Truffle Announces Upcoming Dev Support for Corda, Hyperledger Fabric, Tezos

Truffle Announces Upcoming Dev Support for Corda, Hyperledger Fabric, Tezos


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Truffle is planning to start supporting the Corda, Hyperledger Fabric, and Tezos protocols in its fully managed blockchain dev suite.
Blockchain development company Truffle has unveiled plans to expand its fully managed developer suite to include support for the blockchain protocols Corda, Hyperledger Fabric and Tezos.Truffle founder and CEO Tim Coulter announced the company’s plans at TruffleCon 2019 — Truffle’s annual dev conference — on Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington. Coulter commented on how he thinks these tools will pave the way for collaboration via interoperability, saying:“We are empowering developers to build enterprise-grade solutions on any network of their choosing, creating a path for future cross-network collaboration.”According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph, the Truffle Suite is a fully managed blockchain for dev workflow, from backend work on smart contracts to frontend creation of applications. Truffle’s developer tools reportedly date back to 2015, when they were developed from within ConsenSys’ venture production studio. As further noted, Truffle later received a $3 million investment in 2019 and partnered with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, as well as Microsoft Azure. At press time, Truffle’s developer suite supports the blockchain protocols of Ethereum and Quorum.Interoperability outside of code developmentHaving interoperable industry systems is a goal in fairly disparate contexts. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the transportation group Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA) is attempting to drive supply chain interoperability through blockchain technology. BiTA president Patrick Duffy has commented on the group’s goals, noting that blockchain “has the potential to smooth the transactions that occur between shippers and carriers, but it requires the active participation of transportation leaders.”






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A Look at Blockchain’s Pivotal Role in Securing Mobile Networks

A Look at Blockchain’s Pivotal Role in Securing Mobile Networks


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Over the years, blockchain has received a lot of coverage, although the concept of blockchain is often quite misunderstood. From a more technical perspective, blockchain is nothing more than a data structure which is used to track interactions between devices on a distributed network.
One of the best-known examples of how blockchain technology works are cryptocurrency transactions like Bitcoin. The security that blockchain technology offers makes it a positive solution for many other different industries, pretty much all where there’s data. For example, blockchain could be used to secure, retrieve, and transfer medical records, mobile communication, ...
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Nouriel “Dr. Doom” Roubini: “99 Percent of Cryptocurrencies are Worth Zero”

Nouriel “Dr. Doom” Roubini: “99 Percent of Cryptocurrencies are Worth Zero”


An interview with Mr. Roubini about “buggy” smart contracts, Ethereum being a scam, why he might want to give the industry another try


The interview has been edited and condensed.

Nouriel Roubini is a New York-based economist that famously predicted the 2008 financial crisis when only a few considered there might be a threat to the existing course of events at the time.

A Harvard alumnus and now a professor at NYU Stern School of Business, Mr. Roubini has always been critical of the crypto and blockchain industry. Oct.11, 2018 he testified at the Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C., warning U.S. senators about “the mother or father of all scams and bubbles," — crypto.

We met with Mr. Roubini during BlockShow Americas in Las Vegas and talked about why he doesn’t believe in smart contracts, thinks Ethereum is a scam, and the fact that he might want to give the industry another try.

On being “against” the crypto industry

“I'm not against [it], I'm open to any type of innovation, but I'm an expert on financial crises and asset bubbles. And I became famous [by] predicting the global financial crisis  — the burst of that bubble.

I can see a bubble when there is one — and to me, this entire space has been the mother and the father of all financial bubbles and now it’s [going to] burst

Last year, almost everybody I knew was asking me every other day, “Should I buy Bitcoin?”
And the price of Bitcoin doubled, tripled, quadrupled, and went to $20,000. And when that bubble burst, it collapsed — collapsed from $20,000 down to $6,000 today (at the time of the interview).

If you bought it at the peak, you lost 70 percent of your value. And it's typical of all these financial bubbles: They go up until they collapse. And Bitcoin is actually the best [example], because the average cryptocurrency has lost, in the last nine months, more than 90 percent of their value.

I spoke about the bubble existing and this bubble going bust. And guess what? In the last year, [it] has gone bust. So I think I've been vindicated and proven right.

Bitcoin could go to the moon or zero, I'm not going to make a penny either way because I'm neither short or long.

And I'm just an academic that speaks his mind. And I saw a big bubble, and I think that it's fair as an intellectual to discuss these things and then figure out what's going wrong.”

To watch the interview go here:

On future price movement and Ethereum being a “scam”

“An academic study suggests that 81 percent of all ICOs were a scam to begin with; 11 percent of them have failed or have died; and of the remaining eight percent that is traded on exchanges, the top 10 have lost on average, in the last year, 95 percent of their value — more than Bitcoin.

So, there was a bubble — and everybody was riding the bubble, everybody was issuing an ICO, raising money — but now it's gone bust.

I think that they've lost already 95 percent of their value and they could lose another 95 percent.

I would say 99 percent of cryptocurrencies are worth zero. Just because some people believe in something alternative to fiat currencies — alternative to gold — then, like collectibles, some people are going to hold some Bitcoin. Bitcoin is not going to disappear. But, you know, Ethereum is a bubble and it’s a bit of a scam — it's worth nothing — XRP, all the other ones, they’re all going bust.”

Catherine Ross: Why do you think Ethereum is a scam?

It’s a scam because the technology. They talk about smart contracts — there's nothing about them that is smart, they’re all buggy. They’re not real contracts because you have to enforce certain contracts, you cannot have just the code.

They've tried things that have failed: Their DAO was a failure.

You know, there's a lot of people [who] talk about their DApps or their distributed apps. 75 percent of those apps are what? CryptoKitties, Ponzi schemes and other pyramid schemes, and other casino games, like Las Vegas. So, after a decade, what does Ethereum have to show us? CryptoKitties and Ponzi schemes? And that's what they're doing? They're not doing anything that is of any use to anybody.

CR: But if a smart contract is a technology, — and you said “it's buggy” — technology can be buggy and it can be fixed. Don't you think we need more time to see the technology rise and smart contracts working better?

NR: I don't believe, first of all, in smart contracts. By definition, any contract has to be enforced by lawyers — [there is nothing that is enforced] by itself. So, the idea that you put everything in a code in a contract is silly to begin with. And, you know, a typical other program has less than one percent of bugs in its code, and a typical smart contract has 10 percent of its code  is buggy [sic].

I mean, this is the reality where we are in now.

And by the way, the broader question about cryptocurrency is that they are not scalable, and there's no system that makes them scalable; they're not decentralized because the entire system is [becoming] centralized; and they are not secure because there are so many ways to hack them.

So, it doesn't have any functions [it] should have: It's not scalable, it's not secure, it's not decentralized. So, what is it worth for? With Bitcoin, you can do five transactions per second; with Visa, you can do 25,000 transactions per second.

They've [the blockchain community] been saying for a decade, “We are going to resolve it with proof-of-stake rather than proof-of-work.” It has not worked yet. And even if there was something scalable, it’s going to be centralized and therefore is not secure. So, there's a fundamental flaw in the technology.

At least financial systems that we know are centralized, yes, but they're secure and they're scalable.  

They've been talking about fixing it, but Vitalik Buterin, who is the creator of Ethereum, said you cannot have a blockchain system that has three characteristic of the same time: being scalable, decentralized, and secure.

On trusting financial system

CR: Even after the 2008 global financial crisis, you still believe in the traditional financial banking banking system?

Traditional financial systems are centralized —  and there's nothing wrong with institutional centralizing in my view. They [the blockchain community] criticize it, saying “We want it decentralized.”

But I prefer a centralized system with a trusted authority — but at least they're secure and scalable.

There's a lot of talk about decentralization: Miners are centralized as an oligopoly, coders are centralized, exchanges are centralized — as 99 percent of all transactions occur on a centralized exchange — and there's a massive concentration of wealth. This is worse than North Korea in terms of income and wealth inequality.

The reality is just the opposite: It's a totally centralized system.

[At the same time] there are many problems with the traditional financial systems. And I’ve been one of the biggest critics of the financial system. And I believe that there are ways to [democratize] finance and [to] make it more efficient, but this is not based on blockchain.

There is a revolution in financial services: It's called fintech and it has zero to do with cryptocurrency and  blockchain.

Interview

It’s based on AI, machine learning, Internet of Things and big data. It’s revolutionizing payment system, insurance, credit allocation, capital market functions, and asset management.

Take, for example, payment systems: There [are] already plenty of digital payment systems — that do billions of transactions a day, and are used by billions of people around the world — that are not based on blockchain. In China, you have AliPay and WeChat Pay; in India, you have all these UPI systems; in Africa, you have M-Pesa; in the United States, you have Venmo, PayPal, Square — and so on, and so on. These are useful transactions.

With these models, you can do millions of transactions — and there are billions of transactions done by billions of people today. They are digital payment systems based on [the] traditional financial institution and fintech. They have nothing to do with blockchain. We don’t need blockchain, we don't need crypto to [democratize] finance.

There is already a revolution: there’s going to be much more competition, there’ll be much more access. If you are a poor farmer in Kenya today, you are using M-Pesa. On your little smartphone, you can make transactions, you can borrow and lend, you can buy and sell your goods and services, you have a whole slew of financial services without the brick-and-mortar bank. And all these things are available to billions of poor people in Africa. What [do] they have to do with blockchain or crypto? Nothing, zero. So, there is a revolution and it has nothing to do with blockchain.

CR: The entire philosophy of the industry was to create a transparent system and create a new world from a financial system that you can trust, a financial system that thinks about a user, a client. So you think it failed to do what it was supposed to do?

NR: Of course, it completely failed: After 10 years, there is no killer app; the crypto assets are going bust; they’ve lost 99 percent of their value; all these experiments have led not a single corporation or single financial institution using this technology; and there is no reason why they want to use this technology. And why would you want [to]?

Why would I want to trust somebody in Russia or China to verify my transactions? It’s not safe. Why would I want to do it? There are central banks, there are corporations, there are institutions that have been existing forever that are based on trust — on the reputation. And I know what I’m dealing with.

I'd rather have those institutions verify my transaction rather than somebody in China who can manipulate everything I am doing. Why should I trust somebody while I don't even know what the name is, who they are, what they do.

CR: So, you would rather trust a bank? How can you be sure that your money is safe?

NR: We have security laws. If a bank manipulates, there’ve been hundreds of billions of dollars in fines on the banks and their misbehavior — people ended up in jail. There are lots of problems with the traditional financial system: Blockchain and cryptocurrency do not resolve this problem. Fintech resolves it, but fintech has nothing to do with blockchain or cryptocurrencies.

I'm the first one who criticized the financial system, I've been writing about financial crises, I've been criticizing [the] banking system. I don't believe that crypto or blockchain resolves any, any of the problems of our existing financial system, [and they] don't resolve anything.

It's just something for a bunch of self-serving people speaking about decentralization, speaking about freedom, speaking about [the] democratization of finance — and there is no democratization of finance, there is no more access to financial services through crypto or blockchain. There are other alternatives that exist out there, like M-Pesa, that are giving power and giving democratization of finance to billions of people in Africa. Those things have nothing to do with blockchain. I believe in those things.

I don't believe in blockchain.

CR: I see your point of view, but just to be clear, the banking system has been around for centuries, right? So, maybe you should give the crypto industry and blockchain industries a try?

NR: No. I'm not giving it a try. I'm gonna give a try to financial innovation that changes the financial system.

All those things [mentioned above] —  they are revolutionizing finance, they are leading to competition, they are forcing the banking system to innovate or not survive, and they are changing the world. But they have nothing to do with blockchain. Why should I give the benefit of the doubt to something that has not provided any application which is used by anybody. I don't believe in it and the proof is in the pudding.

CR: My last question is, have you ever tried trading cryptocurrency?

NR: I haven’t tried it. Some people say, “Oh, you are critical of crypto because you are shorting Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies.” I have zero position — I have no long position, no short position.

I may be right or may be wrong, but crypto could go to the moon to go to zero; I'm not going to make a penny out of it. I'm an intellectual. I'm an academic. I have no conflicts of interest.

My only thing is my own academic reputation. If I’m proven wrong, my reputation is going to be negatively affected. But I'm not going to make a penny. And therefore, I'm not going to take a position one way or another because if I take a position, I have a financial interest to talk down or up a particular cryptocurrency; and that's not my interest.

I'm an intellectual and I'm not going to make money —  one way or another — out of it.



http://cryptocurrency.atspace.co.uk/nouriel-dr-doom-roubini-99-percent-of-cryptocurrencies-are-worth-zero/

Facebook’s David Marcus Addresses Libra Trust Issues

Facebook’s David Marcus Addresses Libra Trust Issues


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Facebook’s David Marcus addressed trust issues surrounding Facebook’s Libra stablecoin in a recent post.
David Marcus, the head of Calibra at Facebook, emphasized that Libra users will not have to put their trust in Facebook, in a post on July 3.Marcus reiterated that Facebook is not the only member of the Libra Network, and that they are relinquishing control of the network. In the post, he says:“Facebook will not control the network, the currency, or the reserve backing it. Facebook will only be one among over a hundred members of the Libra Association by launch. We will not have any special rights or privileges.”Relinquishing control over the infrastructure behind Libra is precisely what Polychain CEO Carlson-Wee said would be the best strategy for Facebook. At the Consensus 2019 blockchain conference in May, Carlson-Wee said:“I think that the strategic move for Facebook would actually be to build public infrastructure. And that public infrastructure could be incorporated onto all the Facebook platforms, which of course are proprietary. But that public infrastructure, if they don’t try to own it, I think that’s where they will have the most success.”Marcus also said that, while Facebook does own the crypto wallet company Calibra as a subsidiary, no financial data will be available to Facebook. Moreover, he says that users are free to use a range of custodial and non-custodial wallets from different companies to store and make transactions with Libra.One non-custodial wallet recently announced is ZenGo, which has provided a proof-of-concept demonstration for Libra support. This wallet reportedly eliminates the need for storing private keys by using a key-like solution that is distributed among multiple parties, rather than existing as one string of characters.Marcus says that ultimately, users do not have to put their trust in Facebook just to use Libra:“Bottom line: You won’t have to trust Facebook to get the benefit of Libra. And Facebook won’t have any special responsibility over the Libra Network…. We’ve been clear about our approach to financial data separation and we will live up to our commitments and work hard to deliver real utility.”The announcement comes just one day after members of the United States Congress requested that Facebook impose a moratorium on Libra’s development until it can be further examined.Hearings in the Senate and House of Representatives — at which Marcus will ostensibly appear — are scheduled for July 16 and July 17, respectively.







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Top 5 Crypto Performers Overview: TRON, Bitcoin, Litecoin, EOS, Cardano

Top 5 Crypto Performers Overview: TRON, Bitcoin, Litecoin, EOS, Cardano


Weekly price review of the best performing cryptocurrencies


The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

The market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange.

On October 11, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrencies plunged below $200 billion for the first time since September 20, as a global risk-off trade led investors to dump their holdings. However, the encouraging sign is that the sell-off was short-lived and most currencies are trying to claw back.

The next week is critical because it will provide insight on whether the currencies will break down of their key supports or rise above their overhead resistances. A breakdown to new lows will be negative and might signal the extension of the ongoing bear market. On the other hand, if the bulls succeed in scaling the key levels, it will signal a likely bottom and might attract buying.

Let’s take a look at the top 5 performers of the week and their medium-term outlook.

TRX/USD

Among the digital currencies that have a market capitalization of more than $1 billion, TRON is the only one that has managed to stay in the green in the past seven days. Two news stories attracted buyers in a range bound/falling market.

The first news that pushed prices higher was the tweet from Justin Sun, CEO of TRON on October 08. He said that the latest upgrade would make the digital currency “200x faster than Ethereum and cost 100x cheaper than EOS.”

The second news that led to higher prices was the tweet on October 12 that hinted at a partnership with an industry giant.

So, can this fundamental news propel prices higher and should the investors buy now? Let’s study the charts and find out.

TRX

The TRX/USD pair topped out at $0.35013935 on January 05. At the current levels, the price is down about 93 percent from the highs. Since August 14, it has stopped falling and is trying to form a range. Such a consolidation shows that the owners of the digital currency are in no hurry to sell their holdings. Additionally, the investors are buying on dips, close to $0.0183.

The range has seen two touches at the top and two at the bottom. If the bulls break out and sustain above the range, it will indicate the probable start of a new uptrend. The first pattern target is $0.03801042. However, when the breakout happens after a large consolidation, it easily overshoots the minimum pattern target. Therefore, in the medium-term, investors can expect a move to $0.0415 followed by a rally to $0.052.

If the bears sink prices below $0.01587681, the downtrend will resume. Therefore, we suggest traders wait for a confirmed breakout and only then initiate a long position.

BTC/USD

The sell-off in the global stock markets caught up with Bitcoin. The warning by International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the “rapid growth” of the new asset class could create “new vulnerabilities in the international financial system," did not help matters either.

Global economist Nouriel Roubini continued his anti-crypto rhetoric. He called cryptocurrencies “the mother or father of all scams and bubbles,” and the blockchain technology as “nothing better than a glorified spreadsheet or database.”

Another study from Juniper Research warned of an implosion in the crypto markets. Still, the BTC/USD pair ended as the second-best performer among the mega cap digital currencies. So, does this signal buying at the lows?

BTC

On a medium-term timeframe, Bitcoin has formed a large descending triangle pattern. It has formed successive lower highs but has largely held the $6,000 levels in 2018. Each lower high shows that the sellers are in a hurry to short or liquidate their positions and are not waiting for higher levels. The bulls have been buying only on dips close to $6,000, which has resulted in the support being held.

If the bears break the $5,900 levels, it is likely to attract further short selling and long liquidation, pushing prices to $5,450 and $5,000 levels. The first sign of a change in trend will be a close above the downtrend line of the triangle.

Investors should wait for a breakout above the most recent low of $6,831.99 to sustain for about three days before turning bullish.

LTC/USD

Winklevoss twins led cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, has received the required regulatory approval to add Litecoin trading and custody since October 12.

LTC

The LTC/USD pair has been in a steady downtrend. Previous attempts to stabilize and start a new uptrend have failed at higher levels. For the past two months, the digital currency has been consolidating in a tight range near the lows. A breakdown of the range will resume the downtrend.

If the bulls succeed in breaking out of the range, a rally to $94 levels is possible. A new uptrend will be confirmed only after the virtual currency successfully defends the breakout of the range and makes a series of higher highs and higher lows. Until then, it is best to remain on the sidelines.

EOS/USD

The EOS community is trying to bridge the gap between the West and the East. Language barriers, cultural differences and use of different platforms for conversing with each other were causing issues to the Chinese users. The EOS Mandarin Arbitration Community (EMAC), created to help the Mandarin-speaking users, is believed to be able to bring the two continents together.

EOS

In the medium-term time frame, the EOS/USD pair has largely been range bound between $18.67-$3.8723. Both the top and the bottom of the range have been tested twice. Though the bulls broke out of the range in end-April, they could not sustain the highs and prices crashed back into the range.

On the downside, the bulls have been defending the bottom of the range but have failed to rally higher. The digital currency has been trading close to the bottom of the range for the past two months. A breakdown can start a new downtrend that can result in a sharp fall.

On the upside, a breakout of $6.8299 will signal the start of a new upswing. The first target is $9.1668. If the bulls scale $10 levels, a rally to $15 is possible.

ADA/USD

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), and Ken Kodama, CEO of Emurgo have demanded the resignation of Michael Parsons, chairman of the Cardano Foundation. They have cited lack of performance and the non-responsive attitude of the council and the chairman as a “great frustration.” The Foundation is yet to respond.

The possibility of Coinbase listing the coin is doing the rounds. If successful, it might give a boost to Cardano’s price. So, is it worth buying? Let’s find out.

ADA

The ADA/USD pair has been in a long-term downtrend. It has fallen about 94 percent from the highs of $1.396281, reached on January 05. Various attempts to start a new uptrend have failed as higher levels attract selling.

For the past one month, the digital currency is trying to form a range close to the bottom. If the bears break down of $0.060105, it will resume its downtrend.

On the upside, the bulls will have to scale $0.094256 and $0.111843 to signal strength. A sequence of higher highs and higher lows will herald the start of a new uptrend. If the bulls breakout and close (UTC time frame) above $0.111843 for three days in a row, a move to $0.2-$0.23 is probable. Medium-term traders should wait for a new uptrend to start before initiating any long positions.

The market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. The charts for the analysis are provided by TradingView.




http://cryptocurrency.atspace.co.uk/top-5-crypto-performers-overview-tron-bitcoin-litecoin-eos-cardano/

Nouriel Roubini Versus Blockchain: Notes from the Senate Floor

Nouriel Roubini Versus Blockchain: Notes from the Senate Floor


The famous crypto-hater testified to the US Senate committee alongside the blockchain advocate Peter Van Valkenburgh.


Normally, there is very limited room for drawing legitimate comparisons between a Senate hearing and an Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight. Yet the hearing entitled “Exploring the Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Ecosystem,” which took place on October 11, 2018 on the US Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs’ floor, definitely bore quite a few similarities to a hyped sporting event that had made big waves just a few days ago. Two witnesses who were brought to testify on issues and promises of crypto stood by polarising views on the subject matter, albeit they expressed these views with varying intensity.

On the pro-crypto side, there was Peter Van Valkenburgh, Director of Research at Coin Center, a reserved yet very articulate speaker. In the opposite corner, there was Nouriel Roubini. Roubini or “Dr. Doom”, whose reputation is mainly founded on the prediction of the 2008 housing bubble crash, would be the fighter who does trash talking. In the buildup to the hearing, he fired a long series of vehement tweets, bashing blockchain and its supporters, picking local fights and bragging about having debated best crypto gurus and “beating them by a wide margin”.

Into the hearing

Chairman Mike Crapo, a Republican Senator from Idaho, opened the proceedings with a statement that gave a nod to Bitcoin’s unique status as the first ever digital asset, and highlighted how the bulk of the latest news on crypto has been negative, including falling prices and regulatory woes. Ranking member Sherrod Brown of Ohio weighed in to point out that it was almost Bitcoin’s tenth anniversary, yet the space is still rife with fraud and misconduct, while tangible applications are scarce. He mentioned regulatory issues and referenced the famous statement by Jay Clayton, the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the recent report by the Attorney General of New York that was anything but complementary to biggest crypto exchanges. Brown implied, however, that blockchain could be potentially useful for improving the lives of the unbanked and underserved.

Roubini’s testimony

In his speech, the New York University professor followed rather closely the rambling argument presented in his 30-page written statement. In addition to a constellation of derogatory terms – it is quite likely that for many senators this became the first encounter with terms like ‘shitcoin’ – Roubini developed several central talking points that he would reiterate dogmatically throughout his testimony and on to the Q&A session. He argued that the whole crypto ‘asset class is imploding’ now, following the steep decline of prices compared to late 2017, and educated senators on the study that identified 80 percent of initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the same year as scams. He added that digital assets are useless as currency, since they are unable to serve as unit of account, means of payment, or store value.

A recurrent theme in Roubini’s account was superiority of centralized payment systems to blockchain-based ones. Several times he brought up the claim that the Bitcoin network’s throughput is only five transactions per second, while Visa can process up to twenty-five thousand transactions per second. Other attacks included assertions that ‘nobody uses it for transactions,’ except for criminals and terrorists, while mining is an ‘environmental disaster.’

Roubini also offered a rather unconventional view of what constitutes the realm of fintech. He claimed that, indeed, there is a revolution in the financial services industry currently going on, yet it has nothing to do with blockchain. Instead, it is allegedly powered by artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT), and displays in proliferation of centralized digital payment systems.

Meanwhile, the crypto libertarian dream of total decentralization is ‘utter nonsense.’ In fact, Roubini claims, ‘crypto land’ is subject to the opposite trend: heavy centralization of mining - which is apparently controlled mainly by Chinese and Russian oligopolies, trading at the hands of centralized exchanges that are ‘hacked daily’, and development reserved for a narrow tech elite that arbitrarily changes code and forks coins whenever things go wrong.

Against this background, massive manipulation permeates the ‘crypto land,’ where pump & dump schemes, spoofing, and insider trading call the shots. In Roubini’s view, stable coins exist for the sole reason of manipulation; security tokens break all security laws, and utility tokens pave the way back to the Stone Age, where barter was prevalent. According to Roubini, even the “Flintstones knew better,” as they used clams as a universal currency.

Finally, corporate permissioned ledgers received their fair share of beating: according to Roubini, they are no more than ‘glorified databases,’ and they have no relation to the concept of blockchain.

Van Valkenburgh’s testimony

Right after Roubini’s furious charge, a composed account that Coin Center’s Van Valkenburgh delivered sounded almost soothing. The crypto advocate decided not to overcomplicate things, and dedicated a huge share of his time to explaining what Bitcoin is, what it does, and why is it revolutionary. Unlike cash, which only works face-to-face, Bitcoin is the world’s ‘first globally accessible public money.’ It is not yet ‘perfect or stable,’ yet it is working. Similar to the early years of the internet, the technology is full of loopholes and inefficiencies, but this is by no means a reason to abandon it.

Various kinds of human interactions, Van Valkenburgh maintained, are riddled with state or corporate chokepoints. Like the internet had removed such chokepoints from the realm of communication, blockchain’s promise is to do away with single points of failure that are inherent to other interaction systems’ designs – such as that of monetary transaction systems. Giant private corporations are increasingly prone to security failures, such as electronic bank robberies and massive personal data leaks. The rise of IoT makes such concerns even more grave, as even cars and pacers can now be targeted. According to Van Valkenburgh, no critical infrastructure has to have a single point of failure, and to achieve that, we need a ‘light-touch, pro-innovation’ policy in place.

Questions

Chairman Crapo opened up the floor for questions on where the crypto markets are headed next year, and what conditions need to converge in order for them to stabilize. Van Valkenburgh responded that volatility is raging due to the markets having a hard time with finding a level, a fair price for something very new and disruptive. However, institutional money have already brought some sense of stability: it’s been beneficial to have  Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulated crypto derivatives enter the market, but it would be even better if the SEC allows the trading of crypto-based exchange-traded funds. Having a nationally chartered bank for crypto custody would bring even more rationality to the market.

Criticisms thrice told

Roubini responded to this point with the argument that cryptocurrencies are not scalable, not decentralized, and not secure, seasoning his response with the same points about five transactions per second, widespread oligopolies, and no authority to go to in case if one’s funds get stolen. Crapo pressed on, asking what hinders faster development of decentralized computing technologies’ real-world applications. Van Valkenburgh deflected this with a reference to email, which first appeared in 1972 and took a couple of decades before going mainstream, while Roubini said that no government or corporation will use permissionless decentralized systems. The idea of decentralization, he maintained, “won’t fly, because it’s nonsense”.

Ranking member Brown inquired whether there are blockchain-based applications ‘on a broader scale,’ which Roubini took as a chance to dismiss permissionless blockchains again, grudgingly admitting that there is some useful innovation in the sphere of private distributed ledgers. Again, he lauded payment systems like Paypal, China’s WeChat Pay, and African M-Pesa as the ‘real revolution,’ dismissing decentralized crypto systems as being losing users and transactions. While the internet had a billion users after a decade in existence, he added, cryptocurrencies command the following of just 22 million.

As Senator Brown asked to describe a typical crypto investor, Van Valkenburgh painted a portrait of a young, tech-savvy person, and quickly moved to a more policy-relevant conversation. After praising the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) trailblazing efforts in laying the groundwork for crypto investors’ protection, he criticized the current state-by-state approach to money transmission licenses’ issuance to crypto enterprises, and called for federal licensing system.

Bridging gender gaps & standing up to totalitarians

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana demanded how the world got better since cryptocurrencies came into existence. Van Valkenburgh offered a story of an Afghani female entrepreneur who used crypto to pay her mostly female employees’ wages, which was the only way to do it in a society where women are especially underserved by banks, while few accounts that exist are often controlled by male relatives. Roubini, once again, brought up superiority of centralized payment systems and Bitcoin’s meager five transactions per second. He then went on to complain about concentration of miners in places like China, Russia, and – for some reason – Belarus and Georgia, claiming that these nations will use their alleged oligopolistic dominance to manipulate the US.

Van Valkenburgh retorted that with payment infrastructures like the Chinese WeChat Pay, users’ transaction records and personal details reside without encryption in centralized repositories, ready to be hacked or surveilled by the government, if needed. Such systems, he argued, are ‘tools for totalitarians.’

A word on security

Doug Jones of Alabama was concerned with the extent to which ‘bad guys’ and rogue nations can exploit the decentralized design of public blockchains. Van Valkenburgh noted that every worthy technology, especially at the early stages of development, gets exploited by shady characters – if it does not, it is probably not very useful. At the same time, he contended, US law enforcement is already quite comfortable for tracking illicit transactions on open ledgers. Roubini took to bemoaning the dangers of blockchains’ anonymity.

Potential for scaling

Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey jumped in, showing off his intimacy with blockchain fundamentals and jargon. He said that while crypto assets are riddled with flaws, central banks do not have a flawless record of frictionless operations either. He suggested that an asset being a currency or not is just an issue of scale, and asked whether cryptocurrencies are fundamentally not scalable. Toomey was also interested whether the oligopolistic tendencies in mining really mattered for cryptocurrencies’ capacity to operate securely.

Van Valkenburgh delved into an overview of various scaling solutions, particularly highlighting the potential of batch settlement. He added that with oligopoly, you cannot really do much more to the network than denial-of-service attacks. Roubini’s response was anything but surprising:  five transactions per second, centralized mining, not secure. He explained that 51 percent attacks are a reality – they happen ‘every day’ with minor coins. Transactions costs “have gone through the roof,” while massive economies of scale implicit to mining operations incentivize cartelization.

ICO woes

Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was wondering how the theft of an aggregate $1.1 billion in the first half of 2018 was possible, as well as what could be done with the 80 percent rate of scam ICOs.  Van Valkenburgh explained that most of the funds stolen were in obscure alternative coins from overseas exchanges that failed to scale up their security systems to match the value they came to store. He also said he was on the same page with those who identify ICOs as securities, but added that it is entirely possible to have an ICO and comply with all the relevant securities regulations.

Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen appeared to be marginally interested in crypto affairs specifically. He lamented how the Fed was sluggish in moving towards a real-time payment system, blockchain-based or not, and moved on to solicit Roubini’s advice on the overall state and near perspectives of the US economy. The famed economist did not sound optimistic, suggesting that it’s possible that growth would stall by 2020.

Global KYC standards

Catherine Cortez Masto from Nevada was the last to pose questions. She asked if there are any provisions in the bitcoin protocol that enable detection of payments that go to human trafficking, drug trafficking, or money laundering. Van Valkenburgh responded that policing such activities is incumbent upon the businesses that operate on top of the blockchain, as well as law enforcement. Roubini noted that such policing won’t be efficient unless there is a globally ratified set of rules in place. Van Valkenburgh agreed that such a unified approach to know your customer (KYC) procedures are needed, marking a rare moment of solidarity with the opponent.

Finally, Cortez Masto asked Roubini whether he believed in blockchain technology’s successful applications beyond finance, to which he responded, once again, that no serious government or corporation would ever entrust an open, trustless, permissionless distributed system with any sensitive information. ‘It’s just nonsense!’ – he concluded.

Chairman Mike Crapo reminded senators that additional questions to witnesses, if any arise, are due within one week, and adjourned the hearing.



http://cryptocurrency.atspace.co.uk/nouriel-roubini-versus-blockchain-notes-from-the-senate-floor/

Bakkt’s First Week Trading Volumes Hit Just $5 Million USD

Bakkt’s First Week Trading Volumes Hit Just $5 Million USD Bakkt, the highly anticipated Bitcoin futures contract, recorded just $5 million USD in total trading during its first week.
The long-awaited Bitcoin futures platform from The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) launched last week to considerably underwhelming fanfare given the hype surrounding the project since it was initially announced last year. According to ICE, which is also the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, just 623 Bitcoin futures contracts were traded during the first week of Bakkt. Each of Bakkt’s futures contracts represents one Bitcoin, so just over $5 million was traded based on Bitcoin’s current ...
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http://cryptocurrency.atspace.co.uk/bakkts-first-week-trading-volumes-hit-just-5-million-usd/

BitShares DEX Gateway CryptoBridge Implements Mandatory KYC for Users

BitShares DEX Gateway CryptoBridge Implements Mandatory KYC for Users
CryptoBridge, a gateway for decentralized exchange BitShares, announces that as of this month its users will have to undergo mandatory identity checks.
BitShares Decentralized Exchange (DEX) gateway CryptoBridge announced on Oct. 1 that it has implemented mandatory user Know Your Client (KYC) verification.European regulation is responsiblePer the announcement, the reason for the upcoming mandatory KYC is the 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5). Interestingly, CryptoBridge also noted that the company wants to challenge international financial regulation:“While we still strive to present new challenges for international financial regulation, we are facing the 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) and will adjust our gateway services to pave the way for CryptoBridge moving forward.”Because of this policy change, all CryptoBridge users are required to submit to identification before continuing to use deposits and withdrawals. According to the platform, the measure is meant to “protect customers and CryptoBridge from being held responsible for any illegal intentions or money laundering activities.”Data safety and privacy concernsThe company also notes that the introduction of the AMLD5 regulation creates legal status for crypto assets, “enables them to become viable and legitimate financial networks” and facilitates the listing of security tokens on the platform. Lastly, the firm reassures the users that it won’t have access to users’ KYC data, which will be managed by its GDPR-compliant partner Fractal.Users are increasingly concerned over sharing their data with third parties, especially sensitive data such as the documents required to perform KYC checks. As Cointelegraph reported in August, Binance fell victim to a hacking scandal that saw the miscreant gain possession of a huge chunk of the firm’s KYC data.
http://cryptocurrency.atspace.co.uk/bitshares-dex-gateway-cryptobridge-implements-mandatory-kyc-for-users/

First Blockchain-Exclusive Birth Certificates Recorded in Brazil

First Blockchain-Exclusive Birth Certificates Recorded in Brazil
The first instances of blockchain-exclusive birth certificates have been recorded in Brazil via a partnership between IBM and tech firm Growth Tech.
The first birth certificates to be recorded by exclusively using blockchain technology were issued in Brazil.As Cointelegraph Brasil reports on Sept. 1, Álvaro de Medeiros Mendonça is one of the first children in the country to have their birth certificate recorded only with blockchain technology, without the need of the registry office. Streamlining registration processThe parents were reportedly invited by the hospital to participate in a project developed by tech company Growth Tech in partnership with IBM. The father, Waldyr Mendonça Junior, said that blockchain tech made the process of registering his newborn child much faster, taking less than five minutes. The registration was made through Growth Tech's Notary Ledgers platform, which provides virtual notary services. The firm’s founder Hugo Pierre says that the startup sought a new solution to provide better efficiency in recording birth certificates. Carlos Rischioto, IBM's blockchain leader in Latin America, explained that the child registration method has three stages. First is the “Live Birth Statement” made by the hospital. Then the parents create a digital identity on the platform, after which the information is sent to the notary office, finalizing the certificate.Rischioto said that the new platform will eliminate bureaucratic obstacles in the birth registration process and will be more efficient and transparent. Blockchain technology and medical dataBlockchain technology is increasingly being applied to data management in the medical field. In April, a South Korean hospital entered into a partnership with blockchain medical data marketplace Longenesis and biotechnology company Insilico Medicine to create a blockchain-based health data management solution.Longenesis will reportedly provide a secure platform for Gil Medical Center to upload, store and manage patients’ private data, and allow patients to control and access their data.
http://cryptocurrency.atspace.co.uk/first-blockchain-exclusive-birth-certificates-recorded-in-brazil/

Bithumb Sells $350 Million Stake in Its Cryptocurrency Exchange

Bithumb Sells $350 Million Stake in Its Cryptocurrency Exchange


Bithumb




Bithumb, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea by its daily trade volume, has sold more than 38 percent of its ownership to a blockchain consortium in Singapore, Coindesk Korea reported this morning. The stake was sold for 400 billion won, or $350 million USD.

Stake Sold

Bithumb signed the deal on October 11th with BK Global Consortium. BK Global Consortium is a blockchain investment firm that was formed by BK Global, a plastic surgery medical group in Singapore.

BTC Holdings Company currently owns 76 percent of Bithumb’s equity and has agreed ...





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https://cryptocurrency.atspace.co.uk/bithumb-sells-350-million-stake-in-its-cryptocurrency-exchange/

Ripple (XRP) Climbing After Crypto Market Correction

Ripple (XRP) Climbing After Crypto Market Correction

Ripple (XRP)

Ripple (XRP) is making a dashing comeback this morning after the crypto market lost over $20 billion in value this week. Many of the other cryptocurrencies in the top 20 were seeing double-digit losses yesterday, as investors began dumping their digital assets. Now it seems most are making a comeback and XRP is leading the way.


Ripple (XRP) Comeback

Ripple concluded its annual Swell conference last week. The company put together a two-day conference that was held in San Francisco.



#SwellbyRipple is a wrap for 2018! Thanks to all those who joined us in ...


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https://cryptocurrency.atspace.co.uk/ripple-xrp-climbing-after-crypto-market-correction/

South Korean Financial Regulator Reaffirms Negative Stance on ICOs and Crypto

South Korean Financial Regulator Reaffirms Negative Stance on ICOs and Crypto


A top Korean financial regulator has reiterated his negative position on ICOs and digital currencies, though he does not deny the potential of blockchain.


The chairman of Korea’s Financial Services Commission Choi Jong-koo has reaffirmed his negative position on digital currencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), Business Korea reported Oct. 11. Choi spoke at a parliamentary audit session of the commission held at the National Assembly.

South Korea prohibited ICOs in September last year, stating that such a type of fundraising is “almost a gamble.” This August, Korean lawmakers, including participants from government ministries, returned to the cryptocurrency issue, focusing on repealing the country's ICO ban. Lawmakers agreed on the need to develop a related policy before carrying a resolution on ICO reallowance.

At the recent session, Choi reportedly said that “the government does not deny the potential of the blockchain industry," while noting that it “should not equate the cryptocurrency trading business with the blockchain industry.” Choi said:

"Many people say the Korean government should allow ICOs, but ICOs bring uncertainty and the damage they can cause is too serious and obvious. For these reasons, many foreign countries ban ICOs or are conservative towards them.”

Choi also addressed criticism of commercial banks that refused service to crypto exchanges, stating that "exchanges should be able to persuade banks to issue bank accounts to them.”

Other officials have said that the South Korean government is “likely” to announce its official position on ICOs in November. The Chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination Hong Nam-ki said that the government will announce its position once it finalizes its discussion and receives the results of a government survey.

Hong told Korean business publication the Investor that the government launched a survey of blockchain companies to gather their views on the current legal framework.

In September, South Korean cabinet ministers agreed to exclude all sale and brokerage of digital assets based on blockchain technology from venture business classification. The move was reportedly taken in order to “strengthen the cooperation of related institutions” and to protect citizens from the “illegal activities” related to the digital assets business.



https://cryptocurrency.atspace.co.uk/south-korean-financial-regulator-reaffirms-negative-stance-on-icos-and-crypto/

Washington State Law Recognizes Blockchain Records as Legally Valid and Enforceable

Washington State Law Recognizes Blockchain Records as Legally Valid and Enforceable


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Washington state has passed a bill that recognizes and protects the legal status of electronic records pertaining to distributed ledgers.
The United States state of Washington has passed a bill that recognizes and protects the legal status of electronic records pertaining to distributed ledgers like blockchains. The bill, substitute senate bill 5638, was signed into effect by Governor Jay Inslee on April 26.The original version of the bill had its first reading by the Washington state legislature on January 25, 2019. The bill has now passed with 96–1 and will go into effect in late July.The new law has a clause which prevents discriminating against electronic records which have in some way been part of a distributed ledger:“An electronic record may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is generated, communicated, received, or stored using distributed ledger technology.”The bill also provides legal definitions for the terms “blockchain” and “distributed ledger” that can be referred to moving forward.The Tennessee legislature made a similar move in March 2018, when Governor Bill Haslam signed a bill that “‘recognizes the legal authority of blockchain technology and smart contracts in conducting electronic transactions,’” according to its summary.As Cointelegraph previously reported, Ohio has recently introduced a bill that also is related to the use of distributed ledgers. In this instance, House Bill 220 aims to allow the government of Ohio to implement blockchain-aided solutions. For instance, blockchain could allow the state government to readily track and share identifying information, such as car titles and licenses.








Take a look at  coin secrets
http://cryptocurrency.atspace.co.uk/washington-state-law-recognizes-blockchain-records-as-legally-valid-and-enforceable/