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Good afternoon and welcome to our rolling coverage of all things cryptocurrency , including price, regulation, innovation, and financial crime. Cryptocurrency prices are steadily rising to start the new week, with bitcoin improving on the weekend's strong gains. BTC has jumped up another 0.79 percent to trade for $7,288.42, as of 3pm this afternoon.

Ethereum (ETH) lost 0.65 percent to fall to $290.34. Ripple (XRP) slipped 0.28 percent to $0.339636. While Litecoin increased slightly by 0.84 percent to trade for $65.29. The market appears to be in a bullish upswing entering the new week, with most digital tokens making significant gains towards the latter stages of August.

5pm UPDATE: Change.org petition wants to see Dogecoin accepted on Amazon

The petition was launched on Change.org by a person called Mark 11 months ago. At the time of writing, it has collected 9,192 signatures. However, it’s aiming to reach a target of 10,000.

At present, Amazon doesn’t accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. In Mark’s opinion, this alienates many people, particularly those without access to a traditional finance account.

He writes:Amazon.com being a leader in innovation should accept Dogecoin, as a form of payment.

He adds that Dogecoin is the future of currency. This is due to its “speed, low transaction fees, large supply of coins, and stable value.”

Not only that, but he argues that it doesn’t have large price swings like Bitcoin or Litecoin. At the time of writing, the 21st-placed altcoin is trading at $0.005312, according to CoinMarketCap. Notably, it has seen a 120 percent price rise in seven days.

3.30pm UPDATE: Taiwanese Hospital Launches Blockchain-based Healthcare Portal

The Taipei Medical University Hospital has launched a healthcare platform aimed at improving patient referral services with the help of blockchain technology.



The system will also help in integrating healthcare networks which will allow easily accessible medical records for patients.



The development of the Healthcare Blockchain Platform is considered a great improvement in the public healthcare system of Taiwan as it provides referral services to people, along with several other long-term healthcare services.



The collaboration of over 100 community-based clinics has been made possible as a means of addressing common issues in healthcare using blockchain technology.



According to the hospital, the main issues addressed include the physician referral process, data transfers between medical institutions and individual patient portals.