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Top Story
It’s official: Ethereum makes the Merge announcement
Ethereum officially announced the dates for the long-awaited Merge update. On Wednesday, Ethereum Foundation published an announcement, in which it listed the dates, phases and final roadmap of the Merge.
The Merge will occur in two phases – the Bellatrix and Paris upgrades. The transition, known as The Merge, will be first activated on the Beacon Chain with the Bellatrix upgrade, which is expected to happen at 11:37 am UCT on September 6, 2022.
The next and final step will be triggering the Merge with the Paris upgrade, which has a less specific date, as it’s determined by a particular Terminal Total Difficulty value. The TTD value is dependent on the proof-of-work hash rate, and the higher the hash rate goes, the sooner the Paris upgrade will happen. It’s estimated to happen at some point between September 10 and 20.
Snacks
Abu Dhabi to launch blockchain and virtual assets strategy
The Abu Dhabi Blockchain and Virtual Assets Committee (ADBVAC) held its first meeting to discuss the Emirate’s strategy for blockchain and virtual assets. The Committee also plans to launch a blockchain and virtual assets strategy and emphasized the importance of regulating the space and increasing compliance with international and local regulations. The Committee held the meeting under the chairmanship of Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) and the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), with the aim of improving Abu Dhabi’s competitiveness in blockchain and virtual asset space. Meanwhile, Dubai’s VARA on Thursday announced regulatory guidelines on marketing, advertising and promotions of virtual assets across Dubai.
South Korea to tax crypto airdrops
The South Korean government is planning to tax people who receive blockchain-based token giveaways, or airdrops. People could pay up to 50% in taxes when they receive airdrops and the tax will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The South Korean government recently announced that they would delay plans to impose a 20% tax on all crypto earnings until 2025. Government officials cited stagnant market conditions and the time needed to prepare investor protection measures to defer the crypto tax policy.
Market Moves
EOS on a bullish rally
Despite the broader cryptocurrency market underperforming, EOS seems to be in demand showing a bullish momentum this week. The technical indicator also reflected the increase in buying strength for EOS. The price momentum indicator, the Relative Strength Index, has been hovering near the oversold zone, and with a further increase in demand, EOS could soon enter the overbought position. In the past seven days, EOS price has rallied by 12.9% and traded at a weekly high of $1.89.
Filecoin trades in the red
Filecoin has been trading in a strong downward trend this week, going down by 8.4% in the past seven days. Data indicates that more traders seem to be selling than buying Filecoin, driving the price further down. The drop comes in a response to the current crypto market conditions, which haven’t been favorable to many altcoins in the past few days, wiping Filecoin’s gains since the end of July, which has seen it surge by 16.9% in the last 30 days, in spite of this week’s drop.
Trending
Nike becomes the highest-earning brand for NFT sales
Sportswear giant Nike’s NFT projects have brought the company’s revenue from NFTs to $185.34 million, more than seven times that of luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana, which ranks second in NFT profits, according to Dune Analytics data. Roughly half of Nike’s NFT revenue was generated by primary sales while the other half is from royalties. In total, Nike NFTs have generated $1 billion in revenue on the secondary market, of which the Swoosh NFT alone took $93 million.
Limited-edition M&Ms with Bored Apes icons
Candy brand Mars announced today that it has signed a deal with Universal Music Group (UMG) label ‘10:22PM’ to create limited edition M&M’s based on Kingship, a virtual band made up of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club avatars. Mars will sell only 10,000 packages of the limited-edition M&Ms between gift boxes and gift jars, with the images of the Bored Apes and Kingship iconography on the chocolate candies.
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