Every week, I will be collecting some news stories / opinion pieces that I have found to be interesting in the crypto world and condensing them down into one easily digestible article. All the article and images are taken from a news source that I like to use and an alternative to CoinTelegram called BeInCrypto.
BeInCrypto is a news website founded in August 2018 that specialises in cryptographic technology, privacy, fintech, and the Internet — among other related topics. The primary goal of the website is to inject transparency into an industry rife with disingenuous reporting, unlabelled sponsored articles, and paid news masquerading as honest journalism. You can visit their website by clicking here or join their new Telegram Trading channel by clicking here. I am also part of that group and like the content they are discussing. There is a lot of news that came out last week, So let's get started!
ETH Mining Difficulty and Google Searches Reach ATH
Two extremely positive metrics representing the health of the network, Ethereum mining difficulty and Google search trends for ‘Ethereum’ have reached all time highs. In particular, Google search trends for Ethereum last set its all time high during the bull run of 2017. What do you think? Is ETH just getting started? You can read more about this story by clicking here.
Polkadot Ecosystem Gains $10 Million VC Fund Amid Activity
China’s LD Capital tweeted the announcement on the start of Polkadot Ecosystem Fund on Jan. 21. The fund will engage in capital support, community building, development advisory, and marketing to early stage projects focused on Polkadot. LD Capital set the fund at $10 million. To read more about this, click here.
Chainlink Wealth Gap Widens as Top 1% Own Over 80% of LINK
LINK, the native cryptocurrency of the Chainlink decentralized oracle platform, has hit a three year high this week, but there is a worrying stat coming out.According to Glassnode, The top 1% of holders now own over 80% of the supply.
What do you think about this? You can read more about this topic by clicking here.
OKCoin Exchange to Add Lightning Network Payments 
OKCoin plans to integrate Lightning Network payments later this quarter. Those who use the Bitcoin layer two scaling solution to deposit at the US-based cryptocurrency exchange will benefit from faster transaction times and lower fees.
To read more about this story, click here.
MicroStrategy Piles into Bitcoin, Scooping Up Another $10 Million
Wall Street giant MicroStrategy has scooped up another $10 million in bitcoin (BTC) during the latest dip to $29,000 a coin. According to CEO Michael Saylor, the new 10 mil was purchased for an average of $31,808. The 8-K form Microstrategy filed for on Jan 22, 2021, says it bought about 314 more bitcoin. To read more about this, click here.
Enjin Becomes First Financially Regulated Gaming Token in Japan
Enjin, a gaming-based blockchain platform with the goal to “make it easy for everyone to develop, trade, monetize, and market with blockchain” has announced some exciting news for its users.
After over a year-and-a-half of regulatory due diligence that needed to be conducted by Enjin, the Japanese Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) has authorized official use of the platform’s native cryptocurrency, ENJ, across the entire country. If you want to know more about this, you can click here.
Kyber Network Readies Massive DeFi Protocol Overhaul
The decentralized finance automated market maker, Kyber Network, is preparing to launch its third iteration which entails a ‘massive overhaul.’The Kyber 3.0 upgrade will transition the network from a single protocol into a hub of purpose-driven liquidity protocols that are catered to different DeFi use cases. To read more about this, click here.
Russian Court Removes BINANCE from Domain Blacklist
The Russian court has reversed a decision to block the Binance exchange domain from being accessed within the country four months after it was originally blacklisted. Binance is now accessible in Russia once again. The popular cryptocurrency exchange was blacklisted by the Russian internet watchdog, Roskomnadzor in September of last year. To read more about this, click here.
Craig Wright Threatens Legal Action Against Bitcoin Whitepaper Hosters
The drama surrounding Craig Wright and his claim over the Bitcoin whitepaper isn’t new to crypto proponents. However, this time, he has decided to up the ante by enforcing ownership. A recent letter from Ontier attornies reveals Dr. Wright’s copyright claim over the Bitcoin whitepaper. Ontier has ordered the operator of the website www.bitcoin.org, known as @CobraBitcoin on Twitter, to remove the document.
To read more about this story, click here.
270,000 Bitcoins Move Off Exchanges in the Past 30 Days
The end of 2020 saw a meteoric rise for Bitcoin, but prices in the new year have started to mellow out and experience less volatility. Data collected by Glassnode, an on-chain data analysis platform, shows that a whopping 270,000 bitcoins worth approximately $9 billion at current prices, has moved off exchanges and into cold storage in the last month.
If you want to find out more about this story, click here.
Binance Undergoes Largest BNB Token Burn to Date, $165 Million
Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange globally, recently undertook its quarterly token burn for its native cryptocurrency, BNB. This growth corresponds with Binance’s biggest token burn ever. It is buying back over $165 million in BNB. With this latest token burn, the circulating supply has decreased by over 3.5 million. To read more about this, click here.
Ethereum 2.0 Staking Contract Garners Over Two Percent of Total Circulating Supply
Ethereum 2.0 launched at the end of 2020 and has seen steady growth across the board. The ETH 2.0 staking contract — the deposit address containing the ETH dedicated to validating its new Proof-of-Stake network — has surpassed another milestone. It now holds about 2.4 percent of the entire circulating supply, surpassing $2.8 billion in total value staked on the network. To read more about this, click here.
Ripple Co-founder Sells Another 28.6 Million XRP Despite SEC Charges
Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb has sold off a further 28.6 million XRP this week despite pending SEC charges against Ripple Labs Inc. for the sale of unregistered securities.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against the company as well as co-founder Christian Larsen, and current CEO Bradley Garlinghouse.
To read more about this, click here.
First Ever Spanish Football Deal Financed With Crypto
The crypto deal was made on behalf of DUX Internacional de Madrid, a lower division team looking to add talent.
DUX has acquired ex-Real Madrid football player David Barral via a deal made possible from a new crypto-based club sponsor. Criptan, a Spanish focused ‘crypto for all’ platform, recently become a sponsor of the club. To read more about this, click here.
That is my weekly roundup of the interesting news coming from the crypto world. What do you think about the topics / news stories and what was your favourite article? If you liked the content, please consider following me and tipping the article. Also are you a trader? If you are check out my favourite Telegram Trading chat, where you can discuss and find out more about crypto projects. Click here to start conversations with other crypto traders!
