Crypto Flipsider News – BTC Hashrate Spike; Staked ETH Doubles; Helium to Migrate to Solana; 1Billion XRP Unlocked; LG Crypto Wallet

Read in the Digest:

Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate nears all-time high, BTC hovers around $20k

Staked ETH doubles ahead of the merge, Vitalik Buterin launches PoS book

Helium developers propose migrating from its blockchain to Solana

Ripple unlocks 1 billion XRP from escrow, Shopify developer joins Ripple

LG Electronics to launch Hedera-based cryptocurrency wallet, Wallypto

Bitcoin (BTC) Hash Rate Nears All-Time High, BTC Hovers Around $20k

Despite suffering a drop in price leading to a significant drop in miners’ revenue, the hash rate of Bitcoin (BTC) has been on a steady climb over the last two months and now sits close to its all-time high (ATH).

Data published by Blockchain.com shows that the Bitcoin hash rate is at 225 Exahash, very close to the ATH of 231 Exahash recorded in June this year.

The rise in Bitcoin’s hash rate followed a 9% drop in the price of Bitcoin. After falling as low as $19,600, Bitcoin has managed to stabilize above the $20k support zone, which analysts see as a positive sign going into September. Bitcoin now trades at $20,050, dropping by 1.6% from an interday high of $20,390.

The 24-hour price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap

Flipsider:

With the Fed looking hawkish and the possibility of a BTC record-high open interest increase, other analysts have predicted a further downtrend for Bitcoin.

Citing the record-high interest increase of Bitcoin, analyst Delphi Digital has predicted that Bitcoin could suffer “market squeezes, liquidation cascades or delivering events.”

Why You Should Care

The growing hashrate of Bitcoin coincides with the pursuit of sustainable mining by Bitcoin miners globally.

Staked ETH Doubles Ahead Of Merge, Vitalik Buterin Launches PoS Book

Introduced in December 2020, staking highlighted the beginning of Ethereum’s transition into Proof-of-Stake. One year after its introduction, only about 5% of ETH’s total supply had been locked on the Beacon chain.

However, with the Ethereum mainnet merge now only days away, staking on the network has ramped up. Now, more than 14.14 million ETH, or 11.6% of Ethereum’s total supply has been staked, as many anticipate a huge price surge after the merge.

Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has also announced the launch of his book, “PROOF of STAKE: The making of Ethereum and the Philosophy of Blockchain,” detailing the journey of Ethereum.

The book is a compilation of Buterin’s essays on the development of Ethereum throughout the years. The book, which will launch on September 27, after the merge, will give readers a clear insight into how Buterin views the PoS chain.

Flipsider:

Experts have warned that the increasing volatility of the ETH could potentially see the price of the asset fall as low as $1,000.

Why You Should Care

The success of the Ethereum merge is widely believed to affect not only the price of the ETH but also the broader crypto market.

Helium Developers Propose Migrating from Its Blockchain to Solana

The core developers behind the decentralized telecommunications network Helium are looking to migrate the entire network to the Solana chain citing the inefficiency of its own blockchain.

Helium core developers published the HIP 70 proposal on August 30, detailing why the network would be better off migrating from its own blockchain to the high-performance Solana network.

If passed after voting, the proposal will move Helium from Proof of Coverage (PoC) to Oracles, move its data transfer accounting to Oracles, and migrate the Helium network and all its tokens to the Solana blockchain.

According to the proposal, the migration will improve the operational efficiency of the Helium network as core developers can leverage Solana’s developer tools, applications, and features.

Flipsider:

Despite being a high-performance chain, Solana has battled with stability issues, suffering over 10 network outrages in 2022.

Why You Should Care

Helium looks to migrate because the growing use of Helium has led to difficulties in managing data flow and accounting, leading to inefficiency issues.

Ripple Unlocks 1 Billion XRP from Escrow, Shopify Developer Joins Ripple

Continuing its programmed injection of liquidity, Ripple has unlocked another batch of 1 billion XRP tokens, worth around $327 million. This process has been carried out on a regular basis since 2017, on the first day of each month.

Whale Alert reported that the XRP tokens were unlocked in three tranches of 500, 300, and 200 million XRP, respectively. The monthly unlock of 1 billion XRP is currently expected to continue until April 2026.

Jason Tigas, a developer advocate with the Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify has announced that he has joined the Ripple development team. Ripple opened an office in Canada in June, after announcing it could leave the U.S. if it loses its ongoing SEC case.

According to Tigas, his move to Ripple is to help in creating a world without economic borders. He also said that Web3 could potentially “do a lot” for the e-commerce sector with dApps and NFTs.

Flipsider:

A U.S. court has denied Shopify’s bid to pause a lawsuit against it over a data breach that cost some crypto users their digital wallets

Why You Should Care

The monthly XRP unlock program was designed by Ripple Labs to provide more predictability to the XRP supply.

LG Electronics to Launch Hedera-based Cryptocurrency Wallet, Wallypto

South Korean-based consumer electronics giant LG Electronics is preparing to launch its first Hedera-based cryptocurrency wallet dubbed “Wallypto” in the third quarter of 2022, as per reports from local news outlet News1.

According to the reports, the developers are in the final verification phase of the beta testing of the application that started in August. The company also plans to fix detected errors and launch the final version of the wallet before the year ends.

The Wallypto digital wallet is built on the Hedera Hashgraph blockchain and will initially support only Hedera’s HTS tokens. It, however, plans to expand the list of supporting blockchain networks and tokens upon release.

Although LG is yet to reveal the practical utility of Wallypto, an LG representative said they are preparing for a new market that is opening up. The company might link the wallet with some of its existing product lines, including its IoT platform LG ThinQ.