Here are the major events happening in the crypto-verse, the news you should be aware of: price action, Bitcoin tx fees on the rise, ETH 2.0 validator spike, Binance launches mining pool, and much more. Read on to find the latest and don't lose track of this ultra fast-moving industry.
BTC, ETH price action
The last week has been favorable to cryptos as the overall market experienced a major boost. Bitcoin started the week around $7,500, gained +$1,000 to rise over $9,400 in midweek before settling down to the $8,800s at the end of the week.
Ethereum started the week a few dollars shy of $200 and is ending the 7-day period at around $210. It also saw a boost during the week, hitting $227 before slumping down again.
BTC transaction fees on the rise
The average fee for a Bitcoin transaction rose to $2.94 on the 30th of April, the highest it has been in the last 10 months.
Mempool data from Blockchain.com shows that there’s a massive backlog of Bitcoin transactions awaiting confirmation, causing the spike in fees. As BTC's daily trading volume increases, this figure is expected to climb higher.
ETH 2.0 testnet validators rise rapidly
The number of validators on the Ethereum 2.0 testnet rose quickly to 20,000 a few days after it mined its genesis block.
The number is around 25,000 at the weekend.
ETH 2.0 is expected to change the Ethereum network to Proof of Stake and is slated for July this year.
Bitcoin: 16 new blocks mined within an hour
Is the upcoming halving already affecting Bitcoin mining?
The Bitcoin network mines 6 new blocks an hour on the average. Last Friday, 16 new blocks were mined in 63 minuteswith 4 of them arriving within a minute.
Also, Bitcoin’s mempool soared to 77.58 million bytes worth of unconfirmed transactions on Thursday.
This spree of new blocks could usher in a significant rise in mining difficulty as the network adjusts to satisfy the 10 minutes/ block rule.
Lightning network boosted by new LND upgrade
Lightning Lab’s latest beta upgrade of its LND software (v 0.10) beefs up its channel capacity, quadrupling the amount of Bitcoin that can be locked into channels.
The upgrade also sets the groundwork for better payment routing and improved channel infrastructure.
Binance launches mining pool
The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, joined the crypto mining sphere. This week, it launched a mining pool, offering mining services for PoW and PoS miners.
Binance said its first product offering will be Bitcoin mining, using an FPPS payment method. It also announced a zero commission fee discount on its pool services till June 2020.
Grayscale is accumulating Ethereum
According to reports, Grayscale, a digital asset management firm, is buying copious amounts of Ethereum.
The firm has bought 756,539 ETH since the start of this year (worth over $100m). In the same period, 1,563,245 ETH was mined, meaning the firm has bought roughly half of the ETH mined in 2020.
Crypto scammers impersonate Olympic team
There has been a new advent of email scams, with a notable one out of Japanimpersonating organizations of the Olympic Games in Tokyo and asking for donations.
Should they not meet their funding target (which they never specified), the scammers said Japan will have its image tarnished, and runs the risk of outright canceling the 2020 Olympic Games.
LOL.
News From
Emmanuel O.
