Ethereum blockchain shifted from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism on Sept. 15, 2022. Along with this move, ETHPoW, a distinct PoW blockchain (basically the old pre-Merge Ethereum) forked from Ethereum's Merge, became live. This forked version of Ethereum aims to maintain the proof-of-work mining process for ETH miners. Any miner is permitted to add a block to the PoW network with the clear stipulation that the first valid block published is the correct one. In reality, more than one legitimate block is occasionally discovered by the network due to the latency of data propagation, creating numerous …

Public blockchains can be accessed and read by anyone but creating meaningful insights from this data is no mean feat. Millions of transactions are recorded across a variety of chains and layer-2 protocols, creating petabytes of data daily. Services like Google transformed the early internet, accomplishing a significant engineering task by structuring and curating millions of websites to serve simple user queries. A handful of blockchain analytics platforms are looking to do the same, with Nansen distinguishing itself by processing on-chain data into a growing database of wallet labels. Cointelegraph visited the Singapore office of the growing firm during Token2049 …

The exchange netflow of Ether (ETH) over the past couple of years highlights a behavioral pattern among Ether whales that market analysts believe is done to pump the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency. The “exchange netflow” is an indicator that measures the net amount of crypto entering or exiting wallets of all centralized exchanges. The metric's value is simply calculated by taking the difference between the exchange inflows and the exchange outflows. Data shared by one of the pseudonymous traders of crypto analytic firm Cryptoquant indicates that ETH whales have consistently sent their holdings onto exchanges to raise the price …

Bitcoin (BTC) saw its first trip above $20,000 on Oct. 4 as traders expected familiar resistance to cap gains. Multi-week dollar lows fuel Bitcoin bulls Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD climbing prior to the Wall Street open, up over 5% in 24 hours. The pair had shaken off macroeconomic concerns at the start of the week, with trouble at Credit Suisse and the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict failing to slow performance. Now, short-term analysis focused on a run potentially topping out closer to $21,000 — as was the case late last month, as sell-side pressure at that …

Minor inflows for digital asset investment products over the last few weeks suggest a “continued hesitancy” towards crypto amongst institutional investors amid a slowdown of the U.S. economy. In the latest edition of CoinShares’ weekly “Digital Asset Fund Flows” report, Coinshares head of research James Butterfill highlighted stand-offish institutional sentiment towards crypto investment products, which saw "minor inflows" for the third week in a row. “The flows remain low implying continued hesitancy amongst investors, this is highlighted in investment product trading volumes which were US$886m for the week, the lowest since October 2020.” Between Sept. 26 and Sept. 30, investment …

After the Ethereum network’s transition to proof-of-stake (PoS), staking Ether (ETH) now plays a central role in validating blocks and securing the network. However, some community members believe that the staking process is too difficult, especially for regular people. In the Ethereum subreddit, a member of the community raised the topic of ETH staking and its difficulties. According to the user, it took them an entire weekend just to get things up and running. The user said that this may be something that those with "unforgiving" schedules can't accommodate. They wrote: “The Ethereum community likes to sugarcoat usability but it’s …

The Merge upgrade for Ethereum (ETH), which primarily sought to transition the blockchain into a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, has been revealed to have a positive impact on the creation of new Ethereum blocks. The Merge was considered one of the most significant upgrades for Ethereum. As a result of the hype, numerous misconceptions around cheaper gas fees and faster transactions plagued the crypto ecosystem, which was debunked by Cointelegraph. However, some of the evident improvements experienced by the blockchain post-Merge include a steep increase in daily block creation and a substantial decrease in average block time. On Sept. 15, …

Transit Swap, a multi-chain decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator, lost roughly $21 million after a hacker exploited an internal bug on a swap contract. Following the revelation, Transit Swap issued an apology to the users while efforts to track down and recover the stolen funds are underway. “We are deeply sorry,” stated Transit Swap while revealing that a bug in the code allowed a hacker to make away with an estimated $21 million. Blockchain investigator Peckshield narrowed down the attack to a compatibility issue or misplaced trust in the swap contract. pic.twitter.com/KJ7u5xoxBp — Transit Swap | Transit Buy | NFT (@TransitFinance) …

Traders who use the Ethereum network are familiar with the ERC-20 technical standard and have most likely traded and invested in tokens that utilize it. After all, its practicality, transparency and flexibility have made it the industry norm for Ethereum-based projects. As such, many decentralized applications (DApps), crypto wallets and exchanges natively support ERC-20 tokens. However, there’s one problem: Ether (ETH) and ERC-20 do not exactly follow the same rules, as Ether was created way before ERC-20 was implemented as a technical standard. So, why does wrapped ETH matter? Briefly put, ERC-20 tokens can only be traded with other ERC-20 …

The United States equities markets have been under a firm bear grip for a large part of the year. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite have declined for three quarters in a row, a first since 2009. There was no respite in selling in September and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is on track to record its worst September since 2002. These figures outline the kind of carnage that exists in the equities market. Compared to these disappointing figures, Bitcoin (BTC) and select altcoins have not given up much ground in September. This is the first sign that selling …

Major decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap is in the early stages of raising significant funds to further expand its decentralized finance (DeFi) offerings, according to a new report. Uniswap Labs, a DeFi startup contributing to the Uniswap Protocol, is engaging with a number of investors to raise an equity round of $100 million to $200 million, TechCrunch reported on Sept. 30. The startup is working with investors like Polychain and one of Singapore’s sovereign funds as part of the upcoming funding round, the report notes, citing two anonymous people familiar with the matter. According to the report, Uniswap would be valued …

According to the CEO of blockchain development agency Labrys, Lachan Feeney, approximately 45% of all Ethereum blocks currently being validated run MEV-boost relay flashbots and comply with United States sanctions. Speaking to Cointelegraph in an interview on Sept. 30, Feeney noted that while reports have stated that 25% of all blocks validated since the Merge complies with US sanctions, this is a lagging indicator and the current number is likely to be closer to one out of every two blocks. Feeney pointed out that MEV-Boost relays are regulated businesses, often U.S. based, and are “censoring certain transactions in the blocks …