20 Jun
0
Why the Ethereum DAO collapse is good for the cryptocurrency
The news of the Ethereum DAO hacker attack is riding high and of course it brings lots of damages for the ethereum investors who stored about $150m of the cryptocurrency.
However, it is always a good behavior to understand and see the other side of the coin, we would say.
In fact, any negative event can allow to have a better environment and more secure technologies.
A similar thing happened with the Mt Gox disaster, when we learned that an exchange must be built with more care and attention.
As Matthew Spoke, co-founder and CEO of blockchain startup Nuco, explained on Coindesk.
“the DAO attack will likely be reversed, as per Vitalik’s proposal; owners of TDT will be able to retrieve their ETH after the proposed hard fork; The DAO will be emptied of its investments; and future distributed autonomous organizations will learn from the lessons”.
Ethereum DAO: what happened?
On June 17th, an unknown hacker (or a group of hackers) stole $60m in Ethereum coins from the DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization that used the Ethereum Blockchain to leverage smart contracts and to provide a platform where people can vote and fund projects.
Previously last week the DAO experienced another issue but it was fixed soon by the open-source community and the Etheruem DAO structure and problem-solving techniques.
Universal Wallet
If you want to have a safe and secure wallet to store your Ethereum, you should visit HolyTransaction.
Here you can store your Ethereum, but also several other digital currencies including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin and more.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
16 Jun
0
Bitcoin Rise: will it continue in the future days?
Bitcoin Rise: will it keep growing?
It is not a news that the Bitcoin rise very fast during the last few weeks, reaching a high of $735 today.
But the real question everybody is asking is: will Bitcoin keep growing?
After a two years high, on Wednesday the bitcoin price fell, but it was only temporary and now the price is rising again.
As we tried to explain, there are a few reasons why Bitcoin is increasing its value: at least 5 reasons that you can read here.
Volatility?
Bitcoin price dropped 8% to $661.60 on June 14th, after hitting $719.85 the day before.
But during the same day it reached $691.70 and since then it keeps growing.
So, even if the price fell, this event cannot be considered a great volatility problem. Also, several experts explained that such instability is unavoidable.
“It is important for traders to understand that markets are always following cycles,” comments Joe Lee of Magnr, “Regardless of the asset type, if a price increases too quickly, the safe assumption is that a correction will occur in the short term.”
Halving and Brexit: will the bitcoin price keep growing?
Other experts in the bitcoin sector sustain that two of the most important reasons for the digital currency higher price are the miners rewards halving and the “Brexit”, or the possibility that the UK leaves the EU.
Experts explained that the halving has a key role in the growth of demand because it reduces the reward for each new block mined by 50%.
Rik Willard of Agentic Group LLC, is convinced that bitcoin price will move around $685 until the halving occurs.
Bitcoin Wallet
If you want to store your Bitcoins you need a wallet when you can keep them safe.
Open your wallet for free on HolyTransaction, an universal wallet where you can also store other digital currencies such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin and more.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
15 Jun
0
Allianz Test the Blockchain for swaps and bonds
Allianz test the Blockchain
The insurance company Allianz announced today its use of blockchain smart contracts to manage catastrophe swaps and bonds, which allow users to prevent losses in front of large -scale disasters.
Anyway it could also happen that insurers and investors money could drag on for a few months after the catastrophe.
But thanks to smart contracts the time could be reduced in a few hours, according to an Allianz spokeperson.
In fact, this test – done thanks to a partnership with Nephila company – showed that transactions can be “significantly accelerated and simplified”; it also demonstrated that it could help the increase of marketability for swaps and the growth of opportunities where it is possibile to use blockchain-based smart contracts.
Chief underwriting officer Richard Boyd explained to Coindesk:
“Blockchain technology will increase reliability, controllability and speed for both cat swaps and cat bonds because less manual processing, authentication and verification is needed through intermediaries to confirm the legitimacy of payments and transactions to and from the investors.”
He added:
“By replacing manual operations, which are currently embedded across the entire process, delays and the risks of human error are ruled out”.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
14 Jun
0
White House Fintech Summit
The Bitcoin Blockchain officially reached Capitol Hill, organizing a White House Fintech Summit.
After an event with the American President technological advisors organized last month, now there are more and more meetings and speeches about the blockchain.
Also, a few days ago the White House was theater for a Blockchain Summit, during which there were guests such as Secretary Penny Pritzker, president for economic policy Adrienne Harris, director for digital currencies initiatives at the MIT Media Lab Brian Forde and Matthew Roszak of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.
Held by the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the event was officially called the “White House Fintech Summit”.
In the audience there were also representatives from companies such as Deloitte, JP Morgan, PayPal and Microsoft.
President Obama’s special assistant Harris published a blog post with the conclusions of this event, you can read it here.
The article, titled The Future of Finance is Now was published on June 10th, the same day of the event, and it contains several ideas and thoughts about fintech and its implications such as people financial health and civil rights.
“Today at the White House, we convened stakeholders from across the financial technology (fintech) ecosystem, including traditional financial services institutions, fintech startups, investors, thought leaders, and policy makers, to discuss how fintech can help advance critical economic policy priorities”.
Recently CNBC said that Barack Obama needs to embrace Bitcoin and Blockchain soon, so maybe this is a good start for the US government to study and implement the distributed ledger.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
14 Jun
0
5 reasons Bitcoin price is rising
Reasons Bitcoin Price is rising
The bitcoin price keeps rising and it is reaching the value of $700, growing more than 20% during the weekend.
Today, in fact, the Bitcoin price is $695, according to Coindesk and it seems it doesn’t want to turn back.
Experts are trying to provide several reasons for this rise, including the Chinese Domain and the halving of miners rewards.
Below you can read the 5 reasons Bitcoin price is rising so fast:
Halving of Rewards
In July it will take place the event of the halving of the miners rewards: the mining process, in fact, will be rewarded 12.5 BTC per block, instead of the previous amount of 25 BTC.
This process called halving is aimed at preventing a digital currency inflation by reducing the amount of new currency created over time, until it reaches it maximum amount of 21 million bitcoin ever created.
More interests in the Blockchain
Another reason could be the growing interest in the Blockchain by several worldwide companies such as Microsoft, IBM and more.
As the interest in the different applications of the distributed ledger is growing, more and more people start to approach bitcoin too.
Chinese Domain
As we tried to explain into this blog post, one of the possible reasons of the rise of the Bitcoin Price is the increase of the Chinese domain.
In fact, its price in CNY on the local exchange is growing up quickly, reaching more than the current bitcoin price.
Joe Lee, founder at the trading platform called Magnr, explained:
“Capital flight continues as the IMF (International Monetary Fund) is now signalling warnings at the increasing default risk against China’s corporate debt. China’s economy is changing rapidly and debt fueled growth can only be sustained for so long.”
FIAT Currencies Flow
Another reason why the Bitcoin price is growing could be a fiat currencies flow.
This is the point of view of Chris Burniske, who explained:
“What this implies to me is we have lots of new fiat money flowing into bitcoin, and bitcoin’s price action is not being driven by people swapping out of ether, which we’ve often seen before.”
UK out of Europe
Other bitcoin experts explained that another possible reason could be the fear that the UK could leave the UE.
A recent survey showed that 52% want this split, while 33% prefer that it remains.
This is the same thing happened when it appeared that Greece would leave the European Union: for this reason the bitcoin price hit about $300.
Universal Wallet
If you have to different cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, etc., you need to have different wallets, which is difficult to handle.
This is why HolyTransaction create an Universal wallet where you can store all your digital currencies within a single account.
So, do you want to store Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies?
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
13 Jun
0
US Government awards Blockchain projects
Blockchain Award
The US government awards Blockchain projects: $600,000 in grants to six companies that work on blockchain applications.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decided to destinate $3.1m to 29 businesses based in the American area and focused on data analytics, connected devices and blockchain.
Each awarded business will receive $100,000, according to the official press release.
This money came from the so-called program Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) that started back in December 2015.
These US Government Blockchain Awards were assigned to Digital Bazaar, Inc., Respect Network Corporation, Narf Industries LLC, Celerity Government Solutions LLC, BlockCypher and RAM Laboratories LLC.
Governments Interested in Bitcoin
In April the European Parliament defined the blockchain as the“perfect technology” and aimed at realizing new rules related to the distributed ledger.
Also, several European countries started to accept Bitcoin for public services. Among these there is Switzerland. In fact, Zug was probably chosen because it is the Swiss financial centre that has a good reputation for its low taxes.
In the meantime, the US Postal Service will start studying for the creation of a new digital currencies to be used for their own applications.
Another important news came in May, when Japan decided to officially recognize Bitcoin.
Multicurrency Wallet
If you have to store different digital currencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Litecoin etc.) you have to have different wallets, which are difficult to manage.
HolyTransaction is here to solve your problem, with the possibility to create a single account.
So, do you want to store Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies?
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
10 Jun
0
IBM Watson uses the Blockchain in Singapore
IBM Watson project and the Bitcoin blockchain are two new technologies that might change the way we live and work in the near future.
Today tech giant IBM opened a new incubator with 5,000 computer technicians that aim at creating several prototypes by using the IBM Watson AI tools and the Bitcoin Blockchain.
This innovative environment is called the Watson Centre and it is situated in the Marina Bay in Singapore and in the IBM Garage, specialized in developing blockchain applications thanks to the IBM Open Standards tools within the Global Entrepreneur program that was launched back in 2010.
Randy Walker, CEO at IBM for the Asian zone, explained this project with these words:
“Watson and blockchain are two technologies that will rapidly change the way we live and work, and our clients in Asia Pacific are eager to lead the way in envisioning and creating that future.”
IBM Watson and blockchain
This new center comes thanks the study of the distributed ledger applications started back in 2015 when IBM joined the Hyperledger project.
Also, at the beginning of 2016, Chris Ferris, CTO at IBM, became the project leader of the aforesaid open-source blockchain project.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
8 Jun
1
OpenBazaar Test: how the Bitcoin Ebay works
The Bitcoin Marketplace: OpenBazaar Test
Recently OpenBazaar, the decentralized marketplace where you can buy items for bitcoins, launched its new 1.1.6 version.
So we decided to do a OpenBazaar test, to let you deeply understand how it works and what you can buy on this innovative market using your cryptocurrencies.
Step-by-Step OpenBazaar Test: Follow this Guide to do some Shopping
1. First of all you need to go to the OpenBazaar website and click on the Download button you can find on the right top of the page.
2. A download will start soon. If it doesn’t, you just need to select your operating system such as Linux, Windows or Mac
3. After the download is completed, click on the file (maybe you will find it in the Download file) and launch it.
4. A new window will open where you have to complete your profile with info like name, timezone, avatar and your favorite currency.
5. You can also select your favorite theme to be used as a your profile template
6. Then you will be officially into your profile where you can add other info such as your social network profiles
7. Now you can start doing some shopping.
OpenBazaar has a simple interface, user-friendly enough to experiment and pay with your bitcoins.
Among the items you can find on this marketplace there is a wide range of the company’s merchandise, so I decided to support their cause by buying their pins.
8. As you can imagine, I just had to click on the item I wanted to purchase.
9. Then you just click on the “Buy Now” (“Compra ora” because my version is in Italian).
10. A windows will appear where they ask you if you already have a wallet (if not you can open it here).
11. Now you have to insert your public wallet address, you can find on your wallet among the settings.
During this process you can also create a temporary wallet address, useful if you can’t find your public wallet address and for security reasons you don’t want to disclose your private one.
12. OpenBazaar allows purchases from all around the world, but of course you need to pay extra bitcoins for the shipment.
For a shipment to Italy you need to pay an extra of about 0.0232 BTC, so I spent almost 17 EUR for that pin.
Bitcoin Wallet
As I said, you can purchase your items on OpenBazaar by using bitcoins; and to do so of course you need a wallet.
Open your on HolyTransaction and find out more on our wallet where you can store several different cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Peercoin, etc…
We call it a “Universal Wallet” for this reason.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
7 Jun
0
Halving and Bitcon price: there might be a hard fork problem
Bitcoin price continues to rise during this week, nearing the amount of $600.
In fact, bitcoin established a new positive trend during the past week, growing fast and surpassing $580 the last weekend.
Currently the Bitcoin price is $586, the highest price since August 10th, 2014, when it reached $589.
Bitcoin Price is growing
Previously we offered several reasons for this Bitcoin jump, as in the Chinese Domain article you can read here.
Data from the yuan/bitcoin market shows that the price reached a high of ¥3,866.11 ($589) there, so it would probably keep growing or remain stable.
Other experts in the bitcoin sector expressed different ideas, concerned about the problem that halving could lead to.
Hard Fork Problem
Recently we also read about the hard fork problem caused by the halving of the reward for miners.
In fact, when the halving will occur, the miner reward for new blocks will be lower (from 25 BTC to 12,5), but their expenses for electricity and hardware will remain the same, so their profits will drop.
This could generate a hard fork problem, as miners could leave the Bitcoin core Blockchain to work on other chain to increase their profits again.
In the meantime, in fact, the ethereum price for example surged 50% in a week.
Multicurrency Wallet
Usually, if you have to store different cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Peercoin, etc.) you need to have different wallets, which are difficult to manage.
HolyTransaction is here to solve your problem, with the possibility to create a single account.
So, do you want to store Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies? Open here your wallet for free.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
6 Jun
0
Can the halving event cause a blockchain collapse?
The reward halving will arrive soon and some people believe that this event could boost the Bitcoin price.
But a miner of BitBank is concerned because he fears the halving might lead to a collapse of the entire blockchain validation system.
In fact, founder of the Chinese Bitbank Chandler Guo fears that if the price of bitcoin does not appreciate significantly before or immediately after halving, too much of the hashrate will drop off the network due to unprofitable mining, making transaction verification virtually impossible.
Bitcoin Halving
This event happens every four year: in January 2009 every new block generated a reward of 50 BTC. In 2012 the reward will drop down to 25 BTC.
The reason of the halving existence is that there is a limit of 21 million of Bitcoin to be ever generated by the system, so it exists to keep its price consistent and to protect the cryptocurrency from inflation.
But this drop will cause a lowering in profit margins for miners, that’s why Guo believes that miners who use less efficient hardware will shut down as the reward is cut.
He explained:
“When halving comes the cost of the electricity is the same, so it must shut down. For example, the S3 is working 24 hours, they cost $1, for example, and they can mine $1. So if mining equipment can only mine the electricity payment, they don’t need to work.”
Miners calculate their income as the difference between their reward and their electricity and machines cost; in order to maximize their profit, they need more hashing power at a given electricity cost.
To calculate the hashing power needed, Satoshi Nakamoto created an equation in the code so it can analyze how much hashing power is on the network and increase – or decrease – the difficulty.
This is the reason why Guo is concerned: if more hashing power is added, blocks can be found sooner, increasing profits for miners and speeding up the time at which difficulty must be raised. But now the risk he foresees is exactly the opposite:
“When the difficulty doesn’t change, but the hashing power shuts down immediately, there will be no next block. If, after the halving, the price does not go up, but the prices goes down, there will be heartache. It means no next block, no blockchain, all of the blockchain will be shut down immediately.”
So, if a significant share of the hashing power were to drop off the network, that would slow down the validation of blocks.
That would determine slower transactions, impacting on the confidence of the network. A crisis of confidence would generate a sell-off, causing a fall of the bitcoin price that would push more miners to the shut down, thus further reducing the hashing power and eventually leading to a total collapse.
A Different Perspective
Some other players in the mining business don’t agree with Guo.
That’s the case of Bobby Lee, CEO of BTCC, the third-largest bitcoin mining pool that controls roughly 16% of the hashrate. Lee believes that even though a drop in hashrate is likely to happen, it won’t be as significant as Guo thinks.
“After mining, for sure the hashrate will come down a bit, it will probably come down by 5-10%. It won’t come down by more than 30%. We’ve seen it in other cryptocurrencies that at a block halving, the hashrate does come down. That’s expected,” he explained to Coindesk.
Another of the main mining companies, BitFury, doesn’t seem concerned about the halving.
“The important point is that the hashrate decline will not compromise the security of the network and will not make it susceptible to attack. We also firmly believe the upcoming halving event is good for the industry because it will motivate Bitcoin companies to innovate,” said Valery Vavilov, CEO of BitFury.
One thing is sure: if the price will to rise when the halving occurs, there won’t be a problem, because miners will continue to be rewarded enough to cover their cost and maintain profitability.
Multicurrency Wallet
Normally, if you want to store several different cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Peercoin, etc.) you need to have different wallets, which is difficult to manage.
HolyTransaction want to solve this problem, unifying everything in a single account.
So, do you want to store Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies? Open here your wallet for free.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.