DeFi DeBrief #1 | The biggest event in crypto’s history? 🌐

TL;DR:

• Ethereum merge date confirmed
• Curve website suffers major hack
• Blackrock opens door to crypto

Onwards.

THE MERGE WILL HAPPEN ON SEP 15TH(-ISH)

Many people see The Merge as one of the biggest events in crypto’s history. Around September 15th, Ethereum will transition from the Proof of Work to the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism.

The shift will reduce the network’s energy consumption by over 99% and radically shift Ethereum’s economics (the token supply will become deflationary). 

Following a slew of delays, many questioned whether we’d see The Merge this year. But the Ethereum organisation has finally set the date.

Why should you care?

Investors often cite the Bitcoin halvening events as a catalyst for cryptocurrency momentum. Many in the industry believe that The Merge is at least as big, if not several times bigger, than halvenings.

No one quite knows what it means for crypto on the whole. But it is undoubtedly a huge step towards maturity for the ecosystem.

DEFI PROTOCOL LOSES $570,000 IN WEBSITE HACK

Curve is one of the most established protocols in DeFi. The platform is an automated market maker, letting users swap stablecoins with very low slippage (put another way, you get the price you expect on every trade).

Liquidity providers earn yield on Curve by depositing stablecoins. But on 9th August, hackers gained control of the Curve website, deployed a malicious smart contract, and syphoned off $570,000 of deposits.

Curve quickly removed the bad contract, and Binance recovered $450,000 of the stolen funds by freezing the assets as they landed on the crypto exchange. And while Curve is a secure way to generate yield, there are risks. 

That’s why it can make sense to access the service via a trusted third-party that links directly to the smart contract. Doing so eliminates the chance of you falling victim to a hack like this.

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IN THE HEADLINES

BLACKROCK BRINGS CRYPTO TO CLIENTS

Earlier this year, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said clients had shown an ‘increasing interest’ in digital assets, including stablecoins. Now the largest asset manager in the world is offering institutional clients in the U.S. direct exposure to bitcoin.

Fink was famously hostile towards bitcoin as recently as five years ago. But he now believes blockchains, stablecoins, digital assets and tokenization can benefit both BlackRock clients and capital markets at large.

The announcement pairs with the news that BlackRock will also work with Coinbase to allow institutional clients to buy crypto directly.

FIVE SHORT READS THAT CAUGHT OUR EYE THIS WEEK

1. Meta rolls out NFT support in over 100 countries
2. Google has invested $1.5bn into blockchain since September
3. Watershed moment as privacy-centric Tornado Cash sanctioned
4. Coinbase misses Q2 estimates, sees more pain in Q3
5. Yet another crypto lender suspends withdrawals

• BTC: $24,386.19 (6.37%, 7 days)
• ETH: $1,951.58 (16.15%, 7 days)
• TVL in DeFi: $66.63bn
• Fear & Greed: 41 (fear)

*Data last updated at 08:00 on 17th August.

The merge will be the most significant event in crypto’s history since the launch of Ethereum.

— eric.eth (@econoar) July 27, 2022

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