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- Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos and more Week 46 2024
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos and more Week 46 2024
Keeping you updated on crypto, web3 and blockchain
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TL;DR
Bitcoin Overtakes Silver
Pennsylvania Bill for Bitcoin Reserve
Franklin Templeton Launches Benji on Ethereum
Bitwise Acquires Attestant for Ethereum Staking
Coinbase Launches COIN50 Crypto Index
MoonPay Simplifies Onboarding to Injective
Trump Appoints Elon Musk to Launch DOGE Agency
FBI Raids Polymarket CEO’s NYC Apartment
and much more!
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Bitcoin Highlights of the Week
Bitcoin's market capitalization has surpassed silver's, reaching $1.75 trillion and securing the eighth spot among global assets. The surge follows strong institutional demand and rising interest in Bitcoin ETFs, with the cryptocurrency hitting $89,560 before retracing. This marks the second time Bitcoin has overtaken silver this year.
While silver’s market cap has declined 6.24%, Bitcoin has risen 30% over the same period. The broader Bitcoin market has benefited from increased trading volume in related assets like Coinbase and MicroStrategy. Despite gold’s $14.7 trillion market cap, Bitcoin’s scarcity narrative fuels optimism about its future growth.
As Bitcoin approaches $90,000, both El Salvador and Bhutan have seen substantial increases in their Bitcoin holdings. El Salvador's holdings rose by over $100 million in one week, bringing their total to $523 million by Nov. 12. The country now holds about 5,900 BTC.
Bhutan, which began mining Bitcoin in 2019, saw its Bitcoin holdings surpass $1 billion, with 12,568 BTC valued at $1.03 billion. In addition to Bitcoin, Bhutan also holds Ether and other cryptocurrencies. Both countries are benefiting significantly from the ongoing market rally, which has pushed Bitcoin's market cap closer to $2 trillion.
Genius Group, a Singapore-based AI education technology firm, has committed 90% of its reserves to Bitcoin, implementing a "Bitcoin-first" strategy. The decision, inspired by MicroStrategy's approach, positions Bitcoin as a key asset to support the company’s growth in tech and education.
Following Bitcoin's surge to new highs, Genius Group’s stock spiked up to 150%, reflecting investor optimism. The company plans to acquire up to $120 million in Bitcoin and integrate Bitcoin payments on its educational platform. This strategy, aligned with its vision for exponential technologies, aims to build financial stability and enhance educational offerings on blockchain.
Australian crypto fund manager DigitalX has posted a remarkable 99% annual gain in its Bitcoin fund, surpassing its competitors. This follows significant cost-cutting measures, which saw the company reduce annualized expenses by $950,000 through restructuring. Despite a slight decline in its Digital Asset Fund's quarterly performance, DigitalX continues to demonstrate strong returns, including a 526% gain over five years.
The firm is preparing for the "mainstream moment" of crypto, driven by global political shifts and potential U.S. regulatory clarity, which could open new opportunities. Additionally, DigitalX’s spot Bitcoin ETF, launched on the ASX, provides Australian investors direct access to Bitcoin.
Pennsylvania lawmakers have introduced a bill allowing the state's Treasury to invest up to 10% of its funds in Bitcoin, aiming to protect against inflation and economic volatility. The proposed legislation, introduced by Representative Mike Cabell, would apply to the General Fund, Rainy Day Fund, and State Investment Fund, totaling over $16 billion.
Cabell cited major firms like BlackRock and Fidelity using Bitcoin for portfolio stability. This bill follows a broader push to incorporate Bitcoin into state-level reserves, reflecting the growing recognition of cryptocurrency as a potential safeguard during uncertain economic times.
Ethereum Highlights of the Week
Franklin Templeton has launched its Benji tokenization platform on Ethereum, marking its fifth blockchain integration this year. Previously available only on Stellar and Polygon, Benji's expansion reflects Franklin's commitment to offering innovative blockchain solutions.
The platform aims to leverage Ethereum’s Virtual Machine and smart contracts to enhance tokenized funds. Franklin's on-chain market fund, worth $409 million, is among the largest, with tokenized treasuries seeing a nearly 2% rise in the past week, pushing their total market cap to $2.37 billion.
Bitwise has acquired Attestant, an Ethereum staking provider, bringing $3.7 billion in staked assets under its management. Attestant will be rebranded as Bitwise OS. This acquisition highlights Bitwise’s growing interest in crypto staking, reflecting its broader strategy to diversify beyond token holdings.
Known for its extensive crypto product range, Bitwise’s move into staking signals a shift toward more integrated crypto services, especially with institutional and family office clients. The acquisition positions Bitwise to capitalize on the increasing demand for Ethereum staking in anticipation of future market growth.
Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum, unveiled a new platform, Network State, aimed at empowering individuals to declare their personal sovereignty. The project, launched by Consensys, addresses the challenges crypto companies face amid regulatory uncertainty, particularly from the SEC.
Lubin criticized the industry’s stifling environment, describing it as "gaslighting" and hindering progress. The platform, sovs.xyz, operates on Consensys' Linea rollup, allowing users to assert various forms of sovereignty. The initiative seeks to foster decentralized, sustainable communities, marking a significant step toward integrating personal sovereignty into the evolving Web3 and AI-driven global economy.
Consensys’ Infura has launched its Decentralized Infrastructure Network (DIN) as an Actively Validated Service (AVS) on EigenLayer, enhancing Web3 infrastructure services. This partnership utilizes EigenLayer’s Ethereum restaking platform to reduce development costs, improve service accessibility, and increase reliability.
DIN serves as a decentralized marketplace for Web3 infrastructure, connecting developers to multiple blockchains like Ethereum, ZKsync, and BNB Smart Chain. The AVS launch aims to scale the marketplace while maintaining low costs and boosting the ecosystem’s reliability.
Coinbase Wallet is set to launch a "tap-to-pay" crypto solution, positioning itself against payment giants like PayPal and Venmo. The feature, currently in internal alpha, aims to offer a faster, more global payment experience for merchants. Coinbase Wallet plans to be available in 50 countries by 2025.
Additionally, Base, Ethereum's Layer-2 network, is addressing interoperability issues and expects to launch a cross-chain solution within six months. This will enable seamless token transfers across Layer-2 networks, enhancing user experiences and expanding use cases in the growing Layer-2 ecosystem.
Cosmos Highlights of the Week
Coinbase introduced the COIN50 Crypto Index, offering a streamlined way to access the largest 50 eligible digital assets in one product. Assets like $FET, $INJ, and $ATOM are included, with all tokens meeting strict legal, compliance, and security standards.
Developed with MarketVector, the index represents a benchmark of the cryptoeconomy, leveraging Coinbase’s three-year asset management expertise. Eligible institutional and Coinbase Advanced users can trade the COIN50 perpetual future (COIN50-PERP) through Coinbase International Exchange, available outside the US, UK, and Canada.
Neutron unveiled Equinox, a governance aggregator developed by Eclipse Fi, designed to boost liquidity for tokens and increase yields for $ASTRO stakers. By enhancing Astroport's vxASTRO system with aggregated voting power, Equinox improves efficiency for liquidity projects.
Following a successful Lockdrop event, 27M $ASTRO was deposited to bootstrap liquidity. $ASTRO holders can now earn rewards via two vaults: a single-sided vault for ASTRO tokens, offering multiple reward types, and an LP vault for eclipASTRO/xASTRO LP tokens, providing trading fees and token incentives.
ZetaChain has partnered with Google Cloud to secure and expand its Universal Blockchain, enabling seamless interoperability across multiple blockchains. Google Cloud will act as a validator on ZetaChain’s mainnet and testnet, supported by the delegation of 1,000,000 ZETA tokens.
Developers building Universal Apps can benefit from Google Cloud's Web3 Startups Program and ZetaChain’s integrated testnet faucet for efficient development. With 4 million wallets and 150 million transactions across 290 dApps, this collaboration enhances staking, governance, and innovation, reinforcing ZetaChain’s mission to drive blockchain accessibility and Web3 adoption.
Persistence has integrated Binance Bitcoin (BTCB) into its intent-based cross-chain BTC swapping solution. BTCB, a BEP20-wrapped Bitcoin token on the BNB Chain, enables users to earn yields without selling BTC. The integration addresses siloed liquidity issues among BTC variants, streamlining swaps across chains to bolster BTCfi adoption.
With over $5.35 billion in market cap and Binance’s robust custodial security, BTCB enhances accessibility. Persistence’s solution simplifies complex multi-step swaps, boosting efficiency and innovation in the BTCfi space. This integration exposes millions to cross-chain opportunities, aligning with Persistence’s mission to unify BTC liquidity.
Injective has partnered with MoonPay, enabling users to onboard via a seamless fiat on-ramp supporting native $INJ and future assets. MoonPay, operating in 180 countries with over 20 million accounts, streamlines access to crypto with its intuitive platform.
DeFi dApps and payment solutions can integrate MoonPay directly, allowing users to convert fiat to $INJ with ease on web, iOS, and Android. Since its 2019 inception, MoonPay has facilitated over $6 billion in crypto transactions, enhancing accessibility for the global crypto community.
Other Highlights of the Week
Donald Trump has appointed Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aims to reduce government waste and cut regulations. The initiative seeks to tackle inefficiencies within the U.S. government's $6.5 trillion annual budget.
DOGE will work with the White House and Office of Management and Budget to drive structural reforms and introduce a more entrepreneurial approach to government. This move follows Musk’s support for Trump and is expected to reshape federal bureaucracy. Meanwhile, Dogecoin’s value has surged by 150% since Trump’s election win, aligning with Musk’s influence.
The FBI raided Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan’s NYC apartment on November 14, 2024, seizing electronics, including his phone, as part of a criminal investigation. The probe stems from allegations that U.S. users accessed the platform, violating a 2022 settlement with the CFTC.
Despite Polymarket's efforts to restrict U.S. users to "view-only" mode, concerns about compliance with federal regulations have sparked further scrutiny. This raid highlights ongoing tensions between crypto platforms and government authorities over the enforcement of rules surrounding online betting and digital asset operations.
FTX has filed a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao, seeking to recover $1.76 billion that was allegedly fraudulently transferred during a share repurchase in 2021. According to the filing, FTX transferred the funds to Binance and its executives despite being insolvent, using $1 billion of customer deposits through Alameda Research to finance the deal.
The lawsuit also claims Zhao’s misleading tweets caused a market panic that led to FTX’s collapse. Binance has dismissed the claims as “meritless,” vowing to defend itself. This legal action is part of FTX’s ongoing efforts to recover funds for creditors following its bankruptcy.
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