Contained in the bizarre world of quantum mechanics—where physical matter has properties of both particles and waves, and subatomic particles exist in multiple states at one time until observed—may lie the key to unparalleled computational speed. While still highly experimental, governments have been investing in research into “quantum computing” for years, and a recent article in Wired notes that last year venture capitalists “plowed a record $1.8 billion into companies working on quantum computing hardware or software worldwide…nearly five times the amount invested in 2019.” Whereas the basic unit of information in traditional digital electronics is the bit (a logical state with two possible values, typically expressed as 0 and…
-
-
Multi-year effort to improve Bitcoin-to-DeFi bridging crosses Threshold
Network announces redemptions for tBTC
Threshold Network announced this week that it has completed a multi-year effort to upgrade its Bitcoin-to-DeFi bridge tBTC from its original structure and security model launched in 2020. Specifically, the protocol added redemption capability – that is, the ability for customers to not only put their bitcoin in escrow and mint tBTC (an ERC-20 token) but also reverse the process and “unmint” back to BTC. This is the latest in a string of Threshold announcements beginning in January with tBTC minting, an integration with interoperability protocol Wormhole in May and four subsequent partner launch announcements, three involving Ethereum “Layer 2” (L2) scaling juggernauts Polygon, Arbitrum and Optimism. The reason given…
-
Crypto & AI: Competition, Convergence or Both?
Part one: AI-based Trading
The convergence of cryptocurrency with artificial intelligence (AI) is attracting significant attention from builders and investors alike. “We’ve never been more excited about crypto and we continue to invest across all stages,” Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang said in a recent tweet, adding, “We’re also a group of curious nerds and the developments in AI are too interesting to ignore.” As one example, AI-metaverse startup Futureverse raised a $54 million in Series A funding this month, with growth equity fund 10T Holdings leading the round, joined by Ripple Labs. Naturally, it has also caused pundits to speculate on an exponential increase in crypto values. Arthur Hayes, BitMEx co-founder and former CEO,…
-
Bitcoin Reviewed: January
A big month for digital assets as prices drop but adoption increases
A January decline Bitcoin ended the year of 2021 a little above $46,000. There was bullish talk for the last two months of the year, after Bitcoin hit its all time high in early November. The leading digital asset saw a continuing decline throughout January, reaching a month low of $33,495 on January 24. The price has recovered from the low and now sits above $38,000. During January, almost all of the digital asset market saw a decrease in price and market cap across the board. Geopolitical events such as the Russia-USA Ukraine tensions had a negative effect on global markets. Kazakhstan, a key country for Bitcoin mining, faced national…
