Markethive

Big Businesses that are Leading the Bitcoin Charge

Big Businesses that are Leading the Bitcoin Charge

    

No longer shunning and brushing Bitcoin under the carpet,

some of the world’s biggest companies have seen the light and are accepting digital currencies as a form of payment. Bitcoin’s reputation as an obscure currency that is only used on the Darknet has long been left behind as the digital currency finds itself more in the mainstream than in shadowy corners. The growth of the currency as an asset, as well as the technology behind it, has sparked the interest of a lot of forward-thinking and progressive companies. The likes of Microsoft, Overstock.com, DISH Network, Intuit, and even the rival of sorts PayPal are all utilizing Bitcoin.

Microsoft

As one of the pioneers of technology it only makes sense that a company with the prestige of Microsoft has decided to invest and integrate with Bitcoin. It may sound surprising that Microsoft customers, and by extension Xbox users, can buy content on the Windows and the Xbox stores. What is even more surprising is that Microsoft has been offering this since December 2014, back when Bitcoin was far less common, understood or even trusted.

More importantly, perhaps, is that Microsoft is working on utilizing Blockchains, the technology behind Bitcoin, for large-scale businesses to facilitate the settlement of their financial data. This was done through the launch of Azure, which is a service platform on Blockchain technology. Finally, it has been announced that the latest release of Excel will have Bitcoin integration among its currencies so that users can implement the digital currency into their spreadsheets with ease.

PayPal

As one of the biggest online payment platforms out there, it seems illogical that PayPal would be looking to integrate and utilize Bitcoin which could act as a direct competitor to their services. However, the payment processing service has moved with the times, albeit in a roundabout way. In September 2014, PayPal announced that it would indeed accept Bitcoin, but it would be through integration with their mobile payment platform, Braintree. Braintree has linked up with Coinbase, BitPay and GoCoin, to allow merchants using Braintree to accept payment through Bitcoin. It must be noted that this was the start of integration for Bitcoin and PayPal, but their growth has slowed somewhat since the payment processor broke off from Ebay.

Overstock.com

The large and well-regarded E-tailer was one of the first major companies to take the plunge with Bitcoin, stating that it would accept digital currency through a partnership struck up with Coinbase back in January 2014. Customers of Overstock.com can make a purchase of anything from furniture, jewelry, clothes and decor with the digital currency. Overstock was also savvy enough to carry between five and 10 percent of Bitcoin in their reserves, and seeing how the currency’s worth has grown since 2014, that move is to have surely netted the company a huge return.

Intuit

Known predominantly as the software giant behind QuickBooks, which is a DIY Tax preparation program, Intuit integrated Bitcoin into its programs with great success for cross-border clients. In 2014 BitPay partnered with QuickBooks to create the PayByCoin service that allowed for next-day settlement into bank accounts. This helped overcome the issue of Bitcoin’s volatility. It also appealed to businesses as the usual bureaucracy and red tape associated with overseas payments were all but removed through the use of Bitcoin.

DISH Network

DISH admitted that it had heard the calls from its customers to allow them to pay with Bitcoin for the digital satellite services and it too joined up with Coinbase to be the payment processor. Again, this was all the way back in May of 2014 and has been successful in allowing customers an easy alternative to making payments for their digital television requirements.

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Is Solar-Powered Cryptocurrency Mining the Next Big Thing

Is Solar-Powered Cryptocurrency Mining the Next Big Thing

Is Solar-Powered Cryptocurrency Mining the Next Big Thing

Cryptocurrency mining is a difficult and costly activity. Miners must pay to build rigs capable of vast amounts of processing power, and then the rigs themselves must be powered with large quantities of electricity. It's all a careful balance between how much the operation costs and how much profit it is able to generate. (See also: What Happens to Bitcoin After All 21 Million are Mined?)
 

With mining operations for Ethereum, one of the leading digital currencies on the market today, taking up the same share of electricity as that of a small country, miners have to be careful that they aren't spending more than they are making. Because of that, some mining operations have begun to look to solar-powered rigs, set up in the desert, in order to reduce mining costs and make the largest profit possible. (See also: Chinese Investment in Bitcoin Mining is Enormous.)

 

Solar Panels Provide Inexpensive Power

Mining operations with the tools and resources to be able to set up solar-powered rigs in the desert are finding that it is a good investment. Once you have paid for the solar panel system itself, the cost of mining is virtually free. Getting rid of a hefty electric bill which typically weighs down mining operations leaves more room for profit.
 

The Merkle recently documented a mining operation focused on Bitcoin in this manner. The setup has been running successfully for almost a year and currently uses 25 separate computing rigs. The process has been so profitable, in fact, that the miner running the operation plans to increase the number of computers to 1,000 this fall.
 

In the case of this particular desert miner, the individual mining rigs cost about $8,000. This cost has included all solar panels, power controls, batteries, and the Antminer S9 ASIC processor. When fully operational, each miner brings in a profit of about $18 per day.

 

Balance Between Mining Costs and Crypto Prices

Of course, a cheap mining operation is only part of the equation. In order for miners to make a tidy profit, the price of the cryptocurrencies they are generating must remain high.
 

In the case of the mining operation in question, Merkle suggests that Bitcoin prices must stay above $2,000 in order for the operation to be profitable. Considering that the price of most cryptocurrencies is highly volatile, and that drops of 205 or more have occurred in many individual days, this keeps a certain element of risk present in any mining operation.

 

It seems likely that more and more miners will turn to areas in which renewable energy is easily accessed. Iceland has already become a popular destination for Bitcoin miners thanks to its fast, virtually limitless internet. Miners looking to move to the desert should be cautious for other reasons, though: mining in the heat can cause rigs to break down more easily.
 

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden Entrepreneur

 

Author: Nathan Reiff

 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Blockchain Will Disrupt Every Industry

Blockchain Will Disrupt Every Industry

    

As with all major paradigm shifts, there will be winners and losers. But if we do this right, blockchain technology can usher in a halcyon age of prosperity for all. 

I continue to read articles and see example of the disruptive nature of Blockchain. Recently, one of our Salesforce higher education customers demonstrated a persistent, progressive student profile that was built on top of a blockchain chain-script, linking student credentials to potential employers in a real-time using a mobile trusted framework. Trust is foundational to all businesses, and Blockchain enables entities to seamlessly establish trust and transparency at scale. Today, The total market capitalization for the world’s crypto-currencies, led by Bitcon on Blockchain, is more than $100 billion.

To learn more about the impact of Blockchain on businesses and industries, I spoke with Brett Colbert, Solutions CTO and Vice President of Enterprise Architecture at Salesforce.In this role of Solutions CTO, Colbert leads the customer-facing Salesforce Enterprise Architecture team which helps customers and prospects strategically transform their business systems. Previously, Colbert was IT CTO and Vice President of Enterprise Architecture at Salesforce. In this role, Brett was responsible for Salesforce IT strategy and Enterprise Architecture. Colbert has been researching Blockchain for more than three years, leading customer implementations and collaborating with blockchain industry thought leaders.

What is Blockchain?
“A Blockchain is a digital, distributed transaction ledger, with identical copies maintained on multiple computer systems controlled by different entities.” Blockchain owes its potential to its many valuable characteristics: Reliable and available, Transparent, Immutable, Irrevocable, and Digital.Here a high-level summary illustration of blockchain:

What is Blockchain?

“Bitcoin or other digital currency isn’t saved in a file somewhere; it’s represented by transactions recorded in a blockchain—kind of like a global spreadsheet or ledger, which leverages the resources of a large peer-to-peer bitcoin network to verify and approve each Bitcoin transaction. Each blockchain, like the one that uses Bitcoin, is distributed: it runs on computers by volunteers around the world; there is no central database to hack. The blockchain is public: anyone can view it at any time because it resides on the network, not within a single institution charged with auditing transactions and keeping records. And the blockchain is encrypted: it uses heavy-duty encryption involving public and private keys–like the two-key system to access a safety deposit box–to maintain virtual security.” — Don Tapscott, Author of Blockchain Revolution

Why is Blockchain a disruptive technology?
Blockchain is a disruptive technology because of it’s ability to digitize, decentralize, secure and incentivize the validation of transactions. A wide swath of industries are evaluating blockchain to determine what strategic differentiators could exist for their businesses if they leverage blockchain.Soon to be disrupted industries will include Financial Services, Healthcare, Aviation, Global Logistics and Shipping, Transportation, Music, Manufacturing, Security, Media, Identity, Automotive, Land Use and Government. Blockchain is garnering a lot of attention because blockchain will fundamentally change many of the industries listed above.

“The “killer app” for the early internet was email; it’s what drove adoption and strengthened the network. Bitcoin is the killer app for the blockchain.”

Examples of Blockchain use by Industry –
The answer isn’t in the technology, but in how the technology can improve inefficient business processes. The processes that we use to ship goods globally, buy and sell things, determine ownership of things or identify ourselves are typically slow, error prone, paper-based and heavily people-dependent.

Here are a few examples of the opportunities that exist to improve processes in a variety of industries using Blockchain:

  • Land Use –
    Ownership and history of property currently requires the investigation of many different document sources such as Grantor-Grantee index, Land Records or Deed Records. The goal is to find any records related to property liens, easements, covenants, conditions and restrictions(CC&Rs), agreements, resolutions and ordinances. This a time consuming and laborious process in which it is easy to miss important information. Sweden is leveraging blockchain to track land registries called the Lantmäteriet. They estimate a taxpayer savings of $106 million per year based on reduction of fraud, eliminating paperwork and accelerating the process.
     
  • Identity –
    Across the globe we use passports to identify people, which are paper-based identity cards similar to your driver’s license and therefore counterfeitable. ISIS is reported to have the ability to manufacture fake passports. In 2013, almost 40 million “travel” documents were reported as lost or stolen since 2002, according to Interpol. Dubai is working on a digital passport with a London-based company called ObjectTech. The digital passport is based on Blockchain. “This is an identity that is fit for the digital age,” said Paul Ferris, co-founder and chief executive of ObjectTech. “Not only will it make international travel quicker and safer, but it also gives people back control of their personal digital data.”
     
  • Global Logistics and Shipping –
    The second largest port in Europe, Belgium-based Port of Antwerp, announced a blockchain pilot to automate and streamline the port’s container logistics operations. “According to the terminal authority, moving containers from point to point often involves more than 30 different parties, including carriers, terminals, forwarders, haulers, drivers, shippers and more. This process results in hundreds of interactions between those parties, conducted through a mix of e-mail, phone and fax.” Maersk is investigating blockchain to track global trade and shipments (see video below).
  • Automotive –
    German automaker Daimler AG has issued a corporate bond worth €100m as part of a Blockchain pilot project. “According to Daimler, the entire transaction cycle — from origination, distribution, allocation and execution of the loan agreement, to the confirmation of repayment and of interest payments — was automated digitally through the blockchain network. Lending technical support were the IT subsidiaries of Daimler and LBBW, which also adopted the Blockchain’s cryptographic signature to prevent manipulation of transactions.” Jan Brecht, Daimler’s CIO said, “We see blockchain as a promising technology, not fully mature yet, but continuously growing. Now is the right time to get into it, build up knowledge and form a network of like-minded people to share experiences.”
     
  • Aviation –
    Accenture’s head of Aerospace and Defense said about Blockchain, “I really see this coming in, in a couple of years”, speaking at the Paris Air Show in June 2017. “Through all that life cycle of the engine, the original parts, the replacement parts and configuration are all being tracked, and it is being done by a number of different companies. “Blockchain is in effect a single federated ledger that everybody who uses and touches that engine could use it as a single point of truth of what has happened to the engine,” he explained. “It is something we can see clearly in terms of the benefits and we effectively have a patent pending on how to leverage blockchain in the aftermarket.”
     
  • Manufacturing –
    The manufacturing industry uses QR codes and bar codes to identify products. These methods are notoriously insecure given the ease at which someone can copy or duplicates these codes. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the “imports of counterfeit and pirated goods are worth nearly half a trillion dollars a year, or around 2.5% of global imports.” Imagine if luxury goods were tracked in an immutable blockchain.
     
  • Prescription Drugs –
    Worldwide sales of counterfeit medicines could top US$ 75 billion this year, a 90% rise in five years, according to an estimate published by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest in the United States of America (USA). The FDA’s Drug Supply Chain Security Act, signed into effect in November 2013, creates a requirement to ‘develop an electronic, inter-operable system to identify and trace certain prescription drugs as they are distributed in the United States.’ A San Francisco-based startup called Chronicled has launched a ‘track and trace’ pilot using blockchain to build an electronic, inter-operable system to identify and track prescription drugs as they are distributed in the United States.

A Beijing policeman walks across a huge pile of fake medicines

  • Finance –
    Visa has a blockchain effort called “Visa B2B Connect” partnering with Chain to analyze the possibility of optimizing near real-time funds transfer system for high value bank-to-bank and corporate payments. A company called Ripple is working with banks to optimize how they send money around the world, with the goal of new revenue models, lower processing costs and better overall customer experience. IBM Global Finance is working on one of the largest blockchain implementations.
  • Government –
    he US Navy’s Naval Innovation Advisory Council (NIAC) will spearhead the testing of Blockchain technology in their 3D printing in order to help securely transfer data during the manufacturing process.
  • Banking –
    According to an Accenture survey, “Nine in ten executives said their bank is currently exploring the use of Blockchain.” Some of the focus is on transforming payments at scale and reducing the risk of failure.
  • Blockchain as a Service –
    Several enterprise software vendors have announced Blockchain as a Service offerings in which customers can leverage blockchain in a cloud environment.

“Every business, institution, government, and individual can benefit in profound ways. The blockchain is already disrupting the financial services industry. How about the corporation, a pillar of modern capitalism? With this global peer-to-peer platform for identity, reputation, and transactions, we will be able to re-engineer deep structures of the firm for innovation and shared value creation. How about these billions of connected smart things that will be sensing, responding, sharing data, generating and trading their own electricity, protecting our environment, managing our homes and our health? And this Internet of Everything will need a Ledger of Everything.”

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

 

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin is Permanently Superior to Paper Money in Ways — German Business Magazine

Bitcoin is Permanently Superior to Paper Money in Ways - German Business Magazine

Bitcoin is Permanently Superior to Paper Money in Ways — German Business Magazine

While many mainstream media personalities and analysts remain skeptical about bitcoin (and often rehash misinformation), others are beginning to give cryptocurrency an honest appraisal.

The latest comes from leading German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche, which recently published an article praising bitcoin. “The Revolution of Cryptocurrency,” written by economist Thorsten Polleit, argues that the advent of cryptocurrency set off a monetary revolution that could eventually supplant fiat national currencies.

Public fiat money, he explains, possesses four inherent flaws:

1. Inflation

2. Monetary distribution inequality

3. The tendency to produce boom-bust cycles

4.The temptation to increase national debt

Polleit states that cryptocurrencies avoid these and other flaws due to market competition. As long as no currency has a state-mandated economic monopoly, consumer demand should favor better coins.

However, it should be noted that not all cryptocurrencies resist the flaws Polleit finds in fiat money. Many cryptocurrencies are inflationary, although their rate of inflation is generally fixed rather than variable. Cryptocurrency distribution models can also exhibit inequality, and there is much debate about what constitutes a fair coin/token dissemination method. That said, by divorcing monetary policy from the national government, one will avoid the final two flaws of public money.

Polleit believes consumer demand for bitcoin will likely increase as fiat money loses purchasing power and national governments reduce or even eliminate cash transactions. He foresees the potential for blockchain-based currencies to “make…Fiat money worthless.”

Despite this bullish tone, Polleit urges investors to approach cryptocurrency speculation with caution. As he states (translated into English):

While many mainstream media personalities and analysts remain skeptical about bitcoin (and often rehash misinformation), others are beginning to give cryptocurrency an honest appraisal.

The latest comes from leading German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche, which recently published an article praising bitcoin. “The Revolution of Cryptocurrency,” written by economist Thorsten Polleit, argues that the advent of cryptocurrency set off a monetary revolution that could eventually supplant fiat national currencies.

Whoever obtains [cryptocurrency] should know that he does not invest, but speculates. Unlike in the case of shares or bonds, they do not have a recognized and tested valuation formula — the same also applies to raw materials or art objects. You can not even estimate whether the price you pay is justified with regard to the “intrinsic value” of the [coins].

For this reason, he seems to favor colored coins tied to physical assets, such as gold.

Diverging from other pro-bitcoin analysts, Polleit encourages investors to avoid currency speculation. The sensible investor, he says, should instead continue to invest in “great companies” and take a long-term approach to the markets. The monetary revolution may cause economic upheaval, but he explains that solid companies will continue to bring positive returns no matter what currency–or cryptocurrency–they use to transact business.

 

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden Entrepreneur

 

Author: Josiah Wilmoth

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

$100 Billion Cryptocurrency Market Showing Signs of Maturity as Mainstream Investment Appeal Grows

$100 Billion Cryptocurrency Market Showing Signs of Maturity as Mainstream Investment Appeal Grows

$100 Billion Cryptocurrency Market Showing Signs of Maturity as Mainstream Investment Appeal Grows

Cryptocurrency has burst onto the financial scene like a blazing comet, offering investors a new asset class to grow their wealth, hedge against instability and escape the grips of central banking. As the market for digital coins crossed the $100 billion mark, hedge funds and major institutions suddenly found themselves scrambling to make sense of the shadowy world of cryptocurrency.

For the most part, investors no longer question the viability of cryptocurrency, but are instead exploring what shape this evolving market will take.
 

Cryptocurrencies Come Into Their Own

Though highly volatile, cryptocurrencies have been on a dramatic upward trajectory for the past year. In the case of bitcoin — the pre-eminent digital coin founded in 2008 by a person or entity called Satoshi Nahamoto — the bull market is at least seven years old. The success of bitcoin has spurred a bevy of other so-called altcoins, many of which have latched on to the success of the flagship digital coin.

Bitcoin’s share of the global cryptocurrency market has quickly diminished as alternative payment systems hit the market. At the time of writing, bitcoin represented roughly 41% of cryptocurrency market capitalization. By May, digital currency alternative Ethereum had surpassed half of bitcoin’s market value.

Several other currencies have also crossed the $1 billion mark this year, including Ripple, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Dash, NEM, IOTA and Stratis. Many more are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
 

Key Investment Drivers

The growth and widespread adoption of cryptocurrency-as-an-asset has dividend analysts and investors seeking to understand the nature of the bull market. The market’s dramatic rise through the first six months of the year has raised fears of an asset bubble with dangerous consequences. But proponents of digital currency say the market has plenty of room for growth as investors seek alternative asset classes. They cite several key investment drivers as proof that cryptocurrencies aren’t overbought, but are instead maturing.

1. Hedge against instability: Despite their volatility, cryptocurrencies are seen as a hedge against central bank intervention and other forms of fiat-currency related instability. China is the most prominent example, as mainland investors have poured into bitcoin to diversify away from yuan devaluation. This compelled the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to initiate a four-month freeze on bitcoin withdrawals.

2. Increased regulatory certainty: Earlier this year, the Japanese government legalized bitcoin as a form of payment and initiated capital requirements, cyber security laws and annual audits. Japan’s Accounting Standards Board is also in the process of developing a standard government digital currencies.

3. Store of value: Digital payment systems like bitcoin are mined, which makes them scarce digital resources that offer many of the same investment benefits as commodities. Bitcoin has a fixed issuance schedule with a finite supply of 21 million coins.

4. Greater investment appeal: Bitcoin’s success has triggered a fresh wave of buying interest from various segments of the market. Institutional investors and banks have expressed a greater interest in buying bitcoin. Nine of the world’s biggest banks — including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse — are developing a common standard for blockchain that could also hasten the appeal of cryptocurrency-as-an-asset.

5. Decentralized payment system: Today, more than 100,000 merchants accept bitcoin as a form of payment. As the evolution away from fiat currency continues, demand for distributed digital money that exists beyond the purview of central banks will likely grow.
 

Price Volatility Continues

Despite their widespread appeal and unrelenting gains, cryptocurrencies are prone to dramatic price swings. This trend is expected to continue as the market slowly matures.

Cryptocurrencies sold off again on Friday, with five of the world’s top-ten coins posting weekly losses of 9% or more. Ethereum suffered the largest setback, while bitcoin managed to pare losses. IOTA, BitShares, NEM and IOTA also faced heavy losses.

With more than 700 digital payment systems on the market, analysts caution that not every cryptocurrency offers investment value. Some are clearly riding the coattails of bitcoin, while others are benefiting from speculation.

At the same time, there’s still plenty of room for disruption as alternatives to bitcoin vie for capital. Analysts observe that the the cryptocurrency market will likely see significant diversity for the foreseeable future.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden entrepreneur

 

Author: Sam Bourgi

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Wall Street Strategist Sees Bitcoin at $55,000 by 2022

Wall Street Strategist Sees Bitcoin at $55,000 by 2022

    

Tom Lee, strategist at the firm Fundstrat, has released his estimate on the value of Bitcoin by 2022,

In the next five years

Lee, an expert in market commodities and stock valuations, has made his estimate based on Bitcoin’s limited supply and market stabilization. He’s not the first to make such bullish predictions either. Ronnie Moas, the famous stock picker and strategist has also suggested substantial upside, even in the near term.

What's driving the demand?

Lee believes that one of the main market drivers for Bitcoin is a cannibalizing of gold demand. As the economic situation continues to present concern for many investors, vehicles like Bitcoin can be a way to store value similar to gold and other precious metals. The limitation on supply, as there can be no more than 21 million inherent units, and the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies make Bitcoin a safe harbor in times of economic uncertainty,

according to Lee.

"In other words, substantial upside exists in owning cryptocurrencies here”.

Lee did accept the reality that Bitcoin is wildly volatile, considering that the its annualized volatility is 75 percent, but also argued that gold had the same effect in the late 1970’s, saying, “gold's volatility approached 90% from 1971 to 1980 as the U.S. abandoned the gold standard — hence, we expect this to improve over time."

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

China and Japan Are Largely Responsible for the Current Success of Cryptocurrency

China and Japan Are Largely Responsible for the Current Success of Cryptocurrency

China and Japan Are Largely Responsible for the Current Success of Cryptocurrency

 

The adoption of digital currencies on both the individual and institutional level in China and Japan is propelling cryptocurrencies to ever greater heights. However, some are still skeptical that they are the finance systems of the future due to their current volatility.

 

CHINA AND JAPAN’S CRYPTO CRAZE
 

The age of cryptocurrencies is upon us, and two countries in particular have been instrumental in their stratospheric rise: China and Japan.
 

Cryptocurrencies have become popular in China due to the government’s stringent control of the yuan — a power they occasionally exercise by artificially devaluing the currency for trading purposes. With private wealth in China growing, affluent individuals have found a more stable and accessible alternative to the yuan in cryptocurrencies.

 

Additionally, China has an abundance of cheap energy and hardware, which facilitates crypto mining (the process through which new blocks in the blockchain are created and transactions are verified). Chinese exchanges run mining “pools” to generate these blocks, and these efforts constitute 60 percent of Bitcoin’s total hashrate (the speed at which Bitcoin operations are completed).

 

Japan got its foot in the cryptocurrency door at the beginning of 2017 when the market in China experienced an institutional and systematic crackdown, with the most potent measure being a ban on all cryptocurrency withdrawals. This caused an increase in Japan’s trading volume, which grew from one percent to as high as six percent.

 

Cryptocurrency adoption was further amplified by currency turbulence in the country. Quantitive easing lead to extremely low interest rates, which have occasionally even become negative, meaning that it costs an individual to save money. As in China, cryptocurrencies therefore became viewed as a more stable asset than the native currency, so more people have chosen to invest and store their money in them.

The final piece in the cryptocurrency success puzzle for both countries is increasing institutional acceptance. In China, this takes the form of the country’s Royal Mint, which has invested resources and money into digitizing the yuan and promoting blockchain technology. Japan, meanwhile, began accepting payments in stores using cryptocurrencies earlier this year, and its three largest banks — MUFJ, Mizuho, and SMBC — have all backed the country’s largest Bitcoin exchange, bitFlyer.

 

A WORLDWIDE REVOLUTION

 

The enthusiasm with which China and Japan have embraced cryptocurrency systems has contributed to their worldwide success. Virtual currencies have become more popular and valuable than the vast majority of people could have anticipated upon their inception around a decade ago. The value of a single bitcoin has risen from roughly $0.00075 to $2,500, and the market cap for all cryptocurrencies has exceed $100 billion.

 

The success of cryptocurrencies is also reflected in their increasing adoption by formal institutions. Wall Street is making moves to start using cryptocurrency systems by next year, a Swiss town called Zug has begun to accept payments in bitcoins, and the Gemini Trust in New York has been licensed to trade ether.

However, some worrying news concerning cryptocurrencies has emerged as well. Recently, in spite of claims that the systems are highly secure, hacks have lead to personal information being leaked and exchanges have been robbed, one to the tune of $79 million.
 

In addition, while cryptocurrencies may be more stable assets than the native currency in Japan and China, they are not absolutely stable. In fact, they are currently far from it, and though prices continue to rise, rapid drops are not uncommon, and public opinion can have a major impact on value.

 

Mark Cuban illustrated the issue perfectly — when he took to Twitter to assert that Bitcoin wasn’t a currency, its valuation dropped rapidly. Even more recently, Ethereum lost $4 billion worth of market value when a bogus story that its founder, Vitalik Buterin, had died in a car crash was published on 4chan.
 

Cryptocurrencies are clearly on the rise, and due to their successes, they can no longer be dismissed as a niche monetary system. The pertinent question is will this rise will lead to the worldwide adoption of an entirely new currency and finance system?

 

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

david Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

SmartPlay.Tech – New Game, $3,000,000 Trading Volume and Macau Partner

SmartPlay.Tech –
New Game, $3,000,000 Trading Volume and Macau Partner

    

The win-win roulette launch

The beginning of the month was marked by the release of a new win-win roulette, which amount of players surpassed the activity in the previous blockchain game, released by the developers in late February. The success of the project was achieved due to the uniqueness of the solution, favorably differing from other products of this segment. Focusing on a large number of players unfamiliar with the world of blockchain technology and crypto currency, the founders set a goal to expand the popularization of the platform among ordinary users. For this purpose, a whole strategy was developed to create and promote the project including the maximum simplification of the game start without plugins installation, playing for free and the absence of commissions for placing bets. No deposit solution in less than a month attracted 12,800 players who were able to get up to $ 10 for participating in the new roulette testing. Feedback of satisfied users has been spread across forums and social networks, creating an additional advertising effect. At the end of the month, the total amount of bets placed by the players was almost 8 million RLT with the number of rounds played approaching to 570,000, which exceeded the blockchain roulette statistics parameters for 4 months by 43 times.

Having built up the active loyal players’ base SmartPlay.tech founders added the possibility of refilling the account with RLT tokens. Users are given a bonus of up to 50% to their first deposit, which makes it possible to receive 0.025% of each bet regardless of the game outcome. In the near future developers plan to connect the balance of win-win roulette to the system of dividend distribution in order to resume payments and increase their frequency. In addition, to further expand the base of players will be added the ability to deposit ETH.

Exchange statistics

June was a record for the volume of trading and the value of the token on the exchange. RLT more than once held record positions in the amount of transactions made on Livecoin which total monthly value comprised $ 2,872,000. On June 9th, SmartRoulette token reached another record with the price soaring to $1.

Project development In mid-June, in order to attract and build up the audience of players, the project started to be advertised on more than 370 crypto-currency and gaming sites. On a regular basis press releases are posted on the top 20 news outlets and aggregators with the base of active users engaged for the distribution of the information about the project using a whole system of so-called bounty campaigns. In the second half of the month the developers presented the first version of the affiliate program. On unique market conditions earning 0.5% from each bet of the referred player became available not only for professional webmasters and advertisers, but also for ordinary users. In this case, the weekly commission is charged regardless of the player’s game outcome, unlike most affiliate programs. At the moment 23 major affiliate websites are participating in the promotion of the project.

Cooperation with the big partner from Macau

The main news of the outgoing month was the beginning of negotiations between SmartPlay.tech and a major gambling partner with a significant stake in the gambling and hotel business of Macau. The decision to make a big investment in SmartRoulette project was made by the partner after a detailed review of the developed solution. According to him, the project favorably differs from competitors in the presence of a working solution oriented to ordinary players and unique opportunities provided both to players and investors, however its rapid promotion requires aggressive marketing in order to occupy a significant market share and raise its competitiveness. According to the founders’ calculations the conclusion of cooperation with a partner having many years of expertise and a high level of competence in promoting online gambling will increase the project’s capitalization and its share of the presence in the international gambling industry.

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

How Balanced Cryptocurrency Portfolio Looks Like: Investment Tips

http://seriouswealth.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/How-Balanced-Cryptocurrency-Portfolio-Looks-Like-Investment-Tips

How Balanced Cryptocurrency Portfolio Looks Like: Investment Tips

A large number of investors have started to purchase cryptocurrencies as a short-term and long-term investment, a safe haven asset and an experimental investment to develop a proper understanding of the market and the technology behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

As a result, even the initial coin offering (ICO) market, which is yet to showcase a viable product or a decentralized applications with an actual active user base, have begun to attract hundreds of millions of dollars in the past few months.

In fact, Tezos, Bancor and EOS, the three largest ICOs to date, have raised more than $485 mln, with the ICOs of EOS and Tezos still ongoing. However, none of these three ICOs have completed the testing phase of their software, leading many analysts to describe the ICO market as a bubble.

Still, the vast majority of investors in the cryptocurrency market are purchasing cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ethereum Classic as long-term investments.

A large portion of investors within the cryptocurrency market wholly support the monetary policy, vision and purpose of popular cryptocurrencies that have evolved into useful alternative financial networks and decentralized infrastructures for decentralized applications.

 

What is a balanced cryptocurrency portfolio?

As mentioned above, the purpose of investing in cryptocurrencies varies greatly for investors. Most Bitcoin investors consider Bitcoin as a safe haven asset and a digital currency and have purchased Bitcoin expecting it to become a major alternative financial network which could compete with global banking systems and reserve currencies such as the US dollar in the far future.

If an investor remains unclear about the structure, purpose and monetary policies of certain cryptocurrencies and is investing in specific cryptocurrencies as an experimental investment to learn more about the market and various cryptocurrencies, it will be smart decision to maintain a diversified portfolio of a few different cryptocurrencies.

http://seriouswealth.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cryptocurrency-portfolio

 

Investment tip from Andreas Antonopoulos

On June 13, Bitcoin and security expert Andreas Antonopoulos revealed his personal investment strategy in establishing a balanced portfolio of crypto assets. Antonopoulos wrote:

“Yes, I own a few different crypto assets as part of a small but diversified portfolio. I only risk as much as I'm willing to lose.”

The latter part of Antonopoulos’ statement is what most investors in the cryptocurrency market fails to consider. The entire cryptocurrency market is still at an early stage, and most cryptocurrencies remain extremely volatile. Hence, investors should not be investing more than they are willing to lose, especially if their investment is experimental and speculative.
 

Also, it will be beneficial and efficient for investors to utilize platforms such as Cyber Fund’s cryptocurrency portfolio builder Satoshi Pie, which allow investors to track their investments in real time in terms of change in value and performance against other assets.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Author: Joseph Young

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Blockchain — “Bitcoin with Haircut” or Replacement for Inefficient Banking System?

Blockchain — “Bitcoin with Haircut” or Replacement for Inefficient Banking System?

    

Following other major banks and financial institutions

such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, the New York-based $335.4 bn banking giant, has started to utilize Blockchain technology to automate high throughput transaction processing. Most operations and settlements facilitated by banks including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs require significant manual verification and labor. In most cases, bank wire and transfers can take at least five days to three weeks, due to the requirement of manual approval required by financial regulations, money transmission policies and KYC and AML systems globally. Although it will be more accurate to describe the efforts of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan as the development of Blockchain technology-inspired systems rather than Blockchain-based decentralized applications as by law, banks are required to have strict control over their transactions and settlements.

“Blockchain vs. Bad Banking”

At the Blockchain Arica Conference hosted on March 2, Bitcoin and security expert Andreas Antonopoulos explained in a talk called “Blockchain vs. Bad Banking” that the actual Blockchain technology used by Bitcoin and other successful public Blockchain networks such as Ethereum require much more than the conventional “Blockchain technology” itself.

Antonopoulos stated:

“Blockchain is the technology behind Bitcoin. Which is incorrect. Blockchain is one of the four foundational technologies behind Bitcoin and it can’t stand alone. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying to sell it. Blockchain is Bitcoin with a haircut and a suit you parade in front of your board. It is the ability to deliver sanitized clean, comfortable version of Blockchain of Bitcoin to people who are too terrified of actually disruptive technology.”

Then what are banks actually building?

Cryptographic evidence and signatures are essential in most cryptographic platforms such as Blockchain networks as they allow financial service providers to record time stamps of settlements of assets and transactions in an immutable ledger. Because the vast majority of banking systems are centralized, they are vulnerable to sophisticated hacking attacks and security breaches. However, with the usage of Blockchain technology, banks such as JPMorgan Chase can process high throughput transactions efficiently and most importantly, securely.

JPMorgan: Blockchain will replace inefficient banking systems

Alex Liu, the CEO of AMIS, the Blockchain infrastructure provider that partnered with JPMorgan recently and joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance in its early days,

stated:

“The protocol is a vital part of efforts aimed at building the next evolution of the Internet of Value, similar to the creation of the TCP/IP protocol earlier in the history of computer networks.”

More to that, Liu explained that the JPMorgan Chase development team would showcase a new technology called proof of authority (PoA), a consensus protocol that would allow the verification of pre-approved nodes. Whether the pre-approval process of nodes will become an issue in the future regarding security and network efficiency will be answered by the public launching of JPMorgan’s launch of its PoA Blockchain in the near future. At the moment, JPMorgan Chase and AMIS remain absolutely confident that Blockchain will replace inefficient, insecure and centralized financial networks in the upcoming years, to optimize the settlement process of assets and transactions for users and customers.

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member