Ether Prices Near 7-Month Low As Blockchain Issues Spook Investors

The price of ether (ETH) fell below $8 for the primary time since April these days, dropping to its lowest total in virtually seven months.

Overall, ether costs suffered slight fluctuations for the day's mercantilism, falling to as very little as $7.88 at 08:34 GMT. The decline in value followed a spate of technical school challenges for the ethereum network, that recently suffered associate sudden fork.

Problems began last week, once ethereum underwent its fourth planned laborious fork this year, that was formally triggered on twenty second Nov. Technical challenges picked up shortly once, as Geth and Parity, 2 major ethereum shoppers, didn't implement identical logic for the upgrade.

The result currently seems to be there's a belief among traders and analysts that the decline below the $8 mark may be a vital milestone.

Petar Zivkovski, director of operations for leveraged bitcoin mercantilism platform Whaleclub, went up to now on argue that the platform could also be getting into a "crisis" in terms of perception.

Zivkovski told CoinDesk:

    "Beyond the technical problems, ether is additionally displaying lackluster usage and a but expected growth in their developer community."

No semipermanent threat

But whereas Zivkovski acknowledged the network’s technical issues, algorithmic  merchant Jacob Eliosoff place these difficulties in a very completely different perspective, telling CoinDesk that he believes they do not create a threat to the platform.

Smart contracts, he argued, area unit still associate innovation for the most part novel to ethereum, one that has created inroads with major establishments in recent quarters.

"The recent technical glitches are not serious: they haven't price anyone important cash (price drop aside) and are not outside the bounds of affordable expectations for such a young bold project," he said.

ARK Invest analyst Chris Burniske conjointly pointed to encouraging signs for the network, citing the diversification of its mining pools and different fundamentals.

"Unique address growth has continued  to steady increase, conveyance to ME that developers have continued  uninterrupted in their experimentation with ethereum," Burniske aforementioned.
Future outlook

As for what the longer term holds for ethereum, market specialists appeared split.

Zivkovski aforementioned whereas the platform holds potential, he believes there have nevertheless to be any important product engineered on the platform.

On the opposite hand, enterpriser and capitalist Vinny Lingham told CoinDesk that ether costs have long been overvalued, accentuation each the cryptocurrency's technical challenges and his belief that the ether offer is rising too quickly.

"The range of latest ether being mined  per day as a proportion of current ether within the market is just too high," he told CoinDesk.

Lingham isn't alone in stating that ether is expensive, as different market observers have indicated similar sentiment via Twitter and social blogging platforms.

Fujitsu reveals PalmSecure BioLock

Japan's Fujitsu has revealed a new palm vein authentication solution for use with SAP systems.

Called PalmSecure BioLock, the company says it is the "industry’s most secure access control technology for SAP systems".

The solution provides access control for SAP ERP and HANA systems.

Fujitsu said the implementation means it is now the only SAP Global Partner able to offer the biometric security capability as an SAP-certified, natively-embedded solution either directly or via it’s sales partners. 

Martin Lum, Vice President Marketing at realtime AG North America, said: “Just like the customers they serve, Fujitsu has the global reach and capability to offer security solutions to their international customers. We are very pleased to work with them to help their SAP and HANA customers overcome current security business challenges.”

Thomas Bengs, Director and Head of PalmSecure Products and Solutions of Fujitsu EMEIA comments: “Current statistics show that most large organisations lose a minimum of five percent of their global revenue to fraud, every year. Whether it’s with intent or through carelessness, employees can actually pose a bigger security risk than external hackers, making it a business imperative that only authorised employees can access sensitive data." 

He added: "We are delighted to build on our existing partnership with realtime AG to help SAP customers worldwide achieve the highest level of security and provide the industry’s highest levels of protection to ensure that sensitive data is not compromised.”

Source: Planet Biometrics

Flexenable to reveal smartcard with 500 dpi flexible fingerprint sensor

Organic electronics firm Flexenable plans to showcase a 500 dpi flexible fingerprint sensor in a smart card form factor at an upcoming trade show. 

The firm says that with biometric authentication becoming increasingly important for the smartcard industry, flexible fingerprint sensors open up new opportunities.

Particularly in banking, using the cardholder’s fingerprint instead of or in addition to an entry pin is one of the emerging trends to improve security. This requires the integration of ultra-thin, robust and flexible sensors into payment cards.

The 500 dpi flexible optical fingerprint sensor uses high performance organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) on low cost plastics.

The firm says it is the only flexible sensor technology that has achieved such high resolution. The sensor has been developed in collaboration with Grenoble-based ISORG who supplies the organic photodiodes able to capture the fingerprint, and has provided all the reading electronics and the related algorithms. The flexible fingerprint sensor can be paired with any end-user software to create an authentication device with low false acceptance and rejection rates.

As it is made of organic electronics on a plastic sheet, the 500 dpi flexible fingerprint sensor is only 0.3 mm thick, which is less than half the thickness of a smartcard (0.76 mm). This brings design and functional benefits to smartcards. As well as detecting fingerprints, the sensor can capture veins, providing a second level of security since each user’s finger vein pattern is unique and requires the user to be alive for positive detection.

Chuck Milligan, CEO of FlexEnable, said: “The flexible fingerprint sensor has been developed with several fast expanding markets in mind.  The unique features of the sensor such as its thinness, lightness and robustness make it suitable for smartcard applications, including banking, security and healthcare. We welcome collaboration with smartcard manufacturers, software developers and product designers interested in integrating this cutting-edge flexible fingerprint sensor technology into smartcards.”

Source: Planet Biometrics

NEXT Biometrics to demo flexible smartcard fingerprint sensor

Norway’s NEXT Biometrics will showcase its new flexible smartcard fingerprint sensor at an upcoming trade show.

The flexible fingerprint sensor technology, which uses the firm’s NEXT Active Thermal principle, will be on show at Trustech in the form of polysilicon sheets and individual sensors.

Tore Etholm-Idsoe, CEO of NEXT Biometrics, said, “Opposite to present market implementation of fingerprint sensors in smartphones, the major SmartCard markets are all quality critical. This means that neither security nor level of convenience may be compromised.  Furthermore, a SmartCard needs to work every day, everywhere, indoors and outdoors for close to 100% of the targeted population. 
 Having already secured the first two volume smartcard orders within the fingerprint sensor industry, we remain confident that NEXT is uniquely positioned within this massive opportunity space.”

Radek Matyasek, VP Sales EMEA and SmartCard segment sales at NEXT, said, “At Cartes we will be showing our flexible sensor in the format of polysilicon sheets as well as singulated sensors. For the first time, we will also demonstrate fully functional demonstrators of our technology built into 0.76 mm (ISO ID-1 thickness) rigid smartcards.”

Source: Planet Biometrics

Uber, Lyft take fingerprint fight to Maryland

Maryland has become the latest battleground between ride-sharing firms Uber and Lyft and local politicians seeking biometrics checks for their drivers.

The companies will tell Maryland Public Service Commission that they should not be required to fingerprint drivers, reports the Baltimore Sun.

Under a state law passed in 2015, the companies are required to begin background checking drivers 15 December using the fingerprint database maintained by the state and the FBI, unless they prove their approach is equally effective. Both companies filed separate petitions with the state Public Service Commission, which regulates ridesharing companies, for permission to continue doing background checks their way.

Uber has said it will pull out of Maryland if fingerprinting is enforced. Lyft has not said it would withdraw, but pointed out that it does not operate in any market where fingerprinting is required except New York City.

In September, Uber revealed a new facial recognition-based security feature that will check drivers’ identities across the United States. Called Real-Time ID Check, the security feature uses Microsoft Cognitive Services with the aim of protecting both riders and drivers, the company noted in a new blog post.

Source: Planet Biometrics

Making The Next Moves With Blockchain

For a technology that is still in its comparative youth, blockchain has become unbelievably potent, unbelievably quickly. In August, the planet Economic Forum discharged a report vocation blockchain technology a "mega-trend" which will form society within the next decade. Indeed, the WEF predicts that blockchains may store the maximum amount as 100% of worldwide GDP by 2027.

To review: blockchain may be a distributed digital ledger that uses specialised algorithms to confirm that transactions area unit valid and authentic and is predicated on a decentralized  design and guarded by powerful digital coding. As such, blockchain will replace trusty third parties, like banks, in guaranteeing transactions and coordinative agreement among parties. though it originated because the underlying technology for the digital currency Bitcoin, it's currently well known that its tumultuous potential applies so much on the far side currency. In fact, blockchain has relevancy to all or any industries and for any transactions that has got to be secure and verifiable. it's a very novel design for business and a foundation for building a brand new generation of transactional applications.

Understandably, good individuals are skeptical regarding blockchain's potential – and in Gregorian calendar month, once a high-profile blockchain project was (temporarily) alleviated of quite $50 million, their caution grew. several established enterprises area unit still awaiting the proper business justification for work blockchain. However, by doing that, they run the chance of missing opportunities and failing to spot the business risk of being slow to adopt a tumultuous technology.
Exploring for price

Promising uses of blockchain area unit already rising to recommend what following decade can bring. These 5 examples area unit price work sooner instead of later:


    Increasing method speed and transparency. Maintaining one ledger for all transactions may be a extremely economical approach of synchronizing information regarding transactions across entities and geographies. This ensures a whole, consistent, current read of each dealing at any given moment.

 up offer chain potency and effectivity. With blockchain, an organization will consolidate multiple repositories of client and provider info into one decentralized  info store. This provides end-to-end documentation of wherever and the way materials area unit sourced, purchased, allocated, and used.

    Facilitating business networks/exchanges. Blockchain permits inexpensive peer-to-peer transactions by eliminating the necessity for a third-party middleman to pay time and cash on verification.

    Strengthening information security. as a result of the net was designed for openness, threats to cyber security like information breaches, identity fraud, malware, and ransomware area unit increasing at a pace that threatens the whole digital economy. Blockchain's integral safety features, that embody top-grade coding and also the decoupling of transactions from the identity of their participants, give a safeguard against these threats – and by extension, against loss of client trust in your business.

    Enhancing – and monetizing – privacy. The blockchain conjointly creates opportunities for people to exert larger management over their own in person characteristic info (PII). corporations are going to be able to produce blockchain-based identities that solely share the bits of PII necessary to complete a dealing. on the far side that, people are going to be able to decriminalise their PII by exploitation the blockchain to manage whether or not and the way abundant of it to share with associate publicist or investigator, however that info is used, and the way abundant the recipient can have to be compelled to obtain access thereto.

In a broader sense, blockchain guarantees to extend economic participation and inclusion worldwide, particularly at very cheap of the monetary pyramid. Blockchain may change billions of individuals WHO presently lack access to the worldwide economy to perform monetary and legal transactions with nothing however a mobile device and a network affiliation – which would open markets and potentialities that would be measured in trillions of bucks or additional.
Blockchain in action

Many forward-thinking enterprises area unit already experimenting with blockchain:

    German electric company RWE is encouraging larger adoption of greener transportation by rolling out electric charging stations that use blockchain to attest users, modify request, and build energy transmission additional economical.

    IBM has created "blockchain garages" wherever developers will experiment with the technology and plans a huge blockchain implementation to assist its world finance unit change and contour dispute resolution.

    Microsoft introduced Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) last November, hosting a good vary of ASCII text file blockchain tools and protocols on its Azure cloud platform. the corporate recently proclaimed Project Bletchley to support collaboration among BaaS users.

    Infosys has introduced the EdgeVerge Blockchain Framework to support blockchain-based services for the monetary services trade.

    Philips health care has established its own blockchain science lab wherever Philips IT consultants will work with health care professionals, partners, and blockchain developers to develop innovative use cases for the technology. Philips Blockchain science lab is additionally the primary major health care member of Gem Health, a healthcare-focused world blockchain network created by blockchain solutions supplier Gem, that itself received $7.1 million from working capital investors in early 2016.

SAP has worked with Canadian bank ATB monetary and fintech startup Ripple Labs to form a blockchain-based application for high-speed cross-border cash transfers. In testing, the applying was able to transfer $1,000CDN ($760 US) to a German bank in twenty seconds instead of the customary many days.

In addition, SAP is evaluating specialised computer code that might permit customers in industries like banking, farming, energy, healthcare, and media to attach blockchain technologies like Bitcoin, MultiChain, and Ethereum to its systems. “The potential for disruption is large,” says SAP’s chief innovation officer Juergen Mueller, and adds that companies may be creating widespread use of blockchain in 2 to 5 years.

In one potential state of affairs, blockchain would permit patients to share their electronic medical records with health researchers or pharmaceutical corporations for a controlled amount of your time, like throughout treatment or for the length of a study. Another chance may be a blockchain-based insurance market wherever insurers, haulers, and producers may share criteria like risk, route, weather, and vehicle kind to barter transportation coverage.

What will this mean for your company? If you are within the banking system and you are not already trying into blockchain, you are behind the curve. Get moving. however as a result of it's the potential to be a real disruptor in several industries, work blockchain is crucial in spite of wherever you're. to work out wherever it'd work into your business, raise yourself these questions:

 that of your transactions need a particular sequence or temporal order of events?

 that of your records should be maintained while not being modified, re-ordered, or deleted?

 wherever will your business need info to be each clear and publically accessible?

    What a part of your business depends on digital assets?

 wherever will dealing consistency and transparency facilitate build trust between participants WHO don’t understand every other?

 can introducing blockchain to those areas increase efficiencies or improve your ability to scale?

Answer these queries and you may air your thanks to addressing the larger question blockchain brings up for America all:

How can introducing blockchain propel your business model forward?

As revolutionary as this new technology might end up to be, it's still in its terribly earliest stages. we do not have any definitive answers nonetheless. however the additional use cases we have a tendency to see rising, the additional hints we have a tendency to see that it's steering America toward some fascinating potentialities.

Colorado Hemp Farmers Are Turning to Bitcoin for Their Banking Woes

You may nearly say Veronica Carpio became born to sell cannabis. apart from having a birthday on 4/20, the 38-year antique Colorado local was additionally the primary girl dispensary proprietor in the kingdom, ran a covert espresso shop correctly referred to as The the front, and now oversees the biggest hemp seed change inside the state while generating her very own emblem of hemp espresso.

when I spoke with Carpio during a smoke smash at the CryptoCannabis conference in Denver final month, her ardour for pot changed into palpable, but it changed into this very enthusiasm for ganja which had landed her in hot water inside the past. In 2011, Carpio became arrested for brokering a $30,000 deal which could’ve sent ten pounds of pot from her dispensary out of country. The three-month undercover sting operation resulted in one legal price and a year on probation, but for Carpio it turned into just the beginning of her cannabis woes.

After she become raided and arrested, Carpio pivoted far from marijuana toward hemp, a sort of cannabis with subsequent to no THC content material. In Colorado, hemp is legally described as any hashish plant with a THC awareness of much less than .three percentage. even though hemp is not as strictly regulated by means of the Colorado government because the end product lacks a psychoactive element, this relaxed attitude doesn’t translate to federally regulated monetary institutions operating inside the nation, a lesson that Carpio learned the tough way.

It’s no secret that banks, credit card companies, and on line fee apps like PayPal have no desire to paintings with agencies that visitors in legally nebulous items (despite the fact that the Justice department has long past on report to mention that it is relax). This leaves most cannabusinesses with  alternatives: don’t have a financial institution account or lie about the character of your commercial enterprise to the bank. Many dispensaries and hashish cultivators in Colorado have opted for the latter choice, inclusive of Carpio. those hashish entrepreneurs are unavoidably stuck (it’s virtually difficult to no longer enhance a pink flag whilst you’re depositing tens of hundreds of greenbacks in cash into your account every week) and punished.

As i used to be informed through Tim Cullen, the owner of the Colorado Harvest grow op, when Wells Fargo located his account became linked to marijuana cultivation, now not most effective did they shut down Cullen’s enterprise account, however in addition they close down his family contributors bills, which include his 4-year antique son’s university financial savings account. while this might’ve been predicted for a marijuana grow, hemp farming doesn’t have quite the identical stigma, which is why Carpio was amazed while PayPal knowledgeable her that they were shutting down her commercial enterprise account and freezing her budget for 6 months.

“I had my PayPal account for decades for selling my hemp merchandise after which they just determined to crimson flag,” Carpio instructed me. “Then it was a spiral after that and everything were given frozen—Amazon, Etsy. It’s sort of ironic because we want to do valid business, however we are compelled to lie.”

when Carpio tried to cause with PayPal about unfreezing her account, her pleas fell on deaf ears and she changed into told that she changed into “lucky” if she ever noticed her budget again. without a manner to just accept on line payment for her on-line hemp commercial enterprise, PayPal had successfully destroyed Carpio’s capacity to make a living for six months. So after a quick meltdown, Carpio began pursuing alternatives out of doors of the mainstream monetary establishment.

Necessity introduced Carpio to bitcoin and after you have up to speed on the intricacies of the blockchain, she included Bitcoin as a everlasting fee answer for her hemp groups. After trying a number of one of a kind wallets and Bitcoin price structures, Carpio sooner or later settled on Mycelium, a Bitcoin wallet that has been in improvement by way of a group of self-defined anarchist hardware engineers because 2008.

Mycelium offers some of advantages for those inside the hashish industry including a high degree of anonymity and clean peer-to-peer transactions, but for Carpio, the selection in the long run got here right down to the consumer enjoy. on the business aspect, it was smooth for Carpio to integrate Mycelium into her agencies’ present net architecture and as a long way because the client aspect of factors, there are very few Bitcoin wallets which can be easier or greater intuitive than Mycelium.

yet regardless of Mycelium’s famously easy to apply interface, Carpio noticed that her hemp farming customers were nonetheless cautious approximately adopting cryptocurrency for enterprise purposes.

“the most important pushback from hemp farmers is just the lack of know-how,” stated Carpio. “that is the older era that doesn’t without a doubt get it. they have this perception that bitcoin is unlawful, imaginary, and doesn’t sincerely paintings. On the general level of customers they're now not there yet.”

To facilitate the adoption of bitcoin as a technique to commercial hemp’s banking problem, Carpio co-founded a know-how resource hub called 1620 answers with Edgar Hamm, a biodynamic hemp farmer and cannabis activist. The intention of 1620 solutions is to train hemp farmers on how they are able to easily put in force bitcoin into their pre-existing business version.

“we're an open supply training hub due to the fact this is in which agriculture has to move,” stated Hamm. “virtually, I see cannabis as low hanging fruit. If we're going to pass in the direction of a destiny this is certainly sustainable then we want to transport closer to matters [like bitcoin]. It movements everything back to neighborhood.”

even though they weren’t prepared to disclose numbers on what number of hemp farmers have used 1620 answers to pursue Bitcoin as a economic solution, Hamm and Carpio says the reaction has been overwhelmingly high-quality. the main warfare remains teaching the farmers approximately how bitcoin and blockchain generation definitely works, and why it's miles a comfy alternative fee solution.

“Bitcoin continues to be absolutely new to those humans, but we're attempting to show them that that is realistic,” stated Carpio. “Bitcoin will certainly work for them if they could just wrap their thoughts round how it works. it is only a massive getting to know curve.”

source : http://motherboard-images.vice.com

Huawei Mate 9 features Fingerprints sensor

Sweden’s Fingerprint Cards has noted that the new Huawei Mate 9 features its FPC1025 sensor.

The Mate 9 handsets are among the first to be powered by Android 7 and come in two designs: a model with a 1080p "full HD" display, and a Porsche-branded edition with nearly twice the resolution.

Huawei’s Mate 9 Porsche Design is the first smartphone featuring the FPC1268 and it is also Fingerprint Cards’ first market implementation of a capacitive fingerprint touch sensor under glass. As previously announced and demonstrated by Fingerprint Cards in February 2016, the FPC1268 is Fingerprint Cards’ first solution optimized for thick materials like cover glass. This enables device manufacturers to integrate fingerprint sensors in new design languages, for example completely invisible under the cover glass or used as a home button covered by glass.

“This is an important milestone for us and also an acknowledgement of our team’s strong technology know-how and drive. We’ve been working hard on commercializing this product since the first demonstration at the Mobile World Congress and we’re proud to see our FPC1268 integrated in its first commercial launch”, says Pontus Jägemalm, Senior Vice President, Research & Development, Fingerprint Cards.

“With FPC1268, we’ve once again shown how our technology extends the barriers of what fingerprint sensors can enable. This is made possible thanks to our complete and holistic offering, including not only hardware, but also state-of-the-art algorithms and secure software implementations”, concludes Pontus Jägemalm.

Source: Planet Biometrics

Security Concerns Force Developers To Retire Bitcoin Alert System

Proper now, the key is at risk of falling into the incorrect arms. If that were to happen, malicious individuals could disrupt the whole Bitcoin network.

Many specific functions make the Bitcoin surroundings attractive to people everywhere in the global. One of those “gear” is the alert machine, which indicates warnings and informational messages to all users. alas, this option may be retired soon, allegedly over safety issues. one among Satoshi Nakamoto’s unique developments will quit to exist, that's a disgrace.

The Bitcoin Alert system has been round for so long as the cryptocurrency exists. showing signals to all cryptocurrency users turned into pretty a useful characteristic. extra importantly, this selection is to be had on cell and desktop pockets solutions, making it a regularly occurring caution device. maximum Bitcoin customers will bear in mind seeing messages of ways their purchaser is obsolete. moreover, users have been also informed regarding phishing campaigns at some stage in the years.

The cease of The Bitcoin Alert machine generation

As is normally the case with first of all evolved functions, the Alert machine isn't without flaws. network-extensive messages must be signed with an Alert key, of which most effective one is in existence. it is similarly not possible to change or revoke stated key once it's miles issued to a selected user or developer. throughout the years, many developers have held onto this key, rendering the idea a bit vain.

In truth, the security concerns stated earlier are the driving aspect in ending the Alert gadget. right now, the key is liable to falling into the wrong palms. If that have been to manifest, malicious people may want to disrupt the complete Bitcoin network. preventing the ability abuse of the number one precedence, which results in retiring the alert system altogether.

but that doesn’t suggest the Bitcoin network can’t be notified of critical bulletins. maximum personal pockets solutions have a integrated system that may be used for these purposes. moreover, cryptocurrency news retailers, which includes NewsBTC, hold users up-to-date regarding all matters Bitcoin. No good sized information will move with the aid of overlooked within the Bitcoin international; that a whole lot is sure.

For now, there is no genuine data as to while the Bitcoin alert device will retire. builders indicated they plan to accomplish that inside the coming weeks. essential personal Bitcoin wallet builders have already eliminated Satoshi Nakamoto’s alert feature from their codebase to deal with those changes.

source : www.newsbtc.com

Microsoft Doubles Down on Ethereum With New Blockchain Product

Microsoft will quickly enter the next phase of its blockchain paintings with the formal release of its Ethereum Consortium Blockchain community.

If a success, Microsoft hopes the mission will assist complete industries paintings collectively to greater without difficulty build more and more complex consortia that better leverage the network effects of shared, immutable ledgers.

As such, a major point of emphasis for the Ethereum Consortium Blockchain community could be usability. The product has been designed in order that agencies of companies can installation a personal ethereum network with a single click.

launched privately to Github in advance this month, the streamlined set-up technique and new functions are a part of a bigger push through Microsoft closer to blockchain that has thus far focused totally on its Azure cloud product as well as the company commercial enterprise marketplace.

Microsoft Azure's principal blockchain architect, Marley grey, ‎told CoinDesk:

    "we're targeted on constructing a sandbox for developers, working with customers and partners to expand and test combinations of technology, and ultimately, helping collections of customers choose the right gear that solve unique enterprise troubles."

in addition to the one-click on deployment, the replace consists of five new tools the project's supervisor said are mainly designed to permit consortia networks develop extra complex clever contracts for any range of self-executing enterprise programs.

Microsoft senior application supervisor Christine Avanessians highlighted one exchange that shall we agencies spin up consortia with as few as 3 nodes run from a unmarried IP deal with.

whilst the carrier still enables geographically dispersed nodes thru the cloud integration, the adjustments could make it easier for groups to test the efficiencies potentially made out of an opportunity installation.

perhaps most significantly although, based totally on purchaser comments on an earlier model, Avanessians said the Ethereum Consortium Blockchain community routinely creates user non-public keys to meet safety necessities.

Avanessians advised CoinDesk:

    "You not need to generate and provide a non-public key. The secret is routinely generated from your furnished passphrase, in addition simplifying the conditions."

on the market for markets

This new incarnation of Microsoft's Ethereum Consortium Blockchain community is just the present day development in what is shaping up to be a aggressive blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) enterprise.

Microsoft's largest direct competitor for cloud-based BaaS offerings so far is IBM, which released its very own competing carrier in July. but startups are attempting their hand at winning employer enterprise as nicely.

Deloitte spin-off Nuco, for instance, entered the marketplace in advance this 12 months in particular to offer offerings for building blockchain consortia.

In may also, Microsoft Azure's leader technical officer told CoinDesk the enterprise's typical aim for its very own version of the service is to help international industries construct blockchain consortia.

thus far, most blockchain consortia have come from the financial quarter, however Microsoft believes destiny industries will follow match.

Already, blockchain consortia are bobbing up round the arena, with efforts in China, Japan and Russia all announced in the previous couple of months.
dollar payments

at the same time as economic numbers at the burgeoning industry are hard to come with the aid of, one indicator of the revenue at stake may be located in Microsoft’s BaaS sandbox, which boasts products from a wide variety of blockchain startups.

monthly prices at the platform begin with a base quantity according to virtual device as low as approximately $14 and as excessive as approximately $90. The charge increases primarily based on the range of IP addresses ($2.98 in keeping with month) and the number of transactions performed ($zero.0036 according to unit).

aid alternatives variety from a loose introductory offer up to $1,000 in keeping with month for expert grade assist.

initially, the advanced Ethereum Consortium Blockchain network is to be had as part of a loose trial to anyone. however, grey says the lengthy-term play is to charge customers to host the network within the Microsoft Azure cloud computing environment.

presently, Microsoft isn’t sharing the names of the agencies constructing with the community, however gray said that the business enterprise does already have customers the use of the service with greater information to come back.

gray concluded:

    "we are able to have greater to share quickly."

source : www.coindesk.com

Bitcoin Blockchain Attracts Weed Growers; Register Strain Origins

The Bitcoin Blockchain is out and away the foremost secure and tested distributed network within the fields of cryptography and digital currencies, largely attributable to its prioritization of security over flexibility and practicality. Weed growers have begun to require advantage of Bitcoin’s advanced security measures to form Associate in Nursing unalterable repository of cannabis genomes.

Over the past few years, the expansion of the cannabis trade has quickly inflated as Associate in Nursing increasing range of states and countries have begun to countenance the usage of medicative and recreational marijuana. As such, additional cannabis brokers, dealers and labs have entered the trade to serve the aggressive market.

For the sake of quality

Because of this growth, labs and researchers square measure continued to check and breed new strains of cannabis on a day after day. Thus, it's become more and more troublesome for customers to guage and analyze the sort of cannabis strains and marijuana-related merchandise that they’ve purchased.

As the cannabis market evolved into a extremely regulated and revered trade, customers and brokers have began to question the legitimacy of sure breeds of cannabis strains and their origins. Quality of marijuana-related merchandise has become a crucial think about their rating and name of weed growers and dealers.

At the instant, it's nearly not possible for a median user or a client to verify the origins and kind of a cannabis strain while not undergoing an in depth science lab take a look at. For inexperienced users, it's troublesome to acknowledge sure sort of cannabis.

Bitcoin Blockchain-based weed installation

For unregistered brokers and unreputable growers, the paradox in awareness of cannabis sorts, genomes and origins will be accustomed their advantage. Registered labs and reliable distributors but take nice pride within the quality of their cannabis strains and merchandise.

As an answer, medicative genetic science has developed a Bitcoin Blockchain-based weed installation with that weed growers will register their cannabis strains with genomic knowledge whereas users, brokers and customers will verify the strain by bearing on the general public incontrovertible ledger of Bitcoin.

Kevin McKernan, medicative Gemonics’ chief science officer, emphasised the importance of exploitation the Bitcoin Blockchain because the basis of the repository, attributable to its unprecedented  security levels and innovative inherent technologies.

McKerman said:

“The Bitcoin Blockchain has been going since 2009 and it’s security is in its proof of labor. If you are managing customers' holding and you are golf stroke it in some facet chain that you are supporting,and if your network goes down and you do not manage that well, then you have allow them to all down.”

source : www.cointelegraph.com

Can Twitter make bitcoin easier to use?

It is no secret that bitcoin has not been able to gain thought acceptance. though the explanations for this ar varied — it's a name of being seedy and volatile — one in every of the most important reasons is its high learning curve. At the vacant minimum, users want an honest bitcoin pocketbook, a secure countersign for that pocketbook and a bitcoin address to send bitcoin to somebody else. many firms have tried to create the method easier with bitcoin ATMs and apps, and one company —  iPayYou —  has created a replacement technique to let users send bitcoin through Twitter.

Gene Kavner, corporate executive of iPayYou and a former director of Amazon Associates, recognized that bitcoin is simply too tough for the typical user.

"It has thus far developed in an exceedingly approach that's too advanced for average person. If you refer to folks in your life, you're reaching to get blank stares if you mention bitcoin," Kavner same in Associate in Nursing interview.

The company at first created a technique to permit folks to send bitcoins via email. for several folks, however, Associate in Nursing email address remains thought-about non-public info, therefore iPayYou planned to develop a technique to send bitcoin payments while not exposing any non-public info. the corporate selected Twitter attributable to its quality.

Known as Pay by Twitter, it's designed in order that once Associate in Nursing iPayYou completes the payment, the receiver receives a Tweet informing him or her of the payment. The receiver will click a link on the Tweet that redirects to the iPayYou web site. The user will then produce a profile and choose between there what to try and do with the bitcoin.

The receiver will value more highly to keep the bitcoin in his iPayYou pocketbook for future use, or he or she will convert the bitcoin into U.S. greenbacks or perhaps send the money to somebody else. once iPayYou launched this service in Gregorian calendar month, the corporate gave users the possibility to do out the service by donating bitcoin to U.S. Presidential candidates.

"We selected to use the presidential candidates as Associate in Nursing example of however very little info is actually needed to send payments over our Pay-by-Twitter feature. it'll open the doors for people to not solely send payment to friends, families and colleagues however additionally support causes and charities which is able to enjoy its true peer-to-peer practicality," Kavner same in an exceedingly promulgation.

The sender may also value more highly to cancel the payment before the receiver accepts the funds.

IPayYou is not the company attempting to create bitcoin easier to use. Earlier this year, BitAccess proclaimed the launch of a tool to permit six,000 Canadian retailers to sell bitcoin. Customers can buy a Flexepin voucher at the stores, which might then be accustomed purchase bitcoin.

Customers at the shop can buy bitcoins in denominations of $10, $30, $50, $100 or $250 every day with a credit or revolving credit. The vouchers are often saved on the BitAccess web site so accessorial to their bitcoin pocketbook of selection.

These developments purpose to a key reality at intervals the bitcoin world.  If it's to achieve thought acceptance, it must be easy.

source : www.mobilepaymentstoday.com