Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) and Exante have announced a partnership regarding the development of a national cryptocurrency. The Kazakhstan government intends to launch a state-issued cryptocurrency that is backed by fiat.

The AIFC has announced a partnership with Exante, in which the company’s ‘Stasis’ platform will be used as the foundation for Kazakhstan’s national cryptocurrency. Exante is a Malta-based investment company that that was founded in 2011.

The governor of the AIFC, Kairat Kelimbetov, has expressed the institution’s belief that “blockchain and cryptocurrencies are entering the mainstream of today’s economic reality.” Kelimbetov emphasized the AIFC’s desire to become an international frontrunner in the development and adoption of distributed ledger technology. “Astana’s leading financial regulators have already commenced their work and are laying the foundation for Kazakhstan’s fintech-ecosystem. We believe that the AIFC can become an international hub for blockchain operations and the development of the digital assets market is our key priority in the near future,” he stated.

Kazakhstan Will Host an Upcoming Expo for Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Technologies

Kelimbetov recently discussed an upcoming expo that the AIFC hopes will bolster international perceptions of the fintech and distributed ledger technology industries in Kazakhstan. As reported by local media, the AIFC governor stated “we assume that the territory of the expo will become a kind of crypto valley or crypto harbor. The whole world is very interested in this. Some central banks are supporting this direction, others are looking [at cryptocurrencies] closely.”

During the discussions, Kelimbetov emphasized the AIFC’s desire to balance the fostering of innovation and adoption of cryptocurrency technology with the ensuring of financial stability. “The United States and Singapore want to equate the activities of crypto-economic with ordinary activities in the financial sphere. In Switzerland, this direction is strongly encouraged and Japan supports some cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. We want to say that in this direction AIFC will be on the ‘edge’ concerning understanding the processes that are taking place. But on the other hand, we are responsible for issues of financial stability and regulation of certain financial institutions.”

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/kazakhstan-set-to-launch-national-cryptocurrency-backed-by-fiat/

In a statement addressing the upcoming the bitcoin (BTC) fork that is scheduled for mid-November, Calvin Ayre has stated it’s belief that Bitcoin Cash [Bitcoin (BCC)] is “the only bitcoin.”

“When We Say Bitcoin, We Mean Bitcoin Cash”

With the number of chains forked from the original bitcoin blockchain expected to increase, a number of companies and media organizations are seeking to provide clarification regarding the specific nomenclature referring to each chain.

Calvinayre has issued a statement clarifying that when using the term ‘bitcoin’, the website will be referring to the bitcoin (BCC) chain. The statement expresses Calvinayre’s belief that “bitcoin cash is the true remaining bitcoin as intended by the original Satoshi white paper. The release states that although “the Segwit chain may have inherited the name “BTC” largely due to history but it is bitcoin cash that much more closely resembles the bitcoin that sparked the entire digital currency boom.”

Calvinayre states that it will refer to the respective bitcoin chains as “Segwit1x (currently BTC, and likely SW1 after the Segwit2x split), Segwit2x (planned BTC, but likely SW2 after the fork if it fails to achieve majority miner support), and Segwit Gold (SWG).”

Calvinayre Describes the Distinct Bitcoin Chains As “Relatives Sharing a Common Ancestor”

The release states that “cryptocurrency was created to solve the problems brought by traditional banking. For the online gambling industry, the appeal lies in its promise to cut out the middlemen, along with their outrageous fees, and help secure transactions with the distributed ledger system.” As such, Calvinayre advocates that “the entire gambling industry… move across to [bitcoin (BCC)].”

Calvinayre advances that the comparatively high fees associated with bitcoin (BTC) compromise the fundamental utility of bitcoin, and deter non-speculative user adoption.

    “We define an electronic coin as a chain of digital signatures” – Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin Whitepaper

Calvinayre’s website describes bitcoin (BTC)’s segregated witness protocol as defining “a new transaction type… that removes the digital signatures from the transaction and places them in a separate data structure.” By contrast, bitcoin (BCC) is described as having “increased the capacity limit of each block… and preserved a version of bitcoin with digital signatures intact.” It is largely on the basis of preserving digital signatures that Calvinayre argues bitcoin cash (BCC) is the chain that most resembles the original vision as laid out in the bitcoin whitepaper.

https://news.bitcoin.com/calvin-ayre-declares-bitcoin-cash-the-only-bitcoin/

Japan’s Financial Services Agency allows Bitcoin to be used to pay for goods and services in the country as part of an effort to foster a growing Fintech industry despite a glaring lack of any significant investment.

The Japanese Financial Services Agency announced earlier in the year that they would begin allowing payment for goods and services in bitcoin and require cryptocurrency exchanges to be licensed and audited, giving Bitcoin an actual approval when other countries such as China and Russia appear to be cracking down. Its all part of Japan’s attempt to grow its Fintech industry, an industry sorely lacking investment especially in comparison to Japan’s traditional manufacturing industry.

“The Japanese have felt that cryptocurrencies are a scary thing but trading volumes have increased as many now see it as trustworthy thanks to government approval,” says Yusuke Otsuka, chief operating officer at Coincheck.

Exchange Licenses

The country last month issued 11 licenses to companies enabling them to operate as legal cryptocurrency exchanges. Previously no license was needed, with some seeing the new measures as unnecessary compliance issues which hinder smaller startups from competing in this environment.

Koji Higashi, Co-founder of IndieSquare, had the following to say about the recent regulations and their impact on smaller scale bootstrap businesses in the Fintech sector:

    "It’s hard to say whether the regulation in Japan is more costly than the Bitlicense but I can say it’s expensive enough to put serious financial pressure on startups and may force them to go out of business completely in some cases."

Lacking Investment in The Fintech Arena

Figures show that Japan’s investment in this sector has been lacking in recent years, particularly when compared to that of the US and the UK where in 2015 they have invested $12 billion and $974 million respectively. These figures, compared to Japan’s relatively paltry $65 million, paint a rather poor picture of the country’s commitment to the Fintech industry. Despite its low investment, the country is optimistic.

Takuya Fukumoto, Director of Industrial Finance Division in the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) stated:

    "We’re hoping that fintech will change economic and corporate activity."

https://bitcoinist.com/japans-embrace-of-bitcoin-masks-lack-of-fintech-investment/

There were few reasons, why bitcoin drops today. It is very overvalued asset comparing to other cryptocurrencies, he has not such value except speculation momentum. Transactions are slower and taxes are higher, no smart contracts feature. All people just want to get free BTC gold, and after this mania will over, we will see the real BTC price and the rise of new cripto assets. Don't get me wrong, I like Bitcoin, but it`s time for real competition, it`s wrong situation when all other currencies are tied up to BTC course.

The Global Blockchain Business Council is ramping up its presence in Europe.

Announced today, the technology advocacy group co-founded by blockchain services firm Bitfury Group will host a blockchain-focused summit at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday in conjunction with Eva Kaili, a parliament member from Greece.

At the event, the council will brief members of the EU parliament and representatives from the European Commission on the challenges and solutions offered by blockchain technology.

Launched in January at the annual World Economic Forum meetings, the group serves as a forum for educating government and business leaders on blockchain – a mission emphasized by Kaili in statements accompanying the unveiling.

Kaili said:

    "Forums like this pave the way for comprehensive collaboration between the private sector and regulators that will enable innovative platforms and smart solutions to be developed – maximizing the potential that blockchain technologies can offer."

In context, the conference is also the latest sign that EU governing bodies have taken an interest in the technology, holding hearings, commissioning research and exploring blockchain use cases.

The common market's open approach to the technology will have important tailwinds for blockchain's development and acceptance, noted Jamie Smith, chief executive officer of the advocacy group.

"The EU is the world's largest economic bloc and among the most important regulatory and rule setting bodies in the world, and its position on blockchain technology will have deep implications across all 28 EU member states," she said.

As part of today's news announcement, the council also revealed it has finalized its incorporation in Geneva, Switzerland.

https://www.coindesk.com/global-blockchain-business-council-expands-european-foothold/

Former Wall Street mogul and billionaire bitcoin investor Mike Novogratz has called Jamie Dimon a ‘rent-taker’ who will lose the fight against the ‘cryptorevolution’ led by cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and blockchain technology.

Retired Wall Street macro fund manager Michael Novogratz has offered his opinion on JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon’s much-publicized recent comments on bitcoin. Dimon called bitcoin a ‘fraud’, threatened to fire any employee trading bitcoin and more recently, said ‘stupid’ bitcoin buyers will pay the price for adopting the cryptocurrency.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Novogratz said Dimon’s position as a banker affords him no choice but to belittle bitcoin. The oncoming crypto-tide, the former Wall Street giant said, is one that’s going to wash over the banking industry.

Billionaire Novogratz, who revealed he holds 10% of his money in Bitcoin & Ether, stated:

    
Dimon’s public tirades against bitcoin have led predictably led to the general consensus that JPMorgan Chase is against cryptocurrencies. To the contrary, JPMorgan representatives have since sought to diffuse the situation by claiming the bank is receptive to digital currencies “that are properly controlled and regulated”, according to the bank’s chief financial officer Marianne Lake.

“It is an oversimplification of the issue to think that bitcoin is synonymous with blockchain or cryptocurrencies generally,” added JPMorgan spokesman Andrew Gray in a comment to Bloomberg.

Earlier this month, Novogratz said institutional investors had already begun to invest in bitcoin and stated: “the herd is coming”. Novogratz is also starting a $500 million crypto hedge fund, with a speculated $150 million of his own money and claimed the combined cryptocurrency market could be worth over $5 trillion in five years.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/billionaire-bitcoin-investor-jamie-dimon-rent-taker-hes-going-lose/

Huobi the cryptocurrency exchange based in China announced its Segwit2x contingency plans for the firm’s trading platform Huobi Pro. The exchange details that it plans to support all the tokens that derive from the planned Segwit2x hard fork.

Huobi Pro Will Support All Coins Deriving from the Segwit2x Hard Fork

On October 17 the trading platform Huobi Pro revealed its decision-making process concerning the upcoming fork scheduled for mid-November. The company says it remains dedicated to providing first-class digital asset trading services, and dealing with forks is no different.

“Huobi Pro does not have the right to pick and choose any coins deriving from bitcoin Segwit2x hark fork on behalf of our users,” explains the trading platform.

        "Therefore, Huobi Pro will support all coins deriving from bitcoin Segwit2x hard fork and our users have the options to choose which coins to trade."

Segwit2x Futures, and the Platform’s Deposit and Withdrawal Suspensions

However, Huobi does have plans for how it will handle the fork before, during and after the proposed consensus change. The exchange is offering futures as Huobi Pro plans to list BT1/BTC and BT2/BTC trading pairs at 12:00 PM, (GMT+8) on October 19. With the hard fork taking place in mid-November at block height 494784, Huobi details it will be suspending deposits and withdrawals for a period of up to three days. The exchange says this is to ensure risks such as replay attacks and network instability do not effect its user base.   

“Huobi Pro will enable BT1 and BT2 deposit and withdrawal services soon after the hard fork,” explains the exchange.

Huobi Pro will introduce Segwit2x futures on October 19. At block height 494784, Huobi also details it will be suspending deposits and withdrawals for a period of up to three days.

Renaming the Split Tokens Will Take Place After the Fork

Further, if the hard fork is successful Huobi plans to rename the new chain split coin and reward customers with that token at a ratio of 1:1. The platform will then resume trading pairs against BTC, and the chain split token will also be paired with BTC. If the fork fails, Huobi will cease actively trading BT1 and BT2 futures tokens.   

“If your bitcoins are stored on trading platforms that do not support the Segwit2x chain split coins, or you are using wallet without anti-replay attack function, we strongly suggest you deposit bitcoins to Huobi Pro and we will handle all resulting technical issues related to the bitcoin Segwit2x hard fork and reward you with the corresponding digital asset,” Houbi Pro tells its customers.

The company also emphasizes that digital assets are risky and come with price volatility. Split tokens being new are subject to extreme price swings and could become worthless, Huobi states. “Before investing, please have a full understanding of all the risks of investing in digital assets and be prudent of your own investment decisions,” the digital asset exchange notes.

https://news.bitcoin.com/digital-asset-exchange-huobi-pro-provides-users-fork-plans/

One of Russia’s leading public associations of entrepreneurs has sent a proposal to their government asking them to approve only domestic cryptocurrencies in their upcoming cryptocurrency legislation.

Proposal to Government

The Association of Entrepreneurs for the Development of Business Patriotism (Avanti) sent a proposal to the Federation Council and the State Duma on Monday to legislatively permit only the circulation of domestic cryptocurrencies in Russia, RIA Novosti reported.

Avanti is one of Russia’s leading public associations for entrepreneurs and businessmen. Supported by members of the Russian parliament, the association works with entrepreneurs, officials and regions to promote the idea of business patriotism.

In its letters, the association wrote:

        "We propose to prohibit the issuing and circulation of foreign cryptocurrencies in the territory of the Russian Federation, to concentrate on the development of domestic virtual currencies."

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/russian-businesses-government-domestic-cryptocurrencies/

Bitcoin ETF Could Actually Be on Horizon Says Prominent Investing Firm

Bitcoin users had lost hope of having an Bitcoin ETF when the Winklevoss twins' application was rejected. However, the CEO of ARK Investment Management feels that a Bitcoin ETF may only be a year or two away.

ETFs matter

Some may debate the utility of having a Bitcoin ETF when it would be more profitable to hold Bitcoins instead. By holding Bitcoins directly, you get the benefit of price appreciation without having to pay any management fees. However, financial institutions usually have a mandate for investment and direct ownership of Bitcoin wouldn't fit into their investment plan.

A Bitcoin ETF, however, would grant exposure to Bitcoin’s prices and also be highly liquid. ETFs would also help unsophisticated investors to invest in Bitcoins indirectly. These investors would be willing to pay the fund management fee to avoid the hassle of buying Bitcoins from an exchange and taking precautions to store them securely.

Ark Invest - Indirect Exposure

As a registered investment company, ARK Invest is not allowed to directly purchase and hold Bitcoins. So it has invested in the Bitcoin Investment Trust, giving its end investors exposure to cryptocurrency.

Cathie Wood, the CEO of ARK Investment Management told Bloomberg:

    “I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a closed-end fund before a Bitcoin ETF. I don’t think we’ll see an ETF within a year, but maybe within two years and with a lot of education.”

Bitcoin ETFs could provide an avenue for financial institutions to invest in Bitcoin fuel a new rally in the cryptocurrency.

SEC Action

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has so far been unwilling to approve any of the several Bitcoin ETF proposals. After four years of delay and inaction, the SEC rejected the application of the Winklevoss twins, saying that it could not approve an ETF where the underlying asset is unregulated. The SEC asked other Bitcoin ETF applicants to withdraw their applications. Given that the primary objective of the SEC is to protect investors, the decision did not come as a surprise. The SEC has also started clamping down on ICOs, stating that ICOs with equity-like features would be subject to federal securities laws.

Regulatory Tussle

The existing financial regulators have clear boundaries on the assets they regulate. While the SEC regulates securities, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates commodities trading. However, as a totally new asset class, Bitcoin doesn't neatly fall into either of these categories.

The SEC's opposition to Bitcoin ETFs may become meaningless once CFTC-approved trading of Bitcoin futures begins. If an ETF application bases its application on a CFTC-regulated futures market rather than unregulated Bitcoin exchanges, the SEC's entire reason for denying an ETF will become moot. It does seem like a Bitcoin ETF might eventually get approved.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-etf-could-actually-be-on-horizon-says-prominent-investing-firm

Despite the Chinese government’s crackdown on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency exchanges, local traders have invested in Bitcoin with a huge premium during its recent rally.

As Cryptocoinsnews previously reported, the Bitcoin price achieved a new all-time high at $5,920 last week, moving closer to the $6,000 region. Analysts including billionaire hedge fund investor Mike Novogratz predicted the Bitcoin price to surge even further in the mid-term, as an increasing number of institutional investors engage in cryptocurrency and Bitcoin trading.

When the price of Bitcoin was rapidly approaching the $6,000 mark and broke through $5,800, local investors and traders in China rushed to invest in Bitcoin, regardless of the imposition of a nationwide ban on cryptocurrency exchanges that requires leading Bitcoin exchanges such as OKCoin and Huobi to halt their services by the end of October.

On October 13, Bitcoin trades in the Chinese market facilitated by OKCoin and Huobi were processed at over $6,013, as the demand for Bitcoin from local investors began to surge. While leading Bitcoin markets such as Japan, the US, and South Korea processed trades at around $5,800, Chinese investors were purchasing Bitcoin with premiums in the range of $200 to $300.

Reasons For the High Premium

Until late 2016, the South Korean Bitcoin market demonstrated a massive premium in contrast to major markets like the US, because of its limited liquidity. At the time, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange market was dominated by Korbit and Coinone, and Bithumb, currently the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, were yet to evolve into a major platform in the South Korean market.

Consequently, South Korean investors traded Bitcoin at a rate that was around 5 to 10 percent higher than the global average price.

In June, South Korean fintech company BitHolla CEO Alireza Beikverdi explained:

“Unlike China, which has massive mining operations taking advantage of an accidental government subsidy in the form of overinvestment in underused infrastructure and cheap energy, there is no mining activity to speak of. Therefore, Bitcoin and Ethereum must be imported from abroad, driving up the domestic premium in Korea.”

More to that, the strict capital controls and financial regulations imposed by the South Korean government which heavily restricts the outflow of capital from within the country to overseas markets contributed as a factor to the demonstrate premiums in the South Korean Bitcoin market.

Since then, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange market has grown significantly. The South Korean Bitcoin market is the third largest in the world by trading volume, while its Ethereum market is the largest market internationally, with over 32 percent in market share.

Due to the closure of major Bitcoin exchanges, in spite of the Bitcoin mining centers in China that produce a large supply of Bitcoin, liquidity in the Chinese Bitcoin market is restricted and limited. As such, when the price of Bitcoin spikes and the demand for the cryptocurrency rises, unstable markets like China inevitably experience high premium rates as a result.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/why-traders-in-china-have-invested-in-bitcoin-with-a-huge-premium/

Pre ICo of WePower must be finished yesterday according to the whitepaper. So, what was the result, do the project collected 10% (500 000 USD) of necessary funds?

Signaling Growing Bitcoin Acceptance, Colombia Gets Second Cryptocurrency Conference

Colombia is poised to economically breakout in coming years due to its blessings of climate and natural resources, a vibrant working-age population, newly arrived at peace, and an embrace of bitcoin. Cryptocurrency conferences, training workshops, are sprouting all over the country in preparation.  

Colombia Ascending

Mauricio Tovar, blogger and cryptocurrency educator, tweeted plans to hold the second conference this year on bitcoin and related technologies in Colombia.

Organizers of the first gathering anticipated maybe 300 attendees. More than double that number attended. Topics included basic understanding of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency and proposed government regulation.

Mr. Tovar is co-director, and the second conference, Risks and Opportunities of Cryptocurrencies, is October 17 this month, free to the public, includes seven diverse panels, and will be in the prestigious Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (founded in the seventeenth century).

The latest conference comes on the heels of Colombia’s Synergy Cripto Adviser training forum, where “participants [had] the opportunity to understand how the market for cryptocurrencies works and moves, what influences it,” Criptonoticias reported.

The Republic of Colombia is sliced at its southeastern tip by the Equator. This makes for a hospitable climate all year, which is at least a reason why the South American country routinely ranks as one of the happiest places on the globe.

It’s situated to be influential in the region: Caribbean Sea to its northeast, Pacific Ocean to its west, and opportunistically bordered clockwise by Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Panama (Central America). That, and its recent agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) sealed a historical first, hemispheric peace.

This means precious capital can be reconstituted from government martiality and civil war, and put to work in productive sectors. The country now has every opportunity to exploit its latitude, abundant natural resources, and a population ready to work (half make up its labor force already).

Problems remain, however, and those to be addressed include improving upon its standing as a place for doing business.

Bogotá Finds Bitcoin

A debate within the broader bitcoin community involves the role of government. Ought it to just stay out of the way, as many bitcoiners hope, or is its job to encourage and nourish the nascent technology (as others urge).

In the latter case, Colombia’s government has promoted information technology.

However, prior to overt state initiatives, the country’s technology industry already boomed more than one hundred and seventy five percent. Half of its population is smart-phone using, and figures are increasing rapidly. Its overall economy is third largest on the continent.

The time is especially ripe for bitcoin.

Though the government has expressed interest in cryptocurrency regulation, Andrea Leal notes, “ATMs and peer-to-peer platforms concerning Colombia are outside the security monitoring of the state’s financial agencies. However, this does not prevent the public from acquiring cryptocurrencies at their own discretion.”

And acquiring bitcoin they seem to be doing in droves, as weekly measures illustrate.

Surbtc, a Chilean exchange serving Chile, Peru, and Columbia estimates “over the next 10 years 200 million South Americans will join the digital economy.”

“We are convinced that technologies such as Bitcoin,” the company urges, “are the catalysts of the next great world economic revolution: the inclusion of the remaining 65% of the world’s population that remains at the margin.”

https://news.bitcoin.com/colombia-ascending-and-ready-for-bitcoin/

Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, has had many positive things to say about the potential of digital currencies and their disruptive model, but she has now added that the IMF would not rule out creating its own version of it.

Recently, Russia entered the decentralized digital currency space with its ‘CryptoRuble’ and it could be that organisations, as well as states, see the value of digital currencies, but ones that they can control and issue.

About to see massive disruptions

The IMF head has said before that she pictures her organisation playing a crucial role in regulating cryptocurrencies globally, but in a positive manner as she seems to be on the side of Bitcoin.

Lagarde is of the opinion that Global financial institutions are taking risks by not watching and understanding emerging financial tech products, and that are already starting to shake up the financial services and global payments system.

"I think that we are about to see massive disruptions," Lagarde said at the IMF Annual Meeting in Washington D.C.

IMF to develop its own

Remarking on something that the IMF has already created, comparing it to digital currencies, Lagarde said that the IMF would not rule out developing its own cryptocurrency in the future.

She pointed to the IMF's Special Drawing Right (SDR), a currency the IMF created to serve as an international reserve asset, that could incorporate technology similar to cryptocurrencies.

"What we will be looking into is how this currency, the special drawing right, can actually use the technology to be more efficient and less costly," she said.

The IMF is looking to make its way into the crypto space, and with their hopes of regulating it, Lagarde says it makes sense simply due to the cross border nature of it.

"My hope is that we can participate in that process because I see that as a very cross-border process," she added.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/why-imf-wants-to-enter-crypto-market-with-its-own-coin

This week Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) chief scientist Peter Rizun revealed the first 1GB block was mined on a Gigablock testnet on October 13. The event marks a milestone for the big block project backed by the University of British Colombia, Nchain, and the Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) development team.

Bitcoin Unlimited Puts Big Blocks to the Test

A month ago news.Bitcoin.com reported on the Gigablock testnet (BUIP065), a project spearheaded by Bitcoin Unlimited chief scientist Peter Rizun. Alongside the BU development team, there is also a collaborative effort with the University of British Colombia (UBC) and the blockchain R&D firm Nchain.

The current initiative puts scalability to the test by experimenting with much larger blocks to improve blockchain transaction congestion. Both BU and Nchain have been testing larger blocks already in two separate projects. Nchain has been testing 32MB blocks, while BU’s “nolnet” network built by Andrew Stone has experimented with 64MB blocks.     

On Friday, October 13, Rizun announced to his Twitter followers;

       
 Ambitious Goals

The development teams and researchers believe increasing the block size limit from 1MB to much larger blocks will significantly reduce high fees and transaction bottleneck. The Gigablock testnet project has very ambitious goals as it aims to create a network that can handle Visa-level transaction throughput (3,000 TPS).

Further, the team is planning to set up Gigablock mining nodes in Beijing, Bangalore, Sao Paulo, Sydney, and Vancouver. The developers have already added a network of nodes residing in Toronto, Frankfurt, Munich, and Washington State. Based on the results, the teams look to find and identify bottlenecks and how to mitigate these issues so the blockchain can operate more fluidly. Moreover, after testing the Gigablock trial’s findings will be published within the bitcoin community and may even be applied to the Bitcoin Cash network in the future.

“BU anticipates that any scaling improvements realised through the Gigablock testnet initiative will likely be implemented first on Bitcoin Cash, given that chain’s philosophy supporting larger block sizes,” explains Nchain two weeks ago.

Preliminary Findings Demonstrate Over 10,000 Transactions Per Second

Following the first 1GB block, developers Peter Rizun and Andrew Stone told the Reddit community about the Gigablock team’s initial findings.

“Our baseline results with BU essentially ‘as is’ — A few days ago we achieved 300 tx/sec sustained thanks to Andrew Stone’s work streamlining mempool admission,” explains Rizun. I think we’ll hit ~1,000 tx/sec sustained on the next ramp we attempt.”
Bitcoin is Better Than Visa and Even Coins

BU’s Andrew Stone says, “we are not going from 1MB to 1GB tomorrow — The purpose of going so high is to prove that it can be done — no second layer is necessary.” Stone believes by the time developers get to 10MB blocks, other developments like UTXO commitments and partial syncing clients will also improve the technical landscape.

https://news.bitcoin.com/gigablock-testnet-researchers-mine-the-worlds-first-1gb-block/

Last year, the Republic of India overnight banned 85 percent of its fiat cash in circulation. As a way to address “black money” presumably used in nefarious dealings, government policy makers demanded certain Indian Rupee (INR) denominations be returned. It’s citizens now have an incentive to begin looking for alternatives to government money.

India’s War on Cash

India is the world’s largest democracy. With over one billion people, its government often lurches and sputters to find the right fix on any number of issues. This is especially true in matters of monetary policy.

When it felt duty-bound to effectively sack its INR in the most popular amounts, it did so without warning. One day 500 and 1000 INR bills were legal tender, the next day they were not. Indians were pushed to banks, hoping to salvage what might be left of their personal wealth.



The equivalent in the United States might be if 10 and 20 USD paper was no longer useable.

India also has an enormous unbanked population, and its poverty levels have been extensively publicized. These are the people who live on smaller numbered cash bills, be they for employment or simple market transactions.

Even if for more affluent members of India, the sudden government move was a wake-up call as to the power politicians have over the paper in the average person’s wallet and even their accumulated wealth.

Bitcoin as Refuge

For these and other reasons, bitcoin has surged, as it has all over the world, in India.

Wallets such as unocoin are sprouting up to meet increasing demand (it’s website ticker mentioned withdrawals were being processed manually at the time of this writing). Exchanges such as Zebpay and coinsecure are generally well-received as methods of moving out of INRs and into bitcoin (currently 1 BTC : 348,385 INR).

India has become so tech-savvy and interested in cryptocurrency, yet another part of its vast government launched a public/private consortium, Start-Up India. It acts as an incubator of sorts, and its official recognition appears to be a coveted stamp of approval for less-established business.

Touting such recognition is India’s latest entree into the exchange market, BitBox.

The company hopes to gain market share by providing “free trading,” its press material reads, charging only “on deposit & withdraw. Further our charges are not flat and get reduced up to 0.1 % based on user trading volume.”

It wants to be the easiest service of its kind in India, customizable with access to trades in a few simple screen motions.

Bitcoins “can be kept on your balance in a safe cryptocurrency cold storage, traded, or withdrawn to personal wallets at any moment,” BitBox states.

Precious few details are known about the start-up, as is usually the case. The application is available on Google Play, and reviews are mostly positive. BitBox version 1.0.16 permissions seem in line with the industry, but it’s always a good idea to read them along with customer feedback carefully before downloading.

Exchange competition signals a healthy sign for the India bitcoin ecosystem, and with smartphone ubiquity on the rise those hit hardest by government policies may well have a viable alternative in bitcoin.

Are crackdowns on cash an ironic way to send more people to bitcoin? Tell us in the comments below!

https://news.bitcoin.com/as-indias-government-wars-against-cash-bitcoin-sought-in-exchange/

One Woman Surviving Solely on Bitcoin Attempts a Trek from Toronto to Las Vegas

Satoshi Nakamoto is reported to have insisted acceptance of his invention hinged upon its use as a currency, a functioning instrument of daily trade. To this end, more advocates are taking to public competitions to spread the message of cryptocurrency power.  



Bitcoin 20/20

With the world’s most popular cryptocurrency approaching 6000 USD in price, and its market capitalization surpassing that of one hundred and fifty year old legacy banks such as Goldman Sachs, it does appear bitcoin has won hearts as an asset class and speculative investment. But if mainstream media accounts are to be believed, it’s mainly a bunch of crazy geeks hoarding tulips.

For years now, however, people have been living off of it. They’re paying rent with it, buying gifts, coffee, and generally enjoying the freedom of being their own bank. That personal experience, the feeling of receiving and sending currency peer-to-peer, has to be had in order to fully appreciate Satoshi’s innovation.

These regular occurrences do not earn headlines as easily as price fluctuations.

In that vein, UK’s Adastra Marketing has decided to participate in a competition to see which payment system and currency can last over two borders and thousands of miles. It’s a strategy to promote their company, of course, but also to bring more attention to bitcoin as a medium of exchange.

One Woman, Many Miles



Director of Marketing, Amelie Arras, is a passionate bitcoin advocate.

In a company newsletter, she insists, “It may still be seen by most consumers as an investment rather than a method of payment, but hopefully perception and acceptance by merchants is starting to change.”

The rules for her participation include only using bitcoin through wallet payments, no converting to cash, including atms and personal loans/gifts, no prearranged travel booking, and daily blog updates.

If she completes the task successfully, she’ll be the first independent woman to have done so — not a small point considering how perceptions of cryptocurrencies include it being a male-dominated interest.

“I’m really excited to be part of the race,” she wrote, “and to have Bitcoin as my payment method.”

Read more: https://news.bitcoin.com/surviving-toronto-to-las-vegas-only-on-bitcoin/

The company behind the ad blocking program Adguard has analyzed the most popular 100,000 websites for cryptocurrency mining scripts. They found that over 500 million people have been mining cryptocurrencies and “they have no idea it is happening.” Each website running the script earns an estimated $43,000 within the three-week period studied.

Over Half a Billion People Affected

Adguard, which produces an ad blocking program with the same name, recently analyzed websites for cryptocurrency mining scripts following the news that some of them have been using their users’ browsers to mine cryptocurrencies. The top 100,000 websites as ranked by Alexa were inspected. Co-founder and CTO Andrey Meshkov shared his company’s findings on Thursday.

“We looked for the codes for Coinhive and JSEcoin, the most popular solutions for browser mining in use now,” Meshkov wrote. The analysis revealed that 220 of these websites have been using crypto-mining scripts. The four most targeted countries are the U.S., India, Russia, and Brazil.

Meshkov detailed:

        "We found 220 sites that launch mining when a user opens their main page, with an aggregated audience of 500 million people. These people live all over the world; there are sites with users from the USA, China, South American and European countries, Russia, India, Iran… and the list goes on."

Read more: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=post;board=77.0

The president of the World Bank had some positive things to say about blockchain during a media appearance yesterday.

Speaking with CNBC, Jim Yong Kim said that the technology is "something everyone is excited about" – a statement that he followed up with a cautionary argument about cryptocurrencies.

"Blockchain technology is something that everyone is excited about, but we have to remember that bitcoin is one of the very few instances. And the other times when blockchain was used they were basically Ponzi schemes, so it’s very important that if we go forward with it, we're sure that it’s not going to be used to exploit," he told the network.

The World Bank – a financial institution that lends money to national governments – is no stranger to blockchain. It launched a blockchain development laboratory this past summer, and has supported research projects that seek to apply the tech in areas like capital formation.

Kim went on to compare cryptocurrencies unfavorably to payment systems like those operated by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba

“It takes three seconds, three seconds, to transfer as much as $160,000 to anybody who’s part of the Alibaba network, because they can assess creditworthiness in three seconds," he said.

https://www.coindesk.com/world-bank-president-everyone-excited-blockchain/

What was the result of that event? Do they finally made a decision of burning 84% of unsold tokens? I really don`t understand popular managerial practice of stopping any activity on the forum after successful token sale. Only hope that 14th October beta testing will not be delayed.

Project and roadmap looks very interesting, but there are few competitors already on that market: Populous, MedicalChain. Of course healthcare is a huge market, and there will be place for everyone. Also i see the project has a good team with different background and cooperation with hungarian red cross. That of course will attract potential investors.