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Dear Bankless Nation,

Here’s a recap of the biggest news in crypto for the second week of June, 2022:

Ethereum completes “dress rehearsal” for The Merge

The Ethereum network completed a test-run of its ETH2.0 upgrade on the Ropsten testnet this Wednesday, June 8.

The transition was a major success! It featured near universal validator coordination and ironed out some bugs. Many Activation Pandas were achieved.

Let Parithosh walk you through some details:

parithosh | 🐼👉👈🐼 @parithosh_j

Summary of the Ropsten testnet merge: 🧵

June 8th 2022

275 Retweets1,117 Likes

ETH 2.0 lead Danny Ryan was elated, calling it a major success, adding: “If this were mainnet, I’d be jumping for joy.”

Ethereum core dev ringleader Tim Beiko appeared on State of the Nation this week, where Ryan and David peppered him with multiple versions of the question: “Wen merge?”

Beiko reiterated its imminence.

To paraphrase his response: the tech could be deployed right now and it would operate normally. Current testnet runs are mainly for coordination among node operators and validators.

dannyryan 🧱🔥 @dannyryan

Ropsten Merge was a MAJOR success If this were mainnet, I’d be jumping for joy 🎉Congratulations to everyone involved🎉 Quick discussion and contextualization of issues seen during the transition below (thanks @parithosh_j for the details) 1/3

June 9th 2022

241 Retweets1,070 Likes

On Friday’s Ethereum Core Dev call, the decision was made to delay the Difficulty Bomb for Proof of Work miners as a precaution, but remain on course for a late Summer Merge.

Devs were quick to state that the move “does not mean we will delay the Merge. The Merge will not be delayed. This does not impact the Merge at all.”

Ropsten was the first of three dress rehearsals for The Merge on public testnets scheduled for the coming weeks.

Sepolia and Goerli are next. Then comes the big one.

Want to get downloaded on all things Merge? Check out this week’s SOTN podcast with Tim Beiko..

New Crypto Bill Drops in US Congress

U.S. Senators Gillibrand and Lummis introduced a long-awaited crypto bill that seeks to establish a robust, bipartisan regulatory framework for digital assets.

It’s not bad. Could this be? Some regulatory clarity? Perhaps…

Here are some highlights:

• Defines the difference between crypto securities and commodities

• Requires DAOs to be registered entities in a jurisdiction

• Calls on the IRS to provide clear tax guidance in line with the legislation

• Proposes that staking revenue isn’t taxable income until you sell it

• Grants the CFTC with exclusive regulatory powers over crypto assets that are not securities (mainly crypto commodities like BTC & ETH)

• All banks and credit unions will have a clear pathway to issue regulated stablecoins

Generally speaking, outside of requiring DAOs to become registered entities — doesn’t that kinda take the D out of DAO? — this bill is pretty bullish.

Clarity is key. That’s exactly what Shark Tank’s Kevin O'Leary argues for in Monday’s upcoming Bankless podcast episode.

How this bill fares in the meatgrinder of Washington politics is yet to be seen, but we’ll be watching this sausage gets made very closely.

US Inflation Hits 40-Year High

U.S. inflation is now at 8.6%.

For central bankers, this metric is obviously running hotter than expected. Literally nobody else is surprised at all.

Mortgages, rent, groceries, gas — all going up.

Something else is going up as well: interest rates. The Fed will likely raise rates again next week. Whether Jerome and the Gang want to stay on course with 50 bps rate hikes — or even get more aggressive — there’s really no other way than up.

The Fed has to fight inflation. They will continue to be hawkish.

What does this mean for investors?

Stocks and crypto have taken a sharp downturn.

The S&P sank nearly 3% following the release of these numbers. Major crypto assets like BTC and ETH tumbled even harder.

The investing environment is risk-off. While crypto fundamentals are strong, we’re dealing with some mega-macro drama.

There’s a lot of volatility out there. Stay calm and weather the storm. ETH’ll all be worth it on the other side.

Here’s what’s lined up for next week:

• Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary joins us on the podcast (early access here)

• David shares his favorite Build market projects

• We answer “Is DeFi dead?” (hint: it’s not.)

Have a great weekend everyone.

— Bankless

🙏 Sponsor: Polygon Studios—Fostering culture across Gaming, NFTs, and the Metaverse✨

Recap for the week of June 7th, 2022

🎙️Vance Spencer and the Bear Market Gift

Listen to podcast episode | Apple | Spotify | YouTube | RSS Feed

ACTION RECAP 📚

READ 📚

1. 📘 So What if Crypto Winter is Here?

2. 📘 Your Guide to the Synthetix Ecosystem

3. 📘 Enterprise Blockchain Isn’t Boring

4. 📘 The Layer 2 Token Endgame

5. 💬 What coin are you holding through the bear market?

WATCH 🔊

1. 📺 Soulbound: On or off Chain? | Vitalik Buterin and Evin McMullen

2. 📺 Superphiz | Layer Zero

3. 📺 Ethereum Merge Updates | Tim Beiko

4. 📺 The Bear Market Gift | Vance Spencer

METAVERSAL 🧙‍♂️

1. 📘 The Merge and NFTs

2. 📘 Free-to-Mint NFTs

3. 📘 Shifting NFT sands 🏜️

BANKLESS DAO 🏴

1. The Secret Sauce of DAOs | BanklessDAO Weekly Rollup

2. DC Comics, Snoop Dogg, and an Excursion Through Sunflower Land | Decentralized Arts

3. 📘 Rari’s Permissionless Lending Markets | BanklessDAO Weekly Rollup

OVERPRICED JPEGS 🖼️

1. 📺 Building the Open Metaverse with MeebitsDAO GM, Danny Greene

2. 📺 Unpacking Admit One with Gmoney

3. 📺 Are Metaverse Land Sales a Good Strategy?

GREEN PILLED 🌳

1. 📺 The World Game | METADREAMER - Green Pill #17

Weekly Subscriber Perks 🔥

Bankless Premium Members get access to perks like these:

• Early Access: Crypto's Bull Shark | Kevin O'Leary (Mr. Wonderful)

• Full Access: So What if Crypto Winter is Here?

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🗞️ Latest Weekly Rollup. Download the week in crypto to your brain in one show.

Listen to podcast episode | Apple | Spotify | YouTube | RSS Feed

Jobs opportunities 🧑‍💼

✨ See all listings on the Bankless Job Board✨

1. Boolean Labs: Founder & CEO of a Web3 Community Analytics Platform

2. Bankless: Twitter Specialist (Social Media)

3. Blockchain Capital: Research Engineer

4. Swell Network: Tech Lead

5. Unlockd: Solidity Developer

6. Streams: Senior Product Designer

7. Goldfinch: Business Development Lead

Go Bankless. $22 / mo. Includes archive access, Inner Circle & Badge—(pay w/ crypto)

🙏Thanks to our sponsor

POLYGON STUDIOS

Polygon Studios is on a mission to help build digital culture, play-to-earn gaming, NFTs, and the Metaverse ecosystem on Polygon. Some of the key projects supported by Polygon Studios include The Sandbox, Skyweaver, Big Time, Crypto Unicorns, and Decentraland—among others. Polygon Studios also helps fundraising & onboarding. Check it out here.

Stay updated on the latest amazing gaming, NFT, and metaverse projects:

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Write for Bankless

Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.