COSMOS CRYPTO NEWS: ATOM, NAMADA, DYDX, SEI, AKASH & MORE!!

Hi Cosmonauts!
Welcome to the Cosmos ecosystem news roundup, here are the top stories in Cosmos in the 2nd half of August:

COSMOS HUB AND CONSUMER CHAINS: Cosmos Hub Gaia v19.0.0 Upgrade, Interchain Foundation Annual Report 2023, Cosmos Hub Q2 Review and Q3 Outlook, and more

NAMADA: Namada Announces Pre-Genesis Stage 1 for Mainnet Launch, Anoma Foundation Advances Namada with Key Genesis Files Publication

DYDX v4: dYdX Operations subDAO Key Updates and New Technical Project Manager, dYdX Chain Celebrates Successful Season 5 and Launch of Season 6 Incentive Program

OSMOSIS: Osmosis Passes Proposal to Integrate EVM via evmOS

KUJIRA: Kujira Concludes Successful rKUJI Pilot Sale

CELESTIA: Celestia Prepares for First Consensus Upgrade with Lemongrass Hardfork

SEI: Sei Network Upgrades to V2: The First Parallelized EVM Blockchain, Sei Creator Fund Round 2 with Quadratic Funding, Spotlight on Auros: Key Member of Sei Network’s Liquidity Alliance

PERSISTENCE: Persistence One’s Interoperability Vision, Transforming BTCfi in 2024

SECRET NETWORK: Secret Network Integrates Confidential Computing Layer with Sei Blockchain, Winners Announced for HackSecret 3 Hackathon

AKASH: Akash Supercloud Hits All-Time High in Daily Network Spend as Growth Surges 15.66%, Akash Network Reports Record Q2 with 8% Revenue Growth, Akash Chat API Surpasses 25 Million Tokens

OTHER ECOSYSTEM NEWS: Babylon Bitcoin Staking Mainnet Reaches 1000 BTC Cap in 74 Minutes, Hackmos Dubai Hackathon Set for October 25–27, 2024

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

Cosmos Hub and Consumer Chains (Neutron & Stride)

Cosmos Hub Successfully Upgrades to Gaia v19.0.0
The Cosmos Hub has successfully upgraded to Gaia v19.0.0, following a decisive community vote that underscored strong backing for the initiative. The upgrade integrates the latest versions of key components, including Cosmos SDK v0.50, IBC v8.4.0, CometBFT v0.38.11, and Interchain Security v5.1.1. This comprehensive overhaul aims to enhance the efficiency, security, and functionality of the Cosmos Hub, ensuring it is well-equipped to meet the demands of the rapidly expanding interchain ecosystem.

Interchain Foundation Annual Report 2023: Reflecting on Progress and Setting the Stage for Future Innovations
In 2023, the Interchain Foundation (ICF) experienced significant strategic expansions and leadership transitions, aligning with its mission to promote decentralized technology development. The Interchain Foundation released its annual report, which details the foundation’s achievements and outlines initiatives for 2024 and 2025. The document presents an accountable overview of the ICF’s operations and strategic directions, highlighting its commitment to ensure improved governance, innovative funding programs, and comprehensive security measures.

Cosmos Hub Q2 Review and Q3 Outlook
The Cosmos Hub forum has recently shared a comprehensive review of the second quarter of 2024 and outlined key objectives for the third quarter, focusing on significant upgrades and initiatives. The Q2 review highlights the deployment of ICS 2.0, successful Gaia upgrades, and the integration of new technologies such as CosmWasm on the Hub.
For Q3, the forum emphasizes an aggressive push towards enhancing the Hub’s infrastructure to support more consumer chains.

Namada

Namada Announces Pre-Genesis Stage 1 for Mainnet Launch
Namada has initiated Pre-Genesis Stage 1 of its mainnet launch, inviting validators to set up the initial genesis state, defining the network’s initial validator set and stake distribution. As the community prepares for a fully decentralized launch, validators are encouraged to submit their pre-genesis transactions following detailed instructions provided by Namada.
This phase does not have a definitive deadline; however, a minimum four-day notice will be given to ensure readiness

Strategic Plan by Knowable for the Namada Mainnet
As Namada approaches its highly anticipated mainnet launch, Knowable has laid out a comprehensive plan detailing the essential steps and timelines involved. The main focus currently is achieving social consensus on the balances.toml, which will enable the progression to Pre-genesis Stages 2 and 3. This structured approach ensures a smooth mainnet launch, addressing community feedback and fine-tuning technical parameters.

Anoma Foundation Advances Namada Mainnet with Key Genesis Files Publication
The Anoma Foundation has taken a significant step towards launching the Namada mainnet by publishing the crucial genesis files, including balances.toml and transactions.toml, on their GitHub repository. Accompanied by scripts for verification, these files facilitate transparency and allow community members to verify their accuracy against the details shared in a recent blog post. This initiative is a part of Namada’s pre-genesis process, aimed at establishing a robust and decentralized network launch.

dYdX v4

dYdX Operations subDAO Announces Key Updates and Welcomes New Technical Project Manager
The dYdX Operations subDAO has released its third community update, revealing a series of strategic advancements and operational improvements, including successful protocol upgrades to versions 5.1.0 and 5.2.0, the comprehensive revamp of the subDAO Handbook, and the notable addition of Ilan Melendez as the new Technical Project Manager.
The latest financial report shows that the Ops subDAO spends an average of 350k USDC per month. This expenditure varies due to different billing cycles and special services like the Halborn security audit.

dYdX Chain Successful Season 5 Incentive Program and Announces Launch of Season 6
Season 5 of the dYdX Launch Incentive Program has concluded. There have been significant achievements in trading volume and market growth. The dYdX Chain recorded over $33 billion in trading volume across 105 live markets during Season 5, demonstrating robust market liquidity.
With the initiation of Season 6, the dYdX Chain aims to continue enhancing its ecosystem through strategic incentive distributions.
At the end of Season 5, 151m USDC was deposited on the dYdX Chain, a 24m increase from the start of the season.

Osmosis

Osmosis Passes Proposal to Integrate EVM via evmOS
The Osmosis protocol has successfully passed a proposal to integrate evmOS, bringing Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contract support and a native EVM wallet experience to the Osmosis chain. The integration of evmOS will allow users to connect EVM wallets like MetaMask directly to Osmosis. This means Osmosis is one step closer to realizing the multichain future.
The proposal has received overwhelming support, with 96.15% of votes in favor during the voting period from August 13 to August 18, 2024.

Kujira

Kujira Concludes Successful rKUJI Pilot Sale
The rKUJI pilot sale has concluded with a highly successful finale, marking a pivotal moment for Kujira’s ecosystem. The Kujira team has outlined the subsequent steps to manage the proceeds, repay debts, and prepare for future growth, with the partnership with THORChain playing a critical role in this accomplishment.
Kujira will be positioned for sustained growth and development by un-delegating the KUJI tokens necessary to fund the rKUJI bonds during the subsequent phase of the project.

Celestia

MilkyWay to Support Restaking of Stride’s stTIA and stINIT Tokens
MilkyWay, an upcoming omni-token restaking platform, will support Stride’s stTIA and stINIT tokens, allowing users to earn base staking yields and additional rewards.
Leveraging MilkyWay, Stride’s stTIA, and stINIT tokens will provide economic security to applications within the Initia ecosystem. Deposits are set to open later this year as Initia and its ecosystem prepare for launch.

Celestia Prepares for First Consensus Upgrade with Lemongrass Hardfork
Celestia is gearing up for its first major consensus layer upgrade, Lemongrass, which brings critical improvements to the network, including Interchain Accounts, Packet Forward Middleware, and CIP-10 for coordinated future upgrades. The upgrade is expected to roll out to Celestia Mainnet Beta in mid-September. Validators must upgrade their software to celestia-app v2.0.0 and DA node operators to celestia-node v0.16.0-rc0 before the designated upgrade heights to ensure network continuity.

Sei

Sei Network Upgrades to V2: The First Parallelized EVM Blockchain
Sei Network has achieved a significant milestone with the launch of Sei V2, making it the first blockchain to implement parallelized Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) functionality. This upgrade introduces features like optimistic parallelization, enhanced storage efficiency with SeiDB, and seamless interoperability with existing systems. With these advancements, Sei aims to offer developers a high-performance platform that combines the best of both worlds, optimizing for speed, scalability, and user experience.

Sei Creator Fund Round 2: Empowering Community Creators with Quadratic Funding
Sei Network’s commitment to “Community First” continues to thrive with the Sei Creator Fund Round 2 launch, where over 180 approved creators are contributing to the development of creative media and intellectual property (IP) within the Sei ecosystem.
Supported by a 715,000 SEI matching pool through Gitcoin’s quadratic funding, the initiative allows community members to vote for their favorite creators, amplifying grassroots contributions that shape the future of Sei.

Auros Joins as a Key Member of Sei Network’s Liquidity Alliance
Auros, a leader in strategic market making and liquidity solutions, has joined the Sei Network’s Liquidity Alliance. With Sei’s rapid layer-1 technology at the core, Auros’ involvement will help speed up the adoption process by providing the necessary infrastructure to support a thriving, liquidity market.

Persistence

Building for Bitcoin: Persistence One’s Interoperability Vision
Persistence One is revolutionizing the Bitcoin DeFi (BTCfi) sector by addressing the fragmentation of BTC variants. The latest interoperability solution by Persistence aims to facilitate seamless, zero-slippage cross-chain swaps across Bitcoin Layer 2s, removing the need for traditional bridges and exchanges.
With over $600M in TVL in BTCfi, Persistence One’s zero-slippage cross-chain swaps is poised to become a game changer and unlock the full potential of Bitcoin in decentralized finance.
Bitcoin’s price surge in 2024, driven by institutional adoption and the rise of Bitcoin DeFi (BTCfi), signals a transformative shift in the crypto landscape. However, fragmentation in the BTCfi ecosystem remains a challenge that Persistence One’s interoperability solution aims to address.

Secret Network

Secret Network Integrates Confidential Computing Layer with Sei Blockchain
Secret Network’s Confidential Computing Layer is now integrated with Sei, the fastest parallel blockchain. This integration brings decentralized confidential computing (DeCC) to Sei, unlocking new privacy-focused capabilities for dApps in the Sei ecosystem.
Developers can now implement features like private voting, encrypted storage, and secure random number generation, enabling a new level of security and confidentiality in Web3 applications.

Winners Announced for HackSecret 3 Hackathon
The winners of the HackSecret 3 Hackathon have been announced. HackSecret 3 attracted 46 submissions across various Web3 sectors, including DeFi, gaming, and social media. Five standout projects emerged as winners, each leveraging Secret Network’s decentralized confidential computing capabilities. These projects represent the best in cross-chain and native Secret dApps.
Winners include EVM.bet — a dapp for online prize draws, Project to Bring UMA’s Optimistic Oracle Solution to Secret Network, Secret Headstash — a tool enabling Ethereum wallets to claim airdrops privately on Secret, Free Market Public Goods — a dapp enabling funding distribution based on staked token voting weight, and PhilanthropyMatrix — charity NFT donation service.

Akash

Akash Supercloud Hits All-Time High in Daily Network Spend as Growth Surges 15.66%
The Akash Supercloud network has achieved a significant milestone, reaching an all-time high of $5.04K in daily network spend. The latest data shows a remarkable 15.66% growth, adding $682.63 to its daily spending, further solidifying its position as a rapidly growing decentralized cloud infrastructure.
This surge reflects the increasing adoption and demand for Akash’s decentralized cloud services, propelling the network to new heights.

Akash Network Reports Record Q2 with 44% Surge in New Leases and 8% Revenue Growth
Akash Network saw unprecedented growth in Q2 2024, driven by its integration into various AI projects, such as Brev (now acquired by NVIDIA), Prime Intellect, and Venice.
The network’s revenue grew 8% quarter-over-quarter, reaching $176,000, while new leases surged by 44%, hitting a record high of 27,000. The increase in GPU capacity, up 36%, further demonstrates Akash’s commitment to scaling its decentralized cloud infrastructure.

Akash Chat API Surpasses 25 Million Tokens Served, Hundreds of API Keys Created in Zero-Cost Public Beta
The Akash Chat API, powered by Akash GPUs, has quickly become a leading platform for developers seeking to build with Llama 3.1 405B, a top-tier open-source AI model. Since its launch, the API has served over 25 million tokens, with hundreds of API keys created. This makes it the easiest and most efficient way to run inference on Llama 3, all at zero cost, thanks to funding from Overclock Labs.

Other ecosystem news

Babylon Bitcoin Staking Mainnet Reaches 1000 BTC Cap in 74 Minutes
Babylon Labs’ Bitcoin staking mainnet achieved a significant milestone by reaching its 1000 BTC staking cap in just 74 minutes (6 blocks) after going live on August 22, 2024. This rapid uptake highlights growing interest in utilizing Bitcoin in more innovative and native ways, especially following the launch of the BTC spot ETF.
Babylon is yet to disclose the airdrop snapshot, and such contributions from the community is a strong acceptance for Babylon’s BTC staking solution.

Hackmos Dubai Hackathon Set for October 25–27, 2024
Dubai will host the official Cosmoverse Hackathon, Hackmos, from October 25–27, 2024. The event, co-hosted by DoraHacks, will bring together more than 300 hackers and over 50 teams competing for a prize pool exceeding $100,000. Participants will tackle challenges across eight vertical tracks, making this a key event in the Cosmos ecosystem.

Crypto regulations & compliance news with MME

SEC sends Wells Notice to NFT marketplace OpenSea

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a Wells Notice to OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace by number of users, signaling possible enforcement actions. This is the first time an NFT marketplace has been targeted by the SEC, reflecting increasing regulatory pressure on crypto projects in the U.S. A Wells Notice indicates that the SEC is considering taking enforcement measures against a person or company, typically after investigating potential violations of securities laws. OpenSea’s co-founder and CEO, Devin Finzer, warned that regulating digital art as securities could severely hinder innovation. To support NFT creators and developers who might receive similar notices, OpenSea has allocated $5 million to cover legal expenses.

The SEC’s scrutiny of NFTs follows actions against other crypto projects like Uniswap, MetaMask, RobinHood, and Ripple, all of which have faced regulatory challenges. The SEC has previously classified NFTs as securities, leading to charges against projects like Dapper Labs and Impact Theory, which settled with the regulator. OpenSea, however, appears prepared to contest the SEC’s actions, supported by its significant resources, including over $300 million in funding from top investors like a16z and a valuation of $13.3 billion two years ago.

Critics argue that NFTs, being collectibles and art, should not be treated as securities, drawing parallels to physical collectibles like trading cards. The outcome of OpenSea’s challenge could bring much-needed clarity to the NFT market, possibly spurring a resurgence in the space. The notice comes as Donald Trump announced the release of his fourth set of NFT trading cards.

Qatar Reveals Digital Assets Framework

On September 1, 2024, the Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) and the QFC Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) introduced the Digital Assets Framework, a comprehensive regulatory system for digital assets in Qatar. This framework, aligned with Qatar’s 2030 National Vision, includes new legislation such as the QFC Digital Assets Regulation, Investment Token Rules 2024, and Token Service Provider Guidelines. These regulations govern the creation, tokenization, and service provision of digital assets, emphasizing cybersecurity and compliance. The framework also introduces amendments to existing regulations, ensuring robust oversight of token-related activities. This development is pivotal for Qatar’s financial and technology sectors, offering new investment opportunities as the digital assets market expands globally.

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!

Youtube video version: https://youtu.be/4kZWgyBrHkE?si=bQhXTV9JDKOxdcG1

Telegram group: https://t.me/CosmicValidator

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CosmicValidator

Website: https://cosmicvalidator.com

Business enquiries: info@cosmicvalidator.com