Stay Vigilant When Looking at ICOs

Recently, I was encouraged to write an article going over some of the ways to stay safe while buying, selling, and owning cryptocurrencies. This seems especially relevant in the current climate in which numerous ICOs are out there vying for new investor money. While we have written on topics like this before, it is important to both educate newcomers and remind veterans.

Stay Vigilant — Only You Can Protect Your Coins

Ultimately, the onus of staying safe in any market — crypto or traditional — rests solely on the investor. That being said, here are some of the things I look for when determining the validity of an investment opportunity.

Check Out Its Whitepaper

This should be a pretty obvious one for anyone who has even heard of ICOs. While most projects have them — and if they don’t, be very suspicious — not all whitepapers are the same. Just because a project has one does not mean that it was 1) well thought out or 2) even aligned with the goals of the project.

I realize these can be a little long sometimes, but it is imperative that investors understand what they are putting their money into. Take the time, do your homework, read the whitepaper, and be able to explain it well to someone else before ever considering throwing any amount of money at it.

Check out its Website and Social Accounts

Another obvious aspect to explore is the quality and security of the ICO’s website. It doesn’t need to have the most amazing design or user experience, but make sure the team has put in the work and that they have SSL certification or some other form of security certificate on their site. While design and security do not guarantee the project’s validity, they can be a good way to gauge its overall seriousness.

Most projects should have some sort of a social media or community manager keeping their various web presences healthy. Check those out, pose some questions, or just interact with them. This could be another way of determining how serious the project is.

Check out who (if anyone) Supports it

I say this with an important caveat: not all endorsements mean much and not all projects without endorsements are worthless — with Bitcoin being an obvious example of the latter. However, if you see big names in the blockchain space supporting something, it may give it more clout than support from Paris Hilton or someone else not affiliated with the space.

For The Love of Whatever You Hold Dear, Check Out if its Code has Been Audited

Remember the DAO?  Of course you do; we all do. Auditing helps avoid future DAO-like fiascos, but cannot guarantee success. ICO projects should be audited multiple times by well-respected security researchers. If you don’t know the names of the researchers, look them up, and check them out. Who a project chooses for its audits speaks volumes about how much they respect their own project.

These are just a few of the things that I do before making a decision on how legitimate a given project is; it is not an exhaustive list. Remember: This is not investment or trading advice; you should always conduct your own independent research.

Source : TheMerkle

Read More

Bank of America Report: Bitcoin's True Value 'Impossible to Assess'

A potential move by global brokerages to offer products around cryptocurrencies could have a big impact on the wider market, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote.

In an Oct. 16 research note entitled "Introducing cryptocurrencies – what are they good for?", the analysts tackle bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies such as ethereum and XRP. The note both covers the basics of the market and dives more specifically into the growing galaxy of open blockchain networks in operation today.

Notably, the report touches on the possible factors that could shape the cryptocurrency market's future progression – including financial products based on the tech.

On this point, the bank's analysts suggest that a move by brokerages to begin offering such services to their clients could affect both the overall liquidity of the market as well as the market capitalization for the relevant cryptocurrencies.

 "The coin universe is dynamic and innovative and volatile; while a true value for cryptocurrencies may be impossible to assess, one factor which we believe could affect their liquidity and market capitalisation would be if one or more global broker/dealers decided to offer institutional-like products," they wrote.

The past year has seen a number of high-profile efforts to build cryptocurrency-tied investment products, and firms like CBOE have described plans to take part in what is still a nascent ecosystem. Even so, regulators in the U.S. have reacted coolly to such proposals thus far.

And according to the Bank of America analysts, it remains far from certain how the market will develop in the months to come.

"At present, these impacts are too far off, and too unpredictable, to form part of an estimate or an investment recommendation," they wrote.

Source : Coindesk

Read More

Crypto Mining Makes Millions for Gold Mining Maverick

Frank Giustra, a well regarded Canadian mining magnate who created one of the world’s most successful mining companies is now moving his operation digitally to mine Cryptocurrency.

Giustra has backed a Blockchain technology company called Hive Blockchain Technologies, which is among the first publicly traded stocks to provide exposure to crypto mining, and for Giustra, he is seeing huge returns.

Six fold returns

The mining mogul has seen rapid growth since entering the Bitcoin market, backing Hive which was previously known as Leeta Gold Corp.

The decision to dig for data servers has paid off as Hive’s shares have soared about 633 percent, giving it a market value of $443 mln since it took over the listing.

Giustra’s foray into the crypto space has been a successful one as he has help drive Hive to be one of the pioneers in terms of a listed crypto mining company.

Hive paid Hong Kong-based Genesis Mining, builder of the world’s largest Ether mining facility, $9 mln and gave it a 30 percent stake to acquire a new data center in Reykjanes, Iceland.

Major mining operation

Hive’s mandate is to expand into other colder countries, such as Iceland and Sweden, in order to mine different coins and amass an inventory which they hope will appreciate. It is with the help of Giustra that they hope to achieve this.

Giustra helped build the company that would become Goldcorp Inc., then founded film studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. He counts Bill Clinton and George Soros among his close connections. Those connections may position him to grasp a nascent corner of finance and navigate Bitcoin’s uncertain regulatory waters.

Still a niche market

Despite the visible success seen from Giustra, companies like Hive are still very much in the minority, and while their pioneering moves are believed to make the market more open and available, there are still those who believed it is niche.

“I suspect the vast majority of accounts aren’t contemplating an investment in virtual currencies right now,” said Jeff Klingelhofer, managing director of Thornburg InvestmentManagement Inc.

Source : Cointelegraph

Read More

Hours to Go: How to Watch Ethereum's Fork as It Happens

With $30 billion on the line, all eyes are likely to be on ethereum tomorrow as it seeks to navigate one of its biggest-ever updates.

Will all software users upgrade to the updated blockchain? Or will a new, competing token be created? That's exactly what the market is watching and waiting to see when etheruem hits block 4,370,000, scheduled to occur tomorrow at around 6:00 UTC at press time.

The first part of a larger, multi-part upgrade, the so-called "Byzantium" code will make the blockchain lighter and faster, paving the way for better decentralized applications (dapps), while also enhancing network privacy.

New features aside, however, ethereum developers are mostly optimistic about the upgrade. Although developers on the most popular clients have had to iron out a pair of bugs in the days leading up to change, there's confidence that the upgrade will be smooth.

New and seasoned investors won't likely want to take others' word for it, however. So, if you're eager to see for yourself, here's how to monitor the update in real time:

Fork countdown

Adding uncertainty to hard forks is their reliance on block numbers as a way to signal upgrades. Simply put, rather than have everyone change their software at a specific time, users rely on the numbered blocks in the blockchain itself as a means of coordinating.

Because of this, no one knows exactly when the hard fork will take place. Yet, that doesn't mean there's no way to keep an eye out.

To track when this block number will be hit, Singapore-based smart contract company CodeTract has released a fork countdown, showing how many blocks remain and roughly, how much time is left until the fork occurs.

By current projections, the hard fork looks like it will execute on early Monday.

Mining hashrate

Once the fork happens, users will want to track how much of the ethereum ecosystem moves over, and how quickly they do so.

This is a key metric to track. As long as miners are mining on the old version of ethereum, it will remain operational (and valuable). If that persists for long enough, it could lead to a split (although ethereum developers think this is unlikely due to specifics in the code).

Developers aren't going in blind either – already, the Byzantium code has undergone testing to give an idea of how the fork would play out. For example, earlier this week, all minerson a test version of the network made the migration, a small (but encouraging) sign of what to expect.

The best way to watch this is on the Ethereum Foundation's website, which will show what percentage of ethereum miners that have moved over to the new blockchain when the fork happens.

Nodes

But, miners are not the only stakeholders in ethereum who need to upgrade; developers, users and companies running nodes, which store a full copy of the ledger, also need to download new software or risk falling behind.

Ether Nodes tracks how many node operators are running clients compatible with Byzantium.

Geth, the most popular ethereum client, released fork-ready software in version 1.7.2. And Parity, the second most popular client, released 1.7.6, which is compatible and fixes some consensus bugs.

Right now, 60 percent of Geth nodes and 27 percent of Parity nodes have upgraded to a hard fork-compatible version. With under a day left before the fork, most node operators still need to upgrade.

Price

Of course, there may be more immediate reasons you're worried about a split.

If money's on the mind, you can always be sure to monitor the price of ether. For that, you can turn to our ethereum price page, which will update in real time as the fork happens.

Source: Coindesk

Read More

Russia's Central Bank Support Efforts to Ban Access To Bitcoin Websites

The first deputy governor of Russia's central bank, Sergei Shvetsov, has said that his institution will support efforts to block access to external websites selling cryptocurrencies in the country.

Speaking at a conference on Tuesday, Reuters reports that Shvetsov cited the "unreasonably high risks" involved in cryptocurrency investment as a reason for the proposed measure, adding: "We cannot give direct and easy access to such dubious instruments for retail (investors)."

As such, the Bank of Russia will be working alongside the judiciary to ensure the closure of websites offering these services – a crackdown that he indicated will extend to "all cryptocurrency derivatives."

Russian news agency TASS quotes Shvetsov as stating:

"We consider all cryptocurrency derivatives to be a negative development on the Russian market and do not consider it possible to support it, and will even assume measures to restrict potential operations with such instruments made by the regulated part of the Russian market. Meanwhile, we assume efforts aimed at closing external websites that allow Russian citizens to acquire such assets together with the General Prosecutor's Office."

Shvetsov further added that, with bitcoin being an asset that can generate high returns very quickly, it shows signs of being a pyramid scheme.

The move to block access to cryptocurrency trading websites follows a number of warnings from Russian authorities in the past few months.

Alexey Moiseev, the country's deputy finance minister, said in September that he expects upcoming legislation to feature a flat-out ban on payments made in cryptocurrency. Earlier the same month, deputy governor of the Bank of Russia Dmitry Skobelkin told Bloomberg: "China doesn't recognize cryptocurrency as payment and forbids ICOs. Our views are absolutely similar."

N.B. Several days ago Russia's foreign ministry has sharply criticized a Greek court's decision to extradite Alexander Vinnik to the US for his alleged role inlaundering funds through the BTC-e bitcoin exchange.


Source: Coindesk

Read More

Real Blockchain Estate Initiative Launches By Dubai Land Department

Dubai's land registrar has revealed it is developing a system that would seek to record all local real estate contracts on a blockchain.

The project, part of a sweeping plan to secure all government documents on a blockchain by 2020, was announced this week by Dubai Land Department, the government agency tasked with overseeing land purchases and approving real estate trades.

In statements, the agency framed blockchain technology as a way to gain the confidence of global real estate investors, and as a convenience for tenants, whose leases would be recorded by the system.

Sultan Butti bin Mejren, the land department's director general, said in a statement:

"Our aim is to unite all real estate and department services on a single platform. We hope to complete our project in the year 2019–2020."

In a press release issued Saturday, the agency said, "The technology will allow investors residing in Dubai and around the world to verify property data that is backed by timestamp signatures, enhancing the accuracy of data, the credibility of investment transactions and the transparency and clarity of the market."

On the leasing side, the department said, the platform will connect renters not only to landlords, but also to other property-related billers, such as electrical, water and telecommunications utilities.

The latter will allow tenants "to make payments electronically without the need to write cheques or print any paper … within a few minutes at any time and from anywhere in the world."

Partnering with the Dubai Land Department on the initiative are Asset Management Group, one of the largest real estate developers in Dubai; Emirates NBD, one of the region's largest banks; the furniture chain IKEA; and the Emirates Identity Authority.

Dubai has also explored the technology for airport security, trade finance and immigration controls, working with IBM and rolling out the red carpet for startups in a notable effort to become a blockchain innovation hub.


Source: Coindesk

Read More

A Real Competition Between Companies to Disrupt Apps Market Using Blockchain

Accusations of “bubble” abound even as Bitcoin price surges back toward its record high of $5,000. There are also suggestions that Bitcoin’s price should be viewed in terms of the S-curve of rapid adoption.

Others say that Bitcoin will reach $50,000, or even $1 mln, in due course. Hardcore skeptics such as Chase CEO Jamie Dimon believe that the government will ultimately shut down Bitcoin and bring this grand experiment to an end.

User “dashfriend” on the Dash Nation Slack comments:

“Isn’t ease of use one of the main catalysts for a bubble? I don’t see ease of buying yet for non-tech people.”

User “foxtrot” agreed:

“In order for a bubble to exist there needs to be saturation of the market...and with the crypto market still [in] its infancy, that seems highly unlikely...Hasn’t Bitcoin supposedly been in a bubble since it was $2?”

A powerful disconnect

Many digital currency investors and traders are focusing on the presence of institutional investors: banks, pension funds, mutual funds and the like. While such mega investors would certainly help push the price up, it seems that retail investors and users are always forgotten in such discussions.

With so many working on creating ETFs, regulated futures markets and so on, who is focusing on the little guy? Who is working to make sure that digital currency gets in the hands of as many ordinary people as possible?

It’s the apps

According to TechCrunch, the apps market is expected to reach $6.3 tln by 2021. By the end of this year, there will have been a total of 268 bln apps downloaded, with revenue exceeding $77 bln.

This is a staggeringly huge market, and with Google and Apple taking over a 30 percent cut of the profits, it’s a market ripe for disruption.

While many startups are trying to find ways to profit from this enormous market, to date they have been hampered by the Blockchains they build upon. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are capable of about seven transactions per second, which is clearly not enough capacity to support a transformation of the apps market.

Competition is stiff

Among companies that aim at using Blockchain to disrupt the app market are Mobius, ChainLink and IOTA.

Cyrus Khajvandi, co-founder of Mobius, is anticipating the creation of “Smart Markets” where data from connected devices can be traded freely between other devices. According to Khajvandi, Mobius gives the example of connected appliances which contract with decentralized electricity generators to provide machine-to-machine payments. Such a system would use “smart contracts” and “smart auctions” to run appliances, using as little energy as possible at the lowest possible prices.

Mobius boasts Jed McCaleb as an early investor and advisor. McCaleb is the founder of Ripple and Stellar, and, somewhat unfortunately, the founder of doomed Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.

Mobius intends to be a leader in the Internet of Things (IOT), but to do so, they will face stiff competition.

IOTA has a significant head start in this area, seeking to “[make] every technological resource a potential service to be traded on an open market.”

Even in terms of their current product for app payments, Mobius has competitors such as ChainLink. In fact, ChainLink’s services sound similar to Mobius’ product. ChainLink’s website says:

“ChainLink is Blockchain middleware that allows smart contracts to access key off-chain resources like data feeds, various web APIs, and traditional bank account payments.”

Nothing is certain

BlockTower Capital cofounder Matthew Goetz probably said it best when he compared the digital currency and Blockchain boom to the Internet boom of the late-1990s. Goetz warns:

“You could be right on the thesis that cryptocurrencies are transformative, and you could make what you think is the right bet at the time, but remember one time you had Yahoo and then this thing called Google came along.”

Mobius, IOTA, ChainLink and others all sound interesting, but the market will ultimately decide on the winners and losers. Even if you can predict the general trend, it’s much more difficult to bet on exactly the right horse.


Source: Cointelegraph

Read More

7 International Banks Join Forces To Develop Syndicated Loan Market Based On Blockchain

Seven major global banks have partnered with financial technology (fintech) firms R3 and Finastra for the development of the Blockchain technology-based marketplace for syndicated loans, called Fusion LenderComm. Among the banks are BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, State Street, and ING.

According to Finastra head of product management, corporate and syndicated lending, Ian Morris, they already successfully concluded the first set of pilot runs on the prototype system in August 2017, and plan to conduct more in the coming months.

“More pilots are planned in the coming month. Development sprints continue towards the final objective of go-live next year.”

• To improve data sharing between banks :

The Fusion LenderComm platform is designed to improve the data sharing activities between agents and lenders, with the ultimate goal of bolstering efficiency and transparency in the syndicated loan market. The system will show real-time credit agreements, position information, accrual balances, and detailed transaction data directly to lenders from agent bank loan servicing platforms like Finastra’s Fusion Banking Loan IQ.

The unalterable system will maintain all transaction history to provide each lender a personal view of deals participated in, and a time-stamped audit record. Among the benefits of the system are reduced operational cost and burden of agent-to-lender administration, and access to accurate information to lenders on demand, to maximize loan portfolios.

The platform will be underpinned by R3’s Blockchain-inspired Corda system and is scheduled to be commercially launched in 2018.

Finastra deputy chief executive officer (CEO), Simon Paris, said that the project has already attracted around 10 percent of the global syndicated lending market, with other players expected to join in the near future.

 “As more participants join, we will quickly gain the critical mass to develop this into the leading marketplace for syndicated lending and loan trading. No more will lenders find themselves an underserved part of the syndicated loan value chain. Where they have struggled with a lack of transparency and speed in accessing critical deal positions, Fusion LenderComm opens up new data plains beyond position reconciliation.”

Source: Cointelegraph

Read More