infrastructure / 24 posts found
Binance to Integrate Lightning Network for Faster Bitcoin Transactions
Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, is seeking to make a major upgrade to its Bitcoin infrastructure. After developer and Taproot Wizard founder Udi Wertheimer reported finding “Binance nodes” on the Lightning Network on June 16, the exchange giant has now revealed its intention to integrate Lightning, a layer two scalability solution built on the Bitcoin blockchain. Binance onboards the Lightning Network Although Binance made this announcement via Twitter in the early morning of June 20, the company did not provide a specific timeline for the completion of the Lightning Network integration, stating that there is still more […]
A New Frontier for Bitcoin? Recursive Inscriptions Explained
The Bitcoin community is abuzz with the emergence of something called Recursive Inscriptions. A novel new development building upon the continued hype of the Ordinals Protocol, Recursive Inscriptions seem poised to both disrupt the growing Bitcoin NFT ecosystem and redefine the parameters of blockchain-based file storage as we know it. But how? And why should the NFT space care? Let’s explore. What are Recursive Inscriptions? Recursive Inscriptions can seem a bit complex. But unsurprisingly, they have everything to do with the Ordinals Protocol. Aa s refresher, the Ordinals protocol was first introduced to the world on January 21, 2023, by […]
5 New Token Standards You Need to Know
The NFT space is changing, but not in the overt ways that those on the blockchain have become accustomed to. Instead of PFPs, open editions, and memecoins leading the charge into a new market phase, innovation is now happening by way of iteration at the token level. While expansion and evolution over time are a given for the many novel technologies being built in Web3, often, advents fly under the radar until they’re ready to truly make an impact. But a slew of new token standards seems poised to change that. Here are the ones you need to know about. […]
Crypto Miners Dodge 30% Energy Tax as Part of US Debt Ceiling Deal
The Alpha: A recent bipartisan agreement on the U.S. debt ceiling may bypass several proposed tax increases, including the Digital Asset Mining Energy (DAME) tax that would have levied a 30 percent tax on energy consumption by crypto miners. Despite progress and President Joe Biden’s confidence, the agreement still requires approval from the House of Representatives and the Senate. Dive deeper The crypto mining industry might be facing a serious reprieve this week as a tax proposal targeting its energy consumption seems set to be shelved. The move comes following a bipartisan agreement reached on the U.S. debt ceiling that […]
What Is ERC721-C, and Could It Solve Web3’s Royalty Issues?
Creator royalties have become a major point of contention in the NFT space. This shouldn’t be news to anyone who claims Web3 as their stomping ground. But what should be surprising is that the debate surrounding the necessity of royalties has failed to make any truly significant progress since its inception. Sure, most of the NFT space’s most prominent marketplaces have taken a stance on the matter. Still, by and large, innovations like Manifold’s Royalty Registry have fallen short of ensuring creators receive their dues. That isn’t to say there aren’t builders actively trying to remedy the situation though. There […]
6 Web3 Security Tools for Collectors, Creators, and Builders
Ensuring your safety in Web3 may often seem like a difficult task. But it really shouldn’t be, considering the wide variety of best practices that users can observe to boost their level of security while perusing the blockchain. Yet, many simply glaze over the lessons of the past and other practical security solutions established by their peers until it’s too late. Except in the wake of a remarkable hack or scam, security seems to be a secondary or even tertiary priority to many in Web3. But significant grifts can ultimately cause problems for the majority of those in the NFT […]
To Keep Web3 Safe, Security Needs to Be a Group Effort
Degens look out for one another. Or at least, they should, if seeking to honor the community ethos of the NFT space. But how many NFT enthusiasts are actually putting that principle into practice? Sure, sharing opportunities and prosperity counts for something. Supporting each other to success does as well. But protecting each other from bad actors seems to be left out of this reciprocity equation. By and large, every time a prominent figure in Web3 falls victim to a scam, it feels as if we’ve failed to safeguard one another. But it isn’t due to a lack of trying. […]
A Web3 Cautionary Tale: The Biggest NFT Brands Had Funds in SVB
On March 10, after days of uncertainty spurred on by $1.8 billion in surprise bond losses, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed, sending a tidal wave’s worth of ripple effects throughout the financial industry. The event quickly prompted the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, and the FDIC to step in to effectively circumvent catastrophe and assure depositors of access to all of their funds, whether insured or not. While the situation is still developing, the seeming fiasco has left those in traditional finance to shudder in remembrance of the 2008 financial crisis. Yet, the context of the collapse — that SVB was […]
NFT Scams: How to Keep Your Wallet Safe from Hacks
Scams have become an inevitable part of the NFT ecosystem. At this point, nearly all of the biggest names in the space have been victims of hacking. In January of 2023 alone, PROOF Collective founder Kevin Rose lost more than $1 million in NFTs in a phishing scam, and the Azuki Twitter account got hacked. Followers who clicked a nefarious link posted by the hackers lost nearly $800,000 in NFTs combined. If the biggest names in crypto and NFTs can get hacked, so can you. Despite the growing awareness around these scams, everyone from NFT still stands a massive risk of being swindled out of their assets […]
Ethereum Merge: Here’s What to Expect From the Groundbreaking Move
The mythical merge is finally coming to fruition. And, after a rough-and-tumble year for the crypto world, Ethereum’s long-awaited software update could inject some much-needed energy into the Web3 space while scoring a significant win for the environment. The transition, years in the making, is technically sophisticated, controversial, and likely to be the biggest event in the crypto space for some time to come. So, let’s break down what the merge is, why it’s essential, and what it means for the future of the crypto and NFT space. What exactly is the merge? The Ethereum blockchain is the technical infrastructure […]