In 2016, we saw the true beginning of augmented reality when Pokemon Go took the world by storm. Before that, gaming and even the concept of virtual reality were considered to be isolated pursuits, and not something that productive members of society would spend a lot of time using.
But when more evidence surfaced showing that Pokemon Go had done a better job of getting kids outside than any other policy before, it became clear that augmented reality has the potential to be more than just a video game.
Blockchain is Still Insular
Right now, the same perception, people used to have for augmented reality, is applied to Blockchain. It is considered to be something that only computer geniuses and aggressive libertarians are playing with, and not something that can be made part of daily life.
The view of Blockchain as an insular group needs to be changed, and the best way to do this is by making its use helpful for everyone on a daily basis. Due to the changes in technology that have occurred in the last few decades, there are certain things that most people do every day. They view advertisements, interact with social networks, read content, and buy things. Knowing this, the broader applications of augmented reality would likely do well to integrate these use cases in some way.
Right now, the only way to link your physical presence to your online store is by using keywords or QR codes, both of which have proven to be relatively impractical.
A Holistic Solution
One company has been working hard to bring these two worlds together, and the result is . This decentralized open platform, with David Ham as CEO, has been built in partnership with , which has four core areas of focus: advertising, social networks, content distribution, and commerce. The idea is that much of a user’s lifestyle will be encompassed by Scanetchain, and this will result in significant benefits in enjoyment and utility.
One example of this is the content distribution system. Users can register their content and hold a copyright for it. This protects their assets and allows to create an income stream by selling their product independently. In case you are looking for a more powerful alternative in the light of recent Facebook controversy, Scanetchain’s open market platform developed in the U.S. will use an automatic notarization system using NEM Blockchain called Apostle. The use of NEM Blockchain technology is the sign of a solid partnership that should allow for quick scaling of this innovative solution.
Scanetchain Token Sale
The value of the company is based on the power of the ecosystem. In order to help foment the continued growth of the company, a token is being issued.
Fully democratic SWC tokens will use the voting system that is native to NEM Blockchain technology. Using a proof of activity consensus system, the protocol will reward users for their activity frequency with more coins. The incentives are essentially being designed to keep the ecosystem active with the idea that the more vitality in the ecosystem, the more the coin will rise.
Scanetchain’s ICO is already underway, and public access will be available very soon. The pre-sale opened on April 30 and will go on until May 14, then becoming a crowdsale until May 22. With the goal of connecting offline environments to the Blockchain using AR, Scanetchain is going to take what started with Pokemon Go and use it to change how technology and commerce interact forever.
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On Wednesday, May 9, Bloomberg its partnership with Galaxy digital Capital Management, a digital asset management firm founded by bitcoin bull and billionaire Mike Novogratz. The duo has made public the launch of cryptocurrency index fund called Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index (BGCI), which will be tracking the performance of some of the biggest and most liquid cryptocurrencies in the market.
The index will be owned and managed by Bloomberg Index Services Limited in collaboration with Galaxy Digital Capital Management. Being a new member of the Bloomberg Index family, BGCI will provide the first institutional grade benchmark for the digital currency market. The Index will supposedly give a boost to the nascent crypto market giving more accessibility to the mainstream financial institutions.
The BGCI will be weighted on the market capitalization and will track the performance of some USD-traded digital currencies like bitcoin (30%), ethereum (30%), XRP (14.14%), bitcoin cash (10.65%), EOS (6.11%), litecoin (3.77%), dash (1.67%), monero (1.66%), ethereum classic (1%), and zcash (1%). The index will comprise of different crypto constituents across multiple categories including the medium of exchange, store of value, privacy assets and the smart contract protocols.
The two companies said in a statement that in order to determine the performance metrics of digital currency, they will be using a “rules-based methodology and data” based on sources that both companies have derived. However, the two companies refrained to give further details of this.
Alan Campbell, Global Product Manager for Bloomberg Indices said:
“Today’s launch of the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index reflects our clients’ growing interest in cryptocurrencies. The index brings our rigorous approach to index construction to cryptos and will provide investors with a transparent benchmark to gauge the performance of the broader market.”
, CEO and Founder of Galaxy Digital Capital Management, said,
“The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index brings unprecedented transparency to the crypto markets. We are excited to help drive the decentralized revolution forward through the creation of BGCI.”
“The herd is on the move. This is an important piece of the architecture that institutional accounts need to treat crypto as a new asset class,” said in a Twitter message Novogratz.
So excited to announce our partnership with Bloomberg. The herd is on the move. This is an important piece of the architecture that institutional accounts need to treat crypto as a new asset class.
— Michael Novogratz (@novogratz)
Steve Kurz, Head of Asset Management at Galaxy Digital Capital Management also expressed positivity over the new partnership:
“We are thrilled to partner with Bloomberg on the BGCI. The index’s independent, rules-based methodology provides a strong foundation on which the cryptocurrency ecosystem will continue to grow and mature.”
Mike Novogratz, an ex Goldman Sachs executive and quite a popular figure in the global financial space will be launching a Galaxy digital “merchant-bank” on Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange. The bank will be involved in providing crypto services for trading, principal investing, asset management and advisory work.
Just the BGCI, world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange also announced the launch of its own earlier this year, in March 2018. Several big institutional players have also been seen launching their crypto services and trading platforms much recently.
Financial juggernauts like and NYSE-parent are also working towards launching their own bitcoin trading platforms.
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The social media mogul – Facebook is pushing forward its plans with the blockchain development as the company has now announced a new Blockchain group which will be headed Davis Marcus who is the former head of Messenger at Facebook as well as a board member at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange ‘Coinbase’.
On Tuesday, in a post on his , Marcus said:
After nearly four unbelievably rewarding years leading Messenger, I have decided it was time for me to take on a new challenge. I’m setting up a small group to explore how to best leverage Blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch.
As reported by , Facebook announced a major overhaul in its 15-year history while promoting long-time Facebook executives to tackle new responsibilities like working and exploring the blockchain technology and its solutions, and appointing heads for the existing services like WhatsApp and Messenger.
The publication notes that such a decision from Facebook arrived after its recent exposure to the Cambridge Analytica Scandal wherein data of millions of users was compromised to influence political elections of U.S President Donald Trump. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently classified the company’s operations into three different categories: a “family of apps” group, “central product services” and “new platforms and infra.”
It is however still not clear as to how Facebook plans to implement and deploy the blockchain technology or its related solutions to its platform. One of the most obvious applications could be the encrypted data storage. It is said that the new blockchain group formed under the leadership of David Marcus will comprise less than a dozen employees including James Everingham, vice president of engineering at Instagram, and Kevin Weil, Instagram’s vice president of product.
Earlier this year, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had made his intentions clear about and cryptocurrencies as the company has been fighting against the major menace and challenge of fake news being propagated through the Facebook platform. At that time, Zuckerberg said:
My personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues. We won’t prevent all mistakes or abuse, but we currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing misuse of our tools. If we’re successful this year then we’ll end 2018 on a much better trajectory.”
Earlier this year, the company also banned crypto ads on its platform calling them as a means to “promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.” Facebook’s decision of banning crypto ads was followed by other tech giants like joining the bandwagon.
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