Western Union enters into partnership with Ripple while Coinbase carries out the largest cryptocurrency transaction ever. Follow our digest for more details on these and other events.
Facebook develops a cryptocurrency for WhatsApp
Facebook is issuing tokens for WhatsApp users. It is supposed that they will be applied for money transactions via the app.
What is more, there will be introduced a stable coin pegged to a US dollar: in such a way, the developers minimize volatility. However, the current state of the company does not promise the near cryptocurrency launch. It is now elaborating a strategy including a plan for storage of assets that would support the stable coin.
Coinbase now offers services to the residents of the six European countries
The American largest cryptocurrency company Coinbase started offering services to the residents of the Isle of Guernsey, the Isle of Man as well as Lithuania, Iceland, Andorra, and Gibraltar.
The users located in these countries got access to the Coinbase.com platform and exchange’s apps for iOS and Android. In the future, the company will provide them with a possibility to work on the Coinbase Pro and Coinbase Prime platforms.
“Within the recent six years, we have expanded our service area from the U.S. territory to 33 countries, which allows more people to sell and purchase a cryptocurrency. The following year, we will continue our expansion in new regions,” the company’s blog reports.
Coinbase carries out the largest cryptocurrency transaction ever
One of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase announced a cryptocurrency transaction of more than $5 bn. As of 2018, this amount of money is considered to be the world’s record.
The transaction was held on December 19: on this day, more than $5 bn capital was transferred in various cryptocurrencies. As the report describes, the transaction was calculated as about 25% of all Litecoins (LTC), 8% of all Ethereums (ETH), and 5% of all Bitcoins (BTC) across the globe.
Western Union tests Ripple-based payments
One of the world’s largest payment systems Western Union is testing payments based on the Ripple technology.
For now, the press service of Western Union has not specified which Ripple solution is deployed, xCurrent or xRapid. The latter involves XRP cryptocurrency that interests many investors.
The company’s chief financial officer Raj Agrawal states that the project is at its initial stage and Western Union has not considered it as a key business element yet.
The partnership with Ripple was announced soon after the Western Union’s financial report was published. It states that the company closed the 2017 year with losses of $557 mn.
BTC and ETH hit the record-high trading volumes shown in May
Weekly trading volume of Bitcoin and Ether has grown to figures witnessed in May this year. Globally, $46 bn worth of Bitcoin and $18.5 bn worth of Ether was traded from December 17 to 23.
Specialists expect that Bitcoin’s yearly trading volume will reach $2.2 tn. The increase in the trading volumes has outperformed the figures of 2017 by 153%.
Ethereum’s yearly trading volume will comprise $800 bn by the end of 2018. This is the second most popular cryptocurrency in the world.
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