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Texas-Based Multicoin Capital Sees Large Investment From Binance

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Multicoin Capital stands as a crypto fund based in Texas, and has recently received an investment of an undisclosed amount from none other than Binance. According to Binance itself, this new investment within Multicoin Capital stands as a very unique one indeed. The biggest result of this is that Binance has now established itself as a limited partner within Multicoin Capital.

Multicoin Capital’s Many Ventures

As for Multicoin Capital itself, it stands as a venture capital company based in Austin. The company invests in cryptocurrencies and allows its investors a regulated amount of exposure within the blockchain industry at large. The latest move from the fund, excluding its new partnership with Binance, is that it had recently started to hoard large amounts of the RUNE coin. RUNE stands as the native token of an up-and-coming decentralized cross-chain automatic market maker.

Multicoin Capital was started during the great ICO crazy of 2017, with its first big funding round having occurred two years later, having ended with a total value of $75 million.

crypto

The Mandatory Kind Words

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao took this opportunity to give the mandatory kind words for his company’s new partner. The CEO of Binance explained that Multicoin Capital served as a key figure within some of the largest crypto success stories out there. CZ cited the strong work ethic they have when it comes to their investments, highlighting its uncanny eye in identifying (And profiting from) emerging projects that promise to develop disruptive new innovations within the crypto market.

Indeed, a total of 20 investments have been made by Multicoin Capital, all of which early-stage funding for various startups within the financial and blockchain sectors. One of the more notable investments within this list is none other than MathWallet. Through doing so, Multicoin Capital and Binance Lab both took part in, and led, the Series B funding round for MATH.

Tushar Jain Singing Binance’s Praises Now

Through the big investment into Multicoin Capital, Binance will join alongside the likes of Union Square Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and even individuals like David Sacks, the former PayPal CEO, in becoming a limited partner for Multicoin Capital.

Tushar Jain stands as the Managing Partner at Multicoin Capital, and gave a very positive public statement about Binance. According to Jain, Binance is one of the world’s infrastructure providers with the greatest strategic importance when it comes to the blockchain space. As justification, he cited “thousands of hours,” that the firm had spent in the investigation of Binance.

Texas-Based Multicoin Capital Sees Large Investment From Binance

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Google Finance Adds Dedicated Data Tab on Bitcoin and Ether

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Google has finally hopped on the crypto bandwagon. With the crypto industry now worth a mouth-watering $1 trillion, it can no longer be disregarded.

Google Adds ‘Crypto’ Tab To Feed

With many institutions coming into the crypto space in the last year, and many more projected to make a move soon, Google is making the crypto transition, as many had expected.

Through its Google Finance domain, the American tech company will enable its Google Finance users to get up-to-date price movements for their favorite cryptocurrencies. The domain platform, which originally catered for stock and currency markets, will see ‘crypto’ debut in its “compare markets” finance segment.

The new addition will let users know the latest price changes for popular virtual assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.

Google had taken a stand-offish approach to the emerging blockchain technology previously. During the early years of cryptocurrencies gaining steam, the Alphabet subsidiary had banned crypto adverts on its platform. It went as far as bringing down videos on its Youtube platform that discussed cryptocurrencies.

But in a 2018 Blockchain Summit in Morocco, Sergey Brin, co-founder of Alphabet Inc., noted that the company had clearly missed it when it came to the nascent technology. Rumors are now making the rounds that the company is quietly acquiring crypto startups and investing in established crypto businesses. Ripple Labs’ is also mentioned as one of its crypto partners.

Crypto Now Gaining Global Attention

Bitcoin has played a vital role in cryptocurrencies reaching the enviable heights it is now on. With the premier digital asset owning a large share of the $1.6 trillion crypto market, global institutions and tech companies have found it hard to ignore it. 

MicroStrategy, a business intelligence firm based in Virginia, United States, has been beating the crypto drums for some time now. With its remarkable investments in BTC, it now holds a sizable share of BTC available in the ecosystem.

Electric car company Tesla Inc. also moved into the crypto space with an initial $1.5 billion investment in BTC. It is also looking to use the virtual asset as a payment solution, just like Mastercard and Visa plan to do.

The increased demand is making global financial regulators jittery as the sector is largely decentralized. TUS Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner Hester Peirce have called for a dynamic regulatory framework. Peirce says this will better aid the development of the nascent technology and reduce its potential for misuse.

Google Finance Adds Dedicated Data Tab on Bitcoin and Ether

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A Comprehensive Guide on ICO Scams and How to Identify Them

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In this guide, you will learn about ICOs, scams related to ICOs, and how to identify them. So let’s get started. 

Table of Contents

  • What are ICOs?
  • Categories of ICO Scams 
  • How to Identify ICO Scams 
  • Concluding Lines 

What are ICOs?

ICO stands for Initial Coin Offerings. These are considered as ‘popular fundraising methods’ used by companies and startups. Organizations looking to raise money to create a new coin, app, or service launches an ICO as a method to raise funds. ICO is the cryptocurrency industry that is equivalent to an IPO, but the significant difference between the two is that IPO is usually for well-settled companies, whereas ICO is generally for the young and risky. Although some of the ICOs have yielded massive returns for investors, various others have turned out to be frauds. In fact, you can say that scams related to ICOs are the black sheep of the crypto-asset industry, and these sheep are pretty diverse.

Want to become a Certified Cryptocurrency Expert? Wait no more. Check out Blockchain Council now!

Categories of ICO Scams 

As we have understood what ICOs are, let’s explore some of its categories. 

Exit Scam 

An exit scam is a fraudulent operation organized by unethical cryptocurrency promoters who collected funds for an ICO and suddenly disappear without leaving any information to investors. In 2018, it was reported that more than $100 million in funds contributed to ICOs were stolen as an exit scam. 

Bounty Scams

When it comes to bounties, they have even made their way into the cryptocurrency ecosystem, and many ICO projects have witnessed the inclusion of the concept. Bounty scam is another common type of ICO scam. In this type, ICO fails to pay out promoters who were promised financial rewards for PR activities.

Exchange Scam

Sometimes, when developers plan to mislead investors to prefer to launch their ICO at a fake exchange, this type of scam is known as an “exchange scam.”

White Paper Plagiarism Scam

Another ICO scam is the white paper plagiarism scam, in which the scammer tries to copy the white paper of a promising ICO and then decides to launch it using a similar or different name. 

URL Scams 

Another popular method involves creating fake websites that match ICOs and instructing users to deposit coins into a compromised wallet. Naive investors that are unaware of the authentic websites are sometimes fooled due to such fake websites and lose their ICOs.

Ponzi Scheme

In the Ponzi scheme, organizers request new investors by promising to invest funds in opportunities to generate high returns with little or no risk at all. In this scheme, organizers promise high returns at a later stage just to attract more investors. Thus, rather than engaging in any legal investment activity, the deceitful actors focus on attracting new money to make promised payments to earlier investors and turn some of the invested capital for personal usage. 

How to Identify ICO Scams 

In order to get rid of Fraudulent ICOs and sketchy coins, there are many ways that can help you avoid such potential scams. A few of the ways are as follows:

Read Whitepaper 

To avoid ICO scams, go through the project’s whitepaper as it will help in gaining deeper insight about everything. Whitepaper lays out the background, goals, strategy, concerns, financial models, SWOT analysis, and the timeline for implementation for any blockchain-related project; thus, companies that don’t provide whitepapers should be avoided at all costs.

Thoroughly Understand the Team 

Before making any investments, the best protection measure is to thoroughly research the individual team members of a project. This is crucial because developers and the administrative team are the most important success factor for any ICO. Check out their profiles on social media platforms such as LinkedIn and other outlets. It is necessary to make an attempt to see how their credentials match up before deciding if the team is real. Explore whether the development team has the expertise that they believe they have or not. 

Evaluate Promises and Go With Your Gut 

Evaluating promises is a very crucial step. Before you decide to choose and go with any ICO team, evaluate their promises. If everything seems good, you can start investing, but if you feel off about an ICO, that’s probably because it is. Follow your gut and then decide whether you should invest or not.  

Moreover, checking out the GitHub repositories is another strategy to identify ICO scams.

Concluding Lines 

Due to a lack of regulation, developers can use a dozen tactics to fool investors, and therefore with the current craze, being careful and doing one’s due diligence is a must before investing in any ICO. It is advisable to invest your time, be self-aware, and do your own research before investing.

If you are interested in learning more about ICOs and start investing, you can get enrolled in Blockchain Council and become a Certified Cryptocurrency Expert/Trader.

To get instant updates about Blockchain Technology and to learn more about online Blockchain Certifications, check out Blockchain Council. 

A Comprehensive Guide on ICO Scams and How to Identify Them

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Tokenization of assets is not taking off, but it really should

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For years, experts have been talking about how tokenization — the act of creating a digital representation of an asset on a distributed ledger — of a financial or real asset can unlock trillions in illiquid assets, giving retail investors access to investments with previously high minimum capital requirements thanks to fractional ownership or settle trades on a distributed ledger instantly. 

But if we investigate the current tokenization offerings, none is truly taking off and attracting the masses. If the theoretical advantages are true, millions of investors must be onboarding on exchanges that offer tokenized assets. However, this is not the case.

What is the problem of most tokenization offerings?

Let us take the example of tokenized equity to showcase the current issues and hurdles. The tokenization lifecycle of an equity consists of multiple steps. The first is the legal structuring followed by the minting (creation) of the tokens, in most cases with ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. Contrary to many beliefs, minting is one of the easiest parts of tokenization — the bigger challenges follow. As the purpose of the equity tokens is to be traded, we need to have a marketplace. With this comes the questions of token custody, liquidity, settlement and regulatory compliance.

If we look at the current service providers in this space, there is nearly no one who can offer all the steps of issuance, custody, marketplace, liquidity, settlement, etc. in one integrated offering. This has some major implications for why tokenization is not taking off — namely, that issuers and investors must deal with multiple service providers. Most probably these service providers are also located in different jurisdictions, which adds a whole new dimension to it, as equity tokens should ideally be able to be traded internationally just like traditional equity. And that is not possible as regulation differs from country to country.

Another major problem of tokenization marketplaces is liquidity. Currently, there is very low liquidity on tokenized marketplaces if we are to look at the trading volumes while the volumes of cryptocurrencies are currently reaching new all-time highs on a weekly basis. A reason for this is that the few exchanges that are on the market cannot attract enough investors. The easiest solution to solve this issue is for tokenized asset marketplaces to be connected to traditional exchanges and to leverage their customer base as they already have the desired liquidity.

This is only possible if the UI/UX is equal to traditional exchanges, and the investors do not see and interact directly with the blockchain. If investors need to set up their own wallet and deal with the blockchain directly, then we will never see a big inflow of mainstream investors into tokenized assets, as this makes the whole process more difficult and inconvenient, which is the exact opposite of the end goal.

A good UI/UX is very important in tokenization offerings as opposed to crypto applications such as DeFi platforms, where the UI/UX may not be the best. But despite the fact that the product is revolutionary, the masses are unwilling to deal with tokenization because it’s inconvenient and not seen as a groundbreaking innovation.

Another big topic in tokenization is regulatory clearance. If we continue with our example of tokenized equity, there is the question of how to deal with a digital representation of a security. In most jurisdictions, a token is not a security by itself. Rather, the token just represents the right to own the equity, but the equity still also exists in its “traditional” form. In other jurisdictions, however, there is even less clearance.

While tokenization is without question one of the most promising use cases of blockchain technology, the current setup is in most cases worthless, as it renders things more complicated rather than effective. To change this, we need a clear regulatory environment, such as in Switzerland, for example, to integrate all elements of the tokenization lifecycle into one offering, and have a “traditional” UI/UX for the investors. If we can get these three elements right, there is nothing to stop tokenization to become a major game-changer and open many new asset classes to the market. I believe that tokenization marketplaces should partner up with traditional exchanges to offer liquidity, especially for tokenized equity.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Darius Moukhtarzadeh is in the sales and clients team of Sygnum Bank. Sygnum is a digital asset bank that received a Swiss banking license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority in August 2019. Prior to Sygnum Bank, Moukhtarzadeh worked for Ernst & Young in blockchain consultancy and for several startups in the Swiss Crypto Valley.

Tokenization of assets is not taking off, but it really should

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How Blockchain Impact Energy Sector

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How-Blockchain-Impact-Energy-Sector

Wondering how Blockchain can impact the Energy sector? This article has got you covered. This article talks about the potential of Blockchain technology in the energy sector and will focus on Blockchain-enabled smart meters, which are gaining a lot of attention worldwide.

Table of Contents

  • Overview 
  • Potential of Blockchain in the Energy Industry 
  • Top Energy Companies Utilizing Blockchain
  • Concluding Lines 

Overview 

Blockchain is a P2P shared ledger that can securely store digital transactions without relying on third-party intermediaries. Technology that was primarily known from cryptocurrency is now experiencing an unprecedented rise in market capitalization. Along with its applications in various sectors, the energy domain is no more an exception. From the past few years, this area has had a complex system with multiple stakeholders, which makes it highly transactional and ineffective. Due to this, there has been speculation about Blockchain’s ability to make the energy domain more efficient. 

Want to learn more about Blockchain technology and become a Certified Blockchain Expert? You are just a click away!

Potential of Blockchain in the Energy Industry 

Upstream generators generate raw material that is refined and shipped to downstream distributors that sell to the end-user via the midstream distribution network. Although this process initially appears to be a fairly straightforward procedure, it’s not. Blockchain experts and technocrats believe that blockchain technology could potentially offer solutions to major challenges faced by the energy industry, and since last year there have been more than hundreds of research projects and startups spanning countries across the world.

Enhanced Efficiency Opportunities

What happens is that companies spend millions of dollars on building and accessing proprietary commodity trading platforms in order to execute transactions. Blockchain can help in providing a viable solution where prosumers and consumers can trade their flexible demand interchangeably on the basis of peer-to-peer, thus offering enhanced security, immediacy, and immutability of energy trading. Moreover, with distributed ledger technology, renewable energy certification processes can be sped up and automated, which are otherwise costly to obtain. Automated, tamper-proof smart contracts and metering techniques could improve offset accessibility as well.

Eliminating Middlemen, Lower Transactional Cost

In the traditional energy sector, retailers sell users’ energy from utility providers, and thus consumers have to pay heavily for the energy they use. By eliminating middlemen, Blockchain systems can allow users to trade energy directly, especially in the case of wind energy and solar energy, which can be produced directly by the user itself. Thus the technology can allow prosumers to enter as a supplier into the energy market. Moreover, a transparent, secured, and immutable Blockchain-based system will allow users to purchase directly from the utility providers. 

Fair Asset Management 

The energy domain includes a number of stakeholders, such as upstream generators, distributors, etc., which means there are high stakes associated. Blockchain technology, with its shared and distributed ledger, can provide a shared source of an asset, and therefore data management can be uncommonly robust. Providing fair billing is another benefit that technology offers to both energy suppliers and consumers. With its unified ledger, Blockchain ensures that the current metering and billing process is made available to each participant on the network. Traceability of energy delivery provides a clear picture for consumers, thus offering peace of mind.

Apart from the use-cases mentioned above, Blockchain could safeguard privacy, data confidentiality, and identity management in the energy sector. Moreover, when it comes to resource sharing, technology could offer charging solutions between multiple users, such as sharing EV(electric vehicle) charging infrastructure data, and much more.

Top Energy Companies Utilizing Blockchain

Due to Blockchain’s ability to streamline existing processes and create new functionality, top energy companies are adopting Blockchain for various purposes such as commodities trading, P2P energy trading, elimination of middlemen retailers, data management, and much more. They aim to incorporate Blockchain-based smart meters and real-time auctions to create an automated energy market that would not only reduce the cost of unbalancing current power systems but will also boost the system’s overall performance.

Here is a list of a few top companies that are leveraging Blockchain:

  • Shell
  • Siemens
  • TenneT
  • Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
  • Chile’s National Energy Commission

Concluding Lines 

From the above discussion, it is clear that Blockchain technology has the potential to revamp the energy sector. But there are few challenges that technology has to deal with. The first and foremost challenge is that Blockchain needs to prove that it can offer the scalability, speed, and security required for the proposed use cases. A large number of established energy companies are utilizing Blockchain DLT, which clearly shows the potential value of this emerging technology. But as this technology is still developing, it requires further development to achieve desired operational and performance objectives.

To get instant updates about Blockchain Technology and to learn more about online Blockchain Certifications, check out Blockchain Council. 

How Blockchain Impact Energy Sector

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Demand Gap for Blockchain Talent Requires Top Rated Education

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Demand-Gap-for-Blockchain-Talent-Requires-Top-Rated-Education

If you are a Blockchain enthusiast, you must be aware about its talent scarcity. In this article, we will explore what are the top-rated educational ways that can help in bridging the gap for Blockchain talent. So let’s get started.

Table of Contents 

  • The Growing Shortage of Blockchain Talent 
  • Blockchain Job Market is Booming 
  • Role of Education in Bridging the Gap
  • Conclusion: Career Building Opportunities with Blockchain Council

The Growing Shortage of Blockchain Talent 

Technology that was once considered to be overhyped is now recognized as a promising innovative technology. Since its introduction into the mainstream with other emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, and others, Blockchain developers and technocrats have found it revolutionary. Although the technology is maturing at a rapid rate, the growing shortage of blockchain professionals is a well-documented concern all around the world.

At present, there has been an unparalleled demand for blockchain developers. Major tech giants, including Google, Microsoft, IBM, and other well-known enterprises and even startups, have started leveraging Blockchain technology, but they are struggling to find sufficient talent. 

Blockchain Job Market is Booming 

The salaries of Blockchain professionals are going off the charts. This is because of the fact that demand is highly outweighing the supply. Currently, Blockchain talents are in demand in the BFSI sector and almost in all sectors of the economy, including government institutions, federal agencies, healthcare, manufacturing, automobile, art and music supply chain, gaming, and much more.

Due to continuous efforts by Blockchain developers and experts, today, Blockchain is a matured technology that offers futuristic career opportunities to all enthusiasts. Compared to other IT professionals such as Machine Learning Experts, AI Developers, Data Scientists, Blockchain Professionals salaries stand out exceptionally well. 

According to job recruitment firm Hired.com, the average blockchain developer salary ranges from $150,000 to $175,000 per year in the US’s hi-tech regions, such as Silicon Valley whereas, Glassdoor reports that the average base salary of a blockchain developer in the US is $91,715/yr. 

Role of Education in Bridging the Gap

Initially, the market for blockchain talent was hampered by a lack of knowledge of the technology and limited resources accessible to professionals. However, this aspect has changed over the last couple of years. Companies that were struggling to find adequate talent have started their own educational programs. In order to cope up with the talent scarcity, online programs, university courses, and workshops are popping up at an exciting rate.

Let’s explore some of the best educational ways.

  • Truffle Suite and Hyperledger Fabric Document 

To educate learners about Blockchain technologies, there are online platforms such as Truffle suite and Hyperledger Fabric. Truffle Suite is an open-source framework that provides an in-depth, in-depth understanding of blockchain platforms, libraries, tools, etc. Similarly, Hyperledger Fabric Documentation offers online documentation that provides numerous tutorials at beginner’s level, covering architecture reference, operational guide, and much more, enabling learners to learn and progress.

  • Blockchain Council Certifications 

Backed by the extensive practical-based sessions, Blockchain Council offers Online training and certifications to aspiring students to render the desired competence to have a successful career in the Blockchain/crypto domain. It imparts most in-demand Blockchain certifications in various Blockchain technologies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Hyperledger, Quorum, and Corda. 

  •  In-house and Self-Paced Blockchain Training

Companies are currently looking to integrate blockchain-focused solutions, and for this, they are providing in-house training to build up the skill sets required for their organization. Such training helps employees address specific business needs and provide Blockchain-focused solutions for business growth. 

  • Self-paced training sessions have also started getting public attention because they are convenient, cost-effective, allow better focus, and of course, enhance the learning experience. There are many organizations that are offering Blockchain self-paced training to help the learner understand all the ins and outs of blockchain technology, including smart contract, Blockchain mining, its security and privacy, use-cases across various domains, and much more. 

To explore more about self-paced Blockchain training, checkout Blockchain Council. 

  • Blockchain-Based Communities and Webinars 

For a great initial experience, Blockchain communities and webinars can prove to be beneficial. These can help in providing effective platforms for communication and can even open vast opportunities for earning money. Apart from these, such platforms can facilitate communal support and engagement. For instance, the Blockchain Council Community is delivering education all around the world. Similarly, Cointelegraph, Blockchain News can keep you updated about the Blockchain and Crypto domain. 

Conclusion: Career Building Opportunities with Blockchain Council

As Blockchain is maturing, there’s an extensive professional network to help you become a successful Blockchain Professional. Enrolling in Blockchain Council, a globally recognized online platform, can help you gain in-depth knowledge of functional and technical aspects of Blockchain technology. Blockchain Council Certifications will not only prove to be your competitive advantage; instead, it will help you gain confidence in the quick hire. 

Blockchain Council has proved to be successful in creating a successful future for millions of people all around the world. If you want to give your career a head start, this is a one-stop solution.

To get instant updates about Blockchain Technology and to learn more about online Blockchain Certifications, check out Blockchain Council.  

Demand Gap for Blockchain Talent Requires Top Rated Education

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