Category: Crypto

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Crypto Economy News

A Huge Inflatable Rat, Referring to Bitcoin (BTC), Stands Before The Federal Reserve on Wall Street

A giant inflatable rat, referring to Bitcoin (BTC), was installed yesterday in Wall Street, in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as a form of protest to draw the public’s attention to the state of the economy and the administration of money in the United States.

The rat exposes threatening claws and fangs, covered with color codes and mathematical equations. In its blue eyes, the letters “PoW” can be read, which stand for “Proof of Work,” the algorithm related to Bitcoin (BTC). The piece was created by Nelson Saiers, a US artist and mathematician, former hedge fund manager, who seeks to represent his vision on the central bank’s handling of the US Dollar.

Saiers says he wants to use the piece to help people better understand cryptocurrencies and the Federal Reserve, as well as learn to be a little more faithful to the vision Satoshi Nakamoto had. He also seeks to attract the attention of the Federal Reserve, the agency that controls the US Dollar.

The inflatable rat before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York raised mixed opinions among the Bitcoin (BTC) community members

In this sense, he pointed out that the color white represents the lab rats used for experimental purposes, symbolizing the governmental actions during the financial crisis of 2008, whose products created for the recovery of the economy were experimental, as the mathematician qualified them.

On the other hand, as for the “PoW” inscription, Saiers assures that he is comically asking for a work test that eliminates the centralized fiat money. In his opinion, although Bitcoin (BTC) has been despised, as the rats are, it may play a role in the disappearance of the central banks.

The work, which is still on display in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, aroused people’s curiosity, while some Bitcoin (BTC) community members pointed out on Reddit that many bystanders may not understand the message and associate it with Bitcoin (BTC). Others believe that the figure does not attract attention because it can be confused with any other inflatable rat used in union protests.

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Crypto News

Universal Dollar (UPUSD) Stablecoin Announced By Uphold, Cred, and Brave

The Universal Protocol Alliance, formed by Uphold, Cred, Brave, Blockchain in Berkeley and FBG Capital, announced on October 9th, during the San Francisco Blockchain Week, the launch of a new stablecoin based on the US Dollar, the Universal Dollar (UPUSD).

With this initiative, any asset present in the Uphold platform, which offers trades in more than 30 fiat currencies, commodities such as gold and silver, as well as cryptocurrencies, “could be used to earn interest and qualify the user for a guaranteed line of credit,” according to the company.

JP Thieriot, CEO of Uphold, said the initiative would introduce conventional financial products into the cryptocurrency ecosystem and make it easier for millions of users to purchase these digital assets.

Last month the platform added the token support of its strategic partner Cred, a startup that defines itself as “a line of credit to elevate you to your potential.” About the launch of the Universal Dollar (UPUSD) stablecoin, Cred co-founder and president Dan Schatt said that “a new generation can access similarly convenient credit without such a high bar and through the simple ownership of digital assets” in reference to the traditional requirement of ownership of real estate in order to qualify for credit in the United States.

Uphold, Cred, and Brave, among others, joined forces to launch Universal Dollar (UPUSD) stablecoin

A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency that can be supported by legal tender currencies, commodities, and other cryptocurrencies, as well. The idea is based on creating cryptocurrencies with less volatility, with stable prices, by merging the best of both financial worlds. One example is Tether (USDT) which is denominated in the US Dollar and began to be traded in 2015.

Earlier this month, the London Block Exchange announced plans to launch a stablecoin linked 1:1 to the GBP, which will be called LBXPeg. On the other hand, during September the crypto exchange BitTrade announced that, in 2019, it would launch a stable currency related to the Australian dollar.

Despite all these initiatives with stablecoins, designed to keep the volatility of cryptocurrencies under control, the former principal policy advisor of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and also a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley, United States, Barry Eichengreen, indicated that these types of assets do not solve the problems of cryptocurrencies market volatility.

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Crypto News

Ethereum (ETH) DApps Maintain Below 15,000 Users Per Day

Ethereum (ETH) decentralized applications (Dapps) also seem to be feeling the effects of the downward trend in the cryptocurrencies market. From May to October of this year, the volume of users of all Ethereum (ETH) DApps dropped from a peak of 32,000 users to just 14,000, while in July it reached a minimum of 4,000.

The average number of users of all network applications remained around 10,000 per day in the last two months. According to data from the DappRadar statistics page, the Ethereum (ETH) network currently has 988 active DApps, of which only three exceed one thousand users per day.

The historical maximum of users/day was registered on May 18th, 2018, when more than 32,000 people interacted with some of the active applications in Ethereum (ETH) network. Around this date, some games were launched that quickly reached popularity, such as Ether Cartel and Ether Shrimp Farm.

However, the daily traffic of the Ethereum Dapps has fluctuated mostly below 17,000 throughout this year. Last month the maximum number of users in a day reached only 12,265.

Ethereum (ETH) DApps Maintain Below 15,000 Users Per Day

The most popular DApp in the ranking made by DappRadar is 333ETH, with about two thousand users in the last 24 hours. This DApp is qualified as “high risk,” however, as it is an investment platform that promises a “for life” return to users. There are accusations about this application that qualify it as a fraudulent scheme.

Even the MetaMask crypto wallet service recently decided to block it from its platform. It is striking that of the first fifteen DApps in the ranking, five are deemed as “high risk” applications. In the second and third place in the list are two cryptocurrency exchange houses, Idex and ForkDelta, with a traffic of 1,350 and 1,000 users in 24 hours.

As for the volume of Ethereum (ETH) traded through the Ethereum (ETH) DApps, at its highest level in September, it reached more than 36,000 ETH.

Decentralized applications are programs whose operation depends on the user community since there are no intermediaries between their creators and those who use them. Ethereum (ETH) was created primarily as a decentralized platform for the operation of this type of applications, known as DApps.

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Crypto News

Blockchain Technology To Be The Next Target For South Korea Government Investment

Park Won-soon, mayor of Seoul, South Korea, announced last week at a conference in Zug, the crypto valley of Switzerland, a Blockchain Urban Plan to turn the South Korean capital into a smart city by 2022, based on blockchain technology. The project requires an investment of $108 million and covers 14 public services in five areas, according to local sources.

Among the areas covered by the plan presented by Won-soon are the management of vehicle records, non-duplicable elections, management of donations, and labor protection. It is part of the program that the first decentralized services serve as a “test bed” and then undertake the innovation of all administrative services of the metropolitan government, the official said.

In the area of labor protection, for example, the city and the private sector can draw up a smart contract for part-time workers or those not covered by insurance policies. The agreement will determine the type of coverage that corresponds to each worker, according to the hours worked, as well as automate the payroll.

Park Wan-soon explained that by 2022, 200 companies focused on blockchain technology are expected to be operating and that 73 of them will already be active as of 2019. These companies will work in collaboration with the technology business accelerator Gaepo Digital Innovation Park and Mapo Seoul Startup Hub.

South Korea plans to invest $100 million in blockchain technology and crypto exchange

“There are many areas where blockchain technology is applied (…) I will contribute to the activation of the industry by applying it to management, to this end we will create an environment where companies can work freely and cultivate their talent,” said Park Won-soon
Metropolitan Mayor of Seoul, South Korea.

This initiative could have positive effects on the cryptocurrency and blockchain technology ecosystem, a field in which South Korea is one of the leading countries. Until the beginning of this year, the trade in crypto coins was not regulated in any way, and it deprived the participants of self-regulation in that ecosystem.

Seven months ago, the South Korean financial authorities established a set of measures that regulate the cryptocurrency exchange, along with the Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Also, South Korea implemented strict Know-Your-Customer (KYC) policies.

Such measures, according to local media, have not had the expected effects. The new identification system for crypto exchange platforms, for example, has only been adopted by 4 of the trading platforms, namely, Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, and Coinoine.

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Crypto News

Crypto Mining: Chinese Government Sentenced A Man For Bitcoin (BTC) Mining

On October 8th, a Chinese news portal reported that a man was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and fined 100,000 Yuan (about $14,428) for stealing electricity from a railway company for crypto mining.

According to the portal, the conviction was filed on September 13th by the Datong Rail Transport Court in Shanxi Province in China. According to the source, the man was accused of stealing about the equivalent of 104,000 Yuan (about $15,000) in electricity to power 50 crypto mining equipment and three fans that were active 24 hours a day during November and December last year.

The accused one, named Xu Xinghua, “stole the power of the pole near the Second West Plant of the Kouquan Railway” and during his crypto mining operations, he generated 3.2 Bitcoin (BC), about 120,000 Yuan (roughly $17,300).

The Chinese court also noted that Xinghua will have to pay electricity bills and that its crypto mining equipment will be confiscated. It should be noted that, of the 50 operating equipment, five were damaged during operations.

China is not ok with non-licensed crypto mining

The government of China indicated last July that the non-licensed activities of crypto mining would be closed as of September. On that occasion, they clarified that illegal Bitcoin (BTC) mining activities corresponded to those not registered with government authorities and that required a high unauthorized energy demand, in cases in which they did not have a private electricity service contract.

A month before the announcement, the seizure of more than 200 Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) mining equipment in Anhui province became known. In that case, the owner of the crypto mining equipment had stolen about 150,000 kW per hour for more than a month.

According to sources, 70% of the crypto mining in China is concentrated in a single province, called Sichuan, which suffered flooding last July, affecting operations. This area is attractive for mining because of the abundance of water resources and cheap electricity, low population density, and cold weather.

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