Month: July 2018

The price of bitcoin fell below $8,000 for the fourth time in seven days Tuesday as the cryptocurrency’s value sank to its lowest level since July 23. As of press time, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is averaging $7,764.44, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). That figure represents a roughly 4.9 percent decline since the day’s open of $8,168.00 and a step above Tuesday’s reported low of $7,677.94. Bitcoin was in some familiar territory just yesterday when the price slipped below $7,900, followed Read more …

American economist Paul Krugman has taken another swing bitcoin, arguing that the prominent cryptocurrency, as well as its peers, represents a 300-year economic regression and will “likely” experience a “total collapse.” Writing in his regular New York Times column, Krugman — who has at various times published articles lambasting bitcoin as “evil” and “the long cryptocon” — lays out a case for why his continued skepticism towards cryptocurrency is justified. The Nobel Prize winner said that he has two main Read more …

Using technology to engage patients, families, and communities can improve outcomes In many countries, healthcare professionals work long hours to care for their patients in an increasingly complex, inefficient, and stressful environment. These pressures often do not support their efforts to respond to patients’ needs as their core priority. Many companies are innovating digital technologies to transform the healthcare landscape to streamline treatments, reduce costs and empower patients to take better care of themselves and their families. To realize effective Read more …

A new Ripple (XRP)-based decentralized crypto marketplace, DCEX, has now opened registration for retail and institutional accounts, according to a press release published July 30. The new San Francisco-based platform runs on technology developed by blockchain firm AlphaPoint, and will initially offer 15 crypto-crypto trading pairs, all against Ripple as a base currency. These include Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), EOS (EOS), IOTA (MIOTA), and ZCash (ZEC), among others, with further altcoins to be listed in Read more …

A prediction market application recently launched on the Ethereum network allows punters to place wagers on whatever they like. So far, among the bets made using the Augur platform have been predictions about whether the likes of Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffet will be murdered. Will Augur Utilise the Wisdom of the Crowd or Serve as a Blockchain Betting Application? Although the nature of some of the bets being placed on the Augur platform is questionable, the overall Read more …

The state-level Chinese government agency responsible for censoring media output in the country may soon have a cryptographer on the payroll – and with expertise in blockchain technology. The research center of the State Administration of Press – which is directly administrated by the State Council – is looking for a cryptographer who “keeps abreast of the most advanced cryptography applications in areas such as blockchain.” According to the job description published by the government agency on Tuesday, the ideal Read more …

In a significant breakthrough to deepen the reform of mortgage loans, the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) revealed that it has issued a farmland loan worth $300,000 on the blockchain in a trial. The bank, as reported by a local news source, used a segment of agriculture land as collateral to issue the mortgage loan in one of its Guizhou province branches. It also distributed the details of the loan across other node partners, including various commercial banks, Guizhou’s Land and Resources Read more …

As with brick-and-mortar industries that are slowly fading away to the globalism of the online world, so too will the traditional prediction market industry have to innovate to keep up with the sheer efficiency, reliability and security that the decentralized prediction markets promise to bring. Augur (REP) has grabbed headlines lately with the launch of its highly anticipated prediction market earlier this month. Ethereum-based futures market DApp Gnosis (GNO) is also under development and running on the Ethereum testnet. Meanwhile, Read more …

July 31: Crypto assets are posting market-wide losses on the day, with Bitcoin (BTC) dipping back below the $8,000 psychological price point and virtually all coins in the red, according to data from Coin360. Market visualization from Coin360 Bitcoin (BTC) is trading around $7,857 to press time, down around 3 percent on the day. Since its July 25 peak at $8,431, the leading cryptocurrency has been testing support at $8,200 over the past few days, dipping down below $8,000 today Read more …

Exchanges The association of 16 government-approved bitcoin exchanges is reportedly working on imposing a number of trading restrictions. Jiji Press reported that there is a plan to impose trading limits for all users and additional restrictions for minors and the elderly. This follows recent reports of the association introducing margin trading limits as part of its self-regulatory rules. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Possible Trading Caps According to Jiji Press news agency, the Japan Virtual Currency Read more …

UK fintech firm Billon has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with international financial services tech provider Fidelity National Information Services Inc. (FIS) to integrate blockchain tech solutions, according to a July 31 press release. Billon refers to itself as a “civilized blockchain” company, meaning that it implements blockchain to ultimately process fiat currencies. FIS, which specializes in banking software and payment processing, will work with Billon to assess the use of Billon’s “distributed architecture for document and identity management” Read more …