The cryptocurrency community has been doubling down on its support to privacy-centric applications like Tor Browser in 2020, according to new data. The Tor Project, a non-profit organization behind the anonymous Tor Browser, saw a 23% increase in cryptocurrency donations in 2020. A spokesperson at the Tor Project told Cointelegraph that crypto-powered donations surged from $189,637 in 2019 to $233,019 in 2020. According to a Jan. 25 announcement by the project, crypto donations made up nearly 26% of total individual donations, which amounted to $913,110. According to a Tor Project representative, Bitcoin (BTC) was the most popular cryptocurrency for their …

Brave Browser, a popular blockchain-enabled web browser, has integrated native support of InterPlanetary File System, or IPFS, to strengthen the access to the decentralized web. According to a Jan. 19 announcement, Brave has integrated IPFS into its desktop web browser for Windows, macOS and Linux, enabling users to install the protocol in a couple of clicks. IPFS is a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol designed to make the web faster, safer, and more open. The protocol aims to supplement or possibly even replace the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP, which is a major client-based protocol used to transfer web pages across a …

A blockchain project says it makes Bitcoin programmable in a way that it hasn’t been before — enabling apps and smart contracts to be brought to the network. Stacks (formerly known as Blockstack) aims to position BTC as the foundation for a better internet that’s owned by users. Those behind this ecosystem argue that the internet is broken, with tech giants dominating the landscape. Stacks is a Layer 1 blockchain that uses Bitcoin’s infrastructure as a secure base layer. Smart contracts and apps can be enabled with little modification, with “minimal transaction load” on the network. Underpinning how scalable Stacks …

Just like you might think twice about eating chicken nuggets once you see how they are made, you’d likely hesitate about volunteering your personal information once you see how it is used and monetized. Freedom has become one of the world’s most commoditized assets — and over the years, the internet has eroded it. We live in a world where we’re confronted with 5,000 words of terms and conditions when buying sneakers. Crucial details about what companies do with our data is buried in masses of legalese — prompting most of us to click “I agree” without thinking of the …

Decentralization is not a luxury; it is a necessity. In a prescient article in The Atlantic back in 2012, science fiction writer Bruce Sterling referred to the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Google as “The Stacks,” predicting the insidious power grab that has happened in the last decade. As the giant tech companies consume more and more of our lives, the fact that technologies that enable us to push back against them are being developed is not only encouraging: it is essential. Since Bitcoin (BTC) began the process of decentralizing payments in 2010, we have seen the process of disintermediation …

Cryptocurrencies are commonly known for being a store of value, but as the blockchain space continues to mature, utility tokens are being created that extend their benefits beyond mere financial gains. Scott Gralnick, director of global partnerships for ShapeShift — a Swiss cryptocurrency exchange — told Cointelegraph that cryptocurrency can help launch Web 3.0 as more utility tokens are designed to provide functions beyond market value: “At ShapeShift, we are looking past the idea of whether a token has value and can be traded or held. Moving forward, we hope that tokens will have functionality beyond being just a digital …

According to data collected by Brad Michelson, a senior marketing manager at major trading and investment platform eToro, monthly global volume for Bitcoin searches in the December 2017 bull run was lower than in November 2020. Citing SEO data provider SEMrush, Michelson said that Bitcoin-related global monthly search volumes in November 2020 accounted for 8.9 million. This is 356% more than BTC search volumes recorded back in December 2017, which amounted to 2.5 million, according to Michelson’s data. Michelson pointed out a huge discrepancy between SEMrush’s data and Google Trends, a popular tool for analyzing the popularity of top search …

Africa is the home to 1.2 billion people and what has been described as the world’s largest trade area — the African Continental Free Trade Area. Africa is forging a new path to driving development, and access to financial services will play a significant role in its economic growth. The need to provide improved systems for poverty reduction, if not alleviation, is further accentuated when one considers that 416 million Africans live in extreme poverty, and access to financial services is right at the heart of the solution. In a review of the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth, …

Despite being, perhaps, the biggest tech buzzword of the last decade, blockchain technology has largely remained just that: a buzzword. While its best-known implementation, Bitcoin (BTC), has become a household name, the technology that underpins it remains little more than a mystery for most. By and large, this can be attributed to slow progress in the adoption of the technology for consumers and businesses, caused by divided attention. Rather than a collective push to build advancements only on the Bitcoin blockchain, we’ve instead seen a clamor to build too many alternate blockchain platforms. Resources that could have been used to …

While the precise origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is unknown, it has infected more than 30 million people, with almost 1 million confirmed to have died from it as it continues to spread across the world. The highly contagious virus has the ability to survive up to three weeks in frozen food supplies of meat and fish, according to a study. Related: Illicit crypto transactions are getting more attention from the government The United States — the worst-hit country by sheer numbers — is now facing two intersecting health crises: The ongoing opioid overdose epidemic and the coronavirus pandemic with …

The modern world has become too small for comfort. The truth is that technological advancement is a double-edged sword, which has the potential to enhance human lives drastically at many levels and disrupt them in the blink of an eye, shaping things on a global level to an extent yet not seen. Even though we enjoy fast progress in crypto services and digital asset fields, constant security breaches and hacks pose a severe threat to market participants. The very essence of safety in the modern world is questioned. Therefore, it’s about time we clarify the complex topic of fungibility in …

Smart speakers have become part of our daily lives. With a single word, we are able to command a device to answer our inquiries and shopping desires. The simple act of ordering diapers or asking for a weather report is now banished to the corner of the brain that houses what you had for breakfast that morning; you can recall it, sure, but not without considerable effort. Our devices, though, don’t forget. And neither do the companies that make them and own all the data collected through our interactions. Data — as the analogy goes — is the new oil. …