Cryptocurrency IOTA announced compatibility with popular hardware wallet Ledger today. IOTA coin holders will be able to store their coins (MIOTA) on the ledger Nano S device.
Details
According to a release on IOTA’s blog, “[t]he Ledger hardware wallets integrate with the IOTA Trinity and Romeo Wallets and isolate user’s seeds (the key for their account) from their computer or smartphone, providing another layer of security from hackers”.
Ledger CEO Eric Larchevêque explained in IOTA’s blog release, that “[p]roviding the highest level of security and quality is a major focus at both Ledger and IOTA,” said Eric, CEO at Ledger”.
IOTA aims for scalability and free transactions, as well as Internet of Things (IoT) application. MIOTA is also a top twenty cryptocurrency in terms of market cap, via coinmarketcap.com.
Back in July, readers will remember seeing IOTA partner with Fujitsu, “a Tokyo-based multinational IT equipment company”, as reported by CCN. IOTA also made notable headlines with its Bitfinex listing in June.
IOTA runs on a technology called “Tangle”, which is different from blockchain. IOTA explains the technology behind the Tangle in a separate blog post. The Tangle is based on several different squares, linked by specified arrows, forming a “directed graph”.
IOTA Difficulties
IOTA has received significant criticism in past months, due to its network seeing downtime (times of non-function) last November. “That this has never happened in Bitcoin or Ethereum suggests the extent to which the IOTA network relies on the “coordinator”—a single point of failure—and is not truly decentralized”, explained a post from MIT Media Lab.
In July of this year, the IOTA network also saw a bug, resulting in reports of further network difficulties, according to an article from Trustnodes.com.
Ledger Wallet
IOTA holders have been anxiously waiting months for Ledger wallet compatibility, as seen on a Reddit discussion back in May.
Hardware wallets allow cryptocurrency holders to store their assets offline (via private key offline storage). Funds held online and on exchanges can be at greater risk. CCN recently reported on the hacking of Canadian cryptocurrency exchange MapleChange, leading to stolen customer funds.
According to the Ledger website – “Ledger hardware wallets are powered by BOLOS ™, a unique, proprietary operating system developed by Ledger. BOLOS creates an individual shield around each app on your device, ensuring they do not access your sensitive information”.
Featured image from Ledger.
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We talk about innovative Blockchain application with the CEO, Adam Todd of Digitex Exchange which promises commission-free trading. Since commission fees are set arbitrarily by most exchanges, including the big ones, we wanted to delve deeper into how this project promises what others had thought to be unsustainable.
CCN: Let’s start with the fundamentals. What is Digitex Futures all about? How do you manage to allow commission-free trading without paying from your own pocket? How sustainable is your plan?
Digitex Futures is a commission-free futures trading exchange that allows traders to make near real-time trades on futures contracts on Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. We’re using the Ethereum blockchain and a custom token, the DGTX as an ERC-223 compatible token.
Source:websequencediagrams
(The ERC223 token is an improvement oven the ERC20 token and incorporates a mechanism to prevent tokens getting lost due to getting sent to wrong/invalid addresses.)
Instead of charging commission fees, we cover the costs of operating by minting a small number of tokens each year. This system of token issuance is a revolutionary new revenue model for a futures exchange and will be governed autonomously and democratically by all DGTX token owners through Decentralized Governance by Blockchain. This means that DGTX token owners decide on how many new tokens to create each year. The constant demand for tokens from more and more traders seeking commission-free futures trading will offset the single digit inflation rate caused by a small and expected increase in the supply of tokens.
We chose the Ethereum blockchain to build on because one of the key features of our Futures exchange is that we will eventually offer trustless trading through a system of state channels. Through smart contracts, and specifically the Plasma protocol, users will be able to trade on the exchange without having to deposit any funds into the exchange. Traders will not be able to back out of losing trades but at the same time they haven’t handed their private keys over to the exchange and we can’t withhold the trader’s funds against his wishes.
Plasma Protocol (Source: Hackernoon)
Another advantage of not holding customer funds is that hackers are less likely to target our exchange because there are no funds to steal. This decentralized accounts system will not be released in the first version at the end of this year but will be a major upgrade to the Digitex Futures Exchange in 2019, which is when the Plasma protocol is scheduled to be ready for production.
Despite having decentralized account balances, Digitex will not be a decentralized exchange because they are too slow and cumbersome for real-time futures trading. Traders must be able to place orders instantly and that is not possible on decentralized exchanges because every order must hit the blockchain, which costs time and gas.
Therefore, Digitex will be a hybrid exchange that combines the trustless benefits of decentralized account balances with the speed, stability, and security of a centralized order matching engine.
That means we are using a centralized server to run the matching engine, not the blockchain, allowing traders to buy and sell futures contracts in almost real-time through a one-click ladder interface. A centralized matching engine avoids the problem of Ethereum’s scalability since we can handle hundreds of thousands of users, getting practically instantaneous responses without any gas costs.
Source: Sodio Tech
Question: How many transactions can your exchange process per second and what is the expected downtime?
Answer: Well, because of our centralized server, we can process hundreds of thousands of transactions per second. We’re confident that we have the best team and tools in place to handle sudden surges in demand as well.
As for downtime, we’re not expecting that to be an issue. We’re aiming for 100 percent uptime (well, I had better say 99.9 percent uptime, in the case of an extremely unforeseen and strange event like a meteor shower or something). But, seriously, we knew that to build an exchange that would allow for instant 24/7 trading, we need to offer a constantly accessible platform.
Finally, in terms of security, we’re following best practices and using experienced consultants to make the exchange as secure as possible. When our Plasma powered accounts system is launched, the exchange will not hold any client funds which will likely deter hackers because there will be no funds to steal.
Question: How will you minimize the gas charges applicable to the transactions on your crypto-exchange?
Answer: The only gas charges will be upon deposit and withdrawal of your DGTX tokens into the exchange because we’re keeping trades off-chain.
Liquid Supply Medium Exchange: Continuous Transactions (Source: Medium)
Question: What will be the effect of your token getting listed on other crypto-exchanges?
Answer: Well, getting listed on other cryptocurrency exchanges has no effect on how the futures exchange will operate. That doesn’t really affect traders. We launched the DGTX token in our ICO at $0.01 and today the DGTX token is trading ten times higher than that at $0.095. Today, we are in the top-100 of all coins trading. Ever since our ICO sold out in 17 minutes, there is a serious demand and plenty of traders just ready and waiting to get started. Getting listed on other exchanges will probably add to the value of the DGTX.
Question: You’re allowing the trading of securities. Did that lead you to regulatory concerns?
AT: Regulation is a possible concern for any blockchain company. Although, any legitimate blockchain company actually welcomes a clear set of guidelines on how they can and can’t operate. The securities issue has been largely limited to the United States so far.
In Switzerland and Germany, they’re using existing laws to provide different distinctions of securities. In Malta, they’ve created new legislation that shows a deep understanding of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Tokens at one end of the scale can be utilities and at the other, securities, and they can also be a hybrid.
Digitex is based in Seychelles and we are fully compliant with all legislation in this jurisdiction. Digitex Futures Exchange will commence operations with BTC/USD, ETH/USD and LTC/USD futures contracts and later add other pairs.
Question: Tell us something about your technology backend. How many modules do you have? How does your matching engine match a high number of transactions in real-time?
Answer: Well, the back end is proprietary and we don’t want to reveal our proprietary technology to potential competitors. The end user interface will be readily visible when the product is deployed and so I can tell you that is implemented as an Angular/Javascript web service.
What I can say about the back end is that it is a mix of best of breed component technologies that are appropriate for an application of this class. Broadly, it is a tiered model involving a web layer supporting the browser client and public API using an in-house Javascript abstraction library and a customizable internal API that supports advanced messaging methods.
Source: BBVAOPEN4U
There is a high-performance event cache within the system which can update millions of clients in near real-time with events generated in the order matching system. The entire back end is dynamically scalable using a variety of techniques appropriate to the component and/or the tier on which it is deployed.
AWS auto-scaling is a major component in the web layer with a proprietary scaling solution for the order matching engine which allows us to prioritize busier markets or indices. The database/account uses a sharding data model design which will allow for seamless expansion of account performance in the future as the population grows.
Amazon Auto-Scaling (Source: Amazon)
Question: Why did you decide to list BTC, ETH and LTC futures, and what possible pairs will you list in the future? Do you have a process for deciding which to list on the exchange?
Answer: We went with the main ones to start with in order to focus liquidity on a small number of markets. We may introduce new futures contracts but currently, there is no official process for deciding that. We will decide on a case by case basis and also listen to the demands of the Digitex community and our traders.
Question: You have reserved 20% of your tokens for Market Makers. What is the rationale behind that?
Answer: Active market makers will be the catalyst for creating highly liquid markets. By reserving 20% of the total supply of DGTX tokens for market making and liquidity, traders will enjoy low slippage as well as no fees on trades. For those who don’t know, slippage is another major cost of trading so this will attract longer-term traders who may not be that interested in commission-free trading but who will like the ability to enter and exit large positions with little to no slippage costs.
We’re thinking on a massive scale here and not after just one group of traders. We believe that we can come up with a highly liquid exchange and attract short-term traders, long-term traders, and token holders alike.
Question: What are the steps that you have taken to ensure that the exchange resists hacking attempts?
Answer: When our Plasma powered accounts are ready next year, Digitex will not be a target for hacking because we won’t hold traders funds. Traders can buy and sell futures contracts without needing to trust our exchange with their money because we are using a series of state channels to decentralize account balances.
Question: What are the challenges that lie ahead and do predictions of Ethereum losing value pose any major issues for you?
Answer: There will always be challenges on the road ahead, but it would be boring otherwise! We’re working really hard every day to bring this product to the market and provide traders with the first commission free futures exchange.
Plasma is largely untested in battle conditions because it’s so new. There will be challenges implementing this, but we’ll be instrumental in figuring out how to implement this exciting new technology into a modern exchange.
Really, the price of Ethereum for us is irrelevant, and I think, to most legitimate blockchain companies. There may be less interest than there was a few months ago in cryptocurrency in general, but that serves as a market correction, leaving serious companies to get on with their work.
That said, we’re bullish on Ethereum and believe that the prices will go back up very soon. But for now, it doesn’t really affect us or our investors. In fact, bear markets make futures exchanges even more relevant since we will allow traders to go short and make money on margin and leverage trading–without commission fees wiping out their profits.
Question: Anything else you would like to add?
Answer: Just that we’re really thankful to the Digitex community so far and to all our team. We’re building an exchange that really will be a game changer. The futures industry is now worth over $30 trillion, and we believe that we are set to be a huge player in the space.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
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Major cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin have increased by more than 5 percent in value over the last 24 hours.
The cryptocurrency market has started to demonstrate signs of recovery, as the daily trading volume of large digital asset trading platforms has increased over the past week.
The volume of Bitcoin, led by an abrupt surge in volume in the cryptocurrency exchange market of South Korea and the BTC-to-KRW trading pair, increased from $3.1 billion to $4.4 billion within a span of seven days, increasing by 44 percent.
Bitcoin Cash Sees 7x Increase in Volume
Bitcoin recorded a mere 1 percent increase in its price and a minor price movement was expected, given that BTC has demonstrated its highest level of stability in recent years throughout the past three months.
For BTC to demonstrate a 5 to 10 percent in value in the current phase of the market, a major catalyst or a driving factor will be required.
BTC is set to face some key resistance levels above the $6,400 mark and to confirm a positive short-term movement, it will have to demonstrate a strong movement above the $6,500 mark with decent supporting volume.
While BTC has maintained a sideways market, other major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash have increased significantly in value over the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin Cash in specific has seen an increase of seven-fold in volume from less than $200 million to $1.4 billion. BCH has surpassed the peak volume Ripple (XRP) achieved in early October when its price tripled.
Ethereum, which also has demonstrated stagnant performance throughout October, recorded a decent gain of 4 percent to $208, successfully breaking out of the $200 resistance level.
But, according to cryptocurrency technical analyst Josh Rager, Bitcoin could portray increasing volatility in the short-term but a sideways movement throughout November is a possibility.
“Historically, we haven’t seen Bollinger Bands squeeze this tight over the past two years. This means upcoming volatility with price action. But, we saw the same squeeze in 2016 which lasted a month, be prepared for possible slow sideways movement through November.”
Digital asset trader Hsaka echoed a similar sentiment, expecting a difficult breakout for BTC above the $6,800 mark in the upcoming weeks.
“To be honest, with volume and volatility petering out, I wouldn’t be surprised to see BTC hold this range for another month (and maybe till the EOY too). Would be the path of maximum pain, bears don’t get their rapid selloff to 4.8k, bulls distraught over not being able to break 6.8k.”
Where is Market Heading?
An increase in volume of BTC in both South Korea and Japan, two of the largest cryptocurrency exchange markets, could lead to a solid short-term movement for many major digital assets.
But, until BTC breaks out of its tight range and tests $6,800, it will be difficult to confirm a short-term rally of any significance.
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts from TradingView.
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USD Coin has been in the spotlight of late and the reasons should not be far-fetched for anyone who has been following proceedings in the crypto ecosystem of late. In less than a month, the company rose in value and notched the 58th position of top cryptocurrencies, according to data on CoinMarketCap. More overwhelming is the circulating supply of the coin which surpassed 125 million with a 24-hour trading volume of about $2 million.
Not less than 12 exchanges, according to an official blog post from Circle, have expressed their plans of joining the ecosystem for the incorporation of the USD coin. The exchanges are BitMart, Fcoin, Gatecoin, Hanbitco, Hotbit, SWIFT, OCP Capital, DDEX and Bit-Z. The world’s first instant crypto-backed loan provider; Nexo also disclosed the ongoing process of adding the stablecoin. Users of Shenzhen-based cryptocurrency startup Bitkan and wallet provider Tokenary can as well store and use USDC to carry out various services.
The last two weeks recorded a surge in the number of companies granting reception to USDC since the token was issued. About 50 companies are coming on board and the motivation stems from the collaboration between Circle and Coinbase which led to the establishment of CENTRE Consortium.
Bootstrapped by contributions from founding members Circle and Coinbase, an early form of these protocols in production today servicing millions of customers. CENTRE envisions a decentralized and independent system where its software implementation will be handled by an organization exclusively set up for this purpose. It will provide the support, governance and ongoing research and development for the project.
Circle Announces Plan to Remove Redemption Fees
The regulated Money Transmitter Circle has decided to stop the charging of fees for the conversion of USDC to US dollars. This decision is a perfect way to latch onto the burgeoning popularity of the stablecoin.
USD Coin seeks to remove the attendant time challenges associated with the movement of dollars anywhere in the world. The software-compatible fiat stablecoin infuses stability within the crypto space and opening new frontiers for trading, risk hedging, lending and beyond. Thus, users can tokenize their dollars into USDC and vice-versa from Circle and Coinbase. USDC is acceptable for crypto-only exchanges.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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Taiwan’s highest legislature has approved amendments to existing laws, enabling the country’s regulator to combat anonymous cryptocurrency transactions.
On Friday, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed a legislative proposal that mandates cryptocurrency transactions to fall under the purview of existing money laundering laws.
The amendments to the Money Laundering Control Act and the Terrorism Financing Prevention Act enables the country’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) – Taiwan’s financial regulator – to gather KYC information of cryptocurrency investors from trading platforms, Focus Taiwan reports.
Specifically, the regulator “now demand that operators of virtual currency platforms implement “real-name systems” that require users to register their real names, according to new provisions,” an excerpt from the report added.
Further, banks will also be required to report ‘suspicious’ transactions that are anonymous, to the regulator. The amendments, Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said, align the country’s laws with international anti-money laundering norms.
The revisions follow a pointed proposal by Taiwanese lawmaker Jason Hsu who, in October, sought to enforce a similar framework used by the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
Hsu, a congressman from Taiwan’s Nationalist Party, has advocated against calls for a cryptocurrency ban and instead called on Taiwan to take a different position to the hostile stances taken by neighbouring China and South Korea.
“Just because China and South Korea are banning, doesn’t mean that Taiwan should follow suit – there is a huge opportunity for growth in the future,” Hsu said in a parliamentary session last year. “We should emulate Japan, where they treat cryptocurrency as a highly regulated, highly monitored industry like securities.”
As reported in October, the chairman of Taiwan’s FSC has also revealed that the regulator is preparing guidelines for regulating initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the country.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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