Day: October 27, 2018

Alibaba Cloud’s Blockchain as a Service Now Available Outside China

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The cloud computing division of China’s largest online retailer Alibaba has announced the expansion of its Blockchain as a Service offering beyond its domestic market. In a statement, Alibaba Cloud disclosed that the blockchain service will now be available in the United States as well as countries in Europe and South East Asia. “Our customers in China have already experienced the benefits from our BaaS platform and we are excited to extend this service to other enterprise customers all over the world,” wrote Alibaba Cloud in a press release. Alibaba…

Germany’s Central Bank and Deutsche Börse Complete Blockchain Settlement Trial

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Germany central bank Deutsche Bundesbank, and Deutsche Börse have announced the successful completion of a performance test for two prototype blockchain-based securities settlement systems which they developed jointly. In an announcement posted earlier today, it was revealed that the prototype systems support settlement of regular payments, interest payments, securities transactions and repayment when bonds achieve maturity. The announcement further revealed that the systems were developed on Hyperledger Fabric version 1.0 and the Digital Asset platform. “Demanding Performance Tests” In a statement, the institutions stated that the prototypes were “subjected to…

Hyperledger Fabric Can Now Launch Ethereum Smart Contracts

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Hyperledger Fabric Can Now Launch Ethereum Smart Contracts October 27, 2018 by William Peaster The open-source team behind Hyperledger Fabric has announced their blockchain can now run smart contracts written for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). That dynamic brings the total number of programming languages capable of underpinning Fabric smart contracts to five.  Also see: Bitcoin Averts Slaughter, Let the Clubbered Tether Burn. Burn Clubbered Tether… Burn! Subscribe to the Bitsonline YouTube channel for great videos featuring industry insiders & experts From Smart Contracts to ‘Chaincode’ On October 26th, the Hyperledger consortium announced that…

We Should Not ‘Scurry to Keep Pace’ With Fintech, Says CFTC Commissioner

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A new commissioner at U.S. regulator the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) repeated called for handling fintech – including blockchain and cryptocurrency – with an “open mind” in a speech Thursday, Oct. 25. Speaking at the 2018 International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) Annual Japan Conference in Tokyo, Rostin Behnam, who has now held the post for a year, revealed he had spent much of that time focusing on issues related to disruptive fintech. “I am surprised by the amount of time I spent examining issues related to bitcoin, crypto…

After Years of Lies, Is There Hope for Real Crypto Journalism?

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After Years of Lies, Is There Hope for Real Crypto Journalism? October 27, 2018 by Jeff Fawkes Unfortunately, real crypto journalism almost vanished with the age of the ICO. Want a dose of the truth? Then read on and we will help set you straight. Also see: Bitcoin Averts Slaughter, Let the Clubbered Tether Burn. Burn Clubbered Tether… Burn! Subscribe to the Bitsonline YouTube channel for great videos featuring industry insiders & experts The Breakermag Controversy On October 25th, BREAKERMAG published a piece exposing the pay-for-play tendencies of crypto news reporting. In it, journalist…

Bitcoin is Still in the Middle of a Bear Market

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An inverse monetary velocity pattern indicates that bitcoin bulls are wrong about the market’s next bull run. Willi Woo, a prominent cryptocurrency market analyst, pitted the digital currency network value (or market cap) against the daily US Dollar volume transmitted through the blockchain. A proportion between the two equated into Bitcoin Network-to-Value (Bitcoin NV) Ratio, similar to P/E ratio used in equity markets.  A high Bitcoin BV indicates that the net value is exceeding the sum that is getting transmitted to Bitcoin’s payment network. It alternatively means that investors get…

World’s Largest Crypto Exchange OKEx to Delist 50+ Trading Pairs Due to ‘Weak’ Performance

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Major Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx will delist over 50 trading pairs with weak performance, according to an announcement published Oct. 25. As per the announcement, at 6:00 am Oct. 31, 2018 CET, the exchange will halt the trading of a swathe of pairs that they cite as having weak liquidity and trading volume. The exchange warned users that they should cancel their orders of the affected pairs from the platform. OKEx also made a point of noting that it will delist only the indicated trading pairs, but not the…

FSIN’s Internal Systems Hacked, Pays $20,000 in Bitcoin as Ransom to Cybercriminals

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Database management and insecurity have continued to pose a threat to financial institutions and the cryptospace at large. The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), a body committed to the promotion, protection, and implementation of the treaty promises, recently fell victim to hackers and paid $20,000 in bitcoin as ransom, reported  CBC news on October 24, 2018. FSIN Tackles Cyber Criminals Per sources close to the matter,  FISN paid an anonymous crypto-criminal $20,000 in bitcoin after the hacker disrupted their internal files and email system. The hackers were able to steal…

Al Kelly: Crypto Is No Threat to Visa… Yet

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Al Kelly: Crypto Is No Threat to Visa… Yet October 27, 2018 by Robert DeVoe Crypto Is No Threat to Visa… Yet. At least that’s according to the payment giant’s CEO Al Kelly. But does Visa risk missing the boat entirely? Also see: Shenzen Arbitration Commission: It’s Legal to Hold, Transfer Bitcoin Subscribe to the Bitsonline YouTube channel for great videos featuring industry insiders & experts Kelly Says Crypto Is No Threat to Visa, But Will Jump in When It Is Kelly recently appeared on CNBC’s Mad Money with flamboyant host, Jim Cramer. In…

Wrapped Bitcoin Is Coming to Ethereum

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BTC is poised to make its Ethereum debut. An initiative involving several decentralized exchanges (DEXs) as well as crypto-custodians Bitgo will introduce ”BTC-backed” WBTC, with the W standing for “wrapped.” When WBTC launches in January 2019, it will enable ethereum-based ”bitcoin” to be traded on DEXs, boosting liquidity and opening the Ethereum ecosystem to a wider audience. Also read: Visa CEO Plays Down Cryptocurrency Threat, Indicates Possible Intervention Bitcoin Represented as an ERC20 Token Blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have always operated independently. While interoperability protocols have been under development…