Ethereum Classic went from a protest vehicle to a more serious project this weekend following notable nods of support from major exchanges and community members. That momentum continued today as activity surrounding its new blockchain continued in earnest, and market participants voiced their enthusiasm for the effort. Now, the eighth largest digital currency with a $37m market cap, Ethereum Classic is listed on several exchanges and has quickly built up a small network of services. For those who haven’t been following, the rise of Ethereum Classic is the latest twist in the narrative surrounding The DAO, the $150m fundraising vehicle compromised in June. To recover the funds, ethereum developers solicited a community vote early this month, a process that…
The Ethereum hard fork executed last week as a means of reimbursing investors who lost funds in the collapse of a major project has resulted in the creation of a competing currency on a blockchain replicating the platform’s original consensus rules prior to the fork. Announced last week, a project called Ethereum Classic is continuing to mine a version of the blockchain in which funds were never restored to investors in The DAO. As observed here, the Ethereum Classic blockchain is now approximately 4,000 blocks behind the ethereum blockchain supported by ethereum’s original developers and community members. Initially dismissed due to a lack of vocal support, that narrative is now changing as digital currency exchanges and wallet providers move to extend services…
The ethereum ecosystem is returning to normalcy following a high-profile hack last month that resulted in nearly $60m worth of investor funds (denominated in network tokens) ending up under the control of an unknown group or individual. The ‘theft’, as some would label it, was eventually reversed through what’s known as a hard fork, a change in the code, ‘approved’ by an informal community vote, that effectively moved the disputed funds to a new account where investors could withdraw their original investments. But while the immediate impact was limited to the ethereum platform, the implications of its decisions have echoed across the blockchain community, influencing everyone from already ardent ethereum developers to bank…
The impact of the recent ethereum hard fork is extending far beyond message boards and forums, serving as a learning lesson even for firms actively engaged in building private blockchains. Representatives from major consulting firms are reporting that they are receiving questions from enterprise clients about ethereum’s decision to execute a hard fork of its blockchain. Companies as diverse as Capgemini, Deloitte and Ernst & Young indicate that their blockchain specialists have been observing as well, as part of an effort to keep an eye on the fast-developing open-source blockchain sector. “This is definitely a set of developments that we’ve all been watching very closely,” Iliana Oris Valiente, a lead blockchain strategist at Deloitte, said…
Coinbase has added support for ether, the digital currency that powers the ethereum blockchain. The announcement comes just two months after the startup, which has raised $117m to date, added ether trading to its bitcoin exchange service, at which time it also formally rebranded the platform, Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX). With the news, Coinbase users can now buy or sell ether from an ethereum wallet on their accounts, as well as its Coinbase Buy Widget, announced in June. Users can also buy and sell ether using all of Coinbase’s available payment methods, including credit card and bank transfer, and at the same limits as bitcoin purchases. In its full blog post announcing the news, Coinbase further addressed the recent controversies on the ethereum…