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ETHEREUM WATCH: The world's third-largest blockchain by market cap is about to upgrade its code.
Named Constantinople, ethereum's system-wide upgrade by hard fork is set to enact several tech improvements – most designed to increase usability and improve smart contract design – should users of the network decide to upgrade to the new software this week.
Already, excitement is gathering around the upgrade, with developers pointing to one particular update – named EIP 1014 or Skinny CREATE2 – as potentially paving the way for new technical innovations.
If the platform’s stakeholders don’t update their software, this could lead to the creation of two incompatible blockchains. In order for such an outcome to occur, though, and for the split chain to persist, there must be some incentive for users to want to continue to run the older version. So far, Constantinople is an upgrade that has seen widespread community support.
Constantinople hasn’t been without its drama, though. Because it features a tweak to the platform’s economics – reducing the block reward from 3 ETH to 2 ETH per block – in its run-up, developers were forced to navigate the conflicting views of investors and miners.
Because of the change, Constantinople has also been nicknamed by some as “the thirdening,” a homage to bitcoin’s regular “halving” events, by which its software programmatically reduces the amount of new supply it introduces at intervals.
As such, it’s worth watching the upgrade as it occurs. Find out how here
BIG SMILES: Grin, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency built on top of the "mimblewimble" protocol, has officially gone live on mainnet.
The cryptocurrency has been under development for the past two years, with volunteer developers and donation sustaining the effort. The cryptocurrency in particular claims that transaction are kept private through the way they are stored on the ledger, which fuses such information.
Grin is the second implementation of mimblewimble, following the launch of Beam earlier this month. Full Story
HACK CLAIM: New Zealand-based cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia has gone offline citing a major hack.
The exchange announced the news on Twitter this morning, stating that it “suffered a security breach which resulted in significant losses.”
No information has yet been provided on the value of the losses, the tokens and currencies affected, or any measures to refund users.
The exchange’s website, including support and blog pages, is currently completely offline, with a notice stating: “Cryptopia is currently in unscheduled maintenance mode. We will be back soon.”
Meanwhile, tweets from Whale Alert on Saturday indicated that 19,391 ether (ETH) tokens worth nearly $2.44 million and around 48 million centrality (CENNZ) tokens worth about $1.18 million were transferred from Cryptopia to unknown wallets on Jan. 13. It is not currently clear if those funds were moved by the hacker or by the exchange.
Cryptopia further mentioned in its tweet that it has notified and involved the relevant government agencies, including the New Zealand police and High-Tech Crimes Unit, who are “jointly and actively investigating the matter as a major crime and they are assisting us with advice.” Full Story
BANK BILLIONS: HSBC, one of the largest banks in the world, says it has so far settled more than $250 billion-worth of transactions using distributed ledger technology (DLT).
The bank settled 3 million foreign exchange (FX) transactions and made a further 150,000 payments using its HSBC FX Everywhere platform, it said.
HSBC added that it has been using this platform for the last year “to orchestrate payments across HSBC’s internal balance sheets,” resulting in “significant efficiencies and opportunities.”
In particular, the bank said that using a DLT platform has allowed it to verify that payments are settled without needing external confirmation, as well as to unify intra-company trade data on a “shared, single version of the truth” and to consolidate its view of cash flows.
Richard Bibbey, HSBC’s interim global head of FX and commodities, noted that the bank and its clients conduct “thousands of foreign exchange transactions,” which can range across different balance sheets and countries. Full Story |
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 Now that we have entered a new year, it’s always helpful to look back on some key observations from the last. CoinGecko compiled new types of coins created over the year and found some surprising insights. Throughout 2018, the number of exchange-based tokens and stablecoins making lists of top coins increased significantly, displacing coins from other categories. This signals that exchanges are looking for new ways to attract and engage users with innovative features. Binance Coin (BNB) is one example. Also, some investors are looking for a store of value equivalent to the U.S. dollar without actually cashing out to fiat, making stablecoins very attractive. The Gemini Dollar (GUSD) is one example. See more insights like this in CoinGekco’s latest market report.
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 The Oxford Fintech Programme gives you the tools you need to build the future of transactions and commerce. In this online fintech programme, you'll explore emerging technologies that will disrupt marketplaces and financial services, and examine the state of the industry and plan disruptive intra- or entre-preneurial interventions. Find out more. |
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| LEVEL TO BEAT: Bitcoin's move above $3,600 does little to alter the bearish outlook. A move toward $3,100 is on the cards as long as the downward sloping 10-week moving average (MA) hurdle is intact. As of writing, that key MA is located at $3,919. Full Story |
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BEST OF THE BEST THE HILL: The U.S. has an opportunity to aid and promote cryptocurrencies and related technological innovations, which may make it a leader in the space over nations like China, which has cracked down on different aspects of the field in the past, writes former Congressman George Nethercutt in an opinion contribution to The Hill. Major U.S. based companies like Facebook, Amazon, J.P. Morgan, Walmart and IBM are all exploring blockchain technology and its applications, and other advances in the field are similarly coming from startups based in the nation, Nethercutt writes. However, "fostering American innovation is a two-part effort," including both protecting the nascent technology and building an ecosystem friendly to development within the country. The first step, he adds, is for both U.S. lawmakers and other government officials to provide regulatory clarity around existing rules – or perhaps even new regulation supportive of the space. THE REST QUARTZ: The Supreme Court of India will likely not hold a scheduled hearing today on the central bank's restrictions of local crypto exchanges, according to Quartz India. “The case is listed to be heard on Jan. 15 but it is unlikely to be taken up on the day as there are other matters that have to be heard prior to that,” an anonymous lawyer representing some of the exchanges, told the news source, adding that it’s unlikely to occur this week. The case sees crypto exchanges in India pushing back against the Reserve Bank of India, after the central bank blocked them from banking services last April. The crypto industry has been struggling to survive while the authorities slowly come to a decision on the legal status of cryptos since, and they may not see resolution anytime soon. BREAKER: A recently discovered malware variant is targeting crypto holders who use Windows PCs, using illegal movie downloads as a way to compromise users’ wallets, according to a piece from Breaker Magazine. The malware, hidden in movie files shared via torrent downloads, injects malicious code into Google and Firefox browsers that can swap out bitcoin or ethereum addresses displayed in web pages for addresses controlled by the malware creator. The malware can also add content to websites, such as ads and crypto scams. It was reportedly observed creating a fake donations popup on Wikipedia that mimicked the site’s genuine funding appeals. |
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WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER  |
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