School of Engineering third and fourth quarter 2020 awards

Published

2 weeks ago

January 7, 2021

Members of the MIT engineering faculty receive many awards in recognition of their scholarship, service, and overall excellence. The School of Engineering periodically recognizes their achievements by highlighting the honors, prizes, and medals won by faculty working in our academic departments, labs, and centers. The following are awards presented to engineering faculty in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2020.

Source: https://news.mit.edu/2021/school-engineering-third-fourth-quarter-2020-awards-0107

Blockchain

Research Reports ‘Altseason’ Upon Us, But Not For XRP or EOS

Published

3 hours ago

January 20, 2021

Republished by Plato

In its latest ‘State of the Network’ bulletin, industry data provider Coin Metrics has delved into altcoins and their impressive performance so far this year.

It acknowledged that many of the hot altcoins that surged during the 2017 crypto boom are now ‘dead and gone’, and have been replaced by a new breed of DeFi assets. It added that with new capital flowing into Bitcoin and Ethereum, some of that money may start flowing into altcoins.

In this week’s State of the Network @natemaddrey looks at recent altcoin performance. Is a new altseason incoming?

Read the full issue here:https://t.co/pO4mmIPhby

— CoinMetrics.io (@coinmetrics) January 19, 2021

The report acknowledged that institutional investment has largely been behind the current rally and institutions are very wary of altcoins.

“Altcoin investing is largely considered a retail phenomenon. Similar to penny stocks, it’s often driven by individual investors looking for outsized gains.”

XRP and EOS Missing The Party

Looking at returns since the beginning of December 2020, Bitcoin and Ethereum have outperformed most other Layer 1 blockchains, it noted. However several high-cap crypto assets have also performed well hitting their own all-time highs.

There are two notable exceptions to this trend; Ripple’s XRP and Block.one’s EOS.

The glaring red charts for these to former darlings of crypto show that XRP has lost 54.6% since December 1, and EOS has dumped 7.5% over the same period.

Ripple’s problems started when it finally lost the battle with the SEC and the selloff began. Since its late November high of almost $0.70, XRP has dumped almost 60% to today’s sub $0.29 prices. There have been reports of Ripple executives selling their stashes, while Grayscale dissolved its XRP Trust as confidence in the company dwindles.

Block.one’s problems have not been as bad, but they have had them. Company CTO Dan Larimer announced his resignation earlier this month and there has been very little on the development or product front for the project.

Over the past year, EOS has lost 23% on a chart that has been flat for months. Since its February 2020 high of $5.40 it has dumped 50%, and since its giddy all-time high in April 2018 of over $22, EOS has been smashed 87%.

Top Altcoins so Far in 2021

Those that are enjoying the altseason sun include Polkadot, Binance Coin, Chainlink, and of course Ethereum, though it shouldn’t really be termed an altcoin any longer.

Coin Metrics highlighted Cardano, Decred, and Dogecoin as three that have made three figure gains since December one, outperforming Bitcoin itself.

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Source: https://cryptopotato.com/research-reports-altseason-upon-us-but-not-for-xrp-or-eos/

Blockchain

Perpetual Protocol emerges as sixth-largest DEX after just one month

Published

4 hours ago

January 20, 2021

Republished by Plato

Perpetual Protocol, a DeFi project offering decentralized perpetual contracts using the layer-two Ethereum scaling solution xDai, has emerged as the sixth-largest DEX by weekly trade volume after operating for only one month.

Based on data from Dune Analytics shared by Perpetual Protocol, the DEX’s weekly trade volume of more than $299 million would rank the project above the likes of Synthetix, dYdX, and Kyber, and below Balancer.

The milestone was shared in a blog post celebrating the project’s first month of operation — a period in which the DEX drove more than $500 million in total volume and generated more than $500,000 in trading fees.

All trading fees generated by the protocol are currently sent to an insurance fund designed to secure the protocol, with the project planning to divert 50% of fees to PERP stakers once its staking pool has launched.

In the blog post, Perpetual Protocol noted that it spent only $183 to execute 179,000 transactions as gas fees on xDai are just one-one-hundredth of those on the Ethereum mainnet. With Perpetual Protocol covering the gas fees of its traders, the DEX would have had to pay out $18,300 in fees if it was operating directly on Ethereum.

Congratulations to the @perpprotocol, just over one month old and already making some serious moves with trading volume surpasing 500M!
Running on @xdaichain, gas for more than 179K transactions was only $183! https://t.co/RiqoUY4xit

— xDai Stake (@xdaichain) January 18, 2021

XDai is one of several L2 scaling solutions that are offering an alternative to the heavy fees associated with operating directly on the Ethereum mainnet, with Synthetix recently launching the first stage in its transition to optimistic roll-ups.

Looking ahead, Perpetual expects to introduce limit order functionality during the first quarter of 2021, and will also launch staking in February.

Decentralized exchanges emerged as a cornerstone of the crypto ecosystem during DeFi’s Q3 2020 boom, with leading DEX Uniswap now processing almost $1 billion in volume each day and regularly surpassing many major centralized exchanges by trade activity.

Despite the booming volume, the DEX sector is currently dominated by a handful of platforms — with roughly half of the combined DEX trade activity taking place on Uniswap, and 90% of combined volume transpiring on the four largest platforms.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/perpetual-protocol-emerges-as-sixth-largest-dex-after-just-one-month

Blockchain

TA: Ethereum Corrects Lower, Why Dips In ETH Remain Attractive

Published

4 hours ago

January 20, 2021

Republished by Plato

Ethereum traded as high as $1,437 before starting a downside correction against the US Dollar. ETH price is approaching a key support at $1,340 and $1,320.

Ethereum surged above $1,400 and traded towards the $1,440 zone.
The price is currently correcting lower from $1,437, but it is well above the 100 hourly simple moving average.
There is a major declining channel forming with support near $1,340 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
The pair could correct further, but the price is likely to remain stable above $1,340 and $1,325.

Ethereum Price is Correcting Gains

Yesterday, we saw a sharp increase in Ethereum above $1,350 and $1,400. ETH price traded above the $1,420 resistance, and traded as high as $1,437 before starting a downside correction.

There was a short-term downside correction below the $1,400 level. There was a break below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the upward wave from the $1,215 swing low to $1,437 high. Ether is now trading below the $1,380 and it is approaching a couple of important supports at $1,340.

Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com

There is also a major declining channel forming with support near $1,340 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. An immediate support is near the $1,325 level, where the bulls are likely to take control.

The 50% Fib retracement level of the upward wave from the $1,215 swing low to $1,437 high. If there is a downside break below $1,325, there are chances of a drop towards the $1,280 level. The 100 hourly simple moving average is also near the $1,280 support zone. Any more losses could lead the price towards the $1,250 and $1,220 support levels.

Fresh Increase in ETH?

If ethereum remains stable above $1,280 support zone, it could start a fresh increase. An initial resistance is near the $1,400 level and the channel upper trend line.

A close above the channel resistance could open the doors for more gains towards the $1,440 level. A clear break above the $1,440 zone could clear the path for a push towards the $1,500 resistance zone in the coming sessions. The next key target could be near the $1,550 and $1,580 levels.

Technical Indicators

Hourly MACD – The MACD for ETH/USD is now slowly gaining pace in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI – The RSI for ETH/USD is correcting lower below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $1,280

Major Resistance Level – $1,400

Source: https://www.newsbtc.com/analysis/eth/ethereum-corrects-lower-eth-1280/