Blockchain Popularity, Athletes in Crypto, Mastercard Patent and more!
Blockchain and Crypto as Familiar as the Internet
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency usage could one day be as commonplace as using the internet. In an interview with CNBC, Jeremy Allaire, CEO and co-founder of fintech company Circle, described the industry as “a really fertile space in terms of the fundamental, technical and infrastructure.” Allaire pointed to Ethereum, the company that created the digital token Ether, as a major catalyst to the markets due to its versatility for developers to build apps, issue new tokens, and utilize smart contracts technology.
This increased popularity Allaire concluded, has especially bolstered Initial Coin Offerings, a crowdfunding way to raise funds for cryptocurrency ventures, which have dramatically increased as well. Statistics from CoinSchedule and CNBC show that for all of 2017, ICOs raised $3.8 billion. But in only six months this year, companies have raised more than three times that amount, or $12.4 billion in ICOs.
Mastercard wins Cryptocurrency Patent
Mastercard adds to its list of blockchain-based solutions with a new patent, securing rights to methodology for managing blockchain currency reserves. The patent, which will link Cryptocurrencies with Fiat accounts, will allow storing of both in a single profile.
As a result, according to Coindesk.com, this new type of methodology will be able to utilize profiles to identify a user’s fiat currency amount, a blockchain currency amount, an account identifier and an address, thereby allowing payment networks to better evaluate the likelihood of fraud and assess risk for blockchain transactions.
Drogba Steps onto the Cryptocurrency Field
Didier Drogba, two time “African Footballer of the Year” from the Ivory Coast, has signed on as ambassador of cryptocurrency-based social networking platform All.me. Users of the platform will receive a share of advertising revenue based on their activity and content, among other factors. According to CCN.com, the project expects to launch its ICO in Q4 2018 and has raised $30m so far. Drogba joins other celebrity Footballers such as Luis Suarez , Luís Figo, and Ronaldinho, who are also involved with various Cryptocurrency start-ups.
Source: ICO Alert