Blockstream Markets LApps: Lightning Applications that Could Rival DApps

With the introduction of Lightning Charge earlier this year, Blockstream paved way for a new family of applications that could be built upon the Lightning Network, leveraging from the second layer solution’s swift transaction capabilities.

Blockstream, which is one of the core teams behind the Lightning Network, aimed for the Lightning Charge to supplement the network’s functionalities and for developers to create their own payment apps through it.

Since its introduction this January, the Lightning Charge has gained significant traction. To boost it further, Blockstream decided to run a “Week of LApps”, in which it introduced multiple LApps that have the potential to make Lightning Network a surefire success.

All of the following LApps have become a part of the Elements Project in order to make them available for developers who can work on additional capabilities with their concepts.

Woocommerce lightning gateway – Lightning network lapps

The WooCommerce Lightning Gateway is the first ever LApp to be built on the Lightning Charge.

It is a webcommerce payment solution that leverages Lightning Network’s functionalities, and is what the test Blockstream store used when it introduced the implementation of LApps.

FileBazaar – Lightning network lapps

FileBazaar is an ecommerce solution for content developers.

The app will be an online marketplace for text content, images, and videos, which can be bought by interesting individuals or companies. The payments will be facilitated through the Lightning Network.

Nanotip – Lightning network lapps

Nanotip LApp looks into one of the most encountered yet one of the most overlooked aspects of everyday life: tipping for services.

Since tips are considered micropayments, the concept of facilitating them through Bitcoin would have been absurd just a short while ago given the network’s issues with high transaction fee – which would have gone higher than the amount being sent itself.

However, since the Lightning Network reduces transaction fee considerably, it makes tipping in Bitcoin easier and far more effective than anyone could have thought.  That utilization of micropayments is what Nanotip demonstrates.

Paypercall – Lightning network lapps

Paypercall is yet another use case for micropayments, where developers could utilize the LApp within their own applications.

By doing this, they can ask for micropayments whenever a user performs a specific action on their app.

Users can then choose to pay for the action and complete the action using the Lightning Network

Ifpaytt – Lightning network lapps

Ifpaytt (If Pay Then That) leverages the popular IFTT (If This Then That) structure for conditional programming.

This LApp works on the same mannerisms as Paypercall, with the difference being that it asks for the invoice to be processed first before accessing a function, rather than letting users trigger the invoice requirement by accessing a specific function.

However, just like Paypercall, the Ifpaytt LApp works with facilitating users with Lightning Network payments.

Nanopos – Lightning network lapps

This LApp provides a point-of-sale system for vendors.

You may think of Nanopos as a self-checkout mechanism, where users will be able to select the items that they want to purchase from a vendor. The items are then sorted through a graphical interface, with the vendor accepting the payment through the Lightning Network.

Lightning Publisher – Lightning network lapps

The Lightning Publisher allows developers to “self-publish” their websites.

Instead of asking users to turn off their ad blockers and see irritating banner ads in exchange for viewing a site’s content, website owners can directly ask their visitors to pay an amount to them quickly through the online plugin in order to receive unrestricted access to the respective site.

Lightning JukeBox – Lightning network lapps

The Lightning Jukebox brings out the lighter side of LApps by introducing a prototype music-on-demand solution, showing that money is not the only thing that Bitcoin and LApps have made to be digital.

While this LApp is just a simple functionality, it does show a use case of LApps for the entertainment industry through proper development.

 

These Lightning network lapps are only the start to something bigger

As you must have noticed, the primary purpose of most of these LApps is to signify use cases. Where WooCommerce Lightning Gateway, Lightning Publisher, and FileBazaar offer comprehensive and adaptable solutions right from the start, other LApps such as the Lightning Jukebox are meant to open doors to newfound innovation.

With the way that the Lightning Network is progressing, it would be indeed interesting to find out if these LApps would work just as popularly as DApps on the Ethereum Network, or actually get to surpass them in terms of usability.

Speaking of which, it would be amusing if any of the future LApps could be built upon as the “lighter” versions of the following DApps on the Ethereum network.

DApps on the Ethereum Network

Golem

In the Ethereum DApps, Golem is also known as the global supercomputer.

It is not just a euphemism either. Golem is indeed an open source supercomputer that can be leveraged by anyone.

Boasting computing power from participating users’ machines and datacenters all across the world, Golem can perform tasks that are not possible through conventional machines.

augur

Augur is perhaps one of the most innovative and potentially influential DApp that has been built on the Ethereum blockchain.

The DApp collects direct answers to questions from participating users and uses the information to bring about real time predictions based on a large audience insight.

By using this predictive market mechanism that remains accurate due to the underlying blockchain technology, Augur aims to redefine segments of analytical markets in the future.

funfair

FunFair is Ethereum’s answer to online casinos.

The platform utilizes the transparency of blockchain technology in order to ensure that the games it is offering to its users remain provably fair.

FunFair offers a variety of games on its platform and provides previews for them so users could pick the game that has the potential to garner their interest.

etherdelta

EtherDelta is a decentralized exchange on the Ethereum platform.

It deals in the trading of ERC20 tokens and leverages from the network’s blockchain capabilities for the utmost security that an exchange can provide.

blockcat

BlockCat remains to be one of the most helpful DApps on the Ethereum blockchain.

It provides a graphic user interface (GUI) instead of coding characters for smart contracts to help those users deploy them who want to leverage from the technology, but do not have the technical knowledge of coding.

Due to the very apparent need of this service, BlockCat is yet another successful idea from a growing community of Ethereum developers.

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BlackRock Exec Vishal Karir Joins Ethos.io as Chief Investment Officer

Ethos.io, a blockchain ecosystem startup, recently announced that it has nabbed former BlackRock exec Vishal Karir to join the company as its Chief Investment Office.

Karir’s resume also boasts of 5 years of experience at Morgan Stanley, which he left as VP Prime Brokerage Technology to join BlackRock in 2009, where his last held position was as the Director of Model Portfolio.

Hiring someone with the stature of Karir is a powerful headhunting move by Ethos.io, since BlackRock is considered as the world’s top investment firm which holds more than $5.7 trillion in managed assets.

So what is ethos.io anyway?

Ethos.io aims to offer an easy to use cryptocurrency and fiat gateway that could facilitate seasoned cryptocurrency traders and new enthusiasts alike through a single platform.

Brought together via blockchain technology, Ethos.io wants to create a financial ecosystem that is not just accessible through a single point of entry but one that also has security and transparency capabilities that are worthy of the next generation of computing.

Through its offerings, Ethos.io wants to make it easier for anyone to have access to cryptocurrencies so that the digital assets could grow within an environment where it is not difficult for anyone to benefit from this financial phenomenon.

For this purpose, the company’s primary solution is its Universal Wallet, which acts as the one solution you need to manage virtually all of your cryptocurrency holdings.

The platform also integrates social features into the app, so that new traders could follow advice from industry veterans, while those experienced traders could also use insights derived via perspectives of these fresh pairs of eyes.

Simply put, the platform is a social-powered cryptocurrency platform that intends to make everyday trading activities easier for the everyday user.

Karir is excited to join ethos.io blackrock departure

Speaking on the development, Karir mentioned that he is very confident in the capabilities of Ethos.io and hopes to make the company grow through his efforts.

“The paradigms of finance and investing are shifting in favor of individual investors and entrepreneurs – I am thrilled I have a part in expediting the shift.” He stated.

The Importance of Fiat Gateways & ethos.io blackrock connection

Fiat gateways will allow for more ease of use and more seamless transaction processing. Fiat gateways should also for an interesting situation in regards to Bitcoin.

Will Bitcoin and Ether be able to reign supreme or will fiat gateways provide altcoins with an edge as consumers will be able to quickly and immediately access altcoins directly instead of having to purchase Ether or Bitcoin and then trade that for their intended purchases?

Furthermore, the ethos.io blackrock connection is an important one because it shows that investment heavyweights are interested in seeing whats going on with the cryptocurrency industry and want to be a part of it.

We shall see!

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Ethereum might start charging rent on network usage

Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, recently shared his idea of the Ethereum network charging “rent” to its users. This idea of ethereum renting is an important one because it could show the sorts of economic models that could be built into a decentralized world.

And the concept of ethereum renting is rather simple, it’s exactly what it would one would think of, when they think about the definition of rent.

If the “ethereum renting” mechanism is implemented, the Ethereum network will be able to supplement its operations by charging its users a fee in return for them storing their data on the platform for a certain amount of time.

The fee, in addition to the usual “Gas” that is charged in Ether for using certain functions of the Ethereum platform, is also meant to filter out serious developers who value their work and its safety from those who are just storing information on the public blockchain for nothing, since the increasing number of users and the data that they keep stored on the blockchain has added to Ethereum’s scalability woes.

Ever since the network grew in terms of user adoption, it has started lagging and slowed down quite a bit. This has not just affected the speed of its monetary transactions, but also how the overall network functions with its development capabilities.

Buterin’s suggestion of charging this “rent” has sparked further discussions from all over the community, with most of them surprisingly agreeing to the idea since they think it would only help improve the network further.

This has also breathed life into the idea of special projects that are trying to determine whether other network resources could be subject to an additional fee for the betterment of respective platforms, and if yes, then how to determine the calculations for them.

One of those initiatives, Project Chicago terms these resources as “crypto commodities”, and is offering various solutions including a specific “GasToken” that would allow people to store Gas on the network without subjecting themselves to the uncertainty of fluctuation in price.

The discussions are still underway on this renting mechanism, its implementation and the various solutions that are being proposed to enhance it. Therefore, further updates are to be expected in the future.

Thoughts on ethereum renting ?

What are your thoughts on the idea of paying rent on the blockchain? Does it make sense to you from a fundamental level of how it would help to weed out potentially bad actors and invite more people who are serious about contributing and adding value to the ethereum ecosystem?

Do you see any issues with it, any potential causes for concern?

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Ripple donation to schools

The Ripple Donation

Ripple continues its line of strategic moves to be a currency that is circulating in the speculative markets (exchanges) and in general society in various ways. The company recently announced its donation of twenty-nine million dollars on Donorschoose.org to fund all the requests on the platform.

The Ripple donation will mean or, at the very least, should mean big things for the company from a public relations standpoint as well as a circulation standpoint as this will mean that the Ripple donation is being used to fund the future of society, the youth.

The Ripple donation also means that the more people will be able to know and learn about Ripple because of how it has affected them (directly or indirectly). Specifically, the parents of the children that go to the schools that will be affected by this Ripple donation, the youth themselves and teachers and other faculty members of the schools that are affected by this Ripple donation.

Details of the Ripple Donation

The Ripple donation is said to be the largest ever reported donation of cryptocurrency to a single charity, and the largest ever to Donorschoose.org. (Maybe, the Pineapple Fund might have had equivalent donations.)

Funds will be used to purchase classroom materials for 28,210 public school teachers in all fifty states.

The company stated:

“Every Rippler, from the executive team to our newest hires, started their careers in one place — the classroom. It’s in this pivotal setting that children’s dreams are forged and legacies begin.”

Then, the company tied the event and the value back to its mission and vision of establishing an Internet of Value.

“Take, for example, Ripple’s mission to establish an Internet of Value: a world where money can move like information. In part, it’s the teachers we encounter in our formative years that enable us to pursue ambitious goals like this.”

The company has made the gift through its native currency the XRP digital token, which was converted into US dollars and then used for the necessary purposes by the recipients.

A representative from Ripple states:

“DonorsChoose.org’s track record speaks for itself — they are highly effective at improving the quality of education and the experience of teachers and students across America. We’re proud to work with them to support classroom needs across the country.”

This move by Ripple can be considered a strategic one as it has been able to effectively reach a wide range of people across all fifty states.

Similar Events like the Ripple donation

Ripple has also made investments via their XRP currency in startups as well. These actions show that the company is serious about finding more ways to gain adoption and grow their reach across sectors of society in business and in education.

About Ripple

Ripple provides one frictionless experience to send money globally using the power of blockchain. By joining Ripple’s growing, global network, financial institutions can process their customers’ payments anywhere in the world instantly, reliably and cost-effectively. Banks and payment providers can use the digital asset XRP to further reduce their costs and access new markets.

With offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Sydney, India, Singapore and Luxembourg, Ripple has more than 100 customers around the world.

About DonorsChoose.Org

DonorsChoose.org is the leading platform for giving to public schools. Teachers across America use the site to create projects requesting resources their students need, and donors give to the projects that inspire them. Since its founding by a Bronx teacher in 2000, 3 million people and partners have given over $650 million to projects reaching 27 million students.

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Ambit Mining – Every Bit Of Your Future Secured

The cryptocurrency industry rests on a few key tenets, decentralization and being trust-less. These powerful benefits of the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry are provided in part by the process of mining. Mining is important to the cryptocurrency industry because of the benefits it provides to the larger ecosystem but also because of the benefits that it could be provide to the miners involved.

Miners are able to realize significant gains if they conduct their operations efficiently and minimize their daily electricity costs. Miners have to make certain to stay consistent and smart in which coins they mine, when they mine them and how they mine them. Cryptocurrency prices fluctuate on a day to day basis and miners must be prepared for these fluctuations.

The field of cryptocurrency mining can become quite hazardous due to volatility. The volatility present in this important aspect of the industry can act as a discouraging factor to the practice of mining, if values of coin rewards are low and both investment and operational costs are high, why would anyone want to mine? It wouldn’t make any sense.

This is where Ambit Mining wants to come in and make a difference, the project seeks to address the varying issues that are present in the industry and provide a streamlined solution that will work for current and potential market participants.

About Ambit Mining

Ambit Mining is unique in the industry because of its track record and experience in the field of mining, in addition to having been in the field for a while, the company has been able to run their mining operation in a successful manner. The team over Ambit Mining have already constructed a 1 MW diversified mining facility in the Tbilisi Free Economic Zone, which has achieved 100% ROI in just 5 months.

As they have established a base of success, proving out their concept with this minimal version and achieving a 100% ROI, they believe they have the expertise to scale up and provide a solution that caters to many.

They are now aiming to scale their operation to 20 MW and is in the process of inviting mining enthusiasts to join their mining family. With their expertise in the field, they’ve been able to secure partnerships with prominent hardware manufacturers and tech companies, allowing them to run a successful and profitable mining operation.

Their mining operation runs as efficiently as possible through a couple of key aspects:

• Green Energy – All of their mining units are powered by 100% renewable hydro energy, ensuring low cost and green electricity supply at only 5 cents per kW/h. 
• Regulatory Compliance and Safety – Their mining farm is located in the country of Georgia, one of the most crypto friendly countries in the world, with abundant green electricity and favorable government regulations. 
• Experience – Ambit mining has already constructed 1 MW diversified farm in Georgia, which generated over 1.3 mln profit per year, with this experience they aim to further expand their operations and to share the profits with the community. 
• Tax Advantages – The mining farm is located in Tbilisi Free Economic Zone, which is a tax free area in Georgia. Meaning that operation will be exempt from majority of licenses, taxes and will benefit from the simplified procedures.

The Ambit Mining Solution

Ambit seeks to provide investors with lucrative return on investment minimizing the disadvantages of cloud and home mining. As Ambit mining already has the infrastructure to conduct mining operations in an efficient manner, an investment in ambit would mean less risk and more potential secure cash flows.

Benefits of investing with Ambit:

• Token with Payouts – Token holders will be entitled to the profit share from the Ambit mining and hosting operations, which will be paid out bi-weekly in ETH at pro-rata basis. The first payments will begin from the hosting facility within 4 months after the end of ICO, full payouts are planned to start 6 months after the ICO.
• Risk Diversification

Ambit provides an opportunity for diversifying the risks, by investing in the mining infrastructure. Since the farm will be mining using both ASICs as well as GPUs, the income is not dependent on a single coin’s performance.

• Decentralized -Ambit believes in a community driven business and decentralization, so 85% of the total token supply will be available for the public sale.
• Ownership – In case of sale of assets, such as ASICs or GPUs, when they become outdated, the proceeds will be paid out to token holders at pro-rata basis.
• Voting Rights – Token holders will have the voting rights, which means that they will be able to participate in certain business decisions, when it comes to innovation and improvement of our operations.

Investment and ICO

Token Sale Volume: 88 million AMBT

Token Issue Volume: 104 million AMBT

The minimum investment is 100$ equivalent of ETH or BTC.

 

Pre-Sale

Presale Start Date – April 10, 2018

Presale End Date :April 17, 2018

Crowdsale Start Date – April 20, 2018

Crowdsale End Date- May 10, 2018

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LitePay Ceases Operations, Litecoin Apologizes for Letting This Happen

In a catastrophic development this morning, it was revealed that LitePay, a soon to be operational payment vendor facilitating Litecoin payments, is going to close shop altogether.

The news came to light through an announcement made by the Litecoin Foundation.

Elaborating on the development, the Litecoin Foundation explained to the community that LitePay CEO Kenneth Asare had contacted the foundation to notify  everyone about ceasing all operations of LitePay.

As per the updates, Asare is now planning to sell the company.

This Litepay Litecoin situation brings up a couple of fundamental questions about accountability.

After disastrous reddit ama, Litepay is no longer operational

During its launch, LitePay was supported wholeheartedly by the Litecoin community, who looked towards the solution as the equivalent to BitPay – that worked wonders for Bitcoin and made its adoption possible in several industries.

However, things started to go south when Asare held an AMA session on Reddit.

The AMA opened doors to more questions than answers after Asare avoided direct answers to basic questions such as team size, merchant sign-ups, and developer documentations.

Afterwards, the community expressed skepticism about the project that had once been backed by the Litecoin Foundation.

The situation has now ended in chaos with Litecoin apologizing to its community members.

“We are greatly disheartened that this saga has ended in this way and we apologize for not doing enough due diligence that could have uncovered some of these issues earlier.  We are currently working hard to tighten our due diligence practices and ensure that this does not happen again.” The foundation wrote.

The community members are now afraid of the effects this will have on Litecoin’s value, even though the Litecoin Foundation suggests that things will sail smoothly.

“Litecoin was doing perfectly fine before the promise of LitePay and will continue to do so.  The ecosystem is far bigger than one company and is continually growing with support from many others with market ready products joining the space and fulfilling their promises to make it easier for the world to use Litecoin.”

The Aftermath of Litepay Litecoin

An analysis of this Litepay Litecoin debacle highlights a few key issues, accountability and due diligence in a decentralized world. One thinks what sort of impact will this have on the price of Litecoin, as Litepay was supposed to provide a necessary service in facilitating payments and contributing to the growth of Litecoin. The growth of Litecoin would then lead to a potential spike or gradual increase in price as it would allow for more use of the currency.

Yet, the Litepay Litecoin incident does show that there is a need for accountability and further due diligence in parties that work with a foundation. For, if there is no true due diligence, expected results and yields might not be present, if this is done a repeated basis, it would have negative ramifications for the larger cryptocurrency industry.

Is there a solution to this potential issue that could certainly arise in another Litepay Litecoin incident? If so, what could a solution be?

Here’s a thought. A firm that acts in an audit capacity with foundations, ensuring that projects that are using the funds of the foundation, are indeed using them for the right purposes and moving the project and the ecosystem further.

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Request Network partners with Hands with PwC France and Francophone Africa Blockchain Lab

Request Network, a blockchain based payment solution platform, announced earlier that it has forged an alliance with PwC France and Francophone Africa Blockchain Lab.

The collaboration between the three entities will accelerate research and development for customized blockchain solutions pertaining to business and financial functions.

Request Network along with the Blockchain Lab of PwC France and Francophone Africa will contribute with their collective experience to achieve the aforementioned goal and deploy blockchain solutions that could serve the needs of a corporation as large as PwC, while also facilitating systems such as Francophone Africa.

Speaking on the development, co-founder of the Request Network Foundation, Christophe Lassuyt, stated that the organization is looking forward to develop blockchain solutions with its new partners, mentioning that the collaboration will act as “a bridge between the corporate and blockchain industries.”

Another founder, Etienne Tatur, commented:

“Combining our cutting edge blockchain technology with the experience of a trusted business partner offers corporations the best of both worlds. It allows a smooth business transformation.”

This partnership will shape and collectively develop the future of professional services, taking a leading role in offering solutions to clients’ needs of on-boarding blockchain to their business practices.

The request network pwc partnership is an important one for Request Network which is seeking to make a significant difference in the payments era through automated tax accounting, decentralized payments and more interesting features.  This partnership ahead of their mainnet launch allows their investors and collaborators to have more confidence in the team, and the foundation, letting them know that the team is capable focusing on the right activities that will make a difference in the short term and the long term.

In addition, the thought leadership group that will be formed as a part of this request network pwc collaboration may allow the Request Network team to have a say and influence in one of the leading multinational professional services network and auditing firms in the world.

A representative commented that “this partnership is great way for us to share knowledge and expertise. We are working very hard to build a common centre of excellence dedicated to the financial industry, which will accelerate mainstream adoption of financial blockchain products.”

As Request Network is focusing on providing solutions to both consumers and professionals in automating and accounting for auditing, it seems like the request network pwc  partnership could have significant bearing for both parties.

Pwc is serious about blockchain development

While this is a major development for Request Network, Francophone Africa and PwC France, it is not PwC’s first foray into blockchain.

The company, being one of the largest corporations in the world with offices in more than 158 countries, has been working with blockchain technology in order to find a right fit for its global presence.

PwC China is currently availing solutions from VeChain, another blockchain platform, which is focusing on aiding PwC’s Asian markets to adopt blockchain technology in an optimal manner.

 

About Request Network Foundation

The Request Network Foundation promotes the adoption of Blockchain by providing a framework which allows everyone to develop their own financial solutions based on this technology.

The Foundation creates and sustains an ecosystem of builders, the so called “Request Network Hub”, that empowers everyone to disrupt the way we do business tomorrow.

 

About PwC

PwC’s accounting practice originated in London well over a century ago. As times changed and PwC expanded worldwide, our commitment to clients—like you—never wavered. With us, you’re always supported by a global network of more than 236,000 people in 158 countries with one goal: to help your business thrive.

PwC’s professional services include audit and assurance, tax and consulting that cover such areas ascybersecurity and privacy,  human resources, deals and forensics. We help resolve complex issues and identify opportunities across these industries.

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Major Cryptocurrency Events – April 2018

Bitcoin might be going through a tumultuous run as of late, but that has not stopped the cryptocurrency industry from moving on with its day to day life.

This is being demonstrated by the slew of major events cryptocurrency events for April 2018.

For the ease of our readers, we have compiled a short list of such planned updates and interesting cryptocurrency events for April 2018 that are creating a buzz within the cryptocurrency community.

Bitcoin

A significant event that has happened so far with Bitcoin, is the progress made on the lightning network by Lightning labs. Further significant events that are to occur will be in regards to scaling, Segwit implementations by third parties such as Coinbase.

In regards to bitcoin futures, there are 2 days left until CME March Bitcoin Futures Last Trade & Settlement Price, according to coinmarketcal.

Request Network mainnet release

The Request Network platform is to have its mainnet release by the end of the first quarter, which should be on Saturday March 31st. The mainnet release should allow for use cases such as pay with req and more!

According to their blog,  “the mainnet release of the Request Network is a very important milestone as it enables the decentralized ecosystem of builders to launch their products on top of the platform”.

The project notes further that “the release of mainnet version is a pilot — The core platform on which many more functionalities will be developed over time by both the Foundation and the community builders.”

Another interesting announcement made by the platform is that they have an official partnership with PwC France.

This makes it a significant milestone that would pave the way for them to go to the next step of Stonehenge!

Nebulas mainnet release

Nebulas, a search engine for blockchain network that is also called  ‘Google for blockchain’ by its proponents, is planning to prove its mettle by launching its mainnet on March 29.

This holds major significance for the industry since Nebulas remains one of the most sought-after new projects due to its ambitious objective of building a search engine that connects all blockchain networks so that users could have easy access to blockchain information as they do on things around the conventional Interweb.

The supporters and even neutral spectators are waiting to see how the event would unfold for Nebulas, as this could make or break its native token, NAS.

If Nebulas is successful in showing its potential to be the equivalent to Google in the blockchain industry, then the token’s value would only rise with time.

genesis vision alpha launch

Genesis Vision, a blockchain platform built for the private trust management market, is going to hold its Alpha release no later than April 1st.

The platform aims to provide a one of a kind decentralized platform to exchanges, brokers, managers and investors within the trust management industry to ensure consistent transparency in its operations – something which is always a necessity within this market.

Along with transparency, it also offers various other features including (artificial intelligence) AI powered functionalities.

Genesis Vision is considered to be a highly vetted platform by several industry authorities, and thus its Alpha launch is anticipated by its target market as well as investors who want to benefit from its native token, GVT.

oyster pearl protocol mainnet launch

The Oyster Pearl Protocol is one of those projects which not only thinks out of the box but since the launch of its testnet, has been delivering on its unconventional ideas as well.

The protocol’s objective is to revolutionize the monetization structure of websites. Instead of using the age-old banner ads that most visitors block in the first place, the platform provides website owners with the option to utilize their visitors’ unused and free computer power to fuel the network’s operations.

Since visitors could opt for this program to use a website and access its content without being pestered by repeated requests to turn off their ad-blocker plugins, website owners can ensure monetization of their platform without bothering their users with pesky banner ads.

The Oyster Protocol will launch its mainnet sometime in April. If it could prove that this unconventional solution is beneficial for all involved parties, then it could have positive effects on its native token, PRL. 

The platform is also slating an airdrop for its new token SHL to take place in ten days.

zilliqa testnet launch

Zilliqa claims to be a high-throughput yet immensely secure public blockchain platform that would steer clear from the existing scalability issues faced by existing blockchain networks.

The platform claims to perform thousands of transactions per second, all without compromising the security, privacy and decentralization aspects of blockchain technology. By establishing itself as the industry example in terms of speed, consistency and security, Zilliqa also plans to be the go to platform for decentralized apps that require a truly high-throughput platform to carry out their functions optimally.

The Zilliqa team is now aiming to show the world that it does not only write these aspects on paper but can very well deliver on them.

The platform’s testnet launch is supposed to take place sometime before the end of March, and if updates are to be believed, then it would not be delayed past April.

If things go well for Zilliqa, then the launch of its testnet could have very positive effects on its native token, ZIL.

Monero hardware wallet

While the Ledger Wallet devices support popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ripple along with Ethereum and its ERC 20 tokens, Ledger’s support for Monero has been well overdue.

Monero’s growing popularity as a functional privacy coin influenced Ledger Wallet to start working on the integration a while ago, but the development team had initially stated that providing an ETA would not be possible due to the complexity of the project. However, an interesting piece of news came last month when one of the developers working on the interface stated that the implementation is close to a final release.

If rumors are to be believed, then this could happen within the month of April itself and Ledger’s users would be able to store their favorite privacy coin in their hardware wallets, away from any potential threats.

deconomy 2018

While not an event from an existing project, Deconomy 2018 is a two-day forum which is scheduled to be held during April 4 – April 5.

Focusing on blockchain technology, the important event boasts of prominent personalities from the blockchain world as its participants, including individuals such as Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin; Bithumb Vice President Junga Lee; Digicash Founder David Chaum; Blockstream CTO Samson Mow; and IBM’s CBDC Global Lead, Stanley Young.

The forum will see the first appearance of Block.One Partner Ian Grigg after the separation of controversial Partner Brock Pierce from darling startup EOS.IO, following a much-publicized segment on the company by HBO host John Oliver. Speaking of controversial figures, Roger Ver from Bitcoin.com is also scheduled to attend the event.

Ripple and R3, two institutions going head-to-head in legal battle will also have representation at the forum in the form of Chief Cryptographer David Schwartz and Director of Research Antony Lewis, respectively.

With this mix of revered and popular personalities from the blockchain world, the event could hold some updates for the future as well as tidbits on where the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries are headed.

That covers some of the major cryptocurrency events for April 2018

Are you excited for cryptocurrency events for April 2018? Do you have any suggestions on other events that you think would be a good add?

This short list aimed to note down the most talked about events that are supposed to take place within the next few weeks. If you think that there is an event which could be added to this list, then feel free to let us know in the comments below!

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Thaler, Property-Backed Stable Coin, to Power $5b Blockchain-based Investment Fund

Zurich, Switzerland – March 19, 2018 – Thaler.One, the decentralized investment fund, has announced plans to introduce a next-generation real estate marketplace powered by Thaler, the pioneering stable coin. Aiming to disrupt the $220 trillion property market, Thaler.One expects a user base of millions of private investors around the globe and its Assets Under Management (AUM) to reach more than $5 billion by 2021.

Founder and CEO of Thaler.One Will Andrich said, “With high volatility in the cryptocurrency market, the growing importance of diversification, pressure on cross-border investments, high transaction costs and the lack of liquidity, the time is ripe for an overhaul of existing standards for digital transactions in the industry. By tokenizing traditional real estate assets – historically, less volatile than cryptocurrencies and gold – Thaler.One plans to open the international property market to wider range of private investors and provide these investors with a way to diversify and rebalance portfolios, without having to leave the cryptocurrency ecosystem.”

Thaler is designed as a well-structured, blockchain-secured stable coin. Determined  to become the preferred cryptocurrency for daily digital transactions in the real estate market, Thaler will be backed by property assets, predominantly located in the EU and the UK. Thaler.One, the blockchain-based investment fund, will treat Thaler as a security token, in compliance with EU laws, and file it with the SEC. According to its founders, the fund will focus on co-work, co-live and healthcare-related property.

Thaler.One is currently in the final stage of a private token sale. Seeking to raise further capital, the fund will conduct a pre-sale event, commencing early April, 2018.

For more information, visit http://thaler.one/

Join the Thaler.One Telegram Group

 

About Thaler.One

Thaler.One is a decentralized investment fund, professionally managed and advised by a team of world-renowned real estate and investment banking professionals with more than 100 years of combined experience. Will Andrich, the fund’s Founder and CEO, a professional investment banker, held leadership positions at Morgan Stanley, LCF Rothschild and Astor Capital.

The Thaler.One Advisory Board includes Michael Lange (Managing Partner at ACG, Former Chairman of the Board at JLL), Mattia Rattaggi (Swiss Crypto Valley Association, former UBS Group executive), Saydam Salaheddin (Head of EMEA Real Estate, Credit Suisse), Stephen Inscoe (serial entrepreneur in the real estate tech) and Anton Zanimonets (ICO Advisor).

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Overwinter Is Here – Zcash Hard Fork Is Just a Better Version of the Same Coin

ZCash is all ready to roll out its first Zcash hard fork.

However, the Zcash hard fork will not create a new coin but will merely make the existing one better.

The development team behind the privacy coin described the new Zcash hard fork as Zcash’s “first software updates required” upgrade.

While the term “hard fork” usually has negative connotations of conflict and problems in the old coin, the  Zcash hard fork is just a system upgrade that allows the coin to have access to better upgrades, with Zcash’s name and basic organizations remaining the same.

The Zcash hard fork that is scheduled for June 2018 will upgrade the main chain, and will open doors to another hard fork, or network upgrade, called “Sapling”.

“Sapling is the first major upgrade planned for the Zcash network (the first and current release being known as Sprout). Sapling will be implemented as a hard fork and is planned for September 2018 with the preparatory upgrade ”

Sapling is the network upgrade which will allow even faster transactions on the already speedy Zcash network along with enhancing its already sturdy privacy protocols.

By implementing these updates while the Zcash network is still in seemingly good shape, the development team wants to ensure that it is ready to process higher number of speedy transactions in the future without ever falling prey to the scalability issues which popular networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum struggle with at the moment.

 

ZCASH IS A PRIVACY COIN WITH A PURPOSE

Zcash has proven to be one of the most consistent and functional cryptocurrencies especially when it comes to privacy coins.

The team behind Zcash is proficient enough to deliver what it has promised so far, and the prominent marketing of the network and associated individuals make the project more trustworthy than your usual altcoin. All of that makes Zcash a good contender for a trader’s next major investment.

At the same time, Zcash and its custom safety protocol “zk-SNARKS” is only as good as its team’s word. While there have been no security breaches on the network so far, critics argue that it is because a third party has never rigorously tested the network for fallacies. This one aspect that remains to be one of the main points that go against Zcash and its title as a potential investment.

If Zcash can have that point addressed by some means, then the network would certainly have everything in control by the looks of it – since it has so far made a name for itself among these uncertainties. Zcash is also said to be a good mining investment at the current moment.

In summary:

Zcash is following its roadmap and is making necessary upgrades as they see fit. Their current upgrade or the Zcash hardfork will make way for the Sapling Network Upgrade which will take place in September of this year. The upgrade will provide for faster verification times, lower memory requirements and improved security through the implementation of a new elliptic curve construction.

For a quick intro to Zcash, see below!

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Learn About Cryptocurrency Trading: The Cryptocurrency Trading Basics

The recent rise of cryptocurrencies saw an unprecedented amount of individuals passing through the proverbial veil to transition from conventional to digital investments. Yet, it seemed that many of these traders did not know a thing about cryptocurrency trading basics.

Having new traders in the cryptocurrency space brought about both positive and negative aspects, since these bright eyed individuals were eager to profit from the phenomenon – which was at its peak in the last two months of 2017.

However, being “new” unfortunately also meant that they were susceptible to charlatans, scams, and good for nothing investments that were sold as being extraordinary opportunities.

This led to the rise of initial coin offerings (ICOs), where bad actors used this new method of crowdfunding to their advantage, giving birth to scandals such as Confido, AriseBank, and perhaps the most notorious of them, BitConnect – which did not only complete its ICO but went on to manipulate users’ funds in what could be considered as a Ponzi scheme for months before its eventual crumbling.

These issues just went on to show just how little it takes for fraudulent parties and scam artists to take crypto away from unsuspecting investors. This pointed to the fact that more information and education was needed in a space that was a wild wild west of sorts.

The interest of new users has since died down a bit with the value of Bitcoin now flirting with the $8435 range, less than half of its $20,000 all-time high in December 2017. However, due to the ever fluctuating nature of cryptocurrencies, it is only a matter of time before the value starts at a bullish run again, raising user interest with it.

Therefore, we thought that it was about time for us to compile a short list of dos and don’ts for those who are new to the cryptocurrency industry.

The purpose of this post is to pose suggestions to potential investors and traders to save them from potential ruin like this Reddit user unfortunately experienced, if we help to minimize the chances of this occurring, we’ve done our part.

Learning the basics of cryptocurrency investing and trading

When you start learning cryptocurrency trading basics, there is a lot that you will be required to take in. It could be overwhelming at times, but it can be broken down to a few simple steps that we will be talking about here today. Let’s start!

1) Learn cryptocurrency trading basics:

So you want to invest in cryptocurrencies, how do you buy them?

You can’t just walk to your local newsstand purchase cryptocurrencies (unless you’re in Australia).

Cryptocurrency trading has grown to become a well-established industry with multi-million dollar businesses running in famous cities of the world.

To buy cryptocurrencies, you need to go to a cryptocurrency exchange. You can simply do so by visiting their website, or in many cases, downloading their app.

Coinbase, Binance, Bittrex, Bitstamp and Kraken are some of the most famous worldwide exchanges to trade cryptocurrencies. You can begin learning about them by going through their websites, and studying additional resources online.

For beginners, Coinbase remains the easiest as it has a very easy to use mobile app, but it charges a higher rate than other “complicated” exchanges. That being said, since the world of cryptocurrencies is an ever evolving one and information changes dynamically, you should make the decision to go with an exchange by learning about it thoroughly.

Once you have found an exchange that suits you, you can go ahead and register with it, complete its verification procedures (which may take some time), and you will be all set.

Pro Tip: Most of these exchanges allow you to access your cryptocurrency information easily, but as you start holding different cryptocurrencies, you might need an additional wallet.

You are better off taking your cryptocurrencies and tokens out of the exchange and holding it on an external wallet, hardware or software. If you are unsure of what a wallet is, see below.

*Think of the wallet as an interface to “see” your cryptocurrency online. This is basically where you can store the information about your cryptocurrency holdings. As with your other online properties, you should protect your wallet access information and private keys to the utmost level, and use additional authentication wherever necessary.

Some of the most popular examples of online wallets are Blockchain Wallet and MyEtherWallet.

This is the first section of the cryptocurrecny trading basics, lets move onto second section.

2) Learn as much as you can, even if you think you know a lot:

After being set up with an exchange, you might just want to dive in and get your hands on that crypto already. But there is some more information that you need to know first.

We understand that you might have been listening to the advice from that friend of yours who has been going on and on about cryptocurrencies, but there is no good reason to blindly trust it: it is your money that you are risking after all. Why shouldn’t you take charge of deciding where to put it?

Do your due diligence. If are interested in investing in famous cryptos such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, take your time to learn more about them by going through a few sources in order to ensure whether they are the right fit for you.

Pro Tip: Prominent investors say that one should invest 1% of their net worth in Bitcoin and hold that for the long term.

Pro Tip: Understand your investing objectives, are you using crypto as part of your long term portfolio or day to day trades? Know yourself and what you are capable of doing.

This is the second section of cryptocurrency trading basics, lets move onto section three!

3) Be wary of ICOs and new coins:

If you hear about a new digital coin and want to invest in it, then it gets trickier from there. Not much information will be available besides a few online sources, and that is where you must be thorough.

For new coins, start evaluating from their website. See if the information, including the detailed whitepaper, is properly presented. Even if you cannot truly understand the technical details, you can assess the basics by seeing if there are any typos, haphazardly put together sentences, or anything else that seems out of place.

Check if the team members behind the new project hold any experience. Search for their online profiles, sepcifically, check their linkedin and what they have done in the past.

Similarly, check if the project has any online social media properties where users are discussing it. 

Lastly, do yourself a favor and search online about the company and check if anyone, at any other platform, is talking about it. Check those pages and preferably look for ones on discussion sites such as Reddit, as that is where you can get additional information.

Pro Tip: Be extremely wary of projects that offer unprecedented profits while not properly defining how they will obtain those gains for you.

Pro Tip: Many investors can find prominent channels for projects on reddit, telegram, twitter and maybe facebook.

This is the third section of cryptocurrency trading basics, lets move onto section four!

4) Practice patience:

Whether it is about buying a famous cryptocurrency or a new altcoin (coins other than Bitcoin), do not ever do it just because “everyone else is doing it”, or if you are doing it out of the fear of missing out on an opportunity. 

The same practice applies to when the coins you already hold start going up in value, and you either sell them instantly or try holding on to them just so you could make more profit. Sometimes, when you sell them too soon, you miss out on additional profit that you could have gained; while at other times, you do not sell them quick enough and suffer losses.

While following your instincts is commendable, that notion needs to be revisited here.

There is no definite way to tell whether a cryptocurrency will rise in value or tumble down, but you can get an idea of what is about to happen if you follow the updates from various exchanges, specifically, by checking metrics like volume, price and change in percentages over 7 day periods in regards to growth or loss.

Additionally, learn from the respective forums of each coin, track the news, and get yourself in social discussions. If you have a question, then go ahead and post it in a subreddit and seek further information.

Remember, since it is your money that is at stake here, you need to take out time to plan your actions on what to do with it. Acting hastily towards your investments may not end well.

This is the fourth section of cryptocurrency trading basics, lets move onto section five!

5) Don’t Stress:

If you are stressing about your money in the cryptomarkets, you’ve done something wrong. Never invest more than you can afford to lose. We’ll say it again for added emphasis. NEVER INVEST MORE THAN YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE.

By practicing these simple points, you should be able to perform basic trading activities. There is a lot of information that can be posted here, but as we mentioned earlier, you need to start with the basics.

Keep in mind that you are navigating through an industry that in itself is in the phase of evolution, and so you will need to be on your feet at times to determine what to do with the information that is thrown at you. However, at times like that, remind yourself that is just a part of trading and investment, and by assessing certain situations with a calm mind, you will be able to make the most difficult of decisions with relative ease.

This is the fifth section of cryptocurrency trading basics, lets move onto section six!

6) Start Small:

A key aspect of cryptocurrency trading basics is to keep it simple. The cryptocurrency industry is complicated enough as it is. No need to add more complexity.

The more coins you have to keep track of, the less chances you have of making profit and the higher chances of loss. Start with a few coins that you understand and can track on a regular basis. The simpler you keep things, the safer your money is and the higher your chances of producing gains.

Pro Tip: It’s all fun and games until the tax man comes knocking. Make sure you understand the tax ramifications of your buys and sells and make decisions accordingly.

For advanced information and to learn more about trading, exchanges, and all things cryptocurrencies, be sure to check out our other posts.

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BloXRoute Aims to Improve Bitcoin Relay Network

BloXRoute, a scaling solution for blockchains, has just come to surface and has already started gaining noticeable attention.

The bloxroute solution aims to improve quite a few things under the surface without disturbing anything by providing solutions that do not need any protocol changes or majority adoption, but which resolve the information propagation bottleneck and allow nodes to maintain consensus over the blockchain’s state. The bloxroute solution will become more and more important as the cryptocurrency grows and has more use, demanding better efficiency as was witnessed with Kin.

But that’s not all that bloXroute solution can be used for

The most sought after feature of bloXroute seems to be its provably neutral functionality, through which it also implements a system which prevents anyone from knowing the way nodes connect with one another.

The way that most relay networks work at the moment allow the sharing of network traffic statistics, which only need a closer look to give away essential details such as the node’s IP address and its information channels, which leave it open to exploitation and allows certain entities to act against specific wallets.

But bloXroute’s solution works to eradicate that problem through its aforementioned functionalities. The data that can be exploited by other entities is never shared in the first place, and thus the problem never occurs.

Along with these nifty features, bloXroute offers “general purpose implementation”, which means that the solution remains adoptable for any blockchain, which can leverage bloXroute’s functionalities and improve its on-chain scaling as a result.

Through its one of a kind solution, bloXroute aims to provide never seen before capabilities to its users. Furthermore, by its easy to start features, bloXroute also remains simple to adopt and can be utilized by any single node on their own discretion.

Further details about bloXroute can be found through its official website.

About bloXroute

An excerpt from their whitepaper shows the core of what the company and the bloxroute solution is all about.

“To be truly useful for ordinary men and women all around the world, cryptocurrencies must scale the number of transactions
they can process by a factor of x1, 000, from 3–5 transactions per second (Bitcoin and Ethereum) to thousands of transactions per
second. In fact, hundreds of transactions per second will be required only to enable U.S. cars to pay for gas on a bi-monthly basis,
or alternatively, to process the cups of coffee purchased at Starbucks. To allow machine-to-machine micro-transactions, and realize
their potential in earnest, cryptocurrencies must scale much further.”

This is certainly true, for Bitcoin to have the value that it seeks to provide to the world, it must surpass its current limitations and progress to a much larger level where it can process quite a variety of transactions easily, reliably and efficiently.  The company seeks to help scale up blockchains.

“To overcome this limitation, and to allow all cryptocurrencies to scale to thousands of on-chain transactions per second today, we
propose bloXroute, a provably neutral transport layer which runs underneath cryptocurrencies. bloXroute allows to safely increase
the block size and to cut down the time interval between blocks, without increasing the risk of forks, and provides real-time support
for immediate transactions with zero-confirmation (0-conf).

The use of bloXroute requires no consensus, nor a protocol change, beyond adjusting system parameters. It is compatible with any off-chain scaling solutions, complementary to the native consensus protocol used, and can be gradually deployed by any node wishing to receive blocks at a higher rate. With the networking bottleneck removed, each cryptocurrency community is free to adjust its protocol to best leverage this newfound capacity, in order to increase its real-world impact and value.”

The company runs with a philosophy focused on three main aspects, these are, scaling blockchains, no protocol changes, provable neutral and gradual deployment.

Scaling Blockchains

bloXroute resolves the information propagation bottleneck, allowing all nodes to maintain the consensus over the state of the blockchain, even when mining thousands of transactions per second, on-chain.

No Protocol Changes

• Runs underneath the consensus layer
• Immediately available
• Supports all blockchains

Provably Neutral

• Fair to all nodes
• Cannot discriminate nodes
• Cannot censor blocks

Gradual Deployment

• Immediately usable
• Usable by any single node
• Does not require majority adoption

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Blockchain Capital Closes Fourth Round of Funding with $150 Million

Not many entities in the cryptocurrency world hold the stature which Blockchain Capital does, so big move like the blockchain capital funding that happened lately is a big deal.

Being a venture capital firm that has invested in successful companies such as Ethereum, Coinbase, Circle, and Kraken within 5 years of its inception, Blockchain Capital has set itself apart and has carved a niche that is at a much higher place than its other, various counterparts.

Therefore, it was no surprise when the San Francisco based entity itself was able to raise $150 million in the blockchain capital funding round, termed as Blockchain Capital IV, LP.

The firm has mentioned that this was its biggest funding round to date and has brought the total assets under management to be around $250 million.

Holding biggest funding round to date brings about more good news from blockchain capital

Along with the news of its exceptional funding round, Blockchain Capital also announced that it was promoting Spencer Bogart to Partner, from his previous position of Managing Director and Head of Research.

Having frequent appearances on CNBC and Bloomberg has given Bogart a sense of familiarity for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and experienced investors alike, the news of his success was met with a warm welcome among relevant sectors.

Bogart also mentioned that the funding which the firm has raised recently will allow the company to “match the right amount of capital to excellent deal flow.”

It was also mentioned by the company that it has brought longtime Bitcoin Core developer Jimmy Song on board as a Venture Partner, who (since his appointment in January), has been contributing to the firm with his in depth experience and expertise in the cryptocurrency industry.

The event of blockchain capital funding and positive signals

As more established and institutional money is stepping into the blockchain and cryptocurrency space through events like the blockchain capital funding of late and others , this provides positive and strong signals for the industry in the long term. Events like this shows that venture capitalists are confident in using the money of larger institutions to provide higher returns on their investment. Movements like these, indicates that they feel there is, or will be strong regulatory safety when placing their money in blockchain and cryptocurrency based investments. A signal that would bode well for the growth of the cryptocurrency industry overall.

Prominent players in the cryptocurrency industry that blockchain capital is invested in are players like Ripple, Abra, xapo, kraken, coinbase, civic and more.

About Blockchain Capital

Blockchain Capital was founded in 2013 with the mission of helping entrepreneurs build world class companies and projects based on blockchain technology. Our passion is providing founders with the tools they need to succeed: capital, domain expertise, partnerships, recruiting and strategy.

Blockchain Capital is one of the oldest and most active venture investors in the blockchain technology sector, and has financed 72 companies, protocols and tokens since its inception. We are multi-stage investors and invest in both equity and crypto assets.

Our view is that blockchain technology holds the promise to disrupt legacy businesses and create entirely new markets and business models. Our network of entrepreneurs, investors and advisors brings unrivaled resources to founders who want to leverage blockchain technology to change the world in profound ways.

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American Bar Association Provides Suggestions to IRS on Taxes for Hard Forks

By now everyone knows that with the guidelines that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued in 2014, cryptocurrencies are subject to capital gains taxes within the U.S.

However, even with the tax reform that somewhat cleared the implementation on like-kind exchanges for cryptocurrencies, a few important points pertaining to taxes on this particular industry still remain unexplored, and it was reemphasized by a recent development.

The American Bar Association tells irs to look into hard forks and their taxes

In a letter written by the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Taxation, Section Chair Karen Hawkins shed light on a lack of clarity on the instances of hard forks and how they affect a cryptocurrency holder.

After clarifying how hard forks work and how the cryptocurrencies originating from them are then distributed amongst the holders of the original coin, Hawkins mentioned that there need to be clear guidelines in place in terms of:

• Time of realization for the hard forked coin.
• The deemed value for the hard forked coin.
• The considered holding period resulting after the hard fork.
• How “safe harbor” rules can be introduced for users affected by the hard fork and how they should be implemented.
• How the need to update the suggested rules should be welcomed by all parties.

After providing suggestions on the aforementioned points, Hawkins and her associates from the ABA mentioned that the points suggested by them are only an initial proposal, and further discussions on them should be held, if need be, in order to develop regulations that help the holders of the cryptocurrencies that resulted from these hard forks.

It remains to be seen how the IRS would react to these suggestions and if they will be implemented properly in the near future.

The three most pressing points from the suggestions are quoted below.

1. Taxpayers who owned a coin that was subject to a Hard Fork in 2017 would be treated as having realized the forked coin resulting from the Hard Fork in a taxable event.

2. The deemed value of the forked coin at the time of the realization event would be zero, which would also be the taxpayer’s basis in the forked coin.

3. The holding period in the forked coin would start on the day of the Hard Fork.

 

Complete details on the rules can be seen here.

American Bar Association  Crypto Taxes

The move by the American Bar Association and crypto taxes is necessary in the growing blockchain based environment as different events like hard forks do constitute value increases for individuals and could be classified in many way. Creating clarity on the matter is of utmost importance if the cryptocurrency industry is to progress further. Incidents like the one that individuals witnessed with Coinbase and the IRS requesting information should not occur on a regular basis.

Crypto taxes have been quite an issue for many a party ranging from regulators to exchanges and traders. Some countries have taken a more lenient stance and approach to the matter of taxes on ICO’s, blockchain based projects and bitcoin buys and sells like Japan and Belarus. 

While other countries in Europe have proposed their own different taxation rules.

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Kik’s Kin Token to Use Both Ethereum and Stellar Network Blockchains

The kik kin platform has been through a lot of events so far, but it is still continuing to make moves.

Popular instant messaging app Kik had created quite a buzz for itself last year when it had announced that it was launching its own cryptocurrency by the name of Kin. 

It then followed that move with raising $50 million in the pre-sale of its token, and raised about $48 million (in Ether value at the time) in its subsequent initial coin offering (ICO) in September 2017.

The project also made some ruckus last year as it announced that it will move away from the ethereum blockchain due to congestion and other factors.

As if all those moves were not enough, Kik has now announced that it will not just have its Kin token remain on the Ethereum platform, where it was originally created, but will also have available on the Stellar network. The kik and stellar move has been present for some time now as they had made tests in the past but this dual approach was not necessarily mentioned earlier.

The kik kin platform, despite disappointing investors so far,  seems to be making the right moves in general, at least in regards to planning for the future and making sure that they are able to handle transactions and other matters, creating a better user experience for their devoted application user.

Ethereum and stellar will be home to the kin token at the same time

Kik is taking the decision to ensure that it is not putting all its eggs in one basket,  by being an ERC 20 token, Kin is currently restricted to be used on the Ethereum network, which has been facing some scalability issues as of late that result in higher transaction times and costs for the tokens created on its platform.

The Ethereum team is reportedly working to resolve those issues, but Kik is not waiting around for that to happen. In order to prevent its users from having to face these issues on the Ethereum network, it now plans to have its supply available on the Stellar network as well by using atomic swaps.

Atomic Swaps is a technology which is still in the works, but one that allows exchange of tokens between blockchains by “locking” created tokens on one blockchain and having them “unlocked” on the other, all while showing them as seamless swaps between users.

For instance, when implemented in general, atomic swaps would allow a user holding ETH on its network to exchange them with XML on the Stellar network without any hassle – while the backend processes locks and unlocks tokens as explained above.

And that technology is what Kik now aims to leverage in order to make multiple blockchains happen for its Kin token.

When the plan goes into effect, 900 billion Kin tokens will be available on the Stellar network. After a while, users will have the option to start moving those tokens to the Ethereum platform.

The company is still working to make this happen and it might take a while before it all comes together, most probably by the end of this year.

 

Are you planning on using the kik kin platform? What are your thoughts about kik and stellar ?

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