Football and blockchain: The new trend of fantasy football blockchain games

Football and blockchain: The new trend of fantasy football blockchain games

by | Sep 6, 2019 | Blockchain Games, News

Let’s talk about blockchain and football. These two don’t seem to work together, at first, but actually there are more than a few ways we can use the two concepts in the same sentence. This rather new technology has quickly started to be used in a wide array of domains, including football. Today, there is a special branch of gaming called fantasy football blockchain games.  Blockchain is a radical invention that has disrupted the finance industry. In addition, it has great potential in several different businesses, too. And football, or soccer, is the newest among a series of businesses taking steps to embrace blockchain technology.

Apart from offering different methods to play sports, blockchain engineering can also be providing new options to guarantee data integrity (such as scoring) is transparent and secure. The possibilities are quite diverse in using this technology. To sum up some of the situations in which blockchain can help the football industry, we would say tracking of tickets sale, easing the compliance with the GDPR law in Europe, an alternative to fiat/cash in football-related events, public record-keeping.

For individuals searching for new or even more secure approaches to play fantasy football, blockchain tech provides some interesting options. Some are functional, others are just announcing their development, while others are constantly postponing the launch. So what are the most sought after fantasy football blockchain games? After some internet digging, we came up with this list. Let us know what we should add, as we are always trying to keep fresh all data we present on digitaltokens.io.

Let’s take a look at the companies what we found so far to be uniting the two industries.

Bitcademy

What is Bitcademy? Bitcademy is a decentralized platform, which promises to offer tech solutions to the current football industry.

They aim to become an industry standard, by turning to tokenization of gamers and decentralization of the marketplace.

Football and blockchain: The new trend of fantasy football games bitcademy

The  services available at the marketplace are:

  • Talent management
  • Football players stats
  • Trading player tokens
  • Predictions

Bitcademy is a strong believer of the blockchain technology and the impact it can have in football. They recently stated in a medium article:

We will continue to push the market towards modern football solutions because we believe that player tokenization and market decentralization is the only way to go for the future.

Blockchain Football

Blockchain Football is a work in progress project, with non-fungible Ethereum tokens, which represent collectable football player cards.

The scope is to create a new ecosystem, in which the player can decide what role to have: Manager, Agent, Sponsor, Punter. This is the game in which virtual teams play using real stats from the players. Since this is using an Ethereum ERC-721 Non-Fungible Token (NFT), you will need to install  MetaMask on Chrome, and it will not work on mobile devices.

CashBet

A next generation solution designed to improve the gaming experience for players

This is the first phrase Cashbet uses to describe themselves.

CashBet is a new generation of monetization platform for social and mobile gambling.

It is a modular game system, comprehensive, and fiat-and-cryptocurrency prepared. They offer everything from back-of-house solutions to customized apps.

Last year, Arsenal signed a sponsorship deal with CashBet, with the aim to promote CashBet’s Initial Coin Offering (ICO) at the 60,000-seat Emirates stadium. This deal was regarded as the first time a major global sporting team has officially partnered with a cryptocurrency company.

CashBet said it is “actively targeting a global, multibillion-dollar marketplace of i-gaming content providers, operators and players”.

CoinDeal

CoinDeal is a cryptocurrency exchange, launched in 2018. They brag to be one of the best exchanges in the world, considering their daily volume, which is stated on CoinMarketCap. CoinDeal offers over 40 trading pair and users have the possibility to vote for their favourite crypto to be added to the platform.

Football and blockchain: The new trend of fantasy football games bitcademy

CoinDeal has just entered into their 2nd year of partnership with a Premier League team. After a successful 12 months with Wolverhampton, CoinDeal has now become the first permanent sleeve sponsor upon the club’s promotion into the Premier League.

The company will be the first in their country to host a Premier League club and also have seen a rapid increase in interest and habit since connecting with Wolves.

Crown League

Crown League is a US-based fantasy football project, in development, which strives to bring a decentralized American football platform for fans who lack ownership. Basically, this platform will somehow add the missing link between fans and football teams and players. It is advertised to be the “world’s first professional fantasy football league”, built entirely on blockchain.

The platform was due to launch this season. However, they have postponed it for next season. To add some sarcasm to the situation, how can this be the first platform of its kind, when it wasn’t even launched? Sounds more like a PR agency than an actual blockchain project.

eToro

eToro was founded in 2007 and is a global multi-asset investment platform, easy to use, with a database of over 6 million users. The platforms provide tools to invest in and create a portfolio with cryptocurrencies, stocks, commodities, ETFs and more.

The eToro system has two unique instruments, which ease the trade of cryptocurrency: CopyTrader and CopyFund. CopyTrader is an advisable tool for crypto newbies, who aren’t certain what crypto to select for investing. It unlocks access to best dealers’ strategies an assists beginners to analyze and gain their private trading experience. CopyFund, allows more experienced users to diversify their portfolio instantly, leveraging the ability of artificial intelligence.

etoro premier league clubs

Recently, eToro announced its second year as their biggest sponsor of six Premier League teams: Southampton, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Leicester City, Aston Villa and Everton.

Fantastec SWAP

Remember those collectable albums we had as kids? Now, it’s all digital and on the blockchain. the aim of the game is to complete all the clubs’ albums. This is done by buying collectable packs and swapping them with others, hence the name of the game, Fantastec SWAP.

“Collect your favourites” is the headline of this digital collectable blockchain platform. Every new football season, new collectables are added, “featuring player autographs and exclusive content.” The game is available exclusively on mobile platforms, iOS and Android.

This seems to be a game for football team fans, players and collectors. They developers promise they will sign more partnerships in the 2019 season, and users of the platform will have the rare chance to collect new football player cards, autographs and more.

The game lists the logos of 3 prestigious football clubs from European leagues on their homepage: Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid.

The blockchain on which the entire platform is built upon will ensure that transparent and secure trades are made, while the available pack are drawn fair.

Fantasy Manager Football 2019

Fantasy Manager is a mobile football simulator.

The users are the managers and you can choose your team, using real-life players. The stats of the players are based on real-life players. The game is available only on mobile platforms, iOS and Android.

Fantasy Manager Football 2019 is developed by From The Bench, who claims to be the biggers sports game developer in the world, “with the biggest official franchise of football clubs as well as official licenses of the NBS, NFLPA and MLBPA.”

PRO Football Supervisor 2019 Cup brings you the very best experience of true performance with the greatest soccer player rosters by engaging a leading manager and battles coming from all football fans globally. Contain Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Costa, Bacca, Higuain, Griezmann, Bale or even Neymar in OFFICIAL CLUBS like Juventus, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, etc on your roster. Start developing your livelihood of football manager and reach the best in this sport game by winning matches.

Download PRO Football Supervisor 2019 Cup, trainer in the true league at no cost and direct a formal group in this soccer game! Handle your favourite clubs utilizing the very best approach and be the ultimate winner! Are you going to visit Russia to score a winning goal?

FootballCoin

FootballCoin is a daily fantasy football blockchain game, that includes 11 of the top leagues. Players are judged on their real performances and winners are awarded XFC cryptocurrency for their knowledge.

FootballCoin is not just another fantasy game, but it’s the first game built entirely on blockchain. There is a major difference between blockchain games and crypto games and FooballCoin proudly represents the first category. DigitalTokens team considers this to be an important milestone in the blockchain adoption process by the mass, as FootballCoin is clearly one of the top fantasy football blockchain games.

footballcoin Football and blockchain: The new trend of fantasy football games bitcademy

FootballCoin promises real winnings, real-life stats, collectables and manager experiences. The game uses crypto to run its own economy, and they used their own blockchain, where anyone can check the transactions of the game’s cryptocurrency. All the major European leagues are featured in the game, as well as the Chinese and American ones.

FootballCoin is a rather complex game, that uses collectable cards for each footballer, and depending on their real-life stats, some are ranked higher and are in limited number on the blockchain. These collectable cards are regarded as assets, which can be traded or sold inside the game. The cryptocurrency used within the game is also available for trading on different cryptocurrency exchanges, such as CoinDeal.

The key points FootballCoin takes pride in these 3 key points: free to play, positions itself as a blockchain game and it has a reality-based scoring system. And by using your football knowledge to create football teams using real-life footballers, you will earn real crypto which you can use to buy collectables or exchange for other cryptos or sell from fiat.

FottballCoin is playing big and acts in real-life too, and earlier in the 2019 football season, FootballCoin has become one of the sponsors of a top team from the Romanian football league.

FootballStars

FootballStars is a free football manager game, with 2 different play modes, which take football fans to a new level.

Divided into two fully functional modes – Challenge-Mode and Manager-Mode – Football-Stars offers whatever football fan hearts desire. While the Challenge-Mode lets users face new challenges with their self-assembled teams on a daily basis, Manager-Mode users manage their individual teams to fight for the title over the course of an entire season. Both modes are based on the football players’ real-life performance data, which are being tracked through our data provider, “Opta”.

FootballStars Football and blockchain: The new trend of fantasy football games

FootballStars brags to have the rights for using the official photos and logos of the Bundesliga but also featured the top 5 leagues in Europe. The game is free to play, and the coins won in the game can be ultimately exchanged for amazing gift cards or other products.

Football-Stars is incorporating blockchain technologies to deliver token-based interactions, through the STRYKZ token (the token of the founding company), to its own platform.

Soccer Manager

Since 2018, Chimaera, the self-proclaimed first blockchain gaming platform, has entered a partnership with Soccer Manager to build a blockchain football management game.

The Chimaera blockchain functions as a decentralised gaming backend that’s scalable, secure, and trustworthy. They stated:

Play-to-Earn gaming will make freemium gaming as we know it obsolete. Players are no longer burdened to keep shelling out money the further they progress in a game. The opposite is true- the more they play, the bigger the earnings.

Football and blockchain: The new trend of fantasy football games

The game features League and friendly matches as well as tournaments. Players can also challenge themselves directly and compete against each other, in the quest of SMCs (Soccer Manager Coins).

Socios

Becoming more than just a fan of your favourite football club or player, is what Socios is all about. The app aims to give a voice to the true fans of football and let them vote and decide on club matters. Socios doesn’t look like one of the fantasy football blockchain games you’d expect, but it promises to involve football and blockchain, and hence, its appearance on our list.

Socios calls it making an impact:

When you own Fan Tokens, you join a pool of supporters whose collective decision-making power is absolute. Our partner teams will seek your input on club matters by running binding and non-binding polls – binding poll results are an instruction which clubs agree to follow.

Football and blockchain: The new trend of fantasy football games

Other milestones are highlighted on their homepage, such as rewards, leaderboard, games, market place, and a fan shop. So far, Socios has become partner with some prestigious European clubs: Paris-Saint Germain, Juventus, West Ham United, AS Roma and Atletico Madrid. They have also partnered with an e-sport team, OG.

 

SportyCo

SportyCo is a decentralized sports investment platform, who has recently become an official sponsor of RCD Espanyol. The investment platform is supported by footballers like Roberto Carlos and Ronaldinho.

SportyCo believes that each and every promising athlete deserves the chance to pursue their professional career and each little investor hass to have the ability to back an athlete they believe in. Why is this shift necessary?

The up-and-coming athletes at the beginning of the pro careers face a good deal of issues associated with financing their training and involvement in events throughout the world. Additionally, many sports clubs and other sports businesses cope with acute financial and liquidity problems. That is why SportyCo makes a direct appeal towards investors and athletes

SPF Token is at the base of SportyCo’s ecosystem. The blockchain-based system is supplying the best, most secure, and transparent crowdfunding mechanism.

Football and blockchain: The new trend of fantasy football games

Each crowdfunding effort on SportyCo’s system is going to be recorded in SPF Tokens. SPF Tokens are also used to buy extra services which SportyCo provides to athletes, sports clubs, investors, and other participants at the ecosystem.

From a technical standpoint, SPF Token is an ERC20 compatible utility token and it is currently listed on several cryptocurrency exchanges.

 

SUPERBLOKE

SuperBloke is a Korean start-up, build on blockchain, that collects and grows football players.

How Blockchain technology can bring new kind of fun for football fans?

According to SuperBloke, a user can grow a footballer from rising star to superstar level, which is based on real-life match stats and can also compete with other users. Basically, users can train and build their own digital version of real-life footballers by collecting digital player cards using real-life match stats and in-game training.

This is all done via the blockchain-powered collectable dApp “FC SUPERSTARS” where users can hold these player cards as digital assets. After a footballer’s growth is completed, “it can be registered on Ethereum Blockchain and become a digital asset.”

Football and blockchain: The new trend of fantasy football games

Earlier this year, Superbloke announce that it will be Manchester City’s official blockchain-based Gacha partner in Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

There are many online games related to popular sports like football have been concentrating on virtual players which the user trains and builds his team. But this is different because it is based on real-life stats and events. Is SuperBloke one of the fantasy football blockchain games? We would put it in the collectable assets category, but it’s pretty close to what we were looking for.

The list of fantasy football blockchain games is meant to bring together today’s top applications and projects. We are constantly looking for new projects to add to the list, so feel free to email us (contact@digitaltokens.io) if you know of any suitable project which is not yet listed here.

Crypto World August 2019: The world’s first crypto bank, crypto salaries and Bitcoin support on Samsung devices

Crypto World August 2019: The world’s first crypto bank, crypto salaries and Bitcoin support on Samsung devices

by | Sep 2, 2019 | News

The summer of 2019 is over, but August has left us with some great news for the crypto community and for the overall fintech sector. What happened in the crypto world in August 2019?

Crypto World August 2019: The world's first crypto bank, crypto salaries and Bitcoin support on Samsung devices

World’s first crypto bank

The Swiss financial regulator has given funding market and securities trader licenses to 2 blockchain businesses (Sygnum and SEBA), set to become the world’s very first crypto banks.
The businesses are going to have the ability to issue, shop, commerce, and handle digital assets, specifically Bitcoin and Ethereum, and convert fiat currencies like Swiss francs, US dollars, and euros to the 2 cryptocurrencies.

They also aim to give their shareholders custody, broker and tokenization services due to their electronic assets. The two companies, however, have to fulfil particular “secondary standards” required by FINMA to turn into fully-operational Swiss banks. These standards have never been revealed to the general public.

The co-founders of all Sygnum crypto lender have hailed the award of a Swiss banking permit for a game-changer that may open the gates to the integration of cryptocurrencies and other electronic assets to the recognized financial industry.

“This is the first time such licenses have been granted worldwide, so Switzerland is playing a pioneering role,”

-Manuel Krieger, CEO of Sygnum Switzerland

“We now have a responsibility as an enabling platform to help banks and other financial players make the step into the digital asset world.”

“Cryptocurrencies will come out of the shadows if dealing with these assets can be done in a 100% compliant manner upholding all the rules that a strict regulator demands. That is a game-changer,” he added.

Crypto World August 2019: The world's first crypto bank, crypto salaries and Bitcoin support on Samsung devices

New Zealand adopts rules for crypto payroll

Crypto salaries do not really require dedicated legislation or unique permissions by governments to be lawful. Many countries allow a part of a worker’s compensation to be non-monetary assets and/or commodities. And in authorities where electronic coins aren’t referred to as currencies, they’ve been given a commodity standing.

But it will seem like a step ahead when a government service explicitly mentions crypto salary in its official records. And that is exactly what the taxation jurisdiction in New Zealand lately did, deeming it lawful for companies to pay salaries in bitcoin. Businesses will then have the ability to withhold tax on income obligations under the present pay-as-you-earn schemes such as those of frequent fiat salaries, in accordance with the nation’s present taxation laws.

And while crypto-enthusiasts have welcomed the agreement as a person which may promote crypto adoption, doubters have expressed worries its sole objective is to make sure the group of more earnings from the authorities in Wellington.

Of course, this comes under a set of conditions.

To start with, only workers working under official arrangements can be compensated with cryptocurrency. Afterwards, the obligations should be for a fixed sum, not exceeding half the complete pay, together with the value of this crypto asset pegged to one or more fiat currencies. The crypto salary has to be a normal part of the worker’s remuneration and be substituted to government-issued fiat cash such as the New Zealand Dollar.

The IRD also pointed out that wages have to be compensated in a coin which can easily be exchanged for fiat. This condition aims to protect workers from being compensated in an illiquid asset or little altcoin. Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Core(BTC), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC) are on the list of the currencies which meet the criteria.

Crypto World August 2019: The world's first crypto bank, crypto salaries and Bitcoin support on Samsung devices

Samsung has added Bitcoin support

Samsung has added bitcoin service to its Blockchain Keystore, which means the newest Samsung Galaxy S10 and Note10 versions are going to have the ability to store Bitcoin private keys.

Control over a pocket’s personal keys is frequently cited as one of the most overlooked and important facets of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, together with many of their largest crypto exchange hacks and thefts occurring because individuals don’t put away their crypto in personal wallets.

The Samsung Blockchain KeyStore is called “a secure and convenient place for your cryptocurrency,” and can be saved on the telephone’s secure-element, very similar to Apple Purchase and Google Pay, and “never saved to a Samsung or external cloud.”

Meanwhile, technology firms across the world, from societal networking giant Facebook into iPhone-maker Apple, have taken an interest in bitcoin and crypto this season, bringing the bitcoin and crypto marketplace from a year-long bear industry.

As technology businesses combine the classic financial sector in trying to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies since the future of cash, new consumers are expected to stream in the area, which can lead to a surge in adoption.

Support is limited to Samsung’s Galaxy S10e, S10, S10+, S10 5G, Note10 along with also the Note10+.

Can IoT be integrated with blockchain?

Can IoT be integrated with blockchain?

by | Aug 9, 2019 | News

Collecting data and exploiting it is the way the internet works today.

But this amount of information should be used to drive conclusions and to transform the digital world.

However, how do businesses tap into the growing expanse of the information available out there in the online market?

The Internet of Things (IoT), big data and artificial intelligence are only three ‘alternatives’ that will assist companies in collecting, accessing and researching this increasingly valuable resource.

Blockchain and IoT

In order to integrate IoT with blockchain, the result should be practical, depending on the case.

It’s projected that by 2022, there’ll be over 50 billion IoT operating devices. And the challenge isn’t the storing the amount of information generated, but security.

“Processing power is an available commodity, but trust and security is something that is limited. There is a need for something that is resilient, tamper resistant and secure,” explained Hugh Simpson, Global Solutions Lead — Data & Analytics, AI, Industry 4.0 — at Ciklum, referring to the potential for blockchain technology.

What is the problem with IoT and blockchain?

“What are you trying to achieve from a business perspective,” asks Simpson? “Once you’ve answered that, it will dictate whether you need to integrate IoT and blockchain.”

The blockchain technology has become like a magic ingredient to any type of business. But let’s not lose our heads, yet. As in any other industry, a company first needs to identify the problem, before picking a technology to solve it. It just can’t work the other way around.

So the question is: How can these 2 technologies work together? The answer lays with assets and business who deal with them.

When talking about a physical business like transportation, road, mining and railroad, or electronic business, such as media or music entertainment material, incorporating IoT and blockchain enhances safety and trust.

Also, by replicating the data on more than one node, the access to that data becomes available to more people. With regulations such as the GDPR, also, the blockchain will help organisations keep control of their information.

The thing to remember is that the blockchain technology isn’t the solution to everything.

Security

It is a fact that the blockchain technology reduces the risk of a break, but an important note, which we have to keep in mind is that no technology will have the ability to guarantee absolute protection.

As Hugh Simpson, from Global Solutions Lead said: “Blockchain improves the audit trail of assets,”. “Take a very simple use case of a pump on a truck in a mine — by decentralising the asset and processing, you’re not relying on a centralised cloud-based solution for asset information and authorised users can see the audit trail of when that pump is maintained, how it’s been used, what it’s been used for. All of that data can better inform your decision-making process,”

The Economy of Things

The effects of blockchain won’t be transformational unless it is integrated with other technology, such as the IoT. As in everything else, it is far better to be a part of a group. Within this network composed of countless gamers, blockchain can build the Economy of Things:

1. Build connected instruments/devices
2. Create sensor networks
3. Collect the data
4. Optimise the assets
5. Finally, progress to the monetisation of these assets

The blockchain comes in handy with this one, building a secure, trustworthy and a traceable economy.

Why Walmart Wants a Cryptocurrency

Why Walmart Wants a Cryptocurrency

by | Aug 6, 2019 | Cryptocurrency, News

On August 1, it was made public that Walmart had filed a patent for a stablecoin backed by the US dollar.

If the project would come to an end, the stablecoin would be issued to some of the chain-store retailers. The description of the patent also covers the use of this stablecoin outside of this use case.

This announcement comes after the controversy with the cryptocurrency announced by the social media giant, Facebook, and the specifications of the two have a striking similarity.

What does Walmart patent say?

The entire crypto community, from all over the world had started taking an interest in all of these projects announced by big-names corporations.

The announcement of Libra, on the 18th of June, will be remembered for a long time for now on, as everyone is still speculation oh how this will be regulated and adopted (or not) by the community. They hope to launch it in 2020.

Of course, this got the US politicians to look more into is and so for, Facebook got a  regulatory pushback from global leaders and threats by U.S. members.

Now as Walmart made this step towards building its own cryptocurrency, the company enters the ring as well.

Walmart’s coin could be used in its 11,368 hypermarkets, department stores and grocery store clubs situated in 27 countries.

The Walmart patent is described like this:

“[The] method includes: generating one digital currency unit by tying the one digital currency unit to a regular currency; storing information of the one digital currency unit into a block of a blockchain; buying or paying the one digital currency unit.”

“The digital currency may be pegged to the US dollar and available for use only at selected retailers or partners. In other embodiments, the digital currency is available for use anywhere. The digital currency can provide a fee-free, or fee-minimal place to store wealth that can be spent, for example, at retailers and, if needed, easily converted to cash,” Walmarts filing adds.

What does Walmart’s patent bring to the table?

At a closer look proves that the Walmart coin delivers numerous attributes like “pre-approved biometric (e.g. eye or fingerprint pattern) credit” and could keep a user’s transaction history and provide loyalty points. Much like Facebook’s Libra, the coin made by Walmart intends to help low-income households globally.

“Using a digital currency, low-income households that find banking expensive may have an alternative way to handle wealth at an institution that can supply the majority of their day-to-day financial and product needs,” the Walmart submitting details.

“In some embodiments, retailers may be direct to aid organizations for assistance that may be used to provide goods. Retailers may tie into assistance that can provide vehicles or funding for vehicles to get goods to customers when the customers do not have sufficient mobility otherwise,” the patent shows.

Walmart’s coin to be used to pay employees?

A number of the speculation concerning a Walmart cryptocurrency is hard to digest, and these are some of the issues:

Paying

Imagine paying the 2 million employees that Walmart has in cryptocurrency. Those of you who have been in a Walmart store might be giggling now, but let’s make it more clear for those who haven’t been to one of their stores.

It seems highly unlikely that the people working at Walmart are the kind interested to be part of the international crypto market.  Assuming that the workers are actively militating for such a change, Walmart would have to change its systems to pay salaries in cryptocurrency and that’s not an easy thing to do, or cheap.

Introducing the banking system

The idea of bringing decentralization to the masses and “banking the unbanked” as a benefit of cryptocurrency is not a good enough reason for the regulators. A study from Aite Group found that half of the unbanked are using prepaid debit cards, which is an alternative to having a bank account.

“Customers without traditional bank accounts can create a microbank at an institution such as a retailer, which gains interest while their money is there. A customer buys digital currency, such as at the beginning of a month.”

Walmart’s patent meeting regulatory bodies

Jaret Seiberg, a senior policy analyst in investment banking firm Cowen, stated that Walmart’s proposed electronic coin shouldn’t face as much regulatory pushback as Libra, Facebook’s suggested virtual money.

As Bloomberg reports on Aug. 5, Seiberg additionally added that Walmart’s crypto could have a market appeal to Democratic legislators that are eager to get an alternate financial infrastructure for individuals that don’t frequently utilize banks.

Seiberg remarks that Facebook has international intentions that do not seem to be shared with Walmart.

Walmart’s proposal won’t probably find automated approval from Congress. Seiberg pointed out that, for example, Walmart’s coin may be regarded as a danger to banks and credit unions. However, Seiberg considers that lawmakers would finally approve Walmart’s proposal.

Concerning the specifics of Walmart’s projected money, Seiberg composed to customers on Monday the money may arrive in the kind of a stored-value card that’s pegged to the U.S. buck, somewhat like a rechargeable card.

According to the report, a Walmart spokesperson said on Friday, 2nd of August 2019,  that it’s not likely to immediately make the most of its own newly-filed patent.

IBM Blockchain World Wire promises to move money further and cheaper than ever before

IBM Blockchain World Wire promises to move money further and cheaper than ever before

by | Aug 1, 2019 | Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, News

Everybody knows that among Bitcoin’s most important resource is its borderless character and it may be utilized as a cross-border payment alternative. On the other hand, the decentralized character of Bitcoin has hamstrung its widespread adoption marginally, and many businesses have thus seen a market in the standard industry.

To begin with, there was Ripple, among just three blockchain-first businesses that were recently appointed from the Forbes Blockchain 50 listing, which has created its mandate to associate with big and institutionalised financial banks and institutions.

Some think this has happened. JP Morgan Chase this season also declared its blockchain-based cross-border payment alternative experimentation, the JPM Coin.

IBM has a substantial stake in the burgeoning blockchain marketplace with Hyperledger Fabric the most-used from the Forbes Blockchain 50 record, accounting for 26.

So, the race is really to supply a cross-border blockchain payment option, but are such enterprise businesses overlooking the mark somewhat, and even overlooking their key market altogether? Many companies and companies may see the significance of utilizing IBM’s solution, although the guy in the road, who are fed up with the standard financial system, may be more prone to use decentralised alternatives like Bitcoin.

However, where’s the viable, simple to use, user-friendly alternative which produces cryptocurrencies and their cross border possible available for everybody?

Ripple wishes to function as go-to for banks, JPM coin has been born of a lender, as well as the World Wire alternative has software predominantly for fiscal and business associations.

None of those solutions is made for the different side of this marketplace; the customers and the people who wish to have the ability to profit on the effectivity and worth of sending cash across boundaries throughout the blockchain.

Nowadays, many here will state Bitcoin, along with other cryptocurrencies, fill this market; they’re resources for your people and planned to aid people who wish to operate out the standard financial regime. However, it also has to be recalled that cryptocurrency adoption is nowhere close wide enough to attain critical mass.

On the flip side, there’s the decentralised cryptocurrency world which nonetheless has a gigantic ‘Wild West’ standing, this leaves a huge marketplace stranded in the centre.

“The biggest barrier for something like World Wire to get off the ground is the traditional banking system and its resistance to innovation,” explains Elizabeth White of The White Company, a company hoping to give cryptocurrency solutions which appeal to both customers and companies.

“Large intentional banks have been using systems like SWIFT for decades and have whole ‘wire departments’ dedicated to processing transactions. While blockchain would significantly modernize, automate, secure and speed up the whole process, it would require retraining and reworking a bank’s entire operations to implement,” White stated.

“IBM is using World Wire to compete with SWIFT for international bank transfers. While the system has a lot of potential and has a real chance of supplanting SWIFT; Individuals or companies cannot use World Wire, so they would still have to go through the regular banking process to send international payments.”

“For many banks, moving to XRP, JPM Coin, or World Wire is just not worth it because their customers are not yet demanding the speed and low cost of blockchain transactions, and in fact banks are making a lot of revenue on wire fees and the like.”

“There is also some apprehension amongst many banking professionals about using ‘blockchain’ because sadly there are quite a few that still don’t understand the technology and may even associate blockchain with money laundering, completely missing the significant anti-fraud prevention advantages of distributed ledger.”

A hybrid payment method

The growth of the cryptocurrency area was required thanks to its tumultuous and tumultuous past. It started as this bewitching online cash that could interrupt every business possible and captured the imagination of swaths of individuals, but in addition, it opened the doors for fraudsters, scammers, and speculators.

The backlash was a far more controlled, controlled and quantified approach to 2019. It has opened the other door for its business companies and major associations to join, but these polarised sides have left a major gap open from the centre.

White, along with the White Company, consider they’re on the ideal path to achieve this abandoned over target market since they’re providing stability and safety of important financial institutions because of supplying things like insurance by a leading UK Bank Lloyds, in addition to using a blockchain, Stellar is endorsed by IBM.

However they also feel the offering of a simple to use and user-friendly end, using a coin that is stable, and chances to exchange different cryptos, will help lure even more customers.

“Our payments platform, for example, is built on Stellar, which is a dedicated payments protocol supported by IBM, Deloitte, Stripe and others, and is focused on optimizing speed and efficiency of payments,” adds White.

When it’s to be considered at across a spectrum – based decentralised cryptocurrencies on one end, venture cross-border blockchain options on another – a middle ground has to be constructed and established. Users would like to have the safety of financial and banking institutions, with no bureaucracy and heritage connected with that.

What’s IBM World Wire?

72 countries, 47 currencies, 44 banking endpoints and more than 1081 unique currency trading pairs. IBM Blockchain World Wire is here.

In March 2019, IBM announced the launching of World Wire, a worldwide payments system, which is using the Stellar network.

The great news is that this system can be used by any financial system in the world, and it’s not limited to banks. By using the speed and flexibility of Stellar, World Wire intends to replace the heritage correspondent banking system using easy point-to-point transactions. At the moment of the launch, World Wire was handling 47 currencies in 72 nations, and it is just likely to rise from that point.

World Wire promises to unlock the planet’s financial potential making money more fluid, wider markets.

BUT…

Since IBM launched  World Wire, a global payments alternative which uses Stellar, some have been disappointed because it is not exactly a blockchain infrastructure. Basically, if the trades aren’t placed in”Blocks”, then it isn’t a Blockchain. And they’re not.

IBM has created a worldwide online banking protocol which sits between two transacting banks. It is faster but not as quickly as Blockchain (when we factor in resolutions). In global settlements, there are 3 Important variables:

Messaging . The sender and the recipient are notified of the transaction status.
Clearing . All intermediary activities that contribute to the settlement.
Settlement.  The funds are in the receiver’s account.

While PayPal incorporates the preceding three functions into one port, IBM’s World Wire goes a step further and incorporates them completely rather than only via the frontend.

Considering that the IBM World Wire essentially assimilate everything into information pieces and sets them onto a uniform ledger, it’s confronted with the most frequently encountered issue of cryptography: Asset Transport without inflating the strength worth. Consider it like this. If I wish to send you a car within the Blockchain, I would be able to only move the ownership rights, but not the asset itself.

Escrowmybits ibm world wire

(credit: Escrowmybits)

This is the point where the crypto-tokens come in the picture. I am now able to send the car into an escrow at the same time you move a sum of cash (or even cryptocurrency) into the escrow. We need to trust that the escrow will ease the exchange, not run off with both, your cash and my painting.

Thus, you and I get substituted with our individual banks and as all of us know, they’re wiser than everyone.

How does IBM World Wire work?

IBM World Wire need tp create a stablecoin for each transfer to take place. Why? Because the purchase price of the car varies in real-time, as does the cost of the money the receiver pays when the 2 individuals have decided to make the trade. That’s why IBM World Wire enables both banking associations to come up with a stablecoin on the Stellar protocol and use it an exchange currency.

IBM world wire

Credit: IBM

Let’s take the example of sending money from one country to another. If X from the UK wants to send money to Y in the US, the two corresponding banks have to create a settlement, or better said, a stablecoin for them to trade.

This means that X from the UK, or his bank, has to purchase that stablecoin created for this transaction, using the local currency, the pound, and then the bank in the US buy US dollars using that stablecoin. the entire operation is set to take place in minutes.

This alternative to the old transactional methods focuses on the rate of transport and the simplicity of producing resources (cryptocurrencies generated on Stellar are called resources ). If, however, IBM can attract the Central Banks into the dining table, the World Wire could address an important issue that the banks from all over the world face every day.

A route to the future

It’s fairly pleasant that blockchain tokens, digital resources, cryptocurrencies, or anything type of tag lands on these, are the long run.

There will however have to be a middle-out expansion which will help lure the majority of users to this brand new and largely misunderstood area. If the businesses are searching for themselves along with other large businesses, along with the cryptocurrencies are used by people in the know, then humanity is still waiting for the groundbreaking moment when your smartphone will bring this to the masses.

Crypto World July: Indian regulation, new markets for cryptocurrency and taxes in the US

Crypto World July: Indian regulation, new markets for cryptocurrency and taxes in the US

by | Jul 29, 2019 | News

July is almost over and the world of crypto is trembling over the recent fluctuations of the cryptocurrency prices. Crypto world July: What happened in the crypto world in July 2019? Here are the top 3 topics from the crypto community.

Smaller jurisdictions offer easier market access

Belarus and other small countries are actively looking for ways to develop their own fintech market and they consider cryptocurrencies for this step.

Numerous players in the business are considering alternatives and come up with specific regulations and rules for cryptocurrencies. Malta, Bahrain and Gibraltar are one of the very first to perform in the attempt to attract new blockchain and crypto businesses. Other perks like tax breaks can also be offered which is a much larger incentive in regards to the US regulations.

There’s no guarantee that this strategy will be successful, but it might represent a chance for all these states to catch a piece of an emerging marketplace. This may then possibly attract additional investment and create new projects.

Bahrain, for example, is developing its legal framework to accommodate electronic assets.

Belarus has also introduced regulations allowing people to exchange and invest in cryptocurrency. This may also offer you a lifeline for people trying to run from oppressive states like India and China. The number of smaller states willing to embrace this new digital era is on the rise.

IRS has begun sending thousands of letters to US cryptocurrency holders

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it has started sending letters to taxpayers who own cryptocurrency, advising them to pay back taxes that they might owe or to file amended tax returns regarding their holdings.

According to the announcement, there are 3 variants of this correspondence which were sent.

The IRS further stated that it’ll have sent these letters to “over 10,000 taxpayers” at the end of the month,” adding that “the names of these taxpayers were obtained through various ongoing IRS compliance efforts.”

The IRS Commissioner, Chuck Rettig said:

“Taxpayers should take these letters very seriously by reviewing their tax filings and when appropriate, amend past returns and pay back taxes, interest and penalties. The IRS is expanding our efforts involving virtual currency, including increased use of data analytics. We are focused on enforcing the law and helping taxpayers fully understand and meet their obligations.”

In May, it had been reported the IRS had started working on new cryptocurrencies guidance, its first such attempt since 2014. Quite a few associations and business advocates have called on the bureau in previous years to upgrade its advice after its decision to take care of cryptocurrencies as a kind of intangible property for taxation purposes.

India is considering banning all cryptocurrency except for those backed up by the state

It is no surprise to hear about the recommendation of an inter-ministerial committee which urges India to prohibit cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin.

Indian policymakers and administrators have repeatedly made clear their distaste for these, their presence dropped almost entirely to innovative encryption technologies.

The Reserve Bank of India has warned the public of those dangers related to cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, the most notable among them, has yo-yoed tremendously in value, even over short intervals.

A May 2019 post by Bloomberg, citing information in blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, stated: “speculation remains Bitcoin’s primary use case”. Its usage in prohibited online marketplaces which deal with drugs and child porn is well-documented. There have been instances of consumers being scammed, and this accusation is valid in India as well.

Authorities and financial regulators throughout the world are alert to personal cryptocurrencies. As they want neither a central issuing authority nor a fundamental validating service for trades, these currencies can exist and flourish without regulation and authority.

They’re even deemed as a danger to the official currency and financial system.

The issue is whether or not banning cryptocurrency is the best method to apply. The inter-ministerial committee believes it is, going so far as to draft a legislation which mandates a fine and imprisonment of up to 10 years for the offences of mining, creating, holding, selling, dealing in, transferring, disposing of, or issuing cryptocurrencies.

But six of the seven authorities that its report cites haven’t prohibited cryptocurrencies outright. Many of these, such as Canada, Thailand, Russia and Japan, appear to be proceeding on the route of regulation, so that trades are within the purview of both anti-money laundering and prevention of terror legislation. Even there, the report states, “owing to the network-based nature of cryptocurrencies, after banning domestic crypto exchanges, many traders turned to overseas platforms to continue participating in crypto transactions.” Trading in China is low but it does exist.

However, why would an outright ban be a better option than regulation, particularly in an area driven by rapid technological inventions? This is a question still left unanswered.