Arweave has increased by 129.93% in the last week and hit a high yesterday of $69.59 – a price that the coin has never previously achieved; currently, the asset is trading at $59.80. As the first blockweave network, Arweave is supported by Coinbase Ventures, part of Coinbase Global. Arweave is a blockchain that enables the preservation of files on a decentralized network where they are freely accessible and almost free from censorship. Due to the fact that it makes it very difficult to remove data after they have been recorded on the blockchain, public permanent record keeping is a key use case. As a result of encryption and peer-to-peer validation requirements, traditional blockchain networks, such as Bitcoin have relatively small block sizes, averaging 1 megabyte. Thus, there is no way to store non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Bitcoin network, even if the network is upgraded to enable smart contract capabilities in the future. Weaving each block with others on the network was the method that Arweave devised in response to that dilemma on its peer-to-peer network; files can be stored for an unlimited period of time in addition to smart contracts originating from other blockchains which can be executed by using the assets contained on its database.
Celo
Currently, Celo is up 91.21% in the last week and is trading at $5.74 at the time of publication. Celo has partnered with leading crypto organizations and decentralized finance (DeFi) initiatives like Chainlink, RabbitHole, Aave, and Sushi, among others, to create a $100 million incentive project titled DeFi for the People. According to a press release on August 30, 2021, the project aims to decrease the barrier to entry into the DeFi ecosystem for small investors, especially those in developing countries. Using blockchain technology, Celo, a relatively new project, wants to make cryptocurrency tools available to anybody with a smartphone. However, it is specifically aimed at those who had trouble accessing their bank accounts.
Fantom
A recent $320 million incentive program for Fantom, a layer one smart contract platform that employs a directed acyclic graph design to tackle the issues of sluggish transaction speeds and costly transaction fees, appears to have increased its price recently. The 370 million FTM ($320 million) incentive scheme aimed to encourage new protocols and liquidity to the Fantom ecosystem was announced on Monday. Fantom Foundation will offer prizes to protocol creators that launch on the Fantom network. Developers will get 1 million FTM to 5 million FTM based on the protocol’s Total Value Locking (TVL). This means that a protocol must have an average TVL of at least $5,000,000 or $100,000,000 over a long period of time in order to qualify for rewards. It’s important to note that if at any moment the TWA falls below the $5,000,000 requirement, prize distribution will be put on hold until the TVL reaches the minimum required. In addition to the launch, a substantial rise in social media engagement and the continuing increase in the amount of value locked on the protocol contribute to Fantom’s explosive development. Fantom is now up 74.51% in the last seven days and presently changing hands at $0.85.
Solana
In response to rising investor interest, Solana climbed to a record high yesterday as the network, which supports smart contracts essential for decentralized financial systems and NFTs, also saw hype hit an all-time high. Data shows crowd excitement and volume have reached record highs with weighted sentiment exceeding four deviations over its mean, according to crypto on-chain social and fundamental insights website Santiment. Solana is currently up 70.62% in the last week, and only 18 months after its launch, the token is the eighth-largest cryptocurrency in the world, with a market cap of a little over $33 billion.
Altcoin usage on the rise
According to Chainalysis, a prominent blockchain data analytics organization, the global use of cryptos and altcoins increased by 880% in 2021, based on the value and volume of all cryptos traded worldwide. This information is not isolated as per research published last month by Crypto.com, which shows that the number of cryptocurrency holders globally have more than doubled from January (106 million) to June (221 million users). [coinbase]
