The Next Ethereum Hard Fork Will Be launched on Testnet on October 2nd

Willmen Blanco
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The Next Ethereum Hard Fork Will Be launched on Testnet on October 2nd

The next update of the Ethereum network may have had a tentative release date after Friday, September 6th, immediately after the main developer meeting. It had to be rescheduled as a consequence of the problems with Ethereum Constantinople improvement test.

In accordance with what was discussed at the meeting, the testnet to test the six proposed Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) was agreed for the beginning of October, one month after the initial date had been suggested for September 4th.

This also means that the launch to Mainnet will be similarly delayed until November this year. At the meeting of Friday, September 6th, the community manager of the Ethereum Foundation, Hudson Jameson, explained that for those who are interested in learning how this works, they choose a block number that is estimated to occur around October 2nd. However, it could be a day or two before or after that date, depending on how quickly the blocks are produced between now and then.

The Ethereum developers did not decide on a block number for the activation in the Ropsten test network. It was noted that only six out of the 30 EIPs proposed have been accepted for inclusion in the Istanbul hard fork, while another eight have been moved to the Berlin hard fork.

One of those proposed EIPs is the controversial ProgPoW update, which was designed with the aim to change the mining algorithm and, thus, to ensure that Application Programming Interfaces (ASICs) are virtually ineffective in the mining blocks in the Ethereum network.

It should be mentioned that ASICs are specialized pieces of mining equipment that are many times more efficient and powerful than the graphic processing units that have become popular among Ethereum miners.

This particular update has been under discussion for almost one year. Part of the discussions has included hiring two auditors in order to review the code and ensure that it is economically stable and programmatically adequate to be connected to Mainnet.

One of the auditors, the Minimum Authority, CEO Liz Steininger attended the meeting on Friday, where she explained that, at a high level, the Programmable Proof of Work (ProgPoW) achieves its design goals. She said that it is the most reasonable thing for its expected economic effect, so there are no major problems there. Having said that, it was found that there was a potential attack and some recommendations were provided on things that could be done to have a better guarantee that ProgPoW would work as expected in the future.

The other auditor that spoke at the meeting is more focused on the hardware part of the proposal and, according to Jameson, he should submit his report very soon. Regarding the work of his auditor, called Bob, he said that his audit should be made known very soon. He indicated that it is its final stages and will help to answer many more questions and speculations as to ProgPoW.

It is advised that any concerns expressed about the viability of the EIP implementation be addressed before the EIP is included in the Berlin hard fork.

By Willmen Blanco

Catalonia Advances in the Development of a Blockchain ​​Platform for Identity Registry

Maria Rodríguez
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Catalonia Advances in the Development of a Blockchain ​​Platform for Identity Registry

IdentiCAT is the name of the new platform based on blockchain technology that will allow citizens to make online purchases through a digital identity.

The Government of Catalonia has recently announced that it is already prepared to begin the development of the platform that will give its citizens the ease of having a digital identity to use it and make purchases on the Internet with greater security.

The decentralized identity platform will be named IdentiCAT. By using it, each citizen would have control over his identification, so anyone would be able to modify and establish personal data that will ultimately shape their identity on the web.

Jordi Puigneró, who is a Catalan computer engineer and also the Minister of Digital Policy and Public Administration, was in charge of announcing the beginning of the project through a statement.

He commented that this tool will give citizens a new level of security in their operations on the web “to qualify and digitally empower Catalan citizens so they may conduct activities with full assurance and security in the digital society of the 21st century”, he said.

It is known that the IdentiCAT platform will be based on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), which will allow to the Catalan government to have complete control of the network, taking the role of central validator within the system.

According to data issued by the official statement, when the network is operational, the citizen can manage, modify and establish personal information with full legal validity. This represents a complete change of identity registration systems since, in this way, the government will only function as a validator of the information provided and established by the user. This empowers citizens to establish their digital identity.

The digital identity project for Catalonia web users, IdentiCAT, will have to follow the parameters and laws established by the European Union Regulation on Electronic Identification and Trust Services for electronic transactions in the internal Market (eIDAS Regulation), established for European Union member countries in 2014. This gives the facility to future IdentiCAT users to manage their wallets or web operations in any country of the European Union.

The government, in the same time, did not hesitate to comment the positive aspects of this new tool that will be available to the inhabitants of Catalonia. During a statement, he said: “The IdentiCAT will be the first digital identity at European level, which will be driven by the sphere public and managed by the citizens, with the aim of becoming a standard use in Catalonia”.

Once the system is ready to be launched, the government will make available to citizens a set of tools and applications for mobile phones and computers where users will manage their electronic identities. Also, it is expected that this program will not only be used by ordinary people, but that it will dynamically help public institutions and private companies alike. The intention is to make identification processes more efficient and in a digital form.

Keene, the City in the US that is Opening its Doors to Cryptocurrencies

Maria Rodríguez
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Keene, the City in the US that is Opening its Doors to Cryptocurrencies

Its citizens promote the use of the cryptoactive Bitcoin Cash, due to its independent character of governments or power figures.

Inhabitants of Keene, in New Hampshire, located in the United States, are turning the city into an ideal place for the adoption of cryptocurrencies.

Gradually, the city is becoming in what its own citizens point out as the “mecca” of cryptocurrencies. This is because there are innovative ideas which seek the birth of a more technological city, adapted to the current times.

The city is known as one of the few cities in the United States which lacks of regional government taxes. This drives its inhabitants to have “libertarian” ideas which seek greater independence from their economy. It is known that more than 23,000 people live in the city, and there are about 15 businesses that accept Bitcoin Cash (BCH) as a method of payment for their goods and services.

Those inhabitants, called “libertarians”, are known to have anarchist thoughts, which explains the anti-state behavior. In this way, they firmly believe in the free market and repudiate violence and war. In this sense, they consider that the state must be exercised by citizens and, otherwise, the authority must be reduced to a small character.

A Potential Opportunity for Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies have had a great impact on this community, due to their independent nature from governments or power institutions. With this thesis, its citizens believe they are outside some guidelines of the state and have a different economic independence.

The influence of cryptocurrency technology has had a strong impact on their society during some years. In 2016, an announcer, in a local radio station, made a comment in which he told its listeners that Bitcoin could boost the local economy and, in turn, avoid the use of credit card companies.

“Bitcoin is a powerful local currency that can also be used internationally. It is Keene to buy local, and Bitcoin allows local business owners to keep more than each sale, instead of sending 3% outside of the area to credit card companies”.

Recently, due to the decline in the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network, and certain friction-free network rates, residents have further promoted the use of cryptoactive as a standard currency and promote the final use of BCH as the most traded payment method in some businesses.

This is a clear example of the various forms of adoption that a new digital economy may have, which although due to the low media and commercial impact that adoption may result in a small city, unlike countries like Japan or Venezuela, it may be an important step for the era of virtual currencies.

In this way, the anarchist ideal of the inhabitants of this small city has helped to build a perfect alternative that supports their “libertarian” ideals and their free trade with little government control; hence, Keene is one of the best territories for the adoption of this current method of payment.

By María Rodríguez

Binance Will Support the NULS Mainnet Update from Version 1.0 to 2.0

Willmen Blanco
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0
Binance Will Support the NULS Mainnet Update from Version 1.0 to 2.0

The firm Binance posted last September 9th, 2029, a statement connected with an announcement that it had made on its blog, in which the exchange house indicates that it will support the NULS mainnet 2.0 update. It decided to suspend all withdrawals and deposits of NULS on September 11th at 10:00 a.m. (UTC).

The exchange house confirmed in a post on its blog’s front page that it would accept the upgrade and would stop all transactions in NULS since September 9th. This will be done with the objective of allowing some time until the updates are completely functional.

According to the blog post, all previous NULS deposit addresses will be updated after the upgrade of the NULS mainnet is completed and old NULS addresses will no longer be able to receive NULS. Binance will make a separate announcement after completing the update to notify users when NULS withdrawals will open again.

NULS is the world’s first public chain project that offers microservice infrastructure built into blockchain and sets a new industry standard to simplify blockchain adoption. The launch of the NULS mainnet 2.0 version is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2019. The design idea for the NULS Mainnet 2.0 version was introduced in the fourth quarter of 2018.

In a blog post on July 26th, 2019, the company provided some details about this update. NULS said that they have completed the construction of NULS 2.0 and the mainnet will be launched very soon. The specific process of updating the NULS 1.0 network to the NULS 2.0 network will first be deepened in the Testnet and, once it is completed, will be implemented in the mainnet.

This simulated update in the Testnet had to be completed in 2 phases. At first, the Testnet should be changed from version 1.0 to version 1.3.0. Its main objective was to update the protocol and so, when the Testnet 1.3.0 version stopped packaging the transaction, the company launched the NULS 2.0 Beta 2 version and launched the NULS 2.0 Testnet.

On August 21st, 2019, NULS informed that, thanks to the cooperation of the members of the NULS community, the Testnet practice exercise from version 1.0 to version 2.0 was successfully completed. Currently, the mainnet is about to begin its upgrade procedure from version 1.0 to version 2.0. Finally, NULS will be able to enter the 2.0 era.

After the practice of updating the Testnet, the mainnet will also go through the same 2 phases as described above for the Testnet. The completion of these processes and their trial period will guarantee the success in the functions that they are aimed to perform.

Both blockchain developers and Bitcoin users will benefit from the updates of NULS Mainnet and the Testnet. Among other advantages, the adoption of blockchain technology will be simplified as there are new improvements that will ease transactions such as deposits and withdrawals. Developers can derive new applications from what they observe in these useful tools, among which are facilitating processes and ensuring security.

By Willmen Blanco

Blockchain Summit Uruguay Highlighted Big Projects Related to Cryptocurrencies

Maria Rodríguez
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Blockchain Summit Uruguay Highlighted Big Projects Related to Cryptocurrencies

Blockchain companies consider Uruguay to be one of the best and friendliest countries to expand their services.

The second edition of the blockchain and cryptocurrency technology event in Uruguay took place last September 5th in Montevideo.

The Blockchain Summit Uruguay had the collaboration of multiple companies dedicated to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, in addition to the direct participation of the Government and the Central Bank. The attendance of international guests was also noted.

The event makes possible talks, workshops and conferences dedicated to the new technologies of cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

It is known that more than 200 people were interested in the 40 talks dedicated to explaining the positive aspects of crypto assets, cases about the use of cryptocurrencies in companies, future challenges in global financial markets, among other topics.

Ignacio Verese, who is the main organizer of the event, explained to the local press that “the event aims to promote blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies and be the meeting point of the community. We also call the Government and the Central Bank of Uruguay to provide their position about this revolutionary technology and; thus, discuss favorable regulation”.

Uruguay Has Potential for the Crypto-market

German Tugores, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Blockbear, commented, as well as Marcelo Montoro, Representative of Grupo Consultor, that Uruguay has all the potential to become one of the largest blockchain hubs in America.

They added that they spent months calling the participants of the event with the aim to generate real points of positive meetings for the industry. About the influence of Blockbear in the economy of the country, German told a web media dedicated to cryptocurrencies that the software that his company develops is the third largest export product in Uruguay.

He added that, for this reason, the product is excluded from the payment of certain taxes which ends up boosting the sector. This constitutes the point of greatest opportunity for software based on blockchain technology and for the adoption of cryptocurrencies and payments through digital platforms.

Regarding the current use of crypto assets, the organizers and attendees of the event explained that, although there are exchange houses in the country that help to make the conversion of fiat currency into any cryptocurrency, it is still difficult for anyone to have crypto assets. They explained that an important number of cryptocurrency exchange takes place within groups of chats.

Public Blockchain Platforms ​​for Companies in Uruguay

The event not only had a schedule of talks and workshops. Thanks to the approach of many experts in the industry, it was possible to know that many of those attending the event were making connections with experts in the regulatory area and technology development.

Paolo Coirolo, Board Member of Aeternity, gave his point of view when visiting the event. “We decided to participate in the event and put our operational base in Uruguay because we consider it the friendliest country to carry out an expansion process of our scalable smart contracts platform, we will also invest and enclose Latin American projects that use our blockchain”.

Although many participants of the event were motivated because of the assistance of government representatives, the Central Bank maintains a strong position regarding the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the country, due to the changing nature of these assets, and although they are not in charge of training the area, they were interested in meeting the blockchain service providers.

By María Rodríguez

Northern Bitcoin AG prepares to launch air-cooled mobile Bitcoin mining containers

Willmen Blanco
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0
Northern Bitcoin AG prepares to launch air-cooled mobile Bitcoin mining containers

The German firm Northern Bitcoin AG has concluded its tests in an air-cooled Bitcoin mining container that operates 144 Bitcoin ASIC miners. The company made the announcement on September 9th saying that the tests, conducted in Frankfurt-Hoechst, were a success.

According to the press release, the mining container is mobile, similar to the company’s other mining containers that use water to cool Bitcoin mining equipment. In this particular test, the company used a 20-foot container, which is half the size of other water-cooled containers, specifically built for outdoor operations, according to the statement.

To cool the container, cold outside air is ingested and filtered through lamellae mounted on an exterior wall and is then sent through the container passing through the mining hardware.

Hot exhaust air is vented through the wall that is opposite the container. The performance of the fans, which is variable, is controlled by temperature sensors. The concept was developed together with partners in Germany and brought at the market maturity.

Northern Bitcoin AG operates several Bitcoin miners that use renewable energy sources in order to achieve optimal mining and efficiency through their mining solutions designed for mobile devices. So far, the company has about 21 containers, about 40 feet high each, which house 210 Bitcoin ASIC each. That amounts to a total of 4,410 ASICs that are cooling with water. Something common with recently concluded test containers is that they are all mobile containers and the company can easily migrate them to more mining-friendly environments.

Moritz Jäger, Northern Bitcoin CTO reported that thanks to their water-cooled container solution, they have a revolutionary approach to extract Bitcoins in a sustainable and cost-effective way.

The new air-cooled technology has been optimized for cold locations throughout the year. With the new container variant, the firm is expanding its option to open new locations in Scandinavia for their Bitcoin mining. The same as the water-cooled variant, the air-cooled mining container is highly mobile. This allows them to react flexibly to all short-term location options to perform highly efficient Bitcoin mining.

It should be mentioned that Bitcoin mining involves the use of highly specialized equipment called ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) machines. This kind of equipment uses a lot of energy as it emits a lot of heat. The firm specifies that it requires constant cooling to function optimally and, thus, the solution that most mining operators chose was either air or water cooling.

Northern Bitcoin AG’s solution, however, differs from those of most mining operators because its solution is mobile. This means that the company can migrate its miners more frequently to favorable mining environments.

In an increasingly growing market, Bitcoin investors seek solutions for taking advantage of the qualities of this cryptocurrency. Its ability to recover from the worst all-time lows has earned Bitcoin the trust of millions of users in the ecosystem. New solutions like these air- and water-cooled Bitcoin mining containers described above allow them to mine the cryptocurrency par excellence even in the most adverse environments.

By Willmen Blanco

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