COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (07/09/22) Here are some of today’s m | Coin Bureau Insider
COIN BUREAU NEWSFLASH! – (07/09/22)
Here are some of today’s most important headlines:
Ethereum Devs Dismiss Early Hiccups as Bellatrix Upgrade Kicks Off the Merge
On Tuesday, Ethereum developers successfully completed the Bellatrix Upgrade at epoch 144896 on the Beacon Chain. The Bellatrix upgrade initiates the merge on the beacon chain’s backend, the consensus layer.
However, soon after the upgrade, the network began seeing a significant increase in the number of ‘missed blocks’. To be precise, the network saw a 1700% increase in the frequency of missed blocks, from a 0.5% rate of ‘missed blocks’ pre-upgrade to more than 9% of all blocks experiencing the issue post-upgrade.
According to Per Van Der Wijden, this is most likely due to validators dropping offline during the hard fork. He estimates that around 5% of the nodes lacked updated software and 4% of nodes were partially updated but not connected to an execution layer.
However, developers have dismissed these hiccups as the numbers were not enough to impact the timeline of the merge next week, they state the issue will be resolved as more validators update their client software.
https://decrypt.co/109109/ethereum-devs-early-hiccups-bellatrix-merge
Swiss Crypto ETP Giant 21.co Raises $25M in Funding, Pushing Valuation to $2B
21.co, the newly-formed Switzerland-based parent company of crypto investing firm 21Shares, has raised $25 million in a funding round at a valuation of $2 billion. The funding round was led by Marshall Wace and saw participation from Collab+Currency, Quiet Ventures, ETFS Capital and Valor Equity Partners.
According to 21.co founder Hany Rashwan, the parent company is designed to unite 21Shares with third-party token provider Amun and other upcoming crypto projects aiming to build bridges into the crypto world. The proceeds from the funding round will reportedly be used to expand its product line and move into new regions like the Middle East.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rosemariemiller/2022/09/07/21co-swiss-crypto-etp-giant-with-cathie-wood-links-claims-2-billion-value-after-funding/
Three Arrows Capital Withdraws $45M from Curve and Convex Finance
On-chain data shows that a wallet belonging to Three Arrows Capital (3AC) has reclaimed $45 million in deposits that were previously staked on the Curve and Convex Finance decentralised exchanges.
The data shows that the wallet withdrew 20,945 staked ether (stETH) from Curve Finance and 2,421 wrapped ether (wETH), 202.7 wrapped bitcoin (wBTC) and 4,051,367 USDT stablecoins from Convex Finance. While the intention behind the withdrawals remain unclear, many speculate that the firm may be looking to liquidate its holdings to pay off creditors.
https://www.theblock.co/post/168029/3ac-withdraws-45-million-in-staked-ether-from-curve-and-convex
Hive Blockchain Explores Other GPU Mineable Coins Ahead of The Merge
With the ‘Merge’ scheduled for next week, crypto miner Hive blockchain is looking into other coins that can be mined with graphics processing units (GPU) that are used to mine Ethereum.
Hive has reportedly begun beta-testing the various GPU-mineable coins this week and is specifically implementing a strategy to optimise its Ethereum mining capacity, which amounts to 6.5 terahashes per second.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/hive-blockchain-explores-new-mineable-coins-ahead-of-ethereum-merge
Circle CEO Says Binance Conversions Will Lead to More USDC Flowing into The Exchange
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire states that Binance’s decision to merge stablecoin dollar books is a good thing for the USDC stablecoin. He believes that the move is “good for liquidity and market depth” and will “lead to a gradual net share shift from USDT to BUSD and USDC.”
The move has also been met positively by users of the exchange as it allows them to use their USDC deposits seamlessly on the exchange. This is especially true considering that before the change, users had to first convert USDC to BUSD or USDT and then use it to trade leveraged products.
