A new generation is adopting Telegram and cryptocurrencies. If WhatsApp goes, the two might boom.

?? Let’s face it. WhatsApp will die out sooner or later. Either because Facebook shuts it down itself or another instant messaging app catches up and displaces it. The only reason why we are still using it is because all our friends are on it too. It’s one of those tech startups that starts to lag in innovation after a massive acquisition.

Telegraph

Death of WhatsApp Means Rise of Telegram and Cryptocurrencies

The former seems more likely since Mark Zuckerberg himself has ordered the technical integration of Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. Although sources within the company said they will remain stand-alone apps, does it make sense? The integration…

? Today I will take a look on Zcash and try to get what it exactly is
GO GO GO!

What is Zcash exactly?

Telegraph

What is Zcash exactly?

Zcash (ZEC) is a decentralized open-source cryptocurrency that guarantees privacy and selective transparency of transactions. Zcash currency payments are published in the public chain of blocks, but the sender, the recipient and the transfer amount are confidential.…

The World Economic Forum (WEF) foundation has outlined more than 65 blockchain use cases for solving the “most pressing” environmental challenges, in a report published September 14.
In the report, titled “Building Block(chain)s for a Better Planet,” the Switzerland-based WEF has highlighted a large number of blockchain applications that could be used to help solve the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
The proposed applications, according to the WEF, can enhance the environment protection efforts in several ways, such as new financing models for environmental outcomes, the realization of non-financial value and natural capital, outlining more efficient and cleaner decentralized systems, and others.
In addition to the potential for improving existing processes, the report also mentions the possibility of introducing completely new blockchain solutions – so-called “game changers” – that are expected to completely transform the way major environmental issues are managed.
These “game changers” include “see through” supply chains, decentralized energy and water management systems, sustainable fundraising sources, carbon markets, and others.
According to the report, the next important step in introducing blockchain applications for environmental protection is the establishment a “responsible” and “global” blockchain ecosystem, as opposed to funding specific, separate projects.
In conclusion, the WEF also pinpointed the problem of excessive use of blockchain caused by the hype around the industry.
To solve this issue, the organization has suggested three major questions to be considered as a starting point for any blockchain-related initiative: can the technology solve a specific problem, can the risks of unintended consequences be managed acceptably, and whether a functioning ecosystem of stakeholders is available.
On September 13, the WEF published a joint report that has estimated that the distributed ledger technology (DLT) could add $1 trillion to the volume of global trade over the next ten years. The report also argued that the embracement of the technology by major governments, including the member-states of the European Union, is “unavoidable.”

Bit.ly Reportedly Blocks ‘200’ Links From Andreas Antonopoulos’ ‘Mastering Ethereum’

Social media commentators are criticizing URL shortening service Bit.ly (Bitly) after a Twitter user warned Andreas Antonopoulos Nov. 3 that the service had blocked crypto-related links from his book.

Antonopoulos, author of several well-known guides to Bitcoin, quizzed Bitly on Twitter over the block, which allegedly extends to over 200 links in ‘Mastering Ethereum,’ due for publication in around four weeks.

“Why are you blocking http://bit.ly links to crypto-currency sites?” he asked, adding:

“I'm about to publish my 4th book and it has about 200 http://bit.ly links in it. If you are going to block links, I will need to remove all 200 and replace them with a competitor.”

Bitly appeared not have publicly responded as of press time Nov. 5, while commentators were quick to come to Antonopoulos’ defence, calling for a move away from “centralized” link shorteners.
Responding to his tweet, one user paraphrased Antonopoulos’ well-known soundpiece about Bitcoin ownership which regularly appears in talks and online Q&A sessions.

“Don’t rely on bitly or ANY shortener service. They are all a single point of failure,” one wrote, adding:

“Not your keys, not your bitcoin? Not your (shortener), not your link.”

Last week, Antonopoulos’ renowned book, ‘Mastering Bitcoin,’ courted separate controversy after Chinese state television unexpectedly showcased it, revealing that the Mandarin version of its title lacked all references to Bitcoin.

Bitly

URL Shortener - Short URLs & Custom Free Link Shortener | Bitly

Free URL shortener to create perfect URLs for your business. Bitly helps you create and share branded links with custom domains at scale. ✓ Check it out!

?Bank of America Reveals New Blockchain Patent Targeting Cash Handling

Bank of America (BoA) wants to patent a system using blockchain technology to improve cash handling, a new application .

Originally submitted in June 2017, the patent references “banking systems controlled by data bearing records.”

“Aspects of the disclosure relate to deploying, configuring, and utilizing cash handling devices to provide dynamic and adaptable operating functions,” its abstract reads.
BoA explains there remain communication difficulties in aspects of cash handling duties across banks’ huge operations, and suggests blockchain could help ease these.
“Cash handling devices may be used in operating centers and other locations to provide various functions, such as facilitating cash withdrawals and deposits,” the patent document continues.

“In many instances, however, it may be difficult to integrate such cash handling devices with technical infrastructure that supports banking operations and other operations while also optimizing the efficient and effective technical operations of the cash handling devices and various related computer systems.”

BoA has sought to step up its efforts to snag intellectual property in the blockchain sphere over the past two years.
In November, the bank was revealed to have the most such blockchain patents at more than 50, amid curiosity as to whether it would put all to use in the near term.
While keen on blockchain, BoA has adopted a highly risk-averse stance on cryptocurrency, becoming one of the few institutions to enact bans on associated fiat purchases by clients earlier this year.

?Altcoin Bitcoin Private Confirms Additional 2 Million Coins Secretly Premined

The development team behind altcoin Bitcoin Private (BTCP) has confirmed the creation of 2.04 million units of BTCP “that were never intended to exist on the blockchain,” according to an official statement .

On Dec. 23, digital assets analytics website Coin Metrics published a report revealing that during the import of Bitcoin (BTC) chain data, an additional 2.04 million units of altcoin BTCP — about $3.9 million at press time — were secretly minted. Per the project’s white paper, the total supply of BTCP is equal to around 20.4 million coins, while the secretly premined BTCP brought “the initial supply to 22.6 million.”

The BTCP core team says in today’s statement that upon receiving the reports, they “immediately launched an investigation to ascertain whether or not the alleged findings of an additional amount of BTCP coins were true.” After performing an internal audit, the team officially says that Coin Metrics’ findings were “mathematically accurate.” The team added:

“However, at this time, the source, purpose, and recipient of this exploit is currently unknown to the Bitcoin Private Contribution Team.”

The statement further cites the timeline of events regarding the issue, unveiling that ultimately there was a bounty posted for a specific issue, which was subsequently accepted by a developer, who then became a BTCP developer and was “promoted to a contributor on GitHub, allowing him to merge pull requests.”
That developer reportedly then completed the issue, merged their own code, and received their reward. The BTCP team further discovered that one line missing in the code “allowed the fork mine to be exploited due to the nodes not properly verifying the falsified fork blocks.” Once the bounty was collected, the developer left the BTCP project.
After that, the threat actor reportedly exploited the bug, creating over 2 million coins during the publicly announced fork mine. The statement reads:
“As the code was open source, and the fork-mine was announced on Twitter, anyone with sufficient blockchain development knowledge could have exploited it.”
The BTCP team further notes it is not clear whether those coins were transferred to an exchange or used or stored elsewhere. However, the team’s statement concludes:
“this particular exploit could only be taken advantage of during the fork mine, which already occurred earlier this year. Therefore, it is impossible for this particular bug exploit to occur again, nor can it be further exploited.”
The BTCP team also stated in the announcement that they had “no prior knowledge” of the incident before Coin Metrics’ report was released to the public.
At the end of the statement, the BTCP team writes that they have contacted major crypto exchange HitBTC about the situation. HitBTC has not responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comments by press time.
At press time, BTCP is trading at around $1.97, down close to 7 percent over the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.
In September, Bitcoin Core released an update following the recent detection of a vulnerability in the software. The vulnerability could reportedly have caused a crash of older versions of Bitcoin Core if they attempted processing a block transaction that tries to spend the same amount twice.

SBI Holdings’ Crypto Exchange Vctrade Accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple Deposits

Vctrade, a crypto exchange recently launched by Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings, has implemented Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) deposits. The company has revealed this in a press release .

The announcement further notes that the exchange — which was launched in July — is considering adding Bitcoin Cash (BCH) deposits after further evaluation of the cryptocurrency. SBI has also explained that cryptocurrency withdrawals will not be available until late January 2019, and will be limited to a hardware walletthat the company refers to as “designated wallet.”

The ability to only use one specific wallet, according to the announcement, is supposed to “link the address pertaining to the customer,” thus ensuring adequate implementation of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing measures on the exchange.
SBI Holdings, according to its website, has paid-in capital of over 92 million yen ($828 million), and over six thousand consolidated employees. According to an interim results announcement, in the six months ended Sep. 30 of this year the company registered over 176 million yen in revenue ($1.584 million).

As Cointelegraph reported in September, a subsidiary of SBI Holdings, the SBI Savings bank, has signed a memorandum of understanding with
Dayli Intelligence, a company specialized in artificial intelligence and blockchaintechnologies. The bank has reportedly made this move to bolster its fintechbusiness.

In August, SBI Holdings also announced that it had made a second investment in cryptocurrency exchange LastRoots.