Bison Trails, a Blockchain infrastructure-as-a-service provider, has created double-signing protection software, or DSP, which aims to address the slashing penalties associated with double signing messages. According to the company, many digital asset holders consider slashing penalties to be one of the “main risks” of Blockchain participation, as they make it more difficult for the network to reach consensus. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Aaron Henshaw, CTO and co-founder of Bison Trails, stated that such penalties could be dangerous for anyone participating with their stake in a network as “it represents a place where token holders and validators can actually lose existing funds, …

The more time you spend in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, the more you encounter some fairly arcane technologies and their accompanying terminologies. Blockchain technology, which started out as a simple immutable record composed of blocks of data, is constantly evolving. Although the broader tech world operates similarly, the blockchain and crypto sector moves at a much more rapid pace. We are all racing to create the fastest, most efficient protocol or scalable and resilient app, and must build and improvise along the way. In such a competitive atmosphere, these races force innovation. When scalability is limited, alternative technologies must …

Following the successful but imperfect launch of the Medalla testnet, the first community testnet for Ethereum 2.0, developers spoke on the issues and needed improvements highlighted by the event. In an Eth 2.0 Dev call held on Aug. 6, the network’s client developers discussed what initially went wrong. As Cointelegraph previously reported, it took some time for the Blockchain to achieve finality, with only 57% of the stake participating in consensus. Generally, 70% is the minimum for a network to be healthy, as outlined in a community explainer. Participation is currently sitting at a stable 80%, according to beaconcha.in. There …

On Aug. 4, four U.S. congressional representatives wrote to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) asking the tax authority not to overtax rewards from Proof-of-Stake blockchains. Explaining the difference in energy consumption between PoS and Proof-of-Work blockchains like Bitcoin’s, Representatives Tom Emmer (R-MN), Darren Soto (D-FL), David Schweikert (R-AZ) and Bill Foster (D-IL) wrote that the IRS may be overestimating gains: “We believe that taxpayers' true gains from these tokens should indeed be taxed. However, it is possible the taxation of 'staking' rewards as income may overstate taxpayers' actual gains from participating in this new technology.” Industry response and clarity on …

As Ether (ETH) continues to hit new 2020 highs, the majority of ETH is now reportedly profitable. According to data from blockchain intelligence firm Glassnode, more than 90% of the circulating ETH is now in "a state of profit." This means that over 90% of about 112 million ETH coins were bought at a lower price than the current market price of Ether, Glassnode tweeted on Aug. 4. Over 90% of the circulating #ETH supply is now in a state of profit, i.e. the current price is higher compared to the price at the time the coins last moved. Last …

Proof-of-work and proof-of-stake have a lot of benefits to offer the community, and the discussion around these algorithms has dominated conversations in the cryptocurrency community. The use of staking will become more widespread this year on the protocol level with Ethereum 2.0’s expected arrival, along with the continued development of Cardano, Tezos and Algorand, ultimately changing the landscape of the future networks and blockchains. On the other side of the protocols is the mad rush for the hyper gains from decentralized finance projects that utilize high yield farming from loans, which will further the adoption of these staking protocols. The …

On August 1, several figures associated with Ethereum Classic (ETC) took to Twitter to inform the community of issues with the ETC blockchain. Among the first was Ethereum Foundation member Hudson Jameson who stated that: “Exchanges need to pause deposits and withdrawals.” The official Twitter page of ETC and James Wo, founder of Ethereum Classic Labs, both confirmed the issue. A Diagnosis report was soon released to explain that the offending miner was identified. The report added that miners should “Continue mining the chain as-is,” adding that any transactions issued during the previous 12-hour period were possibly not mined in …

Five years ago to the month, a massive crypto project launched, forever changing the landscape of the crypto and blockchain space. Since its 2015 opening day in July, Ethereum has undergone a number of planned changes. The project’s recent move into proof-of-stake, or PoS, has faced a number of delays. Ethereum launches in 2015 On July 28, 2015, Ethereum unveiled details showing an expected launch for Frontier, the network’s inaugural framework, between July 29 and July 30. The project started up on July 30, as planned. By February of the next year, Ethereum had become a major player in the …

The first token-based vote on the Polkadot network passed in favor of multiplying the DOT supply 100-fold. As announced on Monday, a proposal to give DOTs a “more ergonomic” value was accepted by the community with 86% of the votes cast in favor. Only 4% of the votes were cast against any redenomination, while 10x and 1000x split variants gathered 20% and 24% respectively as tokenholders expressed multiple preferences. The vote lasted two weeks, with 2.86 million out of a total 5.4 million tokens joining in the vote. Parity Technologies and Web3 Foundation, the two main entities developing Polkadot, abstained …

Blockchain technology has recently become a phenomenon in various areas of the economy, driving innovation, fostering growth and bringing added value. Among the most noteworthy of these sectors is the gaming industry. Gaming is a use case that drives true adoption of blockchain technology by taking the incentive for the user from pure speculation to transactions on a blockchain platform. This drives innovation in development as well as consumer adoption. The first true blockchain gaming application was Cryptokitties. While the platform itself is a technology demonstrator for collectible items, it quickly rose to prominence as the application representing the majority …

The price of Ethereum (ETH) has reached a new yearly high at $322, surpassing the previous high achieved in February 2020. Three key catalysts are seemingly behind the ETH rally. Since early 2020, the anticipation of Ethereum 2.0, which would enable staking for users, pushed the demand for ETH upward. Staking allows users to receive incentives when miners are eliminated from the Ethereum network. A proof-of-stake consensus algorithm does not need miners on the protocol. Instead, users with a stake in ETH collectively process data and information through staking. In return, they receive rewards in the form of ETH. After …

For years, tribalism has plagued the blockchain industry. Developers align to specific consensus protocols and defend technologies that use them, regardless of their limitations. These deeply rooted divisions are slowing the innovation needed to scale blockchain for future adoption. The enterprise market is only beginning to understand the promise of blockchain, and that promise will be difficult to achieve until blockchains can communicate and cooperate with each other. To achieve this, developers, companies and hobbyists alike must be able to leverage every platform without being locked into one simply because the platform developers are not working together. Blockchain can bring …