Supply chain tracking network VeChain has just upgraded its consensus mechanism to what it claims is the “world’s greenest” method of verifying blocks on the chain. On Nov. 16, VeChain reached a milestone in its six-year history by upgrading its VeChainThor mainnet to the first phase of the Proof of Authority (PoA) 2.0 SURFACE consensus algorithm. VeChain is a supply chain tracking system that launched in 2015 and combines physical tracking with blockchain record keeping. PoA and Proof of Stake (PoS) differ from Proof of Work (PoW) in that they do not require mining to reach network consensus. PoA achieves consensus by verifying users’ identities, while PoS does this by staking coins in the network. The VeChain network runs with only 101 nodes. Fewer nodes reduce decentralization but incre...
Polygon, a layer two scaling solution for Ethereum compatible blockchains, stated in a press release provided to Cointelegraph that it has launched its zk-STARK powered Miden Virtual Machine for the development of decentralized applications, also known as DApps. 1/7 We are proud to reveal the newest member of the Polygon family – Polygon Miden, an upcoming STARK-based, EVM-compatible Rollup! The project is led by @bobbinth, former Facebook’s lead ZK researcher who led the development of Winterfell. A on why this is exciting… pic.twitter.com/5RqAJgnZlP — Polygon | $MATIC – We’re hiring! (@0xPolygon) November 16, 2021 zk-STARK stands for zero-knowledge Scalable Transparent ARgument of Knowledge. In layman’s terms, zero-knowledge technology allows one party...
The rehabilitation plan to compensate creditors from the now-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox is now finalized following confirmation from a Japanese court. According to a Tuesday announcement from Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi, the rehabilitation plan originally filed in the Tokyo District Court in February is now “final and binding.” The confirmation order of the rehabilitation plan in Japan’s court system is one of the final steps in a long process that began with a 2018 petition to compensate creditors of the exchange that collapsed in early 2014. Kobayashi said he would be in touch with “details of the specific timing, procedures and amount” of repayments to creditors who had made claims in accordance with the approved plan. Though it’s unclear whether the payments will be made in ...
The New York Digital Investment Group will be paying the National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets franchise in Bitcoin as part of a partnership aimed at promoting crypto education and adoption. In a Nov. 16 announcement, the Houston Rockets said the New York Digital Investment Group, or NYDIG, would become the team’s official Bitcoin (BTC) services partner and platform. As part of the partnership, NYDIG is planning to name some of the Rockets’ premium seating at the Toyota Center in Houston the ‘Bitcoin Suites.’ The deal with the NYDIG seems to be part of a larger strategy for Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, who is also chairman and CEO of Landry’s Restaurant Group. Last week, the company announced it would be introducing a BTC rewards program for its restaurants and is already rol...
Ether (ETH) traders might have a few reasons to panic after today’s 13% drop down to $4,100. The swift pullback appears to have broken a 55-day ascending channel that had a target at $5,500. Ether/USD price at FTX. Source: TradingView Those not worried about technical analysis will understand that the cryptocurrency’s 3.4% daily volatility justifies the 10% negative price swing. Still, one should not disregard externalities such as the United States infrastructure bill approval on Monday. The legislation requires that digital asset transactions worth more than $10,000 are reported to the Internal Revenue Service. It remains unknown whether that will be applied to individuals and businesses developing blockchain technology and wallets. Furthermore, on Nov. 12, the United States ...
But the devastation wrought by prolonged bouts of extreme weather in recent years has elevated conservatives’ attention to the issue and fostered a receptiveness that was harder to come by previously, Curtis said. “This year has been a little bit of a tipping point” the lawmaker said in an interview at POLITICO’s Sustainability Summit. “I do find more constituents willing to talk about it in a different way.” He said that Republicans can be a constructive counterweight to Democrats in climate discussions, such as by pushing back against prescriptive policies that could stifle the innovation necessary to meet ambitious emission-reduction goals. “I think it’s incumbent on Republicans to join our Democratic colleagues in finding paths forward — paths forward on methane and other issues,” he s...
Elon Musk picked a fight with Bernie Sanders on Monday over the U.S. senator’s outspoken views on taxing the wealthy. The Tesla CEO last week sold approximately $6.9 billion USD worth of Tesla stock after asking his Twitter followers whether he should sell part of his stake to pay taxes. “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?” he asked in this poll, which was supported by over half of the respondents. Shortly after the selloff, Tesla stock prices took a 15% tumble. A week after, Sanders sent out a tweet demanding more accountability for the ultra-wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes, though the tweet was not directed at Musk specifically. We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay...
Bitcoin (BTC) logged its worst daily performance since September as BTC price slid by 10% to under $59,000 on Nov. 16. On the other hand, the United States dollar jumped to its best level in sixteen months after spending across the American retail sector grew despite persistent COVID-19 fears and inflation concerns. The BTC price established an intraday low of around $58,600 on Coinbase, only to retreat higher to reclaim $60,000 as its psychological support. Its move downside appeared as U.S. President Joe Biden signed the $550 billion infrastructure bill into law, including new tax-reporting requirements for cryptocurrency users. Some used the news yesterday (Infrastructure Bill) to shake the tree and get some more cheap bags of #bitcoin for themselves. — David Gokhshtein (@davidgokh...
Multimedia film director and artist Yi Zhou is set to mint the first-ever royal nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, based on the story of Italy’s House of Savoy. The digital works are made in collaboration with the House of Savoy’s (non reigning) descendent, Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, Prince of Venice. The House of Savoy is known for playing a pivotal role in the Unification of Italy, or the “Risorgimento”, over 150 years prior. Its then king, Victor Emmanuel II, acted as a symbol of the movement. Together with the Sardinia-Piedmont premier Camillo Benso, known as the Count of Cavour, revolutionary activist Giuseppe Mazzini, and general Giuseppe Garibaldi — the “brain,” “heart,” and “sword” of the Risorgimento, the four men led the cr...
Privacy-oriented browser Brave continues to deepen its commitment to cryptocurrency adoption by replacing its extension-based cryptocurrency wallet with a browser-native one. The company announced to Cointelegraph on Tuesday that it is prepping the official launch of Brave Wallet; a self-custody cryptocurrency wallet built into the Brave desktop browser, enabling users to store and buy cryptocurrencies like Ether (ETH). Brian Bondy, chief technology officer and co-founder at Brave, told Cointelegraph that the new wallet replaces Brave’s MetaMask extension fork named Crypto Wallets. According to the CTO, the new implementation that was “built from scratch, natively into the Brave Browser.” The new wallet is different from other web3 wallets like MetaMask in that it doe...
The top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization keep changing over time as the industry matures. Solana (SOL) has seen its value skyrocket so far this year and has been consistently processing over 2,500 transactions per second. The cryptocurrency’s price, according to TradingView data, is up nearly 13,000% year-to-date as the year started with SOL trading slightly below $2. Solana is now changing hands-on exchanges for around $240. Solana is a blockchain platform that aims to achieve high transaction speeds at a low cost without sacrificing decentralization. To do so, it relies on a number of unique features, including a “proof-of-history” mechanism. This allows Solana to process an estimated 50,000 transactions per second, compared to Bitcoin’s seven and Ethereum’s 15. As the Solana ne...
Wrapped tokens are variations that operate within another blockchain network that’s not their native. Each of these tokens have been “wrapped” so they can function on the Ethereum blockchain. Wrapped Bitcoin, renDoge, and THORChain (ERC-20) are the top wrapped tokens you can buy on November 16. Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) is an ERC-20 token that represents Bitcoin (BTC) on Ethereum, which allows it to take advantage of all of the blockchain’s capabilities. renDOGE is a representation of Dogecoin (DOGE) on the Ethereum blockchain through RenVM. THORChain has built a chain-agnostic bridging protocol that allows trustless and secure value-transfer connections with other chains. THORChain (ERC20) (RUNE) is the token that operates on the Ethereum blockchain. Should you buy Wrapped Bitcoi...