The Aug. 10 Consumer Price Index (CPI) report shows year-over-year inflation rose 8.5% in July and while this figure is below economists’ expectations of 8.7%, it is still high. Although inflation remains much higher than the Federal Reserve's 2% target, the marginal slowdown raises hopes that the rate hikes by the Federal Reserve have started to work. That has reduced the probability of a 75 basis point rate hike in the September meeting from 68% on Aug. 9 to 37.5% according to CME group data. Risky assets, including the cryptocurrency markets, responded positively to the CPI print. Compared to Bitcoin …

In this week’s newsletter, read about Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s proposal for stealth NFT ownership. Check out how a CryptoPunk will be split into thousands of pieces to enable smaller investors to access it, and how the NFT play-to-earn game Axie Infinity plans to double down on South Korea despite regulatory hurdles. In other news, learn about how NFT storage works according to two NFT experts. Lastly, check out how a Redditor turned criticisms of the NFT space into NFTs. Vitalik Buterin proposes stealth addresses for anonymous NFT ownership Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, proposed what he dubs a “low-tech …

According to data from DeFi Llama, total value locked (TVL) on Optimism, a layer-two scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain, has surged 284% in the past month. The vast majority of TVL consists of users lending and borrowing assets on Aave through Optimism's layer-two chain. Investors have been bidding up digital assets related to the Ethereum ecosystem in anticipation of The Merge upgrade, which will see the blockchain transition from a proof-of-work network to that based on proof-of-stake. According to a recent Ethereum developer call, the tentative date for The Merge coming online has been scheduled for September 19. As …

Bitcoin (BTC) regained $24,000 but failed to hit new multi-month highs on Aug. 10 as United States inflation appeared to be slowing. CPI cuts risk assets much-needed slack Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed hourly gains of around $1,000 after U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for July showed a slowdown versus the previous month. While managing $24,179 on Bitstamp, BTC/USD nonetheless did not attract enough momentum to challenge levels from the day prior. Nonetheless, relief among traders was palpable, as declining inflation should signal to the Federal Reserve that less aggressive interest rate hikes are necessary going …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols continue to be targeted by hackers, with Curve Finance becoming the latest platform to be compromised after a DNS hijacking incident. The automated market maker warned users not to use the front end of its website on Aug. 9 after the incident was flagged online by a number of members of the wider cryptocurrency community. While the exact attack mechanism is still under investigation, the consensus is that attackers managed to clone the Curve Finance website and rerouted the DNS server to the fake page. Users that attempted to make use of the platform then had …

Hot on the heels of an official announcement from USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle Pay, stablecoin giant Tether has now also officially confirmed its support behind Ethereum’s upcoming Merge upgrade and switch to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism-based blockchain. The announcement came on the same day as its stablecoin competitor, who pledged they will only support Ethereum’s highly anticipated upgrade. In an Aug. 9 statement, Tether labeled the Merge one of the “most significant moments in blockchain history” and outlined that it will work in accordance with Ethereum’s upgrade schedule, which is currently slated to go through on Sept. 19. …

On Aug 9, automated market maker Curve Finance took to Twitter to warn users of an ongoing exploit on its site. The team behind the protocol noted that the issue, which appears to be an attack from a malicious actor, is affecting the service’s nameserver and frontend. Don't use https://t.co/vOeMYOTq0l site - nameserver is compromised. Investigation is ongoing: likely the NS itself has a problem — Curve Finance (@CurveFinance) August 9, 2022 Curve stated via Twitter that its exchange — which is a separate product — appeared to be unaffected by the attack, as it uses a different DNS provider. …

The aggregate total value locked (TVL) in the crypto market measures the amount of funds deposited in smart contracts and this figure declined from $160 billion in mid-April to the current $70 billion, which is the lowest level since March 2021. While this 66% contraction is worrying, a great deal of data suggests that the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector is resilient. The issue with using TVL as a broad metric is the lack of detail that is not shown. For example, the number of DeFi transactions, growth of layer-2 scaling solutions and venture capital inflows in the ecosystem are not …

Despite a massive wave of liquidations on the cryptocurrency market, some companies that sold their crypto over the past few months are not bearish on Bitcoin (BTC) at all. Canada-based investment firm Cypherpunk Holdings was one of the companies that opted to sell crypto amid the crypto winter of 2022, liquidating 100% of its Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) by June. One of the first public companies in the world to ever invest in Bitcoin, Cypherpunk said at the time that it maintained its long-term “bullish outlook on crypto” despite selling all its digital coins. One may find Cypherpunk’s crypto liquidation …

After moving away from Bitcoin (BTC) payments years ago, online forum Reddit now seems to be inching closer to embracing cryptocurrency payments via a new partnership with the FTX exchange. Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX and Reddit announced in a joint statement on Tuesday that the platform intends to integrate Reddit’s Community Points in the United States, the European Union, Australia and other markets. The partnership features the integration of FTX Pay as a payment and crypto exchange solution to unlock new crypto-enabled perks for Reddit Community Points. Introduced in May 2020, Reddit Community Points are a measure of reputation …

Bitcoin (BTC) is facing fresh competition from altcoins this month as data shows that — technically — it is already "alt season." Figures from CoinMarketCap and TradingView show that BTC currently makes up around 41% of the overall crypto market capitalization — its lowest since the start of 2022. Bitcoin sheds market cap prowess After suffering at the hands of the Terra LUNA collapse, altcoin markets have rallied considerably in recent months. Alongside Bitcoin's return from 18-month lows of $17,600 in June, altcoins have enjoyed their own renaissance, one which is now giving Bitcoin bulls a run for their money. …

Crypto platform Bitcoin.com is looking to expand its ecosystem by introducing Bitcoin (BTC) holders to the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) and implementing new services such as a decentralized exchange (DEX) in its platform. Speaking with Cointelegraph’s Andrew Fenton at the Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) 2022, Bitcoin.com's head of financial services Corbin Fraser said that the company is moving from only being associated with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to becoming a DeFi platform that caters to crypto users across multiple chains. Fraser explained that: “We've got a lot of BTC users and a lot of these people want to do more …