Most of us have one burning question right now — what will Ethereum be like after The Merge? Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis suggests that the price of Ether (ETH) could decouple from other crypto assets post-Merge, with staking yields potentially driving strong institutional adoption. We are waiting with bated breath.
Markets Spotlight
Note: Market prices captured in US$ at the time of reading. Explore more on Crypto.com/Price.
News Snaps
Cardano’s Vasil hard fork date announced. Cointelegraph reports that Cardano has set 22 September as the date for its Vasil hard fork. This will be the fifth major upgrade for the blockchain that should bring greater scalability and lower fees. With the news of the hard fork, Cardano has now surpassed XRP to become the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
UK to welcome new crypto-friendly PM. Liz Truss recently became the head of the Conservative Party in the UK. Two recent statements by Truss could indicate what she has in store for crypto regulations: “We should welcome cryptocurrencies in a way that doesn’t constrain their potential” and “create great opportunities in areas such as blockchain.” Visit CoinDesk for the full story.
Binance ditches USDC, USDP, and TUSD. CoinDesk reports that Binance announced that it will discontinue support for these three stablecoins. Any account holding these tokens after 29 September will have them all converted into BUSD at a 1:1 ratio.
Australian Treasury polls the public on crypto. In a recent press release, the Australian Treasury asked the public whether to exclude crypto assets from consideration as a foreign currency for tax purposes. The public has been given 25 days to provide their thoughts on the matter to the treasury. Check out Cointelegraph for more.
Renault teams up with Sandbox. Automotive giant Renault has partnered with Sandbox to join the Metaverse. Renault believes this partnership could enhance the Sandbox experience and allow the company to reach a wider audience. Check out Bitcoin.com for more details.
What’s Ahead
The Ethereum Merge is coming. The Ethereum Merge is just around the corner, slated to happen between 13-15 September. A highly anticipated event in the crypto space, The Merge will change Ethereum from a Proof of Work (PoW) system to a Proof of Stake (PoS) system.
NFT Spotlight
Enter Seven Lions’ first-ever NFT offering — aptly titled “Worlds”: an ethereal space of melodic bass, where a rich landscape of fictional narratives unfolds in sound, visuals, and artwork inspired by his music that re-inspired the art that re-inspired the music.
The fact that people can sell their own art, put their own price on it, and watch it get bid on, and things like that, is pretty special.
Seven Lions, on the value of NFTs for artists
Read Crypto.com’s full interview with Seven Lions or venture into his worlds of Mythos.
Product Picks
Cronos ID on DeFi Wallet
Own a unique Cronos ID username that replaces long and unreadable addresses in the DeFi Wallet’s dApp browser. This allows you to send and receive on-chain information with your desired name through the decentralised identity and communication layer built on Cronos.
New Features on Crypto.com Tax
Crypto.com Tax supports transactions on Cronos, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon, in addition to Ethereum (ETH, ERC-20) and Bitcoin. In addition, Custom Tokens allows you to import a transaction involving any token that Crypto.com Tax does not currently support at any step of the way, making tax calculations quicker and easier as you can import transactions from multiple blockchains. See here for more details.
Crypto Level Up
Layer-2 Scaling Solutions
As Layer-1 blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum grow, they face scalability challenges, becoming slow and expensive to use. Fortunately, Layer-2 offers solutions.
In a nutshell. Layer-2 is the network that sits on top of a Layer-1 blockchain to improve its speed and efficiency.
Advantages. Layer-2 processes transactions off the mainnet, which helps to reduce gas fees while increasing transaction rates per second.
Types. From state channels to zero-knowledge and optimistic rollups, there are different types of Layer-2 solutions, each with unique pros and cons.
Learn more about Layer-2 Scaling Solutions
Crypto IRL
Have we mentioned how well the Crypto.com Ruby Steel Visa Card matches with a stunning sunset? We hope you had fun sailing, @michaelrabone.
Featured Merchant
Edoardo Lissoni, Director & Operations Manager of Mondo Nougat, takes us into his world of nougat and crypto.
How can customers pay for their nougat?
Customers can pay with traditional payment methods, such as credit cards and PayPal, or with cryptocurrency through Crypto.com. We believe cryptocurrencies are a great way to move towards a truly global currency. Having our online shop accepting crypto will help us reach a broader customer base worldwide.
How do you keep transaction and gas fees low on small purchases with crypto?
Transaction and gas fees can quickly add up to have a big impact on the final price of a product. The payments we have received through Crypto.com have incurred lower fees than those on regular credit cards. The more cryptocurrency payments we receive, the lower transaction fees we pay. These savings can then be passed on to the customers, making our products more affordable. It’s a win-win situation for us.
Do tell us — what’s the most popular nougat flavour in the world?
Our Mondo Nougat Vanilla Soft, of course! Jokes aside, nougats have strong connections with the geographical areas where they are produced, like Italy, France, Spain, and Turkey. Different regions have different nougat preferences in terms of flavour and consistency. For example, the most traditional nougat in Italy is the crunchy kind with vanilla and almonds. The soft type of nougats with pistachios and rosewater are more popular in Turkey.
Do you buy daily goods like groceries or nougat with crypto? Would you like to be able to do it more widely?
I don’t buy daily goods with crypto very often, as there aren’t many sellers that offer the opportunity to pay with crypto. That is one of the reasons why we decided to accept cryptocurrency on our website. We wanted to show that you can use crypto to buy small, everyday products and not just use crypto assets as trading tokens. We would love to see cryptocurrency be provided as a payment option more often for these kinds of small purchases.
Decoder
Bull Market — A bull market is a market in which the average prices of assets are rising and predicted to continue to do so in the near future. Investors use this term to describe a period with an uptrending price trajectory.
In traditional financial markets, this increase in asset prices is supported by favourable macroeconomic conditions, high employment levels, and heightened optimism.
A bull market is also referred to as the markup phase, describing an extended period of investors purchasing assets.
This purchasing action often drives a positive feedback loop and further extends the bull run as demand continues to outpace supply. This is especially true for cryptocurrencies, as the prices of many assets are largely driven by market sentiment.
This Week in Crypto History
El Salvador adopts Bitcoin as legal tender. This time last year, El Salvador made history by becoming the first country that adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, manifesting its decision with a purchase of 200 Bitcoin.
Off the heels of this historical moment, millions of crypto community members vowed to each convert US$30 dollars of their local fiat currency to Bitcoin in celebration.
That’s it for this week’s Snapshot. Want more? Head over to our Insta feed for bite-sized crypto lessons.
