ETH 2.0 Deposit contract now Holds 10% of Circulating Ether Supply

Audy Castañeda
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ETH 2.0 Deposit contract now Holds 10% of Circulating Ether Supply

The ETH 2.0 deposit contract can only be unlocked once the transition to PoS is complete.

The deposit contract for staking Ethereum (ETH) on the Beacon Chain reached a balance of 12 million ETH on Friday. The total value of Ether locked in the Eth2 contract amounts to about $34.5 billion at current prices.

The deposit contract started in November 2020 and currently has around 10% of the total ETH supply in circulation.

The Beacon Chain is the first big step in Ethereum’s transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model. A trader must invest a minimum of 32 ETH to become an Eth2 validator. Thus, the largest contract of the Beacon chain highlights the enormous demand and confidence in the future Eth2, despite several delays in the last year.

ETH developers started community testing of the PoS network last December; however, there was a change to the tentative merger date for June 2022, without offering any certain date for it to take place.

Ethereum’s biggest update since its inception has faced numerous challenges and ongoing delays along the way. However, despite all this, the deposit contract has grown significantly with more than 2 million ETH deposited in the last two months.

The move from Ethereum to PoS has generated mixed sentiments in the cryptocurrency market. On the one hand, the energy-conscious group has praised the move, stating that it would reduce the electrical consumption of the network by 90%; on the other hand, Bitcoin advocates, such as Jack Dorsey, believe that PoS mining consensus is more centralized and less secure than a PoW-based model.

The merger of the Beacon Chain with the Ethereum main net would complete the transition to Eth2. Experts expect the upcoming merger to bring the Ethereum network up to par with centralized payment processors, increasing its processing speed by several magnitudes with the help of sharding (parallel processing).

Progress on the Ethereum Merger

Despite shaky price action and an apparently delayed merger date, the appetite to help secure the Ethereum network as it transitions from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake continues to grow.

According to Etherscan, the Ethereum consensus layer deposit contract has reached the 12 million ETH mark, which represents more than 10% of the total circulating supply of Ethereum. This represents a rapid rate of growth, as the deposit contract reached 10 million ETH on March 10.

The long-awaited merger describes the moment when the Ethereum mainnet, or execution layer, merges with the Beacon Chain, or consensus layer. This marks the network’s transition from Proof-of-Work, where transactions in blocks (on the Blockchain) are validated by solving complex mathematical equations using computing hardware, to Proof-of-Stake, where transactions are validated by validators, who bet their funds on the net. The initial schedule for the merger was June, but there has been a delay.

Trent Van Epps of the Ethereum Foundation has emphasized that the merger should not only make the chain more secure but also reduce the power usage of the Ethereum network by up to 99.95%. Additionally, the Merger could reduce Ethereum’s annual issuance to 0% net, down from the current 3-5% net.

In addition to the more than 12 million ETH now locked in the deposit contract for Beacon Chain, approximately 2.18 million ETH have been destroyed since the Ethereum-1559 Improvement Proposal was released on London Hardfork last August. That update sought to stabilize the network’s transaction fees and introduced a base fee for burning Ethereum.

By Audy Castaneda

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Senators Bragg and Lummis Discuss US-Australian Cryptocurrency Legislation Collaboration

Audy Castañeda
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Senators Bragg and Lummis Discuss US-Australian Cryptocurrency Legislation Collaboration

“We want to be close to our friends in the US on these issues as much as we can,” Australian Senator Andrew Bragg told Cointelegraph.

Australian Senator Andrew Bragg has met with US Senator Cynthia Lummis to discuss possible collaboration on cryptocurrency regulation between the two countries.

Senator Bragg is a pro-crypto politician from the Liberal Party, a center-right conservative party, who has been one of the driving forces behind a proposed forward-looking regulation plan in Australia.

Last year, he led the Senate Committee on Australia as a Financial and Technology Center (ATFC), which put forward 12 sweeping regulatory proposals related to taxation, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and business licensing. Two months later, Treasurer Josh Frydenburg signaled his intention to begin implementing at least six of the proposals by mid-2022.

Since then, the proposals, perfected and embodied in the Digital Services Law, find their application up in the air. With federal elections set to take place next month, it is unclear if the law will pass should voters do not support the opposition Labor party, as it has yet to offer a concrete stance on the cryptocurrency sector.

Bragg and Lummis’s Conversation

Bragg spoke with Lummis, who is a well-known cryptocurrency supporter and Bitcoin (BTC) hodler, via video call this week and told Cointelegraph that the discussion focused primarily on “opportunities for regulatory equivalents.”

Although he did not want to go into details, Bragg stressed the importance of aligning himself on as many issues as possible with the United States, given the historical partnership between the two nations:

“I see it as an area of ​​economic growth, as a security objective, because we have a unique relationship with the United States, which is cultural, economic, and military. Therefore, we want to be close to our friends in the United States on these issues as much as we can.”

He also suggested that both governments are looking to establish global standards for crypto regulation, noting that, “President Biden’s executive order is reasonably similar to what Treasurer Frydenberg published last December.”

“If two large and sophisticated financial economies like the United States and Australia come together, that could help drive standards in other parts of the world,” he said.

As for collaboration, or at least regulatory equivalency, Bragg noted that, “it seems like they’ve been able to move faster in bringing different types of products to market. So we’ll see what lessons we can learn there.”

One aspect that may differ is the two countries’ approach to launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC), with Bragg noting that the United States seems more receptive to the idea. The Reserve Bank of Australia has stated that there is no compelling need to create a digital currency due, in part, to the country’s instant digital payments network, and Bragg stressed that he was “very cautious” about it at this point.

“I think I’m, you know, probably more aware of the issues and the risks of that. Therefore, we just have to get the Treasury report done on this issue. I hope it can be done quickly after the elections.”

When asked if the Labor vote could derail Bragg’s efforts at cryptocurrency reform over the past two years, the senator frankly stated that he had no idea.

“You’ll have to talk to Labor about it. However, they do not have any policy. So I certainly hope not, but they don’t have any policy,” he said.

By Audy Castaneda

A Study Indicates that Bitcoin Mining Is One of the Most Sustainable Industries

Alexander Salazar
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A Study Indicates that Bitcoin Mining Is One of the Most Sustainable Industries

The Bitcoin mining companies participating in the survey use 64.6% of sustainable energy, making that industry one of the most sustainable worldwide. The Bitcoin mining network only consumes 247 TW/h, which is insignificant, considering that the power generated globally is 1,154,750 TW/h.

The first 2022 report by the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) deals with the state of the BTC mining network and its energy consumption. It is the first time the non-profit organization has compiled data on 50% of the global Bitcoin mining activity.

The Bitcoin Mining Council association emerged in 2021 as a voluntary global forum formed by the leading Bitcoin mining companies alongside MicroStrategy. Over the last year, the organization has published various data that contrast with the pessimistic opinion about BTC portrayed by the media.

In 2022, the results reveal that the Bitcoin mining companies participating in the survey use 64.6% of sustainable energy. That is equivalent to a 59% year-over-year increase in the mix of electricity and sustainable energy for the activity. For that reason, that industry is one of the most sustainable worldwide.

The report indicated that technological advances have allowed using less electricity for mining Bitcoin.

The organization discovered that the Bitcoin mining network consumes an insignificant amount of energy worldwide. The power generated worldwide is 1,154,750 terawatts per hour (TW/h), of which BTC mining only consumes 247 TW/h.

According to Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, Bitcoin mining represents less than 0.1% of global energy consumption. In contrast to other countries, the 247 TW/h consumed by the Bitcoin mining industry looks increasingly low. For example, China and the United States consume more than 70,000 TW/h.

Bitcoin Mining Is Much More Sustainable than other Industries

Other data from the Bitcoin Mining Council indicates that the sector has reached an unprecedented sustainability level. Due to its sustainable energy mix, BTC mining is more sustainable than the EU, the US, and other major economies.

Michael Saylor believes that BTC mining is much more sustainable than other industries. The construction, financial, and insurance sectors consume around 9,000 TW/h, the aeronautical industry 4,000 TW/h, and the military industry around 7,000 TW/h.

However, politicians, regulators, and the mainstream media continue to criticize BTC mining. The CEO of MicroStrategy considers that the problem goes beyond power consumption. He said that it could have more to do with the ability of the network to remain independent from centralized actors.

Saylor said that the year-on-year Bitcoin hash rate improved by 23%, while electricity consumption decreased by 25% during the first quarter of 2022. There is a 63% year-over-year increase in efficiency due to advances in semiconductor technology, the expansion of mining in North America, the Chinese diaspora, and the adoption of sustainable energy worldwide.

The billionaire businessman added that critics might say BTC mining consumes more electricity than a given country. However, they choose a nation representing a tenth of the energy used worldwide to make it sound big.

Bitcoin is trading at around USD 38,974 and has accumulated a 0.2% loss over the last 24 hours. Its trading volume is above USD 32.46 billion, and its market capitalization is about USD 741.52 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar

Swiss National Bank Highlighted that it does not Plan to Invest in Bitcoin as a Reserve Currency

Jenson Nunez
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Swiss National Bank Highlighted that it does not Plan to Invest in Bitcoin as a Reserve Currency

The president of the Swiss National Bank highlighted that they have zero problems with Bitcoin, but they do not consider that the digital currency has what it takes to become a reserve currency.

Thomas Jordan, the current President of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), highlighted that the entity has zero intention of keeping reserves in Bitcoin precisely because the digital asset does not comply with the provisions issued by the agency to get considered a reserve asset.

The official also noted that this is not a definitive outlook, so if they change their minds, they would see no problem in starting to acquire the asset.

Swiss National Bank has no Intentions to hold Reserves in Bitcoin

The statements of the president of the SNB took effect during the annual meeting carried out by the organization. There, Jordan highlighted that the bank does not think that Bitcoin would represent a good alternative as a reserve currency, mainly because its features do not yet make it an asset conducive enough to meet these purposes.

In this regard, Jordan also expressed that this is not a definitive stance for the bank, so if they change their minds, the SNB will start purchasing Bitcoin or having greater exposure to the digital asset directly or hint.

These comments arrived amid extraordinary economic struggles between many powerful economies worldwide, which are facing a growth in inflationary levels due to the effects left by the COVID-19 pandemic that got extended during these last two years and the current international panorama.

Many enthusiasts expose the importance of the world’s economies considering the idea of ​​keeping Bitcoin reserves, especially amid threats of rising inflation and possible Recession. They also highlighted a potential armed conflict that transcends the borders of Ukraine amid the stance that Russia is holding against the nations against it.

Switzerland and its Friendly stance Toward Bitcoin

Although it is clear that the SNB has no intentions to protect part of its assets in Bitcoin, this does not mean that the entity has a lousy position towards the digital asset.

Switzerland ranks as one of the friendliest nations toward BTC and digital assets in general, as it has adapted procedures so that residents and companies can better carry out financial activities with digital assets at the local and regional levels.

Recession Impacts on Bitcoin

The economic contraction data presented various concerns about the imminent attack of an economic recession worldwide. As CNBC points out, the generally accepted definition of an economic recession relies on two subsequent quarters of negative decline for a country’s gross domestic product.

While the report’s release did not seem to have a specific impact on the markets, the possibility of a recession could impact the prices of Bitcoin and other digital assets in the medium term. Bitcoin costs still linger below $40,000 amid what seems to be a quiet downtrend in the digital market.

By: Jenson Nuñez

The Central African Republic Approved Bitcoin, but Citizens Hardly Count on Internet Services

Jenson Nunez
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The Central African Republic Approved Bitcoin, but Citizens Hardly Count on Internet Services

Counting on a GDP registered at $2 billion, Bitcoin is an item more valuable than the whole economic system of this nation. Around 355 thousand people can enjoy Internet services, which currently counts more than 4 million inhabitants.

This week’s most amazing news was that a second nation would accept Bitcoin as legal tender. Right after El Salvador’s steps last year, the Central African Republic approved a new policy that makes the use and acceptance of bitcoin as a payment method mandatory in the entire region.

This event has caused vast and diverse expectations inside the bitcoin environment, where the addition of a new nation that accepts Bitcoin legally got received joy. Bitcoin’s enormous and solid community is among those that acknowledge the benefits that bitcoin has as a store of value.

However, while some citizens and users are pretty happy with this news, others showed concerns about this country’s part in the global economy and the possible impact that its move could have on the Bitcoin space.

The Central African Republic, also named by its acronym as CAR, is a nation that counts on borders with other African areas such as the Congo and Cameroon. Although the site in question was a French colony, in 1960, it became an independent nation that launched its first elections in 1993. So it became a state ruled by a president, ministers, an assembly, and a supreme court.

Despite their politics, which tend to come from republican origins since the 2000s, the African nation went through two civil wars that reclaimed the lives of many citizens. Likewise, this event has had a primordial impact on the economic system, which suffered hard due to conflicts that ended in armed combats, leading it to become one of the poorest and most fragile regions in Africa and the entire world.

Data collected from the World Bank highlighted that its entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP) goes parallel with more than 2 billion dollars. This economic highlight represents the monetary value of all items, goods, and services produced in the African nation, of which 58% depend on agricultural activity.

Although the African nation counts on plenty of mineral resources, such as gold, diamonds, uranium, and even oil, 67% of its inhabitants are extremely poor. This information got collected according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The Central African Republic Counts on a Poor Internet Connection

While almost everyone can go out and purchase a mobile phone in European nations, only 33% of citizens can enjoy this service in the Central African Republic. Considering that the total population of the African country will be 4.7 million people by 2022, only 1.64 million are those who can acquire phones, according to GSMA Intelligence.

Even worse are the Internet connection data, shared by sources such as Kepios and Data Report. These sources expressed that there are approximately 355 thousand users with internet throughout the entire region.

This amount of users is less than 8% of the complete population of the region, which would mean that more than 90% of its citizens would not have the chance of using bitcoin as a method to pay.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Defi platform, DEUS Finance, Got Attacked for the Second time, this One Goes for USD 13 Million

Jenson Nunez
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Defi platform, DEUS Finance, Got Attacked for the Second time, this One Goes for USD 13 Million

Less than two months later, the multi-chain crypto derivatives protocol again suffered a flash loans attack. The Deus Finance team stated that the funds were safe.

The decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that brings crypto derivatives, DEUS Finance DAO, suffered an attack on Thursday that extracted at least $13 million. The incident arrives less than two months after another attack that harmed the platform.

According to various media reports, the unknown attacker took advantage of a flash loan, also named a lightning loan, to extract funds from a DEUS Finance liquidity group on the Fantom Network, highlighting data from the chain. Deus Finance is a multi-chain protocol that works on Ethereum, Fantom, BNB Chain, and other Layer 1 networks.

Security firm PeckShield expressed in a tweet that the hacker took out a quick loan to handle the price oracle within a liquidity pool involving a token named DEI, attached to the USDC stable coin.

A Flash Loan Type of Attack

According to CoinDesk, the hack allowed the feature that reads the information in the network’s liquidity pools to get tricked, ultimately allowing the attacker to inflate the cost of some currencies, borrow money, and make a loot after repaying the loan.

The attacker managed to borrow at least $143 million in USDC and used these borrowed funds to trade 9.5 million DEI, the protocol’s native 1:1 US dollar-pegged stable coin. The attacker extracted and owned at least $13.4 million in loot, although the PeckShield researchers determined that the total losses from the protocol could reach a higher amount.

A flash loan is a famous method of unsecured lending in the Defi environment that operates through smart contracts. Users must take this flash loan and repay it during the same operation, or the intelligent agreement reverses the financial activity as if the loan did not exist.

According to The Block, the attacker sent the extracted funds from Fantom to Ethereum, from where he then migrated it into Tornado Cash, a mixing protocol applied to obfuscate Ethereum operations linked to transactions. In this way, he sent the money to a “clean” address, one unidentified and not connected to the criminal procedure.

 This Type of Attack Has Happened Before

Shortly after the exploit got disclosed, the DEUS Finance DAO team highlighted in a tweet that it was working on the situation and had paused the lending of DEI tokens. He also stated that user funds remain safe and promised to reveal further details about the incident.

This event was not the first security breach for Deus Finance. The protocol also lost at least $3 million in another attack that took control of a flash loan last month. Flash loans have become a procedure frequently used by cybercriminals to steal money from DeFi platforms.

Meanwhile, DEUS, the governance token on the platform, dropped more than 5% in price. According to data collected by CoinMarketCap, the cost of DEUS plummeted from $604 to $492 after the incident became known. At press time, the token appears to be recovering slightly and is trading around $580.

By: Jenson Nuñez

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