Qashback Set to Launch Decentralized Reputation Management System in 2019

Organised as a weekly newsletter, it presents an overview of the current international blockchain debate. You may find below a selection of the best ideas from the most influential media.

 

Qashback Set to Launch Decentralized Reputation Management System in 2019 Singapore based technology firm Qashback is set to launch Southeast Asia’s first Blockchain-Powered Reputation Management & Permission-Based Marketing Platform in 2019 that’ll transform the retail and services industries by connecting consumers, merchants and advertisers to solve the current data privacy issues. Plans are set for a Quarter 2, 2019 release of their platform that will revolutionize the online reviews market by using blockchain technology. Users will be rewarded with the platform’s native QBK tokens for writing authentic reviews that will significantly reduce bias that plagues current online review sites. Merchants will be able to offer cryptographic tokens (QBKs) as an incentive to consumers to participate in contests and help with marketing promotions.Using Blockchain technology will enable real and factual reviews for consumers that are authentic and immutable thereby building trust in the system. All transactions on the platform will also be recorded on the Ethereum blockchain making use of self-executing smart contracts without relying on any single third party.Qashback plans on targetting markets like Wellness/Beauty, Healthcare, Transit, Shopping, Food & Beverage, Travel, Entertainment and Education within the Southeast Asian region. With partnerships with Oriental Mace Group Berhad with its mobile app, MyBeauty, supported by the Malaysian government for national tourism will make use of its over 1,000 beauty service providers and thousands of product suppliers. The integration will enable merchants and users to transact in QBK tokens with users being rewarded for writing reviews.The estimated receipts of $18 billion annually will generate a sizable demand for QBK tokens. Qashback will mint one billion tokens of which 10% (one hundred million tokens) was made available for their public sale on 10th Dec 2018. They also raised over $14 million on private sales launched in July by high net-worth individuals and institutional backers.The QBK token was also listed on UDAX Hong Kong with Coninsuper, Dobi Trade, Upbit, and LAToken in the works for Q2 and Q3 2019. January 11, 2019 by Rishabh READ FULL ARTICLE https://blockmanity.com/news/qashback-set-to-launch-decentralized-reputation-management-system-in-2019/

Blockchain: the key technology of tomorrow   The potential uses of Blockchain technology are very diverse, from services such as cashless payment and car parks, to seamless delivery chain tracking, to functions in automated driving. The Porsche Newsroom provides an overview. Ten years on, the money market revolution has manifested itself as an ATM in Germany. After the Berlin Court of Appeal ruled, at the end of September 2018, that bitcoin is not a financial instrument and therefore can be traded privately, a Munich-based entrepreneur quickly responded by setting up a bitcoin ATM at the end of October. At these ATMs, real currency can be exchanged for bitcoin – as is already established practice at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, enabling travellers to easily convert their excess euros and cents. However, it remains rather unlikely that bitcoin ATMs will be popping up all over Germany. Although the cryptocurrency was the major hype at the end of 2017, it suffered a major dampener in the form of a rate crash this year; furthermore, BaFin (the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) has indicated that it is unimpressed by the judgment from Berlin, referring to it as a one-off decision under criminal law, and continuing to insist on withholding authorisation. The chosen location for the Munich ATM – inside an amusement arcade, of all places – is perhaps unlikely to encourage serious business people to rely on bitcoin, but it is nevertheless true that the cryptocurrency is an instrument that may change society in the long term. The range of services and products based on bitcoin has increased significantly in the course of this year – and not just those from start-ups, either. In Switzerland, for example, it’s possible to obtain bitcoin from Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) ticket machines, meaning that the SBB is advertising the possibility of making payments without a credit card or bank details at more than 10,000 acceptance points worldwide. Though bitcoin is just the publicity vehicle here. The real story is the underlying technology: blockchain. Blockchain has already found its way into a huge range of economic settings. In May, “Wired” magazine published a list of 187 problems that could be solved with this technology, including water supply, the pension system, and protection of health data – but also subjects such as cancer and economic crises. January 01, 2019 by Media READ FULL ARTICLE https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/company/porsche-blockchain-technology-opportunities-digitization-16800.html

Bitwise files Bitcoin ETF application in the face of continued SEC scepticism Cryptoasset Index and fund Bitwise Asset Management today announced that it has filed an initial registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposing a new physically held bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). The proposed Bitwise Bitcoin ETF would track the company’s allied Bitwise Bitcoin Total Return Index, which tracks what the company calls the “the full value of an investment in bitcoin, inclusive of meaningful hard forks.” In the face of 12 months that have consistently seen applications for such products rejected by the U.S. regulator, Bitwise’s press release states its belief that its “proposed ETF differs from previously filed proposed bitcoin ETFs in that it will rely on regulated third party custodians to hold its physical bitcoin, and in that the index draws prices from a large number of cryptocurrency exchanges, representing the majority of currently verifiable bitcoin trading.” The ETF, if approved, is set to be available through the NYSE Arca., Inc. (NYSE) exchange, which will file an application in the coming days to list shares in the new product under a yet-to-be-determined ticker symbol. Despite 2018 marking a year of setbacks for such products, including the proposals from New York-regulated exchange, Gemini, John Hyland – the global head of Exchange-Traded Funds for Bitwise – say the company is “optimistic that 2019 should be the year that a bitcoin ETF launches,” We have reported on the main objections from the SEC to such proposals, which centre around fears of price manipulation on the exchanges that would be used to track investments like the ETFs proposed by multiple companies in 2018, of which only one has yet to be rejected. January 10, 2019 by John Moore READ FULL ARTICLE https://cryptonewsreview.com/bitwise-files-etf-application-in-the-face-of-continued-sec-scepticism/

Neutrino: A Privacy-Preserving Light Wallet Protocol   Lightning is all the rage these days and, while it's an exciting development, users currently have to have a full node running in order to transact in it. In this article, I'm going to introduce Neutrino, a new protocol for light clients to get the data that they need while preserving privacy and without trusting a central server. In the original white paper written in 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto described something called Simplified Payment Verification (SPV). SPV is how a light node can verify payments without downloading, verifying or storing the entire blockchain. This was supposed to be the basis of light wallets. Unfortunately, the original Bitcoin Core software did not implement Simplified Payment Verification, so light clients did not have access to the data necessary to do SPV in a privacy-preserving way. In 2013, BIP0037 was added to Bitcoin Core to make SPV viable. BIP0037 created network commands to make the Simplified Payment Verification possible for light nodes to do. Light nodes could now ask for proof that a particular transaction happened in a particular block. That way, light nodes wouldn't have to trust servers but could actually verify the data being given to them. To achieve this, the light client gives the server a filter. The server then runs the filter over all the transactions of a new block and reports back those transactions, along with proof that they're in the block, to the client. The client then verifies the proof and looks at the transactions to see if any of them belong to the wallet. Unfortunately, BIP0037 has a few drawbacks. Among others, it was seen as being difficult to implement and most light wallets have opted to use something else. The Electrum wallet, for example, uses its own proprietary protocol which isn't privacy-preserving. The Mycelium wallet calls servers that the Mycelium company runs. In addition, there are denial-of-service vectors (by having to run lots of filters) to exploit servers that respond to BIP0037 requests. Furthermore, the privacy aspects of BIP0037 turned out to not be as strong as was thought. It turns out the server can know a lot about the light wallet (like what balance it might have, whom its transacting with, possibly even what it's buying) by looking for certain kinds of patterns. As a result, BIP0037 has largely fallen into disuse, despite being in the Core software since 2013. January 3, 2019 by Jimmy Song READ FULL ARTICLE https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/neutrino-privacy-preserving-light-wallet-protocol/

Chief Ecosystem Officer: The New Role Every Blockchain Company Needs  When you’re working for a startup, it’s normal to find yourself with some responsibilities that don’t quite fit under your job title. And when you’re working at a startup in an emerging industry, it’s almost a given that your role won’t really jive with your title. So, what do you do when your title doesn’t fit your role? You make a new one, of course. Right now, the focus in the blockchain industry is on ecosystems and how to build them. It’s not something that happens overnight with a snap of the fingers. So, everyone has to combine a number of different elements and strategies to help build and maintain our ecosystems. Which is why I finally sat down one day and wrote the description for a new position, one unique to the industry: Chief Ecosystem Officer (CECO). Here’s why I did it, and why every blockchain company should seriously consider hiring one. The Road To The CECO Role After getting involved in the blockchain and crypto industries, I spent a lot of time working on educating the market about blockchain technology. Most people didn’t know what it was, they didn’t know why they needed it, and it was difficult to get media coverage for the industry. In 2017 and 2018, blockchain found its way into the public sphere. The explosion of ICOs created a new awareness in the market, but it also presented a number of challenges. Instead of simply trying to educate customers about the benefits of the blockchain, I also had to begin actively battling misinformation. Many people had a vague knowledge of blockchain or Bitcoin, but they were being bombarded by what I would generously call less-than-accurate information. January 10, 2019 by Samantha Radocchia READ FULL ARTICLE https://www.forbes.com/sites/samantharadocchia/2019/01/10/chief-ecosystem-officer-the-new-role-every-blockchain-company-needs/

About STARBIT

Starbit aims at spreading theoretical - practical knowledge among ordinary people, without being an expert or willing to become an expert. Starbit is aware of the impact that blockchain and crypto currencies will have on people's lives: for this reason it promotes a mass literacy.

Starbit selects everything needed for a person to be informed and about blockchain technologies and various applications, making it easier, in a progressive manner, accessible to all, thus saving time and resources to anyone interested in this area. The goal is to offer various degrees of knowledge (first level is free as Club Member and the others included in the products purchasable by customers) to those who are interested in playing an acting rule. Starbit also offers an opportunity to those who want to transform all this in a work from home opportunity.

DISCLAIMER

Registration to the Club is totally free and gives access to the basic information on Blockchain and its applications on the market, the most important of which is constituted by the so-called crypto currencies. At the Club members who are interested in having a more complete knowledge and information is also offered the possibility (it is an option, not an obligation) to buy upgradable services or applications (the acquisition of knowledge is a fact known to be progressive over time).

Any coins  (when free attributed by third parties) that may result gradually, will of course be the exclusive property of the customer and should not be considered in any relationship the servicies or applications purchased.

For maximum clarity applies the following example: if a person acquires an organic farming course that includes in addition to the theory, also a practical detection of cultivation of an organic garden (like was done by Michelle Obama at the White House), any products (carrots, tomatoes, peas, etc.) that will enrich his table, will obviously be of full ownership of those who have grown the organic garden and will not of course no relation to the person who sold the course, even if he has supplied the equipment for the practical test, such as seeds, tools, pots, fertilizers, various preparations, etc.

Subscribers to the Club have the power to start the business, if authorized and in acceptance of all the terms and conditions for the Promoter, explained in the Promoter Agreement and in the Policies and Procedures. They should not incur any fees and never any obligation to buy anything. If as a result of the promotion done, some new Club member, decide to buy a package Information, the Promoter will receive a commercial fee as provided by the terms and conditions above mentioned. It is not authorized anyone to provide news other than those listed here and on the official website, to promise false gains and / or try to push the purchase of the products, which must instead be the result of personal conviction. In particular, it must never be made no reference to any kind of investment if not purely cultural nature. This Club is fully committed to compliance with the laws of the countries in which it operates. It's also open to collaboration with those who help him to improve.For each queries or suggestions please contact via the official website. For questions please contact support@starbit.com.

Tesla Stock on a Blockchain Offers Hint of Where Crypto's Headed

Organised as a weekly newsletter, it presents an overview of the current international blockchain debate. You may find below a selection of the best ideas from the most influential media.
 

Tesla Stock on a Blockchain Offers Hint of Where Crypto's Headed   A digital exchange opening next week will enable investors to trade in companies including Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Tesla Inc. outside of the U.S. even when the stock markets are closed. DX.Exchange, which has offices in Estonia and Israel, will offer digital tokens based on share of 10 Nasdaq-listed companies with plans to expand to the New York Stock Exchange as well as in Tokyo and Hong Kong. Each digital security is backed by one regular share and holders will be entitled to the same cash dividends, even though the companies themselves aren’t involved. The exchange’s virtual stock offering will provide a test of investor appetite for products that seek to improve upon mainstream financial markets by using technology from the world of cryptocurrencies. DX will offer digital stocks, or tokens, based on actual shares bought and held by partner MPS MarketPlace Securities Ltd. The tokens will be based on the Ethereum network, with the amount corresponding to demand on the DX exchange. Digital stocks could hold advantages over traditional shares because they can be traded even when exchanges are closed, and traders can choose to buy fractions of a share. They could also give foreign investors the ability to buy and sell U.S. shares they might otherwise struggle to access. Even though U.S. regulators oversee trading of DX’s initial roster of stocks, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Skowronski said he doesn’t need permission from the Americans to offer this service because DX doesn’t operate there. The company says it’s licensed by the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit with full authorization to operate in the European Union. January 3, 2019 by Alastair Marsh READ FULL ARTICLE https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-03/tesla-stock-on-a-blockchain-offers-hint-of-where-crypto-s-headed

Bitcoin’s Institutionalization: Dates to Watch in 2019   It’s been over a year since the Cboe and CME listed the world’s first bitcoin futures contracts, the first ever bitcoin investment product to hit the legacy market. Both futures went live just before bitcoin peaked at its $20,000 all-time high. Out-the-gate trading for the derivatives reflected 2017’s market mania, and Cboe’s futures alone traded over 800 contracts (roughly $12,000,000 at the time) within the first two hours of their launch. With the creation of these markets, the euphoric anticipation of bitcoin’s debut on Wall Street conjured up delusions of grandeur. The seemingly unstoppable asset, which had transcended all-time high after all-time high with ease all throughout the 2017 holiday season, was on the cusp of receiving its largest flush of capital yet. Cue 2018 and the bear. Now, bitcoin is down about 80 percent from its all-time high. Its introduction into mainstream institutional markets obviously did not send us to a new paradigm, and some in the community even believe that the futures invited the opposite effect — that they were the cause of the crash. 2018 was not the year of institutionalization that some bitcoin investors hoped that it would be. Instead, it’s been a Sisyphean struggle to give Wall Street an easier in, perhaps best exemplified by the industry’s repeated trial and failure to get an ETF approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Still, there are a handful of outstanding deadlines and tentative launch dates that could make 2019 the actual year that bitcoin makes headway in the institutional investment scene. The products related to these deadlines include two futures offerings and VanEck’s long-anticipated bitcoin ETF. For these products, here are some dates to look out for and a brief explanation of how they work. December 31, 2018 by Colin Harper READ FULL ARTICLE https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/bitcoins-institutionalization-dates-watch-2019/

The Secret for a $1 Trillion Crypto Market? Keep Building Earlier this year, the total value of all crypto assets reached an all-time high of over $800 billion, driven by a flood of retail customers looking to capture opportunities in a new market. Although the ecosystem aimed to attract this influx of interest, in reality, it lacked the necessary infrastructure to sustain this magnitude of participation. The industry hit a critical point, where systems were stress-tested and it became clear that the existing model was not refined nor built to scale at such a rapid rate of adoption. The industry wasn’t prepared, and while volumes have sharply declined, the work to develop the ecosystem over the last year has increased dramatically. Within traditional capital markets, there are different systems in place that work together to enable these markets to operate efficiently. The required crypto asset infrastructure diverges from the more traditional model, which has created several pain points within the space. These hurdles have made it challenging for investors – particularly on the institutional side – to enter these markets. While the industry is addressing these nuances, there are several key obstacles to overcome before it is prepared for the next wave of market participation. Crypto asset market structure is extremely fragmented; there are more than 200 unique exchanges and platforms, each offering their own set of products. Exchanges also operate out of different jurisdictions, which yield different rules, requirements and operational standards and guidelines. In addition, there are still questions to be answered around qualified custodians. The solutions that exist are varied and nascent, each offering different services for different coins. There is simply no one-stop solution in place today. The industry also lacks generally accepted standards or best practices around security controls, operations and research and valuation. You have to think about managing your operational risk in a completely different way than in traditional markets – this is the only market in the world where the operational risk is greater than the financial risk. And while research and methodologies continue to improve, people want access to more standardized metrics, analysis and price discovery to understand how to value these assets. And perhaps most important, concerns around regulatory clarity remain as one of the greatest barriers to entry. While regulators have taken important steps to understand these markets and have provided guidance in some cases — bitcoin classified as a commodity, not a security — we still need clearly defined rules of the road. Anyone sitting on the sidelines today is likely waiting on clarity from regulators before even considering operating in these markets. Jan 2, 2019 by Jim Radeck READ FULL ARTICLE https://www.coindesk.com/if-you-built-it-keep-building-preparing-for-a-1-trillion-crypto-market

Zion Market Research Report Explains: Global Blockchain In Energy Market likely to grow to USD 11,899 Million By 2024 Zion Market Research has published a new report. According to the report, the global blockchain in energy market was valued at around USD 208 million in 2017 and is expected to reach approximately USD 11,899 million by 2024, growing at a CAGR of above 78.20% between 2018 and 2024. Blockchain, also know as decentralized ledger technology has no core system or a central server. The authentication of these servers is handled publicly. It helps people to trade energy among themselves. The applications of blockchain in the energy market include payment schemes, grid management, governance risk, and compliance management, energy trading, and supply chain management. The ‘blockchain in energy market’ is developed and will be able to fulfill the increasing power demand across the globe. These new systems are beneficial, as they offer fast and secure transaction at a low cost without involving any conventional intermediates. This, in turn, is likely to drive this market in the future. The power and utility companies are exploring different ways to develop and implement blockchain technology, as it provides efficient ways to record and process data. With this system, customers can have streamlined and accurate access to their bills. It also provides effective access to various energy sources and accurate utilization of the service data. Because of these features, blockchain energy is gaining more popularity in the power sector, and thus, is likely to become the driving technology of the future. However, the lack of a clear set of regulatory standards and uncertainty of the regulatory landscape might hinder the market. Nevertheless, advancements in the international trade and supply chain management are expected to provide many opportunities for the key players working in the global ‘blockchain in energy’ market. The global ‘blockchain in energy’ market is segmented based on type, component, application, and end-user. By type, this market is bifurcated into private and public. The component segment includes platform and services. The application of global blockchain in energy market includes grid management, energy trading, government risk, compliance management, payment schemes, supply chain management, and others. By end-user, this global market is divided into power and oil and gas sectors. In 2017, the power sector dominated the market and is expected to continue the trend over the forecast time period. This can be attributed to the rising demand for renewable energy around the globe. December 27, 2018 by Richard Kastelein READ FULL ARTICLE https://www.the-blockchain.com/2018/12/27/zion-market-research-report-explains-global-blockchain-in-energy-market-likely-to-grow-to-usd-11899-million-by-2024/

Bitcoin Futures Exchange Bakkt Raises $182.5 Million from BCG, Microsoft, Pantera Capital, and Others   Bakkt was launched by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent firm of the New York Stock Exchange, along with several other influential derivatives and futures bourses to satisfy the institutional interest in cryptocurrencies. Bakkt aims to become a trusted gateway for trading bitcoin-focused financial products. Apart from price speculation, ICE is also looking to facilitate the use of bitcoin in everyday payments and cross-border money transfers. Initially expected to launch in November 2018, Bakkt’s operations were postponed to start in December 2018, and then again to “early 2019” on the count of necessary permissions from regulators such as the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Unlike most crypto-firms, Bakkt did not offer a tokens sale to raise funds. Instead, it followed the traditional venture capital approach with investors bidding their positions in exchange for equity in the business. Some notable stakeholders include Microsoft’s M12 ventures, PayU, CMT Digital, Pantera Capital, and the Boston Consulting Group. The round was completed Dec. 31st, with a total of $182.5 million raised. Few details are available on how equity was divided between the different investors. Bakkt’s “killer app” is bitcoin contracts delivered within one day. Moreover, Bakkt offers a ‘physical’ warehousing option for cold storage, rather than having private keys stored in an exchange cloud server, which tend to have non-transparent security standards. An Active Year for Crypto The project is led by Kelly Loeffler, the former head of communications and marketing at ICE. Under her purview, Bakkt has finalized deals with Microsoft for their cloud services, and Starbucks to enable real-time conversion of bitcoin—allowing for in-store coffee purchases. In a blog post, Loeffler noted 2018 was the “most active year for crypto,” unlike what most amateur investors might think. She added: “This [active year] was evidenced by rising investment in distributed ledger technology and digital assets, as well as by blockchain network metrics such as daily bitcoin transaction value and active addresses. Yet, these milestones tend to be overshadowed by the more narrow focus on bitcoin’s price, which has been seen by some, as a proxy for the potential of the technology.” January 2, 2019 by Shaurya Malwa READ FULL ARTICLE https://cryptoslate.com/bitcoin-futures-exchange-bakkt-raises-182-million-bcg-microsoft-pantera-capital/

 

About STARBIT

Starbit aims at spreading theoretical - practical knowledge among ordinary people, without being an expert or willing to become an expert. Starbit is aware of the impact that blockchain and crypto currencies will have on people's lives: for this reason it promotes a mass literacy.

Starbit selects everything needed for a person to be informed and about blockchain technologies and various applications, making it easier, in a progressive manner, accessible to all, thus saving time and resources to anyone interested in this area. The goal is to offer various degrees of knowledge (first level is free as Club Member and the others included in the products purchasable by customers) to those who are interested in playing an acting rule. Starbit also offers an opportunity to those who want to transform all this in a work from home opportunity.

DISCLAIMER

Registration to the Club is totally free and gives access to the basic information on Blockchain and its applications on the market, the most important of which is constituted by the so-called crypto currencies. At the Club members who are interested in having a more complete knowledge and information is also offered the possibility (it is an option, not an obligation) to buy upgradable services or applications (the acquisition of knowledge is a fact known to be progressive over time).

Any coins  (when free attributed by third parties) that may result gradually, will of course be the exclusive property of the customer and should not be considered in any relationship the servicies or applications purchased.

For maximum clarity applies the following example: if a person acquires an organic farming course that includes in addition to the theory, also a practical detection of cultivation of an organic garden (like was done by Michelle Obama at the White House), any products (carrots, tomatoes, peas, etc.) that will enrich his table, will obviously be of full ownership of those who have grown the organic garden and will not of course no relation to the person who sold the course, even if he has supplied the equipment for the practical test, such as seeds, tools, pots, fertilizers, various preparations, etc.

Subscribers to the Club have the power to start the business, if authorized and in acceptance of all the terms and conditions for the Promoter, explained in the Promoter Agreement and in the Policies and Procedures. They should not incur any fees and never any obligation to buy anything. If as a result of the promotion done, some new Club member, decide to buy a package Information, the Promoter will receive a commercial fee as provided by the terms and conditions above mentioned. It is not authorized anyone to provide news other than those listed here and on the official website, to promise false gains and / or try to push the purchase of the products, which must instead be the result of personal conviction. In particular, it must never be made no reference to any kind of investment if not purely cultural nature. This Club is fully committed to compliance with the laws of the countries in which it operates. It's also open to collaboration with those who help him to improve.For each queries or suggestions please contact via the official website. For questions please contact support@starbit.com.

The world's bigger maker of bitcoin-minig hardware wants to go public, but there are doubts over its profit

Organised as a weekly newsletter, it presents an overview of the current international blockchain debate. You may find below a selection of the best ideas from the most influential media.

The world's biggest maker of Bitcoin-mining hardware wants to go public, but there are doubts over its profits Bitmain Technologies, the Beijing-based company which makes machines used to mine Bitcoin, wants to go public. The company filed to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange at the end of September and aims to raise around $US500 million, the Financial Times reports. If Bitmain raises the full amount, it would give the company an indicative valuation of $US18 billion. That would represent a significant premium to September 2017, when Bitmain sold 5% of its equity for $US50 million in a Series A funding round, at an implied valuation of $US1 billion. And according to documents seen by the FT, there are some discrepancies in the profit figures released by Bitmain in connection with recent capital raisings. The IPO prospectus states that Bitmain's net profit in 2017 was $US701.4 million. But just a month earlier in August, the company released documents ahead of a pre-IPO funding round which said its 2017 profits were $US1.1 billion. And in June this year, Bitmain reportedly closed a $US400 million Series B funding round. Documents circulated in connection with that capital raising said 2017 profits were $US1.25 billion. Bitmain is the world's largest manufacturer of ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) chips used in the machines that mine Bitcoin. November 13, 2018 by Sam Jacobs   READ FULL ARTICLE https://www.businessinsider.com/bitmain-initial-public-offering-profits-2018-11?IR=T

When the Fork Forks: What You Need to Know as Bitcoin Cash Goes to War  Around 16:40 UTC tomorrow, November 15, 2018, the Bitcoin Cash network is set to undergo another hard fork upgrade. But contention about this upgrade has left the Bitcoin Cash ecosystem divided, which could once again lead to a split into multiple projects and coins. Here’s what you need to know to get up to speed. As a quick reminder, what is Bitcoin Cash again? Bitcoin Cash (sometimes referred to as “Bcash” or “BCH”) is a cryptocurrency that split off from the main Bitcoin blockchain in August 2017. Culminating from Bitcoin’s years-long scaling dispute, the spinoff project most notably increased its block size limit through a contentious hard fork upgrade, “forking off” to become its own coin — though some of its proponents see it as the “real Bitcoin.” While currently trading at a fraction of bitcoin’s value — around $480 at the time of writing — Bitcoin Cash is the fourth biggest cryptocurrency by market cap and has garnered support from big names in the cryptocurrency space like bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver and Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu. What is this dispute about? The Bitcoin Cash dispute is really between two competing factions, represented by their respective software implementations. In one corner stands Bitcoin ABC, the “original” Bitcoin Cash client that caused the split away from the Bitcoin blockchain a little over a year ago. Led by Amaury Séchet, and with close (though unofficial) ties to major mining hardware producer Bitmain, Bitcoin ABC has a policy of hard forking about once every six months to upgrade the protocol. This time, Bitcoin ABC will introduce several changes. The first and probably main one is called “Canonical Transaction Ordering” (CTOR). While transactions can currently be included in a block in almost any order, under CTOR, transactions must be included in a specific order. The Bitcoin ABC development team believes this offersa couple of technical benefits, in part related to (future) scaling improvements. A second change is a new piece of script (an “OP code”) called OP_CHECKDATASIG (DSV). This extends Bitcoin Cash’s features, most notably by enabling oracles (which allow for a class of smart contracts). Bitcoin ABC also introduced some smaller technical fixes, like a minimum size for transactions. November 14, 2018 by Aaron van Wirdum READ FULL ARTICLE https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/when-fork-forks-what-you-need-know-bitcoin-cash-goes-war

Floor Found? Bitcoin Price Bounces As Sell-Off Slows  Bitcoin has recovered some of its losses in the last couple of hours, adding some $300 to the price of one bitcoin and taking it to $4,700 after 36-hour sell-off that wiped billions from the cryptocurrency market. The bitcoin price sell-off began last week as fears around a so-called hard in the bitcoin cash network, itself a fork of bitcoin, gripped the market amid threats to the sector from bitcoin cash's two warring factions. The bitcoin market then went into meltdown yesterday as investors processed reports some exchanges were altering futures contracts amid the battle for control of the bitcoin cash network. Bitcoin yesterday crashed under $5,000 for the first time this year, down an eye-watering 25% in two days, fuelling fears the cryptocurrency market is heading for collapse. Bitcoin today briefly fell to $4,237, according to the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, before climbing back to over $4,700 over the last couple of hours. Bitcoin's market capitalization has now fallen to $82 billion, down from more than $110 billion just two weeks ago. Other major coins, including Ripple's XRP and Ethereum's ether, the second and third-largest coins, both also rebounded somewhat from losses of around 15% over the last 24 hours. High profile bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors and traders have today come out in defense of the sector, appealing to panicked potential sellers not to bail out of the market, pointing to bitcoin's turbulent past and repeated recoveries. November 20, 2018 by Billy Bambrough READ FULL ARTICLE https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2018/11/20/floor-found-bitcoin-price-bounces-as-sell-off-slows

Fintech firm Revolut gets green light to expand to Japan and Singapore   British mobile bank Revolut has obtained licenses to operate in Japan and Singapore as it readies an expansion into Asia. The London-based financial technology firm said Thursday that it had acquired a remittance license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and full authorization from Japan's Financial Services Agency. Revolut offers users a prepaid debit card and a current account, as well as premium features like cryptocurrency trading and free unlimited foreign exchange. It said Thursday that it intends to launch its platform in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in the first quarter of 2019, and is looking to select Singapore to host its APAC headquarters. Revolut also has plans to eventually release its app in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. "We have confidence that Revolut will continue to be a driving force as we expand globally, developing a range of exciting new services for increasingly connected consumers in APAC," Revolut Chief Executive Nikolay Storonsky said in a statement Thursday. "It's a huge market and we're already seeing an incredible amount of people demanding our product." More than 50,000 people in the APAC region have signed up to a waiting list to create an account with Revolut, the firm said. Revolut added that it is working with Singapore's central bank to advise on legislation being tabled in the country's parliament and aimed at streamlining payments regulation under one single piece of legislation. It has also partnered with Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, property insurer Sompo Japan Insurance and printing firm Toppan. November 29, 2018 by Ryan Browne   READ FULL ARTICLE https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/29/uk-fintech-firm-revolut-gets-license-to-expand-to-japan-and-singapore.html

Genesis hack: World’s biggest blockchain hackathon launched BENGALURU: IBC media, the creators of the International Blockchain Congress announced the launch of Genesis hack - the world’s biggest blockchain hackathon - at the 10K NASSCOM Start-up Warehouse in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Genesis Hack aims to promote and grow the number of blockchain developers in India. Over 65,000 developers are expected to compete against each other for a cash prize of over Rs 1 crore. Participants will be tested through three major tracks that involve building a blockchain protocol, dApps, and building security solutions for blockchain infrastructures. The event organisers believe that the present state of affairs in India is favouring the adoption of blockchain technology at industrial and government capacities. However, the lack of blockchain developers will set back the intended progress that needs to be made in order to make India block-chain-ready. “But to scale up, we need engineering talent to build and maintain blockchain infrastructures. An event like Genesis Hackathon can help promote the need for more blockchain developers,” Abhishek Pitti, CEO of Nucleus Vision who was present at the announcement to launch the hackathon. Presently, India has about six million engineers who are capable of delivering a solid throughput for the blockchain industry. “As a large-scale event that brings together developers from all over India, Genesis Hack will set the precedent to enable India to solve the biggest blockchain problems in the world with a well-equipped workforce,” said Rama Iyer, President of Elev-en01. November 22, 2018 by Akshatha M, READ FULL ARTICLE https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/genesis-hack-worlds-biggest-blockchain-hackathon-launched/articleshow/66749166.cms

About STARBIT

Starbit aims at spreading theoretical - practical knowledge among ordinary people, without being an expert or willing to become an expert. Starbit is aware of the impact that blockchain and crypto currencies will have on people's lives: for this reason it promotes a mass literacy.

Starbit selects everything needed for a person to be informed and about blockchain technologies and various applications, making it easier, in a progressive manner, accessible to all, thus saving time and resources to anyone interested in this area. The goal is to offer various degrees of knowledge (first level is free as Club Member, or included in Blockchain Information Packages for customers) to those who are interested in playing an acting rule. Starbit also offers an opportunity to those who want to transform all this in a work from home opportunity.

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