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Raspberry Pi lnd version 0.6.1-beta commit=v0.6.1-beta
I have been attempting to create a public lnd node by following the RaspiBolt guide:
https://stadicus.github.io/RaspiBolt/raspibolt_40_lnd.html
Although my router supports UPnP (Plug and Play), lnd fails to connect to the network when attempting to use this feature. In the lnd configuration file, I must comment the following line:
nat = true
to
#nat = true
The node works when this is disabled, but I want to make the node public for some hobby projects.
What is the best workaround for the UPnP issue?
I have discovered two solutions but don't know how to implement either. The first option which I uncovered on another reddit post here is to simply forward port 9735 to the pi. I can handle that, but I don't know what to change on the pi side.
The other option I have found is to use Tor to route lnd traffic. That would be a great solution but I could find very little help online for the installation. There are a couple of guides but they all conflict. I tried this guide but it resulted in an error:
/home/bitcoin/.lnd/lnd.conf:31: unknown option: listen
Can anyone help me here? Are there other places people chat about lightning that I might have luck researching?
Thanks!
Can someone provide simple step by step directions for setting up a Bitcoin wallet in Canada? All I want is a simple android app wallet and be able to load from credit card or bank account.
Super new to this, I find the whole thing very confusing. Trying to get set up before the Canadian flash sale.
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The Hot event of Blockchain held in the Sydney, Australia , with the goal of protecting the Enviroment and bringing the best benefits to investors, TrustInvestment focuses on new technology, renewable energy.
#Bitcoin #cryptocurrency #Solar
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China has crossed the renminbi-con.
The value of China’s currency, the renminbi, has weakened past seven renminbi to one U.S. dollar. If you wished to buy an American dollar with China’s currency, in other words, it would cost you more than seven renminbi. (At press time, it cost 7.05 RMB.)
Why does this matter? For years, official policy in Beijing held the line under seven, keeping the nation’s currency from deteriorating beyond that (somewhat arbitrary) psychological threshold. As of Monday morning, the currency’s value breached the self-imposed limit—something that has not occurred since the global financial turmoil of 2008. The event—a seemingly minor devaluation—signals a major ramp up in the trade conflict between the world’s two superpowers, and it demonstrates how states can turn their currencies toward macroeconomic combat.
Consider how a weaker renminbi might tilt trade to China’s advantage. In such a scenario, a Chinese exporter could cut prices, listed in U.S. dollars, and yet continue to reap the same amount of renminbi in sales as it did pre-discount. So, say you’re a factory in Guangzhou used to pulling in 700 renminbi on $100 worth of electronics; at the present rate, you would bring in 705 renminbi on $100 worth of those same electronics—a slight edge that could help to offset the impact of higher tariffs, which U.S. President Donald Trump has indicated he plans to levy.
If Beijing continues to allow the renminbi to weaken, the strategy will almost certainly come back to bite the Middle Kingdom. Inflation could rise. Consumer spending could drop. Money could take flight overseas. The currencies of neighboring countries could face similar markdowns. Commodities, such as soybeans and oil, could become more expensive to purchase. And paying down debt to foreign lenders could become more expensive. These are all possible negative knock-on effects.
Investors, fearing the worst from such geopolitical brinkmanship, are responding by de-risking. So far, the S&P 500, the Down Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq Composite have all suffered their worst drops of the year.
Like Trump’s proposal to boost tariffs, Beijing’s willingness to indulge the renminbi’s decline represents a weapon in the U.S.-China trade skirmish (which is looking more pessimistic by the day). In a post on Twitter, Trump accused China of currency manipulation, and called it “a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time!” The People’s Bank of China, meanwhile, blamed U.S. policies for the price movement and Yi Gang, the central bank’s governor, asserted that China will “not engage in competitive devaluation.”
All this tumult is, of course, feeding interest in cryptocurrencies, an asset class whose boosters claim to be decoupled, mostly, from the vagaries of nation state strife. To wit: Bitcoin’s price rose as much as 15% on Monday.
The die has been cast, as an old Roman once said.
Robert Hackett | @rhhackett | robert.hackett@fortune.com
Mihaill Kudryashev, a Front-end engineer at PLATINUM ENGINEERING, wrote this article while seeking to raise awareness about USDQ, a stablecoin his team is helping to develop. Among the biggest benefits, USDQ brings full decentralization and predictive capabilities. Soon there will be even more fully backed stable coins: JPYQ, KRWQ, SGDQ, HKDQ, CNYQ, RUBQ under Q DAO governance. Slowly learning more about blockchains, Mihail has been effective in transforming vague ideas into effective front-end solutions with strong UI/UX. Within his team, he’s helped many crypto startups to make their voice heard throughout the emerging global crypto community. In this article, Mihail looks into the key benefits that users win from using USDQ.
USDQ brings stability, with no need to engage legacy finance
How do USDQ and Q DAO coins work within the ecosystem?
USDQ is decentralized stablecoin, which uses algorithms to offer higher stability and reliability. It's backed by Bitcoin (another top 10 cryptocurrencies will be added in future). The elegant system places all transactions on the blockchain and empower users to execute cross-border and disintermediated transactions at any time and from any place. It's pegged to the value of USD, i.e. 1 USDQ always equals 1 USD. The ecosystem's design borrows heavily from fractional banking systems. In the nutshell, USDQ is a customer-facing stablecoin and Q DAO is an internal "operational" coin; together they help create a stabilized safe haven for anybody who's looking to hedge against rampant volatility of crypto markets. Introduction to Q DAO and USDQ
There's a number of factors that prevent mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. The biggest factor among this is high volatility, seen in crypto. Bitcoin, the oldest and most popular coin, has been fluctuating with prices oscillating between 20,000 and 3,500 in just one year of 2018. No potential adopters, be it merchants or individuals, would be happy with suffering huge losses that such drastic changes can entail. And it's this high volatility that USDQ is set to address, bringing stability and convenience. Tether (USDT) is probably the most well-known and widely used stablecoin. However, it has been embroiled in various controversies from the very start with no end to these in sight. Although the system is supposed to assure the 1-to-1 fiat reserves for all Tether units created, the website content has been recently changed to say that the issuer views not only cash in the bank, but also various loans to other companies, as the reserves. Both regulators and crypto enthusiasts have voiced concerns, which might bode ill for Tether in the months to come.
USDQ works differently. Here, the stablecoin is pegged to US Dollar and backed by Bitcoin (+top 10 other cryptocurrencies in future). It's similar to lending operations and fractional banking systems. Overcollateralization is used to mitigate potential unexpected changes in assets prices. The USDQ ecosystem is highly transparent as all of the operations are recorded on the immutable Ethereum blockchain, open to review by anybody and at any time. The smart contracts bring automation to business processes and eliminate the need for middlemen to assure trust and prevent abuse. In order to determine how viable USDQ will be in the future, we need to discuss the two tokens used within the ecosystem.
Review of Q DAO and USDQ
Q DAO is governance token, entitles holders to participate in voting for new decisions. Importantly, holders are interested seeing Q DAO's prices growing and thus they are incentivized to thoroughly review proposals and deliver the best decisions. In this way, Q DAO imbues higher democracy and decentralization, on which many current crypto projects lag. In addition, all the fees, charged for the system use, can be paid only in Q DAO. In order to create USDQ, a user needs to transfer Bitcoins into a Collateralized Debt Contract (CDC). This will automatically trigger the smart contract to generate USDQ and send it to the user. In order to change USDQ back into crypto assets, users need to pay back the amount of USDQ they input and the fees, chargeable in Q DAO Tokens. Whenever this is done, USDQ is automatically destroyed and the Collateralized Debt Сontract is closed.
In addition by getting USDQ directly at the company's website, users can trade in USDQ on secondary markets. It's as easy as trading Bitcoin or Ethereum or any other coin. Traders can store both coins in their wallets, assuring higher security. The stability and ease of use for USDQ open up wide ranges of adoption for both businesses and end consumers alike. What makes USDQ stand apart
The main difference between projects like Tether and USDQ is complete transparency and openness in the inner workings of USDQ. All the data is easily accessible on the blockchain and there are no rumors or controversies as to the reserves held by the team, potential conflicts of interest or hidden agendas. The CDС mechanics ensure that it's impossible to create fake units of USDQ, as smart contract can be activated only after an amount in Bitcoins is input. The development is being done completely transparent. Interested parties can review the smart contract, presented on the website. The audits and peer reviews were carried out to assure the highest quality of smart contract. The website-based scanner enables to track all the data about each and every transaction, including time, amount and collateral size. In addition, should a "black swan" event occur, i.e. a drastic fall in Bitcoin prices, Q DAO is sold on secondary markets. Bitcoin value is liquidated to make a USDQ buyback procedure, which prevents any losses on the part of the system's users.
Additionally, PLATINUM BLOCKCHAIN ENGINEERING which is helping to develop the ecosystem is working hard to build up long-term partnerships with stakeholders in the crypto industry. The more liaisons the team wins, the better outlook for USDQ will be.
Why do we need stablecoins anyway?
Different assets produce varying levels of volatility in prices, when compared to each other. For instance, the purchasing capacity of US dollar has reduced over time with 1 USD from 1913 equaling 24 USD today (2019). This happens due to inflation 3-10% per year.
In comparison, Bitcoin almost tripled in value in 2018 and then fell down by as much. Thus, fiat currencies are more stable, when compared to cryptocurrencies.
Stablecoins don't attempt to fight inflation. Instead, coins like Tether and USDQ peg themselves to US dollar, bringing relatively higher stability to crypto trading communities. One of the most famous transactions with Bitcoin is when a pizza was bought with Bitcoin back in 2010. At that time, the pizza ended up costing just a couple of bucks, but today it costs millions. Although stablecoins continue to be impacted by inflation and exchange rates that come to them from fiats they peg themselves to, they are nowhere near the mindboggingly high volatility of crypto assets.
One of the major use cases for stablecoins like USDQ is concluding long-term contracts. For instance, when using a popular decentralized platform Augur, users can bet on the price of oil in 5-10 years. The problem is that you won't only have to account for future changes in oil prices, but also for prices in Ethereum or Bitcoin that you use to make the bet. USDQ solves this problem elegantly and without much trouble. Using it, users don't have to consider future changes in Bitcoin prices and they can concentrate on what they've come here for - betting on future events. And they don’t have to worry about technical details as it’s easy to purchase USDQ and use for trader’s purposes.
Betting industry is just one of the many use cases, where USDQ can bring benefits. It can be successfully used for any transactions done across borders and long-term financial contracts. Virtually, USDQ opens up new opportunities any time value is exchanged and volatility has a negative effect. Bottom Line
USDQ has a high potential to democratise transactions between companies and individuals globally, bringing fast execution and low volatility. The "PLATINUM BLOCKCHAIN ENGINEERING" is working hard to enable and improve various features in order to help USDQ to take leading positions on crypto markets.
Here are the main ecosystem’s features:
The system uses two tokens (USDQ and Q DAO) in order to tackle volatility, while staying on the blockchain.
USDQ is always pegged to USD 1:1. In order to come into line with as many national exchanges as possible and enter other markets, the company will issue other tokens pegged to the national currencies. For example, there will be CNYQ (for Chinese Yuan), KRWQ (for South Korean Won), as well as JPYQ (for Japanese Yen) at the early stage.
USDQ brings higher decentralization, driving this important vector in the development of crypto industry. Q DAO holders are interested in seeing the coin grow and succeed, thus they will work hard to review and pick the best proposals for the system to move forward.
Taking into account these beneficial features, there's no question that USDQ will become a viable alternative to other fiat-backed cryptocurrencies like TUSD, USDT, GUSD, USDC etc. Competing with other stablecoins, both already operating and just being developed, PLATINUM ENGINEERING will roll out the new features and underlying tech solutions that'll help propel the coin.
USDQ is decentralized stablecoin, which uses algorithms to offer higher stability and reliability. Fully on-chain and monitored by high-speed AI robots, ecosystem offers reliable defences against malicious acts and attacks. First run in line of fiat-pegs, USDQ is brought by PLATINUM ENGINEERING Team, looking to edge together innovative solutions in collateralization, using stabilizing mechanisms for high-endurance stablecoins. Soon there will be even more fully backed stable coins: JPYQ, KRWQ, SGDQ, HKDQ, CNYQ, RUBQ under USDQ brand. Fully anonymous, USDQ breaks limits out of this legacy world.
PLATINUM ENGINEERING values your opinion and welcomes you to continue the conversation on Telegram or Facebook, where the company’s development team is always ready to help you find solutions to pressing issues. Working on projects like USDQ, Michael has gained an invaluable suite of skills and insights, enabling to roll out high-usability UI/UX with tight deadlines and lack of clear expectations as to user behaviors. The team has successfully produced white-label wallets, stand-alone fundraising platforms, as well as integrated fundraising ecosystems. Any startup looking for a reliable partner to help execute a success-story will win from a free consultation with the PLATINUM ENGINEERING team about potential solutions to their needs and issues.
This overview may not be fully exhaustive and does not assess the viability of any project, nor its team legitimacy. Readers should conduct their own due diligence before using or investing in any of the listed Stablecoins. This article represents the author’s opinions only and should not be considered investment advice. All described functionality in the article is still under development, it can be changed/processed. Please follow the updates.
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Dear Pundians,
July was definitely a whirlwind! Over the last month, we hit several milestones — from being Samsung’s first fintech app in its blockchain ecosystem to organizing meetups in five cities across the globe, and so much more in between. Allow us to walk you through the specifics.
Product Development
Telegram integration and crypto gift feature
We are very excited to announce that X Wallet 2.0 is now available on Android and iOS. Using this version, you can integrate your Telegram contacts and send or receive crypto gifts. To make things easier, we set up an official Telegram chat group (https://t.me/pundixgift) for users (it’s currently the top Telegram chat according to combot.org).
For more information, check out our feature.
Integration support for Verifone X990
US-based Verifone welcomed Pundi X with the integration of its X990 with our XPOS module. Through this partnership, users now have access to a wider network of retailers accepting cryptocurrency payments.
Read more about it here.
Welcoming Samsung Blockchain Wallet
We’re excited to be part of Samsung’s growing adoption of blockchain technology into their products. The Samsung Blockchain Wallet enables the use of decentralized apps on Samsung smartphones, making it easier for blockchain technology to penetrate the mainstream market. We are definitely privileged to be part of this important initiative.
On top of it all, our platform now supports 12 tokens, including native coins of three public chains, which are BNB, XEM and QTUM.
Merchant Adoption and Partnership
Kapytal exchange, Mexico
Last July 4, we were at the Blockchain Summit Latam 2019 in Mexico City to seal our partnership with Kapytal, a Mexican digital asset exchange. They will be the first official distributor for Pundi X in Mexico, having launched operations on August 1. Not only do they distribute XPOS and XPass cards, they also provide liquidity for merchants willing to cash out Mexican pesos to their bank accounts.
São Paulo, Brazil
Pundi X continues to make waves in Brazil, with five new newsstands adopting the XPOS in the center of São Paulo.
Lounge X, Korea
Robot-powered café Lounge X located in Seoul, South Korea, now welcomes crypto payments via XPOS. It’s a highly advanced café with a robot barista and a robot server, and the addition of XPOS to its tech-drive operations is definitely a plus for the café and Pundi X. The restaurant of the future is now here.
Event and communities
XBlockchain Meetups: Hanoi, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Dubai, and Istanbul
In July, we’ve co-organized a series of XBlockchain meetups to spread the awareness of the blockchain technology, Function X and Pundi X development progress. The purpose is to seek the collaboration opportunities with various blockchain communities and businesses.
July 4: Pundi X partnered with Coin 98 and Function X for a XBlockchain Meetup at the VCC Exchange in Hanoi, Vietnam.
July 6: Pundi X hosted a XBlockchain Meetup with Function X, Kyber Network and VeChain Japan Community in Tokyo, Japan.
July 20: Pundi X together with the Dosh Exchange and the Project Tubu successfully finished a XBlockchain Meetup in Johannesburg, South Africa.
July 24: Pundi X met with major partners at the Astrolabs XBlockchain Meetup Dubai.
July 30: Last XBlockchain Meetup in July was held in Istanbul, Turkey with Koophub.
Thank you for our partners and those who participated the meetups!
Mobile 360 Africa
Pundi X CEO and Co-Founder Zac Cheah was at Mobile360 Africa last July 16 to share his insights on the topic, “How Blockchain Steers Technology of The Future” and showcase the blockchain technology that Function X is capable of. Held in Kigali, Rwanda and organized by GSMA, Mobile360 highlighted key initiatives in the mobile landscape and in relation to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Afro Asia Fintech Festival 2019
In the same week of Mobile 360 Africa, the Pundi X team also went to Nairobi with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to join Afro Asia Fintech Festival from July 15–16. We met important ministers, regulators, bankers, and enterprises to discuss collaborations for the development of the fintech landscape in Africa.
World Cities Summit
Joao Victor Mendes, LATAM Country Manager of Pundi X shared what our team has been up to at the World Cities Summit | Mayors Forum 2019 in Medellin, Colombia on July 13.
Blockcrypto Brazil
Joao was also at Blockcrypto Brazil to share how Function X works. At the conference, we set up a booth where participants experienced how to top up Bitcoin using XPOS.
MakerDao, DigiX and Pundi X joint meetup in Seoul
We also held a successful joint meetup between MakerDao and DigiX in Seoul on July 13, as a way to strengthen our community in the city.
Binance/Pundi X Meetup in MedellÃn
Binance met with Pundi X last July 10 in Medellin, Colombia, as a way to further the partnership and conversation between the two companies.
Community
AMA
Q2 Quarterly report
We are grateful to those who joined our AMA Session with Zac Cheah, who was happy to report some of Pundi X’s highlights over the last quarter and announce our upcoming activities.
Binance Italian Telegram Group
We’re also joined AMA hosted by the Binance Italian Telegram Group and gave out 3,000,000 NPXSXEM as crypto gifts to those who participated.
Pink Care Token Alliance with Binance Charity Foundation
Period poverty is a reality, that’s why Binance Charity Foundation initiated Pink Care Token (PCAT) a stablecoin aimed at sponsoring feminine hygiene products for young women in the underdeveloped world. Pundi X has joined PCAT to help Binance Charity Foundation to achieve the goal.
CryptoGift Drop Event
To celebrate NPXSXEM migrating to Binance Chain, we have held five days of CryptoGift Drop Even from July 17–21 by giving out a total of 14,000,000 NPXSXEM to the selected Telegram groups.
Q2 Removal of 34 billion of NPXS and NPXSXEM tokens
On July 14, we completed the removal of 5 billion NPXS and 29 billion NPXSXEM tokens for Q2 2019. We’ve included the amount of NPXS and NPXSXEM converted to FX tokens in May.
The conversion of NPXS and NPXSXEM was completed on July 15 and will continue removing these converted tokens per scheduled. Below is the overview of the conversion result.
Migration to Binance Chain and DEX listing proposal submission
Announced on June 21, the migration of NPXSXEM BEP2 tokens has started in July. The current total supply of NPXSXEM is 67,725,825,819.45 and will be swapped 1:1 to the Binance Chain, becoming BEP2 tokens.
Meanwhile, we also submitted NPXSXEM listing on Binance DEX proposal. Thanks to the support of our community, the proposal has received over 3500+upvotes. As the voting also requires Binance Chain Validators, we are awaiting for the listing result at this moment.
Full: https://medium.com/pundix/monthly-report-a-recap-of-activities-in-july-2019-7585e1488601
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Facebook is very knowingly exploiting a very specific gap in regulations and technology made possible by the cryptocurrency industry that will allow their planned “Libra” cryptocurrency to flow into the black market economy while still being compliant with traditional financial entities’ compliance policies.(I don’t use “black market economy” as a bad word here. The right to financial services should be universal, since leaving the control to gatekeepers creates a tool that is much more likely to be successful at oppressing people than at keeping the bad guys out. The problem with the Libra is that it’s a part of Facebook’s broader surveillance capitalism strategy. I’m a privacy proponent and I usually spend my free time writing guides on Privacy & Cryptocurrency for the Human Rights Foundation. In a previous life, I built cryptocurrency exchange platforms.)The exploit works by following a playbook that was written by the Bitcoin industry. The exploit emerges in the gaps of a little puzzle consisting of a few key players:Here’s a diagram showing how they view their relationships with each other:The basis of the exploit lies in combining the pseudonymity of Bitcoin’s public key cryptography with the transparency of the Bitcoin blockchain. The transparency gives the participants in the diagram above the ability to surveil the Bitcoin system and produce reports that ticks all the boxes necessary for regulatory compliance. But the pseudonymity of the system still makes it easy enough for anyone with a computer to circumvent those exact surveillance methodologies when it’s necessary (more info here & here).In the world of financial surveillance, those surveilling know they’re not going to catch every bad guy. It’s typically enough that you can demonstrate that you’re able to provide insight into a sufficient portion of transactions coming into your platform and that you possess far-reaching blacklisting capabilities and keep updated lists of blacklisted entities. And because nearly all activity in the Bitcoin system originates from speculators who typically do not bother to circumvent surveillance, the pie-chart diagrams the blockchain analysis firms produce on behalf of their clients will indeed look compelling.What this numbers-based exercise completely fails to capture is the underlying potential embedded in the pseudonymous design to circumvent surveillance whenever and wherever it is needed.To understand this better, by analogy, let’s say that a government wanted to surveil 3D printers, so that no one prints guns in their homes. To make sure that 3D printers are not being used for this purpose, every 3D printer starts coming with government-installed webcams attached to them.As soon as this happens, websites start popping up with software to patch your printer to send a static video stream to the webcam to hide your activities. Now, let’s say 98% of the 3D printer owners do not have any interest in printing guns or manipulating the video stream, so they just leave the webcams on. If the government was a blockchain analysis company, they would produce a diagram with detailed reports showing how they’ve effectively observed and cataloged 98% of all 3D printing activity, and that 3D printing is one of the most transparent systems in the world and that the country is safeguarded against 3D-printed guns.That’s essentially how the system of Bitcoin surveillance works today. The on- and off-ramps may be regulated, but the Bitcoins themselves are fickle and leak through their cracks. This is an amazing deal for Bitcoin because it means it can both trade at regulated venues and serve the institutional market while at the same time trickle down into the hands of every person from every walk of life on the planet. Transparency and pseudonymity — it is the ultimate combination that any aspiring form of digital currency should try to emulate for global reach.And with the Libra, Facebook is intentionally cloning both of these two properties. Listen closely to what David Marcus says in the video below. David Marcus is the Director of Libra and VP of Messaging Products at Facebook, but he is also a Bitcoin fan and up until recently sat on the Board of Directors of the largest cryptocurrency exchange business in the United States: Coinbase.The reason why Facebook is doing it is because they believe the plan has a chance of working. And if it is successful, it pushes an enormous amount of the regulatory responsibility (KYC/AML) of operating the on- and off-ramps away from Facebook and to the cryptocurrency exchanges where the Libra is traded. It’s letting the market figure out a way to give people access to the Libra that works, any way that works, just like it has worked for Bitcoin for 10 years. In fact, opening up the opportunity for anyone to run a Libra exchange means that there’s probably even going to be some exchanges that will try to avoid KYC/AML regulations altogether, furthering the Libra’s reach into the world.Many cryptocurrency exchanges have been operating without licenses and without any particular regulatory oversight in the past, and some still do today. And whenever one gets shut down or implements KYC/AML restrictions, another one pops up somewhere else that doesn’t, sometimes by people who are unaware of the fact that they’re breaking any rules. And sometimes, not even the regulators in that region are aware whether any rules are being broken.The LocalBitcoins platform which helped people to meet in person to trade Bitcoin for cash envelopes successfully operated without ID requirements for seven years before being forced to remove the option earlier this month.But the “gap” isn’t fully gone yet. There still exists platforms such as Bisq and Hodl Hodl where people are able to circumvent these types of regulations. Here’s a quote from a blog post that Hodl Hodl recently posted when LocalBitcoins shut down in Iran:So, by combining the properties of pseudonymity and transparency into their own Libra blockchain, Facebook hopes to achieve this sweet spot of simultaneous regulatory compliance and regulatory arbitrage, allowing the Libra to spread all over the world like wildfire while other businesses shoulders the heat. And why wouldn’t it spread like wildfire? The Facebook app family (Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram) is home to ~2.5 billion users. And the Libra, being backed by a basket of national currencies and government debt securities, is probably going to be a more stable currency alternative than what anyone else can provide in today’s world except for maybe the Federal Reserve.Ted Livingston did a great write-up on what the long-term ambitions are with all of this in what he calls the WeChat Playbook. Basically, the most plausible scenario is that once you’ve sold your current money for the Libra, Facebook is going to do everything they can to make sure you never need to take your money out of its family of apps again. They will do this by offering you the ability to pay for everything there; sending money to friends, shopping online, paying inside physical stores, paying your bills, buying airplane tickets, bus tickets, and even tipping beggars on the street.Critics are going to complain that the Libra will be a tool for Facebook to extract even more data about its users, to which Facebook is going to respond that they have no special insight or control over the Libra blockchain, because they are just one of 100 validator nodes from the Libra Association. This is mostly true, so save yourself some time and don’t fall into this argument trap.That doesn’t mean that Facebook isn’t going to be able to harvest data about the purchases that occur within their own app ecosystem. Facebook has already begun clawing at this today with the roll-out of in-app purchases in Instagram (buying from brands without leaving the app) and Facebook Marketplace. If the Libra is your currency of choice and the Facebook app family is its natural home, the conversion rate between you and the targeted ads Facebook shows you will likely increase considerably. With one-click purchases, the advertising companies will always be just one click away from your money. And who makes money from that, except for the advertising company? The company selling the ad space!And then we haven’t even mentioned that the Libra’s backers will be able to extract enormous interest earnings from the fact that the Libra Association is sitting on giant piles of everyone’s cash in the “real world” while everyone else is just sending around funny Libra tokens on a blockchain in the cloud.Simply put, the Libra Masterplan is borrowing pages from the Bitcoin playbook and the WeChat playbook both at once. If successful, it makes the Libra accessible to everyone on the planet while offloading the regulatory burden of operating the on- and off-ramps to other business. With the massive network effects of its ~2.5 billion user app ecosystem, it has the potential to create the largest digital money platform that has ever existed, where it can record all purchases you make and market goods and services to you on a daily basis while leveraging the fact that Facebook already knows more about you than almost anyone else.In the grand scheme of things, a successful Libra is probably going to do more for Bitcoin in terms of warming users up to the idea of cryptocurrency than nothing has ever done in the past. Bitcoin increased in value by more than 10% over the past weekend, and is nearing a 15-month high. Moreover, since the Libra is a “stablecoin” at the mercy of central banking monetary policy, it doesn’t pose a significant threat to Bitcoin as an investment vehicle. Thus, a successful Libra is probably a net good for Bitcoin. That said, the regulatory response to the Libra during the coming year is going to carry significant consequences to the Bitcoin industry in the short-term, as I lay out below. I see four potential scenarios moving forward.Regulators put a stop to Facebook’s plans before they even materialize, citing privacy issues, or that they do not like the idea of Facebook sitting on such vast sums of reserves, or fears that the Libra would have a destabilizing effect on the economy. Everything goes back to normal.In this scenario, regulators are okay with the reserve structure but see through the Libra transparency-pseudonymity masterplan. The Libra Association can attempt to please regulators by restricting the blockchain to only process transactions coming from wallets that have been verified with government ID, such as Facebook’s own Calibra wallet. While this is a possible outcome (and technically easy for them to implement), it also eliminates the entire purpose of the Libra blockchain.In this case, the Bitcoin industry could be in trouble as well, because it is currently exploiting that exact same transparency-pseudonymity loophole that allows it to fit nicely into the regulated financial market.In this scenario, the Libra launches in the exact form as they envision it today. Ideally, this means that there isn’t anything wrong with the Bitcoin playbook either and we can all stop stressing. The Libra and Bitcoin can then compete with each other, or complement each other, on their own merits.In the worst case, regulators take note of the transparency-pseudonymity loophole, but notices that the Bitcoin project has a wildly different relationship to privacy compared to the Libra. In Bitcoin, the project’s developers and supporters are always seeking new and innovative ways to eliminate the effectiveness of the blockchain analysis firms. And there’s no “Bitcoin Association” you can regulate if things start going south. It is possible that the Libra brings so much heat to the cryptocurrency industry that in the turmoil that erupts, the Libra is the only cryptocurrency that survives the regulator’s scrutiny on the virtue of being the absolutely easiest cryptocurrency to control and surveil.Thanks to Joey Krug for useful feedback.Privacy tech advisor at the Human Rights Foundation. Previously built blockchains and cryptocurrency exchange platforms and at Cinnober (Nasdaq).The frontlines of the future. A new Medium publication about tech and science.Facebook is very knowingly exploiting a very specific gap in regulations and technology made possible by the cryptocurrency industry that will allow their planned “Libra” cryptocurrency to flow into the black market economy while still being compliant with traditional financial entities’ compliance policies.(I don’t use “black market economy” as a bad word here. The right to financial services should be universal, since leaving the control to gatekeepers creates a tool that is much more likely to be successful at oppressing people than at keeping the bad guys out. The problem with the Libra is that it’s a part of Facebook’s broader surveillance capitalism strategy. I’m a privacy proponent and I usually spend my free time writing guides on Privacy & Cryptocurrency for the Human Rights Foundation. In a previous life, I built cryptocurrency exchange platforms.)The exploit works by following a playbook that was written by the Bitcoin industry. The exploit emerges in the gaps of a little puzzle consisting of a few key players:Here’s a diagram showing how they view their relationships with each other:The basis of the exploit lies in combining the pseudonymity of Bitcoin’s public key cryptography with the transparency of the Bitcoin blockchain. The transparency gives the participants in the diagram above the ability to surveil the Bitcoin system and produce reports that ticks all the boxes necessary for regulatory compliance. But the pseudonymity of the system still makes it easy enough for anyone with a computer to circumvent those exact surveillance methodologies when it’s necessary (more info here & here).In the world of financial surveillance, those surveilling know they’re not going to catch every bad guy. It’s typically enough that you can demonstrate that you’re able to provide insight into a sufficient portion of transactions coming into your platform and that you possess far-reaching blacklisting capabilities and keep updated lists of blacklisted entities. And because nearly all activity in the Bitcoin system originates from speculators who typically do not bother to circumvent surveillance, the pie-chart diagrams the blockchain analysis firms produce on behalf of their clients will indeed look compelling.What this numbers-based exercise completely fails to capture is the underlying potential embedded in the pseudonymous design to circumvent surveillance whenever and wherever it is needed.To understand this better, by analogy, let’s say that a government wanted to surveil 3D printers, so that no one prints guns in their homes. To make sure that 3D printers are not being used for this purpose, every 3D printer starts coming with government-installed webcams attached to them.As soon as this happens, websites start popping up with software to patch your printer to send a static video stream to the webcam to hide your activities. Now, let’s say 98% of the 3D printer owners do not have any interest in printing guns or manipulating the video stream, so they just leave the webcams on. If the government was a blockchain analysis company, they would produce a diagram with detailed reports showing how they’ve effectively observed and cataloged 98% of all 3D printing activity, and that 3D printing is one of the most transparent systems in the world and that the country is safeguarded against 3D-printed guns.That’s essentially how the system of Bitcoin surveillance works today. The on- and off-ramps may be regulated, but the Bitcoins themselves are fickle and leak through their cracks. This is an amazing deal for Bitcoin because it means it can both trade at regulated venues and serve the institutional market while at the same time trickle down into the hands of every person from every walk of life on the planet. Transparency and pseudonymity — it is the ultimate combination that any aspiring form of digital currency should try to emulate for global reach.And with the Libra, Facebook is intentionally cloning both of these two properties. Listen closely to what David Marcus says in the video below. David Marcus is the Director of Libra and VP of Messaging Products at Facebook, but he is also a Bitcoin fan and up until recently sat on the Board of Directors of the largest cryptocurrency exchange business in the United States: Coinbase.The reason why Facebook is doing it is because they believe the plan has a chance of working. And if it is successful, it pushes an enormous amount of the regulatory responsibility (KYC/AML) of operating the on- and off-ramps away from Facebook and to the cryptocurrency exchanges where the Libra is traded. It’s letting the market figure out a way to give people access to the Libra that works, any way that works, just like it has worked for Bitcoin for 10 years. In fact, opening up the opportunity for anyone to run a Libra exchange means that there’s probably even going to be some exchanges that will try to avoid KYC/AML regulations altogether, furthering the Libra’s reach into the world.Many cryptocurrency exchanges have been operating without licenses and without any particular regulatory oversight in the past, and some still do today. And whenever one gets shut down or implements KYC/AML restrictions, another one pops up somewhere else that doesn’t, sometimes by people who are unaware of the fact that they’re breaking any rules. And sometimes, not even the regulators in that region are aware whether any rules are being broken.The LocalBitcoins platform which helped people to meet in person to trade Bitcoin for cash envelopes successfully operated without ID requirements for seven years before being forced to remove the option earlier this month.But the “gap” isn’t fully gone yet. There still exists platforms such as Bisq and Hodl Hodl where people are able to circumvent these types of regulations. Here’s a quote from a blog post that Hodl Hodl recently posted when LocalBitcoins shut down in Iran:So, by combining the properties of pseudonymity and transparency into their own Libra blockchain, Facebook hopes to achieve this sweet spot of simultaneous regulatory compliance and regulatory arbitrage, allowing the Libra to spread all over the world like wildfire while other businesses shoulders the heat. And why wouldn’t it spread like wildfire? The Facebook app family (Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram) is home to ~2.5 billion users. And the Libra, being backed by a basket of national currencies and government debt securities, is probably going to be a more stable currency alternative than what anyone else can provide in today’s world except for maybe the Federal Reserve.Ted Livingston did a great write-up on what the long-term ambitions are with all of this in what he calls the WeChat Playbook. Basically, the most plausible scenario is that once you’ve sold your current money for the Libra, Facebook is going to do everything they can to make sure you never need to take your money out of its family of apps again. They will do this by offering you the ability to pay for everything there; sending money to friends, shopping online, paying inside physical stores, paying your bills, buying airplane tickets, bus tickets, and even tipping beggars on the street.Critics are going to complain that the Libra will be a tool for Facebook to extract even more data about its users, to which Facebook is going to respond that they have no special insight or control over the Libra blockchain, because they are just one of 100 validator nodes from the Libra Association. This is mostly true, so save yourself some time and don’t fall into this argument trap.That doesn’t mean that Facebook isn’t going to be able to harvest data about the purchases that occur within their own app ecosystem. Facebook has already begun clawing at this today with the roll-out of in-app purchases in Instagram (buying from brands without leaving the app) and Facebook Marketplace. If the Libra is your currency of choice and the Facebook app family is its natural home, the conversion rate between you and the targeted ads Facebook shows you will likely increase considerably. With one-click purchases, the advertising companies will always be just one click away from your money. And who makes money from that, except for the advertising company? The company selling the ad space!And then we haven’t even mentioned that the Libra’s backers will be able to extract enormous interest earnings from the fact that the Libra Association is sitting on giant piles of everyone’s cash in the “real world” while everyone else is just sending around funny Libra tokens on a blockchain in the cloud.Simply put, the Libra Masterplan is borrowing pages from the Bitcoin playbook and the WeChat playbook both at once. If successful, it makes the Libra accessible to everyone on the planet while offloading the regulatory burden of operating the on- and off-ramps to other business. With the massive network effects of its ~2.5 billion user app ecosystem, it has the potential to create the largest digital money platform that has ever existed, where it can record all purchases you make and market goods and services to you on a daily basis while leveraging the fact that Facebook already knows more about you than almost anyone else.In the grand scheme of things, a successful Libra is probably going to do more for Bitcoin in terms of warming users up to the idea of cryptocurrency than nothing has ever done in the past. Bitcoin increased in value by more than 10% over the past weekend, and is nearing a 15-month high. Moreover, since the Libra is a “stablecoin” at the mercy of central banking monetary policy, it doesn’t pose a significant threat to Bitcoin as an investment vehicle. Thus, a successful Libra is probably a net good for Bitcoin. That said, the regulatory response to the Libra during the coming year is going to carry significant consequences to the Bitcoin industry in the short-term, as I lay out below. I see four potential scenarios moving forward.Regulators put a stop to Facebook’s plans before they even materialize, citing privacy issues, or that they do not like the idea of Facebook sitting on such vast sums of reserves, or fears that the Libra would have a destabilizing effect on the economy. Everything goes back to normal.In this scenario, regulators are okay with the reserve structure but see through the Libra transparency-pseudonymity masterplan. The Libra Association can attempt to please regulators by restricting the blockchain to only process transactions coming from wallets that have been verified with government ID, such as Facebook’s own Calibra wallet. While this is a possible outcome (and technically easy for them to implement), it also eliminates the entire purpose of the Libra blockchain.In this case, the Bitcoin industry could be in trouble as well, because it is currently exploiting that exact same transparency-pseudonymity loophole that allows it to fit nicely into the regulated financial market.In this scenario, the Libra launches in the exact form as they envision it today. Ideally, this means that there isn’t anything wrong with the Bitcoin playbook either and we can all stop stressing. The Libra and Bitcoin can then compete with each other, or complement each other, on their own merits.In the worst case, regulators take note of the transparency-pseudonymity loophole, but notices that the Bitcoin project has a wildly different relationship to privacy compared to the Libra. In Bitcoin, the project’s developers and supporters are always seeking new and innovative ways to eliminate the effectiveness of the blockchain analysis firms. And there’s no “Bitcoin Association” you can regulate if things start going south. It is possible that the Libra brings so much heat to the cryptocurrency industry that in the turmoil that erupts, the Libra is the only cryptocurrency that survives the regulator’s scrutiny on the virtue of being the absolutely easiest cryptocurrency to control and surveil.Thanks to Joey Krug for useful feedback.Privacy tech advisor at the Human Rights Foundation. Previously built blockchains and cryptocurrency exchange platforms and at Cinnober (Nasdaq).The frontlines of the future. A new Medium publication about tech and science.
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The year 2018 hasn’t particularly been the best year for cryptocurrencies, as the bear market had eroded value in almost every digital asset out there.
However, while cryptocurrencies aren’t having the best of times, blockchain technology has managed to stay relevant, with organizations and governments coming out with ways through which they can use blockchain as a tool for growth and advancement. One particular sector that has witnessed a tremendous use of the nascent technology has been the travel industry, where even airports have adopted the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.
As it is with any industry, the presence of middlemen has always been one of the major issues with the transport industry. Since these their parties provide the customers with relations and communications with hotels, airlines, and other travel service providers, they also lead to an increase in transaction costs.
Third parties like TripAdvisor end up charging for the services that they provide, and this can add up to your already huge fees.
With the use of blockchain technology, a consumer could perform their travel and hotel bookings through the execution of a smart contract, thereby eliminating the need for middlemen like Expedia and Hotels.com. In like manner, the hotel or airline will be able to trust that the payment from their customers will get to them seamlessly, within a short period. Travel intermediaries are notorious for payment initialization issues, which often lead to a disruption of the customer's itinerary.
Take LockTrip for example. The company provides a platform for people to locate and relate with hotels, airlines, etc. Primarily, it offers proper communication between the end vendors, while also ensuring that intermediaries- who hardly create any value- are in nowhere the picture.
LockTrip CEO Nikola Alexandrov told Forbes in an interview that his startup has been able to do even well, despite the effects of the bear market.
One of the most glaring areas where the transport and travel industry can benefit from the integration of blockchain technology is in ensuring the security of payments made online. Although there has been much improvement in the digital payment space move the past decade (thanks to the work of fintech firms and innovative online vendors), the transport industry still loses billions of dollars on an annual basis due to fraudulent transactions and scams. A report showed that the airline industry loses $1 billion monthly to credit card payment fraud.
This brings the need for innovative technology to help ensure customer security and protection. The blockchain, thanks to its decentralized nature, is unable to go offline, and this means that information which is stored on here can never be tampered with, even in the event of an attack. Also, transactions carried out on a decentralized ledger are secure and traceable. This will make it much easier to ensure that storage and retention of valuable information.
The transport industry has always been reliant on the use of effective identification services, and this is another area where the distributed ledger technology excels. Blockchain can provide travelers with digital identities; a feat which can significantly improve the efficiency of airports all over the world and provide for a much more enjoyable user experience.
With blockchain technology, checkout lines and queues at airports will be drastically reduced, and we can also see a world where documents like driver’s licenses and passports can be replaced with facial scans and other digital and biometric information. This would curb identity theft and improve the general reputation of the transport industry.
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