Pornhub Adds New Tokens, Fcoin Defends Trans-Fee, Coinbase Goes Pro

Among the interesting stories featured in today's edition of Bitcoin in Brief are the new crypto tokens added by Pornhub, Fcoin founder's defense of the controversial trans-fee mining practice and an update on the upcoming launch of Coinbase Pro.

Bigwigs Talking Bitcoin vs Blockchain

The Daily: Pornhub Adds New Tokens, Fcoin Defends Trans-Fee, Coinbase Goes ProA few well known people who don't routinely speak about Bitcoin and blockchain technology have recently shared their opinions about the subjects. Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire behind Alibaba Group, opined that "Blockchain technology could change our world more than people imagine. Bitcoin, however, could be a bubble." And he added that "traditional financial institutions serve 20 percent of people and make 80 percent of profits. New financial institutions should service 80 percent of people, and make 20 percent of profit."

Steve Wozniak, the Bitcoin-loving co-founder of Apple, has on the other hand said he feels that all the current hype around blockchain technology is just a bubble akin to the Dot Com one. "If you look now you say all that internet stuff happened, we got it, it just took a while," Wozniak explained. "It doesn't change in a day, a lot of the blockchain ideas that are really good by coming out early they can burn themselves out by not being prepared to be stable in the long run."

And Professor Robert Shiller, who received the 2013 Nobel prize in economics, thinks that Bitcoin is a generational social movement, that might be in a speculative price bubble but it does not mean it is going away any time soon. He said in an interview that: "The East Coast is less into it than the West Coast. Silicon Valley is really into it. It's a social movement. It's an epidemic of enthusiasm. It is a speculative bubble. That doesn't mean that it will go to zero."

EOS to Get a Makeover?

After coming under a lot of criticism lately over centralization, freezing accounts and other issues, EOS might soon get a serious makeover. Daniel Larimer, the creator of EOS, has proposed a major revision to the way its constitution works. He explains that this is because, he just now learned that, "if you give people arbitrary power to resolve arbitrary disputes then everything becomes a dispute and the decisions made are arbitrary. The more power the arbiter has, the more vicious and petty the disputes become and the less predictable the outcome." Better late than never.

Pornhub Adds New Tokens

The Daily: Pornhub Adds New Tokens, Fcoin Defends Trans-Fee, Coinbase Goes ProAdult entertainment video portal, Pornhub, has announced it will accept two new cryptocurrencies, Tron and Zen Cash. As you may recall, a couple of months ago Verge has made a big deal about the site accepting its token. There is no explanation on the way Pornhub selected the few tokens it did, but at least in the case of Verge it is reported it just got paid 75 million XVG for doing so.

"Here at Pornhub, as one of the most viewed websites in the world with over 90 million daily visitors, it's important that we continue to expand our crypto payment options to align with our community's growing payment preferences. Decentralized payment systems have continued to grow in popularity, and cryptocurrency adoption is exploding across a broad economic spectrum. Today, cryptocurrencies are especially viable in the adult entertainment industry because they are privacy-centric and incorporate more anonymity tools than traditional tender," said Corey Price, VP of Pornhub.

Fcoin Founder Defends Trans-Fee Mining

In an interview released in China yesterday, Jian Zhang, founder of Fcoin, faced challenging questions regarding his business and controversial business model of "trans-fee mining." As we previously reported, the practice of rewarding users with exchange issued tokens for generating transactions was called an over-priced backdoor ICO ripe for manipulation by critics including Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

FCoin Founder Jian Zhang

Zhang said: "With respect to the accusations of pyramid selling, currency manipulation, and being a stock maker – I won't be answering these questions directly. You can refer to the notion and history of Bitcoin, and see how many people have been wronged this way. Are there still people who think Bitcoin is pyramid selling? If so, you are not rejecting Fcoin, you are actually denying the economic value of the cryptocurrency in general."

"The accusation of an expensive ICO is the most funny and ridiculous. First of all, Binance grew from an ICO, some people must be out of their mind when criticizing the ICO of others while raising no money by themselves. Second of all, it's wrong in the first place for some people to calculate our market value using the total amount of Fcoin token yet to be issued by us. Those unissued FT [Fcoin token] cannot be regarded as transaction, nor can they be a part of any distribution of dividend. They actually don't exist until after issued. Therefore, the miscalculation is just wrong. In no cryptocurrency exchange is market value calculated this way. Lastly, our valuation is actually very low, given our transaction amount, dividend ratio, number of active traders and growth rate."

Coinbase Switches to Pro

If you are a GDAX user, this is a kindly reminder that the platform will be switching over to Coinbase Pro tomorrow, Friday June 29, and you will not be able to access the old domain anymore. According to the developers, the redesigned platform is meant to make the trading experience easier and more intuitive, with a simplified deposit and withdrawal processes, improved charts that will allow customers to easily scroll and access historical data and a new consolidated portfolio view called "My Wallets" that lets customers see an overview of their account orders and balances.

NBA Team Mines Ethereum

The Sacramento Kings are now mining Ethereum, the team announced on Wednesday. They are the first sports team entering the crypto space, and in doing so are introducing crypto to sports fans and offering a local group that supports black communities to buy and sell ether.

Tech-Savvy MBA Team Enters the Crypto Space

The American basketball team the Sacramento Kings reportedly started mining ether three weeks ago using Nvidia mining rigs. The owner of the NBA team, Vivek Ranadive, is also a computer software entrepreneur, and founder of Tibco. The Sacramento Kings have been praised by the magazine Fast Company's annual ranking of the world's Most Innovative Companies in Sports.

The home of the Sacramento Kings is now a crypto mining facility

In 2014, the Kings became the first NBA team to accept bitcoin as payment at its goods store and for season tickets.

Vivek Ranadive was quoted saying that the team was a big fan of Ethereum, and wanted to do something to give back to the local community. "It was obvious to us," he said, "let's start mining cryptocurrency." The profit from the mining would go to a local group that supports blacks communities as part of a charity program.

Mining Crypto with Solar

The Golden 1 Center, an indoor arena, home to the Sacramento Kings, has a solar paneled rooftop that can generate up to 1.2 megawatts. Installing solar power was part of the Sacramento Kings ownership's goal to have the country's most technologically advanced entertainment center.

The tech-savvy NBA team's business executives said that the mining project has no direct association with basketball at the moment, but they are confident that when players come to Sacramento they will be aware they can be introduced to new technologies and to tech companies.

Earlier this week, GMO Coin, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange company, introduced the world of sports in Japan to crypto by sponsoring a local baseball team, the Chiba Lotte Marines. "I think cryptocurrency will increasingly be more familiar to our fans," Toshihiro Sorimachi, a spokesman to the Japanese baseball team told news.Bitcoin.com in an interview. "There aren't any players currently holding cryptocurrencies in the team," Sorimachi said, "but there are many players here who are interested in the virtual currency technology," he added.

What Is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization?

A key topic of discussion within the cryptocurrency space is the ultimate implications of cryptocurrency and the underlying blockchain technology. One of the first transformational possibilities shared among the community was the idea of the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). 

What Is a DAO?

A Decentralized Autonomous Organization represents an environment that handles some function or output in a manner that is entirely self-governing, self-sustaining, and self-fulfilling. The term was first coined in 2013 by Daniel Larimer, creator of BitShares, perhaps the first working example of a DAO. The famous early example was given by former Bitcoin contributor Mike Hearn, who described a future DAO as an autonomous vehicle that seeks out and picks up a passenger, drops them off at their destination, and uses the Bitcoin received from the passenger to recharge at an electricity station, before finding its next passenger.

To put it more broadly, a DAO can represent any form of production or protocol in which the mechanisms for its purpose are carried out automatically, through the use of algorithms and machinery, made possible through an integration of blockchain technology. In contrast to real-world methods of production, a DAO looks like a business in which the job of manager/CEO is replaced completely with an automatic process, and business decisions are left entirely up to the token-holding participants who make up the ecosystem within and around the business.

Current Instances

Perhaps the most widely known Decentralized Autonomous Organization is The DAO, a failed autonomous investment fund launched on the Ethereum network. Due to insecurity, The DAO was hacked soon after its launch, and resulted in the Ethereum Classic fork.

Besides The DAO, there are a number of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations that populate the cryptocurrency space. Alongside BitShares, DASH's development protocol is a DAO. DASH holders vote on projects for the development team to pursue, and the developers are funded via a development pool of DASH that a portion of each block mined goes towards. DigixDAO and Maker are two more examples. Both provide autonomous ecosystems that create and govern stablecoins. Digix's DGD represents digital grams of gold, while Maker's Dai is a tokenized US dollar.

Recent Developments

While the first plans for DAOs utilized the distributed financial ledgers of Bitcoin and other altcoins, the introduction of Ethereum's smart contracts completely expanded the possibilities for DAO structures and entities. Smart contracts enable the algorithm-backed system to encapsulate exponentially more than what was previously imagined.

Finance, medicine, and insurance are three industries that will likely be transformed by such platforms. Each of them faces major externalities that are addressed by an autonomous organization of capital and labor, and initiatives within the cryptocurrency space are already beginning to take on these three sectors.

Future Implications

Several academics and economic theorists are beginning to view Decentralized Autonomous Organizations as capable of enabling a global transition to a post-capitalist society. When implemented correctly, a DAO unifies many of the elements beginning to emerge amidst what many theorists suggest is an ongoing evolution beyond capitalism. These elements include the programmable economy, the token economy, and the sharing economy.

The automation of an entire component of the production function in any output (the manager/CEO organizer) indicates that the DAO can potentially be superior in terms of efficiency when competing with firms in any industry, as the DAO eliminates a major input cost entirely. Perhaps within the next few decades, the DAO could pioneer a transition from a worker/manager relationship to a participant/algorithm one.

North Carolina Banking Bill Passes — Adds Virtual Currency License Requirements

The state of North Carolina has pushed the passage of House Bill 86 and some digital currency advocates and firms like Coinbase believe the bill makes the state more friendly towards cryptocurrency businesses. At the moment North Carolina's House Bill 86 has been presented to Governor Roy Cooper and awaits his signature.

North Carolina House Bill 86 Includes Money Transmission Changes and Licensure Guidelines in Regard to Virtual Currencies Passes Unanimously

North Carolina Banking Bill Passes — Adds Virtual Currency License Requirements On June 14, 2018, North Carolina's general assembly unanimously ratified House Bill 86 which adds new language to the state's permissible investments and statutory trust under the Money Transmitters Act. The bill's final revision includes legal definitions concerning virtual currencies like bitcoin and other tokens. North Carolina's legislation also requires the licensure of businesses that work with cryptocurrency activities. Furthermore, the state's Commissioner of Banks Ray Grace can request data from the licensed cryptocurrency firm at any time. North Carolina House Bill 86 states:   

If the licensee possesses virtual currency as permissible investments under this Article, the Commissioner may at any time request that the licensee verify, in a manner acceptable to the Commissioner, aggregate virtual currency transmission obligations outstanding and virtual currency held as permissible investments, including virtual currency stored offline.

Coinbase Believes North Carolina's Bill 'Helps Cryptocurrency Companies Comply With the Letter of the Law'

North Carolina Banking Bill Passes — Adds Virtual Currency License Requirements 

Coinbase executive Mike Lempres

Commissioner Grace had also helped write the revised edition which included virtual currency definitions and licensee requirements. The firm Coinbase applauded the passage of House Bill 86 and formally thanked the banking commissioner, representatives Tim Moore, Dan Bishop, Jon Hardister, Bill Rabon, Stephen Ross, Jason Saine, and Jeff Tarte for helping bolster the legislation.

"Passage of House Bill 86 exemplifies how regulators and legislators can work together to foster innovation by either licensing cryptocurrency money transmissions or exempting cryptocurrency from money transmission laws," the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Coinbase, Mike Lempres said last Thursday.

By helping cryptocurrency companies comply with the letter of the law, leaders in both states are paving the way for the economic and social benefits of this new technology to flourish within their communities.           

The firm also complimented the state of Wyoming for recently passing its blockchain and cryptocurrency legislation after it had issues with the state prior to the passage of Wyoming's guidelines. A while ago Coinbase suspended its services to Wyoming residents and the firm said at the time that the state's Division of Banking made Coinbase operations impractical. As both North Carolina and Wyoming change their money transmissions laws the state's look like they may see more business operations due to the legislative changes.

Delegated POS vs POW and why Ripa Exchange is on the right track

Proof of Work can be thought of as the traditional method Blockchains use to validate and finalize transactions. In fact, many of the major cryptocurrencies still use this methodology including Ethereum and Bitcoin.

The way Proof of Work validates blocks:

Miners within the system are required to process and finalize transactions using very complicated algorithms. This has an immediate and somewhat counterproductive impact on the performance of the network as a whole. This is also one of the reasons why Bitcoin is yet notorious for serious delays when completing transactions.

Although many still the advantage of such a system enhances network security making it virtually impenetrable. But it places undue strain on electricity, requires plenty of workspace, and demands extra cooling as well.

How DPOS is different to POW and POS?

Delegated Proof of Stake, and DPOS for short takes a completely different approach to transaction validation. The first difference is that miners are chosen specifically who hold fair amounts of tokens on the network. And they are rewarded with amounts of the cryptocurrency for the duties of producing blocks and confirming transactions.

The incentives, therefore, provide a layer of social trust across the entire network. But the biggest benefit is that DPOS turns out faster with this
streamlined approach.

Why DPOS is better then POW

Clearly, the greatest advantage DPOS has over POW is speed. Transactions can now be completed in seconds. And thousands of transactions per second do not stress the network in any noticeable ways.

Energy requirements are also significantly cut down, and the system is more efficient overall. The best part is security is not hampered in any way. DPOS is also way more decentralized than POW.

How RIPAEX working on DPOS is a very solid and innovating project

Ripa Exchange — which promises to remain free of charges to its constituent membership, is making exclusive use of the DPOS protocol. This will ensure transactions are quick, secure and with many extra benefits to its members.

With DPOS people are not randomly selected for the purpose of delegation. They are voted in by existing members of the network. Those with the most votes are called Witnesses.

In a sense, the network is run mainly under the direction of ordinary people. There is a bold spirit of democracy inside the system of DPOS which encourages miners to prove themselves.

As the network gets bigger, Witnesses find themselves competing with one another. This results in each of them trying to perform better as time goes on. They also have to pay attention to following set protocols, since they are in a sense governed by the people in the rest of the network. This helps to keep everyday operations running fair, compliant and efficient.

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Thomson Reuters to Track Top 100 Cryptocurrencies

Thomson Reuters has expanded its sentiment data tracking service to cover the top 100 cryptocurrencies. You can find details about the TRMI 3.1 crypto sentiment package in our daily rubric, Bitcoin in Brief. Today's edition also features other announcements crypto investors may find interesting. Some useful tools can help them develop dynamic strategies on the volatile markets, while a new bot offers automated crypto trading.     

Thomson Reuters has included market data for the top 100 cryptocurrencies in its sentiment data offerings. The service is provided in cooperation with Marketpsych Data LLC, a leader in quantitative behavioral science. The expansion comes after the introduction of bitcoin sentiment index in March, when Marketpsych 3.0 was revealed, as news.Bitcoin.com reported, and the launch of cryptocurrency real-time rates data feed for six cryptocurrencies in May.

According to the official announcement, the new Marketpsych Indices package uses machine learning and natural language processing to measure emotional and topical items across news and social media sites that may drive market participant behavior in cryptocurrency markets. TRMI 3.1 monitors more than 2,000 global news and 800 social media platforms in real-time.

The providers of the service also note that the historical data dates back to 2009. The collected sentiment data can be incorporated into quantitative and qualitative analysis to support investment decisions, the press release details. Investors and other interested professionals can use it to quickly discern patterns affecting their respective businesses, Thomson Reuters points out.

Suite of Tools for Crypto Investors Released

Waterstreet Research Partners LLC, a Minneapolis-based investment research firm, has announced the launch of Crypto Powerranks, a suite of useful tools for cryptocurrency investors. Its users will be able to research, plan, and develop dynamic investment strategies on the volatile cryptocurrency markets, according to the announcement.

Crypto Powerranks is a membership program that provides access to institution-level analytics and portfolio construction strategies. The service will enable cryptocurrency investors to create their own investment plans. The developers of the suite note that their solution comes in response to the need to use robust research tools in combination with market intelligence when making investment decisions.

The service introduces 32 cryptocurrency indices, including 12 that use quantitative factor models known as smart beta. These proven index strategies have not been applied to the cryptocurrency market before. The platform also provides its members with continually updated tools, indicators, and reports, including index action reports. By applying the tools to the different indices, they will be able to research a single cryptocurrency or the broader market, when deciding which coins to choose for their investment portfolio.

"More and more investors are entering the crypto market and have expressed a clear need for more insight, intelligence, and tools, so they can make better informed decisions," said Jonathan Held, managing partner and cofounder of Waterstreet. In his words, crypto investors are tired of biased and emotional opinions in blogs and video channels. "They want clear, objective insights to help them understand the evolving market and make investment choices with confidence," Held added.

Thomson Reuters to Track Top 100 CryptocurrenciesA new trading bot, designed to automate cryptocurrency purchases and sales, has been launched by Millioncoin. The platform, which offers crypto-related services, promises to counter the high costs and inconvenience of transacting in digital coins. The bot, named AT.systems, provides its users with resources in real time, which help them profit from trading these cryptocurrencies.

According to the developers, price instability, high transaction fees, and uncertainty about the relative value of different digital and fiat currencies represent barriers to buying, trading, and spending cryptocurrencies. Millioncoin is trying to address these issues by automating the respective processes.

The bot offered by the company can automatically trade cryptocurrencies to provide its users with the best possible deal for their assets. Combined with other tools, AT.systems can also enhance crypto shopping. This, according to Millioncoin, will help consumers incorporate cryptos in their everyday lives.

Coinbase Acquires Investment Firms to Offer Regulated Crypto Securities

Coinbase is seeking to become a fully licensed broker-dealer through its acquisition of three federally regulated firms. The company is confident that it will get the approvals necessary to start offering fully-regulated crypto securities.

Coinbase as Regulated Broker-Dealer

One of the world's largest cryptocurrency companies, Coinbase, has implemented a plan to list crypto securities, the company announced on Wednesday. President and COO, Asiff Hirji, wrote:

Today, we're announcing that Coinbase is on track to operate a regulated broker-dealer, pending approval by federal authorities. If approved, Coinbase will soon be capable of offering blockchain-based securities, under the oversight of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra).

With a presence in 32 countries, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency company has traded $150 billion in assets and claims to have over 20 million customers.

Obtaining Licenses

Coinbase Acquires Investment Firms to Offer Regulated Crypto SecuritiesIn the US, crypto tokens exhibiting the characteristics of securities are subject to the SEC oversight.

Hirji explained that becoming a regulated broker-dealer for the company is "made possible by our acquisition of a broker-dealer license (B-D), an alternative trading system license (ATS), and a registered investment advisor (RIA) license," adding:

If approved, these licenses will set Coinbase on a path to offer future services that include crypto securities trading, margin and over-the-counter (OTC) trading, and new market data products.

The company hopes to secure these licenses through the acquisition of three federally-regulated companies: Keystone Capital Corp, Venovate Marketplace Inc, and Digital Wealth LLC. All of them are registered with Finra.

Operating Under Keystone's Licenses

Keystone Capital is a Finra-registered broker-dealer with licenses to operate an alternative trading system (ATS) and as a registered investment adviser.

A regulatory approval is needed for Coinbase to operate under the Keystone licenses, the Wall Street Journal explained, adding that "Coinbase is essentially buying Keystone for its licenses."

According to Hirji, the company "is confident it will get those approvals," after which it would take several months to integrate Keystone's operations into its own, the publication noted, adding:

Buying Keystone also raises the prospect that Coinbase could, down the line, expand into products tied to stocks or other securities.

On the company's blog, the COO wrote, "Ultimately, we can envision a world where we may even work with regulators to tokenize existing types of securities, bringing to this space the benefits of cryptocurrency-based markets — like 24/7 trading, real-time settlement and chain-of-title."

Top Ways Blockchain Tech Is Changing Social Media

Have you ever found yourself feeling like "social" media is actually the complete opposite? Not only does the content on it often cause depression and anxiety, but there's a plethora of fake news, data leaks, and advertisers clamoring for attention. The EU's GDPR is making things more complicated all around, and people are starting to realize the value of their data.

Social media is in a tight spot. Major platforms are struggling to retain their younger audiences, and advertisers are wasting budgets thanks to Gen-Z's intolerance for ads (82 percent of them skip ads, and more than half use ad blockers).

What was once everyone's favorite pastime has become tarnished, cluttered, noisy, and just a little antisocial. Several blockchain companies are looking to tackle the problem. (In fact, tons of wannabe Facebooks and Instagrams are cropping up like weeds).

The platform that will rise to the top in the blockchain social media race remains to be seen. But whichever one does, it should have the ability to change social media in the following ways:

Fix the Ad Issue

We've heard about this problem a few times, as well as how blockchain can fix the broken advertising space. Any social media platform hoping to emerge victorious in Web 3.0 will need to provide a solution in which users can control how much – or how little – advertising they see.

Advertisers shouldn't have to waste money being switched off by content blockers. And they won't fall victim to advertising fraud that costs the industry billions of dollars every year. Users also won't have to grind their teeth filtering through swathes of content they don't want to see – and they'll get rewarded for watching ads if they want to.

Says Melanie Mohr, CEO and Founder of yeay, "Younger audiences want a hyper-personalized experience but not at the expense of privacy. We created a social space where people can have instant and autonomous relationships with the brands they love, collaboratively create cool content – and get rewarded for doing so. There is no overload of adverts – only authentic user-generated content by teens for teens."

Give Users Their Privacy Back

One of the blockchain's greatest qualities is that it can give people back their privacy and anonymity. Networks like Sapien and Minds allow users to be anonymous if they want to be. They can't be tracked, traced or censored. In countries where censorship is an issue, such as China, Turkey, or North Korea, social networks are often blocked. Decentralized platforms like these ensure that no one can block access to content.

Rewarding Artists for Quality Content

In many cases, content creators see very little compensation for the hard work they put in. Networks like YouTube only pay out when view numbers are huge, and even then, the end content creators see very little. Platforms like Verasity cut out the middlemen and ensure that for every like and view, the creator is rewarded instantly through smart contracts.

Sapien and Minds also ensure that content is rewarded based on its popularity. So instead of just likes and views, people get actual compensation, incentivizing them to create higher-quality content.

Fighting Fake News

Getting users to rate content is one way of weeding out poor quality, but it may not prevent fake news. Other platforms are taking an even more proactive approach using the blockchain's ability to verify data sources and content authenticity. Prover, for example, is built on the Ethereum blockchain to verify content creators and kick fake news to the curb.

Blockchain technology is changing social media for the better and has the potential to free the space from many of its current woes. As Mohr affirms, "Make no mistake that blockchain is going to make an impact and it has so much potential as a force for good. It can help to reverse some of the negative effects of social technology – particularly when it comes to issues around privacy, control and the commercialization of people's data."