Ethereum Foundation Grants $5 Million to Parity Technologies
The Ethereum Foundation has just awarded a $5 million grant to Parity Technologies to support the firm’s work building the blockchain network’s next iteration, ethereum 2.0.
The organization Monday that the funding is a “scalability, usability and security” grant, in particular aimed to boost work on , a proof-of-stake protocol upgrade, and the scaling solution dubbed , as well as light clients, developer tools, audits and infrastructure improvements.
The grant will be provided in several phases, the foundation said, adding that the first part is already done and the rest will be completed as specific milestones are reached. These include the completion of eWasm compatibility work, shipping a light wallet for mainnet and the completion of the first two phases of the sharding effort.
Parity is a blockchain infrastructure startup, co-founded by former Ethereum Foundation security chief Jutta Steiner. It is known for its ethereum software client, , which it claims is “the fastest and most advanced.” The startup has also developed several tools, such as , a service that lets users create customized blockchains for decentralized applications.
The Ethereum Foundation said in its statement that it is committed to funding teams and individuals building common infrastructure around the network. Back in October, it nearly $3 million to a number of blockchain startups and developers.
The foundation said:
“We have been delighted to see our ecosystem rally around and support technical merit and value alignment, and we are devoted to using our resources to further this mission too. We do so responsibly through milestone-based grants to projects, both large and small, commensurate with the potential impact of their work.”
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Riding the wave of recent positive news for Ripple, the XRP token is roaring with a 200% price surge over the weekend as the cryptocurrency market is reaching higher highs. But is Ripple for real or is it being fueled by confusion among new investors?
Is Ripple For Real?
Jokes were abound this weekend as the cryptocurrency industry embraced April Fool’s Day in usual fashion. Meanwhile, Ripple experienced a serious surge with its market cap soaring from $360,000 USD to over $2.3 billion.
The price of Ripple XRP token experienced a whopping seven-fold increase in the past few days, and easily outperformed recent stalwarts such as Dash, Monero and the Litecoin in the past week. Even bitcoin, which managed to break the $1,100 barrier on news of becoming a in Japan, could not match yesterday’s 200% rise.
The rise comes amid news of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ripple’s Based on Distributed Financial Technology.
“We are pleased to join Ripple’s Global Payments Steering Group,” said Hirofumi Aihara, General Manager, MUFG Digital Innovation Division. “…Collaborating with other members of GPSG, MUFG will contribute to the creation of standards for Ripple’s network.”
Ripple is positioning itself as a cheaper payment network, particularly for large banks and enterprises, with a much higher throughput compared to bitcoin. CEO Brad Garlinghouse that Ripple could rival traditional systems such as Visa with nearly 70K transactions in just 3.7 seconds and at a lower cost than bitcoin.
However, the token might be setting up for a reality check as some the price surge has been fueled by a “misunderstanding.” Critics on Bitcointalk.org to the meteoric rise, pointing out that Ripple, the company, is not the same as the XRP token and its Ripple Consensus ledger.
to Ripple, its Global Payments Steering Group (GSPG) is where “leading banks are working with Ripple to reduce the time and cost of settlement, while also enabling new types of high-volume, low-value global transactions.”
By coming together to form the GSPG, these banks are laying the foundation for a new payments network, underpinned by Ripple’s solutions and supported by rules and governance for global settlement.
In other words, new demand for the XRP token could merely be speculative at this point as banks would be able to bypass transactions on the Ripple Consensus Ledger with their own Ripple-inspired platforms.
The commentator also noted:
Check the volumes, [Poloniex] currently stands for $150M+ volume, RCL only 20. What now is happening is a pump, driven by people misunderstanding the news.
The Rise and Rise of Cryptocurrencies
Overall, April is getting off to a hot start for cryptocurrencies as the total market capitalization is now a record $27 billion. It has been on an uptrend, particularly accelerating as of late following the ETF in mid-March.
Though has remained relatively stable oscillating between $900 and $1,200 amid scaling uncertainty, its overall dominance of the market has seen a huge drop from 84% to 68%.
Nevertheless, while the rejection of the first ever ETF might be seen as a setback for bitcoin to some, the media attention received in the run-up to the decision appears to have attracted new investors to the crypto space as a whole.
What is the real cause for Ripple’s price rise? Is bitcoin waning dominance a temporary phenomenon? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of coinmarketcap.com, Shutterstock, twitter, MUFG
