From the impact Amazon could have on Bitcoin to a switch from Tron to Ethereum, here’s a look at some of the stories breaking in the world of crypto.
Bitcoin
The CEO of leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance says he’s waiting on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to capitalize on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
Changpeng Zhao asked the crypto community on Twitter what will power the next bull run. That prompted the Bezos factor. CZ says the billionaire – whose net worth is about $92 billion – has a singular opportunity to transform the industry by either buying just about every Bitcoin on the market, selling crypto on Amazon, or by accepting it as a payment option.
Amazon bought three cryptocurrency-related domains late last year: amazonethereum.com, amazoncryptocurrency.com and amazoncryptocurrencies.com. The online retail giant also owns amazonbitcoin.com, which currently redirects straight to amazon.com. Amazon Web Services is also heavily invested in blockchain solutions.
Ripple and XRP
Ripple is looking for a new solutions architect. The new hire will help grow RippleNet “by designing and then guiding the deployment and integration of Ripple’s solutions with banking and payment systems for Ripple’s customer base in India and the Middle East.”
The San Francisco startup currently has a total of 35 open job listings.
Meanwhile, William Shatner is tweeting about crypto once again, this time pointing out that there’s a difference between Ripple the company and the cryptocurrency XRP.
Ripple is a software company that creates a number of solutions for cross-border payments. XRP is the digital asset that is utilized by its payment product xRapid. The company owns about 60% of the total supply of XRP.
Ethereum
The crypto hardware wallet Trezor has added native support for Ethereum, Ethereum Classic and ERC20 tokens in its latest beta firmware update.
“Although these cryptocurrencies have been supported by Trezor for a long time, they were available only via third-party integrations, such as MyEtherWallet, MyCrypto and MetaMask. For the fans of these services? – ?do not worry, the integrations still work and we have no plans to change that.”
You can download the beta version here.
Tron
In a new blog post, BitGuild says it’s switching its blockchain-based avatar game Bitizens from Ethereum to Tron.
“It is safe to say that BitGuild would not exist without the Ethereum network. When we first started this project, Ethereum’s innovations in smart contracts and decentralized applications made it possible for us to become what we are today.
But the crypto industry is fast evolving, led by new technologies and platforms that are better at resolving specific issues and meeting the needs of the growing crypto community. As interest in dApps grew, so did Ethereum’s scalability challenges: congestion issues, long waiting times, high gas fees, and poor stability. This had led users to lose interest in ETH-based games and other dApps.
At the same time, a new platform was emerging that aimed to solve many of these problems. TRON offers fast transaction times and extremely low transaction fees – which can even be paid with bandwidth by freezing TRX. The TRON Virtual Machine has made it easier than ever to develop and scale new dApps. All of this has resulted in a large community of highly engaged TRX holders that are excited to create and use TRON-powered applications.”
NEM
NEM says it’s partnering with China’s biggest artwork database, GUBI.
The company will use the NEM blockchain to develop its identity system, user and expert credit system, and online reviews.
IOTA
The team at IOTA has released its monthly Qubic status update.
Qubic is a protocol designed to vastly improve IOTA’s capabilities by enabling distributed computing and smart contracts on a global scale.
VeChain
VeChain showed off its blockchain-based product verification system at the recent Innersect convention in Shanghai.
A video on Twitter shows the technology being used to instantly verify a colorful piece of garb.