EthereumPrice – Official Site

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EthereumPrice.org - USD Price, Charts & History

$-12.1624 Hour Change

$229.6224 Hour High

$215.9024 Hour Low

$22.21B Market Cap

The price of Ethereum (ETH/USD) today is $217.07 USD with a total market cap of $22,214,210,510.

View the latest Ethereum price predictions sourced directly from the Augur marketplace. What does the crowd expect the price of Ethereum be in the future?

This guide takes a look at the investment case for Ethereum as well as the exchanges and platforms from which it can be bought.

Calculate the price of Ether in your own local currency using this simple tool with real-time price data.

Period

Change

Change (%)

High

Low

24h

$-12.16

-5.30%

$229.62

$215.90

1m

$-72.19

-24.96%

$292.21

$167.72

6m

$-181.92

-45.60%

$834.21

$167.72

1y

$-74.81

-25.63%

$1422.47

$167.72

5y

$215.72

15979.26%

$1422.47

$0.43

Year

USD

AUD

BTC

CAD

EUR

GBP

2016

749.47%

784.38%

280.62%

764.34%

808.13%

947.56%

2017

9087.98%

8813.52%

553.40%

8765.65%

8121.94%

8223.13%

2018

-70.72%

-69.99%

-36.96%

-69.42%

-70.59%

-69.69%

Ethereum is facing a new narrative of pessimism. What is currently happening on the blockchain that may warrant a price that goes above and beyond $1,000?

Ethereum's recent decision to drop the block reward (coin supply inflation) from 3 Ether to 2 Ether, and Cboe's announcement of an Ethereum futures market has done nothing to sway investor sentiment.

Ethereum has suffered a steep decline in value, dropping sharply from $731 3 months ago, to $258 at the time of writing - a fall of over 60%. Where does Ethereum go from here?

When we all stop talking about the price of Ethereum and start going back to what we were doing before, building stuff. Find out what's been going on at EthereumPrice.org here.

Given that the vast majority of my working life is spent in cryptocurrency, it would come as no surprise that yes - I'm bullish on the stuff. But I've been bullish longer than most - in fact it was in 2011 that I decided Bitcoin had a place in the future of payments [...]

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EthereumPrice - Official Site

What Does "NSA" Mean on Dating Sites? (The #1 Definition)

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Youll often come across some confusing acronyms when youre online dating, and one of the most common ones is NSA, which just means no strings attached. People who are looking for no strings attached want a casual sexual encounter without any sort of commitment. Here are some more details about NSA and sites you can use to find people for it.

A no-strings-attached situation, which can be found on sites like BeNaughty or Zoosk, is when two people want to hook up, either once or on a regular basis, without the strings of commitment tying them down. Think Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman in the aptly named No Strings Attached.

When youre in an NSA relationship, you usually try to limit your interactions with the other person to just sex, depending on what you two agree on at the beginning. Youre also free to date and sleep with other people just make sure everyone practices safe sex and is honest about what they truly want.

BeNaughty and Zoosk are our experts top 2 choices if youre looking for an NSA relationship. Heres a little bit more about each:

The most popular hookup site on the web, BeNaughty puts it all out there so people can be open about their desires without feeling ashamed. BeNaughty alsohas a free account that lets you create a profile and search through millions of singles ASAP.

Zooskis another good dating site if you want something casual. Its modern and has more than 35 million members, most of them being millennials. You can also try Zoosk for free to see if it meets your needs.

Knowing common online dating phrases is helpful in getting what you want faster, whether its an NSA relationship or something more serious. And there are some awesome sites out there, like BeNaughty, that make it easy for you. Good luck!

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What Does "NSA" Mean on Dating Sites? (The #1 Definition)

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Socio-Economic Collapse in the Congo: Causes and Solutions

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by Marie Rose Mukeni Beya

The history of the Congo is long. Some historians think that Early Congo History began with waves of Bantu migrations moving into the Congo River basin from 2000 B.C. to 500 A.D. and then gradually started to expand Southward. The modern history of the Congo may be divided into four periods starting in 1885, after the Conference of Berlin divided Africa into separate states which were then ruled by Europeans imperial powers.

Colonization. King Leopold II of Belgium acquired control over the Congo territory in 1885. He named it the Congo Free State, and ruled it as his private property from 1877-1908. The Belgian parliament took over the colony from the king in 1908. The Belgian Congo achieved independence on June 30, 1960 under new leadership representatives of various political parties. Mr. Joseph Kasavubu of the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO) party was elected the President; Patrice-Emery Lumumba, the leader of the National Movement of the Congo or MNC, became prime minister, and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Mobutu (Mobutu Sese Seko) was appointed as chief-of-staff of the new army, the National Army of the Congo (ANC), and became the also Secretary of State. The new nation was given the name Republic of Congo.

Adjustment and Crisis. The Congo spent the first half of the 1960s adjusting to its independence. In 1961, the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] was destabilized by army mutinies, unrests, riots, rebellions and the secession of the countrys richest region, Katanga, soon followed by a similar move in the Southeastern Kasai Province, which declared itself the Independent Mining State of South Kasai. The United Nations played a critical role in managing this crisis, which was further compounded by the trial of strength at the center between President Kasavubu and Prime Minister Lumumba, culminating in Lumumbas assassination at the hands of the Katangan secessionists in January 1961.

Dictatorship. In 1965 Mobutu, by then commander-in-chief of the army, seized control of the Congolese territory and declared himself the countrys president, head of the sole political party. In 1971 he renamed the country the Republic of Zaire. Once prosperous, the country markedly declined. Rampant corruption and abuse of the civilian population ensued. The need for change was widely understood; various political parties were organized, presidential elections were held and social justice programs initiated. The Sovereign National Conference in 1992 brought together more than two thousand representatives from various political parties and NGOs.

The Congo is Rich in Human and Natural Resources. It has the third largest population in Sub-Saharan Africa: 65.8 million. It has the second largest rain forest in the world. Precipitation is ample; it rains six to eight months of the year. Agriculture was profitable before the economy failed. It was 56.3 % of the GDP. Main cash crops include coffee, palm oil, rubber, cotton, sugar, tea and cocoa. But the revenue collected from the agricultural work and farming has greatly diminished in the past decade and is now only 15 % of the GDP. The DRC is rich in a variety of minerals: copper, cobalt, diamond, gold, zinc, oil, uranium, columbite/tantalite (coltan, an essential material for cell phones and other electronics) and other rare metals. Traditionally, one mining company in upper Katanga named Gecamines has dominated mining. Copper and cobalt accounted for 75% of the total export revenues, and about 25 % of the countrys GDP. The DRC was the worlds fourth-largest producer of industrial diamonds during the 1980s. Despite the abundance of resources, the DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world. The countrys official economy has collapsed in the last few decades due to hyperinflation, mismanagement and corruption, war, conflict and general instability, political crisis and economic dislocation. Moreover, the spread of HIV/AIDS has contributed to an overall deterioration. As the DRC is hit by the global economic downturn, exports (lumber, oil, diamonds and other ores in particular) have declined, whereas the high costs for imports of most basic needs remain unchanged. The consequence is an acute deterioration of the balance of trade and the collapse of foreign investments. The DRCs foreign debt stands at over $10 billion. M. R. M. B.

Decade of Conflict. In May 1997, Joseph Kabila, leader of a rebel movement supported by neighboring countries, challenged Mobutu and forced him to leave the country. Kabila seized control, declared himself president and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo. After Kabila was assassinated in January, 2001, power was transferred to his son Joseph Kabila II by appointment. On December 18, 2005, for only the second time in 46 years the Congolese voted in a presidential election. Kabila won the elections against his opponent Bemba. This has sparked off riots and civil war.

Since the beginning of its independence in 1960 to date, instability has prevailed in the DRC. Although significant attempts have been made to stabilize the political and military establishments, the Congolese people still live in an all-pervasive state of insecurity. This has made a shambles of the economy and social conditions for the Congolese people. The poorest, as always, are the most affected.

Since 1998, an estimated 3.3 million people, mostly women, children and elderly have been killed as a result of armed conflicts. Another 2.3 million, according to NGOs reports in 2003, are homeless. The wars caused a drastic increase in the number of orphans, helping to create the gruesome phenomenon known as child soldiers.

The wars also exacerbated ethnic tensions over land and territory in Eastern Congo, posing a long-term challenge for the transition to peace. Because of domestic conflicts in the neighboring countries Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Sudan, Central Africa and Angola many civilian refugees and displaced soldiers fled to and infiltrated the DRC. Some insurgent groups attacking contiguous countries use the DRC as their base. This created regional tensions, and deteriorated the DRCs relationships with neighboring countries. In the Eastern DRC, violence erupted between Congolese and the newcomers. This conflict is exacerbated by ethnic tensions in Eastern Congo. In the Kivu Region, Congolese militia (MaiMai) still fights to protect their land.During the wars, the spread of HIV/AIDS has drastically increased, and this affects all aspects of the social, economic and political life. Many factors have contributed to the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in the DRC, including poverty, lack of education, cultural norms, and war. Women and girls are raped and sexually exploited by the military in their own homes. Poverty drives some girls into prostitution, which increases their risk of becoming infected. Although some NGOs are focusing on the situation of women and girls, especially in the post conflict period, little has been done; women and girls remain defenseless. Recently international resources have become available to fight HIV/AIDS, but funds are not being used properly.

It is crucial to establish a new order. This means a new, uncorrupted and disciplined government, capable of improving the living conditions of the average Congolese. As a precondition the DRC must hold fair democratic elections. The future government must focus on education. Child education should become the number one priority. Be educated or perish. It is mandatory to shift the priorities from military security to peoples social welfare and development. Political corruption must be removed, and human rights violations must be dealt with, but everything depends on the eradication of poverty.

Commitment of all parties is needed: The DRC government, leaders of political movements and civil society, administrators, professionals, workers, in brief the Congolese citizenry on all levels. Men and women, adults as well as youth must be involved in the process of change. Local services, churches, NGOs, and international organizations must cooperate in support of political change.

The fight against poverty starts by properly managing available financial resources, and discouraging corruption. The available resources must be used properly. The annual budget must be voted upon, the budget plan respected, and the expenditures must be disciplined and limited. Auditing all economic activity on a regular basis should be mandatory.

Corruption occurs because the individuals cannot satisfy their basic needs (food, health care, clothing, education, employment, wages, etc.). In order to prevent corruption the government should proceed with the following steps:

The private sector and the national organizations must be encouraged to create more jobs.

Workers in both private and public sectors should get paid on a regular basis. The wage rates should be based on the work experience and educational background of the worker. The minimum wage must cover expenditures for basic needs.

Salaries must be readjusted and periodically augmented, regardless of boom-bust cycles.

Taxes must be used to rebuild infrastructures. People need to be educated to pay their taxes, which should be understood as constructive contributions to social welfare.

Taxes should be increased on natural resources and unearned incomes, and decreased on earned incomes from production.

Finally, the government should address the tragic violation of human rights. People must be taught their human rights, and trained apply these rights in the appropriate situations. For example, people need to report human rights violations, discrimination and injustice, and to defend themselves against sexual harassment. A strong, functional judicial system must be established. People must understand and believe that human rights abuses will not be tolerated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Marie Rose Mukeni Beya, Ph.D. is a psychologist specializing in child development. Prior to coming to the US, she was head of the Psychology Dept. at the University of Kinshasa. She currently teaches Georgist economics at the Henry George School in New York. She is fluent in French, English, Swahili, Lingala, and Tshiluba.

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Socio-Economic Collapse in the Congo: Causes and Solutions

Roger Ver: Bitcoin Cash is a Better Investment Than …

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In a Monday phone interview with CNBC Fast Money, Roger Ver explained why he believes Bitcoin Cash is a better investment than Bitcoin, also expressing that Bitcoin isnt efficient for commerce due to high fees and low transaction speeds.

In the interview, Ver, who owns and operates Bitcoin.com, begins his explanation of why Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a better investment than Bitcoin (BTC), by saying that the latters slow transaction times and high fees make it bad for commerce, and that Bitcoin Cash offers the solution to this.

Bitcoin is no longerusable for commerce at all.The fees became high, the transactions became slow and unreliable, and people like myself and everybody else who was actually trying to use it for commerce stopped and switched to something else, and that something else looks most likely to be Bitcoin Cash for the most number of people.

Ver is referring to the long transactions speeds that came about as a result of the meteoric price rise Bitcoin saw in late 2017, for which Bitcoins network wasnt prepared to handle, resulting in high fees and slow transactions. That being said, in the time since, Bitcoins transactions fees have dropped greatly due to the price decrease and increased scalability.

According to bitinfocharts.com, Bitcoins on-chain transaction fees peaked along with its price in late December at nearly $60, falling to a low of about $0.49. In comparison, Bitcoin Cashs on-chain transaction fees peaked at approximately $0.9, falling to a year-to-date low of about $0.003.

As for Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cashs prices, Bitcoin has done significantly better than Bitcoin Cash in 2018. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is currently sitting at $6,750, down from its all-time-high of just under $20,000. Bitcoin Cash, in comparison, is currently at $535, down from its high of nearly $4,000 in December.

Responding to a question from CNBCs Melissa Lee regarding Bitcoin Cashs poor price performance, Ver said that he has seen 90% price decreases in Bitcoin before, which only preceded exponential price increases. He added that:

In investing or in hockey, you dont skate to where the puck is currently, you skate to where it is going to be in the future, and it is very very clear that all the adoption and the merchants and all sorts of businesses are being built on top of Bitcoin Cash at this point, so for the future, I think Bitcoin Cash is the best investment

Importantly, Ver also added that it is incredibly important to diversify, telling Lee that he doesnt recommend putting all the eggs into one basket, and adding that he himself is diversified and holds more Bitcoin Cash than anything else, but I have some Ether, some Zcash, some Zcoin, some Monero, some Dash, and some BTC as welland some Ripple and some Stellar, emphasizing that it is incredibly important to have a diversified crypto portfolio.

He also added that he is more diversified than he was in the past, moving away from Bitcoin because the Bitcoin people had this absolutely insane idea in their mind that high fees and slow transaction times were a good thing.

The cryptocurrency community is split on Bitcoin Cash, with many people believing like it is a shadily marketed scam that doesnt offer anything more than Bitcoin, and many believing that it is in fact a far more efficient version of Bitcoin, achieving the goals that were originally intended for Bitcoin.

Cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmainis a notable supporter of Bitcoin Cash, with reportsclaiming that the company owns a higher quantity of Bitcoin Cash than Bitcoin, holding 1.02 million BCH, while holding 22,082 BTC, as of March of this year.

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Roger Ver: Bitcoin Cash is a Better Investment Than ...

The Truth About Blockchain – Harvard Business Review

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In Brief The Hype

Weve all heard that blockchain will revolutionize business, but its going to take a lot longer than many people claim.

Like TCP/IP (on which the internet was built), blockchain is a foundational technology that will require broad coordination. The level of complexitytechnological, regulatory, and socialwill be unprecedented.

The adoption of TCP/IP suggests blockchain will follow a fairly predictable path. While the journey will take years, its not too early for businesses to start planning.

Contracts, transactions, and the records of them are among the defining structures in our economic, legal, and political systems. They protect assets and set organizational boundaries. They establish and verify identities and chronicle events. They govern interactions among nations, organizations, communities, and individuals. They guide managerial and social action. And yet these critical tools and the bureaucracies formed to manage them have not kept up with the economys digital transformation. Theyre like a rush-hour gridlock trapping a Formula 1 race car. In a digital world, the way we regulate and maintain administrative control has to change.

Blockchain promises to solve this problem. The technology at the heart of bitcoin and other virtual currencies, blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. The ledger itself can also be programmed to trigger transactions automatically. (See the sidebar How Blockchain Works.)

With blockchain, we can imagine a world in which contracts are embedded in digital code and stored in transparent, shared databases, where they are protected from deletion, tampering, and revision. In this world every agreement, every process, every task, and every payment would have a digital record and signature that could be identified, validated, stored, and shared. Intermediaries like lawyers, brokers, and bankers might no longer be necessary. Individuals, organizations, machines, and algorithms would freely transact and interact with one another with little friction. This is the immense potential of blockchain.

Indeed, virtually everyone has heard the claim that blockchain will revolutionize business and redefine companies and economies. Although we share the enthusiasm for its potential, we worry about the hype. Its not just security issues (such as the 2014 collapse of one bitcoin exchange and the more recent hacks of others) that concern us. Our experience studying technological innovation tells us that if theres to be a blockchain revolution, many barrierstechnological, governance, organizational, and even societalwill have to fall. It would be a mistake to rush headlong into blockchain innovation without understanding how it is likely to take hold.

True blockchain-led transformation of business and government, we believe, is still many years away. Thats because blockchain is not a disruptive technology, which can attack a traditional business model with a lower-cost solution and overtake incumbent firms quickly. Blockchain is a foundational technology: It has the potential to create new foundations for our economic and social systems. But while the impact will be enormous, it will take decades for blockchain to seep into our economic and social infrastructure. The process of adoption will be gradual and steady, not sudden, as waves of technological and institutional change gain momentum. That insight and its strategic implications are what well explore in this article.

Before jumping into blockchain strategy and investment, lets reflect on what we know about technology adoption and, in particular, the transformation process typical of other foundational technologies. One of the most relevant examples is distributed computer networking technology, seen in the adoption of TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol), which laid the groundwork for the development of the internet.

Introduced in 1972, TCP/IP first gained traction in a single-use case: as the basis for e-mail among the researchers on ARPAnet, the U.S. Department of Defense precursor to the commercial internet. Before TCP/IP, telecommunications architecture was based on circuit switching, in which connections between two parties or machines had to be preestablished and sustained throughout an exchange. To ensure that any two nodes could communicate, telecom service providers and equipment manufacturers had invested billions in building dedicated lines.

TCP/IP turned that model on its head. The new protocol transmitted information by digitizing it and breaking it up into very small packets, each including address information. Once released into the network, the packets could take any route to the recipient. Smart sending and receiving nodes at the networks edges could disassemble and reassemble the packets and interpret the encoded data. There was no need for dedicated private lines or massive infrastructure. TCP/IP created an open, shared public network without any central authority or party responsible for its maintenance and improvement.

Traditional telecommunications and computing sectors looked on TCP/IP with skepticism. Few imagined that robust data, messaging, voice, and video connections could be established on the new architecture or that the associated system could be secure and scale up. But during the late 1980s and 1990s, a growing number of firms, such as Sun, NeXT, Hewlett-Packard, and Silicon Graphics, used TCP/IP, in part to create localized private networks within organizations. To do so, they developed building blocks and tools that broadened its use beyond e-mail, gradually replacing more-traditional local network technologies and standards. As organizations adopted these building blocks and tools, they saw dramatic gains in productivity.

TCP/IP burst into broad public use with the advent of the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s. New technology companies quickly emerged to provide the plumbingthe hardware, software, and services needed to connect to the now-public network and exchange information. Netscape commercialized browsers, web servers, and other tools and components that aided the development and adoption of internet services and applications. Sun drove the development of Java, the application-programming language. As information on the web grew exponentially, Infoseek, Excite, AltaVista, and Yahoo were born to guide users around it.

Once this basic infrastructure gained critical mass, a new generation of companies took advantage of low-cost connectivity by creating internet services that were compelling substitutes for existing businesses. CNET moved news online. Amazon offered more books for sale than any bookshop. Priceline and Expedia made it easier to buy airline tickets and brought unprecedented transparency to the process. The ability of these newcomers to get extensive reach at relatively low cost put significant pressure on traditional businesses like newspapers and brick-and-mortar retailers.

Relying on broad internet connectivity, the next wave of companies created novel, transformative applications that fundamentally changed the way businesses created and captured value. These companies were built on a new peer-to-peer architecture and generated value by coordinating distributed networks of users. Think of how eBay changed online retail through auctions, Napster changed the music industry, Skype changed telecommunications, and Google, which exploited user-generated links to provide more relevant results, changed web search.

Companies are already using blockchain to track items through complex supply chains.

Ultimately, it took more than 30 years for TCP/IP to move through all the phasessingle use, localized use, substitution, and transformationand reshape the economy. Today more than half the worlds most valuable public companies have internet-driven, platform-based business models. The very foundations of our economy have changed. Physical scale and unique intellectual property no longer confer unbeatable advantages; increasingly, the economic leaders are enterprises that act as keystones, proactively organizing, influencing, and coordinating widespread networks of communities, users, and organizations.

Blockchaina peer-to-peer network that sits on top of the internetwas introduced in October 2008 as part of a proposal for bitcoin, a virtual currency system that eschewed a central authority for issuing currency, transferring ownership, and confirming transactions. Bitcoin is the first application of blockchain technology.

The parallels between blockchain and TCP/IP are clear. Just as e-mail enabled bilateral messaging, bitcoin enables bilateral financial transactions. The development and maintenance of blockchain is open, distributed, and sharedjust like TCP/IPs. A team of volunteers around the world maintains the core software. And just like e-mail, bitcoin first caught on with an enthusiastic but relatively small community.

TCP/IP unlocked new economic value by dramatically lowering the cost of connections. Similarly, blockchain could dramatically reduce the cost of transactions. It has the potential to become the system of record for all transactions. If that happens, the economy will once again undergo a radical shift, as new, blockchain-based sources of influence and control emerge.

Consider how business works now. Keeping ongoing records of transactions is a core function of any business. Those records track past actions and performance and guide planning for the future. They provide a view not only of how the organization works internally but also of the organizations outside relationships. Every organization keeps its own records, and theyre private. Many organizations have no master ledger of all their activities; instead records are distributed across internal units and functions. The problem is, reconciling transactions across individual and private ledgers takes a lot of time and is prone to error.

For example, a typical stock transaction can be executed within microseconds, often without human intervention. However, the settlementthe ownership transfer of the stockcan take as long as a week. Thats because the parties have no access to each others ledgers and cant automatically verify that the assets are in fact owned and can be transferred. Instead a series of intermediaries act as guarantors of assets as the record of the transaction traverses organizations and the ledgers are individually updated.

In a blockchain system, the ledger is replicated in a large number of identical databases, each hosted and maintained by an interested party. When changes are entered in one copy, all the other copies are simultaneously updated. So as transactions occur, records of the value and assets exchanged are permanently entered in all ledgers. There is no need for third-party intermediaries to verify or transfer ownership. If a stock transaction took place on a blockchain-based system, it would be settled within seconds, securely and verifiably. (The infamous hacks that have hit bitcoin exchanges exposed weaknesses not in the blockchain itself but in separate systems linked to parties using the blockchain.)

If bitcoin is like early e-mail, is blockchain decades from reaching its full potential? In our view the answer is a qualified yes. We cant predict exactly how many years the transformation will take, but we can guess which kinds of applications will gain traction first and how blockchains broad acceptance will eventually come about.

In our analysis, history suggests that two dimensions affect how a foundational technology and its business use cases evolve. The first is noveltythe degree to which an application is new to the world. The more novel it is, the more effort will be required to ensure that users understand what problems it solves. The second dimension is complexity, represented by the level of ecosystem coordination involvedthe number and diversity of parties that need to work together to produce value with the technology. For example, a social network with just one member is of little use; a social network is worthwhile only when many of your own connections have signed on to it. Other users of the application must be brought on board to generate value for all participants. The same will be true for many blockchain applications. And, as the scale and impact of those applications increase, their adoption will require significant institutional change.

Weve developed a framework that maps innovations against these two contextual dimensions, dividing them into quadrants. (See the exhibit How Foundational Technologies Take Hold.) Each quadrant represents a stage of technology development. Identifying which one a blockchain innovation falls into will help executives understand the types of challenges it presents, the level of collaboration and consensus it needs, and the legislative and regulatory efforts it will require. The map will also suggest what kind of processes and infrastructure must be established to facilitate the innovations adoption. Managers can use it to assess the state of blockchain development in any industry, as well as to evaluate strategic investments in their own blockchain capabilities.

In the first quadrant are low-novelty and low-coordination applications that create better, less costly, highly focused solutions. E-mail, a cheap alternative to phone calls, faxes, and snail mail, was a single-use application for TCP/IP (even though its value rose with the number of users). Bitcoin, too, falls into this quadrant. Even in its early days, bitcoin offered immediate value to the few people who used it simply as an alternative payment method. (You can think of it as a complex e-mail that transfers not just information but also actual value.) At the end of 2016 the value of bitcoin transactions was expected to hit $92 billion. Thats still a rounding error compared with the $411 trillion in total global payments, but bitcoin is growing fast and increasingly important in contexts such as instant payments and foreign currency and asset trading, where the present financial system has limitations.

The second quadrant comprises innovations that are relatively high in novelty but need only a limited number of users to create immediate value, so its still relatively easy to promote their adoption. If blockchain follows the path network technologies took in business, we can expect blockchain innovations to build on single-use applications to create local private networks on which multiple organizations are connected through a distributed ledger.

Much of the initial private blockchain-based development is taking place in the financial services sector, often within small networks of firms, so the coordination requirements are relatively modest. Nasdaq is working with Chain.com, one of many blockchain infrastructure providers, to offer technology for processing and validating financial transactions. Bank of America, JPMorgan, the New York Stock Exchange, Fidelity Investments, and Standard Chartered are testing blockchain technology as a replacement for paper-based and manual transaction processing in such areas as trade finance, foreign exchange, cross-border settlement, and securities settlement. The Bank of Canada is testing a digital currency called CAD-coin for interbank transfers. We anticipate a proliferation of private blockchains that serve specific purposes for various industries.

The third quadrant contains applications that are relatively low in novelty because they build on existing single-use and localized applications, but are high in coordination needs because they involve broader and increasingly public uses. These innovations aim to replace entire ways of doing business. They face high barriers to adoption, however; not only do they require more coordination but the processes they hope to replace may be full-blown and deeply embedded within organizations and institutions. Examples of substitutes include cryptocurrenciesnew, fully formed currency systems that have grown out of the simple bitcoin payment technology. The critical difference is that a cryptocurrency requires every party that does monetary transactions to adopt it, challenging governments and institutions that have long handled and overseen such transactions. Consumers also have to change their behavior and understand how to implement the new functional capability of the cryptocurrency.

A recent experiment at MIT highlights the challenges ahead for digital currency systems. In 2014 the MIT Bitcoin Club provided each of MITs 4,494 undergraduates with $100 in bitcoin. Interestingly, 30% of the students did not even sign up for the free money, and 20% of the sign-ups converted the bitcoin to cash within a few weeks. Even the technically savvy had a tough time understanding how or where to use bitcoin.

One of the most ambitious substitute blockchain applications is Stellar, a nonprofit that aims to bring affordable financial services, including banking, micropayments, and remittances, to people whove never had access to them. Stellar offers its own virtual currency, lumens, and also allows users to retain on its system a range of assets, including other currencies, telephone minutes, and data credits. Stellar initially focused on Africa, particularly Nigeria, the largest economy there. It has seen significant adoption among its target population and proved its cost-effectiveness. But its future is by no means certain, because the ecosystem coordination challenges are high. Although grassroots adoption has demonstrated the viability of Stellar, to become a banking standard, it will need to influence government policy and persuade central banks and large organizations to use it. That could take years of concerted effort.

Into the last quadrant fall completely novel applications that, if successful, could change the very nature of economic, social, and political systems. They involve coordinating the activity of many actors and gaining institutional agreement on standards and processes. Their adoption will require major social, legal, and political change.

Smart contracts may be the most transformative blockchain application at the moment. These automate payments and the transfer of currency or other assets as negotiated conditions are met. For example, a smart contract might send a payment to a supplier as soon as a shipment is delivered. A firm could signal via blockchain that a particular good has been receivedor the product could have GPS functionality, which would automatically log a location update that, in turn, triggered a payment. Weve already seen a few early experiments with such self-executing contracts in the areas of venture funding, banking, and digital rights management.

The implications are fascinating. Firms are built on contracts, from incorporation to buyer-supplier relationships to employee relations. If contracts are automated, then what will happen to traditional firm structures, processes, and intermediaries like lawyers and accountants? And what about managers? Their roles would all radically change. Before we get too excited here, though, lets remember that we are decades away from the widespread adoption of smart contracts. They cannot be effective, for instance, without institutional buy-in. A tremendous degree of coordination and clarity on how smart contracts are designed, verified, implemented, and enforced will be required. We believe the institutions responsible for those daunting tasks will take a long time to evolve. And the technology challengesespecially securityare daunting.

How should executives think about blockchain for their own organizations? Our framework can help companies identify the right opportunities.

For most, the easiest place to start is single-use applications, which minimize risk because they arent new and involve little coordination with third parties. One strategy is to add bitcoin as a payment mechanism. The infrastructure and market for bitcoin are already well developed, and adopting the virtual currency will force a variety of functions, including IT, finance, accounting, sales, and marketing, to build blockchain capabilities. Another low-risk approach is to use blockchain internally as a database for applications like managing physical and digital assets, recording internal transactions, and verifying identities. This may be an especially useful solution for companies struggling to reconcile multiple internal databases. Testing out single-use applications will help organizations develop the skills they need for more-advanced applications. And thanks to the emergence of cloud-based blockchain services from both start-ups and large platforms like Amazon and Microsoft, experimentation is getting easier all the time.

Localized applications are a natural next step for companies. Were seeing a lot of investment in private blockchain networks right now, and the projects involved seem poised for real short-term impact. Financial services companies, for example, are finding that the private blockchain networks theyve set up with a limited number of trusted counterparties can significantly reduce transaction costs.

Organizations can also tackle specific problems in transactions across boundaries with localized applications. Companies are already using blockchain to track items through complex supply chains, for instance. This is happening in the diamond industry, where gems are being traced from mines to consumers. The technology for such experiments is now available off-the-shelf.

Developing substitute applications requires careful planning, since existing solutions may be difficult to dislodge. One way to go may be to focus on replacements that wont require end users to change their behavior much but present alternatives to expensive or unattractive solutions. To get traction, substitutes must deliver functionality as good as a traditional solutions and must be easy for the ecosystem to absorb and adopt. First Datas foray into blockchain-based gift cards is a good example of a well-considered substitute. Retailers that offer them to consumers can dramatically lower costs per transaction and enhance security by using blockchain to track the flows of currency within accountswithout relying on external payment processors. These new gift cards even allow transfers of balances and transaction capability between merchants via the common ledger.

Blockchain could slash the cost of transactions and reshape the economy.

Transformative applications are still far away. But it makes sense to evaluate their possibilities now and invest in developing technology that can enable them. They will be most powerful when tied to a new business model in which the logic of value creation and capture departs from existing approaches. Such business models are hard to adopt but can unlock future growth for companies.

Consider how law firms will have to change to make smart contracts viable. Theyll need to develop new expertise in software and blockchain programming. Theyll probably also have to rethink their hourly payment model and entertain the idea of charging transaction or hosting fees for contracts, to name just two possible approaches. Whatever tack they take, executives must be sure they understand and have tested the business model implications before making any switch.

Transformative scenarios will take off last, but they will also deliver enormous value. Two areas where they could have a profound impact: large-scale public identity systems for such functions as passport control, and algorithm-driven decision making in the prevention of money laundering and in complex financial transactions that involve many parties. We expect these applications wont reach broad adoption and critical mass for at least another decade and probably more.

Transformative applications will also give rise to new platform-level players that will coordinate and govern the new ecosystems. These will be the Googles and Facebooks of the next generation. It will require patience to realize such opportunities. Though it may be premature to start making significant investments in them now, developing the required foundations for themtools and standardsis still worthwhile.

In addition to providing a good template for blockchains adoption, TCP/IP has most likely smoothed the way for it. TCP/IP has become ubiquitous, and blockchain applications are being built on top of the digital data, communication, and computation infrastructure, which lowers the cost of experimentation and will allow new use cases to emerge rapidly.

With our framework, executives can figure out where to start building their organizational capabilities for blockchain today. They need to ensure that their staffs learn about blockchain, to develop company-specific applications across the quadrants weve identified, and to invest in blockchain infrastructure.

But given the time horizons, barriers to adoption, and sheer complexity involved in getting to TCP/IP levels of acceptance, executives should think carefully about the risks involved in experimenting with blockchain. Clearly, starting small is a good way to develop the know-how to think bigger. But the level of investment should depend on the context of the company and the industry. Financial services companies are already well down the road to blockchain adoption. Manufacturing is not.

No matter what the context, theres a strong possibility that blockchain will affect your business. The very big question is when.

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The Truth About Blockchain - Harvard Business Review

Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow …

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An intentional community is a group of people who have chosen to live or work together in pursuit of a common ideal or vision. An ecovillage is a village-scale intentional community that intends to create, ecological, social, economic, and spiritual sustainability over several generations.

The 90s saw a revitalized surge of interest in intentional communities and ecovillages in North America: the number of intentional communities listed in the Communities Directory increased 60 percent between 1990 and 1995. But only 10 percent of the actual number of forming-community groups actually succeeded. Ninety percent failed, often in conflict and heartbreak. After visiting and interviewing founders of dozens of successful and failed communities, along with her own forming-community experiences, the author concluded that "the successful 10 percent" had all done the same five or six things right, and "the unsuccessful 90 percent" had made the same handful of mistakes. Recognizing that a wealth of wisdom were contained in these experiences, she set out to distill and capture them in one place.

Creating a Life Together is the only resource available that provides step-by-step, practical "how-to" information on how to launch and sustain a successful ecovillage or intentional community. Through anecdotes, stories, and cautionary tales about real communities, and by profiling seven successful communities in depth, the book examines "the successful 10 percent" and why 90 percent fail; the role of community founders; getting a group off to a good start; vision and vision documents; decision-making and governance; agreements; legal options; finding, financing, and developing land; structuring a community economy; selecting new members; and communication, process, and dealing well with conflict. Sample vision documents, community agreements, and visioning exercises are included, along with abundant resources for learning more.

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What is Cryptocurrency: Everything You Need To Know [Ultimate …

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[Updated September 13, 2018]

What is cryptocurrency: 21st-century unicorn or the money of the future?

This introduction explains the most important thing about cryptocurrencies. After youve read it, youll know more about it than most other humans.

Today cryptocurrencies (Buy Crypto) have become a global phenomenon known to most people. While still somehow geeky and not understood by most people, banks, governments and many companies are aware of its importance.

In 2016, youll have a hard time finding a major bank, a big accounting firm, a prominent software company or a government that did not research cryptocurrencies, publish a paper about it or start a so-called blockchain-project. (Take our blockchain courses to learn more about the blockchain)

Virtual currencies, perhaps most notably Bitcoin, have captured the imagination of some, struck fear among others, and confused the heck out of the rest of us. Thomas Carper, US-Senator

But beyond the noise and the press releases the overwhelming majority of people even bankers, consultants, scientists, and developers have a very limited knowledge about cryptocurrencies. They often fail to even understand the basic concepts.

So lets walk through the whole story. What are cryptocurrencies?

Few people know, but cryptocurrencies emerged as a side product of another invention. Satoshi Nakamoto, the unknown inventor of Bitcoin, the first and still most important cryptocurrency, never intended to invent a currency.

In his announcement of Bitcoin in late 2008, Satoshi said he developed A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.

His goal was to invent something; many people failed to create before digital cash.

The single most important part of Satoshis invention was that he found a way to build a decentralized digital cash system. In the nineties, there have been many attempts to create digital money, but they all failed.

After seeing all the centralized attempts fail, Satoshi tried to build a digital cash system without a central entity. Like a Peer-to-Peer network for file sharing.

This decision became the birth of cryptocurrency. They are the missing piece Satoshi found to realize digital cash. The reason why is a bit technical and complex, but if you get it, youll know more about cryptocurrencies than most people do. So, lets try to make it as easy as possible:

To realize digital cash you need a payment network with accounts, balances, and transaction. Thats easy to understand. One major problem every payment network has to solve is to prevent the so-called double spending: to prevent that one entity spends the same amount twice. Usually, this is done by a central server who keeps record about the balances.

In a decentralized network, you dont have this server. So you need every single entity of the network to do this job. Every peer in the network needs to have a list with all transactions to check if future transactions are valid or an attempt to double spend.

But how can these entities keep a consensus about this records?

If the peers of the network disagree about only one single, minor balance, everything is broken. They need an absolute consensus. Usually, you take, again, a central authority to declare the correct state of balances. But how can you achieve consensus without a central authority?

Nobody did know until Satoshi emerged out of nowhere. In fact, nobody believed it was even possible.

Satoshi proved it was. His major innovation was to achieve consensus without a central authority. Cryptocurrencies are a part of this solution the part that made the solution thrilling, fascinating and helped it to roll over the world.

If you take away all the noise around cryptocurrencies and reduce it to a simple definition, you find it to be just limited entries in a database no one can change without fulfilling specific conditions. This may seem ordinary, but, believe it or not: this is exactly how you can define a currency.

Take the money on your bank account: What is it more than entries in a database that can only be changed under specific conditions? You can even take physical coins and notes: What are they else than limited entries in a public physical database that can only be changed if you match the condition than you physically own the coins and notes? Money is all about a verified entry in some kind of database of accounts, balances, and transactions.

How miners create coins and confirm transactions

Lets have a look at the mechanism ruling the databases of cryptocurrencies. A cryptocurrency like Bitcoin consists of a network of peers. Every peer has a record of the complete history of all transactions and thus of the balance of every account.

A transaction is a file that says, Bob gives X Bitcoin to Alice and is signed by Bobs private key. Its basic public key cryptography, nothing special at all. After signed, a transaction is broadcasted in the network, sent from one peer to every other peer. This is basic p2p-technology. Nothing special at all, again.

The transaction is known almost immediately by the whole network. But only after a specific amount of time it gets confirmed.

Confirmation is a critical concept in cryptocurrencies. You could say that cryptocurrencies are all about confirmation.

As long as a transaction is unconfirmed, it is pending and can be forged. When a transaction is confirmed, it is set in stone. It is no longer forgeable, it cant be reversed, it is part of an immutable record of historical transactions: of the so-called blockchain.

Only miners can confirm transactions. This is their job in a cryptocurrency-network. They take transactions, stamp them as legit and spread them in the network. After a transaction is confirmed by a miner, every node has to add it to its database. It has become part of the blockchain.

For this job, the miners get rewarded with a token of the cryptocurrency, for example with Bitcoins. Since the miners activity is the single most important part of cryptocurrency-system we should stay for a moment and take a deeper look on it.

Principally everybody can be a miner. Since a decentralized network has no authority to delegate this task, a cryptocurrency needs some kind of mechanism to prevent one ruling party from abusing it. Imagine someone creates thousands of peers and spreads forged transactions. The system would break immediately.

So, Satoshi set the rule that the miners need to invest some work of their computers to qualify for this task. In fact, they have to find a hash a product of a cryptographic function that connects the new block with its predecessor. This is called the Proof-of-Work. In Bitcoin, it is based on the SHA 256 Hash algorithm.

You dont need to understand details about SHA 256. Its only important you know that it can be the basis of a cryptologic puzzle the miners compete to solve. After finding a solution, a miner can build a block and add it to the blockchain. As an incentive, he has the right to add a so-called coinbase transaction that gives him a specific number of Bitcoins. This is the only way to create valid Bitcoins.

Bitcoins can only be created ifminers solve a cryptographic puzzle. Since the difficulty of this puzzle increases the amount of computer power the whole miners invest, there is only a specific amount of cryptocurrency token that can be created in a given amount of time. This is part of the consensus no peer in the network can break.

If you really think about it, Bitcoin, as a decentralized network of peers which keep a consensus about accounts and balances, is more a currency than the numbers you see in your bank account. What are these numbers more than entries in a database a database which can be changed by people you dont see and by rules you dont know?

It is that narrative of human development under which we now have other fights to fight, and I would say in the realm of Bitcoin it is mainly the separation of money and state.

Erik Voorhees,cryptocurrency entrepreneur

Basically, cryptocurrencies are entries about token in decentralized consensus-databases. They are called CRYPTOcurrencies because the consensus-keeping process is secured by strong cryptography. Cryptocurrencies are built on cryptography. They are not secured by people or by trust, but by math. It is more probable that an asteroid falls on your house than that a bitcoin address is compromised.

Describing the properties of cryptocurrencies we need to separate between transactional and monetary properties. While most cryptocurrencies share a common set of properties, they are not carved in stone.

1.) Irreversible: After confirmation, a transaction cant be reversed. By nobody. And nobody means nobody. Not you, not your bank, not the president of the United States, not Satoshi, not your miner. Nobody. If you send money, you send it. Period. No one can help you, if you sent your funds to a scammer or if a hacker stole them from your computer. There is no safety net.

2.) Pseudonymous: Neither transactions nor accounts are connected to real-world identities. You receive Bitcoins on so-called addresses, which are randomly seeming chains of around 30 characters. While it is usually possible to analyze the transaction flow, it is not necessarily possible to connect the real world identity of users with those addresses.

3.) Fast and global: Transaction are propagated nearly instantly in the network and are confirmed in a couple of minutes. Since they happen in a global network of computers they are completely indifferent of your physical location. It doesnt matter if I send Bitcoin to my neighbour or to someone on the other side of the world.

4.) Secure: Cryptocurrency funds are locked in a public key cryptography system. Only the owner of the private key can send cryptocurrency. Strong cryptography and the magic of big numbers makes it impossible to break this scheme. A Bitcoin address is more secure than Fort Knox.

5.) Permissionless: You dont have to ask anybody to use cryptocurrency. Its just a software that everybody can download for free. After you installed it, you can receive and send Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies. No one can prevent you. There is no gatekeeper.

1.) Controlled supply: Most cryptocurrencies limit the supply of the tokens. In Bitcoin, the supply decreases in time and will reach its final number some time around the year 2140. All cryptocurrencies control the supply of the token by a schedule written in the code. This means the monetary supply of a cryptocurrency in every given moment in the future can roughly be calculated today. There is no surprise.

2.) No debt but bearer: The Fiat-money on your bank account is created by debt, and the numbers, you see on your ledger represent nothing but debts. Its a system of IOU. Cryptocurrencies dont represent debts. They just represent themselves. They are money as hard as coins of gold.

To understand the revolutionary impact of cryptocurrencies you need to consider both properties. Bitcoin as a permissionless, irreversible and pseudonymous means of payment is an attack on the control of banks and governments over the monetary transactions of their citizens. You cant hinder someone to use Bitcoin, you cant prohibit someone to accept a payment, you cant undo a transaction.

As money with a limited, controlled supply that is not changeable by a government, a bank or any other central institution, cryptocurrencies attack the scope of the monetary policy. They take away the control central banks take on inflation or deflation by manipulating the monetary supply.

While its still fairly new and unstable relative to the gold standard, cryptocurrency is definitely gaining traction and will most certainly have more normalized uses in the next few years. Right now, in particular, its increasing in popularity with the post-election market uncertainty. The key will be in making it easy for large-scale adoption (as with anything involving crypto) including developing safeguards and protections for buyers/investors. I expect that within two years, well be in a place where people can shove their money under the virtual mattress through cryptocurrency, and theyll know that wherever they go, that money will be there. Sarah Granger, Author, and Speaker.

Mostly due to its revolutionary properties cryptocurrencies have become a success their inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, didnt dare to dream ofit. While every other attempt to create a digital cash system didnt attract a critical mass of users, Bitcoin had something that provoked enthusiasm and fascination. Sometimes it feels more like religion than technology.

Cryptocurrencies are digital gold. Sound money that is secure from political influence. Money that promises to preserve and increase its value over time. Cryptocurrencies are also a fast and comfortable means of payment with a worldwide scope, and they are private and anonymous enough to serve as a means of payment for black markets and any other outlawed economic activity.

But while cryptocurrencies are more used for payment, its use as a means of speculation and a store of value dwarfs the payment aspects. Cryptocurrencies gave birth to an incredibly dynamic, fast-growing market for investors and speculators. Exchanges like Okcoin, poloniex or shapeshift enables the trade of hundreds of cryptocurrencies. Their daily trade volume exceeds that of major European stock exchanges.

At the same time, the praxis of Initial Coin Distribution (ICO), mostly facilitated by Ethereums smart contracts, gave life to incredibly successful crowdfunding projects, in which often an idea is enough to collect millions of dollars. In the case of The DAO it has been more than 150 million dollars.

In this rich ecosystem of coins and token, you experience extreme volatility. Its common that a coin gains 10 percent a day sometimes 100 percent just to lose the same at the next day. If you are lucky, your coins value grows up to 1000 percent in one or two weeks.

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What is Cryptocurrency: Everything You Need To Know [Ultimate ...

Cryptocurrency News – Bitcoin, Ethereum, NEO, ICO startups

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The blockchain market, cryptocurrency and ICO is growing at a tremendous rate. Every day in this area lots of information guides, new articles and analytics are published. To keep track of everything and find really important and useful materials, you need to spend a lot of time.

We are ready to do this for you! Our telegram channel ICOtoday is the source of the most necessary and up-to-date information about ICO and cryptocurrencies.

Looking at the ICO and want to figure out what's what for? On our channel you will find educational materials for those who make the first steps in crypto investment.

Want to invest in start-ups? We publish practical recommendations for investors, as well as an ICO calendar.

Are you interested in the current agenda? With a daily digest of news and analytics, you will always be aware.

Looking for authoring content? We are preparing our own materials, reviews and analytics.

Channel ICOtoday:

ICOtoday channel is the most important in one place.

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Singularity on GOG.com

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FIGHT THE PAST TO SAVE THE FUTURE. STOP THE SINGULARITY.

Learn the truth behind a massive cover-up of the catastrophic SINGULARITY, an event that fractured time and threatens the world as we know it. Armed with powerful, advanced weaponry and the experimental Time Manipulation Device, fight enemies from the past, the present, and abominations caught somewhere in between.

TIME IS YOUR WEAPON- Use the TMD Time Manipulation Device to change the age of objects and enemies and bend time to your will.- Age enemies to dust in seconds, manipulate objects outside the laws of gravity, and degrade objects to a withered state or renew them to their pristine form.- Unlock upgrades to harness the TMDs full power and expand your full arsenal of advanced weaponry.

EPIC SCI-FI ACTION THRILLER- Heart-pounding, first person combat action that immerses you in a world where the past and present collide.- Travel seamlessly between two eras 1950s Russia and modern day each rendered with stunning lighting, physics, and effects using the Unreal 3 Engine.

UNRAVEL THE CONSPIRACY- Traverse the blur between the past and future in order to stop the mysterious SINGULARITY that threatens the world.

2010 Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision is a registered trademark and Singularity is a trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

manual (EN, DE, FR, IT, ES)

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Singularity on GOG.com

Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game 2019) – IMDb

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In 2077, America is in pieces. Megacorps control life in all its aspects from the top floors of their sky-high fortresses. Down below, drug-pushing gangs, dirty-tech hustlers, and slingers of illicit braindances run the streets. The world in between is where decadence, sex, and pop culture mix with violent crime, extreme poverty, and the unattainable promise of the American Dream. In a world where you have no future, what matters is that you control who you are. To survive and protect your independence, you modify your body with advanced cyberware and take jobs others would never dare. You choose to live free, bound by no systems or controls-the only rules you obey are your own. Because you're a Cyberpunk. In Cyberpunk 2077 you play as V-a hired gun on the rise and you just got your first serious contract. In a world of cyberenhanced street warriors, tech-savvy netrunners, and corporate lifehackers, today you take your first step towards becoming an urban legend.

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The War on Drugs Has Failed – YouTube

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A Google Tech TalkAugust 17, 2010

ABSTRACT

Presented by Stanford "Neill" Franklin, Police (Ret.) Executive Director, LEAP

"It pains me to know that there is a solution for preventing tragedy and nothing is being done because of ignorance, stubbornness, unsubstantiated fear and greed."

Hear Neill Franklin, Executive Director of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), speak on the problems and costs of the war on drugs, and the reasons society would be better off if it were ended.

Founded on March 16, 2002, LEAP is made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies. Those policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, especially the problems of juvenile drug use, the problems of addiction, and the problems of crime caused by the existence of a criminal black market in drugs.

Although those who speak publicly for LEAP are people from the law enforcement and criminal justice communities, a large number of our supporting members do not have such experience. You don't have to have law enforcement experience to join us.

By continuing to fight the so-called "War on Drugs", the US government has worsened these problems of society instead of alleviating them. A system of regulation and control of these substances (by the government, replacing the current system of control by the black market) would be a less harmful, less costly, more ethical and more effective public policy.

Please consider joining us and helping us to achieve our goals: 1) to educate the public, the media and policy makers about the failure of current policies, and 2) to restore the public's respect for police, which respect has been greatly diminished by law enforcement's involvement in enforcing drug prohibition.

Neill FranklinMajor Neill Franklin is a 33-year law enforcement veteran of both the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police forces. His career has not only spanned three decades, but he's been promoted and recruited so many times that he jokes, "Every time I turned around, I was in a new position." He worked the streets. He investigated. He supervised and trained others. Neill oversaw 17 drug task forces, and he instituted and directed the very first Domestic Violence Investigative Units for the Maryland State Police.

Early in his career, Neill served as a narcotics agent with the Maryland State police, focusing on everything from high-level drug dealers in the Washington suburbs to that guy growing one pot plant on his apartment balcony. Neill was proud of his work and proud of the hundreds of arrests he executed. "I had been taught that the people who use and sell drugs are trash, and that we needed to put those people behind bars forever."

Two people permanently changed his steadfast belief in fighting the drug war: the Mayor of Baltimore, and Ed Toatley, one of the best undercover agents the State of Maryland had ever seen.

Sometime in the mid nineties, Kurt Schmoke, the sitting mayor of Baltimore, declared on television that the drug war was not working. "We need to have a discussion about where we go from here," Neill recalls him saying, "because the drug war is not working." Schmoke put forth the reasoning that fighting a war on drugs was not only violent, but also counterproductive to fighting the high rates of AIDS and Hepatitis C in the city.

"I knew instantly," Neill says, "that he had said something profound, and that this deserved some looking into." This was the beginning of Neill's new direction, and it started with researching and evaluating his own experiences in law enforcement. He compared the areas in his jurisdiction with the people and cases that came across his desk.

"We worked in predominantly white areas, but most of our cases and lock ups were minorities. There were only a couple of cases in the outlying areas that involved whites."

Not too long after Schmoke's announcement, Neill's good friend, Corporal Ed Toatley, was killed in Washington, DC, while making a drug deal as an undercover agent.

"When Ed was assassinated in October 2000, that is when I really made the turn. That's when I decided to go public with my views. I even contacted my police commissioner at the time and warned him that I was going to start speaking out on this. I didn't want him to be blindsided."

The institutionalized racism and cost of life to both civilians and police officers are just two of the many unintended consequences of our drug policy that keep Neill Franklin speaking for LEAP.

In July of 2010, Neill became executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Additionally, he volunteers his time by serving on many boards .

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Only the Law Can Stop Dutertes Murderous War on Drugs …

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MANILA, Philippines The murdered man lay in a pool of his own blood. At around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 22, two men on motorcycles shot Manny Buddy Wagan outside his small shop selling junk metal just outside Manila. He was killed instantly with two bullets to the head. A witness recalls seeing the killers get off their bikes, approach Wagan, and shoot him at point-blank range a common method of execution in the Philippines. Police called the case a death under investigation.

It has become a familiar sight in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte took power in June 2016 and launched his war on drugs. As Wagans corpse was photographed, examined, and eventually removed by police, young children stood speechless with their parents. A relative of the deceased began weeping loudly. Onlookers shot video and photos with their smartphones. Once Wagans body was taken to the morgue, a man lit a solitary candle on the ground beside a puddle of congealed blood. It was just another bloody evening in Manila, a city that has seen a massive spike in drug war-related violence.

It is impossible to say with complete certainty that Wagan was killed because of his drug use or connection to the narcotics trade. But over the past 18 months, many victims of Dutertes war on drugs have been innocent, only tangentially involved in the drug world, or simply users of crystal meth. And as with thousands of other deaths, the police investigation into Wagans killing is unlikely to be properly conducted.

Instead, Wagan will end up a mere statistic in a brutal war that has received support from U.S. President Donald Trump, fierce opposition from the global human rights community, and large though diminishing backing from the Filipino people, especially those in communities most affected by the governments extrajudicial killings. Duterte has created an effective social media army, with the help of Facebook, to bully enemies and rally his followers. And the countrys war against the Islamic State has brought international backing for the Duterte government.

The exact number of people who have died in Dutertes war is unclear. The police suggested in October 2017 that only one person had been killed extrajudicially since July 1, 2016, a claim ridiculed by both local and foreign rights groups. The real figure could be as high as 20,000. In January, Human Rights Watch said more than 12,000 drug suspects had been killed, mostly the poor in urban areas from either police operations or vigilante-style killings sometimes by plainclothes police.

The Philippine government has repeatedly violated international law because it does not hold fair trials, or any trials, before executing its citizens. After a brief lull in deaths in late 2017, the last months have seen a sharp upturn in drug war killings.

Duterte has created a culture of impunity, learned from his years as mayor of Davao City on Mindanao Island, where the so-called Davao Death Squad committed multiple rights abuses (with echoes of vigilante violence from the U.S.-backed, anti-communist purges many decades ago). In February, the president told soldiers to shoot female rebels in their genitals.

The government claims that its drug war has drastically reduced crime across the country, alleging that fewer than 4,000 suspects have been killed. The crime reduction narrative was confirmed anecdotally when traveling around Manila; many citizens told me that they felt safer walking the streets at night and less afraid of gang violence. But this apparent reduction in unrest in some areas has come at a tremendous cost, especially for the countrys poorest citizens. When I visited Binondo in Manila, one of the bloodiest areas during the drug war, the first thing I noticed was not violence but extreme poverty. Residents lived in tin sheds and defecated in the nearby Pasig River. Meth, known as shabu in the Philippines, was still sold in the area. A printed sign asked residents to call a police hotline to report drug activity.

Unlike other global drug war hot spots such as Honduras, where vast sections of the country are unsafe, and Guinea-Bissau, where narcotraffickers control parts of the state apparatus the Philippine drug war has targeted societys most disadvantaged groups. Other parts of Manila, sprinkled with Starbucks and high-rise office buildings, do not witness state-sanctioned murders on the street.

Not many local groups have challenged Dutertes murderous policy, but there are a few human rights lawyers attempting to bring justice to the aggrieved victims. The Center for International Law (CenterLaw) in Manila has bravely taken on five cases related to the drug war. Gil Anthony Aquino, one of the centers attorneys, told me that 99 percent of such cases would never go to court. He acknowledged that he and his colleagues have taken precautions to protect their personal safety, as the government has become increasingly brazen in its attacks on opponents, including trying to shut down critical media by force if necessary. During the Duterte era, at least five journalists have been murdered while working, mostly in Mindanao. According to the International Federation of Journalists, the Philippines is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for reporters.

The lawyers have therefore been strategic in their work against the president. We dont personally attack Duterte, Aquino said. We dont call for his ouster. We skirt around the issues. We try to get accountability from the police. Aquinos colleague, Gilbert Andres, explained how Dutertes drug war was inspiring other nations, including Indonesia, to implement similarly harsh policies against drug suspects. Andres said Duterte had created a dangerous atmosphere in his country. If youre a drug suspect, you dont deserve rights, he said of Dutertes mindset. If youre an advocate for human rights, youre an enemy of the state.

Dutertes presidential spokesman, Harry Roque, dismissed Human Rights Watchs concerns in the Philippines because, he said, financier George Soros supported HRW and was a lobby against the countrys drug war. Duterte made the same argument in 2016.Roque was simply following the playbook against Soros perfected by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, using anti-Semitic imagery to conjure a global Jewish conspiracy run by the billionaire.

Andres is not oblivious to the dangers of narcotics; he has seen the tragic cost of drugs. I lost my father, who was killed by a drug addict in Manila in 1989, so this is personal for me, he said. But the lesson he took from that incident was that human rights and crime busting can operate together.

Both he and Aquino are critical of some local and international human rights groups that only document drug war killings and dont invest in local lawyers to defend victims families, prosecute trigger-happy police, and litigate the thousands of crimes that have occurred in the last 18 months. At the end of the day, Andres argued, INGOs [international nongovernmental organizations] should put their hands where their mouths are by helping local lawyers in whatever way. In the end, it is us local lawyers who will risk life and limb for human rights.

One of the five drug-related cases taken on by CenterLaw involves the police murder of Emiliano Blanco (and others) on Nov. 30, 2016, in highly suspicious circumstances. Residents of the area where he was killed filed a writ of amparo in 2017 a legal concept originating in Mexico to safeguard individual rights to protect their community from any further police-led violence and intimidation. The action was partially led by Blancos brother, Francisco Blanco Jr., who is now the primary guardian for his brothers 7-year-old son.

Francisco Blanco was defiant but scared. At times, he was on the verge of tears when describing his brothers death and tough life. He acknowledged that his brother was a drug user but said he had surrendered to police months before his death. Since the drug war began, police and district heads have collated watch lists of suspected drug users, a dangerous and secretive practice that has led to thousands of killings.

He now faces constant police harassment and threats to his life, a common problem for family members of victims. If I was there on the night of the murder, I would have been killed for sure, he said. Police visited him a few months later, gesturing to suggest theyd slit his throat and asking him, Do you want the same fate as your brother?

Until there is a legal remedy for the Duterte governments gross human rights abuses, including police being held accountable for their violent crimes, citizens will remain in a precarious position. With few viable options available to victims, and the threat of retribution if they launch legal challenges, its not surprising that so few cases are being pursued. Those that have been filed are a crucial check on government abuses.

Blancos case is now winding through the courts, and CenterLaw hopes to get resolution this year. The governments solicitor general, Jose Calida, has condemned the attempt to use a writ of amparo, claiming it would set a dangerous precedent and could be used as a tool by drug personalities in order to fish for evidence in the guise of protecting their human rights. Calida is a defender of Duterte and argues that law enforcement would be impeded in their drug war investigations and the legal move would allow groundless accusations against police.

For all the countrys flaws, the Philippine courts are one of the few relatively independent institutions left in the Duterte era, so Blancos case still has a chance. Others do, too. Local human rights lawyers desperately need more international backing for such litigation. Without it, they wont be able to continue their dangerous but necessary work.

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Only the Law Can Stop Dutertes Murderous War on Drugs ...

President Obama on Atheism | Real Time with Bill Maher …

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Bill asks President Barack Obama about a growing and underrepresented part of the electorate: nonbelievers.

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President Obama on Atheism | Real Time with Bill Maher ...

NAEP Nations Report Card – National Assessment of …

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Going Digital: NAEP Assessments for the Future

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NAEP Nations Report Card - National Assessment of ...

Liberty High – Issaquah Connect

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In this issue of E-News:

A Special Video Message to Families from Superintendent Ron Thiele

Video Message from Ron Thiele

Transcript of Video:

Hello, Im Ron Thiele, Superintendent of the Issaquah School District. Im here to encourage you to become a PTA member and to support the Issaquah Schools Foundation. The PTA builds strong community relationships and responds to classroom and school needs with resources for programs, grants, and events beyond what schools are able to provide. The Issaquah Schools Foundation channels resources into our District to fund vital programs that support all learners in building strong academic foundations and exploring their passions as they learn, grow, and prepare for their futures. So please, get involved!Join and contribute to the PTSAanddonate to the Issaquah Schools Foundation. Together we can ensure every child succeeds and thrives.

Seniors: Your Career Cruising Assignments are Due Next Week

Attention Seniors: Your Career Cruising assignments are due NEXT WEEK. Please complete your resume, answer a question about your plans after high school, and upload these documents into Career Cruising.Assignment details and logon information can be found through these links or on the College & Career website. Once both documents are uploaded, you can sign up for your preferred Senior Exit Interview time slot November 6 (Running Start or waiver only) or November 7.

A message from the High School Scheduling Committee

Last June, with the passage of the Educational Programs and Operations Levy, Superintendent Thiele commissioned a High School Scheduling Committee to study possible changes to high school schedules. This committee, comprised of teachers, parents, and building administrators from each comprehensive high school was assembled along with a District technical team to advise and assist the committee with their work. The committee first met in June to review the charter and begin.

Sending out surveys to solicit input from students, staff, and community members was the committees first priority and that task has been completed. In addition to surveys, the committee agreed it would hold two community input meetings to hear directly from community members and listen to their thoughts on what an optimal high school schedule would look like.

To that end, two community input meetings have been scheduled for Monday, October 15 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. and Thursday, October 25 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the ISD Administration Center Board Room located at 565 NW Holly Street, Issaquah.

The meetings are for interested community members to provide input about their values and priorities for a HS schedule in an informal and conversational setting. The committee will then consider those values and priorities as it works to craft a proposal for the Superintendent. The agenda will include an update from the technical team who will review its charter and direction from Superintendent Thiele and inform the group on the work the committee has done thus far. After that short presentation, meeting participants will have an opportunity to discuss and provide input in small conversation groups facilitated by district staff.

Information on the High School Scheduling Committee, including the committee charter and upcoming meeting minutes and agendas is availableon our website.

We value your input as the committee works towards a recommendation to the Superintendent and look forward to meeting you. If you are unable to attend, please email your thoughts to:HSSchedule@issaquah.wednet.edu.

Updated Discipline Information

Families, the updated district discipline regulation is now available. The state released the laws that prompted us to make changes to our regulation (3241 and 3241P) on August 10th. In our RSVP process, we mentioned that we would be updating you after we had the new law and the opportunity and time to update our district regulation. That work is now done; please refer to and read the documents linked above.

What Every Parent Wants to Know About the Issaquah SchoolDistrictFamilies, do you have questions and need help understanding the school system?You are invited to "What Every Parent Wants to Know about the Issaquah School District" presentation on October 3 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Issaquah Valley Elementary School. District staff and parents will be providing information about elementary, middle and high school.You will have opportunities to ask questions about school expectations, procedures, school and district programs and more. Chinese, Spanish and Korean interpreters will be available at the event. Please click the headline for more information.

Two A days in a row, October 9 and 10

Its true! Due to PSAT testing on Wednesday, October 10, there will be back-to-back A days on October 9 and 10. The A/B Calendar can be found on theLHS website.

PSAT: October 10 All 10th and 11th Grade Students - $10

Students will take the PSAT on Wednesday, October 10. The cost is $10, though scholarships are available.The fee for the PSAT has been added to all 10th and 11th grade student accounts.Additional information will be coming about the schedule for that day, including the activities for 9th and 12th grade students. If you have any questions about the PSAT (including scholarships), please contact Mrs. Armstrong (armstronge2@issaquah.wednet.edu).

FLASH Presentations for Secondary Families

The upcoming presentations for the Family Life and Sexual Health (FLASH) and HIV/AIDS Curriculum for the parents of Beaver Lake, Issaquah Middle, Maywood, Pacific Cascade, Pine Lake, Issaquah High, Liberty, Skyline, and Gibson Ek High Schools will be held on Thursday, October 25, from 6:00-7:30pm at Issaquah Valley Elementary - Multipurpose Room, and Saturday, October 27 from 9:00-10:30am in Boardroom A of the Issaquah School District Administration Center, 565 NW Holly Street, Issaquah. Both presentations are the same, so parents can chose the date that works best for them.

Washington State 2018 Healthy Youth Survey

In October 2018, Issaquah School District 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders will take the State's Healthy Youth Survey the eighth time Issaquah School District had been involved in the state-wide data collection effort.More information about the survey is available on the ISDs Healthy Youth Survey webpage.

Cultural Bridges Family Guide

Download a Free Family Guide in Chinese (Mandarin), English, Korean, Russian, Spanish, or Vietnamese today! This guide has information on how the school system works in the Issaquah School District and how to get involved at your childs school. The Issaquah Schools Foundations Family Guide is available online at bit.ly/CulturalBridges.

LHS Homecoming Week Calendar

You are receiving this email because of your relationship with Liberty High. If you wish to stop receiving email updates sent through the Blackboard service, pleaseunsubscribe.

Issaquah School District E-News is an unattended email address used to distribute information to the community. To contact someone about topics in E-News, please emailorrw@issaquah.wednet.edu

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Liberty High - Issaquah Connect

Walmart is betting on the blockchain to improve food safety …

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Walmart has been working with IBM on a food safety blockchain solution and today it announced its requiring that all suppliers of leafy green vegetable for Sams and Walmart upload their data to the blockchain by September 2019 .

Most supply chains are bogged down in manual processes. This makes it difficult and time consuming to track down an issue should one like the E. coli romaine lettuce problem from last spring rear its head. By placing a supply chain on the blockchain, it makes the process more traceable, transparent and fully digital. Each node on the blockchain could represent an entity that has handled the food on the way to the store, making it much easier and faster to see if one of the affected farms sold infected supply to a particular location with much greater precision.

Walmart has been working with IBM for over a year on using the blockchain to digitize the food supply chain process. In fact, supply chain is one of the premiere business use cases for blockchain (beyond digital currency). Walmart is using the IBM Food Trust Solution, specifically developed for this use case.

We built the IBM Food Trust solution using IBM Blockchain Platform, which is a tool or capability that IBM has built to help companies build, govern and run blockchain networks. Its built using Hyperledger Fabric (the open source digital ledger technology) and it runs on IBM Cloud, Bridget van Kralingen, IBMs senior VP for Global Industries, Platforms and Blockchain explained.

Before moving the process to the blockchain, it typically took approximately 7 days to trace the source of food. With the blockchain, its been reduced to 2.2 seconds. That substantially reduces the likelihood that infected food will reach the consumer.

Photo: Shana Novak/Getty Images

One of the issues in a requiring the suppliers to put their information on the blockchain is understanding that there will be a range of approaches from paper to Excel spreadsheets to sophisticated ERP systems all uploading data to the blockchain. Walmart spokesperson Molly Blakeman says that this something they worked hard on with IBM to account for. Suppliers dont have to be blockchain experts by any means. They simply have to know how to upload data to the blockchain application.

IBM will offer an onboarding system that orients users with the service easily. Think about when you get a new iPhone the instructions are easy to understand and youre quickly up and running. Thats the aim here. Essentially, suppliers will need a smart device and internet to participate, she said.

After working with it for a year, the company things its ready for broader implementation with the goal ultimately being making sure that the food that is sold at Walmart is safe for consumption, and if there is a problem, making auditing the supply chain a trivial activity.

Our customers deserve a more transparent supply chain. We felt the one-step-up and one-step-back model of food traceability was outdated for the 21st century. This is a smart, technology-supported move that will greatly benefit our customers and transform the food system, benefitting all stakeholders, Frank Yiannas, vice president of food safety for Walmart said in statement.

In addition to the blockchain requirement, the company is also requiring that suppliers adhere to one of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), which have been internationally recognized as food safety standards, according to the company.

Originally posted here:

Walmart is betting on the blockchain to improve food safety ...

From Farm to Blockchain: Walmart Tracks Its Lettuce

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When dozens of people across the country got sick from eating contaminated romaine lettuce this spring, Walmart did what many grocers would do: It cleared every shred off its shelves, just to be safe.

Walmart says it now has a better system for pinpointing which batches of leafy green vegetables might be contaminated. After a two-year pilot project, the retailer announced on Monday that it would be using a blockchain, the type of database technology behind Bitcoin, to keep track of every bag of spinach and head of lettuce.

By this time next year, more than 100 farms that supply Walmart with leafy green vegetables will be required to input detailed information about their food into a blockchain database developed by I.B.M. for Walmart and several other retailers exploring similar moves.

The burgeoning blockchain industry has generated a great deal of buzz, investment and experimentation. Central banks are exploring whether it would be good for tracking money flows. Eastman Kodak has explored a blockchain platform that could help photographers manage their collections and record ownership of their work, while a group of reporters and investors are using the technology to start a series of news publications.

But essentially the only real-world uses have come from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which use their own blockchains to store transactions. Walmart is now trying to bring blockchain into the lexicon of everyday consumers.

It is the first real instance of doing this at scale, said Brigid McDermott, vice president of I.B.M. Blockchain.

For Walmart, the initiative fits squarely into two key strategies: bolstering its digital savvy and emphasizing the quality of its fresh food to customers. The blockchain could also save Walmart money. When another food-borne illness hits like the E. coli outbreak affecting romaine the retailer would only have to discard the food that was actually at risk.

I.B.M. is trying to position itself as a leader in the emerging technology of blockchains. It is competing with established companies like Microsoft and upstarts like Ethereum, which have been developing projects in areas as varied as financial trading and music rights.

The Walmart effort will take time to roll out. In the meantime, it is likely to face questions from critics of the technology, who are skeptical of whether the blockchains being developed by corporations are all that different from old-fashioned online databases.

I cant see how doing this in a blockchain data format will make this magical in any way, said David Gerard, the author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain.

I think its mostly a P.R. move, so these companies can sell themselves as blockchain leaders, he said.

Walmarts embrace of the blockchain highlights how difficult it still is for grocers, including the nations largest, to keep track of their food.

Last year, Walmart conducted an experiment trying to trace the source of sliced mangos.

It took seven days for Walmart employees to locate the farm in Mexico that grew the fruit. With the blockchain software developed by IBM, the mangos could be tracked in a matter of seconds, according to Walmart.

The food chain is not always linear, said Frank Yiannas, vice president for food safety at Walmart.

The original blockchain was the online database on which all Bitcoin addresses and transactions were stored. The database is maintained and stored by a network of volunteer computers, so that no single institution, like a bank, is required to keep the records. Because several computers have the records, it is much harder to change or fudge the data after the fact.

Many large global corporations have been studying how they might use a similar database design to keep records among a wide array of parties like the hundreds of people involved in moving spinach from the farm to the grocery shelf.

[Confused about blockchains? Heres what you need to know.]

The blockchains being tested by companies, including the version adopted by Walmart, generally have nothing to do with Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency they are entirely new databases with no coins involved. And unlike the Bitcoin blockchain, which can be viewed by anyone, only certain people will be able to view and access the Walmart database.

The system that Walmart is using, IBM Food Trust, has been developed for consumer companies, including Dole, Wegmans and Unilever, to track products moving through the supply chain.

At each stop along the way, people handling produce for Walmart will make an entry on the blockchain, signing off when they receive it and then when they move it onto the next person in the chain. IBM and Walmart say they are already tracking other products like yogurt and poultry on the system.

Blockchains are supposed to make it possible to keep updated databases without any central authority in charge. But currently, all of the records for the Walmart blockchain are being stored on IBMs cloud computers, for Walmarts use. That has led to questions about why a distributed database like a blockchain is even necessary.

The idea is right but the execution seems off, said Simon Taylor, the co-founder of 11:FS, a consulting firm that advises companies on blockchain adoption. IBM took new tech that doesnt need a middleman and made themselves the middleman.

Ms. McDermott said that the data would be encrypted in a way that will make it impossible for IBM to access or change it.

Efforts to track goods on blockchains have also faced a more fundamental challenge. A blockchain can capture the digital record of a box of spinach. But it cannot tell if someone opened the box and changed the spinach inside, replacing it with arugula or illegal drugs.

Blockchains wont protect you from fraud, Mr. Gerard said. You need human inspectors who know the scams.

Walmart says its blockchain will allow it to track food from the field, through washing and cutting facilities, to the warehouse and finally to the store. It will even be possible to pinpoint which part of the field and at what time the vegetables were harvested.

Mr. Yiannas said Walmart was focusing on leafy green vegetables because, along with beef, they tend to have the highest incidences of contagion.

We can bring trust to the system, he said.

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From Farm to Blockchain: Walmart Tracks Its Lettuce

Walmart will use blockchain to ensure the safety of leafy greens

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The company is asking suppliers to make the switch now, but it won't be so polite in the future. It expects suppliers to have the blockchain systems in place by "this time next year," or roughly by the end of summer 2019. Walmart sees this as a way to speed up recalls and potentially save people from getting sick, and it's not about to take chances.

This isn't the first time companies have used blockchain on a large scale. The allure has been clear for shipping: it's an easy way to notify everyone in the supply chain when a product reaches a given point in its journey. This is, however, a rare instance of a major company mandating the use of the technology. Provided the system works as promised, it could give blockchain a major boost in credibility among companies that are still skeptical about using the same tech underpinning cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

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Walmart will use blockchain to ensure the safety of leafy greens

Malta wants to become ‘Blockchain Island’

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The small European island of Malta is becoming a blockchain hub.

Striving to turn the Mediterranean nation into "Blockchain Island," the government is opening its doors to blockchain and other so-called distributed ledger technologies.

These technologies allow transactions to quickly be carried out between people without interference or control by third parties. Blockchain promises to improve security and reduces transaction costs.

Malta believes the island can become a haven for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin -- the most well-known application of ledger technologies -- but it also believes blockchain can help transform the country's transportation and education systems.

Legislative action

On July 4, the Maltese parliament passed three bills to set a regulatory framework and drive innovation in blockchain-like technologies. The government hopes these laws will attract foreign financial tech companies to establish themselves in the country.

The legislative win made Malta "the first world jurisdiction to provide legal certainty to this space," the Maltese junior minister for financial services, digital economy and innovation, Silvio Schrembi, said in a tweet.

Analysts say the move shows Malta's trailblazing approach to blockchain.

"Malta has accepted the fact that blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are inevitably going to become more popular," said Joseph Borg, head of blockchain advisory at the WH Partners legal firm. "By taking this step, Malta is destined to become a hub for innovative technology startups and established blockchain-based businesses to thrive, while creating economic growth on the island."

Within the European Union, Malta is ahead of the curve in establishing a legislative framework for blockchain, though it's not the first European nation to embrace it. Lithuania is also becoming a cryptocurrency hub, and Estonia was close to introducing a national digital currency called Estcoin. Outside of the EU, Switzerland has designated its canton of Zug as a "Crypto Valley."

Broader application of blockchain

But Borg said the difference lies in the approach. Although other countries are focusing on cryptocurrencies, Malta's attention is on the blockchain technology itself and its wider application.

"Blockchain technology is a key part of our overall national technology strategy that will see us transform different sectors across government," said the Maltese minister for transportation.

In May, the government announced a partnership with a British blockchain platform, Omnitude, to improve the island's public transportation network.

Since 2017, it's been collaborating with Learning Machine Technologies on a pilot program to allow Maltese higher-education and vocational students to access and retrieve educational transcripts and records using blockchain technology.

And the country knows there's yet more potential in other sectors. In an official regulation, the office of the prime minister said blockchain could be used for voting on smartphones and protecting the privacy of health care information.

Related: What is blockchain?

Welcoming fintech

The innovative drive has made the island appealing for fintech companies, as well. Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, recently moved its headquarters from Hong Kong to Malta, following regulatory obstacles in the Far East.

And plans are currently underway for Malta to be the home of the world's first decentralized bank. Founders Bank won't have any central authority. Instead, it will be community-owned by all its customers. Binance is backing the bank, serving as one of its first investors.

Joseph Borg said that it's too early to tell whether this pioneering venture will be successful. But he's optimistic.

"If successfully implemented, the concept will certainly enhance the blockchain ecosystem within the Maltese jurisdiction."

CNNMoney (New York) First published July 18, 2018: 11:22 AM ET

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Malta wants to become 'Blockchain Island'

Dot Blockchain Media

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1) So, is dotBC a cryptocurrency like bitcoin?

The blockchain solution we use at DotBC is not for crypto-currency but purely for information. Think of it as a shared surface on which all parties in the music industry can collectively share and own information about the songs and artists they work with.

dotBC is not a new data standard that the industry has to adopt. Rather it is a way of bundling and improving on existing standards of music data like those that songwriters, publishers, record labels and streaming services use. This bundle is linked to a permanent blockchain record that can never be erased, only amended forward - creating an authoritative time-machine style ledger and history of changes to a songs ownership.

Dot Blockchain Media uses its proprietary data and user authority models, to identify and to remove bad actors, while at the same time being able to fix incorrect or outdated ownership data both before it gets to, and then once its actually on the Blockchain. In other words, data remains secure, and contributors of good data are rewarded.

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Dot Blockchain Media