After years of planning and implementation, Ethereum has successfully “merged” from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. The historic feat has been lauded by blockchain players, innovators and enthusiasts far and wide as the second most significant development in the blockchain space after the release of the bitcoin whitepaper over a decade ago.
That was the major headline of the week but we all know a week wouldn’t pass without an update on the Terra drama that has been in the air since May. So, we have. a bit on that. But, this week has been made interesting by a piece of surprising news.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has joined the Hyperledger blockchain forum. Blockchain association, Hyperledger announced the addition of eight new members to kick off Hyperledger Global Forum 2022. Guess what? The CBN was one of two central banks on the list.
Now, a bit of detail on these and many more stories from around the world this week.
Here we go:
The United States SEC will set up a crypto filing office
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it is setting up a dedicated office to review crypto-related filings in the coming months.
The SEC stressed the need to “provide greater and more specialized support” for crypto assets. Two offices are to be set up: an “Office of Crypto Assets” and an “Office of Industrial Applications and Services.” The two new offices will join the agency’s seven existing offices that “provide a focused review of issuer filing,” the SEC said.
This is a beautiful development in the right direction by the United States. Their counterparts in the African region should emulate this.
Or what do you think?
Ethereum completes The Merge
Ethereum has completed its transition to Proof-of-Stake. The world’s second-biggest blockchain launched its long-awaited “Merge” update early Thursday, moving the network from a Proof-of-Work to a Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm.
Related post: Merge will improve Ethereum’s transaction speed
Ethereum developers celebrated the upgrade alongside other prominent community members with a live streaming party: over 40,000 people tuned in to watch as the Merge shipped.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin marked the event on Twitter, saying it was “a big moment for the Ethereum ecosystem.”
Proof-of-Stake is set to bring several major changes to the Ethereum network. Probably the most significant of these changes is an estimated 99.95% reduction in energy consumption. As Ethereum will no longer rely on miners operating energy-intensive hardware, it will become much more efficient.
Ethereum Foundation researcher, Justin Drake also said on the Ethereum Foundation’s live stream that the move would reduce worldwide electricity consumption by 0.2%. Additionally, the network will stop paying ETH to miners, leading to an issuance reduction of around 90%. Ethereum previously emitted around 13,000 ETH daily, but now it will only pay out around 1,600 ETH to validators.
The Merge is a monumental event not just for the Ethereum community but also for the wider blockchain community.
CBN joins the international blockchain association
Blockchain association, Hyperledger has announced the addition of eight new members, two of which are two central banks – the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and la Banque de France (BDF).
On Monday, the Hyperledger Foundation informed the public about the newest additions in a press release. Others include Realto Group, CasperLabs, Digital Identity Laboratory of Canada, International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA), BCW Group, and DSR Corporation.
The Hyperledger Global Forum is the biggest annual gathering of a global community. It is a unique opportunity for contributors, members, service providers and enterprise end users from around the world to meet, align, plan and hack together.
This is a surprising twist because the forum is open to everyone involved or interested in developing or learning about Hyperledger’s open-source enterprise blockchain technologies. Hence, the CBN’s admission will allow the apex bank’s team to learn and test possible solutions at the forum.
With its own digital currency already in the trade, we are not sure what other blockchain-based solution the CBN is planning to create.
Read also: eNaira completes 12,500 transactions worth N46.3m in 2 weeks after launch
Commenting on the development, Daniela Barbosa, executive director at HyperLedger Foundation said bringing new members into the fold has multiple advantages for everyone involved and beyond:
“Our newest members are bringing a diversity of innovation into the Hyperledger community, accelerating the development of open, decentralized technologies that will be the infrastructure for many generations of new services and applications.”
Recall that this is coming just a week after Nigeria entered a partnership with Binance to build a digital economic area similar to Dubai’s in the country. Does the Nigerian authority have more in the bag for blockchain?
Read also: IMF names 97 countries with CBDCs, only two have fully launched
South Korea issues Do Kwon arrest warrant
A Thursday report from local media house Munhwa Ilbo has revealed that the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office for Financial and Securities Crimes requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to revoke the passports of Do Kwon and five other South Korean nationals to force them to return to the country.
A court in Seoul issued the arrest warrant for Kwon, and five other officials believed to be hiding in Singapore.
These include Nicholas Plates, a founding member of Terraform Labs and Han Mo, an employee. The latest warrant is said to have been requested by five prosecutors spread out across three teams led by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office’s Financial and Securities Crime Unit.
According to the report, the six are charged with violating South Korea’s Capital Markets Act by engaging in financial fraud.
“The main charges against them are violations of the Capital Markets Act. Prosecutors are known to believe that cryptocurrencies Terra and Luna fall under “investment contract securities” under the Capital Market Act,”
The arrest warrants were issued months after the widely-documented crash of the Terra network back in May. Recall that Do Kwon, CEO of the defunct Terra Labs resurfaced last month for his first public appearance since the catastrophic event.
Here is all from us for this week. See you next week!
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