A New Second Layer: Channel Factories

Lately, there’s been a lot of discussion about a new concept called ‘Channel Factories.’ The technology ultimately makes the Lightning Network (LN) a ‘third layer’ and a ‘new layer’ rests in between the bitcoin blockchain and LN payment channels. Also read: Peter Thiel, Bitcoin Astronaut, Moves Markets with Crypto Moonshot Channel Factories: Adding Another Layer … Read more

Altcoin.io Unveils Updated Version of New Atomic Swap Wallet

On its website, Altcoin.io advertises itself as “a truly decentralized exchange. Built by traders, for traders.” Recently, the company released an updated version of its atomic swap wallet. As CEO Andrew Gazdecki told The Merkle, “it’s basically a decentralized version of www.shapeshift.io via atomic swaps.” The concept piqued our interest, so we decided to write … Read more

Israeli Startup Will Create “Clean Meat” Inside a Lab

When science and technology come together, both exciting and frightening things are bound to happen. A startup known as SuperMeat raises a lot of questions in this regard. It aims to develop lab-made chicken meat which will be labeled as “clean meat”. It’s an interesting concept that warrants further investigation. The Era of Lab-grown Clean … Read more

Gavin Andresen Drops A New Concept On Github for Bitcoin Cash

On January 2 one of the most well-known developers for the original bitcoin protocol, Gavin Andresen, contributed an idea to Github called “Storing the UTXO as a bit-vector.” Andresen has been active on Github for the past month as his contributions have been focused on general (Unspent Transaction Output) UTXO sets, but this particular idea … Read more

First Real Bitcoin Lightning Network Payment Completed via Bitrefill

Considering the persistent issues with the system at the moment, fast and cheap bitcoin (BTC) transactions might sound like a distant dream, but its realization might be just around the corner. The first transaction using real bitcoin to make a payment on the lighting network has recently been completed via mobile top-up service Bitrefill. Also … Read more

Trading Bot Mistakenly Causes e-Gulden Pump

In an unregulated market such as cryptocurrency, bad actors and spontaneous events continually prey upon unknowing individuals. While the victims of these acts typically consist of naive and inexperienced individuals, even savvy traders sometimes find themselves duped by these ploys. Since last Thursday, McAfee Antivirus creator and eccentric cryptocurrency magnate has been tweeting a “coin-of-the-day” to his … Read more

Bitcoin Network Fees Are Irritating Cryptocurrency Proponents

Over the past week, there’s been heightened tension around the conversation about bitcoin fees and confirmation times. Many individuals have been complaining about unconfirmed transactions and average median transaction fees, costing $31-52 USD on December 23. With bitcoin being divisible by eight decimals, many of those decimals are rendered useless as small amounts of satoshis … Read more

Chinese VPN Vendor Sentenced to Five and a Half Years in Prison

Most people are well aware of how China isn’t exactly known for freedom of speech. Especially in the online world, accessing the information you need there is a big challenge. Until recently, it was possible to bypass most limitations through a VPN connection. However, the government has begun arresting and sentencing VPN service providers. One Chinese … Read more

Data Over Drama: Bitcoin Cash Versus Bitcoin Core Transactions

Over the past few weeks, people have been complaining about high transaction fees and slow confirmation times on the bitcoin core network. Since then other coins like bitcoin cash, dash, and litecoin have seen price spikes and more people utilizing these blockchains for lesser fees and more reliable settlement times. Also Read: Wikileaks Founder Responds to … Read more