So what happened this week?
ETH soared to two-month high after the completion of testnet merge
Ether (ETH) soared to a two-month high, climbing as high as $1,927 last mid-week, the highest level since early June, after the completion of Goerli the testnet. As for Bitcoin (BTC), it jumped a little after the slower-than-expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. For altcoins, ARDR/BTC, XLMBULL/USDT, SXP/USDT and LTCBULL/USDT were the top 24H Gainers on Poloniex as of last Friday. Overall, the crypto markets were stable over the weekend. BTC is now trading at $25,000 while ETH is at $2,000 by press time. The Fear & Greed index is back to “neutral” for the first time since the Terra/ Luna’s implosion in May
Ethereum’s Merge will likely happen as scheduled after completing the Goerli testnet merge
Ethereum’s Merge is highly-likely to be held in mid-Sep as planned after Goerli, one of the largest and most active Ethereum test networks, underwent the last dry run last Wednesday. Although developers have tested many times prior to the actual run — the Merge, the latest one, namely Goerli, was the last one. If everything goes well after the post-Goerli testnet merge, then the mainnet merge will be held in mid-Sep as scheduled. As the Merge draws near, Poloniex has become the first crypto exchange to list two potential forked Ethereum (ETH) tokens: ETHW (ETH1) and ETHS (ETH2), on August 7, 2022 with the support of TRON’s underlying blockchain technology in addition to the exchange’s zero-fee trading policy. Poloniex has remained neutral regarding Merge and will continue to support the community regardless of the results.
Blockworks, Fortune, Cointelegraph
Iran makes first import order worth $10M using cryptocurrency — report
Reuters reported that Iran made its first official import order worth $10 million by using cryptocurrency, allowing the country to circumvent U.S. sanctions and trade with other countries, bypassing the dollar-dominated global financial system. Reuters got the report from the semi-official Tasnim agency, but the Iranian media outlet didn’t specify which cryptocurrency was used in the transaction. Meanwhile, Alireza Peyman-Pak, Vice Minister of Industry, Mine & Trade and President of the Iran Trade Promotion Organization(ITPO) tweeted last week to seemingly confirm the order:
“By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widely used in foreign trade with target countries,” he wrote.
The U.S. Treasury sanctions crypto-mixer Tornado Cash for alleged money laundering
Last Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has placed sanctions on crypto-mixer Tornado Cash, after accusing it of getting involved in several money-laundering schemes that were worth $7 billion since 2019. The funds included a sum of $455 million connected to a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group, Lazarus Group, as well as the stolen crypto funds in the latest Nomad heist. OFAC’s sanctions are immediate and all American “persons” are barred from interacting with the crypto “mixing service” provider. Following the sanctions, two major crypto infrastructure providers, Alchemy and Infura, blocked access to their API from any wallets that used Tornado Cash. Reports said that Circle, the P2P payments platform, took similar action by freezing ~$75,000 worth of its USDC stablecoins that were connected to the entity through a shared wallet. Tornado Cash’s GitHub and website went offline afterwards. The news shocked the crypto community since Ethereum-based Tornado Cash is one of the “mixers” or “blenders” in the crypto space that is used to enhance user privacy and makes transactions more anonymous. However, it wasn’t the first time that OFAC took such an action. Back in May, the authority also sanctioned Blender.io, another cryptocurrency mixer, for allegedly assisting the Lazarus Group to launder over $20 million in “illicit proceeds”.
TechCrunch, Bloomberg, CoinDesk, FT
New Listings on Poloniex
Here’s what we’ve listed recently:
New Coins
⭐️ETHS (ETH2)- ETH pair , USDT pair , USDD pair
⭐️ETHW (ETH1)- ETH pair , USDT pair , USDD pair
Futures
⭐️ Flow (FLOW)
⭐️ Helium (HNT)
Polopedia
We’ve got some tutorials for you this week showing what you can do in our New Trading System👀
Crypto Glossary
Understand crypto terms before you invest with helpful definitions that are easy to digest. This week, we continue to focus on our new trading system to demystify the underlying technology behind the revamp.
API stands for Application Programming Interface (API)
It bridges between programs and users so that they can communicate with each other
It is made up of different parts that provide tools or services for the users
For example: Poloniex has launched a new trading system with a new application programming interface (API) which is redesigned for faster performance and more comprehensive features.
What’s happening here at Poloniex?
This is what Poloniex’s week looked like
Highlights for the week
Major Updates
We are officially supporting BOTH potential fork tokens that might arise as a result of Ethereum’s Merge!
Poloniex - Crypto Asset Exchange
To celebrate the launch of our New Trading System and as a thank you to our users, we’ve enabled zero-fee trading for 24 USDD spot trading pairs.
Poloniex - Crypto Asset Exchange
Campaigns
Our recap of past campaigns and ongoing campaigns that YOU can get involved in!
Trade Cudos (CUDOS) to Share $20,000 CUDOS! (8/9–8/16)
Trade Cudos (CUDOS) to Grab a Share of $20,000 in CUDOS
Rewards distribution — ETC Futures Listing Giveaway: Complete Tasks to Win 20,000 USDT
Rewards for "ETC Futures Listing Giveaway: Complete Tasks to Win 20,000 USDT!" Have Been Distributed
New Trading System feedback bounty! Share your feedback & win rewards up to $1000 USDT! (8/9 — further notice)
Poloniex Feedback Bounty Program
FLOW, THETA & HNT New Futures Giveaways! Transfer & Trade to Win from $20,000! (8/9–8/17)
FLOW, THETA & HNT Futures Listing Giveaway. Transfer & Trade to Share $20,000!
Social campaign, Trade FLOW, THETA or HNT to win futures funds! (8/9–8/17)
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Global Tour
Our global tour is our chance to meet our many users around the world IRL!
We just completed the 4th stop in our global tour, this time in Vietnam!! We want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who came out.
And that about covers it for this week! Curious about our campaigns or upcoming events? Give us a shout in our Telegram channel-
Is there anything you’d want to see us cover in our newsletter? Make sure to comment on this Medium article! Just want to show your appreciation? Smash that clap button and give a round of applause👏
Thanks for spending some time with us as we went over what’s going on. And wherever you are, from the team here at Poloniex, good morning, good day, and good evening!
