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China Intends to Hold Second Digital Yuan Lottery Trial

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China is scheduled for another test trial for its digital currency. The country had previously offered millions of digital yuan in a lottery during its biggest public test.

Today, it has been reported that China would give way the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) – digital yuan – in a second lottery to be held in another city next month. According to the news, the giveaway, designed to gauge digital yuan’s usability, will be held in the city of Suzhou during the “Double 12” shopping festival on December 12.

Similar to in October trial held in Shenzhen, residents will have to apply for a 200 yuan share of the 10 million CBDC units. NFC (near-field communication) point-of-sales tech and QR code capabilities have already been mounted Xiangcheng district of Suzhou to facilitate the process.

Millions Digital Yuan Given Away in Shenzhen’s Lottery

Early last month, the city of Shenzhen decided to give away a total of 10 million yuan of China’s new digital currency via a lottery. South China Morning Post reported at that time that China sought to test out its digital currency and stimulate its usage. In the lottery, applicants were almost 2 million people, but those won were just 50,000 people.

To receive the digital yuan, winners were required to download a digital renminbi app, which eventually enables them to spend the currency in more than 3,000 merchants situated around the south China technology hub. Unfortunately, users would not be able to move or transfer the funds into their regular bank accounts.

Shenzhen government post revealed that the participating merchants were Local supermarkets and pharmacies and other retail giants like Walmart. During the week-long campaign, wallet users were required to scan the QR code that stores in Shenzhen posted so as to make payments for their purchases.

DCEP Trials Have Been Successful

China’s digital currency is not like Bitcoin, which is decentralized and therefore not owned or controlled by any Central Bank. The digital yuan helps banks to better track and analyze non-performing assets, thereby enabling them to increase financial efficiency and transparency.

Although China’s Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) plan has been work-in-progress for the past few years, only a handful of trials were carried in the country, with Shenzhen pilot being the biggest so far. In a series of test programs held over the last 12 months, over a billion yuan worth of new currency has been used in various transactions. With the biggest real-world trials for its virtual currency being carried out, China has been pushing towards creating a cashless society.

Digital yuan should not be mistaken to be a cryptocurrency, rather it is a central bank, issued digital version of China’s physical currency meant not to replace, but to supplement, third-party payments apps such as WeChat Pay and Alipay. People’s Bank of China (PBoC) might intend to use the digital yuan to keep in check the growth of Alipay and WeChat Pay, according to some industry watchers.

Digital Currency Is Beneficial to Commercial Banks

An increase in cash deposits is not the only digital yuan’s benefit for China’s commercial banks as there is a large user base provided in which they can analyze their online transaction behavior.

Foreigners will be able to purchase commodities as well as transfer funds across borders with the virtual currency, blockchain infrastructure firm PlatOn’s chief economist Huanwei Zou said. “The digital yuan will definitely change the market structure of digital payment in terms of the last-mile adoption,” he explained. While four major commercial banks have incorporated the digital yuan account in mobile apps, the central bank is yet to permit Alipay and WeChat Pay to integrate the digital yuan in their payment option.

Early this month, Coinspeaker reported that David Roche believes that China’s digital yuan had “a long way” to travel before maturing.

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James Lovett is a talented crypto enthusiast who finds pleasure in sharing more knowledge on fintech, cryptocurrency as well as blockchain and frontier technologies. He likes to keep himself furnished and updated with the latest innovation in the crypto industry, blockchain technology, Internet of Things (IoT) and other technologies. As a result, he tries to furnish ardent crypto supporters with the latest news on blockchain and distributed-ledger technologies. Indeed, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency is changing the world as we know “one block at a time”. As a hobby, he also trades in small amounts of cryptos every now and then.
An author with experience writing for tech, digital, and cryptocurrency blogs!



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Hackers Exploit DeFi Project Cover Protocol, COVER Token Price Tanks 90%

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In one of the biggest attacks in the DeFi space, hackers exploited the DeFi project Cover Protocol by liquidating nearly 12K COVER coins and injecting an additional supply of 40 quintillion Cover “coins”.

DeFi project COVER staking protocol has recently been the victim of a suspected attack while artificially inflating the COVER token supply. The hackers have reported exploited the Cover protocol with millions of stolen cover tokens amounting to a massive $2 trillion.

Allegedly, the hackers infused an additional supply of over 40 quintillion Cover “coins”. This resulted in the COVER coin price crashing nearly 90%. On Monday, December 28, the COVER token price crashed all the way from $735 to $53, as per the data on CoinGecko.

The hacker – may be an individual or a small group – has taken responsibility for the attack. In a dramatic, the suspected attacker also returned the funds saying “Next time, take care of your own shit”.

Ethereum wallet explorer Nansen also presented some key details of the event. Soon after inflating the token supply in the initial exploit, the attacker liquidated nearly 12K COVER coins on decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch. In a message on the Discord Group, the Cover Protocol noted:

“The Blacksmith farming contract has been exploited to mint infinite $COVER tokens. We have restricted minting access to the farming contract in order to stop the attacker. If you are providing liquidity for $COVER token (uniswap or sushiswap) please remove it immediately.”

The Cover Protocol team said that the issue has only affected the token supply. However, the funds in the “claim/noclaim” pools are still safe.

Exploring a New Cover Protocol Token

Soon after the attack on Monday, Cover Protocol also announced that it is exploring a new Cover token after a snapshot of the LP token holders. In a message on its Twitter handle, the Cover Protocol team noted.

Interestingly, soon after getting the alert message, all developers from Yearn Ecosystem came to support the Cover team. The team noted that they “are working with multiple teams and individuals within the Yearn Ecosystem. We will provide updates as they come. We can not thank everyone enough for their help in this unfortunate situation.”

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Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.





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Altcoin Rally Dimming Bitcoin’s Shine, Polkadot Gains 34% in One Week

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Polkadot (DOT) saw daily gains of 22.5% wrapping up an impressive week with an almost 34% rise in its value.

Bitcoin bullish run looks to have come to a halt amidst an altcoin rally which has seen relatively lower coins put up impressive performances in the past few weeks. Bitcoin dominance is gradually fading as many experts believe the biggest digital coin is backing down as some top altcoin are showing strong “moves” or signals. 

Bitcoin hit an all-time high over the weekend, the third time its price has done so in just over 2 months. The price of the biggest digital coin touched $28,400 on December 27, before a lightning drop took it to $27,000 just hours of that incredible feat. 

Bitcoin failed to hold onto the $27,000 mark as its price further dropped to $26,000 a day after and is now testing lower levels centered on $26,000 as immediate support. Reports from crypto exchanges revealed BTC/USD trading at lows of $25,830 during the early hours of December 29. 

While Bitcoin has seen red over a couple of days, some altcoins are putting up impressive numbers, giving off signals of a strong altcoin rally. Despite XRP’s current issues, the altcoin market is showing glimpses of its glory days as some digital coins are poised to see major gains over the next couple of weeks. Ethereum (ETH) is at the forefront of the rally, with its price climbing above $700 for the first time since May 2018. 

Polkadot (DOT) also saw daily gains of 22.5% wrapping up an impressive week with an almost 34% rise in its value. The coin is now the seventh-largest token by market cap. Kusama (KSM), a cousin of Polkadot, also saw its price gain 46% last week, pushing its price from $43.1 to $63. The digital token is currently trading at $56 but experts are adamant a breakout above $65 is possible as the token has rebounded off the 20-day exponential moving average ($50.90)

Speaking on the possibility of a long term altcoin rally, analyst Van de Poppe stated that altcoins are next in line to see greens. He added that the next “impulse wave” on Bitcoin next year should be able to take the market to $40,000 or $50,000, but until then, the possibility of a continuance altcoin rally is very much likely.

Although many factors could be in play with regards to the latest Bitcoin price dip, it’s recent fallout with Ripple’s XRP leads the way. Ripple was hit with a lawsuit from the United States Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and subsequently suffered drops that left its price in a pit. XRP, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is now trading at $0.20 as news broke that Coinbase, a major US cryptocurrency exchange has decided to suspend its trading from next month.

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XRP Crashes Below $0.25 as Coinbase Announces XRP Trading Suspension

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Some of the popular crypto exchanges have announced XRP trading suspension following the SEC lawsuit. This is seriously going to hurt XRP investors’ interest over a long period of time.

XRP investors have met with an unfortunate fate. It has been a rocky ride for XRP investors as the cryptocurrency has been heading south after the SEC lawsuit. From its monthly high of $0.66 on December 1st, XRP has reduced to only 1/3rd of the price. At press time, XRP is trading 20% trading at $0.22 with a market cap of $10.3 billion. The latest price crash comes amid crypto exchange Coinbase announcing its plan to suspend XRP trading starting January 19, 2020.

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewar writes that the latest suspension comes amid the SEC lawsuit against Ripple Labs. Also, in the official announcement, Grewar writes:

“We have made the decision to suspend the XRP trading pairs on our platform. Trading will move into limit only starting December 28, 2020 at 2:30 PM PST, and will be fully suspended on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, at 10 a.m. PST. The trading suspension will not affect customers’ access to XRP wallets which will remain available for deposit and withdraw functionality after the trading suspension. We will continue to support XRP on Coinbase Custody and Coinbase Wallet”.

Coinbase joins Bitstamp as one of the top crypto exchanges to suspend XRP trading in recent times. There have been several other exchanges that have announced XRP trading suspension in recent times. Following the Coinbase announcement today, another major crypto exchange Crypto.com also announced its decision to delist the crypto asset.

The Road to XRP Recovery Isn’t an Easy One with Measures by Coinbase and Others

It looks like XRP’s road to recovery ain’t going to be an easy one! Over the last few years, the SEC has conducted a crackdown on several such crypto projects. Speaking to CoinTelegraph, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou said:

“SEC and Ripple will have their day in court with due process of law, so we shall not prejudge the case in the court of public opinion. It is of course likely that the case will take up much of Ripple’s attention and resources. […] We hope a clear precedent and framework emerge from these proceedings.”

Furthermore, the SEC has accused Ripple of selling unregistered XRP securities under Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1993. Also, the case will proceed further in the New York Federal Court. Todd Crosland, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange CoinZoom said that the lawsuit will have a long-lasting impact on XRP price.

XRP which has already been a laggard performer over the last two years will continue trading at lower levels even further. While institutional players have been betting big on crypto, they will refrain from having any exposure to XRP.

“Lack of institutional support will hurt liquidity. Institutions will not bet against the SEC, and will be unloading their positions and will avoid taking new positions in XRP until the lawsuit is resolved,” said Crosland.

The only hope for XRP currently is the appointment of new crypto-friendly SEC chairman Elad Roisman. Soon after filing the lawsuit complaint, previous SEC chairman Jay Clayton submitted his resignation. However, we don’t expect things to improve anytime soon.

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Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.





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