In RockItCoin’s effort to empower individuals in the cryptocurrency space, we have extracted top industry stories for your Weekly Digest. Cryptocurrency continues to dominate the news and here are some key happenings you should know.
Ethereum Successfully Merges to Become Proof-of-Stake
The Merge was a success! The long-awaited network update occurred on September 15th at 6:42 UTC when the Mainnet merged with the Beacon Chain to make Ethereum completely proof-of-stake. The network now uses 99.95% less energy since mining isn’t needed anymore, and historically marks a moment for cleaner cryptos. So what’s next for Ethereum? Enthusiasts have created a creatively-named roadmap for the next steps: The Surge, The Verge, The Purge, and The Splurge. This series of steps improve scalability, clean historical data, and tidy up any loose ends in the code.
European Central Bank Selects Five Companies to Prototype CBDC
The European Central Bank (ECB) has chosen five financial technology and e-commerce companies to create a prototype of a Central Bank Digital currency, or CBDC. This is Europe’s first movement towards creating a digital euro since its announcement in 2021. The five companies chosen are e-commerce platform Amazon, fintech company Nexi, Spanish bank CaixaBank, French payments platform Worldline, and the European Payments Initiative (EPI). Each company will focus on a certain aspect of utility, like peer-to-peer, point-of-sale, and e-commerce payments.
White House Unveils New Framework for the Future of Crypto
The White House released a detailed framework outlining the regulation of cryptocurrency and other digital projects in various government agencies. In the framework, they mention the possibility of creating a CBDC, which would increase payment efficiency and be environmentally sustainable. The framework also mentions guidelines for combatting digital crimes, with more research coming in the next year.
