GM, frens! Ambire here with our weekly newsletter. Today we’ll talk about SHIB’s new chain launch and how it went, Coinbase announcing a legal advocacy group for the crypto industry, Visa's new system for paying ETH gas, FedNow x HBAR ecosystem integration and PayPal rolling out a “cryptocurrency hub” platform for some select users.

A lot of TradFi related news this week.

But it’s important for the space, so let’s get down to it:

SHIB launched Shibarium chain, did it go according to plan?

Shibarium, the much awaited Ethereum Layer 2 from the team behind Shiba Inu (SHIB), completed its mainnet launch on Aug. 16 - but it seems that not all went as planned.

After Shibarium launched, popular crypto influencer Shroom Daddy released screenshots appearing to show Shytoshi Kusama, Shiba Inu’s pseudonymous lead developer, confessing that all Ether bridged onto the network is currently unrecoverable.

This news has had a significant impact within the community, with many investors feeling uneasy about putting their funds at risk and concerned about the security of their investments. While Shiba Inu hasn't officially confirmed anything, it is clear that there are some issues with the network, and SHIB holders started pulling out their tokens.

Shibarium was supposed to use a modified version of Proof of Stake consensus called PoP or Proof of Participation, which requires investors to lock up at least 10K BONE tokens to become validators. Other benefits include significantly lower fees and higher scalability compared to traditional Ethereum, the users have been waiting for Shibarium to release the mainnet for over a year.

SHIB token has been on a steady decline, dropping over 89% since its ATH. The latest news has only added to this downward spiral for SHIB, Shibarium’s governance token BONE, and the LEASH, with each falling 8%, 14% and 23.5% on the day the news broke out, respectively.

While it is too early to tell just how much damage has been done and what the implications of this news will be for Shibarium, one thing is certain: with its mainnet launch being such a crucial moment for Shibarium's future, Shibarium team will have a tough time in rebuilding the investors' confidence.

Coinbase announces a pro-crypto legal advocacy group

Coinbase has announced the formation of Stand With Crypto, an advocacy group dedicated to protecting the rights and interests of digital asset holders in the United States. This alliance between Coinbase and other leading crypto companies is aimed at driving clear regulations that will secure the future of cryptocurrencies in America.

Stand with Crypto will focus its efforts on engaging government representatives, educating stakeholders, and advocating for pro-crypto policies that will protect investor rights and support technological advancement. This Alliance's mission is to ensure that the benefits of digital assets are preserved in every corner of society.

Coinbase and its partners have already begun to organize a variety of initiatives to address the critical legislative issues affecting digital asset holders. These include establishing collaborations with industry-leading experts and organizations, conducting research on the legal environment related to cryptocurrencies, hosting virtual events and lobbying days, and connecting individuals with their representatives.

It's interesting that something like this only starts to happen in 2023, when the crypto industry has been around for over a decade. This is, of course, an important development that will help ensure that digital assets have a secure future in the US and beyond. With increasing mainstream adoption, organizations like Stand with Crypto are essential to ensure continued growth and protection of crypto users' rights.

Visa's new system for paying ETH gas

Visa, the biggest name in old finance payments, is ironically paving the way for easier crypto adoption with their new initiative - enabling users to pay Ethereum gas fees directly with a Visa credit or debit card.

The way it would work is by leveraging Ethereum’s ERC-4337 standard and a paymaster contract, which would allow users to use their Visa card for directly paying for gas fees. This would simplify the process of utilizing the Ethereum network for payments, eliminating the need to hold native tokens solely for paying these fees.

Visa is also running a hackathon to explore this concept further, and the company has called on developers and software engineers to help build out their vision.

Btw, the gas fees topic is important to us. We're actually proud of the money our customers have been able to save by batching transactions with Ambire. Transaction batching is a great way to save on fees for multiple actions, and Ambire makes it easy. Read more here → https://help.ambire.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411822897938-How-to-batch-transactions-on-Ambire-Wallet-

FedNow adds support for Hedera

HBAR, the token for the Hedera public network, has seen a significant boost in its price recently following news of several key partnerships and adoption efforts.

The most exciting development for HBAR came with Dropp Inc’s inclusion on the list of service providers for the Federal Reserve’s FedNow program. In addition to all that, HBAR previously partnered with South Korea’s multinational automakers, Hyundai and Kia, as well as global payments giant Mastercard.

So what's so important about this? FedNow is a brand new service from the US Federal Reserve that allows banks and credit unions to send money to their clients instantaneously. 35 banks and credit unions are already equipped with the service, including the U Bureau of the Fiscal Service of the US Department of Treasury.

HBAR’s partnership with FedNow is particularly noteworthy because it marks a significant milestone for both projects: HBAR, a decentralized crypto network will now be able to be used as a payment service within the US banking infrastructure, while FedNow will now gain access to HBAR’s decentralized ledger technology.

The potential for crypto integration within the current financial system is immense. The move towards mainstream acceptance could be bolstered even further with additional partnerships like this one.

PayPal rolls out a "Cryptocurrency Hub"

PayPal, the digital payments giant, is continuing to make waves in the crypto world with the announcement that it will launch a new ‘Cryptocurrencies Hub‘ feature for select users. The hub will provide users with the tools they need to actually trade crypto with their newly introduced PYUSD stablecoin and exchange it for other crypto assets.

The new terms & conditions outlined by PayPal in their Cryptocurrencies Hub also stipulate that users will not own or store the underlying cryptocurrency assets within their PayPal account. This new feature serves as a gateway for those seeking to dip their toes in the world of crypto and provides an entry point into the crypto trading scene.

It's not going to be available everywhere, however, as the company will assess eligibility on an individual basis and certain geographic restrictions apply.

The crypto community is seriously divided on this one, with some expecting this move from PayPal to be a game changer and drive the mainstream adoption of BTC, ETH and alts, while others are concerned about its implications on decentralization and personal asset control. TradFi giants are really taking a huge step toward the world of crypto, it's clear now that years from now the crypto landscape will look vastly different than it does today.

Other worthy reads:

Market expectations from Charlie Bilello:

Viktor’s watchlist. A bit dated, but good prediction for SHIB actually:

The fun page: our weekly meme collection

That's all for now, frens.

We'll see you next week. And remember, the market conditions are temporary, but our commitment to building a better DeFi is here to stay. Thanks for joining us, and we look forward to seeing you back next week. Cheers!

Yours, The 🔥 Team

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