Cryptocurrency

Simona, a market analyst for CryptoQuant, recently shed light on the state of these stablecoins in a CryptoQuant report.At the beginning of 2023, USDT’s market cap stood at $66.24 billion. However, this figure has increased by over 25% to the current $83 billion. In stark contrast, USDC’s market cap at the start of the year was $44 billion but has now plummeted by 47% to $23 billion.March was USDC’s worst month this year due to the US banking crisis. USDC had a $3.3 billion exposure to the embattled Silicon Valley Bank. The bank’s collapse led to a contagion, triggering panic and outflows, causing USDC to de-peg from the dollar.However, USDT recorded inflows during this period as market participants, dreading the escalating banking crisis, sought solace in blockchain-based solutions. As BTC surged, USDT’s market cap also witnessed a marked uptick.In March, USDT added nearly $9 billion to its market cap. Similarly, BTC appreciated over 23% in March, representing its second-best month this year. In contrast, USDC shed over $10 billion from its market capitalization in March.Following the sharp decline in March, USDC’s market capitalization has failed to register a comeback. The stablecoin’s valuation has continued to decline, albeit slower. Despite the drop, some market participants prefer USDC to USDT.According to the report, the differing use of USDT and USDC may indicate two distinct categories of investors. Traders who exhibit a lower level of concern regarding centralization risks are more inclined to use USDT. On the other hand, traders opting for USDC may have a knack for exercising more caution due to the regulatory landscape in the United States. The regulatory uncertainties surrounding USDC have potentially prompted significant withdrawals from the stablecoin.The CryptoQuant analysis suggests that USDT has capitalized on this environment of regulatory ambiguity to solidify its position as the leading stablecoin further.This article was originally published on Crypto.news More

In June 2014, the Ethereum ecosystem conducted a sale event, allowing early team members and co-founders to participate and accumulate pre-mined Ether when the network could not generate tokens on its own.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More

The Democratic presidential candidate shared his pro-crypto, especially bitcoin, policies in a video recording with Heal The Divide and Bitcoin Magazine. RFK Jr. added that he plans to start “very small” by backing just 1% of the Treasury Bills (T-bills) “by hard currency, by gold, silver platinum or bitcoin.”The allocation will increase gradually, RFK Jr., the nephew of the 35th US President John F. Kennedy, said.Moreover, he added that the Kennedy administration would encourage using bitcoin while trying to make the US the global crypto hub. RFK Jr. stated using BTC in the country to attract more investments and engineers that would bring innovation.The 69-year-old politician claims to end the capital gains taxes on bitcoin. He promoted BTC’s self-custody as it ensures citizens’ privacy rights, as he’s against the crypto tax plans of the Biden Administration.RFK Jr. has already complimented bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, making headlines on May 19. According to a report on July 7, the presidential candidate owns between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of BTC.This article was originally published on Crypto.news More

While institutional investors like Fidelity Digital Assets may have a bullish longer-term vision for ETH’s price, let’s compare their analysis against network and market data to see if they’re on the money.Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More

Speaking at a July 19 Heal-the-Divide PAC event, Kennedy claimed that backing the U.S. dollar with what he called “hard currency,” including gold, silver, platinum or Bitcoin, could help to re-stabilize the American economy. Continue Reading on Coin Telegraph More

South Korea’s Shinhan Bank and Siam Commercial Bank’s tech innovation business arm (SCB TechX) have announced the successful completion of a stablecoin remittance solution proof-of-concept on Hedera. The Hedera team said it had been able to achieve fast settlement and real-time foreign exchange rate integration across three fiat currencies: the Thai Baht (THB), the New Taiwan dollar (NTD), and the South Korean won (KRW).The team claims the proof-of-concept (PoC) is Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible, making it possible for EVM-based stablecoin issuers to use the framework on completion. The latest PoC is the second phase of the blockchain-based cross-border payments pilot project started in 2021 by Shinhan Bank.While blockchain technology has continued to find use cases across various sectors of the global economy, cross-border payments and remittances have been one of the most popular verticals.Though Ripple (XRP), which recently secured a partial victory in its longstanding legal battle with regulators in the United States, occupies the frontline when it comes to lightning fast cross border payments, Shinhan Bank firmly believes its latest PoC shows stablecoins have the potential to facilitate fast and cheap cross-border payments and remittances.Stablecoins have come under increased scrutiny since the crash of Do Kwon’s algorithmic Terra stablecoin last year. However, that has not deterred crypto platforms from rolling out new stablecoin products.Earlier in January, Cardano (ADA) developers launched an ADA-backed algorithmic stablecoin called Djed. The stablecoin has failed to gain significant traction amidst a declining reserve ratio and depegging risks.As crypto.news previously reported, Aave (AAVE), a decentralized finance (defi) platform, launched its algorithmic stablecoin dubbed GHO on Ethereum (ETH). This article was originally published on Crypto.news More

Vitalik Buterin laid it all out there on the latest developments and roadblocks of Ethereum’s “account abstraction” — a concept aimed at increasing the platform’s adaptability by enabling users to define their account security models — at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Paris. He broke down the idea, explaining how it’s all about adding flexibility to Ethereum by giving users the power to decide on their accounts’ security.Recalling the origin story of account abstraction in Ethereum (ETH), Buterin shared, “Right from the start, we were all about letting accounts be controlled by code, not just keys.” Just like any good story, though, there were plot twists – technical difficulties like non-unique transaction hashes and sorting out miner fees from smart contract wallets became hurdles.Progress hasn’t stopped, especially with the introduction of EIP-4337. This account abstraction standard plays it smart – it skips changing the base protocol by sticking to smart contracts. The big picture? It lets wallets connect via a trusted “entry point” contract, rounds up meta-transactions via “bundler” contracts, and brings in MEV builders to handle fee markets.Buterin painted a clear picture of what this modern account abstraction could mean for users. “We’re talking about extensions, or ‘paymasters,’ that could let users pay their fees with the same coins they’re moving around,” he said.He also pointed out the potential of signature aggregation, explaining, “This could be a game-changer, especially on rollups where the size of a transaction is mostly the signature.” By pulling together signatures, developers could save a chunk on gas and data costs.But it’s not all smooth sailing. Buterin didn’t skirt around the tough stuff. He talked about the need for an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) to shift current Ethereum externally-owned accounts into smart contracts. There are also challenges like making sure everything works with layer-2 solutions and blends with existing technologies like biometrics and wallets.But through all the ups and downs, Buterin stays optimistic about account abstraction’s progress and future. He said, “We’ve come a long way with account abstraction, and I can’t wait to see where we’ll go next.”This article was originally published on Crypto.news More

The cryptocurrency Moons (MOON) associated with Reddit’s r/CryptoCurrency community, which boasts over 6.5 million members, has witnessed a significant price increase since July 16 around 1 pm EST.Coingecko data shows a 358% rise in the value of Moons, from $0.09 to nearly $0.45.Moons are ERC-20 tokens that Reddit awards to users for their contributions to the r/CryptoCurrency subreddit through posts or comments. These tokens can be traded, tipped, or used within the community for various purposes. They can also be stored in Vault, Reddit’s Ethereum (ETH)-based wallet.Another token, Bricks (BRICK), given as a reward for contributions in the r/Fortnite subreddit, has seen a substantial increase of 657% within two days from $0.005 to $0.052.Recently, a trending post in the r/CryptoCurrency subreddit highlighted a change in Reddit’s terms of service, which now allows for trading verified virtual goods such as avatars and Reddit’s community points.According to Coingecko’s co-founder and COO, Booby Ong, told CoinDesk, “Reddit’s Terms of Service recently changed where it now explicitly allows for trading Reddit’s tokenized Community Points. The change also goes alongside the removal of Reddit’s non-tokenized Coins and Awards. No firm changes have been announced for Reddit’s Community Points yet, but the community is speculating that Reddit will give more attention to the Community Points. This has resulted in MOON and BRICK tokens increasing by over 100% in value this week,”.Ong further clarified that trading community points have always been a possibility, even though it is difficult via the Reddit app. To make a trade, users must export the private key from the Reddit wallet and import it into a crypto wallet. Subsequently, they can trade the community points on an Arbitrum Nova DEX.The r/CryptoCurrency subreddit community responded favorably to the changes in the terms of service. Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken expressed gratitude to the subreddit for sharing updates about the service changes.A Kraken representative mentioned that the exchange is open to adding new digital assets, which has spurred expectations about a potential listing of the Moons token on the Kraken exchange. This speculation may have contributed to the token’s recent price surge.This article was originally published on Crypto.news More