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ETH-Y 500: On Saturday, ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin announced that Zk-SNARKs -- a kind of zero-knowledge cryptography -- could boost the ethereum blockchain to as high as 500 transactions per second.
Ethereum developers have long grappled with the scalability question, and this potential solution is made possible by creating 'succinct proofs' which will remain the same size irrespective of the input volume.
Though this seems to be an effective solution, the process is computationally heavy.
As Buterin said himself: "It's widely known that optimizing snark/stark provers is super-important so I'm sure there will be more and more software engineering work going into it over time." Full Story
SAFE, NOT SORRY: ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees said that the exchange startup's move to adopt more stringent KYC measures represents a preemptive step to "reduce legal risk."
In comments to CoinDesk, Voorhees explained that this decision was not made lightly, and that months were spent discussing the legal ramifications. "Time that would've been better spent building things to protect and serve customers," he added.
As an outspoken advocate for privacy, Voorhees clarified that their mission is still the same as it always was. "We remain committed to the struggle for financial privacy and sovereignty for all humans..." Full Story
STEEMIT STUMBLE: On the 17th of September, the Steem blockchain suffered an outage that lasted several hours following a network update.
Critics argued at the time that this occurs only on the delegated or federated blockchains that have emerged recently -- in place of the traditional proof-of work consensus mechanism, that is.
However, Eric Wall, blockchain and cryptocurrency lead at Cinnober, explains that all distributed systems are limited by CAP i.e., consistency, availability and partition tolerance. Full Story
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 This past weekend, top bitcoiners gathered in Riga, Latvia for the Honey Badger Conference. While novel insights were lectured, the resonating theme of most speakers was bitcoin maximalism. This is a popular belief among those bitcoin community and posits that all blockchains are not created equal -- at least according to them. Maximalists contend this point because bitcoin was the trailblazing cryptocurrency and has the largest network effect. On an investment basis, BTC performs better as a single asset investment compared to a more diversified crypto portfolio. For more research insights check out the CoinDesk Research section here. |
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| | BULLISH PRECIPICE: Bitcoin risks loosing its bullish prediction if it doesn't break the $6,970 mark, the charts suggest. And while last week saw a surge in altcoin prices, the weekend's market developments undid that growth. Full Story |
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BEST OF THE BEST:
BLOOMBERG: In this profile, Rachel Evans traces how Cathie Wood came to dominate the ETF rankings.
Wood, the founder and CEO of Ark Investment Management, invested in bitcoin and was particularly confident that blockchain "had the potential to revolutionize everything."
She believes in long-term investments rather than 'trendy' new companies. During the bitcoin boom of 2017 and the subsequent crash, Wood chose to let go of the bitcoin she held and invested in semiconductor companies are working on the hardware side of things.
THE REST:
FORBES: A blockchain motion picture is seekign to make a splash.
Contributor Lauren deLisa Coleman reviews the film, 'Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain'. The film was funded, developed and distributed using ethereum, according to the report.
Mark Moss, a cryptocurrency analyst for Market Disruptors, remarks in the film that "even if bitcoin fails, people are now awake and aware, and the revolution will still continue to grow."
CBC/RADIO-CANADA: In a seemingly controversial move, the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta, has cut the ribbon on Canada's largest bitcoin mining project.
Toronto-based company Hut 8 is in charge of the mining operation, which consumes 60 MW of electricty and, as a result, produces around 20 bitcoins per day.
The mayor of the city believes that the financial benefits outweigh any environment impact, as the city "will receive a significant financial boost from the new project." |
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. |
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