💧 Ethereum rewards worth over $2 billion will be liquid in first five days after Shapella
More than 1.1 million ether — worth $2 billion — in accrued validator rewards will be available to be claimed, according to on-chain estimates, following Ethereum's Shapella upgrade set to take place today. Shapella will finally allow users and validators to access their staked ETH, which has been inaccessible since Ethereum introduced its staking layer, the beacon chain, in December 2020. The upgrade will enable regular depositors, independent validators and those utilizing staking service providers to access rewards accumulated over the past two years. These rewards will be paid out in "partial withdrawals" representing 6% of the total 18 million ETH currently staked on the network. Two withdrawal options will be available through the Shapella upgrade: partial and full. Partial withdrawals will be distributed to validators automatically, maintaining their validator balance at 32 ETH. In contrast, full withdrawals involve closing the validator and recovering the entire staked balance. 🔗 Read more

🚀 Shapella, Ethereum's first major upgrade since The Merge, is now live
The upgrade took place just before 6:30 p.m. ET, marking the first major change since The Merge last year. The hard fork implemented Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4895, allowing users and validators to withdraw their staked ether (ETH) on the network. The developers will be monitoring for any potential issues with the upgrade's completion, as noted in a YouTube stream. The upgrade was released on the mainnet at block height 6209536. In addition to the withdrawal mechanism, developers have optimized the network's gas fees for certain transactions, as previously noted by the core team on GitHub. This event marks a significant change for Ethereum due to its potential impact on the ecosystem, including the unlocking of previously inaccessible funds. Now that withdrawals have been enabled, the network has finally completed its transition to proof-of-stake consensus. 🔗 Read more

🔔 Ethereum just broke $2,000 🎉

📉 Kraken set to unstake more than $1 billion worth of ETH after Shapella upgrade
U.S. crypto exchange Kraken has initiated withdrawal requests for their stakes following the Shapella upgrade that introduced ether (ETH) withdrawals. The upgrade has resulted in a massive influx of withdrawal requests, surpassing $1.5 billion, including both partial and full exits. Kraken provides a staking service that streamlined the Ethereum staking process, allowing users to deposit into the platform and create validators on their behalf. This development follows Kraken’s settlement of charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly failing to register the offer and sale of its staking program in the U.S. Kraken agreed to pay a $30 million fine. 🔗 Read more

🚀 Uniswap DAO approves proposal to deploy v3 on Polygon zkEVM
The Uniswap DAO approved a governance proposal in favor of deploying Uniswap's version 3 (or v3) decentralized exchange on Polygon zkEVM, a new ZK-Rollup solution compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem. This move continues the expansion of popular Ethereum apps to the new wave of ZK-Rollups that have recently launched, suggesting that Ethereum is growing in its ability to offer its main features at scale. The proposal was initiated by Polygon Labs, the core team behind the Polygon zkEVM and passed with over 42.4 million votes in support and nil against. This comes after Ethereum’s top lending protocol Aave had previously passed a governance proposal to release its v3 platform on Polygon zkEVM mainnet in a temperature-check phase. 🔗 Read more

💸 Twitter partners with eToro to let users trade stocks, crypto as Musk pushes app into finance
Twitter will let its users access stocks, cryptocurrencies and other financial assets through a partnership with eToro, a social trading company. Starting Thursday, a new feature will be rolled out on the Twitter app. It will allow users to view market charts on an expanded range of financial instruments and buy and sell stocks and other assets from eToro, the company told CNBC exclusively. Currently, it’s already possible to view real-time trading data from TradingView on index funds like the S&P 500 and shares of some companies such as Tesla. That can be done using Twitter’s “cashtags” feature — you search for a ticker symbol and insert dollar sign in front of it, after which the app will show you price information from TradingView using an API (application programming interface). 🔗 Read more

🔥 Rep. Davidson to introduce legislation to fire SEC boss Gensler for crypto overreach
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler could be facing unemployment after United States Representative Warren Davidson declared he would introduce legislation to fire the SEC boss. In an April 15 tweet responding to Coinbase’s legal chief, Paul Grewal, the crypto-friendly congressman announced his intention to have Gensler removed from his role after the SEC’s latest announcement about revisiting the proposed redefinition of an “exchange. "To correct a long series of abuses, I am introducing legislation that removes the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and replaces the role with an Executive Director that reports to the Board (where authority resides)," Davidson tweeted. 🔗 Read more

📰 This Week In Crypto (CW 15)

1. Ethereum’s Shapella hard fork executed on mainnet

2. Apple Approves Decentralized Exchange Uniswap iOS Wallet App

3. FTX has recovered $7.3B in assets, will consider rebooting exchange

4. Ether’s Post-Shanghai Rally Knocks Bitcoin Dominance From 21-Month High

5. Silk Road Bitcoin Thief, Once Worth $3.4 Billion, Receives One-Year Prison Sentence

6. Mastercard launches NFT-gated musician accelerator program

CW14 (last week)

Hi everyone, Andy here!

As one of the co-founders of CryptoExplorer I'm asking for your input today.

😴 TL;DR
Please participate in this 5 minute survey on Google Forms: https://forms.gle/G8c8uAA9Mm1oek8i7
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You'll have the chance to win a free CE PRO membership.

🤔 What's the survey for?
I'm currently writing my thesis about the topic of recurring cryptocurrency subscriptions in the crypto space. Basically, they are like traditional subscriptions where you are signing up for a service like netflix and the monthly fee is deducted from your credit card automatically. The main difference here is the fact that the type of subscriptions I'm writing on are done with cryptocurrency, which is a completely innovative thing.

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- Andy

🏎 Scroll Aims to Be the Turtle That Wins the Ethereum Scaling Race
The most recent crypto boom pushed the Ethereum blockchain to its limits – with an unprecedented inflow of new users slowing down the network and pushing its traffic-based transaction fees sky high. This network congestion – and the accompanying fees and speeds – made Ethereum unworkable for some users, spurring a wide field of faster, cheaper blockchains bidding for Ethereum’s throne as the main hub for decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens (NFT) and blockchain research. Nearly a year into Ethereum’s “zero-knowledge” arms race, two teams that promised to deliver faster, cheaper crypto transactions using the complex tech say they’re gearing for (or at least nearing) some form of launch. For Polygon,“mainnet beta” is right around the corner. For Matter Labs, registration for its new “era” is already here. 🔗 Read more

🏦 Coinbase is About to Go to Court With the SEC: Brian Armstrong
Coinbase is on the brink of legal warfare with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reach long-awaited clarity on how federal securities laws apply to the crypto industry, according to CEO Brian Armstrong. Should the regulator situation not improve, the executive said the exchange would consider relocating away from the United States. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Armstrong called out “certain regulators” for taking a “regulation by enforcement approach” to crypto in the US – a term he’s previously used to describe the SEC’s treatment of the industry. Given this aggressive approach, he admitted that Coinbase was already assessing other countries for potentially setting up new headquarters. 🔗 Read more

🪙 Hong Kong Court Recognizes Crypto as Property
Hong Kong’s High Court has deemed crypto to be property, marking the first time such a decision regarding digital assets has been made in the city-state. The landmark ruling was handed down in a legal matter involving Gatecoin Limited, a crypto exchange that operated domestically from January 2015 until its demise four years later. Gatecoin (not to be confused with Gate.io) had been instructed to cease operations and undergo liquidation after failing to retrieve funds lost in a disagreement with a payment services provider. Following its closure in March 2019, Gatecoin’s liquidators sought court guidance on whether the crypto still held by Gatecoin belonged to customers “on trust” or could be made available to general creditors. 🔗 Read more

🔊 Video Surfaces of Gary Gensler Stating Ethereum is Not a Security
Gary Gensler, the chair of the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has previously stated ethereum is not a security. While lecturing at MIT on a blockchain open course just shortly before he was appointed by Joe Biden to head the SEC, Gensler stated that ethereum may have been a security in 2014, but now SEC has stated it is sufficiently decentralized that it is no longer a security. “In 2018 the Securities and Exchanges Commission has said regardless of what it might have been in ’14, it’s now sufficiently decentralized that we’ll consider it not a security,” Gensler said. 🔗 Read more

Hi everyone 👋

Short reminder for the survey and the chance to win a CE PRO membership 🔥 There is time until end of April to join!

How to participate?
- Fill out the questions here: https://forms.gle/G8c8uAA9Mm1oek8i7

It's that simple and it really helps me a lot with my thesis. 🙏

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Andy

🧨 BitBoy Crypto Referred to FBI After Failed Court Appearance
Crypto community influencer and Youtuber Ben “BitBoy” Armstrong has been referred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after refusing to appear for a court hearing surrounding his promotion of FTX. Armstrong gloated about his decision to skip the Florida court session, posting a picture of himself online on a beach saying he “don’t give af.” BitBoy released his tweet on Thursday at 10 am ET – precisely when the hearing was scheduled to begin. 🔗 Read more

⚖️ Cryptocurrencies Get First Europe-Wide Regulation
The European Parliament approved sweeping powers to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, aiming to prevent money laundering and improve supervision and consumer protection. Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules, which go into effect in phases starting in 2024 and passed by a vote of 529-29, represent the most significant attempt by global governments to regulate the growing market for digital assets. The EU said in a statement that it hopes that the new law will be a “global standard-setter” for other jurisdictions. First proposed in 2020, MiCa represents a step forward on a regulatory front where the U.S. lags. President Joe Biden signed an executive order last year for government agencies to study the impact on the industry. 🔗 Read more

📰 This Week In Crypto (CW 16)

1. Elon Musk threatens Microsoft with lawsuit, claims AI trained on Twitter data

2. EU Parliament Approves Crypto Licensing, Funds Transfer Rules

3. Hong Kong court rules cryptocurrencies as property

4. Australia installs more Bitcoin ATMs than whole of Asia

5. Ethereum Unstaking Requests Now Face About a 17-Day Wait

6. Intel will stop manufacturing chips for Bitcoin miners

CW15 (last week)

💪 Ether Erases All Gains From Shanghai Rally as Bitcoin, Other Crypto Prices Also Fall
Ether (ETH) dropped to as low as $1,833 Friday afternoon, its lowest price since April 9, CoinDesk data shows.
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has now erased all price gains of its recent rally following the seamless implementation last week of the highly anticipated Shanghai upgrade.
ETH has declined more than 13% from a Tuesday high of $2,118. It has fallen 5.3% over the past 24 hours as investors continue to weigh macroeconomic and crypto-industry focused uncertainties that have afflicted the wider digital asset market. 🔗 Read more

🇷🇺 Crypto Exchange Binance Is Back in Russia, Lifts Restrictions on Russian Users
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, quietly lifted restrictions on Russian citizens and residents it had imposed over a year ago. In March 2022, after the European Union placed sanctions on Russia in response to its attack on Ukraine, Binance announced it would not support deposits from Visa and Mastercard cards issued in Russia, as well as any Visa and Mastercard deposits made from the Russia. Now, the restriction seems to be gone: Users can deposit Russian rubles, euros, British pounds and other currencies from bank cards issued in Russia, crypto news website Forklog reported on Saturday. Earlier in April, Russian users also reported that Binance lifted limits for accounts with balances larger than 10,000 euros for users in Russia. The exchange has not officially released a statement on either of these changes. 🔗 Read more

🛑 Anonymity in Crypto Must End, Says Top US Regulator at CFTC
A member of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is reportedly calling for an end to anonymous crypto transactions in a push to curtail illicit activity. According to a new Reuters report, CFTC commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero says that tighter governmental and industry controls on digital assets are needed to curtail risks to national security. During remarks at a City Week conference in London, Romero said that criminals are turning to crypto to fund cybercrimes. 🔗 Read more