The Journey to Russia for the FIFA World Cup has begun at BitStarz...


PRESS RELEASE:
The Journey to Russia has begun at BitStarz...

Football fans get ready, as we’re bringing you a promotion that’s going to have you on the edge of your seat. FIFA World Cup tickets are like gold dust – especially if you want to be one of the 81,000 at the final – but fear not, as BitStarz Casino has you covered. Between May 7th and June 20th the Journey to Russia is on, as we’re putting two tickets for the final up for grabs, travel and accommodation included.

Considering how players loved our Dream Island Level-Up and Treasure Island Adventure promotions, we’re once again giving players 40,000 individual prize pools to play for. Putting
everyone on a level playing field, you’re going to find that the cash is there just waiting to be grabbed. Spread across 40 exciting levels, it’s not just real-money prizes that players will find themselves spinning the reels for – as we’re throwing plenty of other bonuses into play as well, just to spice things up.

In our previous promotions, beach breaks and top tech has been what’s on offer, but we’re things to a whole new level this time around. Football’s biggest superstars – including Messi, Ronaldo, and Kane – will be lighting up Russia this summer and you can be there to see it live. The top player in our Journey to Russia promotion will win two tickets to the final in Moscow. Sitting with 81,000 passionate football fans in Luzhniki Stadium, this is an experience that money simply can’t buy.

BitStarz is all about the cutting-edge, which why we’re not afraid ramp up the action to make sure that our promotions are anything but ordinary. If you’re a football fanatic, it’s time for you to curl it like Coutinho and smash it like Suarez, as by spinning the reels you could find yourself front and center at the World Cup final!

Boutique online casinos don’t come any bigger or better than BitStarz. Allowing players to use leading cryptocurrencies including BTC, LTC, ETH, and DOGE, along with standard currencies
– it’s clear that this casino goes the extra mile. That’s without mentioning the wall-to-wall action delivered through more than 1,300 leading games, including video slots, classic slots, progressive slots, instant play games, and countless table classics. Partner this with a license issued from Antillephone N.V. - based in Curacao, top-grade bonuses, and powerful promotions, it’s easy to see why BitStarz has 9.45/10 AskGamblers rating!

Since 2014, BitStarz has been taking the cryptocurrency casino concept to new heights, to discover more about what this powerful platform has to offer, please contact Srdjan Kapor:

Press contact:
Srdjan Kapor
Marketing Manager
srdjan.kapor@bitstarz.com
www.bitstarz.eu
------- 
Information provided via Press Release (Sponsored)

It's settled - $7000 established as Bitcoin's "bottom" - now, time prepare for the breakout?

Proven multiple times within the last few months - Bitcoin's key support level over and over seems to land around $7000.  Every time it's touched around that number - the bounce back begins. analysts are agreeing with this outlook at well. 

Speaking today on "Futures Now", Robert Sluymer, head of technical strategy at Fundstrat Global Advisors said:

"When we step back, we see the first phase starting to happen. We think Bitcoin is starting to bottom off some very key support around $7,000 and we think it's going to start a recovery process here" he continued "That's certainly the first step in a bottoming process, to see some sort of consolidation or a basing taking hold".

Finding the 'bottom' or 'floor' price of something is vital to know before investing more - especially large amounts. Investors will often even wait on the sidelines until they know this number, rather than risk investing to find the bottom even lower.

The market reaching general consensus on Bitcoin's bottom price being approximately $7000 means that making the case that Bitcoin is "over valued" becomes a lot harder to make - in fact, sitting at $7,524 (at time of publishing) means that Bitcoin is barely up - something that investors could see as a signal to buy.

Sluymer now see's $7800 as "the next hurdle for it to get through."

------- 
Author: Adam Lee
Asia News Desk


Who's using the 3000+ and growing Bitcoin ATM machines? (Clip from Vice News on HBO)...


When bitcoin's price skyrocketed last year, suddenly a bunch of people wanted to get in on the action but didn't know how. But the currency's shady origins and digital only echo-system isolated it from a whole swath of interested investors. Soon start-ups set about trying to bridge the gap between the digital and physical world, and a few stumbled on a common contraption: The ATM.

Today, Bitcoin's price is well below it's historic high, but interest in the currency remains strong, and companies are trying to bring it to more investors.

Brandon Mintz is the CEO of Bitcoin Depot, an Atlanta company that distributes Bitcoin ATMs across the country. Machines like his are the only places where you can use paper money to purchase digital currency.

Mintz’s Atlanta-based company operates Bitcoin ATMs across the country. The machines are the only places where you can use paper money to purchase digital currency. There’s no wait time like there is online, where an exchange can take weeks to verify your identity and banking information. All you have to do is enter your name, phone number, and scan a photo ID if your purchase is more than $2,000. 

There are now more than 3,000 according to Coin ATM Radar, a website that maps them. But in the U.S., there is almost no federal or state monitoring of Bitcoin ATM transactions — which makes it hard to get a clear picture of who is feeding cash into these machines and why. 


China's President publicly praises blockchain - is this yet another sign China may soon be returning to the crypto markets?

Chinese President Xi publicly praised blockchain technology today.  At a conference presented by the Chinese Academy Of Sciences, Xi said the technology currently making "breakthroughs" in his opinion were "Artificial Intelligence, IoT, and Blockchain" and categorized them as the driving forces behind what he says will be the a "new industrial revolution".

So - could this be yet another sign that China may soon re-open it's doors to the cryptocurrency markets?

Now you may be thinking "just because Xi sees the benefits of Blockchain technology, it doesn't necessarily mean anything favorable to cyptocurrency, Blockchain can be used for lots of things" - and I agree with that.

But - looking at this in conjunction with another story I covered on May 5th, where the Chinese Government researched and ranked cryptocurrencies (link). I think we're seeing some real signs of China warming up to the cryptocurrency world. 

I believe as China watches everyone from major Wall Street firms, to the global banking industry jump in to the cryptocurrency marketplace they need to decide soon if they're in or out - before so many other companies and nations get a head start.  I also believe China knows this too, and is examining their options now.  Be expecting to hear more on this front soon.

------- 
Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk


One to watch: PumaPay moves forward on their roadmap following their hugely successful ICO...

The year 2017 saw the biggest rush on internet money to date. ICOs become a standard for retail investors and much of the crypto conversation revolved around use cases, minimum viable products, and practical application. Today it seems like there’s a crypto-application for anything you can imagine, from distributed file storage to augmented reality.

But when it all boils down, most people want a payment solution. The 21st century is begging for a simple, easy-to-use, secure and reliable way to transact. The Bitcoin Cash “coffee on the blockchain” argument may seem like meme at this point, but microtransactions will very likely be the first step towards mainstream adoption. And with the development of such projects as Metalpay, Ethos, Litepay, and many more, it’s clear there is a high demand for these services.

PumaPay is one such app that is proving itself as potential front runner. It’s not just a microtransaction medium; their ERC20 token offers invoicing, recurring payments, and several other accounting services to rival that of VISA and Shift while remaining open-source and fully distributed.

The crowdsale ended on May 7th with a whopping success of over $117,000,000 raised and over 78 billion tokens distributed. They are well on their way to being a staple in most ERC20 compatible wallets. What’s more? Their dev team is far from slowing down. The core 20 member unit are bent on releasing feature after feature to make this little powerhouse stand out.

Following the token sale, PumaPay released the first generation of their mobile wallet. Shortly after, they made the PumaPay development kit available for participating merchants. Their first partnership in Q2 of 2018 is with online chat service IMlive, paving the way for a significant role in the adult entertainment industry. Q2 has more in store, including 2nd incarnations of their wallet, ERC20 storage compatibility, more SDK tools, as well as their premier service: PumaPay PullContracts.

PullContracts are unique in that they allow for much more flexibility when it comes to payments and invoicing. Much more, even, than traditional payment methods today. With most crypto payment solutions, the only way to conduct a transaction is for the payment to be sent. A user literally has to enter the amount, address or QR code, and send a payment to the recipient. This is far from practical, and rife with human error. Mainstream adoption simply isn’t ready for this kind of control. PumaPay offers a simple solution of allowing merchants or recipients to automatically request payments, so the customer only needs to approve the transaction to complete it.

Billing and invoicing is only one feature of PullContracts. The full service includes such conveniences as repeating payments and automatic debits, making the task of sending cryptocurrency even easier than Paypal or Venmo. Group payments are another way PumaPay appeals to the average user. It’s a simple process to share bills, rent, gifts, or even large business purchases shared among separate accounts while an automatic accounting app keeps track of all transactions. Need to limit spending? Restricted payments will allow a user to set pre-defined limits on transactions.

Perhaps what is most appealing isn’t the feature-rich and practical applications, but the vibrant and vivacious community supporting the PumaPay project. The company prides itself on its customer support as well as the user-provided FAQs and suggestions. Join the Telegram group and visit their blog to see for yourself.

Prospective investors will be interested in Puma’s media presence. The company was recently featured in The Huffington Post, Forbes, and Techbullion conducted an interview with CEO Yoav Dror. So the small startup has been getting a fair share of exposure. Keep an eye out for PumaPay as they make their way onto exchanges this summer, and don’t be surprised to see it pop up as a contender in the battle for crypto e-commerce very soon.

For more information, visit PumaPay.io

------- 
Author: Vincent Russo
Los Angeles News Desk


SEC case against Titanium intensifies - CEO Michael Stollaire accused of multiple instances of fraud...

Yesterday, we broke the news of an investigation by the SEC into Titanium, and today things look even worse than we initially thought.

A press release just put out buy the Securities and Exchange commission is accusing Titanium Blockchain (trading under TBIS) of multiple instances of fraud - and has now issued an "Emergency Order Halting Fraudulent Coin Offering Scheme".

The SEC outlines the violations as:

"Titanium President Michael Alan Stollery, a/k/a Michael Stollaire, a self-described “blockchain evangelist,” lied about business relationships with the Federal Reserve and dozens of well-known firms, including PayPal, Verizon, Boeing, and The Walt Disney Company.  The complaint alleges that Titanium’s website contained fabricated testimonials from corporate customers and that Stollaire publicly – and fraudulently –claimed to have relationships with numerous corporate clients.  The complaint alleges that Stollaire promoted the ICO through videos and social media and compared it to investing in Intel or Google."

“This ICO was based on a social media marketing blitz that allegedly deceived investors with purely fictional claims of business prospects,” said Robert A. Cohen, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit.

IDEX has de-listed the coin, and we expect other exchanges to do the same.

The full SEC press release can be viewed here. 

------- 
Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk


Inside The Blockchain Art Auction For Bitcoin Billionaires...


It’s a big week for auction houses in New York– at the Ethereal Summit in Queens, the world of digital art strives to find its financial footing with the aid of the burgeoning world of blockchain. VICE News' Jay Kang sees if he can outbid crypto investors on blockchain-themed art.


Titanium under investigation from the SEC - assets frozen as agents visit US office...

Titanium Blockchain, which trades under 'TBAR' has been visited by the SEC in their US offices - seizing computers, cell phones - and freezing all company assets, virtually placing the company under SEC control until the investigation is over.

GCP has obtained the SEC documents to review the case - which reads...

"by evidence establishing a prima facie case and reasonable likelihood that defendants Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services, Inc. (“TBIS”), EHI Internetwork and Systems Management, Inc. aka EHIINSM, Inc. (“EHI”), and Michael Stollery, aka Michael Stoller, aka Michael Stollaire (“Stollaire”) (collectively, “Defendants”) have engaged in, are engaging in, are about to engage in, and unless restrained and enjoined will continue to engage in transactions, acts, practices, and courses of business that constitute violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act, 15 U.S.C. § 77q(a), and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act, 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b), and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5"

We attempted to reach Titanium staff via their official Telegram channel, but was told "We cannot comment on that" by an admin.

It would appear this is part of 'Operation Crypto Sweep' - a joint investigation between US and Canadian officials that is underway now - looking in to hundreds of recent ICOs. Our sources say up to 70 may be served with similar restraining orders for further investigation.

*UPDATE* - There are new developments to this story here.

------- 
Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk


Almost 40% of Bitcoin transactions are now on SegWit...

2018 began with only about 10% of Bitcoin transactions occurring with SegWit, but with more and more exchanges and wallet services implementing SegWit transactions for Bitcoin on a weekly basis - the number of transactions are now nearing 40% - according to Transactionfee.info (link).

SegWit is viewed as the scaling solution Bitcoin needs - increasing the block size and thus the capacity of the network. Although many say this is a solution that does the trick for now - but long term if Bitcoin is to be used as a currency by millions, another solution will be needed - which is where Lightening Network could step in.

We could be soon hearing the news that the majority of Bitcoin transactions are on SegWit - as we should cross that 51%+ point within a few weeks.
-------
Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle News Desk


US Justice Department is investigating Bitcoin price manipulation...

According to Bloomberg:

"The Justice Department has opened a criminal probe into whether traders are manipulating the price of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, dramatically ratcheting up U.S. scrutiny of red-hot markets that critics say are rife with misconduct, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The investigation is focused on illegal practices that can influence prices -- such as spoofing, or flooding the market with fake orders to trick other traders into buying or selling, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the review is private. Federal prosecutors are working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a financial regulator that oversees derivatives tied to Bitcoin, the people said."

There is no additional information at this time beyond the article from Bloomberg - you can read that in full here.

------- 
Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk


FlipNpik ICO: Social Media for Business on Blockchain...

The world of cryptocurrency is expanding every second. What began as an ideology to rival modern banking systems quickly turned into a technology race. People are beginning to ask questions that could disrupt not just finance and wealth, but communication as we know it. Some call crypto the “new internet”, and it’s likely we will see old standards usurped and trusted protocols discarded.

One application for blockchain that has seen steady growth is social media. Steemit has certainly made an impact. According to Bloc’tivity, Steem has approximately 8 times the activity of Bitcoin. Other startup networks like Investfeed, Theta, Ong Social, and more are jockeying for position to be among the first movers in the social sphere.

FlipNpik is something relatively new. While Steemit attempts to take over all aspects of social media with D-Tube and D-Live, FlipNpik is specifically targeting the business use of social applications. Their goal is to create a collaborative and engaging net of businesses and individuals; an enterprise solution to help every industry enter the arena of blockchain.

FlipNpick was created by Euro-Canadian tech firm Fliptech SAS as they saw an opportunity to help floundering small businesses. With the rise of decentralization, many small, privately owned ventures are able to do business directly with their clientele and not have to rely on mediators, agents, and middlemen. FlipNpick is designed to give maximum visibility, so-called “digital identity”, to these businesses to help them stake a large position in the local social scene.

The application is like a combination of Yelp and Facebook. There are users and businesses. Users can find the goods and services they need and leave feedback or ratings for the future customers. Businesses have home pages and can attract users easily without the astronomical cost of advertising. It’s a peer-to-peer business-customer application on an immutable Stellar blockchain.

It is extremely collaborative. It requires users of the network to share as much information as possible, and thus incentivizes those who contribute. Businesses have free access to the network, but have the option of paying for additional services such as online shopping pages, more complex sales campaigns, interactive games, and eventually the incorporation of shopping in augmented reality.

The standard token that supports the FlipNpick community is “The FlipNpick Token” (or FNP) which is one the first tokens to operate on the Stellar Lumens platform. Users who stay active on the network are rewarded with FNP which they can then use to purchase from their favorite supported businesses. Businesses then use FNP for premium services or to increase visibility. The goal is to grow this model into a thriving ecosystem that benefits all involved.

In essence, FlipNpick has cornered a specific niche. The social media platform was launched in 2016 and is currently operational in parts of Europe, soon to be integrated throughout Asia. In
2018, they plan to introduce new games, user interaction and notifications (like messaging). By early 2019 they will propose new platron architecture to support augmented reality, which will be exciting to see, as retailers have yet to adopt and capitalize on this new technology.

The team is studded with high profile diplomas from international universities. Merits range from business to computer science and mathematics. FlipNpik appears to work closely with their American counterpart, FlipNpik USA, which has a much larger team. Among their advisors are some notable blockchain and bitcoin personalities such as Simon Cocking of CryptoCoinNews who was ranked #1 of 23,000 “People of Blockchain” according to icobench.com.

While FlipNpik aims to bring more attention to local commerce, it will be fascinating to see how blockchain developments improve the relationship between businesses and clients, a relationship that has struggled to develop with the rise of corporate globalism. Blockchain may be a grand concept, but its implications might be most effective on a local level, improving the lives of those who engage and participate.

Token pre-ICO sale begins July 1st, 2018, and the rest of the tokens are available after September 1, 2018. 75% of the sales will be locked up in marketing and development. 1 billion tokens will be created and distributed over the next 4 years. The ICO had hard cap of 100,000 ETH, but the iCO accepts a variety of payment options.

For more info, visit https://flipnpik.io
------- 
Author: Vincent Russo
Los Angeles News Desk


It's another crypto crash - why this one could actually be a good thing...

Here we go again. A big dip is occurring in both Bitcoin and altcoin markets - but how worried should we be?

Well, not much in my opinion.

What's going on now is a cleanup - Canadian and US Regulators are targeting a number of scam ICO's in what's called "Operation Cryptosweep" - it's caused for some negative headlines about crypto over the last week - but it's important to note that the ICO's being labeled a scam by these regulators, have already been labeled a scam by the cryptocurrency world.

That's why it doesn't worry me - they're cleaning up our trash, not going after any respectable altcoins.  Headlines shouting "crackdown on cryptocurrency" seems to have caused unnecessary worry, and an unnecessary reaction. The legitimate coins, which make up the vast bulk of the market are totally safe.

When it's done - we're going to see two things.  No established and respected companies effected, and a cleaned up market with some of the scams removed - and hopefully scammers scared to do new ones.

This is the cleanup the market needed before the next big step: Institutional investors.

They're coming - and I wouldn't be surprised if they applied pressure on regulators to take action before they dive in.

NASDAQ, the second largest stock exchange is working with Gemini, and it's CEO has expressed they are open to starting an exchange of their own.

JPMorgan, which spent much of 2017 bashing cryptocurrency even had to give in - after their own researchers came to the conclusion "cryptocurrency is here to stay".  Their co-president even recently stated "We are looking into that space".

Goldman Sachs, though Circle has even just announced their own cryptocurrency - USDC "USD Circle Coin" as a way to transfer funds faster via blockchain - they're then targeting major banks to use it.

That's just the beginning - the next step is to offer cryptocurrency investments to their massive client list, according to NYTimes:

"In a step that is likely to lend legitimacy to virtual currencies — and create new concerns for Goldman — the bank is about to begin using its own money to trade with clients in a variety of contracts linked to the price of Bitcoin."

Not to mention, countless hedge funds exploring the idea of offering cryptocurrency assets to their investors.

These are just a few examples of what's to come. When the cryptocurrency world exploded last year we gained everything from excited new investors, to attention from the corporate world - and unfortunately, scammers out to exploit the excitement.

When this clean-up phase is done - we'll have a limitless, healthy thriving market full of innovation - a market big investors are comfortable to dive in to.  The best is yet to come!

------- 
Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk


Verge tries to downplay second hack in 2 months...

It happened again - and this time, even worse than the last.

This time the hackers managed to funnel 35 million XVG to themselves (worth $1.7 million) - last time was only 250,000 XVG.

The hack was pointed out by the same Bitcointalk user ''ocminer'' who pointed out the first one - he says the hackers are using a slightly updated version of the same old exploit, which was never fully fixed...

"Since nothing really was done about the previous attacks (only a band-aid), the attackers now simply use two algos to fork the chain for their own use and are gaining millions:

Both algos, scrypt and lyra2re can be rented easily for a few bucks at nicehash, they simply send one block scrypt, after that a block lyra2re and so on and all with manipulated timestamps thus lowering diff to lowest possible mining several blocks per minute like this".

The most disturbing part in my opinion - Verge isn't even acknowledging what happened - they're lying to their followers by labeling this a "DDOS" attack (which is a simple way to bring down servers by overloading them with requests). Nothing about this even resembles a DDOS attack.  Yet Verge still tweeted the following:

"it appears some mining pools are under ddos attack, and we are experiencing a delay in our blocks, we are working to resolve this."

No further update from Verge has been provided since this tweet 24hrs ago. 

A tip for the folks at Verge - handle a hack with honesty.  The only thing that can make it worse, is lying about what happened.  People would much rather know you found the problem, understand it, and are fixing it.

------- 
Author: Adam Lee
Asia News Desk


What happened to the big Bitcoin rally that was supposed to happen last week? Tom Lee says "we were too optimistic"...


A strong rally during and following the Consensus 2018 conference was expected, but didn't happen - why? With Fundstrat's Tom Lee, CNBC's Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders, Steve Grasso, Brian Kelly, David Seaburg and Guy Adami.

Thomas Lee is a Managing Partner and the Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors. He is an accomplished Wall Street strategist with over 25 years of experience in equity research, and has been top ranked by Institutional Investor every year since 1998. Prior to co-founding Fundstrat, he served most recently as J.P. Morgan’s Chief Equity Strategist from 2007 to 2014, and previously as Managing Director at Salomon Smith Barney. His areas of expertise include Market Strategy, Small/Mid-Cap Strategy and Telecom Services.

-------


Walmart is full speed ahead with implementing blockchain tech...

Last year Walmart began experimenting with blockchain and looking in to how it could improve the retail giant's efficiency.  Teaming up with IBM, Walmart’s first test runs were using blockchain to track pork coming from China, and mangos coming from Mexico.

Today they took another big leap towards becoming a blockchain powered business - this time filing a patent of their own.

The abstract overview of the patent reads:

"A registration-based user-interface architecture includes a retail shopping facility operated on behalf of an enterprise having a plurality of physically-discrete items disposed therein that are offered for retail sale. A control circuit maintains a record (for example, in a blockchain ledger) of a particular customer's purchase of a particular one of these items and also provides an opportunity to that particular customer to resell that particular item via a sales platform operated on behalf of the enterprise. By one approach the control circuit is further configured to interface with the particular customer to register that customer's purchase of this particular item. That interface may be conducted, for example, via a point-of-sale interface, a browser-based interface, a mobile device app-based interface, and so forth. By one approach this registration must necessarily occur within a predetermined amount of time from when the customer purchases the item."

Basically, using blockchain when a package is delivered the actual delivery person would use a private key to release the funds for the item right there on the spot. Keep in mind this would be done through software and likely be as simple for the delivery person as pressing a button - the private key exchange would then be done with software behind the scenes.

Walmart is testing a new delivery service called "Deliv" that involves the delivery person being able to unlock your door, and actually come in and put away your groceries, they described what they're testing on their blog:

"I place an order on Walmart.com for several items, even groceries. When my order is ready, a Deliv driver will retrieve my items and bring them to my home. If no one answers the doorbell, he or she will have a one-time passcode that I’ve pre-authorized which will open my home’s smart lock. As the homeowner, I’m in control of the experience the entire time – the moment the Deliv driver rings my doorbell, I receive a smartphone notification that the delivery is occurring and, if I choose, I can watch the delivery take place in real-time. The Deliv associate will drop off my packages in my foyer and then carry my groceries to the kitchen, unload them in my fridge and leave. I’m watching the entire process from start to finish from my home security cameras through the August app. As I watch the Deliv associate exit my front door, I even receive confirmation that my door has automatically been locked."

This new patent is likely how the billing would be facilitated for this delivery service.
-------
Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle News Desk


An Ecosystem of Employment: The SpringRole ICO...

Imagine getting paid to write your LinkedIn profile. Why not? After all, you are providing the content. Without user contribution, a social network like LinkedIn wouldn’t be a network at all. As it is right now, career building platforms offer to connect users and employers for free because they get their revenue from advertisements or monetized data. Still, they rely on user content they don’t pay for. They subsist on the demand for employment and career development. In other words, they are middlemen, selling your data and giving you perceived access in exchange.

The Spring Foundation proposes a new social networking ecosystem that rewards users for submitting information, incentivizes those who validate and endorse the info, and streamlines the system of recruiting for prospective employers. They call it SpringRole, and the goal is to make the process of applying for a job more efficient and more focused on the user than ever before.

Why blockchain? Simply put, for truth and transparency. SpringRole estimates approximately 53% of all resumes contain inaccurate facts, some of which are very difficult to cross reference. Rather than having to take the word of an applicant or contact previous jobs and schools, all the information would be readily available and not under scrutiny. Because blockchain is immutable, there would be less repetition in finding work. Once you add a skill to your resume, it’s there for good. This makes it easy for recruiters to easily search for qualified personnel.

SpringRole breaks down the system into types of attestation, or validation. Skill endorsement, educational qualification, and work experience are all attestations that need to be validated and verified by other users, institutions, or employers. Someone who attests to a skill or merit might be a co-worker, a college advisor, or a previous employer. The entire ecosystem depends on this kind of feedback.

Of course, being a smart contract-based solution on Ethereum’s network means that the system will be tokenized. In this case, the ERC20 “SPRING” token will be used to incentivize the feedback system mentioned above. There are several ways to receive SPRING tokens: submitting resumes, referring other users, companies, or by being validators. Those who endorse or attest to skills and merits will, in exchange, receive SPRING. Employers can purchase the tokens to obtain access to valid resumes.

Here’s how it would work: SpringRole offers tokens to users who submit resumes. The resumes are validated by other users, universities, and companies who are also given token for these endorsements. A company looking for a new employee goes SpringRole, where all this information is being shared as a social network with an easy- to-use interface not unlike LinkedIn or Upwork. The company pays for the service in fiat.

Once a user is found to fill the position, that user is again awarded with Spring tokens. The new employee gets instant verification and the job listing is filled.

Essentially, it’s a checks-and-balances system that favors the user. That’s a refreshing change from the cut-throat process of trying to find employment in today’s economy. No more writing and rewriting your resume and mission statement, no need to ask for letters of recommendation over and over. Just plug into the system and you’re ready to work. The job opportunities come to you.

SrpingRole was founded by Carnegie-Mellon grad Kartik Mandaville in 2014. His vision was to disrupt the recruiting industry using new AI technology. Frustrated with the money-hungry recruiting agencies, he created a solution that takes the pressure off the recruit while maintaining a more veritable source of information for the employer. SpringRole plans to work in alongside identity verification company Civic, also a tokenized service on Ethereum’s blockchain. Since SprinRole’s service depends so much on identity protection and verification, they are somewhat bound to the rollout of Civic’s platform. Still, it’s great to see these blockchain enterprises working in concert. IPFS (Interplanetary File System) will also be used for file storage and transmission.

Regarding the token distribution, SpringRoll is straightforward. 25% will be sold as tokens during the ICO. The rest will be for market development, the team, founders, and advisors. Team, founder, and advisor tokens will be locked for at least four years. The token sale begins in Q2 of 2018, and the distribution will follow shortly after. According to their roadmap, the freelancer system and API will be ready sometime in Q4 of 2018, at which point they will also have further development and announcements.

For more info, visit the SpringRole website at https://springrole.com
------- 
Author: Vincent Russo
Los Angeles News Desk


This cryptocurrency investment scam showed Prince Charles as a happy customer!

What better day to share this story than today, as the UK and it's royal family make headlines around the world for the royal wedding?

A company offering insane returns for those willing to invest Bitcoin or Ethereum called "Wind World Coin" seems to have simply scanned the web for random photos for their testimonial section - and ended up publishing this photo of Prince Charles...


Beyond ridiculous photos - the 'testimonials' themselves were also screaming "scam!" with quotes like:

"I invested 4 BTC at Thursday and I received 8 BTC at Friday."

In a twist of irony, in their own sites FAQ section the response to the question "Can you trust us?" they answer:

"We believe frauds and scam harms bitcoin as a whole and we are firm believers it will be a success in the long run. We have strong moral values and would never steal or cheat anyone."

While we can enjoy a good laugh at a scam executed so poorly, those responsible aren't laughing - the Texas SEC has ordered the operation shut down, calling it fraud. They are now under investigation, and charges against it's creators could follow.

The site is now down for 'maintenance'. But we suspect it isn't coming back.
------- 
Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk


Earn interest on the cryptocurrency your HODLing? Coinbase's newest investment is out to make it happen...

Coinbase's new venture capital fund has found it's first start-up to invest in - the company is called "Compound" and their goal is to create cryptocurrency liquidity.

That is - the ability to borrow cryptocurrency, or earn interest for making your cryptocurrency available to loan out.

Coinbase isn't the only one who jumped in with Compound on this $8.2 million seed round of investments - venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz, along with Polychain Capital and Bain Capital Ventures are in as well.

With FIAT cash in the USA, interest rates are determined by the Federal Reserve - in this case the rates will be set by Compound, and constantly change based on supply and demand and market conditions.

It's an idea that has some real potential, if someone who's simply holding on (HODLing) to their cryptocurrency assets is given the option to earn interest, there's no reason not to.  What i'm personally wondering is if there will be a large enough demand for people on the recieving end of these loans.

You can check them out at https://compound.finance
-------
Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle News Desk


Political campaigns may soon officially be accepting cryptocurrency donations...

Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams has released a proposal to officially allow, and provide guidelines for candidates to receive political donations in cryptocurrencies - something that has fallen under a 'grey area' until now.

As stated in the draft proposal:

"A COMMITTEE MAY ACCEPT CONTRIBUTIONS IN CRYPTOCURRENCY, UP TO THE ACCEPTABLE LIMIT FOR A CASH OR COIN CONTRIBUTION. THE AMOUNT OF THE CONTRIBUTION IS THE VALUE OF THE CRYPTOCURRENCY AT THE TIME OF THE CONTRIBUTION. THE COMMITTEE MUST REPORT ANY GAIN OR LOSS AFTER THE CONTRIBUTION AS OTHER INCOME OR RECEIPTS."

Also worth noting - cryptocurrency isn't new to Colorado politicians. Jared Polis claims to have been the first politician to receive a cryptocurrency donation, when he received $2,000 in Bitcoin for his 2014 congressional election, he's currently running for Governor of the state.

If this turns out to be a successful method to raise funds - trust me, politicians everywhere will be jumping on board.

The full draft proposal can be viewed here.

------- 
Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk


Chinese government study of cryptocurrencies ranks Ethereum #1 of the 28 investigated...

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has released the results of a study involving 28 cryptocurrencies.

The methodoligy was explained like this (translated):

"The evaluation of the global public-private chain technology mainly focuses on the basic technical level, application level and innovation ability of the public chain. In terms of sub-indexes, the Styme chain that utilizes the blockchain graphene architecture has the highest score in the basic technical indicators. The NEO whose goal is to use smart contracts to automate the management of digital assets is ranked first in application assessment. The first place in the innovation power index is Bitcoin, which pioneered the application of blockchain technology."

Now people are wondering - why is the Chinese government even conducting studies like this? Could this be a sign that regulations on cryptocurrencies could soon be loosened? Which would be a huge boost to global cryptocurrency markets.

Below is their scoring card - while we haven't been told what specific tests are included in each category, you can see they are scored on 3 features: Technology, Application, Innovation.

My opinion - some results on this list I can understand, but there’s a few surprises that have me questioning the specific underlying factors they analyzed. Regardless, it’s nice seeing China talk about cryptocurrencies besides just saying they’re ‘too risky’ - this is a step in the right direction.


Not listed: the 16th to 28th places - which are Ether Classic, Reverb Chain, Dash, Cloud Storage Chain, Litecoin, Ark, Big Zero Coin, Nano, Bit Cash, Decred, Super cash and new chain.

The Chinese full report can be found here.

------- 
Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk


Revolutionizing Scientific Literature and it's distribution model - a look at the Orvium ICO...

For over two decades, advancements in communication tech have constantly challenged the legacy institutions of old. We live in the millenium of internet dominance, where new disruptive ideas devour entire industries. AirBnb takes on hotels, services like Lyft displace taxis, and Bitcoin challenges the banking system we’ve known for generations. In 2018, these challenges are amplified by the prevalence of blockchain and all the solutions peer-to- peer protocols have to offer.

There are several cryptocurrencies that take on the system of publication and intellectual property, notably Publica and Po.et, but the scientific research model remains needlessly complicated, according to a new ICO called Orvium.

As noted by Orvium, the top five scientific publishers make up 50% to 70% of all publications in the world. The global market can produce up to $25 billion in science manuscripts in a year, and yet the economic model has been convoluted, even downright awkward for decades. The system of funding, reviewing, and publishing is primarily done with government oversight, since governments spend the most on research. So the science community has been weighed down by bureaucracy for over a century, and Orvium wants to step in. Should we continue to trust this arcane system with the most influential information in the world?

In a nutshell, Orvium is an open-source smart-contract system that aims to make the research, funding, validation, and publication process efficient and put the control back into the hands of the authors and general public. The Orvium business model would increase revenue while lending support to the research community. Almost every aspect of publication, including but not limited to peer-review, copyright licenses, and even subscription services would be open and available on the Ethereum blockchain. The Orvium token, ORV, will be the unit of exchange for the system, and it can be used to transact every detail of the process.

The Orvium whitepaper is comprehensive. The new protocol will combine four general technologies: blockchain and smart contracts, decentralized storage, cloud computing, data analytics and machine learning. Orvium has a huge list of goals, but the primary aim is to make science transparent and open-access. They want to make sure the authors get the recognition they deserve and to make scientific collaboration and validation more streamlined. Following the more common concept of Distributed Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), Orvium uses what they call Decentralized Autonomous Journals or DAJs. These allow the users to set up their own rules of governance and contribution. According to Orvium, DAJs will reduce costs, improve organization and distribution, bolster democratization, and allow for “an everlasting and unbiased platform of science”.

The ORV token can be used in numerous ways. One example is to incentivize peer review. Authors, when submitting manuscripts for review, can stake tokens to be redeemed by reviewers. The reviews are then submitted and the manuscript is published immediately. Another example is in copyright and licensing, where authors are paid ORV tokens in exchange for the use of their material. There are 14 other specific uses outlined in their whitepaper. To see them all, check it out here: https://orvium.docsend.com/view/nvr6ywj

In addition to all these, Orvium will seamlessly integrate UX design in their user platform. This includes an open-source and public API. The API will allow free access to all information and smart-contracts on the blockchain, and will be easy to use. Imagine a user-friendly library of research you can access from any online device.

The Orvium roadmap is extremely thorough. It begins with the initial concept discovery in 2017, and continues all the way through to Q1 of 2020, when the full platform will launch. Needless to say, this is an ambitious project. The team is studded with success and accomplishment. Founders Manuel Martin and Antonio Romero are known for their work on the CERN project (aka The European Organization for Nuclear Research) as well as collaborations with NASA. They have a panel of academic and scientific advisors from NASA and notable universities. Bernd Lapp, their blockchain advisor, is a former advisor at the Ethereum Foundation. Almost the entire staff of engineers is from the CERN project. The team is extremely familiar with the terrain and has invaluable experience with with research community. These are the people we would want in charge of changing the system.

Orvium has a powerful vision and a complex but well thought-out proposal. If they succeed, we could see a dramatic improvement in the quality of research, which in turn will deliver more benefits of science to society. Token sale is set to begin in Q2 of this year. Visit https://orvium.io/ for more info or to register for
the pre-sale.
------- 
Author: Vincent Russo
Los Angeles News Desk


HTC's new phone will be "powered by blockchain"...

HTC announced their upcoming phone titled 'Exodus' is being built by and for users of cryptocurrency and blockchain tech.   But what does that mean?

Well, the phone's hardware is optimized to support decentralized apps (dApps), and there's a built in 'universal wallet' to support storing your cryptocurrencies. Head of the project at HTC Phil Chen tells TheNextWeb;

“Through Exodus, we are excited to be supporting underlying protocols such as Bitcoin, Lightning Networks, Ethereum, Dfinity, and more. We would like to support the entire blockchain ecosystem, and in the next few months we’ll be announcing many more exciting partnerships together.”

Previously, Chen was heading up HTC's Virtual Reality headset project.

Here's where things get a bit murky in my opinion - many are saying these phones could come to rival Ledger and Trezor for hardware based 'cold storage'.   But it's important to remember - a phone connected to the internet, running Android OS, should not be considered an alternative or an equally secure storage method to an offline device. In fact, i'll bet that these phones which double as a cryptocurrency wallet will become a prime target for attacks, and hope HTC is aware of this when developing it.

Until I can hold one in my hand and see if this 'optimized' blockchain phone's performance can really do anything other phones can't do with the right software, i'm undecided on if this is worth being excited for or not.  But i'm definitely curious to find out.

------- 
Author: Adam Lee
Asia News Desk


Gemini exchange adds ZCash trading - with blessings from the US Government...

Gemini has added the first new coin in quite some time to their exchange - ZCash. 

What makes this unique is the 'official approval process' they largely created themselves - by approaching NY's financial services department seeking approval to execute trades of and storage the cryptocurrency - which was successful.

Gemini has really lead the way in conducting business in the unregulated cryptocurrency market in a way in which they imagine the regulations that may be coming - and securing their business by staying complaint to these possible future regulations.  Think of it as a 'better safe than sorry' way to operate.

Eric Winer, VP of Engineering at Gemini posted to their official blog:

"When we began building Gemini over four years ago, we envisioned a platform that would allow customers to trade many virtual commodities. Zcash is a friendly fork of the Bitcoin source code, making it a member of the “Nakamoto Family Tree” of virtual commodities. The Zcash protocol’s cutting edge use of zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge (“zk-SNARKS” or “zero-knowledge proofs”) makes it a truly innovative privacy coin that offers confidentiality for peer-to-peer transactions similar to those afforded to fiat currency transfers (e.g., ACH, FedWire, SWIFT, etc.).

We have been working closely with the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) to obtain approval to offer Zcash trading and custody services to our customers as a New York trust company."

ZCash is up nearly 20% today following the news.

Gemini exchange is owned the Winklevoss twins - who once sued Mark Zuckerberg claiming they were the actual creators of Facebook, as seen in the movie "The Social Network".

------- 
Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk


Rumor patrol: Is Facebook really launching their own cryptocurrency?

Having seen the buzz around this pop up in several cryptocurrency groups/channels i'm part of this week, I decided to dig in and see what is just hype and speculation, and what's actually true.

This story really started at the beginning of this year - with Mark Zuckerberg simply stating in Janurary that he wanted to 'study decentralizing technologies like encryption and cryptocurrency'.

Until this week that was all we knew - then on Tuesday Facebook officially announced their plans to create a team dedicated to Blockchain technology.  The team is headed by none other than David Marcus, who is not only director of Facebook Messenger, but sits on the board of Coinbase.

So we know this for sure: a blockchain team has been created at Facebook - but we do not know it's purpose, yet.

It's important to remember - blockchain technology can be used to keep records of any kind of transaction or data - those of us in the cryptocurrency world just happen to use that tech to facilitate and store records of the transfer of virtual currencies.

Bridget van Kralingen, IBM’s senior vice president of global Industries, platforms and blockchain spoke to Fortune Magazine this week with a theory that Facebook could use blockchain tech to combat criticism of how they handle user data, saying:

"What they are grappling with is securing data, and making sure that if people want privacy or trackability of their data they can actually secure that—whether it’s on the ad side or the personal side. So I think it’s a technology that fits very well with some of the business model challenges that they’re actually facing, and I think they’re very right to take this very seriously.”

While it's just a theory, i'm leaning in this direction as well.

So why are people saying "Wow I heard Facebook is coming out with Facebook Coin!"? 

It started with this article on Cheddar.com which claims they have anonymous sources within Facebook telling them “They are very serious" about starting a cryptocurrency.  Then, other sites felt this was enough to go off, and wrote their own articles speculating on an official Facebook coin.

Sure, maybe their secret insider actually exists - but as a resident of Silicon Valley myself, I have more friends working at Facebook than I can count (largely because it's quite a revolving door over there) - so, from my sources - one of them absolutely in a position to know - they have heard nothing about a Facebook coin coming.

Either way - I applaud Facebook for at least taking these first few steps to see how Blockchain could improve the service for everyone. It's exciting - but let's separate the facts from the speculation - whatever they're up to is still in it's very early phase.

There's a real a chance Facebook doesn't even know how Facebook is going to use Blockchain yet.

------- 
Author: Ross Davis
E-Mail: Ross@GlobalCryptoPress.com Twitter:@RossFM
San Francisco News Desk


Tim Draper: Bitcoin Is The MOST Secure Place To Put Your Money!


Venture capitalist Tim Draper discusses government scrutiny of Facebook and concerns over user privacy, as well as his regulatory issues faced by companies thinking about going public. He also says Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos founder, was bullied into submission.
Draper was an early investor in major tech companies including Tesla, Hotmail, and Skype.
------- 


Cryptocarz - a high-performance ERC721 game for car enthusiasts and collectors...

Thus far in crypto, there have been few concepts that stretch the use of blockchain more than digital assets. Some of these projects might seem like a joke or even a problem, like Cryptokitties, the infamous trading game that bottlenecked the Ethereum network last year. However trivial the game may seem, it did address distributed intellectual property in a novel way. More importantly, it showed there was a strong demand for these new and abstract use-cases. Ethereum development teams have recently created the ERC721 token specifically for this type of media, what is now called a non-fungible token (NFT). This token is a new standard in distributed property and sure to be a hit in the gaming, VR, and trading communities.

These elements and more come together in a new ICO brought to you by Blockchain Studios. Cryptocarz is a multiplayer, virtual reality-enabled experience created using the Ethereum blockchain and ERC721 standard token. A project for collectors, car enthusiasts, and gamers ready for a truly 21st century experience.

To play Cryptocarz, all you do is load a specific set car assets into the game from a wallet like Metamask, which stores the NFTs. Keep, control, and modify your own cars, just like you would in the physical world. Race against other users in a fast-paced, VR- enabled, multiplayer game. The initial cars available will represent the top 20 cryptos on the market. Each model will be unique in assets, hard coded into the specific ERC721 contract.

In the case of this particular ICO, the tokens are distributed on the Ethereum blockchain, but the game itself is controlled by the developers. This gives a modest amount of control to the users to trade, buy, and sell as they please, but gives Cryptocarz ease of updates and changes. So the game should be ready to play quickly and without the bugs that often slow the development of dapp tokens. This isn’t your ordinary racing game. There are several layers of gameplay and they all sound well thought-out. According to Blockchain Studios:

“The core game asset build phase is where we create the various models, effects and interface design that will be put into the gameplay environment. There are four key components to this phase: modelling, animation effects, components and marketplace.”

And that’s just the design portion, so expect the actual racing game to have all the detail you’d expect, with intense animation and the ability to play in VR mode.

The road map looks thorough and ambitious as usual. The goal is to have a partially functional gameplay and marketplace within 3 months of launch. Online multi-player worldwide competitions within 8 months. It may be a longshot, but they also plan to port the game to various consoles, including Steam and Playstation. Initially they will store non smart-contract data (like car graphics) on a central server, but eventually move to a distributed network like IPFS (Interplanetary File System).

The team is unique in that it is a joint venture between established partners in their respective fields: Active Genes, Diginex and Shadow Factory. Each partner brings something unique to the table from their previous experience. It’s refreshing to see this kind of detail put into practice.

ICO token details are forthcoming. To get a sneak-peak at some of the visuals, check them out at https://cryptocarz.io and see their “Drive Paper” for more details.

------- 
Author: Vincent Russo
Los Angeles News Desk


"I Am A Buffett Disciple, But He's Wrong About Bitcoin" - former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya responds to Warren Buffett...


Chamath Palihapitiya, Social Capital founder and CEO, discusses his outlook on bitcoin and recent critical comments on the digital currency from Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.


Palihapitiya was born in Sri Lanka, raised in Canada, and has worked for much of his life in Silicon Valley. Palihapitiya is an owner and board member of the Golden State Warriors basketball team. He has also previously held executive positions at both AOL and Facebook. 
------- 


The NY Attorney General investigating cryptocurrency exchanges resigns following abuse claims from multiple women...

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who I covered in a report last month following him launching an official inquiry into cryptocurrency exchanges (link) has been hit today with a scandal involving 4 women - causing him to resign his post.

In a statement just released, Schneiderman announced:

"It's been my great honor and privilege to serve as Attorney General for the people of the State of New York. In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me. While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office's work at this critical time. I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018."

The women spoke with The New Yorker and went on the record giving interviews stating Schneiderman had "repeatedly hit them during the course of their relationships with him in recent years" and even threatened to kill the women if they left him.

Schneiderman was investigating all the top exchanges and how they operate, including Coinbase, Gemini, bitFlyer, Bitfinex, Bitstamp, Kraken, Bittrex, Poloniex, Binance, Tidex, Gate.io, itBit, and Huobi - requesting information on "Their Operations, Use of Bots, Conflicts of Interest, Outages, and Other Key Issues".

The resignation came following pressure from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who stated publicly "for the good of the office, he should resign".

His replacement has not yet been named.

------- 
Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk


Video: Warren Buffett - clueless on crypto...


Editors note: We do think some perspective is needed when someone like him speaks on the topic of cryptocurrencies, or tech in general. Buffett made his billions in old traditional industries and traditional finance - coal, tobacco, Coca Cola, Heinz, Bank Of America - you get the idea.

On technology he's the first to admit - it's not his area of expertise.

When asked why he missed out on Amazon, his response was "I was too dumb". 

When asked why he hadn't invested in Google - "I blew it" said Buffett.

Buffett is indeed a genius - in his fields. Technology isn't one of them. In fact history tells us if it's tech and Buffett doesn't believe in it - a bright future is ahead.

------- 
Author: Ross Davis
San Francisco News Desk