Altair upgrade goes live; Hybe and Dunamu consider NFT venture

Transcript

Ethereum is on our minds today – as we’re keeping watch on the Altair upgrade!

Welcome To The Daily Forkast — October 27, 2021.

I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-Chief Of Forkast.News covering all things blockchain

Ethereum’s price hit an all-time high last week ahead of the Altair Beacon Chain upgrade, but what exactly will that upgrade offer?

We’ll take a look at what it means for the Ethereum ecosystem and a whole lot more, coming up!

Let’s get you up to speed from Asia to the world.

First up – Altair, the first mainnet upgrade to Ethereum’s Beacon Chain is just one step on the path to what the Ethereum Foundation has dubbed “The Merge”.

The last milestone was August’s London upgrade. Next in line after Altair is the Ethereum mainnet’s merge with the Beacon Chain’s proof of stake system – that’s scheduled to take place in 2022.

But what will the Altair upgrade actually do and what will happen next?

Forkast.News Carolyn Wright has the details:

According to the Ethereum Foundation’s blog, the Altair upgrade was scheduled to go live at epoch number 74,240, or a little before 11am Greenwich mean time Wednesday to you and me!

One expert told Forkast.News that the upgrade is an administrative fork.That means validators needed to update their nodes, but end-users or stakers aren’t likely to notice anything:

“We’re just making it easier for light-clients, which are a way of accessing the blockchain without running your own node and getting trusted information. We’re making it easy for them to sync up with the chain and get the latest information. partially tidying up some things, partially it’s taking the training wheels off the beacon chain a little.”

Ethereum’s Beacon Chain upgrade in December 2020 marked the beginning of the ETH 2 upgrades, and it brought staking to the ecosystem, while “The Merge”, which is due to take place next year, will mark the end of a proof-of-work Ethereum. Edgington says the focus ahead of the merge will be on testing:

“We need to make sure it’s bulletproof. So the main work for the next six months is really just testing, auditing and risk management activities, governance in the community, and just making sure everybody is comfortable and ready for this to happen.”

Ethereum’s price was hovering around the US$4,200 Wednesday midday Asia time – that’s within a couple of hundred dollars of the all-time high of US$4,366 it hit last week.

For Forkast.News, I’m Carolyn Wright

Up next, BTS is no doubt the biggest boy band in the world right now. And if you look deep into my twitter feed, you’ll see some BTS selfies when I interviewed them!

Ok, back to why they’re making headlines for us today? The band’s label, Hybe, seems to be planning a foray into the NFT world.

Hybe is reportedly pushing ahead on a partnership with Dunamu, the operator of crypto exchange Upbit, to digitalize BTS goods into NFTs and more.

Forkast.News Danny Park reports.

Hybe, formerly called Big Hit Entertainment, has become one of Korea’s leading K-pop labels, with BTS taking over the world.

Recent Korean reports said that Hybe and Dunamu were reviewing a plan to swap their shares worth approximately US$42 to US$77 million and partner up for an NFT business. That would see the two incorporating NFT technology into making K-pop merchandise for BTS and their label mates.

In order to push forward the NFT business, Hybe was also reported to be considering a plan to issue convertible bonds – worth around US$342 million, with the help of Mirae Asset Securities.

Hybe has since responded, saying that although it is considering various ventures with Dunamu and issuing convertible bonds for strengthening business competitiveness, no final decisions have been made. Hybe says an announcement will be made within a month.

Back in July, Dunamu acquired 2.5% of JYP Entertainment, another major K-pop label, which manages popular idol bands Twice, 2pm and Itzy. The partnership between the two promised to construct an NFT platform using JYP’s K-pop content.

K-pop NFT collaborations have already proven successful with some fans — by allowing each of them to buy their own unique K-pop merchandise.

For Forkast.News I’m Danny Park.

And finally today: on behalf of our entire team at Forkast, I would like to personally invite you to join our global virtual summit on November 10.

Here’s a sneak preview of what’s to come:

Some of the biggest names in blockchain will be joining us – Don Tapscott, SBF, that’s Sam Bankman Fried Of FTX, Alex Machinsky of Celsius.

All Blockchain leaders and newsmakers – it’s an opportunity for you to engage with them and us – we’re looking forward to seeing you there!

And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in asia.

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Register, you know, we always appreciate it because it helps us reach more of you, and that’s always a good thing.

For more, visit Forkast.News for all those stories that you want to know and more. I’m Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau. Until the next time.