Tether surpasses XRP by market cap again

But XRP isn’t competing with Tether.

Tether (UDST), the world’s largest stablecoin by market capitalization, is again outperforming major altcoin XRP.

On Sept. 1, Tether surpassed XRP as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, becoming the second-largest altcoin after Ether (ETH).

As of press time, USDT market cap accounts for more than $13.4 billion, according to data from crypto analytics website Coin360. XRP is now the fourth-largest coin by market cap at $13 billion.

The latest movement in ranking is not new to the crypto market in 2020. Tether outstripped XRP as the third-largest crypto in May 2020.

Both cryptocurrencies have significantly increased their market cap since then. As reported, Tether previously surpassed XRP at a market cap of about $8.8 billion, while XRP’s market cap accounted for $8.6 billion at the time.

XRP’s drop comes shortly after a senior Ripple exec claimed that XRP is not competing with stablecoins. On Aug. 19, Emi Yoshikawa, senior director of global operations at Ripple, argued that XRP does not compete with either stablecoins or central bank digital currencies (CBDC).

According to Yoshikawa, XRP is complementary to the global progress in stablecoin and CBDC development. “We believe that various stablecoins and CBDCs will create synergy by responding to the liquidity problem by bridging independent crypto assets, XRP,” the executive said.

Tether’s new market cap milestones come amid massive growth in stablecoins this year. Both Tether and USD Coin (USDC) have been hitting major milestones recently, with USDC breaking $1 billion in July 2020.

Opposed to highly volatile crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC), stablecoins like USDT are designed to provide a digital representation of fiat currencies like USD and ensure a “stable” price. Pegged to the USD one-to-one, Tether’s price is always equivalent to one U.S. dollar.

Providing a “stable” cryptocurrency, Tether is the largest cryptocurrency in terms of daily transaction volume. As of press time, Tether’s daily trading volume accounts for over $10 billion, outstripping Bitcoin’s $9.5 billion, according to data from Coin360. As reported, Tether is also bigger than major payment processor PayPal in terms of average daily transfer volume.

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Three of Australia's "big four" banks bring bank guarantees on blockchain

Blockchain tech could purportedly reduce the timeline of bank guarantees processes by days.

Three of the “big four” Australian banks are forming a new company called Lygon to digitize bank guarantees using blockchain technology. 

Bank guarantees are an official contract between a debtor and a financial institution. It ensures the debtor and the debt provider that the debt will be paid on time under all circumstances.

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corporation along with two other shareholders — the Australian shopping center company Scentre Group and technology behemoth IBM — are forming the company after a successful pilot last year.

The last of Australia’s big four banks, National Australia Bank, also tested the technology last year but pulled out of the project in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Financial review reported on Sept. 1.

Lygon's primary focus is to digitize commercial lease guarantees to save commercial landlords the time and cost involved with operational processes while also ensuring the safety of small businesses in the short term, Lygon chairman Nigel Dobson said.

Bank guarantees today are totally paper-based and may take several weeks to prepare and deliver. The five entities backing Lygon aim to use IBM’s Hyperledger technology to digitize bank guarantees and make issuance a one-day process. The firm is planned to go live in September.

Dobson said, “It comes to market at a time when some people have been questioning the value of blockchain but what makes this work for us, and our customers, is that it solves a really big problem."

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US Regulator to Shake Up Banking With Federal Charters for Payment Firms

Acting Comptroller of Currency (and former Coinbase exec) Brian Brooks is spearheading the move to let payment firms operate as banks across state lines.

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BitMEX Launches Mobile Trading App in 140 Countries

The new app does not include the iconic "trollbox" feature of BitMEX's site, but will in future, the firm said.

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Binance may know who is behind the 1,400 BTC Electrum wallet hack

The hackers' identity may not be a mystery for much longer.

On Aug. 30, a Github user made a post about losing 1,400 Bitcoin (BTC) via an elaborate hack that affected his Electrum wallet. N-chain analysis indicates that the hackers had a Binance account and that some of the transactions used to move the stolen coins may have originated in St. Petersburg, Russia. However, It is important to note that conclusions afforded by on-chain research are generally more probabilistic than deterministic. 

On-chain analysis of the hack. Source: Cointelegraph, Crystal Blockchain.

Even so, there is no clarity on how the attack was perpetrated, as Electrum's software is considered to be secure if properly configured. The claimant said that the attack happened after he ran the wallet for the first time since 2017. He alleges that when he installed a software update, his entire balance was transferred to an unknown address.

Two hops away from the scammer’s address is a 5 BTC Binance withdrawal that occurred in January 2018. No other entity appears in between, so Binance should presumably have the identity of the hacker or their associates, provided that the exchange had proper know-your-customer procedures in place. Interestingly, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted yesterday that his exchange has blacklisted the addresses involved:

We blacklisted the addresses involved, but ...

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) August 30, 2020

After gaining control to over 1,400 BTC, the criminals began to move them around and diversify them into smaller wallets. On a few occasions, the Bitcoin node that processed these transactions was traced to St. Petersburg, Russia — though it is possible the thieves were using a VPN to obscure their true location.

Cointelegraph reached out to Binance for comments but has not received a response in time for publication.

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Class action lawsuit targeting Tezos ends in $25M settlement after 3 years

After three long years, the class-action lawsuit alleging that Tezos violated securities laws through its 2017 ICO has concluded.

The three-year-long class-action lawsuit targeting Tezos (XTZ) has come to a conclusion after Judge Seeborg approved Tezos’ $25 million settlement on Aug. 28.

According to the judgment, the funds will be distributed among “all persons and entities” who participated in Tezos’ 2017 initial coin offering (ICO) from July 1 to July 13 and sold their XTZ for a loss before Nov. 25, 2019, did not sell their tokens before Nov. 25, or are unable to access their XTZ due to lost passwords.

Eligible parties must file a claim to receive a share in the settlement before Oct. 16, 2020.

The plaintiffs' counsel was also awarded attorneys’ fees equal to one-third of the settlement funds, plus roughly $203,000 worth of litigation expenses that the defendants must pay separately.

The settlement also excludes the case’s defendants, the family of Tezos’ founders, and individuals who held a position with the Tezos Foundation or a firm that had a “controlling interest” in the offering.

The settlement also saw the plaintiffs relinquish their right to make future claims against Tezos and the other defendants.

Judge Seeborg described the agreement as “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” noting that the case comprised “cutting edge litigation” that addressed novel issues for perhaps the first time.

The case began in December 2017, when a group of private plaintiffs sued Tezos founders Kathleen and Arthur Breitman, and the Tezos Foundation, alleging that the project’s ICO comprised an unlicensed securities offering.

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Blockchain platform connects Indian farmers to UAE food industry

Agriota E-Marketplace may give farmers in India more access to the UAE’s multi-billion dollar food industry.

Food industry officials in the United Arab Emirates may soon have a blockchain-based supply chain to obtain agricultural products directly from India.

According to an Aug. 31 report, officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be using Agriota E-Marketplace, a new platform that employs blockchain technology to bridge the gap between farmers in India and the nation’s food industry. Agriota reportedly provides transparency by verifying the food supply chain from Indian farms to food processing companies, traders and wholesalers in the UAE.

Essentially, the platform will allow Indian farmers to connect directly with food industry firms in the UAE to offer cereal, seeds, fruits, vegetables, spices and condiments. India exported more than $1 billion of food products to the UAE in 2019, according to data from the country’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. 

“The UAE has a comprehensive plan in place to ensure food security and champion agribusiness trade facilitation, with the ultimate goal of positioning our nation as a world leading hub in innovation-driven food security,” said Pavan Kapoor, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE. 

Backed by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) and developed with Indian company CropData Technology, Agriota will also reportedly offer secure transactions through a multi-tier escrow structure. The DMCC was formed in 2002 by the government of Dubai to provide financial infrastructure and stimulate interest in the global commodities trade.

A number of blockchain firms are working with the agriculture industry to increase efficiency and help farmers earn better revenue. Cointelegraph reported in July that one of India’s largest farm producer organizations would be integrating blockchain to help rural farmers receive higher pay. In May, another blockchain-based startup signed an agreement with the Indian government to create a peer-to-peer marketplace for farmers and buyers.

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