Infrastructure

Secure, Controllable, Decentralized Data Sharing: An Interview With bitYoga CEO Antorweep Chakravorty

Beyond its primary use case of powering cryptocurrencies, there’s no denying the priceless possibilities embedded in the underlying blockchain technology.  Coinfomania recently spoke to bitYoga CEO Antorweep Chakravorty. The Norway-based startup is a member of the EU-H2020 ARTICONF project and is piloting the adoption of blockchain technology for decentralized and secure data file sharing for the next generation of internet applications. He first spoke to us about how bitYoga got started. Antorweep was an associate professor of the University of Stavanger, Norway along with co-founder, Chunming Rong who was also

Charities Are Turning to Bitcoin Amid the Global Fight Against Coronavirus

In the war against the novel coronavirus, cryptocurrencies are emerging as a much-needed tool for charity and fundraising projects. Already there are a number of large nonprofits accepting Bitcoin donations. Plus, some blockchain and crypto firms are contributing medical supplies to hospitals in an attempt to curb the virus, while others are setting up fundraisers and charities that are aimed at helping its victims.As a number of nonprofits continue to accept cryptocurrency donations, they are starting to realize that crypto transactions significantly reduce costs in terms of fees. Here are

Introducing the new Blockchain.com monthly newsletter — April Edition: “After the Dust Settles”

The quality of information and data in crypto has improved in recent years, so you may be asking why another monthly newsletter?There are still some big data and analysis gaps in crypto. Crypto markets are nowhere near as widely served with reliable research and data as traditional markets. Indeed, the March 12–13th crypto stress test demonstrated there are also still some very significant issues with the state of crypto exchange infrastructure.What you can expect from our monthly newsletterOur intention with this newsletter is to avoid repeating what you can find

Researchers Detect Ambitious Bitcoin Mining Malware Campaign Targeting 1,000s Daily

Cybersecurity researchers have identified a persistent and ambitious campaign that targets thousands of Docker servers daily with a Bitcoin (BTC) miner.In a report published on April 3, Aqua Security issued a threat alert over the attack, which has ostensibly “been going on for months, with thousands of attempts taking place nearly on a daily basis.” The researchers warn: “These are the highest numbers we’ve seen in some time, far exceeding what we have witnessed to date.”Such scope and ambition indicate that the illicit Bitcoin mining campaign is unlikely to be “an

Africa Using Blockchain to Drive Change, Part Two: Southern Solutions

With pundits like Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey predicting that Africa “will define” the future of Bitcoin (BTC), cryptocurrency and blockchain technology continue to attract interest from both public and private establishments across the continent. Many of these adoption cases have been moving beyond finance, developing solutions targeted at issues like unemployment, identity management, health care and supply chain, among others.Amid the growing enthusiasm for crypto and blockchain technology in Africa, industry stakeholders interviewed by Cointelegraph identify a lack of education as one of the major hurdles standing in the way of more

Quarantined Gamers Are Straining Microsoft Azure-based Blockchain Platform

Microsoft has acknowledged that the quarantined gamers are putting a strain on its Azure cloud platform which is a backbone of the company’s Blockchain As a Service (BaaS) offering.In the SEC filing, Microsoft addresses the impact of “the global health pandemic” on its Azure cloud services. The company admits that in certain regions “deployments for some compute resource types (...) drop below our typical 99.99 percent success rates”. Furthermore, Microsoft confirms that “Xbox Live [is] putting a strain on overall Azure capacity”:“As a result of the surge in use over

Talking Digital Future: Smart Cities

My journey into smart cities and their future development was a really big surprise, as the way I arrived there was not something that I had planned. I was working as the chief information officer for a company in Northern California called O'Reilly Media when I got a call from a headhunter who asked if I would consider being the chief information office for the City of Palo Alto. I can vividly remember — it was only about eight years ago — my feeling when she asked the question. The

Blockchain Head at European Commission Explains Usefulness of DLT

The head of the digital innovation and blockchain unit at the European Commission (EC), Pēteris Zilgalvis, explained the concise benefits of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in an interview to The Banker, a subsidiary of the Financial Times. In the interview, published on April 3, Zilgalvis talked about the benefits and challenges of the technology.According to him, blockchain provides a powerful framework for data sharing, something that can't be done by normal databases:“We think that it presents an excellent technology for situations where different stakeholders need to collaborate but, due to

Is Blockchain Necessary? An Unbiased Perspective

Yes, that’s the question we are asking today. Is blockchain technology necessary? The answer is tricky. To arrive at the conclusion takes an unbiased perspective. Bankers and people in the stock market will tell you that it’s the epitome of evil. Blockchain engineers and enthusiasts will tell you it’s the future of the world. The government, as usual, will be indecisive.Both are overly eager in their opinions, and both are unfortunately wrong. Blockchain is wonderful and revolutionary, no doubt there. But it has some very serious cons that are underplayed

Confirmed! Brandon Chez Steps Down as Binance Completes Acquisition of CoinMarketCap

It all started out as a rumor and many thought it was just another April Fool’s prank, but it is now official. Binance has acquired the largest cryptocurrency data tracking site, CoinMarketCap (CMC), the exchange announced today. The coming together of the largest crypto companies is considered an industry milestone, as it could eventually result in significant opportunities, especially in the area of cryptocurrency data tracking, which will contribute to the growth of the industry. While commenting on the development, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), said that the

1.1 Million In USDC Invested Into Uniswap and PoolTogether By Coinbase

Coinbase, one of the world’s heavyweight exchanges, has recently invested 1.1 million in USDC to the decentralized finance protocols of PoolTogether and Uniswap.Pushing In 1.1 Million In USDC To Smart ContractsAccording to the announcement the San Francisco-based crypto exchange had made, the funding itself comes from its USDC Bootstrap Fund. This Fund was created back in September of last year, with an initial funding clocking in at $2 million. The move itself comes as a bid from the exchange to stimulate the growth of the USDC within the Decentralized Finance