Mind The Block: Your Weekly Dose of Web3 News and Insights
Mind The Block Headlines This Week
Table of Contents
- BitGo as a Custodian for Hashdex ETF
- Binance Opens Inscription Token Market
- Genesis Settles SEC Lawsuit for $21M
- Tether Funds Oobit with $25M
- CoinStats Launches AI Exit Strategy
- Aether Games Partners with Eesee.io
- SUI Token Price Jumps over 75%
- What is Crypto Lending and How it Works
News
- BitGo will serve as a qualified custodian for the Hashdex Bitcoin ETF.
- AltLayer’s Head of Growth, Dorothy, has dismissed community backlash over a $100 million airdrop distribution.
- BlackRock and Fidelity’s spot Bitcoin ETFs have ranked among ETFs with the largest January flows, totaling around $4.8 billion.
- Concero and Chainlink BUILD program have formed an alliance.
- Binance has clarified that KYC information of users in the exchange is safe and that accounts are secured through various defenses.
- Polkadot experienced record growth in Q4 2023, with a tripled developer base and a 93% increase in active addresses.
- Avalanche, Optimism, Aptos, and other crypto projects will unlock over $500 million worth of tokens in February.
- Avantis, the next-generation DEX for trading and market-making perpetuals, has launched on Base mainnet.
- EigenLayer’s total-value locked (TVL) has surged by $1 billion in just eight hours after the protocol temporarily removed its staking caps.
- ETHDenver, the world’s largest annual Web3 Community Innovation Festival, returns for its 7th year from February to March 2024.
Extras By Mind The Block
- UK resident Martin lost $46,000 worth of crypto to a scammer who posed as a Ledger employee.
- Crypto derivatives exchange OPNX will shut down in February 2024.
- Reunit Wallet, an omnichain wallet, is launching a reward program for traders, offering one REUNI for every $100 generated volume.
- Sponge token’s V2 pre-launch campaign has reached a $3.5 million milestone.
- A bug in Friend.tech’s user interface caused traders to overpay 187 ETH for ‘keys’, causing the platform to fall out of sync.
- Aevo has announced an airdrop program to reward early adopters with its upcoming token, AEVO.
- Zeta Chain has the potential to revolutionize interoperability and smart contract innovation.
- Wombat Exchange has released its first single-sided Volatile Pool Automated Market Maker (AMM) algorithm in DeFi.
- Eintracht Frankfurt has onboarded over a thousand fans to Web3 using Polygon PoS and youba’s one-tap solution.
- Crypto.com has reversed its decision to delist Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) after receiving backlash from the community.
- Hedera has introduced two updates to its ecosystem, including a new testnet faucet and changes to the native portal.

Major Companies Making Moves
- Binance has launched a marketplace for inscription tokens, allowing users to buy, sell, and mint digital artifacts and NFTs.
- Ripple Exec is set to announce significant product updates for its US-based clients and users.
- Solana has introduced the Solana Saga Phone 2, a cost-effective upgrade for its technology and cryptocurrency venture.
- Wirex has partnered with Gateway.fm to scale its Zero-Knowledge (ZK)-powered WPay network.
- Ethereum devs plan to set a mainnet launch date for the Dencun upgrade on February 8.
- Animoca Brands, Open Campus, and ForbesWeb3 have launched OC100, a competition to honor Web3 producers.
Government, SEC & Regulation
- Crypto lender Genesis is agreeing to pay a $21 million civil fine to settle a SEC lawsuit over the defunct Gemini Earn program.
- South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has proposed modifications to crypto regulations.
- Spanish Ministry of Finance plans to expand its control over cryptocurrencies to enable it to seize digital assets to settle tax debts.
- British Columbia court has ruled that B.C Hydro’s 18-month moratorium on crypto mining projects is reasonable.
- Hong Kong has set a deadline for unregistered Virtual Asset Trading Platforms (VATPs) to submit their licensing applications.
- The US SEC is suing Brian Sewell and his company, Rockwell Capital Management, for allegedly defrauding investors of over $1,200,000.
- South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) head, Lee Bok-hyun, plans to maintain talks with the US SEC to discuss crypto regulation.
- Thailand’s SEC has ordered cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex to temporarily suspend its trading and brokerage services starting Feb 2.
- Andrei Lugovoy has criticized the lack of Russian crypto regulation, stating that it undermines Moscow’s anti-sanctions policies.
- Hong Kong’s securities regulator has warned crypto investors to use licensed trading platforms.
- El Salvador’s pro bitcoin President Nayib Bukele claims victory in the presidential election poll with over 85% of the vote.
- The European Union has proposed exceptions to the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.
Raises & Major Investments rounds
- Tether has led a $25 million Series A funding round for Oobit, a mobile app that enables contactless crypto payments.
- Nibiru Chain, a general-purpose layer 1 blockchain, has secured $12 million in its latest funding round.
- Meme Kombat’s presale has reached $8 million, showcasing the project’s interest in gaming and memes.
- Taraxa Protocol Foundation launches $10 million grant program for its BlockDAG ecosystem.
- Merlin Chain has secured funding from 24 investors, including OKX Ventures, ABCDE, and Foresight Ventures.
- KIP Protocol, the Web 3.0 base layer for AI, has closed its strategic funding round led by Animoca Ventures.
Trends & Narrative
- CoinStats has introduced an AI-powered Exit Strategy feature to optimize crypto profits.
- Gate.io CEO Dr. Lin Han believes that the industry standard for Proof of Reserves (PoR) should be the use of zk-SNARKs.
- ICB Labs is launching Ideal Cooperation Blockchain (ICB) at the ICO level in Q1 2024.
- Roblox has developed an AI-powered “unified translation model” that allows users to converse in real time.
- How AI can enhance speed and efficiency in Web3 applications.

NFTs, Gaming, Metaverse
- Aether Games has announced a strategic partnership with eesee.io, an emerging liquidity solution in the gamified NFTs market.
- GoMining has introduced the “Mine Box Collection” for NFT generation.
- The VGX Foundation and Gala Games are partnering to integrate VGX
- Shrapnel, a first-person shooter based on NFTs, has launched early access to its gameplay on the Epic Games Store
- Heroes of Mavia, an AAA mobile strategy game, has surpassed 1 million downloads on Android and iOS.
- Doodles and G-shock have partnered to launch an NFT-inspired watch collection, a collaboration that is expected to be released soon.
- Bybit Web3 is joining the Robbie Williams Beyond Reality in LightCycle Metaverse Concert as an NFT marketplace partner.
Onchain Data
- SUI token has seen a 75% surge in its price over the past 30 days, doubling its year-start trading value range from $0.77 to $0.80.
- Aptos (APT) has seen a significant increase in value, while Leo Token (LEO) has remained stable.
- Celestia (TIA) has increased alongside a long-term ascending support trend line for the past 90 days.
- Polygon (MATIC) has reached a new milestone in unique addresses, indicating a significant influx of users and potential capital to the network.

- Bitcoin’s price dropped 1.3% in an hour as US nonfarm payrolls exceeded expectations.
Educational Guides and Tips from Mind the Block
- Crypto Lending: What is Crypto Lending and How it Works?
- ‘The Everything Token’ Book Explains the A-to-Z of NFTs—And Why They’re Here to Stay.
- What is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust? The role of digital currency investment products.
- How Bitcoin Mining Could Actually Make The Earth Greener.
- How to Safely Identify and interact with dapps that might be possible scams?
- How to use stablecoins for everyday transactions.
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