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Why Crypto Is So Important For Privacy With HTC Exodus’ Phil Chen

Believe it or not, privacy has been classified as a fundamental human right by the United Nations. However, with the rise of the Internet, this seeming right has been breached time and time again, as consumers continually trade their precious information for what they see as improvements — however incremental — in their quality of life. Decentralized technologies, whether it be Bitcoin, blockchain-based smart contracts, crypto assets, or otherwise, give users an opportunity to opt-out of Silicon Valley’s and worldwide governments’ ceaseless thirst for copious amounts of data.

Related Reading: Professor and Author Argues That Blockchain Represents a New Kind of Trust

NewsBTC was lucky enough to sit down with Phil Chen, HTC’s Crypto Chief Officer, to talk about privacy in our society, and how his team’s brainchild, the Exodus One smartphone, fits into this whole dilemma. Believe us, it’s quite the dilemma.

Phil Chen — Courtesy of EnGadget

1984 — Not Too Far Off From Reality

In 1949, dystopian sci-fi novelist George Orwell released 1984 — a book that depicts a society predicated on control through authoritarianism and the collection of data, data, and more data. While what Orwell writes about is fantastical and, honestly, scary to imagine, Chen hints that our very world is looking more and more like Oceania, 1984‘s foreboding setting. And the crypto insider isn’t exactly wrong.

Over recent years, Facebook has been absolutely rocked by jaw-droppingly disastrous data scandals, some of which have perpetuated the long-standing “#deletefacebook” movement. In March of 2018, political consulting group Cambridge Analytica was revealed to have tapped into the personal data of millions of consumers’ Facebook accounts. What made this even worse was the fact that Cambridge harvested this data without the explicit consent of their victims.

Little is known about the exact political and societal consequences of the underhanded move, but Facebook claims that the consulting firm managed to glean into the lives of 87 million American profiles. In this case, “big data” really was big. And Chen tells us that this gut-wrenching case of a widespread invasion of privacy could have had severe ramifications, “even to democracy.”

Even if companies do not wish to overtly infringe on consumers’ data privacy, security breaches have become commonplace. While crypto hackers — like North Korea’s Lazarus Group — target value in the form of Bitcoin and other digital assets, other black-hats have begun to set their sights on consumer data. Lots of it. The fact of the matter is, this data is important, thus making it expensive on black markets.

Late last year, a hacker group managed to hack into the servers of Huazhu Hotels Group, an accommodation giant in China with over 3,800 locations across the mainland. The data the attacker managed to garner tallied to a reported 141.5 gigabytes in size, and contained data, including personal ID information, phone numbers, email addresses, birthdays, and home addresses, of 130 million guests.

This fracas, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg though. Across the pond, Equifax, a company whose operations effectively rely only on data security and data processing, saw the personal details (Social Security numbers, addresses, full names, etc.) of approximately 145.5 million of its American, Canadian, and British clients get exposed by hackers.

To be frank, it would be a pain to list debacles of a similar nature and caliber that have occurred over the past ten years — as this issue is omnipresent and harrowing. As HTC’s Phil explains:

“I would argue that [consumers] would care about privacy if they knew how their data was being used, and how it was being sold. There’s a very moral movement around this. When you don’t own your crypto assets or data or identity, there is something fundamentally wrong about that… especially because we are this far into the Information Age.”

A Quiet Revolution. 

There’s hope, however. The Equifax and Cambridge Analytica imbroglios led to a mostly quiet revolution in the realm of privacy and data security, forcing millions to rethink how they act on the internet — what services they use, how they manage privacy settings, and so on and so forth.

Even technology giants have taken steps to mitigate further data breaches. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has recently shared that he is looking to push his purportedly now-crypto-friendly firm to provide users with enhanced security and safety through encrypted services and other privacy-conscious offerings.

PayPal, more recently, made an investment in Cambridge Blockchain (not to be confused with the other Cambridge), a startup centered around facilitating the secure transfer of confidential data through a ledger-based system. Representatives of the fintech firm tell media outlets that it is looking to harness Cambridge’s crypto-esque technology to potentially allow its millions of global users to take control of their own data. And that is exactly what Phil Chen wants to see and is actively pushing for in his day-to-day.

Crypto To Play A Key Role

HTC Exodus is established on the raison d’etre of expanding on the concept of “being your own bank” through Bitcoin through technical architecture, giving users the ability to own their own digital identity.

While the device’s private key system is currently relegated solely to the secure storage of crypto assets, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, Chen envisions a world where you can finally own “a sovereign identity that is you — things that you’ve created, attributes or characteristics that describe you.” This vision sounds a tad nebulous — hard to grasp for common Joes and Jills — but the Exodus team is continually trying its hand at moving closer to this altruistic world, where “digital property — what is yours, what is mine” is a bonafide, respected, and widely-adopted topic. 

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, HTC revealed that Exodus One’s hardware could be used in tandem with the native crypto wallet on the mobile Opera browser. While this venture seems innocuous and simple enough, Chen explains that this partnership is “significant,” in that it allows users to utilize Ethereum decentralized applications with a private key that isn’t owned by a third-party wallet, but by themselves, and by themselves only. Exodus’ partnership with Opera marks the first time that users can sign into a third-party service “using a digital identity that you can own.” Gone are the days that every bit and byte of your data and online identity were out of your control.

This may sound insignificant, but this little-known integration truly exemplifies the importance of crypto assets and blockchain technologies in the push for privacy. There is currently no other innovation or technological advancement in the world that allows users to rapidly take charge of their own finances and data, all within a soon-to-be interoperable ecosystem, created for a global audience.

Unfortunately, development on this front of the crypto industry has been slow, as industry stakeholders have focused their efforts on products meant to satisfy speculators. But, with time, capital, and enough catalysts, data privacy and security could quickly become one of blockchain technology’s most tantalizing real-world use-cases.

Featured Image from Shutterstock

The post Why Crypto Is So Important For Privacy With HTC Exodus’ Phil Chen appeared first on NewsBTC.

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This Indicator Shows Ethereum is Structurally Similar to Where BTC Was in 2016

Bitcoin and the aggregated cryptocurrency market have been leading altcoins higher, with Ethereum showing some immense signs of strength as it once again breaks $470

The broader crypto market is getting stronger, as altcoins are now rallying in tandem with BTC or closely following it

If this trend persists, then investor sentiment and risk appetite may continue growing, leading more investors to rotate capital into higher beta assets

This possibility is already coming to fruition, as all the blue-chip DeFi tokens have been surging throughout the past week

One analyst is noting that Ethereum may aid in this market-wide uptrend, as one reliable indicator he is watching is flashing some bullish signs

Bitcoin and the aggregated crypto market are pushing higher today, with Ethereum leading altcoins to retest their key resistance levels.

ETH is still underperforming Bitcoin heavily over a macro timeframe, but there is a chance that it will soon fly past $500 and post even further gains if the altcoin market remains strong.

In many ways – at least from a technical perspective – Ethereum is the altcoin market’s backbone.

This could be good for the higher risk tokens, as one analyst is noting that ETH’s high time frame RSI is flashing signs similar to those seen by Bitcoin in 2016 – before it posted a massive bull rally.

Ethereum Rallies as Bitcoin Lifts Market Higher

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading up just under 2% at its current price of $471.

It still has a way to go before it can shatter the resistance it faces at $500 – which will likely be a strong resistance level.

A break above this level would allow it to gain ground against Bitcoin and likely spark a second wave of altseason.

Analyst Claims ETH’s RSI is Similar to That Seen by Bitcoin in 2016

One trader stated that Ethereum’s high time frame RSI is similar to that seen by Bitcoin in 2016.

This means that it could soon be entering into a parabolic phase that results in exponential gains.

“More than PA i’m focusing my analysis on monthly RSI. Comparing it with 2016 BTC we have a very similar RSI structure. Once more this confirms that $ETH is primed for an imminent breakout.”

Image Courtesy of Wolf. Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.

If Ethereum’s macro price action unfolds the way it could, based on the above analysis, then this may truly be the early stages of the next market-wide bull run that garners global attention.

Featured image from Unsplash. Charts from TradingView.

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Bitcoin Drops to $16K: 3 Reasons the Retest is Healthy For BTC Price Rally

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) declined to $16,000 across major exchanges after hitting $16,480 on November 14. Although the BTC price recorded a near 3% drop within 24 hours, the retest is healthy for the ongoing rally.

The 15-minuteprice chart of Bitcoin. Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

Reasons Why the Drop to $16k Could Actually Benefit Bitcoin

The retest of the $16,000 level benefits Bitcoin for three main reasons as numerous on-chain data points, such as stablecoin inflows, make a larger rally more likely.

First, if BTC rebounds in the near term following its minor drop to $16,000, it would confirm the $16,000 area as a support level. Even during the parabolic uptrend in 2017, when the BTC price hit $20,000, the dominant cryptocurrency struggled to establish $16,000 as a support level. This was because the rally occurred so quickly and there was no consolidation above the area.

Second, whales or high-net-worth individuals have continuously sold throughout the past several days. Since there is heightened selling pressure in the market, minor drops are healthy for the BTC price rally to be sustained.

Third, the pullback would further neutralize the derivatives market, including both futures and options contracts. Before the drop, the funding rate of BTC futures was at around 0.01%, which is an average rate. After the drop, the funding rate would neutralize even further, which would make the ongoing rally less overcrowded.

BTC Price Now in “Safe Zone” After Whales Complete Selling Cycle

Ki Young Ju, the CEO of CryptoQuant, an on-chain market analysis firm, reported on November 12 that whales were selling Bitcoin. At the time, Ju said:

“We might have some $BTC corrections here as the exchange whale ratio(24h MA) hits over 85%, but I think it won’t be a mass-dumping.”

Since then, whale inflows into exchanges have subsided and stabilized. This means that whales have started to sell less Bitcoin, applying lower selling pressure on the market. 

“We got back to the safe zone. The $BTC correction was smaller than I expected. Obviously, the bull market will continue till this Exchange Whale Ratio will range between 85-90%,” Ju said on November 13.

Since there are fewer large sellers in the market, especially if Bitcoin starts to recover from its $16,000 support retest, the upside momentum of BTC price could amplify once again.

There are also an abundance of positive fundamental factors that could catalyze Bitcoin over the long run. For instance, the Federal Reserve said it would maintain its average inflation policy until 2024.

“The Federal Reserve is expecting to keep interest rates in the 0.00–0.25% range … until 2024. As inflation is positive, that translates into negative real short-term rates, leading to currency debasement for the foreseeable future,” economist Alex Krüger wrote.

Atop the optimistic fundamental and technical factors buoying the BTC price, favorable macro factors would also fuel Bitcoin as it enters 2021.

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