Category Archives: Cryptocurrency
Aimwise to Create Standards for Cryptocurrency Crowdsales – newsBTC
The startup ecosystem, especially those related to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology have found ICOs and token sales to be the easiest and the most efficient form of fundraising methods. In the past few months alone, the world has witnessed some of the highest grossing ICOs which raised over a hundred million dollars equivalent in cryptocurrency.
The ease of setting up an ICO and the lack of minimum requirements or regulations make it easier to misuse the process to raise funds for fraudulent projects. With no effective due diligence method in place, those investing in the ICOs take a huge risk. Besides, projects opting for a crowdsale usually rely on ICO hosting platforms, many of which are not completely decentralized and hence not entirely trustless.
Aimwise, a blockchain project has taken into account all the issues surrounding the ICOs and the cryptocurrency ecosystem to come up with a solution. The Aimwise platform, which by itself is based on blockchain protocol aims to create a fair and transparent system that benefits everyone involved in crypto-projects, irrespective of whether they are the creators or funders.
The Aimwise ecosystem is comprised of three different parts an ICO hosting platform, crowdsourced idea incubator and portfolio management tool. It is an initiative of a group of enthusiasts from various industry segments including fintech, banking, corporate law, finance, and blockchain industry.
The Aimwise project is attempting to set high disclosure standards for projects that are opting for an ICO so that there is enough, verified information available for investors to make an informed decision. The decision to whether support the project on Aimwise ICO hosting platform will be taken by third party rating agency and the cryptocurrency community themselves.
Similarly, the platform also aims to help the community members, entrepreneurs and teams to pitch their idea to each other and a wider cryptocurrency community (including experts in various fields) and conduct necessary background research to come up with innovative, validated cryptocurrency projects that can solve real problems. The Aimwise crowdsourced idea incubation program will accelerate the rate of innovation in the industry.
Aimwise will also introduce a portfolio management tool, which will come in handy for investors, as they manage funds and investments by taking well-informed decisions. These decisions are enabled by sophisticated big data algorithms that analyze various data points form the entire Aimwise ecosystem and beyond to suggest profitable investments.
Altogether, Aimwise is attempting to standardize the project fundraising and token sale process in the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. In order to come up with a complete product, the Aimwise team will soon launch its own ICO. The platform will implement most of the best practices during the crowdsale and utilize the funds raised for further development, marketing, and operations involved in making it successful.
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Aimwise to Create Standards for Cryptocurrency Crowdsales - newsBTC
Bernanke to Give Keynote Speech at October Cryptocurrency Event – Bloomberg
Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, will be the keynote speaker at a blockchain and banking conference in October hosted by Ripple, the startup behind the fourth largest digital currency.
The three-day event, called Swell, starts Oct. 16 in Toronto, Ripple said in a statement on its website. Bernanke, who has criticized cryptocurrencies in the past, will be interviewed by Gene Sperling, the former national economic adviser under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Bernanke wrote that virtual currencies could have long-term promise in a 2013 letter to Congress. However, in a 2015 interview with Quartz, he said bitcoin has some serious problems, including its anonymity and lack of stability. Bernanke was not immediately available to comment.
Since the former Fed chairmans remarks, the largest cryptocurrency has skyrocketed in value, fueling excitement among enthusiasts but skepticism among critics worried that the digital coin is in a bubble.
Related: Ripple Is Seeing More Volume in Fiat Currencies, Less in Bitcoin
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Bernanke to Give Keynote Speech at October Cryptocurrency Event - Bloomberg
Russian Deputy PM Says He Supports a State-Backed Cryptocurrency – CoinDesk
A senior Russian official has thrown his support behind a state-backed cryptocurrency.
In an interview with Russian broadcaster RBC, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said that he is in favor of a "crypto-ruble" provided that certain measures are put in place on the security front.
"This theme will develop," he said in translated statements. "But it should develop in such a way that the national economy cannot be put under attack, but rather make it stronger."
Shuvalov isn't the first Russian official to opine on the subject of a blockchain-based ruble. Indeed, the deputy chief of the Bank of Russia remarked in February that the implementation of a national cryptocurrency was "only a question of time." Skorobogatova stated that, after extendeddiscussions withinthe centralbank they were finally ready to move forward with initiative.
The Russian government is exploring blockchain on multiple fronts, including work by health officials to test possible methods that utilizethe tech for exchanging patient information. And earlier this summer, President Vladimir Putin briefly met with ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin.
During the RBC interview, Shuvalov confirmed that the government is considering investing in cryptocurrency mining resources, a disclosure that comes after word emerged that an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin is putting together a bitcoin mine of his own.
The idea that Russia would potentially fund construction of cryptocurrency mining facilities is in itself notable, given that at one point, lawmakers in the countryonce debated harsh measures including prison terms to deter the creation and spread of so-called "money surrogates".
Still, movement on this front is in the earliest stages, accordingto Shuvalov.
"But while this is a discussion, there are no concrete projects yet. In order to develop such centers, it is necessary to prepare appropriate legislation and its regulation," he told the broadcaster.
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Russian Deputy PM Says He Supports a State-Backed Cryptocurrency - CoinDesk
Cryptocurrency Cyber Crime Has Cost Victims Millions This Year – Bloomberg
By and
August 23, 2017, 10:32 PM EDT August 24, 2017, 8:36 AM EDT
Heres another reason to be leery of the initial coin offerings being done at a staggering pace in the cryptocurrency world: theres a one-in-10 chance youll end up a victim of theft.
Phishing scams have helped push up criminal losses to about $225 million this year, according to Chainalysis, a New York-based firm that analyzes transactions and provides anti-money laundering software. In such scams, investors are tricked into sending money to internet addresses pretending to be funding sites for digital token offerings related to the ethereum blockchain technology.
More than 30,000 people have fallen prey to ethereum-related cyber crime, losing an average of $7,500 each, with ICOs amassing about $1.6 billion in proceeds this year, Chainalysis estimates.
Its a huge amount of money to generate in such a short period of time, said Jonathan Levin, co-founder of Chainalysis, whose software and database are used by some of the largest bitcoin companies and U.S. law enforcement agencies. The cryptocurrency phishers are doing pretty good against all the other types of criminals that are out there.
Indeed, the huge amount of wealth that has fallen prey to cyber criminals is approaching the losses incurred by robberies in the U.S. for the entire year of 2015, which stood at $390 million, according to statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
ICOs are digital token sales typically that raise ether, with users transferring the funds to addresses provided by startups. Investors, sometimes eager to get early access to new token offerings have been tricked into providing their credentials to fake websites through targeted email campaigns, twitter posts and Slack messages, said Levin.
Read more about an Ethereum co-founders views on ICOs
Ether rose 0.3 percent to $324.92 on Thursday, according to data from coindesk, while bitcoin rose 0.4 percent to $4,151.47.
Most attacks involve creating websites or social media accounts that sound similar to the real ICO project. Levin gave the fictional example of a project named "illuminate," which an imposter might fake by spelling it as "iIIuminate." Using the fake account, they would solicit potential investors to send money to the criminals address.
His firm compiled the data by identifying so-called digital wallets used by scam artists. That information is usually public because criminals widely circulate it, hoping to fool investors into sending them money.
Other common forms of crime involve tapping into project loopholes. The DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization, is a smart contract project built on top of ethereum that was intended to democratize how ethereum projects are funded. A bug in the system was exploited and that led to the theft of $55 million worth of ether at the time.
Read more on how tech startups are ditching venture capital for ICOs
Levin didnt provide data for bitcoin-related cybercrime, and not because it is any safer. He said such data is harder to track as scams are usually specific attacks on individual holders, rather than ICO-related campaigns which try to dupe many people at once.
The overall figures mean there are infrastructure that we need to build to help prevent people from getting abused, said Levin.
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Cryptocurrency Cyber Crime Has Cost Victims Millions This Year - Bloomberg
This European country may hold an ICO and issue its own … – TechCrunch
Weve officially hit peak ICO. Estonia, a small country in Northern Europe, just floated the idea of potentially raising money by issuing a token called estcoins.
So why Estonia?
The countryis pretty forward thinking when it comes to technology they are the first nation to offer an e-Residency program. The program is almost like a digital citizenship, and lets participants take advantage of a host of government services, including start a European Union-based company without actually setting foot in the country.
In amedium post today, Kaspar Korjus, the director of Estonias e-Residency program, floated the idea of issuing crypto tokens via an initial coin offering (ICO) to raise money for the nation. Without committing to anything just yet, Korjus outlined what he sees a potential ICO looking like, and said the next step may be a white paper outlining the value of the tokens and what the investment would be used for.
The government already is asking for feedback from the technology world, and Ethereum founderVitalik Buterin is an advisor to the project.
Korjus said that the money raised in the offering could be used for a fund jointly managed by the government and outside private companies. This fund would be used to invest in new technologies for the public sector as well as invest venture capital into Estonian companies founded by both natives and e-Residents. Eventually Korjus sees the tokens holding value and being used as a payment method for public and private services both within the country and globally, which would provide a return on investment to ICO participants.
Sois this a legitimate idea or just the latest example of an entity trying to make a quick buck by slapping together an ICO? To be clear theres no doubt that this idea wouldnt have been proposed if not for the insane money (and corresponding attention) now surrounding ICOs.
That being said its not necessarily a bad thing. Eventually governments will adopt digital cryptocurrencies. Its just a matter of when, and in what form. Will the United States ever replace the dollar with bitcoin? Absolutely not. But will they supplement their gold reserves with bitcoin or another cryptocurrency? Much more likely, especially if Bitcoin becomes a major part of the U.S financial system.
Estonia experimenting with their own cryptocurrency could just make them an early adopter. Sure, doing it via an ICO may not be best image considering all the fraud and get rich quick schemes happening in the space recently. But who can blame them for trying, especially with all the money being thrown around these days?
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This European country may hold an ICO and issue its own ... - TechCrunch
$150 Billion: Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap Hits New All-Time … – CoinDesk
Via CoinMarketCap
The combined value of all publicly traded cryptocurrencies has set a new record, surpassing $150 billion for the first time today.
At press time, the value of ether, bitcoin and more than 800 other blockchain-based assets had reached a high of around $154 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Overall, the figure indicates that the cryptocurrency market continues to grow at a steady pace. At $154 billion, the market is up 13 percent over the last seven days, 67 percentover the last month and an astounding 1,240 percent year-over-year.
What might be most notable, however, is that the new high came during a trading session in which there were no individual all-time highs for major cryptocurrencies.
At $4,275 and $324, bitcoin and ether were edging up at press time,though still short of their highs above $4,500 and $400, respectively. Further, the new combined recordcame in spite of the fact there were no big gains in litecoin, monero or dash, some of the more popular alternative cryptocurrencies among traders.
The lone breakout, in fact, was Ripple's XRP token a cryptographic asset issued by a San Francisco startup seeking to build enterprise blockchain solutions. On the day's trading, XRP was up more than 50% to $0.28, a movement that built on impressive gains yesterday as well.
Disclosure:CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Ripple.
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$150 Billion: Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap Hits New All-Time ... - CoinDesk
Cryptocurrency Market cap Sets a New All-time High of Over $150bn – newsBTC
Big things are happening in the cryptocurrency world as of late. With the Bitcoin price slowly picking up again, things are looking positive. As a result, the total cryptocurrency market cap has increased to $150bn for the first time. This new all-time high should not be ignored by any means, though. It is a big milestone for all cryptocurrencies and digital assets in circulation right now. The growth throughout 2017 has been nothing short of spectacular.
It is good to see the total cryptocurrency market cap grow by leaps and bounds. More specifically, there have been a few dips over the past few weeks. As a result, this causes some uneasiness in the cryptocurrency world as a whole. Right now, things are slowly returning back to normal. This change is mainly driven by the Bitcoin price recovering, as well as some alternative currencies noting major value gains. One notably absent coin on this list is Ethereum, which still struggles to maintain the $300 mark for the time being.
That being said, things look pretty healthy in the world of cryptocurrency right now. With the market cap appreciating in value interesting things are on the horizon. It is the first time we see the $150bn value being surpassed. This is another major milestone for Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies in existence. After all, very few people assumed achieving such a goal was even possible, to begin with. Things have an interesting way of working themselves out, to say the least.
All of this seemingly indicates how the markets continue to evolve. Although there is still a bearish sentiment to take into account, things arent looking half bad. There will be some market resistance for some time to come, though. Every new all-time high is often followed by a correction of some sorts. Right now, that correction seemingly takes place as we speak. Once this downtrend is over, however, things can get pretty exciting. It is not unlikely we will see another all-time high for both Bitcoin and Ethereum in the near future. If that is the case, a $200bn market cap isnt out of the question either.
With both Bitcoin and Ethereum dominating the charts this year, 2017 has been quite impressive. It is expected there will be an even bigger uptrend in the months to come. Some experts predict a Bitcoin price of $10,000 by next year. It is still a high value but after this year, nothing seems to be impossible. Only time will tell what the future may bring for cryptocurrencies in general. With no major breakouts recorded despite this market cap increase, it will be exciting to see what comes next. Interesting things are happening, that much is certain.
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Cryptocurrency Market cap Sets a New All-time High of Over $150bn - newsBTC
Bitcoin Skeptic Mark Cuban to Invest in Cryptocurrency …
Mark Cuban wants in on the cryptocurrency boom even if it turns out hes right that bitcoin is in a bubble.
Cuban is investing in 1confirmation, a fund that plans to raise $20 million to invest in blockchain-based companies, the tech billionaire said in an interview. Venture capital firm Runa Capital is among other investors, and its technical advisors include Andreessen Horowitz board partner Balaji S. Srinivasan and programming language JavaScript founder Brendan Eich.
I have always looked at blockchain as a foundation platform from which great applications can be built, Cuban said in an Aug. 19 email response to questions. Hopefully we can find a few.
Runa Capital principal Nick Tomaino was an early employee at digital currency exchange Coinbase Inc. and runs the cryptocurrency-focused blog The Control. They plan to differentiate 1confirmation from the slew of digital currency hedge funds that have sprung up recently by taking a page from the venture-capital play book.
Rather than investing in digital tokens through initial coin offerings or in the secondary market,1confirmation plans to invest from $100,000 to $500,000 in early stage companies before their ICO, and help those companies develop their product. Once the startup is ready to issue an ICO, the fund hopes to negotiate a discounted price.
Its a more cautious approach to the frenzy that has consumed the space this year, with startups raising hundreds of millions of dollars in days, or even minutes, with little real business applications besides a white paper and a website. Startups had raised $1.8 billion in ICOs as of last week, according to Coindesk.
The fund will focus investments in projects that help developers build decentralized applications, rather than those aimed at end users, on the belief that the sector isnt mature enough for blockchain applications to be adopted on a mass scale.
A number of funds focused on blockchain companies and their tokens have opened in the past year as bitcoins price more than tripled and cryptocurrencies market capitalization surpassed $100 billion. Polychain Capital, founded by another Coinbase alum, Blockchain Capital and Pantera Capital are some examples.
Cuban, who is a majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and star of startup investing theme show Shark Tank, tweeted in June that bitcoin was in a bubble, causing the cryptocurrency to drop in price. Cuban says thats beside the point given the developing underlying technology.
1Confirmation would be Cubans second foray into cryptocurrencies as he also plans to invest in tokens sold by his portfolio company Unikrn. Cuban says he plans to invest on a third crypto-related project in the future, as well as potentially buying crypto currencies, which he doesnt currently own.
Its hard to establish any intrinsic value for bitcoin or any of the the cryptocurrencies. Ifeveryone continues to tell their grandparents, cousins and co-workers to buy,the price can go a lot higher as there is a definable, finite amount, but if the number of buyers dry up or there are a few massive sellers we could see under $1,000 again, Cuban said. None of this has anything to do with the applications that can be built with blockchain. The question is whether great companies can be financed and built and I think the answer is yes.
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Bitcoin Skeptic Mark Cuban to Invest in Cryptocurrency ...
South Africa’s Central Bank: It’s ‘Too Risky’ to Launch a Cryptocurrency – CoinDesk
A senior official forSouth Africa's central bank has saidit's "too risky" for the institution to launch its own cryptocurrency.
Speaking during theStrate GIBS FinTech Innovation Conference 2017 on Monday, the deputy governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Francois Groepe, commented on developments in the fintech space, taking a particular focuson blockchain and distributed ledgers.
According to regional news sourceITWeb, Groepe suggested that the central bank has an open mind on the question of issuing its own digital currency. That said, he struck a cautious note about the short-term prospects of doing so.
"Virtual currencies have the potential of becoming widely adopted," he told attendees, going on to say:
"However, for the central bank to issue virtual currencies or cryptocurrencies in an open system will be too risky for us. This is something we really need to think about."
Groepe's comments come almost a year to the day after the South African Reserve Bank indicated that it would adopt an open perspective on the tech even leaving the door open to applications of its own.
"We are willing to consider the merits and risks of blockchain technology and other distributed ledgers," the bank's governor, Lesetja Kganyago, said at the time.
Other major financial players in the country, including its central securities depository, have also moved to investigate possible uses of blockchain.
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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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South Africa's Central Bank: It's 'Too Risky' to Launch a Cryptocurrency - CoinDesk
Mark Cuban backs new $20 million cryptocurrency venture fund – CNBC
Onetime bitcoin skeptic Mark Cuban is warming to the digital currency world.
The billionaire is backing a new venture capital fund for cryptocurrency-related investments called 1confirmation. Founded by Nick Tomaino, former business development manager at Coinbase, the fund plans to raise $20 million, according to a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"It's an interesting space that I [want] to get involved with and learn more" about, Cuban said in an email to CNBC Tuesday. He did not specify the size of his investment.
Cuban's opinion on digital currencies has changed fairly recently. In an Aug. 14 tweet, the Dallas Mavericks owner admitted he "might have to finally buy some" bitcoin, contrasting with a June tweet that said he thought bitcoin was in a "bubble."
"Bias should be up because of finite supply. Until crypto or US politics intrude, and they will," he added in another tweet on Aug. 14.
In late June, Cuban said he planned to participate in an initial coin offering by Unikrn, an online esports betting site in which he holds a stake.
Earlier that month, Cuban tweeted that he didn't know when or by how much the price of bitcoin, which has soared in value this year, would correct. He did acknowledge then that the blockchain technology backing bitcoin had value and that it "will be at the core of most transactions in the future. Healthcare, finance etc all will use it."
IBM announced Tuesday that it will work with major food companies such as Wal-Mart, Unilever, Tyson Foods, Dole and Kroger to "identify new areas where the global supply chain can benefit from blockchain."
However, bitcoin's surge and a rush of funds into initial coin offerings have attracted more investment attention.
Bitcoin has quadrupled in value this year and hit a record last Thursday of $4,522.13 with a market capitalization of about $74 billion, according to CoinDesk. Initial coin offerings, which are fundraising events used by cryptocurrency-related start-ups, have raised $1.37 billion so far this year, CoinDesk data showed.
Source: CoinDesk
The launch of the 1confirmation fund comes amid increased fundraising for cryptocurrency-related businesses.
On Aug. 10, digital currency storage and exchange company Coinbase announced it raised $100 million in private equity funding led by Dropbox investor IVP. That marks the largest single traditional funding round for a public blockchain or cryptocurrency start-up, according to CoinDesk.
Other participants in 1confirmation include Brendan Eich, creator of the JavaScript computer programming language; Balaji Srinivasan, board partner at technology venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and David Vorick, who is building a blockchain-based cloud storage system called Sia. The fund's founder, Tomaino, is also a principal at venture fund Runa Capital.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank," which features Mark Cuban as a panelist.
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Mark Cuban backs new $20 million cryptocurrency venture fund - CNBC