DWF Crypto Snapshot
[19 Jan — 25 Jan, 2023]
Bitcoin May See Its Largest Adoption With Brazil And Argentina Currency Merger
Latin American countries like El Salvador have been turning to digital assets as an alternative to the dominance of the US dollar, and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin could feature heavily in Brazil and Argentina’s search for a common currency. The two countries have begun preparatory work on the following matter at hand, and Brazil has already recognised the use of cryptocurrencies as a legitimate form of payment in the country.
Vitalik Buterin Addresses Potential Privacy On Ethereum With Stealth Addresses
While transparency and immutability is key to any blockchain transaction, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recognises the need of users who want to keep their transactions private as well. He expands on this concept further with his recent take on ‘stealth addresses’, a potential implementation which could anonymize peer-to-peer transactions for any kind of assets including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptocurrencies, and even blockchain domain registrations.
Ethereum Developers Stress-Test Network In Anticipation Of ETH Withdrawals
Ethereum Developers have created a testnet to test the conditions needed for the eventual withdrawal of staked Ether (ETH), and they are purposely creating malicious codes to poke holes in the testnet and eliminate any potential loopholes when the real Shanghai upgrade commences this year in March. Over 14.5 million ETH tokens currently resides in the Ethereum staking contract.
DWF Labs Unmask The Potential Of Mask Network With US$5 Million Investment
With the decentralized social media space heating up, DWF Labs will be supporting the efforts of the Mask Network by investing US$5 million to bring decentralized social applications to traditional networks, and allow social media users to own their own data. Maks Network currently aims to provide a decentralized platform for Web 2.0 users that provides social messaging and file storage through platforms that users are familiar with.
Bridge Protocols Rise To Prominence With Increased L2 Solutions Activity
Protocols that bridge assets across different blockchains have been at the forefront of Web3 development, but the increased volume of activity on Ethereum and Layer 2 scaling solutions have boosted them to prominence. With the rise of Polygon, Ethereum-Polygon Bridges have seen US$2.18 billion worth of assets locked up which amounts to 39.8% of the total volume. Other large runner-ups are the Optimism and Arbitrum bridges which occupy 13.4% and 27.4% respectively.
SUSHI Community Stands By The Platform And Gives Up Short Term Gains
The proposal to divert trading fees from SUSHI token holders to the SUSHI decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) Treasury was met with unanimous support by the community. While SUSHI token holders could previously earn 0.05% from all swaps made with 10% of that going to the treasury, The proposal will last for a year, and it will enable the DAO to determine a suitable percentage to stay competitive.
It’s The Battle Of The Ethereum Scaling Solutions
Layer 2 scaling solutions are the new hottest trend on the crypto block as projects like Polygon, Optimism, and Arbitrum continue to make the headlines. Polygon, one of the top favorites for the L2 race, has doubled in user activity since last October while grabbing attention with its zk-EVM implementation and recent hard fork. The runner-ups, Optimism and Arbitrum, are no slouch either with their progress on optimistic rollups.
Improved Inflation Sentiment Paves The Way For Female Crypto Adopters
The slight relief from the aggressive inflation measures by the United States Federal Bureau has given a slight boost to investor confidence, along with a knock-on effect of seeing investors return to crypto assets. Crypto assets are also succeeding where traditional finance has failed by bringing in more female investors, with 2022 seeing a 10% increase in said investors from 24% to 34%.
Say Hello To The Future Of Blockchain-Based Crowdfunded Films
Blockchain utility continues to make its impact felt in entertainment sectors such as gaming, and more recently in movies and film as well. Slamdance Film Festival, the Oscar-accredited festival for Indie filmmakers, will showcase the film Fuzzy Head which was crowdfunded through the blockchain-powered Untold.io. Other than garnering funds from the public, filmmakers are also funding new movie ventures through the sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to their fans as well.
