Software Company Salesforce Proposes Using Blockchain Technology to Avoid Spam

Maria Rodríguez
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Software Company Salesforce Proposes Using Blockchain Technology to Avoid Spam

The objective of the platform is to determine if the emails are authentic or if they were intercepted and altered during their shipment

The U. S. software company Salesforce won a patent to detect spam emails with blockchain technology. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published the document on its website, on Tuesday 4th.

Salesforce, which created a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) called Sales Cloud, wants blockchain technology to look if an e-mail is being sent legitimately or not, it means if the message was altered to filter spam.

It offers a cloud-based mailing system as a solution to detect if an initial e-mail was modified while being sent. When a user sends an e-mail, a portion of it would be registered in a blockchain platform and, when a second server receives the communication, the tool will compare the components of the message to determine if they are compatible with the first part registered on blockchain.

If the components match, the mail is displayed in the user’s inbox. But if there are inconsistencies, it will go to the spam folder. That is the purpose. Salesforce seeks to ensure that the messages and attachments of those e-mails have not been modified during transit through a network.

The patent explains: “The system can also better identify legitimate (wanted) messages and distinguish them from illegitimate (unsolicited) messages. Used properly, the immutability and distributed nature of blockchain can make it impossible to modify information once it has been committed to blockchain (…) using an immutable ledger similarly applies to “all information, which can include things like sender and recipient information”.

Presumably, this system will only work for clients that currently use one of Salesforce’s customer relationship management products. However, this is not clarified in the patent.

 The Main Reason

Frequently, spammers try to abuse messaging systems to distribute unwanted messages. In order to avoid this fact, the first e-mail message server will record a selected component of the current message into a block to get another approval of nodes.

The blockchain-driven program also could help to improve the existing filters that often fail to differentiate between spam and regular emails, such as promo letters. Salesforce notes that blockchain can also solve issues with the authenticity of medical records, educational transcripts, deeds, property rights, and legal documents.

Similar Projects

The e-mail management platform Credo is also trying to tackle spam using blockchain. Other U.S. companies have been filing patents for blockchain solutions. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is ranked as one of the biggest providers of blockchain-related patent technologies. IBM has filed 89 blockchain patent and the Chinese giant Alibaba has 90 patent applications so far. The most recent patent that IBM has filed is set to maintain safe boundaries between augmented reality (AR) objects in video games and real-world physical locations.

In March, Mark Benioff, CEO at Salesforce, commented that the company was in the process of building a product using blockchain technology during 2018, even though it did not share more details at the time.

The solution that Salesforce presents would be very helpful to guarantee the confidentiality of the information shared by the companies that adopt this system.

By María Rodríguez

Pre-fork Trading Shows Marked Preference for Bitcoin ABC over Bitcoin SV

Andres Chavez
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Pre-fork Trading Shows Marked Preference for Bitcoin ABC over Bitcoin SV

Poloniex, a cryptocurrency exchange managed by Circle, launched a “pre-fork” experimental market on Bitcoin Cash, as a preview of the expected fork that will take place later this month, specifically on the 15th.

The market behavior shows that users are clearly favoring Bitcoin ABC, which is the most established, or familiar version of the software. Thanks to the technical design of Bitcoin Cash, its users need to either “hard fork” the blockchain or implement another alternative.

That alternative comes in the form of a newer software version in which open-source developers decide what changes to implement two times a year (once every six months.) Said software is called Bitcoin SV. The result of the situation would be a hard fork in which two cryptocurrencies that compete with each other are born.

Circle, which is a blockchain startup with the backing of Goldman Sachs, administrates the Poloniex exchange, which launched representations of both versions of the software including the not-yet-public Bitcoin SV.

Four Times Higher

Users opted, in the vast majority, for the Bitcoin ABC. In fact, it was trading at a value four times higher than that of Bitcoin SV. The “pre-fork” trading was designed with the intention of keeping things neutral in the days prior to the Bitcoin Cash upgrade.

A theoretical market is a useful tool to find consensus regarding technical aspects of specific developments, and it is not the first time it has been applied in the crypto industry. In this case, Poloniex is helping people make their minds while showing the possible tendencies of the market.

If both software are indeed introduced, the theoretical market can help people determine which option has more widespread support over the other.

The exact numbers have BCHABC trading at $465 and BCHSV at $109, 4.2 times higher. The amounts are expressed in Poloniex’s stable coin USDC. BCH’s price is $596 on Poloniex at the time of this writing.

Trading volume is small even though the pre-fork trading has been available for more than 12 hours because it can be performed only by those people with intentions of converting their BCH in either BCHABC or BCHSV.

Deposits associated with BCHABC and BCHSV, as well as withdrawals, will only be available after the fork has occurred, after November 15th. Poloniex explains that, even then, both forks are not guaranteed to be “economically or technically viable.” If people engage in pre-fork trading, they are doing it “at their own risk,” with the possibility of one of the two chains’ value “drops to zero.”

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is currently the fourth largest cryptocurrency. It has a market cap of $10,027,340,406 USD, an $817,347,455 trading volume in the last 24 hours, and a $17,447,650 BCH circulating supply.

The Feud is On

Craig Wright, a widely known personality in the Bitcoin Cash world, does not want to compromise and seems prepared to take his struggle to the last consequences. His company, nChain, is the one running the software of Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Version.) The hot debate looks likely to result in two different cryptocurrencies.

Wright seemed to back up miners to “kill off” Bitcoin ABC’s blockchain, and they can certainly force a stoppage in transactions in the BCH ecosystem. Since there are no rules that could prevent such a scenario from happening, it remains to be seen if the “threats” hold true.

By Andres Chavez

The Main Port in Spain Will Use Blockchain Technology in its Logistics Process

Maria Rodríguez
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The Main Port in Spain Will Use Blockchain Technology in its Logistics Process

Many companies dedicated to trading in Valencia, Gandía and Sagunto will implement distributed accounting books. The objective is to save time and resources

An organizing import solution based on blockchain technology seeks to promote improvements in the daily management of 80 kilometers in the Mediterranean coast. The implementation chases the reduction of manual processes at the main port of Spain, located in Valencia.

TradeLens is the name of the project that will allow users to get involved with a trade in getting access to public information and documents in real time. Gandía, Sagunto, and Valencia are the three ports of Spain which will adopt the platform. Valenciaport, the authority in this field, made the announcement on November 6th.

It is possible thanks to an agreement between Maersk and IBM, a blockchain-compatible shipping designed to promote a more efficient and secure global trade. The strategic alliance ensures respect for privacy and confidentiality of data.

TradeLens network participants share a unique view of the different processes that make possible the commercial transaction. This includes all the agents involved in imports and exports, such as customs, transporters and shipping companies.

This type of system works on digitizing the entire supply chain in order to reduce the time of shipping up to 40%. In the beginning, a large part of the companies dedicated to trading in Valencia, Gandía and Sagunto will interact with a distributed accounting book, managed by a network of private nodes.

The blockchain network devised by Maersk and financed by IBM needs more operators to work. For this reason, transport companies, which are the responsibility of Maerks, form a solid network of participants to integrate a bigger work team.

However, it is a product recently launched by both companies. In the future, there is a possibility they will be able to modify their proposal and make it more attractive for heavyweights of container shipments around the world.

The initiatives related to the management of blockchain have been increasing during the last years. In Latin American, there is some similar inventiveness, such as that of the Port of Veracruz, Mexico, which proposes to implement its own national blockchain. In Uruguay, the Gurucargo company is committed to the insurance management of cargo through Tiidan.

Jose García de la Guía, Head of New Technologies in the Port Authority of Valencia, participated in a conference with the representative of the most important ports. He said: “From Valenciaport we raised the use of the blockchain as a strategic option to give visibility, end to end, of the logistics chain going even beyond our PCS. That is, we contemplate giving service to both companies that are incorporated into our Port Community Systems. For those that are not, we will achieve this with technologies in the cloud, exposed to the need for permanent adaptation to change”.

He also explained: “We are going to a port without papers, with a powerful technological component and in any part of the world; what takes us to have a new PCS platform, without technical limitations or growth, to offer new services and improve the existing ones to a port community in continuous growth with new conditions for optimizing infrastructure resources, reducing development times and maintenance cost”.

At least 234 ports worldwide are part of the ports ecosystem that focuses their operations on the TradeLens platform. Among the hundreds of ports, the most important are the ones in Spain, the Port of Bilbao, the Modern Terminals in Hong Kong, the Port of Rotterdam and Holt Logistics operators in the Port of Philadelphia.

 By María Rodríguez

A Tax of 30% to the Owners of Cryptoactives – France

Samuel Paz
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A Tax of 30% to the Owners of Cryptoactives – France

The President of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly of France, Eric Woerth, introduced a new amendment for the declaration and taxation of capital gains for the sale of cryptocurrencies throughout the French territory. This project could adjust the tax on crypto-active substances by 30% for next year.

According to the press report, said the amendment is part of a financial bill that will enter into force in 2019 if approved next week by the National Assembly. With this, the incorporation to the system will be allowed a taxation of the capital income of France.

This reform establishes that from the first of January of the following year all the benefits generated by the sale of cryptocurrencies within the French territory will be subject to a single 30% rate. With this, cryptocurrencies will be subject to the tax on mobile capital income in French territory. So also the cataloging as cryptographic assets “convertible to currencies of legal tender” as well as the dollar and the euro.

If the amendment is approved, despite the fact that taxes appear to be a considerable increase throughout France, this adjustment will imply a decrease in the amount to be paid for tax obligations. This is due to the fact that the decision issued by the Council of State of France last April is currently in effect, where the tax on cryptoactives is calculated at 19% for profits; however, a total of 17.2% for social prevention that yields a total of 36.2% in taxes.

The provision of the State Council clarified that there are a total of 3 possible tax regimes to be applicable to cryptoactives, which can vary depending on whether the sale of cryptocurrencies is occasional, habitual or by mining activities. In this way, the decision would have classified the cryptoactives as a “good-property”, this category made it possible to reduce the fixed tax rate.

However, Eric Woerth believes that the French cryptocurrency market should “clarify and simplify its tax regime”, which is why this project of the Finance Committee aims to establish a taxation on cryptocurrencies without large variations. However, this would also come to represent that the owners of cryptocurrencies have to pay more to the State.

During the course of this year, government entities, organizations and companies of French origin began to become increasingly involved with the possibility of payment and investment offered by the cryptoactives. For instance, UNICEF France; the organization decided to accept donations in cryptocurrencies, as well as the French Ministry of Economy which recently expressed interest in applying regulations to the ICO’s market and the French Financial Markets Authority presented a list of new sites web “unauthorized” for the commerce of cryptoactives, among which highlighted the names of certain businesses related to cryptocurrencies.

By Samuel Paz

 

Technical Indicators Back up a Potential Breakout for Bitcoin

Andres Chavez
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Technical Indicators Back up a Potential Breakout for Bitcoin

After months of struggling with price falls and a bearish market, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for Bitcoin investors around the world. And after starting the year on fire and reaching new levels when it comes to price, the world’s most prominent cryptocurrency has been stumbling for months. However, that figures to change.

A little over a week ago, the outlook was still bleak for Bitcoin holders, with no tangible value gains and even closing its first year with value losses. Yet, after a few days and a couple favorable swings, the price is starting to rise.

At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin was trading at $6,485.45, which represented a 0.76 percent fall in the last 24 hours. However, the coin is threatening to go up in a hurry, and at one point on Wednesday it surpassed the $6,525 threshold.

In fact, the cryptocurrency is eager to climb towards the $6,800 range if the latest technical indicators are to be believed, as they have grown increasingly “bullish” in the last day. Taking the 14-day RSI (Relative Strength Index) into account, it is evident that the future is bright for BTC, as it jumped to 59.04 on Wednesday, which is its highest value since the start of September. The RSI is the indicator that measures the speed and change of price movements.

If the digit surpasses 50, it is a strong indication that bullish forces are positively influencing the digital coin in question, in this case, BTC. We can conclude that Bitcoin is looking its most bullish in, at least, a couple of months.

On the Verge of a Breakout

While some specialists within the industry need to see more developments to call that a bullish move, the RSI is an encouraging sign nonetheless. However, there are other indicators that back up the thesis.

Thanks to a bullish symmetrical triangle breakout that happened in the weekend, BTC surpassed the 50-day Exponential Moving Average, or EMA, this Wednesday. Additionally, the 5-and-10-day EMA are also going up.

Nothing is written in stone as of now. On Wednesday night, Eastern time, BTC went down all the way to $6,482 range. However, if the digital asset manages to stabilize in the next few hours over the $6,500 threshold, look out before there could be the talk of a real breakout.

If investors want to keep looking for potential good news in the near-term, they can also look at the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) histogram, as it is also rising as we speak.

Bottom line, the technical indicators are the real developments backing up a potential Bitcoin breakout, which would be the investor’s dream. Remember what the planet’s most famous and valuable cryptocurrency is capable of. The price action is also showing bullish signals.

The Magic Number

Experts and specialists in the crypto universe seem to agree in the next number that Bitcoin’s price could hit in the short-term: $6,800, as everything seems to be in place for it to reach that number. Any development that goes above the 50-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) of $6,642 on the three-day chart can mean that all bets are off.

By Andres Chavez

California and Colorado Will Have “Pro-Crypto” Governors

Andres Chavez
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California and Colorado Will Have “Pro-Crypto” Governors

The crypto fever is slowly, but surely trespassing all kinds of frontiers and entering new applications in our everyday life. They have even entered politics for quite some time now; the 2018 US mid-term elections that took place recently is an epitome of that.

According to a news piece published by outlet TrustNodes this Wednesday, two candidates that were elected to be governors in the elections are widely known as “pro-cryptocurrencies:” they represent the states of California and Colorado.

An electoral process was held on Tuesday in the United States of America. The races were federal, state, or for local offices. The mid-term elections, as they are known, occurred in the middle of Donald Trump’s term as president. A total of 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the US Senate were contested, as were 39 states and territorial governorships.

In the process, the Republicans added to their majority of seats in the Senate, but the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives.

BitPay as a Means to Accept Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash Donations

The case of California’s Democrat candidate Gavin Newsom is a noteworthy one. He brought up cryptocurrencies to the scene in 2014, a time when he accepted donations to his campaign in Bitcoin (BTC.) He sealed a resounding triumph over Republican John Cox with 59 percent of the votes.

Some of the most famous donors on Newsom’s behalf are the Winklevoss twins, who contributed more than $100,000 to his ultimately winning campaign last year. The newly-elected governor had a page in BitPay, where supporters could donate via Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash.

The case of Newsom is not the only one that can have an impact in the crypto landscape in the short and medium-term. Another Democrat with an inclination for digital currencies won at the Rocky Mountains. His name is Jared Polis, who beat Republican Walker Stapleton for a seat as the state’s governor. The results were closer than in California, 51.6 percent to 45 percent.

A Whole Catalog of Blockchain-Inclusive Plans for Colorado

As was the case with Newsom, Polis also maintained a BitPay account in which he received donations via Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH.) In his website, Polis had an entire section dedicated to explain his Blockchain Policy, divided into five specific areas in which he would like to apply the technology and reap the benefits.

Among the themes covered in Polis’s blockchain policy were voter protection, cybersecurity infrastructure, energy solutions based on the blockchain technology, and the use of the public ledger to provide trust and transparency to state contracts, expenditure, and other related processes.

The newly-elected politician in Colorado wants to work together with blockchain firms to lay the foundations to build government applications that “save taxpayers money and create value for Colorado residents,” according to Cointelegraph.

Polis has made no secret that he wants to, as quoted by Cointelegraph, “create a statewide safe harbor designed to exempt cryptocurrencies from state money transmissions laws.”

By Andres Chavez

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