May 2020

Digital Dollar Project Releases White Paper Laying Out Groundwork for US CBDC

May 29, 2020 boss

On May 28, the Digital Dollar Project released its white paper, a 30-page document detailing the potential applications of a CBDC. The white paper continues the nascent think tank’s work to push forward development of a digital dollar. The project and the tenets of the new white paper The paper details certain core tenets of what it considers a digital dollar and what it will push forward. The Digital Dollar Project was founded by former leaders of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and professional services company Accenture. One of those…

Cryptocurrency Documentary to Air on Discovery Science Channel

May 29, 2020 boss

“Open Source Money,” a documentary series on a crypto firm fully financed with cryptocurrency will air on cable television in the United States. According to an announcement on May 29, Discovery Science will air the documentary series about Disney-incubated blockchain company Dragonchain on July 4. The “Open Source Money” series was jointly produced by media and technology firm Vision Tree and financed with over $1 million in cryptocurrency. Vision Tree is also behind the forthcoming motion picture “Atari: Fistful of Quarters,” which was tokenized by tZERO, the cryptocurrency wing of…

Bitcoin Rally Shows Traders Don’t Care That Goldman Hates Their Asset Class

May 29, 2020 boss

Cryptocurrency traders don’t seem to care that Goldman Sachs is such a bitcoin hater. At least, that’s the signal markets are sending. Bitcoin prices have surged since the Wall Street heavyweight’s money-management division declared in a presentation this week that the cryptocurrency is “not a suitable investment for our clients,” merely a beneficiary of a “mania” worse than the infamous run on Dutch tulips in the 1600s. You’re reading First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily markets newsletter. Assembled by the CoinDesk Markets Team, First Mover starts your day with the most up-to-date sentiment around crypto…

Crypto Users Could Soon Receive Interest From Two DeFi Protocols at Once

May 29, 2020 boss

The Aave lending protocol introduced a new market based on Uniswap liquidity tokens, which lets depositors borrow assets against these synthetic tokens. The Uniswap market was launched and announced on May 28, and it lets holders of specific liquidity tokens use them as collateral to borrow crypto assets from the protocol. Each liquidity token represents ownership in a Uniswap liquidity provider pool, and they can be redeemed for the actual tokens at any point. Liquidity providers receive a portion of the trading fees acquired by the Uniswap protocol, making it…

China’s TON Community to Launch Their Own Blockchain Network

May 29, 2020 boss

Telegram’s terminated blockchain project, Telegram Open Network, or TON, keeps spawning new community-led TON networks. While there are at least two global TON-based initiatives so far, namely Free TON and NewTON, the Chinese TON Community has opted to launch their own TON network. In a May 29 blog post, the Chinese TON Community voiced its intention to launch a separate TON-based network. The new effort comes in response to Telegram CEO Pavel Durov officially shutting down the firm’s involvement in the project, the post notes. Blockchain testnet is a first…

Bitcoin Rally Falters as Stocks Drop Ahead of Trump’s China Speech

May 29, 2020 boss

Bitcoin’s bulls are taking a breather amid jitters in the traditional markets over rising tensions between the U.S. and China. The world’s biggest cryptocurrency is trading near $9,400 at press time, having posted an eight-day high of $9,620 on Thursday. Prices have gained 8% so far this week, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index. Bitcoin daily chart While bitcoin looks to be consolidating on recent gains, major European stock markets are flashing red for the first time this week. Leading the way lower is Germany’s DAX, down 1.5% on the…

Don’t Be Surprised if Sony Reveals PS5 Design Before June 3 Event

May 29, 2020 boss

Rumors and reports suggest Sony will host a PS5 showcase on June 3. New information hints that the platform holder could reveal the final hardware design beforehand. Insider information and some curious activity over on the PlayStation Blog suggest as much. With the rumor mill working overtime and corroborating reports popping up left, right, and center, next week’s PS5 showcase seems all but inevitable. New information suggests Sony may reveal the final console design beforehand, presumably to let PlayStation 5 games take center stage on June 3. PS5 Hardware Reveal…

Russia’s Largest Bank Sberbank Buys 5,000 Blockchain ATMs Despite Authorities’ Plan to Ban Crypto

May 29, 2020 boss

Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, is purchasing more contactless ATMs that are powered by blockchain. The banking giant is making this move despite an upcoming bill that aims to penalize individuals and firms that use and trade cryptocurrencies. The bank rides the blockchain wave The banking institution just intends to cut the need for physical contact associated with the use of bank debit/credit cards amid the coronavirus pandemic. Throughout the COVID-19 epidemic, Sberbank has preferred to cut down the use of plastic cards due to health concerns. The banking giant intends to…

Ethereum Significantly Less Private Than Bitcoin, New Research Shows

May 29, 2020 boss

A paper published on May 29 by Ferenc Béres and a team of primarily Hungary-based researchers analyzed the Ethereum blockchain to find out how easily its transactions can be de-anonymized. The research, which has not yet been subjected to peer review, focused on several Ethereum-specific features that overall make the network easier to track than competitors like Bitcoin (BTC). The researchers noted that Ethereum’s account model, contrasted with Bitcoin’s Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model, already makes it less private due to the practice of wallet reuse: “The account-based model reinforces…