Free Blockchain Education for Ethereum and Tezos Developers

B9lab a UK-based online blockchain education and training provider has launched its Community Blockstars Program with the aim of providing free training, mentoring and certification in Ethereum for 1,000 aspiring blockchain developers.

Aside from the Ethereum training program, they will also launch Tezos Blockstars Training program that will be sponsored by Tenzos Foundation which will sponsor 250 students worldwide.

The selection process for Ethereum program will be conducted via an online test that will start on January 31st and will end on February 28th.

Training will start immediately on March 1st which will last until May 3rd.

Final project submission will be from May 4th to June 1st.

Official certification will be by June 29th.

Only those with a grade of 80% and above will be certified.

Applications for Tezos Blockstars are open until March 20, 2019.

The training will commence on March 27, 2019 and will be held for several weeks with an approximate 140 hours of work in total.

Like Ethereum Blockstars Program, students with 80% and above grades will be given a certification from B9lab

Blockchain-Powered Cloud Service From IBM Launches In Melbourne

It has been reported that the technology giant IBM has released its blockchain main net out of its data center in Melbourne, Australia.

The platform was built on Hyperledger Fabric, a project that aims to improve cross-industry blockchain technologies that is hosted by the Linux Foundation.

It is set to open at the end of March.

According to the head of Blockchain for IBM in Australia and New Zealand, Rupert Colchester, with the opening of the data center in Australia would make technology more widely available and provide redundancy.

In addition having the data center in Australia, customers will not have to go cross borders and provide security for regulated applications in government and financial services.

Colchester reveals that blockchain technology is widely applied and prevalent across industries in Austalia.

According to the IBM executive there are much less education sessions request for the company instead clients are trying to understand what are the best ways how to apply blockchain into their business, which seems to suggest businesses in the country is already well informed about the emerging technology.

Philippine Bank To Launch Two Way Crypto ATM

One of the largest bank in the Philippines, Union Bank is planning to launch a two-way bitcoin automated teller machine.

This was reported to be made possible with the coordination of the Philippine’s central bank (Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas, BSP).

A sample unit is currently on display in Union Bank’s headquartered at Pasig City.

It is widely known that the Philippines government has generally been receptive of cryptocurrencies.

Back in 2017 BSP issued a circular which recognized bitcoin has the potential to revolutionize delivery of financial services, particularly in the payments and remittance.

The central bank goes on to say that the new asset class may facilitate faster and more economical transfer of funds both locally and internationally and may support financial inclusion.

According to the bank they have always catered to the evolving needs and taste of their customers including those who use virtual currency.

The ATM they say will provide them an alternative to convert pesos to virtual currency and vice versa.

SEC Commissioner Calling For Bitcoin ETF Approval

According to Hester Pierce, A Trump appointed commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the agency should encourage investors to do their own and decide on their own if the investment is right for them.

This seems to be a reply to Democrat Robert Jackson who earlier stated that getting a stamp of approval from the deepest and most liquid capital markets in the world is hard and should be hard as it would expose Americans to risk.

The democrat goes on to say that once the SEC puts a stamp of approval on an investment, it would be exposing everyday mom and pop investor to risk that may end up hurting them.

Pierce, who is popularly known as the crypto mom due to her seemingly positive view of cryptocurrencies, states that it seems that the approach SEC has taken on crypto-related borders are on merit-based regulations.

This means that the agency is substituting its own judgment for that of the potential investors on the emerging asset class.

She argues that that SEC seem to have crypto phobia and goes on to say that the agency has the tendency to run away from anything related to the burgeoning asset class.

She further states that while the SEC owes it to the investors to be careful, the agency does not define their investment universe with the agencies own preference.

UAE-Based Exchange and Payment Platform Joining The Ripple ‘s Payment Network

Two UAE-based crypto-related business entities are joining the Ripple’s Payment network.

Finablr, a global payment platform and foreign exchange operator has joined the said network according to a press release February.

Unimoni also joined Ripple, where it uses the blockchain-powered platform of Ripple to complete real time transactions to Thailand initially and will slowly add other countries in the future.

The Managing Director of South Asia and MENA at Ripple, Navin Gupta believes that joining blockchain network with over 100-member banks and financial institutions will let UAE Exchange provide more efficient services to its customers.

UAE Exchange has been working with Ripple since February 2018 and has planned to release blockchain-remittances to Asia by Q1 2019.

These developments both showcase the commitment of Ripple to bring blockchain technology and Cryptocurrencies to the masses.

Its approach has been highly successful as it was able to onboard over 200 financial institutions all over the world.

Its efforts was not left unnoticed as it is now wrestling with Ethereum to become the number 2 cryptocurrency in the world in terms of market capitalization.

Headlines for the world of Cryptocurrencies - February 11, 2019 Hedge Funds Should Be Investing More In Bitcoin According To Pundits / Everipedia Soon To Use Geospatial Blockchain Technology / Technical Analysis Increasingly Becoming Bullish On Bitcoin According To Fundstrat Analyst / Localbitcoin To Implement KYC Requirements / FDA Commissioner Suggest Using Blockchain Technology For Supply Chain Platform
Headlines for the world of Cryptocurrencies - February 10, 2019 Video Sharing Sites Lets Content Creators Earn Bitcoin Cash / Holding 1% In Bitcoin Logical According To U.S. Billionaire Investor / Credit Cards Now Accepted In Kucoin / Tippin Bot Allows Users To Receive Or Send Bitcoin Tips On Twitter / U.S. Wholesaler Now Accepting Cryptocurrency
Headlines for the world of Cryptocurrencies - February 09, 2019 Wells Fargo Outage Highlights The Importance Of Bitcoin / Binance Would Like To Partner With Ripple / New Partners In Ripple’s Blockchain University Program / Tremendous Growth Of Huobi Despite Market Conditions / Upcoming Crypto Wallets from Samsung And Opera May Spur Mass Adoption