Monthly Archives: February 2017

Last year, Brendan Eich, former CEO of the Mozilla corporation and designer the Javascript programming language, launched Brave, a Web browser that blocks advertisements by default. Now Eich is rolling out a new Bitcoin payment platform, integrated right into the browser, that he hopes will provide an alternative revenue stream for publishers. He views it asa replacementthe one Brave takes away, which he argues is dysfunctional and on the verge of collapse.

As of September, people using Brave have the option of creating a wallet in the browser, loading it with bitcoins, and sending small payments to publishers based on the anonymized metering of their Web traffic. For now, Brave plays a central role in facilitating the transactions, although it has sought to do so in a way that protects the privacy of Brave users.

When you create a wallet with Brave, you actually share it with a company called BitGo, meaning that you and BitGo each own one key for the wallet, both of which need to be present in order for a payment to go through. After loading bitcoins into this wallet, you specify the total amount of money you would like to spend on your Web browsing. Then, after a month goes by (measured by the days you actually spend using the Brave browser), bitcoin transactionssigned by both you and BitGo trigger the disbursement of that money into a Brave settlement wallet.

Before a website operatorcan collect the funds, itmust go through a verification process with Brave to prove that itsrunning a legitimate business. In return for providing this service, Brave takes five percent of all the donations that come through.

In order to attract people who dont already own bitcoins, or who may not even know what Bitcoin is, Eich and the Brave designers have made the digital currency as invisible as possible in the Brave Payments experience. We try not to put Bitcoin all up in your face, says Eich.

To that end, people have the option of funding their wallets with a credit or debit card. The payment actually goes to Coinbase, the largest Bitcoin exchange in the U.S.But when the money lands in your wallet, it is denominated in Dollars. Eich says you can expect, in the coming months,to be able to pay with Stripe as well.

Although Bitcoin is invisible in the user experience, it is essential to the privacy of the system. According to Eich, the users Brave client is the only place where browsing history gets stored. Normally, sending transactions across the bitcoin network to escrow accounts for known websites would give away information about who is visiting which websites, because every transaction is recorded in a public ledger. However, Brave uses a cryptographic protocol called Anonize(which puts to work zero-knowledge proofs similar to the ones that shield transactions in the digital currency Zcash). Anonize hides the correlation between browsing history and the payments that are received.

We dont want to be a tracker. We dont want that data. Its better that we cant have it than that we could have it and promise to be good,says Eich.

The Brave Payment systemalso leverages a feature of Bitcoin called multi-signature transactions to ensure that Brave cannot misusethe funds in browser wallets. We use this feature to avoid custody of funds. Each user has effective custody of their Brave user wallets funds for the purpose of microdonating to their top publishers, says Eich. The transparency of the Bitcoin blockchain further means that anyone can audit the flow of funds to keep Brave accountable.

Because of the programmability of Bitcoin, it is also possible that Brave could use it in the future to design a fully decentralized version of the browser in which escrow accounts automatically verifywebsites and disbursefunds, rather than relying on Brave to manually intervene.

By adding payments to the Brave browser, Eich is not just giving people a way to donate totheir favorite websites in return for the revenue theyve lost to ad blocking technology. It is the first step in a grandiose plan to completely reformulate the funding architecture of the Web and perhaps even save online publishers.

When Eich describes the online marketing ecosystem, he makes it sound like a dark sewer writhing with parasites and disease. Dip a foot down into the muck and leeches latch on to slurp up every drop of attention they can get. Peel them off, and little poison darts are left to fester under the skin. There are the cookies and tracker pixels that keep tabs on your every move. If youre really lucky, youll catch a bad case of malware while youre down there.

No self-respecting publisher would send their readers down into this dangerous world. And yet they do, because for every victim they offer, the parasites send back a fraction of the blood they suck.

But this isnt going to work forever, says Eich. Part of the blame goes to ad blockers, which saw a 30 percent increase in adoption rates over 2016, according to a report by Business Insider. But there is also the problem of third parties, which carve off so much of the advertising revenue pie that very little actually makes its way to publishers.

The system is not stable. It suffers from these rent seeking parasites, says Eich. Publishers are under stress. I cant name names, but there are a lot of publishers that say they see 18 months to some event where they have to be parceled out to some private equity or sold. And these are big U.S. brands. These are not small online publishers. Obviously the New York Times has Carlos Slim as benefactor and the Washington Post has Jeff Bezos. But not all of them are so fortunate.

If, as Eich says, the entire industry is in a death spiral, when it finally croaks, he wants Braves direct payment model to have matured into a viable alternative.

In December, Coindesk, one of the most prominent Bitcoin news websites, announced that it been verified with Brave Payments as a preferred customer. Obviously, our readership maps entirely with the early adopters for something like a Bitcoin enabled Web browser. So, it made a lot of sense for us. And Ive actually been pleasently surprised at how much weve seen come through, says Ryan Selkis, the managing director of CoinDesk.

But will Brave be as popular among people who are not naturally inclined to enthusiastically latch on to any slightly Bitcoin-related innovation? Since February, Brave has verified 120 publishers. And 37,000 new Brave Payment wallets have been created, holding an average balance of around 8 Dollars, according to the head of communications at Brave.

IEEE Spectrums general technology blog, featuring news, analysis, and opinions about engineering, consumer electronics, and technology and society, from the editorial staff and freelance contributors.

Sign up for the Tech Alert newsletter and receive ground-breaking technology and science news from IEEE Spectrum every Thursday.

A prototype in a lab at Penn State can beam data at rates of 10 gigabits per second 31Jan

High Fidelitys decentralized architecture aims to power the next generation of virtual-reality worlds 30Jan

A new terahertz modulator demonstrates dizzying data speeds of 28 Gb/s 24Jan

The Trump administration reignites a classic debate over economics and technology 18Jan

Controversy flares as rivals rush to launch 5G services 30Dec2016

Class-action lawsuits target the biometric privacy policies of several Internet giants 29Dec2016

Zcash, the new anonymous cryptocurrency, was born in a cloak-and-dagger cocoon of digital secrecy. There was just one little problem 2Dec2016

Following its splashy debut, the Boston startup called Starry has quietly tested millimeter waves to wirelessly deliver broadband Internet service with peak speeds up to 1 gigabit per second 2Dec2016

Experts in New York debated the latest virtual reality trends and whether users are really ready to embrace this new medium 15Nov2016

Seeing isnt just about taking pictures. The real revolution will come when our digital devices understand whats in front of their eyes 3Nov2016

Cybersecurity researchers warn that online voting is not yet safeand may never be 3Nov2016

Casting a vote online can be secure and convenient 26Oct2016

The Beijing-Shanghai project will form the backbone of the nations quantum communications network 26Oct2016

Set to launch Friday, ZCash is built to do what Bitcoin can'tprovide privacy 25Oct2016

The security flaws within the Internet of Things must be fixed, or denial-of-service attacks will only worsen 25Oct2016

Doctors outperform online apps at diagnosing symptoms 10Oct2016

The connected IoT is spawning a new vocabulary 28Sep2016

Early predictions of 50 billion connected devices by 2020 are being scaled back 23Sep2016

Stanfords Hacking for Defense class to be offered at 13 universities next year; U.S. Defense Department gets ready to send students classified problems 23Sep2016

After dodging disasters from Hurricane Sandy, Facebook instigates its own outages as part of Project Storm 2Sep2016

Go here to see the original:
Can Brave's Bitcoin Payment Platform Save Online Publishing? - IEEE Spectrum

The price of a single bitcoin on Tuesday touched its highest level in more than a month as populists in the U.S. and Europe threaten the established political order, increasing the appeal of alternative investments like cryptocurrencies, market strategists said.

The price touched $1,060 US:BTCUSD on Tuesday, according to Coin Market Cap. Thats its highest level since Jan. 4, when bitcoin traded as high as $1,100, its highest level in more than three years.

A poll released over the weekend showed Marine Le Pen, the far-right candidate representing Frances National Front party in the April presidential election is poised to win the first round of balloting. The news sparked a selloff across European bond markets, and rattled stocks.

Read: Treasurys boosted; Europe election jitters set tone

Bitcoins valuable more than doubled in 2016, largely thanks to Chinese buyers who hoped to protect their wealth from a rapidly depreciating Chinese yuan USDCNY, +0.0073% by using bitcoin to circumvent stringent capital controls.

The U.K.s June vote to leave the European Union, U.S. President Donald Trumps unexpected electoral victory and the rising popularity of far-right candidates in France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have made the political situation in the West appear increasingly precarious, market strategists said.

The dollar gained 0.3% to trade at 6.88 yuan on Tuesday.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss run a bitcoin exchange on which investors trade on average $1 million in bitcoin per day. But is this cryptocurrency safe or a fad?

Previously, the currencys valuation languished in 2015 and 2014 after the collapse of popular bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox effectively ended a speculative bubble that saw the price of a single coin climb to an all-time high around $1,2050 in late 2013.

Bitcoin weakened sharply in January after Chinese authorities announced they would investigate the countrys largest cryptocurrency exchanges to ensure compliance with local laws. Initially, investors feared this could signal a shift to a more aggressive approach by Chinese regulators who had previously left the cryptocurrency world more or less along.

Read: And 2016s best-performing commodity isbitcoin?

Also read: Bitcoin could soar if the Winklevoss ETF is approved

Check out: Grayscale Investments files to list its bitcoin trust on NYSE

Instead, Chinese authorities appear to have reached an understanding with local exchanges. Several exchanges adopted a 0.2% trading fee to cut down on market manipulation while strengthening controls to prevent money laundering, all in accordance with regulators wishes.

Others are betting that the U.S.s first bitcoin-focused exchange-traded fund now faces an easier path to approval thanks in part to the unexpected electoral victory of President Donald Trump, who has promised to scale back financial regulations. The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to make a decision by March 11.

View original post here:
Bitcoin price soars past $1060 as political worries intensify - MarketWatch

Book Review: Reinventing Remittances with Bitcoin Bitcoin Magazine With the advent of Bitcoin in 2009 came its most obvious use case, namely, making the global transfer of money as simple as sending an email. The success of this has now informed the world of remittance, a billion-dollar market with profound ... and more »

Visit link:
Book Review: Reinventing Remittances with Bitcoin - Bitcoin Magazine

Q Costa Rica News

Venezuela Seems to Be Cracking Down on Bitcoin Bitcoin Magazine It appears that the Venezuelan authorities have had enough of Bitcoin. Over the past two weeks, police in the Latin American country arrested eight Bitcoin miners in three different cities. While some of them were accused of cybercrime and stealing ... Venezuela's Main Bitcoin Market Shuts Down amid Arrest of MinersQ Costa Rica News Bitcoin exchange temporarily shuts down amid Venezuela crackdownCalvinAyre.com Interest in Bitcoin Continues to Climb in Turkey, Colombia and Venezuela; LocalBitcoins Volumes Hit Records in All ...Razor-Forex (blog) Eastern Daily News -DCEBrief (press release) -newsBTC all 7 news articles »

View original post here:
Venezuela Seems to Be Cracking Down on Bitcoin - Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin company executives and analysts including Irene Katzela, CEO of Chain of Points, firmly believe retailer and merchant adoption is the key to bitcoin mainstream adoption.

Since 2014, the bitcoin industry and market have seen a rapid emergence of bitcoin-accepting merchants. Companies like TigerDirect and Expedia have begun to offer bitcoin as one of their main payment methods.

Currently, bitcoin is perceived more as a store of value and a safe haven asset rather than an actual digital currency. Some bitcoin investors like Roger Ver argue that the development community of bitcoin must work towards transforming bitcoin into a settlement system and digital cash rather than digital gold.

While this approach isnt necessary as bitcoin can be used as both a store of value or settlement system depending on certain users, it is important to understand that limited merchant adoption is restricting the mainstream adoption of bitcoin.

With the integration of various scaling technologies like Segregated Witness (Segwit) that are currently on the verge of activation, bitcoin blocks are set to see at least a 2.1x increase. Considering the average blocksize of 1 mb, a 2.1x expansion of the bitcoin blockchain will appropriately scale the network.

In contrary to what many investors claim, the expansion of bitcoin blocksize will not abruptly bring hundreds of millions users into bitcoin. The user base of bitcoin is not growing at linear rate. Instead, it is demonstrating an exponential growth rate as the digital currency is still at an early stage of adoption.

As Katzela emphasizes, it is important to persuade the general population and consumer base to utilize bitcoin by introducing its benefits and advantages over cash or other traditional forms of payments in existence. Some bitcoin platforms like Purse.io are already targeting the general population or mainstream users by offering 20% discount on products. Some individual merchants also provide special discounts to bitcoin users, as bitcoin significantly decreases credit card fees or financial service fees handled by merchants.

When a user tries to utilize bitcoin for the first time and sees that it is secure, fast, and cheaper than credit card payments or bank transfers due to a merchants effort in providing a discount or a special promotion in appreciation of lowered fees, the adoption rate amongst beginner bitcoin users will drastically increase.

The savings on the merchant side are clear considering the fees incurred by using existing payment methods. An increasing number of merchants pass some of the cost savings onto consumers, in the form of discounts and incentives. As these cost savings continue, consumers will soon realize that virtual currency enables lower prices for goods and services, said Katzela.

An increasing number of merchants are beginning to accept bitcoin as theyre seeing a significant decline in the volatility rate of bitcoin. The digital currency has been demonstrating stability over the past 12 months.

As Katzela explains, the number of merchants accepting bitcoin is increasing but the mainstream user base of bitcoin isnt growing at a similar rate. Bitcoin-accepting merchants that arent taking a step further to convince mainstream users in using bitcoin will only appeal to existing consumer base of bitcoin.

Aiming only to increase the number of merchants that accept virtual currency is only half of the equation for wide consumer adoption. Achieving greater consumer adoption equates making consumers feel safe using virtual currency in their everyday lives, said Katzela.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Read the original post:
Bitcoin Acceptance by Merchants & Retailers Crucial for Mainstream Adoption - CryptoCoinsNews

Forbes

The First Government To Secure Land Titles On The Bitcoin ... - Forbes Forbes The first time that a national government has used the bitcoin blockchain to secure and validate official actions went well. Hawaii to Consider Bitcoin-Friendly Blockchain Bill to Boost Tourism ...CryptoCoinsNews all 2 news articles »

See the article here:
The First Government To Secure Land Titles On The Bitcoin ... - Forbes - Forbes