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ETh communtity prepares for the merge as ETH price soars and crypto adoption grows in Africa.

It’s been another exciting week in the crypto space, with several countries taking strategic positions in crypto adoption and regulation. Here are the highlights of this week’s crypto scoop:

Ethereum’s merge date closers as crypto enthusiasts anticipate a bullish merge
Tether and Bitifinex launch Holepunch
Solana opens a physical store in New York
Crypto adoption grows In Africa
El Salvador and Rio de Janeiro pursue crypto initiatives
Famous NFT artist decides to burn 4851 NFT Paintings.`

Ethereum

Ethereum’s merge date closers as crypto enthusiasts anticipate a bullish merge.

The Ethereum merge date was scheduled for two months away, and the announcement has spurred positive market sentiments as crypto enthusiasts anticipate the merge will be bullish. Since the announcement, ETH has price soared above $1700, and ETH’s hash rate dropped to about 18.21%.

Cryptoquant.com reports that the Ethereum stored on exchanges saw a massive drop. Ethereum, worth about $1200 at the beginning of the month, was sold by several traders for a profit. The number of open positions in ETH’s options market has also recorded a record high as people anticipate a bullish merge.

On July 26, Ethereum's tenth shadow fork went live, bringing the network closer to switching to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. The final testnets (Goerli/Prater testnet) merge dates were revealed by Tim Beiko, ETH developer, who stated that they would happen between August 6 and August 12.

Keet (Source: Tether)

Tether Partners With Bitifinex to launch Holepunch

The parent company of USDT, Tether, along with Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange, and Hypercore, a crypto tech infrastructure provider, have launched Holepunch, a direct trading platform designed to enable developers to create Web3 applications.

Holepunch, a fully encrypted protocol, is intended to "open global communications, promote freedom of speech, and combat censorship worldwide." In the upcoming weeks and months, the platform will provide several trading applications before switching to open-source code at the end of this year when alpha testing is over.

Keet, a video calling App, is the first app built on Holepunch. Keet will incorporate built-in payments facilitated by the Lightning Network for Bitcoin. The companies have committed $10 million to support the protocol's new start-up development.

Solana opens a physical store in New York City.

Blockchain network Solana (SOL) has opened its first physical store, Solana Spaces, in New York City, where it will sell crypto-related products.

The store launched on July 28 and includes an interactive installation displaying all Solana blockchain activities in real-time.

The store offers various stations to entice cryptocurrency enthusiasts with refreshed encounters. According to Vibhu Norby, CEO of Solana Spaces, the physical store's primary goal is to introduce newcomers to cryptocurrency and educate people about it.

CAR’s Sango coin goes live as crypto adoption fosters in Africa

After its inaugural offering, Sango Coin saw a $1.09 million inflow in under 24 hours. Only roughly $1.09 million of the initial $21 million worth of tokens available for sale had been purchased as of Tuesday, July 26. The late start of the token sales could be a result of the just recovering crypto market conditions and criticisms surrounding the project.

The CAR government anticipated that the digital currency would generate roughly $1 billion in revenue within 12 months from sales. The project could still pick up before the end of the slated time. With the recently established Sango Coin, the government hopes to use the money raised from sales to create a regional cryptocurrency hub that would serve as a haven for crypto enthusiasts in the area.

In Nigeria, crypto adoption continues to boom. Many Nigerians have turned to alternative assets like bitcoin and stablecoins to protect their savings due to the naira's devaluation. In fact, Kenya activists say cryptocurrencies not only cover the current financial economy's limitations but have the ‘Potential to Create New Ways for Young People to Earn.’

Herve Ndoba, the head of the Bank of Central African States (BCAS), has instructed the board of the regional central bank to develop a standard digital currency that will be used by the six members of the Central African Monetary Union (CAMU). According to Ndoba, the BCAS should also provide a uniform legal framework for overseeing cryptocurrencies. He explained that CBDC has several potentials and cited Nigeria’s CBDC as an example.

El Salvador Introduces two sovereign bills as Rio De Janeiro also pursues crypto initiatives.

El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, addressed two proposals to the regional congress on Tuesday to raise the money required to repurchase all bonds with maturities in 2023 and 2025. The announcements made by Bukele are meant to dispel rumours that El Salvador would default on its debt.

Bukele stated on Twitter that El Salvador's government intends to begin the purchasing operation in six weeks after completing the necessary documentation. He also noted that the government would pay the market price for each bond at the time of the transactions. Bukele claims that El Salvador has enough cash to meet its existing obligations on time and pre-purchase all of its debt through 2025.

Andrea Senko, the city of Rio de Janeiro's secretary of finance and planning, recently said in an interview that her team is attempting to promote the use of Bitcoin (BTC) by including digital assets in the treasury portfolio. The goal is to invest a portion of the city's funds in Bitcoin and give tax benefits to investors in cryptocurrencies.

Artist Damien Hirst Plans To burn 4,851 paintings For An NFT Project.

Damien Hirst, reportedly the wealthiest living artist in the UK, plans to burn hundreds of his works as part of The Currency, a one-year nonfungible token (NFT) initiative.

Visitors to Hirst's private London museum will see some of his 10,000 oil paintings of distinctive dots that he made in 2016 and connected to NFTs in 2021 starting in September.

NFT purchasers of the $2,000 floor-priced NFTs can keep their token or exchange it for the actual painting. Those who decide to keep the NFT version will have the original artwork burnt.

The decision-making period ended on Wednesday, and nearly half of the collectors—4,851—opted to have their paintings burned for digital edition NFTs. In contrast, 5,149 others chose to exchange their NFTs for physical copies.

Meta records losses in Metaverse investment but remains steadfast on its potential

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been investing in the Metaverse, which he calls a "huge opportunity.” He remains steadfast despite Reality Labs, Meta's section for virtual reality (VR) and the metaverse, reporting its eighth consecutive quarter of losses.

To capitalise on the "huge opportunity" worth "hundreds of billions of dollars," VR applications and Meta's metaverse platform need to be developed for at least a few more years, according to Zuckerberg, who recognised this during the company's Q2 earnings call on Wednesday.

There are many reasons why the Metaverse is a huge opportunity. I am even more convinced that creating these platforms will eventually lead to the release of hundreds of billions of wealth, if not trillions. Zuckerberg continued, "I'm convinced we're going to be glad we had a key role in constructing this.

Binance Partners With Societa Sportiva Lazio For Ticketing Solutions

In partnership with Società Sportiva Lazio, Binance introduced NFT tickets for all of the team's home games at Stadio Olimpico.

The nonfungible token (NFT) ticketing solution by c Binance has begun a pilot with football club Società Sportiva Lazio for the 2022–2023 season. The collaboration was in response to the confusion brought on by fake tickets in the UEFA Champions League 2022.

Binance emphasised that NFT tickets will resolve the problem of false tickets and remove scalping, preventing disruption at sporting events in the notice it gave to Cointelegraph. The NFT tickets will be used for more than just entry to events; they will also be used for other things like retail and game discounts, token giveaways, and other interactions with S. S. Lazio.

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Crypto Scoop: Solana Opens A Physical Store To Educate Customers