BitcoinInsider

Last week we launched Neo N3 RC4, which we are hopeful will pass all our stability tests and graduate to become the Neo N3 Formal TestNet. Once we have achieved this milestone, we will begin rolling out the Neo N3 MainNet, along with migration and governance. While we are not yet ready to finalize dates, we can outline how we intend to move from Neo Legacy to Neo N3. We can also reveal some of the migration options that will be available at a high level. Essentially, the rollout will occur in three phases: TestNet, MainNet Setup, and Mass Migration. Various tasks will be completed during each phase to ensure that the Neo N3 MainNet is ready to support healthy network operations by the time the public migrates tokens en-masse. Token holders will have two migration options to choose from, depending on their preferences. The first option will be "Early Bird" migration, which will closely follow the minting of the Neo N3 genesis block. This will provide token holders with an oppo...

A few months back, El Salvador's president announced that he would be making BTC legal tender in the South American country. This move has faced criticism, including from the citizens who have taken to the streets to protest as well as from global bodies. The latest to weigh in is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which has described the move as "an inadvisable shortcut." In a blog post, the Washington-based organization noted that there's a need for digital payments across the globe. However, adopting a decentralized digital currency is a shortcut that any country must not be tempted to take, the IMF stated. "We believe, however, that in most cases risks and costs outweigh potential benefits," the blog post, written by Tobias Adrian and Rhoda Weeks-Brown, stated. Adrian is IMF's marketing director while Weeks-Brown heads the legal department as general counsel. The two executives believe that digital currencies are unlikely to get any adoption as le...

The launch of the Neo N3 MainNet is gradually approaching after the release of multiple TestNet versions. One of the most prominent changes in Neo N3 is an entirely revamped governance model, which will push Neo towards a more decentralized future. NEO token holders will be empowered to vote on a 21 member Neo Council, of which the top seven will also become Consensus Nodes. The Neo Council will be responsible for maintaining the health of the Neo network, with rights to adjust critical blockchain parameters such as fees.   In order to ensure the stability of the Neo N3 MainNet in its early phases, the Neo Foundation is seeking candidates to become the initial members of the Neo Council. The primary goal is to ensure that the first members of the Neo Council have a fundamental understanding of the Neo platform and are technically capable of carrying out their duties. Neo Global Development will seed up to 10 candidates into the Neo Council. The remaining places will be filled by the Ne...

Digital currency businesses looking to operate in the United Kingdom are reportedly finding the licensing terms set out by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to be too challenging, amid the latest wave of withdrawn applications. Some 13 prospective licensees have reportedly withdrawn their applications to the regulator, taking the total number to do so to 64. The figures show an increase of 25% in withdrawn applications for June alone, with others thought to be considering similar moves. The FCA assumed its role in overseeing the digital currency sector back in January 2020, with a particular focus on compliance with Anti-Money Laundering procedures. This prompted the regulator to bring in the licensing scheme, giving businesses an initial period of one year to comply with the requirements. However, after being inundated with applications, the resultant backlog prompted the regulator to set up a temporary registration system to allow time for processing. Firms that withdraw from the...

Digital currency users in Turkey are going through some dark times. Exchanges in the Middle Eastern country have been collapsing recently, with signs of exit scams. One of these is Thodex, an exchange suspected of taking $2 billion from close to 400,000 investors. Turkish police have since arrested 62 people associated with the exchange but the owner has reportedly fled the country. It started last week when Thodex announced on its website that it would be unavailable for several days to handle a sales process. The vague message didn't reveal details such as when it would be back and if the users' funds were safe, prompting investors to start voicing their frustration. In addition, a local lawyer filed a lawsuit against the digital currency exchange on claims of aggravated fraud. This prompted the country's authorities to start investigating the exchange. According to local state media, police have now arrested 62 people associated with the exchange. They are still on the h...

ther (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain and the second-biggest overall, reached a fresh record high early Wednesday, widening its lead over market leader bitcoin (BTC). The trend looks set to continue, with ETH/BTC (the ether-bitcoin price ratio) breaking out to a multi-year high in a sign of increased capital flow into ether. Ether rose to $2,800, surpassing the peak price of $2,762 reached Wednesday, according to CoinDesk 20 data. The cryptocurrency has rallied by 43% so far this month, decoupling from bitcoin, down 7%. The ETH/BTC ratio has jumped to 2.5-year highs above 0.050, confirming a major bullish breakout on technical charts. "ETH/BTC has broken out after a multi-year consolidation, and the trend looks very strong," Pankaj Balani, co-founder and CEO of the Singapore-based Delta Exchange, said. "There are no further resistances here, and we expect to see ETH/BTC push through 0.10 eventually." The implication is the ongoing capital ...

We already revealed that the Lisk interoperability solution aims to enable general cross-chain messages. In this blog post, we now explain how this is achieved by providing a high-level overview of the Lisk interoperability solution similar to the online presentation given in the "First Glimpse at Lisk Interoperability" at the Lisk Updates from the Lisk Center, Berlin event from November 2020. Moreover, we can now unveil our updated roadmap that contains all the objectives of the blockchain interoperability phase. Technical Solution Our interoperability solution is based on the paradigm of cross-chain certification introduced in detail in the previous research blog post "Introduction to Blockchain Interoperability". Basically, cross-chain certification means that information from one chain is submitted to another chain utilizing a signed object called a certificate. Let us see more specifically how this will work in the Lisk ecosystem. Cross-Chain Update Transaction...