Congressional democrats have sent a letter of concern to Facebook about their planned cryptocurrency project ‘Libra’ and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee intends to hold hearings. More to come.

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ICO Investment Advice from Jonah Blake who is the Founder and Managing Member of NewCurr and he is the original creator of the Proof of Information protocol and Tiered Ranking model for blockchain designs. He brings extensive experience and hands-on development from his work in patent development. Listen in to his off the cuff thoughts on ICO’s. Check out more videos and news at CBNN.io

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Video Games…and Cryptocurrency? An Analysis

If you’re like me, a complete video game nerd to the core, you probably had an advantage fundamentally understanding cryptocurrency when it was first widely introduced. For years, gaming studios and publishers all over the world were introducing their own in game digital currency, which could only be bought by trading in your fiat. Does that sound familiar? You could then use the currency in-game, whether it be for costumes or slight opponent advantage.

Then came the loot boxes, a much more randomized system where a player will purchase in-game currency → buy a loot box with random items → pray they landed a much more expensive item for half the price. I will leave the issues with loot boxes to regulators, since many state it greatly resembles gambling.

This in-game currency system for opponent advantage or social status has become the core business model for publishers, rather than the actual game itself.

Let’s use the crazy popular last man standing game “Fortnite” as an example. They use a free to play model. In this model, the game itself is completely free to download and enter. However, if you want the premium content and offers, get ready to shell out $5 minimum. For even better content, expect to be spending monthly. This goes against the old models for revenue, where you payed $60 for the complete game and that was it. At face value, it may seem like the publisher is sacrificing revenue to generate player activity, but that is not the case. “Fortnite now has 45 million players and over 3 million concurrent users” [1] Lets break this down.

Forget the 45 million players, because games only incur revenue with active play. Now, lets assume only 1.6 million concurrent players out of 3 million purchase V-Bucks (their in game currency)

1 million players spend $10 dollars a year in V-Bucks = $10,000,000.00

500,000 players spend $15 dollars a year in V-Bucks = $7,500,000.00

100,000 players spend $30 dollars a year in V-Bucks = $3,000,000.00

That’s $20,500,000.00 in yearly revenue from ONLY HALF their free to play user base of concurrent players. The other half of purely free users can bring in revenue from word of mouth and streaming on platforms such as Twitch. We can probably assume this is a low ball estimate in revenue. Please note that these are speculative numbers and the dollars spent per player is not open data; but the numbers I’ve chosen are reasonable for a typical gamer.

This is much more profitable then the $60 per game model. Free players may think they are playing at a discount, but many are spending far more at the end of the year! If you spend $10 a month (which players tend to do) on in game (rather than $60) than you can expect to pay double for the same game.

So, how does this relate to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology? There are many cryptocurrency organizations and business that want to evolve into game money and further into full cryptocurrency with trading capabilities that are reflective of popular videogames.

I think it is important for us to consider an analysis to determine if this is a needed technology for videogames, or if its obstructive to the already thriving entertainment. Here I will present an analysis whether cryptocurrency has value when it is deployed for a videogame? How would it effect the game product.

My Analysis…

Gameplay:

Crypto and blockchain capabilities won’t inherently affect the actual gameplay of a videogame. Blockchain capabilities spread as far as distributed management and recognition, neither of which are needed for the immediate entertainment experience. Art, CGI, developers and talented individuals in design ETC are the primary providers of the experience, as it should be.

The possibilities for the alteration of gameplay is if the token price reflects better items in-game that change the dynamic of the entertainment.

Let’s use a Player 1 Vs. Player 2 duel as an example.

Player 1 enters the game with the item being bought and exclusive to token A

Player 2 enters the game with the item being bought and exclusive to token B

If token A is worth more on the market than token B, then the items from token A might be completely superior. Therefore, player 1 will win automatically.

This could be a huge problem. Because if player 1 wins based on equity in the market, and not gaming skill, the entire game is corrupted. Game players will not tolerate this reality.

If the game is corrupted it will lose value immediately with the general player base. It will be a game driven by traders only.

In-Game Story:

Much like the gameplay of a videogame, the story should not be hindered by a blockchain or a cryptocurrency. There are many startups in the crypto space that want to create videogames with activity that is driven by mining. “While we won’t get hands-on time with AllMine until GDC 2018 next week, the teaser trailer clearly shows it’s just another Candy Crush clone. And Candy Crush is a clone of Bejeweled, which is derived from earlier games like Tetris and Dr. Mario. In fact, there are countless match-3 puzzle games.” [2]

I personally have not developed an opinion on the “All Mine” game and concept. Until this game is widely played or gains awareness from the community, we won’t know what affect it may have on gaming or on blockchain. I will state that this game is not story related and these are typically design driven puzzle games. This should be ok for mining potential.

The issue I present for questionable narrative in videogames comes from a moment where we may go to far. What happens when mining through gaming is so popular, that triple A titles like Halo, for example, start having mining sequences in between storytelling.

Something along those lines can completely destroy the art and talent that created it and pull the gamer completely out of the narrative.

Would you stop in between a Martin Scorsese movie to mine crypto?

Cost Of Trade and In Game Items:

In every economy, digital or physical, there is always a secondary black market economy in action. The same applies for videogames and in-game items. “ More recently, Bloomberg published a report in which they explored how Counter-Strike skin betting essentially allows teens to gamble (which is illegal) and estimated that the secondary market moved $2.3 billion in 2015 alone. It is, to borrow a term from the seminal early ’90s Disney cartoon Bonkers, bonkers.”[3]

Why does this happen? In short the answer is fixed trading. Every videogame garners a community of people chatting about it. In almost every case of a major competitive videogame (with items or rank-ups) you will find players cheating the system. With trading, they do this by placing online team bets, where players can wager their items in competition. It becomes insider trading when the losing team only loses because of a private deal before the match. A rigged match means rigged profits.

This black market is only intensified by crypto, because in this game you aren’t only playing for items, but for crypto that can be traded for real cash. This could cause real world volatility!

That’s a serious problem for video cryptocurrency. Until a solution is met, this is the biggest issue for gaming companies investing into crypto tech.

Verdict: Gaming at this point does not need cryptocurrency as a means for in-game purchase. There are many boxes to check off before taking that route, specifically insider trading within videogames.

Possible Solution: In-game currency should be tokenized only for the purpose of insuring purchase validation on a blockchain. It can also be used to insure account verification and trust on large game markets. EX:Steam accounts purchasing or downloading.

[1]https://www.pcgamesn.com/fortnite/fortnite-vs-pubg-map-players-graphics-gameplay-weapons-review

[2]https://cryptobriefing.com/video-games-mining-cryptocurrency/

[3]https://steamed.kotaku.com/why-people-are-flipping-out-over-the-counter-strike-gam-1783369102

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Inflation VS. Deflation: The World Stage For Crypto Buyers

For those placing their hard earned cash into potential and risky investments across the new cryptocurrency exchange market, there is a wide birth of businesses that are creating networks with an even wider variety of token supply or infinite token supply. It can be exhausting and nearly impossible to sift through hundreds of potentially captivating and groundbreaking decentralized projects. Before engaging with the prospect of purchasing into a new crypto or crypto-related business, it is important to understand that a majority of these have crypto allocations that can have significant long term problems. These cryptocurrencies, and practically all digital currency DO NOT HAVE THE SAME ECONOMIC OR FINANCIAL MODELS OF FIAT CURRENCY. WE SHOULD ALSO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THESE TOKENS ARE NOT NATIVE CURRENCY OF A NATION STATE, SO THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY BACKED BY SUBSTANTIAL ENTITIES.

Typically speaking, businesses with an unlimited token supply are subject to multiple examples of inflation. One of the biggest issues with inflation, which is similar to issues with fiat currency, is that it can potentially devalue the existing supply. This in effect may devalue a current members’ economic status on the crypto market, or render them incapable of future purchases. This is a negative since the constant ability to buy and sell can lead to economic growth.

Inflation within an unlimited token cap also makes it difficult for a potential buyer to estimate the risks of a cryptocurrency investment. In cases where a token has an unlimited cap, fluctuations in price occur and tend to be violent compared to those with a limited supply.

While fiat currency and unlimited token supply share some of the same problems relating to inflation, there is reason to suggest that unlimited token supply is potentially more disruptive because of its distribution capabilities.

Fiat Currency can be duplicated as much as a Government may need. However, the rate of distributing this new supply is much slower than their unlimited token counterparts. Because fiat exists as paper in the open real life market, it could take months for the currency to exchange hands and filter through an economy, which can create stabilization.

In cryptocurrency settings, a new supply can be distributed to thousands of wallets instantly.

Slow inflation has some stability in the physical markets, but rapid inflation on the level of cryptocurrency is simply not sustainable if created by developers that care more about their technology than economic well-being on a global scale.

If a blockchian developer releases a new token or coin supply over a period of time, it could potentially have resemblance to fiat currency.

This is not something we should strive for, since day trading in cryptocurrency is valued against the fiat markets. Trying to emulate fiat currency will only infect cryptocurrency trading and the multiple exchanges it resides on.

The Nation State And Cryptocurrency Organizations

Inflation is just one economic model that CURRENTLY does not work for cryptocurrency markets. It is important to point out that this article does not factor in more complicated payments such as loans. We are not including this because cryptocurrency has not reached that level of complexity yet. When it does, the models for token supply may change. 

The biggest concern for Decentralized Organizations and the unlimited token supply that exists come from Nation State laws.

The protocols that exist on a blockchain network, as well as how a “Miner” is compensated has strong similarity to a monetary policy.

Countries have their own monetary policy for their native fiat currency, and a majority don’t completely approve of borderless policy because it infringes on a countries particular economic interest or domestic markets. Beyond that, countries must meet their own type of consensus. If a country must meet their own structured financial consensus AND the consensus of a borderless currency, then there is a good chance of diplomatic confusion.

A good example is the Euro.

However, the opposing argument might be that a blockchain protocol could make amendments in accordance with a more unified borderless currency, something many nations could agree on for better economic flow.

It is important to understand that unlimited token/coin supply is very new technologically compared to fiat currency.

That is not to say that unlimited token supply and managed inflation is not viable, but at this early stage, limited token supply has less volatility in a market that is still learning.

Pallas Coin Distribution

NewCurr’s Reasoning On Its Own Network

We want to explain why we personally chose a limited coin supply, rather than an infinite supply.

Our blockchain, and its proof of information protocol, is being built on the basis that we handle the content of information as a primary objective, not as a product of a currency. Therefore, it is logical to limit the coins for this concept, because future members/node rewards are derived from their commitment to valid information and its applications on the network. We believe information, and its transparency, has a larger value within the ecosystem. This works effectively in our network because altruistic behaviors, whether made in good faith or for monetary gain, increases each coin and its value.

We also believe that our coin can work more efficiently in this system as an access token/membership value. This goes beyond the idea of cryptocurrency resembling fiat, because you’re not purchasing a Pallas Coin just for potentially gaining future value, but to access the membership of multiple decentralized applications in partnership with us. It can also be used as an access key for our future search engine. This engine manifests from the circulation of information that was created by our architects and members. AND all of this data must being transparent, accessible, and consent structured. Pallas Coin or Token is simply the facilitator for this process.

In short, a limited coin supply is the best measure at NewCurr because we’re utilizing cryptocurrency as a unit of accessibility, NOT as general currency. In the future, financial speculation from outside viewers may not just arrive from our limited coin supply and amount of traffic, but from the actual products and services we distribute that attain real world value.

The intention of this article is to invoke thought about the economic models currently in play within blockchain networks.

We do not rule out unlimited token supply as a future economic model. For now, in this stage of this new technology, limited token supply is a much safer buy because its value hinges on the products and services that are offered.

The NewCurr Team

Follow us on Twitter @NewCurr

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We have come to a point in history where the human engine of creativity is merging with accelerated distributed networking systems, such as those in blockchain technology. Much like the art movements in Dada and Fluxus, when the world began to make a change, humanities response came through artistic expression. First this expression was in the classical artistic sense, with paintings embracing and cultivating the deepest corners of the mind. Now we have digital art, where reflection breezes past deep expression and into infinite accessibility on the internet. The explosive growth of digital art and 2-way communication in digital media gave rise to typologies of “electronic art”. This is not to be confused with digital art. I want to emphasize that “Often interactive and participatory, electronic art incorporates electronic components in the production or display of a work.”[1]

I’d like to present the idea that blockchain technology should be considered as a sub-genre of electronic art as a medium. I believe blockchains with the ability to overlay electronic information with physical entities is just starting to be understood. Cryptocurrency (as its first application use case) has proven its validity as a form of electronic art. I believe blockchain has the capability of melding classical art with digital. Classical art, such as paintings, are enhanced with electronic augmentation, but remain in physical space without duplication. I assume we could call this type of concept Recognition Art.

There are many bright minds in the technological space that are currently working on purely digital means of this application for recognition art. Many of these talented individuals collectively convene over digital spaces such as Github to discuss and implement these variations of “Tokens”. One variation of a Token is known as the “ERC 721” standard. In this instance “ERC-721 is a free, open standard that describes how to build non-fungible or unique tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. While most tokens are fungible (every token is the same as every other token), ERC-721 tokens are all unique. Think of them like rare, one-of-a-kind collectables.”[2] If this token is exercised on a distributed network (which it is with Ethereum app CryptoKitties) then there is straightforward evidence for a blockchain being classified as electronic art. The ability for an electronic token, with individual properties, to reflect independent value over another digit entity to signify its “rareness”, will reshape the internet in its totality. The ERC-721 system eliminated digital reproducibility, which is relevent when we disseminate intellectual property in physical or digital spaces.

Walter Benjamin, a renown German Philosopher, touches upon critical concepts of reproducibility. This was years before any blockchain or cryptocurrency or token was a speck of thought, but his messages hold true within the test of time. In his book “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility” he touches upon art as always having factors of reproducibility, even before the written word evolved through the Gutenberg printing press. He also explains how technology has increased our evolutionary speed and our ability of reproduction. Within his writing, I was struck by a statement he made because of its relevancy to how blockchain is truly revolutionary. He states “In even the most perfect reproduction, one thing is lacking: the here and now of the work of art-its unique existence in a particular place. It is this unique existence-and nothing else-that bears the mark of the history to which the work has been subject. This history includes changes to the physical structure of the work over time, together with any changes in ownership. Traces of the former can be detected only by chemical or physical analyses (which cannot be performed on a reproduction), while changes of ownership are part of a tradition which can be traced only from the standpoint of the original in its present location.”[3] I believe many of his points about reproducibility still hold true today. However, there is potential for blockchain to attain perfect reproducibility of classical artwork, while also allowing the ability to produce recognition to the original and individual form. We can and must learn from scholars within digital media and art, like Benjamin, so we can augment properties of a distributed network. This thinking will allow for true innovation of distributed systems beyond the economic abilities of a borderless currency.

While our societies thirst for cyber discovery will propel us into a future we cannot yet predict, I personally hope it is a positive future. We must always take these discoveries and make them applicable to physical entities. Blockchain and its ability to perform recognition art as a subgenre of electronic art does just that.

I personally believe we could use tokens, such as the ERC 721 standard, as a store of value for the recognition of physical classical art. We can create a unique unit of value token on a blockchain that correlates to original art pieces circulating privately or at art exhibitions. Because the ERC 721 standard has an indexical relationship to “Rareness”, then the concept can be transferred onto a system where the unit of value correlates to a physical piece of art, as well as its value in the natural marketplace. “More than 50,000 pieces of artwork are stolen each year around the world, and the black market for stolen art is valued at between $6 billion and $8 billion annually.”[4] Theft is a problem that may never be fixed, since it is an issue beyond technology. There are ways to limit the amount of theft. Using a blockchain distributed ledger system, accommodated by a standard such as ERC 721, there is serious potential to attach Recognition through distributed systems to stolen art pieces. Individuals, museums or galleries that had art stolen from them will still have their token, which is a representation that the art cannot be reproduced and signifies its ownership. The token is very valuable, because in this scneario, a thief on the black market cannot sell the painting without the token. A token being deployed on a blockchain cannot be duplicated with limited supply. It would be nearly impossible for the thief to forge a false token or coin.

In such a situation, if a thief were to steal a physical art work, they would also have to infiltrate a person’s electronic wallet, which takes much more skill and is increasingly difficult. This is just one of many examples of how blockchain works as electronic art, or at least supports electronic art with recognition capabilities.

Jonah Blake

[1] Digital Art and its Relatives: Understanding the Typologies

[2] http://erc721.org/

[3] THE WORK OF ART: SECOND VERSION

[4] https://economiststalkart.org/2016/05/31/why-are-there-so-many-art-thefts-and-what-can-be-done-about-them/

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Can We Save Students With A Blockchain? A Series Approach

We’re very happy to announce our first rollout partnership with DebtMet, a company geared towards helping students pay off their student debt. When we engage with potential partners for our blockchain developments, the verification and approval process is important. When we are presented with any app partner, we immediately need to make what we call a “Series 1 determination”. This means does this app meet our standards for a good service, without a blockchain being considered. Here are some sample questions we ask ourselves from our series 1 process and which we will use as a basis for consideration in the future:

· Is this something that can scale? If yes, how?

· Is there a market need? excluding the trivial

· Is there a basis for an accessible UI? If yes, is this UI typical or experimental?

· Does this neglect significant demographics? If yes, does that harm the service?

· Is there an international need? or a domestic need? Does that create cause and effect?

· What kind of front end and back end code is needed? Is it attainable?

· Is there room for some form of community engagement?

· Marketing Vs. Product? If marketing outways product, then the business is not viable in the short run.

· Long term gains? Socially and fiscally.

AND MOST IMPORTANT

· Is this app economically and financially responsible?

These are just a few questions we ask when we do a first take on a new product, service, or partnership. When advising entrepreneur’s we suggest you ask yourselves the questions above when considering a startup,

ESPECIALLY BLOCKCHAIN BUSINESSES.

With with the DebtMet team, we decided they did pass this series one determination, but it didn’t end there. For us to proceed with a serious partnership, the business or organization in question must then pass “Series 2 determination”. Series 2 internally refers to blockchain implementation. We need to not only ask ourselves if an app is worth it, but if it even requires the need for a blockchain. Here are some sample questions we asked ourselves.

· Does this app need our particular or a blockchain at all? If yes, why?

· Will a blockchain accelerate this particular app’s functions? Which ones? does that make the app better?

· Is the app inherently decentralized? If not, then could it be?

· Would their customers need a blockchain?

· Is this app generating real data, meaning not trivial?

· Is the company creating this app transparent from a corporate standpoint?

· Can this app include architects, and add monetary benefit for our freelance workers?

· Does this add to the complexity of their application? does that complexity harm the product?

From DebtMet.com

Here is what DebtMet says about their service:

At the core of our service, DebtMet offers a one stop hub for anyone with debt. After signing onto our service and creating a personal profile (with the option for public anonymity with certain features), the user will have access to all of their student loans on one app. This will allow for easy management and instant payment to all loan lenders through one cohesive portal.

Our services are presented below:

The DebtMet “Social Finance Network”: This core baseline feature will allow users to create a personal profile, attached with images, personal biography, work history and a friends list. This baseline will be fundamental in aiding each user to alleviate or erase outstanding debt through means of network crowdfunding and direct messaging to friends, family, and businesses.

The DebtMet “Team leader Interface”: This allows companies within the user’s area to offer employment, while presenting competitive benefits that will help reduce the user’s debt burden. If the user accepts employment with the company offering these benefits, they will be given an update to their account that adds an employment tab. This employment tab will neatly organize user benefits, as well as create a clean portal for employee paid benefits and the company that has hired them. The Human Resources employer of these companies will be given access to a separate account on the DebtMet platform that will be specifically created for easier management of their employees as well as the benefits those employees receive.

This system will also streamline the transfer of those paid benefits to the employees direct DebtMet account. This program will give companies the opportunity to attract the best possible talent, create incentive for a more efficient workplace and reduce employment turnover rate.

While we will give our partners creative freedom that will help with their own specific employees, we have our own engineered programs that we can implement in any company that wishes to use them.

Listed below are some examples of programs that we have crafted:

1. Weekly Objective- company postings on the platform about certain goals or sales marks for the month, if achieved, that user will get an added percentage to their debt rebate from their employer. This improves work efficiency; HR team building and reduces the rate of employee turnover.

2. Employment Referral Program- If a current employee helps in the assistance of recruiting a new employee, and that new employee demonstrates a benefit to their employer, both the current and new employee will be given added percentage on their debt rebate from their employer. This improves recruitment and provides social network marketing at little cost to an employer.

3. Company Loyalty Program- If an employee stays with their employer for a minimum of 2–5 years and has a clean and efficient record that benefits their employer, the employer will increase their debt rebate percentage. This provides incentive to work efficiently, honestly and provide community for older existing employees.

4. College Intern Debt Benefits- Interns at top companies with a clean and efficient record will be given a stipend that will be used to help pay off their student debt. This will be added on top of the college credit they already receive from certain employers. This program will provide the best possible interns in competition at companies that are looking to recruit post-graduation.

The services provided by Debtmet (that are mentioned above) will neatly blend as a streamlined student portal, employment portal and Social Finance Network. Making crowd funding accessible to students in need and offering employment benefits platforms to companies in partnership will accelerate the amount of traffic and accounts we bring into DebtMet.

Adding to NewCurr’s Series Process, we internally felt DebtMet needed a blockchain for the following reasons.

1. A new generation of students will be active with the future of the internet.

2. Blockchain creates fair debt repayment distribution.

3. Transactions are verified, creating serious data on the debt industry.

4. We can introduce many Universities to the potential of blockchain related education.

5. Mainstream markets and established loan lenders can find positive benefits from this blockchain network.

Please see the NewCurr Whitepaper for more detailed information: http://newcurr.com/the-whitepaper/

For detailed additional info, please check out the websites at http://debtmet.com/ and http://NewCurr.com

Twitter: at NewCurr

Telegram: at t.me/NewCurr

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