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Trading activity around the $B token has intensified, bringing it into the spotlight after a remarkably profitable day for some traders.

Within just 24 hours, $B saw significant upticks in purchase activity that landed it on the radar of major crypto exchanges. For early investors, it has been nothing short of a bonanza—$B’s price has shot up 271%, bringing its market cap to more than $120 million. Of course, all that price action has some traders and analysts wondering if $B’s smart money days are already numbered.

WLFI Buys Fuel Massive Surge in $B Price

The price explosion started when World Liberty Finance (WLFI) took a bold step, investing 25,000 USD1 to buy up large quantities of $B. This one purchase was sufficient to set off a sharp upward move in the token’s valuation, sending it rocketing up 271% in just a few hours. The surge pushed $B’s market cap past the $120 million barrier—an impressive milestone for a token that’s such a comparatively new player in the DeFi space.

When USD1 (a stablecoin originally created by WLFI) was integrated into the $B ecosystem and subsequently listed on Binance, it meant that the liquidity dynamics of $B itself were being served at the altar of nice trader returns in a way that had not previously been the case with $B. And this altar had become busy, with trading volumes reportedly reaching the millions per minute.

$B is closely associated with USD1 through its liquidity pools, which makes this a great opportunity to speak about the strategic synergy that Wai Lon and Francesca are building across the WLFI ecosystem. This is turning USD1 into a liquidity powerhouse, and $B is one of its most aggressive vehicles.

Smart Money Acts Fast: $282K Position Yields 41.8% Return in Hours

A textbook example of market timing, an address ending in 0x26a…53c74 recognized the momentum early. Within an hour of WLFI’s large buy, the wallet amassed 3.32 million $B tokens, worth $282,000 at the time. The trader’s average price was $0.08492. Now with the current price at $0.1187, the wallet is holding a profit of approximately $110,000—a 41.8% gain in under a day.

This agility and precision level exemplifies the actions of seasoned DeFi investors, often labeled as “smart money,” when it comes to pattern detection and capitalization. And those investors are able to operate at this level, apparently, because they have access to new and better methods for detecting and analyzing DeFi activity. This development has implications for the next era of DeFi market evolution.

This action underscores the profit potential of rapidly developing markets and reveals how directly tied to public relations token values can be.

And it isn’t token values alone that are affected; it’s our public sentiment that affects us all in almost every aspect of our lives.

Binance Listings, Insider Supply, and High-Speed Market Making

$B’s sharp increase in value is being driven by a coordinated set of signals that are both powerful and somewhat controversial. First, Binance Alpha gave $B an extremely prominent listing, which in turn gave it an extremely prominent platform from which to draw in an audience of millions, sight unseen, right there. This huge amount of newfound visibility, concomitant with WLFI’s public endorsement and direct investment, pretty much created a narrative loop that saw the token propelled inexorably upwards.

It’s notable that $B is far from a grassroots venture. An incredible 99% of the total token supply is in the hands of insiders. This type of distribution can help with liquidity, ensuring that there are enough tokens available to trade, but also with efficiency. And by that I mean, the price of $B, at least, behaves in a way that suggests it has a kind of market making that one would want from any project, especially a decentralized one.

Compounding the complexity, $B operates with high-frequency market-making bots that generates trading volumes from $1 million to $2 million per minute. This is an aggressive trading infrastructure, so trading is expensive and volatile. That amplifies gains, of course. But it also raises the risk profile for late entrants.

A DeFi Rocket or a Flash in the Pan?

$B’s quick rise, powered by a well-coordinated liquidity injection from WLFI, smart-money moves like you wouldn’t believe, and good old Binance amplification, has made it a short-term success story, with no two ways about it. But is it really a success, or just a stage being set for the next phase of a well-rehearsed, long-running play? As that question bubbles to the surface, an awful lot of speculation is happening in and around $B.

For the time being, though, the market is really paying attention to $B. Whether it will become a fundamental DeFi asset or will just fade after all the recent excitement will depend on its ecosystem’s evolution—and on whether it can make the leap from being a speculative play to being a utility that people use.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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In one of the most epic trading episodes of the month, a trader with deep pockets and a wide following across DeFi analytics platforms now appears to be nearly $19 million underwater after having placed a huge leveraged short on $HYPE.

Despite this trader’s having made multiple margin top-ups to avoid liquidation, the token’s unceasing rally has turned this bet into a high-stakes and somewhat comic saga.

A $57M Short That Backfired

Beginning on May 8, the whale established a short position of 1.875 million HYPE tokens, using 5x leverage, with an opening price of $20.40 per token. Backed by an initial margin of $28.5 million, the notional value of the short approximately totaled $57.14 million.

The strategy was clear: the trader was anticipating a dramatic decline in HYPE’s price. But the market had other plans. Instead of retracing, HYPE was propelled upward by market momentum, community buzz, and a private jet full of high-profile listings. Within days, that bearish position had morphed into a financial time bomb.

HYPE’s price has risen far above the initial level at which shorts were opened, and as a consequence, those short positions have lost a considerable amount of capital. Now, with shorts held for over two weeks, the average capital lost has resulted in an unrealized loss amounting to a staggering $18.8 million.

Two Margin Top-Ups and a $32.60 Liquidation Threshold

In the whale’s desperate attempt to avert the implosion of its enormous short, it has added margin not once, but twice, since the position was first opened. Most recently, two hours ago, the whale tried to give the position more time to work—in other words, more time in hope of a market reversal—by injecting another 2.04 million USDC into the margin account.

This total capital deployed into the short now comes to over $30.5 million. The updated liquidation price now sits at $32.60, meaning if HYPE crosses this level, the trader’s entire position will be forcibly closed.

Even though maintaining this contrarian bet is becoming increasingly costly, the whale stays put, showing no inclination to cut losses or close the position. Why the whale does this is a mystery to most in the market watching it, since one can only speculate about whether the reason is conviction, hubris, or a long-term strategy.

HYPE’s Unstoppable Rise and Market Sentiment

HYPE, which was once a niche DeFi token, has transformed over the past few weeks into something of a market darling. Since early May, the token has seen significant price appreciation, driven by what seems a combination of strongly positive on-chain activity, a rapidly and successfully expanding liquidity profile, and what can only be described as a full-on, aggressive marketing campaign. This of course has its influencers and community leaders rallying round, and with a good deal of work put into generating some very covetable retail participation.

This price spike has taken short-sellers by surprise, particularly big players like the whale just mentioned. In fact, some analysts now see his short position as a cautionary tale in the risks of playing the market with high leverage in an unpredictable, sentiment-driven environment.

The reality that a singular wallet is prepared to gamble more than $30 million on just one kind of bet has ignited some discussions in cryptocurrency circles. Some of the folks who inhabit those circles see this as a sign of excessive confidence, while others interpret this wallet’s action as a kind of audacious—and perhaps brilliantly contrarian—move that might pay off if the HYPE rally turns out to be a not-so-sustainable one.

Even so, with the token trading perilously near the liquidation threshold, and the whale’s error margin growing smaller by the hour, all attention is on HYPE’s next move in the price department.

Conclusion: A Cautionary Tale of Leverage and Conviction

As it currently stands, the HYPE short held by the whale is among the most scrutinized positions within the crypto realm. With a staggering $18.8 million already counted in the loss column—and a liquidation cliff up ahead—the position serves as a cautionary tale concerning the use of high leverage in a market as volatile as crypto.

It’s yet to be seen whether the trader’s conviction will pay off or lead to a full-blown liquidation. For now, the market is rallying, and HYPE holders are in celebratory mode. Meanwhile, one determined whale is holding on against all odds with tens of millions at stake, hoping against hope that gravity will finally do its job.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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In a breach that some are saying is the most embarrassing and costly breach in crypto history, Coinbase has confirmed a major security incident that has exposed the sensitive data of hundreds of thousands of users.

The company’s own contract employees were bribed by the hackers who then demanded a $20 million ransom to delete the information they had stolen. Coinbase’s response? Refuse to pay and put a bounty on the hackers’ heads.

A Backdoor Through Customer Support

Coinbase was breached in a cybersecurity attack that spanned several months, starting in January 2025. A group of hackers targeted contract workers in the company’s customer support division, paying them for access to the information that was accessed during the hack. Using this phishing-like approach to get inside, the hackers then worked for five months to move laterally through the system and exfiltrate a staggering amount of data. It’s unclear how much they got away with, or how many people’s data was compromised, but the amount seemed certainly in the millions.

The breached data is some of the most sensitive that any cryptocurrency exchange could hold. It contains everything from full names, contact details, and government-issued ID images, to what users had in their crypto wallets and in transaction histories, as well as IP addresses that can be used to tie them to specific locations. The very kind of breach that shouldn’t be possible. This is bad for customers, yes. But at a certain point, it also becomes bad for society. When you’re not revealing the full story via the ID images and government-issued papers that were also part of the compromised data, you’re not really secure.

What’s particularly alarming is that this was not caused by a software vulnerability or an infrastructure flaw. It was social engineering at its most effective—exploiting the financial vulnerabilities of underpaid contractors to get inside one of the most valuable crypto exchanges in the world.

The Ransom Demand and Armstrong’s Defiant Stand

The hackers struck after several months of gathering information. They emailed Coinbase to say they’d release the data if we didn’t pay them $20 million. They claimed they had pretty much everything they could want from the inside of Coinbase, and they told us in detail what kind of information they’d gotten.

Confronted with this decision, the Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong could have chosen one of two paths. He could have gone with the oft-trod route of most companies, which is to pay off the extortionists and protect customers, thus avoiding what could become a seriously public scandal. Or he could have taken the much less traveled path of standing up to the bad guys. Armstong took the latter route and stunned the digital currency world with his decision.

He declined to pay. Instead, Coinbase put up a $20 million reward — the same sum the hackers demanded — for information that would lead to the capture and conviction of the cybercriminals. Then the company went public with the breach, describing not only how it had come about but also how many customers had been affected and what it was doing to limit the damage.

About 1% of the monthly active users of Coinbase were affected; that amounts to hundreds of thousands of people. The total cost of the incident is estimated to fall somewhere between $180 million and $400 million. The calculations break down into user reimbursements, payments to boost various security measures, legal expenses, and long-term damage to Coinbase’s brand reputation. But for Armstrong, the key takeaway wasn’t the cash cost, but rather the payoff in messaginess: paying a ransom doesn’t ensure safety; it only encourages more attacks.

Security, Outsourcing, and the Lessons Ahead

The problem has been glaringly illuminated by the breach: the vulnerabilities arising from the practice of outsourcing customer support to low-wage workers in foreign countries. Outsourcing such roles may be cost-effective — positively so from a business standpoint. But when it comes to security, this accessible business decision creates a risk that is exceedingly hard to keep an eye on and nearly impossible to eliminate. Underpaying employees, especially those with access to sensitive data, fills them with a sense of moral indignation that begs for a nice boost of cash to make it go away. And tempting someone with a bribe is a far sight easier when they are working in a cubicle half a world away and making a fraction of what their boss does.

Now Coinbase is giving back to the users who got directly scammed thanks to the breach, but only for incidents that happened prior to May 15. If you got scammed after that (and we’re not saying you will), do not expect to be made whole again. Going forward, Coinbase customer service is (allegedly) much improved, and the platform has put into place several new internal controls, alongside a revaluation of its contractor management policies.

The damage is done, however. The crypto community is just trying to cope with the recent disclosure that one of the most reliable platforms in the industry could suffer not from tech problems but from, shall we say, personnel issues. Armstrong’s decision to go public with the news and offer a bounty may well be a new way for companies to handle conversations around ransomware threats—”we are not paying ransoms to protect our secrets, and here is why”—but it also serves as a reminder that entire systems, for all their redundancy and cleverness, can be subject to human error.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

The post Coinbase Suffers $400M Breach After Employees Sold Customer Data to Hackers appeared first on The Merkle News.

The quick climb of USD1 in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space is most certainly grabbing attention.

Several important partnerships and integrations have now occurred in association with the asset, and this seems to be driving the price of the asset ever higher. It is also pushing more and more people toward the asset, which is now seemingly at the crux of a liquidity push arguably seen in recent years. If StakeStone leading this effort is not enough, several key projects associated with USD1 have seen their valuations explode in the past few days.

StakeStone Ignites Market with WLFI and USD1 Announcements

On May 9, StakeStone sent shockwaves through the market with a high-impact tweet announcing its integration of WLFI, an instant price lift for its native token, STO, above $0.16, and greetings from sunny Marbella in the tweet’s opening line. “We are very happy to announce that we are integrating your favorite Web3 Project Sovereign Wealth Fund (WLFI) into our platform,” the tweet stated. What followed in the next 24 hours was the kind of price action that gives crypto a bad name—the rapid ascent and retreat of coins and tokens all in the name of creating liquidity for the platform.

Later that evening, StakeStone took to Twitter to better tell its story and reinforce the message to the community—a not-nearly-24-7 way of communicating. In the tweet, it proclaimed that USD1 now offered full-chain liquidity and took a moment to rehash this not-very-clear-at-all point, mostly for the benefit of anyone who might have been peeking in and not entirely sure what was going on.

STO’s recent market cap is $29.17 million, a perfectly respectable number that nevertheless sees us about 36% off our monthly high. Despite that, continued upward momentum seems likely, especially as StakeStone squares up its dual utility with USD1 and push that further across multiple chains.

USD1’s Ripple Effect: ListaDAO, WLFI, and BANK React

Beyond StakeStone, numerous other DeFi projects associated with USD1 have seen massive price recoveries. ListaDAO, a decentralized liquidity and treasury protocol, initiated USD1 support in its treasury, causing its native token LISTA to surge upward by 60% in 24 hours.

In the interim, WLFI has boldly taken the step of buying both Pools B and USD1. The purchase came off quite well, with WLFI’s value shooting up by a stunning 396%. Such gains highlight how the market sees USD1 as a new catalyst for value creation across ecosystems.

In a different development, BANK—a DeFi protocol famous for its trading instruments—declared the debut of a USD1 trading pair. This listing almost instantaneously produced a 15% uptick in BANK’s price, which must be seen as further evidence that projects aligning with USD1 are getting quite the market benefit.

These occurrences signify a pivotal moment for the stablecoin, pushing it further into the element of DeFi infrastructure. Its wide embrace has boosted a not-too-subtle baseless bullish sentiment for the long-term influence and sustainability of the upgrade.

Aster Eyes USD1 Integration for Perp DEX

Significantly, a protocol that is yet to launch—Aster—says it will support USD1 as collateral for its perpetual decentralized exchange (Perp DEX). Though the platform hasn’t held its Token Generation Event (TGE) yet, this early declaration of the platform adds to the already prominent consensus that USD1 might become a fundamental asset for future DeFi primitives.

This forward-looking integration yet again confirms USD1’s rising popularity and growing appearance of confidence projects are placing in its liquidity capabilities. If Aster pushes through and does what it says it will do post-TGE, USD1 could become a key piece in the puzzle enabling high-leverage trading and risk-managed strategies within the Aster ecosystem.

Looking Ahead: USD1’s Position as a DeFi Liquidity Engine

Once this week’s market frenzy subsides, one thing remains clear: USD1 is no longer just another stablecoin. It is rapidly becoming a liquidity backbone across several DeFi platforms. From StakeStone’s chain-spanning liquidity ambitions to WLFI’s aggressive accumulation, the USD1 narrative is evolving at breakneck speed.

Even though the overall market cap of the most important tokens is still below the levels they reached a month ago, and the news is full of ongoing and upcoming integrations, USD1’s market impact may only be just beginning to be felt. Investors, developers, and traders will be keeping an eagle eye on this situation to see if the price can keep up its momentum—or, for those who like to see things painted in a more positive light, if it can even accelerate—now that USD1 has firmly ensconced itself in the decentralized economy.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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May 22, 2025 – Internet Computer (ICP) has taken a big step toward making interoperability between blockchains a reality and vastly improving the end-user experience.

They have indeed built the bridge that many claims cannot be built. Developers can now issue wrapped, on-chain versions of all the major coins: Bitcoin (ckBTC), Ethereum (ckETH), Tether (ckUSDT), and USD Coin (ckUSDC). Said tokens are called “ck” tokens because they remain 1:1 pegged to their original, off-chain counterparts. Unlike many similar compound products, these do not involve any central custodians or risky third-party bridges.

Bridging the Gap: Secure, Decentralized Cross-Chain Transactions

One of the most innovative parts of the new wrapped tokens is the manner in which they are connected to the Internet Computer blockchain. This is different from most wrapped assets, which depend on centralized middlemen or protocols that third parties operate. Instead, the Internet Computer has a decentralized mechanism that is part and parcel of its platform. This allows for a much higher level of security, and it is probably much more trustable as well.

Consider Bitcoin (BTC) as an example. When a user sends BTC to the Internet Computer, it is locked in a secure address on the Bitcoin blockchain. At the same moment, an equivalent amount of ckBTC (the Internet Computer’s version of wrapped Bitcoin) is issued on the ICP network. This entirely decentralized process avoids the vulnerabilities and risks that have traditionally compromised bridge protocols, wherein centralized custodians of funds have often been the targets of hackers and exploits.

Ensuring that each wrapped token has a real-world counterpart means that ICP guarantees the preservation of each digital asset’s true value. This was relatively hard to achieve in the past across different blockchain systems. But it also means that each wrapped token can be redeemed or transferred back to its native blockchain with ease and, thanks to ICP, a liquidity that has—to this point—eluded all but a few cross-chain systems.

The Advantages of Wrapped Assets on ICP

The wrapped tokens of ICP have quite a few practical benefits that make them attractive to users, especially in regard to decentralized finance, gaming, and microtransactions. One of the most alluring aspects is the speed of transactions. Unlike many traditional blockchain networks, where transactions can take several minutes or even hours to confirm, ICP processes transactions in less than one second. This low latency makes it an ideal choice for applications that require real-time interaction, such as gaming platforms, or for decentralized applications (dApps) that operate in time-sensitive environments.

Along with rapid transactions, the price of moving these wrapped assets is very low. Transaction fees on ICP are just a fraction of a cent, and it is cost-effective for any sort of microtransaction. That is something traditional networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum don’t do too well. They often bog down when trying to handle those sorts of transactions, and then the user ends up paying a high gas fee. But here we are in the Internet Computer ecosystem, trying to interact with wrapped versions of those same assets, and doing so in a more efficient ecosystem.

In addition, these enveloped assets are completely compatible with the burgeoning an ecosystem of ICP-based decentralized applications. Users can trade them on decentralized exchanges, engage with DeFi protocols, or wander the wild world of decentralized apps—essentially, do any of the things that the increasingly nifty ICP network permits—without leaving the network or converting the assets back to their home chains.

A Future-Proof Ecosystem

With these fresh wrapped tokens, ICP sees itself as a big cheese in the continuing evolution of blockchain technology. It’s not just that you’re able to use major assets like BTC and ETH within its ecosystem—but that you can do so natively, in a way that overcomes many of the blockchain-y limitations traditional, non-ICP smart contracts suffer from. Developers working within the new decentralized interoperability are creating next-gen dApps. And Interchain’s the place to do it.

In addition, wrapped tokens on ICP mean more than just transaction efficiency; they represent the dawn of blockchain interoperability. With the deluge of new blockchains and digital assets, ICP’s decentralized bridging solution offers a model other platforms may envy. By enabling cross-network, entity-free transfers, ICP is not just making interoperability happen; it’s helping shape the secure, transparent, and scalable blockchain ecosystem we all want.

Wrapped Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins like Tether and USDC are clear signs that ICP is very much an innovation engine for blockchain technology. These digital assets are lifeblood to the decentralized internet that the ICP team is building. They are core enablers of its vision of a future where users and applications can interact seamlessly without the sort of traditional blockchain constraints that so often inhibit that ideal.

To sum up, the direct asset launch on the Internet Computer is a significant event not just for the ICP ecosystem, but for the blockchain industry as a whole. Its direct launch facility is an unprecedented addition to the ICP offering, and it seems, at a first glance, to put the Internet Computer in direct competition with Ethereum.

This could be a big moment; wrapped tokens could be used on the direct launch facility to use any asset, not just wrapped ICP, as a secure way to transact on the Internet Computer.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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May 22, 2025 – The leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sui blockchain, Cetus, has been hit by what appears to be a major security breach.

The breach has drained liquidity from the exchange’s token pairs, triggering a steep fall in the price of $CETUS while sending the Sui ecosystem into a near-panic mode. How bad is it? Well, the exchange’s like-named $CETUS token is down over 90% on the day in some reporting, leading to estimates of damage totaling somewhere between $14 million to $35 million.

The Event: Liquidity Crisis and Market Panic

Information disseminated through social media, particularly X (formerly known as Twitter), suggested that the liquidity pools on Cetus had been completely drained, setting off a catastrophic failure of several token pairs. This crisis, however, originated not from any liquidity issues on Cetus itself but rather from the Sui stablecoin, USDC, which had a massive drop in value (allegedly to zero). As panic spread through the DeFi community, the price of $CETUS—the native token of the Cetus exchange—plummeted by over 40% within hours, vaporizing a tremendous amount of value.

The incident sent shockwaves through the Sui network as well, with the price of $SUI, the blockchain’s native token, taking a hit as liquidity and confidence drained. Cetus was supposed to be the place for DeFi on the Sui blockchain, and in the wake of the attack, it was uncertain how deep the disruption to operations might go, especially in the context of the price depth and market stability.

The Cetus team’s first assertion was that a bug in the oracle caused the incident. But analysts and the community pointed out inconsistencies in this explanation almost right away. On-chain data told a different story. According to that data, what we were seeing was an exploit, not a failed component. CertiK won the day by explaining that a fake token had been used to carry out the exploit. The fake token was presented to the system as a real token, thus allowing the exploiters to pretend they were contributing real value to the pools.

Why the Incident Could Significantly Impact $SUI

The Cetus DEX incident has serious ramifications that reach well past the platform itself. Being the primary DEX on Sui, Cetus handles the bulk of DeFi action on the blockchain. Its pools provide vital liquidity to a variety of assets on the network, and any big interruption in that service has the potential to undermine the price stability of a bunch of assets on the network, leading to huge price swings that shake everybody’s confidence in the whole ecosystem.

When liquidity drains from key pools, trading pairs become highly susceptible to slippage, making it difficult for users to execute transactions at reasonable prices. This results in a cascade of issues that can trigger panic selling across the ecosystem. Consequently, the price of $SUI, which had been riding high on robust growth and institutional interest earlier in the month, has begun to plummet. The token was up nearly 71% in May, driven by excitement surrounding potential ETF listings and institutional interest, as well as growth in decentralized finance (DeFi), and user adoption on the Sui blockchain. However, a security breach of this magnitude threatens to reverse much of that positive momentum. The loss of trust in the ecosystem, combined with the liquidity crisis, has shaken investor confidence, which has led to sharp sell-offs and a halt in some trading activities. Stablecoins, especially USDC, are particularly sensitive to these issues, as any instability with these assets can lead to broader market contagion, which heightens fears and leads to further price declines.

New Evidence Points to a Targeted Exploit

As the investigation goes on, additional evidence has emerged to indicate that the event was not just a simple bug and was instead a targeted attack. On-chain analysis has revealed that the attackers have netted $164 million and that they have it all in one wallet, which really makes you question the reach and the scale of this exploit.

The attackers used a method involving the creation of a phony token and fooling the Cetus system into accepting it as a real one. They set up a false trading pair with a tiny amount of not-real liquidity that let them take real funds from the pool over and over, with nothing of any value put back in. This kind of exploit is notably hazardous because it sidesteps traditional security measures and hits directly at the platform’s liquidity.

This new information raises questions about the assertion that the problem was just a bug in the oracle system. The use of pool math, rather than external oracles, to price assets makes the oracle bug excuse seem less plausible. The attack looks more like a planned operation that took advantage of a recently discovered vulnerability in the DEX’s liquidity management system.

The Road Ahead: Recovery or Further Collapse?

At this moment, neither Sui nor Cetus has formally confirmed what kind of attack it was. But all the evidence is pointing toward a deliberate exploit, not a mere technical glitch. Yet again, this serves as a shrill reminder of the inherent vulnerabilities of DeFi platforms and the risks of their using cross-chain liquidity pools, especially in these nascent ecosystems. All the more reason for Sui developers, in particular, and DeFi developers in general, to take a long, hard look at these architecture decisions.

The short-term trajectory of the Sui blockchain and its native token, $SUI, seems likely to be downward. The market is still processing the news that Sui was exploited, and it is apparent that the Sui community—alongside all ecosystems that contain DeFi components—now must reckon with the reality that DeFi exploits likely cannot be fully prevented. Blocking stolen funds and stopping future exploits must now be the priority of the Sui and Cetus teams.

This week has underlined the need for strong security and clear communication in the blockchain world. With $164 million in lost funds, the Cetus exploit serves as a reminder to all DeFi platforms that they need to be on guard, especially when it comes to managing liquidity and securing user assets. The daylight between Sui and Cetus’s response and a lie/coverup tells us how to regard each platform in the future.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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As the traditional “sell in May” sentiment approaches, Solana has found itself experiencing a rather curious divergence.

Prices have dropped slightly, but the network has exploded with activity and development. In just one week, there were over 325,000 new tokens launched on Solana, and significant overall growth in the ecosystem. Prices are, of course, the most notable metric that people pay attention to. But what’s happening on the Solana network seems completely at odds with the price action.

Market Wobbles as Ecosystem Expands

Notwithstanding the encouraging ecosystem metrics, Solana’s native token SOL saw a slight pullback. Over the past week, it moved down 2.9% to close at $167. While this dip might seem inconsequential, it runs counter to the broader trends we’re seeing in the crypto markets. The push we’ve seen for the Bitcoin price almost set a new all-time high, with it hitting around $106,000 over the course of the week. This seems largely driven by some major institutional interest we’ve seen lately, including a purchase by Strategy for 7,390 BTC, which comes out to around $765 million.

Compared to this, the ecosystem of Solana has maintained a flat market cap. However, the drop in trading volume is a cause for concern. It fell 37%, signaling potential waning trader interest or a temporary cooldown following recent bullish momentum. Still, raw activity on the chain told a different story. Over 325,000 new tokens were created on Solana in just seven days. That reflects a flurry of experimentation, airdrops, and retail engagement.

Solana DeFi Metrics Remain Robust

Solana’s DeFi sector remains a standout in several important respects. Total Value Locked (TVL) nudged up to $10.78 billion, which helps to fortify Solana’s status as the second-largest DeFi chain—comfortably ahead of Tron and not likely to look back. More impressively, the decentralized exchange (DEX) volume moved up yet again—this time by 2.28%, week-over-week—to nearly $25 billion. Solana has now achieved five consecutive weeks of DEX volume leadership, holding that status above both BNB Chain and Ethereum (ETH)—an increasingly common trend in 2025.

When it comes to application revenue, Solana saw rapid expansion. According to reports from the first quarter, application revenue was up 20 percent on a quarter-over-quarter basis to hit $1.2 billion. This is an economic model that’s maturing for Solana builders and developers. We’re moving away from speculative usage, and towards more sustainable business models.

Institutional Moves and Token Mania

Institutional goodwill for Solana appeared to be fairly enthusiastic. While major players like Grayscale continued to focus on Bitcoin accumulation, a notable development came via BitGo. The crypto custody firm announced a partnership with e-commerce company Upexi to secure 595,000 SOL—valued at approximately $100 million. This move indicates that while institutions aren’t necessarily rushing to accumulate SOL just yet, corporate entities are beginning to see value in securing their Solana exposure via trusted custody solutions.

At the same time, excitement was growing around the launches and airdrop campaigns that were taking place in the Solana token economy. The Solana Name Service (SNS) held the launch of its native token, replacing FIDA and designating 40% of the overall supply to both early and recent backers of the initiative. Anyone who holds a .sol domain has until August 11 to make a claim on the SNS tokens.

Moreover, the Solana Optimistic Network disclosed the long-awaited SOON token, allocating 8% of the total 1 billion tokens—about 80 million SOON—for early adopters and active users. Both launches excited the community and brought more vibrancy to the already dynamic token landscape on Solana.

Additionally, there was a rush of other significant reports: Chainlink’s CCIP (Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol) was finally integrated, widening the scope of tools available for developers to create multidimensional-chain experiences. There was also buzz around an as-yet-unannounced integration of MetaMask with Solana, which would make Solana much more accessible for Ethereum users.

A Network at a Crossroads

A complex performance emerges from Solana’s latest showing. Its technology and application layer are not only intact but also flourishing, as seen in this part of my graph: the network’s revenues, token creation, and institutional participation are all up, up, up. Nonetheless, the price of S0L and its trading volume are both down, down, down, which is the part of the performance pie graph that nobody wants.

At present, it is uncertain whether this is a temporary lull or the quiet before the next upward movement. The community currently exists in a state that juxtaposes cautious optimism with the historical May trend of pulling back in the markets.

Should Solana continue on its path of increasing growth and draw in even more institutional faith, the elements of a truly strong Solana Summer could soon be upon us.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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On the 15th anniversary of this legendary moment, we look back at one of the most defining stories in Bitcoin’s history: Paying for pizza with Cryptocurrency: Laszlo Hanyecz and the 10,000 Bitcoin Pizza Purchase.

Of course, it didn’t seem like a defining moment in history back then, but with a few years of hindsight, we’re able to see Bitcoin’s rise from obscurity to financial powerhouse.

On May 22, 2010, Hanyecz made a very strange trade. He traded 10,000 BTC (valued at approximately $40) for two extravagantly topped pizzas. At the time, Bitcoin was barely a blip on the radar of anyone outside the tech world. But in the years that followed, as Pizza Hut and other large chains were neither willing nor able to accept that delicious digital currency, its value climbed. By this past October, with Bitcoin riding high at an all-time high of $111,724, those very same two pizzas would have been worth what you might expect an entire Pizza Hut franchise to yield in sales for several years: $1.1 billion.

A Humble Transaction That Changed History

The tale of Bitcoin Pizza Day started on a forum dedicated to Bitcoin, where a man by the name of Laszlo Hanyecz offered a veritable fortune in then low-to-no-value Bitcoin for a couple of pizzas. In a strange exchange of money for necessary nourishment, Hanyecz’s 10,000 BTC would today be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But back in 2010, his Bitcoin was worth even less than a regular pizza.

Hanyecz had a straightforward objective. In 2010, he wanted to demonstrate that you could use Bitcoin for a transaction in the physical world (as opposed to its being a currency that existed only online). Today, we know that the successful trade between Hanyecz and a Florida pizza delivery man marked the first time someone used Bitcoin to procure a real, tangible product.

A once-strange story has turned into a crucial chapter in finance’s annals. Every year, the digital age’s oldest currency is honored on May 22—recognized and acknowledged by a grateful public as “Bitcoin Pizza Day.”

From Pennies to a Powerhouse

The price trajectory of Bitcoin can only be called extraordinary in hindsight. When Hanyecz placed his pizza order, the stated worth of one BTC was $0.004. That makes the order’s BTC value, 10,000, amount to just $40. Fast-forward 15 years, and each Bitcoin is now worth $111,724.

Here’s a snapshot of Bitcoin’s cost on each Pizza Day since 2010:

2010 — $0.004

2011 — $6.12

2012 — $5.10

2013 — $123

2014 — $523

2015 — $241

2016 — $439

2017 — $2,109

2018 — $8,355

2019 — $7,958

2020 — $9,060

2021 — $37,340

2022 — $29,492

2023 — $26,774

2024 — $70,190

2025 — $111,724

The story of Bitcoin’s exponential growth isn’t just one of price skyrocketing. It’s about how it changed from being a fringe project to something that’s globally traded, and not just by a few weirdos but by institutions, individuals, and yes, even governments. These days, you can hardly swing a cat in the financial world without hitting a Bitcoin. And when you do, it’s not just recognized as a currency but also as a store of value, and folks often liken it to something called ‘digital gold.’

More Than a Meme: A Cultural Milestone

Although it’s tempting to find humor in the concept of billion-dollar pizzas, Bitcoin Pizza Day has grown into something far larger than its origins. It is now a cultural moment in the world of crypto. Each year, devotees—both in person and online—observe the occasion by ordering pizza, telling stories, and using the moment as a springboard to discuss the much larger story of decentralized finance.

Celebrating Bitcoin’s 15th Anniversary This year, the celebrations carry extra significance. Not only does 2025 mark the 15th anniversary of the transaction, but it also coincides with Bitcoin’s highest price in history. For many, it feels like a symbolic moment: a reaffirmation of the cryptocurrency’s long-term value proposition and resilience.

Bitcoin Pizza Day isn’t just about history; it’s about what’s coming next. As the ecosystem continues to advance around us, with new technologies like layer-2 scaling, cross-chain platforms, and even institutional adoption, the transaction that started it all serves as a reminder of how far Bitcoin has come and of the almost limitless possibilities that lie ahead.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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A fresh surge of activity on the blockchain has been capturing the attention of the crypto community, as hackers keep targeting decentralized protocols to wash their stolen gains.

In an apparent coordinated effort, they moved 17,778.7 ETH today across THORChain and exchanged it for DAI before you could say “cross-chain platform,” raising new questions about the participation of illicit actors in facilitating financial flows across the crypto ecosystem.

THORChain Used to Funnel Nearly $45 Million in ETH

This morning, on-chain monitors saw a wallet disposing of 8,698 ETH for 22.12 million DAI, at a spot price of $2,543.40 per ETH. What caught observers’ attention was not just the volume but the provenance of the ETH. Just 90 minutes before it went to the wallet we were watching, it had been sent from THORChain, a decentralized cross-chain exchange platform that has increasingly come under scrutiny for its usefulness in laundering hacked or stolen funds.

Although THORChain provides a powerful protocol for facilitating seamless cross-chain swaps without the need for centralized intermediaries, it has also become a favorite tool for bad actors looking to obfuscate the source of illegal crypto. Its decentralized nature makes it that much easier for traces of illicit deeds to be covered up once the assets have been bridged across chains.

Within hours, blockchain analysts confirmed that another 9,080.7 ETH tied to the same campaign was also routed through THORChain and sold for 22.82 million DAI. In total, across two coordinated sales, 17,778.7 ETH was dumped in exchange for 44.94 million DAI, averaging a price of approximately $2,528 per ETH.

Coinbase and Bybit Hacker Funds Reappear

The new activity is thought to be connected to hackers behind a number of recent high-profile security breaches, such as the attack on Coinbase that compromised user accounts and the $40 million heist from Bybit. On-chain intel providers believe the ETH sold today was either directly tied to or strongly correlated with funds taken in those incidents.

It is worth mentioning that the Bybit hacker used a comparable money laundering operation, trying to cover his trail and the large amount of ETH he was shuffling around. Today’s activity rescues the appearance of the Bybit hack almost frame by frame. It starts with assets moving onto THORChain and finishes with those same assets being converted into DAI, a stablecoin that might as well have “for hackers” stamped on it.

Even though the identity of the hackers is still unknown, indications are that they are a coordinated group using decentralized infrastructure to stay one jump ahead of the authorities. This is probably from an unnanmed source that keeps the risk down for any hacker group that might wish to use it for under-the-radar money moves.

The fact that these launderers sent out two big batches to cash out at different prices suggests they know what they’re doing—and might even be working with some inside information.

Growing Scrutiny Over Cross-Chain Protocols

DeFi is thrilled with THORChain’s cross-chain capabilities, but it is fast becoming a mainstay in controversies over illegal activities. By letting users swap assets across blockchains while staying completely anonymous, it gives shady types a way to launder cryptocurrency, making it seem as though the tokens they stole had never really been stolen at all. As for what happens to those tokens next, THORChain is not in a position to judge, for all it knows those tokens are being swapped for nice, clean stable coins like DAI or USDC.

Although THORChain functions as a neutral protocol, events like this one really call into question what DeFi stands for: when even the best-behaved DeFi protocols must contend with subpar actors in the crypto space, they seem to be that much closer to the kind of (or, perhaps, the only kind of) financial integrity that decentralization delivers — and that surely privacy, the other principle in DeFi’s promise, also delivers.

Today’s movement spans an almost $45 million nearly two-hour window. It has once more stoked discussions around the need for better oversight and tracking tools to monitor shady happenings on platforms like these. And it has thrust into the limelight the need for better on-chain analytics in DeFi.

The problem is an apparent lack of alternative methods of achieving these ends. Without them, it’s going to be nearly impossible to improve any of the aforementioned mechanisms.

An official statement regarding today’s incident is still awaited from the authorities. But experts in the field are sounding alarms. They say the continual growth in the sophistication of laundering strategies means even the most advanced, state-of-the-art protocols—like THORChain—won’t be able to squeak by unscathed if incidents like today’s keep happening. And these experts do not see such events stopping anytime soon.

While the situation continues to evolve, the crypto industry and affected platforms like Coinbase and Bybit are predicted to reinforce internal controls and to rethink, maybe, how decentralized tools interact with risk management in a landscape where threats develop almost as fast as the platforms themselves.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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Ethereum, long considered the sleeping giant of the crypto world during this current market cycle, has at last let loose a thundering rally and come back to life.

After a year during which it underperformed not only Bitcoin but also many other major assets, Ether (ETH) has surged by more than 50% from $1,800 to $2,700. The rally has concentrated much of its power into the days since May 7, 2025, accomplishing what many had long hoped for.

The much-anticipated Pectra upgrade, which went live on May 7, catalyzed this dramatic move. It appears to have reignited investor confidence, triggering Ethereum’s largest daily gain since May 2021—a remarkable 21.8% jump in just 24 hours.

A Long-Awaited Breakout

Throughout much of this bull cycle, Ethereum has had a hard time keeping pace. While Bitcoin and other altcoins made noise with new all-time highs and vigorous rallies, ETH was pretty much dormant, much to the dismay of long-time supporters and traders. This situation stemmed from a complex mix of factors: the sometimes-shallow development of Ethereum’s core technology, overly ambitious roadmaps (like for something called “sharding”) that have proven hard to fulfill, innate scaling problems that are common to public blockchains, and an overall market that seems to have “rediscovered” Bitcoin as the institutional-grade, go-to vehicle.

That narrative began to shift rapidly with the Pectra upgrade. This latest network update brings a range of performance improvements and sets the stage for further scalability enhancements—key concerns that had weighed on Ethereum’s performance.

Within days of the upgrade, Ether’s price shot up, coming from a cycle low of about $1,800 and climbing to around the $2,700 level, which represents a 50% gain in barely any time at all. This wasn’t just a simple upturn; it was a clear technical breakout that even some mainstream analysts took notice of and described favorably.

From Despair to Hope: On-Chain Metrics Turn Positive

The significant impact of the price rally on investor sentiment and wallet profitability cannot be overstated. After a sharp sell-off that started in December 2024, Ethereum holders watched their profitability deteriorate at an alarming speed. By April 2025, only 32% of Ethereum addresses were in the green—a stark fall from over 90% profitability just a few months earlier.

This drop in profit-making ability happened during a time of confidence being shaken and also of extreme ups and downs for Ethereum. But Ethereum’s recovery has been just as strong. By May 2025, almost 60% of people who own Ethereum find that their holdings are now worth more than they paid. What’s particularly stunning is how quickly things have turned around in terms of confidence and Ethereum’s on-chain metrics. This isn’t something that’s happened since the bull run of 2017.

This surge has seen the market volatility reach levels not seen in years. Analysts say the recent behavior of prices in Ethereum is akin to that of 2017, a year with some of the wildest price swings—and most explosive market action—in recent memory.

This renewed growth may indicate that Ethereum has moved beyond the accumulation phrase and is entering a new growth cycle, one that is once again backed by fundamentals and now also “development-activity-led” growth.

Institutional Interest Heats Up With ETF Inflows

In a further indication of institutional interest in Ethereum, the spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds recorded a net inflow of $587,100 on May 21. This represented the fourth consecutive day of positive inflows.

While the figures are small in comparison with those associated with a Bitcoin ETF, the reliable daily inflows tell a different story, one less about the amounts involved and more about an increasingly confident institutional class willing to place a bet on Ether’s future. Investors can achieve diversified exposure to crypto through Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust. Its narrative is compelling.

Determining whether ETH can maintain this rally will crucially hang on the success of spot Ethereum ETFs. They should, after all, be fairly straightforward. With the kind of investor demand that Ethereum has shown (especially in 2021 and 2022), it’s not clear why we couldn’t have a spot Ethereum ETF, or at least why one would be considered riskier than a spot Bitcoin ETF, which already exists.

Conclusion: Ethereum Is Back on the Radar

Following several months of waning performance and a lack of trading interest, Ethereum has decisively remade its appearance—once again, profitably and favorably in the eyes of many. The Pectra upgrade has fired up the long-expected bull run, and it seems almost a coincidence that Ether’s price surge at the time of this writing was very much in line with the hopes and expectations of many institutional and retail investors.

Ethereum has surged 50% in under a month thanks to the Pectra upgrade.

ETH has gained 50% in under a month, fueled by the Pectra upgrade.

The on-chain indicators depict a sharp surge in the profitability of wallets.

The levels of volatility reflect the explosive 2017 cycle.

Institutional interest in spot Ethereum ETFs is rising, as is evident from the steady inflow of funds into these investment vehicles.

Ethereum’s momentum seems to be back. The breakout that occurred in the past week has many Pundits seeing the top altcoin in the crypto space trying to clear a path back toward $2,000. But as always, there will be resistance, and if anything, Ethereum seems to be hugging those trend lines much tighter than it did back in June.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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Bitcoin hit an all-time price high on May 21, 2025, and this particular price milestone even surprised some traders. Despite the price going to levels not seen before on any exchange, most traders looked on with trepidation and didn’t seem very celebratory at all.

Profit taking at this new high was abysmally low compared to what we saw when Bitcoin broke through the $30,000 price level in early 2024, and it was a lot lower than what happened when Bitcoin broke the $50,000 price level later that same year. So the big price high on May 21 came, but the celebratory atmosphere just ain’t there.

Lower Realized Profits Despite Higher Prices

As per on-chain data, realized profits when Bitcoin first broke into six-figure territory in December 2024 hit around $2.10 billion. Meanwhile, the profit-taking that accompanied this week’s all-time high totaled around $1.00 billion—less than half of what we saw in December 2024.

This striking discrepancy is considering the price point that was higher this time. Market participants, especially those clutching vintage coins, appear to be not selling into this strength. Historically, we’ve seen participants rush to secure gains in the wake of such massive price surges. Yet, this time, silence is golden; profit-taking whispers no louder than a church mouse.

Coin Age Distribution Shows Shift in Activity

The evolution of behavior is made even clearer when examining the age distribution of active coins. In May 2025, coins under one month old accounted for 76.9% of the volume, sharply up from just 44.6% in December 2024. Coins held for over six months dropped to just 13.4% of the volume, down from 24.7% during the December rally. If we sort this data into a list, with the first entry being the coins held less than one month and the last being coins held for over six months, it becomes very readable.

This sharp contrast makes clear a main behavior change: short-term traders and new market entrants are behind current price moves. Longer-term holders have so far mostly refrained from moving their assets. In crypto, spending or moving older coins tends to signal profit-taking or more generalized market jitters. The lack of that kind of activity now signals something even more bullish: deeper confidence among long-term investors.

ETF Inflows Reinforce Institutional Confidence

Further adding to the bullish sentiment is the ongoing strength in Bitcoin-targeted spot ETFs. On May 21, the investment vehicles observed a total net inflow of $609 million. This marked the seventh consecutive day of positive net flows into spot Bitcoin ETFs, and it reflects a pretty remarkable turnaround in sentiment toward this vehicle. This is something that not long ago was perceived to have darn near zero chance of working.

These inflows are important not just because of their size but also because of what they signify. They’re institutional capital that’s moving into the asset at a steady clip, even though prices are pretty high. In conjunction with a couple of other things—first, that profit-taking seems to be way down; and second, that there’s an apparent determination among both retail and institutional holders to simply hold the asset—that adds up to a picture of a market that’s confidently underpinned by both retail and institutional holders.

Conclusion: Bullish Momentum Driven by Restraint

The impressive current price rally seems to be characterized by something rare in recent memory—an apparent calm among long-term Bitcoin holders. Instead of a rush to take profits and a return to the underground, seasoned Bitcoin investors seem to be staying the course and demonstrating confidence in a future that includes Bitcoin. Furthermore, the great vastness of this foundation seems to be ensuring that the visible activity of short-term traders, which appears to be the current main driver of market momentum, isn’t causing that momentum to become a destabilizing force. And what activity it is!

In brief:

The realized profits are far lower than they were at the last peak.

Long-term holders are choosing to do nothing and let their profits ride.

Short-term traders are profit-taking and, therefore, actively shaping our current price movements.

There is a serious amount of institutional interest out there, most notably evidenced by strong inflows into Bitcoin ETFs.

This combination suggests that we might have a market that still has room to grow. Instead of a repeat of the last bull run, which was characterized by overwhelming euphoria and then a lot of frantic profit-taking, this one seems to have a base that is a lot quieter and a lot more calculated.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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May 20, 2025 — Following a consolidation phase and recent pullbacks, the market for AI agents has returned to vibrant health.

The total market capitalization of AI agents surged 4.53% over the past 24 hours, reaching $10.59 billion. Meanwhile, Virtuals once again emerged as the clear sector leader, cutting a new all-time high in market mindshare at 43.63%.

Virtuals Reclaims Momentum with Price and Market Cap Growth

The Virtuals ecosystem displayed across-the-board strength, beating broader market trends. The ecosystem’s overall market cap surged 5.70%, climbing to $2.38 billion. Its native token, $VIRTUAL, also had a significant comeback, recovering 5.58% over the past 24 hours to hit a price of $1.9533.

This rally follows a short interval of downward pressure in the sector, and it emphasizes a more profound market assurance in $VIRTUAL as a top candidate in the AI agent sector. As investors divert their attentions back into the ecosystem, the renewed interest in $VIRTUAL not only consolidates its position as a speculative asset but also bolsters its underpinning role in the very emergent landscape of autonomous agents and decentralized intelligence.

Virtuals also gained unprecedented dominance across sectors, with mindshare hitting an all-time high of 43.63%. This metric, which assesses the sway of Virtuals across the larger AI agent landscape, is considered an essential barometer for leadership and ecosystem influence. Right now, it feels like nearly half of the entire AI agent sector is focused much more on the Virtuals ecosystem than anything else.

Smaller Caps Steal the Spotlight with Explosive Gains

Even though the Virtuals are the most dominant and strongest within the ecosystem, much of the market’s excitement has come from smaller-cap tokens. There are a series of up-and-coming stars posting either triple-digit or high double-digit gains—definitely not something restricted to just one or two names—to the extent that it’s become an investor narrative around emerging projects. And these are projects with either very strong narratives or that show signs of early and increasing adoption.

THE SANTA (@santavirtuals) took the lead in adding market cap over the past 24 hours, growing by 215.1%. BIOS (@BasisOS), next in line, still added a pretty decent 39.05% to its value. Then we have SQDGN (@helloSQDGN) adding an impressive 27.06% to its market cap. For the next four, we’re basically in the “virtuals” space with GAME (@GAME_Virtuals) rising by 21.94%; SWARM (@TheSWARM_AI) not far behind with a 21.31% gain. And our last two are in the “virtual” category too.

These increases indicate a coming wave across the sector of AI agents, especially affecting projects in their early stages that have potentially promising use cases or innovations where autonomous agent technology is concerned.

Virtuals Holds the Highest Echo Score Across the Sector

Sentiment and traction metrics, along with sheer market cap and price figures, underscore that Virtuals continue to be extremely well positioned. The project now boasts the highest Echo score across the AI agent sector. The Echo score, an amalgam of sorts, serves as the best kind of up-to-the-minute proxy for assessing which projects, in any sector but especially crypto, are gaining the kind of traction that translates into long-term success.

Virtuals has achieved its highest Echo score to date. Why? Because its most recent advances are rooted in something approaching strong community engagement and development momentum. The kernel dev team continues to push forward on an impressive number of fronts — not only issuing updates to the protocol but also hard at work on the kind of grassroots “community stuff” that portends long-term healthy token performance: making agents work better together, a big step towards making the sandbox an actual metaverse, and crafting an AI that understands both user intent and the capabilities of other parts of the system. Oh, and I almost forgot: big new partnerships in the decentralized finance and AI spaces with some heavy hitters.

Virtuals is not just doing well in the markets; it is also consolidating its position as a foundational layer in the burgeoning agent economy.

This isn’t just some virtual set of capabilities.

With a clean user experience on TradingView.

With fully compliant European execution. With German security and reliability.

Conclusion

The virtual agents market is once again gaining traction, and Virtuals is leading the way. With a market cap of nearly $2.4 billion, a record-setting mindshare of 43.63%, and a rebounding token price, Virtuals seems to have established itself at the core of the sector.

Concurrently, exceptional growth among lower-cap initiatives shows a more widespread market upswing that may be propelling the entire AI agent space to the next significant wave of adoption. Meanwhile, as the merger of AI and blockchain continues, Virtuals seems very likely to remain a leading architect of this next digital frontier.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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A milestone that underlines the increasing coming together of conventional finance and the world of digital assets is Coinbase’s recent addition to the S\&P 500 index.

This marks the first time a crypto company has been included in this prestigious benchmark. When Coinbase was added to the S\&P 500, it replaced Discover Financial.

From Crypto Pioneer to Market Mainstay

After making its public debut in April 2021, Coinbase has had to deal with the ups and downs of the landscape it serves. From the wild price swings that are part of the life of digital assets to the next wave of regulatory scrutiny that’s coming for crypto, the exchange has seemed to stand its ground. It isn’t always pretty (or as some in the crypto community would like, as ‘decentralized’ or ‘permissionless’ as a hub can sometimes be), but Coinbase very much has a situation under control.

The business model has moved way beyond just trading fees. Coinbase has constructed a diversified portfolio of services, among them Base (its Ethereum Layer 2 network), custodial services for institutional clients, and even a lending platform. Meanwhile, in partnership with Circle, it has a major role in the stablecoin ecosystem through USDC. This deep strategy, clearly laid out in its S-1, positions the company centrally in a digital finance infrastructure ecosystem.

By joining the S&P 500, Coinbase has gone from being a wild stand-in for crypto play to a bona fide financial firm—not that any of this is likely to help its stock price. Unlike the underlying assets traded on its platform, Coinbase’s share price is entirely driven by supply and demand. And right now, demand is not exactly through the roof.

Why the S\&P 500 Inclusion Matters

Being included in the S&P 500 is both a practical and a symbolic home run for Coinbase.

From a practical standpoint, the S&P 500 is the most widely followed stock index in the world. Significance is attached to being in it, and billions of capital index funds that are built around this index effectively buy the stocks in it.

The Coinbase IPO Coin listing is good for the index fund in an S&P 500 and is more beneficial to the company being included than to the index fund itself.

Yet, this powerful message is sent beyond just the immediate market mechanics: the infrastructure associated with cryptocurrency no longer exists on the periphery. It’s now a part of the financial core — and that is a powerful message.

For all the skepticism with which many finance types regard digital assets, Coinbase is now part of the S&P 500. And for many allocators of capital, that is a very big deal indeed.

Coinbase’s visibility among mainstream investors and institutions is enhanced by the shift. For the longest time, exposure to cryptocurrency could only be obtained via speculative tokens or by going the ETF route, both of which are very risky propositions. But now fund managers and pension plans have a more sensible vehicle to use if they want to gain indirect exposure to the asset class. And that vehicle is a company—specifically, one that operates under U.S. regulatory frameworks and delivers financial services with a crypto backbone.

In terms of significance, this is a tipping point. The Nas- daq’s acceptance of Coinbase means something very new and very big: for the first time, a crypto-native company has not just passed through the public market’s gate, but also been recognized as a fundamentally trustworthy part of the U.S. economy. This wasn’t a simple listing. It is a step forward in the validation of a yet-to-be-seen crypto economy.

TradFi and Crypto Are Converging — And Fast

Coinbase’s upswing correlates with several other important occurrences that indicate a strengthening blend of classical finance (TradFi) and the crypto universe. This year, for instance, heralded the introduction of Bitcoin ETFs, an event that, after a long wait, finally opened the door to the average investor and allowed them to step inside and enjoy a regulated, financially secure way of being exposed to the original cryptocurrency. Without cracking open the Bitcoin ETF door, we would probably be seeing an investment-friendly doorstop instead.

The sector is reaching maturity; it is no longer simply concerned with digital currencies or speculative trading. It has moved on to building new financial architecture. Coinbase is using its Base chain and custodial infrastructure to help lay that new architecture, a new wave of decentralized applications, settlement systems, and payment flows that interact with, but also sometimes circumvent, “legacy finance.” Those new flows are starting to power a settlement layer for the kind of programmable money that cryptocurrencies were supposed to be.

Wall Street observes with great interest — and, more crucially, it is beginning to take part. As $COIN increasingly finds a home in S&P 500 portfolios, the distinction between crypto and traditional finance is vanishing faster than ever.

Looking Ahead

Being part of the S&P 500 is not just a win for Coinbase; it mirrors progress in the crypto space. We have come a long way from the early, unsettled days of crypto. Now, with Bitcoin having its 14th birthday this week, in 2023, the same year that Web3—and associated cryptocurrencies—are expected to generate at least $500 billion in global revenues, Bitcoin’s price, at a solid $28,000, is the least part of the story.

This moment signals a new epoch—one where crypto is not merely an outsider disrupting the landscape but a key participant in molding the future of finance. The infrastructure of that future is being put in place as we speak, and by no less a part of the establishment than the SEC, which has recently upped its game with a slew of new charges against crypto firms.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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Ethereum’s Layer 2 (L2) ecosystem is seeing a new wave of activity as Total Value Locked (TVL) shifts across the main scaling networks. Base is approaching its all-time high, Optimism continues to lag behind, and Arbitrum is in transition, moving from recent losses to signs of growth.

Base Mounts a Strong Rebound, Optimism Stuck at Lows

In recent weeks, Base has emerged as the strongest performer among Ethereum’s scaling solutions. Its total value locked is rebounding rapidly, and it has a clear path to reclaiming its all-time high. This surge reflects a renewed confidence in the Coinbase-backed layer-2 solution, which is basking in developer daylight, generous yield, and DeFi friendliness.

In contrast, Optimism keeps underperforming. Even with a generally positive atmosphere in the crypto markets, the total value locked (TVL) on Optimism remains stagnant and hovers around the same levels it reached in April. This current state makes one question not just the retention of users but also the incentive structure ecosystem participants have in place to keep them on Optimism. Though the perception of appearing a top contender in the L2 race for several months helped retain some semblance of an ambitious crypto project, recent trends would suggest a stronger catalyst is needed to keep participants interested in the Optimism ecosystem.

At the same time, Arbitrum occupies a sort of middle ground along the spectrum. Its total value locked is on the mend, but it’s more of a slow-and-steady sort of climb than the rocket ascent enjoyed by Base. This is, no doubt, part of some kind of grander design. Users are being nudged to pay closer attention to developments, and to look beyond the immediate appearances of any one protocol, before they reach any sort of recommitment stage.

Arbitrum Revenue Slides, But New Launches Could Revive Momentum

In the last week, protocols that are based on Arbitrum generated grosses of $1.06 million in revenue. That figure translated into an 18% downturn compared to the previous week. While the number sounds alarming at first, it clearly represents yet another example of just how much revenues can fluctuate within the DeFi space.

An exciting recent development is that Gains Network has expanded its offerings to include 13 new tradable assets—both stocks and indices—launched just this week. The platform has already established itself as a top revenue generator among Arbitrum-based protocols, and it could be poised to see even more growth if these new offerings attract user interest. Gains Network generated $139,000 in revenue over the past seven days, placing it in second among Arbitrum protocols.

GMX still reigns as the top-earning protocol on Arbitrum. It remains a DeFi pedestal on Arbitrum, with a core user base partaking in perpetual futures trading, allowing GMX to generate $372,000, according to my Akaname output for October.

Following closely behind Gains Network is Ostium Labs, which pulled in $129,000. These three platforms are setting the pace, driving the majority of Arbitrum’s revenue, and keeping the ecosystem vibrant despite the temporary downturn.

Penpie and Aave are lower down on the list, with recorded figures of $55,000 and $52,000, respectively. These numbers, though not as large, do imply consistent engagement with and interest in some DeFi essentials like lending, staking, and governance.

Can Arbitrum Sustain Growth as Base Gains Ground?

The following weeks will be critical for Arbitrum as it looks to uphold its relevance while intense competition swirls around it. The latest revenue report suggests a short-term cooling-off, at least, for the company, but the very recent additions of new trading assets by some of the major players in the space, like Gains Network, point to a possible imminent volume turnaround. And if those assets succeed in attracting volumes, then user activity and capital flows back to Arbitrum could pick up again.

Conversely, the rapidly increasing TVL of Base indicates its possible emergence as a serious challenger. Its current onboarding process is straightforward, and its close relationship with Coinbase’s massive user base gives Base a unique method of attracting not just retail, but also institutional investors.

On the other hand, optimism must reevaluate its strategy. Low TVL continually and weak protocol activity consistently seem to suggest that optimism could be falling behind in the innovation cycle and might require either aggressive developer incentives as a kind of last resort or some kind of high-profile integrations to re-enter the public consciousness.

Conclusion

The Ethereum race at Layer 2 is an ever-changing event; however, it is one that alters the appearance of the Layer 2 ecosystem quite frequently, with more often than not an appearance of two overtaking another—at least for the time being.

Base surges ahead and Arbitrum recalibrates after a revenue dip; however, the Layer 2 solution that is Optimism is almost stagnated at this apparent crossroads.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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A major achievement for the decentralized finance sector is that HyperliquidX has reached an all-time high of $3 billion in Bridge Total Value Locked, a significant milestone for the perpetual DEX.

HyperliquidX is growing rapidly, fueled by strong user adoption, a deflationary token model, and fundamentals that most would describe as excellent. We at DeFiLlama think that it is a dominant force in the decentralize finance ecosystem.

Arbitrum Powers Growth as HyperliquidX’s Liquidity Hub

HyperliquidX’s total value locked (TVL) has increased significantly due to its connection with Arbitrum One, which has become the main liquidity portal for users who need to deposit and withdraw assets.

As one of the largest perpetual DEXs in the market, Hyperliquid has increasingly turned to Arbitrum for expansion and trade execution. Of late, in gas-efficient environments, Arbitrum has churned out high-throughput, low-cost transactions. In the process, it has largely eliminated the kind of counterparty risks that DEXs used to worry about.

Now the DEX can operate at scale.

HyperliquidX can scale while staying decentralized and under user control, thanks to Arbitrum’s infrastructure. This key integration has helped push bridge total value locked (TVL) to recent heights, making it easy and fast for traders and liquidity providers to on-ramp and off-ramp assets. With more than $10 billion in daily trading volume, it’s obvious that the DEX is providing a valuable service to its users vis-a-vis performance and stability.

Hyperliquid Tops Fee Revenue Rankings Amid Token Deflation

Although numerous DeFi platforms face difficulties with sustainability, Hyperliquid stands out by unceasingly leading in fee revenue generation. For a second consecutive time, the platform sits atop a global leaderboard; it is again number one in terms of how much it is generating from users who are trading on the platform. This high level of fee activity is an indicator of how much users are actually engaging with the platform and with its on-chain technology, making it for now a model of sorts for fee sustainability in DeFi.

One economic feature that makes Hyperliquid stand out is its deflationary token model, which contrasts sharply with the inflationary pressures seen on other blockchains, like Solana. While Solana’s dog-paddling in its issuance of tokens—approximately 2 million SOL annually, diluting the token supply—Hyperliquid’s system is selective in reducing HYPE token circulation. And the bad news keeps coming.

In the last 24 hours alone, 107,680 HYPE tokens were bought back by the Hyperliquid Assistance Fund, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that exists to support the Hyperliquid ecosystem. At the same time, the fund only distributed 26,436 HYPE as staking rewards to validators, leading to a net reduction of 81,243 tokens in just a single day. If this rate of buybacks and net reductions in circulating supply holds, then over the course of a year, the Hyperliquid Assistance Fund will have caused a deflation of nearly 29.7 million HYPE tokens.

User Growth Accelerates as Hyperliquid Expands Its Reach

HyperliquidX is constructing a set of foundations—technical and economic—that are far stronger than those underpinning many other DeFi platforms. Where most other DeFi platforms thank less than 1,000 folks, HyperliquidX has expanded its user base at a rate that, if sustained, could bring it to over 1 million users in just under six months. Onboard sign-ups have far more than tripled HyperliquidX’s growth within just the past few months, yielding a signing-up rate that probably exceeds any other DeFi platform at present.

More than 1,200 new users are joining the platform daily, pushing its monthly growth beyond 30,000. And with this rise in adoption, HyperliquidX’s value proposition seems brighter and clearer than ever to folks participating in the DeFi movement. No wonder DeFi enthusiasts are flocking to what is probably the best-performing DeFi platform going.

Other blockchains, such as Solana, may have fast block times—averaging around 400 milliseconds—but there are still concerns about transaction finality and token inflation. HyperliquidX, on the other hand, offers a much more DeFi-cure experience with no trade-offs, combining solid performance, sustainable economics, and transparent, community-driven development. Also, the Hyperliquid Assistance Fund really is a stellar strategic tool. It acts here as the stabilizing force it is designed to be, with ongoing strategic buybacks that provide a decent support level and, well, here’s an important word: stability.

The sustained increase in users and daily volume, along with an active deflation, paints a picture of a DEX that is not just keeping pace with industry trends but is also shaping them. With a super sturdy economic model and a community that is growing like a weed, HyperliquidX looks all set to keep climbing in 2025.

Looking Forward

HyperliquidX’s recent achievements are not merely impressive figures—they signify a substantial transformation in the DeFi ecosystem. While conventional finance struggles with trust and ineptitude, entities such as HyperliquidX are hewing a path toward a new kind of forward iteration, one defined by the efficiency, transparency, and strong economic underpinnings that the DeFi world can now afford to showcase.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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BNB Chain is rapidly becoming a leader in introducing decentralized finance to the world, and right now, it has the top position of moving the most money into and out of decentralized exchanges each day.

In the 24-hour period ending on July 29, 2023, at 3:00 PM (UTC), the BNB Chain decentralized exchange movement was making up to $4.9 billion. That’s more than any other set of smart contracts on any other blockchain, and it clearly means that BNB Chain is starting to fulfill its promise as a DeFi leader.

PancakeSwap Fuels BNB Chain’s Meteoric Rise

PancakeSwap is the largest DEX on BNB Chain and its core liquidity. It now has more than 1 billion in assets inside the DEX; it contributes about 3 billion a day in trading volume. It draws in a huge number of users and accounts for about 60% of the trading volume. This is a big deal because this is the only protocol that generates value within the whole ecosystem.

For the past few years, traction has been steadily gained by PancakeSwap, as it offers users a variety of trading pairs, fast transaction speeds, and minimal fees. And these are just the trifecta of appeal—a set of conditions that has made this Binance Smart Chain platform a platform of increasing choice…and one that layers on the appeal of being an alternative to Ethereum-based platforms. Smarter traders are, of course, somewhat aware of this and of the seemingly endless problem of Ethereum platform congestion that leads to higher transaction fees (or gas fees) on that chain. And they are also aware of Uniswap, which is the platform in this set of conditions that has more or less become the poster child for DEX development on Ethereum.

Moreover, the user-centric innovations of PancakeSwap—like yield farming, staking options, and regular token burns—still serve to keep the community engaged.

BNB Chain’s Competitive Edge: Speed, Scale, and Affordability

It is no accident that BNB Chain has emerged as the leader in DEX trading volume. The blockchain has been systematically working to position itself as a top network for decentralized applications, especially those in the finance and trading space.

A major lever in this strategy is BNB Chain’s technical architecture. It has lightning-fast transaction processing and almost non-existent fees. That makes it a very efficient and cost-effective environment, which are absolute must-haves for any dApp in the trading and finance sector.

As congestion and costs weigh down older blockchains such as Ethereum, traders have sought speedier, more economical alternatives. BNB Chain fills the gap, allowing rapid trading at a time when many seem to need it. And unlike top-tier Ethereum, which can be a layer of hell wracked with high fees at times of peak congestion, BNB Chain’s price performance remains accessible.

This not only brings in retail investors but also captures the attention of project teams and developers who want to launch the DeFi products within a more friendly, user-centered environment. As a result, the BNB Chain ecosystem has expanded rapidly, with new tokens, tools, and protocols introduced at a dizzying pace.

A Sign of Growing Adoption in the DeFi Sector

The recent upturn in decentralized exchange activity on BNB Chain is a part of a larger trend: the adoption of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications by both new users and large, institutional players. As awareness of DeFi has grown and the reliability of its infrastructure has improved, many more participants have been poking around to see the advantages of decentralized trading.

BNB Chain’s dominance might also reflect the general sentiment in the market. Investors are now definedly choosing where and how to trade, and trading on networks that offer a noticeably better user experience, a greater assurance of security, and a more palatable price is becoming the favored option. If you take a look at the past 24 hours, BNB Chain is doing a good job of delivering on all fronts.

In addition, as centralized exchanges and traditional finance come under increasing regulatory oversight, decentralized finance platforms hosted on chains like BNB offer an alternative that is, to many, just as appealing as censorship-resistant trading venues. For a trading audience, these platforms are still alternatives for the very reasons that make them fundamentals of DeFi: they are accessible, they offer decent volumes and liquidity, and they present a platform alternative with more transparency than is available on many centralized trading venues.

Looking Ahead

What BNB Chain has achieved of late is not just a big number; it embodies something quite a bit more significant. Usability. Speed. Affordability. All are crucial for the future of DeFi, and all have been prioritized by BNB Chain. In positioning itself as a major actor in this space, it’s not likely to hand over the baton anytime soon. In fact, BNB Chain’s work to promote this trifecta of features could literally redefine how the world interacts with digital assets and decentralized finance.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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Although the altcoin market is almost everywhere sluggish, the GameFi sector is enjoying what appears to be a solid move. Its market capitalization grew 50% last week.

We are currently tracking 13 narrative-based primitives for DeFiLlama, up from 10 last April. The performance of GameFi is pushing it to the forefront of a couple of these primitives. The sector is clearly not being held back by the bad vibes (signal?) from the altcoin market.

Web3 Gaming Gains While Altcoins Stumble

Even as significant digital assets like Bitcoin maintain a solid standing above the $100,000 threshold, in spite of several pressures—like the Wisconsin Investment Board exiling ETF holdings and FTX in the process of repaying creditors—GameFi has developed its own momentum of bullishness. This sector, with which this article is concerned, has a market capitalization that has grown by more than 50%, thus outpacing most other categories in the crypto space.

We accompany this growth with a very substantial increase in trading, with volume up 78%, which suggests increased interest and engagement from both users and investors. GameFi’s rise on DeFiLlama’s narrative tracker reflects its increasing relevance and liquidity in the broader decentralized finance ecosystem.

In contrast to other segments of the cryptocurrency market that are consolidating, GameFi is defying gravity and exhibiting independence. The activity suggests that investors are identifying gaming as a unique value proposition within Web3, one whose momentum is clearly not dependent on just the current market cycle.

DappRadar Insights: Maturation, Not Decline

Although a DappRadar report from April indicated some declining numbers in Web3 gaming (a 10% dip in user activity and a 69% drop in funding), analysts are now treating those figures more like signs of industry maturation. They’re building a narrative of natural selection, where projects not lacking in substance are naturally phasing out, allowing the stronger, more sustainable platforms to rise.

According to this shift, the market is getting more fine-tuned. Producers and consumers are leaning toward the sorts of games that have built-in longevity, with actual engagement mechanics and real economic models. This is not a speculative sector anymore, pumping and dumping in the name of crypto. And slimmed-down utility is the big story.

Decreased funding, though it may appear to be a negative development, can indicate that capital is now being allocated with greater care and to better effect. Nowadays, when a venture does secure investment, one can be fairly certain that it was because it had a plan that stretched well beyond just the next quarter. Indeed, the investment climate today necessitates that projects be built to last.

OuterLife and Bombie: Pioneering the Next Wave of GameFi

“Backed by PlayWay and GameSwift, the newly launched Web3 gaming platform OuterLife is positioned to lead the next GameFi wave. Its goal: to seamlessly onboard 20 million traditional gamers into a series of interconnected universes where they’ll be able to achieve cross-game progression, use NFTs with wild abandon, and enjoy genuine digital asset ownership. It’s a massive opportunity to offer the impossible-to-satisfy gamer something they’ve always wanted, and OuterLife is hoping to deliver.

OuterLife aims to take Web3 gaming to a much broader audience by building a seamless bridge between the traditional gaming experiences and the mechanics of the blockchain. This is not a user acquisition play; instead, it prioritizes retention and cross-game identity, the ability for a player to take achievements and items from game to game in the ecosystem.

Another key player in the space, Bombie is adapting its model in response to the industry’s evolution. It is transitioning from a play-to-earn system to a stake-to-earn framework. This change is designed to enhance user commitment and address sustainability concerns that plagued earlier GameFi models. By encouraging long-term participation and reducing short-term speculative activity, Bombie is aiming to achieve a far more resilient economic environment for its user base.

Conclusion

The recent ascent of GameFi, in terms of both market capitalization and trading volume, stands out as a bright spot in a largely stalled market. Most sectors are either stagnant or in pullback mode, yet Web3 gaming keeps pushing ahead as if the broader crypto economy doesn’t exist.

Progressing towards sustainable business models, along with the currents of strategic ecosystem launches and the now-mature market in behavior, indicates that GameFi is much more than a momentary diversion. Instead, it is quickly shaping up to be a primary pillar of the burgeoning decentralized digital economy, and with platform innovations continuing apace and user onboarding as much a part of the sector’s routine as it is for traditional video gaming, its long-term prospects approach a certitude.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company, is in the news once again with its Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) achieving a significant milestone.

The spot Bitcoin ETF now holds 631,962 BTC, which is currently worth about $65 billion at market prices. This enormous accumulation of Bitcoin in the ETF represents a notable shift in the world of traditional finance, where increasingly institutional investors are embracing the cryptocurrency as a bona fide, mainstream asset class.

The ETF is a major step in the evolution of cryptocurrency markets. It’s no longer just companies within the Bitcoin ecosystem that are buying Bitcoin. The ETF’s holdings now represent almost 3% of the total Bitcoin supply.

A Milestone in Institutional Bitcoin Adoption

The BlackRock Bitcoin ETF’s most recent update is an unmistakable sign that confidence in Bitcoin is blossoming among serious, big-money investors. The ETF’s latest report shows it has accumulated over 630,000 BTC. That’s not just a blatant play to show how much these guys want to inflate the direct price of Bitcoin; it’s also a fairly large-scale showcase of experimentation on how to play with direct exposure to Bitcoin in your P&L sheet if you’re a diversified institutional investor.

For numerous years, traditional financial institutions regarded Bitcoin as far too volatile or speculative to even entertain for serious investment. Yet as Bitcoin’s marketplace dynamics have increasingly matured and its presence alongside other financial assets has become more obvious, the digital currency has started to drop that old reputation of being an investor’s risk. As one of the world’s largest holders of Bitcoin, BlackRock’s ETF certainly seems to signal that prominent institutional investors are now more at ease with Bitcoin.

This milestone also comes when the cryptocurrency Bitcoin has arrived at a heightened level of integration with the overall financial markets. The institutional acceptance of Bitcoin is not just about whether the price will go up or down. It is also about accepting Bitcoin as a stable store of value, much like gold, in our increasingly paperless and digitized world. Bitcoin’s maturity as an asset class is also now supported by some reasonably clear rules of the road in many jurisdictions, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in particular, beginning to approve many various Bitcoin-related financial products, including ETFs.

BlackRock ETF Outpacing Competitors

Since its launch, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF has achieved steady inflows that outstrip those of its rivals. The firm’s immense heft and worldwide presence make it a major force in the burgeoning world of big-time Bitcoin investment. BlackRock’s ETF is a prominent pathway for deep-pocket funds to get a stake in Bitcoin without the trouble of holding the actual coin.

BlackRock’s ETF inflows are consistent and suggest that institutional investors see it as a safer, more reliable, and straightforward way to invest in Bitcoin, compared with other available options. That preference might stem from BlackRock’s long-standing reputation in traditional finance, the ETF’s relative safety and security (thanks to the strict regulations governing investment vehicles in the US), and the ETF’s straightforwardness (it’s a Bitcoin investment that, unlike a Grayscale trust, doesn’t come with a significant premium or discount). Institutional investors seeking to enter the Bitcoin space have made BlackRock’s ETF one of their credible options.

BlackRock rules this realm, but it also hints that other big financial players might not be far behind. We could see other behemoths, with or without BlackRock’s blessing, also rolling out the kind of ETFs that could turn a lot of Bitcoin holdings into a jammy investment for their (institutional) owners. ‘If you’re BlackRock, and you want to just widen your lead in the space, then why not get all the way in and, say, price your Bitcoin as an institution?’ —Trusted Computing Group.

The Implications for Bitcoin’s Market Liquidity and Institutional Adoption

The Bitcoin ETF from BlackRock is a sign of institutional confidence in Bitcoin. It could allow for something even better: the adoption of Bitcoin by institutions in a way that’s almost seamless for the institutions themselves. I say that because the ETF is a regulated product—a kind of wrapper around Bitcoin—that institutions can use, and a way that, so far, they appear to be using. BlackRock is not just buying a little bit of Bitcoin for the ETF. It’s using its heft to acquire a whole lot of Bitcoin. Fairly soon, BlackRock could very plausibly be holding about 3% of all the Bitcoin that’s ever been mined.

In addition, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF shows that the cryptocurrency might not just be an asset for a limited audience but is becoming essential for different kinds of institutional portfolios.

If other big institutions—like pension funds and hedge funds—place money in a BlackRock Bitcoin ETF, that could lead to an even bigger Bitcoin mainstream moment, more spectacular than anything we have seen so far.

The stronger institutional presence in Bitcoin markets could bring about better price stability and more sustainable growth. Although Bitcoin is still pretty much a plaything for speculators, the high involvement of traditional financial institutions could cut down on the price swings that have made Bitcoin a very funny kind of money. They could reduce some of the speculative volatility that has defined the market. More and more, Bitcoin could make sense as a hedge against inflation, a store of value, and a digital asset that is part of a traditional investment portfolio.

Conclusion

An ETF from BlackRock holding Bitcoin that has hit the $65 billion milestone is not just a financial milestone; it is also a signal for something else. Attitudes towards Bitcoin in the institutional investment world are changing, and they are changing in a big way. Currently, the ETF holds 631,962 BTC, and that is not a typo—the number is indeed that high. And you have to ask yourself: How does an entity like BlackRock reach such staggering heights with a product wrapped around an asset like Bitcoin?

BlackRock’s ETF is quite likely to be the one that not only dominates the space but also garners the most attention, serving (in large part, because of its heft) as a branding vehicle for catapulting Bitcoin into an even more global audience. For whatever reason, Bitcoin’s nighttime price seems more stable than its daytime price. One way to take this all in is to imagine a night in the life of bitcoin.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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Even though a lot of what is happening in the cryptocurrency world seems to be dominated by speculation and the kinds of narrative cycles we see in any emerging story, Sei Network is going about its business in a different way and is showing what it can do with real adoption.

User activity and on-chain operations are up and the project is starting to pull in some serious attention. Not that attention is everything, but what seems to be happening in the way of attention is pretty nice considering what new initiatives are now shoving themselves onto the scene in the way of daily activity metrics.

Usage Surges as Sei Network Activity Climbs

Sei Network has in the last 24 hours seen over 462,000 active addresses—an increase of 38% over the previous day. At the same time, daily transactions have shot up by more than 43%, boosting the chain past 1 million daily transactions. These figures don’t suggest a temporary spike or superficial activity; they indicate a growing ecosystem where top developers are actually deploying and using the network.

Most crucially, the rising engagement with Sei is not being pushed by nothing but hype and marketing. Daily contract deployments are on a steady upward trend, while new applications are launching with a nice frequency of their own. In an industry that sometimes seems to be defined more by promotional noise and inflated metrics than anything else, the data points for Sei indicate that something real and substantial is happening. And in the next phase of this story, Sei Giga is going to happen.

Sei Giga: Pioneering the First Multi-Proposer EVM Layer 1 Blockchain

Sei Network Labs recently unveiled their Giga whitepaper, outlining a audacious new technical vision for scaling blockchains. It core defines and presents the first multi-proposer EVM Layer 1 blockchain, architecture expressly designed for decentralized applications where performance matters. This architecture directly tackles what is, in our view, a pivotal problem in blockchain design: how to massively increase throughput, how to sharply reduce finality time, and how to do both without sacrificing security or going back to the bad old days of centralization.

Sei Giga manages an impressive 200,000+ transactions each second with a throughput capacity of 5 gigagas. It delivers outstanding finality times—under 400 milliseconds, which puts it among the fastest Layer 1 platforms in existence. The massive computing capability aims to serve the new-age applications demanding extreme low latency and high throughput, like real-time gaming, financial trading protocols, and other interactive decentralized applications (dApps) that can’t run on slower chains.

Sei Giga’s performance rests upon several key technical innovations. One is the Autobahn consensus protocol, which permits parallel block proposals. This parallelism sidesteps much of the bottlenecking that afflicts traditional linear consensus designs. Another, async state commitments, further tidies up the data propagation and finality optimization process without introducing any inconsistency. When you combine these two, you get a system that scales much better—by orders of magnitude, actually—than anything else we know of while still being compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

A Scalable Infrastructure for the Future of Web3

Sei Labs seeks not just to become another blockchain platform but to lay a building block of sorts for the next generation of internet applications. The lab and its core team, which includes a product lead from fintech giant Stripe, focus on performance, scalability, and developer experience—clear indicators of how serious they are (or should be taken) and how well they understand their potential customers—the Web3 developers community.

Supported by a cadre of notable financiers, Sei Labs possesses both the means and the strategic know-how to play with the kinds of big, established names in the smart contract world that most upstarts stay clear of. Amongst these company of heavyweights, what exactly allows Sei Labs to stand out? A clearly delineated focus on delivering performance. And what company of the performance-focused smart contract world do they most clearly resemble? Near as we can tell, it’s Solana.

The user base and capabilities that Sei Network extends continue to grow. They release Sei Giga. Praise is not too great here, either for the project itself or for the too-swift-to-come conclusion that Sei is a serious player in the blockchain space with the development of Layer 1. An architecture unique to Sei, a proven capability to deliver, and a concentration on performance make this a project of note.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!

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A proposal has been put forth by Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, that could significantly reduce the current demand for both hardware and storage to run an Ethereum node.

In contrast to current designs, which require node operators to serve up a near-complete package of state and history of the blockchain, the proposed “local-first” design would allow a user to run a node on their device without first needing to download the whole blockchain. This major shift could play a critical role in the further decentralization of Ethereum.

Tackling the 1.3TB Barrier to Node Operation

Currently, it takes over 1.3 terabytes of data storage to run a full Ethereum node. This requirement doesn’t just limit who can participate in the network—mostly well-resourced individuals and companies—but it also raises real concerns about the health and decentralization of the network itself. Full node operation is becoming a task that is, for all practical purposes, limited to the wealthy, and this leads us to worry about a network that is funded and run mostly by well-off service providers in a price-collapsed zone.

Vitalik Buterin’s latest proposal tackles this problem by redefining what it means to manage data on Ethereum’s decentralized nodes. Instead of making each resource on the network maintain a complete replica of the shared history and global state (the way the Bitcoin network does), the local-first design lets each Ethereum node store only the data that’s most relevant to the person using it. And if the node needs anything else, it can cull that information from the shared, peer-to-peer network.

A fundamental redesign is introduced in the Ethereum ecosystem, leading to a lightweight architecture that fulfills the promise of scalable software. This is not a singular event; it is an introduction happening in stages as part of the broader Ethereum vision to move from a slow, heavyweight stack to a fast, lightweight stack.

A Local-First Architecture for Broader Participation

Buterin’s proposal centers on a local-first design. This means that rather than having a single contract on the Ethereum blockchain, which every Ethereum node tracks, having every Ethereum node track the state of the blockchain, and having a smart contract API, for the sorts of personalized data that an Ethereum user might need a node to track, every Ethereum node could simply track the sorts of personalized, relevant-to-the-user data that it was designed to track. This also means that when it was necessary for the user’s node to track something sort of global in scope, the node could fetch and verify that data as needed.

This shift has multiple effects. To begin with, it enables the execution of Ethereum nodes on run-of-the-mill consumer hardware—like laptops or, for that matter, mobile devices—by trimming the overhead to manageable levels. To end with, it promotes a motley array of node operators, which in turn helps ensure that the Ethereum network attains consensus in some sort of distributed way, since the operators are using such a variety of consumer hardware.

Historic data more than 36 days old is stored in a distributed archive system. This system takes the burden off of every node in the network, allowing for shared storage across multiple participants within the Ethereum network. If a node ever needs to access the data for legitimate verification or audit purposes, it can retrieve the shards from the peers in the system that holds the complete picture.

The priorities in the proposal are the same as those in the forthcoming Pectra upgrade. They are:

– Usability

– Decentralization

– Performance optimization, with no compromises on core Ethereum security principles

Guarding Against Centralization and Censorship

A fundamental driver of this redesign is the need to cut back on Ethereum’s present excessive dependence on centralized infrastructure suppliers. As it becomes more complex and less appealing to run an Ethereum node, it is driving more users to the kind of centralized APIs and “blockchain data services” that are utterly incompatible with the ideals of a permissionless and censorship-resistant system. When you create a system with that many backdoors, vulnerabilities, and single points of failure, you not only make it possible for someone to impose censorship, but also for someone to exert control over the Ethereum service by manipulating the appearance and disappearance of transactions.

Strengthening the basic principles of decentralization, the design of local-first reinforces user self-reliance. “We the people” are no longer just nodes in someone else’s network. Serving more as its own infrastructure on a user’s terms, the design enables smaller, local, and purpose-driven “nodes” to carry out local computation and storage necessary to work with the Ethereum blockchain.

This also chimes with a decentralization of data storage, if you will, in blockchain technology. Here, we aim to increase modularity and specialization of roles among network participants, which seems to be key to scalability and long-term sustainability.

Conclusion

The new local-first node proposal from Ethereum is a big step toward making participation in the blockchain more inclusive and accessible, and that’s a prerequisite for anything resembling a truly decentralized system. In the current system, you’d have to download and store 1.3TB worth of data to operate a node and interact with the Ethereum blockchain. That’s not a trivial storage requirement. And the read and write speeds of the kinds of hard drives required to perform those functions meaningfully limit the number of users who can run nodes on the EVM. The local-first node proposal puts forth a plan in which users run local nodes and access state changes in a way that improves the price and performance possibilities of the kinds of hard drives you can use to build a node.

The upcoming Pectra upgrade makes clear an initiative that demonstrates how Ethereum keeps on evolving. It is pushing the boundaries of decentralization while at the same time making itself more usable in practical terms.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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