“After spending most of the day in negative territory, cryptocurrencies made a late surge on Friday with bitcoin hitting its highest level since mid-May. Bitcoin is currently trading above $41,000 at press time and is up more than 15% over the past week.
Bullish sentiment has returned after a sharp sell-off in May and two months of consolidation above the $30,000 support level. Some analysts are optimistic and expect buyers to remain active above the 50-day moving average, which is above $34,000 now.
Ether faces resistance near $2,500, where resistance is defined by the 100-day moving average. Ether is up about 10% over the past week and rallied nearly 30% after holding support at $1,720 on July 20. Lower support is seen at $2,000, which could stabilize a pullback.”
“Decentralized derivatives and synthetic asset trading protocol Synthetix has launched trading on the Optimistic Ethereum layer-two scaling platform.
Initially, there will be just four synthetic assets available for trading on layer two — sUSD, sETH, sBTC and sLINK. The data collected from this alpha launch and testing phase will enable the protocol to optimize synth trading on layer two and prepare for the beta launch.
In a related development, the Synthetix-based Thales platform just launched. Thales is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform providing binary options-style trading. The Thales decentralized application offers more than 60 different assets, including cryptocurrencies, commodities, equities and index products.
Thales introduced some trial Olympics sports markets which enable users to bet on variables such as ‘Will the USA win the most gold medals?‘ or ‘Will Australia’s men’s basketball team win the gold medal?‘”
“Clients of Wealthfront, an automated investment service, can now gain exposure to crypto. The move marks the first by a major robo-adviser in the U.S. to offer clients crypto exposure. Wealthfront is among the largest robo-advisory platforms in the world with $25 billion in assets under management.
Clients will be able to allocate up to 10% of their total portfolio to the two trusts, with crypto’s volatility cited as the reason for the restriction.”
“The bill regulates how payment services, especially digital ones, can be provided in Ukraine.
In particular, the bill says the National Bank of Ukraine, the country’s central bank, can issue its own digital currency and create a testing environment for fintech startups.”
“Binance’s regulatory woes worsened Friday as Malaysia ordered it to halt operations in the country. Separately, the cryptocurrency exchange said it’s planning to wind down futures and derivatives products across Europe, starting with Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
Binance said users in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands will be unable to open new futures and derivative positions on the platform, effective immediately. Existing positions will have to be closed by an as-yet undetermined date.
The decision is Binance’s latest move to distance itself from products and services that have drawn the scrutiny from regulators in a slew of different markets.”
“Ethereum launched on July 30, 2015. The Ethereum blockchain has become a hub for DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and innovation since its birth in 2015. Next, it’ll get a big upgrade.
This sixth anniversary will likely be Ethereum 1.0’s last. It’s set to be replaced by Ethereum 2.0—a faster, roomier, more energy-efficient model—in early 2022.”
“PricewaterhouseCooper’s crypto lead, Henri Arslanian, claimed that larger players from venture capital, private equity and pension funds are outplaying smaller boutique firms and family offices from participating in the latest innovations around crypto.
This is happening a lot with very early-stage companies, say, $5 million to $20 million — the prices are being inflated.
As the crypto ecosystem continues to redefine the future of the asset class, Arslanian highlighted the recently doubled volume of crypto mergers and acquisitions. He underscored how this year, crypto businesses were able to raise 2020’s M&A value of $3 billion in just three months.”
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“Local companies have transferred $580 million across international borders using a blockchain-based platform developed by authorities in the Chinese province of Yunnan.
The system, launched in December, helps export-oriented firms in Yunnan cut red tape, reducing the time needed for international money transfers to 15 minutes from as long as two days. In addition to being efficient for companies, the platform helps local authorities monitor transactions and implement regulations.”
The Disrupt 