Ethereum has dethroned Bitcoin as the top cryptocurrency, according to Weiss Ratings.

The ratings agency has updated its overall crypto rankings which consider adoption, technology, market momentum and investment risk. Weiss now places Ethereum (ETH) in the number one spot, followed by Bitcoin (BTC), Cardano (ADA), Litecoin (LTC), and Stellar (XLM).

In addition, the crypto ratings agency names Cardano as the coin with the best technology. With the Shelley hard fork a success, Weiss analyst Juan Villaverde says his firm has already factored in the blockchains long-awaited upgrade in the coin rankings.

Shelley is already reflected in our technology model because we had full confidence that it would come out with this (fork). Were also reflecting on that same model that Cardano is capable of running smart contracts and dApps because we think these things will come out eventually so when Cardano pushes a code update, it doesnt really reflect on our ratings, unless its something new on the roadmap that wasnt there beforeAs the fundamentals for the blockchain, that is Cardano, improve over time, it will be reflected in our ratings.

Weiss also considers Cosmos (ATOM), Fantom (FTM), Tezos (XTZ), and Ethereum as the top coins in terms of technology.

As for the state of the crypto market, Juan Villaverde says the bull rally appears to have more legs as investors continue to focus on large-cap names.

The second story looks at the small-cap perspective. Weve seen small caps post stellar gains when a true crypto bull run is underway. This weeks pattern suggests to us that the crypto markets arent frothy yet and that higher prices await us still. We usually see the smaller altcoins outperform the broad crypto market once the rally enters its later stages.

The fact that the rally weve seen so far as remarkable as its been has been concentrated mostly in high-quality names tells us that caution still remains high among crypto market participants.

Weiss Ratings has provided financial market research and analysis for more than 30 years, and published its first crypto rankings in early 2018.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Sergey Nivens

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Weiss Ratings Places Ethereum Ahead of Bitcoin As Top Cryptocurrency, Says Cardano Has the Best Technology - The Daily Hodl

Blockchain has had a short but fascinating history. Though the general concept of the technology was outlined a few decades ago, it has only been in practice for a handful of years. And over the span of that briefhistory of blockchain, the defining achievement has undoubtedly been facilitating the launch of cryptocurrency. In this article, lets understand blockchain and how it can change construction.

Blockchain technology functions as a digital ledger that verifies, conducts, and keeps records of digital transactions. It is only via a system of this nature that bitcoin and now dozens (if not hundreds) of other cryptocurrencies can exist. These currencies are purely digital, and the blockchain essentially serves to make them legitimate, helping to establish their value and in a sense serving as a marketplace for their activity.

The initial idea was that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would become everyday alternatives to what we might refer to as ordinary money. This hasnt exactly panned out, though there are certainly ways to spend or transfer cryptocurrency via blockchain transactions. What weve really seen, though, is how quickly blockchain-related concepts can evolve. Even with regard to cryptocurrency specifically, one can argue that investment is now a more important function on the blockchain than actual spending.

Also Read: Benefits of Blockchain in IoT

Today, its common practice tobuy or sell cryptocurrencyas a means of investment. There are ways to do this without actual direct transactions, such a through CFD or futures trading. For the most part though, cryptocurrency trading occurs over the blockchain, with quantities of different assets being bought and sold in an attempt at financial gain. This alone shows how quickly and profoundly blockchains purpose can evolve, even with regard to cryptocurrency. In a matter of years, it has advanced beyond being a digital ledger, and is now effectively a trading platform as well.

Even as this change has happened in the cryptocurrency world though, the blockchain has evolved to suit other purposes as well. At this point in fact, there are numerous industries that are beingdisrupted by blockchain, including banking, real estate, healthcare, and others. And one more industry that doesnt always get as much attention, but which will absolutely be changed by blockchain, is construction.

Upon first thought, especially if you arent particularly familiar with blockchain, this might sound like an odd fit. We think of construction as a very hands-on industry with little to do with the digital world, and thus it doesnt naturally come to mind as a fit for blockchain disruption. The reality, however, is that there is a lot about this industry that blockchain might be more or less ideally suited for.

Also Read: How can unmanned flights be monitored with the help of blockchain

One article on this topic looked into blockchains potential toimpact constructionand pointed out some of the factors that could make the technology particularly useful. The article highlighted contractual processes and paperwork relating to building codes, safety regulations, and project management to say nothing of inventory control and any and all involved transactions. All of these things are vital to real estate projects, and all of them, in theory, could be moved to the blockchain. There, they would be at least partially automated, and its likely that a great deal of time would be saved (and hassle avoided).The basic idea here is that blockchain tech can be used to perform cause-and-effect functions. So, for example, a construction company can input a function that transfers funds to a supplier when the company receives material; it might organize agreements regarding safety and regulation to be digitally catalogued once all involved parties have signed. From these examples, you can begin to see how any number of necessary functions in a standard construction project might be made more exact and more efficient via the blockchain.

For the most part, this disruption hasnt quite taken effect just yet. With blockchain tech continuing to spread into new industries though, and with such clear potential benefits, construction is a likely candidate to integrate the tech in the near future.

Also Read: 3 quick benefits of using blockchain in the current healthcare system

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Blockchain and how it can change construction - Geospatial World

Coinsquare Ltd. CEO Cole Diamond will step down after securities regulators accused the cryptocurrency company of misleading investors and manipulating the market.

Founder and president Virgile Rostand will also step aside from the Toronto-based company, which creates tools for people to access digital currency markets, as part of the settlement agreement approved on Tuesday by the Ontario Securities Commission.

The company inflated 90 per cent of its trading volumes between July 2018 and December 2019 with fake trades, according to the settlement agreement from the OSC.

In addition to paying costs for the OSC investigation, Diamond and Rostand will pay fines of $1 million and $900,000, respectively, and the company will be required to create an independent board of directors.

Jeff Kehoe, the OSC's director of enforcement, says the settlement is also an important milestone as it marks the first time a company has been disciplined under 2016 laws barring reprisal against a whistleblower.

A company spokesperson for Coinsquare told The Canadian Press that the company acted on wrong legal advice but the company put clients, employees and shareholders first, and that the increased volume did not impact cryptocurrency prices.

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CEO of Toronto-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare resigns after regulatory probe - CBC.ca

Leading blockchain analysis firm, Chainalysis, which recently secured $49 million in capital through a Series B round, announced on July 27, 2020, that it has launched Market Intel, its newly designed website for asset managers and regulatory agencies. The new site may be used to gain access to live data and insights on cryptocurrency transactions, and also the health and growth of the digital asset markets.

As mentioned in a release shared with Crowdfund Insider:

Market Intel is powered by Chainalysiss proprietary data, which the company has been systematically collecting and linking to real world entities since 2014.

Jonathan Levin, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Chainalysis, said that the company was established to help financial service providers and world governments with gaining access to trusted data sources. Chainalysis aims to help financial institutions and regulators feel comfortable with cryptocurrency so that these alternative assets can achieve mainstream adoption.

Levin explained that Market Intel is the next logical step in realizing Chainalysis vision. He added the company aims to help asset managers and regulators by providing metrics and context for cryptocurrency transactions.

Chainalysis focuses on assisting its customers with leveraging the transparency of public blockchains so that they can make more informed, data-driven decisions about why and how to invest in cryptocurrencies and ensure the markets function safely and efficiently, Levin noted.

Financial crime and compliance professionals frequently use Chainalysis on-chain data, which aims to offer detailed insight into cryptocurrency activity that is conducted on the blockchain, in order to identify and investigate potentially fraudulent and illicit transactions.

As mentioned in the announcement:

Market Intel harnesses the same trusted dataset to provide insight into economic activity. While roughly $10 billion of cryptocurrency was transferred on-chain for illicit purposes in 2019, about that same amount is transferred on-chain every week for investment and trading.

Philip Gradwell, Chief Economist, Chainalysis, believes that decentralized cryptocurrencies are on their way to becoming a mainstream asset class, however, fund managers and regulatory authorities require reliable data and insight into whats really taking place in the crypto markets to meaningfully invest and effectively oversee the space,

Gradwell added:

With Market Intel, were leveraging our unique dataset to give an accurate and complete description of the real world use of cryptocurrencies, rather than providing partial, noisy data or focusing on technical blockchain metrics.

Chainalysis Market Intel offers daily on-chain metrics on cryptocurrency trading, demand, supply, generation, and the potential risk of cryptos. The software aims to identify what it considers the most important daily changes.

As noted in the release:

Insights include how much cryptocurrency is flowing to and from exchanges, how and where in the world cryptocurrency is moving, how long supply is held, the percentage of new assets going to exchanges, the percentage of transaction volume related to illicit activity, and more.

Market Intel is currently available only in beta mode for free. It allows users to access key metrics and insights on the Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether USDT (on Bitcoin and Ethereum), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC) blockchains. Chainalysis said it will be introducing improvements and other features in the future.

The blockchain analysis firm is also introducing the weekly Market Intel Report, which is an email summary of the most important on-chain events and trends in cryptocurrency, focusing on their short-term implications for cryptocurrency markets and the long-term evolution of cryptocurrencies as an asset class.

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Chainalysis Introduces New Website, Market Intel, which gives Digital Asset Managers and Regulators Access to Meaningful Insight about Crypto Activity...