« First...102030...1,4881,4891,4901,4911,492...1,5001,5101,520...Last »

Iktos and Almirall Announce Research Collaboration in Artificial Intelligence for New Drug Design – Business Wire

Posted on by

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Iktos, a company specialized in Artificial Intelligence for novel drug design and Almirall, S.A. (ALM), a leading skin-health focused global pharmaceutical company, today announced a collaboration agreement in Artificial Intelligence (AI), where Iktos generative modelling technology will be used to design novel optimized compounds, to speed up the identification of promising drug candidates for undisclosed Almirall drug discovery program(s).

Iktos AI technology, based on deep generative models, helps bring speed and efficiency to the drug discovery process, by automatically designing virtual novel molecules that have all desirable characteristics of a novel drug candidate. This tackles one of the key challenges in drug design: rapid and iterative identification of molecules which simultaneously validate multiple bioactive attributes and drug-like criteria for clinical testing.

This partnership is an example of how we intend to explore the enormous possibilities offered by technology to find new molecules and to speed up clinical development, said Dr. Bhushan Hardas, Executive Vice President R&D, Chief Scientific Officer of Almirall. The health sector lags behind others in the digital world. Almirall wants to be at the forefront of innovation to develop holistic and transversal approaches. Artificial Intelligence will provide Almirall a unique opportunity to combine our proficiency with the preciseness and celerity to truly make a difference in patients' lives.

We are thrilled to initiate a new research collaboration with Almirall commented Yann Gaston-Math, President and CEO of Iktos. This new collaboration is further testimony to the leadership position that Iktos has developed in the field of AI for de novo drug design, in little more than two years of existence. We are eager to demonstrate to our collaborators the power of Iktos technology to accelerate their research, and to get the opportunity to further improve by confronting our approach to a new use case, consistently with our strategy to prove our value in real-life projects.

Iktos has recently announced several collaborations with biopharmaceutical companies where Iktos AI technology is used to accelerate the design of promising compounds, and has published, at the EFMC 2018 meeting, an experimental validation of the technology in a real-life drug discovery project. Iktos generative modelling SaaS software, Makya, is now available on the market, and Iktos intends to release its retrosynthesis SaaS platform Spaya as a beta version, before the end of 2019.

About Iktos

Incorporated in October 2016, Iktos is a French start-up company specialized in the development of artificial intelligence solutions applied to chemical research, more specifically medicinal chemistry and new drug design. Iktos is developing a proprietary and innovative solution based on deep learning generative models, which enables, using existing data, to design molecules that are optimized in silico to meet all the success criteria of a small molecule discovery project. The use of Iktos technology enables major productivity gains in upstream pharmaceutical R&D. Iktos offers its technology both as professional services and as a SaaS software platform, Makya.

About Almirall

Almirall is a leading skin-health focused global pharmaceutical company that partners with healthcare professionals, applying Science to provide medical solutions to patients and future generations. Our efforts are focused on fighting against skin health diseases and helping people feel and look their best. We support healthcare professionals by continuous improvement, bringing our innovative solutions where they are needed.

The company, founded almost 75 years ago with headquarters in Barcelona, is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange (ticker: ALM). Almirall has been key in value creation to society according to its commitment with to major shareholders and through its decision to help others, to understand their challenges and to use Science to provide solutions for real life. Total revenues in 2018 were 811 million euros. More than 1,800 employees are devoted to Science.

For more information, please visit almirall.com

Continue reading here:

Iktos and Almirall Announce Research Collaboration in Artificial Intelligence for New Drug Design - Business Wire

Julian Assange denied access to lawyers and vital evidence in US extradition case – Pressenza, International Press Agency

Posted on by

by Thomas Scripps

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared via videolink at Westminster Magistrates Court in London yesterday for a brief administrative hearing. The half-hour proceedings confirm that the fundamental legal rights of the world-famous investigative journalist are being trampled in what amounts to an extraordinary rendition.

Assange last appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on October 21 and is being held on remand at Belmarsh maximum security prison, pending US extradition hearings due to begin next February. Assange has been charged under the US Espionage Act and faces a 175-year prison term for exposing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was in a visibly worse state than at his last court appearance, appearing fidgety, tired and downcast. Witnesses in the public gallery agreed his health seemed to have deteriorated further. Naomi Colvin from Bridges for Freedom later tweeted that Assange was, Visibly depressed, slumped shoulders. He had his arms crossed with hands inside his sleeves throughout.

The hearing began with the court clerk reading aloud Assanges name and date of birth and asking him to confirm these were correct. Next, the clerk asked Assange to confirm he was a Swedish national. Assange corrected him that he was an Australian citizen.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser began the hearing by referring to complaints by Assanges defence lawyer Gareth Peirce that her clients access to legal counsel is inadequate. Baraitser claimed she had no desire to stand in the way of any lawyer having proper access to their client. It is clearly in the interest of justice that they do so.

Her subsequent actions proved this to be a barefaced lie.

Baraitser stated, What I can do and say is to state in open court that it would be helpful to this extradition process that Mr. Assanges lawyers have access to their client. However, she then insisted, as she has done in the past, that she has no jurisdiction over the prison system and could exercise no influence over the decisions of Belmarsh prisons governor regarding visiting rights for Assanges lawyers.

Peirce countered with legal precedent. She noted that a judge presiding over the recent case of another defendant at Belmarsh had requested the governor provide the defendant a legal visit. As Peirce explained, facilities are available in Belmarshs healthcare wing for additional legal visits. The deficiency of what ought to be available was a result of the governors prioritising different uses of that space.

Baraitser was unmoved. She repeated that she had made a clear statement in open court that it would be helpful for Assange to have sufficient contact with his lawyers: At this stage thats all Im going to do.

Peirce moved on to the practical impossibilities of carrying out Assanges defence under these conditions. She explained the defence team had prepared a summary of issues which they intended to raise in future proceedings, including some 20-25 witnesses and extensive footnotes in reference to other evidence.

The deadline for the submission of evidence is December 18, and the next case management hearing scheduled for December 19. However, Peirce explained she has not yet been able to discuss the document or underlying evidence with Assange. The next available date for such a meeting at Belmarsh was December 18, with prison authorities giving him less than a day to review the details.

Astoundingly, Baraitser asked, Do you agree that it is perhaps less important that that information is gone through in detail with your client?

Peirce replied that the document was incredibly detailed essential and integral some of it is recently acquired evidence, some of it is subject to months of investigation not always in this country, of which [Assange] is unaware because of the blockage in visits.

Despite our best efforts, Mr. Assange has not been given what he must be given, and we are doing our utmost to cut through this.

Baraitser replied that she was hopeful that they could serve at least some of the evidence and conclude their discussions on December 18.

The videolink was ended without Assange being asked any further questions.

When Baraitser asked if it would be helpful to have Assange appear in court in person on December 19, Peirce responded that she would have to discuss that with her client since it was a difficult and claustrophobic journey from Belmarsh. Her response points to the degrading conditions endured by Assange. Prior to his last appearance at court, he was strip searched on arrival and held in a room described by prisoners as the hot box.

One day after the scheduled case management hearing on December 19, Assange will be interviewed as a witness to the surveillance of the Ecuadorian embassy by Spanish firm UC Global. A criminal case has been brought against its owner, David Morales, in Spain.

On behalf of the CIA, UC Global spied on conversations held by Assange with his associates, and on privileged discussions with his lawyers and doctors while he was a political asylee in the embassy. The phones, laptops and personal documents of lawyers and journalists were illegally accessed.

This represents a gross violation of the fundamental right to privileged communication with ones legal counsel and should already have seen the US extradition case thrown out of court.

There is a clear and direct precedent for doing so. When US President Richard Nixon used the Espionage Act to prosecute Daniel Ellsberg for releasing the Pentagon Papers exposing criminal wrongdoing in the Vietnam War, the case collapsed after it was revealed the Nixon administration had overseen illegal spying on consultations between the whistleblower and his doctors.

Today, even these most elementary legal principles have been jettisoned by the ruling class. The Ellsberg case and its revelations about the war in Vietnam set the stage for what became known as the Vietnam syndrome, broad popular hostility to US military interventions. WikiLeaks achieved much the same with its exposure of war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.

With their treatment of Assange, the ruling class hopes to establish the reverse precedent: an evisceration of democratic rights and the destruction of anti-war whistleblowers, journalists and publishers to pave the way for new and even more catastrophic conflicts.

Yesterdays half-hour proceedings took place just hours after the UK general election that delivered a Conservative government. The most right-wing government in modern British history is headed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose special relationship with the Trump administration saw him welcome the brutal expulsion of Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy on April 11, writing, Its only right that Julian Assange finally faces justice. Credit to @foreignoffice officials who have worked tirelessly to secure this outcome.

Originally published by WSWS.org

See original here:
Julian Assange denied access to lawyers and vital evidence in US extradition case - Pressenza, International Press Agency

A decade in numbers: Britain over the last 10 years – Metro.co.uk

Posted on by

Britain has changed profoundly over the last 10 years

From Brexit to eight royal babies, a climate crisis and a 5 million increase in population size, heres how Britain has changed over the past decade in numbers.

5 million increase in population size

Britains population increased by 5,036,000 over the last decade.

Thats an increase from 61,400,000 in 2010 to 66,436,000 in mid-2018.

20% increase in homes with access to the internet

The percentage of homes with access to the internet has gone up by 20 per cent, from 73 per cent of households in 2010 up to 93 per cent in 2019.

88p increase in the cost of a pint of lager

The last 10 years has seen an increase of 88 pence in the cost of a pint of lager, from 2.84 at the start of 2010 to 3.72 at the end of the decade.

Fewer seizures of Class B drugs such as

There have been 65,688 fewer seizures of Class B drugs such as cannabis by police forces in 2018/19 (109,266) compared with 2010/11 (174,954).

53,940 more people being accepted into university

The number of people being accepted on to university and higher education courses has increased from 487,300 in 2010 to 541,240 in 2019.

136.5 billion reduction in the countrys defecit

A 178 billion deficit in 2010 has dropped to a 41.5 billion deficit in 2019.

8 general elections and referendums

There have been eight general elections and national referendums in Great Britain in the last decade.

As well as the 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections, voters went to the polls for the 2011 Alternative Vote referendum and the 2016 Brexit vote.

Parts of the country also ticked boxes for the 2011 Welsh Devolution referendum and the 2014 vote on Scottish independence.

2,837 people arrested on suspicion of terror offences

The number of people arrested on suspicion of terror offences in Great Britain stands at 2,837 as of September 2009.

143 medals won by Team GB across five summer and winter Olympics

Eight royal births

The royal family has welcomes eight new children in the last decade.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had children George, Charlotte and Louis while the Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed son Archie.

The Princess Royals son Peter Phillips became father to daughters Savannah and Isla while his sister Zara Tindall gave birth to Mia Grace and Lena Elizabeth.

2,488 days spent by Julian Assange spent in the Ecuadorian embassy

The co-founder of WikiLeaks spent 2,488 days in the Ecuadorian embassy between June 19 2012 and April 11 2019, after being wanted by Swedish authorities for questioning over four alleged sexual offences.

4,100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere

With the climate emergency receiving more attention, it has been calculated that 4,100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) have approximately been released into the atmosphere by the UK and Crown Dependencies between 2010 and 2018.

9,796 births registered to same-sex couples

Following the law change to recognise same-sex parents in late 2009, there have been a total of 9,796 births registered to same-sex couples since 2010.

Unemployment reduced by 1,147,000

There has been a reduction of 1,147,000 in unemployment among people aged 16 and over from 2,453,000 in September 2009 to 1,306,000 in September 2019.

Over 3,000,000 people who vape

The trend of vaping has massively increased over the last decade, with approximately 3,600,000v vaping in Great Britain in 2019.

Go here to read the rest:
A decade in numbers: Britain over the last 10 years - Metro.co.uk

Ten years of terror and tragedy: A look at the events that defined a decade – Metro.co.uk

Posted on by

Emergency services at Manchester Arena (Picture: PA)

It was a turbulent 10 years packed with political turmoil, terror and tragedy.

The public went to the polls in four general elections and a referendum that divided the nation and shaped the decades later years.

But it was the dozens of lives lost in the Manchester Arena bombing, the Grenfell Tower blaze and a series of violent attacks across the capital that saw a decade defined by terror and tragedy.

The shocking deaths of MP Jo Cox stabbed to death by Neo-Nazi Thomas Mair in her constituency in 2016 and Fusilier Lee Rigby rammed with a car before being hacked to death in 2013 horrified the nation.

Seventy two people died when flames engulfed Grenfell Tower in Londons deadliest fire since the Second World War.

One of the most shocking images of the decade was that of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach.

Politically, the biggest talking point in the UK was undoubtedly Brexit as over half of the country voting to leave the UK in 2016.

Its a scene that few people barely thought possible but, in 2017, Donald Trump was elected 45th president of the USA.

The world started waking up to the realities of the climate crisis, and the UK experienced extreme weather with severe flooding and the Beast from the East in 2018.

WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, who spent seven years of the decade seeking asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, was finally removed in April 2019.

Mark Duggan was shot dead by the police which sparked nationwide riots in 2011, while questions were also asked of the authorities after child sexual exploitation scandals in Rochdale and Rotherham.

After five-year-old April Jones and Tia Sharp, 12, were murdered in 2012, police forces were back in the spotlight after a spike in knife crime.

The Iraq War was still in the public eye thanks to the Chilcot Inquiry while the press itself came under scrutiny with the closure of the News of the World and Leveson Inquiry.

The year 2012 will be remembered for the Queens Diamond Jubilee ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games which saw Her Majesty make her acting debut along with James Bond.

Interest in the royal family peaked in 2011, when a 28-year-old Prince William married Kate Middleton, and in 2013, when future king Prince George was born. Last year, there was a second Royal wedding when Prince Harry married Meghan Markle.

One of the countrys best-known landmarks stopped chiming in 2017 when repair work started on Big Ben, while the hundredth anniversary of the end of the First World War and the 70th anniversary of D Day were also remembered.

The decade also saw devastating terror attacks across the world including the senseless murder of 77 people in Norway in 2011 by Anders Brevik while Paris was also stunned by two attacks in 2015 after gunmen stormed Charlie Hebdo and targeted the Bataclan concert hall.

In the same year Britain joined air strikes on IS targets before 12 months later more than 80 people were killed in terror attacks on Brussels and a similar number in Nice when a lone terrorist drove a lorry into crowds celebrating Bastille Day.

In a decade rocked by scandals over sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement, entertainer Jimmy Savile was exposed as a child sex abuser in 2012 and Operation Yewtree saw a widespread investigation launched.

Allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein began to emerge in October 2017 and the story developed with dozens of victims coming forward.

As we go into 2020, attention will turn back to Brexit with all eyes on Boris Johnsons pledge to finally take the UK out the European Union by January 31.

See the article here:
Ten years of terror and tragedy: A look at the events that defined a decade - Metro.co.uk

This 21-year-old Bitcoin millionaire beamed cryptocurrency from space to a school in Ghana – Business Insider

Posted on by

Erik Finman, a 21-year-old high school dropout and bitcoin millionaire, beamed cryptocurrency down from outer space to a school in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana on November 4.

Finman bought $1,000 worth of bitcoin at the age of 12 in 2011, when each bitcoin was worth $10 to $12. Today he holds 446 bitcoin, which at Friday's price were worth $7,243 each, for a total value of $3.2 million.

Finman is calling his latest endeavor a "crypto space drop," by which cryptocurrency can be sent through a constellation of satellites to an antenna on Earth. Finman told Business Insider that the crypto space drop has applications for communities with little to no infrastructure.

"We wanted to show that even in the most remote places that don't have the most functional of infrastructure, money infrastructure, financial infrastructure," a crypto space drop could have a real use case, Finman told Business Insider.

Finman sent $1,000 worth of MTL in the crypto space drop to St. Mary's School in Korle Gonno in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, which used the funds to repair the school's roof and construct benches and tables.

MTL is the cryptocurrency used by cryptocurrency platform Metal Pay, which launched in August with Finman as an investor. Finman called Metal Pay the "the Facebook Libra killer," saying "If it needs it, I'm willing to put all my bitcoin money into this" and "I'm willing to bet it all" in his Metal Pay announcement video.

One of the satellites used in the constellation was a satellite Finman helped launch one year ago.

In December 2018, Finman led Project Da Vinci, for which a group of teenagers launched a satellite that included a crypto wallet. Project Da Vinci was part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program, which attracts and retains STEM students and allows students to launch small satellites.

Check out Finman's crypto space drop:

Link:

This 21-year-old Bitcoin millionaire beamed cryptocurrency from space to a school in Ghana - Business Insider

Bitcoin Price Hit Its Absolute Bottom One Year Ago. It’s Now Up 120 Percent – U.Today

Posted on by

On Dec. 15, 2018, the cryptocurrency community had a very tough day when the Bitcoin price dropped below $3,200, the level that seemed to be part of itshistory just one year ago. The market turned into a bloodbath after the top crypto dropped to its lowest point since August 2017.

Bitcoin bulls such as Fundstrat's Tom Lee and Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz had to eat their words after making unreasonably high predictions. Meanwhile, leading financial outlet Bloomberg wondered whether Bitcoin would ever recover after such a dramatic fall.

The critics of Bitcoin had a field day on Twitter but not all bulls ended up being purged. Some saw this as a decent opportunity to buy before the next bull cycle.

Those who called for a drop to the $2,000 level ended up on the wrong side of history given that Dec. 15 market the bottom of the 2018 bear market. In Q2, Bitcoin kicked off another monstrous rally that ultimately sent its price above $13,700 at the end of June.

The Bitcoin price has endured hasa series of painful corrections since reaching its yearly peak, sliding back to the $7,100. However, to put this into perspective, the leading cryptocurrency is still up by a whopping 120 percent year-over-year, something that's unheard of in traditional markets. Bitcoin has so far outperformed stocks, gold, oil and pretty much every other asset in 2019. However, as investor Alistair Milne puts it,the crypto Twitter remains "miserable" despite Bitcoin's price surge this year.

With the Bitcoin halvening just around the corner, 2020 has every chance to be another explosive year for the top cryptocurrency.

View post:

Bitcoin Price Hit Its Absolute Bottom One Year Ago. It's Now Up 120 Percent - U.Today

Tether Sponsors New Version of Bitcoin Tokenization Layer Omni – Cointelegraph

Posted on by

Tether, the stablecoin operator behind USDT, has funded the development of the new version of Bitcoin (BTC) tokenization layer Omni.

In a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 15, the companies announce the release of Omni Core 0.7.0, the development of which was sponsored by Tether. The new version reportedly enhances network performance and fixes locking issues and Remote Procedure Calls.

The Omni protocol is a system running on the Bitcoin network that allows the creation of tokens on what is widely believed to be a secure network. Omni is also the platform that hosted the first USDT tokens. The official website further explains how the technology makes use of the Bitcoin blockchain:

Omni Core is an enhanced Bitcoin Core that provides all the features of Bitcoin as well as advanced Omni Layer features.

More interestingly, Omni Core 0.7.0 enables the building of an on-chain decentralized exchange. The new version of the Omni protocol allows users to trade any on-chain asset for Bitcoin. Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino commented:

As Bitcoin is the first blockchain that Tether used, Omni Core is highly valued and demonstrates good levels of security. [...] It is important to note that Tether is underpinned by diversity in different blockchains, of which Omni Core has proven to be an important component.

As Cointelegraph reported, in March Tether launched USDT tokens on the Tron blockchain. As of late October, nearly 12% of all the stablecoins supply was moved on the new chain. More recently, in July, Tether also announced the launch of the USDT stablecoin on its fifth blockchain, Algorand.

The rest is here:

Tether Sponsors New Version of Bitcoin Tokenization Layer Omni - Cointelegraph

Dissidents and Activists Have a lot to Gain From Bitcoin, if Only They Knew It – Yahoo Finance

Posted on by

This post is part of CoinDesks 2019 Year in Review, a collection of 100 op-eds, interviews and takes on the state of blockchain and the world. Alex Gladstein is Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation and Vice President of Strategy for the Oslo Freedom Forum since its inception in 2009.

We are in an era of gradual global bitcoin awakening. The technology has proven robust and resistant to attacks. Over time, the price has continued to climb from pennies to thousands of dollars. Brilliant entrepreneurs and scientists are improving the protocols usability, privacy, decentralization and network resilience. Still, its important to remember that only a very tiny percentage of people on this planet understand its value as a tool of freedom.

In my work at the Human Rights Foundation, I have the privilege to meet hundreds of dissidents, activists, and journalists from difficult political environments. To date, very few have meaningfully used bitcoin or started to realize its power as a financial escape valve and parallel economy. That ratio is starting to shift, but only in what seems like slow motion.

Related: How DeFi Goes Mainstream in 2020: Focus on Usability

Even as the bitcoin network pushes into its 12th year of existence, mainstream consumers and corporate users remain stubbornly closed-minded towards the technology. Well-read, intelligent business leaders, politicians, philanthropists, and media parrot the same talking points: bitcoin is too volatile; its only for terrorists and drug dealers; its pure speculation and has no actual value; its an environmental disaster; and, most recently, that it wont survive the rise of quantum computing. Unfortunately, these arguments (which I tried to debunk in an essay earlier this year) have trickled down to the average person. This collective anti-narrative is strong and prevents greater numbers of people from developing curiosity in bitcoin, from learning about bitcoin, and from using bitcoin.

Our worlds growing financial perils are much-discussed: rampant inflation, rising national debts, fiat devaluation, financial surveillance, and a fear of increasing corporate and government control over our money as cash disappears. You cant go a day without reading about some aspect of global economic malaise in the front pages of your favorite newspaper or website. There are many pundits who claim to know why the world is going in this direction but very few who understand that bitcoin is a way out. Many of those who do learn tend to do so out of necessity, not out of luxury.

For example: independent media outlets and civil society organizations in Hong Kong are starting to accept bitcoin donations because their banking accounts are being monitored and controlled; Venezuelans, Iranians, and Palestinians are using bitcoin to do cross-border payments and break through financial controls and sanctions; Chinese are using bitcoin to convert their wealth into an confiscation-resistant store of value; Argentines, Turks, and Lebanese are using bitcoin to opt out of collapsing fiat systems; Syrians and Nigerians are working in the software industry and earning money in bitcoin and using local peer to peer markets to withdraw into fiat to buy goods when necessary; just to name a few. As time goes on, more and more people are realizing that bitcoin can be a way for them to achieve financial sovereignty in an era of increasing instability and surveillance.

As we head into 2020, what are bitcoins prospects as tool for freedom? Ironically, even in the most democratic countries, bitcoin users need to worry about privacy. American and European governments are just as likely as authoritarian regimes to hire chain analysis companies to track bitcoin user activity. Regardless of your geographic location, youll want to see base-layer privacy improvements; wider usage of mixers and other ways to obfuscate transactions; and bigger Lightning Network capacity. If successful, these will allow a growing number bitcoin users to operate without fear of reprisal. As more governments wisen up and turn to chain analysis tools, individuals need ways to protect themselves.

Related: In 2019, Students Demanded Blockchain Education. In 2020, Its Coming

Story continues

Beyond privacy, the ability for individuals to buy bitcoin with fiat and convert bitcoin into fiat is a big challenge. In the past few years we have seen an incredible increase in local liquidity, where its now fairly easy to buy or sell bitcoin in most major urban areas around the world, even inside dictatorships and countries in conflict. If you have bitcoin in Tehran, Beijing, Aleppo, Caracas, or even Gaza, with a bit of research youll be able to find someone who will sell you fiat in return. But this infrastructure needs to continue to improve if bitcoin is to live up to its true promise of a borderless, permissionless, censorship-resistant store of value and money for everyone, especially as governments increasingly crack down on exchanges and on- and off-ramps.

As we look forward to 2020, bitcoin as is is working as Satoshi intended and is already powerful enough to materially help hundreds of millions of people facing financial repression. The problem is, they just dont know about it yet. It is incumbent upon those in the Bitcoin community to continue to find ways to share knowledge about this remarkable invention with others. Yes, we face technical, infrastructural, and legal challenges. But the biggest is just a matter of more effectively spreading the word.

For 2020, rather than spending time talking to others already in the bitcoin space, make it a goal to talk to new communities: entrepreneurs, activists, journalists, and creatives in difficult political and economic environments. If they face financial obstacles, theyll see the value in bitcoin, and spread it through their own networks. This could very well be a better use of your time than giving your usual talk to the same old crowd.

See the rest here:

Dissidents and Activists Have a lot to Gain From Bitcoin, if Only They Knew It - Yahoo Finance

Global Debt to be Worth $12 Million per Bitcoin by Year End – Bitcoinist

Posted on by

Bitcoin has achieved market capitalization close to some of the biggest corporations, ranging between $100 and $300 billion. But taken in proportion to the size of the worlds financial system, BTC may have a different valuation.

The bloated worldwide debt, fueled by extreme quantitative easing in the last decade, will reach $255 trillion by the end of the year, reported Reuters. The analysis of the Institute of International Finance estimates each person on the planet would carry $32,500 in debt.

With few signs of slowdown in the pace of debt accumulation, we estimate that global debt will surpass $255 trillion this year, the IIF said in a report.

Due to bitcoins limited supply, it is possible to chart the size of global debt-fueled finance in BTC terms. One bitcoin (as per current aggregated supply) will have to be worth over $12 million to describe the size of the worldwide debt.

The growth of debt comes from governments and government companies, as well as non-financial businesses. A debt bonanza analysis by Bank of America Merill Lynch shows that government debt has ballooned by $30 trillion, companies added $25 trillion, households $9 trillion and banks $2 trillion. All of that additional debt has been accrued since the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in the fall of 2008.

Instead of entering a decade of stagnation, central banks poured in liquidity to boost all sectors, leading to significant asset valuation growth. In spite of that, the financial sector carries debt which is 240% of the worlds gross domestic product.

It is somewhat difficult to reconcile the idea of sound money, which BTC aims to be, with a debt-fueled economy. But in a way, the current market price of bitcoin reflects the fact that not all funds in circulation are sound, and that debt-based economic activity has been the chief driver of asset valuations in the past decade.

If bitcoins value was matched to real economic output, it would be about 60% lower, at around $4 million per BTC. But the presence of debt skews nominal prices.

This potential BTC price has far outpaced the historical highs of the coin. Based solely on the crypto market, bitcoin has peaked around $20,000 in Korea, and at $19,600 in other markets. Some predictions see bitcoin price going to $50,000 again. Experts admit BTC would have reached higher bids if the futures markets did not start swaying the price as well.

What do you think about the relationship of bitcoin to worldwide debt? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Image via Shutterstock

See original here:

Global Debt to be Worth $12 Million per Bitcoin by Year End - Bitcoinist

Bitcoin SV Could Be Scam or Real Bitcoin: Conservative Pundit Mike Cernovich – U.Today

Posted on by

Conservative commentator Mike Cernovichrecently became involved in a dramatic civil war between different Bitcoin forks.

In a recent Twitter thread where he promises to share his take on any random subject, Cernovich says that Bitcoin SVcould be an outright scam or the real Bitcoin, something that self-proclaimed Satoshi Craig Wright desperately wants you to believe.

Cernovich's thread got instantly swarmed with tweets from the BSV community with some of them suggesting that theInfoWars host should consider interviewing Wright on his podcast.

Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) was created as a result of a chain split from Bitcoin Cash that took place on Nov. 15, 2018. The main reason behind their loud divorce was the size of the Bitcoin block -- while the Bitcoin Cash camp, which is helmed by Bitcoin Jesus "Roger Ver," wanted to maintain the 32 MB size, Wright and gambling tycoon Calvin Ayre decided to bump up the limit to 128 MB.

The BSV community believes that Wright (aka Satoshi) intended to gradually increase the size of the block to increase Bitcoin's scalability. While big blocks can store more transactions, they also make the Bitcoin network more decentralized, which is why the initiative vehemently opposed by the Bitcoin Core camp that wants to maintain a maximum size of 2 MB.

Cernovich himself seems to be a Bitcoin proponent. Back in July, he opined that Trump criticizing crypto was actually a positive thing for the top coin because he actually attacked Facebook's Libra.

2019 turned out to be extremely turbulent for BSV. It got delisted from Binance and Kraken after Wright's legal battles with non-believers, which made the coin's price plunge by more than 50 percent. Shortly after that, the BSV was pushed back to the top 10 after a few suspicious pumps that were most likely caused by fake news.

While Bitcoin processes around 303,000 transactions on a daily basis, a little-known weather app accountsfor pretty much all transactions on the Bitcoin SV network.

See original here:

Bitcoin SV Could Be Scam or Real Bitcoin: Conservative Pundit Mike Cernovich - U.Today


« First...102030...1,4881,4891,4901,4911,492...1,5001,5101,520...Last »