Blockchain Report — 8/23/2018
By: Christopher Durr
Tags: Cryptocurrency, News, Blockchain, Investing, Bitcoin

Summary: U.S. Senate Hearing Shows “Valuable” Potential Applications Of Blockchain In Energy Industry; Dash Cryptocurrency Use Surges In Venezuela; Ethereum Scam App Appears On Google Play Store

U.S. Senate Hearing Shows “Valuable” Potential Applications Of Blockchain In Energy Industry

According to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Senate has held a hearing on the energy efficiency of blockchain technology. The hearing focused on energy and natural resources. The committee mostly focused on the issue of a possible increase in electricity prices following the rising power demand in blockchain applications. The hearing also wanted to evaluate if blockchain could improve the cybersecurity of the computing systems that supply energy.

One of the speakers was Thomas A. Golden, a program manager at Electric Power Research Institute (ERPI). He reported that the institute’s research on blockchain and its capabilities led to several pilots that have demonstrated potential promise in the use of blockchain technology to enable transactive energy.

Arvind Narayanan, associate professor of computer science at Princeton University, clarified how blockchain technology would be useful:

“A blockchain-based market might be more attractive than a centralized trading platform if market participants are averse to a single company controlling the platform. Other initiatives enable customers to directly trade electricity with each other in a ‘peer to peer’ fashion, for example, by buying and selling excess rooftop solar power. However, peer-to-peer trading still requires the cooperation of utilities who ultimately control the physical flow of electricity.”

Dash Cryptocurrency Use Surges In Venezuela

According to Business Insider, the cryptocurrency Dash is seeing a surge in new merchant sign-ups and wallet downloads in Venezuela as hyperinflation continues to push the country towards economic collapse.

Venezuela is forecasted to see inflation as high as 1,000,000% this year, and locals need stacks of cash just to buy food. Last weekend, socialist President Nicolas Maduro announced a series of measures in an attempt to stabilize the economy, including devaluing the bolivar by 95% and pegging it to the state-backed cryptocurrency the Petro.

However, the cryptocurrency Dash is also catching on in the country. Ryan Taylor, the CEO of the Dash Core Group, said:

“We are seeing tens of thousands of wallet downloads from the country each month…Earlier this year, Venezuela became our number two market even ahead of China and Russia, which are of course huge into cryptocurrency right now.”

Ethereum Scam App Appears On Google Play Store

According to Cointelegraph, Android’s Google Play Store now has an Ethereum scam application listed. Lukas Stefanko, a malware researcher from Slovakia, found a fraudulent Ethereum application on Google Play that had been allegedly offered for purchase at $388. A tweet from the researcher states that buying the app is not the same thing as actually buying Ethereum, and the app was created as a way to defraud people who believe they are actually buying Ethereum directly through the Google Play Store app.

The app has been installed at least 100 times since it was last updated in August 2017. On July 27, Google had banned cryptocurrency mining apps on its play store only allowing remote mining applications. However, despite the recent ban multiple illegal apps like JSEcoin are still appearing on the Google Play Store.

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