n Meet the 21 year-old entrepreneur who is trying to sell his failed ICO project on eBay for ,000. He says that bad actors failed the scenen
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New York-Based Entrepreneur Charged With Fraudulent Cryptocurrency Scheme
n The U.S. Department of Justice has charged a New York citizen with the development of an allegedly fraudulent cryptocurrency and marketing it to investorsn
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Coinbase CEO First Crypto Entrepreneur to Join Buffet-Founded Billionaire Charity Pledge
n Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong becomes the first crypto entrepreneur to join billionaire-backed charity program The Giving Pledge founded by Warren Buffet and Bill Gatesn
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Crypto Entrepreneur Gains Kevin O’Leary’s Approval, Scores $100k Investment
Betting on an impending crypto bull run, a number of prominent investors have recently thrown mounds of capital at promising cryptocurrency and blockchain startups. Canada’s very-own Kevin O’Leary, once a controversial prime minister candidate, has jumped on the bandwagon, investing a large sum of fiat in up and coming crypto application.
Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary Invests In Crypto Startup
Months ago, per reports from NewsBTC, Kevin O’Leary, a well-known Canadian business pundit and television personality, told CNBC’s Fast Money that Ethereum was poised to overtake Bitcoin. He explained that Bitcoin isn’t the “definitive [blockchain] platform anymore,” adding that Ethereum is becoming the chain of choice for many traders and startups alike. While his comments were intriguing, at the time, it wasn’t clear if O’Leary was actively invested in this space.
Now, according to CNBC, O’Leary has made his first public foray into the cryptosphere, dropping 0,000 on a mobile application that is integrally rooted in crypto assets.
This application, dubbed Bundil, was unveiled on Sunday’s episode of Shark Tank, which is a popular reality television program that involves entrepreneurs, promising products/solutions, and a panel of blood-thirsty, money-loving investors.
Bundil, which is the creation of Dmitri Love, was pitched as a way for consumers to convert their spare change into crypto holdings. More specifically, when a Bundil user issues a credit and debit card purchase, the service will round the payment to the nearest dollar, investing the change in certain cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.
While this product isn’t the first of its kind, Love walked into the Tank with visions of grandeur, originally asking for 0,000 in exchange for a 10 percent stake in Bundil.
At first, following his pitch, Love’s prospects looked bleak, as a majority of the potential angel investors were quick to express their noninterest, subsequently closing their blood-stained jaws, so to speak. Bitcoin-friendly Mark Cuban, for one, explained that he was already invested in a company offering a similar solution, while Daymond John and Lori Greiner weren’t too fond of cryptocurrency in general.
However, O’Leary, who is a “Shark” himself, showed some semblance of interest in Bundil, even though he noted that many mobile applications are quick to bite the dust. Eventually, after some deliberation, the Canadian multi-millionaire, sarcastically dubbed “Mr.Wonderful” due to his abrasive attitude in the business world, revealed that he would try to strike a deal with Love.
But, in classic O’Leary style, the deal was arguably one-sided, as Mr.Wonderful was seeking 50 percent of the startup in exchange for the aforementioned sum. With a sigh and an offhanded comment, the lucky (or not-so-lucky) investee hesitantly accepted the deal, marking O’Leary first public investment in a crypto-centric firm.
It isn’t clear what the Canadian business buff is planning next, but many are hoping that he will continue to involve himself with the cryptocurrency world.
Boost VC Now Backs 100 Crypto Startups
O’Leary hasn’t been the only one ramping up his/her investment in the cryptocurrency industry. Adam Draper’s Boost VC, a San Mateo-based crypto- and virtual reality-centric venture group, recently backed its 100th crypto startup, finally completing a promise that was made four years ago.
In early-2014, co-founders Adam Draper and Brayton Williams pledged that Boost VC would allocate capital to 100 crypto startups by 2017. While the two made this guarantee in goodwill, this time-sensitive goal was sadly left unfulfilled as the ball dropped in New York on January 1st, 2018.
But, speaking to CoinDesk, Adam Draper, the son of Bitcoin bull Tim Draper, claimed that his venture fund has now made over 100 cryptocurrency-related investments into startups such as Coinbase, Ledger, Bitrefill, and Abra.
While this milestone is something to be envied, Draper claimed that Boost VC’s goal to “build the open financial system of the world” is far from complete, adding that his company will be “writing more checks” to startups that show promise.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
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Being a Minority in the Crypto Space is Not Holding This Entrepreneur Back
When you think of someone in a position of power or prestige, many have a prejudged idea of what that person may look like. For one woman in the crypto space, who considers herself in a minority, she’s attempting to change this.
Making the Complexity of Finance More Efficient
Natasha Bansgopaul, is a black female entrepreneur in the fintech space. She’s also the co-founder of DarcMatter, a fintech platform for alternative investments that’s been in operation for over three years. The aim of the company is to connect fund managers raising capital with investors worldwide to hedge funds, private equity, and venture capital funds.
Speaking to NewsBTC, Bansgopaul said that the platform essentially replaces traditional pen and paper and back end processes required for the investment subscription process, with efficient digital solutions.
“While there has been much development, many tasks in the alternative fund space are still considered manual and require the participation of numerous intermediaries and service providers to provide the compliance, security and transparency necessary for investors to connect with non-public alternative fund opportunities,” she added.
Sang Lee, a grad school friend and classmate of Bansgopaul’s, is also a co-founder of DarcMatter. The name, according to Bansgopaul, refers to the actual dark matter – of which there is approximately 85 per cent – in the universe. While this dark matter may be hard to understand, she notes, it also serves a universal purpose.
“Financial services is very much like dark matter, in the sense that it is very large, complex, and a difficult to understand ecosystem, yet crucially important to the world daily,” she said. “DarcMatter, the platform, was built to essentially be a force of it’s own within fintech, where we are using fintech to make the complexities of the market significantly more efficient.”
For an industry that has been ripe with fraud and opacity since its inception, Bansgopaul notes, the blockchain has the capability to deliver transparency and security. To be transparent, the blockchain was always on DarcMatter’s product roadmap; however, it wasn’t pegged for the 2017/2018 one, but for 2020 and beyond.
Due to the excitement and interest circulating around the technology on a global scale the team decided to move ahead with the development of blockchain solutions for the platform.
“What’s fascinating about the crypto and blockchain space, personally, is that it provides a universal mechanism for wealth creation/generation in pockets of the world that have significant economic issues, hindering participation from a large subset of the population,” she said.
Even though the technology is still in its infancy it provides people the opportunity to become active participants within the space. On the same point, she highlights the fact that the general idea of currency without geographic cross-border restrictions will also have a positive long-term impact.
In a Minority
Focused on building the business and expanding its global operations, Bansgopaul explained that she does feel as though she’s in a minority.
“Honestly, as a black woman, a founder in financial technology, with global operations, I am pretty much always in the minority.”
Yet, while she feels this way, she also finds the blockchain and crypto space refreshing. This is because she thinks “more women are getting involved at the ground level,” giving positive hope for women’s participation in the future. More than ever before, women are stepping up and being more vocal about their role in this space, and what they hope to achieve, Bansgopaul states.
“In some of the women in crypto and “women of color in blockchain” telegram channels that I am in, it is clear to me that the women in this space are active thought leaders, who are working on some really great projects,” she added.
Featured image from Natasha.
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Entrepreneur Uses $67 Million Life Savings to Acquire a Cryptocurrency Exchange
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Eric Cheng, a Singaporean entrepreneur, spent all of his life savings and sold his properties including two Rolls Royces, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and a Porsche to acquire a 100 percent stake in a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange called BitTrade.
Why Cheng was Willing to Take the Risk
Less than a week ago, Bithumb, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a security breach, losing more than million in customer funds stored in digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Bithumb team officially disclosed that the company will fully compensate its clients with company funds stored in cryptocurrencies, which as of June 2018, are worth 0 million.
“Bithumb has been administering company’s asset and customers’ asset, and all customers’ cryptocurrencies as well as KRW asset are safely stored on cold wallets and banks respectively. Moreover, we would like to ensure that Bithumb currently has about 500 billion KRW worth of company funds,” said the Bithumb team.
However, for small cryptocurrency exchanges, it is difficult to cover losses occurred in hacking attacks, especially if the amount hacked is larger than the company’s existing capital. For instance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Japan known as Coincheck lost 0 million worth of NEM in a recent hacking attack and the failure to pay back investors led to the exchange declaring bankruptcy.
Hence, there are risks of acquiring a cryptocurrency exchange, despite its high profit margins, as highly experienced and talented developers, security experts, and IT specialists are needed to oversee the exchange. Even Coincheck, formerly the biggest exchange in Japan, admitted that its hack was resulted by the company’s lack of security experts.
Cheng, who spent all of his life savings worth million and then some to acquire BitTrade said he does not regret taking the risk and is satisfied with his acquisition.
“The cryptocurrency industry is growing exponentially. Against this backdrop, the key to capturing the rising demand is having a well-regulated and licensed outfit. With this Japanese FSA-licensed platform, I will work closely with the regulators to scale this platform globally,” Cheng said.
It is likely that Cheng aggressively pushed his plans to purchase BitTrade because of the regulatory state of the exchange. BitTrade remains as one of the dozen cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan that are licensed and approved by the Financial Services Agency (FSA), and the process of being approved by the government agency to operate as a digital asset exchange is expensive and difficult.
Accumulation Period
The cryptocurrency market has entered a bear cycle amidst a 70 percent correction. Major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum that have been less volatile against reserve currencies like the US dollar and euro in comparison to small cryptocurrencies have fallen 65 percent from their all-time high.
Still, entrepreneurs like Cheng and investors in the public market are willing to take risks and express interest towards the cryptocurrency market. This week, Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert, who is involved in some of the biggest cryptocurrency businesses in the industry including Coinbase and Blockchain, has said that Grayscale, the investment arm of DCG, had the best fundraising week in 2018, raising more than million in a single week.
The post Entrepreneur Uses Million Life Savings to Acquire a Cryptocurrency Exchange appeared first on NewsBTC.
Legendary Entrepreneur Keith Teare is Coming Onboard as Crypterium Project Advisor
Crypterium just gained the support of a very important ally: Keith Teare, a seasoned digital veteran of international renown, just announced his decision to lend the project his expertise. Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article. Hailing from the UK, Keith has earned his reputation as a co-founder of TechCrunch and a founder and leading figure in over a dozen successful Silicon Valley and international projects, including Accelerated Digital Ventures, Archimedes Labs, Minds and Machines Inc., MedCo, EasyNet, and RealNames, to name just a few. Two of his companies – EasyNet and RealNames – became “Unicorns” – companies valued at over
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Russian Entrepreneur Files Patents for Bitcoin and Ethereum Vodka Products
A lot of people around the world have become familiar with Bitcoin and Ethereum. Although not everyone can properly explain either concept, the demand is certainly there. One Russian entrepreneur is trying to ride the coattails of this success through a new vodka brand. More specifically, Dmitry Troitsky wants to file for trademark patents for … Continue reading Russian Entrepreneur Files Patents for Bitcoin and Ethereum Vodka Products
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Russian Entrepreneur Registers Bitcoin, Ethereum Patents For Vodka
n Russian vodka soon to come in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ethereum Classic flavors.n
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Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and Author Max Zaslavsky Announces the Initial Membership Offering (IMO) to Join the Diamond Reserve Club with Tokenized Membership. The Diamond Reserve Coin (DRC) Is Born
Entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author* Max Zaslavsky and his team of software engineers, legal specialists, and fellow blockchain technology enthusiasts are happy to announce the creation of the Diamond Reserve Club with tokenized membership and the Diamond Reserve Coin (DRC). The first stage of presenting the Club and the DRC token to the public is the … Continue reading Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and Author Max Zaslavsky Announces the Initial Membership Offering (IMO) to Join the Diamond Reserve Club with Tokenized Membership. The Diamond Reserve Coin (DRC) Is Born
The post Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and Author Max Zaslavsky Announces the Initial Membership Offering (IMO) to Join the Diamond Reserve Club with Tokenized Membership. The Diamond Reserve Coin (DRC) Is Born appeared first on NEWSBTC.