The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group has released data showing that open interest in Bitcoin futures is rising, as per an official Twitter post on June 18. Interest in BTC futures over time: https://twitter.com/CMEGroup/status/1141015074062110721 According to CME, bitcoin (BTC) open interest spiked on June 17 with an all-time high of 5,311 contracts totalling 26,555 BTC, …

Ethereum (ETH)-based decentralized video streaming startup Livepeer announced that it raised $8 million from institutional investors in its Series A funding round in a Medium post published on June 17. Per the announcement, the startup will use the newly acquired resources to support the further development of the Livepeer protocol, network, software and ecosystem to …

Odyssey, the mainnet for the blockchain-based platform TRON, will be upgraded to version 3.6 soon, according to an official blog post by the TRON Foundation on June 18. The TRON network aims to be a platform for creating entertainment-focused decentralized applications (DApps). As stated in the post, developers can create DApps on both the TRON …

IBM has announced upgrades to its Blockchain Platform, according to a report by Ledger Insights on June 18. The new IBM Blockchain Platform will reportedly be able to run on multiple cloud networks, such as major tech corporation Microsoft’s Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS). This is apparently the main upgrade over its previous iteration, …

Microsoft, Salesforce and the Ethereum Foundation are among the major new companies joining enterprise blockchain platform Hyperledger. The company’s executive director, Brian Behlendorf, confirmed the news to Cointelegraph ahead of a public unveiling at the ongoing Synchronize Europe conference in London on June 18. Part of a monthly update on new members of Hyperledger, Behlendorf …

Insurance tech firm BlockClaim has recently received £500,000 ($627,000) in funding for its blockchain-based claims solution, according to an official blog post on June 17. The firm raised the funds from venture capital firm Amadeus Capital Partners and software firm Pragmatica, in addition to other angel investors. According to the announcement, BlockClaim uses blockchain technology …

Nonprofit organization The Zcash Foundation has partnered with blockchain company Parity Technologies to release a new, open source software client for the cryptocurrency Zcash, according to a press release on June 17. The new software client, Zebra, purportedly exists to provide redundancy in the case of its first client — Zcashd — failing. Zcash hopes …

Bitcoin (BTC) surpassed one million daily active addresses on June 14, according to blockchain statistics website CoinMetrics. Twitter user Kevin Rooke pointed out the current number of daily active on-chain addresses on June 15, resulting in mixed reactions from the community. For instance, one Twitter user noted that “using it and trading it are different …

South American online marketplace Mercado Libre is working with Facebook on the social network’s Libra cryptocurrency project, Cointelegraph Brazil reports on June 14. A MercadoLibre executive told Cointelegraph Brazil that the purported cryptocurrency will be integrated into the e-commerce platform as a form of payment. While the anonymous executive confirmed the partnership, further details were …

Top Stories This Week CCN casts doubt on shutdown plans as Google appears to correct visibility Cryptocurrency news outlet CCN (formerly CryptoCoinsNews) is apparently not going through with its total shutdown, as reported earlier this week. The outlet had previously posted a note that a recent Google Core Update had led to a more than …