Image of The Day, 13 of November: Financial Times, Forbes, Yahoo.Finance and Others
We're presenting "the image of the day". Bitnewstoday.com has chosen the most important news about the digital economy and virtual currencies. Only the most valuable stories from only the trusted sources. Each and every event from this list will change the world of the digital economy either way. The most important stories of this day in the most indicative quotes are below!
1. CHAINS OF MERCY (ZDnet)
Data61 and CBA demonstrate blockchain welfare payments
The CSIRO's Data61 and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia are crowing over a new "smart money" trial that will help manage payments within Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
By using a permissioned Ethereum network with smart contracts that control when and where money from the government can be spent, the pair is touting a potential future where governments, businesses, and welfare recipients do not need to search for receipts and can instantly know balances and activity. For integrity, the report said the blockchain's immutable data model was an improvement, but followed it up with the main drawback of immutability. "Any erroneous or fraudulent payments that were made would be easier to reverse with a centralised database," the final report said.
2. RAMPAGING ELONS (USA Today)
Elon Musk crypto fraud continues
In the latest version of a classic cybersecurity breach, the hackers apparently briefly gained control of big-box chain Target's Twitter account on Tuesday morning. Although Target said it regained control of the account within a half-hour, the hackers were able to post a tweet promising to give out 5,000 Bitcoin in "the biggest crypto-giveaway in the world!".
In multiple cases, hackers have impersonated Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and made a similar Bitcoin pledge. To do so, they installed Musk's Twitter photo on the verified Twitter accounts they hacked and changed the accounts' display name to his. Musk's genuine Twitter account has not been compromised.
3. BEAUTY OF THE GAME (South China Morning Post)
Blockchain will help soccer fan Jason Sze democratise “the game”
Co-founder and CEO of 433 Token to use cryptocurrency transaction system and smart contracts to connect soccer stars with youth players and fans. Sze is unhappy with the current trend when the game has been accused of becoming distant from the fans, with marketing, sponsorship and profits taking precedence over the sport.
If we can democratise football for the fans, they can have higher involvement and decision-making power,” Sze says. Their company, 433 Token aims to use blockchain and smart contracts to connect soccer stars, youth and fans. This will allow soccer to use 433 Token to bid on a chance to hang out with their favourite players, vote on the format, rosters and venues of legends soccer games, and sponsor the mentorship of young players by soccer greats.
4. HARD LABOUR (The Next Web)
Mining, it ain't what it used to be
Japanese internet giant, GMO, has posted a loss of over $5.5 million dollars for its cryptocurrency mining division for the third quarter of this year, according to its recent financial report.
There are no signs that the mining industry is improving either, GMO’s third quarter loss is over $2 million greater than the loss the company posted Q2. According to the report, GMO mined a total of 1,590 Bitcoin and 25 Bitcoin Cash during Q3, but that wasn’t enough to draw a profit against the increasing energy required to mine cryptocurrency.
5. WE JUST WANT YOU TO JOIN! (Daily Hodl)
A strange idea or a great experiment?
There’s a new payment system in town that’s beginning to reach critical mass.
Initiative Q launched five months ago to a select group of people, utilizing an invite-only campaign that has gone viral. The project was created by former PayPal employee Saar Wilf, who sold a transaction verification company to the payment giant back in 2008.
The hook is simple. The earlier users sign up, the more free currency, called Q’s, they get. More than two million people worldwide have signed up for the digital currency and 100,000 new users are signing up each day. Wilf says it didn’t take much for the referral campaign to catch fire. “We invited 200 people we knew, and they invited their friends. In the past few weeks, it’s started to get out to a pretty wide audience. There’s been a gradual process of growth and virality.”
6. END OF A LINE FOR TETHER (Blokt)
Despite the best efforts, stablecoin fails to remain pegged to USD
The widely used and controversial stablecoin, USD Tether (USDT), is struggling to remain pegged to the USD. Many exchanges price their assets against USDT, and this event resulted in the prices of these exchanges trading at a premium.
USDT had since begun to recover but the price action of the last week shows the stablecoin once again starting to decline. The value of the coin currently trades around 0.97 against the USD, and there is much fear of a similar drop to the one we had seen when USDT crashed to 0.85.
7. BIT BY WEBCOBRA (Forbes)
Сryptojacking on the rise: Webcobra Malware uses victims' computers to mine cryptocurrency
McAfee Labs researchers have now discovered a new Russian cryptojacking malware, known as “WebCobra.” WebCobra infects a victim’s computer by silently dropping and installing the Cryptonight miner or Claymore's Zcash miner, depending on the architecture WebCobra finds.
McAfee researchers believe this threat arrives via rogue PUP installers and have observed it across the globe, with the highest number of infections occurring in Brazil, South Africa, and the United States. While McAfee researchers are not entirely sure how this threat propagates, the WebCobra malware is unique in that it does everything possible to learn about the victim’s system.
8. TOTAL DOMINANCE (The Next Web)
IBM appears hell-bent on establishing its dominance in the fledgling blockchain enterprise market
The company has announced a bunch of improvements to its IBM Blockchain Platform, which offers a suite of developer tools to build decentralized solutions. Among other things, the platform will now support third-party cloud providers like AWS (Amazon Web Services).
It was done “to support clients as they work to accelerate solutions that rely on blockchain, IBM is making the Blockchain Platform something a wide range of clients can implement — whether on the IBM Cloud, on another preferred cloud environment such as AWS, or locally using on-premises data centers,” the announcement reads.
9. TALKING IN THE SPOTLIGHT (Blokt)
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse talked about the opportunities for digital assets and blockchain technology in the ASEAN region
Speaking with IMF’s Deputy General Counsel Ross Leckow, Garlinghouse noted on Monday that the unique regulatory frameworks of the region could help in the creation of game-changing technology that will change the future of global payments.
“This clear regulatory environment makes it easier to apply blockchain and digital asset technology to solve real-world business use cases, such as improving cross-border payments across the ASEAN region. The East Asian markets received $130 billion in inbound remittance payments last year alone. They are expensive, and the market is ripe for adoption of new technology, like blockchain, to drive costs dramatically lower,” said Brad.
10. I AM A BIG BOY NOW! (The Bridge)
Is Brooklyn’s blockchain industry becoming a real business?
Certain parts of Brooklyn these days feel like a version of what you might imagine the early days of Silicon Valley were like while the internet was being born. Excited developers and entrepreneurs are leaving behind the suits and briefcases and glass towers of Manhattan for startup T-shirts, jeans, book bags, and renovated factories. This time around, the tech set is working around the clock to produce what they think will be the new internet: the blockchain.
However, there is a looming question — is it going to become a real industry soon or, just like cryptocurrencies, it will come and go, leaving a nasty hangover behind it.