Bitcoin's Bold Experiment: A Goldmine for Economic Researchers
Outsiders are understandably baffled by the bitcoin community's civil war. The long-running dispute among the cryptocurrency's top software developers hinges on a seemingly arcane issue: whether or not to increase the 1MB limit for each block of transactions in bitcoin's blockchain ledger. How could such a trifling software fix cause so much angst? But while bitcoin's critics flag the impasse as proof the digital currency isn’t ready for primetime, I’d suggest an alternative perspective: It represents all that makes this open-source project fascinating. It’s a reminder of how big and bold....
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The World Economic Forum wants to create guidelines for data storage and distribution, in hopes of making it easier for researchers and governments to make informed decisions.
On February 21, 2016, the Bank of England reported that it had partnered with researchers at University College in London to produce RSCoin, a digital currency designed for central bankers. Sarah Meiklejohn and George Danezis, two students from University College, created RSCoin which, they announced, offered a protocol superior to that of Bitcoin. The researchers said their work was a response to Bitcoin’s limited transaction throughput, which is capped at around seven transactions per second today based on the 1 megabyte block size limit and current network conditions. In comparison,....
The rising trend of bitcoin and substantial growth of investments in the digital currency space has increased the awareness of bitcoin across major cities in the United States. Since early 2015, an escalating number of mainstream media outlets, international government agencies and law enforcement agencies have exclusively featured bitcoin in various publications and reports. Such coverage brought bitcoin one step closer to mainstream awareness and adoption, as more people began to understand and notice bitcoin as both an alternative currency and an innovative financial network. Seeking to....
Bitcoin miners have struck a proverbial goldmine, reaping an astonishing $107 million in profits, according to data from Glassnode, a leading analytics platform. This unprecedented windfall, amassed on April 20th, underscores a significant shift in the revenue dynamics of Bitcoin mining operations. Related Reading: Will Celestia (TIA) Hit $130? Analyst Makes Bold Prediction The meteoric rise in transaction fees serves as a bellwether for the evolving economic landscape of Bitcoin mining. As the network adapts to new market demands and technological advancements, transaction fees have....
Ross Ulbricht, the alleged mastermind behind the only online drug marketplace, has been convicted of running Silk Road under the name Dread Pirate Roberts. He faces life in prison. Ross Ulbricht, 30, who refused to testify in his own defense, was convicted of all seven crimes he was charged with, including including trafficking drugs on the Internet, narcotics-trafficking conspiracy, running a continuing criminal enterprise, computer-hacking conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy. The verdict came after little more than three hours of deliberations from the jury. The jury consisted of....