Crypto payment processor BitPay is adopting segregated witness (SegWit), three years after supporting an alternative bitcoin scaling solution.

The total supply of the USDC stablecoin has surpassed 1 billion, after rising 93% since the beginning of the year. It comes amid a stablecoin supply boom that saw Tether’s USDt surpass 10 million.

A European Commission-funded program,  the European Innovation Council (EIC), has awarded €5 million (about $5.6 million) to six winners competing in the Blockchains for Social Good program.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• BitPay Adopts SegWit For Cheaper Bitcoin Transactions
• Total USDC Supply Surpasses 1 Billion
• European Commission-Funded Program Awards $5.6 Million to Blockchain Projects

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $9,109.85 (-1.12%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $2.84 bn. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $227.29 (-0.66%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $728.43 million. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 2,979.81 (0.56%).

BitPay Adopts SegWit For Cheaper Bitcoin Transactions

Cryptocurrency payments processor BitPay is now supporting segregated witness (SegWit) transactions, three years after the firm opposed the update in favor of an alternative solution SegWit2x.

According to CoinDesk, BitPay regularly processes more than $1 billion in yearly payments, and in April 2020 it processed 100,718 payments, 91.93% of which were bitcoin transactions. BitPay’s director of product Sean Rolland revealed now was a “good time” to adopt SegWit based on merchant feedback.

A blog post reportedly shared with CoinDesk reads:

“Support for SegWit is currently an optional feature for Bitcoin wallets in the BitPay App. Later this year, as part of a phased rollout plan, support for SegWit will be a default for all Bitcoin wallets. In addition later this year, SegWit will be implemented for invoice payments.”

SegWit is a scaling solution that, in essence, frees up block space without increasing block sizes. Transactions using it are estimated to save up to 30%, per BitPay’s blog post.

Total USDC Supply Surpasses 1 Billion

The total supply of the USDC stablecoin has surpassed 1 billion this month, as the cryptocurrency experienced a supply surge in June that saw it go from 730,920,001 tokens in circulation to over 1 billion.

The number represents a 93% increase since the beginning of the year. USDC is a stablecoin issued by CENTRE, a consortium backed by Coinbase and Circle, and is the second most popular stablecoin in the cryptocurrency space, behind Tether’s USDt token.

Tether’s stablecoin supply has surpassed 10 billion this month as it continues to dominate the stablecoin space. On Ethereum, USDC’s market share is 13%, while Tether leads the pack with 78%. Tether is also on various other blockchains, including TRON, Omni, and more.

European Commission-Funded Program Awards $5.6 Million to Blockchain Projects

The European Innovation Council (EIC) has awarded €5 million (about $5.6 million) to six winners competing in the Blockchains for Social Good program. The program was meant to encourage the use of blockchain technology for social and economic development.

A statement released by the EIC revealed that a diverse pool of applicants participated in the program. There were a total of 176 applications from 43 countries, and these included international candidates, corporations, and public institutions.

The winning projects worked on improving accountability, increasing transparency in production processes, improving fair trade and circular economy, and contributions to financial inclusion and renewable energy.

Flipside Friday

The Flipside Crypto Disparity Ratio is a tool helping you find out which cryptoassets are under and overvalued. The crypto disparity ratio scores cryptoassets based on market capitalization and FCAS ratings, with a score over 1 showing it’s undervalued, and under 1 showing it’s overvalued.

POA Network (POA), a public sidechain based on the Ethereum protocol that will use Proof-of-Authority and allow organizations to build their own networks in their own validators and allow developers to deploy decentralized applications, tops the undervalued list with a score of 1.49.

XYO, an ERC-20 token used for a decentralized network of devices that anonymously collects geospatial data, comes next with a score of 1.39. It’s followed by the Raiden Network (RDN), an off-chain scaling payment solution to perform ERC20 compliant token transactions, at 1.31.

At the bottom comes Melon (MLN), a blockchain protocol for digital asset management on the Ethereum platform. It enables participants to set up, manage, and invest in digital asset management strategies in an open, competitive and decentralized manner.

On the overvalued side we have the DxChain Token (DX), the world’s first decentralized big data and machine learning network powered by a computing-centric blockchain, at 0.32. It’s followed by Huobi Token (HT). an ERC-20 token that allows users to receive a discount on fees at the Huobi exchange, among other advantages.

Next comes Monacoin, the once-popular cat meme cryptocurrency which has even been used to buy land in 2014, at 0.36.  It’s followed by Crypterium (CRPT), a cryptobank platform that leverages the ETH blockchain to provide an instant processing engine for fiat and crypto-based transactions.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

Build your project with CoinDesk Data

Terms | Privacy

13 Charles II St, SW1Y 4QU

London, UK

This email may include advertisements by third parties. None of the advertised or promoted products and services have been verified or approved by us and this email is not any endorsement by us of the third party or of their products or services.