Ether.Fi has shot to the top of the list of crypto’s hottest projects as the biggest liquid-restaking protocol by total value locked, or TVL.
Protocol Village: Burnt Banksy Launches XION Blockchain, With USDC as Primary Currency
The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For the period of March 7-March 13.
The Protocol: Bitcoin Cry for Help Heard
It may seem perplexing to the corporate mindset that bitcoin’s price surged this week to a new all-time high above the old record around $69,000, even as the dominant Bitcoin Core software used to run the blockchain remains dependent on a group of volunteers. But there may be help on the way.
Taiko, an ‘Ethereum-Equivalent ZK Rollup,’ Raises $15M
The Taiko project, distinguished for its “based sequencing” architecture, is one of several competing for relevance among a deep field of Ethereum layer-2 networks.
Protocol Village: Bitcoin Miner Marathon, Plans ‘Anduro,’ a Multi-Chain Layer-2
The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For the period of Feb. 29-March 6.
The Protocol: Bitcoin’s Call for Volunteers, Ethena’s USDe, Blast’s Blast-Off
In this week’s issue of CoinDesk’s newsletter on blockchain technology, we’ve got an exclusive interview with Stacks co-creator Muneeb Ali. PLUS: More than $200 million of blockchain project fundraisings.
U.S. Government Crypto Wallets Transfer Nearly $1B of Bitcoin Seized From Bitfinex Hacker
Wallets containing bitcoin seized by the U.S. government in the notorious Bitfinex hack – later leading to guilty pleas for Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan – have suddenly become active.
Coinbase Adds 2 Software Programs for Ethereum Staking, to Reduce Concentration Risks
The publicly traded U.S. crypto exchange said it would add support for the additional Ethereum “clients” – computer programs used to access and run the distributed network – to help reduce dependence on the dominant Geth software.
Eigen Labs, Developer Behind Restaking Protocol EigenLayer, Raises $100M From A16z Crypto
The pioneering restaking project EigenLayer, led by Sreeram Kannan, isn’t even live but investors are piling in. A16z Crypto is affiliated with the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Protocol Village: Wormhole Collaborates With AMD to Make Hardware Accelerators
The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For the period of Feb. 22-28.
The Protocol: Restaking Tokens Are Exploding, and Restaking Isn’t Even Live
In this week’s issue of our weekly blockchain tech newsletter, Sam Kessler explores how “liquid restaking tokens” or LRTs are remaking decentralized finance. PLUS: Starknet’s STRK airdrop, Stellar’s smart-contract facelift and bitcoin’s supply crunch.
Stellar Starts Phased Rollout of ‘Soroban’ Smart Contracts
The “Protocol 20” upgrade, which adds support for Ethereum-style smart contracts to the decade-old payments-focused blockchain, had been delayed by three weeks due to precautions after a bug was found.
Protocol Village: QuickNode Adds Support for ZkSync Hyperchains
The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For the period of Feb. 15-21.
The Protocol: Bitcoin’s OP_CAT, Fake Ethereum Tokens, Starknet’s Airdrop
CoinDesk’s Jamie Crawley takes a look at the suddenly-high-profile proposal to revive Bitcoin’s historic “OP_CAT” function as a way of enabling more development on the oldest blockchain. PLUS: the unofficial “ERC-404” tokens driving up fees on Ethereum and highlights from our Protocol Village column over the past week.
Protocol Village: Order-Routing Protocol Flood Raises $5.2M Led by Bain Capital Crypto, Archetype
The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For the period of Feb. 8-14.
The Protocol: Solana’s Missed Moment, Exclusive Farcaster Q&A, Bullish Year of Dragon
Even in a slow week ahead of the Chinese New Year, there’s a lot of crypto news to cover. Here’s this week’s The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter devoted to blockchain tech.
Taproot Wizards’ New Bitcoin NFTs Already Trading at Twice the Initial Sale Price
With almost two hours left for whitelisted buyers to claim the digital-art collectibles, at least 2,560 of the series of 3,000 had been claimed, at a fixed price of 0.1 BTC ($4,274 each).
Protocol Village: Prediction Market Zeitgeist Launches DLMSR-Based AMM
The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For the period of Feb. 1-7.
The Protocol: Bitcoin NFT Debacle, Vitalik’s 30th, Farcaster Frames, ‘Private Mempools’
In this week’s issue of The Protocol newsletter, our Sam Kessler writes about the “private mempools” that Ethereum users are increasingly relying on to avoid front-running MEV bots. PLUS: Margaux Nijkerk explores the growing use of “councils” to oversee adolescent networks.
Stellar’s Foundation Supports Delay of Smart-Contracts Upgrade After Bug Found
A bug identified on Jan. 25 was deemed to pose “little risk,” but after receiving “robust feedback” from the blockchain’s developer community, the Stellar Development Foundation opted to “disarm” its validators ahead of the Jan. 30 target date for the Protocol 20 upgrade.