Approximately 14 years ago today, Laszlo Hanyecz posted on bitcointalk.org, offering 10,000 bitcoins for “a couple of pizzas.” However, most people are not aware that it took him four days to finalize the transaction, which is now worth 0 million. The Famous Bitcoin for Pizza Offer That Took 4 Days to Complete In May 2010, […]
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Study: Half of Canadian Institutional Investors Actively Offered One Crypto Asset Product in 2023
According to a recent survey, half of Canadian institutional investors and financial services organizations have actively offered at least one type of cryptocurrency asset product or service to clients in the past year. The study revealed that half of the institutional investors surveyed were exposed to crypto through exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end trusts, or other […]
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Block.one’s Settlement Offered a ‘Tiny Fraction’ of the $4.1 Billion Raised — EOS Network Foundation CEO
According to Yves La Rose, the founder and CEO of the EOS Network Foundation (ENF), the blockchain software company Block.one’s failure to financially back the EOS ecosystem after the 2018 initial coin offering (ICO) is one of the many reasons why the community felt compelled to take over.
Building Everything From Scratch
However, in written answers sent to Bitcoin.com News, La Rose revealed that the EOS community had to build everything from scratch since it didn’t “own any of the existing intellectual property.” In addition, La Rose said capital had to be injected” as quickly and effectively as possible” since the ecosystem had been starved of capital for years. This, however, had to be done before processes and frameworks that drive the decision-making were in place.
When asked about Block.one’s settlement proposal and why she urged the community to reject this, La Rose said the offer represented just “a tiny fraction of the .1 billion that Block.one raised from the community in its ICO sale.” She also argued that the proposed settlement fell well short of the billion that the blockchain software company promised but failed to inject into the EOS Network and community.
As has been reported by Bitcoin.com News, in the years that followed the ICO, interest in EOS waned and this is evidenced by the drop in the crypto asset’s price from an all-time high of .89 seen in April 2018 to .57 on Sept. 21, 2023. However, despite this, La Rose suggested in her answers sent via Telegram that the crypto asset is on a path to recovery. She pointed to the Japanese Virtual and Crypto Asset Exchange Association’s recent decision to give the crypto asset whitelist approval.
Below are all of Yves La Rose‘s answers to questions sent.
Bitcoin.com News (BCN): Back in 2018, EOS had the biggest and most hyped Initial Coin Offering (ICO) ever at .1 billion. It had enough resources to build and scale the biggest blockchain network in the world. In your opinion, what went wrong and why did the community feel compelled to take over?
Yves La Rose (YR): The EOS community did not benefit much from the .1 billion raise because that capital went to the private entity that conducted the token sale (Block.one) rather than back into the EOS ecosystem. Only a small fraction of that capital ended up being deployed to the benefit of the EOS community.
Rather than re-investing capital into the EOS ecosystem and community, as promised during the ICO, Block.one instead invested the majority of the capital into Bitcoin, shareholder buybacks and private for-profit businesses unrelated to EOS.
Throughout the early years of EOS, the software development was very strong and was way ahead of its time. The community may have grown disappointed in the lack of ecosystem investment, but the technical contributions to the protocol were still meaningful for a while.
In the year or two leading up to the founding of the ENF [EOS Network Foundation], we had seen a significant decline in the rate of code production and the quality of the code that was being output for the open-source EOSIO software stack that powered EOS. What we saw was that a lot of the developers that were remaining in Block.one were repurposed to their centralized exchange, Bullish. So there were very few people still remaining on EOSIO core code development and those that were senior and still capable of doing a very high level of code, qualitatively, were repurposed for Bullish. At the same time, many engineers began exiting the company due to their discontent with the new direction and lack of focus on open-source blockchain development.
At a certain point, it was clear that the incentives were no longer aligned between EOS and Block.one. This was exacerbated after Block.one attempted to sell their unvested token stake, which is what led to the EOS node operators reaching a consensus to stop their token vesting and essentially fired Block.one for not fulfilling their commitments.
Shortly after that, the EOS community forked the codebase, hired all of the best engineering talent with deep EOSIO protocol experience, and then rebranded it to what we now call Antelope. The EOS Network officially hard-forked to our community-led Antelope codebase almost exactly one year ago on what we referred to as EOS Independence Day.
BCN: The EOS community members have come together under the umbrella of the EOS Network Foundation (ENF) to revive and nurture the ecosystem. Can you talk about the biggest obstacles to the community-led revival of a blockchain network which was apparently abandoned by the company that launched it?
YR: After founding the EOS Network Foundation two years ago, the project was already [an] established four years old project. The EOS community didn’t own any of the existing intellectual property: the website, Github, social media accounts, documentation, or even the name of the technology itself. All of this had to be built again from scratch and existing listing sites, data aggregators, and exchanges, all had to be contacted individually to be made aware of the leadership change and new digital properties. This was quite a difficult process and took a long time to overcome. We had to essentially build a brand new identity from scratch.
Another obstacle was that the ecosystem had been starved of capital for so long that we had to find ways to deploy capital as quickly and effectively as possible without necessarily having the time to develop processes and frameworks to drive the decision-making. What helped us get through this period was that many of the top ecosystem contributors had essentially been on a 4-year job interview at that point, so we had a pretty good idea of who and what to support. We formed multiple working groups, or think tanks, with the best and brightest in the ecosystem to help develop the roadmap and priorities for the network. We’ve been working diligently on executing the results of that work, and much more, ever since then.
BCN: The community and Block.one have been locked in a legal battle for a while now, and recently you urged the community to reject its million settlement proposal. Why did you do this and what are the implications of of accepting such a settlement in the future?
YR: The proposed settlement amount of million represents a tiny fraction of the .1 billion that Block.one raised from the community in its ICO sale and the billion that Block.one promised to invest in the EOS Network and community but failed to do. On behalf of the EOS community, the ENF will continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure that Block.one is held to account for its promises to invest billion in the EOS Network and community.
Block.one and its representatives made strong formal public commitments that led to stakeholders making investment and development decisions during and well beyond the year-long ICO. It has become apparent that there was no intention of following through on the commitments which has led to significant financial losses.
While EOS community members who joined the settlement may recover a small percentage of the losses that they suffered, the benefit to Block.one is much greater as community members who joined the settlement will be barred by the terms of the settlement from bringing any future claims against Block.one and its founders: million is too small a price for Block.one to pay to avoid having to be held to account for their bad acts in the future.
BCN: Your background suggests you’ve been committed to the EOS network for a long time. Can you talk about your journey from EOS Nation to the EOS Network Foundation (ENF)?
YR: My journey in the EOS ecosystem began as the CEO and co-founder of the EOS Network block producer prior to the mainnet launch in 2018. We started out as a relatively unknown standby block producer, but over the years we gained credibility through leading many different ecosystem initiatives. We also led the coordination of several EOS system upgrades. We eventually became the #1 ranked block producer.
Over time it became more and more clear that EOS was in need of a focused entity that has, at its core, fulfilled a mission to enable developers, businesses, and individuals to build on EOS. A top-down appointed hierarchy responsible for the urgently needed allocation of funding and coordination of resources that is common in other ecosystems, but was lacking in EOS due to Block.one’s failure to take on this role, despite their .1b token sale.
It was obvious that this void needed to be filled, so in 2021, I stepped down as CEO of EOS Nation and began taking proactive steps towards gathering consensus from the network to support and fund a dedicated non-profit foundation to act as stewards for EOS. After several months of planning and coordinating the block producers, the EOS Network Foundation was born.
BCN: EOS recently received whitelist approval from the Japanese Virtual and Crypto Asset Exchange Association, allowing the native token to trade against the yen on regulated exchanges in the country. How important is the Japanese market, and the Asian market in general for EOS?
YR: EOS receiving regulatory approval in Japan was a huge accomplishment that only 78 out of the thousands of cryptocurrencies have been able to achieve.
Clearly defined regulatory frameworks are the holy grail of the crypto industry and Japan is one of the few countries that has one in place. I believe that there is still an incredible opportunity for more countries offering clarity and oversight to absorb market share. Hong Kong is another area that stands out in this regard with their recent initiatives.
Japan is important for EOS because it is a major growing market for web3 with an established regulatory framework and a supportive government. Their prime minister recently stated “Web3 is the new form of capitalism” in his keynote speech at the WebX Tokyo conference. Japan is also significant to the web3 space due to its established gaming industry and gaming intellectual property that are ripe for tokenization.
Asia has always been an important geographic area for EOS going back to its earliest days and it is where the vast majority of token holders and token weight resides. I strongly believe that the next wave of innovation in web3 will come in the form of blockchain-based gaming and Asia is clearly a leader in that space.
The Asian markets are also offering more welcoming rules to regulate crypto-related activities during a time when regulation is tightening in other parts of the world. In addition to the advantageous regulatory climate being offered, there is just a much larger population that is incomparable to other parts of the world so there are many more individuals who are able to participate as more retail markets continue to open up in places like Hong Kong.
BCN: In your opinion, what are the biggest problems with the crypto industry right now and how can they be solved?
YR: Generally speaking, blockchains and blockchain-based applications are still clunky and difficult to use for new users. They need to become easier to gain any kind of mass adoption.
Most people outside of crypto don’t want to use a blockchain or an NFT, they just want to use things that make their life better or more enjoyable. Mass adoption will come by using the technology to build things people want, but making the blockchain invisible to end users.
BCN: What’s the future direction of the EOS blockchain, especially considering there are a plethora of layer-ones vying to grab a piece of the pie?
YR: EOS is focused on delivering a user experience similar to what Web2 users expect and have become accustomed to. This means abstracting away most, if not all, of the cumbersome realities of Web3, including resource management. As more stakeholders start leveraging blockchain technology and we, as an industry, move towards mass adoption of various use cases and applications, high-frequency low-value transactions will become the norm and the EOS model will be there supplying the vast demand.
Users shouldn’t have to worry about managing their own resources or paying gas fees. EOS’s scalability offers developers low, predictable costs, allowing them to manage user resources on their behalf, offering a far better UX.
Mass adoption of blockchain won’t come from an app that’s simply built on top of a blockchain. It will come from apps that are made better by a blockchain but hide the clunky blockchain UX from its users.
BCN: EOS recently launched EOS EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) to bring EVM support in an attempt to revitalize the platform. Can you talk about the role of EVM compatibility in building a multi-chain future and why it’s important for different crypto market players to combine resources?
YR: What the EVM brings to EOS is essentially the ability to open the doors to an immense amount of developers that didn’t previously have the means to come into the EOS ecosystem and the EOS EVM opens that door for them.
The Ethereum Virtual Machine has undoubtedly become the standard for web3. This doesn’t mean that technologies outside of the standard cannot exist, but they must be interoperable with Ethereum to remain competitive. In our latest release of the EOS EVM, smart contracts on EOS native can read and call smart contracts to generate atomic transactions on EOS EVM and vice versa. The concept of interoperability between virtual machines is quite exciting.
EOS EVM allows EOS to leverage the largest developer community in web3 and developer tooling such as Hardhat and Openzeppelin. These developers are already familiar with EVM and have built a wealth of applications that can run on it. All of the tooling, protocol improvements, and open-source code from Ethereum is now at the fingertips of EOS developers. At the same time, our own engineers are also making their own innovative contributions to code such as the EOS EVM version of the Silkworm C++ Ethereum implementation, which is accessible to the rest of the Ethereum community since it is open source. Everyone benefits.
What are your thoughts about this interview? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Russians Offered Ready-made Crypto Exchange Accounts Amid Restrictions
Russian crypto traders have been looking to obtain unrestricted accounts for global exchanges as their access to such platforms is limited. Over the past year, the offering of such accounts on the dark web has increased significantly, cybersecurity experts told the Russian press.
Supply of Crypto Exchange Accounts for Russian Users Doubles in a Year of Sanctions
More and more ready-to-use accounts for cryptocurrency exchanges are being sold to Russian residents. While this is not a new phenomenon — such accounts are often employed by fraudsters and money launderers — the current growth in supply has been attributed to the restrictions imposed by the trading platforms on customers from Russia, as a result of compliance with sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
Russian residents have been buying these accounts despite the dangers, including the risk that whoever created them could maintain access after the sale, the Kommersant reported. But they are inexpensive and offers on darknet markets have doubled since early 2022, Nikolay Chursin from the Positive Technologies information security threat analysis group told the business daily.
According to Peter Mareichev, an analyst at Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence, the number of new ads for ready-made and verified wallets on various exchanges reached 400 in December. Proposals to prepare fake documents for passing know-your-customer procedures also rose, the newspaper revealed in an earlier article last month.
Simple login data, username and password, is typically priced at around , Chursin added. And for a fully set up account, including the documents with which it was registered, a buyer would have to pay an average of 0. Dmitry Bogachev from digital threat analysis firm Jet Infosystems explained that the price depends on factors such as the country and date of registration as well as the activity history. Older accounts are more expensive.
Sergey Mendeleev, CEO of defi banking platform Indefibank, pointed out that there are two categories of buyers — Russians that have no other choice as they need an account for everyday work and those who use these accounts for criminal purposes. Igor Sergienko, director of development at cybersecurity services provider RTK-Solar, is convinced that demand is largely due to crypto exchanges blocking Russian accounts or withdrawals to Russian bank cards in recent months.
Major crypto service providers, including leading digital asset exchanges, have complied with financial restrictions introduced by the West in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Last year, the world’s largest crypto trading platform, Binance, indicated that, while restricting sanctioned individuals and entities, it was not banning all Russians.
However, since the end of 2022, a number of Russian users of Binance have complained about having their accounts blocked without explanation, as reported by Forklog. Many experienced problems for weeks, including suspended withdrawals amid prolonged checks, affected customers said. The company told the crypto news outlet that the blocking of users from Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States was related to the case with the seized crypto exchange Bitzlato.
Do you think the restrictions will push more Russians towards buying ready-made accounts for cryptocurrency exchanges? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.
TC Mediacoin: A Blockchain-based Crypto Economy Where Content Creators Are Offered Freedom, Control & Unlimited Earning Potential
We all know that when it comes to freedom of expression, platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and alike haven’t always lived up to their promises. The landscape for creators is constantly changing with regard to what can and can’t be expressed, monetizing their content, and adhering to guidelines and rules policed by, well, who really knows?
Therefore, artists, vloggers, influencers and entertainers have much to consider before creating and publishing their work to avoid being demonetized at best, or at worst, banned from a platform altogether, and all that hard work is simply thrown in the trash.
One company led by crypto visionary, Sergey Sevantsyan, believes it has created the perfect platform where creators and influencers are truly free, and able to combine traditional ways of publishing and generating income with new opportunities like earning income from NFTs and crypto investments.
Empowering content creators
TC Mediacoin is a blockchain-based platform that empowers content creators by offering them complete freedom of expression and providing a multitude of ways to earn income rather than trying to control content creators. Here creators choose which content they want to monetize, are free to sell files, videos, create and sell NFTs, earn through coin farming and learn to trade in cryptocurrency.
If you don’t know anything about NFTs, no problem, the company offers a turnkey service to help you create your own and sell them. And, unlike mainstream platforms, here there are no community guidelines, no moderators, and for audiences and followers in particular, no annoying popups or advertising on the platform whatsoever.
The mission
According to the company’s CEO, TC Mediacoin wants to unite the real world with the crypto world and take the fear out of investing in cryptocurrency. To achieve this the company has created its own mini crypto economy based on the already established MC coin, which everything else revolves around.
To ensure this happens it has developed a range of useful products and tools to power this crypto economy, including a debit card program with payment available in both fiat and crypto, a marketplace for products and services, an NFT marketplace, and a soon to be launched crypto exchange.
Education and training
Although content creators can earn on the platform by doing what they do best, the company wants them to maximize their earning potential and also explore new opportunities. So, to help with this, Mediacoin offers free masterclasses on the basics of crypto investing and how to effectively use the platform’s tools and features to their full potential.
After learning the basics, individuals can choose to pay for more advanced lessons offered at the company’s crypto school, taught by industry professionals. In addition, the company offers open presentations and talks about crypto and TC Mediacoin between 2-6 times per week in English, Russian and Spanish languages.
How investing works
Unlike other cryptocurrencies, individuals cannot mine or mint Mediacoin. MC coins can only be obtained through “staking”, which means an individual buying a coin. However, it is possible to invest in the company’s coin farming process and be rewarded for your investment according to tokenomics.
Investing in this process takes time, with it taking between 5-8 years to create a new coin. Remember, this is a long-term investment, you’re buying a stake in the business – therefore, if you want to withdraw your investment early, expect a penalty of around 28%.
However, on the upside, investors in the mining process can expect to receive 10% interest per month on their investment until the mining period is over. And, over this time, the coin’s value should have increased considerably.
The Mediaverse
Mediacoin plans to launch its own web version metaverse by June 2022, where people can learn, earn money and generally hang out and relax. Stars, influencers and followers can all interact together offering creators the opportunity to show off and sell their NFTs. Although June’s version will be in 2D format, a virtual reality version where glasses can be used won’t be far behind.
To help raise awareness and promote everything that’s happening within the platform, TC Mediacoin has introduced an ambassador program, in which individuals can apply to receive a budget for promotional activities. The company hopes to build on its growing community by harnessing the power of its celebrity and influencer investors to maximum effect.
The future?
TC Mediacoin has taken a different approach to build a crypto economy which seems to be gaining a lot of traction. As long as humans are on this planet there will always be demand for content, thus, the company has a firm foundation to build on, unlike many other crypto projects.
Millions in Subsidies Offered by Chinese Blockchain Industrial Park to New Companies
Hangzhou Blockchain Industrial Park (BIP) has issued six types of funding to attract new businesses as it seeks to expand its reputation. The park, which was opened on April 9, is offering subsidies ranging from venture capital funding to PhD living allowances.
Subsidies Encourage Blockchain Industry
The move is aimed at introducing ‘high-level talents’ to the industrial park as well as improving the blockchain industry as a whole. It will help with talent introduction, financial management, and supplying equipment.
The announcement said:
“The industrial park collects high-quality projects in the blockchain industry all year round. Accepted projects can be located in the Hangzhou Blockchain Industrial Park, enjoying preferential policies and making full use of the park’s resources.”
The fund includes subsidies for individual talent such as an up to three million yuan (8,000) settlement amount and a one-time living allowance for Masters and PhD students. The incubation platform has rewards of up to 15 million yuan (.3 million) rent allowance. Other funding includes up to 20 million yuan (.1 million) for equity investment guidance.
The BIP was opened with ten blockchain companies already signed up and is linked with a research institute and an innovation fund of billion yuan (.5 billion). The fund is managed by Hangzhou Haoyu Investment Management Co. The BIP was opened two weeks after plans for an international Chinese Blockchain Center were scrapped due to legal technicalities.
Blockchain companies are in high demand across the world as various countries seek to attract them. The island of Malta, the EU’s smallest member, has become well known for offering legal certainty to blockchain companies in order to attract them. The legal grey areas regarding blockchain technology have created confusion for such companies from questions over data protection to security regulation in the U.S. Malta has also offered very favourable tax rates as low as five percent.
The government of China has reiterated its worries over fraud and other scams in the blockchain space. A report published on May 21 also expressed concerns over the possibility of a 51% attack, which has recently happened twice to Verge in a matter of weeks. It acknowledges that there are nearing 500 blockchain-based companies in China and that the industry saw exponential growth in 2017.
China to ‘Accelerate’ Blockchain Technology
A report has been published aiming to develop the pilot free trade zone in Guangdong, China. The trade zone, near Hong Kong and Macao, integrates three existing zones over 116 sq. kilometres. It was approved in December 2014 and implemented in April 2015. The report shows that the zone met its initial results and, in general, achieved its expected goals. It aims to reform the zone and open it up wider. It also sets out plans to support the integration of Hong Kong and Macao into the overall development of the country.
The report said: “We will vigorously develop financial technology and accelerate the research and application of blockchain and big data technologies under the premise of legal compliance.”
One of the aims of the reforms is to develop science and technology finance. The support for the zone includes pilot investment and loans to promote innovation. Plans include building a regional equity market in Guangdong and introduce Hong Kong, Macao, and other investors to participate in it.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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Binance Hacker Bounty: $250K Offered for Information Leading to the Arrests of Those Responsible for Attempted Hack
Recap: Binance Attack
On March 7th, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by market cap, Binance, almost fell victim to large-scale attack. According to the company, the attack — which took place over just a two minute period — was part of a well-organized phishing and stealing attempt. Fortunately, when all was said and done, users funds were declared safe.
What happened? Hackers used account information obtained through several months of phishing and strategically placed a large number of market buys on the VIA/BTC market, pushing the price high, while 31 pre-deposited accounts were there selling VIA at the top in an attempt to move the Bitcoin from the phished accounts to 31 accounts controlled by the hackers. Withdrawal requests were then attempted from these accounts immediately afterwards.
In a blog post, Binance described how it played-out as follows: “As withdrawals were already automatically disabled by our risk management system, none of the withdrawals successfully went out. Additionally, the VIA coins deposited by the hackers were also frozen. Not only did the hacker not steal any coins out, their own coins have also been withheld.”
“Binance Hacker Bounty”
Today, in response to these attempted thefts, Binance issued a statement entitled “Binance Hacker Bounty.” In it, they explain that this most recent attack highlights the fact that the industry can’t simply play defence. The company explains how the hackers were well organized and patient: waiting for the most opportune moment to act and utilizing VIA, a coin with small liquidity, to maximize their gains.
Because of this, Binance is offering:
“A 0,000 USD equivalent bounty to anyone who supplies information that leads to the legal arrest of the hackers involved in the attempted hacking incident on Binance on March 7th, 2018.”
The company outlines how the process will work: a person who provides information leading to the arrest will receive their payout in BNB, Binance’s self-issued coin, and if it’s multiple people, the company will split the bounty at its digression amongst those involved.
And there’s more. Binance also states that it has allocated the equivalent of ,000,000 USD in crypto reserves for future bounty awards against any illegal hacking attempts on the exchange. And even further, the company asks others in the industry to join them in this offensive move against future potential hacks, saying:
“We have also invited other exchanges and crypto businesses to join our initiative. We welcome their participation at any time.”
This call-to-arms come as other crypto companies across the globe are banding together to address the regulatory and safety issues that are impacting the industry. Let’s hope other exchanges will follow Binance’s lead, and take their own proactive steps to protect users from the ever-increasing challenges hackers and cyber-criminals bring to the crypto industry.
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Crypto Market Is Offered the First Professional Benchmark, Announces ICO
One of the developers of CIV-20 index Oleg Naumovich shared why the cryptocurrency market is in need for a new milestone, who and how makes up the index and how it can be used in practice. Q: Oleg, you are a professional broker with extensive experience of active stock market management. Tell the truth, do … Continue reading Crypto Market Is Offered the First Professional Benchmark, Announces ICO
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Merchants are Among the Top Beneficiaries of Crypto Payment Interfaces Offered by Companies Like Cryptopay
Merchants and other stakeholders within the financial ecosystem are gradually realizing that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are an inevitable part of the payment landscape. As the traditional world meets the crypto world, consumers will require interfaces between these two. These interfaces serve as the bridge connecting both ecosystems and consequently become a vital aspect in … Continue reading Merchants are Among the Top Beneficiaries of Crypto Payment Interfaces Offered by Companies Like Cryptopay
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