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Tron Reportedly Acquiring BitTorrent
Source: Reddit
A recent filing shows that Tron will acquire Rainberry (formerly BitTorrent), operator of the uTorrent client. BitTorrent has confirmed that the acquisition is in process, but not finalized. The filing comes some two months after Tron founder Justin Sun filed a suit against BitTorrent, Inc. for allegedly violating a clause in a January Letter of Intent. Those allegations were dismissed prior to the filing.
Announcement: ZeppelinOS Mainnet
Source: ZeppelinOS
ZeppelinOS has launched its first mainnet release today. ZeppelinOS, a platform for managing smart contracts, aims to make the process of changing, upgrading, and maintaining smart contracts easier and less costly. ZeppelinOS will also maintain an open-source library of standard smart contract code for developers. While the idea addresses a very real problem of costly fixes to smart contract vulnerabilities, the idea of a mutable smart contract may face some opposition. The whitepaper and full roadmap can be found in the source linked above.
Announcement: Starkware
Source: CoinDesk
The company behind zk-starks, lauded as a more secure version of zk-snarks, is offering to contract its services to other cryptocurrencies in exchange for their proprietary digital assets. Co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson tells CoinDesk they will be partnering with prominent figures in the crypto space, with Vitalik Buterin cited as a big name with a likely interest.
UK Company Trademarks ‘Bitcoin’
Source: Reddit
A Reddit user received a “cease and desist” order from a UK company after his small t-shirt business began selling shirts with ‘BITCOIN’ printed on the front. Though Bitcoin and its logo are in the public domain, documentation shows that A.B.C. IP Holdings Southwest, LLC has managed to file a trademark application for the phrase. The paperwork, as well as the Reddit user’s request for others to file an invalidation order, can be viewed at the source link above.
Dubai: By 2021, 50% of Transactions Will Be On Blockchain
Source: Coin Staker
Under a project known as “Smart Dubai,” the ruler of the United Arab Emirates projects that by 2021, 50% of all banking transactions will be made on the blockchain. Dubai, which has freely embraced blockchain technology, announced an initiative earlier in May called the “Dubai Blockchain Business Registry,” which facilitates business entry into the country via a blockchain register.
Partnership: Morpheus.Network & AccessPay
Source: Medium
Morpheus.Network, a blockchain-based platform targeting global trade inefficiencies, has partnered with SWIFT Industry award-winner AccessPay, a payment processing solution. AccessPay is based in the UK and has reportedly increased its revenue by nearly 500% over the last 4 years, making this a partnership with significant potential to disrupt the traditional global trade model.
EU Digital Privacy Law Threatens Blockchain Technology
Source: The Cryptograph
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an EU digital privacy law, was enacted on May 25th, 2018. Of particular note to blockchain technologies is the rule of “Erasure” contained in Article 17, stating that any private citizen has the right to request that published data about themselves be removed at any time, setting up an obvious conflict with the principles of blockchain. The source article claims that many US websites “have decided to block their services entirely rather than adhere to the bitter new regulations.” Regardless, it does raise an interesting question: How will blockchain tech reconcile with an individual’s right to privacy?
Sherpa Dies During Ukrainian ICO PR Stunt on Everest
Source: CCN
A PR stunt facilitated by social networking startup ASKfm attempting to place a Ledger wallet at the summit of Mt. Everest backfired when a Sherpa died during the climb. The wallet, which purportedly contains $50,000 worth of ASKfm tokens, was to be placed at the summit for any cryptocurrency enthusiast “brave enough” to come and claim it.
Italian Mansion to be Auctioned on the Blockchain
Source: CoinDesk
Looking to relocate? Hilton & Hyland, a Beverly Hills-based real estate agency, has partnered with blockchain platform Propy to auction off a 17th century Italian mansion valued at the price of $42 million. Propy CEO Natalia Karayaneva sees this as a step towards making the bidding and selling process more transparent and less subject to manipulation.