Gate Podcast | Epic Games $2bn Metaverse, Ethereum PoS Merge In July, Terra’s $176M Bitcoin Investment

2022-04-13, 07:12

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This episode is brought to you by [Gate.io ](https://www.gate.io/ "Gate.io ")and Solice ([Airdrop](https://www.gate.io/article/26081?ch=loa26081twi#giveaway "Airdrop")). Terra keeps accumulating, reaching a total amount of over 39K of BTC, aiming to follow its strategy of building a 10 million reserve of Bitcoin; Ethereum PoS Test gave pretty good results and the merge seems to approach even more; Epic Games, Fortnite’s Software House, reached a partnership with Sony and KIRKBI to join the metaverse. Followed by a Deep Dive into Meta’s plans to revive the company by creating its own cryptocurrency: the Zuck Bucks.

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### In today’s Headlines:

Terra’s [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) Buying Spree & Curve War with MakerDAO | [1](https://www.coinspeaker.com/terra-[Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) | [2](https://decrypt.co/97286/terras-new-stablecoin-pool-makes-waves-in-defi "2") | [3](https://agora.terra.money/t/ust-goes-interchain-the-4pool-and-redacted-cartel/5648 "3") |

CME Adds Reference Rates for Solana, Cardano, Polygon and Other Altcoins | [1](https://decrypt.co/97328/cme-reference-rates-indices-solana-cardano-polygon-altcoins "1") | [2](https://news.[Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) |

HSBC Starts Metaverse Fund for Private Banking Clients in Asia | [1](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/06/hsbc-starts-metaverse-fund-for-private-banking-clients-in-asia/ "1") | [2](https://www.reuters.com/technology/hsbc-launches-metaverse-portfolio-wealthy-asian-clients-2022-04-06/ "2") |

Ethereum PoS Test Predicts The Merge To Occur In July | [1](http://https://fortune.com/2022/04/11/ethereum-test-merge-blockchain/ "1") |

Epic Games $2 Billion Metaverse Investment |[ ](https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/sony-and-kirkbi-invest-in-epic-games-to-build-the-future-of-digital-entertainment " ")1 | [2](https://decrypt.co/97484/epic-games-2b-raise-metaverse-crypto-nfts-blockchain "2") | [3](https://www.ft.com/content/24d4378a-6977-4ed8-be63-23c9bf9df366 "3") |

Sponsor: Solice ([Airdrop](https://www.gate.io/article/26081?ch=loa26081twi#giveaway "Airdrop"))

Deep Dive: May Crypto Save Meta’s Drop Of Revenues? | [1](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zuck-bucks-latest-digital-currency-063358181.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmVkZGl0LmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJIIde9HNNH0by82J3H-_TzKdMBsEW0COBeAZvyNqKqjeMhPeqDSZtQqnuFE3rZWxzPyLORoVIAlbDpQJg5o837Myf37uEx_kx7eX_bF2vpg0IA6o08ZpqEIJEgZ8-cnuiYC-ifWDJ8V3UxxXQMzbGmiGd3SHhjESlHR1w_AwI8t "1") | [2](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/07/meta-plans-zuck-bucks-virtual-coins-for-facebook-and-instagram-users "2") | [3](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/07/meta-plans-zuck-bucks-virtual-coins-for-facebook-and-instagram-users "3") | [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/28/facebook-cryptocurrency-diem/ "4") |

Listen the episode: https://www.gate.io/podcast/21
                             https://gateio.buzzsprout.com/1825729/10428692-epic-games-2bn-metaverse-ethereum-pos-merge-in-july-terra-s-176m-[Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT)-investment

### Introduction:

Welcome back to the Altcoin News Podcasts, this is the show to get a neutral perspective on some of the latest headlines in DeFi, Metaverse, NFTs, and Big Tech. Brought to you by Gate.io, a centralized exchange with a neutral stance on current events and uphold privacy & security.

The information presented in this podcast is to help you stay up-to-date on the latest happening in the crypto space, and nothing presented hereby is financial advice. The news that I cover in this podcast will have the original source at your discretion. Stick by this podcast as I show you how to stay vigilant and learn to do your own research.

Now, without further ado.

### Terra’s [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) Buying Spree & Curve War with MakerDAO | [1](https://www.coinspeaker.com/terra-[Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) | [2](https://decrypt.co/97286/terras-new-stablecoin-pool-makes-waves-in-defi "2") | [3](https://agora.terra.money/t/ust-goes-interchain-the-4pool-and-redacted-cartel/5648 "3") |

LFG, or the Lunar Foundation Guard just snapped up another $176 million worth of [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) earlier this Sunday. This happens as the [BTC price](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) continues to remain under pressure slipping under $42,000 levels over the weekend.

Last week in a bid to diversify its reserve holdings, Terraform Labs acquired $100 million worth of Avalanche (AVAX). Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon said the reason to choose avalanche is because of its rapid growth and wider fan base.

As a result of this move, several applications that launch on Terra will also be available on Avalanche in the future. Furthermore, it will also allow Avalanche users to trade UST against the AVAX tokens directly on the Avalanche blockchain.

Terra has accumulated a total of 39,897.98 [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) worth $1.7 billion over the last month as part of its strategy to build a $10 billion BTC reserve for its UST stablecoin.

On April 1st, Terra introduced something called the “4pool” in what appears to be a clear move to make UST and another fast-growing algorithmic stablecoin called FRAX the leading players in this niche.

This has been dubbed “Curve War” by some DeFi enthusiasts as Curve Finance has become a battleground for whichever project can provide the deepest liquidity to its respective pool. The prize for the deepest liquidity is, of course, token rewards.

For stablecoins, Curve is especially important because it also provides the deep liquidity necessary for maintaining a token’s dollar peg. Low liquidity stablecoins can easily be disrupted if a whale decides to buy or sell a huge amount of the token.

Currently, the largest stablecoin pool is called “3pool.” It provides super deep liquidity for USDC, USDT, and DAI. Deep liquidity, in this case, means $3.2 billion.

Terra’s soon-to-launch 4pool is very similar and includes UST, FRAX, USDT, and USDC. And to attract folks to join, they’ll also be trying to max out those token rewards on Curve.

By eliminating DAI and attempting to maximize the total rewards given to those providing liquidity to the new pool, funds that could have added to 3pool’s depth won’t arrive, potentially disrupting DAI.

The question now is how will MakerDAO react?

### CME Adds Reference Rates for Solana, Cardano, Polygon and Other Altcoins | [1](https://decrypt.co/97328/cme-reference-rates-indices-solana-cardano-polygon-altcoins "1") | [2](https://news.[Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) |

CME Group is adding 11 more cryptocurrencies to the firm’s existing [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) and ethereum reference rates. Crypto reference rates like the CME CF Reference Rates are often used as a benchmark for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other financial products.

The new reference rates will include index pricing for Algorand (ALGO), [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) Cash (BCH), Cardano, Chainlink (LINK), Cosmos (ATOM), [Litecoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/LTC_USDT) (LTC), Polkadot, Polygon (MATIC), Solana, Stellar Lumens (XLM) and Uniswap (UNI). Each coin will leverage two exchanges, CME Group’s announcement discloses.

The reference rates and indices themselves are not tradable investment products. As the name suggests, a reference rate is price data for an asset. But having that data available is an important prerequisite for offering products like ETFs and futures contracts.

Tim McCourt, CME’s head of equity and FX products, said in a press release: “These new benchmarks, which capture 90% of the total investable cryptocurrency market cap today, are designed to allow traders, institutions and other users to confidently and more accurately manage cryptocurrency price risk, price portfolios or create structured products like ETFs.”

Right now, CME offers [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) and [Ethereum futures](https://www.gate.io/futures_trade/USDT/ETH_USDT), as well as futures contracts for micro [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) and micro Ethereum, which can be purchased in denominations one-tenth the size of one BTC or ETH.

### HSBC Starts Metaverse Fund for Private Banking Clients in Asia | [1](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/06/hsbc-starts-metaverse-fund-for-private-banking-clients-in-asia/ "1") | [2](https://www.reuters.com/technology/hsbc-launches-metaverse-portfolio-wealthy-asian-clients-2022-04-06/ "2") |

HSBC Holdings has launched a fund to capture investment opportunities in the metaverse for its rich clients in Hong Kong and Singapore as financial services companies tap into Silicon Valley's new virtual reality.

The strategy aims to capture growth opportunities arising globally from the development of the metaverse ecosystem over the next decade, the bank said in a statement, adding that the “metaverse is expected to become the next iteration of the internet.”

The metaverse comprises a network of virtual environments accessed via different devices where users can work, socialize and play. It has come into sharper focus since Facebook (FB.O) changed its name to Meta last year to reflect its bet on the sector.

In March, HSBC said it became the first global bank to enter The Sandbox metaverse, when it bought a plot of land to engage with sports, e-sports and gaming fans. The total addressable market for the metaverse economy could be as large as $13 trillion by 2030, Citi said in a report last week.

The portfolio will be actively managed, with a focus on five key areas: infrastructure, computing, virtualization, experience and discovery, and human interface, the bank said.

The strategy will be exclusive to HSBC’s high net worth and ultra-high net worth professional and accredited investor clients in Asia. It will be managed by HSBC Asset Management.

### Ethereum PoS Test Predicts The Merge To Occur In July | [1](http://https://fortune.com/2022/04/11/ethereum-test-merge-blockchain/ "1") |

Ethereum's main problem is transaction cost. When the network starts to be overused, then the price’s fees increase and that creates a notable problem for all the users.

Ethereum developers, in order to solve this problem, have promised a major update that would drastically decrease the amount of energy required for confirming transactions, making the blockchain more eco-friendly.

Currently, the network relies on the PoW (Proof-Of-Work) technology, which means that validators need to solve mathematical puzzles, an activity that requires a lot of energy, before confirming a transaction. The process causes a huge energy expenditure that causes a notable environmental impact.

The upgrade would grant Ethereum a switch to the PoS (Proof-Of-Stake) chain, which should minimize the fees and decrease the amount of energy required for validating a transaction. Under the PoS chain, validators would be able to confirm transactions based on how many Ether they stake or contribute to the network, making the PoW obsolete.

In order to rapidly switch to the new chain, Ethereum developers ran on Monday a test which gave pretty good results with a few minor issues. They launched a small number of validators in order to analyze their behavior during the entire process until the final merge.

Given the fact that the test worked properly, the dev team decided to run it again on April 22 and, in the meantime, to launch small tests to understand what should be improved. The merge is the update that Ethereum supporters are more excited about, considering the fact that all the projects built on the network would experience a huge improvement and it’s also expected to increase institutional investments.

Tim Beiko, Ethereum Developer, predicts that the merge will occur in July, even if there isn’t a deadline yet, which will probably be set after the test that is going to run almost at the end of April.

### Epic Games $2 Billion Metaverse Investment |[ ](https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/sony-and-kirkbi-invest-in-epic-games-to-build-the-future-of-digital-entertainment " ")1 | [2](https://decrypt.co/97484/epic-games-2b-raise-metaverse-crypto-nfts-blockchain "2") | [3](https://www.ft.com/content/24d4378a-6977-4ed8-be63-23c9bf9df366 "3") |

Epic Games, the well-known gaming company behind Gears of War, Fortnite & Unreal Engine, announced its intention to join the Metaverse. The decision has come along with a $2 billion agreement between existing investors Sony Group Corporation and KIRKBI, the family-holding behind The LEGO Group.

Each party has contributed with a $1 billion fund respectively and, as a result of the agreement, the Japanese company is currently holding 4.9% stake, while KIRKBI 3% of the company, a deal that values Epic Games at $31.5 bn.

KIRKBI has decided to partner with Epic Games to build a LEGO-themed world mainly aimed for kids while Sony’s vision is much more focused on the gamer community.

Even though they share a common goal, their ambition is to deliver to both gamers and creators new ways of virtual entertainment and create a space where people can interact and share their time together, as declared by Kenichiro Yoshida, Sony’s CEO and President.

All three companies are confident that Epic may offer another outstanding product built with the Unreal Engine and sustained by Sony’s technologies that will be on par with Fortnite, a battle royale game with over 30 million registered players.

Epic Games' intention of building a Metaverse can be seen in the success of Travis Scott’s concert that offered to all the Fortnite players to experience a digital event that had been watched by over 12 million users. A record that surpassed the previous one held by the music event of Marshmello.

These events that the gaming company has offered to its users may be considered a first insight of what may happen into the metaverse: a space where people can share unique moments and have access to exclusive features that the current technology cannot offer.

It’s still unclear which role cryptocurrencies and NFTs are going to have in the Epic Games’ Metaverse nor if it’s going to include them into a microtransaction service or not. Even so, the company has already declared that it’s open to the new technologies and that it's convinced that the metaverse has the potential to become a multi-trillion-dollar industry which shouldn’t be owned by a single corporation but rather an open space where companies can cooperate together.

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### Sponsor | Solice

Before I continue with today’s deep dives, I must tell you about today’s sponsor, Solice, a VR Metaverse built on the Solana blockchain, striving to deliver a high-quality immersive experience by providing users an environment where users can play, build, own, socialize and monetize their virtual experiences across multiple platforms.

While the Solice community has been in chaos for weeks brought by its first and highly anticipated land sale, the team announced at the beginning of this month that the soft launch would initiate shortly after the land sale ended.

Solice first introduced soft launch in December, 2021, when they successfully closed $4.36 million in a seed and private sale led by Three Arrows Capital, Animoca Brands and Defiance Capital. The Solice Metaverse will have its soft launch (limited spots) for early adopters to play and enjoy the metaverse. The first version of the soft launch will include VR compatibility giving users the immersive metaverse experience.

Solice provides an infrastructure to support the metaverse. The Solice metaverse supports multiple platforms that remove the barrier of different hardware, software, and operating systems. This allows more users to invite and connect with their friends and family to increase the possibilities for exponential growth of the user base.

Solice is such a comprehensive and ambitious metaverse project with a huge pool of target users, from gamers (P2E aspect), to DeFi users (staking), to businesses (buy or build and then rent out ad spaces) which forms great adoption for Solice metaverse as a whole.

Will you be the next user of Solice? Get started with the Gate.io podcast airdrop. 75 winners will share 1,500 SLC tokens from Apr 14 to Apr 21. Stay tuned!

------------

### DD | May Crypto Save Meta’s Drop Of Revenues? | [1](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zuck-bucks-latest-digital-currency-063358181.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmVkZGl0LmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJIIde9HNNH0by82J3H-_TzKdMBsEW0COBeAZvyNqKqjeMhPeqDSZtQqnuFE3rZWxzPyLORoVIAlbDpQJg5o837Myf37uEx_kx7eX_bF2vpg0IA6o08ZpqEIJEgZ8-cnuiYC-ifWDJ8V3UxxXQMzbGmiGd3SHhjESlHR1w_AwI8t "1") | [2](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/07/meta-plans-zuck-bucks-virtual-coins-for-facebook-and-instagram-users "2") | [3](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/07/meta-plans-zuck-bucks-virtual-coins-for-facebook-and-instagram-users "3") | [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/28/facebook-cryptocurrency-diem/ "4") |

Meta’s Revenues Are Trembling.
As the social media space keeps shaping itself towards new types of digital approach, the competitiveness is increasing and colossuses, such as Facebook, have started to see their revenues trembling.

Facebook hasn’t offered new services to its community yet nor adapted itself to user’s needs; and this caused a major loss in both company’s credibility and financial entries. Many have started to switch their social activity on other platforms like TikTok and that’s why Zuckerberg has started to look at new revenue possibilities. Currently, Facebook profits are mainly based on advertisement: according to The Guardian, the social media platform earned in 2021 $118bn thanks to the vast community of both Facebook and Instagram which, currently, account for approximately 4.9billion active users combined.

Crypto May Be Meta’s Next Source Of Profits.
Zuckerberg aims to make Meta’s revenue less dependent on advertisement sources, that’s why he has started to explore new methods to monetize its community. One of them being cryptocurrency adoption, a strategy that Meta’s board has embraced from a few couple of years without managing to truly concretize it yet.

In-platform payment method isn’t a new kind of service that Zuckerberg wants to develop. In fact, already in 2009, he launched on his social media platform the Facebook Credits, a virtual payment method for buying games, apps and so on. Unfortunately, after four years of its initial launching, the project shut down because it couldn’t stand the increasing demand and high costs of foreign currency conversions. But the dream didn't stop there.

Zuck Bucks: Meta’s Virtual Currency.
In 2019 Meta attempted to develop its own digital currency called Libra but the project failed because it faced great opposition from Washington and other financial institutions which considered the stablecoin idea as a menace for consumer protection and potential financial risks. However, the opposition didn’t stop Zuckerberg and, two years later, he rebranded his project into Diem by assuring the Congress that the token was pegged to U.S dollar to grant major stability, a move that made the project to fail once again because it did not reach a major consensus.

Still, Meta’s CEO isn’t ready to give up yet, and recently rumors have announced that a new cryptocurrency project is under development which, according to what Zuckerberg has declared, it won’t be built on the blockchain technology but it would rather be directly linked to the company’s management. An initiative similar to the native currency, called Robux, that Roblox Corporation introduced into its popular online game.

Meta’s involvement into the crypto space seems to be spreading rapidly; the company focuses its efforts on the NFTs integration on Facebook and Instagram, which is a step that even Twitter has already embraced. However, Zuckerberg’s company dreams bigger: the main purpose is to build its own Metaverse where people can live a digital life characterized by daily activities, virtual communication and a new purchase method distinguished by the native currency that the company is aiming to develop: the Zuck Bucks. Meta seems to consider blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies as opportunities to improve its revenues.

The Blockchain Technology Scares Meta’s Investors.
Even if the company focuses its energies on digital tokens, many investors are still skeptical about the project. On February 2, after Meta revealed that its expenses on building the Metaverse had caused a huge decrease of fourth-quarter profit, many venture capitalists sold their shares and the company experienced a drop of 30% in price shares since the beginning of the year, losing more than $220bn.

Crypto is becoming mainstream and that’s the reason behind Meta’s involvement with the space. The company believes that offering blockchain technology to its users may convince them to keep using its services and consolidate its position among the most trending social media platforms. According to PewResearch 16% of Americans have said that they have invested and traded cryptocurrency, a number that still increases globally.

Meta’s plans do not end with the development of the centralized currency Zuck Bucks, in fact, the company’s vision aims for further payment methods. According to corporation memos, Meta’s is also looking to introduce “social tokens” and “reputation tokens”, distributed to users as a reward for their engagement activity and loan services for small business activities.

Amid internal tensions the company keeps following its plans, aiming to be one of the first tech corporations to embrace the new tech space, anticipating strategic moves that competitors such as Apple and Google may be planning to do. Meta wants to reshape itself as a company that no longer controls every daily life of its community but aims to offer to it more power and moderating rights.

Listen the episode:
Epic Games $2bn Metaverse, Ethereum PoS Merge In July, Terra’s $176M [Bitcoin](https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT) Investment

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