Day: July 13, 2020

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Hits Record High of 17.3 Trillion

boss

Following last week’s record-high Bitcoin hash rate, the latest difficulty adjustment saw a change of +9.89%, bringing the level to a new all-time high of over 17.3 trillion on July 13. Despite a lack of recent significant Bitcoin (BTC) price action, the fundamentals securing the network are as healthy as they’ve ever been. This is more positive news for investors concerned about a previous drop in hash rate and difficulty after May’s third reward halving event. Concerns over halving unsubstantiated Some analysts predicted that the reward halving earlier this year…

Blockchain Bites: It’s Never Been Harder to Mine Bitcoin

boss

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is at a record high, Singapore’s central bank digital currency could find commercial use and Chinese firms are going in on Filecoin. Here’s the story: You’re reading Blockchain Bites, the daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news, and why they’re significant. You can subscribe to this and all of CoinDesk’s newsletters here.  Top shelf Record Level Mining DifficultyBitcoin’s mining difficulty, an automatic adjusting feature, is at a record high. This adjustment reflects increasing computer power on the network and, potentially, investment in new mining…

DApps Need to Nail Usability to Move From Crypto Niche to Mainstream

boss

From CryptoKitties to Compound, decentralized applications and decentralized finance have become increasingly popular in the blockchain space, but the sector has gone through a fair share of teething problems since DApps first appeared in 2017. DApps were popularized around the same time that Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a monumental surge in value toward the end of 2017. Ethereum quickly established itself as the protocol of choice for blockchain developers to build and launch DApps, and the success of projects such as CryptoKitties proved that people were actively looking to get involved…

Chainlink (LINK) Becomes the ‘Tesla’ of Cryptocurrency — What’s Next?

boss

As Bitcoin’s (BTC) price continues to trade in a tightening range, the altcoin market has been pushing higher each week, and the most recent surge has come from Chainlink (LINK). After breaking above the $5 level, LINK’s price surged nearly 100% in a matter of days and ended by making a new all-time high at $8.40. Through this massive push, LINK surpassed EOS and Crypto.com (CRO) to claim a spot among the top ten cryptocurrencies listed on CoinMarketCap. Investors are now curious to see if Tezos (XTZ) will continue to follow…

Polkadot to Run Final DOT Redenomination Vote with Real DOT Tokens

boss

Blockchain interoperability protocol Polkadot is planning to run another vote in regard to the denomination of its native token, DOT. Following a similar vote conducted on Polkadot’s “wild cousin” network, Kusama, in May 2020, the creator of Polkadot project, the Web3 Foundation, decided to reconduct the vote on Polkadot with real DOT tokens. Announcing the news on July 13, Polkadot invited community members to participate in the poll, which will finally define whether to redenominate DOTs 1:10, 1:100 or 1:1,000 on Polkadot. According to the blog post, the poll is…

Google to Invest $10B in India Supporting Transition to Digital Economy

boss

Google has launched an India Digitization Fund and is going to invest $10 billion through partnerships and infrastructural efforts. Google LLC (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has declared its intentions to invest $10 billion in India within the next seven years, to speed up the country’s transition to a digital economy. Since Google began its Indian operations in 2004, it has grown to be an integral part of the company. India has since become a major overseas market for Google with its Android products and many other services. The chief executive…

Brexit as Crypto Case Study? Britain Contemplates Its CBDC

boss

The Bank of England is considering issuance of a CBDC according to its governor, Andrew Bailey. Bloomberg reports that during a student webinar, the head of the Bank of England acknowledged that they are looking into the possibility of issuing a digital currency: “We are looking at the question of, should we create a Bank of England digital currency. We’ll go on looking at it, as it does have huge implications on the nature of payments and society. I think in a few years time, we will be heading toward…

This Overhead Liquidity Region Could Propel Bitcoin Past $12,000

boss

Bitcoin’s unrelenting consolidation phase may not last for too much longer. Analysts are now explaining that the cryptocurrency is beginning to flash some subtle signs of bullishness as it trades around $9,300, with these factors potentially helping to boost it higher in the days and weeks ahead. While looking towards BTC’s weekly market structure, analysts are observing some tempered signs of strength. The same can be said on lower time frames as well, as the crypto is currently in the process of breaking above a heavy resistance region that has…

Compound Protocol Approves 40% Collateral Factor for Wrapped Bitcoin

boss

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), an ERC-20 token that tracks the price of bitcoin (BTC) can now be used on DeFi protocol Compound (COMP) with a 40% collateral factor. WBTC Goes Live on Compound with 40% Collateral A community proposal floated by Compound holders in May 2020 has finally received the green light to add WBTC as collateral on the lending protocol. Notably, 533,899 votes fell for the proposal compared to 523,974 against it. (Source: Compound) The closely contested voting round indicates the divided opinion on the addition of WBTC as collateral…

Bitcoin News Roundup for July 13, 2020

boss

With BTC mining difficulty reaching a new record high, CoinDesk’s Markets Daily is back with your bitcoin news roundup! The number of bitcoin addresses holding at least 10,000 coins has dropped to a 14-month low alongside an uptick in lower-value addresses.  Two months after the network’s halving event, it’s harder than ever to mine bitcoin. Noelle Acheson explains how the dogecoin rise exemplifies the creative destruction underway in markets, and what a potential Coinbase listing could mean for the development of crypto.  Disclosure The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is…