World Economic Forum Warns Leaders to Brace for Long-Lasting Global Recession as Cybercrimes Surge

Hector Chapman

May 22, 2020

World Economic Forum Warns Leaders to Brace for Long-Lasting Global Recession as Cybercrimes Surge

The World Economic Forum (WEF) suggested that leaders around the world need to do more to ensure a quicker and more sustainable recovery for the global economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amongst the 350 top risk professionals in the world surveyed, these risk managers expect a prolonged global recession, as a number of areas of concern were identified in the report compiled by the Forum’s Global Risks Advisory Board, Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc, and Zurich Insurance Group.

Half of the respondents expressed expected bankruptcies and industry consolidation, and failure of industries to recover, and a disruption of supply chains. The World Economic Forum published a report on the importance of blockchain in supply chain disruption amid the pandemic.

Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum said, “The crisis has devastated lives and livelihoods. It has triggered an economic crisis with far-reaching implications and revealed the inadequacies of the past.”

With the onset of the new infectious disease, cybercrimes and the breakdown of IT infrastructure and networks have taken a swerve for the worst. The Forum concluded that around 500 million people would be at risk of falling into poverty, an anticipated fall of 13 to 32 percent in global trade, and a 1 percent of increase in unemployment, which could result in a 2 percent increase in chronic illness.

Levels of unemployment continue to grow, especially in the younger cohort, a lack of progress in reducing carbon emissions are also possible side effects of the pandemic as well. The US federal authorities found that a group of international fraudsters may have been attacking the US unemployment systems, funneling millions of dollars in payments that were intended to support those who were affected economically by COVID-19.

The Forum’s take on blockchain and digitization to address supply chain disruption

The World Economic Forum recently published a new blockchain deployment toolkit aimed to help governments, major institutions, and companies of any size to be able to maximize the benefits of integrating blockchain technology in the supply chain sector. The Forum also highlighted the importance of blockchain for addressing the disruption of supply chain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The toolkit was tested by businesses for a period of time, to make sure it is user-friendly and can have an impact on companies in the future. Nadia Hewett, Blockchain Lead at the World Economic Forum said, “Not only are we now providing the toolkit and all the lessons in subsequent COVID blockchain activities to our partners, governments and private sector; while we developed the toolkit and other ongoing projects, we brought in partners to help co-create and design it with a user-centric approach in mind.”

The World Economic Forum believes with the accelerated release of the blockchain deployment toolkit will also help with the economic recovery post-pandemic. Hewett says that many countries will rely on digitization for its economic recovery, as digitization for trade could act as a way to reduce trade barriers, given all the geopolitical issues.

Feds suspect fraudsters attacked US unemployment systems costing millions

With the number of infections in the US growing at an appalling rate, so far, 1.5 million American citizens have been infected, with over 90,000 related deaths. The unemployment crisis in the country has surpassed the rate since the Great Depression, as the official US unemployment rate is at its highest in recorded history, at an alarming 14.7 percent.

The New York Times obtained a memo from the US Secret Service, indicating that the fraud scheme was coming from a “well-organized Nigerian fraud ring,” and could result in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in the American financial system.

These fraudsters may have leveraged detailed information about US citizens, including social security numbers, which have been obtained from previous cyber attacks. The attackers have also filed claims on behalf of people who have not been laid off, according to officials.

Risks of UK supply chains ahead of Brexit

Ahead of Brexit, the British are facing issues in disrupted supply chains due to the coronavirus pandemic. With just seven months to go before Brexit takes place, 82 percent of small to medium-sized manufacturers say that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their supply chains.

Image via Shutterstock

Blockchain Evidence and Courts – A cross-jurisdictional analysis

Jodi Moore

May 22, 2020

Blockchain Evidence and Courts – A cross-jurisdictional analysis

Share and get +16 +16 This article will analyze the developments about Blockchain evidence and courts in the USA, China, Azerbaijan, the United Kingdom and Italy.A number of major jurisdictions across the globe have recently addressed the issue of the admissibility of evidence recorded on blockchain in courts. These developments have taken place in a number of ways; some jurisdictions have passed new laws to specifically regulate the legal recognition of blockchain evidence, others have amended existing laws, while certain jurisdictions have published statements clarifying their regulation under existing law.Blockchain Evidence and CourtsUSAThe Federal Government of the United States has not exercised its constitutional power to implement legislation regulating the admissibility of blockchain evidence in court. Thus, states enjoy residual power to implement their own legislation. The Federal Rules of Evidence establish a minimum requirement in what is referred to as the ‘best evidence rule’ which establishes that the best evidence must be used at trial. Rule 1002 of the Federal Rules of Evidence states “An original writing, recording, or photograph is required in order to prove its content unless these rules or a federal statute provides otherwise”.Several states have regulated blockchain through introducing their own legislation and rules, particularly with regard to the regulation of cryptocurrency – or as termed by various legislators, virtual currencies. New York kickstarted legislative developments in the USA through the regulation of virtual currency companies, and eventually, several states followed suit, with 32 states implementing their own rules and regulations. The states of Illinois, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, New York and Ohio have passed or introduced legislation that specifically regulates the admissibility of blockchain evidence in court.IllinoisThe Blockchain Technology Act House Bill 3575, which was passed by the House of Representatives on the 29th May 2019 and came into effect in January 2020, regulates the use of blockchain technology in transactions and proceedings, provides limitations, and also defines terms such as blockchain and electronic record. The Act states that “a smart contract, record, or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because a blockchain was used to create, store or verify the smart contract, record or signature”. Evidence of a smart contract, record or signature which was created, stored or verified through blockchain cannot be excluded in proceedings. Furthermore, where the law requires records to be in writing, electronic evidence recorded on blockchain is sufficient. Where a signature is required, submission of a signature recorded electronically on blockchain or blockchain evidence verifying the intent of a person to provide a signature is likewise sufficient.Certain limitations to the use of blockchain are also stipulated in the Act. A notable limitation is that where an agreement between the parties exists to conduct a transaction by using blockchain, and the law requires that such contract or record relating to the transaction is in writing, the legal validity of the contract may be denied if the blockchain containing the electronic record of the transaction is not in a form which may be stored and accurately reproduced for all parties. Another limitation is that where a notice or acknowledgement must be given in writing, this requirement is not satisfied by delivering or recording the notice or acknowledgement on blockchain where the notice is of cancellation or termination of a public utility, matters related to primary residences, health and life insurance policies, and recall of products.VermontHouse Act 868, ergo ‘An act relating to miscellaneous economic development’, passed on the 2nd June 2016 includes a section dedicated to the recognition of the validity of blockchain records and their admissibility in court. In essence, the Act brings digital records electronically stored on blockchain on par with Vermont’s rules of evidence, thus such records are admissible in court and have legal bearing. The Act states that a digital record electronically registered in a blockchain is self-authenticating if it is accompanied by a written declaration of a qualified person, made under oath, stating the qualification of the person making such certification and the date and time the record entered the blockchain, the date and time the record was received from the blockchain, that the record was maintained on the blockchain as a regular conducted activity, and that the record was made by the regularly conducted activity as a regular practice. However, the presumption does not extend to the truthfulness, validity, or legal status of the contents of the fact or record. Such digital record is considered as a record of regularly conducted business activity, unless the source of the information, the method or circumstance lack trustworthiness. The Act also lays down several presumptions. Firstly, the record is considered to be authentic. Furthermore, the date and time of the record is the date and time that the record was added to the blockchain. The person presumed to have made the recordation is also the one which the blockchain establishes. Persons against whom electronically stored evidence is presented may challenge the authenticity of such records by producing evidence demonstrating that the “presumed fact, record, time or identity is not authentic as set forth on the date added to the blockchain”.While the law still requires an element of human verification, the provisions of this act are still significant as they affirm the evidentiary potential of blockchain records. The ramifications of this Act would be further magnified if states such as New York and California implement similar provisions, where this type of evidence is more likely to be utilized.VirginiaHouse Bill 2415 titled ‘Business records; electronically registered on a blockchain self-authenticating document’ was submitted as a bill on the 1st September 2019 and has not yet been passed into law by the House of Representatives. The bill seeks to amend the Code of Virginia, and the provisions outlined in this bill are very similar to those contained in Vermont’s H.A. 868. The bill lays down that “in any civil proceeding where a business record electronically registered on a blockchain is material and otherwise admissible, the record shall be presumed to be self-authenticating and requires no extrinsic evidence of authenticity”. However, this presumption does not extend to the truthfulness, validity or legal status of the contents of the record. The presumptions established by the bill are identical to those laid down in Vermont’s H.A.868, regarding, inter alia, the authenticity of the record, the date and time, and the person who made the record. Another identical provision states that records meeting such requirements will be considered as records of regularly conducted business activity, unless the source of information lacks trustworthiness.WashingtonIn the State of Washington, Senate Bill 5638, an Act ‘Relating to recognizing the validity of distributed ledger technology’ was passed into law on the 26th April 2019 and came into effect on the 28th July 2019. The Act defines an electronic record as “a record generated, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means for use in an information system or for transmission from one information system to another”. Electronic records may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability on the grounds that they are generated, communicated, received, or stored using distributed ledger technology.Arizona & New YorkArizona House Bill 2417 was signed into law on the 29th March 2017 and amended the Arizona Revised Statutes by adding a new section on electronic transactions. Through this amendment, a signature secured through blockchain is considered to be in electronic form and constitutes an electronic signature, and records or contracts secured through bloc
kchain are also considered to be in electronic form and to constitute electronic records. Furthermore, smart contracts may exist in commerce and contracts related to a transaction cannot be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability on the grounds that such contracts contain a smart contract term. Thus, legal certainty is provided regarding the enforceability and validity of smart contracts.In the State of New York, Assembly Bill 1683 and Senate Bill 4142 propose practically identical amendments to those presented in Arizona H.B. 2417 to the Electronic Signature and Records Act of the State Technology law. The Bills contain the same provisions regarding the recognition of electronic signatures and contracts secured through blockchain and the validity of smart contracts. A.B. 1683 is currently in Assembly Committee, while S.B. 4142 has passed Senate.OhioSenate Bill 300 was introduced in May 2018 and sought to amend the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, with the original text containing provisions stating that “a record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form”. The bill also stated that where law requires records to be in writing or requires a signature, electronic records and electronic signatures satisfy such requirements. Furthermore, the bill proposed the recognition of smart contracts having full legal effect and enforceability even if “an electronic record was used in its formation or…contains a smart contract term”.Some of these provisions included in Senate Bill 300 were incorporated into Senate Bill 200 which was signed into law on the 3rd August 2018. Through the promulgation of this bill, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act was amended to state that “a record or contract that is secured through blockchain technology is considered to be in electronic form and to be an electronic record”, and electronic signatures secured through blockchain technology are also recognized as electronic signatures. However, the provisions in Senate Bill 300 recognizing the validity of smart contracts were omitted from Senate Bill 200. Thus, while the provisions regarding electronic records and signatures are similar to those passed in Arizona, the State of Ohio does not currently recognize smart contracts as valid unlike the State of Arizona.ChinaThe Hangzhou Internet Court in China was the first court to accept evidence recorded on blockchain in June 2018 in the case Hangzhou Huatai Yimei Culture Media Co. Ltd. v. Shenzhen Daotong Technology Development Co. Ltd. The plaintiff company had obtained a license to publish an article online from City Express Newspaper, which the website First Female Fashion Network, owned by the defendant company, republished without authorization. The plaintiff was authorized to enforce online infringements thus instituted proceedings in January 2018.The plaintiff had stored evidence of the copyright consisting of snapshots of the article webpages on a blockchain deposition service called Baoquan.com. The court examined the validity of the evidence presented by the plaintiff by analyzing the way Baoquan.com preserved the data, which consisted of obtaining a copy of the snapshot, source code of the webpage and invocation log and storing them in a package file. The package file’s hash value was then calculated and stored on the Factom and Bitcoin blockchains. The Court deemed this as reliable. The Court then proceeded to confirm that the hash values recorded on the two blockchains and the hash value represented by the plaintiff were identical, and the time stamps were also cohesive with the time when the webpage content was captured.The Court reiterated that blockchain is capable of providing secure electronic data and when examining the admissibility of this data as evidence, attention should be paid to the source of the data, whether the methods used for its collection and storage were reliable, and whether such evidence is associated with other evidence available.Through this judgement by one of the Internet Courts established in China, it is clear that China is laying the very foundations for admissibility of blockchain evidence in courts around the world.On the 7th September 2018, China’s Supreme People’s Court issued ‘Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases by Internet Courts’. These provisions regulate the proceedings of the country’s three Internet courts in Hangzhou, Beijing and Guangzhou which primarily deal with disputes involving online shopping, network service contract disputes, copyright infringement of work published online, and ownership issues of Internet domain names among others. Generally, the entire litigation process takes place online.Article 11 of the provisions regulate the admissibility of blockchain evidence and state that;“electronic data submitted by the parties concerned, if collected through electronic signature, trusted timestamping, hash value verification, blockchain and other evidence collection, and verified with retention and tamper-proof technical means or via the electronic forensics and deposit platform, which are able to prove its authenticity, the Internet Court shall confirm its authenticity”.This essentially confirms the decision taken by the Hangzhou Internet Court earlier in 2018, and extends the rules established therein to the other Internet courts.The Jiangsu High Court also issued ‘Guidelines on Implementation of the Most Stringent Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights to Provide Judicial Guarantees for High Quality Development’ in September 2019. These guidelines cover several issues, including the admissibility of blockchain evidence. Article 9 specifically states that evidence collected or preserved technologically should be recognized at law, and judges should recognize evidence stored on blockchain as valid if it meets the standard of proof.On the 30th October 2019, the Beijing Internet Court decided its first case instituted by the plaintiffs ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok against HuoPai Video. TikTok is a mobile application where users upload and share short video clips, which has gained popularity globally. Baidu Technologies developed a very similar application called HuoPai, and uploaded one of the videos originally uploaded on TikTok without permission and even offered its users the ability to download such video. ByteDance sued for an injunction and damages. The case was filed online and the hearing was also conducted online, and the Court even accepted digital evidence recorded on blockchain. The third party platform Zhongjing Tianping Technology had stored evidence which proved that the video had been stolen, thus the Court was able to find Baidu guilty of copyright infringement.AzerbaijanIn October 2018, discussions were underway among the Azerbaijani Internet Forum (AIF) for the Ministry of Justice to implement blockchain technology in several departments within its remit. Currently, the Ministry provides more than 30 electronic services and 15 information systems and registries, including “electronic notary, electronic courts, penitentiary service, information systems of non-governmental organizations”, and the register of the population, among others. Part of the AIF’s plans is to introduce a “mobile notary office” which would involve the notarization of electronic documents. Through this process, the registry’s entries will be stored on blockchain which parties will be able to access but not change, thus preventing falsification. Future plans also include employing smart contracts in public utility services such as water, gas and electricity.United KingdomThe Digital Architecture and Cyber Security at Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) announced plans to conduct a pilot project whereby DLT would be employed to securely store digital evidence in August 2018. £1.2 billion have already been invested in the modernization of courts in the United Kingdom, with the ultimate aim of digital transformation eliminating the use of paper to streamline the
courts’ processes and facilitate access to information.Through this innovative system, a digital audit trail would be created which provides a record of the ways in which digital evidence is created, accessed, and modified, and by which entity and from which location, which would enable a thorough examination of the event which led to such evidence. The project aims to harness the integrity and decentralization provided by DLT for improved “evidence sharing, identity management and ensuring citizens have maximum control over their own information”. The implementation of DLT would also reduce the cost and time taken up by the process of storing evidence, while preventing the tampering of evidence.In November 2019, the legal treatment of cryptoassets and smart contracts was ascertained through the publishing of the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce’s (UKJT) legal statement following consultation earlier in the year. UKJT, which forms part of the LawTech Delivery Panel, confirmed that smarts contracts have legal contractual force under English law, which requires the agreement of two or more parties intending to create a legal relationship through such agreement and who will each derive some form of benefit from such contract. These requirements may very well be satisfied by smart contracts, however, the Courts would enquire into each individual case, and more specifically the “parties’ words and conduct”, to determine whether these requirements were in fact satisfied when presented with a smart contract – just as it would enquire with any other contract. The statement reads that “in principle a smart contract can be identified, interpreted and enforced using ordinary and well-established legal principles”, both where code is used to define the parties’ contractual obligations or simply to create an agreement the meaning of which is found externally. The statement also confirms that both unilateral smart contracts such as those involving Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), as well as lesser-used bilateral smart contracts, are recognized at law. Finally, where the law requires a written signature, this requirement can be satisfied by using a private key. On a practical note, when it comes to interpretation by the courts, it is clarified that smart contracts will be treated in the same way as other contracts, with the judges focusing their interpretation on the parties’ intentions as to what the nature of their obligations ought to be; however, expert evidence may be needed to interpret computer code.ItalyIn January 2019, the Italian Parliament passed Law No. 12/2019 which confirmed the legal validity of smart contracts and DLT. The law defines DLT as:“technologies and information protocols that use a shared, distributed, replicable, simultaneously accessible, architecturally decentralized registry on a cryptographic basis, such as to allow registration, validation, updating and archiving of data, both in clear and further protected by cryptography, that are verifiable by each participant, are not alterable and not modifiable”.The law states that the storage of a computerized document on DLT has the same legal effects as an electronic time stamp under Article 41 of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014, also known as the eIDAS Regulation. The Regulation defines an electronic time stamp as “data in electronic form which binds other data in electronic form to a particular time establishing evidence that the latter data existed at that time”. Article 41(1) of the Regulation states:“1. An electronic time stamp shall not be denied legal effect and admissibility as evidence in legal proceedings solely on the grounds that it is in an electronic form or that it does not meet the requirements of the qualified electronic time stamp.”However, Article 41 goes on to state that only qualified electronic time stamps “enjoy the presumption of the accuracy of the date and the time it indicates and the integrity of the data to which the date and time are bound”. In order for an electronic time stamp to be considered qualified, the following three requirements must be satisfied as set out in Article 42 of eIDAS:“1. A qualified electronic time stamp shall meet the following requirements:(a) it binds the date and time to data in such a manner as to reasonably preclude the possibility of the data being changed undetectably;(b) it is based on an accurate time source linked to Coordinated Universal Time; and(c) it is signed using an advanced electronic signature or sealed with an advanced electronic seal of the qualified trust service provider, or by some equivalent method.”Therefore, a qualified electronic time stamp would have to be made by an authorized certification body such as a qualified trust service provider, which is not common practice in most blockchains. This requirement runs counter to one of blockchain technology’s most important characteristic – decentralization – however, this categorization would only be required if the evidence presented is challenged to demonstrate the accuracy of the data presented. One can perhaps debate the possibility of expanding on the part relating to ‘equivalent methods’ in order to include trusted technologies such as DLT.Law No. 12/2019 also provides a definition of smart contracts, and states that where the law requires a written contract, smart contracts satisfy such requirement once the contracting parties are identified digitally.Through these clarifications, data stored on DLT as well as smart contracts are granted legal validity and are admissible in a court of law in Italy.The Future of Blockchain EvidenceIt is evident that several major jurisdictions are making noticeable developments towards granting blockchain evidence, particularly smart contracts, legal validity in an effort at providing more legal certainty on the regulation of blockchain technology. Out of the five countries analyzed, four countries have specifically amended legislation in this regard, with most laws providing similar definitions of smart contracts, DLT, cryptoassets and digital signatures. However, while these legislative developments set the foundation for the admissibility of blockchain evidence, in most jurisdictions courts are yet to give practical application to these provisions. China is an exception to this observation, with its Internet Courts hearing two separate cases where blockchain evidence was admitted and even affected the judgement given. With rapid developments in the industry seeing the increased dependability on DLT for a variety of transactions, even by national authorities such as Azerbaijan’s registries, courts will eventually be faced with numerous scenarios where parties will seek to support their claims with blockchain evidence. To this end, legal certainty must be ensured in every jurisdiction seeking to keep abreast with these technological developments.

Bill Gates’ COVID Conspiracy Grows In Italian Parliament, Allegations of Population Control by Political Anti-Vaxxer

Hector Chapman

May 22, 2020

Bill Gates’ COVID Conspiracy Grows In Italian Parliament, Allegations of Population Control by Political Anti-Vaxxer

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many subjects to the forefront: our reliance on oil, manufacturing in China, the need for digital dollars, the frailty of our global supply chain, and our lack of preparation to deal with the outbreak.
However, perhaps the strangest topic online and the most unavoidable has been the conspiracy theory chasing Bill Gates and his foundation’s efforts to produce a Covid-19 vaccine. The accusations range from him directly being the cause of the pandemic, to being the head of an Illuminati like circular cabal bent on controlling the world through microchips, and now an insidious plan to depopulate the planet of billions of people.
Where we Came In
We are a blockchain news site, while we absolutely love discussing technologies that may appear to border on fantasy, it has never been our intention to dive into the realm of conspiracy and allegations. However, while this conspiracy began for us as a simple write up on a cutting-edge Microsoft crypto mining patent, the story was bigger to some people than we ever could have imagined and has now taken on a life of its own.
In an effort to put this story to bed once and for all, as far as we are concerned, we have decided to look a little more closely at the allegations and perhaps shed some light, for some, on why they may be getting carried away with their perceptions of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and their effort to combat the coronavirus.
The Devil’s Patent
In March 2020, Microsoft filed a patent with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for a new system that proposes using sensors, not microchips, to detect and calculate the amount of energy and time spent on a pre-determined activity, like engaging with an advertisement. The sensors apparently are capable of gauging both physical and brain activity and convert that sum into data which can be used by computers to solve computational problems and create new blocks.
What we did not really pay attention to, at the time, was the peculiar patent number of the Microsoft technology – WO/2020/060606. This number, however, did not slip past the Oscar-winning Russian director, Nikita Mikhalkov. A devout Christian, Mikhalkov immediately noticed that the last few numbers of the patent seemed to include the devil’s number, “666” in the application.
Appearing on Russian TV, Mikhalkov said, “The 060606 part is somewhat alarming. You probably understand this, right? Is this a coincidence or an intentional selection of such a symbol, which in the Apocalypse of John is called the ‘number of the beast’ – the 666.”
While Gates has been commended by most for his proactive efforts, Mikahlkov has claimed that the coming COVID-19 vaccination distributed by the Bill Gates Foundation will be a trojan horse for a microchip, in an insidious scheme to enslave the world.
The Oscar-winning director is so confident in his claims that he went on to name Herman Graf, the Head of Russian bank Sberbank, as a co-conspirator, and his arguments have been convincing enough for former Tennis champion and now Russian politician Marat Safin—who has shown public support for the director’s theory.
The Obvious Possible Explanation
Perhaps unknown to both Mikhalkov and Safin, is that patent filing numbers are simply generated according to the guidelines of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. And both of these men do not ever contend with Microsoft’s US patent number, which was published in the United States as US20200097951. We assume it is because there are no numbers linked to biblical prophecies or ‘Satan’ in this filing.
The first numbers ‘2020’ simply represent the year, and the rest is simply the order it was filed in. Not too much to this one.
Plandemic and the Anti-Vaxxer Virologist
A week ago, a clip from a soon to be released documentary called ‘Plandemic’ went viral on YouTube before being removed. The clip featured a disgraced virologist named Dr. Judy Mikovits accusing a sinister corporate-controlled “circular cabal” led by Bill Gates himself, of creating the coronavirus pandemic.
Mikovits is adamant that this group she refers to as a “circular cabal” is led by Microsoft Founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates and she even goes on to accuse Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of burying her research which allegedly proved that vaccines weaken people’s immune systems and made them more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
In the viral clip from Plandemic, Mikovits insists that her research was buried and she even goes as far as saying that wearing a mask actually activates the coronavirus. She alleges that Dr. Fauci, who is the face of the Trump administration’s outbreak containment efforts, has censored her warnings to the public. Unfortunately, a little fuel was added to this fire when Trump himself began to publicly question the origins and spread of COVID-19, suggesting it was man-made.
The Obvious Possible Explanation
Prior to the clip of Plandemic being released, Mikovits had already authored and published a book entitled the ‘Plague of Corruption’ which frames herself as the brave whistleblower being held at bay by an Illuminati-like ‘deep state’ organization.
Mikovits has received a lot of support, unfortunately, due to her training as a virologist. But in her excuses regarding her lack of legitimate support, she and her following have consistently failed to mention that her research has never been successfully replicated in other laboratories—meaning it has failed the scientific research standard of peer review. This is basically the reason why anyone’s research would be disregarded, and another point many do not want to contend with is that Mikovits does appear to have a notorious anti-vaxxer history and her research also appears to be driven by her agenda allowing her to draw the conclusions she would like to see. If this were not the case, her research would have held up. But it didn’t.
Mikovits down.
Italy Calls for the Arrest of Bill Gates
The most recent in the line of allegations came less than a week ago, this time by Italian politician Anna Cunial who took to the house floor to call for the arrest of Bill Gates as she believes he is on a mission to depopulate the world by up to 15%.
Cunial alleges that Gates has been working on depopulation and dictatorial control plans on global politics, aiming to obtain control over agriculture, technology, and energy. Cunial’s allegations appear to fit in with Mikovits’ own accusations, alluding to a powerful deep-state government that Gates himself controls. She subscribes to the claim circulating on social media, that Gates owns the “patent” for the SARS-CoV2, a virus that wasn’t even discovered until January 2020. The theory goes that this entire pandemic is just to create a need for a vaccine from which Gates will subsequently profit.
Cunial points to Event 201 which took place in Davos Switzerland, and officially served as a simulation for the prevention and control of such a pandemic. She quotes Bill Gates from the day of the simulation, who she claims said, “If we do a good job on vaccines, health, and reproduction, we can reduce the world population by 10-15%, only a genocide can save the world.”
Cunial goes on to put an unsupported, by anyone of substance, spin on some of the Gates Foundation’s achievements, “With his vaccines, Gates managed to sterilize millions of women in Africa. Gates caused a polio epidemic that paralyzed 500,000 children in India, and still, today with the DPT vaccines, Gates causes more death than the disease itself.”
The Obvious Possible Explanation
First, let’s dispel the myth that Italy is out for the arrest of Gates. No, the Italian authorities have not been as compelled as the red-eyed Youtube users and underground chat scene to take up arms against the philanthropist.
While Cunial’s argument was lengthy and quite articulate on the Italian parliament floor, and she did cover all her bases mentioning everything from the Bilderberg Group to Monsanto GMOs—Cunial’s argument seemed to really fall down when she kept returning to Gates’ motivations as simply being to control-everything.
She is especially disturbed and perplexed with Gates’ ability to have predicted the pandemic after only spending a decade speaking to the most intelligent minds the world has to offer on the subject. It seems for his accusers, Gates’s most significant and obvious flaw has been his long campaign to prevent these diseases and to continue to pursue vaccines for diseases that really should no longer exist and have a larger impact on the third world and developing nations.
The reality at this point is that Cunial has never seen a vaccine that she liked, and so far she has not published or provided any hard evidence for her accusations, which may sound powerful when spoken but really falls apart quite quickly when any actual research goes into them. She claims money and control to be his main motivations, “The Italian contribution to the International Alliance against the coronavirus will be 140 million Euros of which 120 million Euros will be given to Gavi Alliance the no-profit created by the Gates Foundation. This is just part of the 7.4 billion funds by the EU to find a vaccine against coronavirus which will be used.”
Again lets layout these motivations for the alleged evil of Bill Gates logically—yes, Cunial is actually saying that Gates is in pursuit of money and control?
Unless you have been living under a rock since the 1990s, you are probably aware that Gates is the founder of a little company called Microsoft and this has made him incredibly rich. In fact, rich beyond our, and definitely Cunial’s, narrow comprehension. 120 million Euros is definitely a lot of money, but not really to someone who has over 100 Billion USD and change, and is still earning exponentially. Gates and his family for generations upon generations will never ever be in need of money.
Additionally, there are a lot of easier ways to make money than selling vaccines, which have to go through very extensive testing and regulatory requirements. Vaccines also do not even have anything close to the profit margins of other non-essential medications like a Viagra or even a basic health supplement.
As far as global control goes, again perhaps Cunial has not visited an actual office in the last 30 years, but Microsoft’s technology is more than likely the glue that holds most offices together. Gates does not need to infiltrate us with his technology, we are already on board. If he wanted to infiltrate us, he could do it the next time Windows tells you it’s time for an update.

What is An Initial Coin Offering? Raising Millions In Seconds

Jodi Moore

May 22, 2020

What is An Initial Coin Offering? Raising Millions In Seconds

Share and get +16 +16 Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is the cryptocurrency’s world public crowdsale. Whenever a project wants to launch a new coin or dApp, they can conduct an ICO to attract investors into their ecosystem.ICO DefinitionThe most alluring part of ICOs is the lack of red tape and formality. More often than not, a company simply has to submit a whitepaper to qualify for an ICO. Companies have been able to raise millions of dollars in mere seconds, thanks to ICOs.In fact, the amount of money that ICOs have raised over the last two years is truly astonishing. In 2017, ICOs raised a total of $5.6 billion. If that sounds shocking to you then think about this.ICOs have already raised $6.3 billion, 4.5 months into 2018 alone!After seeing all these stats, it makes sense as to why more and more people are getting intrigued with ICOs. Our guide gives an overview on Initial Coin Offering- ICO and presents the hottest past, current, and future ICOs. What is An Initial Coin Offering?ICOs are basically blockchain crowdsales, the cryptocurrency version of crowdfunding. The ICOs have been truly revolutionary and have managed to accomplish many amazing tasks:They have provided the simplest path by which DAPP developers can get the required funding for their project.Anyone can become invested in a project they are interested in by purchasing the tokens of that particular DAPP and become a part of the project themselves.It was in July 2014 when ICOs well and truly came into the public’s attention. That was when the ICO ethereum raised .4 million and ushered in a new age of ICOs. Since 2013 ICOs are often used to fund the development of new cryptocurrencies. The pre-created token can be easily sold and traded on all cryptocurrency exchanges if there is demand for them.With the success of ethereum, ICOs have become the de-facto method of funding the development of a crypto project by releasing a token which is somehow integrated into the project. Short History of Initial Coin OfferingMaybe the first cryptocurrency distributed by an ICO was Ripple. In early 2013 Ripple Labs started to develop the Ripple called payment system and created around 100 billion XRP token. The company sold these token to fund the development of the Ripple platform.Later in 2013, Mastercoin promised to create a layer on top of bitcoin to execute smart contracts and tokenize Bitcoin transactions. The developer sold some million Mastercoin token against bitcoin and received around mio.Several other cryptocurrencies have been funded with ICO, for example, Lisk, which sold its coins for around $5mio in early 2016. Most prominent however is ethereum. In mid-2014 the Ethereum Foundation sold ETH against 0.0005 bitcoin each. With this, they receive nearly $20mio, which has become one of the largest crowdfunding ever and serves as the capital base for the development of Ethereum.As ethereum itself unleashed the power of smart contracts, it opened the door for a new generation of Initial Coin Offering.Ethereum – The Initial Coin Offering? ICO Crowdfunding MachineOne of the easiest application of ethereum’s smart contract system is to create a simple token which can be transacted on the Ethereum blockchain instead of Ether. This kind of contract was standardized with ERC#20. It made ethereum host of such a wide scope of ICO that you can safely say that Ethereum found its Killer App as a distributed platform for crowdfunding and fundraising. The most prominent demonstration of the potential of Ethereum’s smart contracts has been The DAO. The distributed investment company was fuelled with Ether worth $100m. The investors received in exchange against Ether Dao Token which had their own market price and enabled the holder to participate in the governance of the DAO. After it was hacked, the DAO however failed.The concept of funding projects with a token on Ethereum became the blueprint for a new and highly successful generation of crowdfunding projects. If you already tried out, you know that investing in token on top of ethereum is charmingly easy: You transfer ETH, paste the contract in your wallet – and, tata: The token appear in your account and you are free to transfer them as you want.Before we go any further, let’s understand what tokens mean.Tokens = ICO Cryptocurrency?Image Credit: IB TimesThe word “token” gets thrown around a lot, however, more often than not, people simply don’t know what it means. To be honest, it can be extremely difficult to pinpoint an exact definition. Let’s at least start with a very broad definition: A token is a representation of something in its particular ecosystem. It could value, stake, voting right, or anything. A token is not limited to one particular role; it can fulfill a lot of roles in its native ecosystemHaving said that, there is a difference between cryptocurrency coin and token. Coins like ethereum, Bitcoin, and Bitcoin Cash are examples of cryptocurrency coin, since they have value outside their native environment.However, projects like OmiseGO and Golem are tokens because they exist on top of an existing smart contract platform, like ethereum.According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) there are two kinds of tokens out there:Security TokensA crypto token that passes the Howey Test is deemed a security token. For a token to pass the Howey Test, it must fulfill the following conditions:Is it an investment of money?Is the investment in a common enterprise?Is there an expectation of profit from the work of the promoters or the third party?Note: “Common Enterprise” is still open to interpretation. However, the majority of the federal courts define it as a horizontal enterprise where investors pool in their Since most ICOs are investment opportunities in the company itself, the tokens classify as security. Security tokens are subject to federal securities and regulations since they derive their value from external, tradable assets.Utility TokensOn the other hand, if the token doesn’t pass the Howey test, then it classifies as a utility token. These tokens simply provide users with a product and/or service. Think of them like gateway tokens which can:Give holders a right to use the networkGive holders a right to take advantage of the network by votingSo, now we know what an ICO is and what tokens are. Let’s actually look into the mechanism of how an ICO works.How Does the ICO Crowdsale Work?Image Credit: ApplicatureSmart Contract platforms like ethereum and Neo allow developers to create their Dapps on them. Think of them like a decentralized supercomputer and the Dapps as the applications that one can execute inside.In order to gain funding for the project, the developer issues a limited amount of tokens (could be utility or security). It is important that the tokens have a limited amount because:It makes sure that the ICO has a goal to aim forAs the demand rises and the supply of token diminishes, it makes sure that the value of the tokens will go up. The tokens have a predetermined price which may go up or down depending on the demand.ICO trading is pretty simple and straightforward. If you want to buy some tokens, then you send some cryptocurrency (Ether if the platform is ethereum) to the crowd-sale address. The moment you do that, you get the corresponding amount of tokens sent to your wallet.Obviously, this is just a general overview. There is a lot of marketing that goes on leading up to the date of the ICO. In fact, paid advertising used to be so rampant that social media giants like Facebook and Twitter had to ban ICO-related ads on their platforms.Pros and Cons of ICO ExplainedImage Credit: BlueoceanProsMost importantly, ICOs give promising projects an opportunity to shine. The prime example of this has to be ethereum. Look at what it has achieved over the last 3 years. Not only has it become a part of our zeitgeist, they have provided an ideal platform for other projects to develop on top of them.Many projects in the “centralized world” never get to do their IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) because of the sheer amount of unnecessary paperwork inv
olved. However, blockchain projects can simply take part in an ICO by presenting a good quality ICO whitepaper. What is ICO whitepaper you ask?It is a concisely written piece of documentation which presents the problem that the project is aiming to solve and the method that they will be following in order to solve it. Upon reading the white paper, the potential investors can choose to invest or not in the project.Another brilliant thing that an ICO manages to do is to establish a rapport between the project and their community. Any ICO creator worth their salt will tell you how critical it is for them to develop a healthy community.Quantstamp is a perfect example of this. They were able to raise all their ICO money organically because of their healthy relationship with their community.The fact that blockchain crowdfunding was able to collect $6.8 billion in 4.5 months just goes to show how much hype and demand there is behind these projects. Such kind of exposure will do wonders for them.In a similar vein, ICO funding provides a huge incentive for developers to go the extra step and come up with more exciting and innovative projects.For investors, ICOs provide an opportunity for them to invest and discover the “next big thing.” Let’s give you the perfect example, Ethereum. During the ICO, 1 Ether was trading for 40-50 cents. As of right now, they are trading for $477 each.ConsRemember how we told you earlier that one of the biggest pros of ICOs is the lack of paperwork involved? Unfortunately, it is a double-edged sword. Loads of scammers have entered this space hoping to make a quick buck.They simply create a bogus white paper or omit some of the more important details off their whitepaper to make their projects seem more important and intricate than what they actually are. When you are investing in a project’s ICO you are not actually investing in the project, you are investing in the idea of the project. As such, it works on pure speculation which is based on the quality of the white paper and the credibility of the team. So, you simply have no idea whether the project is actually going to be a success or not when you invest.This is where certain cold-hard facts should be considered. 90% of the startups fails. Either the product doesn’t work or the developers get lazy. Also, as the DAO attack has shown us, even if everything is in place, a slight mistake in the code could be enough to send a project crashing down.During the ICO sale, the presence of “crypto whales” could be problematic. The most infamous example of this is the BAT ICO. The ICO was able to raise a staggering $35 million in 24 seconds! It turned out that majority of the tokens were owned by certain individuals, which simply defeats the purpose of decentralization.These individuals are called “crypto whales” or simply “whales.” These individuals use their significant financial clout to pay exorbitantly high transaction fees to “cut in line” of the waiting queue. During the BAT ICO whales paid as much as $2220 in transaction fees!An ICO is an extremely laborious event for the blockchain, at least the way it is designed right now. The fact remains that blockchains are simply not scalable enough to take up heavy duty activity. The 0 million Status ICO clogged up the ethereum blockchain so badly that a lot of people simply weren’t able to participate because their transactions didn’t come through.This can work in reverse as well.The SophiaTX ICO had to postpone its date because the Cryptokitties game had clogged up and slowed down everything in the ethereum blockchain.Ethereum based ICO tokens are easy to store because they can be stored in any Ethereum wallet. However, things get tricky when it comes to other platforms. More often than not, these tokens may not be compatible with your wallet and storing them may be an extremely tiring and annoying exercise.Also, as you may already be aware of, ICOs are increasingly coming under the radar of regulatory bodies like SEC and CFTC. They have already made their presence known by making it compulsory for US-based ICOs to declare whether their tokens are securities or not.Finally, the next step to increased regulation is government intervention. Because of the vast amount of unregulated money that ICOs are dealing with, the government may consider them unsafe and simply ban them in their countries. China and India are ideal examples of this.Legality of ICOsThe legal state of ICO is mostly undefined. Ideally, the token is sold not as a financial asset but as a digital good like many other things. This is why ICO is often called “crowd sale”. In this case, in the most jurisdiction, the funding with an ICO is not regulated, which makes it extremely easy and paperless, given a lawyer experienced with the issue is on board.Having said that, ICOs have increasingly come under the scrutiny of regulatory bodies like the SEC and the CFTC because of the fact that most of the ICOs are securities. This gained a lot of traction when the SEC declared the Dao ICO as security. Ash Bennington from Coindesk, breaks down why the Dao was deemed a security in the form of a tale:“Not so long ago, a group of developers started a DAO.The DAO developers said:“There are all these decentralized projects and there’s no way for them to get funding – because they need money to make money.”Tell you what. We’re going to write code and sell a token and, in exchange, people who buy the token will get whatever profits are made from those projects.We’ll work the code. They’ll pick the projects. The projects will flourish and everyone will profit.The SEC said: “That’s a security.”The DAO developers said: “No, no. That’s just selling tokens.”Ultimately, the SEC said: “That’s a security” – because of the application of the Howey Test: There was an investment of money. And a common enterprise. With the expectation of profit, primarily from the efforts of others.”So, why was this investigation and ruling done in the first place?This is where we come to another reason as to why this space has become and will become increasingly regulated. The Dao was supposed to be the biggest ICO ever, however, a flaw in its code made it vulnerable and it imploded quite spectacularly.We have covered this in detail before, but just to give you an overview:There was a flaw in the Dao smart contractThe hacker exploited that flaw to execute a re-entrancy attack.Over $150 million worth of ether was siphoned away.Because a lot of people invested and got back nothing in return, the SEC intervened to “protect” the interest of the investors and deemed the tokens a security.As SEC CEO Jay Clayton puts it, “The SEC is studying the effects of the distributed ledger and other innovative technologies and encourages market participants to engage with us. We seek to foster innovative and beneficial ways to raise capital, while ensuring – first and foremost – that investors and our markets are protected.”This decision was met with a mixed reception in the Crypto community:Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple Ceo, said, “Regulators aren’t going away – and shouldn’t. For generations, they have protected from fraud (some is happening w/ the ICO market).”Roger Ver, bitcoin.com founder, however, disagreed with the decision,“Call this what it is: A bunch of strangers in a far-off land threatening peaceful people all over the world with violence if they don’t obey.”The Hottest Initial Coin Offering of Yesterday, Today and TomorrowLet’s have a look what’s going on of the market for ICO. In the past years, there have been a couple of wildly successful ICO.RippleRipple Labs created 100 billion XRP-token which serve as an anti-spam mechanism in the payment network Ripple, as you have to pay your network fees in XRP. The XRP are sold by Ripple Labs; their value doesn’t move in a clear direction, while the trend is more downwards. It started with around 5,000 Satoshi, sometimes felt below 1,000 Satoshi, raised above 7,000 and finally fell again to a new low of 600 Satoshi, before again raising on 3,000. MastercoinIn 2013 M
astercoin announced to build a layer on top of Bitcoin and sold the Mastercoin-token to investors. The developers received around 10,000 bitcoin, which has been worth $1mio at this time. Mastercoin token gained value some month later; some investors made huge profits. Later Mastercoin merged with Counterparty and Omni. EthereumThe largest ICO by now was made by ethereum. With a presale of around 60mio ETH, the Ethereum Foundation raised around 31,500 bitcoin. This event has become one of the biggest crowdfunding ever and the start of a wildly successful cryptocurrency. The investors of the ETH-presale profited massively. EOSThe blockchain startup Block.one launched the ICO for its EOS platform in June 2017 and concluded the token sale in June 2018. Yup, you read that right, it was a year-long ICO which raised a record-breaking $4.1 billion. This is far and away the biggest ICO of all time. EOS’s X-Factor lies in the fact that this is Dan Larimer’s latest pet project after Steemit and BitShares. EOS plans to become the platform for industrial-scale Dapps. Lately, they have faced some setbacks due to some vulnerabilities. However, EOS still has a lot of potential. AugurRemember that old game show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” Every participant on that show had 3 lifelines, one of which was audience poll. Basically, if they were stuck on a question, they could ask the audience that question. The audience was then supposed to vote on the option that they felt (or knew) was to be correct. More often than not, the audience got it right. This phenomenon is called the “Wisdom Of The Crowd”, which states that groups of people, in general, are correct more often than individuals. Augur is using this property to create a prediction market and raised $5.2 million in their ICO. TelegramThe company behind the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging app Telegram managed to raise $1.7 billion during a private sale involving SAFT agreements, which led to the company scrapping its public sale. Pavel Valerievich Durov aka the Zuckerberg of Russia is the CEO of Telegram. There were two sales of $850 million each and the funding was done to develop the Telegram Open Network (TON), which will be supported by the GRAM token.They are planning to create a scalable blockchain network which can process millions of transactions per second through the use of “infinite sharding” and “hypercube routing”.DragonDespite its rumored association with a Macau-based gangster and its business relationship with Cambridge Analytica, Dragon has managed to become one of the most successful ICOs in history raising a staggering $320 million. It was the first ICO that conducted to fund a floating casino in Asia’s gambling haven Macau. The Dragon Coin, DRG, is a digital currency targeted at VIP gamblers in Macau and its value is driven by the success of a large gambling venture.Through the Dragon Coin, Dragon is aiming to help users save money by letting them convert their currency into money that they can use to gamble in Macau without going through a middleman. Conclusion: Initial Coin OfferingICOs have been an extremely hot topic for a couple of years now and we hope that we were able to throw some light on the subject for you. It will be interesting to see how future ICOs pan out and the regulations become more and more strict. Let’s hope that the increased regulations are going to have a positive effect by flushing out scammy ICOs.

Bill Gates Planned COVID-19 Pandemic via Deep-state ‘Circular Cabal’, says Disgraced Dr. Mikovits

Hector Chapman

May 22, 2020

Bill Gates Planned COVID-19 Pandemic via Deep-state ‘Circular Cabal’, says Disgraced Dr. Mikovits

A recent clip from a soon to be released documentary called ‘Plandemic’ features a disgraced virologist, Dr. Judy Mikovits accusing a sinister corporate-controlled “circular cabal” led by Bill Gates himself, of creating the coronavirus pandemic.
Mikovits is adamant that this group she refers to as a “circular cabal” is led by Microsoft Founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates and she even goes on to accuse Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of burying her research which allegedly proved that vaccines weaken people’s immune systems and made them more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
Disgraced Doctor’s COVID Theory
Prior to the clip of Plandemic being released, Mikovits authored and published a book entitled ‘Plague of Corruption’ which frames herself as the brave whistleblower being held at bay by an Illuminati-like ‘deep state’ organization.
The story began in 2009, when Mikovits wrote a research paper on how the spread of a retrovirus through mice contributed to ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’. Unfortunately, no other research teams were able to replicate her findings in their own versions of the experiment, and Mikovit’s research was disregarded less than two years later. Mikovits decided that it was an effort by the cabal to discredit her.

Image: Judy Mikovits in 2011Source: David Calpert
In the viral clip from Plandemic, Mikovits insists that her research was buried and she even goes as far as saying that wearing a mask actually activates the coronavirus. She alleges that Dr. Fauci, who is the face of the Trump administration’s outbreak containment efforts, has censored her warnings to the public. Unfortunately, a little fuel was added to this fire when Trump himself began to publicly question the origins and spread of COVID-19, suggesting it was man-made.
But how does Bill Gates, and his philanthropic foundation, fit into all of this?
Bill Gates Leader of Circular Cabal Conspiracy
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have very publicly spent much of their time and resources supporting efforts to prevent and control infectious diseases. Despite these efforts, now that the world is in the clutches of the coronavirus pandemic, it seems the words of a disgraced doctor, a peculiar Microsoft patent number and Gates’s own altruistic determination to create a cure and vaccine for COVID-19 — have made him the target of one of the strangest and far-reaching conspiracies in modern times.
Nearly five years ago, Bill Gates appeared in a TED Talk warning the world about the lack of preparation and systems in place for our society to be able to properly deal with an airborne infectious disease. This would not be the only warning from the Microsoft founder and in fact, Gates went on to repeat his message in the years after.
In 2017 at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, appearing on behalf of his philanthropic Foundation Gates said, “Whether it occurs by a quirk of nature or at the hand of a terrorist, epidemiologists say a fast-moving airborne pathogen could kill more than 30 million people in less than a year. And they say there is a reasonable probability the world will experience such an outbreak in the next 10 to 15 years.”
Mikovits appeared on an alt-right news site known as the Truth News Network on the 12 April, claiming that the COVD-19 crisis is just the latest in a series of fake epidemics created by big pharma and the Gate Foundation for profit. Mikovits appeared on an alt-right news site known as the Truth News Network on the 12 April, claiming that the COVID-19 crisis is just the latest in a series of fake epidemics created by big pharma and the Gate Foundation for profit. She said, “We’ve gone through swine flu, bird flu, Aids. All of the pandemics, epidemics are perpetrated a fraud to control, to drive our healthcare system. Literally it’s bankrupting our country,” she said. “A third of our gross national product is this medical cabal. Health insurance that we never had to have before that costs us thousands of dollars a month. Insurance for what? So you can buy their chemotherapies which literally help no one.”
While it may be easy for most of us to dismiss her story, it appears that Dr.Mikovits’ medical background may be giving the conspiracy more life than it deserves and she is not the only one pointing fingers.
Oscar Winner Believes Gates Conspiracy is Satanic
Nikita Mikhalkov, the Oscar-winning Russian director, recently unleashed his own conspiracy after taking a closer look at a patent number for a new cryptocurrency mining system recently patented by Microsoft – WO/2020/060606. Appearing on an episode of ‘Besogan TV’, Mikhalkov was adamant that the patent is the first step in a satanic plan to microchip the entire global population and it was clear to him by the appearance of the devil’s number “666” in the patent application.
On the program, Mikhalkov was quoted, “The 060606 part is somewhat alarming. You probably understand this, right? Is this a coincidence or an intentional selection of such a symbol, which in the Apocalypse of John is called the ‘number of the beast’ – the 666.”
Since the actual outbreak began, Bill Gates and his foundation have been popping up regularly in the media determined to help the world by developing and distributing a vaccine to the global population.
In a blog post on April 30, Bill Gates wrote, “We need to manufacture at least 7 billion doses of the vaccine.” He said the vaccines should be distributed “as soon as the first batch is ready to go.
While Mikahlkov did not reference Mikovits’ book, he did claim that the coming COVID-19 vaccination distributed by the Bill Gates Foundation will be a trojan horse for a microchip in an insidious scheme to enslave the world.
The Academy Award-winning director has even named Herman Graf, the Head of Russian bank Sberbank, as a co-conspirator and has gained the support of ex-Tennis superstar and Russian politician Marat Safin.
It is unclear what part Mikhalkov believes the sensor-based cryptocurrency mining system developed by Microsoft will play in the satanic conspiracy beyond its curious filing number, as the project makes no mention of microchips. The patent was also published in the United States under the far less sinister number – US20200097951.
For our final chapter on the conspiracy, please click here.

What is Ethereum? [The Most Updated Step-by-Step-Guide!]

Crypto

Jodi Moore

May 22, 2020

What is Ethereum? [The Most Updated Step-by-Step-Guide!]

Share and get +16 +16 If you want to know what is ethereum, how it works, and what it can be used for, without going deep into the technical abyss, this guide is perfect for you.Ethereum is a global, decentralized platform for money and new kinds of applications. On Ethereum, you can write code that controls the money, and build applications accessible anywhere in the world.Is Ethereum better than Bitcoin?Beyond Bitcoin & first-generation decentralized applicationsAlthough commonly associated with Bitcoin, blockchain technology has many other applications that go way beyond digital currencies. In fact, Bitcoin is only one of several hundred applications that use blockchain technology today. Until relatively recently, building blockchain applications has required a complex background in coding, cryptography, mathematics as well as significant resources. But times have changed. Previously unimagined applications, from electronic voting & digitally recorded property assets to regulatory compliance & trading are now actively being developed and deployed faster than ever before. By providing developers with the tools to build decentralized applications, ethereum is making all of this possible. What is ethereum for beginners? [Video] Key HighlightsNovember 2013: Vitalik Buterin publishes the ethereum whitepaper.January 2014: The development of the Ethereum platform was publicly announced. The original Ethereum development team consisted of Vitalik Buterin, Mihai Alisie, Anthony Di Iorio, and Charles Hoskinson.August 2014: Ethereum ends their ICO and raises $18.4 million.May 2015: “Olympic” the ethereum testnet releases.July 30, 2015: The first stage of Ethereum’s development, “Frontier” was released.March 14, 2016: Homestead, the first “stable” ethereum release, went out on block 1,150,000.June 2016: The DAO hack happens and the $50 million worth of Ether, which was 15% of the total Ether in circulation back at the time.October 25, 2016: Ethereum Classic forks away from the original Ethereum protocol.October 16, 2017: The Metropolis Byzantium hardfork update happens.February 28, 2019: The Metropolis Constantinople hardfork update happens.At its simplest, ethereum is an open software platform based on blockchain technology that enables developers to build and deploy decentralized applications. Is ethereum similar to Bitcoin? Well, sort of, but not really.Like Bitcoin, ethereum is a distributed public blockchain network. Although there are some significant technical differences between the two, the most important distinction to note is that Bitcoin and Ethereum differ substantially in purpose and capability. Bitcoin offers one particular application of blockchain technology, a peer to peer electronic cash system that enables online Bitcoin payments. While Bitcoin is used to track ownership of digital currency (bitcoins), ethereum focuses on running the programming code of any decentralized application. In the Ethereum, instead of mining for bitcoin, miners work to earn Ether, a type of crypto token that fuels the network. Beyond a tradeable cryptocurrency, Ether is also used by application developers to pay for transaction fees and services on the ethereum network. There is a second type of token that is used to pay miners fees for including transactions in their block, it is called gas, and every smart contract execution requires a certain amount of gas to be sent along with it to entice miners to put it in the blockchain.“Bitcoin is first and foremost a currency; this is one particular application of a blockchain. However, it is far from the only application. To take a past example of a similar situation, e-mail is one particular use of the internet, and for sure helped popularise it, but there are many others.” – Gavin Wood, ethereum Co-FounderWhat is a Ethereum smart contract? Smart contract is just a phrase used to describe a computer code that can facilitate the exchange of money, content, property, shares, or anything of value. When running on the blockchain a smart contract becomes like a self-operating computer program that automatically executes when specific conditions are met. Because smart contracts run on the blockchain, they run exactly as programmed without any possibility of censorship, downtime, fraud or third-party interference. While all blockchains have the ability to process code, most are severely limited. ethereum is different. Rather than giving a set of limited operations, ethereum allows developers to create whatever operations they want. This means developers can build thousands of different applications that go way beyond anything we have seen before.the ethereum Virtual MachineBefore the creation of ethereum applications were designed to do a very limited set of operations. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, for example, were developed exclusively to operate as peer-to-peer digital currencies. Developers faced a problem. Either expand the set of functions offered by Bitcoin and other types of applications, which is very complicated and time-consuming, or develop a new blockchain application and an entirely new platform as well. Recognizing this predicament, Ethereum’s creator, Vitalik Buterin developed a new approach.“I thought [those in the Bitcoin community] weren’t approaching the problem in the right way. I thought they were going after individual applications; they were trying to kind of explicitly support each [use case] in a sort of Swiss Army knife protocol.” – Vitalik Buterin, inventor of ethereum Ethereum’s core innovation, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a Turing complete software that runs on the ethereum network. It enables anyone to run any program, regardless of the programming language given enough time and memory. The ethereum Virtual Machine makes the process of creating blockchain applications much easier and efficient than ever before. Instead of having to build an entirely original blockchain for each new application, ethereum enables the development of potentially thousands of different applications all on one platform. What can Ethereum be used for?ethereum enables developers to build and deploy decentralized applications. A decentralized application or Dapp serve some particular purpose to its users. Bitcoin, for example, is a Dapp that provides its users with a peer to peer electronic cash system that enables online Bitcoin payments. Because decentralized applications are made up of code that runs on a blockchain network, they are not controlled by any individual or central entity.Any services that are centralized can be decentralized using ethereum. Think about all the intermediary services that exist across hundreds of different industries. From obvious services like loans provided by banks to intermediary services rarely thought about by most people like title registries, voting systems, regulatory compliance and much more.ethereum can also be used to build Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO). A DAO is a fully autonomous, decentralized organization with no single leader. DAO’s are run by programming code, on a collection of smart contracts written on ethereum. The code is designed to replace the rules and structure of a traditional organization, eliminating the need for people and centralized control. A DAO is owned by everyone who purchases tokens, but instead of each token equating to equity shares & ownership, tokens act as contributions that give people voting rights. “A DAO consists of one or more contracts and could be funded by a group of like-minded individuals. A DAO operates completely transparently and completely independently of any human intervention, including its original creators. A DAO will stay on the network as long as it covers its survival costs and provides a useful service to its customer base”Stephen Tual, Slock.it Founder, former CCO ethereum. ethereum is also being used as a platform to launch other cryptocurrencies. Because of the ERC20 token standard defined by the Ethereum Foundation, other developers can issue their own versions of this token an
d raise funds with an initial coin offering (ICO). In this fundraising strategy, the issuers of the token set an amount they want to raise, offer it in a crowd sale, and receive Ether in exchange. Billions of dollars have been raised by ICOs on the ethereum platform in the last two years, and one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies in the world, EOS, is an ERC20 token.Ethereum has recently created a new standard called the ERC721 token for tracking unique digital assets. One of the biggest use cases currently for such tokens is digital collectibles, as the infrastructure allows for people to prove ownership of scarce digital goods. Many games are currently being built using this technology, such as the overnight hit CryptoKitties, a game where you can collect and breed digital cats. What are the benefits of a decentralized ethereum Platform?Because decentralized applications run on the blockchain, they benefit from all of its properties. Immutability – A third party cannot make any changes to data.Corruption & tamper proof – Apps are based on a network formed around the principle of consensus, making censorship impossible.Secure – With no central point of failure and secured using cryptography, applications are well protected against hacking attacks and fraudulent activities.Zero downtime – Apps never go down and can never be switched off.Despite bringing a number of benefits, decentralized applications aren’t faultless. Because smart contract code is written by humans, smart contracts are only as good as the people who write them. Code bugs or oversights can lead to unintended adverse actions being taken. If a mistake in the code gets exploited, there is no efficient way in which an attack or exploitation can be stopped other than obtaining a network consensus and rewriting the underlying code. This goes against the essence of the blockchain which is meant to be immutable. Also, any action taken by a central party raises serious questions about the decentralized nature of an application.I want to develop an app. How do I access ethereum?There are many ways you can plug into the ethereum network, one of the easiest ways is to use its native Mist browser. Mist provides a user-friendly interface & digital wallet for users to trade & store Ether as well as write, manage, deploy and use smart contracts. Like web browsers give access and help people navigate the internet, Mist provides a portal into the world of decentralized blockchain applications. There is also the MetaMask browser extension, which turns Google Chrome into an ethereum browser. MetaMask allows anyone to easily run or develop decentralized applications from their browser. Although initially built as a Chrome plugin, MetaMask supports Firefox and the Brave Browser as well.While it’s still early days, Mist, MetaMask and a variety of other browsers look set to make blockchain-based applications accessible to more people than ever before. Even people without a technical background can now potentially build blockchain apps. This is a revolutionary leap for blockchain technology that could bring decentralized applications into the mainstream. What apps are currently being developed on Ethereum? The ethereum platform is being used to create applications across a broad range of services and industries. But developers are in unchartered territory, so it’s hard to know which apps will succeed and which ones will fail. Here are a few exciting projects. Weifund provides an open platform for crowdfunding campaigns that leverages smart contracts. It enables contributions to be turned into contractually backed digital assets that can be used, traded or sold within the Ethereum ecosystem.Uport provides users with a secure and convenient way to take complete control of their identity and personal information. Instead of relying on government institutions and surrendering their identities to third parties, users control who can access and use their data and personal information.BlockApps is looking to provide the easiest way for enterprises to build, manage and deploy blockchain applications. From the proof of concept to full production systems and integration with legacy systems, Blockapps provides all the tools necessary to create private, semi-private and public industry-specific blockchain applications.Provenance is using ethereum to make opaque supply chains more transparent. By tracing the origins and histories of products, the project aims to build an open & accessible framework of information so consumers can make informed decisions when they buy products. Augur is an open-source prediction & forecasting market platform that allows anyone to forecast events and get rewarded for predicting them correctly. Predictions on future real-world events, like who will win the next US election, are carried out by trading virtual shares. If a person buys shares in a winning prediction, they receive monetary rewards. “Ethereum is a spectacular public experiment that is showing the value of smart contracts on a public blockchain. It is the result of and the source of disruptive innovation of the likes that we haven’t seen since the early days of the Internet.” – Caleb Chen London Trust Media The DAO hack that threatened everythingRemember how ethereum can be used to build Decentralized Autonomous Organizations? Well in 2016, something bad happened. A startup working on one particular DOA project, aptly named ‘The DAO’ got hacked. The DAO was a project developed and programmed by a team behind another startup called Slock.it. Their aim was to build a humanless venture capital firm that would allow investors to make decisions through smart contracts. The DAO was funded through a token sale and ended up raising around $150 million dollars from thousands of different people.Shortly after the funds were raised, The DAO was hacked by an unknown attacker who stole Ether worth around $50 million dollars at the time. While the attack was made possible by a technical flaw in The DAO software, not the ethereum platform itself, the developers and founders of ethereum were forced to deal with the mess. An Ethereum fork in the roadAfter much debate, the Ethereum community voted and decided to retrieve the stolen funds by executing what’s known as a hard fork or a change in code. The hard fork moved the stolen funds to a new smart contract designed to let the original owners withdraw their tokens. But this is where things get complicated. The implications of this decision are controversial and the topic of intense debate. Here’s why. ethereum is based on blockchain technology where all transactions are meant to be irreversible and unchangeable. By executing a hard fork and rewriting the rules by which the blockchain executes, ethereum set a dangerous precedent that goes against the very essence of blockchain. If the blockchain is changed every time a large enough amount of money is involved, or enough people get negatively impacted, the blockchain will lose its main value proposition – secure, anonymous, tamper proof & unchangeable.While another less aggressive soft fork solution was put forth, the ethereum community and its founders were placed in a perilous position. If they didn’t retrieve the stolen investor money, confidence in ethereum could be lost. On the other hand, recovering investor money required actions that went against the core ideals of decentralization and set a dangerous precedent.The aftermath – Ethereum splitsIn the end, the majority of the ethereum community voted to perform a hard fork, and retrieve The DAO investor’s money. But not everyone agreed with this course of action. This resulted in a split where two parallel blockchains now exist. For those members who strongly disagree with any changes to the blockchain even when hacking occurs there is Ethereum classic. For the majority who agreed to rewrite a small part of the blockchain and return the stolen money to their owners, there is ethereum. Both ethereum blockchains have the same features and are identical in every way up to a certain block where the hard-f
ork was implemented. This means that everything that happened on Ethereum up until the hard-fork is still valid on the Ethereum Classic. From the block where the hard fork or change in code was executed onwards, the two ethereum blockchains act individually.Despite the fallout from The DAO hack, ethereum is moving forward and looking to a bright future. By providing a user-friendly platform that enables people to harness the power of blockchain technology, ethereum is speeding up the decentralization of the world economy. Decentralized applications have the potential to profoundly disrupt hundreds of industries including finance, real estate, academia, insurance, healthcare and the public sector amongst many others. Most significant companies will run business processes on their private blockchains.Private blockchains: Within two years, major companies will conduct several business processes on their own private, permissioned corporate blockchains. Employees, customers, vendors, and service providers at each company will be able to securely access that company’s private blockchain via strong cryptographically authenticated transactions.Consortia blockchains: In two years, many companies will have started to build bottom-up consortia blockchains with a small number of counterparties in their ecosystem collaborating on a small number of use cases to share trusted source-of-truth infrastructure, supply or value chains.Business use of public blockchains: Some companies will employ public ethereum with their use cases that employ the same stack of blockchain components that they have purchased or built for their private Ethereum-based implementations.What is Ethereum: ConclusionThe ethereum platform is also helping to shift the way we use the Internet. Decentralized applications are pushing a fundamental change from an Internet of information where we can instantly view, exchange and communicate information to the Internet of value where people can exchange immediate value without any intermediaries.As the industry continues to investigate blockchain platforms, it’s apparent that ethereum is becoming a de facto leader. For example, a few days ago JPMorgan publicly open-sourced its Quorum platform, architected and developed around the Go ethereum client by Jeff Wilcke and his team. Several other major banks are using ethereum, and Microsoft is anchoring its Bletchley platform on it as the foundational blockchain element. Industry, both publicly and confidentially, continues to contribute to ethereum and work with us and others to help our promising, toddler-age codebase reach maturity. Stay tuned for news on this front.It takes a (global) village to raise a blockchain. The live network and the community of open source developers contribute significantly to this effort. They continuously refine and harden the ethereum platform, helping it get faster at responding to industry demands for the value propositions it offers. These investments of time and resources speak to their faith in ethereum governance and the value that businesses and developers see in its capabilities.– Joseph Lubin, CEO of ConsensysWhile it’s still early days, and there will no doubt be more hurdles to overcome, ethereum looks to be a truly transformational platform. With many of the most exciting applications yet to be developed, we can only begin to wonder about the unimagined possibilities that await.

New York Times Square Billboard Demands Release of Silk Road Darknet Drug Trafficker

Crypto

Hector Chapman

May 22, 2020

New York Times Square Billboard Demands Release of Silk Road Darknet Drug Trafficker

A billboard in Times Square has been hired by the ‘Free Ross’ movement as part of a campaign to release Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road contraband marketplace on the darknet.
Ross Ulbricht is currently serving a double life sentence for his role as a darknet marketplace entrepreneur. He is in the seventh year of his sentence and it would appear that he is unlikely to ever be released without a pardon. He is 36 years old.
According to a tweet from the account ‘Clemency for Ross’, the billboard has been rented for several months. The post also claims the campaign message was paid for by a single ‘generous supporter’ and was not funded by any donations that they have received.

Times Square says FREE ROSS! #FreeRoss2020 pic.twitter.com/lbeRvakH2c
— Free_Ross (@Free_Ross) May 20, 2020
Ulbricht Double Life Sentence
Ulbricht was arrested and imprisoned in 2013 for setting up the ‘Silk Road’ darknet marketplace. He operated the site under the alias, ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ an obvious homage to the staple character in the Princess Bride.
The Silk Road online darknet market place reached the height of its popularity in 2011, and it was a pioneer in postal order drugs and other contraband, and unfortunately, the use of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin for trade on the black market.
Court documents from that time show that the darknet site facilitated around 1,229,465 transactions over its two-year operation. Ulbricht took a percentage of all proceeds.
Child Porn Solution From Prison
Despite having no access to the internet, Ulbricht has been able to remain active in the crypto community via his friends and supporters who will publish his contributions online.
Last month on May 20, one of his followers published on Ulbricht’s Medium account on his behalf. The article is on Ulbricht’s proposed automated solution called ‘ZKANN’ which the Silk Road founder believes would be an effective measure against the spread of child pornography and pedophilia on encrypted platforms.
Unfortunately, the use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum has become the preferred payment for internet-based human trafficking and sexual exploitation services, which include blackmail porn and the sexual assault of minors and children.
Ulbricht states that as many large platforms already deploy algorithms such as to automatically moderate content. He goes on to recommend that the operators of encrypted platforms should combine zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) in conjunction with artificial neural networks (ANN)s to identify content depicting child abuse.
Ulbricht also advises that law enforcement data be used to train the ZKANN (ZKP + ANN) to identify the child porn and other inappropriate content and stop it from being launched on public systems.
Like the namesake of his alias, “Dread Pirate Roberts” it appears that Ulbricht is also more than what he appears. Despite his reputation as a criminal among the public, it seems underneath the guise of this notorious drug trafficker image is a man with some virtues worth respect which is perhaps why, even now, he finds himself with strong support for clemency.

Ethereum vs Cosmos vs Hyperledger And More!

Crypto

Jodi Moore

May 22, 2020

Ethereum vs Cosmos vs Hyperledger And More!

Share and get +16 +16 Different Blockchains Smart contracts and the blockchain technology are all the rage right now. More and more people are trying to get into this amazing space for one reason or another. If you are new to this technology and are looking for a quick primer on blockchain-based developing platforms then this guide is perfect for you. The platforms that we are going to be focussing on and comparing are:Different BlockchainsBlockchain Battle: Ethereum vs Cosmos vs Cardano vs EOS vs Hyperledger So, why have we decided to focus on these 5? We feel that this group gives a healthy mixture of usability and functionality. Yes, we know that some of these projects are not exactly live, but we still feel that the potential of the projects is enough to warrant a place on our list. We are going to go through each and every platform and then compare them at the end.EthereumToken: ETHEthereum is, without a doubt, the big daddy of smart contract platforms. The main man behind Ethereum is Vitalik Buterin. Buterin was fascinated with Bitcoin, but he realized that the blockchain technology had far more use than being a mere facilitator of a payment protocol. He realized that one can use the blockchain technology to create decentralized applications. That was when he was inspired to create Ethereum.Ethereum, like Bitcoin, was a cryptocurrency, however, that’s where the similarity ends. Because while Bitcoin is a “first-generation” blockchain, Ethereum broke the mold by becoming the first ever second-generation blockchain. Ethereum revolutionized the crypto-space by bringing in smart contracts on the blockchain.Smart contracts were first conceptualized by Nick Szabo. The idea is simple, have a set of self-executing instructions between two parties which don’t need to be supervised or enforced by a third-party. The idea seems pretty straightforward, right? However, smart contracts enabled Ethereum to create an environment wherein developers from around the world could create their own decentralized application aka Dapps.Dapps and Smart ContractsDapp creation is one of the most important features of Ethereum. Along with being decentralized, there are certain other features that a Dapp must have:The source code of the Dapp should be open to allThe application must have some sort of tokens to fuel itselfThe App must be able to generate its own tokens and have an inbuilt consensus mechanismSounds pretty awesome right? So, how exactly can you build them? You need to code smart contracts using solidity.Developers use a programming language called Solidity which is a purposefully slimmed down, loosely-typed language with a syntax very similar to ECMAScript (Javascript).Along with creating the smart contract, you must have an environment where you can execute it. However, there are some properties that this execution environment must have. These properties are:Deterministic.Terminable.Isolated.Property #1: DeterministicA program is deterministic if it gives the same output to a given input every single time. Eg. If 3+1 = 4 then 3+1 will ALWAYS be 4 (assuming the same base). So when a program gives the same output to the same set of inputs in different computers, the program is called deterministic. The environment must make sure that execution of the smart contract is always deterministic.Property #2: TerminableIn mathematical logic, we have an error called “halting problem”. Basically, it states that there is an inability to know whether or not a given program can execute its function within a time limit. In 1936, Alan Turing deduced, using Cantor’s Diagonal Problem, that there is no way to know whether a given program can finish in a time limit or not.This is obviously a problem with smart contracts because, contracts by definition, must be capable of termination in a given time limit. So the environment must be able to halt the operation of the smart contract.Property #3: IsolatedIn a blockchain, anyone and everyone can upload a smart contract. However, because of this the contracts may, knowingly and unknowingly contain virus and bugs.If the contract is not isolated, this may hamper the whole system. Hence, it is critical for a contract to be kept isolated in a sandbox to save the entire environment from any negative effects.Ethereum executes its smart contracts using a virtual machine called Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).The next core Ethereum concept that one must understand is gas.What is Ethereum Gas?Remember the “Terminable” property of smart contract environments? Well, Ethereum smart contract achieves this property by utilizing gas. Each and every line that is coded in the smart contract requires a certain amount of gas to execute. So, when a developer submits a smart contract for execution, they also specify the maximum gas limit.Think of the gas limit as the fuel you fill up in your car before going for a drive, the moment the fuel runs out, the car stops working. Each and every line in the smart contract requires a certain amount of gas to execute. Once the gas runs out, the smart contract stops executing.Ethereum and ICOsWe have covered this topic at length before so we will just go over this very briefly. One of the most alluring features of Ethereum is initial coin offering or ICOs. Developers around the world can use Ethereum’s virtual machine to power their smart contracts and use the platform to raise lots of money in a crowded sale with relative ease. Because of this very feature, Ethereum’s adoption has gone through the roof.Ethereum MiningEthereum as of right now is using the Proof-of-Work mining, i.e. the same mining process used by Bitcoin. Basically, miners compete to find the next block in the chain by using their processing power to solve complex cryptographic puzzles.Ethereum is eventually going to move on to Proof-of-Stake by utilizing the Casper protocol. POS is far more environmentally friendly than POW and is a lot more scalable.Main ProblemsThere is no doubt of the impact that Ethereum has had on the crypto-space, however, there are some major problems surrounding its performance. As of right now, Ethereum fails when it comes to scalability. They can only manage 25 transactions per second, which is not ideal for Dapps who want mainstream adoption. On top of that, Ethereum can be expensive for developers. The gas prices for the execution of Dapps can go through the roof.Along with these, there is one more problem that affects Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. This problem is interoperability. As of right now, if Alice owns Bitcoin and Bob owns Ethereum, then there is no easy and direct way for the two to interact with each other. This is a really big issue because in the future, there may be thousands of blockchains running in parallel and there should be a way for them to interact seamlessly with each other.One project that is aiming to solve this interoperability problem is Cosmos.CosmosToken: ATOMCosmos aims to become an “internet of blockchains” which is going to solve these problems once and for all. Cosmos’s architecture consists of several independent blockchains called “Zones” attached to a central blockchain called “Hub”.Image Credit: Cosmos VideoAccording to the Cosmos whitepaper, “The zones are powered by Tendermint Core, which provides a high-performance, consistent, secure PBFT-like consensus engine, where strict fork-accountability guarantees hold over the behavior of malicious actors. Tendermint Core’s BFT consensus algorithm is well suited for scaling public proof-of-stake blockchains.”The brains behind this project are CEO Jae Kwon and CTO Ethan Buchman and the Interchain Foundation team.What is Tendermint?Tendermint is a variant of PBFT i.e. Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance. A Byzantine Fault Tolerance, or BFT, the system is a system which has successfully answered the Byzantine Generals Problem. We have covered the Byzantine Generals Problem in detail here. To keep things short, for a decentralized peer-to-peer system to function in a trustless manner, it is imperative for them to find the solution to the Byzantine
’s Generals Problem.As the cosmos whitepaper states:“Tendermint provides exceptional performance. In benchmarks of 64 nodes distributed across 7 data centers on 5 continents, on commodity cloud instances, Tendermint consensus can process thousands of transactions per second, with commit latencies on the order of one to two seconds. Notably, the performance of well over a thousand transactions per second is maintained even in harsh adversarial conditions, with validators crashing or broadcasting maliciously crafted votes.”The graph below support the claim made above:Image Credit: Cosmos WhitepaperBenefits of TendermintTendermint can handle transaction volume at the rate of 10,000 transactions per second for 250byte transactions. Better and simple light client security which makes it ideal for mobile and IoT use cases. In contrast, Bitcoin light clients require a lot more work and have lots of demands which makes it impractical for certain use cases. Tendermint has fork-accountability which stops attacks such as long-range-nothing-at-stake double spends and censorship. Tendermint is implemented via Tendermint core which is an “application-agnostic consensus engine.” It can basically turn any deterministic blackbox application into a distributedly replicated blockchain. Tendermint Core connects to blockchain applications via the Application Blockchain Interface (ABCI). Inter-Blockchain CommunicationAs we have mentioned before, Cosmos’s architecture will follow the Hub and Zones method. There will be multiple parallel blockchains connected to one central Hub blockchain. Think of the Sun and the solar system.The Cosmos hub is a distributed ledger where individual users or the Zones themselves can hold their tokens. The zones can interact with each other through the Hub using IBC or Inter Blockchain Communication.See the diagram above?This is a very simplified version of how two Zones communicate with each other via IBC.Cosmos Use CasesThe interoperability achieved by Cosmos has some extremely interesting use-cases:DEX: Since Cosmos is linking so many blockchains with each other, it goes without saying that it can easily enable different ecosystems to interact with one another. This a perfect setting for a decentralized exchange. Cross chain transactions: Similarly, one zone can avail the services of another zone through the Cosmos hub. Ethereum Scaling: This is one of the more use cases. Any EVM based zone which is connected to the Cosmos hub will be, as per the architecture, powered by the Tendermint consensus system as well. This will enable these zones to scale up faster.CardanoToken: ADAThe brainchild of Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, Cardano is a smart contract platform however, Cardano offers scalability and security through layered architecture. Cardano’s approach is unique in the space itself since it is built on scientific philosophy and peer-reviewed academic research.Cardano is a third-generation blockchain which is focussed on bringing scalability and interoperability to the blockchain space. There are three organizations which work full time to develop and take care of Cardano:The Cardano Foundation.IOHK.Emurgo.These three organizations work in synergy to make sure that Cardano development is going on at a good pace.Functional ProgrammingThere is one really interesting quality that makes Cardano unique as compared to the other smart contract platforms. Majority of the other smart contract platforms are coded via imperial programming language. Cardano uses Haskell for its source code, which is a functional programming language. For its smart contracts, Cardano uses Plutus, which is also a functional language.Let us explain the difference between the two types of languages in a straightforward way.In imperative languages, addition works like this:int a = 5;int b = 3;int c;c= a + b;As you can see, it takes a lot of steps. Now, how will that work in a functional language?Suppose there is a function f(x) that we want to use to calculate a function g(x) and then we want to use that to work with a function h(x). Instead of solving all of those in a sequence, we can simply club all of them together in a single function like this:h(g(f(x)))This makes the functional approach easier to reason mathematically.Functional languages helps with scalability and it also helps in making the program far more precise.ScalabilityCardano uses a new proof of stake algorithm called Ouroboros, which determines how individual nodes reach consensus about the network. The protocol has been designed by a team led by OHK Chief Scientist, Professor Aggelos Kiayias.Ouroboros is the first proof of stake protocol that has mathematically been shown to be provably secure, and the first to have gone through peer review through its acceptance to Crypto 2017, the leading cryptography conference.InteroperabilityThe way Cardano plans to execute interoperability is by implementing sidechains.Sidechain as a concept has been in the crypto circles for quite some time now. The idea is very straightforward; you have a parallel chain which runs along with the main chain. The side chain will be attached to the main chain via a two-way peg.Cardano will support sidechains based on the research by Kiayias, Miller, and Zindros (KMZ) involving “non-interactive proofs of proofs of work”.According to Hoskinson, the idea of sidechains comes from two things:Getting a compressed version of a blockchain.Creating interoperability between chains.EOSToken: EOSEOS are aiming to become a decentralized operating system which can support industrial-scale decentralized applications. The driving force behind EOS is Dan Larimer (the creator of BitShares and Steemit) and Block.One. EOS recently came into the spotlight for their year-long ICO which raised a record-breaking $4 billion.That sounds pretty amazing but what has really captured the public’s imagination is the following two claims:They are claiming to have the ability to conduct millions of transactions per second.They are planning to completely remove transaction fees.Scalability Through DPOSEOS achieves its scalability via the utilization of the delegated proof-of-stake (DPOS) consensus mechanism, which is a variation of the traditional proof-of-stake. It can theoretically do millions of transactions per second.So, how is DPOS different from traditional POS? While in POS the entire network will have to take care of the consensus, in DPOS all the EOS holders will elect 21 block producers who will be in charge of taking care of the consensus and general network health. Anyone can participate in the block producer election and they will be given an opportunity to produce blocks proportional to the total votes they receive relative to all other producers.The DPOS system doesn’t experience a fork because instead of competing to find blocks, the producers will have to co-operate instead. In the event of a fork, the consensus switches automatically to the longest chain.As you can imagine, the importance of these block producers definitely can’t be underestimated. Not only do they take care of consensus, but they take care of overall network health as well. This is why it is extremely important that each and every single vote that has been cast has proper weightage.This is why, Larimer introduced the idea of Voter Decay, which will reduce the weightage of old votes over time. The only way that one can maintain the strength of votes is by regular voting.The Voter Decay mechanism leads to two great advantages:Firstly, as we have seen time and again, elected officials may become corrupt and change their tune after getting elected. The vote decay system gives the voters a chance to reconsider their vote every week. This keeps the block producers accountable and on their toes. Secondly, people simply change over time. Maybe the political beliefs and ideologies that someone has today is completely different than what they had a year ago. The vote decay system will allow people to vote for someone who is more congruent with their newly evolved ideologies.This has the potential to be a truly revolutionary concept a
nd can change decentralized voting (maybe even voting) forever.Removal of Transaction FeesEOS works on an ownership model where users own and are entitled to use resources proportional to their stake, rather than having to pay for every transaction. So, in essence, if you hold N tokens of EOS then you are entitled to N*k transactions. This, in essence, eliminates transaction fees.On staking EOS tokens you get certain computational resources in exchange. You will get:RAMNetwork BandwidthComputational Bandwidth.EOS tokens, along with payment coins, can also be used as a toll to get all these resources. HyperledgerFinally, we have Hyperledger.Hyperledger, to be very frank, is extremely different from all the platforms that we have talked about so far. While Ethereum, Cardano, and EOS are proper cryptocurrencies and have their own blockchains, Hyperledger is not a cryptocurrency, and nor does it have its own blockchain. Hyperledger is an open-sourced project by the Linux Foundation. On their website, Hyperledger describes itself as“an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies. It is a global collaboration, hosted by The Linux Foundation, including leaders in finance, banking, Internet of Things, supply chains, manufacturing, and Technology.” The Need For Permissioned BlockchainPlatforms like Ethereum, EOS etc. are all public blockchains, meaning, anyone can choose to join the network. However, for big enterprises who need their own blockchain infrastructure, this is highly undesirable.Think of a blockchain conglomerate of banks.Banks need to deal with sensitive data every single day. From their internal transactional records to KYC data, there are lots of items which they simply can’t reveal to the public. Plus, only banks that have been vetted by the other banks present in the network should be allowed inside the network.Also, as we have already covered before, public blockchains are slow and have performance issues, which is again a big no-no for large-scale companies.Hyperledger allows these companies to create their own high-performance permissioned blockchain (aka blockchains where each and every node must be vetted properly before entering).Interesting Projects Under HyperledgerMaybe the most interesting project in the Hyperledger family is IBM’s Fabric. Rather than a single blockchain Fabric is a base for the development of blockchain based solutions with a modular architecture.With Fabric different components of Blockchains, like consensus and membership services can become plug-and-play. Fabric is designed to provide a framework with which enterprises can put together their own, individual blockchain network that can quickly scale to more than 1,000 transactions per second.Along with Fabric you also have:Sawtooth: Developed by Intel and uses Proof-of-Elapsed time consensus mechanismIroha: Asn easy-to-use blockchain framework developed by a couple of Japanese companies.Burrow: Creates a permissible smart contract machine along the specification of Ethereum.Different Blockchains: Comparing all the PlatformsAlright, so now that we have somewhat familiarized ourselves with these platforms, let’s compare all of them.

Chinese Government to Consider Cross-Border East-Asian Stablecoin for Hong Kong During the National People’s Congress

Crypto

Hector Chapman

May 22, 2020

Chinese Government to Consider Cross-Border East-Asian Stablecoin for Hong Kong During the National People’s Congress

Chinese officials are considering a cross-border Asian stablecoin in Hong Kong, to facilitate a cross-border payment network between three Asian countries, and four currencies – China, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The world’s second-largest economy is aiming to build Hong Kong into an international financial center in the digital economy era.

At China’s annual “Two Sessions,” also known as the National People’s Congress, China’s most important annual political event in Beijing, officials set the decision to impose new national security legislation on Hong Kong.

The annual political event was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, as the representatives of the National People’s Congress continue to advise on post-pandemic economic recovery.

Neil Shen, also known as Shen Nanpeng, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China will submit five proposals to the two sessions this year. One of the proposals includes the innovation and technology development of the Greater Bay Area, which he has submitted consecutively in the past three years.

In Shen’s proposals, he suggested a Hong Kong-based cross border stablecoin, as a foundation for a cross-border settlement network between China, Japan, and South Korea as well as the special administrative region. Shen envisions that this move would make Hong Kong as the international digital financial hub and will empower the semi-autonomous city to achieve “stable economic and social development.”

The proposal was also co-signed by Kennedy Wong, solicitor of the Supreme Court in Hong Kong, former chief secretary of Hong Kong, Henry Tang, and Hong Kong-based billionaire Songqiao Zhang. The proposal is separate from China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative, also known as the digital currency electronic payment (DCEP).

One stablecoin to blur the lines

“We will comprehensively and accurately implement ‘one country, two systems,’ under which people of Hong Kong govern Hong Kong, and the people of Macau govern Macau, with a high degree of autonomy,” said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. “We will establish sound legal systems and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security in the two SARs, and see that the governments of the two regions fulfill their constitutional responsibilities.”

China reported a drop in its annual growth target this year and has pledged more government spending as the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the country’s economy. Premier Li’s work report omitted a target for the gross domestic product (GDP) for the first time since 1990.

With Beijing announcing its plans for security legislation for Hong Kong, the United States drew warnings as the Asian stock markets fell further. Amid escalation of tensions between Washington and Beijing, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index took a dive of about 5 percent, while the yuan also dipped as the National People’s Congress highlighted uncertainties and pledged to sell bonds.

Hong Kong’s 2020 budget

Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, Paul Chan has been under intense pressure from lawmakers to dip into the government’s fiscal reserves to help the city get out of an economic slump. After months of anti-government protests and the emergence of the coronavirus epidemic, Hong Kong residents aged over 18 will receive a cash handout of HK$10,000. The budget also highlighted the forecast of an all-time high deficit of HK$139 billion for the coming fiscal year.

In the budget for 2020-2021 announced by Chan, innovation and technology has been mentioned as an important growth engine for future economic development. The Hong Kong government has allocated over a hundred billion dollars to support the innovation and technology sector.

“Local I&T (Innovation and Technology) companies have won awards time and again in international competitions, whereas a number of “unicorns” have emerged,” Chan wrote. “While there is still some way to go to develop I&T into mature industries, I am convinced that our current investments will bear fruits in the future.”

Image via Shutterstock

How To Buy Bitcoin Anywhere! [Safe, Fast And Easy]

Crypto

Jodi Moore

May 22, 2020

How To Buy Bitcoin Anywhere! [Safe, Fast And Easy]

Share and get +16 +16 There are a lot of options on how to buy Bitcoin, available in nearly every country of the world from, Gift cards, bitcoin ATMs, local Traders, broker, exchanges: Our ultimate guide explains, how to buy Bitcoin anywhere in the world.Maybe you heard about this crazy cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The future of money, the revolution of payment, the digital gold, slayer of capital controls, holy grail of Fintech. Now you maybe want to know more. The best way to learn is just to try it. Buy a Bitcoin, pay with it, store it in your digital wallet, watch the price rise or go down. But where can you buy it? And how?For many people, the first acquisition of a Bitcoin is a terrifying process. It seems so complicated. But actually, it is not. There are a lot of options to easily, fast and comfortably buy your first Bitcoin.Which one is the best depends on your country and your preferences?TLDR:Use Regular Fiat Money to Buy Bitcoin.Once you have a wallet, you use a traditional payment method such as a credit card, bank transfer (ACH), debit card, interact or E-transfer to buy Bitcoins on a Bitcoin exchange.The Bitcoins are then transferred to your crypto wallet. To find the perfect method to buy your first Bitcoin however you should first take into account several factors:How much private information do you want to disclose?How do you want to pay?Where do you liveDepending on these factors you should easily be able to decide which platform fits your needs.This guide starts with explaining what options you have to disclose private information (or not disclose it) and what payment channels you can use. After this, the guide presents the common methods to buy Bitcoin and gives an overview of several platforms in several countries. How To Buy Bitcoin Anywhere in The WorldPrivate InformationBitcoin is a financial tool and thus subject to financial regulation in most jurisdictions. Nearly everywhere Anti-Money-Laundering-Rules (AML) are applied to platforms that sell Bitcoins or enable users to buy and sell Bitcoins. Most of these platforms have to adopt Know Your Customer rules (KYC) to verify the identity of its users.Since Bitcoin transactions are saved publicly visible on the blockchain and can be traced back, the degree of private information you disclose with buying Bitcoins can have serious implications on your privacy. There are several grades of KYC with an increasing amount of private information you have to disclose. The following list starts with the lowest grade: No KYC: No KYC means that the platform or the seller of Bitcoins does not know who you are. You don‘t have to show an identity document, and you pay with a private means of payment like cash, Moneygram, Paysafecard or Western-Union. Buying Bitcoin without KYC is possible in some jurisdictions – for example with P2P-marketplaces like LocalBitcoins, ATMs or Gift Cards – but is usually more expensive than other options.KYC Light: This degree of KYC identifies you by your payment channel and/or your phone numbers. If you pay with your bank account, PayPal, credit card or other common means of payment, the payment providers know your identity. On most platforms, be it direct exchanges, exchange platforms or marketplaces, you can buy a limited amount of Bitcoins with KYC Light.Full KYC: On top of verifying your identity with your phone number and your bank account, Full KYC means that you provide documents that prove your identity. This can be a passport, an ID card, a driver‘s license, a utility bill or a combination of all of this. Some platforms demand that you provide approval of your identity documents by a notary or a trusted third party like your bank; some are satisfied if you submit a photo showing you holding your ID card or take part in the process of video identification. If you want to invest larger amounts of money or trade on exchanges, there‘s usually no way around Full KYC. What is the best way to buy Bitcoin?Bitcoin is money, but to buy Bitcoins, you need to send money to someone else. The more advanced the financial system of your country is, The better the financial system you live in, the easier it is to exchange your money in Bitcoins.The movement of old fiat-money is the biggest obstacle in the flow of Bitcoin trading. If you use a slow and expensive payment channel, your acquisition of your Bitcoin is slow and expensive. If you use a fast channel, you can buy Bitcoins fluidly. Here is an incomplete not-complete list of commons means of payment to buy Bitcoin:Bank transfer: Everybody might know the good old Bank transfer. Mostly with online banking you send money to a seller of Bitcoins and get the Bitcoins when the payments are done. In most countries, this needs 1-3 days. Direct debiting is usually not accepted common. Most exchange platforms only accept bank transfers.Credit Card: Credit cards are one of the most common means of payment. But only a few direct commercial vendors accept credit cards. The reason is that Bitcoin transactions cannot be undone, while credit card transactions can be reversed. This has resulted in losses for vendors that accepted credit cards. Also, vendors risk that people buy Bitcoin with stolen credit cards. Use Bitcoins to profit from stolen credit card numbers and apply algorithms to reduce the risk.PayPal: A few platforms accept PayPal, but most reject it for the same problems as credit cards: PayPal transactions can be easily undone, and when this is done after the buyer has transferred the acquired Bitcoin to another wallet, the vendor might lose. This is why eBay is a bad place to trade Bitcoins. But, like with credit cards, some platforms accept PayPal.Other Payment Channels (Sofort, iDeal, Skrill…): The world of payment is rich with payment providers. In the EU alone you have dozens of them. Many direct exchanges support a rich collection of them. If you use a common provider, in Germany Sofort, in the Netherlands iDeal and so on, you have a good chance that your domestic direct exchange accepts it.Private Payment Channels (Cash, Western Union, Paysafecard, etc.): Most commercial platforms don‘t accept these means of payment. You find very few exchange platforms and most probably no direct exchange where these payments are accepted. But often you‘ll find a seller on p2p marketplaces you can pay with cash or other private means of payments. A good chance might also be an ATM where you can buy Bitcoins with cash. What is the cheapest way to buy Bitcoin?Now we‘re coming closer to the acquisition of your Bitcoin. In this part of our guide, we present you several common models that enable you to change fiat-money to digital cash – in Bitcoin. Each model has its own advantages and disadvantages. ATM: Maybe the easiest and most private method to acquire Bitcoins is a Bitcoin ATM. You know it, these machines where you can get money with your card. Some companies like Lamassu produce ATM-machines for Bitcoins, where you can buy Bitcoin with cash. If the operators of these machines wish, they can apply some KYC-rules, from mobile phone verification to biometric methods. On Coin-ATM-Radar.com you find a global map with these machines. Another kind of ATM is to just use an existing net of ATMs, like that from banks or train stations, to sell Bitcoins. This has been done for example in the Swiss, in Ukraine or in Spain. ATMs mostly have a relatively high fee of 3-6 percent or even more.Gift Cards/Voucher: This is another easy method to buy Bitcoins. You go to a kiosk or some other shop, buy a gift card or a voucher, visit a website, where you can use the code on the card to get your Bitcoin. This method is in use for example in Austria, Mexico, and South Korea. Like ATMs, gift cards mostly charge relatively high fees.Direct commercial exchanges/brokers: These vendors are like the exchange offices you might know from an airport, but digital. They buy Bitcoins on an exchange and sell it to customers. You visit a website, choose your means of payment, pay and get Bitcoins for prices set by the platform. For most of these platforms, you need your own wallet, whil
e some, for example, Coinbase and Circle, give you the option to save and spend the Bitcoins with a wallet they provide. Since you can use a great variety of payment channels, even credit cards, and PayPal, such platforms might be the fastest and easiest way for new users to buy their first Bitcoin. The fees of direct commercial exchanges vary between 1 and 5 percent. Some of them earn money by using the spread between buying and sell. Most demand extra fees for some means of payment like credit cards.P2P-Markets: On P2P-marketplaces buyers and sellers of Bitcoin meet and trade with each other. The fees on these markets are relatively low with 0 to 1 percent; the spread depends on the liquidity of the market and the payment channel. Other than with direct you can not only take, but make an offer: You set a price and wait until someone sells you a Bitcoin. This enables you to buy relatively large amounts of Bitcoin at relatively low prices. The most famous P2P-market is LocalBitcoins. This worldwide platform serves a lot of currencies and lets buyers and sellers decide which means of payment they use. It is often used to facilitate anonymous exchanges, sometimes for extraordinarily high prices. Bitcoin.de, the largest P2P-market in the Eurozone offers good liquidity and is a nice option to easily change Euro to Bitcoin. The third famous P2P market is bitsquare, a completely decentralized market, which is nothing more than a software that connects people.Exchange platforms: If you want to buy regularly large amounts of Bitcoin to good prices or trade with Bitcoins you‘ll most likely choose an exchange platform. Exchanges act as an escrow for its clients and save both Bitcoin and Fiat-money on behalf of their customers. Here you can offer your own orders to buy or sell Bitcoin, and the Their trading engine of the exchanges cumulates these orders and s offers from buyers and sellers and processes trades. Often exchanges have more options to trade like margin trading. Usually, fees and the spread are low. But the process to start an account on exchanges can be complicated, requires privacy disclosing information and needs you to trust the exchange with your money. Bonus: The Most Comprehensive Digital Wallet Guide: Step-by-Step Examples Warnings about exchanges, wallets and banksDespite the proof of identity requirements, remember exchanges and wallets don’t provide the same protections banks do.For example, there is often no or limited insurance for your account if the exchange goes out of business or is robbed by hackers, such as was the case with the infamous failed exchange Mt Gox.Bitcoin does not have legal status as a currency in most of the world, and authorities usually do not know how best to approach thefts. Some larger exchanges have replaced customer funds after a theft from the exchange itself, but at this stage, they are not legally obliged to do so. How to buy Bitcoin in your country?Worldwide: Nearly everywhere in the world, you have a chance to use local bitcoins, BitSquare or a Bitcoin ATMs. While these are options you could use, it is worth to look for further options available in your country. North AmericaThe USA and Canada are two of the biggest markets for Bitcoin buyers. Buyers can choose from a wide variety of options to buy Bitcoins. In both countries, you find beside LocalBitcoins and ATMs the direct vendors Coinbase, Circle, and India coin, the P2P-market Paxful and the exchange Kraken.USADirect Exchanges: With Coinbase and Kraken two major platforms offer an easy way to buy Bitcoins with low fees and save them in an online-wallet. Both platforms accept both bank transfers and credit cards. Indacoin is another platform for the direct exchange, but without an integrated wallet. A next option, Expresscoin, enables the acquisition of Bitcoins with cash via Billpay.P2P-Markets: Beside LocalBitcoins and Bitsquare Bitquick and Paxful are P2P-markets available for customers in the US. On Bitquick you pay by depositing leaving cash on the bank of the seller, on Paxful the seller can choose whatever payment-channel he wants, including PayPal, Western Union, credit and debit cards, gift cards and much more. While prices on Paxful are usually quite high, Bitquick charges a fee of 2 percent.Exchanges: If you want to buy Bitcoins with Dollar on an exchange, you have a couple of platforms to choose. The biggest exchanges are Bitstamp; Coinbase‘s GDAX and Bitfinex, followed by BTC-E, Kraken, and Gemini. While most exchanges strictly accept bank transfers, BTC-E offers additionally the funding of an account with Credit Cards and payment providers like PerfectMoney, Paysafecards and more. Buy Bitcoin In CanadaDirect: Both Kraken and Coinbase are open for Canadian Customers who can buy Bitcoins with bank transfer or credit card and store them on the platform‘s online wallet. Also, Indacoin is available for Canadian customers. More specific for Canadians, however, are QuickBT and canadianbitcoins.com, platforms where you can directly buy Bitcoins for up top 150 Canadian Dollars with several means of payment like INTERAC® Online and Flexepin Vouchers. Canadianbitcoin.com also offers the option to pay with cash in person or deposit.P2P: Customers of Canada can use international P2P markets like Paxful and LocalBitcoin to buy Bitcoins on P2P-markets.Exchange: Several exchanges enable trade with Canadian Dollars. Kraken, and CoinSquare are the most prominent examples. Middle and South AmericaOther than North America, Middle, and South America just discovered Bitcoins some years ago, mostly in 2014/2015. Most exchanges are relatively new, and due to the lower volume and smaller liquidity, buyers have to pay more in fees and for the spread.Several exchanges are available in some countries of South and Middle America: Satoshi Tango is a direct vendor for Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru; Bitex.la offers services in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay.The P2P-market local bitcoins is available in most countries of Latin America.In MexicoGift Cards: With the app of Chip-Chap.com you can buy Bitcoin gift cards at more than 5.000 shops.Direct: Volabit.com allows people to buy Bitcoin with MXN by bank transfers or depositing cash at OXXO, 7-Eleven, Banamex branches and ATM.Exchange: Bitso.com is an exchange for Mexico. Fees are rapidly decreasing with trade volume to as low as 0,1 percent; the spread is relatively small. Buy Bitcoin In BrazilDirect: People of Brazil can buy Bitcoins directly at Mercadobitcoin.com.br, a broker calling himself the biggest Bitcoin exchange in Latin America.Exchange: One major exchange for Bitcoin in Brazil is FlowBTC. Here people can buy or sell Bitcoins. Deposits can be made with Ban transfers. A second major exchange is Foxbit.com.br Buy Bitcoin In ArgentinaDirect: Ripio is a Wallet-App that allows users to buy Bitcoins. Its special feature is that it enables the acquisition of Bitcoins on credit and serves as a payment gateway to pay with Bitcoin. Buy Bitcoin In VenezuelaExchange: With SurBitcoin Venezuela has its own Bitcoin exchange. Buy Bitcoin In ChileExchange: Chile has its own Bitcoin exchange SurBTC, which hit the international news when it received funding from the Chilean government. People can buy or sell Bitcoins here and deposits in Chilean peso can be made with local bank transfers. EuropeATM: The website coinatmradar.com lists hundreds of Bitcoin ATM in Europe. Direct: Due to the unclear state of regulation in the Eurozone there are a dozen of direct exchanges to buy Bitcoin which offer a large variety of payment channels. Most of this broker charge their customers with fees depending on the payment channel of 0,5-5 percent and earn by the spread. While the platforms above just sell Bitcoin and offer no or no advanced online wallet, Coinbase and Circle online wallet with the option to buy Bitcoin with bank transfer or credit card are available in most European countries. P2P-Markets: LocalBitcoin is available for every country of the Eurozone except Germany. Bitcoin.de is a P2P-Mar
ketplace for the whole Euro-Zone where people can buy and sell Bitcoins with SEPA transfers. With 0,5 percent and a low spread, Bitcoin.de is likely the cheapest method to buy Bitcoins except for the exchanges.Exchange: Several exchanges serve the Eurozone. Kraken is the leading exchange, followed by Bitstamp and BTC-E. All exchanges demand full KYC. EurozoneIn GermanyFor Germans, the Fidor-Bank is a good start to buy Bitcoins. These online-bank partners with Bitcoin.de and Kraken, making the trading on these platforms significantly faster and more comfortable. On Bitcoin.de customers of Fidor can immediately achieve full KYC status and use the so-called ExpressTrade. This enables them to buy an unlimited amount of Bitcoins for relatively low prices only minutes after the first contact with the platform. Europe (not Euro) In nearly every European country localbitcoins is available. Due to the good currency exchange between local currencies and Euro many people in European countries use the big European platforms (Kraken, bitcoin.de) to buy Bitcoins. Since high fees and a big spread on small exchanges can add a huge premium on the price, it is often cheaper to change the local currency into Euro and use the Euro-platforms which mostly accept clients from whole of Europe.An easy method is to pay with a credit card if available. Your credit card provider earns on the currency exchange spread and fee, but you can buy Bitcoins fast and comfortably. In UKDirect: Coinbase is also available for UK citizen to buy Bitcoins with bank transfers and credit cards. Many people from the UK use bittylicious.com, which offers beside bank transfers and credit cards UK-specific payment options like Paym or Barclays Pingit. The fees, however, can be, depending on the payment option, quite large. Another broker who offers a direct exchangeExchange: The most popular Exchange in the UK is Coinfloor, followed by Kraken and Coinbase‘s GDAX. In SwissATM: Recently the national railway company SBB announced that citizens of the Swiss could buy Bitcoins at every ticket machine in every rail station. Payment can be made with Cash or electronic cash; credit cards are not accepted. On top of this person in the Swiss can find Bitcoin ATM operated by bitconsuisse.ch on several places.Direct: The broker bitcoinsuisse.ch offers the option to buy Bitcoins with cash and bank transfer. 247exchange.com implemented the option to buy Bitcoins with Franken. Most other direct exchanges like Coinbase, Circle and so on accept Swiss customers but demand them to pay with Euro. In PolandExchanges: With BitMarket.pl, BitBay.net, and bitmaszyna.pl Poland has three Bitcoin exchanges where you can buy Bitcoins with relatively good conditions with Zloty. In NorwayDirect: Cubits.com enables the direct acquisition of Bitcoins with NOK.Exchange: Norway has one exchange, bitcoinsnorway.com. But the volume is quite low so that buyers pay a premium. In SwedenDirect: Sweden has two Bitcoin broker where you can buy Bitcoin with SEK: bt.cx and fybse.se. In DenmarkDirect: The only Danish exchange is coinify.com. In UkraineATM: With the help of btcu.biz it is possible to buy Bitcoins at any bank ATM in the whole country.Direct: Buy.kuna.io offers a direct exchange of Bitcoin for Hryvna. Another direct exchange is btcu.biz.Exchange: With kuna.io Ukraine has its own Bitcoin exchange for Hryvna. In RussiaDue to the unclear legal situation of Bitcoin in Russia, only a few exchanges and brokers exist. Many people seem to trade with localbitcoins. Direct: matbea.com is a direct vendor of Bitcoin for Ruble. It demands the registration of Users with a phone number.Exchange: BTC-E is the major exchange to trade Rubel and Bitcoin. It works with a variety of payment providers to allow the deposit of funds. AsiaAsia is the fastest-growing market for Bitcoins. In China, Japan, and South-Korea there is a vivid trade with Bitcoins on exchanges, while Arabian countries like the Emirates are more or less Bitcoin-free. In these countries, the best changes are to find an ATM or a seller on LocalBitcons. In ChinaExchanges: China has the most liquid Bitcoin exchange landscape in the world. With Huobi, OKCoin and BTC China, you find the exchanges with by far the biggest volume. These exchanges charge zero fees, and as a result, the spread is extremely low. Beside them are many further exchanges. In JapanDirect: The most popular direct exchange broker for Yen is bitflyer.jp. The broker offers a wide spectre of verification degrees – from E-Mail full KYC – and charges very low fees.Exchange: With Quoine, Coincheck, and Kraken three exchanges serve the Japanese market. While they can‘t compete with Chinese exchanges regarding liquidity, they provide a good service to cheaply buy Bitcoins. ThailandDirect: A Bitcoin-Broker for Thailand is bitcoin.co.th. Another broker, coins.co.th, adds a comfortable online wallet.Exchange: With bx.in.th Thailand has its own Bitcoin exchange. In KoreaDirect and ATM: coinplug.com offers a variety of services to buy and sell Bitcoins. They provide two unique ATM in Seoul, enable the purchase of Bitcoin in thousands of ATMs in the country by partnering with an ATM producer and provide the option to buy Bitcoins with several gift cards.Exchange: With korbit.co.kr South Korea has a well-developed exchange that offers not only the trading with Bitcoin but also wallets for all devices and remittance service. Also, coinplug.com has an exchange. In IndiaDirect: An address to buy, sell, save and send Bitcoin is unocoin.com, Indias biggest Bitcoin-vendor. More or less the same offers zebpay.com, another big platform for Bitcoins in India. Like every exchange in India, those two platforms require in identity verification.Exchange: Coinsecure.in is both an online-wallet as an exchange. In PhilippinesThe Philippines have an amazing variety of platforms where you can buy Bitcoins.Gift cards: On prepaidbitcoin.ph you can redeem voucher cards you can buy in several locations in the Philippines.Direct: buybitcoin.ph is one vendor for Bitcoins, coins.Ph another. Coins.ph accept a wide specter of payment channels like cash deposits at banks, online transfers and vouchers available nationwide in stores.Exchanges: With coinage.ph and BTCexchange.ph the Philippines have two Bitcoin exchanges. In TurkeyWhile Bitcoin is not regulated in Turkey, after the failed coup and the increasing restrictions by the government there seems to be growing pressure on Bitcoin companies.Gift-card: With bitupcard.com you can buy the voucher that is redeemable for Bitcoins online.Direct: koinim.com is a platform where you can directly buy Bitcoin and Litecoin with Lira.Exchange: BTCTurk.com is Turkey‘s first Bitcoin exchange. Here you can buy and sell Bitcoins. Recently BTCTurk had trouble with its bank account, and there have been rumours it has to shut down. But by now it still seems to be operating. Middle EastIn IsraelDirect: Bits of Gold is the oldest Bitcoin platform in Israel. Here you can directly buy and sell Bitcoins.Exchange: Bit2C is Israel‘s major Bitcoin exchange.Other: Citizen of the United Arab Emirates can use bitoasis.net to buy Bitcoins directly; in Kuwait you can buy Bitcoins on bitfils.com; in Vietnam you find the Broker bitcoinvietnam.com.vn and the exchange vbtc.vn; in Malaysia coinbox.biz and coins.my provide an online wallet and an easy method to buy and sell Bitcoins, while oinhako.com is a wallet with the option to buy and sell for Malaysia and Singapur and bitx.co offers an exchange for Malaysia and Indonesia. In Indonesia, you can also buy Bitcoins at bitcoin.co.id. Citizen of Taiwan can use maicoin.com to buy, sell and use Bitcoins. OceaniaIn AustraliaDirect: Australia has several direct Bitcoin vendors: btradeaustralia.com supports Poli-Payments, buyabitcoin.com.au accepts cash deposits in banks, cointree.com.au supports both payment-options, coinloft.com.au too plus Flexepin vouchers and bitcoin.com.au enables the acquisition of Bitcoin by depositing cash at kiosks. coinjar.com.au promotes itself not only as a vendor but also as a wallet to use Bitcoins.Exchange: With ind
ependentreserve.com and coinspot.com.au Australia has two exchanges. In New ZealandDirect: At coined.co.nz you can buy Bitcoins with online bank transfers, at buybitcoin.co.nz with bank deposits. More payment options offer coinhub.nz where you can not only pay with bank transfers but also with cash deposits at ATMs and tellers as with PayPal. mybitcoinsaver.com offers a wallet and the option to invest regularly in Bitcoins with automatic bank transfers.Exchange: New Zealand has two Bitcoin exchanges. On bitnz.com the spread is relatively large, while you‘ll find better prices at nzbcx.com, Buy Bitcoin in AfricaCompared with the rest of the world Africas lacks Bitcoin adoption and has only a few exchanges. If no exchanges exist, it‘s a good idea in many countries to search LocalBitcoins to find a local vendor. In South AfricaSouth Africa has two Bitcoin exchanges: Bit-X and ice3x.com (Ice Cube).In NigeriaIn Nigeria, you can also trade Bitcoins on Bit-X. Also, you can use nairaex.com to buy Bitcoins with bank transfers and bitpesa.co to purchase coins with debit cards or paga. In TanzaniaIn Tanzania, you can use bitpesa.co to buy Bitcoins with bank transfers. In UgandaBitpesa.co offers citizens of Uganda to buy Bitcoins with MTN or Airtel Money. In ZimbabweBitcoinfundi.com seems to serve Zimbabwe, but prices are shown in Dollar.ConclusionBuying bitcoins is not always as easy as newcomers expect. The good news is the number of options is increasing, and it is getting easier all the time.

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