Today on Bitcoin This Week we discuss the patent filed by Sony based on blockchain technology, Federal Reserve Bank says Bitcoin is like Cash, bitcoin prices and more.
Sony Files Patent For Storage Of Digital Rights
Sony, one of the biggest electronics companies in the world, has filed a patent to store users’ digital rights data on the blockchain. Sony seems to be betting on distributed ledger technology and is now looking to manage data through this technology. Throughout the patent documentation, Sony explains how this process could eliminate current third-party service providers for digital rights storage, which allow users to access their digital data. Although, through blockchain technology, Sony claims they can create new possibilities for customers to control their data in a more secure way.
The patent explains that “when the user wants to access the content data, the user system provides the content data and the rights blockchain to a digital rights management (DRM) computer system. The DRM system verifies the rights blockchain and confirms that the access is within the usage rights granted within the corresponding block in the rights blockchain. Once verified and confirmed, the DRM system decrypts or facilitates decrypting the encrypted content data and the user system can access the decrypted content.”
This means that through the creation of a user ID, the rights of the customer can be easily determined, allowing a better user experience, determining the devices on which rights are distributed, allowing users sharing rights and much more. It appears that this technology could easily be fused into one of Sony’s biggest hits on the market, the PlayStation.
Australia Will Build A BTC Mine Using Solar Energy
Hadouken Pty Ltd, an Australian based company, has filed an application to set up one of the biggest solar-powered bitcoin mining operations in Collie, Australia. The farm plans to have 20 megawatts available for mining purposes using solar energy. As the mining industry is usually criticized for not being eco-friendly and needing huge amounts of energy to function, this project seems like the perfect solution.
Hadouken is planning on mining Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies as yet undetermined. Increasingly projects using renewable energy sources are being applied to cryptocurrency mining, making them more sustainable and eco-friendly, something that the industry desperately needs to keep progressing.
St. Louis Claims BTC Is Like Regular Currency
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (US) has listed three ways in which Bitcoin (BTC) is like a regular currency. As part of the publication, the first reason focuses on how BTC has no intrinsic value, which means that it doesn’t have a value of its own. This is also true of the US dollar, the euro and other fiat currencies.
The second reason listed is the limited supply, having only 21 million BTC available for mining. The publication explains this second reason in terms of the Federal Reserve which does not print money, but instead controls and limits the amount of money available, like BTC. The final reason cited as to why BTC is like a regular currency, is the fact that there is no middle man. This is mainly based on how the whitepaper published by Satoshi Nakamoto described BTC as “a purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash which would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.” Designed to be a lot like cash, but digital. No intermediaries necessary to process a transaction with cash or with BTC.
This is a much debated topic which is still in discussion in some countries, some thinking of BTC as an asset and others thinking of it as a currency. This publication gives people a new perspective on how similar cash can be to BTC.
Chilean Minister Shows Support For Cryptos
The Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism of Chile, Jose Ramon Valente, expressed his interest in cryptocurrencies citing the innovation they represent in today’s world. Valente was quoted as saying, ‘how Chile could stay out of this “economy of the future” ‘ and how he favors innovation. The comments came just as one of the biggest exchanges operating in Chile, Buda, sued 10 banks for closing crypto operators’ accounts, a move which caused the country’s anti-monopoly court to order their re-opening.
Valente did not take a side in this battle but he was very supportive of the cryptocurrency community, claiming to give them a chance to demonstrate their true value in the market. Additionally, he commented on how Chile would not close before possible technological advances in the world, further strengthening opinion that he supports the community strongly.
A Good Week For Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) has shown a good week to close April. It started at the $8800 mark on Monday and climbed all the way up to $9700 by Wednesday, suffering a setback on the same day, but keeping it steady through the week, closing at almost $9400 on Sunday. It seems like the market is working on a correction and prices could continue to go up. However, there could be a major drop coming our way since it has been reported that MTGox just moved over 2000 BTC from remaining wallets. These could be dropped in the exchanges anytime, causing a drop in prices due to oversupply.
