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How the East is Rising to Blockchain Superiority

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Since the end of World War II, the United States has been the indubitable leaders in technology and innovation. The U.S has been the global leaders in embracing new technologies since putting a man on the moon to the recent birth of the Silicon Valley. This position has given the country a deliberate advantage in controlling how emerging technology is ratified and setting up standards. Nevertheless, as we set foot into the new decade, the United States is risking losing its place as global technology leaders to another economic superpower in China.

Since the inception of Blockchain technology, it has been viewed through the digital currencies lens. In particular, the publicity surrounding the trading of Bitcoins and other coins has made blockchain to be perhaps the most talked about topic. In fact, a recent survey has indicated that most people are aware of what Bitcoin is but they do not understand the technology that powers it. This makes blockchain technology to be perhaps the most misunderstood emerging technology.

The Rise of the Great Wall

The last several years have seen China rise to become a daunting challenger to the United State in a number of technological areas. In particular, blockchain and artificial intelligence. The Chinese President during a speech back in May 2018 at the Chinese Academy of Sciences highlighted that;  “ever since the start of the 21st century, a new generation of the industrial revolution is substantially reshaping the global economic structure,” regarding artificial intelligence, the Internet of things and blockchain.

How the East is Rising to Blockchain Superiority
PC: Pixabay

Today, over 500 projects have been registered with China’s Cyberspace Administration since it became mandatory.  Moreover, the number of Blockchain-related patents registered in China have almost trebled the next closest country; in particular, the United States. According to a report by American market intelligence company, IDC; China is planning to spend in excess of $2 billion on blockchain technology by 2023. The local Chinese governments have even pledged endowments to blockchain-related projects. That is how serious China is on Blockchain.

Moreover, the government of China made blockchain a national priority back in 2016 in its 13th Five Year Plan.  President Xi Jinping went on to highlight the significance of this technology to the future of China during a speech last year. He said:

“We must take blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies, clarify the main directions, increase investment, focus on a number of key technologies, and accelerate the development of blockchain and industrial innovation.”

Interestingly, firms with roots in China took up 57 positions in a recently compiled list on the “Top-100 Blockchain Enterprise Patent Rankings” by IPRDaily, a global intellectual property media outlet. China is known to be big when it comes to government superintendence. Its stance on the blockchain is no different. A state official went on to unfold that:

“When talking about blockchain, many people are talking about ‘decentralization.’ I’d like to make a small change to the word. I think the essence of blockchain is ‘de-intermediarization.’ There is no way to get rid of the center.”

However, the standards being set by China on matters blockchain are against the technology’s fundamental philosophy of decentralization. This brings an uncomfortable notion as Josh Rogin of Washington Post puts it: “While Westerners envision blockchain-based Web 3.0 as an open system, China could build a closed blockchain that it controls and corrupts for its own purposes.” 

China is not the only one

As China walks tall in the digital ledger space, other Asian countries are also working hard to outdo the United States on the blockchain. Korea is an embryonic global leader in blockchain adoption. The Asian country is instigating blockchain adoption in several sectors of large business, startups and the government. The Ministry of Science and Technology in South Korea has started schemes to train developers. In addition,  the Seoul Metropolitan Government is aiming to invest more than $1 billion on blockchain and fintech startups by the year 2022.

Furthermore, a great deal of blockchain development for businesses and enterprises is taking place in India. The country is a global leader in systems integration engineering and software innovation. For this matter, India is home to some of the best blockchain developers in the world.

Conclusion

The escalation of blockchain technology, on top of the endorsement and fortification of the Chinese government, is ushering in an unrivalled age of healthcare, fintech, logistics, supply chain management and e-commerce advancement. Recently, China was fairly accused of duplicating the best technologies in the world. Nevertheless, regarding the blockchain technology, it is looking more and more like the other countries are playing catch up with China.

2020 Blockchains Are Becoming Operational And More Scalable

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2020 was the vision year upon which key takeaways in the blockchain industry would take shape. What are these takeaways?

For instance, in 2018, Toque Magazine reporter Marcel Gogan outlined seven predictions for the blockchain industry by the year 2020. I observed three significant projections in that list that reflect the far and much blockchain has achieved.

The integration of the rule of law into smart contracts has given birth to the democratization of the internet. The main idea behind smart contracts was for internet parties to comply with a set of terms and conditions. In the wake of solving contractual disputes between buyers and sellers, this concept is revolutionizing decentralized justice. The concept is being practically applied in projects such as Kleros.io.

The second takeaway was that economy and finance would lead to the next development phase of blockchain.

Cryptocurrencies are already reducing friction in cross border transactions and remittance. Projects such as Ripple are streamlining the path towards institutional adoption of blockchain. Remember Moneygram’s partnership with Ripple. The face of 2020 presents a shift of traditional banking concepts to iteration with blockchain to reduce excess bureaucracy, conduct faster transactions, and improve privacy. Banks will derive a lot of value neighbouring a billion figures by implementing blockchains.

Blockchain
PC:Pixabay

Gogan’s third key prediction was the appearance of national cryptocurrency by the year 2020. Governments were a bit skeptical about the first appearance of cryptocurrencies. A situation characteristic of several central bank bans and restrictions. China is in the final stages of launching its digital renminbi, while Venezuela is hopeful that it could bypass sanctions using digital coins. Additionally, the United States is drafting plans for a digital dollar.

Despite the blockchain being over a decade old, operational problems have been persistent. The world has warmed up to create practical solutions using decentralization. Technologists anticipate bolstering scalability, speed, interoperability, cost, decentralization, and centralization of private/public chains.

The working mission for blockchain technology is to create a solution for every problem. While the genesis of blockchain technology has been to find practical applications, the turning point would be enhanced operation. Companies need to leverage technology in a way that deploys their services effectively.

Since all seven takeaways of Marcel Gogan’s predictions have come to pass, the next phase for the year is open doors for firms to become decentralized.

It’s been noted that the hindering factors to the adoption of blockchain are scalability and interoperability. Developers are building cutting edge blockchain solutions that are isolated, incompatible, and siloed. Take, for instance, the popular Hyperledger, which at least 25 businesses on the Forbes blockchain 50 list are using. In case the other fifty wanted to link to the solutions of the other half, what portability factor would even guarantee such interoperability?

Cross blockchain pilots are likely to take over the blockchain in 2020. Interoperability has opened up a platform for researching how digital assets and virtual chains can co-exist.

On the other hand, are scalability issues. Libra outlined in its whitepaper that there exists no scalable solution for its billion global users. This, therefore, shows how critical the issue of scalability is. Bitcoin’s lightning network processes seven transactions per second. Ethereum is slightly higher with 15, and then comes the fastest blockchain, Ripple, with 1500 transactions per second. Meanwhile, Visa processes 2,400 transactions per second on average. These speeds represent a potential bottleneck for adoption.

Visa
PC:Pixabay

Visa handles at least 150 million transactions a day. For blockchain to beat the competition of that size, there has to be a rimmed down hash complexity. Blockchain developers can achieve this complexity by either reducing block time or increasing the block size. Any of both methods create a throughput that only hits the ceiling before reaching Visa level transaction speeds. Let’s unpack these problems from an arithmetic formula on the Bitcoin blockchain.

The average block size is one megabyte (1,048,576 bytes). Theoretically, the block size could scale to four megabytes through Segregated Witness (SegWit). SegWit defines a soft fork change on the format of a bitcoin transaction. Ideally, the average transaction size is 380.04 bytes on the assumption that each transaction comes from wallet X.

To calculate the average amount of transactions that could fit within one bitcoin block, let’s do this:

 

Test

The generation time for every bitcoin block is 10 minutes. That means that the blockchain will generate a new blockchain at the end of every ten minutes. Ten minutes are equivalent to 600 seconds. Since the average block time transactions are 2,759.12 transactions, the ordinary transactions per second are, therefore, 4.6.

Based on the equation above, only two variables will directly affect the rate of transactions per second — the block size and the block generation time. Increasing the block size will instantly increase the speed of transactions but second. Unfortunately, Satoshi Nakamoto hardcoded the block size to one megabyte. Decreasing block time will increase the rate of transactions per second, and this is only possible by adjusting the complexity of the hashing puzzle (the algorithm for solving the proof of work).

There are three scenarios for competing with Visa. Bitcoin’s blockchain multiplying its current rate of transactions per second by 377.5. Which also means adjusting the block size from one megabyte to 377.5 megabytes.

The second would be reducing the block time from 10 minutes to 1.6 seconds. Adjusting both also serves as a possible scenario to boost network speeds. Unfortunately, the lot of two is made impossible by a second factor; both of the first two scenarios are dependant on the relay time for broadcasting a new block to each node of the blockchain.

There are over 10,000 nodes on the bitcoin network. The time for propagating at least one megabyte to each node is quite unimaginable.

Note that the average propagation time for each node is around 13 seconds as of 2019. This time propagates 99% of the entire network. When block time falls below relay time, a new block is generated before all network blocks receive the old one. As the block time gets closer to 99%, the more issues arise on double-spending attacks, security vulnerabilities, chain re-organizations, and orphan blocks.

This is only one scenario of numerous exploited possibilities that haven’t worked.

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin describes these host of challenges as the scalability trilemma. To fully exploit the potentials of decentralization, you could only have one of either scalability or security.

trilema
Scalability Trilemma

Hopefully, 2020 is the year that blockchains will able to solve the areas of scalability and interoperability.

 

PC:Logos.medium.com

Bitcoin Still A Favorite Among Criminals, According To New Chainalysis Report

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Since its inception, Bitcoin has found use cases in several industries. This ranged from finance to transport to major crimes. Several proponents of the industry have repeatedly claimed that the usage of Bitcoin in crime has reduced but a recent Chainalysis report said otherwise.

The report stated that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin saw a boom in the illicit drug industry, generating revenues of more than $700 million. 

Bitcoin had a great start to 2020, especially with the bullish highs and the multitude of developments within the industry. This has also been coupled with cases from various quarters of the world, most of which were related to Bitcoin scams. Ever since the inception of the Silk Road, government authorities have always kept a close eye on large scale Bitcoin transactions.

According to the Chainalysis 2020 Crypto Crime Report, the darknet market activity was higher than ever. The report pointed out that after a small decline in 2018, the total darknet market sales grew 70 percent in 2019 to over $790 million worth of cryptocurrency. This was the first time since 2015 that the darknet markets increased their individual share of incoming crypto transactions. The figure had doubled from 0.04 percent in 2018 to 0.08 in 2019.

The report further suggested that while the magnitude of illegal Bitcoin transactions had increased, the value of Bitcoin being sent to exchanges had reduced. Bitcoin exchange transactions had peaked towards the end of 2017 when the value crossed $170 billion. The same metric had fallen to around $70 billion as 2019 came to a close.

The Chainalysis report also focussed on region-specific transactions. Drug market places like Hydra was the most popular hot spots but they catered to only countries like Russia. The data from the report showed that the median purchase sizes had remained constant throughout any specific time period. This meant that either the old customers were jacking up their purchase orders or that new players were entering the field.

Darknet activities in the Bitcoin sphere play out very differently from usual BTC peripherals. While factors such as exchange rate, gambling prowess, and movement were all dependent on Bitcoin’s price, darknet activities took an entirely different approach. Fraudsters only utilized Bitcoin decentralized and untraceable nature to make sure payments for drugs are successful.

Marketplaces like Nightmare sell drugs ranging from Oxytocin to Amphetamines at rates that Bitcoin enthusiasts love. The ease of the UI and UX has resulted in many new people joining the darknet fold. There is some hope for a clean sweep as regulatory authorities were hot on the heels of those managing these websites.

Authorities have taken the example of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road to emphasize their seriousness. Bitcoin proponents have kept their hopes up in the fact that such scammers will be shut down and the cryptocurrency’s price eventually shoots up.

 

Source :TheNewyorkTimes

Billion Dollar Startup Exits in Fintech

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The billion-dollar fintech startups list has 1 in 10 exits the market through a high valuation merger, acquisition or IPO. There is a staggering amount of fintech startups evolving every day and scaling cross borders. Venture capitalists are pouring more capital to support the next wave of scale.

Ideally, ideas originating from one location are developing and evolving elsewhere. A 2019 survey by Global Fintech Adoption suggested 96% of respondents were aware of at least one financial technology service. 75% of them had used a financial technology product or even money transfer. 

Looking at the figures, Fintech has not only evolved into a mainstream space but also become hypercompetitive. 

Billion Dollar Valuation Startups in Asia

The rate of cashouts and investment is also alarming. Fifteen financial technology firms in China have had exits valued at 1 billion dollar valuation, within the past three years. Data-driven studies in Asia indicate that South East Asia witnessed a record 80 deals and $700 million of investment in Q3 2019. 

The figures are accelerating in Africa as well, where fintech startups doubled their volume between Q2 and Q3 of 2019. Meanwhile, the promising behavior of the space has guaranteed incumbent firms to transform their business models. In fact, these entire space seems to be piquing investor interest be it -; insurance technology, on-demand fintech services, payment processing and so on. 

The leading nations with upperhand in fintech startups remained to be Hong Kong and China. While global startups in the industry raised a combined sum of $45 billion, both countries raised $26 billion. That is owing to the figures collected in 2018. The trend in the past year is evenly tremendous and we might see the amounts hit a peak this year. 

Since 2017, fifteen China and Hong Kong based fintech startups have exited through a merger or an Initial Public Offering at a billion dollar plus valuation. Prior to that year there had never been any $1 billion valuation exit from those regions. 

CBInsights Charts for High Valuation Fintech Exits

 

According to CBInsights, Zhong Insurance became the most valued exit with a whopping $11 billion dollar valuation. The leading insurance technology company came to birth following joint efforts by tech giants Ping An, Alibaba and Tencent. ZhongAn is China’s first online insurance service provider to have broken the $1.49 billion premium. 

valuation at the time of exit

Moreover, we have Challenger banks that are directly manifesting more holistic solutions to customers. The banks saw a blockbuster 2019 after raising over $3 billion in Q3.

Note that the banks are a spectacular phenomenon for customer money, paycheck, provision of intelligent insights for financial forecasting and the best in class financial technology products. There are at least 75 challenger banks today and we expect the number to grow this year. 

Qudian, an electronics retailer based in Beijing went public at a $7.9 billion valuation in 2017, following a $955 million in funding. In 2018, Carlyle and TPG Capital led a consortium of investors that bought  Du Xiamon Financial Services for $4 billion. 

The latest billion-dollar fintech startup in the spin of high valuation exists is OneConnect. A financial accounting management infrastructure, OneConnect went public at a $3.7 billion valuation in December. Hong Kong-based Futu Securities an online trading platform went public in March  2019 and exited with a $1 billion dollar valuation. 

 

Source: CBINSIGHTS

 

Facebook’s Libra Project is Developing a Governance Model that will Disrupt the Remittance Space

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The controversial Facebook’s Libra project has been 2019’s biggest story. However, it is not the only payments project hoping to transform the payments sector, when still ripe to throw into disarray.

As per the most recent statistics, the remittance course leading to low and middle-income nations is predicted to extend to  $574 billion in 2020; and $597 billion by 2021. However, this is a sector that has been pestered by carelessness, which has been an expensive occurrence to some. The high cost on top of the rigorous laws and regulations, continue to bear an impediment to the payments sector.

Dante Disparte, the Head of Policy and Communications at the Libra Association, likens the current payments system as “walled gardens.” He notes that the current 230 million economic asylum seekers are the individuals that propel the GDP of their mother countries. This is bigger than the p2p payments, foreign direct investments or even official government aid and development assistance. However, he adds that there is no way to achieve this in a less expensive and systematic way.

Libra Tapping Payments Space

Moreover, Disparte claimed in a recent interview that the competition in the payments space is minimal; and the existing methods are “one big monopolist player or there’s a duopoly operator” running the remittance sector. He also touched on the Libra project exploring this opportunity. He said:

“If we introduce the opportunity for digital wallet providers to emerge that are interoperable, that’s a big game-changer for the world. To do that right, of course, means you have to go through the process we’re going through now – build a governance model that can withstand the the the vagaries and the vicissitudes of any one organizations and association but also build a model that could achieve a regulatory standard that protects consumers.”

In addition, the lack of infrastructure has led to slow digital currency and remittance engagement. However, in the case that Facebook’s Libra project receives regulatory approval, it will go head-to-head with an experienced figurehead in the industry; Ripple. The blockchain firm has multi-partnerships under its wing.

Will Libra Disrupt the Remittance Space?

As per the initial expectations, Facebook expects the Libra cryptocurrency to launch within the first half of 2020. The global stablecoin is designed to enable users to be able to initiate payments using Facebook and WhatsApp and stored in its digital wallet called Calibra. 

The main focus of the Libra project is on developing countries and the unbanked. However, it remains to be seen which companies the project will partner within these regions because their targets are not expected to book Uber or buy hamburgers. The ineptitude to bring value is expected to make make it hard to sell in the particular regions especially; since it will disrupt the local players on top of limiting the government’s oversight on the banking system.

In addition to this, Libra will facilitate payments regardless of whether the parties involved are criminals or not; whether they are under sanctions or not. Facebook will have to provide good proof that it will not facilitate terrorism. Given how the social media giants handle their social network, this will be a difficult task.

In conclusion, the stablecoin will have to get rid of many middlemen (in this case banks) from the market. However, they still need banks in their loop. In order for Libra users to use it, they will have to convert fiat into Libra. Additionally, if its target is the over $500-billion-dollar remittances market, there is a need for a smooth transition from Libra back to local currency. These are the areas where banks will be required.

 

Digital Dollar Could Protect Dollar’s Status as Global Currency Reserve

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The digital dollar is the modern renaissance for fervently boosting the US dollar’s position as the world currency reserve.  Lately, the US dollar status has been further weakening. Moreover, the system is losing its confidence in fiat as a store of value.

A situation that has created long term slideS in the amount of reserves that are in dollars.

Regulatory confusion in the wake of digital currencies has created tensions in the adoption of clear compliance frameworks around the innovation. While the United States’ sole competitor – China, is busy adjudicating digital assets as key areas of innovation; the United States is directing hostility against cryptocurrencies. 

In all earnest, Washington’s miasma against cryptocurrency is clearly driving innovation to China. The Asian economy is quickly moving to break things and the prospect of emerging as a dominant financial hub is alarming. 

The Rise of the United States Dollar is attributed to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 following great instability and unreliability of the time’s banknotes currency system. To create stability around international exchanges, most nations pegged their national currencies to gold.

Around 1913, The United States had already outweighed Britain as the world’s largest economy. 

The break out of World War I in 1914 saw many countries abandon the gold standard as a national reserve. Meanwhile, this move was fueled by the need to pay for military expenses through paper money.

Economists believed that gold was increasingly devaluing their paper money. However, Britain went ahead to hold on to gold as its reserve for three more years. A decision that plucked away Britain’s position as a center of commerce.

For the first time, the country found itself having to borrow money. Britain turned the United States and in the subsequent flow of events; the US became the lender of choice for most nations willing to buy into dollar-pegged bonds. Britain abandoned its gold standard and the dollar replaced the pound as the global leading reserve. 

Entry into World War I as a key supplier of weapons and goods, the United States found itself collecting vast amounts of gold payments. A move that signaled a return to the gold standard.

A meeting in 1944 at Bretton Wood, New Hampshire saw 44 delegates from the allied countries come up with a new system. This new system would not any nation at a disadvantage in the lucrative foreign exchange market and international trade. 

Therefore, they devised that the world’s currencies could be linked to the US dollar and not gold. On the other hand, the US dollar was linked to gold. Popularly known as the Bretton Woods Agreement, the proposal established that all central banks would maintain fixed exchange rates between the US dollar and other currencies. In turn and on-demand, the US could redeem their dollar reserves for gold. 

Deficit spending on servicing the Vietnam War flooded the United States market with paper money. The situation threatened the stability of the US dollar. Forcing many countries to convert their reserves into gold once again.

This created an extremely high demand for gold that then US President Richard Nixon delinked the dollar from gold; and replaced the system with today’s floating exchange rates. Since the dollar has remained the leading global currency reserve. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) claims that at least 61% of global foreign banks are held in US dollars. The majority of the reserves are in cash or cash bonds. 

Meanwhile, the reserve is influenced by the size and strength of the United States economy as well as the country dominance in financial markets. Despite unbridled printing of U.S dollars,  large deficit spending and foreign debts in the figure of trillions of dollars -; US treasury securities still maintain as the world’s safest store of value. 

The United States enjoys myriad benefits with the US dollar’s position in macroeconomics. So big have been these benefits, that a former president of France described the position as an “exorbitant privilege”

It is a status that gives the superpower edge against inhumane intolerance by imposing sanctions. The framing of an alternative cryptocurrency serves as a way to avoid the US dollar as a reserve. China is not likely to give up on this front for innovation. 

Conclusion

In case the United States does not execute a digital makeover of its greenback and deploy a digital dollar, 

I am afraid, that the US dollar will be stripped of its power as a worldwide central bank reserve. 

 

Top 10 Cryptocurrencies With Real Life Use Case

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Top 10 Cryptocurrencies: Experts believe it’s about time people began associating digital currencies with their utility, rather than the hype of blockchains. Bitcoins and other digital assets might be fading into proportionate loss of confidence in cryptos as a store of value. Meanwhile, this loss of interest may not necessarily affect the advancement and improvement of blockchain technology. But could impair the gradual process of adoption. Only an irrefutable proof of value to consumers and enterprises will drive the next phase of growth.
The short term wins of the crypto-verse are over. Cryptos with real-life use cases will drive crypto growth in 2020. If we look more carefully into the market we can definitely find a few blockchain projects, the ones created to be useful in real life. In this article, we will tell you about the top10 cryptos, the ones you can use in your real life.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin

A factual study was going round that Bitcoin can outweigh digital gold. However, this is only possible if Bitcoin could spawn a barrel of real-life use cases. ARK, a prominent investment research firm noted three feasible Bitcoin user cases that could drive Bitcoin to a trillion-dollar capitalization. One such example is the use of bitcoin as a form of non-seizable offshore wealth asset. The aggregate net worth of High Net Worth Individual (HNWI) purportedly neighbors $50 trillion figures. Would Bitcoin secure a small percentage of this aggregate, then the asset could attain a trillion-dollar valuation.

Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum

Ethereum’s utility goes beyond the financial world. While it is simple to categorize both Bitcoin and Ethereum as one, Bitcoin lacks an actual use case besides being a digital currency. However, the main agenda of Ethereum was to create a programmable layer of smart contracts for deploying decentralized applications.

The utility aspects of the ethereum blockchain range from organizations and enterprises intending to deploy their ethereum blockchains.

Ripple

Ripple

Ripple’s entry into the crypto market was to solve the challenges of blockchain scalability. This aspect would form the basis of the Ripple Network’s major selling point. The platform has a throughput capacity of at least 50,000 transactions per second. Additionally, XRP coins were meant to facilitate real-time transactions with negligible transaction fees. Ripple’s target market are institutions such as banks. The network would help increase its efficiencies. Furthermore, the network describes its native network – XRP as the world’s fastest and reliable digital currency for making payments.

Apollo

Apollo

The Apollo Currency (APL) is a privacy coin dubbed as the all in one decentralized token. APL boasts of being the only cryptocurrency that combines almost all the features of existing altcoins into one platform. Noteworthy, APL is built upon proof of stake consensus mechanism and also allows holders to forge new tokens through its wallet software. The total supply of APL altcoins is 21 billion and there at least 15 billion coins in circulation.

Tron

Tron
TRON

Myriads of scalability issues plagued Ethereum since inception. Tron benefits from the disadvantages of Ethereum. Note that the creators behind Tron wanted to inspire all Ethereum features but a level of boosted scalability. Tron does not charge any costs for executing smart contract transactions, unlike Ethereum. However, the Tron network promises a remarkable throughput of 2,000 transactions per second. Striking similarities with Ethereum include the ability to create smart contracts by implementing Solidity. Tron founders recently outlined plans of providing additional privacy layers to transform the currency into a privacy coin.

Monero

Monero

A privacy coin at the center of all financial transactions, Is what comes to mind at the mention of Monero. Privacy makes monero such a valuable asset for cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Financial analysts believe that monero would be such a favorable store of value for people during oppressive regimes. While Bitcoin’s first impression was providing anonymity in a world of centralized data systems, Bitcoin’s blockchain would still store a record of transactions. Hence failing to achieve anonymity. Monero solved this problem by coming up with multiple stealth addresses, ring signatures, and permanent IP obfuscation.

Dash

Dash

Dash came into existence as an altcoin for making cryptocurrency easier and paved the way for mainstream adoption. Instant confirmations and ability to solve the problem of double-spending positioned Dash among the most revolutionary projects. Take the instance of a cafeteria vending machine accepting bitcoin payments. Would it not take forever given Bitcoins long confirmation times. Not forgetting high transaction fees.

Factom

Factom

 

Factom came to birth in 2014 as the undisputable record keeper of immutable and trustable data. Once a record is placed on Factom, changes are impossible to make. Therefore, an essential record would act as trust against which future verifications can be executed. Peter Kirby, the founder of the platform, had noted significant constraints on the bitcoin blockchain, barred the scope for innovation and prominent solutions. Meanwhile, the Factom ecosystem implements both its blockchain and Bitcoin to achieve the following:

  • Proof of Audit
  • Proof of Existence
  • Proof of Process

Gollem

Gollem

Gollem is an open-source, decentralized supercomputer built on the Ethereum blockchain. The native cryptocurrency of the Golem network is called Golem Network Tokens or GNT. Supply of these coins is fixed, and the price would likely increase with further adoption of the platform. It is easy to liken Golem to the AirBnB in computing. A place where technologies can power their websites, execute CGI rendering, conduct energy-intensive calculations and execute long lines of code. Golem’s computation resources could also enable you to mine other cryptocurrencies.

IOTA

IOTA

IOTA is the first of its kind cryptocurrency that does not use a blockchain. The coin implements what it calls the Tangle technology. These projects will power the next generation of the internet of things. Transactions are entirely free. An aspect that is impossible with other altcoins. On the low side of things, the adoption rate for IOTA is quite low. However, the coin has great potential to go mainstream.

Bottom line

The utility is the most important question one would ask when it comes to technology. It is fair and reasonable that technology goes mainstream because its impacts could touch lives. Therefore, this aspect of use case is a core concern while assessing the future of any innovation.

 

Why is Japan Exploring the Development of a Central Bank Digital Currency?

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A report by Reuters Japan suggests that the Asian country is on the verge of joining the growing list of countries across the globe that are planning to issue a state-backed digital currency. 

 Japanese Vice Minister for foreign affairs, Norihiro Nakayama told Reuters that the legislators are exploring on issuing the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the form of a digital Yen. Apparently, this move will be a joint venture between several private entities and the Japanese Government. The lawmakers are aiming to keep Japan at least one step forward in the cryptocurrency industry.

 Moreover, the lawmakers may forward the CBDC’s proposal as early as next month, according to Nakayama. This begs the question, why is Japan so eager to enter the CBDC race? After all my research, I can only think of two major answers: Pressure from China and to counter the threat posed by Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency.

 China’s Push for a Digital Yuan

China is another Asian country that has been exploring a state-backed digital currency since 2014. The digital Yuan is already under development at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). This move has got a lot of countries worried, Japan included. However, most details about its development have not been revealed to date.

 “China is moving toward issuing digital yuan, so we’d like to propose measures to counter such attempts,” Nakayama claimed on Thursday.

 Japan’s major worry is that China is developing digital Yuan as a legal tender. Japan basically employs the dollar to transact. As per the country’s finance minister, China’s CBDC would be a “very serious problem” due to the fact that most Japanese prefer Cash.

 Additionally, there is a spreading concern that China might use its CBDC as a financial surveillance tool; to monitor the user’s spending habits. However, the head of PBoC’s digital currency research institute, Mu Changchun made an effort to calm the unrest. He said the upcoming digital Yuan is not an attempt to spy on users and people will be able to carry out private transactions.

 China has accelerated in developing its digital currency lately. In fact, it is the launch of Facebook’s Libra project that has hastened China’s work on its state-backed cryptocurrency. This is as per PBoC’s Director Wang Xin.

 The Danger Posed by Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency

Major countries have presented a lot of obstacles towards the launch of Facebook’s Libra project since it was announced back in June 2019. Despite the challenges, Libra keeps pressing on. The Libra Association formed a new ‘Technical Steering Committee’ which will consist of five initial members. The committee will superintend the development of the project.

 In an interview with NPR, Chuanwei Zou of Bitmain explained that Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency “represents a huge threat” to the prosperity of mobile payments. Chinese platforms such as WeChat and Alipay faces a huge challenge from Libra.

 However, Japan has different worries regarding the launch of Libra cryptocurrency. A report back in July hinted that Japanese legislators were concerned that Libra would be hard to manage. According to the lawmakers, the stablecoin is backed by a basket of different fiat currencies. Hence, it cannot be pegged to a single country’s politics.

Conclusion

In the near future, Japan, China, and all other concerned states may not have to worry about Facebook’s Libra. Major members of the Libra Association have left the project with telecom company Vodafone being the latest to abandon them. The project may be weakening.

 

 

New Cryptojacking Malware Vivin Mining Hundreds of Thousands of Monero Coins

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Cisco Talos cybersecurity experts are tracking down a 2-year old malware that has been conducting an active crypto mining campaign of Monero coins. 

Cybersecurity methods of preventing data breaches have evolved tremendously and so have cyber criminal mechanisms. Researchers at Cisco identified the cryptojacking malware as Vivin and indicated it had been active as early as 2017. A 2018 report from the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) revealed a 459% increase on the rate of illicit cryptojacking that year. This trend continued to grow for the better part of 2018 with McAfee Labs reporting a 659% increase by the end of Q1. 

Meanwhile, McAfee Labs research found out that increasing cryptocurrency prices fueled the rise of cryptojacking malware. However during a Threatpost podcast,  Cisco Talos cybersecurity researcher Nick Biasini pointed out that hackers did not require huge amounts of money so as to drive these operations. As long as the illegal ventures generate any amount of revenue, as long as money is the guarantee; cyber attacks are here to stay. His suggestion was to drive the point that Monero crypto mining malware was still on the rise, despite the coin’s diminishing price. 

For a malware campaign that has been in existence since November 2017, they must have mined thousands of dollars of Monero coins from unsuspecting host computers. 

Note that cryptojacking involves hijacking user computers and exploiting their computing power to mine digital currencies. The activities usually take place without the owner’s knowledge. Eventually, the malware sends the mined funds to the criminals controlling the software.

Talos discovered that the Vivin malware was rotating multiple amounts of wallet addresses and corrupting payload delivery chains. Activities which took place across different timelines. However, the first actor to infecting computers with Vivin involved installation of pirated software. The software opened up the infected computer to a backdoor as the initial attack vector; upon which the code executed an XMrig mining software installation. 

Nevertheless, the perpetrators of the attack did little to nothing in hiding their activity. A host of poor security decisions like posting similar Monero wallet addresses revealed their track. However, as Talon came to establish – the poor operation decision were a well thought generalization pattern for massive targeting of general user behavior. 

Vivin Cryptojacking Malware Prevention

Vivin attack point of attacks however offers computer users numerous tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) for mitigating risks. To prevent the threat of cryptojacking malware and especially in this case Vivin attacks, observe the following: 

  1. Avoid pirated software usage on endpoints
  2. Ensure perfect event logging and monitoring
  3. Observe proper system resource monitoring
  4. Block mining pools URLs
  5. Implement detection signatures

Biasini noted that he wasn’t surprised that cryptojacking malware were still currently present. The researcher said that cybersecurity and TTP attack prevention might have mitigated the first phase of cryptojacking. However, there was a second wave of cyber criminal behavior occasioned by sketchy data phishing and brute force. The initial wave, he noted, characterized spam campaigns and infected mail documents. 

During press time, Vivin attacks are active and still mining hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting computer users. It is therefore essential that people observe good cybersecurity hygiene before they have their computer resources milked dry. 

 

WorldPay Joins Visa To Become African Fintech Giant Flutterwave’s Latest Partner

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Several institutional players have taken a keen interest in cryptocurrency organizations after realizing that using digital assets was the way to go. This sudden boom was earlier focussed in regions such as the US and Europe but now countries in Africa were also giving it a run for its money.

Just recently, Flutterwave, a fintech company headquartered in San Fransisco announced that they had completed a massive $35 million fundraising round, The company also partnered with two major companies.

On January 22nd, Flutterwave revealed that they had partnered with Visa and WorldPay to expand in Northern and Francophone Africa. The $35 million funding round was expected to fund this very expansion. Flutterwave was founded by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Olugbenga Agboola, two entrepreneurs from Nigeria who wanted to contribute towards Africa’s booming fintech economy.

Visa and WorldPay first took interest in Flutterwave because of the wave it specialized in individual and consumer transfers. The company was one of several organizations in Africa which aimed to solve real-world problems using blockchain and crypto. Following the partnership announcement, Agboola stated:

“For us at Flutterwave, we have been focused on enterprise clients and now we are going to deepen that and also show how we can help small businesses scale their business when they use us as their payment partner. That’s a major goal for this investment for us.”

The partnership entails Flutterwave becoming the sole African payment provider for Worldpay’s worldwide client base. Worldpay had earlier stated that it trusts Flutterwave’s proprietary technology to allow it to penetrate the African market. With Worldpay’s involvement, Flutterwace will become the latest organization to open up the world of digital assets for Africa.

Flutterwave follows in the steps of cryptocurrency companies like Electroneum who have solidified their African foundation. Electroneum has also gone as far as improving mobile connectivity in countries such as Nigeria and Uganda.

Visa’s interest in Flutterwave started way back when the latter began its services. The credit and debit card giant was one of the first buy-ins to Flutterwave. Visa had joined Flutterwave on a consumer payment platform called Barter in 2019 with an aim to boost the cross border transactions sector.

Flutterwave is expected to continue raising the bar with Visa and even have plans to launch physical and virtual Visa cards. The Flutterwave co-founders were confident that the company can function as a bridge to connect multiple regions, regardless of boundaries. This rampant development has been one of the main reasons why Flutterwave’s backers include Green Vison, Greycroft & eVentures and CRE Ventures.

Countries in Africa are now being looked at as prospective regions for massive growth. Some financial analysts claim that opening up the developing countries in Africa can result in a GDP jump of $3.7 trillion. They also expect more companies to expand their services in Africa by first making it easy to use.

 

Source:TheNewYorkTimes