Tag Archives: blockchain

Over 60 of the World’s Top Corporations Are Investing in Blockchain Study Finds

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Over 60% of the World’s Top Corporations Are Investing in Blockchain, Study Finds

The world’s leading companies have already embarked on the “blockchain train” demonstrating that the technological revolution is already beginning to gain strength. According to a study published by Okta Inc more than half of the companies with profits above 1 billion dollars are investing in the development of blockchain technologies as tools to improve their business scheme.

To conduct the study, Okta Inc surveyed executives from more than 1000 internationally renowned companies to find out how they are using technological advances to adapt to the future. The study focused on investing in labor, technology, operations, and digital transformation.

The results in the area of digital transformation were amazing. The study concluded that almost 90% of large corporations have a strong interest in the application of blockchain technologies and artificial intelligence.

“To fuel this transformation, the vast majority (86%) of digitally transforming organizations are adopting new technologies to support agile app development, as well as getting their hands dirty now with forward-looking technologies like blockchain and AI. All of this is happening while maintaining secure systems and a secure user experience that respects customer privacy.

Similarly, more than 61% of companies invest in blockchain technologies as a business policy. The most popular technological advance is the Internet of Things with 72% of the total.

The internet of things is not only the one that has generated more interest in international investors, but it has proven to be one of the fastest growing technology sectors. A report by Forbes estimates that the total market profits associated with this type of development could be around 520B dollars by 2021.

Currently the market for cryptocurrencies is around 177 billion dollars, however, during the 2017 hype, the crypto coins reached a total capitalization of almost 800 billion dollars before the reversal of trends that gave rise to the bearish streak of 2018.

The crypto market in general has had a good 2019, Since late January there has been a slightly bullish trend that has led many analysts to declare that the tendency of 2018 is already coming to an end.

Original article written by Jose Antonio Lanz and posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site.

Article posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

How Blockchain Will Transform the Hiring Process

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How Blockchain Will Transform the Hiring Process.

By Chris Porteous

Blockchain has the potential to make data even more meaningful to HR professionals.

Most people have heard of the blockchain, although according to Forbes, the No.1 misconception with blockchain is that it’s the same as bitcoin. Being aware of the differences between the two is essential in understanding how blockchain can revolutionize the hiring process. Furthermore, if blockchain is adapted to work with current HR systems, it could mean a shift in the paradigm of massive proportions. We’re not looking only at the process here, but the data that facilitates that process. Blockchain has the potential to make that data even more meaningful to HR professionals as well as offer new insight into their potential hires than existing systems could.

The blockchain as a concept

So if bitcoin and blockchain aren’t interchangeable terms, then what is what? CNN Money defines bitcoin as a cryptocurrency that was initially created in 2009, as a means of storing value and transferring funds as a digital medium that is not controlled by any financial institution. Blockchain is the technology that made the existence of bitcoin possible, but there are so many more applications for it than merely a store of value in digital coins. Investopedia informs us that a blockchain is a distributed ledger, where all people who use the register have access to the contents of it, and those contents are declared through consensus of the network that the ledger is held on. In simple terms, a blockchain is a series of records, and everyone who has an interest in that blockchain has access to the entire blockchain. For us to determine the contents of that blockchain, we consult each member of the chain that holds a copy and the version of the blockchain that is in the majority wins out.

Blockchain and security

There’s something that makes the blockchain ideal for a situation where a company needs to take a potential employee’s word based on trust. Security within a blockchain is directly proportional to the number of users on that blockchain. This means that as more companies adopt the blockchain, the more secure the record kept on that blockchain will be.

An excellent example of this from an HR perspective is the submission of resumes using a site like TrustED. These documents are almost wholly taken on trust, except for references which the application usually gives to the employer. As these sites have shown, in the case of a blockchain, there would be no need for a resume since jobs that the applicant has done can be tracked and linked to the applicant’s account immediately. Additionally, previous employers could be reached directly to discuss the employee. And all of this data would be secured as more companies join the network. It would be a more reliable, but much more secure version of headhunting on LinkedIn.

Automated taxation

Blockchain was designed to be a method of securing data, but the evolution of the system has led to the development of a feature known as smart contracts. By setting a blockchain up that handles transactions automatically using these smart contracts, payment of salaries would be simple and wouldn’t involve any third-party. Additionally, a smart contract could be tied to the salary of each employee to ensure that each salary is removed before payment is made.

As Pricewaterhouse Coopers notes, many people in the system today wonder if the taxation system at present is capable of dealing with the evolved form of employment as exists today. This automated taxation system could be beneficial to both HR managers (who no longer have to calculate and pay taxation) as well as employees (who don’t have to worry about filing tax returns as all the information already exists on the blockchain).

Routine tasks and simplification

Payroll generation is another holdover from a bygone era, where the movement of money was linked to the flow of paper. Having a blockchain makes the need for keeping this paper-based system alive non-existent. Because blockchain can automatically log payments and instantaneously transfer funds, the need for updating a paper sheet with payment details and deductions (both of which could occur automatically as mentioned before) seems an added complication. Properly coded smart contracts would automatically execute these payments as they need to be done and inform both parties of the success of those payments. If there is a breach of that contract, all the data is readily available on the blockchain to allow for speedy litigation if necessary.

A disruptive technology

While Bitcoin might have had its way in the sun and is now moving like a rock rolling downhill, it did manage to show one thing?—?the usefulness and possibilities of a blockchain. Intelligent developers have already cottoned on the potential of these blockchains, and quite a few companies have become involved in research and development of the technology. Hackernoon even has a list of the banks that have started utilizing blockchain in their business, showing how disruptive this technology has been. The blockchain provides a better way of doing things than we have been invested in up to now. The smart thing would be to explore how it can change your business while everyone else is still in the dark about it.

Original article written by Chris Porteous and posted on the medium.com site.

Article posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Ethereum ETH Co-Founder Predicts Blockchain Will Dominate Economy in 10 Years

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Ethereum (ETH) Co-Founder Predicts Blockchain Will Dominate Economy in 10 Years

Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin made the prediction that blockchain will be a primary catalyst for the growth of the global economy over the next 10 to 20 years.

Speaking in a keynote at the SXSW conference in Austin on Mar. 14., Lubin claimed that he expected the global economy to grow ten times larger over the next decade or two, and fully expected blockchain to be involved in the majority of enterprise and market growth.

Lubin explained his prediction by comparing the current of blockchain and cryptocurrency to that of the internet and email in the years before it became a mainstream sensation. Speaking on the issue of mainstream adoption and the room left for blockchain to grow, Lubin said

“There weren’t a lot of ‘normal’ people firing email around in 1983.”

Ethereum’s co-founder also took the opportunity to address the advantages he sees in the development of Ethereum 2.0 over cryptocurrency market leader Bitcoin. In particular, Lubin explained that the Ethereum development team is specifically targeting the inefficiencies of Bitcoin as areas of advantage for Ethereum 2.0, presenting what he believes will be a cryptocurrency capable of overcoming the current industry hurdles,

“In Bitcoin and currently in Ethereum, you need to have specialized hardware, burn lots of electricity, waste lots of computation, to basically keep everybody in sync. [With Ethereum 2.0, in 18 months] we’ll have a blockchain system much more powerful and scalable that uses orders of magnitude less energy.”

While Ethereum is still a year and a half away from launching its anticipated major update, one that will witness a monumental switch from a Proof of Work system to Proof of Stake, the developer is already looking to how Ethereum can revolutionize the industry and improve upon its current framework.

Lubin made headlines earlier in the week for similar comments related to the benefits of blockchain, when he claimed that the decentralized technology could be of substantial benefit to content creators. Lubin singled out artists as a subgroup that would “benefit quite dramatically” from the adoption of blockchain, allowing them greater control over the distribution of their content while dictating the parameters of its consumption.

During that talk, Lubin went on to state that blockchain removed the need for middlemen in content creation and distribution, a factor that would greatly benefit the bottom line for musicians and other creative performers,

“I think artists in the music industry on average capture about 11 or 12 percent of the value in the industry and those big record companies are sucking up 70 or so percent. We can replace those record companies with smart contracts on the Ethereum platform.”

Cryptocurrency, as a whole, has seen positive price traction in 2019 after an abysmal year for coin prices in 2018. While there have been periods of price oscillation, Bitcoin reached its lowest 30-day price volatility earlier in the week since November 2018. In addition, the majority of top cryptos have experienced double digit price gains since the start of the year, with altcoins leading the market. Ethereum has managed a nice rebound in price after falling in valuation with the rest of the industry from it’s all time high established in early 2018.

Last week, analytic firm Electric Capital reported that Ethereum had the most robust monthly developer contribution, generating twice that of second-place Bitcoin.

Original article posted on Ethereum World News and written by Michael Lavere

Posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

This is Why Colorado Signed the Pro-Blockchain Digital Token Act

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This is Why Colorado Signed the Pro-Blockchain Digital Token Act

That the crypto wave is sweeping across the US is true. From presidential candidates from both sides of the divide supporting cryptocurrencies and accepting Bitcoin or ETH donations, tthe once demonized coin now stands to be in held in the same breath as the USD. Well, after a disastrous Non-Farm Payment Roll came in at just 20,000 crashing expectations of 180,000, something has to be done—quickly. A slowdown in job creation points to a weakness in the overall economy but there is an open window where blockchain and crypto provide endless opportunities.

To that end, Colorado is following the Wyoming route and with the ever vibrant, pro-blockchain Governor Jared Polis signing the Digital Token Act on the Friday of Mar 8, he heralded a new era where blockchains are free to roll their products aware that they are except from the state’s security laws unless otherwise.

Similarly, liquidity creators as crypto broker dealers and salespersons need not to be licensed under limited circumstances. The question now is, why is the state taking such a drastic and news grabbing decision? Is Jared seeing an unexploited opportunity that places his state ahead of the pack? From what we can glean, the decision was taken after the state’s general assembly determination.

Reason for Signing the Digital Token Act

After extensive commenting and deliberation, the state find that:

  • Crypto-economic systems operating off decentralized platforms form an important component of the blockchain technology. In turn, blockchain as a technology has the potential to create the web 3.0 which obviously has several advantages over existing internet systems.
  • Because of the advantages of blockchain and crypto-economic systems, Colorado is increasingly becoming a hub for blockchain companies. As a result, there is need to open up funding channels for these projects and the fastest way of doing that is to reduce consumptive regulatory requirement under Article 51.

Since the advantages of restricted market investment are many and outweighs the “costs and complexities of state securities registration”, there is need to eliminate regulatory uncertainty especially for Colorado businesses keen on utilizing blockchain and issue utility tokens.

“hereby promoting the formation and growth of local companies and the accompanying job creation and helping make Colorado a hub for companies that are building new forms of decentralized “web 3.0″platforms and applications.”

Applicable Rules for Exemption

However, there are rules for exemption, clear for token issuers. They include:

  1. The issuer must file a notice of intent with the SEC
  2. Token must be a utility, used for consumptive purposes
  3. The token must not be marketed in any way or used for speculation
  4. The token must be rolled out and find use within six months after initial sale or transfer
  5. Buyers must provide proof that they are buying the tokens for use and not for speculation
  6. Initial buyers must not transfer the token until after 180 days have elapsed

The act will be enforceable beginning August 2 and it is clear that not only is the Governor keen on creating new jobs but wants to create a blockchain hub out of Colorado where investors can legally invest in crypto projects. It also came as a surprise because not long ago, the SEC filed 12 cases against blockchain projects after the ICO Task Force determined that they fraudulently raised funds.

Original article written by Dalmas Ngetich and posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site.

Article posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Questions JPM Coin Usability

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Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Questions JPM Coin Usability

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of blockchain-based startup Ripple, has once again called into question the purpose of the JPM Coin.

In mid-February, Wall Street giant J.P. Morgan Chase announced plans to create the JPM Coin, a pseudo-stablecoin that would function to improve its internal payment network. Following the announcement, some analysts were quick to say that the JPM Coin would be a death sentence for payment protocol competitor Ripple. However, Garlinghouse fired back at his detractors, making the claim that banking coins “still aren’t the answer,” and that JPM Coin “misses the point.” Garlinghouse went on to compare the announcement by J.P. Morgan as similar to that of AOL and Netscape, with the bank predictably reneging its stance on cryptocurrency, albeit in a clumsy way.

On Mar. 6, speaking in an interview at the 4th Annual Washington D.C. Blockchain Summit, Ripple’s CEO continued to share more of his thoughts on J.P. Morgan’s stablecoin project. Specifically, Garlinghouse honed in on the lack of interoperability in a JPM Coin, i.e. that a rival bank such as Morgan Stanley or Citigroup would be unable to benefit from the internal payment network created by J.P. Morgan, thereby limiting its appeal,

“This guy from Morgan Stanley was interviewing me last week, and I asked him, so is Morgan Stanley going to use the JPM Coin? Probably not. Will Citi use it? […] Will PNC? And the answer is no. So we’re going to have all these different coins, and we’re back to where we are: there’s a lack of interoperability.”

Given the lack of reach that an internal payment stablecoin would have beyond J.P. Morgan clients, Garlinghouse questioned the purpose of developing the project at all. According to Garlinghouse, the bank would be better of just using the U.S. Dollar, and implied that JPM Coin fails to provide any real-world solution,

“Let’s think about this. [JPM] announced the JPM Coin for institutional customers. If you give them a dollar as deposit, they’ll give you a JPM Coin, that you then can move in the JPM ledger. Wait a minute, just use the dollar! I really don’t understand […] what problem that solves.”

Last week, Binance Research published a new report contending that J.P. Morgan’s stablecoin would be unlikely to compete with Ripple or XRP, and cited the lack of interoperability between institutions as a serious drawback to the coin’s adoption. While Garlinghouse’s comments echoed much of the same as Binance’s researchers, the CEO did concede that JPM Coin could boost the popularity of cryptocurrency. Despite J.P. Morgan’s Chief Executive Jamie Dimon having a negative stance towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrency over the years, Garlinghouse pointed out that JPM Coin represents a shifting landscape for banks,

”for the blockchain and crypto industry to have players such as JPM leaning in…That’s the one good thing I’ll say about this.”

As previously reported by EWN, the last two weeks have been a roller coaster ride for both Ripple and the XRP coin. While XRP was able to make its way onto popular U.S.-based exchange Coinbase, the price movement aftermath left investors disappointed. In addition, the parent company Ripple was accused by some community members of paying for the coin listing. However, on Monday, the San Francisco-based blockchain company was named a Top 20 place to work in the Bay Area, and represented the only blockchain or crypto-based company to make the cut.

Original article written by Michael Lavere and posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site.

Article posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

JPMorgan Chase’s Cryptocurrency: Is It A Gimmick Or The Real Deal?

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JPMorgan Chase's Cryptocurrency: Is It A Gimmick Or The Real Deal?

By Investing.com (Tanzeel Akhtar/Investing.com)

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JP Morgan logo is seen on an android mobile phone. Photo credit: LightRocket via Getty Images GETTY

The announcement last week by JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), that it plans to launch its own digital token, JPM Coin, caused ripples throughout the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. It's an unexpected development from an unlikely issuer. It's also the first cryptocurrency to be launched by a major global bank.

The bank is characterizing the introduction of this alt-currency as a pilot project aimed at institutional clients. According to JPMorgan, it will enable "instant" fund transfers and will allow both clients and the lender to settle payments over a blockchain network.

What makes this particularly startling are previous statements by JPM's CEO Jamie Dimon who famously bashed Bitcoin more than once. In late 2017 he referred to the most popular cryptocurrency by market cap as a "fraud," and compared the drivers of its then-rapidly-rising price to the mania that in the 1630s drove Dutch tulip bulb speculation.

In late 2018, even after the speculative Bitcoin bubble had burst, he denigrated the asset, saying, "blockchain is real, it's technology, but Bitcoin is not the same as a fiat currency." By those measures, JPM Coin appears to be something of a hybrid: it's based on blockchain technology and will be pegged 1:1 to a fiat currency, the U.S. dollar, which makes it a stablecoin, similar to Tether or TrueUSD.

JPM Coin is a very positive development for the asset class and the industry says En Hui Ong, head of business development at blockchain technology platform, Zilliqa. It demonstrates how blockchain can improve the way legacy payments are handled.

Don't Call It Cryptocurrency

However, he adds, it shouldn't be viewed as a cryptocurrency. Rather, it can best be described as a “digital asset.”

“JPM Coin will be built on Quorum, a distributed ledger platform described as an “enterprise-focused,” private version of Ethereum. As Quorum was developed by JP Morgan and some of its partners, the network will be controlled by the bank itself, rendering it both centralized and permissioned, therefore implying that any participants have to be vetted in order to join the system.

Contrast this with other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum where anyone located anywhere can spin up a node and join the system without permission.”

These restrictions mean only a small number of participants will likely able to join the network. Information from the bank, says Ong, indicates that JPM Coin is a prototype being tested by a restricted number of institutional clients. Though JPMorgan plans to expand the pilot program later this year, there are no plans to offer the cryptocurrency service to retail clients.

In contrast, true cryptocurrencies are available to anyone, notes Ong. All one has to do is to set up a wallet in which to store it. Nevertheless says Ong:

“Despite its differences from cryptocurrencies, the launch of JPM Coin and the participation of a major financial institution lends greater legitimacy to the wider blockchain industry as a whole."

Angelo Laub EOS lead at private data computation and data marketplace Slant agrees with Ong:

“The only users of JP Morgan coin are likely to be JP Morgan and their clients. I can’t even see other banks wanting to use it as it will make them reliant on JP Morgan Bank for processing transactions. Still, it’s a big step for a bank to go ahead and do something like that. This concept would have been unthinkable one or two years ago.“

Others don't see this development as particularly notable. Marcel Vaschauner, Chairman of Slant's board,argues that JPM Coin—which is issued by the bank and linked to the funds of the customer using it—most closely resembles a European digital payment instrument called e-money. He says it's a concept that's already widely used by Fintechs.

Still, because of Dimon's past criticism of cryptocurrencies, some within the industry can't help but appreciate the irony even if he's not convinced about the coin itself. Pedro Anderson, COO and co-founder of Winding Tree says:

“JPM Coin is great validation [of the asset class]. We'll take it. However, the entire case for the coin is built on trusting JPM—that they'll make everything right if they are in control because…they have a lot of money.”

Crossing the Chasm?

Ned Myers, senior vice president of Product Management at AlphaPoint, believes JP Morgan’s entrance into the digital asset space is another clear sign that the security token industry is rapidly “crossing the chasm,” to cite Jeffrey Moore, moving from early adoption to mainstream acceptance.

“Combined with other announcements from Fidelity and ICE’s BAKKT’s announced entry into the digital asset exchange space…we see JPM’s move as a clear harbinger that the use of digital assets by traditional financial institutions has arrived. I am looking forward to the tipping point, in which tokenized securities become the de facto standard for unlocking market liquidity.”

Others, however, would argue this nothing more than an advertising stunt. Vaibhav Kadikar, founder and CEO of, CloseCross believes JPM Coin, though billed as a cryptocurrency, is seen by critics as a self-promotional gimmick with little in the way of real value.

“The pioneering bank is relying on both its dominant market share, with 80% of Fortune 500 companies as clients, and other banks imitating this strategy, to drive increased adoption."

Original article posted on Investing.com.

Posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Is JPM Coin A Serious Threat To Ripple?

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Is JPM Coin A Serious Threat To Ripple?

Frances Coppola, Senior Contributor
Banking & Insurance
I write about banking, finance and economics.

On February 14, the giant bank J.P. Morgan announced plans to issue its own digital “coin," to run on its in-house Quorum blockchain. The coin will be pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar, with J.P. Morgan using the considerable heft of its balance sheet to guarantee the peg, so will not suffer the wild fluctuations in value that can make cryptocurrencies unreliable for payments. It is thus what in the crypto world is known as a “stablecoin”, not a cryptocurrency – a digital token that represents a fiat currency.

Exactly what impact “JPMCoin” will have on the cryptocurrency landscape is unclear. Opinion is divided between those who think that JPMCoin is a serious threat to Ripple and, to a lesser extent, Bitcoin and Ethereum, and those who think it is a non-event. Who is right?

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JP Morgan logo is seen on an android mobile phone. Photo credit: LightRocket via Getty Images GETTY

Well, it all depends how the coin is used, and who uses it. In a useful Q&A, Umar Farooq, J.P. Morgan’s head of Digital Treasury Services and Blockchain, explains how J.P. Morgan’s customers would use the coin:

"When one client sends money to another over the blockchain, JPM Coins are transferred and instantaneously redeemed for the equivalent amount of U.S. dollars, reducing the typical settlement time."

This sounds much like Ripple’s xRapid, which uses the cryptocurrency XRP as a bridging currency. To send money using xRapid, a customer exchanges fiat currency for XRP, the XRP is transferred, then the recipient redeems the XRP for fiat currency. The difference is, of course, that XRP is not a stablecoin. It is a traded instrument whose price can – and does – fluctuate widely. In today’s fast FX markets, the price can change even in the 3-4 seconds that it takes to execute the payment. J.P. Morgan is clearly promoting its coin as having exchange rate stability that XRP, like other traded coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, does not have. So is J.P.Morgan trying to kill xRapid?

It’s not immediately apparent that this is its goal. Firstly, JPMCoin will – at least to start with – only be used for payments entirely in U.S. dollars, unlike xRapid which can handle multiple currencies and cross-currency payments. Secondly, JPMCoin is – again to start with – only available to J.P. Morgan’s institutional clients. They can use the coin to send money between themselves, but not to retail customers or to non-customers. It’s thus a very limited enhancement to J.P. Morgan’s in-house payment rails.

This tends to support the argument that JPMCoin is merely marketing hype. After all, payments between J.P. Morgan’s customers are really only transfers across its own books. It seems a bit sad that cash-strapped IT departments have to say "look, it's blockchain" to persuade board directors to throw some money at settlement plumbing, always a pariah compared to fancy front-office systems. But from the point of view of J.P. Morgan’s customers, this is simply a long overdue improvement to the bank’s extremely expensive and very clunky cross-border payments systems. As Farooq observes (quoted in CoinTelegraph), this could be particularly beneficial for a large institutional client with overseas subsidiaries, which at present can only move money around its organization using external payment rails:

"Money sloshes back and forth all over the world in a large enterprise. Is there a way to ensure that a subsidiary can represent cash on the balance sheet without having to actually wire it to the unit? That way, they can consolidate their money and probably get better rates for it."

It's completely ridiculous that customers of J.P. Morgan have to use SWIFT and Fedwire to move money around within their own organizations. J.P.Morgan should have sorted this out long ago. As should other major banks.

Nevertheless, JPMCoin is a slap in the face for Ripple. Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple’s CEO, is on record as saying he expects “major banks” to adopt xRapid, along with the XRP token, in 2019. Now, J.P. Morgan – unquestionably a major bank – has told Ripple “no way are we using xRapid or XRP.” And it doesn’t mean only for internal transfers. The bank’s Q&A says it intends its coin eventually to be used for payments in multiple currencies and across other blockchains. That would make it a solution for cross-currency payments to non-customers – exactly the market that Ripple is aiming for.

Even if the coin remained limited to J.P. Morgan’s institutional clients, JPMCoin would still threaten Ripple’s plans. According to J.P. Morgan’s Farooq, “pretty much every big corporation is our client, and most of the major banks in the world are too.” The U.S. dollar is used for the majority of global transactions. If JPMCoin can corner the market in U.S. dollar transactions between most of the world’s large corporations and major banks, where does that leave Ripple?

Even before JPMCoin hit the news media, Ripple's plans to recruit major banks looked over-optimistic to the point of incredulity. Major banks currently control international payments. Why would they hand that privilege over to a third party, when they could develop their own blockchain-based payments network? And the need for such a network to facilitate payments between customers of different banks is no obstacle. Banks will cooperate when it is in their interests to do so. Indeed, that is how SWIFT came to be, and the FX bank CLS, and in the UK, the LINK network of ATMs. So it's entirely possible that banks might cooperate to create their own blockchain-based international payments network. In a particularly nasty twist of the knife, the major banks could even use Ripple's own innovation.

Ending Ripple’s dreams of world domination, and those of other digital coin issuers, might therefore be exactly what J.P. Morgan has in mind. It will be interesting to see how this little stand-off develops.

Original article written by Frances Coppola and posted on the Forbes.com site.

Article posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

4500 Stores Worldwide Now Accept XRP for Goods And Services

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4500 Stores Worldwide Now Accept XRP for Goods And Services

Ripple keeps growing at a dizzying rate, demonstrating that they not only have the blockchain technology preferred by large banks and financial institutions, but they have also developed a token that works perfectly as a cryptocurrency that grows in use and acceptance faster than any other altcoin in the ecosystem.

Despite the skepticism of many, the Ripple team has managed to captivate several investors, with important new partnerships. The last one was revealed a few hours ago when the cryptocurrency payment processor CoinGate announced that it was providing support for XRP in all of its 4500 stores.

Coingate Accepts XRP But Also Wants To Help it Grow

The CoinGate team comments that in addition to having studied the technology, the decision to accept XRP was made considering the high demand for the token in the community.

“We are thrilled to let you know that we are adding yet another payment option for our merchants, and this time it’s a big one! Due to very popular demand by the community, our next cryptocurrency on the list – XRP! As a result, XRP coin owners can now use it as a means of payment at more than 4,500 shops online! Whether you want to purchase a VPN, video game or anything else, you are more than welcome to do that!”

CoinGate emphasized that as a company they have high confidence in Ripple’s trustworthiness and the advanced blockchain technology they develop. CoinGate noted that despite accusations of being extremely centralized, Ripple is carrying out a decentralization strategy in which they stimulate the admission of third-party validators, removing one proprietary node for every two new decentralized nodes.

They also expressed their commitment to Ripple technology. “To further accelerate the decentralization of the XRP network, we are now running our own XRP Ledger validator!” Coingate said in its announcement.

The relationship between Coingate and Ripple is not limited only to supporting XRP as a payment mechanism. Coingate also announced the launch of a token purchase service with several payment modalities:

“Now, you can also buy XRP via CoinGate using one of our supported methods. For example, you are able to purchase it using SEPA bank transfer, mobile balance, and QQPay via CoinGate dashboard. However, if you do not wish to bother with registration, there are alternative methods to achieve the same.
One way is to buy XRP with a credit/debit card. It is a very simple procedure that only requires a quick KYC check-up. Same goes for those who wish to purchase XRP using Neteller or Skrill wallets. Just provide your receiving XRP address, enter your credentials and proceed to checkout!”

Ripple is Growing… And You Can Be a Part of It

Ripple’s growth is a fact. Its marketing strategy and a solid technological development have allowed it to rise to number 2 in the global market cap, surpassed only by Bitcoin, which remains the undisputed king of cryptocurrencies.

Currently, unlike other projects that have had to dismiss several members due to economic losses, Ripple has initiated a campaign to acquire talent. At the moment there are 36 open positions listed on Ripple’s job site, for various departments in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, China, Dubai, Singapore, and India.

Original article written by Jose Antonio Lanz and posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site.

Article posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Joseph Lubin: Blockchain Will Permeate Society More Than The Internet

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Joseph Lubin: “Blockchain Will Permeate Society More Than The Internet”

He also said Ethereum is "Much Better" than Bitcoin

ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin once again made clear his optimistic but cautious vision of the future of crypto. In an interview for the German news portal T3N, the also co-founder of Etherum expressed that blockchain technologies can redefine the future of technologies towards a more user-friendly orientation.

Web 2.0 vs Blockchain or Web 3.0

According to Lubin’s vision, nowadays the famous Web 2.0 focuses on protecting the interests of content and technology providers. For Lubin, the current business model looks at consumers as mere products. The blockchain technologies represent a revolution as they imply a necessary philosophical change in the business world:

“These Web2 business models are effectively in control, and as you know, they treat us like a product. They try to get a lot of information out about us so they can charge more for the product. And they have found ways to use man’s evolutionary drives so that they can make us dependent on their system, so that they can sell us more often as a product. Blockchain, on the other hand, enables a self-determined, sovereign identity. We can write our identity on blockchain systems and control it from our side of the browser. Identity will become very important in Web 3.”

For Lubin, it is still too early to talk about the possibility of implementing truly influential applications. Blockchain technologies do not yet have the necessary maturity for this type of development; however, he stressed that it is very possible that these advances will occur in a “not so distant future”:

“There are some projects moving in that direction, but it is extremely early in the development of technology. We build thousands of different components, building blocks, tokens, protocols, exchanges, and tools for identity and reputation. At a point in the not so distant future, when these systems are sufficiently scalable, we will be able to build a decentralized social network.”

 

Jose Lubin: The Future Looks Promising, But It Will Take Some Time

Several experts have considered blockchain technologies as the most important technological breakthrough in history since the appearance of the Internet, however for Lubin it is important to note that although it took more than two decades for the Internet to have the level of social influence it has today, blockchain technologies could take longer because of its high level of complexity:

“Blockchain is growing exponentially: There are hundreds of projects that are already practical for people. And they will enable people to build even more things that will be practical again. That’s how the web was developed. It will probably take a little longer because it’s much more complicated. Also because we work with issues like digital money, Blockchain will penetrate society more than the Internet. Everything will be networked in a Web3.0.”

 

ETH is “Much Better” Than BTC

The interview ended with a small comparison between Ethereum and Bitcoin. As expected, the co-founder of Ethereum considers ETH to be a better choice than the “Crypto King.” He also hopes that in the future the value of the token will be similar to that of Bitcoin:

“(ETH) is also cheaper and faster to transport values with it. It’s much better money than Bitcoin. I assume that it will be used much more than money … We expected it to level off at about the same amount as Bitcoin.”

Original article written by Jose Antonio Lanz and posted on Ethereum World News

Article reposted by Jeffrey Sloe

Ripple Leads Coallition To Hire Lobby Firm To Promote Friendly Crypto Policies

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Ripple Leads Coallition To Hire Lobby Firm To Promote Friendly Crypto Policies

A significant group of fintechs and businesses related to the industry of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies have decided to start a campaign to promote a legal space that is favorable for the development of the crypto-ecosystem.

According to Bloomberg these companies don’t not go by the wayside, and instead of the traditional awareness and promotion campaigns, the group has decided to hire the services of a major law firm to take the fight directly to the legal field.

The group of companies calls itself the “Securing America’s Internet of Value Coalition” and is currently formed by Ripple Labs, the independent foundation Ripple Works, Coil – a fintech that seeks to facilitate payments in the entertainment and digital content industry, Hard Yaka – a firm with large sums of money invested in digital assets – and PolySign – a startup that seeks to provide crypto custody services.

Chris Larsen, executive chairman of Ripple, said in recent months there has been a growing interest on the part of regulatory bodies and lobbies in general towards the issue of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies:

“We understand this is really complicated, and there is a lot of misinformation out there … The good news is there is a lot of interest in this topic in D.C.” – Chris Larson

Ripple and Klein/Johnson Group: Bringing Together Laws and Cryptocurrencies

It is also important to note that the coalition has hired the services of Klein/Johnson Group, a “bipartisan lobbying and public policy firm” that in recent years has been working to provide advice on financial and technological services.

Ripple is until now the visible head of the group. The success of its payment solutions has made its XRP token the third most important cryptocurrency in the global market cap.

Ripple’s presence is especially crucial as the Coalition is investing a large amount of money in its mission. According to the report, Klein/Johnson will receive a monthly sum of 25,000 USD plus 10,000 XRP, which will be declared as cash at the time of disclosing the payments received.

In this regard, Chris Larsen, explains that this seeks to generate greater interest on the part of the firm, bringing them a little closer to the ecosystem:

“It gives them some upside and gives them some risk … Hopefully, it gives them a taste of the industry in a way that hits home.” – Chris larson

The coalition has good expectations, especially now that the changes of commissioners within the SEC have helped the organization have a more positive view on the issue of cryptocurrencies, especially regarding the so expected Bitcoin ETFs.

ARTICLE Written by Jose Antonio Lanz and posted on Ethereum World News' website

Posted by: Jeffrey Sloe