Stories by Will Heasman
What Would It Take for Amazon to Accept Bitcoin?
With annual revenues of $280 billion, Amazon is a global juggernaut of e-commerce. To date, however, it’s shunned Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment methods (though it’s more than happy to sell you goods emblazoned with the Bitcoin logo). For Bitcoin advocates, the prospect of the world’s biggest e-commerce company accepting Bitcoin payments is a tantalizing prospect—one that would signal mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrency and propel a new wave of Bitcoin adoption. Amazon has a...
One of Joe Biden's Biggest Donors Runs a Cryptocurrency Exchange
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of crypto derivatives exchange FTX, counts himself among one of Joe Biden's top campaign contributors with a $5.2 million donation. Before the Last Presidential Election, Bitcoin’s Price Was Just $700 As the divisive US election chugs along, news of the donation has spread through crypto Twitter. "Biden - funded by yield farming," quipped Nansen CEO Alex Svanvik in a nod to FTX's DeFi Index futures contract. Biden - funded by yield farming https://t.co/q1Bbeyt0I8 — Al...
Telegram Ordered to Pay $620,000 After Dropping Lawsuit
Messaging app Telegram has been ordered to pay $620,000 in legal fees to Lantah LLC after a failed attempt to sue the company over copyright claims. The claims revolved around the use of the "GRAM" ticker, Telegram's would-be cryptocurrency. The token was originally intended to be used within the Telegram Open Network (TON), a blockchain iteration of Telegram's messaging service. At the same time, however, Lantah, which positions itself as a global marketplace for cryptocurrency payments, lev...
Ethereum 2.0 Launch Gets Closer With Minor Code Release
Ethereum is inching ever closer to its long-awaited 2.0 upgrade. Last night, during one of the most divisive US elections in history, the tool to create Ethereum 2.0's deposit contract silently dropped on GitHub. "We have a go for Main engine start 🚀," reads the GitHub release. ETH 2.0 Deposit Contract is ‘Basically Good to Go,’ says ConsenSys Dev While the entirety of crypto Twitter remains enthralled by the Election results, a few spotted the announcement. "Quietly releasing #ETH 2.0 deposit...
Binance Creates Vault for 5-10% Interest on BNB Holdings
Correction: The headline initially said "daily interest" when in fact it is 5-10% annual interest that's paid daily. We apologize for the confusion. Crypto exchange Binance today announced the launch of BNB Vault, an investment product that claims to offer 5-10% annual interest via the exchanges native token, BNB. The BNB Vault is a yield aggregator that allows users to put their BNB to work by leveraging Binance’s range of financial offerings to earn interest. "BNB Vault is a capital-guarantee...
Banks Could Become Blockchain Nodes, Says US Regulator
The US Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Brian Brooks, struck a chord with attendees at this year's DC FinTech week, suggesting that banks were relics of a “pre-technology era” and will face substantial disruption by blockchain. Brooks, formerly chief legal officer at crypto exchange Coinbase, suggested that the future would see banks “directly connected to blockchains, where they will see that as a payment network and they will become nodes on that network.” How decentralization will disrupt...
Skynet Labs Builds Key Component for Decentralized Web
Blockchain start-up Skynet Labs has developed a decentralized alternative to traditional filesharing platforms, allowing developers to create alternatives to the likes of Twitter and Instagram. "A new era is upon us. We are proud to announce the launch of SkyDB - the final building block by Skynet that enables next-generation applications to compete with the siloed centralized web," reads a Skylab tweet. Twitter opens up to developers ahead of decentralization push The decentralized twist on f...
The US Election Results Will Be Published on the Blockchain
The Associated Press, an independent global news organization, is teaming up with blockchain-based encyclopedia Everipedia to publish and distribute the 2020 US election results directly onto a blockchain. The results will be published via Everipedia, which runs on the EOS blockchain, and will make use of another blockchain called Chainlink. Larry Sanger wants Everipedia to be a post-truth Wikipedia “AP is the gold standard in counting the vote and declaring election winners, and we are please...
You Can Now Trade “Turbo” Bitcoin Derivatives
Crypto derivatives platform Delta Exchange today launched Bitcoin turbo options, a twist on the traditional derivatives. These offer up to 200x leverage and enable traders to sell the option once a price barrier is hit. “In the traditional markets, turbo options have become wildly successful because they provide traders with a way to capture the upside in underlying assets at fractional risk,” said Pankaj Balani, CEO of Delta Exchange. “By introducing these new exotic options to the crypto indus...
EOS’s Developer Is Providing Enterprise Blockchain Services
Block.one, developer of the EOS.IO software that drives the EOS blockchain, has launched EOSIO for Business—a suite of enterprise offerings that allow organizations to better integrate blockchain technology. The offering comprises four modes to help businesses build and maintain blockchain-based infrastructure. These include Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS), consulting, technical support, and training and certification programs. “Despite knowing the inherent benefits that blockchain will deliver...
Brave Is Now the Top-Rated Browser on Google Play Store
Privacy-centric browser Brave has soared past competitors on the Google Play Store, becoming the top-rated browser and leaving Google's own Chrome browser in the dust. With a rating of 4.8 stars out of 5 from over 238,000 total reviews, Brave has gained a serious advantage over the competition, edging out Chrome, Firefox, and many others by a noticeable margin. "Brave on Android is now the top rated browser on the PlayStore," tweeted Des Martin, head of marketing at Brave. "Ahead of Chrome (4.1...
Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum's 'Nearly Unusable' for Many App Types
Co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote today that Ethereum is "nearly unusable" for many types of applications. And, judging by the Ethereum 2.0 roadmap, this could be the case for many years to come. "The L1 is nearly unusable for many classes of applications, and there’s no non-L2 path that can get us to scalability in the short-to-medium term," Buterin wrote in an Ethereum developer thread earlier today. L1 refers to layer one, or the base protocol, which in this case is the Ethereum blockchain. L...
eToro Unveils Staking-as-a-Service for Cardano and Tron
Trading platform and multi-asset brokerage eToro will soon ship its staking-as-a-service option for Cardano (ADA) and Tron (TRX). The new staking service will go live later this month, allowing anyone staking the supported assets via eToro to earn staking rewards. Justin Sun, founder of Tron and CEO of BitTorrent, said, in a release, "As we continue to see diminishing returns from traditional [centralized finance] services, [decentralized finance] is continuing to expand. Services such as eTor...
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Weighs in on Coinbase Controversy
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has elected to ditch political debate in the workplace, fearing deviation from its broader mission of fostering crypto adoption and building the company. But some, including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, don't entirely agree. “Bitcoin (aka "crypto") is direct activism against an unverifiable and exclusionary financial system which negatively affects so much of our society,” Dorsey tweeted. “Important to at least acknowledge and connect the related societal issues your cus...
Dfinity Reveals 'Brain' to Power its Internet Computer
The Dfinity Foundation, a blockchain-based cloud computing firm striving to establish a decentralized internet, today revealed the Network Nervous System (NNS)—the brain that it hopes will power the decentralized web. Backed by venture capital monoliths, including Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital, Dfinity aims to launch the so-called "Internet Computer"—the alias for its decentralized web—later this year. The shipping of the NNS, otherwise known as the Sodium Network, stands the final m...
Ripple to Offset Carbon Emissions for XRP Ledger
While cryptocurrencies—Bitcoin, in particular—are not known for their environmental friendliness, blockchain payment solution Ripple is striving to ditch the stigma by creating an open-source tool for projects to reduce their carbon footprint. Bitcoin environmental impact grows following post-halving dip Designed in collaboration with blockchain-based nonprofit Energy Web Foundation, the tool, dubbed EW Zero, will allow any blockchain to decarbonize through the purchase of renewable energy in lo...
IOHK, United Nations Offer $10,000 for Sustainable Blockchain Project
Cardano powerhouse IOHK has announced a $10,000 bounty for forward-thinking blockchain projects that further the UN's sustainability goals. What is Cardano (ADA)? The Peer-Reviewed Blockchain Five years ago, the UN adopted the sustainable development goals (SDG) project, a blueprint of 17 solutions to address global challenges such as poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation. Now, along with IOHK, the organization is looking to lean on blockchain to help kick the solutions into action....
More Than 430 Altcoins Are Now Derived From Bitcoin
Bitcoin—the godfather of all cryptocurrencies—is also a father, and grandfather, to over 436 altcoins that account for approximately six percent of the total sum of the cryptocurrency market. But what's up with Bitcoin's reproductive rate, and what's the forking point of it all? Here’s a rundown of Bitcoin’s most popular—and less popular—altcoin spin-offs. A Bitcoin fork, in crypto lingo, can be described as a radical update to the network protocol. There are two types, hard and soft. The lat...
US Space Force Uses Blockchain to Bolster Security
Blockchain-centric cybersecurity firm Xage has secured a contract to create a decentralized end-to-end protection protocol for the US space force (USSF). We have partnered with @SpaceForceDoD to offer end-to-end #cybersecurity protection to support both terrestrial and space-based assets – you can learn more here: https://t.co/OUXdgRLsxA #USSF #spaceforce pic.twitter.com/afcUBxfhHo — Xage Security (@xageinc) September 17, 2020 The CyberSec firm will be engaged in securing data across the USSF'...
The First Part of Ethereum 2.0 Is Formally Submitted
Core developer Danny Ryan has submitted a proposal for the first and most critical phase of Ethereum 2.0, moving it closer to its launch. ITSHAPPENING.GIF@dannyryan has submitted an EIP for eth2 phase 0 👀https://t.co/eqvEDiT3FT pic.twitter.com/NHM3DJ8i4D — Anthony Sassano | sassal.eth ⛽ 🏴 (@sassal0x) September 16, 2020 The proposal, dubbed "Serenity Phase 0," is responsible for bringing about the highly anticipated proof-of-stake (POS) consensus mechanism—an efficient method for validating t...
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