Blockchain

European Blockchain Ecosystem Needs €350 Million for the Next 18 Months

07/07/2020 by Idelto Editor

A study report by Leadblock Partners, an appointed representative of Sapia Partners LLP, finds an accelerating growth of the European blockchain ecosystem.

The findings of the Leadblock Partners study suggest European respondents have a funding need for €350 million for the next 18 months.

The European Enterprise Blockchain start-up ecosystem is mainly composed of early-stage start-ups at the pre-seed to series A-stages.

About 60% of surveyed start-ups are now generating revenues, and of which 33% are generating €250k of recurring revenues.

The study notes that improving performance is due to the technology recently reaching sufficient maturity. The transitioning from proof-of-concepts (PoCs) and pilot projects to production mode is cited as another factor.

Nevertheless, Leadblock says the United States still leads. The country has $2 billion worth of assets under management (AUM) compared to Europe’s $100 million.

In the report, Leadblock offers some insights as to why half of the global funding for blockchain start-ups is going to the United States.

“We found that one of the key reasons is that blockchain venture capital funds lack AUM in Europe, with US funds having raised at least 20x more capital. U.S. startups typically raise 4x more,” the report affirms.

Another key observation from the findings is the fact that “most investors are not familiar with blockchain technology.

The average investor is not familiar with blockchain technology, its applications, and its benefits.

The knowledge gap is apparent as many investors do not “differentiate between blockchain from cryptocurrencies and its associated negative perceptions.”

Despite these findings, Leadblock still believes that as investors continue to learn about blockchain concepts “we expect to see increasing investments.”

Leadblock also remarks that the blockchain “is a strategic technology that should be seized across Europe.”

A member of the French National Assembly participating in the study, Jean-Michel shared Leadblock’s sentiments on the importance of the technology.

Jean-Michel, who is keen to see greater adoption of the technology, tells interviewers of his vision for the continents’ blockchain space, which he says is evolving.

Jean-Michel wants Europe to become “a leading player in the blockchain industry and impose its own standards.”

The French politician is optimistic about the technology’s prospects. He cites the use of blockchain already “in real estate, mass distribution, food, energy and even in some political votes.”

The thriving global enterprise blockchain start-up ecosystem is growing rapidly (500+/year). The growth is fuelled by two main drivers, new start-ups created every year, and existing bank-to-bank (B2B) start-ups adding a blockchain layer to their existing software solutions.

What do you think about the European blockchain ecosystem needing €350 million? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

The post European Blockchain Ecosystem Needs €350 Million for the Next 18 Months appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Cryptocurrency-Focused Docuseries Airs to Millions of Viewers via the Discovery Science Channel

05/07/2020 by Idelto Editor

A new docuseries called “Open Source Money” recently aired on July 4 and premiered on the Discovery Science channel. The new show gave millions of Discovery viewers information concerning bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings, and blockchain technology. The cryptocurrency-focused show airing on Discovery will continue this summer with a number of episodes broadcasting once a week.

“Open Source Money” is the name of a new docuseries that aired on Saturday and premiered on the Discovery Science channel and the on-demand television provider Philo. The new series gives viewers insight into the cryptocurrency ecosystem by talking with a number of digital currency experts and luminaries like Brock Pierce and Charles Hoskinson.

The focus of the story is mainly about the Dragonchain (DRGN) initial coin offering (ICO) and how the project’s creators had to deal with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Dragonchain was also initially developed in 2014 at the Walt Disney Company branch in Seattle, but since 2016, the project and Disney severed relationships. The series “Open Source Money” was produced by the firm Vision Tree and the company raised $1 million via a variety of cryptocurrencies for filming.

The episodes feature Dragonchain’s issues with the SEC when the U.S. regulators deemed the project an “unlicensed security.” The episodes also feature the Chamber of Digital Commerce founder Perianne Boring, the notorious John McAfee, and Celsius Network’s Alex Mashinsky.

Reports say that Patrick Byrne will also star in one of the five parts filmed for the series. Despite the fact that the filmmakers follow the Dragonchain creators around for a bit, the first episode also acts as a Bitcoin 101 lesson.

The show’s theme also focuses on the current regulatory attitude toward cryptocurrencies in the United States. The show will air on Discovery Science and Philo at 10 a.m. ET every Saturday until the finale.

Discovery is an extremely popular channel with an 81 million U.S. network audience and six million in Canada. Outside the U.S., 2019 data shows that the Discovery network has well over 450 million viewers worldwide. Discovery Science is a subset of the official Discovery network of channels and can be found in most locations worldwide.

The San Francisco-based and Mark Cuban-backed on-demand streaming network, Philo has roughly 50,000 subscribers.

“Each episode highlights major contributors in the cryptocurrency revolution, including notable figures Patrick Byrne, Brock Pierce, Joe Roets, and companies the likes of Disney, Facebook, and more,” explains the “Open Source Money” website. The website’s welcome page adds:

Overall humanity is at a crossroads and the future of money as we know it will be transformed by Blockchain and the new internet of Value. The only question is, where will the US stand in the Space Race of our generation when the dust settles?

The website also notes that there’s a “provably fair 500,000 DRGN giveaway” and viewers need to find clues each week in order to win. According to the “Open Source Money” docuseries web portal, after each episode the clues can be used to find the elusive treasure.

This week’s question has a number of keywords and numbers that the viewer must choose in order to participate in the contest.

Words and numbers featured this week included: “1776, Pizza, Nascar, Cheesballs, Disney, Ramen, Beaxy, Hyundai, Seattle, or Avacodo Toast.” After each episode, a weekly prize winner will be selected,” explains the docuseries producers. “All correct answers, from the start of the contest, are entered into the Grand Prize drawing.”

The “Open Source Money” trailer can be seen below, while Philo and Discovery Science subscribers can watch from those channels.

What do you think about the “Open Source Money” docuseries? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Ethereum’s $5.2 Million Fee Scandal Explained: Exchange Held to Ransom by Hackers

14/06/2020 by Idelto Editor

Hackers are holding an unnamed crypto exchange to ransom after an alleged cyber-attack forced the Ethereum blockchain to facilitate two separate transactions at a cost of $5.2 million in fees, new information suggests.

The hackers may have gained access to the exchange’s funds but failed to transfer the money into their own wallets because of a security setting that demands multiple passwords to process a transaction.

Now they have turned to blackmail, trying to arm-twist the concerned platform into paying a ransom, according to Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

Explaining the suspicious transactions, Buterin tweeted on June 12 that: “Hackers captured partial access to exchange key; they can’t withdraw but can send no-effect txs with any gas price. So they threaten to ‘burn’ all funds via tx fees unless compensated.”

In the last few days, three ETH transactions took place: a customer paid $2.6 million to send $134 worth of ether. Few hours later, the same individual transferred $86,000 of ETH for precisely the same fee. A third transaction by a different user paid $500,000 in fees, but it’s unrelated to the blackmail attack.

Until now, the deals have been explained away as either a bug, money laundering or tax evasion. Others suspect human error.

A new report, however, turns the scales. Focusing on the two $5.2 million transactions, Chinese crypto analytics firm Peckshield concludes that the extraordinary ethereum transfer ‘blunders’ are the result of “gas price ransomware attacks.”

Researchers explain how the hackers gained access to the exchange’s funds and servers through phishing, granting them permission to send money to trusted wallet addresses under the platform’s database, just not their own.

The multi-signature security setting on the platform prevented the thieves from making transfers to their own accounts, but there was a loophole that allowed them to transact to addresses that require single authorization.

So, they have weaponized their stolen authority, sending very small amounts at ridiculously high transaction fees, to force payment. According to the report, the hackers still have access to 21,000 ETH ($5 million) that “if the exchange does not give a certain ransom through other means, the hackers will further spend the money.”

In another tweet, Vitalik Buterin offered a different explanation. “Similar situations could happen in ‘scorched earth’ games, including scorched-earth vaults aka ‘Moeser-Eyal-Sirer’ vaults as well as scenarios where hackers can slash but not steal staked funds,” he said.

What do you think about this ongoing ethereum fees debacle? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Ethereum’s $5.2 Million Fee Scandal Explained: Exchange Held to Ransom by Hackers appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell Discusses Leveraging an Ethereum-Based Libor Replacement

05/06/2020 by Idelto Editor

The Federal Reserve’s Chair, Jerome Powell has hinted at using an Ethereum-based interest reference rate in a transition from the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor). Powell also detailed in a letter to Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), that the Ethereum version of Libor, a software called “Ameribor” may not be for everyone.

The United States Federal Reserve has expanded a great deal since the start of the coronavirus outbreak and a few months prior as well. This week a letter to Senator Tom Cotton from Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicates the Fed is contemplating using Ethereum for interest reference rates.

For instance, the Fed and many other international central banks leverage Libor, a benchmark interest rate where a great number of global financial incumbents use to lend funds to each other and clients.

However, the public is well aware of the “Libor scandal,” a theory that claims that banks and Libor were manipulating rates in order to fleece the populace. Banks are supposed to submit realistic interest rates to Libor, but the organization and member institutions are accused of manipulating the benchmark rates since 1991.

“The way the inter-bank, or Libor, interest rate is set is no longer fit for purpose,” explained a written review by the Financial Services Authority. The megabank Barclays was one of the big name banks accused of messing with the Libor rates.

Powell suggested Ameribor which is a similar tool designed by the American Financial Exchange (AFX) and the system leverages Ethereum to make sure the rates are reliable. Essentially there is the use of nonfungible ERC721 tokens that represent payments services and settlement.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell Discusses Leveraging an Ethereum-Based Libor Replacement — A flowchart showing how the Ethereum-based Ameribor works.

In the letter to Senator Tom Cotton, Powell explains a few of the benefits tied to using AFX’s Ameribor system for the benchmark rates. Although, Powell said that he doesn’t think Ameribor would be a “natural fit” for everyone in the market.

“While it is a fully appropriate rate for the banks that fund themselves through the American Financial Exchange or for other similar institutions for whom Ameribor may reflect their cost of funding, it may not be a natural fit for many market participants,” Powell wrote.

The Fed Chair did note that “Ameribor is a reference rate created by the American Financial Exchange based on a cohesive and well-defined market that meets the International Organization of Securities Commission’s (IOSCO) principles for financial benchmarks.”

The letter doesn’t say whether or not the Fed will officially leverage Ameribor over Libor. However, the crypto community seems to enjoy the idea that the Fed is contemplating using the Ethereum-based product. The AFX-blockchain product has been operating since it was first announced on November 22, 2019.

“American Financial Exchange (AFX), an electronic exchange for direct lending and borrowing for American banks and financial institutions, the official Ameribor announcement detailed at the time. “AFX now mints two ERC721 non-fungible tokens for each Ameribor transaction on the AFX platform (for each counterparty to the transaction),” AFX added.

What do you think about the Fed contemplating using Ethereum-based Ameribor? Let us know in the comments below.

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Amid Youtube Censorship, Individuals Flock to Decentralized Video Sharing Apps Like Lbry.tv

31/05/2020 by Idelto Editor

In mid-May, news.Bitcoin.com reported on one of our mining pool videos being censored and banned from the video-sharing platform Youtube. The report had shown how Youtube has been censoring videos for a long time now, and the CEO specifically told the public certain coronavirus films would be removed. Youtube’s censorship has caused a number of individuals to search for decentralized video sharing platforms, and one particular project called Lbry.tv has been gathering a lot of traction.

Censored Youtubers Are Migrating to Lbry.tv

Censorship is abundant these days, as many of the massive social media platforms and video sharing sites are censored and policed on a regular basis. Just recently, Bitcoin.com’s official Youtube account was warned for sharing a video about bitcoin mining and people witnessed mass censorship on Youtube caused by the coronavirus.

Months before Covid-19, many crypto-focused Youtube channels were also banned and removed from the platform. The iron curtain tethered to Youtube has invoked a number of crypto advocates to leave and join a more decentralized concept called Lbry.

Lbry is a sharing platform that uses blockchain technology to enable users to publish material and get paid for doing so. People using Lbry’s service can monetize their published material with its built-in payment system. The creators of the Lbry project state:

Lbry is a new protocol that allows anyone to build apps that interact with digital content on the Lbry network. Apps built using the protocol allow creators to upload their work to the Lbry network of hosts (like Bittorrent), to set a price per stream or download (like iTunes) or give it away for free (like Youtube without ads). The work you publish could be videos, audio files, documents, or any other type of file.

Amid Mass Censorship, Individuals Flock to Decentralized Video Sharing Apps Like Lbry.tv — Lbry.tv.

In addition to the main Lbry blockchain, the project has also introduced Lbry.tv, a similar platform to the likes of Youtube but without censorship and centralization. The creators of Lbry call the platform Lbry.tv, “a nearly feature-complete web version of Lbry desktop, a browser for the Lbry network.”

Because of the censorship and centralized video sharing platforms manipulating video shares and adding horrible advertisements, many people have migrated to the Lbry platform for quite some time now. The developers behind the project note that the video sharing portal has:

Hundreds of huge YouTubers, like Veritasium, minutephysics, John Stossel, and 3Blue1Brown. Tens of thousands of popular YouTubers co-publish or publish unique content to LBRY.
Hollywood films, including the catalog from Oscilloscope Studios, which includes award-winning films starring actors like James Franco, Julia Stiles, David Cross and more.
Creators who stand up for free speech and free expression like Jordan Peterson, Benjamin Boyce, Justin Murphy, and more.
20,000 top college lectures that almost disappeared forever due to the threat of censorship.
All kinds of weird and original gems.

Decentralized and Censorship-Resistant Social Media and Video Sharing Platforms Will Someday be the Norm

It will take some time, but censorship-resistant and decentralized platforms will someday be the new norm. The masses are slowly beginning to see the problem and there are tools out there that can decentralize social media and video sharing techniques across the web.

Platforms that pay content producers and artists directly, instead of large fractions of profits going to middlemen like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Youtube. There are projects like Twetch decentralizing Twitter and concepts like Memo.cash removing third parties from social media forums. Lbry.tv is an alternative to Youtube, Amazon, and other hosting sites. It may be nascent project and may not even be the end solution, but its a start in the right direction.

What do you think about Lbry and Lbry.tv? Let us know in the comments below.

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