Current Bitcoin Price: $3469 (as of 9:00 AM PST)

The cryptocurrency market is up more than 2% today. Although Bitcoin itself is up by less than 1%, it’s other major cryptocurrencies like XRP, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash posting more impressive gains of 9.5%, 2.4%, and 4.7% respectively that’s pulling the market average up.

Only a select few coins are trending downwards today, including TRON and Binance Coin — both down around 1% — and stablecoins including Tether and USDCoin — both down by just fractions of a percent.

Top Bitcoin & Crypto News Stories for 30th January 2018

Iran lifts ban on cryptocurrencies

Iran placed a blanket ban on cryptocurrency in April of last year. By August, they had already considered lifting the ban, but until now, cryptocurrencies and ICOs have remained banned in the country.

Today, amid increased economic struggles from US-imposed sanctions, Iran made the decision to lift its ban on cryptocurrencies. The country is also pondering the creation of its own digital currency, the crypto-rial.

UAE, Saudi Arabia trial digital currency

Digital currency is yet to be used as a core financial instrument in national operations. While blockchain technology has been picked up by various governments, it’s those central banks scared to dip their toes into the world of cryptocurrency.

However, the central banks of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have just revealed plans to trial the use of digital currency as a financial settlement tool between the countries.

SWIFT announces R3 collaboration

SWIFT is the world’s most popular platform for cross-border payments, and it’s used extensively by banks to handle financial transactions.

Today, SWIFT announced a collaboration with blockchain development group R3, who will use their Corda Network — which XRP is currently a big part of — to settle transactions.