Latest news with #F2Pool
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitlayer Joins Forces With Antpool, F2Pool, and SpiderPool to Supercharge Bitcoin DeFi
Bitlayer, a Bitcoin Layer 2 built on the BitVM paradigm, has partnered with three of the world's largest bitcoin BTC mining pools — Antpool, F2Pool, and SpiderPool — in a first-of-its-kind collaboration to accelerate the real-world adoption of BitVM, a breakthrough technology focused on enabling Bitcoin-native DeFi. Bitcoin's ecosystem has lagged behind other Layer 1s like Ethereum for years due to technical limitations — especially its lack of support for Turing-complete smart contracts. Bitlayer's BitVM paradigm addresses this by offering Bitcoin-equivalent security and Turing completeness without altering Bitcoin's core protocol or compromising its foundational design. But turning that vision into reality requires the cooperation of miners — the entities that create new blocks and validate transactions in exchange for BTC. That's precisely what this new partnership secures. The three mining pools, representing over 36% of Bitcoin's total computing power (hashrate), have agreed to support non-standard transactions (NSTs) — a critical piece of BitVM's challenge-response mechanism, the firms said. Their support removes a key bottleneck to BitVM deployment and brings the system closer to widespread use. NSTs are transactions that are valid under Bitcoin's consensus rules but are not relayed by the default Bitcoin Core software, making them hard to get confirmed on-chain without miner cooperation. Under this partnership, Antpool, F2Pool, and SpiderPool will serve as guardians of the BitVM Bridge, ensuring NSTs are reliably included in blocks and become part of Bitcoin's immutable ledger. The BitVM bridge is a special tool that facilitates secure and reliable movement of BTC into other blockchain ecosystems — such as rollups, cross-chain protocols, and smart contracts — without relying on centralized intermediaries. It opens the door for broader Bitcoin DeFi applications while preserving the network's robust security guarantees. 'BitVM represents the most credible path to bring on-chain validation to Bitcoin while maintaining its core security. This partnership solves the critical last-mile challenge of getting Non-Standard Transactions included on-chain,' said Kevin He, co-founder of Bitlayer, in a press release shared with CoinDesk. This isn't just a milestone for Bitlayer — it's a strategic win for miners as well, especially as they face dwindling income due to per-block BTC rewards being cut in half every four years. Andy, CEO of Antpool, noted that Bitlayer's BitVM can help drive new economic activity and fee-based income for miners. "Built on BitVM, Bitlayer enables BTC to flow into DeFi and Layer 2 ecosystems. That means more use, more fees, and long-term sustainability for miners," Andy said in the press release. Leon Liang, chief strategy officer at F2Pool, emphasized the importance of innovation, saying, "we want to support high-quality projects like Bitlayer that expand what Bitcoin can do.' SpiderPool CTO Kenway spoke to the broader potential of Bitcoin as a financial services platform, stating, "This partnership lets us unlock new possibilities for Bitcoin DeFi. It enhances Bitcoin's utility while reinforcing miners' central role in the ecosystem.' Bitlayer's collaboration with mining giants follows recent integrations with major Layer 1 ecosystems like Sui, Base, Arbitrum, and Starknet. Together, these partnerships reflect a growing demand for secure, Bitcoin-native DeFi infrastructure that scales. Bitlayer is actively onboarding more validators and early adopters to help secure and expand the BitVM Bridge — and to build what could become the cornerstone of Bitcoin's next evolution. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX Launching First-Ever Astronauts Over Earth's Poles Tonight
Tonight, SpaceX is scheduled to launch a first-of-its-kind mission that will carry four private astronauts — or depending on how you see it, glorified space tourists — to fly above the Earth's poles. Named "Fram2" after the Norwegian ship that made expeditions to both the Earth's poles over a century ago, the mission will use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to carry a Crew Dragon capsule containing the crew to an altitude between 264 to 280 miles. The mission commander is the same person who's financing it: Malta-based crypto entrepreneur Chun Wang, who founded the Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool. Wang is joined by three of his pals: Norwegian cinematographer Jannicke Mikkelsen, who will be the vehicle commander; German robotics researcher Rabea Rogge, the mission's pilot; and Australian polar explorer Eric Philips, the mission specialist and medical officer. None of them have ever flown into space before. Inexperienced as they may be, the crew will be venturing to where no astronauts have ever gone before: directly above the Earth's poles. During their three-to-five-day stay in space, the Crew Dragon spacecraft will attempt to fly at a 90 degree orbital inclination, putting its path perfectly perpendicular to the Earth's equator. Historically, there was little reason to fly at these steep inclinations, which burns more fuel and can put a spacecraft's path, when launched from the US, over heavily populated areas. There's also less protection from space radiation over the poles. Until now, the crewed mission that came closest to polar orbit was the Soviet Vostok 6 mission, which reached an inclination of about 65 degrees, according to CNN. Besides its unique trajectory, Fram2 boasts a bevy of scientific objectives, with the crew expected to carry out 22 experiments. Some of the research includes monitoring how humans adapt to motion sickness in space, growing mushrooms in microgravity, and testing the use of blood flow restriction exercise. The mission is also collaborating with startups to explore whether space conditions can disrupt sleep patterns and women's hormone levels (half of the crew members, Mikkelsen and Rogge, are women.) Perhaps the most spectacular item on the bucket list is observing an atmospheric phenomenon known as the Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, or STEVE, a streak of light in the night sky that often accompanies the northern lights, which has seldom been observed from space. Some experts, however, are dubious about the actual scientific value of some aspects of Fram2. "There's nothing unique to a polar orbit, (and) the science advantages are kind of overblown," John Prussing, professor emeritus of aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told CNN. "This is a private mission. You need something to say that's different and exciting about it," echoed Christopher Combs, associate dean of research at the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design at the University of Texas at San Antonio. It's "a notch above gimmick," Combs told CNN, "but not exactly a groundbreaking milestone." Fram2 is slated to lift off from Florida as early as 9:46 PM EST tonight, but delays are common. More on spaceflight: Fireballs Appear Around the World as Parts of SpaceX Crew Dragon Scream Back to Earth
