Blockchain ​​Platform Will Allow Paying for Transportation in Spain

Maria Rodríguez
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Blockchain ​​Platform Will Allow Paying for Transportation in Spain

Santander Bank will collaborate in a new App for the payment of transport services.

Through a set of agreements between the Municipal Transport Company of Madrid (ETM), Santander Bank and the important startup Vottun, it will be possible to pay for the public transport service quickly, safely and transparently using a single payment application called Maas Madrid.

Vottun is a platform that is responsible for developing technologies which help use different networks and blockchain platforms. It is for this reason that it will help to install a blockchain platform that supports the application and also will be used to pay for the transport ticket in Madrid.

During an interview about the development of the blockchain platform, Luis Carbajo, who is CEO of Vottun, commented that they are in the phase of conducting the first pilot tests where they created the customer registration App with the option of direct payment for transportation service through a blockchain platform. Likewise, he estimates that by the middle of next year the application will be ready to be launched.

In conjunction with this application, Banco Santander customers will have direct access to the payment of the service since the EMT strengthened friendly ties with the financial institution.

To specify the complete services that the so-called Maas Madrid application will offer, Carbajo explained that the tool will work with a facial registration of customers. Also, it will evaluate in real time the traffic conditions in the city. In this way, the client can have access to the Madrid subway, four taxi companies, two bus companies, and also pay for the service thanks to the partnership with Banco Santander.

Service Payment as a Goal

When conceiving the idea of ​​the application as a tool to facilitate access to transport in the City, Carbajo explained that it would be a challenge to add the option that allows to pay for the service through the tool

Since financial companies such as MasterCard are now using blockchain technology, the Municipal Transport Company of Madriddecided to seek partnerships with a company that has opted for new technologies, so Banco Santander was the best option.

Between the Santander Bank and the Municipal Transport Company of Madrid there is a payment regime for a certain period of time. In this way, both companies already had the interest of working together with their current project.

“Currently, if the user wants to take a skateboard or electric motorcycle service, or a shared car, he has to register in each of these systems. What Vottun offers is an identity system based on blockchain, in which the citizen can take any type of transfer service directly, without having to register data”, said Carbajo.

In this way, the application will be a complex blockchain-based system that will facilitate the payment of the transport service and will also save time and be more transparent and personalized.

As an example, it is known that there is a large group of transport services companies in Madrid. Each service has different payment systems and records. The new application will prevent registration in each service, unifying everything in only one digital identity system.

By María Rodríguez

CFTC Is Accused of Favoritism

Willmen Blanco
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CFTC Is Accused of Favoritism

LedgerX executives denounced the CFTC’s actions as biased last weekend. A comment from the CEO of LedgerX on the firm’s blog would have provoked the Commission’s attitude.

A regulatory drama in the cryptocurrency derivatives market reached a climax on Twitter during the last weekend in September 2019.

Executives of the US firm dedicated to cryptocurrency derivatives, LedgerX, say that its main regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has acted unfairly by favoring its main rival Bakkt.

Paul Chou, CEO of the firm, posted on Twitter on September 27th a message alleging that the CFTC breached promises made to the firm and conspired against it.

The Twitter drama occurred after the plans for launching the LedgerX futures platform in August were postponed. At that time, LedgerX had the impression that the CFTC had given the company the necessary authorizations to launch Bitcoin physical futures. However, after announcing its Omni platform, originally marketed on social networks as a platform for options and futures trading, the firm was told by a CFTC spokesperson that it had no green light to launch Bitcoin futures with physical settlement.

Two letters that were sent by LedgerX to the CFTC hold that the bias of the previous president of the Commission, Christopher Giancarlo, is behind the firm’s delays.

One of the letters notes that this request had been received more than 180 days before by the Commission, who did not approve or deny it. The firm has strong reasons to believe that this delay, which clearly violates the Commodity Trade Law, is linked to a reaction toward a blog post signed by Chou.

It is not entirely clear why the CTFC has favored the rivals of LedgerX, although sources close to the events say that LedgerX executives have the impression that the CFTC showed favoritism by working more closely with Bakkt and ErisX. Other sources have said that it is common among regulators to favor existing market participants over new entrants.

However, CFTC spokesman Michael Short claimed that the agency treats all registered entities equally. He argued that repeated changes in LedgerX’s licensing strategy prevented its approval.

Through an e-mail, Short avoided being more specific regarding the situation. For his part, Chou described such brief response as nothing but fake news.

The approval of new futures contracts can be reached in several ways. Bakkt launched its platform regulated by the state of New York, while ErisX and LedgerX decided to launch those markets through DCO and DCM licenses.

When the LedgerX futures market was being announced, the CFTC said that the firm was only licensed to operate in the swap market. As part of the approval process, LedgerX explained that it was asked to undergo an SOC1 audit.

The firm also states that the agency revoked its DCO order after their CEO had posted an article on the firm’s blog. The COO of LedgerX, Juthica Chou, Paul Chou’s wife, said on September 28th that the agency had intervened improperly in the audit process.

The CFTC denied those allegations of Juthica Chou, while Paul Chou was fired from the CFTC Technology Advisory Committee. Short said that the dismissal was conducted by a unanimous decision of the Commission.

By Willmen Blanco

Virtual Market of Brazil Could Allow Purchases with Cryptocurrencies

Maria Rodríguez
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Virtual Market of Brazil Could Allow Purchases with Cryptocurrencies

Mercado Libre Brazil will be able to accept payments with cryptocurrencies in its digital platform, thanks to an alliance with BitPay.

Despite the collapse of Bitcoin prices in recent days, it was announced that the renowned online buying and selling platform, in its Brazilian section, Mercado Libre Brazil, has partnered with BitPay so that users of this platform can purchase and sale their goods using cryptocurrencies.

One of the main disadvantages and problems for cryptocurrency users is that Bitcoin is an asset which is certainly difficult to use to make small purchases of goods.

In the market there are no large varieties of stores that accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method and many times users only have these assets to generate profits. Then, they must exchange them for fiat currency to execute operations such as purchase of goods and services. Among these things and the fact that it is also difficult to make a financial investment with this asset, slows the growth and adoption of cryptocurrencies.

It is important for Bitcoin to acquire the most important power that a currency must have and it is the action of being used for the purchase of services or products.

Due to these difficulties about exchanging cryptocurrencies for goods and services, the Bitcoin application BitPay emerges. It is a tool that allows cryptocurrency users, especially those who use Bitcoins, to use the asset with the aim to buy products and services simply, quickly and safely.

As the traditional payment system establishes, the customer who wants to pay for a product or service using BTC should only have the debit card granted by BitPay and use it in a special point of sale for these assets. Thus, the money in Bitcoin is discounted from the client’s wallet.

The Bitpay agreement with Mercado Libre Brazil

For the subsidiary of Mercado Libre in Brazil, this agreement represents an important advance in the development of new technologies. In this way, it is something very important for a traditional trading platform such as Mercado Libre.

Like the agreement that BitPay has with Amazon, which is about cryptocurrency payment methods within its web platform, the process will work in a similar way with Mercado Libre Brazil.

That is, users who are interested in buying with BTC can do so from the website without any problem. They can also purchase Gift Card from the web platform. The value of this tool will be adjusted to the current conversion of the cryptocurrency and thus define the amounts of the Gift Cards.

It is known that, in addition, the money for the user to pay can be added to the platform. It would be as a kind of warehouse for cryptocurrencies. At the beginning, users would be able to use BTC and BCH on the platform. Also, it is expected that the offer can be extended to another digital currency like ETH.

The use of this tool on an important platform such as Mercado Libre makes the tool an option that accelerates and facilitates the future of the crypto-industry.

By María Rodríguez

Successfully Concluded Blockchain ​​Unilever Pilot Test

Maria Rodríguez
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Successfully Concluded Blockchain ​​Unilever Pilot Test

Company executives announced they were satisfied with the results of the pilot test of the blockchain system that they were developing.

Unilever, one of the world’s largest home products companies, recently announced that they have concluded the pilot tests they were conducting on their blockchain project. The main objective of said idea is to use this technology for the purchase of advertising spaces on the web.

The renowned producer of the so-called “high turnover consumer goods FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods)” announced the successful closure of the blockchain project tests using as voice an interview issued by the Campaign advertising medium. Luis Di, who is the Executive Vice President of Media for the company, was in charge of giving the announcement; in addition to offering important details about the test results and what the company is looking for with this innovative tool.

Thus, during the interview, the Vice President of Media of the company commented that during the local test of the project, it was possible to save money in the search and acquisition of the separated spaces for digital advertising. In this way, it was defined, without mishaps, that advertisers confirm the sale of the space by contract.

Thus, Luis Di added, at the conclusion, that it has been a success and that there were no inconveniences in the entire advertising investment plan.

With respect to other details, Unilever has conducted other projects using blockchain technology. In this way, it hopes to continue having solutions that help reduce costs. Similarly, he has worked “hand in hand” with IBM to develop and create these solutions in the same fashion.

According to information provided by Michelle Peluso, Director of Marketing at IBM, after the implementation of these tools, Unilever has managed to lower its expenses, reaching record savings of up to three percentage points.

Unilever Betting On Blockchain ​​Technology

With a vision of the future focused on the development of new technologies, Unilever has managed to be one of the most powerful companies that have had a direct alliance with the new blockchain course that IBM has taken.

With this important example, other large global companies have considered following their technological steps and using blockchain in projects that help save money and improve processes.

Companies like Mc. Donald’s and Nestlé are evaluating the use of solutions such as this one to increase transparency in the purchase of advertisements, something that has been considered as a complex challenge, defining the purchase of advertisements online.

After the success of the pilot test of its blockchain solution, Unilever already considers expanding the range of use of the tool. They assure to continue increasing the range of spaces as they evaluate the different markets. Luis Di complemented this idea by adding that “This does not go for the last brilliant tool. We are reviewing our rules and our principles to build trust again and have full transparency in all our operations”.

IBM has become one of the main blockchain sponsoring companies for conventional companies of different types. Its alliance with Unilever and with other important companies will help to continue to increase confidence in crypto technology and solutions of this nature.

By María Rodríguez

Bitcoin-Only Firmware Included in BitBox02 Cold Wallet

Willmen Blanco
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Bitcoin-Only Firmware Included in BitBox02 Cold Wallet

Shift Cryptosecurity launched a multi-currency BitBox02 wallet and one with Bitcoin-only firmware. It allows users to generate and store the private keys independently.

The official sale of the BitBox02 cold wallet and the Bitcoin-only BitBox02, which was announced on September 25th, allows users to generate and store private keys offline. With this release, the Shift Cryptosecurity team joins cold wallet developers that have launched Bitcoin-only hardware wallets.

The Shift Cryptosecurity team said that they had contributed to the Bitcoin Core project, so they delivered a Bitcoin-only edition of the BitBox02 wallet to the community that had requested it. As for its part, at the beginning of September 2019, SatoshiLabs noted that the beta version of its new firmware was also designed for maximalist bitcoiners, that is to say, those bitcoiners that support the idea that Bitcoin should be the only cryptocurrency.

The premise of these users and wallet developers is that a wallet that supports only Bitcoin reduces the attack surface, as opposed to a wallet with multiple assets. In addition to the Bitcoin-only firmware, the BitBox02 wallet also includes an update mechanism.

This move has been influenced by the announcement at the end of February of preliminary support for hardware wallets in the Bitcoin Core client. Currently, there are several wallets that are compatible with this Python library and command line tool. Besides the Digital BitBox (predecessor of the BitBox02 wallet and the BitBox02 Bitcoin-only edition) and the Trezor One and Trezor Model T, in the GitHub repository of the Bitcoin Core HWI the Ledger Nano X and the Ledger Nano S, as well as KeepKey and Coldcard, are listed among the Bitcoin wallets that implement it.

Another of the functions that are included in the new BitBox02 wallets is the integration with FIDO, so they can be used as two-factor authentication devices on websites that are compatible with this physical authenticator.

For its part, the multi-asset version of BitBox02 supports, in addition to Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC), ether (ETH) and some ERC20 tokens, despite the fact that the function is in beta phase. In this way, users can start testing ETH, USDT, BAT, LINK, MKR, ZRX and DAI transactions.

The developers warned that it is best to store small amounts of funds in these crypto assets for testing purposes, since the functionality may still be unstable.

Likewise, this cold wallet includes a screen for verifying and confirming transactions before signing them, as well as touch sliders and an SD slot for security copies.

It is worth remembering that Bitcoin has shown the ability to recover from all-time lows, which has led many to consider that it should be the only cryptocurrency. In order to ensure security of users’ Bitcoin transactions, the Bitcoin-only BitBox02 wallet keeps the attack surface as small as possible and has an update mechanism.

As it is also integrated with FIDO, it allows using it as a two-factor authenticating device on compatible websites. The screen for verifying and confirming transactions is one of the other features that guarantee the security of holdings.

By Willmen Blanco

Bitcoin’s Price Drops, Libra’s Supporting Fiat Currency Basket Is Revealed and Ethereum’s Capacity Is Expanded

Willmen Blanco
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0
Bitcoin’s Price Drops, Libra’s Supporting Fiat Currency Basket Is Revealed and Ethereum’s Capacity Is Expanded

The Bitcoin hash rate decreased by 30% thus giving rise to expressions of fear. Binance’s cryptocurrency staking service will be available for eight crypto assets.

In recent days, Bitcoin’s price has suffered a significant decline, reaching a price of just under USD 8,000 on September 26th, after having remained, in previous weeks, around USD 10,000 per unit. According to CoinMarketCap data, the price of the cryptocurrency is USD 8,293, at the time of writing this article.

The fiat cryptocurrency basket that will support Facebook’s Libra was revealed in recent days. It will include 50% of US dollars (USD), 18% of euros (EUR), 14% of yen (JPY), 11% of pounds sterling (GBP), and 7% of Singapore dollars (SGD).

Outstanding News

According to German publication Spiegel, the Libra Foundation revealed the exact composition of the fiat currency basket that will support Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra. The confirmed absence of the Chinese yuan and the predominance of the US dollar characterize the power struggle behind this first GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft) currency.

Bitcoin, as well as most altcoins, began on September 24th by throwing red numbers that showed a downward market trend. Although Bitcoin had respected the psychological support of between USD 9,000 and USD 9,500 per unit on September 24th, the price of BTC reached USD 8,421, a drop of 14% in less than 2 hours.

Ethereum’s capacity has been expanded by the mining community to allow processing more transactions per second in the network. This is due both to the increase in network traffic, mainly caused by the controversial stablecoin Tether, and to a gambling game called FairWin.

Venezuela would be seeking to use cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to honor the debts of state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). This measure would be an instrument to avoid international sanctions imposed by the United States, according to a report by the Bloomberg news agency.

The fall in Bitcoin’s price between September 24th and 25th was not fully reflected in Venezuela. At the same time in which BTC lost about 12% of its value in USD, the price of Bitcoin in bolivars (VES) fell just over half of that percentage. A new increase in the official and parallel exchange rates between the bolivar (VES) and the dollar prevented a greater fall in Bitcoin’s price.

Other News

Binance announced on September 26th that it will activate a cryptocurrency staking platform that will allow users to earn dividends by keeping funds in their wallets. The new service allows taking advantage of the rewards offered by some cryptocurrencies that operate on networks governed by the Proof of Stake (PoS) protocol.

On September 24th, the Bitcoin hash rate decreased by 30% in a dramatic way, giving rise to expressions of fear throughout the market and widespread panic that the network may not be secure enough. Recently, the Bitcoin hash rate set new highs, exceeding 100 EH/s. However, at the end of September, it fell from 98 EH/s to 67 EH/s, which represents a variation of 32%.

By Willmen Blanco

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