
Vitalik Buterin symbolically initiates the first transaction, marking the beginning of an exciting journey for the Polygon community.
Vitalik Buterin symbolically initiates the first transaction, marking the beginning of an exciting journey for the Polygon community.
By Sam Kessler
Feb 28, 2023 at 1:22 a.m.
Updated Feb 28, 2023, at 5:47 a.m.
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Axelar, the blockchain network that helps developers build cross-chain crypto apps, is expanding its product suite with the introduction of Axelar Virtual Machine (VM) – a generalized environment for building interconnected blockchains.
“Axelar Virtual Machine will allow developers to build their dApps (decentralized apps) once – whether on EVM, Cairo VM, Cosmos or another ecosystem – and run them on all chains,” Axelar said in a statement.
Most blockchains today are walled gardens; apps built on one chain typically lack access to data or services on another. Different blockchains can use different programming languages, and operating across chains generally means using headache-inducing infrastructure like bridges and oracles.
Axelar describes itself as “Stripe for Web3” – just as Stripe provides a one-stop-shop for Web2 developers to bake virtually any banking institution into their apps, Axelar aims to help Web3 developers integrate seamlessly across different chains.
Axelar’s main product offering is a network that was purpose-built to communicate with a growing set of different blockchains. The Axelar network and its accompanying application programming interface (API) help developers build crypto apps that work with assets on all of these chains.
But building cross-chain crypto apps remains complex – each time a developer deploys on a new chain they need to run through a lengthy set-up process and re-tool their code for chain-specific quirks. By Axelar CEO Sergey Gorbunov’s estimate, cross-chain developers spend “70% of their time” prepping their code to deploy on new chains “versus actually coding the application logic.”
“We kind of took a step back and said, ‘OK, how can we simplify all of these issues for the ecosystem?’” Gorbunov told CoinDesk. “This is where the idea of creating an excellent virtual machine – an interoperability layer – came about.”
A virtual machine is like a software version of a physical computer – it is a place to build applications that read and write data in a shared space. (The Ethereum Virtual Machine, for instance, hosts programs – called smart contracts – that can alter the state of the Ethereum ledger.)
Axelar says its new VM will extend upon the protocol’s cross-chain mission by providing a framework for building blockchains that – like the Axelar network – can natively swap assets and messages between one another. Blockchains connected to Axelar’s new VM will be able to talk to one another, and app builders that develop VM-compatible apps will be able to deploy their software onto VM-compatible chains.
Taking the Stripe analogy a step further, Gorbunov describes the new Axelar VM as a Web3 version of Google’s Kubernetes – a popular toolkit that provides building blocks for developers to spin up and scale web apps.
“Kubernetes allows you to program how you want to deploy your application in the Web2 world. Like what are the regions where it needs to be deployed? What are the application servers? What are the databases behind it?” Gorbunov explained. “Similarly, using the [Axelar] virtual machine, we can let [Web3] developers specify their deployment configurations and then upload their code. And then with one transaction, that code will get pushed to all the chains interconnected through the Axelar protocol.”
Over the next six months as Axelar begins to roll out its VM, Gorbunov says his team will be “working with app developers and protocol developers to build templates” that will allow developers to roll out their apps with certain deployment conditions pre-configured.
Axelar’s most recent fundraising round valued the company at over $1 billion. According to Axelarscan, a tool that tracks Axelar network activity, the protocol is currently connected to 32 different chains – including Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, and Arbitrum – and has processed $86 million in asset transfers over the past 30 days.
UPDATE (Feb 28, 00:17 UTC): Changes language in the ninth paragraph to more accurately reflect that blockchains “connect” to the VM (Axelar’s VM is not a toolkit for building brand new blockchains).
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The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets, and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase the stock outright in DCG.
Sam is CoinDesk’s deputy managing editor for tech and protocols. He reports on decentralized technology, infrastructure, and governance. He owns ETH and BTC.
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By Dr. Paul J. Dylan-Ennis, Scott Moore
Feb 23, 2023 at 8:54 p.m.
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Although the term goes all the way back to pre-modern times, the first rigorous framework for defining public goods was created in the 1950s, first by economist Paul Samuelson and then later by Richard Musgrave, who formulated the definitions of “non-rivalry” and “non-excludability” that we so often use today. Goods like clean air, parks, roads, or national defense are often used as canonical examples of these types of goods – if one person has access to it, everyone does, and one person’s use can never deplete another’s.
This article is part of CoinDesk’s “BUIDL Week.” Dr. Paul Dylan-Ennis is an assistant professor in the College of Business, University College Dublin. Scott Moore is a co-founder at Gitcoin, an internet-native community focused on building and funding digital public goods.
These definitions were created at a very particular time in a nascent global post-World War II environment. Nationalism was still a prominent feature of contemporary life, and how we understood the notion of “the public” beyond the foundational borders of states wasn’t always clear to a society whose well-being and very survival depended on them. In a post-internet age, the conversation around global public goods and what we mean by the term has grown significantly. It’s become clear that there are much broader degrees of excludability and rivalry when we think about these goods: A road might only be accessible if you’re allowed into a particular city and a gate might be locked around a park during night-time hours.
The internet, although far more omnipresent, is still not fully accessible around the world even as projects like Starlink continue to roll out.
We still pay for all kinds of not-so-public goods because we recognize that aspirationally we care about the openness of the goods in question, but practically we’re focused on the positive externalities they generate. We pay for local subway systems that might overflow from demand and where riders pay a fee because it helps the city thrive.
By paying, riders form communities and organizations that build economic activity, property holders thrive as value accrues around stations, and, in turn, the taxes levied return value back to the city. Despite their restrictions, goods like the subway system add to our collective well-being.
Ethereum, like a subway system, produces meaningful positive externalities, even if it sometimes gets clogged with transactions. Volumes have been written about the way the so-called world computer could increase human agency and coordination, with some even comparing what’s been and remains to be built to a city. Others have noted that programmable money enables us to move value the same way the early internet enabled us to transfer information.
See also: Ethereum’s Political Philosophy Explained | Opinion
In one sense then, Ethereum is a public good: It’s built for its own kind of digital city, often by its citizens, with the aim of improving everyone’s well-being. Practically, though, like most things we define this way, and especially with no state in sight, Ethereum functions like a common, and all common goods need to be carefully maintained.
In 2009, Elinor Ostrom was given a Nobel Prize for her work on governing the commons. She showed that by designing local, self-organized systems we could solve what Garrett Hardin (an American ecologist known for his influential research on the “tragedy of the commons”) thought was an inevitable depletion of resources without relying on the state or companies.
In Ethereum, our maintenance means taking part in writing meaningful open-source software, participating in governance, and preventing capture through the dilution of the culture and principles of the ecosystem.
Managing a common like Ethereum is a complicated process. Unlike traditional centralized models of organization, Ethereum’s management is distributed across a number of stakeholders, who have to reach a rough consensus over a protocol hosting billions of dollars in value.
Ethereum’s blockocracy, those users most focused on upkeep, are the various client team developers, researchers, validators, and the Ethereum Foundation. Yet, it is not the sole responsibility of the blockocracy to keep the commons safe from overgrazing. Builders on Ethereum – those developing decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO), decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, or non-fungible tokens (NFT) – have a responsibility, too. Ethereum can be overgrazed culturally.
Degens can be considered Ethereum’s selfish farmers, who take advantage of the permissionless nature of the commons to exploit it, adding one more cow to the field than they are supposed to, accelerating its decline. Reputation is a resource and we’re letting people squander it.
Ethereum is trapped between two sides: On one side it is seen as home to an astonishing ecosystem of innovative smart contracts designed to produce public goods (the regens) and on the other, it is known as the home of the rug pull (the degens). These sides don’t need to be in conflict, but they do need to coordinate.
Another way to frame this distinction is between missionaries and mercenaries. We believe deep down many of those who self-identify as degens do care about the ethos of Ethereum, whereas FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and those who supported him have forgotten what a new system of value could mean – or, more realistically, never cared at all. Left to their own devices, mercenaries will see Ethereum as a place where we can simply engineer our own disasters more openly and transparently.
See also: DAOs Are the New Way of Impact Work | Opinion
Radical permissionless is sacrosanct in crypto cultures. It is non-negotiable, like decentralization or censorship resistance. Yet, there is no denying permissionless ness contributes to the deterioration of the Ethereum commons through the proliferation of scams, hacks, and hustles. Since nobody can be denied access to a blockchain at a technical level, it always comes down to the question of culture and expectations.
By believing in Ethereum as a public good, and developing a strong and robust culture around why these kinds of public infrastructure matter, we can prevent mercenaries and fortify our ecosystem for the next cycle. We can create our own future, between regen and degen, by learning to see the Ethereum ecosystem as a shared commons that needs to be tended to, not overgrazed.
By Jocelyn Yang
Feb 3, 2023 at 3:59 a.m.
Updated Feb 3, 2023, at 7:35 p.m.
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A day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell offered unexpectedly less hawkish remarks to accompany the U.S. central bank’s modest interest rate increase, most major cryptocurrencies were in the green, with several tokens from the decentralized finance (DeFi) and smart contract platform sectors assuming the deepest hues.
Among Thursday’s biggest winners, decentralized exchange Uniswap’s native governance token, UNI, rose nearly 4.5% over the past 24 hours to trade over $7.20. Layer 1 blockchain Avalanche’s AVAX token surged almost 3.4% to recently trade above $22. Altcoins’ gains have been part of an overall market upswing that followed the Fed’s announcement underscoring its commitment to less aggressive monetary tightening.
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency in market value, was recently trading over $1,650, up a fraction of a percentage point since Wednesday, the same time.
Bitcoin (BTC) was recently trading above $23,560, roughly flat over the past 24 hours, albeit slightly in the red. BTC had been changing hands in a narrow range between $23,700 and $24,200 since the Fed announcement before dipping late Thursday.
The CoinDesk Market Index, which measures crypto market performance, was recently flat after spending much of the day in the green.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at around $23,800, as the largest token by market capitalization and S&P 500 is closing in on a golden cross. In the past, bitcoin’s big rallies have started with a golden cross, but not all golden crosses have led to a big rally. 3iQ Head of Research Mark Connors shares his analysis. Plus, insights on bitcoin’s performance amid recent macroeconomic conditions.
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Crypto markets’ performance correlated with traditional markets’ post-rate announcement rally. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 closed up 3.2% and 1.4%, respectively, a day after Powell said “[the] disinflationary process” had “started.”
Crypto-exposed stocks also soared: Exchange Coinbase (COIN) surged 24%, while MicroStrategy (MSTR), the software company with a large bitcoin portfolio, rose 9%. Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) was up 6.3%.
Digital assets’ positivity suggested that “the bottom of this [down] cycle is probably in for crypto, and that we are entering something of a recovery phase for this market,” Joe Ziolkowski, CEO and co-founder of crypto-focused insurer Relm Insurance, told CoinDesk.
“Both retail and institutional-grade investors are allocating more and more capital to crypto assets,” Ziolkowski said. “This trend will likely continue if it becomes clearer that the blowups that took down FTX, [Terra], and Three Arrows [Capital] are over with.”
Ben McMillan, a chief investment officer of crypto asset manager IDX Digital Assets, said bitcoin and the broader crypto market were “early in this bid for risk-on assets.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a pause here for crypto while equity markets ‘catch up,'” McMillan added in an email.
A recent report details that Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, plans to launch a decentralized finance (defi) platform in May. Konstantin Klimenko, product director of Sberbank’s blockchain laboratory, said that open testing will begin in March.
According to a report published by the news outlet Interfax, state-owned financial services company Sberbank, based in Moscow, plans to launch a decentralized finance (defi) application. The platform is currently undergoing closed beta testing, according to Konstantin Klimenko, Sberbank’s blockchain laboratory product director.
“We have set ourselves a big goal — to make the Russian defi ecosystem number one,” Klimenko said. “Our network is currently working in closed beta testing format … But starting March 1st, we will move to the next phase and it will no longer be beta testing, but open testing,” Sberbank’s blockchain laboratory executive added.
The platform, which will be based on Ethereum, will work with the Web3 wallet Metamask. Sberbank’s team aims to make it publicly available by the end of April and hopes it will enable large-scale commercial defi operations. In June 2022, the Russian banking and financial services giant conducted the first digital asset transfer on its platform, which was approved by the Bank of Russia. In September, Sberbank announced that its platform will also allow non-fungible token (NFT) minting.
Besides the Bank of Russia, Sberbank is Russia’s largest financial institution with $559 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of 2021. The bank is also the leader in the card payments industry in the Russian Federation, commanding more than 61% of the market. In January 2022, the Russian banking firm launched Russia’s first blockchain exchange-traded fund (ETF). Sberbank, its executive members, and its subsidiaries have been fans of blockchain technology since 2015.
What do you think about Sberbank’s goal to make the Russian defi ecosystem number one? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. cryptoflings.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods, or services mentioned in this article.
Bitcoin surged above $24,000 on Feb. 02, as markets continued to react to the latest U.S. Federal Reserve policy decision. On Wednesday, the central bank moved to increase rates by 25 basis points, while signaling that further hikes could be on the cards. Ethereum also rallied, with prices nearing $1,700.
Bitcoin (BTC) rose to a six-month high on Thursday, with prices climbing above $24,000 for the first time since August.
The move came as the Federal Reserve opted to increase interest rates by 25 basis points in its latest policy meeting.
As a result, BTC/USD rose to an intraday high of $24,167.21, less than 24 hours after it was trading at a low of $22,877.75.
Thursday’s surge saw the world’s largest cryptocurrency climb to its strongest point since August 16, when prices reached a peak of $24,448.
This took place as the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) moved away from a recent floor of 68.00, and is now tracking at 74.10.
Should price strength continue on this course, a resistance level of 77.00 will likely be a target for current bulls.
Ethereum (ETH) also made significant gains in the last 24 hours, as traders pushed prices close to the $1,700 mark.
Following a low of $1,566.86 on Wednesday, ETH/USD raced to a peak of $1,689.07 earlier in today’s session.
This rally in price saw ethereum move to its highest mark since September 12, when ETH reached a top at $1,761.
Looking at the chart, today’s five-month high came as ETH broke out of its long-term price ceiling at $1,670.
Although one point of resistance has been broken, Ethereum bulls are fast approaching another, with the relative strength index (RSI) nearing a ceiling at 68.00.
Currently, the index is tracking at 65.19, with earlier bulls likely to consider taking profits before a full collision occurs.
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Do you expect ethereum to move above $1,700 this week? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. cryptoflings.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods, or services mentioned in this article.
Just before the Ethereum network transitioned from a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain to proof-of-stake (PoS), Ethereum Classic’s hash rate saw a significant increase. Three days after The Merge, Ethereum Classic had 214.37 terahash per second (TH/s) of hash rate. However, since then, the network’s hash rate has decreased significantly as 44.33% of it has been lost over the last 134 days.
Ethereum Classic (ETC) was the center of attention just before Ethereum’s (ETH) big transition but has since lost its PoW dance partner. Since Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), the Ethereum Classic (ETC) network has seen an increase in hash rate. On Jan. 17, 2022, ETC had 23.87 terahash per second (TH/s) of hash rate. As of Jan. 30, 2023, over a year later, Ethereum Classic has a total of 119.32 TH/s in hash rate, a 399% increase in 12 months. However, 134 days ago, ETC’s computational power was more than 44% higher.
ETC’s price and hash rate both saw a significant increase on Sept. 15, 2022, the day of the Ethereum transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). On that day, Ethereum Classic (ETC) was valued at around $35.81 per coin, after reaching $39 per unit the day prior. Ethereum Classic’s price was on fire at the time, but it has since cooled off like a wet campfire. As of Jan. 30, 2023, ETC is trading at $22.98 per unit, a decrease of 35.82% from its value after the transition. Archive.org records show that on Sept. 18, 2022, 214.37 terahash per second (TH/s) was dedicated to the Ethereum Classic network.
Presently, F2pool is the largest Ethereum Classic mining pool, with 26.91 terahash per second (TH/s) of the total 119.32 TH/s, equating to 22.55% of the network’s hash rate. Ethermine.org follows with 16.48 TH/s, accounting for about 13.81% of ETC’s hash rate. The other mining pools in the top ten include 2miners.com and Ezil.me, Dogpool. one, Hiveon.net, Poolin, rich pool.pro, Pool.btc.com, and Antpool. These ten ETC mining pools have a total hash rate of approximately 95.11 TH/s.
Moreover, Ethereum Classic had approximately $873,161 in total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) protocols on Sept. 15, 2022. As of today, the TVL in Ethereum Classic defi protocols has decreased 56.84% to $376,803. Currently, the decentralized exchange (dex) platform Hebeswap dominates with 58.74% of the TVL, amounting to $221,335. However, Hebeswap was also the dex with the worst seven-day TVL decrease of -6.87% in the past week.
What do you see for the future of Ethereum Classic? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below.
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While the Ethereum community prepares for the upcoming Shanghai hard fork in March, the development team for the liquid staking project Lido revealed plans to create an in-protocol withdrawal feature. Lido’s team is seeking community feedback on the proposal that would allow withdrawals after the Shanghai upgrade is completed.
As of the time of writing, the decentralized finance (defi) liquid staking protocol Lido is the most dominant defi protocol today, in terms of total value locked (TVL). Statistics from defillama.com show that Lido’s $7.92 billion TVL dominates the $46.56 billion TVL held in defi today by approximately 17.01%.
Lido is the largest holder of staked ethereum as the protocol commands around 29% of the staked ether supply. Lido’s Ethereum derivative token STETH is the 13th largest market valuation in the cryptocurrency economy with $7.73 billion. Furthermore, Lido has a governance token called lido dao (LDO), which has a market capitalization of around $1.96 billion on Jan. 25, 2023. The day prior, Lido’s development team published a proposal concerning withdrawals after the Shanghai upgrade.
Ethereum developers are determined to make the Shanghai hard fork happen this March and the main focus is allowing staked withdrawals. “The design proposed by Lido on the Ethereum Protocol Engineering team addresses these challenges with the in-protocol withdrawal requests queue,” the Lido team explains in a summary of the withdrawals landscape via the Lido protocol. “The process has to be asynchronous, due to the asynchronous nature of Ethereum withdrawals,” the Lido developers add.
The Lido developers explain there would be various modes of withdrawals including a “turbo” feature and a “bunker” feature. Further penalties and slashing would be codified for validators that break the rules. The summary explains how slashings affect a user’s withdrawal request fulfillment.
“We are seeking the community’s feedback to make sure that our proposal takes all important considerations into account and to identify any potential improvements,” the Lido team details. “Your feedback is invaluable to create a proposal that is effective, efficient, and fair for all stakeholders.”
What are your thoughts on Lido’s proposal for in-protocol withdrawal requests and the upcoming Shanghai hard fork? Do you think this feature will have a significant impact on the crypto and defi market? Share your opinions in the comments below.
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BAYC ecosystem assets have done nearly 50% of total ETH NFT volume over the past week.
(includes BAYC, MAYC, BAKC, BACC, Otherdeed, Sewer Passes) pic.twitter.com/4Bk5TEOqHj
— NFTstatistics.eth (@punk9059) January 23, 2023