Coinbase starts batching. It offers transaction cost savings

Coinbase, an American cryptocurrency exchange, has announced a new feature to its customers to save money on transaction fees. The US exchange office is starting to support so-called batching, which means that it will allow the individual transactions in the chain to merge into one. Every bigger exchange should try something similar. Thumbs up!

This will reduce the load on the BTC network and, in addition, the resulting fees customers will pay for transactions. Coinbase estimates that its users will save around 50% on fees. This adds them to platforms such as Kraken or ShapeShift, which offer this feature for a longer time. More details.

Zimbabwe begins to regulate cryptocurrencies

While countries such as the US, Canada and the EU are still hesitant and unwilling to regulate cryptocurrencies or blockchain projects, Zimbabwe has decided to take a step forward. Due to the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies among young people, it will regulate all cryptoprojects.

A newly will require a partnership with a bank, a mobile money platform, or a microfinance firm license. Otherwise, it will not be possible to create a crypto currency project in Zimbabwe. More details.

Akon spoke of the Akoin cryptocurrency. It is supposed to help Africa

We have already mentioned that the popular singer Akon, who is a well-known philanthropist, decided to help Africa by establishing the Akoin cryptocurrency. In an interview with Cointelegraph, he outlined how it should work and how it can help the black continent. According to Akon, the mission of this token is to unleash the potential of the world’s largest workforce. Powered by atomic swaps between cryptocurrencies, currency pairs, and cell phone credits on the Akoin network.

“We have so many currencies in Africa – a lot of them are unstable, and most of them are untrusted. It got to the point where the day-to-day African people don’t even use the currencies anymore, they’re using their cell phone minutes and credits as a way of trading for basic goods like produce, fish, fruits and things on the market.” More experts from the crypto industry consider the continent Africa to be the ideal space for adopting cryptocurrencies. For example, Cardano chief Charles Hoskinson or Jack Dorsey from Twitter, who is a big supporter of Bitcoin development. More details.

Shell is building a blockchain-based power plant

Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary Sonnen Group announced a partnership with the Energy Web Foundation (EWF) to use EWF’s blockchain to create a virtual power plant (VPP) in Germany. The virtual power plant will comprise a distributed network of residential energy storage systems intended to absorb excess wind power and reduce Germany’s renewable energy curtailment.

With Germany shutting down coal-fired and nuclear energy plants in the coming years, the country has seen a boom in renewable energy production as a myriad of green energy producers launch or expand operations to meet demand. During 2018, Germany curtailed 5.4 terra-watt hours (TWh) of renewable energy in total and in just the first quarter of 2019, Germany curtailed 3.2 TWh of wind energy. More details.