This week’s top-5 stories curated to catch up with the crypto world.
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As India awaits the Union Budget 2023-24, the crypto space in the country has started 2023 on a promising note. The Minister of state for IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said there was no issue with cryptocurrencies in India if all rules and laws are followed, in remarks that contradicted the central bank’s view advising investors to stay away from crypto! The govt has been trying to come up with regulations for cryptocurrencies, and we hope the upcoming Union Budget will give more clarity on crypto regulations and taxation in India.
Apart from that, here are some of the top stories from the crypto industry this week.
Polygon, a layer-2 scaling protocol on Ethereum, has finally launched its hard fork update that is currently operational on its network. This hard fork aims to minimize gas spikes and address chain reorganization to reduce time thereby improving Polygon’s performance and security.
The hard fork was implemented following a vote on Polygon’s governance forum in December. The successful hard fork is expected to cause the base gas fee change rate to fall to 6.25% from the current 12.5%.
Polygon also revealed various long-term technical upgrades to its PoS, promising scaling options such as parallelization and polygon zkEVM.
The Central Bank of Iran is reportedly teaming up with the Russian government to issue a new cryptocurrency backed by gold.
According to Alexander Brazhnikov, executive director of the Russian Association of Crypto Industry and Blockchain, the token is projected to be issued in the form of a stablecoin backed by gold.
Instead of using fiat currencies like the Russian ruble, or the Iranian rial, the stablecoin intends to enable cross-border transactions. According to reports, the possible stablecoin would function in a special economic zone in Astrakhan, where Russia started to accept Iranian cargo shipments.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies, the value of which is usually pegged to state-issued fiat currencies or precious metals.
Global fast-food chain, McDonald’s is set to celebrate this Lunar New Year in the metaverse in collaboration with Karen X Cheng, an award-winning, viral digital content creator. Cheng is known for his extremely popular art online using cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR).
The collaboration brings life to the 3D illusion used in the AR Instagram filter allowing McDonald’s lovers to experience the change from the Year of the Tiger (2022) to the Year of the Rabbit (2023).
The immersive metaverse experience, blends traditional Asian influences with futuristic elements, such as 3D sculptures of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, to foresee how the Lunar New Year celebration might look in the future.
Through this initiative, the fast-food business wants to honor the occasion and give back to Asian American or Pacific Islander communities through the “tech-forward” initiative.
The National Australia Bank (NAB) is set to introduce an Australian dollar-pegged stablecoin on the Ethereum network. NAB is the second “Big 4” Australian bank to be involved in the introduction of a stablecoin.
The AUDN stablecoin is aimed at streamlining cross-border remittances and carbon credit trading. Planned to be launched in mid-2023, the AUDN will be backed fully to the Australian dollar.
In March 2022, Melbourne-based ANZ bank announced the creation of a similar product, known as A$DC, becoming the first bank in the country to create its own stablecoin.
MetaMask users can now access Ethereum liquid staking via Lido and Rocket Pool to earn financial rewards.
Web3 wallet provider MetaMask now lets the users stake Ether directly to leading providers, reducing much of the cost and technical complexity of the new Ethereum mechanism.
Users can compare reward rates, network control, and the popularity of different liquid staking providers, offering additional information to inform staking solution choices.
Liquid staking is a form of staking assets on the Ethereum blockchain that lets users earn rewards while maintaining the ability to transfer and trade their assets freely.
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Disclaimer: This article was authored by Giottus Crypto Exchange as a part of a paid partnership with The News Minute. Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. Please do your own research before investing and seek independent legal/financial advice if you are unsure about the investments.
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