Year: 2020

February 19, 2020 Cryptocurrencies News

Samsung Keeps Cryptocurrency Functionality in Galaxy S20 Models

South Korean technology giant Samsung recently unveiled its latest smartphone series, the Galaxy S20, at the Unpacked 2020 event in San Francisco.

While the headline feature is undoubtedly the new camera, according to the official marketing material the phone will also improve on the integrated blockchain security features introduced a year ago on the Galaxy S10.

Security is still a highlight

After copious details regarding the new camera, and briefly mentioning 5G, battery life and storage, Samsung highlights the new phones’ security features. These build on the Knox platform, a defense-grade security solution which stores private keys in a secure isolated area.

“We created a secure processor dedicated to protecting your PIN, password, pattern, and Blockchain Private Key. Combined with the Knox platform, security is infused into every part of your phone, from hardware to software. So private data stays private,” Samsung states.

From small acorns…

Following the unveiling of the Knox platform in the Galaxy S10 last February, Samsung further developed its mobile blockchain offering with the release of a software development kit in July 2019. This included a toolkit for the Samsung Blockchain Keystore, which holds users’ private keys.

Later that month PundiX announced that it had integrated its XWallet app into Samsung’s blockchain ecosystem, allowing users to link the app to their Samsung Blockchain Wallet.

Samsung then added Bitcoin-support to its Blockchain Keystore, along with several other advances. Previously it had only officially supported Ethereum.

In September 2019, the company released an edition of the smartphone/tablet hybrid Galaxy Note 10 with cryptocurrency functionality.

Confirming commitment to blockchain

With the imminent release of the Galaxy S20, along with its big brothers the S20+ and S20 Ultra, Samsung is confirming its commitment to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

It also plans to roll-out its Knox platform beyond mobile devices, and into network connected devices like 5G and Internet of Things end points and equipment.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 will be available from March 6, in the United States, Australia and the United Arab Emirates, and from March 13 in the United Kingdom.

February 19, 2020 Cryptocurrencies News

Crypto Exchange Binance Suspends Trading Over ‘Systems Messaging Error’

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, suspended trading on Wednesday, alerting users of an outage due to “temporary system maintenance.” 

The exchange has suspended deposits, withdrawals, spot trading, margin trading, person-to-person trading, lending, redemption and asset transfers from sub-accounts, margin accounts, futures accounts and wallets that hold government-issued or “fiat” currencies, according to a notice posted on the company’s website. 

Futures trading is unaffected, the exchange said. 

Josh Goodbody, Binance’s London-based director for growth and international business, told CoinDesk in a series of WhatsApp messages there was an “issue with an engine that pushed data around the system.”

“It was a simple systems messaging error that we wanted to fix straightaway,” Goodbody said. “Main effect was balances were slow to update.”

It’s “definitely untrue” that the exchange had suffered an internal hack, he said, referring to some posts on social media. 

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao tweeted at 13:38 UTC there was “probably another 45-90 minutes to go” before trading resumes, while noting that was a “very rough estimate, don’t know how accurate it is.” 

Just before publishing time, another tweet said systems were about to be restored “in minutes.”

In a separate post, Zhao said the exchange would “waive everyone’s margin interests for today.”

“Least we could do,” he wrote. “Will also run some big campaigns after we deploy the performance fixes.” 

Disclosure Read More

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

February 19, 2020 Cryptocurrencies News

Korean ICO Project Shuts Down, Says ‘Negative Perceptions’ of Crypto Made Business Impossible

An $8 million ICO project is shutting down, citing regulatory uncertainty and difficulties in onboarding new users.

Content-sharing platform Contents Protocol announced Wednesday that following numerous attempts to turn its business into a success, the firm is closing down and refunding investors as much as $7.5 million-worth of the ether (ETH) raised in its initial coin offering (ICO).

“We inform you that due to continued regulatory uncertainties in cryptocurrency and lack of business prospects, we have decided to end our project,” reads an announcement that has replaced Contents Protocol’s website.

Contents Protocol was a relative latecomer to the ICO boom, only completing its crowd sale in December 2018. It was created as a subsidiary of WATCHA Play, a popular Korean streaming service, and was designed to incentivize content sharing by effectively rewarding users who rated and reviewed films and TV featured on the platform with its native CPT token.

“The main thing that the blockchain allows us to do is … compensate a new participant [users] who really provide free marketing for the content,” said John Kim, Contents Protocol’s global business developer, in an interview with Ran NeuNer for CNBC, back in May 2018.

The project aimed to become profitable by processing and analyzing sharing data, which could subsequently be sold back to content providers to inform them on which movies and TV series should be featured on their platforms.

But in Wednesday’s announcement, Contents Protocol complained that few consumers wanted to use the platform because of the “negative perception toward cryptocurrency, price volatility and complex user experience.”

The company said anti-crypto attitudes were unlikely to improve in the short term, and would impact how digital assets would be regulated in the future. Without a strong user base, it also made it difficult to encourage other content providers to provide data for the platform, limiting any possible insights that could be subsequently sold back to platforms.

Contents Protocol raised 29,333 ETH ($8.1 million) in its private and public ICOs in 2018. All remaining assets, worth approximately $7.5 million, have now been converted back into ether and will be distributed to investors who have requested refunds.

CPT token holders will also be able to exchange them at a rate of one token for $0.002 worth of ether. All CPT collected will be destroyed when the company enters the liquidation process, the company said.

According to Contents Protocol’s asset records, around 3,800 ETH was exchanged into $1.45 million to fund business operations. Although some of the funds were converted into bitcoin (BTC), the vast majority of assets remained in ether throughout the company’s lifetime.

A company spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Disclosure Read More

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

February 19, 2020 Cryptocurrencies News

How Cryptocurrency Trading Has Evolved in Recent Years – Cointelegraph

In the early days of blockchain, cryptocurrency trading was seen by many as merely exchanging a few dollars for Bitcoins (BTC). The birth of other tokens and the high volatility in cryptocurrencies have led many traders to speculate by buying a few coins through exchanges in hoping the value will increase for the sake of profit. 

The decision to switch to floating exchange rates was made in the second half of the last century, when it became clear to financial institutions that they could not provide the right amount of United States currency secured by a gold reserve. Thus, financial regulators abandoned the gold standard by adopting a system of floating exchange rates. This stage is perceived by many as the beginning of the emergence of the forex market.

Related: How to Trade Big Crypto Volumes, Explained

Comparison between forex trading and crypto trading market

Cryptocurrency trading is the exact opposite of forex and its options for owning an asset. On crypto exchanges, traders buy the desired token and place an order to sell it, exchanging for another coin or fiat. That is, cryptocurrency trading is a real exchange of one cryptocurrency for another.

At the same time, forex exchange rates reflect the state of the economy of countries. Being very stable assets — especially compared to cryptocurrencies — the value of fiat currencies mainly change within three to five decimal places. Cryptocurrencies change much more noticeably, and can gain as much as 100% against the U.S. dollars within 24 hours.

Cryptocurrency trading, due to its high margin, can generate good income even without leverage, which very often leads to a loss of deposit. Investing in coins at their early stages has proven to be a highly effective trading tool for increasing capital.

Why is the impact of the forex market still felt by cryptocurrency traders? 

Due to the high volatility in the crypto market, many traders begin to seek or return to the traditional trading market. The price stability of many trading pairs puts the market in a state of hibernation, which is why many traders lose money.

Related: Why Is the Cryptocurrency Market So Volatile: Expert Take

In search of a solution, some part of the community pays attention to other types of trading: futures, options, stocks, or the most popular — forex. Forex turnover reaches nearly $6.6 trillion per day. At the same time, futures trading volumes are $440 billion and the U.S. stock market shows a value of $257 billion, while the cryptocurrency market volatility is only $4.8 billion a day.

Despite the advantages of trading on cryptocurrency exchanges, the long history of the forex market stands as one of its strong points. For a long time, traders have received several popular platforms, such as MetaTrader 4 and 5, thousands of indicators, and tools for forecasts and technical analysis. Recently, brokers have begun to add an imitation of a cryptocurrency trader to their platforms. But the essence of the market remains the same.

How crypto trading companies can reduce the impact of the forex market

The impact of the forex market can be removed if cryptocurrency companies can improve on their security levels. One of the main reasons why traders have a hard time trusting cryptocurrency exchanges is because user funds can often go missing. A recent example is Binance being hacked in 2019, wherein an estimated $40 million was withdrawn from the exchange’s hot wallets.

Related: Most Significant Hacks of 2019 — New Record of Twelve in One Year

One of the solutions for reducing the impact of the forex market in crypto is a project based on the Stellar blockchain. Bridge token enables its users to convert from forex to crypto with outstanding trading conditions and transparency.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Oluwatobi Joel is a U.S.-based freelance copywriter, community manager, blockchain expert and serial entrepreneur. He has worked with various blockchain startups as a marketing strategist.

February 19, 2020 Cryptocurrencies News

Samsung Is Quietly Becoming A Major Bitcoin, Crypto And Blockchain Player – Forbes

Samsung, the South Korean technology giant and creator of the Galaxy smartphone range, could soon become one of the biggest drivers of bitcoin, crypto and blockchain adoption.

While bitcoin traders and investors are focused on the upcoming bitcoin halving, a looming U.S. bitcoin crackdown, and rocky crypto trading volume, Samsung is putting the power of bitcoin, crypto and blockchain in people’s hands.

Last week, Samsung, which makes up 19% of global smartphone sales and last year sold almost 300 million phones according to data site Statista, unveiled it latest Galaxy smartphone range with its new flagships the S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra models.

These new 5G enabled smartphones build on the Galaxy S10 ranges’ bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain support, which last year was revealed to boast a built-in bitcoin and cryptocurrency wallet.

“We created a secure processor dedicated to protecting your PIN, password, pattern, and Blockchain Private Key,” Samsung wrote on its website, announcing the new S20 Galaxy phones. “Combined with the Knox platform, security is infused into every part of your phone, from hardware to software. So private data stays private.”

Samsung’s so-called Blockchain Keystore was introduced last year, initially with support for ethereum and other ERC-20 tokens, but adding bitcoin in August.

Those using Samsung devices with the Blockchain Keystore are able to store the private keys to their bitcoin and crypto wallets on the device.

Control over a wallet’s private keys is often cited as one of the most overlooked and important aspects of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, with many of the biggest crypto exchange hacks and thefts happening because people fail to store their tokens in wallets they have the private keys for.

If bitcoin or cryptocurrencies are stored on a smartphone-based wallet that gives users control over their private keys it removes reliance on external exchanges.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption has fallen short of expectations in recent years, with some predicting that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would be widely used by 2020 following bitcoin’s epic 2017 bull run.

However, technology and user experience developments from the likes of Samsung and micro-blogging platform Twitter could help the bitcoin and crypto industry drive adoption.

Meanwhile, iPhone-maker Apple raised eyebrows last year when one of its executives said it’s “watching” cryptocurrencies—however, Apple chief executive Tim Cook subsequently dismissed expectations it could follow in Facebook’s footsteps and create its own cryptocurrency.

Elsewhere, another closely watched bitcoin adoption development is fast approaching.

Bakkt, a New York Stock Exchange-owner backed bitcoin and cryptocurrency venture, announced in October last year it plans to launch a consumer app for cryptocurrency purchases in 2020.

U.S. coffee chain Starbucks will be its first launch partner, with the company one of the original backers of the crypto project, along with software giant Microsoft and Boston Consulting Group.

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