Visa and Mastercard Suspend Operations in Russia as Part of Sanctions Over Ukraine

The world’s leading payment processors Visa and Mastercard have joined sanctions against Russia over its military invasion of Ukraine. The American companies announced suspension of operations in the Russian Federation although Russians will be able to use their cards inside the country. Card Payment Giants Visa and Mastercard Add to Pressure on Russia Over Ukraine … Read more

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero Hashrates Tap Lifetime Highs — Dash, ETC, LTC Hashpower Lower Than Prior ATHs

During the first month of 2022, both Bitcoin and Ethereum’s hashrates have climbed to all-time highs (ATHs). While Bitcoin’s hashpower surged to over 200 exahash per second (EH/s), Ethereum’s hashpower jumped to over 1 petahash per second (PH/s). A few mineable digital asset networks, however, saw their hashrates decline since their ATHs and the processing … Read more

Film Reels and Steel: Github Plans to Archive Bitcoin Code for 1,000 Years

The Microsoft subsidiary, Github recently revealed the “Archive Program,” an initiative that aims to preserve open source technologies for 1,000 years. The newly launched effort plans to store snapshots of open source technology 250 meters underground on the Norwegian island of Svalbard. The source code management and collaboration platform also plans to store the Bitcoin … Read more

What Are Altcoins and Why Are There Over 5,000 of Them?

According to crypto market capitalization aggregators, there are more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies in existence today and over 20,000 different types of markets. BTC is the oldest and most known digital asset and most everything else has been typically referred to as an “altcoin.” The term refers to any of the thousands of prevalent cryptocurrencies that … Read more

Protocol, Networks, Law, and Anarchism

I imagine long ago there was a time when neither verbal nor written language existed for humans. Hand gestures and other physical cues were as good as our ancestors had it. Perhaps the sign for thirsty meant pinching one’s own tongue. Or the sign for hungry meant stuffing one’s hand in one’s own mouth. **The … Read more

Private Blockchains Have Few Applications, Study Finds

Despite all efforts, so far businesses haven’t been able to come up with significant applications for private, centralized blockchains as opposed to public distributed ledgers, a new study shows. According to the authors, in most cases corporate blockchain networks are used mainly for database verification and transactions auditing. Also read: Poll Shows 13% of Russians … Read more

China Censors Cryptocurrency Ads on Search Engines and Social Media

Hong Kong-based media have reported that the country’s major search engines and social media networks do not appear to be presenting paid adverts for products or companies associated with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Reports have alleged that the censorship of cryptocurrency ads may date back to the announcement that The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) … Read more