Biconomy, a platform that empowers blockchain developers to provide a simplified onboarding and transaction experience for their Web3 projects, today announced it has secured $1.5 million in a seed funding round led by Eden Block, a research-led European VC, with participation from 8 other investors including Fenbushi Capital, Binance and DACM to continue its mission of reducing friction for users interacting with blockchain applications.

The recent launch of the ETH 2.0 Beacon Chain was the latest in a series of huge steps towards mass blockchain technology usage, in a year that saw giants like IBM, PayPal, Microsoft and Visa join the space, however further work is needed to simplify the Web3 user experience and drive mass adoption of blockchain tech in 2021 – Biconomy is perfectly placed to lead this charge.

“The ways in which users pay and use blockchain applications needs a complete overhaul. Netflix does not charge its users a fee every time they watch a video, so why should dApps charge users a gas fee for every interaction? This is the vital difference between a Web2 application and an over-complicated Web3 one.” – Ahmed Al-Balaghi, Co-Founder and CEO at Biconomy

Many decentralized applications (Dapps) today have complicated sign-up processes and often cost users valuable time and exorbitant network fees at every interaction, while also regularly being subject to fee volatility and network congestion that can result in transactions that fail altogether – all of this contributes to a high new user drop-off rate.

Biconomy is a chain-agnostic, relayer infrastructure that offers a plug-n-play solution which, in just three lines of code, uses Meta Transactions that allow a user to bypass these complicated processes and interact seamlessly with the blockchain, whilst ensuring transactions are completed with efficiency and reliability in both speed and cost. 

The seed funding was also secured from Outlier Ventures, Zee Prime Capital, Woodstock Capital, and MiH Ventures,  and angel investors including Meher Roy (Co-founder of Epicenter and Chorus One), James Simpson (CEO of mStable), Dr. Marwan Alzarouni (CEO of Dubai Blockchain Center) and more.

Since the launch of its private beta in May 2020, Biconomy has worked with notable projects in the space, including Matic Network, Curve Finance, Idle Finance, Perpetual Protocol, Decentral Games, and more.

“The Biconomy team have set out to solve some of the most important issues faced by crypto networks on the way to mass-adoption. The closing of their seed round will enable the team to scale their products and deepen their impact. We are incredibly proud to be supporting Ahmed and his talented team so early in their journey.” – Lior Messika, Founder and Managing Partner at Eden Block

Specializing in globally disruptive implementations of blockchain technology, Eden Block has been early backers of founders solving some of the hardest problems in crypto, including infrastructure layer focused companies such as Nym, Vega, and Pocket Network, as well Chainspace, which was acquired by Facebook for its digital currency project, Libra.

Next up, Biconomy is launching its developer program that aims to support Web3 projects and build the easiest to use and interactive blockchain applications, in the most cost-effective way, to lead the way to greater mass adoption of blockchain technology.

CLAMPDOWN on how UK investors can buy bitcoin and other crypto currencies comes into force today, with leading industry players warning it will merely increase the risk to naïve punters lured by their sudden surge in value.

Bitcoin has romped to fresh highs, putting a move by the Financial Conduct Authority first unveiled in October into the spotlight.

The watchdog is banning the sale of certain crypto products such as derivatives to retail investors claiming they are “ill-suited”. The FCA said: “This ban reflects how seriously we view the potential harm to retail investors.”

Since then, as fears about the world economy and the stability of official “fiat” currencies such as the pound and dollar grow, bitcoin has soared. It is up this year from £6000 to more than £25,000, attracting new breeds of investor.

Yesterday JP Morgan said it could quadruple from here, saying it is in competition with gold as a store of value, a serious nudge from the world’s biggest bank.

The FCA clampdown means bitcoin derivatives can no longer be held in ISAs or SIPPs. Nor can they be held alongside other shares in investment portfolios such as ETFs.

Bradley Duke, CEO of crypto firm ETC Group said: “The FCA’s decision means UK based retail investors who want exposure to bitcoin and other cryptoassets will have to manage their own storage, which could increase their risk of losing keys and becoming a victim of cyber-crime. It also removes the ‘safety-net’ for retail investors that is provided by the suitability guidance of investment advisors when assessing the risk appetite and profile of their clients for these regulated products.  Investors who want to gain access to this asset class are now left with less secure ways to invest in Bitcoin.”

Jason Brown at blockchain group Komodo said: “When the ban was passed by the UK government in October, there was no coordination with officials in the US, EU, or any other regions around the world. What the blockchain industry needs the most is consistent regulations across jurisdictions.”

Analysts say that the banned products provide many benefits to investors from diversification to strong potential for long-term growth. 

One noted: "The FCA’s decision makes it harder for retail investors to access this, and those that do may be achieving this through channels and products that are riskier and provide less protection than those being banned.”

Dermot O'Riordan of blockchain investor Eden Block said: “By banning crypto derivatives, the FCA is basically indicating that they don’t know how to regulate this. The FCA has chosen to abdicate rather than lead.”

The watchdog hit back, saying the banned products “cannot be reliably valued by retail consumers”. The FCA notes the “prevalence of market abuse and financial crime” in some of these markets.

It estimates that retail consumers will save around £53 million from the ban on these products.

Sheldon Mills, interim Executive Director of Strategy & Competition at the FCA, said: “This ban reflects how seriously we view the potential harm to retail consumers in these products. Consumer protection is paramount here.

Significant price volatility, combined with the inherent difficulties of valuing cryptoassets reliably, places retail consumers at a high risk of suffering losses from trading crypto-derivatives. We have evidence of this happening on a significant scale. The ban provides an appropriate level of protection.”

A ban on the sale of digital currency derivatives to retail investors in the U.K. has officially gone into effect. The ban was proposed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in October and became law on January 6.

As CoinGeek reported, the FCA said that derivatives weren’t suitable for retail customers because of the harm they pose. These customers can’t be able to accurately value the derivatives because of prevalence of market manipulation, extreme volatility, inadequate understanding and the inherent nature of digital assets, among other reasons, according to the regulator. With the ban, the regulator believes it will save £53 million ($72 million) in losses to investors.

This ban is now in effect. And while the watchdog is convinced the ban will protect consumers, some digital currency experts have disagreed. Many believe that the ban will only push the investors to unregulated platforms. The FCA has no authority over these platforms and it could lead to higher risks for the consumers.

Dermot O’Riordan is one of those opposing the ban. Dermot is a partner at Eden Block, a venture capital firm investing in blockchain startups. He believes that the ban shows the FCA’s lack of ability in regulating the digital currency industry. He stated:

“It’s a shame because the only players that actually are regulated (or want to be) to offer crypto derivatives products to retail (Coinshares, Crypto Facilities, etc.) are generally good actors. This move will drive retail users to unregulated platforms like Deribit and BitMEX who will offer even less protection than the regulated players. So, it’s not clear how the average retail user wins in this scenario.”

Traders in U.K. will still be able to access direct purchases of digital currencies despite the ban. On the flip side, for firms specializing in derivatives, the effect will be significant. One of these is CoinShares, a U.K. firm that’s the largest digital asset manager in Europe with $2.9 billion in assets under management. The firm has, however, downplayed the impact the ban will have.

The head of product at the firm Townhead Lansing claimed, “In terms of our business, nothing has changed since the announcement of the ban. We don’t expect it to have a material impact. We have a wide and diverse client base.”

Some in the industry have praised the ban. The CEX.IO executive director Konstantin Anissimov believes the ban was necessary to protect the customers. Speaking to CoinGeek, he stated:

“The regulation of cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges ensures that fair and reasonable levels of risks are presented to the general public, and essentially protects the investments of the retail investors. As we have already seen what has happened with BitMEX in the US, we believe that there will be a negative effect on the players in the market who ignored and neglected this regulation that has now come into force.”

See also: CoinGeek Live panel, Digital Currency & Global Compliance: Tools & Tips for Exchanges, Wallets & Other Service Providers

New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeek’s Bitcoin for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoin—as originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto—and blockchain.

Bitcoin is back. The cryptocurrency last week passed the $18,000 level for the first time since its all-time peak in December 2017.

As the digital currency — which is up over 150% this year — moves closer than ever to its record high of almost $20,000, CNBC asked five crypto experts for their take on the latest rally.

Is bitcoin's meteoric rise in value now different than the speculative frenzy of late 2017 and early 2018? And where does the price of bitcoin go from here? Here's what they said:

Many commentators in the industry say the crypto market has matured over the last three years.

"The main difference between now and the 2017 rally is that back then the market was driven by retail speculation and now it's being driven by corporations and billionaires," said Mati Greenspan, portfolio manager and founder of Quantum Economics.

Wall Street incumbent Fidelity, for instance, set up a new unit to let its clients invest in digital assets, while PayPal recently started letting its U.S. users buy, hold and sell a range of virtual currencies.

And there are now big-name investors putting their money into bitcoin, including billionaire hedge fund managers Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller.

"There was nothing conspicuous about their involvement," said Antoni Trenchev, managing partner of crypto lender Nexo. "They purchased in stealth mode but once bitcoin made it to their treasuries, they let the world know, similar to the gold bull market in the 1970s."

Then there's the coronavirus pandemic. Crypto fans have compared bitcoin to safe-haven assets like gold, which investors often flock to in times of economic turbulence. They claim that Covid-related stimulus measures have lessened the appeal of sovereign currencies like the U.S. dollar.

Meanwhile, bitcoin underwent a key technical event earlier this year called the "halving," which saw the amount of bitcoins rewarded to the so-called "miners" who add bitcoin transactions to its public ledger get cut in half. Some analysts say this event has also contributed to the asset's climb in 2020.

There are plenty of sky-high predictions for what price bitcoin could zoom to in the near-to-long term. But many crypto enthusiasts agree bitcoin is likely to pass its all-time high soon.

"A new all-time high is not only possible but is largely anticipated by bitcoin believers to happen any day now," said Greenspan.

Pascal Gauthier, CEO of crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger, said he thinks the latest bitcoin bull run will last for longer than the previous one.

"Bitcoin has reached market recognition and maturity, making it the one coin that is definitely here to stay," he said. "2021 will be exciting and will still be about building great products and tech but this time with the wind blowing in the sails."

Some crypto bulls have already given bold predictions for where the price of bitcoin could go next. Mike Novogratz, CEO of investment firm Galaxy Digital, thinks bitcoin could reach $55,000 to $60,000 by the end of the year — though he also once said it could "easily" hit $40,000 by the end of 2018.

The cryptocurrency has a reputation for extreme volatility. It plummeted as low as $3,122 in 2018 after rallying to nearly $20,000 a year earlier. In the last week alone, bitcoin has added more than $2,000 and was at $18,485.60 on Monday morning ET.

Soravis Srinawakoon, CEO and co-founder of crypto software firm Band Protocol, said it "remains to be seen" whether bitcoin can reach new highs by the end of the year.

Lior Messika, founder and managing partner of venture capital firm Eden Block, said bitcoin is "plagued with volatility" as it has "neither an established narrative nor an ability to manipulate its proportionality in response to fluctuations in its underlying value."

"As time goes on, the bitcoin narrative is strengthening, although the global belief in its usability is still negligible," he added. "This has resulted in continuing volatility for the asset."

Still, there is broad confidence about the digital asset's prospects. Trenchev — who earlier this year predicted bitcoin could reach $50,000 by the end of 2020 — said there's "increasing evidence of that upward trend."

Srinawakoon said "all signals point strongly towards the next wave of adoption and new users in the near future."

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Bitcoin has bounced-back from yesterday’s price slump, as the flagship crypto looks to continue its impressive resurgence. Coindesk.com data bitcoin shows BTC is trading at £12,692 ($16,918) as of 12pm on Friday, November 27.

The volatile cryptocurrency is consequently edging back towards its December 2017 peak of £15,025 ($20,052).

This strong display is reflected in crypto’s main competitors, altcoins ethereum and ripple, which are again climbing in value.

Lior Messika, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Eden Block, believes Thursday’s tumble in price should not be taken as indicative that another crypto crash is imminent.

He said: "The price of bitcoin looks to have settled around the $17,000 (£12,748) mark for the moment, the sharp decline yesterday happened very quickly but levelled-off just as quickly.

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“As usual, bitcoin tends to be an indicator for the wider market as a whole so other major cryptocurrencies like ethereum and ripple have also ceased declining, for now.

“Interestingly, when comparing search terms, bitcoin isn’t nearly as popular as it was three years ago during the initial price explosion.

“That suggests the sharp increase in the BTC price in recent weeks and months is largely a result of experienced investors with large sums of money, whereas retail interest has only just begun.

“As retail investment interest increases in the coming months, we could again see a real increase in the price of major cryptocurrencies like BTC.”

Soravis Srinawakoon, CEO and Co-Founder of Blockchain data provider Band Protocol, went even further and heralded the yesterday the price correction as "welcome".

He said in a statement: ”I think this selloff is healthy for the market which has been over-heated and very optimistic for some time.

“This pullback is expected and provides a welcome cooling off period for investors that is likely to be met with relief as opposed to despair.

“As we saw in 2017, nothing can go up in a straight line."

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And Gunnar Jaerv, COO at First Digital Trust, a Hong Kong-based digital asset custody provider, appeared to agree, saying: “When the price of BTC fluctuates from $4k to $19k over just nine months, it is not unusual to see a correction.

“This recent leg up was driven by the derivatives market as evidenced by the fairly high funding rate, leading to a small long squeeze.

“While the all time high price of BTC reached in 2017 has not been surpassed, the total market capitalisation of BTC is much higher as there are significantly more BTC in circulation than ever before.

"Even though large players like Grayscale, Square and PayPal buy more BTC than daily mining produces, the end-users of those platforms can still sell or even short with Grayscale."

Sui Chung, chief executive of CF Benchmarks is among industry insiders who think the BTC bull run was sparked in altcoin interest

He said: ”For the past few days, the market was in a slightly febrile mood as it waited nervously to see if bitcoin would pass the magic $20,000 barrier.

"Most of the frozen bitcoin had traded up around 70 percent, so there were a lot of unrealised profits locked up there.

"Once these coins were free to move it’s likely many traders sold them for dollars and stable coins to realise those gains, adding greater momentum to the selling."

Opinion

Blockchains LLC wants us to trust it. The company is asking the legislature for its own governmental utopia in the Nevada desert 20 miles east of Reno – free of the rules that our state’s 17 counties currently live by. The company has the backing of the executive branch, some of the state’s most powerful lobbyists, money for campaign coffers, and a wish-list of ways to exempt itself from standards of local governance. 

What Blockchains needs more than anything else, however, is water. It got into the farming business just south of Gerlach. But that’s a short-term play if the company ultimately gets what it wants. 

Blockchains LLC owns 67,000 acres of land at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRIC), a high desert landscape with an aquifer that has no excess water left to give and no major rights on the nearby Truckee River. State and local officials lured companies like Tesla, Switch and Walmart in Storey County with tax breaks, cheap land, and just enough water to get by.  Until Blockchains, no one envisioned the rolling hills of TRIC nestling a hamlet for the highnesses of high-tech. The northeastern region of Storey County is not an Eden-in-waiting –– largely because there isn’t much water. 

Moving water that far is a big trust issue. Another issue, as one of Blockchains lobbyists recently told the New Republic : The company doesn’t even have rights to all the water it wants despite the recent acquisition. 

Depending on which TEDx talk you watch on YouTube, it is hard to know what Blockchains actually does. Some say Blockchains is a digital asset management tool based on a system of “trust-less” ledgers for accounting. Others describe it as a public registry of who’s who and who owns what on a secure, peer-to-peer system. Some might say it is a vector for cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Stablecoin. 

A bill proposal from Governor Sisolak that would allow Blockchains to create a new government entity –– an Innovation Zone –– within Storey County is a roundabout way of asking the public and lawmakers to trust it. The Innovation Zone would be a community with a Blockchains Board of Supervisors to govern schools and other social functions. Some have referred to it as a company town. Others describe it as a so-called smart city. Illustrated renderings show Jetson-like buildings and even green lawns at this proposed paradise that would be just off I-80 –– in and around the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center. 

This all sounds nice, but right now the pitch really feels like speculation. The promise of Blockchains, its city and its technology is a big one to fill – especially considering the absence of water for a desert city. 

Massive water transfer projects trigger provisions in Nevada law related to the public trust, environmental soundness, and the future of the basin that’s losing its water. 

The water Blockchains bought flows belowground between the San Emidio Basin, Hualapai Flat Basin, Winnemucca Lake Valley and others –– ultimately ending in the Pyramid Lake Basin. 

As Rothberg reported, Blockchains bought the water late last year from Sonterra Development Company LLC, which had only acquired the water in 2017. Four years ago, Sonterra bought water rights from farmers in the region and continued irrigating crops. What crops don’t consume or what fails to evaporate goes back in the ground and replenishes the groundwater table. The water also grows food and shelters wildlife. 

If all the water goes in a pipeline, there will be no more recharge or other benefits from the current uses. It will all be going somewhere else. Blockchains’ water currently exists in basins that are already over-allocated – meaning there is more water on paper than in the ground. Sucking such large quantities to other places could propagate water table drawdowns in the immediate area and in surrounding basins — one of the biggest fears is the effect on Pyramid Lake. 

The intentions of Sonterra were predicted long ago. In 2007, the company filed applications to appropriate water in the San Emidio Basin and others in order to transport the water to far away reaches of Storey and Lyon Counties for urban sprawl. 

Nevada officials rejected those applications on the grounds that the purported use was speculative in nature. Sonterra couldn’t predict how many people would be packing up to live near Silver Spring and how many businesses would flock there. 

Developers can make big promises. So can tech companies. We shouldn’t blindly trust folks we don’t know (Remember Faraday?).

Blockchains is probably best associated with cryptocurrency – which by its very nature is speculative. Cryptocurrency produces nothing and has no practical use just yet. People merely invest in the idea and hope to cash in one day. For better or worse, we can say the same for much of what Blockchains is trying to sell us – though some of its technology is currently in some sectors. That doesn’t entitle it to exemptions from local government or access to our public waters. 

What Blockchains needs is legitimacy i.e. government buy-in. Yesterday, Governor Sisolak joined with GOED’s Executive Director Michael Brown on YouTube to pitch the economic development benefits of the Innovation Zone concept that would create the “Blockchain Technology Center of the World.” They asked Nevadans to keep an open mind regarding upcoming legislation.  

Additionally, we are also seeing a number of bill proposals this session –– from elections to financial issues –– attempting to indoctrinate the technology into the fabric of our state and testing the receptiveness of state lawmakers asked to vote on Blockchains issues. 

Nevada could grow to trust Blockchains. But we must wonder: If a company touting world-changing technology is so smart, you would think that it could afford to develop a city in a place with more water. __________________________________________________________________ Editor’s note: The Sierra Nevada Ally is inviting local writers to pen approved opinion columns for the publication. We invited Kyle Roerink to write columns on natural resource issues throughout Nevada and the West. Kyle is the executive director of the Great Basin Water Network. He lives in Reno. Support his writing.

The opinions expressed above are not necessarily those of the Sierra Nevada Ally. Our newsroom remains entirely independent of our opinion page. Published opinions further public conversation to fulfill our civic responsibility to challenge authority, act independently of corporate or political influence, and invite dissent.

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It appears that last weeks selling pressure cant seem to stop as Bitcoin lost yet another $350 of its value in another vicious spike downwards. The cryptocurrency is now trading at around $7,800, falling well below the $8,000 level. This marks a decrease of around 4% on the day as Bitcoins total market cap now sits at around $141 billion.Bitcoin Price Goes Down Again After a weekend of sideways action, Bitcoin begins the new week losing another chunk of its value. The cryptocurrency just lost about $350 of its price in a sudden move south.Bitcoin is currently trading at around $7,800, losing another 4% in the past 24 hours alone.As seen on the chart, the move was again instant. Bitcoins total market capitalization is now $141 billion and it represents 67.5% of the total market.While its challenging to note the exact reasons for the price fall, its clear that bears continue to put pressure. Last week was colored in red despite the launch of Bakkt, which was one of the most anticipated events in 2019. The platform failed to attract serious interest as the volume traded on it is easily negligible so far.The Market Feels It As Well Drops in Bitcoins price used to provide altcoins with the opportunity to catch up and reclaim some market share. This time thats not the case and it appears as the entire market is painted in red. Its worth noting that this is somewhat the trend during the past few months of 2019 as altcoins fail to capitalize on any shortcomings in Bitcoins price.As seen on the chart below, the overwhelming majority of cryptocurrencies are bleeding out when trading against the USD.Thats not the case when trading against Bitcoin, however. Almost all of the altcoins are marking slight gains against BTC, with Ripple (XRP) leading the way with almost 4%. ETH is also up about 1.5%, as well as Stellar which is up 2.56%.It seems that the latest price fall has its silver lining after all, mainly for those who are holding altcoins and are hoping for their recovery.RelatedCategories: BitcoinNewsTags: dingTumblesDrug overdose deaths: Franklin County, Ohio coroner reports 10 overdose deaths in 26-hour periodReal Madrid news: The same thing happened to me, Im calm Zinedine Zidane unconcerned about Eden Hazards slow start

Cryptocurrency News & Your Guide to the Blockchain EconomyDarknet black markets have been a staple of cryptocurrency since the early days of the Silk Road. Following the arrest of Ross Ulbricht and his subsequent life sentence, a number of other darknet markets have appeared and tried to take its place. But all of these markets have the same basic problem.Even though they are operated on anonymous TOR networks, they are all still centralized services with central servers. This means that they are all vulnerable to shut down by authorities. But what would happen if a darknet market were to appear that did not suffer from this kind of weakness? That’s the question posed by a new decentralized darknet market project that’s calling itself Eden.As the name suggests, an online darknet market is in many ways similar to a traditional black market. They are a marketplace that allows for the buying and selling of any type of goods or services, whether they are legal, a gray area, or downright illegal.In the case of the Silk Road, it became most well-known as a place to buy and sell drugs over the Internet, and to pay for them using bitcoin. More recent darknet markets have transitioned to using privacy cryptocurrencies like Monero in order to sidestep the ability for authorities to perform what’s known as blockchain analysis. In other words, it makes the transactions themselves untraceable.According to a white paper released by Eden, not only are centralized marketplaces vulnerable to attack from authorities, but the markets themselves can also be an attacker.In order to establish a degree of trust, these marketplaces rely on escrow systems to facilitate transactions. When a buyer wants to buy something, they will put cryptocurrency into an escrow which is then locked. Once the buyer receives the goods, they can unlock the escrow. If a dispute arises, then the service can step in and make a decision. While the system is not perfect, it does provide for at least some degree of security for buyers and sellers.However, what has happened in the past is a number of darknet market sites have performed an exit scam, meaning they suddenly shut down the site, taking all escrow funds with them. Eden estimates that many millions of dollars have been stolen in this way. As the operators of darknet market sites are anonymous themselves, there’s typically no recourse for those that lost money in an escrow.According to Eden, a few examples of darknet markets that have exit-scammed include “TradeRoute, Outlaw, Nucleus, Black Bank, Evolution, and Sheep”.Finally, if a site is forcibly shut down, the escrow funds will likely be appropriated by the authority that did the shut down. The FBI famously sold the bitcoin it collected from the silk Road shut down in an auction sale.Eden will surely not be the last or only decentralized darknet market.This then leads to a number of important ethical questions. On the one hand, using sites like eBay and Amazon.com to facilitate person-to-person trades comes with its own problems. Specifically, these kinds of sites tend to track and sell data about their users, something that privacy advocates would undoubtedly object to.However, a market that allows for the unrestrained sale of dangerous items could be a serious issue. Drugs aside, these markets have also been known to facilitate the sale of firearms and easily concealed knives or other weapons. It is conceivable that terrorists of the future (or even today) could make use of these types of markets in order to buy and sell weapons or other destructive or deadly items.It’s well-known that today, many packages that are centered around the world are subject to inspection. However, some estimates say that only 1% of all shipping containers that enter US ports undergo any inspection at all.Therefore if the unrestrained shipping of deadly items becomes commonplace, governments will likely need to invest billions of dollars into high-tech automatic infrastructure that can scan everything that runs through the mail and ports system, be it domestic or international.One final thing to consider is that even if an unstoppable decentralized black-market, or several of them, appear, it is unlikely to change the behaviors of normal people.For example, within the US states that have legalized recreational marijuana, crime rates have not skyrocketed, and there is no widespread depravity or other issues.This is because prior to the legalization, those interested in marijuana would have found a way to buy it regardless of the laws. After the laws changed, the system is now out in the open and subject to normal laws. The legalization of marijuana, however, is unlikely to cause many new people to try it that wouldn’t have been interested before.Therefore it’s quite likely that such a market would only be of major concern for people that either already have violent tendencies, or are involved with terrorism already.Regardless, an unstoppable online black-market will certainly become an important issue for society to decide how to act upon it for the next few years.Robert is News Editor at Blockonomi. A true believer in the freedom, privacy, and independence of the future digital economy, he has been involved in the cryptocurrency scene for years.All content on Blockonomi.com is provided solely for informational purposes, and is not an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security, product, service or investment. The opinions expressed in this Site do not constitute investment advice and independent financial advice should be sought where appropriate.Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.Follow us on social media & join our growing audience who get the latest News, ICOs, Crypto Reviews and Guides from Blockonomi.

Primeira LigaBrought toyou by thePartnership with Utrust lets fans purchase tickets and merchandise online.Posted: June 6 2019By: Ed DixonGetty ImagesPortuguese soccer giants Benfica have partnered with Utrust, a cryptocurrency payment solution company, becoming the first club in a top-flight European league to accept payments via blockchain.Under the new deal, Benfica fans will now be able to use cryptocurrency to purchase match tickets and merchandise through the official Benfica online store.The partnership with Utrust is designed to evolve Benficas e-commerce strategy and expand its global audience and customer reach, with the introduction of cryptocurrency aiming to draw tech-savvy supporters and cryptocurrency holders in Portugal to the Lisbon-based club.Benfica currently has more than 14 million supporters worldwide, with a digital fan base that exceeds 7 million across its official social media platforms and hopes to further grow that number by offering an enhanced online experience in partnership with Utrust.Although the first major European soccer team to accept cryptocurrency payments, a number of other clubs and teams and players in the sport are involved with the blockchain technology.In 2018, French top-flight champions Paris Saint-German announced Socios.com as their official branded cryptocurrency partner to develop a fan token offering (FTO) for supporters. English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers signed a sleeve sponsor deal with cryptocurrency platform CoinDeal for the 2018/19 season.The likes of Lionel Messi, Eden Hazard and Sergio Aguero all endorse brands in the sector.Domingos Soares de Oliveira, SL Benfica chief executive, said: Our benfiquistas [supporters] make Benfica the unique and special club it is and we recognize that many of our supporters are now digital users first so we want to be ahead of the curve when it comes to adopting novel technologies and giving our supporters the best online experience.We are very excited about the possibilities that this partnership with Utrust presents in the evolution of our e-commerce strategy and we look forward to accepting our first cryptocurrency payment.Nuno Correia, Utrust co-founder and chief executive, added: This partnership with Portugals number one football club marks a major milestone for Utrust and the blockchain ecosystem as a whole. Benfica is one of the biggest sporting clubs worldwide and we are delighted to be making cryptocurrency payments possible for their 14 million supporters around the world.On the pitch, Benfica claimed a record 37th Primeira Liga title, topping the Portuguese top-flight by two points from rivals Porto.Source link

Boston-based provider of high-performance blockchain solutions Oneiro secures a $5 million investment from Cosimo Ventures in a Series A funding round.Oneiro, a blockchain solution company, secured a $5 million investment from Cosimo Ventures.Total investment of $8 million In an Oct. 3 press release, Boston-based provider of high-performance blockchain solutions Oneiro announced that it had secured a $5 million investment from Cosimo Ventures in a Series A funding round.Cosimo Ventures is an investment firm involved in sectors including blockchain, cryptocurrencies and the Internet of Things.Oneiros latest funding round brings the companys total venture capital investment to $8 million. The company wrote that it plans to use those funds to provide additional services to clients, such as the Axiom Foundation, more efficiently.Cosimo Ventures and Oneiro previously joined forces to launch the unpegged digital currency, ndau, which the press release claims addresses certain pain points associated with other stablecoins. Cosimo Ventures managing partner Ciarn Hynes said:The Oneiro team has made significant progress this year, and these new funds will allow the team to further develop multiple blockchain technologies, extend into the crypto ecosystem, and accelerate the adoption and use of various blockchain applications, including digital virtual currencies such as ndau.Crypto hedge fund leads $5 million seed round Cointelegraph recently that Pantera Capital led a $5 million strategic seed round of decentralized derivatives protocol Vega. The funding round included participants such as Ripples investment arm Xpring, Hashed, NGC Ventures, gumi Cryptos Capital, Rockaway Blockchain, KR1, Eden Block, Focus Labs and Greenfield One.Please follow and like us:

A newly-published patent application seeks to use blockchain technology to establish and maintain a chain-of-ownership for artwork.The patent application, which was published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on Thursday, lists the framework’s inventor as Howard H. Sheerin, a patent attorney in Scottsdale, AZ. According to Sheerin’s LinkedIn page, he now works in Silicon Valley, where he has been “studying and actively participating in the cryptocurrency revolution, including to draft multiple Bitcoin/Blockchain patent application.” His website also indicates that he accepts bitcoin.Writing in the patent application, Sheerin notes that certificates of authenticity are crucial to enabling sellers to obtain the full value of their artwork in auctions and other sales. However, paper certificates are inadequate guarantors of provenance.“Artists have in the past issued paper certificates of authenticity for each art piece they create so as to increase the value of each art piece for subsequent buyers. When a second buyer is interested in purchasing an art piece from a first buyer, the first buyer may present the paper certificate of authentication with the art piece in order to prove their legal and legitimate ownership of the art piece. However, paper certificates may be easily forged which greatly diminishes the value and efficacy of this authentication system. There is, therefore, a need for a better system to authenticate art pieces that is not easily circumvented.”Sheerin hopes to patent a system that would allow artists to establish and transfer ownership rights using the Bitcoin blockchain or another cryptocurrency network.Of course, the difficulty with using a blockchain to establish a chain-of-ownership is that there is an element of trust involved with the original registration of ownership.Last month, for example, blockchain critic Terence intoEden tricked one such artwork provenance service — Verisart, which registers art on the Bitcoin blockchain —  providing him with a certificate of authenticity confirming that he painted La Gioconda, better known as the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th-century masterpiece.Even now, a month after Eden’s story went viral on social media, he is listed as the verified owner of the Mona Lisa, a “fact” that is permanently engraved in the immutable Bitcoin blockchain.Sheerin’s proposed system appears to employ a similar architecture, for though ownership is established using bitcoin addresses, this data is maintained through a centralized chain-of-ownership (COO) website.Consequently, it seems that while such a system could increase the ease with which artists can establish and transfer ownership rights, it still requires parties to place their trust in the centralized entity who maintains the database and verifies the information contained therein.Update 7/13: Howard Sheerin, whose proposed system has been implemented at ArtChain.info, reached out to CCN with the following comment: “ArtChain.info is a website that implements embodiments of the patent application. ArtChain.info does not suffer from the deficiency of Verisart described in the article. The reason, as described in the patent application, is because with ArtChain.info each artist is assigned a master bitcoin address from which all of their art pieces are linked. In other words, only an art piece that is linked to the artist’s master bitcoin address is considered legitimate, and only the artist can link their art pieces to their master bitcoin address. Eden does not control Leonardo da Vinci’s master bitcoin address, and so Eden could not register himself as the painter of the Mona Lisa with ArtChain.info. This is a true and elegant use of the bitcoin blockchain.”

From Boston DLT - Traders, Investors and EntrepreneursNew CIC Location at 245 Main Street, steps from the Kendall Square subway and diagonally across from the Broadway CIC Building. 3rd Floor, Mosiac room. Doors unlocked and concierge present until 8pm. Please bring ID Join us for a "Blockchain for Good" evening hosted by Boston Blockchain Investors Meetup, Spark Blockchain, Kirill Bensonoff and Sir John Hargrave, author of forthcoming bestseller BLOCKCHAIN FOR EVERYONE.We will have a short keynote by Sir John Hargrave to discuss the range of uses of blockchain for good followed by 7 minute presentations by startups who are using blockchain "for good" with Q&A; after each presentation. So far we have the following startups presenting:1. Robert MacArthur, Planet Saving Tokens (reducing carbon emissions)2. Jerry Fain, Weal (coffee trade: logistics, fair pricing, authentication)3. Jesse Phillips, Harpia Mining (green energy)4. Sue Murray, VertroShare, (Blockchain for Non-Profit Fundraising)5. Paris Smalls, Eden GeoPower (utilizing the high energy demands of cryptocurrency mining to build and develop renewable geothermal energy projects)6. Andy Singleton, HumanDB (apps, experts and data for longer life)7. Jeremy Wallis, HAIBU (Impact investment project in partnership with WildAid)As always dinner will be served and the welcome will be warm!

/ OP-ED by Jacob Donnelly Apr 18, 2015 6:36 PM EST Home Articles The Death of Paycoin: Employee Video Reveals Internal Chaos Op-Ed The Death of Paycoin: Employee Video Reveals Internal Chaos by Jacob Donnelly 04.18.15 6:36 PM It has been a tough couple weeks for GAW with a $350,000 lawsuit and now an announcement that it and its cryptocoin, Paycoin, has changed from its original iteration.According to a new whitepaper that is being circulated, Paycoin has entered a new stage where it leaves the hands of GAW and is now being held by a consortium of organizations.The fate of Paycoin is now in the hands of every person and organization that hold coins. With this newfound freedom, we want to exercise our rights to make Paycoin the peoples money and do what is necessary to help the coin thrive, the Paycoin Foundation wrote on its site.In an open dialogue, many of the parties to be a part of Paycoin going forwardsave for Josh Garzatalked about what their goals are for Paycoin and whats going to happen to the current environment.By the sounds of it, all three nonprofit organizations are working together to look at the original documents, both published and unpublished, regarding the structure of the coin to see if a rebranding is necessary, said Jonah, a manager, in a video posted online.From my seat, and the reason why were here, is to truly make it a community-driven project. Thats why I got involved in the beginning. I was like, hey, one entity was going to launch this thing, how was it ever going to become a decentralized currency. Thats really what this whole thing is; its about decentralization, not centralization, said Adam Matlack, president and chairman of Paycoin Foundation, in the same video.But Where is GAW?We have advised that this call not happen to give us an opportunity to speak with each party in private so we can figure out a compromise and solution, said Josh Garza, CEO of GAW, posting under the name MrCEO.While the details of the agreement are unknown, posts on the Hashtalk forum indicate that GAW agreed to give Paycoin to this consortium as long as certain rules were kept in place.The Paycoin foundation was gifted the controllers with the agreement that the whitepaper would be delivered on. They have breached that agreement with this, and will force the investment group that came in at the beginning to bring legal action against them, said Garza in another thread.However, this consortium doesnt appear to have much concern pertaining to the potential lawsuit. Multiple times, parties in the conversation agreed that they were looking to go forward, not in reverse.I would say that we are aware of some of the things that have been said, but honestly, but from our position, there is legal documentation in place that clarifies this issue, said Adam Matlack in a video interview.This jockeying back and forth clearly has many in the community concerned. Members continue to post, talking about how peoples money is at stake and how the two parties need to figure out what to do going forward.This schism in the community is especially worrisome for Paycoin investors, as each faction holds exactly 50 percent of the Prime Controllers, which govern Paycoins codebase. This means that Paycoin could have two incompatible blockchains: one controlled entirely by GAW that is currently compatible with exchanges and one that is supported by the consortium and referred to as Paycoin 2.0.Paycoin 2.0 does not have exchange support at this time, so users currently have no options to buy or sell the coin.Where to Go From HereNow that the consortium has control, there are many steps the parties are looking to take in an attempt to continue keeping Paycoin going.Whats being looked at is how to actually implement all the technology that does and does not exist involved with the coin and developing the coin to that original spec to make Paycoin what it was designed to be, said Jonah.And more importantly, according to Matlack, the whitepaper doesnt accurately reflect the technicalities of Paycoin.At the end of the day, the whitepaper was a marketing document. And we need to get to a place that it is actually a cryptographic document and we actually implement those things. We cant implement words into a code base. We need actual code, said Matlack (emphasis added).However, a lot of what was initially built by the primary coin development team were specs that were not completed, said Jonah.But on top of that, according to GAW employee Matthew Eden, team members knew there was no way that GAW could guarantee a base $20/XPY that was promised to investors. Eden, the ex-Interim CTO, Interim Chief Information Security Officer, Interim IT Manager, and Director of QA at GAW gave an interview to Bits of News.The initial plan for XPY was that it would never be traded on an exchange. Many people made it known that if the coin hit an exchange they would never hold a $20 price floor. Making the only people who had it the users who had been mining hash-points with their hashlets. The excess was going to be sold off on the websites (Paybase/Zencloud.) Once it hit the exchange, all plans were changed. Dumping it became the primary method of obtaining funds for the company, Eden explained in the interview (emphasis added).ZenCloud and PayBase Are Being DecommissionedIt gets worse, though. People who signed up for ZenCloud as whats called immortals were promised consistent payouts. And as new members joined, those payouts became possible. However, now ZenCloud is being shut down.ZenCloud has been transitioned out to a third-party company that will be managing it and PayBase through end of life, said Eden in the video. PayBase will be operational until at the end of the month, and ZenCloud will be operational until the last immortal hash staker has effectively expired, said Matthew Eden, one of the developers of the Paycoin Core Development Organization.Despite the fact these members were called immortals and believed themselves to have the potential to generate payouts, that doesnt appear to be the case. On top of that, the developers appear to have always understood that it couldnt run forever despite promises to the contrary.ZenCloud cannot be run forever, said Eden. It cannot continue to sit there and manage payouts. If you havent activated your hashstaker, activate it. There will be a point in time when we will probably actively turn them on for you if you dont activate it because we cant leave the system on forever.Users paid for lifetime Bitcoin miners and are instead being given Paycoin miners that are essentially worthless.Is GAW Doomed?Very few employees still work at GAW Miners. One support rep is left, and there is Josh. His in-laws still work there, I believe, said Eden in the interview. He explained that his reason for leaving was the realization that GAW Miners LLC had not honored the requirements of the Acquisition Agreement and merger documents that were part of the LeaseRig.net / GAW merger and also ethical reasons.The interview ended with Eden giving his most poignant description of Garza when talking about the transition of Paycoin.You mean the lack of foresight? Eden asked. Id say it was pretty much in line with his past actions. He doesnt really think things through all the way before acting.Between the lawsuit from the power company, the potential investigation by the SEC, the implosion of Paycoin, and employees leaving the company, GAWs future is uncertain.Id say he [Garza] had moved on, Eden said in the interview. And then came back to move more of the intellectual property over to off-shore corporations. #parties #things #josh #people #payouts #miners #members Trending Now Venture Capital Working Group Seeks Select Cryptocurrency Safe Harbor Cofounders FINRA Suspension Could Hold Consequences for Tezos Brazils Largest Brokerage Firm May Be Launching an OTC Bitcoin Exchange Bitfury: Private Blockchains Are Intermediate Step for Governments Telegrams Pavel Durov Is Using Bitcoin to Bypass Russian Sanctions PREVIOUS STORY > The New Stellar Consensus Protocol Could Permit Faster and Cheaper Transactions by Giulio Prisco

Japon kadnlardan oluan ve ad ngilizcede "Sanal Para Kzlar" anlamna gelen idol grubu "Virtual Currency Girls" yelerinin her biri bir sanal para birimini temsil eden yeleriyle kriptopara piyasasnn tantmn yapyor. Her biri bir kripto paray temsil eden sekiz yenin isimleri ise yle: bitcoin cash, bitcoin, ether, neo, nem, ripple, mona, and cardano.Cindrella Academy nl ajans kadn pop grubunu yine ayn ajansa bal alan ve bir yldz takmn temsil eden var olan bir grubun yelerinden seerek oluturdu. Grubun her bir yesi Japonya kripto para piyasasnda en popler olan kripto para birimlerini temsil ediyor. Ayrca grup konser biletlerinin kripto para ile alnabileceini duyurdu.Cindrella Academy'den yaplan aklamada "Grup kripto paralarn sadece birer speklasyon deildir, aksine harika bir gelecek yaratan bir teknolojidir" dendi.18 yandaki "Bitcoin Cash" (BCH) Naruse Lara grubun lideri. Kriptopara piyasasnn en baskn Bitcoin (BTC) ise 16 yandaki Hinano Shirahama tarafndan temsil ediliyor. 22 yandaki Suzuka Minami Neo'yu (NEO) 17 yandaki Kanako Matsuzava ve Koharu Kamikawa ise srasyla Cardano (ADA) ve Nem'i (XEM) temsil ediyor. 15 yandaki Hinata Kozuki ise Ripple (XRP). Yalar belirtilmeyen Ami Amo ve Momo Aisu ise srasyla Ether (ETH) ve Monacoin (MONA) kripto paralarn temsil eden dier grup yeleri.Japonya'da 1970'li yllardan itibaren balayan "idol grup" fenomeni Japonya ve Gney Kore'de milyonlarca dolarlk bykle sahip bir Pazar ve an itibariyle sektr lkedeki genlere rol model olmas, genleri eitmesi ve deneyim kazandrmas iin kullanlan kz anlamna gelmiyor, fakat bu konuda irken hakknda resmi dileke de verilmiti.