5 Things to Know in Crypto Today: ETH Briefly Tops $2K, BTC Continues to Probe $25K

Key Points

• Cryptocurrency market’s have carried Friday’s bull momentum into Saturday.
• Ethereum briefly surpassed $2,000 on continued Merge optimism, whilst Bitcoin once again failed to crack above $25,000.
• 76% of financial institutions hope to utilize cryptocurrency in some way over the next three years, said a Ripple survey.

Bullish Momentum Continues on Saturday

Friday’s bullish momentum in cryptocurrency markets has continued on Saturday. Ethereum was briefly able to break back above the $2,000 level and at current levels near $1,980, the cryptocurrency is trading with gains of over 6.0% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency continues to perform well amid optimism about its upcoming “Merge”.

Bitcoin is also trading with an upside bias and was last up around 3% in the last 24 hours in the $24,300s, though failed once again to break to the north of the $25,000 level once again in earlier trade. If the world’s largest cryptocurrency can break to the north of resistance in the $25,000 area, the door could be opened for a swift rally towards the next supply area in the $30,000 area.

Most major altcoins are also performing well on Saturday. The likes of BNB, XRP, ADA, SOL, DOT and DOGE are all up between 2-10% in the last 24 hours, as per CoinMarketCap.

Mood Upbeat at this Week’s ETHToronto, Blockchain Futurist Conferences

The mood at this week’s ETHToronto and Blockchain Futurist Conference’s in Canada has been buoyant, attendees of the event told the crypto media. “For the first time in a long time, people were inspired again,” said Ankr’s chief marketing officer Greg Gopman. “Maybe it was Vitalik showing up… Maybe it’s news of the Merge nearing reality… Or maybe it was just the beautiful indoor-outdoor venue during two perfect Toronto summer days – but for the first time in a while, things felt bullish again.”

The event coincided with Thursday’s successful merge of the Ethereum Goerli testnet, which opened the door to the mainnet’s merge to Proof-of-Stake from Proof-of-Work in just over one month’s time.

76% of Financial Institutions Expect to Use Crypto by 2025 – Ripple Report

According to a report published by Ripple earlier this week, 76% of financial institutions across the world hope to utilize cryptocurrency in some way over the next three years, so long as regulation permits. 70% of financial institutions expressed an interest in using blockchain technology for payments in some way, be that for internal transfers, inter-institution payments or for payments to consumers.

Meanwhile, 71% of businesses surveyed think they will use crypto in some way over the next three years. The survey also questioned consumers on their crypto intentions. 65% said they would consider buying some if their bank offered it.

Privacy Protocol Monero Is Getting a Major Upgrade

Privacy-focused cryptocurrency protocol Monero is undergoing a major network upgrade this Saturday.

#Monero will undergo a network upgrade in less than 48 hours!

Set a reminder and join us for a Twitter Space Q&A, and update those nodes and wallets! https://t.co/XaW5VfcyYy

— Monero (XMR) (@monero) August 11, 2022

Monero claims that transactions using its native XMR token are secure, private and untraceable. Saturday’s upgrade will trigger a hard fork in the Monero blockchain and Monero node operators are being encouraged to upgrade their software to Monero v0.18.

Person Arrested in Netherlands on Suspiscion of Having Worked on Tornado Cash

On the topic of privacy-focused cryptocurrency protocols, law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands have arrested an individual suspected have worked on the development of the Ethereum-based crypto-payments mixing service Tornado Cash. The US Treasury blacklisted Tornado Cash earlier in the week, banning US citizens from interacting with the service, accusing it of having facilitated billions of dollars in money laundering.

The backlash against this week’s Tornado Cash-related events on from cryptocurrency community members has been furious. Firstly, many view the Treasury’s blacklisting of Tornado Cash as a restriction on freedom of speech, given that code (which is all Tornado Cash really is) is viewed under US law as speech.

The headline: "Treasury Sanctions Tornado Cash"

Reality: TC is not a person, nor a business entity. It's an open source software tool. It cannot be sanctioned, it does not respond to subpoena or legal request.

***It is privacy-seeking Americans who have been sanctioned.***

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) August 8, 2022

Secondly, US and Netherlands authorities have been lambasted for cracking down on a service that offers privacy, with many claiming that privacy is a human right. One social media user compared the crackdown on Tornado Cash as akin to a crackdown on workers who install curtains in people’s homes.

Twitter users were scathing in their criticism of Netherlands law enforcement over the developer’s arrest.

Getting arrested for writing privacy preserving code is out of line. This arrest makes all privacy/encryption developers a target. The worst part is people use privacy tools on a daily basis online, because the internet is an unsafe place without privacy or encryption.

— stani.lens @ ETHLatam 🇦🇷 (🌿,👻) (@StaniKulechov) August 12, 2022

“They put a man in jail because bad people used his open source code… This cannot stand in any free society,” said @RyanSAdams.

They arrested the developer of tornado cash. 🚨

I repeat: a man was arrested for writing code that served as a public good for people to maintain their privacy online.

They put a man in jail because bad people used his open source code.

This cannot stand in any free society.

— RYAN SΞAN ADAMS – rsa.eth 🦇🔊 (@RyanSAdams) August 12, 2022