Daily digest for Crypto News Pod, on February 26, 2022

Cryptonewspod posted: "ETH gets upgraded scaling testnet years ahead of schedule and the zkEVM test network will be the first that is able to change the scaling landscape in the near future so let's read more in today's latest ethereum news. zkSync is a protocol responsible for" New post on Crypto News Pod ETH Gets Upgraded Scaling Testnet Years Ahead Of Schedule by Cryptonewspod ETH gets upgraded scaling testnet years ahead of schedule and the zkEVM test network will be the first that is able to change the scaling landscape in the near future so let's read more in today's latest ethereum news. zkSync is a protocol responsible for implementing ETH scaling platforms and it accomplished the unexpected yesterday by announcing the test network release of the Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible Zero-knowledge rollup years ahead of the initial schedule. The EVM is an environment where all ETH wallets and contracts live and are responsible for defining the rules of the chain from block to block. The new test network is the first implementation of the ZK rollup that is able to run the full ETH environment to provide great insight into how capable the zero-knowledge technology is when it comes to scaling blockchains. Over the past few years, Ethereum rollups took two different directions ins calling the base layer and were categorized as Optimistic and Zero-Knowledge. Both technologies saw some level of adoption with Arbitrum being the most notable chain and DyDx taking advantage of the ZK technology for the leveraged tradign application. Similar to DyDx, Rollups have focused mostly on offering a single type of application per chain because the full ETH environment that offers customizable smart contracts would be quite extensive. Until now, the trade-offs tended to favor Optimism and Arbitrum so now zkSync has the chance to level the playing field. Optimistic Rollups are able to offer a single environment where users can use applications ranging from NFT marketplaces like OpenSea to the lending protocols like Aave and zkEVM will create a single end experience for the users with cheaper transaction fees with the immediate finality and will remove the need for two-week withdrawal period that is associated with Optimistic rollups. ZK rollups are quite extensive and put a heavyweight on nodes looking to solve zero-knowledge validity proofs but are also able to post network state to ETH for a fraction of the cost. Loopring for example offers transaction fees 1/200th of the price of the mainnet and at the time of writing, the trade on decentralzied exchanges would cost the users on the ETH base layer over $90. As ETH gets upgraded scaling solution, the scaling issues could be mitigated earlier than expected. Ethereum's native applications will be able to manage the solidity-based contracts and offer a range of products in a cheap environment backed by security. The lower transaction fees are an essential price of scaling but it only matters if the chain can play a host to applications that boost the user demand. zKEVM will be able to host the industry's applications without sacrificing liquidity and decentralization. Article credit Cryptonewspod | February 25, 2022 at 5:31 pm | Categories: Ethereum | URL: https://cryptonewspod.com/?p=25776 Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Crypto News Pod. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://cryptonewspod.com/eth-gets-upgraded-scaling-testnet-years-ahead-of-schedule/

Cryptonewspod posted: " Several high-profile investment firms contributed to the funding round, suggesting interest in the space is far from waning any time soon. Crypto and nonfungible token (NFT) ecosystem analytics" New post on Crypto News Pod BitsCrunch raises $3.6M in funding for NFT analytics tools by Cryptonewspod Several high-profile investment firms contributed to the funding round, suggesting interest in the space is far from waning any time soon. Crypto and nonfungible token (NFT) ecosystem analytics firm BitsCrunch has secured $3.6 million in a funding round led by Animoca Brands, Coinbase Ventures, Crypto.com Capital, and others. BitsCrunch uses AI-based analytical tools to determine the fair price of NFTs, identify wash trading warnings, and determine whether an NFT is a copy or forgery of the genuine asset. The company is based in Germany and India. The firm believes that investors in the continually growing space need better access to data that will protect them from fakes and getting fooled by ingenuine trading volume. We are excited to announce that we have completed an oversubscribed private token round of $3.6M USD, led by @animocabrands & with participation from @coinbase @cryptocom @polygonstudios & a few others. A detailed thread pic.twitter.com/a5La2z5jym — bitsCrunch | #SecureYourNFTs (@bitsCrunch) February 24, 2022 BitsCrunch CEO Vijay Pravin Maharajan told Cointelegraph on Feb. 25 that his company currently supports NFTs on Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC), and Avalanche (AVAX), but that he plans to use funds "to expand the team that can focus on securing many prominent blockchains like Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), Algorand (ALGO), and others."  The firm stated in a Feb. 24 tweet that it hopes the new additions will make the "whole ecosystem more trustworthy & secure for the community." Animoca Brands, the round's leading investor, has been one of the most prolific VC firms investing in the NFT space. Last month it was valued at $5 billion due to the level of profit in its investment portfolio, which includes Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, and many other NFT-based projects. Animoca co-founder Yat Siu stated in a Feb. 25 announcement that BitsCrunch is in a good position to assist investors in making informed investment decisions. He added that it can "contribute meaningfully to the safety and security of the emerging open metaverse." The amount of funds raised for NFT projects just over the past 30 days suggests that demand remains high for development in the field. Crypto fundraising tracker Airtable shows at least 27 other NFT projects have raised a collective $251 million since Jan. 25. Related: Monster Energy files NFT and metaverse trademark applications Although the all-time leading NFT marketplace, OpenSea, has suffered from reduced trading volume interest in the asset class has not faded. Much of the trading volume for the most popular asset other than ETH on Ethereum appears to have shifted from OpenSea over to the LooksRare marketplace because of its lower fees and greater returns for investors. Article credit Cryptonewspod | February 25, 2022 at 4:44 am | Categories: Analysis | URL: https://cryptonewspod.com/?p=25727 Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Crypto News Pod. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://cryptonewspod.com/bitscrunch-raises-3-6m-in-funding-for-nft-analytics-tools/

Cryptonewspod posted: " Chinese police officers, specifically those operating from the Pingchuan Branch of the Public Security Bureau of Baiyin City, Gansu Province have cracked a case involving a pyramid scheme that was built around the XRP digital currency. As reported by t" New post on Crypto News Pod Chinese Police Arrests Masterminds, Seizes $8.46M in Crypto Connected to Online Pyramid Scheme by Cryptonewspod Chinese police officers, specifically those operating from the Pingchuan Branch of the Public Security Bureau of Baiyin City, Gansu Province have cracked a case involving a pyramid scheme that was built around the XRP digital currency. As reported by the Xinhua news agency, the case features as many as 7 suspects, and investigation into the fraudulent scheme began as far back as March 2021. Unlike the famous pyramid schemes that operate through a known website, the "Ripple UnionPay Community," as it was called, was designed and operated through a customized mobile application. As the investigations revealed, the application was created by a software company that is based out of town.  The masterminds of the scheme were identified as Wang and Zhang, and the promise of the pyramid scheme was that the Ripple UnionPay Community app was capable of utilizing "node dividends, community promotion awards, community operation awards, performance awards, etc. to obtain high returns."  In order to participate in this scheme so as to benefit from the rewards promised, interested investors will have to download the mobile app and subscribe using Ripple Coins. Thanks to the targeted raid, the police have recovered some hardware items and have been able to confiscate a total of $8.46 million in Ripple Coins. The organization is poised to be dismantled after garnering as many as 47,000 members spread across about 30 provinces. The pyramid scheme is just a variant of prominent crimes that are being perpetrated using digital currencies. The supposed invincibility of digital currencies is one of the reasons why fraudsters have chosen to always commit their crimes through these nascent asset classes. However, trends thus far have shown that this belief is erroneous, as most crimes featuring digital currencies have a track record of being busted by authorities.  One of the successful products of targeted investigations into cybercrimes is the arrest of Ransomware masterminds in Ukraine as reported by Blockchain.News back in 2021. Image source: Shutterstock Article credit Cryptonewspod | February 25, 2022 at 4:39 am | Categories: Blockchain | URL: https://cryptonewspod.com/?p=25724 Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Crypto News Pod. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://cryptonewspod.com/chinese-police-arrests-masterminds-seizes-8-46m-in-crypto-connected-to-online-pyramid-scheme/