New York, NY, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (via Blockchain Wire) Blockchain technology saw exponential growth in 2019, unprecedented adoption and interest by governments and institutions around the world validating its utility.

With core infrastructure being built out across the planet, enterprise investment and regulatory pathways being defined the stage is set for 2020 to be the year for mass adoption of blockchain technology.

Thomas Carter, digital securities pioneer, and CEO ofDealBox outlinestwo key trends that will bring about massive opportunities in the blockchain space in this new year.

Key 1 - The Fat Protocol & Next Generation Blockchains

Joel Monegros Fat Protocol thesis describes how the value of blockchain technology is based on an opposite paradigm to the way value was created via the internet over the past couple of decades.

The protocol layer of the internet (HTTP, FTP, SMTP, etc) which is the technology that provides the underlying mechanics for websites, file transfers, and email isnt where the value was created.

Instead, the apps that used the protocols (Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc) were the winners. Thus, the thin protocol designation.

In the Blockchain ecosystem we see the inverse is true where value creation will be realized by the market cap of the underlying blockchain protocol as opposed to the apps being built on it.

In other words, the value in the Ethereum blockchain can be expected to be more than the dApps (decentralized apps) being built on it. Fat Protocol.

This thesis holds true only if the blockchain in question has solved the TPS (transactions per second) or throughput problem.

1st and 2nd generation blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum rely on consensus mechanisms that put a huge drag on transaction speed making them unviable by enterprise adoption standards.

3rd generation blockchain is all about increasing transaction speed without compromising the security, immutability and distribution of the chain.

To solve the TPS problem, various new consensus mechanisms are being developed along with sidechain technology.

Sidechains are a separate and parallel data layer that off-loads some of the data from the mainchain thereby reducing the amount and frequency of needing to wait for consensus confirmation. Gorbyte, founded by Giuseppe Gori is one project in particular just coming out of stealth mode that has created an elegant solution to the problem of blockchain scalability.

Gorbytes GNodes system eliminates the need for miners which has been the traditional bottleneck for TPS. George Gilder is a legend in tech and economic circles. His book Wealth and Poverty was the guiding light for Regans economic policies which ignited the rise of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from roughly 800 in 1979 to where it is today.Gilder predicted much of the ubiquitous tech in use today years before it existed in his books: Microcosm, Telecosm, Life After Television, and The Silicon Eye.

In this latest book, Life After Google..Gilder coins the term The Cryptocosm, to describe the emerging wave of innovative blockchain-based technology companies who are not just bringing paradigm shifting solutions to the market -- but redefining the market itself.

Gilder recently had this to say about DealBox security token issuer Giuseppe Gori in thislatest newsletter

Giuseppe Gori is an internet legend..

On Giuseppes new book -

With Reinventing the Blockchain Gori becomes the reigning prophet of the next phase of the Cryptocosm, and Cryptocosmic investment

Gori is the tribune of a new generation of blockchain inventors and their companies.

Giuseppes company Gorbyte has built a blockchain that is faster and vastly more scalable than Bitcoin. Its easier and more affordable for running smart contract applications than Ethereum.

Key 2 - Usability Blockchain is different from the traditional internet in that it incorporates a shared data layer rather than data being siloed and monetized by companies like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, etc.,

For those companies, the better model would compensate the users for creating the content and empower them to take their content elsewhere if a better deal became available. With data decentralized, security would be much better and privacy would be better protected.

Thats exactly what a decentralized application built on an open data protocol would do. And the compensation of the users is what a native cryptocurrency token would satisfy in this new business model.

Why isnt this being done en masse? Bitcoin is now over a decade old. Bitcoin miners have been incentivized by receiving tokens and that is precisely why Bitcoin works as well as it does. The model is proven.

Actually, a number of entrepreneurs have tried. Steem is like a decentralized Reddit with a token incentive model and it has been chugging along for sometime.

There are 150 + decentralized apps in the Blockstack app store and a similar thriving ecosystem can be found on Ethereum.

We know that TPS/scalability has been a problem but there is a second key component and that is usability.

Usability for blockchain is in dire need of a refactoring. No matter how amazing a technology is if it is hard to use, people simply wont use it. More accurately, if they cant figure out how to use it - they cant use it.

We now have scalability solved with next generation blockchains like Gorbyte and a consortium of other ventures are now working together on a shared vision to improve blockchain usability called Make Crypto Easy.

Thomas Carter on the current situation:

"With blockchain tech and cryptocurrency, we aren't dealing with a typical market adoption learning curve. Bitcoin was born of iconoclastic ideals and philosophy. If you were a technologist and you resonated with the philosophy behind Bitcoin, then you would figure out how to use it. In other words, user-friendliness wasn't ever a consideration until now and that was mostly on purpose."

The Make Crypto Easy consortium venture members are focused on solving usability issues in 4 areas of user blockchain user-experience: Transactions, Identity, Education and Digital Banking.

To learn more about the ventures and groundbreaking technology spearheading this initiative please visit http://www.makecryptoeasy.io/

As blockchain technology and the verifiable distributed trust it confers continues to reshape the world of finance that directly impacts the fundamental ways we all transact online.

Addressing theTwo Key issues of scalability and usability will remove the final friction points to widespread user adoption.

With the pace of progress being made by the ventures mentioned above as well as by other projects in the crypto space, 2020 is likely to be the tipping point for massive disruption and opportunity.

Thomas Carter, founder and CEO ofDealBox, Inc; read about Thomas:This FinTech Veteran Is Making Cryptocurrency Startup Funding Legitimate; connect onLinkedInandInstagram.

Contact:

Shazir Mucklai

Imperium Group

shazirm@aol.com

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Digital Securities Guru Thomas Carter on The Two Keys That Will Unlock Mass Adoption of Cryptocurrency/Blockchain in 2020 - GlobeNewswire

Sydney Ifergan, CEO of The Currency Analytics, tweeted: This is amazing on how a conflict between #USA and #IRAN can pump the #cryptomarket! If I remember right, the last high time was during the conflict between the USA and #northkorea.

No wonder, there is a lot of regulatory and legislative attention for the cryptocurrency community. The situation particularly escalated when Facebook launched its Libra project. The Social Giant attracted the attention of several politicians and central bankers from across the world. The US Federal Reserve Board stated that they are working on crypto-like projects, and they called it Central Bank Digital Currency.

It is undeniable that nations are alarmed about losing economic control. They are not interested in leaving control of the cryptocurrency space. The income for the government will decline. People will have greater control over the happenings in commerce and economy, and eventually, it will be like days of laissez-faire.

Indeed, we are in the early innings of the cryptocurrency markets. A lot has happened. There is a lot to evolve, and the rules of the games need to set straight. Several hundred cryptocurrency projects like TCAT tokens, which are starters through those which are well-established giants like Stellar Lumens, XRP, and Cardano, are around. Every token and Dapp in the industry in clusters of their ecosystem, contribute to the sector.

Several small scale operations and coding sectors filled with individual developers are dependent on the income generated from this industry. The bulk of employment created by the blockchain technology gets interlinked by the needs and demands of the industry.

Though not by written rules, the services and individual activities of people in this industry are becoming indispensable for each other. The cryptocurrency world is held together and sustained by true people and people in focus, contributing to the mission of Decentralization. Though TCAT Tokens has nothing to do with Stellar Lumens, the overall cryptocurrency ecosystem needs big and small players. Just like the Ocean requires the shark and the starfish in the ecosystem, every little player has a little to contribute to the world of Decentralization.

At the University level, different universities from across the world are offering blockchain courses. Trained blockchain graduates and developers who are certified are making it to the market to take to top positions. The structure of the cryptocurrency market is slowly forming. The trials and errors are continuing in the market place.

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TCAT Token in the Early Innings of Decentralized Cryptocurrency Space - The Cryptocurrency Analytics

Financial watchdogs formally put dodgy cryptocurrency entrepreneurs on high alert this year, dishing out fines and forcing startups into submission on the regular.

To some, the US Securities and Exchange Commissions hard-on for crypto-justice was telegraphed when it deemed Ethereums native cryptocurrency Ether not a security last year.

Simultaneously, the SEC hinted that tokens deployed on the network could very well be classified as such. In the movie business, they call that foreshadowing.

As it turns out, a slew of cryptocurrency startups didnt get the memo or if they did they simply didnt give a fuck. Heres a list of blockchain-themed lawsuithighlights for the year. A regulatory dunk reel, if you will.

In September, Block.one the firm that built the blockchain-powered cloud computing service EOS agreed to pay $24 million for violating US securities law with its year-long$4.1 billion ICO.

Many people in the industry felt this particular SEC action was long overdue, especially those who considered it obvious that selling 900 million tokenswithout any product backing them would eventually attract the attention of US regulators.

The SECs statement even reflected this sentiment. It clearly highlighted its very thorough investigation into autonomous blockchain firm The DAO, which established quite clearly how token sales(like the one conducted by Block.one) align with US securities law.

Either Block.one didnt read it, or (more likely) simply didnt care. In the end, Block.one neither agreed to or disputed the SECs claims, but still paid $24 million in fines. Definitely not enough, in my opinion.

Almost one year on from the launch of the EOS mainnet (which, again, cost $4.6 billion), not only is EOSstill suffering from major, crippling bottlenecks, but block producers have alleged that its actually being run by sock puppets owned by vote-buying cartels.

This case comes by way of the US Department of Justice (DoJ), which says Steven Nerayoff (the guy responsible for the legal architecture of Ethereum ICOs) as well as one of his buddies extorted a budding cryptocurrency business for millions of dollars worth of Ether.

In exchange for 22.5 percent of all funds raised, as well as 22.5 percent of the tokens issued, Nerayoffs company was to help an unnamed cryptocurrency startup launch a successful ICO.

Eventually, Nerayoff is said to have demanded that his share of the profits be increased from 13,000 ETH to 30,000 ETH (worth $8.75 million at the time), threatening to destroy the company if he didnt get his way. The firm paid, but Nerayoff and his company didnt give the startup any further assistance.

Nerayoff associate Michael Hlady did pretty much the same thing. After claiming to have worked for the NSA and the CIA, he demanded a $4.45 million Ether loan, or else hed destroy the companys community.

Both Nerayoff and Hlady were arrested on extortion charges in September, and both face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The SECaccused Reginald Middleton, a self-described financial guru, of misleading investors by touting outsized and fictitious demand for his crappy cryptocurrency VERI.

VERI was sold under the guise that one day it could be used as a utility token for Veritaseum, a platform that was meant to offer products ranging from self-custody escrowing, financial and data analytics, and the tokenization of assets.

Turns out (yet again), none of this ever fucking existed. Middleton still (allegedly) shilled VERI on unsuspecting investors by fraudulently claiming to have a blockchain product ready to generate millions of dollars worthof revenue.

The SEC also said that in one day, Middleton artificially boosted the price of VERI by 315 percent, presumably in a bid to lure even more buyers.

In total, Middleton and his associated companies raised $14.8 million, $8 million of which Middleton allegedly still holds. In August, Hard Fork reported that the SEC had pulled an emergency lawsuit on Middleton to prevent him from accessing those funds.

Yep, messaging app Telegram, which boasts over 200 million users, is being sued for allegedly raising a ball-twisting $1.7 billion by selling unregistered securities in the form of crypto tokens.

A US federal judge also ordered Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov to be deposed in early January, and its vice president has been urged to testify in London. An employee that was featured on the companys letters to investors has been requested to to do the same.

The SEC already put a stop to any further sales when it secured an emergency restraining order against the company in October, but the lawsuits are yet to be decided upon. Telegram began selling its tokensat the start of 2018.

Thing is, Telegrams token sale was ridiculously strange. The Telegram Open Network is supposedly a blockchain-based platform that would allow users to access payments services, decentralized apps, file storage, and even a browser.

As TechCrunch noted last year, the original TON whitepaper indicated the firm sought to raise $1.2 billion from invite-only private investors and the general public. That target was later extended to $1.7 billion, and presumably after raising enough money, the firm canceled the public token sale altogether.

In turn, a secondary market for TON was born, as early investors looked to offload their tokens to keen buyers locked out of the ICO process. In one instance, tokens bought for $0.37 were reportedly being sold for $1.30 a 350-percent increase for a token that was supposedly powering a blockchain platform that didnt yet exist.

Im sure many onlookers are keen to see how this one plays out. I for one am curious to see just how big (or small) any potential SEC fines may be.

Bitqyck was an allegedly fake cryptocurrency mining business that sold $13 million worth of tokens to more than 13,000 investors.

Their facility wassupposed to generate cryptocurrency using electricity it had secured at below-market rates. The SEC found, however, that Bitqyck had struck no deal at all.

In fact, the entire mining operation didnt even exist, and the company that sold the tokens was deemed an unregistered securities exchange.

Soon after the SEC made these allegations, its founders promptly agreed to return $13 million raised to 13,000 investors,with interest. They were also fined a collective $10 million in civil penalties.

Fake crypto mining aside, this is really on brand for the SEC, as this year has seen a swathe of other blockchain startups targeted for selling tokens without registering them as securities.

Crummy token peddlers, take note: you could be next.

Published January 6, 2020 13:32 UTC

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5 times regulators revealed their raging boners for crypto justice in 2019 - The Next Web

The term Cryptocurrency is in vogue these days. Most of the people are prejudiced about the know-how of Cryptocurrency.

However, Cryptocurrency is much more than what people know about this term. In this article, we would know how Cryptocurrency has changed the business world.

Cryptocurrency is an asset that is completely available online.

It is specially designed to work as a:

Cryptocurrency is a system that meets the following conditions and is capable of:

Now, after you have mug-up all the facts mentioned above about Cryptocurrency, its the time to know how can Cryptocurrency transformed the business world.

Following are the pointers that will give the true and fair picture to you about the transformations that have taken place after the arrival of Cryptocurrency-

The fact that some economies are already disturbed is not hidden from anyone. The reason is the rising issues against the central government.

However, at such a critical time, a currency in which people can put their trust as well as they know it will maintain its value can open new doors.

Many people expect that the economies will get stable by using Cryptocurrency against that untrusted local currency.

Of-course when Cryptocurrency has the potential to level up the economy, it has the capability to lower down the currency risk as well.

The users need not worry about their government is printing money or not; also, the fear of monetizing their debts will also be eliminated.

Further, great confidence could be seen in a user that their currency will have value in the future. Hence, the currency risk will be eliminated with the usage of Cryptocurrency.

We are pretty much aware of the fact that transferring money from one bank to another is a lengthy as well as a cumbersome process.

Even a couple of hours are wasted in confirming it via wire transfers. However, with the help of Cryptocurrency, the facility of quick, instant, and faster confirmations can be initiated.

The reason is that all the transactions are done on the digital platform, and the holder or user does not have to go anywhere personally.

When a real estate gets closed or is merged into some bigger entity, the money has to be transferred in order to make sure that the title is transferred.

Such ownership or title-ship transfers can be made easier with the help of Cryptocurrency whereby:

To bank something is to keep something valuable somewhere.

Banks were opened to facilitate a safekeeping of money, ornaments, and important documents of the people; however, we are listening to such news daily that banks are going bankrupt.

Hence they are not able to repay the principal amount to the user, what to talk of interest?

Likewise, it is expected that in the coming time, the necessity of keeping your money in the bank would no more remain a necessity.

A platform like Cryptocurrency provides us a completely digital way to keep our money safe and secure; also we can use it as and when we want and require.

Investment

In the investment world, a broker plays an important role and, a broker only helps you when you are paying handsome amounts to him to be your broker, whether it is an individual, an agency, a financial institution or a bank.

However, with the help of Cryptocurrency, the middleman gets removed as the parties can connect directly without the need of any broker.

Hence, you save a great sum that way as three things are important:

Cryptocurrency promises to flatten the investment procedure for buyers as well as sellers.

The Exchange agencies like money gram or western union money transfer offer the key feature in which the users can move ownership from one person to another. Here the parties generally do not know each other, but the payment is facilitated.

However, using a digital platform like Cryptocurrency is offering in investments. It eliminates the lengthy and cumbersome procedures out and clears the way for the users to execute what they want to easily.

This is not an overrated statement that 4/5 of the people use mobile phones and out of them at least half of the people shop online from a hairclip to a pair of shoes or sandals; from soap to a perfume; from a beautiful dress to a branded pair of jeans and what not?

When everything is available online, why would people waste their time, efforts, and energy in personal visiting and buying?

Cryptocurrency gives reasons to believe in this online system to the ones who are yet afraid of the online scams or any kind of insecurity while making online payments.

The reason is that it eliminates the risk of fraud for individuals as well as for business entrepreneurs.

Therefore, it is building a strong base and strengthening the e-commerce day by day. Moreover, it also allows users to shop online freely.

Hence, these were some of the highlighted benefits and core points about Cryptocurrency that will surely give you a boost to ponder about it.

We surely are entering into an exciting world where the fear will be eliminated, and confidence will be leveled up in every being. Cryptocurrency will have more dynamic effects than the ones mentioned here.

The one that can foresee the uncertain and un-happened can foretell that Cryptocurrency will bring great opportunities for the people as well as for the businesses in the upcoming time.

By Harikrishna Kundariya, who is a marketer, developer, IoT, ChatBot & Blockchain savvy, designer, co-founder, Director of eSparkBiz Technologies, an AngularJS Web Development Company. His 8+ experience enables him to provide digital solutions to new start-ups based on IoT & Blockchain.

Website URL:- https://www.esparkinfo.com/

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Can Cryptocurrency Transform The Business World in 2020? - Irish Tech News

KEY POINTS

The recently released progress update by the IRS noted that the 2019 Tax Form 1040 includes inquiry about owning cryptocurrencies. Still, it only managed to offer additional questions to crypto holders since the federal agency for revenue service only provided moreclarity last month to the originalNotice 2014-21issued in 2014.

With the modified Form 1040, the IRS wants to know if taxpayers had acquired or disposed of any cryptocurrencies (or what they termed as "virtual currency") in 2019. Schedule 1 of form 1040 asks: "At anytime during 2019, did youreceive,sell,send,exchange, or otherwise acquire any financial interest in any virtual currency?"

The word "exchange" in this question is what caused some of the confusion in the crypto community as that would mean that transferring a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin (BTC)to another wallet will be taxable, as Daniel Roberts of Yahoo Finance points out.

The government agency's answer to this is, "No. If you transfer virtual currency from a wallet, address, or account belonging to you, to another wallet, address, or account that also belongs to you, then the transfer is a non-taxable event, even if you receive an information return from an exchange or platform as a result of the transfer."

Questions like this surface because of how the IRS defines cryptocurrencies, and it's not currencies but rather property, much like stocks where capital gains (or losses) should be reported. The 45-FAQspublished on the federal agency's website offer some elucidation, answering questions for instances whencryptocurrencies are received asgifts and or when it is exchanged for properties.

Another uncertainty that perhaps irked some crypto owners was brought about by Rev. Rul. 2019-24 which concerns hard forks. This additional guideline for cases where there's a split in the chain warrants the crypto user to pay taxes nonetheless -- even if the user has no intention of utilizing the forked coins.

Roberts notes that in the past, a different measure was taken by most cryptocurrency owners. Since disclosing crypto gains doesn't offer much incentive and risks getting an audit, crypto holders shun it aside as something that would go unnoticed. But the new steps by the IRS indicate that they're honing on cryptocurrency holders and they're more committed to taxing crypto transactions.

Litecoin, ripple and ethereum cryptocurrency 'altcoins' sit arranged for a photograph. Germany is investigating the use of blockchain, the tech that underpins cryptocurencies. Photo: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

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2019 Tax Form 1040 Adds Question On Cryptocurrency Transactions, Bitcoin Buying Now Taxable? - International Business Times