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Why Blockchain Is Not inherently At Odds With GDPR - JD Supra

Mr. Preston Byrne, an attorney in the U.S.-basedByrne & Storm, P.C. law firm, which is focused on legal expertise for hi-tech projects, venomously criticized the long-anticipated migration of Ethereum (ETH) mainnet towards ETH2.

Mr. Byrne challenged the hypothetical point of transition between Ethereum(ETH) 1.0 and Ethereum(ETH) 2.0. Two problems are decisive for him: the nature of this transition and its initiator.

If the decision onthis transfer istaken by the issuer (Ethereum Foundation), the whole system turns into a clearly centralized one. This, in turn, runs counter the motto of Ethereum (ETH), which is a pioneer of decentralized applications hosting.

Such contradiction leaves Mr. Byrne confused:

One rule for Ethereum, another rule for everyone else.

Also, Mr. Byrne expressed concerns about the ideological aspect of the long-anticipated transition. He says, this process means that Ethereum(ETH) is 'relegated down' by some new system, which is much faster, cheaper and safer.

The consequences of this rivalry can be really unfortunate for blockchain number two:

Eth may one day be an esoteric blockchain creature that only old millennial weirdos use, when millennials are in the position that boomers are now. Like Linux or Firefox.

It should be noted that neither the exact date of the transition of Ethereum(ETH), nor its framework has notyet been disclosed. But typically this is2020,which is considered the turning point for ETH2.

Must Read

So, when this annoying Ethereum 2.0 will be shipped? Share your predictions with us!

See the original post:

Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 Chastised by Blockchain Lawyer: Here's Why - U.Today

The first-ever Top 50 Blockchain Games list, in association with Dapp Radar, is set to launch at this years Blockchain Gamer LIVE!event in London.

The Top 50 includes developers, publishers, toolmakers, distribution networks, tech companies, community leaders and other key members of the ecosystem.

The ceremony will take place from 12:20pm in track room 4 at The Brewery venue, as part of the dedicated blockchain conference at the UKs biggest B2B event for the games industry, Pocket Gamer Connects London 2020. The Top 50 reveal is free to attend for everybody with a Pocket Gamer Connects/Blockchain Gamer LIVE! pass.

There will be a glossy 50-page booklet available to collect at the venue, explaining why each of the top 50 companies was chosen. The criteria include financial success, business growth, global reach, potential industry impact and product quality.

To be working in the blockchain game sector is to be experiencing a pregnancy of uncertain duration, explains BlockchainGamer.biz editor Jon Jordan. Youre convinced something is coming. Youre just not sure how long youre going to have to wait or the exact details. In that context, this list of the top 50 blockchain games companies, while also highlighting current achievements, is better understood as the attempt to rank future success. One thing we can state with certainty is that 2020 will be the most important year yet - and perhaps ever - for blockchain games!

A revolution in waiting

Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionise the games industry. Thats why in 2018, Pocket Gamers parent company Steel Media launched a new B2B site dedicated to illuminating and celebrating this technology as it applies to the games market. With features about key issues, interviews with top professionals, and resources such as an events planner and token listings, its the first port of call for developers, publishers, investors and service providers. The team behind the site will be available to meet at Blockchain Gamer LIVE! this month.

This dedicated partner event to industry-leading PG Connects conference takes place all day on Tuesday 21 January and features four tracks and 50 speakers, discussing everything from blockchain basics to the trends that will shape the future.

Book your ticket now!

Read the rest here:

Discover the Top 50 Blockchain Games Companies at Blockchain Gamer LIVE! on Tuesday 21 January - Pocket Gamer.Biz

The Industrial Internet Consortium and the Trusted IoT Alliance announced today that they would merge memberships, in an effort to drive more collaborative approaches to industrial IoT and help create more market-ready products.

The Trusted IoT Alliance will now operate under the aegis of the IIC, a long-standing umbrella group for vendors operating in the IIoT market. The idea is to help create more standardized approaches to common use cases in IIoT, enabling companies to get solutions to market more quickly.

This consolidation will strengthen the ability of the IIC to provide guidance and advance best practices on the uses of distributed-ledger technology across industries, and boost the commercialization of these products and services, said 451 Research senior blockchain and DLT analyst Csilla Zsigri in a statement.

Gartner vice president and analyst Al Velosa said that its possible the move to team up with TIoTA was driven in part by a new urgency to reach potential customers. Where other players in the IoT marketplace, like the major cloud vendors, have raked in billions of dollars in revenue, the IIoT vendors themselves havent been as quick to hit their sales targets. This approach is them trying to explore new vectors for revenue that they havent before, Velosa said in an interview.

The IIC, whose founding members include Cisco, IBM, Intel, AT&T and GE, features 19 different working groups, covering everything from IIoT technology itself to security to marketing to strategy. Adding TIoTAs blockchain focus to the mix could help answer questions about security, which are centrally important to the continued success of enterprise and industrial IoT products.

Indeed, research from Gartner released late last year shows that IoT users are already gravitating toward blockchain and other distributed-ledger technologies. Fully three-quarters of IoT technology adopters in the U.S. have either brought that type of technology into their stack already or are planning to do so by the end of 2020. While almost two-thirds of respondents to the survey cited security and trust as the biggest drivers of their embrace of blockchain, almost as many noted that the technology had allowed them to increase business efficiency and lower costs.

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Industrial Internet Consortium teams up with blockchain-focused security group - Network World

In Israel, the number of blockchain and crypto-related companies increased by 32% in 2019, according to a report from the Israeli Bitcoin Association published on Dec. 30.

The report revealed that there were 150 active companies in the field in 2019, while at the end of 2018, the number was 113. Out of the 113 companies, only 63 continue to operate today, with the information about the rest of them unavailable. The Association suggested this is because those companies did not survive the past year.

Although the report did not provide data on the number of employees serving for the reported companies, it said that the staff size decreased significantly in 2019 as compared with 2018 and 2017. The data indicated that most of the companies had no more than ten employees.

The report further revealed that the majority of the companies were startups, operating within three years, wherein 30% of currently active companies were established in 2017 and 30% in 2018.

In terms of financing sources, 44% of crypto- and blockchain-related firms operating in Israel were self-funded in 2019, while 42% raised funds from investors. At the same time, 7% of the companies reportedly rely on independent income to finance operations.

Israel is known as a blockchain-friendly hub, ranking 49th out of 190 on the ease of doing business index, according to the Doing Business 2019 report compiled by the World Bank. However, its overall score belies certain areas of difficulty for businesses like paying taxes, with Israels rank being 90th out of 190. Another trouble spot is enforcing contracts, for which Israel again ranks 90th.

Last August, news broke that the Capital Market, Insurance and Saving Authority, a division of Israels Ministry of Finance (MoF), was looking to accelerate the process of procuring licenses for blockchain and fintech companies in the country. The authority was hoping to foster local competition by licensing more fintech companies.

Read more here:

Number of Blockchain Companies in Israel Grew by Over 30% in 2019 - Cointelegraph

The number of Israel-based blockchain and crypto-focused startups increased by 32% last year, a December 30 report from the Israeli Bitcoin Association confirmed.

The report noted that there were 150 active blockchain firms in the country in 2019. Toward the end of 2018, there were only 113 crypto-related companies operating in Israel. Out of these 113 companies, only 63 are operating today.

Information about the blockchain firms that have shut down is not available. The Israeli Bitcoin Association said this might be because these firms were not able to survive the past year.

While the report doesnt include any details about the number of employees that may have worked at the reported firms, it mentioned that the staff size dropped significantly last year, especially when compared to 2018 and 2017. The data suggested that the majority of Israeli blockchain firms had only around (average) ten employees on their payroll.

The report noted that most of the crypto-related firms were startups, which had recently established their operations. Approximately 30% of currently active blockchain firms were founded in 2017 and about 30% in 2018.

Around 44% of crypto and blockchain-focused companies established last year in Israel claim theyre self-funded. About 42% say they secured capital from investors. Approximately 7% of the firms reportedly depend on independent income to fund their business operations.

Israel has become fairly well-known as a crypto and blockchain-friendly jurisdiction. The country is ranked 49th out of 190 on the ease of doing business index, the Doing Business 2019 report from the World Bank confirms. But the nations overall score also takes into consideration several challenges for business owners such as complications with paying taxes, with Israel ranked 90th out of 190. Enforcing contracts has also been a challenge for Israeli businesses. The country ranks 90th out of 190 in this area.

In August 2019, reports surfaced that the Capital Market, Insurance and Saving Authority, a division of the countrys Ministry of Finance, was planning to speed up the process of issuing licenses for blockchain and Fintech firms in Israel. The government agency was trying to encourage more local competition by providing operational licenses to more Fintech companies.

More here:

Number of Israeli Blockchain and Crypto-focused Startups Increased by 32% Last Year: Report - Crowdfund Insider

The OOC Oil & GasBlockchain Consortium has collaborated with Canadian software firm GuildOne tosuccessfully test the industrys first blockchain application for Authorizationfor Expenditure (AFE) balloting.

AFE focuses on cost andexpense approval, particularly in the upstream oil and gas process wherebylarge expenditure is required with regards to exploration, development, andproduction.

Integrating blockchainto conventional AFE balloting would streamline and reduce the manuallyintensive and largely paper-driven process of approving capital and expense projectsand provide immutable documentation of the final interests, the consortium notes.The AFE balloting proof of concept (POC) tested the ability to send ballots andmake elections digitally utilising the technology, with smart contract enabledworkflows calculating working interests automatically.

This year, the AFEballoting scope will be expanded to capture complicated scenarios, whereasinitial design and testing will be executed on the joint interest billingexchange process that deals with the billing and payment of expendituresbetween joint venture partners.

In September, the consortium announced that it would start testing the blockchain technology to lowering administrative costs in their field operations, along with reducing payment disputes and risk of fraud. It was reported that the contract was given to Houston-based software company Data Gumbo to pilot blockchain for water handling services in the Bakken shale field in North Dakota.

This time last year, post trade management platform VAKT announced three new strategic investors, in the shape of oil and gas giants Chevron, Total, and Reliance Industries, which are among the five of the worlds top ten largest oil and gas companies by market capitalisation. VAKTs blockchain-based platform is said to be the worlds first fully operational enterprise-grade blockchain solution that assures major efficiency gains and cost savings for post-trade processing, including trade finance.

Interested in hearing more in person?Find out more at theBlockchain Expo World Series, Global, Europe and North America.

See more here:

Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium goes ahead with project around expense approval - The Block - The Block

Its already well-theorized that its not cryptocurrency or decentralized finance apps, but gaming that will actually drive blockchain use cases in the real world.

While this has moved many smaller development companies and hobbyist programmers to release their own blockchain-driven games, distributed ledger technologys reception among mainstay gaming companies has so far largely been neutral.

But thats about to change in the wake of Ubisofts partnership with Ultra, a DLT-driven gaming platform that might be fairly described as Steam on the blockchain. Users can earn digital currency, buy games, and resell them.

Ubisoft is the mainstream gaming giant responsible for the Assassins Creed franchise, Far Cry, and a whole range of other commercial hits. The company knows how to make and market games that people actually play, and they know how to do it exceptionally well.

The professional, at-scale approach to game development within a blockchain paradigm isnt exactly common. Most blockchain games nowadays are by passion project developers or small-scale commercial enterprises. Perhaps due to the technologys association with regulatory uncertainty, game developer heavyweights are mostly keeping blockchain at arms length. Except now Ubisoft is going to become a block producer on Ultras associated UOS blockchain.

This move is purportedly about lending UOS more trust since Ubisoft is such an established company, and its hardware is now part of the ecosystem that approves transactions in UOS tokens that are confirmed by other block producers. It is also not too great a stretch of the imagination to hypothesize that Ubisoft could begin developing blockchain-dependent games for the Ultra platform.

But thats raw speculation for now. Until then, Ubisoft is lending its hardware and credibility in support of a new crypto gaming project.

Read more:

Ubisoft Might Be The First Major Games Company To Geek Out Over Blockchain - Cointelegraph

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Blockchain technology has a place in any commercial network that is strongly motivated to avoid allowing a single central party to coordinate and approve transactions within the network. While the technicality of blockchain has a steep learning curve, there is tremendous potential in blockchains application across the healthcare space, well beyond the financial industry. While the perfect application of blockchain seems futuristic, some pilot projects are ongoing. Here are the top trends of blockchain usage in healthcare in 2020.

Increasing blockchain usage cases on healthcare supply chains

Blockchain technology will have a bigger role to play in supporting the digitisation of supply chains, as well as increasing transparency and efficiency. Healthcare organizations, from manufacturers to retailers, can trace products through supply chains to ensure authenticity or flag potentially damaging in-transit events, such as signs of tampering, extreme environmental conditions, or careless handling. If a manufacturer identifies a quality issue with a device or drug, blockchain can help vendors expedite recalls by quickly determining the location of any inventory across the supply chain that needs to be kept out of circulation.

The FDAs Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) is intended to increase regulatory oversight of counterfeit, stolen, contaminated, or otherwise harmful drugs. Some pilot projects under the DSCSA test how blockchain can secure information sharing across healthcare enterprises. For example, KPMG, IBM, Merck, and Walmart have been chosen for a pilot program that will explore using blockchain technology to improve the security of prescription drug supply and distribution. More companies started implementing blockchain technology in response to DSCSA. Genentech, a subdivision of the Roche Group, Pfizer, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen are working with the blockchain start-up MediLedger Project, which is in the process of creating a platform that allows manufacturers to track their products along with secure supply chain data, and demonstrate adherence to the DSCSA.

Closer integration with other IT innovation

IT innovation such as artificial intelligence (AI), hybrid Cloud solutions, and blockchain implementations will be considered as supplemental technologies that can speed-up the adoption of new technologies. The new hybrid Cloud-at-customer solutions provide highly scalable public Cloud applications and services while keeping personal healthcare data behind enterprise firewalls to conform to regulatory requirements. The use of AI goes beyond traditional analytics, as it aggregates and then extracts insights by recognizing patterns and correlations across large volumes of data that are stored on hybrid clouds and safely organized on blockchain platforms. By being integrated into many Internet of Things (IoT)-connected devices and wearables, blockchain has the potential to uncover demographic trends, accelerate R&D in the healthcare industry, and ultimately improve patient outcomes in the near future.

Faster growth in emerging markets

Emerging economies are very pro-blockchain and will increase investment in 2020. More manufacturing-oriented countries, particularly in Asia, stand to benefit from the implementation of blockchain. The Chinese government has positioned itself to dominate the blockchain space with the most patents related to blockchain. The Chinese State Council included blockchain development in the nations 13th Five-Year Plan. In 2019, president of China Xi Jinping said blockchain will play a major role in building Chinas strength in cyberspace, developing the digital economy, and advancing economic and social development. In addition, more countries will establish blockchain-based healthcare systems. Estonia has become the first country to use blockchain for healthcare on a national scale.

Following Estonia, in 2018, the UAE set out an ambitious plan to use blockchain technology to improve different aspects of the lives of its citizens, such as banking, transportation, and healthcare. The initiative set the country on a path to become a fully functional blockchain-based government by 2021. The healthcare platform provides a data-sharing solution that enables health professionals, including doctors, pharmacists, technicians, and local licensing health authorities, to save and share the assessment information.

GlobalData is this websites parent business intelligence company.

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Key Trends of Blockchain in Healthcare in 2020 - Verdict Medical Devices - Medical Device Network

Acquiring skills in blockchain technology hasnt been easy. Reputable learning institutions are only getting started with their blockchain programs. In Africa, acquiring blockchain skills is even more challenging since leading colleges have yet to offer blockchain-related courses. The Africa Blockchain Institute (ABI) is out to change this, promoting the adoption, development, and use of blockchain in the continent.

The institute was established to impart skills in blockchain technology at a time when the continent is standing up to be counted as a blockchain hub. As CoinGeek reported, 2019 has been quite the year for Africa in regards to blockchain adoption. The ABI wants to ensure this adoption rises even higher in the coming years.

In an interview with CoinGeek, Kayode Babarinde, executive director of the institute, said, Africa Blockchain Institute was founded on the premise of promoting theadoption, development, and use of blockchain technology by providinghigh quality blockchain education to professionals, entrepreneurs,government regulators, and the public.

The pilot phase was conducted in Ghana, a country considered to be among the leaders in blockchain adoption. The ABI launched the inaugural class on Blockchain Essentials Certification, where participants were introduced to the fundamentals of blockchain technology, equipping them with tools and platforms to get them started, then, providing them with opportunities to scale. This pilot was a huge success, with a high number of interested learners. The institute also got the support of several entities, including the World Economic Forum through its Global Shapers initiative.

Its been an interesting journey so far, Babarinde tells us. Despite blockchain being a nascent technology, interest has been steadily rising. Both the private and public entities have recognized the massive opportunities the technology presents and are increasingly seeking to integrate it.

He stated:

It has become an everyday discussion from businesses, academia, medical industry, forensics, cybersecurity, and tourism. These industries and more are already adopting blockchain. Above all, the financial use case of blockchain has been on the rise in recent times, showing great growth especially in Africa.

The pilot phase in Ghana has helped shape ABIs goals and outlook for its programs. Its next phase is in Rwanda where its going to set up the first blockchain school this year. So, why Rwanda?

Babarinde told us, Since the Blockchain Institute is a Pan African project, we thought itwell to set up the headquarters here, because Rwanda is gradually becoming thetechnology hub of Africa as many major tech businesses are nowsetting up here.The leadership of the country is very forward looking, and supportiveof technology such as blockchain, in line with the Digital Transformation agenda. The country encourages innovation, thereby creating enablingenvironment for businesses to thrive. The ease of doing business isgreat, and the policies are very supporting.

You cant talk about blockchain adoption in African without diving into regulations. And while the narrative is that most African countries lack any definitive laws, Babarinde revealed that efforts are underway in most countries.

He remarked, There are actually many regulatory frameworks in Africa, just thatthey are at the initial stage. African governments are seriouslyworking towards progressive regulations, with support from theblockchain communities. But even before the regulations from thegovernments, blockchain communities are already doing well in joiningforces to curb some of the irregularities in the space. I am verypositive about the outcomes of these activities, including our work onresearch and development on blockchain regulations.

ABIs efforts will go a long way in imparting blockchain skills to entrepreneurs, students, regulators and the general public. Already, the institute is working closely with the Blockchain DLT Rwanda Association to recommend enabling regulations to the East African country.

Babarinde concluded, The future of blockchain in Africa is bright. There is lot of work to be done, butthe possibilities are endless.

The Genesis protocol upgrade on February 4, 2020 is a monumental step in the history of Bitcoin, and will see BSV returned as close as possible to the original protocol as envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto. Visit theGenesis Hard Fork pageto learn more.

To receive the latest CoinGeek.com news, special discounts on CoinGeek Conferences and other inside information direct to your inbox, pleasesign upfor our mailing list.

Originally posted here:

How the Africa Blockchain Institute is shaping the regions blockchain future - CoinGeek

Bitcoin investors believe the worlds biggest cryptocurrency is in for material gains in 2020 due to a network quirk.

The halving or sometimes referred to as the halvening, in a nod to the fantasy film and TV franchise Highlander is due on or around May 18 and is the process in which the reward Bitcoin miners receive for creating fresh Bitcoins will be cut in half. Thats by design and has happened twice before. In 2012, when the block reward went from 50 to 25 bitcoins, prices rose nearly 8,200 per cent in a year. The gain in the 18 months after the second halvening in 2016 was more than 2,200 per cent.

The next 10 years need to be a totally different stage of growth based on totally different factors than the first stage.

David Tawil, ProChain Capital

While Bitcoin enthusiasts are keeping the faith in the halvening, the cryptocurrency is one that emerged from the ashes of the financial crisis. Bitcoin was created as a bypass to the banks and government agencies mired in Wall Streets greatest calamity in decades. At first, it was slow to break through, muddied by a slew of scandals: fraud, thefts and scams that turned away many and brought closer regulatory scrutiny. But once it burst into the mainstream, it proved to be the decades best-performing asset.

The largest digital token, trading around $7,200, has posted gains of more than 9 million per cent since July 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bitcoin really captured that wild technology enthusiasm that this time is different', says Peter Atwater, the president of Financial Insyghts and an adjunct professor at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The performance over the past 10 years, even with its huge run-up and subsequent mega-crash, leaves all others in the dust. Its a massive windfall for those who stuck with it through its ups and downs, even as it continues to provide fodder for get-rich-quick schemes. For some, the never-ending fantasy of continually hitting that payoff still helps to keep Bitcoins momentum going.

Nothing else comes even close to beating it. The S&P 500 merely tripled in that period. An index that tracks world markets has more than doubled. Gold is up 25 per cent. Some of the best-performing stocks in the Russell 3000 including Exact Sciences and Intelligent Systems are each up about 3,000 per cent. Those gains pale in comparison to the finance worlds latest and one of its most controversial marvels.

Partly, the monster return is a reflection of the calculus behind Bitcoins jumping-off point: the token wasnt worth anything when someone named Satoshi Nakamoto launched it on Halloween 2008. Designed as a method of exchange that can be sent electronically between users around the world, it did not have a centralised control network. Bitcoin, instead, is run by a network of computers that keep track of all transactions on the blockchain ledger. For many, that technology was reason enough to buy into the idea.

On the other side of the equation are Bitcoins devoted enthusiasts who saw in its technology a promising way to change the global financial system.

This is the first time that theres a real separation just like church and state you have a separation of money and state, says Alex Mashinsky, founder of Celsius Network, a crypto lending platform. Thats the innovation, thats the excitement.

But Bitcoin was slow to take off, notching its first transaction two years after its creation, when someone used it to buy pizza. Since then, the firstborn tokens price has catapulted, doubling many times over, and hundreds of imitators have cropped up some with more success than others.

Many of those who got in early stayed faithful, watching as it made its way through a boom and bust cycle unrivalled by almost anything else over the last decade.

At the beginning of 2017, Bitcoin jumped above $1,000. By midsummer, it had more than doubled. Insanity was unleashed. By year-end, it hovered above $14,000. But as swiftly as it ran up, it fell even faster. By the end of 2018, Bitcoin barely budged above $3,000. Yet shortly after its crash, it embarked on another huge rally, this time reaching as high as $13,800 in the summer of 2019.

Certainly the numbers are what appeals to investors, says David Tawil, president of ProChain Capital. The next 10 years need to be a totally different stage of growth based on totally different factors than the first stage.

As much as its made a fortune for speculators and some thieves, Bitcoins survival will rest on further adoption. Its not being used as a widespread medium of exchange. A few large retailers are accepting payment in Bitcoin but it hasnt been the large-scale embrace so many had predicted. Scams are still running rampant. Interest is waning and consolidation among large owners is at a higher level than it was during the height of the 2017 bubble, which means that their influence over prices could be increasing.

Projections for the next decade abound. In the 2020s, mass adoption is surely to take off, they say. Blockchain technology will revolutionise and solve every problem in the world. On the other hand, regulatory scrutiny is likely to intensify, with central bankers paying closer attention than ever before.

In the more immediate term, some speculators forecast 2020 might be less fraught with volatility given its upcoming halving, whereby the number of coins awarded to so-called miners who process transactions is cut by 50 per cent. Thats set to happen in May 2020 (the internet is replete with countdown clocks). The coins previous cut, about four years ago, coincided with a run-up in its price, pushing many crypto evangelist to believe in a repeat.

To CoinLists Andy Bromberg, the halving is already priced in. Maybe its been overpriced in and everyones bought into this thesis and we see a dip post-halving, says the firms co-founder and president in an interview. That would not shock me.

But beyond next year, Bitcoin is finding its own narrative as digital gold, he says. It feels like that narrative is picking up steam and its breaking away on its own. I would define success for most crypto assets as doing exactly that.

Updated: January 6, 2020 08:39 AM

Excerpt from:

What's in store for Bitcoin over the next 10 years? - The National

Starting today, DLive and its blockchain development team will collaborate with the BitTorrent team to bolster its products and services. BLive, the live streaming platform introduced by BitTorrent in early 2019, will be merged into the DLive platform, and their team will join the DLive team. DLive will begin utilizing the BitTorrent File-Sharing System (BTFS), a distributed file sharing and storage system, to allow all content living on DLive to truly move towards decentralization. DLive will also merge its account systems with BitTorrent's to further integrate each community with the other. With this collaborative effort, BitTorrent's 100 million monthly active users can easily gain access to DLive's service offerings; solidifying the live streaming giant as one of the largest in the world.

DLive has grown in strides over the past 15 months. The streaming platform boasts a passionate community, a niche product-market fit, and strong adoption has grown to over five million monthly active users. Here is a brief timeline of milestones and achievements from the DLive team:

"DLive is one of the best real-world examples of what is possible when you combine blockchain and digital media," said Justin Sun, CEO of BitTorrent. "DLive is a great solution for live media producers. Think of how valuable live streaming content is already to centralized social media platforms who take ownership and advantage of their users' hard work. We look forward to DLive bringing value to the entire world with the addition of TRON and BitTorrent's global community of passionate creators."

"We are ecstatic to have the opportunity to be part of the BitTorrent ecosystem," said Charles Wayn, CEO of DLive. "I've watched them pioneer the digital peer-to-peer space. DLive's goal of empowering creators and rewarding communities is one step closer with the amplification of this new venture."

By joining the BitTorrent ecosystem, DLive will however support the Lino blockchain until the transition to the TRON blockchain is complete. The Lino blockchain technical infrastructure will be integrated into BitTorrent however LINO coin will no longer be the fundamental unit of value or utilization in the new ecosystem. To facilitate the integration of BTT into the existing DLive ecosystem, DLive expects to offer various benefits and rewards to existing users to transition from the Lino blockchain onto the BitTorrent ecosystem. Once the migration to the TRON blockchain is successfully completed, DLive will no longer utilize the Lino blockchain.

About BitTorrent, Inc.

Founded with a leading peer-to-peer sharing technology standard in 2004, BitTorrent, Inc. is a consumer software company based in San Francisco. Its protocol is the largest decentralized P2P network in the world, driving 22% of upstream and 3% of downstream traffic globally.

Its flagship desktop and mobile products, BitTorrent and Torrent, enable users to send large files over the internet, connecting legitimate third-party content providers with users. With over 100 million active users, BitTorrent products have been installed on over 1 billion devices in over 138 countries worldwide.

SOURCE DLive

https://dlive.tv/

Read more here:

DLive Joins BitTorrent Ecosystem and Begins Migration to TRON Blockchain - PRNewswire

The World Economic Forum, the NGO dedicated to shaping global, regional, and industry agendas, announced its predictions for the blockchain world on Thursday. For the WEF, 2019 saw a shift from blockchain hype to quality; in the year to come, it predicted that there is an opportunity for blockchain to have a social impact.

Specifically, the WEF expects to see increased experimentation with hybrid blockchain models, taking place in the financial sector through decentralized finance (DeFi) and synthetic central bank digital currencies. In the public sector, it predicted an increased use of smart contracts.

However, theres a catch: Projects will only succeed if there is adequate governance and a collaborative approach, said the WEF.

Duh. But 2019s blockchain companies didnt think of the obvious: Libra, the kind-of-stablecoin network led by Facebook, fell flat on its face in 2019, and world leaders have already pronounced it dead on arrival.

Be the first to get Decrypt Members. A new type of account built on blockchain.

The WEF predicts that blockchain projects must form partnerships in order to succeed. Companies are waking up to the idea that to go far, they ought to go together, it wrote.

By way of an example, the WEF plugged its own consortium that looks at blockchain in the mining and metals sector, where a collaborative approach would have been hard to imagine even a few years ago. It expects such collaborations to continue in the future.

Technology, however, must be supported by strong policy, which is essential to make sure that blockchain is deployed in a way that addresses its limitations.

Read the original here:

WEF: blockchain projects need partnerships to succeed in 2020 - Decrypt

SovereignSky has successfully started to upload its BEOS hybrid blockchain to its primary satellite constellation (joining SpaceChainin space). It is currently in space orbit because of a partnership with SpaceQuest launched in December 2018 onboard Elon Musks SpaceX. The purpose: to enable a One World, One Network.

The project is so all-encompassing, it has taken some of the smartest, most visionary minds in blockchain, aerospace, mobile technology, and even science fiction to achieve its grand vision, says Stan Larimer co-founder of RUON AI, BEOS, SovereignSky, Steemit, and Bitshares.

Within a decade, ending extreme world poverty may be possible. One part of this could involve a new, encrypted Wi-Fi network which connects everyone on Earth.

A near indestructible blockchain financial system and global currency would then exist with the attractions that it should be invulnerable to the effects of:

The concept came from SovereignSky/RUON AI Founder Timothy E. Burkes sci-fi space opera Planet X. Yet, what started as a movie premise on a hypervelocity star system far away, is becoming a reality in Earths own solar system with the creation of:

RUON AI (pronounced Are-you-on), with a single patent application, believes its RUON AI solution can scan news sites, blogs, forums, chat rooms and social channels to identify users endangered or affected by war, famine or oncoming natural disasters. The AI creates a database of endangered users. It sends their profiles to HNWs, companies, donors and members of the public who can instantly send electronic currency donations (via SovereignAid and RUON electronic currency) directly to the users before the danger strikes.

SovereignSky and RUON AIs next task is to work with global charities, international agencies, UHNW, VCs, the UN and Fortune 500 companies to distribute SovereignSkys connectivity boxes. These contain:

SovereignAid and RUON electronic currency will then be beamed from donors up to the satellite constellation and directly to places and people in need in economically developing nations and areas without banking or even wi-fi (connecting directing to the portable modems distributed in these areas):

Any user holding a SovereignSky or RUON smartphone will automatically be able to receive a donation to their RUON wallet and can instantly spend the donation on clothes, water, food and medicine using the smart card. Donors can:

The beneficiary and donor can even show and track how each donation is spent via videos, pictures, two-way chat and even double-verification blockchain accounting technology. the result has the potential to be a transparent donation process.

Tim Burke, RUON AI founder, says, The beneficiaries receive donations instantly and can upload photos and videos showing your money being put to good effect. People in need can personally thank donors through the RUON app, and donors can monitor exactly how their donations have been spent. All of this is made possible via blockchain technology, auditing and reporting. We feel its one of the most effective and trusted donation and verification processes ever created, and, today, this solution has been officially captured in one of RUONs patent pending claims. Its time for change. Please contact us and help support our mission.

SovereignSky is a satellite constellation powering its own space-based blockchain. This blockchain is currently uploaded three times daily by SpaceQuest onto SovereignSkys first satellites AprizeSat-5 and THEA.

SovereignSky was co-founded by Stan Larimer (father of Dan Larimer, the creator of EOS) and film producer and science fiction writer/co-director Timothy E. Burke. Strategic partners include:

We are excited to work with SovereignSky on its incredible mission to help eradicate global poverty, and we are on the way to complete one of the first ever blockchain transactions in space onboard the SovereignSky satellite network, says Dino Lorenzini, CEO of SpaceQuest.

SovereignSkys whitepaper includes the World Banks estimates that:

The United States alone donates US$390B per annum to charity (globally it is US$800B). Such numbers indicate how feasible eradicating extreme world poverty is.

The SovereignSky concept of space-based wifi, blockchain, AI and cryptocurrency donations/payments requires some imagination, and faith. Yet, for a positive start to 2020, believing feels better than doubting.

NB: for a video on the concept see Youtube

See more here:

RUON AI upload of SovereignSky 'space-based blockchain' - - Enterprise Times

Instantly verifiable, unhackable and forever retrievable are some of the key features of information stored on a blockchain. These are also the characteristics that traders of various assets, commodities and currencies would appreciate when it comes to the price data they are using. The team behind the Blitz Ticker project have decided thats exactly what they need, too.

Also read: Skrill Now Lets You Swap BTC for BCH

Blitz Tickdata is a platform that aims to become the worlds first rate publisher on blockchain. It tracks crypto, forex, and bullion prices and distributes rates each second onto a P2P network. The service has been operating in testing mode for some time and Blitz has promised its users a beta version but they already have plenty of information available on their website.

The ticker tool provides current and historical data about the price of bitcoin core in U.S. dollars and the rates of other leading cryptocurrencies against BTC, including bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH), ripple (XRP), and litecoin (LTC). You can explore rates for a specific period by setting a start and end date and also get daily, weekly and monthly charts through the quick select function.

The task of saving all this information on a blockchain involves a lot of crypto transactions. Blitz have chosen the bitcoin cash (BCH) network to record their timestamped price rates. Transferring BCH is almost instantaneous and often costs less than a U.S. cent which is an advantage over other cryptocurrencies. The low transaction fees on the BCH network have played a role in selecting the blockchain that can do the job for the project.

The real-time rate data is thus encoded into BCH transactions and propagated throughout the world, the team notes. That allows Blitz Ticker to maintain a truly decentralized rate publishing system thats always available to traders and other users. A documentation page explains how the data can be used in other applications as well.

Blitz Ticker uses addresses that map to a separate set of symbols and the rate data is stored in the format OP_RETURN OP_PUSHDATA [TIMESTAMP] OP_PUSHDATA [DATA]. The timestamp is 32bit Unix Time. The document further details how to query data from the platform and provides instructions on how to take advantage of its other features.

The rate publishing tool has been developed by Blitz which unites professionals with extensive experience in both cryptocurrency and traditional finance markets, including the trading of digital assets, mining hardware and hashrate. The company states that its mission is to help entrepreneurs, family funds and private individuals grow and preserve their crypto assets.

Besides Tickdata, Blitz has also created and maintains a network of miners, traders, crypto investors, banks, exchanges, and brokers. They are involved in over-the-counter (OTC) trading with clients and partners in Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The network offers investment opportunities in three major sectors: mining, exchange and trading. A private fund set up by Blitz is targeting accredited investors ready to invest $100,000 or more in cryptocurrencies.

What do you think about the Blitz Ticker platform using the Bitcoin Cash blockchain? Share your thoughts about it in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any third party products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, fair use.

Do you want to dig deeper into Bitcoin? Explore past and present cryptocurrency prices through our Bitcoin Markets tool and head to our Blockchain Explorer to view specific transactions, addresses, and blocks.

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Bulgaria. Quoting Hitchens, Lubomir says: Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do. International politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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Ticker Tool Uses the BCH Blockchain to Provide Reliable Rate Data - Bitcoin News

The United States alone is predicted totriple blockchain spendby 2022, from US$1.1 billion this year, to US$4.2 billion in 2022.

Thats because the technology is redefining the tenets of trade in the digital era. It has dispersed to a range of industries, and although the adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT) is most prevalent in financial sectors; the technology is increasingly gaining a foothold in various other fields, such as providing traceability in the food industry.

As blockchain technology is picked up by various sectors, there is certainly no one-size-fits-all style of implementation. Each business will have its own unique motivation and intent for the technology, and this will influence how it is used and the architecture employed. With that in mind, Gartner experts laid out five approaches businesses are taking to deploy the technology.

While not all businesses may agree to the labels, they serve to show what factors are driving decisions to invest, and how those are impacting end solutions.

One of the fully-centralized blockchain solutions is dubbed Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). In this case, the blockchain system is developed for in-house use and is led by the company itself.

The purpose of these blockchain initiatives is prompted, of course, by the fear of missing out on the digital zeitgeist. These organizations choose to adopt blockchain largely for the sake of adopting it and are looking to achieve the same success as front-runners. However, a lack of planning and a comprehensive understanding of technologys value leads to poor implementation, and often abandonment, of initiatives.

On the one hand, organizations unfamiliar with the technology could consult experts of blockchain pioneers; on the other, attractive blockchain packages may sometimes be too good to be true.

Trojan horse solutions are often packaged nicely. They may have a respected brand behind it, robust technological foundations, and have a reputation for solving expensive, wide-ranging problems in industries. But the catch is, clients are often required to share a portion of the companys data or transfer some control to the main blockchain owner.

In general, the solution is provided by the central organization with superior influence in the implementation of technology such as tech giants, dominant supply-chain groups, or an organization of blockchain developers.The risk in companies adopting this type of blockchain solution is that they become dependent on the providers solutions and are bound to contract terms. Subsequently, the technology owner may exert more control over the companys data and operations.

Companies motivated to seek various approaches to address known and widespread problems, such as flawed systems in record keeping, are regarded as blockchain opportunists

These opportunists choose to develop in-house blockchain solutions to solve existing problems, and are less inclined to approach existing blockchain giants for support. In this context, opportunists experiment on blockchain initiatives and, even if full integration is not possible, the attempt offers an experiential payoff.

Another approach of blockchain takes on a more evolutionary path whereby a solution is designed to develop over time to use tokens independent of centralized governance.

To illustrate, theUnion of European Football Associations (UEFA) is collaborating with several tech companies to combat ticket resell and eliminate illegal broker activities. In order to do so, ticket buyers are encouraged to download an app with all transferred tickets tracked and recorded in a blockchain.

This is an example of the start of an evolutionary blockchain solution, beginning with a centralized body and eventually tapping into the secondary market.

The final archetype of blockchain solutions is developed by innovation-driven groups or startups to launch new markets or disrupt a current business model.

An example of this archetype is Woolf University, a blockchain-inspired initiative with aims to disrupt the traditional education system and create a digital educational society. Woolf University connects professors and students in the platform. Here, blockchain helps protect professors and students data and payment details.

Native blockchain solutions will inject a stream of innovation and creativity into legacy industries.

This list could surely be longer, but it goes some way to present the different kinds of blockchain solutions and approaches available to enterprises. Not approach is necessarily right or wrong, or will be a success or failure it all depends on the company and its needs, and its willingness to experiment and invest in technology which could prove a boon to business, or prove more a lesson learned.

Read the original:

Five ways businesses are investing in blockchain - TechHQ

The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) is planning to release guidance on blockchain for companies looking to deploy the technology.

As The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 27, COSO an initiative to fight corporate fraud is working on guidance on blockchain to give a better understanding of the tech for businesses that aim to integrate it into their internal processes. COSO expects to release the guidance in the first quarter of 2020.

Specifically, the guidance targets executives in financial services and businesses that use blockchain to improve their supply chains. Paul Sobel, the chairman of COSO, said that he wants to make sure that weve got that properly controlled because it is a very different view of the world when you have distributed ledgers. It isnt something that is contained in your own system.

COSOs guidance is geared to help companies set up internal controls and manage enterprise-wide risks. According to Sobel, the organization hopes that its frameworks will push executives and board members to start a dialogue about what their oversight responsibilities are.

A November study by Juniper Research revealed that blockchain technology, in combination with Internet of Things sensors and trackers, will greatly reduce retailers costs by streamlining supply chains, while simplifying regulatory compliance, offering more efficient food recalls, and tackling fraud.

That same month, news broke that measured by patent applications in the sector, China was handily outpacing other countries including the United States in blockchain technology. At the time, the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and Germany together submitted around 12,000 blockchain-related patent applications through 2018, with China accounting for over 60% of the five-country total.

A study by American market intelligence firm IDC projected that Chinas spending on blockchain technology will exceed $2 billion in 2023.

More here:

COSO to Release Guidance on Blockchain for Businesses Aiming to Deploy Tech - Cointelegraph

China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the country's financial watchdog, has recently received an application for listing an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that will track blockchain-related stocks as underlying assets.

Dubbed Penghua Shenzhen Stocks Blockchain ETF, the application was filed by Shenzhen-based asset management firm Penghua Fund and was accepted by the CSRC on Dec. 24, according to the regulator's disclosure.

The proposed ETF aims to track and reflect the performance of Shenzhen-listed public stocks that have businesses in the blockchain industry.

Based on a report from Shanghai Securities News on Thursday, if the application received final approval by the CSRC it would be the country's first completely blockchain-themed ETF open to public investors.

The application was received at the same time the Shenzhen Stock Exchange rolled out a Blockchain 50 Index comprised of 50 stocks listed on the exchange that have entered the blockchain space.

The Shenzhen exchange said in an announcement on Dec. 24 the index tracks those that are involved in different aspects of the blockchain ecosystem and selects the top 50 by market capitalization.

The current index list includes software companies, banks including Ping An Bank, as well as internet companies that entered cryptocurrency mining such as Wholeasy, which invested $80 million in bitcoin miners in 2018.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

Read more:

China May Soon Have Its First Blockchain Exchange-Traded Fund - Coindesk

On Friday, December 27, 2019, Chinese regulators issued a joint regulatory warning on the rise of virtual currency trading activity in the country. The Beijing Local Financial Supervision Bureau, the People's Bank of China Business Management Department, the Beijing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, and the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau noted that the uptick in activity is the result of the promotion of blockchain technology.

Indeed, on October 25, Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a statement for Chinese companies to seize the opportunity offered by blockchain technology. The markets reacted with a surge in the price of bitcoin and an increase in internet searches for the term blockchain on WeChat. The positivity on blockchain coming from Chinas leader is not new as he has in the past referred to blockchain as ten times the importance of the discovery of the Internet.

BEIJING, Nov. 7, 2019 -- Jing Xiandong, CEO of Ant Financial, introduces the blockchain platform of ... [+] Ant Financial during the fifth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, east China's Zhejiang Province, Nov. 7, 2018. (Photo by Chen Yehua/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Chen Yehua via Getty Images)

The approach of being tough on virtual currency trading platforms while encouraging blockchain technology might seem at first to be complicated - particularly if public platforms such as Bitcoin or Ethereum are used that has a native token or cryptocurrency used as an essential part of the blockchain or distributed ledger technology. Of course, for China, with the imminent release of a Central Bank Digital Currency, and its wish to maintain control over the types of digital or cryptocurrencies traded similarly to the way it has controlled the spread and use of the Internet, a policy coming down hard on cryptocurrency trading platforms makes sense.

Many in the United States have noted the focus should not be on cryptocurrencies, but rather blockchain technology. Indeed, the cryptocurrency and blockchain community seems to swing like a pendulum. When Bitcoin goes up, its all about the cryptocurrency and the focus on blockchain gets blurred. When Bitcoin goes down, the industry and developers are quick to note that finally, there can be a focus on the real gem in all of this technology - a distributed ledger technology that will fundamentally change the way people, processes, and organizations operate.

Indeed, a recent Forbes article noted how Chinas approach to Blockchain was winning and notes the U.S. should pay attention. The U.S. has similarly started to pay attention, more as the result of Project Libra, that forced Congress to pay attention to both cryptocurrency and blockchain at the same time. While many Members of Congress became quickly adept at some of the finer distinctions in the marketplace, cryptocurrency and blockchain still seem to be words quickly conflated, where an increase in blockchain is the same as an increase in cryptocurrency, and so the U.S. runs a much higher risk than China in stopping cryptocurrency trading and also significantly impacting the development of blockchain technology in the country.

The notice from China harped on how the virtual currency trading platforms were creating the potential for investor harm in a variety of ways. As stated in the joint risk release, They launch zero-interest loans, dual currency financial management and other projects through digital currency mortgages. In other words, Decentralized Finance or DeFi, meet the Peoples Republic Of China.

And therein lies the issue for China - which is that there is very little interest in decentralization, and much more interest in seeing the development of blockchain technology and its central bank digital currency as a way of spreading its influence around the globe to push its own agenda.

Meanwhile, for the virtual currency trading platforms, The release, seriously warn institutions and personnel in Beijing that carry out related activities. They must not publicize and promote relevant virtual currency projects or platforms, they must not conduct virtual currency business sales or transactions, they must not engage in virtual currency transactions or disguised trading operations with investors, Acting on domestic and overseas virtual currency issuance and trading activities, financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions within its jurisdiction shall not provide services for any virtual currency transaction.

HONG KONG - 2019/04/06: In this photo illustration a cryptocurrency electronic cash Bitcoin logo is ... [+] seen on an Android mobile device with People's Republic of China flag in the background. (Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Thus, the seriousness of this warning makes it clear virtual currency trading is not welcome in China, and finishes by noting that investors should, maintain rationality ... beware of being deceived, and promptly report relevant clues about violations of laws and regulations. So, investors are then part of the regulatory structure as well in China, encouraged to provide tips to authorities if violations in the marketplace are noticed.

So, as China continues to pour money into the blockchain technology and prepares the release of its central bank digital currency, the country continues what was likely the inevitable, which is to push back on any other virtual currencies that might compete with its national currency.

The U.S. should take note, at a minimum, of the level of proficiency and understanding regulators in China have regarding cryptocurrency and blockchain, particularly in its ability to note how the promotion of blockchain technology can lead to cryptocurrency schemes as a result.

View post:

Chinas Dichotomy Between Cryptocurrency And Blockchain - Forbes

Ethereums Istanbul Hard Fork, which was recently launched, is not only important in itself. This hard fork is probably the last upgrade of such level before the Ethereum 2.0 migration.

It will be Ethereum without mining.

It will be Ethereum consisting of interconnected parts or shards.

It will be Ethereum with staking.

In short, no network has ever conducted such a migration. Therefore, nobody knows precisely how it will function. U.Today has compiled all of the information to let its readers judge whether Ethereum 2.0 is a good idea.

Ethereum (Ethereum Network, Ether, ETH) is a blockchain that acts as a host for decentralized applications or decentralized computing service. Ethereum operations are executed via the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

Ether is the cryptocurrency generated by the Ethereum platform and used to compensate mining nodes for computations performed. Each account on the Ethereum network has its own address and balance.

Ethereum was proposed in late 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, a cryptocurrency researcher and programmer. Development of this blockchain was funded by an online crowdsale between July and August 2014. The system went live on July 30, 2015. This accounts for about 68 % of the total circulating supply in 2019.

Ethereum 2.0, which has also been dubbed ETH2 or Serenity, is Ethereum's major network upgrade. It will bring several new features to the Ethereum network including the following:

Sharding,

Proof-of-Stake consensus,

A new virtual machine (mechanism that executes network scripts) called Ethereum WebAssembly (eWASM),

Scalability and dApp building solutions,

New rewards mechanism

and more.

Ethereum 2.0 is not backwards compatible, putting an end Ethereums old Proof-of-Work (PoW), mining, and full blockchain validation of transactions.

This shall result in a completely new network with redesigned economics, consensus, and mechanism of operation.

Image by: U.Today

Like any systemwide upgrade, Ethereum 2.0 pursues ambitious targets. In accordance to Danny Ryan, core developer of the Ethereum Foundation, there are five goals for Ethereum 2.0:

Simplicity. The complexity of the network should be minimized at the cost of some losses in efficiency.

Failure-resistance. The blockchain should be online during major network partitions and when large portions of nodes go offline.

Compatibility with quantum hardware. All network elements should either be quantum secure or can easily be swapped out for quantum secure counterparts when available.

Decentralization. Maximum participation of validators in total and per unit time should be allowed.

Low Entry Price. All processes, including whole system validation, should be available on the average consumers laptop.

As it has already been said, Ethereums Istanbul Hard Fork, which was launched on December 8, 2019, didnt start the Ethereum 2.0 epoch. Instead, the Istanbul Hard Fork opened the door to transition. This includes systemwide upgrades - scalability, speed, low cost of transactions, and cross-chain interoperability. All will be inevitably available in Ethereum 2.0. Even though Ethereums Istanbul is not Ethereum 2.0, there wouldnt be an Ethereum 2.0 without Ethereums Istanbul.

In cryptocurrencies, a fork usually means a radical change in the way a blockchain validates transactions. There are two types of forks. A hard fork is a change in which old-ruled softwarewill see blocks produced in accordance to new rules as invalid. A soft fork is a fork in the blockchain in which old network nodes and newly upgraded nodes follow different rules. In the case of a hard fork, all nodes are required to work in accordance with the new rules. Therefore, the software needs to be upgraded.

Most of the known forks for the first years of Ethereums existence include Frontier (or Genesis Block, the initial block of Ethereum), which occurred on July 30, 2015, the DAO Fork (resulting from a serious bug in the code that led to a split between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic), and the Byzantium Fork of 2017 (seriously addressed scalability issues).

Some forks have also occurred in emergency situations, including the EIP-150 Hard Fork and the Spurious Dragon Hard Fork.

In 2019, three forks occurred. Two new coins emerged as a result of Ethereums Classic Vision Fork (January 11, 2019) and Ethereums Nova (January 12, 2019). These forks improved both Ethereum and Ethereum Classic Blockchain.

Ethereums Constantinople was the most important fork of Q1-Q2 2019. It started as a Proof of Stake (PoS) transition (a.k.a. Casper update) to make Ethereum faster, cheaper, and more efficient. While no new coins were launched from this upgrade, it did improve the existing protocol.

Its not so easy to figure out the exact launch date of the network migration onto Ethereum 2.0. In July 2019, it was proclaimed that this process will be launched on January 3, 2020, but this date remains unconfirmed. At the moment, the test environment for the initial stage of Ethereum 2.0 is being prepared by Saphir Labs. So, anyone who uses Parity Ethereum can now enjoy the full end-to-end testnet.

To avoid spreading any fear, uncertainty, or doubt (FUD), the Ethereum Foundation has never disclosed the launch date of Ethereum 2.0. Danny Ryan described the current status of development this way:

It has never been our launch date. Thats what Ive been trying to communicate ever since, that date kind of has become pervasive. But were all targeting a Q1 launch.

Thus, we should prepare ourselves for something great in Q1 2020.

The transition to the new network cant be executed in a flash. Therefore, developers foresee three main phases of Ethereum 1.0s evolution to Ethereum 2.0:

This is the cornerstone of ETH 2.0, where the PoS consensus will be rolled up. It means that validators (node holders) would need to be registered, rewards and penalties for them would need to be set, and the rules for interaction between them would need to be established. A new Ether (coin) will also emerge during this phase. It is still unclear how it will be issued, but most likely, a special smart contract will allow for a 1:1 exchange of existing ETH.

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This is the main load of the new consensus. Shards are the interconnected parts of blockchain (mini-blockchains). With shards, parallel transactions can take place without having the throughput for every transaction within a shard updated on the main chain. As far as the Beacon main chain is concerned, each shard chain block represents a group of data bits. For some time, the current Ethereum (ETH1) and the Ethereum with sharding (ETH2) will co-exist.

During Phase 2, the foundational aspects of the previous ETH 2.0 releases will come together and provide functionality for the updated network. A new operational mechanism called Ethereum WebAssembly (eWASM) will be launched instead of Ethereums Virtual Machine. eWASM will work much faster.

Its really difficult to predict how the transition to Ethereum 2.0 will affect the price of Ethereum. It looks like there are two possible scenarios. If the transition is smooth, then users will be incentivized to participate in the staking process and to buy Ethers. As a result, the demand will grow, and so will the price. The other scenario is that the miners will shut down their equipment, the network will operate slowly, and the users will eventually abandon it.

Those interested in Ethereum 2.0s price should trace two processes - how the Ethereum Foundation delivers new releases of ETH 2.0 functions, and how these functions work.

Mining in Ethereum 2.0 will be replaced by staking. Rather than pay miners to secure the network, participants in the network will be paying validators to secure the network. It's vitally important to get the economics of staking right so that the network stays healthy and secure.

If the incentive to stake is too low, then the network will not have the minimum amount of validators necessary to keep the many shards going. If the incentive is too high, then the network is overpaying for security and inflating the price at a rate that is detrimental to the economics of the whole network.

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As of today, the minimum stake to become a validator is 32 ETH, or $4,714. This sum needs to be sent to a special contract in order to let the system recognize you as a validator. How much every validator earns depends on how many Ethers will be sent to the contract (i.e. staked).

Image by:https://docs.ethhub.io/ethereum-roadmap/ethereum-2.0/eth-2.0-economics/

Vitalik Buterin and Justin Drake of the Ethereum Foundation suggest that the most likely number is 5% APR.

The Ethereum 2.0 Hard Fork will significantly improve the attractiveness of the Ethereum platform as a host for dApps. Today, there are two main types of dApps on the Ethereum network - Ethereum Decentralized Exchanges and Ethereum Decentralized Games.

Ethereum Decentralized Exchanges are the exchange services that allow users to swap ERC-20 (Ethereum-based tokens) with each other and without a third-party custody. Well-known decentralized exchanges include Radar Relay, IDT Exchange, Erc dEx and DDEX.

Despite the fact that TRON and EOS are considered the top dApps hosts for games, several popular online gambling services are located on the Ethereum. At the moment, a user can play almost 400 Ethereum games, with My CryptoHeroes and CryptoDozers card games being the most in demand.

The crucial thing that we should know about the pros and cons of Ethereum 2.0 is that nobody has finalized so sophisticated transition. Therefore, many aspects are still unpredictable.

PROS

CONS

Speed: eWASM is much faster than EVM

Uncertain economics of Ether as nobody can predict the demand for token

Safety: Cutting-edge security tweaks are to be utilized

Extremely vulnerable process for token transitions between Ethereum 1.0 to Ethereum 2.0

Scalability: More side-project solutions are available

Unclear roadmap: investors cant design their portfolios until launch dates are set more precisely

Much more advanced consensus

In case of an unsuccessful transition, the image of Ethereum will be destroyed. EOS and TRON will become more powerful decentralized application hosts

Low electrical consumption

Better decentralization

For regulators, Ethereum 2.0 still appears as an uncertain asset. For example, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Heath Tarbert said that the CFTC is still evaluating whether Ether will remain a commodity under the new model. Ethereum developers and proponents believe that the PoS may actually bolster the case that Ether is sufficiently decentralized to be considered a commodity in the eyes of U.S. regulators.

Some Ethereum developers also express concern about migrating from Ethereum 1.0 to Ethereum 2.0. Nirbhik Jangid, an Ethereum developer from India, wrote in Telegram:

Eth 2.0 is a series of network upgrades being carried out to the Ethereum network to increase scalability etc. but will take at least 2 years to be completed, probably longer given the scope of the changes and the challenges involved.

The developers of Ethereum are sure that the main upgrade that can be achieved by Ethereum 2.0 is that of scalability. Vitalik Buterin, the Father of Ethereum, explained it in a podcast:

the main thing that Eth 2.0 makes better is obviously scalability. And scalability is important because of the things that it enables, which basically means more of everything. So the applications that weve generally seen on the blockchain so far generally have to do with finance and theres good reasons for that. Because they like existing centralized financial systems are relatively terrible.

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Ethereum 2.0 is the next stage of the Ethereum network and will consist of interconnected shards and the use of a Proof-of-Stake algorithm.

The transition will most likely start in 2020, with Phase 0 in Q1.

Ethereum 2.0 will be required to address the challenges of scalability, speed, decentralization, security, and longevity.

There will be no mining in Ethereum 2.0. Staking Ethers will be the only way to obtain a passive income.

The major disadvantage for Ethereum 2.0 is the communitys uncertainty, details of the transition, and its future design. This shift is extremely risky for the Ethereum Foundation.

Image by: U. Today.

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Ethereum (ETH) 2.0: What is Ethereums Next Phase After the Istanbul Hard Fork - U.Today