PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($9,334): -1% / +29%
- ETH ($230): -2% / +76%
- LTC ($43): -2% / +3%
- XRP ($0.19): -6% / -3%
- Crypto Market Cap ($266B): -1% / +39% 
- BTC Dominance: 65%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- Compound has overtaken MakerDao as the decentralized finance protocol with the most value locked. Compound has $484 million locked while MakerDAO has $481 million locked. This month compound users began earning its governance token COMP for cryptocurrency lent and borrowed on the app. This drove many users to supply Compound with more capital. Link. 

- Bitcoin posted a 15% increase in mining difficulty, the largest increase in nearly 2.5 years. The increase in difficulty comes a month after the halvening, where bitcoin block rewards were reduced from 12.5 bitcoin per block to 6.25 bitcoin per block. The reduction in block rewards initially forced some miners to halt operations leading to a decline in difficulty, but that encouraged some to come back as they could now operate profitability leading to an increase in difficulty levels. Link. 

- Coinbase rolled out a new open-source technical framework for asset listings, giving developers a blueprint for what their projects need to provide in order to get listed on the exchange. The project is called Rosetta and acts as middleware that sits between Coinbase's systems and the blockchain its working with, making it much easier for the two systems to integrate. Link. Link. 

- Reddit announced a partnership with the Ethereum Foundation to find a Layer 2 solution for scaling its Eth-based "Community Points" system. Community Points are earned by getting upvotes on posts and can be used to purchase exclusive GIFs or emjois. Reddit launched its blockchain-based rewards system a few months ago on two subreddits: r/Cryptocurrency and r/FortniteBR. Link.

- A new report from Deloitte shows that almost 40% of major technology companies surveyed currently have blockchain in production at their companies, a 16% increase over last year's numbers. Link. 

- Crypto custodian Anchorage has teamed up with crypto lender Silvergate to offer bitcoin and crypto-backed loans without the digital assets having to leave Anchorage's care. Anchorage Financing is aimed at institutional bitcoin and crypto investors, and will allow borrowers to draw on lines of credit without putting their digital collateral at risk by moving custodians. Link. 

- ConsenSys is testing its new Eth 2.0 'staking-as-a-service' offering with customers like Binance and Huobi. ConsenSys is building out its Eth 2.0 staking API, which is targeted at large exchanges, wallet providers, custodians and crypto hedge funds. Existing PoS blockchains such as Tezos, Cosmos and Algorand won't be supported. Link. 

- Bitcoin security service Casa has launched Casa Wallet, a free mobile wallet for crypto newcomers and those with smaller amounts of bitcoin. Link. 

- Crypto exchange Binance is set to launch a regulated trading platform aimed at both retail and institutional investors in the UK this summer. Binance UK plans to support 65 crypto assets at launch that can be traded using pounds and euros. Link. 

- According to John Bolton's upcoming book President Donald Trump first told US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to "go after Bitcoin" in May 2018. Earlier this year, Mnuchin announced that the US government was cracking down on the illicit use of cryptocurrencies. Link. 

- Blockchain based digital identity startup Civic Technologies released its mobile app Civic Wallet on the app stores. Civic Wallet has partnered with Circle Medical to provide a covid-19 'proof-of-health' verification for companies with more than 500 employees. Employees can get tested from Circle Medical and control their health information via Civic Wallet. Link. 

- Decentralized exchange 0x said its trading volumes increased 170% year over year. Link. 

- Crypto project Kin is migrating to the Solana blockchain, after hitting limitations on the Stellar blockchain it is currently built on. Kin has over 3 million active monthly spenders and has been integrated into 57 different applications; given the rise in users it needs to process more than 100 transactions per second, which is the upper limit on the Stellar fork it is on. Link. 

- Tokyo Electric Power Company is building a blockchain-based system to trade surplus electricity. The new system will be available to households in Japan within 3 years. Blockchain tech tracks energy consumption while AI enables users to sell their surplus to other residents. Link. 

- Coinbase Pro announced it would list COMP, the token powering defi lending protocol Compound. Link. 

- Robert Farkas, cofounder of the crypto startup Centra Tech, which raised more than $25 million in an ICO in 2017, pled guilty to conspiring to commit securities and wire fraud. Centra Tech had employed celebrities such as boxer Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled to market its ICO. Link. 

- Fintech company Wirecard, which issues Crypto.com's debit cards, appears to be missing roughly $2.1 billion in cash reserves. Wirecard staff have reportedly falsely inflated sales and profits for almost a decade. Link.