Ethereum Merge Date Proposed for September, Liquidator Comes for 3AC, US SEC Talks Exemptions + More News

 

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.

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Blockchain news

• Ethereum (ETH) developer Tim Beiko proposed September 19th as the tentative date for the long-expected Merge that will see the network transition from proof-of-work (PoW) mining consensus to proof-of-stake (PoS). Ethereum also successfully completed its ninth shadow fork, which went live 15 hours ahead of schedule and focused on testing Ethereum’s so-called maximal extractable value (MEV) boost feature.

Legal news

• Liquidator Teneo has hired Singapore-based law firm WongPartnership to petition the High Court for provisional relief that would allow Teneo to administer crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital’s assets in the city-state and subpoena co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, the Straits Times reported. If successful, Teneo would be able to secure Three Arrows’ assets in Singapore for the hedge fund’s creditors, they said.

Investment news

• Crypto hedge fund DeFiance Capital said it was “materially affected” and “prejudiced” by the liquidation of rival fund Three Arrows Capital. They claimed that their CEO Arthur Cheong had “no visibility” on Three Arrow Capital’s financial statements or conditions.

Regulation news

• US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler said that the agency might consider exempting crypto companies from certain securities laws, hoping that the exemption will persuade more crypto companies to comply with regulations in general. However, he also stressed that several crypto companies were operating outside compliance standards, though he did not highlight any specific names.
• The European Central Bank (ECB) published a report that claims that the combined carbon footprint for bitcoin (BTC) and ether negates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings for most Eurozone countries as of May 2022. The authors deem all blockchains based on the PoW consensus mechanism as non-sustainable, putting the whole green transition project at risk.
• The Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), the advocacy body representing Indian crypto industry interests, has been dissolved by its parent organization, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), CoinDesk reported, citing a statement. IAMAI made the decision without discussing the matter with the BACC, the outlet added.

CBDC news

• China has officially expanded its digital yuan pilot zone to 23 locations, according to local news outlets.

NFT news

• Metaverse project Mandala announced a partnership with layer-2 solution Immutable X to build a multi-platform interoperable metaverse.
• Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea announced mass layoffs, of up to 20% of its staff, due to “an unprecedented combination of crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability.”

DeFi news

• Crypto exchange DeversiFi announced it is transforming into rhino.fi, a “gateway” to decentralized finance (DeFi), which they say offers users “access to the multi-chain world from a single app.” The project is expanding to include other sovereign chains, including BNB, Avalanche (AVAX), and Arbitrum, as well as Ethereum Layer 2 Optimism, and it will be connected with the Cosmos (ATOM) and Polkadot (DOT) ecosystems.