The Market Report with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss what they believe are the top three most bullish coins one should take a closer look at. But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down. Next up: the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as each makes his case for the most bullish cryptocurrency right now. …

Cointelegraph's Jackson DuMont tackles smart contracts in the latest episode of Cryptopedia. He explains how smart contracts work from the basics and provides examples of how they can be utilized in real-world scenarios. DuMont describes smart contracts as code within the blockchain that "execute when specific conditions are met." They are self-executing contracts built on blockchain technology and have the power to complete transactions without middlemen. As an example, DuMont explained the difference between transacting in a centralized exchange like Binance and doing the same transactions with a decentralized exchange (DEX) like Uniswap, which is powered by smart contracts. With …

The highly anticipated nonfungible token (NFT) project Akutars was marred by both an exploit and a bug on the weekend, causing over 11,500 Ether (ETH), worth nearly $33 million, to be locked forever within a smart contract, inaccessible even to the development team. The exploit, however, was conducted by someone trying to show a vulnerability in the project and not steal funds via a hack. The project went live on Friday with a Dutch Auction, a type of auction where the price lowers until it receives a bid, with the first bid winning the sale as long as the price …

In a rare comedic bungle among decentralized finance (DeFi) exploits, an attacker has fumbled their heist at the finish line leaving behind over $1 million in stolen crypto. Just after 8:00 am UTC on Thursday, blockchain security and analytics firm BlockSec shared it had detected an attack on a little-known DeFi lending protocol called Zeed, which styles itself a “decentralized financial integrated ecosystem.” The attacker exploited a vulnerability in the way the protocol distributes rewards, allowing them to mint extra tokens, which were then sold, crashing the price to zero, but netting just over $1 million for the exploiter. Blockchain …

Bitcoin Suisse has begun offering decentralized finance (DeFi) services to its clients with the addition of the Liquity protocol to its product lineup. It allows customers to post Ether (ETH) collateral in the protocol to mint and borrow the Liquity Dollar (LUSD) stablecoin. In an announcement on April 20, Bitcoin Suisse said it will perform all smart contract interactions and system monitoring on its client’s behalf and allow the borrowed LUSD token to be exchanged into any fiat currency. Bitcoin Suisse is a centralized crypto and financial services company founded in 2013 and based in Switzerland, offering services such as …

On Friday, Tornado Cash announced that it was using oracle contracts from Chainalysis to block wallet addresses sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. The move comes after the U.S. Department of the Treasury linked North Korean cybercriminal Lazarus Group as an alleged perpetrator for the recent $600 million+ Ronin Bridge exploit. As told by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, the hackers have sent approximately $80.3 million worth of Ether (ETH) through Tornado Cash. "Maintaining financial privacy is essential to preserving our freedom; however, it should not come at the cost of non-compliance," said the Tornado Cash …

Virgil Griffith, a former Ethereum (ETH) developer has been sentenced to 63 months in prison and will pay a fine of $100,000 for attending a conference and assisting North Korea use blockchain technology in contravention of economic sanctions imposed by the United States. On Tuesday, April 12, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York handed down the decision. Judge Castel stated that “what you see here is intentionality, a deliberate, willful intent to violate the sanctions' regime,” adding that the crime was made worse because Griffith had a “desire to educate people on how to …

Ether (ETH) lost the critical $3,000 psychological support level on April 11 after a 16% weekly negative performance. Bulls were definitively caught by surprise as $104 million in leveraged long futures got liquidated on Monday. Ether's downturn also followed a decline in the total value locked (TVL) in Ethereum smart contracts. The metric peaked at 40.6 million Ether on Jan. 27, and has since dropped by 22%. This indicator could partially explain why Ether could not withstand the adversity brought by Bitcoin's (BTC) 13% weekly negative move. However, the leading altcoin has catalysts of its own because Ethereum developers implemented …

The United Nations Climate Change Conference of November 2021, known as COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland urged the world to commit to curbing contributions to carbon emissions. Achieving a net-zero world in less than 30 years is causing many to turn to blockchain technology, buy carbon offsets, and spark renewed interest in carbon capture. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has identified transparency, clean energy, carbon markets and climate finance as areas where blockchain technology can accelerate climate action. At the 2017 Paris Summit, the UN Climate Change Secretariat joined a multi-stakeholder group of organizations to establish an open global initiative, …

The Polkadot ecosystem sorely underperformed compared to other layer-1 networks in 2021, while the slow roll-out of parachain auctions and mainnet launches left the network playing catch-up in 2021. It appears that this trend came to an end in mid-March when numerous projects in the Polkadot ecosystem saw their prices climb higher after users began to engage with networks that expanded their offerings and made a push toward Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility. Here’s a look at six top moving protocols in the Polkadot ecosystem that are helping to establish a presence in the cryptocurrency market. Interoperability is the key …

The various types of blockchain permissions Blockchain networks run on permission-based consensus methods, enabling various levels of use depending on a user’s needs and permission level. Aside from the blockchain generations, there are also different types of blockchain when viewed from a permission-based angle. Some of those permission types are public, permissioned or private blockchains. Each of these types offers a different use case for a company or user’s needs. When asked to list the three types of blockchain, you’ll now know the answer. Public blockchain A public blockchain is the most basic form of a blockchain ecosystem. A public …

Power historically shifts from governments to people. Democracy is the product of revolution and disruptive innovation by those who abhor the elitism of aristocracy and monarchy, who fear the single-mindedness of theocracy, and who see the impracticability of communism. More than ever before, governments represent fairer and more trustless social contracts. How do we merge the rule of law with “code is law,” and can we have both? As we behold the unstoppable force of decentralization, we must acknowledge the following: mass communication, intercontinental travel, widespread literacy, internet proliferation, pro-democracy movement, and the emergence of gig economies. Liquid taxation: Individual …