Hey everyone! Welcome to your free Friday newsletter. Here's a quick summary of our top stories: - CoinMarketCap rolls out a new ranking system for market pairs.
- Bitcoin options trading hits a new high.
- Crypto Masterclass with Marc Blinder, CEO and co-founder of AIKON, who discusses the CO2 footprint of Bitcoin with Ripple CTO David Schwartz.
A reminder: If you subscribe to our premium content, you'll receive Inside Cryptocurrency ad-free five days a week, along with features like our daily Masterclass, interviews with crypto experts, and the latest studies and reports on crypto. Right now, we're offering 50% off of our monthly plan (only a few slots left!) if you use the promo code Crypto50. Click here to upgrade to premium! Best, | |  Rebecca |  | | |
Market Watch Most coin prices are in the green today. Bitcoin remains up despite Bitcoin options trading expiring on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) today. | Bitcoin | $9,384 | +1.83% | | Ethereum | $218 | +5.10% | | Tether | $1.00 | -0.14% | | XRP | $0.197 | +0.55% | | Top 100 Winner: Bancor | $0.699 | +30.11% | | Top 100 Loser: THETA | $0.312 | -12.79% | Prices are as of 3:00 p.m. ET.
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CoinMarketCap has rolled out a new ranking system for market pairs. The data aggregator said that if people want to buy Bitcoin with euros - BTC/EUR market pair - the ranking system will help them know which exchange is offering the best price. There are two steps the platform is taking. One is introducing the ranking system, which will be "algorithmically scored" across three areas: volume, liquidity, and an exchange's user base. In order to do well, they have to score well across the three areas. Previously, reported volume was how market pairs were sorted. The second step is a confidence indicator, which highlights the confidence that CoinMarketCap has with the volume of a market pair reported by an exchange. COINMARKETCAP 
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 Bitcoin options trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) saw volumes hitting $60 million yesterday. That's according to information from data provider Skew. The new record came ahead of the options expiry date today. Information from Skew shows that, prior to yesterday's trading volume, amounts traded were in the $10 million range. Skew also noted that open interest is rising as well, hitting the $250 million mark. More: - Report: Bitcoin could experience some volatility in price due to options expiration. At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is valued at over $9,300.
- Bitcoin options surged to new highs at the CME during Bitcoin's halving week earlier this month.
SKEWDOTCOM/TWITTER
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 Follow Friday: Crypto Euclid One half of Euclid and Oaks (with wife @mysticaloaks), Crypto Euclid is co-host of That Bitcoin Show, where they discuss their views on crypto. Some guests who have featured on the show include Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Ethereum and founder of Cardano, and Andreas Antonopoulos, a Bitcoin advocate. With over 17,000 followers on Twitter, Crypto Euclid recently told his followers that he was taking a break from the platform, going Twitter-free for 30 days. When he returned, he said that he'd managed to rediscover his love of bird watching (or, in his case, raccoon watching). Another of his tweets features him showing his solar wagon, which he jokes he'll be selling for $10,000 with a 12-84 week turnaround time.
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Our Crypto Masterclass features a well-known thought leader or expert in the crypto space. Today, I focus on Marc Blinder, CEO and co-founder of AIKON, who discusses the CO2 footprint of Bitcoin with Ripple CTO David Schwartz. Blinder believes that XRP's carbon footprint is 10 times smaller than Bitcoin. In an episode of the "Block Stars" podcast, Blinder sits down with Schwartz to talk about how sustainable blockchains will help to boost adoption in the space. During the interview, Blinder states that Bitcoin mining and Proof-of-Work (PoW) cryptocurrencies are unsustainable and a hindrance to adoption. In his view, the more Bitcoin is worth, the more electricity it requires due to the fact that it attracts more competition. As a result of this, he adds that "environmental destruction is built into the system." RIPPLE
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Crypto platform Coinbase has expanded its Tezos (XTZ) staking to France, Spain, the Netherlands, and the U.K. The move to the U.K. and the three European countries comes after the platform extended Tezos staking to all U.S. customers last November, which was initially only available to institutional investors. According to Coinbase, "since the U.S. launch of staking rewards, customers have earned over $2 million in Tezos staking rewards." With this latest extension, users in these countries will be able to earn XTZ staking rewards of around 5%. The initial holding period to earn the rewards is between 35 and 40 days; after that rewards will be received within three days. COINBASE/MEDIUM
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 Mark Zuckerberg said that Libra could make advertising more effective for the social media platform. During an annual shareholder call, Zuckerberg was asked how the stablecoin project could financially benefit Facebook. Zuckerberg responded by saying that it could make business advertising more effective while boosting revenue for the platform. Zuckerberg went on to explain that Facebook doesn't charge a set price for ads – rather, companies submit their advertisements via an auction system. More: AMAZON AWS
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 |  | This newsletter was written and curated by Rebecca Campbell. She has been writing and reporting on various industries for the past 10 years, more specifically tech in the last three. | | | | Editor | Jonathan Harris is a writer for Inside.com. Previously, he wrote for The Huffington Post, TakePart.com, and the YouTube channel What’s Trending. | |
Check out NowRx's investing page and see how you can invest in the future of delivery pharmacy today. | |
Take control of your energy footprint and save a few crucial dollars at the same time. | |
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