Harry Potter mystery box: Tajomné balíčky, ktoré dobývajú digitálny svet

In what could become the latest strange-but-true chapter in bitcoin’s history, an anonymous cryptographer named after Harry Potter’s arch nemesis has put forth a proposal experts believe could help solve major issues facing the network. Authored by ‘Tom Elvis Jedusor’ (Voldemort's name in the French versions of the book), the Harry Potter references in the paper don’t stop there. The proposal itself, posted to chat channels earlier this August, is named ‘Mimblewimble’ after a tongue-tying curse meant to render an opponent silent. Yet despite the allusions to the popular fantasy series, the....

All (full) Bitcoin nodes verify all transactions on the network. This allows the system to be entirely trustless and decentralized, but also presents significant drawbacks. Privacy and fungibility are at odds, because public transactions allow anyone to trace the flow of bitcoins over the blockchain. Meanwhile, verifying a growing number of transactions adds to the cost of running a node, which could be a centralizing force. But perhaps these drawbacks can be tackled. Last week, a new white paper was somewhat mysteriously dropped on a Bitcoin research channel, written by the pseudonymous....

A slimming down of the bitcoin protocol called Mimblewimble generates a blinding factor that can prove ownership of bitcoins, making private keys unnecessary, and offering a solution to the need to balance bitcoin privacy against fungibility while also improving scalability, according to a white paper that appeared mysteriously on a bitcoin research site authored by a person using a pseudonym, according to Nasdaq. Privacy and fungibility are at odds in bitcoin because anyone can trace transactions over the blockchain, and as the number of transactions increases, the verification cost can....

One of bitcoin's more forward-looking projects has attracted a group of developers who are using some obscure names from the Harry Potter book series. Bearing the names of the book series' invisibility cloak inventor (Ignotus Peverell), its leading wand maker (Garrick Ollivander) and the mother of its main antagonist (Merope Ripple), the developers are now working on the first version of Mimblewimble. First proposed by a cryptographer who uses French version of Tom Riddle (better known as Lord Voldemort), Mimblewimble describes a unique way of solving some of bitcoin’s more pressing....

Bitfinex CSO Phil Potter came under a cloud this past Thursday, after an interview in which he seemed to be admitting to insider trading at Bitfinex. The interview was contained in a podcast that was posted on Vocaroo, an online voice recording service. In the voice recording, Mr. Potter can be heard strenuously clarifying that he was a Bitcoin investor. He adds that he had not been involved in actual trading on his Bitfinex trading platform saying that such an action would be "highly inappropriate". Bitfinex has come out in defense for Mr. Potter. Josh Rossi VP for Business Development....