The Japan Bank Consortium will release a groundbreaking smartphone application called “MoneyTap”— powered by Ripple’s blockchain technology — to allow customers of the bank consortium to settle transactions instantly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“MoneyTap” is the first mobile app of its kind to be developed and used by multiple, different banks in the country.

Three members of the Japan bank consortium: SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank and Resona Bank will be the first to go live on the mobile app in autumn of 2018. This will be followed by a staggered roll out to the rest of consortium.

The Japan bank consortium, led by SBI Ripple Asia, is comprised of 61 banks covering more than 80% of all banking assets in Japan. MoneyTap will have the potential to provide on-demand payments to the vast majority of the country through this consortium.

Flexibility with domestic payments is limited in Japan: transactions must occur on weekdays and between 8:30 am and 3:30 pm or risk delays.

While there are discussions to change the window on the current banking rail system to make it accessible 24 hours a day and seven days a week, the cost of implementing it would be high.

https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-powered-mobile-app-provide-demand-domestic-payments-japan/

Every Rippler, from the executive team to our newest hires, started their careers in one place — the classroom. It’s in this pivotal setting that children’s dreams are forged and legacies begin.

Take, for example, Ripple’s mission to establish an Internet of Value: a world where money can move like information. In part, it’s the teachers we encounter in our formative years that enable us to pursue ambitious goals like this.

We’re thrilled to announce that Ripple and its executive team are giving back to America’s teachers with a $29 million dollar donation in XRP to DonorsChoose.org.

https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-executives-proud-support-americas-public-schools-29-million-xrp-donation-donorschoose-org/

You're running a full bitcoin node, know Linux and have decent command line skills. Okay? Cool, go ahead and spin up a Docker instance.

If that sounds intimidating, you're not alone.

But as recently as January, using the lightning network, a layer-two technology for scaling bitcoin, on "mainnet" - ie, with real money - called for these rarified levels of technical expertise. Not to mention a strong stomach - bugs lurked in early implementations, threatening to part users from their funds (early adopters boasted of their prowess with the slogan #reckless).

https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-lightning-payments-slowly-becoming-less-reckless/

$10 Billion Worth of Bitcoin Stored in Underground Vaults

Numerous investors are storing their Bitcoin in underground vaults all over the world to prevent the assets from being stolen. This appears to be the most hardcore “hodling” ever recorded.

A company based in Hong Kong – Xapo – provides Bitcoin wallets and cold storage services. The company holds nearly $10 billion worth of Bitcoin in its vaults, Bloomberg states.

Taking a look at the numbers, it’s about 6% of the current market cap of Bitcoin, and it belongs to a single entity. This makes Xapo one of the biggest crypto storage services in the world.

http://tokenlion.net/blog/post/122/extreme-hodling---10-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-in-underground-vaults

Huawei Technologies Co., a Chinese multinational communications technology company, has announced that mobile phone users will be able to download Bitcoin (BTC) wallets on new Huawei devices starting Friday, Bloomberg reported May 10.

Huawei is releasing BTC.com’s Bitcoin wallet in its AppGallery app store, which will be pre-installed on all new Huawei smartphones, according to Alejandro de la Torre, vice president of business operations at BTC.com. It will reportedly be the first digital currency app offered on Huawei devices.
Access to apps like BTC.com’s is limited in China as the government blocks Android’s Google Play Store and some parts of Apple’s App Store. While Chinese authorities shut down cryptocurrency exchanges and banned initial coin offerings, people can still own cryptocurrencies. De la Torre told Bloomberg:


https://cointelegraph.com/news/huawei-releases-bitcoin-wallet-in-app-store-pre-installed-on-all-new-smartphones

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have gone mainstream ever since the market exploded last year and major television shows have been talking about cryptocurrencies on a regular basis.

CBS sitcom Big Bang Theory had an entire episode last year on bitcoin where the characters search for a large amount of bitcoin they had mined in its early days.

Just last week, popular HBO show Silicon Valley aired a crypto-themed episode where the fictional company PiedPiper offers an initial coin offering (ICO) for their cryptocurrency PiedPiperCoin to raise money for their company. Over the last 12 months, several popular TV shows including Mr. Robot have featured cryptocurrencies.

Now, it’s Sesame Street’s turn.

No, the popular children’s program didn’t take time to teach toddlers about monetary policy, but mainstream financial publication Business Insider did devote a large portion of its recent interview with Cookie Monster (yes, that Cookie Monster) toward gauging the Muppet’s thoughts on bitcoin.

Shockingly, Cookie Monster did not know much about bitcoin. But he goes on to explain that he is familiar with the concept of “Bitcookie.”

“Me know about Bitcookie. Me know that me have cookie and me do this. That me bit cookie.”

Cookie Monster then goes on to talk about self-regulation — a key topic of discussion within the nascent cryptocurrency indsutry. He confesses that he has an issue with regulating himself. He explains, if he sees a cookie he’s not supposed to eat, he takes a step back and looks away. Then, he would eventually eat it.

“Me, OK, me do have issues with controlling meself. Fruit, cookie, fruit, cookie. Ah. This tough decision. So me got strategies me use to help me to control meself. Well, what me like to um, to control meself, me sometimes like to take deep breath. And it calm youself down. So like, if me saw a cookie right there, and me wanted to eat said cookie, me would just kind of take a little step back, maybe distract meself, maybe look away. No see cookie. Maybe sing a song. And then, after while, me can eat said cookie.”

Cookie Monster was on Business Insider to promote his new book, ’The Joy of Cookies’.

https://www.ccn.com/cookie-monster-has-a-light-hearted-conversation-about-bitcoin-and-self-regulation/

With U.S. President Donald Trump declining to renew a nuclear deal with Iran, citizens of the country are turning to Bitcoin. Iran is facing renewed sanctions from the United States which could signal the start of new economic problems. There are also reports that the Iranian government is looking to create a state-owned cryptocurrency.

http://bitcoinist.com/iran-turns-to-bitcoin-in-preparation-for-renewed-us-sanctions/

Understanding Trading Demographics
Market analysts for the social investing network and multi-asset brokerage, Etoro, have conducted a research of their vast user base to help the company better understand exactly who are bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors. Looking at data from March 2017 to February 2018, they surveyed the public profiles of those investing in cryptocurrencies using their systems, and extracted demographic insights from age to gender to job sector.

One interesting point emerging from the data is that an absolute majority of traders are new in the business with regards to having any investing experience. A whopping 81.96% are at the Novice level, 10.66% are defined as Intermediate level, and just 7.38% qualify as having an Advanced level of experience in the market.

What is the reason we have very less female on trading?

https://news.bitcoin.com/only-8-5-of-bitcoin-and-cryptocurrency-traders-are-female/