As the world is still reeling from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, people everywhere are doing what they can to support the effort to find vaccines and treatments. Not to be left out, blockchain projects everywhere have rallied together to supply computing power and money in a concerted effort to accelerate research. What it takes to fight this virus It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that researching treatments, tending to patients and supplying resources are all expensive work. With the added burden of a global pandemic that is threatening the economy, supply chains and the workforce, donating extra resources …

Michael Stay, a former software engineer with Google and the current CTO of smart contract and decentralized application (Dapp) firm, Pyrofex, claims to have successfully hacked a zip file containing the private keys to over $300,000 in Bitcoin (BTC). In a blog post, Stay says that his journey began when he received a message from “a Russian guy” on LinkedIn about six months ago. Software engineer contacted on LinkedIn regarding paper from 2000 The Russian had read a paper authored by Stay in 2000 describing a technique that he had used to successfully attack zip files. “He had read that …

The fight against the Coronavirus pandemic has reached the spheres of GPU mining, as the U.S. chip manufacturer NVIDIA launched a proposal for all users to use their computer resources to help the cause. Through Reddit, the technology firm said that the “Folding@home” initiative was open to receive donations of unused GPU computing power and thus distribute it to an international processing power network to research COVID-19 and other diseases. The company extended the call to other gaming industry companies, such as Steel Series, NZXT and Razer, even hearing back from Intel Gaming and MSI, who responded to the thread …

The hype cycles around cryptocurrencies are comparable in their ups and downs to the British weather. This is primarily due to high volatility, which can reduce the entire stash of a potential investor to almost nothing. Those who believe in the growth and prospects of cryptocurrencies are constantly in search of various ways to turn a quick profit. There are various platforms — for example, crypto exchanges — where it is possible to earn on digital currencies without investing in equipment. This method is suitable for those who follow exchange rates and are good at predicting the volatility of the …

Electronics giant Samsung filed for a patent in May 2019 titled, “Programmable Blockchain Solid State Drive and Switch.” Even though few details are known about the newly designed system, a surge in patent applications filed by large corporations on blockchain is clearly visible. Related: Bank of America’s Blockchain Foray: Patent Trolling or Hedging Risks? Patent wars — i.e., battles between corporations or individuals to secure patents for litigation — are certainly not new. They have been widely practiced in the tech ecosystem since the times of Alexander Graham Bell at the turn of the 20th century, who was involved in …

Major global chipmaker Nvidia, popular with cryptocurrency miners, has outstripped analysts’ expectations with its latest set of quarterly financials. The firm’s Second Quarter Fiscal 2020, published on Aug. 16, revealed $2.58 billion in revenue at earnings of $1.24 per share — as compared with $2.2 billion in the preceding quarter. Still 17% down from crypto-driven highs While the latest results reveal a solid 16% increase over the previous quarter, year-on-year revenue remains down by 17%. Nvidia had earned $3.12 billion during the same period for the fiscal year 2019 amid massive demand for GPUs from cryptocurrency miners. The firm’s outlook …

Privacy-centric cryptocurrency monero (XMR) plans to switch to a new proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm in October. The new algorithm follows an agreement with Arweave, which will fund an audit of the new algorithm, an Arweave spokesperson told Cointelegraph via email on May 23. Arweave, which has launched a permanent and decentralized internet, said that monero will implement the RandomX algorithm, thus replacing CryptoNight, if the audit is successful. Until now, monero developers reportedly hard-forked the network once every 6 months to ensure application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) resistance by implementing small changes to CryptoNight. However, this approach has been criticized for being …

Ethereum (ETH) core developer Hudson Jameson announced that a third-party audit of the Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)-resistant proof-of-work algorithm ProgPoW has been funded. The dev made the announcement during the latest bi-weekly Ethereum core developer meeting held on April 26. During the call, it was specified that the targeted funding amount of 50,000 units of decentralized, Ethereum-based USD-pegged stablecoin DAI had been reached. The funds were reportedly crowd-sourced through donations. Jameson noted that the audit is set to begin “this week or next week hopefully.” ASIC refers to mining hardware that uses single-purpose chips, which are tailored to more …

Last month, reports surfaced on crypto mining research conducted by tech conglomerate Cisco with the following headline: “College kids are using campus electricity to mine crypto.” Indeed, many students don’t have to worry about paying power bills, as per their university housing contracts, which tend to cover electricity expenses. That “free” power allows them to host cost-efficient mining rigs, where the only expense is the actual hardware. It almost seems too good to be true: Mining students receive a passive income, which can potentially cover the purchase of a few textbooks — or even pay for the whole semester and …

Ethereum (ETH) network users have unanimously supported the ProgPoW algorithm, which is expected to make the platform resistant to application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners. Initially, opponents of the update prevailed over supporters by a margin of 96 percent, according to a Cointelegraph report on Feb. 15. The current scenario is exactly opposite, with 94 percent of voters favoring the implementation of ProgPoW, as evidenced by the Etherchain charts. What is ProgPoW? Simply put, ProgPoW is a version of the proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm, which is supposed to smooth the transition of the Ethereum network to proof-of-stake (PoS). As a part of …

On Feb. 14, California-headquartered gaming and computer hardware manufacturer Nvidia reported full-year revenue gains in 2018, despite being one of the companies worst hit by the cryptocurrency market dip and subsequent lack of demand for mining components. The firm’s main products include graphics processing units (GPU), among others, which became widely purchased by miners during the crypto boom of 2017 — as a result, the firm’s revenue started to correlate with the crypto market condition (at least to some extent), which resulted in a few shake-ups. 2017: Nvidia enjoys the crypto boom, becomes substantial part of the market In 2017, …

An online vote over the implementation of ProgPoW in the Ethereum (ETH) proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm shows a majority in favor of the change, according to the results updated today, Feb. 15, on the dedicated voting portal. ProgPoW is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-resistant PoW algorithm meant to replace ETHhash, Ethereum’s current PoW algorithm. By defining the algorithm as ASIC-resistant, ETH developers mean that the algorithm would decrease — but not eliminate — the efficiency advantage of mining using ASICs over using generic hardware such as graphics processing units (GPUs). At press time, over 76 percent (628.000 ETH, equivalent to over …