Our weekly updates are put together by folks deep in the crypto scene, giving you a clear picture of what's happening without overwhelming you.
To Watch This Week
AIRDROPS + ALPHAFeb 9, 2024
Gaming
Why Treasure Is Building ‘Infinity Chains’ on Arbitrum to Power Ethereum Games
Crypto gaming ecosystem Treasure had options. Built on Arbitrum, the platform—which currently spans 15 games—attracted proposals from the Optimism, zkSync, and SKALE teams in recent weeks to migrate to another Ethereum scaling network. Instead, Treasure intends to double down on Arbitrum. This week, the ecosystem’s core team announced plans to launch a Treasure Chain built on Arbitrum and using its existing MAGIC token to pay for gas, with a web of “Infinity Chains” that can power the various ga...
Feb 9, 2024
Technology
You’re Never Going to Beat Twitter by Just Copying It, Says Farcaster Co-Founder
In slingshotting to prominence last week, decentralized social media protocol Farcaster has joined the ranks of numerous growing Twitter alternatives—both on-chain and off-chain—that seek to dethrone Twitter. What do Farcaster’s founders think of their competition? Not much. (Video by Rug Radio Creator Benjamin White.) “I don't think anything is working as a Twitter alternative,” Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero told Decrypt. In Romero’s view, many would-be Twitter killers have failed for the...
Feb 9, 2024
Technology Guides
What Is ERC-404? The Experimental ‘Semi-Fungible’ Ethereum Token Standard
Established token standards for Ethereum include fungible ERC-20 tokens and non-fungible ERC-721 tokens (NFTs). Now an experimental and unofficial new token standard, ERC-404, aims to combine elements of both into a single "semi-fungible" digital asset. What is ERC-404? ERC-404 is a new token standard for digital assets on the Ethereum blockchain developed by pseudonymous creators "ctrl" and "Acme." Token standards are formal sets of rules and protocols that determine the behavior of tokens on b...
Feb 9, 2024
Gaming
'Pixels' Airdrop Begins Ahead of Ronin Game's Token Launch
After announcing this week that the much anticipated PIXEL token will launch on February 19, the team behind the popular Ronin blockchain game Pixels revealed that airdrop allocations are already going out to players—and the team has raised funding, too. The latest updates continue a flurry of announcements around Pixels and its PIXEL token, following its migration to Ethereum scaling network Ronin last fall. The move prompted an enormous surge in active users on the gaming network—from about 20...
Feb 9, 2024
NFTs
Yuga Botched Another NFT Mint—Will the Bored Ape Maker Ditch Ethereum?
Yuga Labs, the multi-billion dollar company in charge of dominant crypto brands like the Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, found itself in hot water this week after implementing—and then reversing—remedies to fan dissatisfaction with a new NFT mint tied to its Ape-themed metaverse, Otherside. The saga began on Tuesday, when Yuga announced that players who had successfully completed a mission in the Otherside platform’s Legends of the Mara game could now claim on-chain collectibles, dubbed “L...
Feb 8, 2024
Technology
Girl Scout Cookies for Crypto: 7 Things Farcaster Frames Can Do That Twitter Can't
Farcaster, the decentralized social media protocol, has seen incredible growth in recent weeks since the launch of a new feature called Frames. Frames let users embed interactive apps in their casts (the Farcaster version of “tweets”). The apps can conduct functions on-chain and off, right there within Farcaster, and people have been using them in all kinds of creative ways. (Video by Rug Radio Creator Benjamin White.) Some of the more basic Frames that have appeared include those that allow yo...
Feb 8, 2024
Technology
Ethereum Set for Boost as Dencun Upgrade Gets a Date
Proto-danksharding is nearly upon us. After successfully performing a suite of test runs, Ethereum’s core developers announced Thursday that they plan to deploy the network’s landmark Dencun upgrade on or around March 13—finally ushering in a set of tools that could dramatically increase the speed and affordability of Ethereum transactions. Proto-danksharding, known by the bureaucratic shorthand EIP-4844, is the marquee feature of Ethereum’s upcoming Dencun upgrade. The development, which has b...
Feb 8, 2024
Markets
Ethereum Staking Booms, With 25% of All ETH Locked Up
A quarter of all Ethereum (ETH) in supply is now being staked, data shows. According to figures from blockchain data firm Nansen, over 30 million ETH—or about $74 billion worth of the cryptocurrency—has been locked up. Staking is the process of “locking up” digital coins or tokens to help keep a blockchain network running. Proof-of-stake assets like ETH require users to pledge their coins to the network by sending it to a specific blockchain address. Those who stake earn token rewards in the pr...
Feb 8, 2024
Gaming
'Pixels' Token Launch Date Set as Binance Reveals PIXEL Staking Rewards
The PIXEL token is almost here. Pixels, a popular crypto game running on the Ronin network, announced late Wednesday that it will debut the game’s token with the debut of a Binance Launchpool promotion that will reward users with token incentives. Crypto exchange Binance will roll out the token with its Launchpool promo, which lets Binance customers earn PIXEL in return for staking either Binance’s BNB or the FDUSD stablecoin in respective liquidity pools. In total, 350 million PIXEL will be off...
Feb 8, 2024
The Projects
Blast Layer-2 Solution: Enhancing Ethereum's Scalability and Yield
Blast, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, aims to address the Ethereum network's scalability challenges. It has attracted significant interest by securing a total value locked (TVL) of over $1.4 billion and fostering a growing ecosystem of applications and users. Blast differentiates itself with features including native yields for ETH and stablecoins, facilitated by auto-rebasing mechanisms and collaborations with real-world asset protocols. Blast’s testnet went live in January 2024 ahead of...
Feb 7, 2024
DeFi
Ethereum Upgrade Dencun Edges Closer With Final Test Run
The long-awaited upgrade to the Ethereum network today underwent its final practice run before it goes live. Developers on Wednesday finalized Dencun, which aims to decrease transaction costs and address scalability issues, on a testnet named Holesky. A testnet allows developers to try out an upgrade before it becomes available to everyone on the mainnet. Now, the next step, according to Ethereum Foundation developer Parithosh Jayanthi, is for it to hit the Ethereum mainnet. Ethereum has long...
Feb 7, 2024
Gaming
'Shardbound' NFT Game Reveals Next Playtest—Here's How to Get Access
Video game studio Bazooka Tango will launch a limited 10-day playtest of its upcoming NFT card-based strategy game Shardbound beginning February 21, the firm announced Wednesday. The Australia-based studio said 2,000 players will get "exclusive, hands-on access" on a first-come, first-served basis to the game's latest iteration, called "Ascent to the Shards." Signups will take place via the Shardbound website. Bazooka Tango co-founder Bo Daly said in the release that feedback from earlier playte...
Feb 7, 2024
Gaming
'Fight League' Games Coming to Ronin Following RON's Binance Listing
Sky Mavis, creator of the NFT monster-battling game Axie Infinity, announced a new collaboration on Wednesday with Japan-based GMonsters and mobile game publisher MIXI to bring titles from MIXI's Fight League franchise to the Ronin blockchain. GMonsters plans to launch three Fight League games on Ronin, starting with the arcade-style Fight League Survivor. A closed beta test for Fight League Survivor is set to begin this quarter. The team’s other upcoming games are card battler Fight League Med...
Feb 7, 2024
DeFi
No Cap: Buzzy Eigenlayer Blows Past $3 Billion Total Value Locked
Eigenlayer, an Ethereum layer 2 protocol that allows staked ether (ETH) to be "restaked" to provide security for other blockchains, has seen its total value locked (TVL) nearly double after temporarily lifting a cap that was initially put in place to prevent the network from becoming too centralized. According to data site DeFiLlama, Eigenlayer's TVL jumped from $2.16 billion to $3.84 billion in just 24 hours after the protocol removed caps for certain types of tokens on Monday. The surge was fu...
Feb 6, 2024
Coins
'Heroes of Mavia' Airdrops Token to 100,000 Gamers, Ethereum NFT Owners
Heroes of Mavia, a recently released mobile strategy game, today launched its MAVIA token and conducted an airdrop to 100,000 players—along with holders of some 10,000 Ethereum NFT land plots in the game. The MAVIA token on Ethereum debuted early Tuesday and has spiked in value, jumping about 36% to a current price of nearly $3.10, per data from CoinGecko. The platform reported about $95 million worth of trading volume on exchanges like Bybit and Crypto.com, with a current market cap of over $92...
Feb 6, 2024
Coins
Dymension Goes Live, Airdrops $390 Million in DYM to Solana, Ethereum Users and More
Dymension’s anticipated airdrop took place on Tuesday as the network’s mainnet went live, serving up over $390 million worth of DYM tokens for early users and select communities as the token surged in value following the launch. DYM is currently up 58% on the day to a current price of $5.60, according to data from CoinGecko, with some $246 million worth of trading volume already on exchanges including Binance, ByBit, and KuCoin. The airdrop spans 700 million DYM tokens, representing 7% of the to...
Feb 6, 2024
DeFi
Robinhood Adds MetaMask for Easier Ethereum Buys
Crypto wallet MetaMask has integrated trading platform Robinhood into its product to allow customers to snap up digital assets with less hassle. In a Tuesday announcement, Ethereum software company Consensys, which created MetaMask, said that American customers will be able to buy digital coins and tokens via Robinhood's low cost order engine. (Disclosure: ConsenSys also incubated Decrypt and is one of 22 investors in the company.) The idea, the company said, is that the process of buying crypto...
Feb 6, 2024
NFTs
NFTs Are Worthless? Why Gmoney Took Out a $1 Million Loan on His CryptoPunk
Mainstream media reports might tell you that NFTs are dead, but the holder of a CryptoPunks NFT said he wanted to prove them wrong—by taking out a seven-figure loan on one of the rarest assets in the prominent profile picture (PFP) collection. “Here we are, four or five months removed from an article in Rolling Stone saying that NFTs are worthless,” collector and entrepreneur Gmoney said today on Rug Radio’s live “FOMO Hour” show. “And so I was like, ‘Well, what better way to show that these are...
Feb 5, 2024
Technology
You Can Now Use Your .Com Domain as Your Ethereum Address With GoDaddy and ENS
Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains are different from traditional Domain Name System (DNS) website domains. ENS domains can be assigned to an Ethereum wallet to ease the hassle of sending funds and assets, as they're much easlier to remember than a typical alphanumeric wallet address. But typical web browsers can’t do much with them. The two are getting closer together, though, thanks to a new alliance between ENS and GoDaddy. The web domain registrar just linked up with ENS to make it possible...
Feb 5, 2024
Technology
Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin Praises Farcaster, Disses Friend.Tech
Decentralized social media protocol Farcaster is crypto’s latest obsession—and unlike other blockchain-backed social networks that have come and gone, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin seems to think this one can go the distance. In response to a Twitter post early Monday about the failures of Friend.tech, another decentralized social app that quickly lost steam after a rapid rise in attention, Buterin appeared to write that platform off as doomed due to its speculative approach. (Video by...