Image of The Day, 9 of October: Motherboard, 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. DARK OMENS (Forbes)
IMF issues stark warning over Bitcoin and crypto 'rapid' growth
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned the "rapid growth" of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency assets could create "new vulnerabilities in the international financial system," as the world's banks adjust to the recent Bitcoin and blockchain boom.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, including Ripple Lab's XRP token, Ethereum, Litecoin, EOS, and Stellar, are being examined by the traditional financial system to gauge how they might be integrated as both investment tools and ways to move money across borders more quickly and cheaply.
2. JESUS EXCHANGE (Bloomberg)
Roger Ver considers launching own exchange
The early investor in Bitcoin, who courted controversy last year when he switched his allegiance to an offshoot, Bitcoin Cash, said he’s considering finding a partner to produce the platform, or may “build one internally,” in an interview in Malta.
“If we build it ourselves, we can do it really, really cheap, and we get exactly what we want,” he said of the the firm’s early-stage plans. “But we don’t have the security of a battle-tested exchange that’s been around for a while.”
3. ICY CANADIAN BANKING (The Next Web)
Canadian banking cartel freezes $28M belonging to cryptocurrency exchange
Vancouver-based exchange desk QuadrigaCX claims the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) locked the money and froze accounts belonging to its payment partner, Costodian, and its owner, Jose Reyes. The intervention, which took place earlier in 2018, was allegedly absolutely arbitrary.
The Globe and Mail reports CIBC filed a request to take possession of the $28 million, as it is unable to determine exactly who it belongs to it – Quadriga, Costodian, or the 388 users who actually deposited the funds.
4. DEALING WITH ICOs (Financial Magnates)
ESMA could ‘ultimately’ regulate ‘some’ icos
Europe’s top markets watchdog said it could regulate some ICOs, but would decide whether it was able to or not on a case-by-case basis. Paris-based ESMA, observing a rapid growth in ICOs globally and in Europe, said many digital tokens could fall outside the regulated space, but depending on how they are structured, some ICOs may involve regulated investments.
Steven Maijoor, chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), told the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee that “some of these ICOs are like a financial instrument. Once it is a financial instrument it comes under a whole regulatory framework.”
5. CONSTRUCTIVE SELF CRITICISM (Motherboard)
According to Google, Warren Buffet is the CEO of Bitcoin
One of the Bitcoin community’s most intractable messaging problems is the incorrect assumption that any one person is in charge — a common misunderstanding for people who don’t have much experience with open source protocols. There is no Bitcoin company, and it has no CEO or board of directors; that is, unless you ask Google.
As Redditors first pointed out, and Motherboard confirmed, if you search “CEO of Bitcoin” or “Bitcoin CEO” in Google’s search engine, an information box informs you that the cryptocurrency has several CEOs — among them the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon,who called cryptocurrencies a “scam” in August; superstar investor Warren Buffett, who recently called Bitcoin “rat poison squared;” and Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, who said cryptocurrencies were “junk”in July.
6. HISTORICAL MOMENT (Daily Hodl)
Malta Prime Minister delivers landmark speech on the future of blockchain and cryptocurrencies
The Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, sets the stage for a new future of possibilities. In his speech at the opening of this year’s Delta Summit – Malta’s international conference featuring fintech startups, blockchain entrepreneurs and innovators in the crypto space – Muscat captures a movement that is uniting the world in ways that are more profound than the internet. It’s certainly not just about money. On the strength of cryptography, blockchain is challenging democratic norms and the authorities that centralize data and power. The digital economy that’s emerging will transform how we work and how we’re governed.
Muscat lays out why he believes the new tech is unstoppable.
“From Hong Kong to Helsinki, from Tokyo to Torino, from New York to Nairobi, it is quite rare that in meetings we attend, the same word elicits the same wide open, wide-eyed, expectant, curious and positive reaction. That word is blockchain. That is the reaction I am pleasantly used to getting now. What is even better is that in all corners of the world, blockchain is now associated with another word, and that word is “Malta”. I am so proud of this.”
7. FORKED UP (The Next Web)
SpankChain skips security audit, gets hacked
Another day, another cryptocurrency hack. Notorious blockchain startup SpankChain has temporarily taken down its adult streaming platform after attackers exploited its smart contracts to steal $38,000 worth of Ethereum.
The company, which aims to provide a cryptocurrency payment protocol for the adult industry, confirmed the hack on its official blog. SpankChain further said it expects its streaming platform will remain offline for the next couple of days (and possibly more), until all security flaws have been sorted.
8. ROBOTS AND BLOCKCHAIN (Forbes)
Next steps in the integration of artificial intelligence and the blockchain
Currently, AI startups are being overwhelmingly acquired by companies such as IBM, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Intel and Alibaba, among others. These organizations rely on unprecedented amounts of data to train their AI agents, which offers them an immense competitive advantage. At the same time, their data and capabilities are closed from the rest of the world.
Currently, experts in this space are exploring ways through which blockchain can be deployed to create a decentralized marketplace to enhance AI. This course by MIT is just one indicator of the movement in this space. This will allow people to comfortably share their personally identifiable information (PII) with the assurance that it will remain secure and private through decentralization and secure computing offered by the blockchain.
9. MAKE IT OR BREAK IT (CNN)
The latest experiment in journalism is facing a big test this month
Civil Media, a blockchain company that has partnered with more than a dozen news outlets, has about a week left to sell its new cryptocurrency to the public. The tokens are intended to create the foundation of an economy that is key to the model that Civil envisions for journalism.
So far, it's not clear whether Civil will succeed. The website Token Foundry, which has been measuring the sale, says about $1.4 million worth of tokens has been sold since the sale started in mid-September — well short of the $8 million Civil has set as its soft cap for the project. Its ultimate goal is to raise $24 million worth of tokens. If it doesn't hit the soft cap, the money will be returned.
10. ON A BRINK OF CATASTROPHE (Bloomberg)
Crypto industry on ‘brink of an implosion’
Industry bellwether Bitcoin had seen its daily transaction volumes fall from an average of around 360,000 a day in late 2017 to just 230,000 in September 2018. Meanwhile, daily transaction values were down from more than $3.7 billion to less than $670 million in the same period.
"In short, given our concerns around both the innate valuation of Bitcoin, and of the operating practices of many exchanges, we feel that the industry is on the brink of an implosion," Juniper Research said.