Everything web3, crypto, defi, degen
A new viral meme coin is taking the crypto market by storm and it’s led by a weird-looking frog. On April 19th, a new cryptocurrency project launched in homage to the well-loved Pepe the Frog. Pepe is a green, amphibious cartoon character that originated from a 2005 comic entitled The Boy’s Club, created by Matt…
Humanity has long relied on physical currency as a medium for representing and transferring value. Some of the earliest examples of coinage date back many thousands of years. The Mesopotamian shekel is widely believed to be the oldest coin. Western Asian tribes first minted the shekel – meaning “weight” – 5,000 years ago. This example…
Representing real-world assets on the Bitcoin blockchain is nothing new. Over a decade ago, projects like the Colored Coin protocol and Counterparty exchange proved Bitcoin could track items, not just units of currency, in a decentralized way. However, consensus issues prevented either project from gaining widespread adoption in the market. Ethereum quickly took over as…
A blockchain consensus mechanism is a type of automated system that aims to accomplish two objectives: Provide a distributed, leaderless way to unanimously agree on data stored on a blockchain ledger. Make sure all network validators follow the rules of the protocol and perform their roles honestly. While it may be tempting to trust a…
Life is full of tradeoffs. Oftentimes, we can only maximize one outcome by sacrificing another. Sometimes these tradeoffs are not exactly 1:1 tradeoffs but are part of a more complex relationship. What are some examples of a trilemma? Realtors might say: a big house, great location, affordable price – pick two Chefs might say: big…
In 2008, an anonymous researcher (or team of researchers) called Satoshi Nakamoto published a nine-page research paper entitled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” The document, known as the Bitcoin white paper, presented a new type of digital currency that users could use to transact without relying on financial intermediaries. Soon, people around the world discovered that blockchain…
Before you dive in, check out the first post in our Kraken NFT Behind the Build Series, The NFT Frontier. Sometimes we reference pseudonyms to keep our Krakenites anonymous to avoid the security risks associated with building and maintaining a crypto exchange. In September 2021, Kraken NFT received the green light to build a new…
Guy Hirsch is Kraken’s new Managing Director for North America and he joined the Kraken team this month after building crypto businesses at Samsung and eToro. He’s an experienced operator in the crypto space and has some forward-looking ideas about the future of the industry. Hirsch will oversee Kraken’s businesses across North America and will…
Bitcoin is an invention that, for the first time in history, enabled a group of software users to create and manage a digital money supply outside the control of any government or bank. It helps to think of Bitcoin as a software protocol like those you interact with everyday – think SMTP (which helps route…
On January 3, 2009, the anonymous creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, launched the Genesis Block – the first block in the Bitcoin Blockchain. The event at the time wasn’t celebrated – it was arguably considered a blip in the long history of cryptography and digital currency – but today we know the Genesis Block was…
