In blockchain and cryptocurrency news last week, Cardano (ADA) on Wednesday completed a hard fork from the centralized Byron network into the decentralized "Shelley" network. The major coin's upgrade will use the Ouroboros consensus algorithm, a proof-of-stake protocol featuring cryptography, combinatorics, and mathematical game theory. According to the Cardano development team, Shelley will boost "security and robustness" and enable more blockchain use cases. By implementing Shelley on the mainnet, staking pools will be able to register on the chain visible to token holders. Cardano will reach consensus equilibrium once 1,000 stake pools are established, and about half that number are currently operating. The Cardano team stated Shelley is a "first step" in a series over the next months and it expects to debut the Project Catalyst upgrade by year's end.

Here is the rest of the week in review:

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed the first of 2 bills on digital assets into law, according to Russian media reports. Approved by the country's parliament last week, the bill allows firms to issue digital securities on a blockchain if they are properly registered with the Bank of Russia as issuers and satisfy certain criteria established by the state. The new law also categorized decentralized cryptocurrencies as a type of property, which must be reported for tax purposes and cannot be used like money to transact for goods and services. A more detailed second law regulating crypto businesses is expected to be passed by the Russian parliament later this year, although the government has not announced a timeline. A previous version of that bill that would make it illegal to issue and trade crypto on Russia-based infrastructure was heavily criticized by the country's crypto community and several government ministries.

EQUOS.io, a newly launched derivatives platform operated by Hong-Kong based Diginex, is slated to be the first publicly-traded crypto exchange in the US later this year through a "backdoor listing" on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Diginex announced Thursday it is combining EQUOS.io with Singapore's 8i Enterprises Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) listed on the Nasdaq, after filing again with the SEC and being reapproved in June. Diginex CEO Richard Byworth noted SPACs are faster and cheaper than traditional listings and protect against sudden devaluations. EQUOS.io is an institutional-oriented exchange with a team from the traditional derivatives space, which aims to grow the crypto derivatives space to hundreds of times the size of the spot market. Though the platform does not operate in the US, after its listing in the third quarter, US citizens will be able to buy shares of EQUOS.io.

Crypto prices soared to $339 billion this week, despite a weekend flash crash that wiped out billions in positions across global exchanges. For the majors, all except Tether (USDT) and Cardano ended in the green, with Ripple (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC) posting outsized gains. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Ampleforth (AMPL), down 55%, The Midas Touch Gold (TMTG), down 38%, and ABBC Coin (ABBC), down 29%. The biggest gainers were HedgeTrade (HEDG), up 46%, Ocean Protocol (OCEAN), up 40%, and Ripple, up 37%. Next week traders will see if Bitcoin (BTC) can convincingly bounce above $12,000.

The author owns a small amount of BTC and LTC.