Top10 News

1. Ethereum developers target March 2023 for release of staked ether link

Ethereum developers determined on Thursday that the network’s next hard fork, called “Shanghai,” will have a target release time frame of March 2023. This upgrade will include code known as EIP 4895 that will allow Beacon Chain staked ether (ETH) withdrawals. Developers also agreed to address the implementation of the “EVM Object Format” (EOF) in Shanghai, which is a collection of EIPs that essentially upgrade the Ethereum Virtual Machine, the environment where Ethereum is able to execute smart contracts. Those Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) are EIP 3540, EIP 3670, EIP 4200, EIP 4570, EIP 5450.

2. Amber Group lays off hundreds, Bybit cuts 30% again link

After laying off approximately 30–40% of its workforce in September, Amber Group began laying off hundreds of employees again in December, requiring in-country employees to work from home and clear out their offices. Amber Group responded that it could confirm that the company and WhaleFinApp are business as usual. Meanwhile, the company is scrapping retail operations and terminating a sponsorship deal with Chelsea FC. The decisions are part of a major cost-cutting strategy. Amber plans to reduce its workforce to less than 400; will focus on large institutions, family offices and high net worth clients; and plans to move to a cheaper office location in Hong Kong. In addition, Amber Group has raised approximately $50M from a new sovereign fund at a $3B valuation. Less than 10% of Amber’s deal capital is tied up in FTX. Derivatives exchange Bybit also announced a second layoff of 30% of its workforce, which will be compensated with N+3. Previously, Bybit had already announced a layoff in June.

3. Tether launches offshore Chinese Yuan (CNH₮) on Tron link

Tether Operations Limited (Tether) announced the addition of its offshore Chinese Yuan (CNH₮) to the Tron blockchain. At launch, Bitfinex will be the first exchange to enable its users to deposit and withdraw CNH₮ using the Tron blockchain transport layer from the platform. Created in 2019, CNH₮ is pegged to offshore Chinese yuan (CNH). Initially available only on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC-20 token, its launch on TRON will make it the second blockchain on which CNH₮ can be obtained, traded, and held. CNH₮ is one of four stablecoins that Tether supports including stablecoins pegged to the U.S. Dollar (USD₮), Euro (EUR₮), and Peso (MXN₮).

4. GameStop loses nearly $95M in Q3, drops focus on cryptocurrency link

GameStop, which lost nearly $95 million in the third quarter, has halted its cryptocurrency-related focus and said it will no longer focus on cryptocurrencies, but still appears to be moving forward with its NFT and blockchain initiatives. Teams working on blockchain and NFT projects are said to be the most affected by its third round of layoffs in 2022.

5. Vitalik discusses what in the Ethereum application ecosystem excites him link

Vitalik posted an article analyzing what in the Ethereum application ecosystem excites him, including stablecoins, defi products like prediction markets and other synthetic assets, the identity ecosystem (ENS, SIWE, PoH, POAPs, SBTs, etc.), DAO with decentralization and fancy new governance mechanisms, and hybrid applications that use blockchain and other systems to improve their trust models (voting, auditing, gaming, etc.).

6. Circle and Concord Acquisition Corp mutually agree to terminate proposed business combination link

Circle and Concord Acquisition Group have agreed to terminate the SPAC program. This follows an initial agreement between the two for $4.5 billion in July 2021, which was continually postponed until the end of January 2023, for Concord’s Board of Directors felt there was no time to call an extraordinary general meeting to approve the transaction.

7. KuCoin engages Mazars to conduct third-party proof of reserves verification procedures link

KuCoin announced that it has engaged Mazars, an audit, tax and advisory firm, to provide a third-party factual findings report. Mazars will offer KuCoin’s customers and prospective customers additional transparency and reporting on whether their in-scope assets are collateralized.

8. ApeStake is now live and open for pre-deposit period link

Horizen Labs, a partner selected by the ApeCoin Foundation, announced that ApeStake is live and open for pre-deposit. The system consists of single asset staking for ApeCoin and joint staking with BAYC, MAYC or BAKC, for a total of 4 staking pools, each offering different levels of rewards, with staking rewards starting to accumulate on December 12. The total staking period is 3 years and each staking period is 12 months.

9. Bitcoin mining difficulty plummeted by 7.32% to 34.24T link

Bitcoin saw a mining difficulty adjustment at block height 766,080, with mining difficulty plummeting 7.32% to 34.24 T, the largest drop since July 3, 2021. The current hashrate is 255.72 EH/s.

10. GBTC’s negative premium widens to 47.84%, another record low link

OKLink data shows that Grayscale GBTC’s negative premium widened to 47.84%, another record low, and ETHE’s negative premium is around 50%. Grayscale’s parent company DCG is facing challenges from the possible bankruptcy of Genesis.

Fundraising

• Bitwave raised $15M in a Series A funding round led by Hack VC and Blockchain Capital link

• DeFi derivatives protocol Perennial raised $12M in seed funding in a round co-led by Polychain Capital and Variant link

• Panoptic, a Uniswap-based decentralized finance protocol for trading perpetual options, raised $4.5 million in a seed funding round link

• NFT- based decentralized video platform Shibuya raised a seed round of $6.9M led by a16z crypto and Variant link

• NFT-focused startup Metagood raised $5M in its pre-seed round link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.

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