PR: B2Expand Launches Its Ethereum-Based Game Asset Store
This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release.
Gaming startup B2Expand has launched the beta version of its game store. The shop is the first in the video gaming space to leverage blockchain — best known as the underlying technology of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The shop’s launch comes three months after B2Expand published its first game, Beyond the Void (BTV) — a space Multiplayer (1v1 initially) Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game. At the time of the shop launch, over 10,000 gamers had played BTV’s beta release.
B2Expand’s head of communication and marketing, Manon Burgel, explains that players can buy newly created game assets through the store, such as skins and avatars. They will also be able to use it as an exchange platform where they trade assets among themselves. Manon:
“The store is one of the critical features we are building in our wider blockchain-based gaming ecosystem, which will foster true ownership of players’ gaming assets.”
B2Expand has christened their ecosystem Nexarium. They have indicated that it will include the store, native games like Beyond the Void, partner games that use the Nexium token, and game assets.
The blockchain technology behind Nexium
The Nexarium ecosystem uses the blockchain at two levels. In November 2016, B2Expand raised over US$300,000 through an ICO to support the development of Beyond the Void and the necessary infrastructure for Nexarium. An ICO – Initial Coin Offering – is a capital-raising event where a startup creates tokens and sells them to the public.
In its ICO, B2Expand created 100 million Nexium tokens on the Ethereum blockchain and sold over 28 million to the public. Those that were not sold were burned (destroyed).
The Nexium is an ERC20 token, which means it complies with Ethereum’s blockchain standard and can be managed using Ethereum’s infrastructure. Manon:
“While you can create a Nexium wallet with tools built-in on the Beyond the Void platform and link it to the game store account, you have the option of using Ethereum wallets. In particular, Nexiums can be received, stored and sent using the Metamask, Mist and Toshi wallets.”
With the launch of the store, the token takes on the critical role of currency for players to trade game assets. The token makes micropayments across international borders easier and gives users a single coin to use, instead of working with multiple fiat currencies and payment providers.
Gamers and investors who didn’t get an opportunity to acquire tokens during the ICO can purchase them on exchanges such as Bittrex, Poloniex, HitBTC, Openledger and Etherdelta.
Game assets on the blockchain
The second way B2Expand uses the blockchain is in making true asset ownership possible. In the Nexarium ecosystem, cosmetic assets like skins and avatars will reside and be managed on the blockchain, making them 100% portable and independent of the gaming platform.
Players can gather assets in-game and opt to keep and use them, or sell them to other players as Ethereum-based entities, through Nexarium or independent second-hand shops.
B2Expand Game Designer Remi Burgel believes that, once more gaming platforms adopt blockchain, cross-gaming trading will become part of the player experience, with gamers moving common assets across platforms. Remi:
“For example, a player could move their unique mothership from Beyond the Void to any other space-based game.”
Remi does warn that, being in beta, the shop could still have glitches. The development team expects to have all significant bugs fixed before general release and Remi anticipates that any remaining issues will not significantly affect the overall player experience.
In November 2017, B2Expand was included in a startup accelerator program organized by video game publisher Ubisoft in conjunction with Station F, one of world’s largest business incubators. B2Expand gained access to 15 experts to help implement their business plan, observe regulatory requirements, create appropriate designs and proceed with technical development.
Contact Email Address
[email protected]
Supporting Link
https://www.beyond-the-void.net/wiki/b2expand/
This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.
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Bitcoin.com Launches Bitcoin Cash Notary Service
Back in April of 2017 Bitcoin.com launched a notary service that was based on top of the bitcoin core (BTC) blockchain. However, due to the transaction bottleneck and extremely high fees, the notary service became unsustainable. Now Bitcoin.com has re-launched the notary using the bitcoin cash (BCH) blockchain, and anyone in the world can prove ownership for only 0.0005 BCH (about $0.97).
Also read: Lots of Optimism at the Miami Bitcoin Conference This Week
Verify Essential Documents Using the Bitcoin Cash Blockchain
This week Bitcoin.com has re-launched the blockchain-based notary service that was once tethered to the bitcoin core blockchain. Unfortunately, the service did not work correctly because of transaction backlog, and high network fees to verify documents. Now the infrastructure is tied to the bitcoin cash blockchain making document verification extremely cheap, and fees are practically non-existent. Right now a user can upload a document for only 0.0005 BCH ($0.97), and the network transaction fee is less than a penny. (It’s important to note that records don’t actually “exist” on the chain per say, it is merely timestamped encrypted data that is tied to the file that’s processed into a valid BCH transaction.) Not only that but the proof will be verified in less than ten minutes, and you can rest assure the notarization service will be validated.
For thousands of years, people used third-party sources and notaries to verify essential documents like wills, contracts, birth certificates, and deeds. Governments also operate services that offer endorsement through its own notarization entities. Now with the existence of blockchain technology, individuals and organizations can use a more autonomous tool like the BCH chain to certify a file or document. When a person utilizes the Bitcoin.com notary service the file is signed into the bitcoin cash blockchain forever.
You control your own information — your document’s contents are not stored in the blockchain or ever exposed. Prove your document existed by comparing the blockchain entry of your document’s cryptographic digest to your actual document (if and when the need arises).
Using the notary service is easy, and all a person has to do is add a file by dragging it into the browser or using the file selector. Then you fund the anchor by sending BCH to the provided bitcoin cash address. Finally, after its confirmed, it will be signed into the BCH chain alongside a unique address and timestamp. Furthermore, users can also see the proof on the blockchain by checking the transaction on any bitcoin cash-based block explorer.
At Bitcoin.com we believe in decentralization, and the need for third parties can be disrupted by the power of Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision. A genuine peer-to-peer electronic cash can do wonderful things, and one of the many great concepts using transactions is also verifying important documents without the need for governments, banks, or corporate entities just like Satoshi intended.
Have you tried our bitcoin cash-based blockchain notarization service? Let us know about your experience in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Pixabay, and Bitcoin.com
Want to etch a document into the bitcoin cash blockchain? Check out our bitcoin cash powered notary service here.
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Onecoin Offices Raided in Sofia, Servers Shut Down
Bulgarian law enforcement agencies have raided the offices of Onecoin in Sofia as part of a multinational effort to neutralize what authorities call a “centralized cryptocurrency pyramid scheme”. Three million people may have been defrauded by the company which offers services on four continents, according to media reports. Bulgarian officials were diligent enough to note that Onecoin has nothing in common with the decentralized Bitcoin.
Also read: Nigerian SEC Associates Shady MLM Schemes Like Onecoin With Bitcoin
50 People Questioned, No Arrests
Servers, documents and other evidence have been confiscated from Onecoin and about 50 people have been questioned by investigators, according to the official statement. No arrests have been reported so far. Bulgarian prosecutors, national security agents and members of the organized crime combating unit were involved in the joint operation. They acted on request from Germany, where Bulgarian-born “founder and visionary” of Onecoin, Ruja Ignatova, had been taken to court. “Onecoin” payments were banned in the Federal Republic and in 2016 the UK Financial Conduct Authority issued a warning about the company. The Ministry of Interior of Bulgaria released a video of the search in Onecoin’s building:
In just three years, about three million people have subscribed for the educational packages offered by Onecoin, Bulgarian prosecutors announced at a briefing on Friday. The company is suspected of commercial fraud, money laundering and illegal payments. During the press conference security officials clarified for the audience that while Bitcoin is a decentralized system, the “so called cryptocurrency Onecoin” is centralized.
“You can only buy from a company that is part of the International Marketing Association of Onecoin”, the head of Bulgaria’s Specialized Prosecution Office Ivan Geshev said, quoted by Nova. The offices of the Sofia-based subsidiary “One Network Services” EOOD and 14 other connected companies have been searched by the Bulgarian authorities.
Onecoin Busted, Onecoin Online
Onecoin operations had not ceased after its servers in Sofia were shut down, Bulgarian prosecutors admitted. The local subsidiary has been offering services on four continents, but “Onecoin Ltd.” is actually registered in the United Arab Emirates and operates through hundreds of affiliates around the world, with key markets in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa, according to its website. Associated companies have been investigated by authorities in Britain, Ireland, Italy, US, Canada, Ukraine, the Baltic States and other countries.
The distribution of Onecoin is forbidden in several jurisdictions, including Germany. Bulgarian authorities conducted the operation on January 17 and 18 in response to legal assistance request from the Prosecutor’s Office in the German city of Bielefeld stemming from October 2017. The 37-year-old Ignatova, former CEO of Onecoin, has German citizenship. The “virtual currency” that Onecoin offers to its customers has been used as a means of payment, circumventing local laws that cover payment services, according to the German financial regulator Bafin. Authorities have also noted the possibility of using the network to fund organized crime and terrorism.
Representatives of the Bulgarian Special Prosecutor’s Office, officers from the General Directorate Combating Organized Crime and agents of the State Agency for National Security have participated in the operation. Their actions against the international criminal organization have been observed by Europol delegates and German investigators.
One (Ponzi) Coin Exposed
Onecoin, and the network of companies behind it, has been exposed as a Ponzi scheme in multiple media reports and by many cryptocurrency experts. News outlets and journalists have been threatened by Onecoin lawyers for shedding light on the nature of its global business. Authorities, regulators and law enforcement agencies in countries like Hungary and Italy have taken measures against it and imposed fines, as news.Bitcoin.com has reported. In April the German federal financial supervisory authority seized funds from a company associated with the multi-level-marketing scheme to promote and sell the “cryptocurrency”.
The company has been singled out in numerous warnings issued by authorities around the world and investigated by relevant agencies. The latest attempt to end its activities is the largest in scale so far and has been coordinated with partners from other countries, as Kapital points out. The Sofia-based “One Network Services” Limited Liability Company was registered with just 2 BGN (≈1 EUR) authorized capital, according to a publication by Dnevnik. It has been previously headed by Ignatova’s mother, Veska, also investigated in Germany. Both women have vacated their Onecoin executive posts last year.
In a statement sent to the media, “One Network Services” said it had been targeted in a showcase police operation. The company has never maintained illegal activities neither in Bulgaria, nor in other countries, the press release stated. Its representatives added they were cooperating with the authorities but were kept in the dark about the subject of the investigation.
In a 2016 presentation Onecoin’s founder and visionary said: “We will rewrite history… In two years nobody will speak about bitcoin anymore.”
Do you think the raid in Sofia will put an end to Onecoin? Tell us in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Onecoin
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Markets Update: Cryptocurrency Prices Rebound But Uncertainty Still Lingers
After the past few weeks of bearish market sentiment within the cryptocurrency economy, a wide variety of digital assets are starting to gain higher values. BTC/USD markets have hit a 24-hour high of $13,050 on January 20, after slowing creeping upwards from the low $10K range. Overall nearly every token market is up today anywhere between 2-50 percent higher than yesterday.
Also read: Japan’s GDP Grows Due to Bitcoin Wealth Effect
The Market Storm Has Subsided, But What Lies Ahead Is Whole Lot of Uncertainty
Over the past few weeks, the U.S. dollar has been the top nation state issued currency traded with BTC. However this week Japan has taken the lead once again, as the yen now captures 36 percent of the global trade volume. This is followed by the USD (32%), tether (USDT 12.8%), the Korean won (7.5%), and the euro (4.9%). The most popular traded cryptocurrency paired with BTC on Shapeshift is still ethereum. The overall market capitalization of all 1,469 digital assets is $635Bn, and bitcoin core markets dominate by 34 percent at the time of writing.
Technical Indicators
Looking at the charts things are a bit more bullish than a few days prior. Volume is definitely not as strong but buyers are controlling the market, and BTC/USD market values continue to rise. At the moment there is deep resistance right now at the $13,000-13,150 zone but bulls have been slowly chipping away at those orders. It’s safe to say that BTC is struggling to break past crucial resistance levels which could lead to a sell-off point if things cannot hold.
Currently, the two Simple Moving Averages (SMA) have changed courses since our last markets update. The short-term 100 SMA is still below the longer term 200 SMA which indicates the path to resistance will likely head southbound. However, both RSI and Stochastic oscillators are headed northbound showing more room for price improvements, but there’s also room to drop as well. At present order books show thicker sell walls above the $13,500 territory alongside even more in the $14K regions. On the backside, there is excellent support at the $12,200 through $11,900 zones, but after that, the books start to thin out. A lot of traders believe the storm is not over and expected a ‘dead cat bounce’ at $13K. These negative speculators think bitcoin could range between $9,000 to even $5,000 in the short term. More optimistic traders believe the storm is over and we should be heading towards the $16K zone over the next week while also reaching all new highs next month.
Cryptocurrency Markets In General
As mentioned above most cryptocurrency markets are doing very well, and only tether is suffering today because many traders have exited that strategy so they can plot new positions. The second highest market cap is still held by ethereum (ETH) as the market value is up 12 percent. One ETH is averaging $1,163 per token, and the market is the second most traded cryptocurrency today. The third position is held by ripple (XRP) as its markets are up 4 percent and each XRP is priced at $1.60. Bitcoin cash BCH markets are up by 13.9 percent, and the currency is seeing over $800Mn in global trade volume presently. One BCH has an average price of around 2,014 per coin, and the market has a valuation of around $34Bn. Lastly, the fifth highest market cap is still controlled by Cardano (ADA) as markets are up 12 percent and each token is priced at $0.71 per ADA.
Again many traders are uncertain of the short-term future that lies ahead as far as government crackdowns and reaching all-time highs. Many agree that so far bear market sentiment may not be over yet and newer lows could happen. If the price can breach past $14-15K rigorously, then the trend reversal could have more of a solid foundation. Bulls are maintaining some momentum at the moment, and the next 24-hours may show some clearer signs.
Where do you see the price of BTC and other digital assets heading from here? Do you think cryptocurrencies will see more gains? Let us know in the comments below.
Disclaimer: Price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.”
Images courtesy of Pixabay, Bitcoin Wisdom, Coinmarketcap, Reddit, and Bitstamp.
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PR: Retail Conglomerate Launches Online Mall Accepting Only MegaX and Bitcoin Cash
This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release.
Singapore-based MegaX introduces first-of-its-kind global millennial online mall having raised USD2.5M from a token sale concluded on 16 November 2017.
MegaX, a partnership between iFashion Group and MC Payment, has launched an online mall targeted at millennials. Having been in the retail industry since 2009, the mall has served over 1 million customers worldwide. The mall will provide visitors with access to over 1,500 global brands and 80,000 products, featuring items such as the Google Pixel 2, the Oculus Rift Touch VR System, iPhone X and even adrenaline-pumping toys like the hydro jet that allows you to hover above the sea. The online mall will also include exclusive concierge service which aims to provide shoppers looking for a getaway with unique holiday experiences. Expect packages such as exotic stays in Irish castles, silver mines, airplane fuselages and even ice hotels.
The ability to transact using MGX coins and other cryptocurrencies will provide crypto-savvy millennials with the opportunity to experience a new retail phenomenon in the future of cashless society. MegaX envisions and has been working towards a future where ultimately MGX, the native currency, will be the cryptocurrency of choice for millennials to earn, spend and transact. A fresh and emerging retail network, MegaX will pave the way for emerging retailers to engage with millenials.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is an example of an evolved cryptocurrency that is ready for real-world use and is able to cater to retailers’ needs such as having faster transactions and lower fees. “By only accepting MGX and BCH instead of fiat for payments, we are determined to bring about real-world adoption of cryptocurrencies,’ said Jeremy Khoo, Group CEO, iFashion Group. “Despite a market cap of 728 billion USD in cryptocurrencies right now, most retailers do not accept them as a form of payment. Retailers looking to resonate with the new generation of consumers should be fearlessly agile and open to adopting new payment forms. Cryptocurrencies has seen unprecedented growth in 2017 and we believe that growth will continue.”
Megaxstore.com is piloting a rollout by accepting Bitcoin Cash. MegaX aims to help new-age retailers and cryptocurrencies reach out to a large addressable market, the millennials. A 2016 Accenture report states that within Asia alone, millennials are expected to collectively constitute USD 6 trillion in disposable income by 2020. According to a CBRE survey, 30% of this income is spent on leisure activities such as shopping and eating out.
MGX as a cryptocurrency revolves around the millennial movement and aims to create a retail revolution by better engaging with these segment of customers and being their currency of choice. The retail companies behind MegaX have served more than 10 million customers and will use an omni-channel approach in spurring real world adoption of MGX. Token holders can also expect to pay with MGX at multiple native offline events such as the next installation of Artbox Singapore – a creative market concept popularised in Thailand, which attracted over 600,000 attendees and totaled 30 million USD in transaction volume during its inaugural Singapore outing over 2 weekends in April 2017.
Visit http://megaxstore.com/ http://megax.io for more information or the following contact points
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megaxcoin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megaxcoin/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/megaXcoin
Telegram: https://t.me/Megaxcoin
Medium: https://medium.com/@megaXcoin
-END-
About iFashion Group
iFashion is a leading venture conglomerate company focused on investing and acquiring fashion and lifestyle e-commerce ventures based in Southeast Asia. To create synergy among businesses, the Group aggregates highly complementary businesses via mergers and acquisitions in its sectors of interest. The Group acquired, most notably, local O2O brands Dressabelle and Megafash, in the lead up to an IPO.
About MC Payment
Founded in Singapore in 2005, MC Payment is a leading innovative fintech company that has a strong regional presence with end-to-end value-chain of commerce transactions, ranging from suppliers and merchants to consumer payments. Its technology entails both retail to online payments, mobile to Distributed Ledger Technology. MC Payment has become the bridge that facilitates commerce transactions across the region, with payment acceptance ranging from credit and debit, to locally preferred alternative payments, while serving regional merchants and financial institutions alike.
About Megaxstore
Megaxstore is a multi-label online mall dedicated to inspire and motivate customers with creative goods found around the world. Megaxstore now operates over 7 stores across Asia, offering experiential retail spaces and a well-curated mix of tech products, hotel stays, homeware, food items, stationery, novelty goods, travel essentials, apparel for men, women and children; as well as accessories.
Contact Email Address
[email protected]
Supporting Link
http://megax.io
This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.
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Trading Tip `The Wall´ – Why Do We Fall, Bruce?
This week, the price of bitcoin reached a low-point of -53% from its December high. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Death of the “Get in before Wall Street!”-meme and why it made sense to Short the Great Bitcoin Bull. My viewpoint remains unchanged in that I’m still confident that the CME bitcoin futures listing was a core ingredient causing the bull run up to $19,891, as well as the recent fall down to $9,017 (Gdax). In this post, we’ll take a look at the stats from the bloodbath’s aftermath.
Also read: Trade Like You’re John McAfee
The Great Fall and Futures
This diagram shows the CME bitcoin futures trading volumes for the first month since their listing. During this month, 27,390 contracts were traded, which accounted for positions totaling 136,950 BTC (5 BTC per contract).
Upon CME entering the market, it was speculated that Wall Street would take charge over the price discovery of bitcoin. The futures market (CME) and the spot exchanges (e.g. Gdax, Bitstamp, Bitfinex) are indeed interconnected through the actions of arbitrageurs and market makers, so there is no flaw in that thinking. But at 136,950 BTC per month, the CME volumes are currently too low to have any noticeable impact on the market on their own accord. As a comparison, this Wednesday alone 128,631 BTC was traded on Bitfinex.
There however a certain signal value to the CME market action which may influence traders other ways. The clearest example of such a thing I’ve seen was during the initial hours of the Cboe bitcoin futures launch on Dec 10, where Cboe completely dominated the price direction even on minuscule volumes. The CME and Cboe are potential avenues for institutional traders. As such, other traders might assume that CME and Cboe traders have access to better information; that they are “in the know”, so to speak.
If you wanted to capture what the signal was from the CME during the days leading up to our recent Jan 17 $9,017 low, you would have needed to gauge whether the CME bitcoin futures traders were mostly entering short or long positions. To some people, this task is confusing since every futures contract has both a short and a long side, so no matter how many contracts are traded, the net difference will always be zero. But that thinking fails to encompass the fact that a trade is the match between two different types of orders; a market and a limit order. The limit order is placed by a person (often a market maker) who enters a price where he’s willing to buy (long) or sell (short) at. At that point that’s just an order; it doesn’t cause a trade to happen yet. The trade happens on the market order; a person hitting the “buy now”/”sell now” buttons that consumes the closest limit order in the order book. If we then compare the net difference between the different (buy/sell) market orders placed in a certain interval, we can then gauge where the price pressure actually came from.
In the lower part of this image, we see the cumulative delta of the January CME bitcoin futures (big thanks to SpeculatorSeth for helping me pull this graph together). It tracks exactly what I described earlier; the difference between market order short/longs. As we can see in this graph (click here to expand image) there was an unusual increase in short positions around January 11.
At the same time, the price was just bouncing around in the 12800-14200 range. Since the cumulative delta went negative while the price was more or less flat, that means the CME traders were to an extent betting on the crash to happen while the rest of the market didn’t. Thus, the signal you would have gotten from CME on January 11 would have been to sell.
Did CME cause the crash?
Probably not. We’re still in the Gangnam Style Era of Crypto and mainstream investors are the ones moving the market, not the ones at the CME. And most mainstream traders aren’t basing their trades at the CME bitcoin futures cumulative delta. I contend we’re going down because of increased regulatory concerns coming from South Korea and China, and because we went up too much in over-anticipation of the futures launch, i.e. this is a correction, not a crash. The CME futures traders were just right in betting that this would happen.
What should you during a crash?
In a previous post I detailed The Art of Dip-Buying. An alternative to buying the dip is converting BTC into altcoins during crashes. Big apartments’ prices are less liquid than small apartments, therefore big apartments’ prices fall more relative to small apartments in the event of a real estate price collapse. Thus, it can make sense to trade your smaller apartment for a bigger one during a dip. Altcoins and bitcoins behave the same way. Altcoins are less liquid and collapse much more drastically than bitcoin. Between 15-17 Jan, the bitcoin price fell -37% (Gdax), but the price of Cardano fell -55% (Upbit) in the same time span. If you stayed in bitcoin from the moment of the dip, your fiat value would have moved up +25%, while a move over to Cardano would have moved you up +32%.
What are your thoughts about why the market dumped? Let us know in the comment section below!
Images via Shutterstock.
Disclaimer: Bitcoin price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.”
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Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/