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Tron and Tether Partner to Issue USDT on the Tron Network by Q2 2019

Tron and Tether Partner to Issue USDT on the Tron Network by Q2 2019

                                 Tron and Tether Partner to Issue USDT on the Tron Network by Q2 2019

Blockchain protocol Tron (TRX) and Tether,

issuer of stablecoin USDT, have announced a partnership to introduce USDT to the Tron network by the second quarter of 2019. The news was shared with Cointelegraph in an email on March 4. The forthcoming TRC20-based USDT — a term that indicates adherence to a technical token standard supported by the Tron blockchain — will be interoperable with all Tron-based protocols and decentralized applications (DApps), and allow for the transaction and exchange of fiat-pegged coins across the blockchain.

The USDT, which launched in 2014, has traditionally facilitated frictionless fiat on- and off-ramping to the crypto markets, allowing users to store and exchange value without the onus of slow fiat transfer processing times. Tron — which positions itself as a competitor to Ethereum (ETH) by coupling decentralized finance with a wider decentralized internet ecosystem — claims that the addition of USDT will therefore “elevate its existing decentralised applications (DApps) ecosystem, improve overall value storage, and increase Decentralised Exchange (DEX) liquidity.”

The press release continues that USDT on Tron will also purportedly make the blockchain as a whole more amenable to enterprise-level partners and institutional investors. As recently reported, Tron CEO Justin Sun had announced the imminent roll out of a hard fork, which took place on Feb. 28, designed to deliver institution-friendly functionality, alongside features such as multi-signature abilities and account management options. The expansion of the Tron ecosystem took a significant step last year with its acquisition of popular peer-to-peer torrent client BitTorrent. The latter launched its native, Tron-based BitTorrent (BTT) token at the start of 2019, which will power the pair’s plans for an evolving decentralized content distribution platform.

As Cointelegraph has reported, the BTT initial coin offering on the Binance Launchpad platform netted $7.1 million dollars, with the sale of 50 billion tokens in under 15 minutes. Tether, which continues to command the lion’s share of the stablecoin market, is nonetheless seeing increasing competition from a steady stream of new fiat-pegged offerings as of last year. The stablecoin has previously faced controversy, after critics had suggested that the dollar reserves did not match the amount of tokens in circulation. Last December, Bloomberg stated that it believes Tether does have the appropriate amount of fiat reserves. Tether has not released an official audit of its holdings.

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/tron-and-tether-partner-to-issue-usdt-on-the-tron-network-by-q2-2019

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

Coinbase: Former Provider Sold User Data to Third Parties, Prompting Neutrino Acquisition

Coinbase: Former Provider Sold User Data to Third Parties, Prompting Neutrino Acquisition

                                

Christine Sandler, Coinbase’s director of institutional sales,

has defended the crypto exchange’s controversial acquisition of blockchain intelligence firm Neutrino. In an interview with financial news channel Cheddar on March 1, Sandler said that previous client data providers were selling Coinbase user data to outside sources. As reported, major United States crypto exchange and wallet Coinbase first announced the Neutrino acquisition on Feb. 19, saying it would make use of the startup’s advanced blockchain analytics tools, Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer technology.

The move swiftly became controversial as details of the Neutrino’s co-founders’ backgrounds came to light: specifically, their prior involvement with commercial software firm Hacking Team, whose spyware has reportedly been used by a broad canopy of international governments and law enforcement agencies, with authoritarian regimes allegedly among them. In response to the crypto community’s furore over these connections — which spawned the #DeleteCoinbase hashtag — Sandler defended the exchange’s decision, telling Cheddar that it was important to leave their current providers due to their data

selling practices:

"We are aware of the backgrounds of some of the folks that were involved in Neutrino […] It was important for us to migrate away from our current providers. They were selling client data to outside sources and it was compelling for us to get control over that and have proprietary technology that we could leverage to keep the data safe and protect our clients."

Characterizing Neutrino’s technology as “really industry leading and best-in-class,” Sandler said that the acquisition represented a decision to bring these tools in-house — downplaying the importance of the talent and senior employees’ histories. Sandler also gave a mention to Coinbase Pro’s decision to list XRP, whose ambiguous status in the U.S. as a possible security token has hitherto complicated its listing on the California-headquartered exchange. Sandler clarified Cheddar that Coinbase’s acquisition of broker-dealer Keystone in June 2018 enables the platform to list securities,

adding:

“There had been a groundswell of interest in adding the asset to the platform. There was some speculation about whether the asset would be classified as a security or not — we’re not securities lawyers. We felt there were compelling arguments on either side."

As recently reported, Ripple’s head of markets has taken to social media to emphasize that the Coinbase decision to list XRP was an independent one — countering rumors that Ripple had either paid or offered the exchange an incentive to do so.

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/coinbase-former-provider-sold-user-data-to-third-parties-prompting-neutrino-acquisition

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

Binance Offers Token Rewards for Testing New Decentralized Platform

Binance Offers Token Rewards for Testing New Decentralized Platform

                                 

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance

is offering a reward for testing the company’s new decentralized trading platform Binance DEX. The news was announced by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in a tweet on Feb. 28. In the post, Changpeng Zhao, who also goes by CZ, invites users to test the recently launched exchange and thus help start the mainnet faster. Users will subsequently be rewarded with Binance’s native token, Binance Coin (BNB)

. Zhao wrote:

“To test the hell out of @Binance_DEX, we are giving away roughly $100,000 USD equivalent, in REAL $BNB, as reward for our testnet trading competition. Come and join the fun, and help us launch the mainnet faster!”

In a separate blog post, Binance provided a detailed description of the Binance DEX simulated trading competition which will take place

from March 7 to March 21, 2019:

“All users who hold at least 1 real BNB on their Binance account will be eligible to participate in this Binance DEX Simulated Trading Competition. Each Binance.com account is able to register a maximum of 20 Binance Chain addresses and will receive 200 virtual testnet BNB tokens to each address to use as their starting funds before the Binance DEX trading competition begins.”

DEX is an exchange powered by blockchain and peer-to-peer (p2p) distributed system Binance Chain, whose testnet launch was announced on Feb. 20. Binance DEX will reportedly support secure decentralized software and hardware wallets. Binance’s Trust Wallet will also be integrated with Binance DEX, along with the Ledger Nano S, with more compatible wallets to be added at a later date. Over the past 24 hours, BNB coin has gained nearly 11 percent and is trading at around $11.45 at press time, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Yesterday, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken posted a $100,000 reward in either fiat or digital currency for tips that could lead to the discovery of the missing assets of the major Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX. In the statement, Kraken said that all leads would be forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

Article Produced By
Ana Alexandre

Total change in her career took Anastasia into the world of analytics and business information as a researcher and translator in 2010. Some time later she got into FinTech, a dynamically developing segment at the intersection of the financial services and technology. Ana joined Cointelegraph in September 2017.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/binance-offers-token-rewards-for-testing-new-decentralized-platform

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

Binance Research: JPM Coin Unlikely to Directly Compete With Ripple’s XRP, for Now

Binance Research: JPM Coin Unlikely to Directly Compete With Ripple's XRP, for Now

                                

The research arm of top crypto exchange Binance

has published an analysis of JPMorgan Chase’s newly announced stablecoin, arguing that the digital coin brings “minimal direct competition” to Ripple's XRP token in the near term. The study was published on March 1 by Binance Research. As Cointelegraph has reported, JPMorgan Chase announced the forthcoming launch of its new blockchain settlement offering in mid-February: a stablecoin dubbed JPM Coin, to be backed 1:1 by the bank’s USD reserves.

As Binance Research notes, the JPM Coin pilot project will initially focus on settlement and value transfer between financial institutions and is to be issued on the private, permissioned Quorum blockchain network — a fork of the public Ethereum (ETH) blockchain. In terms of inter-bank settlement, JPM Coin is also purportedly for now unlikely to directly compete with Ripple's XRP token — given the latter’s ambition to serve as a multi-bank “mediator currency between both fiat / crypto currencies and any fiduciary product,” as opposed to JPM Coin’s currently closed network solution.

Taking stock of the bank’s vast global client base and $2.6 trillion balance sheet, Binance Research suggests that JPM Coin “could make the institution the largest stablecoin issuer on a blockchain measured by circulating supply and total market cap.” The coin, the study continues, is poised to become a potential “precursor to the third generation of stablecoins,” which will target the world of traditional finance and aim to serve particular purposes and business use cases by means of private blockchain-powered tokens. In the study’s schema, the first generation was spearheaded by stalwart coin Tether (USDT), later followed by a steady stream of “second generation” new stablecoins over the course of 2018. According to the study, while JPM Coin may have significant material impact in improving the cost and time  efficiency of traditional financial services, the study continues, its implications for the public stablecoin market will in the short term

be minimal:

“Large banks and financial institutions […] have a distinct set of advantages in issuing fiat-collateralized stablecoins, but these offerings will not displace liquid, publicly traded stablecoins in the near-term given their closed ecosystems built on private blockchains.”

Moreover, as a proprietary and centralized network, JPM Coin is unlikely to be tapped by competitors in the banking sectors, who may well release their own native crypto tokens in future, the study contends. As reported, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon this week suggested that JPM Coin could eventually find consumer use and evolve beyond internal use cases. Stablecoin innovation continues to gain global traction — with banking titans such as Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group both set to launch their own yen-pegged tokens. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports suggest that Facebook is also developing its own fiat-collateralized crypto, to be integrated into its messaging services.

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/binance-research-jpm-coin-unlikely-to-directly-compete-with-ripples-xrp-for-now

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

Big Four Auditor PwC Trials Blockchain System for Verifying Employee Credentials

Big Four Auditor PwC Trials Blockchain System for Verifying Employee Credentials

                                             

Big Four audit and consultancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

is conducting a trial of its new blockchain-powered platform for ensuring the integrity of employee credentials. The trial, launched in partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), was announced in a PwC press release published on Feb. 28. PwC’s “Smart Credentials” platform, earlier unveiled on Feb. 13, implements blockchain to issue, store and securely share digital certificates for employees’ professional qualifications. For the trial with ICAS, PwC employees, who have qualified as chartered accountants at the Institute within the past two years, are being issued with a blockchain-based certificate from ICAS that becomes part of their unique digital wallet.

PwC contends that blockchain’s decentralized and tamper-proof architecture can significantly mitigate exposure to fraud. The firm argues that this reduces the risks and costs of screening qualifications when on-boarding employees, as well as simplifies the process of certificate issuance for regulators and institutions. It also provides a secure alternative to paper credentials, which are susceptible to loss and can be costly to replace.

For certificate issuers, using the blockchain platform places no requirements on them to store credentials on their in-house systems, lessening the burden on their infrastructure. With certificates stored on owners’ digital wallets, professionals can update them in accordance with personal development and may provide or revoke their visibility to reviewers. For employers, PwC proposes, the system bolsters confidence in the authenticity of employee documents. Smart Credentials is being pitched as a blockchain solution that can provide “verified, trusted and irrefutable [digital] identities” across multiple fields; Steve Davies, global blockchain leader at PwC, has

stated that:

“Blockchain was designed to allow participants to share data without needing intermediaries. No one party has central ownership, so individuals get more control over their personal data. […] You can also see the potential in any case where credentials are earned and continually updated – such as medical professionals, pilots or safety engineers.”

As reported this week, Japanese multinational conglomerate Sony and IT equipment services firm Fujitsu are to trial blockchain for enhancing the integrity of educational course records and students’ grade data. PwC continues to make multiple inroads into the blockchain and crypto sector worldwide, with investments — notably in China-based Internet-of-Things blockchain network VeChain — and an in-house blockchain and crypto accelerator program for over 1,000 PwC employees.

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

Blockchain and Crypto in the Labor Market: Overview of Salaries, Taxes and the Most In-Demand Jobs

Blockchain and Crypto in the Labor Market: Overview of Salaries, Taxes and the Most In-Demand Jobs

                                 

Over the past months, the cryptocurrency market has been demonstrating bearish sentiment,

with crypto prices falling to a yearly lows. This is making some blockchain companies rethink their business models and cut employees. However, the slump didn’t prevent the blockchain industry from experiencing a human resources boom, as evidenced by an active growth of vacancies associated with blockchain and digital assets, according to the latest study by recruiting site Glassdoor.

Increase in demand for blockchain-related jobs

As estimated by LinkedIn analysts, 645 vacancies tagged with the words “blockchain,” “Bitcoin,” or “cryptocurrency” were published on the site in 2016. By 2017, this value has surged to approximately 1,800 and to 4,500 vacancies by mid-May of this year. As of now, LinkedIn’s search system displays 13,816 records related to blockchain and 2,479 records related to cryptocurrency.

These estimates are supported by recent data published by Glassdoor’s recruitment portal. As of August 2018, United States companies had posted 1,775 vacancies related to blockchain technology, which is three times more compared to the previous year. As noted in the Glassdoor report, 79 percent of the vacancies are concentrated in the 15 largest American cities, and the most saturated demand regions show that New York and San Francisco account for 24 percent and 21 percent of the total number of crypto-industry job openings. The current total number of blockchain and cryptocurrency vacancies worldwide has grown to around 3,000 and 900 correspondingly.

Software developers are the highest demanded occupation, with 19 percent of vacancies published by employers seeking employees falling into this category. In addition to programmers and technical specialists in the crypto industry, there is a shortage of product managers, risk analysts and marketing specialists. Traders and investment analysts are not among the most sought-after professionals in the crypto industry. But there are more and more vacancies for specialists in new disciplines that have appeared in the wake of blockchain technology’s popularity — “Decentralized Finance,” “Decentralized Internet,” and “Security Hardware.”

However, if taking into consideration the last three months, a fuller picture looks partially different. According to the extended analytics shared by job-search platform Indeed with Cointelegraph, from October 2017 to October 2018, job-seeker interest for roles related to Bitcoin, blockchain and cryptocurrency declined by 3 percent, while employer interest for roles related to the same terms only rose (25.49 percent), which was different than the interest levels from the year before by both parties. If looking at data from 2016 to 2017, job-seeker interest for roles related to Bitcoin, blockchain and cryptocurrency rose by 481.61 percent, while employer interest for roles related to the same terms rose by 325 percent. The following graph shows both the growth of job-seeker interest in jobs with these keywords and the growth of job postings for jobs with these keywords for that time period.

Today, IBM, ConsenSys and Oracle have the greatest need for qualified personnel. Each of them has more than 200 corresponding vacancies, as Glassdoor reports. They became strong competitors of the industry leaders like crypto exchanges, among which Coinbase and Kraken have the greatest need for qualified personnel. The list of major employers for blockchain professionals has also been joined by larger consulting firms Accenture and KPMG. At the same time, the lack of vacancies related to blockchain from such giants as Facebook, Google and Apple could be noted. The need for crypto industry experts isn’t a uniquely American phenomenon. In August, Cointelegraph reported a 50 percent increase in the number of vacancies associated with blockchain and cryptocurrency in Australia, India, Singapore and Malaysia compared with 2017. At the same time, developers who are proficient in the Python programming language are among the most desirable candidates.

“Half-a-million-dollar” jobs and “insane” packages

The lack of qualified personnel means higher salaries for blockchain specialists. As estimated by Glassdoor, the average base salary for such employees is $84,884 a year. This is 62 percent higher than the average wage in the United States ($52,461 per year). At the same time, the variation in salaries ranges from $36,046 for junior developers to $223,667 a year for qualified software engineers. Blockchain developers with three to five years of experience can earn “half-a-million-dollars” a year, according to Blockchain Developers recruitment agency. At the same time, analysts suggest that newcomers can count on a salary “definitely well over $120,000.”

Company executives also noted the increase in salaries in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. According to David Schwartz, chief cryptographer at Ripple, the hiring packages have "gotten insane" since “ICOs dumped a bunch of money on the industry.” In particular, a couple of Ripple developers received “$1 million signing bonus offers,” Schwartz disclosed. Notably, the current average salary of software engineer at Ripple is $125,000, as estimated by Glassdoor. Given the fact that the same job was paid $85,000 in May 2018, according to Paysa, it doesn’t seem the crypto market prices affect the developers salaries, at least not at Ripple.

Some employers attribute the decline in the quality of products produced by developers to the increase in salaries. According to Alex Ferrara, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, which invests in crypto funds, such an “overeagerness” is “impacting the pace of development. A lot of these projects are way behind on their launch schedules.” The current realities of the blockchain industry has been continuously battered by a declining cryptocurrency market, which is partially responsible for the tightening of staff shortages. As raising funds through ICO became more accessible than crowdfunding, qualified specialists prefer to launch their own projects and begin to assemble their development teams, as was the case with Amber Baldet. The leader of JPMorgan Chase’s blockchain team left the company on April 2 to start her own project. As a result of such “forks” inside companies, the shortage of personnel is becoming increasingly acute.

Who needs salaries in crypto?

The popularity of cryptocurrency as a means of remuneration is also growing, although not as quickly. On Sept. 17, HR startup Chronobank published the results of its survey of 445 crypto enthusiasts from around the world, including the U.S., Australia and Russia. The respondents were asked in which currency they preferred to receive wages. Two-thirds (66 percent) of them stated that they were ready to be paid for work in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. The majority (83 percent) of respondents indicated they were supportive of receiving their bonus payments in digital money. Of the individuals interviewed, 72 percent said that, when choosing their next job, they would prefer an employer who offered the possibility of paying salaries in cryptocurrency.

One-fifth of the respondents indicated that they would exchange cryptocurrency, received as wages, for traditional money. Notably, half of the respondents believe that if they receive a salary in cryptocurrency, they will spend less than they do now. The results of the latest survey conducted by peer-to-peer (p2p) platform Humans.net demonstrated the high level of interest and readiness among U.S. citizens to get paid in cryptocurrencies. Eleven percent of 1,100 freelancers responded that they would like to have their salaries be paid in digital money, and 18 percent expressed their desire to receive a part of their wages in crypto.

Today, wages in cryptocurrency are popular mainly inside the industry. On Aug.18 TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington tweeted that Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao told him that 90 percent of the company's employees preferred to receive a salary in the platform’s native token, Binance Coin (BNB).In December 2017, GMO Internet, a Tokyo-based IT giant, announced its plans to start paying salaries in cryptocurrency. The company intended to pay up to 100,000 yen ($884) of over 4,000 employees monthly salary in Bitcoin. Bitcoin.com also offers its employees the opportunity to get paid in Bitcoin Cash, given the information from job openings located on its website.

However, cryptocurrency wage payment goes beyond the industry. In August, semi-professional football club "Gibraltar United" announced plans to pay its players a salary with a cryptocurrency called Quantocoin. Club owner Pablo Dan believes that the use of cryptocurrency provides greater transparency and, most importantly, simplifies financial relations with foreign footballers playing for the club. Experts believe that the salaries in cryptocurrency will help international companies attract remote foreign specialists.

“Several U.S.-based companies are paying their international workers in Bitcoin, as it can save both the company and the employee money,” Bloomberg Law analysts suggest. According to the statistics published on the company’s website, nearly 200 companies use Bitwage, a service allowing employees and freelancers to receive payments in cryptocurrency. As estimated by Bloomberg Law, about 65 percent of Bitwage clients are U.S. companies, and 95 percent are using it for paying wages to international workers.

The current statistics, located on the Bitwage’s website, shows that over $31 million has been paid to employees by the companies through this service. Among the clients mentioned are Google, Facebook, Uber and Airbnb. For some people, cryptocurrency payments become more than just a new way to carry out the transactions. Workers in such regions like Latin America, which might not have a matured banking system or stable currency, are given the ability to be paid in cryptocurrencies. For example, developers in Venezuela got more business opportunities and revenues with the advent of Bitcoin. However, receiving wages in cryptocurrency may involve tax liability.

Tax liabilities

The main obstacle to the spread of cryptocurrency salaries remains the lack of clearly defined legislation, including tax rules. Today, the regulatory approaches of different countries and their views on the taxation of digital money vary greatly. In the European Union, there are no special rules for regulating activities related to digital money, and the taxation of crypto transactions is regulated by the national legislation of each country. As a result, in France, digital currencies are subject to capital gains taxes, with fees of 14-45 percent. Germany doesn’t charge any taxes as long as cryptocurrency is used as a means of payment. Bitcoin has no established legal status in the U.K,, but is commonly treated as a foreign currency for most purposes, including value-added and goods-and-service taxes.

Asian countries offer a different approach to taxation of crypto-related activity. In Singapore, if digital currencies are part of the taxpayer's investment portfolio, then the profits from selling them are not taxed, since they are considered capital gains. Notably, Bitcoin is recognized not as money but as a service, and therefore a tax on goods and services (local analogue to VAT) is applied to it. In China, cryptocurrency transactions are subject to income tax and capital gains tax, and revenues are subject to taxation. Japanese individuals are charged from 15 to 55 percent for any activity related to Bitcoin. In Australia, cryptocurrency transactions are subject to income tax. In Canada, they are subject to income and capital gains tax, with up to 50 percent of the revenue charged. In the U.S., cryptocurrency owners pay taxes on digital money as they would on property.

Blockchain in recruitment

As blockchain technology and cryptocurrency give birth to new jobs, business models reliant on third-party involvement may become increasingly outdated. The bottom line is that smart contracts — decentralized, digitized commercial agreements — control the fulfillment of obligations by all parties and manage all essential financial flows. As a result, the third-party services of various kinds of intermediaries may no longer be required. Meanwhile, mediation services constitute a large segment of the modern economy. After all, in traditional contracts used by banks, brokers, authorities, realtors and others, it is the intermediary that describes the terms of the transaction, draws up the document template, monitors the execution of an agreement, and appropriates a significant part of the payment.

Smart contracts automatically coordinate and ensure the interests of all parties, almost instantly and free-of-charge. Moreover, the inability to change information in the blockchain provides the highest level of security to all participants in the transaction, eliminating the possibility of data manipulation and deception. Basically, one smart contract can replace a room full of corporate lawyers, realtors, recruiters, risk managers and other professionals whose work essentially boils down to the formal assessment of documents.

In addition to regulating labor relations inside the company, blockchain technology can become a magic pill for the freelancing industry. During the past couple of years, the scale of remote work around the world has increased significantly, and the sector is expected to continue to expand. Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich calculated that in a couple of years, 40 percent of the U.S. workforce will be freelancers. However, this could lead to a number of issues since freelancers are not considered to be full-time employees, which means that they remain outside the scope of health insurance, pensions and other social benefits. Moreover, they are forced to use the services of aggregator sites, which primarily focus on the interests of the customer, and not the freelancers themselves. In addition, such platforms like Upwork charge up to 20 percent for a bill, and payments for the work performed are often delayed.

Some projects use the advantages of blockchain technology to solve the problems that currently plague the freelance economy. Some provide freelancers with service where blockchain is leveraged to ensure paid vacation and sick pay when needed. Other solutions offer a blockchain-based system for resolving disputes between customers and freelancers. Some platforms are deploying blockchain-powered Human Resource Bank to allow p2p matching of potential employers with contractors on the basis of verifiability of all user data, and excluding the possibility of falsification. The use of blockchain technologies in social networks and internet sites for freelancers demonstrates the high demand of the industry for new solutions using advanced technologies and cryptocurrencies. The exclusion of intermediaries, direct communication, reputation systems is what the blockchain brings to the labor industry.

What's next

The pace of development and the integration of blockchain and cryptocurrency in everyday life will likely depend on the position and attitude of national governments. Countries with a friendly position on cryptocurrency are already leaders in the use of blockchain technology. Florida residents pay for property taxes, driver's licenses, ID cards and car numbers in cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash — using the BitPay payment system. The corresponding decree has been approved by the State Department of Taxes.

Meanwhile, in 2017, China banned cryptocurrency trading, ICOs and cryptocurrency exchanges, and the result was a tenfold decrease in the circulation of cryptocurrencies. According to the country's central bank, the yuan's share in the Bitcoin market fell from 90 percent to 1 percent, and 88 crypto exchanges and 85 blockchain startups that had been operating in China since autumn 2017 left the country. In such conditions, the numbers of those who want to receive a salary in Bitcoin may also gradually drop.

Another factor, which may impact the adoption of cryptocurrency in the labor market, is the price of digital currency. As of now, most cryptocurrencies are volatile, and that dramatically cools the enthusiasm of workers regarding the payments of wages in digital currency. As the sector continues to develop, mature and adhere to government-mandated regulations, the number of workers choosing to receive their wages in Bitcoin, Ether and other cryptocurrencies may become more and more common. Raj Mukherjee, senior vice president of products at Indeed,

told Cointelegraph:

“While over the last few years, Indeed saw a steady rise in job-seeker interest for roles related to cryptocurrency, our data shows that job searches for these roles really picked up around the time when the cost of Bitcoin was at its highest. Since then, job-seeker interest has gone down, but still remains strong.”

On the other hand, the demand for specialists capable of solving specific tasks will grow. Stephane Kasriel,

CEO of Upwork said:

“In just a few years, more than 30 percent of the workforce’s essential skills will be new. We’re seeing that shift take place on Upwork, where new and emerging skills like blockchain surface on a monthly basis."

Large corporations like IBM and Microsoft have been willing to invest for the long term in blockchain by expanding hiring over the last year. The trend of mid-2018 will likely continue moving to smaller companies, as experts predict. Though the overall number of applications posted by job-seekers has declined by 3 percent since last year, the continuous fall in cryptocurrencies’ prices hasn’t affected the interest that companies seeking blockchain specialists have demonstrated.

Article Produced By
Julia Magas

Julia is good at analysing cryptocurrency and blockchain market, as well as finding the deep and most demanding information, even when it's practically impossible. Julia writes for a number of digital information resources, raging from music to technology and game reviews. Practices some trading for experimental and analytical purposes.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-and-crypto-in-the-labor-market-overview-of-salaries-taxes-and-the-most-in-demand-jobs

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

Mercedes-Benz to Use Blockchain Tech for Sustainable Transaction Book, Supply Chains

Mercedes-Benz to Use Blockchain Tech for Sustainable Transaction Book, Supply Chains

                                

German automobile brand Mercedes-Benz Car has developed a platform

based on blockchain technology to increase transparency and sustainability in complex supply chains, according to press release published on Feb. 25. Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG, a German multinational automotive corporation, has partnered with United States-based software company Icertis for cooperating in the development of blockchain tech for supply chain use.

Mercedes-Benz has announced that that they have jointly developed and programmed a prototype with Icertis based on blockchain technology that allows for the storage of documentations and contracts in complex supply chains. The project allows for the creation of a transparent and sustainable mapping of sorted documents across the entire supply chain, the press release notes. The parties have now entered the testing phase of the pilot project. Underlining the complexity of the modern supply chains, Wilko Stark, a member of the divisional board of Management Mercedes-Benz, states that blockchain tech could affect “nearly the entire value chain,”

adding:

"Blockchain technology has the potential to fundamentally revolutionize our procurement processes […] With our Blockchain-prototype, we are in the first step testing one of diverse possible applications with the aim of increasing transparency beyond our direct suppliers."

As Cointelegraph wrote on Sep. 26, Porsche AG, another major German automobile manufacturer, announced their plans to increase investments in blockchain-related startups in order to “gain access to trends, new technologies and business models.” Earlier this month, one of largest general trading company in Japan, Itochu Corporation, officially announced the start of a proof-of-concept aimed at developing a blockchain-backed traceability system that would allow buyers and sellers to record transaction details about supply chains through a smartphone app, as Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 1.

Article Produced By
Max Yakubowski

Max Yakubowski has a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Anthropology, with a focus in innovative technology and its cultural and social influence. He joins Cointelegraph after working as a freelance copywriter and blogger.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/mercedes-benz-to-use-blockchain-tech-for-sustainable-transaction-book-supply-chains

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

Blockchain Post-Trade Platform Vakt Partners With Majority of North Sea Oil Market

Blockchain Post-Trade Platform Vakt Partners With Majority of North Sea Oil Market

                                

Vakt, a blockchain-based post-trade platform

for oil, has signed up four new clients, according to a statement published on the platform’s website on Feb. 25. As per Etienne Amic, Vakt’s recently appointed CEO, the company has partnered with four new clients prior to its official launch at International Petroleum Week, which starts in London today, Feb. 26. The new users of the platform join major industry players that initially backed Vakt, including BP, Shell and Total, along with traders Gunvor and Mercuria, the press release notes. Other Vakt investors reportedly include industry giants Chevron, Equinor and Reliance Industries. The new contracts mean that Vakt will be used in about two-thirds of all oil deals in the North Sea region. According to Amic, the significant level of adoption in the energy sector could motivate others to

examine blockchain solutions:

“We felt that we needed about 60 to 70 per cent of a market to reach ignition point [that would] incentivise other people to join.”

According to the announcement, the platform is planning to expand its blockchain services to barges of oil products in northern Europe and United States crude pipelines. Vakt, whose main goal is to improve the routine of commodity trading and eliminate unnecessary paperwork and contracts, was launched back in November 2018, boasting major oil firms and banks as partners. Earlier this month, Amic — formerly a JPMorgan Chase executive — was appointed as Vakt’s new CEO. As Cointelegraph reported, he will be responsible for commodities trading. A similar platform was launched last year in Switzerland by a group of major global banks, trading firms and a leading energy company. The venture, dubbed Komgo SA, oversees a blockchain-based platform for commodity trading financing.

Article Produced By
Ana Berman

https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-post-trade-platform-vakt-partners-with-majority-of-north-sea-oil-market

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

Cowboys on the Block: Inside Wyoming’s Race for Crypto Prominence

Cowboys on the Block: Inside Wyoming’s Race for Crypto Prominence

                               

In the first month of 2019, the state of Wyoming

has performed yet another series of power moves showcasing its continued commitment to becoming America’s new crypto hub, even despite recent changes in political leadership. The incoming governor, Mark Gordon, made room for some blockchain talk in his inauguration speech, celebrating the state’s innovative approach to regulation and touting a handful of homegrown startups. Over the next couple of weeks, Wyoming’s legislature erupted with a series of groundbreaking crypto-related bills that is only comparable to a similar wave in March of last year.

America’s least populous state, whose economy has been always skewed toward mining and agriculture, looks determined as ever to deliver on the promise to become the nation’s “crypto valley.” Consonant with this jaunty tune, blockchain startups have indeed started pouring into the area. Perhaps Wyoming’s biggest signing this year so far is the relocation of Iohk, the company behind the Cardano blockchain.

The sweeping changes that the Cowboy State’s lawmakers have recently passed or introduced as bills include defining three categories of digital assets and treating them as property; granting assets designated as virtual currencies the same legal status as money; authorizing banks to hold digital assets in custody; allowing corporations to issue certificate tokens that represent shares; and creating a regulatory fintech sandbox aimed at further diminishing any regulatory hurdles to industry startups. These developments look more radical than many of the other states’ recent blockchain-savvy moves, as they often explicitly challenge a variety of disparate federal approaches to crypto regulation.

Celebrating the news of another revolutionary piece of crypto legislation from Wyoming, one could wonder: Is this for real? Are they serious about this? What is it they are really shooting for? Putting Wyoming’s newfound crypto drive in a broader context could shed some light on how and why the state of ranchers and miners decided to boldly reach out to the crypto industry.

Courting the giants

It is not unprecedented for a small state far removed from traditional technology and financial hubs to be courting a burgeoning new industry amid regulatory uncertainty — something that often happens after the initial period of explosive growth. Once a state is willing to tweak its laws to provide a greenhouse level of care and protection to a particular class of enterprises, moving from the comfort of coastal urban areas into some windy plains doesn’t seem like

that much trouble any more.

An unlikely romance between Citibank and South Dakota provides a textbook example. In the early 1980s, when the initial gold rush of early credit card lending business began stalling under the weight of regulations — such as strict interest rate caps — policymakers in the Midwestern state saw their chance. Taking advantage of a Supreme Court ruling that allowed banks to charge the highest interest rate allowed in their home state, South Dakota introduced a batch of lax banking laws and invited banks to feel themselves at home. In 1981, Citibank was the first to respond to the call, bringing thousands of new jobs into the area. The city of Sioux Falls now has about 20,000 financial sector jobs, while South Dakota holds more bank assets than any other state.

Another place in the United States that definitely knows how to attract out-of-state enterprises is Delaware. Its hospitality extends beyond just tech businesses, or any specific kinds of businesses, for that matter — the state has long been known as a tax haven and is now home to almost a half of all U.S. public corporations. More recently, it has seen a surge in limited liability corporations (LLC) registration, thanks to relative ease of incorporation and a small flat LLC tax. Delaware also has a far-reaching statewide blockchain initiative, which apparently became the inspiration for one of the fresh Wyoming bills. Against the background of the already highly welcoming corporate climate, however, Delaware’s set of blockchain-friendly policies inevitably looks less salient than the Cowboy State’s legislative onslaught.

Underlying interests

So, how exactly does the influx of digital-money businesses promise to benefit Wyoming? Perhaps the simplest hunch is that the state is looking to capitalize on registration and incorporation fees. Delaware’s example is enticing: Once you have a steady stream of newcomers from all over the place, you can enter a virtuous circle by keeping the fees low and attracting even more enterprises. State Rep. Tyler Lindholm, who has been behind most of Wyoming’s key blockchain legislation, openly admitted to looking at the Northeastern state as a benchmark, and noted that his state was making about $30 million in fees, against Delaware’s $1.2 billion.

If there is one thing that is potentially more lucrative than attracting a whole new industry to your jurisdiction, it is harboring a new industry that barely exists elsewhere. This is basically what the digital asset custody bill does. By authorizing banks to administer digital assets under the new regulatory framework, Wyoming sets out to reach an ambitious goal of enabling them to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) regulations for “qualified custodians.” This is nothing less than a bid to establish a regulatory environment that would allow for the entirely new class of services to emerge within the state: digital asset custody.

It is worth noting that Wyoming’s attraction to blockchain technology is not a standalone phenomenon, but rather a part of a larger effort to diversify the economy. The official commitment to expanding the state’s technology sector is at least seven years old, while theEconomically Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming (ENDOW) program was established in 2017. It was the ENDOW executive council that included recommendations for legislative action on several technological initiatives last year, including a series of blockchain-related bills.

One more reason to double down on blockchain liberalization has been the flight of money transmitters from the state over the last few years — and the need to get them back.  Contrary to the proclaimed tech-friendly spirit, the Wyoming Money Transmitters Act, which was passed in 2011 and came into full effect in 2014, imposed cumbersome licensing requirements on crypto exchanges. This forced Coinbase and a handful of others to halt their operations in the state by 2015. The series of laws enacted last March included provisions that crypto exchanges be exempted from the money transmission laws. A few months later, Coinbase returned to Wyoming.

Wyoming Blockchain Coalition

If some important legislative developments have taken place somewhere in the U.S., probably someone has lobbied for it. Lurking behind all the news reports of Wyoming’s blockchain regulation advancements is the group called the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, as well as the names of several of its prominent members. Among them, Caitlin Long is the undisputed headliner.

A Wyoming native with a passion for “honest ledgers,” Long spent more than two decades working for the likes of Morgan Stanley before heading the blockchain startup Symbiont. Having realized that she couldn’t legally donate to the University of Wyoming in crypto, Long got the idea that the state law could use some improvement. That’s how the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition came about. Consisting initially of Long and a few of her friends, the group eventually drew in many of the state’s forward-thinking notables. Their names can now be found among those who sponsored the groundbreaking bills.

Not only are some state politicians members of the coalition, they are also personally invested in local blockchain enterprises. Sen. Ogden Driskill became involved last year with BeefChain — a Wyoming-based startup that is building an immutable ledger designed to track free-range cattle. Another legislator who often makes headlines in crypto media, Rep. Tyler Lindholm, acts as the chief of ranching operations for the same company.

It appears that Wyoming’s impressive push for blockchain leadership relies on several major ingredients. There is evidently a consensus among the elites as to the urgent need for expanding and promoting the state’s technology sector — and somehow they decided that the trendy distributed ledger technology might be their best bet. There is also a tried and tested strategy for small states that are eager to get ahead: tailoring legislation to the needs of whomever they are betting on. Yet, even when all the structural factors are in place, things are unlikely to work unless there are leaders on the ground, who value and understand the innovation they are pushing for. With the blockchain-savvy ranchers of Wyoming, this seems to be the case.

Article Produced By
Kirill Bryanov

Kirill Bryanov is a PhD researcher at Lousiana State University. His scholarly interests center on political and societal implications of communication technology, with a focus on blockchain-powered decentalized architectures.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/cowboys-on-the-block-inside-wyomings-race-for-crypto-prominence

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

Initial Country Offering as Next Big Thing For ICOs: Expert Blog

Initial Country Offering as Next Big Thing For ICOs: Expert Blog

             

One week ago Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko

signed the Decree "On Digital Economy Development" that legalizes ICO, cryptocurrencies and smart contracts. Two months ago the Republic of Abkhazia announced its plans to raise $1 bln in an ICO. Abkhazia followed Venezuela, the first country to consider crypto as a funding mechanism, with its well-publicized plan to roll out an oil-backed token called “Petro.” Puerto Rico has had an awful decade and its government is more than $70 bln in debt. Recently cryptocurrencies’ capitalization was around $400 bln, now – more than $500 bln. What about ICO for $70 bln to make “crypto valley” in the US there?

Government-in-the-cloud

In 1996, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, John Perry Barlow, wrote "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace." A seminal text for its time,

it says:

"Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live."

Estonian e-government services can be run from anywhere. In the old days, a government in exile would quickly lose legitimacy. Sheltering in another country, it would lack the infrastructure to do its work. But today an Estonian government in exile could just carry on. It helps to clarify the differences between a nation, a state and a geographical country.

In general, a nation is a group of people within an area who perceive themselves as a unique entity, a country is that geographical area itself, and a state is a set of political organizations that those people agree to adhere to. By disconnecting the Silicon-based functions of the state from the actual soil-based country, Estonians are protecting their nation. But it's more than that. Estonians are successful in their efforts and they can build a digital state infrastructure that can be hosted anywhere. It doesn't have to be an officially recognized state – if we can deterritorialize a state, could we perhaps “state-ify” a nation? It could be backed up and turned off, reduced to a suitcase full of hard drives, only to boot back up again when the time is right.

Country-as-a-service – CaaS

You are probably familiar with SaaS – “software as a service.” It’s basically paying for software/hardware as you use them, rather than buying them. These services used to cost you a lot, but are now free or near enough. That’s where governance is going. Government services could become plug and play apps you stitch together to suit your business or lifestyle. There’s no logical reason why governance shouldn’t be delivered as SaaS (CaaS).

The most interesting (and promising) Blockchain-related industries are strictly outside of the cryptorealm – they include solutions for healthcare and logistics, land sale support, governmental and corporate workflow solutions. Estonia, a global leader in e-government, has recently launched a unified medical record database, accessible to hospitals and insurance companies, in partnership with the Blockchain startup Guardtime. Prescrypt works along the same lines in partnership with SNS Bank and Deloitte in the Netherlands, BitHealth – in the United States.

Swedish government together with ChromaWay and a partner bank is going to test Blockchain smart contracts for the land registry, to simplify life of buyers, sellers, and banks, using land as collateral on a regular basis. BitFury launches a similar initiative in Georgia, whereas BitLand enters Ghana and Honduras (and have plans to expand to Nigeria and Kenya). UAE launches Blockchain strategy to become paperless by 2020.

The state of Delaware, hosting numerous companies from other states and countries, is to introduce a Blockchain-based system of company registration, an issue of shares, recording of Board Resolutions, redistribution of shares as a result of purchase and sales transactions. British Everledger assists banks, insurers and open marketplaces in a reduction of risk and fraud by digitally certifying diamonds, art objects and high-end bottles of wine.

In comparison with the current focus on ICO-backed startups investments into Blockchain-based GovTech startups (to support their growth and building of the ecosystem of such services) looks very promising: Governance is the next big thing for ICOs and Blockchain world. This new ecosystem, such “borderless country in the cloud” could be like creation of Israel 2.0. Anyway, it seems short-sided to talk about geographical borders in the modern online-world, especially in terms of decentralized economy and Blockchain-community.

Article Produced By
Vladislav Solodkiy

Vladislav Solodkiy is a managing partner at Life.SREDA, Singapore-based fintech-VC, author of The First Fintech Bank’s Arrival book.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/initial-country-offering-as-next-big-thing-for-icos-expert-blog

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