This Week in Crypto: XLM now Fully Available on Coinbase, ADA Records Impressive Growth, Report Suggests That Almost 90% Of Exchange’s Volume Could Be Manipulated, XRP en route to Massive Adoption and more

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This Week in Crypto: XLM now Fully Available on Coinbase, ADA Records Impressive Growth, Report Suggests That Almost 90% Of Exchange’s Volume Could Be Manipulated, XRP en route to Massive Adoption and more
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The following is a summarized collection of the most interesting crypto news stories in the week. The week was quite adventurous with many new developments and no single project dominating the happenings in the industry. Also, crypto projects which are not usually in the news have made it this time, making the news truly “decentralized”.

Stellar XLM

XLM now available on Coinbase.com

Coinbase had listed Stellar XLM on its trading platform about a week ago but announced that the asset would not yet be available on Coinbase.com. Well this week, the company announced that XLM is now available on Coinbase.com and available for Android and iOS users to trade, send, receive and store on their wallets.

XLM Soars as IBM picks it for cross-border payment

IBM launched its cross-border payment system known as IBM World Wire within the week. The big deal is that XLM which renders cross-border payments similar to Ripple’s has been selected as the token for the World Wire remittance services. This led to a surge for XLM in the market rising over 4% following the announcement. Many have speculated that XLM may be on its way to replacing Ripple in cross-border payments with this new development.

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Cardano (ADA)

ADA records impressive growth, Gets an “A” Rating

Cardano (ADA) during the week made a significant leap in price defying the bearish grip some assets were struggling with including Bitcoin. This has earned the asset an “A” rating from FCAS which rates cryptocurrencies based on User Activity, Developer Behavior, and Asset Maturity. This makes ADA a smart investment choice as the rating goes beyond price behavior to rank based on other factors that make the asset suitable for investment.

Cardano CEO says an ETF will be approved once the bad actors are out

In another story, the CEO of Cardano Charles Hoskinson mentioned in a recent interview that an ETF will be approved once some bad actors in the space are removed. Hoskinson expressed confidence that an ETF approval is not a matter of if, but when it will happen, adding that market stability is the biggest challenge and the approval will be granted once the bad actors causing this are flushed out.

Report Suggests That Almost 90% Of Exchange’s Volume Could Be Manipulated

Probably the most interesting story of the week, a Bitcoin ETF applicant Bitwise in its analysis has revealed that 90% of reported exchange volumes for Bitcoin are fake. According to their analysis report, exchanges like Coinbene, BW, ZBG, BitMax were reporting volumes 10 times higher volume than expected. Some have expressed concern that this may only contribute to delaying the approval of an ETF and nothing more.

Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin predicted to hit 6k in coming weeks

No one has predicted the future of Bitcoin in a while, a trader Cryptocurrency analyst, trader, and organizer of the upcoming Understanding Bitcoin Conference Tone Vays is optimistic that Bitcoin has a great future ahead, adding that the asset may hit 6k in the next few weeks to come if it crosses $4200. Although he admits that the bear market is not completely over and Bitcoin could still crash to $3,000, he is also optimistic that it could go in the opposite direction to record significant highs.

BitMEX CEO: Bitcoin Will Hit $10k This Year Despite The Current Heavy Lull

Another bullish Bitcoin price prediction was given by the CEO of BitMEX, Arthur Hayes. Hayes has expressed confidence that Bitcoin could end the year with a value of $10,000 per coin despite the current uncertain trends. He is also positive that a recovery all the way to the all-time high of 20k is possible as he sees more funds flowing into the cryptocurrency as the year progresses.

Ripple XRP

Adoption: You Can Now Book 550,000+ Hotels in Over 200 Countries with XRP

Ripple’s XRP has been aggressively pursuing mass adoption and it seems this dream is coming true, with the latest development being that over 550,000 hotels in 200 countries can now be booked using XRP. Travala, a hotel booking platform that provides services globally recently announced the addition of XRP as a payment option, which exposes XRP to adoption by millions of potential customers.

IBM Blockchain World Wire Vs Ripple and XRP

Ripple being the leader in remittance services has been threatened by many new crypto and blockchain projects. Stablecoins, JPM Coin, SWIFT, all have been perceived as potential threats to Ripple’s cross-border payments business. However, for some reason, the project always seems to get ahead of any potential competition. IBM has arrived with its World Wire remittance system with XLM as its token of choice. Although it is too early to tell, the new IBM tool is not likely to be a threat to Ripple either, judging from past events.

XRPL Labs Explores More Ways to Increase XRP Adoption Following Woocommerce Integration

In pursuit of even more adoption for XRP, XRPL Labs which recently facilitated the integration of XRP with Woocommerce, potentially bringing it to over 3 million stores around the world, has announced a bounty for innovative ideas that could further the mass adoption of the asset. XRPL Labs Founder and CEO Wietse Wind announced this within the week that ideas from the XRP community will be scrutinized and funded by to ensure that XRP gets the widest possible adoption.

Crypto Legal Expert: Don’t Expect Ripple’s XRP Security Ruling This Year

One of the major criticisms that Ripple has suffered is that XRP is a security and not a cryptocurrency as the company claims. This issue has been in court and although XRP listing on Coinbase was a bit of evidence that the argument was invalid, it hasn’t gone away and for those who are eagerly waiting to hear the conclusion of the matter, the sad news is that the ruling may not happen this year. A prominent law firm Kobre & Kim’s Jake Chervinsky announced in a tweet that the case is still in its initial stage and only a little progress will be made within the year but the ruling is bound to take much longer.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey hunts for crypto engineers

The CEO of Twitter and strong Bitcoin proponent Jack Dorsey is recruiting crypto engineers to build a cryptocurrency ecosystem with Square. The Bitcoin enthusiast believes Bitcoin will soon become the money of the internet and pursuing its mass adoption is a worthy venture and he is willing to pay people to build an ecosystem that will push this cause further. Dorsey is calling on Bitcoin Core developers and other engineers to work full time with his company, Square.

Adoption: Customers can now pay with IOTA in Stores that Accept Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, following Zeux Integration

Good news for IOTA holders, you can now pay for goods and services at local retail stores in your area if they accept Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. This has been made possible through the integration of the cryptocurrency with Zeux, the UK app for payments. The service enables free payment to merchants that is safe and secure as well as store and manages funds on Zeux. more details can be found here.