A scalable blockchain allows transactions to be completed quickly and cheaply — and allows anyone to create their very own token for fun. Hathor says its infrastructure is so simple that a 13-year-old can launch their own token in under a minute… and the process takes just a few clicks. This could pave the way for companies to issue stock to investors, retailers to offer cutting-edge loyalty programs, votes to take place digitally and democratically, and for tokens to serve as proof of ownership. The project boasts novel architecture combining side-DAGs and blockchain that was inspired by the PhD thesis …

Over the past few weeks, the price of Golem's GLM network token saw a strong rally that pushed the token to a three-year high at $0.65. The altcoin also underwent a strong pump on Feb. 19, but most of the gains evaporated as Bitcoin (BTC) corrected below $45,000 during the past three days. Nevertheless, GLM still holds a 230% gain in February alone. Golem is an Ethereum-based decentralized application that enables users to rent out computing power resources. Since November 2020, the project has been migrating from GNT to GLM tokens after deploying a new ERC-20 contract. Although most exchanges …

Voting is a very important part of any democracy, as it gives its citizens the chance to participate in the democratic governance process. In a democracy, the objective of voting is not just the creation of government but a collective effort that drives the interests of the society and the economy. The fundamental objective of voting across the world is to ensure that it happens in a fair and transparent way. The traditional ballot system has existed for years, but it’s safe to say now that it has outlived its time. Challenges, such as double voting, spurious votes and ballot …

Since the start of February, Harmony (ONE) has rallied by 230% and while the proof-of-stake smart contract platform benefited from Ethereum’s skyrocketing gas fees, the recent meteoric rise appears to be driven by more fundamental factors. Although other scaling-focused solutions such as Cosmos (ATOM), Solana (SOL), NEAR, and OMG also rallied during the same time period, Harmony's performance stands out. Harmony is a sharding protocol with a trustless Ethereum bridge that separates the chain into segments that process transactions and store data in parallel. It's considered a layer-2 solution as it splits both the nodes and blockchain states into shards. …

Bison Trails, a leading blockchain infrastructure company, has launched a new protocol that allows customers to scale their node operations without the lag times that normally accompany such functions. Beginning Tuesday, Global Blockchain Synch, or GBS, will allow Bison Trails customers to address the lag times associated with launching a new node operation. The company has claimed this will significantly reduce downtime risk, slashing penalties and costs while at the same time boosting scale and optimized participation. Joe Lallouz, Bison Trails’ CEO, explained the problem: “A significant pain point when launching new nodes is the time it takes for them …

The Polkadot project released a detailed roadmap on Monday for the highly anticipated rollout of parachains and slot auctions, which should mark the full launch of the protocol. The roadmap is divided into three main stages. The current phase is the Rococo testnet environment, where developers can test mechanisms to communicate between various Polkadot parachains, its analog of shards. The platform uses a mechanism called Cross-Chain Message Passing-lite, or XCMP-lite, to allow parachains to send tokens and generalized messages to each other by going through Polkadot’s relay chain, the central coordinator of the network. The Rococo testnet was launched in …

This week Linear Finance (LINA) emerged as a viable competitor to Ethereum-based projects in the DeFi sector that find themselves hampered by congestion and high transaction costs. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that on Jan.13 LINA was trading for $0.0135 with a 24-hour trading volume of $2.3 million. Since that time its price increased by 750% to an all-time high of $0.10 on Feb.12. Originally an ERC-20 based project, LINA transitioned to the Binance Smart Chain in mid-January ahead of its mainnet launch on Jan.28. On the same day of the mainnet launch, the team also released Linear …

The Lightning Network has grown 75% in size over the past year, hitting a record high 8,900 nodes for the first time on Feb. 8, according to LN monitors at Bitcoin Visuals. A significant proportion of the increase occurred more recently, suggesting that some Bitcoiners are gravitating toward the layer-two solution, potentially as a means of escaping ever-increasing transaction fees. The total BTC locked in LN channels has remained in the 1,000 to 1,100 range since Aug. 2020 — however the total dollar value has risen 250% in the intervening months, translating to a record $42.72 million currently locked on …

The Matic Network, a project developing an Ethereum-based layer-two solution and an independent proof-of-stake blockchain, announced Tuesday that it would rebrand to Polygon. While the existing products and the token would remain largely the same, the new branding signals a strategic change to become a layer-two aggregator. Polygon is set out to support other Ethereum scalability solutions, notably Optimistic Rollups, ZkRollups and StarkWare’s Validium, in addition to its in-house platforms. The strategy will be implemented through a new Polygon SDK, which will allow developers to build their DApps on a scalable and Ethereum-anchored infrastructure, without having to choose any technology …

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid has temporarily disabled Ether (ETH) withdrawals as the altcoin hits new all-time highs. According to a Feb. 4 announcement, Liquid has halted withdrawals for ETH and some ERC-20 tokens due to a massive spike in transaction costs, or gas fees. “Service will be resumed once gas fees return to normal levels. All other crypto currencies are operating as per normal,” Liquid said. On Feb. 4, ETH price posted another high of above $1,600, following propelled growth of nearly 20% over the past seven days. The growing price has been steadily driving transaction costs higher, hitting new …

Ethereum’s gas fees are again spiking to record highs, rendering many decentralized finance protocols unusable for casual investors. After increasing roughly 20% in the last 24 hours, average Ethereum transaction fees are now sitting at a record $17.67. With many DeFi projects requiring the execution of complex smart contracts, there are reports fees associated with using protocols requiring complicated transactions now exceed $1,000. Amid the chaos, Twitter-user “Olive Allen” reported estimated gas fees of nearly $5,000 to accept a bid on Rarible. Almost 5k is the price to accept a bid on @rariblecom now!! Is it because of ETH high …

Global cryptocurrency exchange OKEx is moving to cheaper and faster Bitcoin (BTC) transactions with its upcoming Lightning Network integration. According to a Tuesday announcement, OKEx’s Bitcoin Lightning Network will be integrated “in the coming quarter,” making OKEx a participant node in the Lightning Network. The integration will allow OKEx users to select the Lightning Network option when depositing and withdrawing BTC, intending to decrease transaction fees and times. The Lightning Network is a second-layer scaling solution and payment protocol based on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. The protocol was suggested by Joseph Poon and Thaddeus Dryja in 2015 in an …