MyCrypto Acquires Ambo to Expand into Mobile Platforms

Cryptocurrency wallet platform MyCrypto today announced the acquisition of Ambo to expand its reach on the mobile platforms.

MyCrypto was founded last year by Taylor Monahan, one of the co-founders of the widely used MyEtherWallet, after her split from the venture. She developed the new platform as a Fork Fork A fork can occur when a blockchain diverges into two potential paths forward, there is a change in protocol, or a scenario occurs in which two or more blocks have the same block height.Because blockchain networks are decentralized, the participants on the network must come to an agreement when it comes to things like software upgrades to a network. This is called consensus.When consensus cannot be achieved on a software upgrade, a fork occurs, effectively representing a divergence in software that can result in the formation of a new blockchain, and a new cryptocurrency to go with it.Soft and Hard ForksA soft fork is a software upgrade that is compatible with previous versions of a blockchain network’s software. In other words, even if a miner doesn’t agree to install the upgrade, that miner’s software can still interact with the network. However, if the majority of miners on a network install the upgrade, there will come a point at which transactions confirmed by miners operating on the old version of the software will be made stale.A hard fork is a permanent divulgence from a blockchain. In other words, it occurs when a new set of consensus rules that are not compatible with the old rules is introduced onto a blockchain network. All participants on a network are required to upgrade onto the new version of the software in order to continue confirmation transactions. If there is enough support for the old version of a blockchain affected by a hard fork, then the two versions of the blockchains will operate independently of one another with two different cryptocurrencies. Two famous examples of this are the split between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic, and Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. A fork can occur when a blockchain diverges into two potential paths forward, there is a change in protocol, or a scenario occurs in which two or more blocks have the same block height.Because blockchain networks are decentralized, the participants on the network must come to an agreement when it comes to things like software upgrades to a network. This is called consensus.When consensus cannot be achieved on a software upgrade, a fork occurs, effectively representing a divergence in software that can result in the formation of a new blockchain, and a new cryptocurrency to go with it.Soft and Hard ForksA soft fork is a software upgrade that is compatible with previous versions of a blockchain network’s software. In other words, even if a miner doesn’t agree to install the upgrade, that miner’s software can still interact with the network. However, if the majority of miners on a network install the upgrade, there will come a point at which transactions confirmed by miners operating on the old version of the software will be made stale.A hard fork is a permanent divulgence from a blockchain. In other words, it occurs when a new set of consensus rules that are not compatible with the old rules is introduced onto a blockchain network. All participants on a network are required to upgrade onto the new version of the software in order to continue confirmation transactions. If there is enough support for the old version of a blockchain affected by a hard fork, then the two versions of the blockchains will operate independently of one another with two different cryptocurrencies. Two famous examples of this are the split between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic, and Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Read this Term of MyEtherWallet.

Ambo, a Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamper with. The Evolution of BlockchainBlockchain was originally invented by an individual or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The purpose of blockchain was originally to serve as the public transaction ledger of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.In particular, bundles of transaction data, called “blocks”, are added to the ledger in a chronological fashion, forming a “chain.” These blocks include things like date, time, dollar amount, and (in some cases) the public addresses of the sender and the receiver.The computers responsible for upholding a blockchain network are called “nodes.” These nodes carry out the duties necessary to confirm the transactions and add them to the ledger. In exchange for their work, the nodes receive rewards in the form of crypto tokens.By storing data via a peer-to-peer network (P2P), blockchain controls for a wide range of risks that are traditionally inherent with data being held centrally.Of note, P2P blockchain networks lack centralized points of vulnerability. Consequently, hackers cannot exploit these networks via normalized means nor does the network possess a central failure point.In order to hack or alter a blockchain’s ledger, more than half of the nodes must be compromised. Looking ahead, blockchain technology is an area of extensive research across multiple industries, including financial services and payments, among others. Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamper with. The Evolution of BlockchainBlockchain was originally invented by an individual or group of people under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. The purpose of blockchain was originally to serve as the public transaction ledger of Bitcoin, the world’s first cryptocurrency.In particular, bundles of transaction data, called “blocks”, are added to the ledger in a chronological fashion, forming a “chain.” These blocks include things like date, time, dollar amount, and (in some cases) the public addresses of the sender and the receiver.The computers responsible for upholding a blockchain network are called “nodes.” These nodes carry out the duties necessary to confirm the transactions and add them to the ledger. In exchange for their work, the nodes receive rewards in the form of crypto tokens.By storing data via a peer-to-peer network (P2P), blockchain controls for a wide range of risks that are traditionally inherent with data being held centrally.Of note, P2P blockchain networks lack centralized points of vulnerability. Consequently, hackers cannot exploit these networks via normalized means nor does the network possess a central failure point.In order to hack or alter a blockchain’s ledger, more than half of the nodes must be compromised. Looking ahead, blockchain technology is an area of extensive research across multiple industries, including financial services and payments, among others. Read this Term-based product development company, is focusing on wallet platforms for mobile devices. The firm is currently developing a wallet platform for iOS users and has plans to do the same for Android users along with web interfaces.

With this acquisition, Monahan aims to tap the increasing new blockchain wallet users who are adopting the digital assets using mobile-based wallet platforms.

Mentioning this acquisition, Monahan said: “Seeing how Jai and the entire Ambo team have prioritized serving the new young audience has been amazing; their user research and experience has been different than ours as they target inexperienced and mainstream investors from the start. A lot of what they have done just made sense and made me wonder why we hadn’t thought of that. The team, their vision, and their products were instantly attractive for those reasons.”

Dispute Led to Split

Monahan’s split from her previous venture was not on good terms. Though both co-founders said the split was mutual, Finance Magnates reported earlier that her former business partner filed a lawsuit against her for a dispute over the financial books of MyEtherWallet. She was also accused of hijacking MyEtherWallet’s Twitter handle and moving thousands of its followers to the account of MyCrypto.

“One of the biggest lessons we learned from the 2017 bull-run and subsequent crash was just how under-utilized tokens are,” said Jai Bhavnani, CEO of Ambo. “We want to give people an easy way to actually use and gain value from the amazing tokens and protocols being developed beyond simple speculation. We’re excited to work with such an amazing team and look forward to helping make MyCrypto the flagship desktop wallet.”