Crypto weekly is authored by maaria

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- BTC ($8,520): +13% WoW / -36% YTD
- ETH ($520): +4% WoW / -28% YTD
- LTC ($160): +11% WoW / -27% YTD
- XRP ($0.63): +11% WoW / -67% YTD

TECH SPOTLIGHT
- Cryptocurrencies use consensus algorithms to achieve agreement on transaction data / ledger entries amongst distributed networks or systems. The most applicable consensus algorithms are: Proof-of-Work, Proof-of-Stake, Delegated Proof-of-Stake, and Byzantine Fault Tolerance.

- Proof of Work (PoW): the first successful decentralized consensus algorithm. PoW is used by Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and many more. PoW requires participants to perform work that is computationally intensive but easy to verify by others in the network. In the case of Bitcoin, miners compete to add a block to the blockchain by correctly figuring out the “nonce”, a number appended to the end of a string to create a hash that starts with a required number of zeroes. PoW has been proven to work but includes high power consumption for mining and low transaction throughput.

- Proof of Stake (PoS): PoS requires participants to “stake” a portion of the coins that they hold in the network to verify transactions. Rather than mining by completing computationally difficult problems, minters stake their coins on transactions by locking up coins. The minter selected to complete the block is often selected in proportion to the value they have staked in the network compared to the total value of the network, how long coins held have been locked up, or some other measure to ensure that the minter is aligned with the long-term interest of the network. While PoW deters bad behavior by making it computationally exhausting and uneconomical, PoS deters bad behavior by shifting verification to those who have the most value bundled up in the network and, therefore, have the greatest interest in seeing it succeed. Ethereum lists a shift to PoS in its development timeline.

- Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS): In DPoS, instead of staking coins to validate transactions, token holders vote for a select group to serve the role of validating transactions. DPoS remains “decentralized” in the sense that all in the network participate in the selection of which nodes validate transactions, but centralized in the sense that a smaller group makes decisions which increases transaction speed and verification. DPoS implementations maintain a reputation, ongoing voting process, and shuffling system that keeps elected validators accountable and honest. The advantages of DPoS are that it is scalable and provides fast transaction verification, but the disadvantage is that it partially centralized and has not been proven effective for large projects.

- Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT): the BFT consensus algorithm allows validators to each manage the state of a chain and share messages between each other to arrive at the correct transaction record and to ensure honesty. Whenever a new transaction gets broadcasted to the network, nodes have the option to include that transaction to their copy of their ledger or to ignore it. When the majority of the actors which comprise the network decide on a single state, consensus is achieved. Validators can be preselected by an organization or entrusted by the community. BFT is implemented by Ripple and Stellar and while it presents scalability and low cost transactions, it can often have a component of centralization or bad actors.

IN THE NEWS
- CryptoKitties raises $12 million in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. The virtual game hit explosive popularity upon its release last year and clogged the Ethereum network as users created and bred virtual cats. As part of the financing round, CryptoKitties will spin out of its developer, Axiom Zen. On its web page, Union Square calls CryptoKitties “the world’s first and most successful consumer blockchain project”.

- Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey predicts bitcoin will emerge as the single currency of the internet within 10 years. Jack Dorsey also announced an investment in the $2.5 million seed round of startup Lightning Labs. Lightning Labs is building a lightning network on top of bitcoin to make transactions faster and more affordable.

- Bittrex announces it will be delisting 82 altcoins at the end of March, attributing the move to thin liquidity in the underlying currencies. Users holding these coins will need to move assets ahead of the delisting.

- Coinbase is in talks to buy Bitcoin startup Earn.com. Sources with knowledge of the talks gave different estimates of the price, ranging from $30 million to more than $120 million. The news follows the March announcement that Coinbase had hired Emilie Choi, the former head of M&A at LinkedIn, as its VP of Corporate and Business Development.

- Court orders Telegram to hand its encryption keys to Russian security services. The messaging platform, which forms a pivotal network for the cryptocurrency community, has said it will appeal to the Supreme Court in a bid to prevent Russia from obtaining the private data of millions of users.

- Twitter is expected to roll out a new advertising policy within the next two weeks that will put a ban on crypto ads for wallets, token sales, and ICOs. The move comes after Twitter decides to begin banning fake accounts that tried to scam cryptocurrency from Twitter users.

- Snapchat joins Facebook, Google and Twitter in banning ads for initial coin offerings. While Snapchat is prohibiting ICO ads, it has not commented on whether it plans to expand the ban to other crypto activities.

- Tether, the altcoin backed by USD at a 1:1 ratio, issues another $300 million USDT tokens priced at $1 per token. Tether has recently come under scrutiny for its lack of transparency and the firing of its auditor in January.

- Microsoft announces significant enhancements to its Ethereum on Azure offering, which will make production-ready Blockchain networks suitable for enterprise applications. The upgrades include major support for enterprise tools like monitoring and support for multi-member Ethereum blockchains.

- Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, announces it is moving to Malta, after regulatory crackdowns in Japan and China. The pivot to Malta comes as the country looks for ways to become a hub for digital-asset ventures. The government has held several public consultations on regulating virtual currencies, token sales and crypto-exchanges. Plans for a Malta Digital Innovation Authority that will certify and regulate blockchain-based businesses and their operations were unveiled last month, the Malta Independent reported. The organization will also create a framework to oversee initial coin offerings, the newspaper said.

- The Governor of Tennessee signed a bill that legally recognizes blockchain data and smart contracts under state law.

- Nine Malaysian banks have teamed up to develop blockchain applications for trade finance. The effort is aimed to further broaden access to financial technologies such as blockchain in a bid to facilitate adoption by financial institutions.

- Yahoo Japan is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange in 2018.

- Blockhain Capital raises $150 million in its fourth fundraising round, bringing total AUM to $250 million. Their portfolio already includes fintech companies such as Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, and Kraken. It has long been one of the blockchain industry's leading firms, investing in 72 companies, tokens and protocols since it was founded in 2013.

- E-Commerce giant JD.com unveils a white paper detailing plans to launch a blockchain-as-a-service platform. JD’s BaaS service will provide blockchain tools for developing apps in areas such as supply chain data tracking; public services, such as government taxation and authenticating charity donations; financial settlement and securities remittance; fraud prevention in insurance; and big data security.

- Privacy-focused cryptocurrency cash is gearing up for its first hard fork, which will lay groundwork for more dramatic upgrades in the future. Some of the new features include transaction expiry and scaling infrastructure via lightning or plasma.

- The U.K. Government announces plans to launch a ‘crypto assets task force’ to help manage risks around cryptocurrencies and harness the benefits of the underlying technologies. The task force plans to build software which would automatically ensure firms are following rules.

- Digital payment processor Payza has been charged by the U.S. Government with running an unlicensed money services business. The Department of Justice accused the founders (the Patel brothers) and Pazya of facilitating as much as $250 million in money laundering on behalf of Ponzi schemes and child pornography sites, among other enterprises.

- Social messaging app Kik announces it will launch it’s “kin” token on both Ethereum and Stellar. Kik will use Ethereum for liquidity and stellar for transactions. Users can imagine their kin token being split into two equal parts - one that runs on stellar and one that runs on ethereum. Using atomic swaps, an in-progress technology that allows cryptocurrencies to be traded across blockchains, the company will lock up a kin token's stellar half when its ERC20 half leaves the app, and vice versa.