Memo.cash

Big Tech’s Freedom of Speech Purge Pushes People to Censorship-Resistant Blockchain Social Media

09/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

During the last few days, the world has watched the Big Tech and social media crackdown after the incident that took place at Capitol Hill a few days ago. During the last 48 hours, U.S. President Donald Trump, a great number of right-wing supporters, and literally anyone who speaks out against the U.S. government has been censored. The extreme Big Tech censorship has driven a great number of social media participants to search for censorship-resistant alternatives.

Big Tech’s Purge

In 2020 and into 2021, mainstream media alongside the help of Twitter, Google, Apple, Youtube, Amazon, and Facebook has managed to whitewash the corruption and scandalous acts caused by the U.S. bureaucracy. Following the large protest in Washington and the protestors who managed to enter the Capitol building; videos, pictures, and viral social media posts littered the internet capturing the day’s events. Then after it was all said and done, in a matter of mere hours, Big Tech and the social media giants started to purge any dissent.

These tech companies ARE becoming the state.

Privacy violations, blatant bans and an extraordinary willingness to appease increasingly authoritarian governments.

— russ (@RussellOkung) January 9, 2021

On January 7, Facebook announced the deletion of President Trump’s page and also said that it would be deleting all the commentary that shows “praise and support of the storming of the U.S. Capitol.” Facebook said they would also be deleting posts that call for peaceful protests, alongside pictures and videos of the Capitol breach.

History and future Americans will not judge kindly those who in times of crisis chose to censor and silence their fellow Americans.

— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) January 9, 2021

Facebook has further implemented a new feature asking the user if they are sure they want to post. The company has started to purge any dissent toward the American bureaucracy and plan to “update labels on posts” and add more fact-checkers. Facebook said the firm will leverage “AI to demote content that likely violates our policies.”

85,000 followers purged in a day and a half.

I guess the Twitter folks missed all the liberal blather about “unity.”

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 9, 2021

Additionally, Twitter decided to follow Facebook’s censorship path as well, and also banned the @realdonaldtrump account with 87 million followers. Twitter called the President’s account a “risk” that could further incite violence and called the Capitol building breach “horrific.” The company highlighted two tweets written by Trump and said that they glorified violence. Following the deletion of Trump’s account, Twitter also slashed the followers of many activists who have shown any signs of a dissenting viewpoint.

On January 9th 2021 Silicon Valley took over. Welcome to a new world.

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) January 9, 2021

Further, left-wing supporters have applauded the censorship and a great majority of the bureaucrats have joined the purge as well. Some of them have even called on Apple and Google for the deletion of censorship-resistant social media apps like Parler. Many progressives have fully supported the censorship of dissenting views, and are calling for even more censoring.

Decentralized Networks and Blockchain-Based Social Media Alternatives

The intense censorship storm has invoked a great number of people to leave Twitter and Facebook and search for alternatives. Of course, there are decentralized alternatives that don’t use blockchain tech like Diaspora, Mastodon, Parler, Flote, Sola, and Manyverse, but there are many social media apps that do use blockchain tech.

A blockchain-based social media application operates just like the popular social media giants we all use today, but they also allow people to post content in a censorship-resistant and immutable fashion.

Big Tech's Freedom of Speech Purge Pushes People to Censorship-Resistant Blockchain Social Media — One particular decentralized application called memo.cash skips all the censorship nonsense, as it allows users to post content to the BCH chain. In November 2020, memo.cash launched its iOS application for the App Store.

Right now there are a few blockchain-based alternative social media sites that allow people to speak and share content in an immutable fashion. Some of these applications have been operating for a few years now, and some of them are just starting to kickstart the social network. These platforms are also built on various blockchains like Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, IOTA, EOS, and more.

A few of the apps also leverage both blockchain technology and the Inter-Planetary File System (ipfs.io) in a combination. Blockchain apps that people can sign up for and test today include platforms like Voice, Memo.cash, Peepeth, Member.cash, Socialx, Sapien, Lbry, Dtube, All.me, Minds, Society2, Peakd, Hive, and Indorse.

For instance, the app Peepeth is a decentralized “microblogging” platform that emulates Twitter in some ways. The platform is built using the Ethereum blockchain and IPFS. Another application called Memo.cash is a decentralized social network powered by the Bitcoin Cash blockchain. Essentially, all Memo posts are visible to anyone using the BCH blockchain, with each Memo account being associated with a BCH wallet address. Member.cash is another decentralized public platform for discussion and reputation built using the BCH chain. The Member.cash model is similar to Reddit, but leverages the BCH network for censorship resistance and decentralization.

The application called Minds leverages the Ethereum (ETH) network and claims to be accessible to all, and says it is censorship-resistant as well. People looking for Youtube alternatives can try Dtube or Lbry. For instance, Lbry’s creators say the app is a decentralized content sharing and publishing platform that is wholly owned by its users. There are many types of social media applications that leverage blockchain, decentralization techniques like IPFS, and have created places where anyone can speak their minds.

As usual, the biggest downfall of all these applications is the lack of users, as most people have not gravitated toward decentralized social media. However, during the last few years as nation-states have ramped up censorship, and heightened the crackdown against anti-government rhetoric, these platforms have seen significant growth.

The best thing people can do right now is to start migrating toward social media applications that offer decentralization and blockchain censorship-resistance, because the dystopian world that looks an awful lot like Fahrenheit 451 or 1984 is surely upon us.

What do you think about the myriad of censorship-resistant and blockchain-based social media applications? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Bitcoin Cash-Fueled Onchain Social Media Platform Memo Launches iOS App

06/11/2020 by Idelto Editor

Two years ago, an onchain social network called memo.cash was launched and the application has developed quite a bit since then. On Tuesday, the Memo team revealed that the platform is now available for iOS phones via the App Store. Apple users can now connect to the social network that etches a user’s content to the Bitcoin Cash blockchain.

During the last few years, especially with deplatforming on the rise, uncensorable forums, immutable streaming video apps, and onchain social media projects have been developed. Worldwide governments in collaboration with Big Tech have managed to censor dissenting opinions against the status quo on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and more.

One particular decentralized application called memo.cash skips all that nonsense, as it allows users to post content to the BCH chain. Because nearly every action works by writing transactions to the BCH blockchain, the data stored allows for censorship-resistant social media in comparison to the platforms run by Big Tech giants.

On November 3, 2020, the Memo team announced that the application is now available via Apple’s App Store. This means anyone with an iPhone can download the onchain social media application that tethers content to a decentralized cryptocurrency network.

Memo works just like it does in a browser and users can simply register a new account or login with their existing credentials. In addition to leveraging the BCH chain, the memo.cash application also works with the cryptocurrency bitcoinsv (BSV).

Newcomers should understand that memo.cash needs a small fraction of bitcoin cash (BCH) in order to execute things like posting content or updating profiles. Users can leverage less than a nickel of BCH on memo.cash, by depositing the satoshis to the profile’s wallet address or even a small fraction of satoshis from a faucet.

Memo is similar to Twitter as it only allows for 217 characters in a given post. But just like Twitter, users can post not only threads but also videos, pictures, and URL links. Memo users can also start a poll with a variety of options. Unlike Twitter, which is well known in 2020 for blatant censorship, Memo app’s onchain content is immutable.

In addition to the posting abilities, users can also access a native wallet within the Memo app that allows users to send BCH and SLP tokens as well.

The main feed has a few different filters that allow Memo users to choose “hot” and “new” topics, alongside the ability to refresh the page in the top right corner of the screen. While memo.cash app newcomers will have to navigate and explore the onchain social media application, veteran Memo users will get the gist of the app much quicker.

Of course on Reddit, the new iOS mobile version of memo.cash was welcomed by the r/btc community. “Congrats Memo team,” one BCH proponent wrote on Tuesday, congratulating the developers.

What do you think about the Memo social media app being added to Apple’s App Store? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

The post Bitcoin Cash-Fueled Onchain Social Media Platform Memo Launches iOS App appeared first on Bitcoin News.

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.

The post Amid Youtube Censorship, Individuals Flock to Decentralized Video Sharing Apps Like Lbry.tv appeared first on Bitcoin News.

SLP Token Environment Built on Bitcoin Cash Continues to Expand

20/09/2019 by Idelto Editor

According to public data, a number of individuals are creating tokens using the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) on the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain every day. The SLP ecosystem is expanding and has given anyone the ability to create the next great digital token for tomorrow.

Also read: Snowden: US Seizing My Book Revenue is ‘Good for Bitcoin’

SLP Hackathon Prize Pool Grows, Crescent Cash Improvements, and Art on the Bitcoin Cash Blockchain

If you follow the BCH community, you’ve likely heard of the Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) and the tokens that derive from this system. It’s been over a year since the SLP project launched and the token universe has grown exponentially as the outlying infrastructure has matured. Now developers are hosting a dedicated SLP hackathon aimed at building out the token environment even more. Further, when we last reported on the SLP Virtual Hackathon (SLPVH), we mentioned rewards that will be given to the winners. Now the prize pool is over $7,000 thanks to BCH and SLP token donations.

Last week, BCH supporters donated bitcoin cash and various tokens like spice to the prize pool in order to give contestants more incentives. SLPVH will be held for 72 hours on September 27-30 and participants are encouraged to come up with unique ideas like onchain voting, token specific wallets, SLP tip bots, NFT (nonfungible token) collectibles, and onchain games. Additionally, software developer Chris Troutner published a descriptive video on SLP token development with tools like Badger Wallet, SLP SDK, SLP SDK Documentation, and the bch-cli-wallet alpha release with SLP support.

“I created this video to help contestants in the SLP hackathon,” Troutner explained. “[The video] is a walkthrough on how to set up a development environment, create tokens, mint tokens, and send tokens.”

This week, the developer of the opensource, non-custodial BCH wallet that uses the Cash Accounts system, Pokkst, released version 1.8.1 of Crescent Cash. Similarly to Badger, Electron Cash, and Ifwallet, the Crescent Cash client also supports SLP tokens. Pokkst improved the user interface, added Tor support, and now the wallet supports SLP token icons. This means SLP tokens will show an attached image if the coins have an icon picture tethered to the design.

Crescent Cash v1.8.1 is now being rolled out to the Play Store!

Desktop versions are now available on https://t.co/bcoUV9GDNv

— Crescent Cash (@crescentcash) September 18, 2019

As news.Bitcoin.com discussed in a prior in-depth SLP editorial, developers have been trying to figure out the best methods to attach an SVG, GIF, or other types of images to tokens. People want to add images and custom art to nonfungible tokens and according to developer Gabriel Cardona “tokens are art.”

“There will be highly valuable pieces of art and music tokenized as NFTs — All collectibles will find a home as NFTs on the blockchain,” Cardona tweeted. Following the statement, Cardona shared an art token created by @brianxv15 which shows a moving GIF image and can be viewed by anyone on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain. The token, called silverII, shown in the explorer link is a single nonfungible art token out of 15 minted. Cardona is a huge fan of SLP tokens and refers to the trend as the “Tokambrian Explosion” on BCH and often shares every unique SLP concept he can find on his Twitter feed. On September 19, the Bitcoin Cash programmer noted:

One of the greatest attributes of Simple Ledger Protocol (SLP) tokens is how light-weight they are. Create a token for any occasion and when you’re done with it just send your tokens to a wallet which doesn’t support SLP and they will be safely burned and the underlying BCH will be recaptured.

Another great NFT art token by @brianxv15

Art on the blockchain!https://t.co/qGQrs4XRjI pic.twitter.com/oe6sbPupQf

— Gabriel Cardona (@cgcardona) September 18, 2019

Sideshift’s Sia, Honestcoin Transparency Report, and Nonfungible Tokens Built on Memo

Another interesting development in the SLP environment is the peer-to-peer trading platform Sideshift.ai’s SLP token called sia. The new token is basically like an exchange rewards coin that gives “exclusive services and privileges on Sideshift AI ecosystem.” Sia was added to the exchange Coinex last month currently the token is trading for roughly $0.04 per sia. There’s a max supply of 210 million sia coins and the token has seen $805,000 in 24-hour trading volume this Friday paired against bitcoin cash. Another token that has seen more infrastructure support is the stablecoin built on BCH called honestcoin (USDH). The SLP-centric trading exchange Cryptophyl recently added USDH support to the platform and also published a transparency report for the new listing. The report outlines the steps Cryptophyl took to “conduct due diligence on Honestnode, the company behind USDH.”

Cryptophyl collected information on Honestnode which consisted of “blockchain token data, information pertaining to the legal structure and registration(s) of the project, information about the team behind Honestnode, KYC documentation for persons with significant control over the company, KYC documentation for company executives, and copies of contracts for key commercial relationships.” The exchange transparency report concluded:

We decided that the Honestcoin team was able to meet and exceed our high listing standards. There is always room for improvement, and we are looking forward to seeing the first audit to be carried out by Cohen and Co. The publicly available roadmap and future products we can expect from Honestnode give us confidence that they are positioning Honestcoin to accelerate cryptocurrency adoption.

The SLP trend hasn’t let up and passionate BCH supporters continue to push tokenization to new levels. There are discussions every day concerning SLP tokens on social media and BCH forums. People have also been creating NFTs on the memo.cash onchain microblogging platform. The same person who created the NFT art token silverII, also published a two-minute demonstration video teaching viewers how to create NFTs using memo.cash. In the last 30 days, the most used SLP tokens include the bread emoji token, spice, tribeos test token #3, official SLP token, beer, and the realmx token created for the Realmx video game.

What do you think about the ongoing development happening with the SLP ecosystem? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Cryptophyl, SLPVH 2019, and Twitter.

Did you know that Bitcoin.com’s BCH Block Explorer can query SLP token transactions? Check it today to search and find Simple Ledger Protocol token’s within the BCH network. Our Blockchain Explorer tool will allow you to view all previous BCH and BTC transactions as well.

The post SLP Token Environment Built on Bitcoin Cash Continues to Expand appeared first on Bitcoin News.

BCH Microblog ‘Member’ Shows the Future of Reddit-Like Forums

16/09/2019 by Idelto Editor

BCH-Based Microblog Member Shows the Future of Reddit-Like Forums

Since the Bitcoin Cash upgrade in May 2018, software developers have unleashed a slew of microblogging protocols that utilize OP_return transactions. One application called Member is a BCH-based browser that makes use of these types of transactions and the extra space added to the data carrier size. While still in its infancy, the Member platform has matured into a censorship-resistant Reddit but with geolocated posts, reputational ratings, and native BCH tipping.

Also Read: At Least 19 Central Banks Give Way to Monetary Easing As Economy Slows

The Member Client Continues to Grow

Years ago, Reddit was an interesting online place that allowed many groups to connect, share news and content, and discuss in a forum-like atmosphere. These days, Reddit is synonymous with mass censorship and deplatforming as the corporate entity has banned a variety of subreddits this year. The crypto community caught wind of Reddit censorship last year when the company removed the subreddit /r/darknetmarkets. Reddit users can’t even trust the company’s founder and CEO Steve Huffman who was forced to apologize when he got caught altering pro-Trump related thread comments.

BCH Microblog 'Member' Shows the Future of Reddit-Like Forums — Reddit censorship has increased significantly in recent years.

Bitcoin supporters have seen severe forms of censorship on the subreddit /r/bitcoin as the owner and moderator Theymos and his minions deleted thousands of comments from visitors and suppressed the conversation during the block size debate. Last May, a former moderator who worked alongside Theymos told Bitcoin.com’s podcast host Matt Aaron how he was removed from the group of administrators after he failed to toe the line. Censorship like this has driven the BCH community to foster censorship-resistant microblogging communities like Memo. In tandem with Memo, another application called Member could push the Reddit-like forum concept to new heights using the BCH chain.

Member has been around for some time now but the application has matured a great deal since news.Bitcoin.com reported on it last year. The application’s creator, a developer called Freetrade, describes the platform on Github, calling it a BCH blockchain browser. “It reads and allows users to create actions in the Memo/Member protocol — The client is an HTML5/JS BCH blockchain browser app with no outside js dependencies and it can be run from a website, or from a local file system,” Freetrade’s Github repo details. “Currently it connects to the Member server to get content, and uses Bitbox to get utxos and broadcast transactions.”

Getting Acquainted With the Member App

In order to use Member, you need to have an account with the social network and microblogging app memo.cash where all posts are permanently recorded to the Bitcoin Cash chain. You can sign up for Memo here and it’s a good idea to fund your Memo wallet with a small fraction of BCH so you can post on memo.cash and the Member platform as well. To access Member, go to the website and press the “Login” tab at the top right side of the screen. You can also sign up directly from the Member Login page by pressing the “Create New Account” tab.

Member will tell you to connect your wallet address to get started so you can post. After pressing “Ok,” Member will direct you to a page that shows your new BCH address so you can send a small fraction of funds. If you already have an account or started by signing up for memo.cash using the link mentioned above then Member asks you to paste your Memo private key (compressed WIF format, starts with ‘L’ or ‘K’) into the Login window. After these steps are complete, you are free to explore the Member app but also to create posts, upvote, tip people BCH, and initiate a geolocated post.

To create a new post on Member, simply press the “New post” tab on the upper left side of the user interface. The platform will open a window that allows you to customize a new post with a title and text. You can also post a memorandum or post directly to the memo.cash feed. After creating a post, other Member users can reply to the thread just like a traditional Reddit post and they can “like” the post as well. Moreover, you can be tipped bitcoin cash as Member offers a native BCH wallet that allows for tipping users. If you observe Member’s main feed, it’s set up similarly to the front page of Reddit and there’s a large variety of threads and discussions hosted on the feed. Additionally, you can check the most recent posts on the Member feed by pressing the “Posts (new)” tab on the upper left side of the screen.

Geolocated Posts, 2,000 Characters, and a Reputation System

You can also tether your location coordinates to a custom message using the Member app. At the top left side of the screen simply press the “Map” tab and the website will take you to a map of the world. Like a traditional geolocation map, your browser will ask you if you want to give the Member map your location coordinates so you can get a visual look at your area. The choice is optional but if you do, you can tie a special message to your location that’s written on the BCH chain. Essentially you or anyone can tether a message to any location in the world for less than a U.S. penny at any time. Just click the map with your mouse pointer to select the message location, write it and post it to the Member map. After a few minutes of exploring the Member app’s features, the platform is relatively easy to understand and use.

Member’s creator Freetrade has been hard at work adding more services to the application like reputational ratings and increased character limits for messages. The software engineer recently made it so Member users can reply with much longer character limits. “Member now allows 2,000 character replies by chaining transactions together — Member also treats topics more like subreddits,” Freetrade told BCH supporters on September 15. This announcement got the /r/btc community on Reddit pumped due to their intolerance of censorship. “Wow, now we’re talking,” a BCH proponent opined after Freetrade revealed the 2,000 character extension. “Reddit is slowly dying because of censorship and abuse from admins — If we could create a decentralized alternative on BCH that would be huge,” he added. In addition to the character extension, Freetrade has introduced a web of trust infrastructure to the Member platform. The new idea allows you to rate other Memo profiles using the Member app by giving them a public trust rating. Freetrade has shown that as the reputation system matures, robust trust graphs could be created.

There’s been a lot of development within the BCH ecosystem and Member’s improvements have bolstered a microblogging and censorship-resistant Reddit-like experience. As with most peer-to-peer and decentralized blockchain applications, Member needs to gather more users over time. Memo and Member have seen a lot of lively users since they were created and both have grown a great deal. While projects like Blockpress have fallen to the wayside and are now defunct, the Memo and Member apps have remained strong after the long crypto winter and the blockchain split in November 2018. One difference between the two clients is the Memo protocol browses both BCH and BSV blockchains but the Member app only browses the BCH chain. Freetrade continues to work on making the Member client more robust and has put together a list of certain elements of the project he could use help with.

What do you think about the Member client? Let us know what you think about this project in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Member, and Pixabay.

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