What's happening to the crypto market? Ethereum's upgrade to PoS

The growth of digital assets over the weekend led to the market capitalization of crypto-assets as a whole exceeding the one trillion dollar mark again. Much of this was thanks to bitcoin. While many other crypto-assets also rose in value, their participation in the total value of digital currencies is hardly significant because of their relatively small market capitalization.

Ethereum, which is about to undergo its biggest upgrade to Proof-of-Stake, is also back above $1700. But with altcoins, the market is more cautious at the moment. Many first want to see what happens around September 15, when The Merge update pushes Ethereum into a new era.

Bitcoin's strong rise has been accompanied by a general recovery in the stock markets. All of the important leading indices are up. After difficult days for investors, characterized by renewed monetary policy cuts in the US and the eurozone, there is now a sigh of relief.

As stock markets followed interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and the ECB, there is now some clarity as to how the money market will evolve. Investors are now preparing for it.

U.S. refrains from restrictions on digital coin mining for now

There is an important factor in bitcoin's rise: the White House. Authorities have reportedly demanded action against the high energy consumption of crypto-assets, especially bitcoin and Ethereum. For Ethereum, the problem will solve itself this week (Proof-of-Stake consumes 99.95% less energy than previous mining); and bitcoin again escaped a ban or restriction.

Now the mining industry is being asked to adopt new standards, and the industry must "initiate additional CO2-free production over time." U.S. agencies will monitor this - and if the industry is shaken, there are rumors that "the use of energy-intensive consensus mechanisms for mining crypto-assets" could be restricted or banned. Thus, the BTC mining industry is under pressure.