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  • Bitcoin Denier Steve Hanke Is Into Ethereum Now

    Bitcoin Denier Steve Hanke Is Into Ethereum Now

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    Did Steve Hanke find a way out of the hole he’s been digging himself into for all these years? The economist holds the world record for the person with the highest number of terrible Bitcoin takes, with almost 13 years of failed predictions. And now, out of nowhere, he seems to like the world’s second cryptocurrency by market capitalization. What does he like about Ethereum, though? The “560% price surge this year,” of course. But there’s more… 

    Wait… is Steve Hanke into NFTs? The man said, “Ethereum has become increasingly popular amongst DeFi and NFTs” without a hint of irony. He also said, “Ethereum is giving Bitcoin a run for its money,” which is the most positive thing Steve Hanke has said about Bitcoin in over a decade. And, in the end there, he leaves space for possible deniability, “Has the look of a bubble. But, is it?

    The economist also links to an extremely basic and clumsy CNN article. Is Steve Hanke warming up to cryptocurrencies? Or is there some other dynamic at play here?

    The Article Steve Hanke Linked To

    This run-of-the-mill article doesn’t really say much. Its main message is the price action anyone reading NewsBTC is probably already familiar with.

    “Ethereum, or ether for short, is also trading at record levels. It’s now hovering around $4,850, having soared more than 560% this year, compared to the “mere” 135% pop for bitcoin. Crypto investors are betting that ether will continue to be used as the backbone for even more non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, as well as so-called smart contracts.”

    Ok, what else do you got for us? Not much. It’s all over the place. It breaks down the total cryptocurrency market capitalization, introduces the concept of the mythical “flippening,” and tries to keep people away from meme coins. To accomplish this, CNN quotes Paxfull’s Ray Youssef saying, “Ether and bitcoin versus meme coins are like the difference between blue chips and penny stocks you get a call about from a guy in a boiler room.” The article also talks about inflation, how could it not?, and introduces ETFs into the picture.

    “The rise of bitcoin ETFs also could be good news for ethereum, because experts predict that similar ether ETFs could soon launch. That will make it even easier for average investors and big money management firms to buy into the crypto.”

    So, all in all, it doesn’t say much and the only clear fact it presents is that Ethereum had a better year than Bitcoin. Why did Steve Hanke link to it, then?

    ETHUSD price chart for 11/13/2021 - TradingView

    ETH price chart for 11/13/2021 on Bitfinex | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com

    Is Hanke Trying To Find A Lifeboat?

    Here at NewsBTC, we constantly argue with Steve Hanke. Just in the last year, we responded to him calling Bitcoin not legitimate, not a currency, and the concept of it being legal tender “stupid.” And now, Hanke seems to like Ethereum. Why? Is it because Ethereum’s internal policies are more akin to the traditional banking system he’s accustomed to? Or did Hanke realize that cryptocurrencies are here to stay and is too afraid to admit he was wrong about Bitcoin for all these years?

    In any case, the main reaction in his replies so far is mockery. Even notorious Ethereum defender Udi Wertheimer said, “this is the most bearish ethereum signal i’ve seen in my entire life.” Let’s keep an eye on Hanke’s Twitter feed and see what the economist says about Ethereum in the next few days. This is going to be interesting.

    Featured Image: RobinHiggins at Pixabay | Charts by TradingView



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  • 3 Proof-of-work protocols focused on building Web 3.0

    3 Proof-of-work protocols focused on building Web 3.0

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    The proof-of-work (PoW) consensus model is the mechanism that kicked off the revolution that launched Bitcoin (BTC) in 2009 and it was the model of choice behind many of the popular projects in the early fledgling years of the crypto ecosystem.

    As time progressed, other consensus models like proof-of-stake (PoS) rose in popularity, especially as the cost of running mining rigs, the constant need to update equipment and environmental concerns led to the PoW model falling out of favor with many.

    As a result, projects looking to employ a proof-of-work model have had to adapt to stay aligned with the demands of the wider market. This has led to the emergence of projects that offer a more environmentally and economically friendly approach to PoW, while also aiming to build Web 3.0.

    Let’s take a look at some of the projects that allow people to contribute their resources toward securing the network and earn a yield in the process.

    Helium

    Helium is a decentralized blockchain-powered network for the Internet of Things (IoT) devices that utilizes a global network of low-energy wireless “hotspots” that broadcast data via radio waves to be recorded on its blockchain.

    The network uses a new work algorithm that has been dubbed “proof-of-coverage” to validate that hotspots are providing legitimate wireless coverage and that miners receive the platform’s native HNT token for helping to provide coverage for the network.

    The Helium network saw tremendous growth throughout 2021. Currently, there are more than 309,000 nodes in operation.

    Helium network statistics. Source: Helium

    More recently, the Helium network expanded its capabilities by adding support for 5G wireless capabilities which included the launch of a new line of miners capable of transmitting the 5G signal.

    On Oct. 26, Helium announced that it had partnered with the satellite television company Dish Network, making Dish the first major carrier to join the Helium network and offer its subscribers the opportunity to run Helium nodes in exchange for HNT tokens.

    HNT/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

    Shortly after these developments, HNT price rallied to a new all-time high at $53.11 on Nov. 9.

    Kadena

    Kadena (KDA) is a scalable PoW layer-one blockchain protocol that claims to be capable of processing up to 480,000 transactions per second (TPS) thanks to the use of braided chains.

    Unlike the top PoW cryptocurrency Bitcoin, Kadena also offers smart contract capabilities similar to those found on Ethereum and features its own smart contract programming language called Pact.

    Being smart contract capable means that the Kadena network is capable of hosting decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) protocols, as well as a host of other specialized projects from stablecoins to payment processors.

    Some of the goals of the project have been to address the major issues plaguing the Ethereum network such as high transaction costs and network congestion, and claims to offer marginal transaction fees for consumers while also introducing a “crypto gas station” feature that lets businesses create accounts that exist to fund gas payments on behalf of its user base when certain conditions are met.

    Kadena utilizes the Blake (2s-Kadena) algorithm as its consensus model which requires native ASIC miners and cannot be mined using GPUs or CPUs.

    Recently, KDA launched a wrapped version of its token called wKDA that is capable of interacting with all Ethereum Virtual Machine- (EVM-) compatible networks and their associated DeFi protocols.

    In the future, the team behind Kadena also has plans to add cross-chain support for other popular blockchain networks including Terra, Polkadot, Celo and Cosmos.

    KDA/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

    Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that as a result of the recent developments, the price of KDA had surged 1,280% from a low of $2.05 on Oct. 17 to a new all-time high at $28.44 on Nov. 11.

    Flux

    Flux (FLUX) is a native GPU mineable PoW protocol that is focused on scalable decentralized cloud infrastructure for Web 3.0 applications.

    According to the project, the Flux ecosystem is comprised of a suite of decentralized computing services and blockchain-as-a-service solutions which offer an Amazon Web Services-like development environment, as well as the FluxOS second-layer operating system that is capable of running “any hardened dockerized application.”

    The Flux network uses the ZelHash algorithm, which is a GPU minable implementation of Equihash 125,4 and can be mined through a Flux community pool or on a variety of third-party pools created by teams that support the Flux mining ecosystem.

    The block time on the Flux network is two minutes and the current block reward is 75 Flux, with 50% going to node operators and 50% going to miners.

    On Nov. 9, the project introduced “Light Nodes,” which enable Flux nodes to be managed using light wallets so that operators can start and monitor node metrics from any device capable of running the FluxNodes app.

    FLUX/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

    Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since Oct. 24 when it was revealed that Apple Pay would be integrated with the Flux network’s Zelcore wallet, the price of FLUX has surged 802% from $0.33 to a new all-time high at $2.96 on Nov. 12.

    While the PoW model of consensus is no longer the dominant model used by major projects in the crypto ecosystem, these three examples show that it still has a lot to offer because the new platforms are environmentally friendly and economically sustainable.

    Want more information about trading and investing in crypto markets?

    The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.