Unstoppable Domains co-founder Bradley Kam believes that neither the anti-encryption bills nor the technology giants present a real threat to the future of the Internet. In his opinion, both, the governments and the giant platforms are helping to usher the era of the decentralized web, he told Cointelegraph: “There was a narrative in a popular narrative that the Internet was working pretty well, I think even a few years ago, and I thought that narrative is almost completely gone now. And there's a lot of things there's the anti-encryption laws you mentioned or Barack Obama getting hacked on Twitter. So …

INX, a cryptocurrency firm holding the first-ever token initial public offering approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, has chosen a digital asset custody provider. According to an announcement Thursday, INX has enlisted Israeli crypto startup GK8 for digital asset custody for its upcoming crypto exchange. INX tweeted that the platform will use GK8's end-to-end platform for managing and safeguarding digital assets. The platform includes GK8’s patented “air-gapped vault that can create, sign, and send blockchain transactions while staying 100% offline,” INX noted. Based in Gibraltar, INX is planning to raise $117 million from its ongoing security token IPO targeting …

Lately, the controversial topic of censorship on Big Tech platforms reached a turning point when U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign account was banned on both Twitter and Facebook for “spreading coronavirus misinformation.” The conversation over who has control over what kinds of information that get out to what kinds of audiences is not new. As we move toward Web 3.0, many believe this future version of the internet will be a more decentralized, immutable and censorship-resistant version of the web. The decentralized data storage solution InterPlanetary File System, or IPFS, is a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol that is designed to make …

The failures of centralization in protecting individual and business data have been highlighted repeatedly over the past few years. Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Sony and many more have all faced large-scale data hacks that have exposed the private information (and more) of their customers. The problem is not just data theft — banks, financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges have all suffered at the hands of malicious actors. Yet, huge amounts of information about our lives and livelihoods are still entrusted to centralized organizations, simply because that has always been the way things are done. With the onset of Web 3.0, …

Amid the ongoing political unrest in Belarus, some local cryptocurrency-related companies are reportedly setting up backup offices in neighboring countries. Currency.com, a Minsk-headquartered crypto trading company, is reportedly planning to open an office in Lithuania to provide a safe place for its employees. According to a Sept. 8 report by local news agency TUT.BY, Currency.com is offering its Belarus-based employees to “take a sabbatical” in Vilnius amid the current election-fueled unrest. Currency.com CEO Jonathan Squires reportedly said that the company will maintain its offices in Minsk, while relocation is voluntary. “We expect that most employees who wish to relocate will …

Recent geopolitical events, such as President Trump’s order to ban TikTok and WeChat in the United States, have exemplified the imperative of decentralization. The next generation internet will empower individuals to own their data, exchange their wealth, and control their digital footprint — all without being subject to the whims of politicians and tech giants, which have historically weaponized the web for their own gain. Content-addressable storage, or CAS, such as IPFS, eliminates reliance on path addressing, such as that of URLs. Content addressing can prevent malicious behaviors such as file path attacks and content manipulation. Peer-to-peer routing for communications: …

Coinbase Wallet, a service of the largest crypto exchange in the United States, now supports “.crypto” domains via an integration with blockchain domain provider Unstoppable Domains. Coinbase users can now send payments to each other by simply typing a .crypto domain instead of using long-form cryptographic addresses, Unstoppable Domains told Cointelegraph on Aug. 5. By introducing the new integration, Coinbase Wallet joins major crypto exchange Huobi, which announced a similar feature in late June. Brad Kam, co-founder of Unstoppable Domains, says that Coinbase Wallet is the first platform to offer an “all in one solution” for all cryptocurrencies offered by …

Opera, a popular web browser, continues to expand its cryptocurrency integration by extending crypto wallet top ups to the United Kingdom. After introducing the service to the United States and some European countries earlier this year, Opera now provides crypto purchases in the U.K. through a partnership with crypto processor Ramp. Direct to the source As announced to Cointelegraph on July 24, the solution implements European Open Banking APIs and enables low-fee crypto top-ups via bank accounts or digital banking app Revolut. Charles Hamel, head of crypto at Opera, says that at the launch U.K. customers will be able to …

Unstoppable Domains, a major blockchain domain provider, is hitting another milestone as Winklevoss brothers' Gemini exchange now offers custody for its ".crypto" domains. Starting from July 23, users can store their ".crypto" addresses obtained through Unstoppable Domains with Gemini Custody — a tool that is designed to store crypto assets in a regulated, secure and compliant manner. Domain registrars 101domain and EnCirca are among the first users Registrars of traditional DNS domains are being targeted as top customers of the new service. Providers like 101domain and EnCirca will be the first resellers of the new product, Unstoppable Domains’ co-founder Brad …

Verisign, a major domain name registry that controls the ‘.com’ and ‘.net’ domains, has acquired a patent that applies blockchain tech to domain names. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted patent number 10,721,060 to Verisign on July 21. Addresses instead of numbers Titled Domain name blockchain user addresses, the new patent outlines some major benefits and technical advantages associated with registrants utilizing their domain name system (DNS) domain names in a blockchain network. It can provide the ability to use domain names purchased in the traditional DNS environment in a blockchain environment. Verisign explained that by applying …

Hurricanes and typhoons, earthquakes, cyberattacks and solar flares: There are many disasters, both natural and human-made, that have the potential to disrupt our digital-centric societies. With an estimated 4.5 billion people using the internet, many communicate with cell phones and email, while financially transacting using credit cards, apps and ATMs. But each of these critical services is dependent on a reliable connection to the internet and a continuous source of electricity — both of which are typically unavailable after a disaster. As the planet continues to warm due to human-caused climate change, the risk to infrastructure only continues to grow. …

Kevin Chou, CEO and co-founder at blockchain ecosystem Rally, believes that blockchain technology could lead the charge toward a virtual economy in the web 3.0 era. Speaking at Unitize on July 6, Chou, who is also involved with the firms Kabam, Forte and Gen G, said that content platforms should move away from the old business model of web 2.0 that consists of the platforms taking a large portion of the revenue. Instead, companies should create a new and decentralized business model that favors influencers, creators, and “give away the governance to the community," said Chou. He added, “The web …