Digital Currencies are too volatile. Is there a way to fix that?

By Guest Author - January 05, 2018 (cointelegraph.com)

The common question most people pose when they are confronting the idea of Bitcoin is: “what is its fundamental value?” Lay people don’t know how to approach Bitcoin, and they definitely don’t know how to value it. For many, it simply becomes a bet based on the supposition the price will continue to go up.

In recent weeks, what many believe to be irrational exuberance has bid the price up higher and higher to the point where a market correction seemed necessary. Every asset needs some form of sustainable value support and Bitcoin still hasn’t found one yet.

A potential solution is being put forward

A new idea that has emerged from China is A-SDR. This is an anchoring mechanism that serves to connect digital currencies to the real world. A-SDR consists of Ethereum, Bitcoin and ACC, and its goal is to stabilize the prices of digital currencies by tying them to real-world goods.

The idea of A-SDR came from a recent innovation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  The IMF’s goal was to take the world from a dollar-centric system to an SDR-centric monetary system. SDR stands for “Special Drawing Rights,” and the goal is for it to become the standard of circulation and settlement for global currencies.

ACC is the token that fuels the ACChain system and is anchored by holding title to real-world assets. The value of ACC will continue to rise as more digital assets are issued, and its share of A-SDR will continue to increase until it dwarfs those of Ethereum and Bitcoin.

ACC stands for Asset Collection Coin, and it has been created to fill the need which has been felt by all the critics of Bitcoin who see the value in digital monetary innovation but would prefer to hold tangible wealth. By holding title to real-life assets, ACC represents the combination of tangible asset ownership and digital currencies.

Collaborative effort

BTC and ETH are not anchored to real assets, which is where their volatility comes from. Rapid changes in price have made it so they cannot be used as a digital settlement currency globally. ACC will act as the connector of these digital goods to the real world and will have an exchange rate that is continually revised.

Bitcoin and Ether both have their purposes and these will not be eliminated by the coming of ACC. ACChain aims to work with the existing technology rather than competing against it. The A-SDR is a collaborative effort to harness all the good that can be experienced into one cohesive ecosystem, and buying ACC is the best way to get in on that goal right now.

Through anchoring digital gold reserve BTC and ETH with A-SDR, ACC then becomes equipped with four currency functions. These functions are the ability to scale value, means of circulation means of storage and means of payment. Basically, ACC is set to evolve into the standard token for anyone who wants to settle global digital assets. The future is bright for both ACC and A-SDR, but this also helps the performance of Bitcoin.

The future is in tangible assets that can be digitally controlled

Bitcoin is aided by the development of A-SDR because of the support that is provided by ACC. Bitcoin will be able to become a true and generally accepted digital gold, just as ACC will become accepted as the settlement digital coin in global asset trading.

ACChain is the platform which will be used to monetize goods with ACC, and every time a good is monetized, the demand for ACC will go up. This increase in demand will naturally lead to an increase in the price of the good.

When you purchase ACC via the A-SDR fund, you are helping to bootstrap ACChain to a higher profile, as well as making it more and more likely that Bitcoin becomes viewed as a digital gold. We are about to see what happens when you link hard, ownable assets with infinitely divisible digital currencies. With stability as a goal and both Ether and Bitcoin experiencing high volatility, investors are going to find huge appeal in the idea of ACC and the A-SDR funds.

You can get Windows 10 for free until January 16, 2018

By Mayank Parmar - january 05, 2018 (www.windowslatest.com)

When Microsoft announced the new Windows 10 operating system, the company allowed users on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 to upgrade to the new operating system for free until July 29, 2016. While the free upgrade for Windows 10 has ended, the company still allowed anyone with assistive technologies to upgraBy Mayank Parmar - january 05, 2018 (www.windowslatest.com)

When Microsoft announced the new Windows 10 operating system, the company allowed users on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 to upgrade to the new operating system for free until July 29, 2016. While the free upgrade for Windows 10 has ended, the company still allowed anyone with assistive technologies to upgrade to Windows 10 at absolutely no cost.

Last year, Microsoft confirmed that December 31 is the last date for free Windows 10 upgrade and the users were supposed to reserve the free upgrade to the new OS. It appears that Microsoft has extended the offer and you will be able to get Windows 10 for free until January 16, 2018.

“If you use assistive technologies, you can upgrade to Windows 10 at no cost as Microsoft continues our efforts to improve the Windows 10 experience for people who use these technologies. Please take advantage of this offer before it expires on January 16, 2018,” the company said.

NOTE: Since Microsoft doesn’t verify whether the Windows 7 or 8.1 machine has any assistive technologies feature installed, anyone can upgrade to Windows 10 operating system for free.

Please visit following Microsoft link for more info and the upgrade link:

Customers who use assistive technologies can upgrade to Windows 10 at no cost
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade

How to Protect from Meltdown and Spectre Chip Vulnerabilities

By Trisha - January 05, 2018 (www.trishtech.com)

The computer world is in a big shock after the new vulnerabilities labeled as Spectre and Meltdown were made known a few days ago. The vulnerabilities exist in the design of Intel, AMD and the ARM processors and allow a malicious program to read the memory of the other processes. This means that any malicious program can read the memory of your web browser and capture your passwords or other information without requiring special permissions.

The security researchers who worked to find these vulnerabilities have put together a special website https://meltdownattack.com/ to keep you informed about the latest updates about these attacks. You should bookmark this website and keep checking it every week for a couple of months. This website gives complete information about the vulnerabilities and has all the links that you would need to keep yourself protected.

At this moment, you can do the following to keep your computer protected :

• Keep operating system up-to-date. If you enabled automatic updates in your operating system, you should be automatically receiving all the updates. But if you have not turned on automatic updates, then you can manually install the updates for January 2018 or February 2018. This is true for all operating systems including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android and others.

• Install device driver and firmware updates. In the coming months, the OEM manufacturers like Lenovo, Sony, Samsung, HP etc., will be releasing updates to mitigate the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities. You should download them and install them whenever they become available.

• Update the web browsers and other applications to latest versions. Mozilla has already released an update to Firefox web browser. Google is going release an update to Chrome web browser on 23rd January. These updates will patch these programs against the vulnerabilities. You should install these updates as soon as they become available.

• Install antivirus solution in your computer. Although even the heuristic scan used by antivirus software cannot detect if a program is using these Spectre or Meltdown, Intel security team suggests that you are better protected if you install an updated antivirus program in your computer.

You can find all the links to different processor manufacturers, OEM manufacturers, operating system websites etc. on the Meltdown Attack website at https://meltdownattack.com/.

Japan Becoming the Leader for Bitcoin

By Luke Bakies - January 05, 2018 (cryptocoinmastery.com)

It is undeniable that Japan has been one of the leaders for Bitcoin over the last few years and it continues to solidify its place as Bitcoin’s heart. Japan has been in the spotlight since the beginning with Bitcoin as founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, is a Japanese name. Japan has been at the forefront of groundbreaking development in Bitcoin, from preserving its longevity to determining how it will be regulated. Despite controversy also associated with Japan with issues like the Mt. Gox implosion which lost over 650,000 Bitcoin, it has remained resilient to push forward for the success of Bitcoin.

The negative events such as Mt. Gox have lead to sweeping reform and regulation to protect customers. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) which is Japan’s regulator, has worked extensively to understand cryptocurrencies to impose fair rules. Their efforts could serve as a basis for the regulation in other countries to protect exchanges and investors.

The Virtual Currency Act has tax reform pertaining to foreign investors, to incentive them to use Japanese exchanges. They also declared Bitcoin an asset and a form of payment but not a legal currency. Lastly they set up licenses for exchanges to create an established market place. These reforms can serve as an outline for future reforms in other countries.

On top of these regulations, Japan has also explored the possibility of expanding blockchain usage within government organizations. They have worked with BitFlyer and are working on a blockchain called “miyabi.” Miyabi boasts the ability to host 4,000 transactions per second with no single point of failure. This could be used with interbank clearing networks to perform faster settlements. With an open mind towards Bitcoin and blockchain, Japan has reaped benefits and it is only a matter of time until other countries follow.