The Merge is Complete!
The Ethereum Merge, a much-anticipated event, has finally been completed. The merge marks the full transition of the ethereum network from the proof-of-work(POW) to the proof-of-stake (PoS). The merge occurred on September 15th, 2022, at block 15537393 at the Terminal Total Difficulty of 58,750,003,716,598,352,816,469.
The ethereum network's security will change as a result of the merger. Since the beginning of the blockchain, ethereum has used a proof-of-work consensus and security paradigm. The merging aims to switch Ethereum's consensus and security paradigm from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.
This historic event will make the ethereum network 99.95% more energy efficient and will set the tone for future scaling solutions, including sharding. There will also be a more than 90% reduction in the annual issuance of new ethereum tokens, essentially making the pricing mechanisms of the ethereum token change significantly.
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After Tornado Cash sanctions, Coinbase funds a lawsuit against the Treasury Department.
The largest US cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase Global Inc., assisted in organizing and is funding a lawsuit against the Treasury Department over its restrictions on coin mixer Tornado Cash. Tornado Cash pools are Ethereum smart contracts that let participants conduct private transactions. Pools will automatically make one of the two supported operations—"deposit" or "withdraw"—when prompted by a user. A user can deposit tokens from one address and then withdraw those same tokens to a separate address by combining these activities. Importantly, any public connection between the deposit and withdrawal addresses is broken even if these deposit and withdrawal events take place openly on Ethereum's transparent ledger. The user doesn't have to worry about disclosing their entire financial history to outside parties when they withdraw and use their money.
Tornado Cash was recently added to the OFAC list by the Treasury Department; however, Coinbase is funding a lawsuit against the treasury department, challenging the sanction's legality.
Coinbase is the biggest cryptocurrency exchange by the number of active users in the United States, and it is taking a bold step to challenge the treasury department in court. This comes on the heel of Brian Armstrong announcing the broadening of the coinbase policy effort by allowing users directly contact policymakers to influence policies.
These are pivotal moves by coinbase that can influence policymakers and potentially drive the adoption of cryptocurrencies in the United States and globally.
SEC filings reveal Microstrategy's $500m stock sale plan to fund more bitcoin purchases.
MicroStrategy (MSTR), a software provider that has evolved into a business bitcoin (BTC) vault, intends to sell up to $500 million worth of stock to finance additional bitcoin purchases.
The stock offering, which will be used for "general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of bitcoin," was disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
This news is important because, Since 2020, MicroStrategy has purchased about 130,000 bitcoins, worth more than $2 billion, using funds raised from stock and bond offerings. Analysts have pointed out the excessive use of leverage in buying these bitcoins. While Microstrategy in the future may be viewed as a heroic entity that made a radical bet, it may also be considered as Icarus who flew too close to the sun. It is also important to remember that when Microstrategy needs to unwind some leverage, it can suck liquidity out of the markets by dumping and essentially crashing the prices of Bitcoin and all crypto assets.
Avalanche Saved from potential losses of up to $350m by white hat hacker — Statemind.
Statemind, a white hat hacker, recently notified Avalanche of a bug on the avalanche-c-chain that could have caused losses of up to $350m.
The avalanche team was notified on the 4th of September 2022 by the Abracadabra and Sushi developer teams, who had previously been alerted by Statemind on Immunefi. The C-unique Chain's Native Asset Call precompile, used to communicate with Avalanche Native Tokens, might force some contracts that made blacklist-protected calls to user-supplied contracts to make unwanted calls.
This news highlights the importance of investigative tools and companies engaged in mitigating smart contract exploits and tracing lost or recovering stolen funds.