Investors, exchanges, and developers are desperately on the lookout for a solution, lest rival smart contract blockchains such as Cardano and EOS use this opportunity to carve out an edge. The situation has worsened to the extent that Vitalik Buterin recently had to appeal to all stakeholders not to unnecessarily move their tokens around. According to him, that would significantly reduce gas prices on the base chain. While Buterin does, in fact, have a plan, its implementation might end up taking at least a few years. More on that here.Meanwhile, in other big stories from the day:

Bitcoin Stalls After Steep Upward Move [Analysis]

The Bitcoin price has trended sideways since reaching a high of $11,394 on July 27. The price action left behind long wicks in both directions, although is currently trading firmer in the U.S. session. Yesterday, the price created a bullish inverted hammer and followed that up with a bearish hammer in the following six-hour candle, effectively canceling each other out. Technical indicators show weakness, but not enough to predict a reversal.

• The Bitcoin rally stalled on July 28.
• The trend has formed short-term weakness.
• The price is either trading in, or has broken out from, a symmetrical triangle.

Read the Full Analysis

Physical Silver Trades at a 54% Premium Over Paper Counterparts

The U.S. Mint has announced that it will downsize the production of gold and silver coins as the bureau has been forced to operate at a lower capacity due to the COVID-19 crisis. The markets are already pricing in a foreseeable shortage of physical coins, and some dealers are selling Silver American Eagles at or above $37 an ounce.For comparison, the spot price of silver (commonly accepted as the official price) is trading just above $24. That’s a 54% premium for the surging commodity. Read the Full Article

Bitcoin’s Bright Future, Adoption Hurdles, and DeFi Picks with MMCrypto’s Chris

BeInCrypto’s Scott Cunningham recently got in touch with Chris from the popular YouTube channel MMCrypto for a one-on-one conversation. Chris, who is also a technical and on-chain analyst, brushed upon a range of topics including Bitcoin’s inevitable rise and the best DeFi projects to invest in, among other things. He candidly expresses his optimism for the alpha-crypto saying that central bank policies will continue to make scarce assets like Bitcoin appealing. Read the Full Article

XRP Breaks Right Through Long-Term Resistance

Technical indicators appear pretty bullish for XRP after the price broke out above the 50 and 200-day moving averages (MA), the latter of which previously coincided with the $0.230 resistance area. The MAs are close to making a bullish cross. The daily RSI is overbought, but there is no bearish divergence yet, while the MACD is growing. Therefore, the outlook for the daily time-frame remains bullish. If the price continues to rally, the next resistance area would be found at $0.270, the February 2019 support levels. Read the Full Analysis

The Central Bank of the Philippines Set to Conduct CBDC Trial Run

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has created a team of experts to look into the feasibility and policy implications of issuing a CBDC. The expert committee will release the initial results of the study next month. Governor Benjamin Diokno said on Wednesday in a virtual briefing, “We have to first look at the findings of the group before making a decision.” Read the Full Article

Cryptocurrency Exchange CEX.IO Adds New USDT/GBP Trading Pair

CEX.IO, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced that it’s adding the USDT/GBP pair to its trading platform. This is significant considering that the company’s UK-based users will now be able to buy USDT using their local currency. UK citizens can use multiple payment methods to deposit funds into their CEX.IO accounts, including credit and debit cards, Faster Payments, and SWIFT transfers. Deposits and withdrawals via Faster Payments are free. Read the Full Article