Introducing GateHub staff picks. Here we talk about anything relevant to our users and the industry. We are always learning and since we share interesting reads daily here at GateHub, we decided to give something back to the community in the form of bite sized descriptions of stuff we read, learned and watched lately. We hope you enjoy these.

Portugal’s “Digital Transitional Action Plan”, published on April 21, gives tech companies incentives and leeway to test and experiment with new technologies. Their crypto and tech friendly “Technological Free Zones” (ZLT) provide companies with more freedom when it comes to testing, learning and regulatory oversight before pushing tech including cryptocurrencies forward to production environments. It’s great to see that fintechs can experiment to push the boundaries without needing to commit and being punished for unregulated innovation.

Portugal Chases Crypto-Friendly Status With New ‘Free Zones’ for Tech
Building on previous advantages for traders and miners, Portugal continues to establish a crypto haven with Technological Free Zones
CointelegraphAntónio Madeira

China is setting up to release its own government backed cryptocurrency. Its blockchain platform called BSN (Blockchain Service Network) will support a government-backed cryptocurrency called DC/EP (Digital Currency Electronic Payment). Some screenshots of the app can be found and it seems Alipay is participating to bring the system to life in mid 2021.

How China’s New National Cryptocurrency Changes Everything
China is launching a national cryptocurrency. In this article, we’ll tell you what information is already known about the project at the moment as well as how it may change the financial world.
HackernoonSergey Baloyan

From our developers

Google Authenticator has made it possible to transfer your “2SV” codes from one device to another with a simple scan of a QR code. No data is sent to outside servers so only your two devices know the codes. This provides some relief for our users that use Google Authenticator app for 2FA on GateHub when changing devices. We think it’s a very, very welcome addition to one of our recommended apps. Be sure to stay somewhere private when transferring your 2FA codes!

Google Makes It Easier to Transfer 2-Step Verification Between Devices
The Google Authenticator has long been a useful tool when it comes to adding two-step verification to your accounts. But now, thanks to its first update since April 2019, Google has just made it way easier to securely migrate 2SV codes from one device to another.
Gizmodo

From our product team

Grant for the Web made some ripples with their announcement on April 30. A $100M fund for innovations based on the Web Monetization standard and the Interledger protocol. We also wrote about it in one of our blogs. We really want to make our readers aware that they too can contribute to the future of the internet, that is why we are exposing this here again!

Announcing Our First Public Call for Proposals
We are excited to release our first open Call For Proposals on a day of great historical significance. Twenty-seven years ago today, CERN, home of the web's inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, released software that powered the early web into the public domain. By making the web's foundational technology free and easily accessible, CERN and Sir Tim created ideal conditions for the World Wide Web to thrive and expand into the vital public resource we depend upon today.
Grant for WebGrant for Web

XRPL deletable accounts made rounds around Twitter’s XRP community last week. We are happy to see that the community is working to make the XRPL a better place. But rather than exposing the feature, we would like to expose the man behind the tech. David Schwartz talked about amendments and XRPL governance earlier this year. An enlightened read!

Amendments: Ensuring Sensible Evolution of the XRP Ledger
The XRP Ledger (XRPL) was designed to provide a robust feature set for the foundation of the digital asset XRP in addition to settling payments and exchanging digital assets of all kinds. The open source community of developers supporting innovation on XRPL continue making core improvements to the technology to ensure performance, stability, security, quality, decentralization, developer experience and governance.
RippleDavid Schwartz

Our blogs for May 2020

We presented our three latest security improvements for customers: freeze account, set anti-phishing message and XRPL address check by XRP Forensics.

Security Improvements
Crypto exchanges and wallets are often targets of different cyber attacks. For this reason, GateHub is constantly working on improving security and taking additional security measures to safeguard GateHub accounts.
GateHubGateHub

Mozilla, Creative Commons and Coil announced a $100M fund for innovations in open payment standards on the web called Grant for the Web. Call for proposals ends on June 12.

Grant for the Web
One of our most aspiring goals at GateHub is to make any form of value available to anyone, in real time. What has us excited right now is the Grant for the Web which is a collaborative effort between Mozilla, Creative Commons and our friends at Coil.
GateHubGateHub

The very basics of cryptocurrencies. What they are, how they were created, how to get them, what types exist and how to use them. All that in our beginners guide.

Beginners Guide to Cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency is a digital asset that can be used as a medium of exchange and is stored in a digital ledger or computerized database. The transactions are secured with cryptography, hence the name cryptocurrency.
GateHubGateHub

On May 8, XRPL deletable accounts amendment was enabled via consensus on the XRP Ledger. Check out our take on this new feature.

XRP Ledger Now Supports Deleting Accounts
Until very recently - May 8, 2020, to be exact, an account on the XRP Ledger could not be deleted and the 20 XRP Base reserve was destined to remain locked on an activated address forever. Now, an account on the XRP Ledger can be deleted.
GateHubGateHub

A deeper dive into the intriguing history of cryptocurrencies in two parts. In part one we focus mostly on BTC and how other currencies were derived from it and in part two we focus on XRP and the XRP Ledger.

Crypto Throughout the Years - a Short (Ish) History - Part 1
It might seem like cryptocurrencies just appeared out of nowhere one day and became something major in the tech world. The truth is that this basic idea for money that would someday, somehow, exist in the digital area lived quite some time ago.
GateHubGateHub
Crypto Throughout the Years - a Short (ish) History - Part 2
Crises like the 2008 housing bubble collapse and Venezuela’s failing currency intensified the search for alternatives to traditional banking and financial systems.
GateHubGateHub

Cryptocurrencies have come a long way since the early experiments with online currency and Satoshi’s white paper. Here are a few ways cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology can be used.

Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Use Cases | GateHub
At the beginning of cryptocurrency’s existence, many people didn’t take it seriously and thought of it as a joke or even a financial scam. Cryptocurrency and its users came a long way since then.
GateHubGateHub

Notable dates

  • May 8 - XRPL Deletable accounts amendment
  • May 11 - BTC Halving
  • May 22 - BTC Pizza day

Have an interesting read you’d like to share with us?
Share it over DM or in the comments. If there is a specific topic you would like us to feature, also let us know.