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Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin Still Believes That the Layer 2 Fees Are Expensive

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In response to a tweet about layer-two costs, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that many of the networks are still excessively costly.

Ryan Sean Adams, an Ethereum supporter and industry expert, shared a snapshot of the top layer-two platforms and their network fees on May 3.

Arbitrum One had the highest fee of $0.85 for sending ETH and $1.19 for a token swap, while the Metis Network had the lowest fee of $0.02 for sending ETH and $0.15 for a token swap. Buterin responded to the tweet with the following:

“Needs to get under $0.05 to be truly acceptable imo. But we’re definitely making great progress, and even proto-danksharding may be enough to get us there for a while!”

Ethereum fees still at the top

Buterin has maintained his position in a 2017 interview that “the Internet of Money should not cost 5 cents per transaction.”

Buterin introduced Proto-Danksharding with EIP-4844 in February as a way to enhance the Ethereum Consensus Layer sharding method. The update allows a new form of transaction known as a “blob-carrying transaction,” which carries additional data that the Ethereum Virtual Machine does not have access to (EVM).

According to L2fees, the current cost of transferring ETH on the major layer-two networks is between $0.02 and $1.96, indicating that there is still a long way to go before the average reaches the level that Vitalik considers acceptable.

Nonetheless, they are all less expensive than transferring on layer-one Ethereum, which, according to Etherscan, costs roughly $2.50 on average.

On May 3, BitInfoCharts reported an average transaction price of roughly $16, indicating that Ethereum remains prohibitively expensive for everyday use.

When Yuga Labs started their newest NFT collection on May 1, average gas fees soared to an all-time high of over $200, eliciting even more indignation from the crypto community.

The total value locked across all L2 networks has decreased to a little over $6 billion, according to the L2beat layer-two tracker. Since the beginning of April, when it was at an all-time high of $7.4 billion, it has dropped 18 percent.

With 57 percent of the TVL, Arbitrum is the market leader, which is remarkable given that it is one of the most costly L2 networks to utilize.

The dYdX exchange is in the second position with a 16 percent market share and just under $1 billion in TVL locked up, while Optimism is in third place with a ten percent market share and roughly $622 million in TVL locked up.

Yuga Labs Otherside Metaverse Sales Cause a Surge in ETH Gas Fees

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While the Yuga Labs and BAYC community saw the world’s largest nonfungible token (NFT) mint, Ethereum gas costs skyrocketed, and users experienced failed transactions owing to network delays.

Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club, has begun selling Otherdeed nonfungible tokens, which represent digital land titles, on its latest initiative, the Otherside metaverse.

Yuga Labs made $319 million when 55,000 NFTs sold out almost instantaneously, with each piece of land selling for 305 ApeCoin (APE), or roughly $5,800 at the time of the sale.

While Otherdeed NFTs were exclusively available in APE, they did require Ether (ETH) for gas costs.

Yuga Labs’ minting mechanics envisaged the selling of NFTs in stages, anticipating a brief increase in gas costs, which would subsequently slow down the number of people minting the NFTs:

“This pattern of mint → bump limit → mint → bump limit will continue until NFT supply is exhausted. This approach is expected to prevent an apocalyptic gas war, while also encouraging as broad a distribution as possible.”

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Yuga Labs Otherside Metaverse Sales Cause a Surge in ETH Gas Fees 3

Yuga Labs witnessed a gas unlike never before

Users witnessed gas fees unlike ever before which also affected their ETH holdings in the surge to own a plot of Otherside Metaverse. According to Etherscan statistics, several users paid gas fees ranging from 2.6 ETH ($6500) to 5 ETH ($14000).

Yuga Labs noted, citing some of the challenges with using Ether during its NFT launch:

“We’re sorry for turning off the lights on Ethereum for a while. It seems abundantly clear that ApeCoin will need to migrate to its own chain in order to properly scale.”

Yuga Labs has offered to return the gas value to customers who have lost their ETH holdings in gas owing to unsuccessful transactions.

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Yuga Labs Otherside Metaverse Sales Cause a Surge in ETH Gas Fees 4

Due to the inflow of ecosystems hosted on the blockchain, particularly NFTs, Ethereum’s famed gas costs have been a long-standing source of anxiety within the community.

To reduce the overall transaction call data gas cost across the ETH network, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggested a new block-wide restriction on total transaction call data in November 2021.

While the community accepted the idea, implementing EIP-4488 on Geth’s Ethereum-sidechain testnet took almost four months. Qi Zhou, a member of the community, verified the news on Wednesday.

Here’s What Crypto Analysts Have To Say On Federal Reserve’s Next Move

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The crypto market-wide correction in Q2 is set to change as investors are fervently waiting for Federal Reserve’s action at next week’s meeting. As Santiment pointed out, price volatility is expected to continue over the next few days.

In particular, Bitcoin’s price has shed nearly 40% from its peak of almost $70,000 per BTC late last year. Ethereum too is down by nearly half.

Other major coins like Binance’s BNB-2.7%, Ripple’s XRP -4.9%, Solana, Cardano, Terra’s luna, and Avalanche have all fared poorly, erasing $1.2 trillion from the combined crypto market in a matter of months.

Experts attribute its correlation to other risk assets, which as a whole have reacted in tandem to war in Ukraine, disruption in the supply chain owing to Covid cases surge in China, current interest rate hikes, and future balance sheets machinations by the Federal Reserve.

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Here's What Crypto Analysts Have To Say On Federal Reserve's Next Move 6

Joe Haggenmiller, head of markets at leading crypto finance company XBTO Group says “Macro uncertainty has driven all risk-on assets downwards over the last few months, including bitcoin.”

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve came with a massive stimulus program doubling its balance sheet double, and interest rates fell to an all-time low. As a result, markets were flooded with liquidity in a bid to offset the economic damage of Covid-19 and lockdowns.

The Crypto market might recover if Fed adopts a less aggressive stance

After the pandemic showed signs of receding, inflation reached unprecedented levels causing the Fed to reverse its earlier policy.

Recently, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell signaled a half percentage point interest rate hike for the next week’s meeting. Due to this, the market is braced for the central bank to begin reducing its huge $9 trillion asset portfolio as it fights rising inflation.

But some feel the central bank might become less hawkish to avoid a recession-like scenario. Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at the U.K.-based digital asset broker GlobalBlock said, “This is bullish for risk assets like bitcoin and equities in my opinion.”

Nonetheless, Bitcoin, crypto, and stock market traders are carefully watching for any telltale signs that the Fed might divert from its move when it meets this week.

Ethereum crumbles as Otherside NFTs sell for a record-breaking $317M

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Ethereum [ETH] buckled under pressure during the record-shattering sale of Otherdeed non-fungible tokens [NFTs] on Yuga labs’s new project, the Otherside metaverse. As the world’s largest NFT mint unfolded, ETH gas prices surge to 8000 Gwei, data from Etherscan block explorer showed.

For the record, Otherdeed NFTs could be minted only in APE, it also required ETH for gas fees. The minting mechanics set by Yuga Labs intended the sale of NFTs in phases keeping note of the gas price. However, that didnt go smoothly as anticipated.

Chaos soon descended where Ethereum users tried to buy NFTs at the same time and outbid each other by using the network’s transaction fees.

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That caused the fees on the blockchain to spike to unprecedented levels, in addition to users experiencing failed transactions due to blockchain bottlenecks.

High mint fees caused many to complain they were unable to make purchases.

Ethereum’s high gas fees act as spoiler

Yuga Labs then took to Twitter saying that the Otherside metaverse may be looking to migrate away from Ethereum to its own Layer 1 blockchain to improve scalability.

“We’re sorry for turning off the lights on Ethereum for a while. It seems abundantly clear that ApeCoin will need to migrate to its own chain in order to properly scale.”

For those that lost their ETH holdings in gas due to failed transactions, Yuga Labs has promised to refund the gas amount back to the users.

The mint price cost 305 ApeCoin, worth nearly $5,800 at the time of mint. It raked in 16.7 million ApeCoin [$317 million], making it a all-time largest NFT mint.

For those unfamiliar, a mint is a public offering in which NFTs are sold through a smart contract on a blockchain like Ethereum.

Todays’s event highlighted Ethereum’s exorbitant gas fees which have been a long-standing concern among the community.

The Ethereum serenity upgrade is currently in the second phase, which includes a number of activities, including migrating to a PoS protocol and sharding chains. Once these two upgrades are completed, the ETH’s chain speed is expected to increase drastically, and bring down the gas fee significantly.

Dubai Real Estate Giant Now Accepts Payments in BTC and ETH

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A Dubai-based firm stated that allowing cryptocurrencies to be used to purchase real estate will revolutionize the industry’s future. It will also offer simplicity and flexibility to real estate investors worldwide.

On Wednesday, Damac Properties, a real estate developer, revealed that it would offer properties in exchange for cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum.

“This shift toward clients holding cryptocurrency is one of our endeavors to advance the new economy for younger generations and the future of our business,” Ali Sajwani, Damac’s general manager of operations and leader of the company’s digital transformation projects, said.

“It is crucial for global businesses like ours to stay at the top of evolution. Offering yet another transactional mode is exciting, and we are glad to recognise the value this technology brings to our customers.”

Dubai – a growing crypto hub

In the United Arab Emirates, cryptocurrency usage is growing exponentially. Bake N More and delivery firm YallaMarket, both located in Dubai, recently announced that they would accept bitcoins as a form of payment.

The UAE’s drive to grow the crypto business has recently attracted significant corporations. Major crypto exchanges are relocating their headquarters to Dubai due to the government’s decision to award virtual asset licenses under the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.

Dubai is on the verge of becoming a crypto powerhouse. The Emirate is also promoting other virtual assets with crypto-friendly policies.

Crypto.com and Singapore-based Bybit, the world’s two largest cryptocurrency platforms, announced intentions to establish regional and global headquarters in Dubai in March.

Damac, data center business Edgnex, luxury jeweler de-Grisogono, and fashion label Roberto Cavalli revealed a proposal to enter the metaverse and create their own digital towns earlier this week. The company intends to invest up to $100 million in the project.

Ali Sajwani will direct the group. It will operate under the name ‘D-Labs.’ The project is part of its more extensive plans to go into digital assets and non-fungible tokens (NFT).

The chasm between the bitcoin and real estate markets has been closing quicker than anticipated! Before purchasing a home, many consumers had to convert their cryptocurrency into US dollars. The circumstance, though, has most likely altered.

Optimism is optimistic about new governance structure

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The Ethereum scaling startup Optimism announced on Tuesday that it will transition to a new governance structure that will be fueled in part by a dedicated token.

The information was revealed in a Twitter announcement thread. The Optimism Collective, which is made up of two parts: a “Token House” and a “Citizens House,” is at the centre of the initiative.

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According to the team’s release, the Citizens’ House will oversee public goods funding, generating a flywheel of protocol development, while the Token House will focus on token development “Upgrades to protocol, project incentives, and more It promotes development.” The Token House’s core is the OP governance token.

Multiple airdrops by Optimism

The Ethereum scaling startup also claimed the following: “There isn’t just one airdrop here. There will be a large number of airdrops.” According to the thread, which includes a post outlining eligibility for the airdrop as well as a link to allocations, the airdrop is “coming in Q2.” The initial airdrop date will be announced soon.

The foundation stated that a portion of the OP allotment will be distributed in successive waves to members of the business and Ethereum communities.

Airdrop #1

The first user airdrop will release 5% of the total supply of OP tokens. This airdrop is intended for those who:

  • Behave in positive-sum ways.
  • Contribute actively to their communities.
  • Have been priced out of Ethereum.

However, it has been stated that the addresses and quantities were selected to both reward blockchain users and encourage core Ethereum users to the OP family.

Future airdrops (#2, 3, …)

Furthermore, a portion of the OP token supply will be retained in reserve for future user airdrops, amounting to 14% of the total supply. Because airdrops can be manipulated, the foundation will be in charge of determining airdrop metrics as fairly as feasible.

However, the airdrops are intended to be distributed to addresses that have a positive impact on the Optimism community.

The news comes only days after social media boffins discovered an Optimism-related price page on cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, stoking rumors about a token. The Collective’s course will be guided by a freshly founded foundation at first. Two of the founders of Optimism are among the group’s leadership.

Ethereum Foundation Treasury reserve includes 1.3B ETH and $300M Fiat: Report

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The Ethereum Foundation [EF] released a report on Monday, detailing its reserves and investments in both crypto and fiat, as of March-end. The non-profit foundation said it held more than $1.6 billion in treasury assets in end-March.

Out of a total of $1.6 billion EF treasury, nearly $1.3 billion comprises ether reserves, which represented over 0.297% of the total ether supply as of March 31. Around $303 million accounted for non-crypto assets and investments. Some $11 million was held in other cryptocurrencies.

At the time of writing this post, the foundation did not disclose any further details on the composition of the assets. But did elaborate on how it deals during a market downturn.

We also increase our non-crypto savings in response to rising ETH prices. This provides a greater safety margin for our core budget and would enable us to continue funding non-core but high-leverage projects through a market downturn.

The holdings included 39,168 ether already committed to client teams building on Ethereum, according to the report.

The Ethereum Foundation is a non-profit organization that’s focused on growth within the Ethereum ecosystem. The team provides projects with grants to fund other teams working outside of the core EF domain. Apart from that it also manages delegated domain allocation and leverages third-party funding techniques.

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The foundation funds research and development on Ethereum and related technologies. According to the report, in 2021, it invested a total of roughly $48 million, of that $20 million was in the form of external funding which included, grants, third-party funding, bounties, sponsorships, etc.

Eth developers, agencies, and teams involved in the foundation’s activities netted a total of $5.1 million in 2021, the report noted.

As a matter of fact, Research and development of layer 1 blockchains, saw spending of over $21 million last year, which included research on main net upgrade, security, mechanism design, and grants to external clients.

Ethereum’s long-awaited Merge might get pushed back

That said, the highly anticipated Merge to Proof-of-Stake on Ethereum might get delayed. Ethereum Foundation member Tim Beiko tweeted on Tuesday night that the upcoming Merge would not take place by June, as was previously thought.

Despite the delay, Beiko still hopes that the Merge will take place “soon.”

Ethereum’s Former Developer Virgil Griffith Sentenced to 63 Months in Prisons

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Virgil Griffith, an Ethereum Foundation researcher, was sentenced to 63 to 78 months in jail. He was accused in 2019 of breaking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a potential penalty of 20 years in prison.

For distributing blockchain technology to the wrong people, Virgil Griffith has been sentenced to at least a half-decade in jail.

New York Southern District Judge Kevin Castel ordered the punishment against Ethereum developer Griffith.

Virgil Griffith will face 5+ years of imprisonment

Virgil Griffith pleaded guilty in September 2021 to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens from exporting “goods, services, or technology to the DPRK (North Korea) without first obtaining a license from the Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).”

Griffith was unable to obtain authorization to travel to North Korea from U.S. officials in early 2019, but he traveled nonetheless in April for the “Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference” in Pyongyang.

He delivered presentations at the conference, disguised as a North Korean, about how the government could utilize cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions and launder money.

He also demonstrated how smart contracts might be utilized to aid the country in nuclear weapons talks with the United States.

Griffith’s defense team presented evidence of reasons that may have caused him to act irrationally in an attempt to reduce his sentence.

According to a clinical examination, Virgil Griffith was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).

Griffiths’ defense team said that his diagnosis of OCPD and NPD explained his “obsession” with North Korea and was perhaps the reason he ignored warnings from friends, family, and the government about his trip to the nation.

Griffith was detained by the FBI in November 2019, a few months after returning from the conference.

Prior to his arrest, he met with the Bureau numerous times to discuss his trip, including presenting them with photos of himself making presentations at the conference.

North Korea has gotten more skilled in its use of crypto to evade sanctions and steal millions of dollars through hacks and attacks.

According to research released in January by Chainalysis, North Korean hackers stole approximately $400 million in 2021 through exchange breaches and ransomware, using a complex laundering scheme combining decentralized exchange swaps and several crypto tumblers.

Will 2022 be Ethereum’s make-or-break year?

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Ethereum is embarking on a new journey for a more scalable, secure, and sustainable network. The network after the completion of “The Merge” and the arrival of its new consensus mechanism represents a major milestone in its multi-year journey to bring Ethereum 2.0 live.

Some experts are pondering if 2022 will be the “make or break year” for the world’s second-largest blockchain network. Also, can the highly anticipated update to its network trigger a decentralized finance [DeFi] summer for 2022?

According to Ethereum’s website, the merge is scheduled to take place this quarter [Q2 2022]. That said, feverish excitement is building online. Data from Google Trends shows interest in the topic has hit a 12-month high, and the query ” Ethereum Merge” has been searched 100 times on March 28.

Ilan Solot of Tagus Capital Multi-Strategy Fund told in an interview that “FOMO [fear of missing out] is kicking for ETH pre-merge.”

Moreover, widespread coverage of the climate benefits has also contributed. The Ethereum Foundation claimed Ethereum 2.0 will lower carbon emissions to 0.07 kilograms per transaction [roughly 17,000 times more efficient than Bitcoin], making the altcoin the clear favorite for green investors.

What is the Merge?

Ethereum will transform from a proof-of-work [POW] consensus mechanism to a new proof-of-stake [POS] method through the merge.

The blockchain now operates two parallel chains -the legacy “Mainnet” [based on POW] and the new “Beacon Chain” [POS]. Once the two merge, it will migrate to the Beacon Chain, and staking will totally replace mining as the consensus mechanism.

Ethereum merge will reverberate the DeFi world

Analyst Kjetil Hove Pettersen of Kryptovault predicted that ETH will be more volatile than Bitcoin over the course of this year. “Focusing on ETH’s price jumps in the short term may grab headlines, but the real takeaway is the merge’s effect on the broader de-fi ecosystem.”

It is to be noted that Ethereum acts as the base layer for almost 3000 decentralized apps, altcoins such as Shiba Inu to Layer2 scaling solutions like MATIC to metaverse tokens like MANA.

The network also supports numerous non-fungible token projects [NFTs ], and decentralized autonomous organizations [DAOs]. With stakes running high on the merge, the global DeFi community is hoping for a smooth transition.

Luxury Fashion Label Off-White Will Accept Crypto Payments

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According to the Vogue Business media portal, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple users may now use their holdings to shop at Off-White, a modern luxury apparel company with outlets in Paris, London, and Milan.

Other cryptocurrencies such as Binance coin (BNB), tether (USDT), and USD Coin can also be used to pay for Off-White products instantaneously (USDC).

“This is another significant step in the brand’s evolution as it looks to the future, incorporating Web 3.0 technology and recognizing the wants and wishes of its ever-changing client base,” the company said in a statement.

In particular, as interest in the emerging asset class grows internationally, Ripple (XRP) payments have continued to gain traction across various businesses.

Off-White will take the fashion sector by storm

Notably, Off-White is well aware of the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, which, if not constantly watched, have the potential to see a catastrophic drop in value.

To counteract this danger, the Italian design house said that it had implemented the LUNU POS, a payment terminal that can find the best fiat-to-crypto conversion rate at the moment of purchase.

Customers who buy things using cryptocurrency and want to return them will get reimbursements in local money.

The fashion label’s objective, according to the study, has always been to carry on its founder’s heritage of young culture and creativity.

Off-White developed a TikTok account to webcast its Autumn/Winter 2022 show to the younger generation as part of its commitment to fostering youth culture.

Off-White’s use of bitcoins also appeals to the younger generation, which is passionate about the asset class and sees fashion as a viable financial choice.

Millennials have embraced cryptocurrency because they feel it is a technology that better meets their requirements than traditional payment systems.

More firms are adopting cryptocurrencies due to the tremendous interest in the new asset class.

With global adoption coming soon, more prominent financial institutions are accumulating crypto. Some might say that is because of the fear of missing out.

Others think that it is true because they believe in the underlying technology and see a formidable future. Luxury brands will soon join the crypto, NFTs, and metaverse bandwagon. The only question is when?