Cryptocurrency was built on the premise that a reimagined financial system could exist. It was brought to life by a community that supported these ideals and worked tirelessly to bring them to fruition. As the blockchain community grows, so does the recognition that cryptocurrency is important. According to Big Four audit firm Deloitte’s “2020 Global Blockchain Survey,” more than half of those surveyed believe that digital assets will be very important, while almost 89% of respondents feel that digital assets will be important to their industries in the next three…
Month: August 2020
This early Bitcoiner sold BTC on eBay for a 100% markup in 2015
Chris Maurice, CEO of Nigeria-based crypto exchange Yellow Card, made his first business venture into the crypto space back in 2015, selling Bitcoin (BTC) on eBay. “We did that for about a week and we did over $40,000 in sales at a 100% markup,” Maurice told Cointelegraph in an interview. “We were seeing stars at this point,” he recounted, describing his euphoria at the time. The CEO first learned about Bitcoin in 2013 through a friend — Justin Poiroux, the co-founder of Yellow Card exchange, although Yellow Card was not formed…
Providing fertile ground for blockchain innovation
The strain placed on healthcare teams and networks over the past few months has been severe, pushing dedicated medical professionals to the limit as they work tirelessly to combat COVID-19 in communities around the world. The crisis has permeated every facet of society, shining a spotlight on the glaring inefficiencies within the traditional global healthcare system and illustrating the inherent need for technology-driven initiatives that can alleviate pressure on healthcare professionals and ensure patient data collation is as streamlined and secure as possible. As someone who has long championed the…
Chainlink acquires a privacy-preserving oracle protocol from Cornell University
Chainlink (LINK) has acquired a privacy-preserving oracle protocol DECO from Cornell University and one of its creators, Ari Juels, will be joining Chainlink as chief scientist. Previously, Juels served as chief scientist at RSA and has been teaching at Cornell University since 2014, one of the premier blockchain hubs in the world. He is taking a sabbatical to focus on his work at Chainlink. Along with his research partner Markus Jakobsson, he coined the term “proof-of-work”. DECO employs advanced cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs to provide enhanced privacy to its users.…
Remembering Hal Finney’s contributions to Blockchain and beyond
It’s been six years since Hal Finney passed away from the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS. Finney is known as an early supporter of Bitcoin (BTC), and one of the first people to respond to Satoshi Nakamoto’s initial post on the cypherpunk mailing list. In Bitcoin’s earliest days, he was the only one who fully understood the possibilities of the technology, without being overtly skeptical about its prospects. Finney was one of the better-known cryptographers in the cypherpunk community even prior to his involvement with Bitcoin. Early in his career,…
Ministers used influence to pilfer millions in alleged Ponzi Scheme
A recent filing from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, takes action against three individuals for allegedly raising millions of dollars against more than 1,000 victims. “From 2017 to May 2019, Jali, Frimpong, and Johnson, directly and through two entities created to perpetrate the scheme, Smart Partners and 1st Million (the ‘Companies’), fraudulently raised more than $27 million from approximately 1,200 investors, many of them African immigrants,” an Aug. 28 legal filing states. The allegations claim the three individuals used their influence in churches and health care, preying…
A new Cardano-based project is handling oracles a lot differently than Chainlink
Cardano (ADA) is getting into data oracles ahead of the Goguen era that will add smart contract functionality, taking a different approach than Chainlink. The first oracles are being built in partnership with EMURGO, one of the companies in the Cardano ecosystem, and Ergo (ERG). The first two oracles are deployed on Ergo and provide price feeds for the two trading pairs: ADA/USD and ERG/USD. The new model introduces Oracle Pools, which are capable of incentivizing good and disincentivizing bad behavior. Ergo’s core developer Alexander Chepurnoy told Cointelegraph that the…
‘Sex sells’ – sex.crypto sells for 230 ETH
Earlier today, the domain ‘sex.crypto’ sold for 230 ETH, or approximately $90,000 at press time. The domain extension .crypto is generated by Unstoppable Domains and is censorship-resistant. The transaction, which occurred on OpenSea’s token marketplace, was completed by a user named Maxstealth. Currently, he owns 196 .crypto domains in total. This individual or entity appears to be an Ethereum (ETH) whale, as the Ethereum address from which the payment was sent has received over 10,000 ETH. Currently, the account has only 1.75 ETH left, according to data from CrystalBlockchain. The buyer most…
Charles Hoskinson’s IOHK submitted a decentralized treasury proposal to the Ethereum Classic community
Charles Hoskinson’s IOHK recently published two Ethereum Classic Improvement Proposals, or ECIPs, meant to help the struggling chain recover after a slew of recent 51% attacks. The first introduced a checkpoint system to prevent the possibility of such attacks, and the second proposed a decentralized treasury — a seemingly divisive idea within the ETC community. Following the recent attacks, a heated debate ensued concerning the project’s future. Hoskinson, one of Ethereum’s co-founders and a supporter of the ETC fork, believes that the way forward revolves around the institution of the decentralized treasury. The proposal suggests that the…
Don’t just blame DeFi for paying high ETH gas fees
Transaction costs on the Ethereum blockchain are at record highs, and no one will let you forget it. Reports often detail how decentralized finance platforms are the cause of ever-rising gas fees — tokens paid to miners who confirm and enable transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. Yes, DeFi does play a role, but the problem is institutional. Some exchanges, custodians and asset managers have been using multisignature platforms to secure their digital assets. Several years ago, multisig was viewed as a respected attempt to prevent private keys from being compromised.…