Blockchain Guild’s Community Fund Makes Its First Award for Bitcoin Development
The Blockchain Guild, a community fund set up to further bitcoin development, has made its first award. The project is designed to mentor the next generation of developers, in whose hands the future of blockchain technology lies. A number of major backers have given Blockchain Guild their support including litecoin’s Charlie Lee, bitcoin developer Jimmy Song, and Tuur Demeester.
Also read: Gavin Andresen Drops A New Concept On Github for Bitcoin Cash
A Bounty on Future Bitcoin Development
As the Blockchain Guild explains, its purpose is to “Allow Patrons to be able to…support the open source ecosystem that allowed them to be successful.” It’s basically a means for bitcoiners who’ve “made it” to help those who are just starting out. These junior software engineers and blockchain developers may have the skills, but they lack the funding to dedicate time to improving code bases and developing infrastructure.
The first award the foundation has made is 0.5 BTC to Kalle Alm, a bitcoin core member who’s based in Tokyo. Alm will be using the award to work on btcdeb, a Bitcoin Script debugger. Christopher Allen, Jimmy Song, Tuur Demeester, Charlie Lee, and Zcash were the patrons for this particular award. Allen and Demeester are key members of the Guild along with a handful of other respected members of the bitcoin community.
Patreon for Bitcoin
The Blockchain Guild has been described as a Patreon-style platform that awards funds for enterprising coding projects. Project advisors oversee work that is performed in addition to voting on which bounties to award. A majority consensus of approximately 75% is required for a project to be given the go-ahead. Advisors who lead on a project aren’t devoting their time and experience for free: they’re eligible for 20% of the patron funds, with 10% going to platform costs and 70% to the recipient of the bounty.
The Guild is exploring the possibility of becoming a non-profit organization, and invites patrons to pledge their support for emerging talent who will carry the reins for future bitcoin development.
What else do you think should be done to support up and coming bitcoin developers? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Venezuela Seeks Miners for the Petro – Maduro Claims 860,811 Already Signed Up
Venezuela is looking for miners for the country’s national cryptocurrency, the Petro. The government has opened up a registry for miners to sign up to mine and gain access to the new currency. According to Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro, 860,811 young people have already registered to create the Petro mining farms.
Also read: Venezuela Unveils Mining, Trading, and Launch Details of National Cryptocurrency
Venezuelan Miners Wanted
Venezuela has opened up the Registry of Cryptocurrency Miners for anyone with national identification to sign up to mine the country’s cryptocurrency, the Petro. The portal, launched by the Superintendence of Cryptocurrencies and Related Activities, will remain open until January 21.
Natural or legal persons registered in the Registry will be able to acquire other types of cryptocurrencies for free use and demand in Venezuela, as long as they are authorized.
Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro first announced the creation of the Petro back in December, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. He then created the Superintendency of cryptocurrencies as well as the Blockchain Observatory to oversee the launch and operation of the Petro. Recently, he backed the Petro with 5 billion barrels of oil reserves and released mining, trading, and launch details of the new currency.
Based on the latest data provided by the Ministry of Petroleum, “The basis for calculating the value of the Petro will be the price of a barrel of crude, which currently stands at an average of 57 dollars,” the news outlet noted.
860,000+ Have Signed Up
Since the announcement of the Petro, Maduro claims to have been recruiting young people across his country to develop mining farms for the Petro. He was quoted by El Universal:
We are going to call them a special cryptocurrency team…[They will] set up cryptocurrency mining farms in all states and municipalities of the country.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s private business sector has some reservations about the Petro. El Impulse quoted them asserting:
The cryptocurrency market in the world is not managed by governments, and its credibility and success are based on trust, something that does not exist in Venezuela.
Do you think Venezuela will be mining real cryptocurrency? What do you think of the Petro? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of the Venezuelan government and Reuters.
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Chinese Cryptocurrency Exchanges Delay Launching in South Korea Due to Regulation
Two major Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges have delayed their launches in South Korea due to uncertainties surrounding the government’s regulation. The regulators are currently working on a real-name identification system that will end the anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies in the country.
Also read: Russian Cryptocurrency Bill Is Ready – Regulators Share Details4
A Bump in the Road to Korea
Okcoin established a subsidiary called Okcoin Korea in October with a plan to start a trading service in December of last year. Initially, the platform would support 10 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), and ether (ETH). However, the news outlet elaborated:
The plans were scrapped at the last minute due to growing uncertainties surrounding regulatory changes.
Huobi also made a plan to launch an exchange in Korea. The company recently partnered with Japan’s SBI Holdings to begin operations in Japan. According to Nikkei, SBI will buy a 10% stake in Huobi’s South Korean subsidiary. In November of last year, Huobi’s CEO, Li Lin, was quoted by the Korea Times saying:
We are preparing to establish an exchange in Korea to compete with Bithumb.
Bithumb has long been the largest crypto exchange in South Korea by volume. However, recently, newcomer Upbit has been reporting trading volumes that exceed those of Bithumb, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. Upbit is backed by Kakao Corporation, which owns the country’s largest chat app called Kakao Talk.
Regulatory Roadblock
In December, the Korean regulators made several announcements regarding cryptocurrency regulation, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported. Most recent announcements concern the anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies. The government is creating a real-name identification system and is expected to end the practice of anonymous trading by January 20. Currently, this practice is possible through the use of “virtual accounts.” So far, all major crypto platforms in the country have complied with all regulatory measures announced and revised their terms of service accordingly.
In addition to prohibiting the issuance of new virtual accounts, according to Ajnews, the government has decided:
A new entry into the virtual currency trading market will be blocked until the realization of the so-called ‘virtual money real name system’ that can confirm the identity of the account owner on the 20th of this month.
Do you think Chinese exchanges will do well in South Korea? Do you think the government will make it more difficult for them to enter the market? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Etoday.
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Statistical Analysis Reveals Ties That Bind the Cryptocurrency Markets
Predicting the price movements of cryptocurrencies is a dark art that combines technical and fundamental analysis with an understanding of human psychology. A recent analysis dispels a little of that darkness by revealing the interdependence of altcoins. Its findings? When altcoins fall, they often fall in unison.
Also read: Peter Thiel, Bitcoin Astronaut, Moves Markets with Crypto Moonshot
Applying Math to the Crypto Markets
Analogies are all well and good, but they’re of little use when it comes to formulating an effective trading strategy. Mathematician Monika Monstvilaite has undertaken a more scientific approach to understanding the markets, explaining:
I felt that there is a need for statistical analysis in the field of cryptocurrencies. There are a lot of predictions out there on the internet, unfortunately theories used in many cases have no statistical evidence.
In “Statistical analysis of cryptocurrencies using actual math” she explores the relationship between different cryptocurrencies. Ms Monstvilaite uses Kendall’s τ, a coefficient for measuring the association between two measured quantities. The tree graph she’s produced shows the link between various cryptocurrencies and the extent to which the movement of one can influence the other.
The key takeaway from her analysis? “Most cryptocurrencies are dependent when they perform badly, but relatively independent when they do well. In other words they are likely to “crash” at the same time, on the other hand they tend to increase independently.”
This won’t be revelatory to anyone who’s familiar with the markets; when bitcoin surges, red candles across the board are commonplace, as alts struggle to keep pace. Having this confirmed by mathematical analysis may help when it comes to spotting the warning signs that altcoins are about to take a tumble. She concludes by speaking of the asymmetric nature of cryptocurrency markets, warning: “Even with a diversified portfolio there is a risk of losing a relatively high proportion of your investment even during a time period as short as one day.”
Do you think altcoin prices are heavily dependent upon one another? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Monika Monstvilaite.
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Hooters Investor Joins the Crypto Hype: “Eating a Burger Is Now a Way to Mine!”
Companies routinely roll out new loyalty programs with much fanfare but arouse little to no excitement from investors, at least until they can show some returns. Now one Hooters franchisee has shown how to change this: just use these magic words: bitcoin, crypto and blockchain.
Also Read: Public Firm Faces Class Action Lawsuit for Falsely Claiming Link to Bitcoin
Hooters Coin?
“We wanted to expand our existing loyalty program with something that really changes the way our customers can leverage their rewards; Mobivity Merit is real cryptocurrency, leveraging the same infrastructure and principles of bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, litecoin, and more, and will enable our customers to make use of their rewards in entirely new ways,” said Michael D. Pruitt, Chairman, President and CEO of Chanticleer Holdings.
Tasty Mining
Mobivity and Chanticleer only plan to begin the deployment of this new program beginning in about six months. They expect it to be deployed across all their brands by the end of the year. It will simply allow a customer to use the loyalty points they “mined” by eating a burger at one brand to get a buffalo chicken sandwich at another, or “trade them with a vegan friend so he can get a veggie burger.”
One would expect that stock investors would wise up by now and demand to see more than promises of groundbreaking technology. However, as we seen time and time before, companies turn up the blockchain hype to eleven because it delivers, for them. Unless market regulators will put a stop to this, the trend has no end in sight.
“Eating a burger is now a way to mine for cryptocoins! Every meal enjoyed at any Chanticleer Holdings brand will accrue currency for the consumer that can be used for future meals or traded with other consumers. It transforms traditional consumer rewards into something that the consumer can control,” said Dennis Becker, CEO of Mobivity.
Why are stock investors flocking to fake “bitcoin” companies instead of going for the real deal? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
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African Holding Company VP Urges Central Bank to Buy Bitcoin and Ditch Dollar
Concerned about the US dollar’s predicted drop in value, and many African countries relying on USD cash reserves, vice president of Groupe Nduom, a leading financial holding company, Papa-Wassa Chiefy Nduom, has taken to Linkedin and Twitter to make the case for less reliance on greenbacks and more investment in bitcoin.
Also read: Jimmy Song Uses Andreas Antonopoulos Model, Open Sources Forthcoming Book
Unnecessarily Prolonging Gut-Wrenching Human Suffering on the African Continent
“What if this continent could finally build consensus around a new digital reserve asset – and figure out ways to fund infrastructure development by leveraging it,” Mr. Nduom asks via his Linkedin account. He’s “concerned about the US Dollar. The experts say it’s going down” this year especially, he fears. It’s of particular worry for Africa due to the reliance many nations have on US currency, and a crash of the predicted double-digit magnitude could lead to “unnecessarily prolonging gut-wrenching human suffering on the African Continent” if action isn’t taken, and soon.
The alternative Mr. Nduom advocates is for more investment in bitcoin. Placing himself in context, he notes “I am a lawyer / member of a family business group / small time investor. My only interest in this particular bombastic argument is a kind of black globalist fomo (fear of missing out),” he writes. Referring to a map (see inset) “Bitcoin nodes are all over the world but Africa is a very conspicuous dark spot. Africa keeps getting left behind,” he urges.
Much more than a mere speculative instrument, Mr. Nduom views bitcoin as a chance for Africa to almost be borderless like the currency, building a less arbitrary group of political units, something Ghana’s independence leader referred to as “United States of Africa.” Bitcoin might also be a hedge against endemic government corruption, the sort he claims could easily steal fiat reserves. “That’s not so easy with reserves on a public blockchain that has never gone down and has the data being broadcast for free on a network of satellites,” he writes.
“Citizens can put alerts on the address,” he argues, “and definitively off limits to political sticky fingers. And eventually you can borrow against them to build things these countries desperately need.”
Tired of Begging
In a recent interview with Modern Ghana he’s said to have asked Ghana’s central bank to risk one percent of its reserves on bitcoin. “On the investment case, for a central bank, especially for a country that needs to come up with solutions, we need more funding for investments and my view is, by making that investment and by signalling that it’s an enabling environment for investments,” he stressed. “For example, if the exchange is domiciled in Ghana trades in the digital currency will not be subject to tax or capital gains but will tax the profit that the exchange is made. That could result in massive inflows of foreign currencies to Ghana.”
He limited his research to 13 African nations, English speaking mostly, and found rebalancing away from over-dependence on the dollar and more in cryptocurrencies could be very much worth the gamble. If response is any indication, his Tweets to this effect have gone viral with over 70K likes thus far.
“I will be looking for the first African Central Banker who says – I’m tired of putting my hat in my hand and begging – let’s take some risk and dig into this new global, permission-less, robust and extensible financial ecosystem. Everything we need to learn is for free on the internet,” he wrote.
What do you think about Ghana investing in bitcoin? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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