Coin News

The financial sector is seeing growing interest in cryptocurrency that has resulted in more and faster adoption according to the latest survey by Thomas Reuters. That news will certainly bolster the objectives in the Middle East where Dubai aims to be the first blockchain powered city. It is also reflective of the hype surrounding EOS as more than 50 companies are competing for 21 supernodes.

But before there was all of these cryptocurrency projects, there were the cypherpunks. In a special feature, we look at the accomplishments of Dr. David Chaum and what has resulted from his early papers on encrypted communication.

Featured stories by Colin Harper, Giulio Prisco, Jessie Willms, Aaron van Wirdum and Bitcoin Schmitcoin.

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EOS Hype Builds as Over 50 Candidates Vie for 21 Supernodes

EOS is scheduled to migrate from the Ethereum network to its own on June 2, 2018, and candidates are excitedly vying for one of 21 supernodes that will support this new mainnet. A mixture of big and little fish, the candidate pool includes upward of 50 different organizations, an overwhelming number of candidates competing for the coveted supernodes come from Chinese organizations.

These 21 supernodes operate as part of EOS’s delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism. In order to keep block producers honest, the network implements a continuous voting process that places supernode operators up for reelection every 21 blocks.

The Genesis Files: How David Chaum’s eCash Spawned a Cypherpunk Dream

Cryptographer Dr. David Chaum is looked at as the man who first envisioned cryptocurrency with his talk on eCash when speaking at the first ever CERN conference in Geneva in 1994. Chaum, who started as a computer science professor at Berkeley University, was not just a digital privacy advocate. He designed the tools to realize it.

First published in 1981, Chaum’s paper “Untraceable Electronic Mail, Return Addresses, and Digital Pseudonyms” laid the groundwork for research into encrypted communication over the internet, which would eventually lead to privacy-preserving technologies like Tor. In 1982, he published his second major paper: “Blind signatures for untraceable payments.” where the cryptographer had designed a solution to realize an anonymous payment system for an internet that had yet to exist.

Thomson Reuters Survey Finds Increasing Interest in Cryptocurrency Trading

According to a new Thomson Reuters survey, cryptocurrency trading by financial firms could increase in 2018, with 20 percent of 400 survey firms indicating they are considering trading cryptocurrency over the next 3–12 months. Among the participants in the survey who indicated they would trade cryptocurrencies in 2018, approximately 70 percent said they were planning to do so over the next 3–6 months with an additional 22 percent planning to trade over the next 6–12 months. The survey also found generally widespread familiarity with cryptocurrencies.

“Cryptocurrency is still a relatively small part of the trading market, but this survey makes clear this niche segment is starting to enter the mainstream of the financial services industry. This is a major change from a year ago,” said Neill Penney, co-head of trading at Thomson Reuters, in a statement.

Saudi Telecom and ConsenSys Boost Blockchain Infrastructure in Middle East

In a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed recently, ConsenSys and the Saudi Telecom Company have agreed to work together to design and build out blockchain technology in a range of government and private sectors including real estate, banking and healthcare. With this partnership, Dubai aims to be the world’s first blockchain-powered city.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: Market Direction Depends on Next Price Line Tests

The price of bitcoin is creeping up this morning into the mid-$9,000 range.

According to yesterday’s price analysis, whether the market was going to move up or down remained to be seen, but key price levels to watch have been near the bottom of our current trading range in the $8,600s. A breakdown of that price level would likely send us retesting our macro lows in the $6,000s. If this current trading range were to break down, that would be an incredibly bearish signal as that would indicate the overwhelming presence of supply in the market.

Transportation mobility options are not only critical for many people’s lives, but they are also a key element of a thriving economy. As our world becomes more urbanized though, many are choosing not to purchase a car of their own due to the ever-growing and increasing cost of ownership.

There is already a growing body of evidence that suggests car ownership may no longer be a good deal. When people become unhinged from their cars, they no longer have to worry about issues such as parking, insurance, maintenance and fuel costs.

It’s evident that the sharing economy, a rapidly growing social phenomenon that has sprung out of the digital economy, is upending the trajectory of many industries and, in general, challenging the status quo. Using this model, owners share resources they're not using, such as a car, a bicycle, or other mobility option for marginal profit.

A new startup company, Helbiz, envisions a world of decentralized transportation by way of an on-demand, peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace. The company is poised to serve as the nexus between those seeking short-term mobility rental and those with access to a private vehicle, bike, motorcycle or even an airplane.

To usher in the decentralized sharing-economy business model, Helbiz is championing the notion that mobility options can become money-making assets for owners who choose to rent them. In other words, Hellbiz wants to monetize the cars and other mobility assets that often sit idle the vast majority of the time. This value proposition is of particular appeal to a new generation of potential users who harbor a “car-free, rent it when you need it” mindset.

Helbiz intends to provide mass consumer adoption by implementing a state-of-the-art application available on smart devices that enables users to unlock and start a car digitally, without the need for paperwork or correspondence. In other words, the users’ mobile device becomes the car and ignition key whenever they need to rent one.

“Our solution will provide a means for car owners seeking to rent out their personal vehicles on an hourly or daily basis, all through our mobile and web application, without the need for any interaction, pre-bookings or key exchanges,” said Hellbiz founder and CEO Salvatore Palella.

Palella went on to note that car locks will be controlled by the app, allowing owners to more efficiently monetize the time their car would otherwise sit parked at home or work. “What’s nice is that the owner can fit in multiple rentals during a day and always have their car back before they need it. This added level of freedom, along with less friction, is what we believe is necessary for car sharing to become truly mainstream.”

A new normal in P2P car rentals

A veteran of the financial and investment world, Palella believes the blockchain is the future of business, having the potential to upend status quo models that exist in transportation. The idea for Helbiz, he said, grew from his own life experience.  

“As I started traveling more and more for work, my own car would sit untouched for longer and longer periods, from weeks to sometimes months at a time collecting dust in my garage in Italy.” Every time he landed in a new airport, Palella would have to spend valuable time driving through full parking lots of private cars; then he would have to go through the process of renting a car. Overall, he found the rental process lengthy, tedious, expensive and limited in vehicle selections.

"I began thinking, What if you could rent out your car, but without the need for extensive communication, key exchanges, paper contracts, and insurance? An owner could rent out their car hassle- and risk-free without having to be physically present. This would allow renters to simply walk up to the car and unlock it directly from their phone and drive off within seconds, avoiding the time-consuming process of typical car rentals.”

From a business perspective, if car sharing is ever going to be adapted by mainstream society and integrated into daily life, Palella believes that it is essential for companies to combine the pros of business-to-consumer (B2C) and P2P business models. By fusing the rental convenience of scheduling and drop-offs, B2C models (Car2Go, DriveNow, Zipcar), with the business scalability and inventory of the current P2P models (Turo and Getaround), Helbiz intends to offer unique value for renters and rentees that has not yet been done.

When asked about Helbiz development road map, Palella added, “We have been fortunate to secure numerous partnerships over the last month for the overall ecosystem, allowing us to significantly improve the use of our Helbiz token, both from an integration, transaction and partnership perspective, even beyond the transportation sector. Paired with our transaction wallet application, we believe that our token offers wide and seamless use of the ability for third parties to integrate.”

Currently, Helbiz is working directly with the internet payments and money transfer company Skrill and their CEO, Lorenzo Pellegrino, on a large-scale partnership, with the goal of promoting the mainstream adaptation of digital currencies, and in particular their use and integration through Helbiz. According to Palella, this partnership, along with a few other integration opportunities in the works, could eventually make Helbiz one of the most widely accepted digital currencies in the world.  

Helbiz has also recently been working on a partnership proposal directly to the board of one of the largest global auto manufacturers. Because this partnership would mean implementation and integration on every level, all the way back to the car factory, Palella said that if implemented, the partnership could shift the perception of car sharing completely.

In the meantime, the back end of Helbiz’ platform is fully developed, with work continuing to take place on the front end with optimization and procedural testing in progress before going into beta phase.

“Ideally, in 18 months we will be established in the major United States markets with enough cars available in Los Angeles to enable some citizens to give up their car and completely rely on Helbiz, said Palella. “We’ll also be close to expanding to Europe and have sealed the deal with an auto manufacturer we are currently trying to work with. We have started production and integration on both the hardware and software side of their production line, allowing for a user experience unlike anything ever seen before.”