Private Brave Browser Integrates Auto Wayback Machine Lookup

Brave browser users can now instantly access archived content of “missing” web pages via automated Wayback Machine lookup.

Brave, a major privacy-oriented rival of popular browsers like Google Chrome and Firefox, now automatically redirects users to check out archived versions of pages that were removed from the web.

Starting from Feb. 25, Brave browser users can instantly access archived content of “missing” pages on the Internet via Wayback Machine integration on the Brave desktop browser.

In order to unlock the new feature, Brave has partnered with popular nonprofit digital library The Internet Archive, or Archive.org. The new feature debuted on Brave browser version 1.4 and is only available on desktop for now. Archive.org revealed the development in a Feb. 25 blog post.

A portal to the Internet’s history

Founded in 1996 with the purpose of offering permanent access to historical digital data, the Internet Archive has archived over 900 billion URLs alongside 400 billion web pages to date, and keeps adding hundreds of millions pages each day.

As a result of native Wayback Machine integration on HTTP 404 responses within the Brave desktop browser, users are now automatically offered to read an archived page instead of the traditional “Page Not Found” notice. If a page is missing or has been taken down, Brave will show the following notification:

“Sorry, that page is missing. Do you want to check if a saved version is available on the Wayback Machine?”

As such, Brave users will further be able to scroll through older versions of the page in case they have been archived on the Wayback Machine. Brave claims to be the first browser with built-in Wayback Machine support so far. Indeed, other popular browsers like Safari, Chrome and Firefox only currently support the feature via browser extensions.

Wayback Machine 404 support on Brave browser. “Missing” page link

Brave and the Internet Archive’s partnership dates back to 2017

Brave’s support of the Wayback Machine is not the first collaboration of Brave and the Internet Archive though. Back in 2017, the Internet Archive added support for getting micropayments from participating Brave Browser users, allowing Brave users to privately tip their favorite websites with cryptocurrency. Eventually, the Internet Archive collected over $2,500 in tips via Brave’s Basic Attention Token (BAT) by April 2019.

As part of its close relationship with Brave, the Internet Archive has expressed its positive stance to user privacy online. Their team wrote in the statement:

“We are grateful for their commitment to user privacy, helping advance alternatives to the current ad-supported Web, and focusing on improving the overall Web browsing experience. We applaud Brave’s leadership in these efforts and look forward to working with them on other ways to help make the Web more useful and reliable.”

The news comes amid a new comparative study proving that Brave browser is the best browsing solution among six popular browsers including Google, Safari and Firefox when it comes to privacy. As user privacy online has been increasingly discussed, Brave browser is apparently becoming more and more popular around the world. As reported previously, Brave browser saw its monthly active users almost double from 5.5 million in 2018 to 10.4 million in 2019.

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Crypto Firms Tout Dispersed Workforces as Coronavirus Contingency Plan

They don’t need to shut their headquarters; they don’t have headquarters.

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Grammy-Nominated Artist Akon to Launch Cryptocurrency on Stellar

Multi platinum-selling artist Akon will launch his Akoin cryptocurrency on the Stellar network.

Multi platinum-selling recording artist Akon has chosen to build his Akoin cryptocurrency ecosystem on top of the Stellar blockchain.

Akoin co-founder and president Jon Karas said they chose to launch the project on Stellar due to sharing similar values.

“Akoin selected Stellar’s distributed, hybrid blockchain due to a shared vision for creating global financial inclusion, particularly in areas such as Africa,” he explained in a Feb. 28 announcement.

Part of Stellar’s mission is to help bank the unbanked and Akoin’s spokesperson highlighted the fact Stellar was already working with businesses in Africa and could help with the project’s planned Dapps and micro-loans.

Swapping one currency for another

The Akoin utility token will be compatible with Stellar wallets and interoperable with all digital assets and fiat currencies supported by the Stellar network.

Users will be able to instantly swap from one currency to another and Karas cited the Stellar Network’s ability to facilitate “efficient cross-asset transfers of value” as a key factor.

This will help with one of the stated aims of the project, which is to help realize the value of cell phone prepaid minutes. Due to inflation and banking issues, minutes are used as a form of digital currency in some African countries like Nigeria. The Akoin platform will enable users to swap minutes for fiat or other cryptocurrencies.

The spokesperson confirmed that the Akoin token will have a fluctuating price. “Akoin is not a stablecoin, but we will provide access to other leading stablecoin offerings within our eco-system,” he said. The platform also includes a multi-currency wallet and a mobile marketplace where users can “learn, earn, spend and save.”

Focus on the unbanked

Akoin aims to provide financial services to the unbanked across 54 countries in Africa and other developing nations around the world. It will have a total supply of 400 million, although the details are scant. A company spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the white paper will be released next week with all of the tokenomics.

The much-delayed project was originally supposed to launch in mid-2018 but today’s announcement suggests that the revised timetable of early 2020 may be met.

“It’s a global platform that we’re building and Africa is our target market because as we see it now, Africa has the most challenges,” said Akon. 

The 46-year-old singer is hugely popular in Africa and intends for Akoin to power the economy of his futuristic, $2 billion Akon Crypto City. The sustainable, eco-tourism smart city is being built over the next decade on 2,000 acres near Dakar, the capital of Senegal which was gifted to the singer by the country’s president.

Akon has launched a number of development and charitable projects in the past including Akon Lighting Africa, which brought solar lighting projects into 18 countries  — however, Akoin is a for-profit endeavor.

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Why Banks Aren’t Banking Your Crypto Startup

Blockchain integration into the banking industry will raise the quality of banking services and improve the customer experience.

Your bank, no matter how neo or how challenger, can’t bank Bitcoin (BTC). They could bank blockchain companies, adding value and providing services for the space, which would be good for both the bank and the clients, but they are afraid of repercussions from regulators and their partners.

Since many smaller banks use “correspondent banks,” whose direct access to the Federal Reserve system’s FedWire and other official payment rails they leverage, they can’t make the decision to accept Bitcoin clients in a vacuum. They must consider their correspondents (generally, big banks), who don’t want their partners working with crypto — a classic underbanked industry.

At industry events — whether for banking or digital assets or crypto conferences — the fact that demand outpaces supply is as clear as stargazing season. Silvergate Bank, based in La Jolla, California, was the first bank to enter the blockchain industry. However, there are not many so-called crypto banks among the 5,400 banks in the United States despite obvious use cases for the underlying technology, such as facilitating payments, digital contracts or serving as a store of value.

Banks should want to get in and help the industry with banking services. While there is a high compliance risk, crypto is not illegal. Those banks that serve the industry will be tasked with implementing Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer procedures that are robust enough to pass regulatory scrutiny.

The fact that so few banks are banking crypto is surprising. If they’re wanting to stay within the purview of the law, then they could serve clients or work with partners who take compliance as seriously as they do, and not be influenced by the propaganda that associates illicit activities with digital assets and crypto.

Related: Not All Central Banks Have an Interest in CBDCs

The banks that facilitate bringing some of crypto’s use cases to market will be proud of themselves in the end. This task is not for the faint of heart — it will take a large effort to begin serving the blockchain industry. Banks will need to build out a robust program to serve the industry and keep regulators satisfied. Those looking to establish crypto services should go to these banks beforehand, let them know the business’ plans, and ask them to help build the program so that both parties can be sure that any and all regulatory burdens will be met and that the business can go to market. The business’ board may perhaps need to be educated on blockchain and crypto so as to approve everything. Before onboarding crypto clients, banks must not only vet potential clients but also dedicate the resources and time upfront to vet their technology partners and clients. 

Not all banks are created equal, however. The level of access to the global payment rails will surely differ from bank to bank. Some might offer unlimited deposit insurance, some may offer no insurance at all. No businessman wants to go through life with uninsured deposits or moving excess funds into other banks.

A simplified banking relationship all-encompassing of insurance, loans and the wares of a better banking experience is what crypto needs — a bank willing to hear what people need and will work together in an industry pushing the envelope. The blockchain industry also needs a progressive-minded bank ready to harness the power of APIs, if the model works for them.

The American cloud-based software giant company Salesforce has become a world leader, in part, due to its willingness to go all in when it comes to the use of APIs. The financial institutions best leveraging open-banking and APIs will be the market leaders of tomorrow, when a bank’s relationship with crypto companies — and any fintech firms for that matter — will be managed via a web of APIs. These APIs will bring us the next great products in banking.

The fintech firms will bring the technology, while the enterprising and even courageous banks will bring their banking charter and payment rail access to the table. The banking industry’s new emphasis on technology will be welcome news for developers, who are not excited about developing around antiquated technology stacks using wireframe and the common business-oriented language known as COBOL. For banks considering dipping their toes in the water, there are banking technology companies serving this market, such as the San Francisco-based Treasury Prime, which works as technology partners to banks and fintechs, and Bitfury, which provides an AML and KYC toolkit to the banking industry.

At the intersection of banking and crypto, blockchain integration with banking could even enhance the banking experience for everyone. By being able to use some of the use cases that are going to be provided by blockchain and crypto, overall banking relationships, products and services can be much speedier.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Justin O’Connell is the founder of ChangeOutput.com, a communications shop for blockchain. He first wrote about Bitcoin in early 2012, and has worked in the industry ever since. He has software engineering experience, and his written work has appeared throughout the industry over the years.

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Third-Party Cryptos Could Launch on XRP Ledger, Says Ripple’s David Schwartz

Schwartz said a feature is being developed to allow asset-backed tokens to be minted on the platform.

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Bitcoin Bounces Off $8.4K 4-Week Low as it Tracks Stock-to-Flow Target

After losing its 200-day moving average support, BTC/USD remains near its forecast pre-halving average despite a traditional market meltdown.

Bitcoin (BTC) price fell to its lowest levels in a month on Feb. 28 after another day’s losses underscored continued selling pressure on markets.

Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360

BTC price clings to $8.6K

Data from Coin360 and Cointelegraph Markets showed BTC/USD hit five-week lows of $8,455 on Friday.

At press time, volatility abounded on exchanges, with Bitcoin shedding roughly 3.3% overnight to fluctuate around $8,600. Weekly losses totaled almost 12%.

Bitcoin 1-day price chart. Source: Coin360

Analysts had pinned their hopes on the largest cryptocurrency defending its 200-day moving average at around $8,800. This failed to hold, however, opening up the potential for what Cointelegraph Markets analyst filbfilb described as a “significant issue.”

Bitcoin’s weakness closely tracked a day of horror for traditional investments, with the Dow Jones seeing the biggest one-day drop in history on Thursday.

Tormenting sentiment was coronavirus, the spread of which has now become more intense outside its country of origin than inside. While the United States government played down the risks, Cointelegraph reported that traders now overwhelmingly bet that the Federal Reserve will significantly lower interest rates this year to boost economic growth. 

At close to $8,600, however, Bitcoin is still performing in line with technical expectations. The popular and traditionally accurate stock-to-flow (S2F) price forecasting model calls for an average $8,606 for BTC/USD in the run-up to May’s block reward halving. 

“A few weeks before every halving, #Bitcoin touched the #s2f model price. This time it is no different,” Twitter-based analyst CryptoKea summarized. 

Despite facing criticism of his model, stock-to-flow creator PlanB has so far stuck rigidly to his long term target for Bitcoin. This calls for an average of $100,000 between 2021 and 2024.

Altcoins see another day of sell-offs

Across altcoin markets, most major coins saw losses of between 2% and 5% on Friday. Only Chainlink (LINK) and Huobi Token (HT) made gains. 

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market cap, fell in line with Bitcoin — 3.1% to hit $221.

Ether 7-day price chart. Source: Coin360

The overall cryptocurrency market cap was $244.5 billion. Fellow Cointelegraph Markets analyst Michaël van de Poppe warned that should that level not reverse upwards, his next short-term target lay below $200 billion. 

“If we hold this level, we make a strong S/R flip. If not, I'd be aiming at $195 billion next,” he wrote in a Twitter update. 

Bitcoin’s share of the market remained almost unchanged at 64.1%.

Keep track of top crypto markets in real time here

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Tether Calls Market Manipulation Allegations ‘Reckless and False’

Once again, Tether ridicules and dismisses allegations that it used its USDT stablecoin for manipulating Bitcoin’s price.

Once again, Tether has ridiculed and dismissed allegations that it used its USDT stablecoin for manipulating Bitcoin’s (BTC) price.

In a statement sent to Cointelegraph on Feb. 28, iFinex, the firm behind Tether, states that the claims in the market manipulation lawsuit against the firm are “reckless and false.” The statement reads:

“The allegations in the complaint are without merit or legal basis, and exhibit a fundamental lack of understanding of the market structure of cryptocurrencies. Indeed, it is reckless and false to allege that USDT tokens are issued in order to manipulate markets.”

Many of the accusations regarding Tether’s purported price manipulation are based on the academic paper “Is Bitcoin Really Un-tethered?” by John M. Griffin and Amin Shams which was first published in June 2018. The paper stated that Tether influenced Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices during the 2017 boom. 

Regarding the paper, Tether’s general counsel Stuart Hoegner commented:

“These now amalgamated copycat lawsuits are baseless and rely on a foundationally flawed paper by John M. Griffin and Amin Shams that lacks data and evidence to support incendiary allegations. [...] Sadly, the claims are nothing more than a shameless money grab.”

Law firms fought over control of the case

On Monday, Roche Cyrulnik Freedman LLP was appointed as the lead counsel for plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit after several different legal teams fought for the role.

The cryptocurrency community paid close attention to the fight between the law firms, with Bitcoin influencer Andreas Antonopoulos recently expressing support for one of the legal teams.

Hoegner claims that the legal teams attempting to take over the case are “poking huge holes in each others’ legal theories and evidentiary footing,” and said that it is irrelevant who leads the counsel:

“Whoever serves as lead interim counsel is irrelevant, as the claim rests on the defective research and methodology of a paper whose authors openly admit they do not have crucial data [...] to prove actual purchases of bitcoin with Tether. ”

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