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Samsung's crypto-friendly version of its flagship Galaxy Note 10 is the first of a new wave of blockchain handsets to hit the market.
The “KlaytnPhone" — named after the blockchain developed by South Korean messaging app KakaoTalk — was launched in South Korea last week. It features the same hardware as other Galaxy Note 10 devices, but with the additional software including blockchain apps and a cryptocurrency wallet.
Since testing the waters with the Galaxy S10 launched earlier this year, Samsung has ventured further into the blockchain world — making over a dozen Dapps available on its KeyStore, and now cementing its commitment to crypto assets by releasing a second blockchain handset.
Big tech takes the smartphone to the blockchain
Taking the lead from Samsung, other tech giants are also ensuring that users can access blockchain related services.
Arch-rival LG is reported to have completed market research on Dapp and blockchain providers, and has trademarked the “ThinQ Wallet” in the United States — a transaction and settlement product that could be the foundation for an upcoming crypto ecosystem.
South Korean media outlet Chosun claims that LG is close to releasing a crypto-friendly handset to rival offerings from Samsung. Meanwhile, HTC is set to release the second version of its Exodus handset before the end of the third quarter.Even the notoriously tight-lipped Apple is looking at the space.
“We’re watching cryptocurrency. We think it is interesting. We think it has interesting long-term potential” said Vice president of Apple Pay, Jennifer Bailey, in conversation with CNN Business in September.
Apple has been building the protocols that could form the foundation of a smartphone crypto ecosystem.
The iPhone CryptoKit, which was quietly unveiled at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June, is described as a framework to "perform cryptographic operations securely and efficiently", and could allow developers to embed cryptographic operations into their apps.
China is working on similar innovations. According to local financial media, Sina has developed a "SIM card-based blockchain digital asset management system.
"State-owned China Telecom is developing the product and debuted it to the world at an industry expo in August. Somewhat ironically, the Chinese company appears to be positioning blockchain phones as essential to privacy in an era of cloud computing, mobile payments, artificial intelligence, big data, and 5G.
"Security, high-speed, multi-application and low-cost 5G blockchain mobile phones will create huge economic opportunities and business values. In the 5G era, people will increasingly trust the 5G blockchain smart phone," states the whitepaper.
The world's first true blockchain phone
Competing with the tech giants are small manufacturers of blockchain-powered devices.At a trade show in Berlin on September 10, Pundi X — a Singaporean company that calls itself the "Walmart and 7-Eleven of cryptocurrency" — unveiled the Blok on Blok, which it claims is the "world's first true blockchain phone.
”Unlike some crypto-friendly phones that differentiate themselves with wallet software and access to a secure enclave for the storage of private keys, Blok on Blok migrates the core phone functions to the blockchain.
Users can toggle between the traditional method of making calls through a mobile network or the secure method of making calls on-chain that prevents any third party from accessing user data.
At a cost of $599, the Blok on Blok is in the same price range as a new handset from Huobi that launches in South East Asia this week.
The Android-based Acute Angle retails for $515 and offers built-in cryptocurrency features including a Dapp wallet, optional cold-wallet plugin, and integration with a native NODE token that allows users to earn rewards for performing certain actions.
This is said to be the first of a future lineup of blockchain-based phones from Whole Network — a blockchain project funded by Huobi's venture capital arm.
Though blockchain phones remain niche products that appeal to existing cryptocurrency users, competition will force big players such as Apple and Samsung to offer blockchain services to their users or risk being left behind.
As we move into the 5G era, data security is expected to become increasingly important. Thus, giving users greater control over their own data could prove to be a good way for big tech companies to differentiate themselves.The blockchain phone era has just begun.-
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Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst Smart devices will bring Dapps and crypto wallets and other blockchain/crypto features, some of them we can't even imagine now. With 5G operational the growth will be exponential. This will be the new normal, helping the global masses to better understand, access and use crypto.- 10 1 vote
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China‘s upcoming state-controlled digital currency is to be similar to Facebook‘s proposed coin, which makes total sense, because Libra isn’t really a cryptocurrency.
Mu Changchun, deputy director of payments at China‘s central bank, explained the country was issuing its digital currency “to protect our monetary sovereignty and legal currency status,” Reuters reports.
“We need to plan ahead for a rainy day,” Mu added.It’s likely these concerns reflect those of the European Central Bank. Earlier this week, a representative claimed that Facebook‘s Libra could undermine its power if it was readily adopted, as it could reduce overall demand for the Euro.Next week: China discovers its digital token is capable of alchemy
Amazingly, Mu mentioned that his government‘s proposed tokens will be just as safe as China‘s paper-based fiat.Payment platforms like WeChat and Alipay are to supposedly support them, and Mu promised they’ll even be usable without an internet connection.
More incredibly, Reuters reports that Mu said China‘s purported coin would find a balance between allowing anonymous payments and preventing money laundering.
Considering that China is considered by many to be a surveillance-state (with scholars now referring to its politics as “networked totalitarianism“), these claims are outright laughable.
So, while Facebook does its best to brand its Libra offering as a real “cryptocurrency,” China has taken notes on issuing an entirely centralized digital currency that’s susceptible to censorship.If anything, the two deserve each other.- By Admin
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Jakobo Gimeno The Chines government is notorious for spying on its people. The government is going to use the cryptocurrency as another method of surveillance, they will have full control of the coins and know-how and when they are spent. We will see, it is still to soon to tell.
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Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst Any new technology has a double use. It can lead to more freedom or to a dystopia. The China`s state crypto could easily be a tool to continue developing the "networking totalitarianism" which this nation is rapidly building. Unfortunately we not have enough data yet to understand all consequences.
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Could bitcoin become part of our payments future? Apple seems to think so.In a recent conversation with CNN Business, Jennifer Bailey, vice president of Apple Pay, revealed the company’s awareness of—and perhaps optimism about—the crypto markets.
“We’re watching cryptocurrency,” Bailey said. “We think it’s interesting. We think it has interesting long-term potential.
”Although brief, her commentary offered a glimpse into how the tech giant is approaching bitcoin and the broader crypto market— that is, with an open mind.
Today, Apple’s market capitalization is more than five times larger than that of bitcoin (which stands at $188 billion).
Admittedly, it’s hard to discern much from Bailey’s crypto musings. Her phrase—”interesting long-term potential”—leaves the door open for Apple to dabble in crypto itself, or to slam it shut later on.
If Apple does pursue a crypto wallet for the iPhone though, it won’t be the first phone manufacturer to market. HTC’s Exodus 1 already comes packaged with a “secure enclave” meant to keep your crypto holdings separate from other apps on the device, and this week, Samsung launched a blockchain-enabled smartphone (paywall).
Samsung’s device is essentially the Galaxy Note 10 with some crypto-cobranding, courtesy of Klaytn, a South Korean blockchain platform.
Apple recently launched its own credit card, backed by Mastercard and Goldman Sachs, which primarily exists within the Apple Pay wallet of the owner’s iPhone.
Apple’s reticence probably indicates the company would support existing cryptocurrencies as opposed to creating its own, like Facebook is attempting to do with Libra.
It’s done similarly on other standards, such as the communication tech behind Apple Pay, and the wireless-charging standard its newer iPhones use.-
Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst At this stage of crypto, it is normal to hear these kind of comments. Nobody wants to be left outside if crypto becomes a new form of finance, while not being openly committed. We strongly believe more and more institutions, companies, anyone, everywhere, will get involved in the tokenisation brought by the blockchain and will adopt crypto.
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Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain startups exploded onto the London financial technology scene over the last few years, but now, due to a combination of potentially tougher new regulation and the UK's looming exit from the European Union, things could be about to take a turn for the worse for the fledgling bitcoin and crypto sector.
It could be about to all go wrong for London's bitcoin, crypto, and blockchain startups.
GETTY IMAGES
The U.K.'s prime minister, Boris Johnson, who has taken over from Theresa May after she spent two fruitless years trying to negotiate a Brexit deal with the E.U., has steered the country towards a feared so-called no-deal Brexit scenario, potentially causing chaos–though perhaps boosting the bitcoin price.
While Johnson has clashed with the U.K.'s parliament over the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, it remains on the table, fueling business uncertainty.
If the U.K. does eventually leave the E.U. trading bloc without a deal, financial technology companies would lose access to the bloc's single market–while bitcoin and cryptocurrency startups may struggle to justify a London office without an easy route into Europe.
"The uncertainty around Brexit has already taken a major toll, particularly for non-U.K. companies doing business in the U.K.," said Felix Shipkevich, a New York-based lawyer specializing in digital currency and financial technology.
Financial technology businesses have already been found to be moving from the U.K. to the E.U. in preparation for Brexit, according to report from capital markets think tank New Financial, out earlier this year.
"If fintech businesses in the U.K. can’t access international individuals working in areas such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and blockchain as easily after Brexit, this could cause a contraction in the sector because currently, up to a fifth of the skills used by the fintech sector in the U.K. have come from the EU," Sarah Hall, senior fellow at the U.K. in a Changing Europe research group, told bitcoin and crypto trade news website, Cointelegraph.
Last month, the U.K.'s financial services watchdog warned potential investors that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have "no intrinsic value," with some taking the caution as a signal the country could be moving towards a bitcoin ban.
Just last week, the Bank of England governor Mark Carney, who has previously poured scorn on bitcoin and its crypto peers, said a global digital currency could replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency–and likely directly compete with bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies.
The bitcoin price has climbed this year, despite the U.K.'s financial industry watchdog warning it has "no intrinsic value.
"COINDESK
Meanwhile, one promising crypto startup has already run into difficulties, according to reports. Nodal Labs, a blockchain-powered freelance marketplace, has missed payments to staff with a boardroom battle underway for control of the floundering crypto company, according to AltFi, an alternative finance and fintech news website.
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Billy Bambrough
I am a journalist with significant experience covering technology, finance, economics, and business around the world. As the founding editor of Verdict.co.uk I reported ...Read More-
Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst This article seems more FUD than any other thing. Brexit will have consequences in all sectors both for UK and the EU, but we believe the crypto and blockchain sectors, as for other new techs, any problem which may appear will be rapidly solved with time. Start ups have had enough time to prepare themselves for any possibility too.
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This week saw twin reports from smart contract startup Simba Chain and blockchain data management firm Constellation, both of whom announced contracts with the United States Air Force.
New utility in USAF
Judging by these developments, the U.S. Air Force is looking seriously at new tech to shore up supply chains and rearrange data. Simba Chain has reportedly been tasked with prototyping a blockchain approach for the registration and tracking of additive manufacturing — also known as 3D printing — components throughout their lifecycles. Meanwhile, according to the original press release:“Constellation's technology will help securely unlock traditionally siloed and non-accessible data and data sources. This is commonly referred to as Multi-Domain Command and Control (MDC2) at the U.S. Air Force.”
According to Constellation, the Air Force expects the company to facilitate the various fleets — drones, planes, satellites — that the branch is responsible for. Simba Chain, meanwhile, is itself an initiative founded in 2017 with a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to the University of Notre Dame, originally to facilitate an unhackable communication platform.Cybersecurity
The Air Force is not alone in delving deeper into blockchain technologies. The branch’s needs share much in common the U.S. military more broadly. Namely, massive data processing and vast backlogs of contracts facilitating diverse supply chains delivering everything from Tomahawk missiles to tweezers — all of which demand vital security precautions.
Consequently, the broader U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has been looking seriously at a range of blockchain technologies for increased security applications.Last month, Cointelegraph reported on the DoD’s newly announced four-year plan, in which the department put forward the prospect of a “Block Chain Cybersecurity Shield.” Named uses for the technology included:“Facilitating communication between units and headquarters, and transmitting information between intelligence officers and the Pentagon. DARPA also has been trying to develop an unhackable code — which blockchain could facilitate — because the technology offers intelligence on hackers who try to break into secure databases.”
Back in March, the White House’s budget request for 2020 mentioned similar concerns while asking for $9.6 billion to fund DoD cybersecurity initiatives, citing:“DOD’s three primary cyber missions: safeguarding DOD’s networks, information, and systems; supporting military commander objectives; and defending the Nation.”
The DoD’s recent four-year plan did not explicitly mention the breadth of supply chain applications that companies like Simba Chain may be working on for the Air Force, but cybersecurity needs are evolving.Supply chains
In a report from 2017 on blockchain tech, Washington-based think tank the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies focused on the need to preserve the “National Security Industrial Base,” illustrating the emergence of a:“National security challenge related to the globalization of manufacturing supply chains is the phenomenon of attacks in which substandard, counterfeit, or maliciously-modified electronic components are introduced into the hardware on which the national security industrial base (the “NSIB”) operates.”
The famous case of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act and its ban on Huawei’s electronics is an eye-catching example of the need to be certain of a supply chain, invoking as it did the threat of a foreign power using planted hardware to hack U.S. defense agencies.
But while cybersecurity is an evocative word, likely to attract funding, some of the military’s supply chain needs are as simple as cost. Back in June of this year, Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the largest government contractors in the U.S., reviewed prospects for incorporating blockchain into federal agencies.
Among Booz Allen’s recommendations for the DoD was distributing 3D printers to deployed units and then putting 3D plans for various hardware and parts onto the blockchain to save on the expense of manufacturing those parts in the U.S. and then shipping them — much like what Simba Chain is proposing to do for the Air Force.Or contract certainty?
Contracts may be a more mundane concern and therefore often removed from the military’s PR, but they are obviously critical. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, in 2018, the Air Force spent $71.3 billion on contractors within the DoD’s overall $358.3 billion contractor budget.
The DoD depends on a truly global supply network, spanning borders and languages. At the same time, the Pentagon is prone to levels of bureaucratic waste that are the stuff of legend, constituting $125 billion over five years according to a buried internal report from the beginning of 2015.
The report’s primary recommendations for savings? Cutting back on contractors, streamlining IT and encouraging earlier retirement.
It is conceivable that blockchain in the military — in the form of Simba’s recently launched smart contract-as-a-service platform or something similar — may end up having the greatest ramifications in the least exciting of applications — the office rather than the battlefield.
For now, however, that remains speculation.-
Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst The biggest Army in the world needs to introduce new technologies to be even more agile and powerful. The blockchain can do that, not just by applying it to the defence supply chain and logistics, data handling and other defence department, but also by helping in the introduction of AI in defence sector. The blockchain is showing to have a myriad of uses.
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China’s central bank will launch a state-backed cryptocurrency and issue it to
seven institutions in the coming months, according to a former employee of one of the institutions who is now an independent researcher.
Paul Schulte, who worked as global head of financial strategy for China Construction Bank until 2012, says the largest bank in the world, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the second largest bank in the world, his former employer, the Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China; two of China’s largest financial technology companies, Alibaba and Tencent; and Union Pay, an association of Chinese banks, will receive the cryptocurrency.
A separate source, who’s involved in the development of the cryptocurrency, dubbed DC/EP (Digital Currency/Electronic Payments), confirmed that the seven institutions would be receiving the new asset when it launches, adding that an eighth institution could also be among the first tier of recipients.
The source declined to provide the name of the additional company. Speaking under terms of anonymity, the source, who previously worked for the Chinese government, confirmed that the technology behind the cryptocurrency has been ready since last year and that the cryptocurrency could launch as soon as November 11, China’s busiest shopping day, known as Singles Day.
At the time of launch, the recipient institutions will then be responsible for dispersing the cryptocurrency to 1.3 billion Chinese citizens and others doing business in the renminbi, China’s fiat currency, according to the source.
The source added that the central bank hopes the currency will eventually be made available to spenders in the United States and elsewhere through relationships with correspondent banks in the West. “That’s the plan, but that won’t happen right away,” the source said.
The plan to use a diverse set of China’s trusted institutions to disperse the cryptocurrency is reminiscent of a number of other ideas currently percolating around the world.
For instance, Facebook’s planned libra cryptocurrency will be backed by a basket of currencies issued by central banks with support from companies like Mastercard and Uber in the United States, Vodaphone in England and Mercado Pago in Argentina.
And last week, Bank of England governor Mark Carney floated the idea of a new currency backed by a number of central banks to replace the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency.
What sets China’s DC/EP apart from libra and Carney’s “synthetic hegemonic currency” (SHC), according to Shulte, is that while libra is little more than early-stage computer code and the SHC doesn’t appear to have gone much further than Carney’s mind, the Chinese cryptocurrency is ready to launch.
“China is barreling forward on reforms and rolling out the cryptocurrency,” says Schulte, who now runs an eponymous bank research firm. “It will be the first central bank to do so.”
FORBES
At the time of publication, neither the People’s Bank of China nor any of the seven institutions mentioned by Schulte had responded to Forbes requests to confirm or deny his claim. However, the two-tiered strategy, where the central bank creates the currency and others distribute it, aligns with previously unreported statements made by Mu Changchun, deputy director of the Paying Division of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the new head of China’s cryptocurrency research lab.
In a speech on August 10 at the China Finance 40 Forum, since revised and posted on the PBOC’s WeChat channel, Mu described the central bank’s “two-tiered” system, wherein the bank would create the cryptocurrency and a small group of trusted commercial businesses would “pay the central bank 100% in full” to be allowed to distribute it.
In addition to preventing regional banks and other organizations from being disintermediated, Mu said the two-tiered system is designed to “curb” public demand for other cryptographic assets, consolidate China’s national currency sovereignty, ensure that the central bank maintains control over monetary policy affecting the currency, increase the likelihood of people using the currency, distribute the risk of having all the authority directly in the hands of the central bank and encourage competition between the organizations that receive the cryptocurrency.
“This dual delivery system is suitable for our national conditions,” said Mu. “It can not only use existing resources to mobilize the enthusiasm of commercial banks but also smoothly improve the acceptance of the digital currency.”The composition of the organizations Schulte says will receive the DC/EP also aligns with Mu's comments.
Later in his speech, Mu added that only after the technical specifications for the DC/EP were completed in 2018 did the central bank realize the similarity between its design and that of libra, the cryptocurrency being developed by Facebook and about 30 other early-stage partners.
One key difference, according to Mu, is that while libra is being designed to handle 1,000 transactions per second, the DC/EP was designed to handle 300,000 transactions per second.
For context, Mu added that during last year's Singles Day the peak volume of all transactions in China was 92,771 transactions per second, dwarfing what the other platforms could support, but well within the DC/EP specifications.
“At present, we belong to a state of horse racing,” Mu said according to the translation.
The DC/EP can achieve this kind of volume only because it is not a “pure blockchain architecture,” according to Mu, and therefore it doesn’t need to wait for groups of transactions to settle in a block. Like other permissioned blockchains that not anyone can use, the DC/EP is centrally managed, in this case by the central bank, meaning the digital currency remains a liability of the bank and the debtor/creditor relationship is unchanged, according to Mu.
Also, instead of using an algorithm to limit supply, like bitcoin, Mu says the PBOC itself will control supply. Crucially, Mu says, the DC/EP is being designed to replace the physical notes and coins in circulation, not the renminbi sitting in bank accounts in a digital form.
“The central bank's digital currency can be circulated as easily as cash,” said Mu. “Which is conducive to the circulation and internationalization of the renminbi.
”Whether anyone outside China would actually use a digital renminbi for transactions in their own country is unclear.
As the Bank of England governor’s comments about replacing the U.S. dollar indicate, much of the world is tired of having their financial stability tied to the United States’ monetary system. But China may not be the best alternative. Earlier this month, as part of the escalating trade war between the United States and China, U.S. President Trump accused China of being a “currency manipulator.
” After China’s renminbi fell to its lowest in 11 years, hitting 6.9225 renminbi per dollar on August 5, according to a Financial Timesreport, it has continued to drop, trading at 7.15 renminbi per dollar today. While China has denied the charge and called the U.S. “protectionist” in a press statement, the perception of manipulation could be harmful to broader adoption of a digital currency linked to the renminbi.
In December 2017, another country accused of devaluing its currency, Venezuela, revealed plans for its own cryptocurrency, backed by oil and called the petro. After much hullabaloo, the currency somewhat officially launched in 2018, but it isn’t available on most international exchanges because of a U.S. embargo and has been almost impossible to accurately value.
Another obstacle to adoption could be uncertainty about the benefits of a technology that’s intended to replace fiat currency but is still under centralized control.
While it’s obvious that any central bank wishing to more closely observe how citizens are using a cryptocurrency would prefer a transparent ledger like the bitcoin blockchain, which makes transactions easily traceable, most of the benefits to users of current blockchains, such as instant settlement and digital transactions without the need of a middleman, could be undermined by central control.
In fact, China's new cryptocurrency will increase its ability to surveil its own citizens, and any other users.One person who’s not concerned about the obstacles to adoption of China’s cryptocurrency is Charles Liu, chairman of HAO International, a private equity firm investing over $700 million in Chinese growth companies.
After largely focusing on solar, organic fertilizer, and wastewater treatment technologies since 2012, Liu says he is an angel investor in “the first blockchain company to be able to sign an official contract with the People’s Bank” of China.
Liu declined to reveal the name of the firm or its technology but lent support to Mu’s comments about the potential benefits to businesses using China’s cryptocurrency. In addition to being a more efficient way to track money laundering, bribery and other transactions, Liu says, the cryptocurrency will give banks increased confidence in the creditworthiness of borrowers, let merchants receive payments instantly and lower transaction fees.
While Liu says that banks in the United States have been resistant to such improvements that eat away at their bottom line, he adds that China doesn’t have that problem, because the government owns the banks.
“What will facilitate commercial transactions and enhance efficiency, the central government decides and they go ahead and do it,” says Liu, adding that “China’s strategic plan is to integrate more closely with the rest of the world. Cryptocurrency is just one of the means to have a more internationalized renminbi. It’s all strategic. It’s all long term.”
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Michael del Castillo
I report on how blockchain and cryptocurrencies are being adopted by enterprises and the broader business community. My coverage includes the use of cryptocurrencies su...Read More-
Francisco Gimeno - BC Analyst We don't have enough space here to write everything we would want about China launching its own cryptocurrency. The consequences on politics, economic, finances, and society would be so widespread that is not easy to see everything just now. Is this another tool to control an already very much digitally controlled society? What other governments will do about this? What is the impact in global commerce? And over the crypto market itself? So many unanswered questions now.
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