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Canto, Astar blockchains plan expansion to Ethereum ecosystem as layer 2s
By inheriting Ethereum’s security, Canto will be more decentralized and will enable trustless guarantees when bridging assets over, Polygon Labs said.
Updated to clarify that Astar Network is expanding to Ethereum, not leaving the Polkadot ecosystem
Cosmos-native layer-1 blockchain Canto has become the latest chain to migrate to Ethereum as a layer 2 zero-knowledge rollup after another layer-1 blockchain, Astar, announced similar plans to expand beyond the Polkadot ecosystem to Ethereum.
Canto is a permissionless general-purpose blockchain, Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible with aims to onboard the traditional financial sector to decentralized finance applications.
Upon an official agreement reached by Canto Commons — a framework where contributors coordinate ideas and solutions to the protocol — its core developers will build a ZK-rollup on Ethereum’s second layer, Polygon Labs explained on Sept. 18:
“By leveraging a shared ZK bridge, Canto will eventually tap the liquidity of a unified Polygon ecosystem with easy access to Ethereum.” Read More
How ‘Spiderchain’ Plans to Build Ethereum on Bitcoin
Following weeks of debate about Bitcoin drivechains, a similar project to unlock the network’s programming potential is picking up steam.
Following weeks of debate about Bitcoin drivechains, a similar project to unlock the network’s programming potential is picking up steam.
On Monday, Jameson Lopp—co-founder and CTO of mobile self-custody firm Casa—published a blog post about “Spiderchain,” which he called “yet another proposal for building 2-way pegged sidechains.”
A sidechain is a separate blockchain that is tied into the main Bitcoin network in some way. They typically use the same native currency—BTC—and may also leverage Bitcoin’s security guarantees. Sidechains let Bitcoiners access more features with their BTC that the main network can’t always provide, such as scalability, programmability, and privacy.
A prevailing difficulty with sidechains, however, is building a “2-way peg” allowing BTC to be safely transferred to the sidechain and back without requiring a centralized middleman. Read More
Criminals more reliant on cross-chain bridges than ever after mixer crackdowns
The sanction of cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash in August caused the first major shift, which is accelerating even faster than projected.
Cybercriminals have accelerated their shift away from crypto mixers for cross-chain bridges over the past year, according to blockchain forensics firm Elliptic.
In June and July, nearly all of the crypto stolen was laundered through cross-chain bridges, with Elliptic’s data showing a complete reversal from the first half of 2022.
In a Sept. 18 blog post, Elliptic explained the cross-chain crime trend is due to the “crime displacement” effect, where criminals move to a new method to carry out the illicit activity when the existing method gets over-policed. However, the shift to cross-chain bridges is rising ahead of their projections.
Between July and September 2022, the ratio of laundered funds passing through mixers vs. cross-chain bridges flipped, corresponding to the United States Office of Foreign Asset Control’s sanctioning of Tornado Cash in August 2022, said the firm. Read More
Bitcoin Gets Its Own Take on Social App Friend.tech
Alpha uses a hybrid blockchain architecture with Bitcoin, Polygon and Trustless Computers, leveraging Optimistic rollups for a new decentralized social network.
After a 48-hour coding sprint, a Friend.tech look-alike dubbed Alpha launched on top of Bitcoin this weekend, bringing a social token experience to users of the venerated blockchain.
Like Friend.tech—which is built on Ethereum scaling network Base and saw a flurry of activity last month (and a recent revival)—Alpha is a decentralized social network protocol that lets users tokenize and monetize their online presence and content via tokens.
In other words, people can buy tokens tied to individual creators that rise or fall in price, and can be used to gate access to exclusive content. It’s another incarnation of the “social token” concept, and social finance projects like these are often billed as being a way to bring new users into the crypto space. Read More
HVC is poised to triumph in the crypto economy.
Markethive is a monolithic blockchain project currently operating as a social network, an entire inbound marketing platform with email, blogging, and digital media capabilities that broadcast to the vast internet. It’s a complete Market Network and the first of its kind.
Markethive is predominantly a free system where users can access a platform that can cost more than $2,500 offered by other marketing platforms. There are, of course, upgrades that open up more tools and monetization opportunities, the first being the Entrepreneur One Loyalty Program, and coming soon is the Premium Upgrade.
The many domains Markethive has and its autonomous cloud systems that ensure its sovereignty and longevity make it untouchable and immune from the tech giants’ rule and biased agenda. But can still remotely infiltrate the social media platforms and reach the multitudes either locked in or looking for an alternative meritocratic medium.
In other words, wherever you go, Markethive is there, anywhere and everywhere, delivering its message via its community of entrepreneurs to a far-reaching audience. This next-generation social market media is poised in the wings, and when the time is right, it will emerge as a shining light to lift people up and bring financial sovereignty and hope in this gloomy and uncertain world.
The video platform, conference rooms, the unique four specific news feeds currently in development, and many other projects and incentives add to the credibility and need for an ecosystem in the social media and digital marketing space. Read More
Uniswap launches educational platform with DoDAO
Uniswap University is similar to learning academies created by centralized exchanges such as Binance, Bitget and Bybit.
On Sept. 21, decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap launched an educational platform in conjunction with the blockchain education-focused DoDAO.
According to the announcement, Uniswap University aims to create a structured learning pathway for onboarding users to its v3 exchange via courses, simulation and quick guides. Via the platform, users can learn about topics ranging from “What is a DEX?” to advanced topics such as “Strategy Backtesting Tools.” Meanwhile, simulations such as adding and removing liquidity and exploring advanced position management tools allow users to gain quick, practical experience.
In one advanced course, Uniswap teaches users the fundamentals of becoming a liquidity provider on v3. It writes:
“In this chapter, we will explore several potential strategies that you, as a liquidity provider, can consider. These include holding (HODL) stable coins, maintaining 50% of two different tokens, possessing 100% of one token, providing wide range liquidity, providing narrow range liquidity, and supplying liquidity in volatile token pools. Each strategy comes with its own set of advantages and drawbacks.” Read More
PancakeSwap integrates Transak for fiat onboarding on multiple chains
PancakeSwap now allows users to purchase crypto with debit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay and other methods through Transak.
Decentralized exchange PancakeSwap now offers Transak as a provider in its “buy crypto” tab, giving PancakeSwap users an additional option when shopping for crypto, according to an announcement on Sept. 21. Mercuryo and MoonPay were previously providers for this feature, making Transak the third provider to be added.
PancakeSwap is a multichain-decentralized exchange (DEX). It’s available on eight different blockchain networks, including BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, Base and Polygon zkEVM. It has over $1.3 billion worth of crypto locked in its contracts and does over $150 billion in volume per day, according to crypto analytics platform DefiLlama.
As with all DEXs, PancakeSwap can’t perform fiat-to-crypto conversions on its own. Users have to first own cryptocurrency in a wallet before they can use the exchange. Its development team recently implemented the “Buy Crypto” feature in an attempt to fix this problem by allowing users to onboard with third-party providers, such as Mercuryo, MoonPay and now Transak. Transak claims to be integrated into over 350 Web3 apps, making it one of the most accessible crypto onboarding services. Read More
Financial Regulator Issues 'Final Warning' to Non-Compliant UK Crypto Firms
The FCA says the vast majority of crypto firms in the U.K. have yet to reply to the regulator's questions regarding new standards set to come into effect.
The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned crypto businesses on Thursday to fall in line with new financial promotion rules, which the vast majority of businesses appear to be ignoring.
In a public letter published by the FCA, the regulator said that only 24 of 150+ firms have replied to a survey sent to them by the regulator related to the new rules. After taking effect next month, the rules will severely restrict how financial promotions from “unauthorized and unregistered crypto businesses” can be communicated.
“We are concerned by the poor engagement from many unregistered, overseas crypto asset firms who have U.K. customers on this important change,” wrote the FCA in its statement.
After taking effect on October 8, crypto firms “must cease making illegal financial promotions to U.K. consumers,” the letter added. Punishments for continuing such activity could include “up to 2 years imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both.” Read More
From Bitcoin Market to Web3 colonies: How crypto exchanges have evolved over the years
Cryptocurrency trading venues have changed tremendously since Bitcoin’s emergence in 2008 and are still evolving. So, what are the newer exchange models beyond CEXs and DEXs in 2023?
Phemex, an innovative crypto exchange, is at the forefront of the hybrid trading approach. Rooted in a firm commitment to decentralization, Phemex provides CEX-like liquidity, user-friendly functionalities, and access to DeFi opportunities through its Phemexia ecosystem.
Over the years, cryptocurrency trading venues have come a long way — from the Bitcoin Market exchange owned and operated by a single anonymous user, dwdollar, in 2010 to automated market makers (AMMs) relying on mathematical formulas to price assets a decade later.
Centralized exchanges (CEXs) use an order book where market makers and takers place their orders. Their order books then match buyers and sellers, and the exchanges take a small portion of the transaction as a fee. Their counterparts, decentralized exchanges (DEXs), operate via smart contracts — autonomous code snippets on a blockchain, executing transactions. And users pay gas for their activity on the chain. Read More
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
