Day: September 14, 2018

‘No Plans’ for Digital Currency, Cash Demand Growing

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The European Central Bank (ECB) has “no plans” to issue its own digital currency, President Mario Draghi told the European Parliament Wednesday, September 12. Addressing a query by MEP Jonás Fernández, Draghi said “substantial development” was still needed in the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies before the Central Bank would consider using them. “The ECB and the Eurosystem currently have no plans to issue a central bank digital currency,” he summarized: “Nonetheless, we are carefully analysing the potential consequences of issuing such a currency as a complement to cash.” Explaining why…

Overstock.com Lets Customers Buy Bitcoin via Its Crypto Wallet Portfolio Company

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The blockchain investment arm of U.S. internet retailer Overstock announced that its investment choice Bitsy has begun a limited beta launch of its cryptocurrency wallet and exchange, the companies confirmed in a press release Friday, September 14. Bitsy, which seeks to offer users custody of their holdings via private keys while facilitating password recovery using biometric security, will initially support Bitcoin (BTC) buying, with undisclosed altcoin assets to follow. As a bonus, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne confirmed, customers would now be able to purchase Bitcoin directly from its website via…

Crypto Needs ‘Do No Harm’ Approach That Regulators Gave the Early Internet

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U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo has said that crypto needs a “do no harm” approach from regulators to flourish, in an interview at the annual Singapore Summit today, Friday 14. Chairman Giancarlo said he took the precedent from the early days of the Internet, which he argued was able to develop and mature because of the government’s minimal interventions: “I’m advocating the same approach to cryptocurrencies and all things having to do with this new digital revolution of markets, and of currencies, and of asset…

Battle of the Privacycoins: Why Monero Is Hard to Beat (and Hard to Scale)

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Based on blockchain technology, most cryptocurrencies have an open and public ledger. While this is required for these systems to work, it comes with a significant downside: Privacy is often quite limited. Government agencies, analytics companies and other interested parties — let’s call them “spies” — have ways to analyze the public blockchains and peer-to-peer networks of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, to cluster addresses and tie them to IP addresses or other identifying information. Dissatisfied with Bitcoin’s privacy features, several cryptocurrency projects have launched with the specific goal to improve on…

Mastercard Thinks Blockchain Can Simplify B2B Transactions in New Patent

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Financial services giant Mastercard has invented a blockchain system that it believes can simplify business-to-business (B2B) transactions in a high-volume enterprise environment. That system is outlined in a series of three patent applications filed by the New York-based multinational firm in March, made public on Thursday by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). Writing in one filing, the patent authors explain that existing settlement systems, which settle individual transactions from end-to-end, do not scale well to the needs of 21st-century businesses. “Currently, existing settlement systems often operate using the…

BTC/USD in Near-term Rising Wedge

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Bitcoin on Friday broke above its psychological resistance level near $6,500 and formed higher highs towards $6,600. The BTC/USD kickstarted the Asian trading session with an impressive rally from 6462-fiat to 6595-fiat. However, the pair failed to sustain the upside momentum near the new resistance and retraced back towards 6400-fiat. As it happened, BTC/USD made lower lows towards 6355-fiat during the early European hours. The session matured with pair attempting a decent bounce back towards the level just shy of 6500-fiat – our make-or-break level from August. BTC/USD Technical Analysis…

Platform Allows Content Creators to Sell Footage to News Media Via Blockchain Auction

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The media sharing and advertising platform Snapparazzi has announced a release of its minimum viable product (MVP) of a blockchain-based platform. The app aims to allow everyone with a smartphone “to become a reporter” or a content creator. The user takes footage or a photo of newsworthy events with their smartphone and shares it using the platform. The interested buyers — TV, newspapers, radio, etc. — pay for the content in fiat currency. The user will in turn be paid in SnapCoin, the platform’s token for their contribution. The platform…

Ethereum’s Constantinople Hard Fork to Activate on Testnet in October

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Ethereum’s upcoming hard fork, Constantinople, will activate in a testing environment next month, core developers agreed on Friday. As detailed by CoinDesk, Constantinople features various backward-incompatible changes designed to increase efficiency on the ethereum network, alter its economic policy and delay the so-called “difficulty bomb.” Speaking in a biweekly video call, developers said the upgrade will activate around October 9 on a cross-client testnet, named Ropsten, which mimics the conditions of the ethereum network itself. However, due to the unpredictability of block confirmation times in the testing environment, an exact block…

Mike Novogratz Says the Cryptocurrency Market Has Found a Bottom

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For the past nine months, the cryptocurrency market has seen steady declines, forcing most altcoin prices down 80 percent or more from their all-time highs. Even bitcoin, “digital gold,” has shed 68 percent from its mid-December peak. However, the wind, says billionaire Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz, is about to shift. Writing on Twitter, Novogratz, a former principal at Fortress Investment Group, said that he believes the market put in a low on Wednesday, when a widespread sell-off forced the cryptocurrency market cap down to about $186 billion, marking a…

Blockchain capabilities upgraded by Waves platform

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A key system update that will begin the process of activating Smart Contracts on the platform’s MainNet, has been announced by decentralised platform  Waves, which is offering a complete ecosystem for blockchain developers.  On September 10th, the Waves platform released a new system protocol for its blockchain. This will be the first stage of the launch of Smart Contracts on Waves. The update starts a process of voting for the miners who maintain the network. This process must successfully conclude to activate the new protocol and switch on smart contract…