TLDR Crypto 2022-08-12

Ethereum's switch to Proof-of-Stake will likely occur on September 15 or 16. Its developers decided to submit a pull request to switch the network to Proof-of-Stake during a call streamed via the Ethereum Foundation's YouTube page. The final test Merge with the Goerli testnet went well enough for the developers to narrow down a date for the real Merge. The Merge will drastically reduce the amount of energy that Ethereum uses.

BlackRock has launched a private trust to offer institutional entities exposure to spot Bitcoin. The spot Bitcoin market allows investors to buy and sell BTC at current market prices. BlackRock's trust is the first to offer direct BTC exposure to US-based institutional clients. It recently partnered with Coinbase to give its clients access to digital assets.

Interlay has launched a wrapped bitcoin token, InterBTC (iBTC). Wrapped tokens are tokenized versions of crypto assets not native to the blockchains they exist on. iBTC allows people to use BTC on DeFi applications on Polkadot via a bridge. Interlay plans to expand iBTC to Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, Avalanche, and other DeFi networks. More about how iBTC works is available in the article.

Guild is an infrastructure for platformless memberships. It allows people to create portable social structures around on- and off-chain requirements. Guild memberships are based on Requirements (inputs to qualify people for a role), Roles (a way to signify the fulfillment of requirements), and Rewards (privileges for holding a role). The system can be used to create gated communities and content based on digital identities and ownership of digital items.

SudoSwap's NFT AMM is an automated market maker that offers instant liquidity, cheaper fees, the ability to automatically dollar cost average into and out of collections, and more. Buying and selling NFTs on the AMM is done through liquidity pools, and prices can be dynamically adjusted. SudoSwap doesn't include royalty fees in its trades. More detailed information about the marketplace and how it works is available.

This Twitter thread discusses how Cosmos works, why dApps are moving to Cosmos, interchain security, ATOM, Cosmos concerns, and more. Cosmos is an ecosystem of independent blockchains that can scale and communicate with each other. The system consists of Zones, which are blockchains with their own tokens and validator sets, and Hubs, which connect Zones together through Cosmos' Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol. There are currently 49 Zones and two Hubs in the Cosmos ecosystem.

Mailchimp has suspended the accounts of crypto-related content creators and media outlets. Some of its customers had been using the platform for more than four years. The affected customers were not given any warning and are unable to access their subscriber lists. Mailchimp has a history of suspending crypto publisher accounts.

MakerDAO's founder has started a discussion on whether the protocol will depeg DAI from USDC. Circle, the centralized entity that runs USDC, recently froze USDC from 38 wallets sanctioned in connection to the Tornado Cash ban. The company was not technically compelled to freeze those funds but it did so out of caution to avoid issues with the US government. Many other protocols are considering reducing their USDC exposure.

Umami Finance is a DeFi protocol that collects yield from GLP and hedges it via TracerDAO.

Opening sanctions up so that they are no longer limited to persons could affect privacy and free speech.

Traders may be hedging out ETH exposure pre-Merge in case there are issues with the Merge.

Silo is a fully decentralized lending protocol on Ethereum.

This Twitter thread links to an article by a professor at Georgetown about SNARKs, how they work, scaling SNARKs, the issues with SNARKs, and more.

Digital assets can be valuable even if profit is not involved.