Ethereum developers recently proposed a network change called EIP-1559 — a proposal meant to combat the network's rising transaction fees. Expected to take effect in July of this year, the move would send a part of every transaction fee to the Ethereum network itself. Ether allocated in this manner would then be burned, reducing the number of coins in circulation. This change would also decrease the amount of rewards going to the network's miners, leading some to protest the move. A vocal group of participants have since begun to advocate for a demonstrative network takeover, which could threaten the security …

It’s hard to argue that the crypto market is not in a bull market right now, but this run does show different characteristics and catalysts than the 2017 bull market. In 2017, investors were hyped by the allure of high returns from initial coin offerings (ICO) that promised much but delivered very little in the form of an actually working ‘product.’ Fast forward to 2020, and the current altcoin season has been primarily focused on lending, liquidity, and yield farming. Growing interest in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) was triggered by the four-digit APYs being earned from staking assets, besides the decentralized …

Ethereum’s developers appear to be hastening the network’s shift toward Proof-of-Stake consensus and away from the Proof-of-Work mining community. On March 11, developer “Mikhail Kalinin” published specifications for Eth2’s future blockchain merge with the existing Ethereum network. The documentation notes the consensus upgrade from PoS to PoW will be the core change enacted. 6. This is usually called the "merge" - when the existing Ethereum network will swap over to using the Beacon chain, instead of Proof of Work. There's growing consensus that the merge ought to be prioritized as the next step, see e.g. https://t.co/JlgD1S3GrY — Josh Stark (@0xstark) …

In a newly released report, Swiss cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift explores the potential role of so-called “staking derivatives” in addressing some of the challenges posed by Proof-of-Stake, or PoS, protocols. Yield Unchained: Exploring Staking Derivatives shines the spotlight on existing challenges with POS protocols – namely, the opportunity cost that comes with locking up capital in a consensus mechanism. Staking derivatives, the report says, allows users to combine the benefits of staking returns and the ability to deploy their capital in DeFi and other protocols. “Staking derivatives offer a tantalizing, best-of-both-worlds approach where users can enjoy both staking returns and the …

The Theta project has been making waves alongside many other altcoins that are riding this year's bullish wave to new all-time highs. While the main token of the Theta network has been receiving a majority of the attention, the ‘gas’ token of the protocol, TFUEL, has quietly been surging alongside THETA as its importance to the network becomes apparent to savvy crypto investors. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that the price of TFUEL has increased 775% over the past five weeks, going from $0.026 on Feb. 1 to a new all-time high at $0.22 on March 10 as …

As big-name payment processors like Visa and Mastercard increasingly integrate blockchain technology into their payment rails, decentralized platforms offering the best solutions to issues like scalability and fast transaction times are gaining traction. COTI is one such platform that has been gaining momentum in recent weeks after a series of network upgrades and big announcements brought extra attention to the enterprise-grade fintech platform. According to COTI’s website, the protocol focuses on empowering organizations to create their own payment solutions and digitize any form of currency as a way to save time and money. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows …

Blockchain infrastructure firm BisonTrails has launched support for the Cosmos ecosystem, allowing its clients to stake and run nodes for blockchain ecosystem Cosmos. BIson Trails offers services to simplify the process of participating in blockchains, such as staking and running full nodes. The firm’s customers include custodians, exchanges, and funds, with Bison also helping Web 3.0 applications connect to blockchain data. The firm partnered with Coinbase in January to offer services under the U.S. exchange's umbrella. Bison’s customers can now use the firm’s infrastructure to stake and delegate their tokens using “participation clusters,” earning transaction fees and rewards while securing …

Crypto.com has launched a venture arm and has set aside $200 million to invest in promising cryptocurrency startups, as it seeks to expand its partnerships with entrepreneurs in the crypto and blockchain industry. Announced on March. 4, the new venture arm, named Crypto.com Capital, was launched to accelerate the growth of crypto startups, and to advance the growth of the industry in general, according to a press release. The $200 million fund will be used to invest in seed rounds for promising startups, with single investments poised to reach anywhere between $100,000 and $3 million. Investments in Series A funding …

French utility giant Électricité de France has joined the Hedera Governing Council as a node operator. EDF, which is among the top five global utility firms, represents the first from its industry to join the council and will use the technology as part of its aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The Hedera network is a public, enterprise-grade blockchain that is owned and governed by private entities. EDF joins the likes of IBM, Google, Boeing as node operators, with each having an equal vote in the future direction of the software. Each member can serve for a maximum three-year …

As Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) gain legitimacy in top financial circles that will eventually help digital currencies go mainstream, projects that offer enterprise-level blockchain solutions are also gaining attention from the corporate sector and investing class. Sold as one of the next technological breakthroughs that will revolutionize the current digital landscape and usher in a new era of decentralization, businesses and corporations have already shown immense interest in how blockchain technology can be integrated into their operations to help save money and increase efficiency. One project that has a focus on enterprise-level blockchain solutions is Unibright, which has seen …

The decentralized smart contract platform Fantom (FTM) continued its resurgent rally to the tune of 50% on Monday, despite a temporary network outage that saw the blockchain stop producing blocks for seven hours. Fantom emerged among the top 100 in the market capitalization rankings in January — eventually going on a 5,000% run that peaked in late February. Since then, the coin’s bull run subsided, but its value against the U.S. dollar still stands 3,434% higher than it did on Jan. 1. But Fantom was subject to a brief blackout on Feb. 25 when block production was halted after two …

The Proof-of-Stake model has been around since 2012, when it emerged as an alternative way to achieve consensus than Bitcoin’s computationally heavy Proof-of-Work. However, it’s taken until now for PoS to take off, spurred by the launch of staking on high-profile platforms including Ethereum 2.0, Polkadot, and Cardano. Despite epic price rises since the start of the year and the fact that it’s the second-biggest cryptocurrency by total market capitalization, Eth2 lags behind competitors in the staking rankings. So, why isn’t Ether (ETH) the number one staking cryptocurrency? A brief history of proof-of-stake Back in 2012, Peercoin developers Sunny King …