Digest from Binaryx. Main News On The Cryptocurrency Market of last week

Digest: The Main News On The Cryptocurrency Market (December 7-13)

This week has been a bit stressful for Bitcoin and altcoins. Despite the turbulence in the crypto market, Ethereum 2.0. is gaining momentum, Steve Wozniak's token is going “to the Moon”. And so, let's take a closer look at the main events of the week.

Over 1.2 million ETH already locked in E2.0 deposit contract

The launch of the first genesis block of Ethereum 2.0 until the last moment remained an intrigue: only 4 hours before the end of the deadline, the missing 25% of ETH was contributed. The timely launch of the Beacon Chain once again confirmed investor confidence in the network's prospects and gave an impetus for those who wanted to join but doubted.

To date, more than 1.21 million ETH (about $690 million) have been blocked on the deposit contract, which is about 1% of the total emission of Ethereum. If at the time of the launch of the first block, there were 16,384 validators, now the number of active staking participants exceeds 26,900.

Those who were among the first validators were very lucky because they can count on the maximum profitability from staking (up to 15-20% per annum). As the number of stakers increases, the size of the reward will decrease accordingly. The dynamics speak for itself: now, validators add tens of thousands of ETH per day, while in the first week, the total inflow of ETH was measured at several thousand per day.

If you do not have the 32 ETH required to become a validator, there is good news for you: according to preliminary data, large crypto exchanges may launch a delegated staking service in 2021. That will allow Ethereum owners to profit from staking, but through an intermediary in the form of an exchange.

Bitcoin and the first “drug empire” on the darknet

Back in 2013, news broke about the arrest of 26-year-old Ross Ulbricht, a drug dealer who sold illegal substances through the darknet. He created the site “Silk Road”, which was very similar in functionality to Amazon, but differed in the “specificity” of the product being sold.

The site soon became a mecca for drug dealers. More than 350 sellers, thousands of product items, and the lack of control from "Big Brother" made it possible for Ulbricht to hit the big jackpot. What does Bitcoin have to do with it? The fact is that the drug dealer carried out all operations using cryptocurrency. On each order, he received up to 10% commission, which was about $30,000.

If we close our eyes to the specifics of the product, Silk Road became the first platform where Bitcoin payments were regularly accepted. Back in 2011, Ulbricht tried to minimize the risks of Bitcoin volatility for site users. Buyers could pre-fix the price of the product and not worry about fluctuations in the BTC price.

The first "drug empire" on the darknet lasted for about 2 years. In 2013 Ulbrecht was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. The secret services confiscated more than 140,000 BTC from a drug dealer and closed the first “marketplace” for selling drugs. Ulbricht's fate is the basis for the film Silk Road, which will hit the big screen in February 2021.

Bondly platform moves to Cardano blockchain

Last week for Cardano ended with a landmark event: Bondly, a decentralized e-commerce platform, officially announced the transition to the Cardano blockchain. It will be the first project to see the world as part of the Goguen rollout phase. According to the developers, this stage will help to improve the system of smart contracts as much as possible and will be able to bring the network to a new level.

Charles Hoskinson, CEO of IOHK, is betting heavily on Cardano's collaboration with Bondly. He noted:

“The partnership between Bondly and Cardano is a logical continuation of both companies' policy of scaling and popularizing DeFi. We are one step closer to transforming the global financial system. ”

The next stage of cooperation will be the addition of BONDLY cryptocurrency to the Cardano ecosystem. It will happen after the deployment of the Goguen phase, which, according to the roadmap, should end in February 2021.

Apple co-founder's WOZX token grows 26 times in 5 days

For whom this week was definitely a take-off, it was for Steve Wozniak and his WOZX token. The co-founder of Apple presented his blockchain project on December 4 and immediately made a splash in the crypto space.

WOZX started trading on the Bithumb exchange on December 9 with a price of $ 0.1. In just 5 days, the price has skyrocketed 26 times and is trading at $ 3.26 at the time of writing. It only took 13 minutes for the “newborn” token to reach a market cap of $950.

This project is positioned as “the first energy-saving blockchain platform” and is a continuation of the global trend towards reducing social consumption. Apart from Wozniak, the co-founders of the startup are Jacopo Visetti and Jacopo Vanetti. The company is headquartered in Malta.

According to the project, the commission from the sale of the WOZX token will be directed to the development of the so-called “green projects”. Enterprises will receive financial assistance to implement solutions to modernize the energy-saving system.

Some DeFi tokens soar amid Bitcoin falling below $19,000

In the middle of the week, the dynamics of the crypto market was seriously excited: almost all crypto assets were colored red. Bitcoin rolled on a roller coaster, showed a decline of 9.5%, and was able to rebound from the level of $17,600 only with the onset of the weekend.

The leading altcoins also partially sank: some got stuck in the price range, while others entered a correction. But for some DeFi tokens, this week has been a runaway. In particular, WAVES was among the lucky ones. Altcoin has risen from $6.2 on December 1 to $9.3 on December 7. As of today, the altcoin is in an upward channel and, if the bulls maintain their strength, it could test the $10 level. If WAVES overcomes this indicator, the next target will be the resistance level at $13.4.

Another DeFi token, COMP, has seen exponential growth. The token price soared 78% in 7 days from $100.32 to $179.48. Today, the relative strength index (RSI) of the token has entered the overbought zone, which signals the pressure of the bulls. If the token can overcome the critical level of $200, the COMP/USD pair could jump to $260 and meet serious bearish resistance at this level.

German bank launches euro-stablecoin

Bankhaus von der Heydt (BVDH), one of the oldest banks in Europe, announced the launch of the EURB stablecoin. The value of the coin is pegged to the euro exchange rate in a 1: 1 ratio. This decision was the result of a collaboration between the German bank and the fintech company Bitbond.

EURB is based on the Stellar blockchain, which already has successfully implemented stablecoins. It will be impossible to see EURB on the exchanges, since the withdrawal of the coin to the trading floors is complicated due to the presence of strict requirements from the European Commission. Today, stablecoin is considered as a tool for fast transactions between developers of financial applications.

According to the director of BVDH bank, the clients of the crypto company SatoshiPay will be the first to use the new stablecoins. Also, BVDH does not exclude the possibility of using cryptocurrency to work with other banks.

For several years in a row, the EU has been trying to take under "its wing" cryptocurrency and retain control over digital assets through the introduction of regulatory norms. The launch of the EURB stablecoin is quite an expected event, since in 2020, more than ever before, the issue of digitalization of the traditional financial system has been sharply raised.