Daily: Vitalik's ETH 2.0 may be 1000x faster; IDEX implements KYC; HSBC, Paribas, StanChart launch blockchain portal; Winklevoss bros sue Shrem for stolen BTC & Amsterdam threatened by Bitcoin terrorists

Daily: Vitalik's ETH 2.0 may be 1000x faster; IDEX implements KYC; HSBC, Paribas, StanChart launch blockchain portal; Winklevoss bros sue Shrem for stolen BTC & Amsterdam threatened by Bitcoin terrorists

• Fuddip & Fomoon category:

• At the Ethereum developer’s conference Devcon4, in Prague, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, spoke about Ethereum 2.0 and how it will revolutionize the token’s blockchain.
• With its implementation, transactions will become faster when compared to its predecessor.
• The new blockchain technology will be smaller in size and validators will run a full node under just 1GB.
• This means that the new model will involve only one synchronous confirmation, wherein the transactions will include hundreds of validators, instead of one.
• This restricts the payment process to 16 seconds.
• The update has the potential to bring in 1,000x scalability, which will increase Ethereum’s transaction capability to 14,000 per second, an astronomical rise compared to the current 14 transactions per second.
• However, before releasing the update, developers will make some final tweaks to stabilize protocol specifications and cross-client test-nets.
• Buterin goes on to cite that Ethereum’s work on solving Casper, a mining-based proof-of-work algorithm, was met with many hurdles, which they’ve been working on since 2015.
• The features of Ethereum 2.0, which Buterin calls “Serenity”, will be more secure, and capable of handling thousands of transactions per second while consuming lesser energy. He said:
  • “Serenity is the world computer as it’s really meant to be, and not a smartphone from 1999 that can process only 20 transactions a second.”
• You can watch the entire presentation speech from Vitalik here or jump to the video at the bottom of this post.
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• Mediasizing the Regulators category:

 

• IDEX, currently the world’s most popular decentralized exchange, will move towards a full verification model - yep, KYC/AML.
• This comes days after the platform excluded New York State residents as part of its compliance efforts.
• Its latest measure, described by IDEX as “pragmatic decentralization” has drawn ire from a segment of the cryptocurrency community.
• While introducing know your customer (KYC) requirements is not really headline news these days, it is when the platform is a decentralized exchange (DEX), in this case Aurora's IDEX.
• IDEX’s decision will be watched by the cryptocurrency community as it could be a precursor of more compliance to come, not just from within IDEX but from other decentralized exchanges as well.
• IDEX is currently the dominant DEX, registering about 7x the trading volume of its nearest competitor, presumably Waves. There are currently many decentralized exchanges out there, including EtherDelta, OpenLedger, CryptoBridge, Radar Relay, StellarX and Switcheo.
• To explain its move, IDEX wrote:
  • “Decentralization exists on a spectrum, and unless your system or application lacks any centralized parts it can be subject to regulation.
  • Aurora is working to create a fully-decentralized financial system, but the path to getting there requires significantly more control and centralization than the end state.
  • In addition to IP blocking, IDEX will be implementing KYC/AML policies in order to comply with sanctions and money laundering laws.”
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• Founders & Use Chains category:

 

• Banks like HSBC, BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered, have teamed up to build a new blockchain trade finance platform.
• It was launched in Hong Kong last week.
• The platform, dubbed eTrade Connect, aims to improve efficiency in the financing of international trade by reducing the time needed to approve trade loan applications from 36 to just 4 hours.
• HSBC reportedly earned USD$2.52 billion in trade-finance revenue in 2017, making it one of the global banking leaders in the industry.
• As of 2017, trade finance transactions were worth over USD$9 trillion, and the industry remains heavily reliant on legacy systems and cumbersome paper-based systems.
• The eTrade platform digitizes trade documents and automates many trade finance processes, streamlining the interactions between counterparties.
• Beyond efficiency, the system is expected to mitigate the risks of fraud in letters of credit (LoC) and other relevant documents.
• The first successful transactions to be exchanged and confirmed on the new platform were purchases by Pricerite, a furniture and households goods retailer.
• Alongside HSBC, BNP Paribas, and StanChart, the Agricultural Bank of China was reportedly involved in the platform’s development, which was facilitated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).
• Trading platform we.trade, which also counts HSBC as founder bank, alongside Rabobank, Santander, Société Générale, UniCredit, Deutsche Bank, and others, collaborated with Hyperledger Fabric-powered European blockchain to complete its first live operations this July.
• This May, HSBC completed what it was reported to be “the world’s first ever” trade finance transaction powered by blockchain: an LoC (Letter of Credit) for food and agricultural giant Cargill, the U.S.’ largest private company by revenue.
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• Blockhead Lockdown category:

 

• Last year, it was reported that Charlie Shrem, a 28-year-old Bitcoin investor who's been in the industry since the very beginning of Bitcoin (and went to jail for it), has bought two Maseratis, two powerboats — one of them 32 feet long — and a $2 million house in Florida, along with smaller pieces of real estate.
• In the world of cryptocurrencies, where millions can be made and lost in a day, that might not make Mr. Shrem stand out.
• But unlike most Bitcoin entrepreneurs, in 2016 Mr. Shrem got out of prison, where he spent a year after pleading guilty to illegally helping people turn dollars into Bitcoin to buy drugs online.
• Mr. Shrem, who had been the chief executive of Bitinstant, one of the first prominent Bitcoin businesses in the United States, has said in recent interviews that he went to prison with almost no money.
• So where did the money for the expensive toys come from? That’s what two former business partners want to know.
• Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twins who turned money from a settlement with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg into a Bitcoin fortune, said they suspected Mr. Shrem had actually been spending Bitcoin that he owed them since 2012, according to a lawsuit unsealed in federal court last Thursday.
• The Bitcoin would be worth around $32 million at current prices.
• “Either Shrem has been incredibly lucky and successful since leaving prison, or — more likely — he ‘acquired’ his six properties, two Maseratis, two powerboats and other holdings with the appreciated value of the 5,000 Bitcoin he stole from” the Winklevoss twins in 2012, the lawsuit says.
• The judge who oversaw Mr. Shrem’s earlier trial has already agreed to freeze some of Mr. Shrem’s financial assets, according to court documents.
• The lawsuit could blossom into an ever bigger problem for Mr. Shrem because an affidavit filed in court suggests that Mr. Shrem has also not paid the government $950,000 in restitution that he agreed to as part of his 2014 guilty plea.
• Mr. Shrem’s lawyer, Brian Klein, said in a statement that the claims by the Winklevoss brothers were baseless.
• “The lawsuit erroneously alleges that about six years ago Charlie essentially misappropriated thousands of Bitcoins,” he said.
• “Nothing could be further from the truth. Charlie plans to vigorously defend himself and quickly clear his name.”.
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• Business owners in Amsterdam are living in fear of criminals who are threatening to cause acts of terror unless they are paid an extortion fee in bitcoin.
• Emails have been sent to multiple businesses in Amsterdam demanding bitcoins worth 50,000 euros.
• Failure to pay, the emails warn, hand grenades will be planted at the business premises or the businesses will come under a hail of bullets forcing closure.
• In the Dutch capital, businesses are required to shut down for a period of time in case of a shooting or after an explosive device has been found.
• “You probably noticed how many entrepreneurs have had to close their doors recently by order of the municipality.
• To prevent you from being the next one, you must immediately take action,” reads a section of the emailed threat.
• To pay the extortion fee, victims of the extortion scheme are instructed to open an account on either of two specific cryptocurrency exchanges – Coinbase and Coinmama.
• They are then required to buy bitcoins on either exchange and transfer them to a specified address.
• Since mid this year, a nightclub and at least three coffee shops have received the threats.
• The criminals have also made it clear that the extortion fee will be doubled to 100,000 euros if the payment is not made within five days.
• The emails also demand confidentiality and warn recipients against informing the police or anyone else.
• Failure to maintain confidentiality, the emails warn, will result in the extortion fee being quadrupled to bitcoins worth 200,000 euros.
• Immediate action to ensure the business shuts down for a minimum of three months will also be taken, the emails add.
• So far no business has confessed to paying the extortion fee.
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