Ethereum’s developers have pushed the highly-anticipated upgrade that will allow for the withdrawal of staked Ether to early April. The upgrade, called Shanghai, was initially slated for late March, but was pushed back atthe latest Ethereum developer meeting.

Collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX has revealed it identified an $8.9 billion shortfall in customer funds that cannot be accounted for. This was the first time the company determined the amount of money that’s missing.

The digital payments firm founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Block, has announced plans to use its own Bitcoin reserves to boost liquidity on the cryptocurrency’s Lightning Network.

 Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Ethereum Devs Push Shanghai Upgrade to April
• FTX Reveals $8.9bn Shortfall in Customer Funds
• Block to Use Bitcoin Reserves for Lightning Network Liquidity
• Crypto Market Movers – STX, GRT, LQTY

Ethereum Devs Push Shanghai Upgrade to April

Ethereum’s developers have pushed the highly-anticipated upgrade that will allow for the withdrawal of staked Ether to early April. The upgrade, called Shanghai, was initially slated for late March, but was pushed back atthe latest Ethereum developer meeting.

The decision was made to ensure a successful rollout of the upgrade, with the Goerli testnet launch scheduled for March 14 serving as the final dress rehearsal. Ethereum core developer, Tim Beiko, noted that a mainnet date will likely be set during the next developer meeting on March 16, assuming all goes well on Goerli.

The Shanghai upgrade will allow for the phased withdrawal of Ethereum staked on the network, with ETH withdrawals dependent on the number of validators exiting at any given time to maintain network stability.

Over 14% of the total Ethereum supply is currently staked, amounting to approximately 17.1 million ETH. Based on current asset valuations, this represents a total value of around $28 billion.

FTX Reveals $8.9bn Shortfall in Customer Funds

Collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX has revealed it identified an $8.9 billion shortfall in customer funds that cannot be accounted for. This was the first time the company determined the amount of money that’s missing.

In a public presentation, the company revealed it located approximately $2.7 billion in customer assets, although outstanding balances on customer accounts totaled $11.6 billion.  The estimated value of FTX's assets and liabilities is based on crypto prices on the day the company filed for bankruptcy in early November.

Since then, new managers, led by restructuring expert John J. Ray III, have been working to identify and protect billions of dollars in lost customer funds. The expert has warned that it’s currently impossible to determine how much customers will be able to recover, as its records are incomplete.

A significant portion of the $8.9 billion deficit in customer funds can be attributed to Alameda Research, which borrowed $9.3 billion from customer accounts before the exchange declared bankruptcy. Alameda held $475 million in cash as of January 31.

Unauthorized transfers and hacks worth approximately $500 million have contributed to the widening gap between what customers are owed and what FTX's managers have located. FTX is set to keep customers updated on the recovery of their funds.

Block to Use Bitcoin Reserves for Lightning Network Liquidity

The digital payments firm founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Block, has announced plans to use its own Bitcoin reserves to boost liquidity on the cryptocurrency’s Lightning Network.

According to Bloomberg, the company’s Bitcoin-focused unit, TBD, will launch a Lightning Service Provider called c=, with the aim of reducing failed transactions on the network caused by a lack of liquidity.

The Lightning Network, which is a layer-2 scaling solution on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, enables users to make faster and cheaper transactions than those processed directly on the blockchain.

Block was one of the first major digital payment platforms to facilitate Bitcoin transactions and adopt the Lightning Network, and its Cash App generated $156 million in Bitcoin gross profit last year. The firm has over 8,027 BTC on its balance sheet.

Crypto Market Movers – STX, GRT, LQTY

Several tokens are leading the charge in the last 7-day period. Some of these are well-known cryptocurrencies with more liquid trading pairs, so we’ll be focusing on these over low-cap cryptos that may have higher percentage changes.

Stacks (STX) - Stacks is an open-source network of decentralized apps and smart contracts built on Bitcoin. The Stacks blockchain is a flexible layer on top of Bitcoin that enables decentralized apps, smart contracts, and digital assets

The Graph (GRT) - The Graph (GRT) is a blockchain data protocol that facilitates the indexing and retrieval of blockchain data. It indexes records from various networks, including Ethereum, similar to how Google indexes the internet.

Liquity (LQTY) - Liquity is a decentralized borrowing protocol that allows users to obtain loans against Ether tokens used as collateral, with the interest rate determined by the borrower. In essence, Liquity provides loans to individuals in exchange for Ether tokens present with them.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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