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Vladimir Putin Bans Crypto Payments in Russia
Daily Market Wrap
Crypto market cap: 0.97 trillion, up 0.85%
BTC price stands at USD 21,184, up 0.02%
ETH price stands at USD 1,395, up 3.96%
Top gainer: Ethereum Classic (ETC), up 21.96%
Top loser: UNUS SED LEO (LEO), down 5.80%
News of the Day

Vladimir Putin bans crypto payments in Russia.
Why it matters:
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning crypto payments across the nation on Thursday
“It is prohibited to transfer or accept digital financial assets as a consideration for transferred goods, performed works, rendered services, as well as in any other way that allows one to assume payment for goods (works, services) by a digital financial asset, except as otherwise provided by federal laws,” the Russian parliament website reads
Buying cryptocurrencies themselves are still legal however
Russia has been in the crypto spotlight since the country invaded Ukraine. Many big crypto exchanges, like Binance and FTX, said that they will comply with U.S. or E.U. laws on limiting Russians using exchanges
Crypto Daily Spotlight

Ethereum’s Merge will take place in September, estimates Ethereum engineer.
Brief introduction: Ethereum is a smart-contract enabled Layer 1 blockchain. It is the base layer for many Layer 2 scaling solutions, such as Arbitrum and Immutable X. Ethereum’s execution layer, previously known as ETH 1.0, uses proof-of-work to validate transactions, which contributes to its scalability issues. While Ethereum is the largest smart contract blockchain by market capitalisation, friction points for users include slow transaction speed (about 15 transactions per second) and high gas fees, which Ethereum’s consensus layer aims to resolve by shifting to a proof-of-stake mechanism.
Why it matters:
The Ethereum Foundation projected this week that the long-anticipated Ethereum Merge is likely to take place in September.
“This merge timeline isn’t final, but it’s extremely exciting to see it coming together,” tweeted Beacon Chain community manager superphiz.eth. “Please regard this as a planning timeline and look out for official announcements!”
Ethereum Merge will not reduce gas fees, however; it will become more secure post-merge because it costs more mathematically to attack.
Daily Sector Tracker

Daily News Roundup
Charlie Munger: Crypto Is An ‘Open Sewer Full Of Malicious Organisms’ https://bit.ly/3Pbvpg9
Paraguay’s Senate Approves Crypto Mining and Trading Regulations https://bit.ly/3Pf0qzR
Crypto VC Investments Drop by 26% in 1H 2022 https://bit.ly/3cjSEq2
DeFiance Capital Distances Itself From 3AC https://bit.ly/3z9e7uz
Ukrainian Charity Sees Donations Rise in Crypto Terms Despite Bear Market https://bit.ly/3uOOXif
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