Crypto Digest: Weekly Digest of the Biggest Crypto News (September 7 to September 13)
Bitcoin Struggles to Gather Upside Traction
Bitcoin’s sell-off from the August high of USD 12,476 looks to have come to halt near USD 10,000 over the past seven days. It is trapped in the narrow range of USD 10,000 to USD 10,500.
According to crypto trader and analyst Josh Olszewics, if the price of USD 10,000 is breached, it could further drop to USD 8,100. Alternatively, he also said that a move above USD 10,500 would signal an end of the price pullback and continuation of the broader uptrend.
Further, the number of ‘wholecoiners’ or addressees holding at least 1 BTC has hit a record high of 823,000 this week. This suggests that investors are not spooked by last week’s double-digit price drop and that there is an expectation the top crypto to resume its broader uptrend.
Bitcoin Millionaires Reach 17,005
Under the assumption that one address is equal to one owner, there are 17,005 Bitcoin millionaires today, according to the data from BitInfoCharts. However, this figure is only a rough estimate.
The uncertainty is due to the fact that an unknown number of Bitcoin holders may hold multiple addresses that sum to more than USD 1 million, while several addresses containing more than USD 1 million in BTC may be owned by the same person.
In addition, there are around 158,545 addresses containing more than USD 100,000 worth of Bitcoin and 869,463 containing at least USD 10,000 worth. Overall, out of the 16 million addresses tracked by BitInfoCharts, only 0.11 percent can be considered millionaire’s at today’s rates.
Ethereum 2.0 on Track for November Launch
Ethereum 2.0, the much needed and much-delayed update for the Ethereum blockchain, is on track for a November 2020 launch, according to one of tis developers, Raul Jordan.
At present, Ethereum supports around 14 transactions per second. Also, its network utilization is at 97 percent and the average cost of a transaction is on a record streak. Adding to the pressure is the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) which has stretched Ethereum to its limits, making transactions, even the small ones too expensive.
Ethereum 2.0 is currently in its Medalla testnet, a public network created by the Ethereum Foundation that acts as a sandbox before mainnet. Except for a crash last month which has already been fixed, the testnet appears to be running smoothly.
SushiSwap’s Chef Returns USD 14M in Ethereum
The anonymous creator of SushiSwap, Chef Nomi, returned more than USD 14 million worth of Ethereum drained from the SushiSwap developer allocation last week and apologized to a long list of DeFi industry problems.
Last September 5, Chef Nomi withdrew 2.5 million Sushis from SushiSwap in exchange for 18,000 Ethereum. He also removed 20,000 Ethereum from the sme liquidity pool. The controversial move, recorded on Etherscan, gained criticisms from the community.
Chef Nomi also announced after the return that he would remain part of the SushiSwap project in limited capacity, with no governance control.
XRP Will Annihilate Almost Every Other Altcoin, Says Bitcoin Analyst
A contrarian investor known in the industry as CryptoWhale believes that XRP eventually will wipe out nearly every other altcoins.
In his tweet, Crypto Whale tells his 34,000 followers that XRP will be one of the last coins standing once the crypto industry enters a new phase of regulatory scrutiny and acceptance.
He also highlighted that while other coins are booming, Ripple is quietly doing the work behind the scenes to ensure that its native token, XRP complies with the requirements of government agencies.
IRS Offers USD 625,000 to Crack Monero
The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has offered a bounty of up to USD 625,000 to anyone who can break the purportedly untraceable privacy coins such as Monero (XMR) as well as trace transaction on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network.
The official proposal, published last week, says that the IRS will accept submissions in the form of working prototypes until September 11. If accepted, applicants will receive an initial payment of USD 500,000.
The said grant will allow applicants to develop their prototype into a working concept over the next eight months. Once the pilot test is completed and approved by the government, the remaining USD 125,000 grant will be awarded.
European Ministers Call on EU to Regulate Stablecoins
Finance ministers from Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have called on the European Union Commission to issue regulation for stablecoins as well as sanctions for providers that break the rules.
The said regulation, according to the ministers, is necessary to protect consumers and preserve the bloc’s monetary sovereignty from Big Tech firms. Although not mentioned by name, the ministers may be referring to the Facebook-backed Libra coin.
One such measure would mandate stablecoins to be asset-backed 1:1 with the Euro and other member-state currencies and that must be held in European Union-approved institutions. Another proposal is for stablecoin providers to register as a European entity.
(Welcome to Planet Crypto. We discuss necessary information and updates regarding the cryptocurrency market regularly. So if you want to get updated, do not forget to hit the follow button and smash the like button.
I am not a financial or investment advisor. The purpose of this channel is to raise awareness about blockchain, the technology which will make the greatest impact in the decades to come and help in the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. Please only consider this as educational or informational. This is never intended as a financial or investment advice.)
Sources:
1. Bitcoin Holds Firm Above SUD 10K but String Bounce Proves Elusive, https://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-10kprice-cryptocurrency
2. There Are Now 17,000 Bitcoin Millionaires, https://www.decrypt.co/41478/there-are-now-17000-bitcoin-millionaires
3. SushiSwap’s Chef Nomi Repents, Gives Back USD 14 Million in Ethereum, https://www.decrypt.co/41547/sushiswap-chef-nomi-gives-back-14-million-ethereum; Chef Nomi has Returned All Funds to the SushiSwap Community, https://www.cointelegraph.com/news/chef-nomi-has-returned-all-funds-back-to-the-sushiswap-community
4. Ethereum 2.0 on Track for November Launch, Says Dev, https://www.decrypt.co/41664/ethereum-2-0-on-track-for-november-launch-says-dev
5. Bitcoin Analyst Says XRP Will Annihilate Almost Every Other Altcoin — Here’s Why, https://www.dailyhodl.com/2020/09/13/bitcoin-analyst-says-xrp-will-annihilate-almost-every-other-altcoin-heres-why
6. The IRS Offers a USD 625,000 to Anyone Who Can Break Monero and Lightning, https://www.cointelegraph.com/news/the-irs-offers-a-625-000-bounty-to-anyone-who-can-break-monero-and-lightning
7. European Ministers Call on EU Commission to Regulate Stablecoins, https://www.coindesk.com/european-ministers-eu-ban-stablecoin-regulation
Originally published at https://www.publish0x.com.
