Posts Tagged ‘cryptocurrencies’

NFTs Non-fungible tokens

An NFT is a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos. They are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency, and they are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos. are “fungible,” meaning they can be traded or exchanged for one another. They’re also equal in value—one dollar is always worth another dollar; one Bitcoin is always equal to another Bitcoin. Crypto’s fungibility makes it a trusted means of conducting transactions on the #blockchain. NFT has a digital signature that makes it impossible for NFTs to be exchanged for or equal to one another (hence, non-fungible). An NFT is created, or “minted” from digital objects that represent both tangible and intangible items, including:

  • Art
  • GIFs
  • Videos and sports highlights
  • Collectibles
  • Virtual avatars and video game skins
  • Designer sneakers
  • Music

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sold his first ever tweet as an NFT for more than $2.9 million. NFTs can have only one owner at a time. Blockchain technology and NFTs afford artists and content creators a unique opportunity to monetize their wares. celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Lindsay Lohan are jumping on the NFT bandwagon, releasing unique memories, artwork and moments as securitized NFTs.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/nft-non-fungible-token/

Non-fungible tokens

blockchain and refugees

blockchain for refugees

As Norwegian Refugee Council research found, 70 percent of Syrian refugees lack basic identification and documents showing ownership of property.

The global passport

Host nations certainly has a share in the damage, as they face problems concerning the accessibility of vital information about the newcomers — dealing with the undocumented refugee, the immigration service can’t gain the information about his/her health status, family ties or criminal record, or verify any other vital data that helps them make a decision. Needless to say, this may lead to the designation of refugee status being exploited by economic migrants, fugitives or even the war criminals that caused the mass displacement to begin with.

Another important issue is data security. Refugees’ personal identities are carefully re-established with the support of clever biometric systems set up by the U.N. Agency for Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR registers millions of refugees and maintains those records in a database. But the evidence suggests that centralized systems like this could be prone to attacks. As a report on UNCHR’s site notes, Aadhaar — India’s massive biometric database and the largest national database of people in the world — has suffered serious breaches, and last year, allegations were made that access was for sale on the internet for as little as $8

Finland, a country with a population of 5.5 million, cannot boast huge numbers of refugees. For 2018, it set a quota of 750 people, mainly flying from Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. That’s way less than neighboring Sweden, which promised to take in 3,400. Nevertheless, the country sets a global example of the use of effective technology in immigration policy: It’s using blockchain to help the newcomers get on their feet faster.

The system, developed by the Helsinki-based startup MONI, maintains a full analogue of a bank account for every one of its participants.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2018, the billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros revealed that his structures already use a blockchain in immigration policies

In 2017, Accenture and Microsoft Corp. teamed up to build a digital ID network using blockchain technology, as part of a U.N.-supported project to provide legal identification to 1.1 billion people worldwide with no official documents.

a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with blockchain platform IOTA to explore how the technology could increase efficiency.

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more on blockchain in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=blockchain

cryptocurrency miners

Cryptocurrency Miners Make Big Promises In Small Towns

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/28/609790069/cryptocurrency-miners-make-big-promises-in-small-towns

According to the Digiconomist blog that follows cryptocurrencies, all the Bitcoin mining computers worldwide consume more power collectively than the entire nation of Czech Republic.

When the value of a traded Bitcoin soared to almost $20,000 late last year, a Bitcoin mining rush hit lots of places with cheap power, from Louisiana to Washington State.

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https://news.bitcoin.com/georgia-has-become-eurasias-cryptocurrency-mining-epicenter/

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2018/04/23/bitcoin-georgia/

UNICEF cryptocurrency

Unicef recruits gamers to mine Ethereum in aid of Syrian children

Cryptocurrency scheme is part of wider UN effort to revolutionise aid with blockchain technology, increasing financial transparency

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/feb/06/unicef-recruits-gamers-mine-ethereum-aid-syrian-children

The UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, has launched a futuristic pilot project to utilise the cryptocurrency Ethereum to raise money for Syrian children.

the “blockchain” technology associated with the cryptocurrency – the world’s second largest after the controversial Bitcoin – to revolutionise not only how aid organisations raise money but also to increase transparency in their financial transactions.

Blockchain – which emerged as one of the underpinnings of Bitcoin – is a shared record of transactions maintained by a network of computers. It has become a key technology because of its ability to record and keep track of assets or transactions with no need for middlemen.

With a valuation of some $88bn (£62bn), Ethereum – which launched in 2015 – has an equivalent market value to Starbucks, according to Forbes magazine

The World Food Programme (WFP) has used Ethereum to deliver $1.4m in food vouchers, via the use of iris recognition scanners in camp supermarkets, to around 10,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan,

 

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more on cryptocurrency in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=cryptocurrency

cryptocurrency Russia

Russia’s Sberbank plans cryptocurrency exchange in Switzerland

PUBLISHED 03:43 FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Moscow appears to have moved quickly into the market of cryptocurrencies and cryptography. Gref earlier warned that companies including Blockchain and Bitcoin should not be banned or hindered in their operations.

Russia’s Finance Ministry legalised cryptocurrency trading on January 25 with the Digital Assets Regulation Bill, despite vocal objections from the country’s Central Bank. The bill defined cryptocurrencies and tokens as digital financial assets that are not legal tender in Russia. The Central Bank, however, argued that digital currency trading rules should only be applied to tokens that would attract financial investments.

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https://news.bitcoin.com/sberbank-bypass-russian-regulations-trade-cryptocurencies-overseas/

https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-sberbank-cryptocurrencies/sberbank-plans-to-trade-cryptocurrencies-outside-russia-idUSL8N1PP5SL

https://www.crypto-economy.net/ceo-of-sberbank-disagree-with-a-cryptocurrency-ban

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Bitcoin price falls below $6,000 as banker signals crackdown

BIS head says cryptocurrency is a ‘Ponzi scheme’ that poses a threat to financial stability
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/06/bitcoin-price-crackdown-bis-cryptocurrency

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more on cryptocurrency in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=cryptocurrency

cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies: Litecoin price skyrockets, Ethereum follows after Bitcoin futures premiere

https://www.neweurope.eu/article/cryptocurrencies-litecoin-price-skyrockets-ethereum-follows-bitcoin-futures-premiere

10 most important cryptocurrencies’ prices and trends during 12 December 2017.

10 most important cryptocurrencies

A fork itself of the original Bitcoin, Litecoin uses the same process to create the coins, and it uses blockchain to decentralize the banking. However, Litecoin still is four times faster, generating “blocks” faster, every 2.5 minutes instead of every 10 that applies to Bitcoin, making it faster and cheaper.

Ethereum, on the other hand, is more of a decentralized app platform than a cryptocurrency, could be boosted by a recent statement by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chief Jay Clayton, laying down a sober and knowledgeable overview of initial coin offerings (ICOs). “The technology on which cryptocurrencies and ICOs are based may prove to be disruptive, transformative and efficiency-enhancing,” said Clayton. “I am confident that developments in Fintech will help facilitate capital formation and provide promising investment opportunities for institutional and Main Street investors alike,”

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more on bitcoin in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=bitcoin