Ethereum Co-Founder Has “Lost” Nearly $500 million Since January

Andres Chavez
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Ethereum Co-Founder Has “Lost” Nearly $500 million Since January

In one of the most monumental collapses in recent memory – the absolute worst, according to some analysts – Bitcoin (BTC,) Ethereum (ETH,) and other notable altcoins have lost a substantial amount of value in recent weeks. However, it is no secret that at the start of the year, there was another dropdown in prices around crypto markets: BTC was worth almost $19,000 in January and ETH went as far as $1,377.72 on January 13th.

Both digital assets, as well as other coins in the top 20 by market cap, started to rapidly lose value from that point on: Bitcoin was hovering around $6,500 for most of November, and ETH was flirting with $210 when the collapse began on November 14th.

ETH Has Lost more than 90 Percent of its Value

Now, Bitcoin is all the way down to the $3,700 range, and Ethereum is clinging onto $100, exchanging hands at $114 at the time of this writing. ETH’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has seemingly lost more than $460 million since the start of the collapse in January, considering that the top altcoin has lost more than 90% of value since that date.

Some of the ETH user community has offered, sarcastically, of course, to “help” out the Ethereum boss with donations: his wallet currently holds something in the neighborhood of $40 million dollars with ETH at today’s value.

When the coin reached its all-time high back in January, Buterin had around ETH 375,000. Taking into account that, since that moment, the project boss has not gotten any substantial payments in ETH into his wallet and that he has sent around ETH 20,000, he has seen a multi-billion loss.

To be more precise, the amount of ETH present in his wallet in January was the equivalent of $514 million at the price of January 13th. Nowadays, the price of the top altcoin in the world is now $114, and Buterin’s “balance” would be something in the neighborhood of $40 million, a steep drop-off.

There is no denying that Ethereum has been a success since the moment of its inception in the crypto market: in September, It was named as the most profitable ICO (Initial Coin Offering.) Messari.io data has Ethereum’s ROI at more than 12,000 percent over a three-year period.

The Strongest Hands

However, the month of November has been extremely difficult for BTC, ETH, and the whole crypto market. The Buterin’s case was posted on Reddit, and the user called it “The Strongest Hands.” However, the community quickly corrected the original poster, with user u/HCS8B saying that “the strongest hands are those that are down 90 percent and still holding, not some millionaire guy whose profits are +10,000 percent.”

The “sarcastic” help offer on Reddit came from u/BitKahn: “Poor guy is only worth 37M now, how can I donate to help?” he wrote. A more serious approach was offered by Redditor u/unbounded_recursion, who stated that “for anyone else, this is why you should have sold some. For founders, it is tricky. The founder selling some of their hoards might signal a loss of confidence, affecting the prices negatively.”

By Andres Chavez

The State of Ohio Will Accept Taxes to be Paid in Bitcoin

Andres Chavez
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The State of Ohio Will Accept Taxes to be Paid in Bitcoin

Despite the recent market crash that has seen Bitcoin collapse below the $4,000 mark, a very big step towards mass adoption was taken at the start of this week. Ohio, an American state, decided to take things to another level when its authorities announced that they would allow people to pay taxes in Bitcoin (BTC.)

The Wall Street Journal reported the piece of news, one that will, most likely, pave the way for more states to join the ‘show.’ The report expresses that, from this week on, firms and businesses will be able to pay several taxes that range from tobacco sales tax to employee withholding tax to public utility tax while using the planet’s most prominent and valuable digital asset.

Registration Process and other Requirements

To provide crypto tax payments, the process has three stages: Firms and companies first need to sign up with the Office of the Ohio Treasurer, and for that, they will have a dedicated website, named OhioCrypto.com.

After that, companies would need to write down their tax details. Among them are payment amount and tax period. To finalize the process, the due amount is paid via BTC by using a “compatible” crypto wallet.

There are numerous cryptocurrency wallets existing on the Internet, so it is crucial to determine which one is allowed to provide tax-related payments in the state of Ohio. Some of them are the Bitcoin Core client, Mycelium and bread wallet, and compatible ones with the Bitcoin Payment Protocol.

Payments Will be Processed through BitPay

Georgia-based payments processor BitPay will be the tool for helping the state of Ohio to accept cryptocurrency payments for taxes. It will process them and convert the BTC to dollars for the Treasurer’s Office to use.

Right now, the service is only available for companies, but further, down the road, state authorities expect that the facility will also be there for individuals.

Ohio is the first state in the United States of America that accepts any cryptocurrency for tax payments. Other regions’ legislators are known to be considering the alternative as well and have done it in the past. Georgia considered as recently as February, and Illinois and Arizona did it in March, but with residents.

In the case of Arizona, its lawmakers dismissed any intentions to apply the plan in the month of May because the proposal did not gather enough votes. Georgia legislators lost traction in April because of a lack of understanding, according to Senator Mike Williams.

Experiments with the Blockchain Technology

In addition to adding crypto as a payment method for commercial taxes, Ohio is also experimenting with other aspects of the blockchain technology. For example, and according to Coindesk, it legally recognized data stored and transacted on a blockchain, which means that blockchain-secured electronic signatures have the same weight as any electronic signatures.

Over the summer, legislators in Ohio were promoting the states a “future hob for Blockchain” with the intention of enticing businesses and talent.

By Andres Chavez

An Ethereum’s Token Will Allow Commercializing Art Pieces and Copyright

Maria Rodríguez
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An Ethereum’s Token Will Allow Commercializing Art Pieces and Copyright

Artists can sell or rent the ownership of their creations thanks to the use of smart contracts and blockchain technology to support the origin

ERC-1190 is the name of the new non-fungible token of Ethereum that allows the commercialization of a single asset property to maintain or sell its license, being able to receive up to 10% of royalties for the commercial use of these pieces.

The token, created by the developers Shaan Ray and Aalim Khan, is designed to be used in the art world because in this field there are many artworks that are sold daily and weekly.

The main objective is to allow artists to share their creations of art and keep a record of the passives income that they can generate as a profit. “It will allow selling the creative license of the art, selling property license or renting it to a third person for a fixed period of time”, explained Ray.

In this way, another benefit for artists is allowing them to concentrate on producing more artworks, because they can trust that their economic interests are protected, since they can have access to the income generated by their artworks on the Ethereum’s application.

Thanks to blockchain, technology transactions in different fields are possible based on the use of smart contracts. In the case of the ERC-1190 token, the collection objects, both virtual and physical, will have representation within smart contracts which will make possible the exchange.

And it is right in the Ethereum’s blockchain where artists can see the historical sales movements, income, property exchanges and everything related to their arts. This could help to preserve the works of art legacy, remember their provenance, and archive the names of their first owners.

Understanding the process

ERC-1190 will allow selling the property of a token that will represent a work of art in the Ethereum’s blockchain. But those who, instead of selling, prefer to preserve their creative license with a 10% royalty, or another agreed percentage, will get income from the commercialization that the token’s new owner makes.

“By using an ERC-1190 token, an artist can bequeath his piece of art to future generations, even if he has sold the property license and no longer owns the underlying work of art. If someone in the family or in the town of Van Gogh had the creative license of one of his paintings, today that person would receive significant income each time the paintings were sold or rented”, added Ray.

Sony, Microsoft, Ernst & Young and International Business Machines (IBM) are some of the world companies that have been investigating possible uses of blockchain technology as a tool for the respect and commercialization of copyrights.

The startup Snark Art had another similar initiative, through a project with which collectors can acquire the ownership of fragments of a film by purchasing ERC-721 tokens from Ethereum, which differ from the tokens ERC-1190 in that the latter is non-expendable, that is, that it will not be consumed while using it properly.

By María Rodríguez

Bitfury Establishes Alliance with Russian University to Launch Blockchain Accelerator

Andres Chavez
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Bitfury Establishes Alliance with Russian University to Launch Blockchain Accelerator

According to Russian publication Forklog, the prominent blockchain firm Bitfury will foster the creation and development of blockchain projects by establishing a partnership with the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

Also, in addition to helping innovators and creators to develop blockchain projects, the educational institution will also offer courses and additional training resources dedicated to “specialists who are able to create innovative projects using digital technologies in a short time.”

Benefits for all Parties Involved

The alliance will provide benefits to the university, students in need of training and opportunities, and Bitfury. According to the company’s head in Russia Dmirty Ufaev, the pact will allow specialists to “bring [the projects] to market amid the new industrial revolution.”

The strategic partnership between the two institutions will be backed and supervised by the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media in Russia. A pilot program has already been launched, and the aspirations of Bitfury and the university have been met.

It is no secret that the blockchain technology and its applications are raising interest at all levels, and the educational sector is, very clearly, not an exception. Prominent universities and colleges around the world are currently offering courses related to crypto. Coinbase recently published a study showing that a very high percentage, 42% to be precise, of the best 50 universities of the planet have at least one blockchain or crypto-related course. Berkeley, Stanford, and Cornell are perfect examples.

Blockchain Accelerators and other Alliances

Another example of blockchain involvement in educational institutions is the University of Gibraltar. Last month, it established an “advisory group” that will shift its resources to develop blockchain-related lessons. The course, called New Technologies in Education, combines efforts from the government, the university, and several tech companies in the mentioned nation.

The University of Tokyo is following a similar path, having announced this week a blockchain technology course thanks to donations from several businesses, such as banking giants Sumitomo Mitsui. The private sector donated a staggering $800,000 to help finance the program.

At the start of November, most specifically on the 6th, Bitfury ended a funding round that raised nearly $80 million. The initiative had VC fund Korelya Capital as the primary force behind it.

Also, IBM, the worldwide known tech company, joined forces this week with the Columbia University to launch two blockchain accelerators in their quest to impulse the technology development. They are the IBM Blockchain Accelerator and Columbia Blockchain Launch Accelerator, and they will support 10 startups each, according to a press release.

A Little Bit More about Bitfury

Bitfury is the one of the leading full-service blockchain technology companies in the planet, as it aims to develop and deliver both software and hardware solutions that can be adapted and adopted by governmental institutions, businesses, non-profit organizations, and individuals in order to move assets across the blockchain in a secure way.

The company states that it provides and ensures “successful, easy, fast, secure, and cost-effective connectivity to the blockchain.”

By Andres Chavez

Master in Blockchain Enhances Technological Sapience

Maria Rodríguez
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Master in Blockchain Enhances Technological Sapience

Universities in Spain and in other parts of the world offer courses about Smart Contracts, platforms such as Ethereum or Hyperledger and possible uses of cryptocurrency technology

The Master in Blockchain: Development, Applications, and Infrastructure came to KSchool, in Madrid, Spain. With eight years of experience, this is one of the main institutions dedicated to forming a greater number of specialized technological professionals. However, it is not the only one doing this in the world.

Professionals in the digital area are committed to updating their knowledge more and more often. In the areas related to cryptocurrencies ecosystems and decentralized technologies, more and more countries and universities join the effort to close the knowledge barrier on Bitcoin world.

In response to this aspect, the blockchain academic offer is growing. In Korea, the United States, Colombia, and Spain there are universities dedicated to topics related to the block of chains.

The master in blockchain has a duration of 150 hours and covers from the technological side, as the technical, economic and even legal aspects around the Distributed Data Technology.

Alejandro Domínguez Doncel, CEO at KSchool, is one of the people in charge of the project. The expert assures that the students of this master will learn to code smart contracts, being able to use multiple programming languages and knowing how to work on the public and private blockchain infrastructures development.

“The objective of the KSchool master is to learn all the technology associated with the block of chains, developing smart contracts, and working on public and private infrastructures such as Ethereum, Hyperledger or Blockchain as a Service. In addition, they will understand the different applications to business models, where blockchain technology is relevant”.

Among the business models that students will be able to learn, Domínguez highlights that there are platforms of the financial and insurance world. The premise of KSchool affirms: “you learn what is practiced”, and for this reason, the nine modules that make up the master include practical activities.

Professionals of the bitcoiner ecosystem proposed and thought the contents of the master’s degree. Software developers from companies such as Bankia, UST Global, and BBVA Data & Analytics are the teachers who will guide the almost 5,000-blockchain master students during four months of practical learning. Registrations for this course are open on the official website: www.kschool.com.

IBM and Columbia University come together

Through a recently issued report, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) and Columbia University (CU) reported that they joined to work on accelerating the adoption of blockchain technology. According to the announcement, the intention of each program is to house ten startups based on blockchain technology.

“Students will explore the best practices for building a blockchain network with technical, academic and business mentors from IBM and Columbia. They will have access to agile design workshops, an experienced technical and commercial support network, connections to the Columbia research community, business value design assistance and access to IBM Cloud technology through the program”, the statement said.

The University of Edinburgh, The National University of Colombia, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and The Autonomous University of Madrid include in their curriculum of studies some content related to the blockchain. In fact, the last one has a master on blockchain and cryptoeconomics.

The IBM Center for the creation of a block of chains and data transparency believes that blockchain technology continues to rise and will set the standard in the near future.

By María Rodríguez

Colombia Celebrated the VIII Blockchain Meeting

Maria Rodríguez
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Colombia Celebrated the VIII Blockchain Meeting

In the summit, Blockchain Academy and Cripto Trading Colombia representatives presented different ideas to promote using blockchain

During this week, the VIII Blockchain Meeting took place. Some days ago, people from Cripto Trading Colombia presented projects, which seek to contribute with new technologies development in that Latin-American country.

Luis Reyes and Gina Mallorca, who are part of Cripto Trading, talked about seminaries focused on people interested in cryptocurrencies exchange and the detection of frauds and deceptive offers.

Monthly, The Francois Alliance celebrates the event organized by Token Partner-Chamber of Commerce Blockchain, which this time transmits live simultaneously Facebook and YouTube.

The event brought together local and international participants of the digital currencies and the blockchain industry, who presented their projects and reported the work they perform, which address issues presently supported by new technologies.

Ángela Cubillos, Representative of the legal firm HÉRÈS, was the first participant. Through a video call, she explained the job she does taking advantage of the new technologies, highlighting the usefulness of blockchain technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The firm is working on aspects associated with “the connected objects”. Several companies use those devices in order to execute smart contracts automatically. Slock.it, a company that produces locks with microcomputers, is one of the corporations that uses the platform to confirm payments and then enabling access to real estate.

Juliana Matiz, CEO of Investopi and writer for the news portal El Tiempo, also participated in the conference. Investopi is a virtual academy for investors who want to learn how to operate in traditional markets and using cryptocurrencies. The company promotes responsible investment and helps to identify frauds in the ecosystem.

Gustavo Betancourt, representative of Metamorph, was the third participant. He remembers that blockchain was rejected initially, a situation similar to what happened with Internet in its beginnings amid the skepticism present between companies and governments.

Steemit was another project present in the VIII Blockchain Meeting. Andrés Villanueva, an electronic user of the platform, explained the benefits of the platform. It operates in a Blockchain network, in which people can share any kind of information and be remunerated by the community based on the valuation this gives. Its main objective is to protect the authorship rights of the publications against possible plagiarism.

Anonymous complaints

Juan Cepeda and Jhonathan Higuera, Financial & Business Blockchain Center’s Directors, talked about a project to boost the public universities job. A new cryptocurrency known as “Ucoin”, which is still under development, seeks to make public budgets more transparent. This digital currency could be used by students to assume operating expenses associated with their careers.

The other initiative they are currently developing is an anonymous reporting system that operates through a blockchain network. The purpose is to overcome the difficulties and report irregularities.

Francisco Córdoba, Co-founder of Send, presented the WeSend. The idea is to offer solutions in the area of sending Venezuelans from anywhere in the world with the support of the platform and the digital currency they have created.

Philippe Boland, Token Partner’s Director, inform that the Chamber of Commerce, will be legalized, in order to adequate digital currencies solutions and regulations to the Colombian State.

Finally, Boland invited attendees to next blockchain activities in Colombia, as well as in others countries.

By María Rodríguez

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