Cryptocurrency

Gas fees on Ethereum layer-2 Polygon (MATIC) surged more than 1,000% to reach a peak of $0.10 as users inundated the network with the minting of Ordinals-inspired tokens dubbed POLS.  In a Nov. 16 X (formerly Twitter) post Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal shared his surprise at the elevated transaction activity on the network saying the

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Hot week for Hong Kong exchanges  Hashkey Exchange — one of the first regulated crypto exchanges in Hong Kong — has announced insurance coverage for clients assets stored in its hot and cold wallets. accounts. The policy will cover 50% of

Decentralized finance (DeFi) group Aave Companies has been rebranded to Avara as it looks to broaden its user base across the Web3 ecosystem. Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Avara (formerly Aave Companies), tells Cointelegraph that the company’s growing number of offerings, including liquidity protocol Aave, the GHO stablecoin, Lens Protocol and Sonar, necessitated an

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, officially filed for a spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Nov. 15. The Ether (ETH) ETF, dubbed the iShares Ethereum Trust, aims to “reflect generally the performance of the price of Ether,” read the S-1 filed with the SEC. The iShares

Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Starknet has outlined plans to improve the decentralization of three core components of its zero-knowledge (ZK) proof rollup solution. Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph, Starknet product manager and blockchain researcher Ilia Volokh outlined the firm’s intent to address certain centralized elements of its protocol aimed at defending against censorship and making its system

A recent video from blockchain security firm CertiK made a series of “inaccurate” claims about a potential security vulnerability in Solana’s crypto-enabled Saga phone, Solana Labs has said.  In a Nov. 15 post on X (formerly Twitter), CertiK claimed the Saga phone contained a “critical vulnerability” known as a “bootloader unlock” attack which would supposedly

Guidelines for firms listing and delisting cryptocurrencies in New York have tightened up to better protect investors, according to the state’s financial regulator. The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) unveiled new restrictions on Nov. 15 which mandate crypto companies submit their coin listing and delisting policies for NYDFS approval. Company policies will

Solana (SOL) has reached new yearly highs, gaining more than 17% the day after ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood lauded the network for its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. In a Nov. 15 CNBC interview, Wood described the Solana network as a major infrastructure player in the wider blockchain ecosystem and added it had been doing a

A new report from blockchain security platform Immunefi suggests that nearly half of all crypto lost from Web3 exploits is due to Web2 security issues such as leaked private keys. The report, released on November 15, looked back at the history of crypto exploits in 2022, categorizing them into different types of vulnerabilities. It concluded

Ethereum Layer 2 networks reached a new milestone on November 10, reaching $13 billion of total value locked (TVL) within their contracts, according to data from blockchain analytics platform L2Beat. According to industry experts, this trend of greater interest in layer 2s is likely to continue, although some challenges remain, especially in the realms of

Disembarking the Liberty houseboat moored off the frontier of the European Union, we’re met by a pair of Serbian police officers, their lit squad car nearly blinding us in the dark forest. “How many people are staying on the boat?” one asks, holding a large dog at bay. “I really don’t recall,” says my colleague

Plasma, a once-prominent Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution, should be revisited by teams currently working on zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (EVMs), says Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Invented in 2017, Plasma diverts data and computation — except deposits, withdrawals and Merkle roots — to an off-chain environment. It was superseded by optimistic and zero-knowledge (ZK)-rollups as

Crypto exchange OKX has launched a testnet for an upcoming Ethereum layer-2 network named “X1,” according to a Nov. 14 announcement. The network is being developed using the Polygon chain development kit (CDK) and will use zero-knowledge proofs to validate deposits and withdrawals between layers. OKX exchange interface. Source: OKX OKX is the sixth-largest centralized

I just spent an entire week working in virtual reality using the new Meta Quest 3. While the experience still mostly sucked, I came away with some renewed optimism for VR in the workplace. As I took Ron’s outstretched, virtual hand for a handshake, my actual hand — in the real world — clumsily whacked

A Ripple executive has re-emphasized the need to adopt a technology-neutral approach for more effective and adaptable guardrails as global regulators grapple with cryptocurrency rules. At the recent Ripple Swell 2023 event, Navin Gupta, managing director of South Asia, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at Ripple, told Cointelegraph that the industry should be regulated

Ethereum account abstraction advocate John Rising has shared some “sobering” numbers showing overall ERC-4437 adoption has been far from ideal.  In a Nov. 14 post on X (formerly Twitter), Rising shared data points that showed ERC-4337-enabled smart accounts suffered a decline in users, low transaction activity and poor operational costs for core infrastructure providers. The

The price of a memecoin drawing its namesake from Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence project “Grok” plummeted over 70% after blockchain sleuth ZachXBT alleged the token’s social media account was recycled from a scam token project. In a Nov. 13 X (formerly Twitter) post, ZachXBT shared screenshots showing various social media accounts and websites tied to

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could approve all 12 pending spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications by Nov. 17. Beginning on Nov. 9, the SEC reportedly has a “window” to approve all 12 spot Bitcoin ETF filings, including Grayscale Investments conversion of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust product. However, even if the SEC

Solana’s native token (SOL) experienced a remarkable 58.6% surge in just five days, reaching an $64 high on Nov. 11. However, the subsequent two-day retracement of 11.3% to $54 has prompted investors to question whether this signals a fading bullish momentum or merely a temporary price adjustment. To put Solana’s performance into context, let’s compare

Gresham’s law, explained Gresham’s law has historically influenced the circulation of currency and continues to impact economic behavior by addressing how individuals prioritize different forms of money. Gresham’s law is a principle in economics that states that when two different forms of money are in circulation, individuals typically spend or trade the money they believe

Major stablecoin issuer Tether has been increasingly minting new USDT (USDT) tokens, issuing 4 billion USDT over the past month. Tether issued another 1 billion of Tether on the Tron blockchain on Nov. 10, the blockchain data provider Whale Alert reported. The latest USDT minting came just a few days after Tether issued another 1