#cryptocurrency nodes

[fcfvafeed]

Running a uPlexa Node: Empowering Decentralization and Efficiency

What is a Node? Photo by Merlin Lightpainting on Pexels.com In the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, a node refers to a computer that participates in the network of a particular blockchain. Nodes are crucial components of a decentralized system, as they store, verify, and propagate the blockchain’s data. Every time a transaction is made or a new block is added, nodes across…

[iastrobeing]

Link to video

https://www.uhive.com/m/984681841445

[otiskeene]

Understanding Types Of Blockchain Nodes And How They Work

Have you ever envisioned a world where money is secondary, but reputation reigns supreme? If so, then you might be interested in Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, a novel by Cory Doctorow. This intriguing sci-fi story introduces a world where people are rewarded with "Whuffie," a digital currency that reflects their social standing. Sounds familiar? Well, buckle up because this concept is no longer confined to fiction.

Thanks to blockchain technology, the foundation of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the idea of a world where reputation translates into currency is becoming increasingly plausible. But how exactly does this work, and what could it mean for our future?

Imagine this: a sprawling network of computers, each acting as a node within the blockchain, collectively maintaining a shared ledger of every transaction ever made. These nodes are the protectors of the blockchain's integrity—like a global team of accountants verifying every entry. But there's much more to it than just accounting.

To better understand how this works, let’s explore the basics of blockchain nodes and their various types. Keep reading!

TechDogs - "Understanding Types of Blockchain Nodes and How They Function"

Curious about how Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies operate? Welcome to the fascinating world of blockchain, where trust is established not by blind faith, but by a network of smart, interconnected nodes.

However, not all nodes are the same. In fact, the blockchain ecosystem includes a variety of nodes, each with a specific function. As of February 2024, there are roughly 18,000 public nodes running on the Bitcoin network. This extensive network of nodes ensures the resilience and decentralization that make blockchain revolutionary!

Intrigued? You've come to the right place because we’re about to dive deep into the world of blockchain and uncover the different types of blockchain nodes and how they operate.

But first, let’s take a closer look at what blockchain nodes are!

What Are Blockchain Nodes?

Picture a global network of computers, all working together to maintain an enormous digital ledger. That’s blockchain, and each computer in this network is called a node. These nodes hold a copy of the entire transaction history, ensuring that no single entity controls the data. This makes blockchain extremely secure, decentralized, and transparent.

These nodes come in various forms, each serving a particular role and facing specific limitations. Some nodes validate transactions, others store data, and some even help create new blocks on the blockchain. Together, they form a resilient network that supports the entire blockchain ecosystem. Now that we know what blockchain nodes are, how exactly do they work?

Let’s delve into that!

How Do Blockchain Nodes Function?

When a new transaction occurs, nodes collaborate to verify its authenticity. They check if the sender has enough funds, if the transaction follows the network’s rules, and if it has been tampered with. Once validated, the transaction details are added to a “block,” a collection of transactions that form a long “chain” of transaction history—hence the name “blockchain.”

Here’s where it gets interesting: nodes compete to add the next block to the blockchain. This process, known as "mining" or "validating," involves solving complex mathematical puzzles. The first node to solve the puzzle gets to add the block, earning a reward in return. This competition incentivizes nodes to participate in the network, ensuring its security and decentralization.

The system's strength lies in its redundancy. Since every node holds a copy of the blockchain, the network remains functional even if some nodes fail or act maliciously. Now you can see why blockchain networks are renowned for their security!

Now, let’s explore the different types of blockchain nodes.

What Are the Types of Blockchain Nodes?

If the blockchain were a bustling factory, then nodes would be its diverse workforce, each with a specific role to play. Let’s meet some of the key players:

Full Node: Full nodes are the backbone of the blockchain, storing the entire transaction history and verifying each transaction to maintain the network’s integrity. They also broadcast new transactions and blocks to keep everyone in sync. When it comes to blockchain governance, full nodes have significant influence. Their collective decisions shape the future of the network—like the leaders of blockchain.

Lightning Node: Lightning nodes address issues like blockchain congestion and high fees. These nodes create a separate, faster lane for transactions, enabling low-cost and quick exchanges. They’re invaluable for blockchains struggling with slow processing times or expensive fees.

Miner Nodes: Miner nodes are the engines of Proof-of-Work blockchains. They use computational power to solve complex puzzles, competing to add new blocks and earn rewards. The first miner to solve the puzzle gets to append the next block, keeping the system running smoothly.

RPC Nodes: RPC (Remote Procedure Call) nodes act as the blockchain’s customer service agents. They handle external requests, allowing users to retrieve data, send transactions, and check the network’s status. They bridge the gap between the blockchain and the outside world, making the network more user-friendly.

Validator Nodes: Validator nodes are the architects of the blockchain, chosen based on their reputation and stake in the network. They have the authority to create and validate new blocks, ensuring the blockchain’s integrity. A system of checks and balances keeps them honest.

Authority Nodes: Authority nodes strike a balance between efficiency and centralization. In some blockchains, these nodes hold special privileges, such as managing new node authorization or block creation. While this streamlines operations, it introduces a degree of centralized control.

Super Nodes: Supernodes are the specialists within the blockchain ecosystem. They handle essential tasks like enforcing rules or facilitating software upgrades. Although less common, supernodes play a crucial role in maintaining the network’s health and functionality.

In Conclusion

Each type of blockchain node plays a unique and essential role, like instruments in an orchestra, creating a harmonious symphony. Together, they ensure the blockchain’s security, efficiency, and accessibility. Whether it’s the authority nodes with special privileges or the lightning nodes facilitating fast transactions, understanding the role of blockchain nodes is key to unlocking the full potential of this groundbreaking technology.

As the saying goes, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

[softwaredynamism]

Decentralized Networks: A New Era Powered by Developers.

passionate developers, are redefining the internet. This transformation isn’t merely a technological shift

but a reimagining of how power, freedom, and transparency can be restored to users. At the heart of this

revolution lies the ingenuity and relentless drive of developers, who are challenging the status quo and

building the infrastructure for a new, decentralized world.

The Foundation of Decentralization

Decentralization is fundamentally about distributing control away from central authorities. In the context of

networks, this means creating systems where no single entity has unilateral power, fostering resilience,

and democratizing access.

Key Components of Decentralized Networks:

● Distributed Ledgers: These are the backbone of decentralized networks, ensuring that data is

spread across a network of nodes, making it nearly impossible for a single point of failure to bring

down the system.

● Peer-to-Peer Interactions: By eliminating intermediaries, peer-to-peer networks enable direct

interactions between users, reducing costs and enhancing privacy.

● Consensus Mechanisms: From Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), consensus

mechanisms are crucial for maintaining the integrity of decentralized networks. For instance,

Ethereum's shift from PoW to PoS not only increased network security but also reduced its energy

consumption, setting a new standard for blockchain sustainability.

● Smart Contracts: The Heart of Decentralized Applications (dApps) Smart contracts are

self-executing agreements with the terms directly coded into them. These contracts have

revolutionized the blockchain space by enabling trustless interactions, leading to the rise of

decentralized applications (dApps). A key moment in the history of smart contracts was the DAO

hack in 2016, which highlighted both their potential and the critical need for robust security

measures in their development.

● Tokenomics: Aligning Incentives in a Decentralized World Tokenomics refers to the economic

models that govern decentralized networks. These models align the interests of all participants,

from developers to users, ensuring that everyone benefits from the network's growth. Koii's

Compute Attribution and Reputation Protocol (CARP) exemplifies innovative tokenomics by

rewarding developers fairly for their contributions, fostering a sustainable ecosystem.

Koii's Commitment to Developer Empowerment: The Koii Grants

Program

To further support developers in this decentralized revolution, Koii has established the Koii Grants

Program. This initiative is designed to provide financial support to innovative projects that align with Koii's

mission of building a decentralized future. The grants program offers developers the resources they need

to explore new ideas, scale their projects, and contribute to the growth of the decentralized ecosystem

without the traditional reliance on venture capital.

By providing funding through the Koii Grants Program, Koii not only fosters innovation but also ensures

that the projects receiving support are in line with the community’s values and the decentralized ethos.

This initiative is a critical part of Koii's broader strategy to empower developers, making it easier for them

to drive the decentralized revolution forward.

Overcoming Scalability Challenges

As decentralized networks expand, maintaining speed and efficiency becomes increasingly difficult.

Solutions like Layer 2 scaling, sharding, and novel consensus mechanisms are being developed to

address these challenges. Koii's Succinct Curated Acyclic Ledger Extensions (SCALEs) offer a promising

approach, enabling efficient archiving of large event streams without compromising on performance.

Interoperability: The Next Frontier

The future of decentralized networks lies in their ability to communicate and interact seamlessly with one

another. Projects like Polkadot are pioneering cross-chain communication, allowing diverse blockchains to

interoperate while maintaining their unique features.

Conclusion: A New Path Forward

As we move further into the decentralized era, developers remain the driving force behind these networks.

They are not just building applications but are reshaping the very fabric of the internet. The journey

towards true decentralization is ongoing, with challenges in scalability, governance, and adoption still to be

fully resolved. However, the rapid pace of innovation and the passionate community of developers give

reason for optimism. The question now is: How will you, as a developer or user, contribute to this.

To begin your koii journey start of here :

https://www.koii.network/node?promo=5BA0BC1D350E

It rewards you.

In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, a revolution is taking place. Decentralized networks, driven by

[nigeriabitcoincommunity]

3 Top Ways to Earn Crypto Passive Income in 2024

Today, we will discuss the latest ways to make passive income in 2024. Ways of earning some free money abound, especially in the cryptocurrency space. I will tell you how to make money passively in crypto and how to go about it. Without wasting any more time, let’s get started. Ways to Earn Passive Income in 2024 If you have been in the crypto space for some time now, you will agree that…

[skshorts]

How To Buy, Sell, and Earn Crypto Income With Cryptocurrency, NFTs, and Nodes

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum present new opportunities to generate income beyond just investing in the assets. With the right strategies, you can buy, sell, and establish passive crypto cash flow using cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and nodes. Buying Your First Cryptocurrency The first step is acquiring digital currency to begin crypto money-making: Use exchanges – Platforms like Coinbase…

[icryptobeing]

Theta Airdrop: Lavita Subchain

Untitled

[eriumzone]

Use the most profitable nodes in cryptocurrency offered by Erium

[bitcoinorangepaper]

Informative article that discusses the trade offs of Bitcoin, the layers of bitcoin, and a little history. Points out the significant scalability solution of the Bitcoin Lightning network layer.

[canmom]

Hypothetical Decentralised Social Media Protocol Stack

if we were to dream up the Next Social Media from first principles we face three problems. one is scaling hosting, the second is discovery/aggregation, the third is moderation.

hosting

hosting for millions of users is very very expensive. you have to have a network of datacentres around the world and mechanisms to sync the data between them. you probably use something like AWS, and they will charge you an eye-watering amount of money for it. since it's so expensive, there's no way to break even except by either charging users to access your service (which people generally hate to do) or selling ads, the ability to intrude on their attention to the highest bidder (which people also hate, and go out of their way to filter out). unless you have a lot of money to burn, this is a major barrier.

the traditional internet hosts everything on different servers, and you use addresses that point you to that server. the problem with this is that it responds poorly to sudden spikes in attention. if you self-host your blog, you can get DDOSed entirely by accident. you can use a service like cloudflare to protect you but that's $$$. you can host a blog on a service like wordpress, or a static site on a service like Github Pages or Neocities, often for free, but that broadly limits interaction to people leaving comments on your blog and doesn't have the off-the-cuff passing-thought sort of interaction that social media does.

the middle ground is forums, which used to be the primary form of social interaction before social media eclipsed them, typically running on one or a few servers with a database + frontend. these are viable enough, often they can be run with fairly minimal ads or by user subscriptions (the SomethingAwful model), but they can't scale indefinitely, and each one is a separate bubble. mastodon is a semi-return to this model, with the addition of a means to use your account on one bubble to interact with another ('federation').

the issue with everything so far is that it's an all-eggs-in-one-basket approach. you depend on the forum, instance, or service paying its bills to stay up. if it goes down, it's just gone. and database-backend models often interact poorly with the internet archive's scraping, so huge chunks won't be preserved.

scaling hosting could theoretically be solved by a model like torrents or IPFS, in which every user becomes a 'server' for all the posts they download, and you look up files using hashes of the content. if a post gets popular, it also gets better seeded! an issue with that design is archival: there is no guarantee that stuff will stay on the network, so if nobody is downloading a post, it is likely to get flushed out by newer stuff. it's like link rot, but it happens automatically.

IPFS solves this by 'pinning': you order an IPFS node (e.g. your server) not to flush a certain file so it will always be available from at least one source. they've sadly mixed this up in cryptocurrency, with 'pinning services' which will take payment in crypto to pin your data. my distaste for a technology designed around red queen races aside, I don't know how pinning costs compare to regular hosting costs.

theoretically you could build a social network on a backbone of content-based addressing. it would come with some drawbacks (posts would be immutable, unless you use some indirection to a traditional address-based hosting) but i think you could make it work (a mix of location-based addressing for low-bandwidth stuff like text, and content-based addressing for inline media). in fact, IPFS has the ability to mix in a bit of address-based lookup into its content-based approach, used for hosting blogs and the like.

as for videos - well, BitTorrent is great for distributing video files. though I don't know how well that scales to something like Youtube. you'd need a lot of hard drive space to handle the amount of Youtube that people typically watch and continue seeding it.

aggregation/discovery

the next problem is aggregation/discovery. social media sites approach this problem in various ways. early social media sites like LiveJournal had a somewhat newsgroup-like approach, you'd join a 'community' and people would post stuff to that community. this got replaced by the subscription model of sites like Twitter and Tumblr, where every user is simultaneously an author and a curator, and you subscribe to someone to see what posts they want to share.

this in turn got replaced by neural network-driven algorithms which attempt to guess what you'll want to see and show you stuff that's popular with whatever it thinks your demographic is. that's gotta go, or at least not be an intrinsic part of the social network anymore.

it would be easy enough to replicate the 'subscribe to see someone's recommended stuff' model, you just need a protocol for pointing people at stuff. (getting analytics such as like/reblog counts would be more difficult!) it would probably look similar to RSS feeds: you upload a list of suitably formatted data, and programs which speak that protocol can download it.

the problem of discovery - ways to find strangers who are interested in the same stuff you are - is more tricky. if we're trying to design this as a fully decentralised, censorship-resistant network, we face the spam problem. any means you use to broadcast 'hi, i exist and i like to talk about this thing, come interact with me' can be subverted by spammers. either you restrict yourself entirely to spreading across a network of curated recommendations, or you have to have moderation.

moderation

moderation is one of the hardest problems of social networks as they currently exist. it's both a problem of spam (the posts that users want to see getting swamped by porn bots or whatever) and legality (they're obliged to remove child porn, beheading videos and the like). the usual solution is a combination of AI shit - does the robot think this looks like a naked person - and outsourcing it to poorly paid workers in (typically) African countries, whose job is to look at reports of the most traumatic shit humans can come up with all day and confirm whether it's bad or not.

for our purposes, the hypothetical decentralised network is a protocol to help computers find stuff, not a platform. we can't control how people use it, and if we're not hosting any of the bad shit, it's not on us. but spam moderation is a problem any time that people can insert content you did not request into your feed.

possibly this is where you could have something like Mastodon instances, with their own moderation rules, but crucially, which don't host the content they aggregate. so instead of having 'an account on an instance', you have a stable address on the network, and you submit it to various directories so people can find you. by keeping each one limited in scale, it makes moderation more feasible. this is basically Reddit's model: you have topic-based hubs which people can subscribe to, and submit stuff to.

the other moderation issue is that there is no mechanism in this design to protect from mass harassment. if someone put you on the K*w*f*rms List of Degenerate Trannies To Suicidebait, there'd be fuck all you can do except refuse to receive contact from strangers. though... that's kind of already true of the internet as it stands. nobody has solved this problem.

to sum up

primarily static sites 'hosted' partly or fully on IPFS and BitTorrent

a protocol for sharing content you want to promote, similar to RSS, that you can aggregate into a 'feed'

directories you can submit posts to which handle their own moderation

no ads, nobody makes money off this

honestly, the biggest problem with all this is mostly just... getting it going in the first place. because let's be real, who but tech nerds is going to use a system that requires you to understand fuckin IPFS? until it's already up and running, this idea's got about as much hope as getting people to sign each others' GPG keys. it would have to have the sharp edges sanded down, so it's as easy to get on the Hypothetical Decentralised Social Network Protocol Stack as it is to register an account on tumblr.

but running over it like this... I don't think it's actually impossible in principle. a lot of the technical hurdles have already been solved. and that's what I want the Next Place to look like.

[lejel-labs-global]

Membongkar Teknologi Blockchain: Tulang Punggung Cryptocurrency

Blockchain, sebuah inovasi revolusioner yang menjadi tulang punggung di balik dunia cryptocurrency, telah mengubah cara kita memandang sistem keuangan dan teknologi. Seiring dengan kemunculan Bitcoin pada tahun 2009 oleh seseorang atau sekelompok orang yang menggunakan nama samaran Satoshi Nakamoto, blockchain menjadi fondasi bagi berbagai mata uang digital dan aplikasi terdesentralisasi.

Apa Itu Blockchain?

Pada dasarnya, blockchain adalah ledger terdesentralisasi yang mencatat transaksi secara transparan dan aman. Ini adalah rangkaian blok yang saling terhubung, di mana setiap blok berisi serangkaian transaksi dan memiliki hash khusus yang merujuk pada blok sebelumnya. Dengan demikian, setiap informasi yang dimasukkan ke dalam blockchain menjadi sulit diubah atau dimanipulasi.

Keamanan yang Diberikan oleh Blockchain

Salah satu fitur utama blockchain adalah keamanannya. Karena setiap blok terkait dengan blok sebelumnya melalui hash, mengubah satu blok akan membutuhkan perubahan pada seluruh rantai blok setelahnya. Ini membuat serangan terhadap integritas data menjadi sangat sulit dan melibatkan upaya yang sangat besar.

Blockchain juga menggunakan mekanisme konsensus untuk mengonfirmasi transaksi. Bitcoin, misalnya, menggunakan Proof of Work (PoW), di mana para penambang memecahkan masalah matematika yang rumit untuk menambahkan blok baru ke blockchain. Sistem ini memerlukan daya komputasi yang signifikan untuk melindungi jaringan dari serangan.

Desentralisasi dan Transparansi

Keunikan lain dari blockchain adalah desentralisasi. Tidak ada otoritas tunggal yang mengontrol atau memiliki kepemilikan penuh atas jaringan. Setiap node dalam jaringan memiliki salinan lengkap dari blockchain, dan setiap transaksi disahkan oleh konsensus kolektif. Hal ini menghilangkan kebutuhan akan pihak ketiga, seperti bank atau lembaga keuangan, dan mengurangi risiko manipulasi atau korupsi.

Transparansi juga menjadi kunci dalam blockchain. Semua transaksi dicatat secara terbuka dan dapat diakses oleh siapa saja. Ini memberikan tingkat kepercayaan yang tinggi di antara pengguna, karena setiap orang dapat memverifikasi transaksi dengan mudah.

Penerapan Luas di Luar Cryptocurrency

Meskipun blockchain pertama kali dikenal melalui cryptocurrency, teknologi ini telah menemukan penerapan luas di berbagai industri. Misalnya, banyak perusahaan menggunakan blockchain untuk melacak rantai pasokan secara real-time, memastikan keaslian produk, dan meningkatkan efisiensi operasional.

Selain itu, konsep tokenisasi, yang memungkinkan aset fisik direpresentasikan dalam bentuk token digital di blockchain, telah membuka pintu untuk inovasi di bidang properti, seni, dan keuangan tradisional.

Kesimpulan

Blockchain telah membuktikan dirinya sebagai tulang punggung cryptocurrency dan lebih dari sekadar inovasi teknologi. Ini membawa paradigma baru dalam keamanan, desentralisasi, dan transparansi. Meskipun masih dalam tahap pengembangan, potensi penggunaan blockchain di luar cryptocurrency terus berkembang, memberikan dampak signifikan pada cara kita berinteraksi dengan dunia digital dan fisik. Sebagai teknologi yang terus berkembang, blockchain menjanjikan perubahan lebih lanjut di masa depan, melampaui batas-batas yang kita kenal saat ini.

[saturniandevil]

June 2024 Important Dates

AKA my notes on The Astrology Podcast's June Forecast. Cohost Austin Coppock is back, now as a new father!

Notable mundane alignments in May: through May 10th-13th we had intense geomagnetic storms from solar radiation cause auroras over a huge area in the world, happening right as the Sun in Taurus conjoined Uranus (electricity/unexpected) and Jupiter (expansion). On May 19th the president of Iran died in a helicopter crash due officially to poor visibility in foggy mountains (but with assassination suspected), the day Mars conjoined the North Node in Aries (with the Moon opposing them)--a date that Chris & Diana singled out last forecast as hitting eclipse points affecting world leaders & Iran specifically (during the April eclipses Iran fired back at Israel to retaliate for the destruction of its embassy). The ICC arrest warrants were also issued during this Mars-Node conjunction, a continuation of the eclipse story (both in April and October). In the sign of Aries, this is the time when hostilities became overt, and generally the Aries April eclipse was an exalted Sun being eclipsed, boding ill for leaders and heads of state. The North Node is also called "the head of the dragon," so it's fitting that leaders of three countries were affected--especially since these leaders were born under eclipses as well.

In celebrity news, Kendrick Lamar and Drake released a series of diss tracks at each other from late March to early May, also aligning with eclipse season this year. The precursor to this was a line from Like That, released March 22nd under an eclipse in Libra--Kendrick's rising sign. Drake was born after an Aries eclipse, and it was just after the April eclipse that this heated up with his track release. Mars joined the fray entering Aries and that's when the beef really heated up. Mars-Rahu (North Node) contacts indicate fights where parties cross the line because they can't see it, and indeed these shots went below the belt.

On April 30th the DEA announced it may reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug, which Chris connects to the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction in Taurus as a sudden change around a medicinal plant. Austin also connects int to Neptune in Pisces--he's been wondering if marijuana will finally be legally recognized before Neptune leaves. Also Uranus in Taurus: BitCoin and Etherium have approved ETFs now, bringing crypto to mainstream investment like retirement funds (Pluto's last peek into Capricorn is connected too, as it was invented when Pluto entered Capricorn in 2009). Also in currency, the BRICS group of nations are discussing bringing in a new currency as an alternative to the US Dollar and cryptocurrency is on the table--these talks also first began in 2009. The next BRICS meeting is in October in Russia, around the time of another eclipse. In other Saturn in Pisces finance news, Red Lobster has gone bankrupt, possibly because they gave away too much free shrimp (limits and seafood; the discussions were taking place during Mars conjunct Saturn in Pisces even though the announcement was under an Aries Mars).

We're going into the month of June just as many planets shift into Gemini, a key signature for the month. We've had one stellium after another this year, but that trend will change as June wraps up.

June 2nd - Jupiter trine retrograde Pluto In Gemini this is good for travel, such as Boeing launching a new spacecraft (right before Mercury enters Gemini). This aspect is great for enabling Pluto's Aquarian endeavors like transformative new technologies or sci-fi...but mileage may vary for Jupiter. Chris relates this to voice AI translations opening up communication as Jupiter transits Gemini. With Mercury nearby, this month has a tone of trying a little bit of many different things, generally with positive growth and stability in the Gemini parts of our charts. Jupiter is also bound, decan, and triplicity ruler of the early part of the Gemini and has lots of power here. It's a great time to learn enough of something to do what you need with it, rather than pursuing deep expertise.

June 3rd - Mercury enters Gemini, Auspicious election

Taking advantage of Mercury in Gemini this chart is at about 12:05PM local time. You'll want early Virgo rising and Mercury on the degree of the Midheaven at 0-1 Gemini. This places the Ascendant ruler (most important planet in elections) both in domicile and applying to a conjunction with Jupiter at 2 Gemini. In the 10th house this emphasizes career, reputation and work. Mercury, Jupiter, and Pluto form a trine which bodes well for communication and technology, and is furthermore close in date to the Venus cazimi (exact conjunction to Sun) in the middle of Gemini. The Moon is exalted in the 10th house and applies to a trine with Saturn in Pisces. Overall this is great not only for career matters, but also communication, short travel, and other Mercury matters. This is one of the last days this week while Mercury will be visible, so there's a small window to take advantage of this auspicious Mercury-Jupiter conjunction.

June 4th - Mercury conjunt Jupiter, Sun conjunct Venus Also known as a Venus cazimi, the Venus-Sun exact conjunction marks a reset point in Venus's synodic cycle and a new epoch for Venusian themes, including women in society. Interestingly, Mexico's election is in early June with two female candidates (spoiler alert: a woman won!), and the Venus synodic cycle was been central to Mesoamerican astrology in the past--the 2012 news was due in part to a calendar marking these calculations. Mexico's inauguration takes place in September on a Mercury cazimi in Libra (Venus-ruled sign) and the day before a solar eclipse in Libra. Four years ago in June 2020 the Sun conjoined Venus during Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd's and Breonna Taylor's murders, connecting Venus cazimi to questions of equality and fairness in society. However, a square from Saturn in Pisces days later brings obstacles to our hope. In fact, all the Gemini planets will go through this optimism & speed before hitting Pisces Saturn's big melancholy iceberg this month. The last Venus-Sun conjunction in Gemini was June of 2016, so it's a good time to look back and see how far we've come over the past 8 years, as well as to sow the seeds for a new cycle. With Venus invisible during a cazimi, much of this work is internal; similarly, often the biggest advancements made possible during these times isn't visible until later.

On this graph of Venus's synodic cycle we're at the superior conjunction, where Venus is obscured from us by going behind the Sun. Her conjunctions when retrograde are also important turning points--April 2025 is the next conjunction (in Aries).

June 6th - New Moon in Gemini

At this point Mercury is already separating from the conjunction with Jupiter but is still close, while the Sun, Moon, and Venus are all conjunct at 16 Gemini. Thus the Gemini stellium is really concentrated at this lunation. We have so many new beginnings in Gemini on different scales at this time; the events set into motion here won't go away when planets move into Cancer. Whatever was brought up by the cazimi on the 4th will continue here, though in mid-Gemini the lights & Venus are poised to square Saturn. Venus wants to connect people, while Saturn wants to push away, so the immediate aftermath of the New Moon may see cooling in relationships. Communication is important; can we address the obstacle hanging over us? Sometimes you can't talk your way out of the emotions freezing each other out. On a positive note, this can be productive for setting boundaries and expectations. Saturn in Pisces generally can indicate emotional, professional, or spiritual exhaustion: now's the time to take a rest and a step back. Darkness and silence are often needed for mental healing to begin.

June 9th - Mars enters Taurus This brings a tone shift, as Mars was activating eclipse points while he traversed Aries in April in May. On the 11th he'll immediately square Pluto (1♒), raising issues like the abusive of power, going overboard in conflict, and crossing the line because we can't see it. We can see disproportionate escalations where the person doesn't even really know why they did it, but also the very real power of those who aren't in the public eye, pulling strings behind the scenes. Mars-Pluto brings up control, manipulation, power plays, and covert actions--and the paranoia that makes us worry about these things when they're not there. Though an unpleasant introduction, this doesn't last for most of the sign.

As soon as he enters Taurus Mars also approaches a conjunction with Uranus (culminating in mid-July). We've had Jupiter transiting Taurus for the past year bringing a positive spin on events, but now we have the explosive tension on its own. A famous Mars-Uranus conjunction without Jupiter there was January 6th events. However, there are about 20 degrees between the Pluto and Uranus aspects, during which time Mars will make some nice sextiles to Mercury and Venus in Cancer, so we'll have a chill period for some time. Mars in Taurus is also generally less fiery (in detriment), which can be an advantage for us.

June 14th - Mercury conjunct Sun (cazimi) At 24 Gemini, this is the fourth and final peak/reset point in Gemini. In his home sign, Mercury really locks in the preceding resets. This also really marks the second half of the year where we won't have all these massive pileups in one particular sign. He also brushes past a square to Neptune (29♓) while conjoining Venus in the last 10 minutes of this sign. Beware of miscommunications.

June 17th - Venus and Mercury enter Cancer, Mercury conjunct Venus Venus and Mercury enter Cancer together, bringing communication and relationships together. Both planets are invisible at this point, but are working their way out from under the Sun's beams as evening stars and will be visible by the end of the month. Mercury-Venus connects our minds with the arts, giving us the technical know-how to implement aesthetic ideas and the charm to communicate our ideas in a beautiful way. Diplomacy and agreements are also signified here.

June 20th - Sun enters Cancer

June 21st - Full Moon in Capricorn

This lunation occurs just a day after the Sun's ingress into Cancer and right after Mercury & Venus sextiling Mars, bringing a great directness and mental acuity. Once in Capricorn the Moon begins applying to Venus, though Neptune's proximity to the cardinal signs means its square to all the Cancer/Capricorn planets weighs in on things. Saturn has also begun to move within conjunction distance of Neptune, bringing questions around what's real and what's not to the end of June and into July. Some of the clarity we had before will seem to dissolve. We saw a lot of new tech developments earlier this month, but now it's muddied the waters.

June 29th - Saturn stations Retrograde This will likely activate news stories around danger in the water, water-borne pathogens, and events like the submarine disaster (A/N: or naval blockades). Jupiter will also square Saturn and later Neptune later this summer (Saturn entering Pisces corresponded with a spike in inflation) so continued issues with inflation and economy will likely come into play. Neptune stations within a week of Saturn as well, intensifying these issues and bringing what Austin calls season 2 of the Saturn-Neptune story--though season 3 is where things will get really crazy. This is another indicator of what kinds of contraction we'll experience in the Pisces parts of our charts. Saturn doesn't leave Pisces until next year, and even after entering Aries he'll retrograde back into Pisces for a bit.

[mariacallous]

In the fall of 2020, as crypto scammers and thieves began to realize the full potential of a financial privacy tool called Tornado Cash—a clever new system capable of shuffling users' funds to cut the trail of crypto transactions recorded on the Ethereum blockchain—Alexey Pertsev, one of the creators of that service, sent a note to his fellow cofounders about this growing issue. He suggested crafting a standard response to send to victims pleading with Tornado Cash for help with stolen funds laundered through their service. “We must compose a message that we will send to everyone in similar cases,” Pertsev, the then-27-year-old Russian living in the Netherlands, wrote to his colleagues.

Tornado Cash cofounder Roman Semenov answered three minutes later with a draft of their stock response—essentially pointing to the fact that the service's novel design meant it ran on the Ethereum blockchain, not on any server they owned, and was thus out of their hands. “It is a decentralized software protocol that no one entity or actor can control,” the message read. “For that reason, we are unable to assist with respect to any issues relating to the Tornado Cash protocol.”

That statement would remain Tornado Cash's position two days later when hackers affiliated with the North Korean government stole roughly $275 million worth of coins from the crypto exchange KuCoin and funneled a portion of the loot through Tornado Cash to cover their tracks. Tornado Cash would maintain that stance as, according to Dutch prosecutors, a billion-plus dollars more of stolen funds flowed through the service over the next two years, part of at least $2.3 billion in total funds from criminal and sanctioned sources that made up more than 30 percent of the service's overall transactions from 2019 to 2022.

Now, two years after Pertsev's arrest and indictment for money laundering, that “out-of-our-hands” decentralization defense has become one of the central arguments for his innocence. On Tuesday, it will be put to the test when a panel of three Dutch judges rules on the criminal charges that could send Pertsev to prison for years. Privacy advocates believe the result of the case—the first of two, as the New York prosecution of another Tornado Cash cofounder, Roman Storm, is expected to go to trial this coming September—could also shape the future of cryptocurrency privacy and may determine the limits of services like Tornado Cash or other open source software creations to offer a safe haven from financial surveillance.

Dutch prosecutors have accused Pertsev of essentially creating the perfect money laundering machine by designing Tornado Cash to work as a set of “smart contracts”—a type of decentralized service made possible by Ethereum's unique features, in which code is copied to the thousands of Ethereum nodes that store the cryptocurrency's blockchain—and thus preventing Tornado Cash's creators from identifying or controlling who used the service to hide the origins and destinations of their funds.

Pertsev's defenders, on the other hand, point out that those properties are also exactly what makes Tornado Cash such a powerful tool for privacy. “This is the entire point of a decentralized system,” says Sjors Provoost, a Dutch cryptocurrency developer and author of Bitcoin: A Work in Progress, who attended Pertsev's trial. “These are completely clashing worldviews. There's the worldview of privacy and decentralization, and there's the government worldview of surveillance, in which you need to be able to check every transaction.”

Since US and Dutch prosecutors indicted Tornado Cash's cofounders and the US Treasury sanctioned the service in 2022, the case has become a cause célèbre in some cryptocurrency circles, many of whose adherents argue that a guilty verdict could not only damage financial privacy but also set a dangerous precedent that developers of open source software can be held liable for the actions of those who use their tools. Ethereum's inventor, Vitalik Buterin, has noted publicly that he used Tornado Cash to anonymize a donation to Ukraine following Russia's invasion, as an example of the service's legitimate use for privacy. US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has compared Tornado Cash's functioning on the Ethereum's blockchain to a water fountain built in a park—a kind of public utility where “you push a button and privacy comes out”—and has called the crackdown on Tornado Cash and its cofounders “deeply illiberal and profoundly authoritarian."

Yet the Dutch prosecutors and Netherlands' financial law enforcement agency, known as FIOD, which led the investigation of Pertsev, argue that the case isn't actually about a fundamental conflict between privacy and security, or liability for open source code, or any other larger principle. Instead, they say, it's about Pertsev's specific, informed decisions to enable thieves on an enormous scale. “It's all about the choices of our suspect,” M. Boerlage, the case's lead prosecutor, tells WIRED in an interview. “He made choices writing the code, deploying the code, adding features to the ecosystem. Choice after choice after choice, all while he knew that criminal money was entering his system. So it's not about code. It's about human behavior.”

A Room Without a Lock—or Walls

Dutch prosecutors contend that, despite the Tornado Cash creators' claims, they did exert control over it. Aside from its decentralized “smart contract” design, they point to Tornado Cash's web-based user interface for interacting with its blockchain-based smart contract: a fully centralized tool running on infrastructure the creators built and managed, which nonetheless had no monitoring or safeguards to prevent its abuse by criminals for money laundering. In fact, prosecutors found that during the time of their investigation, 93.5 percent of users sent their transactions to Tornado Cash through that web interface, which was far simpler to use than directly interacting with the blockchain-based service.

Pertsev's defense didn't respond to WIRED's repeated requests for an interview. But his lead defense attorney, Keith Cheng, has countered that there would have been no point in monitoring or blocking users on that web interface when anyone could circumvent the website altogether to interact directly with the smart contract or even to build their own interface. “The Tornado Cash smart contracts could be accessed directly at any point of time,” Cheng told an audience at the ETHDam cryptocurrency conference in Amsterdam last year. “Implementing checks within the surrounding infrastructure is akin to adding extra locks to a door that lacks surrounding walls.”

The prosecution points out that Tornado Cash could have at least tried to put locks on that door, given that the vast majority of their users, both legitimate and criminal, were walking through it. More fundamentally, they argue that it was Pertsev's decision to put into place a system that he knew from the start would include basic elements he couldn't control. “Building and deploying something unstoppable is also a decision,” says Boerlage.

That question of decentralization and control nonetheless makes the Tornado Cash case a far less straightforward prosecution than those against the founders of simpler bitcoin-based “mixer” services like Bitcoin Fog or Helix, which were similarly intended to prevent cryptocurrency tracing. In each of those earlier cases, the administrators—now both convicted of money laundering conspiracy—hid their connections to the services. By contrast, Pertsev and his cofounders appear to have been confident enough in their remove from the money launderers who used Tornado Cash that they operated fully in the open, under their real names. “This complete transparency does not exactly indicate criminal activity,” Pertsev's attorney Cheng told ETHDam.

At the same time, the prosecution argues that Pertsev was both aware of and untroubled by the millions and ultimately billions of dollars in stolen cryptocurrency flowing through Tornado Cash, which reached a peak in the spring of 2022. They argue that Pertsev continued to maintain and develop pieces of the system—such as its centralized frontend—even as the service was used to launder the stolen funds from 36 distinct cryptocurrency heists, many of which prosecutors say he and his cofounders discussed in their communications. In the meantime, he also profited handsomely, in part from Tornado Cash's issuing its own crypto token, ultimately making more than $15 million and buying himself a Porsche.

When North Korean hackers stole more than $600 million from the blockchain-based game Axie Infinity in March of 2022, Tornado Cash cofounder Semenov wrote anxiously to Pertsev and Storm that “the fucking disaster is about to begin,” perhaps fearing that their service would be used by the perpetrators of that massive heist, as it already had been in well over a dozen others. Pertsev weighed in 10 minutes later, writing “noticed after 5 days, lol," an apparent reference to how long it seemed to have taken Axie Infinity to discover the theft. Sure enough, less than a week later, hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen Axie Infinity funds began to pour into Tornado Cash.

Prosecutors have pointed to Pertsev's “lol” as a sign of his flippant disregard for the victims whose funds, they argue, he was helping to launder. His defense has countered that he was merely expressing surprise.

That same month, perhaps in response to the growing spotlight on Tornado Cash's use by criminals, Pertsev and his cofounders did, in fact, implement a free tool from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis that would block transactions from sanctioned Ethereum addresses via their web interface. The prosecution has pointed out that the free tool was easily circumvented—hackers could merely move their stolen coins to a different address before sending them into Tornado Cash—and described the effort as “too little and too late."

In their statement to the court, Dutch prosecutors suggest a different solution, if Pertsev had actually cared about Tornado Cash's exploitation by criminals. “What was the simplest option? Take the UI offline and stop advertising. Plain and simple,” they write. “Stop offering the service.”

In the conclusion of that same statement to the court, they point out that under Dutch law the maximum prison sentence for money laundering at the scale Pertsev allegedly committed is eight years, and they ask that Pertsev be sentenced to five years and four months if he's found guilty.

The Tornado Rolls On

Cryptocurrency advocates focused on privacy and civil liberties will be closely watching the outcome of Pertsev's case, which many see as a bellwether for how Western law enforcement and regulators will draw the line between financial privacy and money laundering—including in some immediate cases to follow.

The US trial of Tornado Cash's Storm in a New York court later this year, as well as the US indictment last month of the founders of Samourai Wallet, which prosecutors say offered similar privacy properties to Tornado Cash's, are more likely to directly set precedents in US law. But Pertsev's case may suggest the direction those cases will take, says Alex Gladstein, the chief strategy officer for the Human Rights Foundation and an advocate of bitcoin's use as a human rights tool.

“What happens in the Netherlands will color the New York case, and the Tornado Cash cases are really going to color the outcome of the Samourai case,” Gladstein says. “These cases are going to be historic in the precedents they set.”

Gladstein, like many crypto privacy supporters, argues that anyone weighing the value of tools like Tornado Cash should look beyond its use by hackers to countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and India, where activists and dissidents need to hide their financial transactions from repressive governments. “For human rights activists, it’s essential that they have money the government can’t surveil,” Gladstein says.

Regardless of the verdict in Pertsev's case or that of his cofounder Roman Storm in the fall, Tornado Cash's founder's core argument—that Tornado Cash's underlying infrastructure has always been out of their hands—has proven to be correct: Tornado Cash lives on.

True to its promise of decentralization, Tornado Cash still persists after its cofounders indictment in the fall of last year—and is now out of their control. In March, $283 million flowed into the service. Courtesy of Chainalysis

When the tool's centralized web-based interface went offline last year in the wake of US sanctions and the two cofounders' arrests—Roman Semenov, for now, remains free—Tornado Cash transactions dropped by close to 90 percent, according to Chainalysis. But Tornado Cash has remained online, still functioning as a decentralized smart contract. In recent months, Chainalysis has seen its use tick up again intermittently. More than $283 million flowed into the service just in March.

In other words, whether it represents a public utility for financial privacy and freedom or an uncontrollable money laundering machine, its creators' claim has borne out: Tornado Cash remains beyond their control—or anyone's.

[innervoiceartblog]

The Year of the Water Rabbit…..

New Year 2023 finally starts here at the seismic Super New Moon at 1 Aquarius on January 21st. It is an exciting foretaste of the Aquarian Agenda 2023 – 2043 which begins when Pluto enters Aquarius on March 23rd, re-activating the degree of this Super Moon.

In Chinese Astrology, this New Moon marks the Year of the Water Rabbit. The Yin Water element represents sensitivity, intuition and the way of inner peace after the dynamic and extremely harsh Year of the Yang Tiger in 2022.

Super New Moons are New Moons on steroids and have the same storm and seismic potential as their more visible Full Moon counterparts that are always reported by the media. The January 21 Stealth Super Moon will anchor a January 18-24 shock window when extreme tides, strong storms and seismic activity are likely. It is in a wide conjunction with Pluto square the karmic Nodes of Fate across Taurus/Scorpio- choices made now will have long term consequences.

Uranus turns direct at 14 degrees Taurus on January 22, shaking up global markets and personal finances - cryptocurrencies are going to be centre stage as old debts are called in.

Attune to the incoming Aquarian frequency by: • renewing the architecture of your life in coming weeks and months • recognising the value of your friendships and social networks and expanding your people landscape • looking for win/win scenarios via collaborative ventures • giving your emotional dramas and soap operas a break

From Hare in the Moon Astrology www.hareinthemoonastrology.co.uk

[misternews]

BITCOIN KING OF CURRENCY

Bitcoin, the revolutionary digital currency, has been making waves in the financial world since its inception in 2009. With its decentralized nature and secure transactions, it has gained popularity among investors and tech enthusiasts alike. In this article, we will delve into the world of Bitcoin, exploring its features, benefits, and the future it holds.

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Security: Bitcoin transactions are highly secure due to the use of cryptographic algorithms. Each transaction is digitally signed to ensure authenticity and integrity, making it nearly impossible to counterfeit or manipulate.

Anonymity: While Bitcoin transactions are public, users have the option to remain anonymous. Instead of using personal information, Bitcoin addresses are used, providing a certain degree of privacy.

Low Transaction Fees: Traditional financial institutions often charge hefty fees for international or large-scale transactions. Bitcoin eliminates the need for intermediaries, resulting in lower transaction fees, especially for cross-border transfers.

Global Accessibility: Bitcoin can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection, regardless of their geographic location. This allows for seamless international transactions and financial inclusion for the unbanked population.

The Future of Bitcoin

The future of Bitcoin looks promising, with its growing acceptance and adoption in various industries. Here are some slot gacor key factors shaping its future:

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Technological Advancements: As technology evolves, so does Bitcoin. Innovations such as the Lightning Network aim to improve scalability and transaction speeds, addressing some of the current limitations of the network.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs): Governments around the world are exploring the concept of CBDCs, digital currencies issued and regulated by central banks. This could potentially lead to a greater acceptance and integration of Bitcoin into the traditional financial system.

Store of Value: Bitcoin is often referred to as "slot online" due to its limited supply and scarcity. As a store of value, Bitcoin can act as a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty, making it an attractive asset for long-term investment. In conclusion, Bitcoin has emerged as a revolutionary form of digital currency, offering benefits such as decentralization, security, and low transaction fees. Its future looks promising, with increasing institutional adoption and technological advancements. Whether Bitcoin will become the currency of the future remains to be seen, but its impact on the indo3388 financial landscape is undeniable. So, are you ready to embrace the world of Bitcoin and explore the possibilities it holds?