Things are not looking all that great for Ethereum right now. The popular cryptocurrency suffereda major crash not too long ago and it remains the market is still recovering. The past two days have heralded another downturn for Ether, making it highly doubtful Ethereum will pass Bitcoin in market cap anytime soon. It seems safe to say more volatility is on the horizon for Ethereum holders.

Looking over the Ethereum price charts leaves traders and investors disappointed, as their hopes for challenging Bitcoins crown subside. More specifically, the ETH price has taken another beating, as it declined by 7.65% over the past 24 hours. This puts the value of one Ether well below the US$300 mark and it is possible this value will keep heading toward US$270 or lower over the coming days. This momentum is not entirely surprising given Ethereums bullish trend throughout the first half of 2017.

It is not hard to forget once ETH was worth under US$11 back in early January of this year. Things have certainly picked up over the past few months, culminating in an Ether price peak of nearly US$400, according to Coinmarketcap. Such a spectacular price increase can only be met with future price volatility, which is what we are seeing on a daily basis right now. Even so, the Ether value increase has been nothing short of impressivethis year.

Ethereum enthusiasts have referred to a phenomenon known as the flippening all year. This trend would occur once Ethereums market cap surpasses that of Bitcoin. Although both currencies were only separated by just US$8bn, the gap has widened once again. More specifically, Bitcoins market cap is close to US$41bn right now, whereas Ethereums is only US$26.32bn. The flippening will not be happening anytime soon at this rate.

The bigger question is why Ethereum is facing such a setback right now. Shifting market conditions are likely the culprit. Moreover, the Ethereum blockchain and its technology are weighed down by the influx of cryptocurrency ICOs. Transactions are confirmed far slower when a big ICO happens, and smart contracts used by these projects often contain issues which need to be fixed later on. The technology is still premature, yet investors also see this can become a much bigger problem if things arent resolved quickly.

Speaking of cryptocurrency ICOs, they have quickly become the main use case of the Ether currency. That is not necessarily a positive development either. With so many projects raising funds in Ether, the chances of a market dump will increase as well. When teams need funding, they will convert ETH to fiat currency, creating negative pressure across the exchanges. When more projects sell off their raised funds, the price per ETH will undoubtedly continue to go down quite quickly. It is unclear if that is part of the ongoing price drop right now, but it is something to keep in mind.

It is unclear what the future will hold for Ethereum right now. The Ethereum price is very volatile, which is only to be expected at this point. However, Ethereum is not a store-of-value by any means. With so many dumb money flowing into Ethereum to participate in cryptocurrency ICOs, it is virtually impossible to determine the real value of the existing coin supply. Technical issues are becoming a major problem as well. If this trend keeps up, the flippening may never happen at all. These are interesting times for Ethereum to prove its value, but so far, the projectleaves quite a bit to be desired.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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Ethereum Price Drops Below $300 Amid Technical Issues and ... - The Merkle

Cryptocurrency lending is about to boom. Today, crypto-currency lending is a field that does not have a plausible service provider due to the pseudo-anonymous nature of crypto-currency. The underlying issue with crypto-lending is the repayments of loans. How do people that do not know each other trust each other?

Trustless lending. ETHLend is a decentralized crypto-currency lending application that runs on Ethereum network, which is accessible through MetaMask, an Ethereum network browser. ETHLend solves the issue of trust by allowing the borrower to secure a crypto-loan with ERC-20 compatible Ethereum-based tokens. ERC-20 tokens can represent any value (such as shares or commodities). If the borrower does not repay the loan, the pledged tokens are transferred to the lender, who can sell the tokens on exchange to regain any losses.

Today, tokens are used mainly for fundraising. However, there are tokens that represent value from the real world, such as the DigixDAO token. Each DigixDAO token represents 1 gram of gold by tokenization. Even if tokens are associated with volatility, factually tokens are sufficient for securing a loan. First, the market price of tokens are usually available at different exchanges. Secondly, the volatility can be assessed and taken into account.

Alternatively, ETHLend provides another option, where the borrower can use Ethereum Name Service domain (ENS domain) as a collateral for the loan. ENS domains by design locks Ether (ETH) when the domain name is auctioned. Since ENS domains are transferrable, they can be easily used as a collateral against Ether loans. For example, borrower has ENS domain that has locked 10 ETH. The borrower cannot use this locked Ether. However, the borrower can pledge this domain for a loan to receive 10 ETH. If the borrower does not repay the loan back, the ENS domain is transferred to the lender (who can auction it to regain any losses).

Decentralized lending removes barriers and lowers costs on interest. ETHLend aims to provide a global liquidity pool between peers. The decentralized model and the use of crypto-currency is the proper solution to achieve ETHLends goal. Global liquidity pool means that a borrower in the US would not be limited solely to local lenders and US banks. Instead, the borrower can access funding from all parts of the world, such as Asia and Europe. Moreover, ETHLend wants to remind that there is 2 billion people without the access to any banking system. Lending crypto-currency would mean additionally access to finance for the unbanked.

Big plans for ETHLend. According to the white paper, there are lot of technical upgrades coming up for ETHLend, such as unsecured lending where borrower does not need a collateral to get a loan. Moreover, lending reputation system is about to be launched, where the borrower is rewarded with ETHLends native Credit Token (CRE), which can be used as a collateral by sparing other ERC-20 tokens.

We interviewed the Founder of ETHLend, a law student from Finland and a blockchain developer, to get more insights over the project.

Who are the people behind ETHLend?

We are a dedicated team of 14 people. We are working hard to provide blockchain technology for the mainstream. We want to democratize lending. This means that we want to remove interest rate differences between different countries and provide liquidity to lower interest rates in general. This would mean that borrowers would pay less in interest costs when there is more competition in a global scale. Moreover, we want to serve people that the banks are not serving due to the lack of banking infrastructure.

Is lending secure on ETHLend?

ETHLend is a decentralized application that runs on Ethereum blockchain network. We use Smart Contracts for the loan transactions. This means that each loan that is deployed on Ethereum blockchain cannot be changed, stopped or compromised by a third party (not even ETHLend).

Moreover, since all transactions are decentralized, we do not hold any assets or data. All assets such as ETH, ERC-20 tokens or ENS domains are held by the Smart Contracts. Any lender or borrower can explore loans on blockexplorer, therefore we are transparent by design.

What crypto-currencies can I borrow and lend?

Now, Ether (ETH) lending is available. We chose to use ETH since that is the native token of the Ethereum network that we have built our application on. We are planning to add other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin and other altcoins. To get ETHLend to the mainstream, we think that Bitcoin is essential.

Why did you build on top of Ethereum network?

We decided to use Ethereum for three reasons. First, Ethereum has well established Smart Contracts, which allows to perform complex transactions such as lending and handling the collateral. Secondly, by using ETH, we do not have to communicate with two blockchains, which would not be ideal way to start a simple DAPP development. Lastly, even though ETH has a different purpose than Bitcoin, ETH is widely used as cryptocurrency.

How ETHLend differs from other blockchain projects?

We started by developing the application. We first created the decentralized application, instead of writing a white paper and opening a flashy website. I personally wanted to understand how decentralized lending would work in practice. As coming from a legal background and not from technical, I wanted to try it first and then write an analysis on my practical findings, the white paper.

Moreover, we have an amazing team working on ETHLend. I have never seen such extensive collaboration that we have at ETHLend. Practically we are all living in different parts of the world, but initially we have the same goal: to provide fair lending for all by using blockchain technology. We are also happy to have more people involved through our Slack.

What is your focus on the development?

Since we have an Ethereum-based application that runs stable, we are now focusing on adding more functionalities and user experience. Our goal here is to make decentralized lending as easy and accessible as possible. We want to keep the learning curve as low as possible. As a part of the user experience, we are adding more languages and ways to easily calculate the value of the collateral to avoid unnecessary loan requests.

Is there going to be an ICO?

We are going to have a token sale on early September. Our aim is to fund the further development of ETHLend and provide the largest lending market that works on a global scale. We want our future token holders to be part of it.

How the tokens are distributed?

We are distributing 1 billion Credit Tokens (CRE) for sale. There will be no follow up sales and all unsold CRE is burned. Additionally, 300 million CRE is allocated to the development fund as an incentive for our founders and developers to remain with the project. The development fund tokens will have a 24-month vesting model, which means that during this period, tokens are gradually released from lockup on each 6-months-period.

Getting ready for token sale. According to Stani, the ETHLend team is preparing for the upcoming token sale. The aim is to provide decentralized, secure, fair and democratic token sale. ETHLend is currently developing the Smart Contract for the token sale. However, the precise date of the token sale is not disclosed. ETHLend will inform the date of the token sale within couple of weeks.

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The Rise of Decentralized P2P Crypto-Currency Lending - newsBTC

Clients must submit their ID for verification. Rest assured most government of Canada employees will not be interested in doing that anytime soon.

It is always quite interesting to keep an eye on Bitcoin promotional events. Getting cryptocurrency into the hands of as many people as possible is not easy by any means. BitAccess is taking a different approach with their latest airdrop. Canadian government employees can receive CA$5 worth of Bitcoin or Ether free of charge. All they need to do is sign up for the service to get the money. An interesting tactic, but can it ever work?

BitAccess is doing an excellent job to promote cryptocurrency in Canada. It has become a lot harder to buy Bitcoin and other currencies in the country as of late. This has mainly to do with strict regulations. Additionally, several Canadian exchanges have halted operations or were acquired by competitors. It is evident there isnt nearly enough competition in the country right now. As a result, it appears cryptocurrency interest in Canada is slowly waning.

To counter this situation, BitAccess is hosting a promotional event. More specifically, they will give CA$5 worth of Bitcoin or Ether to all government of Canada employees. This is quite an interesting take on things, although it remains to be seen if it can be successful. Government employees will need to create an account with the Canada.ca email address. It is possible most organizations will prohibit employees from doing so, though.

More specifically, obtaining this free credit is not all that easy. Clients must submit their ID for verification. Rest assured most government of Canada employees will not be interested in doing that anytime soon. After all, if they arent interested in cryptocurrency, there is no reason to go through that much trouble. Furthermore, CA$5 worth of Bitcoin or Ether is next to nothing these days. It is a nice gesture by BitAccess, but not one that will see a lot of response.

Then again, it is hard to get government officials excited about Bitcoin or Ethereum. There is still a psychological hurdle that needs to be tackled. Governments will never fully see eye-to-eye with cryptocurrency, that much is evident. Promotional campaigns like these may help alleviate some of the concerns. It will be interesting to see whether or not BitAccess can make any impact whatsoever. Promoting cryptocurrency is the right way to go, that much is certain.

Header image courtesy of Shutterstock

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BitAccess Wants to get Canadian Government Officials Excited About Cryptocurrency - newsBTC

Bitcoin is the worlds biggest cryptocurrency but there are now close to 800 digital currencies work around $96bn total. Photograph: Alamy

Last Sunday a message posted on message board 4Chan started the rumor that Vitalik Buterin, the founder of cryptocurrency Ethereum, had been killed in a car crash. News of the 23-year-old, Russian-born programmers demise was soon proved false but not before 20%, or roughly $4bn, had been wiped from Ethereums soaring market value.

The hoax not only drew attention to Ethereum, the second largest digital currency after bitcoin, which had seen its value rise fiftyfold since the start of the year to $300 a coin, but also to the booming market in other so-called cryptocurrencies that could now be on the cusp of mainstream financial credibility.

Last week Barclays CEO for personal and corporate banking, Ashok Vaswani, revealed the lender had opened discussions with UK regulators about adopting digital currencies.

We have been talking to a couple of fintechs [financial technology companies] and have actually gone with the fintechs to the FCA [the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK regulator] to talk about how we could bring the equivalent of bitcoin, not necessarily bitcoin, but cryptocurrencies into play, Vaswani told CNBC at a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Obviously [its] a new area, obviously an area weve got to be careful with. We are working our way through it.

Vaswanis comments came after several central banks from across Europe and Asia said they were looking into establishing digital-only currencies in addition to traditional denominations.

The Peoples Bank of China has reportedly run trials, while the Danish central bank is considering a digital-only e-krone.

On 19 June, the International Monetary Fund issued a staff discussion note stating that banks should consider investing in cryptocurrencies, saying: Rapid advances in digital technology are transforming the financial services landscape, creating opportunities and challenges for consumers, service providers and regulators alike.

At the same time, IBM announced it had made a deal with the Digital Trade Chain Consortium a group of seven European banks that includes Deutsche Bank, HSBC, KBC, Natixis, Rabobank, Societe Generale and Unicredit to build a digital trade platform that will run on IBMs cloud.

Andrew Levin, professor of economics at Dartmouth and co-author of a study on central bank digital currencies, told the Guardian that the concept of private institutions creating new forms of payment was not in itself new, but the greater need is for consumers and businesses to have access to money that has a stable value and is practically costless to use. We think theres a strong case for central banks to issue digital currencies that would be free to use.

Crypto- or cyber-currencies are digital-only currencies in which encryption and registry techniques, often called blockchains, are used to regulate the generation of units of currency independent of a central bank.

It is a booming, dizzying market. Since the start of the year, bitcoin, the worlds biggest cryptocurrency, has almost tripled in value to $2,565. By some estimates, the cryptocurrency business could be worth $5tn by 2022. There are now close to 800 cryptocurrencies worth, in total, around $96bn.

One of the newest offered to market is Tazos, backed by billionaire venture capitalist and early bitcoin investor Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. According to a prospectus, a total of US$893,200.77 worth of XTZ tokens will be issued on 1 July.

The best thing I can do is lead by example, Draper told Reuters last month. Over time, I actually feel that some of these tokens are going to improve the world, and I want to make sure those tokens get promoted as well. I think Tezos is one of those tokens.

Tezos founders, Kathleen and Arthur Breitman, anticipate their ICO will become a digital commonwealth or self-governing network. The couples background in finance speaks to the seriousness of the endeavor: Arthur worked at the high-frequency trading desk at Goldman Sachs; Kathleen at Bridgewater Associates, the worlds largest hedge fund.

We think our competitive advantage is in our ability to assign governance, Kathleen told the Observer. The thing about blockchain is its very interdisciplinary. You have to have an understanding of finance and economics, but also game theory, pure science and networking theory.

She concedes that blockchain complexity is also cause for investor skepticism. A lot of people struggle to understand its value proposition, because it offers something different to everyone. I like the idea of putting business logic in a decentralised network, and hopefully, it will help people to conduct business more easily.

Brock Pierce, managing partner of Blockchain Capital and a relative veteran of the ICO market, recently launched a tradeable, digital securities token called BCAP that he considers the next giant leap in the democratization of venture capital and liquidity where everybody has equal access.

Three days ago, Pierce launched the crowd sale of EOS, a blockchain coin (or token) offering thats already taken in $100m. This is a 340-day project thats already broken every record. Its 100% certain were going to surpass Bancor, the most successful ICO to date.

Pierce predicts that the underlying technology of blockchain essentially a public record of actions is going to impact our world more than the internet has.

He added: The implications are huge, and its going to have huge implications not only on venture, but private equity, real estate, digitizing currency. This is going to be the technology that democratizes the global financial system so everybody has equal access.

But such rapid increases in value is cause for concern. Five-year-old Ripple XRP, which is connected to 75 banks, including Bank of America and Royal Bank of Canada, has increased in value by 40 times this year alone. According to CNBC, 100 billion XRP are in existence, each priced 26 cents.

A lot of lessons will be learned and a lot of money will be lost, before a lot of money can be made, Peter Denious, head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management, told Bloomberg last week. Prices right now arent being driven by network usage, theyre being driven by speculation that tokens are going to appreciate. Its a gold-rush mentality.

But Les Borsai, an early investor in Ethereum, believes that what is under way is a re-ordering of the financial systems. At root, he argues, blockchain technology shows we dont need a centralized solution for anything. Its a liberated attitude and the implications are huge.

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Are cryptocurrencies about to go mainstream? - The Guardian

VIRTUAL currencies have been said to capture the imagination of some, strike fear among others, and confuse the heck out of the rest of us. What exactly are they? Should we invest in them? Where do we even start? Here are some of the most popular questions answered.

What is cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency is digital money created from code. Most cryptocurrencies are built on blockchain, an incorruptible digital ledger of all economic transactions made in virtual currency. The cryptocurrency economy is free of all government oversight and monitored by a peer-to-peer Internet protocol.

What are the major cryptocurrencies?

Bitcoin (founded in 2008), Ethereum (2015) and Ripple (2014).

How much are these worth today?

Let's just say anyone who's bought cryptocurrency before 2017 would have made astronomical gains (see graphs below).

Why invest in cryptocurrency now?

Cryptocurrency is said to be one of the best-performing assets in the last two years. Its market added nearly US$7 billion in value in just the first quarter of 2017, going by a CoinDesk report.

Bitcoin, whose price topped US$2,000 per coin for the first time in May, has arguably entered the mainstream. You can actually use it to buy stuff now, at retailers such as Microsoft, OkCupid and even Subway.

How to invest - where to even start?

First, there are two ways one can invest using cryptocurrency:

1. Buy and sell cryptocurrency. One can do this through platforms such as Coinbase, Coinhako and CoinMama using a credit card, debit card or bank transfer. Identity verification may be required for large transactions on some platforms.

Notably, a majority of cryptocurrency investors conduct only this form of investment, where they wait for prices of virtual currencies to appreciate before selling them.

2. Buy cryptocurrency, and participate in initial coin offerings (ICOs). One can do this on token markets or cryptocurrency crowdfunding sites such as TokenMarket or FundYourselfNow (Singapore-founded).

An ICO allows startups with innovative products to issue their own digital tokens that can be bought by investors or backers using virtual currencies. Digital tokens typically entitle backers to monetary rewards (such as profit sharing), or non-monetary rewards (exclusive products).

Notably, only a minority of cryptocurrency investors buy virtual currencies and participate in ICOs. The latter is considered a more speculative form of cryptocurrency investment, as it entails backing a young and thus high-risk company, and profiting only if the company succeeds.

How much to invest for the first time?

The rule of thumb is to not invest what you cannot afford to lose. The cryptocurrency market is uniquely unregulated and extremely volatile: prices can one day rise by 100 per cent and plunge 50 per cent the next day. Panic selling is very common.

One should therefore not invest in cryptocurrency if he or she is unaccustomed to wild price fluctuations.

Early adopters recommend S$4,000 as a good first amount to set aside for such investing, and to never let cryptocurrencies occupy more than 50 per cent of one's portfolio.

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Cryptocurrency: Funds of the future? - THE BUSINESS TIMES

Genesis Mining

Nvidia and AMD are in a war.

The two companies both produce graphics cards and compete over PC gamers, self-driving car manufacturers and data center managers to prove that their technology is superior. Nvidiatends to be ahead in many of those markets and has seen its stock rise more this year because of it.

A new market is emerging though. The two graphics processing unit (GPU) companies are currently fighting over the cryptocurrency GPU market, and both are rumored to be releasing cryptocurrency optimized chips in the near future, according to RBC Capital Markets.

Cryptocurrencies are red-hot right now. Bitcoin is probably the most notable and has been around for years. But, recent explosive growth in rival currency Ethereum, has been making headlines. Recently, $100 million worth of GPUs were added to the Ethereum network in just 11 days.

The cryptocurrencies are made up of a decentralized network of users, and every time a transaction occurs in one of these currencies, it has to be verified by the whole network. People who help confirm these transactions are called "miners" and often use GPUs to speed up the calculations required to verify payments.

Previously, miners have used GPUs designed for gaming in their computers. This works, but isn't optimized for the task. Nvidia and AMD could release new cards that are optimized to draw as little power as possible and increase the speed of cryptocurrency specific tasks.

RBC reckons that when this happens, Nvidia's chip will outpace its rival AMD.

"Given Nvidia's performance lead across numerous categories (gaming and data center) we think the Company is best positioned to become the market leader in GPU based cryptocurrency mining if a new product is released," RBC wrote in a recent note to clients.

Details about the new cards are sparse, and their existence is only rumored for now. Considering only current GPUs, AMD has beaten out Nvidia because it has been faster at mining-specific tasks. RBC is betting this will change soon. When Nvidia has time to optimize their technology for mining, RBC thinks the company will be able to outpace AMD.

Previous domination in markets Nvidia has set its sights on is really the only information RBC is working with. Until the new cards come out or are officially announced, improvements are only hypothetical. RBC thinks Nvidia's work in data centers and high-end consumer gaming is enough to bet on the company winning the cryptocurrency market as well. Nvidia is certainly making waves in the self-driving car market, with a recent slate of high-profile partnerships.

Onlytime will tell. Nvidia is up 43.4% this year, compared to AMD's 10.24% increase and the general S&P 500's 7.17% increase.

Markets Insider

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A Wall Street bank is betting Nvidia will win the cryptocurrency battle ... - Markets Insider

The church/charity ecosystem is in the billions of dollars globally. The Waves based Krosscoin project is a multifaceted project and multinational team that aims to bring much needed and overdue solutions to the church and charity space. Krosscoin will assist big ministries in migrating to the blockchain where products and materials can be paid for by krosscoin or their native asset.

Krosscoin will also create a matching pair with them to promote liquidity. Krosscoin innovative products will also have a global market with applications for different purposes. Ribbon is its first product and will be released at the end of July.

Ribbon is the worlds first multilingual in-messaging app. It boasts of other features which the Krosscoin core team will disclose shortly before its release.

The Krosscoin team however being the first coin to provide solutions for Churches, NGOs and Charities, actually has a global outlook. They plan to participate in the disruption of several industries such as ecommerce ( a product is being developed for that already), banking, business solutions, media, gaming, government, transportation, oil and gas and international remittance. They also aim to merge virtual gaming with real time charity, an interesting thing to see.

Krosscoin has a very strong community on Facebook and on its slack channel, comprising of people from all over the world. The Waves platform and community is definitely benefiting from the strong Krosscoin ecosystem.

Mark Zuckerberg announced on Instagram that Facebook is changing its mission to not just merely connect the world (which they have done very remarkably) but to also promote unity and togetherness, to connect vitally. Krosscoin seems to be at the forefront in this regard to make this possible. Its logo Lets make good happen underscores the teams mission.

Discalimer: This is not trading advice. If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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Krosscoin The First Church and Charity Centric Cryptocurrency - The Merkle

Monster Byte Inc. owns a suite of long standing and profitable gambling websites that have been custom-built with proprietary technology owned by Monster Byte. Monster Byte is looking to raise additional funds to not only enhance their current consumers sites but also begin to resell their intellectual property and enter the B2B iGaming space. This ICO is unique because the company has been generating revenue, adding users and enhancing its products since 2013. Instead of wondering if you are buying vaporware with the ICO you have a chance to share in the growth and profits of an established company.

From Sports Betting to Provably Fair Games

Monster Byte owns and operates Peerbet.org, Bit777.com, and BitcoinRush.io. Bitcoin Rush offers sports betting and a provably fair casino all custom built and originally founded as casinobitco.in in 2013. The sportsbook currently offers highly competitive odds and a daily cashback system that is not available at any other bitcoin sportsbook. Peerbet was established in 2012 and offers 1% edge dice games and an on-site exchange for various cryptocurrencies. Finally, Bit777 was acquired by Monster Byte in 2014 from UltraPlay LTD and is a flash based casino with 49 different games.

What will the ICO funds be used for?

First and foremost, Monster Byte is hiring several functions, including additional developers, and community managers.

The BitcoinRush.io sportsbook will be updated with a new UI/UX model and implement a system that earns between 2-4% per bet regardless if the player wins or loses.

Peerbet.org will be relaunched with a new modern design that will be responsive for tablet and mobile device play.

BitcoinRush.io will start accepting more coins including Waves, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, and others in time for the next NFL season in September.

B2B syndication of its games and API access to both traditional fiat and cryptocurrency gaming portals. The new line of business will supplement existing revenue streams.

Telegram messenger betting support. People will be able to place bets from their telegram app.

What do token holders get?

Monster Byte Token will be issued exclusively on the Waves Platform due to the ability to easily trade tokens against other assets and cryptocurrencies all within the DEX, a very liquid decentralized exchange in the Waves LiteApp Wallet.

On a quarterly basis, all Monster Byte token holders are entitled to their share of the collective profit (revenue expenses) of Monster Byte. Dividends will be paid in bitcoin, and detailed quarterly reports will be published to provide full transparency on all operations. A dedicated Slack channel will also be created to follow the day-to-day operations and development progress with the team itself.

When is the ICO? I want in NOW!

The ICO pre-sale will begin on July 3rd, 2017 at 16:00 UTC, and extend until July 8th 16:00 UTC or whenever the pre-sale is sold out, whichever occurs first. During the pre-sale, 2,500,000 Monster Byte tokens will be sold at $0.08 USD, a 31.5% discount over the general sale. The general sale will open at July 8th at 16:00, and 7,500,000 Monster Byte tokens will then be sold at $0.11 USD.

Is there a cap?

Yes, in total, Monster Byte anticipates raising $1,025,000 USD which gives Monster Byte a $4.4M post-money valuation. They chose not to have an open cap as savvy investors should know exactly what they are buying into, with a well-defined capitalization model.

A unique opportunity

This is your chance to invest in one of the fastest growing industries. Sports betting and online gambling is one of the best use cases for cryptocurrencies. Currently, online gambling as a whole is a $46 Billion/year market. Depending on estimates, it is expected to be approximately $50 Billion/year by 2019. At the same time, due the benefits of both the player and operator, cryptocurrency gambling is going to eat into this market gradually year over year.

Based on Monster Bytes solid reputation and long-standing history in this young niche market, as well as their expansion into B2B operations this is an ICO that is sure to go quickly.

Visit our website and sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates on the ICO and presale.

https://www.monsterbyte.io/ico

Slack https://monsterbyte.slack.com/

Bitcointalk https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1980482

This is a sponosored Press Release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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Cryptocurrency Gambling Company Monster Byte Inc. Launches ICO - The Merkle

Published on June 29th, 2017 | by Derek Markham

June 29th, 2017 by Derek Markham

Solar electricity production + blockchain = a currency based on sunshine

Just as cryptocurrency has become a disruptive technology, so has renewable energy, and although those two distinct sectors havent really come into their own just yet, an innovative solar incentive program is incorporating both solar electricity production and the blockchain, with the intent of boosting and supporting one with the other.

Instead of a digitally mined product, this cryptocurrencys proof of work happens in the physical world, and those who have photovoltaic arrays can earn SolarCoin just for generating solar electricity. Its essentially a global solar rewards program, and is designed to help incentivize more solar electricity production, while also serving as a lower-carbon cryptocurrency than Bitcoin and similar alternative currencies.

We initially covered SolarCoin in 2014, right after it launched, and since then, the project has rewarded more than 10,000 solar installations for their electricity generation (totaling somewhere north of 200 megawatts). [As a side note, its actually somewhat surprising to me that the number is only 10,000 solar generators, considering that the currency is granted essentially for free to any solar producer that gets verified.]

This 90-second intro video explains SolarCoin in a nutshell:

SolarCoin is like airmiles for global solar electricity producers. Joseph Zitoli, The SolarCoin Foundation

This longer (5 minute) video explains where SolarCoin gets its value from:

As of January of 2017, more than 34 million SolarCoins have been put into circulation, with that figure growing by about 5,000 per week, and some 240,000 SolarCoins have gone to solar producers in 23 countries. In addition, two solar-focused crowdfunding platforms, Lumo and TheSunExchange, are now incorporating SolarCoin, the Belgian energy monitor company Smappee includes SolarCoin in its features, and in March 2017, the French collaborative energy supplier ekWateur became the first energy company to accept SolarCoin as a means of payment.

SolarChange, the SolarCoin Foundation platform that integratesthe SolarCoin Blockchain and incorporates a host of other monitoring and energy management features, was recently chosen to participate in the four month MassChallenge Israel accelerator program, which could help ramp up the solar currencys adoption.

The Goal for SolarChange in the MassChallenge program is to dramatically scale its AI-Blockchain interface solutions and Prosumer incentive capabilities from a Startup company to SME and expose its technology to utilities and the solar industry.

As far as cryptocurrecies go, SolarCoin (SLR) has a lot of growing to do, as it is shooting for an eventual $30 price but is currently hovering just over $0.20. Aside from getting a lot more solar generators onboard, there are also issues with scaling up its adoption as an alternative currency for both buyers and sellers of goods. The Swiss currency marketplace Lykke Exchange has added SolarCoin to its offerings, with Lykke CEO Richard Olsen (who ended up joining the SolarCoin Foundation advisory board) putting it succinctly, Our users can now convert sunshine directly into francs, euros or bitcoins.

Bringing the SolarCoin currency into the Lykke Exchange is a logical extension of our long-term plan. We are always looking for ways to expand market access and increase participation. Challenging conventional wisdom is what we do best, and we will be able to do it that much better with the passionate, forward-thinking SolarCoin community on our exchange. Olsen

A recent article in PV Tech by Florent Andrillon sums up the challenges facing SolarCoin, as well as a key selling point for the currency:

SolarCoins success will depend on the capacity to generate a large and robust ecosystem, and leverage social added value to differentiate from other cryptocurrencies.

In contrast to most other cryptocurrencies, its not just the financial value of the SolarCoin currency thats at the core of its strength. Sure, SolarCoin could be a legitimate investment option for those looking for a future return, but far more value may come from its incentivizing of solar energy production, which the project hopes to underwrite for some 40 years, to the tune of about 97,500 TWh of solar electricity.

And it is gaining acceptance, as IRENA and Solar Power Europe have endorsed the currency, but there are still many challenges to overcome:

Stakeholder engagement with power producers, investors, companies and individuals to convince, educate and reconcile on economic and financial and technical challenges is critical. Convincing power producers to share generation data is also a key challenge. At last, driving consensus among companies to promote SolarCoins depends on its liquidity and consumer attractiveness compared to other cryptocurrencies. Andrillon

Learn more at SolarCoin and SolarChange.

Hat tip: Karl Graves. Images: SolarCoin

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Tags: Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency, SolarCoin

Derek Markham lives in southwestern New Mexico and digs bicycles, simple living, organic gardening, sustainable lifestyle design, slacklining, bouldering, and permaculture. He loves good food, with fresh roasted chiles at the top of his list of favorites. Catch up with Derek on Twitter, RebelMouse, Google+, or at his natural parenting site, Natural Papa!

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SolarCoin Is A Cryptocurrency Earned By Generating Solar ... - CleanTechnica

Given the recent popularity of cryptocurrency ICOs, it was to be expected some things would be unclear to a lot of people. One of the most recurring questions is why all of these ICOs try to prevent US citizens from participating. There are many different reasons as to why this is the case, even though the countermeasures can be bypassed quite easily.

Anyone who has recently participated in a cryptocurrency ICO or pre-ICO may have noticed how these offerings are, in theory not available to residents in the US. Some projects even go as far as trying to dissuade residents from Singapore to participate as well. It is evident these two regions do not take kindly to cryptocurrency ICOs, mainly due to regulatory reasons.

To put this into perspective, the United States is quite strict when it comes to investment regulations. Only accredited investors can partake in private placements of securities. While some people would urge all cryptocurrency ICOs are tokens and not securities, regulators will have a very different opinion regarding this matter. A lot of the ICOs we have seen can be labeled as traditional sales of equity.

As is to be expected, the team organizing a cryptocurrency ICO cannot guarantee only accredited US investors will partake. They can take the necessary steps to prevent most US citizens from investing, although these measures can be bypassed. Right now, the ICOs tend to ask if you are a US citizen, but there is no verification of whether or not one speaks the truth. Some projects use geolocation to block US citizens, but those can be bypassed with a proxy or VPN. It is impossible to prevent US citizens from participating, but these measures have to be taken regardless.

Some of the bigger cryptocurrency ICOs will ensure they hire lawyers who can create a more workable environment for interested parties. If they would not take these steps, their entire token sale would be liable to criminal charges in the US. That is, assuming the SEC would ever decide to investigate a particular crowdsale for those specific reasons. It is highly unlikely that will happen, even though the SEC is looking to regulate ICOs moving forward.

Once the SEC will effectively intervene in cryptocurrency ICOs which is only a matter of time things will get very interesting, to say the least. A lot of previous ICOs didnt take the necessary steps to deny US citizens from investing. All of those projects and their teams are at the mercy of the SEC for the time being. Violating US securities laws is not something anyone wants to deal with. Additionally, these laws can also be enforced upon non-US companies, which makes it even more important to take countermeasures.

It is evident this unregulated space will be of keen interest to financial watchdogs all over the world in the coming years. The bigger question is how many companies will get burnt for not doing their due diligence. It is bad enough to know most of these projects may ultimately fail. Worrying about future criminal charges will certainly have a big impact on all of these crowdsales moving forward.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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Why Can't US Citizens Participate in Cryptocurrency ICOs? - The Merkle

A look at three cryptocurrencies that show tons of promise.

June 2017 has been a wild month for cryptocurrency. First, Bancor set the industry record for the largest-ever ICO at just over $150 million. A week later, Status.im (SNT) raised $275 million in under 3 hours during its ICO, contributing to an Ethereum flash crash.

And those are just two examples among many. Amid all the hullabaloo, it might feel hard to figure out which cryptocurrencies are worth investing in. So I sat down with Lucas Hendren, CTO of SimplyVital Health, to discuss the most promising cryptocurrencies to watch in July.

CoinJoker

Without a doubt, the name thats hot on every crypto-enthusiasts lips this month is Tezos, a new decentralized blockchain that governs itself by establishing a true digital commonwealth. With its ICO occurring July 1 (yep, thats tomorrow), the buzz of speculation is inescapable. Jeremy Epstein of Never Stop Marketing recently heralded its ICO as the Netscape of the blockchainin other words, the ICO that inflates the blockchain bubble by capturing the attention of the broader public. Naysayers point out that, while the ethos of Tezos is sound, it wont be able to hit critical mass in the face of a stronger and more established competitor. Proponents cite its robust security, capability to scale, and emphasis on true decentralization as natural next steps in the evolution of the ideas laid out (and arguably, confirmed) by Ethereum.

Tezos could theoretically have all the abilities of Ethereumbut in addition, its switching straight to proof-of-stake, said Hendren. The idea behind proof-of-stake is that its much less energy and time intensive, which would lead to faster transactions at a lower cost.

By launching the system with a proof-of-stake model from the onset, Tezos could sidestep some of the growing pains that have faced Ethereum. Furthermore, the governance system Tezos has built into its system gives it the capability to grow over time.

Tezos allows for a much easier way to upgrade and manage the system and insure that it has constant upgrades, said Hendren. If youve been following Bitcoin and Ethereum, a big problem theyve been having is how they go about upgrading. With Tezos, if you join part of that system, therell be a periodic vote to determine if theyre going to upgrade the system, and if so, what theyre going to upgrade it tothis is a massive simplification of itbut if a certain quorum is met and a vote passes, the entire system upgrades.

As to the Tezos vs Ethereum argument, Hendren expressed confidence in both, citing Tezoss upgrade-ability as a cause for genuine excitement.

Long-term it very well might be a competitor with Ethereum, but at the moment the space is so large and empty that theres room for both of them to grow, said Hendren. The main reason to be excited about it is that theyve potentially solved the problem of upgrading that many of the other blockchain networks have had.

Golem purports to be the new way the Internet will work, and when you start to look under the hood, you realize how and why they can make such a bold claim. (And if youve kept up with the latest season of Silicon Valley, itll sound eerily familiar).

The whole idea behind GNT is it allows you to sell your processing power, said Hendren. That basically means that you as an individualif you have, say, any laptop that you arent usingyou can sell your laptop as a server and make money from it. So you end up with this massive distributed computing network; it basically turns into the worlds largest supercomputer in a decentralized format. I think that is a very powerful idea that has a lot of potential.

GNT has already ICOed, but will entering its Alpha in very short time (very likely this month)and that Alpha is aiming to make high-intensity computing tasks like animation and CGI rendering much easier and cheaper.

Their Alpha will allow you to do CGI rendering and other animation rendering on their Golem network, potentially at a much cheaper cost than normal, said Hendren. And thats going to be released very soonmaking it something to watch right now. Theres a very high chance that GNT could gain a lot of value.

On the flipside of the computing equation, MaidSafe offers users the chance to sell their computers storage on the network.

MaidSafe allows you to safely secure your assets on a distributed network and distributed applications, said Hendren. So its similar to Golem but its more set up for data storage than it is for processing, and that is also a very useful, powerful idea.

The idea here is that theres tons of storage going to waste right now, and MaidSafe lets users sell this storage the same way one might rent out their apartment on Airbnb.

If you have a laptop, you can sell your storage space on this network, said Hendren. This is a simplified version, but: I have a laptop in my room Im not using at the momentI could load my computer up to this network and store data for other people for money.

For hopeful investors, Hendren explained that the next month will be the best time to get in early before MaidSafe enters its Alpha.

One big reason to watch it is that theyre releasing their Alpha on August 12, said Hendren. Whenever I advise tokens I usually advise you to go read the white paper and do your own researchbut if you want to get in early for this one, you have til August 12 to get in.

By letting users store encrypted data in a distributed format, MaidSafe effectively offers user privacy and autonomy in a way no current cloud storage solution does.

Hendren also advised newcomers to these markets to adopt two strategies when it comes to investing.

The main thing right now for everyone in there: in my opinion, you should try to avoid technical analyses, said Hendren. If you buy into something, you should plan on either holding for a long time or selling it at a certain point youve already planned out.

Why? Hendren references last weeks flash-crash as one example.

The reason for that is because this market is so young and immature, which is also some of the reason you can get great returns, said Hendren. There a few fish that have a massive amount of these currencies just waiting to sell that can basically move the market singlehandedly in any direction they want to. Any single event could have a massive influence on these things. My advice is not to be emotional, to buy in, sell out, buy in, and sell out again. Otherwise there are large sharks out there that will destroy you.

Disclosure: Damiani and Hendren have invested in GNT and MAID, and intend to participate in the Tezos ICO. Neither are professional financial analysts or advisors.

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The 3 Cryptocurrencies to Watch This Month - HuffPost

Keep the megadeals and uncertainty coming, it's great for us in the news business. Not so much for some investors that may have not seen the recent tech sell-off coming or who haven't been following this missive where all I seem to do is harp on M&A and activism. But, we'll get to that later.

Despite a serious sell-off, TheStreet was focused on two hot names in tech: Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) that have seen a recent boost given the cyberattacks that have ravaged multinational companies and put a spot light on cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

TheStreet's Annie Palmer writes that the two are in a heated battle to design chips optimized to mine Bitcoin. According to many on Wall Street, there is going to be one clear winner in this battle.

Outside of tech, the oil markets held steady on Thursday, a rare occurrence for the commodity that has been on a roller coaster ride for as long as I can remember. Crude oil prices held onto gains to close higher for a sixth session in a row. West Texas Intermediate had surged 1.1% a day earlier, even after an increase in domestic stockpiles.

I told you we would get to activism and M&A ... Let's talk about the second merger to rock everyone's world in the past two weeks (after Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) , which I can't help but go on and on about: the merger of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) and Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) .

Thursday got off with a bang as the two companies announced a revised deal that includes about half of Rite Aid stores as opposed to the roughly two-thirds of them that were included in the original deal. Whether you think the new deal will be enough to pass antitrust officials is one thing, but the fact that Fred's Inc. (FRED) may be in trouble, much to the displeasure of activist David Einhorn, or the fact that CVS Health (CVS) may have to do something to help keep itself relevant seem to be two safe assumptions.

This is an excerpt from "In Case You Missed It," a daily newsletter brought to you by TheStreet. Sign up here.

Photo of the day:Happy birthday to the iPhone

Ten years ago, people were lining up to buy the very first generation of Apple's (AAPL) new product, the iPhone. Initially priced at $599 for an 8GB model, the device was more expensive than most other phones on the market, but the novel touchscreen, capacity for music and inclusion of the Safari web browser made the hefty fee worth it for many. Now, a decade later, the price has actually climbed even higher for a first-generation iPhone because of its collectible value--as long as it's new and unopened. Currently, the product that was first released to the public on June 29, 2007, is selling for $4,000 on eBay unopened and in its original packaging.

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Nvidia, AMD Battle for Cryptocurrency Supremacy; Oil Markets Steady -- ICYMI Thursday - TheStreet.com

Rumors are swirling that Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) may soon launch dedicated graphics cards for cryptocurrency mining, which could unlock access to a market that's estimated to be worth at least half a billion dollars.

It could also spur an even greater rise in the chipmaker's stock, on top of the 37.8% its gained year to date, making it the best performing stock in the S&P 500so far this year. Shares of Nvidia fell more than 3% to $146.68 on Thursday, however, asinvestors continued a recent rotation out of tech stocks, dragging the FAANG stocks and other mega-cap tech names down further.

Shares of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s (AMD) have gotten a boost recently thanks to a resurgence in mining of an alternative cryptocurrency called Ethereum. Mining is the process of verifying cryptocurrency transactions, at which point the transactions are added to the public ledger, called the blockchain. New cryptocurrency is created every time a transaction is verified, and those mining it make money whenever they do so.

Nvidia has yet to confirm that it will sell dedicated cryptocurrency cards, but product listings for chips using Nvidia-based and AMD-based GPUs recently appeared on Asus' website as part of a "Mining Series." Asus serves as a distribution partner for both chipmakers. Additionally, Christopher Rolland, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, said he recently met with supply chain companies in Asia who confirmed that Nvidia plans to release two new graphics cards targeted for the cryptocurrency mining market.

If either company chooses to release a cryptocurrency-specific chip, Nvidia would be the clear winner, said RBC Capital Markets analyst Mitch Steves.

"Nvidia will win in the long term," Steves said. "They've historically been the best breed product for gaming and data center chips, so Nvidia will come out ahead. They have a product edge in general."

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This Is Why Nvidia Is Poised to Trample Advanced Micro Devices in the Cryptocurrency Mining Market - TheStreet.com

On one hand, it's hard for many investors not to be excited about the meteoric rise of cryptocurrencies in the past few months. Bitcoin has roughly tripled in value since the beginning of the year, Ethereum is up by about 40 times, and Ripple, one of the newest arrivals on the scene, gained a shocking 3800%. What's more, the total market cap for the cryptocurrency industry has been steadily increasing as well, and more and more businesses are finding ways to incorporate digital currencies into their models and payment systems. However, with all of this excitement about the new industry, there are also many analysts approaching with caution. Aberdeen Asset Management is one of the latest firms to do so, suggesting that there is a virtual currency bubble which will, at some point, eventually burst.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management had some words of caution for investors considering the cryptocurrency field. Peter Denious said that "prices right now aren't being driven by network usage, they're being driven by speculation that tokens are going to appreciate. It's a gold-rush mentality." Denious and others point to the rapid increase in the number of initial coin offerings, or ICOs, as well as the quick gains in the price of tokens upon listing as two signs that a bubble is in effect. ICOs are tremendously successful, with many companies operating in the blockchain space making millions of dollars in minutes, even if they have no proven or distinctive idea backing their token.

It may be important to note, however, that digital currencies are not the only assets which have seen gains to record levels in recent months. The returns on the leading cryptocurrencies so far in 2017 have been unparalleled in other areas, but other asset classes have also made impressive gains. Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices are at record levels, despite the widespread uncertainty surrounding global markets. At the same time, housing prices seem to have mostly recovered from an earlier burst.

Coin Telegraph suggests that the increase in asset prices may be due to large degrees of liquidity across global markets, thanks to quantitative easing by many central banks around the world. Considering this possible reason for the gains, it may not be just a cryptocurrency bubble that eventually bursts. If there is, in fact, a burgeoning bubble in either the real estate or equity worlds, those could have serious and long-lasting effects on the worldwide economy. As cryptocurrencies are untested, it's more difficult to say what the impact of a bubble burst would be in that area.

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Beware Cryptocurrency "Gold Rush Mentality": Aberdeen Asset Mgmt - Investopedia

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.s stock fell Wednesday, bucking the sharp gains enjoyed by its peers and the broader stock market, amid growing concerns that cryptocurrency miners may start going elsewhere for their graphics cards.

The chip-makers stock AMD, -1.27% closed down 1.3% at $13.23, paring earlier losses of as much as 2.3% at an intraday low of $13.09. With volume of 84.8 million shares, the stock was the most actively traded on the Nasdaq exchange.

Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX, +1.77% climbed 1.8% and the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.88% rallied 0.9%.

Analyst Christopher Rolland at Susquehanna Financial said that after a recent trip to Asia, he can confirm recent media reports that key rival Nvidia Corp. NVDA, +3.53% will release two new cryptocurrency-specific graphics processing units (GPUs) during the third quarter. Nvidias stock surged 3.5% to snap a four-session losing streak.

As these new products are more price competitive, they may pose a risk to AMDs current offerings in the market, Rolland wrote in a note to clients. [The] new cards may upset AMDs alt-crypto coin dominance.

Nvidia said it had no comment. AMD did not respond to a request for comment.

AMDs stock has run up 16.7% year to date, after rocketing nearly fourfold in 2016, fueled by news that Apple Inc. AAPL, +1.46% would use AMD chips in its new iMac Pro. It also got a boost from a surge in demand from cryptocurrency miners and hard-core gamers and optimism over the release of new Epyc chips for the enterprise market.

Dont miss: AMDs stock extends rocket climb, fueled by tremendous graphics cards demand.

See also: AMDs stock takes another Epyc leap.

Nvidias stock hasnt been far behind, soaring 42.2% year to date after more than tripling in 2016, on the back of a strong showing in the server business and the potential for strength in the autonomous vehicles market.

On Wednesday, Mizuho Securities analyst Vijay Rakesh reiterated his bullish stance on Nvidia, while raising his stock price target to $17012.0% above current levelsfrom $145.

While the gaming business has been soft so far this year, conservative gaming estimates for the second half of the year could see upside, as near-term cryptocurrency and mining trends are driving GPU shortages and pricing, combined with new auto wins and ramps at ZF, Rakesh wrote in a research note.

Although AMD has held a dominant position in the cryptocurrency market, Susquehannas Rolland said that position could be threatened by the lack of supply of AMD GPUs and from a cost-reduced part supplied by the competing Nvidia. But perhaps not for very long, as AMD also have its own new offering coming soon, Rolland added.

We note that while contacts did not mention upcoming AMD mining-specific cards, some media reports suggest their coming arrival, perhaps favoring a modest swing in competition back to AMD, Rolland wrote.

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AMD's stock falls as Nvidia's upcoming cryptocurrency GPUs pose a threat - MarketWatch

One of the world's largest technology hardware makers has announcednew graphics cards (GPUs) aimed at the cryptocurrency mining market.

Taiwan-based manufacturer Asus revaeledtheMining RX 470 and Mining P106,which were designed to handle the energy and heat intensive process of mining. Though not expressly pitched as such, the release is undoubtedly aimed at capturing some of the interest in mining ethereum. Bitcoin mining, by comparison, has evolved to a stage in which application-specific integratedcircuits, or ASICs, are required to compete.

Cryptocurrency mining is a process by which new transaction blocks are added to the distributed network. When this happens, new blockchain tokensare introduced to the system and awarded to the miner as compensation in this case, a profit is achieved when the cost of electricity and the operation itself is lower than the revenue generated by selling those tokens.

According to today's Asus announcement, the new cards are "engineered especially for coin mining, positioning the products as capable of providing "maximum mega hash rates at minimum cost".

Interest in cryptocurrency mining has led to reported shortages of GPUsin the global market. One hobbyist miner recently told CoinDesk that local tech stores have run low on the cards, adding that online marketplaces like Newegg, Amazon and eBay, among others, are also largely out of stock.

It's a situation that echoes the earlier "GPU rush" from 2014, when mining activity around alternative cryptocurrencies like dogecoin and litecoin led to similar price increases and a decline in available inventory.

Shortages aside, ethereum network data suggests that more hash rate is coming into ply as time goes on.

According to etherchain.org, the mining difficulty which rises as more hashing power is brought online nearlytripled from 27th April to 27th June.

TheRX 470 will be available worldwide, according to Asus, while the Mining P106 card will be available in China and Eastern Europe only,beginning in July.

Image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Asus Announces New Graphics Cards Focused on Cryptocurrency Mining - CoinDesk

The reason Im so much fun at parties is that my idea of a good time is to lecture everyone on cryptocurrency. I can pretty much talk bitcoin and blockchain with Hamiltonian fervor all night.

Ever since I began writing about cryptocurrency in general in 2013I believe this story I wrote for Esquire in fall of that year was the first ever mainstream media mention of Ripple (on whose board I now sit) I have been making one point to anyone who will endure my what is cryptocurrency lecture. People are all wrong about the difference between cryptocurrency and real money.

By real money, people invariably mean fiat currency issued by a government. To counter the argument that real money is somehow safer than crypto Ive pointed to Argentinas 40 percentinflation rate, or the Weimar Republic, and its famous wheelbarrows full of money to buy a loaf of bread (which was arguably intentional as Germany sought to repay Treaty of Versailles debt with devalued deutsche marks). And of course the world has watched in horror as Venezuela has devalued the bolivar to the point of meaninglessness.

These are not hypothetical examples. If you think this is all futurist theoretical BS, read up on the devastating effect hyperinflation is having as it transforms what was once South Americas most promising economy into a hellish nightmare in which people are eating their pets. Governments constantly, reliably, invariably and maddeningly ruin their own currencies by giving in to the temptation to overprint it. The beauty of bitcoin is that, like gold, the entire supply of it that will ever exist on earth (21 million coins), is known about, finite, and will never increase.

Still, as powerful as these examples aresome from recent second-world countries and others from past first-world countriesthey do not vividly resonate with Americans. That makes perfect sense. The U.S. dollar, after all, has been so reliable that the very countries I am criticizing, like Argentina and Venezuela, turn to the greenback and use it as a shadow currency to store value as their own money fails.

Even when we see American commodities change dramatically in price, like we witnessed with gasoline in 2008 when it reached $4.11 in July and fell to $1.84 in January, people dont readily seem to connect that its not just gasoline fluctuating but American money fluctuating. If my $10 bought 4 gallons of gas on October 1 and two gallons of gas on November 1, gas doubled in price just as the buying power of the American dollar was cut in half. Its the same thing. (Not precisely the same, actually, but close enough for the point Im making.)

So what Ive been searching for in these years of evangelizing and explaining the revolutionary power of cryptocurrencyincluding bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, litecoin, this new one BAT that Im interested in and othersto transform basically everything, are examples that will resonate without sounding like Im talking about 1930s Germany or the struggles of the second world. These last few weeks, I think Ive got what I need. And it comes heartbreakingly from my home state.

Illinois faces financial distress thats unprecedented for any American state. Without a budget for two years and sitting on top of over $15 billion in unpaid bills, the state is, to use a phrase that State Comptroller Susana Mendoza borrowed from Bonfire, hemorrhaging money as the states spending obligations have exceeded receipts by an average of over $600 million per month over the past year.

While the United States Constitution prevents a state from declaring bankruptcy the way places like Detroit and Orange County have, the situation is so dire that the Tribunes prestige columnist, John Kass, is only partially kidding when he calls for the state to be divided up between its five Midwestern neighbors.

Again, this is not just wonky penciling. The people of Illinois are being crushed by the burden imposed by a state that cannot pay its bills. The Chicago Public Schools, for example, must now pay 9 percent on its adjustable bonds because they are rated as junk. S&P is warning of a negative credit spiral and threatened to lower its rating even further if the state cannot hammer out a budget by July 1, which is less than a week away.

In other words, a bridge that used to cost $100 million to build because thats what it cost to borrow the money from bondholders, now might cost $150 million. Just as we saw in the gasoline example, anytime something costs more US dollars for the exact same product, you can look at it as the cost of a bridge going up, or you can look at it as the value of a dollar falling.

Thats why I believe in cryptocurrency.

Illinois cannot print its own money. I dont know what theyre going to do to crawl out of this mess. But there is no denying that all governments, including the United States, have manipulated their money supplies for political ends. And thats why I am so bullish on the future of cryptocurrency.

This isnt about whether bitcoin will soar to $5,000 or sink to $500. I think either is possible and equally likely, and Im not looking to give investment advice. All Im saying is that I trust currencies that are cryptographically enshrined and limited by the hard realities of math, at least as much as I trust human beings who are subject to the allure of popularity and other shiny objects.

The best book about cryptocurrency is Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper. And the parts of it that most moved me occurred when he described how this incredibly complicated and novel technology actually affected human lives. One of the early innovators of the bitcoin ecosystem was Wences Casares, who founded Xapo and a bunch of other crypto-friendly fintech startups. When Casares was growing up in Patagonia in the early 80s, the Argentinian government was messing with its currency to disastrous effect. First, they issued a new peso, exchangeable for 10,000 of the old peso. When that failed, they rolled out something called the austral, which was worth 1,000 new pesos (ie, 10 million of the currency that had been in use two years earlier). The inflation rate was more than 1,000 percent a year. Casares describes his mother carrying two grocery bags filled with moneyher wages. He and his sisters rushed with her to the store to buy what they could because the market employed people who did nothing but walk the aisles all day repricing items.

These math-based moneys from the future have a lot of user-unfriendliness and even getting money into and out of accounts can be a customer service hassle. But bagfuls of nearly worthless cash are not an unimaginable reality for millions of people on the planet. Thats the human reason Im willing to continue to bore people with cryptoevangelism.

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Illinois Is Venezuela and the Solution Is Cryptocurrency - Observer

Singapore-based startup TenX Technologies founded back in June 2015 with its co-founders wanting to solve the problem of cryptocurrencies not really able to be used in everydaylife. Most people trying to spend Bitcoin, Ethereum or many others realize quite fast that it is hard to connect this revolutionary but novel system with real world transactions.

Fast forward to this year two years later, the company is proud to report following a 1 million USD seed round at the beginning of 2017 with famous lead investor Fenbushi, TenX completed a successful token raise over this past weekend on June 24, 2017, 1 pm UTC.Itexchanged an equivalent of 245,832 Ether (valued at roughly 80 million USD at the time of the swap)to the companys PAY tokens at a rate of 350 PAY tokens per 1 Ether (with a 20% bonus during the first 24 hours). The PAY tokens will provide access to part of TenXs revenue of their already live payment service and also serves as a loyalty program to its own users.

Contributors only had 7 minutes to submit their contributions to TenXs receiving address before TenX stopped accepting further offers at 1:07 p.m. UTC. Roughly 4,000 people managed to participate directly while an additional several thousand people joined through pools to make it in time. Roughly 40,000 people did not manage to swap their tokens and will have to wait until July when the PAY tokens will be tradeable on cryptocurrency exchanges all over the world.

During the token swap, TenX accepted one of the most diverse ranges of tokens any company has ever provided. In addition to Ethereum, also ERC20 tokens, Bitcoin, Dash, and Litecoin were accepted. TenX made sure the transaction burden on the Ethereum network was kept to a minimum. By keeping contribution addresses unpublished until 15 minutes prior to the swap, TenX reduced unnecessary spamming of transactions leading up to the event. Transaction limits were also not suggested since such limits favor those who know how to bypass them. This technical finesse combined with authentic outreach such as their regular vlogmade the company ICO a success.

Instead of refunding this excess, TenX has agreed to honor all contributions stating: We will not withdraw the extra 45,000 ETH but rather leave them for additional liquidity in the crypto ecosystem to support a decentralized TenX as outlined in our white paper. This is actually a WIN-WIN for token holders AND the company.

This decision was made after estimations showed that in order to refund the excess Ether, close to 75% or 3,000 people would see their tokens canceled a move TenX did not want for its community. TenX offered to anyone unhappy with this arrangement to reach out prior to Tuesday, June 27, 2017, 11:59 pm EST, to receive a full refund, and has also confirmed once again that no new PAY tokens after the token swap will ever be created.

TenX will use these funds to develop their payment system even further from where it already is today: This includes apps for The Web, Android, and iPhone; debit cards and other further payment services; a decentralized system to connect any blockchain and thereby add any new cryptocurrency to the already existing multi-asset platform.

A detailed funding breakdown and the next steps for TenX are laid out clearly in its white paper.

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TenX raises roughly $80 million for cryptocurrency payment system for everyday life - CryptoNinjas

TenX has big plans to change the world of cryptocurrencies. How will they do it? One word: liquidity. An ongoing issue plaguing the digital currency landscape is the question of how to make use of virtual money in real-world spending applications. Generally speaking, only the top few cryptocurrencies see a large enough trading volume and liquidity in order to be viable in this way and on a large scale. TenX, a startup which recently earned $34 million in seven minutes with their initial coin offering, or ICO, believes that they have a solution.

The startup, a 2017 graduate of Paypal's incubator program and based in Singapore, has prepared a debit card to facilitate the spending of blockchain assets in the real world. A report by Bitcoinist outlines some of the technology behind the card. On the front end, the card will use a payment system, and on the back, it will use COMIT. This protocol allows disparate blockchains, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, to communicate and interact with one another without having to generate a common token between them. Theoretically, this will speed up transaction times and allow for real-world applications that would not have previously been possible.

Beyond the debit card, TenX has also reportedly developed an app for iOS and Android which will assist in the process of introducing the TenX currency, called PAY, into the real world. Inc.com reports that the app will act as both a wallet and as a decentralized, fee-free exchange. Beyond that, the app will also include a debit/credit card functionality as well. It seems that TenX may be preparing both digital credit cards as well as tangible plastic cards for use. In either case, the user would theoretically be able to make use of the card at any brick and mortar store where they would use a standard credit card. To further facilitate these transactions, TenX has provided for the card to convert the digital currency which is stored within it into the local fiat currency, allowing for global use. This last point in particular is especially helpful, as a barrier to spending virtual currency in the past has been the necessity to convert it into local currency, adding a timestaking additional step and potential fees.

For the time being, TenX's platform supports Dash, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, among other lesser-known currencies. The company has ties with Ethereum, as Vitalik Buterin, the founder of the latter, is an official advisor to TenX. The app is fully functional and ready for distribution into the broader world. More and more talk is emerging about cryptocurrency debit cards as a possible way of linking the virtual with the tangible. TenX hopes to lead the charge in bringing cryptocurrency spending into stores across the globe.

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Could TenX Make Cryptocurrency More Usable In the Real World? - Investopedia

The world of cryptocurrency ICOs has been on fire as of late. In most cases, these ICOs cause quite a bit of strain on the Ethereum network, which is anything but enjoyable. It now appears a lot of projects are running so-called pre-ICO token sales as well. This allows teams to collect even more money, while investors get cheaper tokens.

The concept of a cryptocurrency ICO has been documented quite a few times already. In fact, we have a whole series on this particular market phenomenon, which covers most of the information people need to know. Although investing in a cryptocurrency ICO can be quite lucrative, it is taking longer for tokens to get listed on decent exchanges. This causes a lot of users to get quite nervous about their investment, which is understandable.

This brings us to how cryptocurrency ICOs are currently developing. The money is raised a lot quicker compared to how much time it takes to sort out technical issues, refunds, and getting listed on exchanges. To a lot of people, this makes no sense, especially when projects raise over $10m during their ICO. Surely they could use that money to speed up the listing process and make investors a lot happier? Unfortunately, that is not how things work right now.

Contrary to what most people expect, there is a lot more to getting listed on an exchange than just paying a fee. Especially where ERC20 tokens are concerned, as smart contracts need to be audited by a third party. This causes some delays, which means some investors will panic sell on smaller exchanges as a way to minimize losses. If this trend keeps up, a lot of ICO projects will go under well below they even get a listing on Bittrex or Poloniex. That is very unfortunate, to say the least.

This brings us to a somewhat newer phenomenon, which is known as a pre-ICO token sale. As the name suggests, a pre-ICO allows investors to buy tokens before the official crowdsale begins. In most cases, these pre-ICOs raise a much smaller amount of money, and offer tokens at a lower price with a substantial bonus. More specifically, finding a pre-ICO with a bonus of 40% or more compared to the ICO price is not all that uncommon.

It is worth noting a pre-ICO often uses a very different smart contract compared to the actual ICO itself. This is done to separate funds and ensure these is no confusion. However, it can also create some uncertainty regarding how much money has been raised in total. Since the pre-ICO numbers are not included in the actual ICO numbers, there can be some sort of a discrepancy. Plus, it also means there may be far more tokens issued than people initially assume.

When a project launches a pre-ICO token sale, they need to do their due diligence. Being transparent about the money raised and the number of tokens issued is of the utmost importance. Onenegative side effect of pre-ICOs is how early investors often sell at ICO prices once a token hits an exchange. In doing so, they still make a very big profit and cripple the tokens price in the process. A pre-ICO is an amazing investment opportunity for a quick buck, but it can hurt the projects appeal and credibility when large amounts of tokens are sold at bottom prices.

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Cryptocurrency ICO vs Cryptocurrency Pre-ICO - The Merkle