India’s Defense Minister Identifies Blockchain and AI as Drivers of Warfare Revolution

Andres Chavez
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India’s Defense Minister Identifies Blockchain and AI as Drivers of Warfare Revolution

The future of warfare is, no doubt, migrating to the digital platform, and it has been evident thanks to the increasing frequency of hacking attacks, DDoS attacks, espionage, surveillance, and similar tools. Governments and national authorities are also becoming aware of this development.

Such is the case of the Defense Minister of India, Rajnath Singh. The high-ranked official seems to believe that the blockchain technology, as well as big data and artificial intelligence (AI), will be crucial elements of warfare.

Perfectly Applicable Resources to Defense-Related Operations

The piece of news was reported by the Times of India, one of the nation’s most trusted publications, in the last few hours. Singh thinks very highly of the blockchain and AI as resources that can be perfectly applied to defense-related operations.

Singh’s remarks were directed to delegates from 80 nations in the Indian city of Delhi, and the impression is that he is under no illusion about his country’s plans to keep innovating as the industry continues to unfold and evolve.

He said that “the role of AI, big data and blockchain technologies has already revolutionized the existing paradigm of warfighting. The defense industry is undergoing a churning to cope and employ these technologies, in order to safeguard the safety and security of critical infrastructure.”

Making Changes to Keep up with the Information Age

The influential Asian country will have its yearly defense conference in the month of February. It is called DefExpo, and the blockchain technology and artificial intelligence will surely come up a lot in interventions.

“As we all are aware, the character of warfare is changing and therefore, in this information age, the challenge is not just to prepare for contingencies but also to repel threats from multiple sources, and at the same time possess the ability to respond proactively if needed,” he also said.

It is widely known that blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. Also, crypto assets are growing in prominence, usage, and overall importance worldwide. However, India is among the nations taking a different stance between both concepts: they are definitely pro-blockchain, but the case is not the same with crypto.

Blockchain’s Future in India Seems Brighter than Crypto’s

The prohibition to provide liquidity to crypto exchanges has slowly, but surely evolved to morph into a legal proceeding that could eventually ban cryptocurrencies altogether. It is safe to say that Indian authorities are not pro-crypto.

Several issues have already popped up thanks to the existing ban. For instance, police authorities are not able to move crypto funds that have been seized as part of their job because the legal instruments in the country ban the action.

Meanwhile, the blockchain technology clearly receives a wildly different treatment by authorities. It is already making its way into several aspects of the Indian economy and society as a whole, as evidenced by last week news that the country was working on developing updates to policies for blockchain and AI.

By Andres Chavez

Samsung Blockchain Wallet Will Have more Support for New Cryptocurrencies

Maria Rodríguez
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Samsung Blockchain Wallet Will Have more Support for New Cryptocurrencies

Samsung wallet will include Tron (TRX). In addition, it has integrated Elrond (ERD) token and Ethereum-based games like Axie Infinity.

During the last weeks, it has been known that the telecom giant Samsung will incorporate more cryptocurrencies on its crypto wallet. Justin Sun, the Founder of Tron (TRX), revealed on Twitter that TRX has been integrated on the Samsung blockchain Keystore.

In the beginning, the Samsung wallet was considered only to store Ethereum and Bitcoin, but now the company is opening its doors to more digital assets. In this way, the Galaxy S10 will offer TRX tokens and Tron decentralized apps (DApps).

The objective of Samsung will be to store assets, but also applications that are available in the market for the first time, all of this on potentially millions of mobile devices.

Tron will be integrated into the software development kit (SDK) of the Samsung Blockchain Keystore. Samsung’s project would bring its users the possibility to have a wallet in their smartphones.

Huawei, Apple, and Samsung are the main sellers of smartphones. According to the Pew Research Center, 5 billion people currently have access to mobile devices, almost half of them are smartphones; thus, one billion users would have access to the Samsung Blockchain Keystore. Many people could test the device soon.

More Benefits

People who buy Galaxy S10 will access to its crypto wallet. This is something positive for those users that do not rely on third-party wallets. Now they will have another option.

In addition, developers can build applications using Samsung devices. The SDK allows coders to build through the Tron network by giving them direct access to the blockchain. This will allow DApp developers to continue making products for Samsung users.

Samsung devices should have the same direct access to Tron blockchain data. This would make it easier for DApp developers to make products for Samsung users that do not rely on other providers.

“With the Tron / Samsung integration, users won’t need any third party wallet anymore. Develops can just focus on the content they are building and provide a seamless experience to end users”, Justin Sun said to local media.

According to Tron’s latest report, there are 3.9 million Tron wallet accounts and 611 DApps. Tron’s DApps are experiencing 276,000 daily average users (DAU) with an average growth rate of 1.2 % peer week.

These quantities would increase drastically once Samsung and other companies offer wallets available to those users who have not yet decided to access traditional wallets or do not know how to do it.

There are only 3,127 decentralized apps in use, according to research by the State of the DApps. Those apps have approximately 100,000 daily active users. Phil Chen, Head of HTC, says, “for the smartphone category to grow again, we need more adoption of cryptophones”.

Recently, Samsung has added support for Elrond (ERD) token and Axie Infinity (an Ethereum-based collectible game) on its blockchain wallet.

Similarly, Google is interested in the blockchain market by making its public blockchain data freely available in BigQuery through the Google Cloud Public Datasets Program”.

Nevertheless, there is another question. Samsung is based in South Korea and that country does not have a clear position about cryptocurrencies, highlighting the instability of crypto legality in that country, where these assets were banned in 2017.

In 2018, South Korea recognized digital currencies like Bitcoin, but in 2019, the Government decided to set up a blockchain-enabled virtual power plant in Busan. However, it has not issued much opinion regarding this topic and Samsung’s plans could continue being accepted or not.

By María Rodríguez

Telegram Launches a Wallet Test App Despite SEC’s Regulations

Willmen Blanco
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Telegram Launches a Wallet Test App Despite SEC’s Regulations

The desktop wallet will be available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux 64. Transactions would take just one minute and users would learn how to send and receive grams.

The messaging app company Telegram has faced many problems to launch its token called “Gram”. Last October, the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States (SEC) announced a law ordinance that implies a restriction in the commercialization of tokens throughout the country, something that would affect Gram.

The company delayed the launch date of its token in order to negotiate with SEC and find a solution for its case. Investors of the Telegram’s project accepted the new terms and date to launch the Gram tokens, which would be on April 30th. They choose to remain in the project despite that the contract was planned for October 31st.

Now, Telegram will test the wallet to store Gram tokens despite the restrictions of SEC. In this way, the company released an early desktop wallet for its token, so users can download the test app for Windows, MacOS, and Linux 64.

To download this desktop version, users have to go to Telegram’s official website and get their keys on the TON test-net. “Now you have a wallet only you control directly without middlemen or bankers”, that is the app’s message for users.

How is the Process?

Once users download the desktop app and create an address. The wallet asks them to save 24 seed words and create a password for payments. After that, the wallet is ready to receive and send grams.

Also, users can get test-net grams from a Telegram’s bot called TestTonBot, asking it to send from 5 to 20 tokens to the generated crypto address on the app.

When users request a specific amount of tokens, the bot notifies them about the start of the request execution before sending a separate message that test Grams were credited to the wallet.

The company explained that a test transaction took just a minute, but in “busy” times, it could take longer, according to the bot.

Test transactions would be visible on the Telegram Open Network (TON) with details such as transaction time, amount sent, and the TestTonBot’s wallet address (sender). Also, the platform will show the last transaction executed.

The launch of the Gram’s test version follows a report which says that the District Court for the Southern District of New York postponed a hearing on the SEC injunction. The court moved the hearing to next February 18th, 2020.

Strong Restrictions

Both Facebook with its cryptocurrency project called Libra and Telegram with its token Gram have faced regulations imposed by US authorities, which want to monitor all the details regarding these projects and protect users as well as their personal information.

TON, the Telegram’s platform to execute transactions with Gram, had been previously scheduled to launch last October 31st. In early October, Telegram published the terms of use for the wallet app and asked the investors to share their public keys, using TON’s key generator. The same generator is now built into the app, according to developers.

But SEC considered that Gram’s investors bought the tokens with a great discount, so this purchase of cryptocurrency rights would involve an investment and investors could sell the tokens at a price equivalent to triple.

Now, Telegram will meet the SEC on February 18th, 2020, in New York, to discuss the project and clarify all the doubts about it. The token issuance has now been scheduled for April 30th, 2020.

The current agreement between Telegram and its investors is that they would receive 77% of their investment back or Gram tokens if they decide not to delay the token issuance date anymore. Until the moment, they decided to wait and receive their Grams when it is possible.

By María Rodríguez

Binance Employees are Operating in Beijing and the Company Could Open a Physical Office

Josselyn Avila
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Binance Employees are Operating in Beijing and the Company Could Open a Physical Office

Chinese authorities are supporting the use of blockchain technology so exchange houses and BTC reacts in a positive way.

One of the largest exchange cryptocurrency in the world, Binance, plans to return to China with an office to be open in Beijing. This information was known through some sources which do not reveal their name.

This crypto exchange is based in Malta, a country that has opened its doors to this kind of technology, in order to attract investors. This new office will join Binance’s current mainland China office in Shanghai.

However, until the moment it is not clear what activity the office will do or when it will open. But there is something clear. China is trying to adopt blockchain technology. Recently, its President, Xi Jinping announced his intentions to take advantage of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and asked citizens to invest in it.

After that, Bitcoin (BTC) reported daily gains of upwards of 36% or 42% according to some exchanges, which could be a reaction to the positive comment of Xi Jinping regarding blockchain technology, as well as the news about Binance and cryptocurrencies operations in China.

Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, said on Twitter that Binance currently sees a few million dollars a day worth of volume from Chinese users. This happens especially via the peer-to-peer functionality that became available in China last October. But the truth is that Chinese users are employing this technology in their operations or payments.

“I don’t have anything that’s not public. All of my readings are from public sources”, Zhao said on a video posted in his Twitter account.

Binance Operates Outside China

The company left China in September 2017. This was due to the ban policy the Government imposed over cryptocurrencies in that region. But now, Binance is looking to open a new office in Beijing to accompany one office operating in Shanghai.

Sources at Binance confirmed that some of its employees are operating in the capital city of China, although it is not clear when Binance could open a physical office again in that territory.

As probably part of these projects, last September, local media reported Binance was making its first major investment in China since leaving the country. In this sense, the company “took part” in a $200 million round of funding for Chinese crypto and blockchain publication Mars finance.

The Country Would Adopt Blockchain

The exchange reported, some time ago, China was planning to launch a digital fiat currency. Also, Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao wrote on Twitter that he believes the Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), is having a positive impact on the crypto industry with behaviors like these ones.

China’s new ambitions are evident since last October. Recently, authorities of the Asian country informed that it will certify 11 companies related to digital payments through blockchain technology.

This is in order to support these companies but also to verify they are meeting the rules that the Government imposes as a way to protect users and monitor the development of the network. Users wait for more announcements to know-how will operate the Chinese Government.

By María Rodríguez

Leakage of Personal Data of Thousands of Users Acknowledged by BitMEX

Willmen Blanco
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Leakage of Personal Data of Thousands of Users Acknowledged by BitMEX

Thousands of addresses would be compromised and available to potential hackers and scammers. Binance encouraged its users to change the e-mails registered on the platform.

The BitMEX exchange, which is concentrated on products derived from Bitcoin, acknowledged on Friday, November 1st, that it had leaked personal data of thousands of users of the platform after sending an update e-mail with information about people using the platform.

In the message, the company indicates that it has acted with immediacy to contain the problem and, without further details, assures that it is taking steps to understand the scope of the situation. It also says that it is doing everything possible to identify the root cause of the failure and will contact the users affected by the problem.

Twitter user Matt (@vanalli) suspects that BitMEX employees made a mistake sending mass e-mails, forgetting to place the recipients of the e-mail newsletter in a hidden copy, thus compromising the security of the users of the platform, whose data are now exposed.

This Twitter user does not understand how that can be happening. He wonders if they are sending their e-mails to customers manually, or if they are dealing with normal e-mails without CRM or third party software. He says that he cannot even imagine how they are handling the data of users.

The alleged error incurred by the P2P cryptocurrency trading platform means that anyone can see the e-mail addresses of all the recipients. This represents a problem for users, considering that they could be used by hackers and scammers who already know that those addresses are used to be logged on the BitMEX platform.

Jake Chervinsky, a cryptocurrency lawyer, said in a Twitter message that BitMEX has just annoyed its users in the most scandalously incompetent way that anyone can ever imagine: forgetting to use a hidden copy in a mass e-mail. This must-have led many of the affected users to clean their desktops.

Some users have tweeted screenshots of the e-mailing lists received, whilst others recommend that users change their e-mail accounts as their addresses are compromised. The exchange house Binance encouraged its users to change their e-mails, although it did not explain whether this was due to what had happened with BitMEX.

A similar situation occurred last July when a report by the security researchers of the network-focused website vpnMentor warned of a leak of personal data of users of the YouHodler-backed cryptocurrency lending platform. However, at that time the company reported that the leak was not directly related to its database, and thus these records did not contain confidential information and no one was affected.

In the month of August, the hackers attacked Binance and demanded from the cryptocurrency exchange 300 bitcoins in exchange for retaining 10,000 photos with the know your customer (KYC) data of the users of that platform. These kinds of situations make the users of these services skeptical about those that are supposed to be providing them with security. This also forces the company to incur the problem to struggle in order to keep customers with them.

By Willmen Blanco

Bitcoin Reaches All-Time High in Fees Accrued for Transactions

Willmen Blanco
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Bitcoin Reaches All-Time High in Fees Accrued for Transactions

Bitcoin transaction fees reached record highs. Since 2009, 204,808.3479 BTC have been distributed among miners, for transaction fees.

On October 30th, 2019, the Bitcoin blockchain reached a record high of USD 1 billion accumulated in transaction fees.

According to information from BlockChair, the number of fees accumulated annually for Bitcoin transactions has decreased in recent years, despite the increases that have occurred at specific times. This is due to the arrival of Bitcoin scalability solutions, including SegWit (Segregated Witness) and Lightning Network.

The cumulative amount of fees for Bitcoin transactions is roughly equivalent to USD billion. However, the amount is actually even greater, considering Bitcoin’s valuation in the market for October 30th. According to information from Coin Metrics, since 2009, 204,808.3479 BTC has been distributed among miners for transaction fees. Taking into account Bitcoin’s price for October 30th, this amount equals USD 1.86 billion.

The cumulative size of transaction fees in the Bitcoin network is established to grow more, as this is an alternative mechanism to reward miners as the subsidies for gradually mining blocks decrease.

Securing the Bitcoin Network

Taking a step back, transaction fees play a fundamental role in the Bitcoin blockchain, as these serve to ensure the integrity and resistance to network censorship.

First, annexing fees to Bitcoin transactions discourages those who contemplate the possibility of conducting denial of service (DoS) attacks, also called “spam” attacks, which aim to delay the overall operation of the network.

When a transaction is created, bandwidth can be used and data written to the hard drive of anyone running a node on the network, according to Loop. If there is no cost to do that, the bandwidth can be saturated and anyone’s hard drive filled.

Second, the fees prioritize which transactions are confirmed and recorded in blocks before others. In this regard, David Steinberg, Vice-president of cryptocurrency mining consultancy Navier, explained that by paying, users will have their transaction confirmed faster. This mechanism is thus a fair way to participate in a pool of pending transactions.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, transaction fees also ensure Bitcoin’s objective in terms of security. Together with the Bitcoin block reward, which is currently at 12.5 BTC and decreases 50% every four years, transaction fees encourage miners not to intentionally stop or edit the blockchain.

Without this monetary incentive, miners might be easily bribed by malicious actors so that they unfairly prevent any or all transactions from being added to the blockchain.

Transaction fees and block subsidies together provide the probabilistic resolution of Bitcoin system transactions, as stated by Pierre Rochard, Founder of the Advisory consultancy. He added that the larger the resolution, the less time they will have to wait for those responsible for making the transaction before having the confidence that the transactions will not be censored or double-spent.

What Lies Ahead

There are another 10 or 13 years of decent subsidies [or rewards] available before it fades to a fairly insignificant amount, as commented by Billfodl’s Auld.

When this happens, miners have to start adjusting profitability measures around comparatively more volatile values ​​of transaction fees, as opposed to blocking subsidies.

It is necessary to start thinking more about game theory, about the miners’ profitability and what could happen if the miners’ profitability becomes more volatile every hour and day, as said by Loop. It is already known that there are daily and weekly cycles of demand for block space.

By Willmen Blanco

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