Nasdaq Confirms Plans to Launch Bitcoin Futures in First Half of 2019

Nasdaq Confirms Plans to Launch Bitcoin Futures in First Half of 2019

Finance

Joseph Christinat, the vice president of Nasdaq’s media team, has confirmed that the exchange will soon launch bitcoin futures. In a recent interview with a newspaper in the U.K., Christinat revealed that the platform plans to start offering bitcoin futures contracts within the first half of 2019.

Also Read: Chilean Court Rules in Favor of Closing Bank Accounts of Crypto Exchange Orionx

Nasdaq Waiting for ‘Go-Ahead’ From CFTC

Nasdaq Confirms Plans to Launch Bitcoin Futures in First Half of 2019Christinat told the Daily Express that the world’s second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization expects to launch bitcoin futures trading in the first six months of the coming year.

“Bitcoin Futures will be listed and it should launch in the first half of next year,” Christinat said, adding that Nasdaq is currently “waiting for the go-ahead” from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). “There’s been enough work put into this to make that academic. We’ve seen plenty of speculation and rumors about what we might be doing … so, here you go — we’re doing this, and it’s happening.”

Exchange Unfazed by Cryptocurrency Bear Market

Nasdaq Confirms Plans to Launch Bitcoin Futures in First Half of 2019Christinat claimed that Nasdaq remains committed to ensuring the launch of bitcoin futures, emphasizing the company’s long-term perspective on the cryptocurrency industry.

“We got into the blockchain game five years ago,” Christinat stated. “When the technology first popped up we just leant out of the window and shouted ‘hey come over here’ right at it.”

Christinat also said Nasdaq has devoted a significant amount of resources toward launching bitcoin futures. “We’ve put a hell of a lot of money and energy into delivering the ability to do this and we’ve been all over it for a long time — way before the market went into turmoil, and that will not affect the timing of this in any way. No. Period. We’re doing this no matter what.”

Do you think we will see the launch of Nasdaq’s bitcoin futures before the second half of 2019? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock

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Intel Awarded a Patent for an Energy Efficient Bitcoin Mining Process

Intel Awarded a Patent for an Energy Efficient Bitcoin Mining Process

News

On Nov. 27, the world’s second-largest semiconductor chip maker, Intel, was granted a patent for a processing system that mines Bitcoin but utilizes more “energy-efficient hardware accelerators.” According to the patent called the “Optimized SHA256 Datapath,” the newly invented “high-performance” Bitcoin mining process could reduce overall power consumption by 15 percent.

Also read: Sirin Labs Launches Blockchain-Centric ‘Finney’ Smartphone

Intel Awarded a Patent for a New Bitcoin Mining Process

The Intel corporation, headquartered in Santa Clara, California is well known for being a competitive chipset manufacturer. Last Tuesday the company was granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which describes a specialized processing system for mining the SHA256 algorithm. The patent was filed on June 29, 2016, and the concept was invented by three individuals from Hillsboro, Oregon.

Intel Awarded a Patent for an Energy Efficient Bitcoin Mining Process
Intel’s latest patent claims the corporation has invented a more efficient SHA256 mining (BCH, BTC) process. The mining process is optimized by using SHA256 datapaths. 

The invention claims to be a more efficient mining processor with hardware accelerators that can narrow overall power consumption compared to today’s application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) machines. The patent’s description is 29 pages long and contains figures which illustrate the processing system. The invention could comprise of various things like a “chipset, or a portion of a chipset.”

“Embodiments of the present disclosure include energy-efficient ASIC-based SHA engines that consume less power for Bitcoin mining operations,” explains the patent.

The Intel patent explains that Bitcoin’s technology “resolves the ‘double spending’ problem,” but further emphasizes that processors today that are mining cryptocurrencies consume enormous amounts of power. Intel says some “clusters of SHA engines” consume more than 200 watts. The invention claims it will take advantage of a myriad of SHA-256 stages and methods of processing hash by utilizing optimized data paths.

Intel Awarded a Patent for an Energy Efficient Bitcoin Mining Process
Intel’s Bitcoin mining patent approved on Nov. 27, 2018.

Intel’s Competition is Samsung

Intel stepping into the Bitcoin mining arena is interesting but it’s not the corporation’s first taste of cryptocurrency solutions. At the Money 20/20 event in 2016, Bitpay announced that Copay wallet users would get “hardware-level security” with Intel’s Software Guard Extension (SGX). A year later the digital currency hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger revealed it had partnered with the multinational technology firm. Ledger explained at the time that the organization’s operating system BOLOS would be tied to SGX.

Intel Awarded a Patent for an Energy Efficient Bitcoin Mining Process

The company’s latest patent, however, seems to focus more on what Intel is best at, which is creating high-performance semiconductor chips. At the moment, Intel is the second highest valued semiconductor manufacturer in the world with Samsung sitting on the throne. Samsung has already started producing commercial grade ASIC chips for certain Bitcoin-based mining businesses and has a lead on Intel so far. The Bitcoin mining process developed by Intel shows the corporation definitely wants in on this innovative and growing industry of “SHA engines.”

What do you think about Intel’s Bitcoin mining patent? Do you think Intel plans on being more involved within the cryptocurrency industry? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Images via Shutterstock, USPTO, Pixabay, Intel, and Samsung logos. 

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How the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Hash War Is Affecting Bitcoin (BTC)

The last 24 hours in the crypto-market have stunned many traders and left them speechless. This is due to the fact that Bitcoin (BTC) fell from levels of around $6,300 to a new low of $5,544 in a matter of hours if not minutes. The total crypto market capitalization also fell from levels of $209 Billion to $180 Billion in the same time period.

BTC is currently trading at $5,660 and down 11% in the last 24 hours. The total crypto market capitalization now stands at $186 Billion. All other cryptocurrencies are bleeding heavily also.

The Bitcoin Cash Hash War

One explanation of the current turmoil in the crypto-verse, is the ongoing Hash Wars between the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community as they prepare for the upcoming BCH hard-fork. Both sides of the ‘battle’ – Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin Cash SV – have vowed to take down the other using all means possible.

The ABC version is supported by the CEO of Bitmain, Jihan Wu and Roger Ver. The SV version is backed by Craig Wright who claims to be the real Satoshi Nakamoto.

Relocating Hash Power from BTC to BCH ABC

A few days ago, Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu was reported to have mobilized 90,000 mining machines to gain an upper hand in the hard-fork that is scheduled for today. Jihan is quoted as stating the following with regards to the ongoing BCH crisis:

I have no intention to start a has war with [Craig Wright], because if I do (by relocating hash power from BTC mining to BCH mining), BTC price will dump below yearly support; it may even breech $5,000. But since [Craig Wright] is relentless, I am all in to fight till death!

Roger Ver’s mining pool of Bitcoin.com also announced that it will be redirected hash power from Bitcoin to Bitcoin cash ABC for one day.

Craig Wright’s Response 

Craig Wright seemed unfazed by the attempts of both Jihan Wu and Roger Ver. Mr. Wright took to Twitter to explain that for a winner to emerge, there has to be continuous mining of Bitcoin Cash. One day will not win the battle. His tweet can be found below.

Dr Craig S Wright

 

Craig Wright also stated that the fall of BTC does not phase him. He made this statement as he warned BTC miners from switching to Bitcoin Cash. His tweet had this to say:

To all BTC miners…

If you switch to mine BCH, we may need to fund this with BTC, if we do, we sell for USD and, well… we think BTC market has no room… it tanks.

Think about it. We will sell A Lot! Consider that…. And, have a nice day (BTC to 1000 does not phase me)

In conclusion, and with the BCH hard-fork only hours away, we might see hash power continue being redirected from BTC towards Bitcoin Cash. What this means is that there will be a possibility of there being less miners available to sustain the Bitcoin network as the hash wars continue.

Secondly – and as stated by Craig Wright – we might see a massive sell-off of BTC by both sides to finance the war.

Both scenarios are on the minds of savvy and keen crypto traders who have probably fled to stablecoins till the hash wars provide a winner and more stability in the crypto markets.

What are your thoughts on the ongoing Bitcoin Cash situation? Please let us know in the comment section below.

GMO Reports $5.6 Million Q3 Loss on Crypto MiningBusiness

Bitcoin mining

Japanese IT giant GMO has reported a loss of 640 million yen (about $5.6 million) for its cryptocurrency mining business in the third quarter of 2018.

Revealed in the firm’s latest financial report, published Monday, that figure is markedly worse than its Q2 loss of 360 million yen (around $3.2 million). GMO put the drop down to a “worsening” external environment and increasing depreciation costs.

Overall, however, the firm saw a slight increase in revenue from mining, with Q3 revenue coming in at 1.23 billion yen ($10.78 million) as compared to 1.17 billion yen ($10.26 million) in Q2.

The firm mined a total of 1,590 bitcoins and 25 bitcoin cash in Q3, according to its latest monthly crypto mining business report.

GMO also provided data on its mining capability, or hashrate, which saw an increase to 674 petahashes per second (PH/s) in October as compared to 479 (PH/s) in September. The firm indicates it is aiming to achieve 800 PH/S within the year.

Meanwhile, the company’s exchange business has more positive news for Q3, netting profits of 740 million yen (about $6.5 million) – that’s up 34.4 percent compared to the previous quarter. Revenue came in at 1.36 billion yen (about $11.92 million) for the same period.

Overall, the crypto segment also saw an increase in Q3 revenue, although profit again declined from the previous quarter. Net sales are reported at 2.6 billion yen (about $22.80 million), while overall profits declined to 104 million yen (about $912,840).

GMO said in a separate report that its cryptocurrency mining loss was offset by profit seen in the cryptocurrency exchange business.

Finally, shipments of GMO’s new 7nm B3 mining rig, which were originally scheduled to start in October, are being delayed by a shortage of some some electronic components, the firm said.

Bitcoin mining image via Shutterstock

Coingeek Speaks on Consensus Changes and Next-Gen ASICChip

Coingeek Speaks on Consensus Changes and Next-Gen ASIC Chip

News

Last week, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the proposed consensus changes published by the Bitcoin ABC development team, and the opposition towards certain elements of that proposal from a few BCH community members. Now the blockchain firm and mining organization Coingeek, led by the billionaire tycoon Calvin Ayre, has revealed some different proposed changes to the BCH protocol that the group would rather support. Moreover, Coingeek also explains the company has designed a next-generation ASIC chip that will be unveiled during the last week of November in London.

Also read: The Opposition Towards Bitcoin ABC’s Proposed Upgrade Changes

Craig Wright: The Plan is 128MB This November

Coingeek Speaks on Consensus Changes and Next-Gen ASIC ChipThree days ago we reported on the proposed changes being added to the next full node client published by the Bitcoin ABC development team. The new code changes should be in the next codebase release which is expected to be ready on August 15 for testing. As we discussed, the ABC developers plan to add canonical transaction ordering, a minimum transaction size of 100 bytes, activation of OP_CHECKDATASIG and OP_CHECKDATASIGVERIFY (CDSV), and push-only mandatory for scriptsig.

However, Nchain’s Craig Wright explained that CDSV would not happen while also detailing that friends like Calvin Ayre would not support the change. A few days later on August 11, Wright explained his preferred consensus changes that he would like to see implemented on the BCH chain this coming November. Wright states:

The plan is 128MB this November — 512MB in May 2019 — 2.0 GB in Nov 2020 and – after this, it is unbounded. There will be NO limits ANYWHERE in bitcoin. We expect 337k USD in fees a block just from one use case. That will then fuel BCH to become global money.   

Coingeek’s Statement Against Certain Changes and the Mining Pool’s November Suggestions

Coingeek Speaks on Consensus Changes and Next-Gen ASIC ChipFollowing this, on August 13 the mining organization Coingeek, which captures over 20 percent of the BCH hashrate, once again made a statement concerning Bitcoin protocol changes. The company starts off by explaining that it is fully committed to the global success of the original Bitcoin protocol which is “now restored in the form of Bitcoin Cash BCH.” Furthermore, Coingeek emphasizes that as a “significant miner” there are a few consensus changes they plan on supporting that are different than the changes proposed by Bitcoin ABC. The Coingeek proposal shows three features they would like to see implemented this November:

  • Continuing the program to re-enable the original set of opcodes. Specifically for November, CoinGeek supports re-enabling OP_MUL, OP_LSHIFT, OP_RSHIFT, and OP_INVERT.
  • Removing the current limit of 201 opcodes per script.
  • Raising the maximum block size to 128MB.

Additionally, Coingeek notes some changes within the Bitcoin ABC proposal that the organization will not support. Coingeek agrees with Craig Wright, and explains they will not “commit their hashpower” to any software implementation that supports “canonical transaction ordering and OP_CHECKDATASIGVERIFY (CDSV).”

“In the longer term, Coingeek will continue to support only consensus changes that restore the original Bitcoin protocol, and those that may be demonstrated as absolutely necessary to meeting the goal of massive on-chain scaling to terabyte+ blocks,” the mining pool details.

Coingeek Speaks on Consensus Changes and Next-Gen ASIC Chip
Coingeek’s hashrate over the last seven days.

Coingeek Emphasizes It Will Support the Best Interest for All Enterprise Bitcoin Cash Miners, and Plans to Unveil a “Next Generation ASIC Chip Design” This November

Coingeek also says it encourages the development of plug-in transaction selection, removing transaction delays, free and cheap fees, computational cost-based fee calculation, and the implementation of a secondary transaction cache to allow double spend monitoring for transactions. The firm says it will continue to support the original vision of Bitcoin and says other mining pools should join them in taking a stance.

“Coingeek’s suggested path is in the best interest of all enterprise-level mining operations and we welcome working together to support this now,” the company notes.

Coingeek Speaks on Consensus Changes and Next-Gen ASIC Chip

Following the statement toward enterprise mining operations, the company has also revealed it has designed a “next generation ASIC chip.” According to Coingeek, the chip will be optimized for enterprise-level mining on the Bitcoin Cash network. Coingeek details it will be showcasing the new technology at a booth during the organization’s London conference in November. The BCH mining pool says they invite all miners to join them at the even so they can plan for the future of the industry.

What do you think about Coingeek’s statements and proposals for the upcoming November Bitcoin Cash hard fork? What do you think about Coingeek announcing next-generation enterprise-grade mining chips? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below.

Images via Shutterstock, Coingeek logo, Nchain logo, Coindance, and Pixabay. 

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