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Chinese Government-Backed Institute Releases New Ranking of 37 Crypto Projects

22/02/2020 by Idelto Editor

China’s Center for Information and Industry Development has published its latest crypto project ranking — the first this year. A total of 37 crypto projects, two more than in the previous ranking, were evaluated and ranked overall this month as well as in three separate categories.

Also read: Bitcoin, Tesla Stock, Tron: How Warren Buffett Got His First Bitcoin

The 16th Ranking, First This Year

The Center for Information and Industry Development (CCID), under China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released its first crypto project ranking for the year on Friday. Prior to this, the last one was published in December, with 35 crypto projects ranked. This month, two more were added, bringing the total of ranked projects to 37. In addition to the overall ranking, the center evaluated the crypto projects based on their basic technology, applicability, and creativity. The ranking is updated every two months and this month is the 16th update.

EOS remains top of the overall ranking, followed by Tron and then Ethereum. In December, Tron was in third place with Ethereum in second. This month, Bitcoin fell from the 9th place to the 11th place while Bitcoin Cash dropped from the 27th place to the 34th.

Meanwhile, Nuls dropped from the 4th place to the 10th place, Bitshares from the 8th place to the 24th, Waves from the 12th to 22nd, Zilliqa from the 13th to 25th, and Tezos from the 26th to 33rd. Some projects improved such as Ripple which rose from the 18th place to the 13th and Cosmos from the 24th to the 14th.

IOST and GXS Added

Two additions to the list of projects ranked this month are IOST and GXS. The former describes itself as “an ultra-fast, decentralized blockchain network based on the next-generation consensus algorithm ‘Proof of Believability’ (PoB).” The latter, also called Gxchain, is “a fundamental blockchain for the global data economy, designed to build a trusted data internet of value,” according to its website. IOST debuted at number six in the overall ranking. Gxchain was previously ranked but was removed in the October update. It is now back at number seven in the overall ranking.

In terms of the three sub-rankings, EOS scored the highest in the basic technology category, followed by Tron, IOST, GXS, and Steem. For the applicability category, Ethereum tops the ranking, followed by Tron, and Neo. For the creativity category, BTC scored much higher than the other projects. The second place is occupied by Ethereum, then Lisk, and EOS.

The rankings are compiled by the CCID (Qingdao) Blockchain Research Institute, an entity established by the CCID. The evaluation work is carried out in collaboration with multiple organizations, such as the CCID think tank and the China Software Evaluation Center. “The result of this assessment will allow the CCID group to provide better technical consulting services for government agencies, business enterprises, research institutes, and technology developers,” the center previously explained. The CCID provides professional services to the government, including research, consulting, evaluation, certification, and research and development, its website details.

In January, news.Bitcoin.com reported that the CCID released a report stating that there were more than 33,000 registered blockchain companies in December.

What do you think of China’s new ranking? Let us know 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.

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China’s New Crypto Ranking: Bitcoin Upgraded, Tron Debuts Near Top

27/02/2019 by Idelto Editor

China’s Center for Information and Industry Development has released its latest ranking of crypto projects. A total of 35 projects were evaluated this month, with Tron debuting near the top of the list. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has climbed up the ranking slightly.

Also read: Bitcoin Climbs up China’s First Crypto Ranking of 2019

New Ranking, Tron Added

The Center for Information and Industry Development (CCID), under China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released the 10th update of its crypto project ranking on Tuesday. The center noted that this is the second update this year and 35 crypto projects were evaluated, with Tron being the only addition since the last evaluation.

EOS still occupies the number one spot. Tron debuted at number two, dethroning Ethereum, which now ranks third. BTC ranks 13th this month, up from the 15th place the previous month. BCH ranks 27th, a slight improvement from the 28th position in the previous ranking.

The center described newcomer Tron, launched in May last year, as a “low-level public chain with high throughput, high expansion and high reliability,” adding that it is “compatible with the Ethereum smart contract.” It further claims that Tron’s “chain transactions are more active,” noting that there are now over 200 Tron Dapps. The total evaluation index for Tron is 145.6 which is the second highest on the overall list, behind only EOS.

3 Sub-Rankings

The CCID explained that this latest assessment still uses the three primary indicators: basic technology, applicability, and creativity. However, for the latest ranking, the weight of the creativity indicator of the total index has been increased. The crypto projects that have improved the most overall compared to the previous period are Nano, Verge and Qtum.

For the basic technology category, the top five public chains are EOS, Tron, Bitshares, Gxchain, and Nano, the CCID detailed. This category primarily evaluates the technical realization level of the public chain and examines its function, performance, safety and decentralization.

The top five projects for the applicability category are Ethereum, NEO, Nebulas, Tron, and Ontology. This category mainly evaluates the comprehensive level of public chain support for practical applications, including node deployment, wallet applications, development support and application implementations.

The creativity category focuses on continuous innovation in the public chain, including the number of developers, code updates, and code impact. The top five crypto projects in this category are Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, Lisk, and Tron.

What do you think of China’s latest crypto project ranking? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Italian Court Orders Bitgrail Founder to Refund $170M of ‘Missing’ Cryptocurrency

29/01/2019 by Idelto Editor

Italian Court Orders Bitgrail Founder Firano to Refund $170M of 'Missing' Cryptocurrency

An Italian court has ruled that Francesco Firano, founder of defunct cryptocurrency exchange Bitgrail, was at fault for the disappearance of $170 million worth of the nano digital currency on his exchange last year. Firano, who called himself “The Bomber,” is now “required to return as much of the assets to his customers as possible.

Also read: Just Because Cryptocurrency Isn’t Legal Tender Doesn’t Make it Illegal

Court Seizes Firano’s Personal Assets to Repay Victims

In its ruling, the Italian Bankruptcy Court, which enlisted the services of a court-appointed technical expert, concluded that both Bitgrail and Firano personally be declared bankrupt and forfeit their assets.

According to documents released by the Bitgrail victims advocacy group, the court’s decision, delivered Jan. 21, authorizes the seizure of Firano’s personal assets. So far, more than $1 million worth of assets have been seized, including a luxury vehicle, the group said. Digital assets worth several million dollars have also been confiscated from Bitgrail accounts and moved to accounts managed by trustees appointed by the court.

The documents show that Firano repeatedly mishandled security matters pertaining to the private keys of Bitgrail users, including his alleged transfer of client funds into wallets belonging to the exchange. Firano had failed to put in place suitable safeguards to prevent repeat, unauthorized withdrawals of nano from the exchange, the court said.

That’s despite tens of millions of dollars worth of nano going ‘missing’ on several occasions due to duplicate withdrawals being fraudulently made from a single request due to a bug. The court berated Firano for not appropriately disclosing the suspicious transactions to his customers.

For example, the court found that the nano reported lost by Firano on Feb. 9, 2018 had actually been removed from the exchange months earlier, between July 2017 and December 2017. In total, about 10 million nano tokens left the exchange clandestinely during this period, with Firano’s alleged full knowledge, but he did nothing about it.

The most damaging detail relates to how, just days before announcing the $170 million ( 17 million nano) theft, the Bitgrail founder moved 230 BTC (about $1.8 million at the time) into a personal account on another exchange called The Rock Trading, in a bid to swap it for euros. The documents show that Firano had also tried to withdraw money through a bitcoin ATM linked to that exchange.

The court appointed expert concluded:

Therefore it was the Bitgrail exchange that actually requested to the node multiple times to allow the funds to leave the wallet (funds that in fact, had already left the account after the first request) and not the Nano network that allowed multiple withdrawals. The shortfall reported by Firano in February was caused by a transfer request generated by Bitgrail multiple times upon receiving a single request from the user.

Victory for Investors as Firano Seeks Way Out

Meanwhile, Francesco Firano attempted to cheat his way out of the mess. After nano withdrawals were closed on the Bitgrail exchange in January 2018, Firano promised to repay investors 20 percent of their funds, but only “if they agreed to sign a waiver foregoing any legal action against him.”

Italian Court Orders Bitgrail Founder to Refund $170M of 'Missing' Cryptocurrency — Francesco Firano

Later, he announced plans to reopen the exchange and release a new token called Bitgrail Shares, which would be used to reimburse the victims over time. Users called him out, wary that it was an elaborate exit scam, and opted to go to court. Firano argued in a losing case that his exchange was a mere provider of services and that the currencies deposited on the exchange were “regular” since he could not freely use the deposited coins.

A Bitgrail advocacy group has called the court ruling “both a huge win for crypto users and a cautionary tale for cryptocurrency exchange owners, who have been provided with a clear example of how not to run an exchange or handle a loss of funds.”

What do you think about this turn of events in the Bitgrail case? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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Review: The Ledger Nano X Adds Bluetooth and a Fussy Mobile App

21/01/2019 by Idelto Editor

There’s a lot to love about Ledger’s hardware wallets. There’s also a lot to loathe. From a design, manufacture, and presentation perspective, they’re a dream. From a software perspective, they’re capricious, prone to connecting and disconnecting on a whim. The new Ledger Nano X continues that tradition.

Also read: Ledger Unveils Bluetooth-Enabled Hardware Wallet

Nano X: Has Potential, Needs Work

I’ve got something of a love-hate relationship with Ledger hardware wallets (HWs). I love their aesthetics and theoretical functionality. I hate their practical functionality, because in practice, Ledgers never work for me. I’ve got four of ‘em sitting in a drawer somewhere, one of which I purchased myself and the others sent by Ledger for reviewing purposes. I managed to get all of them to work, eventually, after much cursing and teeth-gritting, but predicted that I would be unlikely to use those particular devices again. I’ve kept my word.

Review: The Ledger Nano X Adds Bluetooth and a Fussy Mobile App — My review edition of the Nano X was great until I unboxed it.

The new Ledger Nano X, unveiled at the start of this month, is a device I want to crush on, or at least develop as much of an affinity for a HW as it’s natural for a man to have. And, straight out the box, I feel all those feels. No other HW manufacturer makes devices that look as good as Ledger. You name them – Cold Card, Ellipal, Cobo Vault – I’ve reviewed them and found them functional, but none looked as slick as Ledger’s wallets when the cellophane was peeled off.

There’s a much more desirable attribute of hardware wallets, however, than looking good in the palm of the hand, and that’s where Ledger and I don’t see eye to eye. I don’t know if it’s my laptops or my attitude, but Ledgers hate me. I had been hoping their new Nano X, scheduled to ship in March, would end my lousy run of luck with Ledgers, but it wasn’t to be.

‘Our Most Advanced Hardware Wallet Yet’

Ledger’s “most advanced hardware wallet yet” is basically the best-selling Nano with Bluetooth bolted on, an extra button, and the new Ledger Live mobile app as a companion. The X is the future of Ledger’s production line, with the original Nano now reduced to 70 bucks, as the French firm looks to get shot of stock and make way for the sleeker Nano X, which will retail for around $140.

The Nano doesn’t feel dated until you look at the Nano X, whereupon it feels as obsolete as a first edition iPhone. That’s not to slate the trusty Nano however – it remains a highly regarded hardware wallet, and there is no need to upgrade to the X. If you’re shopping for a new Ledger, however, it’s all about the X. It’s hard to overstate how much utility is added by simply upgrading from one push button to two. Entering your PIN into the device is much easier now, with the buttons serving as left and right respectively, while pushing them in unison acts as ‘enter’.

The Nano X comes with 5x the storage capacity for applications as its predecessor, allowing it to store more cryptocurrencies than any other major HW on the market. The test version of the device I received came with instructions noting that “Many things will be improved [in final production] including firmware, battery life, laser engraving quality, screen luminosity, general quality.” So pretty much everything then. The build and finish quality of the X look perfectly good to me. My only issue – and it’s a major one – is with the software.

In theory, software is a lot easier to fix than hardware, not least because it doesn’t require recalling 100,000 devices. That said, Ledger have been working on their Ledger Live wallet management software for over six months now, and it’s yet to work for longer than a few minutes at a time for this reviewer.

A Long and Fruitless Week

When it comes to product reviews, my policy is to wait until everything’s working correctly before putting fingers to keyboard. After a long and frustrating week with the Nano X, however, in which far too many hours were frittered away on fruitless troubleshooting, it behoves me to write this review. As I type these words, I have yet to send or receive cryptocurrency using my Nano X, but despite this failure, I feel well qualified to expound on what the X can and cannot do.

Given that bluetooth and a standard mini USB are fitted to the Nano X, there are two ways to install the Ledger Live software onto the device. If I can’t get Ledger Live on desktop to work, I figure, I’ll just do it over bluetooth using the Ledger Live mobile app. It was a nice idea, but it wasn’t to be. I was stymied at first by this error message:

After reaching out to Ledger support, I was informed that “Yesterday, we announced a new firmware version. Our servers were overloaded that’s why you have this error message. Can you retry tomorrow?” I certainly could. Only, the next day Ledger Live was still producing the same error message – on two desktop devices and also on mobile. The next day it was the same. And the day after, and the day after that. This evening, however, while the desktop software was still being unresponsive, I made a breakthrough on mobile at the umpteenth attempt.

Hope Springs Eternal

With some relief, I sat down to write my Nano X review in the knowledge that I was just a few clicks away from having the device fully operational. The last step was to install a cryptocurrency app, because Ledger insists on forcing users to install apps within apps. If you want to store 100 cryptocurrencies on the X, for example, you have to install 100 apps onto the HW. Utter madness.

Pretty soon, I’m installing the BTC app, though I can’t tell from the onscreen prompt whether it’s being downloaded onto the mobile app or onto the HW itself. Whatever the case, it doesn’t matter, as I’m soon greeted by a message that reads “Operation was cancelled. Something went wrong. Please retry or contact us.” I try a different app, ETH this time. “Installing Ethereum. The installation of Ethereum app may take a while, please keep the app open,” I’m informed. Again, I’ve no idea whether this means the app on my phone or that I should keep the Nano X open and powered on. A moment later, I’m greeted by an entirely new error message:

And that’s about the point where I gave up. I would have no problem cutting Ledger some slack on what’s an early production model of their Nano X, were it not for the fact that the problems with this device have nothing to do with manufacturing and everything to do with coding. The Nano X works as well as its predecessor, which for this reviewer means barely/not at all. I still want to find a Ledger HW I can love, and I still dream of opening one of their devices to find it works straight out the box. Until that happy day arrives, however, I’m resigned to composing verbose reviews that don’t even begin to convey the lengths I went to in order to get this damn thing to work. Better luck next time.

What are your thoughts on Ledger’s hardware wallets? Let us know in the comments section below.

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The Daily: Bitcoin Posts Record Volume, Ledger Plans Major Update

21/12/2018 by Idelto Editor

The news is bullish in this edition of the The Daily, mirroring the mood of the crypto markets. We’ll start by delving into BTC’s record-breaking day for trading volume and then examine a couple of stories that suggest 2019 is poised to get off to a very positive start.

Also read: Only Sharks Will Feed on the Crypto Market’s Elusive Price Bottom

BTC Posts Record Daily Volume

It’s not just the price of bitcoin – both cash and core – that’s been shooting up this week – volume has followed suit. In fact, the real headline about this week’s price rally isn’t BCH doing a 3x or BTC passing and then holding the $4,000 mark. Rather, it’s the significant increase in trading volume that occurred on Dec 20, which some traders have taken as evidence of a full reversal. That’s right, the bottom may finally be in – though no one’s willing to publicly make that call just yet it seems.

Crypto Quantamental noted that the $2.26 billion of BTC traded on Thursday, Nov. 20 was the highest recorded in the cryptocurrency’s history. Compared to previous days when BTC was trading in the $3,500-$4,500 bracket, yesterday’s BTC volume was greater by a factor of 3-4x. Regardless of which way BTC moves next, it’s fair to say that interest in the crypto market has been fully restored. BCH has also been on a tear, as this graphic by The Tie shows, comparing the cryptocurrency’s market cap to that of BSV and LTC this week.

Looking back at Twitter activity since the start of the month, the sentiment analysis platform noted that “while indicative tweet volume (# of tweets that contribute to sentiment score) peaked for both BCH and BSV on Dec. 7, BSV has basically been completely flat as the amount of twitter conversation around BCH has trended upwards. It’s safe to assume BCH’s astonishing growth over the past three days may have contributed to that interest.

Ledger Schedules Major Firmware Update

French hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger has planned its biggest upgrade yet to its Nano S devices. Version 1.5, scheduled for release in early January, will feature new hashes, signatures and derivation schemes, enabling the wallet to support new cryptocurrencies. These updates will be accompanied by a slew of security improvements including:

Full redesign of the arithmetic architecture
Improved MCU genuine check (firmware attestation)
PIN code implementation improved for better resistance to hardware attacks
Hardening of the PIN code against various hardware and side channel attacks

In the arms race hardware manufacturers are engaged in, the biggest winners are consumers, who now have a wide range of increasingly robust hardware wallets to choose from.

Virtual Land Goes up in Smoke

47 million mana tokens have now been burnt in Decentraland’s second land auction which ends over the weekend. This equates to around $2.5 million of tokens destroyed, in return for purchasing plots of land in the virtual world. With the price of each parcel dropping ever closer to its lowest possible price of 1,000 mana over the weekend, a bidding frenzy is suspected. Just 6,000 of the 9,300 parcels available a week ago are left, with nonfungible.com recording an average price per 10x10m parcel of $850.

What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits as featured in The Daily? Let us know in the comments section below.

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