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Bitcoin has lagged behind other cryptoassets in the past week, despite pushing on with its price recovery. The world’s largest cryptoasset began the week below $37,400, rising across the seven days to a high of $41,847 on the eToro platform.
It is now trading around $40,700, giving a seven-day gain of around 9%. Ether meanwhile had a much stronger week, thanks to heightened anticipation of the upcoming ‘merge’ (more below).
Ether’s price began the week below $2,500 before rising to a high of $2,951 on the eToro platform on Saturday. It is now trading just below $2,900 and has gained around 18% over the past seven days.
The major cryptoassets have taken various rate hikes, including the first from the Federal Reserve, in their stride in the past week. With major events coming up in the Ethereum blockchain community in the next few days, the market, in general, could continue to be buoyed by fresh technical updates.
Crypto community awaits “the merge”
The crypto community is watching carefully for a major update to the Ethereum blockchain, dubbed “the merge.”
The merge is an update to the network that will see Ethereum move from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. Last week, a test was successfully conducted on the Kiln testnet, making the move more likely than ever.
The merge will have some major implications for the Ethereum blockchain, and as a result, its token ether. Moving to a PoS model will bring in a protocol that rewards stakers instead of miners, and also make the blockchain 99% more energy efficient. This is a particularly key development, especially considering the global energy crisis and the long-term issue of climate change.
Moving to a PoS model will massively reduce the Ethereum blockchain’s overall emissions, removing one of the largest criticisms of the blockchain and its cryptoasset. ETH’s price has been responding to the developments in the past week, and with changing protocols potentially making the cryptoasset more likely to be deflationary, this could have a further positive effect on the price.
Gamestop plans to launch NFT marketplace
Gamestop says it intends to launch an NFT marketplace by the end of its fiscal second quarter of 2022.
Reports emerged earlier this year that such a project may be underway, but the firm’s latest set of results confirmed this was the case. The company has already partnered with an Australian gaming startup to establish a fund for NFT creators. The partnership with Immutable X will provide up to $150 million in funding through cryptoasset tokens.
Details on the NFT marketplace are however sparse. The NFT market has been hit hard in the past few months by wider market sell-offs making the proposition more tricky still.
That being said, the underlying technology behind NFTs is sound. It is not uncommon for cryptoassets in their early stages to experience significant volatility. This comes as the market gauges value and investors look for winners from a range of different projects, not all of which will be successful.
SAND jumps as HSBC buys land
The SAND token has jumped in price as more reports emerge of entities taking ownership of space within the Sandbox metaverse.
Sandbox last week agreed on a partnership with major banking institution HSBC, part of which involves the firm taking a piece of land within the metaverse. The bank intends to provide innovative brand experiences and engage with other sectors such as esports and gaming through the medium.
The move marks something of a turnaround for the firm which has long touted its anti-crypto policies such as blocking payments for crypto. It is not the first major financial institution to jump into the metaverse either, with JPMorgan setting up a virtual lounge in Decentraland last year.
With more major institutions taking a stake in metaverse crypto projects, the signs are there that the technology is continuing its expansion. While still in its early days, more adopters and growth of the market will likely be positive for its tokens too.
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