Bitcoiners in Hong-Kong have come up with a new way to spread awareness of Bitcoin on a large scale.Starting September 11, three double-decker trams decorated in Bitcoin messaging are running concurrently through the streets of Hong-Kong, bearing facts and slogans aimed at educating people about BTC.Earlier in August, the well-known digital currency hedge fund Grayscale also did a massive educational campaign on Bitcoin in the US.Bitcoin Trams in Hong-KongThe educational campaign, launched by the Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong, will also see 20 giant billboards erected at various public locations on the island. The trams themselves will be decorated from front to back with the Bitcoin logo and will run on various routes for the next four weeks.The campaign focuses partly on conveying the

Recent heavy congestion on the Ethereum blockchain appears to have had a beneficial knock-on effect for one cryptocurrency project in particular.Loopring (LRC) is a protocol for building non-custodial decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on Ethereum. It is also one of the few projects currently placed ahead of the curve thanks to its use of zk-rollup technology, which scales Ethereum transactions from ~15/sec, to ~3,000/sec.It’s interesting to note, therefore, that the value of Loopring increased 220% from July into September, coinciding with the sudden explosion in the cost of using Ethereum.Loopring Climbs Hand-in-Hand with Rising ETH FeesSince the beginning of July alone, the value of Loopring increased 220% from a token price of $0.076 up to $0.247. In the same period, the cost of

Politicians in the Swiss senate passed a new set of financial law reforms on Thursday, September 10. The “blockchain act” will provide a clear legal framework regarding cryptocurrency trading and how it relates to securities laws, according to a new report.The proposed legal reforms were agreed upon unanimously by the Swiss House of Representatives in the summer and could come into effect by early 2021. The new laws are expected to give Switzerland the most advanced blockchain regulatory framework in the world.Swiss Senate Passes Blockchain ReformsThe legislation provides new standards for cryptocurrency exchanges in a bid to target money laundering. It also outlines clearer laws regarding the recovery of stolen coins from bankrupt businesses, while laying down a firm legal foundation for

An Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) which seeks to radically restructure the Ethereum fee pricing mechanism is gaining traction among developers. Known as EIP-1599, the proposal floats the idea of increasing Ethereum’s gas limit, while setting an elastic base transaction fee which is burned automatically.This is expected to return ETH transaction fees to usable levels, after heavy congestion saw unwanted all-time highs recorded all throughout 2020.What Will EIP-1559 Change?Currently, Ethereum transaction fees are calculated using a system known as first price auction. Under this system, users essentially bid to have their transactions included in the next block. The problem with this is that it often leads to overpayment by hasty users, which subsequently causes average fees to rise

The number of web developers building applications on Ethereum has increased year-on-year since 2018. According to data from npm.stat, which displays the number of times a JavaScript code library has been downloaded, more Ethereum-specific code packages were downloaded in 2020 than in 2018 and 2019 combined.Ethereum ‘Buidlers’ Keep on BuildingThe two most commonly used JavaScript libraries in Ethereum are Ethers.js and Web3.js. Seen below, courtesy of ChainShot.com, the use of both code libraries rapidly expanded over the past two years.Downloads of Ethereum-specific JavaScript libraries increased year-on-year since 2018. Source: ChainShotCombining the figures from both code libraries, it can be seen that downloads of Ethereum-specific code increased 400% since 2018. The drastic uptick in

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) holders look certain to be in for some free coins come this November, when the ongoing confrontation between disparate groups in the coin’s community will reach its climax in a hash war and subsequent chain split.The conflict in the BCH camp arose when lead developer, Amaury Séchet, announced the inclusion of a code in the next upgrade which would see 8% of the Bitcoin Cash block reward siphoned directly to him.Bitcoin Cash Miner’s Tax To Trigger Chain SplitSéchet maintains that developers cannot survive on bread alone and that the IFP (Infrastructure Funding Plan), or miner’s tax, is a reasonable way of funding the coin’s development.However, that didn’t sit well with a large section (perhaps a majority) of the coin’s community, who saw Séchet’s move as akin to a power

The security of Monero (XMR) users could soon be at risk after cryptocurrency intelligence firm CipherTrace announced the creation of tools that enable law enforcement to track transactions on the privacy-oriented blockchain.CipherTrace Claims Ability to Track XMR TransactionsAccording to a press release from Aug 31, CipherTrace collaborated with the US Department of Home Security’s Science and Technology Directorate to develop Monero-tracing technology.The tools will be put to use in assisting the Department of Home Security’s investigations into activities related to the illicit use of XMR. CEO of CipherTrace, Dave Jevans said:“Our research and development team worked for a year on developing techniques for providing financial investigators with analysis tools. There is much work still

Lawyers for the estate of Dave Kleiman claim Craig Wright and his ex-wife, Lynn Wright, again attempted to defraud the courts by lying about Ms. Wright’s role in her ex-husband’s former firm, W&K Info Defense Research.Craig Wright Contradicts Courts Again?Craig Wright’s counsel had built part of a legal argument on the claim that Ms. Wright was a part-owner of W&K, and that her involvement denied him the chance of a fair trial.However, on July 16, Lynn Wright separately filed a petition in a Florida court where she claimed not to have been part owner of W&K at the time of the court filing in 2018. This directly contradicts Craig Wright’s sworn testimony, which claimed Lynn was involved with W&K in 2018.If that wasn’t enough, Ms. Wright’s legal petition also revealed that the “Tulip Trust,”

The Ethereum Classic (ETC) blockchain was subject to some rearrangement on August 1, as 3,693 of its blocks were “reorged” in what was first thought to be a 51% attack. The reorganization caused a chain split, which saw one miner process all the blocks over a period of 12 hours. Upon further investigation, the reorganization of the Ethereum Classic is now deemed to be a non-malicious mistake by a miner with a bad internet connection and is in the process of being addressed. But due to the nature of Ethereum Classic’s proof-of-work consensus algorithm, the blockchain is now moving forward on the “split” chain, since it now holds the most proof-of-work “weight.” Ethereum Classic Has 3,693 Blocks Reorged The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, announced it would suspend Ethereum

Craig Wright, the man who claims to be Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, says Bitcoin is not and was never intended to be, censorship-resistant.According to Wright, who wrote in a blog post from July 10 titled What is Censorship Resistance, the common assumption that Bitcoin holders are protected from economic censorship is nothing but a myth.And the scary thing is, Wright might be right.Craig Wright: No Censorship Resistance on BitcoinWright’s latest blog post drew analogies between Bitcoin and regular cash and coins. If someone spends $5 on a coffee using cash, no authority would bat an eye. However, if someone attempted to buy just about anything using $20,000 in cash, states Wright, alarm bells would inevitably ring. Wright wrote:“The myth that Bitcoin is designed to be

The sudden rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications in 2020 has rearranged the cryptocurrency landscape. In a little over two years, a combined sum of $2 billion has made its way into various DeFi protocols, while giving birth to the “yield mining” meme in the meantime.With this in mind, it perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that searches for Aave have exploded on Google Trends. Aave (LEND) is the third-largest lending protocol on Ethereum, with over $138 million locked in, and is the fifth largest DeFi application in existence.But the sudden spike in Google searches for Aave might not be as straightforward as it seems.Aave Google Searches Suddenly ExplodeSeen below, Aave searches rose steadily over the past year  – then suddenly exploded between April and June 2020,

Median transaction fees on Ethereum just hit their highest point in almost two years, as the network struggles under heavy congestion.Meanwhile, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin confirmed on June 30 that the network would have to make do with current off-chain scaling solutions for the next two years. That’s until the planned scaling capabilities of Ethereum 2.0 are finally brought to fruition.Ethereum Median Transaction Fees SpikeIn the 48 hours leading up to June 30, the median transaction fee on the Ethereum blockchain spiked 60%, climbing from $0.23, up to $0.37, according to Bitinfocharts. Despite the suddenness of the spike, it marks the continuation of a trend that has seen median ETH transaction fees rise 510% since the turn of the year when median fees were a mere $0.06.Median

Court documents reveal the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin, Craig Wright, may have subjected himself to a suicide attempt in May 2016.That’s according to the deposition of Bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen, who recounted the story during the ongoing trial between Craig Wright and the estate of Dave Kleiman.Context: Craig Wright’s Failed Attempt to Move Satoshi’s BitcoinCraig Wright promised to move coins from Bitcoin’s ninth block in 2016 – something only Satoshi could so.In a deposition from February 26, counsel for the estate of Dave Kleiman queried Gavin Andresen on the events surrounding Craig Wright’s failed attempt to move Satoshi’s Bitcoin in 2016.Wright had promised Andresen, along with others in the Bitcoin community, that he would move coins that he’d allegedly mined from block

Compound (COMP) could be nearing a local price top, soon after the Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) token recorded a 258% growth in ten days.And while “yield farming” has driven much of that growth, the Compound community has passed through a development proposal that would see incentives taken away from would-farmers.Local COMP Top Incoming?Blockchain analysts at Santiment predict Compound could be nearing a local top after the token took the top spot in their social media emerging trends list. The Santiment team tweeted on June 26:“As is our golden rule, when an asset like $COMP enters the top 3 on the @santimentfeed emerging trends list, it is generally indicative of an upcoming local top forming. We can see in this graphic that with every social volume spike, a sharp

The CEO of SchiffGold, Peter Schiff, responded to claims by RT news host Max Keiser that he would end up panic-buying Bitcoin when its price hits $50,000. Schiff suggested Bitcoin’s dollar value would drop as low as zero – although implied Keiser might consider selling at $2,000.Shortly afterward, Bitcoin developer and Blockstream CEO, Adam Back, jumped in to claim that Bitcoin will one-day “flippen” the market cap of gold. In the meantime, says Back, it makes sense for goldbugs to allocate at least a small portion of their investment portfolio to BTC.Twitter Cat-Fight Over Bitcoin PriceResponding to Max Keiser’s Tweet barrage the previous night, Peter Schiff launched a Twitter poll on June 27, which asked his followers to name the price at which Max Keiser would sell his Bitcoin. Schiff

The man who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Wright, took to his blog this week to warn Bitcoin and cryptocurrency developers that “his” invention is not for communists.Wright bemoaned the current trend in the cryptocurrency space, which sees many coins launch with built-in developers funds or pre-mines. According to Wright, this is tantamount to a communist takeover, and simply places all of the risks on the purchaser of such coins – not the development teams themselves.Craig Wright: Dev Funds Are CommunistWriting on craigwright.net, Craig Wright claimed that the idea of developer rewards, “presents simply a form of techno-socialism.”Development funds have become a common feature in many modern coin launches. The teams behind such coins often argue that development funds are needed to

Over $180 million worth of Ethereum has been moved from a previously dormant wallet belonging to the perpetrators of the PlusToken scam.PlusToken was a Ponzi scheme that operated mainly in Korea and China in 2018 and 2019. The scammers managed to siphon over $3 billion from naive investors before the project was shut down in June 2019.$180M Worth of Ethereum On the MoveThe movement of 789,534 ETH from the Plus Token scam wallet was announced on Wednesday, June 24, by cryptocurrency monitoring resource, Whale Alert.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 789,534 #ETH (187,847,558 USD) transferred from PlusToken to unknown walletTx: https://t.co/z2jqlfZ21h— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) June 24, 2020The Ethereum haul is worth $187,847,550 at the time of writing, and this is the first time it has been moved in over

Bitcoin suffered a 3% price drop on Wednesday, coinciding with the largest flow of BTC from miners to exchanges in over a year.BTC Flows From Miners to ExchangesThat’s according to data from blockchain analysts at Glassnode, which showed a huge transfer of 2,650 BTC going from Bitcoin miners to the Bitfinex exchange on Tuesday. Seen below, that equates to the largest transfer of BTC from miners to exchanges since March 26, 2019.The last time such a large volume of BTC moved from miners to exchanges was over a year ago. Source: GlassnodeBased on Tuesday’s price point, the 2,650 BTC inflow amounted to just under $25 million in dollar terms. Shortly afterward, Bitcoin underwent a short, sharp drop from $9,764 down to $9,381, which occurred in five hours early on Wednesday morning.The Bitcoin

Max Keiser of RT news told viewers of the latest episode of the Keiser Report that the only way for black America to gain individual sovereignty is through saving money in Bitcoin.Max Keiser: Black America and BitcoinKeiser referenced the 2019 non-fiction book by Isaiah Jackson, titled Bitcoin and Black America, which claims to explore the synergy between black economics, Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Keiser summarized one of the book’s core messages, stating:“Black America will never be equal to white America. They will never have justice in white America. The only thing they can hope for is individual sovereignty, and the only way you can get there is through savings in Bitcoin.”The RT news host claimed that, as a white male boomer who works on Wall Street, he is “ground-zero” for

An average of $15 million worth of ETH has been locked into Ethereum’s DeFi protocols each day for the past week. That equates to more than four times the amount of Ethereum, which is produced every day as a result of mining.Ethereum’s DeFi Protocols See Huge InfluxAccording to data from DeFiPulse.com, over $500 million entered various DeFi protocols in the past seven days, averaging just over $78 million per day. Lock-ins of ETH specifically numbered 461,000 in that time, equating to an average of $15,946,071 per day.Based on Ethereum’s mining difficulty, the blockchain’s miners currently produce around 15,483 ETH per day or $3,746,977 in dollar terms. That means users are pouring more than four times as much ETH into DeFi protocols than is being issued via inflation.The sudden influx of

The non-custodial, decentralized exchange, Loopring, has listed pBTC – a token that acts as a fully-backed Bitcoin equivalent on the Ethereum blockchain.The addition of pBTC to Loopring – the fastest decentralized exchange (DEX) based on Ethereum – gives Bitcoin users a quick on-ramp to Ethereum’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.Loopring Lists pBTCProvable Things – the developers of pBTC – announced the listing of pBTC against stablecoin Tether (USDT) on June 16. According to it:“pTokens BTC is now available on Loopring exchange and can be swapped with USDT. This makes Ethereum’s most high-performing DEX compatible with BTC and introduces its market liquidity. It also makes the high-performance, decentralized trading of pBTC possible.”pBTC joins a host of Bitcoin-backed Ethereum

The mining pool, which processed a mysterious Ethereum transfer carrying a needlessly excessive $2.6 million transaction fee, has announced it will distribute the millions among its miners.Bitfly, which operates the Ethermine mining pool, announced the decision on Monday, stating that four days is long enough for someone to have come to claim it.Miners Will Keep $2.6 Million Ethereum FeeAs announced by BitFly via Twitter on June 15:As the sender of the transaction https://t.co/h21A2Th4fw has not contacted us after 4 days we have made the final decision to distribute the tx fee to the miners of our pool. Given the amount involved we believe 4 days is sufficient time for the sender to get in touch with us.— Bitfly (@etherchain_org) June 15, 2020The saga began on June 10 when someone paid a

The creators of blockchain gaming universe, Kronoverse, have explained the reasoning behind their migration from Ethereum (ETH) to Bitcoin SV (BSV).According to a recent official blog post, the Kronoverse team said that it could no longer wait for the much-anticipated arrival of Ethereum 2.0 to solve its pressing scaling problems.Kronoverse Can’t Wait for Eth 2.0The Kronoverse aims to become an interconnected metaverse of numerous disparate blockchain games. Previously to be built on the Ethereum-based Enjin (ENJ), the Kronoverse will, when fully operational, require masses of microtransactions for in-game items.But with the Ethereum network already near full capacity, and as transaction fees continue to rise, the prospect of such microtransactions seems essentially impossible.The

Electric Coin Company (ECC), which oversees the development of Zcash (ZEC), has released the source code for shielded-only iOS and Android wallets.ECC announced the publication of the open-source code on Twitter on June 10. While the release does not come in the form of ready-built wallet applications for iOS or Android, it gives developers the free tools to build their apps.ECC Releases Open-Source Shielded Wallet CodeThe ECC team posted its open-source code to Github on June 10. The team announced via Twitter:Today, ECC released the source code for prototype wallet applications built on our SDKs. These are reference implementations for fully-functional, shielded-only, Android- and iOS-native applications. Direct links and more info in this thread. ??? (1/6)#z2z #Zcash $ZEC

Six years on from the publication of its original whitepaper, Filecoin (FIL) has launched an incentivized testnet designed to test the network in realistic conditions.Aiming to build a decentralized file storage network, Filecoin carried out a $250 million ICO in 2017 – the largest Initial Coin Offering at the time. It was also the first ICO to be launched with the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), under a SAFT agreement – Simple Agreement for Future Tokens.According to an official press release from June 10, Filecoin will now begin a three week incentivized test phase. Miners will be given the chance to compete for rewards totaling 4 million FIL tokens.Filecoin Incentivized Testnet BeginsFilecoin’s unique ‘proof-of-spacetime’ consensus algorithm measures mining

The Bitcoin hash rate appears to be migrating west after the percentage of BTC mining taking place in the United States increased by 78%, leading into 2020.That’s according to the latest data from the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF), presented in a report by TokenInsight, which shows the US-based Bitcoin hash rate rose from 4.06% to 7.24% between September of 2019 and April of 2020.US-Based Bitcoin Hash Rate Climbs 78%While that moved the US into second place in CCAFs global hash rate rankings, it still leaves the majority of Bitcoin’s mining power within China’s borders.Bitcoin hash-rate map, source: CambridgeHowever, while China currently accounts for an estimated 65.08% of Bitcoin’s hash rate, that’s a rather sizable drop from last September’s figure of 75.63%. The

Bitcoin is expected to land on Germany’s Deutsche Börse XETRA stock exchange in the form of a physically-backed ETC in the coming week.According to German news outlet Handelsblatt, ETC Group will list the Bitcoin Exchange Traded Crypto (BTCE) on Deutsche Börse’s digital trading platform. Users from the UK, Italy, and Austria will also have access to the ETC when it goes live.Physically Backed Bitcoin ETC Set to LaunchThe Bitcoin ETC will launch with the full approval of Germany’s financial regulators and will be backed 100% by physical Bitcoins. Custodial services will be provided by US digital asset firm BitGo, and investors will be eligible to redeem their shares for either Bitcoin or physical cash.The news comes less than three months after German financial regulators – BaFin –

The number of DAI locked up in the Ethereum based Aave lending protocol almost doubled, leading into June 8.Aave is a prominent protocol in Ethereum’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Users can lend cryptocurrency at stable or variable rates, earning daily payouts to the wallet of their choice. They can take advantage of uncollateralized, trustless flash-loans, paid back within the same transaction block.DAI Locked in Aave Almost Doubles OvernightAccording to data from DeFi Pulse, the number of DAI locked in the decentralized finance protocol jumped 86% overnight – climbing from 2.1 million, to just over 4 million.The amount of DAI locked up in Aave nearly doubled over the weekend. Source: DeFi PulseDeFi Pulse ranks Aave as the fourth most utilized decentralized finance application

Recently released court documents from the ongoing Ira Kleiman vs. Craig Wright trial reveal the self-proclaimed inventor of Bitcoin may also have invented an early prototype of the iPhone.In Craig Wright’s legal deposition from March 16, 2020 – released June 2 – the self-titled Satoshi Nakamoto told the opposition counsel he had used an iPhone as early as 2006. The trouble is, the first iPhone wasn’t released until June 2007.The line of questioning related to email correspondence between Wright, Kleiman, and others in the period since Bitcoin’s creation. The plaintiffs, representing the estate of deceased computer scientist Dave Kleiman, seek 1.1 million Bitcoin from Craig Wright – based on Wright’s own claims that Kleiman helped to create Bitcoin.Craig Wright’s iPhone PrototypeDuring

Bitfinex has responded to the latest amendments in the ongoing class-action lawsuit leveled against Bitfinex and Tether, calling the entire case, “baseless.”Bitfinex/Tether Denounce “Baseless” LawsuitGeneral Counsel for Bitfinex, Stuart Hoegner, labeled the lawsuit an “unproven conspiracy theory.” He said in an official company announcement on June 4:“The plaintiffs’ allegations remain untethered to either the facts or the law. They conflate perceived correlation with causation in an effort to prop up theories that are untrue and unsupportable.”Bitfinex and Tether have been accused by five US citizens of manipulating the price of Bitcoin between 2016 and 2017. The plaintiffs allege that the shared executive management of Tether and Bitfinex colluded to print billions of unbacked USDT,