Tag: Blockchain

All blockchain related articles are found here. Educative, informative and written clearly.

Blockchain Telecommunications: The New Era of Crypto Phones

2 min read

Crypto users could soon be enjoying more hardware choices. Multiple smartphone manufacturers announced plans to integrate blockchain technology into their products in the coming months. Blockchain telecommunications is taking crypto users to the next level with integrated decentralized applications (Dapps) and much more. Get ready for crypto phones.

Blockchain Telecommunications

The telecommunications industry is undergoing the start of a blockchain revolution that has the potential to reshape the market for years to come. Analysts have long predicted the integration of these technologies. One study placed the level of future blockchain investment by telecommunications manufacturers at around $1 billion over the next five years. The majority of these future investment funds target the development of Dapps. Dapps are at the core of this blockchain telecom infusion.

This article by David Hamilton was originally published at CoinCentral.com

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

18th September 2018
Japanese MoneyTap app Connects 60 Banks with Ripple

1 min read

The payments network Ripple is looking to launch the MoneyTap application with support from the SBI Ripple Asia Japanese Bank Consortium later this year. That will cause Ripple to have a large share of the Japanese currency transfer market, maybe the largest. MoneyTap has officially launched its website which is a major step forward connecting several Japanese banks via Ripple solutions. It said, in March this year, the app would make it easier for banks to settle round-the-clock domestic payments in Japan. MoneyTap App is going to reduce fees associated with traditional money transfer services. The fact is that Japan is residence to a huge market for fintech, or financial technology, particularly in the areas of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

The deal between Ripple and the consortium has been planned for a few years.

Japanese MoneyTap app and Ripple

But now it looks like the firms involved are setting the closing preparations to launch the MoneyTap application in Japan. The app which was announced earlier this year, but the website for the service went live yesterday, September, 13th.

The main purpose of the new technologies is to be applied in a wide range of industries to facilitate and enhance a great number of processes. The banking sector is one of the spheres that eagerly adopt new solutions with a view to improving its functioning.

MoneyTap is a kind of a “simple bank transfer application without charge” and “a new bank experience application provided from the consortium for domestic and foreign exchange”.

Speaking about the fund transfer system in Japan, transaction fees are quite high and requires a lot of time to be executed. By implementation of MoneyTap app, the situation will be changed. Via the solutions offered by Ripple, it is planned to reduce fees and to achieve a possibility to carry out reliable same-day transfers.

The application is not ready for download just yet. But, the website going live shows that it will be soon. The projected launch date is autumn 2018.

Ripple’s own blockchain technology is known mainly as the underlying network for its cryptocurrency, XRP, known as ripple too and it is also used for real-time transaction settlements.

Presentation of the new app

The new app, Money Tap will offer a money transfer too, so that will be available on iOS and Android phones. That characteristic place them to be one of the first apps with such functionality that will be used by a number of banks at the same time.

In the beginning, the application will be working in collaboration with three of the members of the SBI Ripple Asia Consortium. The first banks involved are SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank, and Resona Bank. This preliminary launch will be followed by the service for the other 60 plus members.

Ripple hits the center of Japanese money transfer

Ripple are hoping that the move will place them at the center of the huge Japanese international money transfer market. They believe that can offer more affordable transfer than SWIFT is. Money Tap app could be more efficient in transfer smaller amounts of money than was previously feasible with traditional options.

It is interesting that it will also compete with remittance companies like The Western Union Co. (WU). The launch will also support Ripple’s claims of offering a robust and dependable technology platform that can form the strong support of the modern payment system.

Japanese MoneyTap app and Ripple keep the project under the veil

We must say that practically no information on the project has been already revealed, but it is clear that Money Tap will be used by the Japanese Bank Consortium that unites over 60 local banks. That is almost 80% of the country’s banking system.

The CEO of a Tokyo-based Strategic Business Innovator Group (SBI) has once said that they are also examining a possibility to use XRP for bridging currency on the Money Tap fund transfer platform. Now SBI is working with different cryptocurrencies.

Ripple solutions and XRP tokens represent a special interest for SBI. Just a few months ago, the company established its crypto exchange called VCTRADE.

Good news for Ripple, more and more financial institutions are implementing Ripple’s technology to make easier their processes.

But fans of the Ripple project, particularly XRP token, should hold off on celebrating just yet. Like with many of the projects Ripple is working on, it could be that the service exists without using the token itself. Whilst this would likely be positive for those invested in terms of exposure, it would not represent automatically adoption of XRP in itself.

It would make sense for Ripple to sideline their XRP token given that it is still not clear whether global regulators deem it as a security.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

14th September 2018
Steve Wozniak will join a cryptocurrency startup called Equi Capital

1 min read

Apple Inc. (AAPL) co-founder Steve Wozniak, according to some media, will join a cryptocurrency startup called Equi Capital, concentrated on investments in the digital token collection. Coindesk, www.coindesk.com, reported: ”Speaking to Null Transaction, the bitcoin proponent said this is the first time he has worked with a blockchain company in his career, adding that he ‘was amazed at the technology behind [cryptocurrency]’.”

Equi aims to act as an investment firm, Wozniak said.

According to the startup’s Twitter page, it hopes to help both retail and professional investors purchase equity in companies in an effort to replace traditional investing firms.

Steve Wozniak said:

“Our approach is not like a new currency, or something phony where an event will make it go up in value. It’s a share of stock, in a company. This company is doing investment by investors with huge track records in good investments in things like apartment buildings in Dubai. We have one person in our group who has listed out a whole apartment building for bitcoin.”

Wozniak did not provide details on what his role would be at the startup but he did indicate that the company may register in Malta. Malta is a well-known area which has been working to develop a friendly regulatory environment aimed to attract firms in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space.

Continuing to promote the potential use cases for blockchain technology, Steve Wozniak said, “I’ve encountered people working in real estate avenues, types of Uber systems, everything we’ve got in our life, especially involving transactions – retail sales, car sales, manufacturing of goods … working on bitcoin applications … and they all have value.”

The tech guru’s choice of first crypto project is a bit surprising.

As reported by The Next Web, Equi has had a pretty rough path so far. At first, they were launching its token via ICO. But because of lack of interest, the sale was canceled and pre-sale investors were refunded.

A follow-up bounty scheme to reward users with tokens for publicizing the project also saw major issues when a partner marketing company soon walked away, indicates the news source. Going the bounty route also raises the thorny issue, according to CoinDesk, that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has indicated that even giving away tokens may break securities rules.

Note: During the weekend, Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency leader, was trading above $6,700 at the time of this writing. The most popular and largest cryptocurrency in the world, the past week showed signs of upward impulse and return to the stability at this price point. Other digital currencies were trading laterally.

Ethereum reached $280, Litecoin was a trading bit under $58 per token.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

26th August 2018
Facebook seems to be pushing forward with its blockchain plans

2 min read

The head of its cryptocurrency team David Marcus revealed he was leaving his role at Coinbase to focus on the social network’s strategy. Marcus announced Friday that he would step down from his seat on the board of cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase.

Marcus gave a statement to TechCrunch explaining his stepping down “because of the new group I’m setting up at Facebook around blockchain,” pointing that “Getting to know Brian (Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase), who’s become a friend, and the whole Coinbase leadership team and board has been an immense privilege. I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the talent and execution the team has demonstrated during my tenure, and I wish the team all the success it deserves going forward.”

According to Facebook, this move was made to “avoid the appearance of conflict” between Marcus’ two roles.

Facebook and blockchain plans

It’s not absolutely clear what exactly is going on in Facebook’s developing cryptocurrency division. But according to several reports, something is in progress.

There are speculations about what this might be. Maybe Facebook and blockchain plans are not so unimaginable.

Facebook could build a cryptocurrency wallet.

They could create their own token that could be used for paying things with partnered businesses or through Facebook ads. Blockchain makes transactions free or cheap, so Facebook and its partners could offer users “3% off for buying made with FacebookCoin” or something like that.

Possible Facebook’s cryptocurrency feature could be well-positioned to run such an idea. They have extensive connections with more than six million advertisers and 65 million businesses that have Facebook Pages. The social network could offer less costs of running the program, the transaction fee savings on to the users, and promote partnership with Facebook Crypto as a way to boost sales for businesses. That could get clients to spend more money on Facebook ads because the discounts would increase conversion rates and discounts like this could bring users into.

That could swiftly make Facebook a power player in the global payments ecosystem; or acquiring major blockchain startups, perhaps even Coinbase itself.

Previously, Facebook announced that it won’t be building on the Stellar protocol.

Facebook already lets sending money through Messenger for free, but only with a connected debit card or PayPal account. In the future, they could offer cryptocurrency based payments between friends to let a wider range of users through Messenger. If Facebook Crypto wallet could be fund once with a payment, and with a one-time transaction fee, and then they could send and receive the tokens for free. Blockchain could further increase engagement with Messenger for its 1.3 billion users.

Facebook offered to major banks to integrate financial data into its social platform. That step signaled Facebook’s ambitions to expand its role in finance and e-commerce. But in light of the site’s recent spate of controversies over privacy also raised red flags for many. That incident suggests several potential benefits of applying the technology, as well as some pitfalls. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that technology like blockchain could give users more control, including over financial and other personal data. That could be helpful to moderate future consequences against the platform, which recently reported discouraging user growth.

Why this is so important?

A top problem of decentralized blockchain apps is how you bring your identity with you. Securely connecting your wallet, blockchain-based goods and biographical info to new apps can be a difficult process. Usually, users have to type in long, complex keys that are heavy and annoying to remember. Users of social apps like Facebook Connect, which uses an OAuth single sign-on which provides instantly join apps without creating a new username and password, or filling out a profile and uploading a photo, want this social network because of its simplicity too.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that blockchain systems, which run on distributed swarms of servers, are “harder to control.”

In theory, the first cryptocurrency launched by Facebook would be usable outside of Facebook’s platform, because blockchain-based identity systems could obstruct Facebook’s efforts to gather user data. Even after many years of scandals about privacy, all data continue to exist on Facebook’s core asset. That suggests that any blockchain product have to be very delicate to simultaneously cater to users and shareholders. But Facebook has a strong record of not being traditionally hacked. It wasn’t a massive user data debacle like LinkedIn, Twitter and similar social networks. An openly centralized identity system to connect with decentralized apps might bring the UX comfort necessary to unlock a new wave of blockchain benefits.

Anyway, it seems there are several reasons why David Marcus stepped down from Coinbase board.

And we may guess about Facebook and blockchain plans.

For instance, FB plans to launch exchange or to launch their own payment platform or, which is more possible, to launch its own crypto wallet.

The conflict of interest narrative makes each of these assumptions seems real. Speculations about buying Coinbase are less probably because if Facebook wanted to buy Coinbase, Marcus would have stayed there and brought more of ”his people”.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

13th August 2018
Opera wants to win some fans in the blockchain world

1 min read

Opera wants blockchain and a cryptocurrency wallet. Well, this great news! Opera is to become the first desktop browser to include a cryptocurrency wallet. Users will not need third-party extensions or applications. That is an interesting approach to security. But handling cryptocurrencies is about to get easier.

Opera wants blockchain

The cryptocurrency wallet integrated into the Android version of Opera since June of this year since desktop wallet is synchronized with it. If you want to send some payment, you should sign the transaction using your phone’s built-in fingerprint reader, rather than typing out a long passphrase.

And that is the most important question about security. Passwords can be forgotten. They can be stolen. The biometric access, not perfect but it is, in theory, more secure and less liable to result in irretrievable coins. Funds and assets and the secure cryptographic keys associated with them are stored locally on the user’s phone, not on a remote server somewhere. To connect the mobile wallet to the desktop browser, the user only has to scan a QR code.

Opera wants blockchain and to become the first desktop browser to include a cryptocurrency wallet.

“After making crypto payments smooth and easy on mobile, we wanted the find the perfect solution for PCs”, said Opera EVP of Browsers, Krystian Kolondra, in a statement. “We realized the best way is to utilize our new mobile crypto wallet technology and to give our PC users access to it.”

Opera is making a big bet that blockchain and distributed apps (called Web 3.0) will become mainstream in a significant way. By adding this attribute, it places its browser at the essence of it.

“Our next aim is to make crypto-integration mainstream,” said Kolondra. “We believe blockchain technology has the power to transform the web of tomorrow and expect it to make a big difference in the years to come.”
Opera promises its browser cryptocurrency integration will roll out to users “soon.” Who wants to get a sneak peek can subscribe on https://www.opera.com/crypto.

You might be interested in Project Libra: Facebook’s new currency based on a blockchain
Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

10th August 2018
Banks in Korea to Use Samsung SDS Blockchain to Verify Customer IDs

A national banking group representing South Korea’s commercial banks will launch a customer ID verification powered by blockchain technology this month, as per the reports on June 12.

The Korea Federation of Banks (KFB) will launch their “BankSign” identity verification system to be made use of in both online computer-based and mobile banking, according to media reports.

Development of the BankSign plan was started straight away after the KFB launched a consortium discovering blockchain applications opportunities at the local banking sector in November 2017.

A KFB spokesperson added:
”BankSign is the first project co-developed by the local banking sector utilizing blockchain technology”

Banks in Korea and blockchain

Banks in Korea were forced to use a 20-year-old public banking security system that is inefficient and outdated. The government reversed it is Digital Signature Act’ policy wherein domestic institutions were mandated to use the public certification system.

BankSign platform is built on Nexledger, a private enterprise cloud computing platform developed by Samsung’s subsidiary, Samsung SDS, the IT subsidiary of South Korea’s biggest conglomerate.

As reported by CCN at the time, Samsung SDS was launched in April 2017. At the same time, it was launched Nexsign, a biometric authentication solution also developed by Samsung. Nexsign enables customers to gain access to a huge number of services using a single ID authentication.

Samsung has already tested its Nexledger blockchain with Samsung Card, the conglomerate’s credit card company, as early as October 2016, but this is unrelated to KFB’s BankSign.

In the first part of June, Samsung SDS announced the launch of its own enterprise blockchain platform Nexfinance aimed at finance-related businesses.

Implementation of blockchain

On June, has been revealed that the KFB established a consortium of its member to research and implement blockchain technology in the domestic banking sector in November 2017. Development of BankSign took off immediately, the KFB said, before select member banks began beta testing the system in April this year.

The banks’ new blockchain application would offer a variety of options to confirm clients’ IDs and “not just the public certification system”, said Park Chang-ok, a manager at the department of deposit services and payment systems at KFB.

Furthermore, the KFB said BankSign will find other applications within government and other public organizations after taking off in the banking sector with an official launch that is only weeks, maybe days away.

In the beginning, the BankSign platform will be used only in the banking sector. However, the KFB, banks in Korea are planning to co-operate also with the Korean government and other public organizations in order to broaden the scope of the project, according to the KFB spokesperson, Korea JoongAng Daily wrote.

You would be interested: Crypto is at Risk In Korea!

9th July 2018
Facebook Starts Accepting Cryptocurrency Ads Again!

1 min read

Facebook starts accepting cryptocurrency ads but retains the ban on advertising of ICO projects.

The policy from Facebook now requires cryptocurrency ads to apply to be listed on the platform, so Facebook will be able to examine their eligibility by verification details, licensing and whether the company is publicly traded.

That means, Facebook has changed its policy and allowed the advertising of cryptos, but the ban on advertising of ICO projects continues, the official statement said on Tuesday, June 26th.

On January this year, Facebook announced a new policy banning companies from advertising initial coin offerings (ICOs), binary options and cryptocurrencies on the platform. The ban on cryptocurrency ads stemmed from ICO scams and the lack of regulation.

Green light for cryptocurrency ads

The new statement said the company was looking for the best way to “preset” a ban on advertising cryptos “over the past few months” to “allow some commercials, but keeping in mind that they are safe.”

In Facebook’s changed policy now stands:

“Starting from June 26th, we will allow the advertising of cryptos and accompanying materials from previously approved persons. We will continue to prohibit commercials that promote binary options and ICO projects.”

The new policy requires from advertisers who want to advertise cryptos to submit a Facebook application in order to verify their business. The applicants must have the licenses they have collected, whether they can trade on public stock exchanges and other important information related to their business.

Bearing in mind these restrictions, Facebook acknowledges that not everyone will be able to advertise what they want. The company says it will listen to feedback from users and change the policy as needed. It is also said that the technology behind the cryptos will continue to be researched.

Facebook first banned cryptos in January 2018, which was aimed at “preventing advertisements promoting financial services that are often associated with frauds.”
Facebook states that the initial ban deliberately encompassed all aspects of the crypt of the world so that the company would have enough time to evaluate and isolate dangerous advertisers.

The reversal comes at a time with rumors that Facebook may be looking to acquire Coinbase. If the rumors are true, Facebook’s acquisition of Coinbase would give the industry a one-step closer to its legitimacy.

Facebook starts accepting cryptocurrency ads, what is next?

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

1st July 2018
Clairvoyant From Wall Street

1 min read

Just another clairvoyant from Wall Street.

Jordan Belfort said Bitcoin’s price struggles in 2018 signal the beginning of the end for the top-ranked cryptocurrency. He gave advice to holders to get out and to do that before ”the inevitable crash.” Despite the extremely negative attitude towards Bitcoin itself, but this clairvoyant from Wall Street has trusted to Blockchain, the technology behind BTC and other cryptos. He said that Blockchain held immense promise.

So, why the end of Bitcoin is near, according to Belfort?

The reason lies in the multiple price dips experienced in June 2018 show that BCT is approaching its “final days.” He said that a major crash that would decimate the perceived value of the crypto was imminent.

According to him, the perceived value of Bitcoin fell into the category of “the greater fool theory.” He accused people like John McAfee of deceiving the cryptocurrency community with false promises saying: ”The only reason why they’re doing that is that they’re trying to get more suckers in. To create unrealistic price projections at ridiculous values.”

And Belfort went to say: ”Everything is wrong with it [BTC]. There’re too many fundamental flaws with it, and [the] bottom line is, get out if you don’t want to lose all your money.”

This isn’t the first time that Belfort shows how hard he is against BTC and cryptocurrencies.

In September 2017, he agreed with Jamie Dimon that BTC was a “fraud.” Belfort took things a step further the following month, calling ICOs “the biggest scam ever.”

Is he right, what do you think?

True is that cryptocurrency remains an abstract investment for many, but there may be more appetite for digital currencies than some might suggest or want it to be.

If you ask Steve Wozniak and Jack Dorsey, Bitcoin will become the currency of the future. And I agree with those two guys.

Belfort comes from Wall Street, remember that.

26th June 2018
Facebook Blockchain – The More You Know

1 min read

Some time ago we got news from Facebook. They confirmed that they were planning to launch a new team dedicated to the blockchain.

Well, most of us have some knowledge about blockchain but the main question about Facebook is how would they be using it, if we have in mind the recent events related to the use, as we thought, protected data by this social network?

But the main question at Facebook is WHAT IS THE BLOCKCHAIN.

The responsibility to find the answer fell on David Marcus, the Facebook executive who has been running the company’s standalone messaging app, the Messenger.

The task for him and his team is to explore the blockchain technology.

In the beginning, this team will be small.

Besides Marcus, the place in this team will take a few key Instagram executives who are moving over: Instagram’s VP of Engineering, James Everingham, and Instagram’s VP of Product, Kevin Weil.

David Marcus was a president of PayPal which indicate that he has a lot of payment processing expertise and has been in charge of Messenger through a lot of significant changes over the years.

Marcus’s contribution to the development of Messenger is great. In fact, Facebook’s decision to split Messenger out of the core app so that users had to download the standalone app in order to receive messages on mobile happened during Marcus’s first month on the job.

Interesting choice!

But why? Will Facebook make its own David Marcus, VP of Messaging Products at Facebook?

Well, there are several answers and I’ll try to discover some of them.

First of all, the blockchain, which serves as the technical foundation for all cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, is all the rage. Facebook’s decision to pursue blockchain technology will most certainly add some validity to the crypto industry, which has been very chaotic. This doesn’t mean that Facebook will build its own cryptocurrency, but there are many ways that blockchain technology could be used that have nothing to do with cryptocurrencies, including encrypted data storage.

Marcus does have a personal interest in cryptocurrencies, though.

David Marcus, VP of Messaging Products at Facebook

He joined the board of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase in December last year. Marcus posted on his Facebook profile some time ago: “After nearly four unbelievably rewarding years leading Messenger, I have decided it was time for me to take on a new challenge. I’m setting up a small group to explore how to best leverage Blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch.

When I joined Messenger, under 300 million people were using it every month, since then we’ve added well over 1 billion people. We’ve crafted many new experiences from video chat to P2P payments, a capable camera and new features like games. We opened the platform and now over 200,000 developers are creating experiences and over 8 billion messages are sent between people and businesses every month. Looking forward, I’m excited about Messenger’s upcoming redesign I’ve shared an early look at this year’s F8. I think you’re going to love it!

It’s been an honor to lead the amazing Messenger team, their commitment to making Messenger the best it can be is unsurpassed. I will miss them but I know Messenger is in great hands with Stan Chudnovsky and they will continue to create amazing experiences for all the people who depend on it around the world. Messenger is now one of the most important apps in the world, and its future is unbelievably bright. The saying is that the journey is more important than the destination, and what a remarkable journey this was! Onward!’’

Weil, who joined Instagram from Twitter back in early 2016, is one of the new additions to the blockchain team. The other one is Instagram’s VP of Engineering, James Everingham.

It’s no surprise that Facebook wants to test the functionality of new technologies.
This is a good news.

But, could this also be bad news?

I can’t imagine they would launch an ICO considering they already have billions in the bank. Then this might also be a catalyst for other giants to do one, making many coins obsolete.
We will see.

For now, it is evident that Mark Zuckerberg and his team have something big on the mind.

24th June 2018