Los Angeles-based blockchain venture studio Draper Goren Holm has announced an equity investment in Degens – The Blockchain Betting Exchange. 

Founded back in 2017, Degens is the first peer-to-peer sports betting exchange to operate on the Ethereum blockchain that uses the popular cryptocurrencies ETH and DAI. 

According to Degens, it is revolutionising the $100bn+ sports betting industry by utilising blockchain technology to offer the lowest fees, complete anonymity, a non-custodial platform (meaning Degens is never in possession of customer funds), and instant deposits/withdrawals. 

The collaboration with Draper Goren Holm and the Draper Venture Network will give Degens access to additional capital investments, mentorship, product marketing assistance, a powerful public relations arm, hands-on growth marketing guidance, and future sports partnerships through the venture studio, and the other portfolio companies in the venture network. 

Discussing the investment CMO of Degens, Matthew Thompson, said:

“We’re extremely excited to be supported by one of the leading accelerators and incubators in the blockchain/fintech space. We are confident their support will ensure that Degens continues to remain a market leader in the rapidly growing blockchain gaming industry.”

While Founding Partner at Draper Goren Holm, Josef Holm, commented: 

“Since the beginning, Degens has proved itself as a promising decentralized peer to peer sports betting exchange, one that users can trust and rely on. While we’re all curious to see how the sports industry overcomes COVID, the act of betting isn’t going anywhere; users will continue to win using Degens.”

And, Founding Partner at Draper Goren Holm, Alon Goren, added:

“Degens is replacing the typical house and its associated fees with smart contracts and contrary participant opinions. This type of system architecture allows for unstoppable winning and prevents Degens from controlling one’s money. It’s no question that this will be the future of sports betting, so we’re excited to welcome the team into the Draper Goren Holm family!”

AYO.NEWS says:

Sports betting has had a rough ride so far this year, and the COVID-19 crisis doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon, so it’s great to see Draper Goren Holm are looking ahead at the long-term with this investment. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

AgAu, the Swiss silver and gold electronic money system has secured investment from high-profile bankers and commodity trading experts. 

Zug-based AgAu AG, the company behind AgAu.io, the peer-to-peer electronic money system aiming to issue tokens backed by silver and gold, has announced the completion of a high-profile angel investment round at a strong valuation.

The system is expected to launch in the second half of 2020, with AgAu saying it wants to be a “poster child of success for Switzerland” and prove that the country’s entrepreneurial spirit is still strong despite the COVID-19 crisis. 

Commenting on the news CEO and Founder of AgAu, Thierry Arys Ruiz, explained:

“Switzerland has a historic relation with gold and the country has long been considered the safest jurisdiction in the world for privacy and private property. We are combining 3 of the major strengths of Switzerland: Commodity Trading (Gold & Silver), Banking, and Technology in one powerful idea: AgAu.” 

Investors backing the AgAu project include Nicolas Chikhani, former CEO of Arab Bank Switzerland, who has joined as an investor and board member, and other investors and advisors from Switzerland and the MENA region. Details of other high-profile investors, hailing from leading financial institutions and with deep expertise of the commodity trading business, will be announced later in the year. 

Founded in 2018, AgAu AG derives its name from the atomic symbols of silver (Ag), and gold (Au). It plans to issue digital tokens corresponding to the direct ownership of allocated physical silver and gold bullion stored in Switzerland. 

The company says it aims to be the easiest way to transact the direct ownership of allocated and redeemable physical LBMA quality gold and silver. It stresses that all precious metals held will be audited and secured in regulated private vaults outside of the banking system. 

AgAu defines its mission as follows:

“To increase the freedom of exchange of goods, values, and ideas, while establishing a secure, stable, and decentralized money platform that will enable everyone to protect their wealth and execute payments worldwide.”

AYO.NEWS says:

The marrying of traditional assets like silver and gold and blockchain technology is gaining traction and represents a fascinating tangent for investors. 

In January Tether launched a gold-backed stablecoin, Tether Gold (XAUT), each of which represents ownership of one troy fine ounce of physical gold. XAUT is available as both an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, or a TRC20 token on Tron (TRX), and is backed by physical gold held in a Swiss vault. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates.

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

NEM Ventures has announced a strategic investment in SharpShark, a blockchain-powered timestamping solution. 

By harnessing blockchain technology, SharpShark enables creators to protect their copyrights, while enabling the transfer and tokenisation of intellectual property, and the auto monitoring of violations. 

Co-Founder and General Partner at NEM Ventures, the venture capital and investment arm of the NEM blockchain ecosystem, Kailin O’Donnell, said:

“Existing timestamping solutions have fallen short and copyright deposits are extremely costly. SharpShark’s digital timestamping service records artwork, aiming to protect creators’ moral rights to their work by detecting plagiarism and copyright infringement. 

“We believe that all makers should have full control over their creations, and are aligned with SharpShark’s mission to create a fair and equitable solution for protecting intellectual property.”

SharpShark is built on Symbol by NEM, and provides a decentralised solution to protect text and image copyrights. It has been designed for creators ranging from writers, academics and journalists, to photographers, artists and designers.

The solution publishes the digital signature of the text and images to the Symbol blockchain alongside author details to prove ownership, remaining fully GDPR compliant. 

SharpShark was founded by Sasha Ivanova, an IT engineer and award-winning writer, and Valeriia Panina, a crypto native content designer and former Managing Editor of an analytical agency. 

Discussing the news SharpShark CEO and Co-Founder, Sasha Ivanova, said:

“As long-standing members of the blockchain community, we’ve followed the NEM project for years, and the Symbol blockchain suits perfectly for intellectual property management. 

“Symbol has a layered architecture that enables trustlessness, and performance optimisation, which was a natural fit for our solution. We’re excited to work with the NEM Ventures team to further develop our product, with the aim of making copyright and intellectual property protection more accessible and equitable.”

While, SharpShark Co-Founder and Product Designer, Valeriia Panina, added:

“Unfortunately, current copyright laws are outdated and ineffective. In fact, The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works was passed 134 years ago, with the last alterations made in 1971. Currently, the copyright symbol (©) makes no difference – but it should!  Our solution caters to the digital era, at a time when an upgrade to intellectual property laws is paramount.” 

AYO.NEWS says:

The IP protection issue is one that has proven intractable in the digital age so far. And, while it’s absolutely true that blockchain platforms offer a fantastic way to record, track and monitor IP, serious problems will remain. 

Specifically, as we’ve discovered here at AYO.NEWS, it’s one thing discovering your original content has been stolen, but quite another getting anything done about it, especially if you’re dealing with multiple global jurisdictions. 

Will SharpShark actually help individual creatives and small businesses? We doubt it. But it might  become another tool in the arsenal of big corporations. 

Blockchain-based platforms are also being rolled out for use in the music industry. Earlier this year London-based Ditto announced Bluebox – a blockchain recording solution promising greater transparency and higher royalty collection rates, while Bitfury Surround, SoundVault, CJ OliveNetworks, Warner Music Group, and Evershare.io are also employing blockchain tech to manage music rights. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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The final Ethereum 2.0 public testnet is set to launch in two weeks, as the rise of DeFi and stablecoins puts existing network under increasing pressure.

According to the platform’s launch coordinator, Danny Ryan, we’re just two weeks from the launch of the Ethereum 2.0 final testnet, bringing the much anticipated Ethereum 2.0 network upgrade a step closer. 

Ethereum 2.0: from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake

On the testnet’s Discord discussion board, Ryan revealed that, “after discussions with client teams, the next multi-client testnet (mainnet config including min validator numbers) will have a min genesis time of August 4th.”

Phase 0, which has been running on several testnests since April, when the genesis block was created for Beacon Chain. It is the first stage in the upgrade from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake and should significantly increase transaction speeds on the blockchain.

Instead of relying on miners, the Proof-of-Stake ETH 2.0 will ensure security with users staking at least 32 ETH to run a validating node.

Public testnet for Beacon Chain nears launch

With Prysmatic Labs conducting most of the testing, Beacon Chain went live on the initial testnet, Sapphire, in April using 3.2 ETH stakes, with the full 32 ETH nodes, and staking rewards, going live on the Topaz testnet in May. 

In June the Onyx testnet went live, and boasted around 20K validators by the month’s end. This was followed by the Altona coordinated multi-client testnet in early July, in preparation for the public testnet. 

If all goes well with the final public testnet, set to launch on 4 August, Ethereum 2.0 could launch as early as 4 November. 

Why Ethereum 2.0 is urgently needed

With the recent DeFi boom, and a massive increase in the issuance of stablecoins, the Ethereum network is under rapidly rising pressure, with gas usage and network fees rising unsustainably – putting critical pressure on the platform architecture. 

In the short-term Layer 2 scaling solutions offer a way to mitigate the issues, but when all is said and done, the shift from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake that Ethereum 2.0 offers is the only realistic way forward. 

AYO.NEWS says:

The pressure is on for those working on the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade, with many fearing it won’t come soon enough, and competing blockchains like Tezos and Cardano snapping at Ethereum’s heels. However, it seems Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin remains confident the upgrade will take place this year. 

Staying with Ethereum, in May it emerged that international payments giant Visa had filed a patent for an Ethereum-based “Digital Fiat Currency.”

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Russian media is reporting that former Wirecard chief operating officer, Jan Marsalek, is hiding out in Russia with funds he transferred using Bitcoin. 

According to Kommersant, Marsalek managed to use Bitcoin (BTC) to move funds from Dubai to Russia, where he is now hiding from international law enforcement agencies. He is said to be staying at a house somewhere near Moscow, under the protection of the Russian authorities. 

Given the documents leaked earlier this month, in which Marsalek bragged of connections to the Russian intelligence services, and the reports of him hiding under Russian protection, it now seems clear that the former Wirecard COO was working in collusion with the Kremlin. 

As previously reported, the drama started in late June when auditors from EY discovered $2.1 billion that couldn’t be accounted for. Wirecard top brass said the missing funds were held in Phillipine banks, and Marsalek departed on a mission to ‘find them’ – a mission he never returned from.

Some are now speculating that Russia’s Federal Security Service helped make it seem like Marsalek had entered the Philippines, but really squirreled him away to Moscow. 

Shortly after Marsalek’s disappearance German police arrested the firm’s CEO, Markus Braun, and Wirecard collapsed, filing for bankruptcy. 

This led to the suspension of several crypto cards, like those issued by Crypto.com and TenX, which were clients of Wirecard. However, those cards were reactivated shortly afterwards, when it became clear the Wirecard’s UK operations were not affected by the scandal, and clearance was given by the Financial Conduct Authority. 

AYO.NEWS says:

With tensions between the west and Russia now higher than at any point since the Cold War, it seems likely that Russia is actively trying to destabilise critical economic and financial infrastructure through subversion. 

The question now is, just how far does the Wirecard web reach? 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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US regulators have approved the trading of shares in Grayscale Investment’s Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC) trusts on OTC markets. 

In an official announcement yesterday, New York-based Grayscale said trading of shares in the crypto trusts had been given the green light by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in the United States, and the two stocks will be available on OTC markets under the BCHG and LTCN symbols. 

However, public trading in the two assets will not commence until the shares Depository Trust Company (DTC) eligible – though this is expected to happen soon. 

According to Graysale, which is the world’s largest digital currency asset manager, the Trusts have offered a private placement to accredited investors since March 2018, and as of 30 June 2020 it had 2,725,300 shares in its Bitcoin Cash Trust for $5.8 million assets under management, and 509,400 shares of the Litecoin Trust, totalling $2m. 

The BCH and LTC products are the sixth public offerings from Greyscale, which has also been approved to list shares of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ethereum Classic (ETC). Greyscale also offers trading in Horizen (ZEN), Stellar Lumens (XLM), XRP, and Zcash (ZEC) through a trust. 

AYO.NEWS says:

By offering investors the ability to take advantage of crypto assets without the hassle and stress of acquiring, storing and keeping them safe, Grayscale’s products are clearly making the crypto world more attractive to mainstream clients. 

Staying with Grayscale, as we reported in May, the company is said to be engaged in an unprecedented Bitcoin buying spree – at times scooping the crypto up faster than it could be mined. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020