A Swell time

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Sponsored by   October 3, 2018 SURF'S UP: Ripple's Swell event is over, having seen the much-anticipated commercial launch of its XRP-tied transacting product, xRapid, as well as notable speakers like former president Bill Clinton. Common theme (perhaps unsurprisingly) emerged during the panel sessions: adoption regulation. For example, the deputy general counsel of the International Monetarty Fund, Ross Leckow, remarked that despite risks of money laundering and terrorism, crypto assets could make the global financial system "more efficient and more inclusive." Alenka Grealish, a senior analyst for corporate banking at Celent, said elsewhere that regulatory uncertainty and an overall lack of education are impeding adoption.  To read through CoinDesk's full on-site coverage, click here. TOO LITTLE TOO LATE: A lesser-known cryptocurrency called pigeoncoin fell victim to a previously reported bitcoin bug this week.  The potentially disastrous bug, despite being fixed within the Bitcoin Core code, was still present in a number of other coins that used bitcoin's software as a foundation for their own coins. The developers behind pigeoncoin confirmed to CoinDesk on Tuesday that an unknown attacker successfully took advantage of the bug on September 26th, showcasing in the wild how it could have been used on bitcoin by printing 235 million coins worth about $15,000. Full Story   ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: IBM claims to have found the ideal trade-off algorithm to optimize energy efficiency, security and scalability in blockchains. The tech giant said it found a way to deter the increase in difficulty on blockchains by dividing the mining work among different connected (IoT) devices. According to their white paper, an algorithm divides nodes into groups and determines the amount of work done by each node, depending on the capacity of the node. Aptly dubbed the Hybrid IoT Blockchain, this could influence others in the blockchain space to freely experiment with AI in a bid to solve the age-old optimization problem: how to do the most work with the least energy. Full Story A few weeks ago, a bug in the Bitcoin Core software implementation was discovered that, if exploited, could have led to to runaway inflation and, more broadly, a huge problem for the largest cryptocurrency. An earlier report found that around 30 percent of nodes updated to the newer version that patches the bug. Bitcoin Core developer, Luke Dashjr, highlighted his measurements (that include non-listening nodes) that showed about 7 percent. Today, the tally stands at 35 percent on the optimistic end and 8 percent on the pessimistic one. This will be a true test of the efficacy of decentralized communities to coordinate in the face of a serious bug. For more research insights check out the CoinDesk Research section here. You can also follow CoinDesk's research analyst Peter Ryan on Twitter for the latest insights. SPONSOR SECTION   You wouldn't ride a bike on a highway, it's inefficient. Maxonrow bridges the economic divide through carefully built blockchain solutions for businesses, governments and societies... all interacting under one network and compliant in all levels with global AML/KYC policies. Stop riding the bike, welcome to Maxonrow.   BTC IMPASSE: After a slight pullback, BTC is testing a month-long support trendline which could hold off the bears in the short-term. Bears and bulls are largely in a stalemate, though a big move in the future is in the cards. Full Story BEST OF THE BEST: SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST:  In lieu of Binance's move to include fiat-to-crypto transactions, South China Morning Post profiled Zhao Changpeng, founder of the world’s largest crypto-exchange, by volume. In the profile, Zhao credits China's 2017 crackdown on initial coin offerings as a boon, without which Binance would not be where it is today.  The forcing of strict regulations on crypto firms is a sore spot for the Binance CEO -- to that end, he’s looking at Malta, Liechtenstein or Jersey to be homes for Binance’s new fiat-to-crypto trading platform. THE REST:  WIRED: Wired has more details on Chia, the in-development cryptocurrency behing spearheaded by BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen.  Cohen is all geared up to set foot in the crypto world with his company. As reported by Wired, Cohen plans to pass on an ICO and go the traditional route and hold an IPO. "The idea is to make Chia the premier cryptocurrency based off of our technology," Cohen was quoted as saying. "A competitor to bitcoin, but better." WALL STREET JOURNAL:  The Wall Street Journal has documented the process of creating a cryptocurrency from start to finish. The publication went to Japan to better understand the technology, highlighting the country's position as a "hotbed for cryptocurrencies." But first, they got in touch with a startup which enabled them to create the eponymous WSJCoin. In a 30-minute documentary, reporter Steven Russolillo showcased the eccentricities of Japan's crypto community.      We've launched our first-ever podcast, "Late Confirmation," a digest of top stories in the blockchain world, delivered daily from the team at CoinDesk and sponsored by the Oxford Blockchain Programme. Listen to Latest Episode and Subscribe   WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER   ConsenSys Jobs Blockchain Jobs Circle Jobs BitGo Jobs Copyright © 2018 CoinDesk. All rights reserved. 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