Today, we are excited to announce that Gemini will be joining the BitMEX [.BXBT](https://www.bitmex.com/app/index/.BXBT) and [.BETH](https://www.bitmex.com/app/index/.BETH) indexes**.** As a constituent of each respective index, Gemini’s market data will be used to help price the BitMEX [XBTUSD Perpetual Contract](https://www.bitmex.com/app/seriesGuide/app/contract/XBTUSD), [ETHUSD Perpetual Contract](https://www.bitmex.com/app/contract/ETHUSD), and [XBT Futures Contracts](https://www.bitmex.com/app/futuresGuide). Gemini’s market data will also be used for BitMEX [Upside Profit Contracts (UPs)](https://www.bitmex.com/app/upsGuide#Overview) and [Downside Profit Contracts (DOWNs)](https://www.bitmex.com/app/downsGuide#Overview). We look forward to helping power and enhance the most liquid derivatives contracts in crypto.

Implementation is scheduled for Thursday**, November 21, 2019 at 8:00pm ET**.

Please visit our website to learn more about our [APIs](https://docs.gemini.com/rest-api/), Gemini Market Data, and other [institutional services](https://gemini.com/institutions/) such as cross-connecting to our matching engine.

Onward and Upward,

Team Gemini

Gemini Joins the BitMEX Indexes

*Welcome to our Weekly Market Update.** *Explore weekly crypto price movements, read a quick digest of notable market news, and dive into a crypto topic — this week we discuss public and private keys.*

<a href="#Crypto Movers This Week" target="">__Crypto Movers__</a> 
<a href="#What Happened This Week" target="">__Crypto News: What Happened This Week?__</a> 
<a href="#Crypto Topic of the Week" target="">__Topic of the Week: Public and Private Keys__</a>



![Frame 1](//images.ctfassets.net/jg6lo9a2ukvr/58jHsmWBP9yk12oiPQHy7X/d201786646b9a775f1cc56bfa5d6cb9b/Frame_1.png)

[Bitcoin (BTC) Price](https://www.gemini.com/prices/bitcoin) | ⬆️ 1.14% | $27,072
---
[Ether (ETH) Price](https://www.gemini.com/prices/ether) | ⬆️ 3.27% | $1,890
---
[Rally (RLY)](https://www.gemini.com/prices/Rally) | ⬆️ 48.60% | $0.01238
---
[Alethea (ALI)](https://www.gemini.com/prices/alethea-artificial-liquid-intelligence-token) | ⬆️ 33.90% | $0.02899
---
[Samoyedcoin (SAMO) Price](https://www.gemini.com/prices/samoyedcoin) | ⬇️ 31.10% | $0.00398
---
---

### Crypto prices as of Friday, June 2, 2023, at noon ET. Percentages reflect trends over the past seven days. [Check out the latest crypto prices here](https://www.gemini.com/prices). All prices in USD.



![Frame 2](//images.ctfassets.net/jg6lo9a2ukvr/3fLGH51mwRO1exijuSQ0Jl/5e88bcfcc6cff39126724253397cd148/Frame_2.png)

### Takeaways 

- __Debt Ceiling:__ An agreement to raise the U.S. debt ceiling passed the U.S. House and Senate this week. President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law, ending the impasse that has weighed on investors over the past month.
- __Interest Rates:__ Further interest rate hike expectations have shifted once again as a Fed governor suggested more hikes could be on the horizon. Nevertheless, investors expect the Fed to keep rates steady at its next meeting in two weeks.
- __Hong Kong:__ Hong Kong announced it would begin accepting applications for crypto exchanges and trading platforms for retail customers, ending restrictions in place since 2018.
- __BTC and ETH:__ Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) prices continued to trade within their recent ranges after seeing a bump following positive news out of the debt ceiling negotiations. 
- __Optimism and Multichain:__ Optimism (OP) token prices notably slid this week after a token unlock, and Multichain (MULTI)’s issues persisted with the company tweeting that employees were unable to contact their CEO. 

__U.S. Debt Ceiling Agreement Heads to President Biden’s Desk__

The U.S. debt ceiling debate, which has been [clouding markets](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/SPX/?exchange=SP) for the past month, appears to be drawing to a close. Reports emerged over the weekend [that a deal had been reached](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-debt-ceiling-negotiations-push-towards-critical-default-deadline-2023-05-27/) between the Biden Administration and Congressional Republicans, which helped push equities higher as the markets opened again on Tuesday following the long Memorial Day weekend. 

By Thursday evening, the U.S. House and Senate approved a bill that would [raise the debt ceiling](https://apnews.com/article/debt-limit-biden-mccarthy-senate-house-default-b8c3566b0c9cb168d9706aa256e327f7) for more than two years. The bill now moves to President Biden’s desk for his signature and will allow the U.S. Treasury to continue servicing its debts. 

__Interest Rate Hike Expectations Creep Up Again__

With the next meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve fast approaching, the market expectations around rate hikes [fluctuated throughout the week](https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html?redirect=/trading/interest-rates/countdown-to-fomc.html). Current expectations are that the Fed will pause interest rate hikes at the June meeting, but future [rate hikes could resume](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-31/fed-s-jefferson-signals-pause-on-way-but-more-hikes-could-follow) later this year. 

Earlier in the week, odds briefly rose for another 25 bps hike coming on June 14th, [the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting](https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm). 

However, comments on Wednesday from Federal Reserve Governor Philip Jefferson and Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker [suggested a rate pause](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-31/fed-s-jefferson-signals-pause-on-way-but-more-hikes-could-follow) at the next FOMC meeting, resulting in [equities climbing slightly higher](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/SPX/?exchange=SP) on Thursday morning. Jefferson did note that a pause at the next meeting [does not mean that we have reached the peak](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-31/fed-s-jefferson-signals-pause-on-way-but-more-hikes-could-follow) rate for this cycle. 

A very strong [jobs report released Friday](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-june-2-2023-114824059.html), and consumer price index (CPI) data on June 13th could play an important role in future rate decisions.

__BTC and ETH Fail to Muster Momentum__

[Bitcoin (BTC)](https://www.gemini.com/prices/bitcoin) price rallied from the bottom of its short-term range to over $28k USD at the start of the week on positive [news relating to the debt ceiling](https://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1016361/bitcoin-and-ethereum-rally-as-us-debt-ceiling-saga-edges-to-a-close-1016361.html) deal. The rally was short-lived as BTC slid lower throughout the week back to the $27k USD level, which has acted as a key level of support over the past few months. 

[Ether (ETH)](https://www.gemini.com/prices/ether) has managed to push higher from its $1,800 USD support level, reaching a high of above $1,900 before consolidating around the $1,860 USD level. Similar to previous weeks, ETH has shown greater strength in comparison to BTC with the [ETHBTC pair](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/ETHBTC/) now trading near 0.070, up from 0.064 a month earlier. 

Liquidity and activity on centralized exchanges continue to fall as the month of May brought the [lowest monthly spot exchange volumes](https://www.theblock.co/data/crypto-markets/spot/total-exchange-volume-daily) in the past 12 months. The total volume across exchanges has fallen from [~$1.4t USD in May last year to ~$440b USD this May](https://www.theblock.co/data/crypto-markets/spot/cryptocurrency-exchange-volume-monthly).

__Hong Kong Accepting Applications for Retail Crypto Trading__

On Thursday, Hong Kong announced it would accept [applications for crypto exchanges](https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Cryptocurrencies/Hong-Kong-opens-crypto-exchange-licensing-ahead-of-retail-trading) and trading platforms for retail customers, curbing restrictions in place since 2018. Since 2018, only institutional investors and other professionals have been permitted to trade crypto. The regulations could allow retail trading as soon as the second half of this year. 

Some observers have pointed to the relaxing of Hong Kong's regulations as a potential precursor to a [more crypto-friendly regulatory framework](https://decrypt.co/142032/new-crypto-rules-suggest-hong-kong-is-testing-ground-china-say-experts) in mainland China, which would open up access to crypto for the world’s second largest economy. 

__Optimism (OP) Slides Following Token Unlock__

Optimism (OP) has seen a notable price decline this week, [sliding ~12%](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/optimism-ethereum/). The Ethereum scaling protocol executed [a planned token unlock](https://cointelegraph.com/news/optimism-unlock-millions-op-token-may-price-pressure) on Wednesday, which resulted in around [386 million OP tokens being released](https://www.newsbtc.com/analysis/optimism/optimism-crashes-33-following-token-unlocks-why-there-could-be-more-pain-to-come/). 

This represents the first unlock for core contributors and investors and is a [relatively large proportion of the total supply](https://www.newsbtc.com/analysis/optimism/optimism-crashes-33-following-token-unlocks-why-there-could-be-more-pain-to-come/) at 9%, worth ~$550m USD at current prices. Some investors may have taken profit given the price appreciation of OP since its launch, driven higher earlier this year by the announcement that Coinbase [will use Optimism’s technology](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/02/24/optimism-ecosystem-coins-surge-as-coinbase-unveils-ethereum-layer-2-platform/).

OP price is [currently trading at ~$1.43 USD](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/optimism-ethereum/), down over 50% from its peak back in February when it traded ~$3.28 USD. In other Optimism-related news, the protocol is scheduled to complete its Bedrock [upgrade on June 6](https://community.optimism.io/docs/developers/bedrock/explainer/), offering reduced transaction fees, greater network security, and better compatibility with Ethereum.

__Multichain’s Issues Persist__

Last week saw cross-chain protocol Multichain (MULTI) encounter a number of issues including [backend upgrade problems](https://cointelegraph.com/news/multichain-token-plunges-30-on-backend-upgrade-delay) and unavailable cross-chain routes. 

The problems for Multichain have persisted this week with the team tweeting that they had experienced more issues and are [unable to contact their CEO Zhaojun](https://twitter.com/MultichainOrg/status/1663941611380965376). This has caused major problems as team members appear to not have the required permissions or ability to access the necessary servers for maintenance, resulting in some cross-chain services being suspended. The price of [MULTI](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/multichain/) is currently down ~50% over the last 14 days.

-From the Gemini Trading Desk



![CryptoNews (1)](//images.ctfassets.net/jg6lo9a2ukvr/7lhLoMRA8UoD248pBNCy7d/aaea9f345ffc5a5c21dc602eea9b354f/CryptoNews__1_.png)

## Public and Private Keys

Public and private keys are integral parts of Bitcoin and play an important role in the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies. In short, public and private keys allow you to send and receive cryptocurrency without requiring a third party to verify the transactions. 

These keys are a part of the [public-key cryptography (PKC) framework](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/search?query=Public-Key%20Cryptography%20(PKC)). You can use these keys to send your cryptocurrency to anyone, anywhere, at any time. The public and private keys fit together as a key pair. You may share your public keys in order to receive transactions, but your private keys must be kept secret. If anyone has access to the private keys, they will also have access to any cryptocurrency associated with those keys.

[Dive deeper into public and private keys here](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/public-private-keys-encryption-faqs). 

__What Is a Public Key?__

A [public key](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/glossary#public-key) allows you to receive cryptocurrency transactions. It’s a cryptographic code that’s paired to a [private key](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/glossary#private-key). While anyone can send transactions to the public key, you need the private key to “unlock” them and prove that you are the owner of the cryptocurrency received in the transaction. The public key that can receive transactions is usually an [address](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/glossary#public-address), which is simply a shortened form of your public key.

Therefore, you can freely share your public key without worry. You may have seen donation pages for content-creators or charities with the public keys for their crypto addresses online. While anyone can donate, you’d need the private key to unlock and access the donated funds.

__What Is a Private Key?__

Here is one crucial piece of advice: Never share your private key with anyone. A private key gives you the ability to prove ownership or spend the funds associated with your public address. A private key can take many forms, including:

- 256 character long binary code
- 64 digit hexadecimal code
- [QR code](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/glossary#quick-response-code-qr-code)
- [Mnemonic phrase](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/search?query=Recovery%20Phrase%20(Mnemonic%20Phrase))

Regardless of its form, a private key is an astronomically large number, and it’s large for a good reason. While you can generate a public key with a private key, doing the opposite is practically impossible because of the one-way “trapdoor” function. You can have any number of public keys connected to a private key.

[Learn more about public and private keys and signing blockchain transactions here](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/public-private-keys-cryptography).

__Public and Private Keys Control Your Crypto__

How [public and private keys work](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/public-private-keys-encryption-faqs) together is fundamental to understanding how cryptocurrency transactions function. When you say you have cryptocurrency, what you’re really saying is you have a private key that proves ownership of that cryptocurrency. Since it’s stored on the blockchain, anyone can verify you as the owner with your public key.

The choice of “holding your own keys” or trusting a custodian depends on your philosophy, risk-tolerance, and a host of other factors. If you hold your own private keys, consider modern [HD wallets](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/hd-crypto-wallets-hierachichal-deterministic), which can do a great job of managing your private keys, and remember to never share them. If you choose a custodial solution like an exchange, make sure you choose a trusted, reputable company that places a high emphasis on security and regulation.

See you next week. Onward and Upward!

Team Gemini

**This material is for informational purposes only and is not (i) an offer, or solicitation of an offer, to invest in, or to buy or sell, any interests or shares, or to participate in any investment or trading strategy, (ii) intended to provide accounting, legal, or tax advice, or investment recommendations, or (iii) an official statement of Gemini. Gemini, its affiliates and its employees do not make any representation or warranty, expressed or implied, as to accuracy or completeness of the information or any other information transmitted or made available. Buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrency involves risks, including the risk of losing all of the invested amount. Recipients should consult their advisors before making any investment decision. Any use, review, retransmission, distribution, or reproduction of these materials, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited in any form without the express written approval of Gemini.*

Weekly Market Update - Friday, June 2, 2023

We’re thrilled to announce that Gemini will soon begin the process of acquiring a crypto license to serve customers based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

As a forward-thinking, global financial hub, the UAE is continuing its tradition of leadership by establishing itself as a fast-emerging hub for crypto. By applying for a license, we will be taking another step towards making Gemini a truly global company and advancing our mission to unlock the next era of financial, personal, and creative freedom for all.

This week, as the second leg of Gemini’s global odyssey tour, we have met with stakeholders throughout the region to learn more about local regulatory requirements and the needs of UAE crypto investors so that we can better serve this rapidly growing and vibrant crypto community. 

### Crypto Enthusiasm in the UAE

As part of [Gemini’s 2022 Global State of Crypto Report](https://www.gemini.com/gemini-2022-state-of-crypto-global.pdf), we took a look at adoption of crypto globally across 20 countries. We found that those in the UAE were rapidly acquiring crypto and putting it to use making in-person purchases. We also found high intent to purchase crypto among those who were not yet owners: 

- More than 35% of those surveyed in the UAE had purchased crypto, compared to only 20% of those in the US.
- Nearly 32% of non-owners in the UAE said they are likely to purchase crypto in the next year.
- 33% of those in the UAE who own some crypto use it to make in-person
purchases at brick-and-mortar retailers, compared to just 19% of owners globally.
![Blog state of crypto 2023](//images.ctfassets.net/jg6lo9a2ukvr/3hqBinRN4MQPzvsg917abW/d5e2892a54ac3f59ba22a77074a95954/Blog_state_of_crypto_2023.png)
### Better Serving the UAE

These findings, coupled with our team’s enthusiastic conversations with regulatory stakeholders, startups, and other ecosystem participants this week, have further cemented our interest in investing in the UAE and becoming a part of its crypto community. 

Our application is our first step towards providing customers in the UAE and beyond with a safe, secure, and easy-to-use platform to engage with crypto. Amazing awaits.

Onward and Upward,  
Team Gemini

Gemini Announces Plans for UAE Crypto License

*Welcome to our Weekly Market Update.** *Explore weekly crypto price movements, read a quick digest of notable market news, and dive into a crypto topic — this week we discuss gas fees on Ethereum.*

<a href="#Crypto Movers This Week" target="">__Crypto Movers__</a> 
<a href="#What Happened This Week" target="">__Crypto News: What Happened This Week?__</a> 
<a href="#Crypto Topic of the Week" target="">__Topic of the Week: Gas Fees on Ethereum__</a>



![Frame 1](//images.ctfassets.net/jg6lo9a2ukvr/58jHsmWBP9yk12oiPQHy7X/d201786646b9a775f1cc56bfa5d6cb9b/Frame_1.png)

[Bitcoin (BTC) Price](https://www.gemini.com/prices/bitcoin) | ⬇️ 0.51% | $26,764
---
[Ether (ETH) Price](https://www.gemini.com/prices/ether) | ⬆️ 0.81% | $1,831
---
[Samoyedcoin (SAMO) Price](https://www.gemini.com/prices/samoyedcoin) | ⬆️ 77.10% | $0.005679
---
[Render (RNDR) Price](https://www.gemini.com/prices/render-token) | ⬆️ 19.70% | $2.842
---
[Numeraire (NMR) Price](https://www.gemini.com/prices/numeraire) | ⬆️ 14.60% | $16.51
---
---

### Crypto prices as of Friday, May 26, 2023, at noon ET. Percentages reflect trends over the past seven days. [Check out the latest crypto prices here](https://www.gemini.com/prices). All prices in USD.



![Frame 2](//images.ctfassets.net/jg6lo9a2ukvr/3fLGH51mwRO1exijuSQ0Jl/5e88bcfcc6cff39126724253397cd148/Frame_2.png)

### Takeaways 

- Ongoing U.S. debt ceiling negotiations have put investors on edge as markets brace for a potential default. Fitch put the U.S.’ AAA credit rating on negative watch and stocks moved lower.
- Bitcoin (BTC)'s and ether (ETH)'s performances have been lackluster as they trade near the bottom of their recent range, with ETH outperforming BTC as the ETHBTC ratio sits above the 0.068 level. 
- Nvidia, the world’s largest GPU manufacturer, saw its stock price surge over 25% after beating earnings and raising Q2 revenue guidance an astonishing 50% higher than Wall Street estimates, citing demand from AI customers. Other semiconductor companies and AI-focused crypto protocols rallied in sympathy. 
- Hong Kong’s securities and futures regulator said it plans to allow retail traders to invest in crypto as soon as June 1, under a set of formalized rules. Under the rules, stablecoins would not be permitted for trading until further regulations are put in place. 

### Debt Ceiling Impasse Clouds Investor Outlook Across Markets

The U.S. debt ceiling standoff continued this week, as the Treasury department once again warned that the federal government [could breach the debt ceiling](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/us-still-risk-breaching-debt-ceiling-june-1-treasury-rcna85637) as early as June 1st. Any agreement [could take days to pass through Congress](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/22/us-treasury-yields-investors-weigh-debt-ceiling-talks.html), and the lack of progress has started to weigh on investors. 

Until earlier this week, Wall Street remained optimistic about a deal being reached, but [signs of concern are showing](https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/futures-dip-debt-ceiling-talks-drag-2023-05-24/) as U.S. stock markets closed lower on Wednesday. As of Friday morning, reports said that negotiators [were closing in on a deal](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/live-blog/debt-ceiling-live-updates-rcna86159), but were “not there yet.” Ratings agency Fitch also put the United States' AAA rating [on negative watch](https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/fitch-puts-us-negative-credit-watch-2023-05-24/), further highlighting the increased risks should the debt ceiling not be raised in time.

The U.S debt ceiling concerns appear to have affected momentum [in the crypto markets too](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/24/bitcoin-and-ether-slide-as-debt-ceiling-negotiations-weigh-on-investors.html), as token prices dropped lower across the board on Wednesday, with prices rebounding slightly by Friday morning. After struggling to make a decisive break above $27k USD last week, [bitcoin (BTC)](https://www.gemini.com/prices/bitcoin) had another unsuccessful attempt at remaining above that level this week before seeing a sudden drop to around $26k USD. 

[Ether (ETH) prices](https://www.gemini.com/prices/ether) held up slightly better throughout the week, rising above the 0.068 level on the [ETHBTC pair](https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/ETHBTC/), although ETH price did drop below the $1,800 USD level which has provided good support since the start of April, before moving above that level once again on Friday.

### AI Boom Bolsters Nvidia Q2 Revenue, and Boosts AI-related Cryptos

On Wednesday, Nvidia reported second-quarter revenue forecasts that were [50% higher than Wall Street estimates](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/24/nvidia-nvda-earnings-report-q1-2024.html). The graphics processing unit (GPU) manufacturer cited the increasing [demand for its artificial intelligence chips](https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-financial-results-for-first-quarter-fiscal-2024) as a leading catalyst, with the company planning to boost its supply as a result. Nvidia (NVDA) shares [surged almost 30%](https://www.tradingview.com/chart/?symbol=NASDAQ%3ANVDA) after hours following the announcement to reach a new all-time high. [NVDA](https://www.tradingview.com/chart/?symbol=NASDAQ%3ANVDA) has gained ~170% since the start of the year and [is the top performer](https://finance.yahoo.com/video/semiconductors-nvidia-best-performing-p-143942418.html) in the S&P 500 year-to-date. 

With the AI sector in focus as a next major growth driver, a number of AI-related crypto protocols have also seen outsized returns this week. [Render (RNDR)](https://www.gemini.com/prices/render-token), a provider of decentralized GPU rendering, added another 18%+ to its token price over the past seven days. The increased demand and supply shortage in GPUs has helped to position [RNDR](https://www.gemini.com/prices/render-token) as one of the best performers of the year so far, trading up over 550%.

### Hong Kong to Allow Retail Crypto Trading

On Tuesday, Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) [announced](https://apps.sfc.hk/edistributionWeb/gateway/EN/news-and-announcements/news/doc?refNo=23PR53) finalized rules allowing retail traders [to buy and sell crypto](https://www.reuters.com/technology/hong-kong-regulator-issue-crypto-licences-with-retail-investor-guardrails-2023-05-24/) from June 1. Licensed exchanges will be permitted to sell cryptocurrencies which meet certain [capitalisation](https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/05/23/hong-kong-securities-regulator-to-accept-license-applications-for-crypto-exchanges-starting-june-1/) and liquidity requirements, which [would likely include](https://decrypt.co/142032/new-crypto-rules-suggest-hong-kong-is-testing-ground-china-say-experts) bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH). 

As part of the rules, the SFC has proposed that [stablecoins not be offered for retail trading](https://cryptoslate.com/hong-kong-will-not-allow-retail-customers-to-trade-stablecoins/) until planned future regulations for the asset class are brought in. Hong Kong appears to be taking advantage of [prohibitions on crypto activities](https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-crackdown-will-push-crypto-s-center-of-gravity-to-hong-kong-kaiko-ceo) in other jurisdictions as they push ahead with developing a crypto hub.

Some observers have speculated that the framework Hong Kong has set forth for investing in crypto will be a “[testing ground](https://decrypt.co/142032/new-crypto-rules-suggest-hong-kong-is-testing-ground-china-say-experts)” for China to lift its ban on crypto trading. This would reopen investor access for digital assets for the world’s second largest economy after the Chinese government banned trading and mining activities in 2021. 

### Multichain Experiences Upgrade Delays as MULTI Price Plummets

Users of the cross-chain protocol Multichain experienced long delays in receiving their funds this week following a [backend upgrade which took “longer than expected.”](https://cointelegraph.com/news/multichain-token-plunges-30-on-backend-upgrade-delay) However, more confusion arose on Wednesday when the team tweeted that some of its cross-chain routes were [unavailable due to “force majeure.”](https://twitter.com/multichainorg/status/1661443109019062272) [MULTI](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/multichain/), the protocol's native token, has dropped over 40% this week as a result.

-From the Gemini Trading Desk



![CryptoNews (1)](//images.ctfassets.net/jg6lo9a2ukvr/7lhLoMRA8UoD248pBNCy7d/aaea9f345ffc5a5c21dc602eea9b354f/CryptoNews__1_.png)

## Gas on the Ethereum network

To [send and receive crypto](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/send-and-receive-crypto-bitcoin-transfer) on most blockchains, you need to pay a [transaction fee](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/glossary#transaction-fee). These fees are often thought of as the “fuel” that powers blockchains. This fee can vary widely (from less than $0.0001 USD to over $100 USD) and depends on the blockchain you’re using as well as the current demand for [block space](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/glossary#block-size). On [Ethereum](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/ethereum-blockchain-smart-contracts-dapps), the transaction fee required to use the network is referred to as the [gas fee](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/glossary#gas-fees) (or gas price), and is paid in [ether (ETH)](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/ethereum-blockchain-eth-fees-ether-transaction), or gwei. 

Practically all actions on the Ethereum blockchain require gas to be executed. Most gas costs are priced in gwei, a denomination of ETH. One ETH equals 1 billion gwei (similar to how there are 100 million [satoshis](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/search?query=Satoshis) per 1 BTC). 

Gas fees on Ethereum have varied widely over the years due to network activity, with [averages](https://etherscan.io/chart/gasprice) going as high as between $50 USD and $70 USD per transaction in 2021. More recently, the excitement around the [PEPE](https://www.gemini.com/prices/pepe) memecoin [pushed gas prices](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pepe-meme-coin-hysteria-pushes-093237931.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHf--Zu0sJSIhS0CCNCBmPG5IEFfV4xRwYE42lNOH8rqaCnWAr8j57txYRoYBgZvRg9klcHnh9iGxWj_uvPEpBeNWw7tIYl1co2_LV1fc21d6XD1OAB4CQ3CPjbIntfZgdToAOhdE-WbSwLIix-6Iq1WMKmjihwBeE6snNXRUAZW) on Ethereum to a one-year high above $15 USD in early May. 

[Learn more about gas fees on Ethereum here](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/). 

__What can you pay for with gas?__ Gas is used to pay for computational resources on the Ethereum blockchain. For example, gas is required to send ETH, to mint and buy [non-fungible tokens (NFT](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/how-to-use-nfts-non-fungible-tokens-crypto)), and to use Ethereum-based [smart contracts](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/crypto-smart-contracts-explained) and [decentralized applications (dApps)](https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/dapps-ethereum-decentralized-application).The amount of gas required to execute these functions is therefore of interest to many network users. 

These gas fees vary depending on use case. Sending an ETH transaction is typically cheaper, while more complicated smart contract and dApp executions tend to be more costly. The price itself is defined by supply and demand for transactional capacity on the network at the time of execution. The way gas fees are calculated have changed over time, and we invite you to [explore the Ethereum website](https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/gas/) for more details.

__Who receives gas fees?__ Gas fees are paid to those who secure the Ethereum network and process transactions, which are now those who stake ETH on the network, following last year’s “Merge” which moved Ethereum from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. Gas fees also serve as an incentive mechanism for stakers to continue securing the network and validating transactions.

See you next week. Onward and Upward!

Team Gemini

**This material is for informational purposes only and is not (i) an offer, or solicitation of an offer, to invest in, or to buy or sell, any interests or shares, or to participate in any investment or trading strategy, (ii) intended to provide accounting, legal, or tax advice, or investment recommendations, or (iii) an official statement of Gemini. Gemini, its affiliates and its employees do not make any representation or warranty, expressed or implied, as to accuracy or completeness of the information or any other information transmitted or made available. Buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrency involves risks, including the risk of losing all of the invested amount. Recipients should consult their advisors before making any investment decision. Any use, review, retransmission, distribution, or reproduction of these materials, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited in any form without the express written approval of Gemini.*

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