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- Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos and more Week 18 2024
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos and more Week 18 2024
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TL;DR
MicroStrategy Unveils the Orange Decentralized Identity Protocol
Block Launches DCA Program to Procure Bitcoin
Snowden Launches Dig at Bitcoin Devs
EigenLayer Launches $EIGEN
Optimism Secures $90M for Further Development of L2s
Tether $4.5B Q1 2024 Home Run
Osmosis Enters Bitcoin L2 Race
Akash Upgrades to Mainnet 11
Pantera Ventures into TON with Optimistic Outlook on Telegram's Future
And much more!
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Bitcoin Highlights of the Week
MicroStrategy (MSTR), recognized as the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, has unveiled its intention to create a decentralized identity service utilizing Ordinals inscriptions. Earlier this year, the software consulting firm repositioned itself as a "bitcoin development company," pledging to contribute to the advancement of the Bitcoin network through various avenues, including financial markets, advocacy, and innovation.
The introduction of "MicroStrategy Orange" signals the company's commitment to realizing this objective. Founder Michael Saylor disclosed during the company's Bitcoin For Corporations conference on Wednesday that the primary aim of MicroStrategy Orange is to establish decentralized identities on the Bitcoin blockchain, ensuring trustlessness, tamper resistance, and durability.
The payments company Block (SQ) has initiated a dollar-cost averaging (DCA) strategy to increase its existing substantial bitcoin (BTC) holdings. Under the leadership of CEO Jack Dorsey, the company started allocating 10% of its monthly bitcoin-related gross profit towards purchasing additional bitcoin starting in April, with intentions to continue this practice throughout 2024.
Block reported $80 million in bitcoin gross profit for the first quarter, as per its earnings data. If this profit level persists for the rest of the year, the company would accumulate an additional $24 million worth of bitcoin under this initiative.
Block already possesses significant bitcoin reserves, having acquired 4,709 bitcoins in October 2020 and an additional 3,318 tokens in early 2021. With the current price hovering around $59,000 per bitcoin, this stash is now valued at approximately $4.7 billion. In addition, Block announced their Q1 2024 results:
Revenue: $5.96B (up 19% year-over-year)
Net Income: $2.09B (up 22% year-over-year)
Earnings-per-share: $0.85 per share
VanEck's recent report reveals that approximately $175 billion worth of bitcoin is currently held by various entities, including ETFs, nations, and public and private companies. The report highlights a growing interest in bitcoin among institutional investors, with hedge funds, asset management firms, and endowments increasingly recognizing its potential as a store of value.
This amount represents around 15% of the total bitcoin supply, as estimated by CoinGecko. Despite fluctuations, with bitcoin's market capitalization standing at approximately $1.2 trillion, its price has seen a decline in the past week, dropping from over $64,000 to $57,000.
During April, Bitcoin miners earned their second-highest monthly revenue in the past year, coming close to the record earnings seen in March. Despite a slight dip from the previous month, miners collectively amassed $1.79 billion. This figure, although lower by $220 million compared to March, surpassed the revenues of December 2023, which amounted to $1.56 billion.
According to data from The Block crypto metrics, miners earned $1.79 billion from block rewards in April, with on-chain fees contributing $281.47 million to this total. March remains the month with the highest earnings over the same period, with miners raking in $2.01 billion, although on-chain fees were significantly lower at $85.81 million.
Edward Snowden, the former United States National Security Agency contractor, known for leaking classified information and accused of espionage, made waves on the X social media platform this week.
Snowden, recognized as a whistleblower and residing in Russia until 2022 when he was granted citizenship, has become a prominent figure in the media. He enjoys celebrity status, particularly within technology circles, and is renowned for championing freedom and privacy issues.
In a recent post, Snowden cautioned Bitcoin developers about the urgency of integrating privacy features at the protocol level, emphasizing that time is running out. This warning coincided with the announcement of zkSNACKs, the developer of Wasabi Wallet, shutting down. While the exact nature of Snowden's warning remains unclear, he has long been associated with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and is a vocal advocate for their adoption and development.
Ethereum Highlights of the Week
EigenLayer made headlines on Monday with the launch of its token $EIGEN, sparking mixed reactions among many. Here's a breakdown of what you need to know about $EIGEN and EigenLayer's airdrops:
5% of the token supply is earmarked for the initial airdrop.
Future airdrops will receive 10% of the $EIGEN supply.
The snapshot for the first airdrop was taken on March 15th.
The eligibility for airdrops among users of complex DeFi protocols like Pendle is pending verification.
Claiming for the first airdrop starts on May 10th.
Initially, the token won't be transferable.
$EIGEN will primarily serve to secure the EigenDA network.
The team has clarified that the initially airdropped $EIGEN won't be transferable to encourage community participation in protocol governance.
It appears that the token will remain non-transferable for at least a few months. While EigenLayer presents an intriguing concept, some express disappointment in the execution of its airdrop, particularly regarding the small percentage of $EIGEN allocated and the initial non-transferability, which didn't meet the expectations of many in the community.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, spearheaded a $47 million strategic funding round for Securitize, a web3 firm specializing in the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs). Securitize has collaborated with major entities like investment firms KKR and Hamilton Lane, offering tokenized exposure to various assets.
In March of this year, BlackRock unveiled its tokenized investment fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), in partnership with Securitize. Operating on Ethereum, the fund invests in cash, U.S. Treasury bills, and repurchase agreements, with the aim of providing investors with daily dividends through yields obtained by holding the on-chain token, as per the company's statement.
According to sources familiar with the matter, venture capital titan a16z has invested approximately $90 million in Optimism's native OP token. This significant investment highlights the increasing institutional enthusiasm for Ethereum Layer 2 solutions in response to the cryptocurrency ecosystem's dynamic evolution.
Under a two-year vesting period, a16z's investment signifies a strategic initiative to leverage the growing adoption of Optimism's OP Stack within the blockchain community. Optimism's technology empowers developers to launch Layer 2 blockchains on Ethereum, delivering scalability and efficiency advantages essential for decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts.
Tether, the USDT stablecoin company, announced its Q1 2024 results this week, and the numbers are mind boggling. The Q1 2024 result highlights:
Profit: $4.5B
Coins Issued: $12.5B of minted USDT stablecoins
Net Equity: (i.e. assets over liabilities) rose 61% to $11.37B
U.S. Treasury Bills: Tether owns $90B worth of U.S. Treasury bills
Reverses: Tether added $1B to its reserves
These figures matches some of the the worlds most renowned banks and institutions, such as Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America to name a few. What is even more impressive, is that if we break the result down per employee at Tether, than Tether knocks the ball straight of the park, with a staggering $45 million in profits per employee, which is unmatched in any other industry of any other company.
Ether.fi has unveiled its second Liquid Vault, titled 'Liquid Market-Neutral USD.' This latest vault permits users to deposit USDC, USDT, DAI, and USDe, channeling these funds into reputable DeFi protocols. By doing so, users can capitalize on market-neutral earning prospects. This initiative marks a notable advancement in Ether.fi's portfolio of services and products.
Cosmos Highlights of the Week
Osmosis is gearing up to introduce "alloyed bitcoin," the latest addition to its suite of in-house products aimed at simplifying trading tickers and bolstering liquidity. This new asset serves as a tradable derivative representation of a bitcoin liquidity pool.
According to Sunny Aggarwal, co-founder of Osmosis Labs, alloyed bitcoin is an innovative offering composed of "essentially a mix of various BTC variants from across the ecosystem." In essence, it consolidates liquidity from sources such as nBTC from Nomic, wBTC from Ethereum, and Osmosis' native wBTC.
This approach draws inspiration from centralized exchanges like Coinbase, which categorize all ether (ETH) on their platform simply as ether, regardless of its origin or cross-chain bridging. For Osmosis, alloyed bitcoin represents the latest addition to its lineup of similar products, including alloyed ether.
Injective revealed its partnership with Jambo, the leading web3 mobile infrastructure provider, to introduce blockchain-driven financial solutions in emerging markets via the JamboPhone.
This collaboration is driven by a mutual goal of expanding the reach of blockchain technology globally, offering web3 experiences to emerging economies across Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Beginning immediately, various Injective native dApps like Ninji Wallet will be accessible on Jambo phones, simplifying access to the Injective ecosystem for millions of new users.
Sei Network has announced that Sei V2 has successfully cleared the security audit conducted by Zellic, a renowned security research firm. A comprehensive audit report is yet to be released, but this is a testament to the security efforts the dev behind Sei has put into effect.
This week, Akash Validators passed the vote for the much anticipated Mainnet 11 update for the Akash Network. Among a number of updates, most notably Mainnet 11 incorporates the following changes:
Enhancements to AuthZ aimed at better management and monitoring of authorized $AKT.
Streamlining of the grant procedure for deployments.
Mande Network, a pioneering entity in the blockchain realm, is poised to unveil the Proof of Credibility (PoC) protocol, inspired by the Ubuntu philosophy. Utilizing cutting-edge blockchain technologies like ZK-Credentials, this innovative framework aims to bolster privacy, security, and trust in decentralized applications (DApps).
Positioned as a pioneering credibility-driven protocol within the Dymension ecosystem, Mande Network assigns a dynamic credibility score to each DApp participant, fostering a trustworthy environment for digital engagements.
Other Highlights of the Week
Pantera Capital has made an undisclosed investment in The Open Network (TON), marking its latest commitment to the platform and driven by its association with the Telegram messaging service. According to Pantera, Telegram's recent decision to integrate TON positions in the network for potential growth into one of the largest crypto ecosystems. With Telegram boasting 900 million monthly users and 36.7 million monthly downloads, it is seen as a catalyst for expanding crypto adoption globally, aligning well with the ethos of Web3.
In a comprehensive assessment of TON's advantages, Pantera highlighted the blockchain's architecture, which offers performance and scalability comparable to leading platforms, along with a user-friendly wallet interface that enhances utility.
LayerZero, a cross-chain interoperability protocol, recently conducted its first airdrop snapshot on May 1st. Initially announced in December 2023, the protocol had outlined plans to release its token sometime within the first half of 2024.
Referred to as "snapshot #1" by LayerZero developers, this event suggests that multiple airdrops are on the horizon. LayerZero facilitates blockchain connectivity by eliminating the necessity for third-party intermediaries. Notably, platforms like Stargate and Radiant Capital, which utilize LayerZero technology, observed modest upticks in their native token values following the confirmation of the snapshot.
On May 1, Aave put forward a governance proposal to gather input from the community regarding upcoming enhancements. This proposal outlines a five-year plan to advance the protocol, with the focus on the latest version, V4. V4 introduces a new architecture aimed at efficiency and modularity, aiming to minimize disruptions for third-party integrators while improving protocol capabilities.
The proposal includes the expansion of the Aave Network as a cross-chain liquidity layer, building upon the concept introduced in Aave V3. This expansion aims to enable liquidity provisioning for enhancing borrowing features without the need for liquidity migration or changes to the liquidation module. Additionally, it will manage supply/draw caps, interest rates, assets, and incentives.
Aave also intends to extend support to non-EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) Layer 1 deployments, increasing accessibility for users across different blockchain platforms.
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