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Cryptocurrency investment firm Grayscale Investments is taking more time to decide whether it should acquire and sell post-Merge forked Ethereum tokens.

Grayscaleannouncedon March 16 that the company intends to extend the review period for evaluating the market environment to determine whether it can acquire EthereumPoW (ETHW) tokens the forked asset that emerged after Ethereums Merge in September 2022.

During the review period, the firm also aims to decide whether, when and in what manner Grayscale may sell ETHW on behalf of the record date shareholders. Such review period is not currently expected to exceed 180 days from the date hereof, Grayscale noted in the announcement.

Grayscale reasoned the extension of the review period to the ongoing uncertainty regarding the support of ETHW tokens by digital asset custodians and trading venues. If digital asset custodians do support the ETHPoW tokens and/or trading markets do develop, it is expected that the ETHPoW tokens value will fluctuate widely for some time, Grayscale said, adding:

Ethereum, currently the second-largest blockchain network by market value after Bitcoin, completed the Merge, a major consensus upgrade in September 2022. The upgrade moved the Ethereum network from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. As some people in the Ethereum community were willing to keep using the mining-based PoW Ethereum model, Ethereum has forked into two different blockchains, the main PoS-based Ethereum and EthereumPoW.

The emergence of ETHW has brought a significant challenge for crypto investment firms offering exposure to Ethereum because some investors might want to have exposure to ETHW. Some companies, such as the European exchange-traded product (ETP) issuer ETC Group, decided to launch a new ETP providing exclusive exposure to ETHW.

Related: Coinbase expects high demand for ETH unstaking with Shanghai upgrade

The new ETP seems better because we just dont know what will happen whether ETHW will succeed or not, ETC Group founder Bradley Duke told Cointelegraph in September 2022.

In September, Grayscale announced that its two Ethereum-related products, the Grayscale Ethereum Trust and the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund, declared a distribution of rights to ETHW. Each product received the tokens as a result of a fork by late September.

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Post-Merge Ethereum: Grayscale extends review of ETHPoW decision - Cointelegraph

In anticipation of the Shanghai Capella Upgrade on Ethereum mainnet in April 2023, liquid staking platform Lido Finance [LDO] has witnessed a significant increase in its total value locked (TVL) as Eher [ETH] stakers look forward to the unlocking of previously locked ETH tokens.

According to data from DefiLlama, in the last month, Lidos TVL increased by 18%. Moreso, this went up by almost 25% in the last seven days.

At press time, the protocols TVL was $10.57 billion, representing a 21.66% share of the entire decentralized finance [DeFi] ecosystem.

Is your portfolio green? Check out theLido Profit Calculator

As a result of the contagion brought about by FTXs unexpected collapse in November 2022, Lidos share of the ETH staking market dropped below 30% for the first time since April 2022.

Even though Lido displaced MakerDAO [MKR] as the DeFi protocol with the highest TVL in January, Lidos share of the ETH staking market lingered at 29% in the first two months of the year.

However, things took a different turn in March as Lido reclaimed its 30% market share and surpassed it. This has been due to the execution of the Shanghai Capella Upgrade on Ethereums Goerli testnet and the confirmation of a 12 April date for the mainnet upgrade.

At press time, 5,579,744 ETH tokens were staked through Lido, representing a 31% market dominance.

Further, on 12 March, Lidos staking Annual percentage rate (APR) rallied to its highest point far this year, reaching an impressive 9.91%.

Per data from Dune Analytics, this growth was, however, ephemeral as the staking APR on the platform consequently plummeted. At press time, this was 5.94%.

Realistic or not, heres LDO market cap inBTCs terms

While LDOs price rallied in the last week, mirroring the general growth in the crypto market, an assessment of the tokens price movements on the daily chart revealed a fall in buying pressure.

In fact, the MACD indicator revealed that LDO has lingered under a new bear cycle since the beginning of March. At press time, the RSI and MFI were positioned at 47.75 and 40.15, respectively, indicating that LDO traders preferred to sell rather than hold.

Further, the dynamic line (green) of the assets CMF was positioned in the negative territory below the zero center line. This suggested increased liquidity exit, which, if it remains unabated, will further drag LDOs value down.

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Lido Finance rides the wave of Ethereums upgrade, heres how - AMBCrypto News

US Securities and Exchange Commission Gary Gensler recently reiterated that Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrencies like Ethereum may be securities. These statements from regulators have fueled an uncertainty among crypto market participants.

Also read: Ethereum layer-2 Arbitrums most awaited airdrop of 2023 is expected on March 23

The Securities and Exchange Commission Gensler commented on intensified scrutiny of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) cryptocurrencies. Gensler reiterated that PoS tokens like Ethereum may be securities as these coins are promoted by creators, offering returns.

Gensler said during an open meeting of the SEC on Wednesday,

I would suggest that each of these token operators, obviously consulting with the appropriate talent, seek to come into compliance.

Developers behind Ethereum Proof-of-Work (PoW) recently shared a proposal for the formation of an All-In-One Ecosystem DAO- EthereumPoW one.

Since the inception of the PoW project, NFTs and DeFi protocols have emerged in the ecosystem. Through these projects, PoW developers witnessed potential in the EthereumPoW ecosystem.

To encourage developers, projects and investors to participate in developing the EthereumPoW ecosystem, the team behind ETHW proposed the establishment of the DAO.

Ethereum Proof-of-Work token ETHW is gaining relevance and popularity in the crypto community. The token offered 4% gains since March 16, and ETHW climbed nearly 11% over the past week.

US regulators stance on PoS tokens and Ethereum is one of the drivers of rising market share and demand for ETHW.

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SECs Gary Gensler wants Proof-of-Stake Ethereum to be regulated as a security, will traders turn to ETHW? - FXStreet

Offchain Labs Inc., the developer of the Ethereum blockchain scaling solution Arbitrum, announced today that it will airdrop, or give away for free to select people, its new token $ARB, a new cryptocurrency that would be used for voting on two of its blockchain products.

The company also announced the launch of the Arbitrum Foundation and a DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization, to govern the development of Arbitrum One, its main blockchain, and Arbitrum Nova, which was designed for social media and gaming.

Steven Goldfeder, chief executive and co-founder of Offchain Labs said that the launch of the new organizations will lead the blockchains to greater decentralization.Through the community airdrop, the delegation process, and the introduction of the Security Council, community participation and control is at the forefront of todays announcement, and the requirements for receiving a share of Arbitrum governance have been crafted meticulously, optimizing for the longevity of the ecosystem and community, he said.

Decentralization is a fundamental tenet of blockchain technology and what is called Web3, which relies on multiple copies of ledgers to cryptographically protect transactions across its peer-to-peer network from potential tampering. Its use also gives rise to decentralized applications, or dapps, which run using self-executing code across networks without the need for central servers.With cryptocurrencies and tokens, developers have built entire decentralized economies, games, social networks and more using the blockchains as the foundation.

Holders of the tokens will be able to vote on proposals submitted to the DAO and decide on how development and governance decisions will proceed in the future. According to Goldfeder, this will further decentralize both the development and decision-making for the future of the blockchains.The tokens will be dropped on March 23.

Looking ahead, were moving closer and closer toward a decentralized financial system, with the Arbitrum technology at the very forefront of that, Goldfeder added.

Offchain Labs Arbitrum builds Layer 2 scaling solutions for Ethereum, which uses rollups technology to speed up transactions and lower fees. Layer 2 solutions execute transitions outside of Ethereum on their own blockchain and batch them together so they can be rolled up before sending them back to Ethereum so they can all be run at once.

Arbitrum One is the lead Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum with about $1.67 billion in total assets locked in the chain,according to DefiLlama. Offchain Labs raised $120 million in funding in August 2021 to launch its Arbitrium One mainnet, and its scaling solution was chosen by the internet social media giant Reddit for its blockchain-based Community Points program.

At the same time as the new foundation and the DAO, Offchain Labs also announced a new technology called Arbitrum Orbit a Layer 3 scaling solution that will allow developers to build their own scaling chains that will roll onto Arbitrum.

With Orbit, developers will gain access to permissionless scalable rollups blockchains that behave like Arbitrums other blockchains. For example, they can build Layer 3 Rollup chains with Ethereum-level security to maximize scalability similar to Arbitrum One, or they could aim for Layer 3 AnyTrust chains using minimal trust to enable high-volume and low transaction costs similar to Arbitrum Nova. All of these solutions run atop the core engine of Arbitrum Nitro, which means developers can customize their own Layer 3 solution for whatever application specific needs they may have.

The new scaling solution fully supports the Ethereum virtual machine, which means that developers can write and execute smart contracts. The company also said it will also support the upcoming release of Arbitrum Stylus, which will allow developers to use programming languages such as C, C++ and Rust for their chains, in addition to the traditional coding language Solidity to write code for dapps.

The launch of Arbitrum Orbit marks another step in the goal of growth through ecosystemexpansion by way of onboarding new developers, said Goldfeder. With todays announcement, developers now have another tool allowing them to not only build their own smart contracts, but to also launch their own L3 chains leveraging the best technology available.

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Ethereum scaling solution Arbitrum launches token and Layer 3 chains - SiliconANGLE News

One of Australias largest bank, National Australia Bank (NAB), has broken the blockchain barrier by becoming the first major financial institution to complete an intra-bank cross-border transaction on the Ethereum blockchain using its own NAB-issued stablecoin.

The successful pilot transaction on the Ethereum blockchain has utilized smart contracts for seven major global currencies, with NAB investing in the development of Australias safest, simplest, and most secure digital asset ecosystem.

The transactions success indicates the potential to significantly reduce the time and cost of cross-border transactions, benefiting NABs corporate and institutional clients operating in multiple jurisdictions and currencies.

Drew Bradford, NABs executive general manager of markets, said the bank is committed to pursuing the right digital asset opportunities with clear customer benefits.

The success of the transaction was achieved through the rigorous governance frameworks in place, ensuring that NAB can support the creation of a safe and reliable digital financial system.

NAB plans to fully back its Australian stablecoin, AUDN, one-for-one with the Australian dollar, and manage it as a liability of the bank.

This makes it the cornerstone for NABs ambitions in digital assets, and the bank aims to support select clients in transacting with digital assets by the end of 2023.

NAB collaborated with Blockfold and Fireblocks to build and deploy its stablecoins on the Ethereum blockchain. This involved utilizing their expertise in smart contract creation, secure minting and burning of stablecoins, and managing custody of digital assets on the blockchain.

BlockFold CEO and co-founder Francois Schonken said: NABs multi-currency cross-border settlement execution on a public blockchain is exhilarating.

The NAB eco-system of stablecoins puts in place cross-border payment rails that unlock tokenisation potential for both real world assets and financial products.

Michael Shaulov, CEO and co-founder of Fireblocks, said the successful trade execution marks the beginning of the evolution of financial services from Web2 to Web3, underpinned by blockchain technology, strong governance, and risk management.

The Ethereum blockchain transaction is a significant milestone for the banking sector, offering new ways to interact with customers, and drive engagement.

NABs ambition is to enable transactions across seven of the top globally utilized currencies: Australian, New Zealand, Singapore, and US dollars, Euro, Yen, and Pound Sterling.

As the first major financial institution to complete an intra-bank cross-border transaction on the Ethereum blockchain, NAB has taken a significant step forward in transforming financial services from Web2 to Web3.

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Australia's largest bank breaks blockchain barrier with Ethereum ... - Cryptopolitan