This week saw a lot of trading as markets responded to the reality of Ethereum’s impending Merge. As miners weighed their options, the value of Ethereum Classic rose by over 75%, and other ETH ecosystem coins experienced similar increases. Finland declared it would provide Ukraine $48 million in drug seizure proceeds.

Top 7-day Gainers

• LDO +86.2
• ETC +78.1
• APE +45.5
• sTETH +39.5
• ETH +37.6

Top 7-day Losers

• XCN -1.2%
• USDP -0.1%
• USDC -0.1%
• TUSD -0.0%
• USDN -0.0%

Top Market Trends of the Week

We’ve brought together the top crypto market trends. These are some of the top headlines of the week.

Ex-Coinbase Manager Arrested on Crypto Insider Trading Case

Three people, including a former Coinbase product manager, have been arrested on wire fraud and insider trading allegations. The manager allegedly shared information about at least 14 different Coinbase listings. The defendants bought at least 25 different cryptocurrencies using anonymous wallets and accounts in other people’s names. Coinbase will not be charged.

Blockchain.com Cuts 25% Workforce

Blockchain.com is closing its Argentina-based offices and canceling team expansion plans in several countries. It will cut 25% of its workforce, around 150 staff. Blockchain.com will offer job replacement assistance through a third party to UK and US employees and severance benefits depending on the country. Executive salaries and CEO compensation will also be reduced. The company is dealing with a $270 million shortfall from lending to Three Arrows Capital.

Launching SushiXSwap

SushiXSwap is a cross-chain automatic market maker based on Stargate. It allows users to bridge and trade tokens across all major chains and rollups. SushiXSwap features an easy-to-use dApp interface that helps users find the best price for any pair, regardless of the chain they’re using. SushiXSwap has the same features as Sushi but across multiple chains.

Curve Finance Has a Stablecoin in the Works

Curve Finance is working on a stablecoin, and its release may be imminent. The Curve stablecoin will be overcollateralized and will likely be minted against liquidity provider positions. It will likely be first revealed on Curve’s GitHub. Curve has been the battleground for stablecoins as its bonding curve made it well-suited for like-priced assets.

Tesla Sold Most of Its Bitcoin

Tesla sold most of its bitcoin holdings in the second quarter to boost its cash position, given the uncertainty around COVID-19 lockdowns in China. But CEO Elon Musk said Tesla is open to increasing its bitcoin holdings again in the future.

The numbers: Tesla offloaded $936 million worth of bitcoin, or 75% of its holdings. It didn’t sell any of its dogecoin holdings.

Top Executives from McKinsey, Tencent, and Accenture join Animoca Brands.

Along with the company’s co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu, group president Evan Auyang, CEO of North America Robby Yung, and COO Arnold Concepción, the new team will be in charge of making important strategic, organizational, and operational decisions.

Bored Ape Whale Loses $150K of ETH on a Joke Bid

Franklin Caldwell is the seventh-largest holder of Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and is regarded as an influencer in the NFT space. It all started when Caldwell created the ENS domain “stop-doing-fake-bids-its-honestly-lame-my-guy.eth” on Tuesday. Caldwell then placed a 100 wrapped ETH (WETH) bid on the ENS domain.

FTX Seeks to Raise More Funds

FTX and FTX US are looking to raise a new round of capital. They were targeting the same valuation as its January round when FTX raised $400 million at a $32 billion valuation, and FTX US raised $400 million at an $8 billion valuation. CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been trying to help the crypto market through loans and investments. However, some think his purchases are looking a bit like bargain hunting.

End Note

I hope you found this crypto market update useful!

Stay tuned for more information like this.

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