The popular multi-asset DeFi platform powered by Kava Labs has optimized its network with the release of the Kava 5.1 upgrade. The company cited enhanced earnings from lending and decreased risks as the main benefits from the update.

Kava 5.1 Arrives

The software protocol enabling its users to utilize multiple crypto assets to borrow and lend funds without the need for a third-party intermediary announced its latest developments in a press release shared with CryptoPotato.

The statement outlined the release of Kava 5.1 as the significant milestone that could close the gap between the institutional investors entering the crypto space and Kava’s platform.

The company breached some of the recent purchases made by giants like Elon Musk’s Tesla, MassMutual, MicroStrategy, and more, as the natural first step to arrive at the scene. However, this is where the next challenge lies as this “retention angle will prove necessary if this industry is to keep on growing globally.”

Kava believes that the solution sits with allowing them to put their bitcoin to work.

“One option that may appeal to some of the institutional players is using their current Bitcoin holdings as collateral for loans.” – reads the PR.

45% APR on BTC Holdings?

Although realizing that most giants that bought BTC might be taking the HODLing approach, Kava’s statement highlighted a possible scenario where they can make a sizeable passive income.

Apart from the release of Kava 5.1, the cross-chain DeFi money market platform Hard Protocol has also received an upgrade with the launch of its Version 2. With the combined efforts between the two parties, “any financial institution can earn 45% on their current BTC holdings without counterparty risk.”

Bitcoin’s role in DeFi still remains “minimal,” according to the statement, and convincing those institutions to receive DeFi exposure through the primary cryptocurrency is a “tall order.” Nevertheless, the company is committed to introducing the benefits of decentralized finance, as the CEO of Kava Labs, Brian Kerr, explained:

“As more enterprises and financial institutions adopt bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, the more valuable the Kava DeFi platform will become as it enables this new wave of financially minded users with a way to finally put their assets to work and make Bitcoin and other crypto into a cash-flowing asset on their balance sheets.”

This week we saw altcoins taking for the skies as Bitcoin was rangebound. This led to a plummeting BTC dominance that hit a 2-year low.

Bitcoin was trading slightly below $60K this time last week, and everyone had their hopes up that it would conquer this coveted level. Unfortunately, last Saturday, the price started showing signs of weakness, and it declined all the way to $57K on Sunday.

From there, Bitcoin started trading flat and made another unsuccessful attempt at $60K on Monday. Bulls didn’t have it in them, though, and as the week went by, the price remained indecisive. This led to a serious drop on Wednesday, which saw BTC going down to almost $55K and leaving billions worth of liquidations across the board.

Nevertheless, the bulls regrouped and started pushing the price back up to bring it to where it currently trades at around $58K. All of this indecisiveness, however, saw its dominance decrease to 55%, leaving altcoins a lot of room to breathe.

And breathe, they did. Ethereum, as well as Binance Coin, charted fresh all-time highs, while Ripple’s XRP finally came out of its shell and spiked above $1 to paint a new three-year high. This happened despite the ongoing SEC clash.

Altcoins are popping across the board, with many mid- and small-cap cryptocurrencies charting double- and even triple-digit increases. This was the case with WazirX, which soared by more than 1,000% and painted a fresh ATH. All in all, the booming altcoins drove the total crypto market cap above $2 trillion for the first time.

In any case, it was definitely a good week for the entire cryptocurrency market. America’s second-oldest bank, State Street, announced it would also enable cryptocurrency trading on its platform, while BNY Mellon revealed they would be a service provider for SkyBridge’s Bitcoin ETF, should it be approved.

With institutional adoption of Bitcoin continuing to increase and its rangebound trading, the chances are that we are in for a huge move that might come quicker than everyone expects.

Market Data

Market Cap: $1986B | 24H Vol: 126B | BTC Dominance: 55%

BTC: $58,477 (+-1.89%) | ETH: $2,077 (+0.69%) | XRP: $0.1.03 (+72.12%)

This Week’s Titles You Better Not Miss

America’s Second-Oldest Bank State Street to Enable Crypto Trading on its Platform. The second-oldest US financial service and banking organization State Street Corporation has announced its plans to enable cryptocurrency trading using its infrastructure. This comes as an additional push towards institutional adoption.

BNY Mellon to Become Service Provider for SkyBridge Bitcoin ETF. BNY Melon has revealed that it will become a service provider for SkyBridge’s Bitcoin ETF. Of course, before this happens, the ETF would first have to receive the official approval of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Seven-Time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady to Release an NFT Platform. Tom Brady, one of the biggest names in the US NFL, as well as a seven-time Super Bowl champion, plans to launch an NFT platform this spring. This comes as the nascent field of non-fungible tokens continues to boom.

Demand for Bitcoin Increases Despite Regulatory Restrictions: Goldman Sachs CEO. The CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, said that the demand for Bitcoin continues to increase despite the regulatory restrictions. The bank also said that it continues to support its clients’ needs when it comes to cryptocurrency exposure.

Coinbase Reports Record-Breaking Q1 With $1.8 Billion in Revenue Ahead of IPO. The leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, revealed that its first quarter of this year has been record-breaking. It reported a revenue of around $1.8 billion while the trading volume increased by more than 300%.

Binance Smart Chain Daily Transactions 200% More Than Ethereum’s. The Binance Smart Chain continues to expand. In fact, it appears that Ethereum has a serious competitor in its face because BSC saw an all-time high of daily transactions, which are currently more than 200% than those on ETH.

Charts

This week we have a chart analysis of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Binance Coin, and Cardano – click here for the full price analysis.

The use of decentralized technologies is growing in Spain, and we are not just talking about cryptocurrencies but blockchain in general, especially for enterprise purposes.

From municipalities and public universities to corporations and industries, more and more businesses are adopting the blockchain in one way or another, increasing the ecosystem’s diversity and activity.

According to a report by business consulting firm IDC Spain, about 46% of large companies in Spain are in favor of incorporating blockchain and cryptographic technologies to increase their security.

The Use of Blockchain Technologies is Growing in Spain

The report, “State of the Art of Blockchain and Cryptographic Technologies in Spain,” was published by IDC in partnership with the technology company REALSEC. It evaluates how blockchain technologies have evolved in Spanish companies and shows more ambitious figures than those recorded in the first edition of its release.

The report also states that 1 in 4 companies in Spain have had exposure to blockchain technologies, yet 11% of the business sector actively uses a blockchain, a significant growth compared to the 1% recorded just one and a half years ago.

The report also notes that 17% of logistics companies are expected to have a relationship with a blockchain company or to provide IoT services.

Jesús Rodríguez, CEO of Realsec, said in an interview published on his company’s official website that although the use of blockchain solutions has a growing acceptance in the Spanish industry, there is still a need to work on its efficiency and show it as a viable competition against other centralized and more traditional solutions.

“The new economy imposes adopting new business models based on digital innovation. In this context, in 2020, blockchain has begun to be perceived as an efficient technology that contributes to reducing costs and risks and as one of the main technological strategies that want to incorporate a large number of companies.”

Blockchain Good, Crypto Bad

Spain loves blockchain technology. In fact, the government itself is promoting a regulatory sandbox that could serve to boost blockchain businesses in several areas, and the Central Bank of Spain said that it prioritized investigations about a CBDC.

However, the government is not very friendly to the cryptocurrency philosophy and has worked hard to tax cryptocurrency trading, even considering the use of AI to identify cryptocurrency traders. Also, the government is open to reforming its legal framework to better regulate cryptocurrencies.

Recently Spain’s tax office sent more than 15,000 letters to various cryptocurrency traders and hodlers registered in the country, reminding them to pay their taxes. Previously the authorities had asked local exchanges and providers of financial services for information on how users exchanged their cryptocurrencies.

Seems like Spain is another country with the “Blockchain, not Bitcoin” mindset.