We take it for granted that ISPs have access to all sorts of our personal information and online activities, after all that is how targeted ads work. And with tensions around the net neutrality debate, especially in the United States, there is an ongoing struggle to maintain a free and open internet. These pressing issues need solving fast.
Here’s Where Skywire Comes in
Synth and the development team behind the considered the flaws of the current internet and made it a personal mission to create a new system that puts the users first.The Skycoin project provides the solution to this through Skywire.
Skywire is a Mesh Internet. These networks completely cut out ISPs and instead host the network using nodes in users’ homes. Although Mesh internets have been attempted by many before, none have succeeded as there was never a lasting incentive for users to build and operate the network. However, with the advent of cryptocurrencies, there is now a solution. Skywire, the decentralized mesh internet developed by Skycoin, utilizes tokenized assets, meaning users can now earn cryptocurrency while hosting the new internet.
Skywire has one simple purpose- to allow a free and open internet available to the masses without any consequences. Fundamentally built on a set of rules that promotes user engagement, Skywire is able to offer a secure and fast network that caters to the masses. No more relying on ISPs calling the shots, the control is now put into the hands of the community to build a new internet.
Make Money and Save the Internet
Skywire is able to operate because of the network of connected nodes, otherwise known as Skyminers. In order for users to utilize Skywire, they must pay Coin Hours to get the bandwidth they need. These Coin Hours, similar to NEO’s Gas, are paid to the operators of the hardware in return for the bandwidth they provide. In addition to this, Coin Hours can also be earned passively by holding Skycoin (SKY) in the official Skycoin Wallet.
Users who wish to become a host have the option of either buying a Skyminer directly from Skycoin or becoming a DIY miner, and later getting whitelisted. As an operator of a Skyminer, each individual has complete flexibility over what their node does. Individuals have the ability to opt out from connecting with any node they suspect to be malicious in order to ensure security. Furthermore, all the data being sent through nodes remain completely anonymous. This means that Skyminer operators are in now way liable for forwarding data because it is encrypted and not visible to them.
The Solution through Mass Adoption
Currently, Skyminers will be used to plug into the existing internet, acting as a specialized VPN. But, as nodes are adopted on a mass scale, traditional internet connection as we know it will no longer be necessary.
By connecting to a node, any user will be able to transfer data at fiber speeds, completely revolutionizing the way we think about the internet. Every individual could essentially become their own ISP by running a node, choosing which nodes they want to connect with, and in turn building a fully inclusive, community-driven internet.
If mass adoption can become reality, the Skycoin Project will revolutionize how we access content on the internet, free of the slow bandwidth speeds and censored content from ISPs. At a fraction of the cost compared to current ISPs, Skywire has the ability to become the de facto solution for how we connect networks and send data for the next few decades.
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A few months ago the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged a Staten Island-based company called Cabbage Tech with ‘fraud and misappropriation’ of funds based in bitcoin and Litecoin. According to the CFTC, it revealed it had charged Patrick McDonnell and his company Cabbage Tech for crimes associated with allegedly promising big returns on trading advice, and lifetime trading advice memberships. The CFTC is looking for restitution of all of the funds solicited, and the case may also see a jury trial. This week news.bitcoin.com spoke with Patrick McDonnell about the charges against him, and he told us the entire case is “politically motivated” and the charges against him have been “fabricated.”
Also read:
One Man Against the CFTC and CME Group
Earlier this week news.bitcoin.com spoke with Patrick McDonnell about his company Cabbage Tech and the charges made against his company this year stemming from the U.S. regulator the CFTC. McDonnell claims his innocence, and believes the charges against his company are falsified and he is being used as a scapegoat to bolster certain regulatory policy such as the approval of CME’s recent futures markets. McDonnell says that CME is very much involved with the case against him, and he was even contacted by CME Group lawyers asking him to define bitcoin and virtual currencies as a ‘commodity’ over the telephone. McDonnell refused to say bitcoin is a commodity and the CFTC’s definition of virtual currencies is one of his main arguments against the financial charges against him.
bitcoin.com (BC): Earlier this year Cabbage Tech (CTC) was charged with fraud and claimed to provide “300% returns in a week,” according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) statements. What can you tell our readers about yourself and this case?
Patrick McDonnell (PM): Cabbage Tech, Corp. “CTC” was not a digital currency company as described in the media; it accepted cryptocurrency as an alternative means of membership/subscription payment. CTC was a diversified membership-based, subscription type, informational service offering investment reporting and alerts on an array of traditional markets outside of cryptocurrency. At certain times many CTC cryptocurrency reports and alerts may have well exceeded 300%+ returns which is typical in this sector during altcoin season. Myself? I was a newsletter operator.
BC: What does CME Group and bitcoin futures markets have to do with this case?
PM: My ‘Defendant Statement’ filed with the Court on April 25, 2018, explains the CME’s involvement and motivation to join the CFTC in their deceptive plan to regulate bitcoin futures at any/all costs. and more information can be read .
Basically in my letter I write that in a strategic move to limit company/investor liability and correct their mistake of relying on the CFTC’s 2015 claim that bitcoin and Virtual Currencies fall under their scope. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (“CME”) was financially motivated to join the case on March 05, 2018 filing a MOTION for Leave to File Letter as Amicus Curiae by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. per Jonathan L. Marcus a CME attorney.
The CME in its correspondence/filings with the Court stated in desperation things such as:
Warns the Court of the grave consequences if bitcoin and its likes do not have the status of commodities under the CEA.
If the Court rules that a virtual currency such as bitcoin is not a commodity, this would put in jeopardy CME’s and its market participants’ expectation to rely on the CEA and the CFTC’s regulatory protections for commodity derivatives contracts based on virtual currencies.
This legal uncertainty would substantially disrupt the settled expectations of CME and numerous market participants who are trading bitcoin futures for purposes of hedging cash market exposures or making a market in bitcoin futures by offering liquidity, in addition to market professionals that clear, broker or manage virtual currency futures trading activity
BC: According to reports, you and the firm Cabbage Tech are being charged by the CFTC with ‘fraud and misappropriation in connection with purchases and trading of bitcoin and Litecoin.’ How are you confronting the CFTC, and CME over the treatment of bitcoin?
PM: I believe the landmark decision that “bitcoin and virtual currencies are commodities” appears to be flawed. The CFTC had ‘no cause or authority’ in the first place to file this trumped-up case, more or less, and build a body of digital law on me. All cryptocurrencies are not commodities which will be proven in the CFTC’s case against My Big Coin. This case is not about a company or myself, this case is about controlling regulation first in an innovative sector that will surely redefine our world. Yet, you cannot control a globe of people dead set on decentralization for such reason. CTC again accepted cryptocurrency as an alternative means of payment – not for investment or trading. Severe monetary reasons lurk behind CFTC/CME recent actions which I will prove 100%.
BC: Do you feel your case is politically motivated or that you are being used as a scapegoat for some reason?
PM: It is not my reason, it is the factual truth. The CFTC was grandstanding in Washington just weeks later of the complaint asking for a budget increase and pointing at their most recent ‘cryptocurrency’ enforcement. Much of this will come to light throughout the trial and you will see the CFTC was reckless in an attempt to force regulation. They needed something to point at.
BC: What’s your opinion on the other probes and investigations taking place nationwide being led by the IRS, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFTC?
PM: I have no problem with the government regulation of cryptocurrency, it is definitely needed. In regards to my case, what good is regulation if put in place employing unjust means or methods?
BC: How are you funding this case and is there anyone helping you with the litigation process?
PM: I am representing myself ‘Pro-Se’ fighting 5-6 CFTC attorneys on a regular basis. I have the aid of the Federal Pro Bono Clinic but that is very limited. I am finding out how to launch a defense fund within the rules of court-ordered injunction to possibly raise monies for the legal fight. This case has forced me into bankruptcy as of April 27, 2018, rendering me unemployable with the online assassination of my name. However, I will fight for my innocence without any money.
BC: Your case was highly publicized on mainstream media outlets. Have you contacted any of them and to explain your side and how you believe the CFTC’s case was fabricated?
PM: I have attempted to no avail; those who did speak with me were already biased based off public opinion. Unfortunately, I am being forced to do all of this to reclaim my good name from tarnish.
BC: You were not the only one charged that week by the CFTC. What is your opinion of Dillon Michael Dean from Colorado, who was also charged roughly at the same time as Cabbage Tech., with fraud by soliciting over a million dollars worth of bitcoin to the public?
PM: I really don’t know much about him but he is running from the CFTC. Where I come from guilty people run and honest stand their ground. An honest mind has no worries and Mr. Dean seems concerned. Yet, I stand alone in these courtrooms, an innocent labeled a fraud by the CFTC. I do not know if is he is guilty or not guilty but he should man up and face the claims if innocent.
BC: You sent us a picture of the CME lawyers calling you. Can you describe what that is about?
PM: That picture says a billion words. The CME relied heavily on the CFTC’s 2015 claim that bitcoin was a commodity under their regulatory scope. Late December 2017, the CME and major market participants launched a bitcoin futures product on CFTC claims investing millions, if not billions of dollars.
These institutions are why bitcoin suddenly topped over $20,000 USD and somewhere during that period it hit! CME attorneys recognized the huge liability they were bearing relying on the CFTC claim. In turn, we see CFTC enforcements in January, CFTC budget increase request for cryptocurrency enforcement in February, and a ruling in CFTC’s favor that “bitcoin is a commodity” in March.
This is a staged set and you have to be the victim of it to see clearly what was done. So no more liability for CME and the CFTC is the new sheriff in crypto town. On May 05, 2018, the day before my hearing, I received a phone call from a CME attorney named Jonathan L. Marcus out of Washington, DC. He was calling on behalf of his client who had invested a lot of money into a bitcoin-related product and asked me in a few different ways if I believed bitcoin was a commodity as I rebutted him. “It was of extreme importance that he knows because his client based their investment on the CFTC’s 2015 claim.”
He was very evasive and finally told me his client was the “CME”. He further stated, “he would be filing some documents on the case at times using the courts’ name, my case number, etc.” I asked him ‘How can you do that?’ He asked again, ‘Do I believe bitcoin is a commodity?’
I objected 5x at the top of my lungs then hung up. However, as stated in my filing I asked the court if they knew of this information filed and they said they did not. Yet many CME ECF dockets were filed May 05, 2018 and my hearing was held May 06, 2018? Odd. Both the CFTC/CME had a lot to lose monetarily if bitcoin was not declared a commodity on March 06, 2018 in the CME’S own wording to the court. A jury of peers will see it through clear unbiased eyes.
BC: What would you like to tell the cryptocurrency community on your behalf in regard to this case? What should other crypto-based businesses know about this matter going forward?
PM: I would ask the cryptocurrency community to base their opinion of me on facts not fabricated FUD. Any/all participants in cryptocurrency should tread lightly until regulation is fully imposed. Many U.S. crypto individuals/outfits will soon be affected by the March 06, 2018 bitcoin ruling. Everyone is vulnerable in unchartered territory.
What do you think about Patrick McDonnell’s case? Do you think he has a chance of beating the CFTC’s charges and changing classifications? Let us know your thoughts on the subject in the comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, CNBC, Wiki Commons, CME Group logo, and the CFTC logos.
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Zug, Switzerland, May 1, 2018 – One of the world’s largest providers of human location data to the advertising industry is changing its business model in the wake of the Facebook scandal and is aiming to put consumers back in control by partnering with blockchain-backed data platform Streamr.
Founded 3.5 years ago, Singapore-based Fysical now sells some 15 billion location data points from mobile and IoT devices to chart how people move through cityscapes and commercial spaces.
This data is currently being bought by more than a thousand organisations from industries such as advertising, real estate, financial services businesses, academia, and organisations with interests in machine learning. Fysical co-founder Ben Smith, however, has now stated that it is time to change direction and allow consumers to reclaim and monetise the real-time data that is being generated about them from hundreds of mobile apps and other devices.
Smith will work with Swiss-based data monetisation platform Streamr to vend the data on its real-time data Marketplace, which will be launched at Consensus 2018 on May 16 2018. The two companies will also work together to create an easy-to-use permission mechanism that will give people the ability to deny the use of their data altogether, or if they choose, to ‘double verify’ data being produced about them. By double verifying their locations, people will increase the data’s reliability, creating a new standard in digital advertising and the location monitoring industry. They will also be able to share in the proceeds of monetisation.
Streamr’s CEO, Henri Pihkala, welcomed the partnership. “Streamr’s aim is to do data differently, and this partnership shows just that. We know that the IoT economy is already generating vast amounts of information about human behaviour. We have to make sure that this wealth of data isn’t captured by a select few data giants of the future because we don’t want to make the mistakes of the past. That’s why we’re putting Streamr Labs to work on ensuring we build something new from the ground up, that has the right values baked in from the start.”
“Facebook, Google and Amazon currently own the ‘online’ data world,” said Fysical co-founder Ben Smith. “The next frontier is ‘offline’ or physical world data. We think that decentralisation can allow us to tackle this next frontier the right way, rather than building giant monopolies with high privacy costs for consumers.”
“In the decentralised space, there has only been one model to allow consumers to own their data and that’s a consumer-first model, where companies provide a mobile app to consumers which allows consumers to make money from their data,” Smith continued.
“Most companies that offer such an app tout that they’re allowing consumers to finally claim their data and take it back from the data giants, but that’s not actually happening. Rather, these apps just create more data to sell with a consumer monetary kick-back and they do nothing to allow consumers to claim or own the data generated from the thousands of other apps and websites that still collect and sell their data. Fysical allows users to efficiently claim all of this data downstream at the aggregate marketplace level where it’s pooled, instead of just from one of the many sources creating it upstream.”
Smith added that Fysical’s mission was to become the industry standard for businesses to buy and sell location data, “while allowing consumers to claim their data from this B2B market”.
About Streamr:
Streamr is based in “Crypto Valley”, aka Zug, Switzerland, but was born out of a Finnish company in Helsinki now named Data in Chains. The first version of the software that resembles the current Streamr vision was created for internal use in algorithmic high-frequency trading five years ago. Core team members all come from a financial background, being either quants, trading system developers, algorithmic traders and, in some cases, all of the above.
Streamr Crowdfunding officially closed on Oct 26 2017, and raised $30m in just over 24 hours.
Streamr already has functioning data analytics technology, a drag-and-drop visual programming user interface for fast prototyping and app creation, and smart contracting capabilities built on top of the Ethereum blockchain.
Scheduled for launch in Q2 2018, Streamr’s real-time data Marketplace will allow users to trade information over their P2P data network using the cryptographic token DATA as a means of payment.
About Fysical:
Fysical is a decentralised location data market that provides a protocol for the transparent and compliant exchange of physical world data on the blockchain. Currently, Fysical trades more than 15 billion data points every month.
Fysical is fully functional and launched live on the Ethereum Mainnet in February 2018.
Fysical utilises the FYS token to facilitate all data and market services transactions as well as for decryption of datasets published to the blockchain.
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