The week ahead's three biggest cryptocurrency stories

Quick Take

  • Next week will see the beginning of The Merge, one of crypto’s most-anticipated events.
  • It will start with Bellatrix, the first of a two-part upgrade.
 

The crypto community may still be reeling from the after-effects of the market downturn, but technologically speaking there's a lot to look for. Next week will see the first major part of The Merge take place — setting the stage for the main upgrade later this month.

On a separate note, more than one airdrop is in the cards.

Bellatrix is arriving

Ethereum’s move to proof of stake takes center stage this week as the first part of the two-part upgrade is set to take place. Bellatrix, set for Sept. 6, will prepare the Ethereum blockchain for the The Merge. Ethereum node runners have been asked to update their clients in preparation for Bellatrix and to ensure a smooth transition. 

If all goes successfully, it will keep the upgrade on track to happen just over a week later. The Merge will take place when the network’s hash rate reaches a certain level, which is roughly estimated for Sept. 15.

Two airdrops on the way

1inch announced last week that it intends to do a retrospective airdrop of 300,000 OP tokens to 1inch wallet users on the Optimism network — an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution. The tokens will be distributed equally among all wallets that have made swaps via the 1inch wallet on the Optimism network up until Sept. 1. The airdrop will take place very soon, the team said.

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At the same time, Sudoswap said it intends to introduce a governance token for its NFT platform. The token will be airdropped to those who lock the crypto token XMON, 0xmon NFT holders, liquidity providers, team members and the project’s treasury. The total supply of SUDO tokens will be 60 million. It is unclear when this airdrop will take place.

A deadline awaits

The deadline looms for agency responses to President Joe Biden's executive order on cryptocurrency. Per the March 9 order, seven reports from agencies are due to the White House after 120 days, putting their deadline at Sept. 5, the day after Labor Day, Kollen Post writes

Some responses have already been submitted. These include the Department of Justice and the Treasury.

 

© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Tim is the Editor-In-Chief of The Block. Prior to joining The Block, Tim was a news editor at Decrypt. He has earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of York and studied news journalism at Press Association Training. Follow him on X @Timccopeland.