[FTEC TOKEN] - FIRST TRADING ECOSYSTEM ✅ READY PROJECT

FTEC makes another biological system for cryptographic money exchanging. They join neural systems and clever administrations to empower dealers to have successful procedures for exchanging cryptographic forms of money. They need to make instruments that everybody can use to make more effective and beneficial exchanges. The whole FTEC biological system will comprise of fifteen unique arrangements. These arrangements are intended to enhance the effectiveness of exchange, spare time, enhance exchanging methodologies, limit hazard, acquire data about current patterns and concentrate the attributes of exchange.

Here are a few insights about the highlights of the biological system. A canny exchanging framework can consequently exchange utilizing test calculations. The client can choose one of the astute exchanging modules and select as far as possible and trade. At that point, while interfacing the API key, the module assigns exchanges in light of the chose calculation.

Another component is the versatile social associate. For this situation, clients can choose represents following. It can be things like industry pioneers, stock trades, devotee pages and venture pages. The client would then be able to choose a rundown of catchphrases to track. At the point when these watchwords show up on the observed pages, the client can get warnings. They can be utilized to settle on exchanging choices.

There is likewise a conduct investigation module. This module can dissect clients of past exchanging history and give suggestions on what should be changed to get more positive outcomes. A case of a suggestion that a module can make is that you leave exchanging too rapidly in 80% of the time. This can make the suspicion that before leaving exchange will have an objective rate of 3 percent higher.

These are only three of the immense highlights of the FTEC biological community. In the biological community there are some more. To take in more about them, you can see the connections at the base of this article.

Development roadmap

Visit Website : https://ftec.io/en
White Paper : https://ftec.io/en/whitepaper
Ann Thread : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3161171.new#new
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/FTEC.Foundation/
Telegram : https://t.me/FTECofficial
Twitter : https://twitter.com/ftec_found


Autor: Ethan101
Bitcointalk URL: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1083885
ETH Address: 0xB98f5f1C3d1461aC3A456B109DA47ec907C4D5e4

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Beginners Guide: What is Bitcoin?

The Bitcoin world is abuzz with both excitement and curiosity… and the opportunity for upside potential to skyrocket. Everyone from everyday Joes to reputable experts are betting on Bitcoin’s success.
It’s been a wild 8 years since Bitcoin’s release. Most notably, we’ve seen headlines of people who fortuitously purchased bitcoins early on turn into kid-millionaires. With the immense potential of new cryptocurrencies, our attention often turns to Bitcoin as a quintessential example of what’s to come.
We’ve designed this guide to teach you about Bitcoin so that you’re up to speed and ready to join the crypto-world.

What is Bitcoin?

Released as an open-source software in 2009, Bitcoin is often credited as the world’s first cryptocurrency and is best defined as a digital currency that only exists electronically.
Bitcoin is decentralized, meaning it doesn’t have a central issuing authority or political institution that controls the amount of bitcoin in circulation. But the Bitcoin platform is far from anarchy.
The whole process is pretty simple and organized: Bitcoin holders are able to transfer bitcoins via a peer-to-peer network. These transfers are tracked on the “blockchain,” commonly referred to as a giant ledger. This ledger records every bitcoin transaction ever made. Each “block” in the blockchain is built up of a data structure based on encrypted Merkle Trees. This is particularly useful for detecting fraud or corrupted files. If a single file in a chain is corrupt or fraudulent, the blockchain prevents it from damaging the rest of the ledger.
Instead of relying on a government to print new currency, Bitcoin’s blockchain programming handles when bitcoins are made and how many are produced. It also keeps track of where bitcoins are and ensures the transactions are accurate.
There are currently about 17 million bitcoins in circulation. There isn’t a central regulatory agency or government controlling the supply of bitcoins, meaning the supply is controlled by design. The total supply to ever be created is capped at 21 million bitcoins.
This cap raises an argument that Bitcoin could have problems scaling. However, since Bitcoin is essentially infinitesimally divisible (meaning users can transfer as little as 0.00000001 bitcoins), this doesn’t really create a scaling issue. The magic number of 21 million is arbitrary.
It’s believed that Bitcoin was designed to become a deflationary currency to combat the government’s use of inflation as a hidden taxation to redistribute earned wealth. Many people praise Bitcoin for empowering the people by overthrowing the currency printing powers of transient politicians.

How Does Bitcoin Work?

One of Bitcoin’s most appealing features is its ruthless verification process, which greatly minimizes the risk of fraud. Since Bitcoin is decentralized, volunteers—referred to as “miners”—constantly verify and update the blockchain. Once a specific amount of transactions are verified, another block is added to the blockchain and business continues per usual.

What is “Mining”?

Instead of a single central server verifying every transaction, essentially every other person on the network verifies each transaction.
Cue the “miners.”
Let me simplify the process so we all understand: Miners are presented with a complicated math problem and the first one to solve the math problem adds the verified block of transactions to the ledger. The calculations are based on a Proof of Work (POW), or the proof that a minimum amount of energy was spent to get a correct answer.
There aren’t actual human beings hunched over computers with scraps of notebook paper and calculators doing pre-calculus homework; hardware is used to perform Bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin’s built-in reward system compensates successful miners with a chunk of bitcoins. The reward changes over time per Bitcoin’s programming, and the block reward halves about every four years. The current reward for each new block of verified transactions is about 12.5 bitcoins.
The mining processes have become increasingly sophisticated. The most popular method uses ASICS–Application-Specific Integrated Circuits. ASICS are hardware systems similar to CPU computers that are built for the sole reason of mining bitcoins.
Bitcoin mining operations take a lot of effort and power, and the sheer amount of competition makes it difficult for newcomers to enter the race and profit. A new miner would not only need to have adequate computing power and the knowledge to use it to outcompete the competition, but would also need the extensive amount of capital necessary to fund the operations.

A Simple Bitcoin Transaction Example

While Bitcoin’s underlying technology may seem hard to grasp, using Bitcoin does not have to be difficult.  Here’s an example of how simple a real world Bitcoin transaction can be.

Bitcoin Wallets: How to Store Your Bitcoins

So, you’ve got this digital currency. You can’t really chuck it in your pocket. Let’s go through some useful definitions before we jump into storing cryptos:

1. Exchange platform: where you trade money for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin. You can also trade one cryptocurrency for another.
2. Wallet platform: essentially a bank account where your cryptocurrencies are kept.
3. Hard wallet: an “offline” wallet that is not linked to a network.
4. Public Cryptographic Key: your account number. Similar to how someone would send money to your bank account via your account number, your public cryptographic key is the information you give to someone to receive cryptos.
5. Private Cryptographic Key: the key that allows you to spend your Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. You guard this with your life. If someone has access to it, they can transfer (steal!) your bitcoins.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we can discuss Bitcoin wallet better.
When you hear of bitcoins being hacked, you’re probably hearing about an “exchange platform” being hacked. Since Bitcoin’s blockchain structure makes it EXTREMELY difficult to hack (borderline impossible), it is considered very secure.
Exchanges, however, are a different story. Perhaps the most notable Bitcoin exchange hack was the Tokyo-based MtGox hack in 2014, where 850,000 bitcoins with a value of over $350 million suddenly disappeared from the platform. This doesn’t mean that Bitcoin itself was hacked; it just means that the exchange platform was hacked. Imagine a bank in Iowa is robbed: the USD didn’t get robbed, the bank did.
Industries surrounding Bitcoin are new and not without their kinks. Bitcoin advocate and esteemed venture capitalist Marc Andreessen stated, “MtGox had to die for Bitcoin to thrive. Its former role from early Bitcoin days has been supplanted by better, stronger entities.”
Even though most wallet platforms are considered extremely secure, the prospect of hackers makes many users paranoid.
That brings us to hard wallets. A hard wallet is essentially a USB that allows users to store their cryptographic keys offline and off of exchanges. Your cryptographic key only lives on your hard wallet and is impossible to hack (unless someone physically steals your hard wallet).
Hard wallets are so secure that there are countless stories of people carelessly misplacing a hard wallet full of cryptos and never being able to recover thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of bitcoins.
Some users opt to use a “paper wallet,” which is essentially your cryptographic keys on a piece of paper stored somewhere safe like a bank vault. Although paper wallets are not recommended, they can be done either by an online key generator (not recommended due to threats of malware) or handwritten.
For more information on Bitcoin wallets, read out Guide to Finding the Best Bitcoin Wallet.

Why use Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is often hailed as the future of the monetary world for a variety of reasons.

• It’s decentralized and brings power back to the people. Launched just a year after the 2008 financial crises, Bitcoin has attracted many people who see the current financial system as unsustainable. This factor has won the hearts of those who view politicians and government with suspicion. It’s no surprise there is a huge community of ideologists actively building, buying, and working in the cryptocurrency world.
• Freedom. The concept that one could carry millions or billions of dollars in Bitcoin across borders, pay for anything at any time, and not have to wait on extended bank delays is a major selling point.
• Security. Bitcoin payments don’t necessarily need to be tied to one’s personal information. Since personal information is left out of the transactions, users aren’t as exposed to threats such as identity theft. Bitcoin can also be backed up and encrypted to ensure the security of your money.
• Low Transaction Fees. Banks and companies like PayPal charge to send and receive money. Bitcoin replaces the 2.5% “transaction fee” with one that’s only a fraction of that.

The Immutable Ledger. Bitcoin’s blockchain public ledger is objective. People trust it to be fair because it is based on pure mathematics, rather than the human error and corruption of questionable politicians.

What are the disadvantages of Bitcoin?

For all its advantages, Bitcoin does still pose some significant issues.
Perhaps one of the largest reasons everyone hasn’t jumped on the Bitcoin train is because its price is shrouded in uncertainty. Many people are concerned with…

1. Legal Gray Area. Major governments have largely remained on the sidelines, and this has created both a sense of potential and apprehension for Bitcoin proponents and critics respectively. Bitcoin isn’t backed by a regulatory agency and a government would technically be ceding power by supporting a decentralized currency. This has been largely officially unaddressed. Bitcoin’s price, however, tends to be very sensitive to any news concerning the US government’s opinion of cryptocurrencies. For example, when the SEC denied the approval of bitcoin-based exchange-traded-products—essentially bitcoin-backed assets on the stock market—in 2017, Bitcoin’s price dropped 18%. Yet while the price and adoption of Bitcoin would be affected by government action, governments are unable to criminalize Bitcoin. In fact, governments such as the United States and China have invested in it at some capacity.
2. Exchange hacks. As stated above, an exchange hack has nothing to do with the integrity of the Bitcoin system… but the market freaks out regardless. This trend seems to minimize as users see that cryptos recover from exchange hacks. As exchanges evolve and become more secure, this threat becomes less of an issue. Additionally, outside investments funneling into exchanges are providing the capital for them to grow stronger.
3. Illiquidity. This is mostly moot due to Bitcoin’s $47 market cap but it still makes users sweat. It’s highly unlikely that Bitcoin’s price would plummet and you’d be unable to take action, but it’s still unsettling.  As more investors invest, however, illiquidity becomes a negligible risk, as there will likely always be a buyer for Bitcoins waiting.
4. Volatility. This very reason many speculators are attracted to Bitcoin is the same reason many potential users are hesitant to get involved. Users that look at Bitcoin as a speculative investment option are essentially gambling on the process, and the future price of Bitcoin is largely unknown. There are estimates that Bitcoin will both be worth pennies in a few years, while some predict that a single bitcoin will be worth $500k in three years. As new investors continue to invest and the market cap grows, Bitcoin’s price could become more stable.
5. Lack of adoption by businesses. The price volatility is a large reason that many businesses have yet to adopt Bitcoin as a form of payment. Increased consumer adoption and price stability will eventually mitigate this disadvantage.

Another disadvantage is that while many people have heard of Bitcoin, few understand exactly what it is or how it functions. Guides like this help to push the needle and build a foundation, but it’s ultimately on the users to seek out more information.
Bitcoin’s strength lies in its networking effect. The more we spread the word and grow the Bitcoin community, the better off our bitcoins will be.

How to Buy Bitcoin

As mentioned above, in the early years of Bitcoin it was difficult to find a trustworthy place to buy the cryptocurrency.  With the increase in demand for Bitcoin, numerous new companies have sprouted to help facilitate easily purchasing Bitcoin.
These days, many Bitcoin exchanges have received huge investments from venture capitalist.  They’re also now more heavily regulated, especially those based out of the United States.  You can compare exchanges and view our in depth reviews in our How to Buy Bitcoin Guide.  We’ve also listed our top two recommended options below:

• Coinbase launched in 2012 with the hopes of giving users an easier way to buy Bitcoin.  Since its launch, the San Francisco based startup has become the most commonly recommended buying option for newbies.  You can learn more in our complete Coinbase Review and User’s Guide.

• Gemini was founded in 2015 by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.  While they launched more recently than many of their competitors, the New York based cryptocurrency exchange has quickly built a great reputation in the crypto community.  You can learn more in our Gemini Review and User’s Guide.

Who invented Bitcoin?

Satoshi Nakamoto is credited with designing Bitcoin. Nakamoto claims to be a man living in Japan born on April 5th, 1975 but there are speculations that he is actually either an individual programmer or group of programmers with a penchant for computer science and cryptography scattered around the United States or Europe. Nakamoto is believed to have created the first blockchain database and have been the first to solve the double spending problem other digital currency failed to. While Bitcoin’s creator is shrouded in mystery, his Wizard of Oz status hasn’t stopped the digital currency from becoming increasingly popular with individuals, businesses, and even governments.

Bitcoin’s Popularity

It’s important to take a look at Bitcoin’s popularity over time because… well, have a look below:

Google Trends structures the chart to represent a relative search interest to the highest points in the chart. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term “Bitcoin” and a value of 50 means it was half as popular at that time. A score of 0 indicates that the term was less than 1% as popular as the peak. It’s amazing how the searches relating to Bitcoin have spiked in the past few years.
When Bitcoin began circulating in 2009, its early adopters consisted of programmers and a niche crowd of technical people. Its popularity over time indicates that many of the disadvantages of Bitcoin will likely dissipate as Bitcoin becomes more standard.
Unsurprisingly, Bitcoin’s price has grown with increased demand. As you can see, more buyers enter the market and raise the price as more people learn about Bitcoin and its technical applications.
Bitcoin’s popularity has undeniably been its number one advantage over the numerous other cryptocurrencies. By gaining a large number of adopters and users, Bitcoin has achieved a network effect that attracts even more users. Users who would otherwise be more apprehensive investing in a relatively unknown and unproven digital currency are reassured by Bitcoin’s performance over time, its growing community, and the fact that people they know are adopting cryptos.
Bitcoin’s first mover advantage, popularity, and network effect has cemented it as the most popular cryptocurrency with the largest market cap. Rivals like Litecoin may have numerous technical advantages over Bitcoin’s algorithm (see more about that here), but they only hold a fraction of Bitcoin’s market cap and their dwindling communities largely consist of loyalists, speculators, and antagonistic anti-Bitcoin buyers.

What We Can Learn From Bitcoin’s Popularity

Understanding what makes Bitcoin so popular allows us to not only conceptualize where Bitcoin is headed, but also how other cryptocurrencies generally function. Bitcoin is able to attract users better than any other cryptocurrency because…

1. It has the network effect. Bitcoin’s network validates its worth to newcomers and gives Bitcoin a viral growth rate.
2. The high market cap is comforting. Bitcoin’s massive market cap gives users a sense of security and stability. With a market cap of about $69 billion, Bitcoin is comparatively a much safer crypto investment.
3. Speculation drives numbers. Many Bitcoin users are holding onto their bitcoins in hopes of selling them off for an enormous profit one day. With news articles portraying Bitcoin millionaires as lucky kids who got in early, you can’t really blame them. For example, if you had spent your $5 latte money on 2,000 bitcoins one morning in 2010, they would be worth about $5.4 million today. Makes you really wish you’d managed your Starbucks budget better, doesn’t it?

News drives attention, and attention drives understanding. While many people have flocked to cryptocurrencies purely in search of financial gain, there are a ton of people that are simply curious. Some peoples are sticking around and trying to understand what cryptos are all about. While more users increases Bitcoin’s network effect, more people forming in-depth understandings of cryptos also strengthen the active Bitcoin community.

Final Thoughts

Bitcoin is still a relatively young currency but it has achieved substantial user adoption and growth. Bitcoin’s network only grows stronger as more people learn about Bitcoin’s fundamental technology and potential in relation to other methods of value storage.
As the flagship of the cryptocurrency fleet, Bitcoin is considered the “gateway” cryptocurrency. Understanding Bitcoin’s potential is an essential first step to seeing the brilliant solutions being worked on in the cryptocurrency world.
Bitcoin paints a future that is drastically different from the fiat-based world today. This is either exciting or unsettling for the vast majority. Equip yourself with the best possible resources. Become active in communities that further explore not only the technical applications of Bitcoin and other cryptos, but with their overall potential to disrupt virtually every market. Brace yourselves. Cryptos are coming.

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Mining Round-Up: Ebang Files for IPO in HK, Miner Arrested in China

In recent mining news, major mining chip manufacturer Ebang Communications has filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, a Chinese miner has been arrested for allegedly stealing 150,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in roughly one month, and a report has provided unique insight into the state of mining in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Also Read: FBI Currently Investigating 130 Crypto-Related Cases

Chip Manufacturer Ebang Communications Files for IPO in Hong Kong

Major mining chip manufacturer Ebang Communication has become the latest leading firm operating in the bitcoin mining industry to file for an IPO in Hong Kong.
The company’s application for IPO is in its draft form, and as such does not state the volume of funds that Ebang seeks to raise, nor does it disclose a valuation for the company. According to financial statements included in the application, Ebang generated approximately $140 million USD in revenue and $60 million in net profit during 2017. The financial statement also estimates that more than 94% of the company’s revenues for 2017 were generated through the sale of bitcoin miners, a significant spike from 31% in 2015 and 42% in 2016.
Last month, Reuters reported that Ebang Communications was rumored to be seeking to conduct a $1 billion IPO in Hong Kong. The report stated that earlier this year Ebang “delisted from China’s National Equities Exchange and Quotations […] after announcing in January that it would seek a Hong Kong listing.”
Earlier this year, Canaan Creative revealed it would be seeking to conduct a $1 billion IPO in Hong Kong. At the start of June, the chief executive officer of Bitmain, Jihan Wu, indicate that the company is open to conducting an overseas IPO in Hong Kong, or any jurisdiction in which shares would be denominated in U.S. dollars.

Chinese Miner Arrested for Allegedly Stealing 150,000 KWH of Electricity

 

More than 200 mining rigs have been confiscated by police in China’s Anhui Province following the arrest of a man accused of stealing 150,000 kWh of electricity in roughly a month.
According to state-operating Chinese media outlet, Xinhua News, police found that the electricity meter for the alleged mining operation had been “short-circuited” in an attempt to obfuscate the scale of power being consumed by the hardware.
The suspect reportedly told police that he purchased his mining hardware in April, however, discovered that the daily operating costs of his operations exceeded 6,000 yuan (approximately $925 USD). The suspect also claimed that he had not yet generated a profit on the operation at the time of his arrest.

“Whatever is not Illegal is Legal” – Mining in the Russian Province of Kaliningrad

 

A recent report published by Financial Times has provided an insight into the present state of mining operations in the Russian province of Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave situated between Lithuania and Poland on the edge of the Baltic Sea.
The article states that the author met with Kaliningrad Region Development Corporation (KRDC) – a state-owned institution tasked with attracting and fostering investment into the region. The report reveals that the KRDC had recently shown two datacenters to prospective mining investors, both of which were purchased by the entrepreneurs who invested $50 million USD into the sites.
Regarding the legal status of cryptocurrency mining in Kaliningrad, Sergei Evstigneev, the region’s IT and communications minister, stated “Whatever is not illegal is legal. There are no laws regarding cryptocurrency mining because it’s a new kind of business.”
Vladimir Zarudny, the KRDC’s director-general, stated “Kaliningrad has become a kind of lab where we can test new initiatives and legislation. We think we could be a liberal Russian territory which is friendly for doing business, and a gateway to Russian markets.”
Do you think more mining companies will file for IPOs in Hong Kong? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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Why 70% of ICO Tokens Are Not Exchange Listed and Probably Never Will Be

“When Binance?” is the refrain from impatient bag-holders in ICO Telegram groups. For investors eager to flip their tokens and move onto the next thing, a major exchange listing is the big event, and the sooner the better. But for beleaguered project teams, with a community to manage, workforce to recruit, and decentralized solution to build, an exchange listing is the least of their concerns. It’s also the most expensive.
Also read: FBI Currently Investigating 130 Crypto-Related Cases

Creating a Token is Easy. Listing it is Hard

With the number of global cryptocurrency exchanges now in excess of 250, there ought to be more than enough platforms to support new ICO tokens. But as many of these projects are finding out, obtaining an exchange listing without paying exorbitant fees is almost impossible. ICOs unwilling to stump up risk being left to languish in the shadowlands of low liquidity DEXes. Recent research from ICOrating.com shows the difficulties projects face in getting their token listed on a reputable exchange – and those problems aren’t limited to affording the listing fee.
For one thing, the project needs to have completed a successful ICO in the first place. If their tokens failed to sell out, even with the remainder being burned, demand for the token on the secondary markets will be low and exchanges are unlikely to be interested. ICOrating reports that only 22% of ICOs that completed in Q1 of this year were able to have their token listed. This figure is down 10% on the previous quarter, which is attributed to the fact that half of all ICOs in Q1 of this year raised less than $100,000.

Listing Fees Vary Greatly

Projects that failed to hit their hard cap simply can’t afford an exchange listing, while those that did may still balk at the price. The discrepancy between what exchanges charge is huge, ranging from around $100,000 to $3 million for the largest and most liquid exchanges. (It has been claimed that Binance charges as much as $7 million in some cases.) In fairness to cryptocurrency exchanges, listing a new token isn’t as simple as many traders seem to think.

 

Among the many tasks that must be performed before a token can be listed is the necessary due diligence to ensure the project is not a scam. Should a token later be discovered to be one, it risks affecting the platform’s reputation, as happened when Centra was revealed to be a fraud, prompting Kucoin and Binance to hastily delist it. Due to the time required to perform various security checks and other administrative tasks, it takes an average of 21 days for an ICO’s token to start trading, ICOrating reports. Some exchanges also insist that the token’s smart contract is audited to check for bugs, which is understandable given their prevalence and potential severity.

Exchanges Can’t Always Be Relied On

 

Even after securing an exchange listing, it is not always plain sailing for ICOs. There have been instances of exchanges delisting tokens without warning. Regulatory pressure can also take its toll: if there are rumors that a certain token risks being labeled a security, exchanges can get spooked and delist it to be safe. Given the haste with which newly listed tokens can be pumped, dumped, and then left to die a lingering death, with the project still months away from launch, it’s no wonder that some ICOs are hesitant to have their token listed before their beta is ready and there’s genuine demand for their token.

For each problem an exchange listing solves, it introduces several more. Be it through choice or necessity, 70% of this year’s ICO tokens have yet to make an exchange. Most of them never will.
Do you think ICOs should try to have their token listed as soon as possible, or is it better to wait until the project is ready? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Uphold to Acquire JNK Securities, Opening Door for US-Regulated ICO Trading

It seems that a race to take over US-licensed brokerages has begun among crypto companies. Soon after Coinbase revealed it is buying up a securities firm, Uphold has now followed the move with its own acquisition. JNK Securities’ licenses could possibly open the door for the company to offer trading on ICO tokens deemed securities by US authorities.

Also Read: The Daily: Pornhub Adds New Tokens, Fcoin Defends Trans-Fee, Coinbase Goes Pro

Uphold to Acquire JNK Securities

Uphold has announced it reached an agreement to acquire JNK Securities Corp, a New York Stock Exchange member and an SEC and FINRA regulated broker-dealer founded in 1993. At the same time, the company has filed an application with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for the approval of the change of ownership of JNK and its and business expansion.
If its application with the regulators is approved, the extension of the broker-dealer registration will cover Uphold’s securities and security-token business and expand its compliance capabilities, customer base, and service offering. The acquisition will also offer JNK clients access to all of Uphold’s crypto to fiat trading pairs and assets, introducing the platform to a new group of institutional investors.

Opening the Door for ICOs

 

Once known as Bit Reserve, Uphold now supports over thirty currencies and commodities, just eight of which are cryptocurrencies. With a securities license this might expand to include many ICO tokens, which some regulators in the US deem to be securities. It mirrors the very recent action by Coinbase which also acquired the broker-dealer Keystone Capital “for its licenses.”
Uphold CEO, Adrian Steckel, Stated: “We have kept a close eye on statements from global regulators regarding virtual currencies and tokens and believe that many crypto assets (particularly ICO tokens) may be treated as securities in some cases. Broker-dealer and ATS coverage is key to protecting our customers and to building a preeminent financial services ecosystem. We are proud to be a compliant financial services company, working with regulators to ensure we provide the most trusted and transparent access to digital financial services worldwide. Through our new securities division, we would be able to offer sales and trading of ICO tokens and fractional equities and provide other exchange services, under the oversight of the SEC and FINRA. Additionally, with the acquisition of JNK, we’re enhancing its compliance and regulatory policies and practices.”
Are only rich Americans going to have access to invest in ICOs? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

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Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com.

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Indian Women More Bullish On Crypto than Men, Invest Twice As Much

Despite being a minority among crypto investors, just like anywhere else, women in India actually spend on cryptocurrency twice more than men do. A newly released survey also found that the majority of Indian crypto users live in big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. The study comes out while Indians expect new regulations within weeks.      
Also read: Indian Crypto Regulations Ready in July, Official Reveals

Men Still a Majority Among Investors, Women Spend More

Unsurprisingly, female crypto investors are a firm minority in India, and pretty much anywhere else on the planet. However, what sets Indian women apart from many other, beauty aside, is their willingness to spend more on cryptocurrency than their husbands and boyfriends.
According to a survey carried out by crypto exchange Buyucoin, female traders in India spend more than Rs.140,000 on average (>$2,000 USD), whereas men invest half of that, around Rs.70,000, Crypto News reported. The authors of the survey arrived to these numbers after examining trading data for the country’s largest cities, where the majority of cryptocurrency users are concentrated.
The research covers over 60,000 participants and has been conducted by Buyucoin between the months of May and June, this year. The trading platform’s chief executive and co-founder, Shivam Thakral, commented:

“We wanted to conduct a detailed study to ascertain new policies and strategies that will drive this industry ahead. We acquired some interesting facts such as the service sector is taking exceptional interest in trading of cryptocurrency, and females, in particular, showed great potential in leading this industry forward.”

The published data reveals that New Delhi (National Capital Region) is the area with the most active cryptocurrency users, 22.03 percent of the total. The city also has the largest share of female crypto investors – 8.8 percent, while men are 91.2 percent. Mumbai, the financial capital of India, takes the second position with 14.42 percent active users, 93.4 percent of which are male and 6.6 percent are female. Bangalore is in third place with 13.91 percent, men are 93.2 percent and women account for 6.8 percent.
They are followed by Hyderabad – 9.6%, Pune – 8.09%, Chennai – 5.94%, and Ahmedabad – 3.81% of active users. Kolkata is at the bottom of the table with only 3.23 percent of all users, 95.8 percent of which are men and 4.2 percent women. The 8 cities covered account for three quarters of all cryptocurrency investments in the report.
Another interesting finding is related to the age at which most Indians enter the cryptocurrency world. For male investors that’s 30 years, and for women – around 40. “Usually, woman investors who are buying or trading are over 40 years of age. Typically these are mature investors who are able to put in more money,” Buyucoin CEO, Shivam Thakral, explained for Quartz. “On the other hand, more men start investing at an early age with the average age for this group being 30,” he noted.

New Regulations Expected Within Weeks

The findings come at a time when the Indian crypto community expects authorities to present a comprehensive regulatory framework for the sector. The head of the government-appointed committee tasked to propose new regulations recently said that these will be ready in the first fortnight of July, as news.Bitcoin.com reported.
So far, authorities in Delhi have mostly demonstrated negative attitude towards cryptocurrencies with the finance minister declaring they are not to be regarded as legal tender in the country and the central bank restricting financial institutions from providing services to crypto businesses and users.
The ban imposed by the Reserve Bank of India is scheduled to come into force on July 5. A number of local crypto companies have filed petitions against the measure. According to the latest reports, the Supreme Court will hear some of them on July 3, right before the deadline set by the RBI for commercial banks to comply with its directive.
Do you think regulating cryptocurrencies will attract more women into the crypto space? Share your expectations in the comments section below.

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Trustless Bitcoin Cash Betting is Coming — Chainbet Reveals Working Prototype

Just recently, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the trustless betting concept called Chainbet designed by the Electron Cash lead developer Jonald Fyookball. Since then, Chris Pacia performed the first atomic bet on the Bitcoin Cash network and now the project is seeing contributions from other developers as well. Now the programmers have revealed they have developed a working prototype that executes BCH wagers in a decentralized and trustless fashion.
Also read: Cryptocurrency Firm Circle Sees Institutional Interest Spike 30%

Chainbet Developers Produce a Working Prototype

The protocol Chainbet is moving along as the project has moved from Jonald Fyookball’s proof-of-concept into a reality as the developer has revealed a working prototype. In essence, Chainbet allows two parties (Alice & Bob) to bet in a completely trustless manner without the need for third-party arbitration and all of it is recorded on-chain using bitcoin cash. During the first week of June, Fyookball told the Bitcoin Cash community about his new idea while also launching Chainbet’s Github repository that explains the concept in better detail alongside the codebase. Openbazaar developer Chris Pacia took the project a step further performing the first atomic bet on the BCH chain. Following this, Fyookball, Pacia, and James Cramer boosted the project even more by adding the ability to not only perform simple coin flip bets, but also auctions, multiplayer bets, and six-sided dice rolls.

Now the project is really moving along, according to Fyookball, as the developers have devised a working prototype and the reference implementation was built with the open source SDK Bitbox. The Chainbet developers have also released a video of the prototype in action which shows a wager taking place between two candidates in a decentralized manner. According to a source familiar with the development team, the protocol could add a lot more on-chain transactions on the BCH chain.
“Each bet is around 10 on-chain transactions — Once it goes live it should increase transaction count quite a bit,” our source details.

Chainbet Goes Beyond Provably Fair

Following the announcement of a working prototype and a video showing the action in process, a Lightning Network supporter claimed on Reddit that there was a “better solution to betting in a provably fair model that scales efficiently working right now” and shared an app called ‘Lightningspin.’
The Electron Cash developer and creator of Chainbet Jonald Fyookball scoffed at the LN supporter’s assumption that the ‘Lightningspin’ app is a ‘better solution.’

Chainbet goes beyond provably fair — It is also trustless.

Since the inception of Chainbet, the recently re-enabled OP_Codes, and increased OP_Return data field things like on-chain trustless wagers are becoming a reality. The idea shows that decentralized bets used in various ways on gambling websites like Satoshi Dice, Bitcoin Cash Games, and other BCH casinos could create trustless environment for their visiting players. Essentially, wagers like these could revolutionize the way we gamble online.

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