Bitcoin cash is essentially printing money
The creation of a second bitcoin asset this week did almost nothing to dilute the price of the original unit, with the value of the new asset instead rocketing skyward, generating almost $US7.5 billion ($9.5 billion) out of thin air. This week, a group of bitcoin activists and developers created a second version of bitcoin, within a few hours, the value of the new unit – bitcoin cash – leapt to over $US600. The original bitcoin price however, remained fairly steady, still trading at about $US2700 a coin, despite an almost 1:1 duplication of itself. “Everyone who has bitcoin now has bitcoin cash and because the market reckons this is […]
Super-fast, safe blockchain technology being developed at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney researchers are building a new super-fast, safe blockchain technology that has the potential to revolutionise the global economy. Best known as the technology that underpins Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, blockchain is a digital public ledger where transactions are recorded and confirmed pseudonymously. Named the ‘Red Belly Blockchain’, the new system being developed by the University of Sydney’s School of Information Technologies will allow secure and almost instantaneous digital transfer of virtual currencies across the world. “In recent testing, our blockchain achieved the best performance we have seen so far – with more than 440,000 transactions per second on 100 machines. In comparison, VISA’s network has a […]
What’s holding up the blockchain?
It’s not technology or regulation holding back the blockchain – software that stores and transfers value or data across the internet – we just haven’t figured out the next big use-case. Two reports released this week by the CSIRO’s Data61 not only inject some well-researched gravitas into the conversation, they also provide insight into why some of the major blockchain projects have stalled. Since 2015, banks, regulators, tech giants and startups all over the world have raised billions of dollars to explore the blockchain. But the only really successful, scaleable use of the blockchain remains cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Bitcoins currently trade at almost AU$4,000, with a total market equivalent to […]
Can Australia drive Bitcoin and FinTech Development in the Southeast?
After the 1st of July 2017, Australian blockchain and Bitcoin-related businesses that have relocated abroad can return. Coinidol.com contacted experts from Australia and asked them about the problems that the government should solve for the cryptocurrency and blockchain markets during the next year. Australia takes an important step toward Bitcoin and cryptocurrency acceptance with the government’s decision to drop the double goods and services tax (GST) starting July 2017. Double taxation – problem for the whole cryptocurrency industry Most countries have no problems with double taxation and GST being applied to Bitcoin purchases. And Australians often had to buy cryptocurrency overseas, which also blocks the development of a local cryptocurrency […]
Blockchain adoption in banks coming, but slower than expected
Recent headlines suggest that blockchain technology is revolutionizing financial services. JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, Commonwealth Bank, Wells Fargo and several other leading banks are using the digital ledger technology to conduct equity swaps, cross-border trades, and other transactions. You might think that blockchain has gone mainstream. Not so fast, says former UBS CIO Oliver Bussmann, who claims it may take banks two years to run blockchain in production due to regulatory hurdles, a lack of standards and other stumbling blocks. “This is real, this will come but in a very regulated environment. We will go through a lot of validation,” says Bussmann, who jumpstarted blockchain efforts when he was leading […]
Square powers Kanye West “Pablo” pop-up stores Australia, the US & Canada
Square is making selling Yeezy. Kanye West announced today that Square is the exclusive point-of-sale at Kanye’s “Pablo” pop-up stores in Australia, the U.S., and Canada this weekend. The previous Pablo NYC pop-up store reportedly generated more than $1 million in a weekend from fans eager line up for blocks to purchase Kanye’s “The Life of Pablo” clothing collection. Square Reader, which launched in Australia in March 2016, will be powering the Melbourne and Sydney Pablo pop-ups with point-of-sale and credit card acceptance using the smallest, most mobile and most affordable card payment device in market. Customers will be able to check out quickly with Square and start wearing […]
Perth firm claims to have created first Australian blockchain
Perth company Ledger Assets says it has created the first Australian blockchain and slashed the amount of energy used by the revolutionary technology. Blockchain technology underpins the bitcoin virtual currency and a worldwide race is on to find other uses in areas from stock exchange settlements and financial transactions to medical records and art, energy and wine trading. Ledger Assets’ blockchain is already supporting another Perth startup – Power Ledger – which is trialling peer-to-peer trading of surplus household solar power which has the potential to further disrupt the centralised power grid. Ledger Assets is also exploring further opportunities in the arts, medical records and insurance sectors using its pioneering […]
Blockchain: Distributed ledger technology still misunderstood
Blockchain may be the hottest technology trend in town, but business leaders run the risk of falling down a rabbit hole unless they are able to separate fact from fiction, according to Gartner’s research fellow Ray Valdes. While industry buzz around the bitcoin blockchain plus a dozen other competitive technologies has grown to deafening proportions, Mr Valdes warns that a dangerous cocktail of wishful thinking, mythmaking and misunderstanding can confuse the long-term transformative potential of the technology. “The thing about blockchain is that you will find businesses using the term in different ways in the same conversation,” Mr Valdes said. Mr Valdes also warns that the rampant interest in the […]
