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Bitcoin has surged past $65,000, driven by positive U.S. jobs data and expectations of new economic stimulus from China. While these developments have sparked optimism in the market, analysts caution that if Bitcoin fails to hold above this level, it could face significant downward pressure despite the broader stock market rally.
AminoChain, a Layer 2 blockchain protocol focused on connecting enterprise medical institutions, has announced a $5M seed round led by a16z crypto. Its first application is a bio-sample marketplace that enables researchers to license samples from biobanks, with patients benefiting from insights and compensation.
Avalanche has launched Retro9000, a $40M retroactive grant program aimed at rewarding developers who contribute to the Avalanche testnet and successfully launch Layer 1 blockchains on its mainnet. Funded by the Avalanche Foundation and driven by community votes, the program incentivizes innovation and tool development within the Avalanche ecosystem.
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Tesla's CEO is the world's richest man for a reason. He knows a winning design when he sees it - and he's not the only one. 40K+ investors have already invested $150m+ in Boxabl [9] - the company mass producing housing on a scale/cost never before possible.
Hyperliquid, a perpetual trading protocol with an L1, has become a disruptor in the trading space, with over $300 billion in cumulative volumes and over $1 billion in daily volumes. Its HyperBFT consensus mechanism can handle a substantial amount of orders per second, and its fully onchain order book positions it as an “onchain Binance,” bridging CEX efficiency with DEX transparency. With a comparative valuation of around $5 billion and plans for further development like an EVM-compatible layer, Hyperliquid is poised to capture significant market share in the DeFi derivatives market.
Blob space on Ethereum incurs a minimum fee of $0.10 to $3 per blob, with EIP-7762 introducing a hard minimum of 1 cent per blob. This change is expected to increase the average blob cost by nearly 1% and solve the cold start problem where they have been slow to reach the targeted level of demand.
This thread analyzes the approval of IBIT options in the context of existing crypto options markets. Deribit trades $40 billion notional monthly in BTC options compared to CME's $3B. Though a short squeeze is unlikely, increased derivatives volumes, volatility dampening due to structured products, and an altcoin boom could occur if crypto lending returns. The author predicts compression of basis spreads in Bitcoin futures vs spot and highlights the complex interplay between traditional finance and crypto-native markets.
The EIGEN and liquid restaking tokens airdrop narratives have primarily ended. Other restaking protocols like Symbiotic and Karak might offer moderate-sized rewards. A good play might be to use a restaking protocol for Babylon using Bitcoin, like Bedrock or Mezo. There might be some potential in gaming projects, especially those with NFTs that have been out for a few years but are already written off as dead. Hyperliquid is expected to be great, while Scroll will likely be disappointing.
New data suggests that Bitcoin prices are more correlated with Nasdaq than gold prices.
Unlonely, a live-streaming consumer crypto app, is moving from Base to Solana.
The Prysm Ethereum development team has proposed splitting the Pectra fork into PectrA and PectrB.
An influencer shares his rates openly — $1.5k per educational post and $3k for bundled content — to encourage transparency in the creator economy and help others understand market rates.
PayPal has extended cryptocurrency capabilities to U.S. business accounts, allowing merchants to buy, hold, and sell crypto directly through their PayPal accounts, with external transfers to third-party wallets also supported. This move builds on PayPal's ongoing efforts to expand digital currency utility, including the launch of its PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin.
Visa is launching a platform to help banks test tokenized assets and smart contracts, advancing the integration of real-world assets on blockchains. This move supports the growing trend of tokenization in finance, offering banks the tools to issue fiat-backed tokens in a regulated manner.
Privy has improved its authentication systems to allow users to merge multiple accounts (e.g., MetaMask and Google) into a single account, addressing a common integration challenge faced by developers. This feature improves UX by simplifying account management and maintaining data integrity.
Onchain Kit's upgraded swap feature now supports low liquidity tokens on Base and includes new features like configurable max slippage, USD values for tokens, one-click swaps with atomic batching, and gasless swaps. The update also introduces the ability for apps to charge a fee on user token swaps, providing developers with new revenue models.
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Over 10+ years, Elf Labs [9] has achieved historic trademark victories for both classic and reimagined versions of the most famous characters in history — Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, the Little Mermaid, and more. Now, they're raising an investment round to breathe new life into these characters with their patented, next-gen
Sui has emerged as a rapidly growing L1 blockchain, distinguished by its unique consensus design that separates the mempool from consensus to enable high scalability and low latency. Its implementation of the Move programming language promotes more complex asset ownership structures and creative applications in gaming and other verticals. With a TVL of $800 million, features like zkLogin, and Sui Play gaming hardware, the chain is positioning itself as a disruptive force.
This post outlines 14 habits for success in crypto trading, emphasizing disciplined approaches to price checking, strategy development, and emotional control. Key recommendations include avoiding impulsive decisions, developing clear trading indicators, and embracing market discomfort. It also highlights the myth of diversification in crypto and notes that the entire market is still highly speculative.
New evidence suggests the Biden administration pressured regulators to target crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank, contributing to its downfall as part of a broader effort to "debank" the crypto industry. Allegations include political interference, such as capping crypto deposits, which accelerated the bank's collapse and fueled the 2023 regional banking crisis.
The crypto industry is witnessing a potential DeFi renaissance, echoing the 2020 “DeFi Summer” but with more mature protocols and institutional involvement. Improvements include greater scalability, new use cases like interest derivatives markets and real-world assets, and a growth in total value locked to $118 billion in June 2024. Increased institutional adoption, exemplified by BlackRock's tokenized fund and PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin, along with an expected Federal Reserve easing cycle, suggest a favorable environment for DeFi growth.
Fantasy Top has seen more sustainable traction with 77 ETH (~$200k) in inflows from September 1 to 23, averaging about 23 ETH ($60k) in weekly inflows as it expands into new games like Thematic Tactics.
Passkey-based wallets significantly simplify wallet creation and management through familiar authentication methods like biometrics and email logins.
New evidence suggests the Biden administration pressured regulators to target crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank, contributing to its downfall as part of a broader effort to "debank" the crypto industry.
Hamster Kombat has outlined a roadmap that includes potential token buybacks, the launch of a mobile "progressive web app" (PWA), and the integration of NFTs as in-game assets.
Turkey has decided not to introduce additional taxes on stocks and crypto trading profits, according to VP Cevdet Yilmaz. The decision comes after Turkey considered the economic impact and feedback from various stakeholders, shifting the focus to changing tax exemptions instead.
Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, has been sentenced to two years in a minimum-security prison for her involvement in the collapse of FTX.
Circle has announced a new product suite called the Circle Compliance Engine, which offers tools like Transaction Screening, Monitoring, and a Travel Rule service to help companies build financial applications onchain while maintaining more strict compliance standards. The service also leverages Circle Programmable Wallets, with the goal of streamlining compliance for developers working across multiple blockchain networks.
Warpcast is experimenting with mini-apps, allowing users to launch them directly from frames and deep links. The first prototypes, including Paragraph and Flappycaster, are now available to try, with more to come soon.
Aptos, a high-performance blockchain platform utilizing the Move programming language, saw significant growth in 2024 driven by technological advancements and partnerships. Key highlights include Tether's USDT integration, Chainlink's data services, and NBCUniversal collaborations, alongside a surge in DeFi and gaming activity, most notably with the popular Tapos Cat game, resulting in record-breaking transaction volumes and increased daily active users.
"Based Rollups" are a new type of rollup that leverages Ethereum's existing block-building infrastructure, allowing Ethereum to serve as the sequencer instead of relying on independent L2 sequencers. This integration lets Ethereum capture not only its own transaction fees but also a portion of L2 tips, ensuring continuous operation and composability with Ethereum's state but at the cost of reduced profitability for the L2 team and slower block times due to Ethereum's pace.
This article discusses the evolution of prediction markets from simple binary options to more complex, open-ended "analog" markets that allow for nuanced predictions. It highlights how emerging tech like Layer 2 solutions, zkTLS, AI, and semantic prediction markets are enabling more expressive and community-driven prediction markets, moving beyond traditional yes/no questions to deeper, more engaging market structures. While the concept shows promise, challenges remain around insider gaming and user-friendly interfaces.
TrustToken and TrueCoin (one team) settled with the SEC over accusations of misrepresenting how their stablecoin (TrueUSD - TUSD) is backed and selling related securities without registration.
Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign has taken a cautious approach to crypto policy, engaging in high-level discussions with industry leaders but avoiding public policy commitments.
The Kingdom of Bhutan holds almost a third of its GDP in Bitcoin.
South Asia has emerged as a major player in the global crypto market, with countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore showing high adoption rates despite uncertain regulatory landscapes.
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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.