This monthly report reviews the most important cryptocurrency news in August and delves deeper into BlackRock's entry into the cryptocurrency market, Mastercard's cryptocurrency payments technology, and the approach of the Ethereum Merge.
August in the cryptocurrency market
August was a negative month for the prices of cryptocurrencies, as the prices of all cryptocurrencies offered by Northcrypto decreased. However, there were no very significant differences in the price movements of these cryptocurrencies during the month. Ethereum and Litecoin survived with a drop of less than ten percent, while the prices of Bitcoin, Aave, Chainlink and Polygon ended at the end of the month just over ten percent lower than at the beginning of the month.
BlackRock to provide cryptocurrency services
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, announced in August that it would begin offering cryptocurrency services to its institutional clients. BlackRock justified its decision by the growing interest of institutional investors in the cryptocurrency market. The cryptocurrency services are carried out in cooperation with the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. BlackRock launched its first bitcoin trust shortly after its announcement. It is a spot trust, which means that the trust follows the market price of bitcoin. Initially, BlackRock will only offer its fund to its U.S. institutional clients. In July, the U.S. asset manager managed a total of around €8.5 trillion in assets.
Mastercard enabling cryptocurrency payments in over 90 million stores
Mastercard, the world's leading provider of digital payment solutions, is developing technology that would enable cryptocurrency payments in more than 90 million stores around the world. Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach announced these plans in late August on the networking service LinkedIn. Mastercard is implementing cryptocurrency payments in partnership with Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of the trading volume. According to Miebach, the technology that enables cryptocurrency payments will initially be tested in Argentina.
The Ethereum Merge was successfully implemented on the last testnet
The transition from the Proof of Work consensus algorithm Proof of Stake consensus algorithm (the Merge) was successfully implemented on the Goerli testnet. Goerli was the last of the three public testnets where the merge was implemented before the actual Merge of the Ethereum blockchain. The Ethereum Merge also got a new planned date for the 15th of September.
Summary
In August, there was some very significant news, especially regarding institutional players' interest in the cryptocurrency market, when BlackRock announced they begin to offer cryptocurrency services. BlackRock's decision could have very significant and broad implications, as BlackRock is one of the most followed economic operators in the world. The clients of the world's largest asset manager include official institutions such as central banks, as well as several major pension funds and foundations.
On the other hand, Mastercard's cryptocurrency payment technology shows the future potential of blockchain technology. As the world's leading provider of digital payment solutions, Mastercard plays a significant role in what kind of payment solutions people and businesses around the world will use in the future.
The long-awaited Ethereum Merge, which has been in development for several years, is probably less than two weeks away at the time of this report’s release. The Merge will have a significant impact on Ethereum's operations and with it, among other things, Ethereum's energy consumption is expected to fall by more than 99%. However, the Merge has also received criticism from many, as according to these people, Ethereum will become more centralized with the Merge. Many Ethereum advocates, on the other hand, believe the exact opposite, which is why it will be interesting to see how decentralized Ethereum will be in the future.
Ville Viitaharju
Cryptocurrency specialist
Last updated: 10.02.2023 08:52
