SYSCOIN MANDATORY CLIENT UPDATE

The SysCoin developers have released a mandatory client update yesterday, so we should take a look at what has changed. A small update in regards to merged mining has been provided as well, so we’ll talk about that too.

The mandatory SysCoin client updates the version number to 0.1.4, and can be downloaded for all platforms by clicking here. There are two major enhancements in this update : merged mining with any Scrypt altcoin, and regenerated service fees for miners.

I’m pretty sure most of you will know what merged mining is already, so a long explanation shouldn’t be necessary. If you are a cryptocurrency novice however, merged mining means you are mining multiple altcoins at the same time through the same process. (For example, SysCoin and DogeCoin)

The regenerated service fee for miners, on the other hand, does need some clarification I’d say. All “services” offered by SysCoin require a service fee in order to be used. However, these service fees were being “burned” , which results in actively reducing the number of coins in circulation.

Starting at block 17,000 ; which is also the block height when merged mining kicks in, these service fees will be regenerated back to the miners. As a result, miners will see larger block rewards without increasing the total amount of coins. A very interesting turn of events i’d say!

source: http://www.cryptoarticles.com/crypto-news/syscoin-mandatory-client-update-merged-mining-starting-soon

SYSCOIN MANDATORY CLIENT UPDATE

SHADOWCOIN DEVELOPER ROADMAP UPDATED

Time for some updates from the ShadowCoin developer, as they have posted a new roadmap for their cryptocurrency, updated the regular client, released the iOS client, and so much more.

We might as well start with the ShadowGo iOS wallet then, shall we? The first ShadowGo iOS version was released a little over a week ago, which was followed the day after by a wallet update, which included some enhancements to background threading, as well as some cosmetic updates.

The ShadowGo iOS wallet, just like its Android counterpart, includes mobile staking, peer-to-peer encrypted messaging and stealth transfers. If you haven’t downloaded ShadowGo for iOS yet, make sure to look for it in the App Store!

A new non-mobile ShadowCoin client was released a few days ago, bumping the version to 1.1.0.0. A few functionalities, which were requested by the community, have been added to this version, as well as the new logos as part of the rebranding. For the full list of changes, click here.

In regards to the ShadowCoin lite wallet, progress is coming along nicely but no official ETA has been provided at this point in time. It will take some time before it will be released though, to make sure it works on all supported devices.

source: http://www.cryptoarticles.com/crypto-news/shadowcoin-ios-desktop-client-updates-developer-roadmap-updated

SHADOWCOIN DEVELOPER ROADMAP UPDATED

KryptKoin Marketplace

Their current project, the KryptKoin Marketplace, is still under development, and some updates have been posted, so let’s take a look.

The KryptKoin payment option and API is still being worked on, as it requires a bit more work than one might think. Once completed, buyers will have various options to pay in the cryptocurrency of their choice, whether it’s Bitcoin, KryptKoin or potentially even other altcoins.

No official date for completion of the KTK API can be given as of this writing, but a new demo video will be posted once the coding is finished. A demo KTK payment through a product page will be shown in the next demo video as well.

source: http://www.cryptoarticles.com/crypto-news/kryptkoin-marketplace-updates-new-merchant-now-accepting-ktk

KryptKoin Marketplace

MinerEU Promotion Prices for ZeusMiner and Gridseed

MinerEU, an official Gridseed and ZeusMiner distributor,

has announced today a new summer sale of Scrypt ASIC miners and the promotional prices they now have for some of the miners are really attractive. In fact these new prices make it really much more attractive to order from MinerEU than to purchase directly from ZeusMiner, especially the larger Hurricane and Thunder miners that you can currently get at half their normal price. So if you were considering to buy some Scrypt ASIC miners and not do some pre-order, then you might want to check this promotion.

The power consumption mentioned in the specifications of the miner is 750W and the power supply you will find inside the case is GameZone GX1100M, apparently rated at 1100W 80Plus Gold certified. We could not find that much information about these power supplies as they are apparently a Chinese brand, but a good quality one judging from the specs and the performance they offer – supposedly providing 90% efficiency. We are going to be comparing these power supplies to other well know brand model in terms of power usage and efficiency, but we are not going to be focusing on that here. The review of the miner will be done with the ATX power supply that you get the Scrypt ASIC miner with and as we’ve already mentioned the GameZone GX1100M does a great job in powering the device. The specific model should be capable of handling peaks of up to 1300W as we understand and it uses a modular design, though not fully modular.

MinerEU Promotion Prices for ZeusMiner and Gridseed

Bitcoin Has Made Possible

Computer scientists have been trying to create secure and sustainable digital cash since the earliest days of the Internet, and until Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper introducing bitcoin was published in 2008, their efforts were in vain.

While the public may still be polarized by the digital currency, most people who take the time to learn about bitcoin and the block chain come to realize the significance of a decentralized, trustless network and the impacts it could potentially have in many areas of everyday life.

The use cases of such a technology are only beginning to be explored, but the bitcoin protocol has already proven to be a game-changer, allowing its users to do things that had previously been thought impractical or even impossible.

Here are six things bitcoin has made possible for the first time:

1. A currency that exists solely in digital space

Yes, it’s obvious, but it’s also perhaps bitcoin’s killer app.

Previous forays into online-based currencies have resulted in failures like e-Gold or centralized currencies often found in gaming communities, but bitcoin is the first digital-only currency that is completely decentralized to gain significant traction.

There are many implications of this, but one key value of a decentralized digital currency is that anyone can create a bitcoin wallet to hold their money, without needing to rely on a bank’s approval or their government’s issued currency.

2. Rapid and cheap international money transfer

It’s no secret that money transfer services like Western Union and Moneygram are flawed. These companies often take days to transfer money across the globe, and they charge a hefty service fee for their work.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, allows anybody with Internet access to send any amount of money anywhere in the world, have their transaction complete in minutes, and be charged only a small fraction of the aforementioned companies’ cost in transaction fees.

3. Decentralized smart contracts

The notion of smart contracts—contracts that can be digitally created and verified—has been around for years, but is now being approached in a whole new light in the face of bitcoin.

Projects like Ripple Lab’s Codius and Ethereum have brought decentralized smart contracts to center stage in the digital currency industry, and the future looks promising for “smart” asset management using block chain technology.

4. Decentralized domain name registration

A novel subset of smart contracts that is already providing value through the block chain is the ability to register domain names outside of the jurisdiction of the centralized group Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Namecoin has been the leader in this space, allowing users to register .bit domain names that are not subject to regulations and that centralized domain names may face. The major value in decentralized domain names, then, lies in their immunity to Internet censorship.

5. Online black markets

Just as some of the Internet’s first uses were for taboo purposes, someone along the way realized that bitcoin could be used to anonymously (or, more accurately, pseudonymously) transfer money online.

One result was a now-defunct robust marketplace called the Silk Road. When the FBI shut down the online black market, they seized (and subsequently auctioned) 27,000 BTC worth more than $14m at the time of writing.

6. Micropayments that make sense

Of course micropayments existed before bitcoin, but the idea of sending amounts less than $1 over the Internet was never taken too seriously, as credit card companies and services like Paypal often charge transaction fees that make micropayments inefficient.

While some of the kinks of transaction fees for bitcoin are still being worked out, there’s hope that a truly digital currency will allow people in the publishing industry and beyond to accept micropayments (or donations) for their services.

The Chicago Sun Times recently experimented with a paywall that accepted bitcoin micropayments in exchange for access to their website’s content, which led to more than 700 donations in a 24-hour period.

Society has seen many of our traditional institutions and operations move from analog to digital, and this shift shows no signs of slowing down.

As more innovators continue to explore all of the use cases of the bitcoin protocol, there’s no doubt that we can expect the list of things made possible by the digital currency to expand.

source: http://www.coindesk.com/6-things-bitcoin-made-possible-first-time/

Bitcoin Has Made Possible

VERICARD - THE VERICOIN CREDIT CARD

As you may have guessed from the name, the VeriCard is a credit card which you can fund through VeriCoin.

A major development in the world of cryptocurrency and altcoins if you ask me, and a change I am definitely looking forward to.

In order to bring the VeriCard to the cryptocurrency community, VeriCoin has partnered with CoinSis. If you have no idea who or what CoinSis is or does, don’t worry, we didn’t know it at first either, so let us explain.

CoinSis is a company looking to offer Bitcoin Credit Cards to the public. On their card, you can either store BTC as Bitcoin until you want to exchange it for USD, store currency as USD vs BTC , or even convert BTC to USD in less than 15 minutes. Sounds very good so far if you ask me. This is not the only service offered by CoinSis however, so make sure to check out their website here.

Considering the fact VeriCoin has partnered up with ConSis, we can expect the same kind of services from the company for VRC users. Judging by the picture, there will even be a VeriCoin-themed Credit Card. Very interesting indeed!

When adding this partnership up to VeriCoin’s other “traditional monetary breakthroughs”, which are VeriBit and VeriSMS, things are looking very bright for VeriCoin. We will keep an eye out for more information in regards to VeriCard and other projects, and keep our readers updated accordingly.

source: http://www.cryptoarticles.com/crypto-news/vericard-the-vericoin-credit-card-coming-soon

VERICARD - THE VERICOIN CREDIT CARD

FeatherCoin - featherPay - Point of Sales Device

One of the things I noticed very early on was how complicated it was for merchants to accept feathercoin for goods, others on the forum wrote a guide on how to do it but it all seemed very long winded and a little too complicated to me, this coupled with going to a few meet-ups at the Oxford Blue and watching the bar staff have to deal with a laptop on the bar to allow us to pay with our favourite crypto currency. The cogs started to turn as they do and this is what I have come up with.

A simple and easy to use handheld payment terminal that merchants can use to take payments via feathercoin for any goods or services that they sell or deliver, how easy would it be for these people to accept feathercoin if all the technology was wrapped in a simple handle held device?

So how does it work?

Quite simple really, there are 4 steps to each transaction

1. Obtain the current value of feathercoin

2. Tell the device the transaction value

3. Present a payment QRCode for the customer to scan

4. Display confirms for the transaction

featherPay is designed with 3 connectivity methods in mind

WiFi

Everything takes place in real time, every time a transaction is started the current exchange rate is obtained via the network connection, once the transaction has taken place the merchant can get a visual on the number of confirms for the transaction. Aimed at the corner shop, pub, coffee shop etc..

3G

Exactly the same as operating in WiFi mode, but with the added advantage of not needing the WiFi connection. Opening up a greater choice of locations for feathercoin merchants. Aimed more at the market trader, street vender type of merchant.

Off-Line

Prior to the trading day, the merchant can obtain the current exchange rate and this is saved to the device, when the trading day is finished the unit is connected to WiFi and all transactions throughout the day are processed. It goes without saying that step 4 from above does not work in this mode as there is no network connection to obtain the confirms against the payment address from. Again aimed at the market trader and street vendor type of merchant.

Input into the payment terminal is via both a touch screen display and the small number pad, for most actions you tap the buttons on the touch screen and for transaction values you input the value using the number pad.

Transaction Walk Through

The payment terminal constantly displays a simple start screen advertising the fact that feathercoin is accepted by the merchant

When the merchant taps the screen, the terminal moves onto the second screen displaying the current value of 1 FTC and the ability to input the transaction amount in the local FIAT currency

Tapping the “Process” button moves the terminal on to the 3rd screen creating a unique wallet address and a corresponding QR Code for the transaction ready to be scanned by the customer using the wallet application on their mobile phone. Also displayed is the total number of FTC required for the current transaction. Tapping “Cancel” causes the terminal to terminate the transaction and return to “feathercoin ACCEPTED HERE” screen

Once the QR Code has been scanned, tapping the “Confirm” button displays the final screen in the sequence which allows the merchant to check on the confirmed status of the transaction from the blockchain. Again tapping “Cancel” causes the terminal to terminate the transaction and return to “feathercoin ACCEPTED HERE” screen

The “New Transaction” button simply stops the background confirm checking process and returns the terminal to the “feathercoin ACCEPTED HERE” screen, ready to start the process again for the next customer.

source: https://forum.feathercoin.com/index.php?/topic/7206-dev-introducing-featherpay-point-of-sales-device/

FeatherCoin - featherPay - Point of Sales Device