The era of unintelligible contracts written in legalese by lawyers in $2,000 suits with degrees from Ivy League schools is over. The contracts of the next century will be hybrid smart contracts, written in code by programmers wearing $20 hoodies and living in their NYC-shared apartment. What is a hybrid smart contract? Smart contracts are self-enforcing contracts, written in code and executed by the blockchain. These smart contracts are great at sending and receiving money, and doing simple calculations, but they cannot access off-chain data, perform complex calculations or generate random numbers on their own. Those limitations previously prohibited smart …

The rise of the nonfungible token (NFT) has been a sight to behold, with the market seemingly garnering an increased amount of mainstream traction with each passing day. To put things into perspective as to how big this space has actually become, conservative estimates suggest that the amount of money that has entered into this fast-evolving sector currently totals above $500 million. Another way to gauge the impact that NFTs have had on the global economy is by looking at the diverse range of artists, celebrities, musicians — basically just about anyone, at this point — that have adopted this …

Last week’s tumultuous 30% crypto market dip and subsequent quick recovery left many wondering what comes next. Crypto circles aside, the conversation around the importance of building solid, broadly usable applications is louder than ever. Crypto will cease to be perceived as a casino on the edges of the internet when participation outweighs speculation. An interesting dynamic we are seeing is that the conversations around the future of Web 3.0 are still happening on centralized Web 2.0 platforms. The need for crypto-native principles and flows within the social application landscape is clear. Adding privacy and security to the communication and …

Challenges stimulate progress. Technology, pretty much like life itself, cannot be static. Only dynamics stimulate positive changes. Amid the collapse of the cryptocurrency market in mid-May, many retail and institutional investors began to lose faith in the bright future of cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin (BTC) in particular. Corporations and institutions, whales, and early adopters converged in a single impulse — the internet was overwhelmed by a wave of mistrust towards “cryptocurrency number one” as the best defensive asset, superior to gold and everything else that had been invented prior. One needs to see the full picture here to realize …

DOGE’s surge this year has blown Bitcoin and Ethereum out of the water. It’s crazy to think that, just a few short months ago, even a price of $0.01 seemed elusive. Here, we talk to WaykiChain founder Wayki Sun about his involvement in Dogecoin from the early days, and how this has inspired him to develop new blockchain projects. 1. Hi! Why is your name so associated with Dogecoin? My relationship with Dogecoin dates back to late 2013. Back then, there was a big number of early DOGE users. Despite on-chain addresses and transfers being exceedingly high — not to …

Bitcoin 2021, the biggest Bitcoin event in history with a sold-out crowd of at least 12,000 attendees in Miami, is kicking off with some of the world’s biggest industry players. The conference will be one of the largest crypto gatherings to emerge following the COVID-19 pandemic, with organizers expecting more than 50,000 attendees. An unofficial part of the conference kicked off Thursday with a “Whale Day” featuring Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz and BitGO CEO Mike Belshe. The event is positioned to be something “more like a music festival,” featuring multiple stages, including the main “Nakamoto Stage” as well as side …

Video is fast becoming the main medium of communication on the internet, with research suggesting that the typical consumer watches more than 10 hours a week. But whether it’s a four-second meme on TikTok, a four-minute prank on Facebook or a four-hour livestream on YouTube, there’s one big problem: Content creators have to work on the terms of centralized tech giants. Now, a decentralized video platform is aiming to shake things up — ensuring that revenue that’s generated through advertising goes to the people who upload videos, and the process of policing content is left to the community. Pocketnet’s blockchain …

Within the blockchain world, there’s endless talk about the importance of decentralization. But there’s a by-product from DeFi’s boom that is little talked about. Fractionalization is an unavoidable consequence of the innovations we’ve seen over the past decade — and when implemented correctly, companies and individuals can benefit. For example, it’s now possible to buy a small fraction of Amazon stock, potentially making it more affordable to millions of investors. With a single share now costing more than $3,000, this can be a high barrier to entry for most. The explosion in non-fungible tokens has created an urgent need for …

The CEO of a blockchain development company says DeFi has plenty of untapped potential for the global finance sector. Maximilian Schmidt founded CPI Technologies, a business that has helped several hedge funds gain exposure to cryptocurrencies — giving them the capability to hold these coins themselves. This can be achieved without relying on external service providers, and in a fully secure way that’s easily adaptable around a fund’s current circumstances. Schmidt told Cointelegraph: “DeFi is more than a technical gimmick. It reveals one more time the disruptive power of blockchain technology. Banking, insurance, loans, hedge funds, exchanges — just a …

The financial industry has seen a rise in demand for exposure to digital — and crypto — assets in all asset classes. This has led to interest, demand and investment from institutional finance, ranging from digital asset custody to digital asset trading desks, regulatory and compliance frameworks, and audit and risk models. It is fair to say that digital assets have taken the financial services industry by storm. While the attention and investment from traditional finance in decentralized finance (DeFi) is hailed as a progressive step, there are enormous challenges and hurdles that financial services and institutions need to consider …

Last month, Bitcoin (BTC) reached above $60,000, highlighting the current frenzy around digital currencies. Following BTC, altcoins also saw substantial increases in value. All of this is music to the ears of long-term and short-term bull investors seeking increased gains, even with the current pullback and support of Bitcoin hovering around $40,000. However, despite all the hype around the current bull run, a lack of digital asset liquidity continues to be a significant challenge for exchanges, traders, token issuers and market makers. The reality of today’s market is that professional crypto traders cannot efficiently access global liquidity or find the …

Dfinity, the team behind the Internet Computer protocol, or ICP, has fired back at critics of its decentralization and privacy features in an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit yesterday. The team sought to assure that the project’s foundation does not have control over the majority of voting power, emphasizing that decentralization is a priority for the network as it moves forward. The project aims to replace the public internet with a distributed network of data centers, nodes, subnets and users coordinated through the Network Nervous System, or NNS. The NNS decides which nodes can join Dfinity’s network, disciplines misbehaving nodes, …