Mind The Block | March Week 2

Ramjith S014 mins

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

Mind The Block Headlines This Week

  • MIT x Harvard Launch Blockchain Accelerator
  • Circle Launches CCTP for Solana Liquidity
  • Court Reinstates Lawsuit Against Binance
  • Eclipse Labs Secures $50M for Ethereum Scaling
  • Uniswap, Lumia Innovate DeFi Liquidity Solutions
  • Ubisoft Becomes Crypto Gaming Validator
  • SHIB Soars 267%, Hits Resistance
  • How to Buy and Sell Bitcoin Options

News

  • MIT and Harvard alumni have launched a startup accelerator, MIT x Harvard Blockchain Accelerator, to support early-stage web3 founders.
  • Bitcoin’s price has risen above the $71,000 mark for the second time in its history, reaching an intraday jump of 2.4%.
  • Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade, scheduled for March 13, offers near-zero transaction fees for layer 2 (L2) solution users.
  • The Web3 Summit Dubai 2024, hosted by LBank Labs and BlockNews, will take place on April 16-17th, 2024.
  • Binance Launchpool plans to support Aevo (AEVO), an Ethereum-based digital asset exchange, starting on Friday.
  • DeFi TVL has topped $100 billion for the first time since losing the level in 2022.
  • Indian crypto investment platform Mudrex now offers U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs to Indian investors.
  • HTX exchange has transferred all the benefits of its HT token to a new token owned by a DAO, which does not yet exist.
  • Optimism Foundation has sold $90 million worth of 19.5 million OP tokens to an unnamed buyer.
  • Orion has introduced a solution to Uniswap’s fee model, allowing decentralized exchanges to tap into centralized exchange liquidity.
  • Blast Futures Exchange (BFX) has launched on Blast mainnet, offering native yield on all trader deposits.

Extras By Mind The Block

  • The first two months of 2024 saw $104 million of crypto in phishing attacks.
  • Telos Foundation has announced a strategic partnership with Paris-based Web3 incubator Atka.
  • Peaq and Fetch.ai Foundation have announced a partnership to unlock new use cases in various industries.
  • K9 Finance, a Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSD) project on Shibarium, has announced KNINE.
  • RepubliK will launch its first AI-powered SocialFi platform on March 8, 2024, enhancing content quality and creator compensation.
  • Band Protocol is integrating with the Stellar Ecosystem to support the development of dApps and advance interoperability for non-EVM L1s.
  • Moonbirds co-founder Kevin Rose has liquidated $1.2 million worth of NFTs but denies leaving the Web3 space entirely.
  • Lionscraft and stc Bahrain have formed a strategic partnership.
  • Zircuit, a zero-knowledge rollup with parallelized circuits and AI-enabled security, has surpassed $500 million in total value locked.
  • Cryptopia is set to distribute Bitcoin and dogecoin to qualifying account holders after filing for liquidation following a 2019 cyber attack.
  • MakerDAO has approved an executive vote to introduce temporary fee adjustments to strengthen the protocol amid market volatility.
  • Pooja Porwal introduces an A-Z glossary series on blockchain and finance, focusing on atomic swaps.
  • Kamino Finance, a leading DeFi protocol on the Solana network, announced the TGE for KMNO, its utility and governance token.

Major Companies Making Moves

Government, SEC & Regulation

  • US federal appeals court has overturned the dismissal of a lawsuit accusing Binance of violating US securities laws.
  • The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) may allow regulated exchanges to offer crypto ETNs to professional investors.
  • Russia, a member of the BRICS alliance, is developing a blockchain-based payment system.
  • US SEC Chair Gary Gensler declined to comment on whether Ethereum is a security or a commodity.
  • South Korea plans to build a crypto-focused asset management system by 2025 to prevent tax evasion.
  • Wyoming’s governor has signed legislation granting legal status to decentralized autonomous organizations.
  • Worldcoin (WLD), a crypto project by Sam Altman, has surged in price amid regulatory scrutiny in Europe.
  • Hong Kong financial institutions are preparing to launch Ethereum ETFs to strengthen their global crypto market position.
  • Philippine Central Bank (BSP) plans to complete a blockchain-mediated non-blockchain Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot.
  • U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand are set to announce a stablecoin regulation bill.
  • Coinbase presented to the SEC about Grayscale’s proposed spot Ethereum ETF.
  • Conflux Network is assisting in beta testing of Hong Kong Dollar-backed stablecoin AxHKD, built by AnchorX.
  • El Salvador’s Bitcoin treasury is now worth over $200 million, and the country’s crypto treasury now earns 70% of the dollar cost average purchase price.

Raises & Major Investments rounds

  • Institutional crypto wallet provider Utila raised $11.5 million in a seed round led by NFX, Wing Venture Capital, and Framework Ventures.
  • Paradigm is in discussions to raise over $200 million for Monad Labs, a layer 1 blockchain project.
  • Eclipse Labs has raised $50 million to launch its blockchain scaling solution for Ethereum just weeks before the mainnet launch.
  • Elixir has raised $8 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Mysten Labs and Maelstrom.
  • Core Foundation has announced a $5 million innovation fund to promote India’s Web3 communities.
  • Ethena Labs’ stablecoin, USDe, has secured $4 million for its treasury.
  • Binance Labs, the $10 billion venture capital and incubation arm of Binance, has invested in seven startups from its incubation season 6 program.

NFTs, Gaming, Metaverse

  • Zora has launched AI support in the Zora Canvas NFT builder, allowing creators to create visual layers via prompts.
  • Wemade and unagi(x) have partnered with Chainlink to develop the future of gaming on the WEMIX platform.
  • Batman: The Legacy Cowls Collection is a new NFT collection on Ethereum.
  • ScapesMania, a new gaming ecosystem, launched with a $6M presale and a stable holder count of 18,400.
  • SBINFT CEO Jangdeok Ko discusses the platform’s transition from an NFT marketplace to a Web3 gaming hub.
  • Ubisoft, the creator of popular games like Assassin’s Creed, has joined another cryptocurrency gaming network as a validator.
  • Astar Network has launched Yoki Origins, a Web3 adventure in collaboration with Astar zkEVM.
  • TCG World has partnered with Chooky Records to bring hit music from O.T., Elesia Iimura, and Busta Rhymes to the metaverse.
  • Crypto.com has partnered with Altava Group to participate in the NFT space and utilize payment services from Crypto.com.

Onchain Data

  • BNB price surged 62% in 30 days, reaching its highest level in 2 years at $489.50.
  • Shiba Inu (SHIB) has surged by 267% in 10 days, reaching a Fibonacci resistance of $0.000037.
  • SMOG, a dragon-themed meme coin, has risen 600% to $264M due to viral airdrops on social media platforms.
  • Cardano’s rally appears to be running out of steam. It has dropped 15% since reaching its new yearly high.
  • Arbitrum experienced a decline in its native cryptocurrency ARB compared to other leading Layer-2 assets.

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