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.
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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.
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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
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2 Jun
0
The newest Richard Branson’s Blockchain Event
The well-known founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson has organized a new blockchain-related event on his private island in the Carribbean.
Among his about 40 guests there are: Beth Moses, engineer for the Virgin Galactic; Laurent Lamothe, former prime minister of Haiti; Jim Newsome, former chairman at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO at BitPesa.
This is the second year for the Branson’s Blockchain Event on his Necker Island, also thanks to the support of the mining company BitFury.
BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov explained:
“Our emphasis for this year’s gathering is to bring some of the world’s top thinkers from diverse backgrounds – civil society, [non-governmental organizations], business, technology, government – to this extremely special place known for free thinking and cutting edge innovation.”
Branson’s Blockchain Event
From 3rd to 7th June, guests will partecipate to this summit focused on three main topics: financial technology, security and global change.
Also, they will have a lot of networking time, a great opportunity to build connections.
Last year’s event generated some controversy about the lack of women, so this year the list includes several female experts who work in the blockchain field, as you can read on the guest list above.
Branson in Bitcoin
Of course this is not the first time Branson talks about Bitcoin.
A few months ago, during an interview on Bloomberg TV, he explained that this cryptocurrency is working well.
In a conversation with journalist Trish Regan about space tourism, Branson also commented positively on the future of the Bitcoin industry.
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.
1 Jun
0
Microsoft to launch an identity platform through the blockchain
The well-known tech giant Microsoft recently started a partnership with Blockstack Labs and ConsenSys to create an open-source platform to integrate both the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains.
In today’s blog post published by Microsoft blockchain business strategist Yorke Rhodes III, in fact, he explained that the company will create an open source framework on Azure, where developers can build their own identity applications.
“Microsoft is collaborating with partners Blockstack Labs and ConsenSys, and developers across the globe on an open source, self-sovereign, blockchain-based identity system that allows people, products, apps, and services to interoperate across blockchains, cloud providers, and organizations. Our goal in contributing to this initiative is to start a conversation on blockchain-based identity that could improve apps, services, and more importantly, the lives of real people worldwide by enabling self-owned or self-sovereign identity”.
The possibility to connect this platform to both the Ethereum and the Bitcoin blockchain will take place thanks to Blockstack and uPort systems.
This partnership started during the ID2020 Summit held in New York a few weeks ago.
According to Rhodes, a first version of this framework will be launched within the end of the summer on the Azure platform.
Identity Problem in the Digital World
According to the post published by Rhodes, 1.5 billion people don’t have a proper identification.
And this makes it difficult for them to have a bank account or access to education and more services.
- 1.5B people are without proper identification, that’s one-fifth of the world’s population.
- One in three children under the age of five does not officially exist because their birth has not been recorded.
- Cumulatively, 230M children under the age of five have no birth certificate; this number is growing.
- 50M children are born without legal identity, the size of the UK, each year.
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28 May
2
A task force to control digital currency in Europe
Last month we talked about how the European Parliament defined the blockchain as the “perfect technology” and aimed at realizing new rules related to the distributed ledger.
During a speech given by the Lithuanian representative Antanas Guoga, in fact, he defined the blockchain that way.
His speech was held before the Internal Market for Consumer Protection Committee, that advanced a new proposal for cryptocurrencies.
Task force creation: yes or not?
A voting on the proposal was held on April 26th and the result was 542-to-51 members who want the creation of a cryptocurrency task force.
So, now the task force will turn into reality and will “monitor technology developments ahead of any concrete regulatory proposals”.
Von Weizsäcker said in a statement:
“To avoid stifling innovation, we favour precautionary monitoring rather than pre-emptive regulation. But IT innovations can spread very rapidly and become systemic. That’s why we call on the Commission to establish a taskforce to actively monitor how the technology evolves and to make timely proposals for specific regulation if, and when, the need arises.”
It is likely that the creation of this task force will be done in the next few months.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
25 May
0
The Greatest Bitcoin Companies: TOP 30
Greatest Bitcoin Companies: which are the best?
Below you can read a chart of the greatest Bitcoin Companies you need to follow to better understand the cryptocurrencies world.
These 30 Bitcoin companies can also give you ideas and a greater consciousness of the fintech sector if you are starting a blockchain startup and you want to follow their example.
This list was generated thanks to Buzzsumo, taking into this platoform several settings and metrics we though were useful to add.
The greatest part of these 30 Bitcoin- related companies are exchanges and magazines related to Bitcoin news.
Top 30 Blockchain companies:
- Blockchain.com
- BitStamp
- BitPay
- Coindesk
- Ethereum
- Bitcoin News
- Mesosphere
- Ripple
- Stock
- Consesus System
- Bitcoin Foundation
- Kraken
- Syscoin
- DAO
- Gemini
- BitFinex.com
- R3 Cev
- OkCoin
- Litecoin
- Dash
- Bitcoin Vox
- CoinScrum
- Synereo
- Tierion
- ProTip
- HolyTransaction
- Blockchain University
- AlphaPoint
- Korbit
- Vogogo
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24 May
0
US Postal Service to create its Digital Currency
Recently the US Postal Service (USPS) published a new document about how the company could create its own digital currency.
This press release written by the Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General said that the postal company have to consider to use the blockchain for its own purpouses, creating a network where devices can be connected together.
Released today, this report stated that the Postal Service should study how to develop these applications.
“The Postal Service could benefit from blockchain technology in the short term by studying the technology and possibly experimenting with blockchain-based solutions for financial services. The Postal Service already offers some financial services, including money orders and international money transfers, where blockchain could be an enabling tool, allowing the Postal Service to offer these services more efficiently.”
Australian Postal Service has already started to study Bitcoin
In March the Australia Post announced its researches about how to implement the distributed ledger for its own applications.
Postal Service chief information security officer and VP of digital solutions Randy Miskanic explained:
“As highlighted in the report, we will need to be cautious in specific implementations to account for technology barriers, security concerns and regulatory uncertainty. We will evaluate the use of blockchain for each of the use cases and further review the available opportunities while considering the impact of the technology and financial restrictions.”
Postcoin
One of the most important ideas in the report is the creation of a cryptocurrency for the Postal Service, called “Postcoin”.
That was initially suggested back in 2015 by Swiss Economics.
Postcoin would allow the Postal service to solve money transfer problems worldwide. Also, this cryptocurrency could help the connection of postal offices to transact each other:
“…the Postal Service currently offers international money transfers. However, these services are currently only cashable in a limited number of countries. The flexibility and convenience associated with the Postcoin could potentially allow the expansion of electronic money transfer services to anyone in the world.”
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19 May
0
Nasdaq Blockchain to build a Solar Energy Market
Today, during an event organized by Nasdaq, the well-known stock exchange announced its new service that allows solar power providers to sell certificates using its Linq blockchain.
This special solar panels are linked to the Internet connection through a technology created by Filament, a Nevada blockchain startup that built a system able to connect traditional devices to the internet.
Thanks to the Nasdaq private blockchain called Linq, it is possible to create certificates that can be purchased by anyone who wants to finance the solar energy.
Even if there were a couple of bugs, the resultant certificate appeared on the screen during the live video demonstration.
During an interview conducted by Coindesk, Alexander Zinder, director of the global software development at Nasdaq, cleared up how this new technology works.
“The solar panel is actually hard-wired into the IoT device through a converter which enables us to measure the wattage they’re putting out and producing into the grid.”
This innovative project was born thanks to a partnership between Nasdaq and IDEO’s CoLab.
“We think it’s a very compelling use case, but there’s a lot of opportunity, but it’s extremely early in our exploration”, continued Zinder.
Blockchain and energy: Usizo
This is not the first time we hear about a project related to energy and the blockchain.
A few months ago, in fact, we talked about Usizo, a crowdfunding company who is trying to improve energy payments between users and schools in the African country.
Usizo works thanks to a smart meter that accept digital currencies and through a crowdfunding platform where people can donate their bitcoin.
Donators can see the electricity needed by a school and can know how much he will contribute based on the BTC he donates.
Ethereum used for Car Charging
Also, a German power company, RWE, started a partnership with the Ethereum-based startup Slock.it, to develop proofs-of-concepts using the Ethereum blockchain.
RWE Carsten Stöcker commented:
“We would like to solve the problems and really push electric vehicle deployment forward by looking into establishing a seamless and affordable electrical charging infrastructure.”
How to pay energy with Ethereum
An American resident used the Ethereum blockchain to sell energy to his neighbors.
The two men did the transaction through the LO3, a startup that aims at changing the energy industry.
Lawrence Orsini, founder at LO3, explained that his startup wants to show how people can use the blockchain on a daily basis to facilitate their peer-to-peer exchange.
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18 May
0
Can the Blockchain bring a real advantage to the Public Administration?
On June 17th, 2016 Blockchain Education Network Italia (BEN) will held an event in Rome at the Consiglio Regionale del Lazio.
The main goal of this event is to start an institutional dialogue, illustrating the operation and the possible applications of blockchain technology with the participation of leading figures in the industry, in order to create a shared path between universities and public administration towards the adoption this new paradigm.
The blockchain proved to be more than the technology behind Bitcoin: transparency , durability and free data access are features that can be useful in various fields and not only for the financial sector.
This is the reason why banks and companies want to study this technology. During the morning we will introduce the discussion, with a presentation of the Blockchain Education Network Italia, with speeches that will illustrate the current situation of the Italian public administration, the applications of the blockchain technology both from a technical point of view and from the legal one, focusing on research progress in the academy sector.
After the lunch break the speeches will go wider and deeper: the entrepreneurs and leading members of the blockchain scene will present additional non-financial applications of this technology, trying to address the possible interesting applications for the Italian government.
To end this event, there will be a round table to be attended by the speakers and other guests to try and organize the key points on which is worth working during the next few months.
Among the speakers there will be Francesco Simonetti, HolyTransaction CEO, who will talk about the social aspects related to the Blockchain technology.
Who is Ben?
Blockchain Education Network Italia is a university association founded in December 2014 as the Italian section of the worldwide BEN.
Its purpose is to raise awareness on Bitcoin and blockchain through education, development of projects and the continuous experimentation of new applications based on these technologies, with an eye to the academic world.
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