Dubai just got its first official cryptocurrency

Dubai just got its first official cryptocurrency

A development is seen on one of the islands

of The World Islands project in Dubai, January 7, 2012. Jumana El Heloueh/Reuters. The government of the city of Dubai launched their own blockchain-based cryptocurrency last week. The city’s economy department partnered with one of its subsidiaries called Emcredit Limited and U.K.-based Object Tech Group, Ltd. to create emCash.

This new “encrypted digital currency” is a product of partnerships Dubai has cultivated through their Accelerators Initiative and brought under the umbrella of the Dubai Economy Accelerators. “A digital currency has varied advantages – faster processing, improved delivery time, less complexity and cost, to name a few,” Dubai Economy deputy director general Ali Ibrahim said in a press statement. “It will change the way people live and do business in Dubai, and mark a giant leap for the city in harnessing game-changing innovations to improve ease of business and quality of life.”

Officials claim that emCash uses the latest blockchain technology and works as part of payment system called emWallet. As the city’s credit bureau, Emcredit has made sure that the emWallet handles various types of transactions — from “their daily coffee and children’s school fee to utility charges and money transfers” — with a near-field communication (NFC) support through a smartphone. The city will also have a shared platform, called Blockchain as a Service, to help Dubai government agencies use blockchain in various projects.

Investing in the future

Blockchain’s potential as a decentralized and secure platform for transactions, financial or otherwise, isn’t lost to those with eyes to the future. Dubbed as the “city of the future,” Dubai is certainly one of those, but it isn’t the first to have an “official” cryptocurrency. The launch of the emCash, however, is only a first step. Dubai has been working on becoming the world’s first economy that’s built on the blockchain, and with it its own cryptocurrency. This is where the city’s efforts differ, and could potentially influence economies through the entire United Arab Emirates (UAE). “Obtaining approvals from other UAE authorities will be taken into consideration if required,” Ibrahim said.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Smart Dubai, the government office responsible for encouraging innovation in the country, will be conducting government and private organization workshops over the next few months to identify those services best enhanced by blockchain. After that, the office expects that pilot projects in both the public and private sectors will begin rolling out this year. “The fast paced environment and incredible willingness to adopt innovative technology has made Dubai the perfect place for us to do business,” said Muna Al Qassab, CEO of Emcredit Limited, in the city’s press release. “This project is a great example of the ambition we have met here, together we are essentially creating a whole new economic ecosystem.”

Chuck Reynolds

Marketing Dept
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IMF Head – Cryptocurrency Could Be the Future. Really.

IMF Head - Cryptocurrency Could Be the Future. Really.

IMF Head – Cryptocurrency Could Be the Future. Really.

Christine Lagarde sees a path ahead for cryptocurrency.

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, talked up the potential of virtual currencies to supplant traditional monies in coming decades on Friday. Cryptocurrencies, or virtual currencies, are a new class of digital assets powered by blockchains, distributed ledgers that made their name underpinning networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Unlike JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and billionaire hedge fund founder Ray Dalio, who have recently disparaged Bitcoin, the world's most well known cryptocurrency, Lagarde shared a rosier vision of the general technology's future with attendees of a Bank of England conference in London. "In many ways, virtual currencies might just give existing currencies and monetary policy a run for their money," she said.

"It may not be wise to dismiss virtual currencies," Lagarde told the audience. "Instead, citizens may one day prefer virtual currencies."

Lagarde devoted a third of her talk, which envisioned how financial tech may reshape the world by the year 2040, to the subject of cryptocurrency. She noted that digital money could gain popularity as engineers work through technology issues related to processing more payments through blockchain networks in the future.

"Why might citizens hold virtual currencies rather than physical dollars, euros, or sterling? Because it may one day be easier and safer than obtaining paper bills, especially in remote regions," Lagarde said. "Virtual currencies could actually become more stable."

Lagarde couched her predictions with the pretense of sci-fi ("Are you ready to jump on my [hovering drone] pod and explore the future together?" she said), but her forecast matches the view of other big-name optimists, like Fidelity CEO Abigail Johnson. "I'm a believer," Johnson said at an industry conference earlier this year about digital currencies.

Other topics Lagarde touched on included the possible disruption of the traditional banking business model by fintech upstarts as well as the advent of artificial intelligence.

You can read Lagarde's prepared remarks in full here, or read on for the segment about cryptocurrency, below.

1. Virtual currencies

Let us start with virtual currencies. To be clear, this is not about digital payments in existing currencies—through Paypal and other “e-money” providers such as Alipay in China, or M-Pesa in Kenya.

Virtual currencies are in a different category, because they provide their own unit of account and payment systems. These systems allow for peer-to-peer transactions without central clearinghouses, without central banks.

For now, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin pose little or no challenge to the existing order of fiat currencies and central banks. Why? Because they are too volatile, too risky, too energy intensive, and because the underlying technologies are not yet scalable. Many are too opaque for regulators; and some have been hacked.

But many of these are technological challenges that could be addressed over time. Not so long ago, some experts argued that personal computers would never be adopted, and that tablets would only be used as expensive coffee trays. So I think it may not be wise to dismiss virtual currencies.

Better value for money?

For instance, think of countries with weak institutions and unstable national currencies. Instead of adopting the currency of another country—such as the U.S. dollar—some of these economies might see a growing use of virtual currencies. Call it dollarization 2.0.

IMF experience shows that there is a tipping point beyond which coordination around a new currency is exponential. In the Seychelles, for example, dollarization jumped from 20 percent in 2006 to 60 percent in 2008.

And yet, why might citizens hold virtual currencies rather than physical dollars, euros, or sterling? Because it may one day be easier and safer than obtaining paper bills, especially in remote regions. And because virtual currencies could actually become more stable.

For instance, they could be issued one-for-one for dollars, or a stable basket of currencies. Issuance could be fully transparent, governed by a credible, pre-defined rule, an algorithm that can be monitored…or even a “smart rule” that might reflect changing macroeconomic circumstances.

So in many ways, virtual currencies might just give existing currencies and monetary policy a run for their money. The best response by central bankers is to continue running effective monetary policy, while being open to fresh ideas and new demands, as economies evolve.

Better payment services?

For example, consider the growing demand for new payment services in countries where the shared, decentralized service economy is taking off.

This is an economy rooted in peer-to-peer transactions, in frequent, small-value payments, often across borders.

Four dollars for gardening tips from a lady in New Zealand, three euros for an expert translation of a Japanese poem, and 80 pence for a virtual rendering of historic Fleet Street: these payments can be made with credit cards and other forms of e-money. But the charges are relatively high for small-value transactions, especially across borders.

Instead, citizens may one day prefer virtual currencies, since they potentially offer the same cost and convenience as cash—no settlement risks, no clearing delays, no central registration, no intermediary to check accounts and identities. If privately issued virtual currencies remain risky and unstable, citizens may even call on central banks to provide digital forms of legal tender.

So, when the new service economy comes knocking on the Bank of England’s door, will you welcome it inside? Offer it tea—and financial liquidity?

Author: Robert Hackett

Posted by David Ogden Entrpreneur
David Ogden Cryptocurrency entreprenur

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

AngelList Creator Naval Ravikant Backs S&P-Style Cryptocurrency Fund

A startup led by former Facebook and Google employees is launching a cryptocurrency index fund.

Backed by AngelList founder Naval Ravikant, Bitwise Asset Management is today coming out of stealth mode to reveal its first product, the Bitwise Hold10 Private Index Fund – a market cap-weighted basket of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by network value. With the launch, investors who participate in the fund will own shares meant to reflect the value of the underlying assets, allowing them to achieve what BitWise argues is a broad exposure to the cryptocurrency market.

The fund's co-founders are Hunter Horsley, a former Facebook and Instagram project manager and Wharton graduate, and Hong Kim, a Google veteran and former Korean military software security expert. One of the key goals of the fund, Horsley said is to create a way for investors to gain exposure to cryptocurrency with the ease and economy of investing in an S&P 500 index fund.

Horsley told CoinDesk:

"We want to create a meaningful and secure way to own a portfolio of cryptocurrency. We feel that, today, it's too hard and it's too expensive."

Bitwise's basic thesis breaks down rather neatly along those lines – particularly the assessment of the founders that existing investing options now present significant challenges to retail investors. According to Horsley, prior to March of 2017, investors could gain broad exposure to the cryptocurrency asset class simply by owning bitcoin, which until then represented 85 percent of the total market value. However, with the rise in the total market capitalization of the various different networks to more than $100 billion, he contends that achieving such exposure now requires more active management and, given the nascent stage of the market, specialized expertise.

Fees and features

But amidst a boom in the number of investment options available, Horsely intends to compete on more than simply market knowledge. Notably, the fund charges just 2 percent on an annualized basis. Further, it does not charge a fee on profits, making it more reasonably priced than alternatives, he claims. By comparison, other funds are charging investors a traditional hedge fund-style "two and twenty" fee, which includes a sizable 20 percent fee charged against any profits the fund generates. While the fund requires investors be both accredited and based in the U.S., the minimum investment is a relatively modest $10,000.

Also, in what he argued puts the fund in contrast to a wave of other hedge funds launched over the summer, Horsley said Bitwise will seek a passive investment strategy. While other funds actively trade crypto assets in an attempt to generate a larger return, he said BitWise will simply hold a portfolio of assets that represents the broader market.

Another advantage, Horsley said, is that retail investors won't have to take ownership of any cryptocurrencies themselves, or to devise a strategy to ensure the security of their investments. "We are 100 percent 'cold storage'," he said, in reference to the way the fund stores its assets in a more secure, offline environment. The only time the assets will come out of cold storage, he added, is when the fund rebalances itself – meaning the times when the fund must buy or sell coins in order to reflect the same relative market capitalizations of the market more broadly.

Horsley explained:

"I think for some people it can be feasible to store things in hardware wallets, and do it themselves, but there are, of course, a lot of risks to doing that. I think, from a security perspective, having a titled share – the assets of which are then backed by our storage – is really helpful."

Chuck Reynolds

Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.
Interested or have Questions. Call me 559-474-4614

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Dragonchain, Originally Developed at Disney, Opens Limited Supply Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

Dragonchain,
Originally Developed at Disney,
Opens Limited Supply
Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

Dragonchain, the blockchain platform originally developed at Disney

SEATTLE, Oct. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Dragonchain, the blockchain platform originally developed at Disney, opens its public Initial Coin Offering (ICO) today, the one-year anniversary of Disney releasing it as open source. Running Oct. 2 – Nov. 2, the tokens issued during the ICO (Dragons) will provide access to Dragonchain platform services, project incubation, and professional services to support enterprises, start-ups, and entrepreneurs building applications on the platform.

Dragonchain simplifies the integration of real business applications on a blockchain and provides features such as easy integration, protection of business data and operations, currency agnosticism, and multi-currency support. The company also provides professional services to build-out development and successful tokenization ecosystems with long term value utilizing an incubation model. Please visit and contact us at https://dragonchain.com/.

"Our vision for Dragonchain is a secure and flexible blockchain platform paired with a crowd scaled incubator," said Joe Roets, Founder and CEO of Dragonchain, Inc. "The system is modeled to create feedback loops and accelerate blockchain projects and market success." Dragonchain was originally developed at Disney's Seattle office between 2015 and 2016 under the name "Disney Private Blockchain Platform." The project launched as open-source by Disney on October 2, 2016, and is now maintained by the Dragonchain Foundation.

In addition, Dragonchain officially announces the formation of its Advisory Board to provide strategic guidance on future endeavors. "Dragonchain's context-based approval ushers in a new era of inter-linked blockchain databases, multi-dimensional datastores that scale to customer requirements," said Jeff Garzik, co-founder at Bloq and Dragonchain Advisory Board member. "Joe and the Dragonchain team are bringing a unique solution to market – the latest in blockchain technology, combining ease of integration, cloud scalability and secure grounding in public blockchain networks."

Dragonchain Advisory Board members include:

Jeff Garzik, co-founder, Bloq
A futurist, bitcoin entrepreneur and software engineer, Jeff is co- founder and CEO of Bloq, a code-for-hire service that delivers enterprise grade blockchain technology to leading companies worldwide.

Matthew Roszak, co-founder, Bloq and founding partner, Tally Capital
Co-founder at Bloq and founding partner at Tally Capital, Matthew is an avid supporter and investor in the exciting technology frontier of blockchain.

Ed Fries, tech industry advisor and co-founder of the original Xbox
Ed joined Microsoft in 1986, and as a VP, spent 10 years as one of the early developers of Excel and Word. He left the Office team to pursue his passion for interactive entertainment and created Microsoft Game Studios. Over the next eight years he grew the team from 50 people to over 1200, published over 100 games, co-founded the Xbox Project, making Microsoft one of the leaders in the video game business.

Collin LaHay (Collin Crypto), Gambit founder
Blockchain expert, Bitcoin angel investor, ICO advisor, founder at Gambit, entrepreneur, internet marketer and founder of CollinLaHay.com a search engine marketing business offering.

Tom Bush – former assistant director, FBI CJIS Division
National security, homeland security and law enforcement subject matter expert with over 33 years in federal law enforcement and owner at Tom Bush Consulting.

Chris Boscolo – Founder, lifeID
A specialist in cloud-computing, Amazon Web Services, network security, TCP/IP network protocols embedded systems and Linux kernel drivers, Chris has more than 20 years' experience building commercially successful products. "With increased concerns around security and privacy, blockchain is a transformative technology," said Tom Bush, owner at Tom Bush Consulting and Dragonchain Advisory Board member. "Dragonchain is positioned to be a notable player in this sector."

About Dragonchain
Dragonchain simplifies the integration of real business applications on a blockchain and provides features such as easy integration, protection of business data and operations, currency agnosticism, and multi-currency support. The company also provides professional services to build-out development and successful tokenization ecosystems with long term value utilizing an incubation model.

Chuck Reynolds

Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.
Interested or have Questions. Call me 559-474-4614

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden