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Millennial #Esports Announces #Blockchain Advisory Board $GMBL #Blockstation

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:44 PM on Monday, November 13th, 2017
  • Leading experts, including William Mougayar, will guide implementation of blockchain-based game and digital content tokens

TORONTO, ONTARIO–Nov. 13, 2017) – Millennial Esports Corp. (TSX VENTURE:GAME) today announced it has established a Blockchain Advisory Board comprised of some of the world’s leading blockchain and funding innovation experts: William Mougayar, Miko Matsumura, and David Drake. The blockchain advisory board will be tasked with guiding the design and implementation of blockchain-based game and digital content tokens as part of the company’s integrated Esports strategy.

“The combined experience of the members of our advisory board provides Millennial with unmatched expertise in blockchain technology and innovative funding methods,” said Millennial Esports CEO, Alex Igelman. “The advisors will be a valuable resource in the development and implementation of our revolutionary blockchain tokenization strategy.”

Today’s announcement revealing the members of the Blockchain Advisory Board follows the formation of a new division of Millennial Esports focused on the creation and implementation of blockchain based ‘in game and cross platform’ game and digital content tokens. The company is currently exploring various synergies in implementing blockchain-based applications and protocols to enhance the community and user experience.

“I am very excited and looking forward to working with the Millennial management team to develop blockchain tokenization strategies for their Esports ecosystem,” said new advisory board member, William Mougayar. “Millennial is uniquely positioned in the Esports content space to take advantage of the innovative features of the blockchain, as the next logical step for their evolution.”

Blockchain Advisory Board, Members

William Mougayar is a Toronto-based investor, researcher, blogger, author of The Business Blockchain (Wiley, 2016), founder of The Token Summit, and manager of WMX, a cryptocurrency index fund. He is a known authority on, and a direct participant in, the crypto-technology market, and an advisor or board member to some of the world’s leading blockchain organizations, including Ethereum, OpenBazaar, Coin Center, Steem, Stratumn, Cofound.it and Bloq.

Miko Matsumura founded crypto exchange Evercoin, and is a limited partner with Pantera Capital ICO Fund. As chief evangelist for the Java Language and Platform, Matsumura participated in the first wave of the Internet, and is now fully engaged in the crypto-fuelled Internet of value. Matsumura leads the Crypto Underground meet-up in San Francisco and is a speaker at the upcoming Token Fest. His keynote speeches include ICOnference NYC, Blockchain Life in St. Petersburg Russia, Global Blockchain Summit, The Future of Money Summit, and Coin Agenda in Las Vegas. Currently advising crypto-currency start-ups, as a 25-year executive in Silicon Valley, Matsumura has raised more $50 million in capital for Open Source start-ups. He holds a Master’s degree in Neuroscience from Yale University where he worked on abstract computational neural networks.

David Drake is the Chairman of LDJ Capital, a multi-family office based in New York, with real estate, energy, tech, media, and telecom investments and assets. Drake represented the US Commerce Department at the EU Commission in Brussels and Rome in 2012, was invited to the White House Champions of Change ceremony, and was a speaker at the UK Parliament in 2013. He speaks as an equity expert at top universities such as Cambridge, NYU, Cornell, and Columbia, and writes regularly for major publications such as WSJ, Forbes, Huffington Post, and Thomson Reuters. Drake is the co-author of the book Planet Entrepreneur and Crowdfunding and Other Animals and is the author of the upcoming book The Crowdfunding Economy and LIFEE: Life Instructions for Entrepreneurs and Executives.

Guided by the knowledge and experience of the Blockchain Advisory Board, Millennial Esports is working towards implementing its token generation strategy in early 2018.

Millennial Esports Corp.:

Millennial Esports provides turnkey global solutions that cover gaming technology and studios, event management, research and analytics, content production, and broadcasting.

  • MillennialEsports.gg is the premier operator of tournaments and building communities by and for gamers.
  • IDEAS+CARS, based out of Motorsport Valley, UK, provides industry leading knowledge and intellectual property in the burgeoning and increasingly lucrative Esports racing genre.
  • Eden Games will soon become part of Millennial Esports’ offering in motor sports and racing.
  • O’Gaming TV, based in Paris and a part of Alt Tab Productions, is an Esports video content production and events company, and a major player in live French-language esports streaming.
  • thE Arena at Neonopolis is Las Vegas’s first permanent Esports venue. The 15,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility accommodates more than 1000 people in comfort and provides technical services including facilities, expertise, and manpower for clients such as EA, Amazon, and Microsoft.
  • Stream Hatchet, operating out of Barcelona, Spain, offers complete Esports data analytics solutions. The company focuses on providing actionable intelligence in a format that is easy to understand at a glance.

Contact Information

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UltraPlay introduces #Esports betting currency eGold $GMBL #Blockchain #Blockstation

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 12:28 PM on Thursday, November 9th, 2017
  • UltraPlay has become the latest to introduce its own cryptocurrency to the esports space
  • This one, named eGold,
  • Focused on the esports betting market

Buff88, another UltraPlay creation in the form of a decentralized betting website, will be the first to integrate eGold. Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the hard cap for eGold will be 25,000 ETH. The current Ethereum value is fairly volatile, and as per the time of writing one ETH is worth around £248.00. The token sale for eGold is set to start on December 18th, 2017. Once the hard cap is reached or on February 28th, 2018, whichever comes first, the token sale will end.

Curious as to why the company decided to launch their own, and in what way it differs from the now numerous others out there, Mario Ovcharov, Chief Commercial Officer at UltraPlay told Esports Insider: “Over the years we have developed a wide range of betting solutions that help online gaming brands step into the iGaming world. Now, we want to offer another cutting-edge technology solution to the eSports community and the leading eSports gaming brands that are using our services.

“We are also strengthening our years of experience on the Blockchain technology starting two projects – eGold and Buff88. We are aiming to make eGold the first-choice cryptocurrency for eSports punters worldwide and Buff88 – a decentralized eSports betting platform. Those two disruptive solutions are going to contribute to the eSports ecosystem in general and advance the stage of online betting as we are used to experiencing it now.

“Blockchain technology has the potential to resolve many aspects of the gaming industry – enhance the player’s experience and advance the payment transactions. Besides technological aspect of things, we aim to unify the eSports community by offering an easy, quick and secure betting on the most favorite game titles. As a market leader on eSports betting with the widest coverage of competitive games right now, we are giving the diversity players love and expect from a gaming brand.”

We also asked whether the lack of regulation around esports betting and cryptocurrencies more widely is a cause for concern. We’ve seen a number emerge in recent times including UnikoinGold, Esports.com, Esports Gold, Skrilla and more. UltraPlay’s Ovcharov responded: “With the advanced technology Blockchain is offering, many traditional organizations from different industries have already started integrating Blockchain in their operations. The gambling industry is no different. Providers, operators, players have already started experiencing the positive changes Blockchain is bringing to the gaming world. Many new projects that are popping up have the ambition to bring something outstanding to the traditional online gambling.

“We actually were the first online gaming provider to adopt Bitcoin in the iGaming sector a few years ago and see that there is a great interest from players and operators. Regulations, in this case, follow the path on which the industry is built and proceed to grow. The blockchain is the synonym of decentralization. That doesn’t mean it has to be related with bad practices, on the contrary. It aims to offer better opportunities and environment for the users. On the other hand, gambling is a subject of regulations so that we have integrity and prevention of unregulated practices in the sector.”

Esports Insider says: We’re currently in the midst of a huge number of esports focused ICOs being announced. We’ll withhold our judgement until we know a little more, and rest assured we’ve plans to make a far fuller and more rigorous assessment of all of the main cryptocurrencies currently targeted at the esports space.  

Source: http://www.esportsinsider.com/2017/11/ultraplay-introduces-esports-betting-currency-egold/

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FEATURE: Meet The World’s First Electronic Communication Network For Digital Currencies, Annual Gross Trades: $943 BILLION #Blockstation $HIVE.ca $CODE.ca $BLOC.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:41 AM on Wednesday, November 8th, 2017

Why Blockstation

You need a stock exchange to trade stocks, but how do you trade cryptocurrencies?

  • Meet the first MARKET DELIVERY SYSTEM For BlockChain Tokens
  • Annual Gross Trades: $943 BILLION
  • Yearly Transactions Up 437%
  • Yearly volume Up 1485%

World’s First Electronic Communication Network For Digital Currencies

  • At the forefront of research, development and commercialization of an enterprise grade, direct market access platform for Blockchain Tokens like Bitcoin.
  • Technology facilitates on-line electronic trading and delivery of live streaming auditable reference quotes, allowing Blockchain Tokens to be accessed by traditional financial institutions and on-line retail trading platforms.
  • Electronic Communications Network  has been built using the methods and design principals of BATS, BRUT, Archipelago and Island

Creating a familiar gateway to the traditional financial industry we not only have enabled the inclusion of millions of participants who might not otherwise have had the ability to access modern Digital Currency markets, we have also provided incredibly new instruments and revenue streams for Clients.

 

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#Cryptocurrency Companies See Dramatic Spikes in Share Price #ThreeD $IDK.ca #Blockstation

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:39 PM on Tuesday, November 7th, 2017
  • Numerous companies involved in the cryptocurrency industries have seen dramatic increases in share price following the spectacular performances of bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies during 2017
  • Bitcoin Group’s Has Seen Its Share Price Increase by Approximately 1060% Since January This Year

Bitcoin Group was founded in 2014 and began as a mining company, however, expanded its operations after rebranding to Blockchain Global Limited in 2016. In addition to mining, the company now provides consulting and startup incubation services to companies in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors.

In July, Blockchain Global made a $4.35 million AUD investment into blockchain firm Digital X, including a payment of $300,000 AUD worth of bitcoin. The remaining $4.05 million AUD comprised $550,00 AUD in convertible notes and $3.8 million AUD in shares – seeing Blockchain Global own a 40 percent stake in the company. After the announcement, Digital X’s price moved by 74% at the close of trading. In 2014, DigitalX became Australia’s first listed bitcoin company following the reverse takeover of Macro Energy, however, in 2016, the original founder of Macro Energy was indicted for fraud, resulting in a significant loss in share price at the time.

Many Companies Involved in the Cryptocurrency Industries Have Seen Recent Booms in Share Price

Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd, a Canadian company that mines Ethereum, has seen year to date gains of 4089% as of this writing. At the end of October, Hive announced a “strategic partnership” with Genesis Mining Ltd., through which Hive “will finance the construction of… mining rigs… at [a] data centre in Sweden.” The deal was expected to double “the company’s cryptocurrency mining capacity… in Sweden.” When completed, will see “approximately 78%” of “Hive’s hashpower capacity is expected to be based… in Sweden,” with the remaining 22% being located in Iceland.

In late October, an Essex-based company saw a 394% spike in its share price after announcing that it would change its name from On-line Plc to Blockchain Plc. The jump in price comprised the “biggest one-day gain for the small-cap company since its December 1996 listing,” and was fuelled by “trading volume that… [was] equal to more than 16 times the entire year’s trading before the last two days.” The dramatic rally appeared to be driven by little more than hype associated with the word ‘blockchain’, as the company “caution[ed] investors that the development of its blockchain product is still at an early stage.”

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/cryptocurrency-companies-see-dramatic-spikes-share-price/?utm_source=OneSignal%20Push&utm_medium=notification&utm_campaign=Push%20Notifications

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How #Cryptocurrencies And #Blockchain Are Taking #Esports $GMBL To The Next Level #Blockstation #ThreeD $IDK.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:40 AM on Tuesday, November 7th, 2017

Alexander Kokhanovskyy

Alex is the CEO/ Founder of DreamTeam, an Esports and gaming recruitment platform using blockchain to help gamers monetize their teams.

Team Method: Triforce compete with Team Grmbl at World of WarCraft at BlizzCon 2017. BlizzCon is the site of the Overwatch World Cup 2017 eSports tournament. (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)

Revenue from eSports — or competitive video gaming – will grow to $700m in 2017, a 41.3% increase from 2016 , according to Newzoo research. The industry is forecast to reach $1.5 billion by 2020. Major investors, high-profile celebrities, big-brand sponsors and major tech companies are banking on eSports’ profitable trajectory.

DreamTeam

Study shows the Esports market has tremendous untapped potential

Blockchain-powered solutions are the latest trend to shake up transactions and data for the entire sector. To gamers, blockchains and digital currencies are nothing new, and this attitude enables the industry to adopt new technologies faster than other industries like banking or logistics. Part of that has to do with age. According to Newzoo‘s 2017 Global Esports Market Report, electronic gaming entertains a young and marketable demographic: Millennials. More than half of eSports enthusiasts globally are aged between 21 and 35, and they are often early adopters of technology, including blockchain.

 

Blockchain applications across eSports

Startups are leveraging the benefits of blockchain to deploy smart contracts, fuel betting, host tournaments, and ease the purchase virtual assets, all of which help grow the eSports ecosystem. Much has been written about blockchain startups tackling eSports betting and the purchasing or trading of skins (cosmetic items), but another important application is how this technology can help amateur gamers on their pathway to going pro though both tournament and team building platforms.

Guests demo the new World of WarCraft game at BlizzCon 2017 at Anaheim California Convention Center (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)

Tournaments are a way of life for avid eSports gamers and online gaming platforms that have embraced blockchain are seeing the pay-off. FirstBlood, an eSports platform created on the Ethereum blockchain, decentralizes tournament setup and winnings distribution. It allows players to test their skills and to bet on games without being dependent on traditional money transfers, financial regulations and middleman corruption. With FirstBlood, players can game solo or with a team in order to improve their skill through games in a competitive environment. Other blockchain companies including Gilgam.es and EloPlay have entered the tournament space as well.

From amateur gamers to going pro 

While fostering a tournament environment can help players sharpen their skills, we believe there is an opportunity to take this one step further, by lessening the barrier of entry when it comes to building and managing teams.

DreamTeam

Majority of top competitive game titles are team-based

There are 1.4 billion registered gamers, and most of those players are concentrated around the most competitive eSports titles that include LoL, CS:GO, Dota2 and Overwatch.  One of the most loved esports titles, League of Legends, has 250 million players players who want to build, grow and manage their teams, but there are only 100 League of Legends clubs worldwide. Let’s compare that to football, a traditional sport, with more than 300 million players globally, with around 300,000 clubs. This discrepancy of players to clubs was the catalyst for our company, DreamTeam, to develop a dynamic platform to solve this problem.

Building teams to advance 

DreamTeam takes blockchain-powered tournaments one step further by creating a recruitment and management platform for amateur, novice, and pro teams. Blockchain-based smart contracts ensure contractual financial relations for all users without participation of third parties. One function of DreamTeam is to aid the development of small tournaments and secure payments. On the DreamTeam platform, when a team that participates in a tournament gets a winning place, the prize money automatically transfers to their account according to predefined rules (the data is taken from game API’s — application program interface and oracles, or a service that verifies the data independently). All players receive their share of the prize money without issues or delay. This is just one aspect; we envision the platform developing into a multi-billion dollar ecosystem built upon media right sales, sponsorships, players salaries, and prize money.

People watch the World Championships Final of League of Legends at the National Stadium ‘Bird’s Nest’ in Beijing, the national stadium built for the 2008 Olympic Games. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize a wide variety of industries, but with eSports’ audience made up of younger, tech savvy individuals, blockchain is more easily embraced. Every corner of eSports is ripe for rethinking. Aiding amateur gamers through team building and tournaments is only the beginning.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/outofasia/2017/11/07/how-cryptocurrencies-and-blockchain-are-taking-esports-to-the-next-level/#4b962f364391

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#BP, #Shell $RDS lead plan for #blockchain – based platform for energy trading #ThreeD $IDK.ca #Blockstation

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 4:10 PM on Monday, November 6th, 2017

  • Consortium including energy companies BP and Royal Dutch Shell will develop a blockchain-based digital platform for energy commodities trading
  • Expected to start by end-2018

(Reuters) – A consortium including energy companies BP and Royal Dutch Shell will develop a blockchain-based digital platform for energy commodities trading expected to start by end-2018, the group said on Monday.

Other members of the consortium include Norwegian oil firm Statoil, trading houses Gunvor, Koch Supply & Trading, and Mercuria, and banks ABN Amro, ING and Societe Generale.

Blockchain technology, which first emerged as the architecture underpinning cryptocurrency bitcoin, uses a shared database that updates itself in real-time and can process and settle transactions in minutes using computer algorithms, with no need for third-party verification.

Mercuria has been a vocal advocate of implementing blockchain technology to significantly cut costs in oil trading.

“Ideally, it would help to eliminate any confusion over ownership of a cargo and potentially help to make managing risk more exact if there are accurate timestamps to each part of the trade,” said Edward Bell, commodities analyst at Dubai-based lender Emirates NBD PJSC.

Similar efforts for an energy trading platform have failed to take off, Bell said, but added this latest bid with backing from BP and Shell and the banks, “may have more success than if it were an independent party trying to convince oil and gas companies to make use of it.”

The new venture is seeking regulatory approvals and would be run as an independent entity, the consortium said in a statement.

“The platform aims to reduce administrative operational risks and costs of physical energy trading, and improve the reliability and efficiency of back-end trading operations…,” the statement said.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-energy-blockchain/bp-shell-lead-plan-for-blockchain-based-platform-for-energy-trading-idUSKBN1D612I

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#Blockchain and biometrics: The #tech disrupting banking #ThreeD $IDK.ca #Blockstation

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 12:16 PM on Friday, November 3rd, 2017
  • As the banking industry changes at a rapid pace, one term is being used with increasing frequency — blockchain
  • blockchain refers to a tamper-proof, distributed digital ledger that records transactions.
Published 5 Hours Ago CNBC.com
A look at some of the tech disrupting banking   6 Hours Ago | 04:20

Put simply, blockchain refers to a tamper-proof, distributed digital ledger that records transactions.

Instead of different parties involved in a transaction keeping their own records of that transaction — which could potentially differ and cause confusion — blockchain creates one “master” record. This cannot be changed once a transaction has been recorded.

As technology giant IBM notes: “All parties must give consensus before a new transaction is added to the network.”

Dirk Haubrich is head of consumer protection, financial innovation and payments at the European Banking Authority (EBA). He told CNBC: “We’ve looked at blockchain… in one particular use case, which was virtual currencies, four years ago.”

At that time, the EBA had a “rather negative view,” Haubrich explained. “But there are lots of other use cases that have been emerging since then, like trade finance and… clearing of payments.”

This was “quite interesting,” he added. “Many of the risks that we’ve identified at the time for virtual currencies probably don’t arise for those use cases but we need to have a closer look, which we haven’t done yet.”

It could be argued that blockchain technology is still in its infancy, and that its potential is a long way from being fully realized.

PayPal’s Mark Brant told CNBC that blockchain would continue to evolve, “but for it to become widely used there need to be scale use cases on either the consumer side or the merchant side or both.”

“We’ll continue to follow that and experiment with it and keep abreast of it, and continue to look to see whether there is a clear gap in the market that we can exploit with it,” Brant, who is managing director at PayPal U.K., added.

While blockchain technology offers new ways of carrying out transactions, other innovations could help to boost the security of financial dealings.

One such development is the increasing use of biometrics in banking. Already, many of us use our fingerprints to unlock our smartphones, and there are a range of potential applications.

“There’s voice biometrics, there’s fingerprint biometrics, there’s iris biometrics, I think there’s going to be many more invented,” Niall Cameron, global head of corporate and institutional digital at HSBC, said.

Cameron went on to say that biometrics was probably one of the most important areas of new technology needed by the industry.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/03/blockchain-and-biometrics-the-tech-disrupting-banking.html

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What is #blockchain ? The tech that underpins the biggest #cryptocurrency in the world is branching out #Bitcoin #ThreeD $IDK.ca #Blockstation #Blockamoto.io

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:32 AM on Thursday, November 2nd, 2017

  • The tech that underpins the biggest cryptocurrency in the world is branching out
  • blockchain gives professionals a means to securely store data in ordered records that update in real time
  • blockchain is revolutionising the way vital information is stored and accessed

In 2017 we are not short of new concepts claiming to be innovations in technology and the next big thing. Despite that, few have made as much of an impact as blockchain. Often described as a distributed database, blockchain gives professionals a means to securely store data in ordered records that update in real time. While it is often overshadowed in the news by the technology it powers, such as Bitcoin, blockchain is revolutionising the way vital information is stored and accessed.

The rise of cryptocurrencies has allowed blockchain technology to flourish, and its role as a public ledger is proving fundamental to the success of Bitcoin. The peer-to-peer network and timestamping server that makes up Bitcoin’s blockchain allows it to track every transaction on the currency in real time. Digital currencies simply wouldn’t work without it.

New use cases

Blockchain first emerged as a ledger for Bitcoin in 2008, yet the original creator of the technology remains unknown. The individual widely cited as its creator is Satoshi Nakamoto, yet this is likely a pseudonym and possibly refers to more than one person.

It was primarily introduced to fix the issue of ‘double-spending’, a technical flaw that allowed people to transfer the same digital tokens multiple times. Yet it also allowed for a decentralised currency, free from government oversight and layers of bureaucracy.

Although it’s early years were tied to Bitcoin, it became quickly apparent that a public ledger could be applied to many other industries. It’s incredibly secure, fault tolerant systems are able to store data in a decentralised way, providing a ‘neutral’ place to house highly sensitive data, such as identity information and insurance records.

The rise of blocks

As the name suggests, Blockchain systems are organised into ‘blocks’, each one carrying a unique timestamp that can be linked back to an older block. That’s incredibly useful for industries where it’s essential to be able to track information by time and event.

Another great thing about blockchains is that they’re often highly resistant to editing. This means that once data has been recorded in a block, it can’t be retroactively changed. While normally this would be frustrating, it provides a means to accurately verify transactions. Creators of Blockchains are also able to configure them to trigger transactions automatically, increasing the efficiency and accuracy at which data is processed.

More affordable and efficient

As a decentralised type of public ledger, blockchains are commonly operated through thousands of global computers. Thanks to this, users are able to organise and audit information quickly and efficiently. In most scenarios, people running and using blockchain systems take collaborative approaches and may have common aims.

If you work in the financial services sector, for example, your main intention is to ensure that you have a safe, secure way to store and process customer transactions. A physical file room may have dominated in the past, but with technology like blockchain, you can process timely data more accurately.

Blockchain could also bode for more affordable financial processes and diminish the chance of fraudulent activity at the same time. Such systems are mainly in the experimental phase right now, but they’re always advancing and we’ll no doubt see more use cases come to light in the foreseeable future.

Public vs private

Much like the field of cloud computing, the function and implementation of blockchain can vary significantly depending on whether it’s designed to be public or private. The primary distinction between these types comes down to who can access a system.

Public

Public blockchains operate a shared network that allows anyone to maintain the ledger and participate in the execution of blockchain protocol – in other words, authorise the creation of blocks. It’s essential for services such as Bitcoin, which operates the largest public blockchain, as it needs to encourage as many users as possible to its ledger to ensure the currency grows.

Public blockchains are considered entirely decentralised, but in order to maintain trust, they typically employ economic incentives, such as cryptocurrencies, and cryptographic verification. This verification process requires every user, or ‘node’, to solve increasingly complex and resource intensive problems known as a ‘proof of work’, in order to stay in sync.

This means public blockchains often require immense computational power to maintain the ledger, which only worsens as more nodes are added, and predicting how much that will increase is difficult. Given the number of voices in the community, it’s also incredibly difficult to reach a consensus on any technical changes to a public blockchain – as demonstrated by Bitcoin’s two recent hard forks.

Private

Private blockchains arguably go against the spirit of the original concept. They’re entirely centralised within an organisation and enforce strict write permissions to only authorised users, although this may be in the form of existing members authorising a new entrant, or a regulatory body granting access.

They’re far more useful to a business over a shared public ledger, as they’re able to implement the technology into areas that require data to be hidden. They also typically offer permissioned based access, so that only those participating in a transaction will be able to see it recorded on the blockchain.

Having fewer users on the blockchain means transactions are typically much cheaper, as they require only a fraction of the computational power to fully verify. That smaller user base also ensures that any faults can be fixed almost immediately, and any technological improvements can be approved and implemented at a pace that fits the business.

Source: http://www.itpro.co.uk/security/28031/what-is-blockchain-4

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#Cryptocurrencies’ total value hits record high as #bitcoin blasts above $6,500 #Blockstation $IDK.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 5:12 PM on Wednesday, November 1st, 2017
  • Aggregate value of all cryptocurrencies hit a record high of around $184-billion on Wednesday
  • Their reported market value worth around the same as that of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley combined.
Jemima Kelly
LONDON
Reuters
1 hour ago November 1, 2017

The aggregate value of all cryptocurrencies hit a record high of around $184-billion on Wednesday, according to industry website Coinmarketcap, making their reported market value worth around the same as that of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley combined.

The new peak came as the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, bitcoin, hit a record high of more than $6,500 . That took its own “market cap” – its price multiplied by the number of coins that have been released into circulation – to a record high just shy of $110-billion.

The latest surge in bitcoin – which has seen an eye-watering increase of almost 800 per cent in the past 12 months – was driven by news on Tuesday that CME Group, the world’s largest derivative exchange operator, would launch bitcoin futures in the fourth quarter of the year.

The announcement was seen as a major step in the digital currency’s path toward legitimacy and mainstream financial adoption.

The second-most valuable cryptocurrency Ether – sometimes known as “Ethereum”, after the project behind it – was trading slightly down on the day at $302 per coin, having hit a record high of more than $410 in June.

Source: https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/cryptocurrencies-total-value-hits-record-high-as-bitcoin-blasts-above-6500/article36794903/

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The #Esports Industry Is Booming — Can #Blockchain Supercharge It? #Blockstation $GMBL

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:11 AM on Wednesday, October 25th, 2017
  • Multi-player gaming is the king of esports and there is a belief that the blockchain can be a big benefit to its continued growth
  • video gaming industry is currently undergoing some major developments as big players are posting massive growth, with the likes of Activision BlizzardATVI +2.16%, Take-Two Interactive, and Electronic ArtsEA -0.15% (EA)

Darren Heitner , Contributor

I cover the intersection of sports and money. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Multi-player gaming is the king of esports and there is a belief that the blockchain can be a big benefit to its continued growth. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

The video gaming industry is currently undergoing some major developments as big players are posting massive growth, with the likes of Activision BlizzardATVI +2.16%, Take-Two Interactive, and Electronic ArtsEA -0.15% (EA) posting year-to-date gains as of Oct. 13 of 70%, 112% and 51% respectively. The growth has been partly driven by the recent and upcoming releases of AAA game franchises.

Aside from big budget titles, the esports scene can be credited for much of the traction driving the industry forward. The idea of creating professional leagues out of popular multiplayer titles is catching on. Just this month, the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors announced their entry into esports. They join the New York Yankees among the North American sports franchises that are buying into the growing esports scene.

Established professional sports franchises, especially soccer franchises in Europe, have been involved and invested in esports for a while now thanks to the popularity of EA Sports’ massive FIFA franchise. The emergence of other esports leagues catering to multiplayer games such as Valve’s Dota 2, Riot’s League of Legends and Blizzards’s Overwatch are also encouraging more franchises to participate.

 

This fusion of traditional sports and esports creates huge potential to usher in a new level of events, sponsorship, merchandise sales and betting into video games.

What makes all of this even more exciting is the introduction of blockchain into gaming. The technology that drives cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin is now finding applications in the esports ecosystem.

There are several ways new blockchain ventures like Esports.com (a decentralized, blockchain-based esports community) or Network Units (a blockchain-controlled multiplayer infrastructure and integration that can turn any game into an esport) are bringing blockchain and esports together.

Ending Gamer Community Toxicity

The growth of a multiplayer game and its viability for esports depends heavily on the community. A key problem for most gaming communities is toxicity. Toxic communities are filled with members who behave negatively often characterized by abusing other members, exploiting the system and cheating. For instance, the Overwatch development team announced that it is working on measures to come down hard on toxicity after receiving complaints from its community.

Managing a multiplayer game community has its challenges. For developers, sustaining a game requires a stable infrastructure that has enough capacity to handle all transactions. It also needs transparent and fair ways to handle player conduct and reputation. As a decentralized and transparent technology, blockchain offers plenty of potential for such use.

“Gamers expect a fair match and a good challenge,” says Network Units CEO Dan Shirazi. “Sadly, most of them aren’t getting it. Cheating or broken matchmaking mechanics ruin entire gaming communities. Gamers become demotivated, stop spending on content and the full economic potential of the game is missed.”

Network Units is an online gaming platform with a built-in player reputation management. It provides decentralized and scalable computing resources to augment developers’ infrastructure and mechanisms to mitigate cheating, downtime, and costly maintenance that developers often face when using traditional means.

Network Units is also creating its own NU token cryptocurrency that will drive the economy of its decentralized multiplayer infrastructure. Using the platform, game developers can avail of resources to host their multiplayer games. Other users may contribute to the platform as service providers by renting out spare hardware and bandwidth. Players may also serve as active clients who can participate in the verification process and, by doing so, earn tokens which they then are able to use for in-game purchases.

Community Involvement and Professional Development

Gaming communities also rely on continued buzz to sustain player interest. This mainly comes from community generated content. YouTube has since been filled with gaming footage and commentaries revolving around popular multiplayer games. Streaming platform Twitch continues to experience monumental growth. In order to develop its user base, Twitch recently announced that the company is working on new tools for gamers to monetize their streams.

Esports.com is also working on its own blockchain-based platform to meet the various needs of esports enthusiasts. The platform aims to offer merchandise, licensed betting and esports education to its users. Its education arm, dubbed Esports University, seeks to encourage gamers to become esports professionals. Users are encouraged to create guides and video tutorials to help other gamers improve their skills.

To manage the platform, Esports.com will be using blockchain to power its Esports Reward Token (ERT). Contributors of high quality content will be rewarded with ERTs which may then be used to avail of the other services within the platform. Token holders will also be able to exchange their ERTs to fiat currencies of their choice.

“Blockchain and cryptocurrency allow the decentralization of the esports world. From content creation to participation we see many solutions emerging. One major factor behind this is that users can follow and see every transaction on the blockchain, which makes everything trustworthy and openly visible for anyone. This helps not only us, but the whole industry to become more professional and grow,” said Esports.com co-founder Benjamin Föckersperger.

Indeed, blockchain’s transparency could also help in restricting access to the betting functionality to prevent underage users and those with gambling problems from accessing these services.

Evolving the Ecosystem

This growing draw of esports is prompting developers to give focus to multiplayer gaming. There is much potential in games that eventually become the focus of esports leagues. The substantial market of gamers worldwide offers lucrative opportunities for established sports franchises and brands, and encourages their increased participation in esports.

For esports to succeed; however, the state of gaming communities must improve. Issues such as toxicity and low community involvement must be addressed. Fortunately, developments in technologies such as blockchain could be offering the necessary solutions to improve game services, curb toxicity and encourage participation through rewards. These new mechanisms should help the continued growth of esports.

Darren Heitner is the Founder of South Florida-based HEITNER LEGAL, P.L.L.C. and Sports Agent Blog. He authored the book, How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know.

Follow @DarrenHeitner

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2017/10/24/the-esports-industry-is-booming-can-blockchain-supercharge-it/#1b710b917868

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