Blockchain

Ethereum prices at the moment are not inspiring much confidence. However, the long-awaited network upgrades slated for this year and beyond could be a major boost for the crypto asset and its adoption.
Ethereum 2.0 not only heralds in a highly anticipated change in consensus mechanism; a raft of scalability solutions that could unlock the full potential of the network is also in the digital pipeline.
<h2>Ethereum Economic Cases</h2>
Partner at Metacartel Ventures, Adam Cochran, has taken a deep dive into the economic potential of&nbsp;Ethereum&nbsp;and how the next iteration of the platform could be a game-changer.
One possible reason is that large investors known as &lsquo;rent-seekers&rsquo; may switch to Ethereum once&nbsp;proof-of-stake&nbsp;is running. Stable returns of around 3-5% are eyed by these types of investors due to the scale of their principle.
If large quantities of ETH are purchased to make similar or better&nbsp;returns on staking, then the supply shock would drive up prices. This price surge, according to Cochran, could initiate a second round of staking investments as returns are multiplied.
The two events above would cause a retail fear of missing out events, pushing markets even higher. Retail investors are usually late to the party, but their actions could add to the market momentum as they did in 2017.
Additionally, there are far more fiat on-ramps now than there were three years ago, and better regulation has added perception of safety to the industry.
<h2>Actual Realized Demand</h2>
Cochran cites the best reason for growth will be actual demand:
&ldquo;The best reason for this growth, and one that only ETH2.0 can really claim, is actual demand for the asset, as use for gas in a decentralized computer.&rdquo;
For this, he references&nbsp;Metcalfe&rsquo;s law, which states the effect of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system.
In other words, the more actual demand there is to use the system, the more the price goes up because there is a real underlying value being created for the user.
Whale cycles are also part of the movement in an uptrend, as profits taken from lower prices can be reinvested to make more as it increases. Through staking, more nodes will be added to the network, which creates what he describes as a &lsquo;race condition&rsquo; where&nbsp;whales&nbsp;or &lsquo;rent-seekers&rsquo; have to buy more to maintain their earnings rate.
Rounding up investments to reach the required 32 ETH staking limit could also cause an increase in demand. New money may be poured into the market to continue to round-up stackable amounts of ETH.
Ethereum&nbsp;could play a key role in the inevitable paradigm shift that must be made in order for the global economy to survive, which is not likely to happen in its current state.
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Long-awaited network upgrades slated for this year and beyond could be a major boost for the crypto asset and its adoption.

Venture Capitalist says Ethereum Could Be the Greatest Economic Shift Ever

Blockchain based startup, Emerge has come up with their own app, Civitas, to deal with covid-19 pandemic by helping local authorities in many nations.
According to a company <a href="https://medium.com/@EmergeDev/emerge-against-covid-19-a861737a0ca8">blog post</a>, the app was designed &ldquo;to improve safety and cut store wait times by reducing gatherings in tight spaces, reducing the probability of contagion.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The spread of COVID-19 has grown exponentially in numerous countries over the past few days, accelerating the need for smart solutions to the problems caused by this global pandemic. Emerge is working with their partner&nbsp;Penta Network&nbsp;on multiple fronts to tackle these major challenges.
The main agenda of Civitas is to improve the store's wait time by cutting public gatherings in tight spaces. Since the only way to prevent coronavirus from spreading is by maintaining social distance and not getting into crowded places, this app will help authorities to manage the crowd of local people.
The app stores the government ID of each individual in unique blockchain records and helps government authorities to determine those identities uniquely. App will tell citizens what time is good to go out for getting their essentials like food and medicine. If any citizen is experiencing any coronavirus symptoms, then the app will also tell the user a very suitable time to get out from home and go for the checkups. The government can verify the permit of the user by looking at the records and crosscheck if authority permits the user. Not only local government authorities but also doctors can keep their patients informed about the test results and other medical-related queries.
While some countries are relying on the latest technology to track the virus, blockchain has been featured prominently in the fight against the current pandemic worldwide.

Blockchain-based startup, Emerge has come up with their own app, Civitas, to deal with COVID-19 pandemic by helping local authorities in many nations.

Latin America using Blockchain App to Track COVID-19 Cases

Crypto

Mircea Popescu had a fortune of 1 billion Bitcoin, he was the holder of the largest number of Bitcoins in the world. His sudden death raised questions as to what will happen to the amount of Bitcoin fortune he was having. He died in Costa Rica by drowning as reported by the local reporters. His sudden death has left Bitcoin investors all over the world in dismay.
He was the founder of MPEx, a bitcoin exchange platform &amp; also he was the co-owner of a Bitcoin betting platform BitBet.us . He was popularly called &lsquo;father of bitcoin toxicity' because of his popular blogs posts on bitcoin that were highly controversial.&nbsp;
Popsecu had over ten thousand of bitcoins which if he had not given anyone access to his digital wallet could be lost forever. The value of bitcoin is estimated to be around 1 billion but it totally depends upon the price of bitcoin on a given day. Also his fortune can affect the price of bitcoin as well.&nbsp;
He would inevitably be one of the most vilified figures of Bitcoin and also one of its greatest philosophers of all times.&nbsp;
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Billionaire Mircea Popescu passed away leaving behind crypto fortune of $1 billion.

World’s top cryptocurrency holder dies at 41.

El Salvador became the first country in the world to legalize the Bitcoin tender. It was a giant leap towards technological advancement. But soon afterwards, the World Bank rejected their plea in implementing Bitcoin as a legal tender. The World Bank did so because of environmental concerns related to Bitcoin mining.
The law will come into effect from September. The country is taking smart steps to encourage it&rsquo;s people to adopt Bitcoin as the national currency. The government has promised to give $30 in Bitcoin to all the citizens who will download the crypto exchange app made by the government. President Nayib Bukele while addressing the nation on the matter confirmed that accepting bitcoin will be optional for the citizens.
The International Monetary Fund also expressed its concern over the massive move taken by EL Salvador. Financial &amp; legal issues should be taken into consideration before the law finally comes to an effect.
The reason behind EL Salvador&rsquo;s historic move is that the country highly relies on remittances sent from workers working abroad. Remittances make about 20% of the country's GDP according to data by the World Bank. Therefore president Nayib Bukele considers this move beneficial for the citizens &amp; for the economic growth of the country as well.

EL Salvador became the first country to legalize bitcoin tender &amp; now is all set to become the Bitcoin Capital of the world.

EL Salvador is advancing towards becoming the Bitcoin Capital of the world.

Chinese Government has decided to ban cryptocurrency mining due to its harmful impacts on the&nbsp; environment. China hosted around 80% of the world&rsquo;s bitcoin mining capacity. It had cut off its resources to cryptocurrency mining and called for use of sustainable energy a week ago. This step led top cryptocurrency platforms to make an exit from the country.
BTCC which was the first cryptocurrency exchange platform in China has confirmed closure of business amid China&rsquo;s crackdown on crypto mining. Apart from BTCC, other crypto exchange platforms that are planning an exit are Huobi, Binance &amp; Okcoin. Among all this exchange platform BTCC is the oldest &amp; has been operating since 2011. The founders of BTCC Xiaoyu and Yang Linke confirmed their departure from the business.&nbsp;
Earlier miners who were operating from China had access to cheap electricity &amp; other resources required for Bitcoin mining. But due to its harsh impact on the environment China had cut off electricity supplies required for mining. The steps taken my Chinese Government faced severe backlash from top cryptocurrency exchange platforms. The miners are also leaving the country &amp; moving towards the west in search of more affordable resources.
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BTCC the first cryptocurrency exchange platform in China to exit from the country amid crackdown on cryptocurrency

BTCC to exit from China amid bans.

As cryptocurrency is making headlines everyday, a lot of cases have emerged recently involving crypto fraud. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom has ordered Binance to stop all its services in the country by 30th June.&nbsp;
The exchange platform will not be allowed to undertake any activities without prior written consent from the FCA, this was mentioned by the UK official watchdog. It was further mentioned that the ban was limited to a certain extent &amp; non-registered firms can still interact with the consumers in the UK.&nbsp;
Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange company founded in the year 2017.They have been the largest cryptocurrency trading platform up till April 2021. However,they were subjected to many controversies in the past few months. Their operation at Ontario, Canada was shut down because they failed to comply with the province regulations according to the Ontario Securities Commission. In Japan as well, they were warned to stop their service because they have been operating in the country for three years without any official permission.&nbsp;
After facing several backlash worldwide, the UK has also finally ordered Binance to stop it&rsquo;s services in the country. Which apparently means that the users from the UK will not be able to use Binance services to keep a tab on the price of a cryptocurrency like Ethereum, Bitcoin etc. and also betting on the same will be prohibited.&nbsp;
Binance might suffer from a loss after the UK's massive move. They are also being subjected to severe scrutiny in other countries like the USA &amp; Germany as well.
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Binance world's top cryptocurrency exchange platform banned from operating in the UK.