Tag: Cryptocurrency

JPMorgan Wants to Use Blockchain to Issue ICO Tokens

JPMorgan Wants to Use Blockchain to Issue ICO Tokens

American investment banking giant JPMorgan Chase

is pursuing a patent for a distributed system that uses blockchain technology to issue virtual depository receipts that sound suspiciously like initial coin offering (ICO) tokens.

JPMorgan Wants to Host IPOs on a Blockchain

The patent application, filed by JPMorgan in January and published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on Thursday, outlines a method whereby users on a distributed network such as a blockchain can tokenize assets and trade these virtual depository receipts. To create a security token, an originator such as an asset owner or broker will encumber the asset by entrusting it to a qualified custodian, who will then authorize a virtual receipt for the deposited assets.

This virtual depository receipt would essentially be a security token, regulated under the authority of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or other local securities regulators. This designation would necessarily restrict how and where the tokens could be traded. Depending on the nature of the asset, a token holder would also be able to redeem the receipt for the underlying asset by transferring it to the custodian, who would then cancel the tokens.

Notably, JPMorgan believes that one use case for this proposed system is to allow companies to hold initial public offerings (IPO) in a blockchain environment, more or less fulfilling the ultimate promise of the initial coin offering, though it is doubtful both that the firm would ever acknowledge that fact or refer to such token distribution events as ICOs.

Obligation-Backed Receipts

The patent also notes that the tokens could represent obligation-backed virtual receipts, more commonly known as debt equity. This is not the first time that JPMorgan has mulled creating a platform to issue debt on a blockchain. Earlier this year, the firm partnered with the National Bank of Canada and a group of other firms to simulate the issuance of a $150 million Yankee certificate of deposit (CD) on Quorum — JPMorgan’s Ethereum-based enterprise blockchain platform — in parallel with an actual CD issued through conventional means.

“One of the mandates of the J.P. Morgan blockchain program is to identify how blockchain technology can create value, efficiency, and a better experience for our clients across the financial markets value chain,” said Christine Moy, JPMorgan’s blockchain program lead, at the time. “ We look forward to exploring blockchain-enabled capital markets applications, how these types of transformative opportunities can benefit our clients and counterparts.”

As CCN reported, while JPMorgan has been generally hostile toward cryptocurrencies — CEO Jamie Dimon, many will remember, once routinely referred to bitcoin as a fraud — the firm has for years been a leader in the development of enterprise blockchain applications, which seek to capitalize the benefits of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in a private, permissioned environment, most notably through its development and promotion of Quorum.

Article Produced By
Blockchain News

https://www.ccn.com/jpmorgan-wants-to-use-blockchain-to-issue-ico-tokens/

 

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

WTF is an Airdrop? A Detailed Guide to Free Cryptocurrency

 

WTF is an Airdrop? A Detailed Guide to Free Cryptocurrency

Money can’t appear out of no where… But cryptocurrency can.

Polymath did an airdrop (free coins) worth $300

In December 2017, I signed up to learn more about a coin called Polymath. As I learned more about it, my interest peaked and I wanted to learn how to get my hands on some of the coins. Turns out, the coins weren’t available yet; in fact, the team wasn’t even doing an ICO. Instead, they were conducting an airdrop. I signed up for it, and didn’t have to pay a penny (only enter some identifying information to comply with KYC regulation). A month later, 250 POLY showed up in my Ethereum Wallet. As of the time of writing, that’s worth around $300.

What is an Airdrop?

The simple answer: it’s literally just free coins just waiting for you. The method behind the madness, though, is a decision regarding marketing strategy. As a way to spread awareness to the relevant audience of potential investors and eventual enthusiasts, coin teams will, from time-to-time, do airdrops.

A Brief History of Airdrops

Coins have been doing this for a while — pretty much since the first Ethereum ICO. If you check your wallet on Etherscan (which I totally recommend doing — never open your wallet with a private key just to check your balance, it’s riskier than necessary), you’ll know there’s a row up top named Token Tracker. If you see it, then there are also tokens in your account; if you don’t, then you don’t have any tokens or airdrops — yet. Some of you ETH wallet holders that have had wallets with balances for a while now might’ve noticed this — one day you just see an extra random token in your Token Tracker. No, someone didn’t randomly deposit some obscure token into your wallet address on accident; instead, the coin’s team decided to send a small amount to a population of Ethereum wallets in order to spread the word.

After getting the token, one of the first things you might’ve done is Google what the coin is. Or you might’ve taken it a step further — asked someone else if they knew what the token was. Also, you could just choose to ignore it. Of course, in the last scenario, the airdrop failed its intention. But scenario 1 means that you have now learned about the coin, and scenario 2 is even better — you’ve just told your friends about the coin, too. In both of those scenarios, the airdrop did its job for a small price (well, potentially a larger price if it moons).

Eventually, airdrops became a method beyond marketing. As a method to pump coin value, coins would announce airdrops where coin holders would receive bonus coins proportional to the amount of total coins they hold. Coin investors that wanted to get the airdrop would have to buy the coins if they didn’t have any yet, or buy more if they wanted a larger proportion of the airdrop. That being said, I want to emphasize that this airdrop strategy won’t be examined further in this article, since my article is focused on how you can get coins for free, not on how you can get coins by buying coins.

Recently, with Facebook’s new advertising policy explicitly stating bans for ICOs, many ICOs have turned to airdrops as an alternative method for pay-per-click advertising. With many ICOs being consumer-focused products, they focus on one metric: viral growth through the network effect. In layman’s terms, they want to spread the word to you and hope that you spread the word to your minions, too. They address this by using a strong referral system method.

Participating in Free Airdrops

The Tools You’ll Most Likely Need

Here’s what you need to catch airdrops like a stud

  1. An Ethereum Wallet:
    Not one that is on an exchange. It has to be a personal address that is ERC20 compatible because most of the tokens that are airdropped are ERC20 tokens, which are or were originally Ethereum-based ICOs. I suggest using MetaMask or MyEtherWallet to get started immediately, but in the long-term I always recommend getting a hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano S.
  2. The Ethereum Wallet Must be ACTIVE.
    By active, I mean that you have to show at least some human use of it. Lots of airdrops have checks in place to make sure that you aren’t just randomly generating a bunch of addresses and signing them all up to unfairly obtain more coins. This means that if your wallet doesn’t show activity, it might not receive the airdrop. Sometimes, coins will be explicit in what they look for, including some type of balance in the account.
  3. A Telegram Account :
    I’m sure there are amazing reasons why Telegram is the chatting tool of choice for many of these ICOs. The coins want to boost the audience count. Usually, these airdrop coins will also require you to sign up for their Telegram accounts. Until you receive the coin in your Ethereum wallet, do not leave the Telegram accounts or you risk disqualification for the airdrop.
  4. A Twitter Account :
    Similar to the reasons behind the Telegram account, many of the airdrop coins will also require you to follow them on Twitter. Some of them will even ask you to retweet some tweet.
  5. An email address.
    Sometimes airdrops will ask for your email, too. If you don’t feel comfortable with giving them your real email, just create a spam one. Remember the password, though; some of them actually ask you to confirm your email.

Obtaining and Withdrawing Tokens

Usually, it takes about 1–2 months after the end of the airdrop before you receive your tokens. This is primarily due to the fact that many airdrops occur before or during token sales, in conjunction to spread awareness. And tokens are not distributable until the end of a token sale anyway (I’ll write a separate piece on Token Sales, or ICOs).

To check your wallet info and see if the token has appeared in your wallet yet, just go to Etherscan (https://www.etherscan.io). Type in your ETH address into the search box.

Circled in Red is the area you want to look. If the token is available in your wallet already, it will show up in the token tracker dropdown. If you don’t have a token tracker appear on your result, then you don’t have any tokens in your wallet yet, and it also means you didn’t receive it. Once you actually obtain the tokens, you can withdraw them directly through a services like My Ether Wallet (MEW). All you have to do is access your wallet (through MetaMask, Ledger Nano, or some other way — direct private key pasting is not recommended) and select the token you want to withdraw.

Don’t Get Scammed

With all the promises of free coins out there, it’s easy to lose track of everything and just start a clicking frenzy. Here are some tips to avoid getting scammed:

  1. Never send any private keys.
    No one needs to have your private key in order to be able to check you wallet balance. They can do so very easily with tools like Etherscan.
  2. Don’t send any money to any addresses.
    Remember this — airdrops are free. Whether it requires you to be holding a certain coin, or if it’ll just appear in your wallet, an airdrop will never ask you to send any amount of some coin to some type of address. If they ask for this, steer away immediately.
  3. Check official sources.
    If a coin is actually doing an airdrop, it is likely they’ll have announced it on their official social media accounts, such as Twitter. Check there to make sure that the airdrop is official; otherwise, you might be subject to a scam with scammers trying to collect your data.
 

This is an example of a scam airdrop. The first red flag is the fact that the Twitter account is asking you for an amount. But these scammers have become pretty sophisticated. If you check the comments, you’ll see there are 8 responses to this. 7 of them are from fake Twitter accounts pretending to have participated and being “super stoked” about receiving their coins. The other one is from me, tweeting that it’s a scam to try to warn people.

If you look at the Twitter account, you might see that it has 3,000 followers (or maybe even more) but the tweet history is less than 24 hours long. Does that make sense? A coin that just supposedly raised 8m euros has only tweeted for 24 hours? If the story seems fishy, there is a disgusting, rotting corpse somewhere. Don’t believe it.

The image is a terrible Photoshop job with font that doesn’t match the rest of the announcement. This scam is a metropolis of red flags. A simple Reverse Google Image Search shows that the logo actually belongs to Thrive. As a best practice, always look for reasons why an Airdrop would be a scam. With that mindset, you are more likely to be able to sniff out the rotting fish from the sushi.

Resources to Help You Find Airdrops

There are many communities and newsletters available to help you with identifying airdrops as they come along. I definitely recommend signing up for them (they’re free), rather than trying to look for them yourself. That’s because there are many scammers out there, and they make themselves very present and legitimate-seeming. These resources that you subscribe to have (hopefully) already screened the airdrops.

Let Cosmic Trading help you find those awesome Airdrops

If you’re looking for one to join right now, take a look at Cosmic Trading. Members post airdrops in that channel that they’ve already verified are legitimate. Furthermore, the community is just a huge group of cryptocurrency traders and enthusiasts with experience levels ranging from years of trading and HODLing to people who just started yesterday.

Article Produced By
Kenny Li

A Blockchain and Fintech Enthusiast. Founder of Worthyt, Managing Partner at Empyrean Global Advisors. MIT Sloan Class of 2020.

https://hackernoon.com/wtf-is-an-airdrop-a-detailed-guide-to-free-cryptocurrency-e70e8777dd83

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

Should You Launch an ICO to Raise Money for Your Startup?

Should You Launch an ICO to Raise Money for Your Startup?

As of February 2018, 46 percent of the previous year's ICOs had already failed — despite the fact that they had raised more than $104 million.

In the past few months, you've likely heard about initial coin offering (ICO) fundraising,

as some startups have experienced a significant amount of funding this way. Could ICOs replace traditional venture capital? On the surface, ICOs appear to be the new, successful startup journey alternative. However, before making any hasty decisions, it is imperative that you understand how these two very different types of funding compare.

ICOs have seen immense growth, but there are challenges.

There's been a significant amount of media coverage in relation to ICOs, especially as the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry evolves. However, taking a closer look, it appears that there are some critical gaps in the available information, which for many is misleading. Of course, there are advantages to this model, including more rapid funding and fewer regulations — which may actually be a double-edged sword. Unlike the traditional model, which requires startups to first build a company, generate revenue, and then get funding from angel investors (before landing a venture capitalist), ICOs provide somewhat of a shortcut.

The growth of ICOs alone is enough to turn heads. In June of this year, ICOs surpassed $550 million in funding, which was more than what was raised through venture capital fundraising. However, these benefits are not enough to convince many partners and investors. Being an open, unregulated system, anything can happen, and when you’re dealing with millions of dollars, “anything” isn’t exactly what you want to hear. In fact, one of the primary concerns for investors is the ambiguity of utility tokens, resulting in varying rights. There are also a number of significant risks involved, including taxable proceeds.

ICOs simply are not ready to take over traditional venture capital. Here’s why.

Although many support ICOs and blockchain technology overall, it is the general consensus that the technology itself is still immature, leading to many risk factors. In some countries, such as China, ICOs have been banned due to a lack of regulation, as well as a high rate of fraudulent and illegal activity. If you are considering the ICO market to fund your startup, please consider the following in relation to traditional venture capital.

  1. Poor liquidity. 
    Although companies are raising real capital, without enough liquidity, the participation from buyers quickly outweighs the supports of market buyers. Strict regulations and the use of multiple currencies also contribute to poor liquidity.

  2. Quality control and increased risk of scams. 
    One review, published by the Wall Street Journal, found that after analyzing 1,450 ICOs, 20 percent contained major red flags. This included plagiarized documents, fake executive teams and guaranteed returns.

  3. Higher failure rate. 
    As of February 2018, 46 percent of the previous year’s ICOs had already failed — despite the fact that they had raised more than $104 million. This is resulting in what’s referred to as a “digital graveyard,” as many of these ICOs appear to have been doomed from the start.

At the end of the day, the majority of ICO-funded startups are poorly managed and lack the required cash flow. Since the cash raised by an ICO doesn’t technically have any legal leverage, as they are not currently regulated, this option is risky for investors, as well as your reputation. Token sales and the phenomenon surrounding ICOs certainly has potential, but it's still in its infancy. It’s the new “Wild West,” and until some of the major kinks are worked out, venture capital is still largely the most promising route, as you will attract loyal investors while building valuable connections.

Regardless, this is an industry that should be watched closely, as many industry leaders, including Bill Gates and John Donahoe, support the evolution of digital currency. Based on your current business model and business plan, are you unsure which option is best?

Article Produced By

Rahul Varshneya

Rahul Varshneya is the co-founder of Arkenea, custom software development services for founder-led companies.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/315873

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

What are Airdrops and how can you take advantage of them?

What are Airdrops and how can you take advantage of them?

First of all you may be wondering, What is an airdrop anyway?

An airdrop is basically a few free tokens/coins and it is usually used as a way to promote a new Ethereum token (and sometimes other types of coins too). You may be asking yourself, why would someone be giving away something for free, isn't that free money? Well there are a few reasons why this may be done. First of all it is a good way to promote an upcoming launch of a product or ICO and get a lot of hype around your brand while spending very little in marketing dollars. Another benefit of giving out free tokens is that your newly created token will start to circulate within the cryptocurrency community, effectively building a user base.

Why should you care?

If you are new to the crypto world and do not want to spend a lot of money in buying tokens, but wish to get your feet wet this is a great way to start. You can also use these tokens (assuming you have some Ethereum handy) to learn how to use some Decentralized Exchanges such as EtherDelta or ForkDelta.

Can you actually make money from these airdrops?

The quick answer is yes and no. If you are lucky you may get the next big token thats shoots to the moon, but typically airdrops will start off having a value of a few cents. There are a few examples where the airdrops were quite profitable for those involved. Polymath for instance, recently had an airdrop where they distributed 250 POLY tokens to anyone who completed their KYC in time. These tokens were worth over $2.00 USD very shortly after the drop was completed, meaning thats over $500 worth of free tokens!

Another example of a very profitable airdrop was the DECRED airdrop. 50% of the DECRED pre-mine was distributed to Airdrop participants. Each participant received a minimum of 258 DCR coins. In 2018, DCR coins have hit an all time high value of over $123 each. If you were to obtain those and sell at that high price, you would have made over $31,000. Now you are probably wondering how can you get some airdrops for yourself? One easy way is to join up on Earn.com. You will earn some free bitcoins for joining the airdrop in addition to the free coins themselves.

Article Produced By
Moses

https://steemit.com/airdrop/@mosescrypto/what-are-airdrops-and-how-can-you-take-advantage-of-them

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

AdHive launches AI-powered platform to promote ICOs

AdHive launches AI-powered platform to promote ICOs

Regardless of the buzz around ICOs and other blockchain token generation events,

one thing remains true. If you want people to invest in your project and hit your targets, you need to attract a large community. AI-controlled influencer marketing platform AdHive today announced an ICO-focused marketing solution designed specifically for this purpose. The product itself is a combination of influencer marketing and AI-powered campaign management. On the influencer marketing side, AdHive’s platform identifies individuals who have sway in the blockchain technology space and helps your engage with them. The chosen influencers then produce content in the form of reviews, AMAs, interviews, technical and white paper analysis, or native product placement.

“We have our own analytical tool, which allows us to analyze influencers’ accounts and find out the quality of the content, their base of subscribers, their organic traffic, and comments,” AdHive cofounder Alexandr Kuzmin told me. “There are several categories of influencers in our base — micro-influencers with no more than 10,000 subscribers, a middle category with 10,000 to 50,000 subscribers, and macro-influencers with more than 50,000. Such classifications allow brands to take a ‘soft dip’ into our platform — make the first campaign among micro-influencers to see how it works and warm up the market, and then after that launch a big advertising campaign and create a buzz on the crypto market.”

AdHive categorizes influencers not just by size, but by content type and area of expertise, helping marketers and advertisers choose the right people to partner with. “It should be noted that very few influencers are highly specialized,” Kuzmin said. “Most of them prefer to combine several categories in one channel, as they make reviews on the news, crypto projects, and interviews in order to cover as many projects as possible.”

The platform also ensures that these influencers are not gaming the system in return for engagements. “We choose those who show organic growth without any cheating,” Kuzmin said. “All influencers are selected depending on the customer’s needs by targeting. Most often, advertisers prefer to work with influencers from the U.S., Central Europe and Asia (including Japan, India, South Korea, Hong Kong), and Australia.” In addition to the influencer marketing tool, the platform offers a campaign management system that uses AI to optimize campaign delivery, although it isn’t an AI-only system.

“Our platform is highly automated, and we are proud to offer our clients a service that allows them to create a campaign by pressing just one button,” Kuzmin said. “After receiving a request for a campaign, our manager will contact the advertiser and propose an optimal offer. Our artificial intelligence will be monitoring how the task is being completed, which allows us to significantly speed up and automate the process of collecting analytics for the output of commercials so that a full-scale advertising campaign could be launched in one day.”

The crypto space is, famously, awash with money right now. While that’s good news for those launching projects, it has also meant that service providers have raised their prices, which puts pressure on the entire ecosystem. So how much does AdHive’s platform cost? “At the moment, we are offering an individual approach to each client based on their needs, KPIs, and marketing strategy,” Kuzmin said. “However, an average advertising campaign with approximate coverage of more than 80,000 views would cost about $10,000. This price includes our commission. We accept BTC, ETH, and our own ADH tokens as a means of payment. Since we have been actively working with a global network of influencers, we can offer much more favorable prices for brands than if they contact the influencer directly.”

AdHive is aware of the challenges blockchain marketers face right now and hopes its offering will appeal to startups despite current conditions. “It is worth noting that the drop in average caps has also affected companies’ marketing policies,” Kuzmin said. “ICO marketers nowadays are trying to optimize their costs and prefer to use the most efficient channels with maximum output in the short term. We’ve created our service as the answer for such companies, since traditional marketing tools have significantly sagged in efficiency due to market volatility and government restrictions, and crypto projects need non-standard methods.”

So what’s next for AdHive?

“AdHive is not just about crypto and ICO project promotion,” Kuzmin said. “In essence, our main audience is traditional brands. We are hard at work as we prepare to release a massive protocol concept in late July. Among the additions are a mobile app and some new AI products, such as an AI Mobile SDK, Cloud Knowledge Base, and others.”

Article Produced By
Stewart Rogers
Director, Marketing Technology

I’ve been involved in sales, marketing and running software companies since computers had black screens with the ‘wide choice’ of green or orange text. Those were the days… When I’m not speaking, writing or reading about marketing technology, sales force automation, web tools and awesome processes you’ll find me helping to make VB Insight the best analysis and reports resource on the planet – one where every expert can finally have their words read and their voices heard. If you’re a subject-matter champion in any area of sales or marketing technology, you should probably let me know.

I live in the UK, follow football (that’s soccer, not ‘throwball’), Formula 1, ice hockey, and play video games. I respect and subscribe to the VentureBeat statement of ethics. I drink coffee, yerba mate, white tea and water as if I’m getting paid to do so (I’m not). In my spare time, I run a few multi-author blogs that give all the revenue they generate to worthy causes. When they produce a wireless Internet connection that plugs directly into the medulla oblongata, I’ll be first in line.

https://venturebeat.com/2018/07/16/adhive-launches-ai-powered-platform-to-promote-icos/

 

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

Everything You Need to Know About Airdrops

Everything You Need to Know About Airdrops

Defining the Difference Between Faucets and Airdrops

You may or may not have heard of these before, but there are things called faucets and airdrops. These are legitimate ways to get free coins, but there are definitely some things you need to know about each. In terms of faucets, services set up to give you tiny amounts of free coins. You can hit up these services periodically, subject to minimum withdrawal limits, because some coins have high fees. This doesn’t make sense if you’re trying to withdraw a super-tiny amount; the fees will eat up all of it.

One can access faucets at certain sites or mobile apps, as well. The reasons people set them up include:

  • to promote a particular coin to get you interested in it
  • to drive traffic to a site
  • to get ad revenue from you, or other similar benefits

On the other hand, airdrops are a process in which you can receive free coins (most of the time) from a specific project or team that runs a different coin. They take a snapshot of the blockchain — for example, a snapshot of the Ethereum blockchain at a certain time — and then everyone who has Ethereum will get a certain amount of coins deposited automatically into their ERC20 wallet.

What Is an Airdrop?

It’s well known that people are getting free crypto airdrops in order to trade them and make money. If we think about the concept of an airdrop in the non-crypto context, we can easily understand how it works in the crypto context. In the non-crypto context, airdrops are used to deliver food and supplies in boxes to people you cannot reach in other ways. They are normally dropped from airplanes with attached parachutes so they reach people on the ground safely.

In the crypto context, airdrops are used to distribute crypto assets, such as coins and tokens, as widely as possible to encourage people to start using them. These assets can become valuable, causing many people to become interested in receiving airdrops and trading them. This may sound like people are getting free valuable coins, but that’s not a correct statement — not all of them are valuable. You may think the easiest thing to do is to get all the airdrops and hope that some of them become valuable. If this thought comes to mind, you may wish to consider an old marketing proverb. If you are not paying for a product, then you are the product.

What does this mean? It normally means that you end up giving your contact details (or more) to the people providing the airdrops. That may be something you are happy with; however, not all projects are legitimate. This means that you should protect yourself. You can do this by using different email addresses and passwords for any crypto-related accounts you set up. You should also use two-factor authentication on accounts, if possible. The last bit of security advice is you should never share your private key. If anybody ever asks you for this, do not trust them.

How to Participate in Airdrops?

To participate in the airdrops, you need a couple of different things.

  1. An Ethereum-based wallet. Why Ethereum? Because most ICOs usually run ERC20 Ethereum tokens.
  2. An active balance on MyEtherWallet.
  3. Twitter, Facebook, and Telegram accounts so you can share ICO marketing info.

Who Can Take Part in an Airdrop?

Whoever distributes an airdrop gets to decide who can take part in the airdrop. Earlier approaches were based upon whether or not a person already owned some crypto assets, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and so on. As these assets have become more expensive and interest in crypto assets has increased, people have been using a number of alternative methods. One method involves requesting contact details such as email addresses, which point to BitcoinTalk, profile details, Twitter handles, Telegram, usernames, etc.

This forum (BitcoinTalk) gives people the opportunity to:

  • ask the founders questions about the project
  • determine whether the project is legitimate in order to maximize the number of airdrops in which you can participate

The most common method now is to reward airdrop applicants for retweeting certain tweets with irrelevant hashtags, or making posts on Facebook. This means that airdrop participants join the airdrop by performing promotional work. This also blurs the boundary between airdrops and bounties, which ranges from social media activity to language translations. Once these wallets are downloaded, people who want the airdrop are requested to submit their wallet addresses as evidence that they have downloaded the wallet. This enables the airdrop to be made. This method is often used by proof-of-stake coins to build stronger networks.

How Does an Airdrop Reach People?

An airdrop reaches an individual applying for the airdrop when it is sent to the individual’s address. It is possible for an individual to have many addresses. If you’ve downloaded a machine wallet, then the airdrop can be sent there. Depending on the support that the crypto asset has, you may be able to send your crypto assets to a mobile wallet, which will function like an app on your mobile phone. You may also be able to store the crypto asset on a hardware wallet, such as Treasurer or Ledger. There are a number of third-party web wallets available that can be used for receiving crypto assets. Many airdrops are for crypto assets built on the Ethereum platform, and these often require people to use MyEtherWallet or other similar wallets. If an airdrop application form asks you to share in wallet address, you should first set up a MyEtherWallet or other similar service in order to receive your airdrop.

Some airdrops use a proprietary approach, and have their own web wallets. Normally, such projects intend to build dedicated wallets, which can be accessed offline, too. Before that happens, they simply store them on their website so you can see the balance as you log into your account. Another place you may receive an airdrop is on an exchange where people trade crypto assets. This often happens when an airdrop is based upon existing crypto asset holdings, such as how much Bitcoin or Ethereum one owns. Airdropping new crypto assets directly to exchange addresses is relatively rare.

What Should You Do Once You Get Crypto-Assets?

Once you receive crypto assets, you may end up wondering what to do with them. Should you hold onto them for the long term, or should you sell them immediately? To decide, do your own research to gain an understanding of the long-term potential. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. The Crypto Freebies channel is not qualified to give investment advice, and therefore, you may want to consider getting professional advice.

If you do decide to sell them, you will need to be registered on the exchange where your crypto assets are traded, unless you decide to sell directly to someone, which can be risky if they are not known to you. There are a number of exchanges where crypto assets can be found. These exchanges are some of the smaller ones, where new crypto assets seek to list first before moving on to larger exchanges, such as Bittrex.

Conclusion

A coin airdrop is a double-win situation. On the one hand, you get free crypto tokens that could be worth something in the future. On the other hand, blockchain projects raise awareness for their crypto-projects during their ico airdrop.
In this way, companies are able to create a community around their coin. Indeed, if you give someone a coin, he/she will likely get involved, and will get some money out of it. This is a means of creating a customer database at a low price.

Article Produced By
Applicature
A Blockchain development agency focusing on production ready solutions, smart contracts Technologies, Cryptocurrencies and Technical ICO support.

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

Airdrops In Cryptocurrencies: Everything A Beginner Needs To Know

Airdrops In Cryptocurrencies: Everything A Beginner Needs To Know

There are several ways of making money from cryptocurrencies

but not all are secure and legit ways. However, one genuine way of earning through cryptocurrencies is AIRDROPS. At CoinSutra, our endeavor is always to find out such safe ways for our audience, which we have done a number of times. We have also helped the community in claiming such Airdrops on more occasions than one. Some of you reading this concept of ‘Airdrops’ for the first time might ask what Airdrop is. And this is exactly our agenda today – to discuss everything about Airdrops. So in this analysis, we are broadly going to touch upon the following points:

  • What Is A Crypto Airdrop?
  • Why Free Crypto Airdrops?
  • How To Stay Updated About Such Crypto Airdrops?
  • How To Get Your Free Airdropped Crypto?
  • Conclusion: Stay Updated & Stay Safe While Airdrops

What Is Airdrop in Crypto World?

An airdrop for a cryptocurrency is a procedure

of distributing new tokens/coins by awarding them in a certain proportion to existing holders of a particular blockchain currency, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum etc. In simple terms, if you HODL one type of coin, you are automatically eligible to claim other coins/tokens just because you were holding the parent coins/tokens on which airdrop is being done.

That is why this method of coin/token distribution is called airdrops signifying ‘free droppings’. Sometimes, there are different reasons and motivations for these airdrops such as forks, marketing, decentralization & distribution etc. There are other reasons too of which we will talk about later in the article.

Why Do Free Crypto Airdrops Occur?

There are several motivations for carrying out cryptocurrency airdrops, right from creating the hype and buzz to actually distributing the whole supply of coins/tokens. Some of the reasons for carrying out crypto airdrops are:

  • Even Distribution Of Total Token Supply

One proper reason for airdrops is to evenly distribute the total token/coin supply so that there is less centralization in terms of bagHODLer holding a large sum with themselves. Omise gave away five percent of their OmiseGO cryptocurrency to holders of Ethereum in September 2017. In this case, OmiseGO took the advantage of already distributed Ethereum economy to distribute their tokens too.

  • Rewarding Faithful Early Investors

Many cryptocurrencies want to reward its early supporters and investors who first bought their ICOs or tokens. What better way to reward them than by offering them some more new tokens – for free.

This also motivates early investors to hold their parent tokens for longer durations and overall I feel it is a good way of rewarding.

Just like this:

  • Awareness About The New Crypto

Many times, just for spreading awareness, the airdrops are carried out for the HODLers of popular cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Walton etc.

  • Marketing & Hype

This is the most common trend nowadays. Airdropping coins/tokens for the purpose of marketing and collecting leads for further business opportunity expansion.

You will also find projects running schemes such as:

  1. (TEU) is airdropping 125.000 USD in TEU tokens to first 15,000 airdrop participants!
  2. Get up to 60 REPU tokens free just by joining Telegram!
  3. #ApolloDAE referral airdrop for Telegram users!
  4. 50 SYN tokens free when you sign up!

So this a kind of airdrop cum bounties for doing minor tasks like signups, referrals or joining Telegram and following on Twitter etc.

  • Hard Forks

Another popular way is to fork popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero and create a new coin, to be distributed to existing holders of these parent coins. CoinSutra has supported few airdrops that happened in the past through such forks, some of which were:

  1. Bitcoin Cash
  2. Bitcoin Gold
  3. Bitcoin Diamond
  4. Litecoin Cash

Now the million dollar question – How to know about such airdrops? Good question, considering it is one of the easiest ways to make money.

How To Stay Updated On Such Crypto Airdrops?

There are several ways to be updated, one of the most effective of which is to join an active crypto community that works in this area. CoinSutra is one such crypto-community. We have already, in the above-mentioned links, explained how we help our community members to make full use of such opportunities. There are some more services and websites through which you can get regular updates about airdrops. However, understand the fact that not all airdrops are worth participating in and can be sometimes fraudulent too. Nevertheless, here are few of those services:

  • Crypto Airdrops
  • AirdropAlert.com

You can also find airdrop announcements on Twitter page and Bitcoin forum page of a particular project that you might be following.

How To Get Your Free Airdropped Crypto?

Claiming your airdropped free crypto coin/tokens can differ from project to project.

For example…

For the airdrop forked coins, you either need to be in control of your private keys or should know how to sign your public address with your private keys. That is we always suggest you to always store your cryptocurrencies in the following types of wallets where you are in control of your private keys:

  • Ledger Nano S (Hardware Wallet)
  • Trezor (Hardware Wallet)
  • Exodus (Desktop Wallet)
  • MyEtherWallet  (Web Wallet) etc..

Sometimes you just need to do the following things to get/claim your airdropped tokens/coins:

  • Sign-up
  • Retweet
  • Refer a friend
  • Join Telegram
  • Or complete other social media tasks

Conclusion: Stay Updated & Stay Safe

With the popularity index of cryptocurrencies rising every day, the scams surrounding it are growing too. That is why if you find scams around cryptocurrency airdrops, don’t get surprised or fall for it. The only workaround to do away with them is educating yourself on the subject of airdrops, or as a matter of fact, on cryptocurrencies.

But I will tell you how scams around airdrops happen.

A scammy project with airdrop plans will ask you for your private keys to be entered at places and sometimes even fool you so that you enter your seed words in a malicious software. You will usually see such types of tactics in hacked slack channels, Telegram channels or tweaked Twitter accounts that will try to imposter the original account in some way.

Here is an example of a scammy twitter account and scammy airdrop tweet:

Are you ready for Guardian Masternodes? If not, we're running a limited airdrop of $WTC tokens to get you there.In the interest of your safety, I would suggest you do the due-diligence by going an extra mile while examining such airdrops.

Article Produced By

Sudhir Khatwani
Hey there! I am Sudhir Khatwani, an IT bank professional turned into a cryptocurrency and blockchain proponent from Pune, India. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain will change human life in inconceivable ways and I am here to empower people to understand this new ecosystem so that they can use it for their benefit. You will find me reading about cryptonomics and eating if I am not doing anything else.
 
https://coinsutra.com/what-is-airdrop/
 

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

American Express Files Patent for Blockchain-Powered Proof-of-Payment System

American Express Files Patent for Blockchain-Powered Proof-of-Payment System

Financial services giant American Express (Amex)

has filed a patent for a blockchain-based proof-of-payment system, according to filing published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Thursday, July 12. The patent’s applicant is listed as American Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc., Amex’s travel arm. The proposed system would automate proof-of-payments by encrypting payment payload data with a public key on an initial node of the blockchain –– the data in question comprising the merchant’s identifying information and the transaction amount.

According to the patent filing, the encrypted data could then securely be propagated to a second blockchain node. In one proposed embodiment of the system, the data could then be fetched by a connected smart device that would decrypt the payment payload data and match it with a second identifier, the customer. In this way, the blockchain-secured system could enable smart devices to detect proof-of-payments and initiate actions

to service paying customers:

“A payment processing entity (e.g., a credit card network, bank, debit, bitcoin, rewards points, or ACH) provides evidence of a payment in a tamper-proof manner by writing the proof of payment to a blockchain. A smart device connected to the blockchain may detect the proof of payment, and can extract relevant information. The information may be encrypted on the blockchain such that access is restricted to entities having the correct cryptographic keys. “

The patent then outlines various use cases for such a secured system, suggesting hotel reservations, real estate rental, and ticketless access to events and venues. All of the proposed use cases would potentially facilitated by customers’ uniquely identified smart devices that could retrieve and decrypt proof-of-payments stored on the blockchain. Amex has already indicated its interest in blockchain technology by becoming a member of the Hyperledger Blockchain consortium, a collaborative effort to define and develop standard blockchain technology for use across industries.

In May, Cointelegraph reported on Amex’s announcement that it would be integrating Hyperledger into its Membership Rewards program. The initiative, in partnership with online merchant Boxed, would enable merchants to design customized offers for Amex cardholders in order to incentivize customer engagement. Back in October 2017, American Express Travel Related Services Co., Inc., filed an earlier patent for a personalized rewards system that would also harness blockchain technology to incentivize its customers.

Article Produced By
Marie Huillet

Marie Huillet is an independent filmmaker, with a background in journalism and publishing. Nomadic by nature, she’s lived in five different countries this decade. She’s fascinated by Blockchain technologies’ potential to reshape all aspects of our lives.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/american-express-files-patent-for-blockchain-powered-proof-of-payment-system

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

Korean Lawmakers Hasten to Regulate Cryptocurrency, Legalize ICOs

Korean Lawmakers Hasten to Regulate Cryptocurrency, Legalize ICOs

Lawmakers in South Korea, one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency trading markets,
are set to submit draft bills to legislate regulations for burgeoning sector.According to a report by the Korea Times, a number of lawmakers across different political spectrums are seeking to fast-track cryptocurrency regulations that could plausibly lead to lifting the current ICO ban in the country. The drafts will be submitted during ‘an extraordinary session of the National Assembly from July 13 to 16’ to address the legal status of cryptocurrency and regulatory guidelines for crypto exchanges, Notably, the report suggests that the submitted regulatory drafts are expected to play the role of a ‘catalyst’ in triggering discussions toward regulation and the subsequent the legislative process of turning bills into law.

Representative Park Yong-jin, a lawmaker and member of the country’s ruling Democratic Party, is perhaps the most prominent politician pushing for regulations, alongside Rep. Chung Tae-ok of the primary opposition Liberty Party Korea (LPK) and Rep. Choung Byoung-gug of the Bareun Mirae Party, a minor opposition camp.

As reported previously by CCN in July 2017, Park proposed at least three new bills to build a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies despite previously comparing last year’s surging prices to Europe’s tulip mania in the 17th century. Rep. Hong Eui-rak, also of the political camp in power, is notably pushing for the legalization of ICOs after authorities enforced a ban on the radical new form of fundraising in September last year.

Further, Rep. Song Hee-kyung of the opposition LPK party is set to host a policy debate on the security framework at domestic cryptocurrency exchanges on July 19, in a year of noteworthy major security breaches and thefts at Korean exchanges. Last month, domestic exchange Coinrail was the victim of a hack with a reported 40 billion won ($37 million) in cryptocurrency stolen. A little over a week later, Seoul-based Bithumb – the country’s biggest crypto exchange – suspended Unlinktransactions after losing $30 million in cryptocurrency following another hack.

The proposed draft regulations coincide with a previously-set deadline by G20 nations that aims to enact a uniform regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency sector among member nations.

Article Produced By
CNN

https://www.ccn.com/korean-lawmakers-hasten-to-regulate-cryptocurrency-legalize-icos/

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

Already More ICOs in 2018 Than All of 2017: $6.3B

Already More ICOs in 2018 Than All of 2017: $6.3B

The amount of money raised in initial coin offerings (ICOs)

in the first quarter of 2018 has blown past the amount raised throughout all of 2017, according to data from Coindesk. In the first three months of the year, a total of $6.3 billion raised from digital coin offerings represented 118% more than that of last year's total, suggesting that despite increased scrutiny on the cryptocurrency space, ICOs aren't going anywhere soon.

ICOs have been a major source of controversy in the cryptocurrency space as regulators struggle to combat illegitimate business and protect investors against buying into the frenzy without proper consideration. Since just about anyone can create digital currency: Over 15,000 cryptocurrencies have been launched. Often, the means by which crypto-related startups raise money is by selling virtual coins as an alternative to raising stock. Regulators have tried to crack down on the surge in fraudulent ICOs, which prompt many to buy in due to false advertising and other schemes. Many investors have also fallen victim to "FOMO," or fear of missing out, getting into crypto-investing simply because others have bought in, and not in response to the actual details of the startups that they are funding. 

Digital Token Projects Continue to Gain Popularity 

Of course, not all ICOs are schemes, and many are legitimate. On Wednesday, Basis (formerly Basecoin), landed $133 million in an ICO, with participation from high-profile investors such as Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL) GV, Andreessen Horowitz, former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh and billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckermiller. The funding round marked the first time that venture capital firms Bain and Lightspeed had ever bought a digital token.

In 2018, the size and speed of ICO funding rounds have also accelerated, according to the Coindesk report. Q1 saw 59% as many ICOs raise capital as all of 2017. The report noted that without Telegram's record-breaking $1.7 billion token sale, ICOs in the first three months of 2018 would amount to $4.6 billion, or 85% of last year's total. Coindesk notes that given most ICOs in Q1 have garnered less than $100 million, "a number of projects are still eager to sell tokens, despite the regulatory risk." The report pointed to a recent ruling from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which acknowledged some ICOs as securities offerings and required that they be registered with the agency.

Investing in cryptocurrencies and other Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”) is highly risky and speculative, and this article is not a recommendation by Investopedia or the writer to invest in cryptocurrencies or other ICOs. Since each individual's situation is unique, a qualified professional should always be consulted before making any financial decisions. Investopedia makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein. As of the date this article was written, the author owns cryptocurrency.

Article Produced By
Shoshanna Delventhal

As a digital nomad based out of New York City, Shoshanna enjoys reporting on business and finance, with a focus on consumer products and technology companies. Shoshanna is passionate about enhancing the future of work by harnessing productivity and adopting transparent, flexible work cultures.

After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Economics and International Relations, Shoshanna worked in international business advisory at KPMG. When she’s not writing, you can now find Shoshanna leading yoga, mindfulness and creative workshops around the world. Shoshanna’s enthusiastic about forward-driving projects that advance social entrepreneurship, conscious consumerism and sustainability movements.

https://www.investopedia.com/news/already-more-icos-2018-all-2017-63b/

 

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