The Rundown Powered By Arcane Research
• Bitcoin has seen a strong recovery of 8% over the last seven days, outperforming the rest of the crypto market and regaining some of its market dominance as we approach the long-awaited Ethereum merge. (Learn more)
• As the Ethereum merge approaches, the proof of work-based Ethereum hard fork seems to be losing interest while Ethereum Classic maintains its strength. (Learn more)
• ETF traders are unwinding short exposure in BTC ETFs, eyeing potential upside, leading CME basis to recover. (Learn more)
• MicroStrategy’s everlasting quest to grow its BTC treasuries continues as the company seeks to issue class A stocks to purchase $500m worth of BTC. (Learn more)
• CME’s period in backwardation ended last week, driven by ETF traders reducing their downside exposure in anticipation of potential upside in BTC. (Learn more)
• The soon-to-be-obsolete ETH miners are looking for alternative cryptocurrencies to mine. One of these is ETC, whose hashrate has more than doubled since July. (Learn more)
A Deep Bite
What the Ethereum Merge Means for Ordinary Users—And What It Doesn’t
The Ethereum merge is here. The long-awaited upgrade to the second biggest cryptocurrency by market cap is expected to take place tonight, based on current estimates.
So, what does that mean for you, the ordinary user or investor? Whether you’re holding your life savings in the asset or just 0.01 ETH, the network’s move from a proof-of-work blockchain to a proof-of-stake one will make things different. But what exactly? More here
Weekly Bites
Ethereum Successfully Executes Highly-Anticipated Merge Event, Ushering in Proof-of-Stake Era
At 2:45 am EST, the Ethereum network successfully began its transition—with no hiccups—from proof of work to proof of stake, a historic feat anticipated by the crypto community for over five years. The upgrade has forever changed both how ETH is created and how transactions on the Ethereum network are validated. More here
Monitoring the Merge: What a Successful Ethereum Upgrade Will Look Like
How to track the status of Ethereum’s shift to proof-of-stake with a few easy-to-use tools. The update, which will see the second-largest blockchain network ditch its power-hungry miners once and for all is, is already a fact. Let us walk you through how we’ll be able to tell whether the upgrade was a success. More here
White House Calls for Crypto Mining Standards to Minimize Environmental Impact
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy called for the U.S. to conduct further research on the energy impact of crypto mining in order to set standards for the industry. More here
User paid $60K Fees to Mint First NFT on Ethereum after Merge
September 15, the day of ‘Ethereum Merge’ registered a reason for rejoice for every crypto enthusiast, but the celebration took a grand turn when someone paid $60k fees to mint first NFT on Ethereum after Merge. More here
South Korea Issues Arrest Warrant for Terra CEO Do Kwon: Report
South Korean prosecutors are now formally seeking the arrest of Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon for allegedly violating securities laws. Arrest warrants for Do Kwon and other key Terra employees will be sent to the Interpol Red Notice system. Kwon is believed to be residing in Singapore but could face extradition to South Korea. More here
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Hits ATH; Are Ethereum Miners shifting to Bitcoin Ahead Of The Merge?
As the name implies, bitcoin mining difficulty refers to the degree of difficulty involved in discovering new bitcoin blocks through mining. The bitcoin mining process is central to the security and validity of the entire bitcoin network. At its core, mining is discovering new blocks, verifying transactions and adding them to the Bitcoin blockchain. More here
Big update for IOTA: Smart contracts start on the Shimmer testnet
The Stardust release of IOTA smart contracts implements “gas, gas budget, and gas fees universally and consistently” thus, the same gas fee payments happen for similar kinds of execution. The latest version of smart contracts makes the EVM chain interwoven with the ISC chain. More here
On Eve of The Merge Skeptics and Supporters Gird for Raft of Changes
The moment has finally arrived. Ethereum is poised to execute the most historic upgrade in its eight-year history. And the DeFi community is giddy with anticipation that the shift to Proof-of-Stake consensus will revitalize the blockchain network’s usefulness and value, will reduce ETH issuance and impact staking yields. More here
Doodles Domination: How a 1-year-old NFT project turned into the next big thing
Doodles’ brightly colored cartoons made it one of the top NFT projects today. Here’s how the team is scaling to become a global entertainment powerhouse. More here
Tweet Of The Week
And we finalized!
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 15, 2022
Happy merge all. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. Everyone who helped make the merge happen should feel very proud today.
