TLDR News - Cryptocurrency & Blockchain (2017-01-12)

The latest cryptocurrency and blockchain news, hand picked and condensed down. Giving you more time to create and consume Steemit content. This is my first time on here and would appreciate some feedback!

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The Lightning Network Alpha Release is Ready for Testing

The off-chain protocol is based on payment channels and multi-signature technology which could theoretically speed up transactions to near instantaneous time frames.

Another aspect of Lightning that people may enjoy is the implementation of onion-routed payments and end-to-end-encryption between nodes.

Additionally Lightning will enable peer-to-peer encrypted communication applying what's called a modern cryptographic messaging transport.

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Monero Successfully Hardforks to Increase Privacy and Anonymity

Monero, the fifth largest digital currency with a market cap of nearly $200 million, has successfully hardforked yesterday to add higher levels of privacy and anonymity by implementing an adapted version of Confidential Transactions.

The networks' near 650 visible full nodes have made the transition without any noticeable problem so far, with the market responding positively as indicated by an increase in Monero's price of more than 4.5% at the time of publishing.

The new invention is now enabled by default, with a planned hardfork in September enforcing the added level of privacy on all transactions, making monero one of the most anonymous digital currencies.

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Julian Assange Proves He's Alive Using The Bitcoin Blockchain

After being presumed dead by several internet fans, Julian Assange, editor-in-chief of the WikiLeaks organization, decided to prove his well-being by reading out block #447506 and its hash, which is a string of numbers and letters that are unique to that specific block and impossible to predict.

Julian Assange has made history as the first public figure to use the Bitcoin blockchain as a proof-of-life.

Assange's choice to use the Bitcoin blockchain for this matter does not come as a surprise given his friendly relationship with the cryptocurrency.

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Report Estimates There are More Than 10 Million Bitcoin Holders Worldwide

Due to the difficulties associated with getting useful, identifiable user data from the blockchain, White and Burniske turned to Coinbase user data for their research. In terms of the ten million bitcoin holders number, Burniske and White divided bitcoin’s total market cap by the average bitcoin balance held by Coinbase users.

More than half of Coinbase users have used bitcoin strictly as an investment or store of value since 2013. Much like the ten million bitcoin holders number, this data point is based on rough estimates.

“In short, both gross number of investors and transactors increased in 2016, but by percentage terms, transactors grew at a faster rate than investors.”

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Needham: Probability of Approval for a Bitcoin ETF 'Very Low'

"Conservatively, we estimate that a bitcoin ETF could attract $300 million in assets in its first week and the resulting effort to source the underlying bitcoin for the Trust would likely drive the price of bitcoin up significantly."

While there is a tremendous upside potential for bitcoin, the probability of approval is “very low” and “drastically overestimated,” Needham wrote. While difficult to quantify, the firm estimates the probability to be “sub-25%.”

"Ultimately, while it appears there is significant pent-up demand from the investment public for such a vehicle, bitcoin itself certainly doesn't need an ETF and will continue on regardless of the SEC's decision."

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Bitstamp to Offer XRP Trading; Ripple Strikes Partnership with Axis Bank

Axis Bank, India's third largest private sector bank, announced on Monday that it will be using Ripple's technology to offer cross-border payments solutions.

The technology enables nearly instant international money transfers and will significantly improve efficiency of payments for Axis Bank through instant and automated reconciliation with partner banks.

Axis Bank is the first bank in India to partner with Ripple.

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Bitit Enables Bitcoin Cash Purchases at 135,000 Locations

Its partnership with voucher provider CASHlib will allow anyone to purchase a voucher in person with cash, swapping a code on the Bitit website for the equivalent in BTC. "Until now, there have only been limited opportunities to purchase Bitcoin with cash in France. [The] Bitcoin by cash market is only at its beginning," Econotimes quotes Bitit CEO Nicolas Katan as saying.

CASHlib and fellow Bitit partner Neosurf between them now offer over 135,000 locations for buying Bitcoin, yet the price paid for the convenience may yet prove off-putting. Neosurf locations recently reduced commission from 10% to 8% per transaction.

Bitit also offers prepaid gift cards denominated in euros and redeemable for Bitcoin online via its website – again subject to a 3.9% transaction fee, making the ultimate rate less desirable than many other purchase options.

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Chinese Bitcoin Exchange Inspections Cause Price Drop and FUD

"The People's Bank of China Shanghai headquarters, the Shanghai Municipal Finance Office and other units to form a joint inspection team on Bitcoin China are carrying out on-site inspections," explains the PBOC press release.

News outlets covering the subject were quick on the draw to release stories concerning the Chinese inspections.

The Chinese exchange details the cryptocurrency community should use rational thinking rather than depend on speculative news sources.

The news from China and rumors from the region is nothing new within the bitcoin community as these events have happened regularly since the cryptocurrency's beginnings.

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Blockchain Tech to be Researched by US Food and Drug Administration

The US Food and Drug Administration is partnering IBM to research blockchain technology applications toward the exchange of health data.

Revealed in an announcement yesterday by IBM Watson Health, the US federal agency is looking at ways in which health data be shared from medical devices and wearables, clinical trials and data from mobile devices.

A sweeping blockchain framework will be researched and explored for implementation in a wide range of areas where data is gathered and shared.