Ethereum’s ‘big merger’, retail sales disappoint and what matters in the market

ANDsta is the edition of newsletterr FolhaMercado this Thursday (15). want to receive it from monday to Friday at 7 am In your email? Sign up below:

Ethereum’s ‘great Merger’ has arrived

The major protocol update of the ethereum blockchain network, a process known as “The Merge”, is expected to end in the early hours of this Thursday (15).

The process, long awaited by the crypto community, promises to be a turning point for the network, which is expected to become more scalable and far less ecologically dirty.

Understand: The triggers for this transformation are the change in the transaction validation system, from proof of work to proof of stake.

• In the first, powerful computers solve complex calculations to form “nodes” of a network, which create a transaction block that cannot be changed. This is mining, also used in bitcoin, which involves a lot of energy expenditure.

• In the second, people or companies deposit their own ether (the second largest cryptocurrency in the world) on the network, in exchange for compensation. These cryptos sitting there act as validators for new transactions.

• The merger will merge the current ethereum network with the Beacon Chain, a network that has been tested for years with proof of stake.

why it matters: in addition to the blockchain network being the basis of the ether currency, it is also where the operations of NFTs (non-fungible tokens, understand here), smart contracts (smart contracts, which automatically execute transactions) and decentralized finance (DeFi) take place.

• Proponents claim that the upgrade could reduce by approximately 99% the current energy consumption of mining, one of crypto’s Achilles’ heels.
• Fusion must also scale projects on the network. This would boost the markets for NFTs (the biggest platform will be there), smart contracts, etc.

The opposites: most of them are miners, who may see their investments in computers go to waste.

• There are also those who don’t see the update solving the problem of low network scalability and who still think it is a “betrayal” to the freedom of cryptos, by outsourcing the transaction validation processes to large companies.

Retail sales disappoint in July

Retail sales fell 0.8% in July, in the third consecutive monthly decline, informed the IBGE this Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted result is the worst for the month since 2018.

in numbers: the fall came well below the expectations of analysts, who projected a high of 0.3% for the month. In comparison with July last year, retail shrank 5.2%.

• In the year, the sector recorded an increase of 0.4% and is 0.5% above the pre-pandemic level.

• The drops in sales compared to June were widespread, with emphasis on fabrics, apparel and footwear (-17.1%), furniture and appliances (-3.0%) and books, newspapers and stationery (-2.0%).

The sector faces the opposite situation to that registered by services, which rose 1.1% in July, much more than expected by analysts (0.5%), and which is 8.9% above the pre-pandemic level, informed the IBGE on Tuesday.

what explains: one of the reasons may be in a demand still repressed by the pandemic in services, which leads consumers to prioritize spending on these activities instead of buying goods, says the manager of the IBGE retail survey, Cristiano Santos.

• Another factor that helps to explain the downturn in trade is the sign that the effect of high interest rates may be appearing more strongly in the economy, discouraging consumption.

• Economists expect the impact of a higher Selic to hit economic activity more strongly in the second half of the year, given the natural lag in monetary policy.

5G reaches 7 more capitals

Aracaju, Boa Vista, Campo Grande, Cuiabá, Maceió, São Luís and Teresina will receive the 3.5 GHz 5G signal next week. They are added to 15 other capitals that already have access to technology.

Timeline: cities will be able to activate stations with the connection from Monday (19).

• By November 28, Claro, Tim and Vivo must have at least eight 5G stations activated in Aracaju, five in Boa Vista, 11 in Campo Grande, eight in Cuiabá, 13 in Maceió, 14 in São Luís and 11 in Teresina.

Anatel on the back of teles: a Sheet showed last month that the National Telecommunications Agency opened internal procedures to verify that Vivo, Claro and Tim are fulfilling their obligations in the installation of 5G networks.

• The agency has received complaints of service instability in cities where it is already available.

Pure or impure? Today, the user cannot know if the cell phone is connected to “pure” (standalone) or “impure” (non-standalone) 5G, which uses the 4G frequency and does not deliver everything that fifth-generation technology promises.

• The justification for this is that there is a lack of 5G chips on the market. They come from China, a country that still faces production bottlenecks after the lockdowns at the beginning of the year.

• Anatel says that quality levels will become a requirement as of October 29, the deadline set by the agency for the technology to reach all capitals in the country.

See here a list of capitals with 5G and find out here the prices of cell phones compatible with the technology approved by Anatel.

Ambipar American buys for BRL 836 million

Ambipar, of environmental services, announced this Wednesday that its subsidiary Ambipar Response bought the North American Witt O’Brien’s (WOB) for US$ 161.5 million (R$ 836 million).

Who is who:

• Ambipar Response: the subsidiary responds to environmental, chemical and biological emergencies, in addition to accident prevention. In July, it signed an agreement with SPX, a Spac (blank check company, understand here), to list its shares in New York.

• WOB: americana also operates in the crisis and emergency management sector and serves large corporate clients and the local public sector. In 2021, its revenue was US$ 191.9 million (R$ 993.4 million), according to Ambipar.

The strategy: the purchase comes to expand Ambipar Response’s operations in the US, by serving the American public sector, which has its own requirements, and also enables operations in large-scale emergencies.

Ambipar, which also operates in waste management, saw its shares close at a high of 7.5% on the Brazilian Stock Exchange, at R$ 29.73, after the announcement of the purchase of WOB. The Ibovespa dropped 0.22% this Wednesday, to 110,546 points.