Image Source: Coin Suggest

Cryptocurrencies are essential money in digital form and one of their key selling points is that they provide a level of pseudo-anonymity to users. Their digital nature however means that if they are stolen, it is often practically impossible to find out who stole them. In addition, the blockchain based nature of cryptocurrencies ensures that transactions can’t be reversed – this includes illegal transactions in which cryptocurrencies are stolen.

Many cryptocurrency users are content to keep their coins and tokens with exchanges – it is cheaper, easier to access, and the onus of keeping the coins secure falls on a company who has more resources and economies of scale to invest in high-tech security systems. However, in the last couple of years, cryptocurrency exchanges have been victim of many high-profile hacks and heists. The centralized nature of cryptocurrency exchanges and the huge funds that they hold makes them a magnet for hacks and heists. This piece examines some of the biggest cryptocurrency exchange hacks and how companies producing cryptocurrency hardware wallets might benefit from the chaos.

The biggest cryptocurrency heists by the numbers

Cryptocurrencies started 2018 with losses straight out of the gate – customers of Coincheck however suffered double losses when hackers succeeded in breaking into the exchange and making away with NEM coins worth more than $534 million. Coincheck did own up its mistakes of not taking proactive measures to ensure the safety of customers’ coins and the firm promised to reimburse customers for their losses. Nonetheless, the hack has gone down in history as the “biggest theft in the history of the world.”

The second biggest cryptocurrency exchange hack happened in the heydays of Bitcoin in 2014 when cybercriminals successfully breached Tokyo-based Mt.Gox. The hackers successfully stole 750,000 BTC belonging to customers and about 100,000 BTC belonging to the company – all worth about $473 million at the time of the hack. Apart from the fact that Mt Gox wasn’t proactive about the security of its exchange, the company didn’t manage the bad news properly, and it went on to file for bankruptcy – both its funds and customers funds gone forever into the coffers of cybercriminals.

The third largest cryptocurrency exchange hack also happened earlier this year when the Italy-based exchange, BitGrail fell victim to cybercrimimals. Hackers made away with as much as $195 million worth of NANO from the cryptocurrency exchange. The revelations made in the days following the hack revealed that BitGrail was guilty of storing its customers’ funds in hot wallets – these are wallets connected to the Internet and it was quite easy for hackers siphon the funds away.

Hardware wallets to the rescue

As cryptocurrency exchanges continue to suffer hacks, data breaches, and losses, the value proposition of hardware wallets is becoming increasingly obvious to users. A cryptocurrency hardware wallet allows users to store their private keys offline on encrypted devices. The fact that the coins are stored offline means that they can’t be stolen via hacks.

A USD wallet could set you back some $35 and premium devices could cost upwards of $100,  you’ll still need to climb a steep learning curve to know how to use Trezor, Ledger, KeepKey, Pi or other wallets correctly. However, once, you’ve mastered the art of storing your coins correctly; you don’t have to worry about the theft of your coins and even if you lose your wallet, you can easily use the recovery seed to rebuild your wallet on a new device.

Researchers at Mordor Intelligence reported that the global hardware Wallet Market was valued at $227.5M in 2017 and that the industry will grow by a CAGR of 36.6% to $1.60B by 2023. Of course, a using a hardware wallet costs a little bit more money than storing your cryptocurrencies on an exchange. Interestingly, USB wallets are still more most popular form of hardware wallets accounting or more than 88% of the total market share, probably because they are cheap. Europe currently has the largest number of hardware wallet users with a 26% market share and most of the companies producing hardware wallets are based in Europe.

Nonetheless, the fact that investments in cryptocurrency investments have surged from $18B on January 2017 to about $800B in January 2018 suggests that cybercriminals have an incentive to find ways to conduct hacks and heists to steal cryptocurrencies. Going forward, the demand for hardware wallets will continue to rise as cryptocurrency enthusiasts start taking responsibility for keeping their wallets safe.

In a world where financial transactions are becoming increasingly simple and transparent, accessibility is key. This is precisely what leading cryptocurrency business, Trilliant, intends to do – make cryptocurrency accessibility for all.

In what many are viewing as the evolution of the sector, Trilliant are to launch their own next generation ATM terminals across Europe later this year. Beginning in Autumn, 2018, the world’s first two-way cryptocurrency ATM terminals will be installed in selected locations across Europe.

Manufactured by Crypto Capital AG, Trilliant has chosen to focus their blockchain enterprise on creating the infrastructure to support the cryptocurrency sector. With the ever-increasing professional and layman knowledge of cryptocurrency – resulting in fervent belief traditional currencies have grown archaic – this infrastructure will prove pivotal to the forecasted growth of different types of cryptocurrency.

Each of Trilliant’s cryptocurrency ATM terminals will afford users greater usability that ever before. Currently, there are 2,700 cryptocurrency ATMs in the world. As pleasing as this is to investors, these terminals only facilitate one-way transactions, meaning users can only purchase coins. What has become clear is that ATM terminals must have greater fluidity to support investor transactions. This is exactly what Trilliant’s ATMs provide.

Trilliant’s innovative terminals can facilitate two-way asset handling. Investors can deposit and withdraw their cryptocurrency assets at the touch of a button. Supporting the growing popularity of the sector, Trilliant’s ATMs also make it easy for users to exchange traditional currency assets for tokens and allow users direct access to ICOs.

The ATM terminals come equipped with a state-of-the-art touch screen, card reader and PIN pad. It is this function that users can use to make cryptocurrency purchases directly from their credit or debit card.

As further evidence of Trilliant’s commitment to building a sustainable infrastructure to support the evolution of the financial sector, their ATMs have comprehensive in-built security features that include a front-facing camera, known as KYC or know your own customer for optimal recognition and security.

Founder and CEO, Sebastian Korbach has stated, ‘Our aim is to have 500 ATMs operating by 2019. He continues, ‘In the long run, we want our machines visible on every corner, creating greater awareness for cryptocurrencies in general.’

Mr. Korbach is a serial entrepreneur, with more than 15 years’ experience in financial markets and payments. He has worked across the globe in Germany, Switzerland, Brazil and Columbia. With more than 3 years’ experience in the cryptocurrency sector, Mr. Korbach is confident that cryptocurrency will play a significant part in the global financial landscape in the years to come.

Trilliant has mapped out a long-term strategy to make cryptocurrency accessible to everyone. Through their Fractional Ownership Program, investors can purchase a share of Trilliant’s network of terminals and earn dividends from their investment.

Calculated at 2% of the total transaction fee revenue of Trilliant’s network of ATM terminals, these Fractional Units can be purchased on Trilliant’s website using their unique TRL Token.

A mere modest investment affords investors the opportunity to receive an income from this profit sharing agreement – and allows Trilliant to reward customers who have shown belief in their service.

It’s safe to say that Trilliant ATMs are indicative of fiscal Darwinism. Trilliant is changing the face of cryptocurrency investment and accessibility. Soon it will be more accessible than ever before, allowing greenhorn and novice investors to reap the rewards of aligning their fiscal assets to the direction that the financial sector is surely heading.

Learn more about Trilliant by clicking the link here and reading their Whitepaper.

There is no denying Bitcoin’s place as a mainstream currency. It is transferable, legal, accountable, and valuable. Yet, it is not money. This might strike some as odd given that over the course of human economic history everything from eggs to potatoes and whiskey to cigarettes have, at various times, been considered to be money. So why not, then, the virtual currency?

An acceptability dilemma

Bitcoin’s shortcoming – and that of every other cryptocurrency – is its acceptability. To be money, bitcoin would have to become a generally accepted medium of exchange for goods and services. Although the explosive demand for cryptocurrencies in recent years has, at times, been frantic, the subsequent buyers might still have struggled to buy a pair of shoes, or a bunch of bananas, with their digital coins without first passing through an intermediary. Bitcoin was wildly accepted, but not widely accepted.

Cryptocurrencies please all holders some of the time, like in December 2017 when practically all cryptocurrencies reached record highs in US-dollar terms. They also please some holders all the time, for instance, shoppers, diners, gamers and sportspeople, who know they can always use digital coins in their favourite establishments. But satisfying all holders, all the time has proved elusive. This is a primary reason why cryptocurrencies are not more widely accepted.

Central banks to the rescue

Counter-intuitively for crypto-aficionados, the solution to the acceptability dilemma might lie at the gates of those institutions that have often fuelled demand for private virtual currencies – central banks. After spending years admonishing cryptocurrencies, shutting down exchanges and strangling bitcoin start-ups, financial authorities around the world are now looking into issuing digital currencies of their own.

These central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could be designed to be transferable between individuals, peer-to-peer, and could even be made anonymous. This anonymity would preserve the privacy enjoyed by parties to cash or cryptocurrency transactions. CBDCs would also be backed by monetary authorities, so one could recover any digital coins that happened to get lost or stolen. These coins would be legal tender, which would mean they must be accepted as full and fair settlement of any debt. The acceptability hurdle would be overcome at a stroke.

However, CBDCs would also be like any other central-bank-issued note or coin in circulation. They would have to carry the same interest rate as any other central-bank money, and the central bank would be able to ‘create’ as many CBDCs as it likes. One should not forget that it was the fear that monetary authorities would debase money through excessive money printing and ultra-low interest rates that catalysed the demand for cryptocurrencies in the first place

Build it and they will come

Still, the introduction of CBDCs might not be bad news for cryptocurrency holders. This is because the acceptability hurdle is partly due to the huge psychological leap that consumers must make when switching from notes, coins and credit cards to virtual currencies and digital wallets. For many, this gap is simply too great to bridge. If the central banks built this bridge, and encouraged the public to use its virtual currency, the subsequent shift from CBDCs to private digital currencies, like bitcoin, would be far easier for the public to make.

After launching their Presale on July 1st, 2018 which ends July 20th, 2018, Bitminer Factory today announced their ICO will start July 21st, 2018 with limited time 12% discount. Their startup makes the Blockchain sustainable by using renewable energy to mine cryptocurrencies and shares the benefits with token holders. Crypto fans, Miners, and other investors will profit from the exponentially growing demand for energy to power worldwide crypto-mining activities.

Presale ends – 20/7/18

ICO starts – 21/7/18

Tokens to sell – 100,000,000

Presale (currently active)
Dates – 01/7/18 to 20/7/18
Discount – 18% to 20/7/18

Lockup – 3 months
Token price – $1.00 USD

ICO
Duration – 26 days (21/7/18 to 15/8/18)
Discount tier 1  – 12% to 20/8/18

Discount tier 2  – 6% to 20/9/18

Token price – $1.00 USD
Soft cap – $0.5M USD
Hard cap – $100M USD

Energy needs for the global crypto-mining industry have increased fivefold in less than a year and are expected to double over the coming year. Bitminer Factory investors will profit by taking part in the radical transformation underway in the energy sector, switching from fossil-based to zero-carbon.

Gabriele Angeli said, “Our tokens represent a mining contract that allows anyone to benefit from the production of our mining and renewable energy plants.” Further, he added “We’re so confident we’ll succeed, we’re offering a Buy-Back plan for our tokens every three months where investors can sell back their tokens at an increasingly higher price.”

Bitminer is a startup from Angeli’s Group, constructors and energy producers for 40 years. With more than 20 collaborators and more than €3M revenues, they are the largest industrial crypto-mining group in Italy. Gabriele Angeli, Founder, has longstanding experience as a general contractor in the Oil and Gas and renewable energy industry, where his family business, Angeli Group has been working for large corporates worldwide for over 50 years.

BitRewards, the blockchain-based rewards and loyalty system for e-commerce businesses, announces a partnership with OSA Decentralized — an AI-driven blockchain platform that collects and analyzes data from retailers, manufacturers, consumers, and open data sources in real-time.

The pursued strategy will help both companies to shape the future of the retail market.

OSA is an acronym for optimal shelf availability — a standard term in the retail industry that refers to the immediate availability of all the relevant goods on a retailer’s shelves at any moment in time. The retail industry loses $400 billion in sales annually from product shortages and understocked inventory. But it is just a part of the problem.

The problem itself is even more diverse because retailers and product brands either may suffer negative consequences of stock-outs indirectly; for instance, they may feel the effects in the 55% of shoppers who report having given a negative social media review to suppliers or retailers, according to PwC. The retail market badly needs a technological solution that will improve all the processes while fixing inefficiencies.

The platform aims to solve the major challenges retailers face across the globe due to the distrust and lack of transparency that plagues the supply chain industry. OSA Decentralized has already attracted a lot of attention and high valuation from experts community — for instance, it was awarded 1st place at d10e in Seoul — the leading conference on decentralization.

The partnership between OSA and BitRewards aligns 5 key points:

• BitRewards integrates with OSA DC;
• The retailers connected to OSA DC receive exclusive access to the BitRewards platform, so that they can easily launch loyalty programs for their customers;
• The retailers’ customers receive BIT tokens as a cash-back for their purchases;
• There will be an easy  and secure exchange of BIT tokens to OSA tokens (through Bancor, for instance);
• Both companies will start working on token exchange economy soon to approach a win-win model.

The crypto market becomes mature day by day and already established businesses are coming on the scene to replace all those idea-only backed projects. In that sense, BitRewards and OSA have a lot in common: OSA was established in 2015, it’s already a successful standing business serving the world’s leading FMCG companies including Coca-Cola, Mars, L’Oreal and many others.

In its turn, BitRewards is based on GIFTD, a motivational marketing SaaS that has been (and still is) on the market for over 5 years, it works with a global companies like TUI, WarnerMusic group, and GoPro, some of them have already confirmed that they will implement blockchain-based loyalty solution from BitRewards.

Alex Egorov, CEO BitRewards and GIFTD, commented on the partnership:

“Every year millions of retailers spend in excess of $20 billion on loyalty software, and they do it only in order to stay in the market. Taking into account other problems the retailers may have such as supply chains, product shortages and many more, there is a clear need for a comprehensive solution that will fix all inefficiencies of this market. At BitRewards, we see this partnership with OCA Decentralized as the first step towards this goal.”

Alex Isaiev, Co-founder of OSA Decentralized, gave the following statement on the collaboration of the two projects:

“At OSA, we are doing our best to ensure that our application will be used by millions of shoppers daily, and large brands will grant cash back to shoppers with our coins. We believe that loyalty means a lot in the consumer retail market, and we are thrilled to have found kindred spirits at BitRewards. We look forward to their progress and collaboration with like-minded initiatives.”

The synergy of both companies will fuel the retail market and unite various parties that are disconnected at the moment — retailers, loyalty software developers, data providers and end customers.

About OSA DC:

OSA Decentralized (OSA DC) stands for creating value for consumers, retailers and manufacturers with its AI-driven digital services. Being built on the existing technologies – big data platform, machine learning and real-time AI processing – OSA DC will completely solve product availability issue, drastically reduce product waste and deliver tangible benefits to supply chain members and consumers.

Website: https://osadc.io

Telegram: https://t.me/osadecentralized

Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3286093.0  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OSAdecentralized  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/global_OSADC

About BitRewards:

BitRewards is a blockchain rewards and loyalty system for e-commerce businesses. It enables online stores to reward their shoppers with a cryptocurrency “BIT”, which helps to increase sales by an average of 17%. Because of the blockchain, and our unique business model, this cutting-edge loyalty system is offered to businesses free of charge.

Website: https://www.bitrewards.network 


Telegram: https://t.me/bitrewards


Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2409919.0   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bitrewards.network  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bitrewards  

Anyone who saw how ICO markets rose in spectacular fashion during 2017, knows that a significant number of projects were set up to fail from the beginning. They raised funds nonetheless and many people were left holding useless tokens. Roughly about half of ICOs launched in 2017, have already failed, and that is without considering the scams. This is one of the fundamental problems in the space now, and Vertex has decided to provide a first of its kind solution: a vetted ICO token aftermarket.

Vertex Ecosystem Advantages for ICOs

A six-step vetting mechanism that filters 97% of the ICOs out there is the first pillar on which the Vertex aftermarket relies on. Some of the most prominent business people and investors in the world, will evaluate ICO projects to select a handful of promising projects. Once the vetting process is over, these ICOs will move through the Vertex ecosystem, in which they will find:

A pool of users that have gone through a KYC process that can buy their tokens and help jump-start their projects.

Investment from Vertex at an early stage. Vertex will buy vetted tokens to sell to its user base on the Vertex aftermarket at a preferential rate.

The seal of approval that getting investment from leading business people and investors bestows upon a project

How Users Benefit from the Vertex Ecosystem

The users, who are at the center of the Vertex ecosystem, will also derive many advantages from participating in this vetted ICO token aftermarket. The advantages that users get from using the aftermarket, are at the result of that first of its kind solution that Vertex has designed to select and fund only the strongest projects in the space:

The vetting system filters out scams.

It also filters out projects that are less likely to succeed.

Vetting brings the strongest projects to the after market at preferential prices. This is an advantage that no other project brings.

Additionally, Vertex will give its users the option of buying into projects that are now being sold to private investors only.

Vertex will also guarantee to give all its users a fair chance of buying any kind of token it offers on the aftermarket platform.

A Dynamic System Underpinned by its Own Currency

All the token purchases on the Vertex platform will be done using the VTEX token. ICOs that Vertex buys into will also have to take VTEX tokens as part of the purchase. VTEX therefore underpins the whole ecosystem, connecting ICOs and users directly. VTEX usage will close the ecosystem completely and allow it to develop further. Vertex plans to introduce more services that users and ICOs can both gain access to with VTEX tokens.

Vertex: A Comprehensive Solution

This makes Vertex the most comprehensive solution in ICO markets, and one that can lift them up to a level in which business concepts develop into fully fledged, profitable projects in the cryptocurrency space. ICOs will benefit from access to funds, expertise and an ever-growing pool of users to boost their project and deploy their businesses. Users will benefit from access to carefully vetted projects at preferential prices. The markets will benefit from higher standards when it comes to selecting the strongest projects, which will raise success rates across the board and lift the markets above the currently high rates of failure.

For more details and a more comprehensive explanation about how Vertex will implement its solution, check out our website.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to get our latest updates.

Join our Telegram group and ask our team members about the project directly.

You can also contact us directly at info@vertex.market

Enterprises can now easily create custom private blockchains while benefiting from on-going enhancements to the Stratis Platform.

Stratis has officially announced the launch of its alpha version of Sidechains that allows enterprises to rapidly create private or public blockchains linked to the Stratis blockchain (mainchain), while keeping the flexibility to tailor any blockchain implementation to specific business needs. Some of these new features enables consensus, block size and privacy provisions.

Building sidechains in C# makes it easier to integrate into existing enterprise architectures and opens the door previously blocked due to programming language barriers. Stratis sidechains in C# builds upon the established .NET framework, language and ecosystem. Therefore, it is more readily poised for wider adoption.

Stratis Sidechains solve a significant challenge facing enterprises concerned about implementing blockchain solutions due to the lack of privacy and control inherent to most existing public blockchains. An enterprise lacking the ability to influence changes in public infrastructure to suit their specific needs is a valid cause for concern.

Stratis CEO Chris Trew states, “Sidechains provide a means to quickly provision, sandbox and deploy a bespoke blockchain tailored to specific enterprise processes. Because Stratis sidechains remain linked to the well-established Stratis mainchain, enterprises can be certain their blockchain implementations will continue to benefit from enhancements made by our core team of highly-experienced developers.”

Stratis Sidechains operate by ‘locking’ Stratis tokens on the Stratis mainchain as a value proxy for enterprise tokens forged on any sidechain. This overcomes the complexity of transferring digital assets between different blockchains, offering flexibility and confidence that any sidechain digital asset will always be backed by the correct amount of Stratis tokens.

Chris Trew further explains, “As an example, if an enterprise wants to improve efficiency by moving invoicing or asset tracking to a blockchain solution, it’s likely that they will not want to publicize that data. That’s when a private sidechain becomes a flexible solution that’s quick to test and deploy, as well as easy to maintain. Sidechains are a critical step in making blockchain accessible to enterprises wanting to benefit from blockchain while retaining full control of their business processes and privacy.”

The flexibility of a sidechain also helps to improve scalability, a long-running challenge of decentralized computing. Aside from leaving the mainchain free to exchange funds, Stratis Sidechains make it possible to specify both the block size and block interval, increasing the number of transactions in each block and/or reducing the time between each block.

The Stratis Sidechains Alpha release follows the recent news of Stratis Smart Contracts in C#, which allows a wide range of decentralized applications to be built upon the Stratis Platform.

For more information on Stratis Sidechains please see here.

The SLATE token (SLX) pre-sale successfully met its objectives by selling the allocated amount in thirty days. Positive demand for SLX has paved the way for an ICO. In addition, SLX has been pre-listed on Hong Kong based HitBTC, a top 10 cryptocurrency exchange. This ensures that token buyers will be able to trade SLX on an open market.

The rapid growth of the SLX community has led to a Slate telegram group consisting of over 20,000 users. Slate’s promotional video “Meet Slate”, starring Devon Bostick (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The 100, Okja) has had over 2 million views on YouTube in the last 4 weeks.  The video has garnered the attention of crypto enthusiasts as a result of its high production value and humor designed specifically for the crypto community.

Blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt countless industries, but perhaps none more so than entertainment. The objective of the Slate Entertainment Group (SEG) is to affect positive change by creating an ecosystem that encourages acceptance and adoption of the technology and the currency. Key developments include:

BINGE, a streaming video platform. Because Binge is powered by blockchain technology, it has numerous advantages over current streaming video providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu. For example, Binge will be decentralized and therefore not burdened by the substantial cost of a centralized system of hosting data. This represents a significant savings that can be passed onto consumers. Next, the blockchain’s transparency means that content creators will have access to valuable analytics that other platforms refuse to share, while completely eliminating questionable accounting practices that have historically plagued the industry. This built-in accountability will help to ensure that Binge has access to the best content in the world;

SLATIX, a ticketing platform that will change the way consumers buy, sell and transfer tickets. Slatix will virtually eliminate the notoriously high fees charged by other leading ticket applications. Blockchain technology’s immutability will eliminate ticket piracy and slash payment charges. With Slatix, price gouging and piracy can become a thing of the past.

Slate’s mainnet will be launched on July 5, 2018. The Slate wallet will be available for download on July 5, 2018, in advance of the token distribution on July 20, 2018. Masternodes and staking wallets will begin to receive block rewards on or about August 1, 2018.

SLX has the potential to be a widely adopted currency with an incredibly practical use in the entertainment space. The Slate ecosystem is being established on solid fundamentals designed to build a decentralized sustainable market. SEG intends to deliver on their stated goal of disrupting the entertainment industry as we know it today. Although some industry leaders may be fearful of change, most will come to the realization that the old way of doing business is obsolete – and that there’s a better way to create, consume and access entertainment.

Welcome to the future of entertainment

For best pricing, the SLX token sale starts at 17:00 GMT Wednesday, June 27. SLX token distribution takes place on July 20.

slate.io

 

Online gaming is an industry which is largely driven by new ideas and innovation. In a fast-paced environment where technology is rapidly evolving and seemingly becoming obsolete more quickly than ever before, gaming developers are always on the lookout for the next big thing to stay ahead of the curve. With the internet now more accessible than ever, gamers have arguably never had it as good and the online gaming sector is fast becoming one of the most complex and lucrative industries on the planet. With that being said, below is a quick rundown of the some of the latest innovations in online gaming and what we could expect to see in the future.

Virtual and Augmented Reality

There are differing opinions when it comes to both virtual and augmented reality within the gaming sector. The recent success of Pokemon GO has gone a long way to convincing developers that augmented reality could have a big future in the mobile gaming realm. However, some experts are still skeptical with regards to virtual reality, especially as the technology hasn’t quite broken into the mainstream yet. Nevertheless, the release of headsets such as the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR and Playstation VR has certainly helped breathe new life into the technology and there’s still plenty of potential left in both AR and VR if their strengths are properly managed.

A post shared by Pokémon GO (@pokemongoapp) on Jun 23, 2018 at 8:10pm PDT

Blockchain Technology

By now, you’re probably a little sick of hearing Bitcoin this and cryptocurrency that. However, the fact remains that cryptocurrency has a big part to play when it comes to the online gaming realm. Blockchain technology is already making big waves in games such as Fortnite and League of Legends by giving gamers real ownership of characters, currency and items that have been purchased in paid transactions. In addition to this, online lottery company Lottoland are introducing blockchain-based lotteries which make for smoother and more convenient transactions without you ever having to go out and buy a ticket. No matter how over cryptocurrencies you feel, strap yourself in because they look to be sticking around for at least the foreseeable future.

Facial Recognition

Despite the fact that it rarely bears any sort of resemblance to yourself, creating an avatar is undoubtedly one of the most fun things to do in a video game. However, facial recognition software now allows developers to go one step further by scanning your face and then transferring the image onto your on-screen avatar – and that’s not all. New technology such as Intel’s RealSense 3D camera can now scan up to 78 different points on your face and adapt the game accordingly – i.e., if the game recognizes a few grimaces on your face as you’re playing, it will dial down the difficulty settings of the game in an attempt to lower your blood pressure. Pretty nifty.

Source: Intel via Facebook

The Future Is Now

In such a rapidly evolving environment, predicting the next big game-changing piece of technology is immeasurably difficult. For now, the likelihood is that gaming developers will be putting their time and money into improving and refining technology that’s already available but, one thing’s for certain; it’s certainly an exciting time to be an online gamer.