This week’s Friday summary in news

Friday marks the end of another glorious week in crypto, but this was the week it happened. More details to follow.

In other news, the Bitcoin hashrate hit a new all-time high, Huobi thinks privacy is overrated, and Craig Wright starts another legal battle. It was also a birthday party. And then we begin…

The merger

Yes. It happened. What we’ve all been counting down the blocks for. No more postponements, no more delays. The merger marked the moment when Ethereum finally transitioned from being a proof-of-work (PoW) chain to proof-of-stake (PoS).

The anticipation was almost too much to bear, but our minds and bodies were ready. Seven years after it was first announced, in block 15,537,393, it finally arrived. We teamed up.

After the big event, Vitalik Buterin is rumored to have taken a deep breath on a cigarette before asking, “How was it for you?”

Best merge ever, Vitalik.

The new (PoS Ethereum doesn’t want to have it all its own way. There is a rival in the form of EthereumPoW, which gives PoW Ethereum miners a new place to call home. So far, ETHW has failed to hold its initial valuation, but there may be more struggle in the upstart chain yet, time will tell.

Hash rate high

The number is increasing! On Monday, Be[In]Crypto reported that the Bitcoin hashrate reached an all-time high of 281.79 million, bringing forward the projected date of the next Bitcoin halving. There is a long-held belief in the community that halving events has a positive effect on the price of BTC. Bring it.

Privacy no more

Monday was a busy day for crypto, and a busy day for Huobi which announced that it would be delisting a whole host of cryptocurrencies. The company said it would remove privacy coins Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Dash (DASH), Decred (DCR), Firo (formerly Zcoin), Verge (XVG) and Horizon (ZEN).

The exact reason for this delisting process remains a mystery known only to Huobi, which is perfectly fine. We should, like, completely respect their privacy about that.

More legal brags for crypto

It wouldn’t be a week in crypto without a legal dispute. On Tuesday, Craig Wright started his latest in a long series of legal cases, this time against Magnus Granath, alias Hodlonaut.

Hodlonaut had rather unkindly suggested that Mr. Wright is a fraud. Mr. Wright is friendly with billionaire Calvin Ayre, who has more money than God and is quite happy to bankroll any lawsuit Mr. Wright wants. We wish all parties, exactly the same, the best of luck.

In other legal fun, South Korea issued an arrest warrant for Luna founder Do Kwon. The order cites offenses that include “violations of capital market regulations.” However, there may be significant hoops to jump through before lawmakers arrest the former founder, as he currently resides in Singapore.

NFTs

The week offered plenty to excite degenerate JPEG fans. A leaked report suggests that Bored Ape Yacht Club may be set to launch another non-fungible token (NFT) collection. Rumored to be called Mecha Apes, the project suggests that Otherside Mecha pieces could skyrocket in value. Or not. DYOR. Elsewhere, BAYC are set to enter the music business and absolutely no one can stop them.

In non-monkey news, coffee house Starbucks announced its intention to issue an NFT rewards program with MATIC.

Be[In]Crypto is celebrating its fourth birthday

As a crypto news sale, Be[In]Crypto prefer to report on stories rather than become the story, but this week marked an important milestone for the organization and we think it’s worth celebrating – Be[In]Crypto is now four years old!

To mark the occasion, we’ve had a total website redesign to make your reading experience much more enjoyable. We hope you enjoy it, and know that while we may be a little prettier than before, we still offer the same crypto news goodness inside.

Four years ago, Be[In]Crypto started with just four people. Today, we are a worldwide news outlet, sitting comfortably in the top 3 crypto publications globally. However, we cannot rest now, and our mission to inform and empower our readers only increases.

Thank you dear readers for joining us on the journey so far. Because here we go forward together, only upwards.

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