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Maker’s Stability Fee Drops to 5.5% After Multi-Collateral Dai Announcement

03/11/2019 by Idelto Editor

According to the CEO of the Maker Foundation, Rune Christensen, Multi-Collateral Dai (MCD) will launch on November 18. On October 28, Maker’s stability fee was reduced by a ‘whale’ with roughly 94% of the voting power.

Also Read: French Ministry of Education Publishes Bitcoin Resource Guide for Educators

Maker’s Multi-Collateral Dai Will Launch November 18

Decentralized finance project Makerdao is responsible for creating the cryptocurrency-backed stablecoin called dai. Initially, the project used ETH as a form of collateral in order to issue dai but the project revealed that in the future a variety of other digital assets could be used. Announced at the Devcon 5 conference in Osaka, MCD will bring new features like the dai savings rate (DSR) and a collateralized debt position (CDP) will be known as a “vault.” Collateral types first evaluated include coins like augur (REP), digixdao (DGD), golem (GNT), omisego (OMG), ether (ETH), and 0x (ZRX). This means that there will be two types of coins produced by the community: single collateral dai (what dai is today) will be called ‘sai,’ while MCD created coins will be called dai.

In March, news.Bitcoin.com took an in-depth look at the Ethereum-based Makerdao and dai stablecoin. The report explained that a CDP now known as a vault required 150% of the loan amount in dai that’s paid for with ETH. Moreover, there’s a stability fee (interest rate) that accrues during the life of dai loans. Since the project’s launch, the coin has maintained a fairly stable existence despite a few hiccups along the way. In mid-April, the Makerdao community voted multiple times to raise the stability fee because dai tokens were struggling to hold the $1 peg. The issues upset dai borrowers when the stability fee skyrocketed from 0.5% to 19.5%. The interest rate increases had also made dai’s price jump above the $1 peg and many exchanges saw dai sold for more than $1.05 per coin.

Natural Centralization?

On October 28, Daniel Onggunhao, a software engineer at Binance, revealed that the dai stability fee was reduced to 5.5%. “A single whale (with 97% of voting power) made the decision — Went from 2,489 votes a few hours ago, to 44,539 votes,” Onggunhao tweeted. “I say this normatively, as neither good nor bad. In a perfect world, it’d be great if we had a distributed voter pool for a move this big.” Onggunhao added:

The pragmatic reality is that as an early stage, hard-to-understand technology, decision making tends to naturally centralize.

A number of cryptocurrency community members discussed the whale vote after Onggunhao’s tweet. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) was quick to quip: “Welcome to ‘decentralization,’ where anything is possible, and not under anyone’s control, even some re-centralization.” Not everyone thought the ‘re-centralization’ concept was a good idea for Makerdao’s claimed ‘decentralized’ governance system. “Stake-based systems [Proof-of-Stake (PoS)] centralise much faster than alternatives because there’s no maintenance cost, and in the early stages, bulk stake acquisition is always going to be easier than buying hardware in any real quantity,” Monero’s Riccardo Spagni replied during the conversation.

One person disagreed with Onggunhao’s initial tweet and said that he didn’t think there was a “single ‘whale’ with 97% voting power.” “There could be a voter that represents 97% of this particular vote — This is still an issue, but it’s about governance not control.” Onggunhao agreed and further stressed:

That’s true, I apologize for dashing off the tweet. I also made an error in the amount (94.7% instead of 97%).

Collateralized Multi-Coin Options and a Fee Reduction Will Likely Add More Growth to the Makerdao System

The Makerdao project has been a favorite among the cryptocurrency community because the stablecoin dais are backed by digital currency and a decentralized autonomous organization. The stablecoin is not without its critics, and the Maker protocol is still a very young network. However, with added coins stemming from the MCD launch and Maker’s stability fee reduction, it’s likely the dai ecosystem will grow much larger. At present, roughly 2.2% of all the ETH in existence is locked into the Maker system.

What do you think about the Makerdao project’s latest MCD announcement and the recent vote to drop the stability fee? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Makerdao, Dai, Medium, Daniel Onggunhao, and Pixabay.

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CME Group Publishes Bitcoin Options Specifications

02/11/2019 by Idelto Editor

In mid-September, the foreign exchange company CME Group announced the launch of options on its bitcoin futures contracts in Q1 2020, pending regulatory review. CME Group executive Tim McCourt said there was “increasing client demand” for the firm’s bitcoin derivatives and now the company has published specifications for the options products.

Also Read: French Ministry of Education Publishes Bitcoin Resource Guide for Educators

CME Group’s Bitcoin Options

The global markets company CME Group has provided clients with the ability to hedge or trade benchmark options on futures across nearly every asset class. The firm has an average daily volume of $4.3 million this year and aims to offer options on bitcoin futures so investors can have a variety of different methods to trade the asset. When CME announced the launch of bitcoin options, McCourt detailed that the new product will provide “clients with additional flexibility to trade and hedge their bitcoin price risk.” This week, following Bakkt’s recent volume surges, CME published the preliminary contract specifications for the options. Price values will be based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR) which is determined by a variety of major crypto exchanges.

The contract unit will consist of one bitcoin futures contract, which is approximately five BTC quoted in USD. There’s a minimum price fluctuation and the listing cycle will mirror the firm’s bitcoin futures exposure. CME’s bitcoin options on futures will be traded between Sunday through Friday on Globex and Clearport. The company notes that the BTC options product is subject to revision and review by financial regulators. “We’re working to launch options on those futures,” McCourt said to crypto analyst Benjamin Pirus in a recent interview. “The option on the bitcoin future will give the holder of that option, either a put or a call, the right — but not necessarily the obligation, to either purchase or sell the underlying futures contracts at maturity.” McCourt further stressed:

It’s very similar to the way other options in the marketplace work. The difference here is the underlying, or the deliverable, of the options contract, is a CME Group bitcoin future.

Is Bitcoin Being ‘Tamed’ Like a Traditional Investment?

Bakkt’s physically-delivered bitcoin futures product has been getting a lot of fanfare lately after the exchange topped a few new records and CEO Kelly Loeffler announced Bakkt will be offering options on bitcoin futures as well. Despite the all-time highs at the Bakkt warehouse, CME Group’s BTC derivatives have seen much more volume. CME’s Globex saw 7,242 bitcoin futures contracts on October 28 and 3,284 in open interest. The following days on Globex through November 1, contracts were between 2,200 and 3,687. November’s CME bitcoin futures contracts today stand at 2,641 contracts and December positions are starting to pile up as well.

The crypto derivatives markets and products have matured a great deal since they launched and it’s been a touch less than two years since CME launched its BTC-based futures. At the time, the company’s chairman emeritus Leo Melamed told Reuters in an interview that adding BTC futures was a “very important step for bitcoin’s history.” Melamed added that he believed institutional investors would be very interested in the new asset class. “We will regulate, make bitcoin not wild, nor wilder. We’ll tame it into a regular type instrument of trade with rules.” Since then a slew of different companies have offered bitcoin-based derivatives products and futures are coming to other cryptocurrencies like ETH and BCH as well. Reports detail that BCH futures are expected to debut on a CFTC-regulated exchange in Q1 2020.

What do you think about CME’s bitcoin options specifications? How do you feel about the overall growth of crypto-based derivatives? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, CME Group, Bitcoin Futures Volume Globex, and Pixabay.

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Cryptocurrencies Such as Bitcoin Cash Shine During Hong Kong Protests

29/08/2019 by Idelto Editor

Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Cash Shine During Hong Kong Protests

The Hong Kong protests started in June 2019 over a controversial bill and now after weeks of demonstrations, marching citizens are fighting for the future of Hong Kong. In the midst of all the activists protesting, digital currencies like bitcoin cash are being promoted as a way for people to remove themselves from China’s system.

Also Read: Venezuelan Pharmacy Chain Accepts Bitcoin Cash for Medicine and Products

Hong Kong Protests Continue Into the 12th Week

It’s been more than 12 weeks of protests in Hong Kong that started with the 2019 extradition bill called the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance. The bill claims to be an act designed to stop fugitive refugees from hiding as it would allow Chinese law enforcement to extradite anyone from Hong Kong to mainland China if they are accused of a crime. Many Hong Kong citizens fear the extradition bill could prompt the Chinese government to arbitrarily imprison anyone from the country. 130,000 demonstrators marched against the bill on April 28. After the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, showed she was ready to bring the 2019 extradition bill to legislature, over 1 million people protested in the streets on June 9. On the anniversary of the British handover of Hong Kong on July 1, a large number of protesters charged the Legislative Council. In August, activists stormed the Hong Kong international travel hub and the airport had to suspend flights for days.

Cryptocurrencies Such as Bitcoin Cash Shine During Hong Kong Protests — A protestor holding a sign during a Hong Kong demonstration on August 24, 2019.

Even though the bill was put on hold by Lam because of the intensity of the protests, the activists protesting demand more. Leaders of the protest have cited specific demands and the first is completely abolishing the extradition bill forever. The protestors also want the government to remove the changed classification for peaceful protests, which coincidentally is now defined as “riots.” The activists are also demanding an “independent inquiry” into the Hong Kong police force and the government must remove charges brought against protestors who have participated in past demonstrations. Lastly, those who are protesting and support the movement want a slice of independence from China. Protestors demand a better form of universal suffrage that does not stem from China and allows citizens to vote for leaders in a democratic fashion. Also, Hong Kong independence proponent Chen Haotian tried to incite a bank run on Chinese banks operating in the country last week. Haotian believes that a mass bank run in Hong Kong would hurt China’s financial system that’s tethered to the country’s economy.

Hong Kong Crypto Adoption Grows During the Demonstrations

In the midst of the Hong Kong protests, certain individuals and groups are pushing for cryptocurrency adoption in the area. One organization called Genesis Block has been distributing bottles of water and umbrellas to demonstrators protesting in the streets of Hong Kong. Genesis Block is well known for its cryptocurrency workspace in the Wan Chai district and was also one of the entities that mined some of the first bitcoin cash (BCH) blocks in August 2017. The cryptocurrency workspace promotes a range of digital assets but the peer-to-peer digital cash system BCH is promoted a lot more.

In order to bolster the crypto facilities within the region, Genesis Block has installed 14 cryptocurrency automated teller machines (ATMs) throughout the country. During large protests over the last few weeks, Genesis Block handed out water bottles to protesters which had a BCH logo and the bottle read “免费派水 (free water).” On the water bottle’s label next to the BCH logo, there’s a QR code that leads to the website Bch-hkg.com. The web portal is a Bitcoin Cash explainer and teaches people from Hong Kong how to download a wallet and use BCH to spread freedom. The translated message on the website states:

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was created to achieve the original purpose of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system — Bitcoin cash is fast, inexpensive and reliable as it’s medium of exchange and store of value.

Additionally, there are groups who are using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash to fund charitable efforts like the body of people known as Snowden’s Guardian Angels. In 2013, these individuals and families helped shelter the whistleblower Edward Snowden when many governments were looking to capture him. Snowden’s Guardian Angels were families who reside in Hong Kong and they are accepting bitcoin cash donations for their efforts. Another group that’s accepting bitcoin cash donations is the nonprofit organization Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP). The group is run by independent journalists who promise to be immune to commercial and political pressure. Independent journalism is valued during times of protest because reporters can tell the public how things are being perceived from a non-biased view. Bitcoin Cash proponents can support HKFP by donating to the nonprofit here.

There are also a few BCH accepting merchants in Hong Kong including the male-only salon Men’s Bash, Craft Brew & Co, the bookstore cafe Garden Meow, and Aerial Studios. Moreover, on August 23, the Hong Kong Bitcoin Association announced on Twitter that the department store Pricerite has begun accepting BTC via the Lightning Network. Pricerite will also accept litecoin (LTC) and ethereum (ETH) at its store in the Megabox shopping center. Apart from merchant acceptance, bitcoin cash trading has increased as well, according to swaps made on the Local.Bitcoin.com BCH marketplace. One trader has purchased BCH 195 times on the peer-to-peer platform using the stablecoins USDC and USDH. A few other traders from Hong Kong have completed 20-40 bitcoin cash trades on Local.Bitcoin.com over the last two months.

There have also been a few instances where BTC prices have seen a premium in Hong Kong as spot prices on the exchange Tidebit have been $75-250 higher than the global average. For instance, the price of BTC today on Tidebit is 76,500 HKD, which is $250 higher than the average spot price worldwide. No one knows exactly how the Hong Kong protests will turn out, but it seems many people think it’s a great opportunity to spread the idea of a currency that’s not controlled by a state entity.

What do you think about the protests in Hong Kong and the proliferation of crypto use and adoption? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Getty Images, Miguel Candela/SOPA Images/Lightrocket via Getty Images, HKFP, Bch-hkg.com, Genesis Block, and Wiki Commons.

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Market Update: Economists Envision Global Recession While Crypto Prices Soldier On

26/08/2019 by Idelto Editor

Last week cryptocurrency prices bounced around after a majority of coins dropped in value on August 21. Today on August 26, digital currency markets have gained around 1.52%, gathering $4 billion since the initial slump. Despite the volatility, cryptocurrencies have consolidated and a few speculators believe a breakout is on the cards that could send prices sky-high or plunge below the current support.

Also read: Send Token Payouts With Ease Using Bitcoin.com’s SLP Dividend Calculator

Top Crypto Coins Slowly Move Northbound

On Sunday, August 25, the price of bitcoin core (BTC) gathered steam again after tumbling below the $10K zone. During the late evening trading sessions, BTC prices vaulted upwards $500 in a matter of minutes and many other markets also saw gains. Currently, the price of BTC is hovering around $10,342 per coin and there’s more than $17 billion worth of trade volume today. BTC’s market cap is $185 billion this Monday, which is 69% of the $267 billion dollar market cap of all 2,000+ coins.

Market Update: Economists Envision Global Recession While Crypto Prices Soldier On — Top 10 digital currency markets on Monday, August 26, 2019.

BTC/USD markets are up 2.27% today but are down 3.4% for the week. Following BTC is ethereum (ETH), which is up 0.5% today and down 5.3% over the last seven days. ETH is trading for $189 a coin and has an overall market valuation of about $20.4 billion. Ripple (XRP) is selling for $0.27 and prices have dipped in value over 3.8% in the last week. The fifth largest market valuation is held by litecoin (LTC) which is swapping for $74. LTC lost 3.9% last week but over the last 24 hours, LTC is up 1.61%.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Market Action

Bitcoin cash (BCH) markets have been holding steady and at press time one BCH is swapping for $309. BCH/USD is up 1.31% today but lost 4% over the course of the week. On Monday, August 26, BCH is the sixth most traded coin below EOS and above XRP with $1.37 billion in trade volume. USDT is the strongest pair trading against BCH with 56% of all global trades. This is followed by swaps with BTC (26%), USD (7.7%), ETH (6.4%), KRW (1.9%), and EUR (0.43%). The exchanges swapping the most bitcoin cash include Coinbene ($182M), Hitbtc ($70M), Okex ($50.4M), Digifinex ($46.6M), and Bibox ($38M). Bitcoin cash transactions in the last 24 hours were around 39,310 with a daily average this week just above 40K.

With a Possible Economic Crisis on the Horizon, Will BTC Act as a Safe Haven Asset Like Gold?

As the global economy shudders and prepares to embrace a looming recession, precious metal markets have rocketed while cryptocurrencies have seen lighter inflow. Some digital currency influencers are not so sure BTC is a safe haven asset right now. Speaking in an interview on the financial newswire Bloomberg, Spencer Bogart, a Blockchain Capital executive, is not quite convinced that an economic crisis is on the horizon. “When you think about really severe crises taking place, a liquidity crunch, another global financial crisis, I think that bitcoin will struggle to do very well from a price perspective,” Bogart explained. Despite the possible struggle, Bogart thinks in the “longer term bitcoin will absolutely be a safe haven.”

In another interview on Nasdaq Trade talks, Nelson Minier, Kraken’s over-the-counter (OTC) lead executive, shared similar opinions. “I’m not so sure that it’s a safe haven asset yet, but I do think that it’s starting to act like one. I think that people are starting to portfolio manage, are starting to come in slowly. And when the market is getting shaky you saw Bitcoin rise, I mean, you wouldn’t see that before, it was trading like a risky asset,” Minier said. Just like Bogart, however, Minier remarked that BTC will likely fall into that category, stating “we’re heading that way for sure.”

BTC Price Reacts in Real-Time to Trump Trade War Tweets

On August 23, U.S. President Donald Trump told the American public that the trade war between the U.S. and China would continue to escalate. Immediately after the Trump tweets the price of BTC/USD spiked and well-known macro trader Alex Krüger noticed a chart milestone. “Today was the first time BTC reacted sharply in *real-time* to a Trade War breaking headline or USD/CNY fix,” Krüger tweeted. “As far as I can recall, this, in fact, is the first time BTC reacts in real-time to any event outside of crypto,” the trader added.

…Additionally, the remaining 300 BILLION DOLLARS of goods and products from China, that was being taxed from September 1st at 10%, will now be taxed at 15%. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019

Similarly to gold, some speculators believe digital currencies can act as a safe haven asset in order to hedge against macroeconomic uncertainties. The tensions between the U.S. and China also made the price of gold jump more than 2.4% and the price per ounce of gold (Au) right now is $1,530.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Markets Still Indicate an Upward Trend

According to cryptocurrency price analysts, bitcoin cash (BCH) looks poised to break out northbound. The trader Mehak Punjabi explained on August 26 that the price of BCH may continue to rise higher and could target a price of around $330 per coin. “By comparing the price of BCH coin from its lowest value which was $283.29 on 15-Aug-19 at 05:00 UTC and the current trading price, BCH indicates a bullish trend by 10%,” Punjabi said. “The CMF indicator also reflects that the bitcoin cash price is indicating an upward trend. The 7-day high price of the coin $326.88 points the next target of BCH towards $330.” The analyst added:

Trading in the BCH for a long term will yield great returns and dividends.

Crypto Markets May Experience Extreme Economic Fallout for the First Time

Overall, most crypto supporters are still positive about the long term game but are still uncertain about the current period and whether digital currency markets will remain vibrant during a deep economic recession. Currently, the economies in Latin America are floundering and many countries in South America are dealing with severe inflation compared with the rest of the world. Economic growth in India is falling below average and the country’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has plans to focus on priming lending and foreign funding. Moreover, Time reports that 34% of U.S.-based business economists are concerned that the U.S. will see a deep economic recession within the next two years. Most of the economists who participated in the National Association for Business Economics survey believe that America will see the economy tumble hard by the end of 2021.

With the macroeconomic uncertainty in the air and signs of distress, it is still hard to picture what crypto markets will do during an economic fallout. Bitcoin itself was born from the ashes of the 2008 economic crisis and has yet to experience a global recession of that magnitude. For now, with all the ‘doom and gloom’ happening worldwide, seeing a macro hedge spur from gold markets is normal. Despite over-exuberant optimism, no one really knows if cryptocurrencies such as BTC will act in the same manner if the global economy worsens. For now, it’s a case of wait and see.

Where do you see the price of bitcoin cash and the rest of the crypto markets heading from here? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: Price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.”

Images via Shutterstock, Crypto Fear & Greed Index, Trading View, Bitcoin.com Markets, and Coinlib.io.

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Samsung Adds Bitcoin Support to Its Blockchain Keystore

15/08/2019 by Idelto Editor

Tech Giant Samsung Adds Bitcoin Support to the Blockchain Keystore

On August 13, Samsung, the South Korean multinational conglomerate, published the company’s new Blockchain Keystore SDK for developers and the latest release supports Bitcoin Core (BTC). The version follows Samsung’s previous Keystore release which only supported ETH and the ERC20 standard.

Also Read: Exploring the SLP Token Universe Built on the Bitcoin Cash Chain

Samsung Quietly Adds BTC Support to Its Blockchain Keystore

Cryptocurrency advocates were pleased to notice that Samsung (OTCMKTS: SSNLF) had finally added BTC support to the company’s Blockchain Keystore software development kit (SDK). The news came on Tuesday, August 13, when Samsung published the SDK with release notes, API reference, and programming guide. The reference to BTC can be found in a table that mentions “Cryptocurrency Specification,” “Cryptocurrency Limits,” and “Transaction Type Limits.” The cryptocurrency limits section notes that there’s a limit of 21,000,000 BTC or 2,100,000,000,000,000 satoshis. Transaction type limits include P2PKH (Pay To Public Key Hash), P2PK (Pay To Public Key), P2SH (Pay To Script Hash), and P2WPKH (Pay To Witness Public Key Hash). The transaction type limits are meant to require a sender to supply a valid signature within a wallet application that utilizes the Samsung Blockchain Keystore.

Samsung Adds Bitcoin Support to Its Blockchain Keystore — The Samsung Blockchain Keystore specs

The new Samsung BTC support can only be accessed by app makers and developers right now and only residents from South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the U.S., Germany, Canada, and the U.K. can use the Samsung Blockchain Keystore. Interestingly, the tech giant added support for the Klaytn blockchain as well. This means developers using the Note10s, Galaxy S10, S10e, S10+, S10 5G can use ETH, any ERC20, BTC, and KLAY tokens. Samsung says there are two benefits to integrating the Samsung Blockchain Keystore SDK into an Android application:

Developers can use Samsung Blockchain Keystore API to request the Samsung Blockchain Keystore to sign a cryptocurrency transaction.
Developers can link a user’s Blockchain address like a user’s account. With the address returned from Samsung Blockchain Keystore, developers can check and show users how much cryptocurrency balance is in the account as well as view the transaction history.

Software engineers who use the Samsung Keystore SDK are able to leverage many features that are commonly used in applications like noncustodial lite wallets. For instance, the Keystore will generate a cryptocurrency’s keypair (public & private key) on the device itself, while also storing the keys in a secure environment within the mobile device. “[Samsung] does not rely on other network or a third party to generate these keys,” the Keystore 1.1.0 version SDK specification reads. All the mnemonic words (seed phrase words) are compatible with the BIP-39 standard allowing users to deploy the recovery phrase on another device if the phone was ever lost or stolen. However, sending a signed transaction is out of Samsung’s scope, the company explains, and engineers who want to send signed transactions need to rely on their own nodes or a public node.

Opening the Door for Bitcoin Cash Support and the Race to Lead Blockchain Development Within the Smartphone Industry

With BTC being added to the Samsung Keystore, the cryptocurrency spec opens the door for similar networks like Bitcoin Cash. BCH also uses transaction types like P2PKH and P2PK and has a hard cap of 21,000,000 BCH or 2,100,000,000,000,000 satoshis. In the Keystore specs, Samsung notes “We plan to support more cryptocurrencies and expand supported regions in the near future.” People who want to test the Keystore functionality cannot simply download the application from the Galaxy store as Samsung’s blockchain SDK is preloaded on selected devices only. Software developers can test the Keystore application by using Samsung’s Remote Test Lab, which is located in the Samsung Developers Site.

Posts on social media and Reddit forums show that crypto advocates appreciate Samsung finally adding BTC to the Keystore. Currently, there are 17 cryptocurrency-related applications that can be used with the select Samsung phones and the Keystore. This includes decentralized applications (dapps) such as Enjin, Cryptokitties, Coinduck, and Cosmee. Samsung’s dapp store also recently gained two new dapps in the form of Mars and Jupiter, developed by fellow South Korean tech company Trustverse.

There have been unconfirmed rumors that eventually Samsung Pay will sync with the Keystore wallet so people can pay for goods and services with digital assets. The recent BTC support from Samsung follows the released Cryptokit for iOS 13 from the company’s California-based rival Apple. The Cryptokit from Apple gives speculators reason to believe that the Cupertino tech giant will release its own in-house crypto wallet system. Similar to Samsung’s Keystore SDK, the Apple Cryptokit provides three specific attributes:

Compute and compare cryptographically secure digests.
Use public-key cryptography to create and evaluate digital signatures, and to perform a key exchange. In addition to working with keys stored in memory, you can also use private keys stored in and managed by the Secure Enclave.
Generate symmetric keys, and use them in operations like message authentication and encryption.

Apple and Samsung entering the cryptocurrency industry by silently releasing software development kits shows that mobile phones that have blockchain capabilities and offer cryptocurrency solutions are here to stay. The mobile phone giants are neck and neck in terms of sales, and adding cryptocurrency features may give them an edge among the lucrative tech- and crypto-savvy demographic.

The Chinese communications technology company Huawei already beat Samsung and Apple to the punch by selling phones pre-installed with Btc.com’s cryptocurrency wallet in May 2018. Even the phone manufacturer Oppos is on the heels of these three tech giants with its system that could help a peer-to-peer network of cryptocurrency node operators validate transactions in regions with poor internet services.

According to reports, Oppo’s Mesh Talk system could allow phones to exchange blockchain key data without using Wifi, Bluetooth, or cellular data within a radius of three kilometers. With all of the blockchain-related developments from Huawei, Samsung, Apple, and Oppos smartphones, it’s safe to assume that the mobile giants are well aware that cryptocurrencies are here to stay.

What do you think about Samsung adding BTC support to the company’s in-house Blockchain Keystore? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Samsung, Wiki Commons, Huawei, Apple, Oppos, and Pixabay.

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