What is the future of blockchain in the ridesharing industry? The potential for blockchain technology to change the ridesharing sector by bringing improved transparency, security and efficiency is promising. By incorporating blockchain technology into ridesharing services, it is possible to develop decentralized networks that link drivers and passengers directly, cutting out the middleman. This may result in a more egalitarian system with lower transaction fees and the requirement for third-party payment processors, which would minimize driver and passenger expenses. Furthermore, by leveraging blockchain’s tamper-proof and secure platform, drivers and riders can trust the system, leading to increased participation and greater …

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has confirmed that he intends on integrating payments into what he describes as Twitter 2.0 — “The Everything App” — fuelling a short-lived 19.4% price surge for meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE). The new Twitter CEO revealed his plans in a Nov. 27 tweet to his 119.2 million followers, in which he shared several slides from a recent “Twitter company talk.” Slides from my Twitter company talk pic.twitter.com/8LLXrwylta — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2022 While Musk made no mention of DOGE in the tweet or in the attached slides, this didn’t appear to stop some investors …

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has argued that crypto payments will once again “make sense” as transaction costs will soon fall to fractions of a cent due to layer-2 rollups. The Cointelegraph team currently on the ground at Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) quoted Buterin as stating that the final hurdle to getting transactions down to fractions of a cent at scale is blockchain data compression. He pointed to “solid work happening” with roll-ups at the moment such as Optimism’s layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum, which has worked to get the size and cost of data in blockchain transactions down by introducing …

There’s cause for celebration from the world’s largest cryptocurrency. The Lightning Network hit the 4,000 Bitcoin (BTC) public capacity milestone, meaning $120 million in value is ready for peer-to-peer payments. The Lightning Network first broke the 1,000 BTC barrier in August 2020 and the 2,000 BTC barrier in July 2021. The capacity has doubled in the space of 18 months. CoinCorner CEO Daniel Scott told Cointelegraph that “we had slow and steady growth with Lightning capacity to begin, but since Jan[uary] 2021, the uptick has been strong.” Danny Brewster, CEO of United Kingdom-based Bitcoin exchange Fast Bitcoins told Cointelegraph that …

The Bitcoin meme “Wen Lambo” might be making a comeback. For JayFab, a Redditor who owns and operates a welding and fabrication company, it’s certainly the case. Working in Kansas City, Missouri, in the Midwest, JayFab told Cointelegraph that he took payment in Bitcoin (BTC) for the repairs made to a Lamborghini Aventador. JayFab told Cointelegraph that receiving Bitcoin for repairing the car was his “first legitimate transaction,” even though he first got into Bitcoin in 2016. “From there [2016], I have taken the deep dive into the industry to learn about it, understand the tech and possibly have a …

The decentralized exchange aggreagator 1inch Network introduced peer-to-peer, or P2P, order functionality within the 1inch decentralized application, or dApp. This feature allows users to specify the person or wallet that will fill the other side of the trade, as opposed to over-the-counter, or OTC payments where 1inch matches the order with a taker. 1/ It’s time to broaden the scope of DeFi services available to our users! #1inch is happy to introduce a #P2P feature, which facilitates ️ secure #crypto swaps between individual users. Read more ⤵️https://t.co/CoH2YhvC69 — 1inch Network (@1inch) March 3, 2022 According to the company website, this …

After the Taliban took full control of Afghanistan in August last year, many international non-governmental organizations and services stopped operating in the country. Among them were payment services like Western Union and Swift. Many Afghans subsequently began to learn about cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology to — at the very least — receive remittances from abroad. As electronic payment services like PayPal and Venmo have never been available in the 5,000-year-old country, Afghans have lost many opportunities in the online business world. “We lost many opportunities like blogging, affiliate marketing and online dropshipping because most of them pay with …

Apple announced plans to launch Tap to Pay for iPhone, a new feature that effectively turns the smartphone into a point of sale (POS) device for businesses and merchants. So, what’s in it for crypto? The announcement explains that with Tap to Pay, iPhone-owning merchants receive contactless payments by using their mobile devices as a POS machine thanks to the NFC technology. According to Apple, the soon-to-be-launched Tap to Pay feature will extend support to “Apple Pay, contactless credit and debit cards and other digital wallets.” It basically means that, unless Apple places a direct barrier for it, customers who …

Even though the digital asset market seems to be witnessing a bit of a lull at the moment, the adoption of crypto-centric tech has continued to move forward with a full head of steam globally. Africa, in particular, is a continent where a growing list of mainstream financial entities have continued to make their presence felt, as they have begun to realize that the economic opportunities presented by the region are immense. To put things into perspective, a recent report released by Singapore-based crypto data provider Triple A shows that the North African country of Morocco currently boasts one of …

From the rise of the Metaverse to major brands announcing nonfungible token (NFT) drops, cryptocurrency mass adoption is well underway. Americans in particular have taken a growing interest in crypto, as recent findings from the Pew Research Center found that nearly a quarter of 10,371 adults in the United States were familiar with cryptocurrency, while only one-eighth (13%) were entirely unfamiliar with the concept. Additional research from online broker firm, BrokerChooser, discovered that the U.S. is the third most interested county in NFTs, falling behind Canada and Australia. Given America’s curiosity for crypto, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that …

Peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange Paxful has integrated Lightning Network into its platform, giving its 7 million users access to near-instant Bitcoin (BTC) transfers. The new feature gives users the ability to send and receive BTC from their Paxful Wallet in a matter of seconds and with much lower fees than existing blockchain transactions, the company announced Tuesday. Paxful co-founder and CEO Ray Youssef described Bitcoin as “the best financial option” but acknowledged that scalability issues could be hindering adoption. He said Lightning Network is Bitcoin’s greatest chance of achieving the scalability needed to make microtransactions a reality. Related: Journeys in Blockchain: …

Incomm Payments, a global payments provider with over 500,000 points of distribution, has entered into a partnership with Flexa that allows merchants to start accepting cryptocurrency payments in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and dozens of other digital assets. Stefan Happ, Incomm Payments’ president, said the new partnership will enable merchants to capitalize on growing retail adoption of cryptocurrencies: “By integrating with Flexa’s comprehensive solution for digital currency acceptance, we’re helping to unlock powerful consumer spending opportunities for brands and further enrich the consumer experience.” Flexa co-founder Trevor Filter said his platform was designed to “make payments more efficient, accessible, and …