Monat: Februar 2023

Veröffentlicht am

Ethereum’s Shanghai/Capella network upgrade is slated for Feb. 28

  • Ethereum plans to deploy the Shanghai/Capella upgrade on Sepolia testnet
  • The update is scheduled to test staked ETH withdrawals.
  • The Shanghai-Capella was earlier tested on the Zhejiang testnet but developers discovered minor bugs.

Ethereum developers have announced that they have scheduled a test run of the Shanghai/Capella (Shapella) upgrade for February 28. The test run is planned to go live on Sepolia testnet to test staked ETH withdrawals on Ethereum’s proof-of-stake blockchain.

The test on Sepolia will bring the Ethereum chain closer to the ability to withdraw the staked ETH tokens from the Beacon Chain. According to the communication from Ethereum, “The Shapella upgrade combines changes to the execution layer (Shanghai), consensus layer (Capella) and the Engine API.”

Shanghai upgrade

The upgrades on Shanghai will introduce Warm COINBASE, PUSH0 instruction, Limit and meter initcode, Beacon chain push withdrawals as operations, and Deprecate SELFDESTRUCT.

The changes can be viewed in the new Python reference implementation for the execution layer, Ethereum Execution Layer Specification (EELS).

Capella upgrade

The Capella upgrades will introduce full and partial withdrawals for validators, BLSToExecutionChange messages, which allow validators using a BLS_WITHDRAWAL_PREFIX to update it to an ETH1_ADDRESS_WITHDRAWAL_PREFIX, a prerequisite for withdrawals, and independent state and block historical accumulators to replace the original singular historical roots.

Unlocking the over 16 million staked ETH

Ethereum validators are eagerly waiting for the unlocking of the more than 16 million ETH tokens that are currently staked on the Beacon Chain smart contract which opened in 2020.

While the validators await their assets to be unlocked, the majority of the other crypto investors are waiting to see how the Ethereum price will respond to the whole process. A wider majority believe that the staked ETH withdrawals may attract more institutional interest and also trigger an ETH price surge.

The post Ethereum’s Shanghai/Capella network upgrade is slated for Feb. 28 appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

TrueUSD the first USD-backed stablecoin to use Chainlink ‘Proof of Reserve’ to mint

  • TrueUSD will use Chainlink Proof of Reserve (PoR) in minting the TUSD stablecoin.
  • It is the first stablecoin to use Chainlink PoR in controlling the minting process.
  • The PoR will check the balance between the total supply of TUSD and US dollars held in reserve.

TrueUSD has today announced that it will be using Chainlink (LINK) Proof of Reserve (PoR) to secure the minting of its fully collateralized USD-backed stablecoin TUSD. The news comes after TrueUSD launched TCNH, a TRON-Based stablecoin pegged to offshore Chinese Yuan in December 2022.

This makes TrueUSD the first stablecoin to programmatically control minting using real-time on-chain verification of off-chain reserves. This is a paradigm shift in decentralization, transparency, and independent verification.

How the programmed minting process will work

The TUSD reserve data is aggregated by The Network Firm LLP (TNF), which is an independent industry-specialized accounting firm in the US. TNF will aggregate all reserve data of US dollars held at financial institutions in real-time and serve that information on-chain through Chainlink’s oracle network. This is what is referred to as proof of reserve.

TUSD smart contract will then use this Proof of Reserve data feed to automatically check whether the total supply of TUSD would exceed the total amount of US dollars held in reserve before a new stablecoin is minted.

The automatic workflow is transparent in the smart contract code and supported by open independent data feeds thus affirming TUSD’s commitment to ensuring the stability of the ecosystem and the redeemability of the underlying dollars for clients.

TUSD users can feel confident that they have an accurate and transparent source of information about the reserves backing the TUSD stablecoin.

Commenting on the development, the co-founder of Chainlink Sergey Nazarov said:

“We are proud to support TUSD in its efforts to bring new layers of transparency, risk management, and security to its stablecoin minting process. With Chainlink Proof of Reserve, TUSD is able to provide greater levels of assurance and confidence to its users, and help bring greater stability to stablecoins and the broader crypto industry.”

The post TrueUSD the first USD-backed stablecoin to use Chainlink ‘Proof of Reserve’ to mint appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Should crypto investors care about the US stock market?

  • Without the US stock market outperforming, the cryptocurrency market would have difficulty delivering a positive return in 2023
  • S&P 500 leads the cryptocurrency market
  • Crypto investors should watch US economic data closely

The cryptocurrency market had a strong start to the trading year. After suffering from a bearish market in 2022, the rally that started in 2023 brings much relief to investors in the cryptocurrency market.

The enthusiasm is understandable.

After all, Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, is up +45.93% YTD. However, before getting too excited, long-term investors still look at the 1-year losses of -35.62%.

Therefore, once again, timing the markets is important. Those going long crypto at the start of 2023 enjoyed an impressive performance, while those that remained invested for one year still enjoy the so-called “crypto winter.”

But why did the crypto market bounce? The answer lies in the chart below – because of the US stock market rally.

S&P 500 chart by TradingView

S&P 500 leads the cryptocurrency market

The chart above shows the S&P 500’s performance since the top in late 2021. Since then, the main US stock market index lost -16.36%.

Below are the three leading cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple. While they peaked a bit earlier, they lost between -60% and -70% in value from their 2021 highs to the 2022 lows.

So the bounce in the cryptocurrency market may look as being in response to investors turning their attention to the industry again, but instead, it is all about the US stock market. The S&P 500 rallied in 2023 too.

However, the dimensions of the two movements are different because of the difference between the S&P 500 and the cryptocurrency’s volatility.

In other words, given the current context, it is hard to see the cryptocurrency market’s rally continue if the S&P 500 index does not perform. Hence, crypto investors should care about the US stock market because the S&P 500 leads the gains or losses in the cryptocurrency market.

The post Should crypto investors care about the US stock market? appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Crypto regulation needs to be more transparent, Blockchain Association CEO says

  • Kristin Smith, CEO of crypto industry group Blockchain Association is optimistic of crypto regulation this year.
  • She notes that crypto enforcement actions and settlements have been “behind closed doors” affairs.
  • Crypto regulation should be about the entire marketplace, not specific players or companies, she added in an interview with Bloomberg.

US regulators have in the past few weeks brought enforcement actions or reached major settlements with crypto companies, including Paxos, Kraken and Coinbase. Individuals have also been fined for their role in crypto-related schemes.

But Kristin Smith, the CEO of Blockchain Association, believes despite these actions, it is Congress that still needs to do the legislation and that the process should be as transparent as possible.

Crypto enforcement actions are “behind closed doors”

In an interview with Bloomberg, aired on Wednesday, Smith noted enforcement actions or guidance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulators has picked up pace in recent days.

While the regulators have had to step in as proper legislation from lawmakers lags, Smith is critical of what she says in action and settlements that are taking place “behind closed doors.”

According to the Blockchain Association CEO, crypto needs proper regulation and the process of putting these into place has to be transparent.

“What we really need is a more open process where we look comprehensively at the entire marketplace, figure out the appropriate way to regulate, regulate different actors within it, within the crypto ecosystem, and move forward in an open process where everyone can participate.”

Congress has to tailor regulatory framework to crypto

Smith says Congress has been slow to formulate the needed regulatory framework and as regulators step in based on the same rules that apply to traditional assets, it is becoming more frustrating for crypto industry players. 

More so, people in Washington, including crypto-friendly lawmakers who were keen on pushing for proper regulation, have been left a little “burned” and “betrayed” by what happened with the collapsed crypto exchange FTX. 

Yet, she’s hopeful that the House Financial Services Committee’s move to form a special digital assets sub-committee is a great step towards getting the legislation done. But as legislation is a process, it cannot be expected that everything will be in place overnight.

According to her, the stablecoin market is likely to be the first area to get regulatory clarity in the US – particularly after the industry came close to bipartisan legislation in 2022.

“The work has been done there,” Smith explained, adding that Congress needs to come up with a regulatory framework tailored to crypto because the risks associated with this sector are not the same as those around traditional financial services. This has to be a priority, she said.

As noted earlier, US regulators have been overly aggressive, with actions against stablecoin issuers, staking service providers and crypto custody firms.

The post Crypto regulation needs to be more transparent, Blockchain Association CEO says appeared first on CoinJournal.