Crypto Flipsider News – ETH Recovers; McCaleb Empties Wallet; Tencent Shuts down NFTs; Korea Tests CBDC; Fed Hikes Rates By DailyCoin

Read in the Digest:

• (ETH) stages recovery – shadow fork 9 goes live in Merge preparation.

• Co-Founder Jed McCaleb empties XRP account in 8-year dump spree.

• South Korea to begin real-world CBDC testing with ten banks.

• China’s unfavorable policies force Tencent to shut down NFT marketplace.

• The FED prepares to hike interest rates by 0.75 percentage points.

Ethereum (ETH) Stages Recovery – Shadow Fork 9 Goes Live in Merge Preparation

Ethereum (ETH) is staging its biggest comeback of the month in wake of the reports of an update in preparation for the ‘Merge‘. Ethereum has gained 11% in the last 24 hours to set a new 30-day high of $1,493.

The 24 hour price chart for Ethereum (ETH). Source: CoinMarketCap

Ethereum’s gains make it not only the best performing crypto of the last day, but also of the last week. The price of ETH has grew by more than 29.1% in the last seven days, outperforming its greatest competitor, , which gained 8.6% by comparison.

The 7 day price chart for Ethereum (ETH). Source: CoinMarketCap

The rally started after the Ethereum Foundation announced th successful completion of one of the last required tests before the Merge. The shadow fork was executed at 00:00 UTC, when Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD) was overridden at 53945568722258575228928.

Parithosh, a DevOps engineer at the Ethereum Foundation, announced that the ninth shadow fork was focused primarily on testing the updates and releases used in the recent ‘Sepolia’ hard fork “but on a more intensive network.”

Flipsider:

• Ahead of its migration to a Proof of Stake model, the categorization of Ethereum as a security, rather than as a commodity, has been a hotly debated topic.

Why You Should Care

The current ETH rally is just the beginning of what analysts predict could happen once the merge has been fully executed on the Ethereum mainnet.

Ripple Co-Founder Jed McCaleb Empties XRP Account in 8-Year Dump Spree

In a dumping spree starting over eight years ago, Ripple Labs Co-Founder Jed McCaleb has finally emptied his famous “$tacostand” wallet, which once held as much as 9 billion XRP, accounting for 18.6% of XRP’s circulating supply.

On a Friday Zoom call with CTC news, the Ripple Co-Founder, who left the company in 2014, remarked that he intended to hold onto 5 million XRP “just in case it rallies.”

However, McCaleb seemingly decided against the statement, as on Sunday 17th, at 6:32 am UTC, the former Ripple exec carried out his final outgoing XRP transfer of 1.1 million XRP, worth $394,742.18 USD, leaving just 46.7 XRP in his wallet.

Flipsider:

• Last week, Ripple scored a major win in its case with the SEC, as the judge ruled that the regulator must produce the internal documents relating to the Hinman speech.

Why You Should Care

The transaction marks the end of McCaleb’s relationship with Ripple, who left Ripple Labs in 2014 to co-found rival payment protocol Stellar.

South Korea to Begin Real-World CBDC Testing with Ten Banks

After completing the first two stages of its retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) simulations, the Bank of Korea is now ready to proceed to the next stage—real-world tests in association with at least ten commercial banks.

According to a report by Aju Economy News, Shinhan Bank and Nonghyup (NH) Bank are among the ten banks that the BOK has invited to join tests for interoperability between the CBDC and their IT systems.

The test will focus on making remittances and payments in real “financial service environments”. The BOK intends to follow the testing stage by filing a comprehensive report on the CBDC project before the end of 2022.

The report will mark the BOK’s final analysis before it makes the ultimate decision of whether or not to release a CBDC. The report states that the Bank of Korea still believes in taking a “cautious attitude” before launching the central bank-backed digital currency.

Why You Should Care

The BOK has claimed that it intends to take the time to ensure that matters of security, such as the CBDC’s technical stability against cyber attacks, are taken care of, and that the resolution of such issues take time to complete.

China’s Unfavorable Policies Force Tencent to Shut Down NFT Marketplace

Chinese internet and media giant Tencent has shut down one of its two non-fungible token (NFT) platforms due to the dwindling sales resulting from the government’s regressive monetary policies.

Local media reports claim that Tencent officially began withdrawing from the NFT market in May. Tencent complete the shut down of one of its NFT platforms on July 1st, while the other is struggling to remain afloat.

As NFT sales boomed in China early this year, the Chinese government enacted stifling monetary policies, restricting the sale of digital asset. The regulations put in place prevent asset holders from reselling their NFTs in private transactions.

Since Beijing’s diktat on flipping “digital collectibles” prohibits secondary trading, traders have been left with only the ability to view their purchased NFTs on the relevant platform, but without the option buy or sell their existing assets.

Flipsider:

• Tencent’s top executives that had been working on the NFT marketplace were reassigned to new departments, including former Head of Tencent News Wang Shimu.

Why You Should Care

Despite its ban on crypto, mining, and the restrictions on NFT sales, China has backed blockchain technology, and recently expanded the deployment of its CBDC, the e-CNY.

The FED Prepares to Hike Interest Rates by 0.75 Percentage Point

In response to the soaring inflation, officials of the Federal Reserve are preparing to hike its interest rates. According to reports, the Fed could raise interest rates by 0.75 percentage points for the second-straight month.

The speculation comes after a premeeting held among Fed officials on Saturday, July 16th. Reports now suggest that the interest rate may now be set 0.75, as opposed to the full point previously posited by a CPI report.

Speaking at a conference in Victor, Idaho, on Thursday, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said: “You don’t want to overdo the rate increases. A 75-basis-point hike, folks, is huge.”

The official interest rate hike will be announced at the Fed’s July 26th-27th meeting.

Flipsider:

• Rather than leading to a downturn in the price of Bitcoin as happened the previous time, the report has sparked a Bitcoin rally, helping BTC set a new 30-day high at $22,430.

The 7 day price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap

Why You Should Care

The interest rate hike is part of the Fed’s attempt to quell the raging inflation in the United States, which currently sits at 9.1%—the highest recorded in 41 years.

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