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MetaMask To Start Collecting User IP Addresses
According to an updated privacy policy agreement published by ConsenSys, creator of the MetaMask wallet, MetaMask will begin collecting users’ IP addresses and Ethereum wallet addresses during on-chain transactions.
ConsenSys, the creator of the MetaMask wallet, announced in an updated privacy policy agreement that the wallet will soon begin collecting users’ IP addresses and Ethereum wallet addresses. The company however explained that the collection of users’ data will only apply if they use MetaMask’s default Remote Procedure Call (RPC) application called Infura. ConsenSys added that individuals who use their own Ethereum node or a third-party RPC provider with MetaMask will not be subject to the changes in the privacy policy.
The firm added that information gathered may be disclosed to affiliates, during business deals, or may be used to comply with Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering requirements. Decrypt reported that alternative RPCs which can be utilized by Ethereum developers include Alchemy, QuickNode, Moralis, and Tatum. Alternative RPCs are however subject to their own data collection policies and may also change in the future. Read More
TON Telegram integration highlights synergy of blockchain community
Independent developers from The Open Network community developed a Telegram bot for trading and transferring cryptocurrency.
As a result of a recent upgrade to the wallet bot, users of the Telegram app are now able to purchase and sell cryptocurrencies without leaving the application. The wallet bot was developed by The Open Network (TON, formerly Telegram Open Network) in April. The bot initially enabled users to buy, sell and trade Toncoin (TON) within the Telegram app, but a new update has added a fully functioning cryptocurrency wallet to the application.
An independent team of TON developers created the wallet bot to simplify crypto transactions for Telegram users. A representative from the TON Foundation told Cointelegraph, “The creation of the wallet bot is handled by an independent development team, and we are certainly happy that more and more projects are choosing TON as the basis for creating new products,” continuing to say:
“TON is intended for millions of users, and one of our goals is to make the use of blockchain no more complicated than using applications that users are used to.”
The wallet bot also serves as a fiat on-ramp, allowing users to buy TON using their credit cards within the Telegram app. The currently supported fiat currencies for buying and selling Toncoin are United States dollars, euros, Ukrainian hryvnia, Belarusian rubles and Kazakhstani tenge. Read More
What Is Web3 and What Is Its Role in NFTs?
The internet is slowly evolving into its third iteration — Web3. How will NFTs be incorporated into the Web3 paradigm?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have many blockchain characteristics that make them useful and integrable with Web3. As unique blockchain tokens, NFTs allow you to transparently provide proof of ownership for things such as digital art, music, data, in-game assets, personal records, and more.
Some social media platforms now feature NFT verification systems that allow you to use a crypto wallet to prove NFT ownership — and use it as your profile pic (PFP). Beyond that, NFTs permit you to control your digital identity and can also grant you membership and voting rights. For example, an NFT with voting rights could allow you to vote on where charity funds are directed, how a blockchain operates, or even change the characteristics of an NFT platform itself (such as which artists are featured and what fees are charged).
When registering or selling a Web2 address such as “examplezyx.com,” you typically pay a third party to provide these services. Web2 uses a centralized database called the Domain Name Service (DNS). Decentralized Web3 domain options such as Crypto Name Service (CNS) and Ethereum Name Service (ENS) allow you to link your domain to a crypto wallet to accept cryptocurrency. You can even trade your Web3 domain on an NFT marketplace — much like any other NFT. Read More
Cutting Down On Pool Fees Becomes A Necessity For Bitcoin Miners
Ongoing bearish market conditions continue to drive crypto prices down further. For Bitcoin miners, that means a fine line between breaking even or turning a loss. Finding any advantages, including reduced pool fees, can make a tremendous difference.
When the price of bitcoin continues to decline, it triggers a ripple effect throughout the crypto industry. There is still some unease following the FTX bankruptcy filing. If anything, the next sell-off is around the corner, which will likely drive prices down even further. That is a problem for investors, but it also impacts the future of bitcoin mining.
As Bitcoin block rewards are cut by 50% every four years, the BTC value tends to increase accordingly. For Bitcoin miners, it ensures their operation continues to either break even or become profitable. However, it creates an issue when the BTC value plummets - from $69,000 in 2021 to barely above $16,100 today. Miners must recuperate their hardware investment and operational costs as quickly as possible. Of course, that is easier said than done when the mined asset loses value.
In addition, the overall Bitcoin mining difficulty has increased enormously in the past few years. As a result, significant companies and mining operators have pointed their hardware at the network to mine BTC and provide security. More mining hardware results in greater mining difficulty, impacting the revenue of all Bitcoin miners. Combined with dwindling BTC prices, it can force many operations out of business. Read More
What Does The Wallet Do? What Does It Mean For You?
The launch of the Markethive wallet is approaching, so it’s time to start beating the proverbial drum. It is the start of an exciting time with the advent of many integrations to follow the release of the wallet that will bring Markethive into prominence as an unprecedented platform. The combination of inbound marketing, social media, digital broadcasting, video, conference rooms, e-commerce, gamification, etc.
Markethive is a blockchain-driven crypto economy, all-inclusive, with a distributed database system required for this decentralized, monolithic global project. We’re almost there with the release of the wallet that will initiate entrepreneurial sovereignty and open the floodgates of this divine enterprise with its plethora of systems and services, including the new interface and dashboard.
We now have a complete working wallet with the Solana Network, and we also have a fully functional crypto merchant account. The Markethive wallet is being polished with the finishing touches, keeping mindful that it’s not just a simple wallet but a comprehensive, dynamic engine centralized for you that powers your platform and business.
Markethive is fundamentally a sophisticated inbound marketing and storefront platform, integrated with a social network, and not just another social media platform you see popping up to counter the media tech giants we’ve come to know as oppressive, censoring you and using your personal data for their own gain. Read More
How Web3 resolves fundamental problems in Web2
Web3 is a decentralized, permissionless and trustless ecosystem that transfers control from a centralized entity to a pool of participants. Web2, on the other hand, is a centralized space dominated by companies like Google, Microsoft and others.
Web3 refers to the next generation of the internet that is decentralized, making it fundamentally different from Web2, a centralized ecosystem based on a client-server model. In Web2, the backend code that powers apps is deployed onto a server hosted by the likes of Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services (AWS). This system centralizes the power and these conglomerates, collectively termed Big Tech, can block access to anyone or exchange users’ crucial data for money.
However, the architecture of Web3 is designed to withdraw this undue advantage from Big Tech and decentralizes it, boosting transparency, facilitating innovation and giving users control over their data and online interactions. In Web3, there is no server or client. Rather, there is peer-to-peer file sharing, thanks to the Interplanetary File System (IPFS).
Web3 applications are permissionless (though some private blockchains require permission) and trustless. “Permissionless” refers to the capacity of seamless inter- and intra-platform communication, while “trustless” points to the characteristic where the users need to trust the network and not network participants. Web2 applications, on the contrary, require approval by the centralized authority and users’ trust to remain operational. Read More
Blockchain is transforming capital markets, and Singapore is leading the way
Over the course of history, technological advancements have reshaped the nature of money and finance. The decades-long journey from analog to digital finance has resulted in cash all but disappearing from our lives and made transactions quicker, easier and cheaper. The same transition is now transforming capital markets, with financial instruments changing hands instantaneously in a global trading environment that is both sophisticated and complex.
Today, the next phase of transformation will be powered by blockchain technology, which has the potential to reimagine existing financial market infrastructure by enabling the digitalization of all asset types and automation of trading of such assets. It is early days and we have seen a few hiccups, but with bold thinking, commitment to innovation, and constructive partnerships, a vast array of opportunities to reshape financial markets await.
Blockchain’s potential in finance:
While current market mechanisms allow for immediate trading, existing over-the-counter (OTC) processes for trading securities or asset swaps involve multiple intermediaries that slow down both the initiation and settlement of a trade, adding friction that costs time and money.
Imagine how we could unlock greater efficiency in capital markets through blockchain technology. Tokenization allows financial and other assets to be fractionalized and securely and reliably represented on a distributed ledger. Combined with smart contracts, which allow the automatic execution of transactions when pre-determined conditions are fulfilled, these assets can in turn be traded, borrowed, or loaned across peer-to-peer networks through decentralized finance (DeFi) without the need for intermediaries. This in turn improves the speed, efficiency and transparency of these processes. Read More
Why NFTs Were Invented
Everything ever invented came into existence in order to solve a problem. In the case of NFTs, they were created to address the limitations of their predecessors, which were created on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Some of the earliest explorations into digital ownership in the crypto landscape began in 2012 with the advent of “colored coins.” These were developed on the Bitcoin blockchain.
NFTs were invented because of limitations with similar tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain, colored coins only functioned if all participants agreed to their worth.
Unlike the Bitcoin blockchain, the Ethereum blockchain allows for a much more open-ended approach.
The uniqueness of an NFT also means that it can be a bridge between the digital world of crypto and the real world of physical objects. NFTs prove digital ownership and provide a tamperproof record of transactions involving a digital asset. In recent years, NFT enthusiasts have begun to explore applications for linking NFTs to real-world assets as well. For example, real estate company Fabrica has utilized NFTs along with traditional trusts to facilitate faster, more secure, and significantly cheaper real estate transactions. In this case, NFTs are used to represent pieces of real estate.
In other cases, popular apparel and fashion brands like GAP and Nike have released NFTs which come with unique pieces of physical clothing. This world of “physical NFTs,” which include both a digital NFT component and a linked physical asset, has the potential for rapid expansion. While it was not necessarily the original problem NFTs were looking to solve, it could nonetheless represent a significant part of the future of this technology going forward. Read More
Putin argues for blockchain-based international payments system
Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticised the dependency on large banks and third parties in the global financial payments system, calling instead for an independent settlements system using blockchain.
The Russian leader made these attacks during a speaking arrangement at the International AI Journey Conference in Moscow on 24 November
During the event, which was organised by Russia’s largest bank and major government lender Sberbank, Putin said:
“The technology of digital currencies and blockchains can be used to create a new system of international settlements that will be much more convenient, absolutely safe for its users and, most importantly, will not depend on banks or interference by third countries.
“I am confident that something like this will certainly be created and will develop because nobody likes the dictate of monopolists, which is harming all parties, including the monopolists themselves.” Read More
Phantom Solana Wallet Adds Support for Ethereum and Polygon
The popular wallet for the Solana blockchain is expanding to include two rival proof-of-stake blockchains.
Phantom, the popular self-custody wallet for Solana-based decentralized applications and NFTs, announced today that it would be adding support for rival blockchains Ethereum and Polygon to its desktop, iOS, and Android apps.
The company argues that an easy-to-use self-custodial wallet is essential as an alternative to centralized exchanges and companies that handle sensitive user data.
"We are excited to bring the Phantom experience to the wider Web3 community," said Brandon Millman, CEO, and co-founder of Phantom, in a statement.
The aim, the company says, is to provide the ability to interact with the three largest blockchain ecosystems in one location and address critical usability and securities challenges in the digital collectables market.
Phantom says it worked closely with Polygon to build a first-class wallet experience, which the company claims has already onboarded over 3 million active users. The company says it wants to make crypto more accessible to everyone by offering a simple, easy-to-use wallet with a unified interface for storing and viewing assets across multiple blockchains. Read More
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
