proof-of-stake
ECB head calls for separate framework to regulate crypto lending
A week after the major American crypto lending platform Celsius had to freeze the withdrawal option for its users, European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde voiced her conviction on the necessity of tighter scrutiny over this part of the crypto market. During the testimony before the European Parliament on Monday, June 20, Christine Lagarde expressed her thoughts not only about the looming inflation in Europe and around the globe but also about the increasing activities of crypto-assets staking and lending. In Lagarde’s opinion, this trend demands additional regulatory efforts from the European Union (EU). Referring to the major regulatory package, making its way through the legislative routine, Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCa), she even coined the term “MiCa II”: “MiCA ...
Bitcoin and banking’s differing energy narratives are a matter of perspective
The Carbon Bankroll Report was released on May 17 as a collaboration among the Climate Safe Lending Network, The Outdoor Policy Outfit and Bank FWD. The collaboration made it possible to calculate the emissions generated due to a company’s cash and investments, such as cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. The report revealed that for several large companies, such as Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Salesforce, the cash and investments are their largest source of emissions. The energy consumption of the flagship proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain network, Bitcoin, has been a matter of debate in which the network and its participants, especially miners, are criticized for contributing to an ecosystem that might be worsening climate change. However, recent findings have also brought the...
Bitcoin’s real energy use questioned as Ethereum founder criticizes BTC
The ever-raging debate around Bitcoin’s energy consumption has been re-ignited, with founding member of Ethereum Anthony Donofrio claiming that Bitcoin is using “way too much” energy. According to figures from Digiconomist, Bitcoin (BTC) currently uses 0.82% of the world’s power while Ethereum (ETH) uses 0.34%. Ethereum researcher Justin Drake posted the figures to his 56,000 followers that Donofrio retweeted, stating: If bitcoin is really using nearly 1% of the energy on earth that is way too much for a pet rock. https://t.co/CDL32jk5FF — Texture, PhD (@iamtexture) June 9, 2022 Ethereum proponents are attempting to take shots at Bitcoin while simultaneously promoting Ethereum’s upcoming transition to proof-of-stake, Drake added another tweet moments later that read: “Ethereum post-m...
Brandt’s bearish ETH call — But community predicts $3K before Merge
Veteran futures trader Peter Brandt has suggested that the price of Ether (ETH) could drop to as low as $1,268 in the coming month, but the consensus view of 15,500 members of the CoinMarketCap community is that the price will have hit roughly $3,131 by June 30. The Ethereum network is now in the final steps of its long-awaited Merge with the Beacon Chain and transition to proof-of-stake (PoS), with developers confirming on Wednesday that they successfully completed the Ropsten testnet merge. The Ropsten testnet has now been merged! What a historic and thrilling day for the Ethereum community and what a thrilling day for Next up, 2 more public testnet merges and then mainnet The Merge is coming — sassal.eth (@sassal0x) June 8, 2022 While the timeframe has often been subject to delays, the ...
LINK marines rejoice after Chainlink 2.0 brings a new roadmap and staking
Passive income opportunities are one of the biggest draws in the cryptocurrency ecosystem because it gives investors an easy opportunity to grow their portfolio size regardless of the day-to-day price action. The latest token to get a bump in its price after announcing the upcoming implementation of staking is Chainlink (LINK), the decentralized oracle network that provides important off-chain information needed for the proper functioning of smart contracts. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since bouncing off a low of $6.67 on June 4, the price of LINK has increased 35% to hit a daily high of $9.00 on June 7. LINK/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Here’s a look at what the new developments in the Chainlink ecosystem that could be backing today’s pri...
Is education the key to curbing the rise of scammy, high APY projects?
Most people who have dealt with cryptocurrencies in any capacity over the last couple of years are well aware that there are many projects out there offering eye-popping annual percentage yields (APY) these days. In fact, many decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols that have been built using the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus protocol offer ridiculous returns to their investors in return for them staking their native tokens. However, like most deals that sound too good to be true, many of these offerings are out-and-out cash grab schemes — at least that’s what the vast majority of experts claim. For example, YieldZard, a project positioning itself as a DeFi innovation-focused company with an auto-staking protocol, claims to offer a fixed APY of 918,757% to its clients. In simple term...
What is chain reorganization in blockchain technology?
A blockchain reorganization attack refers to a chain split in which nodes receive blocks from a new chain while the old chain continues to exist. On May 25, the Ethereum Beacon chain suffered a seven-block reorg and was exposed to a high-level security risk called chain organization. Validators on the Eth2 (now consensus layer upgrade) Beacon Chain became out of sync after a client update elevated specific clients. However, during the process, validators on the blockchain network were confused and didn’t update their clients. Seven-block reorganization means that seven blocks of transactions were added to the eventually discarded fork before the network figured out it wasn’t the canonical chain. Therefore, blockchain reorganization happens if some node operators are faster than...
OpenEthereum support ends with the Merge fast approaching
One of the most popular Ethereum (ETH) clients, OpenEthereum has ended support for its software in preparation for the upcoming Ethereum Merge. OpenEthereum creates “clients” or software used to interact with the Ethereum network allowing anyone to create an Ethereum node to mine the cryptocurrency which is currently using a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. In a Twitter thread the OpenEthereum team explained that with the Merge approaching and the legacy codebase becoming “increasingly difficult to manage” due to its age that it was the right time to end support. OpenEthereum support has officially ended. The repo is now archived, and all maintenance and updates have stopped. Why? And what next? Read the — OpenEthereum is Deprecated (@OpenEthereumOrg) May 24, 2022 The project was f...
Ethereum preparing a ‘bear trap’ ahead of the Merge — ETH price to $4K next?
Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), continues to face downside risks in a higher interest rate environment. But one analyst believes that the token’s next selloff move could turn into a bear trap as the market factors in the possible release of the Merge this coming August. ETH to $4K? Ether’s price could reach $4,000 by 2022’s end, according to a technical setup shared on May 20 by Wolf, an independent market analyst. The analyst envisioned ETH moving inside a multi-month ascending triangle pattern, which comprises a horizontal trendline resistance and rising trendline support. Notably, ETH’s latest retest of the structure’s lower trendline could initiate a big rebound toward its upper trendline, which sits around the $4,000-level, as s...
Ethereum devs tip The Merge will occur in August ‘if everything goes to plan’
Ethereum’s long-awaited migration to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which has been pushed back time and time again, looks set to occur sometime in August. Hopefully. Preston Van Loon, a core developer of the Ethereum (ETH) network, told attendees at the Permissionless conference that the transition, known as the Merge, would occur sometime in August if everything plays out according to plan. Ethereum core Dev @preston_vanloon just said the eth merge is ready,they are now only testing, and expects the merge to happen in August. Packed room @Permissionless are excited about it. Great question @TrustlessState. Also on panel @drakefjustin pic.twitter.com/vX4beNatJ5 — Benjamin Cohen (benjicohen.eth) (@benjicohen421) May 19, 2022 Van Loon told the 5000 attendees that the team ...
Cloudflare to run Ethereum node experiment to help ‘build a better internet’
Ahead of Ethereum’s highly anticipated switch to proof-of-stake (PoS), cyber security firm Cloudflare is set to launch and fully stake Ethereum validator nodes over the next few months. It aims to study energy efficiency, consistency management, and network speed of the PoS network as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability and to help “build a better internet.” Cloudflare was founded in 2010 and provides web security services such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation to protect clients from DDoS attacks. Cloudflare said it was experimenting with the “next generation of Web3 networks that are embracing proof of stake,” with Ethereum being the first in line for the company. At this stage, it appears the Merge and transition to a PoS consensus mechani...
Understanding staking pools: The pros and cons of staking cryptocurrency
As a suitable option for long-term crypto token holders, staking pools offer the promise of earning yields in addition to the capital gains earned through token value appreciation. One can invest in a stake pool with a fraction of the number of tokens required to become a validator on a PoS blockchain, while the staking pool rewards users on a daily, weekly or quarterly basis, depending on the cryptocurrency being staked. For example, investors can stake their ETH tokens in a staking pool on Coinbase for daily rewards and with no minimum balance requirement. Another popular blockchain to stake tokens is Cosmos, the second largest ecosystem in blockchain. Investors can also stake their tokens through various validators on many chains available in the Cosmos ecosystem. Choosing which staking...
