Bitcoin, Altcoin Trading Erupted, Nearing USD 1 Trillion In November + More News
Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Exchanges news
- In November, total trading volume on crypto exchanges surpassed USD 900bn, according to latest report by CryptoCompare, a provider of the crypto market data. However, it’s still lower than during the first months of this year, when this volume was above USD 1 trillion. Meanwhile, in November, trading volume on the top-tier exchanges increased 78.2% to USD 619bn, and they now represent 68% of total volume (vs 61% in October). Meanwhile, lower-tier volumes increased by 30% to USD 287.4bn.
Top-tier exchanges traded a daily maximum of USD 45bn on November 24 – almost double the previous record for this year of USD 23.4bn recorded on March 13. Volume from 15 largest top-tier exchanges increased 114% on average. Binance was the largest Top-Tier exchange by volume in November, trading USD 176.2bn (up 133%), followed by Huobi Global (USD 72.1bn, +73%), OKEx (USD 45.9bn, +43%), Coinbase (USD 30bn, +166%), Kraken (USD 16.6bn, +156%), and Bitfinex (USD 12.8bn, + 198%).
Ethereum news
- Major Ethereum (ETH) wallet interface MyEtherWallet (MEW) has integrated Staked, a non-custodial crypto staking service, which helps investors compound crypto through staking, as it enables Android users to stake on ETH 2.0, said the emailed press release. MEW users can begin ETH 2.0 staking to earn rewards via the MEW web interface and MEW wallet app, with validators being run and maintained through Staked, while no further action is required on the part of the user.
Bitcoin news
- Square said that it plans to become net zero carbon for operations by 2030 and launched its Bitcoin Clean Energy Investment Initiative, where it has committed USD 10m to support companies that help drive adoption and efficiency of renewables within the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem.
Crypto adoption news
- SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) and SBI Digital Asset Holdings, an SBI Group company, have announced their plans to work on a joint venture to drive institutional digital asset liquidity through a Singapore-based digital issuance platform, exchange and CSD venue that is set to go live by 2022 subject to regulatory approvals from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. This joint venture will directly target the growing demand for public and private institutional digital assets, including regulated digital asset securities and cryptoassets, and will market directly to regulated institutional clients, utilizing technologies from both companies.
- The widespread creation, rollout, and adoption of digital currencies are “absolutely inevitable” as the international payments system rapidly evolves, according to Bill Winters, the CEO of British multinational banking and financial services company Standard Chartered, as quoted by CNBC. “I think there is absolutely a role for central bank digital currencies as well as non-central bank-sponsored digital currencies,” said Winters at the Singapore FinTech Festival, while the company is set to announce further news “along these lines” in the coming days.
- IOVLabs, the creator of the RSK Bitcoin Smart Contract platform, launched Powpeg, an upgrade to the existing peg technology on the RSK platform. Powpeg is a proof-of-work secured two-way peg used to interact between the RSK side chain and the Bitcoin blockchain, they said in an emailed press release.
NFTs news
- A trading card in Ethereum-based fantasy football game Sorare, which is a non-fungible token (NFT) representing Paris Saint-Germain’s forward Kylian Mbappé, has been auctioned off in late November for EUR 55,105 (USD 66,740). The new owner has set the minimum bid at ETH 250 (currently USD 144,235) – more than double what they paid – if somebody else wants to buy it.
Blockchain news
- The Japanese government has approved a blockchain-powered clinical trials platform. Per Nikkei, the solution has been developed by a medical startup named Susmed. The platform, said its masterminds, will help eliminate the possibility of data tampering and could cut costs by up to 70% if it is used to trial new drugs and medical treatment programs. With a decentralized data organization model, researchers will no longer need to depend on costly, time-consuming in-person checkups and visits for trial subjects, said the firm.
- The Ant Group, the blockchain and fintech arm of the Alibaba business empire, has published a white paper on the application of blockchain technology in government affairs. Per China Email, the white paper’s authors claimed that Chinese Communist Party offices and government agencies “at all levels and localities” should focus on launching blockchain-powered pilot applications for government affairs, as well as tourism, medical care, legal and smart city-related projects.
- A Thai tax agency is set to use blockchain technology to boost the efficiency of its tax collection efforts. According to the Bangkok Post, the Excise Department, an agency of Thailand’s Ministry of Finance that collects taxes on the sales of products and services manufactured and traded domestically, wants to use blockchain-powered solutions to help it collect some USD 17.7m in taxes. The media outlet quoted the agency’s Director-General Lavaron Sangsnit as stating that his organization would “incorporate blockchain technology to administer revenue collection for [the] fiscal [year] 2021.” Lavaron added that the Revenue and Customs departments are also both “planning to adopt this technology for their operations.”
