The coronavirus pandemic is transforming the education sector as much as it is transforming various important aspects of our lives. The majority of teaching and learning has been transferred to digital platforms as many cities remain in quarantine or begin to ease lockdown restrictions. But the education sector will never be the same again. What is peer-to-peer learning Education is going through several developments and changes. These changes were accelerated over the last few months by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the novel virus did not outrightly halt the delivery of education. It merely demanded new ways of delivering and receiving …

LocalBitcoins, a major peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency exchange, has purportedly managed to significantly cut the amount of criminal funds on its platform in 2020. The P2P platform has seen a decline of over 70% in transactions from darknet markets between September 2019 and May 2020, LocalBitcoins claims. Jukka Blomberg, chief marketing officer at LocalBitcoins, told Cointelegraph that the drop comes in response to Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer regulations adopted by the platform in September 2019. The calculations are based on blockchain analysis by major crypto analytics firm Elliptic as well as LocalBitcoins’ own “clustering tools,” the firm said. The …

Veteran cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has announced an open-source peer-to-peer data streaming platform that will allow users to share media across a decentralized network. The code for Bitfinex's "Dazaar" protocol has been uploaded to GitHub, describing a decentralized network in which distributed node operators store the information shared among users. In an announcement, Bitfinex states that the platform’s creation was motivated by the increasing reliance on centralized platforms such as search engines, social media, and messaging apps to facilitate the sharing of data and media. Bitfinex open-sources P2P streaming protocol Bitfinex describes the Dazaar platform as a crypto-powered protocol for monetized …

The coronavirus pandemic has been hugely disruptive to crypto conferences and events around the world, but one company is determined to continue educating businesses and consumers about Bitcoin’s potential. Paxful, the peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace, is hosting a series of online sessions aimed at the African market. These one-hour events are designed to offer a compelling insight into cryptocurrencies for those who know little about what they are and their potential impact. Some of the continent’s best-known companies and individuals are also getting involved in the seminars. Championing Africa The first session was an “Ask Me Anything,” with the two co-founders …

Protesters in Lebanon have set fire to the central bank in Tripoli in a show of anger with the country’s deepening economic crises and stagnant political orthodoxy. Joyce Karam of United Arab Emirates-based media outlet TheNational reported June 11 that the Lebanese pound (LBP) is trading for more than 5,000 per $1 in spite of the country’s official peg of 1,507 per dollar— a 20% depreciation since April, and over 230% since the peg was respected in January. However, recent reports also indicate that an increasing number of protestors are embracing Bitcoin (BTC) as a means of bypassing Lebanon’s failing …

Peer-to-peer Bitcoin (BTC) trading activity in the United States surged to a new all-time high during the week of June 7, according to data published by UsefulTulips. Over the past seven days, nearly $29 million worth of Bitcoin has changed hands for U.S. dollars on leading P2P marketplaces Localbitcoins and Paxful. The past week saw only North America and Middle Eastern/North African trade increase, with all other regions posting slight declines in seven-day volume. Over $24 million in Bitcoin changed hands on Paxful in the United States alongside $4.6 million traded on Localbitcoins. With roughly $1 million trading on Canada’s …

Decentralized finance, commonly referred to as DeFi, has grabbed the attention of mainstream financial and technology audiences alike. While the sector has been applauded for bringing about innovative digital finance solutions from lending to payments, progress has been overshadowed by high profile security breaches. Adhering to these security guidelines will ensure that DeFi solutions will be better equipped to offer users a more instant, safe and secure network than traditional banking services. New DeFi market opportunities overshadowed by security threats When governments enforced lockdowns to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the mainstream financial and banking system buckled under the …

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange TomoChain will launch a peer-to-peer, or P2P, lending feature on June 6 through its TomoDEX’s platform. According to an announcement, TomoDEX is the first decentralized exchange, or DEX, powered by the layer 1 protocol TomoX — which will have a maximum of 150 DEXs running on it. It’s currently in soft launch with spot trading enabled. The DEX boasts a reported speed of 2,000 transactions per second. Long Vuong, CEO of TomoChain said the P2P lending feature does require a trusted custodian and there will be no information asymmetry: “All functionality is handled through auditable smart contracts …

On June 4, a new study performed by a number of Russia-based crypto exchanges revealed a significant rise in Bitcoin (BTC) trading across Russia since March amid the COVID-19 lockdown. As RBC reports, representatives from the Russian offices of exchanges like Binance, Garantex, and EXMO, highlighted the growth in the number of users in Russia. This number is relative to the increase in trading volumes from March until June. Boost in registrations from Russia users Gleb Kostarev, head of the representative office of Binance in Russia, explained that the number of registrations on their platform during April 2020 was two …

Decentralization is one of the most important benefits promised by blockchain, as the technology aims to distribute and disperse power away from central authorities. Bitcoin, for example, was designed as a decentralized alternative to government-backed money. However, many blockchain systems currently run on centralized cloud platforms. It’s been noted that over 60% of all Ethereum nodes rely on cloud-based services, with 25% running on Amazon Web Services, or AWS. As a result, these blockchain networks are vulnerable to policy changes and adjustments made from Amazon. This also leads to the question of whether these systems and their associated cryptocurrencies are …

Despite local cryptocurrency uncertainty, Russia is strengthening its leadership on major peer-to-peer exchange LocalBitcoins in the share of Bitcoin (BTC) trading volumes. Russia has traded the most Bitcoin on LocalBitcoins exchange for two consecutive months, April and May 2020, according to an analysis by crypto media startup CryptoDiffer. Russia trades nearly twice as much BTC on LocalBitcoins as Venezuela and the U.S. According to the data, Russia was responsible for 19% of total BTC trading volumes on LocalBitcoins this May, leaving Venezuela and the United States trailing. LocalBitcoins’ BTC trading in Venezuela and the U.S. reportedly accounted for 11% and …

In the past three decades, the world has been witness to three extraordinary “black swan” events that served as structural crossroads for both societies and economies: the 9/11 terror attacks, the 2008 global financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly two decades ago, 9/11 unleashed brazen new escalations of state powers over individuals and monetary controls, all in the name of security from terrorism led by the United States and still reverberating around the globe. The 2008 economic meltdown caused by the U.S. housing crisis illuminated the fundamental economic inequality issues that fomented movements like “We Are the 99%” and …