Oxen is a privacy-focused platform built on top of a proof-of-stake (PoS) network. It has also built a secure and anonymous messaging platform Session. The company’s chief technical officer Kee Jefferys talked to Cointelegraph about its platform, its technology and how important privacy and data protection are for the end-user. 1. Hello! Tell us about Oxen and Session. OXEN is a private, stakeable cryptocurrency. The Oxen coin (OXEN) has brought a lot of innovation to the CryptoNote space (CN), including instant transactions and a large-scale PoS system. However, the real magic is the service node network. It’s powering a whole …

Facebook’s conglomerate of social applications, including Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and its virtual reality headset Oculus, all suffered a major power outage on Monday, switching the platforms offline for a total of six hours to the effect of billions of users and businesses across the world. The incident was first reported at approximately 3:16 pm UTC on Monday when a surge of complaints emerged from users worldwide claiming that they were unable to access their favorite social networking platforms. A Cloudflare post-analysis of the crisis concluded that Facebook “had stopped announcing the routes to their DNS prefixes,” which meant that the …

Major social media and communication platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went offline Monday as the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surged. As data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro shows, Bitcoin (BTC) price moved above $49,000 after falling to a daily low of $47,166, an increase of roughly 4.5% in less than two hours. Similarly, the price of Ether (ETH) rose 3.5% over the same period to reach $3,411 at the time of publication. The sudden price volatility comes as major social media platform Facebook, photo and video sharing app Instagram, and messenger app WhatsApp — both owned by Facebook — …

Facebook has announced it will allocate $50 million to a two-year fund tasked with beginning work on realizing the firm’s vision for a virtual metaverse. A Monday announcement articulates Facebook’s roadmap for building its metaverse, with the funding slated to back “global research and program partners” looking to build out the platform in addition to internal research. “The metaverse won’t be built overnight by a single company. We’ll collaborate with policymakers, experts and industry partners to bring this to life,” emphasized the announcement. The metaverse will allow people to interact with one another, digital objects and the physical world through …

Too much is happening in the realm of crypto policy and regulation to leave the biggest developments of each week without a roundup and at least some conceptual reflection. Starting today, we are getting back to decoding crypto law and everything around it that is worth decoding. Who’s next to follow El Salvador? Eyeballs galore will be pinned to the great Salvadoran experiment from now on. People with PhDs in economics and applied statistics within central banks and research institutes will chase every accessible data point that could be remotely helpful in making sense of the effects of Bitcoin’s adoption …

Nonfungible tokens (NFT) have enjoyed quick adoption across the entertainment, media and sports space as the biggest brands, companies and individuals look to gain first-mover advantage in creating their own digital collectibles. These have come in myriad forms, and much like blockchain technology was touted to be pliable to any industry’s needs and problems, the imagination is the only limit when it comes to NFTs that are being created and traded around the world. Social media has made people more connected than ever before, and these various platforms have played a role in the introduction and proliferation of NFTs among …

Facebook’s ambitious digital currency payment project Diem is yet to get off the ground despite concerted attempts to win over financial regulators. According to The Washington Post on Friday, Diem is facing difficulties smoothening regulatory wrinkles with senior policymakers in the Biden administration. Even with the full weight of Facebook’s significant lobbying power in Washington, the digital currency project is yet to get off the ground. Reports indicate that David Marcus, Facebook Financial (F2) head, met with regulators in Washington earlier in September. According to anonymous sources reportedly present at the meeting, Marcus argued for the importance of crypto in …

Social media platforms are constantly under fire for their lack of total end-to-end encryption, existing privacy policies and censorship – but a blockchain-based solution might spell the end to an era of centralized social media dominance. In many ways, social media is a vital component of daily life for both businesses and the average consumer. Today, these platforms connect individuals with their desired type of content based on their own inputs. This streamlined feed being served to users leading them to the businesses waiting at the end, should be the perfect scenario. However, when it comes to distributing the rewards, …

As nonfungible token sales appear reanimated after a nearly two-month dry spell from their apex in May, a particular NFT application is gaining popularity more than ever: metaverses. Metaverses have gained their fair share of media attention lately, with big moves coming from companies like Facebook and Epic games. However, not everyone — even those who have been in crypto for a long time — has caught on to what metaverses are, despite the hype. But as more companies, celebrities and artists venture into the space, it has become another domain that deserves some thorough consideration. The Metaverse is a …

Kate Rouch will be joining major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase after more than 11 years in various positions at Facebook. In a Thursday blog post, Coinbase chief operating officer Emilie Choi said the company had hired Rouch as its new chief marketing officer, responsible for overseeing the exchange’s global brand, as well as product and performance marketing. Until recently, she was the global head of brand and product marketing at social media giant Facebook, but now aims “to bring millions more people into the cryptoeconomy.” “I am so inspired by what I’ve learned about crypto, and the vast ecosystem it is …

As Facebook now finalizes the development of its proprietary cryptocurrency wallet, Novi, the social media giant could soon be supporting nonfungible tokens (NFT). David Marcus, head of Facebook Financial and co-creator of Facebook-initiated cryptocurrency Diem, said Wednesday that the firm is “definitely looking” at possible ways to get involved in the NFT industry. Facebook is considering multiple options to introduce NFT features, as it finds itself in a “really good position to do so,” Marcus said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “When you have a good crypto wallet like Novi will be, you also have to think about how to …

In a newly published Medium piece titled "Good stablecoins, a protocol for money, and digital wallets: the formula to fix our broken payment system", Facebook’s crypto pioneer David Marcus shared his views on topics of economic inequality, regulatory challenges and Novi’s proposed stablecoin solution. Marcus has spent the last couple of years building Diem’s crypto wallet Novi — an interoperable digital wallet designed to integrate with the Diem payment system. It is meant to enable individuals and businesses worldwide to transfer money with ease, revolutionizing the age-old financial payments system once and for all. In the piece, Marcus cites the …