It's election day in America, for those unfamiliar with US politics, this one is a 'mid term' - no new President will be selected, but seats in virtually all other elected rolls are up for grabs.

All 435 members of the House of Representatives and 34 senators are running.  According to media reports, political action committees and bitcoin lobbyists have contributed millions of dollars to candidates races.

As of two weeks ago, crypto-related donors had given more money than the traditional big election spenders - surpassing both defense and big pharma.

The industry expected 2022 would be the year policymakers came up with a plan for regulating crypto - that didn't happen...

Unresolved policy disputes between lawmakers and lobbyists left this unfinished, as Congressmembers and Senators left Washington DC until the new year.

That means those elected today are virtually guaranteed to be the ones voting on crypto regulation in the near future.

Crypto becomes a mainstream topic for voters...

According to a poll by Grayscale early October, 38% of voters said candidates "crypto policy positions" mattered to them when deciding who to vote for. 

Another poll by the Crypto Council for Innovation, taken around the same time, had 45% of voters agreeing that lawmakers should "treat crypto as a serious and valid part of the economy."

The ideal outcome for crypto...

Most crypto traders want a Republican majority in either or both chambers, since Republicans have been some of their most loyal supporters in the past.

The Republicans have also indicated the willingness to move bills that many in the industry say create a reasonable regulated environment, where protections for investors can be implemented without slowing down the progress of a fast growing industry.

"We believe crypto is one of the few sectors we follow where the midterms will have a material impact on policy. Republicans tend to be more accepting of fewer limits on crypto products because they are decentralized and different - We believe a GOP sweep of the midterm elections would be the best outcome for crypto" said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at financial services company Cowen.

Generally favoring less government involvement in free markets, Republicans would also likely put pressure on agencies like the SEC stop over-aggressive regulation of crypto firms and seek reasonable regulation aimed at protecting investors.

A history of bipartisan support...

While crypto does have a history of finding supporters from both major parties, many see the Democrats as 'dropping the ball'.  Some expressed the desire for what sounded like reasonable solutions to the regulation issues, some even co-authored bills with Republicans. 

But at the end of the day, they had 2 years where they held most of the power, and nothing was accomplished.

Then, with some opinions from members of the Biden administration that sounded like they don't understand the basics of what crypto is, many who consider crypto an important issue switched to a firm "Republicans only' stance this election.

The crypto industry may get their wish...

Polls are indicating that Republicans will take back the House and probably the Senate as well.  

A common prediction from crypto traders on multiple platforms right now is that a Republican win of both the House and Senate tonight could immediately trigger some market movement upward, we'll probably soon see if they're correct.

-----------
Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

"Regarding any speculation as to whether this is a move against a competitor, it is not" said Binance CEO 'CZ' on Twitter, while confirming "recent revelations that have come to light" are behind a decision to sell-off $2.1 billion USD worth of FTT, the native token of rival exchange FTX.

Binance first obtained the tokens last year, as part of their payment from a pre-planned exit from investment in FTX equity.

Can't Have it Both Ways...

CZ first attempts to include the FTT sell-off as part of everyday 'business-as-usual' saying:

"Liquidating our FTT is just post-exit risk management, learning from LUNA."

That sounds like he's saying it's a purely strategic move, like the reasoning behind it could be something as simple as not believing the bear market has hit bottom - until in his next sentence where he immediately makes it clear - there's more to this story.

"We gave support before, but we won't pretend to make love after divorce. We are not against anyone. But we won't support people who lobby against other industry players behind their backs. Onwards."

FTX is accused as a company, or perhaps CEO Sam Bankman-Fried himself of doing something behind the scenes, with at least the goal of hurting a competing crypto company...

At least that seems to be the accusation CZ, the Binance CEO, is making, although vaguely, and because of their mention of LUNA (which famously crashed, then crashed the market, and never recovered) and FTT together - the FTX CEO has been trying to assure customers that their token has none of the same risk factors (and from what we can see, that's true).

Any comparison of FTT with LUNA is a bit unfair...

There's no reason for CZ to bring back memories of the LUNA disaster when mentioning FTT - none of LUNA's risk factors can be applied to FTT.

"A competitor is trying to go after us with false rumors. FTX is fine. Assets are fine" said CEO Sam Bankman-Fried his first public response.

However - Binance CEO CZ has proven to be a level-headed voice of reason in the industry, and seems to have a reasonable outlook on the 'big picture' of cryptos future - so if he's accusing FTX or their CEO of crossing a line, it's probably true. 

---------------
Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle Newsdesk  / Breaking Crypto News

Dogecoin, the tenth-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $10.5 billion, outperformed any of the other top 50 coins over the last 24 hours, with gains of over 15%. 

For the week, DOGECOIN gained nearly 30% and was only outperformed by Telegram's TON token.

Behind The Rise...

Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter nw seems to be a 'sure thing', as the Tesla and SpaceX CEO walked through the doors of the Twitter offices earlier today. 

From what we can tell, social sentiment is driving the price, with people assuming Twitter will eventually implement the use of Dogecoin, somehow.

Bad Time To Bet Against The DOGE...

Almost $9 million in Dogecoin futures positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, almost all by people taking short positions.

The increased attention going to DOGE seems to have spread to its main competitor, SHIBA, which posted gains of around 7%. 

It's Easy To Downplay the strength of DOGE - but this 'joke coin' is showing some legitimately strong fundamentals...

A large, seemingly majority of people holding DOGE today appear to be true believers in the coin's long-term potential.

Wallets holding DOGE for more than 1 year are currently at an all-time high of 2.8 million, according to IntoTheBlock. 

Also, wallets that buy and sell within a month are at an all-time low - only 132,000 wallets can be considered 'short-term traders' - this is the lowest since mid 2020.

Recently, Dogecoin was the reason for a new lawsuit that has been filed against Elon Musk...

We spoke with the lawyer representing those suing Elon, while initially reaching out to us first, he refuses to answer some very basic questions on issues vital to the case, read about that here.

-----------
Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

Apple has established a rule for how apps can work with NFTs,  basically stating that there cannot be any app features that a user can unlock by buying/owning a particular NFT.

Some apps already do this, like Moonbirds NFTs and Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs can unlock exclusive chat rooms, products, and other benefits within their apps - well, not anymore.

Additionally, developers are prohibited from producing "buttons, external links, or other calls to action" that could instruct users on how to purchase NFTs outside of the App Store on other websites. The App Store prefers that customers buy things inside of apps.

Apple Protecting Profits...

This is purely profit motivated.

Currently, if an app has premium features, users unlock them for a fee, processed by Apple. The app developer gets their cut, and so does Apple. 

But if someone can unlock app features by purchasing an NFT from anywhere online, then an app includes a way for someone to verify ownership of that NFT -  Apple was just removed from the process.

Making Enemies in the NFT World...

This comes after another recent move by Apple that angered the NFT world, when they announced they will allow NFT sales, but they will include a 30% going to them.

While it's hard to pity the projects that mass produce low quality gimmick NFTs, the actual artists who put a lot of time and work in to creating unique excuse content to be sold as NFTs, a 30% cut going to a company that just processed a transaction is rather offensive. 

---------------
Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle Newsdesk  / Breaking Crypto News

Rishi Sunak, a well-known crypto bull and former UK Finance Minister, will soon succeed Liz Truss as the country's leader.

Only Sunak received endorsements from more than 100 legislators. Because he was the only MP qualified to run, he automatically won the election.

Graham Brady, a party official, declared, "I can confirm that we have received one valid nomination, and Rishi Sunak is therefore elected as leader of the Conservative Party,"

Sunak is the third prime minister in the last 7 weeks...

The first had resigned due to controversy. then in just 45 days after taking office, departing Liz Truss was removed from her leadership post following the swift failure of her ambitious plan to lower taxes on the country's richest earners.

Instead of improve the economy, it got worse fast - mortgage rates skyrocketed and the pound fell sharply, making her unpopular with the vast majority of Britons.

It's fair to say Sunak has a huge challenge ahead, and a large mess to clean up.

He's made his stance on crypto crystal-clear...

Rishi, who is only 42 years old, belongs to the first generation to have grown with the internet, and is generally more comfortable with new technologies.

Just months ago in to his prior position as chancellor of the Exchequer (or Head of the Treasury) Sunak said, "It’s my ambition to make the UK a global hub for crypto asset technology"

He elaborated in a press release from his office on the topic of crypto, which said "the government can ensure financial stability and high regulatory standards so that these new technologies can ultimately be used both reliably and safely". 

He thinks stablecoins ought to be a "recognized form of payment" since they might provide consumers a "more efficient" way to pay.

Sunak takes office tomorrow,  Tuesday, October 25.

This is the most powerful government position a known crypto supporter has held. 

-----------------------
Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News 

The Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer of Walmart, Suresh Kumar says crypto will play an integral payment role for the company, as they and others enter the metaverse. Kumar discussed the role of crypto in Walmart’s future:

With the emerging technology, Kumar aims to make payment options friction-free for customers who want to transact. Kumar believes that the payments disruptions will begin in terms of different payment methods and different payment options.

"Crypto will continue to play a significant role in that. And obviously, we want to be there where the customer really needs us to be. So whether it is physical or virtual goods, it plays a part in what the customer wants." says Kumar.

The CTO also noted that a large number of customers will be approached through the Metaverse and other live streams on social media apps, and that crypto could be an important payment option in such areas.

Retail in the metaverse...

Last month, Walmart made its debut on Roblox Worlds as a testing ground for the metaverse. Walmart created “Walmart Land” and “Walmart’s Universe of Play” within Roblox.

Earlier this year, Walmart took a leap into blockchain technology to create an automated process for handling invoices and payments of its 70 third-party freight carriers. By using blockchain, Walmart has eliminated its issues of incompatible enterprise systems by replacing them with a shared single source of credible information for Walmart and its carriers.

Today, Mastercard announced their goal of supporting more financial institutions in offering cryptocurrency trading.

People are still optimistic about the future of cryptocurrencies despite the present bear market. According to Jorn Lambert, chief digital officer at Mastercard, "there is still a high desire for cryptocurrencies among clients".

“There’s a lot of consumers out there that are really interested in this, and intrigued by crypto, but would feel a lot more confident if those services were offered by their financial institutions... It’s a little scary to some people still.” Mastercard’s chief digital officer, Jorn Lambert, told CNBC.

Is the dream of escaping banks dead?

Many in the cryptocurrency community view blockchain technology as a way to liberate people from banks, now every major banking institution seems to be aggressively moving to take positions within the crypto market.

According to Mastercard, many people prefer having their bank involved. They claim that when they surveyed customers, almost 60% of those surveyed stated they were willing to own cryptocurrency in the future but preferred to do so through their current bank.

Mastercard's bold offer to banks: We're ready to handle every major concern...

Large investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan already have specialized crypto teams, but still haven't offered a way for their clients to buy cryptocurrency - but they may be more likely to begin if all they need to do is trust Mastercard, rather than directly partner with an exchange.

Mastercard says that if a bank chooses them to handle crypto offerings to customers, they will handle both security and regulatory compliance - the two main concerns that have held many intuitions back. 

Opening to a new market usually comes with a new load of liabilities - but with Mastercard taking responsibility for them adhering to crypto compliance guidelines, confirming transactions, and offering anti-money-laundering and identity monitoring services, there's not many reasons left to say no.

Bad News for existing exchanges... maybe...

The program will involve Mastercard routing orders to Paxos, an exchange they've already been working closely with - so if banks do embrace this Mastercard model, it may take a bite out of the pool of potential future users of Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, and other exchanges operating in the U.S.

However, if successful, Mastercard's program will likely inspire banks to create their own, similar partnerships directly with crypto exchanges. 

The pilot program will launch in the first quarter of 2023. There is currently no information on which banks will participate.


------- 
Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News

Founder of Cardano (ADA) Carles Hoskinson makes the case for his slow but steady approach to winning the long game, at the Mainnet 2022 Event. 

Video Courtesy of Mainnet 2022

While no longer part of the Ethereum Foundation, Anthony Di Iorio was one of the developers behind Ethereum when it launched in 2015. While he has since moved on to other ventures, he resurfaced this week, sharing concerns on ETH 2.0 in an interview. 

These concerns revolve about the level of centralization that Ethereum could reach now that the merge to Proof of Stake is complete.

Di Iorio's concern revolves around the possibility of major exchanges becoming an overwhelming number of the total validators on the network. 

At the root of the issue is the requirement to hold 32 ETH to launch a node -so exchanges holding thousands of ETH have an obvious advantage...

That's a little over $42,000 worth of Ethereum at the time of publishing - and it is reasonable to say this prices out the average person, who previously could have started mining for under $1000 if they were interested in contributing to the network. 

So\when the rule is "More ETH = more nodes" you immediately see the potential power major exchanges have by holding thousands of users Ethereum. Even many mid-size exchanges hold enough to launch hundreds of nodes.

However, users need to agree to use any ETH that they actually own, exchanges cannot decide how to allocate your holdings without permission.

So they're getting user permission by offering to share the profits - this factor is the reason many people see these nodes as decentralize.

More importantly, all these people have the power to pull out whenever they wish. 

Can these really be considered exchange-owned nodes if their users have the power to shut them down by collectively pulling out?

Still, ETH 2.0 is off to a more centralized start than many expected.  Last week nodes launched by just 2 addresses were validating 46% of total transactions.  One is a known pool, the other an 'unknown entity'... which nobody likes to hear. 

The move away from GPU mining is a double-edged sword when it comes to decentralization...

It may not be as simple as looking at who now has an easier entry to becoming a validator, but for a large number of people, Ethereum's update represents a door opening.

On that note, Di Iorio also acknowledged that the Proof of Stake model allows people from countries that have banned GPU mining to participate again (such as Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesi and more) many of them pointing to the large amount of electricity consumed by miners as their reasoning, an issue the new Ethereum now solves.

-------------------
Author: Oliver Redding
Seattle Newsdesk  / Breaking Crypto News

 

British investors are turning to Bitcoin as a result of the recent decline in the value of the pound sterling (GBP) relative to the dollar, which has been driven by worries that the country's financial crisis will worsen.

The noticeable increase in bitcoin trading volume against pound reflects many investors view that Bitcoin offers an easily accessible place to move funds when they feel risk of inflation is high. Which is why the week began with Bitcoin trading volume of people buying with the British Pound hit a record high of GBP 840 million (valued at $881 million USD)

The average daily trade volume of bitcoin in pounds is seen in the chart below at slightly over $72 million. Making this an increase of approximately 1,150%...

This is an amount too large to brush off as anything but a deliberate direct response. 

"When a fiat currency is threatened, investors start to favor bitcoin." said James Butterfill, research director at coinshares.

GBP to BTC Volume via Coinshares

Gabor Gurbacs, digital asset/crypto investment strategist at investment giant VanEck explains “Given that the UK is now outside of the EU bureaucratic apparatus, it will get another chance to become a Bitcoin hub. I think UK leaders will use this opportunity reasonably well.”

However, a number of analysts have noted that a strong US dollar is partly to blame for the recent declines in the value of the British pound and the euro, and it is extremely likely that this factor is also in the way of a crypto market recovery.

Or to put it another way, we might not notice a significant rise in bitcoin and cryptocurrency ownership until the US dollar starts to lose its position as the strongest currency in the world.

Still, this is one of multiple recent stories giving crypto investors a strong indication that it isn't a matter of 'if' the market will come back, but 'when'... 

What does seem to now be proven is that investors globally are still interested in crypto, and willing to buy and trade it when they see an upside.

-------
Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk 
Breaking Crypto News

There are more than 900,000 wallets with at east 1 full Bitcoin in them, according to data from the blockchain explorer Glassnode. 

In addition to this, wallets holding at least 0.1 BTC are also at an all-time high.

This is considered major long-term bullish indicator...

This reflects that investors are taking advantage of the current bear-market low prices, as they continue to accumulate Bitcoin with a plan to hold it for months, or even years.

Bitcoin's price is 72% below its historical maximum reached 10 months ago in November 2021, at almost USD 69,000.

If you believe Bitcoin will return to previous highs (as it always has), then you understand why someone would want to take advantage of the current price. 

Here's where things get weird...

In 2021, while Bitcoin's price was on the rise with heavy demand fueling price gains, the number of wallets holding 1 Bitcoin actually declined.

But as you can see from the chart, the amount of 1 or more Bitcoin has been steadily increasing throughout 2022... as the price dropped. 

Wallets Holding 1BTC or more on the rise (yellow) while price declines (black)

What does this mean?

These are the smart traders. Those with experience learn to buy at the bottom, and sell at the top. 

 As Wall Street traders continue to cross over into crypto, it's no surprise that we're seeing more experienced investors in the crypto market.  Where many see a 'crash' they see an 'entry point'.

Remember Warren Buffet's famous piece of advice - “Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful” - in other words, buy when everyone else is selling. 

But even with a record number of savvy traders, there isn't enough of them to move Bitcoin's price upwards, but they do probably deserve some credit for Bitcoin staying stable in its current $18k - $21k range.  So far, when Bitcoin has gone below $20k, it soon finds people ready to buy.  

A return to a bull market will be fueled by tens of thousands of people buying hundreds of dollars' worth of Bitcoin, not hundreds of people buying thousands worth. 

------- 
Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News

Be glad you didn't bet against ETH. If you did, my condolences.

ETH's price surge began at a time a lot of people thought it would continue going down, now these leveraged positions are being liquidated at a rapid pace.

Total liquidations in the past 24 hours have reached close to $200 million...

Most occurred on Ethereum short positions, with more than than $110 million worth of liquidated assets. Notably, the largest in the overall market was a $2 million BTCUSD position that occurred on Bybit.

Other exchanges experiencing large liquidations include OKEx, Binance, ByBit, FTX, CoinEX, Huobi, and Bitmex, among others. OKEX reported up to 75% of short positions being liquidated for a total of $4.28 million, followed by Binance with $3.36 million in total liquidations.

The Ethereum community will likely prefer the upcoming update to a proof-of-stake system. Even as the Merge approaches, the price of the coin continues to fluctuate. Today's view is more optimistic, but the preceding days were not particularly inspiring.

From August 30 to September 5, the ETH price ranged between $1533 and $1577. It saw a slight increase above that threshold on September 6, however, that was the day when Bellatrix was upgraded. After the surge, the price fell to $1560 the following day, September 7, but ended at $1629.

It is not unexpected, given these price fluctuations, that liquidations are currently pushing the limits of the markets. A large portion of traders cannot maintain their positions, and exchanges are going to close them.

Things are abnormally unpredictable right now, play it smart...

While many would argue the smartest play is simply not using any leverage, the reality is that advice will be ignored by many people regardless.  So, at least meet in the middle, and perhaps use a bit less leverage than you normally would, and set stop losses so you always sell before you liquidate your positions. 

Even while many experts believe that the best move is to avoid using any kind of leverage at all, the fact of the matter is, many people are going to disregard that advice regardless.

At the very least, come to a compromise and consider using less leverage than you typically would. If you're not using stop losses so you always sell before you liquidate your positions, start using them now (you already should have been, in any market condition).

------- 

Author: Adam Lee 
Asia News Desk / Breaking Crypto News

So it's confirmed - A group of developers are working behind the scenes with Ethereum miners to hard fork the Ethereum blockchain after next week’s merge. This means there will still be a version of the network running on the current Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism while the 'official' Ethereum 2.0 blockchain transitions to Proof-of-Stake (PoS).

With that comes a separate and completely independent Ethereum token, currently being called 'ETHPoW' but the coin's official name is still undecided. 

All Ethereum holders will receive ETHPoW automatically, an amount equal to the regular Ethereum you hold...

Major exchanges Binance, MEXC Global, Gate.io, and FTX have already agreed to list and support trading of the forked token. Poloniex is even a step ahead of the rest, and has already listed a placeholder token that will be swapped for the real thing once it's live.

Coinbase and Kraken both say they're open to supporting it, but haven't yet made a full commitment, likely waiting to see if the coin will have any demand or value.

ETHPoW will join the two existing Ethereum tokens - the 'official' Ethereum (ETH) and Etherum Classic (ETC)...

The upcoming 2.0 fork won't be Ethereum's first, the previous fork ended with two coins and two versions of Ethereum - Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. 

To summarize what happened then - in 2016, hackers exploited a security hole in a project called 'The DAO' allowing them to steal about $50 million worth of ETH. A solution was proposed to re-launch Ethereum with the history of the hacked coins completely erased, like it never happened.

How they went about doing this caused a lot of controversy, it was all decided when the proposal was put to a short notice on-chain vote. Only 5.5% of potential voters participated, but since the majority of them voted 'yes', the fork happened.

Those in the Ethereum community who disagreed with the decision simply ignored the change and continued to participate on the original Ethereum network, which became known as Ethereum Classic. 

While Ethereum Classic is considered one of the most successful forked tokens, ETHPoW's Success is far from a 'sure thing'..

When Ethereum Classic started, its support, in large part, came from the controversy that created it.

Some in the community strongly disagreed with the idea of editing the 'true' history of the Ethereum blockchain, and Ethereum Classic kept that intact. Others disagreed with how the decision to fork the coin was made, saying they would support any decision that had over 50% of potential voters backing it, but the fork went ahead without even coming close.  

Ethereum Classic succeeded, and is still active today, because the people behind it truly believed in it.

But when it comes to Ethereum 2.0 - it isn't controversial, it doesn't violate the beliefs of a large portion of the community.  

The only segment of the community united against 2.0 are miners, because once Ethereum has fully moved to the 2.0 Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, miners are no longer needed to verify transactions. Their motivation to continue supporting the old version of Ethereum is entirely profit-based. These are the same miners who loved it when we couldn't send $1 on the Ethereum blockchain without paying a $75 fee.

That just doesn't sound like the beginning of a token that will have long term success.

Take a look at the two most successful forks in crypto's history - Ethereum Classic and Bitcoin Cash. All others have faded away, while these two remain in the top 50 because they're backed by a community of supporters who believe their existence is important. You can find their supporters making passionate arguments on where they think the 'official' version of the coin went wrong, and why these alternatives make things right.

This is why dumping ETHPoW as soon as possible may end up being the smartest move... 

There already is an Ethereum alternative for anyone who doesn't want to support the 'official' version - Ethereum Classic. It's already accomplished the hardest part - establishing itself among the small list of coins traders can trust to retain value, and can be found on every major exchange. 

There just isn't a good reason for another alternative - maybe the Ethereum brand is big enough where it finds support even if it isn't necessary. But even forks of Bitcoin that every Bitcoin holder received for free met a quick death, because people didn't believe they needed to survive. 

How to make sure you'll be able to access your ETHPoW as soon as it becomes available...

Typically the day forked coins go live, is the day they have the highest value, so if you're aiming to be among the first to trade yours, you'll want to transfer any Ethereum you own off of any exchanges and on to a wallet like Metamask, where you hold the private keys.  

Once it launches, you'll be credited an equal 1:1 amount of ETHPoW for any Ethereum you own, and will be able to access it in the same wallet that holds your regular Ethereum. You'll need to switch networks (blockchains) and we'll make sure to post the settings you'll need as soon as that becomes known. 

If your Ethereum is on an exchange they will need to take several additional steps to distribute each users portion, this is because they store multiple users coins together. In the past, some exchange users waited weeks or even months longer than those holding crypto in their own private wallets. 

Do you think ETHPoW has long term potential, or think odds are against it? Tweet us your thoughts @TheCryptoPress


-----------
Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News

In an interview before the Ethereum network finally migrates to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, the co-creator of that protocol, Vitalik Buterin, criticized the Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism,he claimed to be "concerned" about the safety of Bitcoin in that regard.

THE COMPUTER SCIENTIST EXPLAINED THE "TWO REASONS" WHY HE IS WORRIED ABOUT BITCOIN'S FUTURE...

For that year, miners' earnings are expected to depend only on commissions. Thankfully, there's more than a century left before that.

His second issue revolves around the Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism used to verify transactions, he insists that it is less than what Proof-of-stake(PoS) can offer if measured per dollar spent in transaction fees. 

However, he clarified that he's aware there's no sign this will ever happen: "the migration of Bitcoin out of Proof of Work appears to be politically unfeasible," referring to those in the Bitcoin developer community who raised the possibility of Bitcoin one day changing from PoW to PoS were met with overwhelming resistance.

One of the main reasons the Bitcoin community is against changing to PoS, is that they believe PoS based tokens give too much power to large stakeholders...

Buterin addresses this, saying; "They are based on the misconception that PoW and PoS are governance mechanisms, when in fact they are consensus mechanisms. All they do is help the network agree on the correct chain. A block that violates the protocol rules (if it tries to print more coins than the protocol rules allow, for example) will not be accepted by the network, no matter how many miners or participants support it."

Ironically, he's sharing these opinions while Ethereum itself is on the verge of switching from PoW to PoS...

Perhaps this is a subtle way to address concerns some may have about Ethereum's upcoming change -  he's addressing them, but as a hypothetical Bitcoin migration to PoS. 

"The funny thing is that bitcoiners (who tend to be the most pro-PoW) should understand this well, as the Bitcoin civil wars in 2017 very well demonstrated that miners are quite powerless in the governance process," he suggested. "In PoS, it's exactly the same: the participants don't choose the rules, they just execute them and help order the transactions." 

However, Ethereum Developers faced virtually no resistance from the community when proposing the change to PoS, with the exception of miners whos concerns were based on their personal profits, not the overall wellbeing of the network. 

Ethereum makes the move from PoW to PoS later this month, maybe.  There's been too many delays to count, and I've learned Ethereum 2.0 is a "I'll believe it when I see it' thing now.

------- 
Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News

The Iranian police force in the nation's capitol of Tehran have taken nearly 10,000 illegally running Bitcoin mining devices since March of this year.

The police action comes after Iranian officials ordered they crack down on Bitcoin miners due to the country's electrical infrastructure failing. Leaders there have blamed cryptocurrency mining leading to an increase in the demand for electricity as one of the causes for recent blackouts.

The most current Iranian government ruling on mining, which is still in effect, says that mining farms may only be powered by renewable energy sources, and not connected to the public grid.

The most recent amended version of the `law is more lenient than earlier versions, since it permits hiring power providers from other parts of Iran.

"Majority" Located in Schools and Mosques...

According to the director of the Tehran Electricity Distribution Company, majority of the seizures occurred in mosques and schools.

This is because most Mosques and Schools in the country are enrolled in incentive programs that give them free, or extremely discounted electricity.  Once you own the mining rigs the only expense miners  have to deal with are power costs, so taking advantage of locations like these makes mining an "all profit" venture.

Iran's mining industry has been on a wild ride full of ups and downs.  It's been allowed, it's been banned, and currently the rule is 'allowed, but with permission' which has miners needing to obtain the government's approval, and operate within government provided limitations.

We do not know if those who were found to be illegally mining will face any punishment beyond the loss of their hardware.

------- 

Author: Adam Lee 
Asia News Desk / Breaking Crypto News

We can now confirm that the Bellatrix upgrade is set for September 6th, with the Merge officially beginning on September 15.

The release of the 2.0 mainnet-ready clients just went live, those running 2.0 nodes are instructed to complete all required upgrades by Sept 6th, when the Bellatrix upgrade will happen.

After this, all that's left is the ACTUAL merge to Ethereum 2.0!

Out of all the milestones behind us, I have to say the the most impressive was seeing how the community came together to meet the requirement of 524,000 Ether deposited in the 2.0 contract in order to launch, and seeing that surpassed by over 400%. 

It's safe to say the crypto community is beyond ready for this to happen.

What do you need to do?

If you have no idea what any of the above means, you probably don't need to do anything.  

Everyone who is simply HODLing some Ethereum can relax, everything will happen automatically. 

If you do know what the above means, you probably don't need us to explain anything - the only thing I've seen some people unaware of is that you'll need to have BOTH an execution client (like Besu) and consensus client (like Teku) - so make sure you do, or you'll be pretty useless to the network post-merge.

The Upgrade After the Upgrade...

Once ETH2.0 is live, there's already one major change set to happen sometime in 2023...possibly 2024.

As mentioned already, a huge drop in the amount of computing power needed comes with the initial change to ETH 2.0, the following upgrade makes an equally drastic change to the amount of storage space needed.  

Combine these two factors, and the doors open for phones and various other low-power computers to run Ethereum.  The more devices participate, the more secure the network is. 

It's called 'sharding'. In simple terms, if you wanted to operate a node (which is basically the new way to mine Ethereum) it still requires downloading the entire Ethereum ledger, the database of all transactions in the history of Ethereum.  Thousands of computers maintaining this record is how 1 person trying to cheat immediately stands out, and fraudulent transactions are rejected.

Currently to mine Ethereum you'll need around 120GB disk space if running Windows, and half that if running Linux.   While not a huge amounts for a computer, it's more than most mobile devices.

But with sharding, the database gets split among all the computers on the network.  With a network the size of Ethereum, there's no additional security risk as a copy of every portion of the database will still exist on thousands of computers.

For those who want to get more involved...

With all the excitement around ETH 2.0, many people are looking to do more, like staking their coins and starting to earn more ETH for participating. 

As mentioned, nodes replace miners in ETH2.0 - and many people have an old laptop sitting in a box somewhere that is powerful enough to run one. Because they require significantly less computing power, they also use a significant less amount of electricity. Under the current system of miners, that same laptop probably wouldn't mine enough to cover the electricity costs.

You may be thinking "that sounds great" you may even have an old laptop in the closet collecting dust - well, the bad news is that in order to launch a node there's a requirement to own 32 ETH ($50,000 worth at time of publishing).

The upside is, you won't need to dust off that old laptop - you can participate in a pool.  This is where any number of people, dozens, hundreds, whatever, all contribute their ETH towards reaching the required 32 to launch node, with profits split depending on the total percentage someone contributes.  Many major exchanges will be running pools, some, like KuCoin are already accepting deposits and paying rewards. 

------- 
Author: Justin Derbek
New York News Desk
Breaking Crypto News

The Mid-year Crypto Crime Update from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis was just released, and shows some interesting data on how scammers handle the downturn.

Obviously, market conditions are quite different this year than last, so the total number of legitimate and scam transactions are down overall.

But scammers aren't as quick as as traders to take a step back, illicit transaction volume is down just 15%, compared to 36% for legitimate transactions.

"Total scam revenue for 2022 currently sits at $1.6 billion, 65% lower than where it was through the end of July in 2021, and this decline appears linked to declining prices across different currencies."

Get Rick Quick?  In Crypto? ...Right Now?

While the above data makes it look like it's 'business as usual' for scammers, one piece of data gives some very good news - less people are falling for scams now than in the last 4 years. 

"..he cumulative number of individual transfers to scams so far in 2022 is the lowest it’s been in the past four years."

Cannabis crowdfunding platform that was actually a ponzi scheme, JuicyFields, brought in the most revenue among scams so far this year, with over $1B of incoming transfers.  

The darknet marketplace also saw a decline in spending, with a large immediate decline happening alongside the takedown of Hydra Marketplace by German authorities. 

You can read the full report from Chainalysis here.


-----------
Author: Ross Davis
Silicon Valley Newsroom
GCP | Breaking Crypto News