A look at three cryptocurrencies that show tons of promise.

June 2017 has been a wild month for cryptocurrency. First, Bancor set the industry record for the largest-ever ICO at just over $150 million. A week later, Status.im (SNT) raised $275 million in under 3 hours during its ICO, contributing to an Ethereum flash crash.

And those are just two examples among many. Amid all the hullabaloo, it might feel hard to figure out which cryptocurrencies are worth investing in. So I sat down with Lucas Hendren, CTO of SimplyVital Health, to discuss the most promising cryptocurrencies to watch in July.

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Without a doubt, the name thats hot on every crypto-enthusiasts lips this month is Tezos, a new decentralized blockchain that governs itself by establishing a true digital commonwealth. With its ICO occurring July 1 (yep, thats tomorrow), the buzz of speculation is inescapable. Jeremy Epstein of Never Stop Marketing recently heralded its ICO as the Netscape of the blockchainin other words, the ICO that inflates the blockchain bubble by capturing the attention of the broader public. Naysayers point out that, while the ethos of Tezos is sound, it wont be able to hit critical mass in the face of a stronger and more established competitor. Proponents cite its robust security, capability to scale, and emphasis on true decentralization as natural next steps in the evolution of the ideas laid out (and arguably, confirmed) by Ethereum.

Tezos could theoretically have all the abilities of Ethereumbut in addition, its switching straight to proof-of-stake, said Hendren. The idea behind proof-of-stake is that its much less energy and time intensive, which would lead to faster transactions at a lower cost.

By launching the system with a proof-of-stake model from the onset, Tezos could sidestep some of the growing pains that have faced Ethereum. Furthermore, the governance system Tezos has built into its system gives it the capability to grow over time.

Tezos allows for a much easier way to upgrade and manage the system and insure that it has constant upgrades, said Hendren. If youve been following Bitcoin and Ethereum, a big problem theyve been having is how they go about upgrading. With Tezos, if you join part of that system, therell be a periodic vote to determine if theyre going to upgrade the system, and if so, what theyre going to upgrade it tothis is a massive simplification of itbut if a certain quorum is met and a vote passes, the entire system upgrades.

As to the Tezos vs Ethereum argument, Hendren expressed confidence in both, citing Tezoss upgrade-ability as a cause for genuine excitement.

Long-term it very well might be a competitor with Ethereum, but at the moment the space is so large and empty that theres room for both of them to grow, said Hendren. The main reason to be excited about it is that theyve potentially solved the problem of upgrading that many of the other blockchain networks have had.

Golem purports to be the new way the Internet will work, and when you start to look under the hood, you realize how and why they can make such a bold claim. (And if youve kept up with the latest season of Silicon Valley, itll sound eerily familiar).

The whole idea behind GNT is it allows you to sell your processing power, said Hendren. That basically means that you as an individualif you have, say, any laptop that you arent usingyou can sell your laptop as a server and make money from it. So you end up with this massive distributed computing network; it basically turns into the worlds largest supercomputer in a decentralized format. I think that is a very powerful idea that has a lot of potential.

GNT has already ICOed, but will entering its Alpha in very short time (very likely this month)and that Alpha is aiming to make high-intensity computing tasks like animation and CGI rendering much easier and cheaper.

Their Alpha will allow you to do CGI rendering and other animation rendering on their Golem network, potentially at a much cheaper cost than normal, said Hendren. And thats going to be released very soonmaking it something to watch right now. Theres a very high chance that GNT could gain a lot of value.

On the flipside of the computing equation, MaidSafe offers users the chance to sell their computers storage on the network.

MaidSafe allows you to safely secure your assets on a distributed network and distributed applications, said Hendren. So its similar to Golem but its more set up for data storage than it is for processing, and that is also a very useful, powerful idea.

The idea here is that theres tons of storage going to waste right now, and MaidSafe lets users sell this storage the same way one might rent out their apartment on Airbnb.

If you have a laptop, you can sell your storage space on this network, said Hendren. This is a simplified version, but: I have a laptop in my room Im not using at the momentI could load my computer up to this network and store data for other people for money.

For hopeful investors, Hendren explained that the next month will be the best time to get in early before MaidSafe enters its Alpha.

One big reason to watch it is that theyre releasing their Alpha on August 12, said Hendren. Whenever I advise tokens I usually advise you to go read the white paper and do your own researchbut if you want to get in early for this one, you have til August 12 to get in.

By letting users store encrypted data in a distributed format, MaidSafe effectively offers user privacy and autonomy in a way no current cloud storage solution does.

Hendren also advised newcomers to these markets to adopt two strategies when it comes to investing.

The main thing right now for everyone in there: in my opinion, you should try to avoid technical analyses, said Hendren. If you buy into something, you should plan on either holding for a long time or selling it at a certain point youve already planned out.

Why? Hendren references last weeks flash-crash as one example.

The reason for that is because this market is so young and immature, which is also some of the reason you can get great returns, said Hendren. There a few fish that have a massive amount of these currencies just waiting to sell that can basically move the market singlehandedly in any direction they want to. Any single event could have a massive influence on these things. My advice is not to be emotional, to buy in, sell out, buy in, and sell out again. Otherwise there are large sharks out there that will destroy you.

Disclosure: Damiani and Hendren have invested in GNT and MAID, and intend to participate in the Tezos ICO. Neither are professional financial analysts or advisors.

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The 3 Cryptocurrencies to Watch This Month - HuffPost

On one hand, it's hard for many investors not to be excited about the meteoric rise of cryptocurrencies in the past few months. Bitcoin has roughly tripled in value since the beginning of the year, Ethereum is up by about 40 times, and Ripple, one of the newest arrivals on the scene, gained a shocking 3800%. What's more, the total market cap for the cryptocurrency industry has been steadily increasing as well, and more and more businesses are finding ways to incorporate digital currencies into their models and payment systems. However, with all of this excitement about the new industry, there are also many analysts approaching with caution. Aberdeen Asset Management is one of the latest firms to do so, suggesting that there is a virtual currency bubble which will, at some point, eventually burst.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management had some words of caution for investors considering the cryptocurrency field. Peter Denious said that "prices right now aren't being driven by network usage, they're being driven by speculation that tokens are going to appreciate. It's a gold-rush mentality." Denious and others point to the rapid increase in the number of initial coin offerings, or ICOs, as well as the quick gains in the price of tokens upon listing as two signs that a bubble is in effect. ICOs are tremendously successful, with many companies operating in the blockchain space making millions of dollars in minutes, even if they have no proven or distinctive idea backing their token.

It may be important to note, however, that digital currencies are not the only assets which have seen gains to record levels in recent months. The returns on the leading cryptocurrencies so far in 2017 have been unparalleled in other areas, but other asset classes have also made impressive gains. Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices are at record levels, despite the widespread uncertainty surrounding global markets. At the same time, housing prices seem to have mostly recovered from an earlier burst.

Coin Telegraph suggests that the increase in asset prices may be due to large degrees of liquidity across global markets, thanks to quantitative easing by many central banks around the world. Considering this possible reason for the gains, it may not be just a cryptocurrency bubble that eventually bursts. If there is, in fact, a burgeoning bubble in either the real estate or equity worlds, those could have serious and long-lasting effects on the worldwide economy. As cryptocurrencies are untested, it's more difficult to say what the impact of a bubble burst would be in that area.

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Beware Cryptocurrency "Gold Rush Mentality": Aberdeen Asset Mgmt - Investopedia

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.s stock fell Wednesday, bucking the sharp gains enjoyed by its peers and the broader stock market, amid growing concerns that cryptocurrency miners may start going elsewhere for their graphics cards.

The chip-makers stock AMD, -1.27% closed down 1.3% at $13.23, paring earlier losses of as much as 2.3% at an intraday low of $13.09. With volume of 84.8 million shares, the stock was the most actively traded on the Nasdaq exchange.

Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX, +1.77% climbed 1.8% and the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.88% rallied 0.9%.

Analyst Christopher Rolland at Susquehanna Financial said that after a recent trip to Asia, he can confirm recent media reports that key rival Nvidia Corp. NVDA, +3.53% will release two new cryptocurrency-specific graphics processing units (GPUs) during the third quarter. Nvidias stock surged 3.5% to snap a four-session losing streak.

As these new products are more price competitive, they may pose a risk to AMDs current offerings in the market, Rolland wrote in a note to clients. [The] new cards may upset AMDs alt-crypto coin dominance.

Nvidia said it had no comment. AMD did not respond to a request for comment.

AMDs stock has run up 16.7% year to date, after rocketing nearly fourfold in 2016, fueled by news that Apple Inc. AAPL, +1.46% would use AMD chips in its new iMac Pro. It also got a boost from a surge in demand from cryptocurrency miners and hard-core gamers and optimism over the release of new Epyc chips for the enterprise market.

Dont miss: AMDs stock extends rocket climb, fueled by tremendous graphics cards demand.

See also: AMDs stock takes another Epyc leap.

Nvidias stock hasnt been far behind, soaring 42.2% year to date after more than tripling in 2016, on the back of a strong showing in the server business and the potential for strength in the autonomous vehicles market.

On Wednesday, Mizuho Securities analyst Vijay Rakesh reiterated his bullish stance on Nvidia, while raising his stock price target to $17012.0% above current levelsfrom $145.

While the gaming business has been soft so far this year, conservative gaming estimates for the second half of the year could see upside, as near-term cryptocurrency and mining trends are driving GPU shortages and pricing, combined with new auto wins and ramps at ZF, Rakesh wrote in a research note.

Although AMD has held a dominant position in the cryptocurrency market, Susquehannas Rolland said that position could be threatened by the lack of supply of AMD GPUs and from a cost-reduced part supplied by the competing Nvidia. But perhaps not for very long, as AMD also have its own new offering coming soon, Rolland added.

We note that while contacts did not mention upcoming AMD mining-specific cards, some media reports suggest their coming arrival, perhaps favoring a modest swing in competition back to AMD, Rolland wrote.

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AMD's stock falls as Nvidia's upcoming cryptocurrency GPUs pose a threat - MarketWatch

One of the world's largest technology hardware makers has announcednew graphics cards (GPUs) aimed at the cryptocurrency mining market.

Taiwan-based manufacturer Asus revaeledtheMining RX 470 and Mining P106,which were designed to handle the energy and heat intensive process of mining. Though not expressly pitched as such, the release is undoubtedly aimed at capturing some of the interest in mining ethereum. Bitcoin mining, by comparison, has evolved to a stage in which application-specific integratedcircuits, or ASICs, are required to compete.

Cryptocurrency mining is a process by which new transaction blocks are added to the distributed network. When this happens, new blockchain tokensare introduced to the system and awarded to the miner as compensation in this case, a profit is achieved when the cost of electricity and the operation itself is lower than the revenue generated by selling those tokens.

According to today's Asus announcement, the new cards are "engineered especially for coin mining, positioning the products as capable of providing "maximum mega hash rates at minimum cost".

Interest in cryptocurrency mining has led to reported shortages of GPUsin the global market. One hobbyist miner recently told CoinDesk that local tech stores have run low on the cards, adding that online marketplaces like Newegg, Amazon and eBay, among others, are also largely out of stock.

It's a situation that echoes the earlier "GPU rush" from 2014, when mining activity around alternative cryptocurrencies like dogecoin and litecoin led to similar price increases and a decline in available inventory.

Shortages aside, ethereum network data suggests that more hash rate is coming into ply as time goes on.

According to etherchain.org, the mining difficulty which rises as more hashing power is brought online nearlytripled from 27th April to 27th June.

TheRX 470 will be available worldwide, according to Asus, while the Mining P106 card will be available in China and Eastern Europe only,beginning in July.

Image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Asus Announces New Graphics Cards Focused on Cryptocurrency Mining - CoinDesk

The reason Im so much fun at parties is that my idea of a good time is to lecture everyone on cryptocurrency. I can pretty much talk bitcoin and blockchain with Hamiltonian fervor all night.

Ever since I began writing about cryptocurrency in general in 2013I believe this story I wrote for Esquire in fall of that year was the first ever mainstream media mention of Ripple (on whose board I now sit) I have been making one point to anyone who will endure my what is cryptocurrency lecture. People are all wrong about the difference between cryptocurrency and real money.

By real money, people invariably mean fiat currency issued by a government. To counter the argument that real money is somehow safer than crypto Ive pointed to Argentinas 40 percentinflation rate, or the Weimar Republic, and its famous wheelbarrows full of money to buy a loaf of bread (which was arguably intentional as Germany sought to repay Treaty of Versailles debt with devalued deutsche marks). And of course the world has watched in horror as Venezuela has devalued the bolivar to the point of meaninglessness.

These are not hypothetical examples. If you think this is all futurist theoretical BS, read up on the devastating effect hyperinflation is having as it transforms what was once South Americas most promising economy into a hellish nightmare in which people are eating their pets. Governments constantly, reliably, invariably and maddeningly ruin their own currencies by giving in to the temptation to overprint it. The beauty of bitcoin is that, like gold, the entire supply of it that will ever exist on earth (21 million coins), is known about, finite, and will never increase.

Still, as powerful as these examples aresome from recent second-world countries and others from past first-world countriesthey do not vividly resonate with Americans. That makes perfect sense. The U.S. dollar, after all, has been so reliable that the very countries I am criticizing, like Argentina and Venezuela, turn to the greenback and use it as a shadow currency to store value as their own money fails.

Even when we see American commodities change dramatically in price, like we witnessed with gasoline in 2008 when it reached $4.11 in July and fell to $1.84 in January, people dont readily seem to connect that its not just gasoline fluctuating but American money fluctuating. If my $10 bought 4 gallons of gas on October 1 and two gallons of gas on November 1, gas doubled in price just as the buying power of the American dollar was cut in half. Its the same thing. (Not precisely the same, actually, but close enough for the point Im making.)

So what Ive been searching for in these years of evangelizing and explaining the revolutionary power of cryptocurrencyincluding bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, litecoin, this new one BAT that Im interested in and othersto transform basically everything, are examples that will resonate without sounding like Im talking about 1930s Germany or the struggles of the second world. These last few weeks, I think Ive got what I need. And it comes heartbreakingly from my home state.

Illinois faces financial distress thats unprecedented for any American state. Without a budget for two years and sitting on top of over $15 billion in unpaid bills, the state is, to use a phrase that State Comptroller Susana Mendoza borrowed from Bonfire, hemorrhaging money as the states spending obligations have exceeded receipts by an average of over $600 million per month over the past year.

While the United States Constitution prevents a state from declaring bankruptcy the way places like Detroit and Orange County have, the situation is so dire that the Tribunes prestige columnist, John Kass, is only partially kidding when he calls for the state to be divided up between its five Midwestern neighbors.

Again, this is not just wonky penciling. The people of Illinois are being crushed by the burden imposed by a state that cannot pay its bills. The Chicago Public Schools, for example, must now pay 9 percent on its adjustable bonds because they are rated as junk. S&P is warning of a negative credit spiral and threatened to lower its rating even further if the state cannot hammer out a budget by July 1, which is less than a week away.

In other words, a bridge that used to cost $100 million to build because thats what it cost to borrow the money from bondholders, now might cost $150 million. Just as we saw in the gasoline example, anytime something costs more US dollars for the exact same product, you can look at it as the cost of a bridge going up, or you can look at it as the value of a dollar falling.

Thats why I believe in cryptocurrency.

Illinois cannot print its own money. I dont know what theyre going to do to crawl out of this mess. But there is no denying that all governments, including the United States, have manipulated their money supplies for political ends. And thats why I am so bullish on the future of cryptocurrency.

This isnt about whether bitcoin will soar to $5,000 or sink to $500. I think either is possible and equally likely, and Im not looking to give investment advice. All Im saying is that I trust currencies that are cryptographically enshrined and limited by the hard realities of math, at least as much as I trust human beings who are subject to the allure of popularity and other shiny objects.

The best book about cryptocurrency is Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper. And the parts of it that most moved me occurred when he described how this incredibly complicated and novel technology actually affected human lives. One of the early innovators of the bitcoin ecosystem was Wences Casares, who founded Xapo and a bunch of other crypto-friendly fintech startups. When Casares was growing up in Patagonia in the early 80s, the Argentinian government was messing with its currency to disastrous effect. First, they issued a new peso, exchangeable for 10,000 of the old peso. When that failed, they rolled out something called the austral, which was worth 1,000 new pesos (ie, 10 million of the currency that had been in use two years earlier). The inflation rate was more than 1,000 percent a year. Casares describes his mother carrying two grocery bags filled with moneyher wages. He and his sisters rushed with her to the store to buy what they could because the market employed people who did nothing but walk the aisles all day repricing items.

These math-based moneys from the future have a lot of user-unfriendliness and even getting money into and out of accounts can be a customer service hassle. But bagfuls of nearly worthless cash are not an unimaginable reality for millions of people on the planet. Thats the human reason Im willing to continue to bore people with cryptoevangelism.

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Illinois Is Venezuela and the Solution Is Cryptocurrency - Observer

Singapore-based startup TenX Technologies founded back in June 2015 with its co-founders wanting to solve the problem of cryptocurrencies not really able to be used in everydaylife. Most people trying to spend Bitcoin, Ethereum or many others realize quite fast that it is hard to connect this revolutionary but novel system with real world transactions.

Fast forward to this year two years later, the company is proud to report following a 1 million USD seed round at the beginning of 2017 with famous lead investor Fenbushi, TenX completed a successful token raise over this past weekend on June 24, 2017, 1 pm UTC.Itexchanged an equivalent of 245,832 Ether (valued at roughly 80 million USD at the time of the swap)to the companys PAY tokens at a rate of 350 PAY tokens per 1 Ether (with a 20% bonus during the first 24 hours). The PAY tokens will provide access to part of TenXs revenue of their already live payment service and also serves as a loyalty program to its own users.

Contributors only had 7 minutes to submit their contributions to TenXs receiving address before TenX stopped accepting further offers at 1:07 p.m. UTC. Roughly 4,000 people managed to participate directly while an additional several thousand people joined through pools to make it in time. Roughly 40,000 people did not manage to swap their tokens and will have to wait until July when the PAY tokens will be tradeable on cryptocurrency exchanges all over the world.

During the token swap, TenX accepted one of the most diverse ranges of tokens any company has ever provided. In addition to Ethereum, also ERC20 tokens, Bitcoin, Dash, and Litecoin were accepted. TenX made sure the transaction burden on the Ethereum network was kept to a minimum. By keeping contribution addresses unpublished until 15 minutes prior to the swap, TenX reduced unnecessary spamming of transactions leading up to the event. Transaction limits were also not suggested since such limits favor those who know how to bypass them. This technical finesse combined with authentic outreach such as their regular vlogmade the company ICO a success.

Instead of refunding this excess, TenX has agreed to honor all contributions stating: We will not withdraw the extra 45,000 ETH but rather leave them for additional liquidity in the crypto ecosystem to support a decentralized TenX as outlined in our white paper. This is actually a WIN-WIN for token holders AND the company.

This decision was made after estimations showed that in order to refund the excess Ether, close to 75% or 3,000 people would see their tokens canceled a move TenX did not want for its community. TenX offered to anyone unhappy with this arrangement to reach out prior to Tuesday, June 27, 2017, 11:59 pm EST, to receive a full refund, and has also confirmed once again that no new PAY tokens after the token swap will ever be created.

TenX will use these funds to develop their payment system even further from where it already is today: This includes apps for The Web, Android, and iPhone; debit cards and other further payment services; a decentralized system to connect any blockchain and thereby add any new cryptocurrency to the already existing multi-asset platform.

A detailed funding breakdown and the next steps for TenX are laid out clearly in its white paper.

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TenX raises roughly $80 million for cryptocurrency payment system for everyday life - CryptoNinjas

TenX has big plans to change the world of cryptocurrencies. How will they do it? One word: liquidity. An ongoing issue plaguing the digital currency landscape is the question of how to make use of virtual money in real-world spending applications. Generally speaking, only the top few cryptocurrencies see a large enough trading volume and liquidity in order to be viable in this way and on a large scale. TenX, a startup which recently earned $34 million in seven minutes with their initial coin offering, or ICO, believes that they have a solution.

The startup, a 2017 graduate of Paypal's incubator program and based in Singapore, has prepared a debit card to facilitate the spending of blockchain assets in the real world. A report by Bitcoinist outlines some of the technology behind the card. On the front end, the card will use a payment system, and on the back, it will use COMIT. This protocol allows disparate blockchains, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, to communicate and interact with one another without having to generate a common token between them. Theoretically, this will speed up transaction times and allow for real-world applications that would not have previously been possible.

Beyond the debit card, TenX has also reportedly developed an app for iOS and Android which will assist in the process of introducing the TenX currency, called PAY, into the real world. Inc.com reports that the app will act as both a wallet and as a decentralized, fee-free exchange. Beyond that, the app will also include a debit/credit card functionality as well. It seems that TenX may be preparing both digital credit cards as well as tangible plastic cards for use. In either case, the user would theoretically be able to make use of the card at any brick and mortar store where they would use a standard credit card. To further facilitate these transactions, TenX has provided for the card to convert the digital currency which is stored within it into the local fiat currency, allowing for global use. This last point in particular is especially helpful, as a barrier to spending virtual currency in the past has been the necessity to convert it into local currency, adding a timestaking additional step and potential fees.

For the time being, TenX's platform supports Dash, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, among other lesser-known currencies. The company has ties with Ethereum, as Vitalik Buterin, the founder of the latter, is an official advisor to TenX. The app is fully functional and ready for distribution into the broader world. More and more talk is emerging about cryptocurrency debit cards as a possible way of linking the virtual with the tangible. TenX hopes to lead the charge in bringing cryptocurrency spending into stores across the globe.

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Could TenX Make Cryptocurrency More Usable In the Real World? - Investopedia

The world of cryptocurrency ICOs has been on fire as of late. In most cases, these ICOs cause quite a bit of strain on the Ethereum network, which is anything but enjoyable. It now appears a lot of projects are running so-called pre-ICO token sales as well. This allows teams to collect even more money, while investors get cheaper tokens.

The concept of a cryptocurrency ICO has been documented quite a few times already. In fact, we have a whole series on this particular market phenomenon, which covers most of the information people need to know. Although investing in a cryptocurrency ICO can be quite lucrative, it is taking longer for tokens to get listed on decent exchanges. This causes a lot of users to get quite nervous about their investment, which is understandable.

This brings us to how cryptocurrency ICOs are currently developing. The money is raised a lot quicker compared to how much time it takes to sort out technical issues, refunds, and getting listed on exchanges. To a lot of people, this makes no sense, especially when projects raise over $10m during their ICO. Surely they could use that money to speed up the listing process and make investors a lot happier? Unfortunately, that is not how things work right now.

Contrary to what most people expect, there is a lot more to getting listed on an exchange than just paying a fee. Especially where ERC20 tokens are concerned, as smart contracts need to be audited by a third party. This causes some delays, which means some investors will panic sell on smaller exchanges as a way to minimize losses. If this trend keeps up, a lot of ICO projects will go under well below they even get a listing on Bittrex or Poloniex. That is very unfortunate, to say the least.

This brings us to a somewhat newer phenomenon, which is known as a pre-ICO token sale. As the name suggests, a pre-ICO allows investors to buy tokens before the official crowdsale begins. In most cases, these pre-ICOs raise a much smaller amount of money, and offer tokens at a lower price with a substantial bonus. More specifically, finding a pre-ICO with a bonus of 40% or more compared to the ICO price is not all that uncommon.

It is worth noting a pre-ICO often uses a very different smart contract compared to the actual ICO itself. This is done to separate funds and ensure these is no confusion. However, it can also create some uncertainty regarding how much money has been raised in total. Since the pre-ICO numbers are not included in the actual ICO numbers, there can be some sort of a discrepancy. Plus, it also means there may be far more tokens issued than people initially assume.

When a project launches a pre-ICO token sale, they need to do their due diligence. Being transparent about the money raised and the number of tokens issued is of the utmost importance. Onenegative side effect of pre-ICOs is how early investors often sell at ICO prices once a token hits an exchange. In doing so, they still make a very big profit and cripple the tokens price in the process. A pre-ICO is an amazing investment opportunity for a quick buck, but it can hurt the projects appeal and credibility when large amounts of tokens are sold at bottom prices.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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Cryptocurrency ICO vs Cryptocurrency Pre-ICO - The Merkle

Ripple may be the latest craze in the cryptocurrency world. Although its price still lags far behind Ethereum and Bitcoin, it has nonetheless gained 3800% in recent months, catapulting it to the number 3 spot on the list of over 100 cryptocurrencies with regard to market capitalization. What's more important, perhaps, is the technology that Ripple offers aside from its currency. The Ripple blockchain protocol has gained recognition by more than 60 major financial institutions around the world, with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi one of the latest to incorporate it into its practices. Ripple has, in this way, broken a barrier that virtually no other cryptocurrency has, by finding a way to integrate itself within the broader financial world. To some, this spells a new way for the future of the digital currency industry. To others, though, Ripple has some significant security weaknesses. What could bring down this rising star?

A recent report by Technology Review discusses how Ripple has made use of a "small world" philosophy. According to this way of thinking, virtually anyone in the world can be connected to anyone else via approximately six steps. "Strangers" can thus be connected to one another via a few intermediary people, all of whom know each other in some capacity. For Ripple, this idea holds for transferring money: Ripple users establish connections with other users that they trust, and then funds are transferred along a chain to reach the ultimate recipient in a transaction.

Within Ripple, if a user has connections to two other users, the amounts of funds entrusted to each will likely vary, while the total transferred is kept constant in order to generate liquidity. Each user has an incentive to act as the intermediary, as he or she receives a small payment for the role. With this protocol, Ripple allows users to move funds quickly and for much less money in transaction fees than many other methods of money transfer. This has popularized the system with many banks that would have otherwise not been interested in a cryptocurrency.

The openness with which the Ripple network operates has, on the other hand, also allowed for vulnerabilities to develop. Researchers at Purdue University have found that, although the core of the network remains highly liquid, that the structure also allows for attacks on certain nodes within the network to cripple some users' access to funds. In fact, some 50,000 wallets may be immediately at risk if such an attack were to occur. However, the researchers suggest that the fact that they have been able to detect weaknesses in Ripple's system is actually a good thing, as the conventional world of banking often lacks transparency in this regard. Having identified those weaknesses, Ripple's developers may be able to work to correct them.

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What is the Biggest Security Threat to Ripple Cryptocurrency? - Investopedia

If there is one thing to take away from most cryptocurrency ICOs as of late, it is how most of them run into some issue sooner or later. The Status ICO, for example, caused quite a few issues. The Monaco ICO needs to get tokens reissued, a process which is expected to be completed soon. It is evident there are a lot of issues behind the scenes which need to be worked out sooner or later. Below is a brief recap of recent ICOs currently resolving initial issues.

Although the SONM ICO has been quite successful in its own right, it is not without flaws by any means. A lot of people were surprised when the team announced they would accept multiple cryptocurrencies other than Ether. In hindsight, that was probably a bad decision, as it is causing major delays for ICO investors. More specifically, the team is still in the process of allocating tokens to investors who used currencies other than ETH to invest in the ICO. A very problematic development, and one that can linger for quite some time.

To make things even worse, a fair few investors are not too happy about the way things have been run. It is a bit unclear where this beef is coming from, but some investors have demanded a refund. Sorting out these issues takes up a lot of valuable time as well, which further delays the SNM token from getting listed on big exchanges. It appears SONM will sort things out shortly, but it is something to take into account.

The Status ICO has been subject to a lot of speculation and misinformation over the past week or so. It appears the smart contract used for the ICO was not full, but with the large pending queue of transactions, a lot of investors could not make a contribution. As a result, the Ethereum network got clogged up and started slowing down quite significantly The team feels this is no ones fault, as blockchains are highly experimental technology, and Ethereum is still in the testing phase. An interesting statement, although not a lot of people will agree.

Moreover, the Status team somewhat regrets using a dynamic ceiling for their cryptocurrency ICO. It is one of the main reasons why so many Ethereum transactions took place, as the maximum amount of Ether was a lot higher compared to what the team initially hoped to raise. It caused quite a bit of confusion and a lot of scaling issues for the network. It is evident this test was a good one, as it shows the Ethereum network is far less capable in this regard than most people think.

The Monaco ICO has proven to be quite successful, as many people feel this cryptocurrency debit card can make a big impact. Unfortunately, the ICO has been a bit of a hit-and-miss so far. Granted, the project raised a good amount of money, and people from all over the world invested in the crowdsale. That is where the good news ends, though, as none of the investors have received their official MCO tokens so far. The team is working together with TokenMarket to reissue the coins as quickly as possible.

The tokens have to be reissued because of an issue in the initial smart contract, which could cause multisig wallet incompatibility. All of the tokens have been issued on the Kovan testnet, and so far, things appear to be going quite well. However, it will take a few more days until all tokens are issued to investors, due to the ongoing Ethereum network issues. If all things go according to plan, tokens should be issued and tradeable by June 27th in the evening, at the latest. It is good to see TokenMarket work on this matter alongside the Monaco team.

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