Fee to Fund Network Developers Is Imposed by Big Bitcoin Cash Miners

Alexander Salazar
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Fee to Fund Network Developers Is Imposed by Big Bitcoin Cash Miners

At the current price of BCH, the total investment would be around USD 6,000,000. The funds will be managed by a Hong Kong-based corporation.

The leading Bitcoin Cash mining groups (pools) approved the implementation of a fund to finance the network’s future development. For this reason, 12.5% ​​of the rewards for block mining should go to said fund, according to a press release by Jiang Zhuoer, CEO of BTC.Top, one of those pools.

The executive explains that the intention is to establish “a fund that will support the Bitcoin Cash infrastructure.” The launch of this fund is based on the notion that “infrastructure financing can often be overlooked or not among the priorities,” he notes.

Apart from to Zhuoer, the text is signed by Jihan Wu, representing AntPool; Haipo Yang, from ViaBTC; and Roger Ver, the CEO of Bitcoin.com. In this regard, a corporation was established in Hong Kong to administer the funds, which will be used for contributing to developing full node implementations, as well as other critical infrastructure.

The plan will last 6 months, between May 15th and September 15th, 2020. During said period, the network’s participants that do not adhere to the plan will be punished. “BCH blocks that do not follow the plan will be orphaned,” the text says.

Among the most controversial statements in the note, the following is the most relevant as it clearly shows how the decision was made: “There is no master node vote or any other vote. This is a decision of the miners to finance the development directly.” In other words, the miners must irrevocably deliver part of their rewards as decided by the group.

Mixed Reactions

The decision announced by the leading Bitcoin Cash mining pools has met with mixed opinions among enthusiasts and members of the cryptocurrency community.

Most of the positions are critical of a movement considered contradictory in a network supposed to be decentralized. For example, tweeter @VersusTheMan noted the fact that, if this group can orphan the blocks, “they have the power to censor their transaction.”

George Donnelly, former Dash representative for Latin America, defends the decision since it coincides with his current position in favor of Bitcoin Cash. Donnelly is even seeking financing from Bitcoin Cash, as he makes clear in another tweet about the new project.

In particular, he highlighted on Twitter that the miners agreed to something so controversial without first attending public summits since he considers that nobody there would keep their word anyway.

Also via Twitter, one of the best known Bitcoin Cash developers posted some questions to the new fund. Through his account @deadalnix, Amaury Séchet predicted the dissolution of the alliance between the pools that made the decision.

In Séchet’s opinion, the participants are competitors and are involved just because they are convinced that they have a common interest in doing so.

Financing Bitcoin Cash Development

Controversy aside, the new plan to finance the development of Bitcoin Cash adds to the fund announced by Roger Ver last November. The BCH Ecosystem Investment Fund plans to invest at least USD 200,000,000, which bitcoin.com will contribute this year to the development of payment solutions and financial services.

The main objective behind this fund is to accelerate the adoption of BCH as a tool. For that reason, the Bitcoin.com executive invited more investors to participate in various projects around Bitcoin Cash.

By Alexander Salazar

Cryptocurrency Community Reacts After Peter Schiff Solves Mystery of His Lost Bitcoins

Josselyn Avila
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Cryptocurrency Community Reacts After Peter Schiff Solves Mystery of His Lost Bitcoins

He admitted confusing the pin with a password, which prevented him from accessing his funds. He attacked Bitcoin believers again, stating that they will lose much more than he did.

Last January 22nd, Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff finally admitted forgetting his wallet password. After facing the Bitcoin community, he proved them right by revealing that his wallet was not corrupted and that his confusion led him to lose his funds forever. Three days before, he had announced that he had lost all his savings in BTC, expressing his belief that the wallet was corrupted and that his password was no longer valid.

Schiff wrote on his Twitter account that the mystery was solved, saying that he had confused his pin with his password. He said that, when Blockchain (the wallet) updated his application, he disconnected because he was tired of trying to enter with his pin, which was the only password that he knew. He also admitted not having a copy of the initial sentence, which cost him all his bitcoins.

The new post of the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital caused reactions in the cryptocurrency community. Whilst some members created memes and others made jokes, user @anibalcripto took advantage of the occasion to reflect. He said that this honest confession was a sign of courage and decency. The tweeter believes that the critic gave a valuable example of the importance of being educated in technology and the daily use of Bitcoin.

Bitcoiner and investor Caitlin Long, who had initially criticized Schiff’s poor preparation to handle Bitcoin funds, joined the comments considering what happened as a valuable lesson. He took the opportunity to invite the nocoiner to discover how Bitcoin works. He emphasized that it is an incredible system for the direct ownership of assets that he might eventually like if he learned it.

After that, Schiff posted another tweet in which he noted that many people were teasing him because of his confusion. He stated that he had made a mistake but that confusing Bitcoin with money was a bigger mistake since they would lose much more than he did.

Last January 19th, the story of Schiff’s lost bitcoins began when he posted a tweet saying that he had lost all the Bitcoin that he had because his wallet was corrupted and his password was no longer valid. At that time, many users questioned the reasons why Schiff could not access his funds

Easy Come, Easy Go

Peter Schiff himself acknowledged in his recent tweets that the amount in Bitcoin that he lost does not mean much to him. The funds resulted from donations sent to his wallet after he posted his address on Twitter, in response to Bitcoin defender Anthony Pompliano’s invitation to do so.

After accumulating donations for about USD 2,000 in Bitcoin last year, the gold defender said on January 22nd that he was committed to becoming a “HODLer”. He added that his idea, despite his criticism, was to save on Bitcoin anyway. Then, he took another opportunity to criticize the cryptocurrency industry again by saying: “The difference is that my ship sank before Bitcoin did.”

By Alexander Salazar

Prime Minister of Russia Seeks to Promote Digital Economy

Maria Rodríguez
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Prime Minister of Russia Seeks to Promote Digital Economy

Mikhail Mishustin, the new Prime Minister of Russia says that among his highest priorities is promoting a new model of digital economy.

During one of his first interventions, the new Prime Minister of Russia, Mikhail Mishustin, spoke about the country’s need to take an important declaration of the new digital economy.

For this reason, he called on the different sectors to prioritize their actions in order to move towards this new model. The official even announced that he is working on making amendments and changes to the laws to promote strategic sectors in the new technologies.

Mishustin said that among its main actions is to reform the legal codes and the ways of acting of the Russian institutions. Therefore, its main priority is to innovate the field of action within the main national institutions and companies.

The words of the new Prime Minister were firm when stating that the country should update its methods. Hence, it is important that modern information systems be established. Therefore, a national program must be approved to help develop the new digital economy. “The state should become a digital platform created for people,” said Mishustin.

Russia as One of the Most Influencing Countries in the Cryptographic Industry

The initiative from the new Prime Minister of Russia, Mishustin, represents a great step for the industry. However, it does not mean that the Russian people have not become aware of the progress of this sector in the world. Russia has become one of the most innovative countries in the development of blockchain solutions, among other new technologies.

A clear example of the efforts made by the Russian management on the industry was evident when, in the middle of last year, Changpeng Zhao, who is the CEO of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange house, Binance, applauded the efforts of the Blockchain developers of Russian origin. He even named Vladimir Putin as the most important person in the blockchain industry.

Despite this, until now, Russia does not have clear laws or a correct action regarding the use of blockchain technology or cryptocurrencies; in the same vein, leading even to strong frictions between officials who expect to take concrete actions on the development of new technologies and those who consider it very risky to depend on blockchain at the moment.

For this reason, it was known, at the end of last year, that a draft ban for the use of cryptocurrencies in the payment of goods and services was being prepared. Based on the aforementioned, the Central Bank of Russia issued a statement referring to the possibility of its approval. “If the decision is made to ban cryptocurrencies as a means of payment at the legislation level, we consider it appropriate to support this position”.

It is important to highlight that Mikhail Mishustin, currently occupies the position of Prime Minister of Russia, this after Putin made known his intentions to reform the country’s Constitution. It is for this reason that the former Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, and his entire cabinet resigned their positions on Wednesday, January 15th.

By María Rodríguez

Mercedes Benz Will Use Blockchain to Track CO2 Emissions in Cobalt Supply Chain

Maria Rodríguez
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Mercedes Benz Will Use Blockchain to Track CO2 Emissions in Cobalt Supply Chain

The main idea is to protect the human rights of those who work in the car manufacturing industry and also preserve the environment.

Major car manufacturer Mercedes Benz is working with the blockchain startup Circulor to roll out a pilot aimed at the tracing carbon emissions in the cobalt supply chain. This is a new project for transparency on CO2 emissions, something that would help preserve the environment and will boost the use of blockchain technology in the car industry.

U.K.-based Circulor is also working with the Swedish car brand Volvo Cars to use blockchain technology for tracking recycled cobalt in newly manufactured cars. The reason why they track Cobalt is that it is an essential mineral used in the manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries, as well as in the manufacture of energy storage tanks.

According to a recent press release, the project by Mercedes and Circulor is part of the Startup Autobahn initiative, aimed at identifying next-generation automobiles.

In this way, the companies will use blockchain technology to trace the emissions of climate-relevant gases and the number of recycled materials along all the supply chains of battery cell manufacturers.

Thanks to all the benefits that blockchain technology offers, as well as storing information, Mercedes Benz intends to use all the data collected during this pilot project to develop its new carbon-neutral passenger car fleet, a challenge that goes to new technologies in a greener environment. The idea is to take into account the environmental care agreements that companies must fulfill sooner or later.

Additionally, blockchain technology will be used to ensure all participants follow the established sustainability standards in all the supply chain.

Why Cobalt?

According to local media, the project will focus on cobalt suppliers. This since cobalt supplies have recently raised issues related to provenance and ethics.

Cobalt is a key mineral for making lithium-ion batteries. The problem is that the majority of cobalt production comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a region very criticized for its unethical cobalt mining conditions.

In 2017, the United Nations (UN) estimated that 168 million children were in exploitative working conditions. There are about 40,000 children in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For this reason, as happens in the food industry, Mercedes Benz considers it is important for other companies and customers to know where the materials come from.

How will it Work?

The blockchain-based pilot program will map the production flow of cobalt materials and their associated carbon emissions. Besides, following its new scheme of work, it will record how much-recycled material gets used in the supply chain.

This initiative will help Mercedes Benz determine whether its partner companies comply with its sustainability requirements.

Other car manufacturing companies are interested in using blockchain technology on their ethical product sourcing and to trace products or materials. Indian automobile manufacturer Tata Motors announced its intention to integrate blockchain solutions into its internal processes.

The firm wants to apply blockchain in the parking marketplace, as well as in the demand prediction algorithm, and real-time monitoring of fuel quality.

By María Rodríguez

There Will Never Be Perfect Privacy, According to Jimmy Song

Alexander Salazar
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There Will Never Be Perfect Privacy, According to Jimmy Song

Jimmy Song has written two books and countless research articles about Bitcoin. He was one of the 100 most influential people in the ecosystem in 2019.

Jimmy Song, who has been developing software for over twenty years, started with the construction of the decentralized economy in 2014, specifically with the projects of Monetas and Armory Technologies, Inc. His current fame as an educator and supervisor of various successful developments have spread throughout the ecosystem.

Song, the author of Programming Bitcoin and professor of a postgraduate course in blockchain programming at the University of Texas in Austin, shared his opinion on the ecosystem in Latin America.

This developer, who attracts people’s attention with his cowboy hat, has over 160,000 followers on Twitter. He also carries stickers with his digital signature so that those receiving his autograph in his new book can authenticate it.

Regarding why Bitcoin works where other deposits of securities have failed, this expert notes that it is the only currency in today’s global economy that allows its users to safeguard value since even the dollar is so vulnerable that it is prone to inflation.

The author cites the case of China, where thousands of people buy second apartments in practically empty cities to protect the value of their savings, thus creating ghost towns. He also mentions that governments worldwide facilitate financing them through concessions to large companies managing the global market.

The educator explains that the current global economy keeps bright people busy with tasks that do not totally exploit their creativity and intelligence. Instead, they must sell their time to obtain and protect value, which slows the advancement of the human race.

Song believes that it is often preferred to create goods and services to make more money, instead of investing time in research. In his opinion, having more small businesses interested in the well-being of local communities would help improve everything. He considers that the nature of Bitcoin provides a very robust alternative to change this scheme.

The issue of privacy has been one of the most widely discussed in recent times among the most influential figures in the ecosystem. Both Jameson Lopp and Andreas Antonopoulos are always defending its importance; however, Song does not believe that a perfect level of privacy can be achieved.

The defender and follower of technology asserts that he would not sacrifice the principle of the 21-million limit for privacy since it seems one of the best features of the algorithm. For him, Bitcoin works because it is self-sovereign and nobody can take it away from its owners or make it lose its value through inflation.

Song thinks that the problem with current money is that government systems can remove and intervene in money as they wish. He mentions the case of exchanges that are forced to deliver their users’ data and claims that taxes are a robbery.

To conclude, Song shares information about his most recent publication The Little Bitcoin Book: a basic guide on Bitcoin and the decentralized economy for beginners, co-written with Timi Ajiboye, Luis Buenaventura, Lily Liu, Alexander Lloyd, Alejandro Machado, and Alena Vranova. It should be mentioned that it has already been translated into several languages.

By Alexander Salazar

Greater Anonymity in Bitcon Payments Will Be Possible through New Privacy Proposal

Alexander Salazar
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Greater Anonymity in Bitcon Payments Will Be Possible through New Privacy Proposal

A new CoinJoin protocol has been proposed by Max Hillebrand for review. Users can process private transactions simultaneously with the same value.

The Bitcoin community is now exploring a new level of anonymity between the sender and the recipient of a payment. Developer and entrepreneur Max Hillebrand recently proposed a new CoinJoin method that could further increase the privacy of transactions.

The proposal will allow users to process transactions without either party spying on the other. The method manages to provide this degree of anonymity since neither the sender nor the receiver of payment has access to the other’s Bitcoin address.

The members will not know if one of the parties is also using the CoinJoin method to mix their transactions. The tool does not leave records on the network indicating that it is a private transaction, as do other CoinJoin methods.

It is worth mentioning that it is an interactive protocol with several rounds of communication, so all parties must be online when processing the transaction. The payment outflows will be simultaneous and will be recorded with the same value to ensure anonymity.

Max Hillebrand notes in a string of e-mails with other Bitcoin developers that the proposal stems from a previous discussion about the CoinJoin design used by Wasabi Wallet. This exchange of ideas inspired him to make some minor changes to the original design, which he now presents for audit.

The developer wants some of his colleagues to comment on this new implementation, as well as to share their opinions on the project. In other words, it is a version that has not yet been approved and, if successful, will become operational shortly.

Many Other CoinJoin Versions

Although its concept makes the proposal unique, there are currently several CoinJoin implementations that are active in the market. CoinJoin is a tool that has been available to users for years, being created by Gregory Maxwell as an anonymization method for transactions in Bitcoin.

The idea behind CoinJoin is that of allowing a person that wishes to make an anonymous payment to find another user also interested in making a payment and mix both outputs. Both of them would be making a payment together where money outflows or inflows of money cannot be differentiated. In this way, it is difficult to track the origin of both transactions.

There are various protocols, companies and even wallets that offer these types of services to users. One of the oldest CoinJoin implementations is CoinShuffle, devised by researchers from the University of Saarland, Germany, in 2014. Another well-known protocol for mixing transactions is that of JoinMarket, which increases not only the privacy but also the fungibility of the transaction.

Wallets such as Wasabi and Samourai Wallet also have their CoinJoin methods as they are storage services focused on privacy.  Also, proposals have been created to introduce the CoinJoin tool in the Lightning Network layer, which is one of the most recent projects of Adam Gibson, the creator also of JoinMarket.

By Alexander Salazar

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