Author: CoinSpectator

You can now pay with crypto in over 6,000 South Korean Shops

Two South Korean firms, Bithumb and Pay’s have announced a partnership that will enable 6,000 stores throughout the country to open up goods purchases with cryptocurrency.

Customers who hold their digital currencies on the Bithumb exchange will be able to quickly and easily pay for a coffee in stores such as Starbucks, Outback etc.

Bithumb will integrate with Pay’s already established payment terminals which process payments for gift certificates in 6,000 stores, these include 400 domestic and 200 franchise partners among others.

Customers will use barcodes generated within their mobile app to make payments at their desired shop, adoption will increase to 8,000 by the end of 2018.

Bithumb, often unknown to cryptoethusiasts in the west is one of South Korea’s largest exchanges, in-fact it ranks second for trading volume amassing nearly half a billion dollars each day.

The news follows Bithumb’s recent collaboration with Innovation Corp which seen 50,000 accommodation options allowing customers to rent with cryptocurrencies.

Many companies are integrating with cryptocurrencies to bridge the gap between traditional payments thus opening the space up for more user friendly and transparent alternatives that no longer rely on slow and cumbersome fiat methods.

Gibraltar leads on ICO regulation

Gibraltar has been in the spotlight in recent months following the jurisdiction’s milestone DLT regulations. The DLT regulations, which came into force on 1st January 2018, received a warm reception by many in the FinTech space. Other jurisdictions are now keen to address the blockchain technology that is disrupting traditional industries and businesses. They, too, see they need for regulation, and are looking to Gibraltar for inspiration.

In a speech on Friday 2nd March 2018, The Bank of England’s Governor, Mark Carney, stated it was time to “regulate elements of the crypto-asset ecosystem to combat illicit activities”. Gibraltar’s proactive approach has clearly placed the jurisdiction in a unique position as one of only a few jurisdictions to have some form of regulation for this growing industry.

It looks as though Gibraltar will continue to remain in the spotlight as the jurisdiction looks to address concerns surrounding the increasing number of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) that are funding blockchain based startups. It has been widely reported in recent weeks that Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) are preparing to release a draft of the world’s first token regulations.

During a presentation at the Gibraltar International FinTech Forum 2018, otherwise known as the Gibfin conference, which took place between 28th February and 1st May 2018, the GFSC provided attendees with more information about the activities that the forthcoming token regulations aim to regulate. The token regulations will regulate the following activities conducted in or from Gibraltar:

  1. the promotion, sale and distribution of digital tokens;
  2. the operation of secondary market platforms trading in tokens; and
  3. the provision of investment advice and ancillary services relating to tokens.

Promotion, sale and distribution of digital tokens

Tokens that are not considered securities, such as utility and access tokens, will be caught by the new token regulations but gifts, donations, virtual currencies (i.e. Bitcoin) and central-bank digital currencies will not.

The FSC clarified that they will not expand the interpretation of what is considered a security in Gibraltar and also have no intention of defining token categories, or the functionality of tokens, either pre or post ICOs. The intention is to ensure that token sale participants’ are presented, in advance, with all relevant information to enable them to make an informed decision.

To be captured by these regulations, the activities will need to be carried out in or from Gibraltar and will include activities:

  • which purport to be or imply that they are made from Gibraltar;
  • are intended to come to the attention of, or be accessed by, any person in Gibraltar;
  • are conducted by overseas subsidiaries of Gibraltar-registered legal persons (in such cases, the Gibraltar person will be liable); or

are conducted by overseas agents and proxies acting on behalf of Gibraltar-registered legal persons, or on behalf of natural persons ordinarily resident in Gibraltar (in such cases, the Gibraltar person will be liable).

It is anticipated that Gibraltar-based token issuing companies will be required to comply with some form of disclosure rules that are yet to be announced. It is expected that the proposed regulations will require adequate, accurate and balanced disclosure of the relevant information to enable potential token sale participants to make an informed decision.

Additionally, token issuing companies will be obliged to collect know-your-customer (KYC) information on their token sale participants in order to comply with financial crime provisions in Gibraltar.

Additionally, entities that wish to conduct an ICO from Gibraltar will need to be sponsored by firms that the GFSC has authorised to perform such a function. Authorised sponsors will possess the appropriate knowledge and experience and will be responsible for ensuring compliance with the part of the regulations. Authorised sponsors will be regulated by the GFSC.

In order to encourage best practice for token sales conducted in or from Gibraltar, authorised sponsors will be required to have codes of practice in place that token sale entities will be required to comply with. Codes of practice may set out such matters as the method for storing, applying and distributing sale proceeds. Codes of practice will require approval from the GFSC and the regulator will establish and maintain a public register of authorised sponsors and their respective past and present codes of practice.

The GFSC will not however regulate:

  • Technology;
  • Tokens, smart contracts, or their functionality;
  • Individual public token offerings; or
  • Persons involved in the promotion, sale or distribution of tokens.

Secondary market conduct

Secondary market platforms, operated in or from Gibraltar, dealing in tokenised assets (including virtual currencies) and their derivatives will be caught by the token regulations. The GFSC aims to:

  • ensure organised trading takes place on regulated platforms;
  • establish transparency and oversight of secondary markets;
  • enhance investor protection;
  • impose conduct of business standards; and
  • encourage competition.

The proposed regulations will set out requirements for:

  • disclosure to the public of data on trading activity;
  • disclosure of transaction data to GFSC; and
  • specific supervisory actions concerning tokens and positions on token derivatives.

This second area of focus will be modelled, so far as is appropriate, proportionate and relevant, on market platform provisions under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II and Markets in Financial Instruments and Amending Regulation, otherwise known as MiFID II and MiFIR, which came into effect in January 2018.

It is proposed that the GFSC will authorise and supervise secondary token market operators, and establish and maintain a public register of such operators.

Investment Advice

The provision of advice on investments in tokens, virtual currencies and central bank-issued digital currencies will be covered by the token regulations, including:

generic advice (setting out fairly and in a neutral manner the facts relating to token investments and services);
product-related advice (setting out in a selective and judgmental manner the advantages and disadvantages of a particular token investment and service); and
personal recommendation (based on the particular needs and circumstances of the individual investor).

The regulations will seek to ensure that such advice is fair, transparent and professional. This third area of focus will be similar to the investment advice provisions in MiFID II.

It is proposed that GFSC will authorise and supervise token investment service providers, and establish and maintain a public register of such providers

Watch this space

We are expecting to receive a draft of the much anticipated token regulations in the coming weeks. However, we understand that the draft will only likely include the first area of focus concerning the promotion, sale and distribution of digital tokens with the remaining two elements of the token regulations to follow later this year.

While we are eagerly anticipating the release of the draft regulations, which will mark another significant milestone for Gibraltar, the jurisdiction is not resting on its laurels. Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar has presented a progressive bill before its parliament to amend the scope of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2015, the jurisdiction’s main legislative instrument concerning anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing provisions. The intention is to bring:

“undertakings that receive, whether on their own account or on behalf of another person, proceeds in any form from the sale of tokenised digital assets involving the use of distributed ledger technology or a similar means of recording a digital representation of an asset.”

within the scope of anti-money lauding and counter-terrorist financing provisions.

These developments are further evidence of Gibraltar’s continued effort to make the jurisdiction crypto friendly and provide safe environment for both business and consumers.

 

Hassans International Law Firm is the largest law firm in Gibraltar and a driving force behind Gibraltar’s crypto boom. It enjoys consistently high rankings in leading legal directories and this year has once again been ranked Band 1 by Chambers & Partners. The Hassans’ FinTech team consists of 12 experienced practitioners co-led by partners Anthony Provasoli and Vikram Nagrani.

 

How Blockchain can Solve Problems for Online Gambling Sites?

What are Blockchain Casinos and How Do They Work?

Blockchain casinos are becoming increasingly popular on the internet and, if you’ve just discovered the term, here’s a quick crash course in what blockchains are and how blockchain casinos work. The first thing that you need to understand, is what blockchains actually are. Essentially, a blockchain is a digital ledger that is used to record online transactions that use cryptocurrencies. The transactions are recorded sequentially and are available publicly.

Taking this principle and process a step further, we can apply them to online casino gambling. This gives you the emergence of so-called blockchain casinos, which essentially applies blockchain technology to online gambling. The result of this is that it gives online gambling an entirely new level of transparency as well as credibility.

Potential Problems that Blockchain Technology Can Solve for Online Casinos

To recap, blockchain technology is built out of neutral entities known as blocks. Each block is interconnected in a network which is known as a blockchain. The way in which blockchains are set up, any record (transaction) that passes through the chain, needs to have the correct value in each block. This results in a much higher level of fairness (neutrality) and accuracy, as well as transparency.

One of the biggest problems associated with conventional online casinos, is the fact that not all of them are on the level. In other words, there are many online casinos where data, such as winnings, gaming results, payouts, and so on, are deliberately hidden or partially obscured from public scrutiny. However, blockchain casinos are a completely new breed of online casino and are completely decentralized, with no need for an intermediary to verify transactions. This provides the ultimate fair and transparent system for the online casino industry.

Many gamblers do not realize the fact that playing at a casino is a major mathematical disadvantage and they literally have no chance of winning against the casino in the long run. The term “house edge” describes the fixed percentage of money that casino takes from its players, on average. So as long as there is a house edge and players keep playing, they will never go out as winners in the long run. The house edge is in every form of commercial gambling and means that the more you play over time, the more you will lose. You may get lucky in the short term, but the variance will soon do its job to return what “belongs” to the house.

How Zeroedge Online Casino Gaming Works

Zeroedge is a new cryptocurrency-based online casino with a difference. The unique platform utilises its very own cryptocurrency known as ZeroCoin, the only way to play the best casino games available at Zeroedge Casino. The most unique (and one of its biggest selling points) is that Zeroedge Casino is offers all players a true 0% house edge gaming experience.

This essentially means that all casino games such as roulette, blackjack, and slots, available at Zeroedge Casino will have no advantage to the house, unlike conventional online casinos. With most conventional online casinos, players often face up to 10% house edge in many casino games. The reason for this is that this is the only way that a conventional online casino can turn a profit, by stacking the odds in their favour.

Zeroedge does away with the dreaded house edge because they do not take their profit from the losses of their players. Instead, Zeroedge is focusing on generating a profit from rising value of ZeroCoin which increases due to demand for 0% edge games.  Simply put, the ultimate solution to the problem is creating a platform where playing games is “free”. Players are not required to pay any fixed amount to be able to play at the casino. This can only be achieved by creating a closed loop-economy with its native token. Making the supply of token limited, its value is directly proportional to demand. This model allows to offer 0% house edge games and be a viable business model.

Pre-ICO is open – 79% discount & low hard cap!

The Pre-ICO is set to start on the 28th of February 2018, closing out on the 15th of March 2018. Pre-ICO bonus are 79% discount with a low hard cap – 1500 eth.
https://tokensale.zeroedge.bet

Blockchain-based Container Shipping Platform 300cubits to start the TEU ICO on 12th April 2018

300cubits, a blockchain-powered ecosystem to secure shipment booking is set to launch their ICO on 12thApril, 2018. This month long campaign will offer 18,000,000 TEU tokens—the proprietary medium of transaction on the 300cubits platform. TEU tokens have been rated 4.6 out of 5 from ICObench.

24th March, 2018

The 300cubits team and its advisory group comprise of renowned industry veterans, usually unseen in most of the ICOs. One of the Co-Founders, Johnson Leung, has twenty years of relevant industry experience; particularly in the shipment booking process. The advisory board has Thomas Eskesen and John Urban, two noted experts that have founded INTTRA and GT Nexus, portals like booking.com for booking ideal accommodation. Around 30% of the global shipment bookings go through these two portals. The team is also pleased to have Charlie Wellins, a highly respected C-level executive in the container shipping industry and Hua Joo Tan, a KOL / influencer where his weekly newsletter was read by thousands of key industry professionals.

Following a successful trial shipment, 300cubits is pleased to announce that their ICO public sale will start on April 12, 2018. Meanwhile, the company also informs that the ongoing private placement for contribution at or above 20ETH will continue until April 12, 2018. The upcoming ICO will continue for a month, during which the early adopters to this blockchain-based container shipping platform will gain access to 18,000,000 of a total supply of 100,000,000 TEU tokens. 2% of the TEU tokens have already been successfully sold for 1588 ethers, while the team is selling another 18mn TEU tokens in the Private Placement and ICO.

 

300cubits’ TEU tokens and ecosystem are designed to tackle the $23bn “No Show” pain point in the container shipping industry.  The container liners have been incurring chronic losses over the past decade, which has led to some of the largest bankruptcies the industry has witnessed. 300cubits strongly believes that this sorry state of the industry is due to its inability to execute agreements in its daily operations.

“No Show” is a glaring problem faced by the industry, and it refers to a situation where a customer books a shipping slot but does not turn up with the cargo. Plagued by a “No Show” probability of around 30%, the industry has long been trying to implement booking deposits. However, the customers have vehemently resisted the idea of placing their cash up front. On the other hand, the crypto world wants a token that is accepted by the real world. The 300cubits team is looking to connect the two worlds by offering some tokens to the industry for free, on the condition that the industry will use these tokens to ensure wide acceptance of TEU tokens in the shipping industry.

300cubits is confident about eliminating the shortcomings of the container shipping industry by issuing ERC20 compliant TEU tokens in the Ethereum network, and promoting them as the cryptocurrency for the container shipping industry.  The smart contracts governing the transactions of the TEU tokens are coded with a set of immutable conditions, and neither of the parties will be able to alter what has been agreed upon. The TEU tokens have already received the rating of 4.6 out of 5 from ICObench, a popular rating platform and a blockchain community supported by a wide range of experts.

“Both the container liners and their customers will be given valuable TEU tokens that will be held as deposits with conditions, and paid out later upon the execution of the shipment booking,” explains a senior member of the team 300cubits. “The container liners will be compensated with the TEU tokens if the customers do not turn up with cargoes. Likewise, the customers will be compensated with the TEU tokens if their cargoes are rolled.”

 

The production system of the project is expected to go live on June 15, 2018. A system prototype has been successfully tested by most of the major industry participants, while over eighty shippers have already signed up to use the TEU tokens. The first live trial on two 40-feet high cube containers out of Malaysia has been successfully completed with the participation from a major container liner, Malaysia’s West Port and LPR, a large Brazilian textile importer.

About the Company: 300cubits provides a blockchain solution, tackling industry pain points such as “No Show” by creating TEU tokens, a digital currency, as booking deposit and an ecosystem to facilitate the use of the digital currency. To participate in 300cubits’ ICO, please sign up for the waitlist here or join the company’s telegram group here.

Contacts: Jonathan Lee

Website: www.300cubits.tech

Email: [email protected]

TON Pool ICO Platform: universal new generation crypto currency platform

As the practice of the last few years has shown, the powerful potential that the crypto currencies are endowed with, allows us to ensure decentralization and security of money operations in the modern world. But nowadays there is still no single currency that could be considered universal in the mass market and unite a multi-million audience in the global community.

2018 can be significant in this respect. The world will see a project called the Telegram Open Network (TON). Its key idea is to develop and implement a new crypto currency and the multi-block system Proof-of-Stake – TON will be the basis for it. After 2021, the name of the Telegram Open Network will be changed to The Open Network.

 

At this stage, the collection of funds from individuals in the crypto currency will start to set a minimum threshold for participation in ICO Telegram TON of $20M.

What are the advantages of TON?

Thanks to integration into this system, millions of people will have free access to the crypto currency. Among the main advantages of TON is:

  • the work through mobile devices: you don’t have to carry large amounts of money with you, as many goods and services can be paid using crypto currency;
  • a high level of security: TON will ensure the safe storage of financial resources of each person in the detachment, since the cipher will be known only to the owner of the wallet;
  • simplicity of purchasing TON coins.

The Telegram messenger can become an excellent launching pad for the initial implementation of the project, as it is now connected by a large number of public chats, groups and channels with a multi-million base of subscribers. And it is the ready audience for the acquisition of digital content and physical goods. After 2021, it is planned to launch its own element called Telegram.

We aren’t employees of Telegram and don’t conduct a primary sale (ICO) on behalf of Telegram and its founders. Our platform is a pad designed to pool investors into pools for the purpose of participating in ICO projects that can bring good profit to each investor on the most favorable terms at the earliest stages of the initial offer.

Timeframe of ICO

Fundraising will start on March 1, 2018. An approximate end date is April 1, 2018.

Softkap (it is the minimum amount of funds that must be collected to run the project) is $20 000 000.

The project’s founders are fully responsible for the use of the received funds. As part of the implementation and development of the project, these responsibilities will be transferred to a non-profit organization – the TON Foundation.

Each investment made in the crypto currency is transferred weekly to the escrow account. And if until the end of the initial offer the softcap will not be assembled, we organize a refund of funds to all investors.

TON Pool ICO project official website poolico-platform.com

FBI intercepts Manchester-based drug ring for selling £800k worth of drugs on the dark web

Five students from the University of Manchester indulged in a luxurious lifestyle funded by selling hard drugs such as ecstasy, LSD and ketamine on the dark web.

The gang had a taste for the ‘high life’, boasting of their fondness for expensive champagne while partying in the Caribbean and Amsterdam before the FBI cracked down on the drugs ring.

When police arrested the gang in 2013, they were able to trace £812,000 worth of sales that flowed through the gang’s Silk Road account in bitcoin. This amounted to roughly 8000 bitcoins, which were worth around £90 each at the time. Today this equates to a staggering amount of money due to bitcoin’s rise.

Police have so far been unable to trace the bitcoins, but one gang member did pay off his student loan and buy an apartment in the city of Manchester.

Basil Assaf (26), the proclaimed ringleader, was sentenced to 15 years and three months in prison, James Roden (25) was sentenced to 12 years, Jaikishen Patel ([[[age?]]]) received 11 years and two months, Elliot Hyams (26) was jailed for 11 years and three months and Joshua Morgan (28) received seven years, all for playing their part in the drugs operation.

From May 2011 to October 2013, the gang sold 16.7 kg of ecstasy worth $750,000 as well as 1.23 kg of 2CB, a psychedelic drug more potent than ecstasy, and 1.46 kg of ketamine.

The gang were caught due to information leaked when the FBI busted drugs marketplace Silk Road in 2013. The British police raided Assaf and Roden’s flat on the same day, finding laptops used to access the accounts on the drugs marketplace alongside thousands of pounds in cash.

The gang compared themselves to Walter White from hit TV series Breaking Bad. The court was told this was a running joke among the five students.

Creators of uTrener and KHL Fantasy Sport Apps Introduce Blockchain Powered Daily Fantasy Sports Platform MyDFS

A blockchain-powered daily fantasy sports platform, MyDFS promises to improve the gaming experience for uncountable amount of fantasy sports enthusiasts around the world by delivering better speed, ease-of-use, transparency, governance and accountability. This mobile based fantasy sports ecosystem has been created by the founders of uTrener and KHL Fantasy, two of European earliest and most popular daily fantasy sports platforms.

London, UK March 21, 2018

MyDFS, a blockchain-powered daily fantasy sports platform, is all set to redefine the industry by connecting the sports fans around the world to an ecosystem that is transparent, easy-to-use, and token buyers friendly. Built on smart contracts, MyDFS runs on mobile devices to address a number of issues that have plagued the fantasy sports industry. The ultimate goal of this project is to simplify the user experience to make the games enjoyable for all types of players.

The global fantasy sports industry has experienced phenomenal growth over the last few decades. Only in the US and Canada, this market was worth $7 billion in 2017. However, an extremely high growth rate has led the industry to an immature state where outdated business practices are commonplace. As a result, this highly promising industry has been struggling with several shortcomings including uncertain legal status, complicated gaming experience, complex verification procedures, deposit and withdrawal related issues, and lack of transparency.

MyDFS was designed as a transparent and worry-free fantasy sports platform that will be capable of overcoming all the existing challenges, leveraging modern technology and contemporary business approaches. The platform addresses the industry’s legal issues by introducing cryptocurrency tokens to be used throughout the platform. Limitations such as insider gaming, bots, and other cases of unfair play have been eliminated with the application of blockchain and smart contract technology. Some other benefits for the fans include

  • Streamlined user experience
  • Fast user verification
  • Fast and worry-free transactions
  • Transparent gaming and fair play
  • Get profits from winnings in tokens.

The MyDFS team comprises of industry professionals with a wealth of experience in the fields of fantasy sports and large-audience applications. In 2016, this team hit the headlines by developing and launching uTrener. This was one of the earliest platforms on the European market to offer a refined, user-friendly and seamless DFS gaming experience on iOS, Android, and the web. They have also launched KHL Fantasy (later KHL Haier Fantasy), a white label app for top European ice hockey league KHL. KHL Fantasy won MarSpo 2017 as the best sport app and was featured by App Store several times. At the same time MyDFS team received UK Gambling Commission License to legitimately operate fantasy sports in Europe.

“MyDFS presents a fantasy sports solution with clean, midcore gameplay that supports multiple popular sports and allows people to invest and capitalize not just on the game itself, but also by investing in other pro players (earning a share of their winnings), or holding or selling game tokens,” says Viktor Mangazeev, the CEO of MyDFS. “Our platform embraces transparency and fair play. Our cryptocurrency tokens eliminate the need for fiat currency. The accuracy of our fantasy results is backed up by smart contract technology. The real-world game data that determines how players on our platform do, along with players, teams and statistics, are completely publicly accessible.”

MyDFS currently supports soccer, hockey, basketball, cricket, and football, and is capable of integrating more popular sports in the future. It works on all contemporary smartphones, tablets, and the web. MyDFS token, an Ethereum-based token, will be used for all value transactions within the MyDFS ecosystem. These tokens can be used to play, win, and exchange it for other cryptocurrency or fiat money. The users can also hold and trade their tokens, maximizing their earning potential as the demand increases for the MyDFS tokens. Moreover, MyDFS is pioneering player brokerage to let casual users to share their prize pool with a pro-players.

MyDFS app is expected to be released before the FIFA World Cup 2018 to be held this summer in Russia. The company has recently started its pre-ICO campaign, offering a total of 50 million tokens with a hard cap set at $40 million. Attractive bonuses are available for the early token buyers.

To find out more, please visit https://www.mydfs.net/

About MyDFS: MyDFS is a blockchain-powered daily fantasy sports platform from uTrener and KHL Fantasy apps creators. It runs on mobile devices and connects sports fans around the world in a transparent, easy-to-use manner. The platform simplifies the user experience to make the game enjoyable for players of all types. MyDFS is also pioneering player brokerage to let casual users to share their prize pool with a pro.

Contact: Anastasia Shvetsova

Website: https://www.mydfs.net/

Email: [email protected]

Zerocoin Aims to become a standard Crypto Currency for Online Gambling – PRE-ICO Open

There seems to be a sudden surge of ICOs in the gambling space, and Zero Edge has caught our attention. It aims to create a cryptocurrency for the online gambling space and they have an ICO coming up. Zero Edge is a decentralized online casino and an open protocol which aims to offer players 0% house edge casino games, fee-less sports betting and an open source platform for building online games.

Zero Edge will be creating their own token named Zerocoin which is the fundamental part of their business model. Adrian Casey, CEO of ZeroEdge, says, “The Zero Edge Casino model is based on Metcalfe’s law and factual Bitcoin price growth. Casino players, i.e. Zerocoin holders will not only be able to play 0% house edge games, which offer a truly equal odds of winning against the house but will also see their Zerocoin value increase as a result of increased demand and adoption of the token.”

The blockchain use case for Zero Edge is mainly in providing decentralised trust. All games will be publicly verifiable on the Ethereum blockchain without negative effects on user experience during the game session. Furthermore, Zero Edge Casino will have a sophisticated and audited random number generator (RGN) mechanism to ensure complete randomness of its games.

The need

Adrian Casey, the CEO of Zero Edge believes that The main problem with online gambling industry today is that its purely profit-driven enterprise with marginal consideration for consequences of its practices.

He says, “The simple solution to the problem is creating a platform where playing games is “free”. Players are not required to pay any fixed amount of money to be able to play at the casino. This can only be achieved by creating a closed loop economy with its own token where players purchase the token with fiat or crypto. Since the supply of ZERO is limited, its value is directly proportional to demand.”

They claim that their main difference that makes Zero Edge stand out from its competitors is that its business model is based on its token’s value growth rather than the cash flow generated from casino’s games.

The Team and product

The team at Zero Edge is lead by a CEO who has spent 6 years with two of the biggest names in the betting industry, namely William Hill and Centrebet. Adrian is supplemented with a good tech and marketing team, many of whom have had past experiences in the betting industry.

The advisory team is dominated by legal experts, professionals in the betting industry and other entrepreneurs in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. A good thing to note here is that there isn’t anyone mainstream big name on the team and advisors, but preliminary LinkedIn verification shows a very focused emphasis on the betting industry.

As far as the product goes, you can check out some of the games in the casino section on their website, with some other verticals such as sports betting, are still under construction.

Our Take

An interesting fact I came across recently was that gambling has been part of human life even before written history. The earliest six-sided dice date to about 3000 BC in Mesopotamia. This has translated to a huge betting industry in today’s day and age, where the global online gambling market was 37.91 billion USD in 2015 and is estimated to reach 59.79 billion USD by 2020, at a CAGR of 9.5%

Zero Edge ticks all the boxes when it comes to the market size, the problem it is solving, the team and product. The fact that they have a working product is particularly reassuring. There’s also a good incentive for early investors. The company will organize its early token sale (pre-ICO) in February when the public will be offered to purchase a limited supply of Zerocoins for a discounted price.

Join their Telegram Channel – https://t.me/zeroedgecasino

Visit Zero Edge – https://tokensale.zeroedge.bet

The Unique Industries that Blockchain Technology Will Forever Change

Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard University professor and economist, recently made a bold but frequently repeated prediction about bitcoin–it’s going down. According to Rogoff, “bitcoin will be worth a tiny fraction of what it is now if we’re headed out 10 years from now … $100 [is] a lot more likely than $100,000 ten years from now.” The accomplished academic, who once served as the chief economist for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), went on to say, “Basically, if you take away the possibility of money laundering and tax evasion, its actual uses as a transaction vehicle are very small.”

Time will tell whether or not Rogoff’s bearish prediction is correct. Nevertheless, to Rogoff’s sure dismay, blockchain technology is here to stay. The nascent technology has already disrupted dozens of industries, and undoubtedly, many more are in line. From banking and financial services to supply chain management, blockchains are revolutionizing the way businesses and industry leaders are conducting their operations. Here are three industries that will forever be changed because of blockchain technology.

Blockchain Technology and the Travel Industry

One specialized travel platform, Cool Cousin, has a well-received iOS app that lets local residents give tips and create travel guides on where visitors should go in their hometowns in exchange for money. Vacationers and tourists can explore new areas through Cool Cousin guides developed by city natives. Cousins, as they’re affectionately called, have the responsibility of offering digital tours and pointing out the best local restaurants, businesses, and attractions. What’s more, Cool Cousin is developing blockchain solutions to their app.

The platform’s blockchain implementation is centered on smart contract integration. Smart contracts will both establish and enforce interaction between the platform participants, thereby implementing a system of checks and balances. This will keep the platform truly decentralized. Smart contracts will also be the mechanism that facilitates transactions between cousins and travelers, creating trust between all parties. Cool Cousin will eventually operate using the CUZ coin, its native crypto token. CUZ will remove the need for third parties and allow rapid cross border transactions and international payments to take place. Visitors can save on travel expenses while cousins will benefit from higher profits because they will transact in a peer-to-peer, decentralized manner.

How the Sports Industry is Getting a Blockchain Boost

Another company, Jetcoin, is partnering together athletes and their fans to incentivize success in the sports industry. Through the platform, fans can earn money and directly participate in emerging athletes’ careers. The platform works like as follows. First, an athlete releases a portion of his or her IP rights to the Jetcoin Institute. Second, the Jetcoin Institute, with its expert panel, creates a career plan along with a corresponding budget. Third, the Jetcoin Institute releases the rights in the form of Jetcoin smart contracts, which can be purchased with Jetcoins on the platform. Finally, as the athlete follows the plan and begins to secure revenues, a portion of his or her earnings are distributed back to the smart contract holders. Jetcoins can either be exchanged for another crypto or fiat currency, or used on the platform to purchase tickets to events, VIP access, and other perks.

Data Sharing and Security Meets Blockchain Technology

The world is increasingly dependent on data. But, as history has often shown, data isn’t always as secure as it needs to be, nor is it always easy to share in a safe manner. In response to these issues, Tierion uses the power of blockchain technology to verify data sharing, files, and processes. Their API and other platform tools can be used by companies and organizations to anchor a timestamped proof of data on the blockchain. The platform is particularly helpful for companies that mus share and store large amounts of data, as the platform uses blockchains to create immutable records and verifiable audit trails. The platform is also extremely easy to use and integrates with existing web, desktop, and mobile applications.

Want to understand how blockchain ticks? Qtum might be one place to start!

Cryptocurrency investors are becoming more discerning, as they more and more appreciate the need to avail themselves of greater understanding of how a particular project’s blockchain works.

As investors learn and explore more deeply the technological issues, they are likely to come across Qtum, a project that is doing something with blockchain that adds value by its team setting by answering the question: how do we blockchain business-friendly?

On first sight, Qtum’s provenance in a fork from Bitcoin might trigger a weary “oh not another one” response from the newly inquisitive investor. That would probably be a mistake.

A good starting point for assessing a blockchain’s worth is the value differential it brings to the table compared to the Bitcoin benchmark for good reason. Bitcoin may have been getting a bad rap for transaction times and high fees and the supposed inefficiency of its proof-of-work consensus mechanism, but in security and adoption it remains way ahead of all comers. From the view, then, there is a reason why Bitcoin is a good starting point for those like Qtum trying to build a blockchain that is enterprise-ready.

Bitcoin has been around for nine years and it has never been hacked and never had any down time. Ok, but what about those early design decisions in the protocol that could be holding back wider adoption, such as its inability to run smart contracts, in addition to the scaling issues.

And, sure Ethereum is built for smart contracts and decentralised applications but it too has scaling issues and high costs associated with executing code.

Qtum has come up with three innovative contributions to the problem of how to get the good stuff from Bitcoin and Ethereum without carrying the not-so-good stuff baggage: its Account Abstraction Layer, which means you can run Ethereum smart contracts on bitcoin core; a proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism that is more than a theoretical construct and is now a living, breathing network of thousands of nodes; and lastly a governance system that is both robust and flexible so software upgrades can take place with a minimum of fuss.

Let’s consider those three features of the Qtum blockchain in turn.

Bringing Ethereum contract to bitcoin core

The first is the critical one from which much else flows. Ethereum is sometimes referred to as a second-generation blockchain because instead of just a transactional layer it can also run applications. However, in so doing Ethereum abandoned an important part of the bitcoin approach to handling transactions, known as Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXO) model. It is a more complex way of handling transactions than Ethereum’s account/balance system. But that’s not the only reason it was rejected be those who built Ethereum – it wasn’t stateful. That’s was seen as a problem because a stateful computing program keeps track of interactions, a critical feature in a framework running applications.

However, bitcoin’s UTXO model doesn’t applications and instead does one thing – handles payment transactions and stateless is not necessary because all transactions must come from a previous transaction and every time a transaction is sent a UTXO is created at the associated address.

A user’s bitcoin wallet “balance” is not represented by a single number but by several UTXOs, each with its own transactional data including the amount being sent or received. User A might have two UTXOs, one with 3 BTC, the other 4. User A wants to send 6 BTC to User B. To do so they would have to send both UTXOs and receive back the “unspent” or “unconsumed” 1 BTC change.

One of the features of bitcoin’s UTXO model is it allows for verification of whether a transaction has been included in a block without having to download the entire block; it is known as Simplified Payment Verification (SPV).

Qtum keeps the benefits of UTXO by extending the Bitcoin Script language so that Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contracts can run in a UTXO environment. Qtum calls this method for transporting code the Account Abstraction Layer. It is this breakthrough that enables not just Bitcoin but many other related UTXO blockchains to work with EVM smart contracts, from Litecoin to ZCash.

And Qtum is not stopping there. Work is well advanced on its X86 virtual machine which aims to hugely expand the instruction set available to EVM smart contracts, making code much more performant, that’s to say more efficient.

Mobile-first is a smart move

This first and perhaps most important innovation bestows upon the Qtum blockchain the ability to execute contracts on smartphones. There’s no need to download the 30GB Ethereum blockchain in order to implement a full node on a mobile device. With half of all traffic on the internet originating from a smartphone, running on mobile is no longer optional for many businesses. Qtum is also scalable, therefore when we start thinking about Internet-of-Things devices interacting with a blockchain, Qtum’s mobile-first design decisions are even more important.

This brings us to the second major innovation – the proof of stake (PoS) mechanism that instead of depending on costly proof-of-work (PoW) methods, nodes have to own Qtum tokens and there is no mining. That in itself might not be news, but that having 3,400 nodes up and running in 50 countries around the globe is, because the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Bitcoin’s PoW might be considered by some to be costly and inefficient but it is very secure.

PoS represents something of a trade-off between security and efficiency and the key to success will be in getting such mechanisms working in the real world and finding the right balance on security and efficiency. In that light, Qtum’s efforts to date are no mean feat – there, as yet, have been no on-chain failures. Contrast that with the Ethereum community’s progress, where there has been much talk about implementing PoS but it is still far away from happening.

On Qtum’s blockchain even the smallest of nodes – holding just 10 Qtum – are able to “book the world ledger”, by-passing the centralisation dangers emergent on the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks. Also, Qtum’s PoS rewards nodes that stake their coins for the longest period of time, which enhances security.

Good governance matters

Lastly, the third innovation is in governance matters. A cursory glance at the ideological infighting that has crippled software development on the Bitcoin network, this is an issue of increasing importance. Qtum has thought about on-chain governance from the get-go, and which has come to fruition in its distributed governance infrastructure. In it, parameters of properties such as blocksize, gas price, gas limit can be easily adjusted, dispensing with the need for incessant forking.

The ultimate governance arbiter is the Judgement Committee of the Qtum Foundation, elected from the community of token holders, so there can be no log-jams as seen in bitcoin core development.

It’s worth investors taking some time out to read up on Qtum. Perhaps there are problems yet to arise and there are certainly other platforms with equally robust, albeit different, blockchain technology, but on current form Qtum is in contention as a blockchain that could be one of the winners.