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The blockchain industry is on the brink of a major transformation, and 2025 will be the year everything truly starts to shift. But before we get there, it’s important to understand what’s been holding this technological revolution back.

The current, traditional internet works because its infrastructure is scalable and connects users effortlessly, no matter where these users are located. The decentralized ecosystem, on the other hand, still struggles with issues stemming from fragmented liquidity and a clunky user experience that prevent the technology from reaching its true potential.

For this new paradigm to truly become the « internet of value, » it needs to match the current internet’s scalability and seamless connections. The good news? Major breakthroughs are on the horizon. Innovations like aggregation layers and decentralized AI are poised to solve these issues and unlock the technology’s real potential, making it more efficient, intuitive and accessible for everyone.

2 key things the ‘Internet of Value’ needs

To understand why 2025 will be a game-changer, let’s first break down what makes the existing digital infrastructure work: scalability and seamless connectivity. Any user can launch an app or website anywhere, and no matter where that user is located in the world — you’re still just “online,” without needing to connect to any specific local network. This connectivity and scalability are what make our current digital world function so smoothly.

The decentralized landscape, however, still has a long way to go. For Web3 to truly become the « internet of value, » it needs the same two things: endless scalability and unified liquidity. Once we achieve those, a lot of the current barriers disappear. Developers will be able to build their own blockchains without worrying about liquidity or being stuck in isolated ecosystems. Financial apps will be able to tap into massive liquidity pools, and users won’t have to deal with bridging assets. Artists will be able to create their own NFT platforms while still connecting to wider communities.

The biggest change, however, will be the user experience. Right now, navigating Web3 is confusing — cross-chain bridges and slow transfers are a hassle. But once these changes are made, using Web3 will be as easy as using Web2, where everything flows together seamlessly.

The age of aggregation

One of the biggest breakthroughs coming in 2025 is aggregation layer technology. Think of it as the TCP/IP of the decentralized infrastructure, serving as the protocol that connects different networks. Before TCP/IP, the internet was fragmented and clunky, with each network needing custom gateways to communicate with the next. It was slow, error-prone and complicated to use. With aggregation layers, that all changes. By 2025, thousands of blockchains will be linked, but each will maintain its independence while seamlessly sharing liquidity.

Cross-chain transactions will be nearly instant, and users won’t even have to think about how it all works. Just like people do not need to know how the internet works when you browse the web, so will they not have to worry about which particular blockchain they are using to conduct transactions. This will allow distributed networks to connect and scale endlessly while keeping liquidity unified across the entire ecosystem.

AI moves from centralized to open protocols

Another big change coming in 2025 is the shift in AI development. Right now, AI is controlled by a few big tech companies, which limits access and innovation. In 2025, the digital landscape will see decentralized AI become a reality, powered by protocols that ensure fair compensation for those who help develop AI models. This will open up AI development to the community, creating more collaborative open-source frameworks.

Just like aggregation layers will connect blockchains, decentralized AI will break down corporate walls and let AI agents work together across the ecosystem. This shift aligns with the core values of Web3 — shared ownership, transparency and decentralization. Users will have more control over their data, and AI development will become a community-driven effort, free from the monopolistic grip of Big Tech. Blockchain-native AI will also make it easier to automate complex DeFi transactions, optimize gas fees and manage multi-signature accounts with less effort.

Capital will flow like information

DeFi still suffers from fragmented liquidity, making it hard to move assets between different chains. Right now, if a user wants to use assets from one chain on another, that user has to deal with bridges and delays, making the experience far from seamless. But with unified liquidity, that will change. Imagine a situation where if a user had 100 USDT on any network in the decentralized ecosystem, that would be equivalent to having 100 USDT on all chains, instantly accessible with no need for bridging.

Cross-chain transactions will happen almost instantly, and atomic transaction bundles will let users process multiple transactions across chains in one go. DeFi protocols will be able to tap into liquidity across the entire ecosystem, rather than just within their own network pools. These changes will make DeFi much more efficient and create an “Internet of Value” that works as smoothly as today’s “Internet of Information.” Paired with decentralized AI, DeFi will finally deliver on its promise of financial freedom for everyone, without the complexity and exclusion that still plagues traditional finance.

The year that changes everything

The combination of aggregation, decentralized AI, and seamless DeFi protocols is not just about new technology but rather focuses on solving the core problems that have kept Web3 from achieving its real-world potential. In 2025, users will interact with decentralized apps without worrying about the complex tech behind them. Developers will have the freedom to build on any chain while tapping into unified liquidity, and AI will shift to community-driven models. As a result, the whole ecosystem will become more intuitive and accessible to everyday users, finally bridging the gap to mainstream adoption.

Web3 will scale infinitely, while offering the smooth, connected experience that today’s internet users expect. The foundation is already being laid: the first aggregation layers are live, decentralized AI frameworks are being tested and DeFi protocols are evolving for cross-chain composability and AI integration. Together, these changes are set to fundamentally redefine what decentralized technology can achieve.

AgoraHub met la barre haute en voulant créer un écosystème capable de rassembler les investisseurs, les amateurs de jeux vidéos, et les créateurs de projets. Cet objectif est notamment possible grâce au système de Loot Box et au token $AGA. Le virage décentralisé adopté par les équipes d’AgoraHub devrait permettre de renforcer l’accessibilité et la transparence, tout en offrant des opportunités uniques pour les utilisateurs. On vous explique tout !

Le Journal du Coin vous propose cet article promotionnel en collaboration Agora.

AgoraHub et ses loot boxes : une expérience gamifiée innovante

Le secteur des cryptomonnaies est innovant, mais certains projets mettent parfois du temps à délivrer du concret. En revanche, ce n’est clairement pas le cas d’AgoraHub et de son système de loot boxes (DLS). Une loot box dans le gaming est un objet virtuel que les joueurs peuvent acheter ou gagner. Elles contiennent des récompenses comme des objets ou des améliorations. Dans le Web3, comme avec AgoraHub, les loot boxes sont décentralisées et peuvent contenir des cryptomonnaies ou des NFT. Il est même possible de rafler le jackpot et de remporter de gros prix !

Les différentes loot boxes d’AgoraHub

Les équipes ont développé plusieurs loot boxes, pour le plus grand bonheur des utilisateurs :

Loot Box Flash : à chaque loot box ouverte, un joueur peut gagner des USDC, des NFT rares et des points AGL. La finance décentralisée rend cela possible en connectant simplement un wallet crypto. De même, plus vous interagissez avec la plateforme, et plus vous gagnez. Du fun et du earn garanti !
Loot Box Prime : une plateforme gamifiée pour le lancement de tokens/NFT qui simplifie la gestion de loot boxes et améliore l’engagement communautaire. Cela permet aux projets cryptos de pouvoir créer des récompenses sur-mesure (donc adapté à la cible qu’elle vise), et permettant ainsi d’avoir une portée optimisée.
Loot Box Ads : une nouvelle façon de faire de la publicité, où les utilisateurs interagissent avec des campagnes publicitaires et reçoivent des récompenses.
Loot Box Athena : une solution basée sur l’IA pour créer des loot boxes facilement. Les entités (KOLs, projets, etc.) auront la possibilité de mettre en place des solutions simples et automatisées pour faire gagner, de manière ludique, des USDC, des NFT. Il s’agit également d’une nouvelle manière de procéder à des airdrops.

Les nouvelles loot boxes (Loot Box Flash V2, Loot Box Prime V2, Loot Box Ads V1) – et bien plus encore – arriveront dès 2025 !

$AGA : le token au cœur du projet va être listé sur Swissborg

Evolution stratégique vers un projet plus décentralisé et mieux adapté aux enjeux du web3

Pour pouvoir atteindre ses objectifs, l’équipe annonce des évolutions stratégiques. Désormais, AgoraHub concentrera la liquidité du $AGA sur les exchanges décentralisés (DEX). AgoraHub réduit les coûts en supprimant la dépendance aux intermédiaires externes, tels que les market makers, habituellement chargés de gérer la liquidité sur les CEXs. D’autre part, grâce à un partenariat avec Wormhole, $AGA sera déployé sur les réseaux Polygon et Solana. Cette collaboration permet d’avoir des transferts cross-chain plus simples (bridge) entre Ethereum, Polygon et Solana.

Ces décisions permettent de réduire les coûts de transactions, de rendre les transactions plus rapides, et de gagner en transparence. Ainsi, la plateforme tend un maximum vers l’esprit décentralisé du Web3. Le changement de stratégie prend tout son sens quand on prend en compte le système de loot boxes. De fait, le champs des possibles s’élargit considérablement, offrant une expérience utilisateur optimisée et une meilleure accessibilité.

De manière tout à fait logique, AgoraHub a choisi Swissborg en tant que partenaire. La plateforme listera le token $AGA le 20 décembre. On ne présente plus Swissborg, qui rassemble une énorme communauté et qui est régulé en France (enregistrement PSAN).

Le token $AGA va être listé sur Swissborg

Le token $AGA, la clé de voûte d’AgoraHub

Les $AGA sont au centre du projet, et la détention de ces tokens offre de multiples avantages. L’objectif des équipes est clair : combiner une dimension ludique avec des wincitations financières attractives.

Plus vos filleuls ouvrent des loot boxes, et plus vous êtes récompensés. Aussi, le staking d’$AGA permet d’avoir des récompenses qui varient en fonction du pool de liquidité choisit. Notez qu’il donne également accès à des Loot Box Athena (services IA). Par ailleurs, vous pouvez acheter des Loot Box Flash grâce au AGL (tokens de loyalty) qui permet de monter en levels. Et en augmentant votre level, vous acquérez progressivement la possibilité d’acheter davantage de loot boxes , de débloquer des boosts pour augmenter tes chances de gagner gros, etc …

AgoraHub met en place un système de « burn and earn » (brûler et gagner en français). Or, comme son nom l’indique, vous pouvez brûler vos jetons pour obtenir des loot boxes exclusives. Par conséquent, l’offre en circulation diminue, ce qui peut engendrer une hausse du cours.

AgoraHub a créé un univers alliant cryptomonnaies, finance décentralisée, gaming et trading dans une seule et même plateforme avec pour objectif de réunir les créateurs de projet, gamers et autres utilisateurs. Or, la récente évolution stratégique s’inscrit pleinement dans une logique de décentralisation, notamment avec le choix de la plateforme SwissBorg pour le listing du token $AGA. D’ailleurs, les Agorians qui s’inscrivent sur Swissborg via ce lien recevront 10 $. Ne ratez pas l’occasion de faire partie de cet écosystème !

L’article AgoraHub : l’écosystème ultra-complet du secteur GameFi mise sur la décentralisation est apparu en premier sur Journal du Coin.

Every year, my company Emfarsis partners with the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) to conduct an industry-wide survey of blockchain gaming professionals. And every year, the overwhelming majority of respondents agree that digital asset ownership is the single biggest benefit that blockchain can bring to games; this year was no different, with 71.1% ranking it number one. Even with more people joining the industry — in 2024 we had three times as many respondents as compared to the inaugural survey in 2021 — it’s always digital asset ownership that comes out as the industry’s undisputed North Star.

But while we hail digital asset ownership as blockchain gaming’s defining feature, most blockchain games today are free-to-play and don’t require asset ownership at all. On top of that, much-hyped promises that rest on the premise of digital asset ownership remain largely unrealized. Apparently, blockchain gaming professionals have found themselves in a curious bind where the best proposition they have for gamers is the same thing they are making excuses for.

Digital asset ownership has always been central to blockchain gaming, offering players true digital property rights to own, trade, and monetize in-game assets in the form of tokens and NFTs. Going back to play-to-earn’s heyday of 2020-21, digital asset ownership was how you could tell the difference between a blockchain game and a traditional game. Early games required players to buy one or more NFTs upfront. But this created a barrier to onboarding, as many couldn’t afford the NFT(s) or simply weren’t enthused about having to buy an asset in a game they didn’t even know they liked yet.

Of course, these NFTs weren’t just any old game assets, they were yield generating. Buying an NFT in a blockchain game was more like investing in a tool that you need to do a job — a job that paid in crypto. Some of the more entrepreneurially-minded NFT owners started renting out their assets to would-be players, in return for a cut of their earnings. It was an amazing demonstration of the kind of decentralized, permissionless innovation that is made possible by blockchain — a community-led workaround that was developed by the players, not the game developers.

Amazing as it was, the rental system which was popular in early blockchain games like Axie Infinity, Pegaxy, CyBall, and others, didn’t actually solve the onboarding problem. The limited availability of assets and high entry costs created a bottleneck, so the rental demand couldn’t be met, thus perpetuating the friction with top-of-the-funnel user acquisition.

By 2022, in an effort to lower barriers and attract a broader audience, blockchain games had started to embrace the free-to-play model instead. With this, blockchain-based features of the game were treated as optional enhancements rather than a prerequisite to play. Players could purchase assets later, or commit time and effort to earn them, but only if they desired. There was no explicit requirement to do so.

The move came at a time when blockchain games were being pressured to focus less on financialization and more on fun. And it was seen as necessary if they wanted to nab a share of the big, juicy $220B traditional gaming market, made up of billions of gamers that were unlikely to install a crypto wallet let alone put up cash for an NFT.

This contradiction — where digital asset ownership is both a defining feature and a significant barrier — reflects the complexities of blockchain gaming’s evolution. On one hand, ownership is what makes blockchain games special; on the other, requiring it deters players. To attract traditional gamers, who lack Web3 familiarity, developers have prioritized accessibility.

Findings from the 2024 BGA State of the Industry Report back this up. When asked about the biggest challenges facing the industry, more than half (53.9%) cited onboarding challenges and poor user experience, while another 33.6% said that blockchain concepts are not fully understood. Thus, without clear, tangible benefits, the effort and cost of becoming a digital asset owner is unjustified. This reveals a major pain point for developers trying to sell noobs on a clunky tech stack that feels more like a chore than a choice, so you can see how they arrived at the decision not to force it.

But this raises the question: How much blockchain can a blockchain game omit, before the blockchain game is no longer a game on the blockchain?

This half-hearted approach to embracing on-chain experiences means that potentially transformative Web3-native innovations — like the promise of interoperability, where players could use a sword from Game A in Game B — remain largely theoretical. Some progress has been made, such as enabling NFT profile picture (PFP) collections to become playable avatars, but this mostly caters to existing web3 communities rather than delivering a palpable benefit to lure the Web2 gaming masses.

True interoperability requires industry-wide collaboration, both technically and economically, which is still fragmented across chains and ecosystems. Meanwhile, developers are sweeping Web3 under the rug, treating it as a layer in the tech stack rather than a defining feature. So for most players, the « Web3 » part is hidden, optional, and about as impactful as a collectible spoon in a cereal box.

Frankly, the notion of « ownership » in Web3 is vastly overhyped and largely unsupported by any substantial product-market fit. Web3 ownership, as it’s often sold, is a mirage. The reality is: even if you « own » an NFT, its utility and value often depend entirely on the developers’ centralized infrastructure and ongoing operations. What Web3 does offer is increased agency over your assets, allowing for quicker, frictionless sales. But true ownership? Not so much.

There’s actually little evidence to suggest that Web3 ownership has driven sustainable demand. That said, the ability to exert more control over your digital assets is undeniably valuable — just not the « true ownership » that’s often claimed.

That said, there have been some very promising experiments with fully onchain games and creative catalysts such as the Loot NFT collection. Its composable structure allowed developers to build derivative projects, games, and economies around it without needing approval or input from the original creators.

Other recent innovations born in the arena of digital asset ownership include Ethereum standards ERC-6551, ERC-4337, ERC-404 and soulbound tokens (SBTs). ERC-6551 introduced tokenbound accounts, allowing NFTs to act as their own wallets. ERC-4337 delivered account abstraction, enabling customizable wallets that enhance security and usability without relying on centralized custodians. ERC-404 combined the features of fungible and non-fungible tokens, to offer flexible ownership of both unique and divisible digital assets. SBTs gave us non-transferable, identity-linked assets representing credentials for trust and reputation.

While still early on the adoption curve, these advancements empower gamers to unlock experiences that would never have been possible without digital property rights. And the results of the annual BGA survey confirm that the appeal of digital asset ownership remains strong: it gives players agency, control and value.

The challenge now is to let players experience the fun first and discover the value of ownership organically. But we shouldn’t be ashamed to stand up for what we truly believe in. If we want others to get onboard with our vision, we need to develop experiences that demonstrate the benefits of digital asset ownership from the get-go.

Otherwise, we’re not doing anything very special at all. Are we?

Thanks to Nathan Smale, Duncan Matthes and Owl of Moistness for their review of this article.

Le temps de la réflexion. La situation semble à nouveau bloquée en cette fin d’année sur le marché des cryptomonnaies. Avec un Bitcoin qui a du mal à se détacher clairement du niveau symbolique des 100 000 $. Et un marché des altcoins en situation délicate face à une résistance des 1600 milliards de dollars qui a bien l’intention de lui donner du fil à retordre. Résultat : une baisse de presque 5 % de la market cap globale du marché crypto sur les dernières 24 heures.

Le Bitcoin hésite toujours sur les 100 000 $

Depuis son passage des 100 000 $ au début du mois le Bitcoin est plusieurs fois reparti en découverte de prix. Mais il n’a pour le moment pas véritablement réussi à se détacher de cet ancrage hautement symbolique, avec un dernier ATH tout juste positionné au dessus de 108 000 $.

Dans le cadre d’un marché haussier, les performances de BTC restent pour le moment timides en décembre. En effet, il affiche un petit 5 % qui a du mal à rivaliser avec les envolées positives des années précédentes.

Performances mensuelles du Bitcoin – Coinglass

La récente baisse de 3 % enregistrée sur les dernières 24 heures ne va pas arranger la situation. Car même si le prix du BTC reste pour le moment installé au-dessus des 100 000 $, il a furtivement cassé ce niveau aux heures américaines.

Serait-ce le signe d’une correction à venir sous le niveau des 100 000 $ pour la fin de l’année ? La question trouvera une réponse dans les prochaines clôtures en unité journalières (daily) du BTC. Mais à l’heure actuelle, la perpective d’un « rallye de Noël » ne semble pas encore promise sous le sapin.

Le marché des altcoins accuse le coup

Dans le même temps, le marché des altcoins semble prendre la même direction que le Bitcoin. Avec une market cap globale (TOTAL2) qui accuse un recul significatif depuis son rebond sur la résistance des 1600 milliards de dollars.

Graphique TOTAL2 – TradingView

Une situation qui voit certains projets phares du Top 100 enregistrer des baises de 10 % en moyenne. Et qui permet notamment à Uniswap (-10,3 %) de reprendre un bon avantage sur le plus volatil PEPE (-10,7 %) en dégringolade de 4 places.

Toutefois, certains projets restent abonnés aux rendements positifs. Comme par exemple le jeton PENGU récemment largué en masse à la communauté crypto par le projet de NFT Pudgy Penguins. Car il pointe actuellement à la seconde place des meilleures performances (12 %) sur les dernières 24 heures. Cela juste derrière le Bitget Token (17 %) et devant le très populaire Ethena (8,5 %).

Pour le moment, la période semble à l’hésitation sur le marché des cryptomonnaies. Avec des altcoins dont la market cap globale affiche une baisse de 14 % sur les derniers jours. Et sans rebond notable sur les prochains jours, le prochain support notable pourrait bien se trouver 8 % plus bas !

L’article Bitcoin à la baisse : Le marché des cryptomonnaies corrige est apparu en premier sur Journal du Coin.

Le prix de Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) a chuté en raison de la pression de vente qui est apparue après la distribution de jetons. Le jeton PENGU se négocie à 50 % de son sommet, mais que disent les analystes alors que les traders achètent des jetons iDEGEN (IDGN) et Stacks (STX) ?

Prévision de prix pour Pudgy Penguins

Les principales bourses de cryptomonnaies, y compris Binance, OKX et Bybit, ont ajouté sur leur plateforme le jeton Pudgy Penguins (PENGU). Cela fait suite à la distribution officielle de jetons de Pudgy Penguins à ses détenteurs de NFT. Alors que l’excitation est à son comble, le prix du jeton PENGU a grimpé à 0,068 $. Cependant, le prix a rapidement chuté à 0,031 $.

Cette forte vente a également vu le prix plancher du NFT associé baisser, passant d’environ 33 ETH à 16 ETH. Quant au prix du jeton, le volume des échanges a continué d’augmenter et a oscillé autour de 2,6 milliards $ au cours des dernières 24 heures. La capitalisation boursière de Pudgy Penguins s’élevait à environ 2,1 milliards $.

Alors que de nombreux participants à la distribution ont vendu des jetons et contribué à l’activité commerciale massive, les analystes disent que le prix de PENGU pourrait encore rebondir et exploser. L’analyste crypto Altcoin Sherpa a partagé ses perspectives sur X.

Perspectives de prix pour Stacks alors que le prix du BTC s’envole

Stacks (STX) est un projet de cryptomonnaie qui cherche à ce que Bitcoin DeFi soit massivement adopté.

Récemment, le protocole de couche 2 a dévoilé son jeton sBTC, un actif adossé au BTC 1:1 qui débloque la finance décentralisée sur Bitcoin. Il promet d’amener la DeFi à un nouveau niveau avec la liquidité de 2 000 milliards $ de l’actif de référence.

STX, le jeton natif de la plateforme de couche 2, a récemment bondi au milieu de la montée en flèche du prix de BTC vers un nouveau sommet historique. Maintenant, les analystes disent que le fort soutien au-dessus de 2 $ au milieu de la dynamique haussière pourrait faire grimper le prix de Stacks.

L’analyste crypto Michael van de Poppe a partagé cette prédiction sur Stacks :

« Un accomplissement massif pour $STX. sBTC a été mis en ligne, ce qui est la première étape vers Bitcoin DeFi. Du point de vue de l’évolution des prix, il se maintient toujours à des niveaux critiques, et je m’attends à ce que nous assistions à une continuation vers le sommet précédent. C’est toujours la saison des achats à la baisse. »

Prévision de prix pour iDEGEN alors que les agents d’IA montent en flèche

Le 18 décembre, la bourse de cryptomonnaies Binance a ajouté les jetons d’agent d’IA ai16z et AIXBT sur la plateforme récemment dévoilée Binance Alpha. Le marché est optimiste, cela pourrait n’être que le début de nombreux autres projets d’agents d’IA qui arrivent sur la bourse de cryptomonnaies.

iDEGEN (IDGN) est l’un de ceux qui suscitent l’intérêt des investisseurs dernièrement alors que les acheteurs affluent vers sa prévente.

Bien qu’il s’agisse d’un agent d’IA, iDEGEN a sa propre caractéristique unique. Il s’agit d’un modèle alimenté par l’intelligence artificielle dont la formation n’est absolument pas censurée. Il apprend entièrement à partir des publications de ses abonnés sur X, tirant tout ce dont il se nourrit du chaos de la communauté de “dégens”.

Le jeton natif IDGN a attiré un nombre considérable de personnes. Maintenant à 0,126 $, le prix du jeton a augmenté de plus de 100 fois au cours de la prévente depuis sa valeur initiale de 0,00011 $. En seulement trois semaines, iDEGEN a atteint une augmentation de plus de 6,2 millions $.

Avant sa cotation en bourse en janvier, son prix pourrait être bien plus élevé dans le contexte du supercycle des agents d’IA. iDEGEN pourrait-il surpasser les jetons liés à l’IA ai16z, AIXBT, Fartcoin et GOAT ?

Apprenez-en plus sur le projet ici.

The post Prévision de prix pour PENGU alors que les traders achètent des jetons iDEGEN et STX appeared first on CoinJournal.

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.

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.

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.

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

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