Crypto Flipsider News – Miners Behind Bitcoin’s Fall Under $40k, Bears Engulf Altcoins; Ethereum Launches First Mainnet Shadow Fork; Coinbase Increase Transparency on New Listings, Kraken Shuts Down Global Headquarters; Animoca Acquires Eden Games

Read in the Digest:

Miners behind Bitcoin’s fall below $40,000 as Altcoins fall to bearish pressure.

Ethereum devs record “huge success” in first mainnet shadow fork.

Coinbase increases transparency on new listings, while Kraken shuts down global headquarters, and Uniswap launches venture unit.

Animoca Brands acquires Eden Games and Epic Games raises $2 billion for “The Metaverse.”

Miners Behind Bitcoin’s Fall Below $40,000 as Altcoins Fall to Bearish Pressure

For the first time since March 16th, the price of Bitcoin has fallen to below $40,000 as the sell-off worsens. Bitcoin dropped to as low as $39,373 before stabilizing above the crucial support level of $40,000. Bitcoin is now trading at $40.6k as of this writing, having lost 15% over the last week.

The seven day price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: Tradingview

According to on-chain data, prior to Bitcoin’s plunge, there was a spike in the outflow of Bitcoin miners. Many have interpreted the movement of sums of BTC from miners’ wallets to be indicative of a bearish trend, which thus impacted the price of Bitcoin.

The data was confirmed by CoinShares, which reported that the crypto market had witnessed its second-highest week of outflows in 2022. According to CoinShares, the crypto market lost $134 million in the week ending April 8th, with Bitcoin contributing $132 million.

Altcoins joined Bitcoin in the plunge, as Ethereum fell below $3,000. The top 100 cryptos ranked by market cap drowned in a sea of red as Bitcoin traded sub-$40k. As a result of the market crash, $440 million was liquidated across the crypto market at large.

The seven day chart for the global crypto market cap. Source: Tradingview

Flipsider:

Despite the massive price drop so far in 2022, on-chain data shows that 70-75% of all Bitcoin addresses are still showing a profit, compared to the 45% to 50% during 2018’s bear market.

Why You Should Care

Faced with the Fed’s threat of further interest rate hikes and the prevailing unsettled economic conditions, experts are predicting a rough patch for crypto and stocks alike.

Ethereum Devs Record “Huge Success” in First Mainnet Shadow Fork

Building towards its transition from Proof of Work (PoW) to a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which it has dubbed “The Merge”, Ethereum has launched its first-ever “shadow fork” for the Ethereum mainnet.

The shadow fork saw Ethereum developers stress test PoS on the Ethereum mainnet. According to Ethereum Foundation developers, the shadow fork, designed to test developers’ assumptions about existing testnets and the mainnet, was a “huge success.”

The shadow fork was deployed as a way of testing the next phase of Ethereum’s configuration, and will have no impact on the existing mainnet. It shared some data with the main Ethereum network, meaning that transactions could appear on both chains.

According to the shadow fork’s block explorer, Over 3,295,934 transactions have already been processed, with an average block time of 14.3 seconds. There are more than 1.5 million wallet addresses and over 14.5 million blocks on Ethereum’s new blockchain.

Flipsider:

The migration of Ethereum has been in the works for years, but has suffered multiple delays.

Why You Should Care

Ethereum Foundation developer Tim Beiko explained that the outcome of the shadow fork would be key to determining the timing of the final merge.

Coinbase Increases Transparency on New Listings, While Kraken Shuts Down Global Headquarters, and Uniswap Launches Venture Unit

In an effort to increase the transparency of its listing process, the biggest crypto exchange in the U.S, Coinbase, announced a list of 50 tokens currently under consideration to be listed in the second quarter of 2022.

The list contains 45 ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum network and 5 SPL tokens on the Solana network. However, Coinbase explained that they cannot be transferred or traded until an official listing is announced.

Meanwhile, global crypto exchange Kraken announced the closure of its global headquarters on Market Street in San Francisco. Kraken shut down its headquarters after “numerous employees were attacked, harassed, and robbed on their way to and from the office.”

Uniswap Labs, the developers of the Uniswap decentralized exchange, have launched a venture wing to invest in projects across Web 3.0. Uniswap Labs Ventures will focus on infrastructure for developer tools and consumer-facing applications.

Flipsider:

VC giants Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz, and Union Square Ventures have been sued over alleged ‘rampant fraud’ on the Uniswap exchange.

Why You Should Care

As crypto exchanges expand globally, security and transparency have been highlighted as key ingredients to their success.

Animoca Brands Acquires Eden Games and Epic Games Raises $2 Billion for “The Metaverse”

Blockchain gaming firm Animoca Brands has announced the acquisition of Eden Games, a popular game development company behind many beloved racing series. Following the move, Animoca Brands is looking to introduce new blockchain-based racing games to the market.

In a statement released by Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu, the acquisition will help the company to enhance its ‘REVV Motorsport‘ (REVV) ecosystem by taking a “Metaverse first approach” to new and existing gaming titles.

In another metaverse move, Epic Games, the creators of popular video game Fortnite, announced a $2 billion round of funding backed by Sony and KIRKBI, the Lego Group’s parent company.

Having received $1 billion from each of the legacy entertainment giants, Epic Games looks set to focus on accelerating the development of its metaverse. These latest investments saw Epic Games reach a new valuation of $31.5 billion.

Flipsider:

Although incentivized blockchain gaming has been predicted to revolutionize the industry, traditional gamers have been resistant to the development.