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Dutch fintech company BUX has bought Amsterdam-based social cryptocurrency exchange Blockport for an undisclosed amount in a bid to spark interest from young European investors.

BUX says the move will help address “the investing needs of European millennials.

”The fintech firm plans to rename the platform BUX Crypto, and wants to make it available to users in the nine European countries where BUX is currently active.

Blockport last year announced that it was temporarily closing down, citing a lack of funding, following a failed security token offering.

The revamped platform is currently undergoing beta tests with a group of clients, and will launch in the first quarter of 2020, BUX said in a statement.

The company will also register the platform with the Dutch central bank, and will seek to retain key Blockport employees.

BUX, which launched in 2014, claims to have over two million users across Europe, and offers short-term, leveraged trading via its BUX X app. Its BUX Zero app, meanwhile, allows customers to make commission-free investing.

The company has raised USD 35 million from the likes of Holtzbrinck Ventures, Velocity Capital, Orange Growth Capital and Initial Capital.

Nick Bortot, the BUX CEO and founder, said that his company’s customers “have long expressed interest in investing in cryptocurrency.”Watch the latest reports by Block TV.


He added,

“We have been presented with an opportunity to bring on a committed and enthusiastic team that aligns clearly with our mission at BUX. This mission is to help young Europeans do more with their money.”

Blockport said,

“We have found a great partner to launch our platform with and that the outlook is very promising.”

Blockport also stated that BUX was a “bigger player,” and Blockport will extend BUX product line with their cryptocurrency investment platform.Bortot said that the deal would also allow BUX users to access a range of financial assets and markets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP.

BUX says it “welcomes new regulatory requirements in the Netherlands and across Europe,” claiming new rules will “help clear the field of those who chose not to operate with transparency and heighten the reputation, responsibility and integrity of the industry.

”As reported, major crypto derivatives exchange Deribit is moving from the Netherlands to Panama due to the regulatory pressure.

The reason behind it is that the Netherlands will most likely adopt a strict implementation of new EU regulations (5AMLD), which would mean that Deribit has to demand an extensive amount of information from the current and future customers.

Lawmakers in New York have proposed a statewide cryptocurrency and blockchain-based banking platform to encourage the recirculation of money in low-income communities.

The project – pitched as a “public Venmo” – was proposed by New York state assembly member Ron Kim, senator Julia Salazar, and Cornell law professor Robert Hockett.

Should the proposal be accepted, it would mark the USA’s first publicly-owned electronic banking platform alongside a digital currency that could be exchanged for various goods and services in the state.

The project aims to compensate residents for work that is either unpaid or underpaid. This could encompass babysitting children or caring for senior citizens.

Inclusive Value Ledger

The digital currency would run on top of the project’s “Inclusive Value Ledger” (IVL). The team has called for New York State to distribute $55 billion per year that is uncollected in individual tax credits through the “public Venmo”.

The IVL is an administered, non-extractive payment system which would enable recipients to spend freely within the New York economy without transaction fees or delays.In effect, every business and individual in the state would be given a virtual wallet that is connected to a state government-controlled master wallet.

This would then serve as an alternative to a bank account minus the fees a bank would take for profit, reports Vice.Kim, Salazar, and Hockett argue that unlike Facebook’s Libra, the IVL statewide cryptocurrency would encourage the recirculation of money in low-income communities since it is a complementary currency to the US dollar.

This would mean it operates on a hyper-local scale and keeps money rooted in one particular area, supporting local economic growth.

Hockett writes in the whitepaper for the IVL that the peer-to-peer payment technology needed to underpin a project such as this already exists.

The proposal emphasises that the payment system will be secure, but it does not provide details on how security will be carried out or how the project aims to meet the privacy needs of those it hopes to serve.Interested in reading more New York-related stories?

Discover more about a financial regulator in the state hoping to give freedom to cryptocurrency exchanges.

The post New York lawmakers propose statewide cryptocurrency appeared first on Coin Rivet.

"I'm not thinking of dying at this age, but I think just making that as easy as possible for everyone is crucial."Jack Davies, 23, from Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, wants to make sure the cryptocurrency he and his family own is accessible in the event any of them pass away.

And with good reason.Research estimates up to 3.8 million Bitcoin, worth up to $30bn (£22.8bn) today, has been lost, with much having gone to the grave with holders who failed to tell anyone how to retrieve it.While some experts argue cryptocurrency is a risky and volatile investment, it continues to grow in popularity.

One Cardiff firm believes it has an answer to safeguarding it beyond the grave.

'Indestructible'

Coin Cover has created what it describes as one of the world's first cryptocurrency wills, with CEO David Janczewski saying it is unsurprising some people have taken these assets to the grave up to now."Cryptocurrency is one of those odd things which is very private for a lot of people.

If you acquired yours early, you might actually have a substantial amount of money. You might be worried about your personal security," he said."And nobody thinks they are going to die.

Nobody plans for that eventuality. And therefore, when that happens, maybe you haven't told your family members exactly how they should recover it.

"The scheme sees people carrying an "indestructible" card which has information about their cryptocurrency, as well as others they give to their beneficiaries.

If the holder dies, their loved ones or an executor contacts the firm with a unique number on the card, along with a death certificate. Coin Cover then investigates and retrieves the funds.

What is cryptocurrency?

Image copyrightDALEBOR/GETTY IMAGES

Cryptocurrency is a type of money which is completely virtual, like an online version of cash which exists digitally.

While you can use some, such as Bitcoin, to buy products and services, not many shops accept it and some countries have banned it altogether.

Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are basically computer files which are stored in a digital wallet on a smartphone or computer.They can be sent between digital wallets, with every single transaction recorded on a list called the Blockchain.

Some people like the fact cryptocurrencies are generally not controlled by the government or banks. But is it secure?While every transaction is recorded, cryptocurrency can potentially be stolen if a thief were to get access to a wallet.

BBC journalist Monty Munford had £25,000 worth of Ethereum stolen after mistakenly storing his password in an email.It is possible to lose your Bitcoin wallet or delete your Bitcoins and lose them forever. There have also been thefts from websites that let you store your Bitcoins remotely.

Source: Newsround



David King, a wills, trusts and estates lawyer at Harrison Clark Rickerbys solicitors, said an increasing number of clients - currently about two in 10 - count cryptocurrency among their assets.His firm saw a case where the family of a client, after his death, believed he had owned Bitcoin but were forced to drop it because they did not have the information to access it.

"I think we, as private client lawyers, need to step into the 21st Century now and start recording that data when we are meeting with clients," he said."One of the things that clients don't like to do is to give away the access codes for this information.

"Whilst it's secure and we as a firm of solicitors have a duty to the client to keep that confidential, naturally there is hesitancy from the client to give us that information. [But] I think we need to be smarter.

"There have been high-profile examples of cryptocurrency fortunes having been lost when the holder died.




Image copyrightFACEBOOK/QUADRIGA Image caption

Gerald Cotten was the only person who had passwords to QuadrigaCX digital walletsIn December 2018, Gerald Cotten, CEO of QuadrigaCX, Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange, died unexpectedly.

Unfortunately for QuadrigaCX's customers, Mr Cotten was the only person who had passwords to customers' digital wallets. As a result, more than $135m in customer funds held in safe keeping was deemed inaccessible, locked on the blockchain forever more.

• Opinion divided over Bitcoin and digital money investment
• What is Bitcoin?
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A University of Cambridge study in 2017 estimated there were between 2.9 million and 5.8 million active unique users of cryptocurrencies, although many argue the number has grown since then.

Also, 9% of 18 to 24-year-olds owned cryptocurrency and 7% of over-55s knew somebody who had bought cryptocurrency, according to a YouGov poll of about 2,100 people in November 2018.




Image captionJack Davies is considering a will although he is still 23

Jack Davies, who works in the cryptocurrency industry, is one of the growing number of 18 to 24-year-olds who own some form of the digital currency used online.

He's now considering drawing up a will to ensure his digital assets are passed on to the right people, if he should die."If I had enough to warrant it, I definitely would set one up. I think this is a really good first step in making these normal functions of money apply," he said.

Cosmos (ATOM), a cryptocurrency used in an ecosystem of different blockchains, is slowly sneaking towards the top ten coins by market cap.

The price of cosmos gained 7% today to reach $3.92 while bitcoin and the vast majority of other cryptocurrencies see losses of between 1-3%.Overall, cosmos has been in an uptrend for the past three months—and is currently up more than 26% since September 12, 2019.

Meanwhile, bitcoin, ether (ETH) and XRP are down 31%, 20.5% and 13.7% respectively across the same time period.Its most recent rally is likely attributed to news that Binance users will be able to stake their ATOMs on the Binance staking platform, allowing them to earn a passive income in the form of regular staking rewards.

Staking is a hot topic at the moment and announcements of exchanges and wallets supporting staking of Tezos have caused its price to surge in recent months.

Binance✔@binance#Binance Will Support @cosmos $ATOM Stakinghttps://www.binance.com/en/support/articles/360037516831 …


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As a result, cosmos continues to make headway towards breaking into the top ten coins by market cap. Cosmos has climbed from rank 20 to its current position at rank 16 in the last three months.Part of the reason behind cosmos's meteoric growth throughout the latter half of 2019 could be the result of gradually improving trade volumes.

Since July, the average daily trade volume of ATOM has doubled and now regularly exceeds $200 million traded per day.

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Likewise, cosmos has also seen its adoption improve in recent months, after being listed on several major cryptocurrency trading platforms, including Kraken, Crypto.com, Poloniex, Huobi Global and most recently, Binance.US.

Bitcoin (BTC) aware Millennials are set to inherit almost $70 trillion of value from the Baby Boomer generation by 2045.

Data compiled and originally released in a November 2019 report by digital asset management firm Coinshares revealed those who grew up with Bitcoin will soon benefit from savings worth over three times the United States’ GDP.

“Boomers” to pass on $68.4 trillion

The findings continue to circulate on social media, where they have found traction with commentators who have become notoriously suspicious of so-called “Boomers.”

As Bitcoin has gained popularity, those with an affinity for traditional assets such as gold or stocks have earned the label for their alleged unwillingness to embrace cryptocurrency. 

On Twitter, the “#OKBoomer” hashtag has become synonymous with the rift between old and young. With their elders now set to retire en masse, those more sympathetic to Bitcoin will have more options than ever to invest in it.

In total, Coinshares suggests, $68.4 trillion will transfer Generation X, Millennials and Post-Millennials over the next 25 years. Existing data from monitoring resource Coin Dance suggests the 25-34 year old demographic makes up almost 50% of Bitcoin holders.As the Twitter account CryptoBalkans summarized, “a bit of #ThanksBoomer instead of #OKboomer” should be the line taken by BTC supporters.

Pushing back against a world of debt

The generational gap has already formed a topic of discussion in Bitcoin circles. In his popular book, “The Bitcoin Standard,” Saifedean Ammous explains that even the Baby Boomers were more likely to save for the future than the current generation.

Financial mismanagement by governments and central banks, encouraging citizens to spend and borrow instead of saving, means debt characterizers modern-day finances to a greater extent than sixty years ago. 

The situation is characterized as a shift from low time preference to high time preference — saving for the future, knowing wealth will buy more, versus spending money as fast as possible before it depreciates.

“Low time preference generations produce prosperity, which produces high time preference generations, who bring ruin, which produces low time preference generations,” Ammous himself summarized in 2018.

As a decentralized form of hard money, Bitcoin firmly rejects the trappings of fiat-based economics.

Second generation blockchains were presented as being faster, cheaper, and more scalable than Bitcoin. Third generation chains (basically anything that came after Ethereum) promised even greater optimizations.

In the event, these networks have run into the same difficulties as Bitcoin, with competition for scarce resources leading to mounting costs and congestion. To tackle these problems, an array of scaling solutions has been proffered – some of which could also benefit UTXO blockchains such as BCH and BTC.

Also read: 80% of Crypto Trade Volume Tracked by Blockchain Surveillance

The Great Scaling Debate

At the annual Ethereum developers’ conference in Osaka last week, most of the talks were about scaling. So was a good chunk of the informal talk between delegates, many of whom have grave concerns about Ethereum’s ability to meet growing network demand.

 Eth 2.0, the much-vaunted upgrade that will involve a transition from PoW to PoS, is still years away, with many Devcon attendees conceding that it may never happen.

This impasse has prompted rival smart contract chains such as Qtum to position themselves as more scalable alternatives.




This year’s Devcon was held in Osaka, Japan.Over on EOS, there are similar problems stacking up. Unlike Ethereum, EOS isn’t really gunning for the decentralized finance crown, but it does share one thing in common: growing demand for finite resources.

On Ethereum, those resources manifest as block space which pushes up gas prices. On EOS, it takes the form of computational resources: RAM (virtual storage) and CPU, which is the amount of time a block producer will allocate to transactions from a particular account.






Ethereum gas prices rose sharply last monthRising and erratic computational costs on EOS have forced developers to seek scaling solutions of their own.

The architecture of blockchains such as Bitcoin, EOS, and Ethereum differs substantially, but this much holds true: onchain resources are limited and there is an open market competing for space.

Just as your car moves more slowly and is less fuel efficient during rush hour, at peak times on crypto networks, your transaction is likely to be slower and more expensive. Fixing this problem calls for some out the blocks thinking.

Current EOS costs according to EOS Resource Planner

Virtual CPU and Offchain Transactions

For EOS, scaling salvation has come courtesy of Liquidapps, whose vRAM product has now been complemented by a vCPU counterpart. This approach involves taking these precious resources off-chain to a separate network of nodes that perform the computation at low cost, before broadcasting the verification to the EOS main chain.

Although currently being provisioned on EOS, the same technology can be applied to Ethereum, or even to Bitcoin Cash, for developers seeking to create decentralized applications that require access to cheap storage.

For Ethereum, the scaling solution presented as the likeliest to succeed is Plasma, which can handle hundreds of transactions per second, and now supports smart contracts.

As co-founder Jinglan Wang puts it, defi projects saying they don’t need Ethereum scaling solutions right now is like a New Yorker saying they don’t need a Metrocard in rush hour. Plasma is a layer two solution, whose BTC analogue is Lightning Network.

Dapp Developers Must Choose Wisely

Developers pondering the best network on which to launch decentralized applications have some tough choices.Ethereum has a large ecosystem of users, devs, and companies, but it’s running near capacity, and network fees have been rising for months. Scaling solutions such as Matic can help.

EOS provides free transactions at the point of access, making it more consumer-friendly, but popular dapps risk landing their developers with rising computational costs. Secondary solutions such as vRAM can mitigate this however.

Qtum has just undergone its first hard fork, adding a new EVM that’s enhanced its smart contract capabilities, while retaining the UTXO model first pioneered on Bitcoin. It’s basically Ethereum without the scaling problems, albeit with a smaller ecosystem at this point in time.

Horizontal vs Vertical Scaling

Taking transactions offchain, be it to a sidechain or layer two, is not without compromises. Generally speaking, there is a reduction in decentralization and in transaction finality.

The architects of these solutions stress that a micropayment doesn’t need the same level of security and trustlessness as a $1 billion BTC transaction.

Gaming and gambling dapps, for instance, are fine to use a product like Liquidapps’ vRAM for offchain storage, or Plasma for low-cost transactions.To return to the traffic analogy, side streets can be used to skirt the traffic snarling up the freeway, but they’re not designed to support 16-wheelers.

Blockchain scaling solutions can therefore be more accurately described as scaling options: choices that will be suitable for some projects, and unacceptable to others.




Vertical scaling is the process of increasing throughput by increasing block or node capacity. It’s the approach taken by Bitcoin Cash, for instance. The solution to Bitcoin blocks becoming full, its proponents argue, is simply to add a couple more lanes to the highway.

It’s a simple approach, but one that has proven very effective so far. Horizontal scaling entails taking as much of the load off the main chain as possible, pushing it out to third party solutions that add extensibility.

Despite the millions of dollars and tens of thousands of hours poured into blockchain scaling, the truth is, we still don’t know which solutions will prevail. Bigger blocks; more sidechains; building up the stack; developing horizontally.

Through trial and error, discourse and debate, a path will be found to make blockchains ready for the mass adoption that all crypto advocates see as inevitable.

In the here and now, though, the architects of so-called next-generation blockchains are learning a lesson that bitcoiners learned long ago: onchain, there’s no such thing as infinite scalability.

Which blockchain scaling solutions do you believe have the best chance of success? Let us know in the comments section below.Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

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