BIS Releases Report On ‘Project Icebreaker’ — Develops Cross-Border Retail CBDC Payment Model

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has released a report summarizing the “Project Icebreaker” trial, which explored the potential advantages and difficulties of utilizing a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) in cross-border payments. The experiment was designed to test “the…

Debate Intensifies Over Significance and Implications of Ordinal Inscriptions on Bitcoin Blockchain

During the past two weeks, members of the cryptocurrency community have discussed the non-fungible token (NFT) concept known as Ordinals. Since the 3.96 MB block (#774,628) was mined, there has been a significant increase in Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain….

Report: SEC Heightens Probe Into Auditors Servicing Crypto Exchanges

According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Paul Munter, the agency’s acting chief accountant, the U.S. regulator is monitoring proof-of-reserves (POR) more closely. “We’re warning investors to be very wary of some of the claims that are being made by…

US Lawmakers Say Any Digital Dollar Must Be Open, Permissionless, and Private

Nine U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns regarding the U.S. central bank digital currency project led by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The lawmakers stressed: “Any U.S. CBDC must be open, permissionless, and private.” Congressmen Say Any US CBDC Must Be…

Kraken’s Jesse Powell Takes Aim at Newly Launched Proof-of-Reserve Lists, POR Audit ‘Requires Cryptographic Proof’

On Tuesday, amid the many conversations concerning crypto exchange proof-of-reserves, Kraken executive Jesse Powell shared a screenshot of coinmarketcap.com’s newly launched proof-of-reserves (POR) dashboard. Powell said he planned to be “more assertive with calling out problems,” and he stressed that a…

Zksync Devs Plan to Launch Layer 3 Scaling Solution Called ‘Opportunity’ in Q1 2023

Matter Labs, the team behind the Ethereum layer two (L2) scaling protocol Zksync, revealed the developers plan to launch a layer three (L3) proof of concept called “Opportunity” in the first quarter of 2023. The team says that the prototype of…

Michael Saylor Publishes Open Letter Discussing the ‘Sheer Volume of Misinformation’ Tied to Bitcoin

The Microstrategy executive Michael Saylor is a big believer in Bitcoin as his company has purchased close to 130,000 bitcoin during the last few years. Six days ago, the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy published a report that claims…

Top 10 PoW Dominance Evaporates 9 Years Later, Only Two Proof-of-Work Coins Will Remain After The Merge

The crypto community is patiently waiting for the highly anticipated Ethereum network upgrade from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) as The Merge is expected to happen 27 days from now. After Ethereum transitions from PoW to PoS, only two crypto assets…

Central Bank of Brazil Director Praises Bitcoin as a Financial Innovation, Talks Programmable Digital Real

Fabio Araujo, Director of the Central Bank of Brazil, has praised the properties of Bitcoin, saying it is a financial innovation using new technologies. To Araujo, Bitcoin was the catalyst for what is today known as Web3. At an event, Araujo…