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- Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos and more Week 15 2024
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos and more Week 15 2024
Keeping you updated on crypto, web3 and blockchain
TLDR: Bitcoin ETF Approvals in Hong Kong, Bitcoin Becomes Backing Asset of Ethena, The SEC Issues a Wells Notice to Uniswap, EigenLayer Goes Live on Mainnet, MetaMask Unveils Airdrop Feature, Astroport Migrates to Neutron, Terraform Labs’ Do Kwon Found Guilty by Jury.
Market & Airdrop Update
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Bitcoin Highlights of the Week
Hong Kong is on the verge of granting approval for its inaugural set of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with the decision anticipated to come as early as Monday — mere days before the Bitcoin network undergoes a reduction in its supply issuance rate. It appears that Chinese asset management firms such as Harvest Fund Management, Bosera Asset Management, and HashKey Capital are on track to receive regulatory approval imminently for ETFs linked to the two foremost cryptocurrencies.
Following Iran's attack on Israel, escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, the price of Bitcoin experienced a sharp decline of over 8.4% on April 13th. The cryptocurrency's value dropped from approximately $67,000 to $61,625, resulting in a loss of over $130 million in market capitalization within minutes of the attack. This sell-off has also had a ripple effect on other cryptocurrencies, with the global crypto market capitalization decreasing by 8.19% to $2.23 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap data. Iran's launch of drones towards Israel serves as retaliation for an Israeli attack on a diplomatic compound in Damascus, Syria, which resulted in the deaths of seven Iranians, including two generals.
Ethena has integrated BTC as a collateral asset for USDe. This pivotal development will pave the way for substantial scalability for USDe, expanding its current $2 billion supply. In addition to this integration, staking for $ENA has also been launched this week.
Celestia, the first modular blockchain network that makes it easy for anyone to securely launch their own blockchain, has teased an upcoming Bitcoin implementation. This move signifies Bitcoin Layer 2s will be scalable due to Celestia’s modular offerings.
If Paraguay's legislators approve the newly proposed bill to prohibit cryptocurrency mining within the country, the nation's economy could face a potential annual loss exceeding $200 million. Introduced on April 4th, lawmakers argue that illegal crypto mining operations are responsible for power theft and disruptions in the country's electricity distribution. Should the bill pass, the ban would remain effective for 180 days or until new regulations are established and the national power grid operator can guarantee an adequate energy supply.
Ethereum Highlights of the Week
In a move that was both disappointing and anticipated, the SEC intensified its crackdown on cryptocurrency this week by issuing a Wells Notice to Uniswap, alleging that it operates as an unregistered securities broker and exchange. Uniswap swiftly reassured its users that its services remain unaffected and emphasized that tokens are merely digital assets, pledging to challenge the SEC's assertions. This development follows the SEC's legal action against Coinbase, where a judge ruled that Coinbase's Wallet did not qualify as a broker.
EigenLayer officially launched on mainnet on Tuesday this past week, marking the commencement of AVSs (applications built on EigenLayer utilizing its security) being able to operate. The launch also introduced EigenDA, EigenLabs's AVS data availability service, presenting an alternative to Celestia. However, despite its success and substantial Total Value Locked (TVL), concerns persist regarding systemic risks associated with restaking.
MetaMask has collaborated with Daylight to empower users to verify their eligibility for airdrops and potential NFT claims directly within their wallet. This new feature is accessible across various major chains, including Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, Zora, and Polygon, ensuring broad accessibility. Utilizing the Daylight API, personalized NFT recommendations are provided based on social factors such as allowlist status, token holdings, and connections on Farcaster. Users receive suggestions for potential airdrops and NFTs on the MetaMask Explore page.
Etherfi remains at the forefront of the liquid restaking market, overseeing more than 1.07 million ETH, equivalent to approximately $3.8 billion in user deposits. Etherfi facilitates access to restaking rewards through EigenLayer, underscoring its significance in the expanding niche. Liquid restaking has witnessed substantial expansion this year, primarily fueled by heightened deposits on EigenLayer. These deposits aim to fortify third-party protocols using ETH, consequently enhancing the total value locked in Liquid Restaking Tokens (LRTs), a significant portion of which is held by Etherfi.
The decentralized computing platform Chainlink has introduced a bridging application designed to facilitate the transfer of cryptocurrency tokens and messages across different blockchains. This app, named "Transporter," operates on Chainlink's cross-chain interoperability protocol and has been developed in partnership with the Chainlink Foundation and Chainlink Labs. The primary goal of the Transporter app is to offer users a user-friendly interface for initiating and tracking cross-chain transactions on the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP).
Cosmos Highlights of the Week
Astroport has accomplished the seamless transition of its governance and staking hub from Terra to Neutron. This milestone marks the inaugural transfer of a protocol's governance hub from one blockchain to another within the Cosmos network, signaling the dawn of a new era characterized by enhanced interchain functionality and collaboration. As part of this migration, $ASTRO holders are required to transfer their legacy $ASTRO tokens to the new $ASTRO token.
Octopus Network is a multi-chain network centered on NEAR Protocol. It aims to facilitate the creation and operation of appchains by offering developers adaptable leased security (LPoS), seamless interoperability, comprehensive infrastructure, and an engaged community, streamlining the innovation process without the time-consuming and labor-intensive tasks associated with initiating PoS security from scratch.
The incorporation of Frax into Sei V2 represents a notable progression, as it introduces decentralized stablecoin and ETH liquidity into the Sei V2 ecosystem. This development heralds the inception of a pioneering DeFi era on Sei.
Saga went live on Cosmos this week, seeking to initiate the next 1000 chains by enabling developers to create parallelized and interoperable dedicated chains known as Chainlets. Utilizing the Interchain Stack, Saga unleashes applications with limitless horizontal scalability in Cosmos.
The inaugural omnichain domain name service in crypto enables users to conduct transactions across both Solana and Injective using a single domain, fostering greater cohesion between the two ecosystems. This initiative streamlines transactions for users, requiring only one domain to transact seamlessly across Injective and Solana.
Other Highlights of the Week
In the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a jury has found Terraform Labs and its co-founder, Do Kwon, responsible for deceiving investors in cryptocurrency securities.
Key points of the trial:
The jury held Terraform Labs and Do Kwon accountable for civil fraud allegations filed by the SEC.
The SEC accused the defendants of providing misleading information to investors regarding the stability of the algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD (UST) and the potential applications of the Terra blockchain.
The sudden collapse of UST in May 2022 resulted in the loss of billions of dollars in market value virtually overnight.
Terraform Labs and Kwon faced charges from the SEC in February 2023. These charges assert that they amassed billions from investors through the offering and sale of a network of interconnected cryptocurrency securities, many of which were conducted without proper registration.
This week, Toncoin overtook Cardano to secure a position among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. In the last month, TON's price surged by approximately 110% following the launch of numerous growth and utility initiatives by The Open Network (TON), notably in collaboration with its original creator, Telegram. Notably, Telegram now permits ad purchases and ad revenue transactions to be conducted in Toncoin.
The co-founder of Polygon has raised doubts regarding the necessity of Verkle trees on Ethereum, suggesting that Polygon's zkEVM addresses the primary pain points associated with Verkle Trees. However, Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin disagrees, emphasizing the importance of ZK compatibility.
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