ICYMI - Last week in crypto: The Merge is Merging smoothly, Do Kwon is Done and Sports Metaverse secures $200M
Ethereum's Proof of stake proves without mistake
For Ethereum and the cryptocurrency industry as a whole, this week has been historic. The long-awaited Merge has finally gone live, ushering in a new era in which users can now access a network that is significantly faster, less expensive, and more scalable. Let's find out more about the major events that rocked the Web3 space last week.
The Ethereum Merge is Live!!!
The Ethereum Merge has officially gone live, completing the network's transition to proof-of-stake (PoS).
The long-awaited Merge, which merged the Beacon Chain's consensus layer and the Ethereum mainnet execution layer at the Terminal Total Difficulty of 58,750,000,000,000,000,000,000, occurred on September 15 at 06:42:42 UTC at block 15,537,393. As a result, the network will no longer rely on a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism.
Following the Merge, hourly metrics for Ether (ETH) saw a small boost; the cryptocurrency is currently trading at around $1,635, per TradingView data.
According to the Ethereum Foundation, the Merge will increase the energy efficiency of the Ethereum network by 99.95% and pave the way for sharding and other potential scaling solutions in the future.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin celebrated the Merge with a tweet moments after the historical transition happened:
“And we finalized!
Happy merge all. This is a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem. Everyone who helped make the merge happen should feel very proud today.”, the Ethereum developer said in an ecstatic tone in the tweet.
The Ethereum Foundation has worked diligently for many years in order to bring about The Merge.
Businesses that issue exchange-traded products (ETPs) based on Ethereum have been very busy making their own modifications regarding the Merge. In case there is significant support for a PoW fork after the Merge, the company has prepared a "forked version" of its ETH-based ETP, according to Bradley Duke, CEO of the European cryptocurrency ETP issuer ETC Group.
Duke continued, "We feel the free market will decide what should live and what should not if enough people get behind a fork for whatever reason.”
The "Surge," "Verge," "Purge," and "Splurge" are the last steps on the Ethereum technical roadmap following the success of the "Merge".
The Surge will increase scalability for rollups through sharding; the Verge will achieve statelessness through Verkle trees; the Purge will eliminate historical data and technical debt; and the Splurge will involve a number of small miscellaneous upgrades.
Before merge day…
Starbucks announces NFT Experience for Coffee Members
Last Monday, Starbucks announced that it would provide its U.S. customers the option to acquire non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, in the form of digital collectible stamps. Each "Starbucks Odyssey'' collectible digital stamp will have its ownership verified on the blockchain and come with a point value based on its scarcity. Members' points will rise as more stamps are gathered, granting them access to more exclusive activities.
Starbucks claims that benefits include everything from access to rare items to invitations to special events at Starbucks Reserve Roasteries and perhaps even excursions to the Starbucks Hacienda Alsacia coffee farm in Costa Rica.
By participating in entertaining challenges or playing engaging coffee-themed games, members can also earn NFTs.
On Starbucks Odyssey, which will premiere later this year, users can earn NFTs by participating in challenging games with a coffee theme or by playing interactive coffee-themed games. Without connecting their wallets or using any cryptocurrency, users can also buy NFTs on the integrated marketplace.
Each and every stamp will have iconic Starbucks artwork that was jointly created by Starbucks partners and outside artists. The creators' causes will receive a share of the sales revenue from limited-edition stamps. The actual NFTs are created on Polygon's proof-of-stake blockchain. Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Starbucks, Brady Brewer, commented on the development saying:
"We are entering the Web3 space differently than any other brand while deepening our members' connection to Starbucks. Our vision is to create a place where our digital community can come together over coffee, engage in immersive experiences, and celebrate the heritage and future of Starbucks."
On merge day…
South Korean Authorities revokes Do Kwon’s Passport, issues Arrest Warrant.
As efforts to capture the LUNA founder intensify, South Korean authorities reportedly intend to revoke the passports of Terra leader Do Kwon and several other staff members.
Last Wednesday, it was revealed that Do Kwon and five other people, who were responsible for the Terra blockchain and its unsuccessful coins, UST and LUNA, had been issued arrest warrants.
The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Kwon, is reportedly trying to have the passports of five of the six Terraform Labs employees revoked.
The Financial and Securities Crime Unit of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor's Office is looking into Terra, its executives, and perhaps even its employees. According to reports, the prosecutor requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs take immediate action.
One official from the ministry said: “Among the six arrest warrants issued, applications for invalidation of passports have been received for five persons excluding foreigners.”
Along with Kwon, Mo Han, the financial manager at Terraform Labs, is listed as a target according to the report.
Nicholas Platias, a founding member of Terraform Labs and a Greek citizen, appears to be the only person named in a warrant on Wednesday who is not subject to the passport cancellation. However, it's still unclear where he is right now.
According to reports from Thursday, the suspects have fled South Korea for Singapore. The Terra employees' passports, however, will still be valid for another month. As a result, prosecutors will probably exert pressure on the subjects to leave and return to South Korea as soon as possible.
The individuals will receive a notice of return directly from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Those notices will be published on the website if they are not received.
Despite the arrest warrant, Singapore does not have an extradition agreement with South Korea, so it is not required by law to hand over the wanted individuals. In the event that they do not return on their own accord, it is unknown what legal action, if any, South Korean prosecutors will take.
The latest step toward holding Terra executives accountable for the project's failure continues to show promise. The blockchain project initially failed in May as a result of the sharp decline in the value of the project's associated crypto assets. Nevertheless, efforts to resurrect the project continue.
Celsius bankruptcy judge approves probe by independent examiner
The motion to appoint an impartial examiner to look into various aspects of Celsius' business has been approved by the federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy case for cryptocurrency lender Celsius.
According to a Wednesday order from the Southern District of New York United States Bankruptcy Court, the examiner's investigation will focus on Celsius' digital assets, tax payment practices, and current mining operations in response to calls for greater transparency.
The examiner will also investigate the reasons behind the change in account offerings that occurred in April, which led to some customers being transferred from the Earn Program to Custody Services and others being transferred to a "Withhold Account."
Prior to this, the U.S. Trustee had made mention of the lack of transparency surrounding these accounts, with customers being unaware of who holds which accounts and for what reasons. Given that Celsius had asked the court to return assets to its "custody clients," but not to its "earn-and-borrow" clients, this may be significant.
The United States Trustee overseeing Celsius' bankruptcy proceedings initially filed a motion to appoint an examiner on August 18 citing "significant transparency issues" surrounding Celsius' business operations.
However, BnkToTheFuture CEO Simon Dixon claimed that in order to prevent Celsius from running out of money since the motion was first filed, the examiner's investigation had been scaled back.
He also mentioned that the platform's CEO, Alex Mashinsky of Celsius Network, would have to disclose information regarding his withdrawals before the hiatus.
This order also stated that if it were deemed necessary, the investigation's scope could be expanded with Celsius and the official committee of unsecured creditors' consent.
Although Celsius will have a reason to refuse a request, the courts would then make their decision. Celsius will be required to produce all documents the examiner "reasonably deems relevant to perform the Investigation."
After the examiner's identity has been authorized, they have seven business days to create a work schedule and budget.
The examiner will then have 60 days to complete their investigation after the examiner receives approval from the court, which will happen after seven days.
“Celsius [@CelsiusUcc] legal council opposed to Trustee takeover as they think it may lead to liquidation which is undesirable. Examiner preferred. US Trustee has 40 parties ready to interview for examiners next week”, Simon Dixon reported in another tweet.
After the merge…
Binance partners with Ukrainian supermarket chain to accept crypto via Binance Pay Wallet.
In a statement on Friday, Binance announced its partnership with Ukrainian supermarket chain VARUS and will now accept cryptocurrency payments through its Binance Pay Wallet for grocery purchases.
The supermarket is one of the biggest businesses in Ukraine, operating over 111 stores across 28 different cities. In nine Ukrainian cities—Kyiv, Dnipro, Kamianske, Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia, Brovary, Nikopol, Vyshhorod, and Pavlograd—the company said this partnership will give its customers access to instant cryptocurrency payments and quick delivery.
Customers who order anything from the VARUS Delivery program worth more than UAH 500 and pay with Binance Pay will receive UAH 100 as part of the companies' "reward fund promotion," according to the announcement.
Whitepay, a Ukrainian POS and cryptocurrency payments company, launched a new program a month ago. This new program allowed Ukrainians to buy electronics and other products using cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum founder Vitalik, who was present at this year's Kyiv Tech Summit, said that Ukraine "could well become the next Web3 hub" from September 6 through September 9. He added:
“A country can become a Web3 hub if its citizens are actively interested in this technology and decide to make a major contribution to its development,” Buterin added. “Ukraine has both the capabilities and the determination to do this.”
Sports Metaverse company secures $200 million funding
Gem Global Yield committed $200 million to the sports metaverse startup LootMogul, giving it a share subscription facility of up to $200 million for a 36-month period after an equity exchange listing.
The funding is anticipated to accelerate the growth of LootMogul's metaverse for sports games, according to the company. This will include "building meta (virtual) sports cities around the world with real-world benefits, brands, & professional athletes on a true cross metaverse & blockchain (multichain) platform on multiple devices such as Oculus, HoloLens, Web, Mobile & Console," the company said in a statement.
LootMogul will be able to withdraw money from the deal by giving GEM equity shares without having to meet a minimum drawdown requirement, and the startup will be able to decide when and how much money will be released.
This comes after a partnership with the open-source blockchain DigitalBits was announced in August for the development of the MOGUL tokens, a native token for its gaming ecosystem. The token will be added to the decentralized exchange NicoSwap's XDB/MOGUL liquidity pool.
GEM, which has 3.4 billion in assets, has provided funding for other cryptocurrency startups. Through the sale of the H20N token in June, the group invested $300 million in the CeDeFi exchange Unizen and $150 million in the South African company H20 Securities.
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