💡 A Bitcoin Rollup That Feels Like Ethereum?

In today’s edition: 🎮 'Crypto: The Game' Day 7, 🔒 Centralization worries in Dymension, 📉 Insider role in XRP hack?, 🚀 Dencun moves closer to mainnet, and more!

February 08, 2024

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What’s Poppin’?

by Juan Aranovich, Sam Sriram, and Sage Young

Chainway Labs announced the rollout of Citrea, the first zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup on Bitcoin.

The remaining 132 players will start voting to eliminate more contestants from the first season of the Survivor-like crypto game.

The largest validator securing Dymension, a recently launched modular blockchain, has the name “Big Brain Staking,” and it controls 35.6 million DYM, which is 18.5% of the total voting power.

Did an insider have something to do with the $112 million hack on Ripple chairman Chris Larsen’s personal accounts? Blockchain security researchers at Hacken say it’s too early for conclusions, but two wallets connected with the XRP authorized wallet played a key role in the events.

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade was forked on Ethereum’s Holesky testnet on Wednesday, bringing “proto-danksharding” one step closer to mainnet deployment.

Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️

  • 🚀 Prometheum, the sole US-registered crypto securities platform, announced ether (ETH) as its first digital asset for client custody, planning to expand to other tokens and launch trading operations by Q2 2024.

  • 🚨 Bakkt, a crypto platform backed by the NYSE owner, issued a warning about its potential inability to continue operations due to financial challenges.

  • 📊 Morpho surpassed Compound, becoming the second-largest DeFi lender on Ethereum based on total value borrowed.

  • ⛔️ The U.S. Treasury reported an increasing trend of criminals and scammers using virtual assets for illicit activities like money laundering and fraud.

  • 💳 A new Coinbase report suggests blockchain technology could have saved Americans $74 billion in credit card fees in 2022, highlighting the potential for cheaper and faster financial transactions. 

  • 📜 TradeStation Crypto settled with the SEC and state regulators, agreeing to pay $1.5 million in penalties for securities law violations related to its crypto lending product.

  • 💡 Frax Finance introduced Fraxtal, its new Ethereum Layer 2 network, initially accessible to select partner apps, aiming to enhance DeFi application performance.

  • 💼 ARK Invest and 21Shares' latest Ethereum ETF filing details a cash-only process for share creation and redemption, aligning with SEC preferences in ETF operations.

  • 🎈 Airdrops:

    • 🔄 Wormhole, a cross-chain protocol, unveiled its future airdrop and four-year tokenomics plan, featuring an initial locked supply of 82% for its native "W" token.

    • 🪙 Pyth Network announced the second phase of its token airdrop, distributing 100 million PYTH tokens, valued around $47 million, to over 160 decentralized applications.

The $$$ Corner…

  • 💰 Disney invested $1.5 billion in Epic Games, hinting at a renewed focus on building a metaverse-like experience, less than a year after closing its metaverse division.

What Do You Meme?

Recommended Reads

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news and with special guest, and Farcaster aficionado Ted! This episode zooms in on Farcaster Frames: How are they revolutionizing the platform? We examine Farcaster’s transformation and its impact on the future of social media: Can Farcaster redefine decentralized communication? Delving into its user base, we ask: What makes Farcaster’s community unique? How do airdrop strategies and global hub distribution shape its ecosystem? And what’s next for decentralized social networks like Farcaster? Join us for an insightful discussion on these pivotal questions impacting the crypto sphere.

📈 Your Market Update 📉

  • BTC is up 4.4%, trading at $44,783

  • ETH is up 2.7%, trading at $2,421

  • BTC dominance: 48.99%

  • Crypto market cap: $1.79T

*All data as of today, 06:06 am ET. Source: CoinGecko

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