Ethereum upgrade closely watched; India launches e-RUPI voucher

Transcript

Welcome to The Daily Forkast, August 4th, 2021. I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-chief of Forkast.News.

Coming up, investors are closely monitoring Ethereum London upgrade. India launches “e-RUPI” digital payment voucher and Australian crypto exchangenCoinjar, partners with Mastercard to offer crypto card.

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

First up, crypto eyes are keenly monitoring Ethereum’s London upgrade.

The hard fork will implement EIP 1559 and prepare the network for its evolution to Ethereum 2. That’s its full transition from a proof-of- work consensus model, to proof-of-stake, which ultimately reduces vast energy consumption.

It could also continue to support the upward trend in ether prices we’ve been seeing.

The hard fork introduces proposals which are set to make the blockchain more user friendly and more competitively priced by making transaction fees clearer for users.

It will also reduce the supply of ether tokens.

One expert told Forkast.News that it sets a benchmark for blockchain technology going forward.

“Some have dubbed it the Blockchain 2.0 event. If you shrink the supply of Ethereum here. You can make blockchain more scalable, more faster technology. And it will be key, because in the future, much of this technology is likely to be implemented by central banks as well as global investors.”

Emons says prices could be sharply boosted by the London upgrade, comparing it to Bitcoin’s halving events which have triggered eventual bull runs in the past.

Meanwhile, India’s crypto sector has welcomed the government’s launch of its “e-RUPI”.

Announced earlier this week the “e-RUPI” might not be quite what you think it is. At first glance, however, it’s not a CBDC or an e-wallet, but a prepaid digital payment voucher powered by the country’s unified payments interface. And it’s not blockchain powered, but the crypto industry in India is still excited by it.

According to India’s Business Today, crypto exchanges have reacted favourably to the launch, with ZebPay saying that it’s a step towards forming a complete digital economy and WazirX, saying it emphasises the core message of blockchain based tokens by enabling end to end digital transactions.

The launch came as discussion over legislation which could see crypto banned in the country remains at a standstill in India.

Onto the markets today, Bitcoin down 2% at a little under US$38,000 as of 4 p.m. Hong Kong time at the end of the Asian trading day.

The fall follows Bitcoin SV suffering a 51% attack, which saw three chains being mined simultaneously.

A 51% attack is an attack where miners gain over 50% of the hash rate on a proof of work blockchain, which right now includes bitcoin as well as ethereum in its current version, it is the fifth such attack since June.

And in the top 10 for crypto currencies, XRP down 1.5%, but Cardano is up 2.5% after Bitpoint announced it will be the first exchange in Japan to list the coin later this month. The country is known for its extremely strict listing rules.

And finally, Australia’s Coinjar crypto cxchange has partnered with Mastercard to launch the country’s first crypto spending card.

The card is already available via Apple Pay and Google Pay, and it allows customers to select from 30 currencies, including Bitcoin and XRP, at the point of sale, with Mastercard paying the merchant the equivalent amount in Australian dollars. This means the card is accepted anywhere Mastercard is.

In a big week for Australia’s fintech industry with this news following payment giant Square’s acquisition of the “buy now, pay later” company Afterpay, Coinjar told Forkast.News the only thing holding fintech companies in the country back is its population.

“We’re actually really quite forward in the way that we engage and create new products in the fintech space. I think we’re up there with the UK. I definitely say we’re in the top five jurisdictions in the world in terms of new product offerings, but there is only 25 million people here. Launching those products globally is can definitely be our thing.”

Michaelides says that means the company is looking to expand its operations in the UK next.

The deal follows hot on the heels of Australia’s CryptoSpend, announcing that it had made a similar partnership with Visa. Their card is due to launch in September.

Another way to spend your crypto more seamlessly in the real world.

And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in Asia. For more, visit Forkast.News. I’m Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau. Until next time.