Day: December 26, 2019

Bitmain and Canaan to Reveal 5nm Bitcoin Mining Chips in 2020

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Two of the largest bitcoin mining chip manufacturers have plans to equip their products with 5nm chips in the near future. Just recently, China-based manufacturer Bitmain purportedly produced the world’s first 5nm test-grade bitcoin mining chip and more efficient mining rigs will see mass production next year. The firm Canaan also recently announced that the company will have access to 5nm semiconductors by Q1 2020. Also Read: Mining Report Shows 65% of Bitcoin’s Hashpower Stems From China TSMC’s 5nm Process Is Ahead of the Game Last January, the Taiwan Semiconductor…

Agharta Hard Fork to Bring Full Compatibility Between ETC And ETH

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The upcoming Ethereum Classic (ETC) Agharta hard fork will include features of the Ethereum (ETH) Constantinople fork and intends to make ETC fully compatible with Ethereum. In a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 26, ETC Labs further confirmed its intention to ensure full compatibility between ETC and ETH, as the coming Agharta update is expected to create backward compatibility between the two networks. ETC Labs CEO Terry Culver commented: “Ethereum Classic Labs is one of the first incubators to support innovative projects on the Ethereum Classic Blockchain. The…

Google Suspends MetaMask From Its Play App Store, Citing “Deceptive Services”

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Google has banned Ethereum (ETH) wallet and decentralized app (DApp) browser Metamask’s android client from its Play app store. The MetaMask team took to Twitter on Dec. 26, where they announced that Google had suspended MetaMask’s android client from Google Play’s app store, claiming MetaMask was in violation of Google’s financial services policies. Google reportedly cited their policy prohibiting cryptocurrency mining on mobile devices. The MetaMask team attempted to appeal Google’s decision to ban MetaMask from its app store to no avail, as Google promptly rejected the appeal. MetaMask co-lead…

Twitter Bug Exposed Millions of User Phone Numbers

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A security researcher was able to use a bug in the Twitter Android app to identify millions of Twitter users, connecting their phone numbers to their Twitter IDs. The exploit could expose failures in the company’s two-factor authentication system and give other security developers pause. According to a TechCrunch report, the researcher, Ibrahim Balic, created randomized lists of phone numbers and sent them to Twitter. “If you upload your phone number, it fetches user data in return,” he said. The user data allowed Balic to find phone numbers for many…

YouTube Crypto-Related Content Not Fully Restored, YouTubers Say “Nothing Has Changed”

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On December 26, YouTube released a statement saying the platform had mistakenly removed hundreds of crypto-related videos this week. However, many of the YouTubers affected by the ban still have not had their videos restored on the site. YouTuber Ivan on Tech told Cointelegraph on December 26th: “Nothing has changed. YouTube said this was a mistake yesterday too. I’m not sure why they are saying this.” Ivan on Tech’s YouTube account, which has more than 210,000 subscribers, received a strike from YouTube earlier this week. He has since set all…

Bahamas Central Bank Will Pilot Digital Currency Starting December 27

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The Central Bank of the Bahamas (CBOB) is planning to introduce a digital version of the Bahamian dollar in the Exuma district. According to an official press release, the CBOB will launch its digital currency (CBDC) pilot on Dec. 27, which will extend in the first half of 2020 to Abaco, a group of islands and barrier cays in the northern Bahamas. The digital currency is being developed under the initiative called Project Sand Dollar and will be the Bahamas’ first digital currency. The initiative aims to make access to…

Privacy-Focused Zcoin Launches Funding Project Similar to Monero CCS

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Privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcoin (XZC) has launched a new crowdfunding system similar to one by another major privacy coin, Monero (XMR). In a Dec. 26 blog post, Zcoin announced the launch of the Zcoin Crowdfunding System (ZCS), a new platform that is designed to serve as shift from direct funding from block rewards to a donation model. ZCS to help Zcoin to further decentralize the project and fund additional initiatives The new ZCS system will help further decentralize the project in line with the company’s vision of a privacy-focused cryptocurrency, Zcoin’s…

Marty Bent on the Macro Fires on the Horizon

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Marty Bent is the author of one of the most popular daily Bitcoin newsletters and co-host of Tales From The Crypt. In this end of year interview with The Breakdown, he talks about the macro context – from trade wars to pressure on the fed to continue and expand the QE experiment to global instability – and how it is painting in stark colors the need for tools like bitcoin.  Disclosure Read More The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards…

YouTube Calls Crypto Purge a Mistake But Many Videos Still Missing

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YouTube erroneously purged cryptocurrency education videos from its video-sharing platform this week but claims to have reinstated them, according to a spokesperson. Content creators, however, are telling a different story. Responding to allegations that it had intentionally deleted content from cryptocurrency education channels ChrisDunnTV, Crypto Tips, BTC Sessions and others in what apparently amounted to hundreds of missing videos, the spokesperson said that YouTube made “the wrong call.” “With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call. When it’s brought to our attention that…

Holiday Spending up 14.6% as E-Commerce Beats Brick-and-Mortar

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E-commerce sales hit record highs this year as Americans continue to move their holiday shopping online. According to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse report, online retail grew 18.8% over last year’s holiday season. That’s enough to make online sales a record 14.6% of holiday shoppers total spend, the report says. Online consumers this year spent 17% more on apparel, 8.8% more on jewelry, 10.7% more on electronics, and 6.9% more at department stores.  Overall, holiday spending jumped 3.4% compared to 2018. The strong numbers came in spite of 2019’s unusually short holiday season,…