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In what some are calling ‘the biggest disruption to IP since Disney', Elf Labs [4] has has acquired rights and won trademarks to the highest grossing characters in history - Cinderella, Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Rapunzel, Peter Pan, and more. They're bringing them to life with patented AR/VR & AI [4] tech for next-level Web3 immersion.
The number of Bitcoin wallets containing large amounts (1,000+ BTC) has grown by 3.5%, and very small amounts (0.0001 BTC or less) by ~75% over the last year. Meanwhile, wallets with medium amounts of BTC (1-10 BTC) have decreased, indicating a redistribution of holdings across both extremes of the wealth spectrum.
A hacker reportedly drained $230K from the DeFi protocol Bankroll Network by exploiting a vulnerability, potentially using flash loans for initial deposits. This incident involved large transfers between contracts and accounts. Investigations are continuing. The incident highlights the need for diligent protocol security checks by users.
DBS Bank has launched crypto-structured products, including structured notes and options with underlying Bitcoin and Ethereum reserves, after an initial announcement on September 17. They started trading yesterday.
The Arbitrum DAO recently approved a new sequencing policy called Timeboost, which replaces the first-come-first-serve approach with an auction. Every minute, a winner gets a 200ms advantage for including transactions in blocks, allowing them to capture MEV. Potential risks exist, like incentivizing transaction spamming and MEV going to searchers instead of apps, yet the proposal passed with a heavy majority.
Many projects, including WalletConnect, EtherFi, EigenLayer, and LayerZero, have announced additional or primary token distributions. Infrastructure improvements like Polkadot's Agile Coretime and Flare's Time Series Oracle v2 allow for more sophisticated applications and increased scalability. The Re Member Fund has introduced reinsurance products to the Avalanche blockchain.
Recent airdrops have been disappointing and overfarmed. This post compiles some remaining promising projects for the last quarter of 2024. New campaigns are shifting towards more diverse and engagement-focused distribution strategies, with projects like Morpho, Sunrise, and Mantle showing promise. The estimated fair value at launch for these projects ranges from $150M to $1B, indicating less market interest than earlier in the year and a varied scale of protocols entering the market.
Ronin, once hit by a devastating $600 million hack, managed to turn its crisis into a comeback by swiftly improving security, raising $150M for recovery, and expanding beyond its original game, Axie Infinity. It is now a leading Layer-2 platform in Web3 gaming, demonstrating the value of resilience and innovation in the crypto space.
Silvergate Bank's closure was driven primarily by intense regulatory pressure rather than a failure to handle bank runs post-FTX. The federal bank regulatory agencies shifted their stance to become more intolerant of banks heavily involved with digital asset customers. This pressure undermined Silvergate's business model, which prioritized digital assets, leading to its eventual bankruptcy despite the bank's ability to manage a bank run and meet its financial obligations.
TikTok-style SocialFi app Drakula is making three bets for its next onchain app. First, it is all-in on Base, since it has low fees, massive distribution, and good developer tooling via OnchainKit and the Smart Wallet. Second, it is making crypto invisible by using Passkeys and email sign-in. Finally, it wants to make the UX as good as TikTok and compete with existing web2 players.
The Autonomous Worlds concept of creating immersive onchain worlds was dead before it had a chance to prosper. Lattice's Redstone gaming L2's initial apps have already shut down or died off. There are only a few companies building in Lattice's ecosystem, but the narrative may live on in other ways.
Polymarket has discussed the possibility of launching a token that could be used to run its betting market.
There was a period of roughly 500+ blocks with 0 user transactions.
If requested by government authorities, Telegram will now have to share user IP addresses, phone numbers, and personal info.
Celestia has raised $100 million in a round led by Bain Capital Crypto, with participation from other leading firms.