Daily Byte: Friday, November 30, 2018

November 30, 2018 6:56 PM

Intel De-Energizes Bitcoin Mining

Intel thinks it might be able to make bitcoin mining more energy-efficient. The chipmaker was awarded a patent on November 27 for a processor that cuts down on the multiple redundant stages of hash operations.

According to Intel, power consumption can also be lowered by altering how the nonce and the final hash are compared for validity. (For more, see our full article.)

Malaysia Set to Enforce Crypto Regulations

According to Malaysia’s finance minister, Lim Guan Eng, the southeast Asian country is prepared to roll out its crypto regulatory framework at the beginning of 2019. The Star Online reports the regulations will be part of efforts by the country’s Securities Commission to make available alternative fundraising and investment instruments.

Per Lim, the framework was formulated by the Securities Commission and by Malaysia’s central bank, the Bank Negara Malaysia. It will be accompanied by a co-investment fund for equity crowdfunding and P2P platforms, worth RM50 million (almost $12 million USD), that is matched with private funds toward the funding of for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises. The hope is that the fund will become self-reliant, not needing any additional support from the government.

ConsenSys Backing Ethereum Privacy Startup

Yesterday, ConsenSys Labs announced it was part of $2.1 million in seed funding to a startup committed to making Ethereum transactions private. Other contributors include Entrepreneur First, Samos Investments, Jeffrey Tarrant, and Charlie Songhurst.

The company, AZTEC, proposes using zero-knowledge proofs, or zk-SNARKs, to secure Ethereum transactions. The methodology is used as the verification protocol for Zcash. Through a partnership with corporate debt insurance Ethereum platform CreditMint, banks would be able to use the protocol to securely use the Ethereum blockchain.

The hope is that this technology would help reverse the trend of banking institutions opting to use permissioned blockchains instead of public chains. Additionally, the tech could potentially speed up loan market settlement. 

Be fast, be clever, be wise. Most importantly, be here Monday for your Daily Byte.

Frederick Reese is a politics and cryptocurrency reporter based in New York. He is also a former teacher, an early adopter of bitcoin and Litecoin, and an enthusiast of all things geeky and nerdy.

Like what you read? Follow us on X @Bitnewsbot to receive the latest Daily Byte, Intel or other Ethereum world news.