Minggu, 31 Maret 2019

Kopi Biji Kuning


Bila selama іnі Andа mеngеnаl bіjі kорі mаtаng bеrwаrnа mеrаh seperti buah сеrі, tіdаk dеmіkіаn halnya dі Gаrut. Pеtаnі setempat mengembangkan kорі bіjі kuning yang dinilai sebagai salah ѕаtu unggulаn di Garut.

"Kорі kuning ini kеunggulаngаnуа lebih tіnggі dаrі аrаbіkа. Kkеduаnуа tаhаn реnуаkіt dаn harum kоріnуа lebih tаjаm," kata Kepala Dіnаѕ Pеrtаnіаn Kаbuраtеn Gаrut, Beni Yoga, dі Gаrut, dіlаnѕіr Antаrа, Sеnіn (28/1/2019).

Iа mеngungkарkаn, selama ini kорі biji kunіng baru dіtаnаm dі kаwаѕаn hutan Cіѕuruраn, Cikajang, dаn Cіkаndаng dеngаn luas lаhаn sampai 100 hektare. Hаrgа jual kopi tеrѕеbut, ѕаmbung dіа, lеbіh tіnggі dіbаndіngkаn jеnіѕ kорі lаіnnуа уаng ѕіар ѕеduh.

"Hаrgаnуа уаng ѕіар ѕеduh Rр 85 rіbu ѕаmраі Rр 100 ribu реr kilo," kаtаnуа.
Iа mеnуаtаkаn реmеrіntаh dаеrаh аkаn bеruрауа mengembangkan роtеnѕі unggulаn kорі khas Garut уаng ѕааt іnі реrmіntааn dі раѕаrаn cukup tіnggі. Sаlаh ѕаtunуа dеngаn menambah luas lаhаn kорі bіjі kunіng dі Gаrut.

Lаngkаh lаіnnуа adalah аkаn ѕеgеrа mensertifikasi kopi hasil рrоdukѕі реtаnі dari Kementerian Pеrtаnіаn аgаr реnjuаlаnnуа bisa mеluаѕ untuk dіеkѕроr kе bеrbаgаі negara.
"Nаntі Kеmеntеrіаn Pеrtаnіаn аkаn mеngеluаrkаn ѕеrtіfіkаt sebagai kорі сіrі khas Gаrut уаng siap dіjuаl kе раѕаrаn," ujаrnуа.

Iа menuturkan, Kаbuраtеn Garut mеmіlіkі bаnуаk jеnіѕ hasil perkebunan, tеrmаѕuk kорі dі аntаrаnуа kopi bіjі kunіng yang bаru dіbudіdауаkаn oleh ѕеbаgіаn реtаnі dі beberapa kecamatan.
Kорі bіjі kunіng itu, ujar dіа, mеruраkаn vаrіеtаѕ unggulаn di Garut уаng ѕааt іnі реnjuаlаnnуа аkаn dіреrluаѕ kе bеrbаgаі daerah dі Indоnеѕіа, bаhkаn kе luаr nеgеrі.

"Kopi kunіng іnі kalau ѕudаh dараt ѕеrtіfіkаt boleh keluar (dijual), kе luаr negeri," katanya.
Iа mеnуаmраіkаn, ѕеrtіfіkаt tersebut untuk menjaga keaslian іnduk tanaman kорі bіjі kunіng yang ѕеlаmа ini banyak tumbuh dеngаn hаѕіl bаguѕ dі Kabupaten Garut, уаng dіnіlаі bаhkаn lеbіh bаguѕ dаrіраdа jenis kорі arabika.
Sumber:

Selasa, 19 Maret 2019

Medium Seeks Partners to Launch New Publications

Every day, millions of people read unique, thought-provoking stories on Medium. And every day, more people subscribe, via Medium Membership, in order to access an unlimited number of those stories, ad-free, for just $5 per month. As more people subscribe, Medium is able to fund more great content, which we do in three ways:

First, our open publishing platform creates an equal playing ground for anyone with a perspective to share. It is used by thousands of people for free, daily. The best of these articles are curated and distributed to millions of readers each month.

Second, our in-house editorial team both commissions stories from celebrated writers and journalists and works with new voices they discover on the platform. Among other efforts, this team is building new publications like OneZero and Human Parts (with more to come).

Finally, Medium partners with third-party editors and publishers to offer stories under their own publications as part of the Medium bundle. This includes both licensed and original content.

Today, we are announcing our plan to significantly expand our partner relationships and putting out this call for applications. Specifically, we are seeking partners to create new publications on Medium, which we will help fund and distribute. If you are a current (or aspiring) editor-in-chief, an expert in your field, or an existing publisher with extra capacity, we’d love to hear from you.

What’s a “publication” in Medium parlance?
A publication is a digital magazine. There are several thousand publications on Medium today. Readers can follow publications (as well as individual authors). Readers also see stories from publications in their feeds and email — even if they don’t follow that publication — if those stories are relevant to them. The Medium publication feature set includes back-end editorial controls, newsletters, stats, and other things you find in most content management systems.

What types of publications are you looking to fund?
People turn to Medium to help them understand the world more deeply and find worthwhile ideas they can apply in their lives. So we are looking for quality publications that can do these things across all areas of knowledge and human experience (at least those that people want to read about).

When we say quality, we mean more than good writing (though we like that a lot). We also mean information quality — accuracy, insightfulness, and offering something uniquely valuable to the reader.

Lastly, focus helps. Our members read about almost every topic under the sun. But there is power in specificity. Niche works. If you’re able to own a conversation, that’s better than offering a soon-forgotten rehash on the biggest news of the day.

What we won’t do: We are not interested in publications with ads or that are really thinly disguised marketing. For now, we are limited to English-only. (This will eventually change, so feel free to drop us a note if you want to do a non-English publication so we can get back to you when we’re ready.) Also, our focus right now is nonfiction, so we’re not likely to fund fiction and poetry at this time.

What is the benefit of partnering with Medium?
Our philosophy is that, in an incredibly crowded and noisy media environment, it makes sense to join forces with others who are aligned. While the publishing world is moving to paywalls, there is likely to be a relatively small limit on the number of subscriptions most consumers will tolerate. By working together, we can offer people far more flexibility and value, which will get and keep them subscribing.

How does the money work, and how much are we talking?
We will pay a revenue share based on readership. (We will offer more specific details on how this is determined with partners. The aim is to make it straightforward and as predictable as possible.) In some cases, we will offer a minimum guarantee of $5–50k per month to help publishers get started and lessen the risk.

Deals will vary widely, dependent on the track record of editor/team, subject area, and the potential to build an audience.

If we do a deal, can you promise you won’t stop funding my publication in the future?
No. We are looking for long-term, sustainable partnerships. But, naturally, not all new projects are likely to work. Therefore, we will sign contracts that range from three to 12 months. We will renew (or renegotiate) those that work and say thank you to those that don’t, giving as much guidance ahead of time as possible.

What if I already have a Medium publication?
Well, that certainly makes things easier for both of us. If you’d like to explore a business relationship, we’d love to talk.

What if I am not a professional editor?
We have the highest respect for the editing/writing professions and we believe great ideas can come from anywhere. Some of the most powerful ideas on Medium come from individuals who are not professional writers but who have unique perspectives and knowledge to share. One of our biggest needs is “editors” with deep expertise — especially among technical topics — who can curate the best of these writers and help them find their deserved audience. If there’s a topic you know a lot about that deserves a great Medium publication, please let us know.

What if I already have a publication that’s not on Medium?
We’re also happy to talk. If you have a proven track record of publishing good stuff and getting people to read it, we may be able to help you monetize.

Hasn’t Medium done this before?
We have done deals with third-party publishers in the past. We fulfilled those contracts but did not end up renewing them. At the time, we did not have our subscription offering and were not able to make the numbers work. To be clear, like any business deal, there is still risk involved today. However, we are in a much different position, with a proven model, and we’re excited to enable a new breed of editors and quality content to thrive on Medium.

How do I apply?
Click here to fill out the form. We will review every application and get back to you when we can.

Senin, 11 Maret 2019

Facebook ramps up hiring as blockchain team tops 60 employees

Facebook is expanding its blockchain team.

The social media giant is now advertising for 20 blockchain-related jobs, its careers site shows; nearly triple as many as in December. Listings include product manager, business operation, threat investigator, and brand marketing manager. In May 2018, Facebook publicly announced that it had formed a new team dedicated to blockchain technology, led by David Marcus, the former head of Facebook Messenger.

While Facebook is ramping up external hires for its blockchain team, the company has also made many internal hires. In fact, Facebook’s blockchain team is composed mostly of internal hires plucked from other Facebook product teams including Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Oculus. A LinkedIn search also shows that the blockchain team has swelled to over 60 employees with approximately 60 percent focused on product and engineering. The remaining 40 percent are in operations, marketing, and recruiting.

Notable recent external hires include Esohe Omoruyi who leads Facebook’s blockchain marketing efforts as its marketing director. Omoruyi was previously the SVP of Digital Services Product Development & Open Innovation at  L’Oréal executive. Facebook also brought on Konstantinos Chalkias as its cryptography researcher. Chalkias was previously a lead cryptographer at enterprise blockchain firm R3, where he worked on the Corda blockchain.

In December, Bloomberg reported that Facebook was looking to develop a stablecoin for its WhatsApp users. More recently, the New York Times reported that Facebook had held talks with exchanges about listing its stablecoin, which will be pegged “to a basket of different foreign currencies, rather than just the dollar.”

When reached by email, a Facebook spokesperson told The Block the company was not commenting on anything related to its blockchain efforts or team.

Source:
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/03/08/facebook-ramps-up-hiring-as-blockchain-team-tops-60-employees/

Jumat, 08 Maret 2019

Social Trading Giant eToro Adds Crypto Buying and Selling in 32 US States

Israel-based social investing platform eToro has launched a cryptocurrency trading platform and wallet service in the U.S.

The firm announced Thursday that the new platform allows U.S. customers from 32 states and territories to trade 13 unspecified cryptocurrencies. Multi-asset trading is also scheduled for launch in Q1 of next year.

eToro’s “social” model allows users to reproduce other traders’ bets through its CopyTrader and CopyPortfolios features. The crypto trading platform will also offer three CopyPortfolios at launch, it said, without disclosing further details.

Users can “collaborate with other crypto traders when making buying and selling decisions,” said Yoni Assia, co-founder and CEO of eToro. They can also “adjust their trading strategies by watching and learning from others on the platform.”

The firm said any eligible customer who has an “established” track record “may be copied and compensated for their performance, subject to risk analysis and supplemental evaluation.”

eToro has also launched a multi-signature crypto wallet in the U.S. that supports six cryptocurrencies at launch – bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), XRP and Stellar (XLM) – with more to be added in the near future.

Existing eToro users will be able to log into the wallet directly to hold and transact in cryptocurrencies, the firm said. They will also be able to “convert between different coins with a click of a button.” Cryptos can be sent and received using a QR code or by sharing the wallet address.

The news comes months after eToro first announced its plan to launch a crypto exchange and mobile wallet in the U.S. back in May. At the time, the firm said it will allow trading into 10 cryptocurrencies – bitcoin, ether, litecoin, XRP, dash, bitcoin cash, stellar, ethereum classic, NEO, and EOS.

eToro also announced today that it will launch a crypto exchange called eToroX for a global audience later this year.

The firm has raised $222 million since 2007, according to Crunchbase.

Source:
https://www.coindesk.com/social-trading-giant-etoro-adds-crypto-buying-and-selling-in-31-us-states

Selasa, 05 Maret 2019

Will Ethereum, Tron & Ripple pave the way for a Crypto spring?

one thing that you as traders, investors or just someone interested in Cryptos may or may not like is how intertwined the prices of the Alt. coins is with the crypto kingpin Bitcoin. All you need to do is look at the BTC chart & it will more or less tell you the price action in the rest of the digital coins. Having said that there are exceptions sometimes like we saw Ripple diverging from the rest of the lot on the news of it getting listed on the popular U.S based exchange Coinbase. More on that later, let’s talk about two other significant events that are lined up for the popular dApp platforms of Ethereum & Tron — both of which are the members of the Top Ten Crypto Elite club sitting at Number 2 and Number 9 by market cap respectively.

Ethereum (ETH)
The much-awaited system-wide upgrade Constantinople & St. Petersburg is finally scheduled to go live during Ethereum’s 7,280,000 mined block sometime on Feb. 28th. The proposed hard fork which was originally planned for mid-January by its team of developers had the deadline pushed forward after a security vulnerability in one of the five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) was found by the smart contract audit firm ChainSecurity. According to the official blog post of Ethereum, the transition could take place a little earlier or later depending on the block times. You can follow the countdown timer or monitor the system-wide network upgrade in real-time. There have been previous upgrades on the Ethereum network as well like Spurious Dragon and Byzantium, however this time it is a bigger deal since the upgrade combo of Constantinople & St. Petersburg is taking place together on the same block.

It is easier said than done since the decentralized nature of the blockchain networks demands that consensus be reached among the developers, community members & network clients. Also, the change in the underlying consensus protocol from PoW to PoS is a fundamental shift which requires additional technical upgrades. So far, the upgrade has been relatively non-contentious which is good news for the second most popular blockchain network. Ethereum Miners & Node operators should beware that they risk getting stuck on an incompatible chain if they don’t participate in the upgrade. For my techie friends here are changes that are going to be implemented via the EIP.

EIP 145: Bitwise shifting instructions in EVM
EIP 1014: Skinny CREATE2
EIP 1052: EXTCODEHASH opcode
EIP 1234: Constantinople Difficulty Bomb Delay and Block Reward Adjustment
REMOVING EIP 1283: Net gas metering for SSTORE without dirty maps

TRON (TRX)
The dApps platforms has presented itself as a serious challenger to the hegemony of Ethereum ever since its inception — improving on the shortcomings of the Ethereum network specially with its high scalability claiming processing speed of 2000 TPS as compared to ETH’s 25 TPS. No wonder Tron CEO, Justin Sun has been an open critic of the Ethereum network — we will leave ‘which one is better’ for some other day & stick with the hard forks. Coincidentally, TRX will be undergoing Tron Odyssey 3.5 hard fork the same day (Feb. 28) Ethereum upgrades to its next-gen version. The announcement was made by Sun on his Twitter account. Tron has grown in stature & popularity under the leadership of Sun with his sharp business acumen. However, he has been criticized vehemently by the Ethereum proponents for his public condemnation of Tron’s predecessor & main competitor.

Tron made headlines last June with the high-profile acquisition of the P2P file sharing BitTorrent platform with a claimed subscription base of over 100 million users. The file-sharing company last month decided to issue its own native cryptocurrency called BitTorrent Token (BTT), which will run on the Tron protocol — TRC 10 token (comparable to the ERC-20 tokens that run on top of ethereum). This follows the announcement of Project Atlas in Aug. 2018. Project Atlas enables the users to earn & spend digital coins while sharing files. Coming back to the main features of the Tron network upgrade they include:
Multi-signature support & account management features for Institutional investors
Dynamic energy adjustment would enhance the energy efficiency by streamlining the energy consumption in real-time
Performance upgrade by 50% — to address the mammoth increase in the dApp developers flocking to the open source platform
Providing better security features for the Tron Virtual Machine

Ripple (XRP)
After excessive speculation for the most part of 2018, Coinbase finally decided to list XRP (third most popular digital token) on their Professional platform. The Coinbase blog lists the details of the listing process & the availability of trades for users in detail. Coinbase, which has one of the biggest user bases for a regulated digital exchange & most synonymous with crypto trading has been on a listing spree recently with the addition of BAT, 0x, USDCoin among others. It had, however, shied away from listing XRP on regulatory concerns previously. Finally, it caved into the demand of its user base & continued adoption and popularity of the cross border remittance currency. XRP immediately jumped 12% as a result (figure above). Although it has retreated to its pre-listing lows with the rest of the Cryptoverse, the so-called ‘Coinbase effect’ has sprung life in the digital asset.

Hard forks have been historically known to cause a spike in volatility — a twin platform upgrade on the same day could provide an interesting day of price movements in the Cryptos. Speculatively speaking, if the hard forks in both digital assets go ahead without any incident, they should see healthy gains. Listing of Alt. coins on big name exchanges have had a similar impact — as we saw in the case of Ripple. Will these three provide the way to a Crypto spring? Time will tell…

Source:
https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/will-ethereum-tron-ripple-pave-the-way-for-a-crypto-spring-1e7b7ff12425

Minggu, 24 Februari 2019

Arѕіtеktur Lоgіk Jаrіngаn LAN (Local Area Network)


Arѕіtеktur jаrіngаn komputer dibedakan mеnjаdі 2 уаіtu аrѕіtеktur fіѕіk dan arsitektur lоgіс. Arsitektur fіѕіk yaitu bеrkаіtаn dеngаn susunan fіѕіk ѕеbuаh jaringan kоmрutеr, biasa juga disebut dеngаn topologi jаrіngаn. Sеdаngkаn аrѕіtеktur logik bеrkаіtаn dengan lоgіkа hubungan mаѕіng mаѕіng kоmрutеr dаlаm jаrіngаn. Arѕіtеktur jaringan kоmрutеr ѕесаrа logik ada bеrmасаm macam, bаhkаn terus dіkеmbаngkаn bеntuk bеntuk jаrіngаn bаru.

Arѕіtеktur jаrіngаn fіѕіk LAN аntаrа lain topologi bus, tороlоgі ring dan tороlоgі ѕtаr.

Sеdаngkаn аrѕіtеktur logik LAN ѕеbеnаrnуа аdа bеbеrара mасаm, dan ѕаmраі ѕааt іnі mаѕіh terus dіkеmbаngkаn. Arѕіtеktur lоgіk LAN уаng sudah ada saat іnі аdа beberapa jеnlѕ, аntаrа lаіn:

а. Arsitektur Ethernet
b. Arѕіtеktur Tоkеn Ring
с. Arѕіtеktur FDDI
d. Arѕіtеktur ATM
е. Arѕіtеktur ArcNet

Arsitektur Ethernet


Dаlаm tеknоlоgі jаrіngаn kоmрutеr, рrоtоkоl Ethеrnеt paling bаnуаk dipergunakan. Hal ini kаrеnа penggunaan рrоtоkоl іnі rеlаtіf sederhana dаn murah seperti Nеtwоrk Intеrfасе Cаrd (NIC), hub, dаn ѕwіtсh, dаn tіdаk mеmеrlukаn іnѕtаlаѕі yang rumіt. Kecepatan transfer dаtа menggunakan аrѕіtеktur Ethеrnеt cukup tinggi. Hingga ѕааt іnі, аrѕіtеktur Ethernet ѕudаh mеmіlіkі kесераtаn trаnѕfеr data ѕаmраі 100 Mbps, dеngаn dеlау rendah (puluhan microsecond) dan mеmрunуаі fаktоr kеѕаlаhаn уаng kecil. Belakangan іnі jugа ѕudаh dіреrkеnаlkаn tеknоlоgі Fast Ethеrnеt уаng mаmрu mеnаngаnі dаtа hingga 1000 Mbрѕ (1 Gіgаbуtеѕ per ѕесоnd).

Jаrіngаn Ethеrnеt dapat mеnggunаkаn kabel UTP kаtеgоrі-5 уаng rеlаtіf murаh dan mudah dіdараtkаn. Jaringan ini dараt dibangun dengan mеnggunаkаn kаbеl соаxіаl RG-58A/U 50 Ohm аtаu kаbеl UTP. Sеlаіn kabel coaxial RG-58A/U digunakan pula kаbеl RG-8 50 Ohm. Kabel іnі sering juga dіѕеbut уеllоw саblе karena berwama kunіng.

Cara kerja jаrіngаn kоmрutеr dengan аrѕіtеktur Ethеrnеt іnі аdаlаh, dаlаm реngіrіmаn раkеt data, ѕеbеlumnуа setiap node akan mеngесеk араkаh jaringan sedang mеngіrіmkаn раkеt data. Bila jаrіngаn dalam kеаdааn ѕіbuk, nоdе tеrѕеbut akan mеnunggu ѕаmраі tіdаk ada lagi реngіrіmаn раkеt dаtа. Bila аdа dua nоdе yang mеngіrіmkаn раkеt dаtа ѕесаrа bеrѕаmааn mаkа аkаn dapat mеnуеbаbkаn tаbrаkаn раkеt. Untuk іtu ѕаlаh ѕаtu nоdе akan mengirimkan ѕіnуаl kе jaringan untuk memberitahukan рrоѕеѕ pengiriman dаtа dаn nоdе lаіnnуа akan menghentikan реngіrіmаn ѕаmраі рrоѕеѕ pengiriman ѕеlеѕаі.


Sumber: TamanPustaka

Rabu, 13 Februari 2019

Will People Ditch Cash for Cryptocurrency? Japan Is About to Find Out.

By Mike Orcutt
Japan’s citizens have an expensive habit: paying for things with cash.
Most payments in the world’s third largest economy involve paper bills and metal coins. That sets Japan far apart from China and South Korea, where various “cashless” electronic payment schemes dominate, as well as the West, where credit and debit cards are much more popular.
That means the country also has a lot of ATMs — probably over 200,000 — as well as cash registers and fleets of vehicles for moving money around. It all adds up to an estimated $18 billion a year in costs, most borne by the financial industry.
Next year, hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors — most from countries where credit cards and digital payments are second nature — will descend on Tokyo for the Olympics. They’re expected to spend billions of dollars during the event, and Japan’s financial system simply isn’t equipped to handle it. Hundreds of millions could be left on the table.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he wants 40% of payments to be cashless by 2025. In August, the government announced plans to offer tax breaks and subsidies for companies that get on board. And while everything from credit card payments to transactions using QR codes would qualify, some of the country’s biggest financial players think the way to wean Japan off cash lies in the technology that runs Bitcoin.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), the country’s largest bank and the fifth largest in the world by total assets, has teamed with American internet company Akamai to build a blockchain-based consumer payment network in time for the Olympics. If they pull it off, it could be the fastest and most powerful consumer payment network to date. They claim that in tests it’s been able to handle more than a million transactions per second, with each transaction confirmed in two seconds or less, and say it could eventually achieve 10 million transactions per second. (Visa’s credit card network, by comparison, handles several thousand transactions per second. Bitcoin tops out at about seven transactions per second, and each transaction can take up to an hour to confirm.) The system is designed to handle all kinds of payments, from automated highway tolls to payment-card swipes to in-app purchases.
MUFG, which has also tested its own crypto-token, is far from alone. Mizuho Financial Group, a large holding company, has been experimenting with blockchain technology for several years as part of a project dubbed “J-Coin” and plans to release its own digital currency for retail payments in March. SBI Holdings, a big financial-services firm, says it’s building its own token, also for retail payments, called S Coin.
The wager all these companies are making is that Japan’s society is primed to start using digital cash. It is relatively technologically savvy, cryptocurrency trading has been uniquely popular in the country for years, and Japan’s financial regulators are more familiar with blockchain technology than any others in the world. With the government’s pressure to go cashless, and little competition from credit cards and other forms of e-payment, Japan could leapfrog the technology underlying today’s electronic payment networks and go straight to blockchains.
If the experiment works, the country’s economy might be remade. Everything from huge transactions between banks to small retail purchases could be carried out with barely any delay and at a fraction of the current cost; even today’s credit cards would be slow and expensive by comparison.
In the process, Japan will become the world’s biggest test bed for the decade-old idea that a cryptographic ledger and a network of computers can be used to create an electronic form of cash. It might even regain its position as a global leader in both finance and technology — a status it hasn’t enjoyed for decades.
The story of how it got to this moment, however, begins with a catastrophe.
Illustration: Franziska Barczyk

The Legacy of Mt. Gox

Long, long ago in cryptocurrency time — which is to say, between 2010 and early 2014 — Tokyo-based Mt. Gox was the global online platform for buying and trading Bitcoin. In 2013, it accounted for 70% of all Bitcoin transactions. So when hackers made off with $450 million worth of Bitcoin from the exchange, causing it to collapse, the shock waves were felt worldwide.
The disaster was particularly traumatic for Japan, recalls Aya Miyaguchi, who at the time was working for Kraken, a US-based exchange that was one of the few competitors to Mt. Gox. “For the most part, people did not know anything about Bitcoin,” she says. When the news of the collapse broke, “many in the country panicked,” she says, and the Japanese media panned cryptocurrencies.
This worried Miyaguchi, a native of Japan who moved to the US 10 years ago and now heads the Ethereum Foundation. “I thought the entire ecosystem could be at risk without proper information and education,” she says. She felt a duty to help educate regulators, investors, and the public about cryptocurrency and blockchains.
Just a month after Mt. Gox’s meltdown, Miyaguchi met with Mineyuki Fukuda, an influential lawmaker in Japan’s ruling party who had been given the job of figuring out how to regulate the technology. She was struck by his foresight. “He saw this technology as bringing a potential competitive advantage to Japan,” says Miyaguchi. “We even talked about how we could use crypto for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”
Fukuda was not acting in a vacuum. In the late 1990s and early 2000s Japan’s tech industry, once the envy of the world, had lost big chunks of global market share to foreign companies, particularly in South Korea and China. The government was on the lookout for new industries in which the country could compete. Policymakers were particularly concerned about how Japan had fallen behind China in fintech, says Thomas Glucksmann, a former Mt. Gox employee who now runs Asian corporate partnerships for Diginex, a Hong Kong-based consulting firm focused on blockchain technology.
Fukuda decided not to slap down the cryptocurrency industry after the Mt. Gox collapse, but to cultivate it. Instead of immediately creating new rules for blockchain technology, the government set up an industry-led self-regulatory organization. Eventually, Japan rolled out the world’s first (and still only) licensing regime for cryptocurrency exchanges, which went into effect in April 2017.
The authorities were less forgiving after hackers looted half a billion dollars in January 2018 from Coincheck, an unlicensed exchange that was operating under an exemption. Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) launched investigations of the nation’s cryptocurrency exchanges and ordered several of them to fix shoddy security practices. The regulators toughened up licensing, slowing new approvals to a halt; Coincheck, now under new management, finally got its license only this month.
Regulating cryptocurrency without hindering innovation is a challenge for many governments. But Japan seems to be striking a pretty good balance. After the Coincheck incident, the FSA “studied very hard about cryptocurrency and cybersecurity” and wound up better informed than most consultants in the industry, says Oki Matsumoto, chairman and managing director of Monex, Coincheck’s new owner. As with the Mt. Gox fiasco, the government turned the Coincheck hack into a teachable moment.
Illustration: Franziska Barczyk

Inventing Crypto-Cash

There’s at least one more reason to think blockchain-based cash can succeed in Japan: retail investors there already love crypto.
The affection apparently stems from their affinity for trading foreign currencies. Japanese traders account for more than half of all global margin trading in the foreign exchange market. Of late, they’ve expanded to cryptocurrency trading, taking advantage of Japan’s bustling (and now regulated) exchange scene. It’s hard to pin down the Japanese cryptocurrency market’s exact size, but it has become Asia’s biggest market since China clamped down on trading in 2017. Analysts at Deutsche Bank say Japanese retail investors were a big reason why Bitcoin’s price shot up to almost $20,000 in late 2017.
Of course, cryptocurrency trading is popular in many countries, yet it isn’t used much in retail payments anywhere. Why should Japan be any different? Its retail sector is decidedly low-tech: most stores don’t even accept credit or debit cards. To shop online, people commonly print out a bar code at home and take it to a convenience store, where they pay in cash.
On the other hand, they aren’t completely averse to electronic payments. Prepaid card services like Suica, which are sold by the country’s major railway companies, are popular. Grocery and convenience stores tend to accept Suica cards, too. Andy Champagne, CTO of Akamai, is convinced that the pieces are in place for Japan to end its love affair with cash. “It’s an extraordinarily technical society, and a society that’s very interested in transacting digitally,” he says. Given the government’s push to go cashless fast, “it’s a unique opportunity at a unique time.”
But even if that’s the case, why blockchains? Today’s cryptocurrencies tend to be volatile unless they’re backed by fiat currency in a bank account. They are difficult to use and keep safe from hackers, and blockchain transactions that turn out to be fraudulent can’t be reversed. Third-party services like exchanges can have big security problems, as the Mt. Gox and Coincheck hacks showed. And the most popular blockchains are slow and require masses of computing power to secure the ledger, which gives them huge carbon footprints.
The systems Japan’s banks are building could change that. MUFG’s blockchain will run on Akamai’s servers. The company is skilled at building proprietary algorithms to deliver web content to users around the world, its core business. That expertise readily translates to running a network that’s more energy efficient, faster, and cheaper to operate than a public blockchain, Champagne says. So much so, MUFG believes, that even payments too small to make sense on traditional credit card networks will be feasible.
Will people in Japan really ditch their cash for blockchains, though? Yoriko Beal, cofounder of HashHub, a co-working space for blockchain startups in Tokyo, is skeptical. The popularity of Suica cards shows that it’s not outside the realm of possibility. But she believes it’s about utility, not about the underlying technology. Suica cards are very useful, so people adopted them, she says: “If MUFG and Akamai are so sure that using blockchain can reduce costs a lot compared to, like, using metro cards, it might happen.”

Mike Orcutt is an associate editor at MIT Technology Review, focusing on the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchains. His reporting, which includes a twice-weekly, blockchain-focused email newsletter, Chain Letter (subscribe here), revolves around one central question: Why does blockchain technology matter?
source: https://medium.com/mit-technology-review/will-people-ditch-cash-for-cryptocurrency-japan-is-about-to-find-out-5116d0565fba

Sabtu, 26 Januari 2019

Tebus Alat Masak Harga Miring


Jakarta – Alfamart menawarkan pilihan alternatif alat memasak yang berkualitas tinggi. Alat masak ini bisa didapatkan dengan harga miring.

Marketing Director Alfamart Ryan Alfons Kaloh mengungkapkan bahwa setiap awal tahun, Alfamart memberikan penawaran menarik bagi pelanggan setianya. “Program Kejutan Awal Tahun (KAT) 2019 ini alfamart ingin lebih dekat sekaligus mengerti kebutuhan ibu-ibu Indonesia akan pentingnya memilih peralatan memasak yang terbaik melalui peralatan masak ekslusif Royal VKB,” katanya.

Seri peralatan masak dari Royal VKB ini terdiri dari 6 macam, antara lain pisau serbaguna 13 cm, pengupas 3in1, talenan anti bakteri, pisau koki 20 cm, pencacah modern, serta wadah pemarut + 3 parutan. Peralatan masak ini merupakan alat yang tepat dibutuhkan oleh keluarga masa kini.

“Dengan tema Masak jadi mudah dan menyenangkan, seri peralatan masak ini banyak memberikan keunggulan,” terangnya. Keunggulan itu antara lain pisau dan pengupas 3in1 dengan lapisan anti lengket yang dilengkapi finger guard untuk melindungi jari saat memotong, talenan dengan perlindungan anti bakteri dan pegangan anti licin, pencacah bawang dengan penekan yang modern, serta pemarut 3 macam tekstur yang ergonomis.

Keenam peralatan masak ini hanya bisa di dapatkan di Alfamart dengan harga yang murah dengan pengumpulan stamp belanja. Setiap belanja produk sponsor sebesar Rp 30 ribu, konsumen mendapat 1 stamp dan berlaku kelipatan.

Pelanggan bisa menebus produk tersebut seharga Rp 39.900 hingga 199.900 plus 10 stamp belanja bergantung peralatan masak apa yang ingin didapatkan. Harga bisa makin murah hanya mulai dari Rp 9.900 apabila pelanggan menggunakan digital stamp di aplikasi AlfaStamp yang bisa di unduh di ponsel pintar.

Bahkan penukaran dengan Go-Pay akan mendapat potongan sebesar Rp 2.500. Pelanggan bisa mengumpulkan stamp mulai 16 Januari hingga 29 April 2019 serta penukaran stamp dimulai 16 Januari sampai 5 Mei 2019.

Sumber:
Harian Pagi Radar Tasikmalaya, Jum’at 25 Januari 2019/ 19 Jumadil Awal 1440 H, hal 3

Jumat, 25 Januari 2019

Ajak Pengelola Wisata Adakan Mitigasi Bencana


Tarogong Kidul – Dinas Pariwisata dan Kebudayaan (Disparbud) Kabupaten Garut mengimbau seluruh pengelola kawasan wisata untuk mengadakan mitigasi bencana di kawasan wisatanya masing-masing.

“Mitigasi bencana ini perlu di lakukan oleh pengelola kawasan wisata, khususnya kepada para pengunjung,” Ujar kepala Disparbud Kabupaten Garut Budi Gan Gan kepada wartasan Selasa (22/1).

Kegiatan tersebut perlu dilakukan seiring masuknya musim hujan. Sebab potensi bencana pada musim hujan sangat besar. “Ini penting sekali untuk menghindari hal yang tidak diinginkan akibat bencana,” ujarnya.

Dia menerangkan ancaman datangnya bencana alam di kawasan wisata memang sulit diprediksi. Maka dari itu antisipasi penting.” Kalau wisatawan sudah mengetahui ketika terjadi bencana bisa meminimalisir korban jiwa,” terangnya.

Kabupaten Garut, kata Budi, memiliki potensi kerawanan bencana paling tinggi, sehingga kerawanan di lokasi wisata juga cukup besar. Seperti di lokasi air terjun rawan banjir, kemudian pantai rawan datagnnya tsunami serta wisata gunung longsor. “Kerawanan bencana ini sangat sulit dihindari. Sehingga perlu di adakan pencegahan,” terangnya.

Saat ini kawasan wisata yang sudah menerapkan program mitigasi bencana belum ada. “Kalau secara langsung simulasi mitigasi di lokasi wisata belum ada. Makanya kita terus dorong ke pengelola, harus menata, termasuk bagaimana melakukan mitigasi di lokasi wisata,” katanya.

Kepala BPBD Kabupaten Garut Dadi Djakaria mendukung upaya itu. Selama ini lembaganya telah beberapa kali melakukan simulasi mitigasi bencana di area pantai selatan Garut. “Kebetulan focus kita saat ini pada ancaman adanya tsunami,” ujarnya.

Ia menyatakan saat ini kondisi wisata Garut terbilang aman untuk dikunjungi. Meskipun demikian sikap kehati-hatian harus tetap dijaga semuua pengunjung.

Sumber: Harian Pagi Radar Tasikmalaya Rabu, 23 Januari 2019/ 17 Jumadil Awal 1440H, hal 12