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Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Ben Schiller, CoinDesk’s Opinion and Features editor.

In this issue:

Can Based Rollups solve Ethereum’s problem?

Lido goes modular

Uniswap finally unveils Unichain

Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade is coming

Network news

BASED ROLLUPS TO THE RESCUE: In recent years, Ethereum has embraced a layer-2 scaling roadmap—a plan that encouraged the development of third-party auxiliary networks called « layer-2 rollups »—to help scale the base Ethereum ecosystem. Offloading activity to these upstart networks has helped bring down fees and improve speeds for end-users, but it has led to a massive, deeply fragmented ecosystem of layer 2s. But while layer-2 networks all post data back down to Ethereum, they often struggle to communicate directly with one another, meaning passing assets and data between them can become expensive and cumbersome. There’s also the risk of centralized sequencers: reliance on company-controlled black boxes to pass transaction data between blockchain layers. As a result, some Ethereum developers are pushing rollup tech that takes a new approach to security and interoperability: “based rollups. » Based rollups differ from most existing rollups because they shift execution duties—such as processing transactions—back to Ethereum’s layer-1 rather than handling them on a separate layer-2 network. When someone transacts on a layer-2 rollup, their transaction is processed through a component called a “sequencer.” The sequencer batches multiple transactions and submits them to Ethereum for settlement. While sequencers provide efficiency and generate revenue for rollup operators by strategically ordering transactions, they also introduce a single point of failure. Based rollups avoid this vulnerability by using Ethereum’s built-in sequencing—its massive community of validators—rather than a single centralized sequencer. Rollups like Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, zkSync, and Blast have quickly grown to support larger transaction volumes than Ethereum itself. According to L2Beat, there are currently 140 live layer-2 networks, but the experience of operating between them—passing assets and other data between networks—has become clunky. As Ethereum becomes bigger and layer-2 networks become more integral to its functioning, improving communication between layer-2s—in other words, improving « composability »—has become more important than ever. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

LIDO GOES MODULAR: The developers behind Lido, the largest staking service on Ethereum, have proposed revamping the staking platform with modular « vaults. » The new framework would introduce stVaults, a customizable component designed to help Lido accommodate institutions and more complex staking strategies. Lido currently allows investors to pool their ether (ETH) together and « stake » their crypto — locking up their tokens with the network, helping to secure it in exchange for interest. Lido pioneered liquid staking: users get a receipt on their deposits called Lido staked ETH (stETH) that they can trade at any time. With liquid staking on Lido, entering and exiting staking positions became as simple as buying and selling stETH tokens. Lido V3’s stVaults are “modular smart contracts designed to meet the diverse and evolving needs of Ethereum participants,” according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. The upgrade would enable staking setups beyond cut-and-dry liquid staking. Specifically, stVaults will be able to help institutional stakers who want to personalize their staking setups, node operators who want to attract high-volume stakers, and asset managers who want to create new staking use cases. “What is important to understand with customizable infrastructure, is that you can in general build even more complex products,” said Konstantin Lomashuk, the founder of the Lido staking protocol. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

UNICHAIN FINALLY: Uniswap Labs, the primary developer behind one of the largest decentralized exchanges (DEX), Uniswap, shared Feb 13 that its long-awaited layer-2 network, Unichain, is now live. Powered by Optimism’s OP stack, Unichain—like other layer-2s on Ethereum—offers faster and cheaper transactions compared to Ethereum’s mainnet. Developers can deploy apps onto the network, which has been optimized specifically for decentralized finance (DeFi) and aims to serve as « the home for liquidity across chains, » according to Uniswap Labs. For Uniswap Labs, the benefit of launching a layer-2 is twofold: it will provide a better experience for users of Uniswap and similar platforms, and it will create a new revenue opportunity in the form of network fees. A representative for Uniswap Labs told CoinDesk that « around 20% » of the chain’s revenue will go directly to the company. Unichain has been in testing since October 2024 and is classified by Uniswap Labs as a « stage-1 » rollup, meaning it has elements of decentralization but retains some centrally-controlled safeguards at this early phase. The network is built on the OP Stack, a modular framework that lets developers build interoperable layer-2 chains based on Optimism’s optimistic rollup technology. Several well-known teams have come out with their own OP Stack-based layer-2’s, including Coinbase’s ‘Base’, Kraken’s ‘Ink,’ World’s ‘World chain,’ and Sony’s ‘Soneium.’ “We are anticipating a world of many, many different use cases, of which trading is a small subset,” Adams told CoinDesk in an interview. In collaboration with Ethereum research and development firm Flashbots, the Uniswap team said it has created a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) on Unichain, a secure area for more sensitive transactions and is meant to optimize the chain for DeFi by allowing for more advanced trades and faster transaction finality. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

PECTRA IN APRIL: Ethereum developers have officially set test dates for Pectra, the network’s first upgrade in 11 months, putting it on track for a potential April release date. Pectra will contain an array of improvements — with a special focus on wallets and validators — but it comes at a period of heightened scrutiny for Ethereum, which has recently faced pressure from its community to refocus and catch up with competitors. Ethereum’s core builders decided on Thursday during their bi-weekly « All Core Developers » call to begin testing Pectra on Feb. 26 on the Holesky testnet, with a follow-up test on the network’s Sepolia testnet slated for Mar. 5. Should those tests succeed, the developers will reconvene on Mar. 6 to determine when to launch the upgrade officially. According to Tim Beiko, the protocol support lead at the Ethereum Foundation, developers expect the upgrade to hit mainnet in early April. Pectra — a portmanteau representing two separate upgrades, Prague and Electra — includes eight major improvements to the second-largest blockchain. Among the most-anticipated is EIP-7702, which is supposed to improve the user experience of crypto wallets. The Ethereum community has been facing an identity crisis over the last few weeks. Its native token, ether (ETH), is underperforming against other cryptocurrencies, and competitor networks like Solana have drawn attention and talent from the Ethereum ecosystem — the first-ever programmable blockchain and still the most trafficked. Amid the controversy — much of it directed at the Etheruem Foundation, which coordinates chain upgrades and is currently undergoing a major leadership shuffle — developers are hoping that Pectra will help put the network on steadier footing. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

Money Center

El Salvador Dispatch

Berlín, a city of 20,000 people, is home to El Salvador’s second Bitcoin circular economy. “Bitcoin City already exists. It’s called Berlín,” said one resident. Tom Carreras reports.

LinksDAO Launches on Base

LinksDAO began by selling NFTs, but the market has moved on in the time since.

Regulatory and policy

Hester Peirce, head of the SEC’s new crypto taskforce, says that memecoins likely to fall outside the regulator’s jurisdiction.

Calendar

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.

By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

The U.S. inflation report due later today might shift bitcoin (BTC) out of the doldrums that have mired it this week.

In recent years, the January figure has tended to show significant price hikes. Last year, for example, the month’s data put an end to a series of lower readings, repeating a pattern also seen in 2023. That’s because businesses often evaluate their costs and raise prices at the start of the year, as the Wall Street Journal points out.

A higher-than-expected inflation report could suggest “monetary policy has more work to do” Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said in a speech last week. The Federal Reserve has already indicated it isn’t rushing to adjust interest rates after 100 basis points of reductions last year.

Also playing into the consideration are the Trump administration’s tariffs, with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston pointing to a potential rise as high as 0.8% to core PCE, the inflation measure the Fed focuses on. Still, in 2018 and 2019 tariffs had negligible effects.

On the other hand, a soft inflation report could be beneficial for risks assets including bitcoin. A lower-than-expected figure will probably raise interest-rate cut expectations, potentially weakening the U.S. dollar index and lowering Treasury yields, CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole has reported.

Meanwhile, demand for the largest cryptocurrency holds strong. Just this week, Japanese mobile-game studio Gumi revealed plans to accumulate around $6.6 million worth of BTC, while KULR Technology Group increased its crypto holdings to 610.3 bitcoin.

Similarly, Goldman Sachs’ 13F filing shows the banking giant significantly increased its exposure to spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in the fourth quarter. And don’t forget Strategy’s near-weekly bitcoin purchases.

Bitcoin’s Coinbase premium, which measures the difference between BTC’s price on the U.S. exchange and Binance, recently turned negative, suggesting U.S. traders are cautious about the upcoming inflation report.

The caution comes amid growing headwinds for the crypto market, which may have reached the top of its cycle. Research firm BCA Research has recently shared a note with clients suggesting the record ETF inflows and the memecoin craze are warning signals.

Warning signals are present elsewhere, with a recent JPMorgan report pointing out that crypto ecosystem growth slowed last month, while total trading volumes dropped 24%. Activity is nevertheless ahead of where it was before the U.S. elections. Stay alert!

What to Watch

Crypto:

Feb. 13: Start of Kraken’s gradual delisting of the USDT, PYUSD, EURT, TUSD, UST stablecoins for EEA clients. The process ends March. 31.

Feb. 13: Story (IP) mainnet launch.

Feb. 14: Dynamic TAO (DTAO) network upgrade goes live on the Bittensor (TAO) mainnet.

Feb. 14, 2:30 a.m.: Qtum (QTUM) hard fork network upgrade.

Feb. 18, 10:00 a.m.: FTX Digital Markets, the Bahamas-based subsidiary of FTX, starts reimbursing creditors.

Feb. 21: TON (The Open Network) becomes the exclusive blockchain infrastructure for messaging platform Telegram’s Mini App ecosystem.

Macro

Feb. 12, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases January’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report.

Core Inflation Rate MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.2%

Core Inflation Rate YoY Est. 3.1% vs Prev. 3.2%

Inflation Rate MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.4%

Inflation Rate YoY Est. 2.9% vs. Prev. 2.9%

Feb. 12, 10:00 a.m.: Fed Chair Jerome Powell presents his semi-annual report to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. Livestream link.

Feb. 13, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases January’’s Producer Price Index (PPI) report.

Core PPI MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0%

Core PPI YoY Est. 3.3% vs. Prev. 3.5%

PPI MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.2%

PPI YoY Prev. 3.3%

Feb. 13, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Department of Labor releases the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims report for the week ended Feb. 8.

Initial Jobless Claims Est. 216K vs. Prev. 219K

Earnings

Feb. 12: Hut 8 (HUT), pre-market, $0.05

Feb. 12: IREN (IREN), post-market, $-0.01

Feb. 12: Reddit (RDDT), post-market, $0.25

Feb. 12: Robinhood Markets (HOOD), post-market, $0.41

Feb. 13: Coinbase Global (COIN), post-market, $1.89

Feb. 14: Remixpoint (TYO: 3825)

Feb. 18: CoinShares International (STO: CS), pre-market

Feb. 18: Semler Scientific (SMLR), post-market

Token Events

Governance votes & calls

Morpho DAO is discussing a 25% reduction in MORPHO rewards on both Ethereum and Base after another reduction took effect on Jan. 30.

DYdX DAO is voting on the dYdX Treasury subDAO taking control over the stDYDX within the protocol’s Community Treasury and any tokens accrued through auto compounding staking rewards.

Curve DAO is voting on increasing 3pool’s amplification coefficient to 8,000 over 30 days and raise admin fees to 100%. To optimize liquidity, as part of an experiment, 3pool will have higher fees while Strategic Reserves will offer lower fees.

Feb. 12 2 p.m. : Render (RENDER) to host an AI Scout Discord AMA session.

Unlocks

Feb. 12: Aethir (ATH) to unlock 10.21% of circulating supply worth $23.80 million.

Feb. 14: The Sandbox (SAND) to unlock 8.4% of circulating supply worth $80.2 million.

Feb. 16: Arbitrum (ARB) to unlock 2.13% of circulating supply worth $42.93 million.

Feb. 21: Fast Token (FTN) to unlock 4.66% of circulating supply worth $78.8 million.

Token Launches

Feb. 12: Avalon (AVL) to be listed on Bybit.

Feb. 12: Game7 (G7) to be listed on Bybit, Gate.io, HashKey, MEXC, XT, and KuCoin.

Feb. 13: EthereumPoW (ETHW) and Polygon (MATIC) to no longer be supported at Deribit.

Conferences:

CoinDesk’s Consensus to take place in Hong Kong on Feb. 18-20 and in Toronto on May 14-16. Use code DAYBOOK and save 15% on passes.

Feb. 12-13: Frankfurt Digital Finance (FDF) 2025

Feb. 13-14: The 4th Edition of NFT Paris.

Feb. 18-20: Consensus Hong Kong

Feb. 19: Sui Connect: Hong Kong

Feb. 23 to March 2: ETHDenver 2025 (Denver, Colorado)

Feb. 24: RWA London Summit 2025

Feb. 25: HederaCon 2025 (Denver)

Token Talk

By Shaurya Malwa

The Central African Republic’s CAR token is down 95% from Monday’s peak prices, with a market capitalization now around $40 million.

CAR was issued late Sunday and promoted by the republic’s President
Faustin-Archange Touadéra as an asset that could help fund public facilities in the impoverished nation.

Touadéra claimed proceeds from CAR token are being used to rebuild and furnish a high school, whose details are not yet public.

Derivatives Positioning

Following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks hinting at a potential delay in quantitative easing until interest rates approach zero, market sentiment turned more cautious, leading to a sharp decline in open interest across altcoins.

Rocket Pool, Venice Token and TST experienced the most significant drops, with open interest plunging 44%, 32%, and 30%, respectively, over the past 24 hours.

On the other hand, Binance ecosystem tokens gained momentum, with BNX the standout performer. Open interest in BNX surged 57% to $166 million within a day, while its price jumped 18% to $0.868.

Market Movements:

BTC is down 0.4% from 4 p.m. ET Tuesday to $96,029.62 (24hrs: -1.97%)

ETH is down 0.17% at $2,619.27 (24hrs: -2.87%)

CoinDesk 20 is up 0.66% to 3,178.54 (24hrs: -2.74%)

Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is up 5 bps to 3.1%

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

DXY is unchanged at 107.99

Gold is down 0.15% at $2908.1/oz

Silver is down 0.22% to $32.16/oz

Nikkei 225 closed up 0.42% at 38,963.7

Hang Seng closed +2.64% at 21,857.92

FTSE is unchanged at 8,781.91

Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.1% to 5,396.36

DJIA closed Tuesday +0.28% at 44,593.65

S&P 500 closed unchanged at 6,068.5

Nasdaq closed -0.36% at 19,643.86

S&P/TSX Composite Index closed -0.11% at 25,631.8

S&P 40 Latin America closed +0.65% at 2,444.58

U.S. 10-year Treasury rate was up 1 bps at 4.54%

E-mini S&P 500 futures are down 0.16% to 6,082.5

E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are unchanged at 21,777

E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are down 0.21% at 44,616

Bitcoin Stats:

BTC Dominance: 61.32% (+0.06%)

Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.02728 (+0.33%)

Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 800 EH/s

Hashprice (spot): $53.56

Total Fees: 5.25 BTC / $505,060

CME Futures Open Interest: 167,470 BTC

BTC priced in gold: 33.1 oz

BTC vs gold market cap: 9.4%

Technical Analysis

Dogecoin reaches a critical point support and resistance at 25 cents, with prices coiling around that level since Feb.3.

Traders may watch DOGE’s Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator, which tracks the relative changes in prices across specific time periods.

The indicator is trending upward with net buying volumes since Feb. 3, indicative of a rally if the MACD line crosses above zero.

Crypto Equities

MicroStrategy (MSTR): closed on Tuesday at $319.46 (-4.53%), up 0.82% at $322.30 in pre-market.

Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $266.90 (-4.75%), up 0.88% at $269.25 in pre-market.

Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$26.54 (-2.57%)

MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $16.02 (-4.42%), up 1% at $16.18 in pre-market.

Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $11.14 (-4.21%), up 0.81% at $11.23 in pre-market.

Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $12.26 (-4.37%), up 0.24% at $12.29 in pre-market.

CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $10.28 (-8.05%), up 0.39% at $10.32 in pre-market.

CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $22.34 (-4.94%), up 0.12% at $22.46 in pre-market.

Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $46.98 (-5.3%), unchanged in pre-market.

Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $49.16 (-3.95%), unchanged in pre-market.

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs:

Daily net flow: -$56.7 million

Cumulative net flows: $40.46 billion

Total BTC holdings ~ 1.174 million.

Spot ETH ETFs

Daily net flow: $12.6 million

Cumulative net flows: $3.17 billion

Total ETH holdings ~ 3.785 million.

Source: Farside Investors

Overnight Flows

Chart of the Day

Ethereum has dropped down to 17th in terms of weekly revenues across all blockchains and applications, with a relatively small $7 million pocketed by network validators.

While You Were Sleeping

Bitcoin May See Gains from Soft U.S. CPI, Major Risk-On Surge in BTC Appears Unlikely (CoinDesk): Bitcoin and other risk assets may get a boost if today’s CPI report shows soft inflation, but Trump’s tariffs are likely to curb further rate cuts and put the brakes on a sustained rally.

Trump to Tap Former CFTC Commissioner, a16z Policy Head Brian Quintenz for CFTC Head (CoinDesk): Brian Quintenz, a former commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and a crypto advocate, has reportedly been chosen by President Trump to be the agency’s chairman.

Crypto Custody Firm BitGo Said to Weigh IPO as Soon as This Year (Bloomberg): Crypto custodian BitGo is considering an IPO for the second half of 2025, joining firms such as Gemini and Kraken, which are also expected to go public this year.

Why Today’s Inflation Report Is Especially Important (The Wall Street Journal): January’s U.S. inflation data — with the CPI released today, PPI tomorrow, and PCE on Feb. 28 — is important for predicting the Fed’s monetary policy because businesses typically raise prices at the start of the year.

Stocks Steady; Sanguine Powell Knocks Bonds and Gold (Reuters): Fed Chari Powell’s Senate testimony on Tuesday, downplaying rate-cut urgency unless inflation falls or job market weakens, boosted Treasury yields and the dollar, while sending oil and gold prices lower.

China’s Tech Stocks Enter Bull Market After DeepSeek Breakthrough (Financial Times): Chinese tech stocks have surged 20% in one month after DeepSeek’s AI breakthrough revived investor confidence in internet companies, helping the Hang Seng Tech index to outpace the Nasdaq 100.

In the Ether

UPDATE (Feb. 12, 12:03 UTC): Adds Derivatives Positioning section.

LinksDAO is launching its own community token, adding a highly tradeable asset alongside its nearly 10,000 membership non-fungible token (NFTs) this crypto golf club tried selling to fund its mantra: « We’re gonna buy a golf course. »

NFTs aren’t as trending as they were in early 2022 when LinksDAO sold its membership tokens for $10 million. The market euphoria that led raunchy Beeple artwork to nab hundreds of millions of dollars at auction moved on long, long ago.

CryptoSlam’s NFT Index is down nearly 97% since its inception in January 2022, showing how market interest is now elsewhere. Memecoins now dominate crypto’s short attention span economy; even Trump has one. Now LinksDAO will have one too, with LINKS.

« We are going to be launching a community token that has deep culture, that’s embedded in the game of golf, that’s embedded in the community, and that’s permissible under the fucking regulations that we have to deal with, » LinksDAO founder Mike Dudas said on a community call late Tuesday.

The coin is expected to launch in the coming months on the Base blockchain. A third of its supply is earmarked for LinksDAO NFT holders, with smaller allocations for members of other NFT communities, including Pudgy Penguins and Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Any successful crypto coin inevitably lives or dies as a financial instrument, even when its promoters – right up to the President of the United States – attempt to insist otherwise in the fine print. For their part, LinksDAO’s suits proclaimed LINKS was not « speculative » nor an investment.

Instead, they’re calling it a community « enhancer: » a way to broaden the reach of a crypto club that managed to weather the bear market less because of the enduring appeal of NFTs than the growing power of golf.

« The goal is to have every single golfer have LINKS in their crypto wallet, » said head of community and co-founder Cooper Sherwin.

LinksDAO bought a golf club in Scotland in mid-2023. The club’s executives recently signed an agreement to become partial owners of a second course in Kansas City. That deal is subject to a vote by LinksDAO’s NFT-holding members, said Sherwin.

Hillcrest Golf Course is an 18-hole course designed by an architect from golf’s so-called Golden Age, Donald Ross in 1915.

He once called it the finest course in the world, but it fell into disrepair over the ensuing century, according to project members.

That created an opportunity for LinksDAO to cut a deal. Current owner Robb Heineman – a Kansas City businessman who also owns that city’s Major League Soccer team – closed the club down for a few years back to pursue a $30 million renovation project.

Heineman did not return a call from CoinDesk. In a press release, he said LinksDAO « shares our forward-thinking vision for what a golf club can be. »

LinksDAO will become a minority owner of Hillcrest and gain a board seat, though project leads declined to share specific financials behind the deal. The deal will seek the approval of LinksDAO’s NFT holding members, who vote on proposals but don’t have full legal power over the project’s decisions.

Some 200 members showed up on Tuesday night to hear the dual announcement of course acquisition and token. That means LinksDAO is not actually a « decentralized autonomous organization, » but instead a kind of affinity club for people at the intersection of crypto and golf.

Hillcrest’s national membership program will become a LinksDAO operation open only to holders of its NFTs.

Sur les réseaux sociaux, notamment sur X, les informations circulent rapidement. Des fois trop rapidement. Ainsi, il ne faut que quelques heures pour qu’une rumeur naisse et se répande. Ces rumeurs, alimentées par des sources non vérifiées, rappellent combien il est important de s’appuyer sur des sources fiables. La plateforme de vente de NFT OpenSea l’a appris à ses dépens après qu’une rumeur de KYC se soit répandue sur les réseaux sociaux.

Un airdrop à venir sur OpenSea ?

OpenSea est l’un des leaders en matière de NFT. Sa plateforme permet l’achat et la vente de NFT de manière décentralisée.

Toutefois, face à l’absence d’un jeton natif à la plateforme, les spéculations se multiplient sur les réseaux sociaux concernant le lancement d’un tel jeton. Évidemment, les utilisateurs spéculent également sur un potentiel airdrop, si OpenSea venait effectivement à lancer son jeton.

À l’origine de ces rumeurs, nous pouvons notamment citer la publication d’OpenSea le 5 décembre dernier « Alors … Depuis combien de temps utilisez-vous OpenSea ? ».

Publication d’OpenSea sur X.

Ainsi, sur des plateformes de prédiction telles que Polymarket, les traders jugeaient en janvier dernier qu’il y avait plus de 70% de chance que la plateforme réalise une airdrop de son jeton avant le mois d’avril. Une cote qui a depuis chuté à 45% de chance.

Les traders de Polymarket estiment à 45% les chances d’un airdrop avant avril.

Ces rumeurs ont repris de plus belle en début de semaine. En effet, un lien vers un site apparemment associé à la Fondation OpenSea a circulé sur X, suscitant des spéculations sur une éventuelle distribution de jetons OpenSea.

Des rumeurs de KYC se répandent

En parallèle de ces rumeurs, une nouvelle rumeur a vu le jour. Décidément, cela fait beaucoup de rumeurs.

Selon les dires de certains utilisateurs, la section des conditions de service de ce site web faisait référence à des normes de KYC.

« Vous fournirez des informations exactes, complètes et à jour, telles que raisonnablement demandées pour la connaissance du client (“KYC”), la lutte contre le blanchiment d’argent (“AML”), les contrôles de sanctions ou d’autres objectifs de conformité, et mettrez rapidement à jour ces informations si elles deviennent obsolètes. »

Il n’en aura pas fallu plus pour que les internautes s’enflamment. À l’image de @OGDfarmer, suivi par 117 000 personnes sur X, qui s’est pour le moins emporté face à la nouvelle.

« L’airdrop est KYC ENFORCED ? !? Vous êtes sérieux, là, OpenSea ?? Nous avons eu des douzaines d’airdrops cette année, pas un seul d’entre eux n’a de KYC comme exigence, surtout dans ce climat réglementaire, il n’y a aucune raison pour cette violation absolue de la vie privée de l’utilisateur. »

OpenSea dément les allégations

En réponse à une énième publication concernant le potentiel KYC, Devin Finzer, le cofondateur d’OpenSea a déclaré que « Tout cela est complètement faux ».

Par la suite, le compte officiel X de la Fondation OpenSea a également démenti les rumeurs : 

« GM. Aucune des rumeurs sur X aujourd’hui n’est vraie. Ne faites confiance qu’aux liens que nous publions à partir de ce compte. »

Toutefois, OpenSea n’a pas démenti un potentiel airdrop, ce qui reste une bonne nouvelle pour ses utilisateurs et les détenteurs de NFT.

Malheureusement pour OpenSea, les NFT n’ont plus la côte qu’ils ont eue lors du précédent bullrun. Par exemple, malgré un regain d’intérêt en parallèle de l’airdrop du jeton PENGU, les NFT Pudgy Penguins enregistrent une chute de 60% depuis le début de l’année.

L’article Airdrop et KYC : les rumeurs se répandent concernant OpenSea est apparu en premier sur Journal du Coin.

Crypto ecosystem growth slowed in January, with total trading volume dropping 24%, Wall Street bank JPMorgan (JPM) said in a research report Tuesday citing TradingView data.

Still, the activity is double the level before the U.S. election in November and the total market cap increased 8% to roughly $3.4 trillion, the report said. The market cap growth was concentrated in bitcoin (BTC), solana (SOL) and XRP, while « declines in average daily volume (ADV) were broad-based across the ecosystem, » the bank said.

« We think the election was a catalyst for sure, and activity and token price levels are finding their equilibrium in the post-election period, » analysts led by Kenneth Worthington wrote.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) fared worse on a monthly basis the report said, with a larger deterioration across a number of metrics.

There has been some progress on the regulatory front.

The new Trump administration established a new crypto taskforce and SAB 121, a controversial accounting rule, was rescinded, JPMorgan said.

Read more: Equities-Crypto Relationship Is Likely to Weaken in the Long Term, Citi Says

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

Cardano’s ADA is trading higher, buoyed by Grayscale’s recent spot ETF application, while bitcoin (BTC) remains rangebound in a lackluster crypto market as we gear up for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress.

Powell takes the stage on Capitol Hill later Tuesday for his semi-annual update on monetary policy. He’ll start with the Senate and repeat his performance in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The testimony is likely to do little to revive BTC’s upswing. The consensus is that Powell will uphold his data-dependent approach, reiterating that the central bank isn’t in a rush to cut interest rates anytime soon and is keen on observing more progress with inflation.

Data shared by Bloomberg’s Lisa Abramowicz shows that market-implied inflation rates for the next two to five years have soared to their highest levels since early 2023. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s tariffs could underpin inflation. The CME’s FedWatch tool currently shows traders anticipate just 50 basis points in cuts by the end of next year, significantly less than the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) outlined in its December forecasts.

However, there’s a glimmer of hope: If the Consumer Price Index (CPI) release on Wednesday comes in weaker than expected, it could create some upside volatility.

In other news, Japanese mobile-game studio Gumi said it is planning to purchase bitcoin worth 1 billion yen ($6.6 million), following Tokyo-listed Metaplanet’s lead. Metaplanet began buying BTC last year and its shares soared a staggering 4,800% in 12 months.

Social media continues to buzz with debate over the imbalance in Ethereum’s ecosystem, where layer-2 scaling products retain most of the generated revenue while contributing only a small percentage back to the foundational layer. Solana, meanwhile, continues to outshine Ethereum and other smart-contract blockchains in decentralized exchange trading volumes and revenue.

In traditional markets, gold is taking bull breather while copper, often seen as proxy for global economic health, is trading lower, snapping a six-day winning streak. Stay alert!

What to Watch

Crypto

Feb. 13: Start of Kraken’s gradual delisting of the USDT, PYUSD, EURT, TUSD, UST stablecoins for EEA clients. The process ends March. 31.

Feb. 13: Story (IP) mainnet launch.

Feb. 14: Dynamic TAO (DTAO) network upgrade goes live on the Bittensor (TAO) mainnet.

Feb. 14, 2:30 a.m. (Estimate): Qtum (QTUM) hard fork network upgrade.

Feb. 18, 10:00 a.m.: FTX Digital Markets, the Bahamas-based subsidiary of FTX, will start reimbursing creditors.

Feb. 21: TON (The Open Network) will become the exclusive blockchain infrastructure for messaging platform Telegram’s Mini App ecosystem.

Macro

Feb. 11, 10:00 a.m.: Fed Chair Jerome Powell presents his semi-annual report to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Livestream link.

Feb. 11, 2:30 p.m.: U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee (« Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence ») hearing titled « A Golden Age of Digital Assets: Charting a Path Forward. » Witness include Jonathan Jachym, who is Kraken’s deputy general counsel. Livestream link.

Feb. 12, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases January’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report.

Core Inflation Rate MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.2%

Core Inflation Rate YoY Est. 3.1% vs Prev. 3.2%

Inflation Rate MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.4%

Inflation Rate YoY Est. 2.9% vs. Prev. 2.9%

Feb. 12, 10:00 a.m.: Fed Chair Jerome Powell presents his semi-annual report to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. Livestream link.

Feb. 13, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases January’’s Producer Price Index (PPI) report.

Core PPI MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0%

Core PPI YoY Est. 3.3% vs. Prev. 3.5%

PPI MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.2%

PPI YoY Prev. 3.3%

Feb. 13, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Department of Labor releases the Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims report for the week ended Feb. 8.

Initial Jobless Claims Est. 216K vs. Prev. 219K

Earnings

Feb. 11: Exodus Movement (EXOD), post-market, $0.14 (2 ests.)

Feb. 11: HIVE Digital Technologies (HIVE), post-market, $-0.15

Feb. 12: Hut 8 (HUT), pre-market, $0.05

Feb. 12: IREN (IREN), post-market, $-0.01

Feb. 12: Reddit (RDDT), post-market, $0.25

Feb. 12: Robinhood Markets (HOOD), post-market, $0.41

Feb. 13: Coinbase Global (COIN), post-market, $1.89

Feb. 14: Remixpoint (TYO: 3825)

Token Events

Governance votes & calls

Aave DAO is discussing recognizing HyperLend as a friendly fork of Aave deployed on the Hyperliquid EVM chain, as well as the deployment of Aave v3 on Ink, Kraken’s layer-2 rollup network.

Sky DAO is discussing, among other things, onboarding Arbitrum One to the Spark Liquidity layer, increasing the PSM2 rate limits on Base and minting 100 million USDS worth of sUSDS into Base to accommodate growth on the network.

Morpho DAO is discussing a 25% reduction in MORPHO rewards on both Ethereum and Base after another reduction took effect on Jan. 30.

DYdX DAO is voting on the dYdX Treasury subDAO taking control over the stDYDX within the protocol’s Community Treasury and any tokens accrued through auto compounding staking rewards.

Feb. 12 2 p.m. : Render (RENDER) to host an AI Scout Discord AMA session.

Unlocks

Feb. 12: Aethir (ATH) to unlock 10.21% of circulating supply worth $23.80 million.

Feb. 14: The Sandbox (SAND) to unlock 8.4% of circulating supply worth $80.2 million.

Feb. 16: Arbitrum (ARB) to unlock 2.13% of circulating supply worth $42.93 million.

Feb. 21: Fast Token (FTN) to unlock 4.66% of circulating supply worth $78.8 million.

Token Launches

Feb. 12: Avalon (AVL) to be listed on Bybit.

Feb. 12: Game7 (G7) to be listed on Bybit, Gate.io, HashKey, MEXC, XT, and KuCoin.

Feb. 13: EthereumPoW (ETHW) and Polygon (MATIC) to no longer be supported at Deribit.

Conferences:

CoinDesk’s Consensus to take place in Hong Kong on Feb. 18-20 and in Toronto on May 14-16. Use code DAYBOOK and save 15% on passes.

Feb. 12-13: Frankfurt Digital Finance (FDF) 2025

Feb. 13-14: The 4th Edition of NFT Paris.

Feb. 18-20: Consensus Hong Kong

Feb. 19: Sui Connect: Hong Kong

Feb. 23 to March 2: ETHDenver 2025 (Denver, Colorado)

Feb. 24: RWA London Summit 2025

Feb. 25: HederaCon 2025 (Denver)

Derivatives Positioning

Litecoin’s near 10% price surge in the past 24 hours is accompanied by an 18% rise in perpetual futures open interest. HBAR, UNI have also seen notable increases in open interest, according to Velo Data.

Speaking of perpetual funding rates, SOL, SUI are seeing negative readings in a sign of bias for bearish short positions.

At 11%, ETH’s CME futures basis is greater than BTC’s, which may draw in carry traders, resulting in a strong uptake for ether spot ETFs.

BTC, ETH put skews on Deribit have eased slightly. Flows have been muted.

Market Movements:

BTC is up 0.62% from 4 p.m. ET Monday to $97,989.64 (24hrs: +0.27%)

ETH is up 0.53% at $2,702.45 (24hrs: +2.07%)

CoinDesk 20 is up 1.79% to 3,269.36 (24hrs: +1.77%)

Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is up 8 bps to 3.05%

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

DXY is unchanged at 108.31

Gold is up 0.58% at $2,931.2/oz

Silver is down 0.74% to $32.15/oz

Nikkei 225 closed unchanged at 38,801.17

Hang Seng closed -1.06% at 21,294.86

FTSE is unchanged at 8,767.36

Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.1% to 5,363.27

DJIA closed Monday +0.38% at 44,470.41

S&P 500 closed +0.67% at 6,066.44

Nasdaq closed +0.98% at 19,714.27

S&P/TSX Composite Index closed +0.85% at 25,658.9

S&P 40 Latin America closed +0.77% at 2,428.87

U.S. 10-year Treasury rate was unchanged at 4.49%

E-mini S&P 500 futures are down 0.33% to 6,068.5

E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are down 0.47% at 21,743.5

E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are down 0.21% at 44,488

Bitcoin Stats:

BTC Dominance: 61.21% (-0.59%)

Ethereum to bitcoin ratio: 0.02752 (0.77%)

Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 802 EH/s

Hashprice (spot): $53.19

Total Fees: 4.58 BTC / $445,648

CME Futures Open Interest: 166,695 BTC

BTC priced in gold: 33.3 oz

BTC vs gold market cap: 9.46%

Technical Analysis

BTC’s monthly chart serves as an excellent illustration of how trendlines drawn from major price points act as support levels.

Over the past two months, the downside has consistently been capped at around $90,000. This level is defined by a trendline connecting the twin peaks from 2021.

Crypto Equities

MicroStrategy (MSTR): closed on Monday at $334.62 (+2.16%), up 0.15% at $335.11 in pre-market.

Coinbase Global (COIN): closed at $280.22 (+2.09%), up 0.23% at $280.86 in pre-market.

Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY): closed at C$27.24 (+1.3%)

MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $16.76 (unchanged), up 0.36% at $16.82 in pre-market.

Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $11.63 (-0.1%), down 0.1% at $11.62 in pre-market.

Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $12.82 (+2.07%), up 0.1% at $12.83 in pre-market.

CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $11.18 (-1.32%), down 0.54% at $11.12 in pre-market.

CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $23.50 (+1.51%), unchanged at $23.5 in pre-market.

Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $49.61 (+0.83%), up 2.6% at $50.90 in pre-market.

Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $51.18 (+5.81%), down 2.31% at $50 in pre-market.

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs:

Daily net flow: -$186.3 million

Cumulative net flows: $40.52 billion

Total BTC holdings ~ 1.177 million.

Spot ETH ETFs

Daily net flow: -$22.5 million

Cumulative net flows: $3.16 billion

Total ETH holdings ~ 3.791 million.

Source: Farside Investors

Overnight Flows

Chart of the Day

Solana-based decentralized exchanges have hosted more trading volume than Ethereum since October.

While You Were Sleeping

Ether Has Underperformed, but Total Value Locked on Ethereum Is Rising: Citi (CoinDesk): A Citi research paper says ether has underperformed bitcoin this year, despite Ethereum’s improving fundamentals, rising total value locked (TVL), continued ETF inflows and potential for crypto-friendly U.S. regulation.

Hedge Funds Are Short Ether CME Futures Like Never Before. Is It Carry Trade or Outright Bearish Bets? (CoinDesk): Hedge funds hold record ether futures shorts on CME, mainly for carry trades profiting from the difference between spot ETH ETF and ETH futures pricing. Bearish bets may also be contributing.

Trump Sets 25% Tariffs on Steel, Aluminum, Widening Trade War (Bloomberg): President Trump placed a 25% tariff on all imported steel and aluminum, effective March 12, with the aim of boosting domestic production and creating new jobs.

Chinese Companies Don’t Know Where to Put Their Cash — and It’s Sparking a Record Rise in Dividend Payouts (CNBC): Chinese companies are offering record dividends and share buybacks, encouraged by government reforms to improve shareholder returns.

UK Inflation Threat Receding, Says BoE Rate-Setter Who Voted for Big Cut (Financial Times): Catherine Mann, an external member of Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, said she had voted for a 50 basis point rate cut last week, citing reduced inflationary pressures.

WazirX Offers 85% of Stolen User Funds as Rebalancing Ends (CoinDesk): Indian crypto exchange WazirX, hacked last year, hopes to start initial fund distribution in April, aiming to return 85% of the dollar value of users’ crypto holdings, with more to come later.

In the Ether

Non-fungible token (NFT) platform OpenSea denied reports that users claiming a potential airdrop will be forced to complete detailed identification, or know-your-customer (KYC), checks.

« This is all completely false, » OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer wrote on X in response to a post that referred to the terms and conditions on the OpenSea Foundation website.

The terms and conditions also said users would be restricted from using VPNs and users in the U.S. would not be able to claim. The page contained « boilerplate language » and was « on a test website for a short period of time, » Finzer said.

Speculation over an OpenSea airdrop has been swirling since December after it registered an entity named OpenSea Foundation in the Cayman Islands, coinciding with the release of a new version of the platform dubbed « OS2. »

X user Adam Hollander said that he had a conversation with the OpenSea chief and « folks in the USA will be happy with the Foundation’s actual announcement when they make it, » seemingly confirming an airdrop will take place.

Polymarket odds weighing whether OpenSea would issue an airdrop before April spiked from 25% to 45% following Finzer’s tweets.

Trading volume on OpenSea has experienced a significant drop since the previous bull run in 2022, when it notched a record $2.7 billion of volume in a single day. Volume for all of January this year was just $194 million, according to Dune.

Dernière chance ? James Howells, un résident du Pays de Galles, est devenu une légende urbaine dans le monde des cryptomonnaies après avoir accidentellement jeté un disque dur contenant 7 500 bitcoins en 2013. Depuis, il mène une bataille juridique et médiatique pour récupérer son trésor perdu, estimé aujourd’hui à environ 768 millions de dollars. Sa dernière idée ? Acheter la décharge où il pense que son disque dur est enterré.

Une fortune en Bitcoin perdue dans une décharge

En 2013, James Howells, alors ingénieur en informatique, a commis l’erreur de sa vie. En nettoyant son bureau, il a jeté un disque dur contenant les clés privées d’un portefeuille Bitcoin qu’il avait miné en 2009. À l’époque, le Bitcoin valait quelques centimes, mais aujourd’hui, ces 7 500 BTC valent une fortune.

Depuis, notre héros malheureux tente désespérément de retrouver son disque dur. Il a même proposé aux autorités locales de Newport, au Pays de Galles, de financer une opération de recherche dans la décharge municipale où il pense que le disque dur se trouve. Mais ses demandes ont été systématiquement refusées pour des raisons environnementales et légales.

James Howell finira-t-il par mettre la main sur ses 7 500 bitcoins ?

Acheter la décharge pour retrouver ses Bitcoins

Face aux refus répétés du conseil municipal de la ville, il a finalement décidé de changer de stratégie. Il envisage désormais d’acheter la décharge : « Si les propriétaires actuels sont prêts à négocier à des tarifs équitables, nous serions intéressés par l’acquisition du site de décharge de Newport Docksway », a-t-il déclaré à la presse.

Cette démarche pourrait lui permettre de contourner les obstacles juridiques qui l’empêchent actuellement d’accéder à la zone de recherche. Cependant, il devra encore obtenir un permis d’excavation et de récupération de la part de Natural Resources Wales, l’organisme chargé de la protection de l’environnement au Pays de Galles.

James Howells est prêt à tout pour récupérer son trésor perdu et il a même déclaré qu’il était prêt à lancer un token utilitaire ou des NFT pour financer ses efforts : « Je suis assez confiant que le monde de la crypto me soutiendra », a-t-il affirmé.

Si ses démarches aboutissaient, il pourrait devenir un homme très riche grâce à un simple disque dur retrouvé dans une décharge. Une histoire digne d’un film hollywoodien, mais qui rappelle aussi à quel point il est crucial de bien sécuriser ses clés privées lorsqu’on possède des cryptomonnaies.

La détermination de James Howells à récupérer ses bitcoins est admirable. Reste à voir si ses efforts porteront leurs fruits et s’il pourra un jour mettre la main sur ce disque dur qui vaut de l’or. Une chose est sûre : son histoire continuera de fasciner la communauté crypto pendant longtemps.

L’article Bitcoin : Il perd 768 millions de $ en BTC et veut acheter une décharge pour les retrouver est apparu en premier sur Journal du Coin.

Les 13 et 14 février 2025, la Grande Halle de la Villette accueillera la 4e édition de NFT Paris, désormais considéré comme le plus grand salon européen dédié au Web3. Avec plus de 20 000 visiteurs attendus et 400 intervenants, l’événement s’affirme comme un carrefour d’innovation, réunissant artistes, entrepreneurs, investisseurs et géants de la technologie autour des NFT, de la blockchain et de l’intelligence artificielle​ (IA).

L’article NFT Paris 2025 : le rendez-vous incontournable du Web3 en Europe est de retour est apparu en premier sur Cryptoast.

Récemment, le marché de l’art a connu une augmentation de son activité, alimentée par une richesse croissante et un intérêt grandissant pour l’art. Cependant, la trajectoire actuelle du marché soulève des questions sur sa durabilité. Avant le NFT Paris 2025, 10101.art, une plateforme à l’intersection de l’art, de la technologie et de la blockchain, explore l’état actuel du marché de l’art, l’impact de la digitalisation sur l’offre et la demande, et le rôle de la technologie dans la construction d’un avenir plus durable pour l’art.

L’article Comment l’innovation technologique propulse le marché de l’art vers une croissance durable est apparu en premier sur Cointribune.