PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($8,920): +17% / +24%
- ETH ($212): +8% / +62%
- LTC ($48): +7% / +15%
- XRP ($0.22): +13% / +15%
- Crypto Market Cap ($249B): +14% / +30% 
- BTC Dominance: 66%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- Messaging platform Telegram has offered to refund its ICO investors 72% of their stakes, or 110% if they choose to wait another year. Telegram had raised $1.7 billion in 2018 for Gram tokens which would power the Telegram Open Network (TON). The company has faced legal challenges from the SEC that has prevented it from launching Grams, which was supposed to occur by April 30. Investors now have the option to be repaid part of their original investment, or if they wait Telegram proposes to pay investors more, either in cash, stock, or a different cryptocurrency. Link. 

- The equity market has consistently outperformed bitcoin since the market sell-off in mid-March, but that trend reversed this week as bitcoin bounced back. The S&P 500 is -12% YTD while BTC is +24% YTD. Link. 

- Andreessen Horowitz raised $515 million for its second dedicated crypto fund. The fund released a blog post that outlined its areas of interests: next generation payments, modern store of value, decentralized finance (DeFi), creator monetization, and Web 3.0. Link. 

- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that issuance on the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade will likely be drastically reduced to less than 2 million a year, down from the current 4.7 million ETH issued annually. Ethereum 2.0 is expected to use proof-of-stake consensus algorithms, and will likely have volatility in block sizes rather than fees in order to scale processing volumes. Link. 

- OKEx, the world's fourth largest crypto exchange by trading volume, announced that it is supporting Ethereum 2.0 with its large mining pool, OKEx Pool. It will join the Ethereum 2.0 Topaz testnet, which is meant to bridge the gap as Ethereum transitions from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. OKEx Pool is the first major mining pool to commit support for the network. Link. 

- Payments processor Checkout.com has joined the Libra Association. It's the first payment processor to join after US giants Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe all withdrew form the project last October. Link. 

- More than 77% of ETH not locked in smart contracts hasn't moved in six months, despite the wild price swings the currency has experienced. Over 50% hasn't changed hands in a year, and almost 32% has remained unmoved for a full two years. Bitcoin holders show similar patterns - currently 42% of bitcoin's supply remains unmoved for at least two years, a 10% increase from last year. Link. 

- Block.one, the company behind EOS, has patented a blockchain-based bidding system that aims to encourage positive feedback on social media platforms. The system incentivizes users to give positive feedback like upvotes, likes and comments. The highest bidders on posts will have their profile displayed in a noticeable spot on the post. It's likely the system will be used for Voice, Block.one's social media app that launched last year and is currently in private beta. Link. 

- Days after promoting its COO to CEO, blockchain analytics startup Elliptic has linked an exclusive deal with the Stellar Foundation to provide its analytics and tracking services to Stellar-based businesses. Elliptic will be a preferred provider and will offer AML, KYC, and transaction analytics to companies using Stellar's Xlm token. Link. 

- Nasdaq is partnering with blockchain firm R3 to allow financial institutions to issue tokens and build marketplaces for digital assets. While Nasdaq is still figuring out the role digital assets will play for financial institutions, it believes there's a massive opportunity to automate and digitize manual processes in OTC markets -- this could create new marketplaces in industries such as healthcare, shipping, and logistics. The platform will also handle custody, trading, and settlement. Link.  

- Blockstack reported revenue of $23.3 million in 2019, a 37% decline from its 2018 revenue according to its latest filing with the SEC. The drop is attributable to lower sales of its Stacks (STX) tokens last year. Link. 

- Privacy-focused web browser Brave has integrated a widget for Binance's crypto exchange into its desktop offerings. Any user opening a new tab or window in the browser will see the Binance widget to connect their account; users can see their holdings and buy, deposit, and trade their crypto holdings directly from the browser. Link. 

- Alibaba has patented a blockchain system to spot musical copycats by hosting and vetting content on a blockchain. Validation nodes perform 'originality analysis' on musical tracks to evaluate how similar its tune, tempo, and other factors such as lyrics and beat are to the other tracks in the library. The process yields a recommendation on the track's originality. Alibaba believes this method could alleviate copyright issues that plague the music industry today. Link. 

- Coinbase and Kraken experienced brief outages this week as the price of bitcoin rallied to almost $9,000. Link. 

- Chinese tech giant Tencent has launched a blockchain accelerator program, where it plans to mentor 30 companies developing blockchain-based technologies and services. Link.