The general way in which rule changes have been made to Bitcoin so far is through the use of soft forks, specifically the process outlined in BIP 9 (at least these days). Soft forks are backward compatible — users are not required to upgrade their software clients in order to stay on the network with …
Opinion: What’s the Difference Between a Bitcoin Hard Fork and an Altcoin? Read More »
Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), a fintech company specializing in blockchain technology, has signed two partnership deals with the University of Edinburgh and the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) to further advance blockchain research. University of Edinburgh via http://www.ed.ac.uk/ Last week, IOHK and the University of Edinburgh launched the Blockchain Technology Laboratory. Located within …
[After publishing this article, Qtum did provide proof of Caspal’s Rubik’s Cube records under a different name. We regret the error, though it is not relevant to Patrick Dai’s involvement with Qtum] Patrick Dai, the founder of Qtum, has admitted to using another name and running another cryptocurrency before Qtum. He left the currency after it faced …
JAAK, a London-based tech company using blockchain technology to disrupt the media and entertainment industry, has been selected for the first Techstars Music accelerator alongside ten other startups. The newly established accelerator, headed by Bob Moczydlowsky formerly of Twitter, Topspin Media and Yahoo! Music, will provide the 11 teams with an intensive three-month incubation program …
JAAK Uses Ethereum and Swarm to Disrupt the Media and Entertainment Industry Read More »
Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have typically been associated with ‘pre-mined’ blockchains, whereby the blockchain’s cryptocurrency is discounted for an initial period of time as a means to help rapidly drive critical mass and utility. This changed with the introduction of the Ethereum blockchain, a blockchain that allows developers to deploy their own proprietary Ethereum tokens …
Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin was interviewed on the most recent episode of Epicenter. During the interview, Buterin was asked for his reflections on The DAO. The DAO was a venture capital fund of sorts with essentially no barrier to entry. After raising over $100 million worth of ether in an initial coin offering (ICO), a …
Ethereum Creator Vitalik Buterin Reflects on Lessons from The DAO Read More »
London-based BABB App Ltd. plans to soft launch its blockchain-based banking platform in Q2’17. The company is currently applying for a full banking license and is seeking to enter the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) sandbox. Built on a distributed ledger using Ethereum smart contracts, the BABB banking platform will operate a “decentralized information model” …
New Ethereum-Backed Banking Platform Set to Soft Launch in Coming Months Read More »
For nearly the past two years, various alternatives to Bitcoin Core have attempted to increase Bitcoin’s block size limit via hard-forking changes to the codebase run by nodes on the network. While manageable capacity increases are desired by many Bitcoin users, the complications associated with hard forks have left the network unwilling to adopt an …
The darknet markets are not just about drugs. Many vendors on AlphaBay, which is the darknet’s largest market, sell information such as credit card numbers and login details for Netflix and other online accounts. One of the most interesting pieces of information that can be bought on the darknet markets—and many online hacker forums for …
$5 Worth of Bitcoin Gets You Free Internet ‘For Life’ on the Darknet Read More »
As the bitcoin and blockchain companies develop in a multitude of directions, many start-up and incumbent products and services have come and gone over the years. As with any niche, reaching the consumers in any corner of the market can be difficult, and bitcoin isn’t exempt from this. It has become pretty standard for most …
Online reputation company Traity has launched Kevin, a chatbot that provides micro-insurance for peer-to-peer transactions against theft, fraud, scams, and more. Kevin was built in partnership with Suncorp, the largest Australian insurance conglomerate. Another product will be launched in the coming months, Juan Cartagena, founder and CEO of Traity wrote in a blog announcement. Kevin …
Traity Launches Blockchain-Powered Micro-Insurance Solution Read More »
Initial coin offerings (ICOs) were all the rage in 2016. These token offerings raised more than $200 million for various projects during the course of the year, with the largest one (The DAO) also being the new technology’s biggest failure. Many of the ICOs launched these days are built on Ethereum, which is a platform …
Lightning networks have long been touted as one of the most powerful solutions for scaling Bitcoin. The basic premise is to allow users to send un broadcasted, signed Bitcoin transactions between each other before eventually settling those payments on the blockchain. There are a handful of companies currently working on various lightning network implementations, one …
Blockchain.info Could Have a Major Impact on the Adoption of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Read More »
GRC is the first cryptocurrency in the world specifically created for casual users, who want to obtain resources from the investment point of view. Cryptocurrency was developed in 2013, however after long registration procedures, contracts signing and creation of a special licensed trading platform, the official launch only took place at the beginning of 2017. …
The Chinese Ethereum Classic Consortium (ECC), an organization representing the Ethereum Classic (ETC) community in China, is organizing the first ETC hackathon, an event taking place between March 24 and 26, 2017, in Shanghai. Formally titled the Fintech Connect ETC Hackathon, the event aims to encourage the development of applications on the ETC blockchain and build …
Upcoming Ethereum Classic Hackathon Aims to Foster Blockchain Development in China Read More »
While Bitmain is one of the most important companies in the Bitcoin industry, not many people realize the company has two CEOs. Most of the public statements over the years have come from Jihan Wu, and less is known about Micree Zhan, who is the more technically-inclined of the two. In a recent interview with …
Bitmain Co-CEO Micree Zhan Prefers Bitcoin Unlimited Over SegWit for Now Read More »
Dash, a privacy-centric cryptocurrency, has unveiled its largest software upgrade since inception. Sentinel, or Dash version 12.1, is setting the foundation for Dash’s much anticipated decentralized payments system Evolution. The Sentinel upgrade includes feature additions and significant improvements to backend protocols, governance, voting and privacy functions, and represents Dash’s largest redesign in its three-year history. …
Dash Releases Major Software Upgrade, Sets Foundation for Evolution Read More »
Digital Garage, a technology-based investment and development company based in Tokyo, has unveiled plans to build a new blockchain-based platform and several blockchain solutions for the Japanese market. The firm is collaborating with Canadian startup Blockstream, a company it had invested in last year, and will be using its Sidechain technology from the Elements Project. …
For Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation ING, 2016 was the year of blockchain experimentation during which it developed 27 proofs-of-concepts of the application of the technology in six business areas including payments, trade finance and working capital solutions, financial markets, bank treasury, lending, and compliance and identity. In a blog post published last week, …
ING Blockchain Innovation Team: “For Us, 2016 Was About Experimentation” Read More »