Overstock’s tZERO Exchange to Launch Bitcoin Trading App This June

Overstock’s security token platform tZERO is going full crypto.

Until now, security tokens had been the startup’s priority, but this summer, tZERO plans to launch its own mobile trading app for buying and selling bitcoin and, possibly, ether, CEO Saum Noursalehi told CoinDesk Thursday.

The app for IOS and Android devices is scheduled to launch in June and is being developed by Bitsy — a crypto startup in the portfolio of Overstock’s venture arm Medici Ventures.

“That’s part of the reason we acquired Bitsy — to accelerate time to market for our mobile app,” Noursalehi told CoinDesk, adding:

“They have an app for trading crypto, primarily bitcoin, in a beta-phase, they built a wallet and key recovery mechanism, and this will be the foundation of the mobile app for tZERO. They are also working on some cool stuff like biometric login.”

The app, he added, will allow users to hold custody of their crypto without relying on a third party, and will plug into a network of exchanges through tZERO’s partner, institutional trading platform SFox.

tZERO’s app will connect to SFox’s network of exchanges via its...


Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Commits His Digital Currency Fortune to Charity

Brian Armstrong Coinbase CEO | Twitter | LinkedIn

Having launched GiveCrypto.org earlier this year to make direct cryptocurrency transfers to people living in poverty, Brian Armstrong — CEO of US crypto exchange giant Coinbase — has now promised to give a huge chunk of his fortune away to charitable causes.

“This year, I started my first philanthropic effort, GiveCrypto.org, which makes direct cash transfers to people living in poverty. I’m excited about the potential for this organization to help people, but I’m still early on my journey of discovering how to have the most impact via philanthropy.”

Per a report on CNBC, Armstrong signed the Giving Pledge, becoming the first cryptocurrency entrepreneur to pledge to donate the majority of his wealth for the greater good.

The Giving Pledge is a campaign started in 2010 by billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, which seeks to encourage the world’s wealthiest to use their fortune to help make the world...

 


Zinc CEO on merging ad tech and blockchain technology

Zinc

Over 30% of the $335 billion projected ad spend in 2020 is estimated to be lost to inefficiencies in the current digital advertising landscape.

With nearly a third of all money that goes into digital advertising getting thrown into the abyss of click farms, click spam, malware, ad stacking, bots, and other wasteful activity, it’s no surprise dozens of entrepreneurs in the space are turning to build businesses around solutions.

Zinc is a blockchain-based advertising protocol looking to crack the code to salvage some of the estimated $100.5 billion that goes to waste.

Zinc incentivizes users to be more engaged with the platform by compensating them with rewards for the ads they watch in the apps they already use. These rewards can be spent to reduce the number of ads they see, as well as accessing premium features and content inside Zinc Protocol partner apps.

Daniel Trachtemberg, the CEO and Founder of Zinc, was previously the Head of Mobile Fraud Prevention and Director of the Mobile Data Management Platform at app monetization company ironSource with over 1.5 billion monthly active users.

How does Zinc differentiate from other similar projects targeting blockchain in advertising, such as Basic Attention Token?

One of the main challenges for all new startups, especially in decentralized ecosystems like blockchain based dApps is distribution: user acquisition & adoption.

BAT is aiming to drive adoption through their web browser – the “Brave” browser. A great product, but getting the users to adopt a new browser and change their habits on that level is quite a challenge. So one key difference is that users who will participate in the Zinc protocol ecosystem will gain more rewards within the apps they already use. Basically, apart from having to install the Zinc wallet app, where users choose what information to share with advertisers, they continue doing everything as they do now, and so does the rest of the industry. Another key difference between Zinc and other projects is that the Zinc Protocol does not aim to cut out the middleman. A lot of projects are claiming that the problem is the middlemen and if advertisers and publishers had a way to work together those problems would be solved, which in concept is a great idea, but in practice we think it’s a bit naive.

It seems that Zinc is focusing efforts into app-based advertising rather than website advertising. Is site-based advertising something Zinc will explore in the future or do you see the future of digital advertising as being app-based?

Web-based advertising is something Zinc will definitely explore in the future. However, it seems the general trend is towards mobile: more and more people spend more time on their mobile phones. Mobile is a segment that’s showing rapid growth and advertisers see the potential, which is evident when you look at the growth of marketing budget spend on mobile each year.

But this growth also fuels inefficiencies and fraud, keeping big brand advertisers away from running mobile campaigns, which, in my opinion, is quite a paradox: as fraud grows in relation to mobile spend growth. So if we eliminate fraud & data inefficiencies, mobile can become even a greater untapped channel – especially for brand advertisers with big budgets.

In addition to fraud, access to quality data is one of the issues faced by advertisers. Can you explain why this is an issue, and how Zinc will provide better data quality to advertisers?

First party, real human-verifiable user data is the most precious asset traded in the advertising ecosystem, I would dare to say even more than actual ad real estate.

Most advertising budgets are dedicated to targeting specific audiences. So if a publisher succeeds in attaching high quality, verifiable user data when selling an ad space, the amount of money he’ll be able to charge is exponentially higher than without this user data – this is key to understanding how Zinc will generate value for all the players in the ecosystem, including the user/consumer.

Today only Facebook and Google and some PMPs (private marketplaces) have this kind of data. Imagine that you could target users outside the duopoly with the same accuracy – it will improve the way app developers and publishers do business (focusing of ad quality and not quantity): increase the advertiser’s capability to generate reach, and significantly improve the user experience.

That’s exactly what the Zinc protocol is meant for: ensuring users are real humans, allowing users to self-disclose basic information in exchange or getting more rewards and fewer ads via the Zinc token ecosystem. This first party data information will be used to target the specific audiences with a higher accuracy and efficiency resulting in higher revenue, less waste and better user experience.

Many app-based games such as Angry Birds already offer users the ability to earn and spend in-game rewards. How will the user experience with Zinc differ from this?

Most of the game publishers rely on advertising to achieve two main goals: the first, monetize and build their businesses; the second, keep players engaged...


How to choose your blockchain advisors

Or a guide for management teams on how to choose your advisors

Six months before Mr X. was barely known, he might not even know about the Blockchain. And now he is proudly broadcasted in major rating websites as one of the top ten best advisor of the sector. He is one of the ghost advisors of the Blockchain… They work for private multinational companies as employees or middle managers, more than 10 hours per day, they are often family men with many kids, and end up as advisors of more than 30 projects in less than 3 months (one might ask where they find the time). With credential related to their new positions, they are asking high upfront and percentages on ICOs. But, once you have dealt with them and send them your tokens… You will hardly heard of them (or just when it is time to cash in).

This is the new obscur face of the Blockchain. A new kind of financial vampires who is only here to suck the workforce of ICO team members and benefits of token holders. They have no genuine passion or vocation for the Blockchain technology and this amazing paradigm shift. With no real experience as CEO or real operational job in the Blockchain, they nonetheless, position themselves as the utmost experts.

For the last 3 years, Initial Coin Offerings has set up a new kind of company financing for companies using the Blockchain Technology. The technology application is still at an early stage, and changes occur at fast pace. The need for advisors to guide in each development section of the project has become vital for a project to succeed.

Surfing on this wave, a new kind of opportunists people have emerged far from the legitimate and genuine advisors. Entrepreneurs entering the sector must really be aware of the new practices settled by some unscrupulous advisors asking for shockingly huge compensation schemes.

In this context, it is sometimes difficult for CEOs and Blockchain project founders to find the right experts to assist and consult to develop the project. But there are solutions. And bear in mind that it is not the “best” advisor meaning the one with the most hyped reputation that will push your ICO to the next level, but the hard working and committed person that loves your project. I have being talking with many CEOs and experts as have been confronted with those Ghost Advisors over the last year. Here are few hints that will avoid traps and save you time.

If you are a CEO like I do and you get propositions from those people (and trust me if you have a legitimate project with growing reputation, they will come to you to propose their services). Hiring those persons is the worse things an Entrepreneur may do. They will suck the ressources needed to develop your project without tangible worked done in exchange. At Fieldcoin, in collaboration with our CLO and the management team we have seen this from the early beginnings. In order to avoid the traps, we have put a series of safeguards to protect the project and get the most of our Advisory team.

Signs that you are in front of a ghost advisor

High percentages of the ICO allocated to Advisors Some CEO’s are tempted to allocate high percentages of the ICO to Advisors. If you see an ICO with more than 3% allocated...


Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Bitcoin is Still in a Good Position

Binance Zhao Changpeng Sequoia
Advertisement

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the founder and CEO at the world’s biggest crypto exchange Binance, has said that bitcoin is still in a positive position after its 70 percent fall since early 2018, especially considering its strong rally throughout 2017.

Crypto Market is Better in Every Way

From January to December of 2017, the price of bitcoin increased from $890 to $20,000, by more than 2150 percent. In comparison to mid-2017, the volume of bitcoin has increased by five-fold, signifying a significant surge in demand and interest towards cryptocurrencies as an emerging asset class from investors in the public market.

In an interview with Bianca Chen, a cryptocurrency researcher and reporter in Zug, Switzerland, CZ said that the cryptocurrency sector is in a better position than a year ago, in terms of infrastructure, price, volume, and mainstream interest.

“Just checked, btc price was $2500 a year ago, today $6800. Trading volume for btc was 780m a year ago, today is 3.4b. There you go,” CZ said.

In mid-2017, the cryptocurrency sector did not have any proper infrastructure in place for both retail and institutional investors. As of July, the crypto market has an institutional platform called Coinbase Custody established, with which hedge...