Humaniq: The Startup That Will Give $10 to 2 Billion Unbanked People

Over 2 billion people do not have access to traditional financial institutions that can provide them with modern financial services. These institutions simply cannot reach them, and that forces these people to transact only using notes and coins. Moreover, according to a World Bank estimate, there were over 1.5 billion people in the world with no identification documents in 2016 – so even if there are financial institutions in their area, they are unable to use their services.

Enter the Humaniq project. Humaniq is a blockchain-based project that will allow the unbanked to have access to modern financial services, as long as they have a smartphone with a built-in camera in it and internet access. Humaniq’s goal, according to their white paper, is to integrate 2.5 billion people into the global economy, empowering them and giving them a chance to emerge from poverty.

The goal will be achieved through an egalitarian emission mechanism in which the amount of coins one user can mint is limited. In order to mint coins, however, there is no need for specialized hardware, electricity costs, or a wallet already filled with coins. The project’s GUI is also based on easily understood symbols, not text.

Humaniq describes it as proof-of-face and believes it to be the fairest possible system. Essentially, every user has to go through a biometric identification process that takes less than 20 seconds to pass, and requires no e-mail or identification documents. One’s identity is accurately verified with a modern facial recognition algorithm, so the process consists of taking photos, recording videos and speech, and making facial gestures.

After passing the biometric identification process, every user then gets a Humaniq wallet that requires gestures similar to those used in the bio-identification procedure to unlock and use. The wallet comes with free coins, and it is also possible for users to earn additional coins by either inviting friends or making transactions.

Creating new possibilities

Since Humaniq works with a biometric identification process, all a user really needs to be awarded free coins is a smartphone with a microphone and a front-facing camera. This piece of hardware costs around $10-$15, an investment users can quickly regain after getting their coins.

Humaniq is then going to give users access to financial services such as loans, credit, and insurance. Giving over 2 billion people access to small cash supplies and these financial services is going to significantly improve living standards throughout the world, especially in emerging economies.

Getting to such a huge amount of people is certainly a challenge. In order to do succeed, Humaniq will work with local companies and brands, ultimately becoming the de facto currency in emerging economies.

As most currencies, Humaniq will reward early adopters with a little extra amount of money. The project’s creators assert they have enough money to take care of everything, but believe it is fair for everyone to invest in the project and help create a new de facto currency that can unite the world. The ambitious goal is similar to the one Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has, that led him to buy the internet.org domain.

Instead of going with venture capital, the founders decided to go another way. Starting on the 6th of April 2017, there will be an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that will last 20 days. During the ICO, payment options are limited to the two biggest cryptocurrencies: bitcoin and Ethereum. One ether will buy 1,000 HMQ, plus bonuses.

Up until the 22nd of April, early adopters get bonuses that range from 49.9 to 12.5 percent. If you believe in the project, and in what connecting 2 billion people to the world economy with the use of blockchain-based financial services can do, we encourage you to become an early adopter. The Pre-ICO received 99 BTC and over 3100 ETH, leading to the distribution of 31824818 HMQ tokens.

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Could Britain Become Cashless by 2043?

An online casino is predicting that Britain could become a cashless society by 2043 when the number of transactions undertaken with cash reaches zero percent.

In a report from Finextra, Gala Casino, a popular online casino in the U.K., looked at how cash is declining from usage data from 2004 to 2014. Figures show that it has dropped from 71 percent to 53 percent.

The online casino also looked at Payments UK predictions for 2024, which reported that inter-bank mobile and Internet banking payments saw 1.1 billion payments processed in 2014, a 14 percent increase. By 2024, this is expected to increase by two and a half times. Gala Casino then arrived at 2043 as the year when Britain would become a cashless society.Stephen Hart, CEO of CardSwitcher, said that moving from cash to cashless will follow the same path as cheques.

He said:

Cheque use has plummeted and there are regular calls for them to be scrapped entirely. This, however, has not happened because there are key groups who still use them.

According to the survey conducted by Gala Casino, 68 percent are reported as stating that they would be scared to live in a society that was entirely cashless.

The U.K. still has many years to go before the projected cashless society becomes a potential reality. And yet, the U.K. is already starting to see how cash is no longer the king of everything.

In a report from Global Payments, a Fortune 1000 company, and one of the largest card payment processors in the world, it found that for purchases £30 or less, contactless payment is becoming a quick and easy way to pay. Furthermore, Londoners use contactless for payments that range from bus journeys, traveling on the underground and paying for parking meters.

Not only that, but research from Lloyds Bank shows that two in five people won’t need to use cash in ten years while one in three people will use a mobile phone for payments within five years.

Bank of England’s Digital Coin

In an attempt to tap into the digital market, the Bank of England revealed last March that it was seeking a digital currency of its own, known as the RSCoin.

With interest growing in Bitcoin banks are keen to maintain a hold on the expanding market particularly at a time when more people are ditching their cash and using the digital currency instead.

Sweden Leads the Way

And yet, it is Sweden who is expected to be the first country to become cashless.

A report in 2014 found that Sweden could become cashless by 2030, with 80 percent of all transactions already being done by debit or credit cards or mobile apps.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Bitcoin Unlimited Suffers Setback After Bug Crashes Software

Bitcoin Unlimited (BU), which has been touted as being the fix to Bitcoin’s blockchain transaction backlog, has suffered a blow after attackers unleashed a new bug that crashed the system.

Just recently, BU was reported to have garnered around 40 percent support over a 24-hour period from the Bitcoin community. While miners such as Antpool, Bitcoin’s biggest mining pool, announced that it was switching over to BU.

However, whether it’s in light of the recent attack, support for BU has dropped to 32.6 percent, according to Coin.Dance, a website which tracks industry data.

Information from the tracking site illustrates that following the attacks, the number of nodes hosting BU fell to 410 from 781 yesterday. This is the lowest level it has dropped to since October last year when it started to steadily increase. It has since crept back up to 690.

Support for BU Lessens

Earlier this month, Bitcoin core developer Gavin Andresen, tweeted ‘run Bitcoin Unlimited. It is a viable, practical solution to destructive transaction congestion.’

However, after the discovery of the bug, BU advocate Roger Ver, said:

Normally, in Bitcoin Unlimited when we find a Core bug we just fix it and move on.

With his comment receiving criticism on social media, this news is unlikely to do much to boost support for BU. With many claiming that those behind BU don’t have the experience to fix the blockchain’s transaction congestion, this is likely to provide fuel for its critics who are against the system.

Only recently, Charlie Lee, creator of Litecoin, said on Twitter that ‘users cannot trust Bitcoin’s $20 billion network in the hands of BU developers.’

Samson Mow, CEO at game creator Pixelmatic, took to social media to question an alleged doctored image about a BU vulnerability after suspicions were raised when the potential vulnerability didn’t add up:

[I] thought it was impossible for Bitcoin Unlimited to be even less credible, but nope, they never stop surprising me.

Whereas, Andreas Antonopoulos, Bitcoin author, said on Twitter:

This time there was little economic impact. During a fork, the damage would have been millions. QA matters. It matters $millions.

Blockchain Still Has a Problem

As blockchain’s transaction issues remain, a solution to fixing the congestion needs to be agreed on. However, how long that will take is yet to be seen.

While the BU bug attack won’t do much to bolster support there are still miners fully committed to sticking with it. Antpool is just one miner.

With both sides raising the stakes as to the most viable choice it doesn’t look as though an answer will occur anytime soon. For now, around 900,000 Bitcoin transactions waiting to be cleared will be stuck on the blockchain as the network runs over capacity.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

PwC Supports Qtum, A Hybrid Bitcoin/Ethereum Project

The Qtum Project, a Singapore-based blockchain initiative that combines aspects of both bitcoin and Ethereum infrastructure to build decentralized applications executable on mobile devices, has enlisted the support and guidance of PwC.

PwC, a network of firms in 157 countries that has supported various blockchain projects, supports the Qtum Project’s efforts to promote blockchain technology among global business sectors. PwC, which provides advice, assurance and tax services, will provide feedback on a white paper and on a proposed governance structure.

Proof Of Stake Consensus

The project executes smart contracts with a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. It builds decentralized applications executable on mobile devices and is compatible with major existing blockchain ecosystems, according to the project’s website.

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The Qtum blockchain combines a modified Bitcoin Core infrastructure with an Ethereum Virtual Machine version to merge the reliability of the bitcoin blockchain with the possibilities provided by smart contracts.

Qtum’s hybrid nature, combined with proof-of-stake consensus protocol, enables applications to be compatible with major blockchain ecosystems and offer native support for IoT appliances and mobile devices.

PwC Sees Potential

“PwC sees enormous potential for blockchain to revolutionize business practices as we know them, and the firm has made great efforts in developing strategic and technical capabilities to adapt existing products and services for the new technology,” said CY Cheung, a fintech and cybersecurity partner at PwC China. He said working with the Qtum Foundation, the architect of the Qtum blockchain, aligns with PwC’s goals.

The Qtum Foundation’s blockchain economy white paper details its governance structure. The management structure is designed to enable the project to become an open-source blockchain project capable of meeting the needs of supply chain management, social media, IoT, gaming and other industries.

Also read: PwC Report: Blockchain a once in a lifetime opportunity for financial services

Goal: Smart Contract Platform

Patrick Dai, Qtum Project co-founder, said Qtum intends to become a smart contracts platform for business. The project will make it feasible for industries to develop practical applications on top of Qtum.

The project envisions a future consisting of automated business practices and seamless machine-to-machine communication.

“Having PwC, which has broad expertise across industries and a global network, support Qtum will help us fulfill our mission,” said Dai.

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Skeptic:OneCoin Isn’t Blockchain Based and Uses SQL for Coins

Bjorn Bjercke, a cryptocurrency enthusiast and blockchain developer, recently revealed that when OneCoin approached him in an effort to recruit him as Chief Technology Officer (with a supposed pay of $2.5M per year), OneCoin had no blockchain at all.

The murky altcoin which has mostly become known as a serious scam has no public-facing blockchain nor software wallets that users can access offline. Its current iteration is much more like a Federal Reserve style system where all trust must be placed in the issuer. And according to Bjercke, who could not talk to us for this article due to his co-operation with authorities investigating OneCoin, OneCoin is not a cryptocurrency at all.

There are a few basic requirements for something to be considered a cryptocurrency. For starters, coins must be generated using a cryptographic algorithm. Many have been used – Bitcoin uses SHA 256, Litecoin uses Scrypt, and some even use Skein. Others like DASH and other X-series coins use multiple algorithms. This is important for the soundness of coins added to the system and their ownership.

Bjercke says OneCoin uses an SQL script to generate coins. He bases this on the fact that they had no existing blockchain when they approached him. His job as CTO would have been to develop one, potentially, but it would seem more likely they would have put unreasonable demands on him as regards the ability to mute, rewrite, and reverse transactions as well as seize funds. This last bit is allegedly for the purpose of regulatory compliance, but thus far it seems regulators in numerous jurisdictions are seeking to shut the thing down.

Secondly, a cryptocurrency needs to be publicly accessible. Users should not need to be able to access Bitcoin.org in order to see their funds, yet with OneCoin, users must buy in with an account. While OneCoin claims there is no risk of inflation in OneCoin, it seems obvious that if they are capable of muting transactions and seizing funds, they are also capable of injecting more coins into the system. According to the following video, users are able to buy and sell coins in various other cryptocurrencies via the OneCoin platform.

This is reminiscent of the Hashlet scheme run by Josh Garza a few years ago. Users “invested” (read: donated) thousands of bitcoins in hopes of earning more bitcoins. Users were also able to transfer their Hashlets to others, and there were some who came out ahead – as there in every pyramid scheme. The point is, while users were taking a chance, Garza and company were raking in bitcoins free and clear.

Regulatory compliance is not a technical compromise, in any case. It makes no sense to offer a weaker product in order to satisfy government hacks. Regulatory compliance is an individual issue. If people choose not to pay their taxes, they are to blame. If they choose not to declare their bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies, it is a risk they are taking.

The mere facts laid out regarding OneCoin so far do not confirm the fact that they are riding dirty, but when one considers also the fact that their “blocks” are mined exactly every ten minutes, it is much easier to presume that a script is generating the coins. There are lots of ways to make money in the cryptocurrency industry, and even more to lose it. OneCoin is an example of the scammer’s approach to the former, while its users exemplify the latter. At this point there is no reason not to consider the entire project a scam of mediocre cleverness but maximal success.

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Paycoin’s Josh Garza Continues to Delay SEC Trial

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard much from Josh Garza. At last glance, he was facing charges of fraud from the Securities and Exchange Commission and much of his army of GAWesome supporters had gone silent. The SEC case continues, and earlier this month Garza finally responded to the charges with a long-winded “pleading of the fifth.” This response to the allegations comes after numerous requests to delay the case, the contents of which are mostly sealed.

“Accordingly, on the advice of counsel, Defendant respectfully declines to answer the allegations set forth in the Complain, based on his rights under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

At the end of the filing, however:

Defendant reserves the right to amend this Answer upon the resolution of any criminal investigation or related proceedings.

This last bit is clearly intended to allow Garza a chance to later plead out of the case while giving away nothing at present.

The case has largely fallen off the radar of cryptocurrency enthusiasts, who’ve become more engrossed in the various aspects of Bitcoin’s block size debate as well as the stellar growth in the price of Bitcoin which have both happened during the intervening months.

For this reason, this writer, who covered the scandal in depth culminating in a full-scale rebuke of the dozens of individuals who consciously defended Garza’s every move up until the bitter end, will quickly give the reader the rundown of the GAW Miners Hashlet scam.

• GAW Miners began as a hardware provider. Their hardware was largely rebranded Chinese equipment, but at this time they were at least delivering tangible products.
• In August of 2014, GAW began selling “hashlets,” or virtual mining contracts. According to the SEC, Garza and his cohorts knowingly falsified claims in regards to said hashlets and their actual return-on-investment. Additionally, GAW faces an ongoing lawsuit in Mississippi for unpaid electrical bills. Like nearly all virtual mining, Hashlets would later prove to be not just unprofitable but for many, a total loss.
• According to the SEC, at least 10,000 users were fooled out of bitcoins.
• Around December, 2014, Paycoin (XPY) was launched. Paycoin was a poorly modified fork of Peercoin which had the added feature of “prime nodes” which would receive insane interest payments. These prime nodes were issued primarily to members of GAW Miners as well as a few loyal community members. During the run-up to launch, Garza touted that Paycoin would sell for $20 per coin. Later, Paybase, a related effort, offered a “repurchase” program which never actually happened. Today, the totality of Paycoin, which was eventually taken over by its disparate community, has a value of around 25 bitcoins. Were it to be actually worth $20 per coin, this net worth would actually be closer $233M, or 233,000 BTC.
• The amplification of the scandal surrounding Paycoin coincided with the failure of its primary, most vocally supportive exchange, Cryptsy. Up until that time, Cryptsy was one of the largest trading platforms for alternative cryptocurrencies. While ShapeShift.io quickly delisted Paycoin after “fraud concerns,” Cryptsy listed the currency until its last gasp. It is important to note that Cryptsy was an owner of a prime node. Pseudonymous CCN writer Hiro Nakamura cautioned Cryptsy to get away from Paycoin, to no avail. Thus far there has never been a linkage of the Paycoin scandal and the exit scam of Cryptsy, but the two happened with such coincidence that it is hard not to draw a straight line.

At CCN, our memory is long and we look forward to soon reporting on the outcome of Garza’s SEC trial. There is not much that can be done for those who were repeatedly warned against doing business with anything Garza touched, but we can help to ensure that no future cryptocurrency project fomented by him or his cohorts goes unnoticed.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Digital Currencies Need Regulation to Grow

Researchers from the Bank of Canada maintain that digital currencies such as bitcoin need government intervention for it to flourish long-term.

The report, Canadian Bank Notes and Dominion Notes: Lessons for Digital Currencies [PDF], examines the period in Canada when private bank notes and government issued notes or ‘Dominion’ notes were in circulation at the same time in the 1800s.

The report states that because the notes shared the same characteristics of today’s digital currencies, it can draw from the experience as to how today’s digital currencies might function. It adds that private digital currencies are likely to be counterfeited too. However, while a central bank can issue its own digital currency, it finds that doing so is unlikely to push out private alternatives.

The report’s authors state:

We conclude that well designed and managed private digital currencies could circulate widely but only with appropriate government regulation to ensure their safety, soundness, and uniformity.

CAD-Coin

First revealed in June 2016, although it was first proposed in 2014, the Bank of Canada confirmed that it was working on its own digital currency prototype known as the CAD-Coin. In partnership with some of Canada’s biggest banks and R3, it was announced that this would be the digital equivalent of the Canadian dollar.

Since the prototype, details of the experiment are yet to be revealed; however, according to Carolyn Wilkins, Bank of Canada senior deputy governor, central-bank issued currencies play a significant role in financial stability and function as a ‘transmission mechanism for monetary policy.’

In her opinion the digital currency bitcoin is viewed more of a commodity rather than a money itself despite the fact that this was the currency that provided the building blocks for the Bank of Canada to develop its CAD-Coin.

Government Regulation

The whole point of bitcoin’s existence and the fact that it remains the most popular digital currency is down to the fact that it’s an unregulated and decentralized currency.

The fact that the Bank of Canada believe that the currency needs government regulation for it to flourish in the long-term is unlikely to go down well with the general populace, and is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Not only that, but given that a bank-issued digital currency such as the CAD-Coin is unlikely to force bitcoin out illustrates the impact the currency has produced in its relatively short life-span.

As an alternative digital currency that people are using there are many who would say that it’s more money than commodity.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Can Cryptocoins Be Environmentally Friendly?

It turns out one Bitcoin transaction takes 30 kWh of energy to go through to the blockchain. To get everything straight, let us look at what one kWh is. With one kWh a 100 watt light bulb would be lit for 10 hours. With 30 kWh that same 100 watt light bulb would be lit 300 hours. To make the amount of 30 kWh even more clear, I calculated how far that same amount of energy would take a 2016 Tesla S.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are solely that of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to BAN.

According to www.fueleconomy.gov a 2016 Tesla Model S AWD – 70D uses 33kWh/100 miles riding on a combination of city and highway. From there it is quite simple to calculate that with 30 kWh the Tesla would go roughly 86 miles. Today at the time of writing this article, in December 2016, there are about 250,000 transactions in one day according to https://blockchain.info. This means that with one day’s worth of Bitcoin transactions the Tesla would run 21 500,000 miles. And the number of transactions is increasing very rapidly. Just a year ago at the same time, there were only about 150,000 transactions.

The problem with Bitcoin mining algorithm, and most of the major cryptocurrencies mining algorithms, is that rely heavily on energy-intensive calculations performed by graphics cards and CPUs. History shows us that there will be advancements in the energy efficiency of graphics cards and CPUs. But, there will also be a race between getting the best calculation power out of the cards and being energy efficient. This means there will be balance that will keep the energy consumption at a high level in the future, even with the advancements.

One cryptocurrency that promises to solve the problem of high energy consumption is Burstcoin. Burstcoin attacks the problem from a different angle by using an algorithm that is based on using hard drives of its users instead of relying on graphics cards or cpu to do the heavy lifting with good success. One Burstcoin transaction takes only 0.07 kWh. If we do the same calculation as I did before with Bitcoin and show you how much energy is spent on one transaction of Burstcoin. One Burstcoin transaction would take the same 2016 Tesla Model S AWD – 70D upto 0.21 miles. The difference compared to a Bitcoin transaction is 85.79 miles.

It is granted, that Burstcoin is no way near the level of brand recognition, sophistication, or user base of Bitcoin or some of the other cryptocurrencies. But what Burstcoin is, is a greener option and there are those who share my concern about the environmental issues regarding cryptocurrencies. The greenness of Burstcoin goes a bit further in the way that old hard drives can be used to mine Burstcoin. This is a great thing when many people are turning to cloud services for their hard drive needs and discarded drives can have a new life as parts of Burstcoin mining rigs.

Writer Bio:

Miro is a writer and a maker of infographics. Like most people who get into cryptocurrencies, Miro was all excited about the possibilities. He thought cryptocurrencies were going to change things, and still thinks so. It is safe to say Miro came into the world of cryptocurrency from a green background. He lives in a country where glass, metal, paper and biodegradable garbage get recycled in a high percentage, and resources are mostly spent with thought. And, sadly, he does not own a Tesla.

Disclaimer:

Miro owns a small amount of Burstcoin, but is not affiliated with burstcoin.

Image from Shutterstock.

Russian Crypto Firm Qiwi is Working on a Blockchain Energy Project in Crimea

Each Tavrida Electric transaction will be recorded on the blockchain, according to Moscow-based Rambler News Service. The transactions will be visible to regulatory agencies and other energy companies on the blockchain. Qiwi said it could extend the project to other energy companies.

The project marks Qiwi’s latest effort to promote blockchain-related technology in Russia, despite government opposition.

Smart Grids For Russia

Tavrida Electric signed an agreement a year ago to deploy smart grids in Moscow and other parts of Russia, along with projects in other countries such as Poland, Mexico and Brazil. The company plans to build a new factory for its smart grid projects, according to Kommersant, a business daily.

Smart grids, according to Kommersant, represent the most promising trend in the global energy sector.

According to its website, Tavrida Electric is among the three largest circuit breaker and recloser suppliers in the world. It holds a leading position in the production of electrical equipment, having offices in 22 countries and exporting to 80 countries. The company offers automation technologies and distribution of electricity, ranging from standard products to turnkey solutions for a variety of industries.

Past Political Upheaval

According to Kommersant, Tavrida Electric was founded by a politically active man, Alexei Chaly.

Chaly declared himself Sevastopol mayor in February 2014 during the Crimean crisis following the resignation of the mayor appointed by Victor Yanukovych, according to Wikipedia. Under Chaly, Sevastopol participated in the March 2014 referendum in which Crimea separated from Ukraine and acceded to Russia.

Chaly sold the company following Russia’s annexation of Crimea when his name was placed on the United States and European Union sanctions list, according to Kommorsant.

Also read: Russian payment operator Qiwi plans to launch cryptocurrency; government objects

Qiwi: A Persistent Crypto Player

Qiwi, being active in cryptocurrency in a country that hasn’t welcomed it, has faced its own share of opposition in Russia, independent of Crimea-related events. The company met opposition from local officials earlier this year when it planned to issue a cryptocurrency called “bitrubles”. Elvira Nabiullina, the Russian central bank’s chairwoman, repeatedly said cryptocurrencies could be used for dubious operations, and that the bank is studying the matter and could supervise the sphere out of necessity.

In June 2016, Qiwi was revealed to be organizing Russia’s own private banking consortium, in partnership with the Bank of Russia, the Russian Federation’s central bank. The plan came to pass the following month when Russia’s largest banks and tech consultancy giant Accenture formed the working group with Qiwi.

Image from Shutterstock.