No doubt, the Blockchain technology, along with the adoption of cryptocurrencies, is getting bigger. The business end of the market is expected to reach $21 billion over the next five years.

Expectedly, professional services giants are now taking a larger role in tackling new challenges in the market, the Big Four firms and other leading brands are working with several crypto and blockchain firms on ways to combat interoperability, regulatory challenges and development of the technology.

Henri Arslanian, PwC’s global crypto leader, told Cointelegraph that the Big Four firms majorly have a vital role in the advancement of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, saying:

“Although Bitcoin was designed with a trustless ideology, the reality is that the industry still requires trusted entities to catalyze the development of the ecosystem.”

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Arslanian added that when he first joined PwC years back, few people took crypto seriously. However, he saw an increasing demand for crypto assets, with some businesses starting to accept Bitcoin payments from clients.

“Over the last couple of months, we’ve expanded our work. We recently closed the first-ever crypto fundraising deal at PwC, in which we led a $14 million Series A round for a Swiss-based crypto firm with Asian family offices. We are also the auditor for BC Group, a publicly listed crypto company in Hong Kong.”

BC Group CEO, Hugh Madden, also said that BC’s vision was to make use of crypto assets in Asia’s financial market. In turn, BC Group must set standards for compliance, security, and performance. Madden buttressed on the role of audits play by saying:

“Auditing, like regulatory clarity, provides confidence to all stakeholders that companies are operating transparently and adhering to expected industry standards. As the business of digital assets continues to grow and mature, and compliance and regulatory standards become more robust, auditors will continue to play a pivotal role.”

READ MORE: Blockchain technology expected to tackle Africa’s challenges across industries

KPMG United States blockchain audit leader, Erich Braun, further contributed by saying that a business’s blockchain system should be developed with the intent to meet both accounting and operational needs to meet with accounting standards:

“SEC issuers will want to design blockchain technologies to support the entity’s internal control over financial reporting. Being able to prove how these technologies achieve their aims in a well-controlled environment is critical to a successful blockchain strategy. If the technology is not auditable, the immense benefits it brings, such as increasing efficiencies and cutting costs, may not be realized.”

Henri Arslanian, added in his closing remarks that the Big Four firms are indeed the most important players for the crypto asset space. He said:

“I believe the Big Four firms will serve as the bridge between the crypto ecosystem and the institutional world. It is good for both the crypto ecosystem and for professional services firms like ours as a new source of clients that we can help.”

It seems Ethereum whales are having a good time gathering more Ethereum amidst global uncertainty.

Data from Santiment Research Company showed that Ethereum whale addresses have just touched a 10-month high. This is with the cumulative holdings of the top 100 non-exchange wallets that now own over 21,800,000 #Ethereum (About $4.5 billion at current price).

https://twitter.com /santimentfeed/status/1265852754330697729?s=20

“In the last two days alone, these top whale addresses have added an additional 145,000 Ethereum (about $30,300,000) as the price of Ethereum grew by a bit over 4% in this timeframe,”Santiment Research Company added.

2/ 100 addresses since May, 2019.

In the last two days alone, these top $ETH whale addresses have added an additional 145,000 $ETH (about $30,300,000) as the price of #Ethereum grew by a bit over 4% in this timeframe. pic.twitter.com/XGERW53POB

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) May 28, 2020

In addition, data obtained from Coinmarketcap, showed Ethereum is the second most valuable cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $24.6 billion, trading at $221.61 up 7%, at the time this report.

What are Ethereum whales? In the Ethereum world, traders or investors who own a large number of Ethereum are typically called whales. This means an Ethereum whale would be a single Ethereum address owning around 1,000 Ethereum or more.

(READ MORE: ByteDance, Tiktok’s parent company, now worth over $100 billion(Opens in a new browser tab)

Things you need to know about Ethereum

Ethereum is a cryptocurrency designed for decentralized applications and deployment of smart contracts, which are created and operated without any fraud, interruption, control or interference from a third party.

Ethereum is a decentralized system, fully independent, and is not under anybody’s authority. It has no pivotal point, and its platform is connected to thousands of its users through their computing system around the world, which means it’s almost impossible for Ethereum to go offline.

Electroneum, the British based blockchain, will be launching an in-app electricity top-up feature across four African countries to support digital payment projects for electricity in Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, and The Gambia.

What this means for Nigerians: The electricity payment platform will allow Electroneum app users to recharge their electricity meters directly from the app installed on their mobile phone by paying in Electroneum tokens.

What is Electroneum; Electroneum is a blockchain-based payment system created specifically for use on mobile hardware, like smartphones. It is believed by many to be the first Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) compliant and ‘you are your customer’ cryptocurrency. Electroneum’s crypto is mined from your smartphone with ease.

How can I buy Electroneum? This cryptocurrency can be bought from several cryptocurrency exchanges like Liquid, and Huobi. Each cryptocurrency exchange offers diverse ways of paying for Electroneum so be sure to check what payment options are offered to you.

(READ MORE: Bitcoin halving: Here is what experts think comes next)

However, while  Electroneum has been expanding around the globe with its different payment projects, some of its users do not find these exciting, partly due to the depreciating returns on the cryptocurrency in recent months.

According to data obtained from Coinmarketcap, Electroneum ranks 64th as the most valuable cryptocurrency in the world, with a market capitalization of about $95 million dollars, trading up by 5%, with price at $0.0093 at the time this report was drafted.

READ ALSO: Did Satoshi Nakamoto cause the panic sell-off in Bitcoin market

Their collaboration with non-governmental organizations in these countries is a potential way of boosting the wider use of cryptocurrencies. Electroneum told  Cointelegraph in a note that:

“By working with NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) on the ground in developing nations, we are achieving true adoption of a cryptocurrency. We are enabling people and allowing them to join the global digital economy for the very first time.”

The report also added the fact it would help minimize trade barriers and help freelancers earn a living.

“More importantly, we want to ensure that the vast number of highly skilled unbanked people of the world have an opportunity to join the global freelance revolution.”