Bitcoin Plaza

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Symbiont Raises $1.25M Seed Funding from Former NYSE CEO for ‘Smart Securities’ on the Blockchain

In March, Bitcoin Magazine reported that Counterparty founders had joined with MathMoney f(x) and its founder Mark Smith as co-founders of the new fintech company Symbiont, focused on fostering the symbiotic relationship between traditional financial markets and cryptographic blockchain technology.

According to the Symbiont’s website, the company is building the first issuance and trading platform for smart securities on blockchain technology. Now, Symbiont has announced that it has secured $1.25 million of seed funding from influential financial market leaders including Duncan Niederauer, former CEO of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A ‘Series A’ round of institutional investment is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015.

“Symbiont is bridging the gap between Wall Street and the emerging blockchain ecosystem,” said Niederauer. “It’s an exciting, timely and much-needed development for the long-term health of the markets.”

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to leverage this previously unimaginable technology for the greater good of investors, financial institutions, and global financial markets,” said Smith, co-founder and CEO of Symbiont. “The blockchain not only has the potential to democratize markets but to drive down the cost of doing business across all sectors.”

The Financial Times notes that the investment reflects growing interest by professional traders and infrastructure providers in the use of blockchain technology for global financial markets. Symbiont is developing a platform that allows market participants to create digital, programmable versions of securities. The company hopes the development of these securities, and their availability in one global, decentralized peer-to-peer network, will increase efficiency and transparency and lower the cost of issuing, trading, settling and clearing securities.

Reuters reports that Smith emphasized that the company does not run an exchange.

“Our focus is not trading digital currencies,” said Smith. “Our focus is the application of the blockchain or distributed ledger technology in conjunction with smart contracts for the issuance, management, trading, clearing, and settlement of different traditional financial securities.”

Symbiont isn’t the only company trying to revolutionize the stock markets with the blockchain technology. Nasdaq, a prestigious stock exchange and leading financial institution, recently announced that it will leverage blockchain technology as part of an enterprise-wide initiative, starting with a pilot project in Nasdaq Private Market, a recently launched marketplace that handles pre-IPO trading among private companies.

“Utilizing the blockchain is a natural digital evolution for managing physical securities,” said Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld. “Our initial application of Nasdaq’s blockchain technology-enabled offering will modernize, streamline and secure typically cumbersome administrative functions, and will simplify the overwhelming challenges private companies face with manual ledger record-keeping.”

Overstock is developing a new independent stock exchange dubbed Medici, powered by blockchain technology. The new stock exchange could sidestep traditional stock exchanges such as NYSE and Nasdaq and issue corporate stock directly over the Internet.

“The cryptorevolution has arrived on Wall Street,” said Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne. “We’re making it official by offering the world’s first ‘cryptosecurity.’”

In 2014, Counterparty’s technology was selected as the main software backbone for Medici. It was later revealed that Medici will include a wider variety of Bitcoin technologies, protocols and blockchains, but now it appears that Counterparty’s technology will play an important role in the emergent cryptosecurities sector via Symbiont.

“After studying the intricacies of [the blockchain] it became clear that blockchains in general, and Counterparty specifically, could solve longstanding, previously intractable problems that exist in modern financial markets,” Smith said in March. “This epiphany made the decision to join forces with the Counterparty team a logical one.”

Photo VectorBG / CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported

Bitcoin Shop, Inc. (BTCS) and Spondoolies-Tech Move Forward with Merger

In an attempt to create one of the world’s first publicly traded bitcoin transaction verification companies, Bitcoin Shop, Inc. (BTCS) and Spondoolies-Tech, Ltd. have announced that they are in the process of merging.

By merging, BTCS, which recently launched its own mining farm, would gain access to the technology of one of the top hardware providers in the ecosystem.

The deal is an all-stock deal that will result in BTCS owning 53 percent of the combined company. This is due to the recent $1.5 million investment in Spondoolies that took place in May, which was a first step in completing the merger. This initial investment by BTCS bought it 6.6 percent equity interest in Spondoolies based on a pre-money valuation of $21.2 million.

When the merger is complete, Charles Allen, the CEO of BTCS, will act as the CEO and chairman of the merged company. Guy Corem, Spondoolies CEO and co-founder, will serve as a board member and executive officer. Yuval Rozen will be BTCS’s CFO.

Combined BTCS Moving Forward

“With the completion of BTCS’s recent investment in Spondoolies, we will begin turn our attention to moving the merger process forward,” Charles Allen said in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine.

And the future of BTCS and Spondoolies post-merger proves to disrupt the mining world.

“The core focus post-merger will be to design, manufacture and deploy servers in BTCS’s data center and expand to other low-cost data centers operated by the company,” Allen explained. “We are still discussing the possibility of selling equipment to certain customers. However, the decision will be based on what is in the best interest of our shareholders.”

Spondoolies launched just a year ago, but it took the mining world by shock with its high-quality chips. The implication would be that BTCS, a bitcoin miner, would also be producing chips to give itself a competitive advantage over other miners rather than being a supplier to other miners.

“During our first year of operation, Spondoolies successfully launched five different hardware products which are widely recognized as the best of their respective categories,” said Guy Corem, CEO of Spondoolies, in a statement. And the numbers support his statements. According to numbers released by Spondoolies — and audited by Deloitte for the planned merger — the company had $28 million in revenue in 2014.

And according to the numbers, that growth seems to be getting even stronger despite where the price of bitcoin has been going for the past year.

“We’ve shipped out more units in December 2014 than we have in April of the same year, which is a strong indicator of our ongoing growth,” Kobi Levin, COO of Spondoolies, said in a statement.

BTCS Farm Well Above Break Even Price

Based on the numbers provided by BTCS, the company still has more room for the price to drop before it reaches its real cost for mining. According to Allen, while the company hasn’t disclosed its exact mining costs because it changes based on the network hashrate, the current hashrate has BTCS’s cost resting between $100-$200/BTC.

At present, the company has 980 TH/s of hashing power that came online toward the end of the first quarter. By merging with Spondoolies, the company looks to ramp up even more hashing power.

But some argue that all of these large operations participating in mining is not the original intent of Bitcoin. Allen addressed that issue in an earlier interview, explaining that the mistake many earlier miners made was that they didn’t take cost structure into consideration.

“A miner running a unit where electricity is expensive will have a much higher cost than a miner running an identical unit in an area with low-cost electricity. This has led to the current consolidation trend in mining into large facilities and away from private or home miners,” he said.

Future Spondoolies Chips

While the combined company doesn’t intend on focusing too much on developing products for the general population, that hasn’t stopped it from coming up with new chips to launch this summer.

“Spondoolies-Tech is hard at work developing a third-generation ASIC,” Guy Corem said in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine. “The new ASIC is aiming for a 4X improvement over the efficiency of the second-generation unit. The new ASIC will allow the merged company to secure a significant percentage of the hash rate.”

According to a statement by the company, this next-generation chip should allow for bitcoin to be mined profitably, even if the bitcoin price was to drop below $100.

Releasing this third-generation chip should definitely allow BTCS the potential to gain a large chunk of market share in the bitcoin mining space, increasing the likelihood that the merger does take place. However, if the merger does break down, BTCS will walk away with a $1 million breakup fee.

Photo Bob Mical / CC BY 2.0

Vitalik Buterin to Audit La’Zooz Decentralized Ridesharing Project

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has accepted the professional auditing role for the La’Zooz crypto-based ridesharing project.

Kim Dotcom Vouches to Raise $100 Million for MegaNet’s January Debut

Controversial entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has announced his mysterious MegaNet venture will become a reality early next year, vouching to raise US$100 million in funding.

JUN 10 DIGEST: Max Keiser's 'Bitcoin Capital' Investment Fund Raises over $1M, Bitso Acquires Unisend Mexico

A cryptocurrency fund managed has raised over US$1 million; GoCoin and Ziftr announce merger agreement; rewards programs exempted from New York's BitLicense and more news

Bitfortip: Combining ‘Yahoo! Answers’ with Digital Currency

New service that allows users to post questions and pay Bitcoin to people who submit the best answers.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Bridging the Gender Gap: 400 ‘Power Women in FinTech’

SWIFT Innotribe released a white paper entitled “Power Women in FinTech Index: Bridging the Gender Gap” at the Digital Finance Conference 2015 in Vancouver on June 3.

BitLicense Exemption a ‘Huge Deal’ for RibbitRewards

Following the June 3 release of the final NY BitLicence, but the new ruling excludes rewards programs, which has been a boon for RibbitRewards

ShapeShift.io Launches First Ever Digital Currency Exchange App for iOS

ShapeShift.io, a well-known digital currency exchange, has just announced that the trading platform is available on the IOS app store, making it the first mobile exchange app ever permitted on the app store.

Along with Apple’s announcement of iOS 9, users will be able to trade bitcoin with monero, counterparty, dash, and other altcoins from their phones.

“Since inception, ShapeShift has changed what is expected of altcoin exchanges,” said ShapeShift.io Founder and CEO Erik Voorhees in a press release. “Having a presence on mobile is a crucial step in our roadmap for delivering the most
frictionless experience possible while working at the speed of digital currency.”

“Shapeshift mobile iOS app is the next step towards instant accessibility of crypto – no matter where you are,” said Lisa Cheng, founder of Vanbex.

Unlike traditional exchanges, users can trade without an account or email address. Arguing that the increased privacy is good for consumer protection, (no data in the hands of a third party) users also have access to shifting one coin or digital asset to another, receiving a payment shortly after deposit.

“Most exchanges hold customer funds and extract personal information, which is an archaic and insecure model,” said Voorhees. “Mt. Gox was a teachable moment for everyone in the Bitcoin community, and ShapeShift has innovated these problems out of the picture. We are both faster and more secure. This is real consumer protection – no funds or sensitive information is stored on our servers, nor on the user’s phone in case it is damaged, destroyed or stolen. Digital currency has brought to humanity a more secure infrastructure, and so we build in that spirit.”

Over the past few months, ShapeShift has partnered with a number of companies to expand their service, including Purse.io, an escrow service that allows customers to purchase items on Amazon for a discount by using digital currency, and Vaultoro, a platform that allows users to trade digital currency for bullion.

Historically, Apple has been rather anti-digital currency on the app store, having a time period of several months in which Bitcoin wallets weren’t even allowed. Since then, Apple has allowed for wallets, and now the first-ever exchange.

Despite the supposed change of heart, Apple Pay is still charging forward without Bitcoin, and it doesn’t look like it will look to adopt it or its technology anytime soon. ShapeShift’s mobile app might mark a change in app store policy in which more digital currency exchanges will be allowed to launch mobile applications on the IOS platform.

Alt Convention Conference Invites Blockchain, FinTech and Bitcoin Industry to Georgia

Bitcoin Press Release: With 350 tickets already sold, Alt Convention features Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Jon Matonis, and many more big names in Bitcoin, finance and government sectors as speakers. Alt Convention is geared towards anyone with an interest in emerging financial technologies, with discounted early bird tickets and substantial sponsorship opportunities available.

Alt Convention, a three-day business, finance, and technology conference focusing on FinTech innovation will be held from October 8-10, 2015, in the beautiful resort city of Batumi, Georgia. Ranked 15th out of 189 countries for ease of doing business, Georgia boasts a stable, growing economy with forward-thinking leadership, in the heart of an emerging market that is rapidly becoming a hub for developers and entrepreneurs.

“Because of our own first-hand insight into the business, IT, and FinTech climate in Georgia, we decided to host Alt Convention. The legislative and banking climate, and growth opportunities in this emerging market are staggering,” said David Ruebush, CEO, Global Bitbillions Group Incorporated.

The early speakers list so far includes Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Bitcoin evangelist, author and entrepreneur; Charles Hoskinson, developer and mathematician; Jonas Kjellberg, co-creator of Skype and co-founder of Gear Up Ventures; Adam Krellenstein and Evan Wagner of Counterparty; Jon Matonis, Founding Board Member of the Bitcoin Foundation and Chief Forex Dealer at VISA; Pamela Morgan of Empowered Law and Third Key Solutions; Uri Levine, co-creator of Waze; Tatiana Moroz of Tatiana Coin and Crypto Media Hub, and Lilia Vershinina of Kraken, to name a few. Many more speakers are listed on the Alt Convention website; additional speakers will be added in the upcoming months.

Geared toward business owners, innovators, entrepreneurs, developers, government officials, venture capitalists, and anyone else with an interest in new financial technologies, the event will feature hands-on workshops, conference sessions, round-table discussions, panels, an exhibit hall, networking events, cultural performances, and a hackathon.

Alt Convention events will address ways that Bitcoin, next-generation blockchain, and other FinTech developments can disrupt various sectors such as law and finance, while exploring growth opportunities around the world, especially in emerging markets like Asia and Eastern Europe. Presentation and discussion topics will appeal to seasoned programmers, longtime enthusiasts, and those new to digital currencies. An early list of introductory topics promises to address blockchain basics, mining, security, smart contracts, proof of stake, distributed storage, an Ethereum overview, and an introduction to Bitcoin 2.0 platforms.

Ruebush went on to state,

“While my company has been quietly developing our own blockchain project, I have spent the past year cultivating relationships with government officials and banks in Georgia. I can tell you there is a very good reason businesses such as BitFury and others are already investing heavily in this emerging market.”

With 350+ tickets already sold in advance of its initial major marketing push, Alt Convention expects to draw over 2500 attendees. Several government officials from the region including representatives from the Georgian and Ajara Ministries of Finance and Economy will be in attendance along with CEOs from several regional banks.

A growing list of partnerships for the conference includes Kraken, Counterparty, Bitnation, Digital Money Times, Bitcoin Magazine, yBitcoin, NewsBTC.com, 247CryptoNews, and Bitclub Network. A wide range of sponsorship opportunities is still available.

Tickets for Alt Convention are now being sold on the event website and may be purchased using bitcoin or a major credit card. Discounted tickets will be offered until June 25, 2015.

Updates and further information will be posted on the Alt Convention.com website. For media and partnership inquiries, please contact Tatiana Moroz at Tatiana@CryptoMediaHub.com or (917) 832-2014, or visit http://ift.tt/1B082i9.

About Bitcoin PR Buzz:

Bitcoin PR Buzz has been proudly serving the PR and marketing needs of Bitcoin and digital currency tech start-ups for over 2 years. Get your own professional Bitcoin and digital currency Press Release. Click here for more information.

Blockstream Moves Ahead with Sidechain Elements, the First Implementation of Sidechains

The authors of the much-discussed Bitcoin Sidechains paper “Enabling Blockchain Innovations with Pegged Sidechains,” released in October, formed the company Blockstream to implement sidechains and accelerate innovation in digital currencies. In November, Blockstream closed a $21 million seed funding round with nearly 40 high-profile investors.

The Bitcoin Sidechains paper envisages an ecosystem of “sidechains” separate from the main Bitcoin blockchain but interoperable with it by means of two-way pegs, allowing for the transfer of assets between sidechains and the main blockchain. A sidechain can implement changes from Bitcoin Core, for example, more powerful scripting features or more watertight privacy. According to Blockstream, sidechains enable innovators to safely develop new applications without jeopardizing Bitcoin’s core code and putting billions of dollars worth of digital currency at risk.

For a readable explanation of sidechains, see “A simple explanation of Bitcoin ‘Sidechains,” by Richard Gendal Brown, executive architect for banking innovation at IBM UK. Despite the considerable interest in sidechains, the enthusiasm of developers has been so far dampened by the lack of actual implementations of sidechains.

Now Blockstream has announced Sidechain Elements, a sidechain development framework with open source code and developer sidechains.

“We’re excited to announce the release of Sidechain Elements,” says Adam Back, co-founder and president of Blockstream. “Sidechains extend Bitcoin functionality through interoperable blockchain networks and today’s open source release includes an experimental sidechain that has a number of new working capabilities. With the release of Sidechain Elements, Blockstream is moving this effort into the community.”

Sidechain Elements includes functioning code and a testing environment for working with sidechains with several components: the core network software to build an initial testing sidechain, eight new features not currently supported by Bitcoin, a basic wallet and the code for moving coins between blockchains.

Blockstream’s CTO and Bitcoin Core developer Gregory Maxwell explains Sidechain Elements in a video on the Blockstream website.

As open-source, protocol-level technology, developers can use Sidechain Elements to extend the functionality of Bitcoin and explore new applications of the Blockchain.

“We’re inviting developers to work with us, to test and use the code for their projects, and to share their proposals and code for additional capabilities,” says Back. The new features not currently supported by Bitcoin Core include Confidential Transactions, Basic Asset Issuance, Relative Lock Time and several others.

One of the most powerful new features being explored in Elements is Confidential Transactions, a cryptographic tool to improve the privacy and security of Bitcoin. This feature keeps the amounts transferred visible only to participants in the transaction (and those they designate). A detailed explanation of Confidential Transactions by Maxwell is available here.

With Basic Asset Issuance, users can issue their own assets via newly created units that represent fungible ownership of an underlying asset type. These tokens can theoretically represent any asset including vouchers, coupons, currencies, deposits, bonds, shares, etc.

With Relative Lock Time, the consensus-enforced semantics of the sequence number field is modified to enable a signed transaction input to remain invalid for a defined period of time after confirmation of its corresponding output, for the purpose of supporting consensus-enforced transaction replacement features. This feature is also useful for efficient implementation of blockchain secured off-chain layers like the Lightning Network, where related transactions can take place instantly on “micropayment channels” off-chain, and only the final settlement is processed by the blockchain.

Blockstream will seek to provide Sidechain Elements as a base for the nearly 30 blockchain innovation initiatives that have been announced by major financial institutions in the past few months. Since the deployment of sidechains interoperable with Bitcoin requires the implementation of suitable tweaks to Bitcoin Core, Blockstream is working to draft a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal for a fully decentralized two-way peg and merge-mined sidechains.

Once fully implemented, sidechains will probably have a disruptive impact on the Bitcoin ecosystem. For example, it seems likely that the useful features of some altcoins, such as improved scripting, transaction times and privacy, could be replicated in a sidechain without losing interoperability with Bitcoin.

Image via Blockstream.

Bitcoin.org Adds ‘Popular’ Ninki Wallet that Features Networking and Invoicing

Ninki Wallet is the first PGP Bitcoin wallet that allows users to create a payment network, send and receive invoices, and send and receive Bitcoin without having to deal with addresses.