Quick Take
Meta begins testing Ethereum NFTs.
Sepolia merge testnet upgrade.
BlockFi signs an acquisition deal with FTX.
3AC files for Chapter 15 bankruptcy.
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Meta Begins Testing Ethereum NFTs
According to a Meta representative, Facebook began rolling out NFT support for certain U.S. creators. Earlier this week, Navdeep Singh, a Product Manager at Meta, tweeted a sneak peek of the implementation. The sneak peek showed NFTs under a new “digital collectibles” tab on a user’s Facebook profile. Users will be able to connect a crypto wallet to their Facebook profile and post NFTs to their timeline. Meta plans to support NFTs on Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and Flow. Meta is also implementing NFT display options within Instagram’s AR feature. Users will also be able to display 2D NFTs that they own using mobile AR.
Sepolia Testnet Merge Expected July 6th
Ethereum’s Sepolia Testnet is set to transition to PoS when Terminal Total Difficulty (TTD), the total difficulty on the PoW chain, hits 17,000,000,000,000,000. Upgrading to The Merge occurs in two phases. The first phase, known as Bellatrix, occurs when the Beacon Chain reaches a certain epoch height. Sepolia already ran through the Bellatrix upgrade on June 20th. The second phase occurs when the PoW chain hits a TTD value on the execution layer. At the current hash rate, Sepolia will hit the target TTD on July 6th. Sepolia will be the second of three public testnets to merge. Ropsten successfully ran through the merge on June 8th. Goerli will follow the same process at a later date. Once Goerli and Prater have stabilized, an epoch and a TTD value will be chosen for The Merge on Ethereum Mainnet.
BlockFi Lost $80 Million From 3AC Loan
BlockFi CEO Zac Prince revealed that the company lost close to $80 million from a $1 billion overcollateralized loan provided to 3AC. The loan was partially collateralized by GBTC, which depegged by more than 30%. BlockFi was forced to liquidate GBTC at a loss. Prince said the losses will be absorbed by BlockFi with no impact to client funds. He also revealed the company signed a stock purchase agreement with FTX. As part of the deal, BlockFi will receive a $400 million revolving credit line subordinate to all client funds. This means the loan must first be used to fulfill obligations to clients before it can be used for other operations. FTX also has the option to acquire BlockFi at a variable price of up to $240M based on performance triggers. The new deal values BlockFi at a maximum of $680 million, nearly a 90% drop in value compared to its peak valuation of $4.8 billion.
3AC Files For Chapter 15 Bankruptcy
According to Bloomberg, 3AC has filed for Chapter 15 Bankruptcy to protect its U.S. assets. This comes after the firm was ordered by a court in the British Virgin Islands to liquidate its assets. 3AC is currently in default on a $646 million loan from crypto platform Voyager Digital. Voyager Digital has since suspended trading and withdrawals for its users citing the unpaid loans. FTX, Deribit, and BlockFi are among the firms to have liquidated their positions in 3AC. Under Chapter 15 bankruptcy, foreign companies are provided with a mechanism for dealing with U.S. assets while their insolvency proceeds in their home country.
Ramp Network Adds ETH On Optimism
Ramp Network, a fiat on-and-off ramp has added support for ETH on Optimism. Users can now onboard to Optimism by credit card, bank transfer, or Apple Pay. Onboarding via a gateway is among the lowest-cost options because it removes the need to bridge.
