Chain News Today TheBitTimes.com

For years, rumors have circulated that Bitcoin’s largest mining machine manufacturer has secretly centralized a majority of Bitcoin’s hash power. The theory is down to more than a simple observation of the logo stamped on most mining cases. No, skeptics think that Bitmain’s pool itself — not just its machines — secretly creates the vast majority of blocks that are added to Bitcoin’s ledger. A sleuth found a clue in Antpool’s block template: A manually prioritized transaction immediately after the 6.25 BTC block reward or ‘coinbase’ transaction. This new research by pseudonymous Bitcoin developer 0xb10c seemingly confirms long-rumored practices by Antpool hiding its massive operation under the names of ostensibly independent pools. In short, it warns that despite tens of thousands of decentralized nodes, Bitcoin might actually be quite centralized from a mining perspective. One template and custodian for supposedly independent pools Specifically, 0xb10c detected that B...

The bug would have allowed malicious validators to compromise the network and applications that rely on it, including Celer’s cBridge. Web3 investor and developer Jump Crypto has identified a vulner ability in Celer’s State Guardian Network (SGN) that would allow malicious validators to compromise the network and applications dependent on it, including Celer’s cBridge. According to Jump Crypto’s postmortem report, validators were allowed to vote more than once on the same update due to a bug in the SGN EndBlocker code. By allowing validators to vote multiple times, malicious actors could multiply their voting power to approve harmful updates. The report explained: “The [EndBlocker] code is missing a check that prevents a validator from voting on the same update twice. A malicious validator could exploit this by voting multiple times on the same update, effectively multiplying their voting power and potentially tipping the vote in favor of an invalid or malicious update." Celer...

Following the fallout of FTX, implementing zero fee BTC trading and some notable global acquisitions Binance’s market dominance has surged throughout 2022. During a year plagued by crises such as the collapse of FTX and Celsius, data shows that crypto exchange Binance has emerged as the clear “winner” of 2022 according to Arcane Research. A Jan. 3 report from Arcane highlighted that Binance saw its market dominance soar throughout 2022. As of Dec. 28 last year it had captured 92% of the Bitcoin (BTC) spot market and 61% of the BTC derivatives market by volume: “There are no other evident ‘winners’ of 2022 other than Binance when it comes to the crypto market structure and market dominance. No matter how you look at it in terms of trading activity, Binance is the crypto market.” Binance’s BTC spot market dominance was 45% at the start of 2022 meaning that it more than doubled, while its share of the BTC derivatives market increased by almost one third. Real BTC daily volume vs Binanc...

After a tumultuous year in crypto, investors are now more selective with their funding. It’s been a tough year for crypto, and venture capital activity confirms it. The collapse of FTX in November was the latest and most shocking in a series of closures of key market players this year — including Celsius, Voyager and BlockFi — that have shaken investor sentiment and wiped out $1.5 trillion in market capitalization from cryptocurrency space. Blockchain Venture Capital funding has been on a downward slope since May 2022, and November was no different, with inflows declining even further. However, the total capital inflows for 2022 have surpassed 2021 by almost $6 billion. According to Cointelegraph Research, VC funding declined 4.8% in November, totaling $840.4 million — down from $843 million in October. The Cointelegraph Research Terminal’s Venture Capital Database — which contains comprehensive details on deals, mergers and acquisition activity, investors, crypto companies, funds...