Daily Flash | Vitalik Lays Out Long-Term Roadmap for Ethereum at EthCC, Crypto Market Expects Volatility as July Option Expiry Closes In

Today's Headline - Polygon Readies ZK Rollup Testnet, Eyes Mainnet Launch in 2023

At the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Paris on Tuesday, Polygon announced the launch of its Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible zkRollup (zero-knowledge proof rollup) solution called ‘Polygon zkEVM”.

Polygon describes zkEVM as the “first Ethereum-equivalent scaling solution that works seamlessly with all existing smart contracts, developer tools and wallets, harnessing advanced cryptography called zero-knowledge proofs.”

According to Polygon, the zkEVM test net will launch sometime this summer and the mainnet launch is expected to be in “early 2023”.

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal stated,

“Everybody thought [a zkEVM] was at least 12 to 18 months away. But here we are, and we are open sourcing the code and making the test net live.”

Chart of the Day - DeFi market is down 74%

As of this writing,
Bitcoin (BTC) is changing hands at around $23,232, down 0.18% in the past 24 hours,
while Ether (ETH) is trading at $1,584, or up 3.65% during the same period.
Major altcoins such as Solana (SOL) +4%, Avalanche (AVAX) +6.8%, and Cosmos (ATOM) +11.7% stood out from the crowd.

Notable gainers include:
Curve DAO (CRV) at $1.43 (+21.58%),
Synthetix Network (SNX) at $3.36 (+16.4%),
Ethereum Classic (ETC) at $26.8 (+14%),
Polygon (MATIC) at $0.92 (+10.4%).

On Thursday, Tesla revealed it had sold 75% of its Bitcoin holdings which may have stagnated the Crypto market although the impact was unexpectedly mild. Bitcoin’s (BTC) price remains close to its 50-day EMA but has yet to surpass that level. Ether’s (ETH) price, on the other hand, remains above the 50-day EMA, but remains below the average ETH investor’s purchase price.

This Friday or July 22 marks another round of BTC Options Expiration, and according to an extensive analysis by analyst Marcel Pechman from Cointelegraph, BTC bulls aim to secure a $235 million profit from the expiry, but a downside move below $22,000 can potential mess up their plan.

The open interest for the July 22 options expiry is $540 million, but the actual figure will be lower since the bears did not expect a 23% rally from July 13 to July 20 because their bets targeted $22,000 and lower.

The 1.09 call-to-put ratio shows the balance between the $280 million call open interest and the $260 million put options. Currently, Bitcoin stands near $23,200, meaning most bearish bets will likely become worthless.

The bears will need to pressure the price below $22,000 on July 22 to avoid a $140 million loss. On the other hand, the bulls' best-case scenario requires a slight push above $24,000 to maximize their gains.

On July 19, Bank of America published its latest fund managers survey, and the headline was "I'm so bearish, I'm bullish." The report cited investors' pessimism, expectations of weak corporate earnings, and equity allocations at the lowest since September 2008.

Global macroeconomic tensions eased on July 20 after Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed plans to reestablish the Nord Stream gas pipeline flow after the current maintenance period. Data also shows that Germany has reduced its reliance on Russian gas from 55% to 35% of its demand.

Influencer of the Day - Vitalik Buterin at EthCC: Surge, Verge, Purge, and Splurge

On Thursday at EthCC, Buterin pointed out that currently, the foremost priority for Ethereum is building an easy-to-use light client for the consensus layer, execution layer, and layer-2 solutions by default, which he dubbed the ‘Surge’.

Next is the ‘Verge’, which is better support for home stakers or those looking to validate network transactions when Ethereum transitions to a proof-of-stake blockchain but possesses less than the required 32 Ether (ETH). Buterin also believes it's critical that Ethereum can eventually be run on a full node with lighter hardware in the long term, as he dubbed the ‘Purge’.

For a more extensive roadmap, Buterin plans to upgrade Ethereum with better cryptographic technologies, potentially for quantum resistance, and to additionally further integrate with zero knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines, or zk-EVMs, which is part of what he dubbed as ‘Splurge’ as it also entails “all of the other fun stuff.”

Quoting Buterin,

"We need to keep an open mind. We don't know exactly what the needs of 2032 will demand."

Buterin was apparently skeptical about multiple, complex virtual machines, and whether the Ethereum community is getting too comfortable with black box technologies such as zk-SNARKs or making the protocol so complex as to render it incomprehensible without the aid of specialists.

Buzzes of Yesterday - #Dogecoin Launches New Update, #SEC Lists 9 Tokens in Insider Trading Case

Square Enix Launches Final Fantasy VII NFT Collection On Polkadot With The Help Of Enjin

Dogecoin launches new update to improve security and efficiency

Web3 platforms launch the Open Metaverse Alliance

OpenSea Debuts Solana NFT Launchpad to Lackluster Demand

Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific Gets $100M Equity Financing Despite Bear Market

Brazilian Crypto Exchange Mercado Bitcoin to Launch Operations in Mexico in Late 2022

ECB raises rates more than expected to fight off runaway inflation

SEC listing 9 tokens as securities in insider trading case 'could have broad implications

SEC objects to XRP holders aiding Ripple defense

US Office of Government Ethics (OGE) issues legal advisory on NFT investments

Author: Gate.io Researcher Peter L.
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