Category Archives: Cryptocurrency
AxionV: AI Cryptocurrency Fund Leading the Way in ICO Security – HuffPost
Earlier this year, we reported that, for the first time, a major venture capital firm, Union Square Ventures, invested in a blockchain hedge fund. But thats not all thats been invested in blockchain technology. By next year, 90% of central banks and 80% of financial banks will have engaged in some form of investment, programming, or planning to incorporate blockchain into their main business functions and workflows. But with cybersecurity a main determinant in which blockchain companies and cryptocurrencies receive investment, blockchain fintech companies need to be vigilant when protecting their assets from any intruder.
In this regard, one such company rises above the rest. Its name is AxionV, and it is currently about to undergo its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) on September 16. AxionV is an AI crypto fund which uses proprietary algorithms and complex trading strategies to achieve much better returns for your money. Their information caught my eye because it stood out in several ways, including its unparalleled security, which is something I look for when analyzing ICOs and crypto trading. In a nutshell, the AxionV ICO seems like a unique and interesting project, because it gives access to top talent in the trading space to anyone, not just established traders.
Founded by professional traders and blockchain technology experts, it takes pride in implementing leading security protocols to ensure that company operations will continue in virtually any situation without major interruptions.
When looking for security frameworks, AxionV made the strategic decision to benchmark to institutions outside of finance that already have the highest need to be as safe and secure as possible. This is why the Nuclear Energy Institute was selected as the model framework for the firm. Beyond this, to offer clarity on jurisdiction and regulatory issues, AxionV is developing five legal teams established throughout the Asia-Pacific, Europe and Americas regions to address regional issues in order to protect the firm and its potential investors while engaging directly with local governments and advisory committees. This is the framework consisting of five risk categories. While the majority of ICOs using blockchain could claim relative software security, the other 4 layers are most often omitted.
Blockchain currently is one of, if not the most secure protocols that is luckily, also open-source.
AxionVs technology actually minimizes the use of smart contracts, leading to more security for clients and less risk to the company. This is notable and perhaps counterintuitive because one of blockchains most lauded features is the ability to create smart contractsthat is, contracts recorded on the blockchain which execute themselves.
AxionV has a reason for this: the widely reported attack on the DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). Last year, a lone hacker attacked the DAO, the largest crowdfunded Ethereum blockchain organization in history at over $150m. This hacker discovered a vulnerability in the DAOs smart contract integrity, and isolated and attacked a highly valuable smart contract, siphoning over 3.6 million Ether from the organization into a child DAO with a mirroring structure. Due to this, the price of Ethereum dropped 35% last year. Yet, since AxionV mostly excludes smart contracts from the code handling of any tokens, the result is a more stable and fork-resistant token.
Hardware security offers another important layer of protection. We often trust the largest manufacturers such as Apple, Intel, HP, etc. to not insert any special chips inside the machines as backdoors, but given their proprietary nature, its always a possibility.
Whether it sounds unrealistic or not, history teaches us many breaches of hardware security will occur. One of them is mentioned by Kevin Mitnick a renowned security consultant and hacker. A program one hacker favored was called Spy Lantern, a hardware based program with the ability to monitor and record computer activities as a target works, allowing the hacker to secretly intercept every keystroke typed on the target's computer system except that this one is supposedly completely invisible on the target's machine.
The AxionV teams advantage compared to the competition is that they monitor hardware by verifying every machine to identify potential security breaches before deployment. AxionVs protocol involves fully assembling proprietary machines on site or directing private orders from the top manufacturers only.
Every company attempts to fully protect its information from the outside world. Perfect information protection is impossible, because employees are humans who constantly interact with the outside world. Many companies, to save expenses, install WiFi and connect machines / computers / servers with private information to WiFi. This creates a huge threat. Intruders, once they learn the password to the WiFi, can access the entire system by starting as an average user account, and increasing its access rights using a variety of techniques.
In reality, there are very few companies with sufficient educational programs that cover environmental security. Most often, theres just too much ground to cover.
AxionVs solution to environment security is to divide infrastructure into two main parts: internal and external. The internal infrastructure has no connection to the outside world, and it is fully isolated within its own environment, much like in a nuclear plant. It will be completely disconnected from the internet or people who dont have the access rights. External, on the other hand, will be public and open, accessible to virtually anyone. The idea itself is inspired by Blockchain in that it also uses a combination of a public and a private keys to produce maximum security.
Every person is a source of information. Every employee has access to some piece of valuable information that can be used against the company without realizing it. These pieces of information can help intruders get access to private information. Even corporate slang or references used outside of the workplace can be used by hackers adept at social engineering to access protected information.
Many organizations decide not to even pay attention or even consider this aspect, thinking its very unlikely it will happen. However, this is a very important factor to consider. NDAs do not work either they serve more as a psychological protection, but not as a real protection against intruders and accidental disclosure.
Examples of security breaches with failed security protocols include Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who committed espionage and gave out nuclear program of the U.S. to the Soviet Union. Or Edward Snowden, who worked at the CIA and deliberately leaked lots of information.
AxionV uses structured access to information for every employee, including provisions for loss of any employees. Every employee goes through extensive training about which information they have access to and what ways this information can be stolen from them.
Given the current landscapes throughout the world regarding blockchain, ICOs, Startups and investing, anticipating and strategic legal strategies are needed to maintain a business like AxionV. Multiple regulatory bodies have already made their stances known, but real laws and binding decisions have been mercurial so far. AxionV has developed a roadmap to combat the nature of attorneys own conflicts of interests and how to deal with the worldwide regulatory uncertainty. The strategy is to seek multiple opinions from its five legal teams and always go with the most conservative decision. AxionV willingly works within local regulations as a thought leader with the goal of helping the blockchain world develop and utilize a robust Know your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering framework that will punish violators and reward honest clients. Currently, it is considering an advanced adaptation of the proposed SAFT or Simple Agreement for Token framework, which has been modeled from SAFE from Y Combinator, as a simple framework established between VCs and startups.
Overall, I see how AxionV is leading the way in cyber security in this space, providing the framework for future ICO launches that need to be more secure, while providing immediate value to those who invest in the ICO as the AI trades and increases the value of the fund. For more information, Ive found their website and blog to both be great resources for information about their upcoming ICO as well as the future of the fund.
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AxionV: AI Cryptocurrency Fund Leading the Way in ICO Security - HuffPost
Six Banking Giants Just Decided to Partner to Create a New Cryptocurrency – Futurism
In BriefFinancial institutions have been taking a good hard look at blockchain, and now, six of the world's biggest banks have decided the best way to take advantage of the decentralized, distributed digital ledger technology is by partnering on their own cryptocurrency.
Security is one of the most critical aspects of banking and finance. Not only do banks need to keep money secure, they also have to keep transaction records safe, all while not slowing down the verification process.
Thats why banks and other financial institutions have been taking a good hard look at blockchain, a decentralized, distributed digital ledger technology first created to support the bitcoin cryptocurrency. Now, six of those banks have decided the best way to take advantage of blockchain is by partnering on their own cryptocurrency.
The digital coin, which they are calling the utility settlement coin,was developed back in 2015 by financial services firmUBS, and its purpose is to enable the clearing and settling of transactions worldwide over a blockchain. The six new banks Barclays, Credit Suisse, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, HSBC, MUFG, and State Street join UBS, BNY Mellon, and several others already on the project.
The distributed ledger is one of the most innovative technologies out there, Lee Braine from Barclaystold The Financial Times. From reducing risk to improving capital efficiency in financial markets, we see several benefits of this project.
The new cryptocurrency is slated for a limited back end run by 2018, and the banks have been in discussions with central bank regulatorsregarding the cryptocoin.
While blockchain technology can be used for a variety of purposes distributing aid,fighting climate change,tracking electricity in the grid, etc. its potential for disruption is perhaps still greatest in the world of finance. Projects like the utility settlement coin, which can test the tech on a bigger scale, will be essential if that potential is to be reached.
Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.
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Six Banking Giants Just Decided to Partner to Create a New Cryptocurrency - Futurism
Russia Could Pass Cryptocurrency Law This Year, Senior Lawmaker Says – CoinDesk
An official for Russia's nationallegislature believes that new laws regulating the exchange of cryptocurrencies will be complete by the end of the fall.
Anatoly Aksakov, who leads the State Duma's financial markets committee, told Russian media this week that next steps involve the formation of a dedicated working group to address the issue.Further, he said that he would be meeting with officials from Russia's central bank and the Ministry of Finance in the coming days.
Should all the pieces come together Russian officials have been working on some kind of law related to the tech since as early as 2014 lawmakers could complete work on a legislative passage over the next several months, according to Aksakov.
He said (in translated comments):
"If we agree on the main approaches in the coming week, I think that by autumn, by the end of the fall session, we will be able to adopt this law in order to provide a legal space for the development of this market."
The comments come amid a flurry of news out of Russia on the cryptocurrency front. The country's deputy finance minister, for example, said earlier this week that he thinks bitcoin trading should be restricted to qualified investors. The chief internet advisor to president Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, unveiled the formation of a new blockchain and cryptocurrency advocacy group earlier this week.
Image Credit:ID1974 / Shutterstock.com
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Russia Could Pass Cryptocurrency Law This Year, Senior Lawmaker Says - CoinDesk
Cryptocurrency Investment Course 2017: Fund your … – Udemy
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Dharma wants to let anyone borrow a small amount of cryptocurrency – TechCrunch
dApps, or decentralized apps, are open-source applications built on top of a blockchain.But heres the thing users usually cant interact with these dApps unless they have tokens issued by these projects.For example, bothAugur, a decentralized prediction market and REXMLS, a free global listing network for real estate, require tokens to interact with.
But if you didnt participate in the dApps ICO, getting these tokens isnt easy.
While some tokens trade on exchanges, youd have to first buy Bitcoin or Ethereum (which still isnt necessarily easy), send it to an exchange, convert it to the token, then send to token to the dApp. Its a process, to say the least.
So, enter Dharma, a company part of this summers Y Combinator batch.
Dharma wants to let anyone get a small cryptocurrency loan in just a few minutes, so they can use a dApp without going through that long process to acquire a token.
Right now these loans are only denominated in ether (which some dApps accept), but eventually Dharma wants to be able to support the borrowing and lending of any crypto asset. All loans are denominated in USD so neither side is exposed to the volatility risk associated with cryptocurrencies.
Since Dharma is built as an open-source plugin, developers can essentially plug a line of credit directly into their dApp, so users can get tokens to use without ever leaving the platform. Dharmas protocol can also be accessed without going through a dApp at all, if someone just wanted to borrow a cryptocurrency to use for no specific purpose.
Of course its a little lotmore complicated than this on the backend.
The loans themselves are peer-to-peer, meaning Dharma isnt actually loaning you any money they are just building the open-source protocol to facilitate the borrowing and lending off cryptocurrency. And all loans are represented by Dharmas own newly issued ERC20-based token, which lives on the Ethereum blockchain.
So how does Dharma make money?
The startup is also handling the credit risk assessment / loan approval process which is the only aspect of the protocol that is not decentralized. At launch Dharma will collect basic KYC (know your customer) information from borrowers and decide if the borrower is likely to pay back the loan.
Since loans arent collateralized and there is no actual credit check, Dharma will likely limit first-time borrowers to small amounts of cryptocurrency. But over time as users generate solid repayment history they may increase the amount able to be borrowed, which is a model not so different from Affirm. In return for verifying a borrower, Dharma (the startup, not the protocol) will be allocated a certain portion of loan principal as a fee.
Right now Dharma is the only entity that is approved to decide a borrowers creditworthiness and approve a loan. But eventually they want to permission other entities to step in and approve borrowers for example, an African TelCo has a lot of information on its users that Dharma doesnt have, that could be used when deciding to approve them for a loan.
Dharma isnt totally live yet but you can try it out on Testnet, which is a faux version of Ethereums blockchain just used to test apps.On Testnet Dharma works withMetamask a chrome plugin that lets you run Ethereum dApps right in your browser and 0x a decentralized token exchange. But soon Dharma plans to launch on Ethereums live network and integrate with many more dApps.
If you want to learn more about Dharma, you can check out their White Paper right here.
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Dharma wants to let anyone borrow a small amount of cryptocurrency - TechCrunch
Litecoin Prices Surge Above $70 as Crypto Market Tops $175 Billion – CoinDesk
Via CoinMarketCap
The cryptocurrency markets continued to risetoday as the asset class observed strong gains, including most notably, perhaps, litecoin.
The digital assetonce dubbed "the silver to bitcoin's gold"passed $78 to achieve a new all-time high at 06:54 UTC this morning, according to CoinMarketCap data. Standing at $75.57 at press time, litecoin has increased by 17.28percent overthe past 24 hours and an astonishing 49.37 percent overthe last week.
Long in the doldrums, litecoin has seen a resurgence since its community moved to activate Segregated Witness (SegWit) on its network early in May a scaling solution that also opens the doorto new features such as smart contracts going forward.
Once again, South Korean exchange Bithumb has seen the majority of the trading, hosting22 percent of the litecoin volumein the last 24 hours. Chinese exchanges OKCoin andHuobi are close behind, with 18 and 14 percent, respectively.
While not yet close to its record high of over $0.40 set back in May, Ripple Labs' XRP token has also seen gains rising13.51 percent over the week to $0.25 today.
Dash and monero, too, have climbedthisweek, with press time prices at$382 (21.60 percent over seven days) and $140 (46.45 percent), respectively.
Taking a wider view,the combined market capitalization of all digital currencies attaineda new record high today, and had passed$175 billion at press time. That's up from $170.8 billion just yesterday, also going by data from CoinMarketCap.
Disclaimer: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Ripple.
Formation flying image via Shutterstock
The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].
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Litecoin Prices Surge Above $70 as Crypto Market Tops $175 Billion - CoinDesk
PayThink Custom tokens are the future of cryptocurrency – PaymentsSource
At more than 850 crytpocurrencies already in less than a decade, it is no wonder that explorations are now diverting to use of custom tokens to address the immediate needs of specific industries.
Major industries are grappling with major constraints in terms of quality and efficiency, and custom tokens could offer the ultimate solutions for specified market needs and demands.
The core principle of cryptocurrencies is decentralization, eliminating the middleman and central authorities by all means. In the principles of sales and marketing, this would translate to giving more power to the end user, the customer or the client.
Major industries like the music sector, health sector, education, agriculture, and so on, have a ton of issues to deal with, hence the establishment of specific Foundations, Companies, Welfare Groups and SACCOs, to try to pull resources and bring people together. Its important to note that the modern day service industries thrive on the premise of the feedback received from loyal customers.
Listening to trustworthy feedback from key stakeholders in an industry brings invaluable contribution that no single regulatory body or central institution can afford. And talking of feedback, many institutions have over the years tried to reach out to industry players, but that is only once in a long while.
Unfortunately, such communities do not exist for most industries, and there is therefore the lack of constant feedback. These are the very issues that custom tokens seek to address, and the best way is to ensure that the custom tokens are tailored for an entire industry, with specific tools to address specific concerns. The dynamics of every industry might be very unique, but that is for the developers to customize the tools.
Every time reviews or feedback is given on social media, whether positive or negative, it is upon the service providers and their site administrators to keep or pull down the comments, especially when they think that the reviews are extremely transparent, in a negative sense. But with a determination to uphold transparency, responsibility and accountability, reviews cannot be changed or manipulated once on the blockchain.
That is to say that market research value will go up, and players in the industry will be able to regularly access up-to-date data. Such platforms, tailored for an entire industry, will simply translate to optimal speed in service delivery, and safety in handling market research data.
To continuously build strong customer relationships, there should be an incentive structure within a custom token, where quality reviews by industry players are rewarded using the tokens.
As members fill in surveys and respond to treatment quality and market research questions, smart contracts will be used to facilitate payment of rewards using the custom tokens.
Consequently, the earnings will go a long way in making further payments in partnering institutions within the industry. In other words, members will not only earning the coins, but will also be provided with an opportunity to spend the same within the entire industry.
And because of mutual interests among community members, industries will be bound to tap and harness profound knowledge from either side. While at it, this approach will not be a preserve of persons who are already familiar with the use of cryptocurrencies, but a great extension of an olive branch to newcomers in the cryptospace, who may have never had a chance to use Bitcoins or either of the hundreds of altcoins. On the other hand, the coins earned as a reward need not necessarily be used to pay for services, because they could as well be used to buy products which are connected to specific industries.
The education industry should have a custom token that is not only open to teachers and parents but also to students, while one for the health industry should accommodate both doctors and patients, and so on. If adopted for every sector, the disruption experienced in the banking industry would trickle down to all industries around the world, connecting the global community in untold measures.
Whichever way it goes, the near or distant future will experience token compensations for passive or active participations in various industries, for the public and private sectors will no longer need to use fiat currencies. The earlier industries open up to the reality of custom tokens, the better it will be for all stakeholders.
Mariam Nishanian is a representative for Dentacoin, a virtual currency for the dental industry.
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PayThink Custom tokens are the future of cryptocurrency - PaymentsSource
Cryptocurrency Market Just Reached Total Value of $160 Billion – Futurism
In BriefThe global cryptocurrency market has exceeded a value of $160 billion for the first time. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash are leading the charge, but this number reflects the enduring strength of all kinds of different tokens.
For the first time, the value of the global cryptocurrency market has exceeded $160 billion. Its been on a huge uptick throughout 2017, starting out at $10 billion at the beginning of the year and hitting $100 billion in June.
Bitcoin obviously has a big role to play in this success its still the biggest name in cryptocurrency, and experts predict that it could hit a value of $20,000 in the next three years. Credit also has to be given to its recent fork Bitcoin Cash which is establishing itself rapidly, and the increasingly-popular Ethereum.
This is a very interesting time for the cryptocurrency market. As countries like Estonia consider offering their own tokens, and the US Congress drafts a bill that could foster its mainstream usage, a huge amount of money is being invested in virtual cash.
Cryptocurrency seems set to be adopted by the masses at a scale we havent seen before. This could bring about some big changes to the global economic market and it could even spell the beginning of the end forfiat money as we know it.
Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.
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Cryptocurrency Market Just Reached Total Value of $160 Billion - Futurism
PR: Archain Is Building an Uncensorable Internet Archive Inside a Cryptocurrency – Bitcoin News (press release)
This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements,and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release.
The developers of Archain have released the first version of their new cryptocurrency and archiving system. This archiving system, built on revolutionary new cryptographic technology, would allow users to submit documents and webpages to an archive that is truly permanent and uncensorable for a small fee in the archain currency, ARCs. Users will be able to mine these ARCs themselves, or buy them from other users.
Such technology comes at an extremely welcome time; with internet censorship on the rise and the neutrality of the internet being widely called into question, an archiving tool that is truly out of the reach of any individual or organisation even its creators will allow citizens of the world to take part in the fight for free speech and expression. Archain hopes to live up to these expectations, No longer will it be possible for our history to be forgotten said Sam Williams, Archains CEO. Archain is going to plug the Orwellian memory hole.
However, the archain project is not just taking place behind closed doors. As well as open sourcing their product, the archain team have encouraged external developers to take ownership of the fight against undue internet censorship. Alongside its prototype, the Archain team has already released a toolkit to allow developers to build apps that will utilise the networks permanent storage features, as well as instructional videos to help new developers get started.
In order to face the challenge of the internet-level scaling that Archain requires, the system employs novel Proof of Access and blockweave technologies. These technologies allow Archain to scale to levels far out of reach of traditional blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. By integrating data from randomly selected previous blocks into the mining of each new block, miners are financially incentivised to form a self-optimising network of storage and redundancy, creating a cryptocurrency that can rival the internet in scale. The details of these technologies can be found in the Archain whitepaper.
Development of the Archain product is well underway, with the first prototype and the app developer toolkit publicly available. You can contribute to the Archain project by taking part in our token pre-sale, ending 13/09/17.
Press Contact Email Addresssam@archain.orgSupporting Linkwww.archain.org
This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to thepromotedcompanyor any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not 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 the press release.
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PR: Archain Is Building an Uncensorable Internet Archive Inside a Cryptocurrency - Bitcoin News (press release)
Another banking trojan is trying to loot your cryptocurrency wallets – The Register
Researchers have discovered a new variant of banking trojan that targets cryptocurrency wallets instead of traditional accounts.
Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange site targeted in part by the latest Trickbot variant, manages multiple currencies thus offering crooks a wider platform for abuse once they succeed in harvesting the account credentials. Coinbase has been added as a target to config files for the trojan, which already attempted to loot bank accounts with numerous providers worldwide, infosec firm Forcepoint Security reports.
Cybercriminals have been developing Trickbot since its creation, adding new regional banks (most recently in the Nordics) to its hit list. Security researchers recently unearthed Trickbot campaigns targeting PayPal wallets.
The switch to digital currency accounts matches the popularity of Bitcoin and the like as a form of payment.
Dodgy messages spreading the malware pose as a "secure message" from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. A booby-trapped attachment harbours a macro downloader that ultimately downloads and executes a Trickbot variant.
Malware targeting cryptocurrency wallets is uncommon but far from unprecedented. For example, variants of the Dridex banking trojan went down this route last year. F-Secure caught a trojan that searches for Bitcoin WALLET.DAT files way back in June 2011.
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Another banking trojan is trying to loot your cryptocurrency wallets - The Register