Crypto Weekly: ether turns greener

STORY: This is Crypto Weekly, with your top stories on virtual currencies

Ethereum might be going green, or at least greener than it was.

The bitcoin rival looks set for its much-delayed Merge in September.

That will see ether move to a new system that should be much less energy intensive.

The move could help tackle concerns over the carbon emissions produced by crypto mining.

Speculation over the Merge has helped boost ether.

Its now posted six weeks of gains, and is eating away at bitcoins dominance.

Ether now accounts for around a fifth of the total crypto market, or about half the share of its bigger rival.

Some artists are turning to NFTs to help raise money for Ukraine.

Los Angeles-based Trek Kelly created a mural from cars burned out in the conflict there.

We’re making NFTs out of the murals so that they can be sold to help fund local humanitarian causes. [7891]

And losses from crypto hacks keep rising.

They jumped nearly 60% over the first seven months of the year to $1.9 billion.

Thats according to Chainalysis.

The researchers say theres no sign that the trend will reverse any time soon.