TL;DR: Welcome to In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), a daily crypto news update. Binance unveils its Binance Lending service. First crypto banks get licensed in Switzerland. Vitalik Buterin warns Ethereum “almost full.” Free State Project taking bitcoin cash donations. Ethereum Foundation grants $2 million for ETH 2.0 development, and dogecoin beats Lightning Network in merchant popularity.



Binance Lending Unveiled for Cryptocurrency Holders

Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange behemoth, unveiled Binance Lending, a system that will enable traders to earn money while lending their holdings to the exchange. Akin to other lending services of this kind, Binance Lending will offer interest of up to 15% annual for BNB, 10% for BTC and 7% for ethereum classic loans, with a maturity term of 14 days. Only these three currencies will be able to be used as principal for loans, but Binance states it will add more currencies based on demand.

First Crypto Banks Licensed in Switzerland

Two new cryptocurrency banks received banking and securities dealer licenses in Switzerland, a milestone for institutions of this kind. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) authorized SEBA and Sygnum to start operating, pending compliance of secondary requirements. However, transactions from or coming to users of these banks will be limited to people already identified with KYC procedures, making impossible for users to receive or transfer funds anonymously.

Ethereum “Almost Full,” Warns Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, voiced his concerns about the current state of their blockchain. Buterin stated Ethereum was “almost full” and fees could spike to levels forcing some users out of their normal transactions. This spike in network utilization is the result of Tether, the most known stablecoin, being issued as an Ethereum token. This is not the first time Ethereum faces such problems, with the famous Cryptokitties app being responsible for this some two years ago.

Free State Project Accepts Bitcoin Cash Donations

Free State Project, a movement aiming to reduce the scope and reach of the federal government and for New Hampshire to become a more libertarian-like state, is now accepting bitcoin cash donations on its website. Users interested in giving their support to more to the than 4K people dedicated to make this project a success can go to their donations page.

Ethereum Foundation Gives Over $2 Million for ETH 2.0 Development

The Ethereum foundation released the list of grants and funded projects that aim to build Serenity (Ethereum 2.0) clients. More than $2 Million dollars will be invested in four different client projects, some of which are also co-funded with ConsenSys, the Ethereum based company led by Joseph Lubin. This goes to show the enormous resources the Ethereum Foundation dedicates to development compared with other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin (which is presently asking for donations to implement Confidential Transactions).

Dogecoin Adoption Beats Lightning Network

Dogecoin, sometimes called the memecoin, is consistently accepted by far more businesses than Lightning Network payments, according to an article published in TrustNodes. Numbers from Cryptowerk, a cryptocurrency merchant aggregator, tell of how dogecoin is far more used than LN payments by a lot, and even more popular than bigger cryptocurrencies like EOS and XRP. Of course, LN payments have a natural disadvantage: the 0.04 BTC maximum limit for transactions.

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