- The first Lightning Transactions on the real Bitcoin Network!
- Japan's largest Bank becomes a Crypto Exchange!
- Dallas Mavericks Tickets can be purchased with Bitcoin!
- UNICEF wants to promote Blockchain Start Ups!
- Maersk and IBM form Blockchain Joint Venture!
- Businessman buys two Power Plants for Bitcoin mining!
After the Lightning network has already spread in the testnet, there are now the first transactions in the real Bitcoin network, the Mainnet. A pioneering role is played by Bitrefill, TorGuard and Blockstream.
Presumably, there are few technologies that are written, speculated, argued, and puzzled before they go live, like the Lightning Network. Since about last week, we can save us now. Lightning is live, and it works, at least technically.
Bitrefill, a Stockholm-based startup that sells coupon cards and phone credit against Bitcoin, already experimented with Lightning in the Testnet in December. At the end of December, there was the first real purchase of credit for smartphones via Lightning.
https://twitter.com/alexbosworth/status/946175898029395968?lang=en
- alexbosworth
Above all, the transaction was a test. Regular customers can not yet pay for Bitrefill via Lightning. However, Bitrefill continues to expand the test zone. Another customer is already reporting that he has paid a credit for Steam by Lightning.
In addition to Bitrefill, TorGuard, a VPN provider, has already accepted Lightning transactions on Mainnet.
https://twitter.com/torguard/status/950383059735646209
- torguard
Although Lightning is not yet fully ready, but if it comes to losses, TorGuard comes up for this. Because "the Testnet is boring." Since there is a Bitrefill customer who provides both a TorGuard and Bitrefill channel, the startup was able to use it to get a TorGuard VPN with the coins it got via Lightning to pay. You can talk about a network, at least in rudimentary terms.
Only this week has finally turned on Blockstream. The company, which actually develops sidechains, has created an online shop for merchandise on which you can only pay with Lightning. Here are T-shirts and stickers.
In fact, it's also time for the Lightning network to fire and bring offchain transactions. Because the Bitcoin blockchain is overcrowded for weeks, if not months. More than 100,000 transactions are waiting for their approval, and the fees have gone up so far from the tight space in the blocks that more than $ 7 million is being redistributed by Bitcoin users to miners each day.
The Lightning network is now a method to form a network of so-called payment channels. These make it possible to process transactions "offchain" by changing them even before they are confirmed. You can think of it, in a very simplistic way, as if you were filling in a remittance slip but not inserting it, but changing it over and over, so that only the final transaction is executed by the bank.
The previous transactions by Bitrefill, Blockstream and TorGuard prove that Lightning works, at least on a technical level. Not very excited is Elizabeth Stark of Lightning Lab:
Stark, actually an avid Lightning evangelist, calls Blockstream's online shop "Bug Testing in Mainnet" and emphasizes that even the developers lose money in the Lightning network. The shop is irresponsible and Lightning will do more harm than good. There are currently many ways to lose money through the system, it is not yet ripe for this use.
Graph of the Lightning network in the Recksplorer.
Nevertheless, more and more nodes are forming in the network. The Recksplorer currently shows 36 nodes with 57 payment channels. While most nodes have only one channel, hubs with more than ten channels have already formed. Taking these first, delicate traits as a trend suggests that Lightning will lead to a centralized network. But it is still too early to say more about it.
In any case, it is questionable whether Lightning can really work economically. The smart contracts are complicated, but there's nothing wrong with them processing payments securely, technically, when all bugs are fixed. But it will take a while until that's done - and even longer, until Lightning has made it across the wall and into online shops.
More problematic, however, is that every payment must already be there in some way before it is made. To pay something, you first have to open a channel, and you can only transfer the money that's in the channel. If a payment goes through multiple "hopps" - and that's the idea of the network - every middleman must stock up on how much money is being paid. Whether it is even possible for a payment service provider to provide these structures and how users who have just bought bitcoins can find their way into a channel are just a few of the questions that have so far been unanswered.
So you should not have too high expectations - but not too much skepticism. Because every transaction that goes from Lightning helps Bitcoin scale. And that's always a win.
Due to the increasing demand for cryptocurrencies in Japan, other institutions also want to secure their share of the crypto market. That's why MUFG, Japan's largest bank, decided to open its own crypto exchange.
MUFG Exchange
The Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG for short), the world's fourth largest bank, wants to open its own crypto exchange this year. According to media reports, she is said to have already informed the financial regulatory authority of the island state.
The bank also works on its own cryptocurrency. According to the current position, this should presumably be available for purchase at the bank's stock exchange. The bank could thereby intervene in drastic price fluctuations. The new cryptocurrency of the bank should have an approximate value of one yen.
The coin should only be used for transactions within Japan. Nevertheless, international buyers should also be able to get the coin.
MUFJ Trust
The bank is working on another service, the so-called MUFJ Trust. It should be a separate account in which crypto shares can be stored. However, no money should flow directly to the crypto exchange, where the currencies are traded. As a result, the traders' investments can be protected against hacker attacks or the insolvency of such platforms. Furthermore, it would be possible to detect suspicious acts in relation to crime faster.
MUFJ Trust will initially only work with Bitcoin and is expected to be launched in April of this year. However, customers wishing to use this service must pay a fee.
The service, which will be available just for bitcoin at first, is expected to launch in April 2018 or as soon as the JFSA recognizes Bitcoin as an asset that can be placed in a trust. This will be the first ever trust arrangement for cryptocurrencies, according to its application for patent protection. Enjoying the protection of MUFJ Trust’s would cost a fee, but “customers will feel peace of mind knowing that a trust bank is managing their assets,” said CEO Noriyuki Hirosue of Tokyo-based exchange Bitbank.
The American Basketball League NBA has millions of fans worldwide. Soon it will be possible for these fans to buy Mavericks tickets with Bitcoin, as Mark Cuban, the owner of the club, announced that the cryptocurrency will be used already next season.
Bitcoin at the NBA
Famous entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban said Mavericks tickets from the National Basketball Association (NBA) can soon be bought with Bitcoin. The Dallas Mavericks' tickets are expected to be available in the "next season" with the cryptocurrency.
In addition to statements on social media platforms such as Twitter, the billionaire confirmed these statements also to Bloomberg. He also added, "We will also take Ethers on board. With regard to tokens, we will accept all the tokens of companies with whom we have business relations. "He also said," Some want to buy products with crypto to prove something. We are glad that we can make it easy for them. And also for other Mavs fans, who prefer to pay with cryptocurrencies, we are happy to make it easy for them.
Cuban and Bitcoin
In America, Cuban is also known as the investor of the show "Shark Tank". Similar to the German series "The Cave of the Lions" new products are presented and investors can then decide to join the business.
In 2014, Cuban publicly shared Bitcoin for the first time. At that time he said that he had not invested in Bitcoin yet, but would think it over thoroughly. Later he said that Bitcoin was "great as an encryption technology", but he saw no future for the currency as central banks would ban it soon enough.
In 2017, his opinion about cryptocurrencies seemed to have changed a bit. First, he told his followers that they should follow the news about Bitcoin. Then he said in October:
The United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF is committed to promoting Blockchain start-ups for the current year. The organization published the call for tenders this week on its website. A prerequisite for the promotion of companies and start-ups should be the development of open blockchain solutions for the aid organization's humanitarian projects.
The announcement on Tuesday, January 16, said the UNICEF Innovation Fund would pay a total of $ 50,000 to $ 90,000 to help businesses and start-ups. Thus, the children's charity is putting its announcement of about a year ago into action.
Condition for the cash injection is that they work on open source blockchains, which can be used for humanitarian projects and tasks within the mission area of the United Nations. So it says in the tender:
The money should serve the companies to develop pilot projects for their ideas or to help the project that has already started to succeed. As possible examples in the call for tenders beside smart contracts also Token, Mining or forms of the data analysis are called.
In addition to the financial stimulus, the children's charity also attracts applicants with possible technical and non-material support, such as networking and mentoring programs.
Companies now have until February 28 of this year to apply for the support and funding.
UN expands blockchain portfolio
To be sure, the latest call for tenders in the funding purpose itself is unspecific. However, with regard to the currently ongoing UN projects, numerous examples and suggestions can be found on how distributed ledger technologies are used by the aid organization. The United Nations has steadily expanded its blockchain portfolio in line with its sustainable development goals since last year.
UNICEF, for example, had already announced in August last year that it wanted to investigate Ethereum blockchains and smart contracts for its projects. The aim of the ongoing research is to use the technologies to collect successful and efficient aid and donations. In addition, in November, as part of a large-scale development project, the children's charity sponsored the blockchain start-up 9Needs in South Africa for $ 100,000.
Another example of the successful United Nations blockchain application is the "Building Blocks" pilot program of the Word Food Program WFP. The aim was to use the Ethereum blockchain for fast and safe distribution of financial aid. It was tested in Pakistan and Jordan. The application in other countries is planned for 2018.
Recently, the United Nations also caused a stir in November with another blockchain initiative. For example, since last year the UN has been using distributed ledger technology in its fight against child trafficking with a worldwide first pilot project.
As a result, the United Nations, with its broad blockchain commitment, is increasingly shaping itself as a pioneer for other international aid organizations.
The Danish shipping company MAERSK and the American technology group IBM yesterday announced their intention to form a joint venture. The goal is to offer more efficient and secure methods for global trade through the use of blockchain technology. The new company's mission is to provide a co-developed digital platform for global commerce, based on open standards and tailored to the global shipping ecosystem.
The cost and complexity of global trade flows continues to grow. More than $ 4 trillion of goods are shipped annually and over 80% of all goods consumed daily come over the sea. The maximum cost of the necessary documents to handle the trade for many goods one-fifth of the actual physical transport costs. The World Economic Forum estimates that by removing barriers in international supply chains, world trade could grow by almost 15%, which would mean higher economic output and more jobs.
The capabilities of blockchain technology provide an ideal foundation for large networks with many different partners. They work much like a shared ledger and provide shared, unalterable records of all transactions occurring within that network. In addition, they allow authorized partners access to the trusted data in real time. With the use of this technology, a completely new system of instructions and consents can be introduced into the flow of information. It allows the different trading partners to get a common view of the transaction that has been adopted by all and that also ensures trustworthiness and privacy.
Maersk, the world leader in container logistics, and IBM, the leader in blockchain, supply chain visibility, and enterprise interoperable solutions, will be using blockchain technologies, cloud-based open source technologies, artificial intelligence, IoT, and analytics Applications for the new platform deployed through IBM Services. It aims to help companies track the path of their goods across international borders. Manufacturers, shipping companies, hauliers, ports, terminals and customs authorities can benefit - and ultimately consumers.
Vincent Clerc, Maersk's Chief Commercial Officer and future Chairman of the joint venture, says:
Bridget van Kralingen, Senior Vice President, IBM Global Industries, Solutions and Blockchain says:
IBM and Maersk launched a collaboration in June 2016 to jointly develop new blockchain and cloud-based technologies. Since then, various parties have tested the platform. These include DuPont, Dow Chemical, Tetra Pak, Port Houston, Rotterdam Port Community System Portbase, the Netherlands Customs, U.S. Patents. Customs and Border Protection.
The joint venture will enable IBM and Maersk to market their solutions and provide them to a larger group of global companies. Many of them have already expressed their interest and are now looking for ways to use the new platform. These include General Motors and Procter and Gamble, to simplify their own complex supply chains. As well as the transport and logistics company Agility Logistics, which would like to improve its customer service including customs clearance.
Now that China has led the Bitcoin mining industry in recent years, it seems the best time to look elsewhere for the potential closure of mining farms. Therefore, an entrepreneur decided to buy two power plants in Russia. Because in addition to the many raw materials, the Russian climate offers another advantage.
Mining in Russia
As the Kommersant reports, an entrepreneur should have bought two powerhouses in Russia. These are designed specifically to provide energy for Bitcoin mining. It is the first time in the country that power plants have been acquired for this reason.
One of the two power plants is located near the city of Perm, which is located in the Ural foothills on the Kama. The other power plant is in Udmurtia. According to media reports, the two facilities will be used for a data center and a mining farm. The entrepreneur had to pay for the equipment a price of 160 million rubles.
The buyer is businessman Aleksey Kolesnik, who indirectly confirmed the purchase. He explained that the mining would not start until the legal situation was finally settled by the Russian government. The Ministry of Finance is currently working on a law regulating cryptocurrencies and ICOs, which is expected to be finalized in March.
Miner heading north
Not only in Russia there is news for the mining community. The Chinese miners seem to be preparing for an exodus from their country. With efficient electricity and low temperatures required for efficient mining, locations like Iceland and Canada are popular. However, the Russian government may be more open to mining than it is in other states.
In December, the Russian parliament, the Duma, invited experts from around the world to learn more about creating cryptocurrencies and mining. In addition, some MPs believe that digital currencies could help circumvent financial sanctions from the West.
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