While the cryptocurrency world never sleeps, the last 24 hours have been particularly active. Everyone is building right now, as the stories we’ve got coming up in The Daily demonstrate. Ethfinex launches its new DEX, Cloudflare embraces decentralized storage, and Bancor makes a beeline for EOS.
Also read: Robinhood Accused of Taking from Younger Investors to Benefit Wall Street Traders
Cloudflare Adopts Interplanetary File Storage
Content delivery network Cloudflare has launched its own IPFS Gateway. As a result, its customers will be able to easily access distributed content that has been stored using the Interplanetary File Storage System. IPFS is used by a host of crypto projects including Sia and Decentraland as a means of ensuring that data is always accessible and immune to DDoS attacks. In a blog post yesterday, Cloudflare acknowledged this, explaining:
Centralization makes it impossible to keep content online any longer than the origin servers that host it. If that origin server is hacked or taken out by a natural disaster, the content is unavailable. If the site owner decides to take it down, the content is gone.
They continued: “The Interplanetary File System aims to change that. IPFS is a peer-to-peer file system composed of thousands of computers around the world, each of which stores files on behalf of the network. These files can be anything: cat pictures, 3D models, or even entire websites. Over 5,000,000,000 files had been uploaded to IPFS already.” Cloudflare’s adoption of IPFS demonstrates the technology’s maturation, and will open it up to a slew of new users who will come to appreciate the benefits of decentralized technologies.
A Wild Ethfinex DEX Appears
Ethfinex launched last year as an ERC20-only spin-off of Bitfinex. At the time, it promised to develop a decentralized exchange to complement its traditional centralized platform. It’s now made good on its word, delivering Ethfinex Trustless. A clean, simple interface enables traders who have at least 1 NEC token in their wallet to trade ETH, USDT, OMG, and ZRX, and around 40 other tokens will be added soon.
In a blogpost, the team explain: “With Ethfinex Trustless there are no signups, no deposit or withdrawal delays and no sacrificing custody of your tokens. Users retain full control of their funds throughout the entirety of the trading experience whilst executing trades against a highly liquid off-chain order book to ensure an entirely seamless trading experience.” Look out for a full review of the platform soon from news.Bitcoin.com.
Bancor Cosies Up to EOS
Smart token liquidity provider Bancor, a mainstay of the Ethereum network, and one of its biggest ICOs to date, has jumped ship. Or rather, it’s joined ship by diversifying into another vessel, namely the one captained by Dan Larimer. “Bancor is now evolving into a cross-chain liquidity protocol,” the company explained. Bancorx will enable users to trade between a range of EOS and Ethereum tokens. The move had been expected, as members of the Bancor team have been making eyes at EOS for a while. It had been predicted that Ethereum’s well-documented scaling problems would lead to major projects transitioning to EOS, and while Bancor has not stated as much, Ethereum’s exponents feel vindicated by this development.
To alleviate the Ethereum bottleneck for dapp developers, projects such as Tenfold Protocol, courtesy of San Francisco’s Binary Mint, have emerged. Creating dapps that feel like apps is challenging on the Ethereum network as it stands. Tenfold scales using crypto-economic techniques, allowing developers to build dapps that handle a large number of bounded transactions using traditional programming languages and frameworks.
Diamonds and Osmium: Coming Soon to a Blockchain Near You
One of Hong Kong’s leading jewelers has begun using blockchain to track diamonds sold in its stores, reports South China Morning Post. The scheme will enable customers to ascertain the source and quality of the gemstones. “Nowadays, young consumers often show interest in the entire cycle of diamonds, and therefore there is a growing importance for jewellers to help ascertain the origin and authenticity of gemstones by leveraging modern technology,” explained Alan Chan, general manager of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group.
Meanwhilem, Oicoin is developing a blockchain project that revolves around developing Osmium, one of the world’s rarest metals, for jewelry making. Token-holders will be entitled to earn profits on the revenue of all global crystallized osmium. With a density of 22.59 g/cm3, osmium is the densest known naturally occurring element.
Kraken Expands OTC
Finally, Kraken exchange has announced that it’s expanded its OTC bitcoin trading service, explaining: “We offer deeper liquidity and private, personalized service to institutions and high net-worth individuals needing to fill large orders. Whether you are trading blocks of 100,000 USD, 100,000,000 EUR or 2,000 Bitcoin, the OTC desk will provide you with execution and settlement services that are discrete, secure and ultra-competitive.”
Competition for OTC is heating up, with Kraken evidently eyeing the institutional services that Coinbase offers, as well as trying to make in-roads on the burgeoning OTC trade that plays out daily in family offices and over Skype to the tune of millions of dollars.
What are your thoughts on today’s news snippets? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Twitter.
Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.
