It’s official — the big players are entering the blockchain game. It is still too early to predict whether that is a good thing for the industry, but most of these corporations (seem to) have honest intentions with the technology.
With its untapped potential still heavily explored, blockchain technology could undergo a renaissance of sorts as Amazon, Facebook, and other giants started pouring in cash and inspecting possibilities of the chain.
But they are not alone on the forefront as many small companies that focus on the technology make daily breakthroughs that move the industry forward, making room for new blockchain-based opportunities.
Let’s take a look at some of the news coming from the big and small players alike that made the month of July interesting among blockchain enthusiasts.
Facebook Libra Hearing
Once again, it’s Libra that caused turmoil worldwide, as the US officials quickly summoned a hearing to question Libra’s creators about the nature of the project. David Marcus, Libra’s co-creator, answered the call and boldly faced senators in a discussion that mildly resembled Zuckerberg’s Congress hearing that resulted in memes galore. Coindesk covered some of the most important aspects of the hearing, while Twitter users did not pass on extracting some juicy parts either.
A Drafted Bill Created to Keep Big Players Out
Whenever there are big players, there is a fear of them taking complete control, and Facebook’s Libra is a step that many think crossed the line, making FB a financial institution. Therefore, congressional leaders drafted a bill dubbed “Keep Big Tech Out of Finance Act,” which should prevent big tech institutions to “establish, maintain, or operate a digital asset intended as an exchange medium, store of value or account unit.” A detailed overview of the bill is available in the news piece published on The Block Crypto.
The Justin Sun/Warren Buffett Case Controversy
The use of the word “controversy” has increased recently in the crypto community, and one of the most recent uses was in relation to the meeting between the investment giant Warren Buffett and the young TRON founder Justin Sun.
The entire crypto world waited for the two to get together at last, but it seems that Sun had some health issues related to kidney stones, which is why the meeting has been postponed.
Nevertheless, some sources claim that the entire thing was fake, as Justin Sun is not allowed to leave China due to accusations of money laundering, Ponzi schemes, and other types of fraud.
Cosmos Staking: What Is It? And Other FAQs
Poloniex created a special subpage in their support circle to further explain the idea of “cosmos staking.” The idea is that they would start allowing non-US customers to stake portions of their Cosmos ATOM currencies, which would result in staking rewards for all users who are eligible for them. You can read more about the idea and get your questions answered on the official FAQ page.
Batching Proofs for Several Dapps into a Single Succinct Proof
Lior Goldberg and Michael Riabzev wrote an introductory post about a type of design pattern made for smart-contracts they named the Fact Registry Contract pattern. Its main goal is to make a separation of statement verification from the app that’s relying on its validity.
Geth v1.9.0 Released
The Go Ethereum finally received its v1.9.0 release after several quiet months from Ethereum. They published a lengthy blog post, discussing all the features of the update. If you don’t have the time to read the whole thing, Lefteris Karapetsas made a nice little Twitter overview of the main points from the post.
The 0x Vulnerability Explained
Published on samczsun.com, this blog post explains in a simple manner how the 0x v2 Exchange was shut down due to a flaw that took place during the verification routine. The text discusses the background of the problem, the code, and the core problem. Furthermore, it also covers the solution that 0x came up with in record time.
An Interview with Natalie Smolenski
Good ID published an interview with SVP Business Development at Learning Machine, Natalie Smolenski who shared her views on the potential of blockchain and self-sovereign identity principles. She covered some of the advantages and disadvantages of digital IDs and explained how it is going to affect the future of humankind.
An Update on Tenderly
Dubbed “A very Tenderly update: Debugging Ethereum transactions, Verifying contracts and other newsworthy updates,” this piece is an overall update on what Tenderly has been up to recently. They covered their work on TXFlow and its Tenderly integration, smart contract verification on the platform, dashboard redesign, and future plans.
Secure Multiparty Computation Explained
Coindesk published an article written by Micahel J. Casey, explaining an important cryptography field that could put an end to pressing problems in decentralized systems regarding usability and scalability. This “potential Holy Grail,” as Casey refers to it, is called MPC or secure multiparty computation and it could be a real game changer.
Meta Mask Mobile Beta
MetaMask announced a mobile app for their platform and recently launched a beta version of it. Furthermore, they published an article on their Medium blog that serves as a feature guide and walks users through the app.
Sberbank Leaves the Russian Central Bank Blockchain Project
According to Coindesk, Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, is disappointed with the central bank-supported blockchain project called Masterchain. Sberbank is currently looking for alternatives, as its officials were not satisfied with the overall efficiency of Masterchain. This is a huge blow for the entire project since its future may not be as certain as it used to be.
Blockstack Token Sale Creates History as First US SEC-Qualified Offering
Blockstack published an announcement on their blog, stating that their upcoming token sale will be the first of its kind. What makes it different from other offerings is the fact that it is going to be the first one to receive SEC qualification. This is a giant step toward further popularization of dapps, as well as overall privacy and security on the web.
Interesting Projects in July
We made a short list of some projects that either started in July or are currently underway. Let’s take a look.
- Samsung Blockchain Mainnet — Samsung is taking their blockchain game to the next level as they decided to build an Ethereum-based mainnet that will also feature a Samsung token.
- ETHSimple 2.0 — ETH Simple is an .Eth portfolio explorer that has been updated with a couple of new and exciting features.
- Almonit Dweb Portal — Almonit published a decentralized web portal that you can access at almonit.eth and its HTTP counterpart almonit.club.
This Month in Blockchain — July 2019 was originally published in MVP Workshop on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.