Cameron Winklevoss: Bitcoin BTC Has Been Hiding in Plain Sight

Cameron Winklevoss: Bitcoin (BTC) Has Been Hiding in Plain Sight

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS   •   May 10, 2020   •   2 Min read

In brief:

  • The Co-Founder of Gemini Exchange, Cameron Winklevoss, has pointed out that Bitcoin (BTC) has been hiding in plain sight for over a decade.
  • Mr. Winkelvoss was responding to news that Quantitative Easing was likely to continue with US House Democrats asking for Trillions of Dollars in a second stimulus bill.
  • For over 10 years, Bitcoin has been available as a hedge from such practices that will ultimately lead to inflation.

The need for Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets has never been clearer than now as The Fed and other prominent global central banks continue on their money printing to cushion their respective economies from the effects of the Coronavirus. Keen investors have already hedged for inflation using Bitcoin (BTC) and precious metals such as Gold.

US House Speaker, Nany Pelosi, Wants Trillions in Another Stimulus Bill

The Quantitative easing by the US Fed looks set to continue as long as President Trump is in power. Furthermore, there have been murmurs of a possible second stimulus bill by the US Congress that could run into the Trillions.

On the 9th of June, it was reported that the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, was confident that Congress would pass a second stimulus bill that could run into the Trillions and higher than the May relief package of $3 Trillion.


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Bitcoin has Been Hiding in Plain Sight For Over A Decade

It is with this background of a possible second stimulus bill, that the Co-Founder of the Gemini Exchange, Cameron Winklevoss, pointed out via Twitter, that the continual money printing could only be hedged by owning Bitcoin (BTC).

He also pointed out that Bitcoin has been in existence for over 10 years as he responded to a comment highlighting the fact that not too many regular investors are aware that they can hedge against inflation using Bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s Barriers Towards Mass Adoption

One is then left with the question of why the mass adoption of Bitcoin is not at a fever pitch given the current global economic climate.

To begin with, Bitcoin has long had a ‘bad reputation’ of being a Ponzi or fool’s gold. Even Warren Buffet once called Bitcoin ‘rat poison square’. These harsh words from a legendary investor confirm that not too many people understand the concept of digital money and/or transactions on a peer to peer level.

Secondly, owning and trading Bitcoin requires some technical know-how thus leaving the task to more tech-savvy individuals between the ages of 13 and 35. However, there is hope on the horizon as traditional institutional investors, such as Grayscale, are providing BTC based investment products. Furthermore, the recent direct endorsement of Bitcoin by Paul Tudor Jones has led to many boomers considering Bitcoin as an investment option.

Conclusion

Summing it up, the money printer by the Fed and other global central banks will continue to go 'Brrrrrr'. The continual money printing is surely to cause inflation and Bitcoin will provide the perfect hedge against such a possibility.

Additionally, and as pointed out by Cameron Winklevoss, BTC has been around for over a decade…hiding in plain sight. Therefore, it might not be too late to grab a few Satoshis as a hedge against the money printer continuing to go Brrr.

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

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Texas Regulator Shuts Down Fraudulent Multilevel Marketing Crypto Firm

Texas Regulator Shuts Down Fraudulent Multilevel Marketing Crypto Firm

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 7/10/2020 11:07 AM ET

The Commissioner of the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) has issued an emergency cease-and-desist order against a South African cryptocurrency firm running an unregistered international, multilevel marketing get-rich-quick scheme in the State of Texas.

The Commissioner's order stopped Mirror Trading International Pty Ltd., controlled by Cornelius Johannes "Johan" Steynberg, from offering any security for sale in Texas until it is registered with or is exempted from registration by the Securities Commissioner.

The Commissioner has also named four of Mirror Trading's stateside, multilevel marketing agents – ForexAndBitcoin.com, Michael Cullison, Steve Herceg and Brian Knott – accusing them of illegally soliciting Texas investors.

According to the order, Mirror Trading is accused of recruiting multilevel marketers to illegally sell fraudulent investments in a bitcoin (BTC) and forex pool, which can be purchased by transferring bitcoin to Mirror Trading.

The bitcoins received from investors are then pooled and transferred to various unidentified forex brokers, the order says. The bitcoin is then supposedly somehow traded on the forex market using artificial intelligence, generating 'conservatively' projected profits of 10 percent per month.

The order alleges that Mirror Trading concealed material information from potential investors, including important information about Steynberg, its forex brokers, its handling of cryptocurrencies, the artificial intelligence used to place trades and the significant risks associated with the product.

The order accuses Mirror Trading of perpetrating the fraud though an illegal international multilevel marketing program. Mirror Trading is also recruiting unregistered securities salespersons by promising to pay up to four streams of lucrative commissions, based on their success in recruiting new investors and multilevel marketers.

Mirror Trading also boasted about the accomplishments of its multilevel marketers, claiming it has now enrolled almost 76,000 members from more than 170 countries, including more than 22,500 since March 1, 2020.

The TSSB has been one of the most active state regulators with regard to cryptocurrencies for the well-being of investors in Texas. It was the first to enter an order against a cryptocurrency firm and is among those who entered the most orders of any state regulator.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

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Bitcoin BTC amp Crypto Briefly Knocked Down by New COVID19 Cases

Bitcoin (BTC) & Crypto Briefly Knocked Down by New COVID19 Cases

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS   •   July 10, 2020

In brief:

  • In the last 48 hours, Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and all the major cryptocurrencies, have suffered a pullback as data suggests that COVID19 is still spreading.
  • The spread of the Coronavirus has also affected the stock markets.
  • BTC and the entire crypto market is highly correlated to the traditional financial markets.
  • The crypto markets might never decouple from the influence of COVID19 stats.

In the last 48 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) and the entire spectrum of digital assets have suffered a setback in the crypto markets as new statistics indicate that global COVDI19 infections are continuing to increase. At the time of writing this, the global confirmed cases of the Coronavirus now stands at 12.2 million.

Yesterday, the U.S set a one-day record with over 60,000 confirmed new cases. Furthermore, the rise in infections has had an impact on the stock market on fears of new lockdowns to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and other Cryptocurrencies Suffer a Pullback

Checking the charts, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial average were hard hit by the news of new infections. As a result, Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and the entire cryptocurrency spectrum were also briefly knocked down in the markets by the news.

Since the news broke, Bitcoin’s journey above $9,500 was halted and the King of Crypto dropped to the $9,150 support area and is currently trading at $9,133. Additionally, Ethereum’s attempt at breaking $250 was cut short by the news and dropped to the $232 support area. ETH is now trading at $238.


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In the case of XRP, the remittance coin has had to halt its mission of reclaiming the number 2 spot from Tether on Coinmarketcap. XRP is battling to maintain the familiar $0.20 support zone and is trading at $0.197.

Bitcoin and Crypto Will Continue Being Affected by the Global Spread of COVID19

It is clear that Bitcoin and the entire crypto market is highly correlated to the global spread of the Coronavirus as well as its effects on the traditional markets.

Therefore, it might be prudent to conclude that Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and the crypto markets, are still very much tied to the progress made in combating the spread of the Coronavirus. As a result, if the numbers keep increasing, all digital assets will continue being affected by the statistics related to COVID19.

However, there is a glimmer of hope as 145 vaccines against COVID19 are currently in development with 22 of them already in human trials. This means that the world could be a few months away from a working vaccine, and with it, relief for Bitcoin and all digital assets.

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to give financial advice. Any additional opinion herein is purely the author’s and does not represent the opinion of EWN or any of its other writers. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the numerous cryptocurrencies available. Thank you.

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

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz Urges Investors To Buy More Gold Than Bitcoin Here’s Why

Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz Urges Investors To Buy More Gold Than Bitcoin — Here’s Why

By Brenda Ngari – July 9, 2020

Gold is aiming for a new all-time high after zooming past $1,800. The last time the precious alloy breached this level was back in September 2011. Following this impressive rally, gold is now approximately 6% shy of its lifetime high.

Bitcoin, by contrast, is still struggling to get a foothold above $10K. Even so, Galaxy Digital founder and chief executive, Mike Novogratz, believes the top cryptocurrency will outperform gold in the future. He, however, cautions investors against putting a majority of their wealth in bitcoin instead of gold due to the crypto’s extreme volatility.

Have More Gold Than BTC: Novogratz

Multi-millionaire and ex-Goldman Sachs partner Mike Novogratz is a well-known bitcoin bull. Earlier this year, he predicted that the flagship crypto will reach an all-time high by the end of the year. He even posited that he would give up on Bitcoin if it didn’t. In a recent interview with CNBC’s Fast Money, Novogratz has reaffirmed his bullishness for the cryptocurrency.

He noted that bitcoin will outshine gold in the future because we are still in the early stages of the adoption curve. The bitcoin advocate acknowledges that it is still quite hard for most people to buy the cryptocurrency. But there are several experts currently working on making it easier, and when this finally happens, BTC will be the crème de la crème.

Regardless, the Wall Street veteran thinks investors should buy more gold and less bitcoin because of the level of risk associated with the big price swings in crypto:

“And so my sense is bitcoin way outperforms it [gold], but I will tell people to have a lot less Bitcoin than they do gold, just because of the volatility.”

Bitcoin’s Future Looks Green

Bitcoin rallied from a shade under $4,000 to $10,400 in just two months right before the block halving in May. But since then, the strong momentum has faltered and BTC has on several instances failed to keep its head above $10,000. Moreover, the cryptocurrency’s correlation with the S&P 500 index has grown stronger — tainting its image as a digital safe-haven asset.

Nonetheless, bitcoin’s perception by the traditional finance class is improving. In other words, traditional investors are growing increasingly confident about the asset’s potential in the long-term. For instance, Wall Street hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones allocated 1%-2% of his portfolio to BTC just a couple months ago as a hedge against inflation.

In his interview, Novogratz pointed out that the current economic climate where central banks across the globe are printing insane amounts of money is perfect for assets like gold. It’s for this exact same reason that the bullish prognosticator loves bitcoin. 

And, perhaps more importantly, bitcoin has noticeably outperformed gold in terms of year-to-date gains. What could possibly stop it from continuing its great ride in the coming months or years?

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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 Brenda Ngari and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Most Crypto Investors Worry What Happens To Their Assets After They Die: Study

Most Crypto Investors Worry What Happens To Their Assets After They Die: Study

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 7/8/2020 11:11 AM ET

Most cryptocurrency investors are found to be worried about what will happen to their digital assets after they die, according to a new research conducted by The Cremation Institute.

They are worried that their digital assets will simply disappear after they pass away and not passed on to their loved ones.

89 percent of crypto-asset investors worry about losing their digital assets after they die. Despite this worry, only 23 percent of the investors have a documented plan.

The overall planning disorganization is attributed to the combined issues of lacking crypto estate services and government regulation covering estate planning & crypto assets. Complacency is also seen as a large factor.

The study says younger generations are 10 times more likely not to have a plan in comparison to older generations. 59 percent of youngsters between the ages of 18 to 25 years have no plan, while 35 percent of Millennials reported no plan.

The results analysed by The Cremation Institute also showed that 39 percent of women are significantly more likely than men to have some sort of cryptocurrency contingency plan if they were to pass away.

If a user dies, the program will transfer the contents of his/her cryptocurrency wallets to a specific account, which had been set up and prepared beforehand.

The online survey was conducted between October 20, 2019 and June 3, 2020. In total, there were 1,150 participants between the ages 19 to 73 years. The margin of error for the total survey sample size was recorded at 3.5 percent.

According to Coinmetrics.io, there are currently 12,000 Bitcoin millionaires in the world. There are also many of them who have passed away and their families are unable to access their funds. It is estimated that around 4 million Bitcoin, valued at about $40 billion, has been forever lost due to death, according to Coincover.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

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Bitcoin BTC Fell 52 The Last Time Its Volatility Was This Low

Bitcoin (BTC) Fell 52% The Last Time Its Volatility Was This Low

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS   •   July 06, 2020

Quick take:

  • Bitcoin has once again regained a sense of bullishness with a quick move above $9,300.
  • Only time will tell if this move will lead to a retest of $10,000.
  • Bitcoin’s volatility is still low and the last time it was at this level, was November 2018.
  • Back then BTC fell from $6,600 to $3,150: a dip of 52%.

Earlier this morning, and around the weekly close, Bitcoin dipped to $8,890 before bouncing hard to a 24-hour high of $9,350. Today’s Bitcoin action has left many traders excited as the King of Crypto recovered from what looked like a sure dump after a resolution of the Bollinger Band squeeze on the daily chart. This 5% move by Bitcoin, has reignited confidence in the King of Crypto. Bitcoin could be headed back to bullish levels and perhaps a retest of the psychological price of $10,000 in 49 days as earlier predicted.

Bitcoin’s Volatility is Still Low

However, the excitement for Bitcoin bulls might be temporary as the current low volatility of BTC could point to more losses in the crypto markets. According to a recent analysis by Skew, the ten-day realized volatility of Bitcoin currently stands at 20%. The last time it was at this value, was November 2018. Back then, Bitcoin fell from $6,600 to the famous December 2018 bottom of $3,150. The team at Skew highlighted this fact via the following tweet.

A clearer version of the chart by Skew can be found below.


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Bitcoin’s fall in November 2018 was a 52% Drop

Doing the math, the fall by Bitcoin in November of 2018 was a loss of 52% in a span of a month. Doing a similar projection of Bitcoin using BTC’s current value of $9,313, Bitcoin could fall as low as $4,470 if history repeats itself.

This estimate might not be too far fetched given the fact that Bitcoin has just recovered from the Coronavirus crash of mid-March. During the crypto market panic earlier this year due to COVID19, Bitcoin fell from stable levels of $9,000 to what many believe is the 2020 bottom for Bitcoin at $3,700. This dip is a 54% drop and higher than what might be in store for Bitcoin if there is indeed another crash.

As with all analyses of Bitcoin, traders and investors are advised to do their own analysis as well as use risk management techniques such as stop losses. Additionally, the use of low leverage on Bitcoin futures platforms is advisable during uncertain times such as now.

Disclaimer: This article is not meant to give financial advice. Any additional opinion herein is purely the author’s and does not represent the opinion of EWN or any of its other writers. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the numerous cryptocurrencies available. Thank you.

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

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bitcoin On The Cusp Of A Breakout After Its Energy Value Hits An All-Time High

Bitcoin On The Cusp Of A Breakout After Its Energy Value Hits An All-Time High

By Erie Maxwell – July 6, 2020

Bitcoin is finally seeing a glimpse of hope today with a decent 3% price increase climbing above $9,240 and eyes $9,292, the last daily high. Bulls are also facing some resistance at $9,260, the daily 26-EMA. If Bitcoin can see a clear break above $9,300 and close, the daily uptrend will be confirmed.


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The daily MACD is also extremely close to a bull cross, almost inevitable as long as Bitcoin stays above $9,200 today. The RSI is only at 50 points, which means it will have no impact in the short-term, and EMAs are getting closer to each other, hinting at a possible bull cross within the next week if bullish action continues.

What is Bitcoin’s Energy Level Metric and How Does it Affect Its Price?

Bitcoin, as other Proof of Work (PoW) cryptocurrencies, consumes a lot of electricity around the world. People mining Bitcoin need to use electricity to run their hardware in order to mine Bitcoin.

The idea behind Bitcoin’s Energy-Value equivalence is that one can use energy or Joules to estimate the fair value of Bitcoin. If the energy input is higher, the value of Bitcoin should increase.

The logic behind this metric is that energy consumption basically translates into an intrinsic value for Bitcoin. Back in December 2019, the Energy Value formula calculated that the fair value of Bitcoin was around $11,500.

The energy value has increased significantly from December 2019, however, the price hasn’t. Unfortunately, it’s not clear if there is really any correlation between the Expected Value and the actual price as the value of Bitcoin will still be based on demand more than anything else.

Regardless of predictions, the increase in Energy Value shows that people are still interested in Bitcoin, in fact, more interested than before even though its price has been 50% lower than the ATH for the past two years. In a way, this translates into more demand which should push its price higher.

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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

Number Of People Owning 1 BTC Nears One Million Amid Market Downturn

Number Of People Owning 1 BTC Nears One Million Amid Market Downturn

By Liza Mazurina – July 5, 2020

Two months after the Bitcoin halving event, the number of addresses holding 1+ BTC keeps rising. This trend has continued since the ‘Black Thursday’ market crash in March, which had a catastrophic impact on stocks and cryptocurrencies as both markets thumped deep asset price levels. However, several months later, Bitcoin has strongly recuperated – and up over 43% in the second quarter of 2020.

Strong interest potential has always allured many new investors who are gradually increasing their bitcoin stash. Presently, the number of addresses holding one or more BTC is coming closer to 1 million according to data from Glassnode.


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According to some prominent industry executives in the crypto space, BTC price may go as high as the benchmark of $50,000 in the face of post-halving euphoria. Many experts foresee an upcoming bullish trend, which may be realized later this year. Nevertheless, there’s always a healthy degree of skepticism regarding overly positive projections.

The rise in crypto interest also comes amid a high uncertainty surrounding the S&P 500 and the future of the global economy, especially as rumors spring up about a new tier of martyrs to the pandemic. Besides, as the bailout money printing becomes the only way to save the economy, inflationary risk creeps nearer by each day.

That’s why it comes as no surprise that enthusiasm surrounding Bitcoin has reached a fever pitch. And not without reason – massive whale withdrawals from major exchanges point to the first signs of the upcoming bullish trend, and the growing popularity of ‘HODLing’ strategy may be interpreted as a positive sign.

While a growing interest envelops altcoins, Bitcoin may take better advantage of political and economic uncertainty as it already has the substantial potential of trumping gold.

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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 Liza Mazurina and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

The Most Famous Financial Pyramids in the Crypto World

The Most Famous Financial Pyramids in the Crypto World

Crypto itself has only been around for a decade, and the space has already gained its top Ponzi scheme actors. Here are three of them.


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            JUL 04, 2020

In addition to the obvious advantages in the form of anonymity, accessibility, ease of use and low cost of transactions, cryptocurrencies have some serious drawbacks that impede their global adoption. The main one is the connection between crypto and crime. Everyone who has studied this topic even superficially knows that Bitcoin (BTC) still remains a popular payment method among scammers and criminals on the darknet. Cryptocurrencies are very convenient tools for money laundering, evading taxes and cheating investors.

Today, I will talk about the most famous cryptocurrency pyramids, from which millions of investors suffered and whose activities amounted to billions of dollars in losses. These companies worked on Ponzi schemes, named after an Italian fraudster of the early 20th century. These pyramids do not produce goods and do not provide services — all they do is network marketing, where each member of the pyramid invites several new ones that invite the next ones and so on.

The only people involved who manage to earn in such a system are the organizers and some early investors who managed to withdraw their money in time. The remaining participants in the pyramid are left without money, with debts, or in the case of cryptocurrency pyramids, with no valuable tokens.

OneCoin

OneCoin is considered one of the largest cryptocurrency pyramids, which functioned from 2014 to 2017, deceiving about three million people and defrauding investors of around $5 billion in total. The founder of One Coin is the Bulgarian fraudster Ruzha Ignatova. The pyramid worked according to the classical Ponzi scheme, in which participants receive a reward for each new person invited.

The scammer convinced her audience that OneCoin would soon become the most influential cryptocurrency in the world. There were even promises to “kill Bitcoin.” It is worth noting that her coin did not even have its own blockchain and was accepted only on sites associated with the pyramid.

For the first time, the Bulgarian government spoke about the threat from fraudsters by publishing a message about the risks of participating in OneCoin, since the project is not a financial instrument and is not controlled by regulators. This caused the pyramid to “leave” the country and refuse to work with Bulgarian banks.

But soon, criticism and warnings about participating in the scheme came from the United Kingdom, Austria and Thailand. Italy and Germany even banned the activities of OneCoin in the countries and blocked their accounts. Ignatova simply did not attend the next announced meeting with investors in Lisbon, and was never seen again. There is no information on her whereabouts.

The United States government has charged Ruzha Ignatova with fraud and money laundering. While she faces 25 years of imprisonment, law enforcement officers still managed to arrest some of her accomplices, among whom include her lawyer, brother and former business partner.

BitConnect

Another major crypto pyramid functioned from 2016 to 2018: BitConnect. It was created by unknown developers and led by a man named Satao Nakamoto.

Participants had to buy BCC tokens and lock them on a special platform, and the trading bot had to earn profit automatically. Members of the pyramid were promised 40% in profit per month. According to the organizers of BitConnect, from an initial investment of $1,000, investors could expect to withdraw $50 million in three years’ time.

The first critic of the pyramid was Vitalik Buterin, who drew attention to the fact that the promise of 1% profit per day is a classic Ponzi scheme. After some time, Mike Novogratz and Litecoin (LTC) creator Charlie Lee agreed with the opinion of the founder of Ethereum. At the same time, questions for the organizers of BitConnect came from the United Kingdom government, which demanded the company to reveal its business model. Yet, this did not prevent fraudsters from participating in crypto events and attracting new investors.

The U.S. authorities helped to end this story, calling BitConnect a financial pyramid and demanding that it cease operations. After that, the BCC token fell by 90%, investors were left with a total loss of $3.5 billion, and one of the organizers of the pyramid was behind bars. Divayesh Darji, the head of the Indian branch of BitConnect, did, however, come out on bail in 2019.

Related: From Bitconnect to SIM-Swap Swindling: 2018's Biggest Scams

PlusToken

The youngest and largest financial pyramid in recent years. Founded in 2018, the pyramid was advertised in Chinese WeChat with promises of 10%–30% of return on investment per month. Around four million people became participants in the PlusToken ponzi scheme. Fraudsters allegedly advocated financial literacy and trained people to use cryptocurrencies, but ultimately aimed to convert them to Plus tokens.

In this case, justice still overtook the organizers of the scheme, and a year ago, six of them were arrested at the request of Chinese authorities. However, the $3 billion lost by investors could not be returned, and remains with the PlusToken team members. More recently, on June 22, all EOS was withdrawn from the pyramid’s wallets, and soon enough, this was repeated with all ETH tokens.

Despite the fact that these pyramids have practically ceased their activity, their various “reincarnations” constantly appear, attracting inexperienced investors. The government cannot forever protect citizens from such schemes, since prohibition requires proof of a crime. In this case, the best defense is knowledge. If everyone could recognize the huge profit margins promised by companies in exchange for investment as a red flag rather than a gold mine, there would be significantly fewer fraudsters.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Nick Bel.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

European Innovation Council Awards 5 Mln Euros To Six Blockchain Start-ups

European Innovation Council Awards 5 Mln Euros To Six Blockchain Start-ups

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 7/2/2020 10:13 AM ET

The European Commission's European Innovation Council (EIC) has awarded 5 million euros or about $5.6 million, to six wining start-ups providing innovative blockchain solutions for social good.

The "Blockchains for Social Good" award recognizes and supports the efforts made by developers and civil society in exploring the applications of blockchain in the area of social innovation to create positive social change.

The proposed solutions covered six different social innovation areas such as traceability and fair trade, financial inclusion, decentralised circular economy, transparency of public processes, participation in democratic decision-making, and management of public records.

The winners were selected in a call to identify scalable, deployable and high-impact blockchain solutions for societal challenges.

The winning blockchain applications were WordProof by Dutch SME WordProof B.V., PPP by UK social enterprise Project Provenance Ltd., GMeRitS by Finnish university Aalto, PROSUME by Italian Prosume srl, CKH2020 by French cooperative Kleros, and UnBlocked Cash Project OXBBU by Irish Oxfam and French startup Sempo.

The competition sought to award 1 million euros each to the five innovators that come up with the most promising Blockchain solutions in five different social innovation areas. The requirement of the competition was to submit solutions developed in Open Source.

Finally, the first four solutions were awarded 1 million euros each and the fifth prize was shared between two solutions as they were a combined fifth.

The six winners were selected from 176 applications from 43 countries that showed the potential to address local and global challenges with blockchain technology that offers decentralised, trusted and transparent solutions. They addressed fairly well all the six areas, and 13 additional areas proposed by the applicants themselves.

While the revolutionary potential of blockchains has been tested in the financial domain in particular, its possible applications in social domains and to address sustainability challenges have been explored far less.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe