Author Archives: Startup365

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Chaque jour nous vous présenterons une nouvelle Startup française ! Notre pays regorge de talents et d'entrepreneurs brillants ! Alors partons à la découverte des meilleures startup françaises ! Certaines d'entre elles sont dans une étape essentielle dans la vie d'une startup : la recherche de financement, notamment par le financement participatif (ou crowdfunding en anglais). Alors participez à cette grande aventure en leur faisant une petite donation ! Les startups françaises ont besoin de vous !

#Blockchain The Daily: Arguing Over Augur, Regulated Stablecoins Attract Flak

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The Daily: Arguing Over Augur, Regulated Stablecoins Attract Flak

Welcome to the final installment of The Daily for 2018. It seems fitting that the year’s ultimate edition should focus on one of 2018’s overarching themes within the cryptoconomy – stablecoins. We’ve also got space to squeeze in a critique of Augur’s crowdsourced prediction market and to consider yet another bitcoin-based Patreon alternative.

Also read: 1 in 7 Chinese Have Invested in Cryptocurrency 

Regulated Stablecoins Attract Ire

The Daily: Arguing Over Augur, Regulated Stablecoins Attract FlakRegulated stablecoins such as USDC, PAX, and GUSD have become increasingly popular through the latter half of 2018. These dollar-pegged coins, which are promoted as a more clearly audited take on tether (USDT), require corresponding fiat deposits for each token in circulation. One trader has ran into trouble, however, when trying to redeem his PAX tokens for fiat currency, with the story provoking mixed reactions from the crypto community. CCN first reported on the trader, who was asked a plethora of questions by Paxos, the issuer of the PAX stablecoin, when cashing out.

While such companies are obliged to perform compliance checks, the scope and depth of the questions posed has taken many observers by surprise. Among other things, Paxos sought to determine the owners of the PAX that were being redeemed as well as information about the individual’s trading strategy. As crypto lawyer Stephen Palley pointed out, though, the fact that numerous transactions were set to cash out just under $10,000, in a bid to escape enhanced scrutiny, may have ironically been what triggered Paxos’ interest.

Regardless of the merits of Paxos’ investigation into the anonymous trader, the incident has strengthened the case for fully decentralized stablecoins such as dai, which is collateralized against other crypto assets rather than being backed by fiat deposits.

Crowd Wisdom Not as Wise as First Predicted

Augur’s crowdsourced prediction market has run into fresh controversy, this time over the veracity of one of its wagers. The decentralized marketplace, which launched to great fanfare earlier this year, utilizes so-called crowd power to enable bettors to reach consensus on the likelihood of a prediction coming to pass. Augur has just paid out on a wager that queried how many hurricanes would strike the U.S. this year.

The market settled the outcome based on there being two hurricanes that made landfall on American soil, but there’s just one problem – the correct answer is three. While crowd consensus has been shown to be an accurate arbiter, the incorrect resolution of this particular prediction, which should have been set at three to accommodate Hurricane Olivia reaching Hawaii, shows that crowds, like the individuals who comprise them, are still fallible. With only 0.62 ETH resting on the outcome of the hurricane prediction, its errant resolution has at least caused little financial damage.

A Wild Patreon Alternative Appears

Following a year of constant censorship by dominant web platforms, beleaguered users have begun seeking out alternatives that aren’t so hasty to throw down the banhammer. In the last two days, we’ve reported on a brace of bitcoin-based Patreon alternatives that have appeared – Tallycoin and Bitbacker.io. Now there’s a third. Librepatron, backed by BTC Pay server, enables anyone to set up a Patreon-like service with payments collected in BTC. “Most Patreon alternatives don’t implement the full Patreon feature set,” explained developer Jeff Vandrew. “This seeks to change that.”

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

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#Blockchain Two Mining Companies Among Georgia’s Major Electricity Consumers

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Two Mining Companies Among Georgia’s Major Electricity Consumers

Two companies mining cryptocurrencies have topped a list of the largest consumers of electricity in Georgia. In this crypto-friendly nation, however, that’s not necessarily a sin or a disadvantage. Energy-intensive enterprises in the Caucasian country purchase the power they need at wholesale prices.

Also read: Huobi and Major Russian Bank to Provide Legal Help to the Crypto Industry

Bitcoin Miners Buy Electricity on Wholesale Market

Georgia is among several jurisdictions in the post-Soviet space that have been attracting crypto miners with lax regulations and relatively low operating costs, including the price of electricity which is a major expense in the business of minting digital coins. Reports earlier this year have indicated that the country ranks second only to China in terms of mining profitability. According to Eurostat, in the first half of 2018 the average electricity price for Georgian households was just under €0.07 per kWh (~$0.08) and less than €0.05 per kWh (~$0.06) for non-household consumers.

Two Mining Companies Among Georgia’s Major Electricity Consumers

Two Georgian mining companies – Geo Service and BFDS – have now been included in a list of five largest consumers of electricity that also includes the metallurgical enterprise Georgian Manganese, the utility company Georgian Water and Power (GWP) and Kutaisi Investments. What’s more, the crypto businesses are leading the group mentioned in a report about Georgia’s projected electric power balance for 2019, Business Gruzia reported.

According to government data, the two mining companies have used a total of 55.6 million kWh in the month of November. And for a period of seven months, Geo Service has consumed almost 108 million kWh, while BFDC Georgia, a company owned by the mining hardware manufacturer Bitfury, used another 339 million kWh.

All the five companies operate energy-intensive facilities. And in Georgia, such enterprises purchase the electricity they need on a separate, wholesale market and directly from producers and importers. That allows them to bypass the distribution utilities which charge additional fees. According to Georgia Today, these intermediaries will raise the tariffs for other groups of consumers in January, after approval from the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission.

Georgia to Consume Over 14 Billion kWh in 2019

According to the electric power balance report, the electricity consumption of the whole country during the next year is expected to reach 14.2 billion kWh. The large consumers which buy their electricity directly from the producers, and not from the utilities Telasi (2.9 billion kWh) and Energo Pro (6.59 billion kWh), will need a total of 2.7 billion kWh.

The forecast published by the Sarke news agency shows that In 2019 Georgia’s own electricity generation capacities will produce up to 12.7 billion kWh, while the imported electricity will amount to 2.8 billion kWh. The country is heavily reliant on its hydroelectric power stations which will generate around 10.3 billion kWh, with thermal power stations projected to produce 2.3 billion kWh and the Kartli wind park – 86 million kWh.

Two Mining Companies Among Georgia’s Major Electricity Consumers

Mining as a business and a source of income has gain popularity in the whole Transcaucasian region. Bitcoin farms have spread so fast in Abkhazia, a breakaway territory in northwestern Georgia, that the local government was forced to introduce temporary power cuts for the miners during the winter months. Georgia and Abkhazia share a huge hydropower complex located on the de facto border, which under normal circumstances satisfies most of the needs of the partially recognized republic.

Neighboring Armenia has taken steps to legalize and regulate cryptocurrency mining. This year the country became home to a large mining facility with 3,000 devices minting bitcoin and ethereum. Its owners, the Armenian consortium Multi Group and the Swedish company Omnia Tech, plan to expand its capacity to 120,000 machines.

What are your expectations about the prospects for the cryptocurrency mining sector in Georgia and the region? Tell us in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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#Blockchain Chatter Report: Troutner Proposes Algorithmic Stablecoin on BCH, Sztorc Believes Austrian Economics Unnecessary

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Troutner Proposes Algorithmic Stablecoin on BCH, Sztorc Believes Austrian Economics Unnecessary to Understand Bitcoin

In today’s roundup of crypto chatter, Chris Troutner and Andreas Brekken play around with the idea of building an algorithmic stablecoin on BCH. Vin Armani debates with Painted Frog on Bitcoin’s similarities to Visa. Also, Paul Sztorc thinks that understanding Austrian economics is not that important to comprehend Bitcoin.  

Also read: Developer Paul Sztorc Launches the First Version of Drivechain

Building an Algorithmic Stablecoin on BCH

Recently Shitcoin.com CEO Andreas Brekken took to crypto Twitter to wish everyone a happy new year. In his tweet, Brekken casually mentioned algorithmic stablecoins, an idea that Bitcoin.com senior developer Chris Troutner picked up on.

Troutner queried Brekken for alternatives to the DAI, but the latter was not familiar with the field. Brekken then explained that he was optimistic about the technology, even though many academics and maximalists don’t believe algorithmic stablecoins are possible.

In response, Troutner called for the BCH community to bring DAI’s algorithmic technology onto BCH. He suggested using the Wormhole JavaScript SDK at developer.bitcoin.com to create an ERC20 token on the BCH blockchain. Instead of ETH, BCH would serve as a collateral asset. Even lead developer of Bitcoin ABC Amaury Sechet jumped into the thread, as he was positive on the idea.

Bitcoin More Similar to Visa Than Gold

Recently, CTO of Cointext Vin Armani had a debate with his followers on what the catalyst for Bitcoin mass adoption would be. Armani argued that those who stand to gain financially from bitcoin usage are the ones most likely to increase Bitcoin adoption.

Not everyone responded well to Armani’s theory, as commentator Painted Frog argued that Bitcoin is intrinsically valuable like gold. Since society didn’t need to be convinced to use gold in the past, Bitcoin like gold, will eventually be used everywhere.

Armani responded by explaining that Bitcoin is more similar to Visa because both are systems and networks. On the other hand, gold is simply a shiny rock and an inert element.

The Importance of Austrian Economics In Bitcoin

Austrian economics has always been a huge part of the Bitcoin community, and the growing popularity of Bitcoin has sparked a revived interest in Austrian economics. This was pointed out by the President of the Nakamoto Institute Michael Goldstein on social media. Some like cryptocurrency pundit Murad Mahmudov agreed with Goldstein and tweeted that cryptocurrency community members who understand Austrian economics have an edge over those who don’t.

However, director of research at Tierion Paul Sztorc and bitcoin pundit nic__carter both argued that the importance of Austrian economics is highly overstated in the cryptocurrency space. While nic__carter confessed that he had never read any books on Austrian economics, Sztorc explained that he was very familiar with the Austrian school of thought.

Despite a thorough understanding of Austrian Economics, Sztorc insists that only a brief understanding of how the government prints away purchasing power, also known as inflation tax, is enough to understand Bitcoin.

What do you think of an algorithmic stablecoin built on BCH? Let us know in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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from Bitcoin News http://bit.ly/2CIwgm5 Chatter Report: Troutner Proposes Algorithmic Stablecoin on BCH, Sztorc Believes Austrian Economics Unnecessary

#Africa Our 12 startups to watch in 2018 – how did we do?

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Back at the start of the year, Disrupt Africa unveiled its 12 African startups to watch in 2018. How did we get on with our predictions?

Moroccan B2B trading platform WaystoCap

We said: “WaystoCap is set for West African expansion in 2018 – and we’ll be watching closely.”

What actually happened: Opened offices in Burkina Faso and Togo to add to its existing operations in Benin, and expanded its product offering.

Verdict: Hit

Moroccan e-commerce startup Vendo.ma

We said: “Vendo.ma is busy racing for monetisation having perfected its platform and onboarded plenty of customers.”

What actually happened: Steady growth and now making money.

Verdict: Hit

Egyptian home services marketplace FilKhedma

We said: “We think 2018 will be a big year as it sets out to expand its market presence on the back of recently secured funding.”

What actually happened: Contemplating expansion beyond its Cairo base on the back of a five-fold increase in volumes over the course of the year.

Verdict: Hit

Kenyan B2B commerce platform Sokowatch

We said: “We’re not the only people to notice Sokowatch – the startup was named one of three winners of the Innotribe Startup Challenge in May; made it onto the World Bank’s XL Africa accelerator in August; and secured investment in October.  What’s next?”

What actually happened: “Closed a US$2 million seed round to further expand its customer base across East Africa while also piloting additional value-added services for shops.”

Verdict: Hit

Kenyan software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for mobile commerce Sky.Garden

We said: “The public response has been strong, with the startup charting 25 per cent month-on-month growth in order volumes.”

What actually happened: Raised US$1.2 million in January and spent the rest of the year building an office suite for retailers. Has seen 26 per cent month-on-month growth in both volume and value. Now raising Series A funding.

Verdict: Hit

Ugandan mobile commerce startup Intelworld

We said: “Uganda’s Intelworld has quietly been working away since 2014, but we feel 2018 will see this startup really take off.”

What actually happened: Appears to have closed.

Verdict: Miss

South African solar micro-leasing marketplace Sun Exchange

We said: “If ever a startup combined multiple cutting-edge techs into one impressive solution, it’s South Africa’s Sun Exchange.”

What actually happened: Has built a global community of over 14,000 members across 90 countries, and also recently introduced SUNEX, its own digital rewards token. Secured US$500,000 in seed funding to speed its growth.

Verdict: Hit

South African e-health startup hearX Group

We said: “hearX Group is a prime example of how technology is revolutionising access to healthcare, and the company’s work is finally starting to get the recognition it deserves.”

What actually happened: Launched two new products with international partners, and won multiple awards.

Verdict: Hit

Angolan food delivery platform Tupuca

We said: “Having fine-tuned its solution, the startup is looking to scale up to add grocery and pharmacy deliveries; and expand to new markets.”

What actually happened: “500,000 items sold, 147,000 deliveries completed, and over US$5 million in sales.”

Verdict: Hit

Ghanaian agri-tech startup Farmerline

We said: “The startup connects small-scale farmers to information services, products and resources to improve their incomes; and has over 200,000 farmers registered to date.”

What actually happened: Ticking along nicely. Got grant funding from Mastercard and was a Zambezi Prize finalist.

Verdict: Hit

Nigerian online ticketing startup PayPass

We said: “While it’s early days for PayPass, Disrupt Africa is impressed by the early progress and we have a good feeling about what’s in store for this team.”

What actually happened: All gone quiet.

Verdict: Miss

Nigerian agri-tech startup Releaf

We said: “With the platform now publicly available, Releaf hopes to onboard 20,000 businesses over the next 12 months.”

What actually happened: Profitable and growing.

Verdict: Hit

> Overall total <

10 Hits

2 Misses

Turns out we’re pretty good at this! Keep an eye out over the next few days for our 12 African tech startups to watch in 2019. A very happy new year to all.

The post Our 12 startups to watch in 2018 – how did we do? appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

from Disrupt Africa http://bit.ly/2QbfcIH

#Africa Nigerian Startup BRANPOS, is set to Gross $360m POS Transactions in 2019

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In 2017, US$3.8 billion transaction occurred on Point of Sales Terminals (POS) in Nigeria. By October 2018 Transactions had cross over US$4 billion. In 3 years time, it’s projected that POS Transactions in Nigeria will grow to US$10 billion.

Unfortunately acquiring a POS Terminal seems to be a very difficult task. Small and Medium Businesses fill a lot of documents and are placed on a queue when they make a request for a POS terminal , they spend an average of 60 days to acquire a Point of Sales terminal from Commercial Banks; and that’s not all, transaction funds are being delayed as merchant has to wait till the following day for funds to get settled into his bank account for transactions that occur on the POS terminals, this makes business expansion very difficult as 80% of merchants lack access to loans to grow their business; usually the account linked on the POS terminals is a savings account. Having a savings account makes it impossible to access loans from Commercial Banks.

BranPOS is solving these problems, as the founders have developed a solution that will enable merchant acquire a POS Terminal within 48 hours with minimal application process. BranPOS settles merchant’s bank accounts funds instantly as transaction occurs.

Businesses can access loans to grow their business seamlessly from Individual and Institutional Lenders that are on-boarded via BranPOS APIs. Loan repayments are convenient, as merchant don’t have to make weekly or monthly repayments. Repayments are done as transactions occur on the POS terminal.

BranPOS targets high volume, high customer traffic businesses, not limited to Restaurants, Pharmacies, Hospitals, Fuel Stations, SuperMarkets and Malls with Over NGN360,000 (~US$1,000) daily Transaction.Within the next 12 Months BranPOS seeks to deliver at least 1,000 POS Terminals.

BranPOS Transaction projection stands at NGN130 billion (US$360 million) in 2019, with an estimated gross income of NGN320 million (US$900,000) in the same period.

The Co-founder/Communication Officer Ms Evelyn Onoja said BranPOS is glad to assist businesses to simply accept payment via debit cards, give merchant insight into their transaction and at the same time avail merchants opportunity to access loans from numerous lenders via the platform.

A South African Startup with a similar product offering – Yoco , raised US$16 million in a private funding round in September 2018.

www.branpos.com

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from Disrupt Africa http://bit.ly/2VmEmI3

#Blockchain South Korea Ends Year With 6 Bills to Regulate Cryptocurrency Industry

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South Korea Ends Year With 6 Bills to Regulate Cryptocurrency Industry

South Korea’s top financial regulator has exclusively shared with news.Bitcoin.com information about six cryptocurrency-related bills that have been submitted to the National Assembly. The most recent bill seeks to protect the rights of crypto owners and to ensure the safety and reliability of crypto transactions.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations

Six Crypto-Related Bills

South Korea’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), exclusively shared some information with news.Bitcoin.com on Thursday about various crypto-related bills that have been submitted to the National Assembly. A spokesperson for the regulator said:

There are six proposals made by the National Assembly members … [however] there is no crypto-related bill submitted by the FSC to the National Assembly.

South Korea Ends Year With 6 Bill to Regulate Cryptocurrency IndustryWhile each bill contains unique proposals for crypto regulation, all of them include clauses for user protection such as damage compensation, prohibition of money laundering and market manipulation, use of nonpublic information, and disclosure requirements.

The South Korean government has not announced any follow-up measures relating to cryptocurrencies since it implemented the real-name system in January. In addition, initial coin offerings (ICOs) have been banned domestically since September last year.

First Crypto Bill

The FSC spokesperson confirmed that the first crypto-related bill submitted to the National Assembly is an amendment to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act introduced in July last year by Rep. Park Yong-jin.

South Korea Ends Year With 6 Bill to Regulate Cryptocurrency Industry
Park Yong-jin.

The bill presents that, with the rapid rise in crypto transactions, users have been hacked and “investment fraud has been increasing due to multi-level sales.” Noting the lack of “definition for virtual currencies and regulations for virtual currency transactions in the current law,” it proposes definitions for virtual currency, virtual currency handling business, virtual currency brokerage business, virtual currency issuer, and virtual currency management business. The bill also proposes a few measures to protect crypto users including restricting transaction methods.

Registering With FSC

South Korea Ends Year With 6 Bill to Regulate Cryptocurrency IndustryThe next two bills were submitted to the National Assembly in February. The first of the two was submitted by lawmaker Jung Tae-ok. It “institutes a virtual currency exchange system to guarantee freedom of business and protect investors,” Yonhap News Agency described.

This bill defines and proposes obligations for crypto-related entities including “virtual currency trading business, virtual currency account management business, and virtual currency assistance business,” according to the Korean government’s website. It further states:

Those who want to operate a virtual currency trading business or a virtual currency account management business shall be approved by the Financial Services Commission.

The next bill, submitted by lawmaker Jung Byung-guk, proposes to regulate cryptocurrency transactions. In addition to user protection measures, this bill seeks to require all persons in charge of a cryptocurrency transfer business — including trading, brokerage, and management — to register with the FSC.

Other Bills

South Korea Ends Year With 6 Bill to Regulate Cryptocurrency IndustryThe fourth bill submitted to the National Assembly is the Act on the Reporting and Utilization of Specified Financial Transaction Information. It was submitted by Rep. Je Youn-kyung of the ruling Democratic Party.

The fifth bill, submitted in September by lawmaker Ha Tae-keung, proposes more amendments to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act.

It calls for crypto businesses that sell, buy, broker, exchange, manage, and issue cryptocurrencies to obtain approval from the FSC. “In order to ensure the safety and reliability of the currency transaction, it is necessary to establish and implement technological, physical and administrative security measures in accordance with the standards set by the Financial Services Commission,” the bill states.

The sixth bill, submitted in November by lawmaker Kim Sun-dong, is known as the Digital Asset Trade Promotion Act. According to the text of the bill:

The purpose of this law is to protect the rights of digital asset owners and to ensure the safety and reliability of digital asset transactions and to contribute to the development of the national economy by stipulating matters concerning the transactions of digital assets.

What do you think of all these South Korean crypto-related bills? Do you think more regulations will be introduced soon? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Park Yong-jin.

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#Blockchain Australian Crypto Company Rapped for Paying Bounty Hunters for Glowing Reviews

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Australian Crypto Company Rapped for Paying Bounty Hunters for Glowing Reviews

Securities commissioners and trade experts have refused Australian blockchain startup Power Ledger a clean bill of ethical health after it emerged that the company paid rogue “bounty hunters” to shore up interest in its cryptocurrency. The project’s “powr” crypto has fallen 90 percent in value over the past year amidst bearish market conditions.

Also read: Russian Bitcoin Mining Granny is Bullish on Industry’s Future

Bounty Hunters Make False Claims

Australian Crypto Company Rapped for Paying Bounty Hunters for Glowing Reviews

Spruikers, sponsored creators of glowing reviews, falsely claimed that Power Ledger, a peer-to-peer electricity-trading startup, had attracted the interest of Tesla founder Elon Musk, and was on a path to revolutionize the industry, in addition to other exaggerations.

According to local newspaper Financial Review, the Australian company rewarded spruikers with free allocations of its powr token, but denies responsibility for their embellishments. Power Ledger chairman Jemma Green maintains that spruikers posted the misleading reviews while operating outside of its control.

“Rewards were offered to community members to share our project with their own networks. The means by which they did so were outside of our control, and we made it clear that our core supporters who believed in the project and the future of renewable energy were the main audience for this program,”‘ Green was quoted as saying.

However, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) head John Price said spruikers, which the company intends to maintain, should disclose that they are being rewarded by the entity. The commission this year set up a unit to monitor cryptocurrency investments.

Australian Crypto Company Rapped for Paying Bounty Hunters for Glowing Reviews

Trade experts also commented disapprovingly on the ethical dimensions of spruiking to boost initial coin offerings (ICOs), a practice that surged in popularity during 2017’s crowdfunding mania. Questions have since been asked over the failure of the majority of ICOs to evolve into successful projects with real adoption.

A partner at Deloitte Consulting specializing in technology, Peter Williams, raised ethical concerns over the provision of financial incentives, or bounties, for individuals to promote initial coin offerings, describing these as “classic market manipulation techniques.”

‘A Quarter of ICOs Are Scams’

ASIC Commissioner Price cautioned that his agency is focused on disclosure in initial coin offerings, estimating that a quarter of them may be scams. “Just because you call something an ICO, doesn’t mean you are unregulated,” he said.

Power Ledger maintains that it deployed spruikers, which it calls community advocates, not only to promote its virtual currency, but also to improve the reputation of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.

Australian Crypto Company Rapped for Paying Bounty Hunters for Glowing Reviews

“Some of our bounty group were professional bounty hunters chasing tokens because it’s what they do,” Power Ledger posted a few weeks after the token sale. “Some were bots reporting an astounding 5,000 likes of our social media output in a single 24-hour period.”

Power Ledger will continue to pay spruikers to promote its currency, which peaked at $2.4 billion during the crypto boom. The company’s token is now trading about 20 percent below its issue price.

Aside from the controversy, Power Ledger successfully tested a blockchain-based solar power-trading project in the Australian coastal city of Fremantle earlier this month, enabling around 40 households to determine both the buying and selling price of renewable electricity generated on their rooftops. The trial has been described by Western Australia’s Minister for Finance, Energy and Aboriginal Affairs, Ben Wyatt, as a “world first.”

What do you think of the accusations laid against Power Ledger? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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#Blockchain Indian Crypto Exchanges End Year With Improved Services, Optimism About Regulation

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Indian Exchanges End Year With Improved Services, Optimism About Regulation

As the Indian government deliberates over cryptocurrency regulation, positive sentiment grows among local crypto exchanges regarding their government’s eventual decision. A number of them have also added new features and improved services such as offering interest on crypto deposits, increased liquidity, and better security.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations

Interest on Crypto Deposits

Indian cryptocurrency exchange Coindcx announced last week that its users can now earn interest on their BTC held at the exchange for 30 days or longer, stating:

You can earn interest on bitcoin you hold on Coindcx … Users will earn 1.5% interest on deposits of over 0.5 BTC, compounded monthly.

Indian Crypto Exchanges End Year With Improved Services, Optimism About RegulationCoindcx CEO Sumit Gupta told news.Bitcoin.com on Friday, “With the current market situation, many traders are simply hodling their funds. This gave us the idea of incentivizing them for their holdings on Coindcx. This would help our users make their money work for them and incentivize them for storing their digital assets on Coindcx.”

Another Indian exchange, Wazirx, has a similar offer which was launched in August. The exchange allows users to earn 1 percent interest on their BTC, ETH, XRP, EOS, TRX and LTC deposits after 30 days.

More Trading Pairs and Increased Liquidity

On Saturday, Coindcx also announced that it has listed 15 more trading pairs in the USDT and USDC stablecoin markets.

Indian Crypto Exchanges End Year With Improved Services, Optimism About RegulationGupta explained to news.Bitcoin.com that his exchange currently offers trading in approximately 240 crypto-to-crypto markets from three exchanges, with more to be added soon. “Coindcx brings liquidity from Binance, Hitbtc and Huobi on a single platform,” the exchange detailed. At present, the platform lists 210 pairs from Binance, 10 from Huobi, and 20 from Hitbtc, Gupta revealed. “We choose the most liquid exchange for any particular coin & trading pair and use that exchange,” he described, adding that the platform also allows “open order book trading in INR markets.” The CEO further confirmed that traders are using his exchange for arbitrages, noting:

We are adding 10-20 trading pairs every week.

Security Upgrades

Indian Crypto Exchanges End Year With Improved Services, Optimism About RegulationKoinex, another crypto exchange in India, announced on Saturday several account security upgrades. The trading platform now has a protection mode for crypto withdrawal requests that automatically activates for 10 minutes immediately after login. The exchange has also implemented email confirmation for withdrawals.

Wazirx also recently added a new security feature. The exchange now offers two-factor authentication for its app, mobile SMS and email.

Optimism About Regulation

Indian Crypto Exchanges End Year With Improved Services, Optimism About Regulation
Subhash Chandra Garg.

The Indian government is reportedly deliberating over the cryptocurrency regulatory framework recommended by the inter-ministerial panel headed by Subhash Chandra Garg, the country’s Economic Affairs Secretary. Cnbc Tv18 reported earlier this month that an anonymous source said the panel was in favor of a ban on crypto transactions. However, the New Indian Express published an article on Wednesday claiming that there were recommendations of legalizing cryptocurrencies with “strong riders.”

Indian Crypto Exchanges End Year With Improved Services, Optimism About RegulationWazirx CEO Nischal Shetty told news.Bitcoin.com on Monday, “I believe in our government, that they’ll listen to our voices. I’ve been running a Twitter campaign and it’s gaining traction amongst Indian crypto users. As the campaign grows it’ll be harder to ignore.”

Gupta shared a similar sentiment. “The Indian govt. and the RBI understand that a complete ban on cryptocurrencies would slow the pace of personal financial liberalization and derail the economy from the path of growth and inclusion,” he said. “However, cryptocurrency in India is still in its infant stages and is experiencing a testing period before wider acceptance and legalization.” The CEO of Coindcx concluded:

While I am sure positive news will come eventually, we must understand the Indian government will attempt at slowly exposing citizens to digital currencies and their adoption, in a move similar to digital India and demonetization.

Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com does not endorse or support claims made by any parties in this article. None of the information in this article is intended as investment advice, as an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or as a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products or companies. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

What do you think of Indian exchanges adding these new features and services? Also, do you think the Indian government will introduce positive crypto regulation? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

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#Blockchain Bounties and Responsible Disclosure Bolstered Crypto Infrastructure This Year

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Bounties and Responsible Disclosure Bolstered Crypto-Infrastructure This Year

Cryptocurrency transfers work because of the software developed by programmers like Satoshi Nakamoto and many other innovators along the way. As with all software, however, blockchain protocols are not perfect, and over the last decade black and white hat hackers have revealed many bugs. In 2018, developers earned over $878,000 in blockchain bug bounties by disclosing vulnerabilities. Moreover, two of the world’s largest digital asset networks avoided severe disruption thanks to responsible disclosure programs.

Also Read: Bitbacker.io Aims to Offer a Cryptocurrency-Powered Patreon Alternative

$878,000 Paid Out to Cryptocurrency Bounty Hunters in 2018 

Cryptocurrency bounties and responsible disclosure programs have helped the digital asset economy a great deal in 2018. In the process, bounties have given programmers a way to score some extra cash by finding certain vulnerabilities within blockchain infrastructure. Reports stemming from the firm Hackerone detail that this year white hat hackers have acquired over $878,000 by participating in blockchain bounties. Furthermore, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cryptocurrency bounties that remain unclaimed. There are hundreds of available bounties started by members of the 2,000+ cryptocurrency projects in existence and it doesn’t seem like the trend is slowing down.

Bounties and Responsible Disclosure Bolstered Crypto Infrastructure This Year
Hackerone says bounty hunters received over $878,000 from blockchain-related bounties this year.

Hackerone says that the Eos blockchain project accounted for more than 60 percent of settled bounties this year. The San Francisco-based firm Coinbase delivered over $290,000 to programmers for disclosing bounties in 2018. Trailing in third place is the Tron (TRX) platform, which saw developers hand out $76,000 to individuals who revealed software vulnerabilities. Some blockchain bounties are also for building certain things like wallets and other applications that the team’s core developers cannot accomplish because of lack of skills or time restrictions.

“Nearly 4 percent of all bounties awarded on Hackerone in 2018 were from blockchain and cryptocurrency companies,” a Hackerone spokesperson explained in a recent interview.

The company representative continued by adding:

The average bounty for all blockchain companies in 2018 was $1490, that is higher than the Q4 platform average of around $900. One of the top paid crypto hackers earned 7X the median software engineer salary in their country respectively.

Responsible Disclosure Helped Two Very Large Blockchain Networks 

In addition to all the bounties collected in 2018, two of the largest cryptocurrency networks avoided possible disruption thanks to responsible disclosure. In August, Bitcoin Core (BTC) developer Cory Fields disclosed a bug that could have given an attacker the ability to construct a malicious transaction, which could have been accepted by the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) client ABC 0.17.0 and mined into a block. At the time, blockchain developers said the bug could have caused an unintentional chain-split.

Bounties and Responsible Disclosure Bolstered Crypto Infrastructure This Year

A similar exploit found on the BCH network was discovered and patched on the BTC network back in March 2013 at block height 225430. Earlier, on Aug. 15, 2010, after block height 74638 was mined, it was discovered that two addresses received 92.2 billion bitcoins each in an event that was dubbed the ‘value overflow incident.’ 2018 also saw another significant bug found in the Bitcoin Core reference client in September. The documented CVE-2018-17144 vulnerability was disclosed by the pseudonymous Bitcoin Cash developer “Awemany.” By risking a block reward (worth $80,000 at the time the bug was found) the attack could have introduced massive inflation, like the bugs found in 2010 and 2013. In a well-documented account of responsible disclosure for the silent inflation bug, Awemany explained he did the right thing because he thinks “fierce” competition is good but it still should be a “civil competition.”

Overall, blockchain bounties and disclosure programs have helped the cryptocurrency ecosystem a great deal and programmers are making money disclosing these weaknesses. After finding bugs and vulnerabilities and fixing them, it’s much harder for these networks to be attacked as a blockchain’s codebase becomes more robust with enhanced security over time. However, software bugs can be introduced during every client upgrade and may not be found until years later like CVE-2018-17144, which was introduced in 2016 to shave off just 600 microseconds of block validation time.

What do you think about responsible disclosure and the $878,000 worth of crypto bug bounties captured in 2018? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.  

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#Blockchain Israeli Exchange to Launch Crypto Payments API Service for Local Businesses

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Israeli Exchange to Launch Crypto Payments API Service for Local Businesses

There is a new option on the way for Israeli companies that wish to accept orders from cryptocurrency users while they keep managing their books in fiat. A local bitcoin exchange, Bits of Gold, is launching an API service for regulated crypto payments.

Also Read: Billions Living Under Authoritarian Regimes Need Bitcoin Says Human Rights Activist

New Tools for Israeli Businesses

Israeli Exchange to Launch Crypto Payments API Service for Local BusinessesTel Aviv-based cryptocurrency exchange Bits of Gold has developed an application program interface (API) service meant to enable companies to accept payments in crypto and receive the value in Israeli shekels or U.S. dollars. The exchange has also developed a complimentary service that allows businesses to get paid in shekels and receive the value in cryptocurrency.

The trading venue expressed hope that the new service will allow more companies to enter the field and thus expand the payment options for Israeli crypto users. The exchange also plans to soon launch cash registers that will enable retailers to accept crypto payments as well. And the company will also begin offering a Bitcoin clearing service for businesses in the second quarter of 2019, Bits of Gold CEO Youval Rouach told the local Globes  newspaper.

“Crypto transfers are not a complicated matter but the regulatory demands, which include identifying the client, make it complicated,” explained Bits of Gold VP Tomer Niv. “Our service allows to use Bitcoin and comply with the rules of the regulator, without developing a vast payments system for each business.”

The Crypto Situation in Israel in 2018

Israeli Exchange to Launch Crypto Payments API Service for Local BusinessesWhile the number of individual investors who entered the market declined, the number of companies that use Bits of Gold’s services remained quite stable in 2018, according to its CEO. And the exchange also continued to grow during the year, hiring more software developers and costumer service personnel, reaching a total staff of 21 people. However, the company also gave up on plans for buying another bitcoin ATM as well as offering clients an option to trade on a combined basket of top cryptocurrencies.

The CEO of the Israeli exchange thinks that the local securities and anti-money laundering authorities are doing a good job with regards to developing rules for the field, even making Israel an international leader in terms of crypto regulation. However, he notes that as long as the Bank of Israel doesn’t make a clear stand on the matter, commercial banks will continue to make it hard on the industry.

A recent report revealed that only 5 percent of the people in Israel invested in or used digital coins in 2018. Moreover, a total of 44 percent of Israelis say they either don’t know what Bitcoin is or just don’t understand the concept. In contrast, 42 percent of the people have reported using the direct money transfer apps that the big banks in Israel have been pushing hard over the last year in an attempt to stay relevant in the digital age.

Is the crypto industry in Israel going to recover in 2019? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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