About a year ago, when the world was faced with the Coronavirus, many people started thinking about using alternative technologies such as the Blockchain technology to track and trace the virus and those infected. Since, the information recorded on a Blockchain network is tamper-proof and unchangeable.

Now the town of Altötting in Germany is going to use this exact idea with regard to Covid-19 vaccinations.

This town will allow those who are vaccinated to register their information digitally using the tool provided by the UBIRCH company.

This system, which has been developed recently, has the ability to be run on multiple Blockchain networks, and those who are vaccinated against Coronavirus will be identified and verified by it.

It is expected that this move will help lower the spread of this virus. According to the statements made by UBIRCH, this digital certification will only be issued when someone receives their second dose of the vaccine. After that the vaccination confirmation record will be issued for that person and they can access it using their own private keys.

Currently, people who want to be vaccinated will only receive a printed code on a piece of paper, which will then be read by their phone. But the main program intends to store this code directly on people’s phones. Therefore, vaccination confirmations and records will be easily and readily available to people.

As mentioned earlier, the solution offered by UBIRCH matches those offered by Blockchain, including IOTA. However, it is yet unclear which chain will be used for this purpose.

Using this technology for vaccination records is very efficient, especially when healthcare officials are saying that this virus will continue growing. As such, using Blockchain to stop the spread of Covid-19 seems very suitable.

The news comes out as anonymous sources are announcing that Joe Biden has chosen this long-term professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to become the chairman of SEC.

Gary Gensler has previously served as chair for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, CFTC. Among his prominent moves as the head of the CFTC was adding new addendums and amendments to the Dodd-frank law, which was put in place after the economic crisis of 2018.

However, during the presidency of Donald Trump, Gensler was mostly just engaged in teaching Blockchain and digital asset courses at MIT.

There are still doubts with regard to the authenticity of this news. But if the rumors are true, Gensler is the closest person to the world of digital currencies who has ever served as the chairman of the SEC. Therefore, his period as chair could really ameliorate the legal challenges faced by the crypto market.

Previously, Jay Clayton had served as the chairman for the Securities and Exchange Commission. But he was relieved of his duty late 2020. Many believe that he took some very helpful measures for the crypto market and Blockchain, since early during his period as chair, he announced that digital assets could potentially come under the purview of SEC regulations. This was done when he released the DAO report.

Additionally, Jay Clayton had stated that if digital assets come under the purview of SEC regulations, this commission will also be in charge of observing and overseeing such assets.

After Joe Biden won the presidential election of United States, Gensler was put in charge of overseeing the financial aspects of power transfer. Ever since then many speculations have been made regarding his role in U.S. government, and many expect his to become the next chairman of the SEC.

One of country’s biggest health facilities called the Mediterranean hospital of Cyprus shows another captivating usage of supply chain logistic platform by using the VeChain technology app system.

According to the hospital, 100 doctors and staff had received the first dose of Coronavirus vaccine and also got a digital license on an electronic wallet called E-HCert to track their lab results.

The digital certificate is a new pace towards digital transformation in the health care industry using VeChainThor Blockchain as the Mediterranean hospital described.  

It has been tweeted that governments and individuals would be assured of the quality and viability of the outcomes of the first 100 Coronavirus vaccination records at the Mediterranean hospital while they are safely stored on the VeChain public Blockchain.

From June 2020 to August 2020, the app E-HCert was applied at the hospital. The app stored all the 8,000 COVID-19 cases' test results according to the VeChain.

Since December 2020, Aretaeio hospital in Cyprus also has joined the digital lab test wallet solution according to VeChain announcement.

Based on all the potentials the healthcare industry has, the VeChain technology has selected this organization among all the others and claims that its technology can evolve the recent prototype of the healthcare organization. It can also alter healthcare, test results, therapeutics, diagnostics delivery service plus information exchange process by a developed and secured procedure.

The VeChain promises a highly secured product lifecycle management based on supply chain and Internet of the Things protocols and it got huge support from the Chinese governments along with Walmart, BMW, and LVMH partnerships.

According to the CoinMarketCap, VeChain’s cryptocurrency with around $1.95 billion of worth is currently ranked 20^th and had 20% gain in the last 24 hours and 56% gain in the last week.

The move is so that this team could conjure up a new source of income for itself. The team has recently announced that through a partnership with Moonwalk, which is a company whose specialization is digital economies for well-known and famous brands, it will introduce a marketplace for its fans which is run based on the Blockchain technology.

The fans of Dynamo Kyiv will then be able to gather digital tokens by performing social actions, for example taking part in prediction games or getting involved in the social media of the club.

When the digital tokens are collected, they can then be used in order to be redeemed for club’s merchandise, going to VIP events, or getting discounts when they want to purchase goods at the club’s stadium. Users can also use these tokens to purchase collectible items at the marketplace of the team.

These digital token can be used via a mobile phone app both online and offline.

This decision has been made by the Dynamo Kyiv in order to ameliorate some of the damages that have been sustained by this club during the Covid-19 pandemic and quarantine. Given the fact that limitations and lockdowns still persist in many places of the world and especially Europe, footballs clubs are seeking various ways of gaining revenue.

As previously mentioned, the Coronavirus restrictions have forced many football clubs to shift their focus toward new means of income. Dynamo Kyiv is not the only team that has started its route toward new and alternative methods to gain revenue.

Previously, other well-know and prominent football clubs such as FC Barcelona, Atletico de Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Juventus, and Bayern Munich have launched their similar programs utilizing digital tokens and Blockchain-based platforms.

The government of Ukraine has always had a positive and welcoming attitude toward the Blockchain technology. The Ukrainian Digital Transformation Ministry has been working on creating regulations for Blockchain that are by and large positive and straightforward.

Dynamo Kyiv is one of the two biggest football clubs of Ukraine along with FC Shakhtar Donetsk. Even though it succeeded in winning the 2020 premier league of its own country, Dynamo Kyiv failed to advance in Europa League and also to quality for the UEFA Champions League.

Counos X is a cryptocurrency offered by the Counos Platform and it is the first coin that is bankable and has a fixed bid and ask price. Counos X (CCXX) already has many amazing features. However, Counos Platform intends to update the roadmap of Counos X in the next six months and add many other useful features to this cryptocurrency.

In this article we will introduce these changes one by one. So, without further ado let us discuss the features that Counos Platform will add to Counos X within six months.

Omni Layer

One of the features that will be added to Counos X is the Omni Layer protocol. Omni Layer will be added to the Blockchain of the CCXX and it will allow the creation of crypto assets such as tokens and other custom digital assets. Omni Layer is a software layer that can be built on top of the Blockchain network of cryptocurrencies.

One of the most prominent examples of this protocol is the stablecoin Tether. Omni Layer was built on top of the Blockchain of Bitcoin and allowed for the creation of Tether, which is perhaps the most prominent stablecoin in the crypto market.

Now, with the addition of Omni Layer to the Blockchain of Counos X, digital assets such as tokens can be built based on the network of CCXX.

Certification System

Another feature that will be added to the Blockchain network of Counos X is the certification system. With the help of this certificate issuance system, CCXX Blockchain can be used to issue all kinds of certificates such as university degrees, customs documents, transportation documents, identification documents, etc.

The Blockchain network of Counos X will provide a decentralized database or a distributed public ledger that helps store all types of certificates in a safe, independent, and private network, which is completely tamper-proof. Every time a certificate is issued, it becomes digitized and stored in the Blockchain of Counos X to be kept in a safe, secure, and fully transparent platform.

So, when the certification system is added to the Blockchain of Counos X, any type of document can be issued and stored in a platform that is 100 percent transparent and tamper proof. There can be no duplicate or fake documents, since the Blockchain network of CCXX  is completely decentralized, independent, and transparent.

Election System

This feature will allow for elections and voting mechanisms to be based on the Blockchain Counos X. Using the CCXX Blockchain network will enable elections to take place in the most reliable and transparent way possible.

The way it works is by matching a Counos X transaction with each vote cast by the voters. Therefore, equal to the number of the people eligible for voting, Counos X coins will be generated. Then, each voter can send his or her coin to the wallet of his desired candidate. All the transactions are fully recorded in the block explorer. Therefore, nothing can be added and nothing can be removed from the records. At the end of the election, the candidate with the most number of Counos X coins in his or her wallet can be announced as the winner.

Counos Platform will provide all the necessary CCXX coins and other required infrastructures for any voting process no matter how large. Voting with the help of the CCXX Blockchain will take place with a very nominal fee, and it will give full assurance to all the voters and candidates about the reliability and dependability of the election results.

Copyright System

Another feature that will be added to Counos X within six months is the copyright system. With the help of this system, the Blockchain network of Counos X will be used to register all types of copy rights and patents. This feature can be used to register and store all types of patents, invention patents, intellectual property rights, music rights, and any other type of copyrights.

Since the Blockchain of CCXX is fully decentralized, transparent, and tamper-proof, it can be used as a source to register all kinds of copyright laws and intellectual property rights. Therefore, this source can also be used in courts or other cases to prove you are the rightful owner of a copyrighted material, such as music, or the rightful beneficiary of an intellectual property.

This copyright system will be added to the Blockchain network of Counos X within six months and will increase the safety and security of copyrighted material more than ever.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

When the update rolls out, the DeFi feature of Counos X will be in full effect. Based on this decentralized finance system, assets can be gathered in a crypto pool. As such a very reliable system is created in which assets can be stored and more importantly loans can be given out. This loaning process is based on the reliability and dependability of the CCXX DeFi system

Decentralized finance or DeFi is considered to be the hottest topic in the crypto and Blockchain world at the moment. The amount of money and assets locked up in DeFi have skyrocketed to a great extent in a very short amount of time. So much so in fact that some tokens have yielded a profit of 200 times their original value. So, very soon you’ll also be able to jump on the bandwagon with Counos X DeFi.

Final Remarks

The roadmap of Counos X will be updated within six months. When this update takes place, the Counos Platform will add many practical and useful features to Counos X. When such features are added to the CCXX Blockchain, many applications will be added to this coin, making it even more valuable than before.

Keep in mind, that the CCXX coins that can be generated in one day are only 25 coins. Additionally, the volume of transactions and the demand for Counos X will rise heavily. As such, it is possible that up to ten thousand coins a day would be the transaction fees, which will turn back to the Blockchain of CCXX. Therefore, the number of coins in circulation will actually decrease, making it even more rare. As a result, the fixed bid and ask price aspect could be removed, which would increase the value of CCXX exponentially. So, when all these features are added to Counos X, it will become even more valuable and rare. So it is highly advised that users acquire CCXX coins as soon as possible.

Counos Platform intends to update the roadmap of the Counos X in six months. This update will include many new features and additions to the Blockchain network of the CCXX.

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The buyer always needs a guarantee that he will get the purchased goods or services. And the seller wants to be sure that the payment will be received on time and in full. So the special type of a secure financial arrangement was created, in which an independent third party acts as a guarantor between two parties from the deal. The Counos Escrow service provides the secure and safe online trades based on cryptocurrency payments.

 
What Is the Counos Escrow Service and How It works?

The Counos escrow service is a special type of financial relationship in which, in addition to the two parties to a deal, an independent third party is involved (escrow agent). 
 
As in Any Escrow Service, There Are 3 Main Roles in Counos Escrow:

1. Seller, who wants to sell goods or services through the escrow service.

2. Buyer is the person, who intends to purchase some goods or/and services offered by the seller.

3. Escrow agent is an independent party admitted to the transaction, which ensures that the contract is executed properly by both the seller and the buyer.

Counos Escrow differs from many existing escrow services because it provides an increased level of security through the MultiSig (Multisignature) wallet technology, which uses the escrow check with 3 private keys. In other words, the goods will be sent to the buyer (or the online services are transferred), and the money will be sent to the seller only after the following condition is met - all three signatures are received: from the buyer, seller and from the escrow agent. This is a completely new level of protected deals provided by unparalleled security of Counos Escrow.

The Main Stages of the Counos Escrow Procedure:

The First Step. The seller and the buyer enter into a contract, using the Counos escrow service. At the same time, they do not necessarily see each other, but they can be sure that the whole process of buying and selling will be held in strict accordance with the requirements of the contract. This will be taken care of by the escrow agent and the Counos escrow system based on the Blockchain technology. At this stage the seller sends the buyer all the necessary goods or provides a list of services specified in the contract. 
 
The Second Step. The buyer’s payment is held by the escrow agent, until he is satisfied that the promised goods or services will be delivered to the destination in full. 
 
The Third Step. As soon as the goods or services are received by the buyer (what he confirms using his private key), the previously frozen payment from the buyer will be sent in full to the seller. If the seller is also satisfied with the completion of the transaction, he confirms this using his private key. All the steps listed above are under the strict control of the independent escrow agent, who also uses his own private key as evidence of satisfaction with all stages of the deal.

 
The Top 3 Reasons Using the Counos Escrow Service:
1. Secure online purchases and sales, thanks to the MultiSig wallet innovative technology and the blockchain-based Escrow system with encryption.

2. Customer (buyer and seller) satisfaction guarantee through the provision of a simple, convenient and secure service for selling or/and buying.

3. One of the most important nuances is that final approval of any transaction requires private keys and confirmations from all parties involved in the 
contract, as well as confirmation from an escrow agent who has access to the deal. 
Want to take full advantage of modern safe escrow deals? Then try Counos Escrow

www.counos.io 

VTS (Value Transfer System) refers to a network and a mechanism that provides the possibility of exchanging money, cheque, or any other trading tool. The payment is made to the amount equal to the received money to the third party in a different geographical location in VTS. Such systems play a significant role in the financial network of the world. Today, different companies, organizations, governments, or even people personally use VTS in various forms to transfer money or any trading tool in the boundaries of a country or out of it. VTS is created and applied formally and informally around the world. In its informal model, there is the possibility of exchanging money out of the banking network or any other financial institute be an intermediary person or organization. Even the main business of that intermediary person or organization might not be money transfer. Informal systems are generally used by migrators to transfer money to their families or receive it from them.

Formal VTS networks have been compared to each other in case of capacity and transfer speed and implemented in different forms. So of them like SWIFT work at the global level and some such as Fedwire, have limited activity just in the U.S. Some of these networks, like Paypal offer services on the internet. A network like SWIFT is used to transfer money in commerce among different countries, while the Paypal network is a suitable option for interpersonal transfers. There are also old methods like using the post besides current developed methods to transfer money.

Through introducing and developing Bitcoin in the last decade, Blockchain technology has drawn the attention of startups as one of the tools in VTS systems to offer services in the field of money transfer in a way that today Blockchain is known as one of the serious rivals for present systems.

Transparency, performance, reliability, decentralization, transfer fee, and security are among the features currently discussed in comparison to Blockchain-based systems. Each of these features will be investigated in the following parts.

Transparency is one of the most important features in Blockchain-based networks. This feature in Blockchain has been implemented in such a way that all the events of the network would be available for all the users while their anonymity and privacy are preserved. In the Blockchain network, every user can generate one or some addresses to send or receive the digital token. Each user’s address is the result of hashing his/her public key. So, there is no mechanism to correspond network users to the addresses.

On the one hand, the blocks chain is available for all the network users, and it can provide the possibility of observing all transactions and checking the balance of all accounts for every user. The possibility of generating many addresses further helps network users’ anonymity and protecting their privacy. There is no transparency and at the same time, anonymity in the current VTS mechanisms; in other words, no user of the systems like Paypal and SWIFT is able to observe network transactions and their status. This feature can attract network users’ attention and allow them to assess the network status.

Although it cannot be said generally that the security of Blockchain-based networks is higher than current networks for transferring money, different mechanisms are predicted and used to avoid disclosing sensitive information like the private keys, impersonation, Blockchain manipulation, the presence of a trespasser to sabotage and the like.

Decentralization and distribution of the Blockchain network are its two other remarkable features compared to current VTS networks. Blockchain is a distributed network, and its different parts can continue working without the presence of other parts. On the other hand, Blockchain doesn’t own a central management and storage while you can see such centrality in the existing value transfer mechanism such as SWIFT and Paypal. The blockchain network has been designed in such a way that it is able to offer services without reciprocal trust among the users. In the centralized networks, there is always the risk of information manipulation by the central management; however, using hash algorithms in the blocks chain guarantees not facing any information manipulation in the Blockchain network.

Today with the development of Blockchain, we can see the networks such as Tangel and ideas like Lightning Network being introduced, which have made transfer fees zero or minimize them to the lowest level possible and have found a relative advantage over VTS systems in this regard. Through removing intermediaries and middlemen, Blockchain networks create an appropriate infrastructure for the people’s personal financial transfers, especially in cases where economic sanctions and issues like this bring about some barriers.

Transfer speed is another important parameter in VTS systems. Although many common Blockchain networks in the world like Bitcoin and Ethereum don’t have acceptable speed in comparison to the internet systems of money transfer like Paypal and Visa, it has not been limited to these cases and entered the competition with such systems via introducing networks such as EOS; however, in general, it can be said that Blockchain has a higher speed than traditional methods of currency transfer and global systems with great capacity like SWIFT.

For instance, Ripple is among successful Blockchains, which could facilitate financial transfers between the banks and decrease its fee through introducing products like xCurrent and xRapid.

All in all, Blockchain features have sufficiently drawn the attentions in the field of value transfer in a way that current famous businesses like SWIFT and Visa have moved toward Blockchain technology to maintain the competition and make benefit from these features. In 2017, SWIFT moved toward adapting its network with Blockchain through introducing GPI, Global Payments Innovations. Presently this platform makes connecting to Blockchain networks possible. Visa is also developing a Blockchain-based platform to make up the weaknesses in value transfer as one of the fastest value transfer systems.  

References:

[Hackernoon] “How Blockchain is Changing Money Transfers”, November 14, 2018

[Investopedia] “Does Blockchain's Popularity Mean the End Of SWIFT?”, Rakesh Sharma, Jun 25, 2019

[Forbes] “Visa Enters The $125 Trillion Global Money Transfer Market With New Blockchain Product”, Jeff Kauflin, Jun 11, 2019

[Coindesk] “SWIFT Gives Blockchain Platforms Access to ‘Instant’ GPI Payments Following R3 Trial”, Daniel Palmer, Jun 25, 2019

[Ihodl] “SWIFT vs Blockchain — Overthrow of the Almighty?”, Ekaterina Ulyanova, 28 Nov, 2018

[Deloitte] “The Internet of Value-Exchange”, Jeff Garzik

[101blockchains] “Blockchain vs SWIFT: The New Banking!”, Hasib Anwar, June 6, 2018

Written by:

Dr. Pooyan Ghamari

https://www.linkedin.com/in/counos/

https://www.instagram.com/pooyanghamari/

www.counos.io 

With the advent of Bitcoin in the last decade and the development of the Blockchain technology, many studies have been done in applying this technology in order to solve different challenges. As a result of these studies, a number of frameworks have been developed for different purposes.

Among the most important features of Blockchain that have made it suitable for the development of practical frameworks with different practices, are the following:

The lack of need for reciprocal trust between uses: different frameworks of Blockchain are designed in a way that there is no need for reciprocal trust among users, and each side has trust in the mechanism of the Blockchain.
Preserving integrity: due to the use of hash algorithms and the chaining mechanism of data blocks, the tamper-proof feature of stored information on the infrastructure of the Blockchain could be investigated and guaranteed.
Transparency: Blockchain is not stored centrally, and all the members of the network will have a copy of it. Easy access to the information stream in this infrastructure will be accompanied by transparency. While in the centralized storing mechanisms, there is always hesitation about its central authority.
Preserving anonymity: in the infrastructure of Blockchain, each user is identified with his own address. This address is achieved by applying the hash algorithm on the public key of the user. On the other hand, there is no mechanism that would keep track of this correspondence between the identity of users and the addresses. Also, by creating a couple of public and private keys, each user can create different addresses for himself.
The system is distributed, not centralized: Blockchain-based infrastructures do not need central management. As such, there will not be related challenges. In this infrastructure, anybody can enjoy the services or offer services. Also, the different parts of the network interact independent from each other, and if one part is disabled, the system will continue its work.
Perhaps it can be said that the most important and the most preliminary Blockchain framework is the financial payment and value transfer framework. Cryptocurrency is a concept offered on the infrastructure of Blockchain and is used as a tool for trading. Among the most prevalent cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. Currently, different centers all across the world are offering services in order to exchange common national currencies for cryptocurrencies. Some cryptocurrencies like Tether have been defined equivalent to a stable amount of common national currencies like the U.S. dollar, which are technically called Stablecoin. Each Tether is equal to one U.S. dollar. At the same time, many cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin do not have a stable value with respect to national currencies and are turbulent given supply and demand. These turbulences have led to the entrance of investors in the field of buying and selling cryptocurrencies. Blockchain-based payment frameworks have challenged the financial mechanisms of banks and financial institutes from the perspective of trust and transparency. This has led to the operation of reputable financial institutes on an international level like SWIFT, JPMorgan, and VISA in the field of Blockchain in order to gain its benefits.

The smart contract is one of the most important offered practices of Blockchain. In general, it can be said that any smart contract is a function to execute a series of planned orders that are tamper-proof. This function will only be executed when the occurrence of a certain event or a series of events is authenticated. The most common feature of this framework is transferring a specific amount of digital tokens to defined address (addresses) in case of a certain situation. Smart contracts on the infrastructure of Blockchain are compatible with the general concept of contract and offer a conflict-free mechanism for the parties of the contract. In today’s world, it is always possible to infringe upon a contract, and incompliance of the sides of the contract is also ever-present.

On the other hand, legal investigation of such matters requires time and money, while in smart contracts, there are no such problems. Among the Blockchain networks that have implemented successful frameworks for smart contracts are Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple. One of the challenges of implementing smart contracts is implementing a reliable mechanism for correct identification of necessary events in order for the contract to be executed.

Today, one of the hot fields in the domain of IT is the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is connecting the sensors and objects of everyday life of man to the network of the internet, which will revolutionize industry, commerce, and the everyday life of man. Currently, different studies are being pursued in this field, and different businesses are offering their services and products. The features specified at the beginning of this article have turned Blockchain into one of the efficient solutions to implement IoT. One of the main challenges in IoT is the creation of a great volume of data whose privacy and integrity is of utmost importance.

On the other hand, the centralized keeping of such data will be accompanied by different challenges. Many of the commerce models in the IoT businesses need a reliable mechanism for financial payments, which will be easily provided in the IoT by implementing Blockchain. IoTA, IBM Watson IoT projects are among the prominent frameworks in the field of merging Blockchain and IoT. Of course, the IoTA project does not use Blockchain to store data. By implementing Tangle, this project has created a different mechanism of Blockchain in order to create a distributed ledger technology (DLT) that covers all the features proposed at the beginning of this article.

Due to offering a mechanism that could prevent tampering, deleting, and adding fake information, Blockchain has also come under attention as an infrastructure for storing data or a series of events. Among the frameworks that are implemented for this purpose are the Kodak company Blockchain that is used for storing copyright and different Hyperledgers used in the supply chain.

References:

[Medium] “Blockchain Business Models for Autonomous IoT Sensor Devices”, Philipp Sandner, Apr 16, 2019

[IBM] Information from the official website

[Hyperledger] Information from the official website

[Coindesk] “Kodak Launches a Blockchain-Enabled Document Management System”, Daniel Kuhn, Jun 7, 2019

 Written by:

Dr. Pooyan Ghamari

https://www.linkedin.com/in/counos/

https://www.instagram.com/pooyanghamari/

www.counos.io 

2019 Consensus conference will be held from May 10 to May 17 called “Blockchain week” in New York city in partnership with Economic Development Corporation (NYC) and with the centrality of Blockchain and related issues and create some breakthroughs for all who are in some way beneficiaries or engaged in this technology.

Almost all activists in Blockchain and cryptocurrencies invited to this gathering will take some steps in the faster and more cautious measures in promoting the present level of the technology. Over 100 countries will take part at this seven-day conference.

It will be the arena of fruitful negotiations in Blockchain and related technologies from which both the experts and newcomers can make profit.

One of the complexes who will take part in this event is Crypto Valley which is a government-supported association located in Switzerland to show and share all this country has in case of applying Blockchain and cryptographic technology which is active in consultation and supporting startups, doing research and holding conferences. The association has got some of the famous enterprises in the field of Blockchain industry together from Switzerland to put their minds together with other nations to foster what has been achieved during recent years and to come up with new ideas to raise their strengths to work more professionally both in in-border and out of it.

Counos Platform is one of those enterprises with is proud to take part in this phenomenal event too. It is one of the most developed and safest platforms of the financial Blockchain. With a wide range of stablecoins, cryptocurrencies, and online financial Commercial services, Counos offers some of Blockchain- and cryptocurrency-based commercial services. You will get acquainted with our services at Consensus. Visit us and explore our Escrow, Exchange, Payment gateway system, paper wallet, and mobile wallet.

Counos will be there to introduce itself and share all its innovative and modern economic activities from May 13 to 15.

Meet us at Booth 338/340 in the Americas Hall at Consensus!

Major Consensus speeches and breakout sessions and exhibitions (including Blockchain crypto summit, construct and coin center) have been planned to be on May 13-15 too. Fortunately, we will be there to be one of those taking part to offer their technologic alternatives.

It is the best opportunity for the economists, thinkers, theoreticians and entrepreneurs to find a more comprehensive view regarding this new alluring technology.

It will have a fully-fledged news coverage by the presence of The New York Times, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, etc. and eight well-known speakers from Journalists to Blockchain-based company directors will have talk in related issues. The list of speakers will surely be extended.

In recent years, cyber-attacks to the crypto exchange centers of Coincheck and Zaif have made the surveilling organizations in this country more aware and careful regarding the security of crypto industry in a way that FSA (Financial Services Agency) launched a committee to set regulations in order to increase the security of crypto exchange centers in Japan. FSA is the official regulating body of the government of Japan to ensure the stability of financial markets in this country. FSA has forced active companies in this industry to report suspicious transactions. Transactions that do not comply with the defined frameworks of FSA should be immediately reported to this organization. Also, according to these rules, users are not allowed to create multiple accounts. Japan hopes that this summit would be able to help considerably in implementing security protocols for trades, a system for protecting customers’ assets and a mechanism for raising the awareness of users about incidents such as the occurring of cyber-attacks.

According to a news published last year in the Japanese media, the member states of G20 have agreed to prepare a shared system of taxation for buying and selling cryptocurrencies. Taxation in this field has always had some problems that is exploited by some profiteers. For instance, Japan has not been able to tax the existing companies in this field that are active in this country but do not have an office there.

According to experts, the entrance of global assets to the crypto and Blockchain industry needs clear regulations more than anything, but this matter is faced with many challenges. The lack of clear explanations, tokenization of assets and competition between countries are among the factors that further complicate the regulation process. Therefore, given the international nature of these challenges, they cannot be solved without international cooperation.

www.counos.io 

In a part of this report, the use of cryptocurrencies in money laundering and crimes is discussed. As it was pointed to in this report, a money bill only shows its own value information and provides no information as to who owns it. And so, money bills are easily used for money laundering, tax evasion, and criminal activities. However, CBDC can reduce this anonymity and be a good alternative for high-value transactions; for instance, the People’s Bank of China announced on January 20, 2016, that it has a plan to release CBDC in the future, it also pointed out in this announcement that avoiding tax evasion is another advantage of launching CBDC in this plan.

It needs to be mentioned that, while this report is published, the director of Japan’s central bank, Masayoshi Amamiya, had expressed his negative opinion regarding the release of cryptocurrency by the central bank. According to Masayoshi Amamiya, the cryptocurrency released by the central bank is not an effective financial tool. According to experts, CBDC can be used as a means of control, when the interest rate is reduced to zero. In fact, the interest rate of deposits can be increased by CBDC, so that society would spend more money. However, Masayoshi Amamiya questioned this attitude and said that the success of CBDC depends on the country’s common currency.

www.counos.io 

Blockchain technology, however, can help remove some of the problems the businessmen and investors suffer from. The main features of Blockchain technology like owning a decentralized, digital distributed ledger technology remove the necessity of any intermediary which results in quicker transaction processing and lower fees.

Its multi-dimensional aspect intrigues other businesses such as insurance companies to utilize it too. The major reason is giving more transparency to the transactions no matter what they are. On the other hand, what has been pointed out about the uses of cryptocurrency doesn’t mean total removal of institutions like banks.

According to LBX, a cryptocurrency exchange in the UK, Visa had the highest record of the number of transactions per second by 24000 (considering the fact that it has had about 6 decades to improve its infrastructures in the field of cryptocurrencies) and the second place was for Ripple with a very sharp gap compared to the first; with the number of transactions amounting to one-sixteenth of what Visa shows. The lowest level, however, is for Bitcoin with 7 transactions per second.

Regarding Blockchain-based cryptocurrency networks, Ripple has the highest speed. Some other cryptocurrencies placed below Ripple are: Bitcoin Cash, with 60 transactions per second and showing a performance about one-third of the second rank cryptocurrency in this hierarchy; i.e. PayPal; Litecoin, having less significant difference with its upper-level rival (56 transactions per second), Dash and Ethereum with fewer numbers of transactions and lower ranks respectively.

In case the number of transactions increases there will not be any difference in the speed; it might be balanced through raising the fees. What can influence the speed of a transaction is again related to the fees. Transactions which are paid for more by the user will become the priority of the miners, so they will be the fastest ones accordingly. The other would be the cryptocurrency popularity; the more popular the currency is, the more time is needed for each transaction due to pressures on the network.

On the other hand, to be competitive enough in order to sustain in this volatile market needs reaching acceptable speed. One method used to speed up the transaction is applying a soft fork to make more room for processing the transaction. The other is Lightning network which allows the simultaneous occurrence of macro- and microtransactions thanks to handling transaction affairs offline. The second alternative started in January 2018, and some other new methods might be created to accelerate the speed of transactions on Blockchain platform from now on.

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After this news was published, a lot of posts went around social media regarding its fakeness. For instance, someone on Reddit claimed that Cotten’s death is fake and that he has evidence of cryptocurrencies being moved from this company’s Litecoin wallet addresses. To give an end to these doubts, Coindesk news outlet published his death certificate issued by the Government of Rajasthan’s Directorate of Economics and Statistics. On this certificate, the date of his death is said to be on December 9, and Ms. Jennifer Robertson as his widow.

The court did not recognize the state of this company as bankrupt, which resulted in the complaint of QuadrigaCX. This company requested a 30-day deadline from the court so to decrypt the laptop of the company’s founder and gain access to approximately $180 million of frozen assets. This deadline ends on February 7. According to this company’s attorneys, in case the decryption of the laptop does not go well, the next alternative would be to sell QuadrigaCX to provide the needed liquidity to pay customers back. Currently, this company’s website offers no services and has only published a few statements on the creditor protection act and the 30-day deadline to investigate its situation in order to pay back what it owes to customers.

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The Future Blockchain Summit will kick off on April 2, with a keynote speech delivered by the chairman of the summit, and will continue until April 3. There are going to be dozens of lectures on creative economy marketing, education, energy, finance, government, healthcare, real estate, retail, transport, supply chain, and tourism, all of which revolve around their Blockchain-based future. There are also going to be certified Blockchain workshops, open forums, exchanges between global leaders, a launchpad for pilot projects, and last but not least the entire summit is going to have extensive social media coverage.

This summit is surely the largest Blockchain festival in the world, at least in numbers! There are some staggering numbers announced ahead of its opening day. According to the official website of Future Blockchain Summit, 14,000 people, 175 startups and businesses, from a whopping 130 countries are scheduled to appear.

Among the most well-known organizations, businesses, and government bodies are Air France KLM, Atari & X2 Games, U.S. Department of State, Bank of Lithuania, Blockchain Development Foundation, Boston Children's Hospital, City of Palo Alto, CNN, Coca-Cola, Dubai Land Department, Dubai World Trade Centre, eBay, Government of Catalonia, Government of Estonia, Harvard, HSBC, LiteCoin, Lufthansa Group, Ministry Of Defence, Ministry of Social Affairs, MIT, Ripple, UN Sustainable Development Committee, World Bank, and World Food Program to name but a few.

There are also a number of superstar attendees, such as Abdel Mageed Yahia, director of World Food Program, Abraham Cambridge, founder and CEO of Sun Exchange, Amy McGann, foreign affairs officer at U.S. Department of State, Antonis Polemitis, CEO at University of Nicosia, Brent Wilton, global head of workplace rights at Coca-Cola, Franklyn Richards, founding director at LiteCoin, H.E. Dr. Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, director general of Smart Dubai Office, Japjit Tulsi, former vice president of engineering at eBay, Jordi Puignero, minister of digital for the government of Catalonia, Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari & X2 Games, Omar Ahsan, head of innovation at HSBC, Samuel Burke, business and technology correspondent at CNN, Thomas Hardjono, technical director at MIT, and Xavier Lagardere, vice president and head of distribution at Lufthansa.

To get a pass for this summit, you can head on to futureblockchainsummit.com, where you can also get a free pass for some parts of the summit. There are also accommodations in place, especially for this summit, that you can book prior to going to Dubai.

At Future Blockchain Summit, visionaries, investors, and government officials talk about implementing Blockchain in almost every aspect of life. These summits are of utmost importance because the future is Blockchain.

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Among the figures some names like billionaire Tim Draper, famous analyst Tom Lee, Free Republic of Liberlance president, Vit Jedlicka, etc. catch the eye.

It will occur on February 20th in Istanbul and will be the biggest crypto-event in the region too. With 20 countries and more than 5000 attendees from around the world it can be a beneficial situation for the prospective investors and entrepreneurs seeking for trying new areas of economy. The main discussion lines will be new revolutions in technology and economy regarding cryptocurrency and there is opportunity for the specialists to delve on and evaluate the investment chances through extending their knowledge in this field.

The main outline Turkey summit will focus on are examining the reasons of the banking system failure to apply cryptocurrencies in their payment, discussing about the possibility of reaching a unity among the governments in using cryptocurrencies and Blockchain, concentrating more on the people’s privacy and developing self-managed economic affairs; i.e., individualized economy, encouraging decentralized systems in order to avoid unidimensional authority , the future plans about other cryptocurrencies especially Bitcoin, offering and emphasizing on Blockchain-based economy to resolve today crises.

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He stated in this regard that, “I do not understand why all the businesses working on the basis of the internet, do not use cryptocurrencies for their payments. Using cryptocurrencies compared with conventional payment gateways is easier, faster, and cheaper. It involves less red tape, and depends on a wider and more diverse population and geography.”

This retail giant has made a lot of efforts to develop different kinds of Blockchain technology, but its relation to cryptocurrency is based on rumors. One of these published rumors says that Amazon can integrate Bitcoin as a payment method in its mechanism.

Chanpeng Zhao said that in the payment process, using fiat currencies requires a lot of processing, and using them is not cost-effective, in his opinion. He further added that one advantage of cryptocurrencies over fiat currencies is that you can attract more customers worldwide by using cryptocurrencies as a payment method since customers are no longer limited to those who access to international payment gateways.

Another advantage of using cryptocurrencies compared to companies such as Paypal, which is only accessible in a limited number of countries, is the ease of payment operation for goods and services. All in all, it can be concluded that using cryptocurrencies in global businesses is substantially effective in attracting millions of customers.

On the other hand, growing the client base of companies such as Amazon is among the advantages of cryptocurrencies. He stated that he does not understand why some companies do not use cryptocurrencies as a payment option in their businesses.

Amazon has expressed its interest in accepting Bitcoin cryptocurrency as a payment option in the form of some rumors; but currently, due to the recent volatilities of the crypto market, it sounds impossible.

Amazon has developed its own exclusive coins that cannot be entered into the crypto market, and be considered as a kind of cryptocurrency. But this currency can be used in in-app purchases of stuff like specific software, games, and digital stuff on Android phones.

In short, if Amazon launches its cryptocurrency, it can develop by using its services such as Audible, Twitch Prime, Amazon Prime, and by making it possible to transfer capital in the area of the ecosystem. This company can eliminate other cryptocurrencies from the competition, by offering a 5-10% discount to its customers.

Considering all that has been said so far, a question arises, what happens if Amazon keeps out of the crypto domain?

One of the things that threaten the authority of Bitcoin is Amazon not entering the crypto domain; in other words, Bitcoin requires the confirmation and attracting the attention of customers from the investment stage to the revenue stage. Though, despite all the worries regarding this matter, it is improbable that Amazon will stay out of the digital domain. However, should this happen, Bitcoin will lose one of its largest online retail stores, and a huge blow will come to the potential of this retail giant.

After a while, through lifting these bans in June, it received and investigated various advertisement applications.

Facebook Will Hire Employees from Chainspace

Facebook which has hindered cryptocurrency promotions announced in December that intended to make cryptocurrency of its WhatsApp messenger. The first target market of this company was in India and has high popularity among its 20 million users.

Cheddar financial outlet cited from anonymous resources reports that Facebook has recruited some experts from Chainspace, a specialized company in the field of cryptocurrency founded by the researchers of London College. Chainspace website describes its project under the name of global smart contracts platform which uses Blockchain distributed networks to distribute, and create speed as well as private zone.

It was written on a banner in this official institution website that “we are excited to introduce what the team is going to reach.”

The Facebook spokesman announced that former employees of Chainspace company work on their own Blockchain part; however, it is in silence about many doubts and questions.

Like many other companies, Facebook is seeking for alternative methods to apply Blockchain technology power. According to Cheddar, this recruitment, which has been a kind of chartering, shows that Facebook was interested in its research team more than Chainspace technology. On the contrary, the company spokesman rejected this saying. He emphasized that Facebook has not taken technology or startup of this company, but some employees of Chainspace joined the internal group of Facebook.

Presently, the giant of social media hires employees for eleven sections of Blockchain which is more than that of last December.

Facebook Can Create WhatsApp Cryptocurrency

According to the CCN report, Facebook has worked on Blockchain or cryptocurrency projects for a period of time. It has not said anything about the outline of the project, but the sources has revealed that it probably be placed on the fiat-backed WhatsApp platform in the form of a stablecoin. The giant has smartly hired Blockchain developers, and currently, 40 staffs are working on its cryptocurrency projects. David Marcus, the former head of Messenger and a former Coinbase board member, leads it. Before that, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook managing Director, was committed to accomplish cryptocurrency research, one of his personal challenges, until 2018.

Similar Companies Engaged in Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies

The first company and platform active in this regard is the telegram platform. This global messenger aims to publish a TON telegram open-network token and main network.

Moreover, a while ago, there was a piece of news implying that the Korean people are going to develop new software in Blockchain and cryptocurrencies and probably release it concomitant with Galaxy S10 to the users.

Why is Facebook Looking for a Stablecoin?

Cryptocurrency market has so far experienced much volatility. Bitcoin value has had some ebbs and flows. The fact is that cryptocurrencies lack any back, so their prices depend on market supply and demand. In the meantime, some backed-cryptocurrencies have been supplied; this support can be the countries’ currency or gold; consequently, they are safe against cryptocurrency market volatility. For instance, OneGram is a gold-backed cryptocurrency released by a United Arab Emirates company. Each Onegram’s value equals to the gold price in the world market. The other example is Petro, Venezuela’s national currency backed by its oil.

Facebook announced that the ultimate goal of this project is to provide availability of the services which don’t exist now such as healthcare, balanced financial services, and new information saving and sharing methods to millions of people.

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Belarus has created a cryptography-friendly environment for Blockchain and cryptocurrency companies in the country. In December 2017, the government of Belarus recognized Bitcoin as a legal currency, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), and smart contracts. The government of Belarus also enacted a law to prohibit taxation from cryptocurrency mining, cryptocurrency trades, and Initial Coin Offerings until 2023.

Tokenized Securities

Blockchain technology company Currency.com said that it will release its commercial platform for tokenized securities. This Belarus-based platform intends to allow investors to engage in trades and investments using common financial tools such as shares, goods, and indices, directly and needless to exchange cryptocurrencies to fiat money.

According to this official press release, the mentioned trading platform will begin with 150 tokenized securities, including any securities such as well-known shares, to silver, oil, and natural gas; but, eventually, it will release more than 10000 tokenized securities.

Users will be able to purchase tokens that reflect the function of some conventional capitals; such as Apple stock which is listed in NASDAQ stock market. Their currencies will have the same value as that of Apple stock, and they can be purchased using Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain-based company Currency.com is the first Blockchain-based business that has received the license of Belarus High Technology Park, in short HTP, under the title of “Developing a Digital Economy” on November 8.

In addition to the fact that the mentioned commercial platform is consistent with local regulation, it enforces the explicit requirements of KYC and AML supported by Blockchain smart services like Elliptic, Chainanalysis, and Coinfirm. In fact, to control transactions, a Blockchain tracing software will be implemented.

Furthermore, Blockchain company Currency.com is set to utilize its FCA and CySEC regulated platforms in order to provide access to the tokenized copy in exchange for an index, goods or stock.

Are Tokenized Assets Changed into a Trend?

On January 3 this year, Bitcoinist news website reported that an Estonian platform named DX Exchange, allowed users to trade well-known stocks using Ethereum Blockchain tokens through smart contracts.

Meanwhile, in 2018, Unofficial Central Bank and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), formed a team with well-known companies such as Deloitte, Anquan, and NASDAQ to develop solutions for simultaneous trade and agreement in the field of tokenized cryptocurrencies and secure capitals.

NASDAQ stock exchange was founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers, and its headquarter is in New York. NASDAQ stock exchange is open for six and a half working hours and starts working at 9:30 A.M. U.S. local time (5 P.M. in Tehran time zone) until 4 P.M. U.S. local time (00:30 A.M. in Tehran time zone). It has the highest number of stock trades in the world with 3321 participants and is considered the largest electronic trades market in the U.S.

It seems that tokenizing conventional capitals, such as shares, is turning into a developing trend; since the number of platforms owning this potential is increasing every day.

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Gerry Cotten was the only one to monitor the wallets and their associated keys, and after his demise, the exchange did not access to those funds. The common process was that Gerry Cotten transferred a large bulk of cryptocurrencies to the cold wallets to keep them against hacking and theft; although the exchanges sometimes can withdraw their funds in critical conditions through the multi-signature system.

Jennifer Robertson, Mr. Cotton’s widow, has stated that he was working with a computer at home which has unfortunately been encrypted. She continued that: “I don’t know the password or restore keys; despite repeated attempts and searches, I didn’t find anything which these keys have been written on.

Moreover, active operators in this exchange remarked that the manager’s monopolistic access to the cold wallet is very hazardous; since it makes the wallet vulnerable to the frauds’ kidnapping and extortion. Regarding what Mr. Cotten has done, Michael Gokturk, Einstein CEO stated that: “it is similar to walking around the city all the time with the hands full of millions of dollars of cash.”

Meanwhile, Mrs. Robertson recruited a cyber-security expert to decode Mr. Cotten’s laptop, but he has not so far succeeded in doing that, and it caused a liquidity crisis in this exchange. Of course, QuadrigaCX has explored many cold wallets with few cryptocurrencies in them.

The company said that it possesses just the liquidity of $286000 and it is an ignorable fund compared to $260 million owed to its users.

The assets of this company are not useable due to being stored in cold wallets, because these wallets are not connected to the internet network and protect existing cryptocurrencies against any attack and robbery.

The users of this cryptocurrency platform requested from the exchange authorities a document denoting Mr. Cotten’s demise due to not being able to withdraw their funds.

In spite of the investors’ complaints, this exchange tries to protect the company against them; therefore, QuadricaCX has asked for a deadline for this exchange and its cooperators to decode cold wallets.

Robertson has told that in addition to the aforementioned complaints on the part of the investors, she has been threatened by the users and sent derogatory and false views for her and her contacts on Facebook.

Despite all these events, she stated that if this exchange is not able to decode the wallet and return the investors’ fund, it will assign it the business to the investing users as there have been some suggestions in this regard too.

Finally, it can be said that this exchange could avoid the problems through an internal management system.

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