This week in Coins: Bitcoin and Ethereum see continued growth as merger looms

This week in coins. Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt

Market wide last week positive price action sustained this week as leading cryptocurrencies continued to post significant gains.

Bitcoinat the time of this writing, had increased its market value by 8.5% to sell for $24,214, and ether Fans witnessed an even bigger rally as their favorite coin exploded 12.5% ​​to $1,714.

Much of the excitement surrounding Ethereum stems from the fact that the network is lay the foundation for a major overhaul – aka a merge – when Ethereum will reduce its energy consumption by 99.95% by moving from a proof-of-work blockchain to a proof-of-stake model. A final testnet deployment called Goerli is expected to take place beginning of August before the network is ready for full transition.

As Ethereum prepares for the big changes, Ethereum Classic is also exploding. ETC is based on Ethereum’s original ledger, which includes an infamous $55 million DAO hack that was deleted from Ethereum by vote. The coin is up 52% ​​this week to $40.

Ethereum Classic rally comes after crypto mining pool Antpool announced a 10 million dollar investment to support projects built on top of Ethereum Classic, which will remain a proof-of-work blockchain after the merger.

Other notable performances this week among the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap include Cardano (up 11% to $0.53), Polkadot (up 20% to $8.64), Polygon (up 14% to $0.94). ) and Uniswap (up 30). % to $8.73).

In the news

On Monday, the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla announced that it was holding $222 million in digital assets In late June, in the company’s Q2 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. As early as February 2021, the company Invested $1.5 billion in bitcoin. Last week it was announced that the company had sold 75% of its BTC, valued at approximately $936 million. CEO Elon Musk said the sale was prompted by uncertainty over when China would lift COVID restrictions. Tesla currently has a factory in Shanghai.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is Reinforcement of its technology team in preparation for a potential role as lead crypto regulator. Nothing is set in stone but a non-partisan house design called the Responsible Financial Innovation ActCo-sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), if passed, would give the CFTC the reins for “fungible non-securities digital assets.”

A bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Patrick Toomey (R-PA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) was named on Tuesday Cryptocurrency Tax Equity Actwould exempt the tax return for crypto transactions of less than $50 or transactions where a person earns less than $50.

Over in Europe, the head of the European Banking Authority, José Manuel Campa, said in an interview with the on Wednesday financial times that it won’t be until at least 2025 before regulators know exactly which ones cryptocurrencies he is assigned the supervision.

One of the main difficulties the EBA is facing, Campa said, is a shortage of crypto experts due to “high social demand.” He ruled out the possibility of baiting them with lucrative salaries, saying it was “out of the realm of possible talks” between the EBA and the European Commission.

The US Federal Reserve announced on the same day another rate hike of 75 basis points aimed at containment rampant inflation.

Last month, the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 0.75% in response to May inflation readings, the steepest hike since 1994. Crypto Prices crashed badly this week as investors dumped riskier assets, although this fresh hike appears to have had a negative impact on bitcoin: an hour after the announcement, bitcoin was up 3% while Ethereum was down 5%.

After all, the industry doesn’t seem to be quite over the crypto winter yet. The Singapore exchange Zipmex changes on Wednesday filed for bankruptcy protection against claims by creditors. The news came just a week after the exchange announced it pause payouts.

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