Lifeboat Foundation

Ahead of its 2019 Build developer conference, Microsoft announced a slew of updates across its Azure cloud, cognitive services, blockchain, intelligent edge, and HoloLens 2.

Bitcoin advanced to the highest level of 2019, the latest milestone for cryptocurrencies as they claw back from a year that saw three-quarters of their market value wiped out.

The biggest digital coin on Monday rose as much as 1.6 percent to $4,135.60, the top intraday level since Dec. 24, according to weekday trading data compiled by Bloomberg. So-called alternative coins rallied more, with Dash jumping as much as 31 percent and Monero increasing as much as 10 percent.

Bitcoin is close to breaking above an intraday level set on Christmas Eve. That day marked the end of a U.S. stocks selloff, after which the S&P 500 Index started a rally that continued through March and reversed most of the fourth-quarter rout.

Continue reading “Bitcoin Climbs to Highest This Year as Volatility Recedes” »

The larger lesson of an ongoing Ethereum crime spree: Be careful with who’s generating your cryptocurrency keys.

Bitcoin spenders can now use the lightning network to shop at e-commerce sites like Amazon.

Crypto payment processing startup Moon announced today that any lightning-enabled wallet can now also be used through Moon’s browser extension. Before this lightning feature, roughly 250 beta users already used Moon to spend crypto on e-commerce sites by connecting the browser extension to exchange accounts like Coinbase.

Moon CEO Ken Kruger told CoinDesk:

Continue reading “You Can Now Shop With Bitcoin on Amazon Using Lightning” »

Bitnation is growing up.

🔥 🔥 🔥 NEW RELEASE: #BITNATION JURISDICTION v. 1.4.0 for Android and iOS 🤩 🥳 🥰

The 1.4.0 release has been a crazy road! After the 1.3.4 release, we thought “this app somehow does not say: ”I’m a virtual nation” or ”I’m a blockchain jurisdiction”, but rather we thought it looked more like a confused web3 app which didn’t really know its purpose.

Continue reading “Susanne Tarkowski Tempelhof Photo 2” »

(Originally posted March 7, 2019, on the Crowdfunding Professional Association’s website.)

The purpose of this memo is two-fold:

• To highlight the possibility of risks to banking and finance sectors arising from new financial instruments based on blockchain technology; primarily from novel financial accounting methods and products called “stablecoins,” digital tokens, and cryptocurrencies.
• To encourage regulators and policymakers to engage blockchain thought leaders, product developers and the community in general to better understand the economic and policy implications of public, private and permissioned blockchains; their application to banking and finance regulations; and how innovation may be encouraged in a safe, sound and responsible manner.

Like any technology, blockchain can and may be used to improve a variety of operational, identity, security and technology challenges that the future of digital banking, business and society face. Blockchain technology is also poised to create new and increasingly clever methods and economies for value, commodities, assets, securities and a slew of yet-to-be discovered financial instruments and products. However, no leap in technology and finance is ever made without risk. As policymakers and stewards of the current and future digital economy and ecosystem, we have an obligation to our constituents and the global banking and finance community to guide the growth and adoption of emerging fintech technology in a safe and sound manner.

To that end, three areas that have the potential for regulatory and compliance issues as companies such as JP Morgan Chase, embrace and develop blockchain technologies to leverage digital tokens, cryptocurrencies and novel accounting systems such as the so called “JPMCoin,” are highlighted:

Continue reading “Acknowledging Risks in Institutional ‘Stablecoin’ Cryptocurrencies and Fractional Reserve Banking” »

Regions Financial Corporation has barred its customers from purchasing cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

The US-based bank and financial service clarified in its 2018 bank deposit agreement that it reserved the right to “return or decline to pay” for items related to “decentralized, non-fiat virtual currencies, cryptocurrency or another digital currency or money that relies on distributed ledger or blockchain.”

2018 Regions Bank Deposit Agreement pic.twitter.com/mDtEr5T1ep

Continue reading “[Not Surprisingly], a U.S. Bank Bans Customers From Buying Bitcoin” »

Bitnation is growing up.

🔥 🔥 🔥 NEW RELEASE: #BITNATION JURISDICTION v. 1.4.0 for Android and iOS 🤩 🥳 🥰

The 1.4.0 release has been a crazy road! After the 1.3.4 release, we thought “this app somehow does not say: ”I’m a virtual nation” or ”I’m a blockchain jurisdiction”, but rather we thought it looked more like a confused web3 app which didn’t really know its purpose.

Continue reading “Susanne Tarkowski Tempelhof Photo” »

A collaboration between online technology company Enjin and the SENS Research Foundation has just been announced with the bold plan to mobilize a community of 20 million video gamers to help fight aging.

Enjin is a cryptocurrency and online video game company with a plan to change how donors and charities interact in a bid to make fundraising for globally important causes more effective.

This collaboration with SENS Research Foundation is the first program on the road to this goal. The project is essentially gamifying the fundraising experience to make it more fun and engaging for donors. To achieve this, donors get rewards for their donations in the form of blockchain-based collectibles known as “non-fungible tokens” (NFTs).

Continue reading “Enjin Plans to Mobilize 20 Million Gamers to Fight Aging” »