Crypto && Coffee 017
- 3 minsTechnology Recap:
Bitcoin:
- Development on Taproot is progressing. This week a PR opened up on simplifying the code used for VerifyWitnessProgram. The 32-byte witness program will be used for taproot outputs and the full script validation rules.
- Independent of compiler and architecture, libsecp256k1 now has tests for detecting constant-timeness violations. The secret key is marked as undefined such that valgrind errors if there’s secret dependent branching or array access.
Ethereum:
- Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, shares his approximate view of what the next 5-10 years of ETH2.0 might look like.
Other Chains:
- Latin American Bitcoin trading follows the heartbeat of the largest electrical blackout in Venezuela. Full details here.
- The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) announced the launch of custom text records in the ENS Manager.
- Decentralized storage provider, Storj Labs, says it’s blockchain-based cloud service, Tardigrade, is now available for businesses and individuals to securely store files and documents.
- Open source, non-custodial privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet, Wasabi Wallet, implements mixing to another wallet with daemon. Full details on PR#3245 here.
- The new Bitcoin sidechain, Nomic, which praises itself as being a Cosmos Bitcoin peg implementation - has released v0.1.1.
- Revuo Monero releases their weekly stats and recent news.
- MakerDAO adds multiple governance polls this week. Voters are now able to signal their support for a: USDC Stability fee within a range of 16%-24%, lower Dai ETH debt ceiling to 90M, Dai stability fee adjustment of 0%-4.5% and unblocking the remaining debt auctions.
- Vitalik Buterin pushes for resources to develop an ETH <-> BTC decentralized exchange either similar to Uniswap or as DEX bridges.
- Users of the Zcash ecosystem are publishing their shielded addresses on zecpages.
Mainstream Recap:
- The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Board (FDIC) gave the payments startup, Square, conditional approval for a bank charter to launch Square Financial Services, an Industrial Loan Company.
- The Digital Currency Innovation Lab by Hawaii’s Department of Commerce, Division of Financial Institutions (DFI) and the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation (HTDC) have launched a digital currency sandbox initiative that exempts participating cryptocurrency companies from Hawaii’s double-reserve requirement.
- Cryptocurrency wallet software, Guarda Wallet, releases a new Android version of the Zcash Foundation’s shielded wallet.
- Binance announces that Instant Buy with Visa has now been made available in most countries and regions around the world. Users in countries where their fiat currency is not yet natively supported on Instant Buy can now purchase cryptocurrencies in seconds using USD, EUR or GBP with a Visa card.
- Cryptocurrency bank, Dharma announces the use of Dharma to send and receive USD from anywhere in the world while earning interest.
- 0x Project provided updates to their ZRX Portal. They have now added Coinbase Wallet compatibility to move stake on the fly and a wizard that helps users choose the best pool. Full details here.
- A new political action committee, HODLpac has emerged hoping to push crypto-friendly public policy forward by providing financial support to Congressional candidates. HODLpac’s list of donors include: Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss of Gemini, Brian Armstrong and Emilie Choi of Coinbase, Donald Wilson Jr. of DRW, Olaf Carlson-Wee of Polychain, Nathan McCauley of Anchorage and Kristin Smith of Blockchain Association.
- The Memorandum on Identification of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers during COVID-19 Response via The U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated blockchain managers as essential critical infrastructure workers.
- Brave Software, behind both the Brave Browser and BAT Token have teamed up with Binance to enable browser users to seamlessly trade crypto through Binance directly in the browser. Full details here.
This Week’s Cup of Coffee:
This week, we are jumping to the East Coast for some Old Crow Cuppa Joe from Red Rooster Coffee in Floyd, VA. This smooth coffee has notes of chocolate, hazelnut, and a berry finish. Similar to that of Chromatic Coffee that has been featured in the past - this coffee really comes to life when pulled as an espresso shot. Enjoy!
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