On the other hand, ETH's strong upside momentum, fuelled by the completion of the third and final testnet merge before the final act, has propelled the price to smash the $1,900 ceiling for the first time since late May. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap is attempting to establish a stronger foothold above the $1,900 handle, to lay the foundation for the charge towards the psychological barrier at $2,000. Altcoins are correcting their gains across the board, with the exception of ETC, which saw a 7% gain partly on the back of speculations related to a potential Ethereum PoW fork.
Talk of the Town
The U.S. Treasury Department's jaw-dropping decision to ban Tornado Cash, a leading privacy solution in the crypto industry, has pushed many market participants to reconsider their exposure to centralized products within regulatory authorities' reach. Among the growing list is DeFi protocol MakerDAO, whose founder, Rune Christensen, disclosed via Discord that the organization will consider discussions about de-pegging DAI, its native, decentralized stablecoin, from Circle's USDC. The move comes as a reaction against Circle's decision to blacklist 38 wallets in connection with Tornado Cash. The process, deemed inevitable by MakerDAO's founder, would require "huge amounts of preparation" as DAI is currently heavily collateralized by USDC.
