Weekend in Review: SaveDroid Halts Smart Contract, South Korea on Blockchain, Japan Introduces Crypto-regulatory Updates.

Recapping the biggest news stories of the weekend. If you’ve missed the top stories of the weekend, this post offers a comprehensive look at the stories that made headlines. A lot has happened in the cryptocurrency and blockchain world, SaveDroid has halted smart contract, Microsoft’s Azure Introduces Ethereum Proof-of-Authority and much more. Here’s an overview of some of weekend’s  most interesting news and articles:

SaveDroid Halts Smart Contract Due to HitBTC Hiccup

Savedroid, an organization situated in Frankfurt, Germany. Their motivation is to enable individuals to spare cash through a bot that naturally contributes and spares your digital currencies. They have been in operation since 2015. Four months ago, SaveDroid shocked the crypto world with their infamous PR stunt to spread awareness about exit scams in the ICO space. On August 11, they once again released disturbing message on their website. The message, titled “Important Listing Announcement”, was posted by CEO Yassin Hankir on its website, Twitter and Telegram group. It said, there was a technical problem with SaveDroid’s listing on HitBTC, which forced them to put their smart contract on hold “to ensure the best liquidity for SVD at listing start. It is only a matter of time before the whole company comes crashing down, bringing their investors’ hard-earned cash with it.

South Korea on Blockchain and the 4th ‘Industrial Revolution

South Korea on Blockchain and the 4th ‘Industrial Revolution’

South Korea is heavily endorsing Blockchain education training to prepare for the 4th Industrial Revolution. Country’s Ministry of Science and ICT is planning to boost innovation across the entire society through autonomous research and by encouraging growth-based technology sectors like Blockchain. The ministry has released a list of areas such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud, virtual reality, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles and drones. Almost 40 courses covering these subject areas have been announced. In the month of June, the US and South Korea announced a partnership to handle the ‘4th Industrial Revolution’. Companies like Samsung and Microsoft were nominated to advise on ways to use these technologies to better human and economic welfares of both countries. This has also received support from, universities, trade associations, industry/academic related organizations. These will train the youth for employment opportunities. The companies like SAP, Unity Technologies, PWC, Oracle, Hancom MDS, KBS, Seoul National University Hospital and Saltlux are some big companies involved within this consortium, with the recruitment of trainees will begin in the month of August.

Japan introduces crypto-regulatory updates

Japan introduces crypto-regulatory updates

Japan’s Financial Services agency has updated its regulatory framework. The reason behind the updation of regulatory framework is that a massive increase in cryptocurrency investments and the sharp increase in value. The agency wants to prevent a situation in which there is no law governing cryptocurrencies when they come into wide use. The FSA is looking to implement the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) to the cryptocurrency exchange sector which will force regulated firms to manage customer funds separately from corporate assets.

Microsoft’s Azure Introduces Ethereum Proof-of-Authority Algorithm

Microsoft’s Azure has launched a proof-of-authority

Microsoft’s Azure has launched a proof-of-authority (PoA) algorithm on its Ethereum (ETH) blockchain product. This will enable methodical ways and create decentralized applications (Dapps) for private or consortium networks. The PoA algorithm is build on the concept of validated identities or validators on the blockchain. This solution also has Azure Monitor to track node and network statistics. For application developers, this gives visibility into the underlying blockchain to track block generation statistics. Proof-of-Authority is more worthy for authorized networks where all consensus contributors are known and creditable. Without the need for mining, Proof-of-Authority is more systematic while still retaining Byzantine fault tolerance.

$15 Billion Valuation – Bitmain Will Keep Top Mining Spot

$15 Billion Valuation – Bitmain Will Keep Top Mining Spot

Bitmain, a privately owned company headquartered in Beijing, China, with offices in various countries just completed an IPO, reaching a $15 billion valuation, but the company hopes to reach $30 billion when listed to Hong Kong Stock Exchange next month. Bitmain is a bitcoin miner and designer of ASIC chips. The company also operates Antpool, one of the largest bitcoin mining pools. Company is also building a new mining facility in Texas. It will cost almost $500 million or more to open the blockchain data center and mining facility in Rockdale, Texas. This will also create around 400 jobs. The completion date is the fourth quarter of this year, but will not be fully operational until 2019.

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