Ethereum Merge Is Live & Other Stories

On Sept. 15 at 06:42:42 UTC at block 15537393, the Merge saw the merging of the Ethereum mainnet execution layer and the Beacon Chain's consensus layer at the Terminal Total Difficulty of 58750000000000000000000, meaning the network will no longer rely on a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism.

The Ethereum Foundation said the Merge will make the Ethereum network about 99.95% more energy efficient and will set the stage for future scaling solutions, including sharding.

With the Merge complete, the "Surge," "Verge," "Purge" and "Splurge" are the final stages left on the Ethereum technical roadmap.

The Surge will increase scalability for rollups through sharding, the Verge will achieve statelessness through Verkle trees, the Purge will eliminate historical data and technical debt, and the Splurge will involve a number of minor miscellaneous upgrades.

U.S. inflation decelerated in August, but remained higher than expected, which is a direct that the U.S. Federal Reserve will stay aggressive in raising interest rates.

The consumer price index rose 8.3% in August from a year earlier, a mild slowdown from the 8.5% reported for July. Economists at FactSet had forecasted a 8.1% increase, and so the number was slightly higher than expectations.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose 15% over the weekend in anticipation of a positive report for August but dropped 4% after the new numbers were released. Ethereum (ETH), which has largely been trading in an upward trend because of the Merge.

Microstrategy decided to sell company shares for an aggregate price of up to $500 million. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, they contracted two global investment firms, BTIG and Cowen, as agents for this process. The filing stated that in addition to the proceeds being used for "general corporate purposes," MicroStrategy would allocate part of the money to purchasing more Bitcoin.

A company started acquiring crypto in 2020 using money raised from stock and bond offerings, accumulating around 130,000 BTC valued at just over $2.7 billion. Yet, after a dramatic 70% fall in BTC price after tapping an all-time high of $68,900 in November, the company's Bitcoin value was greatly affected. In the second quarter, MicroStrategy reported a loss of about $1 billion alongside a $917.8 million impairment charge tied to a decline in the value of its Bitcoin stash.

Meanwhile, the crypto community has lauded this move, with many believing that the company's strategy to continue buying the cryptocurrency could keep providing a boost for crypto prices.

Blockchain developer Cardano ranks #26 among 600 brands in a new report about consumers' emotional connection to brands. Cardano holds the top spot in the crypto industry. Bitcoin stands at #30.

According to the report, brand intimacy refers to the emotional connections brands can build with users. MBLM utilized artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to understand consumer relationships with some of the world's leading brands, including Tesla, Apple and Disney.

The researchers expressed that compared to the last year, Cardano is not only a new entry but the highest-ranked in crypto and the highest performing financial services brand in the study. On Twitter, users responded to Cardano's ranking, outpacing legacy brands like Google and eBay.

BitGo has accused Galaxy of "improper repudiation" and "intentional breach" of the merger in a lawsuit after the latter terminated the $1.2 billion acquisition deal with BitGo in mid-August. The plaintiff seeks more than $100 million in damages.

Galaxy terminated the BitGo acquisition on August 15. The company argued that it exercised its right to drop the deal in line with the merger agreement after BitGo failed to deliver audited financial statements for 2021.

Polygon, whose software is a popular Ethereum scaling solution, plans to add 200 people in the team by the end of 2022 as it moves to capitalize on the woes of other crypto companies.

Some of the new hires will join its ranks of roughly 500 full-time employees while others will be contractors working on projects related to the wider Polygon ecosystem. The company is hiring managers as well as engineers and staff for overseeing partnerships.

Polygon welcomed 30 developers from One Planet, a non-fungible token (NFT) launchpad which moved to Polygon after the Terra stablecoin project imploded in May. The company has also hired from large tech companies, including Amazon.com Inc., Electronic Arts Inc. and YouTube. Coinbase's Ryan Kuhel recently joined Polygon as partnerships manager.

Art, artifacts, and untold family stories from the celebrated Mexican painter Frida Kahlo are being digitized and uploaded to the metaverse.

The family of Frida Kahlo released never-before-seen art and memorabilia tied to the artist into the metaverse. The content was shown in a permanent exhibition during the third-annual Metaverse Art Week in Decentraland, held in late August.

Metaverse users can also experience the art and personal anecdotes told by close family members in a digital replica of the "Red House." The house represents the real-life version of the Red House, owned by the family, which stands in Mexico City. Experience the artwork here.

Market Cap is $252,115,828

OMG Network, formerly known as OmiseGo, is an Ethereum scaling solution. It is designed to allow users to transfer ETH and ERC20 tokens significantly faster and more inexpensively than on the Ethereum network.

OMG Network's goal is to create a product that equally benefits people who use traditional banking services and those who don't have access to banking services simultaneously.

Omise offers multiple services to help people avoid using centralized banks, for example, currency exchange and asset trading. The platform itself is protected from double spending and cyber attacks.