Autore: wsjcrypto

Over the past six weeks, the Ethereum primary development and research squads have been enhancing the advancements achieved in the previous year. With the shadow of last year’s security challenges now firmly in the past, efforts have commenced vigorously on the execution of the Metropolis hard fork. To commence, we have seen continuous advancement in collaboration with the Zcash team concerning the integration of zk-SNARKs: In terms of proof of stake, Vlad, myself, and others have persistently worked to refine the Casper specification and unify on a strategic plan. A major aspect of our efforts has been the concept of…

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The emergence of BitVM smart contracts has heralded a remarkable achievement in the journey toward scalability and programmability of Bitcoin. Based on the original BitVM framework, Bitlayer’s Finality Bridge unveils the initial iteration of the protocol live on testnet, serving as a promising foundation for actualizing the aspirations of the Bitcoin Renaissance or “Season 2”. Follow GG on X Unlike previous BTC bridges that frequently depended on centralized bodies or dubious trust assumptions, the Finality Bridge utilizes a synergy of BitVM smart contracts, fraud proofs, and zero-knowledge proofs. This amalgamation not only boosts security but also considerably diminishes the necessity…

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By Abigail Marie P. Yraola, Deputy Research Head Approved overseas investments in the Philippines decreased by 38.9% last year to P543.62 billion, marking the most substantial drop in four years, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s report on Thursday. Initial figures from the PSA revealed that the worth of foreign commitments sanctioned by the nation’s investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in 2024 was less than the P889.24 billion registered in 2023. The year-on-year decline in foreign investments is the most significant since the 71.3% decrease noted in 2020. In the three months leading up to December, pledges totaled P57.70 billion, down…

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The past few months have been quite eventful for the Ethereum javascripters. To begin with, an outstanding hackathon was held in collaboration with IPFS. You can read Dan Finlay’s wonderful summary here. Additionally, during this period, Aaron Davis (Kumavis) made significant advancements towards a JS light client by leveraging IPFS’s libp2p to forge an in-browser mesh network and IPLD to establish the merklization foundation. This endeavor will be crucial for developing pure in-browser clients. Furthermore, Casey Detrio worked on a standard JSON RPC testing suite, which you can view the outcomes of here. Following the Seattle Meetup, we (Axic and…

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The administration of US President Donald Trump may be setting aside plans for an official “Crypto Council” in favor of a series of informal gatherings with a rotating lineup of industry leaders. This adjustment, first reported by Unchained Crypto on February 13, is believed to mirror both tactical policy considerations and a bid to ease escalating internal discord within the digital asset sector. Crypto Council Delayed, Summits Proposed As per Unchained, three undisclosed sources knowledgeable about the administration’s decision-making revealed that these anticipated summits would likely address various policy topics, spanning banking and payments to data centers and Bitcoin (BTC)…

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The Pectra network enhancement is set to launch on Ethereum testnets! Pectra Overview It will commence on Holesky at epoch 115968 (Feb. 24, 21:55 UTC) followed by Sepolia at epoch 222464 (Mar. 5, 7:29 UTC). The Pectra testnet client versions are detailed below. After both testnets have successfully transitioned, an activation epoch for the mainnet will be determined. Pectra follows the previous year’s Dencun enhancement. It brings in innovations to enhance Ethereum accounts, enrich the validator experience, facilitate L2 scaling, and much more! This article delves into these three significant advancements in depth. For a broader perspective, refer to ethereum.org’s…

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Este artículo también está disponible en español. La Comisión de Valores y Bolsa de Estados Unidos (SEC) ha confirmado oficialmente la recepción de la presentación 19b-4 de Grayscale Investments para transformar su XRP Trust en un fondo cotizado en bolsa (ETF) de intercambio al contado. La validación de la agencia—revelada por el analista de ETF de Bloomberg, James Seyffart, el 14 de febrero—marca el inicio del proceso de revisión formal que podría determinar si el producto es aprobado para cotización pública. James Seyffart, quien anunció la noticia en su cuenta de X, mencionó: “Ahí está — La SEC acaba de…

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Increase in the costs of building materials in the National Capital Region (NCR) lessened in January amid decreased interest rates and a depreciated peso, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday. Based on initial data, the January construction materials retail price index (CMRPI) decelerated to 1.2% in January, down from 1.5% recorded in December and 1.4% noted in the same month last year. The rise in the CMRPI in the National Capital Region (NCR) was the slowest in five months, since the 1.1% recorded in August 2024. “A depreciated peso has rendered imported building materials less expensive,”…

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