EDCON, the Community Ethereum Development Conference, announced today that EDCON will go fully virtual this year on Aug. 9-11.

EDCON 2020 Online Edition will feature a keynote address by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, core researchers and developers Danny Ryan, Karl Floersch, Hsiao-Wei Wang, Aditya Asgaonkar, and others from across Ethereum core development team, Ethereum Foundation, and the Ethereum community.

This year, all other Ethereum-related conferences have been canceled, leaving EDCON the only existing large-scale conference that brings together the Ethereum community. The latest development updates, new projects, and features will be announced, including topics such as the current state of Ethereum, Ethereum 2.0, DeFi, dapp development, DAO, governance community building, infrastructure, developer ecosystem, and more. All keynotes and sessions will be made publicly available without charge, and everyone who is interested in Ethereum technology or blockchain in general is welcome to join.

EDCON 2020 Online Edition starts at8:00 a.m. eastern timeevery day fromAug. 9 through 11, streaming athttps://next.brella.io/join/edcon2020.

Replay tracks will be available on Youtube here if you miss the sessions.

Stay tuned on TechNode for an interview with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin.

EDCON is a non-profit global Ethereum conference that is held annually in different countries. It is committed to serving the Ethereum ecosystem by boosting communication among Ethereum communities worldwide. For more information, visit https://edcon.io/.

For sponsors: sponsor@edcon.io

For speakers: speaker@edcon.io

For press: media@edcon.io

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EDCON Ethereum Conference to take place virtually August 9-11 - TechNode

On 30 July 2015, a new baby Ethereum came into the world. Then lots of people started maniacally cooing over it and they haven't stopped since, which is how it got to where it is today.

Ethereum has already returned their adoration many times over and doesn't show any signs of stopping.

Ethereum has been the main driving force for most blockchain innovation, helping popularise the transition from the idea of blockchain as a vehicle for magic Internet money, to the idea of blockchain for everything.

Ethereum's position as a driving force for innovation has been apparent even at its ostensibly low points. The DAO hack is practically a distant memory now, but in hindsight the $60 million lost seems a small price to pay for the lessons it taught about security, decentralisation and the stakes at play. Similarly, the actually-not-that-fateful decision to split off into Ethereum Classic has also turned out to not really matter, while being a teachable moment.

By making those big mistakes early, the Ethereum community was better able to shrug off later misadventures like the $160 million Parity Wallet freeze. If the Ethereum community hadn't navigated issues like forking to recover funds earlier, it probably would have done it later with much worse outcomes.

In hindsight, the cost of those incidents was quite low although you'd probably have a different perspective on that if you personally lost funds while the benefits were quite large.

The ICO boom was arguably a much bigger challenge, but also brought even more innovation and understanding.

At its peak about 80% of ICOs were scams while 19% were just plain bad. This era is best exemplified by an ICO called BlockBroker, which launched an ICO to raise funds for a project that would somehow use tokens to fight ICO fraud, before exit scamming itself.

With every new scam depleting public goodwill and tarnishing the entire industry, the biggest pessimists at the time were ready to write the whole thing off as another failed experiment. And yet, a few years later we can see the lasting benefits of the boom.

The scam waves washed a lot of garbage onto the beach of innovation, but they also brought lots of beautiful seashells that still remain today while most of the garbage is long gone.

ICOs created success stories like Binance, which is itself now pouring money into other blockchain developments, as well as many of the DeFi projects that appear on track to define Ethereum in its current phase, such as Chainlink, Synthetix and many more.

Just as importantly, the sheer excesses of the era finally forced regulatory intervention, which helped bring some order to the chaos and encouraged a more nuanced, pragmatic vision of what Ethereum could be, how it could grow and where the worlds of centralised and decentralised finance might one day meet in the real world.

Perhaps it was these experiences, of Ethereum and its community simultaneously being on both, all and no sides of the fence that have made it such an adaptable and pragmatic system. They've helped pave the way for the vision of Ethereum 2.0 where the main Ethereum chain is a centre point in a garden of permissioned, hybrid and other permissionless chains.

This history has served Ethereum well, imbuing it with the flexibility it needs in a complicated world.

"One of the core reasons behind Ethereums success is its innate malleability," says GSX Group CEO Nick Cowan. "Much like how the rise of Web 2.0 powered a groundswell of momentum from a technological standpoint, Ethereums emergence was the battering ram for the ascent of blockchain more broadly... Blockchains use-cases extend into almost every industry and sector, with many of those innovations leaning on Ethereum as a foundational layer."

"[Ethereum's] success has been predicated on the ease at which both hybrid and fully decentralised autonomous systems, applications, and organisations can operate utilising its framework," said HXRO CEO Dan Gunsberg. The real beauty of Ethereum is that it is the ultimate laboratory for innovation across an almost infinite spectrum of market segments."

The ability to integrate with permissioned chains is integral to this success.

"I can tell you firsthand that Ethereum is the most requested chain, right up there with Bitcoin, that companies ask Blockset to support, likely due to its capabilities of building private chains," says BRD CEO and Blockset creator Adam Traidman.

Clear CEO Eran Haggiag predicts further developments along those lines:

"Looking to the future, in the next five years, I believe DLT will become a pivotal infrastructure facilitating cross-company financial applications, identity management, and traceability something most companies won't be able to operate without," he says. "Due to the conservative nature of many enterprises, most of these networks are now permissioned, choosing DLT technology based on different parameters, resulting in multiple DLTs for different networks."

"By enabling a DLT-agnostic infrastructure, cross-network connections can be rapidly created and application providers can write an application once, and easily deploy it anywhere. Enabling seamless migration between DLTs, infrastructure that is DLT-agnostic will create the path to future move into public networks like Ethereum or integration with them for payment and other DeFi applications."

It's funny to think that absolutely none of these considerations were top of mind as Ethereum navigated its way through times like the DAO hack, Parity Freeze, ICO frenzy and the attack of the Cryptokitties, but that somehow, in some way, responding to and growing from those helped shape its way for future success.

Disclosure: The author holds cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, BNB, KDA, BAND, CELO, FET, HBAR at the time of writing

Disclaimer: This information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of cryptocurrency or any specific provider, service or offering. It is not a recommendation to trade. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex and involve significant risks they are highly volatile and sensitive to secondary activity. Performance is unpredictable and past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Consider your own circumstances, and obtain your own advice, before relying on this information. You should also verify the nature of any product or service (including its legal status and relevant regulatory requirements) and consult the relevant Regulators' websites before making any decision. Finder, or the author, may have holdings in the cryptocurrencies discussed.

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Happy fifth birthday to Ethereum. What has it learned? - finder.com.au

Ethereum, the second-largest digital asset, hit the new high at $415 on Sunday, August 2, and retreated to $379.70 by press time. The second-largest digital asset has gained nearly 3% since the beginning of the day, though it is still down 1% in the recent 24 hours.

On the intraday charts, ETH/USD is supported by the upward-looking middle line of the 1-hour Bollinger Band $375.50 closely followed 50-hour SMA at $373.50. Once it is out of the way, the sell-off is likely to gain traction with the next focus on psychological $350.00 reinforced by 1-hour SMA100. The intraday RSI is flat in the neutral position, which means the price may stay continue moving inside the range for some time before the growth is resumed. The short-term trend remains bullish as long as the price stays above $350.00.

On the daily charts, strong resistance is created by $400.00. This psychological barrier is supported by the upper line of the Bollinger Band. Once it is broken, the recent high of $415 will come into focus. A sustainable move above this area will take ETH/USD into uncharted territory.

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Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH/USD struggles to hold the gains, bears target at $350.00 - FXStreet

In summary:

The Co-Founder and CEO of Bitmex, Arthur Hayes, is for the idea that Ethereum (ETH) could soon visit the $500 price area in the near future. Mr. Hayes made the comments via Twitter and as Ethereum (ETH) attempted to break the $400 price ceiling.

Mr. Hayes comments were before Ethereum suffered the gut-wrenching drop from $415 to $325 that caught many crypto traders off-guard

A quick glance at the daily ETH/USDT reveals that the digital asset is once again in bullish territory as shall be elaborated with the help of the daily chart.

From the ETH/USDT chart, the following observations can be made.

Summing it up, Bitmex Co-Founder and CEO, Arthur Hayes, has put forth one scenario of Ethereum continuing on its upward trajectory and testing the $500 price level. A quick glance at the daily ETH/USDT chart reveals that Ethereum is still in bullish territory despite its recent dip to $325.

Furthermore, a clean break above $400 could set in motion the trajectory needed for Ethereum to fulfill Mr. Hayes prediction.

Additionally, Ethereums momentum in the crypto markets is as a result of the popularity of DeFi and the anticipation of the ETH2.0 upgrade. Proof of high DeFi activity can be seen in a recent Coinbase report that explained how its team handled ETH network congestion on August 1st.

As with all analyses of Ethereum, traders and investors are advised to use adequate stop losses to protect trading capital.

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Ethereum's (ETH) Next Stop is $500 - Bitmex CEO - Ethereum World News

EOS

EOS rallied by 5.07% on Monday. Following on from a 2.40% gain from Sunday, EOS ended the day at $2.8549.

It was a mixed start to the day. EOS rose to a mid-morning high $2.8151 before hitting reverse.

EOS broke through the first major resistance level at $2.7917 before sliding to a mid-afternoon intraday low $2.6445.

The reversal saw EOS fall through the first major support level at $2.6634 before making a move.

Finding support from the broader market, EOS rallied to a late intraday high $2.9351.

EOS broke through the first major resistance level at $2.7917 and the second major resistance level at $2.8671.

A final hour pullback saw EOS slide back through the resistance levels before recovering to $2.85 levels.

At the time of writing, EOS was up by 1.09% to $2.8859. A bullish start to the day saw EOS rise from an early morning low $2.8599 to a high $2.8878.

EOS left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

EOS would need to avoid a fall through the $2.8115 pivot level to support a run at the first major resistance level at $2.9785.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for EOS to break out from Mondays high $2.9351.

Barring another extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level at $XXX would likely cap any upside.

Failure to avoid a fall through the $2.8115 pivot would bring the first major support level at $2.6879 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off, EOS should steer well clear of sub-$2.60 levels. The first major support level at $2.6879 should limit any downside.

First Major Support Level: $2.6879

Pivot Level: $2.8115

First Major Resistance Level: $2.9785

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $6.62

38% FIB Retracement Level: $9.76

62% FIB Retracement Level: $14.82

Ethereum rallied by 3.47% on Monday. Following on from a 1.90% gain on Sunday, Ethereum ended the day at $322.24.

A bullish start saw Ethereum rise from an intraday low $311.38 to an early morning high $329.99.

Ethereum broke through the first major resistance level at $320.74 before hitting reverse.

Coming up against the second major resistance level at $330.12, Ethereum fell back to $311 levels before finding support.

Through the afternoon, Ethereum rallied to a late intraday high $334.34 before sliding back to $313 levels.

Ethereum broke through the first major resistance level at $320.74 and the second major resistance level at $330.12.

Finding late support, Ethereum broke back through the first major resistance level to deliver the upside on the day.

At the time of writing, Ethereum was up by 0.85% to $324.97. A bullish start to the day saw Ethereum rise from an early morning low $322.41 to a high $325.91.

Ethereum left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Story continues

Ethereum would need to avoid a fall through the $322.65 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $333.93.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ethereum to break back through to $330 levels

Barring another extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level and Mondays high $334.34 should cap any upside.

Failure to avoid a fall through the $322.65 pivot would bring the first major support level at $310.97 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off, however, Ethereum should steer clear of sub-$300 levels. The first major support level at $310.97 should limit any downside.

First Major Support Level: $310.97

Pivot Level: $322.65

First Major Resistance Level: $333.93

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $257

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $367

62% FIB Retracement Level: $543

Ripples XRP rallied by 4.33% on Monday. Following on from a 0.28% gain on Sunday, Ripples XRP ended the day at $0.2248.

It was a bullish start to the day, with Ripples XRP rallying to a mid-day high $0.22348 before hitting reverse.

Ripples XRP broke through the first major resistance level at $0.2232 before sliding to a mid-afternoon intraday low $0.20919.

Finding support at the first major support level at $0.2101, Ripples XRP rallied to a late intraday high $0.22979.

Ripples XRP broke back through the first major resistance level at $0.2232 before sliding back to sub-$0.2230 levels.

Finding late support, however, Ripples XRP broke back through the first major resistance level to end the day at $0.224 levels.

At the time of writing, Ripples XRP was up by 0.75% to $0.22648. A bullish start to the day saw Ripples XRP rise from an early morning low $0.22429 to a high $0.22673.

Ripples XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Ripples XRP will need to avoid a fall through the $0.2213 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $0.2333.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ripples XRP to break out from Mondays high $0.22979.

Barring a broad-based crypto rally, the first major resistance level should cap any upside.

In the event of a breakout, Ripples XRP should test the second major resistance level at $0.2419 before any pullback.

Failure to avoid a fall through the $0.2213 pivot would bring the first major support level at $0.2127 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, Ripples XRP should avoid sub-$0.21 levels and the second major support level at $0.2007.

First Major Support Level: $0.2127

Pivot Level: $0.2213

First Major Resistance Level: $0.2333

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $0.3638

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $0.4800

62% FIB Retracement Level: $0.6678

Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks, Bob

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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EOS, Ethereum and Ripples XRP Daily Tech Analysis July 28th 2020 - Yahoo Finance

Ethereum dived from the $417 swing high and traded below $350 against the US Dollar. ETH price is currently recovering above $375 and it is likely to climb back above $400.

After a strong rally above $350 and $400, Ethereum faced a significant bearish move against the US Dollar. A high was formed near $417 before the price tumbled (similar to bitcoin and ripple) below $400 and $350.

The price even spiked below the $330 support level and the 100 hourly simple moving average. However, it found a strong buying interest near $305 and $300. Ether recovered sharply above the $330 and $350 levels.

There was a break above the $365 and $370 levels. The price is now trading near the $385 resistance zone. It is close to the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $416 swing high to $353 swing low. It seems like there is a key contracting triangle forming with resistance near $385 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD.

If ether price breaks the triangle resistance, it could test the $390 resistance. The 61.8% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the $416 swing high to $353 swing low is also near the $392 level.

A successful break above the triangle resistance and $392 could open the doors for a fresh increase above the $400 level. In the mentioned case, the price is likely to rise towards the $415 and $420 levels in the coming sessions.

The triangle support is near the $378 level. If there is a bearish break below the triangle support, Ethereum could test the $365 support.

The next major support is near the $360 level and the 100 hourly SMA, where the bulls are likely to take a strong stand. Any further losses could lead the price towards the $300 handle.

Technical Indicators

Hourly MACD The MACD for ETH/USD is slowly moving in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI The RSI for ETH/USD is now back above the 50 level.

Major Support Level $365

Major Resistance Level $392

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This Simple Breakout Pattern Could Resend Ethereum Price Above $400 | NewsBTC - newsBTC

The lights were dimmed during the last day of Devcon in October 2019. A hush fell over the auditorium in Osaka, Japan. A haunting melody rippled through the crowd of roughly 1,000 people. Everyone knew the dance was about to begin.

Ethereum leaders, such as Hudson Jameson and Aya Miyaguchi of the Ethereum Foundation, would lead a goofy dance to close out the annual tech conference.

Cheers erupted when the Ethereum influencers took the stage, nodding respectfully to conference organizers and thanking the crowd. Soon the whole crowd was following along, jumping up and down, turning in circles. Critics might say they were simply mimicking the technologists on stage, but on the ground, people were adding their own moves or simply nodding along. Every Etherean dances his or her own way, or smiles and sways timidly. (Ethereum Foundation developer Vlad Zamfir, for example, dislikes the dance and said he prefers not to partake.)

The tongue-in-cheek ritual offers a microcosm of the carefree Ethereum lifestyle brand, inspired by the cryptocurrency founded in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin and others. Over the past five years, Ethereum, the blockchain platform that birthed so many ill-fated ideas, also launched a crop of products and services that are currently multibillion-dollar endeavors.

The dance is a promise until next year, the leaders say on stage. Its a celebration of what the community has achieved so far and what it will achieve. The dance is a way to communicate with Ethereans from all around the world, even if they dont speak English.

There is roughly $3.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency locked up in Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms used by people around the world like Gerald Nash, a computer science student who interned at Coinbase and leads programs at the Howard University Blockchain Lab.

I wouldnt consider it a hard money because of the economic decisions the core team makes, Nash said, describing the difference between bitcoin and ether. Bitcoin is digital money, he said, unlike ether.

But I am fascinated by the other technological aspects [beyond money], like Turing-complete smart contracts, he added.

As a young Black man, Nash said he uses DeFi to access more complex or sophisticated finance [tools], than he previously could through banks. He acknowledges these are risky software projects and uses them with deliberate caution. That hasnt damped the allure.

Scaling diversity

Ethereum was able to outgrow the pop culture affiliations of its predecessor, Bitcoin, and develop a distinct culture where more people feel welcome to participate.

Law professor and Maker Foundation board member Tonya Evans offers another example of a DeFi fan.

Im a Black, queer woman in crypto focused on education and financial inclusion, she said. You dont have to come from a technical background to have a lot to add.

From her perspective, cryptocurrency projects should start off with some level of control then work toward decentralization. She added this may not be the Bitcoin approach, often referred to cheekily as Satoshis Vision. Although different, she said, Ethereum represents a good-faith march toward a similar goal.

These platforms and protocols arent developed in a vacuum, especially those developed for heavily regulated industries like finance and healthcare, she said, describing Ethereum experiments. Its not about a foundation or any one person.

Indeed, the DeFi industry attracted some of the shrewdest women in the blockchain industry, from Evans to Volt Capital co-founder Soona Amhaz and Optimism co-founder Jinglan Wang. None of these women danced with developers in Japan in 2019. But they may engage with the Ethereum lifestyle brand in other ways, like wearing unicorn swag.

Ethereum chic

Its impossible to mistake an Ethereum event, which may include dancing or goofy rap performances (like the one at EDCON 2019 in Australia), in addition to unicorn graphics and rainbow or pastel-colored decor.

Attendees often dress with more pizazz than other tech conferences and may be openly inclined to use recreational drugs.

Like many digital countercultural movements, who have always been anchored in a bohemian and hippie-like ethos, Ethereum is no exception, said anthropologist Ann Brody, a crypto fan in attendance in Japan during the fifth Devcon.

She compared Ethereum to thought leader Stewart Brand and his Bay Area circles of influence in the 1960s and 1970s. However, the contemporary band of Ethereum thought leaders isnt yet a social movement, Brody said.

There are also those in the community that treat Ethereum simply as an experiment and thats why I hesitate to call them a social movement at this time, Brody said. I think the dancing in itself speaks so much about Ethereums cultural values related to freedom, creative expression, fun, unconventionality, and even the desire for collective unity to some extent.

TikTok commonalities

After all, the younger generation has a different relationship with brands than those who grew up before social media was omnipresent.

As the New York Times reported, its a popular pastime for teenagers to impersonate brands on platforms like TikTok and act out fictional storylines that often include dance moves. Likewise, Ethereans identify themselves with the Ethereum lifestyle brand, acting out the meme of a socially awkward nerd in the form of interpretive dance.

TikTok and Ethereum influencers can motivate thousands of people to download an app, sometimes garnering thousands of dollars in the process.

Ethereum has spawned many subcultures, comparable to how Twitter became a jungle of amorphous social groups like Weird Twitter and Bitcoin Twitter. Yet, even Ethereans who never attended a conference use the same iconography, the ether symbol or pink-haired unicorn, often illustrated with rainbows. This visual aesthetic sets it apart from the (generally older or more academic) Bitcoin community.

On the other hand, one tendency crypto fans, Bitcoiners and Ethereans alike, share with teens on TikTok is the preoccupation with identifying posers who dont belong to Elite TikTok or to a chosen crypto revolution.

At their core, TikTok, Twitter and Bitcoin are platforms. Ethereums tech platform cannot handle comparable volumes yet, but the Ethereum community is motivated to achieve that goal and maybe even become tech unicorns.

There is something nave and childlike to these symbols, Brody said of the uncorrupted youth aesthetics in Ethereum. She added that, to some people, the rainbow world computer is subconsciously a metaphor for global unification.

Unicorns

Many people believe they can use the wizardry (Ethereans love magical metaphors) of software to fix the failures of previous generations.

Ethereum is a wonderland, a confusing wonderland for abstractions, said the Ethereum Foundations Zamfir. It represented a super ambitious decentralization agenda that was very general and took Bitcoins ethos to the next level. It was never just about finance.

Camila Russo, founder of the Ethereum-centric newsletter The Defiant, said token creator Fabian Vogelsteller used cartoon unicorns in his videos, similar to the small unicorn and rainbow featured on early Devcon conference shirts and decorations, long before the token boom in 2017. Plus, unicorn has long been slang for a tech company evaluated at $1 billion. The aspirational unicorn metaphor was already common among young developers. Then, when Buterin was photographed in 2017 wearing unicorn shirts at tech events, Russo said the trend blew up.

This is all in the context of the ETH community being young, millennial developers, where all these internet memes and unicorn images are already popular, she added.

Years later, the Ethereum Foundation and the Brooklyn-based conglomerate ConsenSys, headed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, are still busy evangelizing their blockchain. While Lubins companies run a considerable chunk of the infrastructure supporting the DeFi ecosystem, Buterins nonprofit donates ether to organizations like the United Nations Childrens Fund. Both companies sponsor a variety of grants and scholarships, and they are rarely short on unicorn swag.

Most of the dozen or so Ethereum co-founders pivoted to their own projects long ago. Those that remain, like Buterin and Lubin, remain consistent.

Vision

One common gripe among Ethereum critics, that the project keeps changing focus, doesnt hold up if we consider the communitys goal rather than its tools.

Longtime Bitcoin advocate Bruce Fenton said he met Buterin at a conference in Miami back when Ethereum co-founders were just starting to crystalize their idea. In the years to come, Fenton said Lubins ConsenSys sponsored many fun and relaxed events with unicorn art and hip vendors. He said hacker commune-style spaces popped up from Zug to San Francisco, all revolving around similar aesthetics and values.

Ive always loved the energy at Ethereum events lots of excited builders, Fenton said. What this ultimately means is democratizing finance. They dont need to go beg the establishment for money, they can go directly to the people.

Token Summit co-founder William Mougayar, author of the Business of Blockchain, said the projects 2020 brand strategy is still similar to conversations he had with Ethereum co-founders in 2014.

According to Mougayars consultation documents from 2014, the project aimed to be inclusive, empowering and visionary in order to bring people together from all disciplines for the common goal of something bigger than themselves.

The Ethereum community has generally followed these principles across a variety of software experiments over the past five years.

Roots

Millennials didnt invent this moralistic and social approach to technology, as historian Benjamin Peters showed in his writings about Soviet tech culture. The Russian-Canadian Buterin said in public interviews he was interested in both socialism and libertarianism, offering a unique cultural mix. Ethereans, including fans of all backgrounds, are now putting their own spins on blockchain technology.

MyEtherWallet co-founder Kosala Hemachandra, who has been involved with the token economy since 2015, now spearheads a team of 18 employees. Last month the mobile app alone served at least 326,000 monthly active users, according to MyEtherWallet site data shared with CoinDesk. The website logged 1.7 million visitors.

Volumes went up nine times since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, starting in February, compared to previous months, Hemachandra said. We have way more help requests now than before [2017], which means new users are coming in.

Bitcoin purists who claim Ethereum is failing arent measuring success the same way as Ethereans. Hemachandra said he is confident Eth 2.0, the blockchains latest technical overhaul, will launch a usable beacon chain in 2020. Regardless of the current state of the software, Ethereum fans see the experiment as a success. It inspired research and community-building efforts that changed thousands of lives, for better or worse.

ConsenSys alum Andrew Keys said he met Lubin in 2014 and was instrumental in helping create Ethereums first cooperation with Microsoft in 2015. In May 2020, he described Ethereum as a huge success in its opening act.

It has proven the ability to digitize all assets, automate agreements and empower self-sovereign identity, Keys said. Were still in the first inning, though, and bleeding-edge technology that already garners billions in value takes time to upgrade properly.

Global reach

Even Ethereums critics cant deny the lifestyle brand went global in 2017.

In addition to dozens of central bank experiments, Ethereum also inspired grassroots education initiatives that draw more emotional nourishment from the founders than financial incentives.

Awosika Israel Ayodeji, an Ethereum advocate in Nigeria since the token boom of 2017, said hes helped train 150 local developers on how to write Ethereum smart contracts since October 2019. After having an amazing experience at the EthCC 3 conference in Europe in March 2020, he returned home feeling confident in his work and supported by the global community.

While Bitcoiners are often individualistic, Ethereans tend to be more collectivist. For Ayodeji, Ethereum is more than a software or even a project. It is a way of thinking.

The fact that Ethereum allows everyone an [opportunity for] expression is why I personally like Ethereum, he said. The image I see of Ethereum is an innovation giving power to groups of people to express and govern themselves.

Like Evans and Nash, Ayodeji is a token user, including the dai stablecoins minted on MakerDAO.

I earn in ETH and convert to fiat when I need to spend, he said. Ethereum culture for me is decentralization. Although we might still be far from decentralization, as it might still be early, its gradually coming along.

At least in terms of geographic decentralization, the Ethereum community has achieved some degree of diversity. Over in Taiwan, marketing associate Yahsin Huang has been involved with a local Ethereum meetup group since 2016.

Im interested in building the next generation of the internet, she said. For her, getting involved in blockchain projects is less about investment or career development and closer to activism.

Im more of an idealist, very purpose-driven, believe in the core values, and also strongly believe in the future of the web, she said.

Likeminded Ethereum Foundation developer Danny Ryan said that from his perspective Ethereum is about freedom of choice on the internet. He added Hemachandra is correct to believe the Eth 2.0 beacon chain will go live this year.

Im deeply concerned about the trajectory of technology. Ethereum might help us disrupt that and push it in the right direction, Ryan said. The beacon chain is the core of this new consensus mechanism.

His coworker Zamfir said Ethereum is also associated with a type of discipline or practice beyond coding. Zamfir doesnt dance, like some of his fellow Ethereans, but even he cant deny the narrative-shaping power of the moment at Devcon when the lights turned low.

I still believe that Ethereum, Bitcoin and the blockchain space create an incredible opportunity to do interesting research, Zamfir said. Im more optimistic than ever about what it could be, despite not being optimistic about what it is now.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Ethereum as Lifestyle Brand: What Unicorns and Rainbows Are Really About - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Crypto analyst Nicholas Merten says two mid-cap crypto assets will soar along with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP as a new bull market emerges.

On the latest episode of DataDash, Merten says a broad correction in the altcoin markets is offering investors a chance to hop in before the next big rally explodes. He says traders should keep an eye on the relative crypto newcomers Cardano (ADA) and Tezos (XTZ) in preparation for the next bullish breakout.

Now that we have had this pullback here, [it] does provide an opportunity for some bulls who have missed out on a lot of this kind of exponential portion of the rally to get back in

The major thing to focus on, as I think really a lot of the large caps and a lot of the established protocols, so some of the new emerging protocols, I know some of you are going to be excited for me to say this. Plays like Cardano, plays like Tezos, some of the other ones alongside some of the large caps like Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, this is going to be our major focus here.

As for Litecoin, Merten says bulls will spark a new rally if they can capture a key level.

Just like Bitcoin, just like Ethereum, building up long-term technical formations, Litecoin has very clear points of resistance and support. It looks like here, if you really take a look at the log chart, we just need to basically get above $70, we could really start to see this take off.

Meanwhile, the crypto analyst is also long-term bullish on Ethereum. He believes the second-largest cryptocurrency will continue its hot streak en route to a new all-time high as long as the coin properly scales.

Its already built up support on previous resistance and broken out here I think its going to continue to go up, eventually to set all-time highs and accelerate towards even higher levels.

I

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Art Furnace

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DataDash: Two Crypto Newcomers Will Surge Alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP in New Bull Cycle - The Daily Hodl

The Ethereum-based Aave protocol will initiate the process of transition to a decentralised governance model. Via the Aavenomics proposal, the team behind the protocol announced the introduction of a new token, AAVE, which will replace LEND. The process of replacing the token will begin with a vote on the genesis governance model. According to data from DeFi Pulse, the AAVE credit protocol accounts for $400 million of ETH in Total Value Locked (TVL).

The Aavenomics proposal contemplates a series of changes and additions with the objective of sharing a vision of alignment among the various shareholders and improving the functionality of the protocol. The new governance model will have the AAVE token as a basic security element. In that sense, Aave will migrate the 1.3 billion LEND token to 13 million AAVE tokens. Thus, the tokens will have an equivalency of 100 LEND for 1 AAVE.

While these 13 million AAVE will be claimable by LEND holders at the aforementioned rate, 3 more millions AAVE will be allocated to the Aave Ecosystem Reserve a bootstrapping fund for protocol incentives governed by AAVE token holders.

Migration will begin with a vote using LEND in a Genesis governance poll. The poll will serve as a mechanism to deploy the smart contract responsible for converting LEND to AAVE. Once completed, the AAVE holders will determine how funds in the Aave Ecosystem Reserve will be used. Below you can see a summary of how the Aave protocol will operate and what role the AAVE token and its holders will have.

As can be seen in the image above Aave will launch a security (SM) module so that the AAVE token can be delegated as last resort collateral. Stakeholders will earn AAVE as a security incentive along with a percentage of the protocol fees. In addition, staking in Aave will allow for the delegation of AAVE and the AAVE/ETH pair.

The AAVE/ETH pair will also be used as a liquidity incentive for the market through a pool from the provider Balancer. Therefore, holders will also earn rewards on Balancer and rewards for trading fees. In order to trade the AAVE token it is necessary to wait for a cool-down period. Rewards on the new token will be distributed while the AAVE is removed or transferred from the security module.

Another important change in the protocol is the introduction of the Aave Improvement Proposals (AIP). This will allow holders to vote for protocol changes to be ratified on-chain. In that regard, the Aave team stated the following:

The goal is to create a future-proof framework which relies on systemic incentives and multilevel governance to create an efficient equilibrium that stimulates long-term growth and optimization of the protocol.

The decentralized governance model seems to be a new trend in the Ethereum DeFi sector. Other protocols such as Compound, Synthetix and yearn.finance have launched governance tokens to enable their users to participate more. The token of the latter protocol, YFI, recorded a daily gain of 2000% on the day of its launch and 11,000% within the first week. The new AAVE token could follow a similar path, if investors find the incentives offered by the Aave protocol attractive.

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Aave announces new token: Next Ethereum based DeFi token to skyrocket? - Crypto News Flash

Ethereum has back in the $300s range after briefly trading above $400. The tremendous price action occurred in tandem with Bitcoins surge above $12,000. Ripple also stepped above the critical $0.30. On the other hand, ETH/USD ascended to new 2020 highs above $400. A yearly high was traded at $416.48 (on Coinbase) before the devastating plunge occurred.

Ether is currently trading at $373.74 which is marginally above 2019 high at $361. Support at this level is expected to continue to hold as buyers focus on making the bullish case to $400. Resistance is expected at $380 but if broken, gains above $400 are likely to materialize.

Technically, Ethereum is in the hands of the bulls as seen with the RSI position above 70. The reversal from the levels above $400 is reflected in the RSI drop from 88 to 85. The Elliot Wave Oscillator is also in a bullish session, which means that gains will continue in the near term.

Excerpt from:

Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH/USD plummets like dead weight in the air after hitting a one-year high at $400 - FXStreet

In brief

ConsenSys Labs Tachyon Web3 accelerator program is back again this autumn. To kick things off, ConsenSys Labs has launched an accelerator with Protocol Labs, the creator of decentralized storage protocol Filecoin.

Powered by the Tachyon Accelerator, the Filecoin Launchpad Accelerator will accept between 15 and 20 startup teams that are building Ethereum projects that incorporate elements of IPFS, a peer-to-peer protocol for decentralized file sharing and web hosting, or Filecoin, a marketplace for decentralized file sharing.

Filecoin allows users to essentially rent out their excess computer storage space to others for a fee. Data is spliced into portions and spread across multiple devices. Because the network is distributed, data won't be lost in case a single hard drive or server fails. The protocol raised $257 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017 and its currently in testnet.

The Accelerator will provide teams with $80,000 each for a 12-week program that includes mentorship from both Protocol Labs and ConsenSys (which funds an editorially independent Decrypt).Following a demo day at the end of the accelerator program, the Accelerator will help the teams raise funds.

This is the first time that the Tachyon accelerator has been presented in partnership with Protocol Labs, but the timing makes sense: the Protocol will launch the incentivized Filecoin testnet next week (i.e., a testnet that uses real money) in advance of a planned mainnet launch sometime this quarter. With the initiative, Protocol and ConsenSys Labs aim to increase the usage of Filecoin within Ethereum and its burgeoning decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

its

According to the program page, more than two dozen mentors and speakers have signed up to help guide the Filecoin Launchpad Accelerator startups, including ConsenSys founder and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, ChainSafe co-founder and CEO Aidan Hyman, and MetaMask lead developer Dan Finlay. (Disclosure: Decrypt co-founder Ryan Bubinski, who previously co-founded Codecademy, is also on that list.)

The Filecoin Launchpad Accelerator is currently accepting applications through August 21, with the fully remote program set to take place from mid-September through December.

Original post:

Accelerator aims to boost Filecoin adoption in Ethereum and DeFi - Decrypt

A trader who correctly predicted Bitcoins big crash to around $4,000 in early 2020 is back after taking a three-week hiatus.

The pseudonymous analyst known in the industry as Capo tells his 16,000 followers on Twitter that hes bullish on three altcoins if BTC can remain strong.

The trader says he just bought Ethereum, EOS and XRP in anticipation of a rally in the weeks ahead. He believes Ethereum looks ready to continue breaking out against Bitcoin, after the second-largest cryptocurrency broke through a key level of resistance.

The analyst says EOS is also looking strong against both BTC and the US dollar.

As for XRP, the trader points to the third-largest cryptocurrencys past price history, noting that its current trajectory appears similar to what happened back in 2017 before the coins epic breakout to an all-time high of $3.84.

When it comes to the crypto bellwether Bitcoin, the analyst says the leading cryptocurrency must turn resistance at $10,500 into support.

As Ive said many times, $10.5k is the key level. Above it, first target is $12k.

Im not bearish above that level, but the bearish scenario will be in play again if BTC consolidates below this level. Im only trading bullish altcoins setups now.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Tithi Luadthong

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Trader Who Correctly Called Bitcoin Crash Predicts Ethereum, XRP and EOS Will Surge If BTC Follows One Rule - The Daily Hodl

Ethereum, a household name in the crypto industry, fired up its network on July 30, 2015, but what happened to the first ETH coin ever mined all those years ago? Blockchain analytics and Anti-Money Laundering company Coinfirm found out.

Another great example of the many benefits of blockchains such as Ethereum compared to the traditional space, we can see and understand the literal creation of value and how it moves," Coinfirm co-founder and CMO Grant Blaisdell told Cointelegraph, adding, "In a time where fiat printing by central banks and other major elements are absolutely unknown to the people and businesses effected by it.

*Image courtesy of Coinfirm.

Ethereum'sinaugural mined block attributed to the following address: 0x05a56e2d52c817161883f50c441c3228cfe54d9f,Coinfirm data showed. The address received a 5 ETH payout.

The noted address racked up 265.63 ETH in mining rewards over time, responsible for a total mining career of 53 blocks. A Kraken crypto exchange address received the first 5 ETH rewarded as payout for mining the inaugural block, Coinfirm data showed.

One Wei of ETH, however, went to the address 0xc130afe98f8c42e19bdacf8c6e63e48a44a26ca8. Wei hold as Ethereum's version of Satoshis, denominating the smallest divisible fraction of a 1 ETH.In total, the address sent ETH to three different locations on four separate occasions.

Ethereum has changed significantly since its first mined block, not only regarding its network, but also in its asset's price. Long-term hodlers likely reaped the benefits of the project, seeing the asset take its place among the largest assets in the industry.

Data from ICODrops shows ETH priced at $0.31 per coin during its initial coin offering, or ICO a hefty profit potential if owners held the asset until its 2018 peak near $1,400 per coin.

Ethereum's network has also shown no shortage of changes over the years as it still wages toward a transition to proof-of-stake, or PoS,as part of Ethereum 2.0.

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Heres Where the Earliest ETH Ever Mined Ended Up 5 Years Later - Cointelegraph

EOS

EOS rose by 1.36% on Friday, Following on from a 0.90% gain on Thursday, EOS ended the month up by 30.56% to $3.0950.

It was a mixed start to the day. EOS fell to an early morning intraday low $3.0163 before making a move.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $2.9763, EOS rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $3.1481

EOS broke through the first major resistance level at $3.1191 before easing back to sub-$3.10 levels.

At the time of writing, EOS was down by 0.17% to $3.0896. A mixed start to the day saw EOS rise to an early morning high $3.1155 before falling to a low $3.0896.

EOS left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

EOS would need to avoid a fall through the $3.0865 pivot level to support a run at the first major resistance level at $3.1566.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for EOS to break back out from Fridays high $3.1481.

Barring another extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely cap any upside.

Failure to avoid a fall through the $3.0865 pivot would bring the first major support level at $3.0248 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off, EOS should steer clear of the second major support level at $2.9547.

First Major Support Level: $3.0248

Pivot Level: $3.0865

First Major Resistance Level: $3.1566

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $6.62

38% FIB Retracement Level: $9.76

62% FIB Retracement Level: $14.82

Ethereum rose by 3.46% on Friday. Following on from a 5.39% rally on Thursday, Ethereum ended the month up by 53.82% to $346.86.

Another mixed start saw Ethereum fall to an early morning intraday low $328.35 before making a move.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $319.09, Ethereum rallied to a late intraday high $349.74.

Ethereum broke through the first major resistance level at $346.97 to test resistance at $350 before easing back.

Ethereum slipped back through the first major resistance level at $346.97 late in the day.

At the time of writing, Ethereum was down by 0.28% to $345.88. A mixed start to the day saw Ethereum rise to an early morning high $347.99 before falling to a low $345.56.

Ethereum left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Story continues

Ethereum would need to avoid a fall through the $341.65 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $354.95.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ethereum to break out form Fridays high $349.74.

Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level should cap any upside.

A fall through the $341.65 pivot would bring the first major support level at $333.56 into play.

Barring an extended sell-off, however, Ethereum should steer well clear of the second major support level at $320.26.

First Major Support Level: $333.56

Pivot Level: $341.65

First Major Resistance Level: $354.95

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $257

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $367

62% FIB Retracement Level: $543

Ripples XRP rallied by 6.22% on Friday. Following on from a 0.36% gain on Thursday, Ripples XRP ended the month up by 48.21% to $0.25983.

Tracking the broader market, Ripples XRP fell to an early morning intraday low $0.24201 before finding support.

Steering clear of the first major support level at $0.2359, Ripples XRP rallied to a late intraday high $0.26078.

Ripples XRP broke through the first major resistance level at $0.2517 and the second major resistance level at $0.2587.

On the day, it was the first visit to $0.26 levels since early February before wrapping up the day at $0.2590 levels.

At the time of writing, Ripples XRP was down by 0.28% to $0.25909. A mixed start to the day saw Ripples XRP rise to an early morning high $0.26021 before falling to a low $0.25833.

Ripples XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.

Ripples XRP will need to avoid a fall through the $0.2542 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $0.2664.

Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ripples XRP to break out from Fridays high $0.26078.

Barring another broad-based crypto rally, the first major resistance level should cap any upside.

In the event of a breakout, Ripples XRP would likely test the second major resistance level at $0.0.2730 before any pullback.

Failure to avoid a fall through the $0.2542 pivot would bring the first major support level at $0.2476 into play.

Barring an extended crypto sell-off, Ripples XRP should avoid sub-$0.25 levels, however.

First Major Support Level: $0.2476

Pivot Level: $0.2542

First Major Resistance Level: $0.2664

23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $0.3638

38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $0.4800

62% FIB Retracement Level: $0.6678

Please let us know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks, Bob

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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EOS, Ethereum and Ripples XRP Daily Tech Analysis August 1st, 2020 - Yahoo Finance

What makes Ethereum culture click?

Maker Foundation board member Tonya Evans and former ConsenSys Chief Marketing Officer Amanda Cassatt joined CoinDesk senior reporter Leigh Cuen on Monday to discuss Ethereums ethos in an hour-long conversation streamed to the CoinDesk homepage.

In terms of its structure and what it accomplishes in the world, its by default a global movement, Cassat said of the worlds leading smart-contract blockchain.

Evans, also a law professor at Penn States Dickinson Law School, said Ethereum can yield a more equitable version of global finance. Inclusion is baked into the platform but shouldnt be taken for granted, she said.

We have a better chance with this system than we do with the existing infrastructure. But will this end up being a microcosm of tech and finance? In many ways, it looks like that now but there is promise.

The CoinDesk Live session was the first in a five-day series of live-streamed conversations. It comes as part of CoinDesks Ethereum at Five package.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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CoinDesk Live Recap: Ethereum Culture, Explained - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Ethereum bullish case to $400 began the moment it cleared the hurdle at the high traded in February at $284. The move encouraged more buyers to join the market. Moreover, with Bitcoin price rocketing to the skies, Ethereum had no option but to rally due to its increasing correlation with the largest digital asset.

Indeed, it has been a journey of breaking barriers to the extent of closing in on 2019s highs around $361. ETH/USD spike on the day, has traded a new 2020 high of $358.52. Meanwhile, the prevailing bullish trend suggests that it is only a matter of time before Ethereum breaks its one-year high as it sets for higher levels beyond $400.

Technically, the impact following the recent symmetrical triangle breakout is still contributing to the rally. The breakout has been supported by high trading volume. Besides, technical levels have remained bullish for over two weeks now.

For instance, the Elliot Wave Oscillator is at the helm of the bullish session. The RSI is holding well within the overbought region. For now, bulls are in control and if the technical picture remains intact, gains above $375 are within reach even this weekend session.

On the flip side, it is vital to realize that bullish markets are prone to retracements which also offer great opportunities for rebounds. In other words traders should carefully watch the market for confirmed reversals using the RSI and the MACD coupled with increased volume.

The rest is here:

Ethereum Market Update: ETH/USD spaceship to $400 on the launchpad - FXStreet

In recent weeks, weve seen a boom in decentralized finance (DeFi). Recent data have shown that total DeFi users have grown by 23% since the start of June, while over $2 billion worth ofEthereumand Bitcoin is now locked up in DeFi. And transaction volume across Ethereum-based DeFi dapps has increased by nearly 800% since April.

It's driven by the rise of yield farming, in which DeFi platforms offer token incentives in exchange for users' deposits. Its led to unintended consequences as users race to snap up tokens, creating artificial demand for some assets.

The big question is: is DeFis meteoric growth sustainable, or another bubble about to burst?

DeFi highlights the power of community-owned networks, permissionless innovation, and having a financial system that's global from day one, according to Itamar Lesuisse, co-founder and CEO of DeFi-friendly crypto wallet Argent.

At the moment it's still an early experiment and mostly caters to a crypto audience, but it's just the start, Lesuisse told Decrypt. In the years ahead we look forward to it solving significant problems for mainstream users around the world; we'd argue the user experience is already better than traditional finance in many areas.

The user experience [of DeFi] is already better than traditional finance in many areas.

Itamar Lesuisse

One of the principal proposed benefits behind DeFi is to offer lower fees, as theres no centralized entity rent-seeking in the middle of transactions, according to Alex Batlin, CEO of Trustology. DeFi also rewards every single contributor through built-in incentive programs, Batlin added.

It was too complex for a vast majority to understand initially, said Batlin. Were now getting to the point where its easy enough for people to take advantage and find value. On top of this, one-click services from the likes of Instadapp are enabling DeFi strategies such as flash loans to facilitate access to the average investor.

He adds that now, instead of requiring a specialist, the viability of yield farming is extending to a broader demographic. This is the kind of functionality Trustology will roll out through its APIs but with the necessary institutional controls and security. Users can easily access DeFi appsand soon staking on ETH 2.0without the same security concerns as those who self-custody.

According to Julian Sawyer, head of Europe at crypto exchange Gemini, while the concept of decentralized finance is sound, its often characterized that a few people are talking a lot about the boom in its adoption.

Whether it is on the mainstream agenda of central banks, regulators, major institutions and consumers is questionable, given the challenges that removing all central controls, intermediaries, and oversight bodies present to even simple processes like payments, cross-border transfers, and settlements, Sawyer said.

Whether [DeFi] is on the mainstream agenda of central banks, regulators, major institutions and consumers is questionable.

Julian Sawyer

For decentralized finance to move to broad adoption, Sawyer added, the DeFi space needs to develop controls and protections to allow it to interact with or exist in the same world as current financial systems. They include the implementation of effective compliance measures to combat financial crime and fraud, such as the ability to assess the source of wealth and funds running through applications.

While the banking and finance system is not perfect, it works for consumers, retailers, corporations and governments because it is underpinned by standards, processes, and controls that everyone can trust, Sawyer said. He added that it will be difficult for DeFi to build the credibility and trust it needs to gain traction without building bridges to existing institutions and engaging with regulators.

Whereas many fintech companies are just a shiny interface on legacy financial infrastructure, DeFi is an entirely new financial system. That has implications for the wider industry.

If it lives up to its potential, it could make finance more accessible, fair and transparent. It can innovate much more quickly than traditional finance, and with greater capital efficiency, Lesuisse told Decrypt.

Vance Spencer, co-founder of VC firm Framework Ventures, agreed. DeFi, he argued, allows for wider global access to financial services, affordable cross-border payments through the reduction in costly intermediaries, improved privacy and security, more transparent lines of credit, and increased control over ones assets.

Many projects in DeFi are still undergoing the process of decentralization, but even in this nascent stage, the user experience is already much more permissionless, he said.

Even in this nascent stage, the user experience [of DeFi] is already much more permissionless.

Vance Spencer

Spencer said that several DeFi tokens are infinitely more useful than cryptocurrency tokens from 2017 and 2018. They often have value extractive mechanisms (either through dividends or burning) meaning their value can actually be modeled, a sharp departure from the useless utility tokens of a previous age.

More importantly, consumers can immediately see the advantages that DeFi products provide, in that they mimic products we already use in our day to day lives, but in a way that is more transparent, efficient, and democratic, he adds.

Another challenge for decentralized finance is to articulate the exact real-world problems it can solve, given there are only a few users who will adopt it for the sake of being outside the system.

There will be viable use cases where DeFi does provide better, more efficient, and faster services to consumers, said Sawyer. The industry as a whole needs to focus on developing and communicating the value that these applications can bring to consumers and businesses.

Lesuisse says that we shouldn't underestimate the challenges in the near term, nor should we get carried away with the recent surge in assets locked in DeFi.

It's still an experiment, far from mass adoptionand, as with crypto as a whole, there will be ups and downs, he said. We nevertheless believe the underlying breakthroughs in technology, business models and governance will see it add considerable value to people over the long term.

Spencer says that some DeFi projects are likely to fail, but its a bit premature to start labeling this growing industry as a bubble.

The total market capitalization of DeFi is today less than $8 billion, a mere fraction of the larger cryptocurrency industry. Of course, a flight to quality will eventually happen, but the growth stage hasnt even really started yet, he says.

Read more here:

Is Ethereum's DeFi boom sustainable in the long term? - Decrypt

Payments provider Visa has announced plans to incorporate cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) into its payments network.

With access to over 61 million merchants globally, Visa is one of the largest payment companies to create a roadmap for adopting cryptocurrencies on its platform. Visa acknowledges that the advent of Bitcoin and stablecoins such as Tether are a form of financial innovation that has brought benefits to consumers and merchants. In that sense, they highlight the rapid expansion that cryptocurrencies have reached as a payment method. In May 2020, circulation with cryptocurrencies reached USD 10 billion.

One of the relevant obstacles in Visas roadmap is the position of politicians, regulators, and other government entities. The payment company said it has been working with regulated entities, including Coinbase and Fold, to create a bridge between digital currencies and its payment network. As a result, 25 crypto wallets are linked to the services offered by Visa. This way, users of these services can use their funds in cryptocurrencies to spend them with Visa cards or a prepaid credential, according to crypto-news-flash.com.

Read more:

Visa to offer Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple payments - The Paypers

Key Takeaways

On-chain activity on the Ethereum network has been surging in 2020 to the levels previously seen amid the 2017-2018 bull run. Data suggests that its likely due to the rapid expansion of the DeFi sector.

While the growth of on-chain activity is beneficial for Ethereum, its low throughput can cause high transaction fees under heavy network load. Expensive transactions, in turn, are prohibitive for DeFi usage.

Etherum 2.0 could solve many of the networks current scalability issues, but its unlikely to come anytime soon. In the meantime, there are several already available scalability solutions to accommodate the networks rising activity.

The numbers of daily active addresses and daily transactions have been enjoying steady growth in 2020, suggesting that more people come to use the network. Importantly, people mostly move around ERC-20 tokens, while the number of ETH daily transactions has stayed around 2 million over several months.

Many of the platforms with the highest number of transactions, like 1inch.exchange, Synthetix, and Matcha, all belong to the DeFi sector, indicating the decentralized finance movement is responsible for the surge in on-chain activity.

As the on-chain activity increases, the network becomes congested. As a consequence, transactions become more expensive.

Miners fill blocks with transactions from a transaction pool. If the pool receives transactions too fast, users have to pay higher fees to push their transactions to the front of the queue. If a fee is set too low, a transaction may hang in the pool for a long time. This delay can be disastrous for traders on the hunt for ever-changing and lucrative yields.

The pool for pending transactions can get filled fast, given the low networks throughput of 14 transactions per second (TPS). As the queue grows, the premium for pushing a transaction to the front increases as well. As a result, the network becomes inefficient and expensive under a substantial load. Examples of this dynamic include Crypto Kitties and FCoin, which have caused considerable congestion in the past.

To solve this bottleneck, developers in the Ethereum community are working to transition the network form a Proof-of-Work (PoW) to a Proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. A PoS algorithm would offer users a cheaper and more efficient Ethereum experience.

Unfortunately, the transition to Ethereum 2.0 has been delayed time and again. And without these upgrades, the DeFi boom may be capped due to the low TPS barrier and, thus, high transaction costs.

The primary reason behind Ethereum 2.0s delayed roll-out is risk. With so much on-chain value and activity, the stakes are high to get it right. Thus, to help cater to current bottlenecks, developers have launched an Ethereum 1.x initiative, which focuses on improving the existing network while building Ethereum 2.0 in parallel.

Several teams are working on various Ethereum 1.x-related proposals. The list includes Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-1108, EIP-1844, EIP-2028, and EIP-2200.

The improvements mentioned above were able to lower on-chain transaction fees and created advantages for implementing off-chain solutions.

The most sensible way to significantly scale Ethereum before version 2.0 becomes functional is moving some transactions off-chain. Although Layer 2 networks, like Lightning Network on Bitcoin, dont enjoy the same level of security as the underlying layer, they are relatively safe and practical.

Ethereum developers have been experimenting with off-chain setups for a while. One use case for off-chain transactions includes state and payment channels. These allow several users to lock up ETH on Layer 1 and transact or change state on Layer 2 fast and without congesting the network.

The Plasma network, for instance, resembles state and payment channels, except that the Layer 2 chain serves users in general.

The major downside of state channels and Plasma is that they dont have strong support for smart contracts, limiting their usage. Another popular alternative is optimistic rollups, which can provide a substantial increase of 1,000 TPS with smart-contract support.

Optimistic rollups offer a similar setup to PoS. There are off-chain aggregators acting like validators (nodes).

All the transactions that happen on Layer 2, including smart-contract interactions, are periodically summarized by nodes with stakes and submitted to Layer 1. These submissions are verifiable by anyone, so nodes risk to lose their stakes if they act maliciously.

Another way to put computation off-chain is by using zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. ZK proofs enable a party performing computations to prove that theyve actually done them without revealing how. Instead of providing the entire operation history, ZK proofs create mathematical proofs of this history. These proofs are much smaller in size and thus offer more efficient use of blockchain space while still guarding the datas integrity.

Such an approach is useful for setups like decentralized exchanges (DEXes). These trading platforms can move order processing off-chain to preserve the Ethereum networks bandwidth and make DEXes comfortable to use.

State channels, Plasma, Optimistic Rollup, and ZK proofs are the building blocks of Ethereums scalability.

Ethereum indisputably has the largest developer community in the blockchain space. Developers come because of the large user base, so they have to overcome the platforms limitations to provide services under the current TPS restriction.

Raiden Network, Perun Network, State Channels, Celer Network, Machinomy, FunFair, and Liquidity Network are all building Ethereum state channels. The state channel niche is rather small and not widely popular. For example, Raiden Network was once making headlines but now occupies 300-400 rank on CoinMarketCap.

Plasma is more popular, given that some of the top-100 CoinMarketCap projects like Matic Network and OMG Network are using it. Importantly, Matic uses a modified version of Plasma along with PoS-based side chains, which enables it to host dApps. Such a solution has a potential value for DeFi projects.

Optimistic rollups have probably received the most attention from DeFi projects. The pilot implementation, Unipig, was jointly built by Plasma Group and Uniswap exchange, one of the top Ethereum DeFi dApps.

Following Unipig launch, Synthetix tapped into Optimistic rollups. The exchange is famous for tokenizing traditional financial instruments like commodities and Forex and making them available for trading against cryptocurrencies. Synthetix demoed an optimistic rollup implementation, which showed subsecond transaction confirmation times, putting user experience on par with centralized players like Binance.

ZK proofs in the form of ZK-STARKS have been lately adopted by DeFi projects as well. ZK-STARKS are developed by StarkWare, which received $4M with 6K ETH Performance-based bounties from the Ethereum Foundation.

ZK-STARKS enable ZK proofs in trustless setups. DeversiFi, a decentralized exchange formerly known as Ethfinex, became the first DEX to implement ZK-STARKS. The platform can now achieve over 9,000 TPS.

Besides scalability solutions, there is also Chi Gastoken introduced by 1inch, a highly-popular DEX aggregator. The token allows users to buy and store gas when prices are low. The major downside is that if the network is continuously congested, Gastokens minted earlier get used up, and there is no opportunity to mint the new tokens because gas is expensive. As a result, this solution doesnt always work as expected.

Although Ethereum is unlikely to shift to a fully functional PoS network anytime soon, DeFi and other dApps are far from doomed. The Layer 2 scalability workarounds have practical value given their adoption by popular DeFi projects. The blockchain space is still small, so an extra few thousand TPS and smart contract support should be enough for Ethereum to take advantage of the DeFi boom in the medium-term.

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The daily income earned by Ethereum miners has soared by over 60% in a month, according to data tracked by Ethereum mining pool Sparkpool.

The surge in daily profit from Ethereum mining surge has also outpaced ethers (ETH) price jump of 40% over the same period.

The profitability rise comes thanks to soaring transaction fees on the network, as well as relatively slow growth in competition from other miners.

Sparkpools data shows Ethereum miners daily income was around $1.85 per 100 megahashes second (MH/s) on the network on June 27. Over the past month, and the last two weeks in particular, this has jumped by 60% and reached as high as $3.27 on July 25. The metric has since dropped back to around $3.

During the same period, ethers price has gone up by nearly 40%, from $229 on June 27 to $327 at time of writing, the highest price point for over a year.

Transaction fees on the network, which form part of a miners daily revenue, have reached a two-year high as the hype around decentralized finance (DeFi) brought a spike in network activities.

However, the total computing power competing on the worlds second largest blockchain network by market capitalization has remained steady around 190 petahashes per second, blockchain explorer Etherscan shows.

In fact, data from Bitinfocharts indicates daily mining revenue on Ethereum had remained below $2 per 100 MH/s during the first quarter of the year and dropped to $1 per 100 MH/s following the crypto market crash on March 12. But in the four months since, daily mining revenue has tripled.

Currently, some state-of-art Ethereum mining equipment, such as InnoSilicons A10 Pro with a computing power of 485 megahashes per second (MH/s), can generate $12.92 in daily revenue at Ethereums current price and mining difficulty.

With an electricity of cost of $0.03 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), one A10 Pro machine is able to bring home a daily net profit of nearly $12, according to mining pool F2Pools miner profitability tracker.

Profit at that level exceeds some top-of-the-line Bitcoin miners by almost 100%, although bitcoins price has jumped above $10,000 over the weekend for the first time since early June. The sudden increase came after weeks of low price volatility that kept the cryptocurrency stuck between $9,000 and $9,500.

However, Bitcoins mining difficulty is still around its all-time-high. As such, even the most efficient Bitcoin miners, like MicroBTs WhatsMiner M30S++ and Bitmains AntMiner S19 Pro, are generating a daily revenue of $9 per unit.

At an electricity cost of $0.03 per kWh, that would provide a daily profit of around $6.50 at bitcoins current price and difficulty, data from mining pool PoolIn shows. In general, industrial electricity cost for crypto mining can range between $0.03 to $0.06 per kWh.

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Ethereum Miners' Income Soars by 60% in a Month - CoinDesk - CoinDesk