What Is ECDSA?

ECDSA stands for Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm. Within the framework of this algorithm, a digital signature is used to operate two interconnected keys, the private and the public. The public key identifies the recipient and the sender, while the private key is used in conjunction with the public key to create an unsolicited signature for the transaction and is kept secret.

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What Are Utility Tokens?

Utility tokens are internal tokens of the platform that can be used for paying for services. Such tokens do not generate passive income for their owners. They are not subject to federal securities laws, either. You won’t find too many utility tokens these days. According to the former CFTC chairman Gary Gensler, even Ether (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) can be viewed as securities.

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What Is KYT?

KYT stands for Know Your Transaction. It is a new user verification rule that implies checking customer’s cryptocurrency for being previously used for conducting illicit activities.

While KYC procedures are common for cryptocurrency exchanges and ICO projects, KYT is just starting to gain popularity.

This compliance method was introduced by Chainalysis in April this year. The company works on the projects aimed at deanonymizing cryptocurrency owners.

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What Is an ETN?

Exchange-traded notes (ETNs) are a type of unsecured, unsubordinated debt security. Their price is tied to the price of a specific asset, for example, cryptocurrency.

ETNs are structured products that are issued as senior debt notes, while ETFs represent a stake in an underlying commodity. ETNs are more like bonds in that they are unsecured. ETFs provide investments into a fund that holds the assets it tracks, such as stocks, bonds, or gold.

In 2015, financial company XBT Provider launched a Bitcoin ETN on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange. In October 2017, they launched an ETN tied to the rate of Ether (ETH). In the U.S., crypto ETNs were available for just a week until the SEC suspended them.

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What Is RPCA?

RPCA stands for Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm. It is Ripple’s own hack-proof consensus algorithm. RPCA is functioning similarly to SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). The protocol connects equal nodes and allows for the exchange of fiat currencies or cryptocurrencies with the use of the XRP token. The smallest unit is one-millionth of an XRP (0.000001) and is called a “drop.”

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What Is FPGA?

FPGA stands for Field-Programmable Gate Array. What differs it from ASIC is that the latter is a custom chip that cannot be reconfigured after it is manufactured. Once it is shipped and “in the field,” an ASIC’s function is fixed. FPGA gets its name because it can be “reprogrammed in the field,” after it has been shipped or seen use in the real world.

Miners actively used FPGA from 2010 (when regular CPUs became outdated) to 2012 (when the ASIC era began). In comparison with ASIC, FPGA is much less efficient and way slower due to its architecture.

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Is Quantum Computing a Threat to Cryptocurrency?

Watch video below to find out what Andreas Antonopoulos thinks.

https://youtu.be/wlzJyp3Qm7s

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What Is Tangle?

The Tangle is the moniker used to describe IOTA’s directed acyclic graph (DAG) based transaction settlement and data integrity layer focused on the Internet-of-Things (IoT). The Tangle is essentially a string of individual transactions that are interlinked to each other and stored through a decentralized network of node participants.

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What Is a SAFT?

SAFT stands for Simple Agreement for Future Tokens and represents a concept of running a token sale. In its essence, a SAFT is an investment contract providing investors with the right to receive tokens after the project is launched. Tokens are deemed securities, and the project that is using a SAFT should register with the SEC or file documents confirming it may be exempt from registration in accordance with law. Developers do not conceal the fact that they will use raised funds for improving the platform over the course of many months or even years.

SAFT was introduced in October 2017 by attorney Marco Santori and the Protocol Labs team. The latter also developed the FileCoin crypto project that managed to raise then-record $257 million. After FileCoin, a SAFT was used by Kin, Telegram, 0x, Origin, Dehedge, and Basecoin.

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What Is an EIP?

EIP stands for Ethereum Improvement Proposal. EIP is a project document describing a new function of the Ethereum’s ecosystem. An EIP should provide a short tech specification of a function and grounds for its acceptance. An EIP author is responsible for reaching a consensus inside the community and documenting special opinions.

Any member of the Ethereum community may submit an EIP. All proposals are stored in a separate repository on GitHub (there are currently over 1,000 of them). EIP-1, the first EIP, was suggested in 2015 by a group of Ethereum developers that included Hudson Jameson and Martin Becze.

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Orphaned Blocks and Stuck Transactions

What happens to transactions in an orphaned block? How can one fix stuck transactions? How do replace-by-fee (RBF) and child-pays-for-parent (CPFP) work?

https://youtu.be/MsdW0CTYwyY

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Multi-Signature and Distributed Storage

What happens when wallets (personal or at an exchange) are hacked? What is "sweeping" with regards to private keys? After a hack, is it possible to track the stolen Bitcoin and identify the hacker? How do you keep Bitcoin safe in a group / corporate environment? Is it possible to create a multi-signature setup with Trezor and Electrum? Could passphrases be brute-forced? What is happening with browser extension deprecation?

https://youtu.be/cAP2u6w_1-k

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