Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency mining is a difficult and costly activity. Miners must pay to build rigs capable of vast amounts of processing power, and then the rigs themselves must be powered with large quantities of electricity. It's all a careful balance between how much the operation costs and how much profit it is able to generate. (See also: What Happens to Bitcoin After All 21 Million are Mined?)

With mining operations for Ethereum, one of the leading digital currencies on the market today, taking up the same share of electricity as that of a small country, miners have to be careful that they aren't spending more than they are making. Because of that, some mining operations have begun to look to solar-powered rigs, set up in the desert, in order to reduce mining costs and make the largest profit possible. (See also: Chinese Investment in Bitcoin Mining is Enormous.)

Mining operations with the tools and resources to be able to set up solar-powered rigs in the desert are finding that it is a good investment. Once you have paid for the solar panel system itself, the cost of mining is virtually free. Getting rid of a hefty electric bill which typically weighs down mining operations leaves more room for profit.

The Merkle recently documented a mining operation focused on Bitcoin in this manner. The setup has been running successfully for almost a year and currently uses 25 separate computing rigs. The process has been so profitable, in fact, that the miner running the operation plans to increase the number of computers to 1,000 this fall.

In the case of this particular desert miner, the individual mining rigs cost about $8,000. This cost has included all solar panels, power controls, batteries, and the Antminer S9 ASIC processor. When fully operational, each miner brings in a profit of about $18 per day.

Of course, a cheap mining operation is only part of the equation. In order for miners to make a tidy profit, the price of the cryptocurrencies they are generating must remain high.

In the case of the mining operation in question, Merkle suggests that Bitcoin prices must stay above $2,000 in order for the operation to be profitable. Considering that the price of most cryptocurrencies is highly volatile, and that drops of 205 or more have occurred in many individual days, this keeps a certain element of risk present in any mining operation.

It seems likely that more and more miners will turn to areas in which renewable energy is easily accessed. Iceland has already become a popular destination for Bitcoin miners thanks to its fast, virtually limitless internet. Miners looking to move to the desert should be cautious for other reasons, though: mining in the heat can cause rigs to break down more easily.

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Is Solar-Powered Cryptocurrency Mining the Next Big Thing? - Investopedia

Investors looking to make an investment in an exciting new area are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies. It's no wonder why: Bitcoin, the leading digital currency by market capitalization, has gained nearly 200% since the beginning of 2017. Ethereum, the next biggest currency, has gained more than 3,000% over the same period. (See also: Why Ethereum Prices Reached Record Highs.)

There are new currencies added to the list every month, and a sharp uptick in the number of initial coin offerings, or ICOs, means there are many other new startups and ventures related to the burgeoning crypto industry as well. As investors move to place their assets in the digital realm, demand in other areas seems to be drying up. In fact, gold may have been the most heavily impacted by the recent gains in the cryptocurrency world.

Cryptocurrency supply has actually dropped fairly significantly in recent months, according to a report by Business Insider. The rate of Bitcoins added to the market has more than halved in the past 12 months, from a rate of 9.3% to 4.4%.

If mining continues to slow down, Bitcoin won't reach its theoretical maximum number of 21 million Bitcoins until the year 2045, if not later. As supply has dwindled, prices have continued to rise.

It seems that the opposite may be true for gold. Gold production has climbed significantly since 2009, now sitting at 3,100 metric tons. This constitutes a record high level of production of the precious metal.

Tom Lee, managing partner and head of research for Fundstrat Global Advisors, indicated in a letter to clients that "cryptocurrencies are cannibalizing demand for gold. Bitcoin is arguably becoming a scarcer store of value. Investors need to identify strategies to leverage this potential rise in cryptocurrencies."

What could the future look like for the prices of Bitcoin and gold? Fundstrat's research indicates that prices for the cryptocurrency could climb by about eight times over the next five years, with Bitcoin prices reaching $20,000 during that time.

If the scenario turns out more bullish, Fundstrat believes Bitcoin could surge to more than $55,000 by 2022. What would happen to gold during that period? "Our model shows gold's value being relatively static against a rise in Bitcoin," Lee suggested.

Lee believes that if central banks begin to invest in Bitcoin and other digital currencies, that could speed up the process by which Bitcoin substitutes for gold in the international markets.

"Already central banks have looked into this possibility. In our view, this is a game changer, enhancing the legitimacy of the currency," he wrote. Of course, there are also analysts who believe a potential crash or bubble collapse is imminent in the cryptocurrency space, so only time will tell what will happen. (See also: Goldman Sachs Takes Bearish View on Bitcoin.)

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As Investors Turn to Cryptocurrencies, Gold Suffers - Investopedia

This is a sponsored story. CCN does not endorse, nor is responsible for any material included below and isnt responsible for any damages or losses connected with any products or services mentioned in the material below. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned below.

In less than 2 days, we will congratulate ATB Coin Crypto-Lottery winners. The Grand Prize fund of $20.000 is to be shared between 5 randomly chosen investors. The process and the results of lottery will be announced on a special page on ATB Coin website. The lottery will be held at 6 p.m. on July 11th for registered users who invest a minimum 200 ATB. For each 200 ATB, the investor gets one lottery ticket. The larger the amount invested, the greater the chance to win.

Prize funds are:

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Being the one cryptocurrency combining the newest technologies, ATB Coin has all chances to overcome well-known inefficiencies within government central banks and other cryptocurrencies. Join ATB Coin, invest now in cryptocurrency of the future!

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Cryptocurrency ATB Coin Offers Investors a Crypto-Lottery for the $20.000 Grand Prize. Only 2 Days Left! - CryptoCoinsNews

Photo: KAREN BLEIER, AFP / Getty Images

Secret millions for cryptocurrency trader

An unknown cryptocurrency trader turned $55 million of paper wealth into $283 million in just over a month.

The only clue about this person or persons, beyond a virtual wallet with an ID code, surfaced on a June 11 Instagram posting, in Indonesian, in which someone boasted about the 413 percent profit accumulated this year from ether, the digital money of the Ethereum blockchain.

I get many private messages asking how much ether I have, the post read, alongside photos that purported to be the hardware powering a mining operation, but looked lifted from another website. One of the cool things about Ethereum is that all wallets around the world are transparent and open for everyone to see. And this is my wallets savings.

Hidden identities are a popular feature of the twilight world of virtual money. Now that the total value of cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin and ether, soared June 6 to more than $100 billion, approaching the market value of McDonalds Corp., concerned regulators say it might be time to link wallet IDs with actual humans.

Secrecy persists from the days when Ross Ulbricht, going by the name Dread Pirate Roberts, used bitcoin to launder money and traffic in narcotics, activities for which he started serving a life term at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.

Thats not to say that the person in Indonesia or any other entities are doing anything illegal. But opacity may be worsening jagged price movements. The value of ether, for example, rose from about $8 a unit at the start of the year to crest at $400 in June before settling around $250 now. A lack of transparency could also be stifling the mainstreaming of online money, according to draft legislation issued by the European Parliament in March.

The credibility of virtual currencies will not rise if they are used for criminal purposes, the draft said. In this context, anonymity will become more a hindrance than an asset for virtual currencies and their potential future popularity.

Pseudonymity has always been a big part of the markets allure. Upending traditional ways of doing business was the lodestar for Ethereums inventor, 23-year-old Vitalik Buterin. He released his software in 2015, not long after dropping out of Canadas University of Waterloo.

One of its more important features is that you dont have identities tied to this, said Spencer Bogart, head of research at venture firm Blockchain Capital. This financial privacy is an important characteristic.

Ether, the second-most-popular cryptocurrency after bitcoin, is used to pay for applications or programs that run on the Ethereum blockchain, a secured list of transactions that can be shared. That allows for the use of smart contracts, or pieces of computer code that make the terms of such agreements operate automatically. The blockchain has the potential to reshape business and finance by enabling immediate settlements of activities such as bank transfers and securities trades.

Tom Metcalf is a Bloomberg writer. Email: tmetcalf7@bloomberg.net

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Secret millions for cryptocurrency trader - SFGate

The fact that cybercriminals like to be paid in Bitcoin to unlock encrypted files or sell private information gives the impression that criminals must be major users of cryptocurrency. However, a new report from the European Commission suggests that the reality is very different.

Criminal organizations rarely use cryptocurrency (or, as the European Commission calls it, virtual currency) for illegal activities, like financing terrorism and money laundering, because it requires a certain level of technical expertise that hampers adoption.

The European Commission says that criminals have displayed "high intent" to use cryptocurrency in their activities, because it affords a certain degree of anonymity and it is relatively easy to transfer, but, at least right now, the"amounts of money laundered via virtual currencies are quite low."

On top of the expertise required in handling cryptocurrency, criminals too are not very fond of the market's volatility, which can see major spikes in either direction in a narrow time frame, at least when it involves money laundering.

When it comes to financing terrorism, the European Commission has found that there is a "limited but increasing number of cases related to [terrorist financing] through [cryptocurrency]," but, again, the "knowledge and technical expertise" that this requires "has a dissuasive effect on terrorist groups."

In both cases, the European Commission sees the fact that there are no regulations in place as the biggest vulnerability related to cryptocurrency. "There are no controls in place and no common rules in the EU to ensure that VCs [virtual currencies] providers apply AML/CFT [Anti Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism] requirements. The international cooperation is non-existent. New risks and opportunities may emerge with FinTech/RegTech."

To learn more, feel free to read the full report.

Image Credit: Lightboxx/Shutterstock

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Criminals rarely use cryptocurrency - BetaNews

The increasing energy consumption by cryptocurrency mining operations has surpassed the energy requirements of many smaller nations. Read more...

While some continue to praise Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as the beginning of the new world order, there are some who believe that the very digital currencies might spell doom by accelerating global warming. The dissent against Bitcoin and other PoW based cryptocurrencies is fueled by the extent of mining operations. As the mining hardware continues to become more powerful, the mining difficulty rises proportionally to maintain a constant emission of new tokens.

An increase in mining difficulty also means increasing energy requirements. According to reports, the recent rise in Ethereum value has led to an increased interest among the cryptocurrency community members. Many people have taken up Ethereum mining using graphic processors.

The increasing demand for graphics processors has not only caused a scarcity of GPUs in the market. It has, in turn, increased the energy consumption. According to reports, the total energy consumed by the Bitcoin network has risen to 14.54 terawatt hours (TWh) per year. The energy requirement is expected to further grow with the growth of the community.

It puts the total amount of energy required to process each Bitcoin transaction at 163 kWh, equivalent to the amount of energy used by an average household in the United States for five and a half days. A further extrapolation puts the electricity consumption of Bitcoin network to be equivalent to the overall annual energy consumption of Turkmenistan, that ranks 81 in energy consumption ranking on a global scale.

While Bitcoin network takes the first place when it comes to overall energy consumption, Ethereum isnt far behind. According to the report, the total annual electricity requirement for Ethereum mining is equivalent to that of Moldova (with an energy consumption ranking on 120) at 4.69 TWh. Each Ether transaction uses an average of 49 kWh, which is equivalent to one and a half days worth of electricity for an average US household.

The upcoming Bitcoin scalability options and Ethereums impending switch from Proof of Work to Hybrid Proof of Stake algorithm may lead to a significant reduction in the electricity consumption trends.

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Cryptocurrency Electricity Requirements Surpasses Annual Energy Consumption of Few Nations - newsBTC

'P4man' is an active bitcoin miner and investor with an academic background in economy and IT. He has been a member of the online discussion forum Bitcoin Talk since September, 2011.

In this opinion piece, P4man looks at the cryptocurrency market to see if there is a credible investment alternative to bitcoin, focusing this time on XRP, the native token for blockchain startup Ripple's consensus protocol.

I have to admit, I've dreaded writing this part of my series.

Among investors, Ripple is one the most divisive cryptocurrencies around it's either loved or despised, both with equal passion. Even more than ethereum, I believe, it's misunderstood because it's so different from bitcoin.

But, being number threein market cap (actually number two, but more on that later), I can't really avoid writing about it.

Ripple dates back to 2012.I remember when it was launched, as I was one of the beneficiaries of what I believe was their first public giveaway on Bitcoin Talk forums.

If memory serves, I received something like 30,000 XRP tokens (although, I probably cheated using multiple accounts...). Once I received the tokens, I tried out the protocol and tried to understand what it was about. I was equally intrigued and confused by the concept, which was new to me: a peer-to-peer payment network where anyone could issue debt and that was, in essence, currency agnostic.

If I had trouble understanding what that even meant, I understood even less how the XRP token fitted in. What was it for? The only explanation that I remember being given at that time, was that it was meant to prevent network spam. A token of which 100 billion exist that serves to "prevent spam" didn't sound particularly exciting or valuable to me. So, I quickly swapped my free anti-spam tokens for more bitcoin.

It wasn't until much later, when I read Peter Todd's now infamous analysison Ripple's predecessor, Ripplepay, that I began to understand not only what Ripple is, but also what I had only sensed intuitively about the XRP token.

To explain, we need to go back in time.

Before Ripple, and in fact, before even bitcoin launched, Ripplepay was a peer-to-peer payment network created by Ryan Fugger around 2004. This old website, which for some reason still exists, explains it in very simple terms.

In a nutshell, Ripplepay allowed users to issue and swap credit between network participants that trusted each other. Think of it as an online equivalent of someone writing on a Post-it note "good for $50," then signing it. If you trusted whoever signed that note, then that note would be worth $50.

It's simply an IOU, a concept that forms the basis of how banks operate and create fiat money.

In the real world, it's much easier to create and swap IOUs, or "Post-it notes" between trusting individuals, than it is to design a method for cash payments. With cash payments, you don't rely on trusting each other, you exchange something of value. Instead of accepting a counterparty risk, the parties need to trust the value of the object they exchange. So, you need some kind of store of value that can't be easily counterfeited. Something like gold or bank notes (although technically, the latter is also a IOU, only one that is issued by a bank).

It's very similar when you try to digitize it: Ripplepay, as payment system, was a much simpler problem to solve electronically than a digital cash system like bitcoin. First of all, in a payment system, you do not need to worry about double spends; if I issue an IOU to Alice, I can still issue the same amount to Bob, and there is no risk this is somehow the same debt: if I issue it twice, I will just owe both. However, if you allow a (digital) cash asset to be spent twice, this is essentially counterfeiting.

In a payment network, there is also no need for a global consensus: Bob doesn't need to know, or agree with me about how much money I owe to Alice. As long as Bob and I, and Alice and I, agree among each other how much we owe each other, then a local consensus is established, and that's all thats needed.

What you do need in a payment network however, is trust among users.

You can't issue debt to someone who does not trust you. So, you need to set a trust line, or credit limit, that defines to what extend you trust which participant. Trust lines can "ripple" through a network, allowing trading of IOUs with participants you may not know, but with whom you share trusted intermediaries. If Bob and Alice both trust me, Bob could pay Alice with an IOU that I issued to Bob.

Besides requiring trust, in a payment system, you are always exposed to counterparty risks. You might have trusted me when I wrote that good for $50 note, but what if I don't or can't pay back?

Being able to pay electronically without trust, and without counterparty risk, only became possible several years later when Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the world to his solution to this old problem in the form of bitcoin. By using proof-of-work, he created the first real solution for a digital cash system that could store and exchange value, was extremely resilient to counterfeiting, involved no trust and had no counterparty risk.

So, a trust-based IOU payment network like Ripplepay, and a trustless digital cash network like bitcoin, are two completely different things, and yet they are actually quite complementary. Ripplepay, for instance, could easily allow the creation and management of bitcoin-based IOUs among trusting users.

The electronic equivalent of a "good for 1 BTC" Post-it note. Issuing debt is impossible in bitcoin itself, though certainly useful.

A few years after bitcoin was launched, OpenCoin, later Ripple Labs, took over Ripplepay. They completely reworked the protocol. The concept still revolved around managing IOUs, but inspired by bitcoin, they also included a new token called XRP.

The inclusion of a cash token, that is not an IOU, automatically means you now need a protection against double spends and thus a global consensus protocol, because now everyone on the network needs to agree about token transactions and ownership.

What had been a relatively simple concept now became a very complex onethat faced the exact same problems that bitcoin had only just managed to overcome.

And there is no free lunch; bitcoin, revolutionary as its concept may have been, had to make significant sacrifices to achieve a global distributed consensus, such as electricity-consuming proof-of-work (mining), high-latency transactions (multiple transaction confirmations) and limited scalability (monolithic blockchain containing every transaction, ever).

These were problems that a distributed payment network shouldn't have.

Ripple tried to overcome these challenges in a different way than bitcoin. Instead of using proof-of-work, it relied on a new, unproven consensus protocol. This protocol requires users to extend trust to validating servers that produce this consensus. Relying on trust, rather than proof-of-work, kind of makes sense for Ripple, because you need similar trust relationships anyway for IOUs to work.

But this means that an XRP token is absolutely nothing like bitcoin. Instead of needing to trust only the mathematics of proof-of-work, you can only trust the XRP token by setting up trust lines that almost inevitably end at Ripple. And while in theory anyone can set up such a server, if Ripple does not include your server in their trust lines, then you're not part of the consensus-making process.

So, Ripple is highly centralized and XRP is more akin to a PayPal account than a trustless system like bitcoin.

As Peter Todd pointed out in his study, the new requirement of a global consensus protocol which arose solely from the decision to add the XRP token also has serious implications on scalability and security. If the token results in a more complicated, more centralized, less secure and less scalable protocol, you have to ask, why the token was added in the first place? What was wrong with the original concept, which is often compared to an electronic Hawala system, which needed no monolithic global consensus or ledger, and thus could have scaled almost arbitrarily?

The original argument, that the token is needed to counter network spam is not a good one; spam can be prevented by other means, including charging transaction fees that can be paid in any currency on the network, instead of just in XRP. The other argument I hear nowadays, is that XRP would be used as a sort of reserve currency by banks or liquidity providers on the network.

This seems pretty far-fetched to me; why would liquidity providers not use any other common (reserve) currency like US dollars for that, especially considering the highly volatile price of XRP ?

That you don't need a private token on a payment network is perhaps best illustrated by Hyperledger. This is a family of open-source protocols hosted by the Linux foundation, backed by a large consortium of 80 companies that includes IBM, Intel, JPMorgan and Accenture. Hyperledger Fabric in many ways resembles Ripple, but has no preferred, native token, and thus doesn't need a single global consensus. Instead, it supports many concurrent consensus protocols, that can be localized or centralized, depending on what is needed.

In short, it's hard to come up with any rational reason why XRP exists in the Ripple protocol, other than as a means for Ripple to make money. Lots of money. When Ripple launched, Ripple created 100 billion XRP tokens. To achieve some resemblance of fair initial distribution, they donated billions of XRP in various giveaway schemes.

But the company, its founders and associated foundations, still own well over 60 billion of the 100 billion tokens. That should give any investor pause.

For some reason, the existence of these tokens is also ignored by online data source Coinmarketcap, which significantly distorts the actual value of the token supply (basing market cap on "circulating supply").

These tokens are supposed to be fungible, so even if parts of them are temporarily locked up by promises or via "smart contracts" (which ironically, Ripple can't really do), I see no reason to pretend only 38 billion tokens exist.

That's like ignoring the estimated 1 million bitcoin in [bitcoin creator] Satoshi Nakamoto's wallet just because they are not circulating at the moment, and may never circulate. The only correct market cap for Ripple is based on 100 billion tokens, and that currently puts it at the number two spot, above ethereum. A few weeks ago, even temporarily above bitcoin, peaking above $45bn.

Is such valuation reasonable for a token that serves no obvious purpose, and even seems to undermine the usefulness of the underlying protocol?

Ripple investors will point to Ripple's strategic partnerships with significant financial institutions and some ongoing experimental implementations. They will point to the 160 employees, possibly making them the largest blockchain company. They will point out the astronomical figures involved in intra-bank settlements, the market Ripple is aiming for, by presenting its protocol as an alternative to systems like Swift.

Some of these points are absolutely reasonable. Ripple has highly qualified engineers working for it, that undoubtedly produce some useful code that can solve real-world problems. It also has more than credible financial backing and partners in the sector.

There have been a few proof-of-concept implementations and recently Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank announced they starting using Ripple software for Thailand-to-Japan remittance.

This is a big deal, but it needs context; first of all, SCB bank is an investor in Ripple company, making it fairly logical they would experiment and promote the blockchain technology they invested in. More importantly however, I see no mention of XRP in any of the press releases.

Is it being used? Or are they using Interledger Protocol (ILP)? ILP was also developed by Ripple, and appears to be a fairly impressive piece of technology to bridge between various blockchains and systems. It's open source, hosted by the Linux Foundation and could become a part of the Hyperledger framework.

But note that ILP itself has no native token; it doesn't depend on XRP and doesn't add value to it. Even if ILP finds wide adoption in the fintech industry, it will do precious little for XRP.

As for the moonshot of replacing Swift; first of all, I highly doubt a global consensus protocol is the right approach and could even scale to that level. But also, banks currently control Swift. How likely is it they would relinquish control to a small startup and allow themselves to become beholden to its private currency, that they have no need for? I just don't see that happening.

This is especially true when alternatives like Hyperledger exist that do not suffer from Ripple's inherent drawbacks; a protocol which is backed by a far larger consortium of corporations, which relies on proven consensus algorithms that have been researched, peer reviewed and thoroughly tested for over 15 years, and a protocol which at least at first glance, appears to do almost everything Ripple does and more, including things like smart contracts.

The only obvious thing that appears missing from Hyperledger compared to Ripple, is the one thing for which I see absolutely no reason for them to want: the XRP token.

Disclosure:CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, whichhas an ownership stake in Ripple.

Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency.

Ripple image via Ripple/YouTube

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk strives to offer an open platform for dialogue and discussion on all things blockchain by encouraging contributed articles. As such, the opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the view of CoinDesk.

For more details on how you can submit an opinion or analysis article, view our Editorial Collaboration Guide or email [emailprotected].

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Ripple's XRP: Giving the Third-Largest Cryptocurrency a Second Look - CoinDesk

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has granted LedgerX LLC registration as a swap execution facility (SEF), making it the first federally regulated SEF allowed to offer clearing services and a trading facility for options based on digital currency for the institutional market.

LedgerX plans to list and clear fully collateralized, physically settled options on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. SEFs operate under the CFTCs regulatory oversight for the trading of swaps.

Following a review of the LedgerX application, the CFTC determined that LedgerX complied with the necessary regulations.

LedgerX also must not list an intended-to-be-cleared swap until it has a clearing agreement with a registered derivative clearing organization, according to the CFTC. LedgerX also must not list a swap not intended to be cleared until it submits revisions of its rulebook and other pertinent materials to provide for the execution of uncleared swaps.

There now are 25 SEFs registered with the CFTC.

Also read: CFTC to discuss blockchain for derivatives, taps LedgerXs Chou as advisor

LedgerX received an investment from Miami International Holdings Inc. (MIH) in December. MIH invested in LedgerXs parent company, Ledger Holdings, and received a 10-year, exclusive global right to license equity or fixed income products related to digital currencies developed by LedgerX and to develop its own equity or fixed income derivatives based on such LedgerX products to be listed on MIAX Options and MIAX PEARL, MIHs second options exchange.

The CFTC previously appointed Paul L. Chou, CEO and founder of LedgerX, as a bitcoin trading expert to its technical advisory committee. The committee advises the CFTC on the impact of technology innovations for the securities market and financial services, along with the regulatory and legislative response to the growing use of technology in the markets. Committee members include representatives of financial intermediaries, traders, futures exchanges, self-regulatory organizations and market participants.

The CFTC officially recognized bitcoin as a commodity in September of 2015 when it took an enforcement action against a bitcoin operator for being unlicensed. That action marked the most significant bitcoin regulatory move in the U.S., along with the New York State BitLicense, also enacted in 2015.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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U.S. CFTC Approves Blockchain Startup LedgerX As Cryptocurrency ... - CryptoCoinsNews

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, while potentially transformative on the macro level, are hard for most people to adopt on the micro-level. Indeed, the opportunities created by Bitcoin and its underlying technologyblockchainare only being used by 8-10 million people (1% of the worlds population), and a significant share of that number comprises government entities, stock exchanges, banks, financial services firms, and startups.

For the large majority of people, the technology is hard to grasp, and the cryptocurrency is difficult to mine given the hard-earned cryptographical skill set needed to mine it. Bitcoin and Ethereum are relatively popular cryptocurrencies, but with new digital wallets with no instruction manuals and no single platform to centralize trading for the everyday consumer, progress towards full integration of the currency in world economies remains slow. Yet, as with many affairs in the world of financial services, there may be hopeand it comes from Switzerland.

Corion, a unified, unregulated, decentralized, mobile cryptocurrency platform operating on the Ethereum Classic blockchain, is underway in its Initial Coin Offering (ICO). The offering, which will close on July 30, will pay out between 3-25% bonus to participants, with early birds earning 0.2% daily during the offering and service providers generating between 5-10x more return on existing 0-2.5% coin supply growth in the medium term.

The ICO gives both service providers and consumers the opportunity to invest in a new cryptocurrency that allows them to help build the Corion ecosystem, a multifunctional platform allowing businesses and individuals to transact between each other on the Corion platform, which provides and hosts secure, convenient, and real-time financial transactions between members using Corion coin.

The main pain point within the overall blockchain environment Corion seeks to alleviate is that the current collection of cryptocurrencies operate in centralized and debt-based contexts. The value of these cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin with its various and controversial hard forks over the last few years, are volatile, with Ethereum being held up as Bitcoins potential yet uncertain successor. Driving such volatility is the scarcity-based value of cryptocurrencywith only so many cryptographers and developers able to mine and distribute it, demand simply isnt part of the equation here. And, with only 1% of the worlds population actively using any such currency right now, theres just not the level of adoption present to transition it from short-term, speculative income for a majority of people.

Corions main goal is to create a blockchain-based, decentralized cryptocurrency ecosystem driving demand based on coin rewards and benchmarking against current fiat currencies. The ecosystem, accessible through the Corion platform, would focus cryptocurrency into mainstream usage, taking it from short-term speculative income to continuous passive income through community management. More, Corion consists of separate smart contracts, implemented in Solidity language for maximum transparency and trust.

Corion has created an ecosystem and suite of services that rival emerging blockchain services offered by bulge-bracket banks like Citi and BNY Mellon, integrating payment, finance, and trading functionalities on its singular mobile platform, accessible by any user. At the same time, Corions developers are working B2B to increase the total user base of all cryptocurrencies, something no company has done until now. This innovative business model encourages cross-currency exchange, and inter-wallet and inter-platform cooperation and synergy.

To facilitate the transition of cryptocurrencies to mainstream use that Corion looks to achieve, the Corion platform features seven unique features to humanize the cryptocurrency experience for the average user. These features include a marketplace that promotes commerce, a stable cryptocurrency to promote mainstream use, a reward system for users based on Schelling points which allows users to grow their coins, a multifunctional wallet that operates as the main interface of the platform, and more.

Currently, the battle for cryptocurrency supremacy is ongoing. Corion enters with high aspirations, and well have to keep watch to see if this innovative platform can change the crypto world.

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New ICO Promises Mainstream Adoption of Cryptocurrencies - HuffPost

In the first nine minutes of its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) New York-based Starta Accelerator raised more than $1.6 million. This is just one of many successful projects that recently secured investment in the cryptocurrency world. What is the Russian ICO craze all about and why is it proliferating?

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This blockchain investment mechanism is rapidly becoming very popular among Russian entrepreneurs. Source: Jens Kalaene/Global Look Press

Facing a shortage of venture capital at home and coming up against wary international investors intimidated by U.S. and EU sanctions, more Russian tech projects are tapping into cryptocurrency markets. In the first half of 2017, a growing number of Russian startups successfully completed an ICO, raising millions of dollars in Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies from backers across the globe.

This blockchain investment mechanism is rapidly becoming very popular among Russian entrepreneurs seeking to raise capital. By the time Starta Accelerator had closed its ICO on July 4, the company had raised a total of about $5 million for 21 startups from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus; each of which is already incorporated and working in the U.S.

One of the most successful recent ICOs in the Russian startup sector was Supercomputer Organized by Network Mining (SONM), which raised $42 million from 8,744 backers in just four days.

The project is described as Airbnb for computers, and SONMs secure and cost-effective fog supercomputer is designed for general-purpose computing, from mobile app hosting to DNA analysis. The project will revolutionize the computing market, claimed Sergey Ponomarev, the companys CEO.

SONM is a blockchain-powered project, but more startups are coming from the real economy. In mid June, ZrCoin, an innovative factory that recycles metallurgical waste, raised more than $7 million from almost 4,000 backers on Waves, a blockchain-based cryptocurrency platform. We raised twice as much funding as planned, commented ZrCoins co-founder, Andrey Nokonorov.

The new factory will consist of two production lines in Siberia transforming industrial waste into synthetic zirconium with a total capacity of 800 tons. Each ZrCoin token is backed with one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of zirconium dioxide.

ICO as a means for Russian tech to raise capital has attracted the attention of the countrys politicians. Boris Titov, the business ombudsman and billionaire, is creating a new incubator for entrepreneurs hosted on the blockchain platform, Waves. The project was founded in 2016 by Russian entrepreneur Sasha Ivanov and is now one of the most popular ICO platforms.

Sasha Ivanov. / WAVES

In June, Titov signed an agreement with Sasha Ivanov to create an ICO Incubator called People of Growth, whose purpose is to help companies in different sectors of the real economy obtain ICO funding.

Russia is one of the most advanced countries in blockchain technology, and thats why Russian founders are behind many ICOs in the world, said Ivanov. The interest in ICO and cryptocurrency is growing rapidly both in Russia and around the world.

According to Ivanov, Bitcoin was legalized in Japan this spring, and the cryptocurrency community is hoping to see a similar process in other countries. Entrepreneurs are also inspired by the success of previous ICOs and the amounts raised, although the lack of venture capital is one of the main reasons this is happening.

About six months ago Titov launched his own cryptocurrency, Upcoin, to promote his political movement, the Party of Growth. The coins were integrated into the party loyalty program to reward supporters with a number of benefits, such as discounts for education.

Titov is authorized by President Vladimir Putin to protect the rights of entrepreneurs in Russia. In 2017, he attended Donald Trumps inauguration in Washington D.C.

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Russia's tech world embraces cryptocurrency markets - Russia Beyond the Headlines