COSMOS CRYPTO NEWS: ATOM, DYDX, TIA, SEI, NAM, SCRT & MORE!!

Hi Cosmonauts!
Welcome to the Cosmos ecosystem news roundup, here are the top stories in Cosmos in the 1st half of September:

COSMOS HUB AND CONSUMER CHAINS: TOKI and Progmat Launch Project Pax Cross-Chain Stablecoin Transfers, Gaia v19.2.0 Patch, and more

NAMADA: Namada Validators: Pre-Genesis Stage 2 is Now Open, Namada Prepares for Mainnet Launch, Namada Community Bonfire

DYDX v4: dYdX Introduces Keplr Wallet Integration, dYdX Chain Kicks Off Season 6

OSMOSIS: Cosmos Hub and Osmosis Merger Proposal and Polaris

KUJIRA: Kujira Announces the Rujira Alliance

CELESTIA: Celestia to Scale 1 GB Blocks

SEI: Sei Expands with fastUSD: A Yield-Bearing Stable, Sei Creator Fund Round 2 Results

PERSISTENCE: pSTAKE to Deprecate Cosmos Liquid Staking and Refocus on Bitcoin Staking, pSTAKE Finance Introduces Bitcoin Liquid Staking on BNB Chain

SECRET NETWORK: Secret Network Launches HackSecret 4, Secret Network Integrates Confidential Computing Layer with Cronos, Launches Secret Builders Program to Support Early Stage Projects

AKASH: Akash Network Shines at Korea Blockchain Week 2024, Akash Network Hosts AI Powered Summit at TOKEN2049 in Singapore

OTHER ECOSYSTEM NEWS: Nomic upgrading to add a new Ethereum module

All this and much more. Let’s dive in and unpack the biggest news within Cosmos:

Cosmos Hub and Consumer Chains (Neutron & Stride)

TOKI and Progmat Launch Project Pax: Cross-Chain Stablecoin Transfers Targeting 2025 Commercialization
TOKI Finance and Progmat- a joint venture established by major Japanese financial institutions and tech firms in collaboration with Datachain- have initiated Project Pax to enable cross-border stablecoin transfers for enterprises.
The project leverages Swift’s existing API framework and Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) to facilitate seamless and secure transfers between permissioned and permissionless blockchains. With an expected commercialization in 2025, the platform seeks to address key challenges like Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), and regulatory compliance.

Gaia v19.2.0 Patch Retrospective: Ensuring Cosmos Hub Security
On September 5, 2024, a security advisory was issued to address a critical bug in the Cosmos Hub’s ICS, identified shortly after the Gaia v19 upgrade. A patch was applied strategically to ensure a swift resolution without causing a chain halt. This process involved the collaborative efforts of validators, the Informal dev team, Hypha, and Amulet to maintain the Cosmos Hub’s security and reliability.
To mitigate risks, the patch was initially distributed privately to 40% of validators before being rolled out to the full set.

Namada

Namada started Stage 1 of its pre-genesis plan, allowing prospective validators to create their genesis validator in preparation for the mainnet launch. This stage is crucial for setting up validator nodes and ensuring readiness for delegation in Stage 2. Namada is embracing a fully permissionless approach with no hand-selected genesis validators. All participants are welcome to join Stage 1.
Stage 1 ended on the 16th September and once Stage 2 begins on Tuesday 17th, you can still create a validator node, but edits and deletions will no longer be allowed and this is to ensure that transactions.toml remains valid. This stage will also open delegations for validators. Validators can use Ledger Nano S or S Plus to sign pre-genesis transactions, streamlining the setup process. There will be 5 days of notice before closing Stage 2. Knowable also released a forum post with support for the Anoma Foundation’s genesis balances proposal.

Namada Accelerates Preparations for Mainnet Launch
The Namada community is in full swing as it prepares the network for its highly anticipated mainnet launch. Validators and contributors are hard at work, ensuring the smooth operation of the network. The community can start participating in Namada’s testnets, including the popular House Fire testnet.
To join the House Fire testnet, join the Discord, the burner-net and housefire canary net. Joining via RPC only takes 5 minutes and can be done on your laptop without any bulky servers.

The Namada first Community Bonfire took place on Thursday, September 12th, at 15:00 UTC on Discord. This event featured updates from core contributor teams on the progress of the Namada network, with a focus on the latest developments in preparation for the upcoming mainnet launch. Additionally, participants can engage in an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) session, where key questions about the project can be addressed directly by the contributors.
This week’s Bonfire covered ongoing testnet developments, updates on validator preparations, and a roadmap for upcoming features. The Bonfire also serves as an interactive platform for community members to discuss project developments in a real-time chat format. The Community Bonfire will happen every second thursday.

dYdX v4

dYdX Introduces Keplr Wallet Integration for Enhanced Cosmos Ecosystem Access
dYdX has officially integrated the widely-used Keplr Wallet, bringing seamless access to the Cosmos ecosystem for over 1 million users. This highly anticipated integration allows dYdX users to connect their Keplr Wallets directly to the dYdX Chain, enabling simplified deposits, staking, and trading within the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
How to Connect Your Keplr Wallet to dYdX:
Download the Keplr browser extension.
Visit the dYdX platform at dydx.trade.
Select “Connect Wallet” and choose “Keplr” from the pop-up.
Sign in to Keplr and approve the connection.

dYdX Chain Kicks Off Season 6: Expanded Rewards and New Growth Milestones
Following the remarkable success of Season 5, dYdX announced the start of Season 6 of its Launch Incentive Program. With over $33 billion in trading volume and 4,000 active traders participating in the previous season, the dYdX Chain continues to grow as a major player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
The new season promises further expansion, alongside increased rewards and enhanced earning opportunities for traders, with more comprehensive security measures in place.

Osmosis

Cosmos Hub and Osmosis Merger Proposal: a Unified Blockchain Ecosystem
Discussions have begun on a potential merger between Cosmos Hub and Osmosis, two key players in the Cosmos Network. A draft proposal has been put forth to gauge community interest and explore the benefits of merging these two platforms, either fully or partially. The proposal aims to create a more integrated and scalable ecosystem that maximizes the strengths of both Cosmos Hub and Osmosis, benefiting their users, developers, and the broader Cosmos interchain.
Key elements of the proposal include enhancing interoperability, creating a unified ecosystem, and optimizing resources for better scalability and transaction throughput. The combined ecosystem could significantly reduce fragmentation, improve liquidity, and foster growth and innovation by integrating Cosmos Hub’s security features with Osmosis’ decentralized exchange (DEX) functionalities.

On September 21th during the Solana Breakpoint 2024, the Osmosis Polaris Portal will be unveiled. Polaris will allow you to interact with non-EVM chains such as Bitcoin, or Solana using the wallet you already have. Polaris will also bring several other advantages: 1-Click Trade Across Networks, Track Everything with Multi-chain Portfolio Tracking, Seamless Gas Token Acquisition, Bridge and DEX Abstraction enabling users to access the best liquidity across different networks with ease and Trade Privately. This upcoming trade privately feature is most likely Namada’s shielded swaps since Namada is about to launch its mainnet and it was previously announced that shielded swaps would be supported on Osmosis. Thanks to Namada’s shielded swaps and through Polaris, Osmosis will enable to trade in any chain’s DEX without revealing the trading strategy.

Kujira

Kujira Announces the Rujira Alliance: A Major Ecosystem Merger
Kujira has unveiled the Rujira Alliance, a merger between key apps within the Kujira ecosystem and Levana. This strategic unification seeks to consolidate the THORChain app layer under a single token, RUJI, which will accrue value from all core applications within the ecosystem, including KUJI, FUZN, WINK, and NSTK. Kujira and its ecosystem apps will receive 50% of the RUJI supply, with allocations determined by a rule-based system to mitigate volatility and manipulation.
The decision to join the merger will be subject to governance votes by each project, allowing for opt-ins or opt-outs based on project assessments.

Celestia

Celestia Scales Up 1 GB Blocks to Power Unstoppable Applications
Celestia Foundation is set to enter its next phase of development with the goal of scaling its ecosystem to handle 1-gigabyte blocks. This development is part of the broader effort to bring massive increases in data throughput to Celestia’s rollup ecosystem, enabling developers to deploy high-throughput, unstoppable applications. Since the launch of the Celestia Mainnet Beta last year, the ecosystem has already seen substantial growth, with 20 rollups deployed and Celestia blobs making up 40% of the total data published.
Developers are no longer constrained by execution layer overheads or state bloat, allowing them to build applications using any virtual machine (VM) or framework they prefer.

Sei

Sei Expands with fastUSD: A Yield-Bearing Stable Asset in Partnership with Elixir
Sei has introduced fastUSD, a native yield-bearing stable asset, marking a significant addition to the Sei ecosystem. This launch is made possible by Elixir, which has joined the Sei network. fastUSD is fully collateralized by Elixir’s deUSD, offering a new secure and overcollateralized liquidity component that enhances the ecosystem’s flexibility and composability.
deUSD, a core component of the Elixir ecosystem, is a fully collateralized synthetic dollar minted using assets like stETH and sDAI. Through its decentralized framework, deUSD creates a delta-neutral position, capturing positive funding rates while remaining resilient even in negative funding environments. As the preferred collateral for Sei’s orderbook liquidity, deUSD boosts overall liquidity and introduces new yield opportunities across DEXs.

Sei Creator Fund Round 2 Results: Empowering Creative Media and IP Development
The second round of the Sei Creator Fund, focusing on creative media and IP development, has concluded with impressive results. This round saw a surge in participation, with over 180 unique projects contributing to the growth of the Sei ecosystem. In response to overwhelming community enthusiasm, the Sei Foundation increased the matching pool by 33%, bringing the total pool to 1,108,333 SEI (approximately $332,500).
The round raised $82,162 from 13,164 unique donors, highlighting strong community engagement. Projects ranged from video content to podcasts and storytelling, demonstrating the creativity and innovation within the Sei ecosystem. The top-funded project, S3 Labs, received 39,686 SEI.

Persistence

pSTAKE to Deprecate Cosmos Liquid Staking and Refocus on Bitcoin Staking
pSTAKE Finance has announced that it will discontinue its Cosmos liquid staking services, effective January 5, 2025. This strategic move comes as pSTAKE refocuses its efforts on building liquid staking for Bitcoin, with its YBTC token becoming its sole focus. This decision is based on several factors, including token liquidity, economic value, and accessibility, as pSTAKE seeks to align with the most viable path for long-term growth.
Cosmos liquid staking assets, including stkATOM, stkOSMO, stkDYDX, stkSTARS, and stkHUAHUA, will no longer be supported post-deprecation.

pSTAKE Finance Introduces Bitcoin Liquid Staking on BNB Chain
pSTAKE Finance is bringing Bitcoin staking to the forefront with its innovative Liquid Staking Token (LST) YBTC, unlocking new yield opportunities for Bitcoin holders. With over $1.2 trillion in idle Bitcoin capital, the introduction of PoS staking yields for BTC could revolutionize the DeFi industry.
BNB Chain boasts over $6.7 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) across major DeFi platforms like Venus Protocol, PancakeSwap, Aave, and RDNT Capital. Additionally, BNB Chain is home to the second-largest wrapped Bitcoin token, with a value exceeding $4 billion.

Persistence One Highlights Key Innovations Driving BTCfi Evolution
Bitcoin’s DeFi ecosystem, or BTCfi, is rapidly expanding due to key technological upgrades like SegWit, Taproot, and Babylon. The SegWit upgrade in 2017 increased block capacity, while Taproot in 2021 introduced smart contract functionality, making Bitcoin more efficient and programmable. These advancements paved the way for innovations like Ordinals (Bitcoin-native NFTs) and Runes (fungible tokens), adding new layers of functionality to Bitcoin’s blockchain.
Babylon Labs further advanced BTCfi by introducing native Bitcoin staking, allowing BTC holders to earn staking rewards. This has transformed Bitcoin from a passive store of value into a yield-generating asset, attracting more users to decentralized finance. Layer-2 solutions like Stacks and Tap Protocol are also boosting Bitcoin’s scalability and programmability, with Tap Protocol making history by deploying Bitcoin-native smart contracts on the mainnet.

Secret Network

Secret Network Launches HackSecret 4 with $12,000 Prize Pool
Secret Network is set to kick off its fourth hackathon, HackSecret 4, starting on September 16, 2024, and running until October 16, 2024. This event invites developers to explore Decentralized Confidential Computing (DeCC) and build innovative Web3 applications. Participants can choose between two tracks: Native Secret dApps or Cross-chain dApps (with blockchains like Solana, EVM, and Cosmos).
The hackathon features a $12,000 prize pool, with additional bounties for exceptional projects. Throughout the event, developers will have access to weekly workshops and office hours to aid their progress. Secret Network’s Confidential Computing Layer enables developers to build privacy-centric applications on multiple blockchains, expanding the possibilities of Web3.

Secret Network Integrates Confidential Computing Layer with Cronos
Secret Network has announced the integration of its Confidential Computing Layer with the Cronos blockchain ecosystem, unlocking new decentralized confidential computing (DeCC) capabilities for dApps on both Cronos EVM and Cronos zkEVM. This integration provides Cronos developers with access to tools that enable features like private voting for DAOs, encrypted storage, confidential data for NFTs, and secure random number generation for Web3 games.
Cronos is a leading blockchain ecosystem with a focus on self-custody, decentralized finance, and Web3 gaming, supported by Cronos Labs and partnered with Crypto.com. With over 500 developers and contributors, Cronos aims to make Web3 more accessible to the next billion users. The integration of Secret’s DeCC technology strengthens Cronos’ offerings by enabling secure, private, and confidential computations within its applications.

Secret Network Launches Secret Builders Program to Support Early Stage Projects
Secret Network has announced the launch of the Secret Builders Program, an initiative designed to incubate early-stage projects within the Secret ecosystem. The program offers personalized support in areas such as contract development, marketing, and financial planning. Starting in September, participants will receive hands-on guidance, and the program will run in monthly cohorts.
Secret Network partnered with Etherlink, an EVM-compatible Layer 2 blockchain for the first cohort to help projects leverage decentralized confidential computing (DeCC) while building on familiar EVM infrastructure. The program will provide tools, resources, and connections necessary for participants to create Web3 applications with real-world use cases, including private voting for DAOs, encrypted storage, and secure DeFi functionalities.

Akash

Akash Network Shines at Korea Blockchain Week 2024
The Akash Network core team and community had a remarkable presence at Korea Blockchain Week 2024 in Seoul, with ten speaking appearances and participation in over 20 events throughout the week. Akash’s sponsorship of the event, held from September 1–7, 2024, included a booth in the main venue, where attendees could connect with the team and learn more about the growing Akash Supercloud.

Akash Network Hosts AI Powered Summit at TOKEN2049 in Singapore
As part of TOKEN2049, Akash Network will host the AI Powered Summit in Singapore, bringing together leading innovators in the decentralized AI space. The event will take place on September 17th, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at The Upper Room, Restaurant & Cafe.
With over 700+ attendees already registered, the summit promises insightful discussions on the future of AI and decentralized cloud computing. If you’re interested in connecting with the best minds in the industry, be sure to register for the event.

Other ecosystem news

Nomic testnet upgraded on September 12th to include the Ethereum Upgrade features to test against the Ethereum Sepolia testnet in order to prepare for a forthcoming upgrade for Ethereum Mainnet. This would allow native transfer of data and assets between Nomic and any EVM-based blockchain. For example, nBTC, currently an IBC-compatible token, would also be natively available as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum and other EVM-based chains like Arbitrum or Optimism with no additional bridging risk. While this is promising, the main issue with Nomic is the fee for BTC deposits. Nomic depends on the deposit fee to sustain its PoS chain and ecosystem but BTC holders don’t want to pay the high deposit fee. Babylon it seems that it attracted more BTC deposits probably because of no or low deposit fee. However, Babylon is offering staking yield to BTC holders and this yield is from other PoS who might not be willing to share yield with external BTC holders.

Crypto regulations & compliance news with MME

Australia to Prioritize Wholesale CBDC Over Retail CBDC

Australia has decided to prioritize the development of a wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) over a retail version due to its potential economic benefits. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the wholesale CBDC, which would be used for institutional transactions between banks and financial institutions, offers advantages such as improved efficiency, transparency, and reduced operational risks. In contrast, a retail CBDC, meant for everyday use by consumers, presents more significant challenges, such as potential financial instability and higher borrowing costs

Assistant Governor Brad Jones highlighted that the immediate priority is Project Acacia, a three-year program focused on exploring the use of wholesale CBDC and tokenized commercial bank deposits. The goal is to enhance the efficiency of Australia’s financial system by leveraging blockchain technology for faster and more secure transactions.

Although the RBA remains open to reassessing the case for a retail CBDC in the future, it currently sees limited benefits for retail use compared to wholesale applications.

EToro Reaches $1.5M SEC Settlement with SEC

eToro has agreed to pay a $1.5 million settlement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over charges of operating as an unregistered broker and clearing agency. As part of the settlement, eToro will stop offering most cryptocurrency trading in the U.S., limiting its offerings to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ether. U.S. customers will have 180 days to sell off any other crypto assets.

Conclusion

And that is all for today’s Cosmos ecosystem bi-weekly review so if you enjoyed it Cosmonauts remember to click that like button, subscribe button and bell icon too. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you Cosmonauts very soon in the next episode!

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