Lưu trữ cho từ khóa: #DeFi

DeFi

Space and Time debuts sub-second ZK prover

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Space and Time debuts sub-second ZK prover

California-based crypto startup Space and Time has released a new high-performance ZK prover to improve on-chain transactions and defi growth.

Space and Time (SxT), a custom-built compute layer, granted public access to its sub-second zero-knowledge (ZK) prover stack, dubbed Proof of SQL. The ZK-proof system was previously made available to a few SxT clients in alpha last August.

ZK provers were necessitated by privacy needs, a cornerstone of cryptographic technology. The fundamental thesis of ZK models allows users to demonstrate that data or transactions are valid or true without revealing additional information. 

Several web3 developers, including Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin, have stressed the role of ZK stacks in building reliable decentralized finance (defi) ecosystems. The technology is viewed as crucial for ensuring safe on-chain interactions for smart contract protocols and end-users. However, ZK proofs have been known to sometimes slow down execution. 

SxT co-founder and head of research Jay White, PhD, said his team developed the Proof of SQL program “so that smart contracts and AI agents can ask questions about a chain’s activity, as well as off-chain data, and receive back trustless SQL query results on-chain during a transaction without having to wait for 30 minute proof times.”

The web3 data warehouse said its Proof of SQL delivers better-optimized processing architecture for large-scale operations compared to generalized zk-Virtual Machines and co-processors. 

According to SxT and White, the ZK prover executed queries for over 100,000 row tables in under one second on a single GPU united. The model can be integrated into zkVMs on blockchains like Ethereum (ETH) for faster speeds and bigger tasks.

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News

DeFi

Merlin Chain brings staking opportunities and DeFi access to Bitcoin

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Merlin Chain is bringing the much-anticipated decentralized finance (DeFi) opportunities to Bitcoin holders, thanks to a suite of innovative integrations and its proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism.

Bitcoin Layer-2 blockchain Merlin Chain has seen more than billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) bridged in the last 45 days. Now its eyeing further growth as it bring more benefits for BTC holders. In this case, the platform wants to be the game-changer for staking rewards and yield-generation on Bitcoin.

It’s goal is enable greater access to DeFi for BTC holders, opening up lucrative opportunities beyond hodling.

Merlin Chain aims to revolutionize Bitcoin’s DeFi landscape

Despite being one of the best-performing assets in the world over the past decade or so, Bitcoin holders have still missed on numerous earning avenues, Merlin Chain founder Jeff said.

“We are therefore delighted to finally grant BTC investors and hodlers concrete incentives to not just HODL, but earn and participate in the exciting DeFi ecosystem!” he noted.

Among these opportunities, which Ethereum currently dominates, are yield-generating prospects such as staking, liquidity mining and yield farming. Merlin Chain is unlocking these and other use cases that mirror “Ethereum’s mature DeFi ecosystem,” Jeff added.

The most notable aspect however, is that Bitcoin’s robust security and scarcity power the BTC DeFi ecosystem. It’s a scenario that also seeks to tap into an ecosystem with one of the most ardent user base in crypto.

Stake BTC to earn rewards

Users can earn yield on their BTC by bridging via Merlin Bridge.

When a holder locks their coins on the layer-1, they receive gas BTC that they can stake to generate a wrapped Bitcoin asset M-BTC. Like stETH, holders of M-BTC earn staking rewards.

Other opportunities that come with M-BTC include liquidity provision for yields, lending, borrowing, and derivatives. Users can stake M-BTC on Solv Protocol or bridge SolvBTC on Linea among other DeFi integrations.

Over 0 million in rewards distributed

Merlin Chain’s growth as a top Bitcoin L2 for yield is clear given the billion worth of assets bridged to and from the network.

More than that, the network has seen over 0 million in BTC distributed from the platform to Layer-2 networks that offer complementary rewards.

Merlin Chain, which currently has over .2 billion in total value locked (TVL) has partnered with some of the leading digital asset custodians and institutions to enhance its activities. These include Fireblocks, Cobo, Ceffu, and Antalpha, a subsidiary of Bitmain.

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News

DeFi

Hawaii’s Kauai Police warn of crypto scammers extorting fines as law enforcement

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Law enforcement authorities in Hawaii’s Kauai island have issued a warning about scammers posing as law enforcement to defraud cryptocurrency users.

According to the recent alert, the scammers employ deceptive tactics, calling the victims and falsely claiming they have an arrest warrant issued against them. 

The victims are then intimidated by the threat of an arrest unless they pay a fine in cryptocurrency. 

“Any such calls should be treated with suspicion. Refrain from disclosing your credit card details or any personal financial information,” said Kauai Police Assistant Chief Kalani Ke.

To convince the victims, scammers even alter the caller ID and manipulate the number that is displayed on the victim’s phone. With the spoofed numbers, victims are misled into believing that the call came from a government agency, even though it did not.

Scammers also employ real information about the victims to appear credible.

Details regarding how the numbers are spoofed or how they acquire information about the victims haven’t been disclosed.

The police department has emphasized that law enforcement agencies never demand any sort of payment over a phone call.

To mitigate such scams, Kauai police have urged locals to avoid answering calls from unknown numbers. They have also asked not to share any sensitive personal information.

“If they say they have the information and just need you to confirm it, don’t hang on, hang up,” the alert stated.

Further, the authorities have stressed that a fine isn’t issued unless an individual has appeared in court, where government-imposed fines cannot be paid in cryptocurrency.

“It’s crucial to report such incidents to the Kaua‘i Police Department and remember that law enforcement agencies will never call you to demand payment of any kind,” Chief Kalan added.

The warning comes as Hawaii is making some changes to its cryptocurrency sector. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs of the Island state has decided that crypto businesses don’t have to comply with the state’s money transmitter laws.

As such, cryptocurrency businesses currently operate as unregulated businesses. However, they are required to abide by federal regulations such as those from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News

DeFi

ZkSync community reacts to airdrop debacle

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Ethereum scaling solution zkSync will airdrop 3.6 billion ZK tokens to users next week, but the crypto community said the distribution list is unfair.

A year after users first anticipated a governance token, zero-knowledge (ZK) layer-2 network zkSync confirmed an airdrop for active on-chain participants. Following a snapshot in March, over 695,000 users are set to receive 17.5% of ZK’s total supply of 21 billion tokens. 

The project also allocated two-thirds of its token supply to the community. zkSync designated around 33.3% of all ZK tokens to team members and investors over a four-year lock period.

Community decries zkSync allocations to Sybil wallets

While its 3.6 billion token airdrop is the largest among major rollups to date, users expressed discontent with the protocol’s eligibility data. In a rare occurrence, the project released the CSV containing all eligible wallet addresses on GitHub.

Sybil accounts, which are defined by a single entity controlling multiple accounts, were found to have accumulated thousands of tokens. Meanwhile, some single-account users were reportedly inelgible for the airdrop, further fueling community scrutiny.

One user, self-described as “Artemis the Sybil Hunter,” claimed Sybial accounts could receive up to two million ZK tokens from the airdrop. Several of the same addresses are disqualified from LayerZero’s distribution, as the protocol launched a campaign against Sybil clusters. 

Polygon Labs CISO Mudit Gupta said zkSync used almost no Sybil filtering. “Anyone who knew the criteria could’ve easily farmed the sh*t out of it”, Gupta said as the broader defi community reacted to the latest airdrop debacle. 

Data provider Nansen clarified that the firm did not provide “anit-Sybil” support to zkSync’s parent Matter Labs. Although the details are public, the project reserves the right to decide who could receive the airdrop, leaving room for criteria changes in the near future.

This year’s airdrops have been contentious, to say the least. Users who spent several months to multiple years engaging with protocols were sometimes left disappointed with distribution plans and tokenomics. As crypto.news reported, Starknet marked a sharp drop in user activity after its token announcement. The pattern is not strange during crypto airdrop, but users were more frustrated with the allocation. 

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News

DeFi

Polygon launches new grants program with 1 billion POL

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Polygon, the layer-2 scaling network, has announced a new Community Grants Program, with 1 billion POL tokens (rebrand of current MATIC) allocated to ecosystem developers over the next ten years.

Polygon Labs revealed on Tuesday its program is now live. Polygon Labs said in a blog post: “Following community consensus, the Community Treasury has been created, with 1B POL unlocked over 10 years, with ~100M POL per year—all for builders.”

Accordingly, Season 01 of the program is now open, with 35 million MATIC set for distribution to projects building on the L2 network. At current MATIC prices, that’s about million set to benefit builders looking to expand Polygon’s ecosystem.

Distribution of the funds lies with “the neutral Community Treasury Board” the platform announced.

Polygon will also follow an open, community-aligned funding model, with professional Grant Allocators helping to allot the Season 01 funds.

Who is eligible?

Projects looking to benefit from the grants program have to meet at least two conditions:

One, they must be building on Polygon or if not, be willing to migrate their projects to the blockchain platform. Also important is that the projects must be in the business of building for the long term.

Polygon has opened two avenues for participating projects – the “General Grant Track,” targets builders eyeing developer tooling and infrastructure on Polygon.

Meanwhile, the “Consumer Crypto Track,” will focus on consumer-focused projects, including gaming, decentralized social, gamified commerce, AI/blockchain integration and NFT innovations.

Why the Community Grants Program?

According to Polygon Labs, CGP’s primary objective is to support developers. The best time to do this is as they build, not long after projects go live.

“Waiting until a project has finished building and produces results misses a key piece of true innovation: The opportunity to take chances. With Polygon CGP, dynamic early-stage builders can get the funding they need when they need it,” Polygon Labs wrote in the blog post.

Applications for Season 01 opened today, June 11 and will close on August 31, 2024.

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News

DeFi

Analyst projects steeper Ethereum dips if futures market trend does not improve

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As Ethereum (ETH) retests the ,500 low amid the market-wide drop, CryptoQuant analyst ShayanBTC suggests the asset could face further declines if current trends in the futures market do not improve.

The recent market turbulence has driven multiple altcoins to their lowest levels in weeks. Notably, Ethereum recently slumped to the lower spectrum of the ,500 threshold for the first time in over three weeks, retesting the ,503 low earlier today. 

Amid the bearish conditions, investor anxiety has returned. Data from the futures market indicates that market participants have turned bearish, betting on steeper declines and a sustenance of the turbulence. 

In a recent analysis, ShayanBTC called attention to the Taker Buy Sell Ratio, which measures the aggressiveness of buyers versus sellers in the futures market. A ratio above one indicates that buyers are dominating, while a ratio below one suggests that sellers are more aggressive.

According to market data, the seven-day moving average of this ratio has been dropping recently, failing to climb above one. This downward trend indicates that most futures traders are selling Ethereum aggressively. 

Such behavior could be driven by speculation or profit-taking amid the current market conditions. ShayanBTC argues that the significant decline in this ratio serves as a bearish signal, suggesting that the downward trend in Ethereum’s price could continue if this selling pressure persists.

ETH price – June 11 | Source: Trading View

Meanwhile, despite derivatives volume spiking 131% to a record .8 billion, Ethereum’s long/short ratio, which measures the ratio of long (bullish) to short (bearish) positions, has witnessed a massive drop. This ratio has collapsed to 0.8921, suggesting a dominance of short positions, per Coinglass data.

Ethereum is currently trading at ,537 following a mild recovery from the ,503 floor price recorded earlier this morning. Despite a 3.58% drop today, the crypto asset trades above the 200-day EMA (,945) and 50-day EMA (,381).

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News

DeFi

U.S. Federal Trade Commission warns of crypto romance scams

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The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned the public of the rise in romance scams that often involve cryptocurrencies.

In a Monday notice, the FTC advised Americans on how they can handle the situation if their online romantic interest is offering them investment advice.

“No one thinks their online love interest is going to scam them, but scammers are good at what they do,” the FTC noted.

Romance scams, often dubbed as pig butchering scams, involve attackers befriending victims under the guise of their potential love interest. Ultimately, the victims are tricked into making fraudulent cryptocurrency investments, and the scammers disappear.

Such scams have become a norm in the cryptocurrency sector. A recent study by the University of Texas revealed that over billion was lost to these schemes in between January 2020 and February 2024.

As such, the advisory, authored by Colleen Tressler of the Division of Consumer and Business Education, delved into the detective tactics employed by bad actors to execute these scams.

According to the FTC, the attackers “establish an emotional connection” to convince victims into believing that they are “experts in cryptocurrency.”

The commission noted these scammers often promise high returns that are possibly risk-free. However, it added that all such investments carry risks and the guarantees on profits are false.

Further, the FTC stressed that these scammers usually do a background check on the victims. This helps them convince the victim and allows them to “say the right things” to gain their trust, “and before you know it, your new friend is talking money,” the FTC added.

The regulator also advised against transferring any funds, be it fiat or crypto, if requested by such parties, “if you think someone you met on social media is a scammer, cut off contact.”

The notice also urged users to file a report with the FTC if affected by such a scam.

Romance scams have made the headlines on several occasions. 

Back in February 2024, a Philadelphia woman lost 0,000 in cryptocurrency to these bad actors. Scammers befriended the woman and pitched a fraudulent crypto trading app, ultimately convincing her to drain her savings.

The growing prominence of these attacks has prompted regulatory intervention from the likes of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The CFTC charged crypto exchange Debiex on Jan. 20, alleging the firm’s insiders of duping its customers by establishing amicable and “intimate” relationships. These individuals were then tricked into opening trading accounts with the exchange.

Debiex allegedly solicited .3 million from five customers.

Meanwhile, the FBI had also issued a warning before the 2023 Valentine’s day about the surge in romance scams. 

In April 2024, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office managed to crack down on a similar scam that duped several individuals across the United States. 

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News

DeFi

AKT gains 9% as Akash Network unveils future roadmap at decentralized AI event

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Akash Network, a leading player in the decentralized cloud computing sector, has seen its native token, AKT, emerge as one of the top gainers among the top 100 cryptocurrencies,

At the time of writing, AKT is still up 9% in the last 24 hours, trading at around .48 per coin. In the same time frame, the token experienced a daily trading volume of .7 million, up 495%. The crypto asset’s market cap has also climbed to .07 billion, making it the 76th-largest cryptocurrency.

AKT 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap

Despite the recent price rally, AKT is still down by 40% from its all-time high of .41 reached on April 8, 2021.

AKT’s price surge comes as Akash Network hosted its inaugural full-day summit, Akash Accelerate, focusing on the expansion of permissionless computing and decentralized AI (DeAI).

The event, held in Austin, TX, gathered hundreds of participants from across the decentralized computing space, spotlighting the network’s growth and its evolving ecosystem of projects, companies, and protocols.

The summit featured key collaborations and presentations that highlighted the capabilities and advantages of using Akash’s Supercloud for high-performance computing.

Prominent institutions like the University of Texas at Austin and leading AI companies such as Nous Research, Brev.dev, and Morpheus participated in the summit, discussing the practical applications of decentralized infrastructures.

The University of Texas at Austin, for example, is leveraging Akash’s decentralized infrastructure to provide researchers with access to high-performance GPUs, which are essential for cutting-edge research in AI, without the limitations and high costs associated with traditional cloud providers.

Further, the event unveiled a roadmap for Akash’s development over the coming years, presented by CEO Greg Osuri.

His keynote addressed the strategic direction and anticipated enhancements to Akash’s platform, which are expected to further improve its infrastructure and solidify its position in the decentralized cloud market.

This announcement has likely contributed to the renewed investor interest and optimism surrounding AKT, as it showcases Akash’s commitment to scaling and improving its services.

AKT’s surge comes at a time when the global cryptocurrency market is experiencing a downturn, with a 3% drop bringing its market cap to .45 trillion.

Bitcoin, the pioneering cryptocurrency, has also experienced a similar drop, currently exchanging hands at ,206.

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News

DeFi

NOT plunges 15% while the contract owner revoked privileges 

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The TON-based meme coin and clicker game on Telegram, Notcoin (NOT), has emerged as the top loser among the leading 100 cryptocurrencies despite its bullish announcement.

NOT is down by 15% in the past 24 hours and is trading at .016 at the time of writing. The asset’s market cap is currently hovering at .64 billion, making it the 58th-largest cryptocurrency.

NOT price, open interest, funding rate and RSI – June 11 | Source: Santiment

Moreover, Notcoin’s daily trading volume also declined by 14%, reaching the 0 million mark. 

According to an official announcement on X, the owner of the Notcoin smart contract has revoked their ownership. Many users have shown bullish sentiment in the same X thread, calling NOT a “community token.”

At this point, per the X post, no one can add any Notcoins to its circulating and total supply — locking the total supply at 102,701,033,769 NOT.

According to data provided by Santiment, the NOT total open interest dropped from .6 million to .4 million over the past 24 hours. The decline in the asset’s open interest comes as it witnessed over million in liquidations, per Coinglass data. 

Moreover, the total funding rate aggregated by NOT has been sitting close to 0.01% over the past two days. The indicator shows that long-position holders are still slightly dominating short-positioned traders despite the price downturn.

Data from the market intelligence platform shows that the NOT relative strength index (RSI) plunged from 96 on June 2 — when the token reached an all-time high of .028 — to 74 at the reporting time. 

The indicator shows that the heat around NOT has been constantly declining while the token is still overbought. 

Thanks to the declining open interest and RSI, lower price volatility would be expected for Notcoin.

On June 10, the TON-based token recorded a 12% rally after announcing new incentives and a surge in its user base. 

Tổng hợp và chỉnh sửa: ThS Phạm Mạnh Cường
Theo Crypto News