This Week in Blockfolio Signal — June 14th
Every week we comb through hundreds of Blockfolio Signals to bring you the most significant team updates with brief analyses to help you understand the latest developments in blockchain.
In this week’s issue:
Enigma (ENG) Launches Secret Smart Contracts
Siacoin (SC) Reports First Mobile Transfer Without Running A Full Node
Ark (ARK) Core Upgrade Brings Performance and Security via WebSockets
TenX (PAY) Granted E-Money License
PIVX (PIVX) Announces Launch of PIVX Foundation
GPS Token Airdrop Announced for Ignis (IGNIS) Holders
Coinbase Customers Can Earn Free Dai (DAI) Stablecoin
Enigma (ENG) Launches Secret Smart Contracts
“IT’S HERE: The Discovery testnet developer release of our protocol is now LIVE! :rocket: With Enigma, smart contracts can finally use encrypted data as inputs: the missing piece to mass adoption. Try out “secret contracts” now with our guides, docs, and more!” Read More
— Guy Zyskind, Co-Founder and CEO
Summary
Enigma announced the testnet developer release of the Discovery network, which clears the way for partners to begin building secret contracts that will power their own applications. Contracts built now will be able to be immediately deployed once Enigma is live on Ethereum mainnet.
This update enables privacy for general computations, enabling dApp developers to create significantly more meaningful and secure applications.
Stateful (Encrypted) Secret Contracts are capable of maintaining a state, allowing to persist encrypted data between private computations or different tasks. Thus, stateful contracts enable many more use cases.
Secret Contracts are decoupled from Smart Contracts so that the Enigma network only relies on Ethereum as the consensus layer, but is otherwise decoupled from the requirements and limitations of Ethereum. This means that secret contracts can have their own runtime and programming language (Rust, instead of Solidity).
Significance
This release is a significant step forward for Enigma, which can now permit secret contracts on their platform. It improves security, increases the number of use cases and should generate increased interest from developers looking to build on the Enigma platform.
ENG price at the time of Blockfolio Signal: $0.55. View ENG on Blockfolio.
Siacoin (SC) Reports First Mobile Device Transfer Without Running A Full Node
“The first ever upload to and download from the Sia network on a mobile device — without running a full node on the phone — has been accomplished! Read below to see Danger and Luke’s proof of concept demo for using Sia on iOS.” Read More
— Steve Funk, Head of Support
Summary
There is now a way to upload and download Sia files from a mobile device without having to run the full node.
Prior to this development, there was only an option on Android that required a full node.
The new protocol introduced in Sia v1.4.0 makes this use case possible. Uploads can be slow because Sia has to upload at least 4 MiB at a time, but these limitations will likely be addressed in the next upgrade.
Significance
It is now possible to write mobile apps that store and retrieve data on the Sia network. This will open the doors to more mobile developers connecting to Sia to create apps. It also helps to prove the concept and value of decentralized storage systems like Sia has created.
SC price at the time of Blockfolio Signal: $0.003. View SC on Blockfolio.
Ark (ARK) Core Upgrade Brings Performance and Security via WebSockets
“The ARK Core upgrade to v2.4 has been completed by the majority of the network. The upgrade included P2P layer switching from API to WebSockets, over 47k code additions and much more. In addition to the Core update there is also a new Desktop Wallet version available, v2.4.1.” Read More
— Travis Walker, Co-Founder
Summary
The 2.4 upgrade focuses on Peer 2 Peer (P2P) layer switching from API to WebSockets. P2P is a communications layer where interconnected nodes (“peers”) share resources amongst each other without the use of a centralized administrative system.
The switch to use WebSockets brings better performance, higher resistance to potential attacks and real-time exchanging of information.
Unlike API, the socket that is connected to the server stays “open” for communication. That means data can be “pushed” to the other node in real-time on demand, without creating additional requests.
This upgrade also includes initial implementation of parallel block downloading and batch block database inserts when syncing. This means instead of only using a single node, it now downloads blocks simultaneously from 25 different peers. This not only speeds up the syncing process, but it also levels out the network traffic.
Significance
This upgrade improves the performance and security of the Ark blockchain and demonstrates the power of WebSockets. It pushes Ark closer to their aim of creating an entire ecosystem of linked chains. Furthermore, the ecosystem at large stands to benefit from Ark demonstrating how different technologies can help with the key hurdles of scalability and security.
ARK price at the time of Blockfolio Signal: $0.61. View ARK on Blockfolio.
TenX (PAY) Granted E-Money License
“On #TenX’s fourth anniversary, we’re happy to share these milestones with the community:
- E-Money Licence
- TENX Tokens issuance on 13 June 2019
- First Rewards of 4,000,000 PAY Tokens in Q3
- PAY Token Loyalty Programme” Read More
— Mike Ferrer, Head of Community Management
Summary
TenX becomes world’s first ICO-funded company to be granted an E-Money Licence and achieve the status of a regulated financial institution in Europe.
With the license issued by the Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority (FMA), TenX will be able to provide Electronic Money Institution services across the European Economic Area (EEA): European Union countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
TenX aims to begin relaunching the TenX Cards in EEA in Q4 2019.
The first issue of TENX Tokens to eligible token holders will happen on 13 June 2019, following the launch of the token claiming process in March.
Significance
TenX has faced quite a few obstacles and setbacks since they launched. But this granting of an E-Money License is a significant step forward for the team and will allow them to launch financial services in Europe.
This comes after an upgrade to their app in May and helps to push the company back on track toward their goal of helping crypto users easily hold, send, receive and spend multiple cryptocurrencies at millions of locations around the globe. These initiatives should help increase crypto adoption in Europe and introduce blockchain technology to a wider audience.
PAY price at the time of Blockfolio Signal: $0.27. View PAY on Blockfolio.
PIVX (PIVX) Announces Launch of PIVX Foundation
“We are excited to announce the official launch of the PIVX Foundation, our flagship R&D Initiative, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City during the Blockchain for Impact Summit held on June 4th 2019.
As an officially registered charity, the PIVX foundation will act as an extension of the PIVX community focused on providing additional financial, human, and social capital for the project.” Read More
— John M., Director of Business Development
Summary
The PIVX team announced this flagship R&D initiative at the United Nations’ Blockchain for Impact Summit.
The PIVX Foundation’s mission is to use innovation to create impact. It will be a charity that acts as an extension of the PIVX community that focuses on providing financial, human and social capital to fuel blockchain education at leading international schools, grow cryptocurrency awareness and adoption in developing countries, and develop blockchain tech that facilitates cross-border philanthropic giving and volunteerism.
Since it is an independent non-profit, PIVX can grow rapidly while allowing donors to leverage charitable contributions with tax benefits.
Significance
PIVX is helping to increase awareness and adoption of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency globally. Registering as a Donor Advised Fund partnered with the Foundation in Support of the United Nations (FSUN), this gives a formerly underground cryptocurrency community a spotlight at the UN as a leading impact technology. In turn, this should help to generate goodwill toward the community and the technology we all support.
This should also help PIVX see an increase in donors, as setting up the PIVX Foundation eliminates tax penalties that donors previously faced.
PIVX price at the time of Blockfolio Signal: $0.67. View PIVX on Blockfolio.
Airdrops and Earning Opportunities
GPS Token Airdrop for Ignis (IGNIS) Holders
Coinerz Group has been working on the Triffic loyalty point gamification application for nearly two years. Coinerz Group reached their funding target and are planning an airdrop of their remaining GPS tokens.
Jelurida wasted no time in spreading the news through Upbit’s disclosure program. Anyone with IGNIS tokens will receive 1 GPS token for every 5 IGNIS based on a snapshot of account balances scheduled for July 14th.
Note that exchanges are not participating in this airdrop, therefore, you must move your Ignis to a wallet to participate. Read More
Coinbase Customers Can Earn Free Dai (DAI)
Learn Dai. Earn Dai. Coinbase customers around the world can now earn Dai by learning about Dai. Read More
Quote of the Week:
“Every man has two lives and the second starts when he realizes he has just one.”
— Confucius
Thanks for joining us and we look forward to bringing you our top Blockfolio Signals again next week.
Jason Hamlin
Ecosystem Insights & Development @ Blockfolio
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