Bitcoin Daily: Rising Electric Rates Challenge Bitcoin Mining Profits; Bitwala Plans Blockchain Account With solarisBank

Bitwala is teaming up with Germany-based solarisBank to roll out a blockchain bank account, CoinDesk reported. While the service is targeted for a November launch, the service already has pre-registrations from 35,000 users. It was created as part of the “Blockchain Factory” initiative from solarisBank and will allow Bitwala to offer banking services through the German banking license of solarisBank. Bitwala President Jörg von Minckwitz said in a statement that solarisBank’s “technical services and regulatory umbrella enable Bitwala to be fully compliant with German banking requirements while offering a reliable user experience.”

In other news, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) are looking to blockchain to help settle insurance payments for people with disabilities, according to CoinDesk. The project, which is called “Making Money Smart,” seeks to bring about a smart-contract-coded blockchain token tied to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The idea is that conditions set up in advance could help service providers and participants make payments.

On another note, Forbes is turning to blockchain technology to help publish its content, CoinDesk reported. The company, which is using the Civil platform, plans to publish some article metadata next year as an experiment. Forbes Senior Vice President of Product and Technology Salah Zalatimo said, “Forbes and Civil believe passionately in the mission of journalism, and together we can provide audiences with a level of unprecedented transparency around our content.”

Bitcoin miners might be challenged to make a profit amid the increasing retail price of electricity, The Next Web (TNW) reported. The percentage of bitcoin mining revenues that represent profit has been steadily declining, moving to “unprofitability for the first time in September,” assuming that miners are paying retail prices, according to a Diar infographic. By comparison, 86 percent of bitcoin mining revenues represented estimated profits back in January. That said, TNW reported that bitcoin miners took in more than $4.7 billion in revenue this year.