SolarisBank and the Stuttgart Exchange Partner to Launch Crypto Trading Platform

Andres Chavez
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SolarisBank and the Stuttgart Exchange Partner to Launch Crypto Trading Platform

Crypto exchanges are nearly indispensable in our lives, especially if we take into account the huge amount of assets we manage in the form of cryptocurrencies. And now, thanks to a partnership in Germany, people can benefit from yet another option in this field.

Two powerful companies, SolarisBank and the Stuttgart Exchange Group, will join forces and launch a crypto exchange, according to a report from an important news hub from Germany this week, on December 12th.

Two Companies with Ambitious Crypto-related Goals

The two firms are jointly developing the proper infrastructure for a project of such magnitude to be successful. Bothcompanies, now working together, actually have very different backgrounds.

SolarisBankwas actually founded just three years ago, in 2015. It is a fintech firm that happens to hold a banking license, offering a “Banking as a Platform” service to its important clientele. On the other hand, the Stuttgart Exchange has beenfunctioning in Germany since 1860. It is the second largest stock exchange inthe nation and is in the top ten in Europe.

The piece of news goes in concordance with what the Stuttgart Exchange made public in the month of May: that one of its primary goals in the medium-term was to create a no-fee-crypto-trading service.

The joint venture will be launched in the first half of 2019, according to official from both businesses. SolarisBank will naturally by the project’s banking platform. “A reliable and efficient trading platform is an elementary contribution to [their] vision of a hybrid financial world with both fiat and cryptocurrencies,” said Roland Folz, currently actingas SolarisBank’s CEO.

The two most prominent and influential cryptocurrencies of today, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) will be available for users to buy or sell in the exchange, both for retail and corporate investors. Both of the involved parties in the partnership are currently developing the exchange’s ICO platform, which was initially announced four months ago. Tokens introduced in the ecosystem will also be tradeable on other secondary markets.

SolarisBank and Other Alliances

The initiative was a SolarisBank idea: it is part of the “Blockchain Factory” project, an institutional attempt to provide clients with specialized accounts that are destined to be used for blockchain firms.

VPE WertpapierhandelsBank AG (VPE), which is a widely known securities trading bank based in Germany, formed an alliance withSolarisBank as well, with the goal of coming up with a trading platform for cryptocurrencies specifically designed for corporate and institutional traders.

Yet another SolarisBank project, Bitwala, is now open for business, having gathered more than 40,000 preregistered customers that will earn access to BTC and euro deposit accounts. Bitwala is a German project, specialized in crypto-banking. It will make perfect use of SolarisBank’sbanking license to protect euro funds up to 100,000 euros, with two of the country’s largest financial institutions, Bundesbank and BaFin, supervising it all.

By Andres Chavez

Spain Seeks to Create the National Council of Cryptocurrencies

Maria Rodríguez
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Spain Seeks to Create the National Council of Cryptocurrencies

The Popular Party proposed the idea. It wants the country to be a “leader” when legislating oon the cryptoactive, instead of following the decisions of other countries

The regulation of cryptoactives in the territory of Spain is the purpose of the Spanish Popular Party (PP). Teodoro García Egea, General Secretary of that political organization, announced the proposal “not of law” that will be presented before the Congress of Deputies: Create a National Council of Cryptocurrencies.

The main objective to form this institution is to make the nation a “leader” in the field of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies so as not to “get behind the legislation of other countries”, that is, to depend on decisions or jurisprudence taken by cases in the leading countries in this field, such as the United States.

The piece of news was presented during the opening day of the ISDE Blockchain & Law ResearchCenter, at the Higher Institute of Law and Economics of Madrid, with the presentation “Regulatory Framework in Cryptocurrencies andBlockchain”.

García was the one who gave the information and details on Monday, December 10th. During his speech, he assured that the aim is to provide an optimal level of security for investors as well as “apply tax incentives to companies that use blockchain for the traceability of processes”.

Regarding the validity and reliability of the cryptoactives, the leader highlighted the advantages of cryptoactives in comparison with national currencies and fiduciary money, since cryptocurrencies allow fund tracking facilities and impede processes to”pirate” or falsify user accounts.

Next Steps

The proposal will be formally presented during the next few days for potential regulation of cryptocurrencies. According to García, cryptocurrencies are like the machines that allowed the mechanical loom during the industrial revolution, because cryptoactives represent a current and perhaps a transformation of the international economy.

Regarding the legislation that can be developed in Spain, García said: “Through the design of a legal framework we want to establish the parameters of use and favor theim plementation of the technology that makes it possible, both in public and private entities, generating always guarantees of safety and reliability”.Other important issues to be addressed are the creation of a NationalCryptocurrency Council and the education of citizens about technology.

It is not the first time that the PP is pronounced on the technology of distributed accounting (DLT). In February, the party proposed capturing companies based on blockchain technology through tax exemptions. At that time, García Egea said that a project would be designed to exempt companies that work in this type of platform from taxresponsibilities.

The Congress of Deputies of Spain is one of the two chambers that make up the general courts and that represents all Spanish citizens. In total, there are 350 deputies elected by universal, direct and secret suffrage. Its main function is to legislate, make laws together with the Senate and maintain control over the Spanish Government.

By María Rodríguez

Owners of AriseBank to Pay Almost $3 Million Worth of Fines because of Fraudulent ICO

Andres Chavez
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Owners of AriseBank to Pay Almost $3 Million Worth of Fines because of Fraudulent ICO

Initial Coin Offerings, better known as ICOs, are excellent ways to raise funds for a determinate project, often offering people enticing opportunities to be a part of the ecosystem and earn profits with participation and involvement. However, and since regulations are not still 100 percent clear and consistent, users can fall victims of scams with frequency.

A US-based federal court has ruled that a couple of executives of a crypto project named AriseBank has to pay almost $3 million ($2.7, to be more precise) in fines. The announcement came this week, on December 12th, from the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC,) which is the organization in charge of dealing with crypto-related frauds.

SEC performed a long investigation on the matter, and with the backing of the US law, determined that AriseBank was operating a fraudulent ICO, which the SEC has fought long and hard to prevent in recent months.

Trickery and Deceit

Jared Rice, which is AriseBank’s CEO, initially tricked users and investors on the platform into thinking that it could offerthem “FDIC-insured accounts and traditional banking services, includingVisa-brand credit and debit cards, in addition to cryptocurrency services.”

Those allegations turned out to be false, and it all ended when Rice was apprehended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last month. The charges were described as defrauding investors of more than $4 million dollars.

Rice and his co-founder, Stanley Ford, will have to be responsible for $2,259,543 in disgorgement, and for an additional $68,423in prejudgment interest, not to mention $184,767 each, worth of civil penalties. They will not be able to offer digital securities anymore as part of their punishment, nor serve as officers of public companies, according to the terms of their legal fate.

Rice was in no position to offer banking services in the state of Texas, nor access FDIC insurance. Additionally, he did not have any alliances with financial services company Visa, effectively deceiving users in his ICO. Also, it was reported that the criminal also spent the money of his investors in personal affairs.

Similar Cases

The month of December also saw CoinAlphaAdvisors LLC, managed by the CoinAlpha Falcon LP fund, being punished by the law, as the SEC issued a cease and desist order as well as a 550,000 fine.

So far, the CoinAlpha Advisors LLC project had made more than $600,000, thanks to the contribution of 22 investors, which traded a proportional share of future profits generated by the fund’s investment in digital assets for limited partnership interests in it. As it turns out, the project was not registered under the SEC, which is a breach ofthe securities law in the United States.

Last month, crypto firm My Crypto Mine suffered a similar fate thanks to the action of the Securities Commissioner of the U.S.State of Texas, an organism that issued a cease and desist order against its owner, Mark Steven Royer. The issue read that Royer was “acting on behalf of a white-collar criminal [Bruce Bise] and disbarred attorney [Samuel Mendez], offered tokens that are now nearly worthless via a crypto investment schemedubbed “BitQyk.”

By Andres Chavez

Meet the “Calgary Dollar,” Canada’s newest Digital Currency for local Affairs

Andres Chavez
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Meet the “Calgary Dollar,” Canada’s newest Digital Currency for local Affairs

Cryptocurrency adoption in Canada took a huge step this week, thanks to a development that occurred in the city of Calgary. The industry, despite a recent crash in the price of assets, continues to move towards mainstream uses and applications.

Calgary, one of the biggest and most prominent urban areas in Canada, has launched its own digital currency, known as the Calgary dollar. People that hold the mentioned asset will be able to pay for goods and services in local stores and shops, according to a report from an relevant news outlet in the nation.

Calgary is an important city in the province of Alberta, Canada. It has an estimated population of a little over 1,230,000, as of 2016, making it the third largest urban center in the North American country. Its economy is based on energy, financial services, television and films, transportation, logistics, technology, health, retail, tourism, aerospace, and manufacturing. The city hosts a myriad of large corporations.

Actually, the Calgary Dollar is an initiative that first came up in the nineties, specifically in 1996. People living in the city offered items, services, and other goods in exchange for the local coin. However, the 2018 version is naturally crypto-oriented, and citizens have the ability to download an app in their smartphones and save their Calgary Dollars directly in their mobile devices.

The Government Approves and Supports the Idea

There has not been another Canadian city or urban center to launch its own coin. And the best part of it all is that the government authorities in Alberta are supportive of the initiative, which provides Calgary with a unique element that is sure to make it famous around the world.

With the intention of maintaining money within the city, the Calgary Dollar will be there to support financial activity in small businesses and nonprofit organizations, according to recent reports.

The currency works thanks to a smartphone app, which manages a list of stores and shops that are part of the system. Some restaurants and dining centers are included, as well: people in Calgary will be able to use Calgary Dollars to pay for their meals or make contributions to some of the many nonprofit charitable organizations in the colorful city. There is also the chance of acquiring local transport tickets.

How to Earn Calgary Dollars

The Calgary Dollar can be earned in several ways: one of them is by posting ads for items, services, and goods that people using the app want to sell on the initiative of the page, getting Calgary Dollars in return. People can also recommend the currency to their peers, generating a profit. Also, Victoria Park is giving away is promoting the use of the local coin by offering people cash back in exchange of Calgary Dollars.

Small and medium business owners and entrepreneurs in the city will be able to pay up to 50 percent of their business licenses with the new smartphone-powered currency. Other locations have begun to consider the application of a local coin. One of them is Mongolia, which has plans to issue “Candy,” an e-currency. Dubai is another example, thanks to a government alliance with a blockchain-based company that supplies payment services.

By Andres Chavez

Argentinian Startup Develops a Video Game Based on Ethereum

Maria Rodríguez
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Argentinian Startup Develops a Video Game Based on Ethereum

Participants can create parallel games and also earn digital money

CryptoWars is the video game that works as a smart contract on the Ethereum platform. The assets of the game are non-fungible tokens that guarantee the property of the user. The dynamic consists of building a village, forming and training an army, forming alliances and going to war against other players.

The main idea is to take control of the available realms. The winner of the battle will keep the opponent’s, Quantum Dust. The strategy game operates through smart contracts in a sidechain based on Ethereum’s blockchain.

This development was possible thanks to the job of a video game team of designers, this is, Matías Nisenson (CEO) and Luciano Bertenasco (CTO), who was based on cryptoactive technology and belong to a startup called Experimental, which is incorporated in Argentina.

The game is an open source application designed so that all its aspects (resources, logic, status and the rest of its characteristics) are recorded in a dedicated blockchain, called DAppChain by its creators. Its developers built the application with the SDK platform development tools.

Although the game is still in the alpha stage, its creators decided to present their creation to the gamer community and organize a launch tournament with prizes in cryptocurrencies. That is the main gain.

The Rules

In CryptoWars, users can purchase game assets such as start packages, weapons and even “skins” to advance faster. These assets are non-expendable tokens (NFT) based on Ethereum. This feature allows the owner to have full control over their tokens.

CryptoWars allows any developer to create “sidequests” or parallel games, based on the code designed by the Experimental team. This is another opportunity for those who are interested in this kind of technology.

The startup organized a test tournament for the CryptoWars application, which will be held between December 15th,2018 and January 15th, 2019. According to people close to the project, registration is free and it is expected that about 1,000 gamers will participate in the championship.

Valuable Rewards

The prize pool includes the equivalent of 1,000dollars in cryptocurrencies for the first place and amounts between 700 and 100dollars in cryptocurrencies for those who occupy the second to fifth place. Similarly, they will grant special prizes for performance.

At the moment, different video games are popular in the blockchain world. Cryptokitties was the first one which made decentralizedApps recognized. In fact, someone bought a kitty in 600 ETH, which represents $170,000. [W1] Now exists others video games such as CryptoCountries, HyperDragons, Etheremon, and MLB CryptoBaseball.

Lara Rorvner, member of the Experimental team, emphasized they believe “that the community of players is on the rise and will continue to grow despite the price”, that is, the fall or rise in the values of the different cryptocurrencies will not affect to the public or to those who become followers of this video game.

Some members of the cryptocurrency ecosystem believe that gaming applications can be fundamental to the adoption of technology and, in this case, to better understand the world of tokens, blockchain, different platforms, and cryptocurrencies.

Such is the case of CEO ShapeShift, Erik Voorhees, who said that the cryptocurrency trend for 2019 will be video games and their collectible cryptoactives.

By María Rodríguez

 [W1]Use commas for thousand.

UNICEF Invests in Six Blockchain Startups through its Innovation Fund

Andres Chavez
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UNICEF Invests in Six Blockchain Startups through its Innovation Fund

The United Nations Children’s Fund [W1] (UNICEF,) will provide funds to six startups focusing on blockchain technology. The worldwide organization will make an investment of $100,000 after publishing a “blockchain call” to projects with the potential of representing a benefit to humanity.

Earlier in the year, in January, UNICEF promoted startups in the field of technology to sign up in the initiative. The UN’s children emergencies movement got more than a hundred applications from 50nations around the world, and only six were chosen.

There are 20 other tech companies in UNICEF’s Innovation Fund, ranging from data science and machine learning to virtual reality and drones. The organization states that the most recent investment is motivated by a broader blockchain strategy to achieve more things in a humanitarian level.

“Using smart-contracts for organizational efficiencies, creating distributed decision-making processes, and working to build knowledge and understanding of distributed ledger technology both in the United Nations and in the countries where UNICEF works” are the primary intentions of UNICEF with the most recent project, according to the organization.

The “Chosen Ones”

The six “lucky” startups are Atix Labs, Onesmart, Prescrypto, Statwig, Utopixar, and W3 Engineers. Two of them havetheir primary offices in Mexico. The group of six now has to deliveropen-source prototypes of their platforms within the next year.

Atix Labs plans to develop a funding platform nor small and medium-sized businesses in such a way that users can trace how the money is used at all times. It is based in South America, more specifically in Argentina.

Onesmart, a Mexican project, aims to create an application that makes sure that state-provided social services are delivered,having in mind the potential misuses of social funds in emerging economies.

Another Mexican-based initiative is Prescrypto. As the name suggests, the blockchain startup wants to improve availability of electronic prescriptions thanks to the development of a system or environment for patient medical histories.

Statwig is an Indian project. The concept is a blockchain solution for supplying chain management of vaccines, with the goal of optimizing and improving efficiency of their delivery to the society and the communities in need.

A few miles away, in the country of Bangladesh, we have W3 Engineers, the people that are shooting to connect migrant and refugee communities with an offline mobile networking platform. According to the developers, there is no need to use a SIM card or even a stable internet connection.

Last, but not least, there is Tunisia’sUtopixar. This blockchain-based platform is going to create a social tool for decision-making and transfer of value, and it will be used by both communities and organizations without discriminations.

Chris Fabian, who acts as the Main Adviser at UNICEF Innovation, stated that “blockchain technology is still at an early stage — and there is a great deal of experimentation, failure, and learning ahead of us as we see how, and where, we can use this technology to create a better world.”

UNICEF’s Innovation Fund picks projects that are located in communities in need, in which the blockchain technology can make a significant contribution. If the projects are successful, they could be applied in up to 190 countries, the ones covered by UNICEF’s actions.

By Andres Chavez

 [W1]This is the current name of said organization.

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