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August 3, 2018
Soundeon ICO Review
It has been said that the golden age of the music industry is over. Ever since access to the Internet became a staple in every household, and the subsequent emergence of download and streaming services, record sales have taken a substantial hit. Although it has hit every aspect of the music industry, from engineers to artists, record label executives have been quick to think up ways to retain most of their income.
Often, this means shorting the other links in the supply chain: the aforementioned engineers and artists. Artists, for example, are often duped by opaque royalty schemes and hidden clauses in their contracts. Royalty payments to artists are often delayed, in order to retain the money for longer and earn interest. Before any royalties reach the artist’s account, however, various expenses covered by the label are deducted. Whilst this is ordinarily fair, the labels do not make the exact terms and conditions for these deductions clear. Although many artists are taking the independent route, the major record labels still control large parts of the market. 70% of the market is controlled by Warner Brothers and Sony alone. For all their power, many artists do not consider the labels particularly helpful. Concert tickets are still being touted and resold on the black market at inflated prices. They are also failing to form a meaningful connection with the audience they are supposed to cater to. On top of all the problems, there is also the general lack of organization in the music industry to consider. The challenges of making a living out of music as an artist are many. Fortunately, the team behind Soundeon aims to address them with their new ICO.
What is Soundeon?
Soundeon is a blockchain-based decentralized music platform that aims to cover all aspects of the music industry in one place. In other words, Soundeon will be an ecosystem, in which artist have full transparency and control over their music, their rights, their royalties, their ticket sales, and their funding. Through the platform, artists can issue tickets, music fans can purchase them, and all transactions are recorded and kept secure on the digital ledger. The entire process is made very much easier by the use of smart contracts, which are essentially self-executing contracts working on the if/then principle — a vending machine system, in other words. All transactions on the Soundeon platform are made using the native Soundeon Tokens.
What are the main features of Soundeon?
One of the key perks of the Soundeon platform is that musicians can create their own token sales in order to fund their music projects. The Soundeon platform will also include a cryptocurrency exchange, on which artists can trade their own royalty programs in exchange for either Soundeon tokens, fiat money, or other cryptocurrencies.
The ‘Soundeon Monitor’ is a feature that allows the music artists to monitor how many sales they have many, and how many royalties they have accrued. The use of smart contracts, which are referred to as Creative Smart Contracts (CSC) on the Soundeon platform, allows artists to submit time-stamped documents to copyright authorities. Very much like ICOs in general, Soundeon will allow artists to launch their own music ICOs, where fans can purchase artist cryptocurrency tokens to fund that artist’s project. Once the music project is released, the owners of the artist tokens will get a slice of the royalties from the music project. Finally, the Soundeon Player is an internal music player, where fans can stream and download the music created by the artists on the platform. Definitely, an exciting ICO to watch out for!
My ETH adress:
0xcD3347Bd7595750473b2dC8d2F32f28a32C868b7
bitcointalk Username: Ico Friends
July 30, 2018
Bitcoin emerged as an alternative currency in 2009 out of the ashes of the financial crisis the year before. The now-famous cryptocurrency boasted a series of benefits that the traditional financial system did not have. Among these were security, transparency, and, most importantly, decentralization.
The decentralization would ensure that records of financial transactions were kept safe from manipulation and fraud. Therefore, it is quite understandable that a lot of cryptocurrency enthusiasts are wary of anyone bringing up the subject of centralizing cryptocurrency. After all, decentralization is, pardon the pun, central to the entire concept of cryptocurrency. This has not stopped the Bank of Canada from floating about the idea of a centralized cryptocurrency.
Bank of Canada releases a working paper
The Bank of Canada has recently released a working paper in which they argue for the incorporation of a centralized cryptocurrency vouched for by the banks. The authors behind the paper acknowledge that cryptocurrencies will inevitably be part of our economic future. Therefore, they write, it would be wise for the existing financial institutions to embrace the concept, rather than trying to fight it. The cryptocurrency industry is quite simply too lucrative for banks to be able to afford to stay out of it. Furthermore, the Bank of Canada’s research reveals that the overall economy could benefit substantially from utilizing cryptocurrency.
Central bank digital currency could boost the economy
One of the main authors of the paper, Mohammad Davoodalhosseini, explains the economic benefits of introducing what he calls a central bank digital currency (CBDC). His forecast shows that consumption in Canada would go up 0.64% with the introduction of CBDC. The benefits would be even more tangible in the United States, where the introduction of CBDC would lead to an increase of 1.6% in consumption. Davoodalhosseini goes on to note that too many banks are currently wasting time considering their options. One of the reasons they are apprehensive is because they do not see a way for fiat money and cryptocurrencies to coexist.
Can fiat money and cryptocurrencies co-exist?
The concerns of the banks are unfounded, according to the paper published by the Bank of Canada. In fact, the paper argues that the reality is quite the opposite. Not only does fiat money and cryptocurrencies already coexist, but there could be wider societal benefits if the banks embraced both forms of currency. One of the key arguments is that by implementing CBDC, banks will be able to stay competitive in the future financial market. Another argument put forward is that the implementation of CBDC would not even be very expensive. Finally, the economic welfare of the country using CBDC would improve considerably.
The future lies with CBDC
Davoodalhosseini concludes the paper with some suggestions for how banks can best implement CBDC, and why it is important. If only fiat money or CBDC is available, it automatically places restrictions on people’s ability to conduct business. This, in turn, would have a negative impact on the general economy. With CDBC, the central banks would be able to accommodate the wishes of their clients to trade in cryptocurrencies. Whether or not the paper will sway the current financial institutions remains to be seen.
July 28, 2018
Steve Bannon is an innovative, albeit controversial, man. He’s had a diverse career that includes serving in the Marines, working for Goldman Sachs, making documentaries, heading the Breitbart news outlet, and, most recently, working as the White House Chief Strategist. He no longer works for President Donal Trump, nor is he working with Breitbart. But that does not mean that he is slowing down. His latest project involves marrying populist politics with a cryptocurrency. The token will be used as a tool to empower the disenfranchised working class in the United States. Bannon, however, also has plans for his European counterparts.
Deplorables Coin
Bannon has been very enthusiastic about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general and has stated that he believes they are the future of the economy. He has for a long time been toying with the idea of launching his own ‘deplorables’ coin, which is a reference to Hillary Clinton’s description of Trump supporters during the 2016 presidential election campaign. Although Bannon himself has not gone into much details about the cryptocurrency token, his new partner Jeffrey Wernick has shed some light on the project.
Who is Jeffrey Wernick?
Bannon’s new partner is a seasoned trader, entrepreneur, and investor. Wernick has worked for the investment bank Salomon Brothers, invested in startups like Uber and Airbnb, and, more recently, is an evangelist for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Last year, he joined the advisory board of Qtum, which is a Chinese blockchain firm. Wernick and Bannon have a shared interest in helping online users protect their data from being exploited by the big tech companies. The transparency and security offered by blockchain technology seem a natural fit for this goal.
A utility token for political activists
What will the ‘deplorables’ coin do? According to Wernick, it will have multiple functions. First and foremost, it will help provide users with an alternative to the current financial system which is run by the central banks. Secondly, it will be used to incentivize people to engage in political activism. Although Bannon’s political leanings are clear, his token will not be biased towards any particular party. Rather, the aim is for political activists to be able to support smaller parties and break the two-party system of Democrats and Republicans.
From the United States to Europe
Bannon has recently begun to involve himself more in European politics. In particular, he is in support of the Five Star Movement and the League in Italy, Alternative for Germany in Germany, National Rally in France, and UKIP in the United Kingdom. He sees the emerging populist parties in Europe as an opportunity to form a coalition he calls ‘The Movement’.
As he is opposed to the European Union and the European Central Bank, he will encourage EU member states to launch their own cryptocurrencies. This will, according to Bannon, help them break free of what he views as an oppressive bureaucracy.
What do you think about the ‘deplorables’ coin? Would it be good to incentivize political activism with money in this way? Leave your comments in the section below!
July 26, 2018
There is much confusion about what constitutes a cryptocurrency, and no wonder. With so many different combinations of cryptoassets, they can easily get mixed up. Here, we have a look at the seven most common cryptoassets, and outline what makes each of them unique.
Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies are by far the most known form of cryptoasset. This category includes the godfather of cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin. It is money in its purest form, and can be used to purchase products and services from vendors who accept cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies can be traded for other tokens on cryptocurrency exchanges. They have been criticised by banks like JPMorgan and Bank of America, mainly because they are a new form of competition challenging the status quo. Conversely, firms like Goldman Sachs and Shorcan are embracing the new developments and investing in cryptocurrencies.
Platform tokens
Platform tokens are a form of cryptoasset that are unique to a specific platform. A good example of this is Ether tokens, which are unique to the Ethereum platform. Ethereum is a particularly interesting example, as it is now widely used in ICOs. Many development teams launching their own ICOs use Ethereum’s platform, and create their own customized versions of the Ether tokens to go with the ICO. ICOs are a hugely popular method of fundraising. Over $7 billion dollars have been raised through the method of ICOs, and 70% of these ICOs use the Ethereum platform.
Utility tokens
Utility tokens are a bit different from platform tokens, in the sense that they work with a specific application rather than an entire platform. A good example of utility tokens are those used on Golem, which is an application that aims to connect all the processing power of smartphones into a collective processor. This collective processor can then be used in exchange for Golem’s utility tokens. It could be compared to Amazon’s offering of Amazon Web Services. Amazon is the platform, and Amazon Web Services is the app.
Security tokens
There has been much debate about whether or not Ethereum is a cryptocurrency or a security. The outcome of this debate will determine which regulations would be applied to the token. Security tokens are what could be considered bonds and equities. Traditionally, these kinds of transactions have to go through a number of intermediaries. In the world of blockchain, however, the costs and time required to complete this kind of trade is greatly reduced.
Natural asset tokens
This kind of cryptoasset is perhaps what will make cryptocurrencies go mainstream. They are tokens that represent the value of a real material good. This can range from traditional ones like oil and gold, to trees in a forest. A good example of natural asset tokens is Chicago Mercantile’s exchange’s Royal Mint Gold, which is backed by gold bullion.
Cryptocollectibles
Much like regular collectibles, cryptocollectibles are just that: collectibles, but based on blockchain technology. An example of cryptocollectibles is the CryptoKitties, which is the blockchain version of Tamagochi. Owners of CryptoKitties can raise, feed, and breed virtual kittens. These collectibles accrue value over time, much like stamps or action figures.
Crypto-fiat currencies
As with natural asset tokens, crypto-fiat currencies could well be the concept that makes cryptocurrency payments a mainstream phenomenon. It is essentially a cryptocurrency token backed by the fiat money and/or natural resources of a given country. A good example of this is the Petro, which was launched by the Venezuelan government last year. The Petro is backed by Venezuela’s large oil reserves, which makes it more stable than other kinds of tokens.