Bitcoin Guru

The DAO Is An Obvious Succes s It is always good to see cryptocurrency projects doing quite well, and The DAO offers something entirely different than we have seen before. As we explained in a previous article, this initiative will make money through ingenious ways, which has attracted a lot of attention from new and existing Ethereum holders. However, no one expected this amount of money to be raised so quickly, as the campaign has surpassed the US$19m mark already. At the time of writing, close to 2 million ETH was found in the address associated with this crowdsale. Translating that to USD – at US$9.95 per ETH – we see a total of US$19,667,528.2. This is quite a significant amount in its own right, and it well surpasses the total amount of money Ethereum itself has raised in the past. Even though the US$18.5m raised during the Ethereum crowdsale was well above expectation, the numbers provided by The DAO show there is still a lot of room left for growth within this ecosystem...

12 shortlisted startups came from around the world to pitch for prizes at Award Ceremony held in Berlin on 17th May. Once the niche technology for coders interested in finance, today blockchains are recognised for their immense potential to disrupt a vast range of industries. To activate this innovation in Europe, GTEC launched an Innovation Award, supported by founding partners RWE and Globumbus, attracting applications from across the globe. Pitching their ideas at the Award Ceremony in Berlin on 17th May, the 12 startups on the competition shortlist came from Ghana, Israel, Germany, Italy and the UK. The founders presented a diverse range of blockchain applications - including decentralized ride-sharing, event ticketing, P2P donations, a decentralized architecture office, international shipping, and land registry in the developing world. Dr. Carsten Stöcker, Innovation Programme Manager, Blockchain Competence Team, RWE Innovation Hub, commented, "The fourth industrial rev...

Bill Barhydt, CEO of mobile payment application Abra, said today that his company has plans to expand its services to the rest of the world by November of next year, according to a telephone interview with CoinDesk. Abra has also informed investors that the company’s expansion strategy includes establishing a presence in North and South America, as well as Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In September of 2015, Abra received $14 million in Series A funding from several VC firms, and in March of this year, Abra made in into Plug and Play’s fintech accelerator. Despite last year’s sizable infusion of capital, Abra is currently operating only in the Philippines, allowing mobile users on any mobile network within the country to convert fiat into digital money via Abra Tellers, which are available nationwide. Filipinos can also cash-out directly from the Abra app into local fiat currency. As Barhydt puts it, the Philippines is a testing ground for the Abra app before it takes...

Charitable organizations stand to gain a lot from accepting Bitcoin payments, due to its global availability and very low transaction fees. The Against Malaria Foundation is the latest organization to accept cryptocurrency payments, although it is limited to a few countries for now. Donate Bitcoin To Against Malaria Foundation The number of charitable organizations around the world keeps on growing, as there are so many people in need of financial aid. The Against Malaria Foundation is trying to tackle one of the most severe life-threatening diseases of all time, and every single US Dollar is more than welcome in the ongoing fight against malaria. But as most people are well aware, every financial institution has to be evaluated on a regular basis. In the case of the Against Malaria Foundation, that evaluation process is handled by GiveWell. This process looks at how effective charities are in turning additional donations into a positive change for the world. Based on the findi...

Open source developer Red Hat, Inc., has announced the launch of the OpenShift Blockchain initiative, which is aimed at software developers and fintech companies looking to build financial applications using this innovative new technology. The OpenShift platform was initially launched in 2015 to provide a flexible developer environment for container applications to software developers, while Red Hat’s technicians maintained the back end of the platform. In February of this year, Red Hat decided to join the burgeoning blockchain space by signing up for Linux Foundation’s Hyperedger project. Julio Tapia, Director of the OpenShift platform, told CoinDesk that Red Hat is looking to bring the innovations in the blockchain industry to the enterprise market, “We want to position ourselves with not only customers and partners, but leverage solutions developed in the entire ecosystem, taking all the innovation going on in the industry, maturing it for an enterprise market and making sure ...

BNP Paribas Securities Services has partnered with French crowdfunding platform SmartAngels, on a pilot program that will use blockchain technology to give small companies and startups the ability to issue shares and raise money from retail and accredited investors. The pilot program will be the first of its kind in France, and is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2016, if regulatory approval is granted. In today’s blog post announcing the partnership, Benoit Bazzocchi, Founder of SmartAngels, explained that the merging of blockchain tech and crowdfunding will open doors for many small companies to obtain capital from many “individuals and professional investors”. The blockchain portion of the pilot program is being designed by BNP Paribas Securities Services, and companies that are currently listed on SmartAngels will be automatically given the ability to issue securities on the new platform. Head of product clearing at BNP Paribas Securities Services, Philippe Ruault, m...

Leading Coin for Online Marketplaces Soars 25x in Value in 45 Days; New Features Include Fiat Price Pegging, Built-in Marketplace & Smart Contracts (April 1, 2016, Washington, DC) – Syscoin (www.syscoin.org), the first cryptocurrency built specifically for the needs of online merchants and marketplaces, has released its eagerly awaited Final 2.0 Beta version, the final step toward the release of its main net release in April, said Sebastien DiMichele, Syscoin spokesperson. Anticipation of this development, coupled with last month’s announcement that it had been chosen by Microsoft for its BaaS service, Azure, has increased both volume, making it a top 10 coin on several exchanges, and increasing its market cap from under $200,000 in early February to more than $5,000,000 in mid-March. At the same time, Syscoin has announced it plans to reduce the ultimate number of authorized coins from its currently planned 2 billion to 900 million, including the current 428 million and ...