A Nigerian payments company recently announced the launch of a blockchain-powered point-of-sale payment gateway. This gateway facilitates transaction routing to issuers and aims to prevent chargebacks or chargeback fraud by promptly reimbursing customers for unsuccessful transactions. Eliminating Chargeback Fraud The Nigerian payment infrastructure company, Zone, recently announced the launch of a blockchain-powered point-of-sale (PoS) payment […]
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CMC’s Strategic Incubation of Galaxis Unveiled: A New Era for Blockchain-Powered Communities
PRESS RELEASE. Zurich, Switzerland, February 8th 2024, Chainwire. CoinMarketCap’s incubation thrusts Galaxis into the spotlight, merging unmatched crypto intelligence, broad market reach, and a massive global user base to prime Galaxis for an impactful launch. In an innovative leap forward, CMC (Coin Market Cap) has announced the incubation of Galaxis.xyz, a frontrunner in the domain […]
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Blockchain-Powered Platforms Can Help Event Organizers Overcome the Ticket Scalping Scourge — Maxwell Mayhew
According to Maxwell Mayhew, founder of the decentralized e-ticketing platform UTIX, event organizers can potentially overcome ticket scalping by switching to smart contract-based event hosting platforms. Such platforms not only help organizers control the amount of event tickets in secondary markets, says Mayhew, but “even the maximum price the tickets can be sold for.”
The U.S. Government’s Tacit Approval of the ‘Troubled Event Economy’
On the other hand, Mayhew claims the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as event tickets allows buyers in the secondary market “to easily verify if the ticket is actually valid and owned by the seller.” For Mayhew, that is how the blockchain and smart contracts in particular “can help eliminate two of the biggest symptoms of the troubled event economy.”
In written answers sent to Bitcoin.com News, Mayhew also discussed how both event organizers and attendees can still use blockchain-powered platforms despite not being familiar with the technology. The founder also touched on how giants like Ticketmaster’s dominance and the silence by the U.S. government have resulted in the events industry seen today.
Below are the UTIX founder’s answers to questions sent to him via Telegram.
Bitcoin.com News (BCN): Can you describe the biggest problems in the current online e-ticketing market and how these affect event organizers and users?
Maxwell Mayhew (MM): Where to begin… In terms of the biggest problems, I would say the largest issue is that Ticketmaster (and its parent company Live Nation) has meticulously established a landscape that forces artists, event venues, and fans to work only with them. By having exclusivity contracts with event venues, they lock up the best places that are designed to hold major events. Because of this, artists must work with Ticketmaster or are forced to essentially hold their concert in a parking lot or set up a tent just outside of town.
With artists not having a good choice, fans are exposed to predatory ticketing markups, fees, and the even worse secondary market. Another key issue is that these secondary markets should be a place where individuals can sell tickets they no longer want, or for high-demand events they may try to make a profit off their initial purchase. This is fine, but what creates major problems are those bad actors that implement algorithms (bots) that will purchase large amounts of tickets the moment they are released for sale. This makes the available tickets much more scarce, driving up desperation from devoted fans, and therefore driving up the price significantly on the secondary markets.
Some have made the case that all is fair if someone is willing to pay the price for a ticket, even if the price is 10x higher than its face value. However, when both supply and demand are being manipulated by these bots, there are strong ethical violations. Add to this the rise of fake tickets, both online and outside the event from scalpers, and the problems are dire.
By essentially holding the stakeholders hostage, Ticketmaster and the bot owners can use these predatory practices without fear of competition. There are no downsides for the platform to release only a small portion of tickets to an event, sell the rest to bots, and host some of the secondary market sites that will jack up the already bloated prices into truly incredible price hikes. The bottom line is, that there is no one who has been willing to stand in their way, including the U.S. government, who allowed the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster even though it was clearly a monopolistic move, and even though they have since violated the terms of that agreement.
The result is this: Event organizers work with them or lose major business. Artists work with the better event venues and therefore must work with Ticketmasters. If fans want to see their artists in concert, they have and will pay thousands for a ticket that was supposed to cost 5.
BCN: Most users and event organizers are still not familiar with the concept of blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and wallets. Is there a learning curve when they start using blockchain-powered ticketing platforms such as yours?
MM: The fact is, many people still aren’t familiar with blockchain because it has a famously high learning curve. If you have to read a whitepaper before you can use someone’s blockchain platform, it’s not ready for the general public. UTIX understands this and has placed all of these complex elements behind the UTIX interface. Event organizers use an iOS/Android app to manage their event, and won’t have any need to know that blockchain is being used to power some of the features. The platform uses API functionality, meaning you can use the UTIX e-ticketing solution on your website. Our team will help develop it on the event organizer’s own backend so users would not even realize they are using a white-label e-ticketing solution.
BCN: Whether a festival, a live concert, or something else, every event has some unique variables. What level of control do event organizers on your platforms have over the specific variables for every event?
MM: We understand that event organizers will have different needs and goals for each event, and the UTIX platform is designed to provide complete customization. And by “complete” I mean that the event organizer can set values for each ticket sold, including the price, the start and ending distribution release date/time, whether it is refundable, whether it can be sold on the secondary market, and the min/max resale price (if desired).
No one offers this level of customization, and without the use of NFTs, it’s simply not possible. If event organizers want to allow an unrestricted secondary market that might skyrocket prices, they have that freedom, we won’t get in the way. However, they’ll have to answer to the fans and the artist if prices get out of control.
BCN: Given that the likes of Ticketmaster have a massive user base and exclusive deals worldwide, which could be one of the reasons behind what critics describe as the platforms’ predatory behavior against artists, what incentives do the event organizers and users have to switch to blockchain-powered platforms like UTIX?
MM: The fact that Ticketmaster, along with the bots that manipulate the market, are killing the entire entertainment industry, and event organizers have no say. At the moment, these players are benefitting from the fact that there is much higher demand than supply, and people desperate to see an event will pay eye-watering prices for the privilege. However, this type of behaviour is vulnerable to several different forces. While we are still in the post-Covid frenzy for getting outdoors and into public events, that frenzy won’t last. When the economy begins to dip, even a little, extras like events (especially 0+ ticket events) are the first things that people cut back on.
A longer-term effect could be the waning popularity of concerts by all those but the wealthy. If you have no good memories of going to concerts as a child, you are much less likely to care as an adult and much less likely to be willing to pay for your own children to go. While it may not seem that way, concerts and events are not immune from obsolescence if the market isn’t nurtured.
BCN: Event organizers often suffer from what is known as secondary market ticket scalping and sometimes helplessly watch as the prices of such tickets skyrocket. In what ways do you think smart contracts can help combat ticket scalping?
MM: This is often the biggest pain point for fans: not enough tickets released initially, and a secondary market that is designed to create scarcity that drives prices many times higher than face value. With normal ticket sales, even if Ticketmaster is not driving prices artificially high, as long as there is demand there will always be scalpers. And as long as there is a likely profit, there will be those who use bots to buy large chunks of tickets in order to raise their price on the secondary market.
Using smart contracts fully manages the secondary market, and even prevents fake tickets from being sold. UTIX is designed to sell tickets to fans but to not send the actual QR code until a given day/time is set by the event organizer. If the organizer would like a limited secondary market, they could choose how many tickets can be re-sold, and even the maximum price the tickets can be sold for. This takes away the motivation to buy large quantities of tickets for resale.
By using NFTs as the tickets, buyers on the secondary market can easily verify if the ticket is actually valid and owned by the seller, without having to show the QR code. Smart contracts can eliminate two of the biggest symptoms of the troubled event economy. UTIX’s goal is to use all of these tools to reinstitute trust and honesty into the event business, and to help benefit artists, event organizers, and the fans who make it all possible.
What are your thoughts on this interview? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Blockchain-Powered Mobile Networks Offer Better Data Security Than Traditional Networks — World Mobile CEO
A blockchain-powered decentralized network can offer a “much greater level of security and ownership” of data compared to traditional telecom operators, Micky Watkins, the founder and CEO of World Mobile, has said. Watkins also claims that the flexibility of such a decentralized network means users can “rapidly scale and adjust the network to better reflect demand.” This, in turn, can result in more reliable connections for users.
A Decentralized Mobile Network Offers Users a ‘Greater Level of Security’
Watkins also told Bitcoin.com News that his company’s attempt to bring the internet to the masses via innovative technologies is comparable to past efforts by tech giants like Google and Facebook. The World Mobile founder, however, insisted that his company is not competing with tech giants. Instead, World Mobile — a telecommunication network built on a blockchain — sees tech giants as collaborators, he said.
In written comments sent to Bitcoin.com News, Watkins explained how the company’s infrastructure model and blockchain technology enable his group to overcome the scalability challenge. He also touched on how ordinary people or subscribers can help secure the network by acquiring or hosting nodes.
Below are Watkins’ answers sent to Bitcoin.com News via Telegram.
Bitcoin.com News (BCN): The internet is a core pillar of the modern information society, yet an estimated two billion people are still without access. This may be because it is not commercially viable for traditional telecom operators to bring the internet to certain geographical regions. Do you believe a blockchain-powered decentralized network is capable of connecting underserved users in an economically efficient manner?
Micky Watkins (MW): World Mobile utilizes a unique solution which combines two core elements. The first is our hybrid dynamic network, which consists of a decentralized network of what we call ‘Airnodes.’ Airnodes range from small, wifi-hotspots, right up to Aerostats, which are lighter than air balloons that act as telecommunications towers in the sky. They contain radio equipment and distribute coverage over a much wider area than traditional cell towers, between 75km-100km. This hybrid dynamic network reduces rollout and maintenance costs, allowing for profitable operations in under-connected regions.
This hybrid dynamic network is then connected to our blockchain-powered sharing economy, which incentivizes individuals and businesses to connect their communities with our infrastructure, and subsequently rewards them for doing so.
These two elements combine to significantly reduce both the Capex [capital expenditure] and Opex [operational expenditure], resulting in a network which is at least 12 times cheaper to deploy than a legacy model.
BCN: What advantages, if any, does a decentralized wireless network have over traditional telecom operators and why should a subscriber choose a decentralized wireless network over a traditional carrier?
MW: I’d suggest that once you understand the advantages of a decentralized operator like World Mobile, there will no longer be a choice to make.
Firstly, the reduced operating cost is passed on to our customers and in Zanzibar, the home of our first commercial deployment, our data bundles are almost 50% cheaper than the average. That alone is impressive, but when combined with the greater accessibility of our network, especially in under-connected and rural locations, it becomes an even more attractive offering.
Secondly, by integrating blockchain, we offer customers a much greater level of security and ownership of their data. It’s a well-known fact that many traditional operators profit from selling customer data, including location data and financial information. Customer and transaction data on World Mobile is encrypted on the blockchain and is immutable. This level of transparency is unattainable when using a traditional operator.
Finally, the flexibility of our infrastructure means we can rapidly scale and adjust the network to better reflect demand, resulting in more reliable connections for our customers.
BCN: Your company claims to be the first global mobile network built on blockchain. Can you tell us what your infrastructure looks like and how the blockchain technology fits into it?
MW: We have developed the World Mobile Chain, a Proof-of-Stake network that is a sidechain of Cardano. The World Mobile Chain is used to process network usage data and transactions. When a user purchases credit and starts to consume data through one of our Airnodes, their data traffic is encrypted and passes through our validator nodes (Earthnodes) which process and authenticate the network usage.
A record of this usage is then stored on a distributed ledger and the participants supporting the network i.e. Airnode Owners, Hosts and Earthnode Operators are rewarded with a share of the revenue, through our native utility token WMT.
BCN: Over the last decade or so, a number of technology giants including Facebook, Google, and Spacex have tried to bring Internet connectivity to the unconnected using innovative technologies. Their goals are similar to yours. Do you see them as collaborators or competitors?
MW: We don’t see them as competitors. Starlink has a great product, but it’s not a solution for the challenge of connecting the unconnected at scale. The upfront cost of the hardware limits accessibility and the lack of subsidies outside the USA makes it unviable in many parts of the world. That said, we do see them as collaborators and World Mobile utilises Starlink as a backhaul to provide connectivity in rural locations.
BCN: World Mobile is said to be a people-run mobile network but it is also known that mobile networks are highly capital-intensive and complex. What are the different ways, if any, in which subscribers can own and operate a mobile network infrastructure?
MW: World Mobile offers subscribers a number of ways to participate and benefit from the sharing economy. You could opt to buy an Airnode. Our entry-level Airnodes will be priced in a similar bracket to popular consumer tech products and will provide owners the opportunity to connect their community, or unconnected communities around the world. This is where Airnode hosts come in. An Airnode owner can choose to host an Airnode at their location or they can allow us to connect them to a host in a different part of the world. The host takes on responsibility for operating and maintaining the Airnode on the ground. Both owners and hosts earn a share of the revenue when mobile users connect to their Airnodes.
It doesn’t stop there though. Our recently launched Android application allows users to actively contribute to network expansion, through a feature currently called ‘scan for points.’ This feature allows users to utilize their smartphone radios to help identify connectivity weak spots and potential Airnode locations, rewarding them with points that can be redeemed in the app’s marketplace.
BCN: According to reports, you have completed field tests in several countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique, and Pakistan. Scalability often becomes an issue when onboarding millions of users. Can you tell our readers how you solve scalability to provide affordable and reliable internet access to both rural and underserved areas worldwide?
MW: Scalability might be a challenge for a centralized mobile network operator, which takes on responsibility for the deployment and operation of infrastructure, but scalability is a built-in feature of the World Mobile Network.
Our unique infrastructure model and blockchain-powered sharing economy provide the foundations needed to support and incentivize the rapid rollout of distributed infrastructure wherever demand might be.
What are your thoughts about this interview? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Blockchain-Powered Game WonderHero Sees Average Player Incomes Reach $1,215 Within Weeks Of Launch
As the most recent advancement in the gaming industry, the concept of play-to-earn (P2E) gaming has garnered mainstream popularity, especially as gamers seek new income opportunities during the pandemic. Through P2E, individuals can generate passive returns while playing certain games. The concept has become so popular that scattered cases have emerged worldwide whereby players earn more than their ordinary salaries, leading to an unprecedented rise in the number of P2E games and players alike.
Among the flood of play-to-earn games, WonderHero, a recently launched P2E Mobile RPG, has turned out to be a highly profitable game for early adopters. Within just three weeks of unveiling, WonderHero players are already earning as much as ,215 on a rolling basis since inception – exceeding the minimum salary in the United States.
In this blockchain-powered game, players can earn rare non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and then sell or trade them on a P2P NFT marketplace. Built by a team of professionals with leadership experience across some of the most prominent crypto exchanges, WonderHero maintains a balanced ecosystem where every participant gets access to income opportunities while having fun at the same time.
A Promising Revenue Source For Gaming Enthusiasts
Considering the ongoing bear market in cryptocurrencies, WonderHero offering an income opportunity averaging 1,215 USDT to its community is a clear indication that P2E gaming is set to become even more attractive over the near future.
This substantial income results from WonderHero’s ecosystem, which uses the combination of the platform’s native $WND and $HON tokens alongside NFTs. On average, each player earned a combined $WND and $HON token income of around 3.27 USDT. At the same time, the average NFT in every player’s account currently has an estimated value of 1,150 USDT.
Extremely popular across Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand, the United States, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan, WonderHero includes a built-in NFT marketplace as well as an ‘Earn’ section with dedicated DeFi (decentralized finance) tools. Powered by the $WND token, the WonderHero ecosystem enables players to complete battles and win in-game tokens and NFT drops. Since all in-game assets are tokenized as NFTs, players can trade them freely on the marketplace.
Within mere three weeks since its public release, WonderHero players have successfully generated over 200% ROI. Owing to the combination of unique gameplay and rewards, the platform has already amassed more than 11,000 daily active players, collectively recording a total of over 1.4 million battles played.
Based on the total user activity on the platform, the battles have generated over 22.2 million $HON tokens and 129,000 $WND for players. Meanwhile, the average NFT sale has yielded almost 51 USDT, leading to a combined NFT trading volume of .9 million USDT, further underlining the growing popularity of P2E games and this specific ecosystem.
According to the WonderHero team, the demand for weapons and hero skin NFTs is at an all-time high. To date, the most valuable weapon NFT was traded for 2,000 USDT, and the most expensive hero skin NFT bagged 1,999 USDT. On the other hand, equipment NFTs are moderately popular, and the highest sale price for equipment NFT is currently 400 USDT.
In addition to the in-game assets, WonderHero’s ‘Guilds’ feature and the player versus player (PvP) Arena are two of the most hyped additions designed to help drive the platform’s growth much higher. WonderHero is backed by a consortium of industry heavyweights, having already raised .845 million from several successful fundraising rounds ahead of its January launch.
Blockchain-Powered Food Marketplace, Bistroo, Adds More Crypto Payment Options
Bistroo, a blockchain-powered takeaway startup, has announced the addition of more crypto payment options, according to a press release on October 28th. This peer-to-peer food ecosystem will now allow merchants to accept payments in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
The additional payment options extend Bistroo’s footprint in the crypto ecosystem, given that the platform was already supporting payments through its native token BIST and fiat currencies. Bistroo is also the pioneer P2P food takeaway platform to embrace crypto payment options and blockchain infrastructure.
The project raised million back in May 2021 and has been working on expanding its crypto payment options. As such, Bistroo is currently collaborating with crypto payments service provider Coinpayments, which allows customers globally to pay over 100,000 merchants through the BIST token.
With other major cryptocurrencies joining the list, Bistroo is optimistic about cementing crypto adoption in the food takeaway business. This decentralized platform only acts as a facilitator by creating an ecosystem where restaurants and customers can interact directly instead of going through an intermediary.
The firm’s Co-Founder and CEO Bas Roos commented on the latest milestone, with an emphasis on the paradigm shift from centralized marketplaces into protocol economies,
“Bistroo is on a mission to set ourselves up on the global stage with our unique business model. The future is moving towards a protocol economy where parties can directly interact with each other, and Bistroo is taking the first steps in that direction, offering a better value proposition for the food ordering platform market.
“Enabling our users to transact in crypto is an integral part of that journey,” added Roos.
The announcement also notes that Bistroo will give merchants and customers who use crypto payments a grace period on commission fees. In doing so, Bistroo hopes to incentivize more adoption by restaurants and customers looking to shop or get reviews from food takeaway platforms.
Notably, Bistroo charges a significantly lower commission fee than its traditional competitors; while the former charges 5%, fees on third-party food ecosystems can go as high as 15%. Even better, Bistroo gives autonomy back to restaurant owners, enabling them to customize their menus, access liquidity and offer customer incentives through the BIST token.
So far, the platform has assisted restaurants in extending their services to about 25,000 customers while processing over .3 million in transactions, according to the live tracker on its website. Going into the future, Bistroo’s goal is to become the leading PaaS e-commerce technology, supporting food shops
Meet Ojamu – A Blockchain-Powered Platform Helping Brands Optimize Their Digital Marketing
With more than 4.66 billion active Internet users, much of the world’s adult population is connected digitally. The Internet and social media allow brands to engage with their target audiences on a personalized and deeper level than ever before.
At the same time, brands are fighting a war for consumer attention. Most of them struggle to boost their ROI on digital marketing efforts due to inefficiency, lack of intelligent tools, and real-time consumer data.
Leveraging AI and blockchain for digital marketing
Brands need the best tools to optimize their marketing strategies and consistently run successful campaigns.
That’s what Ojamu, a Singapore-based marketing technology company, accomplishes using AI and blockchain. It eliminates wasteful spending on unnecessary and low-ROI marketing campaigns as well as third-party intermediaries.
Blockchain is a decentralized, digital ledger that stores records of transactions on peer-to-peer networks.
Access to consumer data is not the only challenge for brands. Success hinges on your ability to analyze data at scale and predict the most suitable marketing strategies. Brands leveraging AI and blockchain could potentially outperform their human-reliant rivals in execution, speed, accuracy, and the success of the marketing campaigns.
Ojamu uses non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to give brands access to its AI tools and an industry’s key data points. Brands also get access to massive amounts of cross-correlating data points to unearth previously unknown insights that could benefit the digital marketing campaigns.
Its Polkadot-based Intelligent Platform analyses and cross-correlates hundreds of millions of unique data points in the target industries.
The platform’s Neural Predictive Engine uses AI and machine learning algorithms to automate and recommend the most effective digital marketing campaigns for brands, products, and services.
It dramatically increases the success rate of digital marketing campaigns, irrespective of your industry vertical. It gives brands a simple and easy-to-follow roadmap to act upon.
Decentralized data storage
Valuable as it is, consumer data is vulnerable to frauds, mismanagement, and privacy leaks due to poor security. Data mismanagement and leaks erode your brand power, increase inefficiency, and diminish customers’ trust.
Data security is paramount for brands as well as users. With Ojamu, decentralized storage platforms fragment users’ data and distribute them across multiple nodes on the network to ensure data safety. There is no single point of failure.
Conclusion
Brands strive for higher ROI, speed, and efficiency when running digital marketing campaigns. Ojamu helps them by eliminating inefficiencies, keeping vital data secure, predicting the most effective strategies, and increasing the speed and accuracy of the campaigns.
Malta Announces First Blockchain-Powered Government Agency
The post Malta Announces First Blockchain-Powered Government Agency appeared first on DCEBrief.
Block.One Pays $30M for New Blockchain-Powered Social Media Platforms Domain Name
n Eos developer Block.one has paid million in cash to purchase the voice.com domain name for its new blockchain-based social media, called Voicen
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Icelands Financial Regulator Approves Blockchain-Powered E-Money Firm
n Financial Supervisory Authority, the single financial regulator in Iceland, has approved the first DLT-based electronic money firm Moneriumn
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