Facecoin Digital Currency May Be On The Way

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Facebook has taken the first steps towards launching a new ‘Facecoin’ digital currency by setting up a blockchain task force.

Headed by former PayPal supremo David Marcus, the team of several dozen experts is looking at how to harness the benefits of blockchain technology for the social media giant.

One of the ideas is to launch a Facecoin that allows the 2.2 billion users to spend within the network without a government-backed currency.

The corporation is also researching if blockchain can help with managing customer data by verifying identity and other back-end processes.

Strategic cryptocurrency acquisitions

Marcus is a recognised cryptocurrency advocate and sits on the board of Coinbase, the world’s largest exchange.

Although Facebook has banned any advertising that promotes ‘misleading or deceptive promotional practices’, most of the ads caught in the net involve dubiousICOs, cryptocurrencies and binary options that border on fraud or illegality.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg also published a blog at the start of the year indicating that he was making exploring how Facebook could utilise the blockchain and cryptocurrencies his top priority for the year.

Reports from within the corporation suggest Zuckerberg is ready to clear the purchase of ‘strategic acquisitions’ within the cryptocurrency sector to achieve his plan.

Facebook executives acknowledge a cryptocurrency launch is years away, but other social media networks are closer to their own ICOs.

Telegram and Kik working on blockchain apps

Telegram has raised $1.7 billion with a private ICO aimed at funding a next-generation blockchain, the Telegram Open Network. The money came from 200 institutional and high net worth investors.

Meanwhile Kik Messenger, the chat app, is working on a blockchain token ICO for a token called Kin.

“Most crypto projects to date have been technology-driven first and product-driven second. Kin has always been the opposite,” said Ted Livingston, founder and CEO of Kin and Kik.

“After working heads down alongside the best minds in the industry we concluded that a hybrid solution of Ethereum and our own fork of Stellar would benefit the Kin Ecosystem both short and long-term.

“Our goal is for Kin to be the most used cryptocurrency in the world and this will help get us there sooner.”

Can you create your own cryptocurrency?

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More than a thousand cryptocurrencies live online but only the most popular, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum are generally talked about.

But at some time, hundreds of developers have looked at the success of these two digital currencies and thought about creating their own cryptocurrency.

In short, it’s possible for anyone with a little technical knowledge to set up their own initial coin offering (ICO) to raise some money from digital currency – but the odds are unless you have a huge and costly media machine promoting your brand, you are likely to fail.

ICOs are really crowdfunding in disguise – they operate in a similar way and are a platform to sell tokens to investors to raise capital for a venture, often digital wallets or gaming.

For those who want to try and create their own cryptocurrency, here are a few points to consider:

What’s the difference between a coin and a token?

A coin, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, live on top of an infrastructure called the blockchain that tracks transactions in a peer-to-peer database.

Coins have their own blockchain, while tokens live on someone else’s blockchain.

So, coins have an independent network to record transactions, while tokens rely on a third party.

Building a personal blockchain is a serious software programming undertaking that’s not for the faint-hearted. The alternative is adapting someone else’s code.

Repurposing a blockchain is called a ‘fork’.

Some developers will act as a consultancy and do the programming work needed to by ICO-ready for you – at a price.

Slick media machine

The big day of your ICO is approaching, but coding your cryptocurrency is only half the job.

You need to build a brand, gain traction in the market and attract investors who will hand over their cash for your token.

You also must resolve the fear factor – the worry of being scammed by a fraudster that many investors have in the back of their minds.

To do this, your coin needs the backing of a slick publicity machine working for some weeks ahead of the ICO. PR like this does not come cheap and needs a skilled and experienced manager leading the way.

If you want to launch your own coin offering, then the money you need to look at the help you may need and how much this will cost in time and money – then weigh that against the likely return just like any other business proposition.

City Wants To Raise Community Funds With Blockchain Minibonds

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A city council in California looks like becoming the first to use blockchain technology to raise money to fund community projects.

Councillors at Berkeley have given city officials the green light to investigate if they can sell municipal bonds powered by the blockchain.

The city – home of the famous university campus that sits across the bay from San Francisco – wants to sell smaller denomination bonds than the standard $5,000 minibonds most municipality’s in the US offer.

Mayor Ben Bartlett believes more investors will sign up if they can buy bonds with a lower face value – perhaps as low as $10 or $25.

But the cost of tracking the bonds is prohibitive unless the blockchain can be adapted to do the work quicker and cheaper than an office full of public workers.

$3.8 trillion market

Blockchain seems to suit the purpose as the technology allows secure digital trading of financial assets.

The blockchain will also allow the council to sell direct to investors rather than employ expensive Wall Street advisers.

Cutting out the middlemen needed to run a bond issuance would cut the costs of raising money for the council, giving them more to invest in community projects.

If the idea takes off, Berkeley will breathe new life into the municipal minibond market that is worth $3.8 trillion in the US.

The first project the city council is considering is raising $3 million to raise funds for the fire service, including new appliances.

Dissenting voice

If this is successful, next on the agenda is an affordable housing project.

“It’s an exciting course to be expanding the market; and also, to be creating new asset classes and opportunities for our people to own new assets, particularly in light of what is happening with creeping poverty,” said Mayor Bartlett.

Although the council vote in favour of exploring the possibility of blockchain technology managing municipal fund raising, there are some dissenting voices.

Councilwoman Susan Wengraf voiced her concerns about using blockchain for micro-muni bond issuance by describing the move as “overkill.”

Several blockchain advisers want to get in on the act – including Neighborly, a fund raiser that wants to modernize access to public finance.

Bitcoin Is Not A Proper Investment, Says Billionaire Buffett

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Billionaire financial guru Warren Buffett has dismissed cryptocurrencies as poor investments and predicts the phenomenon will ‘come to a bad end’.

In an outspoken tirade about digital currencies, he alleged buying Bitcoin is not really investing.

Buffett has a huge following as an investment guru and impressive credentials.

As CEO of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, he owns some of the world’s leading brands, like clothing company Fruit of the Loom, battery maker Duracell, food producer Kraft Heinz and fast food outlet Dairy Queen.

Buffett is also celebrated as one of the richest men in the world, with a personal wealth on more than $83 billion.

Despite his knowledge and experience in the world of investment, Buffett refuses to acknowledge cryptocurrency as investment.

Cryptocurrency is speculation

“There are two kinds of items that people buy and think they’re investing. One really is investing and the other isn’t,” he said.

“If you buy something like a farm, an apartment house, or an interest in a business, it’s a perfectly satisfactory investment. You look at the investment itself to deliver the return to you. Now, if you buy something like Bitcoin or some cryptocurrency, you don’t really have anything that has produced anything. You’re just hoping the next guy pays more for what you have bought than you paid.”

Buffett labels putting money into cryptocurrencies as a gamble more than an investment.

“If you want to gamble somebody else will come along and pay more money tomorrow for your Bitcoin, that’s one kind of game. That is not investing,” he said.

“If you ban trading in farms, you could still buy farms, and have a perfectly decent investment,” said Buffett.

Cryptocurrencies will end badly

“If you ban trading in Bitcoin, people would say why in the world would I buy it?'”

Buffett has aired his criticisms of cryptocurrencies before.

Earlier this year he said: In terms of cryptocurrencies, generally, I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending.

“When it happens or how or anything else, I don’t know. If I could buy a five-year put on every one of the cryptocurrencies, I’d be glad to do it. I would never short a dime’s worth.”

Buffett is well-known for his buy and hold investment strategy, believing that companies will increase in value over time if they are managed effectively.

Gold Loses Appeal As Cryptocurrencies Rise And Shine

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Gold seems to have lost its shine as the world’s leading store of value for investors with the advent of cryptocurrency.

The soaring value of Bitcoin and other digital currencies towards the end of 2017 looks to have rubbed off on the popularity of the precious metal.

Demand for gold hit the lowest level since the first quarter of 2008 in the first three months of 2018, according to trade association The World Gold Council.

How gold is faring…and it’s not good

In a review for Q1 2018, the council reports:

  • Global demand for gold bars and coins plunged 15% led by a lack of interest in China, Germany and the USA
  • Exchange Traded Funds (ETFS) had a mixed month with demand and interest rates rising but spiking market prices. Investment demand for the quarter was down 27%
  • The consumer jewellery trade was flat – down 1% – although demand was up in the US, buyers stayed away in India due to rising prices
  • Central banks bolstered gold reserves, buying 116.5 tonnes of the precious metal – the highest amount in four years – a marked 42% increase over 82 tonnes purchased in the first three months of 2017.
  • Technology demand for gold was up 4% as makers of smartphones, gaming consoles and security systems increased production

Demand falls 7% in a year

Alistair Hewitt, head of market intelligence at the World Gold Council, said: “Relatively solid global economic growth, coupled with the return of volatility in the capital markets in February, created a stable environment for gold in the first quarter of 2018 – while equity markets around the world came under pressure, the gold price rose.

“Although demand was down year-on-year, we saw encouraging levels of jewellery demand in China, the US and Europe, continued growth in the technology sector, and steady inflows into ETFs, albeit at a slower pace than last year. Solid inflows into central bank reserves also highlight the ongoing relevance of gold as a strategic asset for institutional investors.”

Overall global gold demand hit 973 tonnes in Q1 2018 – 7% down year-on-year.

Supply was up 3% to 1,064 tonnes, compared with 1,032 tonnes for the same time last year.

UK Crypto Firms call For Tougher Government Regulation

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Britain’s cryptocurrency industry is urging the government to step in to rid the sector of crooks and fraudsters.

CryptoUK, a self-regulating body set-up by leading players in the industry earlier this year, wants consumer watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to police the sector to protect consumers.

The plea has gone to influential MPs on Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee.

The committee is investigating how cryptocurrency and blockchain technology would work in the UK and if they pose any risk to consumers, business or the economy.

CryptoUK suggests the government should take control of platforms that deal between cryptocurrencies and main currencies, such as the pound, euro and US dollar.

The targets would be exchanges, brokers and other trading platforms rather than regulating cryptocurrencies directly.

Crypto licences for platforms

The body recommends the FCA should do this by issuing ‘crypto-licences’ to give consumers and businesses confidence that platforms have been carried out to safeguard their money.

“This is an approach which is already working well in several other countries, which are now taking the lead over the UK in cryptocurrencies, for example in Japan and Gibraltar,” said Iqbal Gandham, the chairman of CryptoUK.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for government to take a proactive stance, putting action where there are positive words and reinforcing the UK’s role as the world’s financial capital.

“We hope that the Treasury Select Committee considers these comments and adopts the ideas when it puts forward its own recommendations to the Treasury.”

CryptoUK hopes the moves would bolster the cryptocurrency sector by improving standards across the industry and cutting the risk of losing money for consumers.

New laws not needed

Gandham argues that The Treasury can give the FCA the go-ahead to introduce cryptocurrency regulation with existing powers rather than drafting new legislation.

The move by CryptoUK follows similar action in other countries where self-regulating bodies call for government intervention, sometimes to legitimise their position in the market.

The select committee inquiry is looking at how the FCA and Bank of England can regulate cryptocurrencies without ‘stifling innovation’ in the sector with too many rules.

Founding members of the body include BlockEx, CEX.IO, Coinbase, CoinShares, CommerceBlock, CryptoCompare, and eToro.

Want To Invest In Bitcoin But Are Scared Of The Scams?

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Investing in a virtual currency like Bitcoin can be lucrative, but scammers are also attracted in droves to the online market.

The Bitcoin exchange BitStamp reckons investors have around $11.3 billion salted away in electronic wallets, while the current US dollar to Bitcoin exchange rate is $708.

Although thousands of investors have lost millions of dollars of Bitcoin, many more have made an excellent investment return since the virtual currency hit the internet in 2009.

Staying secure online is not too difficult if you follow some simple rules.

Exchange hacks

In some headline grabbing hacks, repositories that stored bitcoin for other users have suffered some spectacular losses.

The biggest was Japan’s Mt Gox disaster in 2014, when hackers stole 850,000 bitcoin worth $450 million. Around 200,000 have been recovered, but the rest remain lost.

One way to safeguard bitcoin holdings from hackers is to split the cash across more than one trusted exchange.

Phishing scams

Phishing scams are also a problem. In these cons, crooks try to dupe bitcoin enthusiasts to hand over their cash through fake Facebook pages and spam email.

Avoid clicking on links to dubious web sites to stop phishing attacks – and watch out for other crooks who claim to help phishing victims recover their cash as they are scams too.

Fake web sites

The ploy with fake web sites is to set up a domain that is just one letter different from the original, trusted site – such as Betfine instead of Betfinex.

The people at Betfinex had to send out a warning earlier this year to stop users going to a wrong site set up to scam them.

Check the link before transferring cash or typing user names and passwords.

Don’t be greedy

Ponzi schemes feed on your inner desire to profit from investments that pay just too much back to be true – and that’s because they are usually frauds.

The fraudster collects cash from investors and pays earlier investors out of the stakes put up by later ones, skimming off a profit.

Sooner or later the fraud catches up with the crook because the victims run out and then no one can be paid.

Don’t jump in early – if the offer is that good, it’s not going anywhere

Bitcoin problem

The risk with bitcoin is the whole network lacks regulation and order imposed by a central bank.

Except from going to the police or civil action through the courts, there is no recourse to recovering lost money. That means you are on your own out there.

Ethereum Price and Growth Outlook for 2018

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Like so many other of the major cryptocurrencies in the market, the price of Ethereum is predicted to increase significantly this year. Some cryptocurrency market observers have remained skeptical due in large part to the price of Bitcoin and other significant cryptocurrencies trading volumes and volatility, one minute the price is up and the next minute, it’s crashing down in scales rarely witnessed with any other global asset that can see investors making large gains but also huge losses.

However, the predictions for Ethereum this year are rather compelling and worth investigating further, that is if you are visualizing the long-term growth and yield of the Ethereum token.

Price predictions for Ethereum are;

  1. That the price to reach the mark of $2500 by the end of 2018 and looks set to increase further by 2019 and 2020 for the following reasons:
  • More and more platforms are using the Ethereum as a means of trading
  • The increased use of smart of smart contracts by Ethereum
  • The decentralisation of cloud computing. These are factors that will boost the value of Ethereum which in turns escalates the price and growth in the cryptocurrency market overall. Due to the following properties, Ethereum is looking likely to increase in value because more consumers and platforms are using the ethereum token.
  1. It will solidify its position as the second most valuable and used cryptocurrency token in the world. This consistency of the Ethereum token (Ether) will appreciate well into the future. So, if you are willing to invest into cryptocurrency for the long-term benefit, then Ethereum is the toted as one of the best in the market. General market predictions based on factors such as demand, problem-solving, institutional uptake and scalability expect that by 2019, the ethereum price will be around 14,000$ increasing 31,000$ by the year 2020.
  2. Ethereum is the future of cryptocurrency. Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, bankers and financial houses are looking for stability and safer trading conditions, and Ethereum is offering that security. Experts are forecasting great things for ethereum primarily due to the confidence of the token in the market.

The demand, current /future supply, and application of the Ethereum token have given it leverage over other coins and token in the market.

It remains difficult to make predictions on the cryptocurrency market due to a lot of doubts and uncertainties surrounding taxation, regulation as well as significant issues such as the viability of some tokens in the market, to name but a few. If we merely, however, look the ethereum price and growth as a gauge on how well it did in 2017, then it would be fair to say that Ethereum is is undoubtedly a front-runner.

Cryptocurrencies You Need To Know About

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Most of the world seems to be talking about bitcoin, but there are hundreds of other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin started the digital currency revolution.

The first bitcoin was mined in January 2009 – and like they say, the rest is history as bitcoin has grown in value and stature as an investment.

Cryptocurrencies are different to normal ways of transferring money because they rely on a peer-to-peer network without any processing firm or central bank involved to oversee transactions.

Instead, the blockchain, an uneditable database recording the details of each movement of tokens, tracks transactions.

The big players

But as the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency moves away from the creaking bitcoin technology, three new types of cryptocurrency are emerging:

  • Tokens that store value – like bitcoin and litecoin
  • Platforms for monitoring data and contracts – such as ethereum and factom
  • Applications like initial coin offerings (ICOs) or exchanges

Bitcoin is by far the biggest player in the digital currency world – with a market cap of £150 billion.

Ethereum ranks next, with a cap of $63 billion, followed by ripple, with $31 billion. Most of the rest have market caps of less than $10 billion – some considerably less.

Litecoin is probably one of the best-known of the low-cap coins.

The sector has well over a thousand digital currencies, with many opening and closing literally every day.

Exchanges and wallets

Besides the market leaders, two other tokens that investors should know about are monero (Market cap $3 billion) which adds layers of encryption to transactions that make the sender and receiver anonymous online.

Zcash – with a cap of just $660 million – is also obsessed with privacy based on sharing ‘zero-knowledge’.

Most exchanges and price trackers only monitor a few coins and calculate values and market caps in slightly different ways.

Among the largest are Kraken, Coincompare and Coinbase, which is probably the biggest exchange with more than a million users.

Some financial firms, like the global deVere Group’s Crypto offer electronic wallets that incorporate trading.

Bitcoin Price Is Set To Explode Again, Claim Experts

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Stand back because the bitcoin touch paper has been lit and cryptocurrency analysts are expecting some fireworks as the price explodes.

Although the digital currency experienced a huge plunge in value in the first quarter of 2018, experts predict bitcoin will soon be back on track to surge past the previous high.

Bitcoin is worth around $9,000 a token currently – down from nearly $20,000 in the closing weeks of 2017.

The spectacular jump in value came at the end of a year when the price of bitcoin soared from $900 to $19,065

Rogue trader crack down

“I’m not surprised to see bitcoin’s price exceed $9,000 this week,” said Rodrigo Marques, CEO of investment platform Atlas Quantum. “Rumours of a price explosion seem to have been driven by more and more institutional buyers getting into cryptocurrencies.”

Analysts say the lack of regulation has held bitcoin back as institutional investors want to know their money is protected.

But the change is regulators are leaving bitcoin and other digital currencies to self-regulate while cracking down on rogue traders and coin exchanges whose erratic and sometimes criminal behaviour have given the sector such a bad name.

Financial institutions are now benefitting from the hard work developers have put into promoting the security of the blockchain technology that underlies cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin to break $9,000 mark again

“Ongoing regulatory concerns in key markets, they do seem to be dissipating,” said Marques. “If these concerns are addressed and there is even more positive movement related to regulation in these markets, there could be even more buying pressure to come.”

If bitcoin consolidates and passes $9,000, the glass ceiling is the $10,000 mark.

“Bitcoin is up over 15% in the last seven days and there are clear signs that the bull run is back. Over the past few months, bitcoin has lost nearly three quarters of its value but now investors are seeing a lot of value across the board and market caps are rising rapidly,” said Oliver Isaacs, a blockchain and cryptocurrency adviser.

Some experts are predicting even higher prices – entrepreneur and investor Alastair Milnehas suggested the price of bitcoin could top out at between $35,000 and $60,000.

Bitcoin Mining To Half As 17th Million Coin Is Released

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Bitcoin watchers are expecting the landmark mining of the 17thmillion token within a few days.

That pushes bitcoin even further down the path towards scarcity as the software will only allow 21 million Bitcoins in circulation.

Once that level is reached, mining shuts down.

Hitting 17 million is a milestone for the cryptocurrency. The total hit 16 million in 2016 and is predicted to hit 21 million in 2040.

Miners release new coins at the rate of around 1,800 day, so predicting the milestones is more a guess than a science.

But as each milestone is reached, the number of bitcoin released is halved, slowing down the rate of acquisition, so releasing the final 4 million will be nowhere near as quick as mining the first 17 million.

So where does that leave Bitcoin?

The important takeaway from hitting the 17thmillion token is around 81% of all Bitcoin will have been mined sometime during the next few days and that only a fifth remains in reserve.

That scarcity is bound to drive up the price as investors realise the available amount is finite.

That makes bitcoin scarcer than gold or diamonds – two other primary value stores for investors.

After all, mining companies have reserves and seams of the gems and precious metal to tap if they want to release more. They can also manipulate the market by stockpiling their resources.

Bitcoin has been with us since January 3, 2009 – when the creator Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first 50 coins.

Surge in popularity

Since then, the cryptocurrency has surged in price and popularity – from a fringe enigma to a term on almost everyone’s lips in 2018.

As for price, unless someone comes up with a way of mining more than 21 million bitcoins, the only way is up. Bitcoin has faltered since the last weeks of 2017, when the price of a coin flipped to almost $20,000.

Now, the value is nearer $9,000, but the law of supply and demand will surely drive that figure up in years to come. The only way more bitcoin can come into being is if everyone on the bitcoin network agrees to do so – and that’s more than unlikely.

The only other asset that no one is making is land, as Mark Twain said.

No Ethereum Fork To Unlock Frozen $264 Million

The ethereum chain will not fork to recover nearly $300 million locked in the system because of a software bug, developers have revealed.

The bug in wallets based on code written by Parity Technologies left $264 million inaccessible in electronic wallets in November 2017.

Since then, the developers have struggled to find a way to unlock the money, leaving a software hard fork the only logical way forward.

Parity is the software house that developed the software that underpins the cryptocurrency ethereum.

But company co-founders Gavin Wood and Jutta Steiner have announced they have no plans to fork ethereum to unfreeze the money.

Apology but no solution

“We are deeply sorry to the users who remain unable to access their ether because of a bug in our code,” the pair has announced.

“We have been in constant conversation with affected projects and believe that those in the community who have stuck ether, either through the wallet freeze or other issues, have a case for attempting to recover the property.

“Although the debate around the recovery has been challenging for everyone, it has uncovered numerous important issues and helped us all come to a better understanding of the underlying arguments.

“It has also clearly shown the importance of a transparent governance process that can respond to the community’s position on contentious issues such as ASIC resistance, supply caps, and contract restorations. This debate has advanced a tough conversation and we’re encouraged by the thoughtful discourse.

No split in the chain

“Let us make clear: we have no intention to split the ethereum chain. We plan to continue to work with the community to find a path forward. We have all dedicated a great deal of time and effort to developing the ethereum ecosystem and have no intention of harming what we have helped build. We believe ethereum is a crucial piece of the decentralised web infrastructure and are fully committed to making the platform open, scalable, and safe today and in the future.”

A cryptocurrency hardfork is when a digital currency developer changes the programming of the coin in a way that is incompatible between the older and newer versions.

Campaigners Beat Censor With Blockchain Protest

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An online battle is taking place in China between activists keen to spread word of their opposition to the government and official censors trying to wipe all traces of them from the internet.

But the activists have found a new weapon that the government is finding difficult to overcome – publishing their protests in a blockchain.

Although the Chinese government controls the world wide web within the country, the lack of control and regulation anyone has over the blockchain is becoming a major asset to protestors.

The problem for the Chinese authorities is that data published to the ethereum blockchain is impossible to change without the agreement of every user on the network.

Activists see this as a cheap way to beat censorship, as the transaction cost of publishing the blockchain is no more than 50 cents.

Rape allegations

The protest that highlighted ethereum as a tool for political activists is the tragic case of student Gao Yan.

In 1998, she accused a professor at Beijing University of rape before committing suicide.

In April 2018, another student tried to investigate the claim, but claims the university has tried to silence the allegations and intimidate her.

In response, she published a letter to the blockchain detailing her claims.

Her blogs and other postings have been scrubbed from the internet in China, but her protest letter remains on the blockchain.

Cryptocurrency experts believe that some governments with concerns about information published on a blockchain may try and declare the blockchain illegal.

Government can’t suppress blockchain

That won’t stop anyone elsewhere in the world viewing the data online but will stop circulation within the country by the authorities blocking the IP address.

The ethereum and bitcoin blockchains both allow the attachment of documents.

Other protests in China have harnessed the blockchain to publicise their campaigns – such as the pro-democracy rallies in Hong Kong. The Beijing government has also tried to suppress them without success.

China is also researching a state-owned cryptocurrency that would give politicians control over the underlying blockchain, according to reports from the capital.

In 2016, developing blockchain technology was listed as a priority for the central bank.

Gamers Recruited To Mine Ethereum For Charity

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UNICEF is calling on hundreds of millions of computer gamers around the world to help mine cryptocurrency.

UNICEF – the United Nations International Children’s Fund – has launched a project based on digital currency to raise money for children living in war-torn Syria.

The campaigners want to recruit computer game players who have powerful graphic cards built into their systems to help mine ethereum.

Called ‘Game Chaingers’, visiting the UNICEF dedicated web site and giving permission to access a machine will allow the charity’s software to download a mining app.

UNICEF then pools the effort of thousands of graphics cards to mine ethereum, with any tokens freed going straight to the UNICEF account.

Humanitarian crisis

The charity is calling on youngsters to help children in Syria because the age profile of the average donor is more than 50 years old and few have the computer hardware to help the campaign.

The appeal also puts a spin on giving as donors do not have to hand over any money – just some of their computer processing power.

UNICEF says no one should see any change in computer performance as the result of signing up.

Because the app ‘borrows’ a small amount of processing time, no extra electricity is consumed, and donors are unlikely to know when their machines is part of the network, says the charity.

“For the last six years, Syrian children have been living the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world, on such a scale that it exceeds the borders of Syria,” Says UNICEF.

“As conflict gets bogged down, the number of people in need of life support increases dramatically. For UNICEF, nearly 8.3 million children need help in Syria but also in neighbouring countries that host refugee families.”

Find out more from UNICEF

Who Are The Winklevoss Twins?

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The name keeps cropping up in the world of cryptocurrency, but few people know much about the famed Winklevoss twins.

Here, the lid is lifted on who they are and why they are significant to the development of digital currencies.

Can you name the twins?

You probably don’t have their names on the tip of your tongue, but the Winklevoss twins are Cameron and Tyler.

They were born in the USA in August 1981, making them 37 years old at the time of writing.

What’s their claim to fame?

They went to university at Harvard with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. They claim they developed software called ConnectU which he ‘appropriated’ as the basis of Facebook.

ConnectU was a social networking site.

In 2004, they sued Zuckerberg for stealing their idea and won $65 million in compensation.

In 2008, they represented the USA as rowers in the Beijing Olympics.

What’s the Winklevoss link with bitcoin?

The twins have been involved in one way or another with several bitcoin start-ups.

In 2013, they seeded payment processor Bitinstant with $1.5 million, but within a year, the CEO Charlie Shrem was arrested and charged with money laundering relating to the FBI’s Silk Road criminal investigation.

Bitinstant closed after Shrem’s arrest amid thousands of complaints about the service and lost cash. The Winklevoss twins were not involved in Shrem’s criminal activities.

They also run a bitcoin price tracker, Winkdex and an exchange in New York, Gemini.

To avoid controversy, the twins have hired the firm that operates security for the NASDAQ stock exchange to root out bad actors on Gemini.

Cameron Winklevoss has also called on regulators to tighten up the trading environment for cryptocurrency to stamp out rogue traders and crooks.

“Policing markets should be required as the industry matures. We don’t want to be the only player with a market-surveillance program,” he said.

NASDAQ said its Smarts surveillance system “automates the detection, investigation and analysis of potentially abusive or disorderly trading”.

Twins with a sense of humour

The Winklevoss boys have been the butt of several American comedy shows.

They include The Simpsons and Family Guy. They appeared in the latter and TV series Silicon Valley.

Actor Arnie Hammer played them in the Facebook movie The Social Network.