Blockchair is a search and analytics engine for different crypto networks that offers developer tools such as APIs, direct SQL-access, Data Dumps and PDF-receipts. On Monday the Blockchair team launched a free release monitor that allows developers to find all upcoming hard forks and core client updates for a dozen crypto networks in one place.
It can be very hard to keep track of all the latest software upgrades in the crypto ecosystem, which is a crucial thing to do for developers of multi-coin projects such as wallets and exchanges.
For this purpose, Blockchair has created a free release monitor that helps you follow upcoming hard forks and core client updates for a dozen different crypto networks.
Blockchair Launches Free Release Monitor
This new feature is especially designed to be useful for developers of multi-currency blockchain software such as wallets and exchanges. With this tool, they will never miss a hard fork or core client update anymore. As soon as there is a new release of blockchain reference node software, users of the monitor will be among the first to know about it. The release monitor is available on the website, and also via an API and a dedicated Telegram channel.
“The idea is that there are lots of blockchains with constant updates, forks, etc, explained Nikita Zhavoronkov, Lead Developer at Blockchair. “The thing is that once there are more than 2 or 3 blockchains you support, it becomes a mess to get to know about the latest updates. There are some tools that allow you to track multiple Git Hub repositories at once, but this still requires some setup. We had all the updates on our internal kanban board, so we decided to make a small, but extremely useful, tool for this.”
Blockchair has been described as an engine of blockchain explorers on steroids. It covers the crypto networks of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Cardano, Bitcoin SV, Stellar, Monero, Dash, Dogecoin, Groestlcoin, and Telegram Open Network. Users can get information about a crypto’s price, network difficulty, and transactions per second while also being able to look at networks simultaneously for comparisons. For instance, you can compare the difficulty of one blockchain in contrast to the BCH network difficulty.
Blockchain.com’s New GBP Gateway Creates a Crypto-Hedge Against Brexit Uncertainty
Blockchain.com is adding a British pound (GBP) gateway to its cryptocurrency exchange, The PIT, as it prepares for Britain’s coming separation from the European Union, or Brexit.Announced Thursday in a press release, the addition will utilize Britain’s Faster Payments Service (FPS) to let Blockchain.com’s U.K.-based users buy cryptocurrencies almost instantly.
The company framed its dual announcement as a bet on Britain at a tenuous time. With Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent landslide victory all but ensuring Brexit by Jan. 31, the nation is streaming towards an uncertain future.
That uncertainty, Blockchain.com said in the release, coincides with a surge in British interest in its site.
«As the country we’ve called home for almost a decade undergoes considerable changes, it’s imperative for us to provide the British people – our friends and families, co-workers and countrymen – new options to insulate their financial futures from the political scuffles that have destabilized the country’s economy”, Peter Smith, co-founder and CEO, said in a statement.
Blockchain.com Executive Vice President of Product Xen Baynham-Herd did not provide details around FPS, a U.K. banking initiative that drastically reduced settlement times between member banks. Asked which bank Blockchain.com was utilizing, he declined to answer.
“We partner with multiple banks, but cannot disclose which”, he told CoinDesk.
Other cryptocurrency exchanges with UK customers have also turned to FPS over recent years. But those partnerships between traditional banks and sometimes global exchanges have had mixed success.
In 2015, Swedish crypto exchange Safello lost its FPS access after an undisclosed partner bank severed ties – just six weeks after the service launched. Safello was unable to set up ties with other banks.
More recently, Coinbase, one of only four exchanges who now have FPS access, temporarily disabled FPS service. Its institutional banking partner, Barclays, had pulled the plug too. (Coinbase now banks with the U.K.’s ClearBank).
Though it is not clear which banks Blockchain.com has partnered with, Baynham-Herd said the FPS service is already gaining traction among sterling-centric users.
“We’re already seeing GBP deposits come through and clear in minutes via FPS”, he said.
