SBI takes lead in blockchain, to use it to prevent fraudhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/sbi-takes-lead-in-blockchain-to-use-it-to-prevent-fraud/articleshow/57178212.cmsState Bank of India has taken the lead in bringing lenders and tech companies together for using blockchain technology to share information among banks which will eventually help prevent frauds and tackle bad loans which are almost one-fifth of banks' loan book.
The SBI's initiative, christened Bankchain, is in partnership with IBM, Microsoft, Skylark, KPMG and 10 commercial banks. The country's largest lender has also tied up with a startup firm Prime chain Technologies for this exercise. Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Federal Bank, which are experimenting with this technology in some way or the other, have teamed up with SBI as well.
Blockchain, the technology behind cyber currency Bitcoin, follows the concept of a centralised registry that can be accessed by all members, and every event is registered as an unalterable 'block'. “Being the largest bank, SBI has taken the lead in initiating blockchain, and we are in talks with banks and other companies for this,“ said M Mahapatra, deputy managing director, SBI, confirming the development to ET.
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New witness delays trial over bitcoin exchange tied to JPMorgan hackhttp://www.business-standard.com/article/reuters/new-witness-delays-trial-over-bitcoin-exchange-tied-to-jpmorgan-hack-117021400093_1.html
The trial of two men was delayed on Monday in a case stemming from a probe into a bitcoin exchange and a data breach at JPMorgan Chase & Co after prosecutors revealed a new witness.
Jury selection was set to begin in Manhattan federal court in the case of Yuri Lebedev, whom authorities call the architect of bitcoin exchange Coin.mx's platform, and Trevon Gross, a pastor and ex-chairman of a now-defunct credit union.
But U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan delayed jury selection until Tuesday after prosecutors said they had secured a new witness.
The witness, Philip Burgess, was represented by the law firm of one of Gross' lawyers in an unrelated tax case in which he was sentenced in 2010 to eight months in prison.
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Bitcoin is starting to behave like a grown-up markethttp://www.livemint.com/Opinion/NQNi3T2rYxQyANnc0UaWCL/Bitcoin-is-starting-to-behave-like-a-grownup-market.html
Bitcoin is showing signs of becoming a serious asset class.
Last week’s price swings hardly back up that assertion. The cryptocurrency dropped 7.8% on Thursday after news that the People’s Bank of China threatened to shut exchanges that violate money-laundering rules. The announcement also prompted some of the biggest websites operating bitcoin in the country to halt withdrawals, limiting them to converting the digital coin to yuan and depositing it in local banks.
For all the volatility, though, there are indications that bitcoin is acting more grown up. Go back to December 2013, when the PBOC intervened after the cryptocurrency reached a record high of $1,137. It then dropped 51.4% in a week, only to bounce back about 70% in the next two days and fall below $600 in another week. Bitcoin then settled into a slow descent to $183 by January 2015.
The latest swings followed a similar pattern. As soon as bitcoin breached $1,000, the Chinese authorities got involved and the price plunged. Last week, once again, that level was pierced, and once more the central bank entered the fray. On Monday, the price was little changed at $1,003.
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U.S. trial set over bitcoin exchange linked to JPMorgan hack probe http://www.business-standard.com/article/reuters/u-s-trial-set-over-bitcoin-exchange-linked-to-jpmorgan-hack-probe-117021300690_1.html
A Florida software engineer and a New Jersey pastor are expected on Monday to face trial in a case stemming from an investigation into a bitcoin exchange and a data breach at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Jury selection is set to begin in Manhattan federal court in the case of Yuri Lebedev, who authorities call the architect of bitcoin exchange Coin.mx's electronic platform, and Trevon Gross, a pastor and ex-chairman of a now-defunct credit union.
Prosecutors contend Lebedev schemed to deceive financial institutions into processing transactions for the unlicensed Coin.mx. They say he also participated in bribing Gross to gain control over the credit union to facilitate the virtual currency business.
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Bitcoin Trading Takes a Hit Under Chinese Government's Scrutinyhttp://www.news18.com/news/tech/bitcoin-trading-takes-a-hit-under-chinese-governments-scrutiny-1347775.html
Trading volumes at China's three largest bitcoin exchanges have plummeted after the central bank put the virtual currency market under sharper scrutiny a month ago in a move that coincided with official efforts to stem capital outflows.
China had been the world's leading venue for bitcoin trading, with analytics site Bitcoinity estimating that the OkCoin, Huobi and BTCC exchanges had accounted for more than 90 percent of the global bitcoin market on Jan. 11.
But data compiled by analytics platform Sosobtc showed the number of bitcoins traded on the three exchanges slumped from 13.6 million on Jan. 6 to just over 120,000 on February 9.
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89 per cent executives believe blockchain will be used daily in financial services industry by 2026: Synechronhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/89-per-cent-executives-believe-blockchain-will-be-used-daily-in-financial-services-industry-by-2026-synechron/articleshow/57079382.cmsA recent survey of over 200 senior global financial service and IT decision makers shows that 89% believe that blockchain will be in everyday use in the financial services industry by 2026. A further 94% believe that boards have bought into blockchain projects with 87% saying that they have enough budgetary allocations to implement these projects.
While the degree of action on blockchain initiatives vary, the majority of the financial services organisations believe in the long term potential of blockchain and are merely calculating how to take action factoring in business unit, use case and resources to achieve maximum business value. One of the biggest challenges though for companies implementing blockchain though is a lack of human resources, with 70% of the executives saying that they thought their organisations lacked the talent required.
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China tightens controls on Bitcoin trading platformshttp://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/china-tightens-controls-on-bitcoin-trading-platforms-117020901367_1.htmlChinese bitcoin trading platforms risk closure if they breach new controls on the virtual currency, the central bank said today, as authorities step up efforts to curb the flow of money offshore.
During a meeting yesterday with officials from nine Beijing-based bitcoin trading platforms, a People's Bank of China (PBoC) inspection team unveiled a series of restrictions on the digital unit.
The PBoC said it has banned the platforms from margin trading, a widespread practice that allows investors to go into debt to buy bitcoin and repay their loans with gains made by the currency.
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New system makes it harder to track Bitcoin transactionshttp://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/new-system-makes-it-harder-to-track-bitcoin-transactions-117020900374_1.htmlResearchers have developed a Bitcoin-compatible system that could make it significantly more difficult for observers to identify or track the parties involved in any given transaction of the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin was initially conceived as a way for people to exchange money anonymously. However, it was discovered that anyone could track all Bitcoin transactions and often identify the parties involved, researchers said.
Bitcoin operates by giving each user a unique public key, which is a string of numbers. Users can transmit money in the form of digital bitcoins from one public key to another.
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Accenture beefs up blockchain securityhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/accenture-beefs-up-blockchain-security/articleshow/57043208.cmsAccenture Plc has developed new technology that it says can help make blockchain applications more secure and could speed up their deployment in sectors such as finance.
The professional services firm on Wednesday unveiled a system that makes it easier for blockchain users to store their security credentials in hardware security modules (HSM), or highly secure processors that are specifically designed to safeguard passwords and "digital keys.
Blockchain, which first emerged as the system powering crypto-currency bitcoin, is a shared record of transactions that is maintained by a network of computers on the internet, instead of a centralized authority. Banks and other large financial institutions have been ramping up their investments in blockchain in hopes that it can help simplify cumbersome processes such as securities settlement and international payments.
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Blockchain tech to see commercial adoption by 2020: Study
http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/blockchain-tech-to-see-commercial-adoption-by-2020-study-117020701098_1.htmlA number of bankers expect commercial adoption of blockchain technology by 2020, with many financial institutions already investing or planning to invest during 2017, a study by Infosys and LTP today said.
Blockchain is like a huge, decentralised ledger for bitcoin (digital currency) that records every transaction and stores this information on a global network so that it cannot be tampered with.
It allows secure, peer-to-peer transactions that can be verified without any centralised authority.
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Covered by Moneycontrol as well. http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/indian-bitcoin-players-form-association-seek-regulations_8450261.html
BVAI confirms that all the members of the association follow strong KYC measures before getting users on board. None of the exchange and trading platforms accept cash and have implemented strict compliance policies. All members are ready to share information about their users and their trades with government authorities on need basis.Isn't that a little strange, given that exchanges in other countries have gone to court to protect the privacy of their users? |
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Indian bitcoin startups form a blockchain association following RBI cautionhttp://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/indian-bitcoin-startups-form-a-blockchain-association-following-rbi-caution/57012952Indian bitcoin startups form a blockchain association following RBI cautionA circular by the Reserve Bank of India last week, cautioning users about virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, may have led to an alarm among Bitcoin investors in the country, but for startups in this space, it has served as the right push for creating an industry association.
Bitcoin players such as Zebpay, Unocoin, Coinsecure and Searchtrade have formed the Blockchain and Virtual currency Association of India and are in the process of formally registering it.
In fact, in their first meeting in Mumbai on Friday, the members discussed the RBI circular among other things. “While we have been planning to create an association for some time, we finally pushed things after the circular,“ said Saurabh Agarwal, co-founder of Bitcoin trading and wallet company Zebpay.
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Dubai Government, Companies Team up With IBM on Blockchain Projecthttp://www.news18.com/news/tech/dubai-government-companies-team-up-with-ibm-on-blockchain-project-1346209.htmlDubai, one of the world’s largest trading hubs, has linked up with IBM to launch a scheme using blockchain computing technology to process transactions and keep track of goods being shipped, IBM said on Tuesday.
The initiative will provide real-time information about the state of goods and the status of their shipment to Dubai's customs and trade agencies and companies involved in the trade process, IBM said.
Dubai, which registered 647 billion dirhams ($176 billion) of non-oil trade in the first half of 2016, has cemented itself as one of the largest re-export centres for goods flowing between Asia and the Middle East and Africa.
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Blockchain insurance consortium grows to 15 members
http://www.firstpost.com/fwire/blockchain-insurance-consortium-grows-to-15-members-reuters-3269740.htmlA consortium aimed at developing ways blockchain can be used to improve processes in the insurance sector has added 10 new members as it prepares to test the emerging technology in a data-sharing experiment.New members joining the Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative (B3i) include Hannover Re, Assicurazioni Generali SpA, Ageas NV, Liberty Mutual and Japan Nipponkoa Insurance, the group said on Monday.The consortium will test whether blockchain can improve the way that data is shared between reinsurance and insurance companies, a process that is still very cumbersome and manual, B3i said. The pilot project will involve transacting reinsurance contracts among the 15 member firms, the group added.It expects to share the first results in June 2017.
B3i's efforts come as the financial industry ramps up initiatives to use blockchain to simplify a wide range of processes such as the settlement of securities and international payments. While some have warned that the technology's potential may be hyped, companies are hopeful that it can help them slash costs.Blockchain, which first emerged as the system underpinning the cryptocurrency bitcoin, provides a shared record of transactions that is maintained by a network of computers, rather than a centralized authority. As changes to the shared record must be validated by each computer connected to the network, it creates a source of data that can reduce information discrepancies and the need for reconciliation.
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RBI cautions users against use of virtual currencies, including Bitcoin and Dogecoin
http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/rbi-cautions-users-against-use-of-virtual-currencies-including-bitcoin-and-dogecoin-361053.html
Promotion of virtual transactions, and a shift towards a less cash economy is a key part in the Government’s efforts for cleaning up the system and weed out corruption and black money.
The JAM trinity, which is made up of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna, the Aadhaar card and the spread for mobile connectivity were important precursors to the demonetisation. A question was raised in the Rajya Sabha over the status of virtual currencies in the country, including cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is not controlled by any central authority, and as such is seen as a hedge in times of financial instability. Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha pointed out that the RBI had cautioned citizens against the use of virtual currencies, including Bitcoin, and that as such Bitcoin has not been authorised in India. The creation of, trading in virtual currencies enjoy no legal protection mechanisms. The users are potentially exposed to financial, legal and operational risks.
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Really nice to see that their are some online media who are taking steps in giving awareness on the cryptocurrency and its benefits, but i think this wont be much worthy for the benefit of bitcoins in india. Still their are more steps to be taken to strengthen the Bitcoins presence in india.
All the exchanges in India are playing major role in expanding the horizon and the market base. They have their advertisement budget set for each year and do promotional activities as well. I have seen promotional activities to reward loyal users and to attract new users. I really haven't seen advertisement campaigns though. |
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New Zealand is recovering after an early loss and they are now 96 for 2 ,Brownlie and Taylore are in the crease and they have to play a long innings to take the team to a competitive score as Australia will be determined to win this match and the Australians do have a strong team atleast in papers and i do expect anything below 300 runs will be an easy game for Australia.
New Zealand have recovered to 208/5 in 40 overs. Without sufficient wickets in hand, it remains to be seen whether they can accelerate in the slog overs. If they score 80-90 runs in these 10 overs, they will be satisfied. |
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