Welcome to this week’s article on the most relevant crypto news. Keeping up with the latest industry news is key to making strategic moves with your crypto assets. With this new article series, we hope to help users catch all the important information conveniently. For this first edition, we will be covering all the market news you need to know in the week of 12 – 16 September 2022, including updates on the Ethereum Merge, Bitcoin news, big mainstream adoption developments, and more. Let’s dive in!
The Ethereum Merge Was Finalized on 15 September 2022!
After a long period of wait and anticipation – as well as much controversy – the Ethereum Merge finally took place and was completed on 15 September. Ethereum network is now officially running on the Proof-of-Stake consensus after 7 years of being Proof-of-Work. Regardless of which part of the crypto community you’re in or what your feelings towards The Merge is, this is a monumental event in the history of crypto and will have a big impact on the market as a whole as well as every day users worldwide. Check out our insightful article on why the Ethereum Merge matters here, and rest assured that your funds were completely safe on Moonstake Wallet during The Merge!
Bitcoin Hashrate Hits New ATH, Next Halving Coming in Q4 2023?
As Bitcoin pushes past the $22,000 mark, the network’s hash rate has reached a new all-time high of 281.79 million. This puts the projected next halving event to take place as early as Q4 2023, as opposed to earlier predictions of May 2024.
Bitcoin Halving is an event that takes place after every 210,000 blocks are mined and will reduce the reward distributed to the network’s miners by half. The next halving will reduce the miner reward to 3.125 Bitcoins, and this process will continue until all 21 million Bitcoin on the market has been mined. This makes Bitcoin a deflationary network, which means its value will be pushed up over time as argued by proponents of the network.
Web3 and The Metaverse Have Yet To Lose Momentum
A recent report by DappRadar revealed that Web3-based games and metaverse projects raised $748 million since August 2022 despite on-going market downturn. The total investments in blockchain games this year so far is around $7 million, which is already nearly double that of last year ($4 billion). If the momentum remains, it is expected that this number will soar to $10.2 billion by the end of this year. There are lots of ups and downs in different sectors of the crypto industry, but we’re still gaining significant traction over all! As always, keep calm and continue BUIDLing!
Singapore Banking Giant DBS Announces Metaverse Partnership with The Sandbox (SAND)
The largest bank in Singapore, DBS, has recently partnered with virtual world platform The Sandbox to create an interactive metaverse experience. The goal is to create DBS BetterWorld and highlight the importance of building a sustainable eco-friendly world. DBS BetterWorld will be located in the “SingaporeVerse” on The Sandbox, a special plot of land to showcase the culture of Singapore to the platform. This is great news for crypto adoption and will hopefully breathe more life into the market!
Starbucks Partners with Polygon Blockchain to Build Loyalty Program Web3 App, Starbucks Odyssey
The world’s largest coffeehouse chain, Starbucks, has recently joined hands with Polygon to build a Web3-powered experience for its loyalty program. The Starbucks Odyssey app will allow loyalty program members and Starbucks partners in the U.S. to earn and purchase digital collectible stamps in the form of NFTs, while also promising to enable access to unique merchandise, artist collaborations, and exclusive events.
Starbucks stated that their focus is on long-term sustainability and felt that Polygon’s commitment to being carbon-neutral while also providing a fast and low-cost solution for users aligned with their vision when entering the Web3 space. With The Merge cutting down Ethereum’s energy consumption significantly, Polygon states that their network’s emission will be reduced even further, by 99.91%.
China’s Crypto Ban Proves Ineffective, Lower-Middle Income Countries Continue to Lead Crypto Adoption
The 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index by Chainanalysis has been published. The usual insights were featured as expected: lower-middle income countries populate the list, only the U.S. and the U.K. are featured as upper-middle income countries. Most notably, however, the ban on crypto in China doesn’t seem to be stopping crypto’s momentum in the country. In fact, China has re-entered the top ten of the index after being placed 13th in the ranking last year. Overall, global adoption of crypto has noticeably dropped since its current all-time high in Q2 2021, but remains well above the level prior to the bull market run in 2019. And with major developments in enterprise adoption as featured above, crypto adoption won’t be slowing down any time soon!
About Moonstake
Moonstake is the world’s leading staking service provider that develops and operates decentralized wallet services for businesses and individuals.
Since its launch in April 2020, Moonstake has partnered with 27 leading platform providers, including Cardano’s constituent Emurgo, developer of the Polkadot-connected blockchain Astar Network Stake Technologies, and the TRON Network with over 50 million users. In May 2021, Moonstake further enhanced its corporate credibility by becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of OIO Holdings Limited, a company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
Using blockchain technology, Moonstake aims to progress toward a world where anyone can easily make use of highly secure and reliable digital asset management tools.
About Moonstake’s staking business
For the staking industry, which has grown into a 630-billion dollar market as of September 2021, Moonstake provides a decentralized staking service that does not require user deposits, and supports nodes around the world in addition to its own validator nodes. Moonstake currently supports the staking of 17 blockchains. With a total staking assets of 1.8 billion USD and a global user base, the company ranked third out of more than 10,000 providers worldwide in June of the same year.
