#Amazon Granted Patent For Streaming Data Marketplace With Bitcoin Use Cas
Amazon Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Amazon, received a patentfor a streaming data marketplace that would enable users to receive real-time cryptocurrency transactions data, according to a document released April 17.
In order to meet the needs of organizations in managing of large amounts of data, the company, according to the patent, developed a technology for processing streaming data on a... more#Amazon Granted Patent For Streaming Data Marketplace With Bitcoin Use Cas
Amazon Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Amazon, received a patentfor a streaming data marketplace that would enable users to receive real-time cryptocurrency transactions data, according to a document released April 17.
In order to meet the needs of organizations in managing of large amounts of data, the company, according to the patent, developed a technology for processing streaming data on a large scale with relatively low latency. Additionally, it would allow developers to “build real-time dashboards, capture exceptions and generate alerts, drive recommendations, and make other real-time business or operational decisions.”
The multi-streaming data service would be able to process information from different sources, including “web site click-streams, marketing and financial information, manufacturing instrumentation and social media, operational logs, metering data and so forth.”
The file also describes a use case regarding a cryptocurrency market “data stream that publishes or includes global Bitcointransactions (or any cryptocurrency transaction).” As stated in the document, the transactions are completely visible to all participants in the network. The patent says:
“For example, a group of electronic or internet retailers who accept Bitcoin transactions may have a shipping address that may correlate with the Bitcoin address. The electronic retailers may combine the shipping address with the Bitcoin transaction data to create correlated data and republish the combined data as a combined data stream.”
Customers that want to consume data may subscribe to the desired data stream and “optionally select desired enhancements that are not already included in the desired data stream.” Among potential consumers, the author of the patent makes an example of a law enforcement agency that could desire to “receive global Bitcoin transactions, correlated by country, with ISP data to determine source IP addresses and shipping addresses that correlate to Bitcoin addresses.” It further added:
“The streaming data marketplace may price this desired data out per GB (gigabyte), for example, and the agency can start running analytics on the desired data using the analysis module.”
Last week, the Bank of America's application for a patent on a Blockchain-based storage system was published. The patent addresses the issue of data transferring and tracking, and describes a system with automated data authentication and secured access of data.
Runaway inflation continues to devalue the Venezuelan Bolivar (VEB), even as the country’s authoritarian government seeks to divert attention from the floundering economy by hawking its “Petro” cryptocurrency.
According to Reuters, prices in Venezuela rose by 454 percent during the first quarter of 2018 and have swelled by 8,900 percent over the past 12 months.
Runaway inflation continues to devalue the Venezuelan Bolivar (VEB), even as the country’s authoritarian government seeks to divert attention from the floundering economy by hawking its “Petro” cryptocurrency.
According to Reuters, prices in Venezuela rose by 454 percent during the first quarter of 2018 and have swelled by 8,900 percent over the past 12 months.
Those numbers are from the opposition-controlled National Assembly and are largely in line with estimates from independent economists. Venezuela’s central bank, meanwhile, has not published official inflation data in more than two years.
This hyperinflation has left Venezuela on the brink of economic collapse, and residents are fleeing the country at an estimated rate of 5,000 migrants per day. By the end of the year, more than five percent of the country’s population — or 1.8 million people — will have left Venezuela.
But rather than address these problems, the government of what was once Latin America’s wealthiest country instead continues to sing the praises of the Petro, its new state-backed cryptocurrency.
President Nicolas Maduro has declared the Petro to be legal tender, and he has claimed that its initial coin offering (ICO) has raised more than $5 billion from investors across the globe. It even received the “Satoshi Nakamoto Prize” from the Russian Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Association, an award it received for reasons that are dubious at best.
Notably, though, the legislature has declared the Petro to be illegal, and many analysts continue to doubt that it actually exists.
But even as Maduro touts the Petro as the solution for all of Venezuela’s ills, the country’s residents are turning to another cryptocurrency to secure their wealth amidst the turbulent economic backdrop: Bitcoin.
#Bitcoin #wallet under your skin? This guy has it
April 14, 2018
According to research results from Chainalysis, a blockchain “investigator” firm, around 17 to 23 percent of bitcoins are lost forever.
To prevent this happening to them, people are ready to do radical things. Just like Martijn Wismeijer did.
Martin is a Dutch citizen and a marketing manager at the bitcoin ATM manufacturer General Bytes that stores access to his bitcoin in chips that are placed under his skin.
According to research results from Chainalysis, a blockchain “investigator” firm, around 17 to 23 percent of bitcoins are lost forever.
To prevent this happening to them, people are ready to do radical things. Just like Martijn Wismeijer did.
Martin is a Dutch citizen and a marketing manager at the bitcoin ATM manufacturer General Bytes that stores access to his bitcoin in chips that are placed under his skin.
He implanted the chips under his skin back in 2014, out of curiosity as he says. And now he is paying some of his bills like a superman, by only waving his hand at the cash desk.
Chips also stores his recovery words and is very hard to hack, according to him.
“I can safely say most of the bitcoin, more than 80 percent, I have lost due to hacks, thefts, exchanges gone bad and other problems,” he tells CNBC Make It. “If I would’ve had the chip in 2010, I’d probably be a rich man by now.”
And Martin says he is not the only one that has an implanted chip wallet as some of his colleagues also have one.
“I know at least 50 of them in the Prague area,” he says.
Mr. Bitcoin, as he calls himself, got this unusual idea after a biohacking company sent him a xNT near-field communication (NFC) microchip as a gift. He then paid $75 to a body piercing artist to implant it on both of his hands between the thumb and index finger.
The injection took only couple of seconds and recovery lasted around 2 weeks. It is less painful than having an IV drip put in, says Martin.
The technology itself is not new. Veterinarians inject microchips into animals as a tracking device, and a Swedish startup recently started implanting microchips into employees. While similar chips have been found to be biologically safe and are even FDA-approved for medical uses, there are some health concerns.
#Ripple Exec Says #XRP is ‘Absolutely Not a Security’
Bitcoinist.com / Adam James /
Following reports that popular US-based cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini turned down payments from Ripple to list the company’s XRP token, a top executive from the real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange, and remittance network has tried to set the record straight.
The third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ripple (XRP), is not a security — at least, not in... more#Ripple Exec Says #XRP is ‘Absolutely Not a Security’
Bitcoinist.com / Adam James /
Following reports that popular US-based cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini turned down payments from Ripple to list the company’s XRP token, a top executive from the real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange, and remittance network has tried to set the record straight.
The third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ripple (XRP), is not a security — at least, not in the minds of its parent company.
In an interview with CNBC, Ripple’s chief market strategist, Cory Johnson, stated:
We absolutely are not a security. We don’t meet the standards for what a security is based on the history of court law.
Johnson’s statement follows reports from unidentified insiders that Ripple attempted to buy a spot on popular US-based cryptocurrency exchanges Gemini and Coinbase — either of which would’ve undoubtedly caused an increase in the token’s trading volume and valuation.
Those with knowledge of the situation claimed that a Ripple executive reportedly offered a $1 million cash payment to Gemini to list XRP, which preceded various other attempts to persuade the Winklevoss twins’ cryptocurrency exchange to list the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization — including offering to pay rebates and cover associated costs.
Insiders also claimed that Ripple offered to lend Coinbase more than $100 million worth of XRP, in addition to offering to let the popular San Francisco-based exchange pay back the loan in either XRP or USD — potentially allowing Coinbase to reap massive profits following the appreciation of XRP’s value.
Both Gemini and Coinbase allegedly turned down the offers due to concerns over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s potential classification of XRP as a security.
Ripple didn’t exactly deny the claims, though the company does firmly deny that talks over XRP’s potential regulation as a security ever took place. Says Johnson:
Coinbase never ever raised the issue of whether or not XRP is a security in our discussions about listing XRP. We’re 100 percent clear, it’s not a security. We don’t meet the standards.
A spokesperson for Coinbase confirms Johnson’s claim that discussions over regulation never took place. Rather, the conversation centered mostly on the exchange’s criteria to add a cryptocurrency to its exchange.
A group of 22 European nations has formed a new blockchain partnership aimed to exchange information on the technology.
The countries, including the U.K., France, Germany, Norway, Spain and the Netherlands, signed a declaration on Tuesday establishing the new group, dubbed the European Blockchain Partnership, according to a release from the European Commission.
The collaboration is aimed to avoid "fragmented approaches" to the... more22 #European Nations Form New #Blockchain Partnership
A group of 22 European nations has formed a new blockchain partnership aimed to exchange information on the technology.
The countries, including the U.K., France, Germany, Norway, Spain and the Netherlands, signed a declaration on Tuesday establishing the new group, dubbed the European Blockchain Partnership, according to a release from the European Commission.
The collaboration is aimed to avoid "fragmented approaches" to the technology by sharing technical and regulatory expertise among member states, as well as creating ways to promote blockchain applications across the EU-wide Digital Single Market.
Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, stated that all public services will use blockchain technology in the future, and that the partnership would turn the "enormous potential of blockchain into better services for citizens".
As well as enabling member states to work together, the partnership also aims to facilitate the interoperability and implementation of blockchain services.
Gabriel continued:
"Blockchain is a great opportunity for Europe and member states to rethink their information systems, to promote user trust and the protection of personal data, to help create new business opportunities and to establish new areas of leadership, benefiting citizens, public services and companies."
The news comes soon after the EU launched the Blockchain Observatory and Forum in February. Soon after, the European Commission said it would host a Fintech Lab to foster emerging technologies including blockchain starting from the middle of 2018.
