content

Aave Launches Social Media Project Lens Protocol With Over 50 Apps Built on Polygon

18/05/2022 by Idelto Editor

The blockchain firm Aave has launched the Lens Protocol, a social media project with applications built on the Polygon blockchain. Lens is similar to the social media platform Twitter but Lens profiles are linked to a non-fungible token (NFT) that can be ported into decentralized applications.

Lens Protocol Is Live – Aave Founder Believes People Are ‘Ready for a Better Social Media Experience’

On Wednesday, the blockchain company Aave announced that the Lens Protocol is now live and roughly 50 applications have debuted on the platform. Aave first revealed the Lens Protocol during the first week of February 2022 and the first applications are built on top of the Polygon network.

Stani Kulechov, CEO and founder of Aave Companies said the recent Twitter ordeal with Elon Musk shows that people are looking for something different than the incumbent social media platforms. “The social media experience has remained relatively unchanged for the last decade, and much of that is due to your content being solely owned by a company, which locks your social network within one platform,” Kulechov said in a statement sent to Bitcoin.com News.

The Aave founder added:

But ultimately, as seen from Elon Musk’s bid to purchase Twitter, people are ready for a better experience than what they’re used to. Ownership over not only the content you create online, but also your profile and social network is long overdue, and empowering users is what Lens aims to achieve.

Lens Boasts 50+ Social Applications and Creator Monetization Tools Built on Polygon

The 50 applications built on Lens covers social applications to creator monetization tools, the announcement notes. Lens users that have already minted their NFT profile can access any of the applications such as Peerstream, Lenster, Swapify, Spamdao, and more. “Building a Web3 social media platform on Lens Protocol has opened up a new realm of possibilities for our development team and users,” @yoginth.eth the founder of lenster.xyz remarked during the announcement.

Lens Protocol will provide users with the foundations to leverage full ownership over their “profile, content, and relationships” while plugging into any decentralized application. G.Money, the NFT filmmaker and creator, detailed that lens will empower the platform’s userbase. “An open social graph will allow creators and brands to fully own content distribution and their audiences in a truly multi-platform way. Lens empowers platform choice and opens up wider audiences through direct creator/brand-community relationships,” the NFT filmmaker said.

What do you think about Aave’s Lens Protocol? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Content Subscription Service Onlyfans Adds Ethereum-Based NFT Profile Feature

12/02/2022 by Idelto Editor

The internet content subscription service Onlyfans has announced the launch of a feature that leverages non-fungible token (NFT) technology. The newly-added feature, introduced on Thursday, gives Onlyfans members the ability to display authenticated NFTs as their profile pictures.

Onlyfans Steps Into the Realm of NFTs

The London-based content subscription service Onlyfans is well known for its direct funding for content creators, its one-time tips, the firm’s pay-per-view (PPV) features, and of course, NSFW content.

This week, Onlyfans has revealed it is experimenting with blockchain technology as the firm is allowing users to show off their NFTs. According to a report from Reuters, Onlyfans CEO Ami Gan explained that the move is meant to empower the platform’s userbase.

“Our mission is to empower creators to own their full potential,” Gan explained to the Reuters author Elizabeth Culliford. “This feature is the first step in exploring the role that NFTs can play on our platform.”

Onlyfans is behind the eight ball when it comes to joining the NFT industry, as a large swathe of well-known businesses and popular brands have already jumped in. Moreover, Twitter’s verified NFT profile feature is similar to the Onlyfans NFT profile concept. Twitter launched the feature last month.

On Febraury 6, Bitcoin.com News reported on Alphabet’s (Google) plans to explore blockchain and Web3 technology. Furthermore, Alphabet’s subsidiary Youtube published a blog post explaining that it has plans to leverage non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said Instagram is exploring NFTs and reports note that Meta is also experimenting with the technology.

According to Onlyfans CEO Ami Gan, the NFT support will be for Ethereum-based NFTs, and in order to know they are verified, an Ethereum logo mark will be present. The company didn’t disclose whether or not it would support other blockchains that support NFT tech going forward.

What do you think about Onlyfans adding NFT support? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Russia’s Roskomnadzor Watchdog Blocks 6 VPN Providers

05/09/2021 by Idelto Editor

Russian communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has restricted another six VPN providers. The agency says the platforms have facilitated access to information that is banned in the Russian Federation. Roskomnadzor is also whitelisting certain VPN services that operate in accordance with the law and are used by Russian companies.

Roskomnadzor Bans More VPN Platforms in Russia

Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media, Roskomnadzor, has restricted access to another batch of VPN service providers. In accordance with a government decree issued in February 2020, “a decision was made to block 6 more VPN services that violate Russian law,” the watchdog explained in a notice published Friday.

The affected platforms are Hola! VPN, Express VPN, Keepsolid VPN Unlimited, Nord VPN, Speedify VPN, and IPvanish VPN. The regulator insisted their services allow users to maintain “access to prohibited information and resources,” creating conditions for illegal activities such as those related to the distribution of drugs and spreading of extremism.

Earlier this year, Roskomnadzor banned two other VPN providers, Vyprvpn and Operavpn, citing identical reasons. The federal supervisory body described as “effective and justified” the technical means it’s using against services helping Russians to bypass its restrictions.

Such measures are often applied to websites with crypto-related content. Last August, Roskomnadzor took down the popular exchange aggregator Bestchange.ru and in March 2020, the agency added six crypto sites to its register of banned internet sources. This past June, a court in the Perm region announced its decision to block several websites providing information on cryptocurrency trading.

Watchdog Whitelists Some VPNs Used by Russian Businesses

In its latest announcement, however, Roskomnadzor also revealed it’s now whitelisting certain VPN services. The move aims to avoid disrupting the operations of software programs and applications that are not in breach of the current Russian legislation and “use VPN services for technological purposes.”

The decision to do that comes after the agency received requests from 64 industry organizations, 27 of which are using VPN connections to support 33 technological processes. Roskomnadzor has been presented with more than 100 IP addresses that need to be exempted from its access restriction policies.

The regulator further emphasized that while the VPN services violating the law in the Russian Federation have been blocked completely, the VPNs used by Russian companies that were added to its whitelist have continued to function smoothly.

Do you think Russian authorities will continue to block VPN providers and crypto websites? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

6 Crypto Websites Blocked by Russia’s Media Watchdog, Including News Outlet

09/03/2020 by Idelto Editor

6 Crypto Websites Blocked by Russia’s Media Watchdog, Including Major News Outlet

In what seems to be another episode in a long-running campaign, the Russian telecom regulator has restricted access to at least six websites posting content related to cryptocurrencies. Тhe forum section of Bits.media, a leading crypto news outlet, is among the internet pages that have been blacklisted this month.

Also read: Russians Can Use Qiwi, Sberbank, Yandex Money and Now Binance P2P Exchange to Buy Bitcoin With Rubles

Roskomnadzor Restricts Access to Crypto Forum

The latest offensive was launched on March 5, when the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) added five crypto websites to its register of banned internet sources. Access to btcphone.ru, alfatop.me, nicechange.org, bitokk.com, and prostocoin.com was restricted following a ruling by the Nyandomsky District Court in Arkhangelsk Oblast issued a day earlier. The sites offer different services, from crypto exchange to mobile top-ups with bitcoin, and one of them is an information portal.

Around the time these websites were blocked, readers complained that the Bits.media forum became inaccessible too. Eventually the outlet was able to establish that this section of its website was blacklisted on a 2017 request from the Federal Tax Service (FTS) citing a ban on the dissemination of prohibited information in Russia. At the time, the tax agency was unhappy with a forum thread about an online casino. The thread was re-opened but eventually deleted altogether. Bits.media founder Ivan Tikhonov commented on Facebook:

RKN blocks the site again. Stock up on proxies and VPNs.

Tikhonov’s team is currently negotiating with Roskomnadzor. The problem is that some internet providers have actually blocked the whole domain, not just the website’s forum. Those that are not diligent enough to immediately implement the regulator’s restrictions are threatened by sanctions. A reversal of the ban, however, could take several months and no one will be held accountable for any delays in this case. Tikhonov also posted a screenshot of the official reference to the blocking of Bits.media from Roskomnadzor’s website and said that the agency had acted without prior notice.

Regulator Accused of Targeting Websites Arbitrarily

Roskomnadzor started blocking crypto websites in 2015. Since then, multiple platforms have been affected, including Coinspot and Cointelegraph a few months ago. Authorities find grounds for these decisions and actions in a statement by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) on “virtual currencies” published in 2014. Besides issuing the usual warnings to the public, the bank stated that the law prohibits the issuance and circulation of “money surrogates” on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Bits.media points to many similarities between the different cases. For example, they are often filed by prosecutors in various Russian regions but the restrictive measures are imposed on a national level. The district courts refer to the CBR’s position and the absence of a regulatory framework but fail to recognize that no current Russian law bans decentralized cryptocurrencies or the publication of information about them. Furthermore, blocked websites are often totally unrelated, which leaves the impression that they are being targeted arbitrarily.

As a result, operators of such platforms successfully challenge the rulings in higher courts. In March 2018, the Saint Petersburg City Court struck down a ban on 40 websites with information and services related to cryptocurrencies. In April, the Supreme Court overturned a decision to block the Bitcoininfo.ru portal. In May 2019, Roskomnadzor was forced to remove Bestchange.ru from its blacklist, after prosecutors gave up efforts to block the website citing the lack of regulations. According to recent statements by officials, the Russian parliament may finally adopt the Law on Digital Financial Assets by the end of March.

What’s your opinion about Roskomnadzor’s actions against crypto websites in Russia? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Roskomnadzor.

Do you want to dig deeper into Bitcoin? Explore past and present cryptocurrency prices through our Bitcoin Markets tool and head to our Blockchain Explorer to view specific transactions, addresses, and blocks.

The post 6 Crypto Websites Blocked by Russia’s Media Watchdog, Including News Outlet appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Close to $6k in Bitcoin Cash Tips Paid to Read.cash Authors Last Week

29/01/2020 by Idelto Editor

The read.cash blog has been a resource for the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community for a while now but ever since the recent miner funded development proposal, the blogging site has gathered significant traction. For instance, the front page of read.cash shows that during the last week, more than $5,730 in bitcoin cash has been given to post authors.

Also read: Data Shows $25 Billion Worth of Bitcoin and Ether Held by Seven Crypto Exchanges

Read.cash Blog Gathers Momentum During the Infrastructure Funding Debate

Read.cash is a blogging website that rewards content creators with bitcoin cash incentives and a large number of BCH proponents leverage the platform. Seven days ago on January 22, Btc.top’s founder, Jiang Zhuoer, revealed an infrastructure funding plan for Bitcoin Cash which was met with mixed reviews. While a number of BCH supporters took to Reddit and Twitter to share their two cents, many BCH fans leveraged the read.cash blog in order to share their opinion about the proposal. Out of the 28 posts on the front page of the read.cash platform, 17 of them are about the proposed development fund. The posts are written by ordinary BCH users, miners, developers, and influencers who felt they needed to write about the proposal. Tallying up the tips on the read.cash front page shows that there’s been more than $5,730 in bitcoin cash given to authors.

Before the funding proposal, read.cash was slowly gathering more users and blog posts. News.Bitcoin.com recently published a step-by-step guide covering how to register for read.cash and start creating content. Last month, the team behind read.cash development published a chart that shows the number of articles per day has been increasing. Across a variety of r/btc threads, a number of BCH supporters have explained that they enjoy the platform a great deal.

Individuals just discovering the site have also given the read.cash platform compliments as well. “I write Audiobook reviews and am moving from Medium to read.cash and just posted my first article — The site beats Medium hands down,” one new user wrote nine days ago. Moreover, after all the big tips and onchain voting this week, many BCH supporters congratulated the read.cash developers for their hard work. “In ten years your site may facilitate million dollar tips through the decentralized blockchain network — How does that make you feel?” one Redditor asked the creators. Following the question, the read.cash team responded:

Unbelievable — BCH is un-freaking-believable — I mean I’m with Bitcoin since 2013, but it never stops to amaze me. The best part is that it’s peer-to-peer — The site doesn’t even have much to do with it.

Crypto Proponents Appreciate Leveraging Read.cash to Share Their Content and Earn Bitcoin Cash

In another r/btc post discussing the $1,000 BCH tip sent to the developer, Imaginary Username, the read.cash creators emphasized that people should still only keep small amounts of funds on the web wallet. “Just a reminder for everyone not to keep big amounts of money in read.cash’s online wallet — Web browser wallets are very convenient, but cannot be made very secure,” the developers stressed. Two weeks ago, a writer dubbed Messier87 explained in a read.cash blog post how appreciative he was that a BCH-centric blogging platform exists.

“I have been around some Blockchain-based blogging platforms for some time now,” Messier87 wrote. “As more new forms of these types of platforms are launched, the space becomes more competitive.” Messier87 detailed all the reasons why he likes read.cash better than other blockchain-based blogging platforms. For instance while alternative blogs like Steemit use native coins, read.cash leverages the fourth largest coin by market cap. Messier87 noted that with other blockchain-based blogs writers sometimes have to wait days or even weeks to spend their tips but with read.cash that’s not the case.

“Sending funds on read.cash can happen as soon as you are tipped,” Messier87 underlined.

The author said that compared to well-established blockchain blogs, read.cash has a clean user interface (UI) that works. Read.cash was launched in October 2019, and Messier87 remarked that he appreciated how much of the read.cash roadmap was completed so far. The recent tipping and slew of infrastructure funding plan blog posts have cast the read.cash blog into the limelight. It will be interesting to see if the platform’s growth trend continues to rise after the debate settles.

What do you think about all the blogging taking place on the read.cash platform during the last week and a half? Have you tried the read.cash blogging site yet? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any ideas, concepts, content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Read.cash, Jamie Redman, Reddit (rbtc), and Fair Use.

Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what’s happening in the industry.

The post Close to $6k in Bitcoin Cash Tips Paid to Read.cash Authors Last Week appeared first on Bitcoin News.