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Polygon Acquires Predicate Labs' Mir Protocol, Rebrands It To Polygon Zero
Polygon (formerly Matic Network), an Ethereum-based scaling solution, has announced its acquisition of Mir Protocol (operated by Predicate Labs Inc.), a zero-knowledge cryptography startup, for $400 million.
This latest acquisition from Polygon follows its previous acquisition of Hermez Network, another ZK-Rollups-based Ethereum scaling solution, for $250 million back in August. The deal will see Polygon investing a maximum of 250 million units of $MATIC tokens (~$627 million).
To date, several ZK-rollup-based Ethereum scaling technologies are available in the crypto market, albeit with limited functionalities: StarkWare's StarkEx, Loopring, and Matter Labs' zkSync. Of these projects, StarkEx maintains the highest total value locked (TVL), with almost $1.3 billion on its protocol. Loopring follows with some $630 million, while zkSync trails the pack from roughly $60 million.
"Polygon plans to focus on ZK cryptography as the end game for blockchain scaling," shared Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal. "We have made a strategic decision to explore and encourage all meaningful scaling approaches and technologies at this stage. We believe this is the way to establish Polygon as the leading force and contributor in the ZK field and onboard the first billion users to Ethereum," he adds. Read More
Enterprise blockchain to play a pivotal role in creating a sustainable future
Companies are turning to enterprise blockchain-based solutions to meet environmental sustainability goals as well as business demands.
Bitcoin (BTC) is often used to criticize all blockchain-based projects. This is understandable since Bitcoin was the first project to use a blockchain, is arguably the most recognizable, and is the largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
In the first half of this article, I will use Bitcoin as a proxy for all blockchain-based projects because most people associate blockchain with Bitcoin. Anything environmentally positive that can be said about Bitcoin will be doubly true for the vast majority of newer blockchain-based projects since Bitcoin uses the oldest version of blockchain technology. Read More
DeFi resolving the five flaws of traditional finance: Book review
The book describes how DeFi improves upon traditional finance’s failings by raising up “marginalized groups,” including the unbanked.
Writing a book on decentralized finance is a bit like describing a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, to borrow from Winston Churchill. First, one must summarize the origins of modern decentralized finance, then the mechanics of the blockchain technology that provides the sector’s backbone, and only then do you arrive at DeFi’s infrastructure. It all should be done in 191 pages, too, including glossary, notes, and index. It is not an undertaking for the faint of heart.
Fortunately, the authors of DeFi and the Future of Finance — Duke University finance professor Campbell Harvey, Dragonfly Capital general partner Ashwin Ramachandran, and Fei Labs founder Joey Santoro — were up to the task. After recapitulating the “five flaws of traditional finance” — inefficiency, limited access, opacity, centralized control and lack of interoperability — they go on to explain how DeFi improves upon the status quo.
Take the problem of centralized control. Governments and large institutions hold a “virtual monopoly” over the money supply, rate of inflation, as well as “access to the best investment opportunities,” wrote the authors. DeFi with its open protocols and immutable properties “upends this centralized control.” Read More
How Digital Art and NFTs Are Changing the Nature of Ownership
NFTs and digital art are instigating a shift in the arts from a culture of consumption to one of sharing, says .ART founder Ulvi Kasimov.
In the last decade, the way we consume media has fundamentally changed. Physical ownership has given way to digital streaming services that provide 24/7 access to libraries of music, movies, and literature.
To date, art has largely resisted these changes—paintings, sculptures, and photography have, for the most part, been physical objects showcased in galleries. But the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the advent of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) looks set to change that—and place art at the forefront of a revolution in consumption.
"The pandemic has literally dragged 'art' into the Internet, which in turn has created the conditions for the art world to become one of the leaders of the sharing economy," Ulvi Kasimov, founder of .ART domain registry and member of Observer’s 2020 Arts Power 50 list, told Decrypt. "Previously held desires for possession of a physical cultural object have faded in favor of digital works, NFTs, and shared access." Read More
Markethive is a monolithic blockchain project currently operating as a social network, an entire inbound marketing platform with email, blogging, and digital media capabilities that broadcast to the vast internet. It’s a complete Market Network and the first of its kind.
Markethive is predominantly a free system where users can access a platform that can cost more than $2,500 offered by other marketing platforms. There are, of course, upgrades that open up more tools and monetization opportunities, the first being the Entrepreneur One Loyalty Program, and coming soon is the Premium Upgrade.
The many domains Markethive has and its autonomous cloud systems that ensure its sovereignty and longevity make it untouchable and immune from the tech giants’ rule and biased agenda. But can still remotely infiltrate the social media platforms and reach the multitudes either locked in or looking for an alternative meritocratic medium.
In other words, wherever you go, Markethive is there, anywhere and everywhere, delivering its message via its community of entrepreneurs to a far-reaching audience. This next-generation social market media is poised in the wings, and when the time is right, it will emerge as a shining light to lift people up and bring financial sovereignty and hope in this gloomy and uncertain world. Read More
Lightning Speed: Podcasting 2.0 And Its Relationship With The Lightning Network
Will podcasting 2.0 be the next use case for the Lightning Network? The statement might induce skepticism, but Kevin Rooke presents a surprisingly good case. Prepare to receive the gas you needed to start your own podcast. The technology is just getting started, and the people are just getting comfortable with it. However, the logic behind Rooke’s argument stands.
He starts with a statement that will surprise no one. “The Lightning Network’s architecture allows creators to earn directly from their biggest fans, in new ways that aren’t even possible on a fiat payment system.” That much we can admit. We know that closed platforms provide convenience and a sizable audience. However, “Apple takes a 30% fee on in-app payments, YouTube takes a 45% fee on ad revenues, and Facebook keeps all their ad revenue without paying their creators a penny.”
On the other hand, “Email, websites, podcasts, and Bitcoin are all examples of open platforms.” They don’t offer an already captive audience, but, “anyone to plug into fully-formed networks of content and users with full interoperability between competing products.” This helps a lot. However, creators using these open platforms, “still rely on closed monetization platforms like PayPal, Amazon Affiliates, Patreon, or Google Adsense to earn income.” Read More
Threat of Nested Exchanges and What Binance Is Doing to Combat Them
Nested exchanges are becoming a popular tool for money launderers. Learn all about nested exchanges/services and what we’re doing to combat them as well as how to avoid them and why accounts get blocked or frozen because of them.
Main Takeaways:
A nested exchange provides crypto trading services through an account or wallet on an existing host exchange.
Nested exchanges are attractive crypto platforms for money launderers looking to bypass KYC and AML requirements.
In this article, you’ll learn how to avoid nested exchanges, the common security issues, and how we combat this problem at Binance. Read More
Cardano Begins Work on Becoming Resistant to Quantum Attacks, According to Creator Charles Hoskinson
American developer Charles Hoskinson is saying that his team is now preparing Cardano (ADA) for the era of quantum computing.
Quantum computers are anticipated to provide the answers to problems that cannot be solved by the classical computers used today, but some fear that quantum computing could threaten the crypto industry.
In a new YouTube video, Hoskinson tells his 288,000 subscribers that work is now underway to make ADA immune from quantum attacks.
“The first thing you need to do is model the algorithms we have against the quantum adversary.
We have started that process, but that’s not in scope for the deliverables in 2022.
However, the knowledge is there, the people are there and if it’s a priority for the next five years of Cardano, it’s something that can be done.” Read More
Only 10% Of Bitcoin Left To Mine. How Does This Compare With Fiat Currency?
As of today, there is now only 10% of the Bitcoin total supply left to be mined. Although it has only taken 12 years to mine 9 tenths of the supply so far, it will take until the year 2240 before the final 10% is fully mined.
Bitcoin has a finite supply of only 21 million coins, therefore it is given the tag of ‘sound money’, given that there can be no more additions to its supply.
This is completely the opposite to the US dollar, and every single other fiat currency in the world today. 40% of all US dollars that were printed in its history were printed recently in just a 12 month period!
It seems bizarre to listen to bankers and leaders of world financial organizations throwing so much mud at Bitcoin, when all it does is follow an algorithm, without any manipulation, securely, and with 100% transparency. 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.
