A blockchain project says it makes Bitcoin programmable in a way that it hasn’t been before — enabling apps and smart contracts to be brought to the network. Stacks (formerly known as Blockstack) aims to position BTC as the foundation for a better internet that’s owned by users. Those behind this ecosystem argue that the internet is broken, with tech giants dominating the landscape. Stacks is a Layer 1 blockchain that uses Bitcoin’s infrastructure as a secure base layer. Smart contracts and apps can be enabled with little modification, with “minimal transaction load” on the network. Underpinning how scalable Stacks …

A new decentralized ecosystem for financial services is aiming to deliver greater levels of interoperability — in a world where hundreds of blockchains can’t talk to each other. The One-Stop DeFi Interoperable Solution (known as TosDis for short) offers white-label solutions — allowing projects to offer services such as staking, yield farming and liquidity staking to their users affordably and securely. This helps eliminate technical barriers as well as the high costs that can often be associated with development. TosDis also enables cross-chain transfers and liquid staking to be performed securely and trustlessly. An EasyStake feature will mean users receive …

U.S. digital currency exchange Coinbase has outlined plans for supporting Ethereum 2.0 staking rewards — possibly setting the stage for even wider adoption of the smart contract platform. In an official blog post, Coinbase says it plans to roll out Eth2 staking, trading and conversion services starting in early 2021. Once Eth2 is supported, existing Coinbase customers will be able to convert their Ether (ETH) tokens to ETH2 and earn staking rewards. The company said: "While staked ETH2 tokens remain locked on the beacon chain, Coinbase will also enable trading between ETH2, ETH, and all other supported currencies providing liquidity …

A Web3 infrastructure provider has launched a cutting-edge solution for some of the biggest issues and challenges associated with the long-awaited launch of Ethereum 2.0. Ankr aims to make the deployment of blockchain nodes easy, accessible, affordable and instantaneous — with a decentralized staking infrastructure that’s designed to lower barriers to entry for developers, enterprises and everyday crypto enthusiasts. At present, someone can only become a validator on ETH 2.0 if they have 32 ETH to stake. Given how this crypto was worth over $14,000 at the time of writing, it’s fair to say that this requirement could shut out …

CoinDCX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, is preparing its platform to support ETH 2.0 staking in anticipation of the Ethereum 2.0 launch. As the first phase of Ethereum 2.0 is expected to come online on Dec. 1, CoinDCX is now “all set” to introduce ETH 2.0 staking for the global crypto community, the exchange’s executives announced on Nov. 10. According to the announcement, CoinDCX’s smart contract-based solution will enable users to stake with 32 Ether (ETH) — the minimum amount required to participate in ETH 2.0 staking. Neeraj Khandelwal, co-founder CoinDCX told Cointelegraph that the contract will …

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse thinks corporations converting cash to Bitcoin (BTC) could be making a costly mistake as a more environmentally-conscious Biden administration takes the White House in January. Garlinghouse tweeted Monday that the incoming president will be much tougher on climate change, requiring that all publicly-traded companies disclose their greenhouse-gas producing activities. He singled out Square as one company that “may want to pay attention” to new federal guidelines that could get rolled out as soon as Biden takes office. Garlinghouse’s comments piggyback off an earlier tweet from NYT Politics, which outlined some of Biden’s proposed measures on climate …

A study of cryptocurrency taxation regimes from around the world by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, found that global crypto taxation laws are highly inconsistent. Source: OECD Report. The way crypto assets are defined vary greatly by jurisdiction. Cryptocurrency is most commonly defined as a “financial instrument or asset”, followed by a “commodity or virtual commodity." In the U.S., the asset class remains mostly undefined for tax purposes. Source: OECD Report. The same inconsistency is observed when it comes to determining the first taxable event for mined cryptocurrency assets. The most common approach here is to …

In March, the crypto world saw the first instance of what many saw as a hostile takeover attempt of another blockchain. Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, had acquired Steemit, Inc. and the Steem blockchain with it — or so he thought. A complex battle of hard forks, block production takeover, alleged bribes and misdirection ultimately resulted in most of the Steem community migrating to Hive, a completely grassroots version of the previous platform. Meanwhile, the original employees and developers of Steemit, Inc. left the company almost immediately after the purchase. Their role in the ensuing battle was limited, but …

The recent 51% attacks on Ethereum Classic (ETC) have raised fresh questions about the security of proof-of-work blockchains. Not only has ETC been attacked three times within a month, but these assaults have been enabled with rented hashrate power. One of these attacks cost OKEx $5.6 million as it paid out its customers in full. The major cryptocurrency exchange then threatened to delist Ethereum Classic if it doesn’t improve its security soon. Some questions being asked last week were: Is this problem unique to Ethereum Classic, or are all PoW blockchains vulnerable? Would regulating hashrate rental firms help? If not, …

The more time you spend in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, the more you encounter some fairly arcane technologies and their accompanying terminologies. Blockchain technology, which started out as a simple immutable record composed of blocks of data, is constantly evolving. Although the broader tech world operates similarly, the blockchain and crypto sector moves at a much more rapid pace. We are all racing to create the fastest, most efficient protocol or scalable and resilient app, and must build and improvise along the way. In such a competitive atmosphere, these races force innovation. When scalability is limited, alternative technologies must …

As Ether (ETH) continues to hit new 2020 highs, the majority of ETH is now reportedly profitable. According to data from blockchain intelligence firm Glassnode, more than 90% of the circulating ETH is now in "a state of profit." This means that over 90% of about 112 million ETH coins were bought at a lower price than the current market price of Ether, Glassnode tweeted on Aug. 4. Over 90% of the circulating #ETH supply is now in a state of profit, i.e. the current price is higher compared to the price at the time the coins last moved. Last …

Proof-of-work and proof-of-stake have a lot of benefits to offer the community, and the discussion around these algorithms has dominated conversations in the cryptocurrency community. The use of staking will become more widespread this year on the protocol level with Ethereum 2.0’s expected arrival, along with the continued development of Cardano, Tezos and Algorand, ultimately changing the landscape of the future networks and blockchains. On the other side of the protocols is the mad rush for the hyper gains from decentralized finance projects that utilize high yield farming from loans, which will further the adoption of these staking protocols. The …