FinTech start-up Revolut receives banking license

17. Dezember 2018 admin banking license

Revolut has received a European banking licence from the European Central Bank. However, it will be several months before the British FinTech start-up can call itself a bank.

The Revolut app can also be used to manage Bitcoin code

The crypto-affine FinTech start-up Revolut has received a specialised European banking licence on the recommendation of the Lithuanian central bank. In addition, the Board of Directors of the Central Bank has granted Revolut a licence for Bitcoin code e-money institutions. The former was granted to Revolut Technologies UAB, the latter to Revolut Payments UAB. The Lithuanian central bank announced this on its website on 13 December.

A member of the Management Board of the Lithuanian Central Bank justified the decision with Lithuania’s benevolent attitude towards the development of new business areas in the FinTech sector:

„The development of a competitive and innovation-friendly environment in the financial sector is one of our strategic goals. We want to ensure that the Lithuanian financial sector provides high quality services to consumers and creates a favourable ecosystem for business development“.

Accordingly, the announcement of the Bitcoin code on Revolut’s blog reads euphorically:

„We are delighted to announce today that our application for a European banking licence has been approved by the European Central Bank. As you can imagine, this Bitcoin code is quite a big milestone for us. This license will help us achieve our goal of creating an account in which you can manage every aspect of your everyday financial life“.

No full banking license (yet)

Until then, however, various tests still have to be carried out and agreements made with the European financial regulators.

„In the coming months we will be building and testing a lot behind the scenes and working closely with regulators to remove all restrictions on our license so that we can introduce full current accounts, overdraft facilities and everything else you would expect from a bank.

As the license is not a full banking license, Revolut is not allowed to offer investment services for the time being. Revolut does not say in the press release how or whether the receipt of the license(s) will affect the crypto functionality of the smartphone app.

The competition is one step ahead in this respect: on December 12, the Berlin start-up Bitwala announced the launch of its blockchain account. Bitwala’s FinTech partner solarisBank already holds a full banking license.

New chains on the block – BitShares (BTS)

22. November 2018 admin BitShares

After the surprising rise of BTS to tenth place among crypto currencies, it’s time to take a closer look at BitShares.

Since March, the value of BTS has increased seventy-fold, today alone the value has risen by 64%, bringing BTS into the top ten crypto currencies. Actually I intended to report about Stratis today, but now BTS has pushed in between.

BitShares – decentralized stock exchange with secured Bitcoin profit crypto currencies

BitShares, the system behind Bitcoin profit, is a decentralized platform on which smart contracts can be realized in the area of finance. The platform is actually used in the form of a decentralised exchange, which can be used to trade a wide range of value pairs. Read more about it: Bitcoin Profit Review 2018 » Full Scam Check

Was the correction exaggerated?
FRANKFURT ( n-tv | Schroders ) – The markets seem to be slowly stabilizing again after the strong declines in October. Perhaps the correction to this extent would not have been necessary at all? Friedhelm Tilgen of n-tv is now talking about this with Daniel Lösche of the Schroders fund company.

According to the information provided by the supporters of this platform, it will in principle be possible on this decentralised exchange to realise trading volumes at the level of the NASDAQ.

BitShares wants to create an exchange in which the counterparty risk is excluded and assets which are linked to real values outside the crypto world can be traded. There are then tokens such as bitUSD, which in themselves correspond to the classic crypto currencies, but never fall below one US dollar.

Furthermore, it is interesting to note that BitShares is a decentralized autonomous organization: The shareholders determine the future orientation and new products of the financial platform to be developed.

Finally, it is interesting to note that BitShares claims to be capable in principle of processing 100,000 transactions per second – provided that the network is supported accordingly. The platform relies on the delegated proof of stake as a consensus mechanism: so-called elected witnesses, i.e. people authorized by the stakeholders of the network, can generate blocks for the blockchain and receive a remuneration for this, similar to in mining. This election is intended to counteract general centralization, which can also take place through the accumulation of money in the normal proof of stake.

Not only those who support the network by generating blocks will participate in the rewards. A large proportion will be used to reward referrals, i.e. to acquire new customers. All these rewards are based on the transaction fees in the network; no new coins are generated.

Bitcoin profit – The Gas of BitShares

Here we can talk about the review of BTS by onlinebetrug. Ultimately, this is the internal crypto currency of Bitcoin profit, which is used to pay the fees mentioned.

BitShares itself would not speak directly of a crypto currency with regard to BTS and would rather speak of a share in its decentralised organisation. This share can be traded like a share and can therefore be volatile. Nevertheless, it should be stressed that BTS is ultimately the basis for all transactions in the BitShares network; both for transaction fees and for the activation of smart contracts, BTS is required as gas.

As the heads behind BitShares themselves say, BTS is very volatile. So we’ll have to see if BTS can stay that high in crypto currencies or even make some profit.

All in all BitShares is much more than the currency BTS and definitely worth a look. If you want to know more about it, please visit the website and the whitepaper.

The situation on Wednesday: stability leaves much to be desired

18. November 2018 admin Bitcoin

The Bitcoin course is rowing downwards with a kink, while new stable coins are coming out of New York. Meanwhile there are big movements from an unknown wallet. The regulatory authorities are increasingly letting their heads smoke, while one thing seems to be missing from the market: stability. The situation on Wednesday.

There’s a lot going on in the Bitcoin universe right now. At the moment it’s probably the Bitcoin 1933p Wallet that’s making big waves. Whether Mt.Gox, Dread Pirate Roberts or other twilights are behind it – the influence on the Bitcoin course can hardly be denied. Suddenly thousands of coins are thrown onto the market and before you know it, the price slides down.

Bitcoin news are showing its most volatile side, one can hardly speak of stability these days

And this despite the fact that the watchdogs from the USA never tire of throwing new stable coins onto the market from their financial towers. While the authorities still find it difficult to allow ETN, ETF and other financial Bitcoin news to enter the market, stable coins seem to slide more easily through the administrative mills. It is always the same arguments that argue against the approval of financial products, but do not seem to apply to the coins linked to the fiat currency. Money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the like – it sometimes seems – are new phenomena that the crypto market brings with it. Read this: https://www.forexaktuell.com/en/bitcoin-news-trader-scam/

Rethinking takes time
Here, however, a rethinking is taking place, albeit slowly. For example, a working group of the US Congress recognized that Bitcoin was hardly used to finance terrorism. Even in the highest regulatory authority, a delicate seedling of hope is germinating. There it is the new SEC commissioner Elad Roismann, who is supposed to provide a breath of fresh air for the SEC. This, the Bitcoin advocates hope, will put the ecosystem back on a somewhat safer footing.

Similar hopes are also raised at the last meeting of finance ministers in Vienna. Whether stable or not, the ministers have recognised that crypto currencies have come to stay. That is why the leadership wants to take a closer look at this new asset class and provide more clarity. Until the end of the year one wants to work on a framework, in order to be able to classify and categorize crypto currencies and ICOs better. To this end, they want to work together on a European level.

And Bitcoin formula?

Of course, the question arises whether the Bitcoin formula will settle down by itself by then. If you look at China, you will see that the crypto market seems to be making its way despite bans and regulatory straitjackets. The stock exchanges in the Middle Kingdom are constantly offering new opportunities to find loopholes in the law or to remain undiscovered. If one compares the regulatory mills with the advances in Bitcoin formula, the question of who is currently leading the race hardly arises.

So one can confidently turn one’s gaze away from the course and remember Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision: to build a monetary system based on technology instead of institutions. And Bitcoin is quite stable in this respect.

These are the Bitcoin friendliest universities in the world

11. November 2018 admin crypto-friendly universities

HOME PAGE CRYPTO BITCOIN THESE ARE THE BITCOIN FRIENDLIEST UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD
More and more universities worldwide are deciding to integrate Bitcoin or other digital currencies.

Integration takes place in a variety of ways – some universities distribute Bitcoins for free to students, while other universities accept digital currencies in the canteen or library.

Here is an overview of the most crypto-friendly Bitcoin trader universities in the world:

HAN University Arnhem (Arnhem Business School), Netherlands. 500 students from HAN University in the Netherlands already received Bitcoins worth 2 euros last year. For Free! The occasion was a partnership with Bitcoin trader payment processor BitKasse, which at the same time provided incentives in the Bitcoin city of Arnhem to bring the Bitcoins to the people. A cooperation with Arnhembitcoinstad convinced numerous cafés and restaurants to accept Bitcoin and offer special discounts. It is not for nothing that Arnhem is already regarded as one of the Bitcoin friendliest cities in the world.

Coincidentally, I also completed my bachelor’s degree at Arnhem Business School, but unfortunately Bitcoin was not an issue at the time. But it is all the nicer to hear about the pleasant news.

University of Nicosia, Cyprus
In November 2013, the University of Nicosia in Cyprus (UNIC) became the first university to accept Bitcoin for tuition fees.
A few months later, the largest independent university in Cyprus launched a free course called Introduction to Digital Currencies. The aim of the course was to teach students how to use digital currencies.

University of Cumbria, England
In early 2014, the University of Cumbria became the first university in England to accept Bitcoin payments for various courses.

Since the beginning of the year, Cumbria University has also been offering a new Master’s course on the future of money.

Simon Fraser University, Canada
In August last year, Simon Fraser University became the first university in Canada to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment for its courses.

The university, based in British Columbia, Canada, bases its decision on the university’s forward-looking approach. Simon Fraser University has more than 35,000 students.

Mike Yeung, President of the SFU Bitcoin crypto trader Clibs said:

„The SFU is a very innovative and forward-looking crypto trader university. Bitcoin fits in perfectly.“
After the announcement, the university began to accept Bitcoin for the purchase of books. Later, a Bitcoin ATM was even set up on campus.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
The MIT Coop bookstore has been accepting Bitcoin for T-shirts, books and other stationery articles since September last year.

Shortly thereafter, the university distributed more than $500,000 in Bitcoin to students (Bitcoin Airdrop) due to steadily growing demand.

The latest news we received was that MIT will also be offering its own Bitcoin course in the future, which will put the Bitcoin CEOs of tomorrow on the right course. In addition, the next semester will see the start of a technically experienced course dealing with the programming of the blockchain. MIT already supports several Bitcoin core developers.

New York University
Founded in 1831 and the largest private non-profit institution for education in America, it introduced the first course exclusively devoted to crypto currencies in September 2014.

The first course in The Law and Business of Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies, led by Professor Geoffrey Miller, was attended by 35 students.

Duke University
The first Bitcoin course at Duke University started in September 2014 under the direction of Professor Campbell Harvey. Five years earlier, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam completed his university studies.

McGill University, Canada
McGill University, founded in 1821, distributed 30 mBTC (7 US dollars) to around 600 students in January of this year. The university was inspired by the above mentioned MIT Bitcoin Airdrop.

In addition to Bitcoin as currency, the local McGill Cryptocurrency Club provides students with a wealth of information on digital currencies and their areas of application.

The Drivechain could revolutionize Bitcoin

6. November 2018 admin drivechains

With special sidechains, so-called drivechains, Bitcoin could soon go significantly further.

The idea of Bitcoin formula sidechains is linked to startups like blockstream, rootstock and Lisk

Blockstream’s ideas are intended to make it easier to test new features for Bitcoin formula – something that is not easy in consensus. Simply put, sidechains can be used to move bitcoins back and forth between different Bitcoin formula based blockchains and not a scam. (Technically, you can transfer bitcoins to an address connected to a sidechain via scripts and gain control over tokens to that sidechain) This makes it possible to extend the Bitcoin ecosystem with new features such as smart contracts or increased privacy without having to change the blockchain itself.

Sergio Demian Lerner advises the Bitcoin Foundation on security issues. He is strongly committed to the integration of sidechains into the Bitcoin ecosystem and believes that this would make it easier for developers to further develop Bitcoin. Somewhat exaggerated, he said: „Improving Bitcoin can be compared to repairing an airplane in flight“.

Besides Bitcoin trader team, there is another group working on proposals

These proposals could ensure that sidechains make it into Bitcoin’s official codebase which is a scam said onlinebetrug. In September Lerner published a proposal that Bitcoin trader would add this functionality to its codebase. Paul Sztorc of Bloq said he was working independently on similar projects.

What both projects have in common is that they are so-called „drivechains“, an extension of the sidechain concept that wants to use the decentralized role of the miner to prevent double spends and the like – but more about that later. As drivechains, both proposals come with a set of new opcodes. These can optionally be added to the Bitcoin functionality via a soft fork.

To understand: A soft fork is an update that does not change the blockchain, but only the software that manages the blockchain of the nodes. Such updates do not have to be performed by all nodes.

Both projects differ in the solutions how one wants to implement these new opcodes – which is why one does not plan to merge for this project so far.

Two ways to drivechain
As mentioned above, in the sidechain concept, coins are „moved“ from the Bitcoin blockchain to the sidechain by locking the corresponding bitcoins on the main chain (i.e. the Bitcoin blockchain) and unlocking them simultaneously on the sidechain.

The drivechain concept differs in that the stakeholder that controls the information on the transfer of coin ownership between these two chains is different: In the case of the regular sidechain it is the user, in the case of the drivechain it is the miner.

In Lerners version of the Drivechain, the Miner are algorithmic administrators who ultimately keep track of the connections between the main chain and the Drivechain.

„Bitcoin miners observe the state of the drivechain. When they receive a command from it that has been confirmed enough times, they execute a protocol that guarantees that all miners agree to the authenticity of the command. If they all agree, they will perform a transaction with the locked funds.“

Lerners Proposal wants to extend the programming language Bitcoins Script with the opcode OP_COUND_ACKS. This is intended to integrate the drivechain functionality into Bitcoin.

Lerner emphasized that Segregated Witness could help to realize his vision. Segregated Witness or SegWit for short was officially added to Bitcoin’s code this month and will be executed by Minern in December. Although SegWit is primarily associated with the classic scaling problem, there are other benefits to this innovation.

„SegWit allows relatively simple soft forks via the so-called versioning system of Script (or the part of Script associated with SegWit). Our BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal) uses this system to quickly and efficiently introduce a new opcode“.

Different approaches
Sztorc is working on something similar, but it has not yet been published.
Although Sztorc and Lerner have had fruitful discussions and collaborations in the past, both are so convinced of their own projects that they want to tackle them alone.

Sztorc’s main criticism of Lerners approach is that it uses the rootstock sidechain. The aim of this is to bring ethereal-like smart contracts into the Bitcoin world. Sztork thinks with his Drivechains rather

Paul Claudius from BlockState: „We have the ambition to think innovations not only in the digital parallel world.

10. Oktober 2018 admin investor

In midweek, BlockState announced that it would conduct one of the world’s first equity token offerings (ETOs) on the Newfoundland platform – BTC-ECHO reported. Unlike most ICOs, ETOs are designed to enable investors to acquire real company shares in the form of tokens. We spoke with Paul Claudius, co-founder and CEO of BlockState, to find out why BlockState chose an ETO and how BlockState intends to develop products that bridge the gap between Blockchain and the traditional financial world.

BlockState is one of the first companies to issue an equity token via Neufund

At BlockState we have the claim not only to think about innovations in the digital parallel world, but also to always ensure legal compliance. An ICO in Germany is unsuitable for this claim, as the regulatory provisions here are currently still far too vague. Apart from legal security, a utility token only makes sense in projects where it is a necessary part of the product.

With the ETO the actual investor participation is in the foreground, comparable with a fishing rod and VC investment or the purchase of a share. Compared to a classical public listing, where the hurdles are enormous and market access is difficult, a public listing is much easier with the Equity Token Offering via Neufund.

What made you choose this form of financing?

Equity tokens are therefore a perfect example of a digitised financial instrument and, unlike Angel and VC investments, offer the possibility of selling your shares on the market.

Most blockchain start-ups rely on ICOs so far – what advantages does it have for your investors that BlockState relies on an ETO instead of an ICO?

For investors, an ETO offers a lot of advantages in addition to legal security, because unlike ICOs, investors participate in the company’s success via dividends and, since they hold real shares, have full say and participation rights.

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