Solana reaches ATH; Oil trades choppy amid Hurricane Ida: Markets Wrap

On the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the category four hurricane hit Port Fourchon, a vital energy hub that supplies about 90% of the Gulf's oil rigs, with winds exceeding 150 miles per hour. Hurricane Ida made landfall on the Louisiana coast this weekend, causing significant market disruption in the days ahead.


On the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a category four storm hit the Gulf Coast with gusts of more than 150 mph, knocking out power to nearly one million people as of Monday morning. Ida also hit Port Fourchon, a vital energy hub where 90 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's oil rigs dock.

The impact of the natural calamity caused oil futures in New York to fall 1.6 percent in the morning. WTI Crude Oil, on the other hand, rose 0.65% on Monday to $69.18 a barrel. Brent dipped to $72.31 before rebounding to $73.22 with a gain of 0.72 percent. The most successful financial asset last week was NYMEX Natural Gas, which gained 13.48 percent.

Investors are looking for future supply shifts at Wednesday's OPEC+ meeting.

Aluminum prices are approaching ten-year highs in other parts of the world, as China tightens its grip on energy consumption. Smelters are unable to meet demand for the element, which has increased by 80 percent in price since May 2020, as part of the country's carbon reduction goals.


Commodities

  • Brent crude has increased by 0.72 percent to $73.22 a barrel.
  • To $1,812.9, gold fell -0.36%.


Insight

“The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement stated on Sunday that Hurricane Ida has shut down roughly 1.74 million barrels of oil production, or 95.7 percent of US Gulf of Mexico output, and 93.8 percent of natural gas production. According to Robert Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho Securities, the Gulf accounts for 16 percent of US crude oil production and 2% of natural gas output. “Around 2.11 million barrels of refining capacity was shut down or operated at reduced rates at plants along the Mississippi River, accounting for around 12% of total US refining capacity. The Gulf Coast, from Mississippi to Texas, is home to about half of the US refinery capacity.”

Solana That Never Ends Summer Solana (SOL) achieved new highs on Monday, indicating that the altcoin is set to have another week of increases. According to Messari, SOL reached a new high of $114.19 in the afternoon. As of press time, the token had increased by 18.5 percent to $111.60.

The recent price increase in Solana is the result of increased demand for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In recent weeks, Solana's network has been utilized to assist in the formation of NFTs like the "Degenerate Ape Academy." According to Blockworks, monthly trade volumes on OpenSea, the largest NFT platform, surpassed $3 billion this week. The new high comes on the heels of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT dump on Saturday night, which saw over $95 million in sales in one day. Since its inception in April, the digital collectible initiative has brought in $320 million.

The monkeys, who reside on Ethereum's blockchain, could be to blame for the cryptocurrency's Monday surge. According to Messari, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading about $3,100 today, up 3%.

At 4:00 p.m. ET, DeFi Uniswap (UNI) was trading at $27.88, up 4.3 percent in 24 hours, with a total value locked of $4,861,382,455.

At 4:00 p.m. ET, Luna (TERRA) was trading at $35.72, up 5.6 percent, with a 24-hour trading volume of $1,375,224,161.

At 4:00 p.m. ET, DeFi:ETH was up 32.9 percent.

Crypto

At 4:00 p.m. ET, bitcoin is trading at $48,456.63, down -0.61% in the last 24 hours.

At 4:00 p.m. ET, Ether was trading at $3,313.09, up 3.05 percent in the last 24 hours.

At 4:00 p.m. ET, the price of ETH:BTC was 0.068, up 3.86 percent.

Equities

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -0.16% to 35,399 points.

The S&P 500 index increased by 0.43 percent to 4,528 points.

The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.9 percent to 15,265 points.

At 4:00 p.m. ET, the VIX decreased -2.44% to 15.99.

Currencies

According to the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, the US dollar has dropped by 0.01%.

Income Guaranteed

  • As of 4:00 p.m. ET, the yield on a 10-year US Treasury bond was 1.278 percent.

Aside from that,

During an interview with Bloomberg Wealth, billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson referred to cryptocurrencies as a "bubble" with "a finite quantity of nothing." When inflation is high, according to Blockworks, Paulson, the founder of financial management firm Paulson & Co., prefers to invest in gold.

We're on the lookout.

  • On Tuesday, the United States intends to withdraw almost all of its troops from Afghanistan.
  • Wednesday is the OPEC+ meeting.
  • That concludes the markets for the day. Tomorrow, I'll see you again.

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Ethereum Gas Fees Have Skyrocketed, Is This The Season Of The "ETH Killers"?

Ethereum is one of the most popular blockchains in the cryptocurrency world. Every day, a growing number of people join the network. ETH charge rates have long been a source of concern in the midst of this. During periods of significant network congestion, fee rates have typically increased. However, as the popularity of NFTs has grown, these costs have become out of hand.


Because minting an NFT costs substantially more, typical ETH transaction fees have increased in order to send. As a result, the fees that the average user must pay have risen. This problem has also been exacerbated by recent improvements. Fees have not been kept down by the London Hard Fork or EIP-1559. Instead, since the renovation, fees have risen dramatically.

The surge from August 22nd is the most striking. From then to now, Ethereum transaction costs have increased by nearly 200 percent. The average cost of a transaction has already surpassed $30. The network's average transaction charge was $10. As a result, the current increase is among the greatest in the network's history.

NFTs and decentralized exchanges (DEX) are included. Fees on these services have risen even faster, according to users. Fees on decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap have reached $300 per transaction. On platforms like OpenSea, consumers of NFT marketplaces have witnessed costs of over $1,000. This has sparked debate over the blockchain's future if fees are too high for the majority of users to transact on it.

Are Ethereum (ETH) assassins the solution?

There is a case to be made for a whole new blockchain to take Ethereum's place as the main smart contract platform. Given its prominence, its exorbitant fees are a source for concern for the entire crypto market. Other platforms are primed to fill any void left by Ethereum, which has fallen out of favor because to its consistently high costs. Cardano is one of these blockchain rivals.

Cardano's smart contracts feature will be available on September 12th. The network has a cheaper fee structure than Ethereum. Users will be able to accomplish the same things on Cardano that they can on Ethereum with the debut of Alonzo White. For a less expensive price. These will have DeFi and NFT capabilities. Allowing developers to build on the blockchain and provide users with DeFi services.

EOS, Polkadot, Solana, Terra, Tron, Avalanche, and others are competitors. The Binance Smart Chain is the most renowned. From the stables of the world's largest bitcoin exchange. These blockchains have the same functionality as the Ethereum blockchain. However, their lower fee options provide them an advantage over the top network.

The Ethereum team is very aware of what is going on. The switch to ETH 2.0 has been planned for years. The update, which is expected to be completed in 2022, will resolve the network's fee issue. Along with additional network scalability, safety, and efficiency challenges.

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Everything is ‘Green and Go,' as the saying goes. Hoskinson comments on Alonzo's upgrade.

IN SUMMARY


  • “Everything is green and go, and we're on schedule,” Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said of the upgrade.
  • The Alonzo testnet will roll over on September 1, according to Hoskinson.
  • Cardano's parent firm, IOHK, announced the creation of an ERC-20 converter that will allow Ethereum assets to be transferred to Cardano's testnet and vice versa.

In a recent vlog post, Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson said of the Alonzo upgrade, “Everything is green and go, we're on schedule.”

Hoskinson stated in the post that his team has just completed a “go/no-go” discussion on the entire infrastructure of the Alonzo upgrade. According to Hoskinson, a “huge checklist of things” was completed by 25 stakeholders, and everything “kept coming up green.” Following the confirmations, Hoskinson stated that the team is now prepared to trim the mainnet candidate and begin the slow upgrading process.

“On the Testnet, we're going to begin an HFC (hard fork combinator) event,” Hoskinson added. “We'll be at the Alonzo stage with Testnet.” He went on to say that it wouldn't be a specialized testnet like Purple, but rather the main testnet for exchanges.

Dates to expect

Hoskinson then provided a timeline for Cardano users to expect the consecutive rollouts. The Alonzo testnet will roll over on September 1, according to Hoskinson. The Cardano founder, on the other hand, agreed that the team still needed to work out some problems.

He stated that his team would work over the weekend to repair any errors and ensure that everything was up to date with the current version of DB sync.

Once the rollover on the Alonzo testnet is completed, it will stay there until the proposal is completed on September 9. If all goes as planned, Hoskinson expects the rollover to take place on September 12. If the team had reached a 'no-go' conclusion at their meeting, the roll-over would have been put back five days to September 17.

On the testnet, there's an ERC-20 converter.

Cardano's parent firm, IOHK, stated last week that it would deploy an ERC-20 converter to allow Ethereum assets to be transferred to Cardano's testnet and vice versa. The converter is just a link between the Ethereum and Cardano networks, allowing for easy movement of Ethereum-based assets. The testnet will host the launch, which has been scheduled for later this week.

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In the second quarter of 2018, KuCoin's user base increased by over 1,100%, with a total volume of over $400 billion dollars.

According to a press release issued on August 30, 2021, cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin revealed that the total number of new members in Q2 2021 surpassed two million, representing a record quarter-over-quarter rise of 1,144 percent and a year-over-year increase of 709 percent.


So far, KuCoin has seen 810 million transactions worth $400 billion. The average daily trading volume has risen 791 percent in the last year, to $4.3 billion. While it falls behind Binance, Coinbase, Huobi Global, and FTX in terms of market capitalization, it remains one of the world's top crypto exchanges.

Users of KuCoin on mobile devices are also on the rise, with a 755 percent increase in installs compared to the previous year. With 1.07 million installations in the second quarter of 2021, there was a 178 percent rise quarter over quarter. Currently, over half of traders (54%) use the platform on their mobile devices.

Mobile trading outperformed the exchange's web version for the first time in terms of metrics. The increased demand for payment services among retailers around the world, as well as the widespread use of mobile and contactless payments, could explain this trend.

In the last six months, the number of female users has more than tripled. This year's fast crypto sector expansion has been aided by a 120 percent quarterly surge in new female users and a 350 percent annual increase.

In comparison to the same period last year, not only did the number of women's accounts increase, but so did the volume of deposits they made. Women made up only 12% of its customers a year earlier, compared to 88% of men. Females now make about 38% of its users.

Johnny Lyu, the CEO of KuCoin, said:

“Over the last year, we've made significant progress in onboarding new users and making it simple for men and women to join. KuCoin, in particular, has been giving its users with educational manuals, 101 sections, and AMA sessions with the CEO in order to accomplish such growth.”

Additionally, Lyu stated:

“We've also released a number of new crypto services that make it simple for consumers with no prior knowledge of crypto to get started trading. We are convinced that one day everyone will be interested in crypto, and we will help to make that happen.”


KuCoin enters new markets.

KuCoin will continue to spread into new areas and markets in 2021, with the technology being embraced on a national scale in emerging Latin American, African, and Asian countries, with a QoQ rise in users of 171.93 percent, 130.16 percent, and 67.5 percent, respectively. People who reside in locations where inflation is high and mobile phones are readily available are the most likely to use the exchange.

In instance, a growing number of Central American and Caribbean countries, such as El Salvador, have adopted Bitcoin as their official currency. Earlier this week, Honduras erected its first cryptocurrency ATM, while Cuba became the fourth country to acknowledge and regulate cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Finally, in the second quarter of 2021, the trading volume of KuCoin's African customers increased by 20 times as compared to the previous quarter.

According to the most recent data, African cryptocurrency markets are experiencing a massive rise in the second quarter of 2021. As a result, the company has also launched highly specialized services for African customers ahead of schedule, which is proportionate.

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Bittrex Global CEO says Dubai will profit from the growing crypto market.

With several initiatives to further implement blockchain-based technology, the United Arab Emirates has recently solidified its place in the digital asset business. According to Stephen Stonberg, CEO of Bittrex Global crypto exchange, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Dubai are among the most welcoming governments for the cryptocurrency business.


Dubai is set to gain from the Middle East's growing crypto sector, as local regulators progressively approve blockchain-related technologies, according to Stonberg in a Bloomberg interview on Sunday.

According to Stonberg, the UAE and Dubai are “doing everything right” and will “attract a lot of regional projects” in the bitcoin market. Because of the region's history as a tax haven, he believes these jurisdictions are a "wonderful area" to start a token initiative or establish a cryptocurrency exchange.

According to the Tax Justice Network, the UAE, along with Switzerland and Bermuda, became one of the world's fastest-growing tax havens in March 2021.

“I think Dubai will do phenomenally well,” Stonberg said, adding that Bittrex now expects further expansion and clientele in the region. Bittrex Global is a global crypto trading platform for the Bittrex exchange, which is one of the largest in the US.

The worldwide exchange, which is located in Liechtenstein, was officially inaugurated in September 2019. Bittrex Global got a digital asset license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority last year, allowing it to operate its crypto exchange under government supervision.

In April, UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri stated that cryptocurrencies and asset tokenization will be critical to the country's goal to double its economy in ten years. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) entered the global central bank digital currency (CBDC) contest in July.

This year, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, the financial regulatory agency for the Dubai International Financial Centre, issued various crypto-related legislation, with the goal of adopting a regulatory framework for a variety of digital assets by 2021.

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EL SALVADOR WILL BE TRANSFORMED BY BITCOIN IN THE FUTURE.

After meeting Madam Ambassador Mayorga of El Salvador in June in Washington, D.C., I was invited to return to El Salvador in August. My wife Lola and I traveled down for five days to learn more about the area and fresh business chances. The observations that follow are based on that journey.


BY CLOSE

El Salvador is a lot closer to the United States than most people realize. We were able to take a direct flight from Miami to San Salvador for around three hours because we live in South Florida. We received a lot of help from the government. Our baggage were gathered for us and we were escorted directly from the plane to a designated receiving area where our immigration paperwork was done. This level of service was outstanding, and it foreshadowed the treatment we experienced throughout our vacation. El Salvadorians are justifiably proud of their friendliness.

SAFE AND MODERN

Over the course of my 35-year professional career, I've spent a significant amount of time traveling worldwide, much of it in poor countries. I've witnessed some appalling living conditions and heartbreaking poverty. El Salvador's media coverage has centered on issues such as El Salvadoran refugees seeking a better future at the United States' southern border, MS-13 gangs frightening the populace, and the scars of the country's civil war in the 1980s and 1990s. I can't say that these things aren't partially true, but we didn't see any evidence of them in the greater San Salvador metro region. Lola and I went on our own journeys into surrounding provincial districts and found no indication of these items there as well.

El Salvador is unquestionably impoverished. Many people selling fruits, nuts, and sweets on the side of the road on important routes into and out of San Salvador are battling to make ends meet. In some areas, a percentage of the population lives in shanty-style homes. However, the country's infrastructure is far more developed than I had anticipated, and there is a lot of building going on. Cellular service is readily available, however it is frequently 3G. The internet is widely available, as well as rapid and efficient. San Salvador is immaculately clean, and trash management is in good working order. The traffic is well-flowing, and the vehicles on the road are in good working order and are safe.

San Salvador featured a well-developed network of restaurants, bars, and shops, which was a nice surprise. This occurred not only in one upper-class neighborhood of San Salvador, but throughout the entire metro area. The companies were well-run and diverse. Prices were reasonable (comparable to those in the United States), though a touch higher than I had anticipated.

I spent a lot of time in Taiwan in the 1990s. Over the course of that decade, the country progressed from being a developing to a developed nation. El Salvador has the same feeling that Taiwan did throughout that period of transition. El Salvador is a developing country. People are aware of it as well. While they may not have everything that others in first-world countries have, they do not moan about it; instead, they focus on the future.

MONEY

In an attempt to encourage the usage of coinage in commercial operations, the United States created the Sacagawea dollar coin in 2000. It was a flop at the end of the decade, and it faded into obscurity. El Salvador is the solution to your question about where all of those dollar coins went.

I had to double-check my change the first time I bought something in US dollars and received change. I bring this up because, as things are, El Salvador's economy is highly based on the US dollar. Prices were only displayed in USD in all of the places we visited. Only a limited percentage of businesses even announced that they accepted Bitcoin. I must admit that I was disappointed, but there is some good news.

Bitcoin Beach is a really genuine place, despite its small size. Bitcoin is well-known and accepted by retailers and street vendors. Soda, ice cream, artisan soaps, t-shirts, coffee, and jewelry may all be purchased with Bitcoin or dollars. The suppliers don't care which currency you use, and if you choose Bitcoin, they know how to complete the transaction. If anything can happen here, it can happen in San Salvador, and it can happen elsewhere in the globe if it can happen in San Salvador.

Outside of Bitcoin Beach, El Salvadoreans are generally enthusiastic about Bitcoin, despite their lack of expertise, which concerns concern. This is understandable, given that Bitcoin was a complete unknown to the majority of people only ten weeks ago. However, they have a great desire to learn more about it, and they recognize that this is a critical juncture in El Salvador's future. People bombarded us with questions as we traveled across the country, learning that we ran Bitcoin mining businesses; our drivers, Saul and Romeo, Jorge, the boutique hotel owner, Mario from the reptile farm, Benjamin, the attorney, Napo from the t-shirt factory, and many others were sponges soaking up any knowledge we could impart.

But the most interesting and thrilling portion of the trip came on our last day in El Salvador, when we were invited to a small gathering at the home of a new friend. Several children in their early adolescent years were present. One of the group members, Sarah, approached me as they were about to leave for a boat ride and questioned if Bitcoin was a good thing for El Salvador. I told her, “Yes, that was really excellent for El Salvador, and she should be excited and proud of the daring and courageous step her country was making,” instead of giving her a long-winded answer incorporating Austrian economics, geopolitics, and the value of hard money. I assumed that would be the end of it and that she would want to get back on the boat. Sarah, it turns out, was far more than I had anticipated. In a matter of minutes, not only Sarah, but a whole slew of El Salvadorian teenagers had me drilled on Bitcoin. We put the boat ride on hold and spent the next hour delving into topics like inflation, monetary policy, global reserve currencies, the separation of government and money, and Bitcoin dynamics.

These youngsters are bright, determined, and determined to make a difference in the world. They aren't influenced by establishment propaganda, and they won't accept anything without thoroughly questioning it.

President Nayim Bukele, who is forward-thinking and action-oriented, leads the country. Several members of his administration, including members of the Bitcoin implementation team, met with me. I can tell you that President Bukele has surrounded himself with a team of young, dynamic, and imaginative people rather than a bunch of bureaucrats. They behave more like a corporation preparing for an initial public offering than a government. When comparing the caliber of El Salvador's team and their ability to execute with the farce in the US Senate over the bitcoin section of the infrastructure bill, I can't help but shake my head. While El Salvador is undergoing a monetary revolution, the United States can't even agree on a few sentences of cryptocurrency law because one 87-year-old senator in his sixth term has the power to overturn the votes of 99 senators.

Lola and I are struck by the sharp knowledge that we were standing in the epicenter of a revolution as we reflect on our journey. President Bukele's leadership and Jack Mallers' technology have undoubtedly aided El Salvador's Bitcoin movement, but the actual energy to carry it through will come from the masses and the youth who view Bitcoin as a way to a brighter tomorrow. They're in, and they're going to make it happen.

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Cardano launches a bug bounty program on its way to becoming the most stress-tested and meticulously maintained blockchain.

The latest spate of cyber-attacks appears to have shaken the security outlook of crypto exchanges and blockchain networks, as the Cardano Foundation now invites hackers to participate in a massive hackathon.


Identifying Cardano's flaws

The foundation announced on Thursday that it had partnered with HackerOne, a global hacker community with physical locations in London, New York City, Singapore, and the Netherlands, describing it as "perhaps the most prominent hacker-powered security partner globally" with the goal of using ethical hackers to test for any performance bugs that could pose critical vulnerabilities.

Hackers who uncover vulnerabilities and report them before they do major harm will receive an undefined reward.

HackerOne's Account Manager Tor Abrams confirmed the relationship with the Cardano Foundation, saying that his team was constantly testing, discovering, and safely reporting real-world security vulnerabilities for enterprises across various industries and attack surfaces.

“Security flaws affect every organization. The only way to prevent hackers from exploiting them is to uncover and repair them before they are exploited. By thinking imaginatively and identifying spots where defects could be 'chained' together to create an attack, ethical hackers can locate vulnerabilities that automated scanners miss,” he claimed.

HackerOne, which provides organizations with access to the world's largest community of hackers, has carved out a niche for itself as a renowned bug detection and prevention organization of ethical hackers with an impressive track record of assisting organizations such as Goldman Sachs, the United States Department of Defense, and Dropbox in solving software mysteries.

Jeremy Firster, Cardano's project manager, praised the agreement, saying it will help Cardano become the most stress-tested and meticulously maintained blockchain, and that it was a clear indication to stakeholders of the importance they placed on security and public safety.

The number of cyber-attacks is increasing.

This strategic alliance comes after a number of exchanges and blockchain networks, including Poly Network, Binance Smart Chain, Bitfinex, and KuCoin, among others, have been hacked, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars in customer assets or network outages. Development teams are increasingly aware of the threat, encouraging hacker communities to try to break into their systems in order to find gaps that could result in the loss of client assets or revenue for benefits.

According to statistics, 76 percent of hackers are motivated by bounties, 85 percent do it to study and increase their knowledge, and 62 percent do it to advance their careers. Only around 47% of the attackers are true white hats, attempting to penetrate systems in order to uncover flaws and protect networks against cyber attacks.

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A 5-star hotel in the Swiss Alps will accept Bitcoin and Ethereum payments.

The 5-star Chedi Andermatt hotel, Turpial Airlines, a Venezuelan airline, and Dolle Mol, a Belgian bar, are the latest to accept bitcoins as a form of payment.

According to reports, the Chedi Andermatt will be the first Swiss hotel to accept digital assets as a form of payment. Guests can now use bitcoin or ether to pay for hotel bills totaling more than 200 CHF ($218).

Turpial Airlines, a Venezuelan airline, and Dolle Mol, a famous Belgian pub, have both joined the crypto frenzy by accepting virtual currencies as a form of payment.

Crypto Adoption in the Alps

According to Blick, the Chedi Andermatt has begun taking cryptocurrency payments. For openers, the five-star hotel in the Swiss Alps has added bitcoin and ether, the two largest virtual assets by market value. If a guest's hotel bill surpasses 200 CHF ($218), they can use them as a payment method.

Given that a single night in a double room costs over $600, the new cryptocurrency option's price restriction appears to be easily accessible. The hotel is located in the heart of the Alps and provides 123 rooms with breathtaking views.

Jean-Yves Blatt, General Manager of the Chedi Andermatt, had this to say about the development:

“Due to the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies, we are happy to be the first Swiss hotel to accept cryptocurrency payments as a safe and secure method of payment,” says the hotel.

While the hotel is the first in Switzerland to accept digital asset payments, it is not a global first. As CryptoPotato revealed in July, the Pavilions Hotel & Resort now accepts more than 40 cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.

In addition, The Pavilions Residences, which has locations in Phuket and Niseko, has begun to accept digital assets as payment for property transactions.

Venezuela and Belgium are also represented.

Turpial Airlines, a Venezuelan carrier, is also expected to accept the major cryptocurrency as a payment method. The South American corporation went on to say that travelers could buy plane tickets with BTC on the official website, as well as Zelle and PayPal.

In its industry, the Venezuelan airline is a modest company. It operates four international routes and operates a three-plane fleet. Turpial Airlines flies to Cancun, Mexico, Tocumen, Panama, Santo Domingo, and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic (the Dominican Republic).

Dolle Mol, a Belgian anarchist tavern, has recently joined the crypto bandwagon. Customers can now use digital assets to pay for a pint of beer. The bartenders, on the other hand, did not disclose which virtual currencies they had added.

One of the shareholders, Grégoire, defined the asset class as “the future:”

“Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are the future's money. We want to make it possible for everyone to buy a pint using this new payment method.”

Customers had yet to take use of the new service, he stated. When he compared the crypto sector to the Internet in the early 1990s, he raised optimism that things would change. The international computer network was not well-known at the time, but it is today at the heart of practically every human endeavor.

Clients could pay for drinks in a variety of ways, according to Grégoire:

“If you want to pay for a pint with Bitcoin, for example, you can do so quickly and easily with a QR code. The money will be transferred to our personal bank account, and we will enter that amount on the register.”

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Will MATIC and Chainlink slip into Cardano's shadow?

The crypto market has been volatile for a few weeks, especially for Cardano. The expected corrections did materialize, but they had little impact on the price activity. And the ADA took a stand against corrections. It gained a lot of ground this week, but will it be able to outperform other altcoins?


Cardano vs. MATIC, as well as Chainlink

ADA has gained 16.13 percent in the last seven days to trade at $2.83. MATIC, on the other hand, lost roughly 10.9 percent of its gains, while LINK followed suit, losing over 9%.

Not only has the price of these two altcoins been negative, but on-chain indicators have been generally negative as well. But this is where Cardano's advantage over the other two ends, because the three cryptocurrencies have distinct purposes for their networks.

Cardano aspires to be the digital currency of the future by building a network that encompasses all aspects of blockchain and financial technology. It competes with cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin.

Polygon, MATIC's Ethereum-based network, focuses on improving interoperability and scalability. Chainlink, on the other hand, is a decentralized oracle network that feeds real-world data into blockchain smart contracts.

Which of the three altcoins is the most promising?

When comparing the values of the coins, LINK is more valuable than Cardano and MATIC. MATIC, on the other hand, guarantees a better return on investment than ADA and Chainlink.

Furthermore, both altcoins have a higher level of development activity than Cardano. Is it true that Cardano is on the verge of receiving the Alonzo update, which will add smart contracts to the network? On the other side, MATIC has been in the news due to a partnership between Cashaa and Polygon that allows CAS to be transferred from BSC to Polygon. Arbitrum has been increasing as well, thanks to its integration with Chainlink's oracle feed.

Based on the aforementioned factors, it does not appear that Cardano will eclipse these cryptocurrencies, as they will continue to be strong investment opportunities.

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The launch of the SafeMoon Wallet has run into some technical difficulties.

IN SUMMARY

  • Less than 30 minutes into the launch, technical difficulties arose.
  • All three SafeMoon wallet products - the Android and iOS versions, as well as the website's buy and swap function - were affected by the issues.
  • Following the concerns, the price of SafeMoon's native token dropped by more than 20%.



Shortly after its deployment, the SafeMoon (SAFEMOON) wallet fell into unexpected technical challenges.

All three wallet items were affected, according to a post from the official SafeMoon Twitter account. Specifically, the website's buy and switch feature, as well as the Android wallet and its iOS version.

The tweet told users, "We're working around the clock to fix the issues and guarantee we provide you the quality experience you deserve." “To further control demand, we will be [sic] delivering each product in a staggered (one-by-one) approach, beginning today with the internet buy & switch function.”

This was SafeMoon's most recent update at the time of publication; there was no proof that the problems were still present or had been resolved.

On August 28, at 17:00 CET, the decentralized finance (DeFi) system delivered its much-anticipated wallet. Safemoon's CEO John Karony, however, tweeted less than 30 minutes later that they were having "technical difficulties."

SafeMoon responded with a statement to its community a few days later:


“YOU CRASHED THE #SAFEMOON THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO SAY IT. WE WILL KEEP YOU UP TO DATE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE [...] WE ARE SO EXCITED TO HAVE YOU ALL HOME SOON...”


For a long time, the wallet has been a source of excitement, particularly within the SafeMoon community. John Karony shared a video earlier this month demonstrating the product's "safety, quality, and accessibility."

In addition, for days before the planned release, the hashtag #SAFEMOONWALLET trended on Twitter. It was also seen on a billboard at Piccadilly Circus, London.

However, in the aftermath of the technical challenges, the DeFi protocol has been confronted with a barrage of criticism and misinformation. SafeMoon has also been charged of defrauding its subscribers by certain Twitter users.

The SafeMoon token has lost 20% of its value.

The price of SafeMoon's eponymous native coin had been steadily rising ahead of the wallet's launch. It began the week at $0.00000184 and by August 28 had risen to $0.00000365. However, there was only a little respite for SAFEMOON, as the price plummeted to $0.00000292 just two hours after the wallet was supposed to be released. The token's value has continued to fall since this point. SAFEMOON was down 22.2 percent at the time of publication, trading at $0.00000281.

Some of SAFEMOON's fellow DeFi coins have had a much better week. Kava.io (KAVA) reached an all-time high on August 22, and data shows that it has attempted to achieve those levels again since then. In addition, Terra (LUNA) touched a new all-time high of $36.61 on August 29. This achievement is the consequence of an almost 30 percent increase in overall revenue. It also puts the token closer to breaking into the top ten most valued cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. LUNA is presently in 11th place.

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Only 0.01 percent of Dogecoin holders own the majority of the supply.

Chainalysis recently added Dogecoin to its cryptocurrency reports. The data platform gathered information such as on-chain data from the meme currency as a result of this. The research revealed the holding tendencies of Dogecoin investors shortly after its debut. In addition, transaction data for individual wallets is available. The coin, which had seen a lot of development thanks to TikTok and entrepreneur Elon Musk, revealed some significant differences in ownership.

Only 25% of new investors have a stake.

According to the data in the report, new investors have been growing their stakes over time. New investors only controlled 9% of the total supply as of July 2020. Following the coin's success, this number had climbed to 25% in 2021. According to data, new investors were boosting their Doge holdings. During the rally, old investors reduced their shares.

In this situation, old investors were defined as those who had held on to their Doge for more than two years. In July 2020, these investors accounted for 30% of the total supply. That percentage has now reduced to 20%. This is to be expected from an asset that has been in a bad market for a long period. When the price of an item rises significantly, investors attempt to profit.

In 2021, Dogecoin also saw a significant increase in the number of daily active users. This amount has risen in tandem with the value of the Doge. Peaking at an all-time high then plummeting as the coin's value plummeted. On-chain data indicates that the meme coin has 32,000 daily active users on average.

Majority of the population is made up of minorities. Supply of Dogecoins

Currently, there are 4 million Dogecoin owners. Surprisingly, the vast bulk of this group owns the tiniest portion of the Doge supply. According to the report, 2.1 percent of all Doge holders have fewer than 100 Doge in their wallets. The vast bulk of coins are controlled by huge corporations.

To put this in context, Dogecoin has a current supply of 130 billion coins. According to Chainalysis, 0.01 percent of holders control 82 percent of the overall supply. Only 535 entities now possess the majority of Doge's supply. This amounts to a total of 106 billion coins held by these organisations.

Only 31 investors hold 37 billion of the 106 billion coins. The average investor's holdings are over 1 billion coins. These owners have kept their coins for at least six to two years.

It's impossible to say who these beings are. They might be anything from corporations to major crypto exchanges. “Either the vast majority of Doge is locked in exchanges and traded by retail, or it is concentrated in the hands of a tiny number of now-wealthy individuals,” the research says.

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As the price of Solana breaks the $90 mark, it sets a new all-time high.

IN SUMMARY

  • Solana (SOL) hit an all-time high of $89.93 on August 26.
  • Early in August, the SOL token saw huge price increases, unseating Uniswap as the 10th most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap.
  • On August 27, the Solana network expanded into new sectors, including the establishment of its first open NFT marketplace. 

Solana (SOL) has risen to a new all-time high in the previous 24 hours.

The coin, which is now ranked 10th in terms of market value, crossed the $89 mark in the late morning on August 28. SOL was worth $89.93 at the time of publication, according to statistics.

This achievement is the culmination of a string of spikes that began on August 26 in the afternoon. SOL was trading at $67.55 at the time, one of its lowest levels of the week. However, it rocketed back up in two hours, crossing the $75 mark, where it remained until the next morning. It then climbed sharply again, reaching $82.64 in a matter of hours. SOL steadily climbed to the $88 mark in the early hours of August 28. It went on to surpass $89 in less than 12 hours.

August has been a good month for SOL; it's not the first time the token's price has risen in recent weeks. SOL increased by more than 20%, as reported on August 16. This rise propelled it into the top ten most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization, unseating Uniswap (UNI).

SOL is branching out into new areas.

This month has been interesting not only for the SOL token, but for the entire Solana ecosystem as well. The Solana Foundation Delegation Program and the network's first open NFT marketplace were also launched lately.

In the first case, All-Art Protocol launched SOLSEA, an open NFT marketplace, on August 27. The protocol stated in an official post:

“Community members in need of a secondary market for all NFTs minted in the Solana ecosystem have expressed their desire for an open NFT marketplace. We believe that burgeoning communities of NFT innovators can only thrive in an open market.

“The Solana blockchain, which serves as the backbone of SOLSEA, will have the opportunity to attract a large number of NFT aficionados who are interested in taking advantage of its innovative licensing rules, low transaction costs, and fast speeds.”

Meanwhile, on the morning of August 28, the Solana Foundation announced its Delegation Program on Twitter. The foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the decentralization and security of the Solana network, published a thread outlining the program's major details.

“In a Proof of Stake network like #Solana, it's critical to optimize both the network's overall number of high-quality Validators and the distribution of stake across those nodes. This is why the Solana Foundation Delegation Program was developed.

“By deliberately delegating SOL to new and existing validators who meet particular performance and decentralization criteria, the Delegation Program encourages the #Solana network's growth and security.”

However, there have been several stumbling blocks in the recent expansion. In some circumstances, this has resulted in problems for the SOL community and exchanges. On August 27, Solana claimed that a network update had caused issues with SOL withdrawals and deposits on a several exchanges.

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Cryptocurrencies, according to a Chinese central bank official, have no real value.

Despite their growing popularity, a Chinese central bank official does not believe Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies have any value.


According to local news outlet People's Daily Online, Yin Youping, deputy director of the People's Bank of China's (PBoC) Financial Consumer Rights Protection Bureau, said during a media briefing that these digital coins are solely speculative assets.

The general consensus was to steer away from the cryptocurrency markets.

To minimize financial losses, the official further recommended the people to stay away from the cryptocurrency industry.

“We warn the public once more that virtual currencies like Bitcoin are not legal money and have no intrinsic value,” Youping stated.

Youping stated that the central bank, along with appropriate agencies, will monitor overseas exchange and domestic traders in preparation of a possible comeback in virtual currency trading operations.

According to the article, the central bank is actively collaborating with the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission's lead departments.

In light of the PBOC's adamant stance against the use of digital assets and blockchain, Youping also revealed plans to prohibit and crack down on crypto exchanges, apps, and corporate channels.

China's crypto market crackdown

China began its toughest crackdown on digital currency trading and mining since 2017.

Authorities have expressed concerns that the new asset class could be used for illegal activities such as money laundering, and that it could exacerbate climate difficulties in the country due to the rising energy demands of crypto farms.

Last month, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) reaffirmed China's stance on digital assets, stating that it will continue to exert severe regulatory pressure on the crypto market.

China is developing its own virtual money.

Although China is not embracing cryptocurrencies, it is already developing its own central bank-issued digital currency.

According to the PBOC, more than 20.8 million people in China are currently utilizing the digital RMB wallet, with over 70.7 million transactions totaling $5.3 billion completed so far.

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This is what Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic require in order to remain competitive in the market.

On the basis of increased market mood, nearly every cryptocurrency asset in the top league has managed to achieve some nice rises over the last month. Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Terra (LUNA), and Avalanche were among the alts that rallied the most. Others, like as Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic, experienced significant gains but were not backed by organic growth or sentiment. 

In fact, the rallies in BCH and ETC resembled those in BTC. Overall, this wasn't a horrible thing. However, what the coins required to give separately during this rally appeared to be missing from the investor's standpoint. But, in this competitive market, would these hardforks of the top two coins be able to survive, or will they lose their way once more?

ROIs are decreasing.

Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic provided poorer returns on investment across shorter time frames when compared to some of the leading altcoins. BCH had a -12 percent weekly ROI over USDT at the time of writing, with a yearly ROI of +130 percent. The monthly return on investment for ETC was +22.68 percent, while the weekly return on investment was -13 percent. At the time of publication, Ethereum Classic, on the other hand, had a high annual return of +847 percent.

Ethereum's annual return on investment was 722.76 percent, Cardano's was 2448.01 percent, and XRP and DOT also had yearly returns of over 300 percent. When compared to the rest of the market, Ethereum Classic had a great return on investment, while Bitcoin Cash's yearly return of only 130 percent was concerning.

Low excitement and energy

When opposed to the April-May price surge, most coins witnessed extremely modest trade volumes. However, the trade volumes for Ethereum Classic and Bitcoin Cash were nearly identical to the previous few months. This meant that, even as prices rose, both alts had very little traction, similar to what happened during the price drops in June and July.

Trading volume is more important during a recovery because it represents the level of activity associated with a particular asset. One of the reasons why ETC and BCH's recoveries were stalled compared to other top assets could be their lower volume on average. This was due to the fact that both alts grew in lockstep with the larger market, with BCH and ETC following suit.

In addition, Bitcoin Cash's MVRV (30day) hit a new low for the month. It took exactly a month to return to the zero-line after being in the positive zone since July 26. This means that, in comparison to the rest of the month, the asset's market value was lowest on August 26.

So, what's going to happen to them now?

In the past, Ethereum Classic has seen some interesting ecosystem-related changes. Bitcoin Cash, however, lacked the same feature. As a result, while the market still has faith in ETC as a result of its enhancements, BCH appears to be losing its way.

While it's understandable why the two altcoins have mostly mirrored the market, they remain relevant. The truth is that both altcoins have been around for a long time and are therefore less dangerous than many other, fresher altcoins.

Holders and purchasers, on the other hand, are needed to keep BCH and ETC afloat in the market. Their valuations have fallen as a result of a drop in buying pressure since August 15. If this does not happen, the price of the assets may fall below lower support levels.

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This is why Dogecoin and Shiba Inu are no longer as popular as they once were.

Because the market is presently focused on tracking the price swings of Bitcoin and Ethereum, other altcoins, like as Dogecoin, have seen significant gains. Investors may be looking for a way out now that these gains have begun to fade. 

Shiba Inu and Dogecoin are two of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the world.

The trend-drunk communities of these puppy-faced altcoins typically provide a lot of assistance. This is no longer the case. DOGE and SHIB both fell 21% and 22% in the last 11 days. Their investors took a hit as a result of the collapse.

Profitable addresses have been decreasing since the decline began, which has had a big impact on cryptocurrency markets. Shiba Inu owners have able to increase their profits from 15% to 50% in just a few years. However, as of press time, they had reverted to a loss situation, with 61 percent of addresses losing money. DOGE isn't far behind, having lost 300,000 lucrative addresses in the same time frame.

This isn't surprising, given that the majority of on-chain measures are currently pessimistic.

Is it worthwhile to invest in either of these coins?

The solution to this question is a little complex. The community's support for both meme coins remains strong. People are still invested in the project, and the mood is upbeat (though not as much financially). DOGE holders, on the other hand, have been worrying as selling has trumped the market.

Order books currently show a 70 million DOGE ($17.5 million) difference between selling and purchasing Dogecoin. Shiba Inus, on the other hand, are purchased rather than sold. OpenSea's recent announcement is a major motivating element behind our purchase. SHIB has officially become a viable payment option on the world's largest NFT marketplace. It's possible that this is the source of investor optimism.

To summarize, the market for the aforementioned meme-coins is not favorable, but Shiba Inu may have discovered a method to profit.

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Cardano's IOHK collaborated with EBU to improve access to education in Africa.

Input-Output In order to provide more educational opportunities to students in African countries, HK partnered with the European Business University of Luxemburg.

Input-Output HK, the company behind Cardano (ADA), has teamed up with the European Business University of Luxemburg (EBU). Their mission is to make education more “accessible, inexpensive, and equitable” in poor African countries.

Cardano's New African Projects

Input-Output HK (IOHK), a research and development group, established a relationship with the European Business University of Luxemburg (EBU) earlier this week:

“IOHK and the European Business University of Luxemburg have formed a fresh and interesting partnership.”

The education company now works with over 36 international organizations and educates 2,000 students in Africa. As a result, IOHK would want to provide training programs and further educational projects on the continent. Local kids would get free access to instructional materials as a result of the agreement.

EBU will enroll in a certificate program at the university. Students would only pay a €10 commitment fee instead of tuition. The university will offer courses in Plutus and Haskell, two Cardano smart contract platforms.

Cardano, for its part, recently drew the attention of the cryptocurrency community when the dollar value of its native token hit an all-time high of roughly $3. On-chain statistics from social media networks even verified that ADA was the most talked-about digital asset in the previous several days.

Cardano's reach has already extended to Ethiopia and Tanzania.

Cardano, a popular DLT project, teamed up with Ethiopia's Ministry of Education in April to work on a blockchain-based national ID system.

The Atala PRISM will be used to power the network. It should make it possible to create secure records of “educational performance for 3,500 schools, 5 million students, and 750,000 teachers, offering all students verified digital certificates and improving social mobility.”

Shortly after, the blockchain project expanded to the African continent. IOHK and World Mobile collaborated on a project to use Cardano's network to provide digital identities, mobile internet access, and financial acceptance to Tanzanian communities.

Micky Watkins, CEO of World Mobile, lauded the organization's mission along with their IOHK partners:

“World Mobile has created a network based on a new relationship between people and connectivity, in which ownership, governance, and identification work together to empower the user and provide access to all in a sustainable manner.”

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After releasing a cross-chain bridge and wrapping Bitcoin, Cosmos (ATOM) is on the rise.

After the network expanded out its DeFi ecosystem and began working on cross-chain bridges for ETH and BTC, the ATOM price soared into the triple digits. The widely anticipated distribution of the London hard fork on the Ethereum (ETH) network has done little to solve the network's high transaction fees and delayed confirmations, therefore momentum for the top layer-one protocols has been on the rise throughout August.

Cosmos (ATOM), a project focused on interoperability that has set out to become the "internet of blockchains" thanks to its Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol, has been one of the major beneficiaries of the search for a more inviting smart contract ecosystem.

The price of ATOM rose 180 percent from a low of $8.87 on July 20 to a high of $24.77 on August 22, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, while its 24-hour trading volume increased from $250 million to $1.87 billion.

The release of decentralized financial protocols on the network, the creation of a sidechain that facilitates asset exchange between Cosmos and Ethereum, and the news of plans to integrate Bitcoin (BTC) to the Cosmos ecosystem are three reasons for ATOM's outstanding performance over the past month.

Increasing the capabilities of DeFi

Decentralized finance (DeFi) has been one of the most significant advancements in the blockchain ecosystem in recent years, and it is poised to transform the traditional financial sector.

Because the introduction of cross-chain exchange capabilities delighted members of the Cosmos community and contributed to a surge in demand for the token, the recent unveiling of the first operational user interface for DeFi on Cosmos, known as Emeris, has been one of the greatest movers of ATOM price recently.

Users can trade assets on blockchains including IRISnet (IRIS), Persistence (XPRT), and the Akash Network using the new interface, which allows them to access a number of cross-chain DeFi protocols on the Cosmos network (AKT).

The Ethereum bridge provides up new possibilities.

The integration of Sifchain with the IBC, which enabled the project the first decentralized exchange to permit trading between the Cosmos ecosystem and the Ethereum network, is a second cause for the ATOM surge.

Most of the leading smart-contract protocols for DeFi and NFTs are hosted on Ethereum, and this integration allows users of both ecosystems to effortlessly transfer assets between them.

The Interchain Foundation (IFC), a body that sponsors development grants in the Cosmos ecosystem, said on Aug. 23 that it had granted financing to the Interlay development fund for bringing Bitcoin to the Cosmos network. This is the third reason for the current positive momentum.

Because Bitcoin is the undeniable leader of the crypto market and controls the great majority of the ecosystem's wealth, the ability to function on Cosmos has the potential to attract new users.

Interlay's lock-up and vault technology allows users to secure their Bitcoin and mint fully collateralized interBTC that can be utilized in a variety of DeFi applications, and the feature is now available as a Polkadot parachain.

This integration will allow BTC to be used in the Cosmos DeFi ecosystem, providing the network with increased liquidity and utility.

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Ripple is demanding that the SEC employees' XRP holdings be made public.

Ripple recently filed a motion to compel the US Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] to provide its procedures and information surrounding its employees trading in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. Ripple's fair notice defense will be strengthened by this move.

Ripple wants the SEC to give, according to attorney James K. Filan's filing.

“...anonymized papers representing trading preclearance decisions for XRP, bitcoin, and ether, or alternatively, aggregated information.”

In addition, the motion filing mentioned records linked to SEC staffers' XRP holdings.

“Defendants also want certifications of SEC workers' XRP holdings, either with identifiable information redacted or in aggregate form. On July 8, July 15, August 18, and August 25, we met and spoke with the SEC on this subject, but no progress was made.”

Ripple's prior demands were met with the "SEC's unwillingness to release crucial material" critical to the defendants' understanding of the SEC's policy on digital assets, including whether or not the SEC allowed its own employees to trade the disputed digital asset, XRP.

The court had previously allowed Ripple's motion to compel the SEC to reveal its digital asset trading policies in June. Following that, the SEC issued a policy titled "Ethics Guidance Regarding Digital Assets" on January 19, 2018. The SEC did not view digital assets as securities until January 19, 2018, according to Ripple, therefore its workers were “free to buy, sell, and keep XRP without any restrictions from the SEC.”

The defendants further stated in the above-mentioned document that,

“This evidence strongly supports the Defendants' defenses in this case and refutes the SEC's assertions. The fact that the SEC did not prohibit its own employees from selling or buying XRP, despite its long-standing prohibition on employees engaging in securities transactions without preclearance, indicates that the SEC had not concluded, prior to at least January 2018, that sales and offers of XRP were securities transactions.”

Furthermore, despite the fact that the SEC maintained a "Prohibited Holdings" list of assets that are subject to the SEC's securities trading embargo, BTC, ETH, and XRP were never included on this list. The SEC's "Watch List," which identifies assets that are subject to case-by-case reviews rather than blanket prohibitions, only added XRP after April 13, 2018.

“Any SEC employee transactions in XRP after April 13, 2018, were examined on a case-by-case basis – again through the preclearance process,” according to the statement. The SEC, according to Ripple, has refused to give this essential material in the case and is now attempting to compel it through the courts.

The SEC has until September 3rd to respond to this motion, according to the court. But what if the SEC refuses to cooperate once more?

As one Twitter user pointed out in response to Filan's tweet,

“The SEC has complete discretion over whether or not to comply with the court's order. After a certain amount of time has passed, the judge will impose sanctions against them. If the SEC continues to ignore the ruling, the case may be dismissed.”

The crypto industry is waiting for the fact discovery deadline on August 31st, as Ripple and the SEC continue their back-and-forth. Furthermore, the litigation appears to be far from being resolved, as the court has already granted the parties' combined request to postpone the depositions of Ripple's CEO and Founder, Brad Garlinghouse, and Chris Larsen.

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Update on the XRP lawsuit: The court has granted Ripple and the SEC's request for an expert discovery extension.

Judge Sarah Netburn approved Ripple and the SEC's request to extend the expert discovery deadline. James K. Filan was the first to break the news, noting that the court has also allowed an extension for filing pre-motion letters in the case of a summary judgment. However, no deadline has yet been set.

The lawyer wrote on Twitter,

“#XRPCommunity #SECGov vs. #XRP #Ripple The application for a time extension was granted by the court. The deadline for submitting pre-motion letters for summary judgment has been extended, but no deadline has been set until the motions to strike and dismiss are resolved.”

Earlier this week, the two sides submitted a combined motion to postpone the depositions of Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen until after the Fact Discovery deadline. This was done owing to the “unexpected illness of an attorney important to the Larsen deposition,” according to the complaint.

While the parties agreed on a schedule for the depositions in September, the court has yet to set a date. However, “granting of applications for extensions of time are regularly ruled on in this fashion,” according to the attorney. He explained that this is known as a Docket Order.

Filan continued,

“Adjourned sine die” implies that no specific date has been set for filing pre-motion letters or Statements of Material Facts since such dates will be determined by the Court's decision on the pending Motion to Strike and Motions to Dismiss.

The Court has yet to make a decision on the outstanding motions. Only when these decisions have been taken can more documents be filed.

However, there is no way of knowing how long it will take. Furthermore, there have been rumors that the next hearing in the case, planned for August 31, will be open to the public.

It's unclear what the SEC and Ripple have discovered so yet. According to onlookers, both parties have some substantial pieces of evidence to support their respective positions. Unfortunately, depending on how the privilege problem plays out, these details may or may not be made public.

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A bug in the Ethereum interface results in an inadvertent chain split and network chaos.

All hands are on deck to address a flaw in an older version of the Geth client, which is used by 75% of Ethereum nodes.

  • Because of a flaw in an older version of Geth, nodes running a newer version of Geth are writing to a different chain, resulting in a de-facto chain split.
  • Ethereum developers are concerned about the possibility of a double-spend attack.

A problem in the software that many nodes use to write data to the Ethereum network has caused a chain split in the protocol, with roughly 54 percent of Ethereum nodes now uploading data to a different parallel chain by accident.

Go Ethereum, or Geth, is a piece of software that acts as a bridge between miners, nodes, and dApps, as well as the Ethereum blockchain. It is by far the most popular software in this category, with over 75% of all Ethereum nodes in the globe using it.

The team provided a hotfix to address a vulnerability earlier this week, promising to release details on the bug after a sufficient number of node operators and projects had upgraded their backends.

According to Ethernodes.org, just 28 percent of Ethereum users and 46 percent of nodes (54 percent haven't upgraded) are running the new code — 1.10.8. Anything below this is at risk of being exploited (in the last hour nodes have begun to make the upgrades).

While many nodes and projects have yet to update, Ethernodes says that the vast majority of miners have done so. This means that the real, smaller Ethereum network — not the bug's erroneous network — has a secure hashrate and isn't vulnerable to a double spend attack (where the collective hashrate of one group overpowers the other and is able to reverse or alter transactions).

Still, many dApps and DeFi projects throughout the world are writing data to an incorrect chain that will need to be repaired later. While many dApps and nodes search for data on the split network, mining proceeds unabated on the main network.

This isn't the first time.

This isn't the first time that Geth vulnerabilities have disrupted the Ethereum network. In November 2020, a poor roll-out of a Geth update created a chain split for Ethereum, with many node operators failing to upgrade. Users temporarily interacted with multiple versions of the Ethereum blockchain as a result of the split, which resulted in data loss.

Many people questioned how decentralized Ethereum actually is after the November 2020 flaw, especially since a centralized bug can cause a large portion of its users to lose data and not communicate with the “real” chain.

Despite the fact that Ethereum is experiencing a significant technical issue, the price of ether appears to be unaffected, as it is still up 4.6 percent on the day at $3,243.76, according to CoinGecko.

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Employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were allowed to trade in XRP and Ether. Ripple is curious about the situation.

Ripple has filed a motion with Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn to compel the US Securities and Exchange Commission to produce additional documents that reflect its digital asset trading policies in order to determine whether SEC employees traded XRP prior to the issuance of the formal investigation order.

The troubled firm wants to know if SEC workers were permitted to trade cryptocurrencies such as XRP, Ether, Bitcoin, and others.

Ripple is also looking for annual certifications that show the agency's staff members' personal bitcoin holdings. It is open to receiving such data in an aggregated manner.

According to the defendants, their requests are "neither burdensome nor disproportionate":

Our request is neither excessive nor out of proportion to the case's requirements. The requested information should be easily available, and it appears that the SEC's counsel has previously evaluated it during our meet and confer procedure.

Trading policies in the lead up to an investigation

The securities watchdog had not put any limits on bitcoin trading for its own personnel until January 2018. According to the company's lawyers, this information supports the defendants' "fair notice" position, which is based on the idea that the SEC hadn't concluded whether the Ripple-affiliated cryptocurrency was a security in time to alert market participants.

Furthermore, the SEC's list of outlawed digital currencies does not include Bitcoin, Ether, or XRP.

The agency refused to say if its employees were permitted to trade XRP until March 9, 2019, the date the formal order of investigation was issued, claiming that such information was irrelevant.

The defendants also want to know if former SEC official William Hinman's infamous April 2018 remark, in which he declared that Ether was not a security, had any impact on the staff's trading activities.

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The CEO of Twitter is launching a decentralized Bitcoin exchange.

Square's cryptocurrency unit is launching a Bitcoin DEX, according to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. TBD, Square's newly created cryptocurrency and decentralized arm, is launching a decentralized Bitcoin exchange.

The method of purchasing the flagship cryptocurrencies, according to Mike Brock, the division's leader, utilizes centralized and custodial services such as Coinbase.  TBD seeks to create a Bitcoin-native permissionless open-source exchange.

Brock does mention, though, that the unit will investigate alternative blockchains to operate as a bridge.

The primary concerns that TBD is now attempting to resolve are cost and scalability:

In mid-July, Dorsey announced the launch of Square's cryptocurrency unit.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin criticized his entry into DeFi, questioning the project's decentralization: "Jack is basically going to have to design his own system that implements those regulations.

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