Supply
USDC transfer volume hit 5X USDT’s in fallout from FTX collapse
Stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) has grown in popularity since the collapse of FTX. It now frequently reaches daily transfer volumes four to five times that recorded by major competitor Tether (USDT) according to data from blockchain analytics firm Glassnode. That’s despite the market cap of USDT being $23 billion greater than USDC. As of Jan. 10, the difference was in USDC’s favor by a margin of four and a half times. Both stablecoins recorded surges in transfer volumes following an infamous tweet from Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on Nov. 6 announcing Binance would liquidate its entire FTX Token (FTT) holdings. FTX went into bankruptcy soon after. Since then, USDC has been the preferred choice for crypto users, averaging over $12.5 billion more in transfer volume per day than USDT, according to G...
How blockchain technology can revolutionize international trade
Since time immemorial, technological innovations have shaped the structure of commerce and trade. The discovery of electricity encouraged mass production and the advent of steam engines ushered in an era of mechanized production. From information to communication, technology has been used everywhere to make life easier. For this reason, blockchain technology has been tapped by many as the next big thing, considering its use cases which cut across numerous industry verticles. Mainly used in keeping records of transactions, blockchain technology is a type of distributed ledger technology. Blockchain makes a difference According to Statista, blockchain makes keeping data records easier, more transparent, and even more secure. Owing mostly to its resistance to alteration, blockchain offe...
Do Kwon shares LUNA burn address but warns ‘LUNAtics’ against using it
The recent Terra revival plan announced by Do Kwon, the co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, received mixed reactions as many questioned the effectiveness of a hard fork in reviving the fallen prices of Terra (LUNA) and TerraUSD (UST) tokens. Instead, the part of the community recommended burning LUNA as the most plausible way to achieve a comeback. Kwon’s proposal to preserve the Terra ecosystem involves hard forking the existing Terra blockchain without the algorithmic stablecoin and redistributing a new version of the LUNA tokens to investors based on a historical snapshot before the death spiral. However, several crypto entrepreneurs, including Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, opined that: “Reducing supply should be done via burn, not fork at an old date, and abandon everyone who tried to rescue ...
LUNA drops 20% in a day as whale dumps Terra’s UST stablecoin — selloff risks ahead?
Terra (LUNA) has plunged significantly after witnessing a FUD attack on its native stablecoin TerraUSD (UST). The LUNA/USD pair dropped 20% between May 7 and May 8, hitting $61, its worst level in three months, after a whale mass-dumped $285 million worth of UST. As a result of this selloff, UST briefly lost its U.S. dollar peg, falling to as low as $0.98. UST daily price chart. Source: TradingView Excessive LUNA supply LUNA serves as a collateral asset to maintain UST’s dollar peg, according to Terra’s elastic monetary policy. Therefore, when the value of UST is above $1, the Terra protocol incentivizes users to burn LUNA and mint UST. Conversely, when UST’s price drops below $1, the protocol rewards users for burning UST and minting LUNA. Therefore, during UST supp...
3 reasons why Ethereum price can hit $4K in April
Three market catalysts suggest that Ethereum’s native token Ether (ETH) is well-positioned to reach $4,000 this month. Google searches for “Ethereum merge” spike Internet users’ interest in Ethereum’s upcoming network upgrade, dubbed “the Merge,” surged substantially in the week ending April 2, Google Trends’ data shows. Searches for the keyword “Ethereum Merge” reached a perfect Google Trends score of 100 on a 12-month timeframe with most traffic coming from the U.S., Singapore, Canada, and Australia. Internet trend score for the keyword ‘Ethereum Merge.’ Source: Google Trends Merge, also called ETH 2.0, refers to the Ethereum network’s full transition to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) from Proof-of-Work (PoW),...
Just 2 million Bitcoin left to mine: Bitcoin hits the 19 million milestone
The 19th millionth Bitcoin (BTC) was mined on Friday, a landmark occasion for the number one cryptocurrency. Nineteen million Bitcoin are now in circulation, with just 2 million Bitcoin yet to be minted (or mined) until roughly the year 2140. In block 730002, mined by SBI Crypto, the 19 millionth Bitcoin entered circulation. SBI Crypto earned 6.32 BTC, roughly $293,000 for the trouble in transaction fees and block reward. A momentous occasion, the Bitcoin community was quick to celebrate the milestone event. The 19,000,000th bitcoin was just mined. Only 2 million more bitcoin to go. — Pomp (@APompliano) April 1, 2022 The CEO of possibly one of the world’s most ESGfriendly Bitcoin miners, Kjetil Hove Pettersen of Kryptovault, told Cointelegraph “we have only two...
Wait and see approach: 3/4 of Bitcoin supply now illiquid
Bitcoin markets have been consolidating since the beginning of the year, but on-chain metrics are painting a more positive picture as more of the asset is becoming illiquid. On-chain analytics provider Glassnode has been delving into Bitcoin supply metrics to get a better view of the longer-term macro trends in its weekly report on Jan. 3. The findings revealed that although the asset has been trading sideways so far this year, more BTC has become illiquid. There has been an acceleration in illiquid supply growth which now comprises more than three quarters, or 76%, of the total circulating supply. Glassnode defines illiquidity as when BTC is moved to a wallet with no history of spending. Liquid supply BTC, which makes up 24% of the total, is in wallets that spend or trade regularly such a...
UNICEF to supply AU states 220 million coronavirus vaccines
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has signed an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV to supply up to 220 million doses of the J&J single-dose vaccine to all 55 member-states of the African Union (AU) by the end of 2022. Some 35 million doses are to be delivered by the end of this year, UNICEF stated in a statement issued on Thursday in New York. The agreement, between UNICEF and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, will help implement the Advance Purchase Commitment (APC) signed between the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) and Janssen last March. That agreement secured an option to order another 180 million doses, bringing the maximum access up to a total of 400 million doses by the end of 2022. The AU established AVAT in November 2020 to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to the African continen...
Malawi runs out of coronavirus vaccines as second jabs due
Delays in coronavirus vaccine shipments to Malawi have caused health facilities to run out of doses as hundreds are due to receive a second shot, the health minister said Saturday. The southern African country has so far received 300 000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the United Nations, 102 000 from the African Union and 50 000 donated by India. Inoculations started in April and the country was expecting a second UN shipment of 900 000 by the end of May, four weeks before the first vaccinated Malawians would be due a second dose. But Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo said that batch had been delayed by a recent surge in coronavirus cases in India, the world’s main AstraZeneca supplier, which forced the country to temporarily halt major vaccine exports to meet local demand. “The situ...
Africa on cusp of the third wave of coronavirus facing a vaccine shortage
Africa is heading into a third wave of coronavirus infections as the least-inoculated continent faces a shortage of vaccines. African nations reported 94,000 new cases in the week through June 6, a 26% increase. South Africa announced the most new cases, followed by Tunisia, Africa Centres for Disease Control & Prevention Director John Nkengasong said in an online briefing Thursday. “Fourteen or so of our member states are now heading toward the third wave, and aggressively so,” he said. “It really highlights the need for us to roll out vaccines at speed and at scale.” Only 2.8% of Africa’s population is inoculated, compared with a global average of 14.5%, according to Africa CDC and Bloomberg Economics data. The program has slowed because of interruptions to supply from India, where m...
Lagos governor asks security agencies to crush criminals
Lagos State Government has tightened the noose on criminal elements, as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu fortifies the armoury of the State Police Command with new hardware and gadgets. One hundred and fifty units of double cabin vehicles, 30 patrol saloon cars, four high-capacity troop carriers and two anti-riot water cannon vehicles are part of the crime-fighting equipment donated to the police, yesterday, by the Lagos Government to strengthen security responses across the state. President Muhammadu Buhari took inventory and inaugurated the security equipment before Governor Sanwo-Olu handed over the gears to the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Alkali Usman, for the use of Lagos Police Command. The equipment and gadgets were procured through the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) –...
Foodstuff, cattle dealers threaten to stop supply to Southern Nigeria
The Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AFUCDN) has again threatened to stop food supply to the South and other parts of the country. The union said it would carry out this threat within three weeks if governments at all levels failed to meet its demands within three weeks. National President of the AFUCDN, Muhammed Tahir, who spoke with journalists at the end of an emergency meeting of the union in Abuja on Tuesday evening, lamented that since the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, intervened in the last three months, which led to the suspension of their six-day industrial action, nothing had been done on the union’s agitation. The union had in March 2021 gone on strike and stopped supply of foodstuffs to the South following allegations of killings of its members...
