Fidelity Investments, which has some $2.4 trillion assets under management, has begun offering its customers the ability to buy Bitcoin Exchange Traded Notes (ETN) offered by a Coinshares company. 

Of the top 100 cryptocurrencies listed by market capitalization, only 36 are actually what the authors term “working products” in a study recently published online. Newer ecosystem website, Invest in Blockchain, commissioned the study. It’s sure to be debated, and hotly, as to which coins made the cut to 36, but the authors attempt to assure readers certain standards were applied across the board in order to make their determination much of the cryptosphere is a giant dumpster fire.

Also read: Bitcoin Stickers Attract Unwanted Attention from Authorities

A Cold 36% Out of 100 Top Cryptocurrencies Have Working Products

In fact a cold 36% of the top 100 cryptos have what the writers define as “working products.” They agree that “it’s important to define what exactly constitutes a working product in the first place.” Simply taking into account a project being “open-source, building a basic blockchain and launching it isn’t a very high bar to set. We wanted to be a bit more rigorous with our criteria.”

“If you haven’t run into at least a handful of people who are cynical about the state of the blockchain industry and think it’s mostly scams and vaporware, well… you probably haven’t been into crypto for very long,” John Bardinelli and Daniel Frumkin wrote in the study, Cryptocurrencies In The Top 100 With Working Products That Are In-Use. “And the truth is, those cynics have a good point.”

The study was put out by the site, Invest in Blockchain, founded in 2017. They claim to have “researched the top 100 cryptocurrencies (by market cap) in an effort to learn how many of them actually had working products that are providing real value. The same research done in 2017 may have yielded some truly discouraging results but, even now, the results aren’t exactly stellar.”

For the authors of the study, a “working product” is 1. “active and available to the public,” 2. “Its mainnet has likely been released for some time, bumping the version numbers well above 1.0,” and 3. “Businesses and individuals use it on a daily basis for dapps, smart contracts, or digital currency transactions.”

Dash Doesn’t Make the List

As they researched, the authors were sure to match project promises made to what has actually been delivered, the present state of the company, its roadmap, and release history. Still, there “are many projects in the top 100 that have launched their mainnet, and can claim to have a ‘working product’ by a loose definition,” the authors note.

“However, we have chosen not to include projects which aren’t actually being used by any significant measure, which means that most of the recently launched mainnets will not yet meet our criteria.” For example, “a dapp platform that has a mainnet but that doesn’t have any noteworthy dapps on top of it isn’t considered ‘working’ by this criteria,” they conclude.

Projects that made the cut are: “0x Protocol, Ardor, Augur, Bancor, basic attention token, bibox token, Binance Coin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitshares, bytecoin, decred, ethereum, Golem, Huobi Token, komodo, Kucoin Shares, kyber network, litecoin, Loom Network, Monero, nano, NEO, PIVX, Polymath, Pundi X, QTUM, Ripple, Siacoin, Steem, stellar, tether, Wanchain, Waves, ZCash, and zencash.”

As noted, there is bound to be controversy with lists such as these. Commenter PertReader1 notes, “LOL you include PIVX a fork of Dash, but ignore Dash? You mention that PIVX ‘launched’ in 2016, yeah as a fork of Dash. How can you practice such yellow journalism?” One of the authors, John Bardinelli responded, “We left Dash out of the picture because of Dash Evolution. DE redefines the project’s focus.” To which yet another commenter, kanuuker1, fumed, “That’s a total load of crap. Evolution is only the next major update. Our goals haven’t changed in years. Dash has a fully working project and is much further along in its development than every other project.”

Do you think there are too many coins out there? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Images via Pixabay.

Be sure to check out the podcast, Blockchain 2025; latest episode here. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section.

The post Over 60% of Top 100 Cryptocurrencies Have No Working Product, Study Claims appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Like most coins, Ripple and XRP are bullish. Not only are we seeing important partnerships that steels XRP and xRapid,  XRP prices are also on a recovery path adding a massive 13 percent in the last day helping propel prices from 25 cents supports. Technically, this recovery might continue though XRP is within a bear trend as the weekly chart shows.

From the News

Standard Chartered, UBS and more than 50 global banks are some of the main players making use of RTXP and several of Ripple’s products as xCurrent and xRapid. There are several demonstrations that have shown that using xRapid and XRP for example significantly helps slash cost of transaction.

While it’s perfect for supporters, users-financial institutions can either make use of xCurrent–a solution that doesn’t incorporate XRP or xRapid, a gross time settlement solution that make use of XRP. If more business make use of the latter then XRP acting as an on demand liquidity tool will definitely gain traction inching higher from current lows.

"Bittrex will act as the preferred digital asset exchange for #xRapid transactions that move through US Dollars" – Ripple Insights #XRP

— CryptoEspi (@CryptoEspi) August 17, 2018

That is perhaps the reason why the company is trying hard to build an ecosystem around XRP and xRapid. Recently, Ripple said they have partnered with US cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex, Mexico’s Bitso and Philippine’s coins.ph with exchanges facilitating exchange from XRP to fiat and vice versa.

Since transactions are on-chain there is guarantee of speed, safety and above all savings especially for individuals working in the diaspora wishing to send funds to their families in the US, Mexico and Philippines.

In other news, Kuwait Finance House (KFH) did carry out their first XRP transaction via xRapid. The firm is one of the biggest largest in Kuwait with a staggering market cap of $8.2 billion and trading in the country’s stock exchange.

Technical Analysis

Weekly Chart

XRP Weekly Chart by Trading View

Before concluding that XRP is bottoming and that the bear trend is finally over, the weekly chart hints of a different ball game. First, we must acknowledge that periods of extreme volatility is often followed by stagnation in price as historical prices have shown from time to time.

This is why this week’s revival is nothing new and is common following deep price erosion that saw two main levels of support (at 40 cents and 35 cents) being broken. Considering this week’s gains, we expect XRP bulls to find resistance anywhere between 35 cents and 40 cents. On the flip side, surges above 50 cents or 55 cents invalidates our bearish projection.

If that happens then we shall have a nice double bar bullish reversal pattern in the weekly chart which would conclusively mean XRP buyers are back in contention.

Daily Chart

XRP Daily Chart by Trading View

In the top 10, XRP is one of the top performers adding 10 percent in the last 24 hours.

After yesterday’s encouraging bullish engulfing candlestick, a three bar bullish reversal pattern is the result. That means aggressive traders can begin loading up at spot prices. In that case, stops at Aug 17 lows at 28 cents and first targets at 50 cents is ideal.

On the other hand conservative traders can wait for bulls to close above 35 cents. Thereafter, they can take longs with targets at 50 cents and later 50 cents should buyers follow through.

Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are those of the author and aren’t investment advice. Trading of any form involves risk and so do your due diligence before making a trading decision.

The post XRP Technical Analysis: XRP Spearheads Recovery, Adds 10% appeared first on NewsBTC.

North America

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

USA

ICO scam slapped with $30,000 fine: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a USD 30,000 penalty for David T Laurance and his fraudulent ICO. Laurance was a director of a new coin project.

Laurance, previously the CEO of oil drilling company Tomahawk Exploration LLC, with whom he had been associated for over eight years, launched the ICO for new tokens of the oil drilling company called Tomahawk tokens. The ICO stated that the funds from the ICO would be used for oil drilling and exploration services in California.

The ICO overall failed to meet the USD 5 million target. An online bounty program of promotional activities thrived but was eventually shut down by the SEC. Laurance and Tomahawk have been given cease and desist orders and further action is being deliberated by the authorities.

Coinbase acquires San Francisco startup for decentralized login tech: Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange operating in USA, has acquired a local startup that was offering decentralized login solution to secure its verification and login processes.

The firm, Distributed Systems, Inc, was selected by the Coinbase company to utilize blockchain for verification purposes. According to Coinbase project manager B Bryne:

“Blockchain technology that powers cryptocurrencies offers a new way to let us all be “verified” everywhere we go on the internet, feeling safer about our interactions with others and opening the door to the experiences that require trust.”

Distributed Systems was a successful startup at the seeds round with millions of investments garnered from around the world.

Facebook to launch crypto?: The world’s largest social network Facebook may be looking to launch its own cryptocurrency, according to recent chatter from inside the company.

Earlier this year, the company created a blockchain research team led by David Marcus that was aimed at leveraging blockchain technology and possibly even cryptocurrency across the vast social media platform. Marcus was on the board of directors of Coinbase but has since then stepped down from his position.

Other sources also claim that the Facebook’s blockchain team has met with the Stellar team to discuss forking the Stellar cryptocurrency and blockchain to create a native Facebook cryptocurrency similar to Kin crypto tokens. The purpose of the rumored Facebook crypto token is still unknown.

Jamaica

Jamaican stock exchange set to offer crypto for trading: The Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) has announced that it will offer cryptocurrency trading services by the end of 2018.

The announcement came after the exchange signed a collaboration with cryptocurrency firm Blockstation. The latter will develop digital assets for JSE platform and JSE will then integrate them into its platform for trading purposes. Blockstation has been developing these assets in collaboration with the JSE for the last six months.

According to co-founder and chief architect of Blockstation Jai Waterman:

“Our mission is to provide a secure method of trading cryptocurrencies with broker-dealers and stock exchanges. We’re providing the stock exchange the technology for a broker-dealer network and repository, so that from end-to-end, their life cycle of trading – just like with securities – they can do the exact same thing with blockchain and cryptocurrencies.”

Canada

Blockchain and crypto improving finance and accounting in Canada: In addition to disrupting the fintech businesses, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are also improving accounting and finance functions in the country.

According to a Robert Half Finance and Accounting survey, both will become common in business transactions in the next five years. But to do so, financial professionals will have to expand their skillsets and put greater focus on inter-departmental collaboration with information technology.

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IBM acquires a blockchain patent to detect money laundering transactions and other violations based on nodes identifying data

The altcoins market is in recovery mode and after more than two months of persistent sells, their momentum is fading. Though they still lack solid confirmation, price floors are morale boosting for coins as EOS, Tron, IOTA and even Litecoin which were heading lower. Next week’s price action would influence the short term price trajectory of most altcoins under review.

Let’s have a look at these charts:

EOS Technical Analysis

EOS Daily Chart by Trading View

First, before taking a trading decision, note that EOS price action is in a down trend. Going forward we shall maintain this stance regardless of yesterday’s completion of a three bar reversal pattern, the Morning Star forming at around our first support line at $4.

Overly, we shall retain yesterday’s EOS trade plan and the best way EOS buyers can confirm recent resurgence is if there are gains above $6, Aug 8 highs and our intermittent resistance.

Once prices print above that level then we suggest short term, low size longs with immediate targets at $7 and later $9, the upper limit of the previous 30 day consolidation line. In the mean time though, aggressive can take longs with stops at Aug 4 lows at $4.

Litecoin (LTC) Technical Analysis

Litecoin Daily Chart by Trading View

Yesterday’s trade set up points to a coin that is finding supports at our first bear target and main support line at $50.

From the chart, LTC is up six percent and with that abnormal surge, we have a clear three bar  bull reversal pattern with buyers aiming to clear and close above our first resistance level at $65.

Though there are open positions for taking longs as the chart shows thanks to yesterday’s bullish engulfing candlestick, conservatives can always be patient and wait for our trade conditions to be met.

In case of buys at spot price, stops should be at yesterday’s lows at $53 with first targets at $65 and $70.

Stellar Lumens (XLM) Technical Analysis

Stellar Lumens Daily Chart by Trading View

Like EOS and most coins, Stellar Lumens prices are trying to break off from that eight day consolidation along 22 cents.

If anything, yesterday’s gains are a glimpse of a shift of momentum backed mostly by positive fundamentals around XLM. As such, odds are our trading conditions would be met today or in the next few days as long as buyers step up their momentum.

As highlighted in previous Stellar Lumens analysis, all we need for XLM longs to be valid are strong up thrusts and close above 26 cents and later 30 cents before we begin loading up longs. Before then, we shall be neutral view with a bearish leaning.

Tron (TRX) Technical Analysis

From the News

• So far, Tron is doing well adding 13 percent in the last day. There are several coin specific events that may be buoying prices including recent coin listing at BitBox and inclusion of TRX at LINE’s investment funds. Still, the announcement of the 9 million TRX by the network could be a boost. BitBox is even taking this initiative and in a first come first serve basis, the first 2000 persons to register with the exchange will receive 2000 TRXs from Tron. Additionally, those investing more than 50,000 TRXs at the exchange will earn a two percent interest through Aug 22.

Technical Analysis

Tron Daily Chart by Trading View

In this time frame, TRX is surging and apart from gaining a massive 13 percent, yesterday’s trade plan is now void.

However, in the midst of all these, we note that sellers are still in charge and being reasonable enough, a two month’s bear trend cannot be invalidated in two days or so.

While we acknowledge that TRX might be in bottoming, taking small long positions with stops at Aug 17 lows at 1.9 cents with first targets anywhere between 2.5 cents and 3 cents is ideal.

IOTA (IOT) Technical Analysis

IOTA Daily Chart by Trading View

At current spot prices, IOTA is up 15 percent in the last day and printing clearly in the daily chart is a three bar bull reversal pattern around our first targets at 30 cents.

But while the sentiment change to bullish, traders should take a cautious stand to avoid fading the market by taking longs in a steep bear market.

For confirmation, today’s price action might shed light and perhaps influence our trade decision because any close above 55 cents or Aug 13 highs means we shall take our sell profits and initiate small size longs with stops at Aug 17 lows at 45 cents.

Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are those of the author and aren’t investment advice. Trading of any form involves risk and so do your due diligence before making a trading decision.

The post Litecoin, EOS, Stellar Lumens, Tron, IOTA Technical Analysis: Altcoins Are Back To (Temporary) Green appeared first on NewsBTC.

The Brave browser has a steep uphill battle as it seeks to disrupt the ad revenue models of both Google and Facebook, among others. With recent and continuing revelations regarding privacy and user data, Brave is fighting the good fight with brand alignment, not only with cryptocurrency users but the public at large.

Investors have to keep their head on a swivel all the time nowadays. Innovative and disruptive technologiesare finding their way into a variety of new industries and nobody wants to miss the next Facebook, AirBnB, or Google to invest in.

Disclaimer: This is a Sponsored Article

Because of that, investors need to keep a careful eye on all sectors of the economy, not just tech startups and app development. Aenco (https://www.aencoin.com), a new blockchain-based startup, is developing a new multi-dimensional blockchain fuelled by its AEN token to cater for a diverse number of business sectors to build customisable blockchain applications, in particular, breaking into two emerging industries (amongst many others): medical technology and financial solutions. Aenco has a close focus on real life business and research applications and is already planning the launch of a number of follow on projects to drive its adoption in the market.

Here are 3 reasons investors should keep a close eye on this latest startup.

1. Industry Ripe for Disruption

The healthcare technology industry alone is estimated to be a roughly $400 billion industry globally per year. With a market of that size, many innovators in the healthcare sector are catching up in their pursuit of using blockchain applications to support their business lines growth and enterprise value. This is evident from the emerging medical data based blockchain companies coming onto the market since 2017.

Unlike other tech-related industries that have undergone major disruptions in recent years, the healthcare and medical technology industry has remained largely untouched. The sharing economy and crowdfunding have taken over other areas of the economy (think Kickstarter, GoFundMe, Uber, Lyft, AirBnB, etc.) but the healthcare and medical technology industry is now becoming increasingly active in using blockchain.

For the time being, this massive industry is mainly centered out of the United States and Western Europe. However, the industry is looking to leaders in emerging markets that are likely to take on a larger role in the future, especially from Asia.

The Asian market is growing so much that McKinsey & Company projects that Asia will move to be the second largest medical technology market in the world by 2022. With all the capital in the healthcare technology field and future growth of the industry, this is one are that investors need to watch for innovators and disruptors. At this point, it’s only a matter of time.

Aenco intends to tap into the market by bring together many deep-techaspects of the healthcare and medical technology sector onto its blockchain. According to Aenco spokesperson, they are working on a number of projects (which will soon be announced by the company in further detail) including the exchange of research data via their blockchain to disrupt the research market and also working on a (Aenco) blockchain driven drug development platform with a major pharmaceutical company for example. Each of these projects has already signed up to using Aenco Blockchain to power their underlying transactions, as well as launching their respective token offerings on the Aenco solutions platform.

2. One Stop Shop

If there’s one thing retailers and other businesses can learn from the ongoing retail war between Amazon and Wal Mart, it’s that many of the most successful businesses offer everything in one place.

Amazon has been focusing on introducing food to compete with the retail powerhouse and Wal Mart has been responding with tactics of their own. Both companies continue to offer more products and services in one place because the model has proven to work well: make the user experience easier and streamline it.

Though not in the traditional retail sense, Aenco is focusing on streamlining more complicated industries by bringing them together under one end-to-end umbrella.

Support by its blockchain, Aenco is also developing a number of financial applications: smart wallet (AEN Connect), ICO launcher platform, crypto exchange (AENX), collateralised crypto-lending platform (Prime) and OTC product generation platform (SmartCap), over the course of 2018 – 2019. The suite of blockchain applications will fully support a wide range of industries, in particular, delivering a number of high-impact healthtech projects sponsored by Aenco.

In this respect, Aenco will shortly be announcing its collaboration with a healthcare real estate fund to construct healthcare and life science incubators across North America to facilitate research collaboration and intellectual property exchange.

3. Blockchain Technology

Speaking of disruptions, blockchain technology has easily been one of the most talked about technological innovations across various industries recently. Robert D. Boroujerdi, an analyst with Goldman Sachs has described blockchain as one of the most disruptive technologies, saying:

“[Blockchain] has the potential to redefine transactions and the back office of a multitude of different industries. From banking and payments to notaries to voting systems to vehicle registrations to wire fees to gun checks to academic records to trade settlement to cataloguing ownership of works of art, a distributed shared ledger has the potential to make interactions quicker, less-expensive and safer.”

With companies of every size looking to roll out new, innovative solutions for problems with blockchain technology, this is another reason to watch out for Aenco.

Aenco’s blockchain will support a new consensus algorithm to allow public mining on a permissioned chain, whilst maintaining industry competitive transaction speeds. It also plans to tackle “data clogging” issues that plagued a number of existing major blockchain platforms through novel algorithms. Aenco blockchain will also support API gateways that allow businesses to build customisable applications and side-chains to support their goals.

Additionally, in being supported by its own blockchain, the ecosystem will be able to drive different kinds of applications in the future across the industry. Blockchain is already being implemented for solutions in supply chain management and secure data storage —these solutions can now be expanded to include the financing of emerging technologies (such as healthtech) and the way in which these companies develop their business ecosystems.

The Takeaway

Aenco has positioned itself uniquely with its multi-dimensional approach supported by its core expertise, investors should keep a close eye on this opportunity.

By strategically placing itself at the corner of two major industries ripe for disruption—financial technology (fintech) and healthcare technology (healthtech)—Aenco is in a good position tousher in the next generation of ‘new economy.’

About Aenco

AENCO is an emerging blockchain company, focusing on blockchain application development, with a sub-sector focus in financial solutions industry and healthcare technology industry. Aenco blockchain will bring together an end-to-end platform housing its IB, smartcap, prime solutions and blockchain application capabilities. The company targets to create an exciting environment and growth story through the disruption of traditional economic markets and complete integration across healthcare technologies with blockchain, digital finance and research collaboration models.

Contact

Website: https://www.Aencoin.com

Telegram: https://t.me/Aenco

https://t.me/Aencoin_announcements

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Aenco/

Medium: https://medium.com/@Aencoin

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aencoin

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Aencoin/

Discord: https://discord.gg/5nTn4rC

YouTube: YouTube.Aencoin.com

DISCLAIMER

This article does not constitute a prospectus or offering document and is not an offer to sell, nor the solicitation of an offer to buy any investment or financial instrument in any jurisdiction. No regulatory authority has examined or approved any of the information set out in this article. No such action has been or will be taken under the laws, regulatory requirements or rules of any jurisdiction. This article contains forward-looking statements related to Aenco’s proposed operating model. The model speaks to its objectives only, and is not a forecast, projection or prediction of future results of operations. This article contains forward-looking statements which are based on certain assumptions and analysis made by Aenco in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate, and are subject to risks and uncertainties.

Europe

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

France

Cryptocurrencies have the same status as pets, cars and other movable property: The French State Council has recently designated cryptocurrencies as movable properties, bringing them at par with movable properties like cars, jewelry, furniture and gold. This step has reduced the taxation on cryptocurrencies from 45% to 19%, thus making it easier for new coin companies and exchanges to shift to the country.

But mining even now is considered as an enterprise and liable for 45% tax. The move is understandably taken to discourage resource-extensive mining operations. The overall move is part of President Emmanuel Macron’s move to bring innovative industries back to France.

Germany

Ripple in talks with banks in Germany: Popular cryptocurrency XRP’s parent company Ripple is in talks with representatives of a few big banks in Germany to talk about possible adoption. Ripple has already made inroads with other technologies like xRapid and xCurrent that have been adopted by hundreds of banks around the world.

Marjan Delatinne, the head of banking in Ripple said that the company was in talks with many German banks in Berlin and elsewhere. Delatinne herself switched from SWIFT banking to the blockchain driven company back in 2017.

XRP continues to be one of the top cryptocurrencies in the world despite a substantial decrease in price in the last four months.

United Kingdom

30% UK firms hit by cryptojacking malware: Over 30% of UK businesses were hit by a cryptocurrency mining malware last month. Over 60% of the companies also said that they found malware in their computers at some time in the past, mostly in the last six months alone.

Most of the malware found is designed to channel the computing power of an affected computer for cryptocurrency mining initiatives which is illegal. Kaspersky Labs, a prominent antivirus company said that new malware has been reported in other countries as well that can control workstations and servers for cryptojacking purposes.

Hungary

Government working on crypto regulatory framework: The Hungarian government is working on a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in the country to encourage cryptocurrency adoption and blockchain research.

The country doesn’t recognize cryptocurrencies but increasing public interest and regional outlook are forcing the government to look into cryptocurrencies. A Hungarian ministry spokesperson said:

“Hungary is currently looking into regulating crypto instruments, and the central bank, the tax authority, the finance ministry and other authorities have set up a joint workgroup to evaluate legal, economic, law enforcement, money laundering and other aspects of cryptocurrencies with an eye to introducing more detailed regulation.”

Spain

Political coalition calling for regulatory body to explore crypto: Spanish coalition party Unidos Podemos is calling for the implementation of blockchain and crypto regulation in the country.

The coalition was formed from various left-wing parties including Podemos, United Left, Equo and smaller parties. It underlined the importance of blockchain in the future and its widespread application in public administration in the country as well as means to complement industrial potential.

Malta

ICOs make gains in Malta in 2018: Malta, one of the top crypto havens in Europe, is seeing big gains in ICO businesses according to latest research from Crypto Fund Research.

Malta raised almost USD 180 million in ICO funds in the last quarter, which clearly shows that it is leading the way along with Switzerland and Gibraltar. Continent-wise, Europe is second overall with USD 1.12 billion behind North America’s USD 4.98 billion.

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Mazzuma, the third highest ranked mobile money payments system based on transaction volume in Ghana seeks to utilize blockchain technology through the creation of the MAZ cryptocurrency to enable instant seamless payments globally.

Mazzuma, the flagship product of CYST, has been a force to reckon with in the online payments ecosystem in Ghana since its inception in 2015 bringing in over $2 million USD worth of transactions till date with over twenty-six thousand registered users. The Ghanaian-based startup has contributed immensely to financial inclusion in the West African country with its range of application that includes a mobile application and a Telegram, and Facebook Messenger bot that communicates with users in local English (Pidgin English); enabling easier payments for the unbanked in society.

This mission has seen several challenges especially due to the limitations of the Mobile Money ecosystem which doesn’t allow the total provision of quality financial services to all. To solve this, Mazzuma has created an in-house cryptocurrency called Maz Token to usher in a faster and more secure way of payments in Ghana. What’s more, this allows Mazzuma to merge mobile money and cryptocurrency payments on its existing platforms to promote a gradual paradigm shift from network-based payments to payments on the blockchain. This cryptocurrency is also intended to address mobile money pain points like high transaction friction, high remittance fees, inferior proofs of identity and classist transmission limits.

The MAZ Token will be distributed to the public through an Initial Coin Offering which is currently on going till 5th September, 2018 with a token selling at $0.75 USD each. The Mazzuma ecosystem will include an e-commerce solution platform, mobile applications, bots and keyboard that will enable payments from inside any application with the MAZ Token.

Speaking to the press, Kofi Genfi (Co-founder of CYST & Director of Strategy)  identified the platforms combination of blockchain and artificial intelligence as an important feature that will ensure effective functionality.

“The most unique feature about Mazzuma is its sheer simplicity in its usage. Using a combination of artificial intelligence And blockchain technologies, Mazzuma’s unique multichannel approach allows consumers to use financial services in ways you hadn’t imagined before. Also, it’s seamless and simple user interface makes it very easy for customers to understand its usage for its most relevant application; remittance based transactions.” – Kofi Genfi

Mazzuma is trailblazing this evolution of payment through the MAZ token which will have its third token sale starting on 9th August, 2018 to 5th September, 2018. So far, 58704.87 MAZ tokens have been purchased throughout Africa, Brazil, Portugal and Spain. To purchase MAZ tokens, sign up on the official Mazzuma website.

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.

U.S. Bank holding Capital One has applied for a patent for developing a blockchain-powered user authentication system.

Asia and Australia

Welcome to our weekly roundup of all important blockchain and cryptocurrency news from around the world. Follow the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space continent by continent, country by country.

Japan

Financial watchdog publishes findings on crypto exchange inspections: Japanese financial watchdog Financial Services Agency (FSA) has recently published the results of its on-site inspections of cryptocurrency exchange operations.

New exchanges hoping to get an official operating license will now be required to submit to more rigorous oversight of the FSA as a result of these inspections. According to official data from the FSA, hundreds of companies in the cryptosphere including exchanges are in its waiting list for approval. As of now, more than USD 7.1 billion worth of assets are present in domestic exchanges across Japan with each exchange having an average of just 20 employees. This means each employee is managing as much as USD 29.7 million assets.

The agency also highlighted Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) concerns among certain exchanges as well. The investigation of the USD 532 million heist of Japanese exchange Coincheck will also resume after this internal investigation.

South Korea

Exchanges criticize tax break exclusion: South Korean exchange and blockchain associations have hit back at the new tax breaks announced by the government for new growth technologies as they appear to have been excluded from the benefits.

The decision to offer tax breaks came from the South Korean Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and they excluded cryptocurrency platforms because they are categorized as entertainment or gambling businesses and, therefore, not eligible for tax reliefs. Overall, 157 technologies across 11 areas were made eligible by the ministry.

$4.4 billion innovation plan to give fiscal support to blockchain innovation: The South Korean Ministry of Economy and Finance has outlined KRW 5 trillion (USD 4.4 billion) for innovative industries in 2019, including some for blockchain industry as well.

The official press release titled ‘Growth through Innovation Investment Plan’ revealed the increase of KRW 2 trillion for 2019. The education program intends to have 10,000 qualified workforce personnel in these cutting-edge fields in the next five years.

China

Aerospace industry turns to blockchain for invoicing issues: The Chinese aerospace industry is looking towards blockchain technology to provide a solution for its invoicing for tax issues.

According to the government website, more than 1.31 billion electronic invoices were circulating in the system in 2017 and it is forecast that it will rise to 54.55 billion by 2020 thus creating massive problems for the airlines.

The efforts to introduce blockchain technology aim to reduce the burden of these invoices including false reports and streamline the overall data sharing process.

Government releases blockchain guide for bureaucrats: The Communist Party of China (CPC) has announced a blockchain guidebook that outlines the key features of the technology and future applications, meant to be used by bureaucrats for future reference and understanding.

The tech guide covers many facets of the futuristic technology. Ye Hao, the president of the People’s Network said:

“We call on the industry peers to continue to look at the blockchain technology with a development perspective. Looking at the blockchain label from a scientific perspective, look at the blockchain industry with a strategic eye, look at the blockchain business opportunities with a calm eye, promote the sustainable and healthy development of the blockchain industry.”

IT ministry focuses on blockchain tech for data security: The Chinese IT ministry is focusing on blockchain technology for future data security applications with a blockchain research laboratory in the cards.

The ministry is looking to develop a strong ecosystem for the future applications of the technology especially in data security and management. It also intends to expand the research into other fields.

India

Government considering replacing smart travel cards with crypto tokens: The Indian government is considering replacing smart travel cards with crypto tokens for the ease of commuters.

A senior official from the finance ministry said that the committee is looking to undertake research on how to create a crypto token using a custom blockchain to help replace smart cards in the public sector, especially metro cards.

Australia

Former cricket captain Michael Clarke endorses ICO: Michael Clarke, ex-captain of the Australian national cricket team, has endorsed an initial coin offering, prompting skeptical reaction on Twitter from the wider cricket audience.

The platform claims: “…[it] combines premium education, important industry updates and a social platform, which is sure to revolutionize the way we invest and live. Our mission is to develop, advance and modernize the industry, making it more accessible, transparent and forward-thinking.”

The platform is looking to raise up to AUD 50 million in its upcoming ICO.

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The post Asia and Australia: Crypto and Blockchain News Roundup, 10th to 16th August 2018 appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.