Ethereum’s Ropsten Ready for Merge

Crypto Market Week in Review (03 June 2022)

Markets

As usual, crypto traders didn’t get much sleep this week. In the latest turn of events, the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped from an 8-week losing streak to eventually finish in the green. With its huge correlation with Bitcoin, all attention has been on the cryptocurrency market leader to go on a short uptrend.

One major thing to point out from the BTC is that the chart of active addresses and entities mirrors those of past bear markets, albeit in greater magnitude. We might see upward movements in the coming months if history repeats itself. There have also been record-level purchases of Bitcoin amongst whales. A Glassnode data revealed that the number of Bitcoin holders with over 10,000 BTC has risen to its highest level in 16 months.

In two days, Cardano saw its price rise by 45% before rebounding to a little over 20%. Ethereum has been pinned to the sub $2,000 price. Its attempt to break the three-week-long descending channel could see the crypto asset eventually retest the $1700 mark.

Despite FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried pouring $650 million into American brokerage Robinhood, venture capitalists’ crypto investments dropped by 38% in May.

Fed Money Printer Goes into Reverse: What Does It Mean for Crypto?

In a bid to strengthen its resolve against inflation, the Fed has started trimming its $9 trillion balance sheet.

The term, known as quantitative tightening, reduces the money supply in an economy. The last time the US had a quantitative tightening was five years ago (2017), but not of this magnitude. The Fed’s balance sheet doubled from the start of 2020 to May 2022, and most of it was to cushion the effect of the coronavirus pandemic that hit in 2020.

This time, the Fed plans to trim its balance sheet by almost $7.6 trillion by December 2023, and it will undergo a $47.5 billion monthly reduction for three months, starting June 2022. From August, they will double the reduction to $95 billion per month till the end of 2023.

The money crunch will undoubtedly affect all markets, but many crypto personalities claim it will not be as hard as many presume. Nigel Green, the CEO of the Financial advisory firm deVere Group, explained that the crypto market has already priced it in, and apart from a knee-jerk reaction, the market will be fine.

However, the CEO of JP Morgan, Dimon, explained that the effects of an inflated balance sheet would hit like a hurricane, and there is almost nothing the Fed can do to handle the situation.

Either way, we seem to be braced for turbulent times.

Web 3 Infrastructural Provider, InfStones, Is Now worth $100 Million after the Latest Funding Round

InfStones, a blockchain infrastructure provider, has increased its total funding to $100 million after the recent $66 million investment round by GGV and SoftBank.

The purpose of the new capital is to help the blockchain infrastructure provider: enter new markets, improve its infrastructure solution, and onboard more competent members. About three months ago, InfStones completed its first-ever seed round and raised $33 million.

Its latest seed round comes when blockchain infrastructure projects are garnering attention. Its major competitors, Blockdaemon and Alchemy, have raised $207 million and $200 million respectively this year, and both are valued as billion-dollar blockchain infrastructure companies.

InfStones provides a foundation for Web3 protocols by using an Amazon API and node management platform to assist developers: run validator nodes, build multi-chain Dapps, and have access to protocol consensus and staking benefits.

The Infstones infrastructure provider has been profitable for four years and has attracted other names like INCE Capital and A&T Fund to take part in its last funding round.

South Korea to Launch Digital Assets Committee in Response to Terra Implosion

Reports from Asia suggest that the South Korean government is working on a new committee to oversee the activity of crypto exchanges and digital assets in the country.

The committee, called the Digital Assets committee, is just a revamped version of the already-existing Special Committee on Virtual Assets. This regulatory body was created quickly after the Terra ecosystem crashed. The DAC aims to recommend policies for token listings, make ICO schedules, and improve the strategies for enforcing investors’ protection.

The establishment of the DAC proves the new South Korean president’s interest in the nation’s financial activities. The committee will begin operation after the Financial Services Commission is launched in the coming weeks.

Ethereum’s Ropsten Test Network Ready for Merge ‘Dress Rehearsal’

Ethereum 2.0 is believed to be around the corner, and optimism about the project suggests it will launch in August. Before it does, one of its popular test networks, Ropsten, will mirror its transition to the proof-of-work network on June 8th.

Tim Beiko, one of Ethereum’s developers, explained on his Twitter account that the Ropsten test merger is a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the main merger.

The Ropsten is the oldest Ethereum proof-of-work testnet, and a May 30 Tweet from Beiko simplified the technical aspect of the launch. The thread covered how the transition would affect miners and that nothing is expected to change in the physical outlook of the testnet after the launch.

A blog from the Ethereum foundation reports that the Goerli and Sepolia testnets will also transition to the proof-of-stake network before the Ethereum mainnet transition takes place.

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