Ethereum Congestion & L2’s Needed Jolt.
- It costs $10 to do a simple ETH transfer again, and median gas is now up to 150 gwei with occasional spikes to 1000-5000 gwei (not a typo). For most users, even transferring ETH across the network is no longer viable. The Ethereum network has been in high demand lately and flipped deflationary in recent days (i.e. more gas was burnt than emitted). This translated to spikes in gas fees. However, nascent L2 scaling solutions are promising to alleviate this congestion.
- Optimism enjoyed a month-long head start over Arbitrum and has consequently seen more traction, but Arbitrum’s open ecosystem and deployments could be the spark that propels long-term growth. Optimism had a 50K daily transaction limit on launch, but that doubled to 100K in late August.
- Non-Ethereum L1s have grown significantly this year, as evidenced by Solana and Terra’s large additions to TVL in recent months. Likewise, Avalanche and Fantom appear to be attracting more capital on the back of their incentive programs. The growth curve for Solana, in particular, looks the most exciting with the chart almost vertical at this point.
- Looking at the price performance since the Jul. 2021 bottom; SOL and FTM lead the market with AVAX, LUNA, and NEAR not too far behind. BNB (Binance Smart Chain) and MATIC (Polygon) were both top performers between Jan. and Apr. but TVL (and token price) have fallen out of favor vs. other networks.
SEC Again Delays Ruling on VanEck’s Bitcoin ETF
- The SEC has extended its review of VanEck’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund application—yet again. The regulatory body said yesterday in an extension notice that it would now give an answer on whether or not it would approve the ETF on November 14.
Crypto asset manager Osprey Funds launches Solana trust product
- Crypto asset management firm Osprey Funds has launched a Solana trust product for private placement.
- The product will offer exposure to SOL, the native token used on the Solana blockchain. Osprey said it is the first investment product in the U.S. to invest exclusively in SOL. Osprey rival Grayscale recently said it is exploring to launch a trust product tied to SOL but has yet to launch one.
NFT sales and floor prices plummet as demand wanes and gas prices soar
- According to data from Dune Analytics, the total volume of NFTs traded on the top NFT marketplaces has seen a significant decline since Sept. 2 and the sector was especially hard hit by this week’s Bitcoin-led market correction.
- This decline in volume is reflected in the data for the top five NFT projects traded on OpenSea, where all have seen a significant decrease. Loot is the one exception, but the project is a relative newcomer and was also involved in a $70,000 airdrop for holders last week.
Polygon & Mina Foundation To Enable Privacy-Preserving Applications On Polygon
- “We are thrilled to announce that Mina Protocol and Polygon are working towards implementing support for Mina on Polygon PoS. This bridge will enable developers building applications on Polygon to leverage privacy and verifiability via Mina’s zero knowledge-SNARK-based protocol.”
The 1inch Network integrates with Hashflow
- The integration offers top-quality trades for users, while opening access to deeper liquidity for 1inch.
- The 1inch Network is excited to announce integration with Hashflow, a next-generation DeFi exchange, which makes Hashflow price quotes available through 1inch.
- Hashflow brings institutional liquidity and pricing strategies to DeFi to help build a more capital-efficient market structure.
Mastercard acquires major crypto forensics outfit CipherTrace
- Mastercard’s focus on crypto and digital currencies appears to have taken a greater dimension given the company’s recent move.
- According to a release on Thursday, the global payments giant has reached an agreement to acquire CipherTrace, a blockchain intelligence firm with crypto forensics capabilities for over 900 cryptocurrencies.
- As part of the acquisition, Mastercard says it plans to integrate CipherTrace’s operations into its own cyber security solutions for digital assets.
- According to the announcement, Mastercard will combine its cyber capabilities with CipherTrace technology to differentiate its card and real-time payments architecture. For Mastercard, the deal will allow clients and partners to adopt digital assets while maintaining compliance with financial regulatory provisions.
