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Adam Back: Some ICOs Funded Useful Research Despite Being Unethical

Adam Back recently took to Twitter with controversial comments on many of the industry’s largest crypto projects — including Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Ripple (XRP), and Stellar (XML). His tweets placed these projects in the same category as a number of bonafide scams, which he considers to have been orchestrated as “premines”.We interviewed Back in order to clarify his position on the matter, starting with questions of how he feels about Satoshi Nakamoto essentially premining over one million Bitcoin. Back responded that “Bitcoin has no premine”, adding that he considers

What is Serum? A DeFi Derivatives DEX Guide

DeFi-based exchanges have seen wild success in 2020 thanks to yield farming, which has incentivized hundreds of thousands of users to provide liquidity to these platforms. With that being said, DEXs are still a far-cry from centralized exchanges in both UI and UX. Serum is here to change all that. Serum is a protocol that claims to be “pure DeFi” as they have managed to address a lot of issues the space is facing. Most of the users in DeFi today are not traders but yield farmers. Yield farmers are

International Group of Finance Leaders Says Ripple’s XRP Remittance Network Leapfrogs Traditional Banking System

ADVERTISEMENT An independent body of global finance leaders says Ripple’s XRP-powered cross-border payment platform “leapfrogs” the efficiency of traditional remittance methods. The Group of 30 published the report, calling on central banks and financial authorities around the world to be proactive in terms of regulating digital assets. G30 experts discuss the theoretical possibility of a “systemic hegemonic currency,” which some academics have posited could possibly reduce “spillover shocks” that come with the US dollar acting as a reserve currency. The systemic currency could come in the form of a stablecoin

Japan Launches Digital Court Based On Blockchain Technology

Researchers across the globe have come together and developed a digital court system based on blockchain technology. The court itself will be used in cases like auctions, sales, contracts, as well as other civil matters, at least for a start. The digital court will identify then punish individuals who have deviated from their respective legal obligations.New Courtrooms Are DigitalProfessor Hitoshi Matsushima, coming from the University of Tokyo, led the project alongside Shunya Noda, from the University of British Columbia. Through the press release, the Japan and Canada-based researchers explained that

Charities Are Turning to Bitcoin Amid the Global Fight Against Coronavirus

In the war against the novel coronavirus, cryptocurrencies are emerging as a much-needed tool for charity and fundraising projects. Already there are a number of large nonprofits accepting Bitcoin donations. Plus, some blockchain and crypto firms are contributing medical supplies to hospitals in an attempt to curb the virus, while others are setting up fundraisers and charities that are aimed at helping its victims.As a number of nonprofits continue to accept cryptocurrency donations, they are starting to realize that crypto transactions significantly reduce costs in terms of fees. Here are

38% of Enterprises Plan to Adopt Blockchain Solutions in 2020

With blockchain solutions growing in popularity, the number of enterprises planning to adopt the technology in 2020 is set to increase. Data gathered by InsideBitcoins.com indicates that 38% of entities will integrate blockchain solutions into their operations this year.From the data, 15% of the enterprise will heavily adopt blockchain solutions while 23% will have moderate adoption to manage different operations. Organizations are also planning to adopt technologies like the Public cloud. About 79% of enterprises are planning to have heavy or moderate adoption of technology.Elsewhere, Artificial intelligence (AI)/and machine learning

Staking, Consensus and the Pursuit of Decentralization

Oh, the wonders of decentralized consensus — that dream of permissionless blockchains to be censorship-resistant, trustless, collaborative and egalitarian for a potentially global community of users. While lofty in ideals, consensus is foundational for each crypto network, which must agree upon that most basic question of who decides what on the network.Decentralized consensus in the form of a proof-of-work mechanism was at the core of Satoshi Nakamoto’s innovation when creating Bitcoin — all additional protocol elements stem from PoW’s ability to reach consensus regarding the digital ledger through the computational work

150-Year-Old Chinese Gas Company Ramps Up Blockchain Adoption

Chinese energy company, Shanghai Gas, announced an expansion of its blockchain efforts following a successful trial partnership with supply chain management blockchain firm, VeChain (VET), on March 31.Shanghai Gas, founded in 1865, is owned by utility services company, Shenergy Group — which claims to occupy more than 90% of Shanghai’s gas market. The firm has an annual supply of over 8 billion cubic meters.Shanghai Gas expands blockchain adoptionShanghai Gas’ trial used distributed ledger technology, or DLT, provided by VeChain to comprehensively monitor its supply chain and identify opportunities for efficiency