📈 Merge Incoming

Good morning! This is your Friday morning edition of Crypto Dispatch.

So. Much. Twitter. Drama.

First things first, Elon wants to buy it. That’s it. That’s all we can (and want to) say about that.

Onto the more exciting story: Last March, Twitter founder turned crypto connoisseur Jack Dorsey turned his first tweet into a NFT that sold for $2.9 million. It wasn’t a hilarious joke or deeply emotional haiku: it read “just setting up my twttr,” and someone paid full price!

That someone is Iranian crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi, who was arrested almost a year ago on charges of “disrupting the economic system.” He spent nine months behind bars, leaving his exchange Cryptoland defunct and the value of his Bridge Oracle token at next to nothing.

Now he is trying to sell the NFT (that he paid just shy of $3 million) for $48 million! He listed the NFT on OpenSea and promised to donate half the proceeds to charity, but that didn’t draw in much interest. The highest offer was only $280.

In today’s edition:

⌚Ethereum Merge is running late

💳 Nexo’s new thing

Merge Madness

The unprecedented switch from a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism to a Proof-of-Stake on the Ethereum network is delayed again.

What happened: On Tuesday, Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko confirmed via Twitter that the Merge would be delayed past its expected date of June 2022 but said that PoW is definitely in its “final chapters” on the second biggest blockchain.

The Merge will transition Ethereum to a more secure, scalable and sustainable operation. The switch to PoS will reduce the blockchain’s environmental impact by over 99%, eliminating the need for high-powered mining computers.
Although this is one of many delays for the Merge, developers have said that final tests before the transition have been successful. The most recent called the “shadow fork,” is essentially a dress rehearsal of the Merge.

Why it matters: The hotly anticipated Merge has DeFi and TradFi investors paying close attention because the shift in consensus mechanisms will be a big deal for the blockchain-crypto ecosystem.

Cutting energy costs could make Ethereum more appealing to institutional investors, especially with Bitcoin taking so much heat for how energy-intensive its mining process is.
Some experts predict that token issuance will decrease as PoS requires less work and earns a smaller financial reward. This supply cut should increase the value of ether, Ethereum’s native token. “The merge is like two halvings at once,” Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise Investment Management, told Business Insider.
Staking ether can become a passive income opportunity, and yields are projected to be between 8-12%.

Big picture: Google trends reported that the search term “Ethereum Merge” peaked in popularity last month, so we will all be watching with baited breathe together until it goes live. According to Christine Kim, the Mapping Out Eth 2.0 podcast creator, there are still a few more kinks to work out, and she tweeted that developers plan to run another shadow fork test on April 22.

Crypto Cashback

A new crypto-backed payments option for Europeans has been introduced by Swiss crypto loan company Nexo in partnership with Mastercard.

What happened: The Nexo Card is the first “crypto-backed” card allowing users to hold ownership of their cryptocurrency as collateral against the credit issued through Nexo’s Instant Crypto Credit Lines. It also comes with some pretty good perks.

“The card requires no minimum repayments, monthly, or inactivity fees. There are no FX fees for up to 20,000 euros per month,” Nexo said.
Cardholders can also earn 2% in crypto cashback, paid out as bitcoin or Nexo’s native token (NEXO). APR rates are significantly lower than traditional credit cards. Rates start at 0% APR and do not exceed 13.9%.

But the most impressive feature the Nexo card offers is the tax workaround built into the card.

Typical crypto cards force clients to convert crypto into fiat to facilitate payment, but this can also be considered a “taxable event.” Nexo Card’s unique feature of using crypto as collateral eliminates the conversion, eliminating any tax one might pay for selling their digital currency.

The Nexo Card comes in physical and digital formats, with the digital option linked to a Google or Apple Pay account for purchasing. It is accepted by over 90 million merchants worldwide, anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

Why it matters: The partnership between a crypto lending firm and a traditional credit institution signals mainstream adaptation to and adoption of the blockchain economy. Although the Nexo Card is currently only available to borrowers on the Nexo platform, this collaboration could start a new era in TradFi accepting crypto as a stable collateral option.

Europeans will be the first to have access to this unique financial product that Antoni Trenchev, a co-founder at Nexo, says will offer “unprecedented everyday utility for the emerging asset class.” (Europeans are always a season or two ahead in fashion, culture and art, so why not crypto lending?)
Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s Head of Crypto and Blockchain Products, said his company believes digital assets are “revolutionizing the financial landscape.

Bits & Blocks

Developer detention: Former Ethereum developer Griffith Virgil was sentenced to 63 months in jail after violating sanctions by travelling to North Korea and teaching citizens about cryptocurrency in 2019. He will have to pay a US$100,000 fine as well.

Double up: Asset management company Pantera Capital has doubled its goal of $600 million for its first blockchain investment fund, raising $1.3 billion in committed capital. “The next 6-12 months are likely to see a massive rally as investors flee stock, bond, and real estate markets – for blockchain,” CEO Dan Morehead wrote in a blog post.

No to charitable crypto: Members of the Wikimedia Foundation, the funding arm of Wikipedia, are vehemently against taking cryptocurrency donations, even though the publicly-funded site has been accepting bitcoin since 2014. Over 70% of members polled want to halt the collection of crypto donations, citing environmental impact as the primary concern.

A million-dollar bounty: Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis offers white-hat hackers a reward for finding bugs within its network up to a million dollars! A measly sum compared to the $625 million a hacker made away with last month, exploiting a flaw in the Ronin bridge. Up the prize, guys.

Stars orbit around MoonPay: The credit-to-crypto payment system has reached a $3.4 billion valuation after raising $86.7 million from Bruce Willis, Gwyneth Paltrow and Matthew McConaughey, just a few of the Hollywood elite who partook in the latest investment round. MoonPay is also the company Madonna credited for getting her into the BAYC.

Croissants and crypto: Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced a €100 million partnership with French startup incubator Station F during Paris Blockchain Week. He also announced that Binance is running a pilot of telephone support for users.

Dogs in Space: A recent article released by two members of the Dogecoin Foundation revealed that the meme coin is working on conducting offline transactions. The project seeks to create a communication network between Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites (obviously) and a “cheap and reliable” radio technology dubbed RadioDoge. The new network will “enable access to people without Internet connectivity” to trade, buy and sell DogeCoin.

Merge Madness

Crypto Cashback

Bits & Blocks

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