One week in review:
Sept. 26–Oct. 2 We've selected the hottest materials of the past week for you to stay up to date with the latest crypto news: | | #1. Morgan Stanley doubles exposure to Bitcoin through Grayscale shares | | | It was reported on Monday that Morgan Stanley has more than doubled its exposure to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) since April. | | | According to a recent SEC filing, the Morgan Stanley Europe Opportunity Fund owned a total of 58,116 GBTC shares as of July 31. The holdings are worth around $1.96 million at the time of writing, representing an 18.3% decrease on the $2.4 million Morgan Stanley said it has splurged on GBTC. | | | Previous filings show that Morgan Stanley has increased its shares of GBTC by more than 105% since April, suggesting that market volatility over recent months affected its appetite for Bitcoin via Grayscale. | | #2. DOGE co-founder sets sights on Ethereum bridge and NFTs for mass adoption | | | Billy Markus, the co-founder of the beloved Dogecoin (DOGE), emphasized the importance of completing an Ethereum-to-Dogecoin bridge on Thursday, citing that the asset could be integrated for payments on Ethereum-based NFT marketplaces. | | | Markus stated that there is "high demand" to purchase NFTs within the crypto community and that enabling NFT purchases with DOGE "greatly increases its utility." | | | The development of a Dogecoin–Ethereum bridge would mark a significant milestone for the meme coin, as it would enable users to send DOGE from the Dogecoin blockchain to the Ethereum blockchain, and utilize the asset in the DeFi and NFT sectors via ERC-20 DOGE token contracts. | | #3. Visa working on blockchain interoperability hub for crypto payments | | | On Thursday, payments giant Visa announced an ambitious project that aims to be a "universal adapter" of blockchains that can connect multiple crypto assets, stablecoins and "spawn of satan" central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). | | | The project, dubbed the "Universal Payment Channel," is hoping to serve as an interoperable blockchain hub that can connect to multiple blockchain networks and enable transfers of different crypto from various protocols and wallets. | | | "Imagine splitting the check with your friends, when everyone at the table is using a different type of money — some using a central bank digital currency [...] like Sweden's eKrona, and others preferring a private stablecoin like USDC," Visa wrote, as it emphasized the benefits to users without revealing how centralized the hub may be. | | #4. Prediction of the week. Former Bitcoin lead dev predicts demise of BTC network... with a major silver lining | | | Gavin Andresen, one of the earliest developers of the Bitcoin network, published a blog post recently about one of the potential outcomes for Bitcoin many years down the road. Andresen, however, included the caveat that the future he described is possible, yet unlikely. | | | Andresen's forecast saw BTC in 2061 having a hefty price tag of $6 million per coin, complete with $7,500 transaction fees. Bitcoin's price will not have risen to that valuation solely of its own accord, however, but largely as a result of inflation by a factor of six. He predicted that, by 2061, $6 million will have the purchasing power of $1 million at today's dollar value. Large holders of BTC will run the coin's blockchain by then, with most transactions taking place on other blockchains via wrapped versions of BTC. | | | Fast-forward another 39 years to 2100, and Bitcoin will see very little activity on its main blockchain since, by that time, the mining reward will have been cut in half so many times that mining and maintaining the network are not worth the effort. At that point, the whales ruling Bitcoin would halt the network, and BTC would then simply live on other blockchains in wrapped form. | | #5. FUD of the week. Alibaba to ban crypto miner sales amid Chinese crackdown | | | Alibaba also faced some crypto mining-related issues this week amid the crackdown in China, announcing on Monday that its platform will prohibit sales of cryptocurrency miners and suspend categories for blockchain miners and accessories from its website on Oct. 8. | | | The company's decision was tied to regulatory compliance issues with crypto. The e-commerce giant is also halting sales of crypto mining devices and imposing a ban on using its platforms to sell major cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC). | | | Alibaba stated that any sellers who continue to list banned crypto-related products and services after Oct. 15 will face a range of penalties including blocking stores, and freezing and closing merchant accounts. | | #6. FUD of the week. Second-largest Ethereum mining pool to suspend all operations | | | Following the latest crackdown from the Chinese government, Ethereum mining pool Sparkpool suspended access to new users in China and abroad on Thursday. | | | According to an announcement on Monday, the measures are being put in place to ensure the safety of users' assets in response to China banning crypto yet again. "Further details about the shutdown will be sent out through announcements, emails, and in-site messages," Sparkpool said. | | | Launched in China in early 2018, Sparkpool emerged as one of the largest Ether mining pools in the world. As of Wednesday, Sparkpool's mining power represented around 22% of Ethereum's global hash rate. However, following the suspension, it now accounts for 0%. According to PoolWatch, Ethermine leads the mining pool pack, making an estimated 25% of Ethereum's global hashrate. | | | Feel free to explore the most important news with Hodler's Digest: | | | |
