Internet of Things (IoT) software developer It’s Here announced the launch of a blockchain-enabled lock that purportedly prevents porch pirating. According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Jan. 7, the solution — dubbed IoTLock — is comprised of a software system and mobile decentralized application (DApp) that can turn any keypad-enabled device into blockchain-secured smart devices. The document cites mailboxes, delivery boxes, and safes as examples of devices that can be upgraded with the solution. In the case of mailboxes, by allowing access only to authorized people such as package delivery couriers, the system would reportedly prevent porch …

Christmas is just around the corner, which means it’s time to get your holiday shopping out of the way for good. And while online retail giants such as Amazon and eBay have made online purchasing wonderfully simple for the average person, they do not really cater to a growing population of individuals who are looking to use their crypto for digital payment purposes. While a number of startups have entered this space over the last three to four years due to issues relating to market volatility, certain remaining setbacks need to be tackled before the sector can really flourish. But …

On Nov. 18, crypto researcher Ivan Bogatyy published an article on Medium claiming that he had found an extremely easy way of bypassing Grin’s Mimblewimble privacy protocol. As part of his efforts, Bogatyy stated that he was able to trace over 96% of all Grin-related transactions in real time, including the addresses of the senders as well as recipients associated with these sets of transactions. What’s more striking is the fact that Bogatyy claims he was able to achieve all this by spending just $60 a week on Amazon Web Services computational power, which helped connect him to Grin’s native …

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee believes Bitcoin (BTC) will accrue price value following a similar logic to the Silicon Valley tech titans. During an interview for CNBC’s Street Signs Asia on show on Nov. 15, Lee argued that cryptocurrencies “are network value assets” — and share this with the world’s most successful tech stocks. “Network value assets” Lee — a renowned Bitcoin bull, co-founder and Wall Street strategist at Fundstrat Global Advisors — made his argument when asked about the logic behind Fundstrat’s $25,000 by 2022 forecast for Bitcoin. Noting that the number was set in 2017 as part of a five-year …

How can payment fraud be avoided? Introducing better verification measures can go a long way to protecting consumers. Amazon and eBay are often held up as good examples of how transactions should be handled in the wider economy. These sites often deliver impartial reviews based on the past activities of buyers and sellers, meaning it is easier for consumers to find someone reputable. Measures are also in place to protect both parties if a transaction doesn’t go to plan. A multitrader marketplace called Kuverit is aiming to bring this to the crypto and fiat world alike. The company claims it …

Bitcoin (BTC) is a buy and it has never been the right time to sell it, serial investment manager Mark Yusko has told mainstream media viewers. Yusko on Bitcoin: All indicators rising Speaking to CNBC in an interview on Sept. 27, the founder, CEO & chief investment officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management compared Bitcoin’s ten-year history to Amazon. He was responding to concerns from regular cryptocurrency host Melissa Lee over the Bitcoin price, which fell below $8,000 on Thursday. For Yusko, while the price of Bitcoin can go up and down, year-on-year growth gives a solid reason to buy …

An IT arm of South Korea’s major conglomerate CJ Corp is using Amazon’s blockchain tech to improve music copyright management. CJ Corp implementing Amazon Managed Blockchain CJ OliveNetworks has implemented Amazon Managed Blockchain in its new digital copyright system for recording and tracking music in broadcast content, local news agency Yonhap reported on Sept. 19. Specifically, the firm reportedly deployed Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) file-based video transcoding service Elemental MediaConvert to recognize and extract music content from broadcasting data. Secure data sharing and storage According to the report, the new blockchain-enabled electronic copyright platform intends to bring a higher level …

Amazon Web Services, Inc., an Amazon.com company, announced that the Amazon quantum ledger database (QLDB) was now available. Transparent and immutable transaction log According to a post on Sept. 10 from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the newly available Amazon QLBD is a new class of database that provides a transparent, immutable and cryptographically verifiable transaction log ‎owned by a central trusted authority. The post continues to explain that Amazon QLBD eliminates the need to engage in the complex development effort of building one’s own ledger-like applications or rely on the capabilities of a blockchain framework. Shawn Bice, a VP at …

Earlier this month, Amazon announced plans to hire blockchain experts for its advertising division. But how can the use of blockchain technology possibly resolve the pain points in the advertising industry? For the digital advertising industry, with its revenues reaching over $28.4 billion in the first quarter of 2019 in the United States alone, you’d think standard business tools like a shared database would be required — but you’d be wrong. In reality, the advertising industry uses very outdated, manual, time-consuming processes when it comes to selling, payment, verification and other critical functions. New tools for digital advertisers It is …

Cere Network, a San Francisco-based blockchain customer relationship management (CRM) startup, has completed a $3.5 million funding round. The seed round involved major global blockchain investors, including Binance Labs, a venture arm of Binance, the second biggest crypto exchange by trading volumes to date. Other investors included Neo Global Capital, Fenbushi Capital, Arrington XRP Capital, Kenetic Capital, Alphabit Fund, Block VC, Kosmos Capital, LD Capital, Monday Capital, Pre Angel Fund and Republic Labs. Alongside with the investment, Cere Network announced the launch of a new office in New York, as well as plans to set up the Cere Network Innovation …

Major crypto platform Coinbase has emailed 3,420 Coinbase customers to disclose an accident with customer registration. Some registration details were apparently stored in clear text on the logs of Coinbase’s internal server, with affected customers now required to change their passwords. Coinbase announced the news in an official blog post on Aug. 16. According to the announcement, Coinbase has resolved the root cause of the bug and the platform is confident that stored data was not “improperly accessed, misused, or compromised.” Some users’ credentials were saved when a rare signup error occurred. When users encountered this error, Coinbase would deny …

Audius, a blockchain startup that aims to disrupt the music streaming industry, has uploaded its public beta version. The open source code for public use of Audius is available on GitHub as of Aug. 15. Additionally, the startup has issued an open invitation to run network nodes in exchange for compound rewards distributed in Audius’ native token. Decrypt reported the startup’s recent developments on Aug. 15. According to Audius CEO Roneil Rumburg, Amazon Web Services is one provider that users can take advantage of to run a node for the music network for staking. Rumburg explained that “every time a …