The launch of the energy efficient Ethereum 2.0 network will popularize the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and make staking yields a more attractive source of income for both institutional and retail investors according to a new JPMorgan report. The authors estimate that holders of staked coins on PoS blockchains are currently generating some $9 billion in revenue annually from their staked holdings. When Ethereum completes its transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) next year, the analysts expect payouts will more-than-double to $20 billion. They project staking yields across the blockchain industry to double again to $40 billion by 2025. The …

Choppy markets after a major pullback offer ample time to take a survey of the cryptocurrency landscape and find solid projects with improving fundamentals that have caught the attention of analysts and tokenholders. One project that has piqued the interest of many, including researchers at Delphi Digital, is Curve Finance, a decentralized exchange for stablecoins that focuses on providing on-chain liquidity using advanced bonding curves. Three reasons why Curve DAO Token (CRV) is attracting the attention of analysts include attractive yields offered to tokenholders who participate in staking, competition for CRV deposits on multiple decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and healthy …

Ethereum 2.0 is approaching what some are calling a major milestone in its short history — 6 million staked Ether (ETH). The Ethereum Launchpad, Ethereum 2.0’s portal for validators to stake their coins, shows some 5.9 million staked Ether and almost 180,000 validators powering the blockchain Wednesday. That averages out to just slightly more than the minimum 32 staked Ether required to activate the validating software and becoming a validating node on the network. This represents an investment of $66,560 to participate as a validator on the network at the average crypto exchange price at the time of publication. According …

Bitcoin’s reliance on large-scale mining infrastructure and geographic concentration has been thrown into sharp relief by China’s recent mining crackdown. In May, China announced that it would be getting tough on crypto mining and trading as a response to financial risks. The nation’s crackdown on crypto is not new, rather it's a reiteration of previous standings on the risks of digital currency to economic stability, in response to recent price fluctuations. For the first time, cryptocurrency miners are being targeted to enforce the existing guidelines. Mining hardware still presents a potential risk, even if mining moves to other locations. This …

In a battle of animal-themed cryptocurrencies, a bullock-branded, anonymity-focused protocol is making the case that it is faster, safer and cleaner than the shiba inu-faced joke coin that became a top 10 cryptocurrency this year, largely on the strength of Elon Musk’s memes. Animals aside, the Oxen privacy coin does have some reason to compare itself with market darling Dogecoin. Speed, for one. While DOGE’s block time is one minute compared to OXEN’s two, Oxen can use what it calls Blink technology, which is the default setting for OXEN to make the transactions nearly instant. On top of that, Oxen …

The hotly anticipated “London” Ethereum hard fork now has a set block height for three testnets — a key penultimate step toward a full mainnet launch. In a blog post on the Ethereum Foundation’s website, Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko wrote that the Ropsten, Goerli and Rinkeby testnets now have set block heights at which London will go live, with Ropsten expected to be the first at block 10,499,401, or sometime on June 24. Goerli is expected to be next on June 30, and Rinkeby on July 7. A release schedule for the all-important mainnet upgrade is still being determined, …

CNN has followed Fox and Time Magazine into the NFT market, announcing the launch of collectible historic moments from the news. CNN’s NFT project is dubbed “Vault by CNN: Moments That Changed Us” and includes a series of tokenized iconic moments from its 41-year history, along with a vault to purchase, store and display the NFTs. The news organization has not revealed which specific historic moments will be tokenized, however, it noted that themes including CNN exclusives, notable firsts, world history, and presidential elections, will be covered. The initial launch will include six weekly drops starting from late June, with …

A bill which would have required miners in New York to halt operations for three years as part of an apparent effort to slow the environmental impact of crypto has been defeated in the state legislature. New York Senate Bill 6486 failed to pass the state assembly today after lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled state senate approved the legislation earlier this week. The bill was aimed at establishing “a moratorium on the operation of cryptocurrency mining centers” while experts considered the environmental impact of mining, particularly those backed by fossil fuels. According to a Connecticut-based National Public Radio affiliate, the International …

Support for the Algorand ecosystem appears to be growing, with digital asset manager Arrington Capital earmarking $100 million for projects building on the smart-contract platform. The massive Arrington Algorand Growth Fund, or AAGF, has been designed to accelerate additional development across all facets of the smart contract platform, the company announced Thursday. This includes applications spanning the DeFi, traditional finance, public sector and NFT marketplaces. AAGF will invest in an array of Algorand-focused projects, including native cryptocurrencies that drive new financial applications on the network. Arrington Capital was founded by TechCrunch and Crunchbase founder Michael Arrington. The company oversees more …

Twelve months ago, the total value of cryptocurrency locked in staking programs was barely more than $1 billion. Today, there is $58 billion locked in decentralized finance, or DeFi. The adoption of DeFi has been a sea change that’s helped push the crypto industry into the mainstream, but it’s hardly the only one. Mainstream institutions including MicroStrategy and Tesla have poured billions of dollars into Bitcoin — and some have been buying the dip — while nonfungible tokens have evolved from CryptoKitties and CypherPunks to an artistic medium pulling in millions in bids for a new generation of digital artists …

Ethereum’s visionary co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has commented on the obstacles on the roadmap to Ethereum 2.0 at a conference in Hong Kong. Speaking partly in Mandarin at the Virtual Fintech Forum at this week’s StartmeupHK Festival 2021, Buterin said that technology wasn’t the major issue with the world’s largest smart contract network. He admitted that building Ethereum has taken a lot more time than he had anticipated, with early Eth1 blockchain build estimates of around three months turning into 18 months in reality. The upgraded version is taking substantially longer. “We thought it would take one year to do the …

Elon Musk captured the world’s attention when he declared that Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin as a payment method, citing the blockchain’s environmental impact. Although this thrust the debate about cryptocurrencies and the climate into the spotlight, this has been an issue that has been rumbling on for many years. Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism is exceedingly energy intensive, and it seems to be a problem that’s only getting worse — with vast data centers established as miners vie to get their hands on a supply of new coins that has dwindled further since the 2020 halving. The latest figures …