Monat: Oktober 2018

SAMPL – safe 3D printing on the blockchain

With SAMPL, value chains in the area of additive manufacturing are to be secured against counterfeiting.

Blockchain meets additive manufacturing – does it fit together and is it just a combination of buzzwords? Our colleague Maximilian Kops briefly presented this project in his report on distributors. This idea is to be deepened here a little bit.

3D printing – Blockchain meets the Bitcoin revolution review

SAMPL stands for Secure Additive Managing Platform and wants to implement an integrated security solution for additive manufacturing processes and 3D printing. The entire value creation process, from the generation of the 3D print data to the Bitcoin revolution review transfer, licensing and finally the production itself, is to be secured on the block chain. The connection to the real world is to be ensured by hardware-based safeguarding of the 3D printers themselves and by marking the end product using RFID chips.

Why is this interesting? From an economic point of view, the problem is that the strength of additive manufacturing is also a risk: 3D printing enables anyone to produce 3D components of any batch size on the basis of design data. Understandably, the unbelievable potential also goes hand in hand with the concern about counterfeit protection. Particularly from the perspective of global supply chains, companies want to ensure that only authorized institutions can use production-relevant data, that only original data is used and that the number of 3D prints produced can be controlled by the customer. On the one hand, no customer wants subcontractors to be able to produce more components than agreed and, for example, supply them to market players; on the other hand, this is not just an economic argument, especially for safety-relevant components.

Smart Contracts and RFID to protect against Bitcoin loophole scam

Of course, such things are already contractually regulated in themselves. However, such contracts cannot rule out the possibility that production-related data may be misused. A technical solution that prevents such scam from the outset would create new security here.

Conversely, one might ask why a supplier should use SAMPL for additively manufactured components. Why should he integrate the above-mentioned hardware safeguards into his Bitcoin loophole scam production systems? The keyword here is the „Chain of Trust“: By participating in this project, the own supply chain also becomes more transparent for the end customer.

Overall, it is interesting that SAMPL, like slock.it, ultimately designed a blockchain use case that can be touched: In the end, it’s all about real, tangible objects and products.

To achieve this, the SAMPL project relies on blockchain technology in conjunction with the secure data exchange solution OpenDXM Global X from PROSTEP AG. Blockchain technology, and in particular the use of Smart Contracts, enables digital licensing for printing a defined number of copies of a component.

The 3D printers are connected to this blockchain via so-called secure elements. Finally, RFID chips applied to the finalized component will store relevant information about the product, such as the serial number.

A consortium of various companies from Germany is working on the project: PROSTEP AG, 3D MicroPrint GmbH, consider it GmbH and NXP Semiconductors GmbH are all involved in this project. Finally, the Fraunhofer Institute for Electrical Nanosystems, the Institute for Cabin Systems at the Technical University of Hamburg, the Hamburg Research Center for Information Systems and the Institute for Distributed Systems at the University of Ulm are also represented.

As Maximilian has already reported, the idea has attracted the interest of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In concrete terms, the project management organisation DLR, which is the administrative head of the „Digital Technologies for Business (PAiCE)“ funding programme on behalf of the BMWi, has granted the project over two million euros in funding. If you would like to know more about the project and keep up to date with publications, please visit the project homepage.

BTC price analysis – What’s the next step after the all-time high?

After the share price reached its all-time high of EUR 1,144.74 (USD 1,209.02), the price entered a bearish triangle pattern and now stands at EUR 1,098 (USD 1,159.65).

Summary: The price remained stable above the EMA100 at around EUR 991 (USD 1,048) at the beginning of the week. On February 20, the price rose above 1000 Euro and dared to rise further, reaching a new all-time high of 1,144.74 EUR (1,209.02 USD) on February 24.
The price then fell and is currently at 1,098 EUR (1159.65 USD).
We did it again: A few days ago the share price was higher than ever before.

At various points we reported that this all-time high was cracked

Of course the world goes on even after such a high. But unlike in January, when the price fell by 200 EUR within a few hours, the price has actually been quite stable so far. Yes, after reaching the highest price for Bitcoin the bulls ran out of air and you could see that people brought their profits home in almost regular intervals – which led to the Triangle Pattern which determined the time between 24th and 26th February. This triangle pattern was bearish in nature, which was also evident from the subsequent price development: The price fell to EUR 1,083.57 (USD 1,144.41) and thus also tested the EMA100. Since then, however, the price has recovered and is currently at 1,098 EUR (1159.65 USD).

The MACD (second panel from above) is negative. Both the MACD line (blue) and the signal (orange) are below zero, the latter is above the first one, so that the MACD as a whole speaks a clearly bearish language.

With 42 the RSI (third panel from above) confirms this bearish picture. Although it has been able to catch up a bit in the last few hours, the bulls are clearly having a break at the moment.

The Chaikin Oscillator (lower panel) was negative, but is currently climbing into positive territory.

The 60min chart therefore looks bearish in terms of price development. One notices that the resistance defined by the all-time high forces a price correction. However, at the moment it does not look like a dramatic development; the EMA100 has passed the first test and the EMA200 is far below that with EUR 1,059 (USD 1,118.46).

In order to be able to say more, we look at the long-term developments

The long-term price development. Let’s first look at the 240min chart:

We see that the bullish price development of the last days brought the price again into agreement with the trend pursued since January. yes, up-to-date also this trend is tested again, however it was not fallen below up-to-date yet.

In the 240min display, the indicators look to the future with bullish but still worried eyes:

The MACD is above zero, but the MACD line dropped below the signal this afternoon, which is a slightly bearish sign. We will have to see if the MACD as a whole can hold above zero. The RSI stands at 53 and is therefore only just bullish. But that was to be expected after the price had been overbought for the last two days. After all, the Chaikin oscillator is positive, but is currently falling.

Finally, let’s look at the bullish 1D chart:

The MACD is clearly positive here; both the MACD line and the signal are in positive territory. However, we will need to see if the MACD line can hold above the signal. The RSI is at 72 and is not only bullish, but overbought. However, it has been falling for two days now, so a healthy consolidation can be seen. Finally, the Chaikin oscillator is also positive and completes the bullish picture.

Even though it looks more bullish in the short term, the long-term picture is still bullish. We will have to see what the price development will be like in the next few days: Can the price hold above the EMA100 in the 60min chart or will it break through there? If so, this could have a bearish influence on the medium-term price development. Since the signals are currently still mostly positive, I am also cautiously optimistic.

Disclaimer: The price estimates presented on this page do not constitute recommendations to buy or sell. They are merely an analyst’s assessment.