Category: Cryptocurrency News

Cryptocurrency News and Public Mining Pools

To those who consider BTC and ETH as the “blue chips” of crypto, what’s your allocation? Do you go for 50-50?

Just looking for ideal strategies. Thank you so much. submitted by /u/G0_commando [link] [comments]

Turkey President Confirms Crypto Law Is Ready And Headed To Parliament For Approval – The Crypto Basic

submitted by /u/Fizzlebang_Wonderpop [link] [comments]

Interview With Aleph Zero On The MEV Problem That Could Cost Ethereum Users $1 Trillion In Losses

The Ethereum network remains to this day one of the most active and innovative blockchains in the crypto space. Onboarding thousands of users since its inception, Ethereum is the king of DeFi and some of the hottest trends in this industry with billions in total value locked (TVL). However, Ethereum is also one of the most expensive platforms for regular users. This has led to a surge in competitors trying to capitalize on the problem-driven by bad actors, MEV tactics, and other strategies to front-run regular people out of the network. In the Ethereum ecosystem, many projects are working on delivering a needed fix to this issue. In that sense, we sat down with Adam Gagol, Ph.D., the co-founder of Cardinal Cryptography, a Web3 venture studio, and Aleph Zero, a Swiss non-profit organization looking to provide an enterprise-grade solution to the MEV problem. This is what they told us. Q: What is Aleph Zero and what are the project’s objectives? A: Aleph Zero is a fast and high-throughput blockchain built with a DAG-based consensus protocol. We’re developing a privacy-centric framework with use cases that span multiple addressable markets, including the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, healthcare, gaming, digitization, supply chain management, and more. The Aleph Zero blockchain aims to solve privacy issues by offering the first hybrid privacy solution which will offer innovative security measures based on a unique combination of “zero-knowledge” proofs (ZKPs) and Secure Multiparty Computation (sMPC). Q: Could tell our readers unfamiliar with the topics, what MEV stands for and why it’s one of the most important issues to address for Ethereum at the moment? A: MEV stands for Maximal Extractable Value, which is the maximum value that can be extracted from block production in excess of the standard block reward and gas fees by including, excluding, and changing the order of transactions in a block. This type of attack occurs when a block producer is able to see the transactions submitted on-chain and insert their own transactions ahead of users — getting the best deals and leaving everyone else with less value. Aleph Zero plans to tackle the Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) problem via our Liminal MPC framework and submarine sends. We’ve done so by ensuring an encrypted transaction is immediately ordered but only revealed after a specific period (as an example, after three blocks have been finalized). Through this method, block producers are unable to influence the ordering for their own benefit because when they need to provide an order on transactions, the content of the transactions remains unknown. Q: How is Aleph Zero different from other projects trying to mitigate the MEV effect on Ethereum, such as Flashbots? A: We’re actually solving the MEV problem at its root. There are plenty of other efforts to resolve the issue, Flashbots for one. But none of these upgrades addresses the root cause of the MEV problem, which is that block creators have the power and are incentivized to order transactions in a way that benefits the block producer the most. One of the applications of Liminal is to automate the process of submarine sends. In a classical submarine send scenario, the user could not reveal encrypted transactions because everything happened manually. These systems lack atomicity, but Aleph Zero solves this issue by ensuring an encrypted transaction is immediately ordered but only revealed after a specific period (for example, after three blocks have been finalized). Q: Many users were hoping that the change in Ethereum’s market fee with EIP-1559 was going to bring a solution to the high cost of using the network. Months later high transaction fees have persisted, what is really at the core of this phenomenon? And what is Aleph Zero doing to improve the ecosystem? A: When it comes to transaction cost, the crux of the issue is the low throughput of Ethereum blockchain. It can achieve around ~15 transactions per second, and there are clearly more people wanting to put their transactions on-chain. EIP-1559 was not aimed to solve the MEV problem, so no one should be surprised that it didn’t. If anything, the EIP-1559 implementation in London upgrade made the problem even worse. Although it put mechanisms in place to lower fees and protect them against volatility, it did so at the expense of miners. Block production revenue was cut by something like a third, so MEV is more incentivized than ever. It didn’t remove the power of miners to reorder transactions, and since they’re now earning less per block, they’ll need to make up that 30 percent revenue somewhere else. So long as the incentive and ability remain, manipulation will continue to keep MEV high at the expense of the network’s users. What Liminal has to offer DeFi is not only privacy, but also greater economic consequences.  One of them is the fact that the block producers will be unable to arbitrarily reorder transactions in an inequitable way. Q: What do you think it’s the biggest obstacle for crypto and blockchain technology to achieve mass adoption? Could MEV become a deterrent for users to onboard on a blockchain? A: It wouldn’t impact new users so much but MEV could halt adoption from bigger players who tend to trade higher quantities. But it’s only a part of the greater need for us as developers to remove all friction to make the blockchain as accessible to everybody as web 2 is. Accessibility and expense are still the biggest challenges for the industry to overcome for mass adoption. When you look at something like the iPhone or smart TVs, these devices are simple to use, whether you’re 8 or 80. DeFi, NFTs, and all these great web 3 use cases of blockchain are still very much accessible mostly to enterprise users. The average person doesn’t want to remember a long key phrase or lose a thumb drive that  can cost them a fortune in lost crypto. It needs to be as easy (or easier) to access as web 2. And that includes the expense. Two of the big crypto stories last month were the Constitution DAO and ENS airdrop. Both required transaction fees of $50 or more, and in the case of the Constitution DAO, you double that fee in pulling the money out when it failed to win the Sotheby’s auction. $100 is a lot of money to pay just to donate $100 to a cause. DeFi was supposed to remove all these intermediaries from the financial system, but there’s no way you would pay a 100% fee upfront to your bank. Q: How do you see Aleph Zero in the coming decade with an increase in institutions and people taking an interest in this nascent space? A: We plan to continue scaling our platform. Aleph Zero will aim to provide cross-chain interoperability with an industry-leading privacy framework. The world in ten years won’t be dominated by just one blockchain solution like Ethereum, but at the same time, none of these so-called “Ethereum killers” is likely to take it offline. There was a time when people assumed only Bitcoin could survive or only a small handful of blockchain solutions. But why? There’s not a single web-building app, a single camera app or music player or email provider. In reality, we’re more likely progressing toward a world where there will be more smart contract networks than ever. And that’s great — that’s why Aleph Zero is so focused on providing a secure solution with cross-chain compatibility. We’re helping developers future-proof their projects to remain nimble, regardless of what happens down the road.  

Who received crypto for Christmas?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope all are having a wonderful day with their family and/or friends and are ready to fill up on some delicious food. Hopefully everyone received something that you weren't expecting, that made you happy as hell! I got my brother $100 worth of Bitcoin to start him…
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Can we add more to stake at coinbase?

Hi, if I staked .5 ETH can I add an additional 0.05 every month to the pool? Also since I'm a bit about the "reward" its about 4.5% but do they just give those out as ETH2 and can compound that? I read their faq but those two were not as clear, thank you in…
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Vitalik: The merge | The verge | The purge | The splurge

I haven’t seen any topics about this so far but in the Eth Argentina Conference, Vitalik was talking about the 4 phases of Eth on which he further elaborates his endgame paper. He mentioned that the merge will lead up to 100k TPS with sharding and zkrollups enabled and the Verge will make Eth lighter…
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BTC Supply Drying Up, 6.3% Of Total Bitcoin Supply Left On Exchanges

Bitcoin’s circulating supply has fallen near the end of 2021, with December representing the lowest month on average in years for Btc supply. 6.3% Of BTC On Exchanges The amount of Bitcoin in circulation has been falling since the halving in 2020, according to a new study from CryptoRank, with access to acquire Bitcoin on exchanges also declining. However, by the second half of 2020 (around October), the supply of Bitcoin on exchanges stood for 9.5% of the overall quantity. This percentage had declined to 7.3% of all Bitcoin on wallet exchanges in July 2021, and only 6.% percent of Bitcoin supply was accounted for on exchange wallets in December. Since the halving, Bitcoin’s falling supply in circulation has been on a downward trajectory, with 1.3 million Bitcoin in circulation. The largest worldwide crypto platforms, according to CryptoRank’s data, dominate the exchanges where Bitcoin is kept. However, it’s worth noting that Coinbase, while still the most popular cryptocurrency exchange in terms of total Bitcoin held in its wallets, has lost some of its clout throughout the year. According to CryptoRank, Coinbase used to account for slightly over 50% of Bitcoin on wallets, but that number has subsequently decreased to 44.2 percent. Binance has approximately 25% of Bitcoin on exchanges held on its exchange, while Bitfinex is on the lowest rung with 14.6 percent of Bitcoin on exchanges held on its exchange. The announcement comes on the heels of a slew of bullish price indicators that coincide with Bitcoin’s higher price movement. To begin with, the illiquid BTC supply has iced over for the winter, with a monthly supply of 100,000 BTC changing from a “liquid” to a “illiquid” state. Related article | Bitcoin Breaks $51k Again As 20k BTC Flows Out Of Exchanges Cold Vs. Exchange Wallets While many investors choose to retain their Bitcoin on exchanges — a technique known as “hot storage” – there is a risk that turning over the keys to your Bitcoin to an exchange or third-party could leave your Bitcoin vulnerable to attack or hack. If Bitcoin is kept in cold storage or a combination of hot and cold storage, security procedures are in place to keep it as safe as possible from hacking. Despite this, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has indicated that storing keys on an exchange may provide more security guarantee. He noted, “Many hardcore crypto ogs advocate storing your own keys. But the truth is, today most people are not able to secure a key even from themselves (losing it). A trusted centralized exchange is #SAFUer for most people. The numbers speak for themselves.” This is despite Bitcoiners like Andreas Antonopolous’ best attempts to make “not your keys, not your Bitcoin” a daily BTC mantra. BTC rising back above $50k. Souce: TradingView Related article | By The Numbers: Here’s How Much Bitcoin Michael Saylor Holds Featured image from Unsplash.com, charts from TradingView.com

From DeFi year to decade: Is mass adoption here? Experts Answer, Part 3

Decentralized technologies’ insiders shared their views on DeFi and the role, achievements and challenges the space faced in 2021.

If you got a new phone for Christmas, use your old one as a wallet.

Using an old phone is perfect for storing crypto if you don't have a hardware wallet(you should consider getting one). When you get your new phone. Factory reset the old one, install whichever crypto wallets you need for the coins you have. Keep the phone offline when it's not in use. You can even use…
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