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Home Articles by: Danish Yasin
Danish Yasin
An aspiring Computer Scientist and a Bitcoin enthusiast
The road to decentralization: hybrid exchanges
Exchanges are currently the most important players in the crypto field. They manage millions in crypto and fiat currency every day, and control the assets of a myriad of users. Their power and influence on the market is seemingly too much sometimes. Exchanges represent to this day the centralized authority that Bitcoin, and the other cryptocurrencies that followed, tried so hard to remove. How can we contain their influence?
Are Those Free Tokens Too Good to Be True?
A crypto airdrop offers an attractive opportunity to earn some free tokens from your favorite project. But not all ICO airdrops are equal and some may offer better rewards, while conversely, some may be frauds.
How do you find a crypto airdrop?
ICO drops are a good way to get started with cryptocurrency. You can practically invest in a project, without actually investing money into it. Basically, a crypto airdrop is an event, in which a project gives out free tokens to community members. This is seen as a good marketing strategy, because it attracts more participants to a project and allows them to have a stake in it.
What do you need to participate in an ICO airdrop?
You're curious about the tools that you may require to get the free tokens. In the following few paragraphs, we'll explain all the tools that may be involved in an ICO airdrop.
How ModulTrade is changing the global trade market, one step at a time
The history of international trade and its current conditions shows that only large companies could receive all of the benefits and leave the smaller ones on the side of the large road. That's about to change.
03 Jul, 2018 21:45
Invest in Prime Real Estate in Manhattan with Cryptocurrency
Slice is creating an opportunity for high value investors in the crypto market to invest in real estate in Manhattan with their crypto assets.
Japanese exchange gave out free bitcoins to seven users by mistake
A user apparently tried to buy $20 trillion worth of bitcoin when a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange witnessed a bug and the price of a single Bitcoin went to $0. Seven users tried to abuse this bug in the system, however, all of their transactions were cancelled later on.
Short-term BTC predictability now possible via market trend evaluation
Bitcoin is the world's first ever cryptocurrency, which has witnessed enormous growth during the past couple of years. A group of researchers analyzed the possibility of making short-term predictions of bitcoin's exchange rate against the US dollar.
US Marshal Services hoarding digital coins worth millions of USD?
Bitcoins have become a powerful trading asset, currently worth over $10,000. It has attracted all kinds of investors from all over the world. Unsurprisingly, it has also caught the attention of criminals, who exploit its decentralized and relatively anonymous nature for their own benefits.
EpigenCare proposes blockchain-based personalized skincare solution
Another company has decided to gain in on the crypto hype by announcing the launch of a blockchain based platform to revolutionize the skincare industry. EpigenCare uses epigenetic techniques and the blockchain technology to create personalized skincare products.
FCC orders shut down of BTC mining rig due to "harmful interference"
The FCC notified a bitcoin miner that he has to stop his mining operations as it is disrupting T-mobile's signals in the vicinity. The FCC's "direction finding techniques" revealed the cause of this interference to be an Antminer S5 mining rig.
Bitcoin Hardforks - There are enough to make a list
Hardforking is an interesting concept in the world of blockchains. Bitcoin's blockchain has gone through many hardforking processes lately. Developers carry out hardforks to create interesting new coins with new characteristics. Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Bitcoin Diamond (BCD), Super Bitcoin (SBTC), and Bitcoin Private (BTCP) are the most important hardforks to date.
Blockchain-based HealthCombix partners with NuCypher
HealthCombix has just partnered with NuCypher to launch a blockchain based system that will improve information sharing in the healthcare industry. The ICO is expected to take place by the end of this year, or in the beginning of 2019.
Litecoin Cash successfully hard forks off from Litecoin's blockchain
The Litecoin blockchain was successfully hardforked for the first time ever, leading to the creation of a new cryptocurrency "Litecoin Cash". The new coin has no affiliation with Litecoin's team and is only a fork of their code and blockchain.
Bankera acquires Pacific Private Bank to provide digital bank
Bankera is more than just a traditional cryptocurrency exchange, or a wallet service. Bankera has just acquired the Pacific Private Bank (PPB) in an attempt to become a worldwide all-in-one banking solution.
South Korean cryptocurrency regulatory advisor found dead
A sudden twist has just occurred in the South Korean cryptocurrency regulation episode, as a government official, who was responsible for formulating cryptocurrency regulations, was found dead at his home.
Anonymous buyer makes millions of dollars worth of bitcoin purchase
An anonymous whale has just invested more than $400 million to buy around 9,600 bitcoins. The news of this purchase is all over the social media and is reflecting how investors are confident that bitcoin has big potential in 2018.
ODEM, the first decentralized education platform, launches crowdsale
The blockchain technology is revolutionizing every walk of life, even the education sector. ODEM.IO is the latest blockchain based company that aims to provide a revolutionary education platform, facilitating easy learning..
A blockchain-backed bar launched to revolutionize the alcohol industry
QYKBAR is a new startup that has announced a blockchain-based service. It will basically provide its customers with a cloud based bar, which will allow them to consume their drinks in any of the affiliated bars and pay with crypto.
Bitmessage under attack by hackers
Hackers have deployed a malware attack on Bitmessage, a Peer-to-Peer communications protocol. In order to protect users wallets and cryptocurrency funds, they are encouraged to download an updated version of the software, as well as change their passwords and keys.
Researchers analyze BTC profitability and predictability
A team of researchers studied the value of technical analysis in predicting bitcoin's future price movements. Simple trading techniques that rely on the moving averages (MAs) were found to be significant in predicting the future of bitcoin price.
Internet of Services (IOS) - a novel highly scalable blockchain
Internet of Services or 'IOS' is a new blockchain paradigm innovated to particularly solve the scalability issue associated with most cryptocurrencies. IOS is an under-progress blockchain platform, which was developed by a team from Singapore. IOS was launched last year in December and is said to have the potential to process up to 100,000 secure transactions per second.
Globitex ICO raises €7 million within 24 hours
ICOs helped many companies in raising significant capital last year. The market overtook IPOs as the preferred way to aggregate investments. Globitex is another company that has successfully conducted an ICO, raising more than $12 million.
Social network messenger app launches blockchain-based digital tokens
The blockchain is revolutionizing every walk of life and now, it is even impacting the most important component of our society: mothers. The unique idea came from an existing social platform "Mom.life" that allowed mothers from different parts of the world to interact with each other. Mothers are rewarded with bloom tokens for their contributions to the network.
Former Microsoft scientist Leo Chen joins LightChain
Leo Chen, a former Microsoft scientist, will be joining LightChain's team of researchers and technical developers. LightChain is the world's first ever double-tier chain and is dedicated to the development of a new blockchain.
Russian scientists busted for mining with government's supercomputer
Nuclear scientists at The Federal Nuclear Center in Russia used the facility's supercomputer to illicitly mine bitcoin. The "bungling miners" are now facing a criminal case after getting arrested by competent authorities.
Where does the cryptocurrency market stand in 2018? A brief overview
The cryptocurrency market is known for its volatility, and this volatility is often linked to the ever changing regulatory environment of the industry. We bring you a brief overview of how major economic powers from all over the world are reacting to this seemingly new industry.
Bitgrail vs Nano: the plot thickens
An Italian cryptocurrency exchange has announced insolvency after $170 million worth of nano tokens were lost from the exchange. The owner of exchange, tweeted that the exchange cannot repay the investors as it only holds $40 million of nano.
Now you can pay rent in Monaco through Monaco Estate Token
Monaco Estate is the latest company that will be accepting cryptocurrency as payment for their services. Investors will enjoy at 10% bonus by purchasing some of the 3,000 tokens available during the presale on May 1, 2018.
Acronis offers protection against WannaCry ransomware
Acronis, the provider of data protection solutions, has just announced the launch of Acronis Ransomware Protection tool for Windows. Anyone can use the new tool, which protects against various forms of ransomware including Wannacry cryptoworms.
Seven Stars Cloud to develop Quantum Global Settlement Network
The publicly listed company Seven Stars Cloud (SSC) has announced that it will be collaborating with Guangzhou Yongkai Industrial Co. Ltd to upgrade the existing Quantum Global Settlement Network. The updated network will support banking settlements of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.
Silver Management Group to support Cost Basis for cryptocurrencies
Silver Management Group now offers Cost Basis support for Bitcoin and altcoins to its investors. This will increase the effectiveness of trades and make the whole process more transparent. Silver Management Group provides business and technology solutions for the investment industry.
Proof-of-Proof (PoP) allows Bitcoin to secure any blockchain
To secure the blockchains of altcoins, VeriBlock will be offering a security layer that relies on Bitcoin's blockchain. This layer will work on the basis of the Proof-of-Proof (PoP) algorithm, which basically utilizes the blockchain of a superior cryptocurrency to secure the blockchain of another.
Americans are afraid of technology, concludes a survey
The Internet Education Foundation (IEF) conducted a survey on January 25th, in which 886 Americans were polled. The survey concluded that around 44% of Americans would feel "uncomfortable" if they had to accept bitcoin payments. The focus of the survey was on how the recent technological innovation is being accepted by American citizens. The survey mainly discussed issues related to the famous trends of 2017, which are: fake news, democracy, digital security, and cryptocurrency.
ImmVRse - The YouTube for VR content creators
ImmVRse is building a platform for VR content creators. The lack of a proper platform for VR content has inhibited the industry's growth. ImmVRse is creating a blockchain based platform that will enable participants to use the ERC20 compliant, IMV tokens for interacting with the platform's application.
Newifi 3, a router for mining crypto, hits the American market
The blockchain revolution is here and people are looking for ways to get into the mining business. Look no further, for Newifi 3 is here to help you gather crypto tokens just by sharing your free bandwidth. Newifi 3 is a modern router with all the latest security features which enables you to easily share your free bandwidth.
Huobi launching its own token - huobi token
Huobi, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, launches an unconventional token to stabilize the platform. The huobi tokens were not launched through an ICO and have sold also to users of the exchange's platform.
Tether and Friedman LLP not working together anymore
Tether, the famous dollar-pegged cryptocurrency has dissolved its partnership with Friedman LLP. The latter provided their services to verify the bank statements of Tether. This made Tether a more transparent organization. However, the latest falling out will lead to unforeseeable troubles for Tether.
Australia plans on launching a stable, gold-based cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency, which is backed by gold, would invite a large number of traders into the crypto market. The latest project of Australia's largest gold mine would take the crypto market to a whole new level. This would be an interesting project, as it has far-reaching consequences for Australian citizens.
Bitcoin Private – a new Bitcoin hard fork that promotes anonymity
Bitcoin Private (BTCP) is the latest hard fork that is planned to take place on Bitcoin's blockchain in the near future. BTCP will provide more privacy to its users. The transactions will still be stored on a public ledger, however, the meta data of users will not be stored onto it.
Lightning Network – HTTP of blockchain networks
The Lightning Network (LN) is an innovative solution that can solve Bitcoin's scalability problems. Since its launch in January, the LN has been growing steadily. Not only can it greatly reduce transactions' confirmation times, but it can also render Bitcoin suitable once again for micropayments. Moreover, the LN can facilitate exchange of value across two different blockchains without having to rely on any centralized entities.
SEC and CFTC release a joint warning against crypto-related scams
The SEC and CFTC have decided to launch a joint effort against cryptocurrency related scams. 2017 has been the year of digital tokens and billions have been made via digital currency related activities. The new effort is being hailed by the community and everyone appreciates the SEC's and CFTC's determination to bust fraudsters.
Lightning network is growing steadily
The essence of Bitcoin is instantaneous payments with next to nothing fees. While this is usually the banner of the Bitcoin community, when one delves deeper into the community, it can be seen that payments through Bitcoin are not actually free and are never processed instantly.
BitConnect in deep water again as investors file lawsuit
Investors of the now defunct BitConnect are demanding compensation for their losses. The plaintiffs are claiming that they were promised profits but BitConnect failed to meet its promises. BitConnect shut down on January 17th, but it seems like its troubles are yet to be over.
Alternatives to discontinued WaveCrest's bitcoin debit cards
After WaveCrest discontinued its debit card for Bitcoin and altcoins, users can choose from alternatives. These options include epayments, Wagecan, and Worldcore. Epayments is the least expensive and provides the most extensive services.
CFTC charges My Big Coin Pay with fraud and misappropriation
The US CFTC has started an investigation against My Big Coin and frozen the assets of its owners. The department has pointed out in its investigation that the owners and misrepresented the facts and misused the funds raised from the investors. The owners used the funds of the investors to cover their personal expenses.
Poland joins the list of countries launching national cryptocurrencies
After Belarus, Estonia and a number of other countries, Poland has also decided to hop on to the cryptocurrency hype train. The European country has decided to launch a digital token that is pegged to its national currency. Researchers hope that this will pave way for a faster and securer digital alternative of their fiat currency. In order to be able to successfully launch the digital coin, the researchers and development will have to gain the approval of the government.
Americans can now invest in bitcoin using retirement funds
IRA Bitcoin LLC is offering US citizens the opportunity to use their IRA or 401k retirement funds to invest in cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrency exchange, Blockchain, enters US market
Blockchain, the famous UK-based cryptocurrency exchange has announced that it will start providing its services to users in the US. With more options for cryptocurrency exchanges being made available to users, the healthy competition may encourage exchanges to offer users improved services in order to keep their customer base.
Kraken upgrades with much needed new features
As Kraken became evidently unable to handle the large number of users trading on its platform, they successfully upgraded the platform to keep up with the increased number of traders using the exchange. This followed a downtime of around 48 hours that negatively affected thousands of traders on Kraken's platform.
Ripple vs R3 – the rift deepens
Ripple has cancelled its partnership with R3, following the recent unprecedented surge of Ripple's price. The partnership was expected to give Ripple access to R3's Consortium of banks. The cancellation was justified by Ripple's executive, Brad Garlinghouse, who stated that R3 knowingly deceived Ripple regarding the contract, as R3 knew that a number of banks that were important to Ripple were about to leave the R3 Consortium
DAO + ICO = DAICO – a new way to raise funds
ICOs have taken the financial industry by surprise as billions of dollars have been gathered through them. However, ICOs have their limitations. To solve these problems, Buterin has designed a new approach, which is a combination of Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and the Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
Microsoft stops then starts using bitcoin again
Microsoft stopped accepting bitcoin payments a week ago. However, the ban on bitcoin lasted only a week, after which bitcoin payments were resumed. The company cited "instability" as the reason behind the short-lived ban.
Will Ripple be able to replace SWIFT?
Ripple's digital token, XRP is only one of its many products. Most of the company's focus is on developing solutions for banks and financial institutions in order to be able to replace the SWIFT system with RippleNet.
Long Blockchain Corporation to move from iced tea to crypto industry
Long Island Iced Tea Corp has been just re-branded to 'Long Blockchain Corporation' (LBC), following the company board's decision to pursue prospects in the blockchain industry. The company plans on installing the mining gear in the Nordic country to mine bitcoin.
BitMEX sells off all BCH funds, compensates holders in BTC instead
BitMEX has recently sold all of its users' bitcoin cash holdings for bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash was created back in August as result of a Bitcoin hard fork. BitMex compensated users at a ratio of 1 BCH to 0.1707 BTC.
Kodak releases KodakCoin for KodakOne platform
Kodak has just announced launching its very own cryptocurrency, KodakCoin, which is intended to power Kodak's new platform, the KodakOne platform. Photographers will be able to register their images and license them for appropriate use. In response to the news, Kodak's stock doubled and closed at $6.80 on Tuesday.
Venezuela launches oil-backed token
Venezuela is another country choosing to issue a cryptocurrency, as the Venezuelan President has just announced that the country will issue a digital token, called 'petro', that will be backed by the country's oil reserves. Venezuela plans on launching the new tokens in January 2018. Belarus and Estonia are some of the other countries that have decided to use digital tokens in their economy
Ripple's weak infrastructure poses a problem
Ripple's market capital increased by around 4,000% in 2017, and its number of transactions have increased at an exponential rate. However, Ripple's infrastructure is not strong enough to handle the increase in traffic which it is witnessing during the last couple of months. On December 29th, a number of users temporarily lost their XRP coins. They eventually got their tokens back, and it turns out that the tokens had vanished into thin air for some time.
Bitcoin card providers cancel their services without notice
All bitcoin debit card providers, including Bitwala, Bitpay, Wirex, and Tenpay, have halted all operations of their issued debit cards. It is important to understand that Wirex, TenX, and Bitwala are just providers of the debit card services. However, the cards are issued by WaveCrest, with the permission of the global Fintech company, Visa, which decided to to stop the operations of all non-US digital token debit cards.
Estcoin to promote digital citizenship
In a more recent development, Estonia has also announced that it will be starting a e-residency program. This program will be backed by a blockchain-based digital token, called estcoin. Since the introduction of the concept, many miners have showed their support for an initial coin offering for estcoin.
SegWit2x 2.0, scam or reality?
The new SegWit2x hard fork, SegWIt2x 2.0, team has no relation to the people of the New York Agreement (NYA), who initially decided on performing SegWit2x. The team's GitHub page is less than a month old and the proclaimed leader of the team has a half empty LinkedIn profile. The team performed the hard fork on block number 501,451 on the 28th of December, but the users can only access the new coins after the 15th of January. It is hard to believe that the team will be able to fulfill all of the promises it is making.
Bitcoin's scalability issues
Bitcoin's scalability problems have become very prominent, as transaction fees have exceeded $37, rising from $2 in October 2017. Even though Bitcoin was developed to facilitate microtransactions, it is currently unsuitable for such forms of payments. Consequently, many merchants have recently decided to stop accepting bitcoin payments, including Steam, the online video game store.
Ripple crosses $3, 28% growth in 24 hours
Ripple's price has exceeded $3 and its market capital has exceeded for the first time that of ethereum and bitcoin cash. Ripple's market capital is now the second biggest cryptocurrency market capital, accounting for more than $141 billion. As such, ripple has surpassed bitcoin cash and ethereum in terms of market capitalization.
US dollar continues to fall as digital currencies rise
Throughout 2017, the US Dollar witnessed the worst performance since 2003. Oppositely, decentralized cryptocurrencies, led by bitcoin, flourished prominently during the past year, which reflects the public's heightened interest in the economic model of blockchain based currencies. Some researchers believe that the mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrencies is a contributing factor to the decline of fiat currencies, especially the US Dollar.
Ethereum hits a new milestone, crosses $900
Ethereum's price topped $914.83 during Wednesday's trading sessions, with the coin's initial advance beginning at around midnight. The recent surge has boosted Ethereum's market cap to $86,339,498,573. Ether has posted 17% advance in the last 24 hours. The reason behind the boost is the increased volume of trading in Asia. All notable exchanges, including Coinbene, Binance, and Bithumb, have reported increased volume of trading.
Blockchain hype enables 1,000% growth with no revenue or product
It can be said that 2017 has been the year of digital tokens, as cryptocurrencies have sky rocketed to become one of the most valuable assets.
Ethereum's creator says crypto community needs to show some maturity
Buterin expressed that instead of putting their wealth to a productive use, investors are just flaunting it aimlessly. He complained that people in cryptocurrency space are only interested in showing off their wealth and luxuries. "If all that we accomplish is lambo memes and immature puns about 'sharting,' then I WILL leave," Buterin tweeted.
Ripple's XRP becomes the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap
While all eyes were on bitcoin, it seems ripple (XRP) was preparing to end 2017 on a high note. Having started the year at a mere $0.64, ripple's XRP is currently trading at an impressive average of $2.20. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, grew by 1,400% this year. In contrast, ripple has risen by over a massive 34,700%.
Crypto market closes up with NYSE as daily trading volumes rise
Bitcoin reached its latest record-breaking high of almost $20,000 this month, having started at $1,000 in the beginning of 2017. Other currencies, such as ethereum and litecoin, saw commendable progress as well this year. Although out shined by bitcoin, 2017 was a good year for many coins.
Smaller exchanges support forked coins while major exchanges refuse
With developers forking the tokens, and larger exchanges refusing to support the resultant currencies, the market is experiencing a void that is being filled by smaller exchanges. When interested users are made to go to lesser-known exchanges, these companies see a rise in their revenues from trading fees.
EtherDelta still not safe for use even a week after hacking attack
If the affected users' complaints are to be believed, then none of the exchange's clients are safe, even now. There are users who did not lose anything at the time of hack, but are now losing funds. Considering the company's daily trading volume of $11 million, criticism from users is inevitable.
Opera to offer protection against cryptocurrency-mining scripts
To tackle this issue, the popular internet browser, Opera, is introducing an anti-mining feature in its 'Opera 50' version. The new feature, called "NoCoin", will work similar to an AdBlocker. Just as an AdBlocker blocks advertisements from a web page, NoCoin will block suspicious scripts.
Former FDIC chair believes bitcoin should not be banned
Sheila Bair, former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) chair, expressed her opinions on Yahoo! Finance. Although her ideas were similar to those of other financial regulators, her take on cryptocurrency itself is quite interesting.
Another major cryptocurrency exchange experiences backlog issues
Bittrex joins the list of prominent digital token exchanges struggling with growth issues. Customers of the popular US-based exchange are unhappy about the company's inability to handle effective withdrawals.
Israel prepares to follow China in implementing a crypto crackdown
Digital currencies attract further controversy, as Israel indicates a potential cryptocurrency crackdown. "I think it looks like a bubble, smells like a bubble, acts like a bubble, and feels like a bubble," said Israel Securities Authority Chairman, Shmuel Hauser.
Israel to launch blockchain-based national cryptocurrency
Israel has joined the growing list of countries planning to launch their very own state-backed cryptocurrency. The country's interest in promoting a digital currency is aimed at minimizing risks of money laundering and tax evasion offenses.
Havven – a stable, asset backed digital token
Keeping in mind that bitcoin is just not currently practical, Kain Warwick, CEO of Blueshyft, came up with Havven. Havven is a crypto monetary system that backs itself. It is an ingenious method to solve the biggest problem that is being faced by the crypto market, which is, volatility.
The SEC to issue stricter regulations concerning digital currencies
According to SEC's ex-chairman, Harvey Pitt, startups are taking advantage of investors' lack of adequate digital coin related knowledge. Their investments are based on the fact that "prices seem to be going up". Pitt further commented that the next year will bring more regulations from the SEC.
NYSE Arca hopes to list bitcoin futures ETFs
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is preparing to move into the virtual token space. The exchange is seeking approval from the SEC to list bitcoin ETFs on its NYSE Arca market. A public document, dated December 19th, details that the exchange has appealed for a rule change in order to launch two bitcoin-tied funds.
Cryptocurrency market cap sheds billions
In a rough turn of events, the cryptocurrency market went through a severe plunge. When the dust settled, roughly $190 billion worth of market cap was wiped out. Bitcoin and other tokens have suffered significant losses.
Belarus legalizes cryptocurrency
Belarus has legalized the cryptocurrency industry. President Alexandar Lukashenko has signed a decree that will make all the cryptocurrency transactions tax-free for the next five years. Belarus will become a tempting location to mine and control cryptocurrencies with these latest provisions.
Goldman Sachs prepares to launch a bitcoin trading platform.
With Goldman Sachs setting up a trading market for bitcoin, Wall Street finally seems to be welcoming digital currencies. The multinational finance firm will launch the trading desk by the end of June 2018, as reported by Bloomberg.
Someone has bet $1 million on bitcoin for December 2018
Bitcoin futures is a new derivative-based technique to trade bitcoin based on future estimations. Following the release of bitcoin futures, someone has bet $1 million that bitcoin cash will reach a value of $50,000 by December, 2018.
Telegram Open Network (TON) – a blockchain-based social media
The main motive behind the creation of TON is to aid those who live under oppressive regimes. The new platform will probably be an extension of Telegram, a famous messaging application.
Apple patents blockchain technology
Apple Inc. has turned in a new patent application, which uses the blockchain technology to create and verify timestamps. The system operates within a prospective system, according to U.S Patent and Trademark Office.
Bitfinex and Tether close new account registration
Two of the biggest exchanges in the world, Tether and Bitfinex, have closed the registration of new accounts. The news came without any warning, with Bitfinex stating that in order to protect professional traders, it will be temporarily shutting down new registrations.
No hardfork, says Parity
After more than $275 million worth of Ether was frozen last month, Parity Technologies proposed changes in the Ethereum blockchain network to regain access to the locked ether tokens.
Cryptocurrency not a threat
The Financial Stability Oversight Board (FSOC) released a report explaining its annual list of potential threats that may destroy the world's economy as we know it. One may expect that cryptocurrency would be placed in the top three of the list. However, to everyone's surprise, there was no negative mention of cryptocurrency in the list.
Gibraltar is regulating blockchain
Another win for the blockchain industry as Gibraltar, one of UK's overseas colonies, prepares to launch regulations relating to Blockchain technology. This would make Gibraltar an attractive location for blockchain-based fintech startups.
XRP showing impressive growth
Predictions show that XRP could reach the price of $10 in the coming year and currently, almost every exchange is facing problems in dealing with the investors and processing their payments due to the amount of transactions that are being processed by their networks.
Bitcoin platinum is a scam
Bitcoin platinum (BTP), was set to be launched on December 10th, turns out to be a fraud. BTP was initially marketed as a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain. The leading South Korean media outlet, JoongAng, exposed Bitcoin Platinum to be a scam to manipulate Bitcoin prices.
ICOs taking advantage of legal loopholes
Research found that many ICOs provide insufficient information and, therefore, seeing them as ICOs to invest in cannot be the product of logical reasoning. Most of these ICOs count on legislative ambiguities and do not deliver any key legal information regarding their ICO.
What are the investors thinking?
It really is confusing when it comes to Bitcoin, since the difference of opinion regarding the cryptocurrency is so stark. Half of the big-time investors claim that bitcoin is the new gold, whereas, others state that it is a speculative bubble that should be avoided.
Machine learning to get 10x faster due to a blockchain-based algorithm
IBM's distributed deep learning research has finally paid off. They have developed a new algorithm that has been proven to increase the speed of machine learning processes of training big data sets by up to 10x faster than before.
Is Bitcoin's mempool corrupted?
Bitcoin's mempool has become bloated with transactions, resulting in slower transactions, higher charges, and numerous other issues. Consequently, Steam has stopped using Bitcoin for payments, as more and more users are complaining about the higher transaction costs.
FSA will be launching Bitcoin Futures
Japan's leading financial exchanges announced their plan to launch bitcoin derivatives. The Tokyo Financial Exchange plans on introducing the Bitcoin Futures during the beginning of 2018, after taking a cue from its US competitors.
Another milestone for bitcoin
APMEX is one of the world's largest precious metal retailers. It is a private company with sales totaling to billions of dollars every year. The company was founded by Scott Thomas, who formed the American Precious Metals Exchange, which later was shortened to APMEX. The company offers more than 10,000 precious metals from various different mints and ships, to more than 80 countries all over the globe.
Mining to be regulated – Kremlin
After hearing the stark statements against bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by Vladmir Putin, one might think that Russia will never accept bitcoin. It is believed that the country will impose regulations against cryptocurrencies and exchanges. However, a positive development has been made in Russia with regards to cryptocurrency.
Chinese Crackdown leaves a void – filled by scammers
Scammers filled the vacuum that was formed after the crackdown by Chinese authorities of Bitcoin and Ethereum exchanges. More than 107 fake, ponzi-cryptocurrencies have formed in China. These cryptocurrencies, widely known as altcoins, promise investors with high percentage of guaranteed returns.
Bitcoin unable to handle the number of transactions
Problems related to transactions are not new for the Bitcoin network. A fix for the problem is still not in sight and many are complaining that Bitcoin is deviating from its original purpose, which was to become a globalized yet decentralized currency. Some have suggested that it is becoming more like Gold, a commodity that is valued and traded on a global scale.
Craigslist now accepts cryptocurrency
Want to sell your old sofa for cryptocurrency? Now you can do so with the help of Craigslist, which has added a new button on their posting details section. This button will indicate whether the seller is okay with accepting the cryptocurrency as a payment.
Bitcoin God… a sign from God?
There have been reports of numerous forks on the Bitcoin network in the recent months. These forks have been called Bitcoin Lightning, Diamond, Rubies, and an array of other names. Bitcoin God will the latest addition to the array of Bitcoin offshoots and will start trading by the symbol of "God" on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Amazon incorporates Corda on its platform
The Corda Distributed Ledger platform was launched on AWS marketplace by R3, a startup consortium consisting of more than 70 companies and financial institutions from all over the world. Corda is the first distributed ledger technology (DLT) solution available on AWS.
Will digital currency take over fiat currency?
he acceptance of bitcoin and other altcoins as valid forms of payment are becoming more common. At the Sohn Conference in London, the co-founder of the Sohn Conference Foundation, Evan Sohn, told CNBC that the time is not far when digital currency will replace traditional banknotes.
UK treasury wants to regulate bitcoin
These new regulations may make the process of buying and owning bitcoin less anonymous for the ordinary UK citizen. However, all is not gloomy, as such a regulation may eventually lead to a greater acceptance of cryptocurrency in governments and other federal institutions.
SEC's cyber unit acts - blocks PlexCorps' ICO
The newly created cyber unit of US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has found its first suspect. PlexCorps', a crypo related company hosted their ICO this August in which they promised 13-fold profits to their investors. Through this scheme, the PlexCorps ICO was able to gather more than $15 million from thousands of investors from all over the world.
IOTA partners with Microsoft and Samsung - surges 90% in 24 hours
Last week, IOTA announced that it will be partnering with Microsoft and Samsung to sell data. IOTA CEO, David Sonstebo, stated that data is "the new oil" and the currency aims to become the next generation blockchain.
Bitcoin breaches $14,000!!!
Bitcoin's value reached $14,000. This accomplishment is unbelievable to some as the digital currency was valued at less than a $1,000 per token a year ago. Bitcoin has seen a meteoric rise in the past 12 months and is showing no signs of stopping.
Flash crash results in losses on Bitfinex
On November 29th, around 6:30 PM, a 'flash crash' hit the cryptocurrencies NEO, OMG, and ETP. The crash lasted a brief 15 minutes, with the tokens losing and regained 90% of their value within the 15 minutes time frame.
Amazon holding back from blockchain
Blockchain is taking over the market and is extensively being used and researched in the technology world. It was initially developed for the digital currency, Bitcoin; it is now being used by the tech industry for numerous other purposes. Blockchain owes its success to two features: transparency and incorruptibility.
Bitcoin in trouble?
We all heard what JP Morgan had to say about bitcoin, and it was not pretty. However, as we may have also observed, bitcoin has gone through a meteoric rise in the past few months. This has led its critics to retract their statements and invest in the cryptocurrency.
Millennials are into bitcoin
A survey revealed that one out of every four millennials would rather invest their hard-earned money in bitcoin than in any other traditional banking schemes. In fact, 24.5% of the 10,000 millennials who participated in the survey favored $1,000 worth of bitcoin over any other forms of financial assets, such as government bonds, stocks, real estate, or gold.
Bitcoin blockchain vulnerable to internet routing attacks "BTC-Hijack"
BTC-Hijack, is Bitcoin's team in charge of examining potential threats to the Bitcoin network. The group's main focus is studying how the network gets affected by internet routing attacks and malicious internet service providers (ISP). Their website has revealed that there are two major threats facing Bitcoin blockchain at the moment.
Seoul government uses Samsung SDS for city-wide blockchain deployment
The project is a part of the government's plan to implement Blockchain technology across the entire municipal administration of Seoul over the next four years. The application will be focused on the city's welfare, transportation affairs, traffic, and public safety, among other municipal matters.
Another victory for Ripple?
Michael Arrington, founder of Techcrunch and a former VC of CrunchFund, announced that he will be forming $100 million cryptocurrency hedge fund. Arrington announced that the hedge fund will be using XRP, the currency of Ripple network to buy different cryptocurrency assets.
Roadmap for Ethereum 2.0 unveiled by Vitalik Buterin
Buterin highlighted four of the major problems currently faced by the network: privacy, smart contract safety, consensus safety, and scalability. Developers claim that Ethereum 2.0 will resolve these issues.
Coinbase reaches 13 million users
Cryptocurrency is the talk of the town these days. It is not surprising that Coinbase, a famous cryptocurrency exchange, has succeeded in gathering more users than the world famous brokerage firm, Charles Schwab.
Problems with cryptocurrency exchanges
Bitcoin influencer and personage, Jameson Lopp, conducted an informal survey on twitter in which over 1,600 people participated. According to the result, 7 out of 10 crypto exchangers are facing a delay of about a week or longer for verification and enabling of new accounts.
Almost 50% of bitcoins out of circulation
A recent analysis conducted by Chainalysis found out that almost 50% of the bitcoins in circulation have been lost. Chainalysis actively segmented the Bitcoin into different groups, based on their properties.
American Express joins RippleNet 2.0
American Express was one of the first fintech companies to launch a credit card with RippleNet, the name used by Ripple to define its network of banks and other financial institutions. This move will allow American Express to become one of the leading institution in the blockchain industry.
$10,000 No wait, $11,000. Bitcoin shows no sign of stopping!
Bitcoin's growth rate is unprecedented, and it is breaking all the milestones that were initially set. In 2017 alone, bitcoin's growth rate is almost 1,500% and it has been proven as the most effective investment, returning 10,000 times the initial investment.
Truffle: Developer activity around Ethereum blockchain rises
While everyone was distracted by Bitcoin's impressive ride, it seems Ethereum was slowly making significant progress. Data from Truffle has shown that more than 200,000 developers have downloaded the program to build and deploy their own decentralized applications.
Morocco bans the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment method
The north-west African Kingdom of Morocco has officially banned all virtual transactions, labeling them as "significant risks for their users".
Shinhan Bank introduces crypto-key safeguarding services
South Korea has been very open about virtual currency. One of the most influential banking services in South Korea, the Shinhan Bank, is now working on providing deposit services to its crypto-users, for currencies like bitcoin and ether. More specifically, the Shinhan Bank has been given a contract for the legal provision of custodial services for digital currency.
$280 million worth of Ether still stuck
Parity is trying to reassure customers that their funds will eventually be restored. However, two weeks after the incident there are still no signs of recovery. As expected, the investors are getting frustrated at Ethereum's inability to come up with a solution and are blaming the mismanagement of Parity wallets for their loss.
JP Morgan Chase to introduce bitcoin futures?
According to a Wall Street Journal report, JP Morgan Chase & Co. is now considering providing access to CME's upcoming bitcoin futures via its own futures-brokerage division. With JP Morgan acting as a broker, it will attract masses of investors and traders to deal in CME's bitcoin futures.
Ethereum shows a bright future
The price of ether, Ethereum's token, has hit an all new height of $415 on the 23rd of November. This new gain has earned Ethereum the second highest slot on the market evaluation chart of digital currencies at $40 billion, being only second to bitcoin and bitcoin cash.
Gibraltar to become world's first regulated ICO market
The ICO market is helping startups gather millions of dollars' worth of investment, but governments and professionals related to the financial sector all have one complaint against such a form of fundraising. They complain that ICOs are very unregulated as ICOs provide the investors with an opportunity to invest in a new startup and get digital tokens in return. These digital tokens have no existing framework as of now. Anyone with the required programming skills and contacts can set up a digital token through the blockchain networks.
LedgerX launches bitcoin futures
LedgerX has turned out to be one of the most effective cryptocurrency exchanges. It is also one of the youngest exchanges, as they first received approval to begin trading in July and only started trading at the end of October, 2017.
CEX.IO warns against fraudulent activity conducted in company's name
The online digital currency trading platform wrote that their customers have been getting calls from a "so-called CEX.IO call center number." The callers claim to be able to provide services to them, in return for a fee. The company has described these calls as fraud and has firmly denied having any links whatsoever to them.
$374,000 scammed through an ICO
Recently, around $374,000 USD disappeared after an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) was held under Ethereum platform. The ICO ran from November 6th to 8th, in which digital tokens were sold to investors over the Ethereum blockchain.
Cryptocurrency still illegal in many countries
In extreme cases, countries have introduced penalties for trading cryptocurrencies, such as capturing of assets, blocking bank accounts, and even jail time.
Android wallet users at risk!
As more and more people have started to adopt cryptocurrency, it has become excessively important that the tools used for carrying out transactions ensure that transactions are safe and secure.
Is cryptocurrency safe?
Amid all these controversies and theft, one is left to wonder whether cryptocurrencies are safe. People have been investing their life savings into cryptocurrency exchanges, with some going as far as selling everything they own to invest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Two of the largest cryptocurrencies criticize ICOs for lack of regulation
During the Singapore Fintech Festival this week, Ripple CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, and Ethereum co-founder, Joseph Lubin, both agreed on one thing. They agreed that a significant portion of the ICO market is fraudulent.
Cryptocurrency debit card will soon be a reality
A great step towards the normalization of cryptocurrency has been taken by a London fintech startup, London Block Exchange (LBX). Led by a Credit Suisse veteran, the startup was launched on Tuesday and plans on releasing a new debit card, the Dragoncard.
Bitcoin Classic closing down
Now more and more public figures related to crypto market, such as Rick Falkvinge, are supporting Bitcoin Cash and dumping Bitcoin Classic.
Ethereum network ready to test its proof-of-stake protocol
The highly anticipated update, originally expected to occur next year, may happen ahead of schedule. This update is crucial to Ethereum's highly crowded network, as it will shift the technology from a proof-of-work (PoW) protocol to a proof-of-stake (PoS) one.
Visa launches a B2B payments solution
The latest innovation in the field of blockchain has been released by the global payment solutions company, Visa. The company already boasts a large portion of the global credit and debit card users, and is now trying to innovate to decrease costs and improve the processing speed of transactions.
Japanese FSA provides guidelines for investors
With Japan becoming one of the largest protagonists of digital currency, the Japanese FSA have been publishing new financial administrative policies covering topics such as Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
Another new all-time high reached as Bitcoin surpasses the $8K mark
Bitcoin finally hit the much anticipated $8,000 mark, giving birth to speculation that the digital currency would reach $10,000 by the end of this year.
A.I. and cryptocurrencies combine to make trading simpler
Many wallet provider platforms and cryptocurrency exchanges have made attempts to increase accessibility, but did not prove to be of much help to investors who were clueless about the crypto-market. However, TeleX Artificial Intelligence (AI) might actually be able to fill this information gap.
ING launches a blockchain-based 'zero-knowledge range proof'
The Dutch financial institution, ING, announced this Thursday that their blockchain team has devised a system to addresses one of the biggest issues with blockchain usage in financial services.
Is bitcoin fiat money?
With the huge debate going on regarding bitcoin's sustainability, the former Federal Reserve, Chairman A. Greenspan, expressed his views. According to Greenspan, the digital currency can be compared to the 18th century's Continental Currency, which was also not backed by anything.
Coinbase announces safe platform designed for institutional investors
Announced this Thursday, Coinbase's new platform is designed to especially address security risks associated with cryptocurrency investments. The goal is to provide a trust-worthy system for major institutional investors in order to alleviate their concerns regarding the safety or legitimacy of their investments.
Bitcoin and real estate
Today's international society is made up of people who prefer to pay in many different currencies, but not everyone accepts dollars, euros, or yen. Cryptocurrency has become the most up-to-date way of buying products and services in the market.
Swiss investment companies launch bitcoin securities
Two Swiss companies, Vontobel and Leonteq, have recently announced that they will be providing their customers with the opportunity to trade Bitcoin Futures. Both companies released their products on the SIX exchange. This shows a significant step forward in the acceptance of Bitcoin in the financial market.
No way to access $160 million worth of Ether frozen in Parity wallets
The Ethereum network experienced an accidental hack last week that resulted in a number of Parity, multi-signature wallets getting locked. Ether funds present in these wallets are completely inaccessible, by both the hacker and the rightful owner.
North Korean hackers attack South's crypto market
A report released by Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA) has stated that the number of attacks on South Korean websites to extract personal information and other data have significantly increased over the past year.
Bitcoin Gold is growing steadily
The Bitcoin Gold network released a statement regarding their progress after the initial launch and explained how people are reacting to the release of the new blockchain. The Bitcoin Gold chain was accepted by the miners and was heavily mined in the first few days after the hard fork.
Quantum computing, a threat to blockchain?
When discussing the threats to blockchain technology, people generally focus on regulations and how they will impact the overall acceptance of blockchain. However, people seldom discuss the impact of other technologies on blockchain technology.
Dash increases blocksize to 2MB after Bitcoin cancels it
Dash, the sixth largest cryptocurrency, has released a new software update that speeds up transactions and reduces costs to almost zero. The 12.2 version of the Dash core software has many new features, but the most prominent is the increment of block size from 1MB to 2MB.
Threats to execute Bitcoin hard fork arise the day after cancellation
The controversial SegWit2x fork was gave rise to mixed reactions from Bitcoiners. Its cancellation came as a relief to those against the "corporate takeover" and a disappointment to its supporters.
Ethereum and altcoins rise as SegWit2x gets suspended
The cancellation of SegWit2x Bitcoin hard fork has had a major impact on the crypto industry. It resulted in a slight decline of about 4% in Bitcoin's price, but gave other cryptocurrencies a chance to rise.
Waves launches world's fastest decentralized blockchain platform
Moscow-based Waves Platform was mainly developed to support the issuance and exchange of digital currencies. It completed its first Initial Coin Offering in 2016 and was successful in raising over $16 million. The blockchain-based platform debuted an upgraded version of its network on November 8th, claiming it to be the fastest in the world.
92% of blockchain projects are dead: Deloitte
Deloitte insights state that there are 86,034 projects on the network but only 8% of these projects are actively maintained. Here, the standard for maintenance is defined as projects that are updated at least once every six months.
Chinese regulators fail to slow Bitcoin's tremendous growth
Despite the shut down of exchanges, Chinese investors continued trading Bitcoin and investing in ICOs. Investors simply switched to peer-to-peer trading, thus eliminating the need for an exchange's involvement.
Half a million ETH frozen as Parity Wallets get hacked
At least $150 million worth of Ethereum funds have been "frozen" after an accidental exploitation of a code bug. Over a hundred miners using multi-signature wallets to store their Ether virtual coins have permanently lost access to their accounts.
Sweden and New Zealand release ICO-related regulation statements
Sweden's financial regulators have issued a statement detailing the risks related with ICO investments. On the other hand, the statement issued last month by New Zealand's Financial Market Authority (FMA) regarding cryptocurrency services encouraged ICOs and the cryptocurrency industry.
Upcoming Bitcoin hard fork, SegWit2x, cancelled for lack of consensus
Mike Belshe, project lead for the Segwit2x hard fork, just announced that the controversial Bitcoin protocol upgrade has been cancelled. The split that was expected to occur on or around November 16th, has been suspended indefinitely.
State Bank of India employs Blockchain to manage KYC system
One of the biggest banks of India, the State Bank of India (SBI), disclosed its plans to implement Blockchain solutions in the management of Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols, among other financial processes.
NASDAQ says ICOs are "very young" and not the best way of fundraising
NASDAQ, the second-largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalization, says that their exchange is the best way for companies to raise cash. The US-based exchange continued to explain that Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are still an immature funding method.
"Buy Bitcoin" global searches outnumber "buy gold" on Google
Google Trends recently confirmed that, for the first time, global searches related to buying bitcoin have outnumbered those for gold, after previously having exceeded those for silver. Investor interest towards gold is further reduced as the surge in bitcoin's attraction coincides with that of a successful US stock.
SegWit2x is just another attack against Bitcoin, says WhalePanda
Cryptocurrency commentator, WhalePanda, is known to be among the most outspoken sources against the SegWit2x fork. On Monday, a short article described as "final thoughts" on the split was published by the commentator.
NextBlock cancels going public, returns funds instead
Toronto-based Venture Capitalist Company, NextBlock Global, announced on Sunday that it would be returning funds to investors. The decision was made after Forbes disclosed a scandal last week about the company falsely naming four blockchain stars as its advisors.
Major Chinese Cryptocurrency trade platforms launch P2P exchanges
Fake Poloniex apps on Google Play Store steal users' funds
These apps attempt to obtain user credentials in order to steal funds. The apps were made to look like the official app of the popular cryptocurrency exchange, Poloniex.
Central Bank of Swaziland considers deploying digital currencies
Different countries' governments have different policies regarding the use and trade of digital currencies. Some are making efforts to regulate them, few intend to issue a complete ban on them, and others recognize virtual currencies as an innovative technology and plan on making use of them after thorough research. South African country, Swaziland appears, to be one of the latter.
R3 plans a DLT-based instant international payments platform
Enterprise software firm, R3, claims to have put forward a solution that utilizes distributed ledger technology (DLT) to introduce a faster, quicker, and cheaper way of facilitating international payments. In collaboration with the company's 22 member banks, the product is developed on top of R3's Corda platform, which enables direct, secure transactions via smart contracts.
US senate open to amendments in bill S.1241
This May, bill S.1241 was introduced to the US Senate. The purpose of this bill was to combat money laundering and the requirement of this bill arose from the increasing use of digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and others in this field.
Upcoming Bitcoin hard fork expected around November 16th
After the Bitcoin Cash hard fork took place in August, another hard fork, SegWit2x, is expected to take place on November 16th. Bitcoin has gone through forks before, but it is the first time that a split will create two competing versions of Bitcoin which will replace the original currency.
Cryptocurrencies' market cap hits record $200 billion
The Cryptocurrency market capitalization reached a new record-breaking high of $200 billion this Friday, with the biggest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, contributing 60%.
Nasdaq Clearing exec: Blockchain activation will take small steps
Blockchain, first employed by the digital currency Bitcoin, has found potential uses in all kinds of industries and has been accepted as a valuable technology in the stock market as well. It has several improvements to offer to the financial systems, however its integration into the framework is not an easy task.
Blockchain project, Tezos, faces class-action lawsuit
On October 25, a class-action lawsuit was filed with the Superior Court of the state of California by Andrew Baker, a Tezos ICO contributor. The lawsuit lists multiple defendants, including the Tezos co-founders, Kathleen and Andrew Breitman, as well as Johan Gevers of the Zug-based Tezos Foundation.
SEC accuses crypto day trader of market manipulation
On October 30th, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a case against a day-trader based in Ambler, Pennsylvania. Joseph P. Willner, age 42, was accused of running a market manipulation scheme through the unlawful take-over of at least 110 brokerage accounts.
E-commerce giant, Amazon, buys three Cryptocurrency-related domains
Three new domains having cryptocurrency-related names were secured this Tuesday by Amazon's legal department, as reported by the Trade Publication DomainNameWire. The domains registered to Amazon are amazonethereum.com, amazoncryptocurrencies.com and amazoncryptocurrency.com.
Bitcoin value breaks records at US $6,400
China's cryptocurrency crackdown and US Securities and Exchange Commission's declaration of digital tokens as 'securities', has not slowed down the rate at which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are appreciating in value, as the Bitcoin price has just reached its new record-breaking high of $6,400.
Cryptocurrency trading platform Nova Exchange is closing down
On October 30th, one of the oldest and most popular cryptocurrency trading platforms, Nova Exchange, announced that they were shutting down for a period of time. The Sweden-based cryptocurrency exchange claims that it will be making major upgrades to improve its operations, enabling it to better handle scaling, stability and security.
Vietnamese State Bank plans on banning the use of bitcoin as a payment
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has announced the legal framework for digital currencies, as reported by local publications, and payments in the form of bitcoin and other digital currencies have been banned completely within the country.
Gold-i launches "Crypto Switch" – a bridge for MetaTrader 4/5 brokers
In the beginning of the year, MetaTrader technologies provider, Gold-i, launched Gold-i MAM Pro and Gold-i Visual Edge. The firm continued the expansion of its portfolio of solutions for brokers that are using MetaTrader 4/5 with the launch of another cryptocurrency solution, called Crypto Switch.
UK Treasury declared cryptocurrencies as low risk for funding terrorism
In the recent HM treasury paper, digital currencies were declared to pose a "low risk" when it comes to concerns about the financing strategies of terrorist groups. According to the report, the UK's economic and finance ministry believes that cryptocurrencies do not play a substantial role in funding terrorist activities.
Catalonia to launch digital currency and e-residency program
According to Spain's leading newspaper El Pais, Catalonia is using Estonia's e-residency as a model for its own launch. Catalonia has the largest number of entrepreneurs working with digital currencies. The e-residency program is useful to Catalonia as the program has no borders.
Samsung C-Lab redesigned old phones into a Bitcoin mining rig
During a recent developer's conference in San Francisco, the Samsung C-Lab presented various new ideas for upcycling old devices. They introduced a variety of creative utilities, including a Bitcoin mining device.
Buterin proposes ICO changes to quell market volatility
On September 26th, a 15-page white paper was published that outlined the proposal put forward by Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, and Jason Teutsch, the founder of TrueBit. Their idea is to make ICOs a bit more regulated by instilling basic principles of market values into ICOs.
Korea getting a much-needed online banking upgrade
After nearly 20 years, Korea has finally upgraded from its old online banking security protocols to a new blockchain-powered one. Chain ID is Korea's newest standard for secure online identification.
Templum raises $2.7 million to launch regulated US ICO exchange
arlier this month, the Blockchain-based startup Templum launched a regulated US exchange for ICOs, also called Templum, in partnership with the broker-dealer Liquid M Capital.
Ethereum co-founder admits "it's a bubble"
During an event hosted by Quartz and Retro Report Lubin said, "of course it's a bubble." However, according to him, "bubble bursting" is a silly concept as it is not necessarily a bad thing for technology.
Breitbart promotes investment in high-risk cryptocurrencies
This Tuesday, over 675,000 Breitbart mailing list subscribers received an email encouraging them to invest in risky cryptocurrencies supported by the advice that "the cryptocurrency market is RED HOT."
ConsenSys invests $5M in Civil
On Wednesday, the New York City-based decentralized newsmaking platform, Civil, announced to have raised $5 million in funding. The firm plans on setting aside half of the funds as capital, while utilizing the other half to develop its services.
Korean Central Bank classified cryptocurrencies as commodities
On Monday, a parliamentary audit was conducted of the Bank of Korea, the Central Bank of the Republic of Korea, by the country's National Assembly. During the hearing, the head of the bank refused to classify cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether, as currencies and declared them to be commodities instead.
Bitcoin price falls following fork
The culprit behind the sudden drop in value is the creation of Bitcoin Gold, which occurred on the 23rd of October. Bitcoin Gold is the newest cryptocurrency and has been developed using the same technology that was used to develop Bitcoin.
Normalization of blockchain will take time
Blockchain projects backed by big names may be flooding the blockchain news outlets these days, but the projects that are being started seem too small and do not completely employ the innovation that is promised by blockchain.
Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) offered by Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft
There are many examples of blockchain applications already being released as a service, known as Blockchain as a Service (BaaS). These include the IBM Blockchain, the Microsoft Azure Blockchain, the Amazon AWS Blockchain, and the R3 Corda Blockchain.
Ledger partners up with tech giant, Intel
The objective of this partnership is to combine Ledger's unique operating system, 'Blockchain Open Ledger Operating System' (BOLOS), with Intel's 'Software Extension Guard' (SGX).
Crypto and ICO regulations in Russia to be completed by July 2018
The Central Bank governor reportedly said last month, "the use of cryptocurrency as a monetary surrogate is actively proposed for the calculation of goods and services, we will not allow the use of cryptocurrency as a money substitute." Deputy Finance Minister, Alexei Moiseev, has suggested that cryptocurrencies be allowed for use as financial assets by qualified investors.
Wolf of the Wall Street Jordan Belfort warns ICOs are "scam"
Jordan Belfort, whose memoir was the basis for the "Wolf of the Wall Street" film, warned that promoters of ICOs were "perpetuating a massive scam of the highest order on everyone."
MIT plans to issue blockchain-based digital diplomas
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will issue digital diplomas to 111 graduates using Bitcoin's blockchain as part of a pilot project. The certificates will be issued via "Blockcerts Wallet", which is an app that can facilitate the issuance of a verifiable and tamper-proof version of the certification.
Kazakhstan plans to enter the cryptocurrency market
Kazakhstan plans to enter the digital currency ecosystem with its own fiat-backed cryptocurrency. This past Tuesday, the Maltese firm, Exante, and the Astana International Finance Center (AIFC) reportedly signed an agreement. The AIFC is supported by the Kazakhstan government. Extante, the "Next Generation Investment Company", recently launched Stasis – the first-ever platform to propose a cryptocurrency that is directly backed by fiat money.
Tezos ICO class-action lawsuit in works as value plummets
The Tim Draper-backed ICO has been wroght with major problems. The futures price of the coin has fallen roughly 75% before it has even officially launched.
Bitcoin hard forks may imply tax complications
IRS agent David Utzke declared that the number of individuals who bother to report the capital gains from cryptocurrencies have been decreasing. Whatever the case may be, government ambiguity has made one-for-one forks and splits excessively complicated. It has become crucial for Bitcoiners to seek out professional tax advice.
Russia launching its own cryptocurrency - "CryptoRuble"
Minister of Communications Nikolay Nikiforov broke the news and stated: "I confidently declare that we will run CryptoRuble just for one simple reason: if we don't, our neighbors in the Eurasian Economic Community will do it in a couple of months."
Bitcoin price hits a monumental high of $6,000
The price of bitcoin has reached a record-breaking high of $6,000 USD across multiple global exchanges, with a current 24-hour volume of $1.7 billion. From Japan and the US, to countries like Zimbabwe and Venezuela where BTC is used to escape hyperinflation, proponents all over the world are thrilled.
Two S. Korean exchanges ready for Bitcoin Gold and SegWit2x hard forks
The second hard fork of Bitcoin's history, Bitcoin Gold, is scheduled to take place on October 25th, while another Bitcoin hard fork, SegWit2x, will occur in November.
Chinese BTC miners fear intensification of cryptocurrency crackdown
In addition to China being the manufacturer of most of the cryptocurrency mining equipment, it is also the country where more than half of the total bitcoin miners are based. However, with China's recent ban on ICOs, it is feared that the ban may be intensified to target the Chinese miners as well.
Google and Goldman Sachs are on the top list of active blockchain investors
The number of corporate investors in blockchain companies reached a record high of 91 this year, with Google and Goldman Sachs among the most active investors. Till now, there have been 42 equity investment deals by corporations this year, totaling $327 million.
Ripple exchange manager arrested for fraud
The Japanese manager of the Ripple exchange and trading platform, 31-year-old Yuki Takenaka, has been arrested for allegedly swindling investors. This arrest occurred during a large-scale investigation of fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes.
Bank of America seeks patent for a blockchain-based processing system
As of August, BoA has filed more than 20 cryptocurrency and blockchain-related patent applications, nine of which were submitted in 2016, four were filed in 2015, and 10 were filed in 2014.
What to check before investing in an ICO
Investors need to be extremely cautious when investing their money in ICOs. Checking the requirements that are mentioned will help investors differentiate between a scam and a viable investment.
First-ever fund-of-funds for cryptocurrencies
Protocol Ventures, the first-ever fund-of-funds for cryptocurrencies, has been launched by serial tech entrepreneur and investor, Rick Marini.
Swiss mountain bunker contains millions of bitcoins
It is important to clarify that the vault does not store actual bitcoins, rather it stores private, cryptographic keys. These keys form pairs with public-facing keys, and provide the users with access to the balance of coins that is stored on the Bitcoin network.
Ethereum blockchain is updating to Byzantium
The Byzantium hard fork will improve the performance of the blockchain network with an addition of new security features.
ICO tokens can be commodities, states CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has already confirmed that bitcoin, and other cryptocurrency assets, will be treated as commodities. Recently, it was disclosed that tokens issued through initial coin offerings (ICOs) may be considered as commodities as well.
Initial coin offerings raise another billion in under two months
Around this time last month, the amount raised by ICOs in the crypto market surpassed $2 billion. Within the past 30 days, it has increased by more than another billion dollars.
Ripple trying to attract banks through its $300m XRP rebate program
The RippleNet Accelerator Program, which provides the early adopters with a volume rebate and other market incentives, is funded from an account containing $300 million of XRP. In order for RippleNet members to receive their license and rebate, they must reach integration and volume milestones by a deadline.
Clever cryptocurrency miners using Politifact and other sites
Politifact is the latest site to have its website used for mining cryptocurrency. When contacted regarding this proceeding, Politifact team denied being aware of the routine being present on their site and vowed to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Bitcoin Cash developer is launching a P2P marketplace
LocalBitcoin, which is a P2P marketplace for bitcoin, does not support Bitcoin Cash. This has made the development of such a marketplace necessary. A Reddit user, MobTwo, reported that he is in the process of building LocalBitcoinCash, which is the Bitcoin Cash version of LocalBitcoin.
A high-tech heater that mines Ethereum
Russian cryptocurrency startup, Comino, has come up with a high-tech yet simple contraption to enable people to enter the cryptocurrency market while keeping them warm and cozy. The startup has built a room heater that can not only keep a room warm, but also mine various cryptocurrencies in the process.
Bitcoin will collapse, says economist, Kenneth Rogoff
Russia to block bitcoin exchange websites
Sergei Shvetsov, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), stated that the Russian government aims to block access to websites that belongs to exchanges and trading platforms, which offer cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. This was reported by an article on Reuters.
Ripple's clientele increasing as cryptocurrency becomes normalized
Ripple has recently signed up more clients to its blockchain network, with the total now around 100. Its distributed ledger network, RippleNet, has been joined by the likes of UAE based lender, RAKBANK, and UK based currency exchange firm, IFX.
Vanuatu citizenship on sale for 44 bitcoins
The idea of buying citizenship through investment is an old one, and almost every country offers citizenship in return for a specific amount of investment. Recently, a tiny island in the Southern Pacific has made headlines with its plan to offer citizenship in return for investments in the form of digital currencies.
Oracle unveils enterprise blockchain strategy
A public launch of the new platform is expected to occur sometime next year. Oracle has become the latest addition in the blockchain-as-a-service market, which already includes the IBM and Microsoft.
France in the process of releasing regulation pertaining to ICOs
Following the trend of other countries, France is all set to release regulations related to the sale of tokens or Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). This has been reported by the domestic financial market regulators of France.
ConsenSys project comes up with a new accounting tool
In light of the recent crackdown on cryptocurrencies all over the world, there is a need for greater transparency in the blockchain industry. ConsenSys is a project that aims to introduce more financial transparency and has come up with an ingenious new accounting software tool, Balanc3, to solve this issue.
Newer players in the cryptocurrency market gaining traction
Impressive amounts of investment were observed in the last quarter in the alt-coins, as investors raised the value of cryptocurrencies by millions. For example, Dash, which is valued at $2.3 billion, was up by almost 82%.
After China, South Korea bans ICOs
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) of South Korea has released a statement in which they announced that all Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) will be banned in the country. According to Reuters, South Korea's FSC said on Friday that "it will ban raising money through all forms of virtual currencies."
Ex Google and Facebook employees start a cryptocurrency index fund
Due to the lack of a proper investment platform for virtual currencies, Hunter Horsley, a senior project manager from Facebook, and Hong Kim, a Google veteran, decided to build a cryptocurrency asset management company.
Chinese bitcoin exchange hacked for $3 million
OKEx, a sister site of OKCoin, is a major bitcoin trading platform in China with customers from all over the world. Recently, a customer of OKEx reported that their account was accessed from a German IP when BTC-ETC trading was carried through it.
Chinese investors dominate bitcoin, companies gunning for blockchain
Quartz recently released a reported on how the bitcoin market in China has grown from a small-scale experiment to a billion-dollar market. The author reported that the Chinese government regulates the market so tightly that there is little room for speculation.
South Korean crypto community announce to act against ICO ban
A week ago, South Korean regulators announced that they will be banning all Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The ban has yet to be implemented and many startups have decided to take action against the call of regulators to ban ICOs.
China may legalize BTC exchanges but no funds for illegal activities
After the recent crackdown on ICOs, China's official press agency released another statement in which it condemned the use of virtual currency in illegal activities.
BlackRock CEO considers cryptocurrency an opportunity
While talking to Bloomberg TV, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, says that he is a big believer in cryptocurrency.
R3 launches Corda – Distributed Ledger 1.0
Roars of celebration could be heard around the office floor of R3 as the chief architect, Richard Gendal Brown, announced the release of their newest Corda distributed ledger platform.
US dollar-pegged token, Tether, is a ticking time bomb
The recent report, released by Friedman LLP, may have quelled the rumors of the insolvency of Tether, however the issue of Tether being used for illicit activities is still a big concern.
Fidelity starts mining cryptocurrency
According to Quartz, Fidelity has set up a small cryptocurrency operation inside its asset management department; this department is related to making money for the company.
Controversy surrounding Tether continues to unfold
In the recent months, the company has issued a huge number of tokens and has since been extensively scrutinized as to whether these tokens are actually backed by real currency.
China to regulate cryptocurrency market from the 1st of October
Jinse.com has reported that Chinese authorities are planning on regulating the cryptocurrency market by classifying cryptocurrency a virtual assets.
Thailand's bank launches Ripple: a new blockchain enterprise solution
The bank aims to use this new technology to handle remittances between Japan and Thailand. Ripple, used as a cross-border payment network solution, will allow the bank to transfer remittances from Japan to Thailand nearly instantaneously.
Research shows ICOs are failing
Architect Partners conducted a thorough research, analyzing data collected from tokendata.io to come to stark conclusions regarding the ICO market.
Japanese bitcoin exchanges soon to begin trading
Japanese bitcoin exchanges have begun receiving their formal operating licenses from the local Financial Services Agency (FSA). QUOINE and bitFlyer were some of the first exchanges to receive their formal certificate of approval from the government's department.
Chinese regulations deal with illegal fundraising
Following the recent turmoil between the cryptocurrency market and the Chinese government, the latter have released a regulatory document that is focused on stopping illegal fundraising that may put investors into harm's way.
Alternative to annoying ads - cryptocurrency mining scripts
As google Adsense and other conventional methods of marketing are not as profitable as they used to be, website owners are aching to find new ways to monetize their sites. Embedding cryptocurrency mining scripts in webpages has been found to be a very lucrative business.
Bitcoin is moving out of China
Cryptocurrency is moving out of China and into Japan and South-Korea, making them the dominating countries on the Bitcoin Ecosystem.
Bitcoin Cash network shows progress with an ambitious future plans
More than 50 days after the last hard fork, the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network is up and running with full steam ahead. Different development teams are working on the BCH network in order to improve the cryptocurrency's protocol.
Aliant partners with BitPay making payment with BTC easier
By connecting with one of the leading payment processing companies, Bitpay is helping increase mainstream adoption of the cryptocurrency.


I'm glad I chose Rory Ramirez for my move to Chicago! His assistants packed all furniture items, drove the truck and did a move out cleaning. Awesome job!
I used One Man In a Van to clean my apartment. And my flat became clean and shiny in some 3 hours. That's awesome! I will recommend your company to everyone!


How many times during the day do you thoroughly wash your hands? Truthfully, it brings me great joy to see foamy lather being rinsed away by nice warm water. As an educator, I learned early in my career the wellness value of hand washing. Now, as a parent, knowing that my hands, and my kids' hands are clean is our first line of defense for avoiding communal germs and sickness collected along the way. Most illnesses and health conditions are spread around by not properly washing hands with soap and running water.
Thank you to Live Clean and their promotional team for the courtesy of providing product for editorial content purposes.
Did you know 95% of people don't know how to wash their hands properly? According to Dr. Tania Dempsey MD of Armonk Integrative Medicine, "If everyone washed their hands with soap regularly, one million deaths could be prevented every year."
1 - Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
2 - Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
3 - Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the "Happy Birthday" song from beginning to end twice.
4 - Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
Did you know that October 15th is National Hand Washing Day? Hand washing is of such significance to our health and wellness a day is designated to emphasizing the importance of proper and sufficient hand washing technique.
We' recently discovered the eco-friendly, economical benefit of Live Clean Hand Soaps, which are specially created with certified organic extracts and 98% renewable, sustainable plant-based ingredients. Featuring cruelty-free, SLS free, phthalate free, paraben free soap in three amazing flavors- Coconut Milk, Fresh Water and Argan Oil.
Check out the Live Clean product line today.


The Environment and Energy Operational Program (EEOP, in Hungarian KEOP) is one of the 15 Operative Programs of the 2007-2013 New Hungarian Development Plan (In Hungarian ÚSZT), which relates to the EU National Strategic Reference Framework (In Hungarian, NSRK).
In this period Hungary gets 22.4 billion EUR from the Structural Funds, which is three times more money/year for the development of the projects than in 2004-2006. The Hungarian state gives 15% to this, which amounts the total to about 26.2 billion EUR. Above that Hungary gets 3.4 billion EUR development source from the Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG). From this, 4.9 billion EUR is allocated for KEOP including the 15% Hungarian state's co-financing. In this new period of 2007-2013, the procedures for all operation programs were made to be simpler and quicker, than it was for the previous period of 2004-06. To help the procedures, online administration was introduced, where the applicants can electronically make an application, ask payment, as well as follow the application.
Source: Compiled from NFU (Hungarian Development Agency / Nemzeti Fejlesztési Ügynökség): www.nfu.hu .
Besides, energy projects could receive funding from the budget for preparation of bigger projects (KEOP 7) and promotion projects for sustainable use, and E-environment.(KEOP 6) .
Hungary has all in all 407 million EUR for the energy investments in the period of 2007-2013, from which Hungary had already used about 86 million EUR, which is insignificant compared to the total available. If the intensity of the investments will increase with the present pace till 2013 and 2020 this support is enough to reach the 13% in the final energy consumption.
Our opinion is that Hungary should make an effort to spend more money on the energy sector because the amount of the tenderers are growing year by year and Hungary gets the opportunity to increase our final renewable energy supply more than the undertaking 13%. Our natural resources also enable us to develop the renewable energy capacity, as Hungary's attainable socio-economic wind energy potential alone is around 7000 MW by 2020.
The description of KEOP: June 2007, 166 pp., (pdf file 1,3 MB) by Government of the Republic of Hungary.
More information: Operational Programs of the New National Development Plan.
Administered by the "National Environmental and Energy Center" Hungary (www.nkek.hu) and Energy Information Agency Non-Profit Company is owned by the Ministry of Transport, Telecommunication and Energy and it is the national energy agency responsible for the improvement of the energy efficiency and renewable energy utilization.
Description and supported projects in 2009 can be seen at: Energy Center Hungary's web site NEP. It is possible to see the applicants own application, but it is not possible to see an overview of all the applications and funding in 2009.
The applications were possible from August 1 - August 31, 2009.
There were 3077 applications until August 27, 2009. The budget was 1,535 million HUF (about 5.7 million EUR). There was possibility for credit for the investment part.
Description and supported projects in 2008 could be seen at: Energy Center Hungary's web site NEP 2008. The material was moved from the web site in 2009.
The applications were possible from April 14, 2008. From August 2008 the funding support got somewhat bigger.
More information: National Environmental and Energy Centre.
English description is not available (May 2013).
Description and supported projects in 2007 could be seen at: the web site of the Energy Center Hungary NEP 2007, but it was moved from the website in 2009.
The applications were possible from April 10, 2007.
The allocated available fund was 2.4 milliard HUF (about 9 million EUR).
Each project support was max 15 % of investment and max 265,000 HUF (about 1,000 EUR).
There were mainly 2 categories: changing of windows and doors, and installation of solar collectors.
About 5,000 projects were supported. This covers about 3,600 flats, and 1300 block of flats. The list of all supported projects can be downloaded from the Energy Center's website.
There was also a scheme for receiving credit in a framework of 16 milliard HUF.


text:
Ooencyrtus polyphagus är en stekelart som först beskrevs av Jean Risbec 1951.  Ooencyrtus polyphagus ingår i släktet Ooencyrtus och familjen sköldlussteklar. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Sköldlussteklar
polyphagus

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
RCW: Bird's Eye View 3.20
Each week the Bird's Eye View captures some of the best moments for Kansas Athletics. From the playing field, practice gym or behind the scenes, don't miss this exclusive perspective into the Kansas Jayhawks.
Swinging Away – A young tennis player took a big swing in front of KU freshman Tatiana Nikolaeva during the KU youth clinic inside the new Jayhawk Tennis Center at Rock Chalk Park. KU tennis players shared their time with the young players after the Jayhawks defeated Saint Louis 6-1 on Friday, January 20, in the first home match of the spring 2017 season.
Photo by Jeff Jacobsen
Smashing Success – KU's Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum smashed a running forehand during her straight-set, No. 3 singles victory in the Jayhawks' 6-1 triumph over Saint Louis on Friday, January 20, inside the new Jayhawk Tennis Center at Rock Chalk Park.
Racket Rest – Young players rested their tennis rackets against the net during warmups for a KU youth clinic inside the Jayhawk Tennis Center at Rock Chalk Park on Friday, January 20. Following the Jayhawks' home-opening victory over Saint Louis in the first matches played in the new facility, KU players took time to share their skills with the participants.
Quick Throw – Junior catcher/infielder Jessie Roane fired a throw from her knees to third base during a base-stealing drill inside KU softball's indoor facility at Rock Chalk Park on Friday, January 20.
Long Toss – KU pitcher Jon Hander took a big step in recovery from his second Tommy John surgery on his right arm by throwing "long toss" inside Anschutz Sports Pavilion on Friday, January 13. The junior pitcher tore the ulnar collateral elbow ligament in his throwing arm after his freshman season and then again during the season-opening game of his sophomore campaign in 2016. While Hander does not expect to take the mound during the 2017 season, he hopes to pitch again in the spring of 2018.
Lay It Down – Junior Mikayla Warren laid down a bunt in front of junior catcher Harli Ridling during KU softball's practice inside the team's indoor facility at Rock Chalk Park on Friday, January 20.
Into the Mystic – Junior Devonte' Graham flew into streaking light inside Allen Fieldhouse for a basket on Saturday, January 21. Graham scored a team-high 18 points in KU's 79-67 defeat of Texas, the Jayhawks' 18th-straight win this season and 50th-straight home victory.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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How is oanda forex trading condition?
If anyone has tried before, please share your experience thanks.
I used to trade here a long time ago, and it was good. I think there is better options now. But the one thing i always remember about Oanda, is that that is the brokerage with the highest percentage of profitable traders. That may have of course changed as it was a long time ago. But that is a good sign if it still holds true and reliable.
I am new here. I have traded with OANDA for 10 years with no problems. I highly recommend them. I have strayed from time to time but always came back.


Massages can invigorate and activate. While initially relaxing, massage promotes mental alertness and circulation to help you feel energized. Our Licensed Massage Therapist, Tamara Cloud, has over 17 years of experience in Prenatal Massage, Swedish Relaxation, Deep Tissue, Craniosacral and Myofascial Release, Oncology Massage, Hot Stone and Therapeutic Massage.
*Services are currently only being offered at the Development Drive location.
Classic European massage techniques are used during this full body treatment to stimulate circulation, improve skin and muscle tones, relieve tension and soothe tired muscles. A calming and nurturing therapy.
During pregnancy your body experiences unique stresses and strains. Our therapists are trained in maternity massage techniques to relax and relieve expectant mothers.
Deep pressure to targeted trigger points of the body relieves stress and tension, improves energy, and allows the natural flow of oxygen to the blood. This treatment is therapeutic, energizing as well as relaxing. Recommended for individuals who have had massage before.
The heat and weight of the stones is deeply relaxing while increasing circulation. This unique therapy is best suited for those with sleeping difficulties, high stress levels, or chronic pain such as arthritis or sore muscles.
Exfoliate dry skin with an aromatic sugar scrub. All of the benefits of the massage, with extra attention to the skin make any appointment dually beneficial. Warm towels remove the sugar mixture, and a hydrating body balm is used to moisturize and revive skin.
Complement your massage with an essential oil to balance, harmonize and promote the health of body, mind and spirit.


Harald Baumgartner is a grumpy old-fashioned flatfoot with an infallible instinct for catching killers, Katharina Momsen is a sassy sleuth and a cold sober markswoman. Together they are "Baumgartner & Momsen", the quirky but effective team feared by crooks and criminals everywhere.
While the stories themselves are primarily aimed at creating an immersive and entertaining reading experience for German learners, the language is specially designed to familiarize readers with unique forms of spoken German with a special emphasis on dialogue and common idiomatic phrases.