Author: NBTC
Bitcoin’s open source development is an often heralded strength, a show of the network’s resiliency and difficulty to capture. But take a closer look, and anything as complex as developing, updating and patching up a blockchain in real time often has its challenges. This is an excerpt from The Node newsletter, a daily roundup of the most pivotal crypto news on CoinDesk and beyond. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here. One of the main issues for the past couple of years has been the bottleneck in editing BIPs, or Bitcoin Improvement Proposals, the standard for proposing nonbinding…
Law veteran Marc Fagel, renowned for his extensive experience in securities litigation, recently provided crucial insights into the ongoing legal battle between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple, as well as developments concerning Robinhood’s regulatory challenges. In the latest updates, Fagel shed light on the eagerly anticipated reply brief from the SEC in the SEC v. Ripple case, due today. Ripple, in its opposition brief, contested the SEC’s pursuit of a hefty $2 billion fine, arguing for a significantly lower penalty. Fagel emphasized that while tomorrow marks the due date for the SEC’s reply brief, it may…
Fancy creating your own meme coins and getting rugged? This might be the game for you. Rug.fun is a two-phased 24 hour game which sees investors attempt to create and buy into the highest and lowest liquidity meme coins. Anywhere in between when the timer hits zero? Then you’re getting rugged. This is as degenerate as it sounds. In the first 12-hour phase of the game, players are able to create or buy as many coins as they’d like. But only the top 10 coins will move into the second page, with all other tokens being refunded. In the second…
Bitcoin (BTC) production costs have reached record highs post-halving, as the same mining effort now renders half the revenue. Thus, Bitcoin’s price must meet the production cost threshold to avoid industry turmoil and increased centralization for the leading cryptocurrency. Charles Edwards, founder of Capriole Investments, reported an electrical cost of $77,400 per Bitcoin mined on April 22. Therefore, as of this writing, Bitcoin miners spend $11,000 more in electricity for each mined BTC, currently worth $66,175. Furthermore, Capriole‘s production cost is staggering at $128,989, resulting in $52,000 estimated losses to produce a single BTC. MacroMicro’s average mining cost and Luxor’s…
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler did not directly address whether Ethereum was a commodity or a security in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. Instead, he shifted the focus towards broader regulatory concerns, specifically the protection of American investors and the conduct of intermediaries in the crypto market. “All I would say is, to me, the fundamental question is, is how do we ensure that the American investor is protected? And right now, they’re not getting the required or needed disclosures,” Gensler responded to an inquiry regarding Ethereum’s classification from Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”…
Following the arrest of the developers of Samourai Wallet, several other Bitcoin coin mixing operations see the writing on the wall and are leaving the United States for more crypto-friendly regions. In April, the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York charged Samourai Wallet founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill with operating “a cryptocurrency mixer” that the agency said executed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions and facilitated more than $100 million in money laundering transactions with illegal dark web marketplaces. After Samourai Wallet shut down, Wasabi Wallet developers ZKSnacks announced the preemptive closure of its…
Thirteen years ago, on April 23, the enigmatic figure known as Satoshi Nakamoto delivered his final instructions on the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem. This landmark moment, occurring just four months after Nakamoto’s last public statement in December 2010, marked a pivotal juncture in the trajectory of the world’s leading cryptocurrency. In emails revealed from former Bitcoin Core developer Mike Hearn, Nakamoto expressed a sense of passing the torch, stating, “I’ve moved on to other things. It’s in good hands with Gavin and everyone.” Speculation abounds regarding Nakamoto’s motivations for stepping back from the project. Some suggest a divergence in vision, particularly…
Robinhood is the latest firm to draw the ire of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This weekend, it reported receiving a Wells notice – an announcement that the securities watchdog is building a case and intends to sue. In an 8-K filing, the fintech firm revealed it received the letter from the SEC’s enforcement division for alleged securities violations. This is an excerpt from The Node newsletter, a daily roundup of the most pivotal crypto news on CoinDesk and beyond. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here. At this point, it’s hard to be surprised by…
According to Joe Downie, the chief marketing officer at Nicehash, bitcoin miners struggling to stay afloat after the halving are unlikely to support or become involved with artificial intelligence (AI). This is because their application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners now “only allow for mining on one algorithm.” Furthermore, Downie argued that bitcoin mining devices are not “designed for flexibility,” and hence, they cannot be used to support AI infrastructure. Nicehash CMO Discusses AI Challenges and Opportunities Post-Halving Downie, a bitcoin advocate, nevertheless told Bitcoin.com News that artificial intelligence (AI) is mostly powered by graphics processing units (GPUs). Although he acknowledged…
Ethereum is gearing up for an important update that could make it safer from potential threats posed by quantum computing. This update is focused around a new proposal called EIP-7702, which was put forward by Vitalik Buterin. This proposal is an improvement over an earlier one, addressing some specific technical issues related to signing processes that were seen as limitations before. However, a major topic of discussion in the community is the actual threat of quantum computing. Some argue that quantum computing is often used as a scare tactic, without real solutions being offered. For example, developer James Prestwich pointed…