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Ethereum’s London upgrade is set to activate on Thursday, according to the countdown available on Ethereum.org. “The London upgrade is scheduled to go live on Ethereum in August 2021, on block 12,965,000,” Ethereum.org reads. “It will introduce EIP-1559, which reforms the transaction fee market, along with changes to how gas refunds are handled and the Ice Age schedule.” Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559, or EIP-1559, will directly affect how the network handles transaction fees. Going forward, each transaction will burn a base fee, thereby decreasing the asset’s circulating supply and giving users the option of including a tip to help incentivize speedier confirmations proportionate to network demand. The London fork will also introduce other EIPs, such as EIP-3541, accor...

Bitcoin SV (BSV) has reportedly suffered a “massive” 51% attack beginning around 11:45 am Tuesday, resulting in up to three versions of the chain being mined simultaneously. Analytics provider Coin Metrics confirmed Tuesday afternoon that its FARUM risk management platform had identified the 51% attack. FARUM has identified a 51% attack today on the BSV network at around 11:45AM EDT.https://t.co/Oy19UDw53t https://t.co/T3MMRHqPe8 — CoinMetrics.io (@coinmetrics) August 3, 2021 Information about the attack was further corroborated by Lucas Nuzzi, a network data product manager at Coin Metrics. “Someone is seriously trying to destroy BSV,” he tweeted, adding: “For over 3 hours, attackers were able to take over the chain. All exchanges that received BSV deposits during that time might have bee...

Bitcoin (BTC) might have failed to sustain the $42,000 support, and for many, this is a slightly bearish sign. Interestingly, the downward move occurred shortly after Saudi Aramco, KSA’s largest oil exporter, denied claiming to start mining Bitcoin. Top traders at exchanges seized the opportunity to add leverage-long positions, a clear bullishness indicator. Furthermore, margin traders have been increasing their stablecoin borrowing, indicating that whales and professional traders are expecting more upside from cryptocurrencies. The 24% weekly rally that took Bitcoin from $34,000 to its highest level since May 20 was fueled by a 30% surge in the number of “active entities,” according to Glassnode. This indicator could have triggered these savvy traders to increase their p...

Google is running crypto ads again after its updated financial products and services policy went into full effect on August 3. The multinational giant banned crypto and Initial Coin Offering (ICO) related advertisements back in June 2018, and the updated policy allows regulated crypto entities to market their services once again. ICOs have been left out in the cold, however. Google’s crypto ad policy revision was first outlined in June and stipulates that “advertisers offering cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets” targeting U.S. consumers are allowed to advertise their services and products if they meet specific requirements. The move will provide additional sales for Google’s parent company Alphabet, although crypto ads will likely be just a drop in the ocean of the company’s $147 billion...

An upcoming collaboration between Bakkt and Quiznos will allow customers to pay for meals at certain locations with Bitcoin (BTC). Customers will be able to pay in BTC at certain Quiznos shops in Colorado’s capital as part of an initial test run, according to a public statement on Tuesday. “The pilot will be available at select Quiznos locations across the Denver market, including the high-traffic Denver airport location, starting in mid-August,” the statement said. Folks will be able to pay with Bitcoin via Bakkt’s app — a versatile hub for holding and spending Bitcoin, as well as managing reward points and other features. Quiznos is owned by REGO Restaurant Group. REGO’s president, Mark Lohmann, said in a statement: “Partnering with an innovative platform such as Bakkt is appea...

Last week’s momentum in Bitcoin has all but faded as (BTC) price is once again below the $39,000 level with bears and bulls locked in a heated battle for market dominance.  Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that while Bitcoin price falters, several altcoins like Voyager Token (VGX), Perpetual Protocol (PERP) and Terra (LUNA) have seen double-digit gains. Top 7 coins with the highest 24-hour price change. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro VGX/USD The top performer over the past 24-hours has been Voyager Token, a cryptocurrency brokerage platform that offers retail and institutional investors a secure place to purchase, trade and lend crypto assets. VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for VGX ...

On Friday of last week, I got a press release from Grace at a music and public relations firm called 23, and Grace wanted to know if I was interested in running a feature on a series of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. I almost instinctively replied “I am not, as I am actually exhausted reading these pitches about the half-baked efforts of minor celebrities to get a fat payday thanks to rich cryptopreneurs with more Ether (ETH) than sense,” and then I’d usually rant, and rant, and move on. Except I’m not really that rude to well-intentioned PR people who have no idea that I get 50 of these every day. And yeah, it was a pitch about minor celebrities. But I didn’t move on, as this time they happen to be my minor celebrities, and all I can suddenly think about is driving down to California next w...

Gelato Network, a protocol that automates smart contract executions on Ethereum (ETH), has integrated with DeFi aggregator Zerion to help users better manage liquidity when interacting with decentralized exchanges like Uniswap.  The partnership enables Zerion’s over 200,000 monthly active users to have their Uniswap v3 positions managed automatically, Gelato Network announced Tuesday. “With this integration, Zerion has become the go-to DeFi aggregator to natively offer fungible Uniswap v3 LP positions at a massive scale,” they said. Gelato Network has been designed to address liquidity challenges in cryptocurrency markets emanating from extreme price volatility. Wild price swings, like the kind we saw in May, make it difficult for retail liquidity providers to offer concentrated liqui...

Gary Gensler, chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, is reportedly keen on bright-line regulations for the country’s crypto space. Gensler expressed the SEC’s desire to install safeguards for crypto investors in the U.S. in a Bloomberg interview, stating, “If somebody wants to speculate, that’s their choice, but we have a role as a nation to protect those investors against fraud.” The SEC chairman identified seven crypto-related policy changes currently being examined by the Commission. These include matters concerning token offerings, decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoins. Other focus points for Gensler’s SEC are custody, exchange-traded funds (ETF) and lending platforms. According to Gensler, crypto exchange regulations might be the most straightforward ...

The state of cryptocurrency regulation in Russia has taken another twist as a local court has ordered the country’s largest bank to resume account support for a Bitcoin (BTC) trader. Sverdlovsk regional court, a court in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg, has ordered Sber, formerly known as Sberbank, to unblock account services to a client involved in Bitcoin trading, according to an official announcement on Monday. The client’s bank accounts processed multiple transactions associated with trades on cryptocurrency exchanges from May to August 2020. Sber blocked the individual from access to their bank accounts, citing suspicious transaction activity and Anti-Money Laundering policies. The bank also refused to resume the service after the client attempted to regain access to the...