Tuesday, April 21, 2015
DigitalTangible Rebrands as Serica for Asset Trading ‘Beyond Precious Metals’
Augur Creates First Contract with Ethereum
APR 21 DIGEST: KnC Miner Sued by Customers, NJ Cop Caught Selling Stolen Mining Equipment
Bitcoin Gold Floods Coffers of Finnish Pirate Party
Bitcoin Price Analysis: Steady Downtrend (Week of APR 19)
Monday, April 20, 2015
Infinity Algorithms and Factom Announce Collaboration
Today, Infinity Algorithms and Factom are proud to announce a new partnership. Infinity Algorithms will integrate Factom’s time stamped immutable ledger into the SAFE network providing an additional layer of security for users. This will build trust by providing complete transparency and real time audibility of SAFEX network systems of record, while at the same time maintaining user privacy. Factom will also be explore ways to utilize the SAFE network within the Factom protocol.
Infinity Algorithms and the SAFEX Protocol
Infinity Algorithms uses Factom for time-stamping and verification in its SAFEX protocol
“We are proud to announce a partnership in which the SAFEX protocol will enable Factom’s time stamped immutable ledger into the SAFE Network.” Said Daniel Dabek, Co-Founder and CEO of Infinity Algorithms.
“Infinity Algorithms is providing an important bridge between the SAFE Network and other blockchains and Factom is proud to be a part of that integration.” Said Peter Kirby, Factom’s President.
Who is Infinity Algorithms?
Infinity Algorithms is a software and technology firm based in San Francisco. They pioneer decentralized automation software and hardware configurations for commercial use. Infinity Algorithms makes it possible for people to be totally in control of their private information through their software and hardware. The SAFEX protocol is a major breakthrough in preventing fraud in the field of exchange. Each person can download a client and trade in open markets without giving up their assets to a custodian. Through Infinity Algorithms, People have the security that their financial decision are their own and not at the mercy of an unknown entity. Learn more at InfinityAlgorithms.com.
Who is Factom?
Factom is an immutable and time stamped data layer for the blockchain that allows users to publish and verify any kind of digital information. Factom technology is especially compelling for those who want to build trust with users by providing complete transparency and real time audit ability of their systems of record, while at the same time maintaining user privacy. Blockchain based authenticity verification and auditing of document and offers significant value for any business process one wants to make honest and accountable. Check out examples and videos that explain how different companies can use this new platform: Factom.org.
Crypto Foundation Russia Head's Political Extremism Makes a Convenient Enemy for Govt, Banking Lobby (Op-Ed)
Former Yahoo! Executive and Hightail CEO Joins Ripple as COO
Brad Garlinghouse, the former CEO of Hightail and a long-time executive of Yahoo! has been appointed as Ripple’s first Chief Operating Officer, as the company passes the 100-employee mark.
“Brad’s experience will be invaluable as we advance our focus from building a strong pipeline to execution and exceptional growth,” said Ripple Labs CEO and co-founder Chris Larsen in a statement. “We share a vision for the future of finance and the creation of an Internet of Value in which value exchange is as fast, free, transparent and secure as information exchange is on the Internet today.”
Prior to Hightail (formerly known as YouSendIt), Garlinghouse worked for AOL Inc. as the former president of applications and commerce and for Yahoo! as an executive.
During his stay at Hightail in 2012, Garlinghouse focused the company on “file sharing and remote document access, placing it in competition with Dropbox Inc. and Box Inc.,” creating advertisements such “Your files should be neither Dropped nor Boxed.”
A year later, Garlinghouse rebranded YouSendIt to Hightail and stepped down from the position. By 2009, Hightail supported more than 8.5 million users, of which 100,000 were paying users.
Based on Garlinghouse’s success in his former tech companies, Ripple believes that the appointment of Garlinghouse will support the “incredible momentum for Ripple as a new infrastructure for global payments.”
Although Garlinghouse has a tremendous amount of experience in the technology industry, Garlinghouse admitted that the fintech space is relatively new to him.
“My honest answer is this is a new category for me — I haven’t worked in [the financial tech] space,” he said. “I think any time a leader is joining a new company, almost always the right strategy is to listen and learn, and for me the next 30 days for sure will be that, maybe even 60 days. These [are] people who are truly kind of geniuses in their field, ranging from cryptography to open source systems, and I’ve got a lot to learn.”
Proof-of-Stake Currency NeuCoin Focuses on Micropayments; Prepares for Presale
Digital currency startup NeuCoin’s 60-day crowd pre-sale aims to raise the additional funds needed to prepare for the company’s public launch this summer.
One hundred million NeuCoin will be up for sale April 28 in exchange for bitcoin. The price will start at 25,000 NeuCoin for 1 Bitcoin (approx. $0.01 per NeuCoin) and increase by 1 percent each day. The pre-sale will end after 60 days or after all coins have been sold.
The Paris-based NeuCoin startup has already raised $2.25 million from a group of investors.
Co-founder Dan Kaufman is confident about the launch of NeuCoin and told Bitcoin Magazine:
“We’ve been getting thousands of emails and feel there’s a lot of interest and anticipation for the pre-sale. People seem to appreciate our solid angel investors and consumer-friendly micropayments approach. Since there are no daily caps, the 100 million NeuCoins may sell out very fast.”
In addition, the company will be distributing its “freemium” model free to consumers who just want to try it out, and there will be more for customers who recruit other new customers. Businesses that promote NeuCoin and accept micropayments in NeuCoin will also receive “freemium” coin.
What is NeuCoin?
NeuCoin is a digital currency that is easy to use and ideal for online tipping and micropayments. Co-founder Dan Kaufman says he made the consumer his first priority and his goal was always to develop the most user-friendly of all the digital currencies.
NeuCoin uses a similar model to Peercoin and is often referred to as a peer-to-peer coin. It is based on proof-of-stake (PoS), rather than proof-of-work (PoW) and pays interest to owners as the coin is staked (as opposed to miners).
Neucoin says that its high PoS rates reward early NeuCoin adopters and address a key security issue by rewarding PoS miners to stake numerous NeuCoins and operate many nodes.
Why NeuCoin instead of Bitcoin?
According to Dan Kauffman, the real motivator for developing NeuCoin was the inaccessibility and techie nature of Bitcoin – a great idea but too hard for consumers to access and use.
Kaufman, with his partners Johan Sandstrom, Ophélie Pubellier and Scott Walker, recently released a whitepaper arguing that Proof of Stake (PoS) is superior to Bitcoin’s Proof of Work with its high costs, mining centralization and the ever-increasing costs of Bitcoin mining hardware.
Kaufman maintains that Bitcoin suffers from too much centralization, particularly in the area of mining, with fewer companies owning more and more mining equipment.
And he says it is more than likely that Bitcoin transaction fees will go up in the future.
Early Investors
Major angel investors include Emil Michael, SVP of business at Uber, Henrik Kjellberg, president of Hotwire, Patrik Stymne, co-founder of King (Candy Crush Saga), Rob Goldman, head of growth at Facebook, Ted Rogers from Xapo, and dozens of other top tech and media executives.
Strategic advisers to the startup include Spotify’s Alex Norstrom, Dogecoin creator Jackson Palmer and Brock Pierce, entrepreneur and Bitcoin Foundation board member.
Three Nonprofit Foundations designed to decentralize NeuCoin
Three nonprofit groups located on the Isle of Man will develop and support NeuCoin, each with their own focus – core development, growth and utility.
Each foundation has different council members, budgets and priorities and is ultimately controlled by all the people who own NeuCoin (one coin equals one vote).
About 2.4 billion of the total NeuCoin supply has been placed in the hands of these three independent foundations, and they are responsible for distributing these coins to developers and entrepreneurs.
The NeuCoin team is planning a public launch for July and has said they will guarantee that if the NeuCoin platform isn’t up and running by September they’ll return the pre-sale funds, which will be held in escrow until the coin is issued.
“With the funding from our angel investors…we already have all the money needed to finish the code, the super easy online wallet, the consumer on-boarding site and more,” Kaufman said. “The proceeds from the pre-sale will go to NeuCoin’s nonprofit foundations and fund later consumer marketing and development of micropayment platforms with MondoMedia, a video content producer with the largest animation channel on YouTube, to develop and Jango.com, a streaming music service with 8 million monthly listeners.”
Facelift: How Decentralized Social Networks Could Make Crypto Cool
South American Bitcoin Exchange SurBTC Launches with Funding from Chilean Government
Chile-based Bitcoin company, SurBTC, which translates to Bitcoin South, recently launched the South American country’s first Bitcoin exchange. The exchange hopes to be a safe and reliable way for Chileans to access and invest in bitcoin.
Chile is right next door to Argentina, a country well known in the Bitcoin industry. Argentina’s high inflation and strict capital controls have created conditions many believe will ignite Bitcoin adoption in the country. But unbeknownst to most, Chileans have had a growing interest in digital currency as well.
The country has been home to a small-but-growing Bitcoin community. There are more than 200 registered members in the Santiago, Chile Bitcoin Meetup, as well as numerous businesses that accept the digital currency. But Chileans have few ways to buy and sell bitcoin.
By being the country’s first Bitcoin exchange, SurBTC hopes to provide a safer and easier way for people to acquire the digital currency.
Guillermo Torrealba, CEO and co-founder of SurBTC, told Latin America tech news outlet FayerWayer, “[…] for this technology to fulfill its promise to transform the way that much of global finance operates, you must first fill it with responsible companies that offer products and services that not only seek returns, but which will help to develop this emerging industry.
“We are interpreting this ‘responsibility,’ offering a very transparent, secure exchange and open to other entrepreneurs to connect and develop their own solutions,” Torrealba said. “This is the only way that people can forget the scams that have been.”
The process to launch the exchange started nearly a year ago. SurBTC wanted to make sure the exchange was fully complaint and had strong banking relations. After being rejected from 6 major banks in Chile, they finally found a banking partner willing to work with a Bitcoin company.
According to Torrealba, banking relations is the primary reason the exchange has taken so long to launch.
“These are the necessary steps that new Bitcoin companies have to go through in order to erase the bad reputation some left behind,” he said.
Along the way, the startup did find support from an unlikely source, the Chilean government. The Bitcoin startup received $40,000 from the Chilean government equity-free, as part of one the state’s startup initiatives.
According to a press release, the SurBTC team felt it was “extraordinary validation,” as it was the first time the Chilean government had given money to a Bitcoin startup.
SurBTC was co-founded by Chilean businessmen Torrealba and Augustine Feuerhake. A former business professor, Torrealba previously worked for a Latin American business consultancy firm before co-founding Baltoro, a seawater desalination startup.
Feuerhake is a four-time startup founder with more than eight years of experience in mobile development.
The company launched its exchange late last month, but according to Torrealba, SurBTC is already seeing a lot of traction. SurBTC is also looking to accommodate more traders by adding more services and adding U.S. dollars to the platform soon.
SurBTC has ambitions of expanding throughout Latin America and being the primary exchange for the whole region. Torrealba said the company will be expanding to other countries very quickly in 2015.
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