Select Page ::

Top 3 Coins Price Prediction: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple consolidate their price following as bulls and bears wrestle for control – Confluence…

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

The daily confluence detector shows one strong resistance and support level at $6,375 and $5,775, respectively. The former has the 15-min Bollinger Band, one-week Fibonacci 23.6% retracement level and SMA 100, while the latter has the one-month Pivot Point support-three.

There are two healthy support levels on the downside at $130 and $119.50. The former has the one-day Fibonacci 38.2% retracement level and SMA 10, while the latter has the one-month Pivot Point support-two. On the upside, there is a strong resistance level at $133.50, which has the 15-min Previous Low, one-week Fibonacci 38.2% retracement level, 15-min Bollinger Band middle curve, SMA 5, SMA 50 and SMA 200.

Quite like Bitcoin, Ripple also has one strong resistance and support level, as per the confluence detector. Strong resistance lies at $0.1765, which has the Previous Year low. On the downside, good support lies at $0.145, which has the 4-hour and one-day Previous Lows and one-month Pivot Point support-two.

Original post:

Top 3 Coins Price Prediction: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple consolidate their price following as bulls and bears wrestle for control - Confluence...

Maker Foundation, which Supports Ethereum-based DeFi Platform MakerDAO, Appears to be Winning All Auctions of MKR Governance Tokens – Crowdfund…

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

MakerDAO, a leading Ethereum (ETH)-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, is currently in the process of carrying out an auction of MKR governance tokens in exchange for stablecoin Dai, in an attempt to cover around $4.5 million undercollateralized debt.

On-chain (blockchain) data reveals that the Maker Foundation, a non-profit entity supporting the ongoing development of MakerDAO, has been taking part in several auctions meant to cover millions of dollars in undercollateralized system debt which has recently been created. The Maker Foundation appears to have won all the auctions conducted so far.

The MKR token auction had been initiated when approximately $4.5 million worth of undercollateralized debt was created after several liquidators managed to win collateral liquidation auctions by putting up 0 Dai, which is a stablecoin issued in exchange for depositing Ether (ETH) as collateral in the MakerDAO lending system.

After locking their Ether, the MakerDAO system gives borrowers a loan in Dai, which aims to maintain a soft peg to the US dollar. In addition to ETH, users can deposit Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) or stablecoin USDC as collateral. Following the sharp decline in the Ether price and other crypto assets on March 12, a large number of loans dropped below their minimum 150% collateralization threshold.

The auction involves creating and selling off MKR, which is MakerDAOs governance token, in exchange for stablecoin Dai. The capital raised in this manner will reportedly be used to settle the debt. Those who take part in the auction will have to commit to providing as much as 50,000 Dai, and they could receive up to 250 MKR tokens if they succeed.

The auction reportedly began on March 19 at about 10:30 am ET. So far, 33 auctions have been carried out. Available data reveals that the Maker Foundation seems to have won all of the auctions conducted so far.

In statements shared with The Block, the MakerDAO Foundation stated that it has offered limited technical assistance to some bidders on a first come, first serve basis to facilitate their timely and effective participation in the auctions.

It added:

Note, however, that this assistance in no way provides informational or any other advantage to those bidders, including capital.

The Foundation said that this move may help participants who may not possess the technical skills needed to take part in these types of auctions.

The Foundations trading desk appears to be getting all the winning MKR (so far). All finalized auctions have been won by only three addresses.

The addresses have transferred their acquired MKR tokens back to the Maker Foundations trading desk address, which has been funded by one of the multi-signature addresses managed by the Foundation.

The addresses have reportedly spent 1,650,000 DAI in exchange for 6,226.41 MKR tokens. These transactions have been performed at an average price of 265 DAI per MKR, which has been trading for around 270 DAI on Uniswap, a non-custodial crypto asset exchange.

While Maker has been winning all of the bids so far, The Block claims that it has not been engaging in wash bidding, where participants constantly place higher bids in order to increase the price in an artificial manner.

He explained:

If you filter all auction bids by winning addresses, we see no overlap in bids/auction among 3 addresses.

Go here to read the rest:

Maker Foundation, which Supports Ethereum-based DeFi Platform MakerDAO, Appears to be Winning All Auctions of MKR Governance Tokens - Crowdfund...

Top three coins price prediction: Bitcoin and Ripple bulls start the day strong, Ethereum has a sluggish morning – FXStreet

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

BTC/USD has no visible resistance levels on its path back to the $7,000 zone. However, following that, it faces two strong resistances at $7,125 and $7,260. $7,125 has the one-month Pivot Point support-two, while $7,260 has the one-day Pivot Point resistance-two and one-week Pivot Point resistance-one. On the downside, there is a healthy support level at $6,300, which has the one-hour Bollinger Band middle curve and one-day Fibonacci 38.2% retracement level.

ETH/USD bears currently have control of the market following a heavily bullish Monday. The price has, so far, gone down from $137 to $135. The daily confluence detector shows a healthy resistance level at $141.25, which has the one-week Fibonacci 23.6% retracement level. On the downside, there are two healthy support levels at $133.50 and $133. The former has the one-week Fibonacci 38.2% retracement level while the latter has the SMA 5 and SMA 100.

XRP/USD has a lack of strong resistance levels on the upside, which bodes well for the bulls. Dont be surprised if XRP/USD ends up near the $0.165-level by the end of the day. On the downside, there are three healthy support levels at $0.1577, $0.1557 and $0.153. $0.1577 has the one-week Fibonacci 38.2% retracement level and SMA 5, while $0.1557 has the 4-hour Bollinger Band middle curve. Finally, $0.153 has the SMA 10.

See original here:

Top three coins price prediction: Bitcoin and Ripple bulls start the day strong, Ethereum has a sluggish morning - FXStreet

Introducing the New African BMToken on the Ethereum Blockchain – bitcoinke.io

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

[PRESS RELEASE]

Beep Magnet, a blockchain-focused Nigerian company that has been in the market for the last 4 years, has taken a bold step to develop a new ERC-20 Token that runs on Ethereum Blockchain which will support and scale up her consumer loyalty adoption for Africa the Beepmagnet Token (BMToken).

The company already runs its own BMCT blockchain,a bybrid Blockchain that combines POW, POS, and Master Nodes algorithms for its BMCT coins.

SEE ALSO:An Overview of the Ethereum Blockchain Ecosystem in 2019

The new BeepMagnet token (BMToken) will support BMCT coin as a SWAP token for BMCT and also a token that merchants can accept in their businesses.

Currently, BMCT coins are used on the following platforms:

According to the company, the future of consumer loyalty and reward using the BMCT Coin and the BMToken, with the combination of these two blockchains, guarantees trust, transparency, speed, and decentralization.

We want to see a time when consumers will reject Gift card points or loyalty points that are not powered with blockchain technology, which limits the consumer to speed or redeem loyalty value only at the place it was given. ~ Beep Magnet

Visit the company website and follow them across their social media handles below:

http://www.bmct.io

http://www.beepmagnet.com

http://www.loyalty.bmct.io

Twitter: @BMCToken & @beepmagnet

Open aPaxful Bitcoin Trading Accounttoday!

See the article here:

Introducing the New African BMToken on the Ethereum Blockchain - bitcoinke.io

Ethereum Ranges After Rejection at $140 Overhead Resistance – Coin Idol

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

Mar 23, 2020 at 14:11 // News

Ethereum has been fluctuating between $100 and $140 since March 12. The initial attempt by the bulls to move upward was hampered because of selling pressure at the $140 price level.

The $140 resistance was the previous support in January where the price consolidated before an upward move. Presently, the upward move is repelled because support and resistance respect the historical price level.

Ether has fallen to the low of $122, after the retracement from the overhead resistance. The market will commence a new uptrend if the bulls buy at the current support. ETH will rise and breach the $140 overhead resistance. The bears will take control of where the bulls fail to act. A drop below $122 will mean that the bears are in control and ETH may reach the low of $100.

Ether has been in the oversold region since the last bearish impulse. Unfortunately, buyers fail to emerge in the oversold region. In the absence of that, the stochastic bands were sloping horizontally. Meanwhile, ETH is above the 20% range of the daily stochastic.

Key Resistance Zones: $220, $240, $260

Key Support Zones: $160, $140, $120

Ethereum is currently confined to a range between $100 and $140. The bulls have failed to emerge at the oversold region to propel the coin upward. The market will continue its fluctuations until buyers emerge or new buyers are introduced at the bottom of the chart.

Disclaimer. This analysis and forecast are the personal opinions of the author that are not a recommendation to buy or sell cryptocurrency and should not be viewed as an endorsement by CoinIdol. Readers should do their own research before investing funds.

Follow this link:

Ethereum Ranges After Rejection at $140 Overhead Resistance - Coin Idol

6000 GPUs Take a Break from Ethereum Mining to Contribute to Coronavirus Research Crypto.IQ | Bitcoin and Investment News from Inside Experts You Can…

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

March 23, 2020 / by Crypto.IQ

CoreWeave, which is the largest United States based Ethereum (ETH) miner, has dedicated 6,000 of its Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for finding a Coronavirus vaccine, via contributing them to [emailprotected]

Essentially, [emailprotected] is a distributed network of computers which aggregate their power to simulate viruses and bacteria, and [emailprotected] has had success in the past, such as contributing to the development of front-line HIV drugs.

In this specific case, [emailprotected] is simulating the Coronavirus structure and how it interacts with other medicines, in order to see if any FDA approved medicines have efficacy in inhibiting the Coronavirus. Also, in general these simulations are helping scientists to better understand the Coronavirus.

Notably, the 6,000 GPUs that CoreWeave dedicated represents 0.2% of the total Ethereum (ETH) hash rate, and generated roughly 28 Ethereum (ETH) per day worth $3,600.

Ethereum (ETH) miners are not the only miners contributing to Coronavirus research, 20 groups of Tezos (XTZ) miners are also contributing hash power to [emailprotected]

Overall, this highlights how cryptocurrency mining is one of the biggest sources of GPU power in the world, and during pandemic emergencies that GPU power can be diverted to scientific research.

Read the original:

6000 GPUs Take a Break from Ethereum Mining to Contribute to Coronavirus Research Crypto.IQ | Bitcoin and Investment News from Inside Experts You Can...

EOS, Ethereum and Ripples XRP Daily Tech Analysis 19/03/20 – Yahoo Finance

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

EOS

EOS rose by 1.68% on Wednesday. Following on from a 3.74% gain on Tuesday, EOS ended the day at $2.0086.

A bullish start to the day saw EOS rise to an early morning intraday high $2.0149 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the first major resistance level at $2.0547, EOS slid to a late morning intraday low $1.8772.

EOS fell through the first major support level at $1.8913 before moving back through to $2.00 levels and into the green.

At the time of writing, EOS was down by 0.48% to $1.9990. A mixed start to the day saw EOS rise to an early morning high $2.0428 before sliding to a low $1.9747.

EOS left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

EOS would need to move through to $2.00 levels to bring the first major resistance level at $2.0566 into play.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for EOS to break out from the Wednesdays high $2.0149.

Barring an extended rally, the first major resistance level at $2.0566 would likely cap any upside.

Failure to move through to $2.00 levels could see EOS fall deeper into the red.

A fall back through to sub-$1.9670 levels would bring the first major support level at $1.9189 into play.

Barring another crypto meltdown, however, EOS should steer well clear of the second major support level at $1.8292.

Major Support Level: $1.9189

Major Resistance Level: $2.0566

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $6.62

38% FIB Retracement Level: $9.76

62% FIB Retracement Level: $14.82

Ethereum rose by 2.19% on Wednesday. Following on from a 4.25% rally on Tuesday, Ethereum ended the day at $118.6.

A relatively bullish start to the day saw Ethereum rise to an early morning high $118.3 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the major resistance levels, Ethereum fell to an early afternoon intraday low $110.18.

Finding support at the first major support level at $110.0, Ethereum rallied to a final hour intraday high $118.88.

While closing out the day in the green, Ethereum came up well short of the first major resistance level at $121.83.

At the time of writing, Ethereum was down by 1.83% to $116.43. A mixed start to the day saw Ethereum rise to an early morning high $120.49 before falling to a low $115.72.

Ethereum left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Story continues

Ethereum would need to move back through to $120 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $121.50.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ethereum to breakout from Wednesdays high $118.88.

Barring a broad-based rebound, resistance at $120 would likely leave Ethereum short of the first major resistance level.

Failure to move through to $120 levels could see Ethereum struggle throughout the day.

A fall back through to sub-$115.90 levels would bring the first major support level at $112.89 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Ethereum should steer clear of the second major support level at $107.19.

Major Support Level: $112.89

Major Resistance Level: $121.59

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $257

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $367

62% FIB Retracement Level: $543

Ripples XRP rose by 0.49% on Wednesday. Following on from a 4.04% gain on Tuesday, Ripples XRP ended the day at $0.14819.

Tracking the broader market, Ripples XRP rose to an early morning intraday high $0.15 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the first major resistance level at $0.1536, Ripples XRP fell to an early afternoon intraday low $0.14035.

Finding support at the first major support level at $0.1413, Ripples XRP bounced back to wrap up the day in the green.

At the time of writing, Ripples XRP was down by 1.30% to $0.14627. A mixed start to the day saw Ripples XRP rise to an early morning high $0.14938 before falling to a low $0.14466.

Ripples XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Ripples XRP will need to move back through the morning high to $0.14938 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $0.1520.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ripples XRP to break out from the Wednesdays high $0.1500.

Barring a broad-based crypto rebound, the first major resistance level at S0.1520 would likely limit any upside.

Failure to move back through the morning high $0.14938 could see Ripples XRP fall deeper into the red.

A fall back through to sub-$0.1460 levels would bring the first major support level at $0.1424 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Ripples XRP should steer clear of sub-$0.14 levels on the day.

Major Support Level: $0.1424

Major Resistance Level: $0.1520

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $0.3638

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $0.4800

62% FIB Retracement Level: $0.6678

Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks, Bob

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More here:

EOS, Ethereum and Ripples XRP Daily Tech Analysis 19/03/20 - Yahoo Finance

Avera announces ability to test for COVID-19 in South Dakota – The Dickinson Press

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. Averas laboratory in Sioux Falls has been verified by the South Dakota Department of Health to perform COVID-19 testing, according to a news release.

The additional testing site will allow for the processing of up to 200 tests per day.

The Avera Institute for Human Genetics has worked closely with the governors office as well as the state health department to establish guidelines on how pending tests are processed, the release states.

The most critical and highly suspicious tests will receive priority. Result time will depend on volume, however, most test results will be able to be returned in a few days and inpatient tests that are considered urgent based on the patients condition can be returned more quickly.

So far, testing for COVID-19 has been conducted by the state health departments laboratory and Averas contract laboratory.

All test results will be sent to the state for reporting purposes. Patients with positive test results will be contacted with instructions on how to care for themselves at home, symptom management, and when to contact a health care provider if symptoms worsen.

As a public service, weve opened this article to everyone regardless of subscription status.

Go here to read the rest:

Avera announces ability to test for COVID-19 in South Dakota - The Dickinson Press

University of Utah experts advise caution over drugs hyped as possible coronavirus treatments – Salt Lake Tribune

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

Editors note: The Salt Lake Tribune is providing readers free access to critical local stories about the coronavirus during this time of heightened concern. See more coverage here.

University of Utah experts are expressing concern about the hype surrounding two medications that President Donald Trump and state officials have held up as potential treatments for the coronavirus.

Andy Pavia, chief of pediatric infectious disease at the U., is also urging caution, noting that the nations top infectious disease expert has warned that there is no convincing evidence yet that these drugs work, only stories.

The drugs have been used for years for arthritis, psoriasis and malaria, and are available in Utah pharmacies through prescription by doctors. But Grunwald said casting the unproven medications as a potential treatment for coronavirus could incite panic buying and limit the availability of the drugs for sick patients who depend on them.

The geneticist said hes not asserting that the drugs are necessarily ineffective just that they are wholly unproved.

I am simply saying defying the principles of reviewed science has dangerous consequences, especially seen in a community that is fearful and in an environment that is susceptible to panicked behavior, said Grunwald, who is a scientist, but not a medical doctor.

The drugs have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19 although Utah officials said Friday that doctors still may prescribe them for COVID-19 patients here and say evidence shows they should.

On the other hand, Pavia said medical experts dont yet have good data about whether the drugs are effective against the virus.

We need to be very cautious until we have better information. In fact, chloroquine worked in the test tube against other viruses but proved to be potentially harmful when properly studied, he said. "We hope it works, but hope is not the best way to choose safe and effective treatment.

The information that youre referring to specifically is anecdotal, Fauci told reporters. It was not done in a controlled clinical trial. So you really cant make any definitive statement about it.

Trump, standing next to Fauci, still said the federal government has ordered millions of doses. He also said the nation has nothing to lose by trying it.

During Fridays news conference, Utah officials and medical representatives were essentially saying the same things as the president.

There are responses that are equivalent to Lazarus literally the biblical Lazarus people almost dead coming back, said physician Kurt Hegmann, director of the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Utah, about hydroxychloroquine.

Officials said they are surveying Utah pharmacies to see how much of the drugs they now have on hand and are working with other states to develop plans for distributing the drugs to areas in need.

They also cautioned doctors and pharmacists to be judicious in how they dispense the drugs for now.

Utah Senate President Stuart Adams said the news conference about the drugs was called to give worried Utahns some hope.

We need some good news. We think this is good news, the Layton Republican said. We believe theres hope in America.

Utahs state epidemiologist, Angela Dunn, said last week that a lot of scientists internationally and in the U.S. are studying medications that could help treat COVID-19. Most have involved extremely small patient groups, she noted.

Current studies about the malaria drugs specifically have been very small sample sizes one in particular was only 40 people so its difficult to extrapolate that to large population," she said. So the next step is to do studies with bigger populations to see if its effective.

The rest is here:

University of Utah experts advise caution over drugs hyped as possible coronavirus treatments - Salt Lake Tribune

Invitae and Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Expand Access to No-Charge Genetic Testing in the US and Canada – PRNewswire

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

SAN FRANCISCO, March 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Invitae (NYSE: NVTA), a leading medical genetics company today announced its partnership with the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) to offer sponsored, no-charge genetic testing to patients through the Detect Muscular Dystrophy program in MDA's care center network, a network of clinics at more than 150 of the nation's top healthcare institutions.

Research has shown no-charge testing programs help increase utilization of genetic testing, which can shorten the time to diagnosis by as much astwo years in some conditions. Accurate diagnoses enable clinicians to focus on providing disease-specific care sooner, helping reduce costs and improve outcomes.

"Muscular dystrophy consists of many disorders with overlapping symptoms that often make diagnosis more challenging. Genetic testing can help accelerate diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy or Becker Muscular Dystrophy which enables clinicians to begin identifying treatment options sooner," said Lynn O'Connor Vos, President and CEO of Muscular Dystrophy Association. "By bringing this program to our care centers, we can make it easier for patients to get tested, moving them one step closer to the care they need."

Muscular dystrophy refers to a group of disorders characterized by progressive muscle weakness and loss of muscle tissue. Muscular dystrophies affect 1 out of every 4,000 to 5,000 people with varying severity and presentation, often affecting skeletal muscle and ambulation, and in some forms involving cardiac, respiratory, swallowing muscles or other organs and tissues. Genetic testing has been proven to shorten the time to diagnosis and prevent misdiagnosis. Accurate and early identification of affected individuals allows for improved clinical outcomes.

In addition to genetic testing, the Detect Muscular Dystrophy program offers post-test genetic counseling to help patients understand test results and make more informed decisions about their health and follow-up care. Detect Muscular Dystrophy also offers genetic testing to family members of patients with genetic variants associated with disease to better understand their own disease risks.

"Genetic testing can expedite making an accurate diagnosis, facilitate earlier interventions, allow genetic counseling of family members, and support clinical research into muscular dystrophies, including Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies, and also many other forms of muscular dystrophy," said Robert Nussbaum, M.D., chief medical officer of Invitae. "We're proud to work with MDA to increase access to early genetic testing among patients suspected of having muscular dystrophy. Their network of care centers offers patients expert care and easier access to genetic testing to inform that care."

Additional details, terms and conditions of the programs can be found at Detect Muscular Dystrophy (www.invitae.com/DetectMD). For more information on partnering with Invitae, visit http://www.invitae.com/biopharma.

Invitae sponsored testing programs are designed to increase access to genetic testing, particularly in conditions where earlier testing can improve diagnosis and treatment yet testing remains underutilized. Patients enroll in Invitae's sponsored testing programs through their clinician. Learn more atwww.invitae.com/sponsored-testing.

About Muscular Dystrophy Association Since 1950, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) has been committed to transforming the lives of people affected by muscular dystrophy, ALS and related neuromuscular diseases. We do this through innovations in science and innovations in care. As the largest source of funding for neuromuscular disease research outside of the federal government, MDA has committed more than $1 billion since our inception to accelerate the discovery of therapies and cures. Research we have supported is directly linked to life-changing therapies across multiple neuromuscular diseases. MDA's Neuromuscular ObserVational Research (MOVR) data hub gathers longitudinal clinical data for multiple neuromuscular diseases to improve health outcomes and accelerate therapy development. MDA supports the largest network of multidisciplinary clinics providing best in class care at more than 150 of the nation's top medical institutions, and our national resource center serves the community with one-on-one specialized support and we offer educational conferences, events, and materials for families and healthcare providers. Each year thousands of children and young adults learn vital life skills and gain independence at summer camp and through recreational programs, at no cost to families. For more information visit mda.org.

About InvitaeInvitae Corporation(NYSE: NVTA) is a leading medical genetics company, whose mission is to bring comprehensive genetic information into mainstream medicine to improve healthcare for billions of people. Invitae's goal is to aggregate the world's genetic tests into a single service with higher quality, faster turnaround time, and lower prices. For more information, visit the company's website atinvitae.com.

Safe Harbor StatementThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements relating to the benefits of genetic testing and information; and the design and benefits of the company's sponsored testing and Detect programs. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the company's history of losses; the company's ability to compete; the company's failure to manage growth effectively; the company's need to scale its infrastructure in advance of demand for its tests and to increase demand for its tests; the company's ability to use rapidly changing genetic data to interpret test results accurately and consistently; security breaches, loss of data and other disruptions; laws and regulations applicable to the company's business; and the other risks set forth in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and Invitae Corporation disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Contact:Laura D'Angelo[emailprotected](628) 213-3283

SOURCE Invitae Corporation

http://invitae.com

Go here to read the rest:

Invitae and Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Expand Access to No-Charge Genetic Testing in the US and Canada - PRNewswire

Studying the African genome could yield new medical treatments for everyone – Genetic Literacy Project

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

Dr. Segun Fatumo is a computer scientist with specialization in bioinformatics with keen interest in the genetic impact of non-communicable diseases in Africa and bioinformatics capacity building in Africa. He has been involved in various genetic projects including analysing a large-scale genomic dataset from Ugandan population. During his PhD, he was able to identified twenty-two (22) potential novel drug targets against malaria. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (University of London). Genetic Literacy Project (GLP) interviewed him to shed more light on the importance, challenges and future direction of a recent genetic research that he was a leading author.

As one of the lead authors of your recently published paper, what motivated this research project?

Precision medicine is fundamentally going to change healthcare. Genomic medicines is a key component of precision medicine with enormous potential to inform clinical medicine. One potential limitation to genomic medicine is the underrepresentation of African and other populations in genomics research. Previous studies have warned that a much broader range of populations should be investigated to avoid genomic medicine being of benefit merely to a privileged few. This is especially problematic, as previous studies have shown that Africa studies contribute an outsized number of associations relative to studies of similar sizes in Europeans. To demonstrate the potential of African genomes as a great resource for genomic medicine, we collected and analyzed genome-wide data from 6,407 individuals from Uganda.

What is the value of collecting more genomic data from African populations which are badly underrepresented in genomic databases.

Our findings from even modest side studies highlight the importance and usefulness of examining genetically diverse populations within Africa. Findings from large-scale studies from Africa may foster the development of new treatments that will benefit people living in Africa as well as people of African descent around the world.

What sort of challenges did you face in the study, and how did you overcame them?

So many challenges including community engagement, ethics, recruitment, etc. Globally, genomics research and specifically recruitment of participants regardless of the continent is always challenging. However, 60% of Africans live in rural areas. Prospective participants are more likely to be poor and to have limited access to healthcare and education. This means that the carrying out of research in these settings invariably presents challenges of a different order to those in higher income countries. Researchers should not exploit these challenges.

Is the value of this research project beyond Uganda and why?

Yes. Findings from our study may foster the development of new treatments that will benefit people living in Africa as well as people of African descent around the world.

What were the responses that you have received so far about the findings?

Enormous responses. I find it difficult to attend to all media requests.

What is the future direction of the research?

While there is an urgent need to perform large-scale genomic research in Africa, several ongoing initiatives such as H3Africa and the Nigerian 100K Non-Communicable Diseases Genetic Heritage Study (NCD-GHS) could provide the data to improve the evidence base and make genome medicine useful to diverse populations.

How do you see the future of genetics and bioinformatics in Africa?

I think we are now on the right track. We have established the Nigerian Bioinformatics and Genomics Network (NBGN). There are also other initiatives. We are now focusing on building capacity in Africa.

Olumide Odeyemi is a research scientist with a doctoral degree from the University of Tasmania, Australia. His areas of expertise and interest include food microbiology, microbial food safety and quality, aquaculture microbiology and research communication. Follow him on Twitter @olumide_odeyemi

Dr. Segun Fatumo is an assistant professor of genetic epidemiology and bioinformatics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Follow him on Twitter @SFatumo

Follow this link:

Studying the African genome could yield new medical treatments for everyone - Genetic Literacy Project

NUS says NUS Atheist Society Facebook page not affiliated with university – Mothership.sg

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

The National University of Singapore has issued a statement to inform the public that the NUS Atheist Society Facebook page is not affiliated with the tertiary institution.

The statement by NUS was posted on March 20, after law and home affairs minister K Shanmugam slammed a post by the page that was deemed offensive to Muslims and Christians in Singapore:

The police are investigating the case.

NUS said in its statement it had on two occasions requested Facebook to look into the legitimacy of the account.

Facebook looked into the request, NUS added, but the social media giant had apparently responded that people are unlikely to be confused about the source, sponsorship or affiliation of NUS Atheist Society.

NUS said it will continue to press Facebook to drop all references to NUS.

This is NUSs statement in full:

NUS had reported the NUS Atheist Society Facebook page to Facebook last year and again on 19 March 2020. On both occasions, we requested that Facebook look into the legitimacy of the account.

Facebook has responded to say that the content on the reported site does not appear likely to confuse people as to source, sponsorship or affiliation, and they are unable to act on our report at this time.

We wish to clarify that NUS has no relationship with the NUS Atheist Society and the Facebook page is not affiliated to the University. The contents posted by the NUS Atheist Society do not represent the views, opinions and position of the University. We will continue pressing Facebook to get the group to drop all references to NUS.

In a unexpected development, the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) announced on March 21 that it would be suspending the membership of one of its members, Jan Chan, with immediate effect.

PSP added that it is not linked to the NUS Atheist Society, and that it will work to ensure that all its members keep within the boundaries of the law.

PSP also said internal investigations are being conducted for actions made in Chans personal capacity.

The NUS Atheist Society Facebook page is still active as of March 21.

As per Facebooks notification to the NUS Atheist Society, the visibility of the post that featured the holy books of Muslims and Christians has been curtailed.

In a post Saturday afternoon post, the NUS Atheist Society page offered an apology of sorts:

The post said:

It was never my intent to suggest or encourage using two holy books as toilet paper. To that effect, the use of the holy books was intentionally left unspecified and to the interpretation of the audiences imagination. The news media, however, picked up one version of the story and thus, we are where we are.

My intent had been to demonstrate that a purposely vague statement, left to interpretation, could be and would be interpreted in the worst possible way. And, in seeing that the audience of this page are mainly either non-religious or familiar with this style of provocative humour, I had not considered that the post would reach the wider public.

If I had caused personal distress and emotional distress, I sincerely apologise and I am truly sorry. If however, the post had merely elicited outrage, then I would like to kindly request not to instinctively lodge a report to the police or higher authorities to demand satisfaction. Leave a comment and start that the civil conversation in society about questioning religion that atheism has for so long called for, but has thus far been ignored.

It had prior to this apology posted other pieces of content:

Read the rest here:

NUS says NUS Atheist Society Facebook page not affiliated with university - Mothership.sg

What Name Comes to Mind When You Think of Atheism? Many Americans Say Satan – Patheos

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

Who is the first person who comes to mind when you think of atheism?

Mind you, that doesnt mean the person is the most famous atheist. Just the name that comes up when you think of the word.

The Pew Research Center asked that question, along with similar ones concerning the major world religions, and they just released the responses. It wont surprise you to learn that Buddhism prompted Buddha (55% of respondents said that) or that Catholicism led to the Pope (47%).

Perhaps its a bit surprising that 21% associated Billy Graham with Evangelical Protestantism, more than any other single person, given that he died in 2018 and stopped preaching regularly long before then, though many of the more prominent evangelicals today are better known for politics than religion.

But when it came to atheism, the one name that came to mind more than any other was

6% of Americans thought Satan when prompted with atheism. Which doesnt even make sense. But there you go.

51% of Americans couldnt think of anyone, 10% said it was someone they knew personally (i.e. someone whos not famous), 26% gave a smattering of random answers (i.e. people who arent famous enough), and 4% each said Richard Dawkins and Madalyn Murray OHair (who was murdered in 1995).

There were some other names on the longer results list, many of whom were included in that 26% of random answers.

Theres astrophysicist Stephen Hawking (2%), comedian Bill Maher (2%), author Christopher Hitchens (1%) and, for whatever reason, Jesus (1%).

The big takeaway for me is that there really isnt any prominent atheist these days the sort of person who can cut through the atheism-only bubble and talk about it to a mainstream audience. The names that come up today are probably the same ones that wouldve come up a decade ago. Atheists arent as well known because atheism has become less of an issue since the New Atheism hype in the mid-2000s.

These results come from the same survey in which people were asked about their religious knowledge. As you may recall, Jewish respondents fared the best, closely followed by atheists and agnostics. But none of the groups did exceptionally well.

Many people dont know much about religion, period. So its no wonder that the most famous people associated with various belief systems arent necessarily ones that make sense. No living (or even recently alive) Jewish person made the popularity list. Even for evangelicals, the big names who were alive this century were Graham and Jerry Falwell (the despicable dead one, not his despicable son).

Or, if you want to spin that in a good way, it means there are openings for people who speak about their religious views to break into the American consciousness regardless of background. Just as we can always use strong science communicators, it would be wonderful to have a (literally new) atheist who can break through our own bubble, who the media can turn to for comment, and who isnt cringe-worthy in a variety of other ways. Its not something you can just volunteer for, but it starts by finding a way to advocate those views in a way that doesnt turn the whole world against you.

At least we can hope for that. The alternative is having an atheist version of Falwell, the sort of person you have to constantly apologize for instead of point to when your belief comes up.

(Featured image via Shutterstock)

Read the original:

What Name Comes to Mind When You Think of Atheism? Many Americans Say Satan - Patheos

Exclusive Interview William Shaw on Doctor Who, his new book about The Rings of Akhaten, and more (Part One) – Flickering Myth

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

Alex Moreland interviews William Shaw about Doctor Who, his new book about The Rings of Akhaten, and more

I recently sat down with William Shaw a writer and blogger originally from Sheffield, now based in London, whose work has appeared in Star*Line, Space & Time, The Martian Wave, The Oxford Culture Review, and Doctor Who Magazine to discuss his upcoming book about The Rings of Akhaten. Its the latest in the Black Archive series published by Obverse Books; each book takes an in-depth look at a different episode of Doctor Who.

What follows is a wide-ranging discussion, getting to grips with Williams love for the controversial Series 7 episode, how it engages with and critiques both New Atheism and imperialism, and what its like to write a book about Doctor Who.

So, lets start with the obvious question. Why The Rings of Akhaten? What do you like about it?

I think its one of the boldest, most ambitious, and most radical episodes in all of Doctor Who. Its a heartfelt story, lushly realised and beautifully performed. Its a vital early step in the journey of Clara Oswald, the best companion (and arguably the best Doctor) the show has ever had. Its an early commentary on the shows fiftieth anniversary. And, as I talk about in the book, its a fascinating engagement with contemporary politics. I basically think its a critique of New Atheism (cf Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, etc) and its relationship to Doctor Who, but in doing that it necessarily touches on the legacy of colonialism, and Clara and Merrys relationship in the story is an interesting way into some topics from feminist theory. Like Claras leaf, it looks simple, but it contains multitudes.

Youve written forty thousand words about The Rings of Akhaten. Can you tell us a little about the different ideas/analysis youve touched on? Is there anything that might particularly surprise people? Or indeed that surprised you?

My starting point, as I say, was New Atheism, and talking about that necessarily meant bringing in some postcolonial theory, particularly Edward Said. Its remarkable how unimpressive the arguments of, say, Sam Harris really are when you realise Said was already on top of them in 1978. I also brought in some feminist theory, and Chandra Talpade Mohantys book Feminism Without Borders was really helpful in structuring the second chapter.

Of course, theres been plenty of good academic work about Doctor Who, and I was very impressed by Lindy Orthias work, although I didnt quote much of it directly. Matt Hills writing about the media event of Doctor Whos fiftieth anniversary was really useful, especially in chapter four where I talk about how The Rings of Akhaten ties in with that anniversary. Then of course theres the other Black Archives; Kate Ormans on Pyramids of Mars and Alyssa Frankes on Hell Bent were my favourites, and provided good models for what I wanted to do.

The most pleasant surprise in researching the book was when I was reading the contemporary reviews, and found out that Charlie Jane Anders had written about the episode. Shes one of my favourite authors working at the moment, so it was really nice to get her perspective.

Do you need to have an academic background at all to understand some of the ideas in the book?

I hope not! Having just name-dropped all that academic theory, I always aimed this book at the general reader (alright, maybe someone with more Doctor Who knowledge than the general reader, but still). I hope the book can be some peoples way into that academic theory; I think Doctor Who fandom would be in a much better place if more people had read Orientalism, for example. But you dont need to have studied this stuff to follow the book. I took care to explain academic concepts whenever I introduced them, and I dont think theres anything in the bibliography beyond a first-year undergrad level. My main editor, Philip Purser-Hallard, was very good at pointing out when I needed to explain things further or correct mistakes.

So, for those who are unfamiliar, could you explain what New Atheism and Orientalism actually are? How are they relevant to Doctor Who?

New Atheism is quite a broad phenomenon, but basically it refers to an uptick in popular atheist writing and political activity in Europe and America in the mid-to-late 2000s. Being the mid-to-late 2000s, it bears a clear relationship to the War on Terror, and the reactionary Islamophobia of that time (and this one). The most famous New Atheists are the Four Horsemen: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. In the book I mostly concentrate on their writing, but the movement was large, and Very Online, so its influence can still be felt today, especially on social media and sites like YouTube.

Orientalism is a concept originally created by the literary theorist Edward Said, in his 1978 book Orientalism, and its foundational to postcolonial theory. Very basically, it refers to the intellectual paradigm by which western imperial powers have historically understood the East, or the Orient, with little or no reference to those regions actual histories and cultures. The Orient is simultaneously ancient and childlike, in need of protection and care from enlightened, mature westerners. Which is terribly convenient if you happen to be a colonial power. I highly recommend people read Orientalism, and the follow-up, Culture and Imperialism; theyre very rich but also very readable.

These two things interact with each other, of course; theres quite a bit of Orientalist thinking in New Atheism, and Said was actually friends with Christopher Hitchens at one point. But they both also interact with Doctor Who. The New Atheist movement was roughly contemporary with Russell T Davies revival of the show; Davies has said he took Bad Wolf from Dawkins idea of the meme. Pretty much any time religion comes up in the Davies era, theres a clear New Atheist influence. Orientalism goes back even further; the whole show comes out of the Victorian tradition of adventure fiction, which is just soaked in the attitudes Said describes. How many times has the Doctor visited an alien world with an ancient, mystical past populated by ignorant, squabbling aliens? How many times has he stepped in as an enlightened outsider to fix another peoples culture? Its not fair to single out Doctor Who in this, really, because its just endemic to so much science fiction.

I understand that the first time you watched the episode, it left you a little cold what was it that clicked for you the second time around?

Thats right, and this is something I talk about in the book. The key was making that connection with New Atheism. I remember watching it on broadcast and just going Yeah, that was OK, but a few years later I happened to listen to a podcast criticising the history of New Atheism around the time Series 7 was being repeated (or was showing up on iPlayer, anyway). It was like fitting together pieces of a jigsaw. Realising that the Doctor wasnt necessarily in the right, that the episode was about him making a crucial mistake, was what really cracked it for me; it became a whole new episode. Which is the story of that whole series, really.

The Rings of Akhaten is a little controversial, as an episode of Doctor Who. What would you say to the people who arent so fond?

Give it a watch with fresh eyes. Once you have the context of the rest of the series, and especially of Claras development through the Capaldi era, its much easier to see what the episode is going for, and largely succeeding at. Id also say, keep an open mind to the setting; one of my favourite things about Doctor Who is that it can show us such strange and captivating worlds, things like The Web Planet or The End of the World. If you can groove on that sense of exploration, and are willing to be surprised, I think the quality of the film-making really shines through.

Its also situated in a run of episodes which are themselves looked on a little less than fondly theres a school of thought that says Series 7 is the weakest of the Steven Moffat era. Youre an ardent defender of that series what is it you like about them?

Series 7 is my favourite of the Matt Smith era. There are lots of reasons for this, but foremost is the sheer quality of the individual stories. It has a rich variety of settings and styles, and a fantastic sense of forward momentum; it has the best series opener/companion introduction of the entire Moffat era in The Bells of St John, it has some of the best episodes Chris Chibnall and Mark Gatiss ever wrote, and its topped off by the two best specials Doctor Who has ever done. Its also, I think, the best Doctor Who has ever looked; Saul Metzstein, Nick Hurran, Colm McCarthy, Farren Blackburn, and Jamie Payne are among the shows best directors, and the cinematography is consistently beautiful.

Its also a fascinating celebration of the shows fiftieth anniversary. Its joyful and triumphant, yes, but theres real thought, and at times a slight anxiety, about the show and its history. Its a celebration, but its not uncritical. Theres a sense of hooray, we made it fifty years! But how can we keep moving forward? And its answer to that question is The Capaldi/Coleman era, which, as answers go, is pretty great. Its this fascinating bridge between the two halves of the Moffat era, past and present and future all jumbled together, like some sort of hybrid or something.

Do you think The Rings of Akhaten, and Series 7 more broadly, are due a critical reappraisal soon?

Absolutely. If theres one thing I want to achieve with this book (other than, hopefully, being interesting to read), its to try and shift fandoms view of this episode. There are plenty of fans who love the episode, of course, and thats great, but I think if fandom in general can see even part of what I see in it, then my work is done.

As for series 7, I think it is due a reappraisal pretty soon. Now that the Chibnall era is in full swing, now Moffat and Smith arent such an active concern, and the buzz of media hype and fan discussions has died down a bit, I think theres space for people to go back to that series with the benefit of hindsight.

Lets talk about actually writing the book. Where did that begin for you? What was the process like?

I have a few friends from university who are Doctor Who fans, and we occasionally meet up to have lunch and watch old episodes together. We were having a gathering in October 2017, and I thought this might be an opportunity to road-test my opinions on Akhaten. They very kindly agreed to watch The Rings of Akhaten and let me give a half-hour lecture, so I wrote about 6,000 words and delivered them there. The reception was really great, and my friends gave me lots of helpful feedback; theyre all included in the books acknowledgements. I took this initial lecture and their feedback, and refined that into my pitch to Obverse Books, which they very kindly accepted at the start of 2018. After that, as you can imagine, I was off to the races.

Excitingly, youve got an exclusive interview with Farren Blackburn, the director of the episode. How did you go about setting that up? Can you tell us anything about what Farren told you?

The credit for that goes to one of my editors, Paul Simpson. He edits Sci-Fi Bulletin, and they interviewed Farren Blackburn about The Innocents around the time I was writing the first draft. So Paul put us in touch, and Farren very kindly agreed to an interview. I dont want to spoil too much, but he gave some really nice insights, particularly around his direction of actors. Its an underappreciated aspect of directing, I think, especially on Doctor Who, but he got a great set of performances out of his cast, and it was fascinating to hear some of the thought process behind that. He also very kindly gave me permission to publish a behind-the-scenes document he wrote early in production. I remember grinning when I first read it, his enthusiasm just jumps off the page. Farren has been very generous with his time, and very patient with this strange fanboy talking incessantly about the episode he worked on seven years ago. Im very grateful to him for that.

Check back this Saturday for the second part of our interview with William, as we ask him what he thinks Neil Cross mightve been like as Doctor Who showrunner, what he thinks of depictions of faith in the Jodie Whittaker era, and more!

William Shaws Black Archive on The Rings of Akhaten is available now. You can find William online here, or on Twitter @Will_S_7.

Photo Credit: Lweendo Emmanuel Ndawana

Alex Morelandis a freelance writer and television critic; you canfollow him on Twitter here, orcheck out his website here.

Excerpt from:

Exclusive Interview William Shaw on Doctor Who, his new book about The Rings of Akhaten, and more (Part One) - Flickering Myth

Colby Cosh: As disgusting as it sounds, obedience is a virtue with coronavirus – National Post

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

The joke going around in virus land is that there are no libertarians in a pandemic, just as there are no atheists in foxholes. For some people this is, no doubt, a joke with a double meaning. Even if atheists may be less willing to climb into foxholes than Presbyterians or Yazidis in the first place, the study of soldier experiences and war literature suggests that combat is pretty darn good at sowing materialism and encouraging questioning of revealed wisdom.

Yes, there are atheists in foxholes, dummy, even if they didnt bring atheism with them; and even if a pandemic teaches lessons in the usefulness of capable, powerful government, it perhaps has just as many about the harmfulness and stupidity of government as it generally exists in the real world.

The United States, to take one infuriating example, is about to have an awful lot of unnecessary deaths because, through ill-considered peacetime regulation, it allowed its national disease-surveillance agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to acquire what was tantamount to a manufacturing monopoly on DNA testing of virus samples. It wasnt a competent monopoly, either, as things turned out. We are still seeing American news items about academic and private laboratories the kinds of places that developed DNA sequencing in the first place, and which were its exclusive domain until recently that hope to help increase testing capacity, but must wait for permission from the federal paterfamilias.

The United States is about to have an awful lot of unnecessary deaths

Meanwhile, the evidence from countries that have already had proper battles with novel coronavirus, as opposed to our preliminary skirmishes, mostly seems to carry the message For the love of God, test as much as you can. So good luck to the Americans, and also (gulp) to us: it is starting to appear as though one of the tightest bottlenecks in scaling up lab testing might be fraction-of-a-cent nasopharyngeal swabs, rather than sequencing appliances or virus samples.

Anyway, thats a digression, one that I cant resist because the narrative of central government failure suits my taste. But some of you will be asking why beautiful free markets havent provided us with more of those swabs. Still, its not quite just to say that every libertarian turns into a cringing supplicant of the state in a pandemic. Yes, right now a lot of Canadians are relieved that a state with the power to lock up businesses, arenas and churches in the name of public safety also has the power to send cheques from the future to the people who have lost their jobs.

I approve of all this too, since I am lucky enough to have a career that benefits a little from crisis and chaos. We need to help those people whose work is actual work, and who cannot do that work because an act of God requires exceptional remedies. But it is fairly easy to see how the crisis could be exploited to injure civil liberties permanently, as opposed to just re-habituating us to welfare, which some politicians are unabashedly keen on. Anyone who lived through 9/11 already knows this in his bones.

Medical privacy is already something we relax when it comes to the reporting of infectious disease. You will hear the argument that we make a fetish of it that clinical research would be so much easier without it, as it is when human research subjects voluntarily surrender it. There will also be pundits and experts along soon to say how convenient it would be if cellphone tracking data, which would be real handy for cops and working epidemiologists doing disease surveillance, were available a little more freely.

And as our time in social lockdown creeps along, you and I will I promise! grow less patient with those who defy it brazenly, or those who are otherwise irresponsible about social distancing. Isnt due process of law an awful lot of trouble? The police have batons and sidearms, dont they?

Medical privacy is already something we relax when it comes to the reporting of infectious disease

The realistic libertarian understands the distinction probably not invented by Murray Rothbard, but that is where I personally got it from between society and the state, between social action and government powers based on retaliatory violence. A mess like this demonstrates the difference to all of us. Why does liberal democracy function reasonably well, when enlightened despotism (bound by strong rules about individual rights, or not) is always an alternative?

One reason is that, in emergencies, the state can take extraordinary steps with some show of consent or pre-existing licence from society (which itself does most of the heavy lifting, and even most of the enforcement). When society is chronically at odds with the state, even for good historical reasons, you end up with Italy a wonderful place to be most of the time, but not right now.

I may not have voted for Jason Kenney or Justin Trudeau, but we did, and an epidemic is a situation in which the necessity for us to work in concert is overwhelming. We have an extraordinary selfish incentive to obey, however hateful and nauseous the word obedience may be to us. Democracy is a transparent fiction which rises unbidden to vivid realness at such a time, as it would if we were confronted with a visible invader.

Go here to see the original:

Colby Cosh: As disgusting as it sounds, obedience is a virtue with coronavirus - National Post

Is Blockchain a Viable Technology During the Coronavirus Crisis? – The Merkle Hash

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

There are many different opinions as to how the novel coronavirus crisis needs to be addressed. Some even claim how blockchain technology can be a valuable ally to the medical supply chain.

It is certainly true that blockchain technology is incredibly versatile.

Its concept can easily be applied to many different business models and points of focus.

Using it to streamline global medical supply chains would certainly be interesting to explore.

Especially when it comes to coronavirus ventilators, the blockchain can help address global shortages.

It would also help remove any lack of compatibility between different regions.

More specifically, requirements in the US and EU are very different from one another.

Now that the demand for resources and equipment is higher than ever before, those conflicting standards need to go.

It is a very interesting option to explore, but it will not happen overnight.

No one will argue that the medical supply chain has trust issues that need to be dealt with.

How blockchain will fit into all of this, is anyones guess as of right now.

Numerous options are waiting to be explored, especially regarding certification, payments, and supplier credibility.

Finding partners who are willing to explore these options, is a different matter altogether.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

Link:

Is Blockchain a Viable Technology During the Coronavirus Crisis? - The Merkle Hash

Blockchain Applaud the Unsung Heroes Behind it Before Appreciating the Technology – EnterpriseTalk

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

Blockchain is one of the most popular technology in todays world, and the credit goes to the brains and efforts behind it, which have ensured the development and efficient execution of all Blockchain applications.

The growing popularity of Blockchain technology needs to be attributed to the people who refused compromise and continued to persevere despite the regulatory uncertainty and criticism.

Blockchain Applaud the Unsung Heroes Behind it Before Appreciating the Technology

The unsung heroes of Blockchain have carried the technology to the ranks of the mainstream prominence that industries currently enjoy are:

Blockchain Leaders and Entrepreneurs Blockchain development has been the foundation of digital payments. The credit goes to the persevering Blockchain entrepreneurs and developers, who have enhanced their coding expertise to execute the Blockchain applications efficiently. Since access to formal education or training in the Blockchain is scarce, the talent pool has been utilizing online communities and resources to self-learn and refine their skills. The industry owes the massive prominence of Blockchain technology and its application to these coding geniuses and Blockchain entrepreneurs.

Crypto Miners The entire Blockchain environment and architecture functions through mining. With the rise of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrencies era, professional crypto miners have become more prevalent in the industry. Mining is not just a process of digging for cryptocurrencies; it is a process to ensure the decentralized security of the Blockchain. The miners play a crucial role in securing the network and in processing every crypto transaction efficiently without depending on a central authority, like the banks. Miners have played a truly vital role in the mass adoption of the Blockchain technology by recording and validating the transactions on a global ledger. They compete to solve posing mathematical problems created by the hash algorithm of cryptography. It is only after the miners solve a problem that the transaction is validated and deemed confirmed. The efforts of crypto miners are very often forgotten after they receive Bitcoin or another crypto for their efforts, but without the cumulative hard work of miners, ensuring immutable transactions on a distributed ledger, the Blockchain architecture would never be established globally.

Blockchain Marketers Without the rigorous efforts of marketers and communications specialists in the field of Blockchain, the Blockchain community would never be established. Marketers, bloggers, YouTubers, community managers, and other communicators in this field have been instrumental in helping the masses comprehend and adopt the Blockchain phenomenon. Technology alone could be intimidating for the end-users. With the Blockchain professionals collaborating, the masses warm-up for the technology to unleash its real prowess and potential.

AI Reshaping Retail; Adapt the Tech or Die

Blockchain Legal Consultants Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain have always been controversial topics. From fighting the battle for crypto acceptance to looking after its regulations, ethical development, compliance, and deployment the legal experts from the field of Blockchain have been the pillars of support and strength for the technology to grow and bloom globally.

Any technology, whether it is AI, ML, automation, or Blockchain, is only successful because of the efforts taken by humans behind its development and adoption. All technologies are born out of human brains and are aimed to ease out the work of humans. So, before applauding a technology, its important to appreciate the efforts of the people who have actually made it possible.

The rest is here:

Blockchain Applaud the Unsung Heroes Behind it Before Appreciating the Technology - EnterpriseTalk

The Future of Blockchain and U.S. Credit Scores – the blockchain land

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

The technology behind the infamous cryptocurrency Bitcoin, blockchain, is becoming increasingly popular as cybersecurity experts look for more ways to fight cybercrime and data breach. Consumers are also becoming more and more proactive in terms of their cybersecurity, opening to alternatives that can promise better connectivity at heightened security.

Dubbed as the new and safer internet, blockchain makes it possible for data to be distributed without duplication, different from the current structure the internet has today. In this article, were going to have a look at how blockchain contributes to cybersecurity.

Blockchain technologyis a decentralised distributed ledger system where you can put any digital asset into the blockchain, regardless of industry. It uses a time-stamped series of immutable records of information managed by a cluster of computers. Different transactions are tracked through these records, separated by blocks, and joined by cryptographic chains. Data is not owned by a single computer or entity, but by multiple users within the system.

Once confirmed, data that has been encoded cannot be altered. They become permanent blocks added to a chain of other validated blocks. Initially devised for cryptocurrencies, the digital community is now seeing the enormous potential of blockchain technology in cybersecurity, as it can be used to prevent cyber attacks, data breaches, identity thefts, or malicious transactions, keeping data private and secure.

The following is a video briefly explaining what blockchain technology is:

For more information on blockchain, check out Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Explained.

Blockchain presents itself as a backbone to different technologies, providing solutions that are beneficial across different industries. Its main characteristics are:

As more and more real-time, on-demand data need to be accessed and distributed, theres also a need for edge computing and fog computing devices and storage. This allows data to be processed and stored closer to the source and consumers. Cloud computing is still being used, of course, primarily to archive data previously processed through edge computing devices. Blockchain is providing a solution to secure IoT and industrial IoT by more rigid authentication, improved data attribution and flow, and updated record management system.

Because it was initially intended to be publicly-accessed, blockchain was made without access controls or restrictions. Today, there are private blockchain systems that various industries are using to ensure data confidentiality and secure access control. The complete encryption of the blockchain makes sure that data is not accessible to external parties, whether in part or whole, particularly while data is being transmitted.

Companies hope to communicate through more secure platforms using the blockchain technology that can be impenetrable to malicious attacks. Whether in personal, corporate or highly-classified communication, consumers can be secured with the confidentiality of such conversations without fear of cyberattacks. It can handle PKI better than encrypted apps; that is why several blockchain private messaging apps are being developed for public consumption soon.

People are more cautious to keep their computer and online credentials safe and secure. And blockchain technology can help in that regard. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) rely on third-party certificate authorities to keep messaging apps, emails, websites secure. These certificate authorities that issue, revoke or store key pairs are usually a target for hackers using bogus identities trying to access communication that is encrypted. When these keys are encoded on a blockchain, it minimises false key generation or identity theft as identities of legitimate account holders are already verified on the app, and any intrusion, deception or identity theft can be identified right away.

A blockchain approach to storing Domain Name Systems (DNS) heightens security comprehensively as it removes that one, single, compromisable target. It thwarts the malicious activities of hackers who can bring down DNS service providers like Twitter, Paypal and the like.

In a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, a target, usually, a server, is attacked by multiple compromised computer systems to deny it of services leading to slowdowns, and eventual overloading or crashing of the system. If you integrate blockchain into the security system, the target computer, server or network will now be part of a decentralised system of machines which can protect against such attacks.

We can develop and adopt multiple measures for security, and yet threats develop and adapt accordingly. However, with blockchain, we have a vast scope of ensuring data is safe.

Smart systems continue to be developed towards the future implementation of smart cities and societies in the future, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is in the middle of all this action. From your coffee maker to AI-powered robots in aid of humans, IoT will have its mark everywhere. As of date, cybercriminals continue to find ways to attack these IoT smart devices. Blockchain technologys immutability will serve well if incorporated into the IoTs defense systems.

Blockchain technology, with its decentralised architecture and distributed ledger, will provide both control and security for remote IoT devices. Smart contracts, which can provide validation for transactions in a blockchain environment, may be used to manage IoT activities and keep devices secure from hackers.

Conclusion: Blockchain Technology is the Future of Cybersecurity

As we continue to deepen our knowledge about blockchains benefits, the technology is slowly maturing. Progress in 2019 indicates that there has been a shift, from being directly linked to cryptocurrencies and their use for illicit behaviour, to an increasing number of use cases across different industries.

Blockchain technology was not just created by the group Satoshi Nakamoto for Bitcoin purposes. Blockchain is a secure and robust technology that can actually do the world of cybersecurity a lot of good once it is integrated into mainstream security measures. As threats in cybersecurity intensify, as hackers find new and better ways to steal and exploit, blockchain technology will likely be at the forefront of cybersecurity in the years to come. When you look closely at blockchain, you are looking at the future of cybersecurity today.

The Future of Blockchain and U.S. Credit Scores - the blockchain land

The Sandbox raises $2 million more to build out blockchain-based game world – VentureBeat

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

The Sandbox has raised $2.01 million in cash and cryptocurrency so that it can built out its blockchain-based game world, dubbed The Sandbox.

The company raised the money as TSB Gaming, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, in the third quarter of last year, and its reporting it now as permitted by regulatory authorities. Investors included Square Enix, B Cryptos, and True Global Ventures.

All told, TSB Gaming has now raised $4.51 million to date. TSB is now a standalone company called TSB Gaming, and Animoca is a major shareholder. The company will look for more funding in the future in equity but also in cryptocurrency token (SAND) sales to be used inside the gaming platform, said TSB Gaming CEO Arthur Madrid in an interview with GamesBeat. (Players can use the cryptocurrency to play, to trade in the marketplace, and to stake for governance).

Above: Sebastien Borget is COO and president of Pixowl and TSB Gaming.

Image Credit: Animoca Brands/TSB

Blockchain is the transparent and secure decentralized ledger that can be used to verify the authenticity of digital items. That makes it useful in virtual worlds, where it can verify who created or who owns a user-generated item, and it allows players to take digital items that they own from one game to another.

The blockchain version of The Sandbox (which has existed in non-blockchain form for eight years under Pixowl, which Animoca Brands acquired in 2018) will be a virtual world where players can build, own, and monetize their own voxel gaming (blocky graphics) experiences on the Ethereum blockchain.

Were targeting a very specific audience that views this as very exciting and unique, said Sebastien Borget, the president of Pixowl and TSB Gaming. Very few people and few companies know about this concept of selling virtual land. But you will be able to play our games without even knowing that it has blockchain features.

Above: Players can make their own assets for The Sandbox.

Image Credit: Animoca Brands/TSB

It is one of the first decentralized, community-driven game platforms, providing users with true ownership of their creations as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). That means they can be verified as one-of-a-kind items.

Our decentralized game platform, our virtual world, a marketplace where we run the presale of land all the different products that weve presented are being developed with our team of 40 people, Borget said.

The game is expected to debut in the second half of 2020. In the meantime, one of the things that blockchain enables The Sandbox to do is sell plots of virtual land. The Sandbox sold more than 10,000 sections of virtual real estate, raising 1,300 Ethereum, a type of cryptocurrency. The value back in December/January was about $400,000, and the company was able to convert that to regular currency. (More recently, the price of Ethereum plummeted so that it would be worth $174,525 today).

Over time, the company hopes to sell about $22 million worth of land.

Eventually, we think players can make money on a secondary market, selling their land, Madrid said.

The next land presale begins on March 31. The Sandbox game originally started with Pixowl, which was acquired by Animoca Brands. The Sandbox game franchise is one of the worlds largest independent user-generated content and gaming platforms, with 40 million downloads and over a million monthly active users. The upcoming voxel-based blockchain version of The Sandbox will introduce new creative and commercial possibilities by allowing users to create voxel items and gaming worlds from the digital equivalent of building blocks.

Above: Sales of virtual land generated 1,300 Ethereum in The Sandbox.

Image Credit: Animoca Brands/TSB

For the world, we have over 50 partners which include brands for gaming companies and blockchain companies, Borget aid. Weve been looking for what comes next after free-to-play games, and we believe that the use of non-fungible tokens (uniquely identifiable) will give players both ownership and the ability to sell scarce items. We hope to bridge the gap between blockchain and traditional gaming.

Where players will notice is with the kind of rewards they can get from gameplay, such as currency that can be converted into something valuable.

And we believe that will make players more engaged, Madrid said. The more you play, the more you earn and the more assets you get. Its like teaching them in the moment that theyre going to benefit from it. By contrast, a lot of other blockchain games are not doing good onboarding right now.

The Sandbox raises $2 million more to build out blockchain-based game world - VentureBeat

Fluree announces seed extension funding round for blockchain-based data management – The Block – The Block

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Danzig

North Carolina-based database management firm Flureehas announced a seed extension funding round led by independent venture capitalcompany Engage.

The latest investment, which follows a $4.7 million seed funding round in June, allows Fluree to expand its enterprise data management platform, which acts as the foundation for emerging online architectures that include AI, microservices, machine learning, the semantic web and consortium blockchains. The platform is used by tech startups, government agencies, and Fortune 500 enterprises for sharing, securing and building services upon high-quality, trusted data.

Fluree also recently announced a strategic blockchaindeployment with the United States Air Force.

Brian Platz, co-CEO and co-founder of Fluree, said: Organisations have been striving to secure a data-first approach for nearly a decade, and Fluree finally brings that vision to life. As the semantic web continues to dissolve data silos and build a new framework for harnessing the value of information, Fluree is becoming the backend to power that change.

In Engage, we have the ideal partners to continue our strategic enterprise expansion and further catalyse the next phase of the web, added Platz.

Despite the uncertain climate blockchain-based funding activities continue to take place. Last month, Taiwanese blockchain security firm CoolBitX secured $16.75m in series B funding that will be used to expand the presence of its Sygna product range beyond APAC. Sygna is CoolBitXs first-to-market FATF-compliant solution for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) around the world. The company will continue to innovate and develop its flagship product CoolWallet S, which is a Bluetooth-enabled hardware wallet for cryptocurrencies. California-based Paystand also raised $20m in series B funding that will help the cloud-based PaaS payment network to expand its sales, marketing, success, and engineering teams at its California and Mexico offices.

Photo byMichael LongmireonUnsplash

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

Fluree announces seed extension funding round for blockchain-based data management - The Block - The Block

Select Page ::