High-frequency trading allows cryptocurrency traders to take advantage of market opportunities that are usually unavailable to regular traders. Following the decentralized finance (DeFi) boom of 2020, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) solidified their place in the ecosystems of both cryptocurrency and finance. Since DEXs are not as heavily regulated as centralized exchanges, users can list any token they want.

With DEXs, high-frequency traders can make trades on coins before they hit major exchanges. Plus, decentralized exchanges are noncustodial, which implies that creators cannot pull an exit fraud — in theory.

As such, high-frequency trading firms that used to broker unique trading transactions with cryptocurrency exchange operators have turned to decentralized exchanges to conduct business.more

The new British government sounds bullish on crypto, while discussions in Washington about regulation are intensifying.After dipping below $19,000 at the start of the week, Bitcoin then enjoyed a steady 7.3% recovery over the last seven days and trades for $21,236 at the time of writing, according to CoinMarketCap.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rallied harder just days before the Ethereum merge event to proof of stake. It shot up 10.9% over the week and is currently worth $1,726.

Several so-called “Ethereum killers," aka layer-1 blockchains with high-functionality smart contracts, enjoyed notable rallies too: Cardano (ADA) blew up 9.4% to hit 51 cents, Solana (SOL) grew 11.4% and trades for $35, Avalanche (avax) rose 8% to $20.35, and NEAR Protocol surged 13% to $4.71.more

LUNA is crypto’s largest gainer today among the top 100 coins—and it comes right after LUNA Classic had its own unexpected ascent.The twin collapses of Terra’s UST stablecoin and LUNA cryptocurrency are widely blamed for at least partially causing May’s market-wide crypto crash, resulting in a cascade of crumbling crypto valuations. But after all the turmoil—believe it or not—the rebooted LUNA and the rebranded LUNA Classic (LUNC) have both skyrocketed in recent days.

LUNA has increased in value by 166% over the last 24 hours to reach a current price of over $5, per data from CoinGecko. It’s a surprising surge for a coin that has barely budged since early June, sticking close to the $2 mark. The price popped as high as $6.87 over the last day, marking a peak 247% increase since the start of the day Friday.more

The network’s 13th and final shadow fork executed today with no apparent issues, say Ethereum core devsIn the frenzied build-up to Ethereum’s much-anticipated merge, the network’s developers have deployed test after test to make sure everything goes smoothly when the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization transitions to proof of stake sometime next week.

Ethereum today successfully completed what its developers say is the absolute final dress rehearsal for the historic and massive upgrade, which is likely to occur between September 13 and 15.

The Ethereum mainnet’s 13th shadow fork went live earlier today, apparently without a hitch. Shadow forks are focused trial runs of aspects of the merge, which test for potential issues and simulate the act of shifting the Ethereum mainnet’s underlying mechanism from the current, proof-of-work mining model to proof of stake, which will end the practice of mining on the network.more

CEO Brian Armstrong was among the company executives meeting with policymakers in London and Dublin this week.Coinbase wants to expand in Europe, with CEO Brian Armstrong meeting policymakers in London and Dublin this week despite a market downturn and recent layoffs.

The biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, according to a company blog post, seeks to be “driving a concerted effort to strengthen our presence in Europe.more

Tired of clueless pundits and friends dredging up the same old talking points about why crypto is all a scam? Pull out this document.They're back. As the crypto bear market worsens, the haters are coming out of the woodwork again to sneer at an industry they've long insisted was nothing more than an overhyped scam.

Veteran crypto users have seen this movie before. It happened in 2010, 2014, 2018, and it's happening right now: Media pundits and casual observers—many of whom know nothing about crypto—are trotting out the same tired talking points to say that they've been right all along.more

Some crypto companies are feeling the crunch of a market crash and reducing their employee headcount to cope—but others are still expanding and securing fresh talent. Here's who's hiring and firing in crypto right now.Cryptocurrencies and the stock market have been hammered by deteriorating economic conditions so far this year, between a recession potentially looming, sky-high inflation and a Federal Reserve that’s poised to further cool down the economy by raising interest rates.

The worsening outlook towards the economy has led companies to cut back on hiring or shrink operations in an attempt to better manage costs and protect profits. In early June, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy in an email to company executives and stated 10% of salaried employees at the company would need to lose their jobs, according to reporting from Reuters.more information

On-chain and technical analysis indicators suggest BTC price may have bottomed, but several traders are still wary that BTC price could fall as low as $10,000 in the short-term. The crypto market is currently going through a period of heightened volatility as global economic conditions continue to worsen amid a backdrop of rising inflation and interest rates.

As the headwinds impacting global financial markets beat down all traces of bullish sentiment, many crypto investors are predicting that Bitcoin (BTC) price could drop to as low as $10,000 before a market bottom is found.more