Major cryptoassets maintained their bounce back growth last week in the wake of a boost to confidence signaled by tech firms such as Amazon (AMZN) and Tesla (TSLA).

Bitcoin (BITCOMP) has seen volatile growth over the past two weeks. Having traded down to below $30,000 until 21 July, the cryptoasset has staged an impressive comeback, rising to trade around $40,000 now. 

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The rise has not been without volatility however, with the price spiking over $42,000 on Sunday before trading lower this morning.

Ethereum has similarly seen a meteoric rise since 21 June, from lows of $1,740 to now trade around $2,600 (ETH-X).

Beyond price rises the cryptoasset market is giving off bullish sentiment indicators at the moment. Bitcoin exchanges have seen massive outflows in balances according to Glassnode, to the lowest levels since winter 2018. 

Such a move is usually seen as a bullish indicator as it shows investors are preferring to hold their BTC off exchange or invested elsewhere, rather than sit ready to be traded away.

The positive sentiment comes with a caveat however as crypto investors will be watching the progress of the bipartisan infrastructure bill passing through the US Congress at the moment. The bill currently has provision to tax cryptoasset investment profits in the US to the tune of $28 billion. 

ETH trading volume outpaces bitcoin for the first time

The volume of ETH traded in the first half of 2021 has beaten that of bitcoin for the first time. 

A round up of major global exchanges by Coinbase has found that trading volume of ETH reached $1.4 trillion, an increase of 1,461% on the same period of 2020. This compares to $2.1 trillion of bitcoin traded, an increase of 489%. 

This marks the first time ETH has beaten bitcoin for trading volume growth in a ‘sustained period of time’ according to Coinbase. The growth underpins expansion of ETH as a major competitor to bitcoin, particularly in regard to uses and the wider potential of the Ethereum blockchain for countless technological projects that are also expanding. 

Digital euro experimenting with Tezos

The program for exploring the creation of a digital euro stablecoin is using Tezos technology in its experimental project.

A memo published by the Banque de France confirmed it was using the technology in a private fork of the Tezos blockchain, plus a customized fork of the NEM blockchain.

The project itself involves central banks from across Europe including Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium and the European Central Bank (ECB). It is being carried out in a ‘tiered model’ including intermediaries and wallets. 

Tezos is an open source and energy efficient blockchain predicated on proof-of-stake. It is noted for its on-chain governance which allows for protocol amendments from favorable votes from its community. 

Buy your dog a Burger King with dogecoin

Fast food chain Burger King (QSR) has announced it will begin accepting dogecoin (DOGE-X) in its Brazilian outlets.

There is a catch however as the firm will only accept the cryptoasset in exchange for its so-called ‘Dogpper’ dog treats. A Dogpper costs around three dogecoins, equivalent at the time of writing to around $0.60 USD. 

To purchase the treat for their beloved canine companion, users must transfer the correct amount of dogecoin to the Burger King Brazil wallet. At the time of writing there is no indication whether Burger King Brazil intends to extend the dogecoin offering to humans too.