Your Crypto News on Steemit October 31, 2017

Startups join Forces to combine Virtual Reality with Blockchain!
Multi Factor Authentication: Sony announces new Platform!
Police in Arkansas: Bitcoin Mining to fight Crime!
C-Labs: Samsung builds Mining Rig with Galaxy S5!
St. Moritz: What can be expected from the Crypto Finance Conference?
BITCOIN COURSE CHALLENGE Week 4!

The future of Virtual Reality (VR) with blockchain looks bright, as several companies are working to unite the two technologies. Edge and Martryx are two of the companies that want to make this vision a reality. It will be interesting to see how this idea will change both industries.

Matryx is a company providing resources for cross-location science collaboration. It is not necessarily associated with blockchain or virtual reality. However, Matryx's parent company is Nanome, which focuses heavily on the VR and blockchain. It was a logical step to dedicate this project to partnering with Edge, a leader in the VR industry.

Combining Virtual Reality and Blockchain-based Security

It is true that there are endless uses for the blockchain. Outside of the financial industry, the possibilities of blockchain are explored. The combination of blockchain and VR is an interesting project for the future. At the forefront of the company is currently the creation of a secure crypto currency and VR experience. But that's easier said than done.

Matryx CEO Steve McCloskey said:

Edges SDK already supports various data without any problems. The VR is no exception. Securing VR systems so that only the right user has access is worth investigating. Without third parties who can access the data, the future of the VR looks even more promising.

No day without new advances in the blockchain world. The Japanese tech giant Sony is developing a platform for multi-factor authentication. The new system aims primarily at the login process. Blockchain technology makes it even safer.

As disclosed in a patent application to United States Patent and Trademark Office indicates that two different blockchain platforms will work together as a multi-factor authentication system.

Ordinary two-factor authentication systems issue different credentials to users. After each user enters a default username and password, an authentication token generates a code. This must be entered by the users in turn to gain access to the respective platform. The idea behind it is to prevent attacks on the system. In the case of an attack, the attacker could possibly gain the password, but would not have access to the generated tokens, as this is created each time they log in.

Decentralized Multi-Factor Authentication

In Sony's blockchain-based new system, this would run in blockchain manner, decentralized. In addition, more common authentication steps are added. Altogether there are four factors for verification: client, server method as well as identity of the respective user. One of the current blockchains would create the authentication codes while the other would confirm the transaction through the platform.

Accordingly, a verification system is to be offered, which offers multiple authentication options. The goal is to create a platform that securely stores user data. In addition, the data can not be deleted or changed later, which guarantees further security.

Multi-factor authentication is by no means the first step from Sony towards Blockchain. Earlier this year, Sony announced a learning platform that it developed with IBM. It should make it possible to retrieve and share data records of students and to retrieve information about learning progress. The idea of cross-blockchain is nothing new. So just last week a new cross-blockchain crypto currency Metronome by bloq was announced.

The Bentonville police force in Arkansas is running a pilot project to fight cyber crime using Bitcoin.

The cyber crime Department wants to use the digital currency to combat child pornography or other crimes on the Internet, and especially the Dark Web. Finally, Bitcoin is a common currency in the Dark Web, as many users hope for a higher anonymity of Bitcoin. That Bitcoin is anonymous, however, is a fallacy, which is why the term pseudoanonym is recommended here rather.

Specifically, the government-used bitcoins should therefore be used for undercover actions in the network to track payment transactions. Tracking can create payment patterns that can help locate the criminals. The police would like to be particularly consistent and mine the Bitcoins themselves to have "unloaded" Bitcoins, without transaction history. On the one hand, the police authority hopes to save costs compared to direct acquisition on the crypto exchange and, on the other hand, to remain largely unrecognized.

The pilot project started in April of this year and took place in cooperation with other state authorities. To what extent the authority is even able to operate economic Bitcoin mining is not known. Accordingly, there are some criticisms that taxpayers' money is wasted on the enormous electricity bill. As transparent as the Bitcoin blockchain may be, the Authority does not disclose any further information about the Bitcoin mining scope for reasons of confidentiality.

Bitcoin mining per CPU can be done by anyone - but not by smartphone: In the C-Labs, Samsung has coupled 40 old Galaxy S5 to a mining rig. Although they are not fast, they are efficient.
Recycle or even throw away old smartphones? No option for Samsung's C-Labs: they took 40 old Galaxy S5s and built a mining rig to mine the crypto currency Bitcoin. The Creative Labs is a Samsung-internal department that will develop ideas, such as the Upcycling Program for the continued use of old smartphones. The Bitcoin system was shown at Samsung Developer Conference 2017.

(Photo: Kyle Wiens / iFixit)

Kyle Wiens, the CEO of iFixit, took some pictures of the rig: The Galaxy S5 are connected to each other and according to Samsung reach a computing power of about 2,600 kilohashs per second at 4 watts per device. A Core i7-2600 from 2011, a very fast desktop processor at that time, can handle 20,000 kilohashs per second, but has a thermal power loss of 95 watts plus the rest of the system.

Consequently, a Samsung Galaxy S5 with 650 kilohashs per second per watt is much more efficient than the Intel chip with 211 kilohashs per second per watt. Practically usable is the smartphone cluster only conditionally, since the speed is very low. Bitcoins in particular are now being mined with ASIC miner.

(Photo: Kyle Wiens / iFixit)

Robin Schultz, a Samsung spokesman, describes the Upcycling Program as an "innovative platform that takes an environmentally friendly approach to revive old Galaxy devices and give them a purpose rather than throw them away." Other ideas include monitoring an aquarium, an Ubuntu laptop with Galaxy hardware or an owl that consists of a Galaxy smartphone and supports face recognition.

From January 17 to 19, the Crypto Finance Conference will be held in St. Moritz Switzerland, focusing on investments in the crypto sector.

With the Crypto Valley Canton of Zug, Switzerland has already made a name for itself internationally in the blockchain scene. Switzerland is also trying to set standards in terms of regulation, as has recently been proven by a paper by the Crypto Valley Association on the classification of tokens. It therefore makes sense for Switzerland as a financial center to be more concerned with the topic of investments in the crypto sector.

Under the motto: From investors to investors, the focus of the Crypto Finance Conference is clearly set. The agenda includes topics such as risk management, taxation or ICO analysis. Even with the speakers, no compromises were made. Thus, many well-known figures from the Blockchain ecosystem can be found on the speaker list. Be it Bobby Lee (BTCC) or dr. Julian Hosp (TenX), who will provide input for the content.

The exclusive meeting will take place in an equally exclusive location, the Suvretta House in St. Moritz. The number of participants is limited to 250 in order to guarantee a professional networking atmosphere. The ticket prices are accordingly ambitious.

Especially in light of the fact that this is an international high-level conference, the expectations are high. If a lot of money and a very young asset class come together, then you can expect a high investment potential. If you want to be there, you should go directly to the homepage of the Crypto Finance Conference.

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