Foundation Reveals USDC Stablecoin Hosted on Algorand

Foundation Reveals USDC Stablecoin Hosted on Algorand
June 25, 2020

 

The cryptocurrency market has once again turned bearish, with Bitcoin (BTC) falling below $9,500 after failing to cross above $10,000 two days ago. At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin was trading at $9,277.24, down 3.7% in the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH) was trading at $234.31, reflecting a loss of 3.8% in the same period. XRP has lost 2.1% to trade at $0.1840. Other major altcoins which lost ground in the past 24 hours include LEO (LEO-$1.15, -0.15%). ChainLink (LINK-$4.67, -2.5%), Stellar (XLM-$0.0687, -4.6%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH-$232.82, -3.7%), Ethereum Classic (ETC-$6.23, -2.7%), Tezos (XTZ-2.61, -7.4%), Cardano (ADA-$0.0831, -2.4%), Litecoin (LTC-$42.72, -3.5%), Tron (TRX-$0.0159, -3.5%), IOTA (IOTA-$0.2195, -4.8%), EOS (EOS-$2.51, -2.0%), Binance Coin (BNB-$15.94, -3.2%), Huobi (HT-$4.27, -0.1%), Cosmos (ATOM, $2.66, -4.7%), OKB (OKB-$5.08, -2%), Monero (XMR-$64.76, -3.6%), and Dash (DASH-$72.09, -3.6%).

 

Government level initiatives

Chinese authorities implementing measures to support the economy

In an attempt to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business, Chinese authorities, both at the central and provincial levels, are initiating various measures to support the economy. Nanjing, the capital of China’s eastern province of Jiangsu, is the first city in China to capitalize on blockchain technology and disburse “consumption vouchers” on the blockchain. The blockchain-powered stimulus includes vouchers that can be redeemed for items such as electronics, food, and even transportation.

As of mid-June, Nanjing has disbursed a minimum of 380 million yuan (~$54 million) worth coupons via open lottery. To disburse vouchers, on June 2nd, Nanjing partnered with numerous brands including Didi Travel, Carrefour, and Pizza Hut to establish the “Nanjing Metropolitan Area Consumption Alliance.” The objective was to disburse 1 billion yuan (~$141 million) worth of consumption vouchers to assist the economic rebound. Jin Tao, a senior researcher at Suning Institute of Finance, is of the opinion that other cities may soon opt for a similar scheme in the near future.

 

Oracle service of Chainlink to be integrated with China’s BSN

The oracle service of Chainlink (LINK) is being integrated with China’s Blockchain Service Network (BSN), which was recently established by China Mobile, China’s State Information Center, Red Date Technologies, and China Unionpay. The objective of this association is to develop infrastructure that will make it easy to adopt blockchain technology.

Yifan He, CEO of Red Date Technology and BSN co-founder, revealed that when he began learning about blockchain technology, he was excited by the advantages it offered but alarmed by the cost of implementation.

“We really saw the upgrade from the Internet to the distributed way of transmitting data. So we really liked the technology. But at the same time, we thought it’s just way too expensive to make sense because just to set up the environment, put the framework together, and build the nodes, it costs almost half a million yuan to set up the project.”

In the beginning, Chainlink was only second in the preferential list of oracle data providers. However, Yifan He was impressed by the robustness of Chainlink’s team and so selected it: “We looked at the top four, on the list, Chainlink was not number one. They were the second one. But we saw that Chainlink has the best community, best support. […] Also, we really liked the team.”

 

Private sector initiatives

The USDC Coin to be hosted on the Algorand blockchain

The Algorand Foundation has revealed that the USDC Coin (USDC), a stable coin, will be hosted on the Algorand (ALGO) blockchain. The hosting will enable those who use Circle APIs or Circle Business Accounts to exchange the funds they hold in their bank account or cards for USDC stable tokens.

With a market cap of $930 million, USDC holds the second place among stable coins, and 19th in the list of all cryptos put together. The coin was created through a collaboration between Circle and top cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. More than $2.50 billion USDC has supposedly been issued as of date. Notably, more than $50 billion worth transactions have been conducted using the stablecoin.

Circle co-founder and CEO, Jeremy Allaire, said, “Growth in mainstream financial use cases is driving more demand for high-throughput payments and finance-optimized blockchain infrastructure. The combination of USDC and Circle Platform Services with the Algorand blockchain will create a foundation for developing a wide range of scalable, secure, and compliant financial applications.”

 

Miscellaneous

Bitpay receives the Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year award

Bitpay, which offers a cryptocurrency trading platform, has won the prestigious Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year award in the alternative forms of payments category. Announcing the award, David Frigstad, the 50-year old market research company Frost & Sullivan’s chairman, said, “Bitpay is a true industry leader, delivering best practices in growth, innovation, and leadership.”

Bitpay, which was founded in 2011, facilitated businesses to accept payment in the form of Bitcoin (BTC). The payment processing platform provider operates in 164 countries and is associated with over 20,000 firms.

Frigstad pointed out that Bitpay took an early lead in the industry by facilitating a series of cryptocurrency payments. That was one of the reasons for being honored with the award.

With the Bitpay platform in place, companies will not have any difficulty in accepting clients’ payments across the world. Furthermore, the platform also incorporates Bitcoin and fiat conversion facility, as per user needs.

Disclaimer: Any financial trading analysis offered here is our opinion and is not intended as advice or direction for investors. We cannot guarantee the success of any trades made as a consequence of this article, and we encourage traders to incorporate a strong money management strategy to limit losses when they enter the markets. Please use this article as part of your own research before formulating strategies prior to trading.

Ian

Ian

Ian is our resident contributor to the latest going ons in the cryptomarket, keeping up to date with the latest icos and coins


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