Bitcoin is the world’s most renowned cryptocurrency and it has been shaping several domains. There are several ways to bring the crypto to the people. In our everyday communication using social networks and chat applications, people use emojis to express themselves.

Emojis are simple and short means of expressing ourselves; with them, we don’t need to write words in full. People are calling for the creation of a Bitcoin emoji for the keyboard on Apple iOS.

The desire to have it on the keyboard of Apple iOS led to a new change.org petition. However, some people believe that Apple seemingly will not make a BTC emoji.

Despite that not everybody sees Bitcoin and other digital currencies as a beneficial form of money; people still need to know about it. Therefore, instead of having to type ‘Bitcoin,’ an emoji could be of remarkable interest.

However, at the moment, some operating systems lack access to emojis related to Bitcoin. Since Apple is a big tech firm, the provision of such a solution would be remarkable. Unfortunately, the firm is yet to show interest in exploring such an option.

The purpose of the change.org petition is to assist in changing that narrative a little. Unfortunately, petitions of such nature rarely achieve their aim but it is worth trying.

There is Bitcoin symbol on keyboards and an emoji should also be created. A hundred people need to sign the petition to be considered successful. At the moment, over 50 people have signed it. 

Besides, it seems amazingly unlikely that the firm will attend to this demand. The firm has not shown keen interest on cryptos, not to talk of endorsement in any manner.

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A post published on Monday, the Ethereum Foundation has alerted developers and miners that the “Muir Glacier” upgrade is set to occur at 9.2 million blocks, which is currently on pace for New Year’s Day. The upgrade follows less than a month after Ethereum’s highly anticipated “Istanbul,” update, and marks a series of upgrades for the network as it transitions to Ethereum 2.0.

The official post states, 

The Ethereum network will be undergoing a scheduled upgrade at block number 9,200,000, which is predicted to occur on Wednesday, January 1, 2020. The exact date is subject to change due to variable block times and timezones.

According to a previous post detailing the upgrade, Muir Glacier will serve to delay the planned increase in Ethereum’s mining difficulty by an estimated 611 days. 

Ethereum Cat Herders provided an explanation for the delay,

Once the difficulty increase of the difficulty bomb is too great for the block time retargeting mechanism, it results in an increase in block times for the network. This results in a degradation in the usability of Ethereum due to waiting for confirmation for transactions and Dapps as everything takes longer throughout the network.

Node operators and miners will be required to download the updated client software in order to be in compliance with the network, which some users are bemoaning given the New Year’s Day holiday launch.

On the contrary, an NFT is like Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. It is unique, it is scarce and that is what makes it valuable. One would never wish to trade Mona Lisa for Salvator Mundi as he will lose some value. On a similar basis, each NFT stores some form of Metadata that makes it a unique entry on the blockchain. For the matter of fact, even the NFT’s on similar blockchains are also not interchangeable.

How does non-fungible token empower the owner?

A Non-fungible token comes with a mechanism of storing rich metadata that is beyond the token symbol, supply, name, and balance. It stores the asset and ownership details too. As these details are stored on the blockchain, the owners and future buyers are assured about the provenance.

Non-fungible tokens or NFT’s made a name for themselves in 2017 with the release of CryptoKitties.

Do non-fungible tokens propose any value?

To understand the value it brings to the digital asset ecosystem, we need to peek into the evolution of NFTs. The attempts to create NFTs on blockchain started as early as 2013 with Color Coin built on bitcoin. But in 2017 first technical standard was defined for NFTs known as ERC721 on Ethereum blockchain. The standard is different from ERC20. That is because  ERC721 tracks ownership and movements of individual tokens. And that is what makes a non-fungible token unique and valuable.

CryptoKittes, a cat breeding game was the first successful implementation of ERC721. For Cryptokitties players, each ERC721 represented a unique digital kitten that could not be replicated. And the most expensive CryptoKitty was traded in 2017 for $172,625(600 ETH).

This is when even big giants like Google Ventures realized the power of NFTs.

Recently, a blockchain startup Enjin partnered with Microsoft to create crypto collectibles called Microsoft Azure Heroes. We will use it as an example to explain how NFTs work in the real world.

Value Proposition 

In the real-world NFTs have some highly potential use-cases in art, antiques, vintage, property ownership and more. There were some major reasons why gaming became the first industry to push forward the actual implementation of NFTs. It was because the stakes were low and the gamers were already familiar with the concept of digital collectibles.

Future iterations of NFTs will most likely link the physical assets to these tokens for trustless transfers in the real-world. To state an example, identification certificates and software licenses can be traded as NFTs.

Many projects are already proposing better NFT standards like ERC115, ERC875, and ERC998.

Highlighting the characteristics of a Non-Fungible Token

• They are unique to the owner
• They are not interchangeable with another identical NFT
• Individual NFT has unique characteristics
• Each NFT represents ownership, rights, and privileges.
• NFTs are not divisible

How do they work and how to acquire them?

There are many ways in which an NFT can work. Here we will explain the working of NFT using the latest digital collectibles introduced by Microsoft.

Many developers are working on the Microsoft Azure platform. And now the developers can win blockchain digital collectibles. This will highlight the helpful developers on the platform.

A total of five badges have been developed by Enjin powered by the blockchain. Each badge is available in limited supply and will be rewarded to the individual who makes worthy contributions to the Azure platform.

Source: Microsoft.com

Each badge is basically an ERC-721 token that can be stored in the Enjin wallet and traded just like any digital asset. Every single badge is unique because of its ownership and that would define the future value of the badge.

To acquire a badge (ERC721) token one needs to submit their candidacy and make a valuable contribution to the Azure platform. Once the Microsoft team reviews the “good work done” only then the members will receive the digital badger. The badge can then be claimed by scanning a QR code.

This is just one way of acquiring an NFT. The other NFT platforms like CryptoKitties, WAX, and Qtum have different methods.

Conclusion

The fungible crypto-currencies have already proved their importance in the digital asset ecosystem for over a decade now. The non-fungible tokens represent a very potential opportunity to tokenize the physical assets retaining the unique lineage. NFTs will never interfere with the existence of cryptocurrencies. As a matter of fact, NFTs will broaden the scope of blockchain in the real world.

Source: AltCoinBuzz

In a tweet to Thunberg posted yesterday, Sun said:

“As a young entrepreneur, I share @GretaThunberg’s passion to change the world. Crypto will contribute immensely on reducing carbon footprint by implementing decentralized settlement. I would like to personally commit USD$1 Mil to @GretaThunberg ’s initiative. #cop25”

Sun’s tweet came as a response to the results of the COP 25 conference in Madrid, where leaders from the United Nations discussed a potential long-term response to rising global temperatures, and ended up postponing a decision until the next major conference next year.

A report form the Financial Times notes that the meeting descended into “open bickering” by its end, with lackluster contributions coming from countries like the United States and China being blamed for it.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, tweeted out he was disappointed with the meeting’s results:

Sun tweet was met with criticism by the cryptocurrency community, with many claiming Greta Thunberg was a “poster child” for the climate cause, and that Sun’s business in the crypto space was more important than Greta’s cause.

Most claimed it was a waste of money that could have been donated to other projects, such as those dedicated to planting trees, cleaning up the oceans, and more. Others accused Sun of trying to take advantage of Greta Thunberg’s popularity to further TRX.

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ByteDance, the owner of the popular video-sharing service TikTok, is focusing on new business lines.

These lines apparently have to do with blockchain and artificial intelligence. Thus, together with Shanghai Dongfang Newspaper Co, the owner of the digital news resource The Paper.cn, it established a new company worth $1.4 million.

While the details of the partnership remain obscure, Twitter users seem to be skeptic. Particularly, because the media group is a state-owned one. A user that goes by the name, @933Aidan, is highly critical of the partnership saying “so the real headline and story is “Chinese government merges two departments under its control to help spy better on other departments in other governments.” #fixedit.”

ByteDance and its successful apps

Founded in 2012, ByteDance focuses predominantly on the development of mobile applications. Its main product is the Toutiao news feed aggregator, which enjoys an audience of 120 million people per day.

In 2016, ByteDance launched the TikTok application. Currently, it is the most popular short video platform in Asia that has is rapidly gaining popularity all over the world. By February 2019, 1 billion users had already downloaded TikTok. More downloads occurred throughout the year: 614 million times, which is 6% more than last year.

Interestingly, in 2019, only WhatsApp and Messenger managed to perform better than the platform. Concurrently, Instagram and Facebook are lagging behind.

It is noteworthy that 31% of all application downloads take place in India. The second-largest market for TikTok is China (11.5% of downloads) closely followed by the United States (8.2% of downloads).

According to Reuters in January-June 2019, ByteDance revenue amounted to about $7-8.4 billion. In 2018, the company value stood at $75 billion.

All in all, China is becoming increasingly interested in blockchain. It is expected that investments in this technology will reach $2 billion by 2023.

What do you think about the latest partnership? Do you use TikTok? Do you think China is at the forefront of the blockchain revolution? Let us know your thoughts. Drop a comment below.

VALLETTA, Malta, Dec. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — OKEx, the world’s largest spot, and futures digital asset exchange by trading volume, today announced a partnership with FirmaChain, a blockchain-based electronic contract platform. Through this partnership, customers can use OKEx’s global utility token, OKB, for purchases on FirmaChain. In addition, FirmaChain’s FCT token will be listed on OKEx on December 18, 2019.

FirmaChain uses blockchain technology to bring transparency and verification to contracts while solving issues including forgery. Through its decentralized application (DApp) Duite, FirmaChain reduces processing costs for international contracts by using less resources and simplifying the process, overcoming the current limitations of traditional, written contracts.

The depositing of FCT will be available from 10:00 December 11, 2019 (UTC). FCT spot trading against USDT and BTC will open at 10:00 December 18, 2019 (UTC). FCT withdrawal will open from 10:00 December 19, 2019 (UTC).

“FirmaChain is an excellent company developing real-world applications with blockchain technology and coming up with its groundbreaking e-contracts platform,” said Andy Cheung, Head of Operations at OKEx. “We’re excited about this partnership that we are able to add FCT, the native token of FirmaChain on the OKEx trading platform, and at the same time, to include OKB for service redemption on the Firmachain network, where users can choose to pay in OKB or FCT when using the e-contract provided by Duite, Firma Solution’s service.”

“FirmaChain is excited to join OKEx’s global ecosystem and gain access to a broad potential user base for our innovative, blockchain-based electronic contracts platform,” said Young In Yoon, CEO of FirmaChain. “We look forward to a successful and mutually beneficial partnership with OKEx to bring forth new use cases of blockchain technology.“

OKEx recently announced its OKB token integration with Ledger, Aliniex, Bvnex, and Cryptomall to build an increasingly comprehensive ecosystem for cryptocurrency traders. The company offers the most diverse trading products in the market, ranging from spot trading, fiat-to-token trading, margin trading, and crypto derivatives, helping traders, miners, and institutional investors optimize their investment strategies.

About OKEx

OKEx is a world-leading digital asset exchange headquartered in Malta, offering comprehensive digital asset trading services including fiat-to-token, token-to-token, and derivatives trading to users globally. Currently, over 400 spot and derivatives trading pairs are available for users to optimize their trading strategies. With a safe, reliable, and stable environment for digital asset trading, OKEx serves millions of customers in more than 200 countries and regions.

ING Bank from the Netherlands is working on a technology that will help its customers safely store their digital assets. Reuters shared this information, referring to people familiar with the situation.

According to the sources, the custodial project will be managed from Amsterdam where ING has its headquarters. The initiative is at the initial stage of its development. Besides, the bank is working on a few more projects in the field of blockchain.

To that end, it is noteworthy that in July 2019 ING co-created a blockchain-based trade-settlement platform Fnality International. Other world-leading banks joined in. The project aims at creating a network of decentralized Financial Market Infrastructures to deliver means of payment-on-chain in the banking sphere.

“We see that tokenization of assets and the use of distributed ledger technology offer huge potential for our industry,” says Annerie Vreugdenhil, head of Wholesale Banking Innovation at ING.

Blockchain and banking

In 2018, ING conducted a study and asked people across 13 countries in Europe, the USA, and Australia about their attitude to digital money. It showed that interest in the emerging technology will most likely double in the future. And that is despite the existing price fluctuations on the market.

According to the survey, 66% of Europeans heard about cryptocurrencies, and 9% – own them, 16% – plan to have cryptocurrencies in the future. Concurrently, 35% of Europeans deem bitcoin the future of online payments. Moreover, more than 27% of survey participants believe that banks should offer current accounts for crypto assets.

Overall, many financial institutions are considering the tokenization of securities and the introduction of blockchain technology to simplify and reduce the cost of transfers. Recently, the Japanese bank introduced a blockchain wallet debit card.