This week in coins: Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to see growth as merger looms

Last week’s entire market positive price action was sustained this week as leading cryptocurrencies continued to make significant gains.

Bitcoinat the time of writing, had added 8.5% to its market value to sell for $24,214, and Ethereum fans enjoyed an even bigger rally, with their favorite coin blowing up 12.5% ​​to $1,714.

Much of the buzz around Ethereum is due to the fact that the network is lay the foundation for a major overhaul – also called the merge – when Ethereum will cut energy consumption by 99.95% by moving from a proof-of-work blockchain to a proof-of-stake model. A final testnet deployment called Goerli is expected to take place early August before the network is ready for complete transition.

As Ethereum prepares for the big changes, Ethereum Classic is also exploding. ETC is based on Ethereum’s original ledger, which includes a notorious $55 million DAO hack which was deleted from Ethereum by voting. The coin rose 52% this week to $40.

Ethereum Classic’s rally comes after crypto mining pool Antpool announced a investment of 10 million dollars to support projects built on Ethereum Classic, which will remain a proof-of-work blockchain after the merger.

Other notable performers this week among the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap include Cardano (up 11% to $0.53), Polkadot (up 20% to $8.64), Polygon (up 14% to $0.94) and Uniswap (up 30 ) % to $8.73).

On the news

On Monday, the electric car manufacturer Tesla announced its holding $222 million in digital assets at the end of June in the company’s 2nd quarter filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Back in February 2021, the company invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. Last week the news came that the company had sold 75% of his BTC, worth approximately $936 million. CEO Elon Musk said the sell-off was prompted by uncertainty about when China would lift its COVID restrictions. Tesla currently has one factory in Shanghai.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is strengthen its technology team in preparation for a potential role as a leading crypto watchdog. Nothing is set in stone, but a two-part house bill, called Act on responsible financial innovationwhich is sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), would give the CFTC the reins on “fungible digital assets that are not securities” if approved.

On Tuesday, a bipartisan bill was introduced by Senators Patrick Toomey (R-PA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), called Cryptocurrency Tax Fairness Actwill exempt tax reporting for crypto transactions of less than $50, or trades where an individual earns less than $50.

Over in Europe on Wednesday, the head of the European Banking Authority, José Manuel Campa, said in an interview with Financial Times that it will not be until at least 2025 when the regulator will know exactly which one cryptocurrencies it will be charged with supervision.

One of the main difficulties facing the EBA, Campa said, is a shortage of crypto experts due to “high demand in society.” He ruled out the possibility of luring them with lucrative salaries, saying it was “not within the scope of possible discussions” between the EBA and the European Commission.

On the same day, the US central bank reported another rate hike of 75 basis points aimed at voting rampant inflation.

Last month, in response to May inflation readings, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.75%, the steepest increase since 1994. Crypto Prices crashed hard that week as investors dumped riskier assets, although this new surge appears to have had a negative effect on Bitcoin: An hour after the announcement, Bitcoin had grown 3% while Ethereum had fallen 5%.

Finally, it seems that the industry is still not quite ready for crypto winter. On Wednesday, Singapore exchanged Zipmex filed for bankruptcy protection against lawsuits from creditors. The news came just a week after the stock exchange announced it stop withdrawals.