Ethereum Completes Merger, Do Kwon Faces Arrest Warrant, and Bitcoin Plunges After Rally: Hodler's Digest, September 11-17

Available every Saturday, Hodler's Digest will help you follow every major news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulatory highlights, major coins, predictions and more - a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Top stories this week Breaking: Historic Day for Crypto as Ethereum Proof-of-Stake Merger Happens

The much-anticipated conversion of Ethereum to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm, dubbed “the merge,” took place at 6:42:42 UTC on September 15. This move is a key part of a multi-year transition for the Ethereum blockchain. “It sets off a chain reaction of changes,” StarkWare co-founder and chairman Eli Ben-Sasson told Cointelegraph of the merger. The merger would help the Ethereum blockchain reduce its power consumption by around 99%.

During a viewing party ahead of the network's move from proof of work (PoW) to PoS, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said, "[It] was obviously a dream for the Ethereum ecosystem from pretty much the beginning. We started the proof-of-stake search with this blog post on Slosher in January 2014."

A party known as ETHW Core disagrees with the transition, however, aiming to maintain a PoW version of Ethereum through a fork within 24 hours of the merger. Several crypto exchanges plan to list the forked chain related asset, ETPoW (ETHW).

Abra announces plans for US bank supporting digital assets

Digital asset exchange Abra has announced the creation of two financial institutions: a US bank and an international crypto firm. Slated to open in 2023, the US state-chartered bank will operate as Abra Bank and support digital assets in a format similar to traditional bank money, it seems. Stationed beyond the US borders, a branch known as Abra International is also planned. The company seeks to tick all the appropriate boxes for Abra Bank and Abra International in terms of regulation.

Norway's central bank uses Ethereum to create national digital currency

The central bank of Norway, Norges Bank, uses the Ethereum blockchain framework to build its central bank digital currency (CBDC). The bank is still in the early stages of building its CBDC, but has unveiled the asset's open-source testnet code via a sandbox. Many countries have shown interest or started working on a CBDC, although the asset does not have to be built on the blockchain. The Bahamas and Nigeria already have live CBDCs.

SEC to Process Growing Filings by Crypto Issuers with Dedicated Desks

During the remainder of 2022, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will add two new offices, one of which will contribute to its crypto regulatory activities. The Office of Crypto Assets, housed under the Corporate Finance Division's Disclosure Review Program, will assess digital asset repositories. These crypto issuer filings have been on the rise, likely given the growing activity of the SEC in overseeing the crypto industry. This week, the US government also unveiled a crypto regulatory framework covering many topics, with nine government departments involved in the f...