The Electric Coin Company (ECC), the firm behind second-biggest anoncoin zcash (ZEC), intends to build a new scalable zcash blockchain, cryptocurrency news outlet Forklog reports on June 22. Per the report, chief engineer at ECC Nathan Wilcox said that the firm should “make Zcash usable by 10 billion people by 2050” if it can. Still, Decrypt notes that achieving this would require zcash’s blockchain to be able to manage thousands — or millions — of transactions per second. Forklog states that ECC is considering implementing sharding, a scalability solution that Ethereum devs also plan to integrate into that network in …

Crypto platform ILCoin says it is developing a “modern alternative to bitcoin” without scalability issues by using “pioneering technology” called command chain protocol (C2P). The protocol of C2P, created by ILCoin, is supposed to solve the main problem of the Bitcoin blockchain — the lack of scalability — by enlarging the block size. The startup says that it has already managed to increase its limit to 25 MB. This enables its users to have a higher transaction amount: Instead of the current maximum for Bitcoin of seven transactions per second, the team says they hit 170.000 transactions per block or …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex is looking to launch the USDT stablecoin operated by sister firm Tether on the Lightning Network (LN), crypto news outlet The Block reported on May 31. Per the report, Bitfinex’s chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino told the outlet that the company plans to launch USDT on LN later this year. To pursue this objective, the firm reportedly joined the RGB open source development project. According to its GitHub repository, the RGB project is “a completely free, open-source, non-profit and community-oriented effort, promoted by the BHB Network and aimed at the development of standards and best practices …

Blockchain infrastructure firm Blockstream announced the launch of its security token platform in a press release shared with Cointelegraph on May 15. Per the announcement, the new Liquid Securities platform is a solution for businesses to issue security tokens on the Liquid Network. Blockstream Chief Security Officer Samson Mow claims that while businesses are willing to issue tokenized securities, platforms such as Ethereum are not the right choice because of their scalability, privacy and reliability limitations. Blockstream claims that its platform is more suitable for such use: “Now, with the launch of Liquid Securities, businesses can quickly issue Liquid-based security …

RIF Labs — owner of bitcoin-based smart contract sidechain Rootstock (RSK) developer RSK Labs — has launched a third-layer scalability solution capable of processing up to 5,000 transactions per second. The news was revealed in a press release from RIF News on May 14. As reported, RSK Labs and its decentralized app (DApp) infrastructure protocols RIF OS began as a spin-off from Rootstock, having been initially launched by several senior executives from the latter’s creator — the startup RSK Labs. The two structures became fully integrated when RIF Labs acquired RSK Labs in November 2018. Originally conceived by Bitcoin Core …

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Joseph Lubin said that the Ethereum blockchain will become about 1,000 times more scalable in 18 to 24 months. Lubin made his remarks during an interview with Cointelegraph on May 11. Lubin specified that the development which will bring such a drastic scalability increase to the ecosystem will be Ethereum 2.0, also called Serenity. He explained that the development is divided into four phases and that eight groups are already developing clients for the new chain. Lubin also promised: “In a small number of months, we should have a fully operational testnet and possibly, by the end …

Economist and notorious cryptocurrency critic Nouriel Roubini said that “crypto is the mother and father of all bubbles” at the Salt conference in New York. CNBC reported on Roubini’s declarations on May 9. During the conference, Roubini also reportedly said that bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets should not be called cryptocurrencies. According to him, “cryptocurrency is totally a misnomer” since “to be a currency, you have to be a unit of account, valuable and a scalable means of payment." Roubini also addressed bitcoin’s scalability, stating that while credit cards are capable of thousands of transactions per second, bitcoin’s network …

An Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) testnet beacon blockchain is now live. Preston Van Loon, co-founder of sharding development firm Prysmatic Labs, announced the development in a Medium post on May 7. Ethereum 2.0 is an upcoming new Ethereum chain featuring improvements in security, scalability, and decentralization. Ethereum 2.0 would not be introduced to the current Ethereum network by means of a hard fork. Instead, users will be able to transfer value from the current Proof-of-Work (PoW) chain via a one-way smart contract. The announcement also notes that shards are a core concept behind Ethereum 2.0. Shards are individual chains …

Average bitcoin (BTC) transaction fees increased by nearly 200% in April compared to March, a report released by crypto research firm Diar on May 6. The report also notes that bitcoin miners earned $13.7 million from fees alone — over 71% up from $3.9 million — the amount they made from fees during the previous month. The overall mining earnings in April were $291 million, up nearly 30% compared to March. The on-chain transaction volume has reportedly risen 43% during April and resulted in full blocks, while Segregated Witness (SegWit) approached 40% of the total transactions per block and blocks …

Blockchain development company Lightning Labs announced that it released the first alpha version of its Lightning Network (LN) client for the main bitcoin (BTC) network, according to a blog post published on April 23. The announcement specifies that this is still an early version aimed at testers and developers willing to start experimenting with the software. The developers also warn that the users should not put more funds into the app than they are willing to lose. Furthermore, while the release supports macOS, Windows and Linux, the post also specifies that it is an important stepping stone in the development …

Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, has updated its wallet infrastructure to include support for Segregated Witness (SegWit) bitcoin (BTC) addresses. The news was revealed in a Gemini blog post on April 15. SegWit is a scalability solution for the bitcoin network, first activated in late 2017. As well as increasing block size, Segwit moves the “witness” signature data to a separate location. It thus solves what is known as transaction malleability, which is conducive to second-layer solutions like Lightning Network (LN). Claiming that Gemini is the first major crypto exchange to launch full — rather than …

Radar, the startup behind decentralized exchange Radar Relay that raised $10 million last year, announced that it will release new Lightning Network developer tools. The statement was made in a Medium post published on April 5. The developer tools, which will be released at the Lightning Network hackathon sponsored by the company, Boltathon, include a node configuration helper, a tool for opening channels and requesting channels, an invoice sandbox for test and an invoice decoder. The tools will be accompanied by setup tutorials, software recommendations and configuration guides for connecting through anonymity network Tor and accessing unreleased features. The tools …