Highlights: Ethereum Ecosystem in 60 seconds

Vitalik Buterin and Joseph Boon released a whitepaper proposing the Plasma Protocol as a massive scalability solution for state updates on the Ethereum blockchain by relying on scalable smart contracts. This is a technical paper that’s subject to community feedback and revisions.
For details, as reported by ETHNews: https://www.ethnews.com/vitalik-buterin-and-joseph-poon-produce-scalability-solution-the-plasma-framework
To review the co-authored whitepaper: http://plasma.io/plasma.pdf

Still in its early days, Ethereum’s unexplored landscape and its capacity to create new autonomous markets is known seen as “coding’s new wild west.”
For details on Ethereum’s wild landscape: https://www.wired.com/story/ethereum-is-codings-new-wild-west

Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin and AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant are expected to discuss the role of cryptocurrency in initial coin offerings and how the venture capital industry is adapting to the new crowdfunding model at the Disrupt conference in San Francisco in September.
For conference details: https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/10/vitalik-buterin-and-naval-ravikant-to-discuss-ethereum-and-icos-at-disrupt-sf/

According to CNBC analysis, Ether closed out a ~50 percent growth in the last two weeks, spurred by a mix of large trading activities in South Korea, continued investments pouring into initial coin offerings which exceeding funding levels in venture capital, while pulling in support from institutional players from the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) of 86 member firms.
For details: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/10/ethereum-price-hits-one-month-high-up-near-50-percent-in-the-last-

Coinbase achieves unicorn status in the cryptocurrency market after raising $100 million in Series D funding, tipping its valuation over $1 billion. The financing shall be allocated towards building human capital for its exchange GDAX, as well as developing Toshi, its open source browser for Ethereum.
For details: https://www.ethnews.com/coinbase-raises-100-million-in-series-d-funding

Microsoft launches its CoCo framework to increase throughput (transaction speed), enhance security and governance protocol of enterprise-grade blockchain networks. Included in this framework are distributed ledger platforms such as Ethereum, R3’s Corda, Hyperledger, and JP Morgan’s Quorum.
To see Microsoft’s announcement: https://news.microsoft.com/2017/08/10/microsoft-announces-the-coco-framework/

As part of its consumer protection strategy, Singapore’s central banking and financial authorities released an advisory to highlight various risks associated with token sales, including anti-money laundering and illegitimate transactions, as well as risks from online crypto exchanges (e.g. liquidity & solvency risks and customer service capacity issues). This closely followed an earlier notice from their central bank explaining how the function of digital tokens may represent ownership or security interest.
For details: https://www.ethnews.com/singapore-issues-additional-advisory-on-investment-schemes-involving-digital-tokens