There is an idea floating around saying that most of the actual investors are women. Therefore, a study published in December by Bitcoin (BTC) fund operator Grayscale showed that 43% of investors interested in Bitcoin are females. This number increased up from 13% last year is actively growing without measures.

As global financial conditions gained consolidation, a lot of investors turned their eyes to real estate and cryptocurrencies, as well as gold as suitable places to invest their money. One critical factor is confidence. The study shows that male investors tend to be less confident than females, and this could affect the way women see cryptocurrencies in 2020. Digital assets are now a safe port for them.

Meanwhile, for others, cryptocurrencies are a promised land. Blockchain entrepreneur Nisa Amoils claimed that the main attraction for women is the high amount of investment opportunities. Many trading platforms are experiencing a notable increase in cryptocurrency demand. An example of this is what happened in March with a sudden surge noted by Coinbasen on which the deposits made by U.S residents touched the $1,200.

Women investing more in Bitcoin

Bitcoin doubled in value over the past two months in addition to the recent halving event. These have unleashed some disturbance around crypto. Here, women have shown the same commitment and competence as men. Grayscale said that 49.8% of women took advantage of Bitcoin’s limited emission, and its possible lead to growing a peak shortly.

Cryptocurrency, women, and Latin America

The addition of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to Latin America has been slow, but very safe. This new economic environment can contribute to an increasing number of women trying to include this method in their daily lives. In March, the famous platform 2gether released a statement saying that 23% of users of their apps are women with ages estimated in 26 and 50. Their professions are varied and diverse: they found lawyers, economists, accountants, and even teachers. The report also points out that these users spend their cryptocurrencies the same way as they would spend their fiat money.

In other means, the crypto payment operator Terra reported that 74% of its users are women in their late 30s and early 40s and that they used to pay with digital assets mostly for clothes and other daily goods paid with digital assets for clothes, fashion, and other everyday goods. The statistics show that not only women and Millenials that were unrelated to the geek world have started to use cryptocurrencies as effective economic behavior, but also those without any technical expertise, or education.

Meanwhile, in Latin America, the country making the most significant movements is undoubtedly Argentina, which registered a high 98% of female users in 2020; the confidence is what moves them without fear, Walter Salama, Founder, and Chief operating officer of Argentina-based mining company BitPatagonia, noted a growing number of Argentinian women engaged in the IT sector as one of the reasons behind this spike.

By Jenson Nuñez.

Jameson Hudson and Vitalik Buterin, among the personalities, warn about the risks of DeFi. Meanwhile, some other Ethereum figures ask not to be so harsh on failed projects.

In recent days, specialists and personalities from the Ethereum community have warned about the risks of participating in DeFi platforms. The opinions of Jameson Hudson and Vitalik Buterin, among other figures, arise regarding the collapse of Yam Finance, a DeFi protocol that generated the massive loss of funds due to an error in its code.

Buterin recently told his followers that they do not have to participate in the latest DeFi project to be on Ethereum. He even advised them not to use DeFi unless they had some understanding of how it works, as well as to participate with small amounts of money.

The Ethereum co-founder also said that he does not directly participate in DeFi protocols or yield farming. However, he noted that on some occasions he had managed to earn some money by doing token exchanges on the Uniswap website.

Good Intentions of DeFi Projects Are Not Enough

Ethereum foundation developer Jameson Hudson, Ethereum foundation developer, does not think that the Yam Finance team had any bad intentions or planned the platform’s collapse.

Hudson does not consider it correct to expect or encourage the failure of projects and to make a dent in them when they fail in their purposes. However, he made it clear that the risks of participating in DeFi are extremely high.

It seems to him that the most correct thing would be to help the teams that comprise these projects, to recover the funds, or to compensate the community. He establishes this opinion given that risks are inherent to this ecosystem. Therefore, he recommends educating people so that they can be more aware of this and take responsibility.

Taylor Monahan, CEO, and Founder of MyCrypto, who has been dedicated to warning about the risks of DeFi on social media, validated Hudson’s comments.

According to Monahan, it is virtually impossible to strike a balance in a high-value low-risk activity in a tweet thread. In the same way, she agreed that it is necessary to look to the future rather than to the past since we cannot change it.

She said this regarding how the developers of the YAM project can take control of the situation and evolve towards something better in the future. Monahan said that YAM enthusiasts and those involved in similar projects should share the mistakes that they have made.

Arguments against DeFi Developments like YAM

Péter Szilágyi, one of the main Ethereum developers, has a different opinion. He accused via Twitter the main promoter of YAM, Brock Elmore, of having planned the collapse of the platform.

“You knew perfectly well that this was going to explode, but you insisted anyway. You were stubborn, beyond comprehension, and you deserve everything that happens to you from now on. This was not a mistake or an error. It was the blindness of power,” Szilagyi told Elmore.

Szilágyi responded to other users who criticized his somewhat aggressive attitude, emphatically making four arguments: “They could have used the evidence network. They could have done public audits. They could have made the launch without much commercial promotion. They could have set limits and security mechanisms.”

Vitalik Buterin had also previously warned about Yield Farming, noting that those who participate in this popular segment of the DeFi seem not to perceive the high risks that they face.

Various analysts have mentioned characteristics of DeFi that make them comparable to Ponzi-type schemes. This is due to the constant leverage of tokens between different platforms, which creates highly unstable multi-level structures.

By Willmen Blanco

Bitcoin mining difficulty has increased by 3.6% since its last high. BTC.com estimates that the next adjustment will allow overcoming the current difficulty.

In recent days, the mining difficulty of Bitcoin (BTC) hit a new all-time high. After the last difficulty adjustment on August 24^th, it reached 17.56 T.

The adjustment occurred in block 645,120 at 8:34 UTC. At that point, Bitcoin broke its difficulty record of 17.35T, which it reached on July 13^th.

The next adjustment in the second week of September could bring the mining difficulty to the 18.18 T area, which would be a new all-time high, according to estimates from BTC.com.

The current difficulty increase of 3.60% was proportionally less than previous adjustments. For example, the increase was about 15% on June 16^th, while the previous all-time high that it reached on July 13^th was 10%.

Mining Difficulty as a Metric of Mathematical Complexity

Bitcoin mining difficulty is the value that determines the level of complexity of the mathematical puzzle that the miner must solve to mine a block of the chain.

A high difficulty level means that more computing power is needed to mine the same number of blocks. The adjustment in difficulty is directly related to the estimated total computing power in the overall hash rate, measured in TH/s.

There is an adjustment in Bitcoin mining difficulty every 2016 blocks (approximately every two weeks). When the extraction of blocks takes place too fast or too slowly, the difficulty undergoes an adjustment to control the speed.

For miners with fewer resources, the increasing difficulty is always a problem. For example, the S9 mining equipment is only profitable at USD 0.03/kWh, that is, the price of electricity in China during the rainy season. The mining capacity of this equipment could not be enough since October when the rainy season ends.

Miners’ Capitulation

Rafael Schultze-Kraft, chief technology officer at blockchain analytics company GlassNode, tweeted “miners’ capitulation.” He did this ironically, noting the 9% increase in mining difficulty since the last halving, concerning the dreaded massive sale of BTC by miners when mining is no longer profitable.

The same will not happen with Bitcoin in the company that he represents. On the contrary, they predict that the price of the cryptocurrency will maintain its uptrend for the thirteenth consecutive week. They said that “the fundamentals remain solid.”

Other Data of Mining Interest

F2pool ranks first on the podium of pool distribution, followed by Poolin and BTC.com. In total, miners receive 59.11 BTC per day for mining transactions. Besides, they have been receiving 6.5 BTC as a reward for each block that they manage to mine, since the halving on May 11^th.

At the time of writing this article, the Bitcoin hash rate is 119.39 TH/s. This leads to infer that the mining power is slightly lower than that of July 13^th, when the previous all-time high of mining difficulty took place. At that time, the hash rate was 123.22 TH/s.

Regarding the price of Bitcoin in the cryptocurrency market, it continues to fluctuate in the area of USD 11,600, after defeating the resistance of USD 12,000 some days before.

By Alexander Salazar

The IMF describes cryptocurrencies as a secure digital form of payment without intermediaries. The organization believes that these new currencies can solve problems of traditional banking.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), cryptocurrencies will be the next “evolution of money”. They believe that currencies like Bitcoin will transform the way people interact with the banking system today.

The agency said in an informational video, which it recently posted on Twitter, that cryptocurrencies as a new type of “secure crypto-based” currencies provide the ability to send money internationally without the need for intermediaries.

The posting of the video has caused a stir in the cryptocurrency ecosystem since the IMF describes the ability of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or a variation of this technology to “completely change the way we sell, buy, save, invest and pay bills.” This statement suggests that the agency is betting on the cryptocurrency sector to play an important role in the international economy, solving current banking problems.

The video briefly mentions subjects such as immutability, trust in the financial system, and privacy. Likewise, the IMF criticizes that companies belonging to traditional banks charge high transaction fees and that users must place all their trust in these institutions to ensure that their savings are protected. The use of cryptocurrencies can help overcome those weaknesses, according to the agency.

The IMF notes that features like an immutable ledger, crypto security, and the removal of intermediaries are prominent features of cryptocurrencies that enhance the current monetary system. Likewise, they consider that these assets can benefit banks with less expensive and faster transactions, especially international ones.

Cryptocurrency Risks

The International Monetary Fund also states the risks of these new financial tools. For example, if the user loses “his password”, he will never have access to his money again. As the owner and responsible for their currencies, each user must ensure that they safeguard access to them.

The posting describes most cryptocurrencies as “anonymous” when only a few — such as Monero and Zcash — provide privacy to their users. Bitcoin does not belong to this group, but some mechanisms and wallets help increase the privacy of transactions.

Several companies in the sector and some law enforcement agencies worldwide have tracked transactions on public blockchains such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. It is much more difficult to track a cash transaction than a Bitcoin transaction. For that reason, physical fiat money remains the preferred payment method among criminals.

Furthermore, the International Monetary Fund noted that the cryptocurrency market can be very volatile. They mentioned that these networks do not usually process large amounts of transactions and that not all businesses accept assets such as Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency ecosystem has discussed these problems since they are challenges to solve to achieve the incorporation of this technology.

The fact that the IMF has decided to talk about this technology suggests that cryptocurrencies are reaching further and further. Furthermore, traditional banking is beginning to accept them as an ally, rather than an enemy.

By Alexander Salazar

 The world is changing. Individuals will now need to own and control their educational credentials, important documents that include transcripts, certificates, and other essential papers related to universities, and schools are now in need to be organized by individuals.

 This idea was very well received from the American Council of Education which mentioned it in a study funded by The United States Department of education that sees with good eyes the use of blockchain in education.

“Blockchain, in particular, holds promise to create more efficient, durable connections between education and work,” wrote Ted Mitchell, the president of ACE, in the foreword to the study published on June 8, adding: “In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, learners will be more mobile, moving in and out of formal education as their job, health, and family situations change.”

 Still, some obstacles are messing our path, most of them technical. What if you lose the private key that allows you to prove control over the credentials” In the worst case, it can be re-requested, but then you are still bound to the issuer.

Cross-border interoperability and cross-chain cooperation in conveying digital credentials between different national DLT systems have also turned into a problem. The OECD Blockchain Policy Expert Group is working on policy recommendations in this area.

Still, technology is not the most important congestion and he made it clear: “It is the socio-technical integration of rules-based, autonomously operating DLT systems in complex social environments.” Alex Grech, a managing partner of Strategyworks, showed empathy for the statement adding that the more intimidating obstacles might be far from a non-technological nature.

We have a lot to learn yet, there are tons of documented history we can use as a source to upgrade our knowledge about it. “Small states like Malta and the Bahamas have been using Blockcerts to notarise education credentials since 2017,” said Grech. According to the ACE report, three major themes exist where DLT can be applied to create an advanced social equity environment: “personal data agency, a long term learning, and the incredible feature of connecting different ecosystems to co-exist.

The notable need for connected ecosystems led to experts to reference the aforementioned feature called blockcerts, which is, in fact, an open standard for verifying blockchain-based certificates. Somehow, the main problem is that departments related to human resources, recruitment, and hiring management will need to put trust in this system.

Can Blockchain Change the Labor Market?

On the one hand, blockchain may affect not only the traditional education sector but also the labor market. On the other hand, it is also not hard to figure how credentials of all kind and nature could impact on the labor market and colleges in general. The mission is to go beyond the boundaries of a simple diploma; we need to go further than achieving a certificate. Individuals who did not finish their degree do not have anything to show for it, a person keeps learning his or her entire life; traditional education is just a little step that represents that.

By: Jenson Nuñez

This Friday the 21^st, OXT Research had informed those responsible for Wasabi Wallet of the detection of the flaws, but due to disagreements between them, it decided to publicly reveal them.

Samourai published this Saturday a detailed report on the vulnerabilities detected in Wasabi Wallet, mentioned in a previous announcement. The study highlights that there is a lack of randomness in the choice of Bitcoin transactions that are included in a CoinJoin mix, which allows an attacker to determine the chosen transaction. Thus, nullifying the privacy benefits of the mix.

Samourai posted on Twitter that its blockchain data analysis unit, OXT Research, released the technical report with data about the vulnerabilities. “A vulnerability related to the deterministic nature of coin selection in mixing rounds in the Wasabi Wallet has been published by OXT Research.”

OXT Research explains that a malicious user is not usually in need to know the logs of ZkSnacks, the company behind the Wasabi wallet, to compromise the privacy of such a wallet. This is due to the nature of the process on which the transactions are mixed.

In the Wasabi operation, OXT Research explains, it is necessary to first choose a target anonymity set that is the size of the group of transactions with equivalent amounts to the transaction that we want to mix; with which our transaction will find major complications. After the anonymity is chosen, the operation goes into a queue to wait for a shuffling round that meets the established environment. Then finally, the mixture proceeds to happen.

If three people with equivalent amounts participate in a CoinJoin, the anonymity set will be 3. The more transactions that participate in a mix, the greater the degree of privacy is.

OXT Research also clarifies about the remix process. Take as an example a mix with an anonymity set of 50, that is, the transaction to be mixed and 49 transactions with identical output. For remixing, the output set is selected and mixed again (subtracting the transaction to be mixed).

Wasabi’s reaction to vulnerabilities revealed by Samourai

For the creator of the Bitcoin wallet Wasabi, known by the pseudonym Nopara, the vulnerabilities described by Samourai stem from “false premises and unreasonable conditions.” This was said through a thread on Reddit, which asked for a response to the accusations.

Nopara, who claims to be wary of anything that comes from the Samourai team, only acknowledges as “correct” the OXT Research claims that there is little randomness during the selection of coins to participate in a mix.

There is an open investigation going about the leak of a report from the European Cybercrime Center (EC3) of Europol, in which a set of transactions were carried out with Wasabi, with the participation of the company Chainalysis. The report was able to establish that almost $ 50 million had been deposited in the Wasabi Wallet, of which 30% came from the dark web markets.

While Europol officials acknowledged the difficulty in “unmixing” the Wasabi transactions, they conceded that careless use of this wallet could allow the reversal of the mix and lead to the identification of the transactions.

By Jenson Nuñez.