Crypto Flipsider News – SHIB the Most Popular Crypto, Polygon Nears Top 10, UST Reaches $10 Billion, Binance Gains Bahrain Approval, Ethereum Gas Fees Drop by 67%

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Shiba most popular crypto on CMC, another SHIB burn, Shiba whales increase stakes.

Polygon inches closer to top 10 with new ATH, $UST on Terra sets new market cap milestone.

Binance gains Bahrain approval, Turkish subsidiary slammed with $750k fines.

Ethereum gas fees have dropped by 67% in the last seven weeks.

Shiba Most Popular Crypto on CMC, Another SHIB Burn, Shiba Whales Increase Stakes

As the adoption of cryptocurrencies increased in 2021, meme coins recorded explosive growth. Shiba Inu (SHIB) is one of the major meme coins to have benefited from this growth.

As a result, Shiba Inu outperformed both Bitcoin and Ethereum, becoming the most viewed cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap. In 2021, SHIB recorded more than 188 million views compared to Bitcoin’s 145 million and Dogecoin’s 107 million views.

Continuing what has already been an stellar year, Shiba Inu has completed a token burn party organized by Bigger Entertainment. The party saw 239 Million Shiba Inu tokens, worth approximately $9,000, burned.

After a good year, SHIB whales appear to be preparing for 2022. According to a data tracker, in the last 24 hours, 100 Shiba Inu holders bought SHIB coins worth over $20 million. As a result, the total holdings of Shiba Inu whales have increased from $1.5 billion to $2 billion in less than a week.

Flipsider:

One of Shiba’s biggest competitors, Floki Inu, has started a petition to see the meme coin listed on Coinbase, which would make it readily available for trading and holding in the U.S.

Why You Should Care

Shiba Inu’s growth comes as a direct result of the increase in its use cases, leading to people now seeing it as more than just a meme coin.

Polygon Inches Closer to Top 10 with New ATH, $UST on Terra Sets New Market Cap Milestone

One of the best performing cryptos of the year, Polygon (MATIC), which has recorded gains of over 16,000% in 2021, has moved closer to breaking into the top 10 crypto rankings. On December 27th, MATIC yet set another all-time high, this time at $2.92.

Over the last seven days, MATIC has gained 37% in value, and over 70% in the last 30 days. At the time of writing, MATIC is trading at $2.82, and its market cap is closer than ever to the top 10, standing at $19.9 billion, which has seen it become the 14th largest crypto.

Terra (LUNA), another solid contender for the best performing crypto of 2021, has set yet another milestone. UST, a decentralized stablecoin on the Terra network, has reached a market cap of $10 billion, making it the first decentralized stablecoin to achieve the feat.

The seven day price chart for Polygon (MATIC). Source: Tradingview

The one year market cap of TerraUSD (UST).

The stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) backs the invested dollar, with the cryptocurrency being worth more than that same dollar. While decentralized stablecoins are growing, they have a lot of catching up to do before they can compete with USDT and USDC.

Flipsider:

Decentralized stablecoins pose more risks than traditional stablecoins as the underlying crypto asset is volatile.

Binance Gains Bahrain Approval, Turkish Subsidiary Slammed with $750k Fines

The world’s leading crypto exchange by trading volume, Binance, has received “in-principle” approval from Bahrain’s central bank to operate as a crypto-asset service provider.

Binance has announced that it intends to complete the full application process in due time to acquire a license from the Central Bank of Bahrain. If completed, it will mark Binance’s first approval in the Middle East or North Africa.

Flipsider:

While the exchange has been receiving approval in Bahrain, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board of Turkey has slammed a fine of 8 million Turkish Lira ($751,314 USD) on Binance Turkey.

According to MASAK, Binance Turkey violated liability inspections after failing to provide customer information in relation to money laundering.

Why You Should Care

To achieve the global adoption that Binance seeks, the crypto exchange needs to meet regulatory guidelines across a range of different countries globally.

Ethereum Gas Fees Have Dropped By 67% in the Last Seven Weeks

The exorbitant gas fees of Ethereum is one of the network’s major drawback that the transition to a proof-of-stake mechanism is predicted and intended to solve. However, while the transition to PoS has been delayed until June 2022, the gas fees on the network are already dropping.

The drop has seen Ethereum gas fees hit their lowest point of the last six months. In the last seven weeks, the Ethereum network has seen a 67% drop in the average price of transaction fees – from $62 on November 9th, to $20.61 on December 27th.

The average transaction fees on the Ethereum Network in 2021

On December 27th, metrics show that the average fee spent on the Ethereum network is now $20.61, or 0.0051 Ether per transaction. Adding to this, the median ether fee, which was previously $34.28 per transaction on November 9th, is now at 0.0032 ETH or $10.43 as of this writing.

The median transaction fees on the Ethereum Network in 2021

Flipsider:

While transaction fees on the Ethereum network are falling, Layer 2 scaling solutions are still cheaper, with Loopring boasting transactions for as little as $0.16 per ether transfer.

Why You Should Care

The drastic reduction of Ethereum gas fees on the Ethereum network proves that it is possible for the network to solve its problems when it finally migrates to a PoS consensus mechanism.