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B2B Crypto Services: The Crypto Improvement Fund ICO Evaluated

By
Eimear Dodd
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0
B2b Crypto Services: The Crypto Improvement Fund Ico Evaluated
B2b Crypto Services: The Crypto Improvement Fund Ico Evaluated

Crypto Improvement Fund (CIF), a Blockchain as a Service provider, is currently holding an initial coin offering to fund its development. According to the white paper, the Canadian based project is a “business incentive program rewarding crypto currency adoption.”

This piece is an analysis of the facts available about the CIF ICO sale. It should not be read as offering any advice or a recommendation. ICOs may have quickly become the preferred tool for funding new crypto projects but the ICO can be very high-risk for coin purchasers. ICOs currently have an unclear legal and financial status in many jurisdictions.

Additionally, token buyers may find that their purchase does not offer them any security or equity in the start-up or project because the ICO is essentially a crowdfunding initiative rather than a traditional IPO. As such, any investor who plans to buy tokens during any ICO needs to obtain all relevant independent advice and carry out their own appropriate due diligence.

Project overview

CIF’s ambition is to encourage more businesses to use crypto currency. To achieve this, the project would offer services in the business to business (B2B) sphere. These would include the CIF Business Rewards Program which incentivises businesses to integrate crypto currency into their existing payment options. Participating businesses would be rewarded quarterly with CIF coin subject to certain criteria.
According to the white paper, CIF plans to draw revenue by providing value added services to businesses. These would include its own e-commerce application, customisable blockchain products, crypto training and consulting services.

ICO information

ICO coin name: Crypto Improvement Fund (CIF)

Token standard: Custom blockchain

Total token supply: 500,000,000 CIF

Public ICO sale supply: 125,000,000 CIF

Initial token rate: 500 CIF/1 USD

The ICO started on 1 October 2017 and is scheduled to finish on 1 January 2018. There was no ICO pre-sale. The sale is being conducted in three phases with a set amount of CIF coins available for purchase during each stage.

The white paper outlines that CIF coins can only be purchased using Bitcoin. CIF coins will be allocated to purchasers based on a formula which considers the amount of Bitcoin paid by the individual, the total supply of CIF coins for that phase of the sale and the total amount of Bitcoin paid by all coin purchasers. ICO participants will be considered shareholders in the business and will be able to exercise influence over decisions via an open forum.

https://twitter.com/CIF_Team/status/936656401765683201

The CIF coin itself will have a number of functions. It will be paid to businesses which join the CIF Business Rewards Program. These businesses can exchange the coin for fiat currency, use the coin as part of their own customer loyalty schemes or as a means of payment when purchasing products and services from CIF.

There appears to be an expectation that a secondary market will develop on crypto exchanges for the CIF coin. Additionally, users will also be able to mine CIF coins on the CIF blockchain.

CIF is hoping to raise $5 million USD from the sale. The funds will primarily be used to fund the development and marketing of the project.

The team

The CIF team listed on the website has experience in fintech, business development, marketing and blockchain. The advisory board adds additional expertise in ICOs, blockchain, sales and marketing.

Minimum viable product

The CIF Business Rewards Program is scheduled to launch in January 2018. 50,000,000 CIF coins have been assigned to fund the rewards program. The roadmap indicates that the objective is to launch the e-commerce app in the Canadian market during the second quarter of 2018. Other training and consulting products and services will also launch during 2018.

The white paper

The 28 page document offers an overview of the CIF project with further information about the CIF coin, project roadmap and objectives. The primary goal is to encourage the wider adoption by businesses of crypto currencies and blockchain technology. However, it’s not yet certain that crypto currencies will move outside their niche to become a common means of exchange.

CIF’s B2B value added approach could be promising but it’s likely to prove challenging to sell the idea of adopting crypto currency practices to some businesses. Marketing, company reputation and service excellence may be critical to developing these relationships that could become potential sales.

https://twitter.com/CIF_Team/status/943468332153532416

Website and digital footprint

The CIF website contains the white paper and other documents including a prospectus that may be provided to potential business customers. In terms of social media, CIF has an active presence on Facebook, Medium, Twitter and other platforms. For example, its Twitter account had over 15,000 followers at the time of writing.

Conclusion

CIF has an ambitious aim to promote the adoption of crypto currency. However, the crypto space remains quite niche and a wider adoption of the technology is not certain yet.

According to CIF’s figures, the first two phases of CIF’s ICO closed with 100% of the available coins allocated. The final phase is open until 1 January 2018 and the white paper can be read here.

Trying To Bring Order And Analysis To The World Of ICOs, Dmitry Machikhin, Cofounder Of ICObench

By
Jillian Godsil
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0
Trying To Bring Order And Analysis To The World Of Icos, Dmitry Machikhin, Cofounder Of Icobench
Trying To Bring Order And Analysis To The World Of Icos, Dmitry Machikhin, Cofounder Of Icobench

ICObench, trying to become the Forbes of the ICO world.

Only formed in August 2017, already ICObench is cornering the market as the ratings agency for the ICO world. With more than 1500 ICOs listed on their pages, 100 waiting for review per day and 1000 more in the pipeline, the platform is growing faster than it can almost cope.

‘We are looking to automate much of the qualifications of the ICOs,’ says CEO and co-founder Dmitry Machikhin from St Petersburg. ‘We have six editors working full time but we have our hands full.’

It might be argued indeed that the burgeoning ICO industry needed a ratings system or platform to try and manage the difficult task of measuring the numerous offerings. While most companies use uniform website layouts, similar white papers and often share advisers, there was no formal rating system to offer a quick and easy guide for investors and industry watchers.

Machikhin’s background is maths and linguistics. He worked for Cointelegraph and used coinmarketcap.com as a ready reference but felt there was something missing – something that would bridge the gap.

‘We wanted to provide a platform where we could inform interested parties of the quality behind each ICO,’ says Machikhin. ‘We put together algorithms that evaluated the quality of people behind each ICO using past experience as a benchmark. If someone has been involved in a number of ICOs that are trading successfully, then their score goes up.’

In rating the ICOs, ICObench uses the Return on Investment (ROI) on each ICO’s token, comparing sale price with current trading value. ‘This is a simple equation but it is interesting to view ICOs together rather than in isolation – that is where our value comes in.’

‘Power of the team’ is a term that Machikhin uses on a regular basis in our conversation. ‘We judge pre-ICOs on three key components; one factor is the quality of the team, secondly the idea and if it is sufficiently ground-breaking and finally the underlying product itself.’

These attributes are judged by the 200 or so experts attached to the site. These are not paid and work transparently reviewing the ICOs on file. As they review more and more ICOs the weight attached to their ratings rises.

‘Here we are creating a database of the people of blockchain,’ explains Machikhin. ‘These experts register and are approved before they start rating. The platform allows them to grow in influence. Over time, their sphere of influence will rise and they will be invited to speak at events and exhibitions. This is an excellent way for people to create profile for themselves and deliver more work going forward.’

The ICObench people is a very important feature of the community. The Benchy bot collects data on individuals and rates them according to connections with ICOs and the subsequent success of those ICOs.

Machikhin says he cannot influence my rating even if he wanted to – ‘Ít’s all automatic and transparent.’

The editors reviewing and adding the ICOs do more than manually up-post details. They view hundreds of ICOs every day and as such are ideally placed to offer advice and consultancy to new and inexperienced ICOs.

‘This is done free of charge and is all part of the service,’ says Machikhin.

If companies wish to differentiate themselves, there is an option to purchase premium position. ‘It makes sense,’ says Machikhin. ‘Our site is used as the go-to site for researching ICOs and to be at the top of the list is most advantageous.’

Currently the fee for this premium position is one bitcoin per week. Before bitcoin did its surge, interest was strong for this service but despite failing numbers in advertisers, Machikhin believes the price is right. ‘We get quality ICOs who understand the logic of positioning,’ he claims.

Currently ICObench is experiencing large traffic with 33,000 unique visitors per day. Each visitor tends to spent 3 to 4 minutes on the site, and looks at between 3 and 4 pages on each visit. There is a 50% retention rate and this is growing daily.

In time, Machikhin hopes that ICOs will launch from the platform and intends growing the marketplace to add more services and products needed by ICOs.

A developer API has also been launched allowing other media services to pull down their data and increasing their footprint on the online ICO world. Cointelegraph is one of the first users of this free rating stream but according to Machikhin they have not implemented it correctly as yet. ‘There are only 300 ICOs listed out of the possible 1500 ICOs on our site, he says.

There are many other developments in the pipeline including a weekly financial report based on the content on the site. This will be a paid subscription service.

Overall Machikhin is happy with the growth of the platform. ‘We are aiming to automate more aspects, such as the ICO registration,’ he says.

‘We are also looking for more experts to register. We want to promote the people of blockchain.’

And finally he wants ICObench to be the platform that explains ICOs to everyone in the world. ‘To educate the mass market,’ no less he says.

 

Philippines To Introduce Bitcoin Regulation

By
Ali Raza
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0
Philippines Legalizes Bitcoin New
Philippines Legalizes Bitcoin

The country’s central bank has recently announced that they are considering a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency.

Philippian financial regulators as well as the country’s central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Philipinas (BSP), recently announced that they intend to create a regulatory framework for virtual currencies and assets such as bitcoin. Earlier this week, the Deputy Governor of the BSP, Chuchi Fonacier, confirmed that the central bank will be partnering with the Philippian Securities and Exchange Commission to develop regulatory policies for those businesses and individuals who intend to participate in the market.

According to the media outlet, GMA Network, the country has decided to finally take a proactive in approach in developing regulatory policies for the crypto industry. Deputy Governor of the BSP, Chuchi Fonacier, has stated that the bank will with working together with the SEC to formulate regulations pertaining to several areas of the crypto industry including initial coin offerings (ICOs), digital exchange licenses, as well as regulations for cryptocurrencies.

During an interview, Fonacier explained that while they are focused on crypto exchanges, the industry’s rapid development might call for regulation of the cryptocurrencies themselves.

This view is in line with BSP’s collaborator, the SEC. Fonacier also confirmed that Philippian businesses and individuals have already invested in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, which the two financial institutions are dedicated to protecting.

The call for regulation came shortly after BSP noticed that Philippian individuals and businesses have been converting millions of dollars worth of bitcoin into fiat currency and vice versa in their trading ventures. Currently, the central bank has been mostly concerned with reviewing bitcoin and ensuring that all active exchanges in the country are appropriately licensed and compliant with the licenses. To date, 12 Philippines-based firms have applied for regulatory approval, however, with another five companies being recently added to the list of hopeful application. The BSP has also already approved two exchanges to operate within the country: Rebittance and Coins.ph.

Last month, Nestor Espenilla, the Governor of the BSP addressed issues concerning ICO regulation as well as the possibility of creating a legislative framework wherein which bitcoin will be considered as a security. Espenilla noted that the central bank was open to all the latest innovations offered by the fintech industry, and added that the BSP intends to take a pro-active approach in ensuring that the Philippines remains conducive to innovation.

The latest set of suggested regulations include policies that state that the BSP intends to regulate only those businesses that are in the practice of converting cryptocurrencies to USD, or any alternative fiat currency, that is not the Philippine peso.

PROPS ICO Reviewed – A Decentralized Ecosystem Of Video Applications

By
Angus Cepka
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0
Props Ico Reviewed – A Decentralized Ecosystem Of Video Applications
Props Ico Reviewed – A Decentralized Ecosystem Of Video Applications

Important Dates: January – Crowdsale to begin exact date TBD

Number of Tokens: 1 Billion total – 200 Million sold in crowdsale

Cap: $25 million

Token Type: ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain

Ticker: PROPS

Whitepaper: Link 

What is Props?

Props Ico Reviewed – A Decentralized Ecosystem Of Video Applications

Props is the token that will power a “decentralized ecosystem of video applications” on the Rize platform. It is supposed to be the first platform that will form the Rize Ecosystem

The project is billed as a project of YouNow, which is a company that was founded in 2011.

What is the problem Props wants to solve?

The Props whitepaper offers a good summary of the problem they are trying to solve. It rightly asserts that today’s digital media landscape is highly centralized. A small number of large companies (e.g. Google and Apple among others) effectively control digital media distribution and access. These companies have earned massive profits, yet only a very small fraction of that money flows back to the people that create value for these networks, namely the content creators, curators, publishers and developers building on top of them. Large companies monetize the attention and information of users, while the vast majority of users do not benefit from the financial gains of the network they contribute to.

While some platforms reward large content contributors for their work, contributors enjoy only a fraction of the financial value they collectively create. The large companies end up controlling content distribution and contributor income and often end up cannibalizing their earnings with their own content and product offerings. Meanwhile, developers wishing to create new experiences and digital media distribution channels face an uphill battle against overwhelming network effects and economies of scale.

What is Props’s Business Plan?

YouNow has converted itself into a foundation in order to facilitate the integration of PROPS. The RIZE app will be launched after the token event. During 2018, there are plans to bring in further partners and further expand the number of use cases for the PROPS token. The road map can be seen below:

Props Ico Reviewed – A Decentralized Ecosystem Of Video Applications

ICO

Props conducted its ICO pre-sale for non-accredited investers beginning on Dec 12th. The presale sold out after reaching a $1.2 million cap.

The crowd sale will be in Q1 2018 and will be used to fill the rest of the $25 million market cap not already filled in the presale. 20% of tokens will be sold during the token sale.

Token Utility

The PROPS token is used to reward content creators. It serves as a ‘status’ token, and unlocks functionality depending on how many are held by a given user. The whitepaper describes the following five use cases for the token:

  • Premium Experiences: PROPS will unlock premium experiences or ‘gameplay advantages. Some features may be exclusive to token holders and require premium access using PROPS.
  • Status Signaling: Indicates the elevated status of PROPS holders.
  • Influence and Curation: Influence is a function of economic power. PROPS holders may promote use cases and content they like and vote on platform-wide rules and guidelines.
  • Compensation: Tokens will be used to compensate platform contributors (e.g. content contributors, curators, developers etc.). PROPS tokens are rewarded to users who are calculated as contributing the most to the platform.
  • Content Promotion: Users of all types can use PROPS to promote or elevate their own content.

The Team

The team is drawn from the YouNow parent company, and has good business experience. As they have already been working with YouNow for six years, the team has a lot more credibility than some of the other ICOs that feature teams with no experience and no minimum viable product.

Hype

There are currently about 5800 people in Props’ Telegram channel.  This is a good number compared to other ICOs. Anything with 5000+ is a sign of strong buzz.

Younow has some prominent backers, perhaps chiefly Comcast, one of the world’s largest entertainment companies.

Competition

Viuly: This is a decentralized video marketplace that recently did an airdrop to all Ether holder accounts. The project team is not nearly as strong as PROPS and is only focused on video. They aim to have a beta of the project released in Q2 2018. PROPS is a much better value proposition.

Hubii: Hubii Network had its ICO is August and has been working on developing an MVP, which is supposed to launch by Q1, 2018. It has some good partners in Telenor, but is fundamentally focusing on written media to start.

Risks

Competition: Competition in the media platform space is fierce, and not just on the blockchain front (e.g. Hubii and Viuly), but also from established players such as Youtube. Although Youtube has not ‘tokenized’ itself, it may not be that far off, and fundamentally users want good content and don’t really care about the underlying economics. If Rize does not have good content, users will stay away.

Technology: At the moment, the PROPS token is an ERC20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain. While Ethereum is by far the most popular platform for ICOs, it is not able to support more than about 5 transactions per second. For a platform like Rize that demands multiple micro-transactions, the Ethereum platform may not be able to cope.

Scores

Fundamental Indicators

Concept: 3

The concept of PROPS is good, but there is nothing really unique about it. Many other projects are also decentralizing content and it is really a race to see which one can benefit first from network effects.

Token Utility: 3

While there are no revolutionary use cases for the PROPS token, it is not just used as a payment method. The additional use cases of status and unlocking extra features are welcome, and mean that the token is an integral part of the Rize ecosystem.

Status: 5

The RIZE platform will launch in early 2018 after the conclusion of the token sale. The PROPS project is far more advanced than many ICOs which only have whitepapers and no product.

Team: 4

The team is well-suited to succeed in bringing PROPS to the masses. This is because they already have a working product and extensive experience thanks to their involvement in Younow.

Competition: 2

As mentioned earlier on in this review, competition is fierce in this space and a very real risk to the success to the project.

Strategy: 5

The Whitepaper for this project is exceptionally well-written and thought out. The team has a clear way forward on how they intend to integrate a token into a media platform and how to incentivize users and partners to use it.

Technical Indicators

Market Cap: 3

The props market cap of $25 million is leaning towards the higher side in the current market, but is still ok. However, only 20% of tokens will be sold during the token sale, which is a low number and implies a market cap of $125 million. In the short term, when 80% of the tokens are locked, this is not really a concern, but the 50% of tokens controlled by the PROPS foundation will be gradually released and could dilute investor holdings.

Hype: 4

Hype is good for PROPS with strong partners and good community engagement.

Investment Horizon

Short Term: I like the short-term prospects of this project. The whitepaper is exceptionally well written, the team is experienced and it is being developed out of an existing company. Unlike some ICO ‘money grabs’ where companies that have a failing product look to bolt on an ICO for funding, the PROPS project genuinely adds value to the Rize platform. The product is also close to release in Q1. Good news has significant impact in crypto, and the PROPS project should be no exception.

Long Term:  Long-term prospects are a little more murky. Competition is fierce and other projects with similar ideas will come online. I believe it is likely that large incumbents such as Youtube will explore creating their own internal cryptocurrency as well.

Conclusion

PROPS could be a good ICO for investors. It has a strong team, a product that is nearly ready and a strong vision for what it wants to achieve.

Overall Score: 3.6

What You Need To Know About The Bitcoin Network Fee

By
Abel Colmenares Napolitano
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0
What You Need To Know About The Bitcoin Network Fee
What You Need To Know About The Bitcoin Network Fee

In recent days, the Bitcoin network has experienced a rise in its market capitalization and also has suffer high volume of traffic generated by users in its network due to the number of transactions, resulting in an additional cost of up to $30 each transaction when needed urgently, which makes it similar to the transaction costs that are usually associated with the bank industry; fees that were precisely part of the Bitcoin was trying to avoid. Additionally, those overpriced fees make it impossible for users who wish to send small transactions because they are now too expensive. As of right now, it can be easily observed how this situation has escalated and is now having an impact on Blockchain, especially with Bitcoins. On bitcoinfees.info you can find the average daily cost of the Bitcoin network fee:

What You Need To Know About The Bitcoin Network Fee

(Bitcoin network fee on December 20, 2017, source: bitcoinfees.info)

But: What is the commission of the Bitcoin network?

The Bitcoin network commission, also known as the miner commission, is a transaction fee in Bitcoin that is charged to users when they do transactions with Bitcoin. This commission is collected as a reward to the miners for the maintenance of the Bitcoin network.

You must pay the commission to the network to ensure that your Bitcoin transfers arrive on time. This commission is one of the main tools used to accelerate Bitcoin transactions, which are sometimes slow due to high traffic of users in the Bitcoin network. Generally, the higher the commission, the quicker your transactions will be verified.

For the fastest Bitcoin transfers and exchanges, each transaction requires a blockchain commission. Normally, the commission is low, but sometimes higher fees may be required to complete your transfer or exchange. This article will explain the reason why and how you can avoid high blockchain fees.

But: Why is the Bitcoin network commission so high right now?

Network fees depend on several factors, including network traffic, time for transaction confirmation (affected by liquidity providers), and blockchain size (measured in kilobytes; affected when converting bitcoin from multiple entries as profits of a faucet or other microtransactions).

In other words, you may have to pay blockchain fees higher than normal if:

  1. The Bitcoin network is busy or heavily loaded at the moment. Normally, the commission increases during fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin and important global events.
  2. Your Bitcoin wallet has a history of micro revenues (such as referral bonuses). If your wallet has large amounts of small income, the size of your transaction will be higher since it will consist of many entries.
  3. The larger the size of the transaction, the higher the blockchain commission.

There may be other reasons that cause high blockchain fees, but we have listed the most common ones.

What You Need To Know About The Bitcoin Network Fee

(Bitcoin fee chart 2017, source: bitcoinfees.info)

So: Is it possible to lower the commission of the Bitcoin network?

You can make transactions without commission if you do not mind waiting a little bit longer for confirmation. Many wallets allow you to choose the commission, even though they establish one by default. For example, in Bitcoin Core, if you go to preferences you can choose the commission and put 0.00000000 as commission. Multibit, Electrum and Armory also allow you to choose the commission.

To avoid “spam” and the “dust” of the network, most miners discriminate transactions without commission, especially if they are very small amounts. But if you send one Bitcoin with commission 0, you won’t get your transaction confirmed fast enough or never been confirmed.

Crypto Currency Exchange: Exmo ICO Reviewed

By
Eimear Dodd
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0
Crypto Currency Exchange: Exmo Ico Reviewed
Crypto Currency Exchange: Exmo Ico Reviewed

Exmo, a crypto currency exchange platform, is planning to launch its initial coin offering (ICO) in February 2018.

The project aims to raise $300 million USD to fund the development of the platform and its margin loan scheme.

This piece is an analysis of the facts available about the Exmo ICO sale. It should not be read as offering any advice or a recommendation. ICOs may have quickly become a favourite tool for funding new crypto projects but the ICO can be very high-risk for token purchasers. ICOs currently have an unclear legal and financial status in many jurisdictions.

Additionally, token buyers may find that their purchase does not offer them any security or equity in the start-up or project because the ICO is more like a crowdfunding initiative than a traditional IPO. As such, any investor who plans to buy tokens during any ICO needs to obtain all relevant independent advice and carry out their own appropriate due diligence.

Project overview

Founded in 2013, Exmo is a crypto currency exchange platform where users can trade or exchange their crypto currency for other crypto assets and fiat currency. In 2016, the platform had over 400,000 registered users. The ICO white paper states that daily traffic to the platform is over 70,000 visitors.

According to the white paper, money raised during the ICO will be used primarily to fund the development of the platform’s margin loan scheme. This type of flexible credit allows traders to borrow funds to make investments using their existing assets as security.

The ICO will also be used to cover costs of the platform’s expansion including marketing and technical support. The white paper states that the acquisition of rival crypto exchange platforms is being considered as a possible route for further growth.

Exmo is registered as a company in the United Kingdom.

ICO facts

ICO coin name: Exmo Coin (EXO)

Token standard: ERC20 Standard

Total token supply: 300,250,000 EXO

Public ICO sale supply: 300,000,000 EXO

Hard Cap: 300,000,000 EXO

Initial token rate: 1 EXO/1 USD

An ICO pre-sale is scheduled to take place from 21 to 23 February 2018 with a hard cap of 5,000,000 EXO coins available for purchase during this period. The public ICO is due to open on 26 February 2018 and close on 26 March 2018.

The EXO token is a utility token based on the Ethereum blockchain. Holders of the token would be entitled to share in the profits from the margin loans offered by the platform. According to the white paper, 50% of the revenue generated from margin loans would be divided among all token holders as a monthly dividend based on the number of EXO tokens owned by each token holder.

The team

The white paper lists a team of 14 who have experience in business development, marketing, blockchain and smart contracts. Desmond Marshall, founder of Rogue Ventures, is listed as an advisor to the project.

Minimum Viable Product

The Exmo crypto exchange platform has been in operation for several years. Its customer base is primarily in Eastern Europe. A margin loan scheme was added to the platform early in 2017. This service was likely introduced to encourage the growth of trading volumes on the Exmo platform.

The white paper

The 43 page document contains information on Exmo’s business proposition, the EXO token and the company’s roadmap. There is also a one pager which offers a shorter summary of this information.

The process for the margin loan scheme and the proposed rates of interest charged are also discussed within the white paper. Exmo is putting aside 5% of the funds obtained during the ICO to set up an insurance fund to minimise the risks of the margin loan scheme. In its roadmap, the company predicts revenues of $800 million USD from the margin loan scheme by 2022.

All of the objectives on the five year roadmap are quite ambitious. These include international expansion and becoming the market leader for crypto currency exchange services. Exmo is also in the process of setting up a Trust Fund in Sweden and has plans to register as an Alternative Investment Fund in the European Union.

These objectives are based on optimistic forecasts for the growth of the trading volumes on the platform. What happens if these scenarios are not realised? It appears that there is an assumption here that a wider adoption of crypto currencies will take place but this is not certain. Crypto may remain a niche and highly speculative space for enthusiasts and experts.

Exmo’s existing platform and customer base may offer a degree of reassurance to potential token holders. However, past performance cannot be said to offer a meaningful guide to the future potential of any crypto project given the volatility of the crypto space.

Website and digital footprint

The Exmo ICO site is separate to the Exmo trading platform. The ICO site contains infographics about the sale and the margin loan scheme. In terms of social media, Exmo has an active presence on Twitter, Facebook, Medium, Reddit and other platforms. For example, its Twitter account regularly tweets content about crypto topics.

Conclusion

Exmo appears to have ambitious plans for its future development and growth. Can all these ambitions be realized? It remains unclear. However, crypto currency exchange platforms and trading are crucial components of the crypto eco system.

The Exmo white paper can be read here.

10 Great Examples Of How The UN Is Using Blockchain Technology For Social Good

By
CryptoCoin.News
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0
10 Great Examples Of How The Un Is Using Blockchain Technology For Social Good
10 Great Examples Of How The Un Is Using Blockchain Technology For Social Good

Many United Nations Entities are now Implementing Blockchain Technology. Here are some interesting examples.

In December 2016, Yoshiyuki Yamamoto was appointed as a special advisor at the United Nations, initiating the “UN Blockchain initiative”, an interagency effort to utilize blockchain technology to improve the distribution of aid. The initiative includes cooperation with the UN umbrella of agencies, which focuses on the effective use of philanthropic donations. The UN’s sustainable development goals (SDG) promote humanitarian causes, including ‘no poverty’, ‘zero hunger’, and ‘quality education’, among 14 others.

The current initiatives range from proof of concept, events and workshops to investments and publications. UN Women held a blockchain hackathon event, the UNODC held a cryptocurrency-focused train-the-trainers event, the UNDP used blockchain technology to manage UN car fleets and UNICEF has invested more than $11 million into blockchain start-ups. To help us visualize how blockchain technology can be useful, here are some more detailed examples of how it is already being implemented:

  1. United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

UNOPS is the organization that launched the UN Blockchain Initiative. It is the operational arm of the UN and so it aims to bring all other UN agencies together in an effort to synergize knowledge, processes and networks to achieve success with blockchain technology. Those who wish to contribute or ask questions are able to do so online by registering to the UN Blockchain Forum.

  1. UN Women

In June 2017, UN Women partnered with Innovation Norway to hold an event in Oslo- a Blockchain Hackathon. 40+ women from around the world participated in the workshop. In addition to an application called VIPI Cash, an app which promotes entrepreneurship among women and permits for secure financial transactions between them, the women produced several other decentralized applications. Another 48-hour hackathon event was held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on December 7th, 2017.

  1. World Food Program (WFP)

The WFP distributed more than $1,000,000 in aid to thousands of Syrian refugees in Zaatari, Jordan. The assignment allowed the refugees to buy food using only the scan of their eye and partnered with Parity, Datarella and Iris Scan technologies. The project, which is called “Building Blocks”, is currently in its ‘Scale Up’ stage, after a successful prototype and pilot stage.

  1. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

The UNODC launched a training program as part of a wider investigation framework, which focused on tracing the movement of Bitcoin. The agency worked with law enforcement experts from 22 countries, as well as analytics start-up Chainanalysis.

  1. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

The UNDP has experimented with using blockchain technology as a mechanism to manage car fleets deployed in danger zones and developing countries. The agency has also explored the possibility of cryptocurrency as an alternative financing solution to meet its SDG agenda. This exploration has manifested itself in the Alternative Finance Lab, based in Istanbul, Turkey.

  1. UN Childrens` Fund (UNICEF)

The goal of the UNICEF Innovation Fund is to empower and motivate technology start-ups to start thinking of open source solutions that can help solve the problems children all over the world are facing today. The fund has invested over $11 million in blockchain start-ups and funded in-house application prototypes. Aside from these projects, UNICEF is also commencing relevant trainings and knowledge sharing initiatives.

  1. Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA)

While some projects are in the pilot stage and are already being implemented, others are still in the research and publication stage. Vanessa Ko and Andrej Verity published a paper called “Blockchain for the Humanitarian Sector: Future Opportunities”. It details how the blockchain could help with the supply chain, donor financing and provides recommendations for future research.

  1. United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

ECLAC released a paper highlighting a very serious problem, which is referred to as de-risking. De-risking is a process that global banks employ when they consider their relationship with a local or regional bank to be “high-risk” partnership. At the time of publication, 12 Caribbean countries have had at least one local bank terminated. This is especially problematic in remote destinations where citizens do not have access to many banking options. The research concluded that while blockchain is a possible solution, the technology is not yet well-enough developed to be viewed as an immediate solution.

  1. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

UNCTAD developed the ‘eTrade for all’ app, an application which aims to help people all over the world, particularly in developing countries, start their own online business and benefit from the developments of e-commerce. UNCTAD partnered with Alibaba for this initiative and based the technology on Estonia’s ‘’e-Residency’’ app.

  1. United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT)

In April 2017, the UN/CEFACT published a whitepaper, authored by Virgina Cram Martos, proposing a workshop and business case, which will exemplify how blockchain can facilitate trade and related business within the UN system.

To learn about the other agencies’ involvement in the UN Blockchain Initiative, take a moment to review this presentation and check back in with cryptocoin.news for more articles.

By Michael Edward Naftaliev, who is a writer, entrepreneur, and a business strategy consultant, based in Vienna, Austria. His interests include learning, networking and empowering others. Michael has a bachelor’s degree in International Business Administration, which he obtained from Lauder Business School.

Image from pixabay here.

 

Spectiv ICO Review: Streaming Community-driven VR Content Across The Blockchain

By
Fernando Sanchez
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0
Spectiv Ico Review: Streaming Community-driven Vr Content Across The Blockchain
Spectiv Ico Review: Streaming Community-driven Vr Content Across The Blockchain

Virtual Reality (VR) is a cool new technology, hot on the heels of the Districts VR city we reviewed in the very recent past comes a new ICO that offers VR-related services.

Spectiv wants to create a VR ecosystem where members of the community can stream
their VR content, view someone else’s, and enjoy the full sensory experience that enhanced reality can offer, from the comfort of their own living rooms.

This piece is an analysis of the facts available about the Spectiv ICO. It should not be read as offering advice or a recommendation. While ICOs have quickly become a popular tool for funding projects and start-ups, they can also be very high-risk for token purchasers.

Additionally, ICOs currently have an unclear legal and financial status. Token buyers may find that their purchase does not offer them any security or equity because the ICO is closer to a crowdfunding initiative than a traditional IPO. As such, any investor who plans to buy tokens during any ICO needs to obtain all relevant independent advice and carry out their own appropriate due diligence.

Spectiv: The rise of VR across the blockchain

Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Enhanced Reality… What’s in a name, right? Whichever moniker you choose to use, all these concepts refer to the same thing. The illusion of a computer-generated reality that trick our senses into believing we are somewhere else. VR enables the user to access an alternative (‘virtual’) world, or reality and become an avatar of themselves for a little while.

This digital trickery has been around for some decades, but it never really looked, or felt completely right.

The advent of blockchain technology has become the new digital playground for VR evangelists and developers. The very decentralized nature of the technology suits the proposition perfectly, as a worldwide community can produce and view VR content.

Internationally, the VR market growth is expected to reach about $41bn by 2020, so the potential for revenue is remarkable.

Spectiv’s value proposition will place specific emphasis on the community. The platform will enable users in one country to experience what a different set of users elsewhere is seeing. For instance, they may be streaming an event, a visit to a local landmark, or a myriad of other possibilities.

Spectiv in numbers & quick facts

https://twitter.com/spectivvr/status/941189421247946752

  • Token Name – Signal Token (Sig)
  • Token Value – 650 Sig = 1 ETH
  • Pre-ICO Start Date – December 12, 2017
  • Pre-ICO End Date – December 21, 2017
  • ICO Start Date – December 21, 2017
  • ICO End Date – December 29, 2017
  • Max cap – $40m

https://twitter.com/spectivvr/status/940313128075702272

Different bonus levels will apply during the ICO:

https://twitter.com/19winners93/status/943353297880211457

Early Bird Bonuses:

  • Level 1: 40% Bonus (buy 1, 0.4 free) – December 8th-11th
  • Level 2: 25% Bonus (buy 1, 0.25 free) – December 11th – 18th
  • Level 3: 10% Bonus (buy 1, 0.1 free) – December 18th – 21st
  • Level 4: 0% Bonus (buy 1, 0 free) – December 21st – 28th

It is worth highlighting that potential investors will require to have an Ethereum wallet of their own.

The Sig token

https://twitter.com/JerryCs22/status/943433238516678656

As with any other ICO, the company will issue its own currency, the Signal token (Sig).

Once created, the tokens will be allocated as follows:

  • Crowdsale – 60%
  • Reserve – 20%
  • Management team – 13%
  • Escrow/advisors – 4%
  • Bounties – 3%

There will be no further tokens issued after the end of the ICO.

The team

The company’s website presents a core team of twelve people, plus six advisors.

The team’s quoted skillset appears solid and relevant, displaying a mix of financial, entrepeneurial, and technical expertise. There is a nice balance there.

All team members feature a link to their LinkedIn profiles.

Social Media presence and digital footprint

A strong presence on Social Media is usually a good indicator of a company’s popularity, though it is not the only factor that determines success.

Here’s the numbers for Spectiv at the time of writing (December 2017).

  • Twitter – 2,533 followers
  • Facebook – 7,580 followers
  • LinkedIn – 58 followers

Thus far, Spectiv does not have a very significant presence on Social Media, which is somewhat peculiar for an ICO that is primarily involved with media distribution. There is no YouTube channel, for instance, nor Instagram account. These would be key media outlets to promote Spectiv’s business and capabilities.

Such distinct lack of presence on Social Media may be an oversight, but it will play against the ICO’s interests in a very significant way.

Overall, Spectiv has a lot of ground to cover if it’s to catch up with other ICOs in the Social Media stakes at all.

Competition

A few companies are working on the implmentation of blockchain-based VR projects right now. Districts, VARcrypt, and Decentraland to name but a few. Each of these propositions is unique in its own right, but it remains to be seen which, if any, is still standing at the end of the ICO race. VR can be a very ‘cool’ and profitable industry, so it will come down to the individual quality of every offering.

Website quality & layout

An ICO’s website is the first port of call for any potential investors, and if the site isn’t appealing enough, they will move on and forget about your proposition, no matter how good or viable it may be. It is therefore imperative to design a good  website, to make a strong and lasting first impression.

Spectiv’s website is secure and rather brief. It essentially contains the Landing Page plus two additional pages. It does have a really neat feature under the VR ALPHA page, which is essentially a gallery showcasing VR content from a number of users. This page shows the potential of what Spectiv can accomplish in time.

https://twitter.com/petertrapasso/status/939638615495380995

One thing I did not like about the website is that the link to the Whitepaper takes you to a Dropbox folder. This is somewhat odd.

Apart from that little quirk, Spectiv’s website is pleasing to navigate and easy to use, so overall, it gets a thumbs up.

Whitepaper

https://twitter.com/AshSzabi83/status/943200979159220224

A well laid out, informative, comprehensive Whitepaper is a must for any ICO, if they are to be taken seriously. Documentation is sometimes treated as an afterthought, leaving many companies open to some criticism.

Spectiv’s Whitepaper is rather pleasing to look at. It uses a nice color palette and a very elegant and easy to read font, plus a header. The paper shows that a bit of thought and work has been invested on it, which is not always the case for many ICOs.

The concept of what Spectiv offers is well explained, so any potential investors will be well informed of what the ICO is all about.

The paper thankfully avoids excessively technical jargon, which is a very positive thing. Again, many other ICOs may include this believing that it adds to their credibility. While technical information is sometimes necessary, it should be made available to download separately in a tech specs sheet or something like that.

Overall, Spectiv’s Whitepaper ranks as ‘Acceptable’.

Conclusion

Spectiv’s idea is quite neat, and it resembles a sort of YouTube for VR content, powered by blockchain technology.

The concept of creating and sharing VR content from around the world is rather interesting, specially if community members can make a profit out of it. The type of content shared will sometimes be interesting and dull in other occasions. This is the case with any video-sharing apps anyway.

This is an ICO that may very well make it to the top, but it definitely needs to invest time and effort on its Social Media presence.

We will keep an eye on Spectiv’s progress over the next few weeks.

https://twitter.com/olga_sribna/status/943157950474080257

North Korean Hackers Responsible For Wannacry Ransomware Attack

By
Ali Raza
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0
North Korea Suspected of Implementing Worldwide Cryptocurrency Mining Software
North Korea Suspected Of Implementing Worldwide Cryptocurrency Mining Software

The US Government has accused state-sponsored North Korean hackers of being responsible for the hugely damaging Wannacry ransomware campaign that took place earlier this year.

The US Government has recently announced that North Korea is a prime suspect in the Wannacry ransomware attack campaign which ran rampant earlier this year. The ransomware is considered one of the most damaging attacks of its kind up to date and has pocketed billions from its collective victims.

In a recent article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal and was authored by the US President’s Homeland Security Advisor, Thomas P. Bossert, the US administration under President Donald Trump has officially taken the stance that North Korean hackers are responsible for the Wannacry ransomware attack. In addition, Bossert added that the ransomware campaign was enormously reckless and indicative of the regime whose behavior, according to Bossert, has grown radically more malicious after going unchecked for so long.

The notorious ransomware campaign operated by infiltrating devices that operated using Windows encrypted the devices information, and then demanded a ransomware to be paid in bitcoin by the victim, in order to recover the encrypted files. Experts have estimated that the Wannacry attack affected over 300,000 computers spread over 150 countries all over the world. The attack also targeted major institutions such as digital economic systems, banks, and telecommunications companies. North Korea is also considered the responsible party by Microsoft security experts, who made this determination after using a tool developed by the US National Security Agency (NSA).

In his opinion piece, Bossert wrote that once a device was infiltrated thousands of computers all over the world in private homes, hospitals, businesses, and homes essentially became useless, as the ransom fee did not necessarily decrypt their devices. Victims were eager to retrieve their valued information, and the hackers completely disregarded their pleas and pocketed their money. Bossert concluded that North Korea is directly responsible for this careless and damaging act.

State-sponsored North Korean hackers have been blamed for an array of cyber attacks in the last year or two, including ransomware campaigns and cryptocurrency exchange hacks. Security experts and researchers all over the world have confirmed that North Korean hackers are directly responsible for the highly damaging attack campaign launched against South Korean cryptocurrency exchange platforms, as well as data theft from the same companies.

What is troubling is that these attacks are not simply malicious, but an essential way for the poverty-stricken country to bypass crippling sanctions imposed on it by world leaders. In addition, these attacks contribute to their warfare strategy, as it has allowed North Korea to infiltrate, harass, and damage devices and its stored information of their enemies in both the West and the East.

Estonian Government Defies EU Central Bank With World’s First National ICO

By
Daniel Wood
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0
Estonian Government Defies Eu Central Bank With World’s First National Ico
Estonian Government Defies Eu Central Bank With World’s First National Ico

The Republic of Estonia’s e-Residency programme, a government initiative that aims allows global citizens to register and run an EU-company online, has announced plans to launch crypto token “estcoin” by launching an initial coin offering (ICO).

Estonian Government Defies Eu Central Bank With World’s First National Ico

e-Residency managing director Kaspar Korjus wrote in an official blog post that explained how the government start up would provide the platform for distributing and trading estcoin globally through a secure digital identity that anyone in the world can apply for. Korjus said:

“From Estonia’s perspective, estcoins were proposed as a way to raise money and support for the development of our digital nation from more people around the world. We would also want to structure the tokens so that they help build our e-resident community and incentivise our own key objective, which is to increase the number of companies started in Estonia through e-Residency.”

Korjus further revealed that several companies were in the process of launching ICOs in Estonia through e-Residency, while various others are planning theirs and are already exploring how to integrate the e-Residency card into their KYC procedure.

He added that “we can provide clearer guidance on how to legally and responsibly launch an ICO within our regulatory environment.”

The idea had originally been suggested in an earlier article in August on the same blog that drew mixed reactions from the international community; support from the crypto sphere and criticism from political and economic institutions.

The European Central Bank’s president Mario Draghi was harsh in his assessment, saying that “no member state can introduce its own currency; the currency of the euro zone is the euro.”

The EU has generally been careful around the subject of crypto currencies, although some moves have been made by national regulators in the region such as that of non-EU member Switzerland to investigate ICOs launched from the country. Last week, EU legislators agreed to be stricter with crypto currency exchanges, as part of efforts to combat money laundering, tax evasion and terrorism financing, a move that will spend the end of anonymous transactions on exchanges and operations.

Estonia itself has not exactly been friendly towards crypto currency but this change of heart opens the door to both amend legislation to support e-resident entrepreneurs when appropriate and to amend legislation to support emerging industries. Should the estcoin ICO truly launch, it will have made a name for itself in crypto history as the first national ICO.

According to management consultancy Deloitte, Estonia has received €14.4m from e-residents in the first three years of the program, a number expected to rise to €1.8b by 2025.

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