Bitcoin network hit block height #700.000 on Friday, Cardano launches smart contracts, and Britain's Post Office allows cryptocurrency purchases through their identification app. These and more news in this practical daily summary so that you are always informed with the most recent events that occur within the crypto world.
Cryptocurrencies and altcoins
📍Altcoins rise in value as correction continues in Bitcoin and Ethereum. The quotes of polkadot (DOT), Left (LEFT), Avalanches (AVAX), Earth (LUNA), algorithm (SOMETHING) y Near Protocol (NEAR) have risen up to 50%, while Bitcoin (BTC) y Ethereum (ETH), the two main ones cryptocurrencies, of the market, follow the correction.
At press time, BTC and ETH are trading at the $45.000 and $3.400 levels, respectively. DOT, SOL, AVAX, LUNA, ALGO, and NEAR, which are in the Top 40 cryptocurrencies, have appreciated by 20% to 52% in the past week. Solana, known as Ethereum’s main competitor, now ranks sixth among the top cryptocurrencies in the market, with a market cap of $52.740 billion currently; Polkadot is in eighth place, and Avalanche climbed to XNUMXth place in the crypto market.
📍Ethereum (ETH) commission fees drop amid a lull in NFT markets. Since its 3-month high on September 7, Ethereum gas fees have decreased by 70% from its 3-month high of $59,8 on Tuesday. At the time of writing, Ethereum gas fees are hovering around $16 for simple transactions, according to data from Bit InfoCharts.
Bitcoin and Blockchain Adoption
📍The British Post Office will allow the purchase of bitcoins through its identification app. As reported by DEX Swarm via Twitter, Post Office, the state postal service of Great Britain, has partnered with the decentralized exchange (DEX) to help British citizens buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using the Post Office's identity verification app.
Currently, the Post Office ID app has 10 million Britons registered. At the moment, the cryptocurrencies available through the app are bitcoin and ethereum. Britons will be able to purchase these cryptocurrencies using different methods, such as card payments, bank deposits or by directly accessing the DEX's decentralized platform.
NFT and DeFi Markets
📍Axie Infinity now has competition from the new blockchain game and metaverse Star Atlas. Blockchain games in mechanics Play-to-Earn are becoming increasingly popular in the industry. Axie Infinity, the leading “play-to-earn” blockchain game so far, now has competition from Star Atlas, a new blockchain game that promises to reward its players with a native token, in addition to NFTs.
As of this writing, ATLAS, the blockchain game's native token, has appreciated by over 230% in two weeks since its launch. In addition, the number of users of this blockchain game and metaverse has increased significantly in the past two weeks. By September 10, the Star Atlas community already had 1.000 active members, reported developers via Twitter.
Development and Technology
📍On September 10th, the Bitcoin network mined block #700.000. In less than 2 years, Bitcoin has mined 100.000 new blocks, reaching the block height or block #700.000 on Friday.
The block #700.000 included a total of 1.276 transactions worth 49.601 BTC, or about $2.256 billion at the time of mining the block on the network. At the time of writing, nearly 90% of the total bitcoin supply is already in circulation, with 18.813.818 BTC mined so far.
📍After years of hard work, Cardano is about to deploy smart contracts on its blockchain network. On September 12, Cardano developers announced that in a few hours they will deploy smart contracts (smart contracts) on the network, through the Alonzo update. The developers released a new version of their wallet Daedalus, v4.3.1, which brings support for Alonzo and includes a countdown for the network epoch change, they reported via Twitter.
In addition to this, the Cardano development team published a blog post with more details of what Alonzo will bring to the blockchain network. In the post, the team notes that the implementation of smart contract functionality is the beginning of a new journey for the network, as well as marking a momentous moment for the birth of a new digital ecosystem. Smart contracts will allow for the creation of dapps and protocols DeFi for the first time on Cardano. However, despite the excitement the team is currently experiencing, the project continues to face strong criticism.
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