Zcash Celebrates 8 Years
On October 28, 2024, the community of privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) celebrated the eighth anniversary of its mainnet launch.
When the mainnet launched in 2016, the price of ZEC experienced significant fluctuations, at one point soaring to 2,600 BTC per 1 ZEC, which was worth more than $1.8 million at the time.
Today, the asset trades at $37.3, up 34% over the past year, according to CoinGecko. Zcash is ranked 140th by market cap, with a total value of $563.7 million.
16 Years Since Bitcoin White Paper Published
On October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto presented his famous white paper on Bitcoin to the world, outlining the operating principle of a peer-to-peer payment system. This document became the foundation that launched a revolution in financial technology.
The identity of the mysterious creator of the first cryptocurrency remains unknown to this day, and questions about whether he is alone or represents a group of people continue to excite the minds of researchers.
In October, the HBO documentary "Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery" suggested that Bitcoin could have been created by Peter Todd. However, the programmer himself denied these claims, adding that he now has to hide for his own safety.
The Bitcoin network was launched in January 2009, and two years later Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared, leaving his true name and history a secret. In 16 years, the first cryptocurrency has come a long way and turned into a powerful financial instrument, attracting the attention of both public companies and governments, and is supported by key world politicians.
Chainlink Announces Major Update
The Chainlink decentralized oracle team has unveiled a major upgrade called the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE), aimed at scaling the platform to “thousands of blockchains.”
This phased upgrade will see the implementation of a modular architecture. Chainlink node software will be split into individual components, each responsible for its own functions, such as reading data from the blockchain and executing consensus. These modules will be secured by independent decentralized oracle networks (DONs).
The creation of a customized chain for executing operations will enable direct connections between specialized DONs, which in turn will provide the security guaranteed by the Chainlink platform.
"Vampire Attack" on Bitcoin
Bitcoin network users have expressed concerns about the "pumping" of liquidity into DeFi protocols, exchange products, and custodial services, calling this phenomenon a "vampire attack" that threatens the security of the network.
The discussion emphasizes that the security of the network depends on miners, whose share of fees in income should grow over time. However, in the ecosystem of the first cryptocurrency, there are trends that lead to a decrease in real activity on the blockchain.
One of the key trends has been the spread of WBTC tokens in the decentralized finance sector. At the same time, the native coins supporting these tokens remain virtually inactive in their network, while liquidity and fees go to DeFi projects on Ethereum and other blockchains.
Binance Burns 1.77 BNB
Binance has completed its 29th quarterly BNB token burn, removing 1.77 million coins worth $1.07 billion from circulation. The destroyed assets accounted for approximately 1.1% of the total supply of approximately 144 million BNB.
There are still 43.5 million coins left to burn to reach the 100 million BNB burn target. This time, the process involved automatic token burning (1.71 million BNB) and an adjustment to the previous burn (62,596 BNB).
When BNB launched in 2017, it was committed (BEP-95) to destroy 100 million coins — half of the total supply — via a burn mechanism. This process occurs automatically every quarter and is based on the Auto-Burn formula.
Coinbase and Tether Launch Blockchain-Based AI Tools
Coinbase has announced the launch of a service for creating AI agents for working with crypto wallets, while Tether has introduced a tool for developing privacy-focused applications.
The crypto exchange’s Based Agent service allows you to set up an intelligent assistant in just three minutes. This agent is capable of performing a variety of tasks, including exchanges and staking. Based Agent is a template for creating AI bots that can be tailored to perform specific functions and integrated with smart contracts once configured. The tool was developed using the Coinbase SDK, OpenAI, and the Replit platform.
Meanwhile, Tether is announcing a modular toolkit called Local AI, designed to build privacy-focused AI applications based on P2P technologies.
