Day: September 17, 2018

The U.S. Department of Justice has won the right to confiscate money and items Alexandre Cazes enjoyed from his dark web e-commerce empire’s riches.

Despite China’s crypto crackdown, a Chinese cryptocurrency enthusiast recently embarked on a twenty-one-day journey to survive solely on a small stash of Bitcoin, no more, no less.

21 Days, 0.21 Bitcoin

When it comes to cryptocurrency diehards, there isn’t anyone as committed as China-based crypto proponent He You Bing, who recently took to China’s streets to begin her 21-day challenge that revolves around the day-to-day use of Bitcoin. Oddly enough, the You Bing part of her name is colloquially used as an insult, as the two Chinese characters can be read as “having a disease/problem,” while her whole name, as TechCrunch puts it, alludes to “the girl’s over-enthusiasm for bitcoin.”

Regardless, as chronicled on iQiyi, one of China’s Netflix equivalents, He You Bing is supposed to survive for 21 days on only 0.21 Bitcoin, or $1,350 at the time of writing, with her self-imposed rules dictating that she couldn’t have anything on her person at the start of the challenge except for her phone. The initial goal was for her to obtain a sufficient amount of food, proper accommodation, and the basic necessities all via a Bitcoin wallet on her phone, all while being situated in Beijing and Shenzhen, two booming metropolises on the east coast of China.

And although the challenge is nearing its end now, it is interesting to look back at her unique, yet eye-opening experience.

At first, the enthusiast ran into some issues, to put it lightly, with virtually all of the vendors she approached revealing that they do not accept Bitcoin or crypto assets in general, nor understand the concept of what cryptocurrencies are and what they do.

Moreover, her first win, so to speak, wasn’t even related to Bitcoin, as she found an unlocked rental bike that she used to traverse around Beijing. As such, she had to survive on ketchup packets and supermarket sample products, while sleeping at a fast food restaurant on her first day out in the concrete jungle.

Surprisingly, the trials and tribulations of the first day didn’t make her second and third day any better, in fact, it can be argued that those days turned out to be much worse, as she ended up in the hospital from a lack of nutrition and a stomach illness from foraged fruits and a leftover burger. But as He You Bing’s story gained traction across the Chinese intranet, other enthusiasts like herself began to flock to her side, with over 3,000 individuals forming WeChat groups to support Bing.

Following the formation of these groups, Bing’s Bitcoin life became something that resembles a dream, as the aforementioned 3,000 supporters began to offer her supplies in exchange for BTC, while also helping her find places that accepted digital assets. Now, she has purchased train tickets, hotel stays, and her meals, all with Bitcoin and nothing more.

While the challenge likely deviated from her initial plan, the support she received shows that the Chinese cryptocurrency community is as strong as ever, even in the face of heavy-handed regulators and harsh rules and policies that aim to curb the use and development of crypto.

But regardless, there’s still a way to go, as although her supporters picked singled out Bitcoin-friendly stores, over 99 percent of the people she approached likely thought she was a lunatic when she brought up the idea of Bitcoin, referred to as “magical internet money” in some circles. So maybe we should take a step back and not only focus on Bing’s challenge but take note that there are still many across the world who have yet to adopt or even know what crypto is.

Featured Image from Shutterstock

The post Committed Crypto Enthusiast Embarks On “21-Day Bitcoin Challenge” appeared first on NewsBTC.

Whatever the existential crisis surrounding the value of ether, Ethereum’s smart contracts in its native language Solidity still hold first-mover advantage and is also interoperable across rival blockchains like Hashgraph. Vitalik Buterin recently cited the use of Gas as one revenue stream that would prevent ether from one day going to zero, only the Gas that powers the smart contracts most likely won’t be powering Dapps in the future.

Zimbabwe’s new finance minister: Switzerland should be crypto regulation role model

With many states in the US beginning to push various blockchain projects through state legislature, Oregon state in the country’s Northwest has also made a claim to the “blockchain state” handle.

The Oregon Blockchain Venture Studio in Portland has been set up to further this aim, with a number of companies and organizations from the fields of education, business, and technology linking their know-how to push the new tech in the state.

The aim is to specifically target 20 to 30 companies in the state over three years, hosted by digital agency R/GA, while forming a partnership with two state universities, Intel and sports giant Nike. The Venture Studio will also benefit from a USD 250,000 commitment through Business Oregon and the Oregon Growth Board.

The main idea of a studio is to give local companies opportunities similar to those that venture capital might offer. Jeff Gaus of Oregon Blockchain Venture Partners suggests that the “Oregon ethos exactly maps to what is required for blockchain to work”, adding that the state could become “what Pittsburgh is to steel or Detroit is to autos or Seattle to manned flight”.

Selected investors in the studio will contribute USD 3 million a year, each receiving investment capital of USD 100,000. Potential investment dollars will also be available from studio partners.

Although other US states are pushing their own blockchain plans to elevate their profile around the nation, Business Oregon spokesman Nathan Buehler claims that no state has really staked its claim as yet. He feels that Oregon is well placed through its established hardware and software industry to “establish an advantage” over other states.

Governor Dannel Malloy of Connecticut has recently signed off on a law in that state that will employ a blockchain working group, in order to further study the technology and how it can be utilized in state legislation. It is reported that the governor’s intentions are to make Connecticut “a leader in blockchain technology”.

It appears as though the United States is undergoing radical changes at institutional and governmental levels; in late July, blockchain technology in public sector projects also received a guidebook from a US-based IT industry trade association called CompTIA.

Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom

Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews

Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here.

Image Courtesy: Pixabay

The post Oregon Pushes Ahead with “Blockchain State” Plan appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

Bitcoin’s corrective rally seems to have stalled around $6,550, making it a key level to beat for the bulls.

As funding for ICOs drops amidst a regulatory crackdown by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, investors are turning to a new type of cryptocurrency investment vehicle in order to invest in projects: security tokens.

ICO Fervor Wanes

Following the surge in the ICO markets that occurred towards the end of 2017 and into 2018, many investors were lured and disappointed by the promises of token offerings that made bold and unprecedented claims as to their intended uses and future pricing success. More recently, however, global ICO funding has plummeted due to looming actions by global regulators to shut down companies offering tokens that fall into the definition of a security.

In the month of August, cryptocurrency and blockchain startups raised a mere $326 million, the smallest amount raised since May of last year, signaling that investors are beginning to fear the impact of their investments being deemed as unregulated securities.

The difficulty for ICO investors is discerning what type of token the ICO they are investing in is offering: a utility token or a security token. Utility tokens are classified as tools, not investments, that provide a specific solution to an existing problem. Security tokens, on the other hand, are classified as being an investment in a specific company or project, with the goal of generating investors profit through the success of the connected project.

If a token falls under securities laws, which are similar across global regulatory agencies, it will be subjected to a host of specific rules and requirements by regulatory agencies.

US Court Ruling: ICOs Fall under Securities Law 

Recently, a US District Court Judge ruled that ICO offerings are covered by securities laws, meaning that unless the token offered by an ICO is unquestionably a utility token, it falls under securities laws and can be regulated as such.

The ruling came about during a case against Maksim Zaslavskiy, who had been offering an ICO to investors with the promise that the tokens were physically backed by real estate and diamonds. Federal prosecutors used the classification of ICOs as a key point of their case, arguing that Zaslavskiy had offered investors an unregistered security product.

The judge agreed with this reasoning, noting that:

“Congress’ purpose in enacting the securities laws was to regulate investments, in whatever form they are made and by whatever name they are called…”

The SEC quickly moved to shut down two operations that had been offering security tokens to investors, including an unregistered crypto hedge fund and TokenLot, a self-described ICO superstore.

Registered security tokens are now looking like they will be the next hottest product for cryptocurrency investors, due to their regulatory compliance and massive potential for profits.

Laimonas Noreika, the CEO of Desico, a platform launching next year that offers retail investors the ability to invest in registered security tokens, spoke to Forbes about the future of security tokens, saying:

“Tokenized securities are bridging the gap between traditional financial markets and crypto markets because they are aligned with everyone’s interest. Regulators want to protect the investors, investors want their assets tradable, and crowds from all over the world want to invest in the most promising startups at an early stage.”

In a Medium post by Anthony Pompliano, the founder of Morgan Creek Digital Assets, he explains that security tokens are “digital assets subject to federal security regulations. In layman terms, they are the intersection of digital assets (tokens) with traditional financial products — a new technology improving old things.”

Pompliano feels incredibly confident about the future of security tokens, boldly adding that they will “revolutionize the traditional finance world.”

Featured image from Shutterstock

The post Security Tokens Surge in Popularity as ICO Funding Plummets to Yearly Lows appeared first on NewsBTC.

The prospect of Tezos’ official launch Monday has revved up investor interest in the project’s XTZ token, pushing prices up 30% in a week.

FOMO Moments

Still no market momentum for Monday, Aurora shoots for the moon, Mixin gets minced.

Monday morning is witnessing virtually no action on crypto markets. They have shown no real movements since the end of last week. Total market capitalization is just over $200 billion and has held that level for the past three days.

Bitcoin is static and has not been able to push towards the next resistance level. BTC is currently trading at $6,480, down very slightly from yesterday. Technicals are indicating more bearish momentum which could drop Bitcoin back to below $6,400. Ethereum also has not moved and is hovering just about $215 at the time of writing.

Altcoins are mixed, half red half green with very little gains or losses either way at the moment. In the top ten Stellar is up almost 2% to $0.204 while Bitcoin Cash has made 1.5% to trade at $445. The rest have not moved since yesterday.

The top twenty shows that only Dash has made any real gains and that is just 4%. It is rapidly catching Cardano which is about to drop out of the top ten. Falling back are Tezos and VeChain which have both dropped 2.5% on the day.

There are a few altcoins pumping at the moment and the one at the top is Aurora. AOA has been climbing all week and is up 70% on the day to $0.036. It has just been listed on KuCoin which is driving today’s momentum;

【Announcement】AOA is listed in KuCoin Plus Trading Area

AOA will launch AOA/USDT trading pair on KuCoin Plus Trading Area at 6PM on September 18, 2018 (UTC+8).#Kucoin #Aurora #AOA pic.twitter.com/6HCMDXQxNl

— AuroraOfficial(AOA) (@AuroraOffic_en) September 17, 2018

Since last Monday Aurora has made 180%. FunFair, PowerLedger and Waltonchain are all up 10-13 percent on the day. At the red end of the table for the top one hundred is Mixin getting minced 17% on the day. GAS and Theta Token are also dropping 7-8 percent over the past 24 hours.

There has been very little change in total crypto market capitalization over the weekend. From a climb to over $204 billion a few hours ago it has dropped back to just over $201 billion which is a fraction below yesterday’s levels. Trade volume is currently low also at just over $10 billion.

FOMO Moments is a section that takes a daily look at the top 20 altcoins during the current trading session and analyses the best performing ones, looking for trends and possible fundamentals.

The post Cryptocurrency Market Update: Crypto Capitalization Holding $200 Billion appeared first on NewsBTC.

In the not-so-distant future, it is likely that humans will have permanent outposts on the Moon, Mars, and eventually other planets and moons in our solar system. Bitcoin will be the obvious choice of currency for the space age, since it will be the only form of money that can truly be transferred from planet to planet without hassle. This article will speculate on how Bitcoin would work in space.

Assuming internet connectivity in space, both fiat payment networks and Bitcoin would work. Fiat would only be able to compete in digital form, otherwise it makes far more sense to use Bitcoin since it doesn’t have a physical form and it won’t cost much to send. Compare this to something physical like cash, which costs USD 5,000 to USD 10,000 per pound for it to launch into Earth orbit, and probably even more to leave Earth orbit. A USD 20 bill weighs 1 gram, and would cost USD 11 to USD 22 to launch into Earth orbit.

Likewise, precious metals would be too heavy to launch into space, launch costs even for gold would cost 50% of the value of gold. It is possible that precious metals mining will occur on other planets though, and they will likely be part of the monetary system on some planets during the space age. They can’t be sent planet to planet efficiently though, so Bitcoin would be the optimal candidate for running the interplanetary financial system.

A really important aspect of Bitcoin is that it is a completely digital currency, decentralized, and cryptographically secure, so if someone receives Bitcoins in space they truly have control of the Bitcoins. This is far preferable to sending fiat digital payments, where the fiat balance represents cash stored in a far away inaccessible bank. It would probably often cost more to go to the bank than the average person’s life savings.

In the future when nations begin to form in space and there are disputes between them, depending on money stored in a bank on another planet could lead to a complete loss of access if war erupts. In general, people in space would be helpless to stop any actions by banks and governments to seize money.

Another way to look at this is Bitcoin’s decentralization that provides complete freedom for each individual and country in space to control money as they wish, versus depending on a centralized fiat system which can take away their monetary freedom at any moment. Running out of money in space could mean certain death, so using Bitcoin, which guarantees money is secure for each individual that has Bitcoins, is a way to guarantee survival.

There is a major barrier for Bitcoin working in space, however, as of now there is no interplanetary internet. There were plans to launch a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter to create an internet link between Earth and Mars, but that was scrapped. However, once there are actually people on Mars it can probably be assumed that such technology will be deployed. Interplanetary internet will have to have fast enough download speeds so people on other planets can stay synced with the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin would have to become more efficient and use the least data possible for interplanetary Bitcoin transactions to be feasible; increasing block size or block frequency for scalability purposes on Earth ignores the bigger picture of scaling to space. Instead, Bitcoin will need to focus on smaller blocks and lower block frequency, and transactions which use less data.

Another major barrier is the laws of physics. The speed of light is 300 million m/s, and data cannot be transferred faster than that under those circumstances. This means data transferred to other planets, such as Bitcoin transactions, will have a physical delay due to the speed of light. The circumference of the Earth is 40 million meters, so it takes no longer than 0.13 seconds for a Bitcoin transaction sent on one side of the globe to reach the other side of the globe.

From Earth, it would take a Bitcoin transaction 4.3 minutes to reach Mars. It gets much longer to send a Bitcoin transaction to Jupiter or its many moons – nearly 35 minutes. The moons of Jupiter will likely be a hotbed for human civilization in the space age, and Bitcoin transactions will be possible from Earth to the moons of Jupiter, if quite slow. It would also require extremely strong interplanetary internet and this might not even be feasible. The moons of Saturn could be another concentration of human civilization, especially Titan, which is rich in hydrocarbon fuels and has an atmosphere, but it would take 71 minutes for a Bitcoin transaction to go from Earth to Saturn, if that’s even possible.

NASA has certainly sent out probes to Saturn and even beyond Pluto in the case of New Horizons and the Voyagers, and they can communicate with them using extremely powerful radio antennas. Maybe a protocol for sending Bitcoin with these radio antennas can be developed, but would it even make sense? Someone that far away in the solar system would need an equally powerful antenna any time they did a Bitcoin transaction and this would be too arduous and be extremely slow, and probably costly energy wise.

Perhaps for the Moon and Mars, satellites in Earth orbit, and maybe Venus, Earth’s version of Bitcoin could be successfully used with sufficient interplanetary internet. However, for other planets like Jupiter, Saturn and beyond, one solution would be to fork Bitcoin and make Jupiter Bitcoin, Saturn Bitcoin, Neptune Bitcoin, so on and so forth. The internet would work fine around each planet once colonization occurs and work just as fast as Earth’s, but connecting Bitcoin networks between planets more than 1 Astronomical Unit away from each other, the distance between the Sun and Earth, probably doesn’t make sense.

As far as Bitcoin mining is concerned, it would not be possible for Bitcoin mining to work on any planet besides Earth, or any other planet or moon which manages to obtain the large majority of hashing power. If a Bitcoin miner on Mars finds a block, due to the delay between the Mars and Earth, it is likely that most of the time someone on Earth will find the same block during that lag time, and the block on Mars would be orphaned. At further distances, mining Bitcoin on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn could easily lead to dangerous forks that could last more than an hour and might cause losses of money.

Follow BitcoinNews.com on Twitter: @bitcoinnewscom

Telegram Alerts from BitcoinNews.com: https://t.me/bconews

Want to advertise or get published on BitcoinNews.com? – View our Media Kit PDF here.

Image Courtesy: Pixabay

The post Bitcoin an Obvious Currency for the Space Age? appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.