Bill Gates has angered the cryptocurrency world, and to be fair - he deserves to be scolded a bit for making such an ignorant statement.

In his Reddit AMA (a session where people 'Ask me anything') when asked about cryptocurrencies he said:

"The main feature of cryptocurrencies is their anonymity. I don't think this is a good thing. The Governments ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing. Right now cryptocurrencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way."

It's that last sentence that really has people angry, and it seems to be a recurring theme among the older generation - blame cryptocurrencies for things that have been happening long before the existence of cryptocurrencies.

One twitter user '3ideRaven' had my favorite response...

"Dear @BillGates,

If you can blame cryptocurrency on deaths resulting from the purchase of Fentanyl on the dark web, can we blame your Windows computer for facilitating the transaction?

Signed,
People who aren’t idiots"

Oddly enough, until now Bill Gates seemed pretty positive about cryptocurrencies. In 2014 he made headlines when he told Bloomberg:

"Bitcoin is better than currency in that you don't have to be physically in the same place and, of course, for large transactions, currency can get pretty inconvenient."

It's disappointing to see someone who once seemed to get it, make a complete 180.

GDAX has corrected an error that was causing fee overcharging, at the rate of a fraction of a percent, An e-mail was just received stating:

"Dear GDAX Customer,

Last week we identified an inconsistency between the GDAX published fee schedule and the fees we were charging customers in some order books. We have identified your account as having traded on the BCH-USD, BCH-EUR, or BCH-BTC books between 12/20/2017 and 2/23/2018.  Orders on these books were incorrectly charged 0.30% instead of 0.25%  

Your account has now been refunded the 0.05% difference.  You may log into your GDAX account and select “Accounts” to view your refund.  You may need to refresh to see your balances properly reflect the changes.

To prevent this issue going forward, the fees for all books have been updated to reflect our published fee schedule. If you have additional questions please contact our Support team.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,

The GDAX Team"

Unless you were doing extremely large transactions, you likely didn't notice the 0.05% difference. But nonetheless, you've been refunded.

How can you increase your profits hundreds of times over without going bankrupt in the process? We discuss this and other secrets of cryptocurrency trading in our conversation with NordFX analyst John Gordon.

Discussions about whether extended leverage is good or bad have gone on for a long time. Let us nevertheless explain what this term means for the uninitiated.

Leverage is the maximum amount of borrowed funds that a broker, in this case NordFX, is ready to provide a trader with for trading. A 1:1000 leverage ratio means that borrowed funds an exceed your own invested capital 1000 times. Such a loan is provided instantly, automatically and without any collateral requirements.

Strategy 1.

Suppose that your own funds make up $100 in your account. If one bitcoin costs $10,000, combining this starting capital with a leverage level of 1: 1000 will enable you to buy as many as 10 bitcoins coins costing $100,000 in total (with a small downwards adjustment to account for the broker commission).

Statistics show that the average hourly rise in the price of Bitcoin is $300. Thus, in this case, you will earn $3,000 dollars on top of your original 100. That is, in just 60 minutes, you will multiply your capital by 30 times. This is a pretty impressive result.

"So, what is the problem?” you may ask. “Why do some consider leverage to be unhealthy?" The thing is that if the price starts to fall, your money will melt as quickly as it grows. The broker will not, of course, allow you to lose $3,000. The maximum loss will be exactly equal to the size of your deposit. That is, once the loss reaches $100, the transaction will be automatically closed. In order for this to happen, however, Bitcoin has to fall in price by just $10, and this, considering its volatility, can happen in a matter of a few minutes or even seconds.

"People like taking risks," says John Gordon, senior analyst at NordFX, ";and there's nothing to be done about it, especially when it comes to money. They always want to get rich in an instant. This is where self-control becomes essential. After all, you can open a transaction for less than $100,000, perhaps for $50,000 or $25,000. Yes, the profit may be smaller in these cases, but so will the risks.

Leverage is just a tool, an additional bonus, and it is for the trader to decide whether to use it or not. In the right hands, this is tool that can be extremely useful"

Strategy 2.

Suppose you have $1,000 in your account, for which you can normally buy 0.1 BTC. If you take on leverage of 1:1000, however, then the same purchase will cost you just 1 dollar, instead of one thousand. $999 will remain in your reserves for the event the price falls. Such a reserve will allow you to continue purchasing as the price keeps falling. When the price finally performs a U- turn and resumes growth, you will increase your chances of not just covering your losses, but also making a profit.

Such trading strategies, known as ";averaging positions" and the "martingale method"; (see the Figure), have become especially relevant since the middle of December 2017, when cryptocurrencies, after months of continuous growth, began falling. It is, however, necessary to note that while they have been implemented for a long time by many traders, they also carry considerable risks and should be wielded with great care.

"The 1:1000 leverage ratio that NordFX provides,” continues John Gordon, “is unique in the cryptocurrency market. Typically, clients are offered margin trading with leverage ranging from 1:3 to 1:100. But there is another important point that makes trading through a broker different from trading on a crypto-exchange. If you buy a bitcoin on an exchange, you will only be able to earn on its growth; with us you can also open a transaction to sell and make a profit even if the price falls. This is akin to a bet that you make with a broker to see whether the price of bitcoins rises or falls.

In addition, you can conduct several transactions at once: some to buy bitcoin, and some to sell it. Upon observing whether the price of the cryptocurrency is rising or falling, you can quickly close the losing transactions and leave those that are delivering a serious profit open.”

“Currently you can transact with six of the TOP 10 most popular cryptocurrencies in NordFX,” concludes John Gordon. “These are Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Dash, Ripple and Bitcoin Cash. The account can be opened in either USD or BTC. Traders also have many trading strategies, technical analysis tools, indicators and trading robots at their disposal. This huge arsenal can be of great assistance in reducing trading risks and increasing profits. But the way you use it ultimately depends only on you."

To begin, go here.

LitePay will launch tonight at 9pm - but with only some of what was promised.  The following message went out this morning to those who subscribed to their e-mail list for updates:

"Thanks for your interest in LitePay! Registration for Merchant Payment Processing accounts will open today.

Due to recent hostile actions by card issuers towards crypto companies, we have decided that offering LitePay card registrations at this time is imprudent.

We will continue to monitor the situation with regards to card services and will open registration as soon as a reliable product can be supported.

If you are a merchant and you are ready to begin registration for a LitePay Merchant Payment Processing account, please follow the link below after 9:00 PM Pacific Time and click Sign up.

Thank you all for your support as we work to give merchants all over the world the ability to accept Litecoin."

LitePay was supposed to be two things that in conjunction would bring using Litecoin in the real-world a reality.  One was merchant services so businesses could accept Litecoin, the other, a debit card to work anywhere Visa works, that would allow you to spend Litecoin by instantly converting the correct amount to to USD, and authorizing the transaction when swiping the card.

Now we're wondering - was there ever any agreement ever in place that allowed them to implement a debit card?

Other 'spend your crypto with a debit card' themed projects such as Bitwala, Cryptopay, Wirex and TenX - all had their cards canceled and rendered invalid.

At that time (early Jan of this year) Visa issued the statement: "Our actions were not specific to cryptocurrency but rather reflect the issuer's failure to comply with Visa's policies that ensure the safety and integrity of our payment system."

The question that must be asked of LitePay now is - why did you ever say it would include a card? When Visa terminated other cryptocurrency cards nearly two months ago, why did (until today) your plans still include a card for your users?

Charlie Lee took a jab today on Twitter at Bitcoin Cash.  The "flippening" refers to the high hopes of Ethereum fans - that one day things will flip, making Ethereum #1 and Bitcoin #2.  On that topic Lee says it "will never happen".

But his next sentence is bringing him both applause and hate, depending on where you stand on the topic of Bitcoin Cash.  Stating Litecoin will overtake Bitcoin Cash "this year".

The flippening (ETH>BTC) will never happen. But the flappening (LTC>BCH) will happen this year. 🐔🚀 pic.twitter.com/vn9XBdZNC3

— Charlie Lee [LTC] (@SatoshiLite) February 25, 2018

It could actually happen - to be clear, i'm saying 'could' not 'will'.  LiteCoin foundation and independent developers are expanding on LiteCoin's functionality, with an emphasis on real-world use.

At the same time, Bitcoin Cash is facing some real challenges as more exchanges adopt SegWit for Bitcoin (the original) we're expecting Bitcoin transaction times and fees to get even lower than the 4 month low they're at today.  While Bitcoin Cash supporters are some of the most vocal among social media - the reality is it's never performed beyond 10% the amount of transactions as Bitcoin on any given day.

In other words, if Bitcoin addresses it's issues before Bitcoin Cash grabs enough of the market -
there's a real risk it gets left behind and forgotten - and taking just 10% of transaction volume away from Bitcoin, while still impressive, isn't enough to insure it's survival long term against an improving Bitcoin. 

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Earlier today Elon Musk responded to questions asking why there were so many impostor accounts of his, apparently with Twitter totally asleep at the wheel when it comes to terminating them.  Musk says he contacted Twitter's CEO "but it’s still going" he says.

All this would be funny - if they weren't actually working! The wallet that fake Elon Musk is directing people to send Bitcoin to - has nearly $14,000 USD in it now.

There's definately no shortage of projects currently trying to figure out a way to merge two of the biggest buzzwords in tech today - "streaming" and "blockchain" - but Current Media may have figured out a way that makes sense.

The company was founded by CEO/Founder Dan Novaes. Mark Cuban, who has invested in other projects of Dan's is serving as an adviser, along with Bancor Co-founder Galia Benartzi and CEO of Couchsurfing Daniel Hoffer - making this one of the most experienced teams in the space, with multiple tech startup successes under their belt.

So here's the concept - the app gives users access to a 'universal media search' - when you search for video or audio content you'll be searching the libraries of multiple sites at once. For example, you search for a song then choose if you want to stream the audio from Spotify - or watch the music video from YouTube.

When the user hits play, they're rewarded for ads watched, time streaming, and allowing the app to record personal data. Like all major streaming services, your search and play history creates a user preference profile that will be used to recommend other media and deliver targeted advertising.  Since the Current app is actually a gateway to multiple media outlets, they believe they can create the most accurate user recommendation profiles to date.

For those with an iPhone, you can download the Current app in the app store now - Android users get the app later this year.

The app itself, while not yet on the blockchain actually launched last year - and one thing we've learned during the ICO craze is it's better to have a product in place, then add blockchain - than it is to ask for people to invest, then build the product from scratch.  Browsing the app I see they already have full functionality to pull media from some of the 3rd party providers like YouTube, Spotify and Soundcloud.

Now this is impressive - there's no ICO for this! They hit their investment hard-cap before the ICO was even scheduled to start, so to keep interest going and the community involved they're airdropping $4 million worth of tokens to the public to kick things off strong - full info on that here.

"We‘ve already had over 250,000 people register for our token sale. Due to this demand, we felt the AirDrop to be the best course of action, as we still had well over a month to the scheduled token-sale date, with thousands of people signing up each day. It was a tough decision, but we feel this is the only fair way to give everyone the ability to participate in a meaningful way — independent of your location or economic background." says co-founder Nick McEvily.

The token "CNCR" (pronounced “currency”) is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain and will function as a multi-purpose utility token, when mined by playing media distribution is split between consumer, creator, curator, and growth pool.

“I only consider ICOs if I can use the token in the application or the network” Mark Cuban told Forbes magazine earlier this month.

Really living up to the phrase 'multi purpose token' - users can choose to use them to cover their streaming services subscription fees, in-app services, or trade them on exchanges.

You can learn more, and apply for their airdropped tokens at https://current.us

While pretty much everything took a dip over the last 48hrs, Litecoin was hit harder than most - dropping nearly 20%.

One big reason it lost more than others - it had recently gained more than others! 

There seems to be a psychological factor here, when investors are looking to pull back it's easier to justify taking some profits from something that just had big gains - and lately, the coin with big gains has been Litecoin.

Now the question is - will the release of LitePay, set to happen in just 3 days pull it out of trenches?

Well, wish I could give a solid answer on this - but best I can say is - that depends on how LitePay performs. (Read about LitePay in our previous article here) 

If it meets the hype, some pretty large gains could be expected.  If it doesn't function as promised, experiences any major downtime, or still has some bugs to be worked out - the disappointment could cause some who've held on steady to their LTC to sell.

There's no debate - next 5 days will be crucial for the coin, and it's investors are watching closely.

Japansese exchange 'Zaif' experienced a glitch that allowed users to place buy orders without having the funds to do so.

17 people attempeted to take advantage of the glitch, which only lasted 18 minutes.  The boldest - one order for $20 trillion in Bitcoin. (Funny because Bitcoin's market cap is only $182 billion)

While the exchange quickly canceled orders and corrected their account balances, unfortunately it was still enough to catch the attention of Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) - which is now investigating the exchanges security methods.

Learning online has become standard these days - everything from how to play a musical instrument, to earning an actual degree - it can be done from the comfort of your own home.

What still hasn't been perfected is how the marketplace for online learning itself should function. Ask someone where they'd go online to get a tutorial on how to do something, they'll likely say YouTube. But then ask for one where you can ask the teacher questions in real time - you'll see, there's still no 'household name' for interactive learning.

For those producing the content, YouTube has fallen short.  If your aim is to monetize sharing your expert level knowledge in a very specialized field, YouTube's new monetization rules aren't in your favor.  They won't even consider your channel for monetization until you have 10,000 views, totaling 4,000 hours of watch time, and 1000 subscribers.

YouTube's shortcomings could make this a prime time for someone to jump into the market with a better way of doing things, OnLive is hoping that will be them.

From a users viewpoint, using OnLive's marketplace will allow them to search for experts in the field they want to learn more about, or get an expert's opinion on - Lawyers, Doctors, Weight Loss, Job seeking, Fitness, Education, Insurance, Language Learning, Financial advice, etc - the potential topics are endless.  Then when you find an expert that fits your learning needs, you can schedule to connect live, in HD quality, with interactive chat.

From a service providers viewpoint - you list your knowledge base and experience.  You can offer one on one livesteams, or host a virtual classroom for an unlimited amount of viewers. How you choose to monetize it up to you, i've personally never seen so many options.  You can ask for a flat rate, pay per minute, subscriptions, or for tips from satisified viewers.

Another plus - their token "ONL" is vital to the entire marketplace, OnLive explains:

"ONL token is an integral element of the OnLive Platform. It is used as a fee currency of transmission and transcoding services to incentivise decentralised computing required for the video broadcasts. Furthermore, it is the only payment option on our platform."

The company founder, Chris Rybka is also a great fit for the project, and boasts 17 years in telecommunications, serving on the boards of multiple international telcom companies.

The OnLive ICO is live now at https://on.live

Some of these groups are surprisingly easy to find, and bold enough to literally put the words "pump and dump" in their name. They can be found virtually on every social network or mobile chat app like Telegram or Slack.

We assume the SEC has already found those, but others have been a bit more cautious, some even charging a monthly fee to be a member or require going through some kind of approval process.

That's where putting together a group of greedy, shady investors will backfire - with the SEC offering a hefty reward for information, let the backstabbing begin!

It was nothing short of a nightmare - transaction costs upwards of $30 mixed with insanely slow transaction times, making Bitcoin impractical to use as a method of transferring funds.

The issues caused massive divide within Bitcoin communities - sparking the "store of value" debate, which had many saying Bitcoin was now like gold - not to be used in everyday transactions, but rather a place to store funds - a debate that sparked the birth of the controversial Bitcoin Cash.

But now, those fees are dropping, and fast.

Bitcoin fees lowest they've been since October 2017.

Why the drop? Reasons are mixed. There are less transactions overall from it's peak, but largely there has been some efficiency changes as well. A previously rarely used feature of Bitcoin was the ability to send BTC to multiple recipients packaged into 1 transaction.  When fees were low, the feature was rarely used, but it's being used much more today.

However - as Bitcoin's price continues to rebound, it's expected that transaction volume will as well, especially with low fees back in play - which could just bog down the network again, and send transaction costs right back up.

Solutions? SegWit2x increasing the block size, and lightening network are both on the table and gaining support.

The challenge? Implementation. Even after an agreement on a solution is reached, technical analysts believe SegWit2x could take months to be fully adopted.  Lightening Network - even longer, perhaps years due to the drastic complete overhaul in transaction protocol.

----------------
Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle News Desk

"Celebrities and others are using social media networks to encourage the public to purchase stocks and other investments. These endorsements may be unlawful if they do not disclose the nature, source, and amount of any compensation paid, directly or indirectly, by the company in exchange for the endorsement."

Seagal however likely doesn't care - he lives in Russia today, well outside of reach of US regulators.

After a rough January -  February seems to be a month of recovery!

At the time of publishing, the total market cap has been hovering in the $490-$510 billion range, at one point today even nearing $520 billion.

The whales (large investors) seem to be returning as well - as blockchain activity shows some large buys.  No surprise, Bitcoin topping the list with a single purchase totaling $40 Million taking place yesterday.

The altcoin star of the week award however goes to Litecoin. Which begun the week at $142, and now sits at a healthy $220! News of their new payment platform LitePay (link) seems to be the reason for the rise - also worth noting some impressive Ethereum gains too!

In the clear? For now it seems so, after what took place between the SEC and Congress (link) alleviating fears of new regulation in the US, along with South Korean officials seemingly backtracking on their previous harsh words regarding possible regulation in that nation as well.

-------

There's a bit of irony here, we always hear stories about venture capitalist investors constantly on the hunt for the next hot thing in tech and virtually all the top firms are now in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space today, directly or though companies they hold stake in.

But while they've been out looking for whats next in tech, not much about the world of venture capital investing has changed for quite some time. It's time for the venture capital world, to see how they can improve and streamline their own industry.

One of the companies out to do that is EQUI, who has roadmap to bring venture capital investing into the modern world, and while doing so, make expand it's reach so individuals, not just huge firms can participate in the marketplace.

"Traditionally, venture capital has been the preserve of institutions and ultra high net worth investors. Now for the first time, non-industry professionals will have a chance to back the next hot investment opportunity that most of us only get to hear about in the media" says lead founder Doug Barrowman.

Their process will work like this - first EQUI's board of directors consisting of 'visionary entrepreneurs' will research and identify projects that they see as innovative and could benefit from an injection of venture capital.

Now here's where blockchain comes in - users of the platform will then have a chance to invest into the companies EQUI finds worthy, under terms and through transactions protected by smart contracts.  Within the smart contracts will be things like project maturity estimates, caps and targets. Investors can then participate by using their platforms token, the 'EQUItoken'.

Then they take a hands on approach - offering operational support and strategic advice needed to turn the company's vision into a reality. Overseeing the standard stages of investment - seed, early, and growth.

This method of investing allows for levels of flexibility benefiting the investor this space hasn't seen before.  EQUItoken holders can contribute as many or as few as they wish towards companies. Investors will receive 70% (pro-rata) of the profits generated from projects they invest in.

The EQUI ICO will begin in March in two phases, full information can be found at https://www.equi.capital

The "Litecoin Cash" hard fork is coming Sunday and it has a lot of people confused.  Major media outlets even pointed to this fork as a reason for Litecoin's rally the last couple days - however, that wasn't the case as traders within Litecoin forums virtually all cited LitePay as the reason for raising their investments in the currency.

So, what is Litecoin Cash? Let's take a look.

- It isn't an upgrade.  

The stated goal of the "Litecoin Cash" team is to change the mining algorithm from Scrypt to SHA-256.  Basically, like Bitcoin was. The "Litecoin Cash" team  says transactions will be 90 percent faster than the original Litecoin, however, these numbers are accurate when you have a lot of miners and not a lot of transactions.  Look to Bitcoin's transaction times if you're wondering what happens when SHA-256 mining is put under a heavy transaction load.  Oh, and toss in insanely high energy usage into the list of problems as well.

In an interview with Smartoptions, "Litecoin Cash" developer going by the name "Tanner" stated "Looking through the CoinMarketCap front page, we were really surprised that there were so few choices for SHA256 miners." well... there's a reason for that.

- This has nothing to do with Litecoin.

Charlie Lee, founder of the real Litecoin stated:

"...any fork of Litecoin, calling itself Litecoin something or other, is a scam IMO. Litecoin Cash, Litecoin Plus, Litecoin *... all scams trying to confuse users into thinking they are Litecoin."

The "team" behind Litecoin Cash doesn't deny they're just stealing the name and making a new coin, saying:

"We’re using the Litecoin Cash name simply because it has become customary in recent months for a coin which forks a blockchain to prefix its name with the name of the coin being forked. This practice has become a widely understood convention. We’re not associated or affiliated with Charlie Lee or any of the Litecoin team in any way; we are big fans though."

- Who the hell is this "team" behind it?

Nobody is sure who these guys are. Mysterious photos that reverse image searches can't find, first names only - and even a unicorn as their PR person (which ironically is a pretty bad PR move.)

 Red flags.

- Over supplied, and lack of support.

The supply is 10 times the size of the original LiteCoin - 840 million coins. With no word of exchanges, or wallets planning to support it.

Conclusion - what do you need to do to prepare for the fork? Nothing. Because it doesn't matter.

It’s no secret that the cryptocurrency arena has seen a lot of change recently, creating a level of uncertainty among crypto enthusiasts. For Symatri LLC, current crypto trends strengthened their commitment to each person who has or will purchase Kala. To reiterate their dedication, Symatri is excited to add a new referral program to Kala’s ITO.

"Our Kala community is of the utmost importance to us and we want to show our gratitude for supporting us" states Symatri CEO Darren Olayan. “So, when our users started reaching out to us about a referral plan, the Advisory Board quickly made it happen"

The Kala Referral Program begins today and runs through the end of the Kala ITO, March 15, 2018. Everyone who has or will sign up for a Kala ITO account gets a unique referral ID that they can share with others. All purchases made through a referral ID earns the referrer 5% in Kala. Kala users will be able to view their referral commissions as transactions are completed.

Created with the purpose of making cryptocurrency as accessible as possible, Symatri President Reid Tanaka believes their new referral program makes purchasing and using Kala even easier and strengthens Kala’s growing community. “It’s natural for people to share good things with family and friends,” he said.

After the ITO closes, Kala owners will be able to take advantage of the fluctuations in value that is a fundamental characteristic of all cryptocurrencies. The token will integrate within an already existing ecosystem with more than 300,000 members in over 140 countries. Kala will be fungible, transferable, and is expected to trade on exchanges later this year.

With Kala currently priced for only $.02, Mr. Olayan is excited to see Kala’s ITO take off. “Kala really is a cryptocurrency for everyone. It’s easy to understand, simple to earn, and now Kala is easy to share with everyone.”

For more information on Kala, to view the white paper, or to participate in the ITO, visit
https://go.kalatoken.io

I've always found these kind of projects the most interesting - when an existing business in an existing field, discovers blockchain technology and finds ways to improve the way they function by implementing it - because they're ready for blockchain, right now!

That's exactly what SyncFab is - founded in 2013 they're already successful in the manufacturing and supply chain fields.

It could also be perfect timing - the US economy is in the midst of a manufacturing boom that could see it taking the #1 spot back from China within the next couple years.

Having experience in these fields, SyncFab identified some problems they believe blockchain can solve. Medium and small businesses face a number of challenges when comes to getting access to hardware manufacturing companies, which currently  large procurement firms, and middlemen control.

SyncFab's solution is actually pretty simple - which is a huge plus because their goals seem reasonable and attainable.  An online decentralized buyer-to-manufacturer platform.

"We have received overwhelming support from end users and industry professionals regarding our plan to implement digital tokens to incentivise working class manufacturers to adopt our blockchain solutions." says CEO Jeremy Goodwin.

Manufactures join the platform and list what their machines and factories are capable of producing.  The buyer joins the platform and explains their needs.  Then this will send buyers requests directly to manufacturers that match the buyers needs, and secures the agreement with smart contracts on what they're calling the "Smart Manufacturing Blockchain".

They've also worked out some pretty impressive partnerships beyond private interests in their industry, the city of San Francisco and their home city of San Leandro in the Bay Area through the STIR 'Startup in Residence' program.

So where does a token fit into this? Their MFG token will function as a utility, and reward token. Allowing buyers to get quotes, make purchases, and secure transactions - and allowing manufactures to control pricing, eliminate middlemen by connecting directly to buyers, and guarantee their payments via smart contracts. There will also be a rewards program for using the platform.

Their presale is live now, more info at https://blockchain.syncfab.com/

The project has been in the works for awhile, and is set to launch any day now.

It's called LitePay and the goal is simple: real world use of cryptocurrency as currency - and make it so easy, merchants will feel like giving it a shot.

So, why does this actually have a chance to succeed? Ease of use - for both the buyer and the merchant.

From a merchants perspective - they're currently giving anywhere from 3% to 7% of their transactions to whatever company processes their credit card payments.  With LitePay, that drops to 1%.  Imagine a small business doing $100,000 a year in transactions - if they can get their customers to use LitePay, they'll see an increase of up to $7,000 in profits per year - which is extremely appealing to a small retailer.

Embedding the ability to accept Litecoin as a payment on their websites will be as simple as adding just one more option to their current list of payment options such as credit cards, paypal, etc.

From the buyers point of view - none of the hassle of dealing with wallet addresses and private keys, how about just a card and pin instead?  “Litecoin users will be able to convert Litecoins to dollars and vice versa through their Visa-compatible LitePay cards, which will be usable at all ATMs or businesses that support Visa payments.” Palwasha Saaim, a Research Analyst at Lombardi Financial recently told the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The release date has been a vague 'Feburary 2018' - with the last update being given about a month ago from the LitePay team stating "we are on schedule for Feburary".

*UPDATE* - A release date of Feb 26th has been announced!

IBM Global Industries Senior Vice President Bridget van Kralingen on the company's investment in blockchain technology.

Matchmaking for plaintiffs and backers - Most cases never make it trial thanks to the high cost of litigation. But what if things were different? What if you had the funds to see your case through? Or, what if you could back a case that you cared about and help someone seek the justice they deserve but cannot afford?

That’s Trial Token. It’s litigation financing that leverages blockchain and Ethereum protocol to
make justice transparent, approachable, and accessible for those who would otherwise lack the
resources.

Civil lawsuits, on average, can produce upwards of $50,000 in legal fees, not to mention the toll
it takes on one’s time away from work and personal expenses, making justice an asset class that
is available only to those who can afford it.

Trial Token, of Trials Funds, is changing all of that;
Their digital, blockchain based platform, inspired by crowdsourcing culture, leverages the idea
of litigation financing, where a third party, unrelated to the lawsuit, provides capital to a
plaintiff involved in litigation.

This, combined with the advanced technology behind it, creates a decentralized, transparent
platform that removes financial barriers and intermediary parties. Just instant access to
funding, which can help cover the high fees litigation, as well as working capital and personal
expenses.

Simultaneously, backers take an active role in helping fund cases they believe in, which can
range from Breach of contracts, Investment suits, to Professional negligence, all while earning a
rate of return.

How it Works
Plaintiffs seeking legal services purchase Trial Tokens (TT) which is based on the ERC-20
standard. From there, they create a comprehensive case on Trial Funds for which backers to
can access and view.

Every case taken in by Trial Token is meticulously vetted and reviewed by a team of expert,
legal advisors. Backers review a plaintiff’s case and select one they wish to support and fund.
Plaintiffs receive the funding for their case and pursue justice, and backers can track the
progress of the case,

Once the case is settled or won, the backer will receive a portion of the settlement.
Based on the Ethereum protocol and conforming to the ERC-20 standards, Trial Tokens will
utilize the smart contract technology to maintain a public ledger that maps Etherum addresses
to Token balances.

Only 1 billion of Trial Tokens will only ever be created with an structured mechanism of
allocation and are intended to be sold during their initial Primary Token Sale at a price of USD
$0.10 per Token Pre-sale conversion.

How to Buy
Trial Token recommends creating an Etherwallet, or use any digital wallet that sees you as the
owner of the private key. To purchase, send to Trial Token’s sale smart contract, where you will
receive your Trial Tokens once the primary sale is complete. You can also purchase your tokens
via credit card or wire transfer — just go to www.trialtoken.io and click on “join the presale”

It Takes a Digital Village
Trial Token is changing the legal system, one case at a time. It’s a token with a purpose, one
that removes the reliance of centralized, Litigation intermediaries, providing inclusivity for
those seeking justice, while connecting and empowering the public to help funds others in their
pursuit of legal action.

Are you ready to help change the legal landscape? Purchase your pre-sale token at www.trialtoken.io

It started when Binance went down earlier today.

Binance claimed maintenance - McAfee claimed they had been hacked and he had inside information saying so.

But let's be fair, fearing a hack when an exchange goes down isn't totally unfounded.  What may be uncalled for, is tweeting these fears out to 770,000 followers not knowing if it's true or not.

Not trying to spread FUD, but I have received dozens of reports like this one. I'm just trying to understand. As a security researcher, I know that potential hacks are far more easy to solve if investigated immediately. Days later magnifies the task by orders of manitude. pic.twitter.com/u1PL9Z4tGf

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) February 8, 2018

All the speculation brought on a reply from the Binance CEO himself, CZ:

But you are spreading fud. We will prove you wrong. https://t.co/QTuK6t2ZS3

— CZ (@cz_binance) February 8, 2018

Which turned into all out war between McAfee and Twitter trolls, that's when he snapped in this epic tweet..

I live in Tennessee. I'm 72. But bring your sorry ass here and say that to my face. 90 Beasley Drive, Lexington 38351. You don't show up you'll be my bitch forever. Oh.. and a phone number for you whining loudmouths that want a word with me - 731 608 8837.

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) February 8, 2018

Real address or not? Not sure - but it's been a fun day.

John McAfee is best known for creating the worlds first commercial antivirus software, but left the company he founded in 1994 and has since been involved in mobile apps, alternative medicine, and cryptocurrencies.

Lehi, UT—Symatri, LLC, announces a new consumer reward system within its powerful
business-to- consumer CORE platform. Retail Rewards gives members the opportunity to earn
Kala, Symatri’s Ethereum-based crypto token, by simply shopping at their favorite online stores.

Retail Rewards partners with some of the biggest consumer powerhouse companies, including
Amazon, Target, Macy’s, Kohls, Best Buy, Walmart, and hundreds more. It also offers members
incredible deals, online discounts, and user coupons. “Symatri’s goal is to make Kala a
cryptocurrency that everyday people can use, and Retail Rewards will enhance that purpose,”
Reid Tanaka, Symatri President, explains. “Because people shop online almost daily, we are
excited to provide a tool that increases our members ability to purchase items and services they
need.”

How Retail Rewards Users Earn Kala
CORE members login to the Retail Reward portal and simply shop like usual among hundreds
of retailers, earning CORE points on every Retail Reward purchase. These points will be in
addition to the ones members can earn through CORE by completing activities like taking
surveys, testing products, downloading apps, etc.

After Kala’s ITO, CORE members will then be able to convert their points into Kala. Once
converted, members will then be able to use Kala to purchase high quality products at discount
prices within Symatri’s REACH digital marketplace.

With the ITO ending March 15, 2018, Kala owners can also take advantage of the fluctuations in
value that is a fundamental characteristic of all cryptocurrencies. Kala will be fungible,
transferable, and is expected to trade on exchanges later this year.

Kala will integrate within an already existing ecosystem with more than 300,000 members in
over 140 countries after the ITO closes, setting it apart from many other cryptocurrency tokens.
For more information on Kala, to view the white paper, or to participate in the ITO, visit
https://go.kalatoken.io/.

About Symatri, LLC.: Symatri connects the multi-billion- dollar Mobile Apps, Products, and
Service Industry with individuals participating in social media around the world, in a simple and
mutually beneficial ecosystem.

Kala Website: https://kalatoken.io

Starbucks' executive chairman and former CEO Howard Schultz said on conference call to investors, regarding the topic of cryptocurrencies:

“I don’t want anyone to hang up on this call and assume that we have this all figured out, because we don’t, or that we’re making a significant investment in this - because we’re not. But, we have something to offer the companies that are chasing this.”

He seems to be aware the power of Starbucks and whichever coin they may choose, will do a lot to legitimize that currency, stating:

“It will have to be legitimatized by a brand in a brick-and-mortar environment, where the consumer has trust and confidence in the company that is providing the transaction.”

However, it's unlikely to be Bitcoin, adding...

“The reason I mention this is not because I’m talking about Bitcoin because I don’t believe that Bitcoin is going to be a currency today or in the future, I’m talking about the new technology of blockchain and the possibility of what could happen not in the near term”.

Yeah, it's all very vague I know.  But let's remember - Starbucks was out front and way ahead of the game when it came to mobile payments, so it wouldn't be much of a surprise if they lead the pack again when it comes to cryptocurrency payments as well.

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory, and one investors around the globe are comfortable doing business with. With full British passport rights - and oversight from European regulators.

Which is why this one has so many excited - the Gibraltar Stock Exchange will be introducing investors to the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange.

"We're taking everything we know about the traditional stock exchange, and applying it to place where there are no rules. We've seen a huge explosion in token generating events (ICOs) - it seems to be a great way for startups and fintech's to access funds" says Nick Cowan, Gibraltar Stock Exchange managing director.

The idea is to introduce the world of blockchain based investments to traditional investors, in an exchange format they're already similar with from stock trading.

Like a stock exchange listing, the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange will vet companies before they earn a listing, in hopes of adding an additional layer of comfort to investors who might be weary of diving into the blockchain space, which is still viewed as extremely violtile by many traditional investors.

They call this vetting process the "comprehensive listing process" which will involve consulting with their elected council of legal advisors, tech experts, academia, practitioners, and investors.

Their goal is outlined as such:

"The Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) aims to be a world-leading institutional-grade token sale platform and cryptocurrency exchange. Built upon principles of decentralisation and community consensus, we seek to create a new era of trust, openness and global acceptance for the crypto industry, one quality token listing at a time."

The end result they hope to achieve is an exchange that revolves around a healthy cryptocurrency economy - reliable companies, and relitively stable investments.

With the launch of the exchange comes the launch of the token that will power it - The Rock Token (RKT). A utility token that will manage everything from membership, trading, listing and sponsorship fees.

There's some unique perks as well - early access to token sales, exclusive discounts, and opening up proposed community developments to voting by members.

The token sale is live - and more information can be found at https://gbx.gi