Ethereum (ETH) developers have recently discussed the most significant upcoming updates to the ETH network at Ethereum Core Devs Meeting #40 that took place Friday, June 15. [LIVE] Ethereum Core Developer Meeting #40 [06/15/18] https://t.co/iqucGaNi15 #ethereum #allcoredevs pic.twitter.com/bDvhIpd2n4 — Ethereum (@ethereum) June 15, 2018 The key point of the recent meeting is rescheduling the releases of two main Ethereum chain upgrades such as Casper and sharding. Casper should have been released as a smart contract separately from the sharding upgrade. The new proposals suggest that Casper may be released on a shard, or a sidechain instead. Sharding, announced by Ethereum’s …

Ethereum Classic (ETC) has now successfully implemented a protocol upgrade that will ensure that mining remains viable in future, according to ETC Block Explorer data yesterday, May 29. The fork, dubbed ECIP-1041, has removed the so-called “Difficulty Bomb” feature from the ETC network at block 5,900,000. The ‘bomb’ was a component of the original Ethereum (ETH) code that was designed to exponentially increase the difficulty of mining to the point where it would become impractically slow, thereby triggering the need to transition to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. This feature has commonly been referred to as the ‘Ethereum Ice Age,’ …

A platform is combining “cutting edge” artificial intelligence (AI) with the “immutable reliability” of blockchain to create a system where retailers and manufacturers can predict whether they are overstocking or understocking products – an issue estimated to cost the industry $500 bln a year. OSA DC, which stands for Optimal Shelf Availability Decentralized, says its system allows major brands and smaller chains to track product stock, inventories and orders with “pinpoint accuracy.” Shoppers also stand to gain from the platform, as its digital assistant would provide reliable information on a product’s origin, ingredients, traceability, and price through a tamperproof ledger. …

Google is apparently trying to recruit Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin to join their team, according to a since removed tweet by Buterin, reportedly posted May 20. Buterin posted a since deleted tweet with a screenshot allegedly from a Google recruiter asking if Google “ma[d]e sense for you now or in the future,” along with a poll to the Twitter community over whether or not to take the job. In his original tweet, Buterin neglected to censor the recruiter’s name, email address, and profile photo. The pool had over 2,000 responses before being taken down, with the majority voting “No” …

Ethereum could soon see its transaction processing capacity increase dramatically through the use of so-called ‘sharding,’ co-founder Vitalik Buterin hinted on Twitter April 30. “Sharding is coming,” he stated laconically in a tweet Monday: Sharding is coming.https://t.co/Aqo9MBiCj0 pic.twitter.com/FXEQeiKGDr — Vitalik "Not giving away ETH" Buterin (@VitalikButerin) April 30, 2018 In a Reddit post and a series of tweets following yesterday’s, Buterin delivered a proof of concept for the technology and suggested the “bag of ideas” for its implementation on Ethereum was “pretty well-established.” Sharding is a method of increasing the number of transactions a blockchain can process. Designed to be …

The Chinese government has recently reiterated its negative stance towards Initial Coins Offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency exchanges at a news conference in Beijing, claiming that financial authorities will continue to monitor private lenders’ interest rates, securities companies, and futures firms to combat illegal fundraising, Reuters reports April 23. In a joint statement provided by several regulators, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) stated that it will continue to fight risks from internet financing and highlighted that ICO projects and trading platforms have been closed to the benefit of public safety. According to the joint statement, the regulations have managed to …

East Africa-based charity GiveDirectly has expanded into cryptocurrency with a $1 mln donation in crypto tokens from decentralized payment network OmiseGO, it announced Tuesday, March 27. The donation, which OmiseGO contributed together with Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin, will see GiveDirectly continue an experimental scheme aimed directly at refugees, providing 12,000 grants to families in Uganda. A pilot scheme has already seen 4,400 families receive $650, TechCrunch reported Tuesday, with the cryptocurrency experiment increasing the self-sufficiency of the process and reducing reliance on intermediaries. “This is a major new chapter for us, entering the humanitarian space with a service to give …

The Ethereum Foundation has signed a far-stretching agreement with Russian state-owned bank VEB at the “Blockchain: The New Oil of Russia” conference in Tatarstan. Russia leading the pack The union is intended to create a new Blockchain technology training program in order to move Russia forward in the Blockchain world. According to the statement: “The agreement provides for a long-term and effective partnership in the implementation of projects using the technology of the distributed registry and Ethereum platform, the formation of an expert community on the Ethereum platform and the joint development and implementation of educational programs for training specialists …

The recent announcement of the Metropolis upgrade to Ethereum has driven the Ethereum price up over $325 again. However, a multitude of questions surfaced regarding the nature of the fork, if it would create a new cryptocurrency, and the Ethereum Ice Age. A statement from the core dev team has clarified some of those questions for users and laid out a more specific roadmap for the Metropolis hard fork. Not one fork, but two The first announcement of the hard fork included the expectation that the fork would occur by the end of September. However, the latest release indicates that …

Software giant Microsoft and the recently released cryptocurrency EmerCoin have officially formed a partnership. This partnership will minimally span 2016 and will aim at further developing what Microsoft Azure is calling “Blockchain as a Service”. Together they will work on innovating the field and developing scalable products for their users. A notable effect is the price of EmerCoin, which doubled 1 day after the announcement of the partnership. What is EmerCoin? The partnership has had immediate positive effects for EmerCoin, particularly where its value is concerned. EmerCoin’s market cap is currently around 3 million US dollars, with EmerCoin trading for …

An alliance of developers have already begun work on a new cryptocurrency, Decred. The new currency is based upon the same Bitcoin model that was previously used with all other cryptocurrencies. However, Decred is saving the main technical features of Bitcoin and fixing all of the issues that Bitcoin had. While the only clear contributors to the project are community-based such as are Github users, it can be assumed that the developers have a large amount of experience with Bitcoin development, and may even be the original Bitcoin Core developers. Decred will serve as a hybridized proof-of-work/proof-of-stake consensus system that …

The future of Bitcoin is uncertain. Now, many experts are discussing what will happen with the Blockchain in the future and what technology will be used. In the area of Bitcoin there were many startups, but most of them did not find application. What will be the future of Bitcoin and the Blockchain in 5 years? Vitalik Buterin co-founder of Ethereum, the decentralized web 3.0 publishing platform. He is currently working on implementing Ethereum 2.0. Vitalik answered a few questions specifically for Cointelegraph. Cointelegraph: The most interesting question today is that of the next generation for cryptocurrency. What will be …