Why has Compound (COMP) price jumped by more than 10% today?

Compound (COMP) price has surged 10% today at a time when the majority of cryptocurrencies are bullish with the likes of Bitcoin reaching three months high.

At the time of writing, Compound was trading at $143.91 up 10.19% after a slight pullback from a daily high of $148.10.

But why is the coin price skyrocketing? This article focuses on the factors behind the current Compound rally.

What is Compound (COMP)?

In a nutshell, Compound (COMP), is the native token of Compound, a DeFi lending protocol where users can get crypto loans or earn interest by offering their crypto assets to the platform for it to lend them out to others.

Why is Compound price rising?

The two main factors being attributed to the current surge in the price of Compound coin are the recent protocol upgrade announcement and the community’s response to the announcement.

  • Announcement on protocol upgrade

After realizing that its reward distribution program has a negative effect on the COMP price, the platform has come up with a protocol upgrade that will help in the growth of the protocol instead of selling off the rewards without necessarily benefitting the existing token holders and users.

The new program kicked off by reducing the existing rewards by half and it will also probably end COMP farming though depending on how the community votes.

  • Community to embrace the new proposal

The community seems to embrace the new proposal with a majority saying that the 50% cut-off will reduce the rampant inflations that have been experienced in the network before.

There was actually a rush by investors to purchase more tokens since the majority believe that the upgrade will lead to a price hike.

The post Why has Compound (COMP) price jumped by more than 10% today? appeared first on Coin Journal.

SHIB v ApeCoin: Which is a better buy today?

With hype a key price driver during alt-season, ApeCoin could be better.

  • Shiba Inu is a meme coin that took the markets by storm in 2021 after it rallied by millions of percentages.

  • ApeCoin is the new kid on the block in terms of hype, driven by its connection to the bored Ape NFT community.

  • Now that alt-season is starting, ApeCoin makes for a better buy for investors looking to capitalize on the hype. 

Shiba Inu SHIB/USD is a meme coin that came to prominence in 2021. It went on to record gains of over 48,000,000%. Shiba Inu was largely driven by the hype around meme coins that Elon Musk triggered in 2020. Shiba Inu continues to be one of the meme coins that hold a lot of potential going into the future.

That’s because there are lots of investors who are still betting heavily on meme coins. This is driven by expectations of a repeat of the gains of 2021 at some point in the future. Besides, the Shiba Inu team is working hard to improve SHIB’s core metrics. For instance, the team is in the process of building a Metaverse platform. With the massive potential that the Metaverse holds, this is a factor that could see SHIB perform well in the future. 

On its part, ApeCoin APE/USD is the new kid on the block and is attracting all the hype. ApeCoin rallied by over 2000% since launch and continues to draw high volumes relative to most cryptocurrencies in the market. This has a lot to do with its connection to the Bored Ape community, which at the moment, is the most popular NFT community in the market. 

So, which one is a better buy?

Both Shiba Inu and ApeCoin are good investments. However, now that alt-season seems to be kicking off, it is best to move with the flow to maximize gains. Using this approach, ApeCoin is a much better buy than Shiba Inu at the moment. The odds are in its favor since it is currently drawing a lot of hype. 

Summary

Shiba Inu and ApeCoin are both fantastic long-term investments. However, for an investor looking to make the most out of their investment short term, ApeCoin has more potential. There is a lot of hype around it, and it’s now where Shiba Inu was back in January 2021.

The post SHIB v ApeCoin: Which is a better buy today? appeared first on Coin Journal.

Why Ethereum has the edge over Binance Coin as alt-season starts

While both are strong cryptos, the hype around Eth 2.0 gives ETH an edge

  • Binance Coin powers Binance and has a lot of uses, making it valuable crypto. 

  • Ethereum is the number one smart contracts platform in the market and is not going away soon.

  • Ethereum has a lot of hype due to the transition to Ethereum 2.0.

Binance coin BNB/USD is the cryptocurrency that powers the entire Binance ecosystem. Anyone who uses Binance exchange or any of the other Binance services such as the Binance Smart Chain must have used Binance Coin at one point or the other.

Considering that Binance is highly innovative and is always coming up with new products that require BNB, there is no doubt that the value of BNB will go up over time. However, the coin burn is the most significant factor that guarantees BNB value growth over time. Binance has been burning BNB since it was launched, and this has played well into its value over the years. As the coin burn continues, it will play positively into BNB’s value. 

On its part, Ethereum ETH/USD is the most robust smart contracts platform in the market today. Thanks to its dominance in smart contracts, Ethereum has recorded massive growth as investors adopt it for everything from NFTs to DeFi. In the last two years, Ethereum has also been working towards a move away from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. The goal is to deal with the scalability issues that Ethereum has struggled with for years and become more energy-efficient. 

Why Ethereum has an edge short-term

While Ethereum and Binance Coin are great investments long-term, Ethereum has a significant edge over BNB now that bulls are returning to the market. Ethereum has an edge because it is almost done with the much-awaited transition to Eth 2.0. Besides the hype around the change, Eth 2.0 has several intrinsic advantages for Ethereum. 

Through Eth 2.0, Ethereum will be more scalable, incentivizing usage. On top of that, it makes Ethereum deflationary, which is good for its long-term value appreciation. It’s a matter of demand and supply – simple economics.

Summary

Binance Coin and Ethereum both have a lot of potential for long-term growth. They are both among the most fundamentally strong cryptocurrencies in the market. However, in the short term, Ethereum has an edge. There is a lot of hype around the final transition to Eth 2.0, a factor that could draw in lots of buying volumes.

The post Why Ethereum has the edge over Binance Coin as alt-season starts appeared first on Coin Journal.

Axie Infinity’s Ronin bridge and Katana Dex halted after suffering a $612M exploit

According to a tweet posted on Ronin Network’s official Twitter handle, the Ronin bridge has been exploited and 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC coins worth about $612 million were stolen.

Following the hack, Ronin bridge and Katana DEX have both been halted.

Ronin however said in the Twitter thread touching on the exploit that its team is working with “law enforcement officials, forensic cryptographers, and our investors to make sure that all funds are recovered or reimbursed.” It also said that “all of the AXS, RON, and SLP on Ronin are safe.”

What we know about the hack so far

According to an official communication of Ronin Network on Substack, the hacker managed to take over the control of four of Sky Mavi’s Ronin validators together with a third-party validator managed by the Axie DAO.

The Sky Mavi’s Ronin chain consists of nine validator nodes and five out of the nine are required to append their signatures for a deposit or withdrawal to be recognized. Although the validator key scheme is decentralized and built to limit an attack vector like the one that just occurred, the hacker found a backdoor through the network’s gas-free RPC node and got the signature for the Axie DAO.

At the time of writing, the RON token, which is Ronin’s native governance token, had dropped by over 20% over the past one hour.

The post Axie Infinity’s Ronin bridge and Katana Dex halted after suffering a $612M exploit appeared first on Coin Journal.

Why did WAVES price rise by 60% today?

WAVES token has shaken the entire crypto market by rallying over 60% in the last 24 hours. Its latest price surge has made it become the 32nd largest cryptocurrency by market cap surpassing Axie infinity (AXS) and Decentraland (MANA).

At the time of writing, WAVE is trading at $52.44, up 63.13% after hitting a high of $53.81 from a low of $32.12 in the last 24 hours. Additionally, WAVES rose from around $8.9 to above $50 in just seven days.

This article focuses on the forces behind the current surge in WAVES’ price.

Why is WAVES price rising?

Before getting into what is behind the price surge, it is important to first explain what WAVES is.

In a nutshell, WAVES is the native token of the Waves blockchain, which is a multipurpose blockchain platform that enables the use of smart contracts and the development of decentralized applications (DApps).

The main reason why the WAVES price is rallying is the recent launch of Waves Labs in the United States and news that it plans to hire experts.

  • Launching of Waves Labs in the U.S

In February, Waves had announced that it will be launching a new venture, Waves Labs, as its next step for the year 2022.

In a press release, the company said that Waves Lab will represent the blockchain in the United States. It will mainly focus on supporting new projects and raising funds on the blockchain

  • Hiring experts

According to verifiable reports, Waves have hired a senior leadership team with some fintech and crypto veterans like Sasha Ivanov, founder of Waves protocol, serving as the firm advisor.

Moreover, the firm is working on establishing decentralized governance that will improve its integration with other blockchains.

Waves‘ current bullish trend shows that there is a growing interest in altcoins including Solana (SOL) Terra (LUNA), and Cardano (ADA).

The post Why did WAVES price rise by 60% today? appeared first on Coin Journal.