The number of smart contracts deployed on the Ethereum network reached 1,971,632 in March, hitting a new all-time high and marking a 75% increase from the previous month. Dune Analytics, an online analytics platform, recorded the number of contracts deployed on Ethereum over the last 12 months with the average only registering around 670,000 contracts per month. Notably, this peak coincided with the cost to deploy on Ethereum being at one of the lowest points, with developers spending an average of $11,600 to do so. This suggests that the adoption of the Ethereum platform is on the rise, signaling strong …

A cryptocurrency staking wallet that offers users as much as 1.5% daily returns is bearing striking resemblance to a Ponzi scheme. That’s according to a Medium article published on April 19 by Jan Kowalski which warns readers to steer clear of an app known as StakedWallet. The website offers Proof-of-Stake “investment opportunities” wherein the user’s daily payout increases the longer they keep their funds staked. Staking payouts begin at 0.6% per day, and increase to 1.5% after nine months. Seemingly effortless daily returns such as these have been a hallmark of almost all well-known cryptocurrency scams in the past, including …

Another day, another mainnet launch. Or at least, that’s sometimes how it can feel in the blockchain space, as every project seems to be scrambling to be the latest and greatest in balancing the trade-offs between speed, scalability and security. Unfortunately, many of them end up languishing with little development activity and precious few users. Therefore, when a new project comes along that appears to be stirring up genuine excitement among established players and investors in the space, it’s worth taking a second look. Despite being new on the scene and still in the process of developing its testnet, Solana …

Tron described its recent listing on Ledger wallet's Ledger Live software as a move for both parties to continue the expansion of the crypto space. "It was in our mutual interest, to further develop and promote the crypto ecosystem," a Tron representative told Cointelegraph. "The rapid growth in the crypto and blockchain space is evident and the users demand more functions and creative solutions to advance the security, usability, and all-in-one stop." The addition gives users more options Tron recently saw its proof-of-stake TRX coin added to Ledger Live, the desktop software for hardware wallet provider, Ledger, on April 16. …

Binance Chain developers have proposed specifications for a new blockchain that would enable complex smart contract functionality within the Binance Coin (BNB) ecosystem. The specifications are available in its white paper, released on April 17. The new Binance Smart Chain will be independent, but tightly integrated with the original Binance Chain. The team explains that it had to create a new chain in order to maintain the high performance of the original, which hosts the Binance decentralized exchange. The white paper notes that “the execution of a Smart Contract may slow down the exchange function and add non-deterministic factors to …

Niklas Nikolajsen, the founder of Swiss crypto broker Bitcoin Suisse, predicts that Bitcoin (BTC) will move to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) once the Ethereum (ETH) network has proved the algorithm’s success. Bitcoin’s current Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm — the pioneering concept which in fact pre-existed Bitcoin, but has since come to be indissociable from the cryptocurrency — “will probably change in the future,” Nikolajsen argued. In outtakes from an interview conducted for a German TV documentary — recorded back in October 2019, but uploaded on April 6 — Nikolajsen said: “[Bitcoin’s move to Proof-of-Stake] is not planned, but the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether, …

As Tezos (XTZ) staking has apparently been getting more popular in recent months, the service will be soon available on another cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. Binance.US, the U.S. arm of the world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, will launch staking rewards this week. As officially announced today, Binance.US will launch staking rewards for XTZ on Thursday, April 16. The service is expected to be activated at 09:00 EST, Binance noted. First XTZ rewards to be distributed in May 2020 In the April 13 announcement, Binance clarified that no action will be needed for Tezos holders to start earning rewards. …

Block.one, the company that developed the backend of the EOS network, is now taking a much more active role in it. Its stake of EOS tokens, previously left unused, will be used to vote for block producers (BP), according to an April 8 announcement. The EOS network runs on EOSIO, a blockchain technology stack that Block.one also sells as an enterprise solution. The public network uses a form of distributed Proof-of-Stake consensus (dPoS), where blocks are created by entities voted by all stakeholders. Block.one also holds a stake of EOS tokens, calling itself a “silent minority token holder.” The EOS …

CasperLabs, the firm tasked with developing Ethereum’s implementation of Proof-of-Stake (PoS), has decided to launch its own blockchain. According to a recent announcement, CasperLabs plans to launch its own PoS blockchain in collaboration with Singapore-based crypto exchange BitMax. BitMax will host CasperLabs’ Exchange Validator Offering (EVO) and allow retail investors to get hold of the network’s CLX tokens. The exchange will also operate a full node of the network at its launch to facilitate staking for retail sale participants. The sale mechanics According to the offering’s website, the founding target is 3,000,000 USDT and will sell investors 10% of the …

Oh, the wonders of decentralized consensus — that dream of permissionless blockchains to be censorship-resistant, trustless, collaborative and egalitarian for a potentially global community of users. While lofty in ideals, consensus is foundational for each crypto network, which must agree upon that most basic question of who decides what on the network. Decentralized consensus in the form of a proof-of-work mechanism was at the core of Satoshi Nakamoto’s innovation when creating Bitcoin — all additional protocol elements stem from PoW’s ability to reach consensus regarding the digital ledger through the computational work of distributed individuals. In the decade that has …

This is the first of two articles providing a deeper dive into the eternal debate between the proof-of-stake and proof-of-work consensus algorithms. This part will focus on the basics, while also discussing the issue of wealth concentration and inequality, which is often at the center of any community argument. Bitcoin (BTC) and many of the original cryptocurrencies were born as pure proof-of-work systems. Proof-of-stake was first pioneered in 2013 by Peercoin, a project that exists to this day. Peercoin’s contribution to the popularity of PoS is likely dwarfed by Ethereum (ETH) and its goal to transition from PoW — which …

The Neo Foundation announced on March 25 that they have released the necessary funds to continue operating for the 2020 Fiscal Year (FY). A total of 1,660,865 NEO worth approximately $11 million was released, with 27,800,303 NEO ($190 million) still remaining. According to its blog post, the Neo whitepaper allows the Foundation to sell its stake of NEO to “support Neo's technological development, ecosystem growth, community expansion.” The transaction ID published by the foundation reveals that the tokens were sent to an address that contains over 14.6 million NEO, worth $100 million. The announcement reads that the tokens were transferred …