Our stuff
Constantinople redux
Will the twice-delayed Constantinople upgrade ever happen? Yes, writes our ever-optimistic Adriana Hamacher. In fact, that goes double: “Ethereum’s core developers, who help maintain and ever improve the network, met online this afternoon and decided to have two Constantinople’s,” she wrote today. Hamacher explains here how the fork/refork will work in a tour de force of explanatory reporting.
Grinning from peer to peer
All the OGs love Grin, the new cryptocurrency that has the entire Cryptoverse a buzz. My mentor, boulevardier Tim Copeland, digs in with his usual doggedness and verve, and produces a comprehensive explainer that tells you everything you wanted to know about Grin but were too lazy to ask. Read it here.
Happy birthday, Dash
Two-a-day Tim also banged out an homage to the world’s 15th-largest currency Dash, which turns 5 today. Happy birthday from the entire Decrypt family! (Did you get my card?)
Making journalism sustainable again
In a man-bites-dog shocker, our Guillermo Jimenez writes that WordPress—along with a bunch of grandees in the crypto space and Google—is piloting a project to… wait for it… help small and mid-sized publishers actually make money. Here is a story that makes those of us in the biz somewhat optimistic, which is a rare and unsettling feeling to journalists.
Casa Node review
Stacie Waleyko, who is an actual tech person by day, writes a startling clear review of the Casa Node, a point-of-sale-type gadget that allows merchants, and regular people too, to accept Bitcoin payments via Lightning. The device is aimed at beginners, and Waleyko’s review was broken down enough for even me to understand. Please enjoy every word of it here.
Other Stuff
Crypto-jacking, uh, finds a way
Hard Fork reports a new “crypto-mining” malware that is “self-aware.” It’s not actually self-aware, but it is equipped to react, dynamically, to anti-virus measures levelled at it. Researchers at cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Network’s Unit 42 found malware, operated by a crypto-jacking “group” called “Rocke,” that’s “able to gain administrative privileges to Linux-based cloud servers and uninstall vital security programs.”
Most terrifyingly, the malware uninstalls the anti-virus software through the proper channels, meaning whichever protective software you’re using won’t be alerted. Just go and live under a rock, would you?
Redeeming empty bottles and buying crypto
Lovingly plagiarized from Coindesk: supermarkets Safeway and Albertson are offering customers in select California, Texas, and Washington branches access to a new fleet of “kiosks” that will let them buy bitcoins for cash. The machines—the result of a collaboration between Bitcoin ATM company Coinme and “coins-to-cash converter” Coinstar—let customers buy as much as $2,500 worth of bitcoin.
Drivel from Dudas
Per the idiotic “Block:” payments processor “Bitpay” has announced that $1 billion has been processed on its platform, despite the bear market. The end.
Tron...isn’t terrible?
When Breaker put the kibosh on seemingly moronic video-streaming blockchain platform Tron’s acquisition of BitTorrent—and its plan to sell “BitTorrent tokens” in an ICO—we thought the craze was over. But research firm Messari’s Ryan Selkis is suggesting that Tron is not necessarily a goner.
As quoted in Bloomberg: “A lot of people wrote off Tron as all hype/marketing and no substance, but they made a lot of noise with the BitTorrent acquisition, and now I think it’s an open question of whether they will be one of crypto’s most high profile ‘fake it til you make it’ success stories. It’s been wild to watch."
And here’s another post, from one Freddy Krueger, echoing and elaborating on Selkis’s sentiment.
But look at Tron’s steadily rising price (its market cap is currently $1.6 billion). Its mad, over-optimistic followers. The hype. That doesn’t smell like hope. That smells like a bubble. But what do I know? I am but a lowly, sad ink-stained wretch.
Have a lovely weekend!