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From a rising interest in Bitcoin and crypto to a release date for an XRP-based banking app, here’s a look at some of the stories breaking in the world of crypto.

Bitcoin

According to a new report from Binance, the leading crypto exchange saw a sudden spike in Bitcoin from both institutions and retail traders in May. The report points to a surge in trades on the company’s over-the-counter (OTC) trading platform and from new retail traders as key examples.

“Compared to March and April, which were relatively quiet in altcoin space, May was a much more active month in terms of OTC trading. The initial move higher in BTC was likely fueled by Blockchain week in NY (Consensus, Magical Crypto Conference and other events) and led to a lot of renewed interest in buyers of BTCUSD…

We have [also] definitely seen more interest from the non-crypto public this month, and hope that the market ‘behaves’ such that the interest continues to build.”

The report also highlights that big-time traders forking over a premium to buy shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust are a leading example of the lengths institutions will now go to in order to invest in the space.

“Institutional investors, currently representing (in our conservative assumptions) less than 10% of all long-term investors, are growing their exposure to digital assets and cryptocurrencies, as illustrated by a premium of nearly 40% for Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) over BTC spot price at the end of May.”

The detailed report also looks at JP Morgan’s new crypto asset, Facebook’s reported stablecoin, the implications of Monero’s latest fork, and more. You can check it out here.

Ethereum

The latest edition of EthHub Weekly is out, covering all things Ethereum.

This week’s post looks at new developments on Grayscale Ethereum Trust, Loopring, Etherum 2.0 and more.

Ripple and XRP

The founder of XRPL Labs says the company is aiming to release a beta version of its new XRP-centered banking app this year. The app, called Xign, is designed to let users hold and spend various currencies like the dollar and euro, in addition to XRP.

We'll release it when it's ready. We rather spend a few more months and get it right. But we're definitely looking at a beta release this year. — Wietse Wind { 𝚡𝚛𝚙𝚕𝙳𝚎𝚟: 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚎 } (@WietseWind) May 31, 2019

Litecoin

Litecoin hodlers are passing around a tweet from LTC developer Loshan, teasing “good news” on the Lightning Network (LN).

Good news regarding Litecoin & Lightning Network soon! Follow the @LTCFoundation for the latest updates. — Loshan (@loshan1212) May 27, 2019

The pre-announcement announcement follows a similar tease from crypto exchange OKEx, which dropped a tweet featuring the Litecoin logo and lightning bolt last week.

Stellar

The team at the Stellar Development Foundation has released an in-depth look at the platform’s upcoming Protocol 11 upgrade.

The update is designed to improve network capacity and change the way fees are structured.

“You now choose the maximum fee you’re willing to pay, but you’re actually charged the lowest possible fee. If network activity is light, you’ll pay the absolute minimum. If it’s heavy, you’ll pay up to the amount you specify, but no more. As a result, you can choose the highest fee you’re comfortable with, safe in the knowledge that you’ll only pay that fee if required by circumstance.”

On Monday, June 10th at 16:00 UTC, validators will vote to upgrade the Stellar Network to Protocol 11! We wrote a walk-through of the upcoming protocol improvements and what they mean for developers, users, and businesses building on #Stellar:https://t.co/rvgu6RMfdt pic.twitter.com/0zoCwPpw7d — Stellar (@StellarOrg) May 30, 2019

Tron

Tron’s latest report on the platform’s decentralized app (DApp) ecosystem is out.

According to the new edition, 55 new DApps have debuted on the network in the last week, with the total number of DApps on the network now standing at 447.