Blockchain Games Surged In Active Users in September

Decentralized gaming applications (DApps) on the blockchain saw a spike in user engagement in September, with some games reporting notable increases in the number of active players. Data from DappRadar shows that during the past 30 days, seven out of the top 10 games in terms of “unique wallet addresses interacting with dapp’s smart contracts” rose, with all of the top five games showing a profit. The Benji Bananas (Polygon) app from Animoca Brands recorded the largest rise in users over the last 30 days, with a 16.54% increase.

According to DappRadar, the concept of “bleed in the bear and run in the bull” may be one of the factors contributing to the surge in popularity of blockchain games despite the bear market.

Bitcoin Operates More Like Digital Crude Than Digital Gold

According to the most recent study by economists at the University of New Mexico, which was released on September 29, Bitcoin functions more like “digital crude” than “digital gold” in terms of climate impact.

The study makes comparisons with other industries in an effort to determine the energy-related climate harm that proof-of-work Bitcoin mining causes. According to the claim, on average between 2016 and 2021, every $1 in BTC market value created caused $0.35 in “climate damages” worldwide.

It is highly improbable that the Bitcoin network would become sustainable by moving to proof-of-stake, the researchers note in their conclusion, adding that the findings constitute “a series of red lights for any consideration as a sustainable industry.”

Black Rock is Planning to Launch  Metaverse ETF!

According to Bloomberg, The largest asset manager in the world, BlackRock, intends to launch a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the iShares Future Metaverse Tech and Communications ETF. This is the company’s most recent entrance into the blockchain industry. In order to appeal to European clients, the company recently introduced the iShares Blockchain Technology UCITS ETF, which tracks the New York Stock Exchange FactSet Global Blockchain Technologies capped index.

Now that Franklin Templeton, Invesco, and Fidelity have launched funds made out of businesses with exposure to the metaverse, BlackRock has followed suit.

Binance Launches Mining Pool For EthereumPoW, ETHW Price Soars

The Ethereum proof-of-work (ETHW) mining pool was launched by The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance. Following the news, the price of EthereumPoW (ETHW) soared by more than 15%, reaching a 24-hour high of $12.71.

In order to encourage ETHW mining on the Ethereum Proof-of-Work (ETHW) mining pool, Binance Pool has also announced free pool fees. From September 29 to October 29 at 10:00 UTC, all users can mine ETHW tokens for no pool fees. Additionally, the cryptocurrency exchange only permits ETHW withdrawals. A company policy prevents access to ETHW deposits. On the Binance Convert service, users can sell ETHW for BUSD or USDT.

This is When Bitcoin (BTC) Price Will Double

The crypto market has come a long way since its inception and it’s been evolving. As the crypto market becomes vaster and gains huge traction, the need for it to be regulated increases. However, when it comes to regulation in the United States, there comes a question of who? Among many applicants on the list is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

During a fireside chat at NYU school, today, September 29, the CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam who has always been vocal towards crypto regulation claims that his agency should be the one that should be considered on priority. He believes that if Cryptocurrencies get regulated under the supervision of his agency, the industry will be on benefit and even Bitcoin will double its price value.

Coinbase Share Price Can Plunge Massively!

A big issue regarding Coinbase has been raised by Wells Fargo, a global provider of financial services. This could cause the share prices of cryptocurrency exchanges to fall. According to CNBC, Wells Fargo initiates Coinbase with underweight. The company has identified escalating macroeconomic pressures as potential destabilizing catalysts. Wells Fargo declared that they think the cryptocurrency exchange has value. However, the company recognizes that the early mover advantage has been diminished as a result of competition.

The price target is set at $57 per share, indicating a downside risk of just over 15% compared to yesterday’s closing price of $67.31. The analyst says Coinbase operates in a “challenged environment” which will continue to impact its operations.

Bitcoin long-term Holders Profitability Falls To 2018 Lows!

According to Glassnode, the fall in profitability in 2022 is similar to what was observed in December 2018. Due to the intense selling pressure, investors who have been holding bitcoin for a long time are being forced to sell at a loss of 42% on average. After purchasing at an average price of $32,000, they are selling at the present low price.

On the other hand, Due to the current market hardships, Bitcoin mining is becoming less profitable than it used to be. According to Glassnode, things started going south for miners when BTC’s price fell below $24.5k. Miners are now spending an average of 8,000 worth of BTC to cover operating costs.

Exchanges Burn 2.5 Trillion Terra Classic, LUNC Price Soars

After various cryptocurrency exchanges and websites added support for Terra Classic, the price of LUNC increased. KaJ Labs, the creator of the Lithosphere blockchain core, intends to set aside $50 to $100 million for the burning of 2.5 trillion Terra Classic (LUNC) tokens. Beginning on October 1, KaJ Labs anticipates the Lithosphere (LITHO) Jot Art Finesse NFT collection and mixed RPG “Finesse” games to be available.

The total supply of Terra Classic is 6.8 trillion. The community wants to use the 1.2% tax burn or other burn mechanisms to get to a fixed supply of 10 billion LUNC tokens. 6.6 billion LUNC tokens have thus far been destroyed, 4.2 billion of which were done so by sending them to the burn address and the remaining 2.3 billion by paying tax.

Cardano Turns 5! Rolls Out The Entirety Of The Vasil Improvements

Cardano (ADA) just completed the launch of its much-awaited Vasil hard fork on September 22. The Vasil improvements have gone live on the main net as ADA turns five this month. In addition, Input Output Global (IOG) tweeted about rolling out the Plutus V2 cost model on the chain a few days after the launch.

According to IOG, the new cost model is supposed to make decentralized applications (DApps) more efficient and cheaper. According to a blog post by IOG, several DApps, including Indigo protocol, a tokenization network, Liqwid Finance, and Maladex, a Cardano-based decentralized exchange (DEX), were waiting to take advantage of the new Plutus version.

Currently, the network is in the penultimate phase, the Basho era, an era of improved scalability. Founder Hoskinson hinted that IOG would be pushing the network into the Voltaire era next year.

Do Kwon Receives Support From An Unlikely Source Amid Conflict With Korean Authorities

Recently, Terra founder Do Kwon rubbished claims by CoinDesk Korea, which said he attempted cashing in on Bitcoin from the LFG. As per allegations, he possibly did so to escape from law enforcement. To defend itself further, the Luna Foundation Guard shared its treasury Bitcoin wallet, and the shared wallet address has a balance of 313 BTC, which has been dormant since May 18.

Terra whistleblower FatMan has also come forward in support of Do Kwon this time, which is unusual as he is a famed Kwon critic. FatMan brought up the fallible nature of chain analysis and claims that the speculations of the transfers have built up because of the lack of transparency over how the LFG used its Bitcoin reserves

ETH Whale “Galion” Has Gathered $3 Million Worth Of Shiba Inu

The biggest ETH Whale called “Galion” stocked up a significant 272,000,000,000 (272B) total of SHIB in two separate transactions in the past 24 hours, which was worth $3,000,159 ($3M).

The report came up from WhaleStats, which also mentioned that the key ETH trader came active about 8 hours ago and added 100,000,000,000 (100B) SHIB, which was worth $1,102,999 ($1.10M) at an average price of $0.0000109 per SHIB to her wallet in her first transaction. As for the second transaction, the ETH whale scooped up 172,000,000,000 (172B) SHIB, which was worth $1,897,160 ($1.89M). 

After the big transfer by ETH Whale, SHIB tended to flip Basic Attention Token (BAT) and become the most traded token among the top 100 ETH Whales.

Vitalik Buterin’s Book “Proof Of Stake” Is Finally Out After A Decade!

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has finally popped his book titled “Proof of Stake” after a decade of waiting. Buterin’s experiences with blockchain and crypto technology are what the book may contain. Supposedly, Ethereum’s recent transition from the PoW (Proof of Work) system to the PoS (Proof of Stake) working model can also be considered the motivation behind the launch. Previously in August, Buterin seemed prepping up for the launch and had said that the book would be released in a month.

It is the first time that such a book on blockchain and PoS has been launched. It is also the first time an author is using ETH keys to sign a book. Interestingly, the book can also be availed as an NFT soon. During his book release announcement on Twitter, Vitalik also shared a link to where interested people can get the book. The ETH founder has decided to donate all the proceeds of the book’s sales to fund the free web.

Singapore: Mclaren Racing Design Celebrates Emerging Technologies

As a part of a planned partnership between Formula One (F1) team ‘McLaren Racing’ and the crypto exchange OKX, the livery will be showcased on McLaren’s MCL36 F1 cars at the Singapore Grand Prix on October 2, as well as the Japanese Grand Prix on October 9.

As per Mclaren, the design represents the growth of new technologies such as cryptocurrencies and the broader Web3 sector. The livery showcases McLaren’s Fluro Papaya colorway with neon pink embellishments and dynamic, cyberpunk-inspired engine illustrations. OKX commented that it would help McLaren revolutionize the racing team’s digital collectible and metaverse strategy.

Chinese Officials Crack Down On Cryptocurrency Money-Laundering

The Hengyang (a city in China) police imprisoned 93 individuals for using cryptocurrencies for money-laundering activities. The criminal group allegedly employed cryptocurrencies for money laundering of 40 billion yuan (approximately $5.6 billion). The operation carried on by the police was called “Hundred-day Action,” in which the authorities raided 10 physical sites, seized more than 100 electronic devices, and froze about $42 million in operation.

The group brought in money from gambling and telecom scams, supposedly purchased digital assets with illegal funds, and later converted them into American dollars to make huge profits. China has been cracking down hard on crypto activities for a while now. Last year, too, the Chinese police detained 1,100 individuals who allegedly employed digital currencies to launder funds for telecommunications network fraudulent activities.

Ethereum (ETH) Shows A Lower Issuance Rate Post Merge

As promised with the Merge, Ethereum (ETH) is doing well with its claims of greater inflation resistance. IntoTheBlock analysts have disclosed that the inflation rate of ether (ETH) has dropped to a range of 0% to 0.7%, in comparison to 3.5% prior to the Merge. We can note that Bitcoin’s net issuance rate is about 1.75% currently, in contrast to Ethereum. Ethereum’s weakened inflation rate can surely strengthen its appeal among crypto investors.

Ethereum Foundation mentioned that the issuance of Ethereum’s proof-of-work (PoW) mining rewards was around 13,000 ETH per day. As per Ultra Sound Money, around 8,100 ETH have been added to ether’s total supply since the Merge. Now mining rewards have disappeared, and staking rewards would amount to around 1,600 ETH per day as per calculations, following the merge.

However, IntoTheBlock analyst says that the net inflation rate is still “higher than the deflationary ETH many anticipated.” According to Conotoxia’s Kostecki, the newly discovered inflation resistance’s value could be pulled down by investors’ fears about the SEC, which is trying to categorize cryptocurrency as a security.

Binance Rolls Out A New Program To Curb Cyber Financial Crime And Malicious Activities

On September 27, Binance disclosed the industry’s first global coordinated venture, which is a new Global Law Enforcement Training Program. The intent of the program is to help law enforcement spot cyber financial crime and provide support to eye the malicious actors. It must be noted that Binance experts from the Binance investigations team having global hands-on practice in the topic will be sharing their expertise now. The experts include security experts, former law enforcement agents, analysts, and operatives who helped take down global cyber-criminal organizations, like Hydra.

The announcement also quoted a standard one-day training program that will be based around workshops to teach about crypto and blockchain and will be focusing on crypto regulation too. It was also mentioned that Binance’s investigations team has hosted and even participated in more than 30 workshops on fighting cyber and financial crime during the last year.

FTX Exchange All set To Bid For Celsius Networks

Crypto Exchange FTX seems to have some major expansion goals for this year, with its constant bidding on distressed assets. Starting with its acquisition of Bankrupt Crypto Lender Voyager just earlier this week, FTX is now looking to bid for Celsius Network. Notably, FTX is in the process of raising $1 billion from the market as of now.

It is still unclear if Sam Bankman-Fried’s group of companies, which include FTX and Alameda Research, are bidding to acquire only a part or all of Celsius’s assets. Bankrupt company Celsius Networks is now considering multiple options such as restructuring and liquidation.

It can be noted that FTX made a big announcement just yesterday, with FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried revealing the relocation of the FTX headquarters from Chicago to Miami. Also, with Brett Harrison leaving, Zach Dexter will be succeeding him as the new president of FTX US.

Australia To Issue A Digital Form Of The Australian Dollar

Australia is now among the countries making efforts to issue a digital form of national currency. The central banking institution of Australia, the Reserve Bank, has collaborated with the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) to put forward a technical White Paper on its future CBDC. DFCRC is assisting the Reserve Bank on a research project that assesses all technological, legal, and regulatory considerations related to the CBDC.

As one of their steps, the Reserve Bank has asked industry participants to give their opinion on how the digital dollar would interact with the national monetary network. All along, ordinary participants also have the chance to evaluate the product and test its value proposition. The Bank of International Settlement’s Innovation Hub also formed a part of the project.

Walmart Finally Entering The Metaverse Space With Roblox

Walmart is ready to set its foot into the NFT or blockchain space as the retailer is tapping Roblox for its first phase of metaverse exploration. Today, Walmart is rolling out two metaverse experiences within their partnership scene with Roblox: Walmart Land and Walmart’s Universe of Play. The new digital activations are largely considered to be ‘testing grounds.’ Reports mention various other features, including shoppable recipes, live-streamed events, and an AR feature for furniture.

In 2022 beginning, Walmart secured several IPRs around virtual and AR-related engagement, and it looks like this week is the test run for the retailer. Walmart has tried to work in the crypto space in several ways: a handful of physical stores have hosted Bitcoin ATMs in the past, and a Walmart crypto token was speculated in the past, among others.

2 Big Priorities for Ethereum After Successful Merge – Says Vitalik Buterin

In his recent interview, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said that the platform has two major priorities lined up after the successful completion of ETH’s transition to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). The first priority, as per Buterin, is figuring out the scaling. He mentioned that figuring out scaling includes getting the Ethereum protocol fully roll-up ready. This includes prototank sharding, getting roll-ups to be fully ready for users, getting applications on top of them, getting good bridge infrastructure, and getting the wallets to support them. The second priority is Ethereum’s transition from being in a rapidly developing firefighting mode to being in stability mode.

Buterin also said that when the merge is finally complete, Ethereum developers would not have to rush through big protocol changes, Eventually, he said the community will become more “pragmatic” in the near future.

JPMorgan Lowered Their Price Target for Crypto Exchange Coinbase’s Stock (COIN)

Quoting the increasing selling pressure on digital asset markets, JPMorgan analysts have resorted to lowering the price target for Coinbase’s stock (COIN). A report discloses that an analyst from JPMorgan, Kenneth Worthington, has a neutral rating on COIN, however, he has cut his price target by 23% from $78 to $60, which is close to its current price of $61.88.

In view of JPMorgan analysts, Coinbase’s staking business, which is offered for six different crypto assets, “has less upside given the selloff in crypto.” In addition to this, rating agency Moody’s has also changed its analysis on COIN, changing its rating from under review to negative.

Mike Novogratz Says DeFi Is Likely To Win In The Long Term

Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital is speculating that the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector of the crypto space will eventually shine out of all. At his discussion at the SALT forum in New York, the billionaire explained that DeFi is setting its pace to win in the long term, given its robust fundamental features.

Novogratz explained that DeFi is going to win because it’s better and is composable, transparent, and settles automatically. He also mentioned that the sector still has the challenge of establishing proper regulatory standards that could prevent the type of sharp market downturn that happened this year.

UK Pound Drops Down To An All-Time Low Against The US Dollar

Between June and mid-September, UK’s Pound mostly traded in the $1.14 to $1.23 bracket against the US Dollar. However, the currency has been losing momentum at an alarming rate since the past few days. After registering five back-to-back red candles on the daily, the GBP/USD pair was trading around $1.07 at the time of writing. 

Earlier today, the pound dropped down to an all-time low level of $1.03.

The drop followed the unveiling of historic tax cuts funded by huge increases in borrowing by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange temporarily halted GBP futures trading on its platform, given the volatility. Following the plunge in value, GBP fell as much as 4.7% earlier today and is now down by 3%. The investors’ confidence is definitely shaken by these factors.

Binance Decides To Operate In Japan Despite Troubled History

CEO of the world’s biggest crypto exchange- Binance- Changpeng Zhao (CZ), is planning to re-emerge in Japan after 4 years. Reports suggest that Binance didn’t have a permit in Japan before, hence, it is trying to secure a license in order to operate in Japan. The East Asian country’s effortless approach toward digital assets has reignited Binance’s interest to re-enter the market.

In 2018, Binance’s billionaire founder “CZ” ditched the plan to build a base in Japan, as they had been subjected to multiple inquiries by the regulators. The regulator had also issued an official notice to the firm to stop their operations in the country without any license. Binance had received multiple warnings in later years for not adhering to the specific rules.

LBRY vs. SEC: Kauffman Claims That SEC Is Out To Destroy The Crypto Markets

In March 2021, the SEC charged LBRY with selling unregistered securities. Now, LBRY CEO Jeremy Kauffman is seen calling out the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The regulator took issue with the $11 million in funding raised through the sale of LBRY Credits. The SEC actually considered LBRY Credits as investment contracts.

Kauffman exclaimed that the company has been “fighting the SEC for coming up on five years.” He said they soon expect a federal judge to weigh in with a ruling on whether a full trial is required. He expressed his frustration saying “The SEC has very much demonstrated that they are out to damage or destroy the cryptocurrency industry in the United States.”

Moreover, Kauffman is stepping into the political realm and if he’s elected this year, his top priority will be bringing more attention to the cryptocurrency scene.

Going Public Has Worked Out Great For Coinbase, Claims Brian Armstrong

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes that going public has been immensely beneficial for the crypto company, even though its price isn’t standing strong at the moment. Coinbase is now among the first fortune 500 companies, which has made them legitimate enough. He added that “the going public has put us on the main stage, where we’re able to get deals done with BlackRock and companies like Meta.”

He also believes that it has led to the ability to raise funds quickly at attractive rates. The key downsides of going public are the public scrutiny, investigations, and media coverage, according to the CEO. He believes that building Coinbase’s list of products, customer protection with KYC and AML policies, engaging with politicians and regulators, and supporting the industry, matter the most.

Robert Kiyosaki Suggests The Best Assets To Stay Safe As The End Of Fake Money Is Nearing

The author of ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ Robert Kiyosaki, as shared his thoughts on the best assets for investors to consider while predicting the end of ‘fake’ money.

According to Kiyosaki, the end to fake dollars is highlighted by the alleged scarcity of gold and silver coins. In a tweet on September 25, Kiyosaki reiterated his objection to the Federal Reserve policies in a bid to contain the skyrocketing inflation. He believes that the Fed is responsible for the rising inflation, with the institution resorting to increasing interest rates.

The author also stated that the Fed’s policies will most likely destroy the US economy, while urging investors to put their money behind real money. He cited Bitcoin (BTC), gold, and silver as formidable assets to invest in.

Why Crypto Market is Plunging Today?

Having a run down all over again, the total crypto market cap has fallen to $924 billion and is still dropping. Bitcoin has gone below the $19K mark again and is currently trading at $18,811. Ethereum continues to plunge down, with the asset trading at $1294 currently. Cardano had a hard fall during the crypto crash, with it being down by over 2% to $0.446. Terra Classic (LUNC) has fallen close to 16% in the last 24 hours, which is an even steeper dive. Solana is down by more than 3% in the last 24 hours and is trading at $32.30. DOGE has fallen to 3.27% and is trading at $0.0611.

The crypto market can be seen crashing as the greenback currency, US Dollar, continues to show incredible strength. The U.S. Dollar Index or DXY climbed up by another 0.64% and touched 113.92. The crypto market is highly related to the general broader market. Notably, S&P 500 slid by 1.72% and NASDAQ fell by 1.66%. However, the Fed is maintaining its hawkish stance against inflation.

Interpol Issued Red Notice for Terra Founder Do Kwon

A recent report suggests that Interpol has issued a red notice for Terraform Labs (the unlicensed company behind the Terra blockchain) co-founder Do Kwon. Kwon has yet not made any statement on Twitter, but he has maintained that Terraform Labs is defending itself in multiple jurisdictions.

Earlier, South Korean Prosecutors had said that Kwon was “obviously on the run” and not cooperating with investigators. Assumptions were being made that Kwon was in Singapore, at his residence, but later police confirmed that he was not there. He gave an answer to the allegations of him having fleed, saying “Unless we are friends, have plans to meet, or are involved in a GPS-based Web3 game you have no business knowing my GPS coordinates.”

Bitcoin Whale Holdings Continue to Drop, Hits 29-Month Low

Bitcoin (BTC) is seeing strong selling pressure with the ongoing uncertainties in the global markets. According to Santiment, due to the impacts of inflation and a global recession, “addresses holding 100 to 10k $BTC have lowered their percentage of supply held of #crypto‘s top asset to 29-month lows”. Supposedly, on-chain data suggests that the Bitcoin whale holdings continue to drop for 100 months in a row.

CryptoQuant data suggests that “whales seem to have intentionally opened short positions on the Derivatives Exchange and lowered BTC prices.” Amidst the ongoing market correction trend, Bitcoin’s social interest spiked and touched a new 2-month high. BTC price has seen ill effects of selling pressure and bears will be looking at the sub $18,000 levels if the sell-off in the broader market continues.

Apple Will Charge a 30% Fee for All NFT Transactions

Apple is gearing up to impose a 30% cut on NFT transactions on its marketplace. The commission is standard for Apple, however, some NFT developers and others have expressed their infuriation at the company’s excessive cut in sales. Notably, some condemn the commission rate for being “grotesquely overpriced”, especially when it is compared to standard NFT marketplace commissions, which are floating around 2.5%.

As per the report, Solana (SOL) NFT market Magic Eden withdrew its service from the App Store after knowing about the policy, even after Apple offered to lower its cut percentage to 15%. Other NFT marketplaces on the App Store have supposedly limited their functioning due to the high commissions. Also, some are choosing to consider the positive side of the company’s move.

Singapore’s Largest Bank To Now Provide Crypto Trading Services To Select Users

Singapore’s largest bank – DBS Group Holdings Ltd. – is continuing to widen its crypto exchange client base. It has recently opened up its cryptocurrency trading services on its digital exchange DDEx to an additional 100,000 accredited investors with at least $246,000 in investable assets to buy, sell, and trade in securities. The bank is looking forward to expanding the usage of its DDEx platform to give its users a secure and seamless experience of trading in securities. Accredited investors can trade bitcoin, bitcoin cash, Ethereum, and XRP on DDEx.

According to the bank, the crypto assets of the bank will be stored in cold storage having various layers of security. 

Just in: CertiK Detects Suspicious Fund Transfers! What’s Happening?

Crypto-security firm, CertiK, announced on Wednesday that it has detected a suspicious fund transfer of $2.4 million into crypto mixer Tornado Cash. The fund transfer is related to the $139 million BXH Exchange hack when hackers stole nearly 4,000 ETH of $139 million in October 2021. Despite sanctions by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control in August, it is arriving at the conclusion that the suspicious fund transfers are still continuing. It was noted that a Telegram group was created by the people under the influence of BXH Exchange, who disclosed the staking contract holding the assets and addresses.

The externally owned address (EOA) 0x158F5 exchanged bridged ERC-20 tokens for ETH. Thus, 1865 ETH tokens over $2.4 million worth have been deposited into Tornado Cash.

Is SEC The Reason Behind Ripple’s (XRP) Price Surge?

Ripple (XRP) investors have reason to celebrate as XRP recorded huge gains over the past few days, rallying more than 50% in a week. Famous YouTuber Ben Armstrong tweeted about the reason for the unexpected surge. According to Armstrong, it is because the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given up trying to prove that the coin is a security. He also added that Ripple enthusiasts are confident that the XRP will face just a fine instead of a blanket ban from operating in the US, in case Ripple loses the lawsuit.

Founder of crypto law, John Deaton, reacted to Armstrong’s tweet, saying the SEC stopped relying on one of its experts. Supposedly, the expert wanted to prove that XRP investors counted on making a profit when acquiring the asset class. This also pushed the investors to believe that the judgment could actually favor Ripple.

Crypto Oversight Bill Introduced In California Vetoed By Governor

California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoes a crypto oversight bill, ‘Assembly Bill 2269’. The bill was intended to ensure that crypto businesses and exchanges acquire a special license from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. The ’Digital Financial Assets Bill’ was aiming to tighten oversight over crypto companies in California. Notably, the bill had passed the assembly (with a 71-0 vote) and the state senate. 

The reason behind the veto was the rising popularity of cryptocurrencies. Newsom emphasized the need for transparent regulation to protect Californians and a more flexible approach is needed to inculcate a balance between protection and innovation. He said that the bill will draw a loan worth tens of millions from California’s general fund. The community has applauded the Governor for his decision.

CZ Suggests Charging Users A Fee For Burning LUNC Tokens, Criticized

During a recent Q-n-A session on Twitter Spaces, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) put forward the idea of introducing a feature that would allow Luna Classic (LUNC) to charge a 1.2% trading fee to burn tokens. CZ said that, in this way, the community would be able to vote with its feet. However, FatMan criticized the proposed feature, claiming that it was “pretty silly.”

Nevertheless, the proposal was successfully implemented for all on-chain transactions on September 21. Supposedly, the tax burn will reduce the total supply of the LUNC token to 10 billion. On September 16, Binance disclosed that the 1.2% tax burn for LUNC and USTC deposits and withdrawals would be subjected to a 1.2% tax burn fee.

Bitcoin Was About To Be Named Netcoin By Satoshi Nakamoto Earlier!

Historical data of domain name purchases indicates that initially Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, had named the platform differently. Bitcoin.org, the website domain related to the original Bitcoin, was created on Aug. 18, 2008. Domain purchases under AnonymousSpeech around the same time reveal the creation of Netcoin.org just a day prior to the creation of Bitcoin.org, i.e. on Aug. 17, 2008.

The decision to stick to Bitcoin instead of Netcoin would have been crucial to the success of the platform as numerous members of the crypto community brought up their dislike for the name ‘Netcoin.’ One of the members exclaimed, “That’s interesting. I’m glad they stuck with Bitcoin, sounds way better.”

Dogecoin Should Make a Transition to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Says Vitalik Buterin

The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin says that all crypto chains should switch to proof-of-stake. Buterin expressed that the popular meme coin – Dogecoin should switch to proof-of-stake during his virtual appearance at a cryptocurrency summit ‘Mainnet 2022’ hosted by cryptocurrency analytics firm Messari. 

The Dogecoin Foundation had declared that the transition to proof-of-stake would be on the meme coin’s roadmap. In December 2021, Dogecoin laid out a timeline, introducing a series of new additions to be made to the platform in 2022. One of these additions was the PoW to PoS transition with no official date announced yet.  Earlier this year, Buterin had claimed to have been helping Dogecoin to make a transition to proof-of-stake.

Celsius Shareholders Ask For Legal Representation In Bankruptcy Proceedings

In a September 22 court filing, Celsius shareholders pleaded for an official legal representation that would represent their interest in the bankruptcy case. The filing mentions that there is a clear need for this fiduciary representation because of only two economic stakeholder groups — retail customers and equity holders.

The shareholders claim the Unsecured Creditors Committee (UCC) is busy ensuring that retail customers get maximum value without even considering the interests of the equity holders. The shareholders are also expecting Celsius to “dollarize” the crypto holdings of its customers.

As per the filing, Celsius is intending to return customers’ crypto instead of the fiat value of the asset, which is breaching the Bankruptcy Code, and supposedly it could negatively impact the Equity Holders’ recovery. The idea that Celsius might be planning to repay its creditors using crypto IOU tokens came up from a leaked audio file.

Bitcoin Mining Firm ‘Compute North’ Owes $500 Million To Creditors, Files For Bankruptcy

On September 22, Bitcoin (BTC) mining data center operator ‘Compute North’ filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and will be continuing its operations all along finding solutions to solve the problem of liquidity. During its filing, the company also added that CEO Dave Perrill had resigned earlier in September. Notably, the mining operator owes $500 million to about 200 creditors and has assets valued between $100 and $500 million.

CEO Dave Perrill will still remain on the board and chief operating officer Drake Harvey will be taking over as President. Compute North partners – Marathon Digital and Compass Digital – revealed that the mining firm’s declaration of bankruptcy would not affect their operations.

Bankruptcy may have come with the firm seeing its fortune declining after a massive market downturn. Also, the rising energy costs and increasing BTC mining difficulty have made it hard for the miners to make profits.

CFO Of Bankrupt Crypto Lender Voyager Leaving The Company!

On Friday, bankrupt crypto lender ‘Voyager’ announced that its chief financial officer is resigning from the company to follow up on other opportunities. CFO Ashwin Prithipaul will be stepping back after a transition period. All along, Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich will be handling Prithipaul’s duties for an interim period. As mentioned on Prithipaul’s LinkedIn profile, he only served Voyager as its CFO since May till now. Before this, Prithipaul was the CFO at crypto exchange DriveDigital for nine months, and prior to that, he worked as the CFO at the crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital

Cardano’s Vasil HardFork is Now Live!

As of Thursday at 9:44 p.m. UTC, The Cardano Vasil upgrade and hard fork has finally gone live bringing “significant performance and capability” enhancements to the blockchain.

This second significant upgrade focuses on improving connectivity and overall network stability. High Impact can be seen in the network’s transaction fees, mining rewards, and speed of transactions while enhancing the scalability of Decentralised Applications.

After the Vasil upgrade, Cardano is heading its work on the Hydra head protocol, a layer-2 scaling solution that handles transactions outside of the Cardano blockchain while still utilizing it as the security and settlement layer.

Community Votes In Favour Of Migrating Helium To The Solana Blockchain

Helium community members staked Helium tokens (HNT) to participate in the on-chain voting. A two-thirds majority was needed during the vote for the network to migrate. Participants voted to move the decentralized WiFi network from its blockchain, officially known as HIP 70, to the Solana blockchain. Around 6,177 community members voted in favour of the switching by staking over 12 million HNT, whereas just 1,270 voted against it.

The main cause of the migration is to facilitate scaling the protocol through more efficient transactions as well as interoperability. The shift to Solana will transfer all tokens, applications, and governance to the network. The migration will include HNT, MOBILE and IOT issued on the Solana network, and these will continue to be the tokens in the Helium ecosystem. Once the migration is executed successfully, a new version of the Helium Wallet App will be rolled out.

Jesse Powell To Step Up Down As CEO Of Kraken

A Wednesday report by The Wall Street Journal disclosed that Jesse Powell has decided to step down from his role as CEO of Kraken, the cryptocurrency exchange. 

Supposedly, Powell will be replaced by the company’s current chief operating officer, Dave Ripley. Although he has left behind the role as the head of the company, Powell has plans to continue playing an active role in Kraken as its biggest shareholder. He will be taking up the role of the chairman of the company’s board of directors.

IMF Calls On Regulators To Work Toward A Global Regulatory Framework

The international monetary fund (IMF) has called on national authorities to consider collaborating and working towards a global regulatory framework to bridge the gap caused by fragmented regulations. As per IMF, the crypto market reached a global market capitalization of $3 trillion in November 2021 and it has become integrated into the mainstream financial system. Hence, there is an urgent need to regulate the market to prevent further possibilities of negative impacts on the global economy.

Countries have been taking their own different approaches to administer regulatory policies for crypto assets. IMF stated that the diverging regulatory approaches do not enable a level playing ground. Instead, a comprehensive framework will be comprising all aspects of the crypto market along with alignment with the mainstream regulatory system.

Celsius Looking To Pay Back Customers With New Wrapped Assets

Celsius executives seem to be considering putting forward a proposal to pay back customers, which basically includes issuing new wrapped assets to trade on other platforms. The scheme aims to funnel Celsius’ remaining funds allocated to repaying customers into wallets, then issue wrapped tokens, known as Cx tokens, to represent the ratio of how much the firm owes to how much it has on hand.

Customers may redeem their wrapped tokens or probably wait for a larger payout when additional revenue hits. Celsius has plans to enable trading for the wrapped tokens on other venues too like the users could withdraw their tokens and go to Uniswap or other platforms and allow the market to price the token. 

El Salvador to Launch New Offering in 8 Weeks, Buys Back $565M Worth of Bonds

On Wednesday, President Nayib Bukele said that El Salvador has purchased back a part of its sovereign debt bonds maturing in 2023 and 2025 totaling $565 million. El Salvador purchased 54% of the bonds maturing in 2025 for a total of $432 million and 22.4% of the bonds maturing in 2023, for a total of $133 million. The bond repurchase can be presumed as an attempt by the country to dismiss the rumors of a potential default on its debt.

Bukele revealed the initial repurchases have helped the country save more than $275 million. Bukele also disclosed that El Salvador will be launching a new offer for the remainder of the 2023 and 2025 bonds in eight weeks.

Bitcoin Bounces Back As Fed Raises Interest Rates To The Highest Levels Since 2007

Federal Open Market Committee marked the third consecutive hike of this magnitude that central bankers decided for this year. The federal funds rate will be escalating to a range of 3% to 3.25%, which is the highest since late 2007. The decision followed the August CPI, released last week, which showed that inflation rose 0.6% from the month before. The federal funds rate is expected to reach 4.4% by the end of this year. 

Bitcoin (BTC) saw the impact of the Fed’s move and whipsawed following the announcement. However, it sold off later in the afternoon along with U.S. stocks. As of press time, bitcoin was changing hands just below the $19,000 mark.

Who Will Acquire Voyager Digital Assets – Binance Or FTX Exchange?

The auction of Voyager Digital assets began earlier this month on September 13 after Voyager filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022, after facing major liquidity issues amid the crypto market crash. With FTX and Binance leading the auction, many players like CrossTower and Wave Financial also participated.

The current latest report reveals that the two topmost exchanges Binance and FTX are in the race to acquire the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital. People known to the matter told WSJ that FTX and Binance are in a tight race to hold some Voyager assets. Notably, Binance’s current bid is $50 million higher than that of FTX. The winning bid will be disclosed on September 29 or even earlier.

Algorithmic Stablecoins Might See A Total Ban For Two Years

A new draft bill is under the way, proposing a complete two-year ban on algorithmic stablecoins like the TerraUSD. Next week, the House Financial Services Committee will be deciding the future of the bill, to regulate stablecoins, by voting. The regulators have been keeping a close watch on collateralized stablecoins ever since the TerraUSD stablecoin crash in May 2022 taking away more than $40 billion of investors’ money. 

The draft bill mentions that it would be illegal to create and issue new “endogenously collateralized stablecoins”. As per the draft, this would be including the stablecoins that depend entirely on other digital assets to maintain their value.

Microstrategy Buys 301 Bitcoin for $6 million

MicroStrategy Incorporated already holds the highest amount of Bitcoin and it now revealed crypto holding expansion happening in recent times in the latest US SEC filings. MicroStrategy disclosed that it bought around 301 Bitcoins between August 2, 2022, to September 19, 2022, and the purchases were done completely in cash. The BTC assets were purchased for $6 million at an average price of approx $19,851 per token.

As per information, the approx cumulative acquisition price of Bitcoin holding stands at $3.98 billion and the average purchase price stands at $30,639 per BTC. MicroStrategy is continuing its bitcoin acquisition strategy even after CEO Michael Saylor backed off. 

Here’s When Bitcoin Will Hit Bottom !

Last year, $165 billion was drained out of the crypto market. This year, too, Bitcoin has been highly bearish and investors are now anticipating the currency’s possible bottom. According to the predictions of the crypto expert Rekt Capital, the asset might just reach another low point by the end of the year. The predictions were made just before the “halving” process when the reward for mining is cut into half. Bitcoin can reach the bottom in quarter 4 more than 500 days from its scheduled halving in April 2024.

Why did Ethereum’s PoW Token (ETHPoW) Record a 40% surge Today?

The ETH Merge wasn’t limited to the shift from proof-of-work [PoW] to proof-of-stake [PoS]. 

Miners decided to hard fork the original chain with the intention of retaining the PoW chain. Moreover, the EthereumPoW [ETHW] got much more attention than Ethereum after the Merge took place. With this, just over a span of a few hours, ETHW recorded a huge 40% rise. The sudden surge came as a surprise and the EthereumPoW network launched its own cross-chain bridge aided by the BridgeTech network. 

Earlier today, Binance announced on Twitter that they have opened the doors for the transactions for ETHW. 

Binance Secures License For Offering Crypto Services In Dubai

Recently, Binance secured a license to offer full crypto exchange products and services in Dubai. Earlier the exchange just had a license to offer some of the limited crypto exchange products and services to qualified investors.

According to the press release, with the new Minimal Viable Product license, the exchange can open a domestic bank account to hold funds of the users locally, operate the exchange, and offer payments and custody services to the users. MVP license from the Dubai regulator was received by Binance back in March. 

Binance has been trying to attain global regulatory approval after facing a series of setbacks.

City Bank’s Report Lays Out The Aftermath Of The ETH Merge

According to City Bank’s report, the transition volatility has remained subdued despite the high hopes after the Ethereum Merge was successful. 

The merge involved the switch to a more energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus from a proof-of-work (PoW) process. Following the transition,  rewards are now not given to the miners and the ETH issuance is estimated to plunge 90% to around 600,000.

ETH has become a yield-bearing asset after the removal of mining, with a current staking yield of 4.5%. 

In the aftermath of the merge, the network activity has increased as ETH produces a yield for validators. However, the fees is still very low. 

JUST IN- CoinDCX’s Twitter Account Hacked!

Recently, India-based crypto exchange, CoinDCX’s Twitter account was hacked. The hacker has been promoting fake XRP ads and sharing phishing links. If these links are clicked on, users could lose their assets.

The customers have been warned not to open any link or message from any suspicious account. The support team is working to recover the account as soon as possible and will keep their 230k followers and users updated. Crypto scams have been on the rise of late. 

Earlier this month, the Twitter account of PwC Venezuela was also hacked and spammed with fake XRP giveaways and phishing links.

Wintermute Hacked, Loses $160 Million!

Wintermute, a UK-based algorithmic crypto market maker, recently got hacked for $160 million and became a victim of decentralized finance (DeFi) hack. 

The CEO of Wintermute, Evgeny Gaevoy, announced this recently through his tweet. As per the CEO, they are “open” and will treat the hack as a white hat hack as they are common in crypto and will get in touch with the attacker. The hackers drained funds from its DeFi operations without affecting the company’s over-the-counter and centralized finance operations. The CEO stressed that the funds of the users are safe as still they have double the stolen amount of equity left with them. According to Etherscan, over 70 different tokens have been transferred to Wintermute exploiters. 

DAOs Shouldn’t Act As Corporations, Argues Vitalik Buterin

In a recent blog post, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin argued that decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are not supposed to function as corporations. He is against the argument that it is not correct to assume that the ideas of decentralization do not work in the real world, which is why traditional corporate structures are supposed to be more efficient. He argued that DAOs with diverse input “make a lot of sense.”

A major challenge for DAOs is to solve the so-called “succession problem”, i.e. these organizations have to make sure that they continue functioning even if the original group retires. Buterin says that DAOs also have to deal with “unexpected uncertainty.” He claims that some DAOs will have to resemble “constructs from political science.” According to venture capitalist Bill Gurley, the Linux Foundation is the model Buterin is looking for.

Ethereum Faces Massive Outflows! What’s Happening?

Even though the Ethereum upgrade went smoothly, the asset’s price has tumbled down significantly since the Merge. This contradicts all the assumptions that people had about the merger luring large investors into the ecosystem. Just about five days before the transition took place on September 15, ETH had hit $1,800. Today, ETH’s price has sunk below $1,300.

Additionally, the investment products linked with ETH saw a fourth straight week of outflows in the period that ended September 16. According to CoinShares, the amount that was drawn exceeded new money added by $15.4 million. This wasn’t an across-the-board trend in crypto. On the contrary, funds that invest in bitcoin (BTC), which is ETH’s biggest rival, managed to get past a five-week streak of outflows as investors added a net $17.4 million.

Michael Saylor Claims Bitcoin Is Irreplaceable And Essential

The former CEO of MicroStrategy and Bitcoin admirer, Michael Saylor, recently tweeted that he believes there are a significant number of individuals all over the globe that need Bitcoin. Saylor has constantly displayed his confidence in Bitcoin with his positive tweets and speeches. As per him, “There is no other alternative to Bitcoin.”

Saylor believes that Bitcoin is a digital currency that acts as a railway for the transfer of money across both time and place. He also boasted that MicroStrategy’s share price had increased by 67% ever since the firm started using the Bitcoin Standard. The ex-Microstrategy CEO views the Bitcoin blockchain as the cleanest and most efficient use of power in the industry

Ethereum Faces Intense Selling Pressure: Will The Whales Sell Their Holdings?

WhaleAlert’s tweets have revealed that more than 270k Ethereum has been sent to central exchanges in just about 2 hours. The first transaction happened about 4 hours ago and it totalled over 20k ETH that was sent to FTX. At first, 12,497 ETH worth $17 million was transferred, which was followed by 8,426 ETH worth over $11.5 million, transferred just 9 minutes later.

Soon after, WhaleAlert revealed that a whale had transferred 250,000 Ethereum worth over $338 million to Binance. It is important to note that crypto investors usually send their assets to exchanges with an intention of sell-off. 

SEC Claims To Have Jurisdiction Over Ethereum And All Its Transactions

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been maintaining that almost all cryptocurrencies are securities. Moreover, SEC chair Gary Gensler disclosed that Ethereum could also be considered a security post its merger, in contrast to his earlier claims about Ethereum being a commodity. Changing their stance, SEC now believes that after the merger, it has jurisdiction over all of Ethereum and that all of its transactions will now be under US laws.

As a result, the SEC is facing heat from the crypto community. A major crypto influencer, Lark Davis, believes that the SEC’s claims regarding Ethereum are bizarre and it is setting a dangerous precedent.

Alameda Research To Repay $200 Million In Loans To Voyager Digital

Crypto trading firm Alameda Research will be repaying two large loans in Bitcoin and Ether, worth $200 million to Voyager Digital, the bankrupt crypto lender. Alameda will repay 6,553 in bitcoin (approx $128 million) and 51,204 in Ethereum (approx $70 million) in principal and loan fees, as per a court filing last night. It will also be paying some smaller amounts in seven other tokens.

The filing mentioned that the loans are due by Sept. 30. Alameda will reclaim around $160 million in collateral. The trading firm had stumped up collateral for the loans, which comprises 4,650,000 in FTX’s token FTT (roughly $112 million) and 63,750,000 in SRM (roughly $49 million), the utility token of decentralized exchange Serum.

After Binance, India’s WazirX To De-list USDC, USDP, And TUSD!

India’s largest crypto exchange, WazirX, has declared that it will be de-listing USDC, USDP, TUSD, and their spot market pairs at 06:30 AM UTC on September 26 in order to ‘enhance liquidity and capital efficiency.’ 

The exchange will, supposedly, continue supporting withdrawals of USDC, USDP, and TUSD until September 23. According to the announcement, the users that will still hold any of these three currencies after the deadlines will witness their holdings automatically converted to BUSD.

Previously, even Binance had announced that it won’t be supporting these coins after September 29. Both exchanges have a similar reason for eliminating these coins.

Cryptocurrency Wallet Provider Pouch To Turn Philippines Resort Into ‘Bitcoin Island’

A small resort town in the central Philippines, along the west coast, is being turned into a ‘Bitcoin Island‘ with cryptocurrency wallet provider Pouch trying hard to increase bitcoin uptake on the island. Philippines people can now pay for homemade food from roadside restaurants using bitcoin. As per Pouch vice president Bill Mill, around 120 big and small businesses in Boracay have so far signed up to allow users to make payments in BTC. The roadmap goes around establishing a micro-economy running entirely on bitcoin while promoting crypto tourism, according to Bill Mill.

Mill said that bitcoin adoption will help Filipinos save millions of dollars every year on commissions for remittances in addition to giving access to financial services to those with no bank accounts. He is also expecting the Philippines economy to see a boost due to bitcoin use. Mill mentioned, “If all the remittance market were to switch to bitcoin as rails, it would increase the GDP of the entire country by 1%.”

Robert Kiyosaki Believes It Is Time to Grab Bitcoin Now

“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” Author Robert Kiyosaki, recently tweeted that a chain of U.S. government actions has led to a dying U.S. dollar. So he thinks that Bitcoin, gold, and silver are going to rise in price substantially over time. Kiyosaki also stated that Bitcoin has now become as relevant as ever.

Kiyosaki had said, in an interview two years ago, that he likes BTC’s computer-programmed certainty, which explains one of the reasons why Kiyosaki got into Bitcoin in the first place. He had also quoted Bitcoin halving, which takes place every four years and cuts miners’ rewards for solving computer problems in two. In addition to this, Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million coins, and it cannot be modified unless more than half of the miners agree to change that, but they never will, as per VC investor and Bitcoiner Anthony Pompliano.

Shiba Inu Whales Sell Whopping 1.2 Trillion SHIB Tokens In Just Two Days!

The wallet tracker, WhaleStats, has disclosed on its website that the largest Ethereum addresses that hold Shiba Inu meme coins have sold a significant amount of them – more than 1.2 trillion within the past two days. This makes up to $13,000,000 in fiat. Before this, these whales got away with another trillion SHIB.

More specifically, as per WhaleStats, the top 100 Ethereum wallets hold $127,185,426 worth of SHIB, which is $13 million less than the $140 million in SHIB they were holding on Saturday. The crypto equivalent of the sold assets is a net total of 1,207,056,638,811. During last week as well, a similar amount of SHIB – 1,115,879,828,326, was dumped on the market over the weekend.

Despite Crypto Crash – XRP Funds Inflows Spike 3x

Coinshares reported that even after the prevalent poor fund flows into crypto-related products, XRP has managed to showcase a three-fold increase in inflows. Although the week before last had seen a fund inflow of $100,000 into XRP-focused crypto products, this time around it had already touched $300,000.

In the past six weeks, XRP has come out as one of the few crypto products that strived to attract funds. The XRP project continues to stay afloat amidst the negative market dynamics and the ongoing SEC v. Ripple litigation. Regulators’ had plans to have XRP recognized as a security, however, the project still kept running.

Funds inflows into XRP-oriented products have also increased by $500,000 month over month. The Year over year data is even better, indicating a surplus of $8.5 million.

Crypto Market In Turmoil, Witnesses Massive Liquidations

The crypto market bloodbath is stronger than ever. All the assets are bleeding, and the total market cap has dipped below $1 trillion again. The ongoing market downturn can be attributed to several macroeconomic factors, such as higher-than-expected CPI data and heightened Fed rate hikes. The recently executed Ethereum Merge is also being blamed by many as a ‘buy the rumor, sell the news event.’

The prevailing market situation has resulted in nearly half a billion in liquidations for the leverage crypto traders over the last 24 hours. Coinglass’s data highlights that 130,087 traders were liquidated with a net liquidations value of $431.51 million. Notably, Bitcoin (BTC) leverage traders lost $44.5 million, followed by Ether (ETH) traders with $8.39 million in total liquidation.

Popular trader Clark believes that the market could again turn bullish towards the end of the year.

Samsung Invests In 13 Blockchain And Crypto Startups From 2021-22

Research firm Blockdata has put out its analysis regarding the investments in blockchain and crypto startups by top corporations between September 2021 and mid-June 2022.

The South Korean electronics giant Samsung was the most active as it invested in 13 companies. The individual share invested by each corporation couldn’t be defined. Overall, 40 companies invested approximately $6 billion into blockchain startups during this tenure.

Blockdata determined that 19 of the companies were receiving funding in some form of non-fungible token (NFT) solutions and services. Further, the funding gathered was from twelve marketplaces, and eleven gaming service providers.

Australian Senator Introduces New Draft Bill To Further Control Digital Asset Exchanges

Andrew Bragg, an Australian Liberal Senator, has proposed a new draft bill that aims at exhibiting greater control on digital asset exchanges, stablecoins, and China’s central bank digital currency, the e-Yuan. The draft bill titled ‘Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2022’, calls for the introduction of licenses for digital asset exchanges, digital asset custody services, and stablecoin issuers, along with the disclosure requirements for facilitators of the e-Yuan in Australia.

The draft bill consultation is open until Oct. 31, 2022, and is calling for “community feedback.” In addition, the Australian Labor government is working on “crypto asset reforms” in order to ‘improve the way Australia’s regulatory system manages crypto assets.’

The Fight For The Crown: Could Ethereum Replace Bitcoin?

The Ethereum Merge was a successful event but did not positively impact the price. Institutions choose to move to the sidelines and have a ‘Wait-And-See’ attitude towards it. With Ethereum’s improved scalability claims and new consensus mechanism, it may just replace Bitcoin to become the market favourite.

However, its regulatory uncertainty acts as an obstacle. U.S. SEC Chair Gary Gensler stated that the proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies may be viewed as securities; his comments caused a plunge in Ether’s price on Thursday.

The Ether price has doubled in value since the launch of the Beacon Chain in 2020. Prices can move totally based on retail interest, which is why nothing can be said regarding institutional interest.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices Continue To Dip, Dogecoin Makes It To The Top 10

Currently, Bitcoin is nearly down 73% from its peak, with no relief rally seeming to come soon. On the Bitstamp exchange, Bitcoin swept to an intraday low of $18,682 earlier today. The most recent drop followed the bulls’ failure to hold the key support at the $20,000 level on Sunday. The asset continues to trade in lockstep with traditional financial markets and is failing to act as a portfolio diversifier.

Ethereum, too, is trading downward and had hit the intraday low of $1,287 despite a successful merger event.  However, Dogecoin has managed to make a comeback to the top 10 after surpassing Polkadot.

TeamTNT Attempts To Hack Bitcoin’s Encryption: Should You Be Worried?

A recent report by Bleeping Computer discloses that TeamTNT, a notorious hacking group, has rolled over again, and it is now trying to ‘break’ Bitcoin. 

Reportedly, these hackers are hijacking servers and using their extended resources for running encryption solvers for BTC. Bitcoin makes use of the secp256k1 elliptic curve for its keys and signatures, and TeamTNT hacking group has been attempting to break the encryption with stolen resources. 

However, a major USP of the Bitcoin asset is that it has never been hacked, and it is possible that this attempt is also harmless. For now, it can be said that BTC is 100% safe and se

The Re-Surgence Of The NFTs: Sales and Prices Surge Post Merge 

Following the long-awaited upgrade of the Ethereum blockchain, Ether and the other digital assets have witnessed a dip. However, as per the crypto data tracker, DappRadar, NFTs seem to be on the rise again. The Merge also benefited the marketplaces that sell NFTs based on Ethereum.

Bored Ape Yacht Club, which is amongst the top NFT collections, recorded $1.3 million in sales on Thursday. CryptoPunks exhibited a trading volume rise of 56% to $1.4 million and OpenSea saw a trading volume increase of 77% to $10 million as of 4 p.m. New York time. Even Magic Eden witnessed its volume rising by 36% to $4.6 million.

ETHPoW Suffers Replay Attack, Sheds More Than 35%

On Sunday, a cybersecurity firm BlockSec alerted about an issue stating that the Ethereum proof-of-work blockchain faced a replay exploit when an attacker managed to extract an extra 200 ETHW tokens after replaying a message from the proof-of-stake chain on ETHPoW. The exploiter transferred 200 WETH through the Omni bridge of the Gnosis chain, then replayed the same message to get an extra 200 ETHW. To this, the ETHPoW blockchain developer team said that the attack exploited the bridge’s contract vulnerability, not their blockchain itself. The development team added that it has been attempting to reach Omni Bridge since Saturday in order to warn them of the risk. Omni Bridge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The token has fallen over 35% following the news of the exploit Sunday morning. 

Grayscale To Sell 3 Million PoW Tokens Due To Lack Of Liquidity

Greyscale investment, a digital asset manager, announced its massive plan to sell all 3.1 million Ethereum proof-of-work tokens which were received by Grayscale Ethereum Trust and Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund after Ethereum was updated to proof-of-stake from proof-of-work. 

The fund and the trust, both will transfer the token rights to Greyscale Investments, which will further sell them within 180 days. Profits will be allocated to all the shareholders. According to Greyscale, the lack of liquidity in the ETHPoW market is the reason behind this decision to sell. Because of the token’s incredible volatility, it is difficult to predict how much the firm will get out of the sale. 

Cardano Transactions Increase Massively Ahead Of The Vasil Hardfork Upgrade

According to Cardanoscan.io, Cardano achieved a new milestone of executing over 50,033,448 transactions. The number of transactions grew spectacularly after the announcement of the Vasil upgrade in June, which had been postponed at the time due to the need for further testing.

The Vasil hard fork is now scheduled to run on the mainnet this month on 22nd September and is expected to increase the volume of transactions. Vasil’s full capability will become available at the beginning of epoch 366 on the 27th of September. The top 7 exchanges by liquidity including Binance, Upbit, MEXC, Bitrue, AAX, WhiteBIT, and BKEX have announced their excitement and readiness for the event. 

R.Kiyosaki Predicts The Destruction Of The US Economy, Bitcoin To Increase In Importance

The US debt has grown to 100s of trillions. Bitcoin has recently become a backbone of the US economy as inflation hits and US debt is soaring, according to Robert Kiyosaki, who is the author of the bestselling book on financial literacy “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. He took to Twitter to tell the audience about his thoughts about Bitcoin, gold and silver and referred to BTC as a store of value. For silver and gold, he mentioned that the prices of these commodities are going to rise in the coming future as these are used in almost every industry. As per Kiyosaki, the real inflation is 16%  and the recent rise in the interest rates by FED “will destroy the economy”.  He further added that crypto will soon become more important, as the US market crashes. 

Adobe’s Figma Acquisition Might Boost Visual NFT Initiatives

The design software company, Adobe, has announced its acquisition of Figma. 

Figma is a web design application that Adobe is acquiring for $20 billion, with an intent to take on its biggest rival. Adobe aims at merging some of its existing features like photography, illustration, and video technology with Figma’s products.

David Wadhwami, President of Digital Media Business at Adobe, is not worried about the fact that this acquisition deal happened during the global market downturn and he perceives that Figma is one of the best companies to acquire at this point. The merger of the two companies might boost the game of NFT initiatives, something the firm has been trying out since 2021.

Coinbase Revenue To Increase Massively As Interests Rates Surge 

Earlier this week, JPMorgan analyst Ken Worthington wrote a client note saying that crypto exchange Coinbase Global (COIN) may manage to generate $1.2 billion of additional interest income-driven revenue in 2023 given the increased short-term interest rates.

As per estimates, Coinbase’s joint venture with USDC issuer Circle could be contributing approximately $700 million of incremental revenue. Additionally, Coinbase could earn interest income from customer fiat and its corporate cash balance, taking the potential total to $1.2 billion in added revenue next year. However, the bank exclaimed that a key risk for Coinbase gathering its interest income is the possibility of a reduced holding of USDC and fiat currency with the exchange.

Miners To Suffer Post The Merge, 90% May Go Bankrupt!

Ethereum blockchain’s Merge upgrade brought along a huge change for the (ETH) miners that were working to support the PoW mechanism. Some miners turned to a proof-of-work (PoW) fork of Ethereum so they could continue mining. 

One of the fork’s strongest advocates, Miner Chandler Guo, believes that only 10% of miners using PoW to mine ETHPOW (the token of the Ethereum Merge fork) or ETC (the token of Ethereum Classic) will be able to make it in the ETH Market. Not all miners have access to cheap electricity and around 90% of them may go bankrupt. Nevertheless, Guo has rated the introduction of the PoW fork a “mediocre” 5 on a scale of 10 and expects this to change with time with more miners getting on board.

Wallstreet Veteran Predict Bitcoin and Ethereum Are Deading Downwards

American stock market strategist and financial analyst Carter Worth has drawn his conclusions about Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). As per Carter, the top cryptos are “hovering ominously” at a breakdown juncture. Worth thinks that both of these cryptocurrencies will likely be falling down even more.

Earlier this month, technical analyst Scott Redler had predicted that the price of Bitcoin could end up dropping to as low as $10,000 if it fails to hold the $17,600 support level. Currently, Bitcoin’s market capitalization stands at $385.74 billion.

Number of Small Bitcoin Holders Hit ATH

The on-chain data suggest that investors who were previously on the sidelines are now seen jumping over the flagship cryptocurrency’s network as the number of Bitcoin ($BTC) addresses with small holdings has recently hit a new all-time high.

As per data of September 15, coming from Glassnode, the number of Bitcoin addresses holding at least 0.01 BTC, worth nearly $200, has surged up to a new high of 10.7 million. Popular analyst Ali Martinez also suggested that the number of new daily BTC addresses being created on Bitcoin is rising as there is a ‘spike in interest from sidelined investors’ who are now pulling up BTC below $20,000 per coin.

Shiba Inu Community Gears Up For Milan Fashion Week!

The Shiba Inu community is keenly awaiting the Milan Fashion Week 2022 (September 20th) as it is the official in-real-life (IRL) business partner. Sir John Richmond is going to launch and showcase his new collection – “SHIB x John Richmond” – and also put out some exciting news. 

This is a strategic partnership between the Shiba Inu Ecosystem and John Richmond to revolutionize the fashion industry, 

In the event, there is also talk about the exchange of 10,000 John Richmond SHIB NFTs. The collection will later be available in every John Richmond store worldwide.

On April 19th, John Richmond also put forward his desire via a tweet that he wants to buy a virtual land for his store using SHIB. 

Lead Developer Kusama Discusses SHIB’s Plans To Grow Organically

Recently, a pseudonymous SHIB lead developer, Shytoshi Kusama, has been highly confident about the future of Shiba Inu. The lead developer is sure that the crypto project will not lose its hype, adding that the team is never focused on false hype in the first place.

As per the developer Kusama, the team has been concentrating on building up useful products and platforms to help Shiba Inu grow organically. Most recently, Shiba Inu can be seen working on building up associations with top companies that have relevant experiences in different aspects of SHIB.

ApeCoin’s APE to witness Rising Selling Pressure with 25 million Tokens unlock on the way?

Over the weekend, 25 million APE tokens will be released to launch contributors. This will be representing nearly 8% of the circulating supply. This will expectedly be adding up to the selling pressure, as guesses are being made if the launch contributors will sell off their tokens once released.

The ’25 million tokens’ unlock is a part of a planned series of unlocks that would eventually lead to a final supply of 1 billion APE, up from the current 314 million. But despite the upcoming unlock, some analysts pointed out that ApeCoin staking – which would allow holders to borrow cryptocurrencies against their Bored Ape NFTs – is likely to act as a fundamental catalyst in the coming months.

Arthur Hayes Urges People To Watch The ETH Issuance Chart, Faces Backlash 

BitMEX’s ex-CEO Arthur Hayes believes that investors should keep a close eye on Ethereum’s Issuance Chart. Reports speculate that Ethereum may become deflationary post the Merge, with its issuance ranging between -0.5% to -4.5%.

A plunge in net daily issuance will increase the cryptocurrency’s scarcity, hence potentially boosting its price. However, Twitter users had contrasting views to Hayes’, arguing that the price chart is the only chart that actually matters. Previously, Hayes had predicted that the Ethereum price would be able to conquer the $3,500 level if the Merge ends up being a success.

Russia Eases Currency Restrictions, Demand For Hardware Crypto Wallets Falls

In the spring of 2022, many Russians resorted to having a cold storage device for their crypto assets, following the country’s decision to invade Ukraine. Various currency restrictions were imposed by the Central Bank of Russia. The hardware cryptocurrency wallets market saw an explosive demand after Moscow’s decision to carry forward a military intervention in neighbouring Ukraine.

However, after the Central Bank of Russia eased restrictions on cross-border currency transfer, the retailers selling those hardware cryptocurrency wallets in Russia have now overstocked. The sale of hardware wallets on the Ozon and Wildberries marketplaces dropped to half, i.e. below 8 million rubles (less than $135,000) in August, after reaching a record high of 16.5 million rubles in May (over $275,000).

$73.6 Million Added In Fresh Capital In Two Valkyrie Trusts

An alternative investment firm, Valkyrie, which had $1.2 billion in assets under management at the end of Q2, has now added $73.6 million in fresh capital to two of its crypto-focused trusts, according to amended filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

New SEC filings indicated additional sales for the investment firm’s Tron and Avalanche trusts. The older of the two funds was launched last year. However, the recent growth indicates that traditional finance has continued to flow into the crypto industry despite the current bearish market.

Merge Will Reduce Worldwide Electricity Consumption by 0.2%

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin believes that with the completion of the major upgrade to its software, the Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem will become a lot greener. In fact, the inventor of Ethereum has stressed the importance of the Merge upgrade, which involves the network’s transition from the Proof-of-Work (PoW) to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.

In his tweet of September 15, Buterin explained “The merge will reduce worldwide electricity consumption by 0.2%.” Buterin said this by directly quoting Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, who made the claim at a live stream of the event. Ethereum Foundation had also stated similar things on Sept. 15. The merge webpage mentioned, “The Merge reduced Ethereum’s energy consumption by ~99.95%.”

New Protocol to Accelerate Terra Classic Burn Rate by 3x

A new solution has been established in order to accelerate the burn rate of Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) tokens. Eris Protocol is liquid staking and auto-compounding protocol for LUNC, that was recently launched to burn three times more Luna Classic tokens at the same cost. 

With Eris Protocol, users can stake their LUNC and still be able to move the tokens without having to wait for the 21-day un bounding period. These liquid Luna Classic tokens are known as Amplified Luna (ampLUNC). The auto-compounding feature of the Eris Protocol encourages an increase in investors’ yearly yield.

Mike Novogratz Reacts to Ethereum Merge

The Ethereum Merge finally went live yesterday, marking the start of a new era for the second-largest blockchain. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz didn’t hold back his excitement about the successful implementation of the Ethereum Merge upgrade. Novogratz had some words of praise for Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain, following the Merge upgrade. He also stepped up to congratulate Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin on Twitter. Novogratz said that he is in “awe” after the blockchain’s successful transition to proof-of-stake. The cryptocurrency mogul believes that Ethereum’s big upgrade is a “testament” that a community can solve a giant problem.

Researcher Proposes Design To Transfer EthereumPoW (ETHW) Tokens to PoS Chain

An Ethereum (ETH) researcher, Marcello Bardus, proposed a design that would allow users to transfer value between the PoW and PoS versions of the post-Merge Ethereum. Bardus took to Twitter to share an eccentric technical design, i.e., a protocol designed for moving EthereumPoW (ETHW) coins to proof-of-stake Ethereum.

As two PoW and PoS versions of Ethereum (ETH) cannot interact with each other directly, a sender needs to verify that he/she locked PoWETH on PoW to transfer any value between them. Even to withdraw PoWETH to PoW Ethereum, the sender needs a proof-of-burn for the amount of the transfer. All these changes can be reflected and verified by state proofs.

Miners Continue On The ETH Network Despite The PoS Shift

Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum co-founder, displayed his excitement while discussing the behavior of cryptocurrency miners on the network as the hashrate of the Ethereum network did not evaporate ahead of the Merge.

Previously, Buterin was arguing against 50%, but at the same time, he expected at least a 5% or 10% decrease in the mining power on the network. In cases of such a rapid drop of the hash rate, blockchains can tune up the difficulty even though it takes some time. The remaining miners would receive most of the block rewards, which are supposed to make their mining operations slightly more profitable until the last block of the old version of the network is mined.

Charles Hoskinson Clears The Public Misconceptions About The PoS Network

The majority of crypto users still do not understand how PoS and PoW work. 

Charles Hoskinson, CEO of Input Output Global Inc., took to Twitter to comment about his concerns regarding Ethereum’s PoS problems referencing an article recently shared by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey. The article was about how Bitcoiners view the proof-of-stake algorithm. Hoskinson went ahead and cleared the false information and explained how proof of stake works. He also expressed his worry about Cardano which could potentially attack Ethereum. Dogecoin co-founder, Billy Markus, decided to reassure him about that, asking him not to worry.

Cryptic Messages Left On PoW and PoS Block After The Ethereum merge

After the successful completion of the Ethereum Merge on September 15 at 06:42:42 UTC at block height 15537394, the last proof-of-work (PoW) and first proof-of-stake (PoS) blocks dropped secret messages for all by VanityBlocks and HashKey Capital.

The last PoW block transaction, done by VanityBlocks, contained a message by American ethnobotanist and mystic Terence McKenna. 

“Make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick.”

On the first PoS block, HashKey Capital left the following message:

“Powering the Next Wave of Blockchain Innovation”.

Merge is Completed ! Will Ethereum Work On Gas Fees Reduction Now?

The most awaited Ethereum Merger was finally accomplished which is expected to enhance the scalability with a secure environment. The chain has become greener now as energy consumption has dropped more than 99%. On the other hand, the issuance of ETH tokens has also slashed heavily soon after the Beacon chain merger with the Ethereum Mainnet. However, the Ethereum gas fees remained less impacted by the event. As previously speculated by many, the gas fees could remain unaltered as the transition from PoW to PoS does not aim to address the high gas fee issue but may enhance the scalability of the platform.

Ethereum’s First NFT Mint At A Cost Of $60k Fees After The Merge

September 15, the much-awaited day in the crypto space witnessed the Ethereum network transform from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). This marked a sense of pleasure among ETH holders. However, the emotion took a turn when a user paid 36 ETH which is worth $60k to mint the first NFT On the Ethereum network after ETH Merge. The user decided to rejoice in the proof-of-stake transition by minting the NFT that is named The Transition with a block height of 15537394 and a panda face over it. It’s important to note that the Merge has nothing to do with the raising gas fees on the Ethereum network

Vitalik Buterin Expresses His Excitement About The Ethereum Merge

As the countdown to the final moments of the big Ethereum (ETH) Merge began, co-founder Vitalik Buterin joined a live stream hosted by the Ethereum Foundation to share his final thoughts. He expresses his gratitude and happiness by saying that he is “excited about exiting from the proof-of-work era.” The co-founder said that the historic transition of the network from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) has been on the agenda for many years. Buterin added that the high costs and the massive amount of energy usage are among the biggest motivations for the switch. The Merge is expected to drastically reduce energy consumption by 99.95%, making ETH a sustainable platform.