Ep. 128 Hanging Tacos and Convex Plates
On this (tangent-heavy) episode of the Unhashed Podcast, Colin and Mario talk Aker's dive into bitcoin, Filecoin's not-a-double-spend hack on Binance, Morgan Stanley gatekeeping its upcoming bitcoin support, and which of the Nic(k) Carters has the better Cardano take. Also, is it OK to buy a circle of land around someone's property and charge them exorbitant prices to leave?
From Bitcoin Magazine: Norwegian holding company Aker ASA announced the formation of a new business, Seetee, that will be dedicated to bitcoin investment and fostering its underlying technology. Shortly afterward, Blockstream announced a partnership with Seetee to focus on using bitcoin to maximize existing energy production. “While Bitcoin is well on its way to transforming the financial industry, it also holds the potential to bring about radical improvements in global energy distribution,” according to the announcement. “Our partnership with Seetee will improve power grid efficiency, drive further investment in renewable energy, and act as a catalyst to a more sustainable future — all while improving Bitcoin’s security in the process.”
As reported on Coindesk, according to developers at Filfox and FileStar, Binance processed a “double deposit” of FIL on Wednesday worth millions of dollars. This is not a true, on-chain double spend, but Binance credited the account for filecoin miner 6Block (the parent of Filfox and Filestar) twice for one deposit due to a “serious bug” in Filecoin’s remote procedure call (RPC) code. A “double spend” occurs when the same funds on a blockchain are spent twice; Bitcoin’s proof-of-work algorithm was designed to make this a virtual impossibility. But it appears that the RPC codes for Filecoin, a blockchain project for distributed storage built by Protocol Labs, feature a flaw where users can trick exchanges into accepting a deposit twice.
CNBC reports that [Morgan Stanley] told its financial advisors Wednesday in an internal memo that it is launching access to three funds that enable ownership of bitcoin, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Two of the funds on offer are from Galaxy Digital, a crypto firm founded by Mike Novogratz, while the third is a joint effort from asset manager FS Investments and bitcoin company NYDIG. Morgan Stanley is only allowing its wealthier clients access to the volatile asset: The bank considers it suitable for people with “an aggressive risk tolerance” who have at least $2 million in assets held by the firm. Investment firms need at least $5 million at the bank to qualify for the new stakes.
Bitmex Research announces the publication of a new book - it covers Bitcoin’s blocksize war, which was waged from August 2015 to November 2017. On the surface the battle was about the amount of data allowed in each Bitcoin block, however it exposed much deeper issues, such as who controls Bitcoin’s protocol rules. It is not possible to cover every twist and turn in the labyrinthine conflict or all the arguments, but the book provides a chronology of the most significant events. The book explores some of the major characters in the conflict and includes coverage, from both the front lines and behind the scenes, during some of the most acute phases of the struggle. The account in the book includes discussions with the key players from both sides during the war, exploring their motivations, strategy and thought processes as the exhausting campaign progressed and developed. 50% of any profits from physical book sales will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF is a charity that provides medical assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare.
Nick Carter tweets: Move over @Bitcoin it’s @Cardano turn now. ;). It’s cleaner and better for the world when it comes to producing. #carbonfpotprint #Cardano #ada #cleanenergy #cryptocurrency
Nic Carter reaffirms his earlier statement: I am not aware of a single popular application deployed on Cardano, nor have I seen any enthusiasm for the platform among developers. I am truly mystified as to why it is enjoying a resurgence in popularity.
From /r/wewantplates: