Image of The Day, 4 of October: The Wall Street Journal, The Next Web, Bloomberg 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. FRUITS OF PROGRESS (The Next Web)

Argentina might be getting 150 Bitcoin ATMs by early 2019

Argentina is being eyed as prime territory for expansion by Bitcoin ATM manufacturers, which appear to be preying on the country’s vulnerable fiat currency.

US-based Bitcoin ATM manufacturer, Odyssey Group, is aiming to have 150 Bitcoin dispensing machines installed in Argentina before the year is out. Most of these will be online early next year. The country had its first Bitcoin ATM installed in Buenos Aires earlier this year by BATM manufacturer, Athena Bitcoin.

2. THE BIG GAME CRYPTO (The Daily Hodl)

Trophy property in French Alps up for sale, crypto accepted

Property owners with lavish spreads continue to open their doors to crypto payments.

A French chalet is up for sale for $4.95 million in USD, Bitcoin or Ethereum. The owner will consider other cryptocurrencies as well. With panoramic views of Mont Blanc, the 6-bedroom, 7-bathroom French Alps chalet is located minutes from the town center of Megève, a ski resort village.

According to the listing, “The new owner of this brand new chalet could either use it exclusively for personal use or take advantage of the up to $80,000 per week in rental income that other similar chalets achieve in Megève.”

3. INSURANCE, FULL COVERAGE (Market Watch)

Gemini obtains insurance for its digital assets

Late Wednesday, Gemini Trust Company, the digital asset exchange co-founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, said it had obtained insurance for its digital assets. “Gemini was approved for coverage after successfully demonstrating to underwriters that the company is a leading, best-in-class exchange and custodian,” a news release said.

Anthony Pompliano, the founder and partner at Morgan Creek Digital, said that while it may not be the most rousing news, it’s a big step forward for the maturation of digital currencies. “While insurance is unsexy, it is a critical element to convincing more traditional investors to participate in the crypto markets,” he wrote.

4. FIRST DECADE (Bloomberg)

From pizza to lambos: charting Bitcoin’s first decade

Ten years ago this month, Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper online introducing the concept of a “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash” called Bitcoin. But it wasn’t until May 2010, when software developer Laszlo Hanyecz swapped 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas, that the virtual currency became a means for buying real-world stuff.

Of course, the cryptocurrency universe of today is much bigger than just Bitcoin. More than 1,000 digital currencies trade on exchanges around the world, including everything from serious Bitcoin rivals such as Ether to outright jokes like DogeCoin. When cryptomania peaked in January 2018, the market value of cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap.com surpassed $835 billion.

5. PARTNERSHIP IS IN THE AIR (The Financial Times)

Air France-KLM signs up blockchain partnership

Air France-KLM said it was exploring ways to use blockchain-based technology to cut costs for flyers and increase profits for suppliers by cutting out middlemen. The airline said it had signed up a new partnership with Winding Tree, a specialist in blockchain-based travel bookings, to help test and develop Winding Tree’s technology.

AF-KLM said it hoped the partnership would provide “a more advantageous travel offer for customers which is more profitable for suppliers, in particular by reducing the number of intermediaries.”

6. MAKING MONEY ON THE DUD (Financial Magnates)

Pools making millions of dollars by mining empty blocks

Etherdig, an Ethereum mining pool, is collecting mining fees without processing any transactions. And it is not the only one doing this. Meet ‘spy mining’.

Decrypt Media found that Etherdig has produced 1,250 blocks in the last three months, and processed exactly zero transactions. Its blocks contain only the phrase “Interim Global Authority”, and it has made 3,750 ETH ($840,750 at the current price) in mining rewards over that period. For reference, the Ethereum blockchain processes 5,800 blocks every day, holding approximately 540,000 transactions in total.

7. PURE MAGIC! (The Next Web)

EOS user exploits ‘dumb’ smart contract to make 1B tokens magically appear

Another EOS decentralized app (dApp) has severely botched an airdrop. This time, fledging gambling platform Se7ens is in the spotlight, after a community member managed to credit himself with a billion tokens by exploiting its poorly made smart contract.

Problems arose when the user noticed developers failed to build Se7en’s smart contract correctly. Strangely, they did not use the standard, pre-built EOS functions made specifically for sending tokens – “issue,” and “transfer.” This meant cryptocurrency suddenly appeared in user accounts, rather than being transferred over the blockchain. There is no trace of the transactions being confirmed by the network.

8. THE GAMING AGE (Daily Hodl)

TRON continues to push its bid to challenge Ethereum

TRON continues to push the envelope in its bid to challenge Ethereum with the release of a new blockchain game.

Magic Academy is the first game to run on the TRON network. The game is based on wizards, warriors and other characters who battle for the game’s currency: jade. Jade is a TRC20 token, and each time you purchase new characters or upgrades, your production rate of jade increases. The game features rare prizes represented by TRC721 tokens for specific items.

9. ITS’ NOTHING SPECIAL (The Wall Street Journal)

Investors cool on hotly anticipated London fintech IPO

London’s landmark fintech IPO flopped Wednesday, with shares trading sharply below their offer price, in a key test of investor appetite for the sector.

Shares in peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle closed at 365 pence per share ($4.74) on Wednesday, well below the firm’s flotation price of 440 pence. Shares had earlier fallen as low as 335 pence, a more than 20% discount to the IPO.

10. PREPARING THE BATTLEFIELD (Tech Crunch)

Tencent backs fintech firm Voyager to set up battle with Alibaba in the Philippines

China’s internet battle is rapidly reproducing itself in Southeast Asia. One new hotspot is the Philippines, where Tencent just agreed to invest in Voyager, a fintech business started by telecom firm PLDT.

The deal would bring Tencent into direct competition with arch-rival Alibaba,  which entered the Philippines 18 months ago when its fintech affiliate Ant Financial invested in Mynt, a financial venture from Globe Telecom which is a competitor to Voyager. Following a week of speculation, PLDT  announced a deal that sees Tencent and KKR pay up to $175 million for a minority stake in the Voyager business