- Atari Token - Atari goes Crypto!
- New Steam Game gives Bitcoin away to its Players!
- MADANA: First ICO announced on Lisk!
- Coinbase is taking too much Money from Accounts!
- Spain: New Draft Law to attract Blockchain Companies!
- Athena offers Bitcoin Cash at their ATMs!
Atari, the old video game company, plans to develop cryptocurrencies. The Atari Token is to be used as part of an entertainment platform, the Pong Token in the field of gambling. Whether these projects develop better than recent projects such as Ataribox, however, is still unclear.
For the older students among us Atari will still be a household name: Long before the Playstation, the Wii or the Xbox, the video game world was still divided among other companies. With the Atari 2600 game console released in 1977, the company has written video game history. Over time, Nintendo and Sega have thrust the company from the throne, but game legends like Space Invaters, Pong, and Pac Man could still be remembered.
Atari has been living a shadowy existence since the beginning of the third millennium. Distribution has been phased out of North America. There were big waves of dismissals and in early 2013 the company had to file for bankruptcy. This could avert it and the company remained active. It entered the market of online casinos and is currently working on a new console called Ataribox.
Atari: Price gains thanks to cryptocurrency
A week ago, Atari announced that it was working on cryptocurrency. First, they plan to use a so-called Atari token for an entertainment platform. On the other hand, Atari wants to build together with the gambling-focused companies Pariplay online casinos, in which the pong token should be the internal currency.
Atari CEO Frederic Chesnais has found very positive words for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in an announcement:
Anyway, the announcement did Atari good:
Within a week, the price could almost double. Whether this announcement helps Atari in longer term, is currently unclear. What is certain is that such announcements must be followed by deeds. Use Cases must be developed, which are not feasible with previous possibilities. Whether online gambling and the entertainment industry are the right approaches, one can confidently doubt.
On February 20, Steam will release a new Windows game, MonteCrypto, which promises the equivalent of one Bitcoin to the fastest and most skilled puzzle solver.
In a few days, the puzzle game "MonteCrypto, the Bitcoin Enigma" by the software house Gem Rose Collective appears, which wants to attract buyers with a particularly high prize money. If you solve the 24 hard puzzles in the futuristic maze first, you should get a bitcoin from the unknown creators of the game. It does not matter if you act alone or in cooperation with other players. The creators announce on their website that they want to publish their names only after announcement of the winner.
Tricky puzzles in a steampunk atmosphere
If you look at the video or screenshots of MonteCrypto, this PC game puts the participants in a harmonious steampunk atmosphere. If you want, you can leave tracks for all other players using playable boards. Either to make it easier for them or to confuse them with false information. With the purchase price of just under two US dollars and the prize money of almost 9,000 US dollars, there will certainly be enough prospects who at least until the announcement of the solution to the promised Bitcoin cheer.
To the degree of difficulty says the manufacturer, it is really only something for gifted. For all normal mortals, it should be according to the software studio, the hardest puzzles that have ever been seen.
A good PC game or just a successful marketing gimmick? Well, that will be the latest on the 20th of February when the first reviews are available on the net. Many potential buyers will think that they will not take too much risk with the low purchase price.
German Blockchain start-up Lisk intends to have initial coin offerings carried out on its platform in the future. This is to be supported by the Pioneer's Vault - an instrument to finance promising innovations and projects. With MADANA, the first ICO has already been announced.
Max Kordek, founder and CEO of the German blockchain start-up Lisk, addressed the international crypto community with a post last Wednesday. In it, he announces the Pioneer's Vault, a fund to financially support promising side-chain innovations. The financial resources provided through Pioneer's Vault will provide incentives for entrepreneurs and developers to conduct blockchain projects on Lisk.
As Max Kordek states, with this project he is pursuing the goal of further increasing the Lisk ecosystem. For this reason, he provides 1.7 million LSK from his own fund for this initiative. The focus is on the implementation of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) on the Lisk Blockchain platform. In the future, it should be possible for a whole series of sidechains to run on the Lisk platform supporting numerous ICOs. The development of these is driven by the funding by the Pioneer's Vault.
First ICO on Lisk
The MADANA project also announced on 17 February 2018 the first ICO to run on the Lisk Blockchain. As Kordek and MADANA CEO Christian Junger announced on medium, the release of the PAX token on Lisk is due to be released this year. Already last year we had reported on the MADANA project, and we have also been able to win over Christian Junger for a statement on her decision pro Lisk.
Most of the MADANA core team has a history with Lisk. Together with Max Kordek, they founded one of the first Bitcoin Meetups in Germany in 2014. RWTH University's Bitcoin Aachen university group has also started to explain about blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
When Max decided to start Lisk, they held the position in Aachen and did a lot of community work. They supported Max during the founding of Lisk, wherever they were able to, and have been Lisk's early supporters since the beginning and have also invested themselves because they believe in his platform.
Christian Junger said:
The news on Lisk is under the impact of the upcoming Lisk relaunch next week, on February 20 in Berlin.
In recent days, many customers have complained that Coinbase has repeatedly withdrawn money from their accounts. The well-known wallet provider admitted that there were inconveniences in the booking process and made it responsible for VISA. Although VISA seeks to resolve the issues with Coinbase, the credit card issuer denies any responsibility for the erroneous bookings.
Coinbase has been a household word to everyone in the crypto scene and for many it's been the first step into the world of cryptocurrencies. Not only the easy way to convert fiat money into different cryptocurrencies, was well received. The operation of the wallet is reminiscent of the well-known online banking, which has certainly simplified many the way to cryptocurrencies. This focus on a fluid and easy-to-understand user experience is one of the reasons why the number of accounts has grown to 13 million.
Recent events are likely to be very uncomfortable for Coinbase: A week ago, a user complained on Reddit that the company has withdrawn unauthorized several times money from his account. More specifically, the amount of US $ 300 for which he gave Coinbase a direct debit mandate was recovered five times. For the user, this is not just an annoying mistake, but it is becoming a dramatic problem because he was unable to transfer his rent and other bills.
This complaint is only the tip of the iceberg: For about two weeks it came to similar complaints several times, which increased significantly since the day before yesterday. The CFTC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commision, has therefore announced that they will take action after several customer complaints.
It's not the first time that Coinbase has had such issues: as early as May 2016, the company had to repay money from users who had double debits.
Double Discharge - Error from Coinbase or VISA?
According to Coinbase, the error is not with them but with the credit card issuer Visa or the issuing bank Worldpay. However, this was denied from the perspective of Visa. Firstly, no changes were made to the debiting mechanism, and second, no such problems occurred with any other traders.
Coinbase assures that we want to work with these institutions to solve the problem. The double transactions should be credited to the users again. Whether further damage is repaired, which was caused by overdrafts or canceled standing orders, is still unclear.
The government in Spain plans to attract more blockchain companies. For this purpose, laws are to be enacted this year, above all with tax advantages.
The current Forbes report on start-ups in the tech sector shows that blockchain companies are sprouting up everywhere. Accordingly, there is great hope from different states that these companies will boost the economy. Spain wants to take advantage of that now.
As Bloomberg reports, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his Partido Popular are currently in the process of drafting a bill with tax advantages. The conservative party is also expected to work on specific regulatory plans for blockchain companies seeking to enter the market with ICOs. The party also calls on lawmakers to begin hearings with blockchain experts on the subject. Above all, they want to orient themselves on the Kryptovalley train in Switzerland and thus become an attractive blockchain location in Europe. They want to provide the safest framework conditions for ICOs.
The current bill is not Spain's first step towards opening itself to blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. As I reported, Mr. Piso, a real estate company based in Barcelona, has just recently sold the first property for Bitcoin. The company has hoped to boost the real estate sector. The apartment in the province of Tarragona was sold in southern Patagonia for 40 Bitcoin.
Spain's push for cryptocurrencies, blockchains and ICOs is an important step in several ways. Not only is Spain setting new impulses and thus boosting its economy. Simply by creating a regulated and attractive environment for blockchain companies, Spain will be an attractive destination in otherwise unregulated Europe. But the actual use of cryptocurrencies as in the real estate market brings Bitcoin & Co. to the front. Because ultimately, the original idea of Bitcoin as an alternative payment system is important to bring this into the consciousness of the people.
Bitcoin Cash is available at a dozen new locations since Athena Bitcoin offers the cryptocurrency at their ATMs.
Bitcoin Cash at ATMs
As the company Athena Bitcoin announced recently, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) can be purchased at all ATMs of the company. This makes Bitcoin Cash the third cryptocurrency available at the ATMs alongside Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC).
At the company's ATMs, cryptocurrencies can both be bought and sold. On the one hand, new customers can now easily acquire the cryptocurrency, on the other hand, Bitcoin Cash owners can quickly change their coins into paper money if a business does not accept a digital currency as a means of payment.
The company emphasized that Bitcoin Cash is independent of Bitcoin. Therefore, a special wallet for the cryptocurrency is necessary. Although the Athena Bitcoin Wallet does not yet support the digital currency, this will change in the near future.
Bitcoin ATMs in the United States
Athena's 55 ATMs are available in 8 states (Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and California) of the United States. These are located in easily accessible locations such as petrol stations, shops or pawn shops.
The Bitcoin ATMs allow trading in cryptocurrencies even without a bank account or credit card. The company promotes customers to receive digital currency in their wallet on their mobile phone within 90 seconds.
Image sources:
- Post header created by myself
- Article headers created by myself
- Atari: TradingView
- twitter.com/AthenaBitcoin
Video source:
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