Binance’s latest research report has argued that with Ethereum’s pending switch to proof-of-stake (PoS), staking is set to have a major impact on the industry. The report, published on Oct. 28, highlights that the largest 10 crypto assets supporting — or poised to support — staking represent a cumulative market capitalization of $25.8 billion. As of press time, this means prospective staking dominance stands at roughly 10% of the total industry market capitalization. Passive investment strategy As previously reported, staking is specific to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains and essentially allows network participants to passively earn a form of “interest” by depositing …

Cryptocurrency custody and futures trading platform Bakkt has announced its coming entry into mobile payments with a consumer app. Per an Oct. 28 blog post from the company, Bakkt will follow its recent successes in trading Bitcoin (BTC) futures with a consumer app. According to the company, the app will help consumers “unlock the value of digital assets, as well as ways in which they can transact or track them.” Starbucks on board Though the announcement is vague on the specifics of the app’s functionalities, coffee empire Starbucks is the first major retailer to commit to the new payments application. …

Ethereum 2.0 validators can expect to earn from 4.6% to 10.3% as rewards for staking on an annual basis, a senior ConsenSys exec says. 32 ETH required to become a validator Collin Myers, head of global product strategy at blockchain firm ConsenSys, reportedly claimed that in order to become a validator on the Ethereum 2.0, one is required to maintain a minimum amount of 32 Ether (ETH), which is worth $5,760 at press time. Myers revealed the news at a recent blockchain event Devcon 5, Coindesk reports Oct. 25. Ethereum 2.0 is a major network upgrade on the Ethereum blockchain …

Major Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain Qtum has gone through its first-ever hard fork today, updating the network to Qtum 2.0. Major network upgrade Qtum blockchain has had its first hard fork as scheduled, Qtum Official tweeted on Oct. 17. The hard fork happened at block 466,000, upgrading the Qtum network to unlock a number of significant features such as smart contract and block spacing improvements, as previously announced by the firm. According to Qtum blockchain explorer Qtum Insight, the number of blocks on Qtum blockchain has crossed the 466,000 mark, amounting to 466,621 at press time. Qtum blocks. Souce: Qtum Insight …

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder turned Cardano (ADA) creator Charles Hoskinson believes that if Bitcoin (BTC) fails, the entire cryptocurrency industry could fail. Hoskinson made his remarks during an interview for the Off the Chain podcast on Oct. 10, hosted by Morgan Creek Digital Assets co-founder Anthony Pompliano. After multiple projects that included co-founding Ethereum, Hoskinson — a mathematician, cryptographer and entrepreneur — founded the peer-to-peer technology firm Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) in 2015. As CEO of IOHK, Hoskinson created and launched the cryptocurrency Cardano in 2017, which uses a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm dubbed Ouroboros. Bitcoin: “blind, deaf and dumb by …

Mobile payments app Chai is launching mobile blockchain-based payments at 13,500 CU convenience stores in South Korea. According to an Oct. 7 news release shared with Cointelegraph by blockchain startup Terra, Chai — which operates on the Terra blockchain — will now be accepted as a means of payment at the major convenience store chain. App support will be added at CU by the end of 2019 following a partnership between Chai and convenience store operator BGF Retail, which owns the stores in question. Per the release, Chai will also offer low transaction fees to merchants and ongoing 5% to …

Digital asset financial services firm BitGo has launched a new staking service for the clients who store their assets with its qualified custodian subsidiary BitGo Trust. A press release published on Oct. 3 revealed that the new service will initially launch with altcoins Dash (DASH) and Algorand (ALGO), with more assets to be supported in the future. Staking vs. mining Staking is specific to proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains and essentially allows network participants to earn a form of “interest” by depositing their tokens to both maintain the network and potentially earn rewards. As opposed to proof-of-work blockchains like Bitcoin, nodes in …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has become the highest-ranked “Super Representative” (SR) in the Tron (TRX) ecosystem. According to Tronscan’s data on Sept. 30, Binance acquired over 12 billion votes for the top-spot ranking. Blockchain community Sesameseed.org is now the second-largest SR, with Tron-based BeatzCoin in third place. Binance announces TRX staking support On Sept. 30, Binance revealed that it would add support for TRX staking starting Oct. 1, with initial estimation of rewards to be calculated through Nov. 1 and subsequently distributed before Nov. 5. The system will then continue on the same basis monthly, per Binance’s website. The development …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has launched a dedicated staking platform, according to a company announcement published on Sept. 26. The new service will enable Binance users to deposit their token holdings and earn staking rewards, but without having to set up their own nodes to fulfill minimum staking amounts and/or time lengths. Staking vs. mining cryptocurrencies In blockchains that use a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system — as opposed to Proof-of-Work (PoW) like in Bitcoin — nodes in the network engaged in validating blocks, rather than mining them. A deterministic algorithm selects block validators based on the number of tokens a given …

Binance CEO hinted at staking Tezos (XTZ) as the major crypto exchange listed the cryptocurrency for trading on its platform. XTZ deposits are now live On Sept. 23, Binance officially announced the listing of Tezos, launching three new trading pairs featuring the major cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC), top stablecoin Tether (USDT) and Binance’s native token Binance Coin (BNB). Following the announcement, users can start depositing Tezos on their accounts, while the launch of trading is scheduled for launch on Sept. 24, the exchange announced. CZ hints at staking Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, subsequently retweeted the news, intriguing …

Hedera Hashgraph, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform, announced that it will offer open access to its mainnet beta starting Sept. 16. According to Hedera Hashgraph’s official blog post published on Aug. 29, the open access beta test will be a period of free public access, during which developers will be able to build decentralized applications, also known as DApps, on the platform. Open access beta features Hedera’s network will reportedly offer three services during the beta testing period: cryptocurrency, smart contracts and file services. It is noted that crypto transactions will be capped at 10,000 per second while file …

Algo Capital has raised $200 million — double its original goal — for its venture capital fund. According to a news release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 27, the new fund will invest in businesses helping to build infrastructure for the Algorand blockchain — an open-source public ledger and cryptocurrency payment system that utilizes a Byzantine Agreement message-passing protocol. The fund will also be investing in businesses focused on accelerating the adoption of the platform’s native token, Algo, as a means of payment. As previously reported, Algorand was founded by Silvio Micali, a cryptographer and Turing Award winner who is …