A slowdown in cryptocurrency trading on so-called decentralized exchanges has helped to alleviate congestion on the Ethereum blockchain, at least temporarily mitigating concerns the network was becoming overloaded. The trading lull comes as prices tumble for many of the hottest tokens from the fast-growing arena of decentralized finance, or DeFi. SushiSwap’s SUSHI token, one of this year’s splashiest debuts , fell by 77% in the past 30 days, while DeFi lender Compound’s COMP tokens lost 37%. On Uniswap, the biggest decentralized exchange, or DEX, daily trading volumes have crashed to $224 million, versus a record high of $954 million on Sept. 1. “Low volatility in the crypto market […]
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After facing a heavy load of transactions earlier this month, bitcoin’s (BTC) network has returned to a more normal level, recent developments suggest. The total amount of fees paid to miners was 80 BTC as of Tuesday, down from its 11-month high of 201 BTC on May 21, according to the data provided by the blockchain intelligence firm Glassnode. It was at 57 BTC on May 3. The percentage of miner revenue from fees has also pulled back to 9.4% from the 28-month high of 21% registered on May 20. “The fall back in transaction fees are related to a normalized […]
South Africa, which has some of the toughest Covid-19 restrictions, is set to relax them, including a ban on alcohol sales. To avert a feared onslaught of booze buyers, retailers are proposing what seems an outlandish scheme. Alcohol is expected to rain on the arid market of South Africa from June 1, when the government is set to partially lift its coronavirus-related restrictions. The blanket ban on alcohol and tobacco sales was implemented late in March. The government draft plan would allow liquor stores to operate from Monday to Wednesday between 8am and 12pm. Retailers, however, fear that the stores might […]