Manufacturers of Bitcoin mining hardware have long drawn ire from core developers. Now these chipmakers are making enemies in other networks like Sia. Sia Co-founder David Vorick sat down with Vertcoin's James Lovejoy to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of consensus algorithms such as Sia's Blake2b, which like Bitcoin's algo (SHA-256) can be accelerated with specially-made integrated circuits (see video below).
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SEC says releasing Tezos documents could hurt enforcement activities
(Reuters, by Anna Irrera)
"A top U.S. securities regulator says it cannot release documents related to the cryptocurrency project Tezos because doing so could interfere with an investigation or enforcement activities, according to a document seen by Reuters on Friday."
Cryptocurrency mining causing GPU price gouging, even in bundles
(Bitcoinist, by Adam James)
"For miners, however, buying six-packs of graphics cards isn’t so much about getting a good deal as it is securing bulk orders on a typically limited product. Normally, the scarcity of graphics cards causes retailers to limit the amount which can be purchased by one customer — bundles from vendors help circumvent that miners-only issue."
Maxwell eyes Bitcoin smart contracts after Blockstream
(CoinDesk, by Alyssa Hertig)
"In this pursuit, Maxwell published a paper on something called 'Taproot' in mid-January, an idea that improves upon the privacy of MAST, an idea, long in the making, that could beef up bitcoin's smart contract abilities. Days later, Maxwell released another proposal called 'Graftroot,' improving on MAST further."
France, Germany call for joint G20 action on cryptocurrencies
(Reuters staff)
"The finance ministers and central bank governors of France and Germany called for the policy and monetary implications of crypto-currencies to be placed on the agenda of the upcoming G20 meeting of the largest advanced and developing economies."
Thanks to mainstream media the public clueless about cryptocurrency
(Bitcoin.com, by Kai Sedgwick)
"Accurately reporting on the cryptocurrency space requires journalists with the requisite knowledge and expertise. Otherwise, not only are these platforms misleading their readers – they’re potentially defrauding them."
Why you get hooked on Candy Crush and Snapchat
(Bloomberg, by Alex Webb)
"Social-media companies, mobile gaming studios and others employ armies of psychologists to help them engineer products that ensure users stay hooked, or return again and again. Here are some of the techniques they deploy."
Tuur Demeester on Proof-of-Stake
Imo "Proof of Stake" is very close to a multi level marketing scheme: new entrants are charged an inflation tax that subsidizes participants higher up the chain, and the people higher up decide on the fate of the enterprise.
— Tuur Demeester (@TuurDemeester) February 9, 2018
"When you use Tinder, and you swipe someone, you probably don't sit there thinking 'Let's create some TCP packages and send them over IP, hoping they reach the phone of that nice looking fellow there'. You probably just think in terms of 'lets swipe this nice fellow, Leo'."
"A new study by IBM Security surveying 4,000 adults from a few different regions of the world found that consumers are now ranking security over convenience. For the first time ever, business users and consumers are now preferring security over convenience."
ASICs and cryptocurrencies: benefits and drawbacks
An interview with Vertcoin's James Lovejoy and Sia's David Vorick.