Category: Technology & Security
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How Bridging Blockchains Unlocks Value and Unites Crypto Tribes
Interoperability is a multisyllabic word for a multi-faceted problem. How do you get blockchains to communicate with one another? Until recently, there’s been no easy way to achieve this, leaving assets isolated and smart contract-powered dapps siloed on their respective protocols. Before crypto assets can take over the world, first they need to escape the…
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Hackers Have Looted More Bitcoin Than Satoshi’s Entire Stash
Ever since cryptocurrencies started gaining value, hackers have targeted exchanges that provide digital asset trading and malicious entities have siphoned billions of dollars worth of bitcoin since 2011. So far, over 1 million of the world’s BTC has been stolen from exchanges and traders continue to leave vast quantities of funds on centralized trading platforms.…
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Researchers Find Hundreds of Ethereum Wallets at Risk Due to Weak Key Pairs
On April 23, the security consulting firm Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) published a document concerning a number of unsound public and private key pairs tied to the Ethereum blockchain. The probability of chance needed to crack 256-bit encryption would take years for hackers to access random private keys. However, ISE recently queried 49,060 ETH transactions…
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Broken Phone? Don’t Sweat It — Restore a Bitcoin Wallet in Minutes
With bitcoin ownership, it’s very important to back up your mnemonic seed phrase in order to restore your funds in case of an emergency. For instance, a device holding a wallet can be broken, get lost or stolen and the backup is the only way to retrieve the funds after these mishaps. The following is…
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8 Useful Browser Extensions for Cryptocurrency Users
Extensions, also known as plugins, provide a one-click way to customize your web browser. From filtering out offensive words to blocking unwanted ads, there’s a browser extension for that. Cryptocurrency users have a particular need for plugins to enhance their privacy, perform crypto payments in-browser, and check market prices. Whether you use Chrome, Brave, Firefox,…
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Wirex Introduces Global Crypto Accounts for Businesses
With the beta launch of crypto and fiat-enabled business accounts, crypto payments platform Wirex has taken a major step toward mainstream business acceptance. Using a cryptocurrency business account will eliminate the need to convert to fiat unnecessarily during inter-company fund transfers, validate crypto businesses in the wider marketplace, and offer some of the benefits traditional…
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Coinbase Reveals Its Procedure for Handling Contentious Forks
On Feb. 20, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase gave the public an inside look at how the company deals with contentious forks. Coinbase engineer Breck Stodghill specifically discussed how the trading platform dealt with the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) split on November 15, 2018. Also read: ‘Bitcoin Killer’ Onecoin Is Ashes But Investigations Continue to…
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Drivechain Creator’s Latest Paper Sparks Debate Over Bitcoin’s Future Security
Drivechain developer Paul Sztorc has the cryptocurrency community riled up over his latest blog “Security Budget in the Long Run.” The essay discusses the economics of BTC network fees over a long period of time and suggests rather than giving up the fees to competition, a dominant protocol should collect fees “from all networks.” Also…
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Proposal to Increase Bitcoin’s 21 Million Supply Sparks Debate
21 is a number that holds deep symbology to bitcoiners. In addition to denoting the total number of bitcoins, in millions, that will ever be issued, it’s inspired scores of cryptocurrency business names, websites, and merchandise designs. Despite its assumed inviolability, some members of the community are opposed to Bitcoin’s rigidly set 21 million supply.…
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18 Months Away? Latest Lightning Network Study Calls System a ‘Small Central Clique’
The Lightning Network has been touted as the solution to the Bitcoin Core (BTC) network’s scalability problem for years now. Over the last few months, the Lightning Network has shown growth but there are still significant concerns about centralization, routing issues, and creating a usable mainstream-friendly interface. The ongoing joke that the network is “18…