Facebook Twitter Remove Trump Video Over Coronavirus Remarks

Facebook, Twitter Remove Trump Video Over Coronavirus Remarks

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 8/6/2020 10:14 AM ET

Facebook removed a video that President Donald Trump posted on his official Facebook account in which he claimed that children were "almost immune" to the coronavirus.

Twitter also took action against the same content that appeared on a Trump campaign account by freezing it until it was removed.

In a video clip of Trump's interview to Fox News Wednesday, the President said, "If you look at children, children are almost — and I would almost say definitely — but almost immune from this disease." He added that they have stronger immune systems.

Trump made the controversial remark while trying to substantiate his point on the morning show "Fox and Friends" that it was time for all schools in the country to reopen.

Facebook removed the video from Trump's FB wall saying it violated the social media giant's policies against "harmful COVID misinformation."

"This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement to media.

Team Trump shared the same video on the official Twitter account of the Trump Campaign.

The tweet "is in violation of the Twitter Rules on COVID-19 misinformation. The account owner will be required to remove the Tweet before they can Tweet again," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.

Team Trump obliged, and the Twitter account was restored live.

Trump 2020 Campaign's Rapid Response Director Andrew Clarke Twitter responded to the penal action saying, "Twitter suspended @TeamTrump for a clip of the President talking (accurately) about children's reduced susceptibility to coronavirus amid school reopening."

He alleged that the guy who announced Twitter's decision used to get paid as a Kamala Harris spokesman.

Although children are less likely to get infected and transmit the virus than adults, a few COVID-related deaths in that category were reported in some countries.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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ChainLink LINK Inches Closer to 100x in Returns Since ICO

ChainLink (LINK) Inches Closer to 100x in Returns Since ICO

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS   •   August 8, 2020

In summary:

  • The digital asset of ChainLink (LINK) continues on its bullish climb above $10.
  • With a new all-time high of $10.77, ChainLink inches closer to providing 100x in returns for ICO investors.
  • The ICO price per link was $0.11.
  • ChainLink still has more room to grow in the crypto markets.
  • However, caution is advised when going long on LINK.

The digital asset of ChainLink (LINK) has once again exceeded expectations by breaking away from the influence of the brief crypto pullback only 24 hours ago as a result of Bitcoin dipping to $11,300 levels. During the latter event, ChainLink only dipped to as low as $9 and soon continued on its interstellar mission above $10. At the time of writing, LINK has printed an all-time high value of around $10.77 – Binance rate.

ChainLink Inches Closer to Providing 100x in Returns since ICO

Going back in time to September 2017 during ChainLink's ICO, we find that the price per LINK on offer during the crowd sale was $0.11. Doing the math and using the new all-time high value of $10.77, this translates to a return on investment of 97%. This, in turn, means that for every $100 spent during the ICO period, investors are in profit to the amount of $9,700.

Further checking ChainLink’s current ROI on Coincodex.com, it can be revealed that those who used Ethereum and Bitcoin to participate in the crowdfunding, have an ROI of 32.54x and 71.30x respectively. Below is a screenshot elaborating on this fact.

LINK Marines Keep HODLING…till $100 per ChainLink?

Additionally, LINK marines are very much confident regarding the fundamentals governing the upward trajectory of ChainLink. The LINK marines have brushed off a report by Zeus Capital that calls the project vaporware and warns that ChainLink will fall to as low as $0.07.

Some LINK marines have gone as far as declaring that they will start taking profits when the digital asset hits $100. Below is one tweet that demonstrates investor confidence in ChainLink.

What Next for ChainLink in the Crypto Markets?

As earlier observed, the LINK/USDT chart continues on its bullish trajectory. With each all-time high that LINK sets, the digital asset provides areas of interest for possible support zones should LINK decide to correct.

However, given the current bullish momentum and possible FOMO surrounding LINK, the digital asset has a high probability of first testing $12 before any prospects of a correction.

As with all analyses of ChainLink, traders and investors are advised to use stop losses as well as low leverage to protect trading capital. Caution is also advised when going long on a parabolic chart such as ChainLink's.

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Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by John P. Njui.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

FBI and German Authorities Team Up To Seize 30 Million In Bitcoin

FBI and German Authorities Team Up To Seize $30 Million In Bitcoin

By Erie Maxwell – August 7, 2020

From 2008 until 2013, Movie2K.to hosted hundreds of thousands of illegal pirated streams. They also engaged in unsavory practices such as “subscription traps,” where they lured paying customers in with false promises and made the memberships very hard to escape from.

About 2500 Bitcoin were seized from the piracy hub Movie2K

Although the authorizes wound up with a sizable 2500 Bitcoin haul, it was only peanuts compared to what Movie2K brought in. It was reported that the site pulled in 22,000 BTC in a 5 year period before being shut down in 2013.

Movie2K was shuttered in 2013 after charges of copyright infringement by the Motion Picture Association of America. 

Later on, the piracy hub became the subject of an investigation by authorities in Dresden, Germany. 

In 2019 German Authorities in Dresden nabbed a coder and a real estate entrepreneur who was involved with the site’s central operations. Both of the suspects admitted to being involved with the operation of the fraudulent piracy site and began to cooperate with authorities to take down others involved with Movie2K.

Authorities moved to seize the funds taken in by the scammers and were met with compliance by the criminals and 2500 BTC were handed over without a hassle.

According to German authorities,

“the seized bitcoins were voluntarily released by the programmer during his public prosecutor’s interrogation in order to compensate for the damage.”

Although a much larger amount of BTC was pulled in by Movie2K, German authorities say most of these funds were then spent by the site’s administrators on real estate and other investments between 2013 and 2016. 

Authorities claim, “the profits generated from advertising fees and subscription trap income have been used by the two main operators since mid-2012 to buy large amounts of bitcoins.”

This is just the latest case of BTC being used to aid in a crime. It seems that criminals like to collect bitcoin because of its permissionless nature and ease of transactions. But often a trail is left by the bad actors that lead to their arrest.

The caught perpetrators of the Movie2K scam must be reeling after having such a hefty sum seized. While committing the crime the price of one BTC was below 20 dollars. Then over the course of the next several years, the value of 2500 seized BTC touched millions of dollars.

Maybe the German authorities who seized the fortune will hold on to these coins in hopes of returning to all-time highs like the rest of the HODLers out there.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Erie Maxwell and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Honeywell Uses Blockchain To Digitize Aircraft Parts And Service Data

Honeywell Uses Blockchain To Digitize Aircraft Parts And Service Data

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 8/6/2020 10:59 AM ET

Aerospace parts maker Honeywell International is using a blockchain-powered system to help its customers to speedily and efficiently search and retrieve scattered data of aircraft parts and service through a simple search engine user interface.

The system will help streamline the cumbersome documentation processes and storage mechanisms of aircraft parts and services, which is generally scattered across computer systems and hard copies. Honeywell will fully integrate aircraft record generation into its digital blockchain ledger.

Aerospace companies and their customers require quick and easy access to the data because it is critical for airlines as most use dozens of repair facilities, and the paperwork from each is not integrated.

Honeywell's blockchain is a secure, decentralized database crowd-sourced by all its authorized users, with each allowed user having a copy of the database and its contents in real time. Honeywell is storing the actual form data "on chain" instead of storing only PDF documents or a reference to the digital aircraft record.

Most importantly, the data provided by the blockchain-powered system is used to re-construct aircraft records, including records that prove certification by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration that the aircraft parts are safe to fly.

Honeywell manufactures and repairs thousands of aerospace parts each day. All these events, including the generated air worthiness certificates, will now go on chain. This will help to simplify and transform record-keeping for aircraft owners and airlines around the world.

Putting up quality documentation and aircraft part provenance data to the blockchain will help customers in the aerospace industry. Aircraft spare parts were never easy to buy online as it involves lots of documentation and certifications. Online purchases also raise concerns of forgery of the documents involved.

Blockchain technology creates trust between all parties on the chain through digital transparency. Honeywell now unpacks all the parts and repair data to make it immutable, searchable and accessible to everyone in its permissions-based ecosystem.

Honeywell launched its blockchain-powered aviation marketplace called GoDirect Trade in November 2018 that streamlines the process of buying and selling of quality, new, used and reconditioned aircraft parts and materials by bringing buyers and sellers in the aerospace industry on a single platform.

GoDirect Trade helps improve transparency, reduce transaction costs and makes the whole system more efficient. Every listing has an image, a price and a quality document, eliminating the need for time-consuming correspondence between buyers and sellers. More than 2,700 companies and 7,000 users are currently active on GoDirect Trade, with more than 80 storefronts.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Ethereum About to Break Away From Carrying Bitcoin’s Weight in the Bull Market

Ethereum About to Break Away From Carrying Bitcoin’s Weight in the Bull Market

By Bernice Nyambura – August 5, 2020

Anonymous owner of Bitcoin.org and BitcoinTalk Cobra has sparked a heated debate on Twitter over Bitcoin possibly being a dead weight to ETH, as the best performing crypto asset of 2020.

Cobra, who is known in the Bitcoin community for his controversial opinions now thinks that Ethereum is trying to break free from carrying along with Bitcoin’s price as it drives the bull market.

“I sense that it’s pulling away from being under Bitcoin’s feet, if we see more upside or a bull market driven by ETH, it will shake confidence in BTC.”

Other pundits of the same opinion and those thinking that Bitcoin’s position as the digital gold is unshaken, were quick to comment. Stating that ETH pulling away from BTC is a good thing, one user mentioned that just like ETH, BTC will have to depend on its own merit against other altcoins, instead of an obsolete status.

“I think this is a good thing, as more people will realize the “store of value” narrative just isn’t true. BTC will no longer be able to just rely on its name and actually have to compete to keep the top spot.”

ETH vs BTC or ETH and BTC

Besides outperforming every other crypto asset, Ethereum was the first to bounce back and regain higher resistance levels after the 2nd of August flash crash. Still, in response to Cobra, another user thinks ETH could do better if it broke away from BTC.

“This whole Bull Run is just sponsored by $ETH… seems like $ETH is trying to carry $BTC with it too but $BTC is unable to move along.”

Speaking for BTC’s position as the top coin, the founder of Blockspace thinks ETH can only compete with BTC after its established migration to Ethereum 2.0 but until then, Bitcoin’s price going up has nothing to do with ETH.

“ETH is definitely going higher, but not before Bitcoin does. Also, ETH 1.0 can’t scale and ETH 2.0 is a hot mess.”

The best possible scenario however, is that the two assets could coexist and complement each other. As Vitalik recently pointed out, ETH is not a competition to BTC but a continuation of Satoshi’s vision for BTC.

If Ethereum 2.0 is successful, it will create a DApps ecosystem that will enable bridging solutions and most people will be interchanging between the two assets without even realizing it.

“The thing about Ethereum and DeFi, is that easy to use mass market apps are being developed on this tech. The mainstream is no closer to using Bitcoin keys, cold storage etc. than they were many years ago. But mainstream will end up using Ethereum/DeFi without even knowing it.”

These remarks follow the successful launch of the final Phase 0 Medalla Multiclient Testenet, raising hopes that Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain will indeed launch in Q4 2020.

In 24 hours, ETH’s price is up 3.45% at the time of writing, with BTC regaining $11,500 at 4.7% after trading below $11,300 for two days.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Bernice Nyambura and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Agodacom Teams Up With Travalacom To Add Crypto Payment Option

Agoda.com Teams Up With Travala.com To Add Crypto Payment Option

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 8/4/2020 10:42 AM ET

Online travel agency Agoda.com, a subsidiary of Booking Holdings, has teamed up with U.K.-based crypto-friendly travel booking platform Travala.com for providing seamless payments in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin for customers in addition to traditional payment methods.

Rivals in the field, Expedia and Bookings.com have already signed similar deals with Travala.com since late November 2019. Booking.com only sells hotels, while Expedia is a full service, online travel agency selling hotels, car, flights, tours as well as packages.

Digital travel platform Agoda.com has grown to offer a global network of over 2.5 million properties in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, offering travelers easy access to a wide choice of luxury and budget hotels, apartments, homes and villas, to suit all budgets and travel occasions.

Following the partnership with Agoda.com, travelers can now use Travala.com to book more than 600,000 Agoda hotels worldwide, with the option of paying in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC).

This brings the total number of accommodation listings available on the leading blockchain-based travel booking platform to over 2.2 million, covering 90,124 destinations in 230 countries and territories, where cryptocurrency can be used for payment.

"We can safely say we are the world's largest blockchain-based online travel agency by number of accommodation options available with over 2,200,000 options to book covering 90,124 destinations," said Juan Otero, CEO at Travala.com.

Backed by cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Travala.com provides option to make payments on their site using more than 30 cryptocurrencies, including their own native Travala (AVA) token, and also stablecoins. They also accept payments in Fiat and through Paypal.

In May 2020, Travala.com merged with Binance-backed crypto-friendly flight booking portal TravelbyBit to create one of the largest blockchain-based online travel agencies in the world. Travala utilizes the Binance Chain, which is the new blockchain from Binance.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Returns To Earth Safely

SpaceX's Crew Dragon Returns To Earth Safely

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 8/3/2020 10:56 AM ET

SpaceX capsule carrying two U.S. astronauts safely landed in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday after completing a historic mission.

It was the fist commercially built and operated American crew spacecraft.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley returned from the International Space Station to complete a test flight that marks a new era in human spaceflight.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon splashed down under parachutes in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida at 2:48 p.m. EDT Sunday and was successfully recovered by SpaceX.

After returning to shore, the astronauts flew back to Houston, where they were welcomed by their families.

It was the first splashdown for American astronauts since the final outing of an Apollo-Soyuz Test Project 45 years ago.

The Demo-2 mission is the final major milestone for SpaceX's human spaceflight system to be certified by NASA for operational crew missions to and from the International Space Station.

Once the Demo-2 mission is complete, and the SpaceX and NASA teams have reviewed all the data for certification, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi will fly on Dragon's first six-month operational mission (Crew-1) in late September, SpaceX said.

"Welcome home, Bob and Doug! Congratulations to the NASA and SpaceX teams for the incredible work to make this test flight possible," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 test flight was launched on May 30 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After reaching orbit, Behnken and Hurley named their Crew Dragon spacecraft "Endeavour" as a tribute to the first space shuttle each astronaut had flown aboard.

Crew Dragon docked to the forward port of the International Space Station's Harmony module the next day.

Behnken and Hurley participated in a number of scientific experiments, spacewalks and public engagement events during their 62 days aboard station.

Behnken conducted four spacewalks while on board the space station with Expedition 63 Commander and NASA colleague Chris Cassidy. He now is tied for most spacewalks by an American astronaut with Michael Lopez-Alegria, Peggy Whitson, and Chris Cassidy.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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ChainLink LINK Launches Grant Program to Support Developers

ChainLink (LINK) Launches Grant Program to Support Developers

John P. Njui   •   CHAINLINK (LINK) NEWS   •   AUGUST 1, 2020

In summary:

  • Chainlink (LINK) has launched a community grant program to accelerate development on the platform.
  • The ChainLink ecosystem is growing rapidly and it is important to support the growth.
  • One goal of the Chainlink grant program is to accelerate the adoption of smart contracts.

The team at ChainLink (LINK) has announced the launch of its community grant program that aims at accelerating development on the network. The team explains that ChainLink network is growing at a rapid pace and it is vital to support the teams helping build on ChainLink.

ChainLink Grant Program to Accelerate Smart Contracts

The ChainLink network already plays a vital role in the DeFi industry through the use of smart contracts. The ChainLink project is already pushing the use of smart contracts into new industries as seen through the following two examples.

To begin with, ChainLink recently announced that the award-winning medieval strategy game of BlockLord was integrating ChainLinkVRF to power the game’s reward system. Through this ChainLink integration, gamers will be able to move up the ranks, access rare items as well as be rewarded in crypto for their performance and achievements.

Secondly, the top Korean banks of Hana, Shinhan, Nonghyup and Industrial Bank of Korea will be using ChainLink oracles to bring their forex data on-chain. This means that developers of DApps will now have access to real-time foreign exchange rates powered by Chainlink.

ChainLink Community to Aid in the Adoption of Smart Contracts

ChainLink’s goal is therefore to accelerate the adoption of smart contracts to the point of being the dominant digital agreement for contracts everywhere. To achieve this, the ChainLink community is a vital cog that will need constant support. The team further elaborated on this point as follows.

It is Chainlink’s goal to accelerate the adoption of smart contracts to the point where they are the dominant form of digital agreement for all contracts everywhere. This is a goal that we can only achieve together with our amazing community, their amazing ideas, the diligent development of those ideas into reality and a community wide commitment to creating an economically fair world powered by universally connected smart contracts.

How to Apply for the ChainLink Grant Program

Interested ChainLink developers are encouraged to apply for the Grant program via this online form.

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Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by John P. Njui.

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Authorities Arrest 17-Year-Old Mastermind Behind The Twitter Hack Dubbed Bit-Con

Authorities Arrest 17-Year-Old Mastermind Behind The Twitter Hack Dubbed “Bit-Con”

By Erie Maxwell – July 31, 2020

The recent Twitter hack echoed through the social media universe. Scammers made off with more than a hundred thousand dollars by taking over the accounts of celebrities, politicians, and even tech giants like Apple. Twitter’s stock dropped as much as 4% after the news and the social media world was thrown into disarray.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded in near disbelief. 

“Tough day for us at Twitter. We all feel terrible this happened,” Dorsey tweeted. “We’re diagnosing and will share everything we can when we have a more complete understanding of exactly what happened.”

Now we know that the chaos was all caused by a teenager.

Florida State authorities have arrested 17-year-old Graham Ivan Clark and have charged him with 30 felonies as the mastermind of the great ‘Bit-Con’.

According to the Department of Justice, Graham Ivan Clark didn’t act alone. 22-year-old Mason Sheppard, of the United Kingdom, and 19-year-old Florida resident, Nima Fazeli were also arrested for their participation in criminal actions.

Florida State Attorney Andrew Warren issued a statement on the investigation and the charges. 

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice conducted a complex nationwide investigation, locating and apprehending the suspect in Hillsborough County.”

Warren went on to say that the true victims were not Twitter or the celebrities, but the folks who handed over their money to the sammers. 

“These crimes were perpetrated using the names of famous people and celebrities, but they’re not the primary victims here. This ‘Bit-Con’ was designed to steal money from regular Americans from all over the country, including here in Florida. This massive fraud was orchestrated right here in our backyard, and we will not stand for that.”

Bitcoin has long been associated with crime and other unsavory acts, but as the technology continues to develop, the crypto space has been moving towards projecting a more professional tone.

Although Bitcoin has been the asset of choice requested by criminals, the real issue at hand is the breach of security at a major social media company and the fraud that occurred as a result.

When one crypto enthusiast suggested that Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson should hire the young hacker, he responded promptly and negatively.

“You don’t hire criminals. If you are looking for skilled hackers, then hire the ones who get access to such powerful systems and then show the world without harming people,” Hoskinson replied.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Erie Maxwell and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

UAE Implements Country-wide Blockchain-based Ecosystem For Data Sharing

UAE Implements Country-wide, Blockchain-based Ecosystem For Data Sharing

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 7/31/2020 10:28 AM ET

The United Arab Emirates has partnered Swedish blockchain KYC technology firm Norbloc AB to become one of the first countries in the world to implement a country-wide, blockchain based ecosystem for data sharing. Dubai Economy and banking group Emirates NBD announced the go-live of the UAE KYC Blockchain Platform.

The UAE KYC Blockchain Platform is an initiative which facilitates secure digital customer onboarding, instant bank account functionality and sharing of verified KYC (Know-Your-Customer) data between licensing authorities and financial institutions via advanced distributed blockchain technology.

Companies can now choose to share their data, in real time, with the financial institutions of their choice, thus significantly reducing time and cost.

The initiative, which was first announced in February 2020, establishes a UAE-wide ecosystem for exchange of verified KYC data and instant digital onboarding of companies by financial institutions. The project is fully supported by Smart Dubai and the Central Bank of UAE who play a key regulatory role in the initiative.

Apart from Dubai Economy and Emirates NBD, Commercial Bank of Dubai, ADCB, HSBC, and RAKBANK are also set to go live very soon. More than 120 companies are already instantly onboarded by Emirates NBD with active and operational bank accounts.

This initiative is part of the Agenda Number One of Dubai Model which focuses on improving customer experience. It also aligns with the UAE government's vision around digitization and paperless as crucial strategies that enable continuation and sustainability.

Emirates NBD is the first banking group to go live on the platform with its initial use case covering E20, its digital business bank. This will enable SME customers to open accounts instantly through the E20 Digital Business Bank app.

Meanwhile, Dubai Economy has also migrated all active trade licenses onto the blockchain platform, representing over 40 percent of all active trade licenses in the UAE.

All participating financial institutions can leverage the blockchain platform to seamlessly pull data of their customers and receive real time updates made to customer data.

The launch of KYC Blockchain Platform, along with the Unified Business Registry (UBR) in Dubai, shows the blockchain ecosystem growing to build a seamlessly integrated paperless government framework.

Dubai Economy, leading financial institutions such as Emirates NBD, Dubai Government, and the UAE Government are currently taking significant measures towards creating a digital low touch economy with simplified processes ensuring that business can continue to thrive in the post-COVID environment.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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