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Ethereum executes Shapella hard fork, unlocking $34.8B in Ether; UK establishes Bitcoin Policy group to boost BTC adoption

This week’s top-5 stories curated to catch up with the crypto world.

Written by : Team Giottus

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Bitcoin has seen a major rise in its value over the past week, bringing it close to the $30,842 mark on Friday, at the time of writing. This marks the highest trading level for the world's largest digital currency since June of last year, following a breakthrough over the important $30,000 threshold on Monday night. This is a significant milestone as the price of Bitcoin dropped as a result of several corporate collapses in the cryptocurrency industry that led to a major selloff and a devastating bear market.

Apart from that, here are some of the top stories from the crypto industry this week.

Ethereum’s Shapella hard fork executed on mainnet

The Shapella (Shanghai + Capella) hard fork has officially been executed on the Ethereum mainnet. Ethereum validators can now withdraw their staked Ether from the Beacon Chain.

The long-awaited upgrade became active on April 12. According to the Ethereum Foundation, many safeguards are in place to avoid a rush of ETH from entering the market. The hard fork has unlocked 18.1 million Ether on the Beacon Chain, which is now equal to approximately $34.8 billion.

Ethereum stakers will now be able to withdraw their profits. The process is expected to take several days, due to demand and limited block space. 

Ethereum executed its eagerly anticipated Merge event successfully last September, altering both the creation of ETH and the validation of transactions on the Ethereum network.

UK creates Bitcoin Policy org to promote BTC education and adoption

To unlock the potential of Bitcoin in Britain and examine how the nation's households, businesses, and communities could benefit from the decentralized currency's burgeoning industry, Bitcoin Policy UK (BPUK) brings together stakeholders, policymakers, environmentalists, tax experts, Bitcoin experts, and miners.

The organization is also launching two projects on the UK-founded Bitcoin fundraising platform, Geyser. 

The aim is to drive investment, generate and prepare students for the Bitcoin jobs of the future, raise awareness and education, and explore the use of wasted and stranded energy resources for Bitcoin mining.

Bitcoin Policy UK aims to maximize Bitcoin's potential for the UK by working with stakeholders from a variety of sectors and responding to the UK government's request for information on industry regulation and CBDC recommendations.

MetaMask now lets users buy tokens using cards, bank transfers, PayPal

The decentralized application (DApp) and cryptocurrency wallet provider MetaMask has announced the release of a new feature that will enable users to buy cryptocurrency with fiat money straight from its Portfolio Dapp. 

Users can purchase cryptocurrencies using payment methods such as debit or credit cards, PayPal, bank transfers, and instant ACH (Automated Clearing House). The purpose of the move is to make it simpler for users to buy cryptocurrency using fiat money. 

This new feature is available in over 189 countries and offers over 90 tokens across eight different networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche Contract Chain, Fantom, Optimist, and Celo. 

Dogecoin price jumps as Twitter allow crypto trading

Dogecoin (DOGE), a well-known meme coin has gained dramatically following internet reports that said that Twitter would permit cryptocurrency trading. On Friday, Dogecoin is leading the cryptocurrency rally as it tops $0.09 and is now eyeing the pivotal level of $0.1.

Through a partnership with a retail-oriented fintech company and social trading platform eToro, Twitter will provide access to stocks, cryptocurrencies and other financial assets for its users.

Using Twitter's Cashtags feature, it is already possible to observe real-time trading information from TradingView. Thanks to the collaboration, Twitter Cashtags will now cover a far wider range of securities and asset classes. Users will be able to see assets on eToro and purchase and sell cryptocurrency through the feature.

First nuclear-powered Bitcoin mining centre in US reports groundbreaking results

Nautilus, US's first nuclear-powered Bitcoin mine owned and operated by TeraWulf, has reported groundbreaking results for the month of March 2023. 

A spectacular effort that sets new standards for the cryptocurrency industry, the cutting-edge facility used nuclear energy to power its 9,200 miners at an astounding 91% rate of zero-carbon energy.

The achievement of an exceptional self-mining hash rate capacity has been made possible in large part by TeraWulf's operational miner fleet of about 27,200 miners, which includes 18,000 operating miners at the Lake Mariner site and 9,200 self-miners at the Nautilus facility.

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DisclaimerThis article was authored by Giottus Crypto Exchange as a part of a paid partnership with The News Minute. Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. Please do your own research before investing and seek independent legal/financial advice if you are unsure about the investments.

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