This Week in Crypto #23

Originally posted here.
By: Az

Overview

Ethereum’s journey towards transitioning from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus method to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus method has been long and hard, with the dev team having to overcome many obstacles along the way. The process begun way back in December 2020, with the launch of the Beacon chain. But now they are one step closer […]

The Post

Ethereum’s journey towards transitioning from a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus method to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus method has been long and hard, with the dev team having to overcome many obstacles along the way. The process begun way back in December 2020, with the launch of the Beacon chain. But now they are one step closer with the Goerli testnet merge.

And for all the avid gamers, you’ll be surprised to see that Affinity is collaborating with Square Enix to bring Final Fantasy NFTs to fruition.

This and much more in today’s This Week In Crypto.

Let’s dive in!

Eth Merge

The Ethereum Goerli testnet merge date has been confirmed. This will be the last testnet proof-of-stake transition before the mainnet Ethereum Merge. During the merge, Goerli will merge with Prater. Node operators will have to update both – their consensus layer and execution layer clients.

The merge will commence on the 4th of August, and it consists of two phases.

Phase One: Bellatrix, the Prater upgrade readying it for The Merge will happen at epoch 112260, expected at 12:24PM UTC on August 4, 2022.

Phase Two: After Bellatrix is activated, the Goerli/Prater merge will happen when Goerli hits a total difficulty of 10790000, expected between August 6-12, 2022.

After the merge, Goerli’s validator set will remain open for individual stakers to run testnets validators. Stakers who wish to start a Goerli/Prater validator can do so at the Prater Launchpad.

Avalanche

The new Avalanche explorer update brings with it a new and improved stats page for anyone looking for stats on Avalanche’s main net, or any of its sub nets.

Also, if you missed it, Fractal is bringing DIDs to the Avalanche ecosystem, allowing users to jump from one Avalanche dApp to another. Thanks to the move, users only need to verify their identity once in order to use all Avalanche dApps.

Read more here .

Have you seen the new and improved stats page on the Avalanche Explorer?

The upgrade enables easy exploration and comparison of network stats across not only the C-chain, but also #Avalanche Subnets! https://t.co/S2OukIMIW7 pic.twitter.com/ThoR1anq8q

— Avalanche (@avalancheavax) July 25, 2022

Polygon X Clearpool institutional lending

ClearpoolFin is the first decentralised marketplace for uncollateralised institutional lending, launching on the Polygon blockchain. Clearpool can now take advantage of all the benefits of the Polygon network. The move will allow Clearpool’s substantial network of borrowers to benefit from large-scale, institutional DeFi within the Polygon DeFi ecosystem, as well as achieve better capital efficiency, all while having an improved user experience.

The first decentralized marketplace for uncollateralized institutional lending, @ClearpoolFin , is launching #onPolygon .

This brings greater capital efficiency and improved user experience to Clearpool’s substantial network of borrowers.

[1/2]https://t.co/S216bMUsit

— Polygon – MATIC (@0xPolygon) July 28, 2022

Polkadot’s Efinity X Final Fantasy NFTs

The NFT and gaming focused Polkadot parachain, Efinity, has officially partnered with gaming studio Square Enix to create an NFT collection based on one of the most successful video game series of all time, the Final Fantasy game franchise.

2/ Polkadot parachain @Efinityio partnered with @SquareEnix to release NFTs based on the @finalfantasyvii franchise.@FinalFantasy is one of the most successful video game series of all time.https://t.co/OKi8RimEMQ

— Polkadot (@Polkadot) July 26, 2022

Moonbeam X Cosmos

The EVM-compatible Polkadot parachain Moonbeam has integrated with Comos-based DEX Osmosis, enabling one-click token swaps between the Polkadot and Cosmos chains. The integration is made viable through the Axelar Network, enabling asset transfers and dApp deployments across the two chains.

1/ Moonbeam <> @osmosiszone cross-chain integration is now LIVE via @axelarcore , enabling one-click swaps between the two chains.

This brings together @Polkadot & @Cosmos — connecting two of the biggest interoperable ecosystems in the space

— Moonbeam Network #HarvestMoonbeam (@MoonbeamNetwork) July 23, 2022

Barclays

One of the UK’s leading banking giants, Barclays, recently invested  into Copper, a Switzerland-based crypto-based custody broker, acquiring a $2 billion stake.

Barclays is buying a stake in Copper, a crypto company that counts former UK Chancellor Philip Hammond among its advisers, according to Sky News https://t.co/pWFh4Reu4Y

— Bloomberg (@business) July 25, 2022

Yuga Labs Lawsuit

There is a proposed class-action lawsuit taking place against Board Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creators Yuga Labs.

The lawsuit, which is being overseen by law firm Scott+Scott, suggests that Yuga Labs “inappropriately induced” investors to purchase their BAYC NFTs, promoting the Apes through celebrity affiliation, which in turn would “inflate the price”.

The BAYC scenario is not the only argument for the lawsuit, as the lawsuit also talks about Yuga Lab’s most recent token launch, APE coin, in a similar fashion.

Yuga Labs “inappropriately induced” investors to buy BAYC NFTs and ApeCoin, claims Scott+Scott

Via @shaliniX0 https://t.co/AIEpWTBDhu

— Blockworks (@Blockworks_) July 25, 2022

University of Tokyo metaverse

Lastly, the University of Tokyo is stepping into the Metaverse. The Faculty of Engineering of the University of Tokyo will be offering a wide range of Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and programming study courses within a virtual world. The courses will not only be available to students, but also to fully employed adults. Its main focus will be to address a lack of skilled individuals working in “digital transformation” and “advanced technologies” within the country.

The venture is set to commence at the end of 2022.

Breaking #Metaverse News

Tokyo university embraces metaverse, offers courses in the virtual world – Crypto News Flash https://t.co/PMROZl60E1 #Web3 #VR #AR #AI #Blockchain #Crypto #NFT #DataScience #BigData #Analytics #ML #digital #Python #TensorFlow #Fintech #JavaScript #Co …

— Philip D Hughes – Breaking Metaverse News (@PDH_Metaverse) July 25, 2022

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