Ethereum Lets Loose Supple | Treasury Reads DeFi The Riot Act

SHANGHAI FORK WILL LET LOOSE 16% OF ETHER SUPPLY

Ethereum is set to undergo a major change on April 12—the first technical overhaul since the blockchain’s transition to near-carbon neutrality in September. Known as the Shanghai upgrade, it will free up staked tokens accounting for approximately 16% of the total supply.

Since 2020, users have been able to pledge, or stake, their ether in exchange for a chance to add the next block of transactions to the ledger and accrue interest on the staked assets as a reward.

After the assets have been locked up for a lengthy period and with the dangling uncertainty in crypto markets, there are concerns that many validators will withdraw and sell their staked ether, which could put pressure on the token’s value. Read more.

Source: Forbes Digital Assets. Prices as of 4:00 p.m. on April 7, 2023.

MUSK’S DOGECOIN SHENANIGANS

Dogecoin’s value skyrocketed Monday after Twitter changed its web logo to an image of the Shiba Inu dog that adorns the meme cryptocurrency, briefly pushing its price to more than 10 cents for the first time in months. Twitter owner Elon Musk has long called the token his favorite cryptocurrency and past comments have served as catalysts for wild price swings. The billionaire’s remarks have also landed him in legal hot water. Musk is a defendant in a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit filed by dogecoin investors accusing him of running a pyramid scheme that used his clout to inflate the price of the token by “more than 36,000% over two years and then letting it crash.” As of Friday afternoon in New York, dogecoin is trading at, 8.3 cents down 20% from Monday’s high.

CRYPTO BILLIONAIRES LOST $110 BILLION IN PAST YEAR

It’s been a tough year to be a cryptocurrency plutocrat. Fraud allegations, government lawsuits and investigations, internecine squabbling and slumping asset valuations combined to bruise a fragile industry. Its billionaire beneficiaries have lost a combined $110 billion in the last year, according to Forbes’ 2023 World’s Billionaires List, an annual compilation of 10-figure fortunes. Last year, Forbes identified 19 crypto billionaires, the most ever, worth a collective $140 billion. Those same individuals were worth less than $30 billion on March 10, the date Forbes measured net worths for its list. Ten of them are no longer billionaires. Find out who fell off.

ELSEWHERE

Signature’s Signet Provided Path For Tether Holders [Bloomberg]

Investors Sue Binance, NBA's Jimmy Butler In Crypto's Latest Court Case [The Wall Street Journal]

Arbitrum Governance Fracas Reopens The Question: Why DAOs? [CoinDesk]

Nina Bambysheva
Reporter
Forbes Money & Markets

Steven Ehrlich
Editor 
Forbes CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor

Follow us on Twitter & Facebook