The Fed rate hike on Wednesday was a snooze fest. Just like everyone expected, the Fed raised rates by a quarter point. And just like everyone expected, the “dot plot” showed that the Fed expects rates to rise to 3.5% by the end of the year

The only thing that wasn’t entirely expected was the market reaction. Cryptocurrencies, which are often seen as a safe haven asset, soared/

The biggest winner was Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain. ETH prices jumped 16% on the day. The rally was partly due to the fact that the Ethereum network successfully implemented a “shadow fork,” or test software update, two days earlier than expected. The test puts Ethereum a step closer to its much-anticipated shift from a proof-of-work network to a more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake one.

Altcoins also did well after the announcement. MATIC rose by 9.3% (following the prior day’s 11% decline) and SOL jumped by 5%.

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Tether (USDT), the world's largest stablecoin by market value, has finally regained its dollar peg after over two months of instability.

The token had first broken its peg in the second week of May, when Terra's algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD or UST collapsed. This sparked panic selling in other dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies, and Tether's peg broke as well. The token fell to as low as 92 cents on some exchanges.

However, Tether has finally found stability once again, regaining its dollar peg on July 20. This is the first time the token has been stable for over two months,  and hopefully, it is a sign that the worst is finally over for the stablecoin.

Tether's stability is important for the cryptocurrency market as a whole, as it is often used to trade other cryptocurrencies. A stable Tether means that traders can buy and sell cryptocurrencies without having to worry about the volatility of the market.

So far, it seems like Tether has finally regained its footing, and the cryptocurrency market can breathe a sigh of relief. Let's hope that this stability is here to stay.

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One billion people is a lot of users, especially when it comes to digital assets and cryptocurrencies. That's why the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bitget, and Foresight Ventures conducted a study to research the current status of cryptocurrency adoption. They discovered that while crypto adoption is still in its early days, the trend is pointing toward one billion users by 2030.

According to the research, currently, only 0.3% of the total individual wealth is distributed in the form of digital assets.

In comparison, 25% of people’s funds are allocated to equities such as shares of private companies. This stat highlights how undervalued cryptocurrencies still are. With more awareness and education, we believe that the number of cryptocurrency users will only continue to grow in the coming years.

If the current trend of cryptocurrency adoption continues, it is not unreasonable to think that the number of users will indeed reach one billion in the next 10 to 20 years. After all, the total number of users has more than doubled in the first six months of 2021 alone. This is a testament to the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and the increasing awareness of their potential.

There are many factors that will contribute to the growth of the cryptocurrency user base in the coming years. For one, more and more businesses are beginning to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. This is making it easier for people to use cryptocurrencies in their everyday lives. In addition, as awareness of cryptocurrencies increases, more people are likely to invest in them.

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It seems that the crypto hardware wallet industry is growing at a much faster pace than cryptocurrency exchanges, according to several studies.

This is likely due to the current bear market, which has accelerated the development of cold wallets, while many centralized crypto exchanges had a tough time maintaining operations.

For example, a report by business intelligence firm Vantage Market Research showed that the revenue of global crypto trading platforms amounted to only $330 million in 2021.  This is quite a modest number compared to the $1.1 billion value that the hardware wallet industry is expected to reach by 2027.

These findings suggest that  the main reason for the lagging growth of exchanges is the lack of trust in centralized platforms, as users are increasingly looking for ways to store their digital assets in a more secure way. With the rise of DeFi and the growing popularity of non-custodial crypto services, it is likely that the industry will continue to grow at a rapid pace in the coming years.

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Tencent's Huanhe marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will be shutting down this week, according to sources cited by Shanghai-based technology news outlet Jiemian. The move comes less than a year after the marketplace launched.

Tencent has been a major player in the crypto space, with its WeChat messaging app being one of the most popular ways to buy and sell cryptocurrencies in China. 
However, the company has been cautious about getting involved in NFTs, with Huanhe being its only foray into the space.

The shutdown of Huanhe is likely to be a setback for the development of NFTs in China. However, it remains to be seen if other Chinese companies will follow Tencent’s lead and launch their own NFT marketplaces.

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LG is planning to jump on the NFT bandwagon by creating a TV that will be able to issue and trade non-fungible tokens.

This comes as no surprise, given the recent craze surrounding NFTs. They're planning to offer TV software for issuing and trading NFTs,
as well as software for NFT and crypto transactions.
Plus, they'll be offering digital token brokerage and wealth management services.

It's good to see that LG is getting on board with the NFT and blockchain craze. However, I can't help but feel that they're a bit late to the party.
After all, there are already a number of established players in the space.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what LG has to offer.
I'm sure that their experience in the T.V. and electronics industry will come in handy.

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Over the weekend the price of Ether was trading in the green, extending a rise that began following the reveal of the schedule for the Ethereum blockchain's shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.

Ether has seen more than a 40% rise in recent days, a move that has taken it above $1,400 for the first time since early June.

That is also reflected in trading volumes, which have reached record levels. But for many in the crypto community, a key question remains: what happens now? Will ether keep its momentum, and is that the right call? While the answer will depend on the short-term price movements, the current bear trend is likely to continue.

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Lines, a new crypto messaging platform has raised $4 million in a seed investment round.  The startup is following in the footsteps of numerous other companies who are attempting to develop Web3 social media solutions. The Merkle Manufactory revealed last week that it had collected $30 million to build a social networking system dubbed Farcaster.

The Lens Protocol was also created with the goal of laying the groundwork for fair, transparent, and interoperable social apps. 

With the rapid growth of blockchain and distributed ledgers, mobile devices, and IoT/BoT, developers seem to be exploring the intersection of technologies, seeking solutions to solve the problem of a diverse set of use cases that span both conventional application development and cutting-edge technology, and as investors, we should see this as a good thing.

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The Chinese government has announced that it will be integrating cryptocurrencies and NFTs into its digital economy.

The Shanghai Municipal People's Government mentions blockchain and NFTs in a document addressed to its district governments, offices, and bureaus.
This move is seen as a way to boost the country's adoption of blockchain technology and promote innovation.

However, some are skeptical of the government's motives, as it has a history of crackdowns on cryptocurrency exchanges and trading.
Nonetheless, this is a positive development for the cryptocurrency and NFT industries, and it will be interesting to see how China implements these technologies in the future.

In a recent tweet, Binance CEO Changpeng CZ revealed that a sophisticated phishing campaign targeting liquidity providers (LPs) of the Uniswap v3 protocol has resulted in attackers making off with at least $4.7 million worth of Ether (ETH). However, the community is reporting the losses could be even greater.

The attack appears to have been meticulously planned, with the attackers sending malicious ERC-20 tokens to 73,399 addresses in order to steal their assets. MetaMask security researcher Harry Denley was one of the first to raise the alarm bells of the attack, telling his 13,000 Twitter followers on Monday that the scam was underway.

This is yet another reminder of the importance of being vigilant when it comes to cryptocurrency trading and managing your digital assets.