports tipping with cryptocurrency through its native BAT token. For people who are mainly active on Reddit and Twitter, this new approach could earn them some extra passive income. It is evident users have been looking for ways to monetize their social media activity, yet it has proven very difficult to do so over the past few years.

By introducing plans to support both Twitter and Reddit later this year, Brave is taking another big step. Getting users acquainted with tipping others over the internet will be the primary order of business. Tipping mechanisms can make a lasting impact on the social media industry.

Whether or not Brave will see any major success in this regard remains to be determined. Since both Reddit and Twitter depend on content shared by their users, it is only natural that contributors will see some form of financial return.

As both platforms have refused to implement such features on their own, it is up to browsers such as Brave to lead the way in this regard. It is another interesting example of what the future may hold for cryptocurrency. This feature will provide another interesting testing ground for the Brave browser.

Pay TV provider Dish Network, one of the first big firms to accept bitcoin payments, has announced it now also accepts bitcoin cash.

While IBM has been cautious to back cryptocurrency projects, the New York-based technology giant has still been doing its best to make a successful foray into the blockchain space. But as some skeptics see it, IBM hasn’t done much to make a meaningful impact on this flowering industry.

IBM & Blockchain — Is It Really The Best Combo?

IBM has long been at the head of technological innovation, continually pushing for the best technology has to offer society for the better part of 100 years. It seems that the firm’s drive for the creation of technological breakthroughs has led it straight to blockchain technologies, which is arguably the fastest growing space in a multi-trillion dollar market. While the blockchain industry remains in its infancy, the technology-focused firm has begun to heavily allocate resources to its growing decentralized technology division.

For some, it seems that the firm’s investment into blockchain has paid off, with IBM recently revealing details about its partnership with the world’s largest shipping company reports Forbes. The American firm will continue to collaborate with Maersk to create the so-called “TradeLens” supply chain solution, which intends to keep track of essential shipping data on a worldwide scale.

TradeLens has already garnered support from 94 organizations, who all actively participate in the testing and development of this novel take on supply chain management. Additionally, a strong collaborative effort has seen the platform capturing over 154 million shipping events over a multi-month period. Marie Wieck, IBM’s general manager and head of blockchain, told Forbes about her excitement for this blockchain-backed project, stating:

“I think with over 90 organizations and over 150 million events captured on the system we really are seeing proof in the pudding in terms of where people are spending their time to get benefits from blockchain.”

While many proponents saw this as nothing less than a bullish sign for a nascent field, it may not be all sunshine and rainbows for IBM Blockchain.

Barry Silbert, the founder and CEO of the Digital Currency Group, recently issued a tweet speculating on the firm’s blockchain-focused budget. Citing Quartz’s IBM article, Silbert reasoned that at an average of $100,000 per person for IBM Blockchain’s team of 1,600, that the firm’s budget for blockchain could be $160 million per year. While Barry Silbert didn’t cite any reported financials, clearly taking a napkin math approach of the technology giant’s blockchain budget, it becomes clear that to IBM, blockchain is no joke.

At $100,000 per person, IBM is spending $160,000,000 per year on blockchain projects https://t.co/3L1ux6V0Tm

— Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) August 9, 2018

Despite the fact that Silbert likely posted this figure as food for thought, users still responded to this tweet, discussing their opinions on if this investment is warranted. Let’s be real, does a $160 million annual investment into blockchain really warrant what developments or lack thereof that we have seen? A Twitter user going by Marcos called it “money down the drain.”

As later elaborated on by another Twitter user, IBM’s capital allocation to its blockchain branch might not be well spent, bringing attention to Stripe’s (relatively) measly $3 million seed investment into Stellar, which we now know as one of the most influential networks in the cryptosphere.

Fun fact: their partners in blockchain only needed $3 million in funding to create one of biggest projects in crypto: Stellar $XLM

— José (@josevc) August 10, 2018

In the aforementioned Quartz article, reporters divulged that less than 1% of company executives in a survey revealed that they had introduced blockchain tech into their systems. Although this dismal figure is not the fault of IBM alone, it goes to show how blockchain-based systems may still not be ready for mainstream adoption. As the Harvard Business Review notes, the widespread use of blockchain in traditional systems, such as governments or banks, is likely still years, if not decades away.

Blockchain may be costing IBM a hefty sum, but maybe its all a part of the firm’s long-term plan for continued domination over the tech sector, while also remaining a forefront for innovative technologies to better humanity.

Featured Image From Shutterstock

The post Despite Spending $160 Million a Year, IBM Blockchain is Still Lacking Adoption appeared first on NewsBTC.