Bitcoin Volatility, LUNA and LUNC Rollercoaster, Ethereum Merge Hype: This Week’s Crypto Roundup

The last seven days were action-packed, and it’s safe to say that interesting developments took place on all fronts. Bitcoin went through significant volatility and Terra’s ecosystem in the face of both LUNC and LUNA went on a massive rollercoaster while the Ethereum Merge countdown officially started with the Bellatrix upgrade. Let’s unpack.

Starting with Bitcoin, it got off on the wrong foot. For the first few days of the last week, BTC was capped around $20K – a trend we saw for quite some time before that. On Tuesday, however, the sellers took control and pushed the price towards $18,000.

This level proved pivotal, as it had previously supported the price on three separate occasions. Once again the bulls were able to hold the line and started a comeback earlier today. In less than 24 hours, buyers managed to send BTC towards $21,000, charting a massive increase of almost 10%. In doing so, they managed to turn the last seven days green as BTC charted gains close to 5%.

Elsewhere, the Bellatrix upgrade went live on Ethereum’s Beacon chain. This is the last upgrade to take place before the coveted Paris hard fork (more commonly referred to as “the merge”). The purpose is to enable validators to start producing updated Beacon blocks that will contain the codebase for merging the two layers – the consensus and execution layers.

This puts the merger right around the corner. According to the latest estimates, it will take place on September 12. This will officially mark the transition of Ethereum to a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm – a feat that no other major cryptocurrency has achieved so far, should it be successful, of course.

The Terra ecosystem also saw a lot of attention in the face of both Luna Classic (the classic version of the cryptocurrency) and the one produced as a result of the post-collapse hard fork – LUNA.

The former (LUNC) has rallied 67.3% in the past seven days, and the main reason for that is the new staking service launched on the Terra Classic chain on August 27, giving investors a solid return of around 37% on their staking, when this is written.

On the other hand, we have LUNA – the cryptocurrency that powers the chain produced after the hard fork. It rose by a whopping 300% today. The interesting thing is that this took place within a couple of hours. However, after hitting the daily highs, the coin bounced back to where it is currently trading, charting a gain of around 170%, highlighting the huge volatility.

All in all, it has been a very eventful week with a lot of excitement in the market. With the Ethereum Merge scheduled to take place next week, it remains particularly interesting to see how the market will shape up.

Market data

Market Cap: $1,087 Billion | 24H Vol.: $94B | BTC dominance: 37.1%

BTC: $21,091 (+4.7%) | ETH: $1,722 (+8.4%) | ADA: $0.495 (+8%)

This week’s crypto headlines you can’t miss

Ethereum Merge: What does this mean for stakers and miners? The transition to proof-of-stake will not only alleviate some of the energy issues, but will also have significant implications for staking, mining, and general usage. Here’s what it means for existing miners.

Coinbase Fund’s lawsuit against the Treasury Department for sanctioning Tornado Cash. The leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, will support the lawsuit against the US Treasury Department after it sanctioned the Tornado Cash privacy protocol. The exchange “seeks to defend the crypto industry against actions that go too far.”

Ethereum is not money: Arthur Hayes. The co-founder and former CEO of the derivatives exchange BitMEX – Arthur Hayes – claimed that Ethereum does not represent money. He spoke about the deflationary economics surrounding the upcoming merger and why there is more to the story when it comes to the design of an effective monetary instrument.

The good, the bad and the ugly as El Salvador celebrates first Bitcoin adoption birthday. This week marked exactly one year since El Salvador first adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. We take a look at everything that happened in between and what it actually meant for the country.

Ethereum Classic is a dead project: Cardanos Charles Hoskinson. Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, claimed that Ethereum Classic (ETC) is a dead project. He also said that it serves no real purpose and that there is no argument for its existence.

What is Bellatrix Hard Fork: Ethereum’s last upgrade before the merge. This week saw Ethereum’s network go through the Bellatrix hard fork. This is the last upgrade before the merger, which will mark the transition of the protocol towards a proof-of-stake (PoS) governance consensus. Here’s everything you need to know about it.