Mois : décembre 2024

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Marc Hochstein, CoinDesk’s deputy editor-in-chief for features, opinion and standards.

In this issue:

Solana was the biggest draw for new crypto developers in 2024

No wonder: Solana’s transaction volume is off the charts

Coinbase alums take next step toward no-code blockchain development

Kraken’s ‘Ink’ layer-2 goes live

Avalanche activates biggest-ever upgrade

Ethereum’s ENS picks Consensys’ tech for its L2

Bitcoin’s Stacks L2 gets an automated market maker for Runes

Most Influential 2024: EigenLayer’s Sreeram Kannan

This article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.

Network News

NEW DEVS ❤️SOLANA: The Solana ecosystem, ground zero for the memecoin craze, was the most popular blockchain among new developers this year, according to a report released last week by Electric Capital. In July, this community became the first since 2016 to bring on board more devs than Ethereum. Solana attracted 7,625 new developers in 2024, the most of any chain and a little over 1,000 more than Ethereum. The results underscore the challenge Ethereum faces as rival smart contract platform Solana’s low fees and fast transactions attract investment and talent. Read more.

SPEAKING OF SOLANA: Solana’s network activity has lit up as the Pudgy Penguins NFT project debuted its native token, PENGU, on the programmable blockchain. Solana registered a total transaction tally of 66.9 million Tuesday, the highest daily volume since its inception in 2020, according to data source Artemis. To highlight how busy it was, Solana’s transaction count eclipsed the total of all other major chains combined. Read more

THE INK IS DRY: Kraken, the seventh-largest crypto exchange, said its layer-2 rollup network, built on top of the Ethereum blockchain, has gone live. The network, called Ink, is Kraken’s answer to Base, the highly successful blockchain launched by rival exchange Coinbase. Like Base, Ink is based on the OP Stack, a customizable framework that lets developers build their own rollups using Optimism’s technology. The team had originally planned for Ink to go live in early 2025, so the launch of its main network is ahead of schedule. Read more

AVALANCHE UPGRADE: Avalanche, a layer-1 blockchain launched in 2020 that’s now the tenth-largest by total value locked (TVL), activated its highly anticipated Avalanche9000 upgrade Monday, marking the ecosystem’s biggest technical changes to date. The network has been prepping for these changes for months, with new features that will cut the costs for sending transactions, operating validators and building applications on the network. Leaders at Avalanche previously said that part of the goal with the upgrade is to attract developers to Avalanche and encourage them to create customized blockchains using its technology, known as subnets, or “L1s. » Read more.

A BOON FOR RUNES: Crypto degens have a new – and, if all goes according to plan, faster, cheaper and safer – way to trade Runes, the Bitcoin ecosystem’s answer to memecoins. An automated-market maker (AMM) for the Runes protocol went live on Wednesday on Stacks, following the unveiling of the layer-2 network’s native BTC-backed asset sBTC on Tuesday. It’s the first AMM for such tokens on Stacks. The teams behind decentralized exchange (DEX) Bitflow Finance and Bitcoin bridge Pontis developed the AMM. Runes launched in April and spurred a flurry of activity, paying 78.6 BTC ($8.18 million) in fees in the first 90 minutes. However, less than a month later, this excitement waned considerably, with fees dropping more than 50%. Bitflow’s aim is for its AMM to help Runes scale and address some of the shortcomings holding it back. Read more.

ENS PICKS L2 TECH: ENS Labs, the company behind the Ethereum Name Service, has picked Linea’s technology to build its upcoming layer-2 network, Namechain. Linea is a zero-knowledge rollup that came out in July 2023 and was built by Ethereum infrastructure giant Consensys. It is the seventh-largest rollup network, according to L2Beat, with $1 billion locked in its ecosystem. Rollups are a special type of blockchain where one can transact faster and at a lower cost. There are two kinds of rollups: optimistic and zero-knowledge. Optimistic rollups use optimistic proofs, which have a seven-day window to dispute transactions before they are finalized. Zero-knowledge rollups, by contrast, finalize proofs within minutes. ENS has been described as « the phone book for Web3, » but a more precise analogy is the web’s domain name service (DNS). The domain name « CoinDesk.com » is easier to remember and type than a numerical IP address. Similarly, ENS handles like parishilton.eth, which the namesake heiress acquired in 2021, are more relatable than the strings of letters and numbers that make up Ethereum wallet addresses. For this service, « we need fast finality,” said Nick Johnson, the founder and lead developer of ENS. That’s because “you want to be able to update your ENS name and have the chain reflect it in the smallest interval possible. And to do that and have it remain decentralized and secure, we need fast finality, and optimistic roll-ups can’t deliver that. » Read more.

NO CODE, NO PROBLEM? Patchwork, a startup focused on simplifying blockchain and smart-contract development founded by former Coinbase employees, has released the next version of its low-to-no-code tools for building decentralized applications (dapps). Currently linked to Coinbase’s Base and backed by Coinbase Ventures, the “Create-Patchwork” picks-and-shovels approach lowers the barriers to building blockchain applications and attaching data to them. Following the trend toward easily generated content, the complex world of blockchains and smart-contract design is on a path to no-code applications, or a “text-to-app” experience. Create-Patchwork is the first of several features the team plans to roll out in early 2025 and a foundational step to enable creators to generate contracts and applications in seconds using natural language inputs. “Patchwork is an Ethereum protocol that makes it really easy to build dynamic on-chain applications,” co-founder Kevin Day said in an interview. “It lets on-chain things own other on-chain things, and it allows anyone to attach programmable data to on-chain things.” Read more

EIGENLAYER’S SREERAM KANNAN: KING OF THE PROFESSOR COINS

For a crypto founder who’s attracted so much controversy, Sreeram Kannan is surprisingly sanguine.

In a wide-ranging interview after his selection as one of CoinDesk’s “Most Influential” figures in crypto for 2024, the EigenLayer founder was generous with his time, chatting more than an hour beyond our scheduled slot. I was surprised at his openness because the last time we spoke, a colleague and I had just published an investigation into potential conflicts of interest at his company, Eigen Labs, and in the interim Kannan had disavowed our reporting point-by-point on a Blockworks podcast.

This time, Kannan emerged in a different light. Whatever his misgivings about CoinDesk’s past coverage, they didn’t seem top-of-mind.

What emerged wasn’t the portrait of a defensive tech founder, but rather that of a driven, thoughtful academic-turned-entrepreneur still adjusting to a spotlight few in this industry ever enjoy. Instead of bitterness or evasion, I found ambition, reflection and a quiet kind of excitement.

Kannan seemed as astonished as anyone by how swiftly EigenLayer had transformed from a concept into one of crypto’s most talked-about experiments, telling CoinDesk that he continued to view EigenLayer as a “scrappy startup.”

Over the past 12 months, EigenLayer — which allows emerging blockchain applications to borrow Ethereum’s robust security — went from a relative unknown to an industry heavyweight. The platform raised more than $100 million from venture firms including Andreessen Horowitz and, before even fully launching, drew hundreds of millions of dollars in deposits from crypto users seeking extra yield. Many were incentivized by a viral points program that investors hoped would translate into a lucrative future token airdrop.

EigenLayer’s success during the bear market was striking, and Kannan may have played a larger role than any other entrepreneur in revitalizing decentralized finance on Ethereum. But not everything went according to plan. Industry critics took issue with the EIGEN token distribution plan — which locked up tokens for months and barred claimants from certain geographies — as well as the platform’s slower-than-expected feature rollout and concerns about “rehypothecation,” or the reuse of collateral for multiple purposes. In August, the CoinDesk investigation (that Kannan disputed in the podcast) raised questions about EigenLayer’s conflict-of-interest policies, which may have allowed employees preferential access to tokens powered by its platform.

None of this seemed to derail Kannan’s intellectual ascent. Beyond running Eigen Labs, he still holds a position as an affiliate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Washington, and his theory of “restaking” — letting people reuse staked Ethereum assets to secure other networks — has sparked a wave of innovation and copycats. He’s become a familiar face on the conference circuit, where he unpacks his vision of blockchains as tools for solving humanity’s endless “coordination problems.”

Blockchains, Kannan says, “are the biggest upgrade to human civilization since the U.S. Constitution.”

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL PROFILE BY COINDESK’S SAM KESSLER:

Money Center

‘Wrapped’ in intrigue

Coinbase Says It Nixed wBTC Because Justin Sun Posed ‘Unacceptable Risk’

WBTC Episode ‘Reopened Old Wounds’ of Centralized Failures: Bitcoin Builders Association

Deals and grants

Stablecoin Payments Platform BVNK Raises $50M to Fuel U.S. Expansion

RWA-Focused Plume Raises $20M from Brevan Howard, Others Ahead of Mainnet Launch

Custody Firm Taurus Partners With Temenos Bringing Crypto Wallets to Thousands of Banks

Regulatory and policy

Next U.S. Senate Banking Chair Calls Crypto ‘Next Wonder’ of World

Calendar

Jan 9-12, 2025: CES, Las Vegas

Jan. 15-19: World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland

January 21-25: WAGMI conference, Miami.

Jan. 24-25: Adopting Bitcoin, Cape Town, South Africa.

Jan. 30-31: PLAN B Forum, San Salvador, El Salvador.

Feb. 1-6: Satoshi Roundtable, Dubai

Feb. 19-20, 2025: ConsensusHK, Hong Kong.

Feb. 23-24: NFT Paris

Feb 23-March 2: ETHDenver

March 18-19: Digital Asset Summit, London

May 14-16: Consensus, Toronto.

May 27-29: Bitcoin 2025, Las Vegas.

Crypto degens have a new – and, if all goes according to plan, faster, cheaper and safer – way to trade Runes, the Bitcoin ecosystem’s answer to memecoins.

An automated-market maker (AMM) for the Runes protocol is being deployed on Stacks. It’s the first AMM for such tokens on that Bitcoin layer-2 network. The AMM went live on Wednesday, following the unveiling of Stacks’ native BTC-backed asset sBTC on Tuesday.

The teams behind decentralized exchange (DEX) Bitflow Finance and Bitcoin bridge Pontis developed the AMM, a tool that facilitates trading through algorithmic means to improve liquidity. They announced the project Wednesday.

The Runes protocol is a standard for issuing fungible tokens on Bitcoin, building on the work of Ordinals, which allowed data to be inscribed on small denominations of BTC, thus making each one unique and potentially valuable. In the same way that Ordinals could be considered a means of creating the Bitcoin equivalent of NFTs, Runes could be considered a venue for creating memecoins.

Runes launched in April, coinciding with Bitcoin’s fourth halving event, and spurred a flurry of activity, paying 78.6 BTC ($8.18 million) in fees in the 90 minutes after the halving took place.

However, less than a month later, this excitement waned considerably, with fees dropping more than 50%.

Bitflow’s aim is for its AMM to to help Runes scale and address some of the shortcomings holding it back such as slow transaction speeds, high fees and sniping of pending transactions. Sniping is when users exploit the time lag in which a transaction is waiting to be added to a Bitcoin block, by removing them from the waiting room, then adding them back in with their own signature and a higher fee attached.

Bitflow is harnessing Stacks’ Nakamoto upgrade. Stacks is one of several layer-2s that aim to allow smart contracts and other decentralized finance-related functions using Bitcoin as a base layer.

Stacks activated its Nakamoto upgrade in October. It is designed to speed up transaction times considerably by decoupling the L2’s block production schedule from Bitcoin’s.

« Another key feature that Nakamoto unlocks is Bitcoin finality, » Bitflow said. « After a transaction is confirmed, reversing it is at least as hard as reversing a Bitcoin transaction. »

Bitflow is using the Bitcoin bridge Pontis to allow trading between BTC and Runes. Each trade is recorded in one Bitcoin block, which usually takes 10 minutes, and one Stacks block, which takes between five and 10 seconds.

Read More: Bitcoin ‘Four Meggers’: OrdinalsBot Inscribes Largest-Ever File on the OG Blockchain

Qui utilise encore les NFT ? L’engouement pour cette branche de la blockchain semble s’être arrêté. Pourtant, la technologie est toujours là. Les collectionneur et les spéculateurs ne sont plus les maîtres de ce marchés : les entreprises s’en sont emparées pour créer un nouveau lien avec leurs clients, grâce au cabinet de conseil Doors3.

L’article Doors3 multiplie les usages concrets pour les NFT avec AMI Paris est apparu en premier sur Cryptoast.

Solana’s network activity lit up on Tuesday as the Pudgy Penguins NFT project debuted its native token, PENGU, on the programmable blockchain.

The layer 1 blockchain, considered a cheap alternative to Ethereum, registered a total transaction tally of 66.9 million, the highest since its inception in 2020, according to data source Artemis. To highlight how busy it was, Solana’s transaction count eclipsed the total of all other major chains combined.

Solana also led other blockchains in terms of daily decentralized exchange trading volume and daily active addresses but lagged Base, Ethereum and Tron in the stablecoin transfer volume.

Since the dawn of the ongoing crypto bull run in early 2024, Solana has been a go-to blockchain for retail investors looking to make a quick buck from memecoins, NFTs and other smaller tokens.

Tuesday was no different, as holders of original Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, Rogs, and Soul Bound Tokens (SBT) lined up for the PENGU airdrop, which began at 08:00 ET. The project reported over 100,000 claims in the first hour with over 4.7 million website views.

PENGU debuted at a market cap of $2.3 billion but has since seen the value drop to $2 billion, according to data from Coingecko.

Solana’s SOL token rose 3.2% to $229 on Tuesday, following the market leader bitcoin higher. However, the token has struggled to keep the momentum going today, receding to $217, likely representing caution ahead of the Fed rate decision.

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

The crypto market is derisking ahead of today’s Fed rate decision. Everyone’s buzzing about the likelihood of another rate cut that will supposedly galvanize risk-taking in the economy and financial markets.

Here’s the twist: The central bank is expected to signal three rate cuts for 2025, not the four it projected in September, as well as revise growth and inflation forecasts higher. No surprise, then, that bitcoin and ether are trading nearly 2% lower, driving bigger losses in small-cap tokens. Among them, Pudgy Penguins’ PENGU token, which has slumped over 50% since Tuesday’s airdrop.

The front-end call premiums in both BTC and ETH have already taken a hit, signalling a more cautious vibe in the market. Traditional markets are also factoring in a hawkish cut.

Now, seasoned traders will tell you that when expectations lean too heavily one way, there’s always room for disappointment. Put more simply, if interest rate projections stay the same or Fed Chairman Jerome Powell eases concerns about sticky inflation during his press conference while maintaining a data-dependent approach, we could see a nice bump in risk assets — cryptos included.

VIRTUAL, the native coin of AI and tokenization platform Virtuals Protocol, might shine in that case, having risen 11% in Asian hours. « AI within crypto is shaping up to be a fascinating trend, especially in social trading, where data-driven insights and automation can empower traders, » said Neal Wen, head of global business development at Kronos Research.

Leading on-chain perpetuals platform HyperLiquid’s HYPE token is another candidate, trading 4% higher at press time. Social media chatter points to limited exchange availability and token retention as a catalyst for the rally.

That said, don’t let your guard down. Some observers say the pace of future rate cuts really hinges on Friday’s core PCE data, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure.

As Valentin Fournier, an analyst at BRN, put it: « The Federal Reserve is set to announce a 25 basis-point interest-rate cut today — it’s last for the year. Future cuts may rely heavily on Friday’s Core PCE report, which is expected to hold steady at 3.3% year over year. Any surprises with rising inflation could rattle the markets, especially since bitcoin is already feeling some bearish pressure and is lacking the upward momentum. »

Additionally, the decline in Chinese government bond yields has folks over at the Wall Street Journal raising red flags about the world’s second-largest economy facing a depression, a prolonged period marked by a sharp drop in economic growth and rising unemployment.

These concerns could easily destabilize global markets, so it’s definitely a good time to stay alert.

What to Watch

Crypto:

Dec. 18, 9:30 a.m.: Software cryptocurrency wallet maker Exodus Movement (EXOD) starts trading on NYSE American, a sibling of NYSE.

Dec. 30: The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation becomes fully effective. The stablecoin provisions came into effect on June 30.

Macro

Dec. 18, 2:00 p.m.: The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) releases its target range for the federal funds rate, currently 4.50%-4.75%. The CME’s FedWatch tool indicates that interest-rate traders assign a 95.4% probability of a 25 basis-point cut. Press conference starts at 2:30 p.m. Livestream link.

Dec. 18, 10:00 p.m.: The Bank of Japan (BoJ) announces its interest rate decision. Short-term interest rate Est. 0.25% vs. Prev. 0.25%.

Dec. 19, 7:00 a.m.: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England (BoE) announces its interest-rate decision. Bank Rate Est. 4.75% vs Prev. 4.75%.

Dec. 19, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases third-quarter GDP (final).

GDP Growth Rate QoQ Final Est. 2.8% vs Prev. 3.0%.

GDP Price Index QoQ Final Est. 1.9% vs Prev. 2.5%.

Dec. 20, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) releases November’s Personal Income and Outlays report.

PCE Price Index YoY Est. 2.5% vs Prev. 2.3%.

Core PCE Price Index YoY Est. 2.9% vs Prev. 2.8%.

Dec. 24, 1:00 p.m. The Fed releases November’s H.6 (Money Stock Measures) report. Money Supply M2 Prev. $23.31T.

Token Events

Governance votes & calls

Venus Protocol is officially expanding to Base. VIP-408 passed the governance vote and users can access Venus on Base on Dec. 19.

Unlocks

Metars Genesis to unlock 11.87% of MRS circulating supply, worth $11 million at current prices.

Conferences:

Jan. 13-24: Swiss WEB3FEST Winter Edition 2025 (Zug, Zurich, St. Moritz, Davos)

Jan. 17: Unchained: Blockchain Business Forum 2025 (Los Angeles)

Jan. 18: BitcoinDay (Naples, Florida)

Jan. 20-24: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (Davos-Klosters, Switzerland)

Jan. 21: Frankfurt Tokenization Conference 2025

Jan 30-31: Plan B Forum (San Salvador, El Salvador)

Token Talk

By Shaurya Malwa

Early PENGU buyers are learning the perils of low liquidity the hard way.

The token of the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem token debuted amid massive hype on Tuesday. Its charm was its association with an already popular NFT collection, leading to a frenzy of buying with hopes of quick gains. But the token had garnered the necessary liquidity at launch, meaning early, enthusiastic buyers bought the token at a $5 trillion market capitalization.

Liquidity is the ability to buy or sell an asset without causing a significant price change. For PENGU, the initial liquidity pools were shallow, meaning there weren’t enough buyers and sellers to keep the price stable.

One unlucky trader lost big on the airdrop, turning $10,000 into less than $5 in seconds. Just before the official airdrop, they had swapped 45 wrapped Solana for PENGU but got only 78 tokens due to a glitch in Jupiter’s decentralized exchange. The trade was sent to a low-liquidity pool on Raydium, inflating the token’s price to an unrealistic $14 trillion market cap. This mishap was due to low liquidity, where even small trades can cause huge price swings.

The PENGU token was created weeks before its launch, leading to premature trading and significant losses for those who jumped in too early without checking the market cap.

Derivatives Positioning

Positioning in BTC futures is heating up, with open interest approaching the November high of 663.71K BTC. Meanwhile, ETH open interest has hit a record of over 339K ETH.

Funding rates in perpetuals tied to major coins are holding steady at around an annualized 10%, bang in the middle of the -200% to 200% range, which marks the extremes for bearish and bullish sentiment.

Front-end BTC and ETH puts are trading at a premium to calls, highlighting demand for downside protection ahead of the Fed’s interest-rate decision.

Top BTC block trades include a bear call spread involving calls at strikes $104,000 and $105,000 and a standalone long position in the $95,000 put expiring on Jan. 3.

Market Movements:

BTC is down 1.72% from 4 p.m. ET Tuesday to $104,593.98 (24hrs: -1.96%)

ETH is down 1.44% at $3,876.29 (24hrs: -2.89%)

CoinDesk 20 is down 3.03% to 3,830.21 (24hrs: +3.4%)

Ether staking yield is up 2 bps to 3.18%

BTC funding rate is at 0.01% (10.95% annualized) on Binance

DXY is unchanged at 106.90

Gold is up 0.76% at $2,664.40/oz

Silver is up 1.08% to $30.90/oz

Nikkei 225 closed -0.72% at 39,081.71

Hang Seng closed +0.83% at 19,864.55

FTSE is up 0.23% at 8,214.42

Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.32% at 4,958.35

DJIA closed on Tuesday -0.61% to 43,449.9

S&P 500 closed -0.39% at 6,050.61

Nasdaq closed -0.32% at 20,109.06

S&P/TSX Composite Index closed -0.11% at 25,119.7

S&P 40 Latin America closed +0.16% at 2,280.58

U.S. 10-year Treasury was unchanged at 4.4%

E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.25% to 6,069.00

E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 1.58% to 22,363.25

E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are up 0.2% at 43,563.00

Bitcoin Stats:

BTC Dominance: 57.78% (24hrs: -0.33%)

Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.037 (24hrs: +1.04%)

Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 776 EH/s

Hashprice (spot): $63.4

Total Fees: $1.4M/ 12.7 BTC

CME Futures Open Interest: 212,635 BTC

BTC priced in gold: 39.4oz

BTC vs gold market cap: 11.22%

Bitcoin sitting in over-the-counter desk balances: 406,700 BTC

Basket Performance

Technical Analysis

BTC’s dominance rate has bounced from 55% to nearly 58% in two weeks, retaking the year-to-date bullish trendline.

It’s a sign of renewed investor preference for bitcoin over altcoins.

Crypto Equities

MicroStrategy (MSTR): closed on Tuesday at $386.42 (-5.41%), up 0.45% at $388.15 in pre-market.

Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $311.64 (-1.16%), down 0.98% at $308.60 in pre-market.

Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$28.67 (-3.01%).

MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $24.60 (+0.16%), down 1.5% at $24.23 in pre-market.

Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $13.97 (-0.43%), down 1.36% at $13.78 in pre-market.

Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $16.03 (-3.2%), down 1.19% at $15.84 in pre-market.

CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $12.36 (-0.96%), down 0.49% at $12.30 in pre-market.

CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $29.04 (-1.89%), down 0.48% at $28.90 in pre-market.

Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $74.73 (+0.31%), up 2.97% at $76.93 in pre-market.

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs:

Daily net inflow: $493.9 million

Cumulative net inflows: $36.70 billion

Total BTC holdings ~ 1.136 million.

Spot ETH ETFs

Daily net inflow: $144.7 million

Cumulative net inflows: $2.46 billion

Total ETH holdings ~ 3.530 million.

Source: Farside Investors

Overnight Flows

Chart of the Day

The chart shows the explosive growth of the memecoin subsector, which has now surpassed $100 billion in market value.

It’s evidence of how speculative allure and a successful social-media strategy can drive investors to take risk.

While You Were Sleeping

Bitcoin Takes a Breather After Doji Candle in a Cautious Pre-Fed De-Risking (CoinDesk): After bitcoin set a record high above $108,000 on Tuesday morning (ET), the crypto market shifted to a more risk-off mood ahead of the Fed’s expected 25 basis-point interest-rate cut later today.

Dollar Steady Against Peers as Fed Rate Cut Looms (Reuters): The U.S. dollar held steady Wednesday, with the DXY index easing to 106.89 from recent highs, while markets awaited the Fed’s interest-rate decision and 2025 projections.

Next U.S. Senate Banking Chair Calls Crypto ‘Next Wonder’ of World (CoinDesk): Incoming Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott praised crypto innovations Tuesday and called for swift legislation, while the next House Financial Services Chair French Hill predicted bipartisan crypto laws could pass in 2025 with Senate support.

South Korea’s Yoon Skips Questioning, Adding to Risk of Arrest (Bloomberg): South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached Saturday, skipped a scheduled Wednesday morning interrogation session by a joint investigative team, increasing the risk of his arrest.

Brazil Currency Rout Risks Worsening Unless Lula Delivers Fiscal Reforms (Financial Times): Brazil’s real hit a record low of 6.21 to the dollar on Tuesday as rising debt and fiscal concerns under President Lula’s government prompt calls for rate increases and credible reforms to stabilize the currency.

Coinbase Says It Nixed wBTC Because Justin Sun Posed ‘Unacceptable Risk’ (CoinDesk): On Tuesday, Coinbase defended its decision to delist wBTC on Dec. 19, citing risks tied to Justin Sun’s alleged involvement and rejecting BiT Global’s lawsuit claims of favoritism toward its own, competing asset.

In the Ether

The non-fungible token (NFT) market is showing signs of recovery, Galaxy Research said in a report Monday.

NFTs are digital assets on a blockchain that represent ownership of virtual or physical items and can be sold or traded.

NFT volumes had been declining for most of the year, but began to reverse in November following the U.S. elections and the ensuing crypto market rally.

Weekly NFT trading volumes exceeded $100 million in early November for the first time since May, reaching $172 million on Dec. 2, Galaxy said.

« This resurgence has been primarily driven by increased activity among the top 25 collections by market cap, » analyst Gabe Parker wrote, with increased participation across leading marketplaces such as OpenSea, Blur and Magic Eden.

Blur and OpenSea were responsible for 60% and 27% respectively of the total volume over the last 30 days, the report noted.

NFTs linked to the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem have outperformed. Pudgy Penguins and Lil Pudgys collections saw their floor prices rise 206% and 265% respectively, the report added.

Read more: Pudgy Penguins PENGU Token Debuts at $2.3B Market Cap

Ubisoft élève sa vision du jeu Web3 à de nouveaux sommets avec Captain Laserhawk : The G.A.M.E., en s’appuyant sur l’infrastructure décentralisée d’Aleph.im pour introduire des NFT dynamiques qui évoluent avec l’engagement des joueurs. Cela marque la troisième intégration consécutive d’Aleph.im dans les titres de jeu web3 d’Ubisoft.

L’article Aleph.im donne vie aux NFT dynamiques dans Captain Laserhawk : The G.A.M.E d’Ubisoft est apparu en premier sur Cointribune.

Depuis le parachutage du HYPE par le protocole HyperLiquid et la hausse du marché des cryptomonnaies sur ces dernières semaines, les annonces d’airdrops se multiplient, au plus grand bonheur des investisseurs, faisant croître leur portefeuille avant la fin d’année 2024.

La collection NFT Pudgy lance enfin son jeton

Quelques jours plus tôt, le compte officiel de Pudgy Penguins a annoncé l’arrivée du jeton officiel de la collection NFT, le PENGU. Peu de collections NFT aussi importantes ont eu l’occasion de lancer un actif dans l’objectif de fédérer une communauté plus importante.

Concernant la tokenomics du jeton PENGU, constatons qu’une part importante est dédiée à la communauté. En effet, il y a 25,9 % pour la “pudgy community” mais surtout, 24,12 % pour les autres communautés. Cela témoigne d’une volonté de la part du projet de se démocratiser à travers une plus large partie du marché crypto.

Pour le moment, tel que vous pouvez le voir avec le graphique ci-dessous, le lancement du PENGU ayant eu lieu hier est mitigé, le chemin pris suite au listing a amené le jeton à voir sa valeur divisée par deux.

Toutefois, cela ne nous empêche pas de prendre du recul en gardant à l’esprit qu’avec cet airdrop, des centaines de milliers de portefeuilles ont eu une distribution de plusieurs centaines/milliers de dollars, certains ne s’étant même pas douté de la possibilité d’être éligible. Avec une capitalisation à plus de 2 milliards de dollars, il est possible que l’actif devienne un des jetons phare de l’écosystème Solana. Les prochains mois nous permettront d’y voir un peu plus clair à ce sujet.

Un Layer 2 sur Ethereum annonce l’airdrop de son jeton

Le projet Fuel Network a annoncé hier en fin de journée l’arrivée de son airdrop, le FUEL. Avec une distribution à hauteur de 1 milliard de jetons pour 200 000 portefeuilles, le réseau réalisera un largage qui correspond à 10 % de son offre totale.

Selon le réseau (c’est quelque chose que nous retrouvons régulièrement), ce premier airdrop n’est que le début. En effet, Fuel Network affirme également qu’il y aura 10 % supplémentaires de jetons à distribuer, correspondant à :

” 5 % pour les efforts d’expansion de la communauté, répartis entre les plateformes de partenariat ; 5 % pour des incitations, des programmes, des campagnes et des activations qui n’ont pas encore été annoncés. “

Disponible dès le 19 décembre 2024 et pouvant être récupéré jusqu’au 19 janvier 2025, cela laisse une fenêtre d’un mois pour que les utilisateurs ayant été récompensés puissent récupérer leurs jetons FUEL. Soutenu par des acteurs tels que TheSpartanGroup ou Maven11Capital, beaucoup d’intervenants sur le marché auront les yeux rivés sur le lancement de ce Layer 2.

Une liste de fin d’année particulièrement importante

Si vous pensez que cet élan d’airdrop s’arrête à PENGU et FUEL, détrompez-vous, bien d’autres projets ont actuellement une page de disponible pour s’assurer d’être éligible ou récupérer ses jetons. Allant de Zora avec son Retrogrant à Aligned Layer qui récompense les détenteurs de certaines cryptos durant le bearmarket en passant par Cronos avec son ZkEVM, nous pouvons vite être perdu.

Dans ce cadre, certains sites permettent de vérifier l’ensemble de ses allocations, un bon moyen de s’assurer de son éligibilité sur certains projets. Pour autant, il est parfois nécessaire de faire une vérification manuelle en se rendant directement sur le site d’airdrop ayant été mis en place par le projet.

Cette fin d’année 2024 est particulièrement intéressante, de nombreux acteurs lançant en ce moment leur jeton. Cela n’est pas anodin puisque l’objectif est de bénéficier du contexte de marché actuel pour attirer un maximum de liquidités. Malheureusement, plus le nombre d’airdrops lancés sera conséquent, plus la liquidité sera fragmentée à travers différents projets. Cela pourrait assez rapidement essouffler la tendance si le rythme actuel est maintenu.

Néanmoins, le point positif pour les projets est que cela pourrait amener à une nouvelle tendance dans la chasse à l’airdrop, mise en pause naturellement par une majorité des intervenants suite aux lancements catastrophiques qui avaient précédé Hyperliquid (Scroll, Starknet, ZKsync, et bien plus encore).

Sur le même sujet :

Meilleur airdrop de l’histoire : Hyperliquid lance son token HYPE

Le Metavers a-t-il toujours un avenir avec l’industrie crypto ?

Comment SpacePay pourrait-il transformer la perception des paiements crypto ?

The post Pluie d’airdrops sur le marché crypto, une fin d’année fructueuse pour les investisseurs appeared first on Cryptonews France.

Telegram’s gaming ecosystem is thriving, with tap-to-earn and clicker games leveraging the platform’s established base of over 950 million users. According to the Q3 2024 Telegram Games Report, top games like Hamster Kombat and Catizan pulled in hundreds of thousands of active users within weeks, underscoring the appeal of the “mini-app” approach originally pioneered by WeChat.

Yet, the rise and fall of clunky blockchain-based games like Axie Infinity that struggled with user retention are a reminder that Web3 games haven’t always been a roaring success. If the segment is to reach its full potential as a catalyst for blockchain adoption, it could learn a thing or two from Telegram’s successful approach. I predict that Telegram’s mini app model will be the biggest driver of Web3 gaming’s growth in 2025.

How the Telegram gaming ecosystem attracts users

Web3 gaming’s market value surpassed $3 billion in 2023 and could reach as much as $90 billion by 2030. With over 950 million users, Telegram’s clicker games entice players from all backgrounds with basic rules and fun gameplay that enable them to earn in-game currency and other items, and airdropped tokens for new games. Unlike the traditionally high cost of user acquisition for exchanges and other companies—estimated by Notcoin founder Sasha Plotvinov at upward of $10 to $15—Telegram onboards players for less than $1 per user.

This cost-effective approach has enabled small development teams to amass millions of users in weeks, with over three million active wallets recorded across just nine games in September 2024 alone, a pace rarely seen in the traditional gaming industry. Telegram’s vast, crypto-friendly audience and ease of developing quick, feedback-driven HTML5 mini-games are the key drivers behind this remarkable surge.

By allowing players to earn rewards, own tokenized assets and trade valuable in-game items like skins and weapons, the platform introduces players to the world of blockchain in an accessible and engaging manner. Users can start playing immediately without downloading any additional apps or tooling as the games are directly integrated into the platform, reducing the usual points of friction onboarding non-crypto-native users to Web3 games. Integrating popular gaming IPs such as Delabs’ Ragnarok further enhances the appeal of Telegram’s Web3 gaming ecosystem, bringing beloved, high-traction games to the platform.

The ongoing challenge of user retention

Telegram’s Web3 gaming ecosystem is impressive, with clicker games earning the platform an additional 50 million users this year. However, user retention remains an ongoing challenge. While clicker games are capable of onboarding a large number of users quickly, the attention of those users often wanes due to limited diversity, simple game mechanics that lack the depth and complexity of traditional games, and market saturation.

For the Telegram gaming ecosystem to flourish, it must move beyond tap games and airdrops to something more engaging and sustainable in the long run, making games complicated and diverse enough to maintain the interest in repetitive games with limited functionality. To avoid users dropping off in droves after the initial excitement fades, Telegram games must employ user retention strategies such as the below that encourage engagement and foster a greater sense of purpose with the game.

1. Setting up daily challenges and streaks

Over 40% of web3 gamers spend over 10 hours a week playing Web3 games, highlighting the appetite for blockchain-based games that provide rewards and incentives. Players who engage with daily challenges have higher retention rates than those limited to one-time quests. Daily engagement promotes habit formation and keeps players returning, building a routine that allows games to build deeper player relationships.

Providing regular challenges maintains user interest through small but consistent rewards that help to convert casual users into long-term participants. Hamster Kombat’s engaging tactics have seen its MAUs grow to 110 million, while TG Tap Miner enables players to increase their crypto holdings.

2. Utilizing personalization and segmentation

Continuous interaction benefits significantly from personalized experiences. For example, segmenting players into categories such as “whales,” “dolphins” and “fish,” allows games to tailor content and rewards according to engagement level, making gameplay more satisfying and individualized.

Web3 players are already accustomed to ownership of digital assets and NFTs. Targeted interaction, such as TON Racing League’s high-octane game that enables players to own, upgrade and trade unique racing vehicles as NFTs, can deepen players’ connection, offering them content and rewards that resonate more deeply than standard quests.

3. Building community-driven economies

Web3 enables community-driven economies where players can buy, trade or sell in-game items and assets freely. These interactions create a feedback loop of engagement unique to the blockchain space, where player involvement is essential to the game’s economy and community. Games that leverage community trading and real-time, player-driven content updates encourage organic interactions that enhance player loyalty and satisfaction.

4. Merging with more traditional gaming models

29 out of 40 of the world’s largest video game companies are investing in blockchain gaming, including Microsoft, Tencent, Sony, and Nintendo. With the next crypto bull market upon us, these numbers will likely continue to rise in 2025 and beyond. The future of Web3 gaming will inevitably merge with more traditional models, combining richer user experiences with more sophisticated play, and drawing on the success of Telegram’s mini-app model.

Fuel, a layer-2 network built on Ethereum, has announced that airdrop claims for its native token will open on Dec. 19, with ten percent of the total supply being allocated to more than 200,000 eligible wallets.

The window for airdrop claims will run for one month. 28% of the airdrop allocation will go to phase-1 pre-depositors, 20% to those who used the Fuel bridge, and 12.5% to « NFT connoisseurs. »

Fuel claims to be the fastest and least expensive rollup on Ethereum. It boasts a transaction processing speed of up to 600 TPS at around $0.0002 per transaction. Fuel achieves this via parallelization, state minimization and interoperability. For comparison, Arbitrum, the largest layer-2 by TVL, has averaged 27.6 TPS over the past 24 hours, while Base is averaging around 90 TPS, according to L2BEAT data.

The token will have a maximum supply of 10 billion and users on the network can still earn « points » for Fuel phase 2, which can eventually be converted to the FUEL token.

Fuel’s block explorer shows that it has processed 154,000 transactions over the past 24 hours and has 63 active decentralized applications (dapps).