Last Week in Review: BNY Mellon says digital assets “here to stay”, and companies “must respond” to blockchain

by Team Luno
· 2 minute read

The highlights from last week’s headline grabbers. All the important news, numbers and events from the crypto industry in easy-to-read, digestible news bites. 

News from the block

💵 BNY Mellon says more than 90% of clients interested in investing in tokenised assets

  • “What we see is clients are absolutely interested in digital assets, broadly,” BNY Mellon’s head of advanced solutions, Michael Demissie, said during a panel discussion on cryptocurrency at the 7th Annual FinTech and Regulation Conference.
  • BNY Mellon is the largest custodian bank and securities services company in the world. 
  • According to Reuters, an October 2022 survey of BNY Mellon clients found that more than 90% expected to invest in tokenised assets in the near future.

Source: BNY Mellon

🌅 Next phase of testing for the Ethereum Shanghai upgrade scheduled for end of February 

  • Ethereum developers are busy laying the groundwork for the Shanghai upgrade in March. 
  • The Shanghai upgrade will be pushed on the Sepolia testnet later this month, following a successful upgrade simulation on the Zhejiang testnet last week. 
  • A testnet is a simulation of a blockchain network that allows developers to test and experiment in a fail-safe environment. 
  • The Shanghai upgrade will allow validators to withdraw Ether staked on Ethereum. The coins have been voluntarily locked in since the Ethereum Merge in September last year. 

🔦 Blockchain tech acknowledged in Gartner Emerging Technologies and Trends Impact Radar

  • Blockchain technology was included in the “Critical Enabler” section of the report, with Gartner saying it’s likely that the technology will crossover from early adopter status to early major adoption within the next three years.   
  • The annual report highlights 26 emerging trends and technologies to which companies “must respond”, and have the potential to disrupt a broad cross section of markets.
  • The report, or radar, consists of four segments into which the disruptive trends and technologies are grouped: Critical Enabler, Transparency and Privacy, Productivity Revolution, and Smart World. 

TL;Did read

“Bitcoin is becoming especially popular in countries like Nigeria and Kenya while African refugees are also turning to bitcoin when other cross-border tools fall short.”

A Forbes contributor reports how Bitcoin is serving as a lifeline for Eritrean refugees. READ HERE. 

Crunching the numbers

13.78% – The percentage of ETH in circulation currently staked. 

5% – The current annual percentage yield, interest earned, on staked ETH.

80,335 – The number of ordinals (NFTs) minted, or inscribed, on the Bitcoin blockchain to date. 

430 – The number of days left at current estimates before the next Bitcoin halving. 

38% – The percentage of transactions on the Ethereum network processed by layer-2 networks in the last quarter of 2022. 

The crypto time capsule

Satoshi’s right-hand man, the late Hal Finney, explaining the eloquent simplicity of Bitcoin, 11 years ago. 

Crypto trivia

What is a soft landing?

This week’s trivia is more economics than crypto, but it’s become a hot topic in the last few months as the US and other nations around the world keep up efforts to battle inflation while figuring out what lies on the other side when they begin to ease rate hikes.

What exactly does it mean the Federal Reserve says the US is hopefully gearing up for a “soft landing”? READ HERE. 

Worth a watch

With all the noise around NFTs on Bitcoin, a recap on everything NFTs seems in order. WATCH HERE. 

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