Mind The Block | January Week 4

Mind The Block: Your Weekly Dose of Web3 News and Insights

Mind The Block Headlines This Week

• ChainGPT Debuts GT Protocol
• Huawei Cloud Expands Blockchain Support
• Sri Lanka Maintains Anti-Crypto Stance
• Paper Ventures’ $25M Blockchain Fund
• Hana Gateway: Privacy-Focused Wallet
• Interpol Focuses on Metaverse
• XAI has Seen a 30% Weekly Growth
• What is Proof of Stake?

News

• ChainGPT has launched the GT Protocol, an AI-powered auto-trading platform for crypto, through its IDO launchpad, ChainGPT Pad.
• X’s dedicated account for its payments feature has sparked rumors of potential crypto integration.
• MetaMask Portfolio now offers Validator Staking, allowing participants to stake ETH tokens and earn rewards without maintaining nodes.
• Ronin Gaming Wallet now supports Ethereum, Polygon, and BNB Chain, offering a new security feature and a refreshed design.
• Trezor has issued an alert to users about a potential phishing threat following a security breach at a third-party support platform.
• Vitruveo, a dedicated blockchain platform, has introduced the world’s first auto-rebasing protocol.
• A group of cryptocurrency scammers have managed to scam over 42,000 victims for over $32 million since April 2023.
• The Sui blockchain, launched in May 2023, offers high scalability and low transaction fees, making it ideal for DeFi protocols.
• Ondo Finance has announced its expansion into Asia Pacific, opening its first office in the region.
• Morgan Stanley warns of a “paradigm shift” in digital assets, potentially impacting the US dollar’s global dominance.
• iExec has introduced an improved IDE for iExec Oracles, aiming to streamline the development process.
• EigenLayer plans to adopt a shared security model for dapps by enabling protocols to launch using a collective pool of re-staked ETH.

Extras By Mind The Block

• Arweave (AR), Gala (GALA), and Pullix (PLX) are approaching the $1 billion market cap region.
• Terraform Labs, the issuer of the collapsed stablecoin TerraUSD, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US.
• Chinder is a new app that allows users to swipe left and right on cryptocurrency charts for Solana-based tokens.
• Colorado pastor and wife have been frozen by a state judge after allegedly making millions on a cryptocurrency they claimed was created at God’s command, INDXcoin.
• RSS3 is set to launch its Mainnet in Q1 2024, featuring a dual-layer structure.
• A social engineering attack compromised the private key of the Arbitrum liquidity manager app.
• Trader used the Banana Gun sniping bot to make a profit of $6.77 million in just three hours after the SatoshiVM token launch.
• De.Fi has been announced as an investor by 21Shares, a market leader in ETFs for institutional and retail investors.
• COTI Foundation has announced an Ecosystem Growth Fund with 400 million COTI tokens, valued at $25 million.
• Step-by-step guide on how to claim the Dymension Genesis Airdrop via Trust Wallet.

Major Companies Making Moves

• Grayscale sent $700 million worth of Bitcoin to Coinbase, causing a weakening of BTC price action.
• Blocksquare has announced its native governance token BST will be available for trading on the BitMart crypto exchange.
• NEAR DA integrates with Polygon CDK for Ethereum ZK rollup builders, simplifying network and reducing costs.
• FTX has sold nearly $1 billion worth of Grayscale spot bitcoin ETF shares since it converted to a spot ETF.
• Huawei Cloud now supports over eight public chain networks, including Tron, Polygon, and Ethereum.
• OKX has integrated eight new projects into its Ethereum-based Zero Knowledge (ZK) Layer 2 network.

Government, SEC & Regulation

• US, UK, and Australia have imposed new sanctions on Hamas-linked crypto facilitators, including the Shamlakh family and the Herzallah Exchange.
• Governments and banks are attempting to control cryptocurrencies, leading to a kerfuffle in the world’s financial system.
• B. Riley, an investment firm supporting Bitcoin mining projects, is allegedly involved in a US SEC probe.
• US Treasury Assistant Secretary Graham Steele has called for swift crypto regulation to prevent future financial crises.
• Virginia State Senate has introduced legislation to regulate digital asset mining and transactions, including tax laws.
• UK crypto firms are facing challenges due to strict new marketing rules from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
• BlackRock is seeking SEC approval to offer options on its spot Bitcoin ETF, potentially solidifying Bitcoin’s role in traditional finance.
• Sri Lanka remains anti-crypto and does not consider digital currency legal tender.
• Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse predicts that US government will establish clear guidelines for stablecoins in 2024.

• Indonesia’s upcoming elections could potentially impact the country’s vibrant crypto sector, especially if leadership changes.
• Hong Kong-based Venture Smart Financial Holdings Limited plans to launch the region’s premier spot Bitcoin ETF.
• Coinbase and the SEC are facing a legal battle over the interpretation of the Howey Test.
• 12% decrease in Bitcoin usage in El Salvador in 2023, compared to 24.4% in 2022.
• SEC has argued that crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance are not securities following a lawsuit last summer.
• The Canadian Securities Administration (CSA) has proposed new rules for public investment funds investing in crypto assets.

Raises & Major Investments rounds

• Paper Ventures has launched a $25 million fund for early-stage Web3 and blockchain projects.
• Root Protocol, a digital identity service, has raised $10 million in two seed rounds and is valued at $100 million.
• Bitcoin Minetrix (BTCMTX) has raised $9 million in its ICO, securing attention for its innovative mining approach.
• LBank Labs has announced an Incubation Fund investment in AMBBi, an innovative dual-asset Bitcoin blockchain project. AMBBi.
• Core Chain has launched a $5 million Africa Innovation Fund for local Web3 builders.

Trends & Narrative

• The fintech revolution is transforming banking, investing, and managing money by eliminating middlemen and barriers.
• Hana Gateway is a self-custodial gateway wallet that offers trustless crypto-fiat transactions with privacy.
• Nornickel is implementing a program to pay employee dividends using digital financial assets (DFAs).
• Mash.com CEO Jared Nusinoff discusses the use of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network to empower publishers in online monetization.
• My.box Inc. launched its Public Beta on January 18th, 2024, launching the world’s first blockchain-native DNS Routable Domain.
• Nuvo has launched Nuscription, a pioneering Ethscription platform within the Metis ecosystem.

NFTs, Gaming, Metaverse

• Homeland is set to introduce NFT axies and other features to enhance gameplay and player engagement.
• Animoca Brands Japan, Honda, and Darewise have formed a Web3 gaming alliance.
• Unstoppable Domains and The Sandbox have partnered to launch a new metaverse experience.
• Donald Trump is launching his Trump Digital Trading Card collection as Bitcoin Ordinals, featuring the infamous Trump MugShot NFT.
• Tabi Chain is a gaming blockchain on Cosmos that aims to overcome the challenges of scalability, security, and decentralization.

• Interpol has emphasized the importance of the metaverse in law enforcement for training, crime prevention, and forensic analysis.
• Aethir has partnered with Exverse.io, an AI-powered shooter game, to enhance gaming accessibility.
• Street PARQ has launched an exclusive Web3-based luxury travel and golf membership program, offering NFT access to over 650 global resorts and golf courses.

Onchain Data

• Bitcoin’s price trajectory reversed, dropping below $41,000, causing a significant drop in the crypto market.
• Manta Network (MANTA) price surged after launch, reaching $2.45 per token, up 8% in 24 hours.
• Solana (SOL) price has been descending since reaching a high of $126 on December 26, 2023.
• BNB’s price is above $300 despite a 25-day downward movement.
• Xai (XAI) has seen a 30% weekly growth, outpacing Bitcoin (BTC).

Educational Guides and Tips from Mind the Block

• Immediate Turbo is an educational platform that focuses on educating users about cryptocurrencies.
• Smart Money, a weekly overview of finance, provides actionable information and insights on Forex, Stocks, and Crypto Currencies.
• Integer Overflow and Underflow are common programming errors in smart contracts.
• What is Proof of Stake? How it Differs From Proof of Work.
• Scroll is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, designed as a zkEVM compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
• Udao, a Web 3.0 education platform, has partnered with Udemy and IBM to develop a new education platform in Web3.

See you in the next edition of the Mind The Block.

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