The biggest crypto news and ideas of the day |
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Kraken, a major U.S. crypto exchange, shared last week that it would launch a layer-2 called Ink, relying upon the Optimism's blockchain ecosystem's OP Stack framework – and become part of the fast-growing "Superchain" that also includes layer-2 networks from the crypto exchange Coinbase along with the electronics giant Sony and decentralized exchange Uniswap. But there was a price: Both projects have confirmed to CoinDesk that the Optimism Foundation agreed to provide grants to Kraken in the amount of 25 million OP tokens – worth roughly $100 million earlier this year, when the deal was struck, and now valued at about $42.5 million. The deal, which was finalized around January or February, paved the way for Kraken to use Optimism’s OP Stack, a customizable toolkit that lets users create their own layer-2 rollups based on Optimism’s technology. Kraken clarified with CoinDesk that under the deal, the token allocation would be paid to Kraken in grants over a time period. On Jan. 1 , the OP token was worth $3.99, according to CoinGecko, reaching a high of $4.06 on Feb. 20 during that time period. It now trades around $1.70. The Optimism Foundation confirmed the number of tokens involved in the deal and declined to comment further. According to Andrew Koller, founder of Ink, the number is similar to various other deals that are part of the Superchain ecosystem. “And it was actually Optimism that proposed that number first, and it was very in line with what other Superchain participants have gotten,” Koller told CoinDesk in an interview. |
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Hong Kong is feeling the ripple effects of a slow mainland Chinese economy, and its financial sector, as well as professional services firms, are slimming down their real estate footprint to cope with slowing demand. Then there's Animoca Brands, a Web3 company known for its NFTs and GameFi verticals. It recently opened a new 28,000 square-foot (2,601-meter) office spread across two floors in an up-and-coming tech district on the south side of Hong Kong island. That's about 10 times the size of a tennis court. “We went from 7,500 square feet to 28,000 square feet,” said Evan Auyang, president of Animoca Brands, during an interview with CoinDesk. “It’s a renter’s market right now in Hong Kong, and we saw this as the perfect time to create a collaborative space not just for us but for other companies in our portfolio.” While crypto is having something of a bull market, Animoca had a rocky 2023 – like the rest of the crypto sector – battling layoffs and cutting the target size of its metaverse fund from $2 billion to $800 million. "As a company, we have to experiment. We have to accept failure as part of it,” he said, adding that Animoca, today, has pivoted a few times over the course of its short history. |
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Consensys Cuts 20% of Workforce |
Consensys, one of the main supporters of the Ethereum network, is laying off 20% of its workforce, blaming broader macroeconomic conditions and ongoing regulatory uncertainty, including the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) “abuse of power” in the space. “Multiple cases with the SEC, including ours, represent meaningful jobs and productive investment lost due to the SEC’s abuse of power and Congress’s inability to rectify the problem,” founder and CEO Joe Lubin said in a blog post. “Such attacks from the US government will end up costing many companies…many millions of dollars.” Consensys, the maker of the MetaMask wallet, has been in an ongoing battle with the financial regulator after it alleged the firm of operating as an unregistered broker that “engaged in the offer and sale of securities” in June through its MetaMask services. Other Ethereum staking services, which functioned as third-party platforms for the wallet, had also been sued. Many crypto companies have laid off part of its workforce in the past years as high interest rates have left marks on many balance sheets and came at a time when the SEC was doubling down its enforcements on crypto-native firms, leading to increased spending on legal fees. In an attempt to fight back against the regulator, Consensys earlier this year sued the SEC for regulatory overreach, arguing that it is attempting a power grab over Ethereum. The effort was part of a bigger trend seen in the crypto space of large companies willing to turn tables. Coinbase and Grayscale have both sued the SEC previously while Kraken and Uniswap have vowed to do the same. |
As MiCA Looms, Fastex Pushes for Regulatory Compliance What are the three biggest crypto trends of 2024? You could argue the top three trends are regulation, regulation, and regulation. The “Wild West” is no more. Europe’s MiCA framework will soon go into effect. Debates over crypto regulation have spilled into the U.S. presidential election. And one Web3 company is traveling across the globe — quite literally — to show leadership in regulatory compliance: Fastex. Continue reading here. |
Stacks Activates Nakamoto Upgrade |
Stacks, a layer-2 blockchain project atop Bitcoin, confirmed on Tuesday the activation of its Nakamoto upgrade, designed to make transactions faster. The project's official account on X posted that "Stacks transactions once confirmed are now at least as irreversible as Bitcoin's," and that there is a "significant reduction in transaction times." The upgrade also will provide a "technical foundation for sBTC launching later this year," according to the post. Stacks, co-founded by Muneeb Ali, a Princeton-educated computer scientist who also serves as CEO of the Bitcoin-focused development firm Trust Machines, is seen as one of the oldest and most credible efforts building layer-2 networks atop the Bitcoin blockchain – no small claim given that more than 80 such projects have sprung up over the past couple years. Ali told CoinDesk earlier this year that he saw Bitcoin as the "apex predator" in the blockchain industry – despite the far-greater success of so-called smart-contract blockchains like Ethereum and Solana that are designed for greater programmability, and have attracted entire ecosystems of applications devoted to things like decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming. The upgrade has been the centerpiece of Stack's roadmap, with initial phases of the implementation began earlier this year, and then several delays before full activation. |
The Takeaway: Enterprises Need DePIN |
By John Goldschmidt In a few weeks, Lisbon will again play host to one of the largest tech conferences in the world: WebSummit 2024. Like any good tech conference, it’s an opportunity for builders, enterprises, and investors to come together to scout and showcase innovation, to learn, and to gather market feedback that helps drive the next wave of the future. In the rapidly evolving landscape of technology, the integration of DePINs, or Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks, represents not just an innovation but a paradigm shift for corporate giants. DePINs are blockchain-powered ecosystems where physical infrastructure like energy grids, wireless networks, or transportation systems are managed and expanded through token incentives, democratizing access and control over essential services. Helium network, which launched its mainnet in 2020, is a notable early example of a community-driven wireless network that rewarded its citizen-network-suppliers significantly while reducing costs and increasing accessibility for users (in certain geographies anyway). Its Helium Mobile offering, while still augmented by TMobile, continues gaining traction and was recently cited to have 335,000 subscribers. Many are also familiar with early decentralized storage networks such as Filecoin, Storj, and Arweave, which are becoming more essential to the advancement of AI due to their scalability, cost efficiency, and decentralization. Years after the first DePINs hit the market, we stand at the crossroads of digital transformation, with DePIN emerging as a critical piece of infrastructure for enterprises looking to leap forward in efficiency, security, and operational integrity. Here's why corporations need to be adopting DePIN. Decentralization for Enhanced Security The conventional centralized models of infrastructure management are fraught with vulnerabilities, from cyber-attacks to single points of failure. I don’t think I need to remind anyone of how the Crowdstrike incident earlier this year crippled the airline industry. DePIN, by leveraging blockchain technology, introduces a level of security that is both robust and inherently resilient. Increased transparency combined with smart contract execution allow enterprises to decentralize, automate and ultimately de-risk the hosting of economically important infrastructure. This is because each node in the network holds a copy of the transaction history, which creates redundancy and makes unauthorized activity virtually impossible. Furthermore, keeping infra out of the control of monolithic third parties means political and geopolitical risk is mitigated, which should resonate deeply with some large corporations, or perhaps more likely citizens who should be more wary of public control of private industry. Cost Efficiency and Operational Scalability For corporations, cost is king. DePIN technology promises a reduction in operational costs through the elimination of intermediaries and by fostering a model where infrastructure can be community-driven or self-sustaining through token economics. This means enterprises can scale their operations without proportional increases in infrastructure costs (an inherent pay-as-you-go design) DePIN could revolutionize how companies think about infrastructure, offering scalable, on-demand resources without large investments or capital requirements. By offering services like localized computing power or data storage in places where infrastructure is notoriously bad, companies can tap into markets that are otherwise too costly or slow. Think of a more decentralized and smaller-scale version of Starlink. Enterprises always want to create or invest in frameworks that bring them more consumers. DePIN is the most efficient way to do this. Innovation will particularly benefit sectors like gaming, AI, or any data-intensive industry where decentralized solutions offer both efficiency and cost benefits.. The Enterprise's Role in DePIN's Growth The involvement of major corporations like Lufthansa and Deutsche Telekom in DePIN, as seen with their launches on the Peaq network, signals a powerful endorsement of this technology. Their participation isn't just about adopting new tech; it's about setting industry standards and influencing how other sectors might view and integrate DePIN. This kind of endorsement catalyzes further collaboration, integration, and innovation across industries, potentially leading to what could be described as the “DePIN era” in corporate technology adoption. |
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