x
Image Source: Pixabay
El Salvador’s first volcano-powered Bitcoin mining project goes live
The crypto-forward nation's long-promised geothermal Bitcoin mining dream may finally become with Lava Pool, the nation's first project to attempt it.
El Salvador marks the launch of Lava Pool today, the country’s first Bitcoin mining pool powered by renewable geothermal energy. The venture, a collaboration between energy company Volcano Energy and tech corporation Luxor Technology, is the country’s first attempt to harness the abundance of renewable geothermal energy for crypto mining.
According to the press release, the Lava Pool will be maintained by Volcano Energy, a public-private partnership that has pledged to commit 23% of its net income to the Salvadoran government.
The pool is set to benefit from Luxor’s Hashrate Forward Marketplace, which offers hedging strategies to protect against market volatility—a mechanism already adopted by leading players in the Bitcoin mining market. Read More
What is finality in blockchain, and why does it matter?
Finality in blockchain refers to the unchangeable confirmation of a transaction or a block of transactions.
In conventional financial systems, once a transaction is confirmed, it cannot be undone. Similarly, attaining finality on a blockchain network ensures that a transaction is permanent and cannot be modified after it has been added to the blockchain. For the blockchain to be secure and authentic, this concept is crucial.
Finality is attained by the blockchain network’s use of consensus. Different blockchain networks employ various consensus algorithms, each with a unique method of validating transactions and ensuring finality, such as proof-of-work (PoW), proof-of-stake (PoS) or practical Byzantine fault tolerance. Read More
How tokenization is benefiting game developers and players alike
Crowdfunding has been a popular option for game developers looking to launch projects — but as the market gets saturated, tokenization is becoming a compelling alternative.
Tokenization platform Brickken is holding a competition for indie developers — allowing them to raise capital, attract a new audience of engaged players and accelerate their projects.
For years, crowdfunding has been the go-to for game builders looking to make a splash and secure investment for their big idea, and it continues to enjoy significant demand within the game industry.
Statistics from Kickstarter reveal that gaming is still the most popular category for crowdfunding campaigns. A total of 80,163 projects have launched after securing $2.27 billion in investment.
But gaining traction and achieving milestones has gotten more complicated as the market reaches saturation — with even the most promising titles struggling to stand head and shoulders above the competition.
This is where tokenization comes into play and turns gamers into stakeholders. Read More
Gold-Backed Digital Tokens Now an Approved Payment Method Says Zimbabwean Central Bank
Zimbabwean residents and institutions can now pay or settle domestic transactions using the recently launched gold-backed digital tokens, the central bank has said. Bank governor John Mangudya said the central bank has enlisted the services of external auditors to “validate the availability and adequacy of gold to ZIG at any given time.”
Preserving Value With Gold-Backed Tokens:
The Zimbabwean gold-backed digital tokens are now an approved method of paying or settling domestic transactions, the head of the country’s central bank has said. In a statement issued on Oct. 5, John Mangudya, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), added that the digital tokens will also continue to act as a value preservation instrument.
As reported by Bitcoin.com News over the past few months, the RBZ has been working on the supporting infrastructure. Initially, the central bank said the tokens, which are now known as ZIG tokens, would be useful in insulating holders against inflation and currency depreciation. 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
Kraken Amplifies European Footprint with BCM Acquisition
Kraken, a renowned cryptocurrency exchange based in the United States, has unveiled its strategic plan to acquire Coin Meester B.V. (BCM), marking a significant stride in bolstering its European presence. This acquisition, anticipated to fortify Kraken's stance in the burgeoning Dutch market, is underscored by the latter's endeavor to capitalize on Europe's friendly regulatory landscape, notably post the introduction of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework.
On October 5, 2023, Kraken, known for its extensive cryptocurrency trading platform, officially announced its intentions to acquire the Dutch-based crypto broker, BCM, an integral part of its blueprint to extend its services across Europe123. Founded in 2017, BCM stands as one of the Netherlands' seasoned registered crypto brokers, offering a plethora of services including buying, selling, and staking cryptocurrencies. The acquisition underscores Kraken's ongoing endeavor to broaden its European clientele base, while also enhancing its service offerings.
Kraken's acquisition move comes at a time when the European Commission has rolled out the MiCA regulatory framework, paving the way for a more structured and conducive ecosystem for crypto-assets in the region. Read More
Binance says it will operate under new UK rules despite earlier withdrawal
Customers in the U.K. can access permitted services through a new web page.
The exchange company said that, in compliance with the U.K.’s updated Financial Promotion Regime, www.binance.com/en-GB will serve local residents.
Binance said that U.K. users will only be able to access services that comply with local regulations. That list of available services is nevertheless extensive, as it includes fiat and cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals, spot trading, margin trading, conversions, NFT markets, crypto lending, Binance Pay, and the ICO platform Launchpad.
Binance noted that U.K. users will not be able to access its gift cards, its reference websites, and its news aggregator Binance Feed. Critically, U.K. users will not have access to referral bonuses, a feature that U.K. regulations now explicitly target.
Binance said in June that that its U.K. based subsidiary had withdrawn its FCA registration. The FCA register indicates that Binance remains unauthorized. Read More
Bitcoiner drops BitVM paper — Bringing Ethereum-like contracts to Bitcoin
The author of the white paper, Robin Linus, based BitVM’s architecture on Ethereum’s optimistic rollups with fraud proofs and recent Merkle tree developments.
A Bitcoin developer has proposed a new way to bring more expressive off-chain smart contracts to Bitcoin without needing a soft fork.
Announced in an Oct. 9 white paper titled “BitVM: Compute Anything on Bitcoin” by ZeroSync project lead Robin Linus, BitVM enables Turing-complete Bitcoin contracts without altering Bitcoin’s consensus rules.
A Turing-complete system is one that can theoretically provide an answer to any computational problem.
With BitVM, the “logic” of Bitcoin contracts would be executed off-chain, but verification would be made on Bitcoin — similar to Ethereum’s optimistic rollups.
BitVM’s architecture is based on fraud proofs and a challenge-response model, where a “prover” can make claims and a “verifier” can perform a fraud proof to punish the prover when false claims are made. Read More
Smart Contract Automation Helps Dapps Maintain Data Integrity Without Relying on External Databases — Pavel Salas
According to Pavel Salas, the chief growth officer at Gear Foundation, on-chain smart contract automation makes applications “truly decentralized” because it “removes dependencies on centralized servers or external entities.” Salas also claimed that on-chain smart contract automation means participants can “engage in transactions or exchanges without relying on a central authority.”
Webassembly Not a ‘Direct Replacement for EVM’
In his written answers sent to Bitcoin.com News, Salas argued that on-chain smart contract automation also helps decentralized applications (dapps) maintain data integrity without having to rely on external databases. He said since the code of smart contracts deployed on the blockchain is immutable, this means it cannot be altered once deployed.
Meanwhile, when asked to offer his thoughts on Webassembly (WASM) and the possibility it will overtake the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) at some point, Salas, said he does not see WASM as a direct replacement for EVM. Instead, he views ongoing efforts to integrate WASM with EVM-based ecosystems as something that “highlights its potential to expand the capabilities of smart contract development in the broader Web3 landscape.” 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.
