Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
Mining news
- Ethereum (ETH) miners made a total of USD 166m from transaction fees in September, which is a new all-time high, as well as an increase of 47% compared to the previous record high in August, said on-chain analysis firm Glassnode. In comparison, they added, Bitcoin (BTC) miners made USD 26m from fees, which is a difference of more than 6x.
- HIVE Blockchain Technologies said that it achieved a record amount of ethereum (ETH) production in the second quarter, having mined more than ETH 32,000 (USD 11.7m) and 121,000 ethereum classic (ETC) (USD 660,000). This is an increase from the approximately ETH 25,000 (USD 9.15m) mined in HIVE’s first fiscal quarter, and more than a 50% increase compared to the same period last year. The announcement said that the rise has been driven by the continued strong usage of the blockchain network, particularly for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and stablecoins.
Crypto adoption news
- Japanese financial giant SBI has confirmed that its new pro gaming subsidiary franchise, SBI e-Sports, will pay its team members their salaries in the XRP token if they choose to opt out of fiat salary payments. The firm will also receive sponsorship from the SBI crypto exchange subsidiary SBI VC Trade. In an official press release, SBI stated that the franchise’s official website and team uniforms would bear the SBI VC Trade insignia. SBI is Ripple’s biggest Asian partner, and its CEO, Yoshitaka Kitao, also sits on the Ripple board.
- Dapper Labs, creators of CryptoKitties, said that its NBA Top Shot is now available to consumers worldwide as it becomes “the first blockchain-based collectibles offered in Samsung’s Galaxy Store.” 17,000 collectors have already been invited to NBA Top Shot’s closed beta, the company said.
- The MakerDAO community has decided to add support for three new tokens for the decentralized finance (DeFi) loans that generate DAI stablecoins. The three coins that are now available in Maker Vaults as collateral options are chainlink (LINK), loopring (LRC), and compound (COMP).
- Cryptoasset and blockchain investment company KR1 has reported net assets of GBP 8.1m (USD 10.46m) and profit of GBP 609,000 (USD 786,000) for the first half of 2020. According to the press release, the net assets as recorded at the end of June 2020 showed the “slightly depressed crypto markets” following the heavy pandemic-related sell-off in March. However, polkadot (DOT) coming to market, entering the top 10 coins by market capitalization, was transformational for the company, they said, in terms of return and increased assets on the balance sheet, as well as for the future staking revenue that they expect to generate.
Exchanges news
- Bitfinex has partnered with Celsius Network to give their users a way of earning yields on their bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and XRP holdings, Celsius confirmed. Holders should be eligible to earn up to 6.2% annual percentage yield (APY), and the product is scheduled to go live on October 15.
- eToro has started providing staking rewards for cardano (ADA) and tron (TRX). The first wave of staking rewards will be distributed in November, said the announcement. eToro is working on offering future staking rewards on other cryptoassets, including NEO, tezos (XTZ), EOS, and ETH 2.0.
- Hong Kong-based crypto trading platform operator Diginex has become the first crypto exchange operator to list on the American NASDAQ stock exchange, under the EQOS ticker symbol. This comes after the platform received the approval from the regulatory Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, and through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) 8i.
Blockchain news
- The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has earmarked a USD 5m tranche of a tech budget investment in digital technology to fund two blockchain projects – as part of a plan to dig the country out of the coronavirus pandemic-sparked recession. In an official release, Morrison stated that the money would be used to fund “two blockchain pilots directed at reducing business compliance costs” – and that the money was part of a wider USD 575m investment in the Australian tech sector.
