Overview
- ATOM continues 90 Day uptrend!
- How is Coinbase looking to influence politics?
- Has Ethereum become more centralized?
Good morning Banter Fam,
The Ethereum Merge has transpired, and the high emissions from miners are long gone. So how deflationary is Ethereum now? What’s its case as ultra-sound money? Let’s explore.
Firstly, I’m not the only one excited about ETH’s deflationary mechanics. Here’s what Arthur Hayes had to say:
Diving deeper into the subject, @korpi87 tweeted on one of the most epic threads on Ethereum’s tokenomics. This thread is an absolute must-read if you want to understand Ethereum’s issuance model.
And guess what? Ethereum went deflationary immediately after the Merge. May it never look back!
Market update 🌍
ETH/USD 1D
Maybe the Merge was a “buy the rumor, sell the news event.” Or maybe, it’s just a hangover. Whatever the case, ETH fell considerably despite its successful upgrade to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). ETH price nears a $1,430 support level with a good amount of momentum after falling to $1,474, down -10.00% yesterday.
High-resolution chart
BTC/USDT 1D
Bitcoin (BTC) price continues to trek lower while volume continues to increase. The trip to the $19.2k support seems a strong likelihood. According to his analysis, Bitcoin trader Willy Woo tweeted about the possibility of BTC reaching a low of $9,100. BTC completed the daily candle down -2.59% to $19,700.
High-resolution chart
ATOM/USD 1D
Behind increasing amounts of users, stakers, and TVL, Cosmos Hub (ATOM) continues to climb upwards. The ATOM token has been in a clear uptrend for nearly 90 days with little signs of slowing down. As a result, ATOM completed the daily candle up +6.71% to $14.91. Some notable projects using Cosmos are Kujira (KUJI), Evmos (EVMOS), Juno (JUNO), and Osmosis (OSMO).
High-resolution chart
| US markets close | Gain/Loss |
| S&P 500 | -1.13% |
| Nasdaq | -1.48% |
| Dow | -0.34% |
| VIX | +0.34% |
Notable Gainers (24h):
| Protocol (Coin) | Price ($) | Gain (%) |
| Cosmos Hub (ATOM) | 15.20 | +11 |
| Evmos (EVMOS) | 3.07 | +8 |
| Osmosis (OSMO) | 1.35 | +6 |
| Quant (QNT) | 103.21 | +5 |
| Voyager VGX (VGX) | 0.77 | +9 |
| Golem (GLM) | 0.32 | +8 |
| Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index | 20 Extreme Fear |
| “Crypto” Google Trends 90d | 57 |
| “Bitcoin” Google Trends 90d | 27 |
Newswatch 📰
Coinbase adds a politician-tracking “policy efforts” feature on the trading app. In a tweet early Thursday morning, CEO Brian Armstrong introduced a new feature on the Coinbase app that tracks the crypto-friendliness of each US politician. In addition, Armstrong wants to help pro-crypto candidates solicit donations for the Coinbase community. Armstrong stated,” Crypto advocacy is very important for our mission of increasing economic freedom in the world, and Coinbase will do its part to help.”
FTX leads the bid to buy Voyager’s digital assets. Crypto lender and exchange Voyager filed for bankruptcy earlier in the year after the drawdown in crypto markets led to the liquidation of many of its positions. The firm rejected FTX’s offer to purchase Voyager’s assets a month later. The preceding bankruptcy litigation led to an auction in which FTX currently leads. The offer amount is unknown.
Ethereum is showing signs of centralization. According to Martin Köppelmann, co-founder of Gnosis, hours after the Merge event, two validator entities created 40% of Ethereum PoS blocks: Coinbase and Lido Ether validator staking services. The large percentage of block creation brings the question of centralization to the Ethereum network. Furthermore, the tweet featured a pole in which 75% of the voters agreed that “This needs to change.”
News tidbits:
- stETH is near recovering the peg to ETH after staked ETH surges post-merge.
- CFTC is prepared to be crypto’s regulatory watchdog.
- Binance Labs increases investment into Aptos Labs.
NFT & metaverse update 🐵
- Seventeen seconds into the Merge, the first NFT, “The Transition,” was minted on the Ethereum PoS blockchain and cost 36.8 ETH in transaction fees.
- Fortnite creator Epic Games’ store launches its first NFT-based game: “Blankos Block Party.”
- A leaked Yuga Labs document notes the firm’s intention to launch a new NFT collection called Mecha Apes by the year’s end. Yuga Labs allegedly looks to raise $50m from the project but currently denies its existence.
Banter’s take
And just like that, the Ethereum Merge came to pass without wild price action, mishaps, or significant controversies. But, as big as the event was to crypto, it seemingly held little importance to the masses. And honestly, I doubt it’s the kind of story grandkids will be eager to hear. Imagine:
Me in 2065:
“Kiddos, I was there when Ethereum confirmed its first PoS block…..”
Kiddos:
“Zzzzzzzz.”
Well, not all important events unfold glamorously. So it was a quiet evening with 40k geeks (myself included) watching some coded pandas being live-streamed to inaugurate the finality. Then I minted a few commemorative NFTs and called it a night.
What’s essential is the Merge transpired smoothly and highlighted the proficiency of the Ethereum devs. May they continue quietly building the future in the background while the rest of us squint at candle-laden trading screens and yell at each other across Twitter.
Much honor. 🙏
Gabri
Follow me on Twitter for daily updates!
Disclaimer
Good Morning crypto (issued by Crypto Banter) is a newsletter for entertainment purposes only.
All opinions expressed by the publisher, writers, and chartists should not be construed as financial advice and do not necessarily reflect the views of Crypto Banter. The publisher, writers, and chartists may hold positions in the tokens and assets discussed. Readers are encouraged to do their own research.
