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Dutch Bank Flustered Over the Amount of Electricity Bitcoin Consumes

2017-10-18T11:06:00.000+01:00

Dutch bank ING is flustered over the fact bitcoin consumes so much energy. Recently, the bank released a report saying bitcoin transactions consume as much electricity as a house does in a month. They seem to believe this is problematic, since traditional electronic payment methods do not use near as much energy, according to the bank. They went on to say fiat cash will still be how people get paid and pay taxes.

An ING senior economist, Teunis Brosens, explained why power usage is so high. “By making sure that verifying transactions is a costly business, the integrity of the network can be preserved as long as benevolent nodes control a majority of computing power.”

The economist then went on to compare bitcoin energy consumption to his household appliances. A Business Insider article captured his thoughts:

This number needs some context. 200 kWh is enough to run over 200 washing cycles. In fact, it’s enough to run my entire home over four weeks, which consumes about 45 kWh per week costing €39 of electricity (at current Dutch consumer prices).

Trusted Third Parties Equals Less Energy Consumption

The ING banker went on to mention that bitcoin’s energy usage model stands in “stark contrast” with legacy financial systems’ energy consumption. He said bitcoin consumes an “exponentially larger” amount of energy. The banker made it seem as if Bitcoin were going to drain all the world of electricity if people do not continue to use the old, “trusted” payment gateways.

The Business Insider article provided the banker’s quote: “Bitcoin’s energy costs stand in stark contrast to payment systems that have the luxury of working with, trusted counterparties. E.g. Visa takes about 0.01kWh (10Wh) per transaction which is 20,000 times less energy.”

Fiat Money is Here to Stay, Say the Bankers

The ING banker concluded by saying that fiat money is here to stay. People will still continue getting their salaries paid in fiat, and they will continue paying tax in fiat. The banker seemed to imply that innovation was unnecessary and legacy financial systems were here to stay, because government and central banks said so. It will be interesting to see what people think about the energy consumption of bitcoin compared to legacy system electricity usage.

Do you agree with the bankers? Does bitcoin power consumption cause a problem? Should people rely on centralized, trusted third parties since energy consumption is so high? Let us know in the comments section below.

At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup 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.

Source : News Bitcoin

Stay Vigilant When Looking at ICOs

2017-10-18T10:52:00.000+01:00

Recently, I was encouraged to write an article going over some of the ways to stay safe while buying, selling, and owning cryptocurrencies. This seems especially relevant in the current climate in which numerous ICOs are out there vying for new investor money. While we have written on topics like this before, it is important to both educate newcomers and remind veterans.

Stay Vigilant — Only You Can Protect Your Coins

Ultimately, the onus of staying safe in any market — crypto or traditional — rests solely on the investor. That being said, here are some of the things I look for when determining the validity of an investment opportunity.

Check Out Its Whitepaper

This should be a pretty obvious one for anyone who has even heard of ICOs. While most projects have them — and if they don’t, be very suspicious — not all whitepapers are the same. Just because a project has one does not mean that it was 1) well thought out or 2) even aligned with the goals of the project.

I realize these can be a little long sometimes, but it is imperative that investors understand what they are putting their money into. Take the time, do your homework, read the whitepaper, and be able to explain it well to someone else before ever considering throwing any amount of money at it.

Check out its Website and Social Accounts

Another obvious aspect to explore is the quality and security of the ICO’s website. It doesn’t need to have the most amazing design or user experience, but make sure the team has put in the work and that they have SSL certification or some other form of security certificate on their site. While design and security do not guarantee the project’s validity, they can be a good way to gauge its overall seriousness.

Most projects should have some sort of a social media or community manager keeping their various web presences healthy. Check those out, pose some questions, or just interact with them. This could be another way of determining how serious the project is.

Check out who (if anyone) Supports it

I say this with an important caveat: not all endorsements mean much and not all projects without endorsements are worthless — with Bitcoin being an obvious example of the latter. However, if you see big names in the blockchain space supporting something, it may give it more clout than support from Paris Hilton or someone else not affiliated with the space.

For The Love of Whatever You Hold Dear, Check Out if its Code has Been Audited

Remember the DAO? Of course you do; we all do. Auditing helps avoid future DAO-like fiascos, but cannot guarantee success. ICO projects should be audited multiple times by well-respected security researchers. If you don’t know the names of the researchers, look them up, and check them out. Who a project chooses for its audits speaks volumes about how much they respect their own project.

These are just a few of the things that I do before making a decision on how legitimate a given project is; it is not an exhaustive list. Remember: This is not investment or trading advice; you should always conduct your own independent research.

Source : TheMerkle

Former Bitmain Chip Designer Seeks to Revoke Mining Giant's Patent

2017-10-18T10:42:00.000+01:00

Bitcoin's most controversial mining firm, Bitmain, is under threat of having a key chip patent revoked.

Forcing a review of the patent is an ex-employee of the China-based mining giant: former director of design Yang Zuoxing, who has now founded a rival mining firm called Bitewei.

According to documents reviewed and confirmed, the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) is proceeding with a review that could determine if Bitmain can protect its current market dominance under the shield of the patent claim.

Based on SIPO's data, Bitmain filed a patent application for "Serial power supply circuit, virtual digital coin mining machine and computer server" in July 2015, which was authorized on March 30, 2016.

According to the document, the technology provides higher efficiency for cryptocurrency mining chips, reducing electricity consumption and cost. The feature is said to significantly extend the life of miners, potentially resulting in far higher returns from mining activities.

With its patent-backed products, Bitmain is now a dominant force in bitcoin mining. Apart from supplying chips to individual miners and mining pools, Bitmain also runs the mining pool Antpool, which accounts for 20.3 percent of the global bitcoin hash power.

Tit-for-tat battle

Yet, based on the patent law in China, any organization or individual that disagrees with a certain patent authorization can file an application to revoke it, if they provide evidence for their claim. In his review application, Yang claimed that the serial power supply circuit has long been in use and is widely and publicly documented.

While the authority does not specify a timeline when a decision will be made, Yang expects to hear from SIPO in about three months.

He told CoinDesk:

"If [SIPO] stand by the previous decision, we may need to appeal and file more applications to revoke with different evidence."

Yet, Yang did not bring up the procedure voluntarily, he indicated. Instead, it is a countermove made in response to a lawsuit filed by Bitmain against him, claiming patent infringement.

A graduate of Tsinghua University with a doctorate in Engineering Physics, Yang's career has focused on chip design, with over a decade working for several hardware companies in China, and authoring over 20 patents authorized by SIPO.

From 2015 to 2016, he served as Bitmain's director of design, during which time the Bitmain patent was filed and authorized. While his name was not among the group of patent inventors, Yang said that he designed the AntMiner S7 and S9, the two popular bitcoin mining chips manufactured and supplied by Bitmain.

After his departure from the firm, Yang started his own company Bitewei, based in Shenzhen, which manufactures the Whatsminer and also uses the serial power supply circuit to lower electricity consumption.

Bitmain subsequently sued Bitewei for infringing its patent right. According to Yang, Bitmain initially asked for ¥26 billion ($3.8 billion), but later changed the claim to ¥2.6 million ($380,000) as per the court's requirement.

When contacted, Bitmain did not respond to inquiries for comments on the lawsuit or the application for revoking its patent.

Source: Coindesk

Bernanke at Ripple Event: Blockchain Has 'Obvious' Benefits in Payments

2017-10-18T10:22:00.000+01:00

Former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is bullish on blockchain.

Speaking at Ripple's Swell conference in Toronto today, being held the same week and in the same city as Sibos, the annual gathering hosted by Ripple's rival Swift, Bernanke told a room of several hundred attendees that he believes payments can be slow and expensive as designed using existing tools today.

Bernanke, who led the U.S. central bank during the 2008 financial crisis, outlined the complicated process it would take for a bank in Germany to send a payment to a bank in the U.S., before saying:

"It's an obvious area where new technologies like blockchain or these electronic currencies can be used to improve the process."

Bernanke, now a distinguished fellow in residence at the Brookings Institute, called out Ripple by name, saying that he's read about the company's work and thinks that any effort in payments to reduce cost, improve accuracy, speed and reliability and "bring the global economy closer together" is a good thing.

While the conversation mostly focused on monetary policy, Bernanke was asked to comment more on cryptocurrency and blockchain during the question-and-answer session, and his responses should come as no surprise as he gave bitcoin both muted praise and criticism as far back as 2015.

Echoing those past statements, Bernanke said, "bitcoin is meant to be an attempt to replace fiat currencies and evade government regulation and government intervention."

And that attempt, he contends, won't succeed because governments won't allow it. "When bitcoin becomes a threat they'll take whatever action" deemed necessary to quash it, he said.

Unlike bitcoin, which works against regulators, he continued, blockchain businesses that collaborate with governments will likely see more momentum in terms of innovating on the payments system. Central banks around the world (including in Singapore, theU.K. and Europe) have taken more of an interest in blockchain technology recently, trying to figure out how it might create efficiencies within their systems.

Case in point: earlier this month, senior vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Jim Cunha said blockchain and other fintech startups would be pushing incumbent financial institutions and middlemen to be more innovative in their approach.

When asked if bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies and blockchain might affect monetary policy, Bernanke said he doesn't see that happening.

Bernanke said:

"It could be a lack of imagination, but I don't think monetary policy has changed that much. [Central banks] are supportive of these new technologies because they'll improve the payment system ... but it won't affect the ability of the Fed to require a certain amount of reserves of affect interest rates."

Source: Coindesk

JPMorgan Launches Interbank Payments Platform on Quorum Blockchain

2017-10-18T10:08:00.002+01:00

Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan Chase is launching a new interbank payments platform powered by blockchain, the firm announced today.

With the participation of two other banks – Australia-based ANZ and the Royal Bank of Canada (Australia) – the Interbank Information Network (IIN) will be built on Quorum, the ethereum-based blockchain network first unveiled last fall. Additional institutions are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, with a specific focus on the correspondent banking market.

Emma Loftus, head of global payments and foreign exchange for JPMorgan Treasury Services, said in a statement:

"IIN will enhance the client experience, decreasing the amount of time – from weeks to hours – and costs associated with resolving payment delays. Blockchain capabilities have allowed us to rethink how critical information can be sourced and exchanged between global banks."

It's a notable application for the bank, given that its treasury services clear trillions of dollars in transactions per day. Previous reports, including a February 2016 story from the Wall Street Journal, indicated that cross-border payments had emerged as a key use case area for the bank.

And in spite of its CEO's anti-bitcoin stance, the cryptocurrency's underlying tech has been an area of growing focus for the bank in the past year, as seen in its work with Quorum as well as initiatives like the Hyperledger Project and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.

Source: Coindesk

Priced In? Ether Sees Cautious Boost as Blockchain Upgrade Underway

2017-10-18T10:02:00.001+01:00

Ether prices rose to a six-week high of $350 today as ethereum, the second largest blockchain by total value, appears to have successfully executed a widely anticipated software upgrade.

The first part of a larger technology update called "Metropolis," the "Byzantium" code was enacted this morning Eastern Standard Time with minimal contention as anticipated by developers. For now, this means ether's price has put a serious headwind behind it – the next so-called hard fork, a risky software upgrade that opens up the possibility new blockchains will be created, isn't expected until 2018.

In response, the ether-US dollar (ETH/USD) exchange rate surged in value in the run-up to the event.

Prices rose from $298 to $345 on Oct. 13 reportedly due to a high degree of confidence among investors, though the record rally in bitcoin could have pulled ether prices higher as well.

At press time, however, indications are the upgrade is unlikely to be winning new market interest. Despite the smooth implementation, ether prices are struggling to break above $350 levels. The loss of bullish momentum indicates the market may have priced-in the implementation.

Furthermore, ETH bulls might be staying on the sidelines in search of more evidence the software has achieved stability.

Still, the price action analysis favors upside in ether. At press time, ether is trading at $342; up 5.5% in the last 24 hours. Week-on-week, the cryptocurrency is up 13.15%, while month-on-month, it is up 30%.

Dayli Chart

The chart shows:

Dip demand: Sunday's candle had a long lower body (also known as lower shadow or wick). Prices usually move in the opposite direction after a long wick makes an appearance. No wonder, ether rose to $350 levels today.

Bullish break of the sideways channel.

Bullish 14-day relative strength index.

View

The outlook remains constructive – it may be only a matter of time before ether breaks above $350 and extends the rally to $370-380 levels.

On the downside, only an end of the day close below $320 (previous day's low) would abort the bullish view on the daily chart.

Source: Coindesk

Bank of America Report: Bitcoin's True Value 'Impossible to Assess'

2017-10-18T09:51:00.000+01:00

A potential move by global brokerages to offer products around cryptocurrencies could have a big impact on the wider market, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote.

In an Oct. 16 research note entitled "Introducing cryptocurrencies – what are they good for?", the analysts tackle bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies such as ethereum and XRP. The note both covers the basics of the market and dives more specifically into the growing galaxy of open blockchain networks in operation today.

Notably, the report touches on the possible factors that could shape the cryptocurrency market's future progression – including financial products based on the tech.

On this point, the bank's analysts suggest that a move by brokerages to begin offering such services to their clients could affect both the overall liquidity of the market as well as the market capitalization for the relevant cryptocurrencies.

"The coin universe is dynamic and innovative and volatile; while a true value for cryptocurrencies may be impossible to assess, one factor which we believe could affect their liquidity and market capitalisation would be if one or more global broker/dealers decided to offer institutional-like products," they wrote.

The past year has seen a number of high-profile efforts to build cryptocurrency-tied investment products, and firms like CBOE have described plans to take part in what is still a nascent ecosystem. Even so, regulators in the U.S. have reacted coolly to such proposals thus far.

And according to the Bank of America analysts, it remains far from certain how the market will develop in the months to come.

"At present, these impacts are too far off, and too unpredictable, to form part of an estimate or an investment recommendation," they wrote.

Source : Coindesk

Crypto Mining Makes Millions for Gold Mining Maverick

2017-10-17T01:12:00.000+01:00

Frank Giustra, a well regarded Canadian mining magnate who created one of the world’s most successful mining companies is now moving his operation digitally to mine Cryptocurrency.

Giustra has backed a Blockchain technology company called Hive Blockchain Technologies, which is among the first publicly traded stocks to provide exposure to crypto mining, and for Giustra, he is seeing huge returns.

Six fold returns

The mining mogul has seen rapid growth since entering the Bitcoin market, backing Hive which was previously known as Leeta Gold Corp.

The decision to dig for data servers has paid off as Hive’s shares have soared about 633 percent, giving it a market value of $443 mln since it took over the listing.

Giustra’s foray into the crypto space has been a successful one as he has help drive Hive to be one of the pioneers in terms of a listed crypto mining company.

Hive paid Hong Kong-based Genesis Mining, builder of the world’s largest Ether mining facility, $9 mln and gave it a 30 percent stake to acquire a new data center in Reykjanes, Iceland.

Major mining operation

Hive’s mandate is to expand into other colder countries, such as Iceland and Sweden, in order to mine different coins and amass an inventory which they hope will appreciate. It is with the help of Giustra that they hope to achieve this.

Giustra helped build the company that would become Goldcorp Inc., then founded film studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. He counts Bill Clinton and George Soros among his close connections. Those connections may position him to grasp a nascent corner of finance and navigate Bitcoin’s uncertain regulatory waters.

Still a niche market

Despite the visible success seen from Giustra, companies like Hive are still very much in the minority, and while their pioneering moves are believed to make the market more open and available, there are still those who believed it is niche.

“I suspect the vast majority of accounts aren’t contemplating an investment in virtual currencies right now,” said Jeff Klingelhofer, managing director of Thornburg InvestmentManagement Inc.

Source : Cointelegraph

IBM Blockchain Payments To Use Stellar In Major Partnership Deal

2017-10-17T01:00:00.000+01:00

IBM and payments network KlickEx have announced Stellar as the backbone of its new “cross-border payments solution.”

In what it describes as the first use of public Blockchain technology “being used in production to facilitate cross-border payments in multiple integrated currency corridors,” IBM is already convening a group of big banking partners to further the initiative.

“Currently, cross-border payments take up to several days to clear,” Stellar co-founder Jed McCaleb said in an accompanying blog post.

“This new implementation is poised to affect a profound change in the South Pacific region, and once fully scaled by IBM and its banking partners, could potentially change the way money is moved around the world.”

KlickEx already has an extant payments network operating in Southeast Asia from its base in New Zealand.

Now, a group of “diverse banking leaders” will assist in the”development and deployment process” of the Blockchain-backed solution, which is already in active use, IBM states.

The move sees a significant implementation for Stellar within the global financial framework of legacy institutions, putting it alongside Ripple as one of the principal entities in Blockchain-based institutional settlements.

This caps a year of outreach initiatives, with marketing ploys such as a grants program and the release of the Lightyear spin-off hoping to attract wider attention and participation from investors.

Source : Cointelegraph

Bitcoin SegWit2x Hard Fork Benefits Not Visible: Bruce Fenton

2017-10-17T00:46:00.001+01:00

Bitcoin Foundation executive director Bruce Fenton has become the latest high-profile Bitcoin personality to criticize SegWit2x.

In comments on Twitter Sunday, Fenton triggered responses from other well-known Bitcoin industry and community figures after he wrote that he “didn’t see the benefit” of the hard fork.

“What's the end goal? Switching dev teams alone?” he asked. “What makes it worth it? ROI?”

SegWit2x’s imminent activation has led to increasingly hostile rhetoric from supporters of Bitcoin Core, who frequently suggest the fork is an attempt to unseat its developers as a “hostile takeover.”

Fenton stopped short of stating outright SegWit2x would be hostile to Bitcoin, instead appearing to reinforce the futility of the operation.

“If the goal is to simply to honor agreements then people shouldn't have made those agreements to begin with,” he added in a further tweet.

Reacting, others could not agree on whether the goal of November’s fork was to switch development teams.

“I don't think goal is to switch, but to coerce Core to adopt block size increase,” BitGo engineer Jameson Lopp wrote, while entrepreneur Tuur Demeester conversely stated his opinion to the contrary.

Despite the supposed threat posed to Bitcoin network stability, prices have increased in the run-up to the fork’s November 18 deadline.

Meanwhile, the fifth hard fork of Ethereum occurred problem-free over the weekend, with prices rising towards $350.

Source : Cointelegraph

Ethereum's Byzantium Hard Fork Is Running Smoothly, Developers Say

2017-10-17T00:24:00.000+01:00

While it's still perhaps too early to deem ethereum's Byzantium upgrade a success, developers indicate the software update, is running smoothly so far.

An official release manager for Byzantium, Hudson Johnston, noted that the new software is now stable, and steadily rolling out across the distributed network, a fact he said can be attributed to "the hard work (of) developers, users and miners across the ethereum ecosystem."

But while the impact on ethereum's infrastructure will be substantial, it looks like the network is undergoing an adjustment period. Currently, some blocks are being mined in as little as 1 second, though others are dragging out to nearly a minute – substantially longer than the long-time average of 25 seconds per block.

Further, blocks are filling with relatively high numbers of transactions. That's good news for scalability, as ethereum can, in theory, continue to grow without slowing down the network.

According to the ethereum forktracker, mining on the old blockchain with the older ruleset has ceased. This is also positive news for ethereum, as it means a relatively low chance that a competing currency will be introduced, as happened last summer when a split produced the rival asset, ethereum classic.

That said, according to ethereum developer Afri Schoedon, there's still a chance that someone is mining the old blockchain, but probably at very high cost.

In the days prior to the fork, developers and node operators (such as mining pools) were given some last-minute toil, as faults found in Byzantium software led to continuous re-releases. The issues saw ethereum developers working around the clock to get the corrected software out on time, and node operators working over the weekend to install the updated software.

At press time, a high proportion of nodes are yet to install the Byzantium update, though the figures are slowly changing and an ongoing trickle of nodes is arriving to the hard fork fashionably late.

Although the price per dollar of ether dropped somewhat in the run-up to the fork, prices peaked close to the monthly high of $350 immediately after, according CoinMarketCap. At press time, ether prices have dropped back to $337 – the same level seen immediately prior to the fork.

Source: Coindesk

Hours to Go: How to Watch Ethereum's Fork as It Happens

2017-10-17T00:11:00.000+01:00

With $30 billion on the line, all eyes are likely to be on ethereum tomorrow as it seeks to navigate one of its biggest-ever updates.

Will all software users upgrade to the updated blockchain? Or will a new, competing token be created? That's exactly what the market is watching and waiting to see when etheruem hits block 4,370,000, scheduled to occur tomorrow at around 6:00 UTC at press time.

The first part of a larger, multi-part upgrade, the so-called "Byzantium" code will make the blockchain lighter and faster, paving the way for better decentralized applications (dapps), while also enhancing network privacy.

New features aside, however, ethereum developers are mostly optimistic about the upgrade. Although developers on the most popular clients have had to iron out a pair of bugs in the days leading up to change, there's confidence that the upgrade will be smooth.

New and seasoned investors won't likely want to take others' word for it, however. So, if you're eager to see for yourself, here's how to monitor the update in real time:

Fork countdown

Adding uncertainty to hard forks is their reliance on block numbers as a way to signal upgrades. Simply put, rather than have everyone change their software at a specific time, users rely on the numbered blocks in the blockchain itself as a means of coordinating.

Because of this, no one knows exactly when the hard fork will take place. Yet, that doesn't mean there's no way to keep an eye out.

To track when this block number will be hit, Singapore-based smart contract company CodeTract has released a fork countdown, showing how many blocks remain and roughly, how much time is left until the fork occurs.

By current projections, the hard fork looks like it will execute on early Monday.

Mining hashrate

Once the fork happens, users will want to track how much of the ethereum ecosystem moves over, and how quickly they do so.

This is a key metric to track. As long as miners are mining on the old version of ethereum, it will remain operational (and valuable). If that persists for long enough, it could lead to a split (although ethereum developers think this is unlikely due to specifics in the code).

Developers aren't going in blind either – already, the Byzantium code has undergone testing to give an idea of how the fork would play out. For example, earlier this week, all minerson a test version of the network made the migration, a small (but encouraging) sign of what to expect.

The best way to watch this is on the Ethereum Foundation's website, which will show what percentage of ethereum miners that have moved over to the new blockchain when the fork happens.

Nodes

But, miners are not the only stakeholders in ethereum who need to upgrade; developers, users and companies running nodes, which store a full copy of the ledger, also need to download new software or risk falling behind.

Ether Nodes tracks how many node operators are running clients compatible with Byzantium.

Geth, the most popular ethereum client, released fork-ready software in version 1.7.2. And Parity, the second most popular client, released 1.7.6, which is compatible and fixes some consensus bugs.

Right now, 60 percent of Geth nodes and 27 percent of Parity nodes have upgraded to a hard fork-compatible version. With under a day left before the fork, most node operators still need to upgrade.

Price

Of course, there may be more immediate reasons you're worried about a split.

If money's on the mind, you can always be sure to monitor the price of ether. For that, you can turn to our ethereum price page, which will update in real time as the fork happens.

Source: Coindesk

Can Blockchain Technology Challenge YouTube, Netflix?

2017-10-16T00:51:00.000+01:00

Online video content is already a huge industry. Giants like YouTube have effectively controlled the marketplace to such a large degree that they have become ubiquitous for content consumption globally.

While these massive corporate giants have created platforms that allow users access to a wide swath of streaming video content, some cracks in the business model have started to show up.

Companies like YouTube are being called to task because they have been able to monetize creator content without paying the actual creator anything but ad revenue. While YouTube profits on the content that is uploaded, the actual creative genius behind the content is kept at arm’s length, and forced to essentially sell advertising for the platform in order to make money.

“There are no assurances that creators will make money out of their content - even if these go viral. This is, unless they have a specific monetization mechanism in place. However, these services benefit from everything users generate.”

And companies like Netflix are being critiqued for their general content control, keeping users from watching what they want. Available content is currently tightly controlled by the video streaming platform. Companies like Netflix have almost authoritarian control, keeping users within the confines of a limited supply of videos to stream. The monthly service charges also means that the company is paid regardless of how much content users consume. A user who watches one video a month is charged the same as a user that watches 100.

Blockchain for creators

Blockchain technology seems to have the answers, according to a recent article in Forbes. The distributed ledger platform allows users the chance to upload and then monetize content individually, without paying a centralized corporate hub. According to the author:

"Video marketplace StreamSpace is one platform challenging video on demand and advertising-driven streaming services by allowing filmmakers the ability to sell their works directly through Blockchain. Another is Flixxo that combines Blockchain and torrent technology to create a video sharing platform with a revenue sharing model for its community.”

By building a peer-to-peer access network and monetizing content within the platforms, these companies are using Blockchain technology to move funds back into the hands of the creators and users.

User freedom

Decentralized platforms allow users more freedom as well. Because the decentralized platform gives users choice, they are able to remove things that have become almost commonplace in the video streaming world like ads before, during, and after the video.

Further, users have autonomy over what data they want to watch. Anything that is created and uploaded can be consumed, without the oversight of a centralized platform like Netflix.

In a decentralized peer to peer platform, users also would have the ability to contribute to creators they appreciate or whose work they like. This provides a level of interconnectivity not available on centralized and profit-centered platforms like YouTube.

Increasing user freedom and better monetization options for content creators will certainly drive many out of the YouTube world and into distributed platforms. However, whether Blockchain technology will change the online video streaming world or not, the value of the decentralized system should be clear. Both creators and users will find new and improving ways to access and share content.

Source: Cointelegraph

World Bank President: Everyone Is Excited About Blockchain, Not Bitcoin

2017-10-16T00:37:00.001+01:00

The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, was bullish about Blockchaintechnology when he spoke with CNBC during an interview. However, while expressing his positive views of the technology, he was quick to point out that there are risks when it comes to Blockchain technology derivatives like Bitcoin. When asked if the Blockchain based currencies were viable, he said:

"Blockchain technology is something that everyone is excited about, but we have to remember that Bitcoin is one of the very few instances [of Blockchain’s use in currency]. And the other times when Blockchain was used they were basically Ponzi schemes, so it’s very important that if we go forward with it, we're sure that it’s not going to be used to exploit.”

The World Bank functions as a lending house for national governments in order to provide needed capital. The institution has already been considering Blockchain technology solutions for some time, particularly in areas of financial transparency.

As the interview progressed, Kim’s views on Bitcoin became more clear, as he compared it with Chinese giant Alibaba, in terms of the speed and accuracy of transactions. He commented that with Alibaba, a transaction of $160,000 takes just ‘three seconds’ and that the company was able to assess the creditworthiness of the transaction in that amount of time. The implication being that Bitcoin is unnecessary when legacy models can do similar things.

Source: Cointelegraph

Delaware Judge Throws Out Case Against Blockchain-Based Payment Network Ripple

2017-10-16T00:27:00.000+01:00

In an apparent victory for the Blockchain-based payment network Ripple, a Delaware judge ruled in their favor regarding the recent lawsuit over R3 consortium’s wish to force the company to make good on a contract to buy a huge volume of XRP. The news broke via Ripple’s Twitter account:

R3, the ‘Blockchain-inspired’ startup servicing banks and financial institutions, maintains that Ripple Labs has violated a prior purchase agreement for XRP tokens between the two companies.

Califonia next

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, started the Twitter feud, indicating that the judge in the Delaware lawsuit had ruled to ‘throw out’ the case. However, after further information came to light, the judge had issued a verbal ruling regarding Delaware’s jurisdiction over the matter. The lawsuit will proceed, however, in California and New York.

The case, according to others, will continue in California and New York. R3 is suing Ripple for specific performance of an option agreement in which Ripple agreed to sell up to five bln XRPs for a price of $.0085. Ripple has countersued, claiming that R3 reneged on a number of contractual promises, and is simply acting in a spirit of opportunism, after the cryptocurrency soared more than 30 times over.

Source: Cointelegraph

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: Bitcoin For Money Launderers Only

2017-10-16T00:17:00.000+01:00

BlackRock CEO, Larry Fink, has recently adjusted his perspective on Bitcoin, stating that the cryptocurrency is just a money laundering scheme. Fink had previously made some relatively positive comments about Bitcoin, but has shifted his position.

The head man at the largest asset management firm in the world spoke out against Bitcoin during the same Institute of International Finance panel discussion in which Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin buyers ‘stupid.’ Fink said:

"Bitcoin just shows you how much demand for money laundering there is in the world. That’s all it is. It’s an index of money laundering.”

The comments were met with chuckles from the crowd, even as Fink looked at Dimon as he spoke.

These recent comments indicate the substantial divide there is in Wall Street between industry leaders like Tommy Lee at Fundstrat and others, who have supported Bitcoin as an asset, and Dimon and others who have denigrated it.

Source: Cointelegraph

Ethereum Developers Find Geth Bug as Hard Fork Nears

2017-10-16T00:06:00.000+01:00

The discovery of a denial-of-service (DoS) attack vulnerability led the developers of ethereum's Geth software to release a new version just days before the Byzantium hard fork.

On finding the bug, the team behind ethereum's most popular client published a newsoftware release, yet data from blockchain analytics site Ether Nodes shows a relatively low rate – only 1.9 percent of Geth nodes – of adoption at press time.

With Geth comprising about 75 percent of all ethereum nodes, the vulnerability could leave nodes running the previous Byzantium-compatible release more susceptible to DoS attacks after the hard fork.

Explained by ethereum developer Casey Detrio on Reddit, the vulnerability stems from an oversight in one of the new Byzantium features. The risk is that this bug could be exploited by an attacker who wants to take ethereum nodes offline – a form of attack that the ethereum community has dealt with in the past.

Bug fixes have been coming from other ethereum node software groups ahead of next week's planned fork as well.

Yesterday, the team behind Parity, ethereum's second largest software client, issued a new release of its software (the fourth iteration) that corrected a "consensus bug" – an error which could have caused the network to partition during the hard fork. Currently, less than 20 percent of Parity nodes have updated to the new release, according to Ether Nodes.

Hard forks are hard

The issues unearthed by the tests have been of an unexpected severity, leading some ethereum developers to question their approach to the hard fork release process.

Internal discussions are also underway about the possibility of postponing Byzantium, but this approach also poses risks. This strategy would require all nodes to update their software so that the software change is triggered at a later time – a complicated prospect with such little time before the fork.

Indeed, the Parity team tweeted out that, in their view, the fork should be delayed given the recently discovered issues.

Detrio explained that "updating is not necessarily a quick and easy process for users with extensive infrastructure," such as exchanges or mining pools, and requires ample time to be done correctly.

He added:

"The second concern is that there may be more undiscovered consensus bugs that could be found after the activation block, which would then result in needing to perform emergency client updates."

Source : CoinDesk

State Bank of Mauritius Launches Lending Pilot With Blockchain Startup

2017-10-15T23:52:00.000+01:00

A commercial bank in Mauritius has inked a deal with blockchain lending startup SALT to test the use of digital assets as collateral for loans.

The "exploratory" deal between the State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) and SALT, which offers a platform allowing users to borrow against their cryptocurrency holdings, will see the bank testing that specific application.

The development represents the latest step in a wider effort to make Mauritius – an island nation in the Indian Ocean with an estimated population of 1.2 million people – a hub for blockchain startups. That goal, advanced by local officials this past spring, was echoed in statements from the bank.

K.C. Li Kwong Wing, chairman of the SBM Group, said of the partnership:

"This relationship will go a long way toward achieving our nation's goal of becoming a hub for outstanding blockchain companies and fostering financial inclusion."

Notably, the chairman indicated that the bank was interested in potentially forming part of the startup's lending services, which could see SBM providing financing for the platform. That said, discussions on that particular point appear to be in the early stages.

"We are keen to explore providing banking services to this innovative company," he said.

As part of the Mauritian government's plans to develop the island as a blockchain center, representatives from ethereum startup ConsenSys visited the nation over the summer to meet with members of both the public and private sector. The ultimate aim of the exploratory talks was to create a so-called "Ethereum Island" to assist blockchain innovators seeking to branch out into Africa, Asia and elsewhere.

Source : CoinDesk

Dimon Breaks Vow : "Bitcoin Buyers Will Pay the Price"

2017-10-15T02:11:00.003+01:00

Jamie Dimon is back on the bitcoin commentary bandwagon.

Just a day after declaring on a third-quarter earnings call that he would refrain commenting on the cryptocurrency, the JPMorgan Chase CEO offered a critical take on those investing in bitcoin.

"If you're stupid enough to buy it, you'll pay the price for it one day," he said today at an event hosted by the Institute of International Finance, according to a report from CNBC. During the event, he reportedly voiced support for the cryptocurrency's underlying technology – an area in which the WallStreet bank has undertaken a number of notable efforts, including the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.

Per CNBC, Dimon also reportedly said that he "could care less about what [price] bitcoin trades at."

A report from Bloomberg includes additional details about Dimon's latest comments. He reportedly said that bitcoin is "great" for criminals, and that – in a refrain from yesterday – that it would be the last time he would comment on the subject.

"Who cares about bitcoin?" he was quoted as saying.

The remarks are the latest from Dimon, whose now-infamous comment in September that bitcoin is a "fraud" sparked a wave of commentary about bitcoin itself as well as the wider cryptocurrency market. Other Wall Street figures, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and ex-Fortress billionaire Mike Novogratz, have also weighed in on the topic.

His comments also come on the day that bitcoin's price rose above $5,800 to hit anew all-time high. At press time, the price of bitcoin is trading at about $5,689, according to the Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

Source : CoinDesk

Ethereum Startup ConsenSys Hires IBM, Oracle Execs in Expansion Push

2017-10-15T01:50:00.001+01:00

New York-based ethereum development startup ConsenSys has revealed a number of new hires, including several IBM employees and the former CEO of South Africa's central securities depository (CSD).

ConsenSys announced today that John Wolpert, former global blockchain offering director, will work to advance the startup's product and venture efforts. Monica Singer, who left Strate this summer after working for the CSD since the late 1990s, is set to serve as its "Blockchain Ambassador" with a focus on financial markets.

"I am so happy to have joined such an amazing team," Singer said in an emailed statement.

Wolpert and Singer are among the twenty hires unveiled today. The startup also highlighted the new role for Kavita Gupta, who, as reported last month, is spearheading a $50 million venture fund that ConsenSys plans to use to invest in a range of ethereum-focused startups.

Two other former IBM employees have joined the ConsenSys team. Maggie Love, who previously worked for IBM's Watson Group, will serve as director of strategic initiatives and business development. Johnny Howle was a member of IBM's blockchain team up until August and is now the startup's product designer for uPort, an ethereum-based identity system.

The list of hires includes those coming from a range of companies and organizations that have focused on blockchain in recent months, including professional services firms Deloitte and EY, database giant Oracle and the Chamber of Digital Commerce trade group, among others. Ryan Selkis, CoinDesk's former managing director, will serve as the startup's entrepreneur-in-residence, according to the announcement.

ConsenSys has also beefed up its Australia-based office, naming four new developers to its team.

Source : CoinDesk

Why Banks are so Nervous About Bitcoin

2017-10-13T22:24:00.001+01:00

There was a time where Bitcoin was not even on the radar, it was a novel idea that was primarily used by thieves and drug dealers on the dark web. Nothing to be afraid of in terms of holding a monopoly on money.

However, that same little upstart is now disrupting the system of things; from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, ICOs and the ever impressive Blockchain technology. This is now a legitimate threat on traditional banks.

"Bitcoin’s skyrocketing run in value, as well as adoption and mainstream acceptance, has led to banks - and regulators, getting very nervous and instigating a few knee jerk reactions. These reactions are, however, simply asserting the fact that Bitcoin is a legitimate disruptive threat."

Bitcoin taking on the banks

Regulators are trying to play catch up with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, realising now that it’s not going away. In fact, it is challenging their monetary system which is intrinsically linked to banks, and especially central, government-backed, banks.

China, especially, Russia, recently, Japan and the US have played their hands in varying degrees of harshness in efforts to try and control the decentralized monetary idea.

In fact, traditional centralised, powerful organisations like banks, governments, regulators and technology behemoths are all spending billions in figuring out how to use and control distributed trust technologies.

A powershift

Banks have existed unchallenged for hundreds of years, and that is the key issue here; Bitcoin, backed by a solid platform such as Blockchain technology, is a ghost that is incredibly hard to control due to its decentralized nature.

"John McAfee has been brazen about regulators’ power plays to try and control Bitcoin, saying that they will never be able to ban it."

The power and control of money is being ripped away from traditional institutions, which can also be seen on Wall Street. Some of these traditional investors are siding with what could be the future, while others vehemently denounce it.

Individuals can now enter into direct peer-to-peer trusted exchanges with strangers. They no longer need a central institution to vouch for the other party.

Just like the fax machine, the library, even metered taxis, new technologies have come along and made others obsolete. Banks are now in the sights of Bitcoin and are in their death throws, as they lash out with the power of states behind them.

However, there’s no stopping progress, and even with state-backed regulations trying to wrestle the money of the people under control, banks have every reason to be nervous.

Source : Cointekegraph

Slovenia Prepare to Become A Destination in Europe For Leading Blockchain Technology

2017-10-13T22:07:00.001+01:00

The government of Slovenia has announced that it aims to position the country as the leading destination of Blockchain technology in the European Union (EU). The government is also studying the potential applications of the technology in public administration.

In his speech at the Digital Slovenia 2020 event in mid-October 2017, Prime Minister Miro Cerar stated that the country’s regulatory agencies and ministries are already studying the technology and its potential applications.

"The regulatory bodies and ministries are already studying Blockchain, and the state is participating in activities at European level in the area of the introduction and regulation of this technology. We are also already laying the foundations for the initial pilot testing of the technology in the state administration."

Other Blockchain developments in Slovenia

On October 3, the Slovenian government launched the Blockchain Think Tank as part of the Slovenian Digital Coalition.

The think tank will serve as a point-of-contact between Blockchain developers, industry players, and the government. It will also coordinate the creation of various educational materials on Blockchain with different companies and assist in the drafting of new regulations around the technology.

In his speech, Cerar claimed that the government is extending its full support behind the technology.

"Slovenia as a whole is, therefore, setting itself up as a Blockchain-friendly destination, and to that end it is establishing the pillars of a national Blockchain ecosystem in the area of the transfer and spread of information, the adoption of legal regulations and the promotion of a supportive environment for the development of companies working in the area of Blockchain technology.”

Meanwhile, the Slovenian Financial Stability Board has issued a warning to Slovenians advising them to exercise caution when investing in initial coin offerings (ICO) and digital currencies due to the absence of regulations covering them.

Source : Cointekegraph

Coinbase Rolls Out Instant US Bitcoin Buys

2017-10-13T21:52:00.000+01:00

Coinbasehas removed a major hurdle for US customers purchasing Bitcoin via bank transfer, cutting the waiting period from 3-5 days to “instantly.”

“Previously, customers who purchased using a bank account had to wait several days before receiving their digital currency,” the post clarifies.

“Customers can now buy up to $25,000[...] and receive access to their digital currency immediately.”

Under the previous setup, customers would agree an exchange rate and take the risk associated with fluctuating prices in the five-day period prior to receiving their coins. On social media, users frequently reported waiting up to double the time stated by Coinbase itself.

The stakes are now higher for Coinbase’s coffers, the company is also taking on exposure from coins cleared off its books prior to the equivalent fiat payment reaching its account.

Zach Abrams, head of product, was quoted by TechCrunch as saying:

“Coinbase uses proprietary fraud prevention systems it has developed over the last five years, to determine how this instant purchase feature is rolled out to groups of customers, and that the customers with access to this feature have sufficient balance in their bank account with good purchase history.”

Around 15,000 account holders will receive the instant buy function initially, with a wider rollout coming later.

Source : Cointekegraph

India Central Bank ‘In Process’ of Making Bitcoin Regulation

2017-10-13T21:36:00.002+01:00

India has refused to comment on its progress with cryptocurrency regulation, only appearing to confirm that official plans were “in progress.”

Reports by local news outlet Economic Times quote Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor NS Vishwanathan as making comments to the press at an event in Calcutta today.

“I can’t comment on a policy that is still in the making,” he said.

Draft proposals of a recommendations on how to regulate cryptocurrency in India surfaced in August. These were the result of a government panel specifically tasked with researching the issue in April.

Cryptocurrency investment and trading have ballooned in the country ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s highly contentious cash reforms began in November 2016.

Dash Core CEO Ryan Taylor said earlier this week:

“Measures of economic freedom are strongly correlated with economic success throughout the world. In India, a great deal of friction was introduced with the immediate banning of the vast majority of the country’s circulating currency. In contrast, digital currencies are freely transferred person-to-person anywhere in the world instantly. This can have a dramatic positive impact on an economy suffering from onerous financial restrictions like India.”

Indians have overwhelmingly used cash as the basic means of exchange, and aggressive government plans to make payments digital and link transactions to participants biometrically have received considerable criticism.

Taylor added:

“I doubt digital currency will overtake the rupee anytime soon, but dysfunction certainly creates the right environment to motivate consumers and businesses to seek an alternative like digital currency to address their needs.”

Source : Cointekegraph

Race towards the First “Crypto-Country” in the World

2017-10-13T21:11:00.000+01:00

The small European country of Estonia aims to become the first crypto-country in the world. The country is already in the midst of digitizing its government services using Blockchain technology, the tech behind digital currencies like Bitcoin.

The Estonian government’s digitization project reached a whole new level in 2014, with the government’s e-residency program. Under the initiative, any individual around the world can file an online application to become a virtual Estonian citizen. As a digital citizen, he/she can access the same online platforms that Estonia’s physical economy is based on, and the same online public services that domestic Estonians use.

The adoption of Blockchain has also allowed Estonia to introduce an online voting system during national elections. However, only physical residents are allowed to vote under the system. The country is also involved in various public services projects that are powered by Blockchain, including health services, and originally planned for its own digital currency.

Other Blockchain developments worldwide

Aside from Estonia, various countries around the world are also adopting Blockchain in public-sector applications, with the latest EU country vying for the same position being Slovenia.

In the UK, the government is currently piloting a Blockchain-based system for the payment of health benefits claimants. In Russia, Vitalik Buterin has signed a deal with a Russian state-owned bank for the creation of a special national system called Ethereum Russia.

The government of China, meanwhile, has developed a prototype of a prospective national cryptocurrency in the country since June 2017. By September, China decided to better regulate ICOs by banning them and eventually considering licensing options down the line.

In her report, Georgetown University cyber-lawyer, Dr. Clare Sullivan, claimed that the government of Australia is studying ways to replace its separate passport and birth certificate databases with a single Blockchain-based system.

“It is not necessarily cybersecurity concerns that have prevented the increased digitization of government services up to this point, though Blockchain is indeed much more secure than existing systems. Rather, it has been the importance of ‘know-your-customer’ protocols — the need for governments, banks, and other institutions to verify individuals’ identities using physical ID documents and in-person interactions.”

Source : Cointekegraph