ConsenSys’ PegaSys protocol engineering group recently submitted its ethereum client, formerly known as Pantheon, to the group as the Hyperledger Besu project. Besu, aimed to provide a platform for “open development and deployment”, marks the first public blockchain-compatible submission to Hyperledger, the firm said.
Joseph Lubin, co-founder of ethereum, is to join the governing board of the Linux Foundation-led blockchain consortium Hyperledger.
The move comes as ConsenSys, the ethereum development startup founded by Lubin, becomes the latest Hyperledger premier member, ConsenSys announced on Wednesday.
ConsenSys said it will work as part of the group to explore interoperability between blockchains, as well as to promote standards to support “enterprise-grade blockchain environments.”
According to Lubin:
“PegaSys and ConsenSys have been committed to open source software and submitting Hyperledger Besu to Hyperledger demonstrates that commitment. Public networks with tens of thousands of nodes are most appropriate in a world in which we will see the tokenization of many types of assets and resources.”
Hyperledger now has over 270 member companies across industries such as finance, banking, IoT, supply chain, manufacturing and technology. The governing board now includes 22 premier members, including Consensys.
“The more technologies and members we have working together, the stronger the foundation we can collectively build for blockchain-based solutions”, said Brian Behlendorf, executive director of Hyperledger.
Ethereum Co-Founder Anthony Di Iorio Steps Down as Decentral CEO
Billionaire and crypto industry veteran Anthony Di Iorio, founder of the Jaxx wallet-maker Decentral, retired this week to focus on “philanthropic initiatives”, he told CoinDesk.
The ethereum co-founder will continue funding Decentral and approving budgets as chairman of the board. Meanwhile, former product manager Maggie Xu, Di Iorio’s girlfriend of two years, will take the helm as the company’s new CEO.
“If she develops a roadmap, presents it to me, it will be approved depending on which resources she needs”, Di Iorio said. “I’m happy to agree to continue funding Decentral if it makes sense.”
Stepping back, in 2018 Di Iorio said the crypto wallet had up to a million monthly users and had processed more than $2 billion worth of crypto swaps through a partnership with ShapeShift. Around this time last year, the company underwent an ambitious campaign to attract paid integrations with service providers, such as loan startups and exchanges, and futuristic office plans with a hologram studio.
But then the bear market hit hard. Transaction fees from the ShapeShift integration were Decentral’s primary revenue flow, Di Iorio said, peaking at $300,000 a month. When ShapeShift started requiring know-your-customer information last fall, revenue dwindled to a pittance. Decentral laid off almost half of its staff, he said, down to the 14 employees it has today.
Decentral is hiring again these days, a few developer positions, because it runs nearly a dozen nodes to ease integrations and data flows across the assets supported in the mobile app. Xu told CoinDesk they’ve finally secured five integration partnerships, including GiftPay and Changelly, which should allow users to convert tokens inside the app and spend them with fiat-denominated gift cards by 2020.
“We need to add the functions people care about, which is being able to buy and sell crypto, convert it to fiat and send it, while meeting other people in the community”, Xu said. “We’re looking to bring back Decentral meetups.”
As a former lawyer and product lead, Xu said her combination of expertise will help make growing and marketing the business more seamless.
Over the next six months, Xu plans to prioritize these integrations and seek funding through “strategic partnerships.” She added the newest version of the mobile wallet, Jaxx Liberty, garnered 250,000 downloads over the past year.
Xu concluded:
“This is about trying to move this whole movement to the mainstream.”
