The Holy Grail of Ethereum Scaling

Good morning. Today we've got coverage on Polygon's zkEVM announcement, a Spanish exchange making acquisitions in Latin America, and some legislation in the works to regulate stablecoins. All that and more today!

Programming Note: we're off tomorrow, to get ready for my grandfather's birthday party. He turned 100 on Tuesday.

Market Update (as of 7:56am ET):

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Top 5:

1. Polygon unveils ZkEVM, ‘The Holy Grail of Scaling’. The Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution has unveiled zero-knowledge proof-based rollups which achieve equivalence with the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM). Now....what does that all mean? Zero-knowledge proofs combine many layer-2 transactions into a single transaction providing scale and speed for the layer-1 network. According to Polygon's Sandeep Nailwal, "it makes Ethereum almost technically or theoretically infinitely scalable." The project is expected to be live on the Ethereum mainnet by the end of the year.

2. Stablecoin firms face tough reserve, capital demands in US bill. In current drafts of US legislation on stablecoins it appears that issuers will face bank-like levels of regulation. According to reports, there is bipartisan agreement that stablecoins should be directly backed by assets such as cash and U.S. Treasury bonds while issuers would be subject to capital requirements and agency supervision. A legislative markup of the bill is scheduled for July 27th.

3. Spanish Bit2Me buys Peruvian crypto exchange, eyes targets in Latin America. The largest Spanish crypto exchange, Bit2Me, acquired an 85% stake in Peruvian exchange Fluyez for just over $1 million. Fluyez will still operate under the same name and has goals to grow its existing user base from 10,000 to 100,000 users over the next 12 months. Bit2Me is not done with acquisitions - they are currently negotiating with an exchange in Chile and have additional targets in Uruguay and Colombia. The growth will be funded by cash on hand and the company plans to expand headcount with 250 new hires over the next 12 months.

4. The credit crunch is not the end of crypto lending - by Nic Carter. This one's an opinion piece from Nic Carter at Castle Island Ventures on the state of crypto lending and where the industry goes from here. Some key points:
- Crypto lending isn't dead
- Bitcoin is the premiere collateral given that it is a cryptographically auditable, digital bearer instrument, with cheap physical delivery
- The tools are there to create a sophisticated crypto lending ecosystem but more transparency into lending protocols is needed

5. It's official...Dave Portnoy has stronger hands than Elon Musk. During the second quarter Tesla sold bitcoin valued at $936 million reducing its holdings by around 75%. Reminder that the CT5 is off tomorrow, have a great weekend!

Updates and other stories:
- Brazilian fintech BEE4 to launch first local tokenized stock marketplace...Read More
- Benzinga CEO Jason Raznick Among Bankrupt Voyager’s largest creditors...Read More
- UK Treasury unveils plan to regulate stablecoins in Financial Services and Markets bill...Read More

Top Sharers of the Crypto Top 5:
1. Donna Y. - Nashville, TN
2. Jake Y. - Greenville, SC
3. Forrest H. - Evansville, IN

External Resources:
1. Cryptopedia from Gemini - if you see a word, acronym, or phrase in this newsletter that you don't understand, there's a good chance you can find an explanation here
2. Crypto Explainer+ - intro level courses on Bitcoin, Ethereum, decentralized finance, NFTs, and more
3. Crypto Jobs! - looking for a new job? Check out this page from Anthony Pompliano with hundreds, if not thousands of listings

Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter shall not be understood or construed as financial advice. I am not an attorney, accountant, or financial advisor, nor am I holding myself out to be, and the information provided is not a substitute for financial advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation.