Welcome to The Daily Forkast, October 27th, 2021, presented by Angie Lau. For the latest in blockchain & crypto news. On today’s show:
00:00 Coming Up
00:34 Altair Beacon Chain upgrade goes live.
02:41 BTS’ label Hybe and Dunamu reportedly planning NFT venture.
04:38 Bitcoin and Beyond Conference
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First up, Altair, the first mainnet upgrade to ethereum’s beacon chain is just one step on the path to what the ethereum foundation has dubbed “The Merge”. The last milestone was August’s “London upgrade”. Next in line after Altair is the ethereum mainnet’s merge with the beacon chain’s proof of stake system – that’s scheduled to take place in 2022. But what will the Altair upgrade actually do and what will happen next? According to the ethereum foundation’s blog, the altair upgrade was scheduled to go live at epoch number 74,240 or a little before 11am Greenwich mean time wednesday to you and me! One expert told Forkast.News that the upgrade is an administrative fork. That means validators needed to update their nodes, but end-users or stakers aren’t likely to notice anything: “We’re just making it easier for light-clients, which are a way of accessing the blockchain without running your own node and getting trusted information. We’re making it easy for them to sync up with the chain and get the latest information. partially tidying up some things, partially it’s taking the training wheels off the beacon chain a little.” Ethereum’s beacon chain upgrade in december 2020 marked the beginning of the ETH 2 upgrades, and it brought staking to the ecosystem. While “The Merge”, which is due to take place next year, will mark the end of a proof-of-work ethereum. An expert says the focus ahead of the merge will be on testing. “We need to make sure it’s bulletproof. So the main work for the next six months is really just testing, auditing and risk management activities, governance in the community, and just making sure everybody is comfortable and ready for this to happen.” Ethereum’s price was hovering around the US$4,200 Wednesday midday asia time – that’s within a couple of hundred dollars of the all-time high of US$4,366 it hit last week.
Up next, BTS is no doubt the biggest boy band in the world right now. And if you look deep into my twitter feed, you’ll see some BTS selfies when I interviewed them! Ok, back to why they’re making headlines for us today? The band’s label, Hybe, seems to be planning a foray into the NFT world.
Hybe is reportedly pushing ahead on a partnership with Dunamu, the operator of crypto exchange Upbit, to digitalize BTS goods into NFTs and more. Hybe, formerly called Big Hit Entertainment, has become one of Korea’s leading k-pop labels with BTS taking over the world. Recent Korean reports said that Hybe and Dunamu were reviewing a plan to swap their shares worth approximately US$42 to US$77 million and partner up for an NFT business. That would see the two incorporating NFT technology into making k-pop merchandise for BTS and their labelmates. In order to push forward the NFT business, Hybe was also reported to be considering a plan to issue convertible bonds – worth Around US$342 million with the help of Mirae Asset Securities. Hybe has since responded, saying that although it is considering various ventures with Dunamu and issuing convertible bonds for strengthening business competitiveness, no final decisions have been made. Hybe says an announcement will be made within a month. Back in July, Dunamu acquired 2.5% of JYP Entertainment, another major k-pop label, which manages popular idol bands Twice, 2pm and Itzy. The partnership between the two promised to construct an NFT platform using JYP’s k-pop content. K-pop NFL collaborations have already proven successful with some fans — by allowing each of them to buy their own unique k-pop merchandise.
And finally today: On behalf of our entire team at Forkast, we would like to personally invite you to join our global virtual summit on November 10th. Here’s a sneak preview of what’s to come:
Some of the biggest names in blockchain will be joining us – Don Tapscott, SBF, that’s Sam Bankman-Fried Of FTX, Alex Machinsky of Celsius. All Blockchain leaders and newsmakers – it’s an opportunity for you to engage with them and us – we’re looking forward to seeing you there!
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#Crypto #Blockchain #BlockchainTechnology #DigitalAssets #Cryptocurrency #DeFi #Altair #Ethereum #Hybe #Dunamu #BigHits #JYP #NFT #BTS #KPop
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