THE MERGE

Hey, and welcome to another issue of NFToday!

First off, I must say that allergies are kicking my ass! There’s definitely a big difference between “Summer Allergies” and “Fall Allergies.” For those that have the sniffles and dry cough like me, stay strong and keep a roll of paper towels and Allegra close by!

With that said, let's get on with some news!

Jeremy Colon

• The Long Awaited Ethereum Merge

• Gamestop X FTX

• White House Opposes Crypto Mining

The long-awaited network upgrade, known as The Merge, has formally started after the Bellatrix stage (September 6th) of the process was successfully activated. With this final step before the complete transition, Ethereum developers prepared the Beacon Chain for the merge with ETH's main blockchain.

The last upgrade of the process is called Paris and is expected to happen in about a week.

The mainnet will begin at the specified time after 2048 empty blocks have been processed, with the first ETH block to contain any transactions being the Merge block +2049.

The anticipated transition to a proof-of-stake consensus will be a game-changer for the crypto realm. With Ethereum moving away from energy-intensive mining, other proof-of-work coins like Bitcoin will most likely feel the pressure as crypto goes green.

The video game retailer unveiled a surprising partnership with Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange. GameStop will start selling FTX gift cards in select stores to steer more clients into its new partner’s offerings.

The initiative comes as GameStop is busy overhauling its business model by deepening its relationship with crypto through its own NFT marketplace and crypto wallet.

Gearing up efforts to gain a more extensive presence in the digital-assets space is not unusual for GameStop. By teaming up with a heavyweight such as FTX (who right now is on a crypto conglomerate buying spree), the video game store signals that it’s even more serious about its crypto-focused ambitions.

White House opposes crypto mining. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy came out with a report saying that the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining operations could hinder U.S. efforts to tackle climate change.

All crypto operations in the U.S, the report said, consumed the same amount of energy as all home computers. The office promised to ask federal agencies to individually work with states on setting shared standards.

The conclusions in the report confirm the indisputable claim that crypto mining is inexorably tied to a massive carbon footprint. Fortunately, crypto circles worldwide have been working for years to address this, and Ethereum’s Merge is the first major step in reducing pollution.

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Nothing mentioned above is financial advice, this newsletter is created for nothing more than entertainment purposes!