The Litecoin network has activated MimbleWimble Extension Blocks (MWEB) over two years after the potential upgrade was first introduced. The network reached the 75% consensus threshold required for activation earlier this month.

Institutional demand to borrow cryptoassets has been waning, forcing high-yield crypto accounts to slash the returns being offered to investors keeping their funds with them.

China’s state-backed blockchain company is planning its first major international expansion. The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) says it’s a “one-stop shop” to deploy blockchain applications in the cloud.

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Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Litecoin Activates MimbleWimble Extension Blocks
• High-Yield Crypto Accounts Slash Rates Over Waning Institutional Demand
• China’s State-Backed Blockchain Firm Plans International Expansion
• Chart of the Week: Ethereum ‘Killers’
• Sponsored: Get 5 BUSD & Stand a Chance to Win 1 Bitcoin in Token Voucher with Binance Card!

Litecoin Activates MimbleWimble Extension Blocks

The Litecoin network has activated MimbleWimble Extension Blocks (MWEB) over two years after the potential upgrade was first introduced. The network reached the 75% consensus threshold required for activation earlier this month.

MimbleWimble is a decentralized protocol that gets its name from a spell made famous in the Harry Potter book series. It enables users to conceal transaction data with its confidentiality features while providing a foundation to improve a token’s usability. Through MWEB, transactions are only known between the sender and receiver.

The Litecoin Foundation notes that MWEB “can be seen as a literal extension from Litecoin’s main chain, or a parallel highway, via which you can send coins to the extension block and back to the main chain.” Litecoin creator Charlie Lee commented:

“In terms of fungibility and privacy, I believe MWEB gets you 90% there. For most people that’s good enough. It’s the difference between living in a glass house vs living in a house with windows. For people who need 100% privacy, they can live in a house with no windows.”

The activation of MWEB was compared to Venmo’s payments application, which allows users to transact publicly and allow anyone to see how much money they are spending, or privately, disclosing that information to the receiver only.

High-Yield Crypto Accounts Slash Rates Over Waning Institutional Demand

Institutional demand to borrow cryptoassets has been waning, forcing high-yield crypto accounts to slash the returns being offered to investors keeping their funds with them.

Crypto lenders take deposited funds and lend them to institutional investors, returning most of the yield to customers.

These companies are now cutting the returns they pay to clients over lower borrowing demand, to the point that accounts that offered up to 6.25% a year on Bitcoin deposits now offer between 1% and 3%.

Demand is reportedly dropping for a number of reasons, including the crypto market being in a state of contango, where the price of futures contracts is above the current spot price. This scenario allows traders to profit from buying spot BTC while taking a short position through futures contracts.

Moreover, crypto lender Ledn has revealed it has been seeing fewer arbitrage opportunities across exchanges, meaning demand from market makers is dropping. Per the firm, the average spread on a $1 million buy order for BTC on Coinbase and FTX halved over the last 3 months.

China’s State-Backed Blockchain Firm Plans International Expansion

China’s state-backed blockchain company is planning its first major international expansion. The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) considers itself a “one-stop shop” for deploying blockchain applications in the cloud.

The company, according to its CEO, is planning to launch a project called BSN Spartan Network overseas in August. The network is set to be made up of half a dozen public blockchains that do not operate with cryptocurrencies.

BSN’s blockchain networks do not operate with crypto following China’s crackdown on digital assets. Instead, it relies on non-crypto versions of public blockchains, including a version of the Ethereum blockchain.

Fees paid for transactions in these blockchains are set to be paid in U.S. dollars, rather than in their respective native currencies such as ether. The CEO noted BSN Spartan will be open source allowing users to inspect the code behind it.

BSN is backed by the State Information Center, which sits under China’s National Development and Reform Commission. State-owned telecommunications company China Mobile s also behind the project.

Chart of the Week: Ethereum ‘Killers’

Solana, Terra, and Avalanche have been dubbed Ethereum ‘killers’ over their offering of smart contacts coupled with low transaction fees.

These networks have converged in price with respect to their coins and had been showing a strong correlation before the collapse of the Terra ecosystem at the start of the month.

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