CoreWeave, the largest U.S. miner on the Ethereum blockchain, is redirecting the processing power of 6,000 specialized computer chips toward research to find a therapy for the coronavirus.

These graphics processing units (GPUs) will be pointed toward Stanford University's Folding@home, a long-standing research effort that unveiled a project on Feb. 27 specifically to boost coronavirus research by way of a unique approach to developing pharmaceutical drugs: connecting thousands of computers from around the world to form a distributed supercomputer for disease research.

CoreWeave co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Brian Venturo said the project has at least a shot at finding a drug for the virus. As such, CoreWeave has responded by doubling the power of the entire network with its GPUs, which are designed to handle repetitive calculations.

According to Venturo, those 6,000 GPUs made up about 0.2 percent of Ethereum's total hashrate, earning roughly 28 ETH per day, worth about $3,600 at press time.

There is no cure for the coronavirus just yet (though various groups are working on vaccines and research to combat the disease, including IBM's supercomputer). Venturo noted that Folding@home has been used to contribute to breakthroughs in the creation of other important drugs.

"Their research had profound impacts on the development of front-line HIV defense drugs, and we are hoping our [computing power] will aid in the fight against coronavirus," Venturo said.

The coronavirus is taking a toll across the world. Italy and Spain are on lockdown. Conferences, stores and restaurants are closing to stem the spread of the disease; by stoking fears, it's slamming the financial markets in the process.

World computer

When the idea of using GPUs for coronavirus research was mentioned to CoreWeave, the team didn't think twice.

They had a test system up and running "within minutes," Venturo said. Since then, the project quickly snowballed. CoreWeave has been contributing over half of the overall computing power going into the coronavirus wing of Folding@home.

"The idea of 'should we do this?' was never really brought up, it kind of just happened. We were all enthusiastic that we might be able to help," Venturo added.

Folding@home is a decentralized project in the same vein as Bitcoin. Instead of one research firm alone using a massive computer to do research, Folding@home uses the computing power of anyone who wants to participate from around the world even if it's just a single laptop with a little unused computing power to spare.

In this case, the computing power is used to find helpful information relating to the coronavirus. Much like in bitcoin mining, one user might detect a "solution" to the problem at hand, distributing this information to the rest of the group.

"Their protein simulations attempt to find potential 'pockets' where existing [U.S. federal agency Food and Drug Administration (FDA)] approved drugs or other known compounds could help inhibit or treat the virus," Venturo said.

Viruses have proteins "that they use to suppress our immune systems and reproduce themselves. To help tackle coronavirus, we want to understand how these viral proteins work and how we can design therapeutics to stop them," a Folding@home blog post explains.

Simulating these proteins and then looking at them from different angles helps scientists to understand them better, with the potential of finding an antidote. Computers accelerate this process by shuffling through the variations very quickly.

"Our specialty is in using computer simulations to understand proteins moving parts. Watching how the atoms in a protein move relative to one another is important because it captures valuable information that is inaccessible by any other means," the post reads.

Long shot

Folding@home could use even more power. Venturo urges other GPU miners to join the cause.

Even without these calls for participation, though, miners of other cryptocurrencies are already independently taking action. Tulip.tools founder Johann Tanzer put out a call to action to Tezos bakers (that blockchains equivalent of miners) last week, promising to send the leading contributor to Folding@home a modest 15 XTZ, worth roughly $20 at press time.

The initiative blew up, to Tanzer's surprise. Though they might not be contributing as much power as CoreWeave, 20 groups of Tezos miners are now contributing a slice of their hashing power to the cause. Tanzer's pot has swelled to roughly $600 as Tezos users caught wind of the effort and donated.

But that's not to say all miners can participate. While GPUs are flexible, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), a type of chip designed specifically for mining, aren't, according to Venturo. Though ASICs are more powerful than GPUs, they're really only made for one thing: To mine cryptocurrency. This is one advantage Venturo thinks Ethereum has over Bitcoin, since GPU mining still works on the former, whereas the latter is now dominated by ASICs.

"This is one of the great things about the Ethereum mining ecosystem, it's basically the largest GPU compute resource on the planet. We were able to redeploy our hardware to help fight a global pandemic in minutes," Venturo said. (However, it's worth noting that Ethereum has seen ASICs enter the fray. Not to mention, ether miners might soon go extinct when a pivotal upgrade makes its way into the network.)

ASICs are useless for the Folding@Home effort, but if bitcoin miners have old GPUs lying around from the early days that they could contribute, too.

Even if other miners join up, though, it's still a long shot that the effort will lead to a helpful drug.

"After discussing with some industry experts [...] we believe the chance of success in utilizing the work done on Folding@Home to deliver a drug to market to be in the 2-5% range," Venturo said.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Thousands of These Computers Were Mining Cryptocurrency. Now They're Working on Coronavirus Research - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

A new 10-month study by 2gether, a crypto platform that aims to replace traditional banking, reveals the profile of female cryptocurrency users. The company conducted its survey from April 2019 to February 2020, polling 5,000 female users of the platform from Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and 19 Eurozone countries.

The poll reveals that female traders heavily trade Bitcoin and Ethereum. BTC and ETH represent 64% and 22% of the total trading volume, respectively.

While female crypto users also dabble in large-cap coins such as Bitcoin Cash, EOS and Cardano, these coins have captured less than 4% of the total trading volume.

The survey also shows that women account for 23% of all cryptocurrency users, slightly up from a study conducted in 2019 by fintech firm BitPanda, which showed that 22% of crypto holders in Europe were female versus 78% male.

Survey highlights from 2gether study

You can check out the full survey here.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/fizkes

Originally posted here:

Female Crypto Users Put Bitcoin on Top, Followed by Ethereum: Study - The Daily Hodl

The head of developer relations at Ripples Xpring says blockchain is poised to transform the world of finance amid rapidly changing economic conditions.

In a new blog post, Warren Paul Anderson says payments are the clear first use case for the emerging technology. He points to economic turmoil as a potential catalyst for the rise of crypto assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP.

We believe that blockchain technology is the deconstruction of finance, down to its core components, with payments being the first part through the implementation of crypto currencies such as BTC, ETH, and XRP.

As the world braces for change in global economic conditions, we believe that blockchain technology can serve as an integral tool for developers to put the pieces back together.

Early this month at London Blockchain Labs, Ripple co-hosted an event for around 100 developers called Deconstructing DeFi.

The gathering focused on specific aspects of decentralized finance (DeFi), a term representing broader efforts to recreate traditional financial instruments in a decentralized architecture that cant be controlled by middlemen.

Xpring has released a software development kit designed to make it easy to build on XRP and recently revealed plans to build a bridge between XRP and Ethereum that will make it easy to exchange one cryptocurrency for the other.

Through Xpring, Ripple has also allocated more than half a billion dollars to companies that support crypto and blockchain technology.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Strahil Dimitrov

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Ripple Executive Says Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP Represent First Wave in Deconstruction of Finance - The Daily Hodl

Ethereum saw a 12% price rise over the last day of trading as it makes its way back toward $130. The cryptocurrency managed to find support at $110 during the March 2020 cryptocurrency collapse and rebounded from here over the past 3-days.

Ethereum will still need to break beyond $135 before we can start to become positive for a recovery, however, the support at $110 does look pretty promising. It remains ranked in the second position as it holds a market cap valuation of just under $14 billion.

Ethereum Price Analysis

ETH/USD Daily CHART SHORT TERM

Taking a look at the daily chart above we can see that ETH managed to find strong support at $110 during the recent market collapse. It had dropped from above $250 toward the start of March and spiked as low as $90 during the bearish onslaught.

However, the support at $110 has been preventing the market from dropping lower all week as it ranges between here and $135. We will need to see a break of this range before judging which direction the market would like to head toward next.

Ethereum is still bearish in the short term, however, a break above the $135 resistance will help to turn the market back into a neutral trading condition.

Once the resistance at $130 is broken we can expect the first level of resistance at the upper boundary of the range at $135. Above this, resistance then lies at $140 and $150. If the buyers can continue beyond $150, resistance lies at $152 (bearish .382 Fib Retracement), $160, $171 (bearish .5 Fib Retracement), and $180.

On the other hand, the first level of support lies at $120. Beneath this, support is located at $116, $110, $102, and $100. If we break beneath $100, added support lies at $95, $92.85, $90, and $80.

Key Levels

Support: $120, $116, $110, $104, $100, $92.85, $80, $76..

Resistance: $135, $140, $150, $152, $160, $180, $190, $205, $210, $213, $220, $227.

Summary

Article Name

Ethereum Sees 12% Price Increase In Attempted Recovery - Will It Continue?

Description

Ethereum saw a 12% price hike over the past 24 hours of trading as the cryptocurrency makes an attempt at $130.This price increase is largely due to the fact that Bitcoin started to increase.

Author

Yaz Sheikh

Publisher Name

Coin Gape

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Ethereum Sees 12% Price Increase In Attempted Recovery Will It Continue? - Coingape

Source: coinmarketcap

On the 7day-weekly chart, ether started off by breaking below the crucial level of $130. The overall downtrend in the market indicated that it will be facing negative momentum in the market for a while. However, no one expected that the downfall will be so significant that ether will be facing a critical price level of $100.

Ether broke the crucial level of $100 on March 16, 2020, but suddenly had a positive push by the strong support level of $98.00. The price level reaching below $100 for ether can result in a major downfall for the cryptoasset.

Another bearish aspect for ether is continuous declining market capitalization and volume traded. During the price recovery stage at the end of February, ether was at the price level of $245. The market capitalization and volume traded were $26 billion and $24 billion respectively. However, now the market cap and 24h volume traded are $14 and $16 billion respectively.

Another fall below the price level of $100 will weaken the support level of $98.00 and the cryptoasset may plunge more this time. However, after breaking below the price mark of $110.00, ether is reviving its buying volume.

Ethereum Technical Analysis

Source: Tradingview

The technical chart indicates that the level of $130 can be a good buying opportunity for investors. Also, the fib retracement level is below 0.236 and ETH have always bounced back after touching that low level. This can be a positive sign for ether for halting the downfall.

The MACD levels also show that ether is getting buying volume after breaking below the price level of $140. The buying volume also attempted to reach the bullish zone and was successful. However, this has indicated that ether is now incapable of starting a positive movement in the market

The 24hr-RSI also avoided a negative divergence to the oversold region by reaching the mid area of the normal territory. The positive divergence might help RSI to reach the level of 60.

The 24hr-CCi has been extremely volatile in todays market. After touching the peak of the overbought region, it had a negative divergence to the normal region. However, it is still showing positive.

Resistance level: $150Support level: $130 and $127

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Ethereum (ETH) Price Analysis: ETH Bears Provided Price Damage To The Level Of $130 - The Coin Republic

Ethereumis changing hands at $224.15 with a short-term bearish bias amid expanding volatility. Ethereum (ETH) is the second-largest digital asset with the current market value of $24 billion. While barely changedon a day-to-day basis, ETH/USD has lost 1.45% since the beginning of Saturday.

On the intraday level, ETH/USD is moving within a triangle pattern, which may result in a strong movement depending on the direction of the breakthrough. The upper line of the triangle is currently at $232.85. It is reinforced by SMA100 1-hour at $230. If this resistance area is cleared, the upside momentum may gain traction with the next target at $248.00 (SMA200 1-hour and SMA50 4-hour) closely followed by psychological $250.00.

If the price moves below $220.50, which is the lower boundary of the triangle reinforced bythe lower line of 4-hour Bollinger Band, the sell-off will gain pace with the next bearish aim at $210.57 (the recent low hit on February 27). This area is likely to slow slow down the downside trend and trigger the rebound; otherwise, the price will quickly move down to test $200.00.

Resistance 1 - $228.00 (38.2%Fibo retracement daily, $23.6%Fibo retracement weekly, SMA10 4-hour);

Resistance 2 - $230.00 (SMA200 4-hour, 23.6%Fibo retracement daily)

Resistance 3 - $237.00 (38.2%Fibo retracement weekly)

Current price - $225.00

Support 1 - $222.00 - the lowest level of the previous 4-hour

Support 2 - $261.00 -the lower line of the daily Bollinger Band, Pivot Point 1-day Support 1

Support 2 - $210.00 - the lowest level of the previous week

Originally posted here:

Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD is moving within an intraday triangle pattern - FXStreet

Ethereum started a strong recovery from the $208 swing low against the US Dollar. However, ETH price is likely to fail near $240 and it could resume its decline.

In the past three days, we saw a strong decline in Ethereum below the $250 and $240 levels against the US Dollar. ETH price even dived below the $220 support and traded close to the $205 support.

A new weekly low is formed near $208 and the price is currently correcting higher. It recovered above the $220 level, plus the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $278 high to $208 swing low.

Ethereum is currently facing hurdles near the $238 and $240 levels. More importantly, yesterdays major bearish trend line is intact with resistance near $240 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD.

Ethereum Price

Therefore, the price is clearly facing a couple of key barriers near the $238 and $240 levels. The 100 hourly simple moving average is also near the trend line and $240 to stop the current upward move.

To move into a positive zone, the price must surpass the $240 and $242 resistance levels. The 50% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $278 high to $208 swing low is also near the $242 level to act as a breakout zone.

A successful break and close above $242 is likely to open the doors for a fresh increase. The next major resistance is seen near the $256 and $260 levels.

If Ethereum fails to continue above the $240 resistance and the trend line, there are chances of another decline. An initial support is near the $225 level, below which the price may perhaps slide towards the $210 level.

The main supports are near the $205 and $200 levels, where the bulls are likely to take a strong stand.

Technical Indicators

Hourly MACD The MACD for ETH/USD is likely to move back into the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI The RSI for ETH/USD is about to move below the 50 level, with a bearish angle.

Major Support Level $225

Major Resistance Level $240

Originally posted here:

Ethereum Recovers 8% But Here's Why ETH Could Dive Again - newsBTC

It has been a rocky few days for the crypto markets, with Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH) and most major altcoins incurring intense selloffs that have led them to erase a significant amount of the gains they incurred throughout the past couple of months.

Ethereum has been particularly impacted by this recent downtrend, which comes as the result of bulls inability to sustain the parabolic rally it incurred earlier this month.

Analysts are now noting that the cryptocurrency could be positioned for some further near-term downside, but it may first see a relief rally.

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading down just under 10 percent at its current price of $228, which marks a notable decline from daily highs of over $250.

ETHs ongoing downtrend first began earlier this month when its parabolic rally ended at roughly $290.

The fact that bulls were unable to sustain the cryptos intense upwards momentum that occurred against a backdrop of market-wide bullishness was a warning sign that pointed to some underlying weakness.

Currently, analysts are noting that ETHs buyers are currently in the process of defending a key short-term support level that it is trading just a hair above, and the support here could be enough to allow it to climb slightly higher in the hours ahead.

Crypto Michal a popular crypto trader who was previously a full-time trader at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange pointed to a chart in a recent tweet that elucidates that he anticipates a bounce at this level to lead ETH to climb roughly 20% against its BTC trading pair.

Interesting level were bouncing from here.

Although it is possible that ETH sees a slight bounce from its current price levels, it does appear that its mid-term top is in.

AMD Traders another well-respected crypto trader explained that he believes ETH has topped out and is starting a complex correction.

Support here isnt anything too significant, but we could see a bounce soon. I do think ETH did top out and this is the start of a complex correction. I also dont think the low is in for Ethereum, just so you know what my HTF bias is. Doesnt mean I wont trade the long side, he said.

Unless Bitcoin begins incurring some upwards momentum that leads the aggregated market higher, it does appear to be a strong possibility that Ethereum and other major altcoins are in for further near-term losses.

Ethereum, currently ranked #2 by market cap, is down 8.06% over the past 24 hours. ETH has a market cap of $25.24B with a 24 hour volume of $26.1B.

Chart by CryptoCompare

Ethereum is down 8.06% over the past 24 hours.

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Ethereum bulls defend key support, but analysts still think the top is in - CryptoSlate

Leading cryptocurrency project Ethereum has seen its fundamentals on the rise lately, as decentralized finance crosses the $1-billion mark this month. That's big news for the project, because Ethereum's native currency, Ether, accounts for about 70% of that total.

In addition, the project is gainingmomentum around its ETH 2.0initiativeand it could get a boost from a major move bythe big U.S. bankJPMorganChase(JPM) - Get Report, which plans to merge its Quorum blockchain with ConsenSys -- a development studio founded by Ethereum co-founder, Joe Lubin. The bank built its private blockchain using the Ethereum network, and if successful, the merger could lead to more investment in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Considered the pioneer for blockchain-based smart contracts, Ethereum also continues to gain prominence as19 out of the top 20 decentralized finance projects were built on its blockchain.

Smart contracts are computer programs that automatically execute when specific conditions are met. Running them on a blockchain removes any possibility of downtime or third-party interference, making them extremely useful for exchanging money, content, property, shares, or anything of value.

ETH is Ethereums native currency, used as "gas" to pay for network transactions. It currently boasts a market cap of just under $30 billion, with a 24h trade volume of $19.77 billion.

The Ethereum platform currently processes transactions in a similar way to Bitcoin. But massive development efforts are underway on Ethereum 2.0, to switch over from its proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake network capable of greater scale. The need for scalability is key as the number of transactions, and subsequent gas prices, continue to rise on the platform.

Ethereum fundamentals have been increasing since the beginning of 2020, up 22-points (2.38%) since January 1st. Our data shows this was driven by a 48-point (5.37%) rise in User Activity.

FCAS is up 22-points (2.38%)

Developer Behavior is up 1-point (0.1%)

User Activity is up 48-points (5.37%)

Market Maturity is up 2-points (0.24%)

TheStreet

Current trends suggest that as the DeFi market continues to expand, it will create robust payment gateways for a wide variety of DApps to be built on Ethereum. Any sort of multi-party application that today relies on a central server can be disintermediated via the Ethereum blockchain. This has attracted new capital to flow into ETH, causing price to skyrocket in the past two months.

Starting with the launch of MakerDAO, there are now nine separate Ethereum decentralized finance apps holding at least $10 million worth of cryptocurrency in them. As Synthetix founder Kain Warwick commented, The idea that Ethereum is replicating these traditional financial applications on a decentralized platform has finally crossed the chasm and got to the point where people understand it."

The FCAS Tracker provides institutional and sophisticated retail investors a top-down approach to tracking 500+ cryptocurrencies fundamentals. FCAS Tracker is currently free to a select group of new users as we continue to develop the product. Visit us here to gain access to Flipside Analytics.

Read the rest here:

Cryptocurrency in Focus: Ethereum Is on Fire - TheStreet

Donating to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) may turn out to be the Ethereum Foundations shrewdest move yet.

We are still discussing the details on what we can do together, but we have decided to continue support for the next couple of years, said Ethereum Foundation Director Aya Miyaguchi. I believe a partnership with a group like UNICEF can maximize our impact without shifting our focus from what we still need to do to improve Ethereum as a technology.

The foundation donated roughly $150,000 worth of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) to UNICEFs experimental crypto fund in October 2019. Since then the UNICEF Kazakhstan office has developed an ethereum-based system for processing internal payments, such as sending funds from the UNICEF headquarters to people running a local education program.

We can see now clearly its operational and its great for the organization. So we will continue to work on that, said UNICEF partnership specialist Oleksandra Gaskevych. We only have used ethereum so far, for smart contracts. Were thinking maybe we could test bitcoin as well for digital currency transfers, so well see.

The Kazakhstan-based team is still putting a few finishing touches on the smart contract platform, because UNICEF budgets require multiple signatures from people with varying degrees of clearance. Today, a significant amount of office paperwork still involves people double-checking expenditures by hand. So this new digital process is much more efficient.

Gaskevych said the office expects to start transitioning over to the ethereum-based system in 2021.

We can easily adapt it to other Russian-speaking countries in the region, she added.

Tunisian pilots

Elsewhere, UNICEF is also partnering with SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA) to develop a structure for distributing cryptocurrency. Chris Fabian, co-lead of UNICEF Ventures, said so far the crypto fund is starting slow by funding several startups like Coinsence, a Tunisian token project experimenting with ERC-20 tokens for community currencies.

Coinsence founder Karim Chabrak said more than 200 people in the beach town of Hammamet, with roughly 100,000 residents, participated in a pilot program that is graduating to a fully operational phase this quarter.

There are communities that have no money and a lot of unemployed youth, Chabrak said. Communities need to be able to address that without waiting for governments to act.

Residents mainly use the token to pay volunteers for jobs like beach cleaning, then offer them a discount at participating businesses. Chabrak said the goal is to reduce the unemployment rate and encourage productive spending habits. This year, Chabrak said he is establishing a national association with a legal framework to support any other community that wants to issue its own local token.

We heard about bitcoin in 2010, Chabrak said. But we are trying to build currencies that arent speculative, that are part of the commons.

All of these experiments were funded by the Ethereum Foundation, which also acts as a consulting resource but not an official partner like SBIA. For example, Coinsence received 50 ether, most of which was used for pilots and research in late 2019. Likewise, the Argentinian startup Atix Labs received a bitcoin from the Ethereum Foundations donation, and developed software tools that Fabian said may be useful for the program in Kazakhstan.

Fabian said last years donation from the Ethereum Foundation was part of a larger agreement with them, that we had to test some of the piping with them first.

Multi-pronged approach

The ethereum community is investing in global outreach through this agreement with UNICEF, even without directly implementing blockchain solutions.

Theyve made the community available to us for a variety of things, Fabian said.

This created a ripple effect beyond the donations themselves. For example, Gaskevych said basic materials related to blockchain technology and smart contracts were incorporated into the Kazakhstan offices digital literacy program for youth, teaching 200 people about ethereum so far. As UNICEF looks to transition its internal system, and find external partners willing to accept ether, the team is focused on training local talent to develop customized solutions for specific needs.

Fabian clarified only a few of UNICEFs external partners in Kazakhstan are willing to accept cryptocurrency for the services they already provide, like an internet service provider or a construction company.

Thats fine, were not trying to push it, he said. Its not that we are only paying them in crypto, were also paying them in fiat so theres a little bit of hedge.

Over the next two years, Fabian said UNICEFs goal is to help schools without internet connections get online by supporting local tech ventures, some of which may choose to run their own cryptocurrency nodes and earn revenue from providing connectivity to people and businesses in the surrounding neighborhoods. Thats how UNICEF aims to make this project sustainable beyond one-off donations.

In addition to the global school initiative, called GIGA, Chabrak said he hopes community currencies in Tunisia will be designed to help nonprofits and universities promote the United Nations sustainability goals by incentivizing eco-friendly habits.

Why ETH?

To be clear, theres one main reason ethereum became the most widely used blockchain technology across UNICEFs global development strategy, which seeks to deploy nearly $45 billion in diverse programs around the world. The reason is the Ethereum Foundation reached out and ponied up.

Even though the donation was a tiny fraction of UNICEFs related budget, the agreement'' Fabian referenced motivated his fund to set up a compliant system for receiving and distributing cryptocurrency. The fund also accepts bitcoin, but there have been hardly any bitcoin donations so far, Fabian said.

Based on his research in Tunisia, Chabrak said the most challenging part of getting people to use cryptocurrency was inspiring a sense of personal ownership over an asset that isnt associated with a familiar entity, like the government. Thats why foreign startup tokens, and to some extent bitcoin, have been a harder sell.

Communities are not so motivated to build an ecosystem around the currency because they dont identify with the currency and have full control, he said. People accept the coins when they know the people that are issuing the coins and they can implement their own governance.

(The fact such communities dont see bitcoin as something they can control and influence the governance of may be, in part, a misunderstanding.)

With that in mind, the Ethereum Foundations strategy of finding an indirect way to fund blockchain education and entrepreneurship in emerging markets, where other computer science resources are scarce, may eventually set it apart among blockchain projects competing for both market- and mind-share.

Cryptocurrency is too often seen as a means for investment, but as you know, ethereum is capable of so much more than that, Miyaguchi said. Whether with UNICEF or other parties, we are always looking for ways to maximize our impact using the technology that were helping to build.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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How the Ethereum Foundation Got UNICEF to Embrace Blockchain - CoinDesk - Coindesk

So far, the fast-growing decentralized finance sector has been mostly limited to dApps running on the Ethereum blockchain. Although DeFi Pulse doesnt yet rank every single DeFi dApp in operation, a cursory glance at the leaderboard shows that ETH dApps dominate.

Only Bitcoins Lightning Network makes it into the top 21.

This dependency on Ethereum is among DeFis most significant vulnerabilities. The network is slow, and thanks to stablecoin transactions hogging the majority of bandwidth, prone to clogging. However, the challenge for DeFi developers working on other blockchains is that they dont have the same user base and adoption that Ethereum can boast.

Interoperability is the key to unlocking DeFi beyond the Ethereum blockchain.

DeFi dApps that can operate on multiple platforms offer the potential to create a thriving ecosystem across the entire blockchain space. It also means that developers can take advantage of the speed and flexibility of other blockchains while continuing to tap into the vibrant DeFi community.

Several interoperable protocols and dApps now exist, and we can expect more to come. But not all are necessarily trying to achieve the same thing.

This guide runs through the various types of interoperable DeFi dApps and how theyre helping to advance DeFi beyond the boundaries of Ethereum.

Please note that the classifications here are broad, and there are inevitably some crossovers.

Bridges offer benefits to blockchain developers, as they enable dApps on one blockchain to tap into the features and projects of another.

Generally, they use some variant of a burn-and-mint mechanism where a token gets locked on one blockchain as it leaves and minted on the other when it enters. This mechanism keeps the token supply constant.

Bridges have risen in prominence this year, as both Syscoin and RSK have launched similar products.

Jag Sidhu, co-founder, and lead developer at Syscoin believes that bridges bring additional benefits particular to the DeFi space. He told Crypto Briefing in an interview:

Bridges such as the Syscoin Bridge benefit DeFi by giving developers and users a way to participate in the global move towards sovereign value ownership, via decentralization. Without decentralization, DeFi faces skewed incentives and attack vectors, which render it another form of traditional finance.

The Syscoin Bridge enables Ethereum developers to send their tokens to the Syscoin platform so they can benefit from far faster processing than is currently possible on Ethereum.

Syscoin is merge-mined with Bitcoin, meaning it is more decentralized than many of its peers.

Syscoin wasnt the first to build its own bridge, though. At the end of 2018, interoperability project Wanchain launched abridge between the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains using its own network as an intermediary.

Wanchain is also a member of Hyperledger, indicating that it could provide further bridge functionality in the future.

This would offer significant potential in the field of enterprise blockchain due to Hyperledgers deployment in high-profile solutions such as IBMs Food Trust and Tradelens solutions.

The most recent project to launch a bridge was RSK, the smart contract platform developed as a side chain from the Bitcoin blockchain. As a side chain, RSK could already send tokens back and forth to the Bitcoin blockchain.

The RSK bridge extends that functionality to the Ethereum blockchain, providing users with the ability to send tokens between dApps developed on the RSK blockchain to Ethereum.

There are several stablecoin and lending projects with interoperability across different blockchains.

Money on Chain is the first use case of the RSK bridge outlined above. Money on Chain is a stablecoin project running on the RSK network.

Similar to Maker, it operates two tokens. The first is Dollar on Chain (DOC,) a stablecoin backed by Bitcoin and pegged 1:1 to the value of the US dollar. The second is BPRO, which absorbs the volatility from DOC.

Now that the RSK bridge is live, Money on Chain has access to Ethereums DeFi community. Parties can now use Dollar on Chain in the same way as Dai. Speaking to Crypto Briefing of the decision to develop Money on Chain on RSK, CEO Max Carjuzza told Crypto Briefing:

Interoperability has been a cornerstone of the RSK vision from the beginning. We believe being able to offer Bitcoins benefits to Ethereum users and to connect these respective developer communities is a crucial step for the blockchain ecosystem and its future. Money on Chain allows the immense Ethereum DeFi ecosystem to integrate its two tokens and enjoy their utility.

Kava is a cross-chain platform offering users collateralized loans and stablecoins across a variety of major cryptocurrencies. These include BTC, XRP, BNB, and ATOM.

Kava is the first DeFi dApp developed on the interoperable Cosmos network (see below), and as such, its generated significant buzz among the community, getting a boost from its IEO hosted on Binance.

With Kava, users can collateralize their holdings for the stablecoin of the Kava platform, USDX. Like Maker, Kava has a token providing governance participation and staking rights to holders. Kava also offers potential in the derivatives space, as it can scale to provide synthetics.

The PEG Network enables users to mint stablecoins using any asset as collateral. For utility tokens, this means a developer could give users access to their dApp without expecting them to bear the risks of volatility.

The first token to be minted on the PEG Network is USDB, which is a stable token-based on Bancors BNT token, hence the interoperability as BNT works on both EOS and Ethereum. PEG is still a relatively new project. The website states, however, that it plans to integrate more blockchains in the future.

Interestingly, XAR Network isnt just targeting individual users, which have so far formed the user base for Ethereums DeFi.

Its also targeting enterprises, including central banks and governments that may want to use its infrastructure to issue digital currencies. To that end, XAR Network offers both a public blockchain and permissioned, customized chains.

XAR Networks public chain allows you to deposit any supported digital asset, collateralize it, mint Collateralized Stable Currency Tokens (CSCTs) based on this collateral, and then use these CSCTs to stake and earn rewards.

Greg Van der Spuy, CEO of XAR Network told Crypto Briefing:

Basically, we designed XAR Network as a system that functions as the framework for decentralized finance so interoperability is paramount. We specifically designed the DeFi infrastructure for a wide variety of uses and tokens. Our goal is not to make users exclusively use our tokens, but to enable others to build on top of our network and create their own tokens. In addition, we wanted to design a system that could provide institutions with the benefits of distributed ledger technology without them having to move their entire system to blockchain.

Uniswap is the go-to liquidity protocol of choice within the Ethereum ecosystem, enabling users to swap between any ERC-20 tokens.

The underlying smart contracts serve as automated market makers, meaning users rarely have to worry about low liquidity for any given token.

Bancor is Uniswaps nearest interoperable comparator. The project uses its own blockchain and native BNT token as an intermediary for token swaps.

When Bancor completed its ICO in 2017, which was the biggest in history at that time, Emin Gn Sirer of Cornell University wrote ascathing critique of Bancor, positing that the project didnt need its own token. However, Bancor appears to have vindicated that decision when it went live on the EOS blockchain in 2018.

Despite being among the first to introduce interoperability, Bancor has struggled to gain the same traction as Uniswap, which shows around four times the volume. However, if DeFi successfully spreads beyond Ethereum to EOS, this could change, given that Uniswap currently has no interoperability.

Thorchain is currently still in testing on the Binance chain. It currently allows swaps, stakes, and withdrawals. It uses a similar model to Uniswap and Bancor, based on liquidity pools and its own RUNE token as a medium of exchange.

Thorchain has already laid out its roadmap for achieving full interoperability across the Binance, Ethereum, and Bitcoin blockchains, with the latter still in scoping mode. If Thorchain can achieve this, it would be the first DEX to enable swaps across three blockchains, including Bitcoin.

The lead researcher from the Thorchain team explained the projects vision in achieving interoperability, particularly with Bitcoin. They told Crypto Briefing:

The holy grail of cryptocurrency liquidity is the Bitcoin/USD pair. This pair commands a Pareto share of the market and services the plethora of derivatives available for Bitcoin. DeFi liquidity is not just about Ethereum, and its tokens the real party will start when fully-collateralized, auditable, non-custodial exchange platforms appear, and they will be servicing the Bitcoin/USD pair first and foremost.

Switcheo is a DEX offering swaps across a different combination of three blockchains including Ethereum, EOS, and NEO. In contrast to the others listed above, Switcheo relies on a more traditional trading apparatus, which Switcheo manages off-chain.

Like many centralized exchanges, it also offers users an exchange token giving access to trading fee discounts and other membership-style benefits.

Kyber Network is familiar to those in the DeFi space as an Ethereum-based liquidity protocol. However, the team at Kyber has also implemented their swap protocol on other blockchains, including EOS and Tomochain.

However, the Kyber Waterloo proposal looks to be the projects most promising foray into true interoperability. Currently, at the proof of concept stage, Kyber Waterloo aims to enable token swaps between the Ethereum and EOS networks.

Finally, Tomochain also offers some token exchange functionality between Tomochain and Binance via the Tomobridge. It enables users to swap their native TOMO tokens for BEP-2 TOMOB tokens, which are listed on the Binance DEX.

Loom has been making strides in interoperability. Last September, it announced it was bringing the Dai stablecoin onto other blockchains, starting with Tron.

This feature would enable users to spend Dai on Trons dApps, potentially opening up the network to more users. Users could already spend tokens from other blockchains, including Ethereum, Binance, and Tron.

Soon afterward, Loom published another blog post outlining its plans to make the Loom Network token a multi-chain token, meaning it would be fully portable across the other blockchains already operating with the Loom Network.

When the protocol launches, users will be able to spend their Loom tokens across a multitude of platforms.

Cosmos is perhaps the most well-known blockchain interoperability project in the space at the moment. Its made up of three components. First, theres the Tendermint BFT consensus engine powers Cosmos proof-of-stake co.

Theres an SDK providing a modular framework for building interoperable, application-specific blockchains. Finally, theres an inter blockchain communication messaging protocol that enables Cosmos to interact with other blockchains.

Dubbed the internet of blockchains, Cosmos is a promising project due to its early popularity in the space as well as for its technical specs.

Co-founded by Gavin Wood three years ago, Polkadot allows tokens, data, and governance tools to be transferred across various blockchains, oracles, and permissioned networks alike. Already they have integrated Chainlink, the leading decentralized oracle solution in the space.

The primary mechanism for this connection will be through a technology called parachains. These are not dissimilar from the sharding component found in Ethereum. Like mini-blockchains, parachains extend beyond the Polkadot network and execute their state locally. This autonomy allows for faster transaction speeds with a more diverse collection of data sources.

The project has yet to launch its mainnet, but users who participated in their ICO can begin claiming their DOT tokens before the beta launch on Coinbase.

Although the majority of DeFi activity is occurring on Ethereum, it would be foolish to assume innovation isnt also happening elsewhere. Interoperability helps solve this by providing common ground on which all blockchains can communicate.

Opening this dialogue would be a bounty not just for crypto users, but also for Ethereum itself.

Read the original post:

Looking Beyond Ethereum, Crypto Interoperability Is Key - Crypto Briefing

Digital racehorses with unique attributes, trade histories and win records all with bloodlines named for crypto luminaries like Nakamoto, Szabo, Finney and Buterin.

Were trying to bridge the gap between modern-day wagering and blockchain, said Unikrn CEO Rahul Sood.

Soods esports platform is partnering with horse racing game ZED RUN to bring horse betting to the ethereum blockchain. The game relies on the non-fungible token (NFT) standard first made famous by Dapper Labs CryptoKitties.

The horses are purchasable on ZED and tradeable on Unikrns platform with each piece of data tracked via ethereums ERC-721 standard. Only 38,000 horses will ever be created on ZED although users can breed horses from their own stables.

In fact, one ZED stallion sold for 50 ether, according to Sood, worth about $11,000 depending on market conditions.

The first race is set to debut in two or three weeks, Sood said.

Place your bets

Gambling is hardly new to blockchains. Tron, popular in Asian speculation circles, facilitated $1.6 billion in dapp volume in Q1 2019 with 64 percent of applications attributed to gambling (including a now-defunct dog-racing dapp). According to DappRadar, casino games dominate the gambling dapp sector in terms of usage.

Traditional horse racing is dominated by an older crowd who share a love for the track but have poor gambling platforms, Sood said. Unikrn thinks it can combine two audiences esports fans and horse bettors onto one platform.

For context, one billion hours of esports were streamed on Twitch in January 2020 alone with some four million viewers, according to TwitchTracker.

You can own a horse, Sood said. Your horse can win prizes and your horse can gain notoriety. Were catering to a very broad audience, not just young people.

Unikrn launched crypto betting on Twitch streams in May 2019 for popular games such as Fortnite. Sood said Unikrn has four million users across its various products with an average of 160,000 gamblers who can use either crypto or cash.

The near on-demand nature of virtual horse racing and the plethora of locations at which an event can occur are digital features that best traditional racing, Sood said. The Las Vegas Strip or Sydney Harbour Bridge were two examples of possible race tracks Sood gave. Plus, typical tracks can only support a handful of horses while Unikrn can support dozens of horses at once.

Legal questions

As of now, players can bet on themselves in 41 U.S. states, although competitive betting is still in the works pending partnerships with local casinos. Unikrn is also available for betting in 43 countries around the globe.

In the U.S., betting on sports is regulated state by state. In order to get a license, you have to own a land-based casino or be partnered with them, Sood said.

For self-bets, Unikrn tracks user information such as past races to create custom betting odds against the house itself, Unikrn. Bets can be placed in USD or UnikoinGold (UKG), the platforms native ERC-20 token. Other cryptos can be deposited on the platform and converted back-and-forth to UKG as well, Sood said.

Unikrn launched in 2014 and raised $10 million in venture funding from Binary Capital, Ashton Kutcher and Mark Cuban, among others. The company conducted a $40 million public token sale for UnikoinGold in late 2017.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Fake Horses, Real Bets: Unikrn Is Putting Racetrack NFTs on Ethereum - CoinDesk - Coindesk

In Brief

Loopring Exchange, a decentralized exchange that doesnt force users to relinquish control over their funds, launched a public beta today on the Ethereum mainnet with four trading pairs. It claims to be the first publicly Ethereum-based DEX that uses a technology called zkRollup, as well as cheap and fast.

Decentralized exchanges, unlike centralized exchanges, dont hold user funds in wallets owned by the exchanges, and arent owned by a centralized party. Recall how hackers can steal funds from exchanges, or how exchanges sometimes run away with customer funds? Decentralized exchanges, at least in theory, avoid those vulnerabilities. Sometimes.

Loopring also doesnt ask for any identifying information from its customersapart from an Ethereum addresskeeping things anonymous.

But most decentralized exchanges are expensive and slow. Loopring promises to be none of these.

In part, thats because it uses zkRollup, a technology that allows hundreds of transactions on the Ethereum blockchain to be rolled-up into a single transaction. It sits on top of Ethereum, and means that the network can run faster and smootherno more bottlenecks, which occur when the network gets too full.

The zk part stands for zero-knowledge proof, another way of making things quicker. According to an explainer on the matter on EthHub, zero knowledge reduces the amount of information contained in a transaction, saving on computing and storage resources.

Looprings not overpromising just yet: we admit that the current implementation is far from being perfect at the UX level, wrote Daniel Wang, Founder of the Loopring Foundation in a blog post today. It takes up to two weeks to process deposits and withdrawals, its relayer is still quite centralized, and the beta only supports one million users.

Wang will have to scale his own, uh, scaling solution, for the project to succeed. We are not thrilled it is not designed for the masses just yet, he wrote.

In the past few weeks, DeFi, the catch-all term for decentralized financial solutions like what Loopring is offering, has had a terrible time. With a series of daring hacks, and increasing noise around the over-centralization of DeFi solutions, Wang has his work cut out.

Have a news tip or inside information on a crypto, blockchain, or Web3 project? Email us at: tips@decrypt.co.

See original here:

A supercharged DEX launches on Ethereum - Decrypt

In the last 24-hours, $38 million of Dai were traded for Ethereum on decentralized exchanges and Coinbase. Moreover, a massive spike in Dai trading volume confirmed this pattern, suggesting that investors are bracing for further drops.

Decentralized finance has been making big waves of late as concern over traditional finance continues to grow. And a major component of this success is attributable to MakerDao, a decentralized credit platform on Ethereum that supports the stablecoin Dai.

The Dai stablecoin is pegged to the US dollar. Having a stablecoin opens up many new financial possibilities for this burgeoning sector that were not possible before due to volatility. Not only does Dai offer stabilization, but is also offers transparency and decentralization, since it is built on top of the Ethereum network.

Currently, MakerDao has 58% dominance, which equates to $552 million locked into DeFi. In brief, when compared to the next nearest rival protocol, Compound, which accounts for just $148 million locked into DeFi, its clear that MakerDao, and Dai, are by far the prevailing Ethereum based protocol. As such, major moves Dai are indicative of wider market sentiment.

Analysis of DeFi. (Source: defipulse.com)

Today, data analyst, Vishesh tweeted that $38 million worth of Dai was traded for Ethereum in the past 24-hours. And a further analysis of data on Nomics shows that Dais transparent volume is currently up 180%.

Analysis of Dai. (Source: nomics.com)

Consequently, this would suggest that Ethereum traders are expecting further losses in the short-term. And so, are moving to Dai in order to offset the adverse price movements as coronavirus fears continue to run rampant.

At present, a look at the large-caps shows that Tezos is the only one in the green. An analysis of Ethereums price chart shows that it has closely mirrored Bitcoins movement over these past few days.

Much like Bitcoin, the number two cryptocurrency by market cap has experienced three consecutive daily drops since the start of the week.

Ethereum daily chart. (Source: tradingview.com)

But yesterday saw Ethereum plunge 14%, as bears struggled to offset the slide. Indeed, as a result of the breakdown, support at the $250 level was breached.

Today sees a bounce off support at $210, which has formed into a relief rally of sorts as it attempts to regain $230. But the latest move has triggered a bearish trend line. Meaning Ethereum will struggle at $230. However, a close above that level should see a strong recovery in the short term.

On the flip side, key support lines exist close to the $205 and $200 price levels. And bulls are expected to vigorously defend the $200 handle if further drops do occur.

On a more optimistic note, unlike Bitcoin, the 50-day and 200-day moving average remain intact on the daily chart.

Read more:

Ethereum Pullback Was So Dire Investors Traded $38M of Dai - newsBTC

EOS

EOS fell by 2.56% on Friday. Reversing a 2.31% gain from Thursday, EOS ended the day at $3.4287.

A mixed start to the day saw EOS rise to an early morning intraday high $3.6212 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the first major resistance level at $3.7749, EOS slid to a mid-day intraday low $3.3535.

EOS fell through the first major support level at $3.4250 before recovering. Finding support late on, EOS struck a high $3.6100 before falling back to $3.52 levels.

At the time of writing, EOS was up by 0.44% to $3.5444. A bullish start to the day saw EOS rise from an early morning low $3.5282 to a high $3.5908.

EOS left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

EOS would need to move back through to $3.60 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $3.6888.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for EOS to break out from Fridays high $3.6812.

Barring a broad-based crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely leave EOS short of $3.70 levels once more.

Failure to move back through to $3.60 levels could see EOS fall back into the red.

A fall back through the morning low to sub-$3.52 levels would bring the first major support level at $3.3611 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, EOS should continue to steer clear of sub-$3.30 levels.

Major Support Level: $3.3611

Major Resistance Level: $3.6888

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $6.62

38% FIB Retracement Level: $9.76

62% FIB Retracement Level: $14.82

Ethereum slipped by 0.1% on Friday. Following a 1.72% gain from Thursday, Ethereum ended the day at $227.36.

A mixed start to the day saw Ethereum rise to an early morning intraday high $234.90 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the first major resistance level at $237.75, Ethereum slid to a mid-day intraday low $213.63.

Ethereum fell through the first major support level at $218.75 before recovering to $230 levels. A final hour pullback to sub-$227.60 levels left Ethereum in the red for the day, however.

At the time of writing, Ethereum was up by 1.05% to $229.75. A bullish start to the day saw Ethereum rise from an early morning low $227.04 to a high $232.20.

Ethereum left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Story continues

Ethereum would need to break back through the morning high $232.20 to bring the first major resistance level at $236.97 into play.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ethereum to break back through to $230 levels.

Barring a broad-based crypto rally, the first major resistance level at $236.97 should leave Ethereum short of $240 levels.

Failure to move back through the morning high could see Ethereum give up the early gains.

A fall through back through the morning low to sub-$225.30 levels would bring the first major support level at $215.70 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Ethereum should steer clear of sub-$210 support levels.

Major Support Level: $215.70

Major Resistance Level: $236.97

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $257

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $367

62% FIB Retracement Level: $543

Ripples XRP fell by 0.48% on Friday. Partially reversing a 3.81% gain from Thursday, Ripples XRP ended the day at $0.23764.

Tracking the broader market, Ripples XRP rose to an early morning intraday high $0.24450 before hitting reverse.

Falling short of the first major resistance level at $0.2490, Ripples XRP slid to a mid-day intraday low $0.2290.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $0.2261, Ripples XRP recovered to $0.24 levels before falling back into the red.

At the time of writing, Ripples XRP was up by 0.28% to $0.23830. A mixed start to the day saw Ripples XRP rise to an early morning high $0.24144 before falling to a low $0.23660.

Ripples XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Ripples XRP will need to break back through to $0.24 levels to support a run at the first major resistance level at $0.2451.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ripples XRP to break out from the morning high $0.24144.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance levels would likely pin Ripples XRP back from $0.25 levels.

Failure to move back through to $0.24 levels could see Ripples XRP fall back into the red.

A fall back through to sub-$0.2370 levels would bring the first major support level at $0.2296 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Ripples XRP should steer clear of sub-$0.22 levels on the day.

The second major support level at $0.2215 should limit any downside on the day.

Major Support Level: $0.2296

Major Resistance Level: $0.2451

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $0.3638

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $0.4800

62% FIB Retracement Level: $0.6678

Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks, Bob

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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EOS, Ethereum and Ripples XRP Daily Tech Analysis 29/02/20 - Yahoo Finance

Ethereum has been closely tracking Bitcoin and the aggregated market over the past several days, which has led ETH to experience some intense volatility as it ranges between lows of $250 and highs of $285.

In spite of Bitcoins overt bearishness at the moment, it is important to note that Ethereum has been forming a highly bullish market structure that could lead it significantly higher in the near-term.

One top trader is noting that this market structure could lead the cryptocurrency to $400 in the near-term, which would mark a significant climb from its current 2020 highs of $290 that were set at the peak of its recent parabolic rally.

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading up marginally at its current price of $271, which only marks a slight decline from daily highs, but a notable climb from lows of $265 that were set yesterday.

ETHs price action seen in the time following last Wednesdays intense selloff can largely be characterized as a slow upwards grind, as it has been unable to incur any type of parabolic price action.

George, a prominent cryptocurrency trader on Twitter, recently explained that bulls ability to defend the crypto from dropping beneath the upper-$260 region is a bullish sign that suggests it will soon move towards $280.

ETH: Yup, nice little pump. Break above mid-range and expecting 4h range high. Clean smash above that and we should go for new highs. Lets see, he explained while pointing to the chart seen below.

Ethereums rally may not end at $280, however, as this may be the event that allows the crypto to kick off its next parabolic uptrend.

George also spoke about this in a tweet, pointing to a chart showing that the cryptos next main resistance level exists at roughly $370, with a move above this level opening the gates for a swift rally past $400.

ETH: Road to $400, he explained.

In order for Ethereum to continue pushing higher, it is imperative that bulls continue defending it from dropping below the upper-$260 level.

Although ETH does remain correlated with Bitcoin, its market structure is arguable more bullish than that of BTC, which may be enough to help the cryptocurrency gain some independent momentum.

More here:

Analyst: Ethereums Path to $400 is Clear Once it Breaks This Single Level - newsBTC

Ethereum Classic Labs has announced that it is collaborating with Chainlink in order to bring decentralized oracles and external data to the Ethereum Classic blockchain.

As ETC Labs notes, Ethereum Classic and Ethereum cannot natively interact with data that exists outside of their respective blockchains. Blockchains are primarily useful for processing on-chain transactions, which must behave according to certain rules and overall blockchain consensus.

However, oracles like Chainlink allow blockchains to access external data in a secure way. Furthermore, the service acts as a decentralized oracle by relying on independent data providers and node operators.

The end result is that data provided by Chainlink is reliable, correct, and free from possible interferencesomething that is beneficial to developers on Ethereum Classic and other blockchains.

ETC Labs has not described what sort of applications it will develop with Chainlink.

However, it does suggest that oracles are useful when it comes to integrating blockchain with traditional payment systems, market data, and Internet of Things (IoT)-based insurance data.

Additionally, ETC Labs notes that price reference data is one service that Chainlink already provides. Chainlink expanded its price feeds to include 25 trading pairs in January, which will allow developers to make use of more reliable market data within their DApps and smart contracts.

Now, Ethereum Classic developers will be able to make use of that data.

ETC Labs has not explicitly stated that Chainlink will add ETC prices to its price reference feeds, but that does seem to be a likely outcome of the collaboration.

Chainlink has secured many other partnerships and attracted plenty of adoption in recent weeks.

Yesterday, Polkadot announced plans to use Chainlink as the main oracle system for its blockchain interoperability platform. Two days ago, Set Protocol added the LINK token as a listing on its trading platform, and it integrated its market price oracles as well.

Chainlink has also secured recent partnerships with the blockchain-based legal platform OpenLaw, the quantum-resistance project QANPlatform, and the hardware wallet company NGRAVE. The project has additionally brought on board ChorusOne and Staking Facilities as its latest node operators.

Because Chainlink is designed to work with and provide real-world data to multiple platforms, it is safe to say that it will announce many more similar partnerships in the future.

Read more here:

Ethereum Classic Collaborating With Chainlink on Oracles - Crypto Briefing

In brief

A new report out this week from DappRadar suggests that the top 10 highest-spending Ethereum, Tron, and EOS walletsthe so-called whales amongst usersare responsible for as much as 80% of the value of some top crypto gambling dapps.

DappRadar analyzes 976 gambling dapps as of the reports publication, with TRON, EOS, and Ethereum as the leading blockchains behind the top dapps. From January 2019 to January 2020, the site measured the percentage of total value generated from each dapps top 10 wallets across six games and found widely varying results.

TRON-based gambling dapps showed the largest disparity, with the value percentage contributed by whales dropping significantly over that span in RocketGame and 888Tron. Based on the charts provided by DappRadar, for example, RocketGame dropped from a high above 80% during 2019 to a low of under 25% contributed by the top 10 wallets as of January 2020.

The highlighted EOS and Ethereum-based gambling dapps showed more consistent value provided by whales, including EOS game BigGame and Ethereum-backed dice2.win.

The report suggests that a significant drop in whale-contributed value to games is not a good trend, as noted in the case of RocketGame. Overall, it notes that such heavy users may be easily swayed to other gambling dapps without steady development and added features to keep them playing.

As super-users of gambling dapps, whales are very sensitive to changes in dapp features and/or the opportunity to win large amounts, reads the report. In addition, whether or not they are actively in contact with each other, they are highly likely to act in unison to react to any changes in a dapp or the launch of a new dapp they consider offers better opportunities.

DappRadar points to TRON as having the largest user base in crypto gambling, although Ethereum is still the most popular blockchain for dapps overalla December report from the site pointed to 118% growth for the Ethereum app ecosystem in 2019.

View original post here:

Ethereum, Tron, EOS whales are propping up gambling dapps: report - Decrypt

Source: iStock/Photographer, Filmmaker, Designer

Ethereum core developers have announced rather suddenly that the long-discussed programmatic proof-of-work (ProgPoW) will be implemented as a part of the hard fork scheduled to follow the planned Berlin upgrade. This has once again split the community into different camps of opinion.

Two years after its proposal, criticized even by many Ethereum developers, ProgPoW will be arriving to Ethereum. Core developers have agreed during a call last Friday to go with the EIP 1962 (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) that will bring additional cryptographic functions, tentatively set for June 2020, with the ProgPoW hard fork following it three weeks later, in July 2020, bringing forth a new mining algorithm.

As a reminder, there's an ever-present fear of re-centralization of crypto, the cause of which some say could be the expansion of ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) chips, which can mine cryptocurrency more efficiently than GPUs (graphics processing units) and CPUs (central processing units), but which are also so expensive that only the biggest companies can run them. Ethereum team's solution to this was agreeing to implement ASIC mining hardware resistance after testing the proposed code, so to effectively block ASIC chips usage with the update dubbed ProgPoW and replace it with GPU hardware, so that GPU mining remains competitive.

Meanwhile, ProgPow-related EIP 1057 states that the goal is "to resist the centralization of PoW [proof of work] mining power such that these coins couldnt be so easily manipulated by a few players." The proposal adds that the algorithm is not backwards compatible with the existing Ethash, that it will require a fork for adoption, and that the network hashrate will halve "since twice as much memory is loaded per hash."

On the other side stand many developers and ETH supporters who fear that this may result in exchanges running two versions of Ethereum, with the old and the new mining algorithm, which would mean a chain split on two blockchains with different mining rules. Other reasons against it include the opinion that core developers have too much power, as well as the unwillingness to "hold tokens of a chain that hard forks against the will of the majority of its users," as Gnosis founder and OpenEthereum maintainer Martin Kppelmann says.

James Hancock, Ethereum Hardfork Coordinator, believes that a split won't happen, stating in the call: "I have not seen any evidence that there is an ideological or people willing to step up and actually have a network split. If Im wrong Ill resign as hardfork coordinator."

Watch the latest reports by Block TV.

Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin criticized the way in which the decision was made. "It went from "phew, this thing is gone and has not been talked about for quite a while" to "OMG it's now SCHEDULED FOR THE NEXT HARDFORK???!" within the span of 1.5 hours," he writes.

Eric Conner, Gnosis product researcher and Ethereum advocate, argues that EIP should be discussed thoroughly on multiple forums, and that if "there is any hint of contention from a large set of community members," per EIP 1, that EIP "should die there." Conner refuses to run a ProgPoW version of Ethereum.

Others, like Ethereum core developer Hudson Jameson, and Igor Lilic, Principal Tech Lead at ConsenSys, are calling for a mature debate, as is part of the process, without targeting individuals.

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Learn more: Ethereum 2.0 Phase 0 'Certainly' Coming This Year, Deadline Unknown

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Ethereum ProgPow Set for July Amid Heavy Opposition - Cryptonews

Feb 29, 2020 at 13:29 // News

The bulls have held onto the support at $216 for the past four days as Ether continues a gradual upward move. It appears the downward move has ended as the bulls approach the lower price range to push the price above it. The bears have earlier broken below it during the downtrend. Buyers will be on the path of recovery if the market is above the lower price range.

At the moment, price is making a gradual push to the range-bound zone. Unarguably, the bulls will create a buying opportunity, if the current price is pushed above $238 price level. Incidentally, the $238 and $286 is the price range where price has been fluctuating in a bid to penetrate the $286 overhead resistance. The price will move freely within the price range to retest the overhead resistance

The RSI period 14 has been falling while Ether was in a downward move. As Ethereum is rising the indicator has risen to level 47 of the daily RSI. This indicates that it is below the centerline 50. Ethereum is still in the downtrend and likely to fall.

Key Resistance Zones: $220, $240, $260

Key Support Zones: $160, $140, $120

Ethereum is currently in a bullish move. The bulls are likely to face resistance at $238. In August 2019, the bulls were resisted at the $238 price level. The downward move reaches a low of $160. It is expected that the bulls will break the $238 resistance. Ethereum will fall to a low of $197 if the bulls fail to break the resistance.

Disclaimer. This analysis and forecast are the personal opinions of the author are not a recommendation to buy or sell cryptocurrency and should not be viewed as an endorsement by CoinIdol. Readers should do their own research before investing funds.

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Ethereum Holds above $220, Attempts to Break $238 Resistance - Coin Idol