1、The Merge is done

Ethereum has completed the merge of the mainnet and beacon chain at 14:43 on September 15, 2022, UTC+8, marking the phase-out of Ethereum Proof-of-work (PoW) and the full transition to proof-of-interest (PoS), and has produced the first PoS block (height: 15537394). The first PoS block is packaged and verified by: 0 xeee27662c2b8eba3cd936a23f039f3189633e4c8. Binance ETHUSDT's perpetual funding ratio has fallen from nearly -0.5% before the merge to about -0.24% since the merge, hedging or reducing short positions. At the same time, the ETH lent on Aave is also being returned after the merge, and the capital utilization rate has fallen below 75%.

2、Us August unadjusted CPI annual rate 8.3%, core CPI annual rate 6.3%

U.S. August unadjusted CPI annual rate of 8.3%, vs 8.1 percent expected and 8.5% previously. U.S. core CPI annualized 6.3% in August, up 5.90% and 6.10% expected. U.S. stock index futures tumbled after the CPI data, with Dow futures down 0.6 %, Nasdaq futures down more than 1% and S&P 500 futures down 0.8%. According to CME FedWatch, there is now a 20% chance of a 100bps rate hike and an 80% chance of a 75bps rate hike due to the higher than expected CPI. Coinbase was down 8.5% in premarket trading, with bitcoin falling below $21,300 and Ethereum below $1,600.

3、After merge, ETC, RVN, CFX hashrate has soared link

4、MicroStrategy Files to Sell Up to $500M of Stock to Fund Bitcoin Purchases link
MicroStrategy (MSTR), a software developer that has become a corporate bitcoin (BTC) vault, plans to sell up to $500 million of stock to fund more purchases of the cryptocurrency.

A Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed the stock offering, which will be for “general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of bitcoin.”

5、Huobi is taking down anonymous tokens such as DASH, XMR and ZEC for regulatory reasons

Huobi announced this week that in accordance with the latest comments on global financial regulation and the provisions of Article 17, paragraph 16 of the Huobi Token Management Rules, Huobi Global has stopped trading anonymous tokens such as DASH, DCR, FIRO, XMR, XVG, ZEC and ZEN on September 6 and will take them down on September 19.

6、Ether’s New ‘Staking’ Model Could Draw SEC Attention link

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said Thursday that cryptocurrencies and intermediaries that allow holders to “stake” their coins might pass a key test used by courts to determine whether an asset is a security. Known as the Howey test, it examines whether investors expect to earn a return from the work of third parties. 

7、The public miners have less liquid balance sheets  link

According to Arcane Research, public miners are struggling due to the collapse in bitcoin prices, increased mining difficulty and higher energy prices. An analysis of eight public mining companies using quick ratios, which measure the ability of current assets to service debt and equal cash equivalents to current liabilities, shows that six of them have seen their quick ratios fall since March 31. Marathon suffered the biggest drop, with a Stronghold quick ratio of 0.3 and negative working capital. Unless Bitcoin's price rebounds, the company faces a difficult time making a living in the coming months.

8、Amber Group begins layoffs

Amber Group recently started layoffs, with some teams laying off a large percentage of employees. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Amber Group sought funding at a $10 billion valuation. Amber responded by saying it is a quarterly business change, which is larger than usual based on bear market expectations.

9、Norges Bank Central Bank is building the CBDC sandbox on Ethereum, and Nahmii has released the sandbox source code on GitHub

Norges Bank Central Bank is building a central bank digital currency (CBDC) sandbox on Ethereum, and has developed an infrastructure prototype based on Ethereum technology. Ethereum scaling solution Nahmii has released the CBDC sandbox source code on GitHub. This follows the announcement in May that Nahmii had been selected through a competitive tender to work with Norges Bank to build a sandbox environment for Norges Bank.

10、South Korean prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for Terra's founder, Do Kwon link

South Korean prosecutors have issued a one-year arrest warrant for Do Kwon, the Singapore-based founder of Terra, who is expected to be wanted by Interpol, the Chosun Ilbo reported. Terraform Labs co-founder Nicholas Platias and employee Han Mo are also included. The main charge against them is violation of South Korea's capital market law.

Fundraising

• Binance Labs Co-leads the Seed Round for Hooked Protocol to Drive Community-Owned Economies  link

• Crypto data infrastructure platform Goldsky raises $20 million seed round  link

• Reddit’s Ohanian Leads $54 Million Doodles Capital Raise  link

• J.P. Morgan invests in trading network Ownera’s $20 million raise  link

• Arpeggi Labs raises $5.1m led by a16z crypto to build open-source music creation link

• Binance Labs Boosts Strategic Investment in Aptos Labs to Expand Commitment to Infrastructure Building  link

• Token Management Platform Magna Raises $15M Seed Round at $70M Valuation  link

• Blockchain data firm launches out of stealth mode with $7m raise link

Learn more, check out  crypto-fundraising.info.

Insights

• Merge Manual link

• Recap of Metrics on the Eve of the Merge  link

• Will ETH Be Ultra Sound Money After The Merge?  link

• Does the Merge change how Ethereum is regulated? (No.)  link

• Why the Flippening Is Good for Crypto  link

• 15 Bad Takes on Ethereum  link

• Base Layer Neutrality  link

• Why Ethereum is Poised for Growth: A Look at Network Valuation link

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