Author: News Polite

Bitcoin network difficulty breaks into a new all-time high of 29.794T

Reassuring its position as the most resilient blockchain network against attacks, the Bitcoin (BTC) network recorded a new all-time high network difficulty for the second time this month in April — jumping from its previous all-time high of 28.587 trillion to 29.794 trillion.

Greater network difficulty demands greater computational power to successfully mine a BTC block, which prevents bad actors from taking over the network and manipulating transactions, also known as double-spending.

As evidenced by data from blockchain.com, Bitcoin’s network difficulty has seen almost a year-long uptrend since August 1, 2021. Before that, between May and July 2021, was a timeline when BTC network difficulty fell nearly 45.5% from 25.046 trillion to 13.673 trillion — at the time raising momentary concerns about the network’s vulnerability.

Bitcoin network difficulty. Source: Blockchain.com

Further cementing Bitcoin’s resilience against 51% attacks, on April 28, the Bitcoin network hash rate too recorded a new ATH of 258 EH/s. As shown below, the network hash rate eased down to the 220 EH/s mark by the end of the month with no visible negative impact on the BTC network difficulty.

Bitcoin total hash rate. Source: Blockchain.com

The month of April also was witness to one of the lowest average transaction fees on the Bitcoin network — the cost associated with transferring BTC. For the first time in two years, on April 18, the average BTC transaction fee fell down to $1.039, which at its highest was $62.788 in April 2021. 

While Bitcoin miners continue to pursue the last 2 million BTC into circulation, the network is well-positioned to attain a newer all-time high with respect to overall security and price.

Related: Bitcoin hodlers targeting $100K is what’s preventing 40% price drawdown, data suggests

New research paints an optimistic picture about BTC, underscoring the strength of hodlers hoping for all-time highs.

As Cointelegraph reported, on-chain indicators suggest bullish momentum thanks to a lack of short-term holders (STHs), as noted by popular analyst “Root”:

“Since we didn’t reach prices above 100K, which so many expected, many still believe this will eventually happen and might therefore hold on to their coins.”

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

ED Seizes Rs. 5,551 Crore of Xiaomi India in Alleged Foreign Exchange Violation Case

Funds worth over Rs 5,551 crore of Chinese mobile manufacturing company Xiaomi India have been “seized” for violating the Indian foreign exchange law, the Enforcement Directorate said said on Saturday.

The action has been taken against Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited. The company (also called Xiaomi India) is a trader and distributor of mobile phones in the country under the brand name of Mi.

“Xiaomi India is wholly owned subsidiary of China-based Xiaomi group. This amount of Rs. 5,551.27 crore lying in the bank accounts of the company has been seized by the Enforcement Directorate,” the agency said in a statement.

The seizure of funds has been done under relevant sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after a probe was launched by the federal agency against the company in connection with alleged “illegal remittances” sent abroad by the Chinese firm in February.

In a statement provided to Gadgets 360 responding to the ED move, a Xiaomi spokesperson said:

“As a brand committed to India, all our operations are firmly compliant with local laws and regulations.
We have studied the order from government authorities carefully. We believe our royalty payments and statements to the bank are all legit and truthful. These royalty payments that Xiaomi India made were for the in-licensed technologies and IPs used in our Indian version products. It is a legitimate commercial arrangement for Xiaomi India to make such royalty payments. However, we are committed to working closely with government authorities to clarify any misunderstandings.”

Xiaomi started its operations in India in 2014 and started remitting the money from the next year, it said.  “The company has remitted foreign currency equivalent to Rs. 5,551.27 crore to three foreign based entities which include one Xiaomi group entity, in the guise of royalty,” the ED said.

Such huge amounts in the name of royalties were remitted on the instructions of their Chinese “parent group” entities, it alleged.  “The amount remitted to other two US-based unrelated entities were also for the ultimate benefit of the Xiaomi group entities,” the ED said.

It said while Xiaomi India procures completely manufactured mobile sets and other products from the manufacturers in India it has not availed any service from these three foreign based entities to whom such amounts have been transferred.  “Under the cover of various unrelated documentary facade created amongst the group entities, the company remitted this amount in guise of royalty abroad which constitute violation of section 4 of the FEMA,” it said.

The said section of the civil law of FEMA talks about “holding of foreign exchange.” The ED also accused the company of providing “misleading information” to the banks while remitting the money abroad.

Earlier this month, the ED had also questioned the global vice president of the group, Manu Kumar Jain, at the agency’s regional office in Bengaluru, Karnataka.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Oh, We’ll Bring These 20 Bring It On Secrets, Don’t Worry

18. Most of the routines performed by the Toros and the Clovers featured stunts that are considered illegal in high school competitions.

“There are illegal moves,” Reed confirmed in an interview with HuffPost. “There are some collegiate moves in there that are not high school moves…that would probably be disqualified. At the time, when we were making the movie, if one of these things came up, we erred on the side of what works dramatically or what worked best for us visually.” That’s alright, that’s OK with us!

19. The film’s ending was a point of contention among the filmmakers, as there was a divide when it came to which cheer squad should win Nationals. Spoiler alert: The Clovers would take home the trophy.

“I remember there was a whole debate about who was going to win, and there were people in the mix that were like, ‘Well, Kirsten’s the lead, the Toros have to win,'” Reed recalled to MTV. “Well, nah, that’s not the story…they did an amazing job. But they came in second to the other team, and it was a life lesson for her.”

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Vivo X80, Vivo X80 Pro India Launch Date Briefly Listed on Company Site, May Debut on May 18

Vivo X80 and Vivo X80 Pro are likely to be launched in India on May 18, if a now removed teaser page on the company’s India site is any indication. As spotted by a tipster and retrievable in Google cache, Vivo put up a teaser page on its site that showed a countdown to the launch date. To recall, the Vivo X80 series was unveiled in China recently. The Vivo X80 is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC, while the Vivo X80 Pro comes in two distinct variants — one with the Dimensity 9000 chip and the other one featuring a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. They offer a 120Hz refresh rate display and pack 80W fast charging as well.

The now removed teaser page (but retrievable in Google cache) of the Vivo X80 series on Vivo India website was first spotted by known tipster Abhishek Yadav (@yabhishekhd). The site has a timer going on, counting down to the launch date, and if the current timing and screenshot shared by the tipster is any indication, the India launch of Vivo X80 series and it will take place on May 18. We’ve reached out to Vivo for confirmation on the launch date, and will update this space when we hear back. The smartphones are set to launch in the global markets on May 8.

Vivo X80 series price in India (expected)

We can expect the Vivo X80 and X80 Pro price in India to be in-line with the models’ China pricing. To recall, the Vivo X80 series was introduced in China last week, with the vanilla Vivo X80 starts at CNY 3,699 (roughly Rs. 43,200) for the base 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant. The Vivo X80 Pro’s price begins at CNY 5,499 (roughly Rs. 64,300) for the 8GB + 256GB model. The smartphones are offered in Black, Cyan, and Orange colours. Indian variants of the Vivo X80 and Vivo X80 Pro are likely to have identical specifications to the Chinese variants.

Vivo X80 specifications

The Vivo X80 runs Android 12 with OriginOS Ocean on top and features a 6.78-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,400 pixels) AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio and up to 120Hz refresh rate. It is powered by MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC, along with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM.

The triple rear camera setup of the Vivo X80 includes a 50-megapixel primary Sony IMX866 RGBW sensor, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide shooter and a 12-megapixel portrait sensor. It features a 32-megapixel selfie camera sensor at the front as well. The Vivo X80 offers up to 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. It carries a 4,500mAh battery that supports 80W Flash Charge fast charging.

Vivo X80 Pro specifications

The new Vivo X80 Pro features a 6.78-inch 2K (1,440×3,200 pixels) AMOLED display with an up to 120Hz refresh rate. The handset has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC version and Dimensity 9000 SoC version. The Snapdragon variant offers up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, whereas the Dimensity option has 12GB LPDDR5 RAM as standard.

The quad rear camera setup of the Vivo X80 Pro includes a 50-megapixel primary Samsung ISOCELL GNV sensor, a 48-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, 12-megapixel professional portrait camera and an 8-megapixel periscope ultra-telephoto camera. It also includes a 32-megapixel selfie camera sensor at the front. The phone offers up to 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage.

The Vivo X80 Pro packs a 4,700mAh battery that supports 80W Flash Charge wired fast charging and 50W wireless charging.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Google Will Now Show Warning Banners When Opening Potentially Malicious Docs, Sheets, Slides Files on the Web

Google is expanding its warning banners for potentially malicious Google Drive files. While previously it displayed the banners when users were attempting to open such a file within a Google Drive account, or from within a Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Drawings file, Google has now brought the feature to the file-level – which means that if a user tries to open such a potentially malicious or dangerous Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file on the Web, they will be served a warning of the dangers ahead.

As per a Workspace Updates blog post by Google, this feature is available to all the Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers. The rollout was officially started on April 27, and it will gradually be available for all users. The rollout may take up to 15 days to reach everyone, Google said.

The move by Google is a step to prevent scams that use its productivity tools, a method bad actors have been spotted using in the past in an attempt to send phishing and other malicious links. The expansion takes the warning banners out of the productivity tools itself, directly to the Web.

Earlier this month, in related news, Google announced a feature for Google Workspace that supports all the emojis, including gender-neutral options. Users can now react to any content on Google Docs, simply using a symbol instead of writing a comment or remark on it. As per the company, the feature supports all the emojis in the latest release. These include gender-neutral options as well.

If you’re wondering how to use the emoji reaction feature, they will appear as a third option alongside ‘Add Comment’ and ‘Suggest Edits’ when you highlight text. According to Google, these responses provide a less formal alternative to comments. Emoji reactions are coming to Google Docs at a time when the service is undergoing a big overhaul with its expansion from being a word processor into more of a remote working collaboration tool.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Death of American Fighting in Ukraine Confirmed by Family

A former Marine infantryman who left Kentucky to defend Ukraine in March was killed this week while fighting alongside the Ukrainian military, according to his uncle. He is believed to be the first American killed in the fighting.

Willy Joseph Cancel Jr., 22, lived in Kentucky and worked as a correctional officer prior to his death, the uncle, Christopher Cancel, said in an interview on Friday.

The uncle said that someone who had been fighting alongside the younger Mr. Cancel had called his father and said that he had left for a nighttime patrol on April 24, and his unit was overrun by Russian troops, possibly the next day. The uncle said that the caller indicated that his body had not yet been recovered.

A fund-raising page set up by the family says that Willy Joseph Cancel Jr.’s wife also got a call, on Tuesday. “Your husband fought bravely, but unfortunately he did not make it,” the caller said, according to the account, which was written by his father. It did not say who made the call.

“Our entire family is simply distraught, and we have no idea how to continue,” the posting said.

A Ukrainian Defense Ministry official said on Friday that three foreigners — an American, a Briton and a Dane — had been killed fighting for the Ukrainian Army’s International Legion. The official did not provide their names for the record and asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about them publicly. Any foreigners fighting for that branch of the army are effectively part of Ukraine’s military because they receive government salaries and are required to sign contracts.

Mr. Cancel’s mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN that he was working with a private military contracting company, but on Friday, his uncle said the family did not know the name of the company and had not been contacted by any contractor after his death.

According to the Marine Corps, Willy Joseph Cancel Jr. spent nearly four years in the Marine Corps and received a bad conduct discharge, leaving the service as a private in November after serving time in the brig for an undisclosed criminal offense.

The State Department said on Friday that it was aware of the reports of Mr. Cancel’s death and would provide consular assistance to his family. “Out of respect to the family during this very difficult time, we don’t have anything further to announce,” said Jalina Porter, a department spokeswoman. “We also do want to reiterate that U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine during this active armed conflict.”

“It is a very dangerous situation,” she added, saying that U.S. citizens in Ukraine were being singled out by Russian government security officials, and that “U.S. citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately, if it is safe to do so using commercial or privately available ground transportation options.”

Since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, an unknown number of Americans have volunteered to help Ukraine in various ways, including hundreds of military veterans seeking to join fighters on the ground. Ukrainian officials claim that thousands of foreign volunteers have joined the ranks for its military, but the true number is hard to track.

Two other American veterans involved in fighting in Ukraine were wounded this week, according to the family of one of them.

Paul K. Gray, 42, of Tyler, Texas, and Manus E. McCaffery, 20, of Parma, Ohio, both of whom had served in the U.S. Army, were injured on Wednesday when a Russian artillery shell hit their fighting position, according to Mr. Gray’s mother, Jan Gray.

The two were waiting to launch an ambush on a Russian tank when shrapnel hit Mr. McCaffery in the face and collapsed a concrete block wall on Mr. Gray, injuring his leg, according to Twitter posts by an American journalist, Nolan Peterson. Video and photos recorded by Mr. Gray show the two camouflage-clad fighters receiving first aid and riding in a military ambulance a short time later, with Mr. McCaffery’s face and head covered in bloody bandages.

Ms. Gray, who is a nurse, said she spoke with her son by video after the attack, who confirmed that the two had been wounded. “He’s doing well,” she said of her son. “The other boy I’m more concerned about.”

Mr. McCaffery’s family did not respond to a request for comment. Ms. Gray said at least one McCaffery family member was traveling to Ukraine.

Mr. Gray was an Army infantry sergeant who deployed twice to Iraq during the height of hostilities there, according to the Army. He told The Daily Texan in 2009 that he was medically retired with a Purple Heart.

Mr. McCaffery was in the Army for only two years — far short of the standard enlistment. He deployed to Afghanistan for one month in August 2021 and left the Army in January. The Army did not give a reason for his discharge.

Ms. Gray said the two men had grown close in Ukraine, and went everywhere together.

Mr. Gray has been a vocal proponent of defending Ukraine, she said. He moved to the country before the war, joined the military when Russia invaded, and has made several media appearances since to explain his decision.

“It’s my moral obligation,” he told Fox News in early March. “These are some of the best people in the world.”

Jane Arraf contributed reporting and Kirsten Noyes contributed research.



Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Samson Mow’s DeFi question, Fireblocks expands to institutional and more

The week was filled with several new project developments and key updates from leading decentralized applications (DApps) and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Fireblocks has expanded its institutional access to Terra’s DeFi ecosystem and Solana partnered with the Notifi network to improve the abysmal participation rates in governance votes.

We will also look into the Cointelegraph research into the Terra ecosystem’s future and see if it can sustain the current growth. Samson Mow, the former executive at Blockstream, questions the decentralized aspect of the DeFi ecosystem.

Top DeFi tokens saw another week of bearish price action despite several new developments and barring a few, the majority of the tokens in the top-100 registered double-digit losses over the past week.

Fireblocks expands institutional access to Terra’s DeFi ecosystem

Fireblocks, a digital asset custody platform, announced that it has enabled institutional decentralized finance access to Terra, the second-largest DeFi protocol by total value locked (TVL). As per the announcement, Fireblocks users can now securely access all the decentralized applications built on the Terra blockchain.

The launch is in response to Fireblocks’ early access program users, who invested over $250 million into the Terra DeFi ecosystem within the first 72 hours of its integration going live.

Continue reading

‘DeFi is not decentralized at all,’ says former Blockstream executive

Samson Mow, former chief strategy officer at Blockstream and founder of JAN3, is convinced that most decentralized finance protocols can’t compete with Bitcoin (BTC) when it comes to providing an effective monetary network because of their lack of decentralization.

As Mow pointed out, DeFi projects are governed by entities that can modify the protocol at will.

“Bitcoin, at the fundamental level, is money, and it should be immutable,” explained Mow. “If you can change it at will, then you’re no better than a fiat currency governed by the Fed.”

Continue reading

Solana DAOs can now bug you to vote with phone calls and texts

The Notifi Network is banking on this concept to help improve the abysmal participation rates in governance votes. Launching with Solana decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, it combines popular centralized methods used by the Web3 community such as Telegram and Discord pings with more traditional and harder to ignore notifications like phone calls, text messages or emails.

Backed by crypto venture capital firms Race Capital and Hashed, on April 24, Notifi applied its notification service to all DAOs that launched on the Solana Realms DAO platform.

Continue reading

Can Terra blockchain sustain its growth? Research report digs deeper

Cointelegraph Research fundamentally evaluates Terra in its 50-page report to provide an in-depth analysis of its recent updates, including Columbus-5, the Bitcoin acquisition and others.

Decentralized algorithmic stablecoins, blockchain integration in real-world payments and 20% annual percentage yields (APYs) on DeFi protocols — what is all of this, and is it really doing this? The team of experienced cryptoanalysts from the Big Four and the best universities worldwide dives deep into the blockchain’s ecosystem, community and underlying technology, assessing the potential regulatory, market and technological risks.

Continue reading

DeFi market overview

Analytical data reveals that DeFi’s total value locked dipped by one billion dollars, falling to $123.08 billion. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView reveals that DeFi’s top 100 tokens by market capitalization registered a week filled with volatile price action and constant bearish pressure.

Majority of the DeFi tokens in the top-100 ranking by market cap traded in red, barring a few. Kyber Network Crystal v2 (KNC) was the biggest gainer with a 25% rise over the past week, followed by Kava (KAVA) at 17% and Curve DAO Token (CRV) at 8%.

Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us again next Friday for more stories, insights and education in this dynamically advancing space.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Faces Employee Anger Over Musk Attacks at Company-Wide Meeting

Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal sought to quell employee anger on Friday during a company-wide meeting where employees demanded answers to how managers planned to handle an anticipated mass exodus prompted by Elon Musk.

The meeting comes after Musk, the Tesla chief executive who sealed a $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,36,400 crore) deal to buy the social media company, repeatedly criticised Twitter’s content moderation practices and a top executive responsible for setting speech and safety policies.

At the internal town hall meeting, which was heard by Reuters, executives said the company would monitor staff attrition daily, but it was too soon to tell how the buyout deal with Musk would affect staff retention.

Musk has pitched lenders on slashing board and executive salaries but exact cost cuts remain unclear, according to sources familiar with the matter. One source said Musk would not make decisions on job cuts until he assumes ownership of Twitter.

“I’m tired of hearing about shareholder value and fiduciary duty. What are your honest thoughts about the very high likelihood that many employees will not have jobs after the deal closes?” one Twitter employee asked Agrawal, in a question read aloud during the meeting.

Agrawal answered that Twitter has always cared about its employees and would continue to do so.

“I believe the future Twitter organization will continue to care about its impact on the world and its customers,” he said.

Executives said during the meeting that the employee attrition rate has not changed compared to the levels before the news of Musk’s interest in buying the company.

In recent days, Musk has tweeted criticism of Twitter’s top lawyer, Vijaya Gadde, who is a Twitter veteran and widely-respected across Silicon Valley. Musk’s attack triggered a barrage of online harassment targeting her.

Employees also told executives they feared Musk’s erratic behaviour could destabilize Twitter’s business, and hurt it financially as the company prepares to address the advertising world in a presentation next week in New York City.

“Do we have a strategy in the near-term on how to handle advertisers pulling investment,” one employee asked.

Sarah Personette, Twitter’s chief customer officer, said the company was working to communicate frequently with advertisers and reassure them “the way that we service our customers is not changing.”

After the meeting, a Twitter employee told Reuters there was little trust in what executives had to say.

“The PR speak is not landing. They told us don’t leak and do a job you are proud of, but there is no clear incentive for employees to do this,” the employee told Reuters, noting that compensation for non-executive staffers is now capped because of the deal.

Agrawal is estimated to receive $42 million (roughly Rs. 320 crore) if he were terminated within 12 months of a change in control at the social media company, according to research firm Equilar.

During the meeting, Agrawal urged staff to expect change in the future under new leadership, and acknowledged that the company could have performed better over the years.

“Yes, we could have done things differently and better. I could have done things differently. I think about that a lot,” he said.

Twitter declined further comment.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Punjab Suspends Mobile Internet Services in Patiala

The Punjab government on Saturday suspended mobile internet and SMS services, except voice calls, in Patiala district a day after clashes between two groups over an anti-Khalistan march left four people injured.

The order to suspend the services was issued by the home affairs and justice department and heavy police security was deployed at the site of the clashes outside the Kali Mata temple in Patiala.

“In exercise of power conferred upon me by virtue of temporary suspension of telecom services (public emergency or public safety) rules, 2017, I Anurag Verma, principal secretary, home affairs and justice, do hereby order suspension of the mobile internet services (2G/3G/45/CDMA), all SMS services and all dongle services etc provided on mobile networks except voice calls in the territorial jurisdiction of the district of Patiala from 9:30am to 6pm on April 30,” the order read.

Four people were injured as the two groups clashed and hurled stones at each other on Friday and police fired in the air to bring the situation under control.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Ja Morant hilariously trolls Timberwolves after Grizzlies eliminate them in Game 6

The Grizzlies became the last team to progress to the second round of the playoffs after they defeated the Timberwolves in Game 6 (114-106).

Memphis star Ja Morant, who had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 11 assists in this game, trolled Minnesota by tweeting a picture of a grizzly bear chasing a wolf. The Grizzlies will face the Warriors in the second round.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version