Grin launches a challenge to find bugs in its version 5.0.0, and the price soars by 90%. Litecoin’s price gains more than 50% and is approaching the all-time high that it had reached in 2019.

The market has recently been on the rise as a result of the historical rise in the price of Bitcoin. More than 90% of cryptocurrencies have experienced a significant rise in their prices, with percentages exceeding 89%.

Grin (GRIN), which is launching a challenge as a test mechanism for its next update, and Litecoin (LTC), which is gaining momentum thanks to the current Bitcoin rally, top the list of the most appreciated cryptocurrencies in recent days.

Regarding Bitcoin, the pioneering cryptocurrency shines after having exceeded its all-time high of 2017 and trading above USD 23,000. The crypto asset grew by an average of 25% in recent days.

The growing signs of individual and institutional adoption are the context of the Bitcoin rally. In recent days, there have been new announcements from companies interested in the cryptocurrency. They include hedge fund manager One River Asset Management, which will have USD 1 billion worth BTC and ETH.

English fund manager Ruffer also confirmed the acquisition of USD 744 million worth of Bitcoin, which represents 2.5% of its portfolio. The investment is a hedge against inflation and coincided with a reduction in the fund’s exposure to gold.

On the other hand, Ether (ETH) rose and recorded an average growth rate of 18.4%.

The amount of Ether in the Ethereum 2.0 staking exceeds 1,500,000 ETH, which is trading at more than USD 1 billion. The increase in stake deposits allows the price of the cryptocurrency to continue to rise. In recent days, its value ranged between USD 565 and USD 672.

Other relevant cryptocurrencies on the market have also recorded an increase in their price. Litecoin (LTC) rose above 50% and ranks among the leaders, Ethereum Classic (ETC) gains 9.7%, and Ripple’s XRP increases by 15.8%.

Grin Launches a Challenge as a Pre-Test for its Next Fork

On the eve of the fourth update of the Grin network, which the community expects in early January 2021, Grin announced the “Winter 2020 Bug Bash Challenge”. The event is part of the preliminary tests of the new version v5.0.0, which the platform introduced some days ago.

Community members have their attention on the news about the fork which has favorably affected the price of the cryptocurrency, whose value rose by 86%.

Through this challenge, the plan of the Grin team is to test Grin’s nodes and wallet to find bugs. Participants will be paid for the tests that they run and the errors that they find. The top three participants will also receive special rewards. Meanwhile, the price of the cryptocurrency ranges from USD 0.3581 to a high of USD 0.6187.

The company will distribute 0.75 BTC and 2,500 GRIN (about USD 19,000 in total) among those who participate in the challenge. The tests will conclude on January 2^nd, 2021.

Litecoin Reaches Highest Value So far in 2020

The price of Litecoin recorded significant growth, with a rebound exceeding 57%. Coincidentally, it broke its all-time high on the same day that Bitcoin broke its own. For that reason, some analysts see the rise of Litecoin as part of BTC’s momentum.

A trader identified as MoonOverlord said on his Twitter account that Bitcoin’s price rise above USD 20,000 revived interest in Litecoin and Dogecoin. He noted that, unlike the rally that happened in 2017, people are not disposing of altcoins. Furthermore, he highlights that at that time there were no pegged cryptocurrencies or stablecoins.

The price of LTC recently peaked at 118.47, its highest value in 2020. The price of Litecoin has not reached the same levels that it reached in 2017 but is approaching its value of June 2019, when it exceeded USD 130 per unit.

The Litecoin Foundation continues to promote the use of the Litecoin Visa card among its users. Registration to apply for the card reopened earlier this month for US residents only.

By Willmen Blanco

The COVID-19 pandemic has helped accelerate the Bitcoin adoption process, says Farías. More than 2,000 businesses are accepting cryptocurrency payments, and the number continues to grow.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a considerable boost to the use of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in Venezuela. Much of that increase in the adoption of Bitcoin in the South American country has occurred thanks to Cryptobuyer, which provides a payment gateway that Venezuelan businesses use.

Chains of supermarkets, fast food restaurants, and even hotels have adopted cryptocurrency payments with this platform as a mediator in just the last few months. Besides, a Visa debit card rechargeable with Bitcoin has emerged so that Venezuelans can use cryptocurrencies in their daily lives.

Jorge Farías, CEO of Cryptobuyer, provided some details that allow a broader vision of the growth landscape that the cryptocurrency payments ecosystem has experienced in the country.

The executive spoke about the increase in the number of options with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Venezuela, as well as the dominance of the pioneer cryptocurrency compared to other cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although cryptocurrencies had already gained ground among Venezuelans, the COVID-19 pandemic set the tone for the exponential growth of options, according to the Cryptobuyer representative.

“The issue of the pandemic has made an alternative payment system, including contactless and remote payment solutions, more necessary than ever,” said Farías.

Farías himself said that the Bitcoin adoption process could have taken at least 4 years. However, believes that the pandemic possibly reduced that period by half.

In recent weeks, the Rattan supermarket chain began accepting payments in cryptocurrencies at its branch on Margarita Island, one of the preferred tourist destinations in Venezuela. The also supermarket chain, Excelsior Gama, and the Pizza Hut franchise had done the same before.

Payments in Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies in Venezuela

Currently, there are more than 2,000 Venezuelan businesses affiliated with the Cryptobuyer platform. Also, there are another 10,000 that are “in process with various integration and payment processing companies.” Farías highlights that the most prominent of the latter is Mega Soft, the main provider of points of sale in the country, with more than 30,000.

The also founder of the Cryptobuyer payment gateway believes that the partnership with Mega Soft has helped them “penetrate large stores and chains”, where they had no direct presence before.

In early November, Antonio Castro, the director of Mega Soft, said that around 500 points of sale had already implemented payments with cryptocurrencies through the integration between this company and Cryptobuyer.

The executive states that legislation on the activity with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Venezuela is quite clear compared with those of other countries in the world and particularly in the region.

Venezuela among Countries with the Highest Adoption of Bitcoin

Cryptobuyer has played a leading role in the growth in the use of Bitcoin in everyday purchases and payments. However, the truth is that cryptocurrencies, in general, have gained a lot of ground in Venezuela.

According to Chainalysis, the South American country is the third in the world regarding the adoption rate. Researchers reported that fact in a study last September.

Vladislav Alimpiev, from the LocalBitcoins P2P exchange platform, confirmed the weight of Venezuela among its main markets, as it ranks second on the planet.

He notes that Venezuela currently has a critical economic situation, marked by hyperinflation and the constant devaluation of the bolivar (VES), its legal tender. Likewise, he highlights that these are two of the reasons that have led to the high interest of Venezuelans in Bitcoin.

Faced with this situation, Venezuelans look for adequate mechanisms that allow them to safeguard the value of their savings or income. They have thus found in Bitcoin a useful mechanism for their needs.

By Willmen Blanco

Preparations Are Underway to Launch an Initial Public Offering on Coinbase

Coinbase applied with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. They estimate that the value of the operation is USD 28 billion.

In recent days, cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase confidentially applied with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for its Initial Public Offering (IPO). They did not specify the volume of shares that they will be offering in the market, according to a brief note on their official blog.

According to some researchers, the exchange could have a value of around USD 28 billion.

Messari researcher Mira Christanto said that Coinbase estimates the high-end valuation to be at USD 32 billion, but they believe that USD 28 billion is a fair valuation. She added that that depends on market conditions and the continued positive momentum for crypto assets.

Coinbase is a company that offers exchange services between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies such as the US dollar and the euro. They chose the Goldman Sachs firm to direct the operation that they conduct through the stock market.

When selecting the New York-based investment bank, the fact that its team members had made less than “bullish” comments on Bitcoin was irrelevant. Also, a report circulated in May in which there is an outline of why Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies “are not an asset class.”

The firm also sent a memo to its customers saying that “Bitcoin does not represent a serious asset to gold status as a monetary commodity of last resort.”

Regardless of that, Goldman has been active in the crypto industry from the beginning, with investments in Circle, Bitgo, and other leading companies.

Experts in the field relate an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), but there needs to be a differentiation.

An IPO consists of the sale of shares to investors for the first time, offering several advantages for the company, investors, and insurers (the investment bankers who make the initial public offering).

Regarding an ICO, it is a financing mechanism that allows a project or company to raise capital in highly liquid cryptocurrencies through the issuance of non-equity tokens.

Coinbase Token Shares

Public investors expect the San Francisco-based company to provide the details of the IPO. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency exchange FTX is working on a contract to trade token shares on Coinbase before the latter debuts on the stock market.

Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, said that they will try to do it, but he was still not sure that they could.

FTX recently held a pre-IPO market for Airbnb before its launch on December 10^th, 2020 on the stock market. The company managed to make the stock double in price and is trying to repeat the situation for Coinbase.

By Willmen Blanco

The study had the participation of 217 fund managers of the financial institution. Investors have kept their holdings of cash to a minimum.

Bank of America recently conducted a survey indicating that long-term investors prefer to inject capital in Bitcoin (BTC) rather than in US dollars, gold, emerging markets, or corporate bonds. A total of 217 managers that manage around USD 576,000 participated in the study.

To the question “What do you think is currently the busiest trade?”, investors favored long swaps of shares related to the technology world with 52% in the first place. This figure is much lower than the one recorded in September when it was 80%, according to a recent press report.

Short positions for the US dollar are in second place, with around 18%, and long-term investments for Bitcoin are in third place, with about 15%. In the universe of investments, a short position means that traders consider that the price of an asset will fall. In a long position, investors believe that the price of an asset will rise. Investors would thus be betting on the fall of the US dollar and the rise of BTC.

There is higher interest in the pioneering cryptocurrency than in traditional financial products. That says a lot about the restructuring that large-scale investment portfolios would be experiencing.

The survey also highlights that the longs in Bitcoin went from less than 5% to 15% between November and December. Besides, long positions for gold fell from just over 5% in November to less than 5% in December.

Taking into account that investors manage USD 576,000 million, it would be possible to deduce that the respondents’ long-term positions in Bitcoin would be around USD 86,000 million.

According to data from CoinGecko, the total capitalization of Bitcoin is around USD 360 billion. In other words, those who would invest long-term in Bitcoin currently represent more than 20% of the capitalization of Bitcoin.

Economic Reopening after Investors’ Divesting Themselves of Cash

The analysis indicates that investors would be optimistic about the possibility of a rebound in economies after the fall that the COVID-19 pandemic caused. Given this potential situation, fund managers have cut their cash positions to aim them at risky assets, such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

“Investor sentiment is bullish as hopes for the vaccine induce a strong ‘buy-at-reopening’ operation (…) Expectations of recovery have also exceeded previous recessions in both speed and magnitude,” said strategists at the financial institution.

The behavior of the markets reveals a significant drop in the US dollar, which currently shows its lowest levels during the last two years. Investors’ cash positions would be around just 4%, a figure not seen since May 2013.

While fund managers have recently divested themselves of cash, the price of Bitcoin has risen to levels not seen since the 2017 bullish run. At that time, the price of the pioneering cryptocurrency climbed to USD 20,000 per unit.

According to the trends that the Bank of America survey shows, Bitcoin is on top of the busiest operations. That is also evident in the billions of US dollars that the corporate world has injected in BTC.

Among the most prominent cases of institutional investment are companies such as MicroStrategy, MassMutual, Stone Ridge Asset Management, Square, and Grayscale.

By Alexander Salazar

Of those cryptocurrencies that existed in 2017, only LINK and Binance Coin are less than 40% of their maximum level. Coin Metrics indicates that the distance from highs in altcoins is a sign of a healthy market.

Due to its recent price boost above USD 19,000, Bitcoin is the only major cryptocurrency close to its all-time high (ATH), just 3% from reaching it.

Crypto analytic firm Coin Metrics recently published a report on the state of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. They highlight that, while Bitcoin is returning to levels not seen since 2017, “only a handful of cryptocurrencies are close to or have recently exceeded their all-time high.”

The report also highlights the prices of Chainlink (LINK) and Binance Coin (BNB), the cryptocurrency that the largest exchange in the ecosystem by volume launched.

LINK, which emerged in September 2017 through an initial coin offering (ICO), reached its first peak during the bullish run late in that year and early in the next when cryptocurrencies reached their respective all-time highs.

It has since remained on the rise and reached its current all-time high, just under USD 20 per unit, last August. Even though it is currently 35% below that price, it is the third major cryptocurrency closest to its all-time high. It is only behind Bitcoin and BNB, states Coin Metrics.

Something similar happens about the Binance cryptocurrency. BNB emerged in mid-2017 and reached a price peak above USD 22 in January of the following year. In 2019, it broke that level again and, in June of that year, it established its current all-time high of USD 39.5.

BNB is currently hovering around USD 30, about 24% below its all-time high. It is still far from breaking its all-time level, but the rest of the major cryptocurrencies have a much longer way to go to break their respective records.

Polkadot (DOT), a cryptocurrency with only a few months of existence, is also less than 30% from its all-time high. It has been able to do what the other cryptocurrencies mentioned in the report have not, despite their long history.

A Healthy Market Looks for Cryptocurrencies with Real Value

According to the Coin Metrics report, the rest of the major cryptocurrencies by market capitalization are very far from reaching their all-time highs. This corroborates a behavior in which altcoins lose value against Bitcoin.

Some of those cryptocurrencies were part of the bullish run of 2017 but are currently more than 80% from their all-time highs. The most prominent among them are Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Cardano (ADA), Ripple (XRP), and EOS. Others, like Litecoin (LTC), Ether (ETH), and Monero (XMR), are between 59% and 78% of their all-time price.

Coin Metrics analysts consider that this scenario is not necessarily negative. In their opinion, the situation proves that the positioning process in the cryptocurrency ecosystem is healthy.

“The fact that some assets are still well below their peak indicates that the market, at this stage of the cycle, is still discerning which projects to divert capital to,” the report says.

The analysts add that the market has also evolved over the past three years, allowing for much easier short-term exposure to a variety of assets, especially outside of Bitcoin and Ethereum. This represents a healthy market with no obvious excesses.

By Alexander Salazar

It is an alliance with EY for the management of copyright payments. The platform uses Microsoft Azure Blockchain on Quorum on Ethereum.

Multinational software development and audit services companies Microsoft, and Ernst & Young (EY)  made an announcement on which both service companies enlight the arguments about the expansion of their solutions on blockchain for managing copyright payments.

The financial support goes as a target for the Xbox network of artists, musicians, writers, and other content creators to better track their royalties.

The system is using the services of the Microsoft Azure Blockchain, a network that focuses its works in the Quorum consortium on Ethereum and that comes to offer a service more transparent and faster when it comes to payments, as reported by both companies through a joint statement.

According to Microsoft and EY, the solution calculates royalty payments in nearly real-time and integrates data visualization. The information also includes contract conditions, account statements, invoices, and accounting records.

“With its expanded blockchain, Microsoft is now able to: Accelerate contract digitization for faster creation using artificial intelligence (AI), based on Microsoft Azure.

The system can generate and integrate account statements and invoices with enterprise resource planning applications to process and record royalties with considerable and greater speed, greater visibility, and, what matters the most, transparency,”the report stated.

The software used for the payment of royalties would reduce the information processing time by 99% with a capacity to process up to two million transactions per day, according to the aforementioned companies.

Microsoft is one of the companies that recognize and assumes with more strength the potential that blockchains have for multiple use cases.  There is a report in October out pointed out that the company, through its Azure cloud proposal, was thinking about taking a position in the creation of enterprise blockchains with Quorum.

Even Microsoft claimed, in June 2020, that blockchains are useful tools that can be very expansive and could serve as bridges to help meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on the environment and the threat of climate change.

DLTs are originals of Bitcoin as a digital system, which were first introduced in January 2009. It is a technology that allows transactions of any kind (value or data) to be conducted without the intervention of trusted third parties. The exchanged information gets recorded in a register that can be consulted by the participants.

By: Jenson Nuñez.