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Robert Stevens

In mid-May 2020, the supply of Bitcoins issued as mining rewards will cut in half. The phenomenon is hardcoded into the Bitcoin protocol. It’s known as the “halving”, or the “halvening.” It happens every four years, and will continue to do so until the year 2140, when the last of the 21 million Bitcoins in existence will be mined into circulation.

Historically, the halving has caused the price of Bitcoin to boom. On November 28, 2012, the day of Bitcoin’s first halving, the block reward was cut from 50 BTC to 25 BTC. As the price was cut, Bitcoin’s price rose from $11 to $12. Next year, the price kept climbing: it hit $1000 in November 2013.

Four years later, in 2016, Bitcoin’s block reward halved from 25 BTC to 12.5 BTC. Bitcoin’s price had fallen since the 2012 spike, but in May, two months before the halving, its price rose by 65%, to $750. Bitcoin settled to $650 at the time of the halving, but broke through to $1000 in early 2017.

Will the value of Bitcoin soar following the 2020 halving? It’s not unfeasible, if past is prologue. But what say the experts?

THE BULL CASE: BITCOIN IS A DEFLATIONARY ASSET

Some of those we spoke to took a bullish stance; they told _Decrypt_ that the halving event will cause the price of Bitcoin to surge, as it has done in the past.

“One of Bitcoin's main value propositions is the idea of digital scarcity,” said Mati Greenspan, CEO of crypto consulting company Quantum Economics. “In less than four months, Bitcoin's inflation will go from 3.68% to 1.8% a year. All things being equal, if there are less coins on the market the price should go up,” he said. 

 One of Bitcoin's main value propositions is the idea of digital scarcity

And he thinks it’ll stay that way. “That there will only ever be 21 million in circulation ensures that Bitcoin remains a deflationary asset that is designed to rise in value over time,” he said. For Greenspan, the halving event is “not only a symbolic reminder of this concept but is a tangible milestone at which the token’s incoming supply is decreased.” 

Paolo Ardoino, CTO of crypto exchange Bitfinex, the sister company of the stablecoin giant Tether, agreed. “From a financial market point of view, we should see a decreased sell pressure on the markets due to a lower number of Bitcoins being available to miners,” he said. “This makes it more likely that we will see a medium-term increase in the price of Bitcoin.”

Erik Voorhes, CEO of Shapeshift, told _Decrypt_ that the halving is a sign of a healthy market. “It demonstrates a fundamental difference between Bitcoin and fiat: predictability and transparency,” he said. Moreover, it “demonstrates that predictable math can substitute for the subjective whims of politicians and bankers.”

“With fiat, nobody knows how many dollars exist, or how many will be created next year, and as the halvening demonstrates, with Bitcoin, everybody knows exactly how many Bitcoins exist, how many will be created next year, and even what the inflation schedule will look like 20 years from now.” Whether that makes number go up, Voorhes didn’t say. 

THE BEAR CASE: THE HALVING IS ALREADY PRICED IN

Others disagree with the optimistic scenarios outlined above. Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures, is one of those predicting a more bearish outlook. He told _Decrypt_ he doesn’t believe in the “halving catalyst,” and said that cutting the mining rewards in half will hurt miners, disincentivizing them from powering the network. “It’s going to make marginal miners unprofitable,” he said. “Most miner revenue still derives from issuance, so if issuance cut in half, revenue is effectively cut in half,” he added. 

Carter also said the halving means that the market for ASICs (bespoke mining PCs) and other ancillary businesses—like mining pools and hosting companies—will be substantially reduced. “I don’t expect fees will compensate for the halved rewards, and it seems eminently unlikely to me that the price is going to spontaneously double to account for the reduced issuance,” he said.

> 89 days left until next #BitcoinHalving 
> ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░ 94%
> 
> — Bitcoin Halving Countdown (@Bitcoin_Halving) February 8, 2020

“It defies sense,” he said. Instead, he thinks the halving is already “priced in”: “Information that is market-moving becomes priced in before the event occurs, if it is known,” he added. 

David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain_, _is also pessimistic about the halving. “The halving has no significance,” he told _Decrypt_. “It's a narrative trying to give the impression that Bitcoin is going to the moon—when the price is still entirely explained by whales burning the margin traders, as it has all through 2019.” The halving’s main effect, Gerard argued, would be to make it less economic to be a Bitcoin miner. “That's good, because proof of work crypto mining is a crime against humanity,” he added. 

Joe Lallouz, CEO of New York-based blockchain company Bison Trails and founding member of the Libra Association, is on the fence. On the one hand, he said: ”History doesn’t dictate the future,” adding, “Just because it’s happened every other time doesn’t mean it will happen [again].”

Bitcoin has halvened on a predictably set schedule and it’s baked into the protocol
“Bitcoin has halvened on a predictably set schedule and it’s baked into the protocol,” Lallouz added. “In perfect markets or rational market scenarios, you would imagine a world where the crypto economy has already somewhat adjusted to the fact that Bitcoin will halve this year.” 

Crypto’s only getting bigger—Bitcoin’s market cap in 2016 was around $8 billion, a figure that’s since increased to about $170 billion. “The more people are involved, the more likely that the crypto economy has accounted for the fact that Bitcoin is going to halve its rewards this year,” Lallouz said. 

The Bitcoin “halvening” is coming in 2020; what does it mean?
However, Lallouz qualified his remarks, noting that, “people don’t act rationally and markets aren’t perfect,” he said. That’s particularly apposite given that this is the crypto market we’re talking about—where common sense goes out of the window. 

Lallouz conceded that there’s likely to be some sort of price shift like those seen historically in Bitcoin. “But with it being such a leading indicator for the crypto ecosystem,” he added, “we could see a market cap or price jump for the whole ecosystem.” 

History will be written by the victors.

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

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Bitcoin is the world's first peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. It was invented by a mysterious inventor Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 and is regarded as the first digital currency to fix the double spend problem.

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The Bitcoin halving will take place in mid-May 2020 (Image: Shutterstock)

Insights into the biggest events shaping the crypto industry.

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In mid-May 2020, the supply of Bitcoins issued as mining rewards will cut in half. Will the halving boost Bitcoin's price, or is it already priced in?

Will Heasman

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)—a division of the US Department of Transportation—is funding research into blockchain to overhaul highway administration. Funding up to $4 million is up for grabs to any company that can deliver proposals for a "revolutionary" transformation of highway engineering by the March 20, 2020 deadline.

The FHWA is investigating blockchain for several use cases as part of a Broad Agency Announcement issued by its Exploratory Advanced Research Program. Proposed research topics include secure certificate management for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure applications, and highway pricing—with the agency seeking "dynamic and auction-based mechanisms."

The private sector is already exploring this area as part of the Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI), a collective of five leading car manufacturers including BMW and Ford. MOBI is currently field testing a blockchain vehicle ID system that would record service history and ownership on the blockchain, enabling automated payment of highway tolls and parking charges.

ROUTING FREIGHT WITH BLOCKCHAIN

The FHWA’s Broad Agency Announcement is also seeking blockchain-based proposals relating to freight data management. Specifically, the FHWA is looking for projects that can improve security by anonymizing data around routing and timing for the pickup, transfer, and delivery of goods.

Transport is undoubtedly an area in which blockchain can prove beneficial. Harnessing blockchain's immutable ledger to track and secure goods and services not only slashes costs but can heighten traceability, security, and efficiency. In Canada, for example, Walmart rolled out a blockchain-based freight and payment network to 70 trucking partners in late 2019.

The decentralized ride-sharing disruptors taking on Uber
The FHWA isn't the only national agency sniffing around blockchain. Australia's ministry for industry, science, and technology has released a blockchain roadmap detailing a mass restructuring of the country's infrastructure. Australia's drive toward blockchain inclusion hopes to produce a sector worth $175 billion (AUD 259.4 billion).


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The FHWA is offering $4 million to overhaul US highways using blockchain (Image: Unsplash)

The Federal Highway Administration, part of the US Department of Transportation, is funding research to overhaul highway engineering using blockchain.

It's been a blinder of a week for Bitcoin. The pioneering cryptocurrency reached 500 million transactions, and now its daily transactions are hitting levels not seen in the past five months. To top it all off, BTC has wiped out over 45% of its 2019 sell-off in the space of just seven weeks.

The price of Bitcoin has been on an upward stride lately. In 2020 alone, BTC has managed to add over 40% to its price point—advancing from a yearly low of just under $7000 to a current price of approximately $9800. Now, with a dual-month rally under its belt, Bitcoin has succeeded in writing off almost half of its 2019 losses.

Following a parabolic advance in April last year—with Bitcoin topping out at around $13,880—2019's price slump was unrelenting. The flagship crypto went from reclaiming the majority of its 2018 losses to a lowly base of $6,900 come November. Nevertheless, its triumphant rebound has all but erased the losses of last year, with Bitcoin on the threshold of breaking $10,000 once more.

BITCOIN TRANSACTIONS ARE ON THE UP

It's not only Bitcoin's price that's been thrashing expectations of late. Key fundamentals have similarly positioned BTC into a sweet spot, with an increasing amount of digital gold exchanging hands.

Data from blockchain.com reveals that Bitcoin managed to surpass 368,604 daily transactions on February 5. The last time the network observed levels of that magnitude was back in September 2019.
[Bitcoin transactions 1 month]Bitcoin's daily transactions hit a 5-month high (Source: Blockchain.com)
Although this wasn't the highest number of daily transactions ever, it's still indicative of market adoption. A record-breaking daily tx was recorded back in May 2019, when the network reached an all-time high of 452,646.

All this was underpinned by the news that Bitcoin network transactions had reached half a billion transactions—up from 250 million in 2017.

 The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.


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Bitcoin has topped expectations this week after managing to break through key performance and price milestones. Here's the breakdown.

Frank Cardona

Buying crypto privately is now more difficult for the Swiss, and soon for the rest of the world. 

A new provision passed by The Swiss Financial Market Authority (FINMA) has lowered the threshold for unidentified crypto purchases from $5,000 Swiss Francs (CHF) to $1,000 CHF (around $1023 USD), according to a press release by the agency. 

Swiss regulators cited “heightened money-laundering risks” as the reason for lowering the threshold. 

 New money laundering regulations threaten crypto firms in Europe 

This comes as part of a global push by governments to tighten the unidentified movement of digital money and financial assets—anonymity features that make cryptocurrencies enticing in the eyes of some users. 

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization with 200 countries, recommended last year that crypto exchanges must collect identification for purchases over $1,000 USD or $1,000 euros. 

Last month, The European Union also heightened its restrictions on anonymous crypto transactions when it passed new money-laundering regulations that force cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians to comply with know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures, which typically are applied to the banking sector. As a result, popular crypto startups, such as Bottle Pay and Deribit, have decided to either shut down or relocate due to the new regulations.

 Future of blockchain privacy could depend on this technology

Countries that don’t comply with FATF’s rules “essentially lose access to the global financial system” Jesse Spiro of crypto investigative firm Chainalysis told _Bloomberg_ last year. 

Some think anonymity in mainstream crypto buying is dead. “If you use crypto, you need to get used to the idea [that] anonymity is gone,” the CEO of Coinfirm Pawel Kuskowski told _Decrypt_ earlier this week.

While authorities around the world are increasingly finding ways to dissuade bad actors from using cryptocurrency to circumvent laws, some within the crypto industry have raised concerns about the threats to privacy that these new regulations pose. 

> The next great Bitcoin battle will be over privacy; the cracks are already starting to show as more companies are closing accounts of people who use privacy preserving services. These companies shall find themselves on the wrong side of history.
> 
> — Jameson Lopp (@lopp) January 29, 2020

Companies such as Coinfirm and others are currently working on solutions to help keep crypto businesses, such as exchanges, compliant while providing users with privacy.


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A provision passed by Swiss regulators places new limits on the amount of crypto that can be purchased anonymously, as lawmakers crack down worldwide.

A security researcher last month discovered a cryptocurrency-mining scheme on a web server run by the US Department of Defense.

Indian security researcher Nitesh Surana disclosed the exploit on the DoD’s bug bounty page on January 4. He found out that it was possible to access the server without a password.

“The major impact of this vulnerability is [that] an attacker can exploit and gain access to critical internals of the server,” wrote Surana in his report to the DOD. As a result, an attacker can run remote commands on the server through the Java programming language, uploading any file they want. 

 A massive botnet is using YouTube to mine cryptocurrency

In the case that an attacker uploaded a file that attacked the server and gave them complete control, “This can later lead to critical information leakage, lateral movement and other catastrophic events as the instance can be manipulated by the skills of the attacker,” said Surana.

It looks like someone _did _exploit the vulnerability to install botnet to mine the privacy coin, Monero. It’s unclear how much they made, but, after Surana posted evidence to support his claims, the DoD quickly controlled the system and had shut it down by January 21.

> Happy Friday hackers! Nitesh @ideaengine007 found a critical RCE vulnerability in Jenkins that led us to discover a Bitcoin mining service running on a DoD website 😲. Head over to the disclosed report to see all the details! Thanks for being 🔥 Niteshhttps://t.co/YywrVZu2Uc
> 
> — DC3 VDP (@DC3VDP) January 31, 2020

This isn’t the first time someone’s used state apparatus to mine cryptocurrency. Last year, employees of a Rusian nuclear warhead facility were fined for illegally using the department’s supercomputer to mine for Bitcoin. Its computer is powered by one petaflop, equal to a thousand trillion transactions per second. 


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Monero is a cryptocurrency designed to keep transactions hidden from prying eyes. It uses a number of sophisticated techniques to prevent people from tracking how money is spent.

Monero

A security researcher discovered a botnet mining Monero cryptocurrency on a web server run by the US Department of Defense.

The US Navy wants to improve the security of its internal messaging system, and it’s turning to blockchain company SIMBA Chain to do it.

SIMBA Chain announced yesterday that it has secured a $9.5 million contract from the US Navy to “deploy a secure, blockchain-based messaging and transaction platform” for the Department of Defense (DoD).

 US Air Force taps blockchain startup to help secure weapons data

The system, which runs on Microsoft Azure, will make it easier to share information between the Navy and its air power. Uses of the new contract include secure messaging, supply chains, and financial transactions.

The contract between the Navy and SIMBA Chain will run for five years. SIMBA Chain was itself the result of a 2017 DARPA Grant, awarded to the University of Notre Dame Center for Research Computing and ITAMCO.

> SIMBA Chain makes it easy to build and deploy blockchain systems across multiple blockchains and data stores.
> 
> Learn more about our platform: https://t.co/My5CiidzHi pic.twitter.com/bMEqwGAFsT
> 
> — SIMBA Chain (@SimbaChain) January 16, 2020

“This is a win not just for SIMBA and our partners, but also for the DoD, which has pursued with single-minded focus, a solution to conduct sensitive, mission-critical operations in a manner that is immutable and non-refutable,” SIMBA Chain CEO Joel Neidig said in a statement.

The Navy isn’t the only department of the US military that’s recently invested in blockchain. Fluree, a blockchain data management company, this week announced that it signed a contract with the US Air Force. The new system, which will be implemented this year, will allow the US Air Force to keep track of how information gets into its system, and who can access it. 

Like the new contract with SIMBA, Flurree’s designed to meet the Department of Defense’s goal of increasing information sharing across departments. 


US Navy

The US Navy wants to improve the security of its internal messaging system, and it’s turning toblockchain company SIMBA Chain to do it.

Adriana Hamacher

Last week, the White House announced a new immigration ban on Nigerians entering the US. It’s a move that seems to have poured cold water on Nigeria’s dreams of becoming a major tech hub, and Africa’s premier Bitcoin hotspot. 

The ban will prevent thousands of people from being able to move to the United States. But the knock-on effect is much greater on recipients of the billions of dollars in remittances sent home by Nigerians in the US each year. The new rules will impact nearly a quarter of the people on the African continent, and are likely to exert a heavy toll on African economies, as well as impacting America’s image in the region. But could this cloud have a silver lining for Nigeria’s Bitcoin enthusiasts? 

NIGERIA ACCUSED OF TERRORIST RISK

The new ban prevents Nigerians (as well as citizens of Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Sudan and Tanzania) from applying for immigration to the US, under the latter’s “green card lottery” which offers permanent resident status to applicants from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the US.

The White House alleges that Nigeria (along with other banned states) does not comply with the strict identity-management and information-sharing criteria required by the US. And that it poses a risk of harboring terrorists who may seek to enter the United States.

 In the week following Dorsey’s visit, investors poured almost $400m into digital payments companies in Nigeria.

Terrorist group Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands since 2019, mainly in Nigeria’s north, and now there are signs of renewed attacks. 

However, unpopular opinion holds that the immigration ban could also be to Nigeria’s advantage—ensuring that its many talented, researchers, engineers and developers stay put and develop the services that Nigerians desperately need. 

MULTI-SECTOR DISRUPTION 

“I'm hoping this should galvanise Nigerians and in extension Africa as a group. It's actually a good thing in retrospect.” said Eri Noji of cryptocurrency exchange, Bigeria, which is planning to launch next week (pending issuance of a license).

“My dream is Nigerians working together to grow Nigeria like there's no other option. It's cliché, but there's really "no place like home,” he added.

Others agree. 

> We will make a Wakanda out of the current Nigeria. #codifynigeria is a great start... https://t.co/0xbLu4qudD
> 
> — Hardware_Kage (@HW_Kage) January 31, 2020

Currently, some 87% of Nigeria’s economy is transacted in cash, and a quarter of the population is unbanked. 

AFRICA’S LARGEST ECONOMY

Companies such as Twitter, Google and Facebook—which opened an incubator in Lagos in 2018—are attracted by Nigeria’s savvy developers and its double distinction as the most populous nation in Africa and the continent’s largest economy. Nigeria was Africa’s leading startup investment destination in 2018. Lagos’ Yaba neighborhood has even earned the nickname “Yabacon Valley.”

Launched last week, the free-to-use Google Developers Space is a hub for African developers, entrepreneurs and startups. It’s part of Google’s plan to promote access to broadband, mentorship and funds throughout Africa, and marks the tech giant’s commitment to support entrepreneurship and to train 100,000 developers. 

> Google Developers Space has just launched in Lagos.
> 
> Location: Impact Hub Lagos
> 7A Milverton Rd, Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria
> 
> Best thing is that the use of facility is free. pic.twitter.com/gNmYfqpZbx
> 
> — JavaScript Teacher (@js_tut) February 3, 2020

And others are piling in too. 

Last week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the UK was aiming to become the biggest investor in Africa among the G7 countries.

“Africa is the future”, he told delegates at the UK’s inaugural investment summit in London, echoing the words of Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey last year.  

NIGERIA’S SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES

Dorsey himself is preparing to go one better and move to either Ethiopia or Nigeria this year for several months, following a “listening tour” to countries including Nigeria last November. 

In the week following Dorsey’s visit, investors poured almost $400m into digital payments companies in Nigeria, including Interswitch, PalmPay and OPay (which is backed by crypto-friendly Opera—the second most popular browser in Africa). Visa, Sequoia Capital China and SoftBank Ventures Asia were among the prominent investors.

Nigeria has already has its blockchain and bitcoin success stories too, including freight logistics startup Kobo360, which raised $20 million from Goldman Sachs and non-cash remittance platform SureRemit.

Notably, however, SureRemit is incorporated in Mauritius. Running a tech business in Nigeria is challenging. Frequent power outages, access to credit, political instability, corruption, and multiple government taxes are just some of the obstacles faced by startups. This is compounded by a low level of public trust in technology, and a large informal economy (65% of GDP and 80% of workforce).
[Makoko slum Nigeria]Makoko, Nigeria's biggest slum, is not far from the country's tech hub dubbed "Yabacon Valley." (Image: Shutterstock)
But things are improving. The relative affordability of Nigeria’s internet is a major factor; _The Economist _ranks it first in the region. There are also workarounds by the tech ecosystem itself—from off-grid energy companies trying to drive up electrification, to fintech ventures looking to boost financial inclusion and access to credit. 

“With Nigeria’s inflation and debt at meteoric heights, Nigerians are increasingly using Bitcoin as a store of value,” said David Ajala, CEO of Nigerian Bitcoin exchange NairaEx.

“Africa is at the forefront of Bitcoin adoption,” he said, adding that the exchange is working on a stablecoin backed by the Nigerian naira to offer people a “better alternative to the banks.”

 "Blockchain will transform Africa more than in developed nations”

"Market conditions are just right across the African continent for a crypto revolution to take hold," said Tomi Ayorinde, CEO of Nigeria-based CrowdForce, Africa’s largest offline distribution network. "Blockchain will transform Africa more than in developed nations. The best African fintech start-ups are building with this in mind."

NIGERIA’S BRIGHT FUTURE

The Nigerian government has expressed its disappointment with the US ruling on immigration, and has committed to resolving the situation.

“Even though the visa ban may be restrictive, I think Nigerian techies still have a bright future,” said Olúwatósìn Olaseinde, founder of financial literacy and investment platform Money Africa. 

 Why Africa is the new crucible of crypto

The US could lose out in the long term over the ban. Nigerians are among the most successful and highly educated immigrants to America—over three quarters of America’s black doctors are from Nigeria, by some estimates.

“Trump’s travel bans have never been rooted in national security—they’re about discriminating against people of color,” US Senator Kamala Harris, a former Democratic presidential candidate, declared on Sunday. “They are, without a doubt, rooted in anti-immigrant, white supremacist ideologies.”

By the end of this decade, 42% of the world’s youth will be Africans. Can Trump—the man who once said Nigerians would never go back to their “huts” if they were allowed into the US—really afford to ignore them? Fortunately, others are not so shortsighted.


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Investors poured $400m into Nigerian digital payments startups in just one week in November. (Image: Shutterstock)

Deep dives into Web 3.0, future and present.

Features

Tech industry giants are flocking to Nigeria, but will Trump’s recent immigration ban stop the West African country’s fledgling tech industry in its tracks?

Stephen Graves

These days, ride-sharing app Uber seems to be facing criticism from all sides.

In California, the legislature has passed the AB5 gig worker law to make companies treat workers as independent contractors instead of full employees. Uber’s responded with Project Luigi, a scheme to let drivers set their own prices; critics suggest it will force them into a  “race to the bottom” on pricing. In London, Uber's lost its license to operate as it was deemed “not fit and proper” as a license holder; the company has appealed the decision. In December last year, its stock price dropped 2% on the news that around 6,000 sexual assault cases took place in its cars over the previous two years.

Could decentralized ride-sharing apps, with their promise of greater control for drivers and users, topple the incumbent ride-sharing giants like Uber and Lyft?

“There's a huge potential not only for a decentralized ride-sharing app, or a blockchain based company, but a company who can work more ethically for the betterment of this whole ecosystem,” Firdosh Sheikh, CEO of decentralized ride-sharing app Drife, told _Decrypt_.

CAN BLOCKCHAIN FIX RIDE-SHARING?

The ride-sharing industry’s a tempting target for disruptors. Many have sprung up around the world, making bold claims about using decentralized technologies such as blockchain to give drivers and users a greater degree of control.

Drife is one such app. Built on the EOS blockchain, it concluded a round of its IEO in November last year, and is currently gearing up for the roll-out of its public test app, ahead of its planned launch in India. Like other decentralized ride-sharing projects, it claims to be “giving back the power to the value creators”; its business model is built on taking zero commission from drivers. “We believe when there’s a driver who spends 14 to 16 hours behind the wheel, he deserves to take back all the income to his home,” said Sheikh. “For him, it's about his livelihood.” Instead, Drife will charge drivers an annual fee for access to the app.

Drife plans to use blockchain for governance and incentivisation, removing the need for a central authority; drivers can stake Drife’s DRF token through the app, with drivers who stake more getting a higher chance of being selected for rides. Riders can also stake the token, for unspecified “additional benefits.” “We are working on making personalized smart contracts where every driver and rider can customize the application as per their needs and requirements, which is not present in the current ecosystem,” said Sheikh. 

Another project aiming to shake up the world of ride sharing is Arcade City. It’s a decentralized network that enables riders and drivers to connect directly with each other; drivers can charge what they want, work when they want and build up their own base of repeat customers. Drivers self-organise in peer-to-peer “guilds”, tokenized using the ERC-20 Arcade Token (ARCD); they keep 100% of fares booked on a peer-to-peer basis, or pay a 10% fee on fares booked through the gamified Arcade City app. Arcade City also plans to offer ride-sharing insurance and payment processing in future.
[Arcade City app]Arcade City is planning its return to the Philippines (Image: Arcade City)
Founder Christopher David conceived the idea for Arcade City while working as an Uber driver, after finding that Uber’s terms and conditions wouldn’t let customers exchange contact information with drivers. “I was thinking that a disintermediated Uber would be much desired by other drivers like myself who wanted to be true entrepreneurs,” David explained to _Decrypt_. “I should have the freedom to exchange contact information and to build up my own recurring customer base, like every other type of service provider. Like hairdressers; they build regulars, it's a source of stable income for them.”

First launched in Austin, Texas in 2016, Arcade City has experienced pushback from the authorities; the police in Austin launched sting operations against Arcade City drivers, while it was blocked from operating in the Philippines following its attempt to launch in the country in 2017. It also endured a hard fork in 2017, with rival Swarm City branching off to set up its own decentralized marketplace. It’s targeting a February 14 launch date for its app, and aims to relaunch in the Philippines, with support for California “sooner rather than later.”

“AB5 has already put thousands of freelancers out of a job,” David said. “In California particularly, we're positioning Arcade City as a gig marketplace for freelancers of any sort to connect peer-to-peer with no middleman.” 

He added that Arcade City has done best when corporations and governments clash, causing consumers to lose out. “Like when 10,000 rideshare drivers were put out of a job in 2016 in Austin, that's what launched our flagship Austin network,” he said. “Ditto in the Philippines.”

DECENTRALIZATION ON ITS OWN ISN’T ENOUGH

Those challengers who dream of taking on the likes of Uber and Lyft have a bumpy road ahead of them. “Just saying that you're going to decentralize ride sharing isn't enough,” John Wolpert, group executive of enterprise mainnet at Consensys, told _Decrypt_. And he should know; before joining ConsenSys (which funds an editorially independent _Decrypt_), he was the CEO of ride-sharing app Flywheel. The key problem for ride-sharing apps, he argued, is aggregating supply and demand on a timely basis. “You have zero time slip; if somebody hails a car they need it right now. And when the driver doesn’t get a consistent stream of new rides from a service right away, they quickly wind up discarding it.”

 You have to find some way of aggregating supply and demand without having a company do that for them

Drivers need to be organized, or there won’t be a coordinated market for their services, Wolpert explained. “Somebody has to get paid to do that. In fact, it's extraordinarily expensive to do that—so somebody's going to want 20% and an expectation of returns to put up the capital. You have to find some way of aggregating supply and demand without having a company do that for them.”

Sheikh argued that the shift from a centralized model to a fully decentralized one can’t happen all at once. “If I say I'll remove everything and let drivers be on their own, the driver will get confused because they were dependent upon a third party doing all this stuff for them,” she said. Instead, there has to be a planned transition. 
[Drife app]Drife is built on the EOS blockchain (Image: Drife)
Initially, Drife plans to put payments and ride allocation on a blockchain platform, but, “You cannot eliminate the whole concept of middleman funders in the ride hailing space at one go; you have to go step by step,” said Sheikh. “We as a company will be a escrow for both driver and rider initially. With time, the idea is that the drivers will have all the awareness that they need to run their whole business on their own and won't need anybody else to control things.”

 If we've got to be teaching our drivers about private key management, we've lost them

Another issue is that there’s still a long way to go before decentralized technologies are user-friendly enough for the non-technical user. “One criticism I have of the hardcore decentralists who are putting forward sometimes dogmatic arguments about why things should be done in a purely decentralized, encrypted way: that's great if people can actually fucking use it,” said David. “If we've got to be teaching our drivers about private key management, we've lost them.”

Despite the challenges ahead, Arcade City’s ambitions don’t stop at disrupting ride-sharing; as David pointed out to _Decrypt_, it’s Arcade _City_, not Arcade _Rides_. “We view this as the one stop shop for peer to peer everything,” he said. “We’re already playing in deliveries. Eight percent of our Austin network ride requests are already deliveries, but we want to do home share; anything where this same type of communal organization can help to disintermediate, we want to be playing in all of that.”


Christopher David

Decentralized ride-sharing apps are springing up to tackle Uber and Lyft (Image: Shutterstock)

Could decentralized ride-sharing apps, with their promise of greater control for drivers and users, topple incumbent ride-sharing giants like Uber and Lyft?

Just like the explorers of a bygone age, Jack Dorsey came away entranced when he visited Africa for the first time last year. The Twitter and Square CEO is a big Bitcoin fan and investor—and during his visit, he declared that the continent was the future of Bitcoin.  

Atsu Davoh, founder of Ghana-based cross-border transaction app Bitsika, was one of those Dorsey sought out during his recent visit there. “He was humble and very curious,” Davoh said. 

And Dorsey is coming back, with other investors in his wake, because Africa is compelling, see—and especially so for crypto. The continent’s very specific challenges and its enthusiastic workforce are the key ingredients cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin need to succeed. Fragmented infrastructure means that Africans pay the highest remittance costs in the world, and are the second highest unbanked population, but these could prove to be opportunities in the right hands. Does Africa have the potential to lead the way on blockchain adoption? 

HOW IS CRYPTO AND BLOCKCHAIN ADOPTION PROGRESSING IN AFRICA?

Ray Youssef certainly thinks so. The CEO of peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplace Paxful, Youssef credits the continent with teaching him about Bitcoin’s true use cases. “Africans have had peer-to-peer financial systems in place for thousands of years,” he said.

Approximately 45% of Paxful’s three million subscriptions are from Africa. Sending money in traditional ways is so onerous for many that it’s easier to get on a plane and deliver it yourself, said Youssef.

Cryptocurrencies are used as a store of value, for speculation and, increasingly, as a medium for borderless trade across countries, said Philip Agyei Asare, CEO of remittance platform, BTCGhana, which was founded in 2015. 

“African crypto is like the Wild West, there are no legal hurdles or regulations,” said Bitsaka’s Davoh. “Governments don’t know that much about crypto so they let people do whatever they want to do.” 

> Very lucky to have had drinks with @jack @paraga @michaelmontano. Long Bitcoin. Long @BitSikaAfrica pic.twitter.com/lVITGJgOLb
> 
> — Atsu Davoh (@atsudavoh) November 11, 2019

He claims to know someone who processed $30 million in Bitcoin over-the-counter transactions in one year. Nigeria has a big population and the best programmers, but is also more politically unstable than Ghana, he added.

NATIONAL DIGITAL CURRENCIES, STABLECOINS AND SCHOOLS

Africa’s major economies, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, are all keeping an eye on cryptocurrency. Ghana and South Africa are also among those exploring the potential of national digital currencies.
[Africa cryptocurrency regulation]Crypto regulation in Africa. (Source: Baker and Mckenzie)
Among the continent's more liberal crypto states is Senegal, where rapper Akon has started constructing the world’s first “crypto city.”

But the project has come under fire. Improving education is a more pressing need, many believe.

“The greatest national resources in Africa are above the ground, not below it,” said Paxful’s Youssef. “It’s the people—so driven, so ambitious, and just looking for a way to make a difference.” 

In 2017, Paxful began a push to build 100 schools with Bitcoin.

 Africa has the world’s youngest population; 60% of the continent is under 25.

AFRICAN PROJECTS TO MEET AFRICAN NEEDS

Africa’s unique qualities make it ideally suited as a giant sandbox for blockchain and crypto development—from blockchain commodity exchanges in Nigeria, to boosting agricultural yields and establishing land rights in Kenya. Cardano is prominent among blockchain platforms working with African governments to address local needs, and training developers.
[Uganda students Cardano ]Students graduating from IOHK's coding academy in Ethiopia. (Image: IOHK)
“Africa missed the first, second and third industrial revolutions, but we have a real opportunity to be a part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said Bitange Ndemo, who heads Kenya’s Blockchain and AI Taskforce.

The so-called “Leapfrogging” theory holds that it’s now irrelevant that Africa failed to develop current-generation IT infrastructure because next-generation services—5G, AI and the Internet of Things—can now be built without having to worry about the costs of overhauling legacy infrastructure.

In Kenya, birthplace of the M-Pesa, the digital revolution is transforming everyday life, paving the way for the application of emerging technologies like blockchain. Kenya’s startup scene is thriving, and the government is working on a trusted identity platform, and exploring biometrics for transaction verification. 

Much of Africa’s digital revolution is due to the explosion in mobile phones, now commonplace even in the continent's poorest countries. Close to 10 percent of GDP in transactions are made with mobile money—the highest proportion in the world. UK blockchain platform Electroneum is tapping into this trend, and has also teamed up with an NGO to create “a crypto ETN village” in an as-yet-undisclosed location, a spokesperson told _Decrypt_. 

 Electroneum CEO: why we’re launching a mobile phone

Africa is also on the cutting edge of crypto innovation; Many believe 2020 could be the continent’s year of the stablecoin. Bitsika is currently developing its own ABCD stablecoin, and Nigerian Bitcoin exchange NairaEx is also working on one backed by the national currency, the Naira. 

AFRICA: A BIG PLACE

In a continent comprised of 54 countries and and 1.2 billion people, there’s plenty of disparity in how technology is used, something that also applies to blockchain and crypto. 

Take the M-Pesa. Touted as digital currency for the entire continent, its success in Kenya wasn’t replicated in South Africa, and there’s no definitive answer as to why. 

There’s also a huge disparity between Cape Town, South Africa, where you can now buy a pad near the city’s university complex with bitcoin, and Zambia, where cryptocurrency is illegal. But what Africa’s countries have in common is that across the continent, startup founders have grown up in an era of digital transformation—mobile, YouTube and the M-Pesa. That makes the continent a perfect crucible for the next wave of innovation, in crypto and blockchain.

“Jack said the future of crypto is in Africa, and I totally agree,” said Davoh. “If you just look at the freedom we have here, the talent and the attention we’re getting from outside—and the role and purpose these solutions serve—this is the perfect place. When I look at all the exciting companies being built here, I think that very, very soon, we’ll see a crypto valley happening in Africa.”


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In Africa, close to 10 percent of GDP in transactions occur through mobile money—the highest proportion in the world. IMAGE: Shutterstock

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey calls Africa the future of Bitcoin. Local startup founders agree; is the continent set to play host to “Crypto Valley”? 

Melanie Kramer

Cryptocurrencies, utility tokens, security tokens and more…digital assets and their classifications are evolving right alongside cryptographic and blockchain technology. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs are another example of the fast-paced change in the industry. In this guide we explore what they, how they work, and how they're being used. 

WHAT ARE NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS?

Non-fungible tokens contain identifying information recorded in their smart contracts. It’s this information that makes each different and as such, they cannot be directly replaced by another token. They cannot be swapped like for like, as no two are alike. Banknotes, in contrast, can be simply exchanged one for another, if they are the same value, there is no difference to the holder.

Bitcoin meanwhile, is a fungible token. You can send someone one Bitcoin and they can send one back, it would still be one Bitcoin. The value might change depending on the time between exchanging Bitcoin, but it's essentially the same. You can also send or receive any part of a Bitcoin, measured in Satoshi, as fungible tokens are divisible.

Non-fungible tokens are not divisible, in the same way as you cannot send someone part of a concert ticket. Part of a concert ticket wouldn’t be worth anything on its own and would not be redeemable.

CryptoKitties collectibles were some of the first non-fungible tokens. Each blockchain-based cat is unique, if you sent someone a CryptoKitty it would be a completely different one if you were sent one in return, unless they returned the exact same one.

The unique information of a non-fungible token, like a CryptoKitty, is stored in its smart contract and immutably recorded on the token’s blockchain. CryptoKitties are Ethereum ERC-721 tokens, they use Ethereum’s protocols and the Ethereum blockchain.

In late 2018, one player was so desperate to move to a "better location" in the virtual game Decentraland that they were ready to say goodbye to 2,800,000 MANA in order to purchase a land piece in-game. At the time of the deal, that was equivalent to over Ξ1000 or $215,200. 

WHAT MAKES NFTS SO SPECIAL?

Non-fungible tokens have unique attributes, they are usually linked to a specific asset. They can be used to prove the ownership of digital items like game skins right through to the ownership of physical assets.

Other tokens are fungible, in the same way as coins or banknotes. Fungible tokens are identical, they have the same attributes and value when exchanged.

HOW ARE NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS USED?

As well as for crypto-collectibles like CryptoKitties, non-fungible tokens can be used for digital assets that need to be differentiated from each other in order to prove their value, or scarcity.

Another example of a non-fungible token is Decentraland’s LAND token. Decentraland is a blockchain-based virtual world, similar to Second Life. Each LAND token represents a parcel of virtual land in Decentraland identified by its virtual world coordinates.

SuperRare is another blockchain project creating non-fungible tokens that allow digital artists to link a token to an image or GIF they have created. A token represents ownership of the digital art and allows the creator to also retain and record their copyright and IP. The tokens, and hence the art, can be bought and sold just like physical artwork.

Non-fungible tokens are not traded on standard cryptocurrency exchanges, instead they are bought or sold on digital marketplaces like Openbazaar or Decentraland’s LAND marketplace.

HOW DO NFTS WORK? 

Tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum-based ERC-20 tokens are fungible. Ethereum’s non-fungible token standard, as used by CryptoKitties and Decentraland, is ERC-721. Non-fungible tokens can also be created on other smart-contract enabled blockchains with non-fungible token tools and support. Though Ethereum was the first to be widely used, NEO, EOS, and TRON, now have NFT standards.

Non-fungible tokens and their smart contracts allow for detailed attributes to be added, like the identity of the owner, rich metadata or secure file links. The potent of non-fungible tokens to immutably prove digital ownership is an important progression for an increasingly digital world. They could see blockchain’s promise of trustless security applied to the ownership or exchange of almost any asset.

As is the challenge of blockchain to date, non-fungible tokens, their protocols and smart contract technology is still being developed. Creating decentralized applications and platforms for the management and creation of non-fungible tokens is still relatively complicated. There is also the challenge of creating a standard. Blockchain development is fragmented, many developers are working on their own projects. To be successful there may need to be unified protocols and interoperability.

THE FUTURE

Predominantly, non-fungible tokens are being implemented in gaming and crypto collectibles. For gaming, non-fungible tokens could be used to represent in-game items like skins, potentially allowing them to be ported to new games or traded with other players.

Their potential however is much wider with possible application to copyright and intellectual property rights, ticketing and the sales and trading of video games.

Non-fungible tokens add potential to the creation of security tokens, the tokenization of both digital and real-world assets. Physical assets like property could be tokenized for fractional, or shared, ownership. If these security tokens are non-fungible the assets ownership is completely traceable and clear, even if only tokens representing part ownership are sold.

Further application of non-fungible tokens could be certification such as for qualifications, software licensing, warranties, and even birth and death certificates. The smart contract of a non-fungible token immutably proves the identity of the recipient or owner and could be stored in a digital wallet for ease of access and representation. One day, our digital wallets could contain proof of every certificate, license, and asset, we own.


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What are ? A 3-minute guide - Decrypt

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, contain identifying information recorded in their smart contracts. It’s this information that makes each different.

Many new stablecoins have emerged over the past 18 months in the cryptocurrency space. Their development has partly been inspired by the need to fill a potential stablecoin void, as the first and most commonly utilized stablecoin Tether faces concerns. There is, of course, also ongoing impetus in the cryptocurrency space to develop less-volatile tokens which will be used more widely. Below we take a closer look at Maker, the governance token at the heart of MakerDAO. 

WHAT IS MAKER?

The Maker (MKR) token was created by MakerDAO and its primary purpose is to support the stability of MakerDAO’s DAI token and enable governance for the Dai Credit System. Holders of MKR make key decisions on the operation and future of the system.

MakerDAO has two tokens, MKR and DAI. The DAI is a stablecoin designed to provide an alternative to more volatile cryptocurrencies, as well as a new type of financial system. The MKR meanwhile, is used to keep the DAI stable. Traditional stablecoins use reserves of fiat currencies or even gold to peg a cryptocurrency to the value of these real-world assets to keep it stable. But that has proved problematic. MakerDAO uses the MKR token to act as a counterweight to price fluctuations. 

 Some stablecoins gain their lower volatility by being backed by fiat currencies and physical assets. Other stablecoins can be controlled through blockchain-based mechanisms or algorithms to maintain a required value.

WHAT MAKES IT SO SPECIAL? 

The MKR token helps to keep its partner stablecoin DAI at the same value as $1. MKR can be created and destroyed in response to DAI price fluctuations in order to maintain DAI’s dollar-equivalent value. DAI uses a system of collateralization (essentially insurance), whereby holders act as part of the controlling mechanism to help manage the network.

DAI is issued when buyers purchase a smart contract based collateralized debt position (CDP) which behaves much like a loan. CDPs are bought with Ether (ETH) and DAI is given in return. ETH acts as the collateral to the loan, in much the same way as a house acts as collateral for a mortgage loan.  The system means that individuals can, in essence, obtain a loan against their ETH holdings. When the loan is repaid the DAI is “burned” or destroyed. Fees occur in MKR along the way.

The MKR token is a solution for a scenario where the price of ETH falls too quickly for the DAI system to handle. If the collateral system is not enough to cover the value of DAI then MKR is created and sold to the market to raise additional collateral.

The Maker Platform, formerly known as MakerDAO is the protocol and governance framework for DAI and also MKR. The platform is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) on the Ethereumblockchain.

 Smart contracts are simply computerized code which contains, and can perform, a set of instructions.

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH MAKER?

Holders of MKR gain voting rights in the Maker platform’s continuous approval voting system. MKR holders vote on things like the collateralization rate of CDPs. For participating they gain MKR fees as a reward. These holders are incentivized to vote in a way that benefits the system. If the system works well MKR’s value is maintained or increases. Poor governance would devalue MKR.

MKR is an ERC-20 token, constructed using Ethereum’s protocols. It can be stored in ERC-20 wallets and is tradeable on a number of exchanges.

WHO CREATED MAKERDAO?

MakerDAO was founded in 2014, in California, by developer and entrepreneur Rune Christensen. Its core management and development team is 20 strong. After three years in development, MakerDAO finally launched the stablecoin DAI.

MakerDAO hope to create both a reliable stablecoin in DAI and a system of fair credit for everyone. Opening a collateralized debt position (CDP) using Ether means DAI can provide liquidity against crypto-assets.

A BRIEF HISTORY

 	* 2014 – Maker DAO founded
 	* August 2015 – MKR token launched
 	* December 2017 – DAI stablecoin launched on the Ethereum mainnet
 	* October 2018 – DAI becomes the first cross-chain ERC-20 token on Wanchain
 	* September 2018 – Kraken lists MakerDAO's Dai.
 	* October 2019 – Ledn uses MakerDAO to disburse loans to the unbanked.
 	* December 2019 – Maker Foundation transfers control of MKR to Maker Governance.

THE FUTURE

MakerDAO’s efforts to create a stablecoin without concerns over reserve-backing are credible. With the collateralization mechanisms and the further failsafe of MKR, MakerDAO has a system to protect the value of its stablecoin DAI which could lead to its wider use.

As a further failsafe, MakerDAO has an emergency process called “global settlement.” Should something go wrong with MakerDAO’s system, a group of individuals holds settlement keys. These can be used to trigger a settlement where collateral held in CDPs is released to DAI owners in the equating value of Ether.

MakerDAO also works hard on transparency, it shares its regular meeting recordings online. As DeFi or decentralized finance became one of the biggest success stories in 2019, MakerDAO, and its MKR token are in the front line of this growing industry. 


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A 3-minute guide to the governance token - Decrypt

The Maker (MKR) token was created to support the stability of MakerDAO’s DAI token and enable governance for the Dai Credit System.

Ki Chong Tran

There’s only one Mona Lisa, only so many Picassos, a limited supply of gold on Earth. The inventor of Bitcoin believed scarcity could create value where there was none before. The Halving also known as the Halvening is due to occur sometime in May 2020. To understand it, we must understand the theory behind Bitcoin’s supply. Below we explore more. 

A BIT ABOUT BITCOIN

Bitcoin is revolutionary because it proved–for the first time–how something that was completely digital could be scarce. This limited supply is one of the primary reasons the price of Bitcoin has gone from being worth nothing 10 years ago to being priced at $20,000 per coin at its peak. 

PROBLEM

Fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar were initially created with firm rules–to create one U.S. dollar, the U.S. government needed to have a certain amount of gold in their reserves. This was known as the GOLD STANDARD. Over time, these rules eroded as modernizing economies, during bouts of extreme financial certainty–like the Great Depression and World War II–printed more money to help stimulate struggling economies. This change in tac is precisely the kind of thing Satoshi Nakamoto wanted to avoid. He/she/they had seen that this devaluation of fiat money could have disastrous effects, and so, with code, prevented any single party to be able to print more Bitcoin. 

WHAT IS THE HALVING?

The Bitcoin code is embedded with a hard supply limit of 21 million coins. New Bitcoin is created through mining as block rewards. Miners do the work of maintaining and securing the Bitcoin ledger and as a reward; the system sends them new Bitcoin.

However, about every four years, the mining reward is halved–hence “the Halving.” Each halving reduces the rate of new Bitcoin entering into the supply until no more new Bitcoins are created at all in the year 2140.

WHO INVENTED THE HALVING?

The Halving was programmed into Bitcoin’s code by Satoshi Nakamoto. This extremely simple mechanism of reducing the total supply over time is one of the main reasons why Bitcoin is the world’s most valuable crypto asset. As Nakamoto wrote in the Bitcoin whitepaper: “the network is robust in its unstructured simplicity.” 

 The first million Bitcoins were mined by Satoshi Nakamoto 10 years ago. Since then, about 85% of the total supply has been mined and only about 3 million more Bitcoins will ever be created.

A BRIEF HISTORY

 	* 2009 – Bitcoin mining rewards start at 50 BTC per block
 	* 2012 – The first Bitcoin Halving reduces mining rewards to 25 BTC
 	* 2016 – In the second Halving, mining rewards go down to 12.5 BTC
 	* 2140 – The 64th and last Halving occurs and no new Bitcoin will ever be created

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT IT?

If a person, group, or government is trusted to set up the money supply, they must also be trusted to not mess with it. Bitcoin is supposed to be decentralized and trustless–no one in control and no one to trust. Since Bitcoin is not controlled by any one person or group, there must be hard-set rules about how many Bitcoin gets created and how they are released. 

By writing a total supply and Halving event into the Bitcoin code, the monetary system of Bitcoin is essentially set in stone and practically impossible to change. This “hard cap” means Bitcoin is a kind of “hard money” like gold, which has a total supply that is also practically impossible to change. 

WHAT HAPPENS TO MINERS?

Miners must use precious resources to maintain the Bitcoin network, but what happens when their rewards are halved? Since the Halving reduces mining rewards, the incentive for miners to work on the Bitcoin network would also be reduced over time, which would mean fewer miners and less security for the network. In order to compensate miners properly into the future, the price of Bitcoin or the transaction fees must go up to meet miner’s demands.

HOW DO YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE HALVING?

According to the laws of supply and demand, the dwindling Bitcoin supply will inevitably lead to increasing Bitcoin demand, leading to a rise in prices. The best way to take advantage of this is of course by buying Bitcoin. As the leading and most popular crypto asset, Bitcoin can be easily purchased on nearly any crypto exchange as well as mainstream products such as the Cash App. Historically, after previous halving events, the price of Bitcoin did go up, but not necessarily straight away. Many Bitcoin watchers are hoping the same happens again.

THE FUTURE

The Halving may have a huge impact on Bitcoin’s price according to some “experts.” Cryptocurrency-focused research company, Digital Asset Research created a prediction model setting Bitcoin at over $60,000 after the next Halving in May 2020. A German bank went even further and predicted a price of $90,000 per Bitcoin after May 2020. But the truth is, no one knows for sure. 

It has been argued that since the Halving is well-known and highly predictable, the event has already been calculated into Bitcoin’s price by most investors. 

_DISCLAIMER: THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE. PLEASE DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH AND DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET. _


A 3-minute guide to the event - Decrypt

The Halving also known as the Halvening is a slashing of the rewards miners receive while processing transactions on bitcoin.

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