The Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 proof-of-stake (PoS) transition will not take place until 2021, the CEO of crypto analytics firm Messari predicted at a panel of ConsenSys’ Ethereal Summit on May 10. During the panel titled “The Smart Contract War Is Coming,” Messari’s Ryan Selkis pointed out major risks associated with Ethereum’s migration from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a PoS consensus algorithm, arguing that PoS systems “are not proven to work.” According to Selkis, the currently PoW consensus algorithm of ethereum 1.x, is “probably pretty good, and maybe even good enough.” The expert elaborated that the algorithm is well-established, having proven …

An Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) testnet beacon blockchain is now live. Preston Van Loon, co-founder of sharding development firm Prysmatic Labs, announced the development in a Medium post on May 7. Ethereum 2.0 is an upcoming new Ethereum chain featuring improvements in security, scalability, and decentralization. Ethereum 2.0 would not be introduced to the current Ethereum network by means of a hard fork. Instead, users will be able to transfer value from the current Proof-of-Work (PoW) chain via a one-way smart contract. The announcement also notes that shards are a core concept behind Ethereum 2.0. Shards are individual chains …

A code for the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain’s first-stage transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm could be completed by June 30, as stated in an Ethereum core developers meeting on May 2. In a bi-weekly call, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake claimed that the developers team expects to prepare code specifications for phase zero by the end of June. Drake stated: “We’re still very much on track. Still, [code] simplifications are coming through, which is great and the process of fine combing is also for finding these final bugs.” Phase zero is the name of the first phase transition stage of …

Coinbase Custody announced immediate support for the mainnet iteration of the KIN token today, April 30, 2019. As Cointelegraph previously reported, KIN is a cryptocurrency created by Canadian organization Kik Interactive of Kik Messenger fame. The token was originally developed on the Ethereum and Stellar networks and now operates on its own blockchain (a fork of Stellar). “KIN holders can now benefit from Coinbase Custody’s industry-leading offline storage platform and insurance coverage,” they say. Coinbase Custody is a custodial service provided by San-Francisco-based platform Coinbase. Coinbase Custody was first announced on Nov. 16, 2017 and launched on July 2, 2018. …

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed a higher staking reward for the upcoming proof-of-stake (PoS) algorithm implementation on the Ethereum blockchain on GitHub on April 20. Per the proposal, 2,097,152 ether per year would be issued when 134,217,728 ether is staked and validating transactions, resulting in an annual return for stakers of 1.56%. The current circulating supply of the coin is 105,764,762 ETH, which means that this amount of stacked ether is a theoretical maximum of sorts. The proposal also estimates the annual return for various quantities of validating ether. For instance, if only 1 million ETH was staked with this …

Binance’s official digital currency wallet app Trust Wallet has added staking for cryptocurrencies. The development was announced by Binance in a blog post published on April 3. The staking feature — which is scheduled to be launched by Binance by the end of the second quarter of 2019 — enables users to earn dividends or interest on their investment for validating transactions and allows them to vote on changes in the blockchain. Staking rewards are a byproduct of the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Launching the staking feature will purportedly let Trust Wallet support proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies. Additionally, Trust wallet added support …

The institutional asset custody arm of United States cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has launched staking for Tezos (XTZ), the company announced in a blog post on March 29. Coinbase Custody, which provides storage facilities for institutional investors, is seeking to expand its suite of services to include staking — a means by which Proof-of-Stake (PoS) cryptocurrency networks incentivize activity. Through its offline storage service, investors will be able to participate in networks such as Tezos using Coinbase as a regulated intermediary. “The launch of Tezos staking through Coinbase Custody serves an acute need that existed up until now: a way for …

An increasing trend in cryptocurrency looks set to continue as major proof-of-stake (PoS) projects launch in 2019, industry newsletter Diar noted in its latest weekly digest on March 18. PoS, an algorithm used in many well-known cryptocurrencies such as Eos (EOS), Dash (DASH) and Tron (TRON), is accounting for a rising amount of value in the ecosystem. This year, half a dozen more PoS projects will launch, Diar notes, on the back of the debut effort from Cosmos (ATOM), a PoS project that raised $17 million in its initial coin offering in 2017. Many coins only employ PoS to some …

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Joseph Lubin said that he expects the global economy will be 10 times larger in 10 to 20 years, when blockchain is fully ramified, and blockchain will be involved in most of it. Lubin made the statement at the SXSW conference in Austin on March 14. During the same keynote, Lubin also pointed out that just as nowadays there aren’t many “normal” people using blockchain-based systems, “there weren’t a lot of ‘normal’ people firing email around in 1983.” He also reiterated the promises of Ethereum 2.0, stating that there are a lot of inefficiencies present in Bitcoin …

Renewable energy will not solve Bitcoin’s (BTC) sustainability problem according to a blockchain specialist at Big Four auditing company PwC, Alex de Vries. De Vries presented his argument in a study published in sustainable energy journal Cell on March 14. The research cites estimates from de Vries’ website, according to which Bitcoin consumed anywhere from 40 terawatt hours (TWh) to 62.3 TWh throughout 2018. According to the paper, this is on par with the energy consumption of countries like Hungary (40.3 TWH) and Switzerland (62.1 TWh). De Vries quotes research published in 2014 that estimates that the energy consumption of …

Major United States crypto exchange and wallet service provider Coinbase has reportedly hired a veteran of Amazon Web Services to develop staking and governance solutions for its crypto custodial services. The news was reported by The Block on March 4. Citing an alleged internal memo, the report claims that Luke Youngblood — formerly a principal solutions architect at AWS — has been hired to develop new staking and governance products, which will reportedly “provide Coinbase Custody clients with the ability to interact seamlessly with crypto-networks while maintaining the utmost security of their assets in Custody.” As of press time, Youngblood’s …

Blockchain protocol research and development company CasperLabs has appointed Ethereum Foundation researcher Vlad Zamfir as lead consensus protocol architect, a Medium post by the company reveals on Feb. 22. CasperLabs is a company trying to develop the so-called correct-by-construction Casper proof-of-stake (PoS) Ethereum (ETH) consensus algorithm. In a PoS cryptocurrency, block creators are chosen by random selection with the consideration of the user’s wealth in the network and, sometimes, the age of his assets that is often referred to as the “coin age.” Vlad Zamfir infamously stated in March 2017 that Ethereum is not safe, scalable and is an immature …