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From a surge of big investments in Bitcoin to a new way to swap crypto assets, here’s a look at some of the stories breaking in the world of crypto.
Bitcoin
Fundstrat co-founder and head of research Tom Lee says crypto whales are buying Bitcoin in big numbers behind-the-scenes. In a new interview with CNBC’s Futures Now, Lee says over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks for investors with deep pockets are reporting a surge in new clients and the amount of trading activity per client.
“We surveyed OTC brokers. They’re very important in terms of how institutional investors trade crypto. And universally, they’ve all talked about a 60-70% increase in activity levels, the number of clients. And the trading per client is really taking off lately.”
Lee says Bitcoin’s rising transaction volumes, which are at levels not seen since the last bull run, are also rising because of increasing adoption in countries like Venezuela where peer-to-peer trades are breaking records on platforms such as LocalBitcoins.
“What I think we have to remember is crypto is probably a 70% story outside the US. And I think events like Venezuela and the devaluation of the Turkish lira, these have actually caused on-chain volumes to take off because on a LocalBitcoins basis, people are saying, ‘Look, I don’t trust using these local currencies. I don’t trust the banks. I’m going to start using Bitcoin.'”
Lee also points to BTC’s recent rise above its 200-day moving average as signs that the long crypto winter is coming to an end.
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Ethereum
One of the most popular Ethereum-based wallets is expanding.
MyEtherWallet just launched a new interface and support for in-wallet token swaps with more than 100 coins and tokens, thanks to a new partnership with Changelly.
Ripple and XRP
The Singapore-based crypto exchange Bitrue is teaming up with the XRP Tip Bot. Users on Bitrue will be able to convert any coin to XRP and send it over to the Tip Bot in an instant.
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Litecoin
A Litecoin developer who goes by the name Loshan is offering a $2,000 bounty to the first person to bring Neutrino support to LTC. Neutrino is a new Lightning Network-compatible protocol designed to power private transactions.
IOTA
IOTA is launching a new outreach effort to support developers building on the platform. The IOTA Academy is now up and running.
“Under training.iota.org, the IOTA Foundation offers a selection of online trainings as well as blended trainings for coders & developers.
In the upcoming weeks, this first set will be complemented by trainings for non-coders, e.g. blockchain enthusiasts, futurists, and students, but also corporate project managers, conceptors and c-level managers to enhance their knowledge about IOTA, its technology, and the huge disruptive potential IOTA offers for economy and society as the 3rd generation of distributed ledger technology (DLT).”
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Tron
Tron’s latest overview on the network’s decentralized app (DApp) ecosystem is out. According to the report, four new decentralized games are now running on Tron.
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Stellar
Stellar’s new core update is up and running. It’s designed to implement new stability and performance improvements as well as a number of changes to fees on the network.
Modified featured image via Flickr/etee/CC 2.0
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