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- Crypto Alpha - Week 39 2024
Crypto Alpha - Week 39 2024
All things Crypto, Web3 and Blockchain to keep you updated
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TL;DR
PayPal Allows Businesses to Trade BTC & Crypto
BitcoinOS Introduces BitSNARK for Privacy
Visa to Pilot Tokenization on Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin Backs Celo's Stablecoin Growth
Coinbase Launches cbBTC on Solana
Google Cloud and Solana Launch GameShift
Celestia Foundation Secures $100M Funding
Hydro DAO Deployed on Neutron
Avalanche Unveils $40 Million Grant Program
SolvBTC Brings Yield to Bitcoin on Avalanche
Harris Mentions Crypto in Fundraiser
MicroStrategy's S&P 500 Dreams Delayed
And much more!
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THORChain is a liquidity protocol that facilitates native asset settlement between Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Cosmos Hub, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash & Litecoin.
THORChain is secured by its token, RUNE, which deterministically accrues value as more assets are deposited into the network.
Anyone can use THORChain to swap native assets between any supported chains or deposit their assets to earn yield from swaps.
Bitcoin Highlights of the Week
PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) has introduced a feature allowing U.S. business account holders to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin directly from their PayPal accounts. While this service is available nationwide, it will initially not be offered in New York State.
Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal's Senior VP of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, emphasized that the decision to expand services was driven by business owners seeking the same cryptocurrency capabilities available to consumers. In addition to trading, U.S. merchants can now transfer cryptocurrency to third-party wallets, enhancing transaction flexibility.
Boltz has introduced the Boltz BTCPay Plugin, enabling merchants using BTCPay Server to accept Lightning payments non-custodially and transfer these funds to the Liquid Network. This "Nodeless" mode allows automatic swaps from Lightning to Liquid upon payment, with the option to swap back to the Bitcoin mainchain.
The plugin includes an integrated wallet system for creating or importing Liquid and mainchain wallets, alleviating the need for merchants to manage a Lightning node. This innovative plugin addresses the complexities of channel management and inbound liquidity, making it easier for merchants to handle Lightning payments.
Bitfarms and Riot Platforms have settled their takeover dispute, limiting Riot’s ownership in Bitfarms to 20% without board approval. Riot currently holds 19.9% of Bitfarms' shares. The agreement also resulted in Bitfarms co-founder Andres Finkielsztain resigning from the board, with corporate governance expert Amy Freedman stepping in.
The special shareholder meeting, initially scheduled for November 6, may be delayed but will occur before November 20 to discuss the company's future and shareholder rights plan. This settlement allows Bitfarms to shift its focus towards growth in areas beyond Bitcoin mining, such as energy trading and high-performance computing.
Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise Investments, revealed that nearly 70% of top financial advisors at a recent Barron's summit personally own Bitcoin and crypto. This marks a significant increase from previous years, where only 10-20% reported ownership. Hougan views this shift as a major indicator of growing acceptance among influential finance professionals.
Bitwise, managing over $4.5 billion in assets, recently secured approval for the first U.S. Bitcoin ETF. Hougan expects advisors to start allocating Bitcoin and crypto in client accounts within 6-12 months, driven by increased personal investment. This trend suggests a larger wave of institutional adoption is imminent, validating Bitcoin's growing role in finance.
BitcoinOS has open-sourced BitSNARK, a zero-knowledge verification protocol designed to enhance privacy on the Bitcoin blockchain. This protocol uses zk-SNARKs (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge) to enable private transactions and advanced decentralized applications (DApps) without altering Bitcoin’s core.
BitSNARK, along with innovations like Grail Bridge and Merkle Mesh, aims to expand Bitcoin’s role in decentralized finance (DeFi) and cross-chain applications. CEO Edan Yago stated that BitSNARK will help Bitcoin evolve into a more secure and versatile network. The protocol enables decentralized atomic swaps, cross-chain transactions, and two-way pegging while maintaining network integrity through economic incentives.
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Ethereum Highlights of the Week
In 2025, Visa will launch its Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), enabling banks to tokenize fiat currency on the Ethereum blockchain. This initiative aims to streamline transactions by allowing banks to issue tokens backed by traditional currencies, bridging digital and fiat markets. The platform is designed to enhance transaction speed and security while improving privacy for financial institutions.
Visa's foray into tokenization aligns with the growing trend of converting real assets into digital tokens, as financial institutions increasingly seek innovative solutions. With a history of collaborating on digital currency projects, Visa's VTAP will further explore the integration of fiat-backed tokens in traditional banking systems, potentially transforming transaction processes.
Ethena plans to release $UStb, a new stablecoin backed by BlackRock’s tokenized U.S. Treasuries fund, BUIDL, offering a safer alternative to its current $USDe. Partnering with Securitize, Ethena aims to enhance stability by tying $UStb to short-term U.S. Treasury bills, unlike $USDe, which relies on volatile crypto assets and derivative strategies.
$USDe, Ethena’s synthetic dollar, has grown to a supply of $2.6 billion, but its complexity and volatility have posed challenges, including a brief dip in its dollar peg. With $UStb, Ethena seeks to mitigate these risks and strengthen its position in the DeFi market by using BlackRock’s $522M BUIDL fund as a stable foundation. Ethena plans to use $UStb as collateral on exchanges like Bybit and Bitget.
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EigenLayer plans to lift transfer restrictions on its EIGEN token by September 30, allowing stakeholders to begin trading. Before this, stakers must observe a 7-day withdrawal period after unstaking their tokens. The project recently distributed 86 million EIGEN tokens during its second "stakedrop," which ran from March to August 2024.
This milestone comes as EigenLayer’s total value locked (TVL) has decreased from a peak of $20 billion to $12 billion amid market fluctuations and rising competition. EIGEN's initial value, around $10, has declined due to the token's non-transferability, bearish market trends, and competition from projects like Symbiotic.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin praised Celo for surpassing Tron in daily active addresses for stablecoins, highlighting its contribution to enhancing global payment access. He announced that Celo’s Alfajores testnet would upgrade to Ethereum Layer 2 on September 26, allowing for improved capabilities and integration with the Ethereum ecosystem.
Celo's transition from a layer-1 blockchain to a layer-2 solution aims to empower its community and promote innovation. In 2024, Celo gained significant adoption from major stablecoin operators like Circle and Tether, with USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) integrating into the platform.
Guggenheim, in collaboration with Zeconomy, has tokenized $20 million in commercial paper on the Ethereum blockchain, marking a significant step for traditional finance (TradFi) into the crypto space. Zeconomy’s CEO highlighted “massive demand” for digital assets, a trend attributed to the recent success of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Moody's Investors Service assigned a P-1 rating, the highest possible, to the tokenized commercial paper, emphasizing its creditworthiness. While the $20 million amount may seem modest for Guggenheim, this initiative reflects a growing trend of TradFi engaging with blockchain technology.
Solana Highlights of the Week
Coinbase is set to launch its wrapped Bitcoin product, cbBTC, on the Solana network, enabling users to utilize Bitcoin in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications while retaining control of their assets. Announced at Breakpoint 2024, the launch date remains unspecified, but the anticipation among crypto developers and enthusiasts is high.
cbBTC, already popular on Ethereum and Base, is backed by Bitcoin at a 1:1 ratio and is available in several countries, including the U.S., U.K., and Australia. This expansion is strategically significant for Solana, promising to enhance its DeFi offerings amid growing demand for wrapped Bitcoin products.
Google Cloud has partnered with Solana Labs to introduce GameShift, a Web3 infrastructure platform designed for gaming applications. Available on the Google Cloud Marketplace, GameShift simplifies access to wallets, tokenized assets, and on-chain markets for developers. The platform features an invisible non-custodial wallet system, enhancing security by protecting user assets with cryptographic keys.
GameShift aims to revolutionize the gaming industry by providing developers with tools to integrate Web3 capabilities seamlessly. According to Google Cloud, this initiative is set to drive innovation and growth in the Web3 gaming sector, catering to the industry's rapid expansion.
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Steel is a new modular framework designed for building smart contracts on the Solana blockchain, offering developers flexibility with minimal boilerplate code. Created by Hardhat Chad, Steel originated from a utils folder during the development of the ORE project, aimed at optimizing performance.
It differs from the popular Anchor framework by allowing users to select only the necessary components, promoting a more tailored development experience. Steel manages accounts using a single enum for discriminators, alongside a struct for each account type, which facilitates basic serialization logic, ultimately streamlining the contract creation process.
Solana engineers are discussing a key amendment outlined in SIMD 0172 to optimize block space by altering the “compute budget” program, which currently limits transactions to 200,000 compute units (CUs). Tao Zhu, the proposal’s author, argues this default leads to inefficient usage, advocating for a gradual reduction to zero CUs to encourage precise user requests.
Critics, however, express concerns that this adjustment may complicate development since compute budget instructions still consume transaction data limits. Alternatives, such as relocating the budget to transaction headers, are suggested to mitigate data constraints while enhancing validator revenue.
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