Category: Crypto

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Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) Mining Community Expects The New Quebec Government To Raise Barriers For Miners

In Quebec, Canada, new expectations have been generated in the community of Bitcoin (BTC) miners about possible changes in the regulations of the electrical supply for this activity. That as a result of the elections held this October 1st in the Canadian province did not favor the governing coalition.

Throughout this year, the government of outgoing Prime Minister Philippe Couillard implemented a series of controversial measures that directly affected the Bitcoin (BTC) mining. However, since Monday’s electoral event resulted in the defeat of the ruling Liberal Party, the miners’ community hopes that the new authorities will correct the situation.

Francis Pouliot, CEO of Satoshi Portal and representative of Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem, expressed his opinions with the election results on Twitter. In his view, there is “little hope” that the new government will reverse the “infamous regulations and taxes” applied to Bitcoin (BTC) mining.

The Liberal Party will be replaced by Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ), a conservative group created seven years ago, focused on job creation and private sector investment. However, CAQ representatives have not yet established an official position on crypto mining. In spite of this, some media reflect that the locals consider that this political platform, elected today, is, in general, the most friendly for the industry.

Controversies over electricity supply for Bitcoin (BTC) mining in Quebec, Canada

Quebec had earned a reputation as a “paradise” for crypto mining activity, thanks to its favorable electricity tariffs, the lowest in North America. Even at the end of last year, the government itself encouraged the installation of mining operations in the region.

However, the reaction of the authorities to the great demand generated by this expectation was to announce the suspension of the distribution of cheap energy to the Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies. In March, Quebec Prime Minister Philippe Couillard himself argued that Bitcoin (BTC) mining does not return any value to society, so his government was not interested in promoting such activity anymore.

In mid-2018, new measures implemented by the official electricity company Hydro-Quebec generated controversies among the Bitcoin (BTC) mining community, as some criteria were established for the distribution of cheap energy to certain companies. These criteria, based on the companies’ investment, were described as “discriminatory” against small Bitcoin (BTC) mining startups.

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We’ll Soon Celebrate 10 Years of Bitcoin (BTC) and Blockchain Technology

A decade after the birth of the Bitcoin (BTC) protocol, there are still many unknowns around this technology and its benefits. Is the blockchain technology today what it promised it would be in its first days of existence?

Since blockchain technology emerged in 2009 with Bitcoin (BTC), the interest in this technology has not stopped increasing. Experts affirm that it will be the next industrial revolution, the era of the Internet of value. A blockchain is nothing more than a database that is distributed among different participants, cryptographically encrypted and organized in blocks of transactions mathematically related to each other.

The first blockchain was the Bitcoin (BTC) one, launched in 2009. But how is it now, almost ten years later? In its latest edition, The Economist has included a special report on this technology, saying that “Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies are useless.”

It wasn’t supposed to work that way, The Economist says. Bitcoin (BTC) emerged after the 2008 global financial crisis, as a kind of techno-anarchist project to empower and protect people who shared a deep distrust of governments, banks, and big trusts. Its original objective was the creation of a popular currency as an alternative global financial system that is controlled by governments and banks. In short, Bitcoin (BTC) is a decentralized project.

A decade later, Bitcoin (BTC) and blockchain technology are hardly used for their purposes set in their first days of life

Relatively few suppliers accept Bitcoin (BTC), disillusioned by their volatility and grim reputation. Its decentralized nature and mining-based working environment make it slow as this blockchain handles less than ten transactions per second which is very really sluggish compared to the tens of thousands of transactions per second conducted by existing payment networks or other blockchain technologies, as well.

While the infrastructure based on Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain is highly secure, crypto exchanges that handle the conversion of this digital asset into fiat money have been repeatedly hacked over the ten years of Bitcoin (BTC) and blockchain technology existence.

As for the blockchain technology that supports Bitcoin (BTC)and almost all the other cryptocurrencies, “the advantages of blockchains are often oversold,” said The Economist.

While we know that the cryptocurrencies market is more and more attractive to investors, it’s volatility is one of the main challenges someone has to tackle when putting money on cryptos. Blockchain technology, on the other hand, is a very promising solution in comparison with the conventional payment system, even though it’s slower at the moment.

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Ethereum (ETH) Constantinople Update To Deploy On The Blockchain On October 9th

The Ethereum (ETH) developers community met and reached an agreement to apply the Constantinople hard fork to the Ethereum Ropsten TestNet from block 4.200.000. The objective of implementing this update in a test network is to minimize the possible risks associated with this type of forks. The agreement was total, and the proposal was accepted without inconvenience. Thus, the tentative date of application of the hard fork would be October 9th, taking into account the current block generation speed. The fork will also be made in Kovan, from block 9.200.000.

Jameson Hudson moderated the meeting, and the co-creator of Ethereum (ETH), Vitalik Buterin, participated, although he did not offer more information.

Let’s remember that EIP 1013, Constantinople, created on April 20th, 2017, by Nick Savers, will allow for the transition of the Ethereum network consensus from Proof of Work to Proof of Participation. The beginning of Constantinople marks the end of the first phase of Metropolis, a planned hard fork for the development of the network.

This update will help the network to solve its scalability problems, according to its own developers, lowering the commissions for the transactions made in it by increasing the efficiency of the blockchain.

Constantinople to deploy on Ethereum (ETH) blockchain on October 9th

Additionally, they discussed the status of Prog PoW, a working test algorithm designed to “close the efficiency gap available to specialized ASICs.” The goal is to extend the lifespan of Ethereum (ETH) mining equipment. According to Kristy-Leigh Minehan, the code is ready.

However, the dev assured that until the community demonstrates a real interest in implementing the algorithm, the team will not advance further in its application throughout the network, since it involves a considerable investment that might not be included in the implementation of the hard fork.

“Until then I don’t think it’s worth wasting work hours or money on a project that could be ignored,” the dev said during the meeting.

In another meeting held this year, the team of developers decided to reduce Ethereum (ETH) mining and delay the application of the hardship pump on the network, to revalue the cryptocurrencies, in the middle of a tough year for ETH, especially concerning the fall in its price.

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StellarX Decentralized Exchange, Running with Stellar (XLM), Launched Offering Many Crypto Trading Options

The StellarX decentralized exchange, based on the Stellar (XLM) cryptocurrency, announced the public launch of its exchange platform and the reimbursement of commissions generated from transactions. In its blog, the startup explained that the open source platform seeks to position itself as a “real link with fiduciary currencies” for the purchase of cryptos or vice versa.

The aspect that stands out most at the start of StellarX is that the company will reimburse the commissions between the participants of the exchanges.

“Using StellarX costs nothing. We do not charge any fees and even reimburse all network costs, something that no other decentralized exchange can match. All the time you have exclusive control of your assets, so whenever there is interest, it is yours,” stated StellarX.

To achieve this, Christian Rudder, co-creator of StellarX, explained that the operations and orders are running on the native Stellar (XLM) cryptocurrency. Rudder also recalled that Stellar (XLM) consensus mechanism requires neither “work” nor “participation,” so it does not use user capital to operate. “Therefore, we don’t need its capital to work either,” the developer emphasized.

StellarX decentralized exchange, based on Stellar (XLM), offers many trading options

By targeting not only cryptocurrencies but also fiar money and any other assets of the traditional economy such as bonds, stocks or real estate, StellarX decentralized exchange, based on Stellar (XLM)), seeks to focus its business model to a broader area. That is how they plan to apply the correct protocol to digitize the respective fields.

Rudder placed particular emphasis on positioning StellarX as a bridge between cryptocurrencies and fiat money. That is why the platform, according to the company, allows users to charge their account with US Dollars from any bank account across the United States.

In this case, interested persons can deposit funds into the application via the Automated Clearing House (ACH). StellarX also trades crypto tokens for Euros, Philippine pesos, the Nigerian naira, the Chinese yuan, the Hong Kong Dollar, and GBP, besides the USD.

The announcement by the StellarX decentralized exchange follows the model of the Robinhood crypto trading application which allows its users to invest in different US stock markets. On that occasion, it was reported that the first batch of users would enjoy zero commissions on the purchase and sale of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

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Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchange Platforms To Limit Deposits Due To Multiple Hackings

A conglomerate of cryptocurrency exchange platforms in Japan has decided to set a limit on the online deposits of their users. The measure comes after the hacking of an exchange platform in mid-September. The exchanges that are part of Japan’s Virtual Currency Exchange Association have agreed to limit the amount of cryptos that are hot-stored.

Usually, cryptocurrency exchanges store their cryptocurrencies in two ways, either cold and hot. Cold storage refers to the funds that are stored in wallets that are disconnected from the Internet. Hot storage relates to those portfolios that have an active connection to the Internet, such as those usually used by crypto trading platforms.

With this measure, 80-90% of the funds that users deposit on Japanese exchange platforms will be stored cold.

The measure has been established after the security of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange platforms has been compromised on multiple occasions. In fact, on September 14th, it was the turn of the Japanese platform Zaif to be cyber attacked. Hackers managed to steal $60 million in Bitcoin (BTC), Monacoin (MONA) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange platforms to limits clients’ deposits due to multiple cyber attacks

Tech Bureau Corp., the owner of the platform, decided to suspend all deposits and withdrawals on Zaif temporarily.

The Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association was formed in April, and its primary objective is to improve the security system of the trading platforms across Japan. It was established following the theft of $530 million in NEM (XEM) from Coincheck in January of this year.

Similarly, Japanese authorities began to focus their attention on the country’s cryptocurrency exchange platforms, which included the raid on Coincheck’s offices.

The Association also seeks to establish self-regulatory measures to protect the interests of traders. The limit for online deposits is part of a series of statutes drafted in July. According to the Japan Times, these measures are awaiting approval from Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) to take effect.

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