Weekly Recap: Major Crypto Developments Go Live with Terra 2.0
Ethereum-Cardano Bridge Finally Goes Live
Iagon, a cloud computing platform, announced the introduction of the Ethereum-Cardano token bridge last Wednesday. The token bridge is an interoperability protocol that will allow users to transfer tokens between networks rapidly and inexpensively. Iagon also indicated that the token bridge was now operational in the beta version.
Late last month, the computing platform switched from the Ethereum network to Cardano's. Following that, half of the IAG token supply, totaling 500 million, consequently migrated from Ethereum to Cardano. In a similar fashion, the team has disclosed that the token bridge was created to facilitate conversion as well as interaction, say, the conversion of Ethereum-based IAG tokens to Cardano-based.
In addition, layer two protocol Milkomeda and cross-chain protocol Nomad will support the new bridge.
Paraguay Approves Legislation to Regulate Cryptocurrency Mining
On Wednesday, the Paraguayan Chamber of Duties approved the legal framework that would control cryptocurrency mining and trading. The Chamber of Duties, which is the lower house of Paraguay's bicameral Congress, approved the bill after a 40-12 vote.
The approved bill also came with certain modifications and will be sent back to the Senate, which passed it in December. After the Senate receives it, the changes are expected to undergo further approval before proceeding to the executive arm.
According to a spokesperson, the legislation's objective is to transform the South American nation into a global hub for cryptocurrency miners. This is due to Paraguay's low electricity costs, which are also the lowest in Latin America. Miners will need to apply for authorization for industrial electricity consumption if the legislation is officially accepted as law. They would also need to apply for a license.
Despite its approval, the bill was met with heavy criticism from the Chamber's budget committee. Interestingly, the CoinMarketCap community voted Paraguay as the next country to embrace cryptocurrency as legal tender. Only El Salvador and the Central African Republic have made Bitcoin legal tender thus far.
SpaceX Follows Tesla in Accepting Dogecoin Payments for Merch
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, revealed on Friday that Dogecoin will soon be accepted as a payment method for SpaceX merchandise. This comes four months after Tesla began accepting DOGE as payment for merch. Musk has long been a proponent of the dog-themed cryptocurrency and is known as the "Dogefather" in the crypto world. Moreso, to purchase the SpaceX merch, customers may also use a Dogecoin wallet for shopping, as it is in Tesla.
Musk also hinted at a possible Starlink membership payment system using the popular meme token in response to a question. SpaceX operates the Starlink satellite network, which provides satellite internet access to a number of countries.
Accordingly, Dogecoin gained 15% and reached a high of $0.09 on Friday before closing at $0.082.
Binance Finally Receives Regulatory Authorization in Italy
Binance, the world's top blockchain infrastructure provider, has acquired regulatory approval from Italian authorities for its local entity. According to an announcement published on Friday, Binance Italy has registered as a cryptocurrency service provider in Italy.
Lately, the exchange has found itself on the good side of the authorities. For example, Binance has secured a regulatory nod from the French government and the Emirati in the past month. Its authorization in Italy reasonably expands its foothold on the European continent.
Hence, the crypto firm will be eligible to offer crypto products to Italians starting this Friday. The latest development is also evidence of Binance's resolve to comply with local regulatory bodies. Its new registration is also in contrast to last July when the exchange was barred from operating in Italy for providing unlicensed services.
Tether's Stablecoin Launches on the Polygon Network
Tether, the company behind USDT, has launched its Tether stablecoin on Polygon. As a result, Polygon becomes the eleventh network to host USDT. Ethereum, Algorand, Kusama, and Solana are among the other notable networks that already host USDT.
Tether will now become a new stablecoin option for over 8,000 teams building on the L2 structure. Additionally, the coin will play a vital role in mitigating the negative effects of market volatility for Polygon's DeFi ecosystem.
Tether's CTO, Paolo Ardoino, commented on the launch, saying the company had always had plans for the Polygon's community. He went on to say that the Tether team believes the stablecoin would make the layer 2 scaling solution stronger.
Terra 2.0 Relaunches in Do Kwon's Recovery Plan
Terra is not dead. At least for now. The new Terra coin dubbed Terra 2.0 went live on Saturday, in accordance with CEO Do Kwon’s plans.
The first block generated that day activated the Terra 2.0 mainnet, dubbed Phoenix-1. Kwon's strategy entailed dumping the UST stablecoin in favor of a Terra hard fork. Further plans include decreasing network ownership to just 1 billion tokens, down from the current 6 trillion LUNA tokens in circulation.
The new coin was also presented as a way to save the original Terra ecosystem after its historic crash. As per the revival plan, users previously holding the original Terra, TerraUSD, and Anchor UST are eligible to receive airdrops.
After its launch, LUNA 2.0 experienced a huge price correction and plummeted over 67% from its launch price yesterday. The drop came after Terraform Labs successfully distributed LUNA 2.0 tokens to investors who met the conditions. At the time of writing, Terra’s refurbished LUNA trades at $6.60.
