BTC price rises to $60,000
By the end of this week, Bitcoin has shown rapid growth, nearly reaching the $60,000 mark. At the time of writing, its price hovers around $60,160. By market capitalization, the remaining assets among the top 10 cryptocurrencies are also in the "green zone." Ethereum has risen by 3.3%, surpassing the $2,400 mark. TON has increased by 6.2%, re-entering the top ten cryptocurrencies. DOGE also shows a growth of 6.4%.
Buterin decides to focus on mature L2 projects
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced a change in the way L2 solutions are discussed. Starting from the New Year, he will only mention projects that are in the "Phase 1+" stage.
This phase is characterized by the requirement that significant decisions must receive 75% unanimous consent from the board, and 26% or more of the board members cannot be part of the development team.
Buterin also emphasized the importance of transitioning from multi-signature to cryptographic trust-based architectures. The first option is simpler but has lower security in L2 Rollups systems.
Cardano undergoes Chang hard fork
At block #10,764,778, the Cardano network successfully executed the Chang hard fork, marking the beginning of the Conway registration era and the transition of the ecosystem towards decentralized governance. Now, ADA token holders have the opportunity to actively participate in voting to determine the direction of the network.
The implementation of CIP-1694 introduces a new governance model consisting of three key elements: the Constitutional Committee (CC), Delegates (dReps), and Stake Pool Operators (SPO).
In the first phase, the network will be overseen by a temporarily limited Constitutional Committee for a term of 90 days. Its task is to ensure security and stability during the establishment of the new governance system. The second phase involves the full launch of the updated governance structure.
Bitcoin difficulty hits a new high
Following the latest recalibration, Bitcoin mining difficulty has increased by 3.58%, reaching a historic high of 92.67T. The average hash rate since the last change was 662.34 EH/s, with the average block interval time reduced to 9 minutes and 40 seconds. According to Glassnode, on September 8, the network's computing power, measured by a smoothed 7-day moving average, peaked at 693.9 EH/s but was later corrected to 672.3 EH/s.
Coinbase launches Coinbase Wrapped BTC
On September 12, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase launched Coinbase Wrapped BTC (cbBTC), an ERC20 token backed 1:1 by Bitcoin. The platform announced this news on its blog. According to the company, Bitcoin plays a key role in attracting users to use digital assets. At launch, cbBTC is supported on both the Base and Ethereum networks, with plans for further expansion.
The idea of launching cbBTC was first announced by Coinbase in mid-August. However, the community expressed concerns about the potential centralization of this product. BitGo CEO Mike Belshe sarcastically referred to cbBTC as "Central Bank Bitcoin."
Tether partners with TRON and TRM Labs to combat illegal activities involving USDT
Tether, TRON, and TRM Labs have jointly established a new alliance, the T3 Financial Crimes Unit (T3 FCU), aimed at combating financial crime. The primary focus is to prevent the illegal use of USDT on the TRON blockchain. According to data from the stablecoin issuer, the TRON blockchain accounts for 60.78 billion of the total 118.37 billion tokens, representing 51.34% of the total circulation.
The initiative involves close cooperation between public and private entities to enhance the security and reliability of the digital asset industry. Alliance members emphasize that as the TRON blockchain becomes more popular and the number of users increases, the risk of attracting criminals also rises.
The establishment of the T3 FCU aims to limit the ability of attackers to launder money and use illegal proceeds, which helps maintain the integrity of the TRON blockchain. Within weeks of the alliance's formation, the T3 FCU was able to freeze over $12 million in funds related to cases of extortion and investment fraud.