With Donald Trump Bitcoin Price could grow
America has its 45th President today and several bitcoin investors and analysts believe that with Donald Trump Bitcoin price could grow, as its presidency could provide a boost to bitcoin prices.
Analysts explained that even if Bitcoin markets would not see any significant change from Clinton’s election, instead Trump could impact worldwide investors, so traders agree that Donald Trump will be a good thing for bitcoin business.
Jacob Eliosoff commented:
“I think a Trump presidency would be great for bitcoin, much like nuclear war would be great for bitcoin. It would be an epic disaster in a bunch of respects – economic, geopolitical, democratic – and in the fear and chaos bitcoin would be a defensive asset people could turn to.”
If Hillary Clinton won, experts have suggested that she would be a boom for the blockchain markets, given her open embrace of the tech as part of her innovation platform. Previously, in fact, she suggested she would use the distributed ledger.
The Donald Trump Bitcoin Effect
Donald Trump hasn’t put bitcoin on his agenda yet, but he defined himself as a “Washington outsider”, so traders believe that he lead to uncertainty and move towards alternative assets.
This might create just a temporary increase in bitcoin prices, but it might have a little lasting effect.
In fact, ARK Invest‘s Chris Burniske underlined that bitcoin can be useful in unpredictable times like this, and the election could add evidence to this claim.
“The way in which its price movement is uncorrelated from other capital market assets may be a desirable characteristic for many investors in the face of uncertainty. Depending on how people feel about the election, they may choose to hedge themselves from the more traditional markets by using bitcoin.”
So, in a few words, if bitcoin benefits from the election result, don’t give Trump too much credit for that, any other cataclysm would have done the same.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Thailand Bank tests Blockchain with IBM
Thailand bank tests blockchain to certify official documents. To do so, it is is working with the IBM company.
According to Reuters magazine, in fact, Kasikornbank wants to cut costs related to record keeping.
The bank is one of the most important in Thailand and it is looking to create a document certification service by next year.
Also, Kasikornbank is talking with other Thai banks with the goal of establishing new collaborations that could involve a few members of the national financial system. According to the current plan, other banks together with Kasikornbank could use the blockchain network to certify documents.
In a press release published back in April, Kasikornbank revealed its decision to study and test new technologies, including machine learning and the distributed ledger.
At the time, the Thai bank explained that blockchain is “a technology that offers other benefits, e.g., reducing costs and increasing cross-border settlement efficiency that can be verified”.
This news also represented a turn within the Thai country, as two years ago the specter of a bitcoin ban in Thailandia led to problems for the local exchange activity.
After that, Thailand decided not to ban digital currencies, but published a warning to its citizens about their use.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Switzerland Bitcoin Regulation will arrive next year
Switzerland Bitcoin Regulation might arrive next year.
Recently its national railway service “have jumped on the bitcoin bandwagon”, as explained by Coindesk, so now it’s time for Switzerland to start regulating fintech and digital currency.
A few days after the Swiss railway-related announcement, as SBB decided to sell bitcoin through its network of ticket kiosks – the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) announced its plans to regulate fintech with the goal of introducing a new regulation next year.
Key elements include plans for a new kind of license geared specifically toward fintech companies and a so-called regulatory “sandbox” for experimental firms. Under the proposed regime, the Financial Market Supervisory Authority would become the primary regulator of fintech firms working in Switzerland.
In a press release, the FDF explained that it will guide more researches about bitcoin and other digital currencies and it will study the distributed ledger broader applications .
The company explained:
“The FDF should conduct additional clarifications in cooperation with the interested authorities on reducing further barriers to market entry for fintech firms, also those outside financial market law (e.g. legal treatment of virtual currencies and assets).”
During a recent speech, Ueli Maurer, Swiss Finance Minister, commented that the proposed Switzerland Bitcoin regulation would help to attract more brands – even if the nation positive attitude has already attracted the attention of several blockchain-related startups to make their home in the country.
“We assume that with the steps we have prepared and the commitment we have to the overall financial services industry we can provide a solution that puts us among the top (countries) in the world that regulate this,” he explained.
Read more here about the Switzerland involvement in the fintech sector.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
MasterCard Releases Blockchain API
MasterCard releases Blockchain API, an experiment to work on an emerging technology such as the distributed ledger.
So Visa won’t be the only credit card company to work on the blockchain.
But while Visa is releasing a B2B blockchain, MasterCard releases blockchain API with more collaborative objectives.
The MasterCard website now contains 3 APIs connected to its internal blockchain platform, including offerings based on smart contracts and payment settlement. Those APIs were created by MasterCard Labs, the innovation program of the credit card giant.
MasterCard blockchain lead Justin Pinkham explained that the company created the API platform in October to stoke interest among banks and merchants.
Pinkham explained to CoinDesk magazine:
“This is part of our initiative to publish experimental APIs from Mastercard Labs and give developers the chance to work on emerging technologies that haven’t yet been commercialized by us.”
Also, Pinkham explained that MasterCard company is continuing to work on technology use cases and it is looking for new partnerships that can be useful for the MasterCard’s business.
“We believe that there is a role of blockchain in the future of commerce. This future needs to be developed in partnership with banks, merchants and industry participants,” Pinkham commented.
This news is one of the most important for MasterCard company, who used to criticize bitcoin in the past.
But if MasterCard releases Blockchain API, this means that it is beginning to push some of the work done by its tech lab.
According to Pinkham it won’t be the last, as he said that the company is creating a new foundation for blockchain tech that will be focused on the distributed ledger use cases including inter-bank payments, trade finance, digital identity and also the exchange of know-your-customer information.
This work was possible also thanks to the new partnership between MasterCard and startups through its Start Path Global program, as well as 30 more blockchain-related patents that Pinkham explained the company submitted.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
OverStock Blockchain Stock to open soon
Overstock Blockchain Stock will begin its work in December.
Patrick Byrne, CEO at Overstock, revealed this news today at Money2020, explaining how investors will be able to partecipate to the shares release, as well as the key dates involved in this process.
The initial sale will done as a rights offering, so interested investors will have to hold Overstock stock within 7th November in order to be eligible to receive shares on 10th November.
Then, on 15th November, a subscription period will open, when investors will be able to decide whether they want to take part to the offering.
During his speech, Byrne explained:
“Given our T+3 settlement, you will be a record holder by 10th November… If all goes well, it could be trading by 15th December.”
The announcement comes just a few days after Overstock cryptocurrency group general manager Judd Bagley revealed an upcoming news during a panel session on capital markets. In fact, Byrne suggested that news would be announced in August when he returned to a leadership role at the Overstock company.
Also, Byrne said he believes that the distributed ledger could be a more disruptive force than the Internet.
“My allegiance is not to bitcoin, but the blockchain. Three years ago, I realized the blockchain was going to disrupt a lot of things in our civilization,” he explained to the Money2020 attendees.
At the end of his speech, Byrne also discusses the various technology and business partnerships that allowed Overstock company to create to the forthcoming blockchain stock offer.
You can read more details about the Overstock Blockchain by reading here.
Source: Coindesk
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Yacht with Bitcoin: how to rent it in Europe
A yacht with Bitcoin in Europe? Read this article and find out how to rent or buy it.
A few months ago you might remember about a € 100 000 Tesla sold with Bitcoin in Finland, where Auto Outlet Helsinki Oy managed this transactions for a private citizen.
Users can buy everything they want with digital currencies, thanks to platforms such as OpenBaazar, GiftOff and more.
But from now one people can also buy and rent luxury yacht with bitcoin, as NAMI integrated bitcoin as a payment option.
NAMI is a company that rents luxury yachts and its director, Miika Toivonen is the same person who works for the Auto-Outlet Helsinki and sold the Tesla I previously mentioned.
Now Toivonen is is willing to allow users to buy luxury yacht with bitcoin.
“We’ve always willing to take part on everything that is new, like selling Teslas with bitcoin, so why wouldn’t we also rent yachts as well. So far we’ve sold a nice amount of Tesla electric cars around Europe, so I believe the same thing will work with luxury yachts as well.”, explained Director of NAMI Miika Toivonen in a press release.
With over 100000 merchants worldwide that accept bitcoin as a payment option, Bitcoin is the faster growing payment option and currency in the world.
And Finland, where NAMI works, is one of the top countries on Bitcoin usage if we count the number of bitcoin currency exchanges and BTMs.
“Meanwhile when numbers and numbers financial operators are getting more and more interested about bitcoin, we’ve noticed that demand for expensive luxury brands bought with bitcoin is rising. This is simply because there is more wealthy players on board. We were launching bitcoin payments for Luxury Collection and in the future we want to help more companies to benefit from Bitcoin-teknology and phenomenom.” explained us Aleksi Vitakoski from Bitcoinkaupat.
“In my opinion selling luxury cars like Tesla with bitcoin is some remarkable sales in bitcoin space, in Finnish and in European scale. It’s nice to see that adding one payment option can lead to purchases like that and it’s also very natural move by NAMI to extend bitcoin payments to yachts as well.”, commented Prasos Oy CEO Henry Brade.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
IBM Blockchain to solve delivery issues
Singapore startup FreshTurf is working on a IBM Blockchain project to develop a network for solving issues related to delivery and storage lockers.
According to a press release, the two companies wants to create a network to track delivery shipments and storage lockers through the blockchain with the objective of providing a faster and safer service to the customers.
This way, in fact, users will be able to track their packages more easily thanks to a distributed ledger platform.
This is not the first project for the IBM’s BlueMix garage, a wordwide network of innovators that provides a hub for startups and companies to test and study the blockchain.
The BlueMix is a part of IBM blockchain broader strategy for fintech applications.
The two companies commented in a press release that their goal is providing a system for clients to check the status of their packages in real time.
“Not only can the application of blockchain technology help provide visibility across the fulfilment chain, allowing users to track their parcel and delivery status from the convenience of their phone, it can help stakeholders to conduct shipping transactions in a highly secure and trusted environment.”
This distributed system, currently in development, works through the IBM blockchain.
It is not still clear if the companies will sell the technology for commercial use.
IBM Blockchain and Australian Postal Service
Blockchain has been used for several use cases, including package delivery.
In fact, Australian Postal Service released a report explaining how they could use the distributed ledger to track packages movements. Read more about Australian Postal Service new project by clicking here.
Also, US Postal Service discussed its idea to create a new digital currency called PostCoin.
And this is not the first time IBM works on a blockchain-related project. Read more news about the IBM Blockchain here.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Illinois Blockchain Strategy: a new working group
The U.S.A. State has created a new Illinois Blockchain Working Group for integrating the technology within the government.
This working group, created at the beginning of 2016, includes several representatives from public agencies, including the Department of Innovation and Technology, Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and the Department of Insurance.
Its main goal is identifying how the distributed ledger can improve government services and making it easier for users doing business with State agencies.
Director of the state’s Department of Insurance, Anne Melissa Dowling says her office is involved in a strong education campaign, to be the first agency in the U.S.A. to use the blockchain.
“Right now we’re trying to determine if we become a first mover in this space by developing a distributed ledger vision for government. But we’re doing a lot of listening and learning.”
During an interview, she explained that the distributed ledger can be used to make it easier relationships among Illinois insurance companies, regulators and policy holders.
So, the state wants to explore how the ledger can help to speed up this process.
“In concept its an absolutely beautiful thing. But we need to have a little more experience we need to spend a little more time with the data.”
Illinois Blockchain and Regulators
William Mougayar, author of “The Business Blockchain”, said that a semi-private blockchain developed by the state would be a strong basis to welcome in market stakeholders. According to him, the real challenge will be getting regulators on board, or the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
“I suspect that the regulatory aspect is a more critical hurdle that will need to be addressed,” he said.
At the moment Dowling and her group are still thinking about the options they have. She explained that she studying the technology and its potential use cases for her agency, so she’s still learning more and more about the blockchain.
As part of that process, Dowling will participate in a blockchain regulatory panel held in Chicago on November 8th and she says that her first goal will be learing as much as possible.
Also, Dowling comments she is observing working models that can explain how blockchain can be implemented in insurance groups.
These were here words:
“These efforts are really on behalf of consumers to ensure we can serve them in the most efficient and cost-effective way. Illinois wants to look at everything possible to achieve that goal.”
Credit: Coidesk.com
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Bitcoin Segwit: scaling solution in November
Bitcoin Segwit was announced in December and it was one of the most awaited software versions since the beginning of the bitcoin creation.
And it is likely to happen on November 15th.
The Bitcoin Segwit, in fact, could solve the block size debate as the block size will become bigger and the bitcoin scalability could improve.
Ciphrex CEO and Bitcoin Core spokesman, Eric Lombrozo explained that users can expect an increase of capacity of 1.8 times.
However, bitcoin segwit main goal is to solve the malleability of transactions, one network aspect that has been controversial since the Mt Gox collapse back in 2014, when this “malleability” problem was used as a scapegoat.
Bitcoin segwit could solve a major part of the block debate, without a hard fork of the Bitcoin protocol. Transactions would tell miners that anyone can spend them, no signature required, while also including strings of seemingly meaningless text.
Old nodes confirm these transactions, ignoring these odd directions and gibberish.
Newer nodes would translate the extra text into instructions, telling them to collect signatures and store them in a completely new part of the transaction, called the Segregated Witness.
Lombrozo, in fact, believes that the benefits of switching to segwit are sufficient to encourage developers to adapt their own software to the new segwit solution.
“Not only they will be able to use the increased capacity offered by segwit and pay lower fees, but also they will be able to support other functions that will be enabled later by segwit with minor updates,” he said.
To better understand what the Bitcoin Segwit is, read here an insightful infographic.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Bitcoin euro: withdraw with ATM machines
Holytransaction Trade is a new platform offered by HolyTransaction wallet for Bitcoin Euro instant conversion.
Holytransaction.trade is useful when you want to convert your bitcoin into euro, by using any ATM machine with Halcash that you can find in Spain and Poland.
Thanks to HolyTransaction Trade you can do this operation in a few minutes, without having to wait a few days as if you use traditional exchanges.
Anybody can convert his own bitcoins into euro from an ATM machine with Halcash, whether he has a wallet on HolyTransaction or not.
Where is the service available?
The Halcash service is available only in Spain and Poland at the moment.
How much fees?
To convert bitcoin into euro with Halcash, this platform holds a 2% fee.
How does it work? Bitcoin Euro instant conversion
Here you can read a step-by-step guide to convert your bitcoin into euro by using HolyTransaction Trade and the 10.000 HalCash ATM you can find in Spain (or Poland).
- Go to Holytransaction.trade website
- To do a transfer from Bitcoin to Halcash you need to select “Bitcoin” on the right and “Halcash” on the left. Then, click on “Continue”.
- Select an amount and your telephone number where the system will send a verification code.
- Follow the instructions and open your wallet to do a transaction to the address on the screen. Of course, you need to send the same amount you selected in the previous window.
- Once you did, the transaction will be confirmed on the blockchain and you’ll receive a message on your mobile with the password to withdraw your funds at a Halcash ATM.
- Then go to a Halcash ATM, enter your password and withdraw your euro. You need to fill all the fields with mobile number, amount, password, reference number (you received it on your smartphone).
- You can withdraw your amount. This whole operation takes only you a few minutes.
Download the HolyTransaction App here for free.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.