Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, aims to improve user privacy with a major privacy token, Zcash (ZEC). Starting Sept. 29, Gemini will support shielded withdrawals of ZEC, which allows users to hide their transaction data. Gemini representatives said that the new feature is the “first time shielded ZEC withdrawals are available on a regulated exchange.” The new option comes in line with Gemini’s mission to strengthen financial privacy and “empower the individual through crypto,” Gemini executives said. Launched in 2016, Zcash is a major privacy-focused cryptocurrency,…
Day: September 29, 2020
SEC Won’t Take Action Against Compliance-Focused Digital Security Exchanges
Digital security exchanges that ensure listed assets are legitimate will not face sanctions, the SEC said in an open letter. Source
Impermanent loss on Uniswap and other AMMs is always permanent
Alexis Direr, a researcher at the University of Orleans in France, has released a paper summarizing the mathematical underpinnings of Uniswap and other exchanges based on Automated Market Makers. Automated Market Maker is the term for a class of decentralized exchange that reached significant popularity in 2020, spearheaded by Uniswap. In a nutshell, these exchanges do away with traditional order books and instead rely on liquidity pools governed by a mathematical formula. Traders are always able to make a transaction with the pool for even the most illiquid tokens, but…
Traders Rotate to Bitcoin Expecting a Quiet Q4 for Altcoins
Some digital asset traders say they’ve been rotating funds out of alternate cryptocurrencies (altcoins) into bitcoin (BTC) in anticipation of the leading cryptocurrency significantly outperforming the entire crypto market for at least the next several months. Kevin Zhou, co-founder of San Francisco-based Galois Capital, told CoinDesk his firm is now bullish on bitcoin and expects the upward altcoin trend of the last few months to revert into several months of downward price action. During months of sustained excitement over new decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and various altcoins, bitcoin became “under…
Matic Takes Step Towards Solving High Ethereum Gas Fees By Integrating Tether
Matic has just announced that Tether is now available on their network. The Matic team tweeted that this would help Ethereum immensely by diverting activity away from the mainchain. 1/ The industry’s leading stablecoin, Tether (USDT), is now available on Matic Network Layer2 to overcome Ethereum’s performance constraints!🚀$USDT is the industry’s most popular stablecoin, with a staggeringly large market capitalization of over $15bn. pic.twitter.com/M38KtnaXym — Matic (@maticnetwork) September 28, 2020 Last month, total daily Ethereum fees hit an all-time high with an $8.6 million charge for August 13, 2020. Industry…
Binance May Adapt Its Business Model in Long Term to Tag with DeFi
DeFi-based projects are continuing to surge and their total value locked has reached about $11 billion. Therefore, Binance, the world’s leading crypto exchange, has decided to adjust its business model to tag with the DeFi ecosystem. The world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume Binance may adapt its business model to tag along with the growth seen in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Speaking to Coindesk in an exclusive interview, Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao acknowledges the contradictions inherent in trying to tap into the fast-growing business of decentralized…
Traders discuss what’s next for Bitcoin after abrupt 3% overnight drop
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) abruptly dropped on Sep. 29 from $10,950 to $10,630 overnight, recording a 3% drop. Following the rejection at $11,000, the sentiment of traders remains mixed. Some are cautiously optimistic under the premise that BTC reclaims the $10,700 level. Technically, analysts say that the $10.7k area is a critical pivotal price point for Bitcoin in the near term. Others say that the price trend of BTC has reversed in the short term after its rejection. The intense reaction of Bitcoin to a crucial resistance level at…
Plug Power Shares Jump 13% after Morgan Stanley Overweight Upgrade
Plug Power shares rose after Morgan Stanley gave the hydrogen fuel cell maker an upgrade from equal weight to overweight. Now, the investment bank’s price target for Plug shares has jumped from $10.25 to $14. Shares of Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ: PLUG) got an upgrade to “overweight” by investment bank Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). Following the upgrade, PLUG jumped 13.3% before closing at $13.20% on Monday, approaching its average price target of $14. On the 28th of September, Morgan Stanley upped the price target for Plug Power shares from $10.25…
Ethereum 2.0 Medalla Testnet Has 2M ETHs Staked, 63K Validators
Besides the existing testnets, Plasma Group developers are working to reduce the activity load on the Ethereum mainnet. After four years of meticulous planning and tedious work, Ethereum 2.0 developers are counting down to the final moments to launch the initial phase of the upgraded Ethereum blockchain. According to data provided by beaconcha.in, there are approximately 63,290 active validators as of the time of reporting, who have staked on average 31.74 ETHs. Hereby accumulating the total staked ETHs in the Medalla Testnet to 1,992,505 Ethereum. This is an indication that…
Indian State Plans to Combat Fake COVID-19 Vaccines with Blockchain
The administration of Telangana, a southern Indian state, intends to avert any attempt of hoarding or black-marketing of COVID-19 vaccines using blockchain technology. Four of the six companies working round the clock in the nation to develop a coronavirus vaccine are based in Hyderabad. Deploying blockchain-based Vaccine Ledger Telangana’s IT Department seeks to use a blockchain solution dubbed Vaccine Ledger developed by T-Hub startup StaTwig whose previous clients include the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) mandated with distributing global vaccines and providing developmental and humanitarian aid to children. Vaccine Ledger…