📮 03-10-2019
📈 MarketCap: $223 B
📊 24h Mcap %: 0.34%
⚠️ Bitcoin Dom: 66.6%
Active Coins: 2,621
24h Vol %: -12.59%
24h Vol: $36 B
With the Chinese government trying to track protestors through surveillance and usage of payment apps, residents are going dark. Many are now trying to make themselves invisible to avoid a possible state crackdown, it’s no surprise that interest in cryptocurrencies is also growing. LocalBitcoins, a popular platform for directly trading Bitcoin peer-to-peer, posted its highest trading volume ever in Hong Kong last week. The exchange recorded around $13M HKD exchanged in just the past week.
Web monetization platform Coil, that provides an alternative method for creators to monetize their content online, Now supports XRP payments in real-time thanks to a partnership with payment gateway and XRP Ledger wallet provider GateHub. Coil users can now use GateHub to receive funds in XRP and convert them into EUR, USD, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). As subscribing fans consume content, the platform uses an open API called Web Monetization to stream micropayments to creators in real time.
Blockchain payments provider BitPay will add support for XRP, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, by the end of this year. BitPay said it has partnered with Ripple’s Xpring unit to integrate XRP on its platform so that businesses and merchants can accept the cryptocurrency. “XRP can offer a payment option that is fast, cost-effective and scalable,” said Sean Rolland, director of product at BitPay.
Starting Wednesday, customers of the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase can earn interest on their holdings of the dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC. The annual percentage yield (APY) is 1.25 percent. “We’re trying to build more ways for customers to grow their wealth on Coinbase,” said Coinbase product manager Paul Katsen. Paid out to users on a monthly basis, all rewards earned on Coinbase can be tracked in real-time and subsequently used instantaneously to buy other cryptocurrencies.
Parity Technologies released a new version of Parity Signer, a mobile application that turns old smartphones into offline wallets. The company announced the V3 beta, which will enable users to store assets, vote for governance proposals and sign transactions offline, with integrations for both the Polkadot and Ethereum blockchains. The company suggests that smartphones running the app be kept on airplane mode.
Binance is taking special efforts to give back to society, recently opening a separate arm called the Binance Charity Foundation to carry out its humanitarian work. As part of the charity’s latest initiative, the exchange has partnered with Mercy Corps, launching its second impact token called the “Humanity First token [BHFT]”, which will be backed by Uganda Shilling. Token would be issued on the Binance Chain and would be solely dedicated to the rehabilitation of refugees from South Sudan who are now settled in Uganda.
Libra Association has published its roadmap detailing the milestones the team plans to meet prior to the mainnet launch of Libra network. For the first milestone, the Libra Association expects to bring on five partners deploying full nodes on the network. By the launch of the Libra mainnet, the Libra Association expects 100 partners to run Libra nodes. To prepare for the mainnet launch, the Libra Association has created an environment called Pre-Mainnnet, only available for a handful of Libra partners who have already deployed full Libra nodes.
A Berlin-based blockchain firm is delivering mine-to-market technology solutions to help fight against blood diamonds in Congo. Government officials in the Societe Miniere de Bisunzu (SMB) mine in Congo are using blockchain technology to assure its clients that the minerals they purchase are not part of a blood-stained supply chain. Today, mines rely mostly on a paper-based certification system, which is prone to corruption.
Brave one of the privacy-focused and blockchain-based web browser continues to expand at very fast rates in the market. According to Brendan Eich, the co-founder and CEO of the platform, their user base is growing by 10% per month. He explained that Brave is currently building a web browser for cryptocurrencies to reach mass adoption. Eich also said that, "creating a usable product first and decentralizing it later" and companies such as Binance are doing the same.
An exchange-traded product (ETP) with a combination of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) is going live tomorrow on Switzerland’s primary stock exchange SIX. Fintech firm Amun AG and cryptocurrency custodian Bitcoin Suisse AG have partnered to launch the ETP, which will allow Swiss investors to add a basket of BTC and ETH to their portfolios. Currently, the basket composition of the product is 90% of BTC and 10% of ETH. The ETP goes with the ticker symbol ABBA for trading on SIX.
A Twitter exchange between Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and bitcoiner Udi could lead to long-awaited features being added to the platform. Appealing to “CZ”, Udi said he could potentially change his Twitter profile picture to Binance’s logo for the rest of the year, stating: if Binance add full segwit support (segwit deposits, and withdrawals to bech32) + allow generating new deposit addresses (to avoid address reuse). Udi also offered to support for the LN on Binance.
U.S. lawmakers, Representative French Hill and Rep. Bill Foster, have asked the Federal Reserve to consider developing a digital dollar. In a letter sent to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, Hill and Foster said that the “nature of money is changing,” and Fed has the natural role to develop a “national digital currency.” The Congressmen outlined concerns that the U.S. dollar could be in “long-term jeopardy” from the wide adoption of digital fiat currencies. They said that over 40 countries have developed or are looking into developing a digital currency.