Kalam Crypto #27: Web 5, successful Ethereum “merge” test, and more

"The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do."  Kobe Bryant

Ahlan wa sahlan, and welcome to the 27th edition of CoinMENA's weekly newsletter, Kalam Crypto. Every week we will bring you the latest news and developments from the exciting world of cryptocurrencies. This week, Web 5, successful Ethereum merge test, notable findings from bullish crypto surveys, and Bin Zayed Group’s Dubai Metaverse Experience. All that and more, so let's dive into this week's letter, and talk crypto:

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Global News 🌍

Bullish surveys: Despite the bear market across all asset classes, recent surveys conducted by PWC and Deloitte show an increasing trend of cryptocurrency adoption, even in the more traditional groups and sectors. We highlight the notable findings from two main studies below: 

1. PWC's 4th Annual Global Crypto Hedge Fund Report 2022: The report revealed that volatility in the crypto industry has not deterred more traditional hedge funds from investing in crypto, with 38% investing in digital assets, up 21% compared to last year. In addition, the study showed that more than 300 specialist crypto hedge funds existed globally and have been created at an accelerated pace in the past two years as digital assets become more mainstream.

2. "Merchants Getting Ready for Crypto," a study by Deloitte: In collaboration with PayPal, the survey recorded the responses of merchants in the US willing to accept crypto payments. 85% of US merchants viewed enabling crypto payments as a "high priority." Almost three-quarters of respondents plan to accept cryptocurrency or stablecoin payments within the next two years. 

Successful Ethererum “Merge” test: Ropsten, Ethereum's oldest testnet, successfully migrated from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake (minus a couple of hiccups), a move that is estimated to lower Ethereum's energy consumption levels. Two more public testnet merges, Goelri and Sepolia will be executed before the mainnet merge, expected later this year. Despite the successful merge test, the ETH price is tumbling, stooping to 2017 BTC/ETH levels: 1 BTC = 19 ETH. 

PayPal enables crypto transfers to external wallets: Paypal allowed users to trade select cryptocurrencies on their platform back in October 2020. On Tuesday, PayPal announced its most requested feature: users will be able to move their cryptocurrency from the platform to other crypto addresses, including hard wallets, and send crypto to others within the same payments network. 

Local News 📍

Bin Zayed Group to build a Twin City Metaverse Experience: Property market leaders, Bin Zayed Group, entered into a partnership with Caduceus, a blockchain dedicated to Metaverse development, to bring a Twin City Metaverse Experience that will bring the city of Dubai to people’s homes through VR technology. The Experience will offer all of Dubai’s delights, from its famous shopping malls to its theme parks and many more cultural attractions it hosts.

Keep an eye on 👀

Jack Dorsey to build an ‘extra’ decentralized Web5 on Bitcoin: Jack Dorsey’s TBD announced that it’s building “Web5: An extra decentralized web platform.” The new decentralized web will be built on the Bitcoin network. The main difference is that while Web3 aims to “blockchain” and “tokenize” all things, Web5 uses just one blockchain, Bitcoin, for one specific use case: identity. The new protocols put individuals at the center and aim to empower them with self-owned identity and restore control over their data. This could have huge implications for restoring individual privacy on the internet. If successful, this announcement could change everything about how we interact with the internet today.

CoinMENA News 🗞

ZERO Trading Fees for a limited time: Our most popular offer is back! Buy and sell your favorite digital assets on CoinMENA with no fees for a limited time, valid only until Tuesday, 14th June 2022, 12 AM Bahrain/KSA time.

21 winners of the ONE BTC Giveaway announced: 21 lucky users received 0.0476 BTC each as part of our ONE BTC Giveaway. Stay tuned for more exciting opportunities to win crypto prizes with CoinMENA!

Tweet of the week 🐥

Quiz Corner ✅ 

Last week’s question: Who is the largest HODLer of bitcoin?

Answer: Satoshi Nakamoto

This week’s question: On average, how many new bitcoins should be created each day with the current block reward?

• 1800

• 900

• 450

• 225

See the answer in next week’s newsletter.