As part of an initiative bringing stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) to other blockchains, USDC is now available on the public Algorand blockchain. This is in addition to its existing availability as an Ethereum-based token. Offering USDC on Algorand gives the asset layer 1 scalability, touting more than 1,000 transactions per second, or TPS, while costing less than a penny in fees (1/20 of one cent to be precise), said a statement provided to Cointelegraph. “This is a defining milestone for frictionless mainstream payments as well as sophisticated financial applications,” Algorand Inc.'s founder, Silvio Micali, said in the statement, adding: “This …

Fetch.ai is launching Mettalex, a decentralized exchange that allows its users to trade commodity and crypto derivatives. The users will be able to gain exposure to traditional crypto trading pairs as well as commodities like gold, silver, cobalt, oil, and even the stock market indices. Humayun Sheikh, who serves as CEO to both projects, told Cointelegraph that in addition to providing exposure to new investment products for the crypto community, it presents three main competitive advantages to commodity traders: “One very key advantage for them is that they can build the market and they can bring the market to people. …

The rise of DeFi protocols and the demand for tokens in liquidity pools may be contributing to a huge surge in the supply of stablecoins. According to an Sept. 3 tweet from Coin Metrics co-founder Nic Carter, the current supply of stablecoins Binance USD (BUSD), Dai (DAI), HUSD, Paxos Standard Token (PAX), USD Coin (USDC), USDK, Tether (USDT), USDT_ETH, and USDT_TRX has been increasing by roughly $100 million daily for almost two months. “Everyone got so excited about DeFi no one pointed out that stablecoins have been adding $100m/day since mid-July,” said Carter. “DeFi yields/interest rates are clearly a vacuum …

During a virtual conference hosted by the Brookings Institute, Andrew Bailey, Bank of England’s (BoE) governor, stressed that crypto assets are just “unsuited to the world of payments.” In prepared remarks on the future of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, Bailey qualified Bitcoin (BTC) as an asset that has “no connection at all to money.” Also, he showed reluctant himself to believe crypto assets are a proper investment opportunity, because “their value can fluctuate quite, widely, unsurprisingly.” Bailey provided such comments while talking about the picking up in the pace of innovation in payments. However, on the stablecoins, the governor commented that …

Users can now use their ERC-20 BiLira tokens to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and USDT on Bittrex Global. The announcement states that there are currently 20 million BiLira tokens in supply. TRYB tokens are minted at the time of deposit, and an ID verification process takes place before the issuance. Users then redeem their tokens for fiat currency and transfer them on the network using the BiLira platform. Speaking to Cointelegraph Turkey, the BiLira team explained that emerging countries like Turkey have a different perspective on cryptocurrencies due to their fragile economies and liquidity problems with the U.S. dollar. BiLira predicts …

Sygnum, a major cryptocurrency bank in Switzerland, is preparing to finally introduce digital asset trading after receiving regulatory approval. On Sept. 1, Sygnum announced that it received regulatory approval from the Financial Market Supervisory Authority, allowing the company to expand its services to a digital asset trading facility. The new approval enables Sygnum to “cover the complete life-cycle of a security,” starting from services such as primary issuance, settlement and custody to secondary trading. As part of Sygnum’s new capabilities, users now have access to instant settlement via the Sygnum-issued stablecoin Digital Swiss franc (DCHF). In conjunction with the news …

Tether (UDST), the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization, has again surpassed major altcoin XRP. On Sept. 1, Tether surpassed XRP as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, becoming the second-largest altcoin after Ether (ETH). As of press time, USDT market cap accounts for more than $13.4 billion, according to data from crypto analytics website Coin360. XRP is now the fourth-largest coin by market cap at $13 billion. The latest movement in ranking is not new to the crypto market in 2020. Tether surpassed XRP as the third-largest crypto in May 2020. Both cryptocurrencies have significantly increased their market cap …

With the COVID-19 crisis showing no signs of abating in the United States, central banks around the world have deployed financial airbags in the form of quantitative easing, and they plan to do a lot more. Modern Monetary Theory has taken center stage, and we are witnessing it in action. It’s a sight that will leave you awestruck: like witnessing the financial version of the first atomic explosion of Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project. What is going on with the world’s economy is unprecedented. We are entering completely new and uncharted territories, and all bets are off with respect …

Cryptocurrency was built on the premise that a reimagined financial system could exist. It was brought to life by a community that supported these ideals and worked tirelessly to bring them to fruition. As the blockchain community grows, so does the recognition that cryptocurrency is important. According to Big Four audit firm Deloitte’s “2020 Global Blockchain Survey,” more than half of those surveyed believe that digital assets will be very important, while almost 89% of respondents feel that digital assets will be important to their industries in the next three years. Cryptocurrency remains the priority for the blockchain space within …

Galaxus, the largest online retailer in Switzerland, could start accepting payments in a stablecoin issued by local cryptocurrency bank Sygnum. According to an Aug. 27 tweet by Sygnum, the companies have just completed an electronic commerce payment using Sygnum Bank’s stablecoin known as Digital Swiss Franc (DCHF). As officially announced, the e-commerce transaction was enabled by Denmark-based crypto payment processor Coinify. Launched in March 2020, Sygnum’s DCHF stablecoin is pegged one-to-one to with the Swiss franc, and intends to eliminate the need for card systems, reduce settlement costs and fraud, as well as provide instant transactions. As previously reported, Sygnum …

At $11,400, Bitcoin (BTC) is ripe for a fresh price surge thanks to stablecoin investors buying up cheap coins, data suggests. Highlighting the latest readings from its stablecoin supply ratio (SSR) metric on Aug. 26, on-chain monitoring resource Glassnode forecast upside for BTC/USD. Stablecoin supply ratio “3x stronger” than July 2019 SSR refers to the potential buying power of stablecoins over Bitcoin. A low Bitcoin price allows stablecoin owners, for example, on exchanges, to purchase more of the BTC supply. This demand pushes the price of Bitcoin up, given its predictable, verifiable supply and high stock-to-flow ratio. As the price …

The average daily transfer value for Tether has surpassed that of Bitcoin and PayPal according to recent research. A report by CoinMetrics has revealed that Tether’s 7-day average adjusted transfer value reached over $3.55 billion as of August 20. This is around 20% more than that for Bitcoin which was a reported $2.94 billion according to the research. Tether and Bitcoin transfer value. Source: CoinMetrics Following six months of rapid growth, USDT average daily transfer value has finally flipped Bitcoin’s as it continues to take more and more of the market share of on-chain transfers. The recent surge in Tether …