CryptoSolarTech Finishes Successful Pre-ICO with the Goal of Making Cryptocurrency Mining Energy-Efficient Like Never Before

CryptoSolarTech, a blockchain start-up dedicated to addressing the problem of high energy consumption in cryptocurrency mining, has just completed a successful pre-ICO phase of their token sale campaign and broadly surpassed the softcap. A total supply of 1260 million tokens called CryptoSolarTech tokens (CST) is up for grabs during this ICO.

April 30, 2018

CryptoSolarTech is pleased to announce the successful completion of the pre-ICO phase of their token sale campaign. A blockchain start-up, this pioneering venture looks to fix one of the glaring problems of cryptocurrency mining by making it energy-efficient and environment-friendly. Their token sale campaign will continue until July 14, offering a total supply of 1260 million proprietary tokens of the ecosystem named CryptoSolarTech tokens (CST) with a minimum investment of 100 tokens. The collected funds during the ICO will be used to both construct a solar photovoltaic pool and build the biggest mining farm in Spain.

With the rapidly growing popularity of cryptocurrencies, the mining of different crypto coins have become commonplace these days. However, this mining process consumes a huge amount of energy for the necessary complex mathematical calculations. In countries with cheaper energy cost due to the abundance of coal and oil, indiscriminate mining has already resulted in a significant increase in CO2 emissions. There is no denying the fact that in order to ensure a better future for the rapidly growing crypto economy, the problem of high energy consumption must be addressed.

A company based in Spain, CryptoSolarTech proposes to solve the present scenario of cryptocurrency mining by creating a solar photovoltaic pool capable of generating 45,000kW of energy. With this objective, they have already signed a fifteen year power purchase contract with Respira Energía, an organization that provides electricity to consumers at wholesale prices with a guarantee of 100% CO2 free production. Respira Energía will play a pivotal role in CryptoSolarTech’s efforts to make mining sustainable and profitable, without the need for the common form of electricity.

CryptoSolarTech informs that their upcoming solar project will comprise of ten solar plants with an investment of €42.8 million. The mining center will be located in Malaga. Whereas, the solar plants will all be installed in the southernmost and the sunniest region in Spain, Andalusia near Sevilla. The uniqueness of this project lies in the fact that it will have its own solar plants as well as mining infrastructure. Though there have been some similar projects in the past, but they were not equipped with self-mining set-up.

“The operation will be based in one of the sunniest areas of Europe. Our team has an extensive experience of in mining operations,” explains Pablo Alonso, co-founder and CEO at CryptoSolarTech. “We have no doubt that this is a winning package with excellent returns that any crypto enthusiasts will be interested in.”

CryptoSolarTech token (CST), an ERC-20 type token, will be a key component of the CryptoSolarTech ecosystem. “Possession of this digital asset will indicate ownership of a fraction of a cryptocurrency mining farm and a photovoltaic solar energy plant. Users of this platform will be able to obtain their own cryptocurrencies during the CryptoSolarTech ICO in a farm where around three thousand equipment are to be installed” says Alain Aguirre, co-founder and director of the mining operation.

The Ethereum public Blockchain will be used for the management, generation of income and start-up of the physical assets that make up this project. The primary objective of the ongoing ICO is to create a cryptocurrency mining farm and a photovoltaic plant of solar panels to generate electricity. The company informs that 80% of the funds raised through the ICO will be used for the development of the mining platform, the acquisition of land and construction of several solar power plants, the acquisition of an industrial warehouse, and the servers. Pool platform development, licenses, infrastructure issues, and maintenance will consume the remaining 20%.

The future plan for CryptoSolarTech includes applying for an environmental approval request for the project, authorization for the public construction, and grid-connection of the power plants in June, 2018. The acquisition of land and the industrial warehouse is expected to be completed by September. The launch the application for the construction permit for the solar PV projects has been scheduled in October.

Mentioned below are some key points related to the ICO campaign:

Total supply of tokens: 1.260.000.000

Number of Tokens for Sale: 1.008.000.000 (80%)

SOFT-CAP: 983.733 €

HARD-CAP: 71.400.000 €

Accepted Currencies: ETH, FIAT

176, 900,524 CST tokens were sold during the just concluded pre-ICO phase, raising 8.845,026 €.

To find out more, please visit https://CryptoSolarTech.org/en/

About CryptoSolarTech:  CryptoSolarTech is a project oriented towards the development of a platform for clean, ecological and profitable mining with efficient results. It will provide a photovoltaic plant that will generate power capable of obtaining a performance of 45.000 kW. In its fully functional form, the project looks all set to make cryptocurrency mining energy-efficient like never before.

Contact: Sara Picazo

Website: https://CryptoSolarTech.org/en/

Email:  [email protected]

EOS is Outperforming the General Cryptocurrency Market Against All Odds

Blockchain holds the promise of delivering trust in trustless environments using decentralized and cryptographically secure ledgers. One of the most popular applications of blockchain technology are decentralized applications (Dapps). Ethereum is a leading DApps platform but a number of new rivals such as EOS and NEO are challenging its market dominance. In fact, it is no longer news there’s an ongoing rivalry between Ethereum and EOS communities as both blockchains try to gain market dominance in the Blockchain as a service market for enterprise clients.

Ethereum is the older of the two blockchains and it enjoys the support of a consortium of high-profile enterprise clients who are exploring the possibilities of leveraging blockchain to improve their competitive advantage in their respective industries. The relative newness of EOS however presents it with an opportunity to bypass many of the pitfalls besetting Ethereum. EOS comes to the market with the promise of the latest advancements in blockchain technology to process a higher volume of transactions and at a higher speed than Ethereum.

Source: Smartereum

The thoughts of joining the Ethereum VS EOS debate is quite tempting but I think the arguments on both sides of the debate are overflogged already. Interestingly, most of the arguments are based around technical specifications which don’t usually hold much importance to traders and investors. The cryptocurrency market is booming at an incredibly fast pace and EOS is also riding on the market boom. This piece attempts to beam the searchlight on the performance of EOS relative to Ethereum and Bitcoin with a view helping traders and investors make educations decisions about the direction of the market

EOS is booking massive games in defiance of the prevailing downtrend in the market

The EOS coin price charts for the year-to-date period shows an incredible 121% surge in trading price. In addition, EOS’ trading volume has spiked by more than 1400% from $312M on January 1 to $3.96B on April 30. EOS’ market capitalization has also soared more than 217% from $5.04 B on January 1 to $16B as in the same period (see chart below).

Source: Coinmarketcap

EOS YTD performance dwarfs Ethereum (ETH) performance

Source: Coinmarketcap

Ethereum has however been struggling to keep its 2017 gains as its performance in 2018 continues to head south. On January 1, Ethereum was trading around $765.51; however, its trading price has declined to around $685.39 on April 30 to mark 10.46% decline in the year-to-dater period.

Ethereum started the year with a market cap of $74.01B but its market cap has since declined to $67.95B to mark a decline of 8.18% in market price in the year-to-date. Ethereum’s 24-hour trading volume has however climbed up marginally by 6.6% from $2.55B on January 1 to $2.72B on April 30.

Here’s how EOS has performed relative to Bitcoin (BTC)

The fact remains that the impressive outperformance of EOS in the year-to-date period isn’t representative of the performance of the general cryptocurrency industry. In fact, EOS’s massive uptrend contrasts sharply with the decline in the performance of Bitcoin.

The trading price of Bitcoin has declined from $14,112 on January 1 to $9,186 on April 30 to mark a 34% decline in its trading price in the year-to-date period. The 24-hour trading volume of Bitcoin has declined from $12.13B on January 1 to $8.55B on April 30 to mark a 29.5% decline since the markets opened for trading this year. More so, the market capitalization of Bitcoin has declined from $236.73B on January 1 to $158.46B to mark a 33% decline within the same period.

The Game Is On

The gaming industry is one of the fastest growing tech industries around. It crosses over different aspects of the ecosystem from design graphics, internet technology, to interactive virtual reality and now the blockchain.

Numbers don’t lie. International video game revenue in 2015, was estimated at US$91.5 billion; more than double the revenue of the international film industry.  According to newzoo.com, in 2016 China alone generated $24.4 billion in video game revenue, and that is just scratching the surface. The developers and target audience of the gaming industry are young and tech savvy, making the field very open to the latest technological innovations. For instance, according to researcher Stanley J. Baran one-third of all global mobile gaming revenue already comes from tablets. The secret to maintain growth is to create innovative and diverse content for all platforms. Game creators, nevertheless, have to rent expensive development environments from monopolies like Amazon or Google to host the new multiplayer functionality, stifling the creativity the industry needs to grow.

Since the industry is so open to new technologies and approaches, some companies are applying blockchain technology to help game creators develop their multiplayer games. Here are two companies who are helping game creators realize their vision through the use of advances in blockchain technology.

GamyTech’s platform, GameProtocol, allows game creators to generate a webpage in the GameStarter website explaining their game to the crypto-community. The community can then invest in the idea using Game Protocol Tokens which is the native token of the GameProtocol ecosystem. Investors receive, in exchange, better inApp tools that will help them play the completed game. A smart contract guarantees that the creating team will get paid once the game is developed. At the end of the development process, GameProtocol will publish the finished game in its own game store where users can play it provided they pay for the access with Game Protocol Tokens. Games like special Guns and Soccer championship were developed this way.

Network Units is a platform that built a decentralized gaming environment that is run on a network of cooperating player and service provider nodes. Using the blockchain, Network Units provides an environment where hardware owners share their unused CPU resources and bandwidth with game creators that require an infrastructure of servers to run the multiplayer mode in a game. Such distributed gaming network hosting asserts that this whole multiplayer functionality could be run on the blockchain, helping game creators reduce their cost of rented servers. Each player on the network can play from a node that exhibits the best geographical proximity reducing the distance that a gamer has to the nearest “server” providing better connectivity. However, the claim of getting lower latency just because a user is closer to the server though not always true, can help.

Bridging Markets and Reviving lost Demand Finally Becomes a Reality with INGOT

INGOT Group has created a first- of-its-kind blockchain ecosystem named INGOT Coin that promises to link the existing financial markets and the rapidly emerging crypto markets like never before. INGOT Group claims that this specialized ecosystem will make the customers more confident and increase market liquidity, while providing more efficient market pricing and access to funds for a wide variety of stakeholders.

April 28, 2018

INGOT Group, a multi-industry company with industry-specific professionals, is all set to bring about a groundbreaking impact on the existing financial markets. By creating a revolutionary blockchain based ecosystem named INGOT Coin (IC), they have finally made it possible to build a new pathway between the crypto and the current traditional market participants, enabling them to diversify their portfolio in an efficient and secure manner.

The vision of the IC Ecosystem is to revive the lost unity and demand for both the markets by establishing six different components to work hand in hand under one umbrella, providing all community members the chance to capitalize on the upcoming opportunities in all markets. The ecosystem is comprised of an IC Wallet, IC Exchange, IC Brokerage, IC Digital Bank, IC Certifier and IC ICO Accelerator.

“INGOT Coin will create a complete solution by integrating 6 core ecosystem components and providing a one-stop-shop for the digital asset, traditional asset and currency markets,” said Iman Mutlaq, the Director of INGOT Group and the founder of INGOT Coin.

The IC Ecosystem will provide round the clock support, services and linkage between markets, providing the industry’s fastest and safest entry and exit mechanism for both sides, leading to making reallocation and trading techniques as  efficient as possible, without being hindered by the time and cost associated with the previously segregated markets.

Primarily, The IC Ecosystem will facilitate custodial and brokerage operations that will encompass all traditional financial instrument functions needed. Linking multi-signature and cold storage IC Wallets with the full-fledged IC Exchange in addition to linking the IC Brokerage to both components will allow clients to safely trade in crypto and alter to the traditional market freely then easily expand or liquidate their investments through the IC Bank.

“The IC Ecosystem will transform trades, settlements and payments and make them instant, bringing together different necessary components and cutting out third party intermediaries who usually delay the process and increase associated costs,” explains Ahmed Khawanky, the CMO of INGOT Coin.

INGOT Coin has already established partnerships around the region as well as globally and has been participating in the market since 1993 through their holding group INGOT Group.

INGOT Group continuously works on providing all stakeholders an ever-growing broad range of innovative products and services globally, thus allowing it to gain sufficient expertise to link this knowledge to the new blockchain environment and create an all-inclusive and self-serving Ecosystem.

The group has recently added seven advisors, all with an extraordinary background and a wealth of industry experience.

  • Warren Whitlock, PR & Marketing Advisor
  • Navin Kapoor, Blockchain ICO Advisor
  • Pranav Bhatia, Blockchain R & D
  • George Mentz, ICO Legal Advisor
  • Sydney Ifergan, ICO Marketing Advisor
  • John Van Der Voss, ICO Advisor
  • Bogdan Fiedur, ICO Tech Advisor
  • Victor Chow, ICO Business Advisor

More about INGOT Group and INGOT Coin can be found at https://www.ingotcoin.io/

About INGOT Group: A multi-industry company founded in 1993; INGOT Group has grown into one of most successful firms with industry-specific professionals operating in different companies and sectors under one umbrella. The group has fortune companies across multiple industries and adopts a strategy to expand its business and to leave an influential impact in the market field.

Website: https://www.ingotcoin.io/

Email: [email protected]

Crypto Highlights 28/04/2018

Vitalik Buterin boycotts CoinDesk conference

In a series of tweets Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin explained why he’s not not attending CoinDesk’s Consensus 2018 conference, citing the $2-3k ticket prices as “rent seeking” and the publications ethics based around “off the record” interviews.

IBM planning to use Blockchain to track diamonds

IBM’s latest blockchain initiative TrustChain will bring transparency to the diamond industry by tracking the process from raw material to finished jewelry.

Read more at Investopedia.

Sony files blockchain patent

Sony has filed a patent with the US Patent & Trademark Office to store consumers digital rights on the blockchain dubbed Rights Management (DRM

Read more at Toinnov.

Venezuela to get $1 billion cash injection from petro ICO

The Venezuelan president has said the country will receive a $1 billion cash injection from the sale of its cryptocurrency named the PetroDollar (XPD) which allegeldy raised $5 billion dollars, $1.7 of which will be set aside for importing “food, medicine and industrial goods.”

Read more at Phys.

Penny stock firm proposes Blockchain mining at coal plant

Plans to create an Australian “Blockchain Valley” with cheap fossil energy have been met with a stony reception from blockchain insiders.

Read more at GreenTechMedia.

AirSwap breaks $1 million trading volume in 24 hours

Decentralised trading platform AirSwap has handled more than $1 million dollars worth of transactions within the first 24 hours of launching. AirSwap was co-founded by a veteran of automated trading firm Virtu Financial Inc

$100,000 bounty for crypto pump-and-dump whistleblowers

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has created a bounty to encourage whistleblowers to come forward in exposing “pump-and-dump” schemes withunique information that leads to sanctions of $1 million or more are eligible.

Read more at CFTC.

Crypto exchange more profitable than Germany’s biggest bank

In the first quarter of 2018 the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, recorded profits of $200 million surpassing Deutsche Bank’s $146 million. Today Deutsche Bank announced the loss of 1,000 jobs equating to 10% of its US workforce.

Read more at Reuters.

8% of Americans are invested in crypto

Around 8% of Americans know of cryptocurrencies according to a survey of 2,000 adults carried out by Finder.com

Read more at CNBC.

Singapore to speed up Blockchain patent processing

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has announced a new initiative named ‘Fintech Fast Track’ that aims to speed up the patent application-to-grant process for blockchain-based patents.

Read more at BlockTribune.

IBIN Introduces Blockshares to the Blockchain via International

Blockshare Identification Number 

As the DIM Foundation ventures closer to releasing their new Hybrid Stock Exchange, a trading platform based on blockchain technology, they are all set to adopt innovative features to sustain the needs of the ever growing industry.

April 25, 2018

Most people that are familiar with the Stock Market are aware of the need of acquiring an ISIN. The International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) is a 12 character code that uniquely identifies a specific security, such as stocks. It is the most popular securities identifier and is used globally.

With the pre-registration for issuers and users soon to be opened, the inaugural DIM Ecosystem introduces the International Blockshare Identification Number (IBIN), a 13 digit, unique serial number used to identify a corporation or organisation for listing on the Hybrid Stock Exchange. It will be this unique IBIN that will be used as a reference to buy, sell, trade and hold equity, with all details retained on the Blockchain. Each unique IBIN will function as the reference to buy, sell, trade and hold equity, with all details stored securely on the Blockchain.

The DIM Foundation is a non-profit organization that recently grabbed the attention of the crypto world by creating and distributing the two different versions of the DIM cryptocurrency (DIMCOIN and DIM Currencies). The Data Interchange Module (DIM) cryptocurrency is a p2p, quantity-committed, secure, private and robust digital medium of exchange. DIMCOIN is a speculative digital coin built upon the NEM blockchain protocol. On the other hand, the DIM Currencies serve as a medium of exchange in the DIM Ecosystem.

An online stock exchange, Hybrid Stock Exchange provides the small to medium enterprises a platform where they can engage in online stock and equity exchanges and access international capital from investors. Cryptonized assets such as intellectual property or company shares will be available on the HYBSE platform.

DIM Currencies and cryptonised assets can be managed across the globe via computers and handheld devices with the help of a state-of-the-art block chain wallet called DEPOTWALLET. The registration process is simple and easy because there is no need to have any banking details to open an account with DEPOTWALLET.

With the mainstream equity markets suffering from downsides such as over-regulation, red-tape, excessive fees and long waiting periods, HYBSE‘s blockchain-based platform looks to eliminate hurdles and allow issuers as well as investors to conduct business on a secure and efficient platform. Lower operational costs, transparency, quick learning, easy web interface, P2P trading, robust security, and the availability of a large pool of financial instruments are some of the many benefits enjoyed by HYBSE users. Tradable securities on HYBSE currently include cryptonized shares, cryptocurrencies, exchange-traded commodities, exchange-traded fund, index, and more.

In the coming weeks, issuers on the DIM Ecosystem will be able to apply and register for their IBIN at no charge. This limited time offer will be available until August 31, 2018. Anyone interested in finding out more may check the DIMCOIN Social Media for the upcoming announcement.

For any questions and information, please visit the DIMCOIN social platforms:

Telegram: https://t.me/dimcoinICO
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DIMCOINICO/
Twitter: @DIMCOIN_

About DIM Foundation: The DIM Foundation is a non-profit organization that is responsible for the creation, management and distribution of the DIM (DIMCOIN and DIM Currencies) and DIM TOKEN. All the profits received by the foundation will be utilized to further improve the DIM in order to increase its value.

HYBSE has a license of Dealers in Securities in Vanuatu with the license number 17911

Parsec Frontiers Announces Start of Token Crowdsale Opening Way to Stars Colonization

On May 15, Parsec Frontiers, an online game about humanity’s colonization of the stars and planets in the Milky Way, starts the crowdsale of its tokens. The project has already succeeded in early presale stage. The team raised more than 700 ETH in January during the closed sale round, while the soft cap for the sale was 400 ETH.

There is not much time left before the stars will be open for travellers! Galaxy exploration starts in December 2018, when the first Ark ships leave the Earth, and about 900 spaceships will frequently leave the Earth for the following three months. After this, all additional spaceships must be crafted by players. The game is planned to be feature complete in December, 2019.

“We are targeting regular space/strategy MMO game fans, to reach beyond the traditional crypto gamer crowd that buys crypto kittie tokens on Ethereum,” comments Henning Rokling, the project founder. “We are creating a full blown MMO for hardcore strategy gamers, with blockchain as an underlying technology.”

Why Parsec Tokens?

Parsec Credits will be the only accepted currency for the spaceship and space station auctions. And the crowdsale is the last chance to buy this currency, as all unsold tokens will be burned. if you are late to buy Parsec Credits, you will have to go on an exchange to get involved in the game.

To incentivize holders of Parsec Credits, a deflationary mechanism relating to all in-game value transactions will reduce the money supply in the economy. Trading exchanges on space stations and planets are either operated by the game’s backend or are owned by players who has purchased an exchange.

Every transaction on a trading exchange will be subject to a transaction fee paid by the seller from the achieved sale price. The fee has a fixed portion of 3% paid to the server wallet, and an optional portion of up to 2% paid to the exchange owner’s wallet as per the exchange owner’s discretion.

The game thus contributes 2% of all transactions proportionally to all token holders by reducing the total money supply in the economy.

More details are available in project White Paper .

Bought The Wrong Coin? CoinJanitor Can Help You Out!

Cryptocurrency markets are tricky. Despite the wealth of innovative ideas in them, most of the projects fail. In many cases, people end up buying coins that fail despite their promising concepts and technological innovation. Therefore, there is a need for a project to come into the market and recycle these valuable ideas while lending those who were unfortunate to buy into the wrong coin, a way out. That is exactly what CoinJanitor will do.

What is CoinJanitor?

CoinJanitor introduced a unique concept into the cryptocurrency markets. The idea is that CoinJanitor can buy out dead coins using its own JAN token, and give dead coin users a way to get some of the value they have in dead coins back. Integrating dead coin holders to CoinJanitor through these buy outs will create a powerful network effect by amalgamating thousands of people under the CoinJanitor umbrella.

These buy outs also allow CoinJanitor to acquire other assets that belong to dead coins, like their marketing assets, and they will put the CoinJanitor in a privileged position to analyze dead coin code and blockchain data to produce new tools with it. This will allow CoinJanitor to effectively recycle all those valuable components that dead coins have for the benefit of the CoinJanitor community and cryptocurrency markets.

How will CoinJanitor Achieve its Goals?

CoinJanitor has already started gathering data to profile these dead coins, finding out which are the most valuable dead coins out there and how it can use those assets to create more value. A key component of this profiling exercise is to define what a dead coin is. CoinJanitor came up with the following 4 main features that allow it to understand which coins are dead and which it can buy out:

  • The dead coin has a market cap of $50,000 USD or less.
  • It is a PoW – Proof of Work – coin.
  • Said coin has been given an opportunity to succeed but has failed, so it has been in the market for 2 years or more.
  • The coin is not traded on exchanges.

Once CoinJanitor starts going through the lists it has compiled with coins that fit these conditions, it will start contacting the communities and creators of those coins to establish a buy-out agreement. Then it will proceed to take over those coins’ assets and decommission them. This includes burning all the coins it acquires during the buy outs, to effectively put the targeted dead coin to rest.

The Odds of Holding a Dead Coin are High

There are many more coins that fit this definition than many would think. For starters, there are more than 4,500 cryptocurrencies out there. More than 3,000 are not traded on any exchange. That means the odds of having bought or mined a dead coin at some point are quite high. There are thousands of people out there that bought the wrong coin. In many cases these coins offered a promising idea, but they failed and died.

What are the odds that you hold one of those coins? What are the odds one of your friends owns one? There are enough dead coins out there and enough people who ran out of luck when they bought these coins. Therefore, the cryptocurrency market clean up that CoinJanitor proposes is important. So, if you are interested in this project, the network effect it will create and the potential to find value through its recycling process, join its Telegram group, follow them on Twitter check out their YouTube channel or visit the CoinJanitor website to get more information about how you can be part of this exciting opportunity!

Crypto Highlights 24/04/2018

Early investor in Tesla, Skype and Hotmail says Bitcoin will be bigger than all those combined

Speaking at the Intelligence Squared U.S. debate, renowned venture capitalist Tim Draper said Bitcoin will be bigger than his investments in Telsa, Hotmail and Skype combined, while reiterating his estimates that a single BTC will be worth $250,000 by 2022. He also said that purchasing a coffee with fiat in the future will be commonplace and that staff would laugh if customers tried to pay with old money. Draper purchased 30,000 bitcoins in a 2014 U.S. Marshals Service auction.

Read more at CNBC.

It’s a knockout! SEC charges third founder of Floyd Mayweather-backed cryptocurrency

Raymond Trapan, the co-founder of cryptocurrency firm Centra has been charged by the US SEC for masterminding a scheme which duped investors into believing they had partnerships with major credit card companies such as Visa and MasterCard. The initial coin offering raised $32 million and was endorsed by boxer Floyd Mayweather.

Read more at CNBC.

Total Market Cap smashes through $400 billion

The total cryptocurrency Market Cap has exceeded $400,000,000,000 with a 24hr hour volume of $26,591,855,442 and current volume of $418,414,019,607.

See the current Market Cap at https://coinmarketcap.com/

Iran’s banks banned from dealing in crypto-currencies

The government owned central bank of Iran has banned financial instituions from dealing in cryptocurrencies, stating concerns that the technology could be used by criminals to launder money.

Read more at BBC.

Bitcoin Lightning Network matures with record 2000 Nodes, $150K Capacity and over 7000 active channels

The Lightning Network has almost doubled its capacity in two weeks this month as more and more users expand the protocols usage.

Read more at Bitcoinist.

Incoming heavyweights – one in five big financial institutions are getting ready to trade crypto

According to a survey by Thomson Reuters, one if five institutional financial firms are planning to trade in cryptocurrencies within the next 12 months, more specifically Ethereum, Ripple and Bitcoin are among the most popular. The Bitcoin landing page of Thomson Reuters’ Eikon data terminal is the second most visited page.

Read more at Quartz.

Crypto crackdown lands India’s central bank in court

Kali Digital EcoSystems has challenged the Reserve Bank of India’s clampdown on financial institutions in the Delhi High Court, on two grounds of the 1950 Indian constitution: Under Article 19(1) (g), which allows citizens to enjoy the right to carry on any occupation, trade or business; and Article 14, which prohibits discrimination and mandates equal protection under the law for all. The Reserve Bank of India is aiming to stop other banks and institutions working with cryptocurrencies.

Read more at inc42.

Goldman Sachs explores crypto trading with new hire

Justin Schmidt has been hired by Goldman Sachs as VP and Head of Digital Asset Markets to potential head its crypto trading desk in the future. According to his Linkedin profile, Schmidt was senior VP at Seven Eight Capital and portfolio manager at LMR Partners.

Read more at Tear Sheet.

Are our feline pets behind the bitcoin craze?

A scientific hypothesis on how our feline friends infected with toxoplasmosis are driving humans to buy Bitcoin was presented at last night’s BAHFest at MIT 2018.

Read more at Reddit.

Walmart is getting suppliers to put food on the Blockchain

To improve transparency and reduce waste, Walmart is trying to encourage suppliers to use Blockchain technology. Speaking at the MIT Technology Review’s Business of Blockchain conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Vice President of food safety and health for Walmart, Frank Yiannas said blockchain technology was able to cut the time it took to track various types of produce to two seconds from six days.

Read more at Bloomberg.

Binance to create employment opportunities for Uganda’s youth in blockchain

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance is planning to use its influence in the blockchain sector to help Uganda in its economic development. It hopes to create new employment opportunities for the Ugandan youth and drive investments from the blockchain sector in the East African country.

Read more at TheNextWeb.

Swiss Post goes Blockchain with Modum

Modum has partnered with Swiss Post to deliver an industry-leading, temperature-monitoring solution that enables regulatory compliance for shipments containing medical and other temperature-sensitive products.

Read more on the Modum blog.

Track crypto prices with your lightbulb

You can now reduce the amount of time spent at your computer checking the Bitcoin prices by hacking your light bulb to glow red/ green or yellow. Get the code on GitHub.

Nasdaq-Listed company Xunlei faces class-action for disguising ICO

Nasdaq-listed technology firm Xunlei has become the subject of multiple class-action lawsuits from investors who purchased the company’s digital token, Linktoken. Xunlei is accused of misleading investors to disguise an initial coin offering (ICO) through which Linktoken was distributed.

Read more at Bitcoin.com

Blockchain could help Opiod crisis

BlockMedx aims to reduce the number of opioid overdose deaths with Blockchain technology. It aims to solve the identity and security flaws that are contributing to the current crisis, specifically where prescriptions are forged and duplicated. In 2016 around 64,000 Americans died from a drug overdose.

Read more on BlockMedx’s Medium blog.

LinkedIn cofounder Eric Ly launches ICOHub to eliminate ICO scammers

Co-founder and former CTO of LinkedIn, Eric Ly recently launched Hub, Human Trust Protocol to help strangers safely interact on the internet and build digital reputations based on their transaction history.

Read more at VentureBeat.

Outlier Ventures joins the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association

Welcoming Europe’s first blockchain VC signals the maturity of blockchain investment and distributed ledger technology

Leading blockchain and Web 3.0 venture capital firm Outlier Ventures today announces it has joined the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association to actively engage with the British VC community on the emerging blockchain and distributed ledger industry. Outlier Ventures’ team has established significant expertise on distributed ledger technology, token economies and compliance considerations, which the firm will share through BVCA’s extensive events and community programme.

Stephan Apel, Managing Partner at Outlier Ventures commented: “The BVCA plays a critical role in building industry knowledge and best practice through its focus on training, events and research. This work leads to higher professional standards across the industry which Outlier Ventures has always been keen to bring to the emerging distributed ledger sector. We look forward to learning from the BVCA community as well as sharing our expertise on the emerging blockchain and token economy.”

The BVCA’s Venture Capital Committee Chair David Mott added: “The distributed ledger sector is a hotbed of innovation as teams focus on reimaging today’s web. Naturally this type of wholesale innovation requires appropriate funding and offers significant opportunities to our industry. Outlier Ventures has established a reputation for mature practice and deep expertise around how blockchain converges with other deep technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence. We’re excited to have them join the BVCA.”

Outlier Ventures is actively working with policy makers and the wider industry to further knowledge sharing on the evolution of decentralised technologies. The company is engaged with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on blockchain, are member of The Wall Street Blockchain Alliance and sits on Tech UK’s distributed ledger working group. The firm’s CEO Jamie Burke recently presented to the European Parliament on the evolution of Robotics and AI, his presentation is available on request.

The recently published Convergence Ecosystem report from Outlier Ventures is also now available and outlines the evolving decentralised technology stack and the emerging foundations of a new data infrastructure, which supports entirely new economic models.

###

About Outlier Ventures

Outlier Ventures was launched in 2014 as the first European VC focused on blockchain technologies. Now, with a team of 20, they help pre-seed and seed stage startups navigate the emerging token space. Their venture platform which includes academic and corporate partners, offers strategic guidance on token design, their underlying economics, compliance, as well as marketing and technical development.

Their investment philosophy is based on the convergence of decentralised technologies like blockchains and distributed ledgers with ‘deep tech’ such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, and 3D printing primarily within the Industry 4.0, Smart Cities and Mobility markets.

Having already backed IOTA, a highly-regarded crypto-asset focused on securing machine-to-machine payments for Industrial IoT, and more recently Evernym and the Sovrin Foundation they plan to roll out a series of ambitious investments and strategic partnerships with their corporate and academic network. https://outlierventures.io/

About BVCA

The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) is the industry body for the UK private equity and venture capital industry. The BVCA has over 700 member firms, representing the vast majority of UK-based private equity and venture capital firms and their advisers.