Crypto News, June 9, 2018: Flat Day

*Highlights: EOS is a go, SEC's crypto czar knows her stuff, and Valve doing Valve things drives blockchain adoption.*

EOS Mainnet Launch

Source: Steemit

The EOS Mainnet Launch Group has unanimously voted “go” on the mainnet launch, which began at 13:00 UTC and is expected to take between 1 - 2 days. The launch group will meet tomorrow; if validation is agreed, the mainnet will launch to the public. The chain will be ratified after a threshold of 150 million tokens have been used to vote on the initial set of Block Producers. See the above link for further details and recommendations for voting mechanisms.

EOS Hackathon

Source: EOS

Block.one will host four in-person events from now until the end of the year aimed at creating “visionary” decentralized apps. The four “hackathons” will be followed by a grand finale, with over $1.5 million on the line in prizes for the eventual winners. For details on the in-person times and dates, follow the source link above.

DENT Reaches 1 Million Users

Source: Twitter

According to their Twitter page, DENT now has 1 million users, three weeks ahead of the goal on its roadmap.

Kin Testnet Scales to 1.2 Million Daily Transactions

Source: Medium

Kin, which migrated from the Ethereum blockchain to Stellar in 2017, announced that its testnet has scaled to 1.2 million transactions per day. The Kin test environment is custom, with Kin commenting that they want their solutions to be shaped by their product requirements, rather than driven by “abstract technological considerations.”

Nebulas Incorporates DeepCloud AI

Source: Medium

The Nebulas blockchain will integrate DeepCloud AI, a decentralized cloud computing platform. DeepCloud will facilitate computing capacity-sharing for individuals and enterprise users. The partnership hopes to compete with current cloud marketplace solutions like Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Launch: BTC Lightning Wallet

Source: BTC Lightning

The BTC Lightning Network has launched its second mobile application. The Lightning Wallet will have a fully standalone Lightning node which will enable both Lightning Network transactions as well as traditional BTC on-chain payments.

Announcement: Monero Vision

Source: Medium

Blockchain interaction tool MyCrypto has announced Monero Vision, an open-source block explorer for Monero. It represents the first move in MyCrypto’s goal to support chains other than Ethereum.

Norwegian Air Possibly Launching Cryptocurrency Exchange

Source: Techie World

Norwegian Air recently established the Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX), a company which will reportedly be responsible for developing and operating a cryptocurrency exchange for the airline, in addition to other blockchain-based initiatives. The head of the NBX has suggested the possibility of accepting cryptocurrencies for airline tickets.

Colombian Banks Close Exchange Accounts

Source: Cointelegraph

Colombian banks have shut down all accounts held by Buda, South America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The move comes shortly after a financial control officer issued a letter to the banks reminding them that they are “not authorized to interact with crypto platforms.” While Buda stated that this was a recommendation and not a regulation, the nation’s banks presumably did not want to assume the risk.

Bank of Italy: Cryptocurrency Could Save EU Billions

Source: Cointelegraph

The Bank of Italy’s deputy governor argued a case for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CDBCs) in a keynote speech delivered in Milan. He claimed that a digital currency backed by bank assets, with no storage cost, could address cost inefficiencies in a variety of sectors to the tune of 76 billion Euros.

Swiss Lender to Accept Cryptocurrency

Source: FinNews

A regional lender in Switzerland will open its doors to cryptocurrency and blockchain providers, taking on traditional financial institutions who have thus far shied away from the practice. CEO Marianne Wildi says it is a “question of credibility” for her institution, whose strategy is based on cooperation with fintech firms.

SEC ‘Crypto Czar’: Smart Contracts Can Regulate Securities

Source: Fortune

Valerie Szczepanik, the recently appointed “crypto czar” of the SEC, discussed on Thursday the idea that ICO token sales could potentially be regulated by smart contracts. ICOs can be an effective fundraising technique, but there are few protections in place for investors. Writing rules for token exchanges that comply with SEC regulations, she says, could help mitigate that risk.

U.S. Government Demands Exchange Trading Data

Source: Market Watch

Government investigators are trying to compel exchanges to release trading data as part of an ongoing inquiry into possible price manipulations. The investigation has in part been motivated by the refusal of four exchanges - Coinbase, Bitstamp, itBit, and Kraken - to release this data to CME Group, an exchange regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) which listed bitcoin future prices based on price data from all four sources. The requested data includes trader identities.

UK National Archives Researching Blockchain

Source: UK National Archives

The UK National Archives is exploring blockchain technology through a new research initiative called ARCHANGEL. Specifically, the Archives is looking for a solution to improve the integrity and transparency of their digital record-keeping as formats change with time.

VeChain Partners Sign Government Deal

Source: Twitter

INPI Asia and ITP, partners of VeChain, announced last night that they have signed a deal with the government of Jakarta to validate data and documents. The validation will utilize the VeChainThor protocol and its native dapps.

Dash and BCH Double-Spending

Source: Twitter

A Twitter user demonstrated that Dash, and presumably BCH, are vulnerable to double-spending. The vulnerability occurs when the networks are not reaching full consensus, i.e., some nodes are accepting specific transactions while others are not.

Airdrops: Surety Token & StakeIt

Surety Token | StakeIt

Two new free money opportunities! Surety is running an airdrop through June 20th, 2018 for up to $400 worth of tokens per user. StakeIt is offering 50 of their tokens. Click the links above and follow the steps to participate.

OPSkins, Rebuffed by Valve, Will Look to Blockchain

Source: OPSkins

After receiving a cease & desist order from Steam via Twitter DM, skin-trading service OPSkins issued a statement announcing that all OPSkins accounts associated with trading would be deactivated from Steam on June 21, 2018. Instead, OPSkins will integrate their services into 19 blockchain-based games, giving users more autonomy over their trades and purchases. Could Valve be the next major casualty of decentralized technology? Perhaps we'll find out... soon™.

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