WWR #45: Manta's Airdrop Odyssey, Polkadot's Memecoin Embrace & Integritee's Testnet Triumph!
2024-01-08
Welcome to our 45th edition of the Weekly Web3 Recap!
TL;DR:
Litentry's Identity Launch: Kickstarting with new solutions in digital identity.
Polkadot Ecosystem: Revealing 2023's ambitious ecosystem ventures.
Integritee's Double Feature: Incognitee Testnet drop and an educational content sprint.
Manta's Airdrop Odyssey: Embark on the "Into the Blue" adventure.
Staking Innovations by Composable: Redefining asset liquidity in Polkadot's sphere.
Jur's Decentralized Voyage: Setting sail toward robust governance models.
SORA's Ambitious Expansion: Redefining financial borders and possibilities.
Polimec's TGE Milestone: Unlocking new potential through token vesting.
Plus, fasten your seatbelts for:
Pendulum's Diversification: Moonbeam's got a new token player.
Bifrost's vToken Surge: Offering fresh avenues with vETH 2.0.
Interlay's Extended Stay: Locking down their parachain till 2025.
Equilibrium's Revolution: The Q-token and beyond.
In wider crypto news:
Orbit Chain's Heist Lesson: A stark reminder of cross-chain vulnerabilities.
Goldman Sachs & Bitcoin ETFs: Big finance flirts with crypto's poster child.
Visa's Web3 Wonders: Revolutionizing loyalty beyond points and perks.
Ex-Citi Chiefs & BTC: Banking bigwigs boarding the Bitcoin securities train.
Craving more intel? Read ON!
Polkadot Ecosystem
General News
The Rise of Decentralized Identity: Litentry's Trailblazing Journey in 2023
Litentry has solidified its place in the burgeoning Web3 world through remarkable progress in 2023, launching IdentityHub and securing strategic alliances. With eyes set on 2024, the protocol aims to integrate BRC20 and bolster interoperability within the blockchain ecosystem.
IdentityHub Launch: Litentry rolled out its groundbreaking platform, IdentityHub, featuring identity scores, direct invocation, and ERC20 sign-in functionality, leading the charge towards secure personal data management in Web3.
Strategic Partnerships: The protocol didn't just innovate; it also expanded its network, joining forces with DWF Labs and Space ID to adapt to the market and fortify its position.
2024 Roadmap: Poised for the future, Litentry plans to tap into the BTC ecosystem, with BRC20 integration through the Unisat wallet, and further its commitment to revolutionizing decentralized identity.
Exploring Polkadot's 2023 Ecosystem: Trends & Insights
The latest report on Polkadot's ecosystem reveals significant growth and innovation across its decentralized landscape in 2023. Uncover the key trends driving Polkadot's advancement in the blockchain sphere.
Growth & Innovation: Polkadot's ecosystem has seen a surge in developmental activities, showcasing a broad range of new dApps, parachains, and collaborative projects that underscore the network's vibrant expansion.
User Engagement: Adoption metrics illustrate a remarkable increase in active accounts and transaction volumes, indicating a strengthening community trust and a wider recognition of Polkadot's technological prowess.
Infrastructure Progress: There has been substantial progress in Polkadot's infrastructure, with enhancements in network scalability and interoperability, reinforcing its position as a frontrunner in multi-chain architectures.
Incognitee Testnet: Integritee's Game-Changing Privacy Sidechain
Integritee’s December update heralds the launch of the Incognitee Testnet, offering a new privacy-centric way to transfer assets using L2 sidechains. Additionally, they've enhanced their platform with fresh educational content and significant SDK updates, including multichain support to amplify development efficiency.
Incognitee Testnet Rollout: Mark your calendars for 2024, as Integritee sets the stage for Incognitee, a privacy sidechain designed for discreet digital asset transfers that maintains user anonymity without compromising on speed.
Empowering Users with Knowledge: In its mission to demystify the blockchain space, Integritee has released a trove of educational content, including articles and a video series that sheds light on L2 solutions and their proprietary technology like Trusted Off Chain Workers and the Teeracle.
SDK Evolution: With the rollout of new versions v0.12.2 and v0.12.8, and the upcoming v0.13.0, Integritee's SDK is becoming a robust tool for developers, introducing features like multichain support and streamlining the development process with targeted bug fixes and optimizations.
Dive Deep and Claim Your $MANTA: Unveiling the Manta Network's "Into the Blue" Airdrop Odyssey!
The Manta Network's "Into the Blue Campaign" heralds a watershed moment with a whopping 50 million $MANTA token airdrop for its stalwart community. Excitement swims through Manta Pacific as the campaign also includes an adventurous Great Treasure Hunt featuring exclusive NFT rewards.
The Campaign Waves: "Into the Blue" showers steadfast Manta supporters with two streams of treasures – vast Airdrop Rewards and coveted Airdrop Bonus Rewards through the immersive Great Treasure Hunt.
The Ocean's Six: Intrepid explorers delve into Manta Pacific to uncover Mysterious Treasure Chests concealing six rare NFTs—from the gleaming Mother of Pearl to the mighty Neptune's Trident—each unlocking a share of the enormous 20 million $MANTA bounty.
Ecosystem Reef: Manta Network's visionary sea chart outlines Manta Atlantic and Manta Pacific, pillars of a privacy-centric blockchain infrastructure that champions zero-knowledge concord and seamless EVM-native dApp innovation aboard a wave of minimal gas fees.
Unlocking Blockchain's Potential with TEEs: Integritee's Enlightening Roadmap
The Integritee Network has released a treasure trove of content, illuminating the intricacies of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and their application in blockchain through a series of engaging videos and articles. Their 2023 roadmap promises to dive deeper into the technological revolution of privacy and security in the blockchain space.
The first season of Integritee's educational videos demystifies TEEs for the blockchain community, exploring everything from foundational technologies to real-world applications and security considerations.
Season two gears up to examine the technical backbone of Integritee's infrastructure, including Layer-2 sidechains, Off-chain Trusted Compute Workers (TOCWs), and their Teeracle oracle solution.
Beyond videos, Integritee enriches curious minds with articles on cutting-edge topics such as AI's convergence with blockchain, the role of blockchain in aerospace, and the vital significance of privacy-preserving techniques in the Web3 landscape.
Polkadot's Wild Side: From Meme Coins to NFT Frenzy
Polkadot isn't just surviving—it's thriving with new memecoins and an NFT boom, despite increased network fees and performance questions. Projects like PINK and DED offer a playful take on driving ecosystem participation, even as they test the network's limits.
Scalability Meets Creativity: Polkadot's architecture not only supports complex operations across its parachains but now also hosts a creative explosion of memecoins and NFTs, showcasing the protocol's versatility and its openness to 'craziness'.
A Memecoin Avalanche: The rise of inscriptions and memecoins like PINK and DED is a testament to Polkadot's vibrant community—while PINK rewards through gaming, DED humorously challenges the 'Polkadot is dead' mantra.
Challenges Amidst Innovation: While Polkadot embraces the fun, the inscriptions phenomenon has put the network under stress with higher fees and questions about sustainability, underlining the need for engaged governance by its community.
Revolutionizing NFTs: Unique Network's Year of Milestones
Unique Network unveils a treasure trove of 2022 highlights, from launching the Polkadot NFT Collective aimed at unifying parachains to collaborations that elevated NFTs to the glamorous runways of Paris Fashion Week. Dive into a journey where cutting-edge tech meets community and fashion, reshaping the digital asset landscape.
Polkadot's NFT Game Changer: The Polkadot NFT Collective, spearheaded by Unique Network, is shaking things up. It's more than just a collaboration—it's a vision to make Polkadot the NFT heaven through robust governance, savvy technical advancements, and aggressive ecosystem marketing.
Cross-Chain Innovation with NFT XCM Proposal: Unique Network's CEO stepped up with the NFT XCM proposal, in partnership with Acala Network, to let your precious NFTs voyage across chains on Polkadot with ease, boosting the network's interoperability and the value of its digital collectibles.
Fashion Meets Functionality: The alliance with DUNDAS teleported NFTs from cyberspace to the high fashion sphere. As Paris Fashion Week attendees strutted, they snagged some snazzy Proof of Attendance tokens through Unique Network—a blend of style and tech that's redefining exclusivity.
Darwinia Network Embraces EIP-1559 to Revamp Fee Market
Darwinia Network is set to adopt an Ethereum-inspired EIP-1559 mechanism to burn transaction fees, ensuring a more stable fee market and rewarding collators. This transformative move is geared towards achieving predictable fees, reducing congestion, and bolstering the practical use case of the RING token.
Fee Burns & Rewards Alignment: By introducing fee burns and tips for block authors, Darwinia aligns economic incentives with its inflation strategy, giving a new lease of life to the utility of RING tokens and motivating network collators.
Improved User Experience: The shift to an EIP-1559-like model promises users more consistent transaction costs while aiming to alleviate network bottlenecks, mirroring the benefits seen in Ethereum's fee market overhaul.
Future-Forward Strategy: The network's future goals include dovetailing with its inflation model, balancing the scales between collators' roles and their incentives, and amplifying the RING token's functionality within the ecosystem.
Charting a Decentralized Future: Jur Embraces Community-Driven Governance
Jur is surging towards a groundbreaking evolution, inaugurating a solochain, dApp launches, and token listings while handing the reins over to the community for true decentralized governance. As they set sail on uncharted waters, with the addition of a new CTO, the dissolving of the core team, and the elimination of the sudo key, Jur invites its members to mold its trajectory.
Jur navigates the tumultuous seas of macroeconomic challenge, embracing Polkadot 2.0's promise, while mitigating the VC vacuum with robust, community-led directives such as the Jur Chain and NationX dApp.
Technical democratization takes center stage as Jur's node source code turns open-source, and $JUR tokens are secured in public view – all in a bid to cultivate transparent, on-chain governance and long-term ecosystem vitality.
The roadmap for a decentralized odyssey is chartered – activation of OpenGov, complete core team autonomy, and Jur AG shutdown – as Jur extends an open invitation for contributors to shape an empowered, community-driven legal landscape.
SORA's 2023 Crypto Ecosystem Expansion: An Interoperable Triumph
In 2023, SORA took significant strides in interoperability and platform development with Substrate 4 integration, a synthetic asset platform release, and novel financial products. With new partnerships and a broadening scope, the network is pushing the envelope of blockchain utility.
Substrate and SORA Synergy: The SORA network's shift towards Substrate 4 culminated in exciting developments, including a bridge to other Substrate-based chains and preparation for the SORA parachain slot on Polkadot, enhancing cross-network operability.
Synthetics and Stable Assets: SORA debuted its synthetic assets platform, providing lovers of decentralized finance (DeFi) with a bouquet of nearly 30 synthetic assets and transitioning from the XST to the TBCD token for a more stable and productive economic framework.
Bringing DeFi to Daily Life: The SORA wallet app and upcoming SORA card are set to merge the crypto world with everyday transactions, making everything from liquidity pooling to fiat conversions as simple as tapping your phone.
Polimec's Milestone Achievement: PLMC Token Generation Event Takes Off!
Polimec's ecosystem takes a leap forward with the successful execution of its Token Generation Event (TGE), initiating the vesting period for PLMC tokens. Token holders can utilize their PLMC for network activities, but transfers await the green light from a future governance vote.
Vesting Period Unlocked: The newly minted PLMC tokens have begun their vesting journey, with each blockchain block produced unlocking a slice of the digital pie for eager holders.
Empowerment in Holders' Hands: While the PLMC tokens are non-transferable for now, holders can still stash their digital assets in various wallets and use them for staking, governance, and other on-chain activities.
Future Staking Prospects: Keep your cryptographic seed safe and wallets ready, as Polimec hints at staking capabilities set to enhance the token's utility and participation in the near future.
NFT News
Rev Up Your Digital Engagement: EXR Unveils EXR Engage Platform
EXR proudly launches EXR Engage, a revolutionary platform that ramps up community and brand interaction through tailor-made racing and prediction events. Get ready to fast-track your digital experience with branded experiences, exclusive access, and bespoke rewards.
Immersive Branded Experiences: Step into the future of community engagement with EXR Engage's branded experiences, offering gated access and custom passes to create a unique and thrilling race event ecosystem.
Race & Prediction Gaming: Keep your pulse racing with weekly events, where predictions meet competition in a battle for leaderboard supremacy, ensuring constant engagement.
Personalized Outreach & Rewards: Elevate your game with targeted outreach and personalized rewards from EXR Engage, using gasless airdrop rewards and coveted leaderboard prizes to incentivize and excite participants.
DeFi News
Pendulum's PEN Token Makes a Splash on Moonbeam's Stellaswap
Pendulum's native token, PEN, has expanded its horizon by hitting the liquidity-rich shores of Stellaswap, Moonbeam's Decentralized Exchange (DEX). Exciting times lie ahead with the lure of lucrative liquidity mining rewards and a strengthened bridge within the Polkadot ecosystem.
The PEN-DOT pair is now tradable on Stellaswap's DEX, giving DeFi aficionados a new playground to dive into. With integrated liquidity mining programs, you can swim in a sea of rewards in both PEN and STELLA tokens.
By leveraging the XCM channel, PEN cements itself as a versatile EVM asset, enhancing its harmony with Ethereum-based protocols. This means broader DeFi teamwork across ecosystems, making PEN a token that refuses to be siloed.
The fuel for this DeFi vessel is GLMR, the native token of Moonbeam used for transactions. Thanks to bridges like Wormhole, bringing assets into Moonbeam's orbit has never been easier, which makes participating in liquidity mining an interstellar breeze.
Bifrost's 2023: A Kaleidoscope of Crypto Innovation and Growth
In 2023, Bifrost not only updated their vETH contract but also introduced two new liquid staking tokens, vASTR and vFIL. The platform experienced substantial growth, with its Total Value Locked (TVL) more than doubling to $110 million and the launch of the SLPx module enhancing cross-chain capabilities.
Milestone Tokens & Integrations: Bifrost made headlines with their innovative liquid staking tokens, notably with the Filcoin-integrated vFIL, and the launch of vASTR. The vETH contract received a significant upgrade to version 2.0, reflecting Bifrost's commitment to continual improvement and responding to community feedback.
Enhanced Trading Experience: Through the shift to Stable Swap pools for vTokens, Bifrost has addressed common DeFi issues like slippage, creating more efficient trading pairs such as vETH2.0/WETH and vFIL/FIL. This pivotal move, coupled with support for cross-chain transfers like Statemint USDT, has markedly improved liquidity and user experience.
Strategic Collaborations & Innovation: Bifrost's reach extended through strategic partnerships and community empowerment, with the SLPx module paving the way for cross-chain LSTs. By actively engaging in hackathons and providing grants, they’ve fostered developer participation and positioned themselves as an Omni-LST protocol leader in the crypto ecosystem.
Interlay Parachain Lease Renewal Secures Future until 2025
Interlay has won a Parachain slot ensuring its operation on the network through November 2025, and its DEX is now on the DeFi Llama tracker, expanding its visibility in the DeFi space.
Future-Proofed with Parachain: By nabbing slot 57 in the Parachain auctions, Interlay guarantees its blockchain real estate until late 2025, sharpening its edge in the interoperability arena.
DEX on the Radar: Catch the eyes of DeFi enthusiasts as Interlay DEX joins DeFi Llama's list, showcasing its growing pool and investment opportunities.
Brain Trust at BOB x DIA: Not just a player but a thinker in the Bitcoin realm, Interlay discusses innovation at BOB x DIA alongside other leading minds, signaling its commitment to thought leadership.
Unlock Liquidity While Staking: Composable's Liquid Staked DOT Revolution
Composable Finance has launched Liquid Staked DOT (lsDOT) in the Polkadot ecosystem, offering stakeholders liquidity alongside rewards. This innovation hinges on Composable's Restaking Layer which promises to enhance security and foster interconnectedness across various blockchain networks.
Liquid Staking Unleashed: Stake your DOT for lsDOT at app.trustless.zone and enjoy the dual benefits of asset liquidity plus staking rewards, without forfeiting your participation in network security.
Composable's Ecosystem Expansion: Look forward to lsDOT's integration into Composable's Restaking Layer, designed to not only secure the Polkadot realm but to also provide a bolstered security framework for multiple interlinked networks.
Future Forward: The roadmap hints at exciting possibilities, with the potential restaking of lsDOT creating a more robust, secure, and versatile ecosystem that transcends traditional blockchain boundaries.
Composable's Triumph: Winning Polkadot's 8th Parachain Slot and Unveiling LAYR Token
Composable Finance has clinched Polkadot's 8th parachain slot, thanks to over 5M DOT from supporters and is setting the stage for the LAYR token's 2024 release. With Picasso's success on Kusama and the parachain slot secured until June 2024, Composable's ecosystem looks primed for innovation.
Parachain Slot Victory: With over 5 million DOT contributed, Composable has secured Polkadot's 8th parachain slot; token redistribution starts January 16th, 2024.
Ecosystem Expansion: Picasso, Composable’s Kusama parachain, has excelled in connecting ecosystems, setting the scene for the LAYR token and enhancing the Composable MANTIS suite.
LAYR Token Anticipation: Post the upcoming Token Generation Event in H1 2024, the LAYR token will be strategically integrated into Composable's ecosystem, benefitting crowdloan contributors through a vested distribution.
Equilibrium's 2023 Roundup: Embracing Change with Qnomics & Polkadot Integration
Equilibrium has rallied the community around the pivotal transformation from EQ to Q tokens, following a successful referendum on tokenomics. Key developments include a clear Qnomics roadmap, EQ token burning and swap mechanics, significant 2023 achievements, and bold strides toward expansion in 2024 led by the Q token transition and further ecosystem integration.
Token Transition & Qnomics Roadmap: The EQ community approved a consequential shift in tokenomics, signaling the burning of existing EQ tokens in favor of the new Q tokens, setting the stage for securing a Polkadot parachain slot and fostering fresh liquidity campaigns.
2023 Milestones & Integration Successes: From EQ's smooth integration with top Polkadot wallets to its debut on influential exchanges and participation in key Polkadot events, the groundwork was laid for robust ecosystem growth.
Future-Forward Vision for 2024: With eyes set on the upcoming year, Equilibrium's bold plans comprise not only the full transition to the Q token but also the widescale adoption of EQD, the introduction of innovative trading mechanisms, and expansion beyond the Polkadot horizons.
Outside Polkadot
Orbit Chain's $81M Heist: The Cross-Chain Catastrophe
Orbit Chain's cross-chain bridge got fleeced for $81 million, marking another stark reminder of the security woes in decentralized finance. Recovering from a dip, ORC's market cap hovers at $36 million despite the heist.
Bridge Breach Blowout: A savvy hacker swiped 26,741.6 ETH and $18 million in dai stablecoin from Orbit Chain's ethereum vault, funding their wallet via the infamous Tornado Cash to cover their tracks.
TVL Tumbles: Post-heist, Orbit Chain's total value locked (TVL) plummeted from a healthy $152 million to a weakened $71 million, hinting at swift investor retreat.
Cybersecurity Scourge: With cryptocurrency users out $2 billion in 2023 due to miscreants, this latest attack echoes the notorious modus operandi of North Korea's infamous Lazarus Group hacking syndicate.
Goldman Sachs Sets Sights on Bitcoin ETF Arena with BlackRock and Grayscale
Goldman Sachs may soon join the ranks of big finance players in the bitcoin ETF space by becoming an authorized participant with industry heavyweights BlackRock and Grayscale. This move underscores the growing institutional interest in cryptocurrency as a cash-based ETF mechanism draws in major U.S. banks.
Finance Titans Move In: As BlackRock and Grayscale champion bitcoin ETFs, Goldman Sachs is negotiating to become an authorized participant—a role key to ETF liquidity and function, already embraced by firms like JPMorgan Chase, Jane Street, and Cantor Fitzgerald.
Institutional Adoption: The shift towards a cash-based ETF setup is a green light for heavyweight banks to dip into the digital currency pool, promising a new phase of mainstream financial integration for bitcoin.
Asset Management Goliath Meets Crypto Trust: Aligning with BlackRock, the titan of asset management, and Grayscale, manager of the colossal $26 billion Bitcoin Trust, Goldman's potential entry is a significant nod to the viability and future of cryptocurrency ETFs.
Visa Dives into Web3: Announcing a New Era of Customer Rewards
Visa is innovating the loyalty program arena with the Visa Web3 Loyalty Engagement Solution, partnering with brands to create digital wallets for more than just transactions; it's about immersive experiences. Coupled with SmartMedia Technologies, Visa is on a mission to blend loyalty points with digital and real-world adventures, redefining how customers interact with brands.
Beyond Transactions: Visa's new platform is set to transcend traditional loyalty systems, rewarding customers for engagement, not just for spending, with a suite of online and real-life experiences.
Strategic Partnerships: Visa's collaboration with SmartMedia Technologies heralds a new chapter in loyalty programs, leveraging Web3 to offer perks that resonate with a digitally-savvy audience, including unique digital collectibles.
Pioneering in Crypto Integration: With Visa's extensive background in crypto advisory and partnerships within the crypto ecosystem, the company is uniquely poised to infuse loyalty programs with the transformative power of Web3 technology.
Ex-Citi Execs Launch Bitcoin Securities Bypassing SEC
Seasoned Citigroup veterans are crafting a new path for Bitcoin investments with Bitcoin Depositary Receipts (BTC DRs), skirting the need for a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) blessing. These BTC DRs promise institutions a slice of Bitcoin ownership, with clearance from the Depository Trust Company (DTC), amidst anticipation of the elusive SEC-approved spot BTC ETF.
Innovative Bitcoin Investment: Under the Receipts Depositary Corp’s (RDC) novel scheme, investors will gain exposure to Bitcoin via depositary receipts, which assure direct Bitcoin ownership unlike cash-redeemed bitcoin ETFs.
Regulatory Acrobatics: By operating within the exemptions of the Securities Act of 1933, these Bitcoin-backed securities sidestep the protracted SEC approval process, offering a quicker route to market for eager institutional investors.
Anchoring Custody: Anchorage Digital Bank National Association steps up as the custodian, adding a layer of trust and security for the Bitcoin underpinning these instruments, which is crucial in assuaging institutional concerns.
The Dawn of Bitcoin ETFs: Grayscale, VanEck, and ARK Eye Exchange Listings
Grayscale, VanEck, and ARK have edged closer to listing their Bitcoin ETFs on major exchanges, but await the final nod from the SEC. If approved, these ETFs could revolutionize how US investors access Bitcoin, bypassing direct purchase and management of the cryptocurrency.
Approval secured from respective exchanges: Grayscale is set to trade on NYSE Arca, VanEck on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and ARK aims to list on Cboe, with Fidelity also joining the race.
Anticipation builds as the SEC deliberates: While the exchange green lights signal progress, the Securities and Exchange Commission's ultimate verdict is still pending, with the community eager for a breakthrough.
The broader impact of a Bitcoin ETF: Approval would mark a watershed moment, offering traditional investors a bridge to the digital asset space without the complexity of managing Bitcoin holdings directly.
Buddies Street News
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// See you next week!