The pear-shaped diamond, named “The Key 10138,” was sold to an unidentified private collector on Friday, Sotheby’s said in a statement. The gem from Diacore was the second-largest pear-shaped diamond ever to be sold publicly, it said.

Prior to the sale, the international auction house said it would take Bitcoin or Ether as payment for the diamond, which fetched less than the estimate of as much as $15 million in the single-lot offering in Hong Kong. The auction was livestreamed and attracted no more than a dozen bids.

Earlier in the week, Sotheby’s said it was the most expensive physical object ever publicly offered for purchase with cryptocurrency.

Auction houses are increasingly accepting cryptocurrencies for payment, with Phillips offering a piece from street artist Banksy last month for Ether or Bitcoin. Christie’s accepted payment in Ether in March for the record $69.3 million sale of Beeple’s “Everydays: the First 5,000 Days.”

Last year, while bitcoin prices were booming so was crypto-related fraud.

In the U.S. alone 82,135 crimes involving cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum, and other digital currencies got reported.

That’s up more than 24,000% from the 340 reported in 2016, according to new research from crypto education platform Crypto Head.

According to Crypto Head typical frauds include the following:

Similar patterns were seen in elsewhere in the world. In 2020 there were 9,689 crypto crimes reported in Australia compared to zero in 2016. In the UK last year 8,801 crypto-related crimes got reported up from 704 in 2016.

While these figures are startling, they don’t take into account all the scams and theft that involved crypto currencies that did not get reported. Sometimes people are too embarrassed to admit that they may have been duped or that they saw their crypto account hacked.

If those non reported crimes got added into the data then the level of crime involving digital currencies would no doubt be far higher.

With that level of crime going on its hardly surprising that investors seem to be bailing out of bitcoin and similar investments. The price of 1 bitcoin was recently fetching $35,920, down from $59,384 at the beginning of April, according to Yahoo finance data. Still, the price of bitcoin is up 291% from this time last year, as investors piled into the digital asset during the pandemic.

Simon Constable | Author | Broadcaster | Journalist | Commentator | Speaker. Author of The Wall Street Journal's 'In Translation' column. Fellow at the Johns Hopkins

Simon Constable | Author | Broadcaster | Journalist | Commentator | Speaker. Author of The Wall Street Journal's 'In Translation' column. Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise. Former staffer for General Motors Treasurer's Office. MBA from Darden Graduate School of Business at The University of Virginia. MA New York University. MA (Hons) University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Co-author of the award-winning book The WSJ Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators that Really Matter. Have written for Middle East Eye, TheStreet.com, The South China Morning Post, Barron's, Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch.

Written by Megan C. Hills, CNNA 101-carat diamond has become the most expensive jewel ever purchased with cryptocurrency, according to Sotheby's, the auction house behind the sale.The pear-shaped gemstone sold Friday for the equivalent of $12.3 million, after the auctioneer announced it was accepting offers in bitcoin and ethereum, in addition to traditional forms of payment. Sotheby's would not disclose which of the two cryptocurrencies had been used to make the purchase. The diamond, dubbed "The Key 10138," went to an "anonymous private collector," according to a press release.The gem is one of only 10 diamonds of its size and quality to appear at auction. Credit: Courtesy Sotheby'sIn a press statement, Sotheby's deputy chairman for jewelery in Asia, Wenhao Yu, said the sale had attracted "new clients well beyond the traditional pool of collectors," adding cryptocurrency purchases appealed to a "digitally savvy generation."'Flawless' purple-pink diamond fetches record $29.3M at auctionRemarkably rare in its own right, the stone is the second largest pear-shaped diamond ever to come to market, according to Sotheby's.It is classified as a "D color" diamond, the highest such grade awarded to white diamonds, meaning it appears colorless to the naked eye. It is also verified as internally and externally "flawless," meaning it is completely clear with no visible blemishes. It is one of only 10 diamonds of its quality weighing over 100 carats ever to appear at auction. A number of auction houses have begun welcoming cryptocurrencies for big-ticket items, which have included paintings and NFTs -- the blockchain-backed tokens increasingly used to transfer ownership of digital artworks and collectibles. The sale took place at Sotheby's Hong Kong, although bids were accepted from around the world. Credit: Courtesy Sotheby'sSotheby's introduces cryptocurrency sales with a famous Banksy workEarlier this year, Sotheby's opened the sale of Banksy's "Love is in the Air" to payment via bitcoin and ethereum. The famed artwork, which depicts a masked man throwing a bouquet of flowers like a Molotov cocktail, eventually sold for $12.9 million, though the auction house did not reveal whether they buyer eventually used a cryptocurrency. In June, Christie's also announced that it was accepting bitcoin and ethereum for an untitled Keith Haring work. The painting, which depicts a figure with a computer for a head, sold for £4.3 million (nearly $6 million) though, again, the auctioneer did not disclose the payment method.

Fetching price data into a Solidity smart contract is a common requirement of DeFi applications. To get the current price of Ethereum, Bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies in Solidity, you can either:

In this technical tutorial, we’ll walk through both approaches and share code examples to help you build, deploy, and test your smart contract. First, let’s quickly cover the importance of data quality and end-to-end decentralization when feeding external inputs into your smart contracts.

This year has seen an explosive growth in DeFi protocols, with the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi skyrocketing from $680M in January to now over $14B. These DeFi protocols rely on outside price data as their data source, because a blockchain cannot natively access external data. In addition to this, these applications need to provide data quality guarantees to protect their applications from exploits such as price oracle attacks.

Chainlink Price Feeds mitigate the risk of these attacks by providing aggregated data from various high quality data providers, fed on-chain by decentralized oracles on the Chainlink Network. Chainlink’s decentralized oracle mechanism ensures the final price values reflect broad market coverage, meaning the final price is determined after aggregating a diverse set of prices across the entire market, rather than just a small subset, while also taking into account other aspects such as volume and liquidity.

Now that we understand the need for accurate and reliable price data in Solidity smart contracts and the important role that Chainlink Price Feed oracles play, we’ll go through an example of using a Chainlink Price Feed to obtain the latest price of Ethereum in a Solidity smart contract. The steps below also apply to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Chainlink Price Feeds use multiple high quality data inputs and aggregate them through a decentralized network of Chainlink oracles that feed price data into reference contracts, where the results are again aggregated in an Aggregator Smart Contract as the latest, trusted answer. By using multiple sources of data aggregated by multiple nodes, we can ensure our price data is of the highest quality, and not subject to exploits or price oracle attacks.

The first step is to obtain testnet ETH to use as gas in your smart contract. Once you have some ETH, the easiest way to start building a smart contract that uses Chainlink Price Feeds is to begin with the standard Price Consumer contract. This is a basic contract for initiating requests to Chainlink Price Feeds. For the purposes of this demo we will use the ETH/USD Price Feed already defined in the standard Price Consumer contract, but we’ll walk through each section of code so you understand how it works.

First, we can see the AggregatorV3Interface contract interface was imported. This allows our smart contract to reference the on-chain Price Feeds on the Kovan testnet. An instance of it is then created in a local variable.

Next, we can see a Price Feed reference contract was initialized in our constructor. The ETH/USD Price Feed reference contract on the Kovan Testnet is deployed at the address 0x9326BFA02ADD2366b30bacB125260Af641031331.

We can then see a function has been defined to obtain the latest price from the Price Feed Aggregator contract that was instantiated in the constructor above. To do this, a new function was defined that calls the latestRoundData function from the Aggregator contract. This is the function that returns the current state of the Aggregator contract, and in this case we are taking the current price and returning it in our consuming function.

Now we are ready to deploy and test our contract. Compile the contract in Remix, then on the deployment tab, change the environment to “Injected Web3”, and ensure the wallet address below is the one in your MetaMask wallet that contains some ETH obtained earlier, press the deploy button, and follow the steps. The end result is you have your smart contract deployed to the Kovan testnet. You should take note of the deployed contract address via the transaction output in the Remix console.

Once deployed, we simply need to execute the “getLatestPrice” function. The result should be that the function returns the latest price from the ETH/USD Aggregator contract, which can then be used on-chain in our smart contract. Take note we didn’t need to send any LINK for the request, and we didn’t even use any ETH either, the transaction is a pure read of the data in the on-chain ETH-USD Aggregator contract.

Chainlink Price Feeds offer a vast array of price data for top DeFi price pairs. If you need to get price data into your Solidity smart contract for an asset that isn’t covered by an existing price feed, such as the price of a particular stock, you can customize Chainlink oracles to call any external API.

The easiest way to get external price data using Chainlink oracles is to begin with a standard Chainlink APIConsumer contract. This is a standardized contract for initiating requests for external data via a Chainlink oracle.

Once you have created an APIConsumer contract, you can then find the API that you want to obtain price data from. For example, you can use the Alpha Vantage API to find out the current price of IBM stock.

Once you have your API endpoint, you simply need to set the correct parameters in your contract and send the request off to a Chainlink oracle. More information on this and how the standard APIConsumer contract is used can be found in the Chainlink documentation.

Keep in mind, you’ll want to decentralize this method when you go to production, or get this specific data on a price feed itself.

Chainlink Price Feeds provide a reliable way to get high quality Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrency price data into Solidity smart contracts. In addition to this, Chainlink’s oracle framework provides the flexibility to quickly and easily fetch other price data for stocks, commodities, and other assets.

If you’re a developer and want to quickly get your application connected to Chainlink Price Reference Data, visit the developer documentation and join the technical discussion in Discord.

Website |  Twitter | Reddit | YouTube | Telegram | Events | GitHub | Price Feeds | DeFi

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The CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao "CZ", in a tweet on Sunday, congratulated Binance Launchpad projects for their spectacular returns. Well before retail financial investors, crypto whales and wall street mutual funds started amassing bitcoin, shaking off the crypto winter, Binance launchpad was at that point in front of the blast. In February, Binance at the same time propelled two token-sale sessions. The first was for TRON Founder and CEO Justin Sun's BitTorrent (BTT) which sold out in 15 minutes. On the off chance that Binance had utilized all the more computing power, it would have finished the ICO considerably quicker. BTT's cost has risen an astonishing 787% since its token sale. Binance Launchpad's Fetch (FET) token sale in March ended in 10 seconds. Members in the token deal have made about 119% profits for their venture. Later in March Celer (CELR) produced 126% consequently and in April (MATIC) created 620%. Binance Coin (BNB) has been moving higher, rising roughly 40% since the hack in which 7,000 bitcoins were stolen from the Exchange's BTC hot wallet.  BNB price was seen at $28.24 and Binance Coin market cap was $3,986,390,473, at the time the article was published It would seem like investors aren't worried or stressed over the security of Binance Exchange after the hack. In the meantime, the accomplishment of Binance Launchpad close by picking, developing, and offering new cryptos to investors is holding up the business and keeping interest for BNB solid. Blockchain can help fight human trafficking says Princess Eugenie UK  Veteran Trader Peter Brandt sees Bitcoin Price rally to $50,000, End of Crypto winter? CME Group Bitcoin Futures set new Trading Volume Record

Learn the basics of Ethereum and various cryptocurrency technologiesUnderstand the underlying principles of the Ethereum PlatformDiscover the revolutionizing technology known as the blockchainSubmit a press release for consideration on ETHNewsSubmit a story or DAPP to be considered for publication on ETHNews.Submit "Ethereum Explainer" content for consideration to be featured on ETHNewsThe group hopes to steer policymakers in the desired direction as they develop regulations aimed at the tech sector.Four blockchain companies – Ripple, NEM, Fetch.AI, and EMURGO – are aiming to create a "unified voice" for blockchain in Europe as regulators and governments consider how to exert their influence on this new technology and the new financial ecosystem it is creating.The press release says the "policy debate in Europe has been fragmented – with inconsistent information from those outside the blockchain sector challenging consensus within it." Hence the formation of this new association, which hopes to educate policymakers and stakeholders in the European Union on the potential of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain. It hopes to ensure that anticipated regulation "promotes and boosts" innovation in Europe.NEM is already established as a platform for enterprise blockchains and has a presence in Europe and around the globe. Ripple is gaining ground in the blockchain space, with a growing number of partnerships with banks and payment providers. Its coin, XRP, overtook Ethereum this year to become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.Fetch.AI and EMURGO, meanwhile, are less-recognizable names. The former is working on a smart ledger that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), but its technology is not yet live. The latter is one of three governing bodies of the Cardano blockchain – along with IOHK and the Cardano Foundation – and is its commercial arm. Cardano is another third-generation blockchain being built with the promise of increased capability and scaling potential. Similarly, its technology won't be ready until later in 2019.The four firms recently hosted the "Blockchain for Europe Summit," on November 27, 2018, with four of the largest European parliamentary groups interested in blockchain in attendance, including the European Commission's FinTech task force.The new association hopes to "help Europe to create smart regulation to shape the global agenda on blockchain," according to the release. Dan Morgan, head of regulatory relations for Ripple in Europe, said, "This is a critical time for policymakers in Europe as they seek to develop the right regulatory framework to capture the benefits of both digital assets and blockchain technology."Kristof Van de Reck, co-founder of the NEM Foundation, added, "There is a lack of unbiased information, especially when it comes to the open and decentralised application of the technology." He hopes Blockchain for Europe will provide "insights which are not tailored to the agenda of specific organisations or stakeholders."The combination of Asia-based blockchain companies NEM and EMURGO, UK-based Fetch, and US-based Ripple, is perhaps surprising for a Europe-focused organization. That said, it is clear that Europe is a major blockchain market and all four hope to take advantage of that, as well as ensuring, perhaps, a global regulatory precedent. If the EU were to create regulation that stifles blockchain, the aspirations of all four blockchain companies, and the promise of this emerging technology, could be at risk.Like what you read? Follow us on Twitter @ETHNews_ to receive the latest Ripple, NEM or other Ethereum world news.By clicking subscribe, you are giving ETHNews permission to contact you via email, providing updates based on the categories you select. We promise to always treat your information with respect and you can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us. For more information about our privacy practices please see our Privacy Policy. You can also learn more about our Terms of Use by reading them here. By providing your email address, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

In an interview with the Express.co.uk news website, Ryan Derks, owner of Ryan’s Hodl Fund, assured that Bitcoin could go through an accelerated growth, reaching record prices of 100,000 dollars if the population in general decides to adopt this means of payment instead of traditional systems. FIAT Currencies -as well as cryptocurrencies in general-, back their value in the trust provided by their users. For this reason, the global adoption of one or another will depend on who wins the trust and acceptance of the majority. This opinion is also shared by members of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Research and Statistics Group. But being a very new market, cryptocurrencies still have a long way to go in order to earn that level of global acceptance: “I believe they say that roughly five percent of the world’s population or less owns any cryptocurrency and if the trends of Venezuela continue (…) it looks as though there is going to be no slowdown (…) I only imagine it’s going to continue pushing up because there’s a limited supply again (…) So if people continue to lose faith in their nation’s currency, like for example the US dollar, I do not have much much faith at all (… ) I would have much rather have my money in a currency that I know cannot be manipulated and forged. “ Of course, the higher the number of users, the higher the bitcoin prices as currency due to its limited availability and the impossibility of being inflationary (issuing infinite amounts which could generate excess liquidity that results in a decrease in its value). However, Mr. Derks was cautious about the time he thinks his prediction could be made: “So, in my opinion, it’s going to continue, now I think that $ 100,000 dollars for a Bitcoin is not far-fetched (…) When that will happen, I can not tell you, but if you just assume that 10 percent of the world’s population or 15 percent of the world’s population decides to give up their government’s currency and use cryptocurrency then yes, that’s not far-fetched at all. “ Such bullish predictions are encouraging for a community that has seen a significant price correction with a drop of almost 50% in a month. Mr Derk said that third world countries could play a key role in the worldwide adoption of cryptocurrencies, helping to increase the price of bitcoin. It is very likely that its use as a means of storing value will be more attractive to these nations than in industrialized countries where the risks of falls represent greater losses. The quoted investor makes his predictions based on the basic laws of supply and demand., which establish that when there is an increase in demand, with a limited supply, equilibrium prices tend to rise. According to his LinkedIn bio after 8 years as an investment advisor and nearly 5 years of cryptocurrency investing Mr. Derks created Ryan’s Hodl Fund. The goal of Ryan’s Hodl Fund is to remove all the challenges of owning cryptocurrencies for individuals. Ryan’s Hodl Fund is one of only a few public cryptocurrency asset management firms. For updates and exclusive offers, enter your e-mail below. Join our mailing list to receive the latest Cryptocurrency news and updates, and also be the first to know about our weekly Ethereum Giveaways, we promise not to spam your inbox.

Please check your inbox for our authentication email.Please open the email we sent you and click on the link to verify your account.Despite its libertarian-leaning origins, cryptocurrency companies are now looking at government regulation as both inevitable and, more significantly, a source of legitimacy. That may explain why four major blockchain companies have announced that they have formed a lobbying group in Europe.Ripple, NEM, Fetch AI, and Cardano released a joint statement on Wednesday, announcing the establishment of Blockchain for Europe. The four companies said that the lobbying group is the “first credible attempt to create a unified voice for the blockchain industry at European level.”“Ripple is delighted to be a founding member of Blockchain for Europe,” said Dan Morgan, Head of Regulatory Relations for Europe at Ripple. “This is a critical time for policymakers in Europe as they seek to develop the right regulatory framework to capture the benefits of both digital assets and blockchain technology.”As is to be expected from any lobbying group, Blockchain for Europe will attempt to work with the European Union (EU) institutions to ensure regulations do not cripple business and innovation within the blockchain technology space.Suggested articlesWhat Can We Expect in 2019? A Financial Market Outlook by BDSwiss’ AnalystsGo to article >>What Can We Expect in 2019? A Financial Market Outlook by BDSwiss’ AnalystsGo to article >>At the same time, the group also says it plans to educate the public within EU member states on the “true nature and potential” of blockchain technology. Given the large volume of bullshit currently floating around in the blockchain ether, educational materials would be a welcome development.The group has already held its first summit. According to their statement, the event, which was held at the end of November, attracted the four largest EU parliamentary groups.“This is an extraordinary opportunity to guide European policy in a field that will positively change the lives of so many people,” said Toby Simpson, CTO and co-founder, Fetch.AI. “The convergence of technologies like machine learning, AI and decentralised ledgers delivers the opportunity for a world where technology works more effectively for the benefit of us all.”Finance Magnates is a global B2B provider of multi-asset trading news, research and events with special focus on electronic trading, banking, and investing.Copyright © 2019 "Finance Magnates Ltd."

The last few months have bolstered the price of the precious metal gold as governments worldwide have created tremendous amounts of debt and inflation. For instance, the value of gold per ounce jumped over $2k during the first week of August. Meanwhile, similarly to the physical counterparts, two blockchain tokens that claim to be backed by gold have seen significant demand and small premiums. While a handful of other ‘digital gold’ crypto coins have seen market valuations shudder this year. On August 3, 2020, the price of a single ounce of .999 gold spiked to $2,045 per unit. Since then, the precious metal per ounce lost -5.6% in value during the course of the month. Experts believe that gold’s value could jump to $3k per ounce by the year’s end if politicians and central banks continue to create economic disasters. While gold has increased considerably this year, it’s been growing much harder to obtain physical bullion, gold coins, and bars unless you buy in bulk. The infamous gold bug and analyst Egon von Greyerz has warned investors on various occasions that in recent months that there is a “massive shortage of physical gold.” Especially when it comes to traditional gold futures markets and the London bullion market (LBMA). The LBMA is one of the largest wholesale over-the-counter markets for gold and silver worldwide. “There is a massive shortage of physical gold in the futures markets and LBMA system. As gold goes up and the holders of gold ask for physical delivery, there will be no gold available to settle the paper claims,” the analyst stressed. Another sector that has been growing fervently is the demand for gold-backed cryptocurrencies and two of these tokens are fetching a premium. During the last two weeks, the gold-backed tokens PAXG, and XAUT have seen consistent premiums over the spot price of gold between 0.5% to 3%. For instance, this year there are more than 77 crypto projects that leverage the shiny yellow precious metal. Tether Limited has issued a coin called XAUT which is trading for $1,938 per ounce as opposed to the spot price of gold’s $1,926. A single XAUT is represented by “one troy fine ounce of gold on a London Good Delivery gold bar.” XAUT carries a 0.62% premium at the time of publication. Pax Global’s pax gold (PAXG) token also carries a small premium right now over the spot price of gold today at $1,934 per PAXG. The PAXG token is also backed by one fine troy ounce London Good Delivery gold bar. As far as market valuation and trade volumes, a number of smaller gold-backed tokens pale in comparison to PAXG and XAUT tokens. In 2020, Tether Limited and Pax Global’s gold crypto products stand out above the competition. For instance, during the first month of 2020 Karatgold coin (KBC) has a market capitalization of around $65 million. Today, KBC’s market cap is down to $16 million, and during the last 24 hours the token has shed -26.38%. The creators of KBC have been involved in multiple investigations involving financial regulators from a variety of countries. Digixglobal’s digix gold token (DGX) has seen a slight market cap increase since the start of the year, as it has increased $968,892 so far. DGX only has around $200,000 a day worth of global trade volume. The token price of a single DGX has lost -6.54% in value during the last 24 hours. The project launched by Coinshares, digital gold (DGLD), is featured as an “Untracked Listing” on Coinmarketcap.com, but the website shows no market data. DGLD trades on the exchange operated by Blockchain.com and the token is paired with bitcoin (BTC). A single DGLD is swapping for 0.016882 BTC ($190) at the time of publication. What do you think about gold-backed digital currencies? Let us know what you think about these projects in the comments section below. FINANCE | 4 hours ago FINANCE | 2 days ago .999 gold, 1/10 Troy Ounce, Blockchain.com, Coinshares, DGLD, DGX, digital gold, Digix, Finance, gold, Gold Tokens, Gram of Gold, KBC, KBC Investigation, One Troy Ounce, Pax Global, PAXG, XAUT Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Blockchain.com, Coinmarketcap.com, Tradingview, Spot-markets for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Litecoin and more. Start your trading. Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

get the latest gambling news from calvin ayre TAGs: eSports, Rahul Sood, UnikoinGold, unikrn Rahul Sood’s eSports betting platform Unikrn has raised $31 million in its initial coin offering, setting the standard for any eSports and gaming token sale to date. The Seattle-based company announced on its website that it has collected 112,720 ethers, worth an estimated $31.4 million in current trading price, in the token sale. The first phase of the ICO took place in September and netted the company $15 million from big name investors including Mark Cuban and distributed server processing system Ethereum co-founder Anthony Diiorio. “This is the end of the crowdsale. It’s the beginning of the token,” Unikrn said in a blog post. “Most importantly, this is a rebirth for esports and gaming. UnikoinGold is already poised to disrupt entire industries to make experiences, products, games and events more accessible, more interactive and more decentralized than they’ve ever been. The company is scheduled to lock down the delivery channels for UnikoinGold on Oct. 25, ahead of the scheduled delivery for the tokens, which will happen around Nov. 5. Didn’t make it in time for the crowdsale? Unikrn said customers can still trade in their skins for UnikoinGold. UnikoinGold, a decentralized ERC20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, is the offshoot of the virtual coin Unikoin, which Unikrn launched in 2015. The original version of the virtual currency—now called UnikoinSilver—were available only on Unikrn’s platform, but UnikoinGold can be purchased or sold on third party exchanges, or even withdrawn from Unikrn altogether. The eSports betting company had planned to sell $100 million worth of its cryptocurrency tokens, with the proceeds slated to “help fund the growth of business.” The ICO completion announcement comes on the heels of news that Unikrn has gained a Maltese gambling license, opening the door to 80% of the European gambling market for the U.S.-based startup. Unikrn has already begun working on its European expansion plans, and we expect to see the fruits of their labor in early 2018. views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CalvinAyre.com The kids are alright: Poker Central and ESP Gaming build a new home Why Sportradar’s former Head of Esports favourite animal is not a Unikrn X-Bet partner with Quantum Bellator Fire ESIC’s suspicious betting alert network uncovers Dota 2 cheating incident UltraPlay elevates its eSports live betting model to the next level The Ayre Media Group is based in Antigua in the West Indies with teams in London, Manila and Vancouver covering the global gambling industry.Along with ensuring fair coverage of the gambling industry we highlight the great work of the Calvin Ayre Foundation.

5 min readA majority of people, this is inclusive of investors, assume that coin and token are indicative of the same thing. There is a pressing need to clarify the difference between coins and tokens. Though they are often viewed as being the same, they are not.While both are theoretically crypto, they were never intended to be categorized as the same. The perception that coins and tokens are the same is a gross misconception.Coins are created with encryption techniques that change in value over time. It is essentially a digital equivalent to money. They are just like the coins in your wallet, or in your piggy bank. Bitcoin, based on the blockchain, with its public and distributed ledger, is the most popular example.These are coins based on Bitcoins original protocol, developed by Satoshi Nakomoto, and opened to the public. Examples of coins that are based on Bitcoins original protocol are Litecoin and Namecoin. An example of a coin that operates on the blockchain, developed specifically for it, is Monero.The primary traits of coins are: They are connected to the public blockchain. Anybody can join and participateThey can be sent, received, and minedBelow are a few use case scenarios with Bitcoin (BTC) as an illustrative example.BTC can be utilized to make payments for services all over the internet as well as in real-world businessIt can be stored for protracted periods of time with nothing happening to it; you can subsequently exchange it for something of equal value laterThe things that you purchase can be paid for in BTC as wellTokens are digital assets Tokens are digital assets issued by the project. These can be used as a method of payment within the projects ecosystem, with similar functions as coins. This is why they are often confused with each other.They are often referred to as coins, but it is vital to understand that they are not! Tokens are developed on blockchains that already exist. Thanks to the development and facilitation of smart contracts. The most typical blockchain token platform is Ethereum. Tokens that are developed on this specific platform are known as ERC-20 tokens.There are several other platforms such as Stratis, Waves, Lisk, and Neo. The NEO platform, for example, utilizes tokens that are referred to as NEP-5 tokens.Developing your own customized token is simple, on any of these specified platforms.Tokens vs Coins: Their Purpose Most tokens are intended to be utilized with decentralized applications or dApps. When developers are making their proprietary token, they determine the number of units they want to make and where these tokens will be sent when they are created. At this stage, the developers will pay part of the native crypto on the blockchain they are developing the token on.After development, tokens are typically used to activate features of the app that they were developed for.For instance, Musiccoin is a token that enables users to access different features of the Musiccoin platform. This could be viewing a music video or streaming a song. Other tokens are developed to be indicative of a physical thing. If you wanted to sell a real estate property using a smart contract, you cant exactly put property physically up on that specific contract, can you? So instead, you develop a token that is representative of that real estate property.WePower (WPR) is another good instance of a token that is representative of a physical thing. It denotes in electricity. The WePower is a dApp project that enables users to purchase and sell electricity on the blockchain, utilizing smart contracts. Its token, WPR, indicates a specific amount of energy.Advantages of having your own cryptocurrency If your project or startup requires its own blockchain, you need to develop your proprietary crypto to incentivize the nodes that contribute to their processing power. With regards to blockchain, analysts predict a rich future and an increasing list of markets/industries where blockchain will have a disruptive effect on the norm, greatly benefiting adopters.Your decision to fetches you a set of powerful marketing tools and benefits that will serve as your unique selling point. The following are the benefits that you can reap: Eliminating fraud risksAnonymous transactionsSaving operating costsProviding immediate transactionsImmediate availability of clienteleFund securityHow to develop a blockchain? Awareness of the use caseOpt for a consensus mechanismChoose a blockchain platformDevelop the nodesDetermine your blockchains internal architectureLook after APIs for tasks that are carried out within the blockchainLegalize your cryptoCreate intuitive/comprehensive admin/user interfaceDevelop and improve your blockchain How can you boost your blockchain by leveraging other disruptive technologies? These provide an undeniable boost to your blockchain. Developing a blockchain is the only way through which you can exercise comprehensive control over it.By developing your proprietary alt-coin from the get-go, you will be able to construct one-of-a-kind features along with the capability to determine and establish its parameters.-> Several options exist for customization of your coin, in order to make it unique-> You can determine if you want to utilize miners/ minters dependent on the earnings going by proof-of-work or proof-of-stake rewardsCreating a fork is an alternative to developing your own blockchain.Expertise is required to develop your own blockchain. In a situation where there is a dearth of these specific skills, bitcoin forks are a viable solution.Forking in crypto In laymans terminology, a blockchain fork refers to a software update. Participants in the blockchain run the same software and its vital that they execute the same version in order to access the collaborative ledger to detect transactions and ensure the safety of the network.Hard and soft forks differentiated Forks are divisible into hard forks and soft. Hard forks need 90% to 95% of the nodes in order to update their software the system has stopped accepting nodes that are using non-updated versions.Soft forks dont demand as much. A majority of the nodes are needed to update the software, and those who are executing a prior version can keep operating.How to develop a bitcoin fork? Utilize a fork coin generator If you lack programming know-how, services such as ForkGen might be the ideal solution for you. ForkGen is an automated fork coin generator where any individual can develop a unique Bitcoin offshoot by modifying some parameters and rules.Do it yourself Or you could develop it yourself if you have no reservations with dirtying your hands.-> Identify Bitcoin code on GitHub, compile and download it on your computer-> After the programming portion commences, youll have to reconfigure the coding, and utilize it on your customization.-> Upload the code back up on GitHub-> Furnish website details and some type of documentation (usually a white paper)

There was a lot of buzz around this ICO and to be completely honest I don't really understand the technology here (I know I shouldn't invest in what I don't understand) but I know the ICO was popular and price has gone south from there. However the volume is decent so its still popular and it looks really oversold so I'll shoot first ask questions last and try to figure out what this coin is all about over the next few days. I'm not falling in love and look to sell in a few days for the next Bitcoin pump but I'll take a shot here. GL I think BTC is going to pump so I'm closing. I'll be back.

A rare pear-shaped diamond that is expected to fetch up to $15 million can be bought at auction next month using cryptocurrencies, Sotheby’s announced on Monday.

Sotheby’s said it would be first time a diamond of such size has been offered for public purchase with cryptocurrency. No other physical object of such high value has previously been available for sale with cryptocurrency, the auction house added.

The 101.38-carat pear shaped flawless diamond, dubbed The Key 10138, is one of just 10 diamonds of more than 100 carats ever to come to auction, only two of which were pear-shaped.

It carries a pre-sale estimate of $10 million – $15 million and will be sold on July 9 in Hong Kong. Bitcoin or ether, along with traditional money, will be accepted as payment.

“This is a truly symbolic moment. The most ancient and emblematic denominator of value can now, for the first time, be purchased using humanity’s newest universal currency,” Patti Wong, chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, said in a statement.

Cryptocurrencies have had a volatile year, with explosive growth and major tumbles. In the US, the National Republican Congressional Committee last week said it will accept donations in cryptocurrency; El Salvador this month became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.

Sotheby’s in May sold a Banksy for $12.9 million in the first instance of a work of physical art sold by a major auction house that was bought with cryptocurrency.

Sotheby’s said that the past year has seen strong demand for white diamonds, jewels and other luxury items, particularly from younger people, including those in Asia.

The name of the colorless diamond — Key 10138 — is intended to reflect the integral role that keys occupy in the world of cryptocurrencies.

Pear-shaped diamonds are among the most sought after. The 530-carat Cullinan 1 diamond, which forms part of Britain’s Crown Jewels, is the most famous example.

The top price paid for a colorless diamond at auction was a 118.28 carat oval that went for $30.8 million at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in 2013, with a record price per carat of $260,252.

Could Digital Currency Group be the first major crypto company to go public? 8305 Total views 32 Total shares Listen to article 0:00 News What would an initial public offering for Digital Currency Group, or DCG, look like? Analysts at digital analytics firm Messari believe they have the answer.  In a newly published report, researcher Jack Purdy lays out a theoretical initial public offering for DCG. Using data from quarterly updates, along with other publicly available information and the average price-to-sales ratio for comparable fintech companies, Purdy concludes that DCG would be valued at more than $4 billion if it went public.  That lofty valuation is based on a careful examination of DCG’s underlying businesses. While casual crypto observations may not realize it, DCG owns some of the biggest brands in crypto, including Genesis, Grayscale and Coindesk. Combined, these and other DCG properties generate $243 million in revenue annually. In addition to an impressive top line, DCG’s investment arm has a sizable portfolio made up of Bitcoin (), Ether () and dozens of other cryptocurrencies. As of June 30, 2018, the company’s digital asset portfolio was worth $260 million. To be clear, Purdy didn’t speculate on what a share offering for DCG would look like or how many investors would get involved. IPOs are rarely a scientific process due to massive monetary incentives that lead sellers and their agents to inflate the price. Speculation about who will hold the first IPO in the crypto industry has been rampant for several years, with companies like Coinbase and BlockFi routinely coming up in conversations. Although there are several publicly traded companies involved in blockchain technology, a name like Coinbase or DCG would arguably be the first pure-play crypto company to go public. “Once this happens,” Purdy said, “it could be crypto’s Netscape moment where one high profile IPO kicks off a frenzy of subsequent offerings fueling investor frenzy to gain exposure to the nascent, but rapidly growing industry.” DCG did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Although the company has not commented about a public share offering, its founder and CEO, Barry Silbert, has been as saying he wants to “turn DCG into the Berkshire Hathaway of crypto.” Berkshire is the cash-rich investment conglomerate owned by value investor Warren Buffett.

There are a number of cryptocurrency fans in Malaysia, but alas, with it not being a norm yet, they may find they lack avenues to spend it on. 

Noting this gap in the market, Arravind Prabu, Vimal Selvamany, and Dhivager Rathakrishnan decided to create a crypto merchandise and commerce store, Cryptobilis. Through it, crypto users could practice paying via the currency.

“There is a term in the crypto space called crypto whales, which are high net worth crypto holders. Cryptobilis teases the majority who are at opposite end of the scale, hence the term ‘cryptobilis’ (ikan bilis) was coined,” Arravind and Vimal shared with Vulcan Post. 

Since their launch on December 1, 2020, they’re a little older than 3 months into the business. 

Cryptobilis is actually under their umbrella company, Fetch International, which Arravind and Vimal co-founded in 2019. Fetch is an 11-person team that created their own crypto payment gateway, crypto gift cards, crypto wallets, and now this merch store. 

“Fetch’s aim is to help consumers and businesses use and participate in the growing ecosystem of applications powered by cryptocurrencies,” they shared. 

Currently, you can purchase their merch with normal currencies or cryptocurrencies. For normal currencies, they’re working with SenangPay and Billplz whereas for cryptocurrencies, they’re using their in-house developed payment gateway, Fetchpay.

On their site, some of their merch you can buy include crypto themed caps, tees, clocks, art, pillows, mugs, stickers, table pads, and more. They also sell crypto-related books on their site. 

Their merch is priced quite affordably, in my opinion. The prices for products like apparel, art, pillows, etc. range from RM30 to RM80.

They’ve also recently become an authorised reseller of Ledger SAS, which is a global crypto hardware wallet company. 

For those who are unfamiliar with crypto hardware wallets, they’re basically cryptocurrency wallets that store your crypto assets with an extra layer of protection from phishing sites, cyber attacks, and malware.

The process of integrating their crypto payment gateway was fairly straightforward since the system was built in-house. 

On the backend, all their payments are routed to a liquidity provider for immediate processing. 

Dictionary Time: A liquidity provider is a market broker or institution which behaves as a market maker in a chosen asset class. They buy and sell a particular asset at certain prices and can influence price stability as well as improve liquidity to make it safer.

“As of now, we leverage on the liquidity of LUNO exchange to convert all payments back to MYR instantly to reduce our exposure on volatility,” they shared. 

At the moment, Cryptobilis only accepts 4 of the major cryptocurrencies, which are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and XRP.

“Almost 30% of our purchases are made using crypto. The majority of our payments are made via Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum,” they shared.

Over the past 3 months, they’ve had a growth of almost 10% MoM for crypto payments and managed to make RM30K in sales so far. They’re anticipating this figure to quadruple in the next 6 months. 

“As we continuously grow our brand awareness and reach, we predict that these numbers may increase by introducing new payment tokens which make better payments like Stellar, Bitcoin Cash, and BNB from time to time,” they added. 

They’re currently working towards enabling over 40 cryptocurrency payments in their own system including Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency whose value is tied to an outside asset, like our Ringgit or gold, to stabilise the price.

“We believe that cryptocurrencies are the future of payments, but we’d advise interested merchants to first understand the risk associated with accepting cryptocurrencies as payments, like security, custody, volatility, and liquidity.”

“They should also engage with industry experts prior to implementing any crypto payment system,” Arravind and Vimal advised. 

Although their platform is more for small crypto players, Cryptobilis plans to introduce a new line of products to target crypto whales.

As they’re still at the infancy stage of their business, their main challenge is mostly increasing brand awareness and reach in a still-niche and unfamiliar industry in the country.

Also Read Diamonds Were Just The Start, ZCOVA Now Looks To Dominate The Gemstone Market In Asia

Featured Image Credit: Arravind Prabu and Vimal Selvamany, co-founders of Cryptobilis