Week in review: Ethereum 2.0, Facebook Libra resurges, $500M in BTC exposure and crackdown on PlusToken’s $4.2 billion worth of crypto
Weekly news from November 23 to 29 of 2020
Ethereum 2.0 on track for 100,000 TPS
What: Ethereum’s multi-phase plan for Eth2 brings up to 100,000 transactions per second (TPS), stronger security models via Proof of Stake and a sharper focus towards decentralization.
Why it matters: With sharding, Eth2 will reach up to 100,000 TPS which will solve the bottleneck issues on the current Ethereum network. Visa in comparison processes about 1,700 transactions per second, so sharding is a vast improvement towards scalability.
In addition, Eth2’s Proof of Stake will bring new security models and reward incentives for stakers along with improvements towards higher decentralization. All of these will make Ethereum 2.0 a compelling infrastructure that will power existing dapps running on Ethereum.
Facebook Libra stablecoin to resurge as a “slimmed-down version”
What: Facebook Libra, originally announced to be a stablecoin pegged to a basket of currencies and government debt, is now planned to launch with it being backed by a single currency instead.
Why it matters: Announced in June 2019, Libra made global headlines and brought serious awareness to governments worldwide about the implications of stablecoins. After fierce opposition and legal hurdles, the resurgence of Libra could set another powerful wave of retail and institutional interest in virtual currencies.
Guggenheim Partners files right to invest $500M into a Bitcoin Trust
What: The Guggenheim Macro Opportunities Fund, with net assets of $4.97 billion, is seeking rights with the US SEC to be able to invest 10% (almost $500M) of its fund into Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
Why it matters: Guggenheim’s Macro Opportunities Fund is a part of Guggenheim Partners who manages $233 billion in total assets. This move by another large institutional fund adds stronger premise to Bitcoin’s narrative that the next bull run is being fueled by the “smart money”. This is in contrast to the previous ICO boom where retail hype (the “weak hands”) played the major role behind Bitcoin’s parabolic growth.
Details revealed on the $4.2 billion worth of crypto seized from the PlusToken ponzi scheme
What: The Jiangsu Yancheng Intermediate People’s Court of China released details of the crypto seized from the PlusToken ponzi scheme, currently worth $4.2 billion. The seized assets consisting of BTC, ETH, LTC, EOS, DASH, XRP, DOGE, BCH and USDT “will be processed pursuant to laws and the proceeds and gains will be forfeited to the national treasury” according to the court ruling.
Why it matters: This court ruling demonstrates that countries such as China do have the means and incentive to crack down on illegal crypto activity. Although there are multiple stances on the fate of crypto regulation, the fact is that regulatory action is being taken more seriously by leading nations as the crypto market continues to grow.
