Bitcoin Plaza

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Is Bitcoin Unsustainable, and How Can It Be Made Sustainable?

“Bitcoin Is Unsustainable,” claims the title of a provocative essay by Motherboard contributor Christopher Malmo that has spurred considerable debate. Malmo’s central thesis is that Bitcoin uses way too much electricity.

The essay opens with a future scenario that, in view of the crisis in Greece, is beginning to appear more plausible – in 2018, Greece is long out of the Eurozone and economic malaise is spreading to neighboring countries. Panicked Europeans sell their euro for bitcoin, which is becoming a stable and respectable currency, causing even more user adoption and recognition by governments.

According to Malmo this scenario, which sounds like heaven to faithful Bitcoin enthusiasts, is more like hell – a burning hell of bitcoin mining circuitry and electricity costs spiraling out of control.

Malmo mentions huge mining operations in China with a catastrophic environmental impact, and notes that the total power consumption of the Bitcoin network is estimated by computer cooling firm Allied Control at 250 megawatts to 500 megawatts.

“That’s around enough zap to power 173,000 average American households’ daily electricity usage,” says Malmo. “With about 110,000 transactions per day, that works out to 1.57 households daily usage of electricity per bitcoin transaction.”

His conclusion: “Yes, every time you buy something in bitcoin, you could be using as much electricity as 1.57 American families do in a day.”

As climate change becomes a more pressing concern for humanity every day, this huge level of energy use is difficult to justify for a currency wanting to improve on the current arrangement.

“It appears there are significant challenges to ensuring that Bitcoin’s growth minimizes environmental impacts,” noted Jeremy McDaniels, a financial system sustainability expert with the United Nations Environment Program. “Energy footprints could be an issue if major scale-up is achieved.”

That’s is already a lot for passionate Bitcoin evangelists to swallow, but Malmo makes things even worse when he unfavorably compares Bitcoin to the Visa network – of all things – in terms of energy consumption:

“That makes Bitcoin about 5,033 times more energy intensive, per transaction, than Visa.”

That caused the anger of many readers, who promptly pointed out that the analysis doesn’t take into account the overall energy footprint of traditional payment, banking and financial service providers. Some accuse the author of just having his facts wrong.

Malmo’s analysis seems, indeed, a bit forced and overstated. However, dismissing it without consideration would be a disservice to Bitcoin, because everything needs constructive criticism to move beyond current flaws. Bitcoin is – though perhaps not to the extent denounced by Malmo – less energy efficient than it could and should be.

Malmo notes that developers might be able to reduce Bitcoin’s energy footprint by moving ahead with the controversial proposed increase of the block size to 20 megabytes, or 8 megabytes.

Another option to reduce Bitcoin’s energy footprint would be implementing energy-efficient Sidechains, separate from the main Bitcoin blockchain but interoperable with it by means of two-way pegs, or Lightning Networks, where related transactions can take place instantly on “micropayment channels” off-chain, and only the final settlement is processed by the blockchain. Lightning networks could enable bitcoin scalability, efficient micropayments and near-instant transactions.

Coin Center Praises California’s Updated Draft for Digital Currency Legislation

Earlier this year Bitcoin policy think tank Coin Center claimed the role of interface to policymakers and regulators, with the publication of a framework for state digital currency regulation. On March 27, Coin Center issued a detailed commentary to New York’s BitLicense, combining measured praise with constructive criticism.

MIT Digital Currency Initiative lead Brian Forde praised the Coin Center commentary, and, in particular, the idea that regulations should strike a middle ground in such a way as to protect both consumers and digital innovators.

“Our mission is to build a better understanding of these technologies and to promote a regulatory climate that preserves the freedom to innovate using blockchain technologies,” says the Coin Center website. “We do this by producing and publishing policy research from respected academics and experts, educating policymakers and the media about blockchain technology, and by engaging in advocacy for sound public policy.”

Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, praises a new amended draft of California’s AB 1326, a bill that would specify the state’s licensing regime for digital currency businesses, saying that it’s good news for Bitcoin advocates everywhere. Coin Center issued a letter of support for the legislation.

The main objection of Coin Center to a previous draft was that it contained language that would make exchange or conversion an activity that would require licensing. In the new draft, that language has been removed, perhaps as a result of a commentary that was issued by Coin Center.

Now, “California’s definition of virtual currency business matches closely the standard we’ve set out in our State Digital Currency Framework and that we’ve been fighting for in various states since the start of this year: A company should only need a license if they have actual custody of their customer’s bitcoins,” says Brito. “That shouldn’t include pure software designers; it shouldn’t include minority key holders in a multi-sig address; it shouldn’t include the builders of sidechains, colored coin markets, or smart-contract-based exchange and conversion services for altcoins or new blockchains.”

Coin Center’s “State Digital Currency Principles and Framework” is a model for digital-currency-specific regulations and laws. The document provides a template with structure, definitions and language for the essential components of any digital currency law: who must be licensed, how startups are encouraged, how solvency is guaranteed and other necessary elements.

Coin Center expressed hopes that states will use the framework as a template for their own bills and regulations and try to strike an optimal balance between necessary crime prevention and consumer protection on the one hand, and equally necessary agility and flexibility to ensure innovation and technology leadership on the other.

The latest draft also includes an on-ramp for small startups. By meeting standards set by the legislation, a small company will be able to operate without paying the full licensing fee or meeting the requirements of a full license.

“California’s bill is now a massive step forward from the examples set by New York and Connecticut,” says Brito. “Other states that have already passed less tailored legislation (Connecticut), or promulgated more onerous rules (New York) should take note: California is getting it right, and states waiting to take on this topic should follow its lead.”

Bitcoin Transactions Surge to Record Highs amid Greece Crisis

The number of Bitcoin transactions surged to a new record high Tuesday, dwarfing previous peak activity including that seen during the Mt. Gox implosion in December 2013.

Greek Homeowner Seeks to Convert Real Estate Wealth to 4,955 BTC

The luxury marketplace that accepts Bitcoin, BitPremier, is listing a Greek Villa for sale. The home is priced at almost 5,000 bitcoins, or €1,200,000.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Bitcoin Gaming Alternative HYPER Added to MMORPG Dragon Knights of Valeria – HYPER Roadmap Document Released

Bitcoin Press Release: HYPER has been fully integrated into the free market trading platform for in-game resources in MMO RPG Dragon Knights of Valeria. The HYPER project runs over 10 HYPER enabled game servers including CSGO, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rust, Poker and much more.The official HYPER strategy and roadmap document was also recently released.

Over a year old, HYPER is pleased to announce that it has been fully integrated into MMO RPG Dragon Knights of Valeria. Anyone can now deposit and withdraw HYPER; trading it for other in-game resources as players build up their kingdom.

Dragon Knights of Valeria is a popular MMORPG game with over 400 players. Players can earn HYPER, GoldPieces and Dragon Points (DP) as they play the game which can then be traded for up to 7 different cryptocurrencies and withdrawn in-game. The creator, Anarchist of Crypto Database, is also responsible for curating a CC library that catalogs over 1,300 different coins and supplies information for each one.

As the admin Anarchist says about Dragon Knights of Valeria game play:

“Once inside the world of Dragon Knights of Valeria players can explore the map in search of new towns, fight monsters for rewards and DP, and do quests that also award DP for each part completed. Each town offers its own set of equipment, pets, quests, exchanges, gambling, banks, clans, and assorted other options.

Towns also offer a gateway into their very own Kingdom where they can build villages, purchase more land, gather resources such as wood and fish, upgrade their fishing and woodcutting levels to increase the amounts gained, and train their own army once they reach level 10. You can send your soldiers to attack other players kingdoms in the hopes of taking more land, gold, and DP from your opponent.”

As well as HYPER, Dragon Knights of Valeria has also integrated online RPG gaming digital currency GoldPieces (GP) into the in-game free market trading platform. GP had no premine, and is a currency designed for online RPG gaming specifically.

HYPER and Goldpieces are the only currencies with this level of integration in Dragon Knights of Valeria, and HYPER remains the top sponsor of the innovative online MMORPG.

Dragon Knights of Valeria also has an in-game tip bot, where anyone can be tipped free HYPER and GP simply for playing, and contributing to the community in chat.

The Dragon Knights of Valeria Bitcointalk thread is where the latest game updates are posted:http://ift.tt/1HHYXLQ

Recently celebrating its first birthday, the HYPER project has also released the official HYPER roadmap and strategy document. The document outlines the unprecedented cryptocurrency gaming ecosystem HYPER has established in its first year of existence, and where the project is heading.

The HYPER development team states that the ultimate vision of HYPER is for:

“HYPER to be known and used by all serious gamers worldwide. HYPER is the ultimate disruptive gaming digital currency with hundreds of online games and servers that utilize HYPER as the in-game currency. HYPER has a diverse and unprecedented ecosystem, that provides many unique opportunities for gaming, trading and profit.

In some ways HYPER has already achieved a part of this vision. It is the most widely known gaming digital currency with the most extensive ecosystem. The next step is to have HYPER break into the multi-billion dollar industry of mainstream gaming. And of course to have a lot of fun while we are doing it.”

HYPER currently runs over 10 game servers with full HYPER integration including CSGO, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rust, HYPER Wars Space Strategy, Hyperzanda, Poker, and much more.

Releasing the new HYPER Strategy and Roadmap document, and with HYPER integration in MMORPG Dragon Knights of Valeria – HYPER continues to cement its position as the leading gaming cryptocurrency.

Visit the HYPER Wiki to see all the HYPER game servers: http://ift.tt/13MSf6O

Read the official HYPER Roadmap and Strategy document at: http://ift.tt/1M7Cwzr

To trade HYPER with Bitcoin please go to: http://ift.tt/1sgQGbG

Visit HYPER on Bitcointalk: http://ift.tt/1HHYXLQ

Visit Dragon Knights of Valeria at: https://dknight2.com/

Visit Dragon Knights of Valeria bitcointalk thread: http://ift.tt/1HHYXLQ

This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an endorsement by Bitcoin Magazine or BTC Media, LLC. Bitcoin Magazine does not certify the accuracy of the above information provided by HYPER.

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.

Grexit Digital Currency Long Term Solution? Co-Founder of DNotes, Alan Yong Shares His Vision.

Bitcoin Press Release: With Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras suggesting the Greek government could issue their own digital currency – is this a viable solution? Alan Yong of DNotes explores how an established, ethical digital currency may be the most sustainable long term solution for Greece, and why digital currency enables anyone to access their money whenever they need it.

“This is a very sad and tragic situation. The rich may end up losing a vacation home in a foreign country but many of the less fortunate are at risk of losing their entire life savings, while being too old to rebuild their nest egg. It is even more depressing when no viable political solutions exist to give Greece’s citizens any hope of rebuilding their financial future” – Alan Yong, tech Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of DNotes.

Greece’s difficulty to live within its fiscal means has resulted in tough austerity measures in exchange for bailout money from the European Central Bank, causing Greek citizens great hardship. According to the former senior executive of PIMCO, El Erian

“Greeks have seen their living standards cut, unemployment is running at 26 percent, youth unemployment is over 50 percent and they’re about to face an even bigger depression.”

Small business owners unable to pay suppliers risk losing their business. Importers dependent on letter of credit facilities face an immediate halt to trading. Just like its citizens, the Greek government must also pay its bills. Its inability to do so could mean the reintroduction of a much devalued currency like the drachma, and there has been talk of creating their own digital currency.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has suggested that the Greek government could issue their own digital currency in the event that the EU does not agree to eased conditions for Greece’s bailout repayments. Yong takes exception,

“What Greece needs, is to adopt a global digital currency that is built with trust and integrity for everybody worldwide, so that anyone may participate regardless of financial or economic standing. If Greece chooses to return to a national currency like the drachma, or government backed digital currency, it is unlikely that currency would have much value outside of Greece. Greek citizens will fear that the new currency will be worth much less than their current euro deposits, and this will be counter-productive to preventing further bank runs. I believe that a digital currency that has its value set globally is the solution; a currency that remains stable regardless of local political turmoil.DNotes is that currency.”

The observed capital controls placed on Greeks by their government have raised serious questions about fiat money: if you are unable to withdraw your bank deposits from a bank, then is it really your money? This lost confidence in fiat currency is not unique to any particular nation. It is a global problem from governments printing more currency to cover their fiscal deficits, which devalues the money supply, taking value from citizens’ savings. This is compounded by the fact that fiat currency is created as debt whenever new loans are created by banks. Banks are only required to keep small fraction (2-3%) of their existing loan liabilities as ‘fractional reserves’. Fiat money is merely an ‘I owe you’ – fiat money is debt. Its value is negative. In the case of digital currency, the amount of new currency introduced to the system is fixed, and no external player, institution or organization has control over or may change this. Digital currency is created as proof of work done in a cryptographic process called mining, a process that verifies who owns each and every digital token. Digital currency is not created as debt like fiat is.

In a recent interview on Cointelegraph by Raunaq Vaisoha, DNotes Will Be Known as the Currency with a Purpose, Yong explained his passion to build a global digital currency. In this case, he envisions every Greek citizen being their own bank by taking advantage of digital currencies like DNotes to prevent another situation where people are unable to access their life savings. By making Greece the most regulatory friendly nation and the first to adopt global digital currency, Greece could be positioned to reap the immense benefits of Blockchain technologies and become the envy of other nations. It will be the catalyst of job creation and a huge draw for foreign investment. This will be a much better solution than any conceivable political solutions.

Yong concluded that:

“Greek citizens would have near zero transaction costs with instant transfers to anyone, anywhere in the world, while enjoying the benefits from financial integration with creditors worldwide, and not just banks in Greece. This technology would encourage trade, create jobs for Greece’s unemployed, and lessen the impact of the Greek government’s poor political and financial decisions. Greece’s fortunes could better be reversed by treating its economy as a struggling large business that requires technological and efficiency changes and outside investment. DNotes is more than a global digital currency. It has created its own ecosystem by using highly scalable building blocks that can be deployed and ramped up quickly anywhere worldwide.”

“We live in a hyperconnected world rampant with digital revolutions, including digital currency. The DNotes community is at their best when challenged to passionately examine large social economic global problems. We are committed to positive and immediate response when there is local support with the right partnership.”

Greek media are invited to contact DNotes’ local representative Ellie (Eleftheria) atellieyan2@gmail.com

Inquiries can also be made to Alan Yong, DNotes co-founder at Contact@DNotescoin.com

About Alan Yong:

DNotes Co-Founder Alan Yong is a well-regarded visionary since the early days of personal computers. He founded Dauphin Technology in 1989, which had contracts with the US Department of Defense, and is best known for creating the Dauphin DTR, the most powerful window-based miniature computer that competed head-on with Apple’s Newton computer that became the Apple Iphone as we know it today. In 2007, Yong co-founded Smokeys Daylily Gardens, one of the largest daylily growers in the world. Smokeys Daylily Gardens is the first merchant to accept DNotes as payment for its products.

For more information please visit: http://dnotescoin.com

To trade DNotes with Bitcoin please go to: http://ift.tt/1Ch6y3w;

To learn more about DNotesVault and CRISPs please go to: http://dnotesvault.com

Follow DNotes on twitter: http://twitter.com/dnotescoin

Media contact:

Name: Alan Yong

Email: Contact@DNotescoin.com

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Pioneering Aten ”Black Gold” Coin to Offer New Patented Digital Wallets

Las Vegas, NV – July 6, 2015 – In the middle of August 2015, the National Aten Coin’s groundbreaking new cryptocurency, the Aten “Black Gold” Coin and its patented pending digital wallets will be available. Collaboration agreements with governmental entities in the European Union has resulted in NAC adding in additional features to the Aten “Black Gold” Coin to fulfill their requirements. All newly required features as well as beta testing will be completed prior to the new launch date.

The Aten “Black Gold” Coin can be purchased through collaboration between AtenPay, SA and ANXPro, one of the globe’s most revered online trading platforms. The Aten “Black Gold” Coin will be available in all fiat currencies including, USD, EUR, HKD, AUD, CAD, JPY, SGD, GBP, NZD and CHF. NAC clients will have exclusive access to ANXPRO’s simple and user friendly UI, consolidated shared order book for blended multi-currency settlement, real time FX pricing, deposit options, and risk management and trading tools.

NAC’s new digital wallets are patented (pending) in the EU and copyright (pending) in US. Inventor Marcus Andrade (Founder of NAC) is very excited about this new development. The digital wallet will make the transfer and storing of the Aten “Black Gold” Coin even more secure and convenient for clients, who can access their accounts on their desktop and very soon via smartphones and tablets. NAC will be able to quickly verify the wallet and its user through a pseudonymous system. All transactions are monitored through an extremely stringent authentication protocol.

Unlike Bitcoin, whose wallets identify illegal activities at institution level, but not down to an individual person, NAC’s wallet will provide complete user transparency through a unique multisignature authentication system.

“Nothing in the current electronic currency market comes close to our patented digital wallets,” said Andrade. “We have created such a unique product here; the levels of encryption result in a highly vetted, safe, theft-resistant, product that is very easy to use from anywhere in the world,” he said.

Unique Features of the Aten “Black Gold” Coin

Compliance: National Aten Coin Foundation is a service member of the American Bank Association (ABA) and compliant with the following agencies: Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT), Anti-Fraud and Financial Crimes (AFF), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), USA PATRIOT Act and the FACT Act.

AML & KYC: Aten Coin is the first cryptocurrency that is designed to fulfill AML and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.

Theft-Resistant: Bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies are susceptible to stealing by hackers, who are unidentifiable. However, Aten Coin is the first cryptocurrency that allows the tracing of real identities in the event theft occurs. This makes Aten Coin theft-resistant.

Non-volatile Value & Liquidity: Volatile value is one of the key issues of Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies. In view of this, NAC’s partner company, BGC International, Inc., is creating a constant demand of Aten Coins through joint venture with oil and gas production companies on oil and gas well investments. Over 50% of the investment profits will be paid in Aten Coin to create a continuous demand of Aten Coin and maintain a stable value of Aten Coin.

Fast: Transaction of Aten Coin is 9.4 times faster than Bitcoin.

Secure: Aten Coin is a highly secure cryptocurrency that uses multiple rounds of 11 different cryptographic hashes, thus making it one of the safest and sophisticated modern cryptocurrencies. In contrast, Bitcoin only uses a single round of double SHA-256 hashes.

Usability: Shops can easily accept Aten Coin payment by using our AtenPay services. In the near future, people will be able to use the Aten Coin to buy things in real life, e.g., a cup of coffee, online games, meat, petroleum, etc.

Aten “Black Gold’ Coin’s Promotion and the AtenPay Payment Platform

BGC International Inc. (BGCI) is an Aten “Black Gold’ Coin promotion company. BGCI’s main goal is to promote use of Aten Coin worldwide. BGCI invests in various ventures such as oil and gas production projects while requiring the profits to be paid back to BGCI in Aten Coins. This helps to perpetuate the Aten Coin Market.

BGCI partners with SWC Law Group in Warsaw, Poland to create the AtenPay payment platform. AtenPay provides a user-friendly one-stop solution for people to acquire Aten Coins and for commercial companies to receive payment in Aten Coins. For more information, please visit:www.AtenPay.com.

About National Aten Coin and the Aten “Black Gold” Coin

Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, National Aten Coin (NAC) is the creator of the Aten “Black Gold” Coin, a cryptocurrency (a form of electronic money) and its global payment transaction network. While maintaining privacy of customers, the NAC utilizes proprietary techniques to verify ownership of coin holders, secure and monitor transactions, trace and track identities of senders and receivers, keep recordkeeping efforts transparent, protect coins from stealing, maintain liquidity and stabilize value of the cryptocurrency. The Aten “Black Gold” Coin is compliant with the: Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT), Anti-Fraud and Financial Crimes (AFF), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Elder Abuse Reporting Act (EARA), Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), USA PATRIOT Act and the FACT Act.

For more information please visit: http://AtenCoin.com

About ANX

Founded in June 2013, ANX has grown into one of the most used Bitcoin exchange platform worldwide. According to Bitcoin charts, ANX is the 6th largest Bitcoin Exchange in the world by volume. ANX is a pioneer and leader in the cryptocurrencies industry. ANX’s achievements to date include introducing the world’s first physical Bitcoin retail store, the world’s first Bitcoin Debit Card, the world’s first multi-currency online Bitcoin exchange platforms (ANXPRO.COM & ANXBTC.COM), the world’s 3rd Bitcoin ATM machine, and a full-featured ANX Vault mobile app for crypto currencies. ANX has recently acquired the Norwegian bitcoin exchange USTCOIN.COM to expand into the European market. ANX was one of the first firms specializing in crypto-currencies to be issued with a Money Services Operator (MSO) license and prides itself on its transparency and regulatory compliance. The founding partners have financial markets, management consulting, banking technology and compliance backgrounds.

For more information, please visit: http://www.anxintl.com

Media inquires

NAC:

Name: Marcus Andrade, Founder

Phone: 1-702-515-4038

Email: press@atencoin.com

ANX:

Name: Jess Chan, Marketing Manager

Phone: 1-852-2892-2689

Email marketing@anxintl.com

SWC Group:

Name: Agnieszka Cenzartowicz, Senior Partner

Phone: 0048 607041276

Email: acenzartowicz@swclaw.pl

Aten Pay:

Name: Agnieszka Bilinska, Supervisory Board Member

Phone: 0048 601441340

Email: abilinska@atenpay.com

About Bitcoin PR Buzz:

9 Ways to Buy Bitcoin without a Bank Account

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are for the unbanked – and those who'd like to become unbanked.

Bitcoin Network Still Backlogged With Tens of Thousands of Unconfirmed Transactions, Causing Delays

Over the past 24 hours, the blockchain has been inundated with small, spam-like transactions that are large in data size, but significantly small in bitcoin value transferred.

At the peak, there were more than 50,000 unconfirmed transactions waiting to be mined into a block, resulting in delays for normal transactions to be confirmed. While the network has been working to decrease this backlog — transactions are down to 31,000 at time of this article’s writing — the type of transactions that are being sent suggest this is a continuation of a stress test that has been put on the system.

There have been numerous transactions hitting the network with tiny transaction values, such as 0.0001 bitcoin being sent repeatedly. While not every transaction has been this exact size, there have been numerous others sent every second, reaching hundreds of transactions per second at the peak.

Further, the physical sizes of these transactions are significantly greater than other ones with far more value. Due to the 1 megabyte cap on block size, the mining network has found it difficult to process all these small transactions.

In the past several weeks, similar stress tests have been run to inform the debate about whether to increase the total size of a block. Many argue that increasing it past 1 megabyte would be disastrous to the system. However, Gavin Andresen has argued for increasing it to 20 megabytes so that more total transactions could fit within one block, thus preventing scenarios and delays like are currently being seen.

The current proposed solution by some miners has been to raise it to 8 megabytes. Others have suggested the implementation of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, which is in development to implement hashed time-lock contracts between people.

KnC Miner, Slush Pool & BitFury at Odds Over Block Size Increase

Three of the biggest Western mining pools – representing a total of some 19% of hashing power on the Bitcoin network – stand divided on raising the block size limit.

Reusable Payment Codes May Be the Solution to Onename’s Privacy Concerns

The confusing, user-unfriendly format of Bitcoin addresses has turned off many possible new users in the past, but Onename has been working on a solution to this ease-of-use issue for quite some time. Although the ability to link a Bitcoin address to a Onename username has been available for a while now, a newly released API will allow bitcoin users to share one easy-to-understand name with their friends and work colleagues.

Privacy Concerns Remain

Although Onename allows users to map their username to a static Bitcoin address, there are a few issues with the current setup. Reusing addresses is known to be bad for privacy in Bitcoin, and not many knowledgeable bitcoin users want to move to a system that will publicly broadcast all of their transactions for the world to see. While it’s true that all bitcoin transactions are technically public, using Onename would make it trivial for another party to track all of an individual’s financial activity – or at least the transactions that used the Onename alias.

A Possible Solution with BIP47

On Reddit, Onename co-founder Ryan Shea recently commented about a possible solution to this privacy problem:

Comment from discussion Onename announces API. Enables developers to build apps with blockchain identity.

Although stealth addresses have been viewed as the proper solution for Bitcoin alias privacy in the past, it appears that Shea sees reusable payment codes as a better option. The Open Bitcoin Privacy Project’s Justus Ranvier describes reusable payment codes as follows:

“Payment codes are SPV-friendly alternatives to DarkWallet-style stealth addresses which provide useful features such as positively identifying senders to recipients and automatically providing for transaction refunds.”

As Ranvier explained in a recent Reddit post, one of the downsides of reusable payment codes is they do not currently support multi-signature functionality. It’s possible that multi-party ownership over payment codes will be possible in the future through the use of threshold signatures; but there is still research to complete in this area.

On the other hand, payment codes have the benefit of enabling “from address” functionality in Bitcoin. This makes it much easier to send payments to bitcoin users who have already interacted with each other in the past, especially in the case of refunds.

Whether people are using aliases or not, it’s clear that privacy concerns are not being ignored by Onename or the rest of the Bitcoin development community. Another startup, Netki, is also looking at solving the privacy problem associated with Bitcoin aliases, although their solution uses a combination of HD wallets and Payment Requests.

Use in Decentralized Applications

In addition to using Onename in Bitcoin wallets as an alternative to long, convoluted addresses, the platform can be also useful for establishing usernames on decentralized applications. For example, OpenBazaar could eventually integrate Onename into its decentralized marketplace platform to allow users to build reputation over time. Having a reusable payment code attached to a Namecoin-based username would be a move in the right direction for the OpenBazaar system.

Photo Fingerprint / Photopin

Bitwage Introduces Bitwage Cloud Savings, Implements Bitreserve Connect

Bitwage, an automated international bitcoin payroll platform has partnered with bitcoin cloud-based financial service provider Bitreserve, to implement its newly developed platform called Bitreserve Connect and developed a new product called Bitwage Cloud Savings.

Bitreserve Connect, which was launched on June 16 at MoneyConf in Belfast, is a cloud-based bitcoin/money platform which allows businesses to:

Hold, send and convert money instantly — and for free — to anyone
Incorporate Bitreserve’s best-in-class anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) security and information infrastructure to ensure businesses meet regulatory requirements.
Conduct completely transparent transactions, where all money held, sent and converted can be traced in real-time;
Secure and protect customer deposits with one-to-one reserve backing.

Bitwage is one of the first four financial technology platforms to implement Bitreserve Connect. With the help of Bitreserve, Bitwage has introduced a new product, Bitwage Cloud Savings, which enables employees to store their payments in “9 currencies and 4 precious metals, including US dollars, Bitcoins, Euros, Pounds, Mexican Pesos, Indian Rupees, Gold, and Silver.”

Bitwage Founder and COO Jonathan Chester announced in a blog post:

From paycheck to paycheck, Bitwage users will be able to decide exactly how their salary is paid. Whether you are an Argentinian contractor wishing to hold US Dollars, a Russian software developer looking to hold Euros or a US employee who wants to be paid in a split between Bitcoin, Gold and Dollars, Bitwage gives the choice back to you. This is where Bitreserve Connect comes in, and where Bitwage makes an extraordinary leap forward. Earlier today, Bitwage announced a brand new product, Bitwage Cloud Savings. By integrating with Bitreserve, they are now offering their customers the freedom and flexibility to be paid not just in bitcoin, but in as many as 8 different currencies and 4 precious metals. Starting today, “Bitwage users will be able to decide exactly how their salary is paid.

Volatility

Bitwage’s new product and implementation of Bitreserve’s technology solves the ultimate problem of employees and merchants: volatility.

Tim Parsa, Bitreserve CCO has explained that “those living paycheck-to-paycheck literally can’t afford volatility, and no one at any financial level should have to accept the possibility of a significant and unexpected salary loss caused by bitcoin,” especially in countries like Guatemala and Mexico, where he observed such inconvenience. He said it “means that for the unbanked and underbanked, there now exists a solution that allows them to participate in the global digital marketplace and avoid the slow, costly process of check-cashing services.”

There are two main motivations behind the new feature says Jonathan Chester, COO of Bitwage. Chester explained further in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, “The first is to encourage more bitcoin transactions. Through the Bitwage Cloud Savings service, users can receive their entire wages in bitcoin, without having to have their entire wage exposed to bitcoin volatility. This makes it way easier for people to receive more of their wages in bitcoin. As you spend out of your Cloud Savings account, powered by Bitreserve, you are creating a bitcoin transaction. As we continue to grow the number of bitcoin transactions, the upward price trend will become less volatile.”

The second motivation is related to international payrolls, he said. “Most international employees, contractors and freelancers want all the efficiencies of bitcoin without having to deal with the volatility risk involved or with Bitcoin directly. This brings us one step closer to providing a solution that can be used for a global mainstream audience.”

Chester also explained that places with high inflation and huge costs in both time and money for receiving wages are in need of a system like Bitwage Cloud Savings the most.

“Argentina is a great example of where all three of these aspects intersect,” he said. “Employees and contractors often lose between 30 percent and 40 percent of their wages when sent from abroad just to hold the funds in a currency which had 40 percent inflation in 2014.”

There are also countries with just a few of these aspects, such as Greece and Brazil, he said.

“In Greece, inaccessibility is a real issue. Many people are afraid they won’t be have money soon. Being able to hold your funds in a currency you trust in the cloud instead of a bank in Greece which is likely to freeze your funds or even take some of it through government decreed bail-ins,” he said.

“So how exactly would you even be able to get into a cloud savings-like system if your bank accounts are froze?” Chester asked. “Your wages.”