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Beta software always presents a risk going in. Companies usually recommend not installing it in primary devices for that very reason. For those who like to live on the edge, however, the latest beta of iOS 12 presented some very real issues. Reports of buggy performance lag, freezes and crashes were pretty widespread for the seventh beta of the upcoming mobile operating system, causing some pundits to recommend skipping the install outright. It’s a marked change over previous builds, which largely seemed to run fairly smoothly. Seems there were enough reports to cause Apple to pull the over the air update, however, less than 24 hours after it first started hitting devices. All of this doubly surprising, given the fact that iOS is likely near final, at this point, with the public version of the software expected to arrive at some point next month (along with, one hopes, some new hardware). We’ve reached out to Apple to find out when we can expect beta 7 to rise again.

It is clear that the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is conflicted as to whether or not they should approve or deny the variety of Bitcoin ETFs in the running for approval. Many investors are looking towards the CBOE VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF as the most likely ETF to gain SEC approval due to a variety of factors. Regardless of the likelihood of approval, some people familiar with the topic feel that investors should not anticipate a decision by the set date of September 30th and should rather be looking towards 2019. Hany Rashwan, the CEO of cryptocurrency startup Amun Technologies said that “the SEC is likely to delay until February of 2019 and the chances of a Bitcoin ETF approval in 2018 have always been low.” SEC Weighing Major Concerns Regarding Bitcoin ETF The SEC’s decision to deny the reapplication for the Winklevoss Gemini Bitcoin ETF sent ripples through the markets, even though the application was fundamentally flawed. The denial, however, had a silver lining in that it allowed CBOE to analyze and confront the issues the SEC cited as reasons for denial. The SEC made it clear that the main reason for denial was fear of potential manipulation, but they were also clear that this concern was pertaining to the specifics of the Gemini Bitcoin ETF rather than all Bitcoin ETFs in general. The Winklevoss ETF would track Bitcoin pricing data from Gemini alone, rather than the aggregated markets, which caused concern. The SEC said: “Several commenters claim that the Gemini Exchange has low trading volumes, and one commenter claims that, of all the exchanges, Gemini has the worst pricing. Another commenter asserts that the Gemini Exchange has relatively low liquidity and trade volume and that there is a significant risk that the nominal ETP share price will be manipulated by relatively small trades that manipulate the bitcoin price at that exchange. This commenter states that, while U.S.-based bitcoin exchanges are subjected to stricter regulations and auditing for the holding of client accounts, the trading itself seems to occur in a regulatory vacuum and seems impossible to audit effectively.” The concerns of manipulation and potential investor harm are not relevant to the CBOE VanEck/SolidX ETF, which uses the aggregated markets for pricing and will set each share price to the value of 25 BTC. This then restricts investor access to meet the SEC’s accredited investor guidelines. CBoE Has Growing Confidence in Their Chances of Approval Chris Concannon, the president and chief operating officer of the CBOE spoke on the ETF and the effect of the introduction of Bitcoin futures markets. According to Bloomberg, he said: “As we chip away at their issues to make them less concerned, at some point they’ll be comfortable with an ETF…Having the underlying futures come to market first, prior to an ETF, I think you have a healthier, more mature market. The problem with a futures-based ETF is, what is the right level of liquidity? It’s never been tested before.” The industry is in a race to see which operator gains the first approval for an ETF, as that particular ETF will likely see the most success. “There’s a huge first-mover advantage in the ETF world…Once the assets come pouring in, it tends to continue. We’ve seen that in other ETFs,” Concannon said. Concannon also noted the relatively small size of the crypto markets, saying: “It’s a little bit shocking to me the attention this market gets versus its size. It’s a fifth of Apple. The entire crypto market is a fifth of Apple.” The approval of a Bitcoin ETF would likely change this and could ultimately help propel Bitcoin and the crypto markets to new heights. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Bitcoin ETF Approval Expected in 2019, Will CBOE to be Approved First? appeared first on NewsBTC.

A little bot named QTrobot from LuxAI could be the link between therapists, parents, and autistic children. The robot, which features an LCD face and robotic arms, allows kids who are overwhelmed by human contact to become more comfortable in a therapeutic setting. The project comes from LuxAI, a spin-off of the University of Luxembourg. They will present their findings at the RO-MAN 2018 conference at the end of this month. “The robot has the ability to create a triangular interaction between the human therapist, the robot, and the child,” co-founder Aida Nazarikhorram told IEEE. “Immediately the child starts interacting with the educator or therapist to ask questions about the robot or give feedback about its behavior.” The robot reduces anxiety in autistic children and the researchers saw many behaviors – hand flapping, for example – slow down with the robot in the mix. Interestingly the robot is a better choice for children than an app or tablet. Because the robot is “embodied,” the researchers found that it that draws attention and improves learning, especially when compared to a standard iPad/educational app pairing. In other words children play with tablets and work with robots. The robot is entirely self-contained and easily programmable. It can run for hours at a time and includes a 3D camera and full processor. The researchers found that the robot doesn’t become the focus of the therapy but instead helps the therapist connect with the patient. This, obviously, is an excellent outcome for an excellent (and cute) little piece of technology.