With all eyes in that direction, CryptoPotato had the chance to talk to Matthew Sigel  – the Head of Digital Asset Research at VanEck, during Token2049 in London.

In this interview, we talk about the impact of the FTX fallout on the prospects of a Bitcoin ETF, how VanEck managed to minimize damage, as well as the realistic odds of getting an ETF backed by physical BTC under the current SEC management.

FTX Fiasco Not Important for a Bitcoin ETF

For the unaware, VanEck is a family-owned business in traditional asset management. Sigel said that they are a “top 10 ETF sponsor with approximately $60 billion in assets under management” and that a large majority of their funds are in passive ETFs like the gold miner ETF – GDX.

It’s because of their large gold exposure that the company’s CEO – Jan van Eck – is “very attuned to Bitcoin’s potential disruption.”

In 2017, we were among the first to file for a physically-backed Bitcoin ETF. And while that application has been repeatedly denied, we have spent time, resources, and manpower to invest across the space from a private perspective, from our own balance sheet.

We have relationships with a number of early-stage venture capital firms, we own a stake in one of them, and we’ve been investing privately for several years.

Commenting on the current situation involving FTX’s meltdown and the way it would impact the prospects of a Bitcoin ETF, Sigel was positive that it doesn’t matter.

For a Bitcoin ETF specifically, I don’t think the events of the past couple of days (read: FTX troubles) matter. I think Bitcoin is unique, even in the eyes of lawmakers.

But there’s still a catch.

No Bitcoin ETF Under Current SEC Management

While on that subject, we also discussed the odds of getting an SEC-approved physically-backed Bitcoin ETF.

Unfortunately, Sigel believes that they are very slim under the current management of the Securities and Exchange Commission. When asked if he thinks we’re getting closer, he said:

No. There’s a very clear obstacle at the top of the SEC, and there’s a President who has so far shown confidence in that SEC Chairman. As long as he (read: Gary Gensler), the chances of a physically-backed Bitcoin ETF are zero.

Additionally, he reaffirmed that to get there, regulators need to step up, and so far, lawmaking in the field of crypto has been slow.

VanEck Minimized FTT Exposure Ahead of FTX Crash

In some of VanEck’s most actively-managed strategies, the company has a very active risk-management process.

The expert said that they can “hold quite a lot of cash if macro and market conditions warrant it.”

Commenting on the ongoing fiasco with FTX and the collapsing price of the FTT token, which used to be one of the leading cryptocurrencies by means of total market capitalization, Sigel said that VanEck was able to minimize exposure by selling in advance.

There was a lead-up to this event, and we were able to minimize a good portion of the token-specific damage by exiting some positions.

Talking about their actively-managed strategies, he explained that there is a variety of them based on the different levels of risk and return, giving an example with one called “the smart contract leader index,” which consists of layer ones, and Ethereum is generally about 30% of it, and their strategy looks to meet or beat the performance of the index.

In conclusion, he shared three key takeaways from the entire fiasco, namely:

• Higher emphasis on self-custody at the margin.
• Clear delineation between exchanges and their market makers.
• Proof-of-reserves for centralized exchanges.

The post VanEck: FTX Crash Not Important for a Bitcoin ETF (Exclusive) appeared first on CryptoPotato.

One term that is tossed around quite often is the “BFT consensus mechanism.” BFT stands for Byzantine Fault Tolerance, and it presents a theoretical problem in computer systems that existed long before Bitcoin.

However, many blockchain-based protocols are engaged in solving the problems that are associated with Byzantine fault tolerance, and the following takes a closer look into the matter and all that derives from it.

The Byzantine Generals Problem Explained

The Byzantine Generals Problem is one of the most heavily discussed theoretical situations whenever the topic of consensus is brought up.

The problem was first acknowledged in a paper from 1982 called The Byzantine Generals Problem by Leslie Lamport, Robert Shostak, and Marshall Pease. The paper reads:

A reliable computer system must be able to cope with the failure of one or more of its components. A failed component may exhibit a type of behavior that is often overlooked – namely, sending conflicting information to different parts of the system. The problem of coping with this type of failure is expressed abstractly as the Byzantine Generals Problem.

The name is derived from the analogy presented in the paper. More specifically, the authors describe a theoretical situation where several divisions of the Byzantine army are camped outside of an enemy city. Each division is commanded by its own general, all of which sit in different encampments. The commanders need to come up with a common plan of action (whether to attack or retreat), and they can only communicate with messages. However, some of the generals may be traitors and try to prevent the loyal generals from reaching an agreement (consensus).

Therefore, the generals must find a way to guarantee that:

• All loyal generals decide upon the same plan of action.
• A small number of traitors can’t cause the loyal generals to adopt a bad plan.

A system that’s able to solve the above is deemed to have Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT). This is where the BFT consensus algorithm stems from.

In essence, Byzantine Fault Tolerance is a condition that prevents the system to suffer from unreliable (unloyal) participants.

Resolving the Byzantine General’s Problem

To solve the Byzantine Generals Problem and achieve Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT), there must be a majority agreement among the generals on their strategy.

This is achieved in various ways depending on the system and its necessities. In the context of blockchain, both proof-of-work and proof-of-stake are capable of achieving Byzantine fault tolerance, but the approach in both is different.

Most proof-of-stake blockchains can tolerate up to one-third of their nodes being faulty, giving leeway to the 3f+1 rule where F is the number of unloyal nodes, and the formula gives the number of loyal nodes the system needs to have.

For example, in a system with 4 nodes, only one of them can be faulty to fit the criteria (3f+1).

In February 1999, Miguel Castro and Barbara Liskov from the Laboratory for Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), published a paper presenting a solution to the problem through the so-called Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance.

How Does Blockchain Solve the Byzantine Generals Problem?

Blockchain-based technology presents multiple solutions to the Byzantine Generals Problem. The differences stem from the designated consensus algorithm and their approach to BFT, but both Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake provide viable solutions.

How Does Bitcoin Solve the Byzantine Generals Problem?

Interestingly enough, in the original whitepaper, Satoshi Nakamoto didn’t mention the Byzantine Generals Problem, but with the introduction of the Bitcoin Network, the pseudonymous creator essentially solved it through the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm.

To solve the problem, Satoshi created a way to use cryptographic security as well as public-key encryption in a digital network. To prevent any tampering with the data, the cryptographic security uses hashing, while the identity of a network user is verified through their public key.

Transactions are secured in blocks, which are connected to other blocks by their hash value and secured by cryptography. It’s important to note that the blockchain uses a Merkle Tree to verify the hashes that come from the genesis (initial) block. Every block that comes from the genesis block is valid. These blocks are validated by miners who solve cryptographic puzzles in a competition to produce blocks as part of the consensus method.

Bitcoin has established a clear and definitively objective rulebook for the blockchain to follow to overcome the Byzantine Generals Problem. A network member must publish proof that they completed the work in order to be able to add information to the blockchain (hence, proof of work). This comes at a high cost for the member and makes it disincentivizing for them to share faulty information as it will be refuted by the other state members.

All rules are clear and objective, meaning there can’t be tampering with the information.

How Does Proof-of-Stake Solve the Byzantine Generals Problem?

Networks governed by the proof-of-stake consensus algorithm don’t rely on mining – they rely on staking. To become a network validator, the user must first stake funds in the system. Those who own a greater share can also validate more blocks and earn greater rewards. Those who attempt to tamper with the information are at risk of losing their staked amount.

The way these systems solve the problem varies. For instance, Ethereum 2.0 employs the Casper algorithm. It needs a minimum of a two-thirds majority of all nodes to agree on a specific block before it can be created and added to the network.

There are variable attempts at solving the problem based on the necessity of the system and the approach of the team. For instance, with Delegated Proof of Stake (dPoS), reaching a consensus is significantly quicker. On the other hand, some systems implement the practical Byzantine fault tolerance.

The post Byzantine Fault Tolerance in Blockchain: A Closer Look appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The astronomic rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) revealed that most of the blockchains were unable to handle the load that comes with some form of mainstream adoption.

Before Ethereum transitioned to Proof-of-Stake (read: The Merge), the network was oftentimes clogged, and transaction fees were unimaginably high. In fact, this prompted the notion that it was only whales that were able to partake in multiple DeFi initiatives on Ethereum.

Solana, on the other hand, also had its issues. Although advertised as a high-throughput chain capable of handling thousands of transactions per second (TPS), the network experienced multiple outages where it was downright unusable.

Now, there’s a new kid on the block – the Aptos Blockchain. Called by many “the Solana Killer,” Aptos is presented as a “scalable, safe, reliable, and upgradable” network that’s been under development for over three years and has just launched its mainnet.

Quick Facts: 

• Aptos is a layer-one blockchain developed by Aptos Labs
• Aptos Labs was founded by core contributors of Diem (developed by Meta)
• It uses Proof-of-Stake (PoS) for its consensus algorithm

The Aptos Core

Full details and the complete technical stack of the Aptos Blockchain can be found in the Aptos Whitepaper.

According to the official website, the Aptos Blockchain is “designed with scalability, safety, reliability, and upgradeability as key principles” and has been worked on by a team of over 350 developers.

There are a few key components that this guide will break down, namely:

• The Move language
• The Aptos data model
• The Move module

The Move Language

To represent the state of the ledger, Aptos uses Move’s object model. Move is a new smart contract programming language, and its main focus is on both safety and flexibility. It uses Move modules to encode the rules of state transactions.

Users submit transactions that can publish new modules, upgrade ones that already exist, execute certain entry functions that are defined within this module or contain scripts that are able to interact with the public interfaces of various modules.

The ecosystem also has a compiler, a virtual machine (VM), as well as other tools that developers can use.

Here’s a breakdown of how developers can begin interacting with the Aptos ecosystem. 

The programing language is designed to put a strong emphasis on resource scarcity, as well as preservation and access control. It leverages a bytecode verified that guarantees type and memory safety, even when there’s code that’s untrusted. On the other hand, to help write code that’s more trusted, developers have access to the Move Prover – it’s a formal verifier that’s capable of authenticating the functional correctness of a program against a pre-set specification.

According to the whitepaper, the team behind Aptos has further enhanced the programming language to support a broader range of Web3 use cases.

Data Model

The Aptos blockchain has defined its ledger state as the state of all accounts. It is versioned with an unsigned 64-bit integer that corresponds to the number of transactions that the network has executed.

Anyone is free to submit a transaction and, hence, modify the ledger state. Upon execution, the transaction output gets generated, and it contains zero (or more) operations to manipulate the ledger state. These are called write sets and represent a vector of resulting events, the amount of gas consumed, as well as the executed transaction status.

The transactions themselves provide the following information:

• Transaction authenticator
• Sender address
• Payload
• Gas price
• Maximum gas amount
• Sequence number
• Expiration time
• Chain ID

It’s also worth noting that Move’s data model supports global addressing of both modules and data natively. Those transactions which don’t contain overlapping conflicts in their data and accounts can also be executed in parallel.

For a closer look at the definitions for both Events and Accounts, please refer to the official whitepaper.

Move Module

A Move module has the Move bytecode which declares the structs and procedures. The structs are merely the data types.

It is identified by the address of the account where the module is declared, and it comes with a module name. The module has to be named uniquely within a certain account, and each account can declare no more than one module with any given name.

All modules are grouped into packages that are located at the same address. The owner of this address then publishes the package as a whole on the blockchain, and it includes the bytecode and the metadata of the package. Said metadata can define whether or not the package can be upgraded or if it’s immutable. For those packages that are upgradeable, there are additional compatibility checks performed before permitting the upgrade.

It’s important to note that while new functions and resources can be added, the entry point functions can’t be changed, and the resources can’t be stored in memory.

Defined as a regular upgradeable package of modules, the Aptos framework is represented in the following graphic:

How Will Aptos Scale?

Based on its Whitepaper, the protocol was initially launched with a single ledger state, but over time, Aptos intends to take a somewhat unique horizontal approach to scale.

To achieve this, the protocol will implement multiple sharded ledger states where every one of them will offer a homogeneous API and sharding as a concept.

Data may be transferred between shards using a homogeneous bridge, and both users and developers should be able to choose their own sharding schemes, depending on their own needs.

The Aptos Governance

The Aptos network operates on a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm where validators need to have a minimum required amount of staked Aptos tokens to participate in transaction validation. AptosBFT, on the other hand, is the protocol’s BFT consensus algorithm, and it is based on HotStuff.

BFT stands for Byzantine Fault Tolerance, and it’s a reference to the well-known Byzantine general’s problem, where components may fail, and there’s imperfect information on whether a certain component has failed.

Validators are able to decide on the split of rewards between them and their stakers respectively. Stakers, on the other hand, can select any number of validators where to stake their tokens and arrange a pre-agreed reward split. Rewards are received at the end of every epoch via the relevant on-chain Move module.

The token that powers the Aptos ecosystem is called APT.

The APT Cryptocurrency Tokenomics

APT’s tokenomics created somewhat of a considerable controversy within the cryptocurrency community because the token was initially about to launch without any public information on its total supply, distribution, and overall plan.

The team has since issued a formal blog post explaining most of the details.

APT’s initial supply at the time the mainnet was launched was set at 1 billion tokens, where the minimal unit is called an Octa. 

From that initial supply, 51% was designated under a “community” category, 19% for “core contributors,” 16.5% for the “foundation,” and 13.48% for the investors. Detailing the first category, the blog post reads:

This pool of tokens is designated for ecosystem-related items, such as grants, incentives, and other community growth initiatives. Some of these tokens have already been allocated to projects building on the Aptos protocol and will b granted upon the completion of certain milestoins. A majority of these tokens are held by the Aptos Foundation and a smaller portion are held by Aptos Labs. These tokens are anticipated to be distributed over a ten-year period…

Investors and core contributors, on the other hand, have a 4-year lockup on their tokens, excluding token rewards. Meanwhile, this is what the estimated token supply schedule looks like:

APT Airdrop

To kick off its mainnet launch with a bang, the project airdropped a total of 20,076,150 APT tokens to a total of 110,235 eligible addresses, representing 2% of the total initial supply.

At the time, the team stated:

This is our first airdrop based on our existing community data. The aptos Foundation will continue to evaluate future opportunities to support the Aptos community.

Users can check eligibility here.

The Aptos Labs Leadership and Funding

Aptos Labs is the organization that developed the Aptos blockchain and is led by Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching in 2021. Both of them previously worked on Meta’s (formerly: Facebook) blockchain project Libra, which was later completely rebranded to Diem.

Back in February 2022, Shaikh said:

Since departing Meta, we have been able to put our ideas into motion, ditch bureaucratic red tape, and build an entirely new network from the ground up that brings them to fruition.

Aptos is also one of the best-funded blockchain projects. In March 2021, the team raised $200 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), FTX Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and other crypto heavyweights.

In July of that year, Aptos raised another $150, and the funding round was led by FTX Ventures.

The post What is Aptos (APT)? The Complete Guide appeared first on CryptoPotato.

With the foray of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications in 2020, it became obvious that crypto users needed tools to interact with various DApps in a way that’s accessible to those who don’t necessarily have coding knowledge. Even though popular before that, this was when self-custody wallets, like MyEtherWallet, became mainstream.

During EthCC 5 in Paris in July, CryptoPotato had the chance to speak to Brian Norton – Chief Operations Officer (COO) at MyEtherWallet (MEW).

In this exclusive interview, we chat about some of the most unique challenges in operating one of the most veteran self-custody wallets, their approach to a cross-chain future, Ethereum 2.0, what it means for the industry and MEW users, and more.

‘Quickly Moving Into a Cross-Chain World’

MyEtherWallet (MEW) is a completely free and open-source client-side interface that allows users to interact with the Ethereum blockchain.

It has gone through many changes since it was founded back in 2015 as the first-ever wallet made for the ETH blockchain. MEW doesn’t store private keys (hence the self-custody part), and, therefore, it can’t access user accounts, recover keys, reverse transactions, or reset passwords.

That said, operating an open-source platform of such scale surely is challenging. Speaking on the matter, Norton said:

“Some of the challenges about operating a wallet is that we are quickly moving into a cross-chain world. And wallet interfaces across the ecosystem are very isolated and chain-specific like we traditionally have been.”

Moreover, he added that some of the wallets are even application-specific. “There have been really cool projects who have launched on a chain where there isn’t robust wallet support, and they just built their own.”

Doing a non-custodial wallet as our core business, one of the challenges is reaching people and creating solutions that will allow us to facilitate those users because, at the beginning, when we started with MEW, it was just necessary.

Norton said that MEW had gone through many changes over the years and has somewhat evolved into what the user needs.

Keeping up and changing with the ecosystem, we’re allowing the user to experience as much of what the blockchain has to offer. And from an operational perspective, it’s about figuring out in what ways we can monetize without being explotive, without rent-seeking, or something like that.

‘MEW Doesn’t Track Any User Data’

Security is undoubtedly a focal point in the industry. With many protocols facing serious challenges on this front, the COO said that they’re taking an extremely privacy-centric approach, putting the emphasis on the client side.

In this regard, Norton said that they don’t track any user data and that they’re not account-based, meaning users retain full control of their keys.

Aside from that, we’ve also been proponents of two-factor authentication from very early on, whether that be through a hardware wallet or a mobile app connecting with an interface, just to give that extra layer of security.

In addition, users are able to bring their cold wallets to MEW and integrate them so that they can interact with other applications. Therefore, “the user can choose the level of risk that they wish to take on, while we can promote sound security practices amongst our users.”

We’re Going to See NFTs Wave 2.0

In 2021 and in the first quarter of 2022, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) took the market by storm. Collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks took center stage, propelling a wave of projects that flooded the market and topped volume meters.

Now, however, it appears that the momentum is gone almost entirely as top collections faded in both volume and price. Speaking on the matter, Norton remarked that, as with many other trends, this one also comes in waves.

“I think that what we’ve seen over the last couple of years is things are coming in waves. And innovation is happening very quickly. But what takes hold of the public imagination is anyone’s guess. DeFi Summer didn’t take me by surprise.

The explosion of NFTs – it took me by surprise a little bit. And I was aware of the technology – we were early supporters of ENS, which was my first exposure to NFTs. But it’s not the manifestation of NFTs that we’ve seen now in the terms of graphical art and tapping into those collector economies.”

That said, he believes that the first wave of NFTs is dead, but “we’re going to see the next wave.” Part of the reason for which he believes so is that the “NFT community is undeterred by the current market conditions.”

MEW in the Metaverse Era

The metaverse is another concept that saw fast expansion in the cryptosphere over the past few quarters after companies like Meta (formerly known as Facebook) revealed their intentions to build in that direction.

Norton shared with us that MEW’s approach is a bit different and that they want to focus on making whatever it is their users need possible.

“What we really want to do is make sure that if a user wants to interact and trade in a metaverse they’re going to be able to do it. And they’re going to be able to do that on the network of their choice.

We’re going to be able to facilitate what the user wishes to do and what they want to transact with in these different ecosystems. We don’t even have to know what they are. We don’t have to understand them. We just have to make sure they’re able to.”

And speaking of the above, the COO also touched on MEW’s approach to cross-chain functionality – something they’ve been working on for a while and that’s ready to roll out in the next few months. He also revealed that their approach to it would be from a design-first standpoint.

Ethereum 2.0 Will Be a Turning Point

The Merge, or Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm, is arguably the biggest event in the cryptocurrency industry in 2022.

Speaking on the matter, MEW’s COO said that:

“I think it’s a definite turning point. I think it has a lot of symbolic significance too. The fact that the largest public, open-source smart contract in the world, by a fairly large margin, is turning the page on proof of work, I think that it sends a very strong message that this isn’t just a move for financial purposes.

We’re not limiting ourselves to value transfer and number-go-up economics. It’s here to be used. And to do that, we have to make moves to be sustainable. I think this is one of the strongest moves since crypto began that sends the message: this is here to stay.“

Clarifying for MEW users, Norton said they should see and feel nothing moving into the ETH 2.0 era.

The post Ethereum Merge – a Turning Point, NFT Wave 2.0, and MyEtherWallet’s Approach to User Data: COO Brian Norton (Interview) appeared first on CryptoPotato.

This made them very unfriendly towards the average Joe, who had to type in the IP address of the website they wanted to visit, as in to literally type in the numbers.

Unlike traditional IPs, cryptocurrency addresses represent even longer strings of numbers and letters. If a user wants to send another user funds over Ethereum’s network, they would have to input the address and make sure that each number and letter is written correctly.

Quick Navigation

• • What is Ethereum Name Service (ENS)?
  • How Does ENS Work?
  • The Difference Between DNS and ENS
  • How to Register an Ethereum Name Service (ENS) Domain?
  • Ethereum Name Service Governance

It’s also important to know that, in this regard, blockchain-based technology is very punishing. This is because if you fail to input the address correctly and mistype a letter, the funds you send will be irreversibly lost. There’s no central authority to contact to reverse or refund the transaction – that money is lost.

And just like Domain Name Services (DNS) came to life when using the Internet, the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) came to be.

What is Ethereum Name Service (ENS)?

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) takes the exact same concept as the Domain Name Service (DNS) but adjusts it for the needs of Ethereum users. At its core, the Ethereum Name Service is distributed, open, and extensible naming system that’s operating on the Ethereum blockchain.

It aims to map human-readable names to machine-readable identifiers. In this case, the human-readable name can be something like “cactus.eth,” whereas the machine-readable identifier can be the Ethereum address (or other cryptocurrency addresses, for that matter.)

In the image below, we have given an example of what it looks like. The address belongs to the Ethereum foundation. The ENS domain name that we created is just an example for the purpose of this guide:

The standard Ethereum Address is converted into a human-readable text (foundation.eth). This means that users are able to send funds or interact with “foundation.eth” instead of with the standard address. Obviously, this makes it a lot easier for regular users and also tightens the possibility of a mistake considerably.

According to the official ENS documentation, the system “has similar goals to DNS, the Internet’s Domain Name Service, but has significantly different architecture due to the capabilities and constraints provided by the Ethereum blockchain.”

Similar to DNS, ENS also operates on a system made of dot-separated hierarchical names that are called domains. The owner of a domain also has full control over the subdomains.

How Does ENS Work?

There are two core components to the Ethereum Name Service. Namely, these are the registry and the resolvers. The architecture of the system looks like this:

Registry

The registry is composed of a smart contract designed to maintain a list of all the domains and subdomains while also storing three essential pieces of information about each. These pieces are:

• The owner of the domain
• The resolver of the domain
• The caching time-to-live for all the records that are under the domain

The purpose of the ENS registry is very straightforward – it’s to map from a name to the resolver who’s responsible for it. Meanwhile, owners of domains in the ENS registry are allowed to:

• Change the ownership of the subdomains
• Transfer ownership of their domain to another address
• Set the resolver and the time-to-live (TTL) for the domain

Resolvers

Resolvers, on the other hand, are responsible for the process of translating the names into addresses. Every contract that implements the required standards is capable of being a resolver in the Ethereum Name Service. However, resolving a name in ENS is a process composed of two steps.

The first one is to ask the registry what resolver is responsible for the said name. The second one is to ask that particular resolver for the answer to the query. In terms of architecture, it looks like this:

The Difference Between DNS and ENS

The Domain Name Service (DNS) was created by Paul Mockapetris – a computer scientist from the US – in 1983. It followed the research of another American scientist – Elizabeth Feinler.

Put in simple terms, the purpose of the DNS is to match internet protocol (IP) addresses with human-friendly names of the domain. This allows users to type in the name of the website instead of having to input the literal numeric IP address.

In a similar yet different way, Ethereum Name Service attempts to give people (as well as applications) an easier way to read and share cryptocurrency addresses.

How to Register an Ethereum Name Service (ENS) Domain?

Registering an Ethereum Name Service domain is pretty straightforward, and all you need to do is have a hot wallet such as MetaMask.

Go to app.ens.domains (the official website for registering an ENS domain), and type in the domain name that you want to register. This will check its availability.

Once you have selected your name, all you need to do is follow the instructions given below:

Ethereum Name Service Governance

The Ethereum Name Service is governed through a few different arms, each one of which carries its own significance.

ENS Token + Distribution

The ENS token is a standard token using the ERC-20 standard on the Ethereum blockchain. Its main purpose is to be used for the governance of the system.

Token holders can submit proposals and cast their votes. The main place where community members can discuss ideas and have governance-related discussions is the forum discuss.ens.domains.

The ENS token was airdropped to early adopters who had previously registered an ENS domain name. The claiming process started on November 8th, 2021, and users had until May 4th, 2022, to claim their allotted tokens.

25% of the total supply was distributed through the airdrop, while the rest is designated as shown in the following piechart:

ENS DAO

In the spirit of decentralization, the Ethereum Name Service is operated by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The DAO itself is governed by holders of the ENS token, who are able to submit proposals and vote on them to determine the future development of the protocol.

ENS Foundation

The ENS DAO itself is represented by an existing Cayman Islands Foundation called the ENS Foundation.

It has a few purposes, including:

• To comply with tax requirements because without a legal entity, DAO participants may be responsible for a certain proportion of the DAO’s income, even if they don’t have access to these funds.
• To enter into contracts with other companies.
• To provide limited liability for participants in the DAO for the actions of the DAO.

Conclusion

ENS is a critical advent in the cryptocurrency field and a step towards solving some of the pressing issues that riddle the industry – namely, user experience.

Having to deal with long strings of random numbers and letters is oftentimes the reason for mistakes, and in the field of crypto, mistakes are quite commonly very expensive. Normalizing addresses and presenting them in a human-readable and friendly way is a step towards improving the overall user experience the way DNS improved the UX for Internet users.

At the same time, though, DNS records of domains and names are typically stored on centralized servers, making them prone to hacks. ENS, on the other hand, are secured by Ethereum’s blockchain, making them multifold and more secure.

That said, the Ethereum Name Service is undoubtedly a very important invention and an innovation that’s quickly become widespread and used by thousands of people.

The post What is ENS? Ethereum Name Service Explained (Updated 2022) appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Brunell is Polish-born and, together with her family, immigrated to the US when she was five. she has broad experience in traditional media, covering breaking news, enterprise reporting, as well as features. Some of her previous roles include the top-rated NBC Station KCRA-TV, as well as being a national correspondent for ABC NewsOne based in LA.

A few years ago, however, she started a new chapter in her professional life, going full-time Bitcoin and starting the Coin Stories podcast. In this episode of the CryptoPotato Podcast, Natalie Brunell tells us what made her take this giant leap, which are the most interesting stories she’s heard on her podcast (“Michael Saylor”), and of course – women in blockchain.

We also chat about the current market condition – whether or not BTC hit the bottom or is yet to find it, how is the broader market shaping up, and if there ever be a cryptocurrency that could replace Bitcoin.

‘My Family Lost Everything in 2008’

Natalie Brunell was born in Poland. Her family was living under a communistic regimen, and according to her, it was their dream to immigrate to the United States and “pursue the American dream.” This finally happened when she was 5.

“My parents came (to the US) when they were in their late 30s and early 40s, had to start over in a new country and learn a new language. I saw them work really hard so I was instilled with a really strong work ethic and this idea that education and working hard is going to propell me.”

However, much like many ordinary families back in 2008, her parents also became victims of the financial crisis.

“They lost everything in the financial crisis of 2008-2009. That’s when I also started my television career – when the recession was really underway.

I looked at what happened to my parents and I always wondered how did it happen. I didn’t understand – they’re good people, they pay their taxes, they play by the rules and they lost everything in this crisis that they didn’t orchestrate or had anything to do with.”

She shared that it was back in 2017 when she heard about Bitcoin, but she didn’t “go down the rabbit hole” until a couple of years later. In any case, it was Bitcoin that helped her understand the problems that exist in the financial system.

 

“I guess what I would say is that I had this predisposition for appreciating Bitcoin because of my family’s journey and what they went through in the financial crisis. But then I also spent 10 years interviewing people in different communities who were suffering from a lot of the things that impact global societies – growing poverty, the wealth disparity, rising costs of education and living, civil unrest.”

And then, she realized that after learning about Bitcoin and connecting the dots, these things happen because “our money is so broken,” realizing that now there’s a potential fix through technology. That’s how her “passion project” started – something she has managed to make a career out of.

Women in Blockchain: The Gender Gap in Crypto

One thing that many people talk about recently is the gender gap in the cryptocurrency industry – the fact that there are more men involved in the industry than women.

“There’s a huge gender gap when it comes to men and women in this space. You’d be blind to not see it when you go to an event. When I go to Bitcoin conferences, there’s 90% men and the a couple of women. But it’s growing. More and more women are coming.

I think that women, in general, are very community-driven, and we like to learn from and socialize with other women. I think we need women to look up to. I want to service that resource for women because I was there once too and because sometimes this space can be overwhelming and intimidating when it’s a bunch of guys and you feel like you’re not reflected in the audience.”

Brunell says that part of the reason that the space could be more appealing to men is that Bitcoin “is that intersection between finance, engineering, computer science, gaming, etc.”

“Bitcoin is for everyone. Bitcoin doesn’t care about your age, your gender, what country you are in, your languages.

I want to inspire more people to get on board. A lot of women out there, they have money to spend and they want to save, they want to invest it right, they just don’t know where to start and I think they look at Bitcoin as more complicated than it is.”

In the podcast, we also talked about the current market conditions, whether or not the bottom is in, what are the potential catalysts for a new bull rally, and much more.

The post Natalie Brunell: This is What Made Me Go From Traditional Media to Full-Time Bitcoin (Interview) appeared first on CryptoPotato.

So far, the exchange has burned billions of dollars worth of BNB, pursuing its goal of reducing the token’s total supply by 50%. In this article, we take a deep dive at how the process works, how many burns have been so far, when is the next one, and so forth.

What Is a Coin Burn?

The ‘burning’ of a coin is essentially a process of removing it from circulation by sending it to specifically designated addresses that can only receive cryptocurrency. These addresses are referred to as “burners” or “eaters.”

The closest thing to a coin burn in traditional finance is when a company buys back its own stock from the market in an attempt to reduce the circulating supply and essentially increase the value of the outstanding stock. However, the main difference is that the bought-back stock remains in existence and in ownership of the company, whereas the coins that are burned are essentially destroyed since nobody can ever access them again.

Some notable projects that have introduced burning mechanisms include Shiba Inu (implemented in April this year), Ethereum (started with the EIP-1559 from 2021), and multiple algorithmic stablecoins.

BNB’s Role and How it Started

BNB is the native cryptocurrency of the world’s largest crypto exchange, and the primarily token used in Binance’s entire ecosystem – this includes the BNB Beacon Chain (previously known as Binance Chain) and the BNB Smart Chain (formerly – Binance Smart Chain).

Released in 2017 alongside the exchange, BNB functioned as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network before Binance ultimately transitioned it to the BNB chain two years later.

The whitepaper explained that, initially, there was a “strict limit of 200 million BNB” – a number “never to be increased.” Nevertheless, the company laid out the foundations of the burning mechanism in the paper, saying:

“Every quarter, we will use 20% of our profits to buy back BNB and destroy them until we buy 50% of all the BNB (100MM) back. All buy-back transactions will be announced on the blockchain. We eventually will destroy 100MM BNB, leaving 100 BNB remaining.”

BNB Quarterly Auto-Burn

Upon the launch of Binance, the team introduced the original quarterly burning mechanism based on the BNB trading volume and the fees Binance generated from it. However, arguing that it lacks sufficient transparency and predictability, the company switched it to a quarterly auto-burn process.

The new method, incorporated in December 2021, allows on-chain automatic calculations to determine how much of the token has to be burned based on its price and the number of blocks generated on the BNB chain during that quarter. Essentially, if BNB’s price drops, the amount of burned tokens will increase to remain within the supply-demand dynamics.

Binance promises that the quarterly auto-burn is “both objective and verifiable, independent of revenues generated on the Binance CEX through the use of BNB.”

BEP-95 and Burning BNB Through BNB Chain

While placing a target of 100 million tokens to be burned and the total supply of BNB to be capped at the same number of coins was the initial idea, which has not changed, Binance had to implement several changes along the way to adjust. More specifically, the company outlined new processes (aside from the aforementioned auto-burn) that accelerated the speed at which BNB is being burned.

The Binance Evolution Proposal (BEP) 95, implemented in November 2021, saw the addition of a real-time burning mechanism to the BNB Chain. It allows the smart contract to automatically burn a portion of the gas fees collected by validators from each block (produced on an average at every 3 seconds).

This means that the more people use the BNB chain, the more BNB will be burned. A Twitter account that follows the number of BNB burned shows that over 106,000 BNB have been removed from circulations through this mechanism as of the end of July 2022, with an average speed of approximately 285 BNB per day.

It’s worth noting, though, that the BEP-95 burning mechanism will continue even after the 100 million token mark is reached as it depends on the BNB Chain network.

How Many BNB Have Been Burned So Far?

Starting from 200 million BNB in 2017, Binance’s ultimate goal is to decrease the circulating supply by 50%, as mentioned above. Aside from the daily burning mechanism, which has removed 106,000 coins out of circulation by now, the company has completed 20 scheduled quarterly auto-burns.

The latest came earlier in July, based on what transpired on the Binance ecosystem throughout Q2 2022, and saw 1,959,595.29 BNB burned. This amount equaled $444 million calculated at prices on July 13.

As of writing these lines, the total number of BNB burned is just under 39 million (equivalent to $9.3 billion as of today’s prices), meaning that the circulating supply left is still north of 161 million. The next burning event will be after the end of Q3, and so far, the estimations show that more than two million BNB will be removed.

The post Binance BNB Burn Explained: How Much is Burnt and When? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Known as “The Merge,” this event is a first of its kind, and it’s the most significant upgrade in Ethereum’s lifespan. We’ve prepared a designated guide, and if you want to know everything about it, you can check it here.

However, with something of this magnitude about to take place in about a month (barring any unforeseen circumstances), there are also a lot of questions that are worth looking into.

For example, some notable exchanges have announced support for the hard fork, and they’ve stated they would also support trading of the resulting tokens. This begs the question if users will be airdropped new tokens after the Merge, and that’s what we’re going to explore in this article.

To understand whether or not you’re going to receive some new tokens, there are a few important clarifications that have to be considered. Let’s unpack.

What Happens After The Merge?

As mentioned above, The Merge will mark the end of ETH mining. This is because of the new consensus algorithm – proof-of-stake – which has entirely different economic implications for the network.

With PoS, network validators no longer need to compete to solve increasingly complex computational problems. Instead, they are selected randomly based on the stake they have in the network.

That said, switching to PoS presents a few important benefits:

• Makes it easy to run a node
• Uses considerably less electricity
• Unlocks additional possibilities such as sharding

However, there are those who also make strong arguments about the drawbacks of proof-of-stake networks. Without getting into specifics, it’s important to understand that there are many people who support proof-of-work. Namely, and somewhat expectedly, some ETH miners and mining groups have joined forces to lobby for a hard fork that would also see the creation of a new token that will remain on the PoW consensus algorithm.

This is where things get interesting.

Will There Be a Hard Fork?

To answer this question, we must first examine what a hard fork is. It can be described as a permanent divergence from the latest version of the blockchain, which leads to a separation of the blockchain. Some nodes will no longer meet the consensus, which means that there are two different versions of the network running separately.

By this definition, the Merge is a hard fork because it will mark the end of the blockchain governed by proof-of-work and will set the beginning of a new one that’s run by proof-of-stake.

However, for a hard fork to have any economic or social significance, it needs support – there need to be nodes that are going to continue operating on the old network.

Stirring the waters considerably over the past weeks was Justin Sun – the founder of TRON – who said that they hold over one million ETH.

“We currently have more than 1 million ETH. If Ethereum hard fork succeeds, we will donate some forked ETHW to ETHW community and developers to build Ethereum ecosystem.”

This was in response to Poloniex (a cryptocurrency exchange he owns) stating that they will be “the first one to support potential forking of ETH with a listing of two potential forked ETH tokens: ETHS and ETHW.”

Other exchanges that have announced support for the hard fork and the tokens that might spawn out of it include BitMEX, which will even enable leverage trading for POW-based ETH after the Merge.

The world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, said:

“In case of new forked tokens, Binance will evaluate the support for distribution and withdrawal of the forked tokens.”

What Does Vitalik Buterin Think?

Speaking at a developer event called ETH Seoul on August 5-7, Vitalik Buterin voiced his concerns.

First of all, he dismissed the possibility of a potential fork harming Ethereum “significantly.” Discussing new forks, he argued that this is what Ethereum Classic is for.

“I think Ethereum Classic already has a superior community and a superior product for people with those proof-of-work values and preferences. […] Pretty much everyone in the Ethereum ecosystem is supportive of the move to proof-of-stake validation and quite united.”

What is more, he even said that those who support the trading of potential tokens resulting from the hard fork are trying to make a quick profit.

Will ETH Holders be Airdropped New Tokens?

At the time of this writing, it’s unclear how the entire situation will unfold because all of the above is largely dependent on whether or not the Merge will be a success.

In any case, it’s also up to the exchanges who support any resulting tokens to determine how ETH holders will receive them and how many they will get.

If one thing is sure, though, it’s that Vitalik Buterin, as well as the Ethereum Foundation, are firmly against it and have openly dismissed any support of forked tokens.

It’s also worth noting that during events of this magnitude, there are those who will try to take advantage and scam non-suspecting users of their ETH. Therefore, it’s strongly recommended to take a look at some of the most common ETH 2.0 scams and keep in mind that the promise of an airdrop is amongst the most popular ways of phishing and scamming victims out of their funds.

The post Will New Tokens be Airdropped to ETH Holders After Ethereum’s Hard Fork? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Called Vasil, the upgrade is named after the late Bulgarian mathematician – Vasil Dabov – who was also a prominent community member of Cardano.

Part of the third development epoch of Cardano, Vasil is a very important network upgrade that’s aimed at boosting the network’s usability and scalability. The following attempts to break down the Vasil hard fork and explain everything there is about the major milestone.

Vasil Hard Fork’s Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIP)

The upgrade is aimed at introducing five critical mechanisms designed to improve the performance of the Cardano blockchain.

CIP-31 (Reference Inputs)

With CIP-31, Cardano aims to introduce a new kind of input – as the name suggests, a reference input, which would allow looking at an output without actually spending it. The goal of this is to facilitate further access to information that’s stored on the network without having to worry about the churn associated with both spending and recreating UTXOs.

In terms of use cases, an example could be given with inspecting the state of an on-chain app without actually having to consume its output (for instance, checking the current state of a stablecoin state machine.)

CIP-32 (Inline Datums)

This proposal aims to enable datums to be attached to outputs instead of being attached to datum hashes. The purpose is to provide for quicker and simple communication of datum values between the users.

In terms of use cases, the Cardano developers expect for many DApp developers to use this feature because it will simplify the overall state of their systems substantially.

The main idea behind CIP-32 is to restore the situation in which datums are attached to outputs in a conceptually straightforward manner.

CIP-33 (Reference Scripts)

The Cardano Improvement Proposal 33 aims to allow reference scripts to be attached to outputs, while also enabling scripts to be used to satisfy script requirements throughout the validation process, rather than requiring the spending transaction to do so.

CIP-40 (Collateral Outputs)

This one contains a brand new type of output to transactions that are called Collateral Outputs. It aims to improve the overall scalability of the network and further technical information about it can be found here.

Diffusion Pipelining

This is also known as Cardano’s consensus layer scaling solution. Essentially, the improvement proposal aims to overlay some of the steps that a block needs to go through as it moves across the chain in an attempt to enable them to happen concurrently. The below image represents the intended results:

When Will The Vasil Hard Fork Take Place?

Originally, the major upgrade was intended to go live on the mainnet in June 2022. However, it has been delayed a few times.

As a matter of time, the proposal itself was submitted on June 28th, 2022.

We’re delighted to report that in the last few minutes we have submitted an update proposal to hard fork the #Cardano Testnet, and commence the countdown for the #Vasil mainnet upgrade.

1/n

— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) June 28, 2022

On July 29th, however, the Vasil hard fork was slapped with another delay. Speaking on the matter back then was Kevin Hammond, IOG technical manager, who said:

“From where we are, there could be a few more weeks before we go to the actual Vasil hard fork. This is incredibly important. All the users must be ready to progress through the hard fork to ensure a smooth process.”

That said, there’s still no date set in stone for the upgrade to happen.

The post Cardano’s Vasil Hard Fork Explained: What to Expect from the Major Upgrade? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Cronos Chain Vs. Cronos Labs Vs. Crypto.com

Cronos chain is a relatively new blockchain network supported by the popular crypto exchange – CryptoCom – which interoperates with both the Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems. It’s powered by Ethermint, allowing for the porting of dapps and smart contracts from Ethereum and EVM-compatible chains.

It doesn’t have a founder “because it is an open source project created by the Cosmos community that was subsequently grabbed by a team and put into production,” Timsit said.

Being supported by CryptoCom means that all exchange users can operate on the Cronos blockchain, as well as all CRO holders (the company’s native cryptocurrency). As such, Timsit estimated that the total number of addressable users is around 50 million at the time of this interview.

So far, though, only about one million “have migrated and created an account on Cronos chain,” and the number of third-party applications created on the blockchain is approximately 300.

Cronos Labs, on the other hand, serves as the foundation for promoting the Cronos ecosystem. It manages a $100 million Accelerator Program, released in June, that looks to invest in early crypto startups which are likely to create the most innovative projects on Cronos.

However, Timsit emphasized that his team doesn’t believe in “walled gardens” and encourages applicants on Cronos to also become multi-chain.

The exec also informed that not all projects wanting to take advantage of the program need to have their own native token because “oftentimes if you’re just using NFTs as in-game assets, just having NFTs is sufficient to create a business model.”

When it comes down to DeFi protocols, though, Timsit believes they should have a native coin as they generally have many stakeholders.

“You are using the token to make sure that each actor has the right incentives to behave in the way that you want them to behave. So, that’s why oftentimes, tokens are useful for that particular reason. But, on our side, what we’re really interested in are applications that find a way to charge transaction fees to their users or monetize the protocol.”

Crypto.com Recent Layoff Effects

Asked whether Crypto.com’s staff reductions had any impact on the two projects he spearheads, Timsit reassured that they are separate organizations, saying, “Cronos and Cronos Labs are independent of CryptoCom in terms of businesses and entities.”

Nevertheless, the exec admitted that they were also affected by the declining market prices and user interest. The strategies have changed since spending too much on marketing doesn’t make sense now as it did until several months ago.

He added that the daily transactions right now are somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 on the Cronos network, and they had peaked just before the most recent market crash at almost 500,000.

The Total Value Locked (TVL) peaked at a high of $5 billion, but it’s now down to $1.5 billion. Still, this makes it the fifth-largest EVM chain, Timsit claimed.

‘Do a Lot More Than Just Trade Crypto’

With so many giant VCs backing emerging projects from the often-praised Web3 gaming and metaverse vertical, Timsit touched upon the topic as well. He described it as a virtual realm that allows for “self-custody of assets and direct integration with smart contracts.”

“Our vision is that this is the future of crypto. So, for everyone who is currently trading crypto, buying, and selling crypto, we believe that the next step for them is to use DeFi and Web3 gaming so that they can do more than just trade crypto. They can borrow and lend assets that have meaning and utility in these virtual worlds; they can invest these assets in various yield-generating protocols.”

However, he asserted that Web3 could reach its full potential only in environments “where you have applications compatible and composable with each other, which is the strength of the EVM ecosystem..”

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